#again having so much fun with this feature

[a99jazzybean]

What Happens in Vegas...

synop: You and your best friends Parker and Chance plan a fun trip to Vegas. Little did you know that the two are pining after you. Little do they know they're pining after each other. What will happen during your time in Sin City?

words: 6.5K

includes: chancexafab!reader, parkerxafab!reader, chancexparker, friends to lovers, fluff and smut, gambling, sexsomnia, slight dubious consent, thigh riding, squirting

a/n: This was just a fun lil idea I got since Vegas has games, ya know?

Also, this is smutty. No minors!

Beeping from the seatbelt-on sign has you blinking awake with a yawn. You lift your head off your friend's shoulder with a blush. Not realizing that you had leaned on him while you slept. 

“Sorry, Chance.” You said sheepishly. 

“It's no problem.” He gave you a soft smile. 

“You can just wake me up if I do that again.” 

“You seemed like you were in a pretty deep sleep, I didn’t want to wake you.” The smile on his lips then turned to a mischievous smirk. “Did you know you talk in your sleep?” 

Red fully bloomed on your cheeks, your mind raced at what possible things you could have said. Snickering from your other side had you narrowing your eyes. 

“What's so funny?” You nudged the partner on your other side in the ribs. 

“Hey!” He rubbed where you hit him. “He’s right though. You do talk in your sleep. And you snore!” He let out high pitched giggles at your expense. 

“Ugh, you guys are the worst.” You let out a frustrated huff, crossing your arms with a pout.

“So you’re not even gonna ask us what you said?” Chance raised a brow at you with a smirk. 

“Nope. Not interested.” You pointed your face in the air, attempting to ignore them. But their snickers had you deflating immediately. 

“You sure?” Parker asked in a sing-song voice. 

“Ugh.” You slumped in your seat again. “Fine, what did I say?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Couldn’t catch it.” That damn smirk was still on Chance’s face. 

“Ugh! You guys are ridiculous!” 

“You don’t help yourself when you always give us those reactions!” Parker chuckled while poking you in the side.  

“Oh, I’ll get back at you. Then you’ll see, you’ll see…” You rubbed your hands together in an attempt to look menacing. 

“You kinda look like a fly right now! An evil little fly” Parker mimicked your motions while giggling. 

“You’re not so good-lookin’ yerself, considering you’re like…” You realized you didn’t have much of a good response. “Um, a goat! Yeah, a goat, with that skinny neck of yours and your bleating laugh!” You jabbed back, the beginnings of a smile threatening to reach your lips. 

Ah, the all-in-good-fun mean spirited banter. Something you wouldn’t give up for the world with your friends. Your playful cruelty played a major role in your friendship. Thankfully, it was never taken too far. 

“Alright, alright kids, why don’t we calm down.” Chance waved you down, eyeballing the disgruntled look from the person in front of him. 

“Do you need us to describe your features too?” You waggled your brows at him, Parker peeking up behind you with a smirk. 

“Of course not. I already know I have fantastic good looks.” He gave you a wink and dazzling smile. 

Leaning back to Parker, you spoke just under your breath. 

“I don’t know… seems kinda like a frog maybe?”

“Hmmm. Or a toad!” Parker narrowed his eyes at Chance. “Or a weird nerdy-looking bird.”

“Ooh I like that one.” You giggled. 

“A bird, goat, and fly walk into a bar. It’s got a nice ring to it!” Parker nudged you lightly. 

“You two and your cruelty. I prefer to take the high road!” Chance laid a hand on his chest demonstrating his poise. 

You and Parker shared a look, then snickered. 

“Don’t believe me?” He tapped his chin, studying you and Parker. “Let’s see…” He spoke your name warmly, making you feel butterflies. “I’d say you are quite the spitfire, cunning, and as pretty as a vixen. So my dear, you are none other than a fox in my eyes.” His eyes glimmered as he spoke of you.

You felt like you couldn’t say anything, mouth agape and cheeks red at the unique compliment. 

“And my dearest, rainbow haired friend.” He motioned to Parker. “You would be more akin to a bird than I. A bird of paradise that is. One that must use their wit and charm with a playfulness not seen in many. Demonstrating that you are the greatest through your unique abilities.” He gestured dramatically toward the man he was speaking about.

Parker was equally as dazzled as yourself. 

You supposed it should be expected from your friend. The improv aficionado he was always leaving you and Parker floundering. It was as if with a snap of his fingers he could form a finishing-move sentence that you couldn’t do anything to counter. Annoying, yet impressive. 

Looking back at Parker, you sighed in defeat. He nodded solemnly, understanding your current position in this impromptu battle of wits. 

“I take your silence as acknowledging my excellence?” Chance leaned towards you, gloating. 

“Sure, whatever. Take your trophy and leave.” You turned away from him, a smile playing on your lips.

“Ah, I love it when you accept defeat.” Chance wrapped a strong arm around your shoulder, jostling you against him. 

“Just you wait, I’ll get back at you.” You poked him in the side, hoping he would release you. Instead he just pulled you in further, trapping you against him. 

As much as you would hate to admit it, it felt nice to be wrapped up with him. Even if he was squeezing the air out of you. 

“Chance!” You squeaked out, then sighed when he finally let go. 

There was a brief disappointment at the lack of physical contact, but you shook it off. Best not to linger on that “what if”, especially because you felt equally for the other friend beside you. 

You, Parker, and Chance had been best friends since high school. Three nerds looking for camaraderie that happened to find each other in the sad excuse of a G&G club during your freshman year. It was run by the most stereotypical nice-guy type that was a senior. Which was very unfortunate for yourself. Sure, you knew that those types of people were in these kinds of spheres, but you hoped that a school in a more progressive area would be different. Alas, it was not. 

However, you were able to gain solace in the two that stood up for you. Chance who was extremely passionate about getting anyone and everyone to enjoy G&G and Parker who was pissed that the club president wasn’t following the school rules of including everyone in the organization. 

You three found it wasn’t worth it to try and fight the group, so you created your own. A significantly more inclusive club that invited all to play. It wasn’t just exclusive to G&G either. Parker being the boardgame nut that he was had you constantly trying out new games, or you supposed really old games that were new to you. He had quite the fondness for Parcheesi. Well, he had a fondness for most games. Especially their rules. 

Since you three had banded together from the start of your collective high school journey, you stuck together. Living through the typical teenage dramas and woes of the awkward years. There was one thing that the three of you had managed to side-step for over a decade of friendship: The fact that the three of you were extremely, deeply in love with each other. 

For you it started small. A little crush on your two friends, just chalked up to your ever changing hormones. Surely it would fade away with time, right? Wrong. It got worse and worse, or better depending on how you looked at it. 

Every compliment Chance threw your way, sticking in your heart like a thorn. His “perfects” were never ending, always said with a sparkle of admiration in his eyes. His constant hugs, so warm and comforting. Purely platonic, of course. 

Then there was Parker, always cheering you up when you were down. Coming up to you with a cheesy joke that would get you to crack a smile. Inviting you to play games with him whenever you seemed bored, always wanting to spend time with you. Purely platonic, of course. 

For Chance it started immediately. C’mon you were extremely cute, and liked G&G. It was like the heavens had granted him a gift. You allowing him into your life was a cherry on top of the dessert that was you. Then there were your deep late night chats, always mentioning how you always saw him in your future. The way you would grab his hand and drag him around to wherever you wanted. The feel of your touch leaving a blush on his cheeks. Though he knew it was purely platonic, of course. 

His crush on Parker started similarly. He never really thought about his sexuality. Then he met someone as equally enthused about games as he was, just like with you, it was very attractive. Plus Parker’s alternative style had made Chance… feel things.  It didn’t help that Parker appeared to enjoy his style too, always tossing a compliment when Parker saw him. That adorable dopey smile on his face. Purely platonic, of course. 

For Parker, it started slowly. At first he was just happy that he had friends. Then, oh but then, you actually listened to him. He could ramble about anything and everything, and whenever he turned to you, you would smile and nod, maybe adding your own input as well. The simple act of you listening had his heart soaring. There was also the way you would touch him. Tight hugs when saying goodbye, and the way you would play with his hair as he laid in your lap while rambling. Purely platonic, of course. 

And Chance, oh Chance. Parker appreciated his unabashed enthusiasm. Something they both shared. When Chance had confided in Parker about how it was him that actually gave him the confidence to be himself, well that had him swooning harder than ever. Then Chance would always find time for him. No matter what was going on in his day, he knew Chance would be there. Purely platonic, of course. 

Now, the three of you were sandwiched on a plane heading to Las Vegas. Sin City itself, full of rules, games, and released inhibitions. 

You couldn’t recall whose idea it was at first. It was likely collective. When you started planning it began with Chance excitedly talking about how he had learned how to play craps with one of his uncles. A quote “right of passage” since he could legally gamble. The conversation then moved to Parker excitedly talking about the rules and regulations around various card games. He specifically appreciated the rules surrounding black jack. When the conversation circled to you, you didn’t have much input. You had found you weren’t particularly the best at card games. When you had been dragged to the local casino for your birthday, you found yourself enjoying the penny slots the most. Well, Vegas had plenty of those. 

As the plane began its descent, Parker invited you to look out the window. He oohed and awed at the desert landscape with a backdrop of mountains. Plunked right in the middle was a bustling city. It was certainly a unique sight. 

“Oooh, I’m so excited!” He smiled brightly at you.

Parker hadn’t traveled much, so he was pumped to be traveling with his two best friends for his first major trip as an adult. 

“I’m so ready to be off this stuffy plane.” You sighed as you peered over Parker’s shoulder. 

You placed your head on the crook of his shoulder. Your breath tickled his neck as he shivered at the physical contact. Eyeing you to the side, Parker gulped. God, you looked so good. As you gazed out the window, you didn’t notice the man watching you. His heart rate picked up at your proximity. If only you saw him as more…

You turned back to Chance who was scrolling on his phone, his face in concentration mode. Brows furrowed as he sucked his tongue into his cheek. Like with Parker, you leaned your head in the crook of his shoulder. Watching whatever he was doing on his phone. Looked like he was viewing  your itinerary for the day. Ever the planner, Chance wanted to make sure your trip was both fun and efficient. You had managed to convince him not to plan out every detail, but it did take some arm pulling from you. 

