#and even if you still have friends it feels very ??? why can't we all be friends anymore

[hannieoftheyear]

love personified (k.mg)

walking back home from your breakup, just hours before valentine's day is finally over, you encounter a pretty stranger who seems to know everything you want

🏹 pairing: cupid!mingyu x f!reader

🏹 w.c: 5,6k

🏹 genre: supernatural au, smut, fluff, angst. MDNI.

🏹 warnings: mingyu's a bit of a stalker, has superpowers, is very strong and he also flies (important for later), mention of a break up and talks about the future | smut warnings: flying sex? like in the sky... yeah, dirty talk, praise, fingering (f. rec), unprotected sex (don't be stupid like them).

🏹 note: i first intended to make this more fluffy but something took over me and added plot and then the smut and the angst and here we are

🏹 note 2: the beginning was HEAVILY inspired by damon and elena's first meeting in the vampire diaries, also stole some dialogue from the scene heh.

🏹 last note i swear: I tried to make a banner, and idk how to feel about it... but I wanted something new! I'll see if I keep them for the future

dividers used: candy hearts, heartbeat

hope you like this! can't wait to read your thoughts <3

February is always the hardest, most chaotic month to work as cupid. During the rest of the year, Mingyu feels like he has all the time in the world to find someone’s perfect match, to set up meet-cutes and “coincidences” for people to realize their feelings. But as the clock ticks and January 31st becomes February 1st, people’s need to find the perfect Valentine’s Day date intensifies, and they start looking for dates themselves instead of letting him do his job.

Mingyu has to work overtime to make sure every person he’s singled out doesn’t mess up. He doesn’t have time for couples, even if he made the match or not, so he usually deals with their problems once the holiday is over. 

That’s why he didn’t notice you’d been fighting with your boyfriend all day. 

Mingyu was aware of you. You’ve been together with your boyfriend long before he came to your town, so you haven’t really needed his services. But as he worked hard to find your friends’ perfect matches, he took notice of you. Every time someone close to you came to you for advice, what you’d tell them was always what Mingyu was thinking. But he couldn’t interfere with your relationship, especially as you seemed to not have any problems.

Just two hours before February 14th is finally over, after a very tiring, rushed day to make sure every person he was working with had the best day possible, Mingyu decides to fly around town in case anyone else needs last minute help.

He’s the best at what he does. He follows the rules and meets his goals with outstanding results. On the days when he gets the best results, he allows himself to go find you and just see you being there. 

Tonight, he didn't forget about you, but he didn’t have time to catch up with your life all day. So, when he finds you walking on an empty road alone, with your phone in your hand, sobbing quietly, he can’t resist it. 

Mingyu doesn’t usually present in his human form, but this late at night, on a dark empty road far from the lights of the town, there’s no danger. Only you. And it's easy to make sure no one remembers him when it's only one person.

“Is everything okay?” You’d turned your head to see if any cars were driving by, so Mingyu takes you by surprise, standing a few feet ahead. 

“Fuck! Where did you come from?” You scream as you take a step back away from him. 

You squint as you analyze Mingyu up and down, noting you’ve never seen him before. And you should be scared. You would be if he didn’t seem so... nice? A wave of comfort rushes past you, but you still keep your distance, in case your intuition's failing you. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Mingyu smiles warmly as he finally heard your voice directed to him after so long. “I’m Mingyu.” 

“And I don’t mean to be rude, Mingyu... but it’s kinda creepy that you're out here in the middle of nowhere.” Your eyebrows frown, but your voice stays soft, your body relaxing after the initial scare. 

“You’re one to talk. You’re out here alone, too.” Mingyu can’t resist the urge to tease you, smirking as you seem to get interested in the interaction. 

“It’s my town. Nothing bad ever happens here.” You avoid telling him the reason you’re there at first, but as your instincts keep telling you to not be afraid, you decide that telling a seemingly friendly stranger your problems might not be that bad. “I broke up with my boyfriend.” 

“Why? May I ask?” Mingyu inquires, hands in the air in response to your questioning gaze. “And today of all days.” 

“The future.” You sigh, weirdly trusting him with more. “He had everything figured out, his whole life with me, and I...” 

“And you don’t want it?” Mingyu can’t help but ask. It’s his nature after all. 

“I… don’t know what I want.” Your arms cross in front of your chest, confused by Mingyu’s interest in you, but curious enough to keep talking to him. 

“That can’t be true.” Mingyu lifts one eyebrow, not teasing, but rather thinking he can actually help you for once. “You want what everybody wants.” 

“Huh... a mysterious stranger who has all the answers.” You provoke, not believing someone you’ve never seen in your small town could hold the answer to a problem that has been tormenting you for weeks. 

Mingyu chuckles in response, your teasing behavior making you more interesting in his eyes. He has seen you in circumstances where you always reacted in the same way, a shallow character of you formed in his head. And now, he can see you with other eyes. A new layer to you he can explore. 

He's watched people at their most vulnerable, created an atmosphere for them where they can be themselves so he can find someone for them. The way you challenge him, but at the same time trust him, is harboring thoughts in his mind he shouldn’t have. 

“Let’s just say helping people is what I do. I’ve learned a few things over time.” Being as vague as he can, Mingyu hopes that’s enough for you to come close to him and let him tell you what he thinks you need. 

“So, Mingyu, tell me. What is it that I want?” You seem like you fell for it, but is it a game to you? You want to see how far this pretty stranger can take it. Mingyu, on the other hand, might just break the single rule he's followed his entire life. 

“You want a love that consumes you. You don’t want someone safe. You want passion and adventure. Even a little danger.” 

Whatever you were expecting Mingyu to tell you, it wasn’t anything close to what just came out of his mouth. But he was... right? 

Previously to your fight with your now ex-boyfriend, you never thought about what you wanted, about your future. You cared about living in the present. Mingyu liked that about you. It gave you a certain perspective of life other people lacked, and it’s what made you such a seeked out advice giver amongst your friends. And your boyfriend, he was good, safe, a constant in your life. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong about him, you just stopped feeling like you used to, he stopped being what you needed.

“You seem to know so much about love.” You can only reply, and he smiles. A smile that’s just as warm as it’s proud. 

“I live for love. It’s what I do.” Deep within the both of you, there’s an understanding, a growing trust. Mingyu waits for your confirmation, on the brink of deciding to have one selfish night. 

Since the dawn of time, the first warning everyone gets as children is to not trust strangers, and you’ve followed that advice every day of your life. But your gut urges you to trust the kind looking man who seems to know exactly what you want. An impulse, prompting you to give in, just for one night, to make you forget about the reason you were alone on the road in the first place. 

“Would you show me?” Is all Mingyu needed to hear to take a step closer in your direction.

“We have to do something about your things first.” You had already forgotten about the tiny bag you chose to wear, only because you were supposed to be on a date, hanging loosely from your shoulder.

“What are you planning to do?” You don’t stop Mingyu as he grabs your bag and walks to the side of the road, hiding it behind one of the big trees.

“I was thinking of starting with the adventure part.” When he doesn’t return to your place on the empty road, you follow him to where he stands, watching your every move carefully.

“I’m fine with that.” The spot where you purposely decide to stand is dangerously close to him, his personal space blending with yours.

“Promise me you won’t get scared. I got you.” Now barely centimeters away from you, Mingyu has to tilt his head down to be able to look at you. You nod, and your eyes show no sign of fear as he places both his hands on your waist to hold you. “Hold tight.” 

A bit reluctant, but still trusting, you wrap both of your arms around his neck with a questioning look. Mingyu smirks lightly but gives you no time to realize what it causes in you because you stop feeling the ground beneath your feet. 

You should be afraid. A man you just met can fly and is lifting you up in the air with him, with no protection whatsoever. But his hands around you feel tight and secure, and you trust he won't let you fall.

