#as always thank you annika for the game :>

[vacantgodling]

i am back to do another round of (mostly) answering all the questions of an ask game and this time it is @ink-flavored's fantasy ask game! i’m gonna be doing this for my GIANT fantasy wip the chronicles of lathsbury (tcol) bc uh this story is just fucking massive and i never give myself excuses to talk about it so i’m gonna. as per usual, i'm not gonna answer ALL the questions; if i don't have a good answer or it doesn't apply i'm just gonna skip the question :)

if you’re curious of tcol’s actual plot (becuase there is one, surprisingly) have a little blurblet here:

Piper Fairwind (she/her), Deux Undershield (she/her), Sandra “San” Dearborn (they/she), Clear Brightendale (he/him), and Forte Symphonia (he/him) are the newest contingent in The Aegean Guild of Explorers. They all are chosen for various reasons, and begin their hopefully promising career at literally the same time that The Labyrinth is beginning to grow more restless than it ever has been before. Why? The Demon King, Lord Evondra — unbeknownst to anyone yet, is beginning to awaken from her 300 year long slumber and she’s out for blood. Her very presence amplifies the power of monsters and beasts within as her hatred of all Terraneans seeps into The Labyrinth’s very core. The five of them get swept up in the mix, because destiny’s knocking and they have no choice but to answer the call.

but without further ado:

📚What “type” of fantasy is your WIP? High, low, urban, historical etc.?

high fantasy through and through lmao. i really don't usually tend to dabble too hard in other types of fantasy ig? i should at some point but high fantasy just has my whole kokoro tbh.

🌍Does it take place on a fantasy planet, or somewhere on Earth (hidden or not-so-hidden)?

it takes place on a separate planet, technically, though i'm thinking of planet more in the fantastical way and not planet in a sci fi sense. its got a lot of 'western fantasy' / tolkien esque elements yknow. like in lotr, arda is a planet but you don't really think about it in that way, yknow what i mean?

💭If your WIP doesn’t take place on Earth, where did you draw inspiration from to create your new fantasy world?

a lot of it is lotr not even gonna hold you. technically the two largest inspirations for tcol are lotr & the jrpg game etrian odyssey bc that's when i first created the characters, and that's why there's a labyrinth mechanism that holds monsters in this wip at bay.

when it comes to the actual locations... good question. it kind of is very generic 'western fantasy' vibes which again kinda comes a lot from tolkien (i still have a documentary i have to watch regarding what fantasy was like before lotr kinda shaped the entire genre, and maybe whenever i do it'll influence how i go about writing and shaping my fantasy wips.

i guess the other inspiration i can say would be my desire to have a black-centered fantasy story. all the characters in tcol are black (as with many of my wips unless i specify otherwise)--but when it comes to adding blackness to my stories, the jury's still out on the best ways to do that. i'm not gonna fully delve into my racial issues in this post cuz that literally has nothing to do with anything but just know that everyone in tcol is black LMAO (theres another word i wanna say but i never use aave online unless im talking to other black people whoops)

🧝Do other fantasy species exist in your WIP? Describe them! & 🤓Are there any intelligent magical creatures, ones that can communicate with language? How do they interact with wider society? & 👹Are there monsters or other dangerous beasts in your WIP? How are they differentiated from standard wild animals, or other magical creatures?

the main breakdown of "beings "species" or "beings" in this wip are:

terraneans -> they're what i call humans to the left. they are humanoid and mortal, but they have differing features and slightly different biological characteristics than humans generally speaking (ie: terraneans have a lifespan of 150-200 years, they have pointed ears, and their whole sana/cava/ars thing. basically, terraneans are very similar to the half-elf dnd class with more words PFF. also they can't be pale unless they're dead or have died for a certain amount of time. everyone is tan or darker :>). terraneans are what most of the main cast are and most of the varying stories of this wip center around terraneans and their connection to the land and the gods. and speaking of gods

gods -> deities play a huge role in tcol because i think pantheons are interesting. they're more of the greek-mythos variety of deity in the sense that they are imperfect beings; they simply hold a lot of power and the ability to create and destory the cosmos as we know it. there's a lot of messy drama among some of them and the main deity of this world, IISIDIA has unintentionally caused many MANY issues but she pretends to not see it. cough. there have also been instances of terraneans being venerated to being gods (beings such as MARTH, The Lady of the Mists, and EFFE, for instance), and some deities have alters or basically, parts of themselves that are still them but have split off into different beings with different roles (ie: IISIDIA has a known alter, IDMIR; MIRANKA has a known alter to kisks called RANKIMA, etc).

guardians & oracles -> because deities cannot directly interact with terraneans, there are 'in betweeen' beings, or (kinda) essentially "demigods" if i were to put it in laymans terms. guardians can only be venerated once every age (and when the main story starts we're in the fourth age, and then the second book goes into the fifth age, and each age's ending is marked when a guardian is venerated. so far the guardians are lath (who if you know anything about me, i'm insane about him), immordia, and arian :> when it comes to oracles, that's a bit more complex; they're not fully demigod-esque, but they do have divine inspiration basically. there's 3 major kinds of oracles and i won't fully get into all the weeds of them but there are oracles of the deities: MUINENS, MIRANKA and YLENE, called OOMs, OOMIs, and COHs/Champions.

monsters -> monsters are essentially flora and fauna that have been touched by The Hands of Qhozion (aka chaos magic which is a corrupted form of the deep magic, cantillo). most people just call it chaos bc for many plot reasons, no one but MIZDARR knows that QHOZION exists. and this basically corrupts them into corrupted and twisted creatures of rage, fury, and power. all monsters (now) reside within The Labyrinth, which was the feat that got lath venerated to the first guardian. but again this is so many weeds so i'll cut it here. basically they're fucked up with no rhyme or reason lmao.

beasts -> are different than monsters; sort of a Next Stage in evolution to monsters: they are creatures who were touched by chaos, but they have ars which is magic and/or sentience. meaning that they are stronger, more cunning, and are able to speak etc. the strongest of all beasts is called The Demon King and they rule over monsters and beasts alike from within the Labyrinth. the current demon king and main antagonist of the first story is Lord Evondra; who ate her father after he was killed in The War of the Seven Sons to ascend his position.