“Enjoying yourself?” Chance asked. 

“Mmhmm. I love seeing how you’ve already booked us an Uber to the hotel. So sexy.” You teased with a kiss to his cheek. 

His face immediately bloomed red, making you giggle. It was so easy to fluster him. 

While you thought it was just Chance’s awkwardness that led to the reaction, it was really his response to your flirting. It was in your nature to tease your boys, you just hadn’t realized how much it actually affected them. Finding that they often turned red, made you assume it was just embarrassment. There was truth behind your flirting, but you managed to mask it as you having fun. Sprinkling in your feelings with plausible deniability. Perfect. 

After the plane landed, you all picked up your luggage and headed out to the parking lot for ride-shares. Chance pointed out a car that would be your ride to your hotel. Inside sat a cheery old woman. 

“Are you Amanda?” Chance asked, glancing at his phone then the car’s license plate. 

“Sure am! Chance?” She asked as she looked at her own phone. 

“Yup, that’s us. Mind popping the trunk?” 

You piled your bags in the back, and got in the car. Chance taking the front while you and Parker took over the backseat. All of you were buzzing as Amanda pulled out of the parking garage. On the radio oldies played quietly. Amanda decided to fill the awkward silence with small talk. 

“So what brings you to Vegas?” She asked with a chipper smile. 

“Uh, vacation?” Chance rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He was never good with this sort of thing. 

“Gambling, drinking, getting hookers, you know the deal.” You dropped in a joke. 

When Amanda chuckled at your attempt at humor you let out a sigh. Thankfully not a tough crowd. You could work with this for your ride. 

“So you two a couple?” She eyed you and Parker in the backseat through the rearview mirror. 

“Oh no! Just friends.” You plastered a smile on your face. 

“Right, just friends.” Parker echoed, a twinge of disappointment laced in his voice. 

“Are you dating them?” The lady asked Chance.

Chance grew red in the face, feeling sweaty all the sudden.

“Me? No, no. Also just friends. We’re all just friends.” He cleared his throat, feeling parched. 

“I see…” The woman eyed you all suspiciously. 

“Anyways…” You trailed, looking around the car for a conversation switch. Hanging from the mirror you spotted an interesting air freshener. “How bout them Raiders?” You pumped your fist across your chest. 

That seemed to have done it. Your driver going on a tirade about her local NFL team, and how disappointing they had been this last season. All of you nodded along. The only one of you in the car that had a modicum of understanding was Parker, and that was solely because of his hyperfixation on rules. Parker was shuffling in his seat, begging to blurt out something as Amanda was going off about how terrible the referees have been. 

“Oh, they’ve been making horrible calls!” Parker blurted. 

“Exactly!” Amanda clicked her tongue. “You, young man, are smart.” 

“Why, thank you!” He beamed at the compliment, proud his favorite thing managed to score him some social points. 

After about twenty minutes you arrived at the hotel. Amanda dropped you off at the entrance. You grabbed your bags and followed Chance inside. He marched up to the concierge desk, phone at the ready with the information he needed. 

As you entered the lobby, you and Parker gazed around the place. It was quite fancy. A place that you and your friends had paid a pretty penny for, but when in Vegas, right? Large columns stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Said floor was intricately tiled in black and white. Everything in the space felt very clean. 

Chance walked up to you and Parker, room keys in hand. You plucked yours from his hand, suddenly buzzing with excitement. Finally, you were on a real vacation with your friends! Something the three of you had been dreaming about doing for a while. Now you were starting your short adventure in Las Vegas. 

“The lady said that those elevators are to the hotel rooms and those,” He pointed to the right, “are to the casino and restaurants.” 

“Alrighty!” Parker exclaimed, bouncing on his toes. “Let’s get up, then get our gaming on!” 

“Actually,” Chance stopped him, “we agreed we would check out the strip first, and get dinner.” Parker slightly deflated, then perked back up. 

“No worries, we’re in Vegas, after all! There’s plenty to do 24/7!” 

Both you and Chance gave each other a look and a shrug. Your friend somehow always found a silver lining, even if things didn’t go his way. Immediately switching over to positivity rather than wallowing in the negative. A somewhat harmful sentiment, but Parker was Parker. 

The three of you made your way up to the room, watching as the elevator numbers climbed higher and higher in the building. 

“Wow, we’re pretty high up.” You noted. 

“Yeah, I thought we could get a better view of the strip that way.” Chance added. 

When you arrived on your floor, you headed down the hall to your room. Chance pulled out his room key, opening the door to your home for the next few days. Inside was a fairly typical hotel set up. Two queen beds, a desk, and a couch. You walked up to the large window and pulled open the curtains. Both you and Parker let out an “oooh” as you looked around. Chance was right, you got a great view of the strip from here. Though you could do without the Sphere. 

Looking behind, you saw Chance scrolling through his phone again. You walked up to him, pushing his phone down and leaning in toward him. 

“Chance…” You said in a sing-song voice. 

“Yes?” He looked at your hand covering his phone screen. 

“Why don’t you stop fretting over the itinerary, and take a look outside with us?” You motioned to the window.

“I just want to make sure we’re not late to our reservation.” He whined.

“Chance, what time is the reservation?”

“Six…” He knew where this was going.

“And what time is it right now?” You nodded to the alarm clock on the bedside table.

“Two-thirty…” He trailed, caught up once more in his planning. “I get it.” 

He followed you to the window, relaxing his shoulders as he took in the view. 

After a moment, you turned back to look at the beds. You hadn’t discussed sleeping arrangements yet. It would probably come down to a game. However, you could try your luck.

“So, what’s the plan for beds?” You asked the boys.

“I guess I hadn’t thought of that.” Chance rubbed his neck sheepishly.

“Chance, not planning? That’s a bit unheard of.” You walked over to one of the beds and plopped down. “Well, I’ll claim this one and you two can take the other.” You gave them a sweet grin. 

“Excuse me?” Parker chimed in, hands on his hips. 

“What? I think it’s the best way. You two have shared a bed before.” You pointed between the two of them. 

“Exactly. I know what he’s like in bed.” Chance huffed, crossing his arms. “He’s all elbows and knees.” 

“You don’t get to complain, you big cuddler!” Parker jabbed. “I can’t get a wink in without you suffocating me!” 

The small spat was entertaining to you. You couldn’t recall them ever being this passionate about sleeping arrangements before. 

Little did you know, this was something the two had planned out before the trip. Both Parker and Chance had confided in each other their crushes on you. Deciding not to fight over you, but see if you would be willing to share. For this trip, they really wanted to have an excuse to cozy up to you. They decided to come up with a fake argument to have you compromise with them. Their plan seemed to work.

“Okay, okay. I’ll sleep with one of you guys and deal with the elbows or cuddles.” You rolled your eyes at their dramatics. 

Both Chance and Parker held in their cheers, instead sharing a knowing look. 

“How do you want to do this? Rock, paper, scissors?” Your question made Parker light up.

“That sounds perfect!” 

Again, as part of their plan, the goal was to lose. In order to make sure you didn’t get suspicious of their antics. 

The men joined together with their hands at the ready. You hopped up to watch over the game. You grabbed their shoulders, putting on your best game-face on.

“Alright boys, I want this clean and fair. No funny business, got it?” You raised your brow at them. 

“Got it!” They said in unison. 

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” You shouted as they landed their first round. 

Chance managed to win. He pretended to enjoy it, but really put his game on. 

The second round had Parker winning.

“It’s a close match. After this round, winner takes all. By all, I mean the bed.” You looked between the two. “You ready.” 

Licking his lips, Chance nodded. Buzzing as he prepared his fist to play. 

The final round began, Parker was the winner. Though that meant that Chance was the actual winner. Parker did his best to hide his disappointment. 

“Guess I’m with the cuddlebug tonight.” You gave Chance a sweet smile that had his heart fluttering. “Tomorrow’s your night though.” You pointed at Parker. The man visibly lit up at the idea, which had you raising a confused brow. Quickly he composed himself with a nonchalant shrug. 

“You cuddle me too much, I will kick you in my sleep. It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.” You narrowed your eyes at Chance who raised his hands in defense. 

“I will do my best to appease your bedroom comforts.” He chuckled. 

“Ugh, don’t say it like that.” You winced at his cringey sentence. 

“Why not?”

“I dunno, sounds like you’re planning on fucking me.” You chided them. 

Chance and Parker shared a knowing look. 

“What? No? Us? No?” Parker attempted to continue, but it was very awkward. 

“Riiiight.” You gave Parker a confused look, then turned your attention back to Chance. 

“Anyways… We should check out the strip!” You didn’t notice the two of them let out a sigh of relief at the subject change. 

“Sounds good!” Chance beamed at you. 

When you exited the hotel, you were hit with a shock of hot dry air. As your eyes adjusted to the bright afternoon sunlight, you looked over the bustling crowd of tourists making their way along the strip. Grabbing both Chance and Parker’s hands you dragged them along with you. A bright smile on your face as you looked at all of the kitschy sights around you. 

Before you could move further your friends were stopped by a man passing out cards. The two took the cards handed to them with confused looks. When looking at the card, Parker’s face turned bright red.  Chance’s face turned a similar shade of crimson. 

“Uh, oh gosh! I don’t think I’m supposed to have this!” Parker exclaimed, flapping the card around. Unsure of what to do with it. 

Rolling your eyes, you stuck out your hand for him to hand you the card. On it were two naked women with the names “Amelia & Roxie” in cursive text. You let out a cackle. 

“Oh Parker, you sweet, naive thing.” You pat him on the shoulder. “These are escort cards. Prostitution is legal in Nevada.” 

You looked at Chance who was equally as mortified. Again, you laughed. Offering your hand, you took his card as well.

“Did none of you know about this? It’s not called Sin City for no reason, though prostitution is technically illegal within Vegas…” 

“Of course I didn’t know! Do I look like the kind of guy who would hire a prostitute?” Parker asked you incredulously. 

“Do you want the real answer, or for me to be nice?” You teased. 

“Oh, you’ll pay for that.” He shoved a finger in your face.

“I’d prefer not to pay for an escort for you.” You bit your lip with a smile, enjoying how flustered you were making the man. 

