#I was originally not going to put these in the main tag but they seem to be pretty well received so I'll keep doing it

[grassbreads]

I got to the scene where Zhao Yunlan sees the portraits in Shen Wei's bedroom.

Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei are priest's Hualian.

[kujo1597]

It’s been a bit! But I suppose that’s normal for these. I did have a good reason for it taking so long this time. In the first episode recap or whatever you’d like to call these posts I said that I started doing them to get back into writing Unbreakable. Well! I’m done chapter 6!!! 🥳 Woo! Well… mostly done it. I have to like, write at least a couple verses for a song Stormer wrote and do my usual week of proofreading before I post it. But! I’m 99% done it!!!

Let’s celebrate my new spare time with an episode of Jem.

I had literally no idea what this episode’s title was. It completely escaped me for some reason. Why am I so confused by that?

Kimber’s my favourite character! How did I forget the episode with her name in it? I think the actual answer is that there are a couple episodes where Kimber’s rebelled and those ones were a little more of a meaningful rebellion. Especially the one that really kicked off my favourite Jem ship.

Oh by the way. I actually forgot that the last episode ended on the yacht being on a crash course with an oil tanker. I think part of why I don’t feel too bad about how densely packed my Jem fanfics tend to be is because the show itself covers a lot in each episode.

Let's get to it.

So the yacht almost crashes into the taker ship, Danielle’s crew manages to save the ship. Although the party guests get a little thrown around.

Jem included!

So… Is this how boats work? I grew up in a landlocked province; I didn’t even see the ocean until I was in my mid-20s. My family would go to a lake but it was small, probably too small for a speeding yacht. I don’t know boat physics.

Anyway, Rio pulls Jem back onboard.

And here is our first kiss between Jem and Rio. Jerrica got caught up in the moment and gave her boyfriend a kiss on the lips. But of course she’s Jem right now and Rio to his credit, pulled away and said that it’s wrong to cheat on Jerrica with Jem.

He’s not bad in these first few episodes!

With the crisis averted everybody makes sure Jem and Rio are okay, then they see the Misfits taunting them from their little speed boat. And Stormer does a Flim Flam as hell laugh. Sorry Sue Blu I love The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo so I associate this style of laugh with the lovable scam artist. Now that everybody’s nice and frustrated with the uninvited guests they decide that they need to start filming Jem’s first music video as soon as possible. Anthony says he’ll direct it, and the countess offers to fund the whole thing and fly everybody to Paris.

Kimber wanted to do the whole thing the very next day. But Jem being Jerrica is like, “Sounds great, but we need to actually record our album first.”

Now we cut to Starlight Mansion and the girls. Krissie says that Jem and The Holograms will be leaving in two days. Deirdre is pretty into the idea of Paris but Ashley sure isn’t. She’s pretty darn bitter about how everybody is talking so much about Jem.

Lela asks Ashley how much money she’s made for the Honor Jar (We’re almost done with this thing. So far I haven’t spelled it Honour Jar once.) and Ashley presents the $30 she got off of Stormer. But Lela explains the rules of the jar, you must say how you earned the money because the work is as important as the cash.

Ashley has a pretty understandable reaction. She’s new and feeling unwelcome. She’s been getting criticized a lot lately and reached her breaking point. Ashley throws the money to the floor and storms out.

Yeah she didn’t earn the money in a way that would be seen as “acceptable” but I feel like at this point Ashley feels like nothing she’ll do will be good enough for the people in this foster home. And who knows what her previous one was like. This could be something she’s been dealing with for years for all we know.

Time to watch Jem and The Holograms record their first album. The song playing is Twilight in Paris, I’ll say more about it after the actual music video.

Rio asks the band to tighten up the song and asks them if they can keep going. Jem tells him that they’ll keep at it until they nail the song.

Then we get an immediate comparison to The Misfits who are recording their album. Eric tells them to pick up the tempo, Stormer enthusiastically agrees to work at it. But Pizzazz and Roxy have very little interest in honing their craft.

Then Pizzazz complains to Eric that he’s not flying her group to a place like Paris. And Eric tells her that he can only embezzle so much money from Starlight Music before he owns it.

But he does fly Zipper to Paris in order to sabotage Jem’s music video.

After a quick pan over Paris we see Anthony going over the steps for the music video with Jem. Kimber gets jealous of Jem and storms off.

She starts heading towards Zipper and her first kidnapping of the show. But Rio catches her in time. And well

is pretty rough with Kimber.

Kimber’s frustrated and tells Rio to not play big brother with her. And then after a little fight she goes to tell Rio that Jem’s not so great because she’s actually Jerrica. Shana and Aja stop Kimber right in time.

Kimber points out that Rio has the right to know. And she’s right! And Shana agrees with her! But also points out that this is Jerrica’s love life so she should be the one to tell Rio.

After that scene Zipper looks up at the top of a skyscraper and sees the gargoyles and he hatches a plan.

I’m fond of the song Twilight in Paris. Not because it’s a great song. It’s really not, the music video is kinda neat. No. I’m fond of this song because the lyrics feel like Kimber was scrambling to think of stuff that has to do with Paris, and France in general. And I just love the mental image of that. Kimber scribbling in a notebook everything she knows about Paris and coming up with only four things, the Eiffel Tower, City of Lights, a location Jem sings that I can’t understand, and France being a romantic country. And that’s it. That’s all Kimber could come up with in a day. It’s wonderful.

After the music video we see Zipper’s plan in action. What is this plan?

Why crush Jem of course! Literally!

The gargoyle misses the mark though. Zipper is very good at his job.

Rio gives Jem a tight hug after her close call and she asks him to never let go.

Kimber’s not dumb and knows exactly who sent Zipper.

Time to get an update on the Ashley subplot. She runs away from home and to a bar frequented by the Misfits.

Stormer likes kids. I did a post about it. She sees Ashley at the bar, leans down to get closer to eye level and asks Ashley for her name, and if she’s in trouble.

Pizzazz leads Ashley into the bar and I highly doubt it’s because she likes kids. She probably just saw an opportunity to get at Jem. Or Jerrica. At this point she probably dislikes them equally.

Now we see the Misfits giving Ashley some life lessons. These lessons are the opposite of what Jerrica’s been teaching her girls. Be rude, be pushy, never thank people.

Back to the stars of the show, intended stars anyway, and they’re discussing things with Danielle. Kimber’s still jealous of Jem. I do like how Danielle calls Kimber “my petite.” It’s pretty cute. I think the countess likes Kimber.

After getting into the airport, whatever section this is, I’ve never been on a plane, Jem runs off to change. And we get our first instance of Rio’s pissiness. Aja reminds him that Jerrica is supposed to meet them at the airport and he blows past her to be all mopey. Jerrica’s disappointed that Rio took off.

Aja promises her that taking a look around town will cheer her up. However...

*laughs hysterically*

Oh, sorry. I just forgot how shitty this poster looks.

Um.

Okay, so while Jem and The Holograms were in Paris The Misfits were busy putting up posters advertising them. Or maybe Eric hired a bunch of people because Pizzazz and Roxy couldn’t be bothered. Either way, their faces are plastered all over town.

Song time! This is a pretty nice song complete with convenient hole for Pizzazz to climb out of. We see Jem and The Holograms along with some Starlight Girls running around town trying to hang up all their posters and just advertise their band in general. But they’re being sabotaged the entire time. And one of the saboteurs is Ashley.

Kimber sees this and she is not happy.

She confronts Eric in his office where he is writing directly onto his desk.

And Eric starts being creepy as hell! Stop it! Jesus. If Jerrica’s 18 then Kimber’s only 15.

Eric tries to butter up Kimber by saying that as the songwriter she deserves far more credit than she’s getting, that she should be star instead of Jem. And even offers to sign Kimber on without Jem. She doesn’t outright say no to the offer but she does leave.

Now to Starlight Mansion where we see Aja and Shana reading magazines, Kimber playing guitar, and Jerrica being bushed from all the work they’re been doing. Then the phones rings.

It’s Lindsey Pierce! She asks to speak to Jem and after filling her sisters in Jerrica speaks to Lindsey in the exact same tone of voice she normally speaks in and says, “This is Jem.” I can excuse Lindsey for not really caring because Jerrica is currently a nobody. But it’s just very funny.

Lindsey says that she only wants to interview Jem and she’ll do something with the Holograms at a later date. But when Jerrica tells Kimber that only Jem is invited to this interview Kimber yells and storms out declaring that she’s going to go solo.

Hey look, Kimber’s first cry of the show. Not counting the funeral. *adds this to the Kimber rarely cries around others pile* Don't worry I won't call attention to every time a character cries. I'm just putting these into my crying folder. That is a totally normal sentence I just typed.

After Aja and Shana try to comfort Jerrica she decided to make a phone call to Lindsey to insist that the entire band be on her show. And Lindsey doesn’t mind one bit.

With that mess sorted out it’s now time to sort out a different mess. Getting Kimber back. Jerrica knows her baby sister well and figures that Kimber’s driving aimlessly while listening to her favourite radio station. And heads there in the Starlight Express to ask the DJ to broadcast a message to Kimber. Jerrica figures she’d be too unknown to get any air time but Jem definitely would be allowed on the air.

They deliver their message and Kimber hears it and returns home saying that with no Jem there is no Holograms.

Rio pulls up and calls out to the group that they’ve got 15 minutes until air time. Jerrica tells her sisters to take the roadster while she rids with Rio in his van.

There’s a lot of vans in this show.

During the drive Rio tells Jerrica that he can’t be Jem’s manager anymore. That he’s afraid he’ll hurt Jerrica. And she insists that Rio keeps working for them because they all need him and he’s irreplaceable. Rio does give in because it does mean a lot to Jerrica that he stays a part of the team.

He did not appreciate Jerrica being pulled off to do more work for Jem, as shown by him shaking his head. Part of the problem probably was the fact that Jerrica got yanked out of their hug.

Live interview time! The Misfits see this and are not happy. They run out of whatever building they're in to put a stop to it.

So, before I started this episode summary I tried very hard to remember which Misfits song played in this episode. There’s a reason I couldn’t remember! There wasn’t one!

I like this song a lot. I find myself singing it on occasion. To be honest I generally prefer Misfits music and those are the songs that tend to get stuck in my head. But there are some Holograms ones I find myself humming and singing.

Boop.

What was I doing? Oh yeah, the interview!

At some point the Misfits picked Ashley up before arriving at the TV station. Last time we saw them they were hanging out in one of their houses. I think. It's unclear where they were.

Well, trying to get in with the Misfits name didn’t work so Pizzazz sent Ashley in. And Ashley distracts the guard by kicking him really hard in the shin.

Lindsey asks Jem and a really good question. Where did the name Jem and The Holograms come from?

I suppose an easy answer would be to say that it sounds cool and futuristic.

But before Jem can think of that explanation the interview gets interrupted by The Misfits. They’re their usual pushy selves and Jem stands up to them and insults them. Good for her! I like how this show isn’t afraid to have the protagonist be rude right back.

A quick tangent because my brain is funny. I listened to the Jem audiobooks a while back and was amazed by how completely rude Jem is in some of them. Not because she was being rude to Pizzazz, but because she was being rude to everybody. The show strikes a nice balance. Jerrica does get more patient with Pizzazz post-syndication but not a lot more patient, and in season 3 all that patience is gone. With good reason!

Back to the show, Lindsey sensing a brawl on her hands asks the station to cut to commercial. She informs the Misfits that she was planning to invite them onto the show for an interview too, but now she doesn’t want to.

The Misfits demand equal time and that they get to play a song so they take the instruments on stage. But Jem isn’t having any of this and pulls Aja’s guitar out of Stormer’s hands.

Lindsey’s had it. She asks the men on the set to escort these ladies off of the set.

And we get our first slap of show. Pizzazz tells Lindsey that her show isn’t classy enough for The Misfits.

Rio is one of the people dragging the Misfits away. He grabs Pizzazz and she makes an offer to Rio, that he should work for her. And Rio turns her down. So Pizzazz elbows Rio in the gut sending him careening off into some equipment which causes a domino effect putting Jem’s life at risk.

A fire breaks out and that is where the episode ends.

A lot of fire in this show.

And well, now you see what I mean when I say that Jem is a densely packed show. A lot happens in it. Part of why these first five episodes are like this is likely the nature of the original release of them. But wow, this is a lot to take in. Imagine being a kidling trying to keep up, watching the shorts once a week. What if you missed one? You’d be so lost!

The next one of these should get done a lot sooner than my current pace. I'd like to finish the opening five episodes before I finish writing that dreaded wedding I promised.

[dalishious]

About Davrin's little blurb on the official website for Dragon Age: The Veilguard...

"Though he was raised in a Dalish clan, he craved excitement and adventure. He'd rather make history than reflect on it."

There's actually a lot to unpack about these two sentences.

First off, placing the word "though" in front of being "raised in a Dalish clan", gives such a thing a negative connotation. The word "though" is used in a way that sounds like "despite", as in, somehow wanting excitement and adventure must go against being Dalish. This correlates with sentence that follows. "He'd rather make history than reflect on it." The word "rather" is yet again used to separate Davrin from his Dalish origin. All together, this promotional description of Davrin is insisting that he is "not like other Dalish".

Now, obviously the game is not out yet, so we do not have total confirmation on what the nature of Davrin's relationship to his culture is really like. But there is absolutely something to be said about promoting the character this way, regardless of however he actually turns out in game. There is absolutely something to be said about how, as @/the-eldritch-it-gay put in their tags here, why do writers feel the need to make fantasy minorities hate or distance themselves from their culture? As a selling point?

Maybe this is completely misleading bullshit, maybe it isn't. All we have to go by, is what BioWare chose to say here, and their past track record with elves:

Zevran may talk about his mother in a font way, but he still has the line, "Too many of our kind think we deserve pity simply because we have failed to defend ourselves."

Velanna is one of the two elves we've had who is overtly proud of her culture, yet she is treated like she is unreasonable and too angry because of it.

Merrill too, is proud of being an elf, and of being Dalish. The story punishes her left and right for this, treats her like a child, and in the end she is either ostracized from her clan or they end up dead because... she cared too much?

Fenris has pretty much zero engagement with elven cultures, and spends his time ridiculing Merrill for being proud of hers.

Solas complains about the Dalish from the start, and says plainly that he does not see himself as having anything in common with elves of current time. "Oh, you mean elves" he says, when the Inquisitor asks how he feels about his people; the thought does not even occur to him.

Sera is... Sera is a character who could have been a really interesting examination of overcoming internalized racism, if she was written by someone competent with the subject. Instead, she just cringes at everything "too elfy" through the entire main game, and only has a single line in Trespasser that hints that she may have a personal struggle going on. But it's still left unresolved.

That's a lot a lot of negativity. So of course seeing a suggestion that more is to come with Davrin has people wary and tired.

Let us also consider the fact that Davrin is overtly Black as well, and what that means. Acting as if one must disregard history in order to make it, as his description so claims, is bullshit. It sounds too much like promoting gentrification/assimilation in my opinion; the idea that you cannot keep your culture if you want to be successful.

I also think that it goes even deeper, on a meta level - I think that BioWare is afraid people will not be able to like or relate to Davrin, if he is "too ethnic". I think that BioWare is taking this Black character and instead of questioning how he can best represent marginalized fans - particularly Black fans - they are questioning how to make him more relatable to white fans. And the only answer to that is to, of course, make him seem like he is an exception to marginalization through separating him from his people.

I am still holding onto hope that Davrin will overall be an interesting, well-written character. And I sure as hell will still be defending him from the people who are already hating on him or ignoring him completely because of their racialized biases. But that does not exempt BioWare, and specifically his writer, John Dombrow, from any criticism. This is not about Davrin the character, this is about BioWare the company's handling of Davrin the character. And in that regard, they're not off to a great start with this.

[filthygalli]

When I Met You: Chapter 2 "Cat sitting"

Fem! Reader x Neighbor! Hwang In-Ho

Main Master list

Squid Game Master list

Genre/Tags: Grumpy x Sunshine, Light smut, Fluff, Angst, Slow burn, Age gap (Reader is in her early 30’s, While In-Ho is in his late 40’s.) Rude In-Ho (but will eventually be soft with the reader Soon!) Literature Professor! In-Ho (Not specified what kind of literature) More Tags to come soon!

Warnings: Rude In-Ho, Some mild cursing, Sexual Innuendo, Terrible text messages edits by me, There's some bitch who's being touchy to our In-Ho, Mostly Yu-Jin and Y/n moments, Not proofread.

Word Count: 4281 (Jesus Christ, I haven't written something this long...)

Author's Note: I'm so sorry for publishing this a bit late, I've encountered some minor problems, I also ran out of space for pictures so there will be some lackings when it comes to my original designs for my fictions forgive me🙏🏻 but I hope you guys like this! 🖤

© Pictures that are used is from Pinterest

In-Ho groans as he saw the text message of Yu-jin’s sitter, 

“I knew I should've just looked for a better cat sitter,” he said as he stared at the message. Meanwhile, Yu-Jin sat on In-Ho’s lap, looking up at him, “You hungry? ” In-Ho said, looking down at Yu-Jin, who seems to understand what In-Ho just said, “I need to find someone who’s going to look after you this morning.” He said as he set down Yu-Jin’s food bowl on top of the kitchen counter. Yun-Jin didn’t pay any attention to what his dad was saying. In-Ho chuckled as he watched Yu-Jin eat its breakfast. 

He sighs as he grabs his phone from his pocket, scrolling on it, finding someone who will look after Yu-Jin while he’s gone from work. Few minutes have passed he still haven’t found someone, He thought of continuing to find later as he checked the time “Shit-” He’s going to be late—He rushed to the bathroom and took a quick shower, The warm feeling of the shower made him feel relaxed, Leaving all the thoughts behind his mind as he focused on relaxing for a while—He doesn’t care anymore if he gets late, He sighs as he turned off the shower head, stepping out from the shower, he quickly brushed his teeth as he dries himself. He looks at himself in the mirror. He looks tired—his mustache is already growing. He scoffs as he leaves the bathroom, not even caring to shave his face. He puts on his ironed dark gray button-up shirt, rolling the sleeves up to his elbows. He puts on black pants and a pair of dark leather loafers. He looks at himself In Front of the mirror, combing his hair through his hands, He got startled as he felt Yu-Jin circled around his legs, “Jesus, You scared me there buddy–” He chuckles as he pick Yu-Jin in his arms not bothering if it mess up his clothes, He and Yu-Jin sat down on the edge of the bed, Grabbing his phone as he checks if there’s someone who messaged him about the cat sitting, “Fuck, This is so fucking frustrating–” He muttered under his breath, “Sorry.” He says apologizing,  looking down on the cat who’s resting on his lap.

He can’t just leave Yu-Jin at home alone. Who will feed Yu-Jin? What if he wants to drink water and his bowl is empty? What if Yu-Jin wants to take a walk and sneak out of the house? He continues to think of all the possibilities that might happen to Yu-Jin while he’s at work. He just can’t leave Yu-Jin with his neighbors; Yu-Ji doesn’t even like any of his neighbors…except you. 

That’s right, You–Yu-jin liked you. Usually, even with Yu-Jin’s sitter, he doesn’t play or ask for belly rubs. Yu-Jin is more of a nonchalant cat to other people, while to In-Ho… Yu-Jin is a playful and sweet cat. Yu-Jin would often sleep beside In-Ho, sit on In-Ho’s lap while he finished some paperwork for the university, or while he read a book. But when Yu-Jin approached You that day, In-Ho wasn’t expecting that You and His cat, Yu-Jin, would get along pretty well. He ruffled Yu-Jin's fur as he set him down beside him. “I think I found a cat sitter for you.” He chuckled as Yu-Jin looked up at him with an ‘Oh, really? Nice dad.’ Look.

Meanwhile, you’re busy cooking food for your breakfast. You started singing and swaying your hips a little as Telepatia by Kali Uchis played in the background. You decided to wake up early this day, wanting to finish the book that you’ve been reading for a while, ‘Inferno’ by Dante Alighieri. You liked the book, Inferno, which describes the journey of a fictionalized version of Dante himself through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil, and you’re invested in it. Turning off the heat of your stove, you grabbed a plate and placed your bacon and eggs on it. You grabbed a glass of lemon water and set it beside your plate. You took a bite and savored the taste of the salty and sweet flavor of the bacon. You grabbed your phone to check your schedules for today, which, to your surprise, is not much of a busy day for you. Just a couple of cleaning, doing the laundry, sending some draft proposals to your clients, and reading books. After finishing your breakfast, you stood up and put your plate in the dishwasher, turning it on as you heard a knock coming from your door.

In-Ho picked up Yu-Jin in his arms and grabbed his briefcase full of paperwork from the university. He quickly grabbed a spare key to his house before going out. “Right, here goes nothing, Yu-Jin.” He sighs as he knocks on your door. He tries his best to be patient with you, remembering how rude he was the last time he knocked on your door, “Just a sec! ” You said as you opened the door. Your eyes widened at the sight in front of you. In-Ho looked handsome with his attire, and those damn glasses... why do they suit him so well! You noticed the briefcase in his other hand. Is he going somewhere? Work maybe? And he’s also… holding his adorable cat Yu-Jin? “Good morning, Mr. Hwang! ” You said as you gave him a smile. In-Ho looked at you for a moment before answering, You looked stunning. Your messy bun hair, he liked how you smiled to him. It's genuine and innocent the way your eyes would turn into crescent-like moons. He cleared his throat. “Good morning,” he almost whispered. You immediately focused your attention on Yu-Jin. “Aren’t you a handsome one—! ” He looked at you confused. Are you calling him handsome? Then you reached your hand to touch Yu-Jin’s face. Oh. You’re talking about Yu-Jin and not him. He felt embarrassed, thinking that you see him that way. Not that he cared. He is handsome. He knows it. Lots of people from the university know it, and he wouldn’t care if you don’t see him that way. “What brings you here? Oh, you look so cute, Yu-Jin! ” You said, smiling brightly at Yu-Jin, who also seemed happy to see you. He let you pet him, purring at your touches as you do. In-Ho once again cleared his throat, catching your attention, and it did. You looked up at him. You gave him a smile before asking, “What brings you and Yu-Jin here, Mr. Hwang? ” You gave him a confused look, curious about the reason why he’s here. He barely gave you a glance, and when he did, he scoffed, saying, “Aren’t you going to let me in first? ” He said with a mocking tone, ‘Geez, he's the one who came here, and he’s being rude already? ’ You thought, you chuckled awkwardly, “Right, I’m sorry—please come in.” You opened your door just enough for In-Ho and Yu-Jin to enter your home, and when they did, you couldn’t help but smell In-Ho’s perfume; he smelled manly and strong. It almost felt like tobacco and leather combined… It’s a strong scent, and you can’t help but fall in love with how good he smells, I mean, what do you expect? He looked handsome and expensive with his look right now. Any woman out there would be begging to get into his pants. One look from him and he’ll send you to heaven. You just wish how good he looks and smells would also reflect his attitude. He’s rude and stubborn. You do understand him, though. He looked like a busy person whose world only revolves around his cat, Yu-Jin, and his work.

“Please, take a seat, Mr. Hwang.” You said, leading him and Yu-Jin to your living room. Yu-Jin, whom In-Ho sets down, seems to be comfortable already. He started to walk to your sofa and lay there comfortably on his back, asking for a belly rub. You smiled at the sight in front of you. You walked towards the sofa and sat down beside Yu-Jin to give him belly rubs. Meanwhile, In-Ho can’t stop himself from smiling at the sight in front of him. He’s glad that you and Yu-Jin are getting along. He liked how Yu-Jin loved your presence. This is just your second meeting with Yu-Jin, and he can’t help but ask himself, ‘What’s so special about her? ’ He continuously admires you as you look at him as you slightly tilt your head, “Mr. Hwang?”