“How do I not feel heavy? Like, I'm flying too, and it's not just holding me.” You ask, too curious about his mystery powers.

“You know when a piece of metal touches a magnet, it gains its magnetism too? It's something similar. As long as a part of you is in contact with me, you'll fly too.”

“And you don't have wings?” 

Mingyu loves the way your brain works, and he can’t help but chuckle at your genuine curiosity. “You think I should be a baby with tiny wings and a heart bow and arrow?” 

“Don’t be mean!” You wish you could hit him lightly in the shoulder, but that would mean you'd have to retrieve your hand from your hold momentarily.

The adrenaline rushes quickly through your body, seeing how the night sky gets closer and the city below you grows far. 

“The view’s so pretty.” You say after a moment of silence, admiring the town lights from a distance. 

“Really pretty.” Mingyu replies, but his head hasn’t turned, eyes fixed on your face analyzing your every feature. 

When you hear his voice so close to you, his warm breath reaching your skin despite the wind, you turn your head back to him and find his eyes in you. “You’re not looking.” The words mix with giggles. 

“I’ve gotten used to it.” Mingyu’s gaze dips to your smiling lips for just a second. “I much rather look at other beautiful things.” 

Warmth spreads from your stomach up to your cheeks. “You’re good at this.” Avoiding his eyes by entertaining yourself with the view doesn’t work very well. 

“At what?” Mingyu teases, loving the way your cheeks pink up because of him.

“You’re very charming.” If Mingyu decided to tilt his head a little closer, you’re sure your heart would burst out from your chest.

“I know what people like. It’s one of the perks of doing my job.” The cocky tone only strengthens his influence over you.

“And what would that be?” Already surrendered to whatever he has in store for you, you instigate him further.

“I know what people want to hear, what they want to feel, how they like to be cared for and touched.” Mingyu’s hand tucks a rebel strand of hair behind your ear and takes the chance to brush his fingers down your neck and arm, managing to hold you steady with only one arm.

“Touched, huh?” If he knows what you want, then he must be stalling giving you exactly that.

“It’s really important information to accurately do my job." The courage gained allows you to lose your grip around his neck to let one of your hands play with Mingyu’s hair, and your moves just broaden the smirk that hasn't worn off him.

“You know, you said you'd show me the things I want, but so far, we've only levitated from our original spot.” It was easy for you to trust, and frankly, ,, and there’s no doubt he has more knowledge than the average person. But his teasing grips and touches are doing nothing more than getting you in the mood for something that there’s no guarantee is going to happen. “You’re making me doubt you.”

“I don’t know how much you want me to show you.” Mingyu might have a sense for love and lust, but he’s no mind reader. As much as he wants to believe the fire he sees behind your eyes as your hands take their time to feel the warm skin behind his neck is because you want him just as much as he does, he can’t do anything unless you explicitly want to as well.

“I want more.” You want to feel everything that you felt was missing before, and in Mingyu’s hands, you just know he’ll make sure you do.

“More?” Mingyu’s last will to resist you, last chance to listen to the tiny voice in his mind that’s telling him that this is a bad idea.

But, how bad can it be if his whole body’s telling him to give you what you want? To give in to his desires for once?

“Make me feel what you know I want. Touch me like you think I'd like to be touched.” 

How wrong can it be if you're in his arms asking him for it, flying on the sky with only your trust in him to guarantee you’ll be safe, with your oh so pretty doe eyes piercing through the thin wall shielding his self control.

“I will, but you can’t remember that you met me.” It pains Mingyu to say it out loud, but he can’t hide the reality from you. “I have to erase me from your memory.”

“Why?” You knew it was too good to be true. “I won’t tell anyone.” In different circumstances, you'd be embarrassed to sound as needy as you just did. But there's no witness in the quietness of the sky.

“I’m not supposed to do this,” Mingyu sighs, “I’m not supposed to get personally involved with a human.” When he says it out loud, it makes sense. But when he connects his eyes with you again, it doesn’t make sense to him that you’re off limits, that he has to resist you. How could he?

“And I’m not supposed to trust a stranger that comes up to me in the middle of the night and offers to fly me around the city.” A small smile fights to appear on Mingyu’s otherwise worried expression. “But okay, I’ll let you mess with my memories. At least promise me you’ll give me the best night of my life.”

“I promise you.” Mingyu’s going to give you whatever you ask for. After all, it’s his job to cater to people’s desires.

With his hands back on your waist, as tight and secure as they can, Mingyu elevates the both of you higher, hiding your bodies behind the few dense clouds, so no stray stargazing human can be testimony. He waits for you to take in the view, the new ambiance in which he’ll make you yours for the night.

Waiting might be part of his plan, making you crave his touch until you beg for it. “So, how would you start? Besides flying me to where no one can see us.” You try to taunt him, but as you finish verbalizing your thoughts, you feel the warmth of his body all around you.

“First, I'd touch you.” His hands sneak below your shirt. The pads of his fingers barely graze your skin as they travel up your chest. “Find that spot that paints the whole of you with goosebumps.” Easily, but not surprisingly, Mingyu takes the time to feel every part of your torso, and when you gasp lightly as he reaches the small of your back, just above where the fabric of the skirt you luckily decided to wear begins, he knows he found it.

“And then?” Breathless, your eyes refuse to leave his, entranced by the glimmer of lust behind them.

“I'd press you against me.” What he says, he does, wasting no time. “Kiss your neck right where I can feel your pulse.” With his lips on the sensitive skin of your neck, Mingyu feels your pulse completely accelerated, and he can’t help but smirk against you. “How am I doing?”

“It's alright.” He aims to remove his head from the crook of your neck, but your hand keeps him there, and he chuckles right on your skin. “Don’t you dare stop.”

“You like being pressed up against me?” Your hands tighten around Mingyu’s collar as he keeps kissing up your neck, and you hum at his words. “There’s other things I could be doing.”

A sudden cold wind reminds you of where you are, and when Mingyu senses the sudden scare inside you, he continues with his plan, helping you forget. He sneaks one of his hands below your pretty skirt and just lightly touches your covered mound. You wish you could tear off his clothes, throw them in the air to nowhere so you could feel his hot skin against yours, just how he likes to feel yours.

“Shit.” You barely get the curse out as Mingyu licks his way up your neck.

“Do you want me to touch you?” His voice sounds deeper, with a tint of something you can’t quite decipher exciting you for what’s next.

“Yes!” You don’t mind sounding desperate if it gets you what you want, but instead, he stops moving and only presses his fingers against your core.

“Say it.” The way your panties grow wetter at his demand has Mingyu salivating. “Say you want my fingers inside you.”

“I thought you knew what I wanted.” A lousy attempt at provoking him, as Mingyu's already ten steps ahead of you.

“You love getting told what to do. So, say it.” His face is a mere inch away from your face, with his breath tickling over your parted lips, but he does nothing to change it, challenging you.

“I want your fingers inside of me.” You state, with your eyes connected to his teasing ones, your hand drifting down to find his and sliding in under your panties for once. “Now.”

“Hmm, that's what I wanted to hear.”

His shoulders become your next victim. You grip them like your life depends on it –it does, your fingers dig on his toned muscles as his toy with your cunt, spreading your lips apart and circling your clit as if you're not dripping down into the clouds below already.

You use the strong hold on his firm body to grind against his hand, searching for the friction he's refusing to give you. His nod of approval encourages you further, and in no time, you've coated the whole of his hand with your juices.

When two of his fingers slip into your core at once, curling them to give you every sensation at once, your walls welcome the girth of his fingers, pushing a surprised moan out of you.

Mingyu moves them in and out of you steadily, letting you feel every stretch and every spot the tips of his fingers reach and touch. Gasps and moans are all the sounds you can produce, watching his face closely as he looks down to where he buries his hand into you.

But he’s going too slow, and your hips take charge, riding his hand to match his thrusts so he can reach deeper. Mingyu fails to fight back a moan, as if he’s enjoying it more than you, and you speed up in search for more.