🤝Are the different fantasy species all living together, or does everybody keep to themselves?

pretty much separately though there are certain junctions where the they can cross paths.

there are 3 major continents on terrae (the world) where terraneans reside: mainland terrae (where the kingdom of lathsbury and all of her constituents reside in city-states loyal to the crown), diisai (a large island that lays to the west of the eastern sea, where the federation of diisai resides; they do not have a major empire/kingdom in the same way mainland terrae does, but they do have a close relationship with the kingdom and are essentially considered a vassel state), and kiskkaddon (which is a northern badland desert peninsula that sticks out from mainland terrae but is wholly cut off from the mainland's culture by the desert and mountains that separate the two regions).

within terrae exists The Labyrinth; there is one large opening in the capital city of Lathsbury, but there are hidden entrances throughout mainland terrae. this is where all the monsters and beasts on the continent reside including The Demon King; as they were corralled by the gods (mainly MUINENS) and the first guardian lath and his sword/companion, ensio. the labyrinth is only able to be traversed back and forth by terraneans; gods are unable to enter (though their power can penetrate through it in certain instances and one exception technically, MIZDARR for... reasons cough), and monsters aren't able to leave the labyrinth's walls. beasts are also an exception to this and can travel back and forth but that's not really known knowledge--it really depends on how much ars/power they have tm.

related to The Labyrinth the three exceptions where beasts and monsters live are Diisai/Kiskkaddon -- because those landmasses were never corraled into the labyrinth proper however only monsters exist in those areas and they are SIGNIFICANTLY weaker than the monsters/beasts of mainland terrae due to being further away from The Hands of Qhozion. the origin of chaos in terrae actually lies in MIZDARR's domain, The Thicket, which is an island in the middle of a saltwater lake. the other origin point is the fallen city of Argos, for reasons in the first age. technically monsters and beasts exist in another place too, Lapsundi, the hidden world, but like again this is already so long so i'm not gonna get too into that.

gods exist outside of the realm of terrae--the sky, in the hidden places, or the bowels of the earth (or characters like MIZDARR who do have specific areas associated with them). they are unable to interact with terraneans or the world directly, except through prayer and divine inspiration and most of their work is carried out through guardians--who actually don't usually interact with terraneans either, though they can. oracles are usually the main go between. and because gods can change shape, sometimes they hide in plain sight to observe terraneans.

☮️What are the different fantasy species’ customs and cultures? How well do they get along with each other, if at all?

this is too long of a conversation to get in depth and the cultural aspect of things is something i'm still working on because each individual city-state has their own culture LOL. i have a city building questionnaire saved to do for all of the cities that i literally just haven't gotten around to bc its SO MUCH. cough.

either way though, to answer the second question monsters and beasts don't get along with terraneans at all and vice versa; monsters are fueled by chaos and kill each other and terraneans virtually indiscriminately, which is why The Labyrinth was created--terraneans were basically on the verge of extinction due to them in the first age, which then lead to the rise of The Demon King. when terraneans learned about beasts and The Demon King and their sentience, they did try to come about creating a peace treaty... but that led to the War of Seven Sons so.... you can see how well that went LMAO.

the gods in general have mixed views about chaos--there are those like IISIDIA and MUINENS who outright detest it and find it to be an abombination (and MUINENS specifically has made it her misson over the past thousands of years to try and figure out where chaos is coming from, why, and how to curb it) meanwhile there are others such as YLENE, YUTARA, and MIZDARR that are more neutral/benevolent about it. chaos is apart of the world so much as chaos is, so we cannot fully stop it from existing but instead learn to live with it. this is a big plot thread within book 2 of this series, so i won't go into much further depth but YEAH.

terraneans amongst themselves is a mixed bag as any human esque society is. there hasn't been a grand scale war among terraneans since the War of Lathsburian Succession in the second age, and this is mainly because IISIDIA, in a rare showing, possessed an OOM and basically said "if y'all mfs ever war with each other again i'm blowing this bitch UP" and no one wants to test the literal most powerful deity in the universe to see if she's joking or not LMAO-- this doesn't mean that there isn't strife and tensions and that war hasn't come close before. ie: before the 7 sons incident, terrae almost went to war due to a coup, if it wasn't stopped by a mentally unwell duchess in a murder-suicide. so uh. yeah. and even in the fourth age now, there's whispers of another coup forming up but this one is very very much unchecked and has been in the works for several decades so hashtag yikes :D

⏳Are there any dramatic lifespan differences between your fantasy species and humans? How does that influence their societies and relationships with each other?

taking out the second half of that question bc humans don't exist on terrae LMAO. but yeah. to be very general:

terraneans -> 150-200 year lifespan. basically double that of a regular human tm. the one exception is guilders tend to have shorter lifespans and usually die around 30s-40s bc traversing the labyrinth is not a fucking game LMAO

monsters -> too varied to put a number to it, but they're essentially immortal, but mortal (as in they can be killed)

beasts -> same hat, immortal as in they can live forever, however are killable. same thing goes with The Demon King, its the only "mortal" deity.

gods -> immortal and unkillable but can be injured

guardians -> immortal and unkillable but can be injured

oracles -> same lifespan as terraneans bc they're the same thing basically

👑What’s the political configuration of your WIP? Kingdoms, nations, something else?

one major kingdom (The Kingdom of Lathsbury) comprised of city-states and two vassel states that are technically independent but like are they really lmao. so each city is ruled by a duke/duchess that are either appointed by the king, or are handed down through bloodline (which is easiest) unless they decide to abdicate. the king (all rulers of lathsbury, regardless of gender, are called kings) is chosen by an OOM and they have to be 30 years old before they can take the throne. there has only been (1) exception to this, and that was king mitica the nomad of the first age, but that was also when terraneans were on the verge of extinction so desperate times call for desperate measures. anyway, he was chosen at 18 instead of 30, and had the longest reign of any terranean king, dying at the ripe old age of 148 LMAO, so 130 years lmao.

diisai and kiskkaddon operate a bit differently; diisai has a council of elders who make decisions jointly and they all have to be unanimous to make decisions though there does tend to be one "speaker" who speaks for the entire nation. kiskkaddon is more similar to how kings of lathsbury are chosen, and is done so by oracle however it is done by oracle of RANKIMA (aka MIRANKA) instead of an oracle of MUINENS like lathsbury. RANKIMA is also all about partnerships, so technically kiskkaddon always has 2 rulers at once and they have to work together to rule.

and very very technically snake's canyon is a bit different because they don't really have specific duke or duchess that rules anything but everyone just kind of. exists. there. cough.

⚠️What’s the political climate of your WIP? Are nations on the brink of conflict, or enjoying many years of peace?

conflict has mostly always been between beasts/monsters and terraneans, and while things since the labyrinth was constructed have been like. relatively okay, realistically only the second and third ages were truly peaceful. at the end of the third age with the veneration of arian to guardian status, that's very much the major catalyst to the war of the 7 sons, so the fourth age started off with a BANG. but after that was over for the most part, its been 300 years of "relative peace".... but all that's about to change LOL.

✊What’s the social climate of your WIP? Are people struggling against inequality or war?

generally speaking terraneans have always kind of been a struggling sort and its only been in the past few hundred years that everyone has FULLY begun to prosper. there's more trade and innovation than ever; more and more people are leaving their homes to continue to build the guild system and cultivate fame and riches from it, and guilds are becoming the backbone of the kingdom in terms of generating wealth, commerce, trade, and general wellbeing--despite the usual short life expectancy of guilders tm.

things are brewing underneath the surface however. just before the beginning of book one, the oracle chosen king luther, was killed in a freak accident, and the OOM did not choose a new king yet--in his stead his youngest brother, aran, is ruling as the duke of lathsbury, and this is the first time something like this has ever happened. because of that, there are murmurs among nobles to try and depose aran from the throne (which makes me mad LEAVE HIM ALONEEEE). theres also concern regarding the growing power of guilds in general--elites don't like them LMAO. so. there's some tension, but it hasn't reached its peak yet. BUT OH IT WILL.