He snapped back into reality as you called his name, making him walk towards you. He sat down beside you. You took a quick glance at his lips. God, it looks so kissable, and by the looks of it, He takes care of himself a lot. You also noticed his growing moustache. He looked more attractive. “So, what are you and Yu-Jin doing here? ” You asked him. He took a moment to answer you. It almost feels like he’s trying to find words for how he is going to say it. Honestly, he felt embarrassed. He was rude to you. Well, until now he is. He just doesn’t like how you’re so lively and kind after what he did to you last time. “Yu-Jin’s cat sitter, she said she won’t be doing cat sitting for a while,” he mumbled as he looked down on your lips, then your neck. ‘Fuck,’ he thought. ‘Oh… That’s unexpected—” You gave him a shy smile as you pet Yu-Jin. ‘You’re so sweet, Yu-Jin. If I were them, I’d love to take care of and look after you any day! ” You smiled at Yu-Jin, who’s now sitting on your lap, “I can look after this little one if that’s ok with you. ” In-Ho gave you a subtle nod. “I—I actually went here to ask you a favor about that,” he scoffed. “I guess I don’t need to ask you that anymore.” You chuckled at his words. “I’m more than happy to take care of Yu-Jin, and I’ll do it for free.” “What? ” He asked as he gave you a confused look, “Why would you do that? “ “Yu-Jin is a good cat; I like him.” You replied, making In-Ho look at you for a while. ‘She is really special,’ he thought. He nodded and didn’t say anything. 

The silence felt so loud and heavy. Good thing that Yu-Jin is there to at least make you feel accompanied. In-Ho's shoulders are tense; perhaps he’s nervous, afraid, but for what? Why would he feel nervous and afraid in front of you? There's no reason for him to feel that way when he’s with you. 

“You’re off to work, I presume?” You asked, breaking the silence between the two of you. He nodded.’What’s your work? ...if you don’t mind me asking.” You felt brave enough to ask that. “I teach,” he sighs, “I work as a professor.” He added, “Oh, really? That’s great. What subject do you teach?” You asked as a hint of excitement showed in your face, and In-Ho noticed it. He couldn't help but smile when he quickly stopped himself, “Literature, I teach different kinds of literature.”  Your excitement grew bigger, It was unexpected that Mr.Hwang, your  grumpy and rude neighbor work as a professor for literature, You can’t help but imagine him teaching in front of the class, how his deep and soothing voice would echo the classroom, How would he look like leaning back on his table as he teach or observe the class, How attractive would he look like leaning down to a student when a certain student asked him a question while he looks at the student with those beautiful brown eyes…You stopped yourself from thinking anything else by asking In-Ho some questions about Yu-Jin, on what Yu-Jin can eat and can’t eat, In-Ho tells you everything that you need to know, You made sure that you will remember this later that's why you grabbed your phone and opened your notes app to type down everything that you need to know about Yu-Jin.

In-Ho thinks that it's very thoughtful of you to do that, given that you both barely know each other, and yet you kept giving him kind gestures, or maybe you're doing it because of his cat, Yu-Jin.

“Do you mind if I ask you something?” In-Ho asked as he slowly turned his gaze on you, 

Fuck. 

Those brown eyes of his could swallow stars, galaxies, and the universe…

Your breath hitched. “Uhm… Yeah, sure,” you said as you tried your best not to look back at him; you just couldn't look him in the eyes. 

“You asked me about what I do,” he paused for a moment, his eyes still looking at you. “What do you do for a living? ” He added, “I work for a company as their graphics designer.” You smiled up at him, “Hmm, must've been fun? ” He gave you a shy smile. “It is, but a little stressful…” There it is again, silence. You hate it; you're used to silence like this, but it doesn't feel right. “I should go,” he said, standing up. “Right,” you looked up at him, his figure towering over you. “Don't worry; I'll take good care of Yu-Jin; he'll be safe here.” You gave him a reassuring look. Before you could stand up, he leaned down. Your heart skipped a beat, thinking of the possibilities of what he was going to do. The smell of expensive perfume filled your nose; you just couldn't help but lean slightly on his neck and—”I'll see you later, Yu-Jin. Be a good cat, will you?”He said, chuckling as he pets Yu-Jin, who's still sitting on your lap, ‘That was close,’ you thought. 

You put down Yu-Jin on your side as you stood up, following In-Ho to show him the way out. ‘God, his back is so…broad.’ You thought as In-Ho grabbed the doorknob and twisted it; the door swung open. He took a pause before looking behind to talk to you; he reached out something in his pocket, “Here,” he said as he extended his hand, giving you a key, “This is a spare key from my house; whenever Yu-Jin needs anything, feel free to go to my house and get it; you can also stay there if you don't want to take care of Yu-Jin here at your home.” He said coldly; you nodded as you grabbed the silver key in his palm. 

His skin feels so soft against yours; you remember the first time you brushed your hands on his. “Alright, got it, Thank you Mr. Hwang.” You smiled up at him, “I’m Y/N, by the way–” you extend your hand offering him a handshake, “I feel rude for not telling you my name…” you felt embarrassed, but In-Ho didn't say anything, He just looked at your hand then to your lips for a second before looking in your eyes, He scoffed as he shake your hand, Finally—the warmth of his hand and the softness made contact with yours fully, In-Ho felt something inside him, he doesn't know what it is, “In-Ho, Hwang In-Ho.” He said, his voice is deep enough to make your breath hitch, “I know–” you chuckled, you saw him smile a little bit quickly fades as he pressed his lip together into a fine line, “My number is on Yu-Jin’s collar, if you need anything, Let me know.” And just like that, He left, leaving you standing on your door.

After finishing all the things you needed to do, you decided to feed Yu-Jin. You're lucky enough to have some cat food laying around; you liked feeding stray cats on the way home.

You put the cat food on the plate as you called Yu-Jin, who was lying on the coffee table; you chuckled as he hurriedly ran to the kitchen. He started circling on your legs. “Alright, alright, here you go.” You set the plate down as Yu-Jin looked at you before eating, “Eat well, Yu-Jin.” You remembered that you had saved In-Ho's phone number; you quickly grabbed your phone from your pocket as you typed in his name. You decided to update him about Yu-Jin. You took a couple of pictures of Yu-Jin, who had just gotten done eating and was now lying on his back; he looked satisfied with the meal he just had. You chuckled as you went through a bunch of pictures of Yu-Jin in your gallery. You picked the best one to send to In-Ho.

After tapping the send button, you quickly pick Yu-Jin up in your arms as you grab the spare key to In-ho’s house.’Now, before we go out, you definitely need your leash…” 

You went out with In-Ho’s cat, walking through the sidewalk till you reached In-Ho’s house.’Wait here for a while. It’ll be quick,” you said as you put down Yu-Jin to insert the key in the keyhole. Yu-Jin patiently waited for you as he looked up at you with his emerald green eyes. You twisted the knob and looked down at Yu-Jin. “Aww, you look so cute! ” You chuckled as you picked him up. Your eyes widened when you saw the inside of In-Ho’s house—it's beautiful! The walls are painted black with some accents of gold. The floors are made of fine polished wood, and there’s a big bookshelf full of books arranged by the colors of their book covers. Before you do anything, you’re here for one reason, Yu-Jin. You need to find where In-Ho keeps Yu-Jin’s leash. 

You grab your phone from your pocket and you type in a message for In-Ho, hoping not to disturb him.

You smiled at his quick response. Was he waiting for your text? Or did you disturb him? You looked around to locate the drawer, which is not that hard thanks to In-Ho’s detailed message. You pulled the first drawer and found a red leash. “This must be it, right, Yu-Jin? ” You looked at Yu-Jin, who was sitting on the edge of the stairs. You chuckled seeing his confused expression, “C’mon Yu-Jin—we’re going to have a lot of fun! ”

You and Yu-Jin take a walk at the park. It's a sunny day. You made sure to bring water bottles with you like what In-Ho said in his message. He’s not bad after all. Yu-Jin patiently walked with you; he’s not rushing things or making you feel scared that he might run and cause chaos. He's a sweet, patient, and obedient cat. Why can't his dad, In-Ho, be like Yu-Jin? 

You grabbed your phone from your purse. “Yu-Jin—look here—” You chuckled as you took some silly pictures of Yu-Jin. Sometimes…Yu-Jin can be a little stubborn, just like his dad, In-Ho. You sent the pictures to In-Ho hoping to see them and might brighten his day a little.

In-Ho just got done with his classes; one of his colleagues approached him, “Why are you late earlier? ” The woman clung to his arms. “Me being late doesn’t concern you.” He said coldly, not even bothering to look at the woman, “Don’t put your arms on me like that; we’re not together.” He said, grabbing the hands of his colleague, who seemed taken aback by what In-Ho did. In-Ho left without saying a word. He quickly went into the parking lot as he felt his phone vibrate inside his pocket. He sighed as he pulled it out. His eyes softened upon seeing your message. He replied to your message; he can’t help but smile. You kept giving him updates about Yu-Jin and, especially, you. He types a message and taps the send button before he drives home that day with a stupid smile on his face that only his cat, Yu-Jin, gets to see.

You and Yu-Jin sat down on a bench. You pulled out Yu-Jin’s food bowl and poured some water on it. Yu-Jin sat down beside you as he drank water. “You looked worn out,’’ you said as you chuckled. “Let’s go home,” you said as you put Yu-Jin’s empty food bowl inside your purse, setting him down on the ground as you two walked again to head home. 

You and Yu-Jin arrived at your home. You fed Yu-Jin and decided to freshen up. You had a lot of fun today, and it’s fun to have someone like Yu-Jin. He’s a really nice cat to be with. You want to know more about Yu-Jin and, well, about In-Ho too. You want to be close to him, to become friends with him. You like his presence around you. You wonder if he thinks the same about you. Does he mind being friends with you? --Your phone vibrates as you reach it out on the coffee table in front of you, a text message from In-Ho.

You smiled at his text message, You don't know why, But it felt good, You quickly replied back to him. 

You sigh as you tap the send button; you grab your book and read it. The warm silence of your home feels good; it's not the silence that you and In-Ho get when you two are together, blankly staring at each other, not talking unless either of you starts it. Yu-Jin sat on your lap, deciding to disturb your little peace. Not that you don't mind; you love Yu-Jin; he's an adorable cat. You chuckled as you took your phone out to quickly snap a picture of Yu-Jin,, who's doing a little pose on your book; you laughed as you sent it to In-Ho, thinking he might also find it funny.

In-Ho stops his car from the red light, he sees your text message, he opens it and sees Yu-Jin's adorable picture, he smiled and replied to your message.

A few moments later you heard a car engine going off, ‘that must be him,’ you thought as you looked through the window as you see In-Ho going out of his black Mercedes-AMG SL ROADSTER, ‘Damn’ you thought, he saw you from the window, he walked towards your porch, opening it before he even gets the chance to knock on your door, “Hi.” You said giving him a smile, he said nothing but eventually gave you a subtle nod, you let him in, “Yu-Jin's been good, he didn't give me any headaches, he's nice throughout the morning.” You mumbled as you and In-Ho went into the living room, seeing Yu-Jin asleep on the leather couch, In-Ho can't help but smile, “He must've been tired,” he smiled seeing his cat's sleeping figure, you can't help but smile as well upon seeing In-Ho’s smile, his smile is so adorable, the way his eyes would turn into crescent like moons, you just wish that he smiles like that more often, smiling suits him a lot. 

He noticed you smiling at him; he quickly changed his expression into a serious one, hoping that you didn't just see him smile all over his cat, Yu-Jin. You chuckled, “It suits you,” you said as you sat down beside him, making him look at you with a cold expression. “Suits me what? ” He asked, looking intensely into your eyes, those eyes that never fail to make him feel that unexplainable feeling. “Smiling.” You teased him as you chuckled. He didn't say anything but just looked at you as he scoffed, “Whatever.” He breathed out. Meanwhile, Yu-Jin decided to interrupt you two; he sat on In-Ho's lap as you leaned a little to pet Yu-Jin, who was more than happy to lay on his back to ask for more. You chuckled as you accidentally brushed your hand on In-Ho's thighs, “I—I’m sorry—! ” You nervously chuckled, he didn't say anything except he just looked at you with such a soft gaze, He sighs as he close his eyes, “We should go,” he said picking Yu-Jin up in his arms like a baby, “Oh- alright, I had a lot of fun with Yu-Jin, Thank you so much for that, In-Ho.” You said as you walked him out of your house, you quickly hurried back to get Yu-Jin's things to give it to In-Ho, “If you ever need someone to look after Yu-Jin whenever you're away, I'm happy to help.” You said as you looked up at him while he returned the gaze, he slightly tilted his head and smirked, “Thank you too, Y/n, I appreciate the help.” you nodded as you watched him walk away leaving you staring at his broad shoulders.

It's almost midnight, and you can't help but think about In-Ho, the way he looks at you... it feels like a burning desire, but neither of you wants to play with it. I mean, who would want to play with fire, right? Right? You groaned as you lay down on your bed, still thinking of the interactions with In-Ho. You fell asleep thinking of him, of In-Ho.

In-Ho couldn't sleep too; he sat in his home office, searching through tons of papers, but his mind is on you, how good you are to him, how he wants to be with you every day, and if he needs to use Yu-Jin as an excuse to see your smile, to hear your angelic voice, to feel your featherlight touches, he'd do it.

—

Author's Note: I liked how my idea turns out, feedbacks and suggestions would be nice though—again I'm sorry for publishing this a bit late, I'm really trying my best to publish some fics at the moment, since I'm on a semestral break lmaoo, Thank you for all of your support! I appreciate it so much! 🖤

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[sttoru]

♯ 𝐔𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐊.

⟣ sypnosis. kento has been extremely busy lately, going on business trips and so forth. he decides to surprise you by coming back earlier than expected. that’s how you end up finding your lover on top of you, showering you in his affection at 3 in the morning.

⟣ tags. nanami kento x female reader. fluff, bit of angst, suggestive towards the end. reader gets called 'sweetheart, angel, dear' wc: 1.8k

⟣ note. okayokay finally an adition to my event heheh ive almost forgotten about it but then i saw this prompt & was like . ok nanami , i must write this rnnn no delaying anymore so here i am :3 its also very bad. i hate it sm LOL i hope u at least like it t_t

kento often asks himself why he had returned to the world he despised — the jujutsu society; his old high school. the sprawling curses everywhere are the main cause of his current misery.

he had been sent out on missions left and right, not catching a break in hopes of reducing any more civilian causalities than necessary. kento had even thought that maybe his previous 9-5 job wasn’t as bad as he had considered it.

overtime was every day for the sorcerer now. that wasn’t the worst thing - no - the fact that he was pratically living a long distant relationship with his beloved irritated him most.

a thought he had in his high school days reoccured in a moment of distress: ‘why not leave all those missions to gojo?’

you were still pretty understanding of his situation. kento appreciated that, though the guilt still ate away at him whenever he tried to sleep. an empty bed welcomed him each time he re-entered his hotel room — you saw the exact same scenery when returning home to your shared apartment.

both of you were adults; both knowing that life was unfair. the two of you being unable to see each other from time to time was a part of your life. kento and you still maintained a healthy relationship. that was all that really mattered in the end.

11:49PM. . . tonight wasn’t unlike any other night; you were preparing yourself to go to bed—changing into your pyjamas after showering, snuggling to a pillow under the covers and texting your lover one last message.

‘good luck on your mission as always! stay safe, i love you.’

you stare at your phone screen for a minute longer than intended. even if you tried to be mature about it — you longed for kento’s warmth and undivided attention. you want him with you, his strong arms holding you to his chest as you rest, his deep voice sending shivers down your spine in the best way possible.

you sigh defeatedly and put your phone down on your nightstand. just two days until you could see your partner again. you can hold onto that hope to keep you calm.

despite you trying to stay positive, you tossed and turned in your bed as you thought about kento’s safety. there was always a chance of him not coming home to you — always the possibility of that bed to be empty for the rest of your life.

all you could do was pray for his safety in your head whilst your eyes eventually closed from fatigue, your mind drifting off to a deep slumber.

03:14AM. . . kento opens the door he had wished to have opened way earlier. the door that lead to the place where his heart lays; the person who claimed his heart and soul for eternity. you.

he didn’t think he’d actually do it. kento had originally planned to finish his last job as soon as possible and then get home afterwards, but there seemed to be a change in routine.

the special grade sorcerer simply assigned the mission to ino — the person whom he could trust most to finish the job in one piece. as much as kento dislikes to put his juniors in possible risky situations, there are also situations where it’s fine to depend on them. besides, the mission could easily be done by a grade one sorcerer.

kento sighs. the familiar scent of your home was one he could recognise from miles away. one that could calm his nerves instantly. it was that same distinctive scent you carry; thus why your lover sometimes calls you his home.

‘i can’t wait to be home’ ‘i want to be home’ ‘i’m going home’ — all these sentences, which kento has uttered before in earlier conversations, weren’t referring to a place. rather to a person he held dear.

“oh, my sweetheart.” the blonde man whispers under his breath as his eyes catch the shape of your figure under the blankets. he quietly enters the master bedroom and closes the door behind him, not making a sound as to not interrupt your well-deserved sleep.

kento slowly undoes his dotted tie, along with the upper buttons of his blouse. he probably needs to go take a good shower before he could settle down with you — but that’d risk waking you up.

you look extremely angelic in his eyes. especially with your left cheek squished by the soft pillow your head rests on. you never once fail to convince him that you are indeed the woman of his dreams; the woman kento ever had and will have eyes for. it’s like you get more attractive to him as the days go on.

“mh,” your sudden and soft groan makes him realise just how disturbing his behaviour could be interpreted as. kento’s body was hovering over your sleeping one and he was just. . . staring at you with a soft smile. a smile which he didn’t even notice had permanently found its place on his weary face.

kento sits down on the edge of the mattress, callused hand gently tucking you in properly, putting the blanket over your shoulders to make sure you didn’t get cold. he can’t rest if you’re not comfortable— even if he himself was exhausted to the point his eyes were starting to feel heavy.

yet that exhaustion doesn’t last long. it never does when kento’s able to see you again after a tiring week of countless missions and other jobs. your presence alone grants him the energy to stay awake and take care of you. and himself. you’re the reason he keeps it going.

“i love you so much, my beautiful girl — my angel.”

kento sure was a romantic. even when you’re unaware and asleep.

he couldn’t help it; the feeling stirring inside of him. the feeling of adoration and love for you. you are simply resting, yet kento felt an urge to kiss you all over, show you the unending love he has for you. but. . that’d probably be disturbing your peace. you are sleeping after all. he

not that that would stop kento.

your eyes flutter open due to a sudden presence hovering over you. your entire face and neck area was feeling ticklish, like someone was placing tens of kisses all over the skin.

strands of blonde hair is the first thing showing up in your blurry vision. kento’s face follows afterwards as his head tilts back up, the warmth against your jawline disappearing along with it —

“ah, i’m sorry.” a low and almost guilty chuckle tumbles out of his sore throat. the visible confusion on your face makes him let out another, “shh, shh, it’s just me, sweetheart.”

your arms flew around kento’s torso the second the realisation dawns upon you. your heart went from a slow pace to one that caused your entire body to warm up immediately; the adorable reaction and increase in heart rate not going unnoticed by your lover.

you wordlessly hug him — almost still in shock by the sudden appearance. kento doesn’t fight off your tight embrace, instead, welcomes it with open arms. the delicate kisses on your skin continue, each being placed with precision whilst one of his hands keeps your head tilted a little — rough fingers being a contrast of the gentle grip they had on your jaw.

“i missed you lots,” kento murmurs, eyes closed as he basks in the warmth of your body, his lips refusing to let go of your neck, “i couldn’t wait anymore. i couldn’t be separated from you any longer or i’d lose it.”

his gruff voice sounded even deeper than it usually would. maybe due to the overuse of it during his missions. the lone thought makes you pout — the thought of kento working super hard just to provide for you both.

“i missed you more, love.” you mumble, bottom lip trembling a little as kento’s hug triggers a whole lot of emotions in you. his hugs were special, his muscular arms giving you a sense of comfort you couldn’t find anywhere. no one could hug you like he did, “you did well. you did so well.”

those were all the words kento needed. his lips come to halt right above your collarbone, his breath a bit heavy from how much he's holding himself back from doing more. one hand moves from your cheek to your waist, fingers toying with the fabric of your shirt.

“thank you, dear.” kento says. his words carrying a load of unending affection. your simple words of appreciation and encouragement makes him shiver in delight. this is what he longed for; this is what he did it all for.

it was clear. the answer to his question - of why he had returned to the jujutsu world, to become a teacher at his former high school - it was all for you. to be able to be with you, see you and hold you like this. to have someone like you appreciate all of his efforts.

“may i?” kento asks through a quiet whisper as he gently removes the blanket covering your figure, his eyes darting down towards your cleavage. he's asking for permission to cross that barrier — to cover you in the love you deserve.

you just stare at the blonde man above you for a second. you watch as he climbs onto the bed with you; the bed which was once empty and dull, now suddenly becoming your favourite place to be at. your fingertips graze against kento's sharp cheekbones. a habit you always did when you were appreciating his looks.

“go right ahead.” you answer with a confirming nod.

both of you were touch starved and had been deprived from each other's embrace for way too long. now was the perfect time to make up for all the time lost.

kento wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip past him. he smiles at you, a gentle and handsome smile, whilst a few of his blonde locks fall over his left eye — his hands already prying away the blanket covering your shape. it was time to show you just how much he has longed for you.

“hold on to me, sweetheart. i’m not stopping until you realise just how much i’ve missed all of you.”

[lovesick-desires]

ASCENDANCY

YANDERE!AMBESSA MEDARDA X ROYALTY!READER — CHAPTER ONE

⇢ NEXT CHAPTER (COMING SOON)

ABSTRACT: As the monarch of a small country in Runeterra, your country is subject to an attack by Noxus. The deal that The Noxus General, Ambessa, proposes to save your kingdom is one you never could have suspected... CONTENT WARNINGS: dark themes, yandere behavior, war, mass death, violence, murder, death, sensual touching, mentions of corpses, dubious marriage, coercion, intimidation TAGS: gender neutral reader, probably ooc Ambessa (first time writing her), this is mostly an intro chapter (N)SFW?: slightly NSFW WORD COUNT: 1.5k+ AMBESSA’S YANDERE ARCHETYPE: possessive, sadistic

Unnecessary bloodshed.

That's all this really was.

You gazed out from the balcony of your castle, your battle armor dented and smeared with the essences of war: blood, sweat, and dirt. Your skin was bruised, lacerated, and covered in grime. You fought your hardest to protect your people, yet you failed. You realized that as you stared out at the kingdom you fought so hard for littered with the corpses of your people, all slaughtered like cattle.

"I have failed you." You whispered softly to the bodies below, knowing they will never hear your words. Your fingers grasped the ledge of the railing, feeling the legacy of your people die in your heart. You gazed upon your kingdom's flag, now seeming withered with faded colors.

You knew what was waiting for you, but the failure you felt seemed worse than any death that could take you from this planet. The crushing feeling of annihilation your people faced by the Noxian forces. Noxus was notorious for their prodigious armed forces: why did you think you could take them on when they threatened your people? It was foolish, really; it was just a whimsical pipedream that pulverized your kingdom.

At least, you knew some of your people were safe: the ones you got to evacuate in the midst of chaos. That put your mind at ease, even just a little bit.

You looked down at the corpses once more: men, women, and others all slaughtered for little purpose. But, as you gripped the hilt of your sword, you knew you couldn't go down without fighting like hell. These people gave everything for what once was a powerful kingdom, and you knew you would too.

"...And I will not fail you again."

You swiftly exited the balcony, hearing the combat downstairs in the main hall. They were definitely trying to get to you, and you were going to raise hell. Pulling your sword from its sheath, you race downstairs, your heart pounding in your ears and saliva pooling in your mouth. Adrenaline ran through you as you joined your other soldiers, putting the visor down of your helmet that displayed the family badge, one you wore with honor.

You fought like hell, helping your men fight against the Noxian forces. You had taken down a couple Noxians yet they kept coming. You were outnumbered and outpowered by a significant degree. Nonetheless, you kept fighting, straining your exhausted body beyond its limits.

