#Legend wants to be treated normally well to bad but the royal think is too good for insulting to drop | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

jaeminscoffee · 4 years ago

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The midnight man | l.ty

Pairing- Lee Taeyong x reader

Mentions- Lee Donghyuck, Na Jaemin, Liu YangYang, Nakamoto Yuta, Seo Johnny, Kim Doyoung, Ten Lee, Lee Dong Wook.

Genre- Horror!au, angst, crack, part fluff.

Warning(s)- Evil entity!Taeyong, Manipulation, Major character death (lmao you'll actually punch yourself towards the end), sexual themes suggested, impulsive decision making, talks with religion.

Word count- 11.83k

Synopsis- 'Lust though pleasurable, innocent and vice, thee shall stay loyal to thy partner regardless of wants. To betray thy partner is to deceive thy people and hence the kingdom. Thou shall pay for thy soul shall remain wandering, driven by the desires but, shall not be able to feel the human love thou took for a grain of salt. And all who shall follow thy steps shall face the same wrath.'

@kpopscape

This story is pure work of fiction and therefore doesn't speak about the mentioned members' personality in real life. I, in no manner, am trying to encourage hate speech towards the members so please don't come at me. This story was written using a mix of a bunch of urban legends and few made up by myself and therefore it isn't going to be spoken about the same way as it is in google. I also worked really hard on this piece and it's by far, the longest story I've written so feedbacks would mean a lot!, also it could get a little boring since i took time to focus on the side characters too. Make sure not to repost my works and sign it off as your own because that's a little disheartening and mockful towards the writer. So all credits reversed to @jaeminscoffee 2020©®

If anyone here doesn't know the story behind the midnight game, then read on! Because I've described it throughout the story! Happy reading!

29/10, Thursday, 10:57PM

"We need to do something this halloween man, Y/n come on!"

Your friends all collectively whined as you constantly kept rejecting their proposal.

Halloween is bullshit. It's overhyped and in all honesty, childish. You'd rather prefer staying home than go house to house and make a fool out of your existence. Not to mention you were all past the age of trick or treating. And to add on top of that came all the sugar rush you'd all go through at the end of the day. "For the last time, Hyuck we're not dressing up like crewmates and going trick or treating. I've got other things to do for the love of god" you grunt, rubbing the scrunched up skin to soothe the pain at the temples. University has been acting up again and so has life. "If your 'other things to do' is binge watch high school musical then no, you have no other better things to do" Yangyang bites back.

"It's just, I don't feel like it anymore, alright? It feels too weird going out asking for candies when we're all literally 19 and above. It's time to up the notch." you say, plopping down.

When Haechan called for an emergency meeting in pure 'among us' style back at the guys' dorm, you'd expected it to be about something along the lines of having to console Jaemin or someone for having been stood up on a date. What you didn't expect was to have the boys prepare an entire presentation on who'd dress up as what character from among us and who'd be the impostor, do a little play and then say 'red is sus' and then ask for candies. What made it worse was that you thought they were just pulling a prank on you when in all reality, they were dead serious which made you go, 'oh, oh they aren't pretending to be stupid, they're just in their original form.'

"It won't be that bad, doll. It's a genius plan if you ask me" Jaemim chirped in on the conversation finally after looking back and forth between you, Donghyuck and Yangyang caught up in a meaningless fight. "I don't see how any of this is genius, Jaem. If this plan's anything, it's stupid." You pull out your phone after making your way all the way to the headboard of Jaemin's bed. "How about we try out one of these creepy pasta games?" Yuta finally spoke up. Jaemin's brother, an early graduate, senior and of course a dear friend of yours. Yuta, despite the age difference between your classmates and you, had little to no trouble blending in with the tiny group of yours. Probably the only one who didn't behave like a toddler and the most sane one according to you. Yuta's been an amazing planner since junior year where you first met Jaemin, Yangyang and Donghyuck who then proceeded to introduce you to their senior friend group that consists of Yuta, Johnny, Doyoung; Donghyuck's cousin and Ten. You guys had a friendship the entire campus was envious of. But two year after you getting into the university, the seniors had to graduate. But that didn't stop all your bonds from staying as strong as ever. Not even after Ten got his posting in a town a little far away from the one you guys lived in. The distance didn't change anything between you guys and you were as close as you could ever get.

"Creepypasta?" Donghyuck inquired, looking straight at the guy who aimlessly scrolled down the screen of his device as Yuta didn't even bother looking up while passing the confused boy a nod. Sitting up cross legged from his previous side sitting posture, Yuta showed his phone screen to Donghyuck, who immediately got surrounded by the other two while you stare at the oldest in the room, slightly intrigued by the idea. "Creepypasta's like these horror-related legends that have been copied and pasted around the Internet by people who're too bored for their own sake." you explain as Haechan took the phone out of Yuta's hand who agreed to your explanation. "I read some sick games that I kinda wanna try out and see for myself," he said, looking at you with expectations and then the rest who seemed too immersed in surfing the website.

"Yuta, you of all people should know better than to think all these made up crap's real" you say nonchalantly.

Yuta's a huge skeptic, and so were you. Which is why you got along really well despite the mentioned age gap. The night gatherings back at the boy's dormitory or the girls (in this case, girl, yours) would always end up in narration of on spot made up stories of all genre, mostly horror because apparently according to Jaemin 'Rom-com's overhyped, sci-fi won't be fun when you narrate it out loud, mystery can easily turn boring, comedy, meh i guess, but a good horror story narrated properly, -yes, like you, Haechan- while adding jumpscares here and there could actually result in y'all being too scared to use the bathroom on your own'. And yeah, you'd startle here and there but the stories weren't believable enough for you to actually be scared. On the other hand, Haechan and Jaemin were scaredy cats. Literal toddler's who're so gullible, you could literally tell them there was an alien invasion news flash two minutes ago and they'd be hiding under their bed. And then there's Yangyang, he just doesn't care. He goes along with the plans solely for the fun of it and for the other's' (Haechan and Jaemin) reaction. "That's the point. I don't" he shuffled around to shift closer to you,

"Which is exactly why i want to try them out"

Maybe it's the feline that crossed over his body, maybe it was the fact that his spirit just wasn't ready to leave the human realm yet. Maybe it's the mourning of his family or maybe it's him himself knowing full too well his potential was truly wasted due to the fast departure. Whatever it was, his spirit was definitely made restless.

The world is a cruel place where harsh actions are always sugar coated by honey like words. It's how he knew the doings of his people were wrong that made him disappointed. The practices of the people, his people, were stupid, meaningless and only harmful to the human kind. They fend off the satisfaction of their almighty even if that means that there needs to be sacrification of their loved ones, their nemesis, or them themselves. And it was his ancestors fault for starting all these practices.

Passed down generations from generations was the curse put on the first of their bloodline by the princess he'd defied to go out and be ruthless by disregarding his duties as a husband, a father, a member of the royal courts and as a human being.

Lee Dong Wook. The root of all evil, the main reason the males of the family line faced the same wrath as him, all cursing at him but one namely enjoying his role. The pagans, dating back to the roman times era had a very, let's say, interesting method of punishing. The said lords they'd worship, the people following the religions had a strong belief that nature is sacred and that the natural cycles of birth, growth and death observed in the world around us carry profoundly spiritual meanings. Gods and goddesses of life, or say, death or anything else that exists beyond life and death, they believed in all.

The doings of his ancestors started off innocent. Sacrifices to the lords of goodness and tranquility, a peaceful life by the towns and outskirts, forgiveness for wrong doings and of course, happiness. It's how any religious rituals would go about and all were happy until the said betrayer of the group came in with that curse of his. 'The doings of his shall be repented for all the men following shall be the one paying it,'

At first glance when the man returned back to his royals, there were little to no suspicions of a curse being casted on him. He seemed normal to his family, his people except for the occasional forcing people to do something they despised. And it wasn't just the men of the family instead, it was all. But mostly the men, unless the same sin were to be committed by the females. Obscure behaviors have been asked to follow starting exactly at midnight to the witch's hour be it hurting your loved one, your enemy, doing sinful things, allowing self to get manipulated and mostly, shortening their own life time in the human realm. It was all unexplainable. Why was he asking people to do things like this but most of all, why are they even listening to him?

It wasn't until they discovered that Dong Wook, for one, was never the one who returned home. On a second note, he, 'Dong Wook' mainly only targeted the men whose doings were similar to his that was fueled by the same sin that had him going. Which only remained undiscovered. The curse was unbeknownst to all still, Dong Wook himself remained undiscovered. Or proposed by the elders of the community, his body remained undiscovered while his spirit roamed restless among the people.

The pagan romanticists are, in most cases, ignorant of the “paganism” they praise—the redeemed paganism of Christianity depicted in the transfigured water of the True Well of Life. Wrestling with the Greek gods, however, leads us to see the hyper-anthropomorphization of the gods with one intention in mind—justification of sexual lusts and displays of power over the weak.

The oldest written account of the Greek deities is from Hesiod. His Theogony, literally “birth of the gods,” charts out the genealogies of the major and minor deities in two branches. The first set of gods come into existence without sex. The second set of gods come into existence with sex; often very graphic and violent sex and they continue to have violent sex after their birth.

As Hesiod continues to describe the birth and death of the gods and great monsters of antiquity, the chaining of Prometheus to his eternal torment is described. So too is Hades’ rape of Persephone. Battle is depicted left and right, and “a terrible din arose from their dreadful wrath, and the work of power was revealed”. Lust, sex, and war reign supreme in Hesiod’s telling of the birth of the gods. Moreover, it is from this brutality and carnality that Hesiod gives them praise—only those with enough cunning and ambition are worthy of having the praise of the muses.

That the gods birthed through sexual lust are themselves lustful was not missed by Christians of the pagan community. Though St. Augustine received the Romanized version of the Greek myths, he goes to great lengths and laborious pains—using the pagans’ own prophecies —to highlight the moral depravity of the gods in Confessions and City of God.

His sin, after all the years, was lust and the want to dominate.

'Lust though pleasurable, innocent and vice, thee shall stay loyal to thy partner regardless of wants. To betray thy partner is to deceive thy people and hence the kingdom. Thou shall pay for thy soul shall remain wandering, driven by the desires but, shall not be able to feel the human love thou took for a grain of salt. And all who shall follow thy steps shall face the same wrath.'

Oh, how lust was a dangerous feeling.

29/10 continued. 11:28PM

It's how you all circled around in the living room like any other day that was comical to you. Instead of reading out your own made up story, it so happened to be the Creepypastas Yuta screenshotted for what he wanted to try out and see for himself. It wasn't even his idea to read them out. Haechan and Jaemin's 'too curious for their own sake' selves were the ones who wanted to read it out loud. "How about we sit in the order of who's gonna read out what and when?" Yangyang suggested, standing up from his seat. "Yuta read out the topics and we'll pick randomly."

"No fun! Hold up," Haechan did some pretty exaggerated hand actions before getting up and heading to his room, well, Jaemin's room to do who knows what. "Okay? I'll get the candles!" Yangyang said, him getting out of his seat too, "And I'll go get the bible, jesus christ" and Jaemin was out of his seat too. You look at Jaemin in a funny manner, as though questioning him with your eyes if he's actually going to get a bible or not, "What? I don't want to die young, I'm too hot for that" he said, before following Haechan's steps to his bedroom, "Yikes, you aren't going to die dude"

"Okayy, I'm back, make way bitches" Haechan dictated to which he earned a few groans and a smack on the ankle from Yuta, "Jaemin! I can't find the candles!" "It's beside the Reese's cups! Second rack inside of the refrigerator!" Jaemin says while walking back up to your tiny circle with an empyre comic in his hand and a cross pendant dangling off of his neck, "That's a bible?" you question. "Shush, do not question the power of avengers and fantastic four." Jaemin replies, holding the comic up close to his chest. You all collectively dismiss it with a concerned look directed towards the male, "Are we not going to question the fact that Jaemin keeps his candles inside the fridge?"

"So here's what we're going to do, I've got these tiny papers which have numbers from 1 to 5,because we're five people and I've folded the paper into chits, once i toss it, we pick random sheets and the number you get is when your turn to read is, any objections?" Haechan explained, "Even if you have any, keep it to yourself because I don't care" he bites in again while juggling the folded sheets in a closed palm while the other supports his body by it being planted behind him. "Okay I'm back with the candles" Yangyang finally joins in on the circle, completing it, "You took that long to find one candle?" Yuta asks, "No i was eating the reese's cups" he replied, wiping his hand on your jean clad thighs earning him a loud whine of 'Eww that's disgusting man' and a little too far from soft smacks on his shoulder, "You piece of sh-" Jaemin starts, "Okay all, Focus!" Haechan cuts him off, ready to throw the bits onto the space between the five of you in front of the now lit candle (Thank you, Yuta), and so he tossed it a little high up from the ground, letting the paper fall of his palms and onto the floor while being cautious of not throwing it anywhere near the flame.

"Now let's arrange ourselves according to the numbers, who's number one?" Haechan asks, Yuta raises his hands while pointing at where he's sitting, "I'm not getting up, y'all arrange yourself so that the person going second is to my right and the last person would be to my left", you all look at him nonchalantly, "What?" with a shake of your head, you proceed calling out numbers, "Number two?" Haechan shoves Yangyang back to take his place beside Yuta, "bitch." Yangyang seats himself beside Haechan, followed by Jaemin and lastly, you.

"First, Yuta!" Jaemin slurs the elders name, receiving a death glare from his cousin. Nevertheless, Yuta cleared up his throat and switched his attention to his phone screen, "The first urban legend is from Japan, ironically." He states as a matter of fact, "It's called Aka Manto."

"Aka manto is an urban legend related to toilets—particularly those in elementary schools.-"

"Is that why you take a relatively long time inside of the bathroom? Are you, you know? Tickling pickles with Aka Mant-ow! Sorry!" Yangyang was wasted as he was tackled onto the floor by Yuta, while the rest of you cracked up, "Now let's get a little serious, come onnn!" Haechan whines.

"This phenomenon is known all over Japan, with countless variations on the same theme. It usually takes place in a specific stall in a specific bathroom in the school. Usually it is an older or seldom used bathroom, often in a stall with an older style squat toilet. Often the fourth stall is the cursed one, as the number four is associated with death." "I'm so glad our university has only two stalls," Jaemin chimes in, suddenly grasping the cross pendant.

"Most stories follow this general pattern: while at school late in the evening, a student suddenly finds him or herself in desperate need of a toilet. The closest restroom available is one that is normally avoided by the students; it is older and less well-kept, separated from the rest of the school, and is rumored to be haunted. But with no time to search for a different restroom, the student enters. He or she does their business, and when they have finished, they reach for the toilet paper only to find that there is none. Then they hear a strange voice" Yuta looks up from the phone screen, "“Do you want red paper? Or blue paper?”"

"None bitch, give me the classic white,"

With a roll of his eyes, Yuta continues, "If the student answers, Red paper, moments later, they're stabbed and sliced up violently that blood seeps out of them, painting the walls of the stall red and it soaks up into their body, making them appear red", "And if the student responds blue paper, then their blood is going to be sucked up dry, leaving them dead and blue-faced on the floor."

"But! If you try to outsmart Aka Manto, by replying to question with, i don't know, "Yellow paper" then too, dead is inevitable, you will be shoved onto the floor where the spirit is said hold your head down in the dirty toilet water until you drown and well, die" Yuta ends with a shrug of his shoulder, "Seems pretty bullshit to me" and you agree alongside, though, it could be a little creepy if the existing legend did turn out to be true. "Okay next!"

Yuta leans back a little more, pressing onto your side which you took as an invitation to lean on his shoulder. When you did so, all Yuta did was beam at you and wrap his arms around you to keep you close after handing the phone over to Haechan, "If you want me to start reading you have to give it up for me. Give me the grand welcome that i deserve" the lad said in a childish voice which again only earned him a few smacks and half hearted applauds. "So this one is apparently called, the one man hide and seek" though all narrations were being taken on a lighter note, the mood set in the room gave you enough space to picture the stories, added to that came the factor that Donghyuck knows exactly how to narrate what.

"The "One-Man Hide and Seek", also known as the "One-Man Tag," is a ritual for contacting the dead. The spirits, which are wandering restless on the Earth, are always looking for bodies to possess. In this ritual, you will summon such a spirit, by offering it a doll instead of a human body." He lowers his voice while focusing solely on the screen.

"The warnings say that if you have any psychic abilities, you may feel unwell or be prone to accidents during the ritual." He raises his eyebrows, looking at all four of you in a curious manner. The things you need for this game seems lowkey sketch"

"One stuffed doll. It must have limbs, Rice, enough to stuff the doll full. One needle, and one crimson thread. One pair of nail clippers. One sharp-edged tool, such as a knife, glass shard, or scissors. One cup of salt water. Natural salt would be best. A bathroom, with a bathtub and some form of counter. A hiding place, preferably a room purified by incense and ofuda. There must be a TV in there." Haechan's face contorts with each requirement for the game. Letting out a defeated sigh, he hands the phone over to Yangyang, "Of all the stories i could've narrated, i got chosen for this and for what? Just to contact stupid poltergeists. Just play a ouija board and go"

Giving Haechan a sympathetic pat on the back, he takes the device. Looking through the screen he cracks up a smile, "Alright, listen up closely. This is an Urban legend classic"

"The Slender Man-" a bunch of 'aahhs' of realization resonate through the room

"-is a supernatural creature that is described as appearing as a normal human being but he is described as being 8 feet tall and he has vectors or extra appendages that are described to be as sharp as swords. The creature is known to stalk humans and cause many disappearances. He is described as a shadow creature that has a missing face. The creature fits into many mythologies in legends from nations such as germany and celts which brings up the possibility that he could be real." Yangyang pauses to add in a little more life to his reading while all of your paid full concentration to him

"A man named victor Surge found this legend and made his own version of it which he called slender man. The slender man is not exactly evil according to mythology but victor Surge’s version shows him as an evil creature that stalks humans to kill. In mythology he was actually trying to save you from a painful death by taking you to the underworld early." he ends, placing the phone down in front of him, screen down. "Kills you to save you from a death and collectively shortens your lifespan? Seems legit to me" Jaemin chimes in while the rest of you chuckle whereas Haechan pouted at the device in front of his friend, "I should've gotten that story"

"My turn!"

