#and her reactions are so real and raw and powerful

[trulyumai]

an arrow of might

—synopsis: an arrow struck through the crowd, past the display of people and aimed for your head. geta was furious.

pairing: Emperor geta / Empress! reader

—warnings: violence, talk of death, protective Geta

enjoy!

The Colosseum was alive with a frenzy of noise and movement, the sun beating down mercilessly on the sand-strewn arena. The clash of steel, the roars of beasts, and the cheers of thousands of spectators created a tempest of sensory overload. Amid this chaos, you were absorbed in the delicate task of caring for your young son, who was captivated by the spectacle unfolding before him.

Geta, seated in his position of authority, kept a vigilant eye on the arena, but his gaze frequently shifted towards you and the child. The violence below, while meant to display Rome’s might, was unsettling, and you could not shake the feeling of anxiety gnawing at your heart.

Without warning, the atmosphere shifted abruptly. The roar of the crowd intensified, shifting to panicked shouts and cries. Your pulse quickened as you saw an arrow slicing through the air, its trajectory erratic and alarming. Time seemed to slow as it arced dangerously towards you.

Instinctively, you pulled your son close, shielding him with your body. The arrow whizzed past, embedding itself with a sickening thud into the wooden frame of your chair. Your heart leapt to your throat as you glanced around in shock, the enormity of the danger sinking in.

Geta’s reaction was immediate and fierce. His eyes, usually calm and composed, now blazed with protective fury. He sprang into action, his authoritative presence cutting through the crowd with decisive urgency. Each powerful stride was driven by the primal need to protect his family. His voice, usually steady, now carried a note of raw command.

“Protect her!” Geta bellowed, his tone slicing through the chaos. His personal guards, trained for such moments, formed an impenetrable barrier around you and your son, their weapons drawn and their eyes scanning for any further threat.

The world seemed to constrict to a singular focus: Geta and the peril surrounding you. You held your son tightly, his small frame trembling against you. His wide, frightened eyes met yours, and the sight of his innocent fear only deepened your own.

Geta reached your side in a heartbeat, his face etched with a fierce blend of relief and anxiety. “Are you hurt?” he demanded, his voice strained with concern as he knelt beside you, his hands carefully examining not only your face, but the space around you.

“I’m fine,” you managed to get out, your voice shaky but resolute. “But the arrow...”

Geta’s gaze followed the path of the arrow, his expression darkening with a protective rage. “Stay down,” he instructed firmly, though his voice was gentler, coaxed with honey and warmth to your scared being. He signaled one of his guards to remove the arrow while another scanned the stands, his eyes never leaving you.

The crowd’s murmur grew to a tense, expectant silence. The sudden intrusion of danger had shifted the mood dramatically. You looked up at Geta, whose normally stern features were now a mask of fierce protectiveness. He reached out to steady you, his touch both reassuring and urgent.

“I’m.. sorry,” Geta murmured, his voice breaking slightly as he looked into your eyes. “I should have been more careful.. to think I would bring you to such a spectacl—.”

“No,” you interrupted, voice trembling with a mix of fear and gratitude. “You protected us. You kept us safe.”

Geta’s gaze softened as he regarded his son, who clung to you with wide, terrified eyes. The arrow, now removed and inspected, was a stark reminder of how fragile safety could be. The danger had been real and immediate, and its impact was palpable.

With a resolute nod, Geta turned to his guards, issuing sharp commands to heighten security and ensure the safety of everyone present. His concern for you and your son was palpable, yet so was his unwavering commitment to maintaining order.

“Are you certain you’re alright?” Geta asked again, his eyes searching yours with a depth of concern that spoke volumes.

“Yes,” you assured him, though your voice was barely more than a whisper. “I’m just shaken.”

He nodded, his face returning to its usual mask of authority, though his gaze remained tender as it rested on you. “We’ll leave as soon as the games conclude. Your safety is my foremost concern.”

The spectacle continued below, but its appeal had been tainted by the recent events. Geta’s protective presence was a comforting shield, a reminder of his dedication and love. As you held your son close, enveloped by Geta’s unwavering vigilance, a profound sense of relief and gratitude washed over you.

In the midst of chaos and danger, the strength and love of your family had proven to be the greatest shield of all.

[pinknipszz]

short continuation of shogun!ryomen sukuna

numb is the feeling that courses through your limbs. a norimono so lavish, evident in its golden grooves and gilded glamour, is held proudly on the shoulders of six samurai whose faces remain hidden under their leather jingasa. although you do not expect it from anyone affiliated with the shogunate, much less armored men with more arrogance in their hearts than alcohol, they are kind enough to spare an ounce of privacy as you regard your parents for the last time.

you try to memorize the warmth of your mother’s arms as she weeps. “we’re sorry, we’re sorry,” a trembling hand cards through your hair. you neither comfort nor condemn her, but hold her tightly instead. when you tilt your head up, there are rivers rolling down her raw cheeks, collecting under her chin before spilling onto your kimono. you don’t know which of the stains are hers or yours. “we wouldn’t have done it if we had known— would’ve never sent you in the first place.”

your father only watches with hands curled into fists, tight-lipped and teary-eyed, but he doesn’t cry. whether he’s upset over losing his only daughter to a tyrant, or being cheated out of a potential bargain, something dances on the tip of his tongue but remains behind his teeth. “don’t say that mama,” you whisper ruefully when a samurai approaches to collect you. “don’t cry for me anymore.” but her sobs never cease, not even when you cross the horizon and your father takes his turn to hold her. 

the wedding itself is nothing significant. no ceremony, no banquet, no nothing. the only evidence of that day is a painting of you and your now-husband, wearing embroidered garbs and solemn faces, hanging high in the foyer as an example of incarnated divinity for servants and samurai alike. you lost count of how many months it's been there. whenever you cross the space, you can’t help but pause and crane up, your eyes drifting towards painted ones. the woman in the painting always stares back with disinterest.

but when you pick apart the layers in her concealed expression, you count the fear. the ire. the anguish. you recall the shogun’s only words to you that day: “did your mother cry when you left?” you think the artist must share the same twisted humour as him to have painted your reaction to such a tasteless question. when you feel your throat tighten around a broken sob, your gaze shifts to the shogun, who still radiates insurmountable power even in artistic expression. you count the tattoos on his flesh.

“don’t tell me you’re bored of it already,” a sudden voice chuckles beside you, pulling you out of your stupor. there’s a beat of silence before you stiffly turn to meet the real eyes of your husband, whose sanguine pools swirl deep with malicious intrigue. the shogun lazily tilts his head back, eyes narrowing in amusement at how your expression hardens. “i was under the impression that women like art, otherwise i wouldn’t have commissioned the artist.” you fight the urge to spit on his face.

“it’s fine,” you snap fiercely, fists clenching at your side. you don’t care if this man fought beasts with his bare hands and whispered war in the hearts of men. he stole you from your home, forced you to marry him, commissioned a painting about it, and to rub salt in the wound, displayed said painting in the foyer for the entire estate to gossip about. and while he’s off exploiting the country for his sick pleasure, you wander the halls like a ghost for people to gawk at, as if you aren’t capable of handling domestic affairs on your own.

surprisingly, the shogun does not speak of your outburst, his silence only allowing you to recollect your bearings. when you do, you desperately search those eyes for anything other than apathy. maybe a hint of sadness, or regret, or even pity. but there’s nothing. defeated, your gaze drops to the floor in a silent surrender. another battle conquered. as you wait for some sort of reprimand, or a strike to confirm rumors of his savagery, you briefly think that the shogun will celebrate this in your shared chambers later, but nothing comes.

only, your eyes widen marginally when ghostly fingertips brush against your right cheek. you watch a thumb run across the soft flesh several times, before gathering it between a finger and pinching. the sharp pain makes you yelp and swat his hand away, but the shogun merely chuckles. once he relents his ministrations, he pulls strand of your hair and twirls it around his finger. “you could’ve just told me you didn’t like it.”

(masterlist)

taglist: @yoontaedotin , @baku2345

[artsyannierose]

POPPY FINALLY FANGIRLING LIKE I ALWAYS WANTED HER TO

NO CAUSE THE NEW SCENE COMPLETELY BROKE ME INTO PIECES I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH I MISSED THEIR RELATIONSHIP KWABDJDFGSDSWRSFDYVJBKJKHTTDGCHBJBJ

im calm

i think

can I first talk about this small conversation in particular

I dunno about you guys but the voice acting just feels so…REAL

Like, raw

like an actual conversation between to people rather than two actors

There’s so much emotion, and that goes for other scenes I’ve seen too, like Viva’s introduction, I’m a big fan of the voice overs this movie

OK BUT BRANCH’S FACE WHEN POPPY CALLS HIS NAME IM MELTING

HE LOOKS SO HAPPY TO HEAR HER MY BABY 🥹🥹

literally went from 😒 to 🥰

THEN WENT BACK TO 😑 AFTER HEARING HER SUGGESTION LMAO

I’m crying at how he immediately jumped to the idea that Poppy was against him and did a double take like “wait what”

AND POPPY KNOWS HOW TO GET HER TO DO WHAT SHE WANTS ITS ACTUALLY SO FUNNY

AND HE HAS NO POWER TO SAY NO TO HER PLEEEAAASSEEEE THEY’RE SUCH BF AND GF

“Alright, fiNE”

😭😭💀💀

AND LOOK AT HER FACE SHE KNOWS HER POWER OVER HIM LMAO

im not going to elaborate on the song bc I’m too Broppy-hyper but DARN DID I FEEL ELATED WHEN BRANCH STARTED SINGING

I LOVE HIM GETTING THE SPOTLIGHT FINALLYYYYYY

ily Justin Timberlake

literally my reaction was worse than poppy’s💀

ANOTHER THING I WANNA MENTION

HELLO POPPY SIMPING OVER BRANCH IS SOOOOOO LONG OVERDUE

I NEED MORE OF THIS THIS MOVIE BETTER DELIVER

POPPY PINING OVER BRANCHHHHHH

And honestly the way she sang along and mouthed lyrics was so cute omg 😭😭

I

FRICKING

STAN

SUPPORTIVE GF

She’s so goofy

The way she yanks out that camera and COMPLETELY DITCHING HER QUEEN STATUS

NUH-UH SHE IS A HARDCORE BROZONE FANGIRL AND I AM HERE FOR IT

They’re so perfect for each other bro the king of pop w/ the literal royal queen of pop

the way she pulls out her camera tho

…

y’all I just

just

🫠

THIS SIR

IS THE STATUS THIS KING DESERVES

THANK YOU DREAMWORKS

MAKE POPPY FEEL LUCKY TO HAVE HIM (I mean THIH did that well but sTiLL)

New obsession unlocked:

FLIRTY POPPY >>>

I’m so ill for them goshhhh

TBH I WASNT AS EXCITED AS THIS MOVIE AS I WAS TWT AND THIH BUT NOW I AMMMMM

BBBBRRRRROOOPPPPPPYYYYYYYYY HERE I COMEEEEEEEE

im sorry I’ll shut up and let you move on with your day

[l0stfoster]

Hi same anon who asked abt paul (i love him so bad) what are the reactions from the others the first time paul (or marcia/cherry for that matter) gets jumped like, real bad .