🏰Are there royals and/or nobility in your WIP? How do they treat the common people? What do the common people think of them?

there are! it varies from area to area, however, because of how the kingdom's king is chosen there's actually more of a 'lax' cooperative nature between many people and those of a higher ranking (if they are good rulers but there's always bad eggs). the reasoning is because oracles choose kings, anyone that you speak to could at any point be chosen to be king, so it makes sense to respect everyone. PLUS comraderie in terraneans is one of their biggest tenants; as they came into the world of terrae having to rely on themselves and the gods to survive, so there's a deep generational disposition to help others. most nobles are very respectful of the common folk and use their leadership and positions to help others; a good example is duchess aria lathsbury of wish of palanthia, who is beloved and adored by all of those under her.

however, with the growing wealth and prosperity that the labyrinth is beginning to afford, it is causing larger gaps between the upper and middle class, and so cracks are slowly beginning to form. greed is the source of all evil as you know. so, things haven't fully gotten to that point yet by the time of the first book but things are beginning to slowly shift.

💎What are the hallmarks of a higher-class person in your WIP? What marks someone as lower-class?

ummm honestly its hard to say as each noble is different. some nobles are down to earth and hardly distinguishable from their common class peers (such as lord kiba; most people forget his status because he doesn't carry himself in that way), meanwhile others make it their personality that they're noble (such as lady illiana, his stepsister). as society is generally prosperous, its not necessarily about what they wear or how they dress though those can be indicators; as well as their weaponry, or homes, which can also be indicators. but a lot of people say that those who are nobility (if they are or otherwise) is their leadership abilties. characters such as sir keevan are generally thought to be nobility, though he actually isn't at all--but his gregariousness, leadership and prowess make him appear noble-like to others.

i think the best way to explain it is that people view nobility as people who are leaders, and not people who have money or material wealth. and even though some people can be nobilitiy solely through material wealth, they won't be respected or thought of as someone of noble ranking if they don't have those leadership qualities.

🙇Are the common people expected to serve the higher class in some way, explicitly or implicitly? Are some kinds of service more respectable than others?

societally, they aren't 'expected' to serve the higher class in a sort of reverent or 'because they're better than you' kind of way. there's a lot of "respect is earned" vibes throughout the entire wip and just because you're born into high class, if you want people to listen to you or respect you, you do have to earn their trust. this is why there's a lot of cooperative society vibes around class and class in general in terrae is much more fluid-its much easier to learn a trade or interact with people if you're earnest about it; and things like schooling and housing don't cost money in a traditional sense. most people aren't extremely bad off (nowadays) so honestly, the court of public opinion determined by what you do for your constituents is more important than actually having wealth. that's what the current underbelly coup against duke aran has been taking so long; its not about using money or force to depose him, its about turning the tide of the public against him.

generally speaking though, there aren't really any like, jobs that are "more respectable" than others. while individual opinion will obviously differ, as a whole, terranean society is of the mindset that every sort of occupation is necessary for the betterment of society. a knight, a duke, a guilder, a prostitute, a doctor, and a farmer are all the same level of valuable to society. what matters is if you use your role for betterment or to be a piece of shit lol. i suppose the one exception to this is oracles, as they have divine inspiration and they speak directly to the gods which is extremely important. so they are held in a slightly higher regard than other occupations tm.

🪖How are wars fought in your WIP? Swords and spells, firearms, war machines?

*whispering so IISIDIA can't hear me* swords and spells mostly. firearms are a newer invention of the past like ~50 years or so into the 4th age and theres a LOT of discourse around them. but there hasn't been any wars or whatever (yet cough) for them to be used. so mostly swords and magic tm.

🏢What kind of unique or magical architecture exists in your WIP?

so the most important magical structure is The Labyrinth. bc i've talked about it ad nauseum, i'll try to be brief, but basically it operates pretty much the exact same way you think it might based on the name. its a maze like entity that has a mind of its own (to an extent) and is greatly influenced by magic in both its construction but also internally. things move and shift, mirages and illusions will make you lose your way, and its absolutely teeming with monsters and beasts alike :) the structure itself was created with cantillo and by IISIDIA herself so the thought is that its basically unbreakable... but that is technically not the case. tm. book 2 spoilers cough.

💰How does trade function in your WIP? Merchant caravans, local markets, dragon drop-shipping?

merchant caravans, local markets, and by sea is pretty much the major ways that trade happens. bc mainland terrae is mostly land though so mostly through caravans and beasts of burden does trade happen if its not on a local level.

📦Are there any specialized or magical imports/exports that your fantasy societies rely on? Why are they so important?

getting into this delves more into the weeds of things i don't fully have the brain for yet, HOWEVER, the biggest thing that i do know is there is high demand for monster hair and hide in order to make clothes and especially, most interestingly, weaves, wigs and so on. its very similar how black people use synthetic or human/horse hair to create elaborate hairstyles, same can be said for terrae however their hair parts all come from monster hair :>. there's certain species (that i haven't developed yet bc flora and fauna is genuinely my LEAST FAVORITE part of worldbuilding holy shit) that are better for these material than others, and when i figure it out y'all are gonna be so cooked lol.

💵What kinds of currency exist in your WIP? Do people use gold coins, barter and trade, or something else?

sooo technically currency exists. i don't know much about what it is yet bc economics makes my head hurt. however, i do know that a higher prized form of currency (and what is more common among the common folk) is bartering and trading; not just items and resources but favors, skills, and even introductions to other people. its not uncommon for people to offer their service or time in exchange for something else--and the bartering system is HUGE within guild culture. when you need any type of monster part or something from the labyrinth, you can usually go to any kind of bar and they'll have a notice board where you can put up requests and rewards for services or other goodies.

thinking about it i want to say that they use coins for everything because mining is a pretty big thing esp in towns like Kingsburrow. and i imagine they just have different sizes and styles of coins to denote different things. and i don't think their money is made of silver or gold, i wanna say its made of a completely different fantastical mineral that is in abundance in terrae. i just haven't figured it out yet. LMAO. i'll come back to this eventually.

👚What kinds of clothes do people wear in your WIP? What accommodations are made for any fantasy body parts?

i can't answer this in full bc culture varies across different city states, however i will briefly mention that different guild classes tend to wear different kinds of clothes: ie, hunters of eros tend to wear a lot of furs and hides and are generally more exposed with light armor bc they're about speed. meanwhile, protectors are heavily armored in a style more similar to medieval knights. there's much more to this but again, we'd be here all day and i haven't fully decided yet so like, hit me up like several years from now when i finally stop freaking out over the timeline and start filling in details.

🏙️Are there any especially famous cities or nations in your WIP? What are they known for? & 🚩Are there any especially infamous cities or nations in your WIP? What earned them the sour reputation?

figure i would do these two together lol. all the major city states are pretty much known for something, so let's have a brief overview of the major cities (i'm literally just gonna copy and paste from my large worldbuilding doc lmao)

LATHSBURY (Lathsburian): Lathsbury is the capital of The Kingdom of Lathsbury and is named after the first Guardian of Terrae, Lath. It’s known for its entrance to The Labyrinth, it’s bustling and diverse culture as it’s a huge traveling and trading hub, for its Guilds, and being the base of all government operations. 

KINGSBURROW (Lathsburian): As Kingsburrow was established near the same time, and has close proximity to Lathsbury, most people who live in Kingsburrow consider themselves to be Lathsburian. It’s known for its rich mineral deposits and mining culture. 