“Aghh! Chance, they’re bullying me! Make them stop!” He pleaded with the other man.

Chance raised his hands up, backing away from the two of you.

“I’m staying out of this one. You should kiss and makeup, or something.” He nonchalantly coughed. 

“Haha! Chance just doesn’t want me to fuck with him too!” Your sights had switched to your big nerd.

“Whaaat? No? Please don’t?” His cheeks grew ruddy.

“Oh c’mon, you don’t want me to call…” you looked at the card that Chance had received, “Moxie?” 

Chance plucked the card out of your hand and dropped it into the nearest trash. Wiping his hands, he let out a satisfied huff. 

“Awww, you’re no fun.” You pouted. 

Parker flicked at your bottom lip. 

“Poor thing. Can’t embarrass us anymore!” 

You grumbled and waved him off, opting to join Chance as he continued to wander down the strip. 

The three of you continued walking, occasionally pointing to various eye-catching things. Parker chimed in with anticapitalist rhetoric on overconsumption.

“How many restaurants does Gordon Ramsey need until he’s satisfied?” He asked as you passed by another one of the chef’s businesses.

“I for one will gladly enjoy our culinary overlord’s menu options.” You joked. “Also, for someone making so much commentary on the consumer culture here, you seem pretty gungho to play card games.” You nudged Parker in the ribs. 

He shrugged his shoulders with a smug smile.

“Well I know that I can easily dupe the system.” 

“Is that so? Please elaborate, oh wise one.” 

“I will, since you asked so nicely.” He booped you on the nose. “You see, I can still follow all the rules of the casino, and still make it out like a bandit.” 

“You’re still giving the place money.” You gave him an unimpressed look.

“But I’ll be leaving with more!” 

“You seem overconfident.” You booped him on the nose this time. 

“As they say, confidence is key. And I have a lot!” He pressed his fist to his chest. 

“Okaaaay… if you say so.” 

The rest of the evening flew by. Chance treated you and Parker to a fancy dinner that he had reserved. Parker had you stop by a weed dispensary, making some personal purchases for himself. He offered to share with you later. 

When you returned to the room, you decided to get ready for bed. Entering the bathroom you let out an enthused noise. Both Chance and Parker popped their heads in to see what the hubbub was about. 

“Guys! Look at how big that tub is!” You pointed at the object, bouncing with excitement. “It could totally fit all of us!” You grabbed both of their hands and pulled them in with you.

You hopped in the empty tub, patting beside you. Shrugging his shoulders, Parker hopped in next to you. Chance decided to join as well, sandwiching you between them. Wiggling around you let out a giggle. 

“See, I told you we would all fit!” You nudged the both of them. 

“Are you wanting to take a bath with us?” Chance asked.

He couldn’t deny, he certainly liked the idea. He definitely wouldn’t mind entertaining it. You and Parker, naked and soaking in the tub with him. Humming to himself, he pictured how you would lean against his chest, skin to skin. Relaxing together in the warm water. It would be very nice. 

“I don’t think I’d mind it. It’d probably be pretty fun.” You smiled at the thought. 

You stood up in the tub and got out. 

“Now, I need to get ready, so out with you.” You motioned for them to exit the bathroom to allow you to finish up. 

When you exited the bathroom, you found Parker and Chance already in bed. Both had changed into their respective pjs. Which included them being shirtless. No big deal, you had seen them shirtless plenty of times. However, you had never slept in the same bed as them in that state of undress. It wasn’t a problem. In fact you liked seeing them in this state, but they didn’t need to know that. 

You hadn’t realized you had been staring at them till Chance looked up at you with a confused look. 

“Everything good?”

“Uh yeah! Sorry, kinda phased out there for a moment.” You waved him off, hopping into the bed beside him. 

The two had put on some old sci-fi movie on the television for background noise. Parker was scrolling on his phone while Chance had cracked open a fantasy novel. All of you fell into a comfortable silence as you felt yourself begin to drift. You attempted to watch whatever was on the tv but kept slowly blinking your eyes closed. 

Chance noticed your attempts to stay up with a smile. Placing a warm hand on your face, he rubbed your cheek with his thumb lovingly. 

“You don’t have to try and stay up, you know.” He said softly. 

“Mmmm, but I don’t wanna miss out on anything.” You leaned into his touch. 

“Go to bed, we’ll be here in the morning.” He said your name softly before leaning in to give you a kiss on the forehead. You melted into the affectionate action.

In the other bed, Parker held in a scoff. Feeling the prickles of jealousy on his skin. 

Soon enough, you were fast asleep. Little snores escaping you as you dreamed deeply. Chance found it adorable, and soon found himself drifting as well. As he closed his eyes, his warm arms encircled you, pulling you to his chest softly. In your sleep you snuggled up against the man, wrapping your leg around his thigh. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ah! Chance!” You felt a hot pair of lips press against your neck, making you shiver. 

His large warm body was holding you from behind. His hand playing with you under your waistband. Thick fingers sliding through your soaked folds and circling around your clit. You squirmed in his arms, making him pull you tighter against him. The fingers toying with you moving harsher, making you cry out as sparks of pleasure shot through your body. 

“You close?” He huffed a hot breath against your neck. 

Behind you he ground his clothed cock against your ass, letting out a low groan. Fuck, he felt big. You could already picture yourself being spread deliciously around his thick cock. It had you moaning as one of his fingers plunged into your wet heat. 

“Mmmph! Oh!” 

Peeking your eyes open, you realized another body had joined you. Parker was now pressed against your front. His long fingers playing with your nipples as his nose pressed up to yours. Naturally, you pressed your lips against his. He groaned into the kiss, slipping his tongue into your mouth to move against yours. Over your shoulder, Chance watched with hungry eyes. His hips pressing harder against you. 

“Gosh, you taste so good.” Parker breathed out as you pulled away.

“Want a different taste?” Chance asked lowly.

He pulled his fingers from your sex, making you whine at the loss of contact. Parker opened his mouth for Chance’s fingers. Eyes rolling back as he tasted your slick with a moan. 

“Oh wow, you just taste good everywhere…” Parker pressed his lips back to yours, making you taste yourself on his tongue. 

From behind, you felt Chance sliding your sleep shorts down. His own boxers followed, making his hot cock flop out against your ass. Oh he really was thick. He lifted your leg, sliding his cock between your thighs up against your pussy lips. He groaned at the feeling of your slick heat against him. Chance began to slide back and forth, the head of his cock catching on your clit. 

You gasped against Parker’s lips as Chance fucked between your thighs. Then you moaned as you felt Chance press against your entrance. The blunt head of his cock pushing past that first ring of resistance easily with how soaked you are. You cried out at the feeling, your pussy pulsating around his length. 

“Fuck, so tight.” Chance groaned. 

He pressed further into you, the tip smushing against your gummy sweet spot. It had you keening, pressing your chest against Parkers. 

“They’re such a mess.” Parker said in awe. “You haven’t even fucked them yet.” He pressed another kiss to your lips. 

Chance lifted up your thigh, giving Parker a good look at your drooling pussy wrapped around his thick length. The sight had Parker shivering. His hand trailed down to your sex, joining Chance to please you. 

The two whispering sweet nothings and dirty words as Chance began to pummel into you. Hips snapping, forcing his cock to press against your sensitive walls over and over again. 

“Chance!” You whimpered into his chest. The man watched you with wide eyes. Thighs wrapped his own as you dragged your clothed sex over the muscle. 

He woke up a few minutes ago to you calling his name. Humping his leg while you slept and dreamt. 

Through your sleep shorts you were soaked. Your wet heat spreading against his thigh as you continued to fuck yourself against it. Little whimpers and moans escaped you as your body chased after the pleasure. 

Chance didn’t know what to do. Sure, this was really hot. So fucking hot. However, you were asleep. He had no idea how he was supposed to respond to you using his body like this. 

With how loud you were being, Parker stirred awake. Hearing movement  from behind, Chance glanced over his shoulder. Catching the worried look in his friend’s eyes, Parker shuffled out of the bed. While trying to move himself to not wake you, Chance inadvertently pressed his thigh harder against you. You sobbed out a moan, your movements growing fast and sloppy against him. 

Parker walked over, eyes widening as he saw the scene laid before him. Moving his hands up and down, he looked to reach for you or Chance, but just let them drop in exacerbation. He was just as lost as Chance. 

“How long have they been doing this?” Parker whispered to Chance.

“I don’t know, I only woke up like five minutes ago. So at least that long.” He whispered back, careful not to wake you. “What am I supposed to do?” He asked Parker.

“Wake them up?” Parker suggested with a questioning shrug. 

“I don’t know if I should…” He watched as you continued to press against him. 

At this point your whines and moans were constantly tumbling out of your mouth. You were soaking his thigh with your slick. 

“I think they’re pretty close…” He let out a soft grunt. 

Fuck, he was really fucking hard. Your body would occasionally rub against his straining length, making him shiver.  

“Are you just going to let them finish?” Parker asked, worry laced in his voice. 

Looking at you, he had to admit, this was really hot. However, he was in the same boat as Chance when it came to the ethics of the situation. Sure, you were clearly enjoying yourself. However, you were asleep. Completely unaware of what was going on outside of whatever dream you were having. Likely a very sexy dream… Wait, no, he needed to stop thinking about that. 

“I feel like it’s the nicer thing to do?” Chance responded to Parker. 

His jaw was tight as he did his best not to moan in response to your movements. It might be bad, but he was enjoying this quite a lot. If only he could know what you were dreaming about. His question was quickly answered. 

“Mmmph, Chance!” You cried out, body shivering. “Ah, yes!”

Locking eyes with Parker, Chance felt his face burning. HIM, you were thinking of HIM? It was decided, he would let you finish what you started. 

As he continued to watch you grinding against Chance, Parker felt that prickle of jealousy return. He wondered if it would be different if you had fallen asleep with him instead. Would you use him like you were using Chance, and would he let you? That was an easy answer, of course he would. Both men wanted you desperately, your current unconscious behavior was a wild dream come true. 

In your belly you could feel a familiar heat building up. Each grind of your clit against Chance’s thigh making it burn hotter and hotter. So close to reaching the peak. 