Paul Anon (that's what I'm dubbing you now get fucked /silly) the beloved OKAY SO! Giving you some deets on their first jumping & how their closest friends (or in Cherry & Paul's case {Marcia's if you're a Marbit fan} how their partners react) Cherry:

- For Cherry (and Marcia) the initial reaction the gang has is absolute anger and fury. The fact that the girls were attacked just for merely being in/around the presence of the gang and or part of the population that holds power is so infuriating. They're girls, so they're not roughed up as bad as greasers usually are on account of general 60's shit, but it's still not great. - Cherry's is arguably worse between her and Marcia's on account of a psychological impact; she's got rope burns around her wrists due to them being tied to stunt her power and her hair was cut practically up to her ears- both to prevent any magic usage and just for raw humiliation. She's also bruised and beaten a good bit; god knows fights are horrendous. I wouldn't be surprised if they ripped her earrings out, as Bev's the one who leads their jumpings. - Ace loses her absolute fucking SHIT. The only thing restraining her from going nuclear and burning down soc territory in her rage is both the risk of prison and to an extent doing something that drastic would get innocent people hurt. That would make her no better than the socs. It sure as hell doesn't stop her from going wild on the ones she can find, probably gets herself a few nights in the slammer for it. - Recovery is rough all over. They get her a neater haircut but she's shaken for obvious reasons, it probably takes a while before she has the guts to walk around her side of the tracks again.

Marcia:

- Marcia's lack of power means that she's less of a target, but if she gets the sight of her, it's a rougher fight. She can't defend herself all too well, but her jumping is more on the physical aspect as they beat her pretty bad too. Lots of bruises and cuts and her earrings are ripped out too. She probably has a better chance of fighting back because she wasn't automatically restrained, but 1v4 (or more) doesn't go well. - The most impactful thing for her that happens during it is that they destroy the feather she was gifted by Two-Bit. That's quite literally one of the most cherished things she owns, as she values how Two's been willing to interact with her after she'd watched his jumping without trying to stop it. Bev burns it beyond salvaging and Marcia's absolutely destroyed. She could handle the beating, can overcome being sore and pained for days, but having the thing that resembled the trust she'd fought so hard to earn back was devastating. - Two was probably THE most pissed off of the entire gang for Marcia's jumping, not only at how she was hurt but the feather being destroyed is such a blow to him as a Harpy. If he weren't afraid of Bev under the risk of having his wings fucked with again, he'd hunt her down and give her a taste of her own medicine. Cherry and Ace are also super pissed, 'cause the girls gotta stick together, but they don't really match the fury that is a pissy harpy; especially since harpies gang together— Two could've easily had every other greaser harpy on his side if he prompted it. - Recover is obviously just as rough, I wouldn't be surprised if Marcia starts rooming with someone on the east side out of fear of returning to the west side; especially since it's fully known now by other socs that she's powerless despite her association.

Paul:

- Paul is, to put it simply, almost beaten into an early grave. Not only did he previously have the most notoriety of the socs— which made him hanging with greasers a complete slap to the face— but he is also cursed. Another really prominent reason behind his humping is pretty simple; he’s gay. Society will look at Cherry and Marcia and the socs will go easier on them because they’re girls, but Paul? Paul’s a man, a guy who turned his back on the high society in favor of these pests. - His jumping Is rough all over. They're taunting him throughout, snarking about his sexuality, poking fun at how he can't even fend them off with his magic because not only is he weak, but he's a cursed who can't even do that right. They fuck him up bad; busted ribs, broken nose, and his arms are likely dislocated from them pulling him around hard to tie his hands together so he couldn't use his magic. He's got cuts and bruises galore. I'd go as far enough to say they probably broke an arm or something. I like to imagine they ripped his letterman jacket away from him because he didn't deserve something their kind wore when he was with those freaks now. Honestly, the only reason they stopped was because they couldn't see he was still breathing from the angle they were at, though they killed him, and booked it 💀. If they hadn't, though, they probably would've gone until he did stop. - The only reason he's found is because his familiar trails back to the house and grabs the attention of whoever’s there to get them to come with her, since Paul’s completely knocked out. It’s most likely Soda who finds him since he is arguably the one she likes most of the gang and she’ll gravitate towards him. He’ll follow easily too, since he likes her. It’s very similar to finding Johnny, practically that all over again - Darry is obviously the most pissed, probably the same level of anger he felt after his brother's jumpings and Two’s own. The same people who used to be on Paul’s side of things turning a switch so fast over what? A bit of magic and the fact that he likes dudes? Anger doesn’t even describe it in a way— the fae are territorial, and as far as he’s aware, Paul’s a part of that. He's out for blood; but Paul won't spill names so he's got no specific target. That sure as hell won't stop him from finding out, though. He's just got to behave enough to keep his brothers in his care. - The rest of the gang is a whole mixed bag. Dally doesn’t like Paul but his general response is “It’s deserved but only if I were the one doing it”, so take that as you will. Pony’s petty like Dally but since Darry cares he helps out with patching him up. The rest come to the conclusion that pretty boy here probably needs some watching eyes so he’s stuck with them for a bit. He does NOT know how to respond to it. Pretty much the idea for them is that only they're allowed to fuck with Paul, not the socs. - Paul probably has the easiest (mental) recovery for a few good reasons. It's certainly not his first fight/jumping, and it's not his first time being hurt that badly. There's a reason he's gravitated toward his mom despite her efforts to shove him away.

[ivanttakethis]

End of Round 6 - Tov’s Log

Vermillion vs. Aurien - ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

————————————————————

Solei had been the sun to Aurien’s moon for as long as Tov could remember.

Their light illuminated every fiber of Aurien’s being. She shined because they shined.

But after Solei disappeared, after Aurien’s daylight gave way to endless night, she let the darkness swallow her whole too.

She was never quite the same.

Even the way she sang was different.

It was haunting.

To the audience, it probably sounded beautiful.

But Tov knew the ghost behind Aurien’s voice was real.

Vermillion sounded haunted too, though in a slightly different way.

His ever present charm had melted away, raw emotion flooding his voice as he sang.

Tov knew right away that this round would be close. Aurien would have to give everything and then some to avoid a repeat of Round 3.

She couldn’t watch another friend die.

She couldn’t.

But Vermillion was Aurien’s friend too, right? Tov didn’t know if Aurien would ever betray a friend in the way that was necessary to win.

She ground her teeth.

The song finished, and the scoreboard totaled the points.

Vermillion 54. Aurien 46.

Her heart thudded once, hard enough to bruise. She stopped breathing altogether.

The moon would crash to the planet’s surface, and the tide would rise wild to meet it.

Tov thought of Solei. For the first time since they disappeared, she hoped they were dead.

If only so Aurien could reunite with them sooner.

“Vermillion Win” was projected in big letters on the scoreboard.

Then the screen went black.

“What the—”

A gun fired.

An emergency alarm started blaring.

Then the audio cut out too.

No! Aurien!

Something fast and sharp shot through Tov’s system, seizing her still weakened heart in its brutal grasp.

It wasn’t adrenaline, she knew that chemical reaction well.

No, this was something different. This was something worse.

Cassio, her mind screamed, I need to call Cassio now.

Tov fumbled for the phone and punched in her guardian’s number with a bit more force than necessary.

She held her breath as the line rang.

As soon as Cassio picked, Tov was assaulted by the panicked cacophony in the background.

Aliens were screaming, guards were shouting orders that fell of deaf ears, and that damn alarm was still wailing too loud to think.

“Tov?”

“Cassio.” Tov never thought she’d be relieved to hear their voice. “The broadcast lost the video feed and then there was a gunshot. Is everything alright?”

“Alright” definitely wasn’t the right word to describe the lead up to Aurien’s execution, but she couldn’t think of anything else.

“Everything’s gone to shit.” They hissed. “Someone cut the power to the whole complex and triggered the emergency alarms. There’s a stampede of aliens trying to get out of here and I’m currently stuck in the middle of it. We’re all trying to get to the backstage tunnels now.”

Tov’s mind was spinning. Was there an attack on Alien Stage? If so, what — or who — were they after? The judges? The audience? The contestants?

Himei and Tallis were still there.

What if something happened to them?

What if something already had?

She would have no idea until the lights came back on and someone sorted through the carnage.

Tov’s medical band beeped.

“This place is swarming with AREPH agents.” Cassio muttered, yanking Tov out of her spiraling thoughts.

AREPH. The Agency for the Recovery of Escaped Pet Humans.