EROS / ARGOS (Aegean): The swampy, dense Eros is a converted fortress city that stands in the shadow of the crumbling and foreboding Argos—the first capital and city of Terrae thousands of years ago. Eros is known for its hunters and dark hunters, and their seemingly never ending devotion to culling the vast chaos that lies beneath Argos’s dilapidated streets, in hopes of one day reclaiming the city and restoring it to its former glory. 

MARTHVEIL (Veilian): Marthveil is the birthplace of alchemy and a hub of innovation, and is the most technologically advanced city in all of Terrae, with electric lighting being one of its main highlights. It’s named after the god of alchemy MARTH who was born in the region. 

HYTRÖTH (Püerthian): Hytröth lies at the foot of the sacred Mt. Hytröth, which is also known as MUINENS’s home. It’s no surprise that the Protector’s Academy and the largest OOM Temple are located here. They call themselves Püerthian because they are sheltered under the towering Mt. Hytröth from the worst of the north’s pain. 

SILVERKEEP (Silvian or Lathsburian): The hub of medicinal research in Terrae due to the incredible and sheer vast biodiversity of plants that can be found nowhere else in Terrae. They call themselves Silvian however, implants from Lathsbury are extremely common so it’s more of a blended culture. 

MORDIGA (Diisaian): The capital of Diisai, and the hub of harvest, food and drink. It’s known for its beautiful rolling hills and it’s residents are known to be quite superstitious.

SNAKE’S CANYON (Illumese): On the Eastern edge of the continent lies the dark badlands of Snake’s Canyon. They are known for their canyon built homes and the guild class, Illuminators or Hexers.

WISH OF PALANTHIA (Palanthian): The residents of Wish of Palanthia are known for their kindness, generosity, and agreeable nature. The city is famous for being the site where a peace treaty was signed after the first and last Terranean civil war. Etched in stone in the center of the city is the grim promise the city stands to uphold: Should Terraneans ever war amongst themselves again, IISIDIA will destroy all life on Terrae. 

BASS LANDING (Canterian): Taken from cantatio, the Canterian people of Bass Landing are famous for their music and arts.

EASTHOLLOW (n/a): Easthollow lies close to Eros and the Western bank and is nicknamed “The Guild City” as any willing adventurer must travel to Easthollow to pass the Guilder’s exams and be chosen in the guild bid before they can become a guild hand proper. The city is called “hollow” because there are no permanent residents that reside here; and as such it has no significant cultural heritage. 

KOSS (Koskans) -> A seafaring city, named after the god of the seas himself KOST and located at the major junction between Mainland Terrae and the Eastern Sea. All major trade sea trading routes pass through here and its floating markets are famous throughout Terrae.

UBWYN (THE CITY OF SORROWS) (n/a): Ubwyn is mostly a ruin now, but it was the first place the Nomads that would eventually become The Lathsburians established after they fled from Eros after The Day of Fissures. It’s mostly remembered as a cultural site, and some say they do occasionally see what seems to be a tall, pale, ghostly woman floating among the ruins at night.

🥪What kind of unique and/or popular foods exist in your WIP? Magical foods?

haven't got too in the weeds of food yet, but if you wanna read a funny incident about food in this wip, how about you read The Quest for the Perfect Labyrinth Honey Loaf and lemme know what you think lmao

🚗How do people travel over land in your WIP? Are there any magical machines that help?

no machines :) just horse or beast of burden. perhaps deer and moose or other cloven animals are tameable i just haven't decided yet bc fuck flora and fauna PFF

⛵How do people sail over oceans and seas in your WIP? Are there any magical machines that help?

no machines :) by boat! however, before you travel across the ocean its always good to pray to the sea god KOST, as he invented boats and seafaring and you may as well get his blessing before you start venturing into his domain.

✈️Is air travel possible in your WIP? Through magic, technology, or a mix of both?

nope, though the first place to discover such a thing will be marthveil, they just haven't gotten that far yet lol.

🪄Is there magic in your WIP? Where does it come from? & 🎆How does magic work in your WIP? How can it do all those fantastic things?

OO BOY IS THERE MAGIC. so there's actually a LOT of different kinds of magic in terrae so to make my life simpler i'm just gonna do more copy and pasting from one of my NUMEROUS worldbuilding docs.

but very very basically, all Terraneans’s souls are made of sana (health and vitality), cava (chaos energy), and ars (magic potential). None of these are perfect percentages (they don’t have to equal 100 basically). Your soul needs to have at least 30% ars in order to use any kind of magic whatsoever. so if you're rocking a 50-29-15 set up for instance, y'aint using magic lmao. while most people don't know their exact thresholds, medics specifically tend to know their breakdown due to the growing technology in Silverkeep to measure this, as well as they need to know what their sana limits are so they don't kill themselves tm. and speaking of that, here are the kinds of magic:

Sana Inanem — is the practice of using excess sana in order to heal the wounds of others. This is strictly used by the medic class. Wounds can be surface level or internal and the only limit is the amount of 'excess' sana you have (essentially, how much sana can you give away without killing yourself). Usually a base threshold sana of 55% or more is needed.

Subortus — is an offshoot of sana, but is one of the “extraction” magics. It is the practice of utilizing the sana properties of plants and the ars of beast/monster parts in order to create potions, remedies or salves that have a variety of functions. It is the only magic that you do not personally need the base threshold of ars to use it. 

Diruam — a protective, fire based magic used solely by medics. In order to use diraum, like any sana based magic, you must have an excess of sana. While it is not particularly powerful offensively, it is a quite useful defensive last resort

Vis — is the magic of the force of your own will and is extremely versatile. It is the most common magic used by magic users in Terrae. 

Muram — is a magic only used by alchemists and involves using the scientific and biological understanding of the world around you, in order to break down and transmute the components of things around you into other things, such as plants to steel or dirt to gold. It allows you to change the state, composition, and properties of essentially any matter. 

Lumine — is an offshoot of vis and is one of the “extraction” magics. Lumine is only used by illuminators and allows a user to draw the ars out of other beings or rocks/minerals (which are rich in ars) to channel energy. Illuminators can also be called hexers as they can do darker things with lumine unto others. 

Tenom — is an offshoot of vis and is one of the “extraction” magics. By drawing out the cava of beasts and monsters you can turn yourself into a brute force powerhouse. Tenom however has extreme drawbacks, as its over usage can lead to death or insanity. 

Chaos Touched — Isn't necessarily a magic in the traditional way, but it is a blessing from the god MIZDARR, most usually to rangers, gifting them the ability to see and sense chaos (or corrupted cantillo) in the world around them, appearing like an aura around beings and beasts affected by it. it is also a skill that is developed by dark hunters (though not as proficently as rangers) as they are in close connection with cava thanks to usage of Tenom.

Cantatio — Is the second oldest form of magic and literally brought the universe into being as it is the magic of creation through music. It is very rare that Terraneans are able to grasp this ancient and complex magic, but some very skilled bards have been able to dabble in it on occasion.

Cantillo — is the oldest form of magic and what contains the fabric of the universe, only able to be wielded by IISIDIA. It's also known as "deeper magic" and its too much for any mortal or god outside of her to comprehend.