“Stop.” Mingyu’s other hand tilts your chin up so he can look you in the eyes.

“W-Why?” Despite the question, you obey his demand even if your insides pulse around his fingers, begging either of you to move.

“Slow down, take the time to feel everything. It’ll feel better.”

Arguing with him is out of the question, so when he stiffens his hand under you, preparing it for you to follow his instructions, you do so.

“Like this?” You sway your hips forward slowly, feeling his fingers open you up while Mingyu relishes in the way your gummy walls embrace him with so much need.

“That’s right, baby.” Deeper than anyone has ever reached with a few fingers, Mingyu knows exactly when to curl his to have you clamping around him, your body trembling against him but still doing what he told you to. “You're doing so well.”

Everything he says and does sends you closer and closer to the edge, fighting back moans and screams that scratch their way out of you, but you don’t want it to be over, so you delay the orgasm as much as possible.

As if he was a mind reader, Mingyu realizes your intentions and takes charge once again, plunging his fingers into you with the exact force and precision that causes a new wave of arousal to drip into his hand.

“Don’t fight it. Let go.”

“But– I don’t– fuck!” It’s like your body only follows his command, the white light shining from the stars getting brighter and brighter until it’s all you can see, and you're cumming on his fingers in no time.

Your chest heaves as if you just ran a marathon, catching your breath after he removes his digits from you and leaves you empty.

“Okay, I believe you now.” Your cold damp underwear sticks to your core uncomfortably when you wrap your legs around him, surprised you hadn’t before, and you welcome the feel of his hard length against you.

“Now?” Mingyu chokes in the middle of his chuckle at the contact but doesn’t do anything to get your tempting body away.

“Yeah, but partially.” It’s obvious you still want more, but Mingyu feels he’s done. He made you feel good like you asked and like he wanted. He wouldn’t dare to push things further without your confirmation. “You could give me a little more proof.”

“I– I shouldn’t, I mean, you don’t owe me anything. We don’t have to if–”

“I want it,” you quickly interrupt his ramble, “I need you.” Even through the layers of fabric and the rush of wind prickling at your skin, the twitch of his hard reaches your core. “I know you want it too.”

“You’re a bad influence.” Mingyu sighs, throwing his head back with a smirk.

“You’re the one who approached me claiming to have magic powers that tell you exactly how to make me cum! Now deal with the consequences of your actions!”

“I did not say that.” He very clearly implied it, but he likes the way your face quirks when he plays your little game.

“Hmm, but I think you did.” His hands holding you don’t dare travel down even for a tease. “Do I have to beg? Cause I will.” Your semi-true joke draws an unexpected laugh out of him, and you can only bat your eyelashes at him, waiting for a response.

You’re still sensitive from the earth-shattering orgasm at his hand, and your whole body twitches as you grind lightly against him with a purpose, earning a delicious low groan and a tighter grip in his arms.

“I don’t have any protection.” His voice hitches at your every move, pressing against him with no care in the world. “I wasn’t exactly planning this.”

“I had a boyfriend for over two years, Mingyu… I’m on the pill.” His mention doesn't set either of you back. “If we both want to, then what's the issue?”

Yeah, what’s the issue? That's exactly what Mingyu wonders as he flawlessly unzips his pants the perfect amount to let his hard spring out of his fabric prison. That's what he wonders when your hand wraps around him, taking in his girth before moving up and down slowly. That question is barely a murmur in the wind as you place the tip of his cock at your entrance, locking eyes with him as you sink on him.

Your warm walls mold to his shape, every new inch he reaches wrapping around him as if to keep him there forever. How could he stay away from you?

Instead of waiting to adjust to him, you do your best to start a pace of shallow thrusts. Mingyu's hands gripping you help you find a rhythm, your hips colliding when they meet.

The sighs leaving his parted lips call to you, begging you to connect them. It’s the only thing you haven’t done, and they’re so close, so tempting, only one hand on his neck and a little push, and they’d be on yours. But he stiffens at your touch, and you know he’s resisting.

“Please.” You whisper, but you don’t move further whilst he’s deciding.

It takes Mingyu about two seconds to comply. And you’re so close. It’s barely a change.

The sweetness of his kiss melts you into him, unsurprisingly tender but shockingly full of a kind of lust that he wasn’t showing before, one that only translates in the way he resumes his thrusts inside you in sync with his lips gliding over yours.

A moan escapes you into his mouth as he finds the deepest parts of you, hitting every spot inside you as easily as taking a breath. His grip on your ass gets tighter the louder your sounds become, his eager kiss not drowning them anymore.

Mingyu stimulates every single one of your senses, rendering you incapable of focusing on solely one. His hands traveling everywhere on your body wishing he could feel your bare skin, his sweet scent mixing with the filthiness of your affair, the heated sounds he allows to escape reaching your ears, compelling your walls to contract around him, your tongues molding together in an intent to feel even more of him. He’s everywhere, and you don’t want it to ever stop.

It’s the stutter of his hips that makes everything around you blurry. His hand drifts between your hot bodies, digits circling your clit deliberately and you stop the kiss to gasp in his mouth. Every nerve on your body works towards the goal, the one Mingyu knew precisely how to get you there at light speed.

You don’t fight it this time. Resisting it would mean delaying the strong desire to feel him cum inside you.

Hiding your face on the crook of his neck, your arms wrap around Mingyu’s shoulders as you grind hard against him in the quest to trigger his orgasm along with yours. Something tells you he’s close, maybe the way he embraces you closer to him, if that’s even possible, or how his breathing becomes more rushed against your ear.

It’s like nothing you’ve ever felt before. A lightning bolt, your second orgasm strikes over you unforeseeably hard, so much so that it sets Mingyu’s off just after.

Heavy breathing is all there is to hear for a few seconds, both of you trying to get your bodies back to normal after he slips out of you.

“I definitely believe you now.” As Mingyu's bringing you down in between the trees where you left your bag earlier, you chuckle as you joke to fill the calm silence.

“That's good to hear.” He sounds almost… sad?

Mingyu doesn't know what to do now. As soon as you decide you're done with him, he's going to have to erase every memory of him from your mind, and that's killing him inside.

“Can I ask you something?” But, instead of just grabbing your things and leaving, you sit on the damp grass, patting the spot beside you signaling him to sit down too.

“Whatever you want.” He smiles as he sits by your side, body still as warm as when he hugged you to lift you up in the air, but avoids your eyes doing so.

“Do you investigate people to know what they like?” How did he know exactly what you liked was your real question, and maybe Mingyu got that, but he doesn't show it.

He chuckles, thinking of a way to make what he does more understandable. “Not like that. I can't really explain it, but I just know. When I find someone and see them day to day, it's like I can feel it.”

“So, did you know me? Before tonight?” From your perspective, it can't be a coincidence that he happened to run into you minutes after you broke up with your boyfriend. He must've known. He must've come down to help you.

“Yes,” hesitant, he answers, “I watched over you from time to time.” He can't lie to you. Not because an hour from now, you won't remember this conversation, but because he feels he can trust you.

“Did you pair me together with…” 

“Someone before me did.” Mingyu chuckles, remembering the first time he saw you. 

You were next in line at the coffee shop. He was following the cashier that day, seeing how he was during an ordinary day and trying to gain a sense of his likes and dislikes. When your time to pay came, he saw it, a special light coming from that man's eyes. He liked you. And Mingyu understood him immediately. 

The cash slipped out of your hand and fell onto the ground, and you smiled at him as you said sorry and told him to keep the change. But then, Mingyu saw your order, two coffees instead of one. And then he saw you stroll to the table where he instantly knew your boyfriend was the one waiting for you.

“And are you going to find me someone else?”