Tov remembered a few AREPH agents showing up at Anakt Garden the morning after Solei disappeared.

The agent who interviewed her wore a silver badge with the agency’s seal. She could still recall what it looked like; how it gleamed when it caught the light.

Tov frowned.

Why would AREPH agents be there?

“Oh fuck—” Cassio’s voice shook.

“What? What is it Cassio?”

Their tone turned grave, “Tov, I need you to listen to me very carefully. I’m only going to say this once, and then I’m going to hang up.”

“What’s going on—”

“JUST LISTEN TO ME TOV!!”

Tov recoiled from the receiver. Cassio had never so much as raised their voice at her before. Her medical band beeped again.

They took a deep breath to compose themselves, then spoke in a very deliberate and deathly even voice, “Lock the doors. Turn off all of the lights in the house. Draw the blinds.” They instructed. “Don’t make any noise. Don’t pick up the phone. And don’t answer the door for anyone. Stay put until I get back.”

Tov finally had a name for the emotion that had a vice grip on her heart.

Fear.

She’d felt it so infrequently in her life that it was hard to identify amidst the chaos. But she felt it now.

Strong. Overwhelming. Terrifying.

A chill ran down her spine. Ice surged through her veins. She couldn’t move.

“Why?” Tov could barely get the words out. “Why do I have to do all of this?”

Cassio took pity on her.

“It’s about Solei. They’re here.”

And the line went dead.

————————————————————

Round 6, amirite?? <- (is definitely failing to cope)

Shit got real this round. Lots of chaos. Lots of blood. Lots of thoughts and feelings. Honestly I’m still processing most of it.

It’s a good thing Tov stayed home for this round too because the ensuing panic probably would’ve given her a heart attack (not joking btw).

If you’re wondering how Cassio knew it was Solei at the competition, they passed by a monitor backstage that had the emergency message from this post flashing on it and recognized Solei’s ID number.

They tell Tov to act like she’s not home because AREPH agents could come looking for her since she is thought to be withholding information about Solei’s Anakt Garden escape.

Aurien belongs to @aurienneirua and Solei belongs to @solei-eclipse.

Himei, Tallis, and the Agency for the Recovery of Escaped Pet Humans (AREPH) belong to @lookatmysillies!

[homenecromancer]

There’s a read-more on this post because it turns entirely on an excerpt that is a huge spoiler for the final portions of both Dune the novel and Dune: Part 2 the movie.

Part of the reason Dune has meant so much to me ever since I first read it is, like… OK, here’s a passage from very late in the book (page 445 in the Berkley paperback).

In context: Paul has literally just awakened from a near-death trance caused by ingesting the Water of Life. His mother, Jessica, has just verified this fact, and its significance — her child is the prophesied Kwisatz Haderach, and possesses psychic ability beyond any other human being.

"What happened?" Chani demanded.

Jessica shook her head.

Paul said: "There is in each of us an ancient force that takes and ancient force that gives. A man finds little difficulty facing that place within himself where the taking force dwells, but it's almost impossible for him to see into the giving force without changing into something other than man. For a woman, the situation is reversed."

Jessica looked up, found Chani was staring at her while listening to Paul.

"Do you understand me, Mother?" Paul asked.

She could only nod.

"These things are so ancient within us," Paul said, "that they're ground into each separate cell of our bodies. We're shaped by such forces. You can say to yourself, 'Yes, I see how such a thing may be.' But when you look inward and confront the raw force of your own life unshielded, you see your peril. You see that this could overwhelm you. The greatest peril to the Giver is the force that takes. The greatest peril to the Taker is the force that gives. It's as easy to be overwhelmed by giving as by taking."

"And you, my son," Jessica asked, "are you one who gives or one who takes?"

"I'm at the fulcrum," he said. "I cannot give without taking and I cannot take without . . ." He broke off, looking to the wall at his right.

OK let’s shift gears real quick and I’m gonna describe this image rather than make it: you know that Gundam meme where the viewer is going “wow cool robot” as said robot shoots the actual themes of the anime over their head? Now imagine that but I am the reader and Frank Herbert is the, uh, giant robot.

Frank Herbert: Weird 1960s Gender Essentialism

me: Paul Atreides was supposed to be one gender but was born another, and people are hopping mad about it. It is repeatedly noted that he is able to do things that people of his (assumed by others) gender cannot. Within the context of his society, he is neither a “normal” man nor a “normal” woman, but possesses abilities belonging to both. His ability to fuse these two genders into one unique thing, specific to him, is crucial to his final rise to power. Muad’Dib… non-binary icon?

…like, I’m mostly serious here — it is certainly not a canonical reading, just a personal, idiosyncratic reaction to the text — but the feeling that Paul was, at a minimum, atypical for his assigned gender meant a lot to me when I first read these books. I couldn’t articulate at the time what fascinated me about passages like this, but they captivated me in the same way as other texts where the protagonist defied their assigned gender. They resonated with me on a level it took me years to understand. (Things began to make more sense when I realized I was trans.)

Anyway. Paul Muad-Dib Atreides’s gender identity is ‘Kwisatz Haderach’

[lageografiademicamino]

UMK 2024 Song Review - Sara Siipola

The hype is very real around Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the Finnish national selection for Eurovision and the race to Malmö continues with a ballad this time!

Sara Siippola - Paskana

Sara Siipola is fairly a new name in the sky of Finnish female artists. She kind of popped out of nowhere making a record deal with Sony Music in 2019 and releasing her first singles which were fairly successful. She also released her debut album "Kaunis Kun Itken" two years later and last year she was seen in popular music tv-show "Tähdet, Tähdet".

Still never heard of of her before and the artist announcement did nothing to me.

Paskana is power song that gives no hope. It's very raw lyrically and vocally.

It's a modern ballad with immediate hook. The song itself is not a traditional power ballad but does instrumentally push its boundaries. The electronic beat has 80's sound which also reminds many of the Russian girl duo t.A.T.u's sound. R'n'b beat separates it from an average ESC ballad and makes this super easy to listen.

Sara's voice can be compared to Amy Winehouse's being capable of interpreting the painful text brilliantly. The topic of being "paskana" which is translated as fucking wreck, is easily relatable. Social media quickly filled on Monday night with heartfelt comments from people around the world crying and feeling this song.

This is simply captivating - you can't pass this without stopping to listen to this and feeling what she sings. This will translate across language barriers.

ESC doesn't allow swearing so in case of winning UMK Sara would have to find another title for her song which might be a difficult task. There have been hopes of her translating this into English or pieces of it but I do hope this masterpiece remained in Finnish. Also this would differ quite a lot from our previous ESC entries. The last time we heard a female ballad from Finland was in 2017 with NormaJohn.

In a scenario where she didn't win UMK she might be the next Bess (Ram pam pam, 2022) or Kuumaa (Ylivoimainen, 2023) which either were the winning acts but made the biggest hits of their careers with the help of UMK. Reactions have been positive everywhere you go and her UMK videoclip has already been viewed over 240 000 (more than Sexmane) times. She's on her way to stardom!

What do you think of the third UMK24 track and would you vote for Sara Siipola to go all the way to Malmö? UMK final takes place on February 10th!

[aziraphales-library]

hey, tysm for what you're doing, i've found so so many amazing fics through it

i was wondering if you've got any where after the bookshop fire Crowley just loses his shit, like, the "bastards! all of you!" except he's acting on it, 100% vengeful demon after all of heaven and hell. doesn't have to be after the fire even. i'm mostly just looking for bamf crowley fics because i've found a disturbing lack of them? or even if he's just some sort of villain, or fighting demons, or or or. preferably not E rated.

thanks!

The bookshop fire is not a moment people choose to make Crowley a BAMF, and most fics link that to trauma for Crowley. You can check our #protective crowley tag for fics where he is more of a bad ass, and I have some bamf Crowley fics here for you...

Forget Me Not by Supergeek21 (T)

Aziraphale wakes up in Heaven with a pounding headache only to realize he has very little memory of the last 6,000 years. The good news is he successfully averted the War. The bad news is the Serpent of Eden now wants to kill him for revenge, or so Gabriel tells him.

***

When Crowley pops by the bookshop to visit Aziraphale and is greeted by the full force of an angel's wrath, he has no clue what he's done to incur such rage, or why Aziraphale is apparently reading his old work reports, but he'll be blessed if he isn't going to find out and win him back.

The Art of Creation by Bookwormgal (T)

Once upon a time, long before humans set foot outside of Eden and long before his inelegant landing in a pool of boiling sulfur, Crowley had been an angel. An angel with a very different name and far less cynicism. And that angel was made to build Her creations. He built stars, nebulas, and other beautiful and complicated things far out there in the cosmos. He shaped fundamental elements and materials into new creations. He molded burning fires and sculpted dust into breath-taking patterns. He started bright and powerful reactions, serving as a catalyst to spark the birth of stars. He set various celestial objects spinning.

He built. He took raw materials and built wonderous things with them. He built because that was the role that She made him for. In the end, was rebuilding that much different than building? And wasn't rebuilding fairly close to healing?

When it was his angel's existence on the line, Crowley was willing to grab at any chance available. He would find a way to fix what had been damaged. He would find a way to save him.

But I would walk 500 miles by Augenblickgotter (T)

There's a conspiring of foes from both sides that forcefully kidnap Aziraphale. Crowley is in hot pursuit and will stop at nothing, finding some unlikely aid along the way, and bringing up his True Form when the time is needed.

Some depictions of pain and violence, minor character deaths by Holy Water, and mild gore. Also mild claustrophobic and dingy descriptions of Hell. And the boys relationship can be flat out platonic asexual best of friends or downright dirty lovers. The story is up to you and is more about how far they would go for each other. ;) No, no monster sex in this one either (comb for my last fic if you need it). Just BAMF Crowley ready to walk 500 Miles through Heaven or Hell to save his Angel.