🚫What CAN’T magic do in your WIP? Where does the mystical power fall short?

the only thing magic can't do, essentially, is create immortality (though you can be risen from the dead) or deify someone unless the gods will it. the great thing about vis especially, is the sky is the limit on what you can do and the only determining factor is your own power and discipline. the other thing is control time--time is always moving forward at its own pace and you can't change that. you also can't dimension hop; time and space are apart of cantillo's jurisdiction and only IISIDIA can control that.

🤕What are the drawbacks to using magic in your WIP? Do they improve or get worse depending on how powerful you are?

Tenom has the most disasterous side affects of its usage so tl;dr the more you use tenom the more your sana will be consumed by cava to the point that you can eventually be overcome and overrun by it and become a monster yourself. :D

🔮Who can wield magic in your WIP? Everyone, a select group, or basically nobody?

people who use magic are called artisans (bc it comes from ars), and as aforementioned, you need 30% ars to be able to do magic in any capacity; if you don't have that then you can't use magic at all. there isn't any way to increase this either, though subortus doesn't require the usage of one's internal magic to do, so basically if you don't have ars you can always try subortus.

💪How do people wield magic in your WIP? Are magic users able to bend it to their will, or merely guide it?

do whatever you want baybeee you got free will LMAO

🔨Is magic considered useful or dangerous in your WIP? Do different cultures or species view magic differently?

generally considered useful! magic is entertaining and awe inspiring, or its useful and practical. bc as i said before most terraneans are community oriented, they tend to use their magic (most of the time) to help others. obvs again theres people who do use it for bad and evil but fuck those people LMAO.

tenom & lumine specifically are definitely more side eyed however, because they are more deadly than other forms of magic and can either cause severe harm to yourself (tenom) or to others (lumine). lumine itself does have its practical uses, as in Snake's Canyon artisans who can use lumine are vital to ensuring that the area is lit and traversable. tenom does have practical uses to aegeans (people who live in eros) because only dark hunters (aka people who use tenom) are able to traverse argos to try and clear it of the monsters within it HOWEVER it is so extremely dangerous that many people are against its usage. eros has no interest in entertaining outsider's opinions on the matter though.

🤷Is there a way someone could lose their ability to use magic? Has it ever happened before?

not really. essentially, its apart of your 'genetic' make up, and there's really no way to 'change' those percentage numbers... unless you use tenom enough and then you become a monster, but then basically you just cease having sentience?? so like ig you can count that but in general magic is just sorta something you're born with the ability to do or not.

⚙️How has magic influenced the level and complexity of technology in your WIP? & 🧪How does magic interact with scientific advancements in your WIP? Are they considered the same?

magic has allowed society to progress in interesting ways and the way that people have come to the conclusions that we have in our world. while science has been a major inovator for us, for terraneans magic is at the heart of innovation because magic itself (especially when you get into things like subortus and muram) is a science! while they haven't fully escaped the equivalent of the medieval period, in some ways they have very much advanced in ways that we hadn't in similar circumstances due to the proximity to magic. firearms (not automatic ones), as well as electrict are the two current biggest innovations that are equivalent to our world that have been discovered in the hub of innovation, Marthveil. and silverkeep is constantly improving and advancing their medicinal techniques as more and more about the composition of the soul and the relationship between sana, cava, and ars is discovered. but because magic itself is so prevalent, things that we use in our society aren't really things that i feel like will ever occur to them to use in theirs. i can't really think of any examples rn bc basically i don't really like making modern magic wips too often LOL so that's why tcol is like this but yeah i'm sure when i think more about what tech they do and don't have i'll get more into the weeds of this.

i do know they definitely have plumbing though. i refuse to allow chamber pots and throwing shit in the street to be a thing LMAO.

⚔️Are there any special magical objects in your WIP? What do they do? Who owns them?

telus weapons and objects are rare; they're basically magic imbued weaponry or trinkets, which allows people who don't have ars to bypass the usual requirements of being able to do magic (having ars) but limits the usage because usually the object or weapon only has a few specific abilities and doesn't have a mind of its own so it can't be as versatile. its very hard to create such a weapon; usually they're blessed in some manner by a god. there aren't really any that show up in any of the stories (unless you count guardian weapons as telus weapons but those are Very Very different) that i have for this wip, but perhaps i should and can make a side story about one. i think i would have it take place in diisai.... but i'll ponder that later lol.

🧐Do people research magic in your WIP? What’s the most popular or prestigious topic of study? The least popular?

technically people only research magic when they're trying to become a certain class of some kind. i'll just list out the "specialty" magics real fast ->

MEDICS study sana inanem, diruam and subortus

ALCHEMISTS AND GUNNERS study muram

HEXERS/ILLUMINATORS study lumine

BARDS study cantatio

DARK HUNTERS study tenom

all other classes use some form of vis, if they use magic at all as its not a requirement (ie: MBAs, rangers, protectors, hunters)

because not everyone can do magic, its not really a requirement of standard education and you usually only seek it out if you're trying to do shit in guilds or if you're trying to be in a particular field of sorts. (and as an aside, there isn't really a difference between engineers and alchemists in tcol simply because muram is also very good for construction and those types of things)

the most popular would be sana inanaem and subortus because everyone needs a medic or doctor at some point in their life, and silverkeep university is the most prestigious institution in terrae for study.

the least popular is lumine because it is very niche and mostly only those from snake's canyon use it. and even then its not a structured sort of study, its more field-learned.

⚕️How has magic changed the landscape of medicine and healing in your WIP?

sana inanem allows for a sort of catch all healing. you don't necessarily need the specifics like how we do in scientific healing; the magic itself will smooth out whatever ails you from internal bleeding, to coughs or fevers, to broken bones. i will say that generally speaking sana inanem because it is more intensive on the healer themselves, tends to be saved for physical ailments like injuries and the like; subortus tends to be the go to for other like infections and things because it is less taxing if it needs to be used over a period of time. sana inanem in the case of illness is a sort of 'last resort'

the other thing is that very extremely powerful medics are able to do things that are virtually impossible for us to do which is bring someone or something fully back from the dead. the phoenix maneuver is what it's called and its been studied for generations, however there has only ever been one medic on record ever able to do such a thing and that is Karenza Hawkins. she has been studied extensively to determine why she is able to do this and its because she has the rare condition (that i have to name) where sana is practically spilling out of her, she has an 80-20 sana to ars ratio. though this should disqualify her from being able to do magic bc she doesn't have the magic 30% because she literally has so much sana it literally spills out of her and she is able to heal irregardless. this unfortunately means though that any other magic outside of sana inanem is completely inaccessible to her. but still, its a marvel to behold and seeing her perform the phoenix manuever on a deer is the way she's introduced in book 1 :)

🏬What kind of magical professions can a magic-user pursue in your WIP? Is it considered especially prestigious, normal, or below respect?

like i said somewhere before all careers are basically considered important to upholding society so none of them are looked down upon in anyway really. magic users also aren't really beholden to one specific path unless you want to learn a specific kind of magic--however, if you want to learn vis, then you're essentially able to do anything you want without barriers. be free <3

🎭Has magic brought about social good in your WIP? Social ills?

generally i'd say magic has brought social good; but just like any tool it can be used for negative things. tenom is the only magic with a sordid history because it did not develop naturally and was not blessed by the gods. after vis came into being during The Day of Fissures, the Chieftain of Argos, Whisper of the Fire along with her head researcher Tenoma began to fervently study the limits of vis to try and find a way to combat the horrors that seeped out of Argos. this led to the creation of the Hunters With Magic research facility which basically conducted horrifying experiments of increasing cava on dissenters to Whisper's rule, and eventually led to the first 'true' dark hunter's creation, Twilightsorrow Idanly. it was horrific, and even now the history and methods are closely guarded secrets in eros; a lot of the general research itself even being destroyed from that time period. its a Hot fucking mess lemme tell you.