"So, ahem-" Once the focus is all on him,Jaemin looks down onto the device containing his part of narration. "- This is an urban legend about a girl named Daruma who was a young Japanese woman that died in the bathroom, which upon entering to take a bath, it stumbled and her forehead ended up against the edge of the tube, destroying it the brain, at the same time that her eye embedded in the tube , leaving it in consequence, one-eyed key and later , dead by bleed out." "Oh god ouch" You hiss as though your forehead was the one that hit the edge, " Her appearance as described is apparently; black hair that is entangled, her clothes rotting and made shreds. She only has one eye. Her left eye is completely open and injected with blood." "That's gruesome," Yangyang adds, earning a nod from Jaemin who's eyes were still fixated on the screen. "And apparently there's a ritual that you can follow to summon her into your house for twenty four hours straight" At the silence, he continues. "I'll shorten it, so you have to begin it right before your bedtime, shed all your clothing and enter your bathroom, turn off all the lights and fill in your bathtub, climb into it while being seated facing faucet, close your eyes and start washing your hair while chanting "Daruma-san fell down" and keep chanting that until you're done washing your hair, and yeah don't open your eyes."

"If you did it right then you'll get this image of a japanese who'll slip and fall in front of you. Even if you hear a noise behind you, do not open your eyes, no matter what it takes, Ask out loud, 'why did you fall in the bathtub' and let that hang in the air. With your eyes still closed, get up and out of the tub and be careful not to slip and do not drain the tub. Go to your room, don't turn the lights on, shut the bathroom door closed and sleep. Wake up the next day and carry on with your day and you'll apparently feel her presence alongside you all day. She'll constantly try getting close to you, when she does, scream 'Tomare!',"

"That means stop," Yuta adds to which you all hum in understanding.

"To end the game, capture her gaze from over your shoulder and say 'Kitta' which means 'I cut you loose' while swinging your arm in a chopping motion. If you followed the procedures then you'll be rewarded but if not then, run. That's all it says here" He stops, looking a little shaken at how he created an image of it all in his mind. "They didn't say how to get rid of her if you fail following the procedure?" you ask

"No." Jaemin shrugs it off

"Alright boys, my turn"

30th October, Friday, 10:53PM

It's probably how you read out your part of story telling, or it was how he felt the game was a little too unrealistic that had Yuta hooked onto the urban legend.

Yuta found himself at his dorm doing a little more research on the midnight ritual. A backpack already consisting of all the elements required for the game, 'could it really be played just by one person?'. Whatever it was, he really wanted to do the game. He wanted someone to accompany him, of course. But knowing his friend group, not many would be ready to play it alongside. Doyoung was probably busy preparing his resumes for his job interviews. Johnny's all the way back in Chicago for a little family time. Ten was a little too far from your town so he'd feel bad calling him all the way over just to perform a probably demonic ritual. Donghyuck and Jaemin are out of the question, they'd obviously say no. Yangyang has a company party to attend as the heir. And you had to study for your test on Monday so he didn't really feel like disturbing you though, he did inform you that he was going out to have some fun and that you could join him anytime. Closing his laptop with a sigh, he gets up and walks over to where his bag was sprawled across the floor, picks it up and makes his way out of the studio apartment like dormitory after grabbing his car keys.

Not like he believed it was real, it's incase if the legend turns out to be even the slightest of reality, he wasn't going to get his dormitory haunted, instead opting to perform it at the house he grew up in, his childhood house. That was left abandoned ever since they moved out months before his younger brother was born after his father had an episode still unknown to him inside the place. It was convenient enough to perform the ritual in and no one lives there anymore, and it was just a few minutes from where his house was anyways.

Reaching the place and swinging the backpack over his shoulder, he makes his way into the surprisingly still intact house. Not much time to waste, looking around, Yuta slowly made his way up the wooden stairs, the wood creaking with each step he took to prove the existence of this house dated long back. The guest room shut lock from lack of human souls even when they used to live there. The paintings still hung off of a single screw, nostalgia hitting him straight as he recalled the one time he was playing catch with a neighbor's kid and ended up breaking the glass frame. The wallpaper's adhesive seemingly had gotten weaker from how they had started coming out from nooks and crannies of the walls. The place, without doubt, looked a little creepy but nonetheless felt homely.

Switching on all switches from the main controller that was in the control room right by the end of the hallway, the entire darkness was replaced with light as the bulbs shockingly still seemed to function. The warm white colour of the lights took Yuta all the way back to his growing up years, missing all the fun he'd had there and all the memories he'd created. He, though grew up mostly by himself from how busy his parents were on the weekdays and sometimes the weekends, missed them more now that they live far off in Japan with his mother's family. Especially now that he was in the place they spent the most time together in. Shaking his head, he had no trouble navigating his way to his childhood room. Where he set the bag down.

He reached out to his back pocket to get out his phone, switching it on as the screen illuminated, 11:28PM, the screen read. To kill the time, Yuta set up all the items required in place to proceed the ritual smoothly. He pulled his laptop out of the backpack once he was all set to maybe watch something on the internet. It being other peoples attempt at the ritual he was about to perform.

11:55PM.

Yuta inhaled, having only a few more minutes until he had to proceed. He recalled your words,

"Alright boys, my turn" You snatch the phone out of Jaemin's hand who seemed really immersed in finding out more about the legend he just read out about, earning a pout from him. "I was reading" he let out in a whiny tone immediately going stoic after receiving a 'do i care' look from your end. "Okay, so the story I'm going to read out is called the midnight man, or the midnight game" You scroll back and forth through the pages the oldest of the group screenshotted. "From what he's gathered, there's not much backstory, but apparently it's a ritual or mostly a punishment that the pagan's use to punish the betrayer of the group who failed to stay loyal to their lords or the group. One of the people of the religion will summon the midnight man to an abandoned house where they lock up the said betrayer who'll then be put through god knows what by the midnight stranger," You stop to look up from the screen to look at each of your friends before letting out a sigh.

"My take on this though is that it's highly impossible since the rules here state that once you start the ritual you aren't allowed the leave the place until the game is completely done unless you want the midnight man to follow you around for as long as you live, so unless the midnight man actually favored the pagans, there's no way they could punish the betrayer without one of the loyal ones passing away along with the one being punished" you state, "But what if, it's the midnight man that they preach? You know, like, they could be praying the midnight man" Haechan adds in a point which seemed to make sense, "That's possible too"

"Why would someone preach an evil entity? That's so sketch" Jaemin asks perplexed. "They did a lot of sketchy things back in the days, Jaem. I wouldn't question it," Yuta chirps. "Is there any other backstory given about the midnight man?" Yangyang finally speaks up, "Well not really, but when i was taking screenshots of this it apparently started with a curse on someone whose identity is unknown to most. There was no such thing as the midnight game or ritual until the said bewitched man came back into town. I only know up to there, but there are high chances that he's probably the origin of the ritual." Yuta explains. "Why does Y/n get the best always, that's so unfair" Haechan's dramatic self whines while leaning onto Yangyang who rolled his eyes but nonetheless threw his hands around the latter's shoulder, "Anyways, the procedure for the ritual is given here."

"You need one candle, a lighter or a match box or anything that ignites fire, a piece of paper, something to write with, a sharp object, it could be a pin, it just needs to be something sharp enough to draw blood, a wooden door, and salt for protection-" You read out, "Now why the fuck would they need blood," Jaemin asks, shaken up. "That's for them to know and us to find out"

"Here's how the invitation for the midnight man goes. Begin prior to midnight,"

Yuta stood up from his bed, and walked up to the backpack on the floor, picking out the papers he'd brought along and took out a blunt pencil.

"Write your full name- first, middle, and last- on the piece of paper with your writing implement." He wrote syllable by syllable, Nakamoto Yuta. "Prick your finger with the pin and squeeze until a drop of blood appears. Dot the blood on the paper and allow it to soak in. Turn off every light in your home." He took out the small safety pin he brought along from his jean pocket, pressing his fingers hard and pricked into the skin as hard as he could, keeping in mind to not draw too much blood. Yuta let the droplet fall right in the space between his last name and first.

"Place the paper with your name and blood on it in front of the closed wooden door. Light the candle using the matches or lighter and place it on top of the paper. If you are using a taper, make sure it is placed in a candle holder." He walks up to the door and places down the paper with his name and blood on it, with the half melted scented candle he brought along. Yuta took out his phone once again, 11:59. "Knock on the door 22 times. The final knock must occur precisely when the clock chimes 12am. Open the door; then blow out the candle and close the door. Relight your candle immediately." He starts to knock on the door, drumming on the dusty wood, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.

He checks the time once again, 12:00AM.

He leans down to pick the glass jar containing the candle, relighting it,

"I welcome you."

Taeyong loved the tiny creatures in the human realm. They were so naive and so, stupid but weirdly smart at the same time that made playing with them ten times more interesting. The callings from them, or the way they say it in the human realm, summoning the spirit was the only way he could gain access to enter the place. Summoning wasn't even necessary. Saying his name out was more than enough for him to go up to you. Midnight man, midnight stranger, midnight visitor, pagan's god, What not had the human's named him.

The only one besides his ancestor of said curse that enjoyed the power of punishing people was Taeyong himself. The youngest of the bloodline and the freshest of pagan's spirit, he loved the power he had. Sure he had no access to love, instead besides lust and range he felt nothing, maybe amusement too, but none other than that and he seemed perfectly fine with that. Human's always seeked lust more than love either way so he found no problem in being void of feeling a vulnerable emotion. Instead, he found love pathetic. Watching human's from where he lived, he'd seen all from men and women seeking love by going to heights of trouble only to waste away your remaining life with one partner. Leeching off of pleasure at times when you had a significant other. He always got a hearty laugh from all of that. According to him, if you want someone, get them. Instead of tailing them and trying to be a goody two shoes, just make them yours in a way that's inevitable for them to fall for you. Control how they feel. Easier said than done since he was the only one with the ability to do so, 'how fucking pitiful'.

So when he saw you and your small group of friends discussing about him, laughing at all the assumptions you made along the way, he wanted each of you to himself. "My take on this though is that it's highly impossible since the rules here state that once you start the ritual you aren't allowed to the leave the place until the game is completely done unless you want the midnight man to follow you around for as long as you live, so unless the midnight man actually favored the pagans, there's no way they could punish the betrayer without one of the loyal ones passing away along with the one being punished" you're smart and that was intriguing to him. He liked the way you thought of things and the male beside you too, you both seemed to take tales of him as a grain of salt and that, besides angering him, made him feel the want to prove himself to you. Taeyong found the other three cute, seemingly scared of him just the way he liked it.

His ancestor's who held the same power as him, the curse actually, came to be known as said lord because of their power of manipulation and to inject in their worst nightmare into their minds that had the people divide themselves into groups. One that believed the power they had was for the good and considered them to be their god, their savior. And the other being the one's scared of their power and the fear that the same faith would bestow upon them that had them pray for forgiveness for sins they never committed. So your friend had the point a little, but it was inaccurate. They believed him. Believed Taeyong and feared his power. He loved people bowing down in front of him, eyes trembling and body shivering. It gave him a sense of dictatorship. And he had set his mind to have both of you non-believers fear him.

Having been brought up with little to no love, Taeyong followed down the same path as his great grandfather. Not having enough time to feel the vulnerable emotion, he chose to go down the path of pleasure and power play. His powers though, seemingly stronger than the past generations, probably due to the fact that he was young, ruthless and free of care. He could make himself appear physically in the human realm in any shape and form, though he always preferred to go in his original, but less scarier form. His visuals were out of the world. He didn't have to scare people to make them obey, instead all he had to do was pretend to be there and just be himself and that only made humans seem even pathetic to him.

"Relight your candle immediately"

12:01PM, The main event.

"Keeping your candle in hand and your salt and matches or lighter close by, begin to move about your home. Should your candle go out, you must relight it within the next ten seconds. If you are successful, continue moving about your home. Do not stop moving until 3:33 am. If you are unsuccessful in relighting the candle, immediately surround yourself with a circle of salt. Remain inside the circle until 3:33 am. At 3:33 am, it is safe to stop moving or to step outside your circle of salt. You may also turn on the lights. The game Is Over."* You conclude. Hissing slightly at the sudden pain by your shoulder that was exposed from the minimalistic clothing you'd adorned, the stranger looking over it all smirked to himself. 'Got it'

Yuta opened the door again, mindful to keep his phone back in his jean pocket along with the lighter and of course, the salt be brought along. Starting from the end of the hallway, nothing seemed to change except now, the eerie silence was starting to bother him, 'Just 3 hours to go,'. He didn't miss a single corner, walking room to room, corner to corner, mindful to stay inside all the way. The temperature of certain rooms seemingly lesser than others. A cold pocket.

"There are few warnings too," you swipe the image to go to the next one, "At 3:33 am, the Midnight Man will leave your home. After he has left, you may safely end the game. Do NOT turn on any lights during the game. Do NOT use a flashlight during the game. Do NOT go to sleep during the game. Do NOT use a lighter instead of a candle during the game." Check. He had a lighter on him just to relight the candle anyways.

Taeyong, following the guy seemed to be quite impressed by his bravery. Not even the slightest of shaken up as he proceeded to walk about the villa. That's good, no slip ups and he seemed too good to mess anything up either ways, and that bored the entity. Where's the fun if he just succeeded?

To avoid the candle from going off at the sudden flickering, Yuta covered it up the best he could with his hands and checked around whether any windows were left open. Darkness engulfed the surrounding all of a sudden, the lad being taken aback, 10 seconds. He rushed to take out his lighter, 9, pressing the button repeatedly to ignite the flame only to get a small blue flame instead, huh? 8, running back full speed happy that he was in the premises of where his backpack is, he pulled the spare lighter, a brand new one out of the side pocket, 7, repeating the same process of flicking the button over and over, 6 until a bright orange flame engulfed the dark room, 5, he immediately grabbed his candle from besides the bag, 4 reaching in close by the wick, burning himself slightly in 3-, the process. Yuta heaves out a sigh of relief, while the spirit laughs at the frantic boy. 'He's cute.'

For a breaker, he took out his phone, looking at the time that seemed to pass by quickly throughout the ritual, 2:47 AM. A little more while to go until he'd finally get it over with. "Do not attempt to provoke the Midnight Man during the game." You ended for the nth time that night, "Which idiot would-" Yangyang asks "Haechan-" Jaemin pretends to cough while blurting out his best friends name, the mentioned feigning offence while tilting his head to the side, tongue poking at the insides of his cheek. "Seems like that's pretty much it." you shrug while the older guy beside you leaning back on both of his hands, "I kinda wanna try that out" Yuta raised his eyebrows at you. "Halloween night? We all go together" you chirp in, both of you whipping your heads to look at the three perplexed boys. "Uh, I have to water my fish on halloween? She'd get pretty thirsty". Jaemin's eyes wandered about, coming up with an excuse, "And I gotta walk my rock yo, physical fitness." Haechan adds, "Can I bring my fish along? She could use some exercising".

"Come on guys, it won't be that bad, we'll stick in a group?" You pleaded, trying your best to muster up the cutest puppy eyes. "I'm down" Yangyang shrugs. You do a tiny seal clap, looking expectedly at the other two, Yangyang and Yuta doing the same. "We stick together?" Haechan asks, to which the three of you nod your head,

"Alright then we're down too"

[3:04AM 30th, October. ]

A few more minutes left until he'd succeed, Yuta was starting to grow tired of constantly roaming. He'd usually not the one to wear out that quickly, but for a reason unknown to him, he felt utterly sleepy, tired, hungry and just wanted to lie down. He decided to take a small break, the candle still light, dangerously flickering but yet still intact. Yuta sat by the foot of the stairs as Taeyong looked at him with the same cocky smirk on his face, contemplating whether to pop out or not. 'Maybe let's make it subtle? '

Taking up the form of a black humanoid figure, Taeyong makes his way towards Yuta whose eyes seem to be dropping low with each passing second. Upon hearing the sounds of footsteps Yuta looks up, a hand on his forehead from the sudden throbbing headache. Letting out a loud yell at the figure in front of him that disappeared almost immediately, he rushed to grab his lighter again. The sudden temperature drop made him shudder. Taking out the new lighter, he pressed the button again and again as the time limit started to exhaust, 6, at a successful fire, he reached for his candle, only for the flame to go off when it neared the candle wick. "what the fuck.." 5, "come on.." he stated in a rushed voice, sure that he just saw whatever he saw once again. Finally flicking the button one last time, he succeeded in lighting the candle.

Contrary to popular belief, the midnight man didn't always radiate death. Sometimes he just messes around with the humans because the underworld could get a little boring. And as the curse states death and wrath is only to be faced by those who sinned and the boy playing right now seemed to be of no threat. All Taeyong wanted to do was get the guy to believe in his existence. Skeptics were like an insult to him. So if he had to prove himself and his existence on his own, then so be it. He gets some pretty good experience out of it anyways.

Yuta stood up immediately, remembering the warning's you'd stated, "Do not stop moving until 3:33am", walking back up the stairs, he took out his phone to check the time, 3:29am. Almost.

The same sounds of footsteps resonated from behind him, Yuta took an immediate U-turn. Going back down the stairs and roaming the empty, dark hallways, making sure to enter each and every room, keeping a mental note to thank his parents for having a slightly confusing infrastructure. The wax was almost completely out in the glass jar, but he had to hang in there for a little longer than 2 more minutes when he felt something brush his shoulder, much similar to how a friend would drape their hands over his/her friends' shoulder. He could've brushed it off as anything if it weren't for the sharp pain he felt right after the feeling of someone touching him. He's getting the proof he wants. Almost as if someone pulled his hoodie, Yuta stumbled back, letting out a shaky scream, tripping on his own foot, landing butt down onto the floor, catching a glimpse of the same humanoid figure he'd been seeing. He needs to get out of there.