The world stops, freezing at your words. Mingyu hadn’t realized what it meant for a couple to break up under his watch. He didn't put you together, but it was his job to mend your hearts by sending a new someone your way. He'll have to watch over you for real this time, see you living your life day to day, without remembering him.

“I should… it’s my job.” He repeats like a mantra in his head. It's his job.

“Right, your job.” Disappointed, you stare at him, waiting for the tiniest sign of regret. “But do you want to?” 

“I– it's my duty.” It's his job. It's his job. It's his job. It's his job.

“If it wasn’t, would you?”

If it wasn't, he wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. Instead of parading around his gift for you to be impressed, he would've won you over the right way, taking you out on dates and making you blush with trashy pick-up lines. He would've met your friends and let them interrogate him as he took your hand under the table.

But that's just a fantasy. And he can't move on with life thinking of all the what ifs.

His silence is all you need to know the answer.

“I get it.” You simply reply as you look up to the sky.

Mingyu wants to apologize. He wants to tell you that it will be hell for him to see you every day and try to find someone who isn't him for you. But he can't.

He opens his mouth to say something, anything, but the led lights of a car rushing past the road take him back to reality. To where he shouldn’t be involved with a human.

“You should go. It’s late, I’m sure people must be looking for you.” Mingyu reminds you that tonight was only a moment out of the ordinary.

But you're not ready to leave, to give up your memories of him.

How can one night impact your life this much? You didn’t know Mingyu until a few hours ago, you had a good life, no problems except that one. And now, you can’t even fathom living a life in which you don’t know who he is. A life in which you don’t know there’s someone out there that looks after you and knows you better than anyone else.

Mingyu sees your doubt and hesitates to get close to you, now that you have stood up and walked away from him. But he takes a step in your direction, standing in front of you and placing his hands on the side of your face, forcing you to look at him.

“I don’t want to forget tonight.” Your watery eyes shine under the moonlight, a sight Mingyu will never be able to forget. “I don’t want to forget you.”

“I’m sorry.” He really is. “I can’t risk them finding out.”

“Please, I won’t tell anyone.” A single teardrop drifts down your cheek, dampening Mingyu’s thumb as he wipes it off, so gently he might be afraid of hurting you even more. “You don’t have to do this.”

“I- I don’t know.” He shouldn’t be so easily swayed by you.

“It’s just me. No one else is going to know. No one will find out.”

It's just me. Mingyu's head doesn't stop repeating those words. It's just you. You, who shared your troubles with him even if he was a stranger. You, who trusted him enough to be held in his arms in the air. You, who he knows, would never break a promise.

Mingyu never breaks the rules of his job. But, on the longest night of his life, he chose to be selfish for once. And he didn’t regret one single moment.

this might be one of the worst ending i ever wrote i'm sorry

[anonymous-dentist]

Part One

Once Upon a Time...

Cellbit and the god walk out of the tavern just as the sun is starting to rise and the storm is starting to break.

The God of Chaos stretches his arms above his head and yawns.

At some point in the, well, chaos, Cellbit could've sworn that the god had eight arms and just as many eyes; fangs and claws and a laugh sharp enough to cut glass. But, now, he almost looks normal minus a pair of blood red eyes.

But Cellbit can See him. And he hates him.

(Spiders... why is it always spiders!?)

Cellbit walks silently, hood up and hands in his cloak's pockets. He's bleeding, he can feel his shirt soaking through somewhere under his ribcage, but he can't quite bring himself to care; he's a dead man walking, whether he dies sooner rather than later doesn't matter.

("Once upon a time," He said, "there was a fox and a rabbit.")

Everybody who was in the tavern may or may not be dead. Some, he knows, are: the tavern keeper (arrow to the eye), and a woman sitting near the front door (ripped apart by a wolf.) But others are... well. He can fix them.

Cellbit keeps his head down. He can see blood, still-drying, on the tops of his boots and staining the cuffs of his trousers. Most of it, he knows, are the god's.

The God of Chaos nudges Cellbit's upper arm with his elbow (he's taller, but just barely, just enough for Cellbit to wonder if the god is normally this tall or if he's just trying to fuck with him.)

"Soooo..." he says, "I'm Roier."

"I Know," Cellbit quietly responds.

("It was a very hot summer, and the fox and the rabbit were waiting by the watering hole. There was only one in the forest, and so it was running low on water. "'Oh, my!' the fox exclaimed. 'I fear I may die of thirst!' "'Worry not, my friend,' said the rabbit. 'It will be our turn soon enough.' 'Ah, but my kits!' the fox cried. 'They are still too small to leave the den, and all I have is this one bottle to bring back to them!'")

"And you are...?"

The God of Chaos trails off into a question.

Cellbit huffs out a dry laugh through his nose.

"Aren't you a god?" he taunts.

"Okay, and? I'm not Antoine." He grins, blinding. "I'm Roier!"

Oh, Cellbit knows who he is. everybody part of Connaissance knows each and every legend he's in; Cellbit grew up hearing the name 'Roier' in the same breath as 'danger'. Chaos' followers were to be hunted down and exterminated. (Jaiden and Foolish, of course, are the exceptions to that.)

(Subtly, Cellbit takes a step to the side as he walks. Old habits die hard, and all that.)

"They said my name. In the tavern," Cellbit supplies.

Chaos shrugs. "Eh."

Quiet.

The forest around the village is starting to wake up: birds are singing, leaves are rustling. The monsters inside hiss as sunlight starts to hit them.

The village itself is still asleep. Hopefully it'll stay that way until Cellbit and his new shadow are long gone (he does not want to deal with guards on top of whoever He is going to send next.)

("By the time the fox and the rabbit reached the watering hole, there was barely any water left," He said. "The fox wrung its paws, thinking of her thirsty kits back home. And the rabbit watched.")

Cellbit stifles a yawn, ears and tail twitching.

(His hands are starting to itch, fuck. He thought he had finally found something he isn't allergic to...)

They leave the village and disappear into the forest, and Cellbit has absolutely no idea where he's going. And it's thrilling. It would be even better if he didn't haven't a debt hanging over his head.

("'My friend', said the rabbit, 'I can see that you are worried. So let me help you, we are neighbors and friends, and I care for you very much. Because of this, I will take your bottle and fill it rather than drink for myself, and I will run quickly to deliver it to your kits while you drink.' "The fox," He said, "trusted her friend and agreed. She handed the rabbit the bottle, and the rabbit, indeed, filled the bottle and ran towards their homes.")

The God of Chaos starts to hum under his breath.

Cellbit's ears twitch again; there wasn't much music with Connaissance. It's still a little weird to hear it just so casually.

Chaos' coat shifts with every step. And, with every step, Cellbit can see a hint of his knife (his fucking knife-) hanging from a loop in Chaos' belt.

The village must be waking up, because here's a scream so sharp and sudden that it sends a couple of deer running in front of the two of them in a blind panic.

The poor people still themselves inside of the tavern must be moving, too, because more and more people are starting to shout and scream, and someone specifically starts yelling about there being a fucking shark inside of the tavern and, oh, gods, is that a fucking dragon!?

Cellbit bites back his laugh, just barely.

The God of Chaos, though, lets out a little giggle and shoots Cellbit a mischievous look out of the corner of his eye, a smirk on his face.

"Well?" he teasingly asks.

Cellbit's mouth twitches. "'Well'?"

Chaos takes a step closer, leaning in just so slightly, head tilted towards Cellbit just so slightly. His smirk has turned to a smile; somehow, his humming has continued.

"What do you think?" he asks. "Was I helpful?"

(Another scream, this one a name.)

"'Cause I'm pretty sure they've forgotten allll about you by now."

("The fox," He said, "drank her fill and hurried home. But, when she got there, all she could do was scream.")

"And!" Chaos adds, cutting in before Cellbit can even think of responding. "I've got a feeling those other guys won't be coming for you any time soon."