I've Got You by caffeinefire (T)

Aziraphale felt the change in the air, a burst of power and a whiff of ozone. He spun, and jumped when he came face to face with Gabriel leering cheerfully over his right shoulder.

“Aziraphale!” he smiled as if greeting an old friend, then clapped his hands together loudly, so close it made Aziraphale flinch. “You’re early, so glad you could make it.” He began to walk around him, admiring the circle beneath his feet, careful not to cross it. It posed no real danger to him, it had already been activated, but crossing the bounds of an active circle was never a fun experience.

“Gabriel,” his voice wavered despite his best efforts. “What is the meaning of this?”

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

Hellfire didn't work, but Heaven has one more idea. And this time, they're going to force Crowley to watch.

Beyond Grace by HKBlack (T)

“Crowley, I need you to do what you do best.”   “Wozzat?”

“I need you to find me, and rescue me,” Aziraphale whispered.

After Aziraphale is discorporated Crowley goes on a mission to do what he does best. Recruiting help from both of their former Head Offices is easier said than done, especially when Hell thinks the whole thing is a ruse, and Heaven thinks you’re on the hunt for more angels to corrupt.

The Infernal Bodyguard by Santillatron (M)

Alistair Zira Fell is a popular author. Loved by everyone he meets. Well, almost everyone. Someone is trying to hurt him, and right now, he needs a bodyguard.

Anthony J. Crowley is the best, although he doesn't work with celebrities. He has three rules. He never gets too close, never stays once the job is done, and Never Gets Involved.

But this isn't a thriller. This, is a love story.

- Mod D

[loopscereal]

I wasn't sure whether to ask you or Pía so maybe each of you can add your own commentary?? but I'm very curious about your OC Red :0 you've both posted about them a lot and I've been very curious about their admiration for Owynn and their feelings of being inorganic I think? (I might have misinterpreted idk sorry). Whatever the case I just want to know more about the lil guy

Hello!! Sorry for the late responseeeee. Thank you very much for being interested in them :D Also don’t apologize for presumably misinterpreting stuff it's not like we’ve explained him lol ToT It will be a bit of a really weird story to share though, so buckle up lol (Red uses any and all pronouns btw)

This is the capital weird part of our lore AKA programs which we already mentioned in our Pup explanation, but yeah for recap: when shadows interact with a video game that meets the requirements of 1) being kinda broken and 2) having a lot of care put into it (whether it’s how it was created or how the person that had it cherished it or whatever) as in the saying of “putting your soul into it” the shadow gets the idea or asset or whatever of a character or a concept within that game and becomes conscious, that good old trope of "The game becomes self-aware". Normally they get a body and that’s it, they incorporate to normal human society normally and also have mandatory therapy because you cannot come out normal from that ToT 

The exceptions to this are Pup and the now titular little guy!! Red. Red’s name comes from rival red from Pokemon! Red itself comes from a Pokemon copy, a really broken and busted down copy of the most broken Pokemon game everrrr Pokemon fire red: A really buggy and glitchy mess held by tape and raw will power, a start of a beloved franchise with tons of love put into it and also just busted. And That sort of brought Red into existence 5 years ago.

Red did not take over a character or an idea or a concept of a character, Red took over the literal glitches, every unused asset and every game breaking bug, this made it so that whenever he TRIED telling someone of its existence, it just read as glitching and nonsense and what you would think of when someone tells you “haunted game”, everyone with self-preservation is not going to entertain that and will just shut the thing off and sell it or something, programs are expected to emerge in a somewhat normal 4th wall break or something not screaming and static and the game shutting off on its own. He took the name red because among the scrapped nonsense there was also a scrapped trainer Red sprite in there and it was the only semblance of a face amongst that entire mess, and you take any face you can get when you don’t have any, and you take any semblance of an identity you can get when you also don’t have any.

So Red gained consciousness a hot second ago, 5 years ago from current timeline, but was not taken anywhere to become a real person because no one could tell she was one. A guy had his cartridge and just let it rot under his desk for those years because that thing is unplayable and also probably haunted!! Eventually he decided to sell it and you would not guess who got it (Owynn and Loon.)

Loon bought it because he’s just game obsessed, and at this point he was already dating Owynn so they were just hanging out and Loon wanted to play the thing. Haunted game screeching and screaming ensures and Loon was about to do the normal person reaction that is turning the thing off, but since Owynn is a weirdo he didn’t really care? Owynn is curious, not easy to scare at all, and he HARDCORE doesn’t believe in ghosts, so he was determined to fucking around with the thing trying to figure out if it what was wrong with it.

So a lot of Red’s inherent craziness towards Owynn and Loon comes down to the fact that they were the ones who actually got him out of that hell, Owynn fucked around and treated her as some sort of ARG like a loser and figured out what she was trying to say and what she was. Thisss is also badd and this is the moment where we tell everyone that they should never look up to Owynn OR Loon.

Basically, they figured it out! (Mostly Owynn) woho!!! Now they will take her to get a body and be normal right? (no). Owynn is a curious bastard and also inherently just morally skewed, and Loon is sort of a pushover and also an absolute dickhead to strangers and rlly low empathy (doesn’t seem people he’s not close with as real), so owynn just basically kept her in there?? for a few months??? They tried to frankenstein him a bit, tried to figure out what he was and how he worked and all that stuff. And it was obviously dehumanizing as hell and messed up how they were just playing mad scientist with his life, but also 5 years of being completely alone kind of warps your brain a little (a lot), and being seen as something “precious” or cool or interesting got her crazy attached to them 2. 

Eventually they talked and Loon got over his “if i don’t know you you aren’t real” thing because he DID know them now, and they EVENTUALLY after a literal hot second got Red to get an actual body. Took them long enough jesus. 

First of all, they had no idea how to even do this?? Because you need to fill out forms and that and Owynn couldn't on the basis of bad homelife, and Loon technically could but he was also incredibly out of it because he was taken to a part of town he didn’t even know at all and that just panicked him way worse. So problem number one is that, problem number 2 is that Red wasn’t even normal by program standards and was still just inherently glitchy. It all worked out surprisingly, Neither of them had the money nor the want to take care of Red or whatever, and in theory he should’ve ended up in the foster system but the woman who worked on his body saw that even with a body she is just inherently unstable and decided that she could take that responsibility given that she was an expert on the stuff.

So, Red has a really warped vision of those two because how do you not after that??? He sees them as sort of gods? which sounds crazy but then again how do you not after that. When Red is taken out of DS hell, two things are evident. 1) Her file was an English copy, so their “mother” language is English, most of the spanish he knows was acquired directly from hearing the real people out in the real world talk with each other over those 5 years, and even if that sounds like a long time to learn his cartridge was stuck and stored in a desk so what he could hear was limited and also muffled. So their Spanish is kinda bad, they tend to default to English but even then words are pronounced wrong because he never had the need to say most or any of them out-loud. 2) they have no animal. This is due to the scrapped Rival Red sprite having no animal traits. So he has to chose what type of animal person he will be, they knew they wanted to be an arthropod. Loon and Owynn are both arthropods, and she wanted to resemble her saviors, her gods. She chooses a cicada, a true bug! Actual bug! It’s a bit of a play on words on our part, since Red is an accumulation of all of Fire Reds bugs. Cicadas also represent rebirth, and new beginnings, and he was pretty much reborn into a new life by being taken out of DS hell. Another thing you may notice about their design is their eyes, one is a bar that you cannot see the end of, and her other small dot eye, this is also something he chose to have. Its the same eye disorder Owynn has! Xe also styles xir bangs like Owynn, wears stud earrings like Loon, and is in the insect subsection of arthropods with Loon. Generally tries to emulate them both. So, for the parts of themself that Red could choose in, he decided to look like the people he admires/worships.

Little visual help go!! :

Due to forming within an accumulation of glitches, and not a normal sprite like most programs, her physical form still glitches out. Things like chromatic aberration and actual spikes of distortion, which are all visual glitches but still hurt. This facet of how she exists is a lot of electricity, and messes with electronics, and with other programs, since their bodies, although made to be as realistic and human as possible, are still built things. machines and electronics, and therefore tamperable. Due to his glitchy nature, this means that he can bypass a lot of rules set inside of Programs that were made in fear of “machine uprising” nonsense.  Every program is able to re-enter electronics, they can go into the computer and chill there while their body is just sleeping/knocked out. They can do anything you normally can, but have a built in chip that prevents them from easily prating things, easily stealing people's information to make purchases, getting peoples ips, and in general messing with things for their benefit. These are all bypassable by Red due to her “inherently broken” nature. 

Speaking of being compatible with computers, programs have little items on them that their consciousness can retreat into if their physical body is too damaged, this item is sort of like a hard drive of their entire being? It holds them, and can be used to transfer their memories onto exterior hardware like a laptop, phone, or computer. Think of it as back ups to keep themself extra safe! Red is, again, glitchy, and have a terrible memory that gets erased and corrupted as they exist, and the longer they go without uploading their memory the more likely he is to have it become corrupted and forgotten. THey are reminded to upload it, and sometimes do, but even still the memory held within its own mind will corrupt eventually. They are left with watchable memories, thoughts and experiences that they don't remember doing or having. Undeniable proof (memory upload on exterior device) vs I Dont Remeber THat. 

Due to the fact that they clinged so hard to the image of the only useable face they had, and being baseline modeled after it, she has a bit of a thing with hats, since one of the key features of trainer red has always been having that iconic red cap and all of that it’s both a comfort and also something she hates. He doesn’t want to be trainer red or code or something that isn’t alive, but it’s also something that makes him feel less afraid and lost and stressed out because it's familiar, and she has very few things she can even classify as familiar at all. Which is why in some art she has it and in some she doesn’t. 

Xe also needs glasses given that xe willingly screwed his eyes up, but they tend to forget them a lot and having stuff on their face is just generally a foreign and weird feeling she hasn’t gotten used to, so she also may pop up with glasses or without glasses.