Stumbling back onto his feet, Yuta bolted it upstairs, grabbing his phone once again to check the time, 3:32am. Reaching his room, he set the candle down right beside him, vary of the windows and doors, starting to back his backpack, the sounds of rushed footsteps running start to where he is ringing through his ears, hands shakingly packing his bag. Keeping the candle closeby, contemplating whether to draw a salt circle or not since there was only less than half a minute left when the same humanoid figure neared him with fast footsteps, reaching by the door frame with a loud agonizing scream only to disappear immediately.

Not realising the stress of tears flowing and the tresses sticking to his forehead, Yuta looked at the door frame in a perplexed yet confused manner. What the fuck was that.

Taking out his phone once again while grabbing his backpack, laptop and the car keys in the other hand, 3:34 am. He'd made it through. After reaching the front door, not even bothering to close it, he rushed to his car, starting it before pulling up your contacts, seeing the messages he'd never sent you.

Yuta san 1:39am: The boys said they won't make it tomorrow, it's gonna be just you and i

Y/nleE 1:43am: Why not?

Yuta san 1:45am: Dk, they said they aren't interested. So come near xxxx tomorrow at 11:30. I'll meet you there.

Y/nleE 1:48am: Coolsies.

Yuta san 3:38am: Y/n don't come here, gather the boys and meet me by Haechan's dorm tomorrow. The game's no fucking joke.

And with that he started driving away quickly to his dormitory, not once looking back at the house to see a human. Or a human like figure standing there, A bright red hair standing out due to his blood drained looking pale skin. A smirk on his face

Message not delivered.

31st October, 22:37PM, 2020.

Today was a weird day,

Having all plan's set two days before, you'd make sure to keep yourself ready for whatever you and your friend group were supposed to do today. You finished up all your assignments earlier that day to keep yourself free from afternoon and on.

The weird part was that, no matter how much you kept your phone for charge, each time you tried calling one of the guys to ask for the sudden bailing out on plan, which is a shocker because they've never done that, your phone kept switching off. You could've gone all the way to their apartment, well, dorm, but you decided to wait until later to do so. Maybe a few minutes before leaving to the place Yuta texted you so that they'd have no choice but to come along. Since your last time texting with Yuta, you hadn't heard from him. Granted, he did text you quite late at night saying he's going to do god knows what and to tell you of the sudden plan change, but you hadn't heard from him after, that being weird since he literally lives a floor below yours, he could've come any moment but nope. You kept a mental note to tell him off later.

You took out your phone once again to check if they'd sent any messages or missed calls only to have an empty chat box, other than that of your other friends that is. Added on top of that came the constant pricking feeling on your shoulder blades from the last day you hung out with the boys. The pain would appear randomly and it would be hurtful enough to draw blood, which is weird considering the fact that you kept yourself away from all sharp objects and had a full sleeve covering the area.

One stone, two birds. Taeyong's motto.

After having interfered with your phone, your friends, trying to keep you away from them until you'd go through the same as your other skeptic partner, Taeyong made sure that Yuta would be sick enough after returning home to keep him from even getting up from his bed. Temporary paralysis. Your other friends, of course they tried reaching out to you, only for him to cut the service to keep you away from them for a while. They got easily distracted from you ignoring their texts as they were focused on reaching out to Yuta.

Unknown: Hey Y/n, I'm Yuta's friend. He told me you aren't replying to his texts so asked me to do so.

Y/n: Who's this?

Unknown: Oh! I'm Taeyong! A close friend of well, your friend XD.

Y/n: Nice to meet you, Taeyong. I'm Y/n but it seems like you already know that.

Unknown: Yeah :). Yuta's on his way here and told me that you'd be joining us? Are you nearby?

Y/n: He left? No, actually, I'm just leaving my place. I guess I'll meet you there?

Taeyong: Meet ya :)

[23:22PM, 31st October, 2020 continued. ]

Hailing a cab to the address Yuta had sent you with his friends, Taeyong's number saved on your phone in case the later won't pick up, you left your place. Still feeling a little eerie from how Yuta just decided to leave you behind when he could've just offered to go together, which is pure Yuta style. He probably wasn't in the best of moods but he could've at least texted you letting you know of his departure from the apartment building.

The journey to the given address didn't take that long surprisingly. A little towards the outskirts of the town in a much aloof part but nonetheless, doable. It's not like you'd be alone there any ways. Paying for your fare, you took your purse, brushed your fingers through your hair to tame it a little from the ride, and turned towards the building, jumping slightly at the bright haired guy sitting by the front porch. Adorning the simplest of fit, a black knee slit jeans, with a graphic tee and a black leather jacket with a chain or two. He, in no doubts, was ethereal. His pale skin stood out the most in the street light if you could call it that and his lips seemed a little drained of blood, eyes hollow yet captivating when he looked up from the dirt below him to you who still stood yards away. Smiling, he got up, making his way towards after brushing off the invisible lint from his jeans, "Hey" he offered you his hands for you to shake upon reaching you. "Hey..? Taeyong, right?"

Wanting so badly to smirk, he only looked down with a silent snicker, looking up immediately to not look suspicious, "Yeah, Y/n..?" you nod in response, shuddering from the coldness of his skin, "Have you been out for too long? You're freezing," you exclaim, looking at him with a guilty expression and taking a mental note to hit Yuta for not arriving earlier. "Oh no, i just reached a minute or two prior to your arrival." you nod in understanding, withdrawing your hands from his hold, "By the way, Yuta called me a few minutes ago, telling me that he wouldn't make it and to just carry on" Taeyong said, looking at you with his eyebrows raised at your confused, innocent expression, his humane form threatening to change into his original form. "What? Why? It's like,-" you look down at your wrist watch, "11:50! And he's bailing out now?", smiling at you in fake sympathy, he replied, "he said he had other things to take care of," "But you said he'd left the place and was on his way here?" you ask, hands on either sides of your hip, "Last minute plan changes" Taeyong shrugs, "Anyways, let's get inside?"

He pointed towards the front door with both his hands, gesturing you to go forward first. And so you do. You offer him a smile before turning your back towards him and making your way towards the old house, the door seemingly open. Climbing up the stairs with caution, humming at the sound of dried leaves crunching up below your feet with each footstep. Taeyong stood behind where you two had introduced yourselves for a few minutes, a few more minutes. "Taeyong? Are you not coming?" you turn around slightly, looking over your shoulder at lad standing still, "Yeah, I'm coming" he replied soullessly, still standing his group until he saw you open the door ajar and then took his first step forward. Not bothering to go too quick.

The insides were simple, very very simple yet magnificent. The flooring seemed to be that of wooden finishing that creaked with each step you took, implying that of how old the infrastructure must be. You look around in awe, clutching at the sling bag that you carried along. You go corner to corner, not bothering to look behind to see if the friendly stranger was hot on your trail, instead seemingly being captivated by the olden time-ish wallpapers and paintings and antique pieces that the wall adorned. Taeyong on the other hand was just growing restless, 4 more minutes until he could play his next victim, he was growing frantic. He did follow you inside, instead opting to walk the opposite direction as you, towards where he'd hidden the paper with your crimson blood and name written on it, contemplating whether to just tear it and carry on proving his existence to the female in the room. 3 more minutes, he bit into his lips, "Taeyong? Look, i found something!" He heard you scream.

Puffing out a breath of frustration, Taeyong replied "Coming!" and he walked out of the room, hands in his pocket towards where you stood by the bottom of the stairs, looking at the lighter in your hand that seemed relatively unused. "I found lighter down here" you look at him with a tiny pout evident on your lips, looking back and forth between the candle and the guy, puzzled. "It must be some thugs who came here to smoke or something" He shrugged it off, taking the lighter out of your hand. It must be you over analyzing things but without a single light turned on in the villa with only your flashlight acting as a source of light, but Taeyong looked even more lifeless than before. Eyes dark ebony and dangerous, somehow intimidating, lips adorning a bright shade of red in contrast to how you saw it the first time, and his aura had seemingly darkened. 2 more minutes. You shake your head and walk up the stairs and towards a room which has it's door wide open. Choosing to lay out your things there, you stretch out a few stiff limbs, "So, me and the boys were planning on doing the midnight game, you know. One of those stupid creepy pastas? I can't believe all of them bailed out on me last minute," you speak particularly to no one in the room, assuming that Taeyong was listening to you, whose ears only perked up at the words midnight and stupid. Midnight. 00:00Am. The devil smirked to himself. Midnight, at last.

"I mean, Yangyang, Jaemin and Haechan came off as no shock to me- they're the other friend's by the way, but Yuta, it's weird for him to at least not let me know." You keep going, scrolling through your phone screen, only for it to load suddenly, No internet access. Sighing, you pull out offline downloads, "Did he tell you anything else? Like if he's feeling unwell or something?" you ask, letting the question float in the air, waiting for a reply. Getting known even after the passing of a few seconds, a minute too maybe, "Taeyong?" you stand up from the bed, well, the bed frame and make your way outside, "Tae?" you look left and right, searching for any moving soul when you feel your phone vibrate in your hands, and the sound of notification resonates through the eerie silence. You look down at the device in your hand, one new message from Yuta san and an immediate black out of the screen. Impossible.

You remembered full well charging your phone to a hundred percent before leaving your dorm. Hell, you even kept it on airplane mode your whole cab ride. Shrugging it off, you keep your phone beside your bag and then proceed to go out to look for your new friend? acquaintance? You didn't even know how to classify him as yet. "Tae, if you're trying to scare me, I'll give you heads up, it doesn't work on me." you chuckle, walking to the room beside the one you were previously lounging in. "It's past midnight and we both seem too uninterested to try out whatever we were supposed to anyways, how about we just head out?" you start, looking down at your wrist watch which displayed 00:09 on the screen in neon green. "I mean, it was stupid enough that my friends and i even decided to try it out knowing it's some made up shit to scare some seven olds, probably" you continue, feeling as though you're talking to the walls at the lack of response. "Taeyong, come on. I'm growing bored."

"Tae-" "You know, the way you logicised made it seem like you're smart enough. It was impressive," you hear his voice, a little too hoarse and plain for your liking, he continued before you could muster up a reply, "But seems like you aren't all that smart after all, seeing how you believed a total stranger and are even ready to spend time with him." you look around the place, only hearing his voice but his figure to be nowhere near you, "Taeyong, what are you talking about?" you head out of the room you currently stood in, jogging to catch his voice.

"It was a little angering you know? The way you spoke about me and my followers, it was disrespectful. And I could've taken you then and there, but what to do. You seemed too cute to take your soul without a small game? Is that what you humans call it?" You feel breathing fanning the nape of your neck and a cold air following it right after, making you turn back, "Your friend got his share of play" you whip your head forward, finally seeing the male in front of you, standing by the door frame of a connective hallway, you swore you felt his presence behind you though. His infamous smirk still adorning his features. Figure a little more towering and intimidating. If you thought he couldn't have seemed more lifeless a few minutes ago, then his appearance now only seemed to prove you wrong. "So it's only fair if you got your part of the play too, right?"

"Taeyong, you're only making your existence weird for me, let's go if you're done." He only tilted his head in amusement, "Oh it's only about to get weirder, darling" You turn back to face a blood red shot eyed male, well, Taeyong, eliciting a gasp from you, you look over your shoulder to see the place where Taeyong stood a blink of eye ago. "How..did-" His chest visibly vibrated from the hearty laugh he let out, "How did I do that?," you step back as his voice dropped even lower, only for you to bump your back into something rigid, something cold, making you let out a yelp as Taeyong seemed to stand still in front of you, "I can do a whole lot of things," you feared turning back, the insides of your stomach hurdling around as whatever was behind you reached their arms up and held you still in a vice grip. "Y/n!" you hear a voice scream from downstairs, "Y/n! Come out! We need to get out of here!" you recognize the voice as that of your friends, Yuta's.

You squirm hard to loosen the person's grip on your shoulder. Once succeeding, you bolt down the stairs, skipping a few steps, tripping now and then but nevertheless making it down without landing face first as you hear Taeyong's laugh thunder throughout the place. You take a turn to reach the front door, where Yuta stood in all his glory. You immediately run into his embrace, ignoring how his body seemed just as cold as the one you felt from whatever Taeyong was, "Y-yuta, he's sick, let's go, we need to go!" you try pulling Yuta's body a little closer to the exit, only for him to stand his ground, wrapping his hands around you even tighter as he caressed your hair, "Oh, Y/n.." your body goes stiff as your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, that sounded nothing like your best friend, "Yuta..?"

You try pulling your head away from the nape of his neck to look at him, "No darling, it's 'stupid made up shit''," his body vibrated once again from the laughing against yours, as you feel yourself growing scared each passing second. You try mustering up all your strength to bring it to his sides and push him away when you feel a plush yet cold muscle press against your neck, only for it to go futile. "Still made up for you?" you feel a sharp pang of pain flow through your nerves, result of him biting the skin in a manner far too away from soft, "Taeyon-g- lord--midnight man, whatever you are.. I'm --sorry" you say in a hushed voice, scared that if you voiced out a little louder, he'd pounce at you. You feel him nibble at the soft skin, making you whimper, "Oh no, darling, do not apologize. Your doings really intoxicated me. Kept me entertained for a while."

"But now, it's angering me to know a feeble creature as you kept poking fun at my people. At me. And I want no more than to turn you into something belonging to me. Who'd worship me the way 'my people' do." He whispered against the area, lifting his head up and leaning down, making sure not to let go of his grip on you, "oh no, pretty girls aren't supposed to cry. Tsk tsk, what is this, Y/n" His eyes bore holes onto the crown of your head. "Look at me." he acted on making you look at him faster than you could, "Could you beg for forgiveness? Give me a piece of yourself?" he inched closer to your face, a small snarl escaping his throat at your scared and trembling figure, "Or you could just be my queen and come below with me, and you'd not have to cut down your lifespan"

"Are you turned on by all of this, Y/n? Or is it out of fear?" you let out a shaky breath as the tip of his nose touched yours, "Because i can smell you from here and oh," he let out what sounded like an animalistic growl, "Is it delicious.". "Taeyong, please let me go.. I'm sorry. I really am, just please don't hurt me,-" you let out a whine of pain when you feel his other hand knot his fingers in your locks and pull it back with much aggression, immediately planting his lips onto your trembling once, bearing his fang like teeth into plush flesh to draw out blood, earning a loud high pitched scream from your end as you try your best to push him away, futile once again. His hands tighten their grip at the waist while his other hand pulled your head further back, latching onto the firm skin of your neck, treating it with the same aggression, puncturing through the skin with his teeth as your hands go limp beside your body, nevertheless, letting out a whimper from the harsh treatment, which, in all your defense couldn't be help since you still are a human with all emotion any human would feel, that including lust. You feel his cold lips curve into a smirk against where blood flowed out, lapping it up with his tongue as you feel your vision blacken the more as time went by.

"Oh darling you're no different than me.."

4th November, 19:48Pm, 2020.

"She's awake!!" you blink multiple times to get accustomed to the blaring lights in the room, a comfortable white filling your eyesight. You move your head towards the side to find all your friends sprawled out on each side. A drip connected to your hands making you squint in confusion, "Can you hear us, Y/n?" you feel your shoulders being shaken as jolt, "Hey? Yeah i can hear you, why won't i be able to?" you ask, confusion still laced in your voice, "Because you hadn't responded to us the last time we called you. And because you've been laying dead the past few days" Jaemin spoke up first, earning a smack from his elder brother

"Why didn't you stop when we screamed your name the other day, Y/n? You literally weren't breathing the day we found you" Yangyang inquired and stated, "And why did you leave us all on seen??" Haechan added, "Most of all, where were you even??" Yuta spoke. You hiss at all the questions being thrown at you as you try sitting up by the inclined hospital bed, "Screamed? Didn't respond? I left you on seen? That's highly impossible and where was i??" you stare blankly at the plain wall in front of you, trying to remember any such episode. The more you strained your head, the more clueless you grew. Your throat starts to grow dry so you turn your neck to check if there are any water bottles nearby, only for a sharp pain to flow through your nerves at a particular spot in your throat. You yelp at the sudden pain, "I'll get the doctor," Haechan rushed outside, when you reached out to touch your neck, feeling it with the tips of your finger, feeling in the swollen skin, the dried up blood when it all hit you. Your eyes grow wide as you start shaking, for it to be first noticed by Yuta, "Yuta, that house! The game, it's all real! I saw hi-him, his name! I swear he's real!" growing concerned at your sudden frenzy behavior, Yuta kneeled down beside your bed, holding your non-injected hand giving it a comforting behavior.

"Calm down, angel. Tell me point by point," he encouraged you to take in a long breath, as Haechan rushed in along with the doctor whose face was half covered with a doctor's mask, "Doctor, he-he's probably out for me, you need to get me far away from here! Please" you beg with your eyes stinging with all the tears, "No one's going to get you from here, Ms. Y/n, you're safe here" You pause your frantic actions for a while. That voice sounded a little too familiar for your liking, making you think you're over analyzing everything again. The doctor gestured to your friends to leave you up to him to have a doctor to patient talk. All of your friends nodded in understanding, giving you one last reassuring smile before collectively leaving the room.

The doctor, once after making sure that everyone left, removed his mask to reveal the oh so familiar smirk and the hair protector, rustling the same, familiar bright red hair with the same familiar pale fingers of his. Your eyes widen, mouth falls wide ajar

"Oh wait, there's one last warning, Do not assume that the Midnight Man has left your home for good at the conclusion of the game. I'm for real done now" You laugh at your friend who snatched the phone away from you,

"Pleasure to meet you again, darling"

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bigmeatymudcrabchitins · 4 years ago

Text

A not-so-brief overview of my Skyrim Dova OCs bc i need to scream to the digital void about my ideas

Freyora Lind, more commonly known by her strange alias “Bjorne Icepick”

A Nord-eventually-turned-werewolf who orphaned during the Great War and taken in by a Dunmeri mercenary whose residence was in Windhelm’s Gray Quarter. Grew up in a cramped boarding house setting among desperate mercenaries of varying backgrounds. Many of them would all come and go, but there was always some sort of a familial bond between them all.

From a young age she got in a lot of fights against people who insulted her for living in the Gray Quarter among the dark elves. Eventually she took a fight too far and was jailed for murder around 14, but was broken out shortly after by a band of masked vampires. Turns out some of her mercenary comrades unwittingly caught vampirism during a contract to clear out a vampire den and had to skip town, but not before ensuring one of their own wasn’t left to rot.