An axe blade attached to a chain flew across your vision, knocking the visor of your helmet clean off. The now desecrated metal fell to the ground with a loud clinking noise before it skidded across the cold, bloodstained tile floor. Your hand flew up to feel the now lacerated bridge of your nose, the sanguine blood dribbling down your armored fingers.

"Interesting..." A velvety, yet commanding voice declared as the Noxus soldiers stood at attention, their weapons at their sides. Your gaze flickered over to the origin of the voice only to see Ambessa Medarda, the Noxus General striding towards you. "A monarch who actually fights and doesn't hide like a coward." She continued, causing you to instinctively take a step back with how close she was getting. You held your sword tightly as her muscular form drew near, cornering you against a pillar of the main hall as she loomed over you.

Your gaze flickered around to see that you were the only one left standing, your soldiers fallen at the feet of the Noxian fleet.

It was all up to you now.

With a loud cry, you swung your sword down at the Noxian warlord, refusing to go down without a fight. You could see an inkling of a smirk dance across Ambessa's lips as she blocked your swing with her armored forearm, the sheer impact sending a jolt of vibration through every atom in your arms. You tried to retract your blade but Ambessa struck a solid blow to your gut, making you crumble and drop your weapon. The steel clattering against the cold tile floor elicited a scoff from Ambessa.

As you looked up at the intricate, painted ceiling of your castle, you realized if you didn't get up here, it would be over. Just like that, you'd be wiped from this Earth like nothing more than a speck of dirt. Gathering the remaining strength you had left, you swiped your armored foot under hers, knocking her to the ground with a resounding grunt. The warlord's umber eyes flared wide as you snatched your sword from the floor, plunging its tip downward toward her with deadly intent.

A loud clank followed by a shattering noise assaulted your eardrums as you felt knocked back to the floor, your sword now shattered into a plethora of pieces that surround you. Through your blurred vision and ringing ears, you could see Ambessa rewrapping her arm in the ribbon of runes that decorated it, as those must have protected her from the blow.

"Impressive, little one." Ambessa proclaimed with a slight tease in her tone.

As you tried to get up, Ambessa became to approach you once again, her footsteps swaggering yet intimidating. The clanking of her armors rang in your ears, feeling like it was piercing your eardrums. Her footsteps stopped right before you as she dropped the metal mits that held her chain axes, letting them crash to the ground.

"I have fought many foes: older than you, stronger than you, wiser than you... Better than you." Ambessa declared, her searing gaze meeting your subconscious one. "Yet, you got me under your feet. Not many have ever been able to accomplish such a feat." The matriarch of war continued before placing a strong hand on your jaw, pulling it up. She seemed to be trying to get a better look at you as your vision slowly focused, the vertigo fazing away as your face was mere inches from her. The matriarch of war's lips curled into a crooked smile with a glint in her eyes that was indiscernible yet seemingly troublesome.

"I have a proposal for you, young one. One that can save your kingdom from utter obliteration." The warlord proposed, offering her calloused hand to you. You snapped out of your confusion as your gaze met hers.

"What... proposal?" You spoke cautiously yet not taking her hand. To this, Ambessa's smile pulled a little more at the corners of her lips.

"Marry me and your kingdom will be safe and protected from my forces." Her words drove horror in your heart like a spear. You could see the bloodlust behind her smile, the glint of conquest in her eyes. This was no proposal: it was a leash in the shape of a ring. You were wrong: there was a fate worse than death.

You swallowed hard, trying to mask the tremble in your hands. Around you, the main hall fell silent, holding its breath. One wrong word and your people would burn.

"How can I trust you? You and your forces have invaded and massacred my soldiers." You proclaimed, shakily going to stand as pain radiated down your left leg, making you wince as your legs tremble.

She stepped closer, her heels echoing on the marble flooring like the ticking of a clock. Her guards didn’t move. They didn’t need to. Power clung to her like a second layer of armor.

"You misunderstand me," she said softly, almost kindly. "Trust is not required: only obedience. I offer you mercy. Refuse, and your kingdom will be reduced to ash and screams."

A drop of sweat rolled down your temple. Your heart pounded like a war drum. Streaks of blood and dead bodies littered the floors. You were out of time and out of soldiers.

"Make your choice, monarch," Ambessa rasped, nodding to her hand. "Will you die a martyr and let your people burn or live to see your people thrive with the help of my forces?" She continued, her gaze glinting with conquest and the raging fire of countless wars.

Your gaze shifted to her outstretched hand. You didn't want all your people to die because you didn't want to take on the burden. You thought of all the children who laughed in the schoolyard, you thought of all the lovely couples strolling about with some now permanently separated by a wall of death, and you thought of them all perishing just because you wanted to be brave. You'd take death over this in an instant if your people weren't involved, and Ambessa probably knew that. You heard horror stories of how relentless she was: conquest after conquest, she raged on like an unrelenting storm.

With a shaky hand, you clasp the warlords in order give her a firm yet reluctant handshake, sealing your fate in her bloody, calloused hand.

Your people needed a hero, and you weren't going to fail them again.

"As long as my people stay safe, I will agree to your terms." You relented, trying to fill your voice with authority. Ambessa smirked softly before firmly grasping your hand back, shaking it firmly.

"Wise choice, little one."

SONG OF THE FIC: THE WOLF — SIAMES

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[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Now that all the main cast's unique magic has been shown, can you make a ranking on your favorite unique magic from most to least favorite? Would be favorite unique magic from each dorm but felt some feels unfair especially Ignihyde when Ortho is confirm unable to have his own. You can include the other characters like Chenya, Rollo, Skully, and Fellow.

Originally I was gonna ask about your top favorite dreams, overblot boys' dream outfit, and chapter 7 SSRs (excluding the main Diasomonia uniforms), but there is chance there will be more dreams in upcoming chapter since some people theorize that we might see both Silver's and Malleus's now that Ace's UM is shown. Even a possibility of Silver having an SSR card. So I will be holding this question once chapter 7 is over.

[For a complete compilation of known unique magic (including name, incantation, first use, effects, and limitations), check out this post!]

To briefly explain what is mentioned in the second ask and the second paragraph of first ask, some fans theorize that with Ace’s new UM (which seemingly allows him to borrow, copy, or swap UM with a target?), he could use Malleus’s magic against him or on other characters too. This could potentially allow us to see his dream and/or Silver’s. As far as I could tell it though, there doesn’t seem to be a purpose for doing this provided by theorists yet.

Aaand with that aside, here’s my personal ranking of the UMs, with explanations for each below. It’s not numerical, but rather tiers. This is primarily based on how practical or fun I think the UMs would be to my daily life, NOT based on power level or some other metric.

“Useful overall”

Snake Whisper/Snake Charmer — At the risk of sounding slightly unhinged, this would make life in general easier. Shockingly few drawbacks or limitations too. (Big surprise, the person who says they are similar to Jamil puts Jamil’s UM as at the top…)

I See You/Arrow Afar — As someone that easily gets lost while traveling and easily loses things, this UM sounds like a godsend. Just tag whatever you want to locate and you’re good to go!

Far Cry Cradle — The idea of experiencing stories by touching a random object is so fascinating. Endless entertainment but could also help with answering questions. Bonus: reminds me of the Dimensional Scream from the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers games.

“Fun to experiment with”

Doodle Suit/Paint the Roses — The simple act of being able to change the smell, taste, or texture of something would make dietary restrictions so much easier to deal with. Other applications would be nice for comfort too, like adjusting the perception of brightness or loudness just for yourself in a group setting like a movie or concert. (There’s some ominous fan works and theories about Trey being able to use his UM to overwrite others’ emotions or thoughts too, but I’m only sticking to what he is shown to be capable of in canon.)

Split Card — I’d wanna see how many clones can be made at once and what each is physically and mentally capable of. (We already know the magical power of the original and the clones goes down, so what about other parameters?) Useful for multitasking.

Joker Snatch — It's basically the same has having multiple UMs. Would fuck around and find out what this sucker is capable of. :9

Fairest One of All — Such a flexible and customizable UM, honestly. You can basically set whatever conditions you like, just be careful about the wording because the curses get pretty locked in.

Meet in a Dream — The idea of hopping around dreams and seeing what weird shit goes on in people's heads sounds so fun! Then you can embarrass them about it in the waking world :>

Not All My Head —Ultimate stealth... You can bypass into some of the most secure places in the world just for the lols 🤣 or, y'know... sneak into the kitchen to steal some snacks or something.

“Messing with the forces of nature because fuck you, that’s why”

King’s Roar — Could be used for a fight, but also to clear an area. What's that? Destruction of nature/property? Potential for murder? IT'S OKAY, JUST BREATHE IN THE SAND PARTICLES FLUTTERING IN THE BREEZE AND DON'T CHOKE :))

Oasis Maker — Need clean water to drink? BOOM. Want to water your garden? BOOM. Making a random swimming pool? BOOM. Maximum output for minimum effort.

Fae (of) Maleficence — You become a literal god of time and space. Scary amount of potential for control.

“The trail mix where I pick out the bits I like and leave the gross stuff in there”

Laugh with Me — Not really useful unless for small pranks or you + the target are in a convenient location already (since you'd have to take steps forward to get the target to do the same).

Sleep Kiss/Crimson Slumber — Can be protective (but can't seem to be cast on the self, only on others). Also useful to put people to sleep. Would like to use to send my pet or loud neighbors to sleep early instead of staying up late and bothering me :v

Living Bolt — Very good for an extra boost of speed and/or power if in a rush or in a desperate situation. Unfortunately comes with electrical side effects so that's... not optimal.

Scary Night — Basically Off with your Head but also limits your movement, so I consider it an upgrade with applications besides just combat. Wonder what happens if you cook with those pumpkin’d people or smash the pumpkin on the ground… Is that instadeath? Gruesome to think about, but unsure of since we see so little of the UM in action.

“Requires rizz”

It’s a Deal and Life is Fun — Same reasoning for both; takes a certain amount of charisma to pull these UMs off and if you lack that then this magic sucks. Would be useful if you did have these characters’ sway though.

“Fistfighting central”

Off with your Head — Could shut down a hostile party’s magic, but if you’re not as trigger happy as Riddle is then how often would you realistically use this? And if the target has no magic then this basically does nothing.

Bet the Limit/Double Down — Assuming you’re not already dead from the blows you’ve already eaten and/or you can aim properly and get that shot in before you wipe??? Okay, sure 😂

Bind the Heart — Only deflects magical blows. Physical hits will still pass. Would get my ass beat anyway.

Dark Fire — Primarily useful only for combat, which most people don’t get up to on a regular basis. Must be a true hater or be surrounded by true haters to get the most power out of this. What happens if everyone holds hands and sings a song at you? Do you just pathetically whimper and die out in a pile of ashes/j

“Not a furry, don’t @ me”

Unleash (the) Beast — The idea of a big furry... creature... charging at me makes me want to run and hide 🤢 Could have its use for strength and speed, but… I still don’t want a massive dog around.

“This could have been an email”

Shock the Heart — Nothing a reasonable amount of blackmail research cannot do. Has so many limitations (eye contact, only one use per person, target may resist/refuse anyway, etc.) you may as well need a PhD in order to manufacture plans to effectively use this UM.

“So niche it has like no practical application”

Gate to (the) Underworld — Y-You just… open and close a door to a pit of Phantoms. Discounting opening the pit to retrieve Phantoms to test or experiment on, why would you not just keep this closed all the time and just never use this UM 💀

[ancientgoddessofegypt]

ASTROLOGY TIPS - ASPECTS

Sun/Venus - A person with a sun/venus aspect has a charming ability that can masks itself into getting others to do what you want. The original sirens. Learning how to express this more often can garner them more fame, respect and power. They are naturally popular, but if they dont know how to awaken it, they usually have to embrace their sensuality much more often and get more into the spotlight.

Jupiter/Moon - Knowing what works is a natural ability they have. This takes a little arrogance on their end (jupiter) and trusting the power of intuition (moon) to make it more favorable. It seems as if that placement just knows things without knowing. And they should be more honest with themselves instead of guarding this gift. You never know when someone is going to need your intellect in somethning.

Mars/Moon - Hidden geniuses when it comes to working hard for something. That inner passion they feel sparks up real big energy, so a small tip for them is to work on that thing each day no matter what. It could be 30 minutes a day or whatever, but to keep the drive and focus churning more they have to keep the momentum.. because once they stop its harder to get back in with that same momentum.

Pluto/Sun - Transformative by nature, they need to spend more time in nature imo.. Nature is the inner reflection of us all, so these people have to learn to transform themselves like the way of the water, the trees, butterflies etc. Like how the seasons change, so do y'all. Very similar in nature to sun/neptune but more on the darker end. You guys need to be at peace with your transcendence and not reject it. The more you open yourself up to others the more powerful you become. <3

Mars/Jupiter - Being able to focus on a path that makes your heart sing, that is transcendence. You guys have a big appetite for learning, so putting all your effort in making a stronger impact on your mind is necessary. The choices you make in bettering yourself is a form of self-mastery and at some point might take up space. We're dealing with jupiter, after all.

Sun/Moon - Whew. I love yall. such a whimsical energy present. Your love for yourself and the world is a reflection of the inner child that is always constantly moving. Keep doing you, is my main tip. Focus on having a more balanced presence, and doors will open up for you much more easily. Got it?

Mercury/Jupiter - Talk. Talk. Talk. But talk about the things you love, what excites you, what makes your world much bigger. Your infinite mind is the key to enrichment in your journey, so why not share that with others who might be interested in the same. It could be as simple as a good book you just finished reading. Inviting others to how you see the world will attract more followers to you that you ever knew.

Neptune/Moon - Learning to accept your boundaries with others helps you heal a lot more than you realize. You're not for everyone, your cool, calm collected nature is what attracts people to you like flies... but its not for everyone to receive. You get me? Just be open to more out there, because the world is your oyster no matter who tells you otherwise. K <3

If you're interested in learning more, check out my tags! Also, if you want to know anything about your own chart, feel free to go into my asks! Thanks for reading, chow :)

[sanakiras]

FRIENDLY COMPETITION

PAIRING — hong joshua x reader (+ yoon jeonghan x reader)

WORD COUNT — 5.1k

SYNOPSIS — nothing quite compares to the bitterness left by a best friend’s betrayal. joshua knows he should probably just let it go; if only he didn’t hold a grudge like it’s a hand.

TAGS — infidelity (by like. everyone in this fic. several times. it’s crazy), some mlm action, explicit sexual content, this wasn’t supposed to be a love triangle fic but i rewatched challengers recently so it took a turn, all three main characters are nasty, intentionally vague fic bc it was originally meant to be longer, i’m ngl it’s so messy sorry 😭

♪ — saint avangeline - lilith / charli xcx - good ones / partynextdoor - make it to the morning

THEY SAY BEING THE BIGGER PERSON IS A SIGN OF GOOD CHARACTER.

but joshua has never really given a damn about being a good person.

with a glass of champagne in hand, he glances across the room, the expression on his face completely blank. the fabric of the suit fits his body like a glove, perfectly tailored to his measurements.

he doesn’t really fit in with this crowd. not that he’d want to.

jeonghan did always have a knack for surrounding himself with the most pretentious of people, but then again, he has always carried himself with a certain sense of... superiority.

his eyes scan the room in hopes to find a certain person. trying to look for someone you’ve never met before is more challenging than he thought it would be.

“i don’t think we’ve met.” he hears behind him, and he turns around, only to be met with one of the most beautiful smiles he’s ever seen.

joshua’s greeting is said near absentmindedly, as he’s clearly taking in the sight of you.

sure, he’s seen the pictures of you online after rigorously searching up everything he could find about you. he recognizes you easily, though he finds the pictures don’t do you justice.

you’re the daughter of a renowned, successful businessman, though from what he’s gathered, you’re also considerably more private than most people in your circle, so it was hard to find anything about you other than basic things like your birthday and education.

but he can work with what he has.

“yeah, this isn't my usual scene."

“what brings you to the scene here, then?”

joshua’s eyes are sweet, completely hiding the self-serving revenge plan he’s actually here for. “i was invited by a business partner of mine.”

surprisingly enough, you don’t often meet handsome and intriguing strangers at events like these. but joshua here is a refreshing, new face in the midst of everyone you already know and always have to talk to.

“something tells me you don’t really enjoy being here.”

“am i that obvious?”

“a little.”

not really. you’ve just had your eyes on him since he walked in.

“can i say something brutally honest?” he asks, and when you nod, he slightly leans closer to your face, lowering his voice. “you don’t really seem to be enjoying yourself either.”

a scoff escapes your mouth while you still have a glass of champagne in hand. “what makes you think so?”

joshua shrugs casually. “gut feeling, i guess. but i’m right, aren’t i?”

when you don’t refute his words, the corner of his lips curls up for a split second, his cockiness briefly slipping underneath his facade. yeah, he thinks to himself, i know you’re unhappy with that shitty husband of yours. it’s been in the gossip magazines several times at this point.

there’s something captivating about him. clothed in a clearly expensive two-piece suit, jet-black hair framing his soft features. he looks down at you with half-lidded eyes, and you catch the piercings in his ear — it leaves you wondering who the hell this is.

“normally, this is my crowd, but unfortunately there’s not much place for honesty here. so when i’m having a shit day, i still have to put up a smile and act like i’m so interested in whatever business everyone’s doing these days.”

“well, if you need to pour your heart out to a stranger, go on ahead. i won’t judge, promise.”

his smile is infectious. you hope the heat isn’t visible on your cheeks. after hesitating for a moment, you open your mouth, about to tell him why your week has been so utterly bad when you feel a presence behind you, the familiar hand sliding around your waist.

“joshuji — it’s been a while.”

that fucking nickname. it used to warm his chest, now it just fills it with a sharp pain.

joshua’s mood instantly sours, and he has to force himself to hide the disdain on his face.

his heart sinks familiarly at the sight of him. the memories with him flash through his mind — the complicated history that had them go from best friends to strangers.

“jeonghan,” he returns the greeting rather stand-offish, “it sure has.”

“i see you’ve met my wife.” jeonghan’s smile turns into something more genuine once it’s directed at you.

“you two have history?” you ask, feeling a bit left out now that you’ve discovered the two of them know eachother.

before joshua can answer, jeonghan does so for him. “from high school, yeah. we were classmates.”

classmates. that’s a hell of a way to put it.

jeonghan catches the dark glare joshua sends his way, but ignores it entirely. your husband squeezes your waist tighter than usual, more possessively — it sparks curiosity in you.

after exchanging some tense lines of small talk, jeonghan gives some bullshit excuse to get you to go home with him, and you agree, though not without subtly giving joshua your card; with your number on it.

he triumphantly grins to himself when watching the two of you leave.

as much as jeonghan might want to keep you away from him, you certainly don’t have the same plan — just as he’d hoped.

when joshua makes the bold move of inviting you out for drinks a few days later, you shamelessly agree to it. of course there’s nothing wrong with getting to know someone in a friendly manner, but you’re not quite sure if it’s friendship that you want from him.

just as the first time you met, he’s charming. he easily makes conversation, and you enjoy his company just as much as the glass of red wine sitting on the table before you. you drink, talk and laugh together, and the hours pass by faster than they should.

“is there no girl waiting for you at your house at this hour?”

with a glass in hand, he shakes his head. "no, there’s not. i’ve been single for a while now. though you can’t say the same.”

the mention of your husband instantly affects your body language. “no, i cannot.”

“i don’t mean to pry, so if you don’t wanna talk about it, just say the word — but you seem like you’ve got a lot on your mind. which you didn’t get to tell me about last time.”

a huff escapes you. joshua is a welcome distraction, and for once in your life, you’re interested in someone else’s opinion on your personal life.

so you tap your nail against your thigh, admitting why your life has been feeling irritatingly hectic lately. “i keep finding these tabloids writing about me and jeonghan, our relationship and all — it annoys me. do you know how much work goes into suing those assholes?”

“not really, but i can imagine. what’re they saying about you?”

“that our marriage seems strained at certain moments, or that we’re never really seen together outside of events… the usual.”

“i’m glad to be out of that kind of spotlight.”

“yeah, well, i’m not just in it — i’m married to someone who’s also in it. god, if i could get a fucking break and be single again, i would.”

“so i take it the not-so-happy-marriage rumors they’re all writing about are true, then?”

“kind of. but it’s not what you think.”

“i’m all ears.”

“well, for starters, i’ve never been in love with him.”

“you’re—you’re not?”

“i’m not. at least i don’t think so. i’ve grown to love him, definitely, but… i just don’t know if i’m in love with him.”

“but why would you marry him, if you felt like that?”

“it was initially just a business thing, our parents pretty much paired us together. but he’s charming, intelligent, not bad on the eyes at all. even though he’s in love with me, he still holds me at a distance. i doubt i’ll be able to fall in love with him if he doesn’t let me in.”

joshua has to surpress a knowing grin. jeonghan’s always been like that, even with him — the type of guy you could pour your heart out to, never getting the same in return.

“and there’s no way to get out of it?”

“legally, i could get a lawyer and file for divorce, but it’s still a business deal at the end of the day. it’d do damage to all our reputations, which i don’t want to be the cause of, and despite everything, jeonghan still treats me well. i guess i should’ve known i would have to live this way when i agreed to sign the contract.”

jeonghan treats you well.

of course he does.

before orchestrating his plan, it was difficult to think of a way of hurting jeonghan deeply, the same way the latter did to him years ago. but joshua came across a video of you giving an interview to some reporters after a ceremony, and when he caught how jeonghan looked at you, he knew exactly what to do.

jeonghan is utterly and completely in love with you. it shows in every photo taken of you two together, even the articles in the papers where he talks about you. there’s no one he holds in higher esteem than his wife.

so joshua figured you had to become the key to his bitter, borderline childish plan of revenge.

now that you’re telling him you don’t even reciprocate your husband’s love, it might be a whole lot easier than expected to carry it out.

“so you just have to remain stuck in your marriage?”

“pretty much.”

he bites his lip, looking at you a certain way, and it makes you raise a brow at him.

“what is it?”

“no, i just thought of something, but i shouldn’t ask.”

“i’ll be the judge of that. c’mon, say it.”

joshua presses his lips together, and you don’t miss that glint in his eyes. with another sip of alcohol, he asks you what he’s genuinely curious of. “i just wondered if you two ever…”

“what?”

“… you know.”

“wow, you’re cheeky.”

“i’m just asking.”

“mhm.” you hum playfully, at which he chuckles, taking a sip of his drink. “sometimes, we do.”

he’s thankful for the darkness of the restaurant and the table covering his crotch. the image of jeonghan and you in bed together, all naked and intertwined and warm, it gets a rise out of him. he subtly shifts in his seat.

“look, i’m not asking this because i have some ulterior motive or something, but...” a funny choice of words, “if it’s business, you’re free to see others, right?”

“we’ve never discussed it.”

“what would your gut tell you?”

“my gut is wondering why you care so much, joshua.”

“because—” he lets his teeth sink into his lower lip, “because if you are, i’d like to let you know i’m more than willing to… give you whatever you need.”

“and if i’m not free to see others?”

dangerous territory to be in, you both find.

his response comes out low and breathlessly. “then i’d still be here for you.”

you push your tongue against the inside of your cheek. in any real relationship, you’d never condone cheating. jeonghan is your husband in name only, and while you’ve both been loyal to each other so far, he’s getting more out of your marriage than you are.

and joshua, who simply waltzed into your life at the moment you needed it the most, is offering to give you something you’ve been craving.

agreeing to this dimly lit cocktail date with a man who gazes at you like that — you should’ve known it meant drafting up a sin that’s been lurking underneath the surface.

it takes exactly fifteen minutes for you to be pushed into the dark alleyway between the restaurant and the five-star hotel next to it. his hands are bigger than jeonghan’s, something you already concluded when he put his hand on your lower back while walking out of the entrance.

his lips are on your jaw, trailing down your neck, his hands hungrily grabbing onto your thighs.

he’s itching for some kind of relief, pupils dilated from lust, your lipstick smeared around his mouth. “let me touch you.”

you nod, breathing into his mouth, and he reaches down, easily pushing your panties to the side with that skirt you’ve got on. hot arousal sits between your legs, and when he feels it, he’s close to crying out from how wet you are.

his lengthy fingers make their way inside you easily, your reaction to the intrusion making him smirk.