🙅Are there any kinds of forbidden magic? What kinds, and why?

not necessarily? there are certain magics that you simply cannot learn, essentially cantillo. like. its literally and physically impossible. but pretty much everything else is fair game.

🤔Are there any kinds of “forgotten” or ancient magic that nobody remembers anymore? How was the knowledge lost?

not really. some origins of certain magic (like tenom) have been lost, but not the know how.

🫥Are there any kinds of magic that are intentionally hidden from the general population? Who’s hiding this knowledge, and why?

The Hands of Qhozion and the origins of chaos are intentionally hidden. any of those who have discovered its power have been drawn to ruin. this is because QHOZION does not want anyone or anything to know that he exists; at least not until he's ready to reveal himself and take revenge of his own kinda against his own self. the only character that knows the full extent of what it is is MIZDARR; but he cannot speak on this for various plot reasons, and MUINENS has always been suspicious of him because he knows much more than he's letting on. he may in fact (and kinda does) know more than IISIDIA herself... which is worrying lmao. and its really just because IISIDIA chooses not to acknowledge this and has split herself in various ways. so.

all of this is book 2 plot stuff so i'm not gonna get too into the weeds about it but yahhhh.

⛪What are the popular religions in your WIP? Where is each belief more prominent?

so weird scenario; there isn't really an popular or major organized religion in tcol. the gods exist as a fact, and many different people have many different practices and have different gods that they favor more than others but like there's no like. majorly approved/state sponsored/populist belief. even oracle temples differ from temple to temple in how they practice and the gods themselves are quite benevolent in it. many of the gods feel as though they exist to aid terraneans and the world of terrae itself; and not the other way around (which would be that the world exists for them and their pleasure) so like while it can be appreciated to have terraneans worship or reach out, to a lot of the gods terraneans are simply children that they look after and nurture with or without thanks. its simply part of being a deity, its their duty if you will.

to kind of give a quick run down of places where there is an obvious preference:

MARTHVEIL -> as is in the name, they are very partial to MARTH

EROS/ARGOS -> YLENE, BRULENE and LENEYUBR (the combination of YLENE and BRULENE)

HYTROTH -> MUINENS

KISKKADDON -> RANKIMA, which is an alter of MIRANKA

KOSS -> KOST

SILVERKEEP -> YUTARA

MORDIGA (and Diisai generally) -> KIBARUM

BASS LANDING -> The Musicians of Creation, which include Nitarr, Tuara, Rana, Ranae, Wanao, and Waname

WISH OF PALANTHIA -> as the name suggests, Palanthia

THE LABYRINTH ITSELF -> The Demon King, obviously lol

📢Are there any particularly influential religious institutions in your WIP?

time for more copy paste <3

The Frosted Arches -> The largest Oracle House for MUINENS is located in Hytroth (up north) and it is considered the sacred homeland of the goddess. Oracle Houses for MUINENS don’t have standardized names the same way that MIRANKA’n oracles do, and that is specifically because they’re so old and for a long while, there was only One place (really) that oracles were and the rest were offshoots and only local Things. the large institutions we see for MUINENS don’t crop up until after the War of Lathsburian Succession.

House of Carnations -> where Oomi’s study and become the oracles. break off temples and for MIRANKA are named after different plants and flowers that have lovely scents. The House of Carnations is the largest and is in Wish of Palanthia where MIRANKA was born. Flower Houses (as they’re called generally) can pop up anywhere in Terrae and usually every town has at least one to help with relationship disputes. As of the year _(haven't decided)_ they were made mandatory for every township or city to have one per a certain population size. 

The Arena -> the only place where Oracles of YLENE practice and it is only located in Eros. it is exactly what it sounds like — a giant arena where the Champion lives their day to day life. they hold strategy meetings, sacrifices and prayers, and battle to the death for anyone who wants the honor of becoming the next champion can challenge them. they also tend to host extreme sporting events. Occasionally Champions will have a right hand man (or two) called Tacticians, who serve the symbolic role of Brulene as she is to YLENE. However, only the Champion has direct contact with the goddess.

🙏Is devotion to a particular religion expected of people? What happens to non-believers?

being a non-believer isn't really a thing? this is sort of a universe wherein it is a fact that the gods exist; however they don't demand that you serve them and there are no consequences for being apathetic or neutral to their existence. some people are definitely more religious than others, but honestly for many people the gods are just sort of a thing that exist and they just continue on with their lives about. hell, even though oracles are divinely inspired, a lot of times especially when people go to OOMIs, do so out of the help they can provide and not necessarily because they are religious. so tldr devotion and more zealot practices do exist, but like you also don't have to give a shit if you don't want to lmao.

🫵Can the deities in your WIP grant people special powers? When do they choose to do so?

sort of? deities can bestow favor upon you in certain ways-or certain deities can. the ones that are more likely to provide blessings are YUTARA, as both the deity of medicine and gender expression, their gift is towards genderqueer people who pray to them in desire of their body to match their inner self. this isn't really a 'special power' but people with all sorts of anatomy can exist if they pray to YUTARA fervently enough and they hear your prayer. 2 characters who have been blessed by them are Jagoda Arthea (a trans man who has top surgery and what we would consider working phalloplasty - as in he can have kids) & Charissa Goodwyn (a trans woman who has breast augmentation but still has her dick and is sterile), though many more exist tm.

MIZDARR can grant the Chaos Touch to those he decides but it is very unclear why he decides to do so? there's not much rhyme or reason, but more often than not these people do tend to become or already are rangers. one character who is especially unique is Eryn Arcus, who is Chaos Touched since birth but it has left her completely blind outside of the chaos she can sense. the other character is a spoiler :P

finally, guardians are ALWAYS venerated from especially noteworthy or prophecy fulfilling terraneans. MUINENS has venerated the most guardians (3 to be exact- 2 known and 1 spoiler) however, MIRANKA venerated Arian in the third age :). this is slightly different than granting powers because basically its giving you one step under a god status lol.

🗣️Can anyone commune with the deities in your WIP, or do they only answer to special devotees?

nope, you gotta be an oracle or a guardian to directly communicate with the gods and even then theres only certain gods that do communicating through them. a lot of it has to do with the power that gods have. i'm quite a fan of the whole if you look at a deity you will simply vaporize type shit so unless you're some sort of divine... good luck with that.

📞Is it rare to be contacted by higher beings, or does it happen all the time?

super rare bc its literally impossible for gods to speak with terraneans unless they're oracles lmao. and with oracles they don't necessarily speak with the god themself... its a bit confusing to explain but basically the god's energy/will manifests within them bc they're divinely inspired/a conduit for their word. the reason why they tend to be so vague is that the inherent inability for gods and terraneans to connect means that it is difficult for oracles to decipher and explain the will of the gods in a way that can be understood by the common people. some more powerful oracles are better at it but its still difficult and taxing.