Lived in Cyrodil for about 15 years, but returned to Skyrim pursuing rumors surrounding a cure to vampirism, as her adoptive father would be nearing the end of his elven lifespan and had wished to die a normal death.

Seeing as she was literally a fugitive, and her long-belated parents were somewhat renowned for their battlefield prowess, she took on a false identity. AND an act to match it.

She’ll eat raw meat, chase prey with swords instead of using a bow like a normal person, harp about irrational conspiracy theories, and more. Everyone’s foul reactions to her outlandish act are plainly hilarious to her and only encourage her to act even stranger.

The alias “Bjorne Icepick” was simply the most ridiculous name she could think of.

Not the most morally outstanding. Besides drunken brawling, she’ll steal from anyone who angers her, even if it’s things she literally won’t ever need such as all the goblets in a household. It’s the pettiness that counts. “Try drinking your damn high-end wine now, jackass.”

Calls Dwarven Automatons “Gundams.” Including she herself, no one knows what that means.

Joins the Companions out of homesickness and a desire to fill in a gap that leaving home left.

Hasn’t bothered curing herself of lycanthropy because her whole schtick is being incredibly resourceful, and that includes using any means of power necessary. Still doesn’t fancy Hircine’s Hunting Grounds as her desired afterlife, though.

As her journey goes on, however, her lightheartedly eccentric face starts to fall off as a number of events push her to begin to question the legitimacy of her actions up until that point.

Some of which include the eventual death of her adoptive father (and how she was indirectly responsible for it even if it was what he wanted), Delphine’s ultimatum, the civil war as a collective, learning the tragic history behind the Falmer and the original Companions’ role in it, and killing of Vyrthur (no matter how much he genuinely deserved it).

She grows disgusted by herself down to the core. She takes to skooma to cope, and starts to be plagued by serious skooma-induced side effects. She ends up shutting herself away from all her responsibilities and distancing herself from her friends.

Does she get better? Maybe. I haven’t thought up anything past this point lol

Moureneris Alta

A very, VERY ancient vampiric snow elf, (though it’s notable she was born a considerable amount of time after the razing of Sarthaal)

Survived many atrocities. Stayed in isolation with a band of vampires for countless years out of sheer disgust for the nature of the sapient races. (I’ll explain her full story some other time. It’s pretty complicated)

She was abducted from her isolated lifestyle by a certain person i’ll talk about later. She managed to free herself south of Skyrim, and uh, walks right into that Imperial ambush. The rest is history.

Super ignorant to modern society as a result of centuries of isolation. Exploited for comedic relief. (“What in the name of Oblivion is a Cyrodilic Empire? Are you messing with me? And please, how does levitation magic simply get outlawed by this hypothetical Empire? What are you to do when you fall down a crevice? Just... let yourself perish? How degrading.)

She reintegrated herself into society with vengeance in mind under the belief that all humans are savage bloodlusting murderers who had to answer for their treachery. (And she was royally angry there was no Dwemer left to spite, but partially satisfied at the same time). But she grows conflicted after being shown genuine kindness, even as early as being freed from her binds in Helgen.

Subsequently has a very muddled redemption arc. Queue Dragonborn hero stuff

She has impaired vision, but she cultivated detect life magic to aid her in daily life and combat (think Hyakkimaru from Dororo ‘19 and his soul detection or Toph Beifong from ATLA and her seismic sense). At her peak, she can detect life from about a kilometer away.

She can just barely read, but only if she holds the text incredibly close to her face, not to mention her Cyrodilic lessons were left unfinished after her abduction, making reading a very taxing process. Weary travelers are often spooked at the sight of a floating, ghastly looking elven woman with her nose pressed up against crossroad signs, and it has become somewhat of an urban legend.

Isn’t as nearly as skilled with detecting the dead and tenses up in burial crypts or around other vampires for that reason. Unfortunately, being the Dragonborn and all, she finds herself in a lot of crypts...

When questioned about her background due to her unique appearance: “Oh, yeah. My mother was one of those mer from the east. You know the ones. Dark elves, I think? And my father was one of those er, tall elv- no, sorry, HIGH elves. Yeah. They both died in a big fire or something though. It was horrible. I can’t get the noxious smell or the deafening screams out of my head. Good talk, but never ask me about that again.”

Queue sheltered old immortal antics: “Wow, you’re THAT old? Enlighten me on how it felt witnessing the fall of the Dwemer. Or perhaps the rise of Tiber Septim’s Empire. The Gates of Ob-“ “Oblivion if I know. I lived in someone’s basement for thousands of years. And I still don’t know what everyone means by Empire. You all are messing with me, aren’t you? That really annoys me.”

She ultimately returns to faith in Auri-El and makes it her life’s purpose to help the Betrayed find peace, as well as to seek out any remaining snow elf groups. Probably good friends with Gelebor or something.

Had a crush on Serana. We all know how THAT went. Damned temples.

Was originally gonna spiral into a much darker corruption arc (another ATLA comparison being Jet or Hama) but I just felt bad for her. Moureneris can have a little found peace. As a treat.

That’s her preliminary design made. I’ll need a mod to properly play her, because that right there was made by choosing Dunmer as her race. But I can’t do that. I’m on console, and while I got the Steam port a month ago, my PC’s stone age specs can’t handle Skyrim yet and I’ll need to wait until I can afford a better graphics card (thanks economic inflation)

Alexandre Armasi, jokingly nicknamed Alexandre the Curious

A complete and unapologetic export of my character from a dead and unfinished DND campaign. Except there are no Aasimar in Skyrim, so he’s half Altmer half Bosmer. And his initial last name was Armas but I thought Armasi suited his Skyrim counterpart more, as subtle a change it is.

He’s mainly Bosmer in appearance and constitution, save for his hair and eyes, which are more similar to that of his Altmeri father’s.

I can’t really export his original backstory though because the campaign wouldn’t translate well into TES lore at all.

He’s a writer who came wandering into Skyrim in search of inspiration. While he mainly writes dramatic fables, he wanted to divert his focus to crafting his own bestiary and herbal compendium surrounding Skyrim’s fauna and flora. The ones at home are simply too vague to him!

He’s very altruistic, wishing to spread cheer wherever he goes, through the art of song (even though he was a cleric in DND and not a bard. My bad.) However, many of his verses are just blatant self promotions of his published fables.

But he’s too naive for his own good. Dangerously so. In fact, he says what’s on his mind with little forethought, with little grasp on the consequences of his actions, which lands him in lots of trouble. “I don’t favor him myself, but you guys kill people over Talos worship? That’s not very cool. A bit scary, if you ask me.” or “A Stormcloak rebel? Didn’t your leader kill a bunch of Reachmen rebels years back, or so I’ve heard. By the divines that’s not a man I’d make a symbol of nonconformity.”

He’s also insatiably curious. The type to ACTUALLY shove alchemic ingredients in his mouth with no knowledge of their properties, experiment with dangerous rune spells, throw rocks at pressure plates, and more. Needless to say he’s very accident prone.

Doesn’t know common curse words. People exploit this for laughs. Think that episode of Spongebob.

Everyone is a little baffled that HE of all people is the prophesied Dragonborn of legend. This agonizingly imbecilic writer who has absentmindedly wandered into burial crypts, troll dens, bandit forts, and more, too busy juggling his manuscripts to pay attention to his surroundings.

His past doesn’t exactly reflect his outlook on life. His mother and father fought in the Great War aligned with the Imperials despite their elven background. Both managed to live to see the war’s conclusion, but his father vanished without a trace shortly after, and it seems his mother knows something she won’t tell him.

With plenty of exposure to bad influences, his innocence is slowly lost throughout the course of his journey, and his altruism begins to grow twisted. But nevertheless, he maintains his jovial, social persona, except this time with much darker undertones. Kinda like a creepy dentist or something.

Whoops. He winds up becoming a feared Dark Brotherhood assassin. (Haha get it “Innocence Lost”???) He somehow deluded himself into thinking that the life of an assassin was the right thing to do. But he’s a funky little guy so he gets a pass for his heinous crimes against society

#skyrim #skyrim oc #dragonborn #dovahkiin

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dejilmcabrough · 3 years ago

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Akira’s POV

I heard that after the hero defeated the calamity, he went rogue. I also heard he went and left Hateno to go to the faron province to worship the Zonai? My job after awakening from my 118 years of slumber is to bring him back. WOW, I’m Zelda’s older sister, why am I having to prove I am “good enough”. They didn’t even give me new clothes.

I rode my black steed Hocus. Well the descendant of him. God it’s hot. I wipe sweat off my forehead. We crossed a bridge, I slowed him down. I hear rustling. Suddenly feeling a pain and a jolt, I feel my body hit the dirt ground. I open my eyes while gasping for breath, I see sharp blue eyes pierce through mine. My breath hitched in my throat.

Link. It’s the hero of legend. The blonde pulled me up by my hair. “Ow, ow ow, that hurts!” I cried as he grabbed the reins of my horse and he made me get up off the ground. He pushed me in front of him and told me with a raspy breath, “move.”

I start to walk and I ask, “where are we going?” Silence. He said nothing. We go through a gate to a cave. He pushed me to the ground and my hands were cut open from the rugged ground. I hiss from the pain.

His sharp voice asked where I came from. “Did you come from the Castle?” He spit. “y-yes..I’m the first daughter of the Hylian royal family..Akira..” “They don’t have another daughter, the only one is Zelda.” He snarled. God he is horrifying.

“I am the first daughter. I am 118 years old and I will not be treated this way by you.” I snarled back as I got off the ground. My grey royal dress was tattered. “I just woke up from the coma, and the first thing I had to do was come get you.” I sighed. He looked at me like I had two heads.

He glared at me with intense daggers. “I’m not here to take you back, I know just how bad the hylians are.” I patted my legs off and looked up at him. He stayed silent. “Even though I was born an abomination, I actually have full sheikah blood.” I unzipped my dress a little from the back. I showed him the thick black tattoo that was on my shoulders. It was the Sheikah eye.

He reached out and skimmed the tattoo with his finger tips. “I see..” Link straightened up and nodded. “I understand, so you won’t try to make me go back?” I nodded slightly. Then he looked guilty. “Sorry for pulling your hair and pushing you on the ground..” He looked embarrassed. “It’s okay I would have done something similar if someone tried to make me leave” I laugh.

Link then told me to follow him. Hesitantly, I follow him down into the dark cave. The blonde led me to a large room with potions, water and all sorts of survival things. He tells me to sit down while he rummages through some jars. I sit down carefully and wince at my hands.

He then sat down beside me. “Give me your hands.” He demanded and I gave him them. He opened a jar with pink cream looking stuff. “It’s an elixir, but I tweaked it to be a cream.” The boy looked intently down at my red smeared palms. He skimmed over them, remembering every cut he created.

I sucked in my breath when he applied the pink stuff. The scent of petals invaded my nostrils. The cream was chilly and so I winced. Seeing my reaction, he softly blows on the cuts. He thought it was hurting. Why did…

I blushed awkwardly. He finished applying the petal scented stuff. “...what is this stuff made of?” Sharply he said, “Fairy Tonic, I had put fairies in a cook pot and made the perfect elixir out of it.” I sweatdrop. The blonde looked up and laughed at my reaction. “It’s true though” He commented.

I watch the cuts disappear and look up with a beaming smile. “Thanks for healing me,” he smiles back. “No problem” he says shortly. Then he waited a moment before talking again. “You’re not so bad, Akira.” “You’re not as bad as I originally thought either” I laugh while I trace over my palm. He looked away. “I’m glad you’re not a snotty princess that tells me what to do when all i’m doing is protecting you” He laughs, then went silent.

“Are you okay?” I ask while putting my hand on his shoulder. “Yeah I’m fine, thanks.” He sharply replies. His sapphire eyes dart down to the ground. I feel extremely awkward. He takes his skull helmet off and sits it on the ground beside him. Then he raked his hand through his hair. His hair was so long.

I then scoot closer. “Can I braid your hair?” I ask weary. He nods and I stand up, moving behind him. I softly raked my hands through his blonde hair. I assumed his hair would be at least a little dirty, but his hair is clean and a pretty golden color. I slowly braid his long soft hair and as soon as I finish the braid, I ask for a piece of lace. He hands me a lace piece and I tie it around his hair.

He looked up at me and I smiled. “I’m done, it looks really good!” He then hands me a...Sheikah slate… “take a picture so i can see” He responds. I nod, then ask where the picture thing was. He turned and pointed at this icon. I nod.

I opened the icon and it made a noise that startled me. I zoomed onto his hair and took a clear realistic picture of his braid. “Here Link!” I give it to him, and he intently looks at the picture. “Good job Akira, it’s perfect” He looked up at me and beamed with his toothy grin.

I blush at his cute face. I then look down at myself subconsciously. I am a literal hot mess. He looks down at what I'm looking at. “What?” He asks curiously. “Sorry, i just noticed how much of a mess I am” I laugh nervously. He nods slowly. “Here” He stands up quickly. He digs through a bag and pulls out an outfit that is a little revealing.

He pulled me up and handed me the outfit. “There’s a spring farther back into the cave, you can bathe there” He smiles. “Well, Is there a soap I can use?” I inquired. He nodded and said it was already there. “I can show you there if you want” He shrugged. I say that would be perfect. He took my hand and led me to the spring. It was dim, and the water was a beautiful shade of blue. It was glowing like foxfire mushrooms.

“Thank you Link, you can go now..” I say. He lets go of my hand and walks back the other direction. “See you when you’re done, Akira” He waved. I waited until he’s completely gone and took my tattered clothes off. I walked into the spring and it was warm. The soap was on the edge of the pool.

I wash up and soak for a while. As soon as I was done, I rinsed myself and dried off. Tip toeing over the clothes, I pick them up. No wonder they looked revealing, They were also Barbarian clothes. I put them on and they were a perfect fit.

I put on the shoes and picked up my clothes that were 101 YEARS OLD. I walked out of the spring room and saw Link picking up stuff around the cave. I call and he looks up. He sets a bunch of random stuff in the corner. “It suits you very well,” He commented. His face seemed more pink than normal.

“Well, uh I can braid your hair too” He said as he grabbed a wooden comb from the pile. I nodded. Link sat me down on clothes and sat behind me. The boy gently combed my hair straight and he fishtailed my hair. “How can you do that, Link?” I asked curiously. “My mother taught me before the calamity” He responded.

He took a picture of it as well and showed me. “It looks so much better than my braid..” I say flabbergasted. He chuckles. Then he looked rigged. “What's w-” “Do you want paint on too?” He interrupted me looking interested. “I guess, what colors do you have?” I ask looking back at him. “Any color you’d like” He replied.

“I would like a purple color, kinda like yours” She said as she looked at his markings. “I see” He said as he stood up AGAIN and said while blending paint, “i think a more vibrant purple color will suit your skin tone” He mixed some blue, red with already existing purple making it more purple.

He walked over with a jar full of paint. “First I'll go from your face, down ok?” he asked while he dipped his fingers into the jar. “Okay” I say while feeling butterflies in my stomach. He stares intently at my cheeks as he presses his cold painted finger on parts of my face. “As soon as I’m done, I'll show you on the reflecting glass” I nod, as his hands trail from my chin to my neck.

He made three dots on my shoulders and re-dipped his finger into the jar. He drew some lines and circles on my arms and a small triangle on the top of my wrist. Then he repeated onto the other arm. Then he made a swirl on my stomach just above my belly button. I blush at the touch. “Turn around” He said while making more purple lines on my body.

I turn around and he makes a nice hum sound. “Your actual tattoo is so detailed, is it like a birthmark or..” I nod. “Yeah it’s a birthmark, everyone thought it was so weird it was there when I was born, since I was apparently 100% Hylian” I giggle.

Link then makes some more symbols on my back, but I don't know what they are. “Stand up and turn around again” I do as he says and he puts paint on my thighs. They were lines and circles.

“I think you’re done, Akira” He says as he wipes his stained hand on a cloth on the ground. “Okay, can I see?” I asked curiously. “Yeah follow me” He said. I followed him like a lost puppy until We were in front of a reflection. We looked like we were fixing to burn down a village. “Here I forgot something” He disappeared and appeared again a few minutes later with a helm.

It was a cat skull with red braids and tribal ornaments. “It’s lovely,” I say as he puts it on my head. “It suits you very well, Akira” He smiles at me through the reflection.

“Should we go find something to eat?” Link asked as he took my hand and dragged me outside. “Well I guess I'm hungry” I say as I look around. “What are you thinking, big guy?” I ask as I skim the jungle. “Birds, deer, squirrels..Anything” He said as he equipped himself with a bow and an axe. “What should I use?” I ask while I pet my horse.

“Here is a dagger and light weighted bow, it's ok if you break either of those though” He said as he handed me the weapons. “..okay, so what do I use on what?” I asked. It dawned on him. “You don’t know how to use weapons huh?” I smiled. “Nope!” I said as I sheathed my dagger.

Link hopped on my horse and lended me hand to get up on there as well. I took his hand and sat in front of him. I had one hand on the rein and one of the saddle pommel. Link grabbed the opposite side of the rein, and his other hand rested on my hip. I went a little ridged. I tapped Hocus’s sides with my feet stirrup. “Okay we are going to an area that is peaceful, so we can ruin the lives of animals! HAH'' He laughed maniacally.

-TIME SKIP AFTER THE HUNTING SHENANIGANS-

I held all the bird eggs and Link lugged the deer bodies and bird bodies, onto Hocus, before letting him carry it back. “You are literally so weird Akira” Link laughed remembering what she did twenty mins later. “Sorry I threw a bird at you Link, I thought you were gonna shoot it” She giggled.

“You threw it in my face Akira!” he yelled, chuckling afterward. “Well how was I supposed to know my strength!” I yelled back laughing. Link and I walked beside Hocus. We walked to the cave, before Link grabbed the meat off of the horse before going into the cave. After gently setting down the raw meat, I pulled out a few carrots for Hocus. “Be right back!” I yelled.