“next time your husband does this,” he groans at the feeling of his fingers getting coated in your wetness, “i want you to think of me. of this.”

even through your lustful haze, you pick up on the snide undertone of his comment, and it only makes you chuckle. “that depends.”

“on what?”

“on how hard you make me come.”

now it’s his turn to laugh. oh, he’ll give it to you, all right. so much for holding back because you’re in public.

joshua proves himself more than worthy when he has you seeing stars not much later, your knees almost giving out on you. he keeps you standing upright, and once you’ve regained a clear sight, you find him licking his fingers, his body still pressed up against yours.

“if you want me to fuck you here, say the word and i will. though it might be smarter to go back to my apartment.” he whispers, simultaneously pushing his front against you. he’s rock-hard, aching to be inside you, willing to give you whatever you ask of him.

a flash of guilt spreads through you when you realize you could still call it a night and go home. you’ll tell jeonghan that you let his former classmate finger-fuck you in a dark alley and he’d probably let it be, too — but you’re greedy.

and you let it consume you.

his apartment is down the street. you let him fuck you with long and deep strokes, and it has your eyes rolling back, only moans, whimpers and his name tumbling from your lips.

his muscles are stronger, more visible than jeonghan’s. you see them in every thrust of his hips, every grab at your breasts, every move he makes. his big eyes are hypnotizing.

so hypnotizing that you don’t know he’s recording all of this.

only audio — it’ll be more than enough to prove to jeonghan that you’ve been in his bed, if necessary.

once you’ve had eachother for several rounds, you slip into a different conversation. your hopes and dreams in life, how you feel you’re not living the life you want, and all the struggles that come with it.

you talk about music, what kind of home you grew up in, and all kinds of experiences that make you both laugh. you enjoy his company, and he enjoys yours.

it’s his turn to feel guilty now. this sweet girl, who he happens to be wildly attracted to, is so lovely — he doesn’t want this to be the last time he talks to you.

so, going against his own plan, he meets you again, a few days later. and it happens again, and again, and again; he has to face the truth.

he’s falling for you.

his heart skips a beat when he sees you, gazes at you. how your hair gleams when the sun shines on it, the sound of your laughter, those sarcastic comments that make him crack up every time.

he doesn’t want to lose you. he’s aware that you’re falling in love with him too, and he genuinely wants to be with you, to have you be his completely.

but at the same time, he cannot let go of the past. he can’t not see his revenge through.

joshua faces a choice he never thought he’d have to make — you, or jeonghan.

two months later, when you get home late again, your husband finally speaks his mind. he does his best to sound somewhat casual, but fails.

“you’ve been awfully late these past weeks. hard time at work?”

in the living room, you press your nails against the inside of your palm. truthfully, you’d planned to tell him of your affair when you got home that night. rip the band-aid off while the wound is still fresh.

but he was in a good mood, and all you could think about was how much he cares about you. how much he loves you.

because for whatever reason, he does.

so you chose to keep quiet, vowing to tell him the next day. but when you woke up beside him in your shared bed, while he was sleeping soundly, you looked at his face and felt so terrible that you just couldn’t do it.

you planned to go to joshua’s and tell him you couldn’t do anything together until you’d told jeonghan.

yet you somehow landed on top of him in the span of minutes.

about a week later, you wanted to test out the waters. see if jeonghan would be open to you going out with others.

but the moment you asked, it’s like you could see his heart breaking. perhaps you didn’t quite grasp how much he was in love with you until that moment, and when he said he’d promise to try and be more open with you, to give you an opportunity to understand him better, you couldn’t bear the idea of hurting him even more.

the two contradicting voices in your head keep justifying both sides of your situation, of having something with both of the men currently in your life.

now, it seems, you’ve finally mustered up enough courage to be honest with him.

“no. it’s not work.” you admit, nearly hurting your jaw from how much you’re clenching your teeth. your heart pounds in your throat. “i haven’t been honest with you about what i’ve been doing—”

“you’re seeing someone.” he interrupts, his hands folded together when he sits with his legs spread apart in the chair. “i figured already.”

you wait a moment before responding, giving an honest apology without excusing your behavior. “yeah, i am. and i’m sorry for not telling you.”

jeonghan nods, and he’s surprisingly calm, more sadness than anger to be found in his body language, as if he’s miserable only about the fact that he didn’t get you to fall for him before some other guy came along.

“just tell me one thing,” he says sternly, managing to come across as gentle at the same time, “are you fucking him?”

with a quiet nod, you lower your head.

he moves on to the question that might be the most heartbreaking to him. “who is it?”

the look in his eyes is so utterly depressing. he wants—no, needs to know who it is that captured your heart, solely so he can compare himself to him. surely this other man must have something he doesn’t.

“joshua hong.”

it’s so silent after you say his name that you could hear a pin drop. with his head lowered, you think he might be crying, but then he turns to lock eyes with you, and there’s a mean, knowing smirk on his face.

“let me guess. after you met, he reached out to you?”

“is that so strange?”

“it’s not. but i don’t think your loverboy’s been completely honest with you.”

he stands up, his glossy eyes set dark and harsh, at which you frown, not having a clue what he’s trying to say here. “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“look, i know that you’re not in love with me. but you shouldn’t think he’s in love with you."

tilting your head, your face falls, expression fading from pity into hurt. “is this the length you’re willing to go to get me away from another man?”

“no, you don’t get it. joshua and i have history. we didn’t leave things on good terms. now all of a sudden he’s back in my life, flaunting the fact that he’s got you right where he wants—”

“what the fuck are you even talking about? what happened between you?”

“it doesn’t—it doesn’t matter. what matters is that you need to understand he’s using you to get to me.”

“that’s bullshit.”

“go on and ask him about it. see what he says.”

“you’re an ass, jeonghan.”

“he’s the one playing you, not me.” he shrugs, going upstairs for some solitude. you remain frozen in your spot for a bit, thinking about what he’s just told you, and you grab your phone from your backpocket, calling joshua to check if he’s still home.

when you confront him in his apartment, he’s clearly surprised that jeonghan told you about their history at all. the brief hesitance in his voice and the flickering of his eyes was enough to give away that at least some part of it had to be true.

so you told him to leave you alone for a while.

he was using you, and you walked into a trap without knowing it.

unfortunately, you did fall in love with joshua. and even you’ve felt that he harbors some feelings for you, too. but you don’t want to think about it.

you return home in the middle of the night. jeonghan is half-asleep on the couch, a lukewarm cup of coffee on the table in front of him. you feel terrible, not just for waking him, but for treating him the way you have.

“i guess you were right.” you manage to push out of the depths of your throat, a few tears rolling down your cheeks. “i’m sorry. for everything.”

even when you fight with him, there’s a comforting warmth to your home that you have yet to find anywhere else.

maybe it’s because he’s here.

now fully awake, he stands up from the couch, wrapping his arms around you, allowing you to sink into the heat his body.

“take whatever you need from me.” he whispers, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

there’s something sad about it — you’re upset about being used by joshua, and you seek comfort with jeonghan, who’s directly asking you to use him, because for now, it’s the only way he can have you.

and very selfishly, you do use him, all in an attempt to forget about joshua.

he’s swiftly got you splayed out on your dinner table, and the way he looks at you when you’re left in only your lingerie — that is what you crave right now. so much longing, desire. only jeonghan can look at you like that.

he pleasures you for what feels like hours. licking your pussy, sliding his fingers in and out, fucking you and rubbing your clit; he knows you like the back of his hand.

in a way, you do want him. and he feels it, too.

the fresh rift in your relationship with joshua drives you and your husband closer. you begin to appreciate him more, the sex feels more intimate, but that distance between you is still there, and he has yet to tell you what it is that drove him and his former classmate apart.

when joshua calls you, you ignore him. why should you give him your attention?

eventually, he chooses to go by your house with the hope of fixing things, assuming that jeonghan is away at work.

you haven’t shut the door in his face yet only to tell him off. “this whole thing is kind of a dealbreaker, don’t you think?”

“i’m sorry.”

“sorry’s not gonna cut it. why should i believe anything you say? for all i know, you’re still lying to me right now.”

“i’m an asshole, i know. i’m genuinely, really sorry and i know i fucked up. whatever you need me to do, i’ll do it. but please, just—just give me a chance to make it up to you.” he begs, stepping closer to you.

he doesn’t say it literally, but you can both fill in the blanks.

he misses you. and truth be told, you miss him too. as much as you love jeonghan, your dynamic with joshua is vastly different, and it’s something you need to have now that you’ve tasted it.

from his spot by the front door, he suddenly catches the sight of jeonghan in the kitchen, walking around with damp hair and a towel sitting around his hips, his chest completely bare.

it’s hard to take his eyes off him, and his pupils dilate the same way they always do when he looks at you.

“i’ll think about it. just—just go. i don’t want him to see you.” you tell him, missing the way he stared at your husband, pushing him away from your porch and shutting the door with a loud thud.

“who was that?” jeonghan asks, walking over to you with his bowl of breakfast in hand.

you shrug. “mailman. had the wrong address.”

he only hums in response, not letting you know he already recognized joshua when he looked outside the bedroom window after getting out of the shower.

and he decides to take matters into his own hands.

about a week and a half later, you and jeonghan find yourselves at a charity event hosted by an acquaintance, your outfits beautifully matching, which you receive many compliments for.

joshua, you later find, is also invited. when he eventually goes outside through the backdoor, hoping to get some fresh air despite the fact that it’s been raining for hours already, suddenly has jeonghan standing right in front of him.

“enjoying your night, joshuji?”

well, he was.

“i have nothing to say to you.”

“no, but you wanted to have something to say to me, didn’t you?” jeonghan asks rhetorically, his tone so deeply condescending that it makes his former best friend want to jump him.

“leave it to you to be a belittling prick to the guy who’s been having an affair with your wife.”

“all i wanted to say was that your little plan completely backfired. you having ulterior motives with her drove her right into my arms. our marriage has never been better.”

“and yet she’s still not satisfied.”

jeonghan chuckles out of amusement. “look at you. you’ve gotten more bite over the years. i knew you had it in you.”

joshua finds it in him to ask a genuine question. “after everything i just did, she just did — how can you still act like you came out on top?”

“because i know you better than you know yourself. have you never wondered, after all these years, why you’re still so bitter about it?”

he silently glances at him, puzzled.

“you’ve been fucking my wife for one single reason.” jeonghan continues, his voice lowering with each step he takes forward. “because she’s the closest you can get to having me.”

“oh, bullshit.”

“then tell me. why did you go after her in the first place?”

“because she was yours. the one person you love most. i didn’t expect to fall for her along the way.”

the words make jeonghan chuckle. it’s laced with arrogance. “you know, i vaguely remember you using those words, a while ago.”

there’s a dawning horror on joshua’s face when he realizes it — he did use those words years ago, when confessing his love to his best friend.

he tries to regain his composure, but jeonghan has already caught and read his expression. he knows him like the back of his hand, even to this day.

“i broke your heart. you wanted revenge, so you decided to go after my biggest weakness, and as always, you let your feelings get in the way.”

“don’t patronize me.”

“i’m not,” he shoots back immediately, “i’m just stating the truth.”

“whatever. i don’t owe you an explanation. it’s not my fault she fell in love with me instead of you.”

“you’re right, it’s not. but don’t you think she deserves to know that she’s not the only one you’re in love with?”

joshua freezes in his place. it takes him a moment before he can even get anything coherent out of his throat. “if you really think i’m still in love with you after everything that’s—”

“you are. admit it.”

“no.”

“right. i see the way you look at me, shua. how you can’t take your eyes off me when i’m around, or the way you stared at me when i came out of the shower. just own it. for once in your life.”

“what does it even matter? it wouldn’t change anything.”

“you know what i don’t get? why you’ve never asked me about my feelings.”

the words almost render him speechless. because as always, he annoyingly makes a point.

“i just assumed—”

“you just assumed that i didn’t like you back? wow, that’s solid.” taking a step closer, his voice becomes quieter, tauning. “go on. ask me.”

joshua looks up to find a pair of vulnerable, honest eyes staring back at him. it takes him a moment to muster the courage, but he does.

“did you ever have feelings for me?”

jeonghan bites his lip, meeting his eyes with that subtle, lazy smirk he always wears. “i wanted you long before you wanted me. it’s not my fault you didn’t see it.”

this — this is certainly new information. all those years joshua spent resenting him, entirely unaware of this information… he feels like an idiot.

it’s caught him so off guard that he doesn’t know what to say.

jeonghan doesn’t back away from him in the slightest, shrugging his shoulders. “you’ve grown out your hair, like i hoped you would. every time you sat next to me, i kept wondering if you ever noticed how my eyes always lingered on your hands. god, i was so obvious.”

“i never… i never saw.” joshua stutters out absentmindedly, unable to take his eyes off him.

as heavier rain begins to pour down from the sky, jeonghan finally manages to be completely open about his feelings. “but things have changed now. i’m the one who’s in trouble. because i’m in love with two people, neither of which want me back. and that leaves me completely alone.”

jesus christ.

jesus christ.

jeonghan isn’t just in love with you, his wife — he’s also in love with him, and he probably has been since day one, but he’s always kept it buried because he thought it wasn’t going to be reciprocated anyway. fuck, no wonder he was never open to you, either.

it really is insanity.

for years, joshua has imagined what revenge would taste like. so he pulls jeonghan in for a harsh kiss, cups his jaw and pulls on his jacket as if he were angry at him, all in the hope that it will give him the feeling he’d hoped for.

but jeonghan’s lips taste more like reconciliation, a taste he craves more of, and he finds himself giving into his greed.

perhaps revenge is overrated.

aaaand mc watches and cheers like zendaya at the end of challengers. the end :D

thank u for reading, let me know if u enjoyed it <3

® SANAKIRAS — do not repost, remake or copy my work in any way whatsoever. translations are not allowed.

[yvesdot]

How To Get Roughly 50 Notes On An Original Writing Post And Possibly Net A Single Reader

I had someone ask today how I get people to click through and read my writing, and I'm realizing that I've never actually made a post all in one place of everything I do to get a new piece of short fiction off the ground... so here you go! How to get (some) eyes on your work, even if it is not published anywhere of interest and you don't have a marketing team behind you.

The #1 thing is presentation. You want to get people's attention, and once you have it, convince them to keep paying attention. Fortunately, people tend to be both reasonable and predictable, which means all you have to do is follow The Formula.

(original post link)

Here's the formula from the above post broken down:

[giant horizontal title card, preferably animated to catch the eye] OR [a few tasteful parallels, if you're good at parallel posts]

TITLE (linked to where you can read the piece) / wordcount

a quote that is representative of the tone, themes, prose style, and/or the "promise of the premise"

A longer pitch, featuring the overall subject of the piece (transsexual reality TV drama), any comp titles (Detransition, Baby), the main draw (in this case, watching trans people be awful to clueless cis people), major themes (performance), and any other promises you'd like to make (food romance and tigers). You can see that the quote I chose delivers on the promise of trans people intellectually outperforming cis people-- if I were a reader, I would be more likely to trust that the rest of the pitch was accurate based on that assurance.

If you have any positive reviews on your piece, say so. If it has won any awards or contests, say so. If your work has made people cry, Doja Cat - Say So. Always. Generally speaking, more personal and more detailed is better, but keep it to one or two people-- e.g. "when I gave this to my S/O to read he shot milk out of his nose so far I had to go clean under the couch" or "my favorite review of this piece is the reader who said they read it chapter-by-chapter under their covers because they wanted it all to themself." This should be one sentence.

Depending on where the story is published, what you usually promote, etc., it may be worthwhile saying the story is free. Use your judgment on whether the reader can tell.

I also like putting my links at the bottom so someone seeing this on a friend's dash can easily track me around the 'Net. They make me look more professional (I now include a link to my website) and they visually balance the post, in my opinion. This post also happened to have some additional links for bonus content.

This is not as high stakes as it seems. I'm not 100% happy with the pitch here, and I'm not 100% happy with the graphics I've used in other cases. These are some bones that help to sell the piece even when the details aren't as sharp.

REBLOGGING

When is the last time you read something the first time you saw it on your dash? I schedule reblogs of all important posts at least twice over the next 2-3 days, often three times so I can get the morning/afternoon/evening reblog. If your followers tend to be more active at certain times, go ahead and use those. In the past I've intentionally scheduled posts for times I knew more popular mutuals were active, and it has paid off!

I also schedule a reblog for a week and a month and sometimes even a full calendar year out, because I know there is going to be that person who tags the piece '#to read' and instantly forgets about it, only to get excited when they see it weeks later. I am very often that reader. The goal is to catch people when they're ready to read immediately, and this is a game of chance.

Every so often, I go through my entire #writing or #important writing updates or even just #popular tag(s) and queue two dozen posts before shuffling my queue to redistribute matters. This keeps my older work circulating, ensuring new readers get a chance to see older pieces and giving those older pieces another shot at dashboard space. (More on #popular later.) This sounds like a lot, which is why you have to space everything pretty far apart. Fortunately, this is the world's best site for cool things to reblog. I guarantee you that you can find something new you love to post in the meanwhile.

COPING WITH FAME

The post above is what I, a published author, consider "doing well" for a post about my writing on Tumblr. As of October 10th, 2024, over two years after its initial posting and over five years into my posting doggedly about my original fiction, it has 77 notes. More than half (43) are likes. Around half of the reblogs are me promoting my own work or the same very sweet person dutifully reblogging me every time I do so. Glancing through the reblogs now, I know of four people whom I can confirm have read it. Presumably, there are more who are completely silent and have never interacted with the post whatsoever. Genuinely: wahoo!! I am so grateful and happy for the attention and reception of my work.

This is the number one thing I suggest: focus on what you have, and not what you lack. Imagine your post from the perspective of an outsider: even one reblog means you convinced that one person to spread your art! How cool is that! This is also good advice because moping is simply not helpful; it will not get you more reads. (And no, neither will guilting others. Kill that vent post in your head!)

GETTING FOLLOWERS

I don't have that many followers. Of the followers I do have, people are very unpredictably active. When I hear about other people's follower counts I am consistently surprised, because people with half of mine will have fans and haters the likes of which I could not possibly dream of. I follow 500-follower folk who post "I ate a strawberry today" and get 6 asks ranging from "Wow I respect you so much for eating that strawberry" to "I'm going to come to your address at [REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED] and shove bananas down your throat for hating on my favorite fruit."

I point this out to establish three important things. 1) Be grateful for what you have (in my case, 0 anonymous hate asks about fruitpinions), 2) followers have far less impact on interaction than one might think, and 3) followers don't engage with the things you might like them to.

Think about yourself. Are you more likely to reblog a photo of a cat in a pumpkin (alright, here) or something advertising fifteen minutes' worth of writing, which could be, for all you know, bad? Or, for that matter, by a person you should not like to support? Reblogs on generically interesting things are 'safer' (unfortunately) than reblogs on art, and it makes perfect sense that people are skittish around the latter. People don't often reblog things they haven't read, and nobody can reblog every artpost on their dash. Having someone else put it there, however, is incredibly powerful—someone's vetted this post as Worth a Reblog, after all. Having more followers allows for much more of this.

(Followers don't guarantee any one sort of interaction, but having more of them is rarely bad. Rarely.)

Across my most popular posts, one theme becomes very obvious: people like things that apply to them or their blog. I try to post writing advice/opinions/memes every so often, because I know I have a loyal base of writerfolk who like to see that from me, and it's "easier" to reblog than my writing. This is simply the nature of the universe. I used to pretty frequently go into the #writeblr tag and check out what was recently popular so I could figure out how to serve the same base, and from time to time it worked.

You're welcome to examine the list of #writing posts that made it to 100 notes, because each tends to have a notable reason behind its success: a reblog with an exceptionally good review, a contest win, a wordcount that lends itself to pasting the whole thing in one go.

(Posts about my book's release are a notable exception, in part due to Blaze and in part due to my absolutely relentless flogging of their reblog buttons during the ~year of promotion. Also in large part to a dedicated circle of friends who passed the post around nonstop! Thank you so much!!)

A lot of people will tell you to attempt covert reciprocal promotion. You know—reblog a lot of stuff, in the hopes that people will reblog yours. If I could change one thing on Tumblr, it would be this: the culture that quietly encourages disingenously interacting with other people with a secret True Goal in mind. (On the autism website.)

Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do not do this. If you comment on other people's work, do it because you're happy to do so. When I released Paper Tigress, I went through everybody else who responded to the same prompt and read their work, because I had the day off and I was curious. This has led to Paper Tigress having more comments on Reedsy than one of my contest winners, and even outranking the shortlisted story in the same prompt category. However, this would have been a waste of my time if I did not genuinely enjoy reading the other stories. I read 80+ stories, taking several hours, and gained 30 comments from the venture (half my comments are my responses).

Crucially, I do not promote other writers' work on Tumblr in the hopes of them reading or boosting mine. This is the #1 tip I see thrown around that I viscerally disagree with. While, again, I am grateful for engagement with my work regardless of the context, I do not want people suffering through my work in the hopes that I will promote them. I work a full-time job, and my reading calendar is perpetually overbooked, including with work by my absolute best of friends. Even if it wasn't, I think it would be quite insulting if I were posting works in the hopes that someone would choke it down like medicine. I post what I think is good so that people can read and enjoy it. If you are not enjoying it, I do not want you to feel as though you have to read it. My aim is to give to others what my favorite authors have given me, which is most certainly not A Bad Time Spent Being Dishonest In The Hopes Of Getting Something Back. You have better things to do with your time. Please be honest.

CONCLUSION

Realistically, the readers I have, I gained through being a published author for five years promoting my behind off on Tumblr, the least forgiving social media for promotion. People like it when you have a book they can buy, especially if it has Goodreads reviews that make it look like you have been vetted for them. Many people who follow me have read only Something's Not Right and nothing else. (Many people who follow me have read everything but Something's Not Right.) I have posted dozens of pieces on Tumblr and Wattpad (and AO3). I gained a small number of readers writing and posting fanfiction for the Locked Tomb Tri(?)logy, even though I marketed it absolutely terribly.

Just keep writing. Keep writing, keep posting, and keep making sure everyone who follows you knows you write. And keep writing because you want to. There's no better advice than that.

[heechwe]

HIGH & DRY | 최한솔

➸ First story in the @hogwartsaltior universe!

⟢ PAIRING: chwe (vernon) hansol x fem!reader ⟢ WORD COUNT: 4.5K ⟢ GENRE: fluff, some comedy⟢ TAGS: hogwartsaltior!au, dj!vernon, gardener!reader ⟢ SYNOPSIS: Vernon is good with his words behind a microphone and with hundreds of students listening to him. Why is it so hard to talk to one girl in the gardening club? original banner by @okiedokrie-main at the end of fic!

“Thank you for listening to Chwe’s Power Hour sponsored by Hogwarts Altior. Have a good day and night folks.” Vernon puts the headphones down on his makeshift desk, surrounded by studio equipment and paperwork that he always neglects to turn in on time. His homework also sits unfinished in his backpack, but he’ll worry about that later. His focus is on looking over the stats for his latest stream.

Dokyeom, Vernon’s roommate and fellow Gryffindor, gives him a thumbs up as he scours the laptop screen in front of him for the numbers Vernon’s after. “Best show so far man.”

“But do the views say that?” Vernon looks over Dokyeom’s shoulder, anxiety bubbling in his stomach.

“Read it and weep, kid.” To his surprise, his best friend is actually right for once. Almost two hundred students listening in, both on and off campus. The outreach Vernon’s radio show has gotten so far is something to be incredibly proud of, but he wants more. Maybe if he can prove music is not a waste of time, his parents may take him more seriously when he talks about switching majors.

“Holy shit,” Vernon says out loud, smiling at the evidence.