She has yet to really crack how to act like a normal person, has a hard time understanding social norms and the concept of lying in general. She’s blunt and sorta rude, she’s not used to moderating the volume of her voice so it tends to be either too loud or too quiet, and he’s horribly bad at lying and borderline cannot do it. They are very easily startled and scared, but she translates that fear into an immediate fight response, so they read as very easy to piss off and also very easy to hit things or hit people. 

Programs are sorta normal by now, and there’s other students who are programs, Red absolutely loathes all of them. It’s mostly just crazy strong jealousy at the people who claim to be “like him” to live so much better than him. Aside from the glitching, Red’s origin has made her have bad memory, be sort of physically numb to a lot of sensations aside from pain (can’t feel cold all that well, can’t feel light touches and stuff), and have an awful time with a lot of motor skills. And none of the other programs have to deal with any of that and it drives him crazy. Other programs also have memories from inside their world, since they are usually “character gains sentience” types, but Red has none of that, They are not a character, not even the MC, they are the glitches. Super jealous, sad, but overall mad. So he just messes with a lot of them, due to being glitchy when he touches other programs he makes THEM glitch and therefore hurt, and he tends to not get into a lot of trouble for it given that Owynn is vice president and plays devil's advocate. He tends to stick to just touching them to mess them up that way but he does have one guy he specially hates who he straight up gets into fist fights with, and it’s the guy who used to have his cartridge. Who is also a program!! how unfair!! he got to live those 5 years completely normal while Red was stuck! Xe wants to absolutely kill that guy.

Speaking of her body and the issues that come with it, They have a hard time doing a lot of stuff and are inherently clumsy due to not being used to any of this. They've had a body for about 6 months? So everything is still insanely overwhelming, scary and stressful; and such emotions of instability heighten her glitches which hurt and make her more stressed and it’s just a mad man’s cycle.

She also just has a really hard time even seeing her body at all, he has dysphoria because he’s nonbinary and her body was made to be male so they look masculine, they have a broad back and a square-ish face and a deep voice and it makes her feel gross. And he also has body dysmorphia, so he just looks fundamentally wrong and it cannot click in her head that the body in the reflection is actually hers at all, it doesn’t feel real in the slightest and it tends to make her derealization and her feelings of not being a real human worse.

They tend to have a really hard time feeling real, mostly when they’re alone because it just plops them right back into that crushing loneliness of being completely on her own for 5 years. When it’s on its own a way they ground themselves often tends to include biting, biting his fingers or a pen or chewing hard candy, likes the pressure in her teeth and likes exerting any force at all and it having a clear effect, this also means that her jaw tends to be super tense and that they grit their teeth a lot, also just bites her nails off and tends to pick off the loose skin around the nails with her teeth which just ends up in messed up fingers.

He has a fixation or proving his own realness, by experiencing as much as he can. Doing is living. Theyll try anything once except they will actually do it, unprompted, anything. Impulsive thought to eat something that by all means no one should consider eating? It's already in her mouth, sorry. Uh she learns about her cicada biology through Owynn (freak) and learns that she can process liquids a lot better than anything else. Soooo her best friend is the blender in her kitchen. They will blend up bread, insects, and meat. Think of that funny scene where Town explains his juices except 100 percent serious that is what she is drinking. It will also drink blood, in some hope that it will make it more of a living person. “how would drinking her own blood make him more of a person if he's having a hard time thinking of himself as one?” Who said it was their own blood? checkmate.

They are mostly not good at school, which makes sense given her background, but she’s freakishly good at math. This isn’t a robot thing, it’s not because she’s has a calculator built in or anything. It’s  because in those 5 years she spent completely alone there wasn’t really anything else to do other than thinking, because doing much else broke the game and therefore threatened to break them. But after a bit she just ran out of things to think about, and then she just started counting to entertain herself, counting up and down, making up operations and then solving them, and doing anything at all to keep himself (somewhat) sane. Numbers click into place and make sense, numbers tend to be constant and expected, a multiplication between two numbers no matter how big will never vary, counting is a way to keep herself entertained. Fun fact, Owynn also counts when he feels trapped, smiley. 

He outright despises the idea of trainer red, the literal character, because a part of his brain tells him that he’s not really a person, nor is he that beloved character, they are a scrapped version of it, a literal error that just happened to present itself with that well known face. And yet he clings to it, because if he doesn’t have that face and that name then he has nothing at all, and she has changed her body enough to resemble other people so it shouldn’t matter, and sometimes she wants to look like the character to feel as if he was a normal program at all. Just don’t bring up that character in front of her, lights a fire in her head.

Despite how Red may feel about their “game counterpart”, they don't harbor any resentment toward the overall Pokemon franchise. This is mostly because Loon really does like Pokemon, I mean, he was interested in the Fire Red cartridge for  a reason. Red has this mental system about how they feel about things, naturally you'd assume they hate Pokemon bc resentment for their source material, but since Loon is someone they consider above them, it “overrides” that. Her emotions toward people she would otherwise be indifferent to is easily and sharply shifted by the people she considers herself to be “on the side of”. extra thing we didnt know how to transition to: 

While Loon is unable to see strangers as real living people, Red has a tendency to see strangers as just inherently more alive than her, more deserving of being called living beings and all of that, everyone who isn’t a program is an actual breathing person, while programs are a cruel mockery and none of them are alive, including her.

AND THATS ALL THANKS FOR READINGGGG

Never ask us anything ever again we WILL send the bible every single time without fail /J

thank you so much for being even a littlee bit interested in our beloved oc Red, we really do love him alot. Uh! you can always ask either of us anything, we share one braincess we have a bluetooth connection… Uh uh iiii do suggest if u were to ask pia ask it oh his not-art-blog @3point14a <- that blog, if you would be so kind

[blogger360ncislarules]

No one was dreading the death of Young Sheldon patriarch George Cooper more than Lance Barber‘s TV daughter, Raegan Revord.

“I held off on reading [the script for Episode 12],” she tells TVLine. “It was probably 10 pm, the night before we were going to start filming the episode,” that she finally read through the last scene. “I’ve been very fortunate that I haven’t had a major loss in my life, so losing this beloved character, and losing the show as well, was like two losses at once, and it was rough.

“We filmed the scene where we find out that George died in two parts,” Revord explains. “We filmed up to the knock, and that was fine. We were having a blast. Then we did rehearsal for the second half, and I was weeping; I could barely say my lines. In that scene, [Mary, Missy and Meemaw] get to the door. They’re not bawling, they’re just wary, and I’m at the door, full-on shaking, sobbing…. You can tell that you’re seeing real, raw emotion in that scene.”

For TV brother Iain Armitage, openly sobbing wasn’t an option. “The thing about Sheldon is, it’s less of an external [reaction],” he points out. “For other characters, maybe that stone facade is crumbling from the outside, in; for Sheldon, it’s from the inside, out.

“In one of the first takes we did, I sat down in the chair the way they wanted me to, and I started to let my face fall,” the 15-year-old recalls. “Not quite cry, but I kind of start to get emotional. [Series co-creator] Steven Molaro said, ‘Don’t even do that. It is 1,000 times more heartbreaking if we see that Sheldon can’t even begin to imagine processing or understanding that to the point where he simply won’t. His mind won’t try. It’s almost as if he’s just heard them talking about the weather.’ I really liked that interpretation.”

Thursday’s series finale (CBS, 8/7c) consists of two, half-hour episodes, the first of which takes place almost entirely at George’s funeral. Everyone is working through the five stages of grief, including Missy, who is more angry than anything else.

George’s widow Mary (played by Zoe Perry) is also faced with a new and unforeseen reality. Not only has she lost her husband, but she’s about to see Sheldon off to California, where he’s set to embark upon his Big Bang future at Caltech.

“I don’t know that [Mary] is coping well,” Perry tells TVLine. “It’s a real struggle. She is all of a sudden a single parent… and as we talked earlier about her early crisis of faith [in Season 2], she has two directions to go, and I think we know where Mary ends up on The Big Bang Theory, so you get an idea of where she’s headed.

“You see these fresh wounds,” she says of Thursday’s double-header. “I imagine there could be something cathartic [in that] for the audience because these remaining characters are going to be experiencing a great amount of grief simultaneously with [them]…. I know that, regardless of how people feel about [the finale], I’m just really proud of how everyone showed up and gave it their all. It’ll definitely be powerful.”

[eldritchtaur]

'Til Death Do Us Part AU

Wow first post into the Cult of the Lamb tag!!

or, at least, I think so??

Anyway, time to talk about an AU that we have!!

(real quick to note: Veal, my Lamb, uses He/They/It/Hoof/Sheep/Wool/Gore/Bell pronouns but primarily for this post it's going to be gore/gores)

Essentially, it's pretty canon compliant (Lamb [in this universe named Veal] gets saved by The One Who Waits, goes on crusades to kill the bishops, ect.) up until the matter of "killing" the bishops.

Instead, gore gives the bishops a choice after defeating them: agree to be a part of gores cult, or die. The initial reactions are varied from Bishop to Bishop (which will be discussed) but it boils down to all of them saying "yes".

What started as a way to piss off the bishops (and a small bit of the thought process of "death is too kind for them") turns into Veal ending up falling for each of the Bishops and marries each one of them.

After marrying them, Veal realizes that the task of taking up all the roles of the previous Bishops is too taxing, so restores their powers...partially, with the warning of "if you guys fuck up, I'm revoking your abilities".

All except one.

But that'll be talked about in due time. :)

Soooo let's get started on talking about the bishops!!

Putting everything under the cut for rambling, body horror, and spoilers!

Oh, also before we get into the cut, I used @radicalrainbow's cult of the lamb template for this!! :]

So, we'll start with Leshy, the first Bishop indoctrinated, and the Bishop of Chaos!

To put it bluntly, he's very similar to Narinder in the fact that he's very proud, bitter, and tends to avoid his emotions like a plague unless backed into a corner about them. He also hates receiving help or being perceived as weak, even if it means getting hurt in the process.