I greet Hocus and pet him. He neighs with delight before searching me for food. I give him the carrot laughing.

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sunnymusingsao3 · 3 years ago

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⭐ please mr director! release the morgwen cut....(where'd your headcanons for gwen come from, what are some challenges you have re: writing them)

Behind the Scenes: Fanfic Edition

Essay incoming! This one got long as well!

Oh bless you for asking me about this; she once was a true love of mine is one of my favorite things I've ever written, and I am always 110% ready to scream about the things that inspired it!

So the answer to your second question goes hand-in-hand with the answer to the first actually, so I'm gonna answer these out of order!

The biggest challenge with these two is mostly just how little we have in canon in regards to their relationship, background, history, and other such information that would typically be very helpful for writing a canon character-- or how two of them relate-- for a fanfic!

With Morgana, we have a little bit, but she's also not often allowed-- in the show, at least-- to be a character outside of being a villain for our heroes to fight, so one challenge with her is understanding what she does in her day-to-day life. What is she doing when she isn't advancing the plot via attempted fratricide, or directly opposing Merlin in some way? Since she can't possibly always be sitting in her tower rubbing her hands together maniacally (or pulling a BBC Merlin and smirking in full view of everyone who suspects her) I want to know what kinds of things she likes to do when she's not in court, or tackling the Big Themes Of The Show.

She's clearly moved on from lessons with Merlin, so she is not spending all her time studying-- though I do think she must be self-taught in shadow magic, so perhaps some days are spent on magic study-- and ToA is set before Morgana starts being a general-purpose villain to throw into your knight's tale (because as any medieval male writer will tell you, there is nothing scarier than a woman with power).

The way I see it, then, is that in order to establish this close friendship that Wizards says Guinevere and Morgana have, a good chunk of Morgana's time must be spent around Guinevere. And for a Guinevere who, in my headcanon, married Arthur for strategic reasons? For a Guinevere who's got a crush on Morgana the size of Arthur's ego? Spending that much time with her is bound to cause some good old fashioned yearning.

And this is where we get into my headcanons for Guinevere. As I said above, the biggest challenge is how little information we have about Guinevere. She's fallen victim to the Disposable Woman trope, and while I don't inherently fault ToA for that (they have plenty of other very strong and developed ladies), it does leave her with very little character beyond "she was Arthur's wife," and "she was Morgana's best friend." (Short sidenote: I really appreciate the Crusading Widower page on TV Tropes's site, for pointing out that the crusading widower is often an anti-hero or even an anti-villain because I think that's absolutely right when it comes to Arthur).

Anyway, all this to say, since there's so little canon, it's basically a perfect sandbox for fanfic writers to come in and have the time of their lives lol, so this is what I have done!

I am a huge Arthuriana nerd (though I am hardly an expert by any means; I'm just a simple fan who enjoys the stories) so when I saw Wizards utilize wildly famous Arthurian characters, I rather lost my mind over the potential.

I have so many headcanons about how to merge ToA and a bunch of Arthuriana plot points/tropes/characterizations, but for the purposes of this, I will stick to Guinevere!

The main way I went about making headcanons for ToA's Guinevere, was to look at what legends I knew about her and see what could apply to the Wizards canon, without contradicting it, in order to fill in these huge gaps.

For example, we know absolutely nothing about where Guinevere came from, so I kept her father and her home city from legend. Since her mother is not even mentioned in the legends, I also translated that over to an absence of her mother in the story, while also giving her at least a mention, as I think she'd be important to Guinevere, even if she hadn't really gotten to meet her properly. I really wanted this story to highlight the responsibilities that Guinevere has within her roles as wife and medieval royal woman, and I think having her consider what her mother would have done in her shoes tied into that theme of Guinevere wondering "what kind of woman do I want to become?" as she grew up. This is also why Igraine is given a moment in the fic as well; Guinevere's relationships with the women around her is something which I think deserves attention, even in a fic where I'm mostly just trying to establish a general timeline and characterization for Guinevere as a whole.

The idea for Guin's mother to have fallen in battle, in fact, came from ToA establishing that some of the background Camelot knights are men, and some are women, and it's treated as perfectly normal, as far as I noticed. Claire has that one line about a "boy's club," but I do think that it's actually just that she couldn't compete because she wasn't registered as a knight. I might be wrong about that, but I really liked the idea of there being knights in Camelot who are women, and I wanted to keep that in the fic I was writing. Therefore, I think that Guinevere's mother was both a queen and a knight, or, at least, a skilled warrior. Similarly, I also think that Guinevere's father is most known for his relationship with the Pendragons in legend. This then translated to her father being the diplomat, to tie in with her mother being the fighter. I didn't dwell too much on that because, again, the fic was meant to focus on Guinevere, and it had already gotten longer than I'd meant for it to. But, I tried to give a hint at that in the way that Guinevere's father is the one who physically takes Guin's bow, and puts a crown in her hands instead. He's not saying she can't be a fighter, but he is emphasizing that she also needs to be ready to appear in other kingdoms in a formal setting. I like to think that Leodegrance would have wanted Guinevere to have both options, to be a bit more well-rounded than he or her mother were.

Brief addition before I move on to the next phase of the fic: I chose a bow because when the stalkling advances on her, she tries using a stick to fight it off, but shows a bit of an ineptitude at using a weapon like that. Since I didn't want that to turn into "she's a weak royal who couldn't fight at all," especially since it seems to me that most of the time, being royal in the Middle Ages also meant receiving fight training, I chose for her to be better at ranged weapons, like bows, crossbows, maybe even spear throwing.

At any rate, my headcanons from there were created in a similar fashion to the ones mentioned above; I used a mixture of ToA canon (ex: Arthur, Morgana, and Guinevere being shown as childhood friends; Morgana and Guinevere spending time in the woods) and Arthuriana (ex: pulling the sword in the stone, losing it, getting it reforged by Nimue; Leodegrance bringing the round table as Guinevere's dowry; Merlin being a royal advisor).

Now, since this isn't much of a Morgwen cut just yet (so sorry omg), I wanted to skip ahead to the Morgwen pining moments, to talk about them!

The juxtaposition between a burning candle flame representing her love for Morgana, and an uncomfortable midnight cuddle from Arthur (where she can't even bring herself to scratch her nose-- an irritant meant to heighten that feeling of discomfort) representing her relationship with him, is one of my favorite ways to examine the wild difference in how Guinevere sees both relationships. One is untouchable but beautiful, interesting. It burns, and it's bright, and getting too near it hurts too bad.

And then on the other hand, one is there always, it's inescapable, but mostly sweet, though it comes up short of providing comfort. It's not bad, and it's even gentle, and Arthur does love her, but she married him for diplomacy. She married him because it's expected, and it keeps her safe.

(Which, sidenote: I think some stories work well with period-accurate homophobia, and others do not. This is one I would not have put period-accurate homophobia in, as it's fantasy and legend, and I think it's more interesting if Guinevere can't pick Morgana not because of Morgana also being a woman, but because Guinevere is bound by her duties as a royal).

The last thing I wanna talk about is that I have considered writing another Morgwen fic, but I'm just not sure what kind of plot hook or idea I'd like to pursue. So, if there's interest, or any requests that someone might have for these two, please do feel free to ask away! I think their relationship is really interesting, and I'd be delighted to keep writing for them. Guinevere is a fascinating character in particular, and is one who I think, even in legend, sometimes gets boiled down a lot, so I wanna add some depth back into her character, and give her a chance to shine!

Thank you so much for asking, and if there's anything else you're curious about, don't hesitate to send it my way! Like I said, I am always happy to holler about Guinevere and Morgwen! <3

#answered asks #sidhewrites

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morethanaprincess-a · 4 years ago

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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO / Depends. I think fans usually love Sonia or hate her.

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK.

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / In some aspects.

Are they underrated? YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO /

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO.

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL / Verse-dependent. Mostly good, unless Despair-verse or post-Neo World Program/post-SDR2 for canon verses or Talentswap!AU for my Ultimate Mafia Boss AU. Sonia's reputation is pretty terrible in these.

How strictly do you follow canon?

I do the best I can, considering that for most Danganronpa characters, there's limited information unless they're a protagonist. Considering DR, depending on the timeline of Sonia's class, takes place in various settings, realities, and states of mind, it can be a challenge to keep everything consistent. While I don't do a lot of threads that take place strictly in the SDR2-verse, where I do try to keep events canon to how they unfold in the game and as precisely as Sonia is presented as I can, other verses tend to be a bit more canon-divergent in order to fill in character building gaps that the game and anime don't really offer. The biggest change I tend to do is that unless I'm writing a thread of Sonia's arrival or first year at Hope's Peak or during the Neo World Program of SDR2, I don't tend to write many of her slang or word mix-ups. While Sonia reads and writes her 30+ languages better than she speaks them, I still believe she picks up on foreign languages easily and learns from her mistakes. She's a smart person, considering all of her talents mentioned in the SDR2 game alone. I also tend to disregard some of Hajime's free-time events with Sonia, particularly in terms of the hero legend and how she would allow the fabled hero to immediately marry and rule with her. My Sonia, for the most part, is a self-rescuing princess (and has a tendency to want to rescue everyone else too!).

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.

Is your muse looking for a friend and/or significant other who's just fascinated by everything they do and will support them no matter what? Someone who doesn't care about where you come from, your family, your looks, your socio-economic status but only who you are? Someone generous, kind, gentle, optimistic, smart, well-read, well-mannered, and will always be your muse's biggest cheerleader? Then your muse will definitely want to meet Sonia Nevermind, Hope's Peak Academy's Ultimate Princess and occult and serial killer-lover extraordinaire. She's poised to inherit a European country that thrives under absolute monarchy, a ridiculous amount of wealth and prestige, her own military, and more homes and assets than one person, and one family, really need. But get her talking about her favorite books/movies/TV shows, particularly horror and romantic dramas, and she'll be ecstatic. She loves exploring haunted locales, questioning the motives and methods of serial killers (real and fictional! I hope you've seen Friday the 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. Is your muse Team Freddy or Team Jason?), and experiencing a 'normal' lifestyle unbefitting of a royal. Novoselic has no amusement parks, so your muse can really wow Sonia by introducing her to her first roller coaster! While she can't actually participate in Freemasonry or murdering people (Despair and Talentswap verses aside!) due to her title, she's still quite intrigued by it all. And like any proper Novosonian, she adores her chocolate and her wine. She's got a massive sweet tooth, perfect for her usual sweet and kind demeanor.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?)

She's not terribly edgy or sarcastic in most of her verses. It's very easy for Sonia to get duped by someone, as she's quick to consider people friends unless otherwise shown differently. She's very poised and polite due to her upbringing and doesn't often act on every impulse she has or speak her mind, especially if her opinion is divisive or negative, unless she trusts your muse. It's easy for her to accept friends into her life and far more difficult to accept romantic love, as she's frequently facing people who love her for her looks, title, and apparent purity, which frustrates her. She doesn't want to be put on a pedestal, she simply wants to be treated normally. She also doesn't get into too many fights, especially if she's been slighted. This is not a muse who's going to throw a punch, but she's excellent with firearms of all sorts. Pistols? Check. Rifles? Mastered them. Rocket launcher? Her favorite! And of course, she learned how to drive a tank before she could drive a car. If you're looking for a meek and shy muse to write with, Sonia's not that type. She's reserved in some things, but if your muse is really out of line? She'll call them out on it. She also has a tendency to want to lead in everything (it's a struggle for her to give up control, she can't help it!) and is a workaholic unless your muse distracts her.

Sonia has a fair amount of Rich People Problems. If that doesn't interest you or your muse, you may not enjoy interacting with her. But she remains as humble as she can about it all. She's terrible at putting herself first and admitting feelings for anyone, automatically assuming the person she cares for wouldn't want to be close to her, platonically or romantically, because of how complicated her life is as a future monarch. There's a lot of press, official appearances, and times she has to be a Princess before a person. She never wants to feel like a burden to your muse, which can sometimes come off as passive. But in life or death situations? Her bravery comes through.

And let's not go into how her Despair verse could be potentially triggering to some muses and/or muns. Sonia's absolutely disgusting when in Despair: lots of gore, lots of torture, lots of death, lots of blood, and a fair amount of sex with bad intentions. She's a gross human being (and has to deal with all of that in a post-Neo World Program verse!).

What inspired you to rp your muse?

I've been roleplaying for a pretty long time (not necessarily all on tumblr, but for awhile. I'm old!), and I've played action/fighting muses, know-it-all/brainy/witty muses, and muses who border on the mean girl trope with a heart of gold. But I've never really played a sincerely kind and good person. I tend to prefer writing female characters (I'm just more comfortable writing women than men most of the time!) and I've always had an interest in royalty and European history since I was a child. I played and watched Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc originally and while I found it fun, it didn't really hold my attention for long. It took 5-6 years or so for me to try out SDR2, and upon getting introduced to Sonia it was just a perfect fit. I love how kind and open-minded she is, how much she believes in the best of everyone, and how her interests in the occult, serial killers, anime, and dramas are a stark contrast to her royal upbringing. So many royal characters are complete snobs with no interest in commoners, which was never the sort of muse I wanted to write. But I loved the idea of Sonia's fish out of water situation of being the only foreigner in her class (and likely most of the school), who's just so happy to be there even though she gets various customs wrong and is just plain weird due to her personal interests. Additionally, I have a strong interest in horror, the occult, and serial killers myself, so it's been fun incorporating my thoughts on what Sonia would like outside of what the game and anime offered.

What keeps your inspiration going?

This might be corny, but it's Sonia's innate curiosity about the world and everyone in it. Admittedly, I'm not terribly up to date on current and popular anime (and I've only played DRV3 once, so I don't know those muses as well, and I never completed that game's Talent Development Plan), so it's hard when I don't always know the franchise of the other muse Sonia's interacting with, but she's still so fascinated about others and is inclined to ask questions and take on new experiences. But when I'm feeling stuck on inspiration, I'm returning to books, movies, and TV shows. For Sonia specifically, I watch and read a lot of historical and royal-focused dramas, as well as horror and classic literature. I also follow blogs featuring royal history and modern royal coverage (though when it turns too gossipy, I tend to cringe!) for plot ideas.

Still, it's the hardest for me to interact with other muses whose muns automatically assume I'm familiar with their fandom, especially when it's popular. I tend to do a fair amount of apologizing in that case, as most of my favorite anime are considered old or classic at this point.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO.

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO.

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO.

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO.

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO.

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO / Most of the time!

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?

Not terribly. In general, if someone doesn't like my portrayal, I question why they're following me (especially if we aren't writing together). I'm much more the type to respect someone's space if they decide to unfollow and/or softblock than want criticism of my portrayal. Of course, it's different if I'm writing with someone for awhile and we have multiple threads and character development, I'm a little more open to criticism but likely won't change my portrayal based on it.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?

I do! In general though, I tend to prioritize threads and IC asks over OOC, starting with what I've got muse to write with first. I have anon turned off and so I don't really get a lot of random questions about my muse anymore unless I've posted a meme asking for muse headcanons, but when I do get them, I try to answer them to the best of my ability.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?

Not really. It's okay to disagree with my headcanon, that's totally valid! But if it gets to the point where I'm being told how to write my muse, I get annoyed. When I write with a mun, I accept their headcanons in our threads, no questions asked. I prefer the same courtesy with my muse and their headcanons too.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?

Doesn't really matter to me. My general assumption is, is if someone disagrees with my portrayal, they likely won't write with me, follow me, or accept ask meme submissions from me.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?

We probably aren't roleplaying together. They likely either don't want to write with a Sonia or my version of her, and that's ok! What isn't ok is gossip and anon hate. I've turned off anon for this reason and won't turn it back on unless I need to (for example, a mutual I trust wants to send something on anon IC). It's a significant weight off my shoulders, not dealing with OOC anon rudeness.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?

Sure! No one's perfect. The only one that bothers me is different spelling for US English and UK/AUS/CAN English. I'm from the US and it's just easier to write in that, so I don't get anything wrong.

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?

I like to think so! I'm pretty easygoing and understanding of things like hiatuses, no writing inspo, etc, as long as I'm told that's what it is. Of course, I have my preferences for writing style (I don't do much one-liners or crack RP, just not my thing. I write a lot and try to avoid purple prose as much as I can!), but otherwise I like to plot, to wing it, coming up with new AUs and ships, etc. I also like chatting fandoms and such OOC as well! Admittedly I'm not great when it comes to mental health struggles, as I go through them myself and while I'm pretty high-functioning, RP and tumblr is my escape from my career and horrible stuff IRL, keeping me grounded and such. I like roleplaying, chatting fandoms and fun things, and just having a good time over here and on discord.

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

Tagged by: @monsieur-de-paris (Thank you!)

Tagging: Since this is a very long meme, whoever wants to do it.

#more-than-a-princess musings #The positive and the negative meme #tw: long post #(I've had this sitting in my drafts for a week!)#(Just needed a good amount of time to fill it out)#(But I love new threads and interactions to go along with my current active threads!)

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nekoabiwrites · 6 years ago

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Of Princes and Potions - Chapter 6

This is a heavy one... It didn’t start out like that, but it ended up there... whoops :D

AU: Royal, Fantasy Pairing: Pining Logince Words: 2476 Warnings: Panic Attack, Hyperventilating, Blood, Swords, Knives, Stabbing, Being Cut, Extreme Anxiety, Blacking out. Anything else, please let me know!

Summary: Logan is not having a good time with his sudden onset of emotions. He fears he upset Virgil and so runs to find him. Once there, things get worse and he spirals into panic.

In an instant, Logan was filled with a sense of regret and remorse as he remembered how he’d spoken to Virgil. It took no time for tears to begin pouring from his eyes. Logan removed his glasses but found that his vision was far blurrier than it had ever been, thanks to the streams running down his cheeks. He had no control over himself as he hunched over, the weight of his actions weighing heavily upon his back. At the same time, fear was seeping to his extremities as well and the wizard could no longer tell what was causing him to shake violently.

The rational side of his mind was seemingly trying to shout over the chaos that Virgil had taken it well, he’d just been a little confused, but that voice was drowned out by the overwhelming emotion Logan was feeling for the first time in a long time.