“I know.” Dokyeom closes his laptop and begins getting his stuff together. “Listen, I gotta head to Combat Training, but we’ll go over the next show tonight.”

They exchange handshakes as Dokyeom exits the tiny office space the university gave them as a studio, leaving Vernon alone with his thoughts to ponder during what remains of his lunchtime.

Astrology isn’t the worst degree in the world, not by a long shot. He likes to learn about the constellations, the stars, how the planets moved in tandem with one another in a symbiotic pattern. And sure, being in one of the longest educational tracks seemed daunting, according to his friends, but it’s interesting to look up at the sky and know there’s a system up there that needs to be understood and appreciated like everything else.

But does he love it? After a year of studying, that remains to be seen.

What he does love, though, is his Power Hour.

It gives him a zest to his daily routine that didn’t exist before. His schedule had just been friends, Quidditch, and studying. It was fine at first, but being without something that truly drove him to do more, be more, had become taxing after a while.

Walking out of the building, he decides to go home and eat lunch in the comfort of his bed before his next class, Star Charts.

Vernon loves to take note of the greenery as he passes the gardens towards the student quarters. But he knows it’s deadly to step foot near the many plants and flowers, not just because of his allergies. He doesn’t want to smell like a joint if he steps in the wrong spot thanks to Josh and Jeonghan’s extracurricular activities in the horticulture club.

What does make him stop today, however, isn’t just the plants. It’s mostly the girl plucking weeds from the ground at the entrance of the courtyard, stealing his breath in a way pollen never could.

Face caked in soot and a messy bun at the top of your head, you know a steamy shower is in your plans as soon as classes are over. You loosened the yellow tie around your neck hours ago to focus on the gardening work in front of you, but it turns out to be a bad decision due to it flopping around in the wind. If only the last root could give…

You look up to see a guy facing your direction, mouth lightly agape and seemingly looking directly at your spot on the ground. Was something or someone behind you that you failed to notice? You turn your head to look over your shoulder, finding nobody down the path or coming out of the greenhouse you were in prior to your work outside.

You look back in the guy’s direction, but he’s gone. He’s speed-walking up the path to the student quarters when you do catch the image of him, his back quickly going out of sight.

Shrugging, you go back to the stubborn weed that has taken up too much of your time. Maybe you’ll cut it at the base and call it a day.

Vernon scribbles the score of the student’s assignment on the front of the paper, relieved it’s the last in the stack. TA duties have been completed to fruition, possibly for the first time in weeks. He wishes him and Wonwoo got to switch TA positions, but Vernon’s aware that it breaks all kinds of moral codes for a TA to also be a student of the very professor they’re assisting.

At least Vernon gets to see the architecture of the Law building for reference in his drawings. He didn’t have any painting classes yet, but the more he could practice now, the better. If he was to ever become as good as his mother, anyway.

The tall doors of Professor Sung’s class open, and Vernon almost can’t believe his eyes.

It’s you. You’re not covered in dirt but still entirely breathtaking, holding a large potted plant in your hands. As you walk closer, careful not to bump into the desks on your way towards him, he is unsure what to say for the first time to capture your interest.

You smile and set the pot down on Professor Sung’s desk. Both of you speak at the same time, words blended on top of each other’s.

“Sorry to bother-“

“I’m allergic to pollen.”

Your face morphs into confusion, but you laugh all the same. Vernon wants to immediately crawl into a hole. Why in all things magical did he just let those words come out of his mouth? 

“Okay, noted.” You point to the plant. “This is for Professor Sung. It’s asphodel. No pollen, I promise.” You look over the graded papers on the desk. “You must be his TA.”

Vernon nods immediately and stops, feeling ridiculous again for being so eager and forthcoming with information. What was wrong with him? You were just a girl. A beautiful, cute, hardworking, breathtaking girl, but still a girl!

Your mouth goes slack in recognition, eyes suddenly widening. “I remember you now! You were outside of the student grounds the other day.”

Vernon laughs nervously. He puts the papers in front of him into a neat pile, trying to stifle his panic. All he remembers from that day is you and trying to run from the fact you caught him staring. The cringe he feels is excruciating. “Yeah. I like to look at the plants on my way to my room. You guys have done a great job with the…selection.”

You laugh again and bite your lip. “Yeah, it’s mostly me and Jeonghan. You probably know him.”

He nods again. “We practice together on the Quidditch field. Well, us and my roommate Seokmin.”

“I know Seokmin! And forgive me, I forgot to ask your name.” You hold your hand out politely and give him your name in turn.

How can a person be so gorgeous and nice? Vernon thinks maybe it has to do with your Hufflepuff placement, but he has a feeling the evidence lies in your personality. One he wants to get to know now as soon as possible.

“Hansol,” he replies after placing his palm in yours, your soft skin making him weak in the knees. “Most people know me as Vernon or DJ Chwe or Chwe but y’know—what I’m saying is, my name is Hansol.”

You smirk. “Nice to meet you, Hansol.”

You play on Vernon’s mind in a loop. The feeling mimics the visual graphic Dino made for Vernon’s radio station icon, the turning CD adorned with the words “CPH.”

“Alright, listeners, I hope that music mix brightened your day and leaves you in anticipation for the next one. My name is Hansol Vernon Chwe. Thank you for another installment of Chwe’s Power Hour, once again sponsored as always by Hogwarts Altior. And you have a good day and night. Peace!”

Dokyeom and Vernon take their. headphones off at the same time, Vernon’s best friend blowing out a breath. “At this rate, man, you’re going to be turning discs all over the world.”

Vernon chuckles. “I don’t know if I’d go that far, bro.”

“C’mon! You talk about it all the time. Pull the plug. Chase your dreams.” Dokyeom knocks Vernon in the shoulder with his fists multiple times, turning the younger boy into a heap of laughter. “And, maybe before that, let in the girl you’ve been talking about?”

Dokyeom motions for Vernon to look towards the clear windows of the station. When he does, he finds you there with a smile on your face, an entirely new plant in your hands. It’s smaller than the asphodel you harvested for Professor Sung. The plant, like its pot, is in an assortment of bright colors, mostly teals and greens.

Vernon motions for you to come inside, so you do. You greet Dokyeom before Vernon. “Seokmin and I share a free period, and he told me he helps you with your station stuff.” You smile and put the plant on Vernon’s desk near his headphones. “Don’t worry. No pollen.”

Vernon inspects it with his eyes, unfamiliar with the plant in front of him. His brows narrow in pure curiosity, and you answer the question that sits on the tip of his tongue.

“Muggles call them succulents. They’re really easy to take care of. Just a little sunlight and watering once a week should be enough.” You laugh to yourself and glance around the office space. “Thought the place could use some color.”

“Thank you,” Vernon says. His heart can’t help but be shaken up even more by your presence in his sacred space. He barely knows you, yet he’s so enraptured at your mere existence.

He used to make jokes about his friends when they were down bad for girls, ones that they knew were out of their leagues. Now, he feels like an asshole for doing so. Clearly the workings of the heart are something out of a person’s control.

Vernon isn’t idiotic enough to call it love, but it’s as intense as infatuation can be.

“I’m gonna go, but I’ll see you guys later.” As Dokyeom’s leaving, he raises his arms in the air in a silent chant for Vernon. Thankfully, you don’t notice Vernon’s idiotic best friend and roommate, entirely focused on him.

You stand there, unsure what to do now, but Vernon fills the space with the dumb courage he musters. “I was just on my way to grab a bite to eat. Do you want to join me?” 

He stutters, suddenly trying to play it cool. “I mean, unless you have a meeting or something with the gardeners. In which case, I don’t want to intrude—“

You raise your hand to shut him up, giggling. “I would love to, Han.”

The nickname on your lips makes his heart stop and start again in a millisecond. He could get used to that. Definitely.

On the brink of midnight, Vernon gets a text from Jeonghan.

[YJH]: Got party favors in the greenhouse. U in?

Vernon groans, stuffing his head in the pillow. Should he smoke when he has an early class tomorrow and another Power Hour special? Probably not.

But the second text that pops up makes Vernon sit up straight in his bed.

[YJH]: Your missus is our DD, if that changes your mind ;)

Lunch a few days ago had been a success. You laughed at all of his jokes and even took his hand when he offered to help you up from the picnic table. Although you exchanged numbers at the end of the “date,” he hadn’t found the nerve to text you.

But now, he won’t waste the opportunity to see you.

Vernon puts on his old Quidditch hoodie and a bit of cologne to mask the odor. The next step after he sees you is to do his laundry to avoid smelling as much as possible. Homework sits somewhere in the middle of that plan.

He closes the door to the greenhouse behind him, the smell of the herbs hitting his face immediately. It wasn’t a mystery how Josh continued to supply himself and his friends with…supplements. As the president of the Horticulture club, he can access any specimens at any time. Surely it should been you, your care for plants and flowers not going unnoticed by him and probably your other classmates. Pretty privilege has to apply, for sure. But you’re much prettier than Josh, too, so what the fuck’s up with that?

You smile when you see Vernon enter the greenhouse. Your new friend skates by the stoned, giggly man-children sitting in the lawn chairs and passing their joint around. Hoshi is practically asleep, eyes almost closed and chuckles leaving his lips at the speed of a young schoolgirl. Vernon has the passing thought about how ironic it is all the Slytherins he knows take up their efforts with “gardening” yet probably know only a handful of plants.

“Hey, flower child,” Vernon says, sitting next to you on the workbench.

“Oh, spare me. Is that my nickname now?” You jut out your bottom lip, pouting.

“I think it’s nice. It fits!” Vernon motions with his hands to the surrounding vines and other foliage within the greenhouse. 

You nod in agreement. “Okay, point taken.”

He looks over at the assignment you’re doing, some form of chemistry if he had to guess. “What’re you working on?”

“Lab stuff. If I want to be a herbologist, I have to pass this class,” you say with a groan.

“Wait, you’re telling me there’s actually something you’re not good at?”

You stick your tongue out at him, threatening to poke him with your pencil. “Just wait, you’ll see I have many flaws.”

He knows that can’t be true. To him, even the most minute flaw of yours is impeccable.

“But yeah, just balancing equations and the like. I know astrology is more metaphysical stuff, but—“

“I love chemistry,” Vernon says, standing up and grabbing leaves from random plants between his fingers. Strangely, the more he walks around and steps into your world, the more confident he feels. “Speaking of that, I wanted to ask—“

“Hansol, watch out!”

Little does Vernon realize his back is perfectly positioned in front of an adult sprig of venomous tantacula, the plant ready to spring for the sight of prey. In an instant, Vernon sees your wand appear from your side and ducks out of the way to avoid the impending spell.

“Diffindo!” The venomous tantacula shrivels as soon as its body is separated from the base of the plant. You breathe in a sigh of relief at the fact your friend has not met his demise at the hands of the creature. However, Vernon’s quick dive turned out to be a bad choice. He managed to drop into a large pile of terracota plant pots. Some of them cut up his arms and a small part of his face in the process of his crash landing.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” you ask, bending down to inspect his face. You touch a hand to his cheek, moving his face in your direction. Vernon responds with a gummy smile.

“Nothing a bandaid can’t fix.” Vernon releases a breathless laugh.

“I have a medical kit somewhere around here.”

You run to find it. Vernon’s just dumbfounded and pleased he got so close to you on a technicality. Yes, his face is probably bleeding a good amount, but he knows it’s worth it to see your pillowy lips and doe eyes up close and personal.

When Joshua stumbles up to Vernon on the brick floor of the greenhouse, stoned out of his mind, he laughs like a madman. “Did you fall or something?”

Vernon smirks, resting his head happily on the ground. “You could say that.”

The collection of vinyls, CDs, and musical content in Vernon’s room is a marvel. The piles are mixed in with the typical items in a guy’s room, socks strewn about the floor and star charts leaning against the wall. When you call Vernon a slob in a playful tone, he can’t deny it.

“I have to be in the mood to clean,” Vernon says in his defense. 

You roll your eyes. You’ve met messier guys, but Vernon’s definitely making his way to the top of the list. “If I had to be in the mood to garden, half of the greenhouse would be withering away as we speak.”

“Is that how Josh keeps his presidential position, by only doing half of the work?” Vernon smirks, running his hands over the map in front of him. The homework needed to be done yesterday. Calling you as a reinforcement to make him focus is his best chance at getting it done.

Then again, seeing you now, he thinks that was a mistake. How can he focus when you’re in his room, chastising him to work and clean his room in such a cute way?

You may just be the end of his academic career as he knows it.

“No. Josh is a good president, and he really stands up for us with the student government. If he hadn’t advocated for muggle flora imports when they wanted to put more money in the Quidditch reserves, the greenhouse wouldn’t look half as good as it does right now.” You snap your fingers together. “Like the succulent in your radio station! Josh is technically to thank for that.”

“Don’t let him take the credit. I bet you put in a lot of effort growing that thing.”

You scoff and go back to inspecting his music collection. “Have you listened to every album you own?”

Vernon nods, smiling. “Some more than once. But that’s because some of those are my folks’ copies.” He gets up from his bed to stand next to you, tracing the outlines of the vinyl jackets with his fingers. “Like this one? Stevie Wonder’s In Square Circle? One of my favorites.”

The corners of your mouth turn up. “Surprises me you’re not a music undergrad. You already know so much.”

He chuckles sadly. “My parents thought it would be best to find something more practical to study.”

“Astronomy is practical?”

A smirk appears on his lips. “Point taken.”

You huff. “Anyway, it’s your life. It should be about what you love to dot. My parents wanted me to be a lawyer, but herbology’s my calling.”

“No kidding, flower child.”

“You know that nickname is cringe!”

In the midst of your banter, Vernon was unaware how much the distance between you closed. He can smell the perfume lingering on your neck, the scent of moondew driving him insane. His better impulses tell him not to stand so close. He should avoid inching further towards you. It’s wrong to focus on the look in your eyes that tells him not to stop.

Your breath hitches just a touch, and that’s his signal to throw all of his reservations out of the window. He presses your back to the vinyl player, caring little for the scratch of the record at the sudden movement. He can buy another one later.

He captures your lips with his and instantly feels every worry sap out of his being. You wrap your arms around him, hands firm against the back of his neck and fingertips grazing the ends of his hair. Magic in his world is not just exclusive to charms, potions, and cauldrons anymore.

He has you to thank for the definition expanding.

When a moan slips out of his mouth, you pull away breathless.

“Sorry if I was too forward. I—“ Vernon blurts out.

“No, no, don’t apologize.” You smile shyly. “I wanted you to.” You press your hands to his chest, feeling the beat of his heart under your palms. “Just don’t want to rush into anything.”

He nods without a second thought, hanging onto your words with glee. You’re into him. Enough to want him to kiss you, at least.

“Does this mean I can ask you on a proper date? Not just lunch after CPH?”

You giggle into his neck. “Yes, I would love that.”

After a month of secret kissing behind corridors, study dates in the library, and even Vernon helping tend to pollen-free plants in the garden with you, he may have to admit he’s fallen into the deep end.

But how does one say that, especially someone as terrible with non-lyrical words as him?

So, he decides the perfect way to tell you isn’t in the standard sense.

He writes.

He writes down his thoughts and feelings to a random beat that popped into his head, the rhymes that show up on the notepad in front of him exactly what’s inside of his heart. He makes final touches, moving a word around and then repeating some others. It’s not a full song, just the idea of one at this point, but it says what it needs to, and that’s more than enough.

Vernon texts his parents about his next special, and this time, they promise to listen. Maybe now he can prove to them it isn’t a fruitless endeavor not worth pursuing.

He puts the headphones over his head, one half of his mind occupied with a million thoughts and the other half excited to see what will come after the special. Dokyeom counts him in, mouth in a thin line from focus.

“Welcome to Chwe’s Power Hour, everyone. I’m Chwe Hansol, the man himself behind this lovely hour of music, and I thank you all for tuning into this special episode of the show.”

They go on as usual, answering user-created questions from the last stream and also playing a couple of requested songs. When they make it to the ten-minute mark, Vernon sees Dokyeom’s cue.

“So, recently, I met someone who has quickly become a very important part of my life. So, today, I want to share something that was on my mind with all of you.”

Vernon nods his head to Dokyeom who begins playing the backing track for Vernon’s song. Some guitar strings and a welcoming beat begin to play. The confidence suddenly rises out of Vernon, taking on its own life as he begins the song. The words come out of him effortlessly, the poetry he wrote for you synchronized with the music in a way that has even Dokyeom swaying in his seat cheerfully.

Flower child,

Why can’t I keep my thoughts off of ya?

You grow in my chest without my consent.

Please help when my heart’s under arrest.

Flower child,

I always recognize your steps

When you walk around my head.

The path you have to be familiar with.

Don’t tell me your interest’s a myth.

Flower child,

Is this garden ready to bloom?

You drive me wild.

Can I grow with you?

Flower child,

Can I show you?

You’ve left me beguiled,

Flower child.

The guitar and beat of the song fade out gradually. Dokyeom can’t help himself when he claps his hands together and cheers for his best friend, the sounds coming through in the stream. Vernon laughs and clears his throat.

“As you can hear, my co-host DK seems to have enjoyed my song.”

“Are you kidding?” Dokyeom says, mouth agape. “Best thing we’ve played on this show, no doubt.”

Vernon chuckles heartily, his chest filled with pride. Not just for himself, but for this creation he’s found enough conviction to share with the world. 

“Thank you again for all tuning into this episode of Chwe’s Power Hour, sponsored by Hogwarts Altior. I cannot wait for the next episode and your thoughts on this one. It was without a doubt my favorite special so far. To all of you listening, have a good day and night.”

When the stream comes to a close, Dokyeom grabs Vernon in a tight bear hug, screeching in glee for the younger one’s success. “That was fucking incredible!”

Before Vernon can reply, he feels the buzz of his phone in his back pocket, your name lighting up his screen.

Meet me in the greenhouse? x

Vernon walks through the greenhouse. The foliage and flora he’s encountered many times in the past since meeting you and beginning your love affair greet him. He hopes the flowers he picked up on the quick run from the radio office to the courtyard capture your heart in the same way the plants in the greenhouse do.

Even if they make his eyes itchy around the eyelashes, he will deal with it. No amount of pollen could ruin this day.

You’re working on some homework at the gardening bench when he comes in. You drop your pencil immediately when you spot him out of the corner of your eye. You smile at the bouquet in his hands. “Usually I’m the one bringing you plants.”

Vernon grins as well. “Thought I’d return the favor this time.”

You leave your stool and walk towards him. Pecking his lips, you grab the flowers from him. “You know zinnias have pollen in them.”

He shrugs, taking no stock in the stuffy feeling in his nose. “You’re worth all the allergies in the world.”

Your cheeks turn a deep shade of red. Pressing your nose into the flowers, you take in the smell with a satisfied hum. “They’re beautiful.”

“They represent long-lasting affection, according to Joshua. But he might’ve been stoned when he said that.” Vernon smirks, grabbing onto your free hand.

You giggle. Staring deep into his eyes, your expression suddenly becoming serious. “Speaking of that, I listened to your show.”

Taking a deep breath, Vernon hopes he can find the same courage he had in the studio then now to use exclusively for you. “Since the second I saw you, I was drawn to you. And all the feelings I’ve had since then I put into that song to express just a fraction of how amazing you are. And I know it’s cheesy, but I meant every word, and I hope you feel the same.”

You step away from him, letting go of his hand and walking back to the gardening workbench. Vernon’s anxiety spikes, unsure what your next step will be. Would you say what he wanted to hear, or would you tell him something that would break his heart altogether?

You drop the bouquet on the table and run back to him, knocking all the air out of Vernon’s lungs with a sudden, soul-encapsulating kiss.

In the pressure, movement, and heartfelt nature of your lips against his, he feels idiotic second-guessing you for even a minute. 

You both separate, lips still inches away and smiles abound. Despite your actions saying everything he needed to hear, the words leaving your mouth just confirms every emotion in his heart. “I love you, too.”

[a-killer-obsession]

Whoops, you got hit by a bus, and now you're in the world of One Piece. But not everything is quite as you remember it...

General Tags: afab reader, she/her reader pronouns, isekai, monsterfucker reader, vampire!kid, werewolf!killer, wyrm!heat, minotaur!wire, everyone has a human form, smut heavy, unhealthy relationships, dubious consent, serious violence, spoilers for Wano arc, starts pre-timeskip. There will be a lot of more intense kinks, please check AO3 for all current tags.

Chapter 9 - As It Was Written

The Straw Hats finally arrive at Sabaody. Will things go to plan? And how will Kid react?

WC: 6.1k

Masterlist | AO3 | Chapter 1

It took four days for the Straw Hats to turn up, and in the meantime Kid had grown restless, and more than over all the waiting. He was starting to get dangerously close to calling bullshit on your story, and you'd spent the last two nights with Killer, Kid deciding if you were going to run, that Heat would be too soft and more likely let you go. Which was far from true - Heat had become exceptionally attached to you, if you tried to run he was more likely to chain you to his bed and keep you like a pet. Finally, not long before lunch on the fourth day since docking, the long awaited sound of Killer's transponder snail ringing was heard.

Immediately you were taken back to the ship and put back in the brig, your collar and cuffs still on but your leash removed for now. You had a decent idea of how long it would take for the events of the day to unfold, so you waited patiently on the bottom bunk bed, the mattresses still stacked from your original stay, though you were without the comfort of your blankets or pillow. Or your stuffed animal, which obviously lived with Heat. You should have asked for a book or something, it was boring as shit down in the brig, so you entertained yourself by trying to memorise the strings of symbols written in probably blood that lined the walls and floors of the cell. You still weren't sure what their purpose was, did someone on this crew take part in regular demon summoning? House, probably, if you had to guess.

You heard the sudden chaos above you on the main deck as the commanders returned, followed by the lurching of the ship as it quickly left the port just as you thought it would. The Victoria may not have been in immediate range of the marines, but they were still hot on their tail. It was maybe half an hour before things settled enough for Heat to come down to retrieve you, reattaching your leash for good measure. Kid figured if there was ever a time where you were going to attempt to run or attack, it would be when your story was disproven.

“Last chance, you're telling the truth right?” Heat asked nervously. He wasn't ready to give you up if Kid decided to get rid of you, and after the day they'd all had you might not even make it to the auction house if it came out that you'd been faking it. “I can't… I can't protect you if you're lying.”

“You won't have to, Heat,” you assured him, cupping his scarred face as best you could with your still cuffed hands. “You're all gonna see I was telling the truth. I promise. I wouldn't lie to you.”

“Okay,” he said softly, pushing his face into your shoulder and inhaling your sweet scent, before gathering himself with a sigh and bringing you above deck. It seemed like the entire crew was out on the weather deck as you were walked through to the navigation room, passing around the side of the forecastle to the inside of the giant dinosaur skull to enter the nav room from its front door. The other commanders sat inside at the round table, Kid tapping his fingers impatiently against the wooden table top, your sealed letter sitting in front of him, both the now past and your uncertain future held within.

You expected Kid to want you on his lap as usual, but instead Heat attached your leash to a bracket hidden under the table and sat you at the opposite end from Kid, taking his own place on the other end with the other commanders. It felt very much like you were on trial as you sat facing the four large, dangerous men. It was a stark reminder that these men were in fact notorious pirates and would kill you without a second thought. Killer still had a splash of marine blood on his mask, likely kept there to intimidate, but you had to admit it was kinda hot.

“Ready for your judgement, Mouse?” Kid rumbled, a smug smile on his face. He was ready to prove you wrong, greatly in need of an outlet to torture and kill after the day he had and keen to make you that outlet. The others weren't as prepared, they had all taken note of your accurate prediction of where the Straw Hats would dock, as well as the marine presence in the neighbouring dock, and for Killer and Heat especially it had given them hope that you'd be a permanent fixture on the ship. Heat still had a clutch of eggs prepared that he hoped you would accept, and Killer was more than excited at the potential to have someone on board who was happy to indulge his kinks. Kid had a secret hope to keep you here as well, it was nice having a human feeder on board, but he couldn't stand liars, not even your sweet blood would outweigh that. As soon as you were proven a liar he would torture you within an inch of your life, and then he'd drain you dry.