His first reaction to being told to join the cult was resigned but extremely bitter about it and, upon joining, would never stop giving barbs that would border on dissenting, but never crossing the line.

When it comes to courting Leshy, it involved Veal finding out that he loved flowers and just gore repeated handing over flowers every time that Veal grew them or found them in crusades in Darkwood. Leshy sarcastically asked if Veal was trying to court him, and after hearing a very serious "yes", started to accept them in a very tsundere "w-well if you took all that time to pick these i might as well take them" sort of way. The way that Leshy "courted" Veal was allowing Veal to help him out more and relying on gore when he needed it.

Next is Heket, the second Bishop indoctrinated, and the Bishop of Famine!

She's very withdrawn and rarely says anything other than small quips and needed instructions/input. She takes Leshy's "not recieving help" and takes it to the extent of she will just do whatever she wants without asking (ex. if she's hungry, she will pick a pumpkin and eat it raw; if she needs mushrooms from Anura, she'll go on a crusade there without asking Veal first). It's not that she doesn't NOT want to talk about her emotions, it's more that because no one asks her about them, she doesn't talk about them. So it's wise to ask her about what she's thinking/about her emotions in order to figure that out, because she will tell it extremely bluntly.

Her first reaction to being told to join the cult was indifferent resignation, viewing it as a "you did beat me in a fight, so you decide what happens to me" sort of thing. In the cult, she does her job, and she does it well. Whatever you ask, she'll do it, no matter whether it's farming or literal murder.

When it comes to courting Heket, it was small thing that Veal did that slowly endeared gore to her. Things like giving her first dibs on resources gotten from crusades, patching her up when she got hurt, and even helping her get to bed when she had worked herself to exhaustion. Heket returned the endearment by starting to run things that she wanted to do by Veal first instead of just acting on them outright.

Up next is Kallamar, the third Bishop indoctrinated, and the Bishop of Pesilence!

He's extremely flashy and prideful, constantly flaunting off gifts that Veal and other cult members have gifted him. He takes a lot of pride especially in his looks, constantly complimenting himself and bolstering his own accomplishments, especially in front of Veal.

His reaction to being told to join the cult was one of relief and delight, as he had begged for his life and didn't want to die. But, upon arriving at the cult, realized that he was Not Prepared to Face Leshy and Heket. He mostly avoided them, instead trying to cozy up to Veal to get "protection" from the other two, which included going on pointless, silly errands for other cult members in Veal's stead.

When it comes to courting Kallamar, it was somehow both incredibly easy and incredibly hard. Because, while it involved giving him attention, gifts, and phrases of endearment, it took awhile for it to register "...oh this is an affection thing?". But, when it clicked, Kallamar showed it back by showering Veal in gifts, attention, and endearment, practically staying glued to gores side unless told to do otherwise.

Here is Shamura, the fourth Bishop indoctrinated, and the Bishop of War!

They are extremely intelligent and witty but also tend to be extremely spacey and dissociative. They tend to do one task at a time because trying to do too many things makes them even more spacey and dissociative. They are extremely forgetful, with the amount that they remember varying from day to day. They have most of their recent memory, but anything pre-injury and anything too "monotonous" gets "lost" extremely easily.

Their reaction to being told to join the cult was mild surprise followed by quick acceptance. They were extremely hostile to Kallamar after joining but mostly focused on helping the most that they could. After all, they were saved out of mercy (in their eyes) so they needed to "repay" that mercy.

Shamura was one of the harder ones to romance, mostly because it involved reminding them it was because gore loved them and not that gore was just doing this out of obligation or duty. After Shamura realized it, Shamura would show their affection by going to gore with a new fact or memory that they knew and telling gore it with vivid details (or as much as they could manage).

And here's Narinder, the fifth Bishop indoctrinated, and the Spouse of Death and Love!

He's very angry, bitter, and extremely wish-washy, sometimes being like "I can totally be mature" and then the next minute getting into a fist fight with Leshy because Leshy called him a bitch. He has a lot of guilt and emotions that he hides behind a shit ton of anger issues and grumbling.

His reaction to being told that he was going to join Veal's cult was to laugh and call Veal a fool. Well, the laughter ended quickly when, not long after they arrived back at the cult, gore married him a few days later, and works as the second in command of the cult.

There wasn't a "courting" period, more accurately it was a slowburn of "i hate you" "i know 💗" to "...i love you." "...i know. ♥". But, afterwards, Narinder will just quietly snuggle up to Veal when he needs comfort or wave gore over when he needs to tell gore something privately.

And last but not least, we have Veal goreself, the Bishop of Death & Love!

What started as an unwilling contract turned into leading a faith where gore realized gore could take the devotion meant for gores "god" and take it for goreself.

And now, gore has more or less settled into gores new life as a god...but things do get a tad boring, even for a god. :]

And that's everything!!!

If you got to the end of this, holy shit I admire your dedication!! I might not post much about this but if there's enough feedback, I might!!

[uchiharomance]

Hii, could I request some x reader with Nagato (his real body tho not the deva path) with some pegging. If it could start with him all dignified demanding that as a favor reader has to do to her god but as he's being fucked he get more submissive and maybe reader get to even make him beg for it and bully him gently. Totally fine if you don't want to, have a nice day ♥️

nagato: for your god

18/NSFW minors, please do not interact

It starts as an order, one handed down to you from on high by a god himself, one you think, you are lucky to know the truth of. 

Different from his usual requests, the shared kisses and gentle cockriding done in the comfort of paper trees and wooden rooms and to the sound of falling rain. This one in the tone of the Deva, all power and dominance, spoken to you while his hands hold the means, his eyes a resolve.

You cannot help but wonder if it hides something more.

Messy red hair and gripping hands and he’s still holding himself in dignity as you kneel before him, adjust the strap around your waist and then sink inside, feel the give and then the clench of his opening, the little hiss from his mouth. A moment’s hesitation, to rethink the size of the member around you, to let him adjust before he tells you to move, to push deeper, a little stronger.

It’s harder than you expected, the thrust of your hips, the push of his legs up and onto his chest. A strain, a workout, but there is something about seeing his eyes close in pleasure, in watching as he jerks to meet your movement and grabs your wrist as though refusing you leave to let go. 

In and out, making a mess of a god and you blush at the noise, the sound of fluid and skin against skin and your own small moan because it’s affecting you too, making you tense in a way you haven’t before. 

“Y/N,” Nagato mumbles, and you hear less of the pride, less of the control when he does so.

He does look beautiful like this, pleasured and chasing your motion. You almost wish you could feel it, the tight walls, the heat, the seat of pleasure that you hope you brush against each time, angling your hips in response to his reaction.

“Nagato,” you say, and his name is a whisper, a truth spoken only in secret. “Do you want more?”

A nod, a biting of his lower lip and you feel your heart skip a beat, feel a bit of courage rise up in your chest.

“How bad?”

It’s not the answer he’s expecting, far from it, but to your surprise he concedes, bites a little harder.

“A lot.”

Enough to make you find a new strength, to spread his legs a little more and let a smile come to your face as you buck into him, buck into him Hard this time and watch in delight when he moans his relief. Faster, rougher, raw smacks now and the pant of your breath as his body bounces against the mattress. 

A hand around his cock, warm and tight, a brush over his leaking tip and you know he’s getting close by the pulse, the desperate way he moves. Pleasured inside and out and lost in the haze of his own joy. 

You try again.

“Nagato. Do you want to cum?”

His eyes snap open and he stares at you, long enough for you to wonder if perhaps you have passed your limit, if you truly have him in the position you think you do. 

And then you hear it.

“Y-Yes.”

A stutter, a little plea. 

“Nagato?”

His breath is coming quick, pants for air, for relief and you bend his legs a little more, a little tighter, slow your motions just enough to make him flinch, to make him fear. 

“Y/N I - “

“Naaaagato.”

Teasing, giggling. Because after all you have no stake in this, no climax hovering on the balance. Only power, power and a desire. 

Your movement slows again, almost to a stop and you finally hear the cry of frustration, the tone, the word you’ve been waiting for. 

“Y/N PLEASE.”

You give him what he wants then, amid the sounds of his begging, his gentle whining, the stars in his eyes. A powerful feeling this, to know a god wants you. 

To know he loves you. 

His end comes with a push, a push of his hips up to join you and the gush of cum on his belly. Dazed, silent, lost in the air of climax and you fall back, slipping from him with a half laugh and a gasp of fresh air. 

A good end for you both, one for you to relish in, to savor as you wiggle to his side, press a kiss to his cheek and bring a red glow to cheeks. 

One, you hope he will replay.

[stormandforge]

Raw reactions to X-Force #3

Things are heating up.

Spoilers!

Marcus To gives me impure thoughts every time he draws Forge. Don't ask me what's going on, all I see is the hot man with the long hair and the shiny eyes.

CAN HE PLEASE STOP STARING INTO THAT STUPID BALL THOUGH

There's a narrative shift in this issue. Not only is the story not self-contained like in the previous issues, but it includes several bigger clues for future storylines. The action is properly starting.

More of a team effort that one, unlike last month's issue, which was all Sage and Forge. I mean, I would be at my happiest if X-Force was just the two of them sitting on the jet talking to each other, but it's not all about me I guess.

OK, I'm going to say it: I'm happy Rachel and Betsy are getting some screen time, because their fans are probably 80% of the readership and we need them for sale figures. So I'm happy to sacrifice Forge-time just so I can continue having Forge-time at all. (Thank you Betsy and Rachel fans, love you 💜🧡)

Sage talking in the third person again. It bugs me. Is there someone else in her mind? Is someone else narrating with her?

Ohhh, the trouble in psi-lesbian paradise begins. *grabs popcorn*

What's happening to Rachel? Is it new information, or did I miss something?

No one trusts Forge, episode 3.