Logan flinched violently, his head snapping up and his eyes widening in concern as the thought passed his mind. For the first time in a long time? Had he felt this before?

Something managed to throw that from his mind, as he stumbled instinctively towards the door to his room. It didn’t matter at this moment, he could think about that later, now he really needed to find Virgil and ensure their relationship wasn’t damaged beyond repair.

Logan’s mind was focused entirely on his goal. He didn’t seem to notice where he was going or that he’d left the tower without the safety of his cloak. Logan just let his feet do the work in guiding him. He ran through the corridors as quickly as he could, paying no attention to any sound he was making. Thoughts ran wild, he wanted to find Virgil as fast as possible. If he were fast enough, perhaps he’d be able to catch his friend before he went back to his own room.

It was only once he was able to see the door to Virgil’s room coming towards him that Logan seemed to realise what was really going on. He’d been so lost in the sudden surge of emotions that he just wasn’t paying that much attention. He didn’t slow as he approached, instead Logan repeated Virgil’s own actions by slamming his door open.

“VIRGIL!” Logan practically yelled at the extremely startled knight captain. The wizard threw himself towards Virgil without a single thought, holding the man tightly in his arms as a new flood of tears came. He hiccupped out a long stream of unintelligible apologies on instinct.

If Logan had been of a sounder mind, he would have been able to notice that Virgil was all together confused, scared and uncomfortable. The knight captain was stiff and unmoving under his friend’s embrace, his eyes were locked towards the now-open door and were as wide as possible. Virgil was clearly trying to catch himself up with his current situation.

It took almost a full minute before Virgil was awkwardly reaching around his friend to try and console him, “It’s… okay, Lo. You… didn’t do… anything wrong?” Virgil was still utterly lost as to why his usually stoic friend was now clutching him tightly and weeping directly into his shoulder. Sure, something had been up with the wizard when he’d visited earlier, but it was nothing that really concerned the knight too much. Logan was known to have bad days sometimes and Virgil usually just left him to it. But this… this was something entirely new.

Eventually, Virgil managed to get Logan to release him. He had the wizard sit on the edge of his bed and headed out to grab a cup of water, with several promises that he would be back in just a few minutes and that he definitely wasn’t leaving Logan alone. Virgil had a fearful thought that this must be what he is like when he gets into one of his anxious states. He mentally had to push that down; Virgil had to focus on Logan right now, his own problems could wait.

“Okay, so… why the hell were you crying?” Virgil asked outright after handing the wizard the cup. He was seated in his chair, which he’d turned around and brought closer. He wasn’t exactly in the mood to be touched any more than he already had been, so Virgil kept his distance.

Logan uncharacteristically sniffled like a young child, the tears having finally slowed to something manageable, “I… I am unsure, to be honest with you, Virgil. I, I was frustrated and angry, to such an extreme that I yelled out and caused myself to pause. Then I… I seemed to suddenly remember what I said to you… and it hurt me that I might have possibly caused hurt to you.” Logan kept his eyes down at the cup in his hand. He periodically sipped in between his thoughts, as it gave him a moment to really think about what had happened and how he wanted to phrase things. “The next thing I truly remember is walking down the corridor outside your room and… the scene that just… occurred.” The wizard scrunched up his face as his cheeks flushed dark with embarrassment.

Virgil stayed silent after Logan had finished his fairly brief explanation as he tried to think of how to respond. This was all completely unlike Logan, the man always kept his emotions well under control to the point where several of the servants and many townspeople gossiped about his lack of them, almost treating it as a legend. Slowly, Virgil opened his mouth, “Well, I can say I definitely wasn’t hurt by what you said, Logan. I was more… confused, I guess?”

Logan’s head tilted a little in confusion as he raised his gaze to look at the knight, “Confused? Why?”

“Well, y’know…” Virgil gestured vaguely with his hands during his pause, as if it were helping him conjure the words, “Just, like… It’s not normal, for you, alright? You’re just always so calm and everything. It was just weird that you seemed so pissed off.” Virgil leant back in his chair, finally looking as though he was relaxing a little. “If it’s about that potion thing, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were doing that, or that it was so important or whatever; Dee just really fucked with me and I just… God, I hate him so much!” Virgil grimaced hard as the name of the animal handler fell from his lips.

The mage fiddled with the cup in his hand. He could feel his heartbeat starting to race and his cheeks heating as the embarrassment rose once more. Of course, the potion. In the whole mess of events, he’d forgotten that was reason for all of this and now he’d have to confess to Virgil about its effects. That would inevitably lead to Virgil asking why Logan would even want such a potion and why he would even really be mad about something like that, which then would lead to Logan having to tell the knight all about his odd reactions to the prince, which he really didn’t want to do because Virgil didn’t need yet another thing to hold over him.

“Woah, woah. Lo, calm down. Just breathe. Try and breathe slow for me, alright?”

Virgil’s voice sounded like it was far away, almost as if he were across the other side of the room. Logan’s vision was swimming more and more, he could barely register that his muscles had tightened to almost an unbearable point let alone the fact his breathing was insanely fast and quick, causing him light-headedness. All Logan could focus on were his spiralling worries.

If he mentioned to Virgil about the odd feelings, that could easily get out. It wasn’t that Logan didn’t trust the other man, he really did, more than most. He just knew that with more people knowing, the more likely it can be to spill out. Someone might overhear a small jab Virgil might make, or someone could even overhear this initial conversation he was trying to convince himself to go through with. Even then, if it did get out, it could spread through not only the whole castle but the whole kingdom. Many informants and notorious gossips lived in the capital city and they just loved to spread the latest news with everyone they could, especially on their trips out of the city itself. If it spread to everyone outside, Logan would likely find himself a laughing stock. That strange man who practices and searched for magic at the top of the tower in the castle was having such odd sensations around the prince, all of which were likely to be understood by the common masses, would make him a piece of public art for all to gawk at whenever he’d head into town. Logan would have to hole himself up forever, making little to no contact with anyone but those he specifically allowed himself to converse with. But, the worst part would be when the word got to the prince himself. Surely, Roman would be utterly appalled at the simple thought that such a thing could even happen. Logan was just another servant to him, another toy to play around with and practice his technique on, things he would be putting to use fairly soon by Logan’s understanding of the upcoming event.

Oh.

The ball.

Logan, unconsciously, began to rock back and forth a little as he continued to spiral into panic. Virgil was now a distant murmur, despite his continuous, louder attempts to call Logan back to the world. His breathing was faster, shorter, shallower, and was showing no signs of improvement. Virgil was still trying his best but was beginning to give up hope.

The ball was something that all castle residents were being forced to attend. Everyone who was even remotely important or of a high status would be there, and Logan was going to have to be present for it all. All the local nobles would know of him and his feelings, they’d laugh and snicker, tease him mercilessly from the corners and shadows of the ballroom. He’d hear whispers from behind him, see eyes flicking towards him, feel the gazes of many despicable humans watching his every move. He’d be utterly powerless to do anything about it as well, as not only would they be the brats that spawned from the disgusting nobles who would love to accuse the royals of doing something to their children in an attempt to gain more power, but all of the guard would be there to ensure nothing happened to any of the guests. There was no way Logan could get out of it either. It was an order from the King himself. He’d end up so utterly alone, as even his most trusted allies wouldn’t want to risk their reputation in order to check up on him.

Virgil had now given up on being respectful. He wanted to be delicate with this situation, but that was not working. His hands gripped Logan’s shoulders and he tried everything he could to calm Logan down, but Virgil could easily see that his words were not reaching the wizard. The knight shook Logan, pure desperation coursing through his voice as he tried with earnest once more to reach him. The wizard was still wheezing, but it was clear he was feeling the effects of hyperventilation. Virgil saw his vision beginning to blur with his own tears.

Back in his mind, the image of the crowded ballroom was darkening as the thoughts kept piling up and up, pulling Logan further into the dark void that threatened to swallow his mental image of himself. All the attendees were dark and faceless themselves, seeming as though they were wearing simple black masks with wide, unnerving, knowing grins. The knights and other staff were similarly faceless, all ignoring his pure existence. One of the attendees made a loud, snide comment as they glided past, causing the group they were with to laugh harshly. The lighting dimmed further, the furthest wall was not visible to Logan anymore. He couldn’t move his legs or arms, he couldn’t speak. He was stuck there and had to endure this torture. Another faceless figure floated past, this one purposefully pouring a glass of something upon the wizard. They turned and apologised in a fake sincere tone before chuckling as they walked off. The black void seemed to be crawling across the floor now, taking more and more from Logan’s sight. A sudden glint of silver crossed his vision as someone – clearly a suitor – wielded a knife and slashed across the wizard’s face. There was no pain, but his vision was clouded by the red stain of blood that was pouring from the gash. The suitor taunted him with meaningless words, saying things that implied Logan was entirely unworthy of his feelings and that not one of the guards was going to do a thing about the attack. It was true, none of the featureless guards had moved a muscle or even acknowledged what was happening in his corner. Suddenly, the wound on his face began to ache and itch. The shadows now encompassed half of the ballroom, taking all of that from his sight – the floor, the ceiling, the attendees, the decorations. The suitor glided off into the dark with a harsh, echoing laugh. There was then a jolt of movement behind him, another blade protruded into his vision along with more aching and itching from his back. A whisper of a voice came to his ear, telling him he was worthless, disgusting, a waste of life and he was finally going to see someone who had been very dear to him. They told him he should have stayed in that place back then, shouldn’t have even survived. He felt his world dimming further, not only due to the dark void closing in even more, but also from the sudden blood loss he was experiencing. The blade cutting through his body was twisted, causing him to attempt to shout out even though he seemed to feel no pain from it. A new voice spoke to him.

“Disgusting, vile creature.”

The harsh tone that was clear in the prince’s voice seemed to hurt Logan more than the blade currently pushed through his body. The blade was constantly being turned, slowly and torturously, as if the man behind him was attempting to cause him the most discomfort possible as he was getting close to drawing his final breath. The shadows were close to his feet now, still swallowing everything in front of him. Without hesitation, the vine-like tendrils of shadows rushed towards his body, almost like a wild animal going in for the attack. His vision finally seemed to fail him.

Everything went black.

Everything fell silent.

Previous Chapter – Next Chapter

My other stuff: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/myworks Mobile Accessible Masterlist: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/post/181954641376/fic-masterlist

General Tag List: @not-so-innocent-bi-sander @didsomeonesayprince @llamaly @justanotherpurplebutterfly @iaminmultiplefandoms @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @lowkeyvirgilobsessed @louisthewarlock @fangsandrainbows @xxladystarlightxx @sleepyssnail @ao-koshka @notalwaysthevillian @pumpkinminette

OPAP Tag List: @frankiprowsworld @shoot-i-messed-up @coloursintheblur @roxiefox24

#Sanders Sides #Fanfiction #Logince #Logan Sanders #Virgil Sanders #Deceit Sanders #Roman Sanders #Logic Sanders #Anxiety Sanders #Creativity Sanders #Of Princes and Potions #Royal AU #Fantasy AU #Mention of blood #Swords and knives #Heavy Injury #All is in Logan's head #But it's still spoken of in some detail

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agirlinjapan · 6 years ago

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Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars (Week 19)

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara A Translation

Miss the last piece? Read it here!

Check out the RDG Translation twitter!

Help me pay for my next translation project on Ko-fi.

Happy Palm Sunday, Easter, and Passover to those who will be celebrating over the next week!

This installation has brought us to page 200 in RDG 6. We’re chugging along! It’s officially spring break for me, which means I’ll have more time than usual to dedicate to RDG. I’m hoping to get a decent amount done each day, and move further through the novel. I think I’ll be done by the beginning of summer!

Translation Notes:

The Namahage are a type of demon portrayed at festivals in certain parts of Japan.

The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons appears in a number of Japanese folktales. It’s more or less just what it sounds like.

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara Chapter 3: Winter Solstice Part 1 (2 of 3)

Seeing as no one came to the student government room during the study days before the exams, it was a much better place to tutor someone than the library. Talking wasn’t allowed in the library’s reading rooms and any questions a student amassed during their time there were easily forgotten by the time they left and could speak again.

In the government room though, it was perfectly fine to talk. Miyuki also seemed to prefer it over the library because he felt more comfortable when other people’s eyes weren’t on him. They could also talk freely about whatever they wanted when there weren’t other people around. Today, Izumiko was planning to use that solitude to bring up the awkward moment they had had the day before.

However, Miyuki and Izumiko weren’t the only ones to claim use of the student government room. When they arrived, Okouchi and Hoshino were already settled there. Unused to not coming to student government once a day during the pre-exam club hiatus, the two second years had been coming anyway to play around with the computers there.

Okouchi and Hoshino were so lost in their own world though that they never once bothered Izumiko and Miyuki when they studied together or did anything else. Little by little, Izumiko had gotten used to their presence, and didn’t notice them as much as she had at first.

The two second year boys came from very normal families. It was clear that neither of them had been raised in connection with spiritual abilities of any kind. However, while they did know about the students who had been raised with magic, they had reacted quite calmly to their existence. Their reaction probably wasn’t the norm though. The way they interacted with Izumiko hadn’t changed at all either.

The people Honoka collected for student government all must have something special in common, but I wonder what it is… Izumiko thought quietly to herself.

Hodaka and Honoka’s student government had turned itself into a well-functioning group over the past few months, but they had to have all been chosen for some quality they showed. Izumiko was just grateful that no one had been treating her differently since everything with Takayanagi.

The bespectacled duo had liked Miyuki from the start, and Miyuki had gotten along with the older students as well. He seemed to have a respect for their deep knowledge of everything two dimensional. Izumiko could tell that the duo was quite intelligent as well. They just really didn’t care much about anything outside of their own interests.

That day, as Hoshino, Okouchi, Miyuki, and Izumiko were talking, Hoshino said out of nowhere, “Did you know? December 25th, the day that everyone thinks is Jesus Christ’s birthday, was actually decided on by the Christian church after the Council of Nicaea that was held in 325 AD. The Roman empire was showing off the authority it had at the time, and they set the date to intercede with the Mithraic winter solstice. December 25th was the date of that holiday.”

Miyuki looked at Hoshino, and then let out a small laugh. “Does that mean you’re interested in a Christmas event all of a sudden?”

“If this is all common knowledge to the exchange students, it would be embarrassing if I didn’t know it. It was interesting to look things up. Listen to this,” Hoshino continued enthusiastically. “The headquarters of the Greenland International Santa Claus Association is in Copenhagen, and they talk about people becoming certified Santa Clauses on TV and stuff. Also, Scandinavia is seen as Santa Claus’s home. But in Scandinavia, the word they use for Christmas, Yule, is actually the Germanic winter solstice that dates back to before Christianity. Old Man Santa doesn’t appear in that old European festival. Instead, there’s a spirit of some kind who doesn’t give nice presents to anyone. It’s kind of like the Namahage here in Japan. It’s a demon that goes around scaring little kids into behaving well.”

The image of a man dressed up in a demon mask and a straw cape with a sword in his hand going door to door during a festival came to Izumiko’s mind. She had seen it on TV at some point.

“The Namahage is from the Touhoku region in the northeast, right?” she asked. “He’s part of one of their festivals.”

“Yes, yes. He’s the one that goes, “Are there any bad kids here? Are there any crybabies here?”” Okouchi said, his expression serious as he took on the demon’s role for a second.

“The Christmas that Japanese people are used to comes from the US,” he continued. “And US Christmas comes from England. We’re used to the Christmas traditions that come from the English speaking part of the world, but there are many different traditions beyond those. The reason why western Christmas has rooted itself so deeply here in Japan is because Emperor Taisho died on December 25th and the day became a national holiday. It became a normal day again after World War II, but decorating Christmas trees, Santa Claus’s presents, and the winter sales war remain.”

“Have you been researching Christmas too, Okouchi?” Miyuki said doubtfully.

“I need to be prepared so that this doesn’t become a Christian based event. I’m doing this for President Honoka, too.” Okouchi went back to typing on his keyboard. “Christmas trees appear in winter solstice festivals that predate Christianity. Decorating houses with boughs from pine trees comes from early, non-Christian traditions. Decorating with evergreens is said to keep away evil spirits and attract good luck. We decorate with pine branches in a similar way here in Japan. After December 25th became Christ’s birthday, Germany began the tradition of decorating trees in the early modern era. It apparently then spread to England through the royal family. When Europeans first came to America, Christmas trees were one of the customs they rejected as being pagan. They were Puritans after all.”

“Wow. That’s unbelievable,” Izumiko said, her eyes wide. “So, Christmas trees are a pagan tradition. Decorated trees and the way we hang pine boughs outside people’s homes seem really different, though. Do they really still have the same basis in their meanings?”

Seeing Izumiko’s involvement in the conversation, Hoshino continued with increased vigor. “Speaking of original meanings, the connection between Christmas and the Wild Hunt is also interesting. There’s a legend about a hunt that takes place during the time between Halloween and the winter solstice. The hunting party is made up of fairies, the dead, and their black hunting dogs. That’s the Wild Hunt. The stories originated in Europe, and there are lots of different versions of it, but because any human who sees the hunt dies, it’s basically the same as Japan’s Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. However, if children put offerings in their stockings on the night before Winter Solstice, Germen folk stories say they’ll receive presents in those stockings from the Wild Hunt the next morning. ”

“Is that where leaving candy in Christmas stockings comes from?” Izumiko asked.

Miyuki made a sour face. “Please use this time to study for the exams, you two. Don’t waste the rest of your time wrapped up in this.”

“We’re getting wrapped up in this because it’s just before the exam,” Hoshino said. “Without fail, I always feel the need to read a big fat book right before exams.”

“Ah, me too.” Okouchi agreed.

The two of them made a few comments about their extensive stock of knowledge, but the conversation ended quickly after that. It wasn’t because they were bothering Miyuki though. They had simply said all that they needed to. Most likely, Okouchi and Hoshino had not been ignoring their studies, they had simply wanted to give Izumiko and Miyuki a break from their own work.

Quick break or not, Izumiko had been surprised by what she had just hard, and she couldn’t easily stop thinking about it. Even after parting from the bespectacled duo, she was still mulling over the information.