With a whimper, you cried out. “Parker! D-don’t stop!” 

Both men’s eyes widened again. Chance looked up at Parker who was now very red in the face. You wanted BOTH of them? At the same time? Oh, this was just getting better and better. 

Now they really wanted to know what was going on behind your tightly shut eyes. 

Your sopping cunt had soaked Chance’s thigh. Each grind of your pelvis had you pressing against Chance’s hard cock. He hissed a particularly harsh thrust, doing his best not to thrust back against you. It was one thing for you to ride his thigh when you didn’t know you were doing it, it was another for him to actively participate with someone unconscious. 

So close, your peak was just on the precipice. 

Chance’s hard cock pummeled deep inside you. Each thrust makes you hiccup sobs. Parker’s fingers circled your clit, shooting pleasure through you. Both men bring you pure ecstasy. The two encourage you to cum around Chance, knowing he would fill you up so well when you did. A final flick and deep thrust had you coming undone with a cry. 

You let out the lewdest moan as your body froze against Chance. Thighs shaking as they clenched around his. Chance let out a low groan as he felt you release on his thigh with a whimper. As you came down from your high, your hips softly ground against him. 

Chance and Parker looked at each other wide eyed. Faces red at what they had just witnessed. Both extremely hard, and unsure of how to handle that. 

In Chance’s arms, you began to stir. Making the men’s eyes widen even more. What the fuck were they supposed to do now? You just squirted on Chance’s thigh. Your moans practically a confession that you wanted them. 

With a content hum, you blinked awake. Finding yourself in Chance’s arms you snuggled into his chest. Against his skin you could feel his heartbeat racing. That’s odd… Looking up, you saw Chance and Parker staring at you. They looked horrified. 

Realization slammed into you like a train. Between your legs you felt Chance’s thigh. Your sleep shorts were completely soaked. 

Oh Fuck. 

[pichichuu]

Hello rei, I forgot to greet you, by any chance could please do a headcannon for saja boys x solo idol s/o , Which is very elegant and also looks very aesthetic wherever it is. Like the wind blowing her hair or when she is sitting (the point is that fem s/o always looks aesthetic wherever she is)

Pretty, please....

hi hi :) thank you for messaging me again to greet me that's so sweet🥹

i hope i got this right! here are a few sfw headcanons for each of the saja boys individually. if it's not what you wanted feel free to message me again!

a/n: this was a liiiittle out of my element, but i hope you enjoy! i had a lot of fun writing it. i do feel like i need to highlight that the kpop industry really pushes aestheticism, and while a lot of the media we see is beautiful, it's important to love yourself as you are and (more importantly) take care of yourself! i never mind writing requests like this but i need to note that this is fictional and idealistic, and that reality and real bodies are also beautiful :)

i am once again ignoring the reality that if this actually happened they would get cancelled so hard

Jinu

you and jinu are the epitome of a pretty couple. i'm talking magazine cover, only-see-in-movies type of romance... you coordinate outfits, so even if you don't match all the time, you always complement each other

he's the type to be with you 24/7. he acts like your best friend most of the time... and he's always talking about you. people would always react excitedly in the live streams; even though everyone wants jinu, they can't deny that you guys are made for each other.

your manager was EXHAUSTED before you were public about your relationship. they had to beat off the dating rumors with a stick.

if you have an event, he's right there with you. every premiere, every red carpet, every concert, he's either by your side or backstage.

the song you made with him is your most popular <3

Abby

he's so supportive. if he's not by your side, he's at the front of every crowd with a camera. even though you do brand collabs and photoshoots all the time, you swear he takes the best photos of you.

he has to have more bodyguards when he's watching you from the crowd. he gets so focused on you that he lets his guard down lol.

he likes staying in sometimes, especially when the fans are overwhelming, but he often prefers to be out and about.

he gives the 'i can't believe i bagged her' vibe. he loves you, and wants everyone else to see why. even though he sees how people obsess with his looks, he still can't believe his girlfriend is so beautiful.

always tries to take bad photos of you at home to giggle over. he knows you'll still be cute in them, but he likes getting photos that show a side of you the public doesn't see. they're his favorites.

Baby

he's behind every instagram post you make. baby knows what angles, lighting, and poses the fans love most. he always manages to sneak in a few photos for himself to keep :)

when soda pop came out, fan art circulated of you two drinking the saja boys collab cans. they even made fan designs of you and baby on the cans. they became so popular that there were rumors circulating that you would get a featured part in the song and a matching collab can.

he teaches you the cute poses he uses for paparazzi photos so you guys can match. he likes to use two-person poses too

Mystery

ok i might not know much about mystery but I DO KNOW that he is a fashion icon. SO. MATCHING OUTFITS. he likes going clothes shopping with you and picking out coordinating clothes. you two always look like you came from a photoshoot.

there are always rumors circulating about you two. they're always stamped with a glamorous, mysterious paparazzi photo

rumors about his face only increased in number when you got together. people needed to know what he looked like, especially if someone like you was with him. they all knew he'd be handsome, but it's practically a fact if someone like you is in a relationship with him.

Romance

he loves playing with your hair and doing your makeup. the way your eyelids flutter when he applies eyeshadow makes him blush. he thinks you're beautiful with and without makeup, but he finds that helping you get ready to go out has a certain intimacy to it.

his eyes are always on you. if you have a hair that's out of place or a wrinkle in your clothes, he's the first to notice it and fix it.

he plans the cutest dates. paparazzi photos often capture you two on picnics, at the aquarium, at the fair/amusement park, etc. if you drop it in conversation that you want to go somewhere, no matter how brief, he'll make note of it.

he secretly loves the paparazzi photos and sometimes hires someone on the inside to take some pictures of your more private dates, even if they aren't released to the public. candid photos of you capture a genuinity that the magazines just can't.

m.list

[musaa34]

“𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭..“

Draco Malfoy x Sweet reader

Draco defending sweet reader to accusations

It was a quiet evening after dinner. Y/N was curled up in her common room, a soft white tank top hugging her frame, little cotton shorts, cosy socks warming her feet. Her braid slipped over her shoulder as she flipped through the pages of a thick book on her lap, chatting with her friends, her cat purring in the crook of her arm.

That’s when a prefect walked in. His expression was unreadable, bored, pissed at his life.

“Y/N,” he said. “You need to come with me. The Slytherin prefect’s been looking for you.”

Her brows knit, gentle confusion softening her features. “Me? Oh, alright.” She gave her friends a soft smile, cradled her cat a little tighter, and stood up.

No fear. Just that warm, quiet kindness she carried like second skin.

But when she stepped into the Slytherin common room, it felt like she’d entered the wrong world. The room was full, students draped over couches, a group of boys hunched around a game, girls with cigarettes in manicured fingers. The air was thick with laughter, smoke, and a tension that snapped the moment she stepped in.

Silence.

Y/N stood at the edge, out of place, her cat still in her arms, braid over her shoulder, looking as soft and ethereal as moonlight.

The Slytherin prefect was waiting.

He stepped forward, arms crossed, and without so much as a greeting, spoke loud and clear, “You were seen leaving an unused classroom today—moments before it reeked of smoke.”

She blinked. “Oh-..I was just looking for a place to read, I didn’t notice anything wrong…”

“You didn’t smell anything?” he interrupted, lips twisting. “Funny. Because others did. But you? You just floated out like nothing happened.”

“I’m sorry, truly, but I don’t smoke,” she answered gently. “I never have.”

“Sure,” he said dryly. “Little miss innocent. You were in there alone, weren’t you? After curfew, in a room that smelled like fire, and now you show up here holding your cat like you’re some storybook character.”

A soft gasp came from somewhere behind her. She didn’t flinch.

“I promise, I haven’t done anything wrong,” she said, voice still sweet. Still unshaken. “I didn’t know there’d been anything suspicious.”

“You just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time,” he drawled. “Bit of a pattern with girls like you. All sugar and tea and perfectly sweet smiles.”

That’s when the temperature dropped.

Draco’s voice cut through the room like a blade.

“She already said she didn’t smoke.”

The prefect turned, startled. “I was just—”

“Pushing” Draco said, calm as ice. He stepped forward from the shadows, all sleek black and unreadable fury. “Poking at her. Trying to sound smart.”

“She was in the room—”

“And she told you why,” Draco replied coldly. “You heard it. The whole room heard it. So either you’re calling her a liar, or you’re just being a prick for fun.”

The prefect hesitated.

Draco tilted his head.

“You’re not her prefect. You’re not even her house. So why are you so interested, exactly?”

Y/N stood frozen, eyes wide, arms curled protectively around her cat.

“This is about maintaining order—” the boy began again.

“Then stick to your own common room and your own students,” Draco snapped. “You want to go on with this? I’ll let the Headmaster know we’ve got prefects from other houses running disciplinary fantasies. I’m sure he’ll love that., don’t you think ?”

The boy’s mouth snapped shut.

“Leave,” Draco said, his tone making it clear this was not a suggestion.

The prefect muttered something under his breath and turned. The room slowly returned to motion.

Y/N turned to Draco, a quiet thank you on her lips.

He didn’t look at her. Not really. Just a flick of those silver-grey eyes before he turned toward the door.

“Come on. I’ll walk you back.”

She followed beside him, hugging her cat to her chest.

“I didn’t think it would be that serious,” she said softly as they walked through the quiet corridors

“You shouldn’t go when someone from another house comes calling,” Draco replied simply. “Not without confirmation. From now on, don’t go unless it’s your own prefect.”

Her brows furrowed. “I didn’t want to be rude…”

“That’s not rude” he said. “That’s smart.”

They stopped at her common room entrance.

She gave him a gentle smile. “Still… thank you. You didn’t have to.”

He met her gaze, finally—just for a second. “I know.”

Then he turned and walked away without another word.

And the next time someone from another house came looking for her?

Y/N didn’t even glance up from her book.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, “but I won’t go anywhere unless it’s a member of my house.”

Draco heard about it the next day.

And for the first time in a while, he smirked.

Not because she listened.

But because she was learning to be careful.

And that? That mattered to him more than he’d admit.

[sunny-knight]

TADC COPE AU!