🧩Are there prophecies in your WIP? Do people believe in them? & 🌟Have any prophecies ever come true in your WIP’s history? How important are they to your WIP in the present?

yuh LMAO. many if not most prophecies come true in some way shape or fashion, however prophecies tend to be more individual focused; its really very rare that an oracle gets a prophecy for an entire event or anything like that--though it has happened that multiple oracles have recieved visions and prophecies regarding a string of individuals that are all connected to an eventual large event; however its very rare for those connections to be made until after the fact unless it is alarming enough to get brought before The Frosted Arches.

there's currently a prophecy in progress for one of our main characters though i won't tell you which :D (it'll be obious who if you know anything about tcol tbh)

👂Can anyone hear prophecies in your WIP, or do they only appear to certain people, like oracles? & 🤐Are prophecies kept secret, or told to everyone who wants to hear? Why?

only to oracles (specifically OOMs because MUINENS is a goddess of fate and destiny). they don't tend to have large scale prophecies that are told aloud to the public; if they recieve a vision that great then they usually have to take that information all the way to The Frosted Arches and then among the high council they will decide what next steps should be taken to ensure that MUINENS's will is achieved.

on the flip side, usually whenever babies are born, parents will take them to the nearest OOM to have them receive their oracle's blessing. this is basically a prophecy about how their life is going to go and while sometimes vague, or nondescript, there are times when it is quite... pronounced and alarming. usually in those rare instances, the parents are advised by the best course of action for their little one.

🗡️Is killing monsters or magical creatures a viable profession in your WIP? Is it lauded work or scorned?

yup that's what guilds are for! that's not their only purpose, but what modern (as in start of book 1) guilds do a lot of is killing monsters within the labyrinth lol.

😢Are monsters legitimately dangerous, or are they simply misunderstood?

DANGEROUS ITS NOT A FUCKING JOKE THEY CANNOT BE REASONED WITH DEADASS

beasts are misunderstood but also legitimately dangerous and unpredictable and while they are similar to monsters they are very much not the same thing.

💀Can people commune with spirits of the dead in your WIP? How? & 👻Do spirits wander freely in your WIP? Why? Is there a way to help them pass on?

you can't really, but it isn't uncommon to see them in certain places. tl;dr terraneans cannot pass on unless they are properly buried, and their spirit will wander aimlessly throughout terrae unless their body is buried OR unless The Lady of the Mists finds them and guides them to Cerullius; which is essentially a "heaven" of sorts. its a reuniting with IIARAN. you can't really speak to them if you see them but occasionally travellers have seen spirits wandering and have been able to guide them back to their bodies so they can be buried and pass on.

😱Is it considered normal or taboo to speak with the dead in your WIP? Does it vary from culture to culture?

its seen as a good deed, if you can. again something something terrae is basically socialist/communist or whatever but its seen as something you should do because no one should be forced to wander forever. also, its usually not speaking to them as y'all are on different planes of existence and more like following the ghost to its body and giving it burial rites.

⚰️Is it possible to completely resurrect someone in your WIP? How? If not, has anybody ever tried?

yup! phoenix manuever i talked about before lol. only Karenza has ever been able to do it.

🗺️Is your WIP a globe-trotting adventure, or is all the adventure contained in one place?

technically book 1 and book 2 kind of all take place between the labyrinth and lathsbury but bc tcol is a huge world and i have a lot of side stories in it you can argue its a bit gloe-trotty. but characters do travel often.

🧚Is adventuring common in your WIP, or something only for fairytales?

common!

🪙When people go on adventures in your WIP, what are they looking for? Fame, fortune, power?

all of the above :)

🦸Are there any legendary heroes or adventurers in your WIP’s history? What are they famous for?

YEAHHH so time for some more lists tm

lath of argos (aka Lath, Guardian of Valor) & ensio montero (aka Ensio, Sword of Valor) -> famously helped the goddess MUINENS among 33 other warriors corral monsters and beasts from across the lands of terrae into The Labyrinth, slaughtering many stragglers so they would no longer pose a threat to terraneans and giving their lives in the process. Lath became the first guardian, and also gave the people of Terrae who left Eros after the day of fissures their eventual name Lathsburians

immordia gallant (aka Immordia, Guardian of Exploration) & her son, gawain gallant -> famously helped the first Lathsburian ship make the journey across the treacherous eastern sea, holding the boat afloat long enough to allow the first lathsburians to make it to shore before giving her life in the process. if it weren’t for her contributions, the Diisaians would never have been discovered and the Diisaians would never know their distant Lathsburian cousins existed which both are grateful for.

king mitică the nomad -> tl;dr made sure the lathsburians didn’t go extinct and is regarded as the greatest king who ever lived; humble, modest, wise, and measured.

karlan of the sea -> the first leader of the diisaians who helped them journey across the great eastern sea and was favored by the god, KOST

i haven’t named this guy yet but he’s the leader of the kisks and basically he’s the one who helped them travel from the mountains of ubwyn to where kiskkaddon is today.

king savon the evergolden -> the principle force in the war of the seven sons who held back the depouring of the labyrinth that his brother ziri the windless caused. if it weren’t for his tactile prowess and leadership it’s very likely that the lathsburians would’ve all perished tm <3

a lot of these heroes are very lathsbury focused but it’s bc i haven’t really started branching out into the other city states and what’s going on with the timelines and whatnot! but fear not! there will be So Many More LMAO.

🦹Are there any infamous villains in your WIP? How were they defeated?

listtsssss

whisper of the fire, first chieftain of argos -> she’s a villain to ME so that’s why she’s going on this list idc. anyway after her horrifying and tyrannical also short ass reign, she was killed by the first COH, hyla at the behest of YLENE. her death caused the beginnings of the aegean civil war which eventually ended with the creation of the nightwillow clan.

prince ziri the windless -> fuck this guy specifically. anyway lord evondra personally kills him because Fuck this guy specifically.

lord evondra -> that’s spoilers <3

QHOZION -> that’s also spoilers <3

🌄How much has the landscape and environment of your WIP been shaped by magic? Have entire mountains been wiped off the map, or is everything the same as if magic didn’t exist?

well, the entire world came into being via musical magic—

jkjk (but it did) but to answer the question, the best example is the kiskkaddon desert, which is a sentient entity. i haven’t fully decided if its sentient because it is RANKIMA herself, or if its a completely separate entity, but basically kiskkaddon itself is a word that means “swallowing” and thus its the all swallowing desert. conditions are harsh and its all magically related lol. it could alllllso potentially have something to do with Phyddione which could be a cool tie in so i may explore that a bit 🤔

🌥️Are there any magical places in your WIP that are kept hidden from outsiders? Why?

The Thicket, where MIZDARR resides, is hidden because it is the birthplace of chaos and to go in there is to risk being touched by The Hands of Qhozion. MIZDARR can somewhat control how much chaos seeps through the thicket into Terrae, but as he warned MUINENS thousands of years ago, there’s only so long that he can hold chaos back before it is fully unleashed :>

[dashinhfuzzydeer]

Chapter 5

The scent of burnt roses lingered in the air, a stark contrast to the opulent dining room where the King family and the Heathens, had just witnessed Landon’s dramatic act.