Cellbit nods begrudgingly. "He'll have to come out here and cure them, and that'll take at least an hour per person. Probably more if-" (He grimaces.) "-Lord Knowledge is... occupied."

If Chaos picks up on the emphasis or the obvious distaste, he doesn't comment on it. (His eyes do light up- literally!- though, which may be worse.)

"Soooo...."

The God of Chaos trails off expectantly.

Cellbit ducks his head with a tense sigh. Of course.

"You were... very helpful," he admits. "I'd probably dead or back in chains if it wasn't for you."

The God of Chaos straightens back up. And then he fist-pumps with a hissed, "Yesssss!"

Cellbit decides to bite the bullet and ask the question that's been weighing on him for hours while Chaos is in a good mood:

"What do I owe you, then?"

(He gasped, "What was it?" He shot him a sharp glare. "Patience, Prophet. I was about to get to it." He cleared His throat, and then He continued: "In front of the fox's den was the Farmer beating the fox's kits with a cudgel. "The rabbit quickly appeared by the fox's side holding the empty bottle. "'I brought them the water,' said the rabbit. 'But then I realized that we would never have enough water in the forest if we have to continue quenching so many mouths.' "The fox cried and wept and prayed to His Lordship, but the Farmer continued beating the kits until they were dead. "'Here's the last one!' the rabbit shouted, pointing at the grieving fox. "The fox tried to run, but the Farmer was faster. "As the fox died, the Farmer gave the rabbit a carrot and a fresh bottle filled with water. "And thus the deal was completed.")

Chaos' smile flickers; Cellbit doesn't have to See him to know he's confused.

"Nothing, man," he answers. "We're even."

No way...

Rain starts to fall again.

Cellbit frowns. "I'm sorry?"

Chaos shrugs, unsure; Cellbit Knows it.

"We're even," the God of Chaos repeats. "You don't owe me anything. We're good, man. Don't worry about it."

Okay, but Cellbit is worrying. They're even, but he hasn't done anything for them to be even over. And he Knows how the gods work: nothing comes for free; payment usually comes in the form of worship, but Cellbit is done with praying.

So...

Uncomfortably, Cellbit says, "You... mentioned going to your place back at the-"

Chaos cuts him off, wide-eyed and frozen in place. "Ah, no! No, no! No, I was just trying to- to help! We don't have to-"

Cellbit visibly relaxes.

"Oh, thank the gods," he wheezes, hiding his face in his hands. (The makeup smells like sweat and blood by now, but he ignores it.)

A pause. Then:

"You're welcome?"

Cellbit can't help it. He laughs, a sharp little bark of a thing that surprises himself with how sudden it is.

Eyes closed, he can clearly See the God of Chaos' true monstrous form smiling in sheer obvious deligh.

Cellbit's tail flickers in annoyance. His ears threaten to lay flat in fear. The God of Chaos is delighted by him. Great.

"Tell you what," Chaos says, hidden laughter in his voice, "You want to pay me back? Call me by my name."

He pokes Cellbit's forehead where it's peeking out between his fingers.

Cellbit lowers his hands and gives Chaos a confused look.

The God of Chaos just keeps smiling, and he almost looks human doing it.

"I can hear your big brain thinking."

Another pause, slightly more awkward.

"Not literally!" Chaos is quick to add. "But all you humans are so formal, just. Uh. I'm Roier, okay?"

He extends a gloved hand.

Cellbit looks at it for a long, unsure moment.

Hesitantly, he takes it.

"Cellbit," he replies.

"I know," Roier, the God of Chaos, grins.

(And, somehow, Cellbit feels like another deal has been made.)

-

A/N: Let me know what you think in the tags or in my inbox! I want to hear your theories, thoughts, opinions, everything!

[lady-mole]

Alright, everyone ! As I initially planed, I am gonna tell you more about my love story with Lord Mole for Valentines day ! :3🩷

Okay, first of all, I started to fall in love with Lord Mole on July 2022, I even had a dream about him, and we were dating ! :o

Anyway, we were best friends at the time (he even told me his "darkest" secret), and we were spending a lot of time together in Strangetown ! :3

Unfortunately, I had quite a hard time realizing and accepting my romantic feelings for him, which is the reason why we only got married on November 28th 2024 ! x3🩷

So, what happened during more than two years ? I desperately searched for another f/o to marry. I really wanted to settle down and to have a fictional husband to stay by my side forever. But, since forever sounds like a pretty long time, I wanted to find THE "perfect profile".

Of course, I didn't work. The characters that got me interested were "too pretty for me" or "too complicated to live with", anyway, I was always finding some excuse, and at some point, I even felt like I simply wasn't made for married life, or for love ! xc

Except when I was with Lord Mole... During these two years, I occasionaly thought of him, and we even had a few dates together at Strangetown's saloon ! x3🩷

We grew even closer than before and, at some point, I just thought to myself : "no fictional character could ever make me feel the way Lord Mole does..."

I just couldn't entirely stop thinking of him and he was always the one to comfort me and to make me feel loved. 💕

Why did I fall in love with him, of all people from literally every other universe ?

Well, first of all, he is beautiful to my eyes, and I am not afraid to say it anymore ! x3🩷 (Even if I still have a hard time drawing his perfect body, damnit ! xC)

Then, his presence just makes me feel safe and home, I still can't really explain why, though...

How much do I love him ? Oh, you have no idea, he literally made me realize I am a woman, after all this time feeling like some kind of weird creature who can't even love properly... 💕

Anyway, more than two years later, I finally accepted the fact that, dang, he is the one I want to marry, and I confessed my feelings to him ! 🩷

We became a couple on September 28th 2024, and two months later, on my 24th birthday, we finally got married ! 💕💕💕

If my life was a TV Show, the audience would have probably been jumping with excitment, yelling "FINALLY SHE UNDERSTOOD THEY ARE MADE FOR EACH OTHER !!!!!!!!! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SINCE SEASON 1 !!!!! #Lordlady is finally canon !!! #Royal Fit forever !!!! #IF THE WORLD WAS ENDING !!!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉"

Anyway, soon after that, since I was finally married with my f/o, I wanted people to know it, so I create this selfship blog, and even if I was VERY, VERY nervous at first, I am so glad I met you guys, you are awesome and you made me realize how important my love story truly is, I also love to read about your f/os and your drawings are totally amazing (ooh ! I love your moodboards too !) :3🩷🩷🩷

I wish you the best with your f/os ! After all, you do deserve the best ! :3🩷🩷🩷

Happy Valentines Day everyone ! 🩷🩷🩷

🫶🫶🫶

Tag list :

@fictodreamer @vergils-beloved @fl0ralsxgar @zoroscanonhusband @arsene-fixates @cosmoproductions @xx-evilestyuri-xx @silver-heller @paulisperpostridie @milkmallow28 @eating-plastic @deepwatersiren @jpeg-indulgence @mr12xu @ryez-loveyz @ardhoniel-evenstar-fics

[ilikelookingatthings]

yellow-daisy-lady

What are your ship preferences from the show? Do you have a favourite episode and why? Oh and how do you feel about the outfits/character designs what would you keep/change?

‐-----------------

Hmmmm ship preferences~

I tend to be very basic, so I'm generally chill with most of the ships the fandom ships but I do tend to lean more toward the canon based ships even if others I'll ship for interest potential.

I've been pretty firm in shipping Marinette and Adrien as endgame(mostly cuz I can see he can bring out her confidence while he is chat noir and when her feelings don't get in the way and how he tends to open up around her). Though I mostly enjoy seeing them interact the most as ladynoir or marichat...or heck ladrien has gotten more interesting.

But I have also been in the Fandom for a long time so I've been through every salt era and more red flags have popped up....so I do enjoy shipping them with other people as a possibility.

I enjoy lukanette in the show...yet weirdly not that much in fanfiction. Maybe because there is this erge to be mean to adrien when people ship luka with her or to blame adrirn fir not noticing even though mari is really bad at communicating. I genuinely think lyka has a shot with mari in the show if they had him stand up fir his feelings more.