I made a UTDR one a bit ago that I still hold very dearly and think about constantly, and I just remembered that I can do that again. so i did. By “cope AU” I mean taking the existing media and making all the things I want to happen, happen :D ignoring how unrealistic they are cause im just having fun

I PRESENT TO YOU ALL, “ROOMMATER”

Caine is no longer a ringmaster…he is a roommate….a roommater.

Basically this takes place in an ending where everyone but Pomni got to escape because of some jargon I haven’t quite figured out yet…. But its a theory based off of the ending of ep 4, and the ending of IHNMAIMS, so i’m stealing it for this

The “why” isnt important- whats IMPORTANT is that Caine and Pomni are now roommates and friends and its so cute. Caine tries to become his own person and understand humans/himself better, while Pomni makes a life she considers worth living in the circus. Gummigoo is also probably there permanently

Best case scenario Pomni can still communicate with other humans, but I havnt decided yet if thats what I want to happen. This is my au specifically made for me, I make the rules, just cause its a “cope” au doesnt mean everything is perfect

But when they left they DID get hooked up with the internet with the help of Kinger I’d think, so usually every day Caine is like “YO POMNI I FOUND A NEW HUMAN THING!” and she lets him yap before reminding him he has a life outside of relying on her praise

But ya the circus has been COMPLETELY transformed, split in half for Caine and Pomnis sides. Caines changes every day, much like everything else about him cause he’s experimenting on what he himself enjoys as just a person instead of a ringmaster, meanwhile Pomni just wants a normal apartment. This is where the other NPCs also live.

I think…The Sun, Moon, and Bubble still would exist….i think. They’d be more intelligent though and have like free will and sentience.

Caine also tries out different outfits and hobbies basically every day, while Pomni likes to stick to a much more ridged routine

instead of “adventures” Caine calls them “events” and they’re a lot more mundane like weather and sports, but he still does have a point in bad things happening to make life more interesting, so they’re not always entirely pleasant. Just not…the mildenhall adventure.

But basically its a lot of giving and taking on both Caine and Pomnis part, sometimes she’ll go on an adventure she doesn’t want to just so Caine can test a certain feature, and sometimes he’ll put up with making something for her that he doesn’t want to cause he doesn’t personally see a point in it

[hey-itsdollie]

can you do one about how the blue lock characters would react the s/o f!reader being insecure about their weight at the beach? like they are super fit and strong and I often get insecure when I see people who are better than me at taking care of themselves. I am not talking plus size, we have seen that many times (love a plus size girly im married to one but i dont think i should ramble about her in a request lmao) but I want something I can actually relate to so I want to see like a curvy body that is considered over weight even if to anyone else it looks perfectly fine but it's just like- you know you are over weight yk what I mean?

I'm dyslexic btw sorry about how horrible my request might be to try understand

Inner Turmoil.ᐟ.ᐟ

‧₊˚ ┊ In which your thoughts take over at the beach

୭˚. ᵎᵎ featuring » gagamaru. karasu.

⋮ ⌗ ┆cw ⪼ comfort, fem reader, established relationship

── .✦ Gin Gagamaru

You and your boyfriend decided to go to the beach. After an hour of arriving, you started to regret suggesting to have a beach day. It wasn’t like you weren’t physically having fun, hell dating Gagamaru brought enough entertainment to your life.

It was the simple things, ya know.

But it was just. The beach was awfully busy today. Your eyes couldn’t help but look around at the different families, couples, and even singles. People watching as you observe them. Small parts of your mind picking out the differences between them and you. Whether it was swimsuit styles, colors, hair textures, amount of tan you might have, and the curves…

You weren’t necessarily plus size, but you were still a bit overweight in your mind. Though you didn’t make much comments about it verbally. Mentally on the other hand was a different story.

Your eyes lifted to see your two-toned boyfriend walking up to you, his large body completely blocking the sun out of your view. “What is it Gin?” You question tilting your head. “Want to go swimming?” He asked in a blank tone, his wide eyes looking you over as if sensing your discomfort.

“No, Gin I don’t really feel like it…” You smile sadly. He didn’t seem to take that as an answer as he easily picked you up. “You’ll feel better in the water…” He muttered his hands rubbing your skin as he carried you to the water. Only placing you down when you were waist deep. Your positioning caught your attention as he stood in front of you, his body obscuring your view of the people on land.

Catching your strayed attention, Gagamaru splashed you. “Hey, Gin!” You groaned as he kept splashing you. Your hands began to splash him in return as he swam to you and held you close to him.

── .✦ Tabito Karasu

“Everything alright?”

Karasu’s voice brought you out of your inner turmoil. Your vision seems to come together from it’s blurred–out focused state, whilst focusing on the male.

His hands were coated in sunscreen as he rubbed the substance on your back. He had paused his movements, with his questions he gave you his attention. “Yeah, I’m fine.” You answered though your throat was dry.

In reality you weren’t that well. It wasn’t like you were sick, it was simply your mind–your mind and it’s nasty thoughts.

Your eyes dragged over the beach goers, seeing the more slimmer girls with their boyfriends. A match made in heaven. Then you look at your boyfriend, toned and built perfectly, his skin a soft tan as if he was kissed by the sun during his daily runs.

You weren’t nearly as toned nor built as him. Most workouts you did consisted of small walks or cleaning–if anything. Of course, Karasu was part of an official soccer team. He had to work out consistently.

“You’re doing it again.” You looked over at Karasu, his eyes moved over you as if checking to see if anything was physically wrong. Somewhere in your mind you were pleading for him to not look too long–in fear that he might find something that would disgust him.

Instead he leaned over and placed a kiss on your forehead. “You look beautiful in that swimsuit.” He spoke softly, going back to rubbing in the sun screen.

Karasu often made rude comments–though when compliments seemingly only for you, left him it meant a lot.

©hey-itsdollie please don't copy, change, or steal my work. Thank you!

[dark-overlord-of-rainbows]

Drawn July 4 2025 Happy Disability Pride Month 2025! Characters: Ezra from Hazyla/@hazyla, Juneau from parcark/@parasolemn, Maisie from flappyeddie/@chobbits Aster from KerPlank/@kerplankk, Ayla from awkwardsauce/@theawkwardestofsauces, Hopsy from sylkie/@satellites-halo Tosin from saszor/@saszor, Lou from Stampmcsketch, Ray from rotdecaydraw/@rotdecaydraw 2024, 2022, 2021

"Anyone who gets ringing in their ears- you uh, have to figure out if your ears, whatever audio might be playing, or your device(s) is/are making a ringing sound often too? Sorry, on my mind because I was watching a video and I think the audio was messed up in it. Ow. A little before artfight started I was checking out the new searches and I decided to look up attacks with titles that contain "disability pride" since I wanted to see how much was there. There's not a lot But something I noticed was that one of my mass attacks was the earliest one. I can't search for it now because I'm looking up "disability pride" again and now the results are showing anything containing the word "pride" (I wanted to double-check in case it wasn't actually showing all the results.... but uh. you can see the problem here)

There very well could be people who did stuff for disability pride month that just mentioned it in the description or something but y'know... even just possibly being the first for something like this feels weird I've talked in the past how it's weird to search for characters because in the past I've wanted to show a variety of different characters or disabilities but picking tags can be hard sometimes Too specific and it's really heavily biased by what I think of and know of, but umbrella terms can still have their biases too...

and who knows how people will tag their own characters either, right? I think some of the ones I've added to these pieces were not tagged, I just found them on the front page. (I don't exactly have a consistent tagging system either, and I'll just forget to update them or not actually put enough/any in the first place) I do remember I searched "facial difference" and "limb difference" this time around, to put stuff in my bookmarks. I didn't do many characters here but you can kinda see I wanted to do a lot of those characters I bookmarked with facial differences. I didn't want to do that prep work I put in for previous years this time... I just wanted to draw character's faces.

This past... I guess it's been over a year now (wild) but while drawing faces has kinda always been the thing I do most, I've improved a lot and have had a lot more fun drawing different expressions and features, so yeah of course this is what I wanted to do

I think this is the first year I've not snuck in a character of mine too... Unless I decide to do a part 2 later, maybe. I dunno."

[forsaken-headcanons]

alr im gonna share-maxx my oc on here bcuz why not, but also bcuz im laying on a tv screen-core for some reason n i have no idea where i am-pilled. i am safe, im just for some reason laying on a tv... while in the park during morning...

anyway, enough gibble gabble-maxxing, lets get this shit on yo (fruitcious is gonna be so confused when she finds this n reads the first half lol)

alr sooooo...

waxxer, the honeycomb tv

waxxer is a honeycomb tv-core (simple explanation; his entire body is made out of honeycomb, n his blood is made out of honey... duh-core) his screen is just a normal one albeit with... some unique features (example; showing a middle finger) n like also has wings he coded

he's just an overall chill dude who doesn't really give a fuck abt anything unless its something he loves, which case he's very passionate. has a love for coding n gaming, an absolute god at gaming, decent at coding (which is y his wings have some bugs and funky little do-dad's) oh yeah and beekeeping, his silli-pilled self has an affinity for bees

prior to forsaken he was kinda hanging around-maxxing in bee simulator and sometimes indulged in a lil bit of depth spelunking-core (its a pretty cool game n i am begging it doesn't get drama) just mostly doing his own thing..until he decided to go to bake a cake

he met fruity blue (idk if fruiticous has submitted their oc here yet, but eh) and first that happen was bluey biting him-core and he just went "eh"-pilled n waved her off him... to which they start bonding-maxxing, him making cakes n all kinds of delicious desserts with her-core, and her gaming with him n losing cuz ofc-core (for fruiticious: ur good, i just am a champ-maxxer for gaming.. ily btw) (< platonic-pilled) they even shared a sketchbook where they doodled together. oh yeah, he didn't really mind bluey's bitey n cannibalistic tendencies n hyperactive mischievous tendencies and lets her bite him

when bluey was forsaken-ed, waxxer was in distress like he had never been in before, he actually felt like he was gonna cry, which was a rare moment. he literally hung up hundreds of missing posters everywhere he went just so he could find her... when nothing came up, he... well built a honeycomb statue of her to keep himself busy

being forsakened, he was just happy he was with her again, they held each other for a few hours when they met again. although the situation was pretty bad, atleast they cud experience it together. and hey, a nice group to get to know

alr, backstory over, time to get to the fun-er-core part

abilities: (using caps just for this)