Oh the psi-blocking headband thing wasn't a joke? If this man was less hot he'd just be an embarrassing uncle, I swear.

One drawback of the episodic format is the same exposition being repeated at the beginning of each issue. There's only so many ways you can describe the Analog and Forge's power, and we've reached the maximum.

This said, I'm glad it's been made super clear that the fractures the Analog shows are abnormal by the standards of the Marvel universe. Planetary threats are just Tuesday in old 616, and I couldn't see how see how this team could ever fulfill their mission of closing them all. Now I know: we're not playing whack-a-mole, we're fighting something specific.

The hints about Nori's importance to the team are so huge I can't help but think they're red herrings.

"It pings my mutation when I look at it". That's what she said.

Let's be real: Forge and Sage are constantly glued to each other, right, creating their own little bubble? It could just be for professional reasons, but the writing hasn't officially made Sage second in command, so they don't have to be a separate duo unless they want to. You can't fool me: I'm an X-Files fan. I know what it means when 2 colleagues keep "accidentally" invading each other's personal space.

I smiled very wide at "I'm reiterating my objection" in issue #2, but "your persistent imprecision hurts my soul" might be even better. Nothing better than Thorne writing Sage talking to Forge.

I guess we can start using the "he" pronoun for Tank then? He's never sounded more human to me, and yet we get confirmation that he probably isn't. The "my friends" thing gives me Colossus vibes, but he probably hasn't spoken like this since 1982 or something.

Why is Tank in the pilot chair again? Is it to avoid social interaction? Because if this jet can self-repair I'm going to assume it has an autopilot function.

Speaking of the jet, I love the detail of the box with the big switch to open the door. Sometimes high-tech means being practical.

I don't mind the villains coming from the Marvel archive, but I can't help but think the marketing for this book was deceiving. Not quite the revolving door of guests we were promised.

As a foreigner who lives in the UK, I love that Betsy said "bollocks". That's real speech right here.

[baltears]

ok lets just go over this

james hurley – laura was correct that hes not super smart but that's not the only thing its possible to bring to the table. she looked down on him because of his intellect which caused her to miss that hes actually very perceptive and emotionally intelligent but this also made her not feel too threatened by the relationship which i think is ultimately why he was able to be there for her the way he was in her last days. james correctly clocks that laura's cruel streak is a function of her being in extreme pain and that she lashes out most at people she actually deeply cares about, and he sticks with her despite her trying to hurt him because he also correctly perceives that she desperately needs love and support. idc, james is a real one. he was lauras crisis hotline friend which is a tough fuckin job. donna was also in that emotional support role for laura but laura tried to keep donna insulated from most of the details of her life, meanwhile she was disclosing a lot of her most intimate feelings to james. he was doing everything he could to support her despite the fact that she actively made it hard and painful for him

harold smith – served as one of the closest witnesses to laura's torture. she exploited the fact that he is kept isolated from the world by his agoraphobia because she knew he was unlikely to have the opportunity to disclose what she was telling him to anyone else. essentially he was the guy who got trauma dumped on and was clearly really overwhelmed by the extreme nature of laura's experiences esp given that he already had severe anxiety but this also meant he served a critical role in laura's survival up until her death. like laura he is extremely unwell and unstable and honestly couldnt handle any of what was going on (then again neither could she). got a raw fuckin deal and has lived a very depressing life in general

bobby briggs – matched laura's freak. imo people are way too harsh on him considering hes a teenager and like laura he has been subject to extreme abuse though of a very different kind. he and laura were obviously drawn to each other because of image but also because they were both dealing with deeply disturbed emotional lives under the surface. i think they did care about and love each other genuinely on some level but because they're both so fucked up and also so young there was a lot of weird emotional power struggle stuff going on that sometimes escalated to abuse. i think bobby found his relationship with shelly much simpler and less challenging/fraught because she didnt ever really try to dominate him the way laura did (possibly because she was already so beaten down by leo). but obviously bobby grieved for laura and was as traumatized by her death as everybody else in town, hes just a bit of a bottle rocket of a person and his reactions go all over the place. he and laura were twin souls to me if a very dysfunctional couple

ben horne – sucks. funny in a meow meow way however

hank jennings – also sucks but hes a victim of poverty and the carceral system unlike ben

[enlichened]

3,7,8,13,21, and 26 for the dragon age questions :-)

(sorry if this is too many for one ask you dont have to answer all of them)

YAY you dont have to be sorry! i love talking about all my guys.....

but i WILL limit myself to surana/hawke/samahl unless someone else has a compelling answer so this post isnt 6 hours long (all mages... all at least adjacently men... sad)

3. Opinion on blood magic

surana finds blood magic intriguing but distasteful for himself. he didn't mind jowan being a blood mage after he got over the initial shock (rarely is what the templar said true) but hes wary. both because of the history he's heard and also for himself specifically (he doesn't trust himself with the power to hurt himself or others). (battlemage/arcane warrior)

hawke had never met a blood mage before merrill (that he knew of, malcolm having used blood magic before) and after merrill never met a blood mage he liked. unfortunately i think merrill reads as an exception to him rather than the rules being faulty themselves. while he doesnt mind merrill taking some of his own blood/power, he finds it hard to reckon with the issues of hurt/consent otherwise. he prefers magic that's very. overt and representative. theres no underlying tricks, just raw power. plus after what happens to his mother, he REALLY ends up with a kneejerk negative reaction to anyone but merrill using it. (lightning/force mage).

Samahl is wary of anything that templars use or focus on (blood magic being some of both). He has a weak stomach AND he doesn't trust the majority of blood mages (that he's met or heard of), so he would never want to use it himself. he would be okay with mages using it ethically as long as they kept it away from him. also despite being a dorianmancer the weak stomach applies to necromancy too <3 sorry dorian. (rift mage)

otherwise, positive to negative: amell (blood mage), cousland (reaver. also bloodfreak), 2nd hawke (also reaver. also merrillmancer), mahariel (merrill stan/romancer), aeducan, tabris, brosca, and kadan adaar (despite romancing a reaver (bull)).

The rest of these are going under a readmore... bc i am verbose..

7. if they had to choose one person most important to them, who would that be?

in the interest of being interesting about these i will pick one other person Besides their romantic partner. bc they are all very in love.

surana (romanced zevran): alistair. besties for the resties.

hawke (romanced fenris): varric and carver duel for this honor in his head every day. the rankings can shift depending on the moment (reread a bit in the tale of the champion where varric besmirched him. remembered carver being a cheeky bastard. etc). fenris understands being outranked by sibling concern or varrichawke bromance (never lasts long). EDIT: ALSO MY FRIENDS INQUISITOR MYRNA. he loves her very very much forever. fenris understands this less but hes shrugging

samahl (romanced dorian, as mentioned): its solas unfortunately. its solas. like 3 of his whole songs on his playlist are about solas. its the friend/trusted advisor/mentor thing. and then solas doesnt even think of him as a real person (or at least tries not to). its crushing. he didn't even care about the arm.

8. Who do they hate the most, and do they have an arch-nemesis?

surana cant find it in himself to HATE loghain, but he puts up an effort for alistair. boring answer but he mostly hates Systems rather than individuals - the moment he gains personal knowledge of someone and their motivations he can't Wholly hate them anymore. even taliesin who he was VERY ready to hurt before he could hurt zevran, he heard him and knew that he couldn't hate him. how could he hate anyone else who loved zevran. who WAS zevran even a little. he even feels bad for killing arl howe after nathaniel shows up (not enough to regret it, but still)

hawke - meredith. danarius. cullen. the lack of wind on a hot day. as a joke he'll be nemeses with anyone but for REAL its people with power who abuse it, and cullen because of that and also personal vendetta. cullen broke his nose AGAIN.

samahl doesn't hate anybody (too tired) while also hating everybody who's convenient. blames cullen in the universe in which his clan dies (not real to me). blames corypheus blames samson blames cassandra blames solas. unfortunately what this all means is that he hates and blames himself. he cant even be mad at solas in the end. he couldnt even be mad at corypheus or the nightmare or alexius. but hes very normal about it i promise.

notable mention to mahariel who hates duncan the most (but is nice in front of alistair, who is grieving).

13. their thoughts on the Grey Warden order?

surana is. fine with them. he wouldnt have chosen to be a grey warden and he doesnt particularly like doing it, but he doesnt begrudge them for needing help during a blight - especially after duncan and all those with him died during ostagar. after the blight its.. something to do. and he might as well make it worth it that he's SO blighted - that he'll die sooner rather than later - so that nobody else has to.

Hawke thinks theyre overrated - he's killed a LOT of darkspawn thank youuuuu and they also failed to keep corypheus down (not that he did any better). hes very bitter at the wardens for keeping their secrets about the calling and ALSO bitter that carver seems to be enjoying life more in their ranks than anytime with him. or at least that he doesnt hear about it when he isn't. scared for his dumb baby brother all the time and he doesnt even call.

samahl respects what they do and what theyve done, but doesnt care to think of them as infallible. because they arent! hes a little irritated when blackwall goes on but that becomes mostly amusement once he finds out about blackwalls whole thing. he does NOT like what the weisshaupt wardens did, but that doesn't mean the whole organization is busted - just that there shouldn't be room for ALL of these types of things to happen (corypheus, weisshaupt, hawke.). he actually really loves the history though, and didn't mind hearing blackwall talk about it when it was history rather than just flattering. (would have a hero thing about surana WAY more than he did hawke. sorry hawke).

EDIT: that was not the weisshaupt wardens that was the uhhh. whoever the here lies the abyss ones were. you know.