His appeal is how mature and patient he is and how he can understand mari even when she is bad at communicating and how much she trusts to be open around luka which mari still isn't the best at with Adrien. How luka isn't pushy and genuinely is fine with being friends....and mari stood up for luks which is nice....but it can also enable mari to not treat his feelings with enough weight because he isnt fighting for them....so lukanette I ship if I feel in a Mari positive mood but sge also didn't treat him that well...so that's fading a bit.

I also shipped luka x kagami because they are foils to eachother whoch could be fun.

luka x sublime because they has a chill mature vibe but he was also intense while as a akuma.

also luka x chloe because that's just INTERESTING with chloe being very loud about treatment and rich and immature to contrast luka on the boat who is mature and patient...both also had a sort of absent parent.

I DEFINITLY ship Adrien x Kagami. They had actual chemistry and he was willing to pass up a fist bump with LB to check on her...it felt like they had to make both act a bit too out of character to msje the break up happen even if they were pushed together a bit too soon. People act like he didn't have feelings for her at all even though a point was he couldn't change targets in frozer....which means when he DID feel something later....it was real and wasn't just him trying to get over LB. Even the love akuma could sense his interest and some of my favorite jokes were based on how LB though chat was just trying yo make LB jealous...but his interest in Kagami was real. Him going back to crushing on LB was becayse it was a distraction and cuz ge couldnt do anything to fix his situation ejth jagsmi without owning up his identity.

I know they are shipping kagami with felix and they djd a great job gsslighting me into going along with it.....but I'm definjtly still hoping kagami realizes she can't just change targets to felix that easily. I want her to find out adrien is chat and that him ditching her during the date was to protect paris....since if luka can be too pstient....kagami was a bit too impatient. Even if we stan someone supporting their feelings should be treated better.....I still want the showstopper stop invalidating anyone having real feelings for adrien who isn't mari e en though msri also treats adrien like a celebrity crush at times.

Plus I'd love to see Felix's face if Adrien still had something kagami liked that feljx doesn't have. Plus I want more competitive adridn and kagami interactions so we can see how similar kagami and adrien as chat can be. Plus she wanted to actually be honest with adrien and encouraged him to speak up for himself.

Julieka x rose is adorable as best friends or as a couple.

Though I actually ship Rose x Prince Ali as well cuz they did have chemistry amd everyone forgets that.

And Julieka x Rose x Prince Ali cuz all 3 deserve the world and might as well combine them together.

I WANT to ship nate x (I'm blanking on his name so I'm going to say reverser) but they don't get enough screen time together and I'm STILL pissed at nate for ripping his book like a jerk. But we shall see if they win be over season 6.

Alya x nino is also a definite ship for me. They are adorable and healthy and I love them.

Though I also ship nino x marinette as a crush as long as it's not endgame because not enough people bring it up as a plot point even though it definitly happened...plus cuz they are actually really similar/parallel each other.

I know people act like alya is the ladybug but hell no. ALYA suits being a chat noir WAY better while Nino 100 percent has mari/ladybugs jumping to conclusions energy.

Alya x Adrien can be fun to read because the ship in the movie in the show but also because zadrien abd Alya are similar to eachother but never get enough time to interact with each other. I can see why nino would be nervious even if adrien abd alya are definitly not actually into each other.

I enjoy alix x adrien as a rare pair. Something about bunnies and chat is fun. Plus she helped fly him on a kite when ge was scaredy noir.

as well as anon x adrien from the newyork special. She feels enthusastic about life and forgiving. It won't ever happen, but I like the energy.

and let's face it....the show undercuts anyone's feelings for adrien. Lila only likes him for his clout and money so actually ship is a no go....though I desperately want to see them fight because adruen is smart and feels like he could handle lila better than Mari can. And chloe doesn't have a actual crush on adrien...Chloe is scared to lose him so thought being a girlfriend would mean he woukdnt leave her or she could make other people back off....so any adrien x chloe ship is friendship...even if sone fits can be really compelling. X'D

Sabrina x Chloe. I ship their friendship but I wouldn't mind that as a option depending on the season.

Sabrina and that boy from the newyork special is surprisingly up there for me. Maybe cuz he noticed Sabrina on his own? And if they are going to lie about newyork being a city of love might as well get a couple out of it.

Chloe having a one-sided crush or admiration of ladybug. I'm still convinced Zoey not only stole chloe's spot as a bee, as a better version in the class but also chloe being potentially a lesbian.

Melanie x Ivan is a solid ship I hope to see more of.

Alix x kim....I know he has Odine but she has so few appearances and sge reminds me of that recon episide that made Kim and chloe look even worse so eh. I don't dislike Kim x odine though.

Gabriel x Emilie x Nathalie

Gabriel's one redeeming trait js his love for his wife. I'm not letting him give that up. The parallel that gabe is like mari/ladybug while emilie is adrien/chat is too good to pass on.

But Gabe and Nathalie also honestly had a lot of chemistry bonding over the grief and secerts even if his use of the miraculous twisted him too much for her tastes. The parallel also has nathalie being his chat noir as well and hey....ladynoir can gave some toxic aspects and I ship it...so can gabe and Nathalie. Plus Emilie 100 persent cared for them both. So throuple! Problem solved! XD

Also tikki x plagg. They are cute.

Marie Anne x master fu is cute even if it sucks he lost his memories.

Shadybug x Claw noir is a top ship for me. I enjoy it.

I might squish other ships together like mari x kagami x adrien....but mostly to give a middle finger to andre the icecream man for not giving 3 scoops snd cuz I think kagami and adrjen deserve nice things. I'm in my slightly annoyed at mari era since she lowered her guard and let hawkmoth make a wish.

Felix x adrien. But one-sided and complicated from Felix's side since I've read shoujo and Cardcaptor sakura. And cuz I want to be mean to felix since his sad backstory still hasn't sunk in for me to justify destroying the rest of the human race.

Though kagami having both adrien and felix could be funny.

Still on the fence on kagami x felix but she also reads shoujo so I'm game to see where this leads.... as long as she is happy I'm happy.

Also adrien x reverser.....mostly cuz I'm still annoyed at nate abd I like the kid who is reverser (even if I can't remember his name).

Honestly I'd ship nino with more people but djwifi is still very much the best.

Oh! Kim and Max is also a cute one I ship.

I need to get my thoughts about miraculous adventures of ladybug and chat noir but I suck at starting. Someone send me questions or a thought to get the ball rolling please.

[naivety]

very weird to frame your abuse apologia as being aware that the writers intended to illustrate a mutually harmful dynamic and not an abusive one. when the writers in question also wrote the line 'once you put it out there, they [the audience] decide what it is' because nothing you ever create has any innate definition. when the writers in question decided to racebend major characters and then showcase them being harmed by white or nonblack characters in a repeatedly racialized pattern when they Did Not Have To Do That and then genuinely or disingenuously decide to dialogue about their directly or indirectly illustrated racialized dynamic of intimate partner violence within and outside the narrative. like to be quite honest it does not matter what they intended because this is what they made and this is how it Looks to a notably large amount of people. who just happen to be interpreting it wrong? according to what metric? the very metric they say Doesn't Work in their own fictional creation? ok

[cryolyst]

~

[thenwethrowitonthefire]

Shout-out to everyone who survived a "fun" easter with the family

[squarebracketsmileyface]

Okay oooooo thoughts thoughts. I don't think MH in Sorry, It's Locked wouldn't have happened if Jay and Alex hadn't hooked up, but I do think it would have happened VERY differently. I think that without their dumpster fire of a Uni relationship they wouldn't have fallen out and Alex wouldn't have moved away, and chances are Alex wouldn't have given Jay the tapes, I think he'd have continued with his MH because without another big change in his life he wouldn't have the courage to go "fuck it I'm not working on this anymore" . So I guess MH wouldn't happen in the sense that Jay would document it on YouTube like he did, but I do think the murders would still happen.