“I didn’t know that Christmas had its roots in a pagan holiday. Maybe I’ll do some research on it too… I’ve never heard of the Wild Hunt either. If they were comparing it to the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, the legends should be from around the Heian era probably. The Night Parade is mentioned in an Abe no Seimei story, isn’t it…”

“Don’t get pulled into this, Izumiko. We’re focusing on math right now,” Miyuki said, giving her a frightening look. “If you do the same thing they’re doing, you’ll waste all your time. Those two have the impressive ability of being able to switch back and forth between topics in an instant.”

“Had you heard about what they said before?”

“Most people wouldn’t know those things. I’ve only ever thought of Christmas as a day where kids ask their parents for things they want.”

“So, a present day?”

Sensing that Izumiko could no longer concentrate on the problem set, Miyuki gave up for the time being and answered her question.

“Okouchi was right when he mentioned the sales war. Isn’t that really what Christmas is for most people besides people who believe in it?”

“I never got any presents on Christmas,” Izumiko replied. “Were you someone who did?”

“I don’t just get stuff. I have to ask Yukimasa for it. If I bug him about something I need, he’ll get me whatever I want. He’s such a bad parent. I guess it’s his way of making up for leaving me alone so much,” Miyuki said bluntly.

The dry relationship between him and his father was quite evident at that moment. He didn’t seem as close-lipped as he usually was when Yukimasa came up in conversation though. He was speaking calmly.

Izumiko expanded upon the question she had already asked.

“Did you ever get a Christmas present from anyone? Like from a kid at school or something?”

“Yeah, I got a few of those.”

“From girls?”

Hearing this, Miyuki looked at Izumiko in surprise. “Well… some. We had present exchanges and Christmas parties, after all.”

“I’ve never been to a Christmas party. But I’d see presents during the cold season with their pretty wrapping paper and ribbons, and I always thought it would make me feel really good to get one. They have a different feel to them from getting New Year’s money,” Izumiko said, thinking about it yearningly.

She had never been able to experience a Christmas party when her school life had depended on being driven back and forth from the shrine to school in Mr. Nonomura’s car. She only knew about them from what she had heard from other people.

Miyuki gave a little laugh as if he found her life detached from the rest of the world strange.

“Unexpected Christmas presents do make people happy. You end up wondering how the other person knew you wanted whatever it was that they gave you.”

“Are you talking about something you got from a girl?”

“Why are you getting so particular about this? I get Christmas presents every year. That’s why Yukimasa can’t ignore the day either and gives me something. The sender’s name is never anywhere on the box, but it’s probably from Kaori. I have a feeling that it comes through Mr. Sengoku.”

Izumiko blinked at the unusually personal story he had just told her. Kaori was the name of Miyuki’s mother who had divorced Yukimasa years ago.

“Does your mom live in the mountains? Mr. Sengoku is the ascetic monk you trained with on Mt. Haguro, right?”

“I have no idea where Kaori is now. I heard that she got remarried a long time ago. That’s why I haven’t seen her or talked to her since she left. I just get a present with no name on Christmas.”

Miyuki showed no emotion at all, but all the same, Izumiko could sense how he was feeling. Even though he hadn’t seen his mother in all this time, she still had a big place in his heart.

After a moment of thought, Miyuki ended the conversation with a note of finality. “Mr. Sengoku is Kaori’s uncle. He’s the only person I know in the Sengoku family. Let’s stop talking about Christmas. We can talk about it more after the exams when we can relax.”

Izumiko knew how much it had taken Miyuki to share this story with her, so she didn’t want to make him angry by spacing out on the math problems he had prepared for her. She dropped her head back to the problem set, and diligently returned to her work on the equations.

Keep reading!

#rdg #red data girl #rdg 6 #rdg 6 week 19 #rdg my wish on the night of the shooting stars #translation

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unrepentantgeek · 5 years ago

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Undertale AU backstories

Does anyone else think about how/why things are different in Undertale AUs that aren’t just a different setting or just different circumstances? Because I can’t help but wonder about the possible reasons for the differences if that timeline isn’t just LIKE that.

Like what about Underswap? Maybe Sans wanted to keep his brother happy so badly he leant into his immature side to cheer Papyrus up so intensely his interest in science took a backseat. Que a grateful, protective Papyrus who did everything he could to play to his strengths out of determination to look after and protect the big brother who did so much to make sure he was happy. Or maybe there was an accident, and Sans wasn’t the same after. Whether Gaster is still a scientist or not would probably be a pretty big factor in said differences. Regarding smaller things ‘classic’ Papyrus’ actual favorite food is the variant of oatmeal with dinosaur eggs right? So it’s far from far fetched that a more laid back Papyrus would be unrepentant about indulging his sweet tooth. Depending on what sort of sway you go for there are a various different ways that could play out, like Gaster and Gerson switching places. Maybe Undyne started out just trying to recreate the robots & weapons from anime & Alphys either decided to do her best to be like the warrior women in anime she crushed on or wanted to protect Undyne. Maybe an accident or a lack of whatever took Unyne’s eye led to Undyne or both her & Alphys growing up differently. Or maybe one or both of them wound up with different mentors. Maybe Asgore regretted his rash decision upon his childrens’ deaths before Toriel left in the normal timeline while Toriel was consumed by her anger & latched onto his plan instead of being disgusted by it. Maybe she brought up her “kill one and cross the barrier to get the rest of the souls” plan, only it took long enough for Asgore’s regret to set in or she kept holding out for an adult human. Or maybe whatever happened to Asriel in this timeline changed them long before Frisk came along. Muffet’s easy, she’s canonically deeply concerned over and protective of her kin. Maybe she’s in Snowdin to be closer to the kin trapped in the ruins and unable to simply go through cracks in the door due to the freezing temperatures? I don’t think there would be too much difference, but giving into that softer side could easily change her just enough to be more pleasant and someone I can easily imagine Papyrus enjoying being around. Grillby... well, maybe in ‘classic’ Undertale he was originally from Hotland. The lack of whatever had him living in Snowdin meant he never left. Personality wise... either said influence involved something bad happening and he’s more cheerful without that tragedy or horror to influence his life, or he put on a cheerful front instead

Then there’s Underfell. Maybe most of the time in non Fell timelines Asgore didn’t usually end up killing the humans himself, which left him in his normal senses to grieve the little humans alongside his own lost children & his damaged relationship with his wife. Or maybe in Underfell they weren’t usually children and things played out differently. Either way the result of the difference is a timeline where instead of guilt, grief and loneliness eating away at him Asgore is left vulnerable to the mental corruption that comes with LV, and since he’s the ruler of the Monster Kingdom the result is an angry, damaged Underground. Toriel? My best guess would be that she wound up with severe trauma from staying long enough to see the first death. Or a mix of trauma, LV, and guilt. Let’s start simply for the others. Undyne, fierce from the start, falls to this mindset easily. Rashly rushing into a fight and taking a ‘shoot first ask questions later’ mindset is already easy for her, add LV to the mix and you have a much harsher, angrier Undyne. To the point that maybe she either forgets the good intentions of her youth or ends up disgusted at what she’s become and guilt ridden. (I’ve seen a fic where Fell!Undyne is a traitor completely against the way the Fellverse Royal Guard operates, and ever since I’ve been intrigued by the idea of Fell!Undyne going in the opposite direction of the angrier, harsher persona most Fell iterations go for. Alphys is a gentle, anxious soul who just wants to help normally. Maybe LV messes her up too. Maybe rather than LV due to either desperation or orders she can’t ignore she takes her experiments farther & farther until she can’t handle it, until the only things left that could be the personal consequences were something cracking and warping in her or falling down. Muffet was already pretty ruthless and fierce, and protecting her kin would probably have been harder in this harsher environment. Or maybe something horrific happened to some of her kin? Grillby, a lot of people just write as angrier & harsher or indifferent, with his flames as purple. But what if it’s the opposite? With the background and personality many like giving Grillby it’s so easy to see him disliking the way the Underground slowly warps. Oh, maybe at first he’s like most Fellverse portrays him. But as he gets more discouraged by the way things are and more emotionally exhausted, he’s metaphorically and possibly magically drained until his flames run a much cooler red rather than any of the colors more natural for a fire monster. Sans & Papyrus, I’m going off the usual assumption that Gaster is their father. I don’t see Gaster changing too much no matter the timeline. Angrier and harsher, perhaps. But certainly not enough to be someone to treat his loved ones poorly. So maybe the problem there is that he gets absorbed in his experiments to the point he accidentally neglects his sons, or maybe depending on what the original home environment was he’s so busy he doesn’t notice their other parent either being too harsh or being outright abusive until it’s too late to salvage his boys’ mental and emotional state properly. Or maybe he’s even closer to how he normally is than you’d figure & Sans & Papyrus are bullied due to a home environment that should otherwise have left them to mostly grow as they did in ‘classic’ Undertale. The rest is at least alluded to in canon, as far as the Skeleton Brothers go: a harsher environment & harder personalities or higher stress due to said harsher environment result in turbulent squabbles that scar Papyrus & loses Sans a tooth. Being the dutiful big brother when Papyrus is more violent, competent & bossy he quietly accepts doing Papyrus’ bidding while still protecting him from the shadows. Maybe it’s that simple- or maybe Sans regrets hurting Papyrus so badly he sees being subservient in public as a way to make up for things. It could even simply their way of protecting each other in a world that would almost gladly see them dead. I see that in some of the Fellverse stuff that doesn’t fall into the ‘abusive Fell!Papyrus trope. (I’m a total sucker for the ‘Fell Papyrus isn’t abusive & they actually care just as much as the other iterations’ trope. I will absolutely do as much reaching as needed to keep my adorably loving and supportive familial relationship.)

Most of the other AUs are purely superficial differences or self explanatory, so that just leaves Echotale since I don’t know enough about the AU that has both a G!Sans and a G!Papyrus. There’s not much to speculate on for Echotale, since most stuff is going to be exactly the same or is literally just the basis of the AU. For one thing, maybe Frisk is older or younger when they go to Mount Ebbot? It’s also entirely possibly that this is ‘classic’ Undertale Frisk growing up in a different environment, which might involve descendents of mages or either military personnel or politicians high enough in status to be able to act on their paranoia the legends incite. (Of course the latter two would probably involve evidence or rumors indicating the legends are more than just legends.) Otherwise, the only other real difference i can see is Gaster being around. Maybe he never built the machine found in Sans’ basement/fell in the Core? (People say the former instead once in a while right?) Or maybe he simply didn’t fall in or was saved. Whether Sans keeps up with science in this timeline or still mostly leaves it behind is something I think best left up to personal interpretation.

#undertale #undertale au #Headcanon #Speculation

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kbrown78 · 6 years ago

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Monthly Wrap Up: March

March, to put it mildly, wasn't a great month for me. I found myself in a personal slump which did have a significant impact on how this month went for me. It also meant that I found myself in a bit of a reading slump, so I wasn't able to read as much and wasn't loving the majority of what I was reading. I read a total of 10 books but 2 of those were novella's (which I though were good) and one was a DNF. I was still able to get through all the reading challenge's I was participating in, but I attribute that to making sure I'm reading a “challenge” book all the time. It wasn't all bad though. There were a few books that I really enjoyed, and I got my second 5 star book in the year, and I think I also had a pretty good variety of books.

The Singing by Alison Croggon: To anyone that isn't familiar with the Books of Pellinor series, this is a 4 book series and I read the first 2 books at the end of last month and read this one, the 4th one, at the beginning of this month. Meaning I skipped the 3rd book. Let my start by briefly explaining why I did this. I don't normally skip books in a series, but this is a reread that I wasn't enjoying and the 3rd book, The Crow, I knew was going to be my least favorite book in the series, so I already wasn't motivated to read it. Before calling it quits I wanted to see if there were any new characters or major plot points that I had forgotten that impacted the finale. There were no major new characters introduced and only 3 or 4 relevant plot points. So my desperation to get the series done with quickly mixed with the fact that I saw no real reason to force myself through a filler book, I made the decision to skip The Crow and jump right to The Singing. Onto my actual review of The Singing, my opinion of this book was about the same as the rest of the series. Through the entire series I don't think Maerad changed. She definitely became more powerful, but she still felt pretty flat and boring as a character. Despite Hem having a POV for about half this book, he didn't come across as having any distinct personality. In fact, none of the side character felt developed, except for Sylvia and her husband (whose name I'm forgetting). Granted this entire series is more plot driven than character driven, but that's not really an excuse for a lack character growth or identity, and there was almost never a sense of urgency or action. In each book there was 3,4 maybe 5 major plot points and the rest is basically filler. It's only 7 days after I finished The Singing and already I'm forgetting most of the details. The world itself is pretty generic, but it at least feels like there was effort in the development. The ending is also one of those endings where everything just turns out fine and there aren't any life altering consequences, despite this whole narrative being an epic battle of good versus evil. The only interesting and nuanced part was whenever the Elidhu or Treesong were brought up. What is the nature of good and evil? Are the Elidhu wholly one or the other? Even if they label themselves as good, are they good by human standards? What will happen to both Bards and the Elidhu if the Treesong is sung? I liked these parts, and it made the story feel like more than a basic, boring journey. Unfortunately none of it was fully developed, and to an extent I get why. Bards have distanced themselves from Elidhu and the Elementals, so they are fairly ignorant of everything surrounding them. Overall I just wanted more from this series. When I first read it I was obsessed with stories that involved long journeys (courtesy of my obsession with the Oregon Trail) but now if there's going to be lots of traveling, it has to have multiple instances of character or plot development (I do feel like it's easier to get away with this in TV or movies cause I can think of several examples of long journeys that I actually enjoy). I do recommend this for younger readers, or even people trying to ease themselves in epic fantasy since it's just 4 books that aren't even 500 pages, but as for myself I really was disappointed by this series and think it's just an average 3 star series. The Singing itself received 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente: Catherynne M. Valente is an author that has been on my radar for a little while. She seems to write fanciful, eclectic novels, like Radiance and Space Opera (which I'm still interested in reading), but this was the one I was most intrigued by. It's heavily influenced by Russian folklore and history, which admittedly I knew only a little about before reading this but I don't think that left me at any disadvantage. I was aware going into this that the romance was going to kind of twisted and it's a borderline villain story, but I figured I would be able to overlook. The relationship between Marya and Koschei is very twisted and they seem to want to please the other as much as they want to make them suffer, and I really prefer healthy relationships. The romance was definitely twisted and wasn't my cup of tea, but it wasn't the biggest issue I had with this book. Marya was one of those characters where we're told she's smart and observant, but as some as she's whisked away to Koeschi's region she does a lot of stupid things and is just downright pathetic at times. In fact I hated her time with Koeschi for several reasons, but the can all by summed up by saying it felt like I was reading 2 completely different stories. I really liked the beginning, with glimpse of magical realism and folk lore, but it's still very much set in a recently communist Russia. You do question what's real or not, but the story is never confusing and Marya does seem like a well read, sympathetic character. Then there was the whole courtship between Kosechi and Marya, as he willful makes her sick and says he's going to basically control, but then implies that this is love and Marya believes him. Then this devolved into a book with no plot. There's supposed to be this constant war between Life and Death, and that one could have been interesting, but it ended up being a minor sub plot. Then she somehow ends up back in her old home, and things get even more confusing from there, with the end making me wonder if all those magical things that happened to Maya were real or if they were all in her head. Ultimately I couldn't tell you what this book was about, it's just one of those stories where things happen. This could have been much more tolerable if I liked at least one character, but I didn't like any characters. Majority of the characters were treated as disposable and were given very little identity, while the more main ones I found to be all unlikable. While there was plenty that I disliked about this book, I just couldn't hate it. The writing was very interesting (and I have read a short story by Valente so I know I like her writing style), it was interesting seeing Old World Russia with it's folklore mesh with the blossoming Soviet Russia, and like I stated earlier I genuinely enjoyed the beginning. If you're looking to read more retellings (in this case of Koeschi the Deathless) or books with a Russian setting I could recommend this one, but be warned, it's weird, there's no sense of direction, and the characters are definitely unlikable and it's debatable if they're sympathetic or not. Deathless received 2.5 out 5 stars and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “a book inspired by myth, legend, folklore.”

Starless by Jacqueline Carey: This was a book that I delayed in picking up because I was just losing interest in it and was worried to would be a romance disguised as fantasy. I'm pleased to say that this book exceeded my expectations for it. It's a coming of age, epic fantasy story about Khai, a young warrior monk as he trains and eventually takes up his position as the destined protector (called a Shadow in this world) of a princess. This book feels like it's broken into 3 sections that are tied into each other. The first starts with Khai as a young child, training in the desert. I think this part was a very good introduction to the world and some of the characters. There isn't too much going on in terms of plot or conflict, but it's clear that Carey is building up to this. The second part was probably my favorite bit because it contained more of what I like to see in stories as well as tying into the first and third parts of the book. Khai finally meets the princess Zhari, and the two immediately form a close bond. There's some political intrigue, looming threats of an apocalypse, and a shortage of seeds that makes the royals immortal. This shortage results in the fire deity promising more seeds if the princess is married to a foreigner (with a large dowry of said seeds). There's some time spent whittling down which suitor she will marry, and that's where things were really building up. I was eager to read the next chapter and I could see an epic conflict really up and ready to burst. When Zhari finally picks her fiance, Khai and Zhari depart with the lord to his homeland and that's where the final part of the book begins and where things start to go downhill. The plot became entirely driven by prophecy, and I was just losing investment in the story, even though the stakes were really high because now it's very obvious that the world will end if the heroes fail in their quest. I also started having issues with the characters. Through the whole book, there has been a revolving door of characters but they all felt fully fleshed out and there was chance that they could emerge again or become relevant to the rest of the story. The crew that Khai and Zhari become a part of are hastily introduced and never become fully realized characters. This is most evident when some of these characters are killed off and I just didn't care (and there's even one that turned out to be part of the prophecy and I may have rolled my eyes at that). Most of the fantasy stand alones that I read have trouble with pacing, but I don't think that was the case here. While I wasn't as invested in the plot in the final part, I do think it moved forward at a decent pace. The romance was cute, with 2 opposite personality characters and it slowly building up until the end with a love confession and the two adventuring and spending the rest of their lives together, but I didn't love it for similar reasons of why I wasn't invested in the plot in the third part. It was all fated. I think I've just found something else I really don't like in seeing in books. Had the narrative stayed on the path that it was going on in the middle of the book, I would have given this book 5 stars, but I was more than a little disappointed with how the just of the book went, the rating definitely dropped. Starless received 4 out 5 stars from me and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “a book you meant to read in 2018.”