“Ready when you are,” you replied as confidently as you could, though you stirred nervously in your seat. You had an underlying paranoia that your presence alone in this world may have changed things, but given the rushed nature that the ship had left port, and the commanders’ clearly fresh from battle appearance, you held hope that your predictions would still hold true.

Kid grunted indignantly and handed the letter to Killer, who opened it and quickly gave it a skim, his brows raising under his mask, before beginning to read aloud for the others.

“Kid will get into a fight with Scratchmen Apoo in grove twenty-four, and Killer will get into a fight with The Mad Monk Urouge in grove twenty-one, which will be broken up by X Drake,” he exchanged a look with Kid. His face may have been masked but Kid had known him long enough to understand the look.

“So she got one part, big whoop, is that all she wrote?” Kid rolled his eyes.

“There's a lot more here,” Killer continued, a hopeful tint to his voice, “Commanders will head to the human auction house in grove one, where Trafalgar Law and some of the Straw Hat crew will be present. A pirate captain for sale named Lacuba will bite his own tongue off. A green haired mermaid will be presented for sale in a giant fishbowl. The Celestial Dragon, Saint Charlos, will bid five-hundred million berri for her.”

“He wanted to see how long she'd survive in a tank with his piranhas,” you tsk’d, “disgusting man.” The commanders made discontented frowns as they imagined the mermaid they'd seen being eaten alive, before Killer continued.

“Monkey D. Luffy will crash through the ceiling on a large flying fish and punch Saint Charlos,” Killer continued, “Silvers ‘Dark King’ Rayleigh will appear through the stage wall and use conqueror's haki to knock most of the guards out. He will apologise to Kid and Law for using haki on them. Marines will surround the auction house. Kid, Law and Luffy will fight together against them. Warlord Bartholomew Kuma will attack Kid. Marine Admiral Kizaru will also show up, and newspapers will advertise the execution of Portgas D. Ace in nine days at Marineford,” Killer paused, “that's everything she wrote.”

There was a pregnant silence as the commanders all absorbed that every item you'd listed had been an accurate prediction, even things as unbelievable as Luffy punching a Celestial Dragon. It was a heavy revelation for everyone to admit that you were from a whole other universe, and some unknown force had brought you here against your will. It opened up more questions than they were prepared to try to answer. “Well, shit,” Kid finally broke the silence.

“So, I can stay, right?” You asked nervously, everyone waiting anxiously for Kid's verdict.

You spooked as Kid suddenly stood, using his devil fruit to unhook and pull your leash behind him as he cut through the infirmary and dragged you out to the main deck. The rest of the crew was still crowded around, eagerly awaiting Kid's decision, quickly standing to attention as Kid appeared. You'd become quite the topic of curiosity and intrigue on the ship, everyone was invested in whether you would be kept around, and betting pools waited patiently for Kid's answer.

“Where's Dive?” Kid barked. The small green haired girl came skipping forward gleefully, excited to be summoned.

“Yes boss?” She smiled wide, showing off her sharp teeth.

“I've got an important job for you,” he leaned down a little to address her, “go to my workshop and clean it up for me. Work hard and don't come out till you're done, and as a reward I'll let you get anything you want at a candy store next time we make land.”

“Yay! Okay boss!” She squealed excitedly, quickly skipping off and running up the stairs to the stern castle. There was curious silence on the deck as Kid watched her go, waiting until the young girl had disappeared into the stern castle before speaking again.

“Everyone make a circle,” Kid barked, and his order was quickly followed. Kid pulled you by your leash into the centre of the circle, and you suddenly felt very small. You looked to the other commanders for support, but Heat seemed just as confused as you, while Wire wore a knowing grin that made you nervous.

“This here is the new ship whore,” Kid smirked, “she's usually off limits for you losers, but I'm feeling generous today.” Killer took that as his cue to step forward and cut your clothes from your body, running a punisher blade under the fabric and pulling away the ruined scraps, leaving you bare to the entire crew, minus the minor. Kid used his fruit to weld the end of your leash to the metal at the base of the mast, before standing behind you and holding you against him with a hand on your throat. He forced you to keep your eyes on the hungry wolves circling you, making your thighs unconsciously clamp together - whether for friction or self defence, you weren't sure. “Anyone who wants a turn, today is your lucky day. But wrap your cocks you gross fucks, I don't want to catch your fuckin’ warts when I fuck my whore next. Girls, be sure to take advantage of that pretty face.”

Kid let you go and stepped back, forcing his way through the crowd to head up to the forecastle deck where he'd get a nice view, followed by the other commanders, leaving you to the wolves. You stood awkwardly in front of them, their eyes all hungry, mouths practically salivating, as they all looked at your bare body, a few of the men already palming themselves through their clothes. House, who had no interest in any of this, momentarily disappeared into the infirmary, coming back out with several boxes of condoms which she shoved into the arms of the closest crewmate, before disappearing back into the infirmary to deal with some paperwork. The boxes were quickly torn open and distributed, as the first few crewmates came forward - Reck and Quincy.

The two of them circled you like predators, Quincy removing her large crown-like hat and handing it off to someone else. She had always seemed so sweet and aloof, so it surprised you when she was the first to grab you, pinching your face in her hand as she forced her tongue into your mouth, making you whimper and rub your thighs together. Reck grabbed you from behind, pressing his clothed erection against your ass. His hands groped at your soft tits, subtly supporting your stance as he kicked your legs open to give Quincy access. Quincy's hand was quick to find your cunt, running two fingers between your folds and holding them up so everyone could see how wet her fingers were as she rubbed your slick between her pointer finger and thumb. The crew closed in further as they saw how aroused you were, beginning to call out both praises and degradation, calling you a good girl, a pretty little slut, a greedy whore. It made you even wetter, and Quincy was surprisingly rough as she ran a hand through your hair and grasped it hard, pulling downwards and forcing you to your knees.

Heat was watching the whole thing with nervous anxiety. He barely handled letting the other commanders touch you, but watching the whole crew looking at you like a piece of meat, palming themselves through their clothes and whispering to each other all the things they were going to do to you, it made him possessive. He didn't like people touching his things, he didn't like people messing with things from his precious hoard. His hindbrain had registered you as part of his collection the moment you'd jumped on his bed, and he twitched nervously watching Quincy and Reck touch you. “Heat, easy,” Wire whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder to try and ground him. He could feel how tense Heat was, and knew well that he had the most trouble between the commanders when it came to reeling in his more monstrous instincts. Everyone on this crew was his friend, but you should never come between a dragon and his treasure, no matter the type of dragon.

When Quincy forced you to your knees, something cracked in Heat. The little whimper you made registered in his mind as pain, not the arousal that it was, and he was shifted to his wyrm form and flinging himself down to the weather deck before Wire could grab his tail. He coiled around you, pushing Quincy and Reck away, hissing at them and baring his sharp teeth at the crew. Everyone took a few steps back, understanding that Heat had lost control and was genuinely dangerous now. If they didn't think he had claimed you before, it was certain now what you meant to Heat. Quincy pouted and looked up at Kid, waiting for the captain to intervene so she could go back to playing with you.

“Heat, back off,” Kid growled.

“Mine!” Heat shouted back, coiling tighter, almost tight enough to squeeze the air out of you.

“Last warning Heat,” Kid said in a low voice, “you can back off, or you can be punished.”

Killer stood sternly at Kid's side, and Kid whispered something in his ear. The first mate quickly disappeared to the stern castle, while Kid used his devil fruit to summon a length of chain and Wire descended the stairs from the skull deck. He approached Heat as one might approach an angry alligator, arms out, ready to grab him. Heat hissed at his best friend, making it clear how out of control he was, and made no move to release you. Kid's eyes flicked behind you, to where Killer had returned, and gave him a nod.

Like lightning Killer and Wire were grappling at Heat, Killer slipping a muzzle over his face while Wire pulled on the sensitive end of his tail to force him to loosen his grip on you. As soon as he did, making a shocked whine as Wire took advantage of this weakness, Killer grabbed him under his arms and started dragging him backwards, while Wire grabbed you and pulled you away from Heat. As soon as your bodies were separated, Kid wrapped the chain around Heat, sending him backwards to crash against the mast with a loud thunk, chaining him to it, his long tail thrashing wildly until Wire and Killer secured it.

“You should have behaved,” Wire tutted, making sure the muzzle was secure. Heat spat at him through the gaps in the rounded metal cage, and Wire tsk’d as he wiped the spit from his face. That was all Wire needed to shift to the role he was familiar with as Heat's usual dom, and he knew every one of the wyrm's weaknesses. Heat made a stuttered gasp as Wire stuck his fingers in the slit where Heat's cocks were sheathed, toying with his cocks inside the wet folds and making Heat whine. “You're gonna be good now, do I make myself clear?” Wire growled, “you're gonna stay here and you're gonna watch the crew fuck your precious treasure, and you're going to learn how to share properly or I'll make sure you never have her again. Use your words, tell me you understand.”

“Y-yes master,” Heat whimpered as Wire removed his fingers and slapped Heat with the same hand, leaving a wet, red print on his face. “I'll- I'll be a good boy.”

“Good,” Wire hummed, looking back at Quincy and giving her a nod to continue. Wire and Killer returned to the skull deck to observe, as the crew began to close in on you again. Quincy pushed you back down to your knees, a soft folded towel placed under them this time for protection against the hard wooden deck.

You watched hungrily as she stood in front of you and stripped off her bloomers and frilly panties, along with her giant bow and beaded belt, then she hooked a leg over your shoulder, pressing her back to the mast for support, right next to Heat who squirmed and thrashed to try and get to you. You barely had time to register that the carpets did in fact match the drapes before she was pulling your hair hard again, forcing your face against her wet cunt. You immediately got to work eating her out, moaning against her pussy as Reck knelt behind you and spread your knees, reaching underneath you to slip two fingers inside your cunt and begin stretching you out. You were overly aware of the sloppy sounds your pussy was making and the rustling of fabric around you as the crew got into various states of undress and started masturbating as they watched Quincy use your face and Reck finger fuck your greedy hole. A few even began jerking each other off, Hop opting to grind her ass against Noe, while Hip started playing with Emma's pussy, knowing the pink haired girl would be too shy to do anything on her own.

Reck pulled you back a little and you whined as his cock rubbed between your folds and slipped inside you, taking no time before he started pounding hard into you, forcing your face harder against Quincy. She held your hair hard to stabilise you, rolling her hips to ride your tongue. Kid was right - she was loud, entirely unabashed as she moaned and used your mouth. Heat made soft needy whines as he watched, his cocks unsheathing on their own accord as he longed to be the one inside you. Hop took note, she and Hip exchanging mischievous looks before Hip left Emma in Noe's care.

“Two of them!” Hop purred, running her fingers along the underside of Heat's cocks, “aw, look how they twitch! So cute!” Heat hissed as Hip knelt and gave one cock a kitten lick, Hop following suit with the other, the two of them peppering kisses and featherlight licks and touches over his cocks and scales as he fought against the restraints.

“Don't let him cum,” Wire instructed them, “he doesn't deserve to cum.”

Heat made pained whines as the girls continued to tease him, the sounds making you moan against Quincy's cunt. With Reck's hard thrusts pushing you against her, it didn't take long for Quincy to finish, pulling your head back a little by your hair and furiously rubbing her clit in front of you until she screamed and squirted on your face. Her pleasure pulled you to your own peak, clamping around Reck's cock as a creamy ring formed around the base of his condom. Quincy bent down and gave you an affectionate kiss before leaving you, still dripping from her release.

“See Heat?” Wire called from the skull deck, “see how good our Mouse is? See how well behaved she is? Why can't you be like her. Look at your pathetic cocks leaking, you act like you don't wanna watch others fucking her, but you're just a pathetic little cuck aren't you?”

“Pathetic little cuck!” Hop parroted with a laugh, “aww his cocks are so red and needy, I bet if we leave him like this he'll cum anyway!”

“Go on then Heat,” Hip laughed, “prove to us you're not a cuck, I bet you cum without anyone touching you!” The two girls stopped touching him, but Hop continued to whisper nasty things in his ear, holding his horn so he couldn't turn away from her. Hip returned to Emma, who Noe had already made cum once, cooing to her what a good girl she was as Noe held her up on her shaky legs.

Reck flipped you around and pushed you on to your back, your chain rattling against the wooden deck, and he continued his rough treatment of your cunt. You felt suddenly very exposed now that you could see everyone watching and masturbating. Heat was right above you, looking down at you with a desperate and forlorn expression, his cocks bobbing untouched and needy. You watched Hip lead a very nervous Emma to you, encouraging her to take a seat on your face. “There you go, Em,” Hip cooed, as Emma squatted and sank down, nervous that she was going to suffocate you. You encouraged her by pulling her down as best you could with your bound wrists and eagerly reaching your tongue up to swipe through her folds. “Just like that, use the whore's face,” Hip encouraged as Emma finally began to relax, “that feels good, doesn't it?”

Emma made shy little whines above you, and Hip sat on your chest so Emma could use her shoulders for support, kissing Emma to distract her from all the watching eyes. You vaguely registered the grunt and splash of warm fluid against your tummy as Reck pulled off his condom and finished on you, quickly replaced by someone new, who you'd see later was Papas. He was a little smaller than Reck in the equipment department, who must have been a little above average, but he knew how to use it. Reck had got you most of the way to another orgasm, so you quickly unravelled and came on Papa's cock, moaning against Emma's pussy. Everyone cheered for you, the humiliation of cumming in front of the whole crew making you whine. Hip groped at your tits and abused your nipples with harsh pinches, making you buck and writhe under her. Emma's moans were quiet and reserved but slowly got a little louder as she got close, a near constant pleasured whimper from above you, paired with Heat's frustrated whines. Hip focused her attention on Emma, slipping her hands under her shirt to play with her tits gently instead of the mean treatment she'd been giving you, rolling her nipples to give her the last push of stimulation she needed to cum.

“Good girl, Em,” Hip cooed as Emma panted above you, having released a small gush on your tongue. You lapped at her carefully, knowing she would be sensitive but wanting to give her that last little bit of pleasure. “What a good girl, did the whore's face feel nice?” Emma gave a little sleepy nod and Quincy helped her up. You barely had time to catch your breath before Hip was taking her place, having quickly stood and stripped her leggings and shorts. She sat with her back to Papas, giving her a good position to grip your hair and use you roughly the way Quincy had. You could also see her face from this position, and she gave you a shit eating grin that reminded you a little of Wire. Her mouth was dangerously close to Heat's cocks, his hips rolling and chains making metallic strained noises as he tried to get a cock against her, even just to rub his tip against her lips, anything to get stimulation. She laughed meanly at him and blew air on his cocks, making precum bead and roll down the undersides as Heat growled.

Papa's finished with one last grunt, emptying into his condom and cursing that he'd wanted to finish on you like Reck had. Noe pulled him away by the hood of his sweater, eager to take his place, holding your thighs up against your stomach so you were practically folded in half, and spitting on your cunt more out of principle than need. You were nothing short of soaked right now, but being spat on made you shiver, feeling unbearably empty until his cock slid inside you. Noe was an average length but girthy, and you mewled at the new stretch. He was kind enough to give you a few moments to adjust before he started moving, his thick shaft pressing firmly against your g-spot and making your toes curl.

“Such a pretty little human,” Hip cooed down at you, “pretty little mouth, doing such a good job!”

“Pretty little pussy, too,” Noe added, “takes me well for a human, so fucking tight though. Fuck, I'm gonna cum quick after watching you girls ride her face.”

“Cover her in it,” Hip ordered, “I wanna see this pretty little whore get frosted, I'm gonna squirt on this cute little face.”

Hip squatted a little over you, giving you a perfect view of her cunt as she fingered herself, pumping her fingers fast in and out of her pussy and making obscene squelches until she moaned and threw back her head, giving Heat a cruel smile and cumming with a significant gush of fluid over your face. You weren't sure you'd ever seen such a grand amount of squirt, you were truly impressed. Hip gave your dripping face a playful, wet slap and stood, wiping her hand on Heat's face to clean the cum from them. Noe wasn't far behind her, adding to the milky splashes of cum on your stomach with a grunt.

Hop took over next, and you expected her to ride your face as well, but instead she took charge of the situation. She pulled you up by your hair until you were kneeling, and you were quickly surrounded by men and needy erections. Hop moved your head for you, forcing you to bob your mouth on each cock in turn - Bubblegum's, Moai's, Haikei's and UK's - making sure each man got plenty of turns, and that your mouth was going far enough to gag you each time. Heat's cocks were off course left neglected, but Hop made sure he had the best view in the house. The taste of the latex condoms wasn't pleasant but you had bigger fish to fry, every now and then looking up and catching Heat's sad brown eyes as he struggled to get to you. Your hands were utilised by those not currently being sucked off, and Bubblegum opted to push your tits together and thrust his now uncovered cock between them, the head of his cock occasionally bumping against your neck and smearing precum over your chest. Hop got off on others getting off, and cooed praises for how deep you took the men's cocks and how much you were drooling. The saliva ran down your chin and neck and added to Bubblegum's lubrication, smoothing his glide as he fucked your tits.

“Cum on her face!” Kid called from the forecastle deck where the commanders, sans Heat, were still all watching.

“On it, Captain!” UK replied, pulling off his rubber, gripping your hair and furiously fisting himself in front of you. You closed your eyes in anticipation, soon feeling the hot splashes of cum on your face as UK groaned. Kid cheered from the deck and UK forced your mouth open with his thumb, playing with your tongue before letting you return to Hop's control. Heat growled like a rabid animal, trying to bite UK as he moved to leave, making it clear why he'd been muzzled. He hated seeing someone else's mark on your face, smelling their scent coming off you, but at the same time his cocks twitched violently, his stomach pulled tight as he tried not to cum.

You continued alternating between Moai and Haikei with your mouth and hands, and soon Bubblegum was finishing on your chest, making eye contact with Heat with a crooked grin as he doused you with a violent spray of cum over your tits. He was replaced by Oscar, but as your mouth and hands worked the three men, you began to feel a familiar urge in your abdomen. You'd been leashed to the mast for a while now, and you were in great need of a toilet break. It wasn't helped by Hop, who was now kneeling beside you and playing with your pussy, her palm occasionally pressing against your mound, adding pressure to your very full bladder.

“Mm- Ne-nng,” you mumbled around Haikei's cock. He removed himself with a raised brow, careful to let you speak in case you needed to stop.

“What's wrong baby?” He cooed, running this thumb over your bottom lip.

“Need to pee,” you huffed, to which Hop pressed hard against your bladder on purpose, making you whine. “Hooooop”

“What? I'm just helping,” she teased, “go ahead and piss yourself, whore.”

“Noo!” You whined, “just… give me five minutes!”

“Come on now, Mouse,” Kid berated from his spot, “you're the one who wanted this, you said so before we docked at Sabaody! This is your initiation! You're not done till everyone that wants it gets a turn!”

“But-” you whined.

“No excuses, Mouse,” Kid growled, “prove you belong here. Either hold it in or let it go, there's no shame here, just fuckin’ piss.”

You did your best to hold it, managing another ten minutes of dick sucking and Hop pushing on your bladder before you couldn't do it any longer. You tried your best to squeeze your thighs together, but Hop wouldn't let you. She was purposefully doing everything she could to fuck with you, and you couldn't see her mouth behind her mask that covered the lower half of her face, but you could tell by the glint in her eye that she had a smug grin. Everyone waited eagerly for the flood gates to open, and when the first trickle of piss ran down your thighs everyone cheered. You whined and squirmed as the towel underneath you got damp with piss as the hot liquid ran down your legs, and Hop cooed praises in your ear, rubbing your clit until you came on her hand. It felt strange to cum while you were still peeing a little, it was different, but not bad. You made the mistake of looking up at Heat, whose eyes were wide, focused on the space between your legs at the trail of hot piss coming from your cunt. His eyes flicked back up to meet yours, and with a stuttered groan and furrowed brows his cocks twitched and he came, cum dripping on the deck in front of you as he swore under his breath.

“Good little piss slut,” Hop cooed, rubbing your oversensitive clit and making you wriggle, the last of your stream going directly into her palm and flooding over, “look at you go, look at you pissing yourself like a good little whore. Not like this pig over here. Cumming like the disgusting cuck he is, tsk. Look at that, he almost got me with his gross cum.”

You were too fucked up to reply with more than a tired mumble, and it was clear to everyone that you were run through, leaning forward to rest your head against Heat's tail as his spent cocks withdrew back into his sheath. He whined, wishing he could give you comfort but unable to reach you with his bound arms. He looked up at Wire in a wordless plea, hoping he'd noticed your exhaustion. Wire of course did, giving Heat an understanding nod, and stepped forward to speak to Kid. “She's done,” he told the captain, “she needs to rest.”

Kid grumbled, not liking being ordered around, but Wire was the most experienced on the crew with things of a spicy nature, and everyone trusted his opinion when it came to sex and kink. If Wire said you were done, then you were done, there was no arguing with him on matters of safety and limits.

“Alright losers, I'm bored,” Kid barked his excuse to the crew. He didn't want them to think you were weak, when really you'd taken a great deal more than most could. “Finish up and give me my whore back.” Kid turned to Wire as he prepared to head off, “clean her up, you can use my tub. Make sure she's all good, she's one of us now. Leave Heat on the mast until nightfall, he still has a lesson to learn.”

Those who were left took their opportunity to finish on your face or tits, and you were left a cum and piss covered mess, only kept upright by Hop. It was strangely familiar after that, each crewmate taking their turn to welcome you to the crew and offer kind words, like you weren't dripping with semen and half asleep, kneeling on a towel soaked with your own urine. The commanders finally descended from the deck, and Wire helped you to your feet, using his cloak to wipe some of the more annoyingly placed cum from around your eyes, then he scooped you into his arms bridal style, far more gentle than he had been the other day.

He carried you up to Kid's floor, Killer running ahead and filling the large corner tub while Wire used a warm, wet cloth to wipe most of the gunk from you before lowering you into the water. Kid's bathroom was large and lavish, almost at large as Killer's bedroom, with a walk in waterfall shower that could probably fit all the commanders at once, and a black marble counter with two inlaid sinks, a mirror running it's length that reached the ceiling. The whole room was tiled with black marble and accented with gold metal embellishments, furnished with deep red towels and floor mats, and several expensive looking paintings of nude women hung on the walls. Killer and Wire both stripped off and sat with you in the water, touching you softly, almost lovingly, washing you with delicate motions and massaging your scalp as they washed your hair. You were barely conscious as the two of them cleaned you up, and the gentle way they held you was making it easy to doze off.

“Did I do good?” You mumbled.

“You did very good,” Wire praised, “just rest now, sweetheart.”

“Is Kid gonna let me stay?”

“He said you're one of us,” Killer answered, “Don't worry about anything for now, just rest. Being part of this crew means nobody here will ever hurt you, you're safe now.”

“Mmm,” you mumbled back, nuzzling into Wire's chest and holding Killer's warm hand.

The two of them finished bathing you as you slipped into unconsciousness, before carrying you back downstairs, carefully dressing you in an old, loose shirt of Heat's, and tucking you into his bed, even though it was only mid afternoon. It would be a small victory for Heat to find you there later, a kindness from Killer and Wire who could have just as easily left you in one of their own beds. You were so exhausted you slept right through dinner, not even waking when Heat finally climbed into bed and curled around you, though nobody was surprised.

[Next Chapter]

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[chocodile]

Hiya! I was the advice anon from a few days back! First of thank you so so so so much for taking the time to not just answer but give such thorough advice! I really appreciate it so much, shared it with other friends of mine who have similar anxieties as I do. I really do appreciate it so much. Even if the internet isn’t how it used to be with less algorithms and numbers, I hope that I can still find my own enjoyment. I do have a best friend who I reconnected with 4 years ago and he gave me back that spark I was losing being one of the first people genuinely in love with my work much how I love his!