"Bee dash!!" - "yeeeaahhh, let's just hope this doesn't kill me by accident-core..."

dash in the direction ur facing and gain speed IIII for 4 secs

"Honey jam" - "OH SHHHH-OOT, NOT THE HONEY"

pours a large puddle of honey onto the ground. if the killer steps on it, they get stunned for 2 secs and get slowness III as long as they're in the trap

stats: 100 health, 15 walking speeding, 25 sprinting speed, stamina 120

alr time for sum relationships with the forsaken crew... (skipping fruity blue cuz well yeah)

007n7 (by the time im writing this he probably will get his re-write but ehhhhh idk how much it'll change) - waxxer n him have a pretty great relationship actually. sure, yes, n7 is a past exploiter n everyone is suspicious of him, bur waxxer is more focused on learning how to code from him n ask him how to make his bee wings better. n7 is just gald someone here actually likes him enough to chat to him, n is gald to teach waxxer

noob - noob thinks waxxer is too cool for them, waxxer wants noob to become his 3rd gaming buddy, as he thinks he's just like noob. he invites them to game with him and bluey n they lots of fun... when it isn't waxxer absolutely kicking their asses in competitive games

alr i think thats all for now *insert me just still laying on the tv screen bcuz for reason i haven't even moved an inch*

anyway, byeee mods, don't mind me grilling on a tv

- honey beeswax anon

oh we really like waxxer's kit... patting them rn they're so silly. sillycore. whimsypilled. joyouspilled. what are you doing to us /silly

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Been having some ISaT tech level and timeline (as in 'when backstory things happened') thoughts and want to ramble a bit:

Tech

ISaT's setting is based on your classic sword and sorcery fantasy JRPG so its easy to assume that tech wise everything is 'fantasy medieval' and call it a day but consider:

Body Craft is at bare minimum is magic sex changing surgery (earliest known equivent in our world dating to 1930) that any old person can learn to do safely on themselves in only a few months, and more likely has many many broader applications like regular old surgery, the 'combat healing' Mira and Sif use, etc.

Cameras and photos are rare enough that Odile comments on it (namely she's happy the group get a photo in the House due to them being 'so rare') yet are also common enough that everyone in the party knows about them and doesn't question the existence of a camera beyond being surprised that the mirror was one. (In our world cameras date back to the 19th century, with the earliest manufacturing of them being in 1839). 

Printing presses and ways to make plenty of paper to feed those presses given absolutely everyone in this game can read, expects everyone else to know how to, and both mass produced book series and newspapers are a thing. (Note: Printing presses have existed since waaaay back but it's the mass paper manufacturing that makes newspapers and The Cursing of Chateu Castle possible that really has my eyebrows raised here, especially since neither Siffrin or Odile find either odd in any way, indicating such things are common everywhere, and while newspapers have been around since 1604 in our world, mass produced fantasy books didn't really take off until the start of the 20th century).

Food production and storage: despite being in the middle of a national disaster that almost certainly cut off trade networks and access to most suppliers for literal months now, Bonnie, a small child, is able to easily get their hands on fresh Pineapple, curry ingredients (for samosa), potatoes, plantains etc with no issues or anyone commenting on this being unusual or lucky. Oh and the only character who even brings up the concept of potential starvation is the Fishing One, and only in a sort of 'we're not at risk now but sooner or later...' kinda way due to noticing that the fish they fish up for fun are disappearing and likely being frozen. So yeah, that heavily implies Vaugarde has very good food storage tech/Craft (possibly better than ours), and likely also good food production and harvesting tech/skills also.

The Island's incredible knowledge of the stars: while the oldest known orrery in our world is dated from around 205 to 87 BC (ancient Greek, earth centric model), the fact Sif -who would've learnt this as a child/teen- is so very certain that stars are big balls of fire made up of gas is interesting as that's something our world couldn't prove the theory of until around the 1900s (note: it'd been theorized a LONG time but Sif talks like its complete facts to them . Additionally the earliest existing record of a telescope in our world dates to a 1608 patent and we see one of those in game.

Post posting EDIT: A wonderful user qds-place pointed out that Mirabelle has anti-anxiety medication in her room. This is in both ISaT and SAaP and though we're not sure what form the medication takes (pills? Valium? Megitech esc Craft boosters???) the fact they specifically have 'anti anxiety' medication at all (as opposed to idk dragging Mira off and drugging her through the gills) is kind of impressive and if it IS modern anti anxiety pills those could be as recent in creation as the 1950s! So um. Some high levels of tech implied in chemistry there <3

So... yeah. All this, plus the fact that the highest tech implied area, The Island, literally specialised in the study/Craft of turning wishes into reality (for a long enough time period that Wish Craft is culturally so ingrained in the King and Sif that they do it without thinking and it seems intertwined with their nation's religion) has been completely erased from memory to the point anything heavily associated with them has been forgotten, and also we only ever see Dormont aka a little village well away from the cities, it's not hard to conclude that you can basically justify giving the ISaT world any level of tech you want, so long as you lock any of the truly 'setting breaking' stuff like planes and rockets behind The Island's forgetting curse (I would've said trains too but thinking about it trains were invented in 1802 so it's honestly easy to imagine that they totally exist in the ISaT setting/Vaugarde but aren't ever on screen because rail is way too dangerous to consider using while the Curse is active and potentially time freezing things on the tracks).

Side note: We know absolutely nothing about Vaugarde's transport system but as a fan of fantasy RPGs it is honestly a travesty I have yet to see a fic that has flying dragons/wyverns or other fantasy mounts in setting. Like, ok yes, the party would probably have wanted to use those but maybe they don't like the Curse and fled? Maybe the King's Curse targeted them first? Maybe all their handlers dropped the heroes off in Dormont and said 'Well Saviors it's been fun, but well me and Scales here are off to Poteria until things wrap up so best of luck to you' before buggering off?

This isn't really a serious complaint just. Me reminding myself/potentially other fanwork writers out there that there's a lot about the setting we just don't know about and limiting all travel to walking, horse drawn carriage and boat is not actually required. (Also please mix up travelling to the Island. Boats are a wonderful classic and have great thematic vibes for Sif's original leaving of the Island but like. Imagine the sheer in-universe wtf of the memories of The Island suddenly coming back and people on the north coast suddenly realising there's a massive bridge, subway or underwater tunnel leading there that everyone just forgot about - potentially filled with all kinds of Sadnesses that need taking down. Or Warp Panels in a House of Change, idk XD).

Timeline

Canon notes first:

Bonnie is a preteen (8 to 12), Mira and Isa are in their early to mid 20s (with Isa slightly older), Sif is late 20s to 30, and Odile is 40+ Nille is stated to be around 18 to 20.

Siffrin ran away from home when they were a teenager (13 to 17? 18?) and this is heavily implied to be when the Island was Forgotten.

Bonnie (in ISaT specifically*) says that Nille told them that when it happened all the adults were talking about it, hence why they think The Island is close to their village. *In Start Again a Prologue, Bonnie says that they themself remember the adults talking about the Island disappearing, which er. Is a bit impossible given they likely weren't even born yet when that happened but that can be explained away by AU differences, InsertDisc5 still finalising details between SAaP and ISaT, and/or OG Siffrin having been in the loops so long they weren't actually listening when Bonnie was talking and just 'scripted' in their head something 'close enough' to what Bonnie was saying to get the idea (note: mentioned that idea before in my post here on the differences between the House and King in Start Again vs In Stars and Time for anyone curious so er please feel free to give that a read if you haven't already).

Odile mentions remembering 'when it happened' as well and has been 'travelling for years'.

The King 'appeared out of nowhere' sometime in his adulthood, and lived in the city of Corbeaux for a few years before he became the King.

The King became the King as was freezing people in time long enough before his attack on the House of Dormont that everyone inside knew he was coming, there were a wall's worth of newspaper articles about him, and everyone was expecting Euphrasie to defeat him.

Mirabelle's quest began 'almost a year ago' and Sif lost their eye 'recently'.

Thoughts on the above:

Calculating when The Island was forgotten:

Sif being mid 20s to 30 and having run away from home as a teen means that The Island has to have been forgotten somewhere between 9 to 17 years ago with nine only possible if he ran away at age 17 and is only age 26 now, and seventeen being the far opposite if he ran at age 13 and is currently 30.

To narrow down the timeline: Given Sif ran away from home because he 'didn't want to eat his veggies' and 'just wanted to scare [his] parents a little bit' it's probably safe to assume Siffrin was likely on the younger end of the teen spectrum (teens run off all the time sure but with loving parents and over veggies? That screams 'kid who has not yet learned that freaking out the parents will get their ass grounded and/or yelled at a LOT and is therefore best saved for doing fun forbidden stuff that ideally the parents will never find out about' XD) Additionally given Siffrin can't remember his age/birthday etc but Isabeau outright says near the beginning of the game "But you're older than most of the people here?" meaning Sif must be visibly older than Isa or Mira, so he's probably closer to 30 than not.

Those alone would imply the Island likely disappeared closer to the '17 years ago' side of things BUT Nille (tops 20 years old) told Bonnie that "[the Island's disappearance] was all the adults would talk about for ages" and kids usually can't remember anything prior to 4 years of age so with that in mind...

I'd say The Island most likely disappeared between 13 to 16 years ago.

Nille stuff:

This is more a general mention but. Nille is tops 20 years old. Bonnie is between 8 and 12 and doesn't remember their parents at all.

This means Nille ran away with Bonnie and gained emancipation and custody of Bonnie (if Vaugarde has formalised that kind of legal stuff) while she was at most 12 years old herself and could have in theory been as young as 6..!

Regardless, it's very likely the original home situation was that bad, Nille deserves a ton of credit for raising Bonnie as well as she has and I'd say it's very VERY likely she had a lot of help from villagers in Bambosche and/or the local House of Change in doing so. ...But also Bonnie is very adamantly 'my sister and village' and not 'my sister and [specific names who live with us]' so there's clearly by the time Bonnie was 4 or so they were living in their own place so... Yeah. Lotta drive for independence there too it seems (so the party might have more trouble adopting Nille into their group post ISaT than Bonnie might expect).