21. what is their biggest regret?

surana doesnt WISH he'd never been a grey warden - someone had to defeat the archdemon - but he does regret that he'll have to leave zevran behind one day. i imagine theyre looking for a cure, but not hard. theyve discussed this at length. (i wrote a little thing once of surana informing zevran about the whole calling thing, but its VERY old now).

hawke. his whole family. kirkwall. is everything youve ever done a regret?. he regrets the fact that anders didnt come to him and let him say how fucking stupid the bombing was before he did it. he would have helped him with ANYTHING else. he regrets what happened to his sister, his mother, to carver even if he is still alive. to his father, at the very beginning. letting carver go to ostagar alone. not saying anything good enough to have his friends believe in him enough to trust him. merrill's clan hating her in part because of him. not being enough for anyone to stay for, after the fact. holding fenris there (false) when he was the exception. letting varric write that fucking book about him. not going when varric first told him they were looking for him, and going when it meant he would die. not being able to sit still without a sword to throw himself on.

samahl. solas again. dorian leaving too, but thats him being so strong and supporting his lover from afar. but not being enough for solas to reconsider what he was doing? LOGICALLY he knows it wasnt about him but who gives a shit what logic says.

26. Do they get a happy ending?

Surana. happy-ish? defeated TWO world disasters i think he deserves to be zevrans trophy wife dealing with His stuff for a little while. he's going to die from blight any day now probably irt da4 but hes in love and still talks to his friends if he can. he makes sigrun stay closeby so he can remind her not to die before him. she lets him <33.

HAWKE lives in purgatory right now. both because there are two different timelines (the one i played vs the one i wrote with my friend + her inquisitor). in the first hes alive and safe from the fade. deeply depressed but living with fenris and dog and letters from his People and killing slavers. what more could a guy ask for at the end of the day. in the OTHER timeline he gets left in the fade. BUTTTT i imagine his friends band together to get him out. because i love. reforming the team. and also he needs to deal with that deep depression by living through more struggles. his favorite. fenris might kill him when theyre all done saving him though.

samahl.... we'll see wont we. hes fine with no arm hes.. less fine with dorian not being there. but hes got his friends even if he's disbanded the inquisition. he gets to go back to his clan and cry into the keepers arms for a minute. he gets to help teach the kids how to control their magic, even if his has suffered from . probably no longer being a rift mage? he gets to LIVE and not be under 2390248 stresses every day. until datv. but whateverrr hes chillin rn. sneaking into dorians house every now and then and helping his clan and helping the red jennies (SERA..) and giving leliana (divine in his timeline) advice he is NOT qualified to give. helping cassandra undo tranquility. its a life and its to be had.

shoutout to mahariel for either dying or becoming a father (accident and not even his) or being in a strange relationship with merrill and/or tamlen and/or tamlens ghost. shoutout to tabris for having gay sex on the daily with the new divine. shoutout to brosca for the horrors of motherhood to a god souled son. she followed morrigan and never regretted it but went. god. hes a little weird isnt he (full of love). shoutout to cousland for their WEIRD fucking thing with both anora (queen) and nathaniel (queen). shoutout to hawke 2 for being 1 ingredient in a very isabela and merrill sandwich for the rest of forever and not even coming when the inquisition called.

[knightsheart-if]

I just played the demo, and I'm very intrigued!! I'm especially curious about Dahlia — a lot of players will be (quite rightfully) miffed at her after that banger of a prologue, so it'll be interesting to see how the interactions between Dahlia and the Knight play out. There's a lot of complicated threads to yank on there.

I don't think it'll be easy to act naturally friendly around her, not after that betrayal. Even if it was in a dream, the pain from that betrayal had to cut bone deep. The OC I'm using for my Knight values trust and loyalty above all, and never holds back on loving those he calls friends — so it's safe to say that Dahlia's betrayal essentially shattered a piece of his heart.

Personally, I think my Knight will be civil to her but will go out of his way to keep his distance. At first, anyway. Things may change if something like having to choose between helping Dahlia or ignoring her pops up, thus forcing him to break out of the distant neutrality he'd been keeping up with her. Of course, this is all hypothetical. Very very excited to see how the Dahlia situation unfolds!!

That aside, I!! The prologue!!! I have so many things to say?! The prologue was short, but so much emotion was packed in. The Knight's internal monologue, the way you describe the ROs' reactions, the setting, everything — my chest was twinging from the very first page, and by the end of it all, my heart was full on hurting.

I rarely get attached to a story so quickly. I want to see how this all plays out. I want to see my Knight lead this story to a happy ending (Assuming there is one, and if there is, my Knight will grab hold of it, because he's stubborn as steel and wants All his friends to be happy).

And I have to make a special mention of Oscar's scene. Because damn. So much raw pain. That fury, that heartbreak, that helplessness. The Knight's internal commentary, both pained and resigned.

I actually found myself connecting with Oscar the most out of all the characters present in the prologue. I think I'd react the same way, if I ever had to watch my beloved friend be executed for crimes that they may or may not have committed (I would refuse to believe it till the end, probably). I'd probably be furious — I'd go feral. Get complete tunnel vision. Do something stupid like try to attack a king. To hell with duties and titles and pretenses such as the crown and the king, for what's the use of those if I can't even save a loved one? And I'd rage at myself for being so helpless.

Then break down and cry, because I'm angry and filled with so much hatred that I wish I could burn them all to ashes with the heat of my fury — but I can't. I'm not some powerful magical being who can make everything right if I'm angry enough, if I'm stubborn enough. I'm a helpless bastard who can only bend and buckle under the weight of their duties and helplessness and watch as their beloved friend is sent to die an unjust death.

So the raging fury turns into a roaring tide and floods out of my eyes in fiery streams.

So, anyways. Yeah. I love Oscar. If that wasn't already clear <3

I just!! I'm currently the epitome of that one meme where some crazed looking skrunkly is grabbing you very very tightly by the shoulders. Your prologue made me feel so much! It made me feel so angry and so so sad!! It made me love and adore a completely new character with just one scene!!!

Logically, I know that was a (possibly definitely prophetic) dream. My Knight knows as well. Normally, I'd play an MC who's skeptical of anything that comes from dreams. But the emotions and heartbreak felt so, so real. It's hard to rationalize away all that raw emotion. It's hard to believe that none of that was real. My Knight can't summon an ounce of skepticism right now. You could say that the level of your writing made me change my play style from the get go :D I imagine that the weight of it all is going to leave the Knight more than a little out of sorts... and they'll probably have a hell of a time figuring out how they want to react to it.

Is the Knight even friends with half of the RO's in the Present Time, the time after they wake up from their dream? There's a possibility they don't even know each other yet, or aren't very familiar with each other yet. I only thought about that possibility just now :o

I feel like my Knight's thought process would be something like this...

Knight: Alright, so that was a dream. I think it was. Should I really trust a dream?

Knight: But damn did that hurt though *still feeling the echoes of the utter heartbreak wrought by the betrayal of dream!Dahlia, who was supposedly a friend*

Knight:

Knight: You know what. Maybe I should just be a Mysterious Stoic Loner from now on. Avoid everyone. What's human connection? Who needs love and friendship anywa—

Ahem. What I'm saying is, I'm hopelessly enamored with your story and world and characters, and I'm very much looking forward to going on this journey with you :D

Good luck with your writing!! The prologue is incredible, if you didn't get that from all the ramblings I've done in this monstrosity of an ask! I love Oscar! Thank you for sharing this amazing world with us. Take all the time you need for your next update. We'll be here :D I hope you have a very very good day! And week! And if you managed to read this till the very end, you're a real trooper! 😌✨

Thank you for your kinds words! It's very interesting to hear people's opinions in such strong detail. I agree that most people will be miffed with Dahlia and that was the reaction I was intentionally looking for (at the time). Despite me changing my plan on what I want to do with her, I wouldn't change the prologue at all. As for interactions...well, I plan to leave that as a surprise for now.

I agree that it'd be hard to trust someone who you knew would end being responsible for your death in the future, but I'd like to add that the MC has been having these dreams forever, but they aren't all negative. They also don't all connect to the same future, i.e a dream with a friendly Dahlia is not (necessarily) in the same timeline as one with an antagonistic Dahlia. So depending on the MC, that makes it either more heartbreaking or confusing (cause remember, the MC doesn't even know who Dahlia is).

"Things may change if something like having to choose between helping Dahlia or ignoring her pops up, thus forcing him to break out of the distant neutrality he'd been keeping up with her." Funny how I have such a scenario planned out >:) of course, there will be times where it's necessary to interact with her...because it's your job. I won't spoil anything, but there is a section of the game where you'll have to protect her...or not. When people aren't looking, anything can happen.

I wanted to leave it as a surprise, but for the next update, I've added another reaction the prologue, along with some...little additions.

Oscar's scene was the one I think I wrote the best. I think I wrote it a bit too well because it's leaving me unhappy with how I wrote Oran's. I can't wait to write out the entire prologue again when we reach that point in game. Of course, things will be very different depending on your choices and relationships.

I'm not too sure how I'd react in a situation like the prologue. I feel like I'd be a mix of Oscar and Oran; being so emotional, yet driven to such despair. No one wants to see someone they love be put to death, whether it be justified or not. It's hard to think about until you're put in such a situation. Everyone in that dream (even Dahlia) held some kind of love for the MC.

The weight of the dreams definitely leaves the MC a lot confused! I plan to have the events of them mentioned from time to time, especially in regards to Dahlia. It'd be difficult for the MC...just as it was for a certain someone...

The only people the MC knows when they wake up from the dream is Oscar, obviously, and Oran, although they aren't close at all. Adrean is non existent until the summoning, Dahlia isn't even on Hollas and Rionna has never been to Vol and as such, never met the MC. MC has had a very isolated childhood and has only really interacted with royalty and such.

I relate to your MC's thought process! But I shall disturb that by introducing likeable characters that will in no way affect your ending 😈 You come in with the mindset of distancing yourself and go away with lifelong friends and memories.

Once again, thank you for your kind words! Your ask was very nice to read and has really lifted my spirits with your enthusiasm! I hope to hear from you again in the future! I hope you have a lovely week and a very good day.