I think maybe we'd get to see the murders through Alex's film, I think it'd be behind the scenes footage and stuff like that from the film as we watch Jay go from trying to figure out where their friends, Alex's actors etc, are going, to slowly getting dragged into actively helping Alex, and the story would then be them as partners in crime. I think our hero character would actually probably end up being Brian/hoodie and the ToTheArk videos would be a LOT more important. I think Tim would largely be kept out of it until Jay and Alex go after him, then he'd get dragged into the mess by Brian managing to save him from Jay and Alex. I think Tim would find out Hoodie is Brian way earlier on, but I don't think the audience would.

Jay and alex as a team would be so very deadly and way harder to beat but i do think it could be done. I think instead of Amy dying I think she'd end up saved by Tim and Brian and would be like, suuuupe important in them being able to stop Jay and Alex tho idk what exactly she'd do. I do think she and Alex would still have gotten together in this version, Alex wouldn't have even thought about his feelings for Jay, would just have shoved them WAY down and their team up would have insane tension because Jay likes Alex, Alex likes Jay but neither of them are gonna do anything about it because they have bigger things to deal with or whatever. Alex and Amy would have gotten together during shooting Alex's MH, like in canon, rather than because of the Jaylex messy break up like in S,IL. She'd have somehow escaped with her life tho and ended up helping Tim and Hoodie.

Not sure how Masky would fit into all this. Maybe in this, because Tim's working with hoodie which is bringing him VERY close to the operator and all the actions Masky would be trying to get him away from it all to protect him? Like a kinda swap of Canon, Tim works with Brian, Masky doesn't know hoodie is Brian and tries to get tf away from him and everything and get them settled in a normal life a bit?

Amy would come into everything pretty early on and take up Canon Jay's mantle as "guy who films everything" I think? Maybe? I'm getting confused hang on lol

Yeah Amy as camera person trying to figure out what the HELL is going on with her boyfriend (ex boyfriend probably lol, he did try to kill her) and his gay tension best friend, and also what the hell is going on with seemingly perfectly normal and sane Tim working with a guy in a mask who makes creepy videos and doesn't talk? And why sometimes Tim's like "we need to get away from this Now, hide your face so you can't be recognised and let's run tf away and let whatever tf happens here happen without it endangering us anymore" but most of the time he's like "we gotta stop them"

Idk how Masky would work uh

None of Marble Hornets would have happened if Alex had just let Jay hit it in college.

[randomnameless]

Localization discourse has cropped up again on Twitter, and someone posted a few before and after screenshots of an Echoes mod that retranslates the game to be more faithful to the original JP script, with that same person claiming that all the mod does is remove all the personality and charm 8-4 added to the dialogue; for reference, here's the lines they're referring to:

Lukas (EN): But just once, i should like to be red with rage, green with envy... Something!

Lukas (JP): But still, i've never been caught up enough to lose control of myself...

Clair (EN): Do i not deserve better than these trite gambits of yours?

Clair (JP): That kind of behavior is very hurtful towards the one it is directed at.

Clair (EN): If that crass phrase means you wish to speak with me, then please proceed.

Clair (JP): Oh, Dyute. What is it?

I can somewhat get why people could see the first change as just being a less interesting way of getting across Lukas' lines about struggling with not feeling enough emotions (though even then i'd argue that changing the lines from him being dejected and resigned at his emotional struggles to him being actively angry about them is a decently big change to his character and not just "oh they worded it in a more interesting way"), but i really don't get how people can argue that Clair's localized lines aren't blatantly rewriting her character; her criticism of Gray being changed from "your behavior hurts people and you should stop because of that" to "your behavior hurts me and you should stop because i'm your superior and deserve better than to be toyed with by the likes of you", along with her greeting to Delthea being changed from "oh hi, what's the matter?" to "if that gross phrase means you want to talk to me, then i suppose i can grant you the privilege of a conversation" doesn't make the dialogue any wittier, it's just making Clair into more of a spoiled brat than she was intended to be originally.

You ruined my day with this :(

(i know this is an old ask, but I forgot it in my drafts!)

I thought FE15's localisation was nice, but granted, I didn't have access to the JP script (nor JP audio!), but now I wonder if the schtick "nobles vs commoners" wasn't overplayed in the lolcalised version, which in turn, would kind of explain why some people felt cheated by Alm's reveal -

Even if I always took it as "being a noble has nothing to do with birth" didn't meant Tobin as a peasant could become a noble and have a noble heart, but meant that even if you are born a noble with super special powers or not, being a noble character only falls on you, and the actions you take : Alm rescues random women (FE15 for you!) around at the cost of his mission/safety/etc, when Berkut, who is noble-born just like Alm, hunts peasants and burns his fiancée.

8-4 adding more "Nobles BaD" feels in touch with what ultimately happened with Fodlan, even if while the FE series already tried to dip its toes in this water with Ike, his "nobles BaD" ultimately amounted to childish tantrum and refusal to deal with "complicated things" when you realise and learn what kind of people he's working with, and their responsabilities.

In a way, I can understand the people being annoyed that the mod removed the "additions" brought by 8-4 if they really made the characters more memorable - but my stance will always be to be able to choose if you want to put parmesan on your pasta or not.

8-4!Clair is a spoiled and snob brat - but can't we get the choice to get a Clair without parmesan?

You know what, I'm thinking FEH's decision (in 2017!) to, uh, not include dual audio was due to the supposed limitations of the app, but imo, was also amde with the dubbing/US!VA industry in mind because, imagine the players from FE14-FE15 having characters who, by tone alone, are different from the ones they're used to, what kind of message would that send to players? You've played the parmesan!version of those games?

And to be clear, I like my pasta carbonara with heavy cream because I'm french and cream is life.

And yet, IDK, maybe that's just me, but I think I'd feel a bit out of the loop if I was thrown in game that celebrates a franchise I never played, since the games I played were... heavily "localised" to catter to my tastes and overplayed issues that weren't there because I'd maybe like this theme more than what was initially presented.

Cultural differences are a thing, but Crayon Shin-Chan is meant to be watched, in japan, by children in primary school.

OD's Crayon Shin Chan is basically japanese!Family Guy.

We had the "same" heavily lolcalisation back in the days here, with French!City Hunter ("Nicky Larson") and French!Hokuto no Ken ("Ken le Survivant"), and while in the 80s-90s some people still harped that those were the "real deal", with time it became more and more widely accepted that Nicky Larson and Ken le Survivant were... products that were lolcalised to fit with the regulations of that time (no blood for children! no swear words - when the regular french person says "merde" at least 10 times per day) - but if you were to go and interview the authors of those mangas, they wouldn't have a clue about what you're talking about with your french "dessins anim��s".

(granted, I've heard that recently, during a convention, both the author of City Hunter and Hokuto no Ken were surprised but pleased that even if it was lolcalised to oblivion, their work was so appreciated here!)

With modern FE though, I feel like FEH has to pretend that Nicky Larson and Ryo Saeba from City Hunter are the same person - so they will put Ryo in a fridge and call Nicky Larson "Ryo Saeba".

I mean, that's what we got with Halloween!Rhage - who roars using her special, and yet winks in her artwork because the artwork was commissioned by the people who designed/came up with Rhea, not with Rhage - and here, with your examples, with Clair.

Clair is a young noble lady, who as you pointed out with those lines, is a well mannered noble who doesn't hurt nor is looking down on people from lower birth, eons away from the "oujou who only means well" trope we ended up with with 8-4.

At the end of the day, people are free to enjoy whatever they want, let it be 8-4!Clair of Jp!Clair - but I'll have the same opinion as I always did regarding localisation : was it really up to 8-4 to change her characterisation this way? Are they still localising or swapping Jp!Clair with a brand new character of their creation?