King stuff:

Already an adult 13 to 16 years ago so at bare minimum 33. Given his vibe probably much older though.

Newspapers get printed pretty quick though for there to be so much speculation and research done into his background so quick, either Vaugarde has some form of fast messaging system (something like a Chappe telegraph on top of the Houses of Change? Odile I think does mention that they'll have a message sent to let Nille know they'll be returning Bonnie...) or the King was freezing stuff for IDK around a month or two before reaching Dormont? Alas can't find out how long it takes to walk across all of France out very easily (I'm sure the numbers are out there but my brain is pudding rn) but if we had those numbers we could probably make some guesstimates based off the rough sketched map of Vaugarde InsertDisk5 did... Which I would link but apparently the tumblr post I had it linked on has been deleted???? 'wails at this very unhappy development'

Mira's journey and Sif's eye:

We really don't know a lot but almost a year ago gives us somewhere around 9 to 11 months to spread the journey out along and after eye removal surgery the patient can out and about as soon as 2 to 6 weeks after, maybe sooner with magic healing (though full recovery/growing used to the changed spacial awareness -which Sif clearly does not have- probably can't be sped up and takes around 3 to 6 months) so um. I'd guestimate Sif's eye injury is really recent; like two months ago tops recent. ...Which sorta explains a lot of why Bonnie is not dealing with it right now and also why the others might be trying to avoid bringing it up (since Sif clearly loves avoiding the issue but they haven't yet realised that maybe they really should bring it up even if it annoys them anyway?)

Odile with some Ka Bue speculation:

When it comes to The Island, how did Odile, presumably living in Ka Bue at the time, remember 'when it happened'? Was the Island well known enough even on the other side of the world that it's disappearance made waves? Or was Odile herself or someone she's close to paying attention to the region? (Like maybe her dad or a friend is/was into politics or trade, keeping up with overseas news and got concerned it could happen to Ka Bue? I'd say 'I remember when it happened' line implies it was more immediate knowledge than being informed by a messenger much later though...)

As for Odile's 'years of travel' I have to wonder, what's left behind for her in Ka Bue? She brings up going back there quite a bit, might just miss home and possibly her father if he's still alive, but given it took her years to get here for something so personal rather than idk 'materially rewarding' I think Odile might have some kinda family estate or something back in Ka Bue... Something she wasn't worried about potentially losing while far away, but solid enough to want to return to, beyond her father who she'd definitely want to see again if he's still around. (...But given how open she is to chilling about Vaugarde a few more months with the others, I really don't think he is alive, since well, given their respective ages and travel between Vaugarde and Ka Bue apparently taking years, there'd definitely an uncomfortably high chance of him passing away while she's gone and that seems like the thing that'd stress Odile out so... Yeah. Probably got an estate in Ka Bue she'd like to take the Family to visit/possibly sell off if she decides she'd like to live with them in Vaugarde so... Just my off the cuff headcanoning here and hoping that gives others ideas or something).

---

Anyway that's all the ramble I've got in me so... yeah! Hope this was interesting and useful for those needing a bit of a 'possible tech'/timeline calcs breakdown for the Island + a few more vague things and um. Probably will post a long winding ramble about my attempt at a ISaT Selkie AU fic I've been working on next <3 (Not to be confused with looped-140-and-counting's already existing and quite wonderful Selkie Siffrin AU which already has a completed oneshot fic, a snippet of sequel, two snippets of prequel/Sif flashbacking and I believe a comic too, all of which I highly recommend <3)

[electrozeistyking]

decided to go slightly more “cartoony” here, you could say. all in all my brain is registering that haircut as “das a rooster baybee”

[headfullof-ideas]

Some doodles of the riders and little insights to their relationships with one another or aspects of it

Kinda like, drawn headcanons. But it’s my story, so they’re half-canon half head canon? Idk, here you go

[fauxpapillons]

A super cool commission for @ xyrenefrostier.bsky.social ! an ascended captain and Sieten't... the sea of stars an ominous throne for their presence. It was super fun to work in this!

[cowardlykrow]

After Cyn's done tryna kill him, she'll eventually relent and they can get to work... whatever that is. I didn't do the outfit any justice, but the second i saw the Cowboy!Curt mega @ricky-mortis made i was literally like, "yes, that is IT."

This is, in my heart, a cannon fit for this au

[vanilla-extracter]

[corviiids]

For the director's cut fanfic thing: ⭐⭐⭐ (these are THREE stars valid for whatever. I'm giving you blank checks)

thank you again <3

blank check 2/3 goes back to as you like it again! but this time i want to talk about my shadow designs for the akechi bossfights we've encountered in the preceding chapters >:3 there are five - the Puppet, the Singer, the Bard, the Dancer, and the Magician.

but this got really ABSURDLY long this time so ill stick to mostly the Puppet, and just do a brief ("brief") overview of the others for now.......

(for context: this is my palace au and akechi's keywords are akechi goro, the world, theatre.)

the Puppet (photos of giant puppets below if that freaks you out!)

the first Wing the thieves encounter is the puppet show, and the boss shadow is a giant marionette:

For one thing, it’s huge—maybe three or four times the size of a human being. It’s also gleaming, carefully polished and buffed, reflecting light more viciously in the areas where it seems the wood might be chipped or worn. The polish throws the lines of joints and pieces into sharp relief, giving the puppet the general impression of something whole that had been cut up and pieced slowly together with hinges and nails. Behind it, mostly concealed by its limp bulk, is a door. As they might have gleaned from the chatter of the audience, the show does not yet seem to have begun. As such, the puppet on stage is limp on its strings. Most disturbingly, it’s draped backward, not forward, snapped unnaturally at the spine and giving it the extremely uncanny look of a corpse on uneven ceiling hooks. They can just make out the side of the thing’s eyes from where they’re standing. Gravity has not been kind to them: the puppet’s eyelids are dropped open, bulging eyes left wide and staring up as far back as the build will let them. They haven’t rolled all the way into the wooden skull, presumably because they can’t. Instead, the unseeing yellow eyes remain fixed on the back corner of the stage. The puppet is entirely still. “I think I’m going to be sick,” Makoto says faintly.

i think the Puppet is my favourite of the five because he's so disturbing. i imagine he looks a bit like the giant marionettes by the french street theatre show royal de luxe:

but i really love these guys, so i think it's uncharitable to say akechi's shadow looks exactly like them. i know giant puppets are always a little freaky but i genuinely love the royal de luxe puppets and i think the workmanship on these does genuinely do a ton of work to dispel that uncanny vibe.

puppet akechi on the other hand is absolutely drenched in uncanny valley, so i guess imagine these puppets but much scarier. the main thing is those places where different pieces of wood are joined, in the joints / on the limbs / etc, because that's very key to puppet akechi's look in my mind, hence "something whole that had been cut up and pieced slowly together with hinges and nails". the Puppet is a marionette, but the way he's been constructed and set up on stage almost calls to mind the imagery of a corpse that's been reconstructed to perform. the way he moves is really unnatural:

Ren is beginning to think they might be able to get past and slip through that door without a fight when the whole creature rears up, back strings going taut, and lashes wildly out at him with a horrible clack of its arms—he leaps back and crashes directly into Haru, who catches and dips him like a princess before twirling him frantically into Ryuji and the puppet gouges a deep gash in the stage floor.    As they watch it screeches, howls an unnatural shriek, eyes suddenly wide and bulging larger. They ‘blink’ a few times, eyelids flipping, then the puppet Akechi goes limp on its strings again, though decidedly more upright than before, like whoever’s pulling the strings is now on guard. Its eyes stay open this time, bright gold and piercing.

very much not like something exercising its own agency, but like a body on strings being operated by someone who did not care to practice in the artistry of operating a puppet to make it look like a live thing - the puppet is literally just a tool to be flailed about.

this also shows in the way the puppet sits when it's at rest. guys do you know how god damn hard it is to find normal pictures of puppets? when you google marionette it just comes up with a bunch of fnaf shit. anyway check this guy out

at rest, they usually just kind of dangle innocently, or might slouch forward if given too much slack, right? it was important to me that puppet akechi look very wrong at rest, as if he's not "at rest" so much as he's just been left to hang. hence: "it’s draped backward, not forward, snapped unnaturally at the spine and giving it the extremely uncanny look of a corpse on uneven ceiling hooks." i'm basically imagining meat hooks, like, in a slaughterhouse or something you know? like he's just dangling from those.

that imagery was inspired by persona 5 dancing, actually - akechi's finishing pose in his dance is this:

this is just such an unnatural pose. when i saw it for the first time, i just couldn't get the image out of my head of a string puppet who'd been hung up and left to dangle without any regard for how it might look or feel (lol). not to mention that blank look in his eyes. i think a lot of the Puppet was born from this dance because the dance itself is so dynamic and silly but then the lead-up to the end suddenly gets very jerky and puppet-like. i really like his dance!

the Puppet's battle mechanic is that the applause will continue as long as the Puppet is either acting or getting hurt (kind of like the mettaton fight in undertale actually?). if the applause stops, then the Puppet will be inflicted with Despair - in p5 the Despair effect means you lose SP for each turn and then instantly die on the third turn. makoto ends up healing the Puppet and yusuke mercy-kills it before it can commit suicide:

Fox silently raises his gun. The Thieves collectively flinch as the Puppet dissipates. The applause starts back up. “If we’d left things silent,” Yusuke says, “it would have only happened again.”

because this is the first shadow bossfight the thieves encounter in the Theatre, i needed it to have some broader implications (vs some of the later shadows who have more specific interactions). so obviously the analogue for akechi is that the performance needs to continue and he needs to continue receiving acknowledgement from the public / from shido / etc because if he's not useful and entertaining and noticeable and such, then he's nothing - his life doesn't mean anything. obviously, if he doesnt perform for shido (perform in the sense of working, but also in the sense of showmanship) he'll probably be killed. but also, akechi really externalises his sense of self to an insane degree. the conceit of the palace is essentially that his entire internal world is the show, it's just this shallow performance, the backstage is empty. if he stops existing in the cognition of the masses, he essentially "stops existing".