And yes please! I would love to hear your thoughts on meeting other creators and how to “launch” stories , and create that community! I love hearing the insight and introspection of fellow artists ! Everyone has different experiences that can be learned from and I just love reading what artists have to say about their work or methods ! Don’t worry about length, the more the better (of course please do not stress or worry about it, take all the time you need!)

Thank you again for answering my questions earnestly, made my week!

Hey Anon, sorry this took a while to get to! I've been pretty busy. I'm glad you found the first post helpful!

Regarding audience building and finding other creators... as I mentioned, I have a lot of thoughts. Here's a bunch of slightly disjointed notes on I've put together…

AUDIENCE BUILDING TIPS FROM SOMEONE WHO KINDA DID IT:

TIP 1: FIND OTHERS WITH SIMILAR INTERESTS!

Making OCs and original stories can be kind of isolating compared to, say, fandom. Best we can do is find specific points to bond over.

What is your story about? Does it involve heavy research into a specific topic, like speculative biology or real-world history? Look up tags related to this and see if anyone else is doing characters or stories based around this topic.

Does it share a theme with a popular media property? See if you can sneakily trick some of the fans of that media property into looking at your thing, too. ;) For example, a high-fantasy story might do well to court D&D fans. If you're writing a romance story, try to think of other stories and popular fandom ships that share themes with yours. You can follow artists who draw for that fandom, draw fan art for it, or make an AU of your character in that setting. Or all of the above.

This can even apply to very superficial things. Like, is your main character a woman with red hair and glasses? Did you find another artist whose favorite OC is a woman with red hair and glasses? That's a connection opportunity! And chances are, that artist may have friends or fans who ALSO like red haired women with glasses. Superficial appearance might feel like a silly thing to bond over, but catching someone's eye with your design is often the first step toward them engaging with the character more deeply.

Of course, you shouldn't be doing this as a cynical attention-grab… I absolutely wouldn't recommend courting a fandom for something you don't personally enjoy, and I wouldn't recommend following artists purely in hopes that they follow you back. That's a recipe for feeling miserable and resentful when it inevitably doesn't "pay off" immediately. Building relationships and establishing yourself in spaces takes time, and it needs to be something you enjoy doing or you'll just feel frustrated and give up.

TIP 2: BE THE ONE TO REACH OUT FIRST, BE CONSISTENT, BUT HAVE REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS.

So you've found someone you think is cool! Their story has werewolves in it, and so does yours. You think their main character is pretty cool and would like to know more about them. (And, secretly, you want them to ask you about your characters, too!)

So, get the ball rolling! Go ahead and ask them about their guy! It's scary, but that's often what you gotta do. If, after a few messages, they seem amenable, you can eventually start dropping tidbits about YOUR guy and YOUR story. "Your description of how the transformation sequence feels is very vivid and cool! In MY OWN werewolf story, transformation goes more like this…" or "Your guy who hates his werewolf side wouldn't see eye to eye with my werewolf character, who sees it as a blessing because…"

See if they bite on that. If they don't, maybe they're just not interested. But a lot of creators are interested in that kind of connection!

Some caveats here:

While many artists love that sort of attention, some people can be kinda defensive of their creations and become standoffish and prickly when strangers try to chum it up with them about OC stuff. If someone is like that, leave them be and don't try to force it.

Super popular artists tend to have way more messages than they can keep up with. You're very, very unlikely to develop an equally reciprocal friendship with them as a stranger in a short amount of time, and it's absolutely not anything personal. That's not to say you shouldn't bother interacting with them, just don't feel stung if they don't respond or follow you back. (This kind of overwhelm happens at much lower levels than you might think!) In my own experience, friendliness with a popular artist tends to happen when you're a consistent positive presence over a long period of time (often multiple years, but at least a span of 6+ months). And even then you will not be in their "inner circle" with the friends they've known for a decade, and that's fine!

Artists with smaller followings are way more likely to be receptive to following you back and doing the reciprocal friendship thing.

TIP 3: FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT.

If you do manage to make a connection with someone, or get a friend or two on board with your story, commenting and sending asks and stuff publicly is extremely helpful for audience-building. Not only does it increase your visibility, but it gives shy audience members "permission" to comment themselves, and a template for what kind of comments you find agreeable. A lot of people will think "Oh I want to comment… but what if I say something wrong and they get mad? I'll just say nothing instead." If you demonstrate that you respond in a friendly manner, they'll feel more comfortable. People are herd animals like that.

Also, people love the audience engagement aspect of sending "asks" and seeing responses to comments drawn. It doesn't need to be an "ask", though--one of the first things I did for Amaranthine was draw Hyden reacting to people's tags. You could even invent a question no one actually asked and draw a response, just to show people that you are open to that kind of thing.

In fact, way back before Amaranthine, I proposed a plan to collaborate with my friends to astroturf audience engagement to launch a story by sending each other and ourselves fake anon asks with questions. I ended up not having to do that--Amaranthine's popularity caught me completely by surprise--but if I ever have to cold launch a brand new story, I would probably send myself some fake anon asks to get the ball rolling, hah. Feel free to steal this idea and try it yourself!

TIP 4: SHOW CHARACTER, SHOW LORE, OVERSHARE, AND DO IT OFTEN!

There are tons of characters on the internet. What makes them memorable is sometimes their design, but usually it's their personality and story. If people don't know anything about a character except their name, physical appearance, gender, sexuality, and three character traits, they might think "aw, that's a neat character!" but probably won't think much more than that. They may like the cool art but probably won't say a lot about it beyond #cool art.

But if you draw the same character living out their daily life, interacting with friends and lovers and enemies, hanging out in their messy room, a flashback to them as an angry teenager, a short mini-comic of the incident that got them expelled from necromancer school, all coupled with little lore tidbits that offer a deeper look into their life, world, and inner psychology… that's when they start feeling like a PERSON, not just a cool design. Couple this with the asks and stuff from tip 3 and they become "a person I, the viewer, can reach out to and engage with".

It feels vulnerable to put this stuff out there initially, when you're not getting much feedback. But by having this built-up library of art and info people can read through, new viewers will arrive, think "hey, this character seems cool!" and instead of stopping there, they'll binge on your archives. It's very fulfilling to see a new person find your stuff and then see a strong of "likes" on older pieces as they go through your story/OC tag.

…Also, people have short attention spans, and modern social media means a lot of people won't see and certainly won't remember everything you post. Kwillow and I occasionally joke about "whoa, I can't believe I got a question about a topic I already answered! Don't they remember this 1 single post I made about the topic four years ago?" NO, THEY ABSOLUTELY DO NOT. You need to restate things, repost things, etc because people are probably not paying THAT much attention. You can't just put it out there once, especially the really juicy stuff!

You also gotta stick with stuff even if it feels like it's not working. Put your stuff up on a bunch of different platforms and cast a wide net. You might only get 1 comment on Tumblr, but if you post it to Bluesky, DeviantArt, Instagram, etc, and each of those gets 1 comment, then that's 4 comments. Think of posting on other sites like extra slot machine pulls. Even the ones with bad odds are still worth doing when the cost to pull the lever is basically nothing.

TIP 5: THE BITTER PILL:

Bitter pill to swallow: Modern social media favors things that can be distilled down into hashtags/tropes/aesthetics. Furries, punks, cottagecore, monsterfucker, D&D-esque, enemies to lovers, princess-core, werewolves… the harder something is to reblog with #aesthetic, the harder it is to sell in general. It'll always be harder to sell Bob The Regular Human Guy's story than it would be to sell that same Bob as a furry, or Bob as a shy punk with a shipping-fanfic-trope-friendly crush on a guy at a coffee shop. This doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't try, but it is something to be aware of. Like, if your thing isn't doing social media numbers, odds are high it's not bad, just not hashtaggable enough.

This is one of the reasons I say to try to focus on yourself and a small group of like-minded friends first. You can't count on social media mechanisms to help boost you if you're marching to the beat of your own drum. You can try to use tropes and fandom for your benefit, as described in #1, but even so it's often kind of an uphill battle.

However, if you have a ton of energy and love for your project then the awesome glowing power of your passion will help draw people to you. People like that energy! It may never be huge social media numbers, but do remember that every single person who interacts with your stuff is A WHOLE ENTIRE REAL PERSON, and that's pretty damn cool. 10 notes on something is 10 entire people standing in your living room giving you the thumbs up.

Anyway, hope at least a few of these tips are helpful! The social media landscape for artists is, frankly, very bad right now, and if you are struggling and feeling discouraged you are not alone. But there are still ways to find each other even in this landscape!

[leighsartworks216]

Screaming crying crawling up the walls for your top tier Astarion content

Idk if you’ve seen this, it’s floating around the internet (I think it’s a tweet?) it says something like “I want someone to grab my face and say ON PURPOSE, I WILL CARE FOR YOU ON PURPOSE” and I’d love to see our love-deprived bi-centurion react to something like this.

Like maybe he’s caught feelings for tav and is starting to feel bad for manipulating them and starts self-sabotaging by saying/thinking stuff like ‘you only THINK you love me but it’s not real, I’m sorry I made you feel this way’ and tav getting v v serious and replying “I never loved you by accident”.

Him being confronted by the fact that things never would’ve gotten this far if they didn’t let it, if they didn’t choose him, that they’re still choosing him and that it has nothing to do with the act he put up or the situation he constructed, if they wanted nothing to do w him they could’ve and would’ve dipped.

Idk I’m just spitting ideas, have fun babe ✌🏻

- 🦇

I wrote this at 2am but I did proofread it (it's almost 4 now 💀)

Also the original tweet is by Jenny Slate (@/jennyslate) and says, "I just want someone to grab my little face and scream 'ON PURPOSE, ON PURPOSE I AM GOING TO CARE ABOUT YOU'"

Astarion x gn!Tav/Reader

Warnings: self-doubt, references to manipulation, self-deprecation, references to dissociation, dissociation mention, hurt/comfort

Word Count: 1,392

Main Masterlist

Baldur's Gate 3 Masterlist

AO3

Tag List Form

It began one night, almost a week ago. Astarion had gotten into the routine of joining you in your bedroll after feeding, cuddling close and relaxing to the steady sound of your heartbeat. That night, a week ago, he didn’t. He delicately bit into your skin and pulled away before you were even slightly dizzy, murmured something about how you’d need your strength for a fight tomorrow, and slipped off to hunt for animals. Truly, you didn’t think anything of it, then. And maybe you got so lost, so caught up in your daily stress, that was why you didn’t register it for so long. Comments under his breath about manipulation immediately covered up with Gale requesting a magical artifact or Shadowheart and Lae’zel fighting.

So, a week went by. And the realization finally hit. Guilt ate away at your stomach, but wallowing wasn’t going to help. When night started to creep in, your companions slipping into their tents, you slipped into Astarion’s. Sitting in a pile of pillows, he looked up at you with a smirk and a ‘Hello, darling’, but it didn’t reach his eyes. They were dark. Distant.

“I’m sorry I haven’t given you the attention you need,” you start. A baffled look flickers across his face, but it is not given the time to settle.

There is a twitch at the corner of his mouth, like it’s a strain for him to keep smirking. “It’s perfectly alright, darling. You’ve been busy running around camp, helping people - I understand.”

With any other person, this would have seemed a perfectly reasonable response. An apology accepted, a mutual understanding - the relationship goes on. Except, this was Astarion.

You sit down nearby, close enough to reach out and touch. Any closer and you worried you’d overcrowd him. You always tried to let him come to you first, though he usually struggled to initiate anything.

“You’ve been distant, too,” you point out. He begins to form the words to apologize, but you shake your head to stop him before they can build a sentence. “I’m not upset, I don’t need an apology. I just wanted to know why.”

To be honest, he didn’t expect you to notice. He assumed, quite stupidly, all things considered, that you would be too preoccupied to notice him slowly slipping away. Late night cuddles dashed for hunting, hand holding forgotten as he trails along at the back of the group, kisses never lingering and the ones that did lacking any emotion behind them.

“Is something wrong?” you prompt gently. “If it’s too much, we can work out what would be better for you.”

Guilt stabs at his own non-beating heart like a wooden stake. He’s drifting and you still throw him a rope, still ask for him to grab on and pull himself away from his past, from dissociating with the slightest hint of affection.

He smiles wryly. “I can’t hide anything from you, can I?” he teases, but it comes out a little too strained to be a joke. His fingers fiddle with the corner of the page of his book. He finds watching the paper fold and bend is much more interesting than looking into your eyes.

He sighs. “I’m sorry, my dear,” he says, but the endearment feels like fire on his tongue, “but it’s not real. This isn’t real.” Your brow furrows as you stare at him. He can’t bear to see the realization cross your face. “Two hundred years of manipulating - of course I would trick you, too. It’s instinct, darling, I don’t blame you.” Red eyes finally meet yours. You look confused, of course, but there’s an air of determination, like you’re ready to fight whatever plagues him. “But this… love… it’s not real. And for what it’s worth, I am sorry I made you feel this way.”

He expects anger. He expects tears, even. Crying and shouting and ‘How could you?!’s and ‘I can’t believe you’ve manipulated me all this time!’ But it never comes. You frown, sure, but it’s leagues away from being angry.

“You think… you manipulated me into feeling this way?”

It shouldn’t hurt as much as it does. Admitting it feels bitter. He blames it on his growing fondness for you, but he knows it cannot possibly be returned in any genuine way. Not with his underhanded tactics surfacing at every passing glance, soft brush, and gentle smile. “Come now, darling,” he smirks again, building a wall to separate himself from the shitshow that must be just ‘round the corner, “who could really love me?”

That only succeeds in making you frown further. “Astarion, I’m not with you because you’ve tricked me.” The baffled look from earlier surfaces again, but it lingers, mixed with doubt. “I understand that you started this to manipulate me into protecting you, but I’m not here because you successfully influenced my emotions - To be perfectly honest, I could tell from the start.”

He laughs dryly, suddenly, like it startles him. “And here I was thinking I’d learned some subtlety.”

You don’t laugh with him. You don’t even smile. “I chose you, Astarion. I still choose to be with you. Because I want to.”

Any lingering mask of confidence fell from his face. The creases around his mouth became more prominent as he frowned. His eyes darted around, glancing around your face for any tells of deception, any hint that you’re making this up to make him feel better. “How can you be sure? How do you know you’re choosing me and not just buying into another act?”

“Astarion.” You get on your knees and hold his face in your hands. He stares up at you with big, round eyes. “If I wanted to, I could break up with you. I am not staying because I feel stuck, or because I feel obligated to. I love you. On purpose. On purpose, I am staying with you. On purpose, I choose you.”

He opens his mouth, but no words form. His mind is reeling, chasing to catch up and process everything, all the while jumping and flipping, trying to find excuses or reasons why you shouldn’t care for him. He swallows the lump building in his throat. He speaks in a whisper, too stunned to speak louder. “Are you sure?”

Your whole face softens. Determination turns to fond affection, frown lifting into a soft grin. “Yes. I’m sure.” You press a kiss to his forehead, and he closes his eyes to savor it. It’s been a week without allowing himself your love - he deserves to enjoy it once again, even if he feels guilty for it. He wishes his thoughts would just shut up and let him have this. “If you still need space or time, I’ll be here. I’m not leaving. Just,” you pull his face back, “please talk to me about this next time. I know things have been hectic, but I’m never too busy for you.”

He sighs, slow and soft. Relieved. “Of course, my love.” He adores the way you smile brightly at the endearment. He turns sheepish. “Ah, could I, possibly, join you tonight? It does, admittedly, get rather lonely passing the time alone.”

You kiss his cheek. “Of course you can. C’mon, I’ll even play with your hair if you’d like.”

He chuckles, genuine this time. “I very much would.” His book is set aside, the page he left off on lost as he takes your hand and follows you from his tent. He can’t help himself from squeezing your hand in his, like he can’t quite grasp the fact you are physically holding onto him. Even when you lay down first and he settles in next to you, arms wrapped around your middle and his head on your chest, it still feels hard to believe. But the way you wrap your arms around him and gently detangle his curls and scratch lightly at his scalp cannot possibly be from his imagination. Nor the way you press kisses on his forehead and temple and hair with sweet praises and words of affection. His mind is not kind enough to imagine such tenderness.

Laying there in your arms, listening to the steady beat of your heart and even breaths that fill your lungs as you slip into sleep, is the closest he has ever been to true contentment.

---

Tag List:

@hypopxia @flsalazar @beverlybeav @angelofthorr @emiemiemiii @marina-and-the-memes @lynnloveslokiredacted @aurasyn @furblrwurblr @cappsikle @mjmygd @thegirlsadventuresinwonderland @kindadolly @bloopthebat @pandimoostuff @chesb0red @black-star1472 @sessils @olitheghostboy-blog @puppyg1rl666 @maruichio @cyber-dump-171 @katharynmarie @twinkliker3000 @cherifrog @catching-fire-in-the-wind @phantoms-fandom-blog

[rosenclaws]

Superstars || Pro Wrestler!Logan x Pro Wrestler!reader

Summary: It's your first day on XMN television since being called up to Evolution. With new friends and possible new rivals your career is filled with the unknown. Especially when it seems like one of the veteran superstars has his eyes on you.

Warnings: some description of wrestling violence.

a/n: OKAY SO. I decided to treat this universe as like sort of series? But it's not like a cohesive story just a lot of short stories in the same universe that can be read separately kind of. This is like the introduction thing though so I will be following up but it can still be read solo. ALSO, I'm gonna add some like wrestling terminology at the end of the fic in case you aren't familiar with certain slang but if that's annoying plz let me know. plz feel free to ask me any clarifying questions too! This is just me combining my two interests lmao.

This was it. Your debut on Evolution since being moved from Origins. You paced back and forth backstage as you rehearsed your lines over and over again. You were supposed to go and interrupt the current Woman's champion Storm. She's the babyface of the Woman's division and you're the egotistical heel.

She has been undefeated for a year now and you were her next challenger. You feel someone tap your shoulder and you turn to see Storm and Rogue.

"You ready?" Storm asks, the belt resting on her shoulder.

"I guess," You were already dressed up with hair and makeup but it didn't feel real yet. Evolution was XMN's main show. That's where the superstars were, the ones they saw as true star power.

"You're going to do great, promise I'll go easy on you." Storm teases. Despite her goddess character, she's nothing but sweet and down to earth.

"First promo on a new show, don't forget your lines sugar." Rogue jokes.

"I'll try." You say nervously. She notices the deep anxiety written all over your face and gently places her arms on your shoulders.

"You got this, take a deep breath and when you get out there take it all in because you're never going to forget it." Rogue says warmly.

The two of them are called by a production manager leaving you alone once again. The clock was ticking ever closer to your call time. As you head closer to where you need to be you're stopped once again but this time by two men you've never met but heard a lot about.

The Wolverine and Deadpool were XMN's top tag team. Somehow the two of them work. Logan or Wolverine was always going to be a star.

Founded on the indie circuit going by just Logan at the time he was big, brooding, and strong. But his mic work was lacking as he wasn't a big talker. Still his raw talent and clear wrestler figure made it a no brainer to sign the man. That's where he met Wade Wilson. Or Deadpool.

He was a comedy character with a big mouth and the ability to get the crowd wrapped around his finger. He was vulgar and unserious as hell but people loved him. So imagine the shock when the two of them became a tag team. It was strange at first, I mean the two were nothing alike but for some reason the fans gravitated to them. The buddy cop duo charmed their way into viewers hearts.

It made sense, Wade was funny but he never quite reached the status to win any gold. Logan had the chance to win gold but fans hadn't really seemed to connect with him as a possible champion. Put them together and you had an odd couple tag team that people just wanted to root for. Wade did the talking while Logan was the muscle. But the banter the two of them electric.

Not to mention the chemistry in their wrestling, pulling off tag team moves flawlessly. Now they're the world tag team champions. And they're standing right in front of you. You were a massive fan of them and had been before you even joined XMN.

"Logan look! A new ducky has joined the pond." Wade pulled you into a hug immediately.

"Oh, uh hi!" You say as you hug him back.

"Get off her idiot." Logan says with a roll of his eyes.

Man Logan was even hotter in person. They had a match tonight and you just thank whoever decided he should wear those low rise trunks. Everything is on display for sure.

"Hi, I'm a huge fan of both of you." You say excitedly.

"Of course you are, who isn't a fan of us." Wade says jokingly.

"Shut up." Logan says before turning to you.

"Thanks sweetheart. Glad to see you here." You notice his eyes scanning you up and down and you silently thank yourself for wearing your good shorts.

"I've seen you on Origins, you're amazing!" Wade compliments and you thank him.

"You really think so? I'm really nervous about tonight." You say shyly. You've done this before but for some reason tonight just felt different.

"Look, you've got no reason to be nervous sweetheart. You got the look, the talent, the athleticism. Everything. Plus a pretty face never hurts." Logan says with a smirk.

You feel your stomach erupt with butterflies at his compliment. Logan isn't the guy to say something he doesn't mean. In fact it's a shock he's even talking to you. You were warned before about how little he talks and to not take it personally. But here he is smiling and giving you advice.

"Thank you, it means a lot coming from you." You say with a smile.

"Good luck tonight by the way, I'm kind of surprised you aren't main eventing. I mean everyone loves you guys." Logan just shrugs and throws the belt over his shoulder.

"I don't mind too much, we'll get the crowd going for you." He says with a wink. Wade eyes the two of you suspiciously, head turning back and forth.

"Oh my god you are so-" Logan slaps his hand over Wade's mouth before he can say anything else.

"We have to go, see you around real soon sweetheart." Logan drags Wade away towards the main stage.

"So rude!" Wade huffs as he shoves Logan's hand off his mouth. Your eyes drift down as they walk away, shamelessly watching Logan's ass.

Despite only talking to him for a couple minutes he's managed to calm all your nerves.

You watch Logan and Wade's match from gorilla. You can't tear your eyes from the screen as Logan clotheslines . He lets out a roar and the crowd cheers. The intensity in his eyes send shivers down your spine. But fuck does he look good.

His massive arms are on full display as he lifts Beast over his head and slams him onto his knee. He turns his back to the camera and you get to see those muscles in all their fucking glory.

"Careful, you might catch flies." You turn to see Jean standing next to you. She's smiling but it doesn't reach her eyes.

"Oh I wasn't...I was just watching-"

"It's okay, he's a handsome man. Trust me I know." She hums.

You laugh nervously but there's a strange air between the two of you. Jean was the top star. She may not hold a belt but she was a massive draw and everyone knew it.

"If I can offer you a word of advice, I'd stay away from him if I were you. A lot of history there." She flashes a smile and leaves.

You start to fiddle with your sleeve as you let Jeans words sink in. Looking at Logan doesn't mean anything. He's handsome anyone could see that. That's all it is. You don't think about him that way, at least you don't think you do. You barely know the guy. Storm notices your mini spiral and comes over to snap you out of it.

"Don't let her get to you," Storm says.

"Whatever she said, just block it out." You nod and try and push that away. This is your moment and you got this. This is no different than being on Origins. You know how to do this, you're good at this. The bell rings and Logan and Wade stand victorious.

As they walk back into gorilla you clap along with everyone else. Logan runs his fingers through his hair, his once perfectly styled tuffs are now flattened from sweat. His whole body is sweaty and fuck is it hot.

"Nice match Logan," Storm hums.

"Thanks 'Ro. By the way, be nice tonight alright, It's her first day." He says gesturing towards you. Storm raises an eyebrow at his request.

"She's not brand new Logan, just new to this show."

"I know. Just saying she might be nervous is all." Storm smirks. Logan has never cared this much about a new superstar before.

Interesting.

"Logan! That match was amazing." You praise. You move to hug him but stop yourself. Feeling a pair of eyes drilling themselves in the back of your head.

"Thanks sweetheart, I had hoped you were watching." Storms music hits and you watch her walk out to the crowd. The nerves coming back in full force as you realize it was almost time to go out there.

"Hey, stop that." Logan nudges your shoulder and you sigh.