If so, can this still be called localisation?

[babisawyer]

I've been so excited about house of the dragon that I forgot that the dragons will in fact be dying in large numbers.

[appalachianapologies]

Have you considered writing any more fics where Mac is (explicitly) autistic? I really love the ones you’ve written (and everything else you’ve written too, in case that wasn’t immediately clear) so I was curious if you were ever interested in doing that again

HI omg first of all I know this is has been in my inbox for soooo so long and I do want to apologize for that 😅 Thank you for your patience and I hope you're still interested in the answer lol

First of all you are SO kind thank you so much 😭 I'm so glad that you've enjoyed my work!

Tbh, if I had answered this months ago, the answer might have been 'no' (which is why this has been sitting in my inbox for so long- I didn't want to give that answer). I had been frustrated in myself and my inability to Emotion Properly™️and had at some point decided I was just going to mask forever and so because of that I didn't want to write anymore explicit autistic characters. As one can guess, it wasn't the greatest idea.

And, as I have just very recently learned, I still pretty somewhat kind of definitely appear autistic to those who know me even when I was trying to suppress stims and stuff because. lo and behold, it's not like I can suppress my difficulty with words and emotions and sounds lmao. ANYWAY.

The answer is yes :) But it also might take some time because I've genuinely spent the past few years or so trying to be Not Autistic (which was a very stupid thing) so I'm gonna take some time and become more comfortable with myself and kind to myself before uhhhhhh projecting on autistic characters 😂

get autism creatured

[re-frigeratorlight]

the outside truly is the 12 year old experience

[schoolhater]

answering a couple questions i got on this post since i realized ppl genuinely wanna know:

tl;dr:

israel lets very, very little aid get into gaza. even the UN can't get in as much as they want to. funding individual families, gazan led initiatives, and mutual aid collectives operating out of gaza ensures gazans can provide for themselves and pay for the extremely expensive aid that is available.

with all the civil infrastructure destroyed by israel, the situation on the ground has devolved into unrestricted capitalism, driving up the price of aid (that should be free!). this makes it more urgent for people to have funding for daily survival.

the post linked above has examples of how donating to individual families can help a lot. if you want to help more than one family at a time, there are many gazan-led initiatives focusing on rebuilding their infrastructure and distributing aid fairly that are worth donating to instead of large charities that already get the majority of donations.

as i mentioned in the last post: @/careforgaza on twitter is a nonprofit started by gazans, it's been endorsed by multiple palestinian journalists.

the sameer project is a collective organized by diaspora palestinians offering emergency shelter to gazans.

ele elna elak is a project aiming to bring water, food, shelter, etc. to gazans and has been promoted by bisan owda.

and the municipality of gaza itself is fundraising to rebuild water infrastructure.

all of these organizations are active inside gaza right now and are being run by gazans. if anyone knows of other gazan-led mutual aid projects, nonprofits or charities feel free to link them in the notes! hope this helped!

long answers under the cut!

if you wanna donate to a charity that's absolutely fine, but the thing is most charities (and even the UN!) are unable to make it into gaza in the first place, leaving aid rotting at the egyptian side of the border or subject to israeli settler attacks

not to mention, charities and nonprofits also maintain a paternalistic colonial relationship with the indigenous people they are trying to help, determining what aid they need for them instead of returning power to them and letting them make their own choices

i'm not here to say that one option is better than the other, just that they achieve different things and are equally legitimate. there's an attitude among people who question the legitimacy of these gofundme campaigns that somehow the people promoting them are telling them not to donate to charities. nobody is stopping you from donating to charities. we are just asking that you do not dehumanize the very real gazans in your inbox just because their method of asking for aid is more direct and risky.

unfortunately that's exactly what has happened. because israel destroyed all of gaza's more formalized infrastructure, it seems that organized crime and rampant inflation has taken its place. aid is supposed to be free, but in order to save for evacuation or the cost of living, people have started selling them at an inflated price. and aid that is truly free attracts intense, large crowds that are dangerous to navigate.

this was posted on abc a few days ago

it's pure, unrestrained capitalism. i've had multiple palestinians describe this situation to me confidence. that's why everything's so expensive now. why people have to rent out tiny plots of land for their tents to sit on, why my friend @siraj2024 still has to buy tarps to cover the broken windows of the overpriced bombed out apartment he rented, and why a bag of flour can cost a thousand bucks in the north.

even before israel closed and then bombed the rafah crossing, the egyptian hala travel agency was only allowing people to cross the border if they paid a hefty $5000 USD per adult / $2500 USD per child bribe. it denies doing this, but the hundreds of stories from palestinians say otherwise.

with regard to the economy, here in america we saw something similar happen in the wake of hurricane helene and milton. the podcaster margaret killjoy describes how she saw dual economies rise after asheville was fully cut off from the rest of the country - some people offered each other supplies for free in a sort of mutual aid honor system, and some people required payment when they lent supplies because they themselves needed to buy stuff for their families. these dual economies exist in gaza too. and this means they all still need money to survive.

[cathymee]

we're all wasting our time the earth should just explode soon <3

[quierd-kitten]

I think the most healing thing to do as a trans person is talk to other trans people (irl when possible) who have really different experiences with gender whenever you can. It's so easy to get caught up in your own head feeling like the only person who struggles with certain things, who hates some part of yourself, who's frustrated with society the way you are. It's so easy to feel like nobody else understands and spiral into your own head.

But I'm a firm believer that the more you talk to people with different experiences the more similarities you'll find in unexpected places and that can be so much better than someone who is like you in every way. It's me and one of my other nb friends who presents very differently agreeing that our genders are both very purple. It's my transfem friend and me discussing body hair being dysphoric for us both. It's talking to 3 other transmascs about how we want to transition, what's dysphoric and isn't, the worries about surgery and T that are uncomfortable to talk about with cis people. Even if it's just "we both really relate to this song about being trans", finding little things you can go "Same hat!" is a muscle that needs practice but it is very worth it.

[chronicdelusionistsart]

So I have been watching Danny Phantom for the first time ever with my friends and I'd kind of previously known about its reputation as a show whose fanbase dives a lot more into the lore than the show is willing to. And I guess I hadn't really understood why until now (I just finished Season 2!). Here's my sort of rambling thoughts on it.

Danny Phantom isn't a show about the horror of ghosts and the dead coexisting in the human realm. It's a show about dropping the most out of pocket lore implications you can imagine on people who in turn say things that would kill a therapist dead equally out of pocket, and then neither are addressed but the watcher has to live with the ghost of the plot that is right behind them but they can't turn around.

DP is a little hit and miss in places, but the very thing that drives people nuts about it is actually I think maybe its greatest strength: it really pulls off show, don't tell effectively. How much of that is intentional is up for debate, but the best episodes kinda leave you wondering, or sputtering like "UH, HEY, BACK UP - HEY BACK UP AND UNPACK THAT -" Is Danny's human body technically alive somehow, or is he a walking corpse? Does Danny have a door in the Ghost Zone? Were Vlad's clones feeling and sentient as they melted into ectoplasm, despite Danny's guess that they weren't? What does it say about Danny that he still erased his parents' memories after finding out they'd accept him as he is?

I think the genius of not answering these questions directly is that it's both funnier AND scarier not to. We can laugh about how fucked up it is and kinda hold our heads like "bro.... did they really just imply that, holy shiiiiiit", and that's really consistent with the emotional core of the show as this knife's-edge dance between teen comedy and horror superhero. Fully explaining the lore or being more direct about how the information is conveyed by and to the characters tips that balance and changes the show into something else, for better or for worse. And I really earnestly like it as it is, even if it's very of its time (sexism.......)! It's a really fun show with some depth to it.

Anyway, I can't wait to watch season 3! I sure hope all these wonderful qualities I like about it hold up!