i think a lot about third semester akechi in royal and how completely he's faded from public awareness. he doesn't care because he's a dead man walking and has locked into nihilism at that point. but if you look at what akechi says in the engine room:

his voice when he says this says a lot to me. akechi's envisioning the world as it will look when he has to return and face the consequences of the world discovering what's behind the curtain and realising his credibility was all a show. to be honest, i think this also plays a role in his decision to sacrifice himself in this scene. i don't think he wanted to die, but i think he did realise that the post-thieves, post-truth world wasn't a place that held anything for him anymore, and his desire to return to that reality was dramatically weakened, so it was an easier decision for him to choose to make that sacrifice than it otherwise might have been.

um, i had a point. okay, so, i was saying that once the applause stops, the Puppet begins to despair. the Puppet also is the most direct representation of akechi as someone who is being used. all the shadow bosses correlate to some aspect of akechi's need to perform and to the varying reasons why they all have that sense of desperation:

“Kinda feels like they’re just defendin’ themselves, you know,” [Ryuji] says. “Or somethin’. Look too much like him. It’s weird they can’t talk, cos it’s like fighting a dumb animal. Don’t they all seem real scared to you?” None of Akechi’s Shadows have delivered grand speeches about conquering the world. Even Futaba’s Shadow had given them a fairly strong indication of what was going on with her, that overwhelming guilt which had given birth to a resolve to lock herself up in her mind and die. Akechi’s Shadows have lashed out, tried to destroy them, sure. But it feels different in a way that’s growing more and more impossible to ignore. Desperate to fend them off, more than anything, like each one is the final bastion standing for a world that could crumble at any moment.

that's why once you figure out how to stop each shadow's "show" from going on, they instantly die:

ripping the Singer's mask off causes him to cease to exist (see below)

silencing the Bard, who relies on the power of his words to manipulate others, removes his power and reveals that he's pretty easy to take down

the Dancer's feet are always bleeding because he can't stop moving. he's hard to catch, but the moment he stops dancing, he's revealed to have extremely low defence and can be taken out very easily

but the Puppet is literally being manipulated by a puppetmaster. because he no longer has any use when the applause stops, he no longer has a reason to exist. i also just thought this would be a fun effect to start on because it's so drastic as an introduction to akc's psyche and really gives the thieves a sense of what they're working with by throwing them directly into the deep end.

ok let's leave the puppet behind for now. im gonna be more brief with the others i promise (maybe)

the Singer

LET'S TALK about. beneath the mask. a song about ren. but it's also a song about goro.

I'm a shape-shifter at Poe's masquerade Hiding both face and mind All free for you to draw

the fic goes over some of my meta about this:

[Yusuke] I have done some research. [Makoto] Oh? [Yusuke] I believe when the Opera Shadow sang of “Poe’s Masquerade”, he was referring to a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, entitled “The Masque of the Red Death”.

eternally grateful for the scene during the pyramid arc where yusuke loredumps about egyptian mythology so i have precedent to do this

yusuke summarises the story in this chapter (chapter 4), but basically: the story is about rich people abandoning the common folk to a plague, until a personification of the plague wearing a red mask enters the castle. when his mask is removed, it's revealed there is nothing underneath. everyone in the castle then succumbs to the plague.

the superficial connections to akechi are pretty obvious - red mask, plague doctor. etc. but this song is really, really telling for both ren and goro. i briefly went over this in my last dvd commentary post about the palace fic, but this relates to my meta around both of them as mask wearers. the line "all free for you to draw" is a big one - ren is "all free for you," the player, "to draw" - he becomes who you need him to be, and because you need to max out your confidants, he becomes (via you) who his friends need him to be.

goro is similar on a different scale because he moulds his personality to what the public expects him to be. he takes it one step further, because it's less utility for him and more foundational - as i said, to an extent the performance is the substance of his personality, which is the core of the distortion. so both ren and goro are wearing the mask, malleable in character, their actual personality being somewhat questionable, but that emptiness is only true for goro. ren's definitely got something underneath it, but goro feels like he doesn't.

brief cw for suicidal ideation, but i also generally take it as a given that goro doesn't really expect to live past 18 after defeating shido. not that he's actively suicidal, but i think literally or figuratively he knows after shido's downfall, his own life will pretty much be over, and that's part of what drives the emptiness. the show really only needs to go on until that point, and after that there's no need to build a real thing underneath to return to. he's very much living for that goal.

anyway: so the Singer starts out singing the Phantom of the Opera - the Shadow is very much modelled after the phantom - but swaps to beneath the mask and begins to connect with ren. the Singer wears a red mask. i really like this mask! i envision it as looking like someone pouring blood over his face and then the blood freezing in place, so it just looks very molten and liquid but fixed over half his face.

ren defeats the Singer by ripping his mask off:

[Ren] Please don’t take off my mask, revealing dark [Ann] OMG!! [Ann] THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED WHEN WE TOOK OFF HIS MASK!! [Ann] HE REVEALED DARK!!!! [Ann] HE DISAPPEARED!!!!!!!!!!

(i love the thieves because i dont have to be subtle about my symbolism i can just make them say it)

anyway, just like the figure in the Masque of the Red Death, ripping off the Singer's mask reveals "dark" underneath - he ceases to exist.

Just a cage of bones There's nothing inside

the Bard and the Dancer

when i was first plotting this fic, i was actually designing the palace not as a written environment but as though it would be a playable place. so a lot of it is informed by me picturing what this palace would be like to play through and explore, building it out as a video game environment in my mind's eye and then trying to describe it from that point. i took the same approach to the bossfights, so they're all designed around central gameplay mechanics which are largely based on status effects and how the player would strategise around them. (to that end, a lot of the design stuff in my doc never made it into the fic...)

the conceit of the bard was a shadow who can manifest abstract concepts into being by manipulating reality with his words. so the status effects he uses are brainwash and sleep, mostly. his monologues are modified versions of shakespeare's works.

part of the reason why i started writing this fic was specifically to challenge myself in aras of writing im not very confident in: so longform planning, progression of plot, environment description, and action scenes being major ones. writing all the boss fights was and continues to be a real challenge. the chapter that the bard shows up in (chapter 5) ended up taking ages and ages in part because i kept putting off writing this fight. now that it's done, though, the bard fight is actually maybe my favourite fight scene i've written lol. it always turns out that way!!! the reason i like it is because i realised the physical action wasn't the fun part of writing a fight like this. since it was focused on status effects, it meant i got to crawl into ren's headspace when he got brainwashed, which i really really enjoyed doing because i got to drag out some trauma that joker has lovingly repressed.

   to set my fellows, phantoms in the wings    in deadly hate the one against the other…    This isn’t the Casino. This is somewhere else entirely. The Casino, and everything that came with it, that was months ago. How did he forget? The cottonwool that had crept so slowly into his blood dissipates in a mad rush that leaves him dizzy with disbelief. His hands, now that he can feel them again, are trembling. The knife between his fingers, trembling. The cool floor beneath him, the air in his lungs. How close had he come to never feeling that again?    Had he really just been feeling safe about that plan? Had he really felt everything was going to be okay? If anything had gone wrong—anything at all—he’d have been gone. He’d have been dead. How had they made it so he felt okay with that?    A trick? A ruse?    How blasé they’d all been, when it was his life they were gambling with like a worthless set of poker chips! And they’re here—all around him. Safe? He’s never been in more danger.    “Joker!”    Surrounded. He’s surrounded by the ones who left him for dead.

the Dancer doesn't get as much attention in text because i didn't want to slow down the pacing of the story every few minutes to do another huge scene tgat doesn't really serve a purpose, just like the exploration of the Globe Wing didn't. all that mattered was that he was shown to be adaptable, agile, and resilient - the Dancer needs to be in top condition at all times and ready to dodge any threat. the imagery that came through to me the strongest was the idea that his feet are always bleeding, so he leaves bloodstains all over the floor.

the Magician

this was another scene i adored writing. i think environment-wise, the House of Cards is my favourite Wing in the palace because it's the most unique structure. it's not a styled theatre like the others, it's more on-theme to the Magician, like he's set up his own performance environment. so it's just a huge house of cards made of crumbling playing cards which is really difficult to navigate and which joker kind of blends into.

the premise for the Magician was someone who needs to perform miracles and present impossible illusions as reality with a flair for drama. the Magician fools the Thieves over and over and over again, because they are good-hearted people who want to save him.

did you ever see that unused mementos request in royal where akechi tells the thieves about a target to save someone, and doesn't tell them that the someone in question is dodgy themself, and watches to see how quickly the Thieves immediately trust them?

i don't think i based this fight off this request because im pretty sure i had it planned out before i ever saw this, but i was really pleased to see it because it's very much the same idea. even in the engine room, akechi calls the thieves idiots for inviting him back into the team. of course, this isn't a good or healthy worldview lol and it's something he has to unlearn because he literally trusts no one and that's not an extreme anyone should be endorsing, but he also has a point in that the thieves are willing to throw their faith into things way too easily and don't look critically at people or situations. so the magician fools them, victimises them, tricks them into considering him a victim, fools them again, traumatises them, but they all continue to feel empathy for him and try to save him when he's in trouble. akc's cynicism vs the thieves' faith is a big theme of this one i think and the question is like, when to doubt vs when to trust even when you have evidence to the opposition. i think the right position is somewhere between thesis and antithesis (which iirc is not actually the wording hegel used when describing dialectics? lol... i might be wrong. i never studied hegel so my knowledge is pretty superficial. but i think this was a translation thing anyway because allegedly goro doesnt refer directly to hegel in jp? someone can confirm or deny idk)

anyway those are the bossfights we've had so far!!! just the VIP Box to go now......................... :3

[deus-ex-mona]

pretty minor thing to think about, but i find it interesting how chapter 7 is the first chapter illustration to show chizuutan as chizuru (instead of chuutan)

like, i get it’s a flashback chapter, but we hardly got to see her as chizuru in the previous few chapters thus far… maybe we’ll get to see more of her as her true self after the hiyori fight/make up? only future chapters may tell, i guess…

[wewontbesleeping]

decided to try out one of Apple Music’s little playlists they ‘make’ for you so I put on the “feel good” one and the first song they play is renegade… feel good yet?