"I don't know why I'm so nervous. I've been doing this for years but this just feels so much bigger." You say.

"Look Chuck wouldn't have brought you here if he didn't think you were ready. I've followed your career since you joined this place. Like I said earlier you have everything it takes. So don't let some nerves get in your way got it?" Your eyes widen at his words.

He's really watched you all this time? Logan is a star and you've just got called up from developmental. It's like a surge of confidence. He's right. You can do this.

"Thank you Logan." You take a few deep breaths and wait by the curtain. In and out.

You focus on what you have to say and wait. A calmness washes over your mind and body as your music hits. Like a switch is flipped inside of you. You grab the mic and walk out that curtain, ready to show the world what you had.

The whole segment went flawlessly. You interrupt Storm, pushing yourself as the soon to be new woman's champion. You feel right at home as exchanged a war of words with her. Everything ending in a brawl that leaves Storm on the mat with you standing above her. Holding the belt and pointing right at the camera.

The fans fell right into your hand. Booing your shameless attack on their champ. You try and hide your smile as you walk out. The fans love you, they want this match and you couldn't be happier. The moment you step back through the curtain you let yourself breathe. Jumping in happiness.

"You did great sugar! It was electrifyin'" Rogue says while pulling you into a hug.

A few other people congratulate and welcome you to the show. After a small debrief about next week you're free to go. Walking through the halls of the arena you can barely contain your excitement for next week. As you change back into normal clothes you find a familiar face waiting outside of the locker room.

"Logan, I thought you would have gone back to the hotel by now." You say, slightly shocked he's still her. He's leaning against the wall with his backpack. Dressed in a very cozy looking gray sweater.

"Decided to stick around to watch. I told you you'd kill it." He joins you as you walk to the exit.

"Well I had to make sure we were worth following your match." You tease. The conversation flows easy as he walks you to the car waiting to take you both back. Luckily the lobby is practically empty by the time you're dropped off with no one joining you in the elevator.

"Hey, I'm going to train tomorrow if you want to join me. I could show you a few things. See what you've got too." Logan offers.

"Yes!" You blurt out. The chance to train with Logan, you'd be a fool to pass that up.

"I mean, yes that would be great." You try and cover any embarrassment by staring at the ground, wishing it would swallow you up. Logan chuckles leans against his hotel door.

"Okay, it's a date then. See you tomorrow sweetheart." He scans his keycard and goes into his room, leaving you standing there in shock.

A warm fuzzy feeling growing in your stomach as you repeat his words in your head. Date. You hear someone clear their throat and you turn to see Jean watching with an unimpressed look on her face.

You duck your head and hurry to your room. Getting in as fast as you can. You throw your bag on the table and fall onto the hotel bed. Today was not like anything you were expecting. Debuting on a new show, meeting Logan, Jean, setting up a championship feud. It's a lot in one day but you couldn't be happier. This was everything you had dreamed of since you decided to become a wrestler and now it was coming true.

Who knows what's going to happen next.

Gorilla - backstage area where the show is run and the area right before the entrance curtain

Promo -  promotional interview, a dialogue or monologue used to advance a storyline.

Babyface/Face - The "Good guy", "Hero" character. Wants to be cheered by fans

Heel - "The bad guy" or "Villian" that is meant to be boo'd by fans

[raayllum]

I've never been quite so fond of Callum and Rayla as a ship because there are some glaring issues with them that I really can't seem to look past, but recently upon rewatch, I have been seeing the potential in Claudium. They have a really interesting dynamic that turns from childhood friends into tragedy and I think its really well written.

What is your opinion of Callum and Claudia as a couple?

First off thanks for dropping this in my inbox! Always love hearing and talking about alternative ship perspectives esp in a civil / interesting manner!

Callum and Claudia have always had one of the most interesting 'background' dynamics in the series to me. On a narrative level, TDP is particularly their coming-of-age story working narratively in parallel as two mages, with Claudia being Callum's lancer/deuteragonist from a magic system lens (Rayla is that for him In General), and it's accordingly very fun. By proxy, this naturally lends a fertile ground for a lot of dynamic exploration for them, including but not limited to shipping! I've always been very fond of them eventually working together (however reluctantly) on future magical related projects and being appreciative (again, however reluctantly) of being around someone who gets/loves magic the way they do.

When it comes to Callum/Claudia meta, I've written meta about them before even if I don't necessarily 'ship' them. I think even in a world without the assassin mission they would've inevitably ripped each other apart at the seams, but sometimes you want a ship/dynamic for the Mess, y'know? And, tbh, I rarely enjoy ships from a 'purely shippy' standpoint — for any kind of ship to grab me, there has to be strong character work / thematic stuff going on — so how I write Claudium meta is not fundamentally different from how I write meta about anything I actually do ship.

The bulk of this stuff was written in arc 1 where they were prominent, and does occasionally loop Rayla in on account of her foil dynamic to Claudia (particularly during S2).

Callum x Claudia tag (lots of parallels, framing, smaller thoughts from myself and others, etc)

Where can I put it down? (the Callum, Claudia, Rayla foils dynamic tag)

You Already Did :: A Callum/Claudia Meta (s1-s3)

Aaravos and Rayla as Callum’s Two Paths (+ S2 Claudia)

That said, here's the meta that was originally meant to be quick. Let's go:

1) Callum and Claudia are this very interesting mix of simultaneously seemingly knowing each other very well thanks to their similarities — they're both fascinated by magic, care deeply about their brothers, regulate themselves to caretaker roles but can also steamroll others, are incredibly loyal / loving, have penchants for unnecessary violence — and not knowing each other at all. I think this is more because of the Box(es) they've put each other in, respectively.

For Claudia, she sees Callum as someone who's a little naive (assuming she knows better in early S2 about the mission vs Zym stuff), someone she can somewhat take for granted (using him, somewhat leaning on his feelings), and assumes he'll be more forgiving towards her than he actually is (what was her plan post-kidnapping? That they'd kill Rayla, drag them home, and the boys — Soren / her father in later seasons — would inevitably see 'sense', i.e. see things her way, and forgive her / think she was right all along).

It'd be very easy, then, to look at Callum's big crush on her in the first two seasons and assume he holds her in higher regard than she holds him. He's crushing and blushing and defending her, after all. However, the main reason I've never totally shipped them is because of how Callum treats/views her in S1/S2. Even in 1x03 in the dungeons, or especially in early s2 when he has no reason to doubt her — she told him the truth, she gave him back the letter, she hasn't knowingly done anything to him — Callum never actually trusts her when it matters.

He agrees with Rayla's plan in 2x03 because he knows, somewhere deep down, Claudia betraying him is not out of the question, nor does he ever trust her with his Most Important Person (Ezran, which is later expanded to include Rayla), and if you wanna get to Callum in any significant way esp in the early seasons, you gotta get to him through that foundational bond. I've said it before and I'll say it again that, for him and Ezran (as Rayla was a neutral/negative party who didn't have any kind of real bond with Claudia or Soren at all), the illusion plan is actually pretty Mean if the mage fam siblings had been genuine.

What this tells us, then, is that Callum and Claudia pre-series think they're close... but they're not actually. Claudia rarely talks about her emotional problems to anyone until Terry, and Callum wasn't going to go to her because of his crush. There's a lack of a strong emotional bond, and I think that's one of the main reasons they fall apart so quickly when significant changes start happening. They both have strong senses of loyalty, but that loyalty was never ever towards each other... and that's fascinating, tbh.

2) Some of the inherent tension for Callum and Claudia I think, therefore, is the interplay they both have with Identity as a theme.

Callum has the first stages of an identity arc in arc 1, but it's far simpler and less demanding. He uses royal titles and systems as a way to distance himself within his own family — "Why don't you just call him Dad?" "Because he's the king. And I'm his stepson" — and finds meaning in becoming primal mage, a path both Claudia and Rayla have a hand in setting him on. Claudia, alternatively, doesn't really have an identity theme; part of it is that she's not super self-reflective, and the other half is that she's stapled her sense of self onto Viren so hard that there's not really any room for anything else.

Season 4 immediately kicks them both in the back of the knees and doesn't look back. One of my favourite things about S4 was the season explored how the timeskip took their arc 1 identity pillars — for Callum, it was Rayla (becoming a mage, becoming more confident, having a confidant/peer for the first time, etc); for Claudia, it was Viren (presumably self-explanatory) — and then shoved them together into messy reunions of "the separation changed you fundamentally, and now you're spiralling".

Prior to Rayla leaving, Callum was talkative and very open about all of his feelings; prior to Viren's death, Claudia was far more passively following her father's plans and ideas. But when — after a two year separation caused by perpetuating the cycle (Rayla and her self-described obsessive revenge, Viren and his grab for power) — comes to a close... the Callum and Claudia they find are the opposite, and Rayla and Viren have both very much changed, too, all of which makes reconnecting / doing relationship repair harder for everyone involved. For more on the parallels/character work between these four in S4, check out this meta; it's still one of my favourites.

Cue Rayla and Viren getting better (in some ways), and Callum and Claudia getting worse (in some ways) comparatively as they're drawn deeper into Aaravos' machinations.

What this does, then, is set Callum and Claudia (+ Rayla and Viren) in a sprawling identity arc throughout the seasons. Rayla and Claudia continue to prominently parallel each other (both refuse to kill their High Mage of Katolis / let him die in S4, for ex) as Callum and Viren continue to parallel each other. Callum's main reaffirmations of his sense of identity is his brother and Rayla, whereas Claudia's arguably takes an unexpected distraction: as Terry and Viren become concerned with reaffirming their own sense of identity amidst actions of violence that threaten to change them for the worst, and Soren's arc 1 certainty is smashed into pieces in his bond with his sister... Aaravos and Callum become the main pillars Claudia's identity theme bounces off of, even if Callum doesn't pay her assessments of him much mind.

Unlike Soren, Terry, even Ezran... all people who loved and knew her (as again, Rayla had no prior bond to break) Callum has zero qualms about hurting Claudia, nor has he ever, tbh (just look at the venom in his eyes in 2x07). What we get on his end, then, is that rather than be doubtful because of past love (Soren) or being unsure of how she's gotten here (Viren: "My sweet girl... what happened to you?"), Callum is completely certain, recognizing Claudia explicitly through her capacity for violence... and her repeatedly bringing out his capacity for his own (i.e. him making sure she looks him in the eye before he leaves her to drown in 5x09). He didn't have to use the blood freezing torture spell on her, after all, but he comes out of the gate swinging with it.

What this creates, then, is a question: is the way Callum sees Claudia more accurate than the way other people see her? Is the way Claudia sees him — "I don't hate you, I don't want you dead" — real, or just a way for Claudia to still believe that she's a good person? And if it is real, is there any instance wherein Callum would believe that it is?

The irony is, of course, is that Callum and Claudia are growing increasingly similar in their methods and in their responses — while both are unaware and despairing at least a little over just how much they've changed, and could continue to. They're the embodiment of "Let's judge and criticize things other humans do, and then do the exact same thing ourselves!" Because, as they've said many times:

3) I would do anything for you.

Mages in TDP are fixers. Magic, after all, gives you the power to fix your situation in some manner. To feed, to heal, to protect, to revive. When faced with potentially losing or being unable to help someone they love in season 2, Callum and Claudia both turn to dark magic as a solution. For Callum, he convinces himself it's a one-off, but I'd always believed otherwise, lol.

Now, the mindsets both approach dark magic with is very different. It's only in arc 2 that Claudia begins to be aware of the cost ("You think I've done some awful things, and I have") but it's a price she continually chooses to pay, anyway. In some ways, this is closer to Callum's mindset regarding dark magic throughout ("It was easy. Too easy. Even though I know it's wrong"). So why do something you know/believe is bad? Simply that the ends justify, or outweigh, the means.

The fun part is that this parallel is set up all the way back in 1x02, wherein Callum inspires Claudia to think of the switching spell ("I'd switch places in a second") that rips Harrow and Viren apart. Callum then embodies the spell concept more earnestly in taking Ezran's place, just as Claudia doesn't understand why Harrow would be uncomfortable with someone laying their life down for him so directly if it means he'd live (cue her bafflement and anger when Viren strolls in with the same reservations in 6x01). If I can lay myself down for you, if I can save you — even if you don't want me to — why wouldn't I?

They both say "I would do anything for you" and mean it. It's devotion to the point of destruction. They're willing to sacrifice everything — their bodies, lives, senses of self — if it means the people they love will be okay.

Nothing is too much to ask. After all, Callum knew Ez had the Nova Blade in 7x09, so he didn't have to carry on with the coin spell, but if it didn't, everyone in the immediate vicinity would die, and he wasn't about to lose Rayla or Ezran especially if the only cost was himself.

What this means, though, is that Callum and Claudia are both willing to steamroll over others to secure what they think is best. Callum is usually more well-intentioned about it (when he stays behind in the Bookery, it very much is for Rayla, whereas Claudia wanting to heal Soren is for him yes, but also because she can't handle it and doesn't want to acknowledge what he said about their dad) even if there tends to be worse consequences (almost dying at said Great Bookery), but they both do it (Claudia ignoring Viren's change of heart in 4x02, etc).

A good chunk of this is because they are very solution focused. If there's a problem, and they see an answer, they will hyper focus on getting to that answer by any means necessary, even if it means disregarding their own physical wellbeing or others' (Claudia in s5 with her own, Terry in s6 and s7; Callum in s2/3/7 with his own, s5 with Domina Profundis). This is also why Callum makes the choices he does in 7x02 (bigger meta on that here since I'd predicted something similar happening uh, a week post-S3 and Callum making those choices post-S5 lmao): Ezran was having big emotional problems he couldn't solve, Rayla had an emotional turned physical problem that could be readily solved, so he tunnel visions and goes for the one he can solve. (The fact that Ez had a support system and Rayla didn't + Rayla also offered to turn against/fight her people to save his dad when they first met also factored in tbh.)

RAYLA: It hurts me to know they're trapped like this. It's agonizing. But I know our mission comes first. [...] CALLUM: Rayla, we can help them. We can undo this spell. (5x04)

CLAUDIA: Wouldn't you both do the same if you had a chance to save your Dad? To bring back King Harrow? I would even help you. (5x09)

If Callum or Claudia have picked your problem as One To Solve, they will see it through to the end; if they haven't, or don't even compute something as a problem, good fucking luck getting them to care, tbh. Claudia and Callum stapling someone else's wellbeing onto their own ("Why are you doing this?") is just what they do, even if that means someone else's sliding by well, the wayside (Terry, Ezran) because again: who's in their way? Who's problem can they actually fix?

This does mean that sometimes there can be collateral damage if they've decided hurting you doesn't matter, to the point we've both seen them willing to inflict unnecessary physical pain on other people.

They also as of the end of S7 have inverted hair — Callum's mostly dark hair with his white streak, Claudia's hair mostly white with a few black streaks left — which is an absolute treat from a foils and narrative standpoint, lemme tell you. I can't wait to see what fucked up shit they do in arc 3.

But now for what I think I've been dancing around long enough as a semi-closing note:

4) You can't really talk about Claudia and Callum without talking about Rayla... but because of Raydia, not Rayllum.

Rayla and Claudia are foils, and they always have been.

They enter the story similarly as antagonists — dark mages and assassins have similar story purposes within TDP, after all, being willing to sacrifice themselves and others for what they deem important enough ("so I could carry out my dark work" / "I have work to do") — but where Rayla immediately breaks from her father's orders, Claudia clings steadfastly to them. They offer drinks to their travelling companions (1x04), grapple with what to do with Callum (2x02—2x03), work to save their fathers while being submerged in water (5x09, 6x09), abandon their boyfriends (Rayla to protect him, and Claudia to protect herself), and as Claudia's hair becomes white, she physically looks more like Rayla as well.

But where Claudia is a mage — a fixer in mindset, willing to discard her heart to follow her mind and sacrifice others — Rayla is primarily guided by her big heart and willing to sacrifice what she finds important — her family, Callum — as well as herself. Claudia (like Callum) cares about her loved ones above all else; Rayla cares about everyone else above all else ("My heart for Xadia").

RAYLA: I let him go. I don't know why. EZRAN: Because you felt for him. [...] You saw that he was scared, and you knew he was a person, just like you.

CLAUDIA: You're right. It won't follow us. But not because it's trapped. [Smiles] It won't follow because it's afraid of me.

What this provides then is a clear way at how they're both lancers for Callum within the narrative. A lancer is the primary character contrasted with the main character — if the hero is earnest, the lancer will be snarky; if the hero is nervous, the lancer will be more bold / confident — in order to provide balance and change. When Callum is more passive, unsure, reserved, or feels helpless (1x03, 1x09, 2x03, 2x07, 3x01, 3x09, a good chunk of smaller instances in S4, 5x08, 6x06, 7x02, 7x06) Rayla and her choices or circumstances is often used to prompt (and/or force) him to take action. She's his primary agent of change with the narrative and always has been... but, sometimes, so is Claudia.

After all, Callum's love for Rayla motivates him to move closer to Claudia, not farther away. In 2x02, when his crush is offering to spend more time with him and fix his problem by teaching him dark magic, Callum refuses... but it's his love for Rayla in 2x07 that leads to him picking that book right back up and actually doing it.

CALLUM: I'm sorry. It's just not for me. (2x02)

DARK!CALLUM: It's not about you, is it? If you love her, you'll be the you that can save her. You'll do what you must. However dangerous, however vile. (7x06)

VIREN: If it's love, then nothing else matters. Do what you must. (6x06)

At the same time, Rayla illustrates why Callum and Claudia fell apart. Even when she's made mistakes or lied/left, Callum knows that everything she's ever done has been to protect him and Ezran, and in 7x02 is to protect/save her family. She lays herself and only herself on the line all the way until 7x09, where the conflicting messages of "I sacrifice so Callum doesn't have to" meets "Callum — who always tells me not to sacrifice things — is telling me to sacrifice (him)". These things aren't true of Claudia, who lies to use people (Callum and Ez in S2; Terry in S7) around her with varying degrees of being literal, and her increasingly high body count. Rayla isn't concerned with being a good person (that would require having a stable sense of self that she cares about, which is too much self esteem for her, lmao), but Callum and Claudia are attached to thinking of themselves as good people (and/or potentially in Callum's case, that being synonymous with being someone Rayla 'can love'); Callum is willing to sacrifice it, while Claudia clings to it to her last breath.

Therefore, all three of them have a very interesting interplay with each other on themes of choices and abandonment and TDP's whole thing with sacrifice.

CHOICES: Claudia fears having to choose; Rayla fears making the wrong choice; and Callum fears having no choice at all.

ABANDONMENT: Callum is abandoned but never truly abandons (he might walk away physically but never emotionally); Claudia would always pick to be abandoned rather than abandon (with the exception of 6x01); and Rayla always leaves / is more willing to leave.

Take, for example, Rayla in 4x05 in leaving the drake being what Callum and Ezran were willing to do point blank in 2x07; she's borrowing their selectiveness but chopping off parts of herself in the process, as Callum only went back for the dragon that Claudia was going to dissect because Rayla did so. Callum takes the first half of Claudia's fulminus spell in 1x03, but Rayla helps him complete it in 1x07.

Aaravos' possession chokes/suffocates Callum in 4x04, something that only happens because Callum did dark magic for Rayla with Claudia's book; Rayla chokes in 5x09 going under the water (Callum's Ocean arcanum, Claudia's submergence in Aaravos' literal waves of grief); Claudia chokes/suffocates as well in 5x09 because Callum steals her potion; Claudia then suffocates Callum in 7x07 with the Staff of Ziard by more water he's later going to pick the staff up out of because of his love for Rayla. Claudia gifts Callum the letter that she only has because Rayla kicked it out of his hand, a bad action that likewise delayed him learning more about Aaravos (which is a good thing), only for Claudia to use it as a tool of deception whereas now Rayla is entirely honest... Everything is interrelated; everything is contingent.

Callum chose Rayla because he could trust her with Ezran, and after Claudia scared Ezran, it was over, but that foundation allowed Callum to build a bond with Rayla that could compete/convene with — and under specific instances, be prioritized over — his bond with Ezran (Callum lacking a vengeful bone in his body and having made his peace with Runaan similarly to Zubeia/Avizandum also helped), similarly to way Claudia's bonds with other people have competed and/or taken precedence (Viren and then Aaravos above all else, leaving the boys and her brother and boyfriend by the wayside).

It's not necessarily the healthiest way to live and have relationships — Callum in particular loves in a Very intense way (i.e. if you're not Ez or Rayla, you're on a varying scale of chopped liver to him) — but damn if it's not interesting to watch.

Other Little Callum x Claudia Things / Closing Notes:

Claudium is always more interesting to me from Claudia's POV. In my view she likes him well enough, and doesn't not not like him, but it's not a very strong crush; Callum is comforting and comfortable and it'd increase her status. Her still holding onto not wanting to hurt him is interesting as well since, as discussed, he hasn't. Callum reaching out to Claudia in 4x08 and 7x07 of "stop / you don't have to do this" is especially funny to me because there's little doubt in my mind (especially post-S4) that if she did listen to him, he'd absolutely use it against her and immediately go for the jugular. They hate each other in a way that's not entirely rational, and it's awesome.

Love the fire and water symbolism they have going on, especially with the fight in Akiyu's grotto in 7x07. Claudia increasingly becoming more and more associated with fire throughout the series vs Callum getting more water associations is juicy, particularly considering since she got swallowed up and spat out by the ocean in 5x09 whereas he got an arcanum he'd likewise rather not have.

Callum and Claudia's tendency to knowledge steal from each other — Callum taking her primal stone and her book; Claudia taking his answer to the riddle; the trio stealing the prison, Claudia basically gifting the Staff of Ziard to him an episode after claiming it was hers (more on that here) — is delicious. The fact that map shit came back full circle — "the being will guide you to the one who has answers" "having knowledge doesn't mean knowing knowledge, so it means he has a map" the cube of Aaravos being a literal map that leads to Elarion (which is what I'd always hoped for since S4) — is just the cherry on top.

Can't talk about them without talking about the chain motif, whether it's how they mutually chain each other in 1x03 (Claudia grasping his wrist, Callum fitting an actual chain over hers), the snake chain spell that continually haunts Callum throughout, dark magic as something that promises freedom yet also chains/traps you... Callum and Claudia both using magic in S7 to immobolize / imprison their siblings, but Claudia and Ezran both choose not to kill them, and Callum asserts that he's not giving up on them ("but I'll always be your brother") while Claudia spirals about it ("so you've given up on me?").

And finally personality flaws because hoo boi. Claudia hates feeling judged in any manner (again, very attached to seeing herself as a good person) but canonically thinks that Callum is judgemental on more than one occasion and he absolutely can be. Think of how he should logically trust in 4x01 that Soren wouldn't let anything bad happen to Ezran, but he 100% does not and gets aggressive and intensive anyway. Callum also doesn't like dark magic either (whereas again, Claudia does revel in it and think it's great for a good chunk of arc 1), so while in a world with no assassination he might've become a dark mage alongside her, he would've been a lot more "we shouldn't be doing this" about certain stuff, which would've majorly bothered her, until their or his motivations matched up, wherein he'd go just as far or farther than her, which would also majorly upset her. Basically: I think they're too similar and clash in very particular ways that it'd take massive character development from both of them to work out longterm and to not give up on the relationship. Whoops?

I'd like to write a drabble or oneshot one day where they're both committed to defeating Aaravos (maybe Claudia finds out he killed Viren in 6x08) but the spell required is like... a pretty horrific path that none of their other allies really want to walk, so they do it together while hating each other and angrily bonding the whole time. An interesting way for Claudia to let go of her distaste for him judging her would be to think/realize they're equally fucked up / willing to go that far, and Callum not feeling like he has to hide any of his monstrosity in front of her (because I think that's less of a concern post-S7, but it's still there, even if Rayla would absolutely accept him no matter what it hasn't quite clicked for him yet) and he thinks that'll make him feel better, but it doesn't anyway because he doesn't really want to Be this, either. Neither of them do, but... hand in unloveable hand, I suppose.

Because again: I love the mess.