In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire: Going into this book I was worried that it wouldn't hold up to the rest of the series. I wasn't super intrigued by the premise and the character we are following is in an earlier book and I didn't find her compelling. But it is a Seanan McGuire book and it's in a series I think is really good, so when I saw they had a copy at a bookstore, I purchased it without hesitation. At the beginning I really wasn't feeling the book at all. I didn't think there was anything stand out or unique, the characters and world wasn't interesting, and there wasn't really anything happening in terms of the plot. So there was nothing motivating me to continue, but it's a short book and super easy to get through. I'm glad I did because the ending was what really made this book resonate with me. I'm about to state an unpopular opinion, but Down Among the Sticks and Bones was my least favorite book in the series (and after reading this book I think it still is) because while I did like the two protagonists and the world of the Moors was kind of interesting, I don't think it told a very good story, there was an awkward time gap in the center of the book, and the overall theme of this book was presented in a way that made it come off as a bit preachy. This book was a complete inverse of Down Among the Sticks and Bones. I still don't find Lundy to be that compelling of a character, though she is sympathetic and almost tragic at the end, and there was so little of the Goblin Market that I don't really have an opinion an it, but everything else was done right. The beginning starts out feeling a little disjointed, with a lot being outright explained or not very nuanced, but it pays off in the end when those things the beginning become relevant to Lundy. The whole concept of “fair value” was something that really struck a cord with me because it's very relevant to just to the story but to this world too. I also liked seeing the various relationships, like Lundy and Moon's friendship, Lundy and Diana's sisterhood (which did happen a bit abruptly but still felt genuine), and even Lundy and her fathers (which was, I think, a better done example of showing the consequences of bad parenting), and seeing how the Goblin Market and “fair value” affected each one. So while In An Absent Dream still had it's slumps in the beginning, I would say it's a good story and a great addition to the Wayward Children series. In An Absent Dream received 4 out 5 stars and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “book published in 2019.”

The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera: Similar to In An Absent Dream, I was wary about this book. When I first purchased it I was hearing a lot of good things but just never got around to reading it, and the it just sat on my shelf for over a year, maybe 2. Unlike In An Absent Dream, the problem wasn't my lack of interest in the story, it was that I was worried it was being over hyped. I've been introduced to lots of wonderful new books through the book community, but I've also been severely disappointed by books that are just raved about and sound amazing. That's why I put this one off for so long. At first I was just not in the mood for it, but then I started avoiding it because I was being consistently let down by books that were over hyped. This month I had to start it because it was my book my partner selected for me in the monthly “Pick-It-For-Me” reading challenge (which is part of why I like this challenge, it forces me to read books I wouldn't initially choose for myself). Once I started reading it I was pretty quickly immersed to the story and attached to the characters. This is a book that I honestly loved every aspect of it, and only have a few minor complaints. The entire story was so beautifully written, mostly told in the format of love letters between the 2 protagonists, Shefali and Shizuka. I will say that the chapters are enormous (like 2 chapters together was about 250 pages) and while they are broken up those sections within the chapter are still fairly large. This definitely helps pull you into the story more, but it can be a turn off to some people (and was part of the reason I got into a reading slump). I loved the protagonists, I loved how they were wonderfully complex characters with their own issues to overcome and more than just warrior women archetypes. I loved their relationship, how it felt natural (despite being fated) and watching it evolve from their first meeting as children to their eventual reuniting after Shefali's banishment. Much like Shefali and Shizuka, while their relationship is beautiful and good, it's not without it's problems, and both characters are aware of that and try to work through it. I was surprised by how good the side characters were, even minor ones that only show up a few times. Each one plays a role in Shefali and Shuizka's lives, for better or worse, and while some are awful and some were good, I thought all were fleshed out. The world itself was astounding, influenced I think by Ancient China and the Mongol Empire, and I loved the level of detail that was put into not just the human aspect of the world with the politics and various cultures, but also with the supernatural part of the world, with the black bloods and demons. As for the overall narrative, it was a bit slow, especially if you think this is going to be an epic war between humans and demons, but I don't think the story suffered from, in fact I think it flourished because of it. Instead of focusing on the supernatural conflict, we only get glimpses of it through the few times it directly or indirectly affects the characters lives. Instead the book focuses on building up the characters and world and the conflicts created by people, like corruption in the nobility and racism, and book that builds up both compelling characters, and detailed world, and nuanced themes makes for a book I'm going to love. The Tiger's Daughter received 5 out 5 stars.

Dune by Frank Herbert: Dune was I pick I read because my Dad kept suggesting that I read it. I didn't have high expectations going into this one, and it both surprised and disappointed me. Most of the plot revolves around two things, control of a spice only native to the planet of Arrakis, aka Dune, and bringing forth this fated chosen one. I didn't like the chosen one trope in this story, at all, because it only served to emphasize just how amazing and unstoppable the protagonist Paul is. I did not like Paul, and I blame that as much on the narrative as the character himself. If you asked me to describe Paul, I honestly couldn't, there was just no defining feature about him other than being “the chosen one.” He has “the Voice” like his mother, which I think is a method of controlling people, but I honestly don't know. He comes from a noble background, everyone admires him, he's always right and always succeeds in everything. Literally everything goes right in his life, except for when he and his mother have to go into hiding and his father is killed, but in the long run it makes his life that much better because he ends up having some control over this spice that everyone wants and also marries the Emperors daughter which puts in line for succession. I didn't like him, or even get attached to him, because I knew from the beginning that everything is going to be fine for him and mostly gets things just handed to him, never failing and never having to make any significant sacrifices. The only interesting that came out of the whole “chosen one” narrative was a background element regarding the school his mother, Lady Jessica, hails from. The Bene Gesserit is an organization consisting of just women, that practice meditation to hone their superhuman abilities, and are key figures in influencing the politics and arranging marriages to continue certain bloodlines. I liked seeing women have that much power in a classic science fiction story, because I was fully expecting the opposite. That actually ties into one of the other things I liked about Dune, which was the whole political intrigue (which is something I personally love seeing in books, at least when it's well done). This book can essentially be described as Game of Thrones in space, with all these different Houses and organizations vying for power, and in this book in particular, control of the spice. There's Houses trying to undermine or alley with each other, there's the inner workings of the Fremen and how the deal with foreigners, and the Bene Gesserit wielding a silent power, and the only thing preventing a rebellion is it not being revealed that the Emperor is more willing to eliminate Houses at will. While I do love seeing political intrigue in books, I just don;t think this one went far enough with it. A Song of Ice and Fire, for all it's faults, establishes in the first book a complicated political network surrounding the Iron Throne and the severe consequences that wrong actions can have. I just didn't get that sense of depth from Dune, which is a shame because there was a lot of potential with that series. Before I break down what I didn't like about this book, I will discuss the one other thing about this book that I liked, and that was the role that the environment had. Dune is a desert planet, so water is very scarce and a huge status symbol. The environment plays a role not just in the societal structure to the people who are native there but also to the rest of the empire, which again tied into the political intrigue aspect. I told my Dad that those bits of the book made it feel like it was set in the real world (especially when taking into consideration America's push for oil in the Middle East), which was something I both liked and disliked (I'll get to why I disliked it in a minute). As much as there were things I liked about Dune, there were also some things I really disliked. I didn't really like any of the characters, except for maybe Jessica. I've already ranted about why I disliked Paul, but my issues with the other characters was that I didn't feel attached to them in any way. They were all pretty flat and empty, acting more like props instead of people, except for the Baron, who I disliked almost as much as Paul. Yes, he's the villain, but he's not a compelling villain. He's a foopish, over the top, disgusting character that I honestly question why he got a POV for 2 reasons. One is again, that he's just a disgusting character and a waste of paper, but the other is that reading from his POV took away all the suspense of the entire first half of the book because he states exactly how he's going to reclaim power and then does exactly that, which leads into one of my other major issues with this book. The writing isn't good. There was no suspense because the author choose to have the characters very blatantly tell you what's going to happen and then has it happen exactly how they said it would. It's why I generally hate prophecy driven narratives. The dialogue was also very awkward and almost uncomfortable to read at times, and the pacing of this book was all over the place, I honestly have no idea how much time passed in this book. The one other thing I want to discuss is why I didn't like the real world feel of this book. It wasn't that the themes and conflicts and characters felt grounded in reality, it's that if the names were different this honestly could have been set in the real world. There was tech present, like spaceships obviously, and the worms were kind of cool feature, but they didn't feel very tied into the story or the world itself. They were just kind of there. I went into this book identifying it as a classic science fiction, and I guess I was hoping to see more advanced tech be more relevant to this world, or spend some time on an actual spaceship, but that wasn't there, so it was a little disappointing. That isn't actually a bad feature of the book, but it's one I just wish had been done differently. The last thing I'm going to talk about is the romance. It's a minor feature of this book, but I would still like to discuss it because there's a good, bad, and terrible example. If any of you are slightly familiar with Dune, you can probably guess that the terrible one is the Baron. Everything surrounding this guy is awful, but did really have to go the extent of him being the only person on the LGBTQ+ spectrum and having him be the villain, but also he's lusting after young boys, namely Paul and his own f**king nephew. I will repeat what I said earlier, the Baron was just a waste of paper. The romance that is actually a romance but I didn't think was done that well was Paul and Chani. They meet when he becomes a part of the Fremen, and while part of my disinterest may be due to my dislike of Paul, I honestly didn't feel any chemistry between the 2 and all of their romance seemed to happen off screen, despite Paul being the most central character. The well done romance is Paul's parents, Lady Jessica and Duke Leto. They aren't officially together, due to them mutually agreeing it would be better for potential allies if they didn't, but they way they act to and regard each other makes it clear they're married in all but name. During the entire book, Duke Leto never takes another wife, and Jessica (even though she also had her own ambitious reasons) gave the Duke a son when it was made clear to her that she needed to have a daughter, because she knows it will make him happy. They seem to regard each other as equals. I didn't love the miscommunication but after the Duke is killed Paul gives Jessica a message from him which basically states his undying love and trust in her, and Jessica seems genuinely mournful of his loss. It isn't a relationship we see much of (none are honestly, except maybe Paul and Jessica's) but the glimpses that are shown, I really liked. Considering this was a book written in the 1960s, I think it still works well (mostly) with a modern audience, which is what makes it a classic. Is it one of my favorite science fiction novels? No. Is it without it's faults? In my opinion, no. Is it still a worthwhile book that I would recommend giving it a try? Absolutely. I know there are several squeals, some written by Herbert some not, but I feel fine leaving Dune as it's own self contained story. Dune received a 3 out of 5 stars from me and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “book set in space.”

Eragon by Christopher Paolini: Since I've been doing a lot of rereading, and haven't read this series since junior high, I wanted to get to this series sooner rather than later. When I first read this series I absolutely loved it. It wasn't Harry Potter, or the Warriors series, but I found it to be an engrossing series that spawned my love of dragons. After finishing it, and as time passed, I heard more and more critical things about the series and wanted to see where I stood on the whole thing. Now having completed the first book at least I give a brief breakdown on how this review is going to go: it has plenty of flaws in it and I would say it's mediocre at best but damn if I'm not going to defend it. The basic plot is a farm boy finds a dragon egg, the dragon hatches, and the two work together to overthrow an evil emperor. It's a very generic plot, but I still found it entertaining to read. It does have a fast pacing, but because so much of this book was long journeying I think that worked in the book's favor because it didn't have a ton of filler. Most of the world building is given through long exposition, and while I didn't like that, it was something I just rolled my eyes at and moved on with. I didn't like Eragon as a protagonist, he reeks of wonder boy, chosen one, and he frequently came off as very immature and ignorant. The supporting cast, however makes up for it, especially the females because I think they all stood out as fell fleshed characters. The one specific criticism I want to tackle in this post, and the one I hear the most often, is that this is basically Lord of the Rings fanfiction. Are there similarities, yes, but many, many, many traditional epic fantasy series are inspired by Tolkeins work. Heck, I just finished a series where the first book seemed copy and pasted from the Fellowship of the Ring. The big differences is that the book is set in a world where the bad guy has already won and is maintaining power, and dragons are an important feature. The king has a dragon, and is the only one which makes him very dangerous and the reason Eragon is so important is because he's the only one with a dragon and could potentially challenge the king. The big thing about this book is Paolini was 15 when he wrote this book. 15! I have seen experienced writers produce material that is the same level as what Paolini produced as a kid. It's not an original story and I can see why people reading it for the first time as adults would definitely get frustrated with it but I think it's a good place to start for younger readers looking into epic fantasy (be warned the last 2 books get big). Eragon received 3 out 5 stars.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells: So over the past year I started hearing more and more people rave about this first book in a series of novella's. I'm trying to read more science fiction, and I heard that this one was also humorous. That being combined with the fact that it's short made it seem like a good pick. This first book introduced us to the self named Murderbot, a rouge security droid who hacked it's own module and spends most of the time consuming entertainment. It's on a mission with an exploratory team when things get increasingly suspicious, and suddenly the neighboring exploratory team goes quiet. It's feels a bit like Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (one of my favorite books), if the story was told from the POV of a very anti social robot. I liked what the story built up to and I did find the character of Murderbot to be amusing and relateable at times, but I didn't love the story. Part of it may be due to the fact that it is both a novella and first book in a series, so the story itself comes off as very rushed and almost incomplete. The major theme of this book is Murderbot discovering what it really wants out of life, and how the humans that it interacts with and the entertainment it consumes affects this. You see it slowly go from this very passive, borderline apathetic character, to someone who actively takes charge of their own life but still retains their core characteristics, that being it's anti social nature and love of entertainment. It's a great idea, one that I think a lot of people can relate with and one that I think has the potential for a good character arc, but doesn't really get emphasized until the end. There's a couple moment's throughout the story that indicate this is what we're building up to, but it's not the what the story focuses on. The big story is why are all these malfunctions occurring and what happened to the other exploratory team. Overall I would say that it was still a decent story, but there were 2 major failures that I think ultimately cost the quality of the overall narrative. The first is that Murderbot is the only POV and she's very lazy and keeps human interaction to an absolute minimal. While this is part of what Murderbot a good character, it means that the readers don't get much of a sense of the world, or the people around them, or even what's going on. You're just left in a haze and being told to keep walking. The second, and bigger failure, comes at the climax. As far as I understand there's a secret third team that is killing off the other 2 exploratory teams, though the reasoning I'm not clear on. When the team we've been following, PreservationAux, and the third team make contact, it's very unclear what happened or even why it happened. The only clear thing was that Murderbot was shot, and PreservationAux worked not only to ensure it's survival but also permanently bought it's contract so that it could stay with them. This leads to the emotional climax, with Murderbot leaving, and was actually a touching moment. I did ultimately like this novella, and would like to read the rest, but going through probably a third of the story with blinders on left me a little frustrated, especially due to the hype. Speaking of which I also didn't think this book was as humorous as a lot of people made it seem, there were funny moments and one of the best intros I've read this year, but after the introduction it kind of went downhill. It's a good novella, I just wish that there had been more to work with. All Systems Red received 4 out 5 stars.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick: After finishing Dune, I moved onto another book my Dad liked (he has every single book written by Philip K. Dick). He did warn me going into this one that the story itself isn't great, but the ideas behind the story are generally compelling. So going into this, I expected to be decent, but not great, and that was basically what this ended up being. It's a short book, that can easily be read in just a few days, and I definitely think this worked in the books favor. The plot is very simple, being set in a bleak future America, after nuclear war has ravaged the landscape, and Rick Deckard has been assigned to “retire,” aka kill, 6 advanced androids. He takes the job because he wants to buy a real animal, the ultimate status symbol in their society. What transpires is him retiring each of the androids but there's a growing moral conflict centered around empathy and what makes something human. The plot does get a bit convoluted at times, but the story is straightforward enough so that you can still get through those parts with relative ease. I was surprised to learn that there's a second POV that focuses on a minor character. While not really relevant to the plot, it does contribute a little to the overall moral conflict. To be honest this is a hard book review without giving spoilers, and also it's one I think I need more time to really analyze all aspects of it. I will say that if you are a fan of science fiction and looking for more recommendations, especially classics, I would give this one a try. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep received 3 out 5 stars and is my pick for the PopSugar prompt “book with a question in the title.”

When She Woke by Hilary Jordan: This is a book that I was really looking forward to reading. It's supposed to be a retelling of The Scarlet Letter, which is one of my favorite classics, but set in a future society, where people are dyed different colors based on the crimes they commit. The protagonist, Hannah Pyrne, gets an abortion and is dyed, called Chroming, red to signify her as a murderer. I thought it was going to be a thought provoking retelling, but it wasn't. There were some very obvious nods to The Scarlet Letter, but the underlying tone and world makes When She Woke actually feel like a retelling of The Handmaids Tale, which is not the narrative I wanted to read about. AT ALL. At this point I really try and steer away from overly depressing narratives (it's why I'm delaying rereading The Handmaid's Tale and the Queen of the Tearling series for as long as possible). Since there was an abortion in this book, I knew it was going to go to some dark places, but I still expected there to be bright, even hopeful moments. There wasn't any in the first half, it was all just sad and depressing with several instances of oppression and abuse. In fact not only is depressing, it's kind of generic too, and stuffed full of things I really dislike seeing in books like Insta Love, forbidden romance, and girl hate. I ended up reading a summary of the second half to see if I was going to miss out on anything, and there ultimately didn't seem to be. I really hoped that it would be one of those books with a utopian setting but focuses on the best and worst aspects of society. This was definitely not one of those books, and it's such a disappointment that it turned out the way it did. When She Woke received 1 out 5 stars, since any book I DNF I give a one star to, and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “retelling of a classic.”

Thank You Everyone

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