Landon, his face a mask of barely controlled rage, had incinerated the bouquet Vaughn had presented him, a declaration of war more than a rejection.

He’d turned on his heel, ignoring the calls of his family, and retreated to his room, the door slamming shut with a resounding thud.

Vaughn, however, remained unruffled, a picture of composure amidst the chaos. A gentle smile played on his lips as he turned to Levi and Astrid, Landon's parents.

"I apologize if my actions were wrong to offend him"

He said, his voice smooth as silk as if apologizing for the scene he knew he caused all under his wish.

"Perhaps if you could point me to his room, I could speak with him privately? There's no need for anyone to be bothered".

The room was silent, everyone still reeling from Landon’s outburst. Even the notoriously composed Heathens seemed taken aback.

But they were also keenly aware of the dangerous game they had been made a part of, with Vaughn standing at its center, dancing dangerously with Landon.

Nikolai, ever the optimist, gave Vaughn a thumbs up while hugging Brandon, Landon's twin and said,

"Maybe you should vi-vi, your 'wifey' seems very angry on you"

He got hit on the arm by Brandon for that while Vaughn gave him a look that told Nikolai to not call Landon that, the yellow mask Heathen however was lost in eyes of his lotus flower.

While Killian, who never took anything seriously until he saw danger, smirked, his arm protectively around Glyndon’s waist and said,

"Yeah, maybe take some dark chocolates because he looks like he is on his periods"

Glyndon gave him a glare for this but he just kissed her cheeks with a smirk that earned him a glare from Levi and a giggle from Astrid.

Annika offered him a small, cautious wave, and Cerighton, her boyfriend, hugged her close, looking sleepy like he always does.

Gareth, ever the diplomat, gave him a knowning nod as he continued his conversation with Landon’s parents to distract them while Jeremy and Eli, Landon’s older cousin, looked like they wanted to be anywhere else.

Even Aiden and Elsa, Landon's uncle and aunt, couldn't hide the looks of warning they sent his way. Each family member conveyed the same unspoken message – 'be careful of what you do' as Eli spoke up, giving Vaughn the direction he needed to know.

"The fourth room on the right to the second floor"

Vaughn nodded at him with a small thanks, gave them all a final, assessing look, a silent promise of his intention to win over, not just Landon, but his entire family, before excusing himself.

He knew he was walking into a storm, but he was never one to shy away from a challenge, no, infact he was that bison who loved to walk right into the storm. He made his way through the expansive house, his footsteps deliberate, until he reached Landon's door.

Without knocking, he pushed it open, stepping inside.

"You Heathens really have no manners do you?"

Landon said, his back to Vaughn, voice laced with sarcasm as he delicately shaped the wings of the morning star he was bringing to life.

Vaughn chuckled, closing the door behind him as his eyes roamed the Landon’s beautiful abode of a room, filled with unnaturally beautiful and meaningful sculptures, each piece a mystery to decode with their unique construction.

"Common Wifey, soon we will be married. There's no need for such formalities between us. No need for barriers, I mean, we're going to be sharing a bed soon"

He however was meet with pure ignorance from Landon who refused to acknowledge his existence, lost in his statue and finding it more worthy of his attention over his fiancee.

His workshop was Landon’s sanctuary, a chaotic symphony of clay dust, metal tools, and the raw, potent energy of creation. But today, it felt suffocating. He was hunched over his current project, a towering sculpture of Lucifer, the fallen angel, his face a mask of intense concentration.

Every line of muscle, every feather on the sculpted wings, was a testament to his meticulous artistry. He ignored the footsteps that echoed on the concrete floor, the presence of another man in his domain.

Vaughn, however, was not easily ignored. He moved with a quiet confidence that belied the storm he carried within him. He paused before Landon's earlier works, the discarded pieces that stood like silent sentinels of their creator's journey.

The first was an angel, weeping, cradling a sword that looked too heavy for its fragile hands. Vaughn reached out, his finger tracing the contours of a sculpted tear. It looked so real, so raw.

"These are incredibly detailed"

Vaughn murmured, his voice a low rumble that cut through the heavy silence.

"What’s your favorite food, Landon?"

Landon’s head snapped up to look at Vaughn, his dark blue eyes narrowed in annoyance as he scoffed and said,

"Why bother making small talk asshole? You probably already know the answer. Isn’t that what you people do? Dig up every scrap of information?"

Vaughn’s lips curved into a slow, predatory smile at Landon’s comment as he spoke up.

"Indeed, I know a great deal about you, Lyubov. All the data available with a little digging, your family history, the art schools you attended before Royal Elite University"

He paused as his hazel eyes shifted to Landon who continued to work on the sculpture as he spoke with an unknown intensity dripping down his tongue.

"But that’s not knowing you, is it? Not knowing you as intimately as I should, considering you're my wifey. I should know everything about you"

He let the word roll off his tongue like a delectable piece of forbidden fruit. Landon bristled at the endearment and the implied ownership.

"Don’t"

He growled, turning back to his sculpture, his hands working the clay with renewed ferocity. He didn't dignify Vaughn's words with an answer.

And Vaughn didn’t press. Instead he surveyed the workshop, his gaze lingering on a half-open box of cherries tucked away in a corner.

His steps took him to the trash can at the end of the room as he pressed the paddle under his leather boots to open the lead and peaked inside, taking note of dried cherry pits along with fresh ones coated with saliva, indicidating that Landon had savored on them not long ago.

They were accompanied by a bunch of cigarette buts and broken sculpturing tools, roughed papers or broken art pieces.

"Let me guess, it's cherries right wifey?"

A genuine smile softened the sharp edges of his features but the knowing look in his eyes were speaking otherwise.

Landon froze. His head whipped around again, his eyes wide with a mixture of surprise and suspicion as he looked at Vaughn looking up at him with a innocent smile, as if he didn't figure out something in few minutes that took even his family almost a year to figure out.

"How did you…..?"

Vaughn chuckled, pointing to the cherry box by Landon’s bedside as he spoke up,

"I can see them. And that reminds me, my own favorite food happens to be beef stew".

Landon blinked, looking between the box and Vaughn before turning back to his sculpture. He could feel Vaughn’s gaze on his back, a tangible weight as he spoke,

"You are one observant fucker, aren't you? And nobody asked"

Vaughn chuckled again at Landon’s comment, a low, rich sound that vibrated in the small space. He moved on, now stopping before the sculpture of a man kneeling, his face hidden in shadowed hands.

"Yes, I am, Very observant"

He began to pace slowly, his eyes cataloging every detail of Landon’s domain, observing it carefully as he casually strolled around and spoke to words that seem to fall deaf to Landon’s ears.

"Infact, I’ve noticed a few things about you, wifey, in the short time I’ve been here. For example, You smoke when you're stressed, I can smell the lingering tobacco clinging to the air even now"

He paused, circling around another sculpture, this one a soaring Pegasus with beautiful detailed wings of a angel and details of each and every strand of fur created on top of it as he continued to speak,

"You love your McLaren more than you love people, you stayed in middle of nowhere bleeding to make sure it won't get stolen"

He paused again as he looked around the room, taking a brief note of each and every single sculpture as he spoke with a calculated analysis,

"You express your emotions through your sculptures, I can tell the pain and rage in it the lucifer you are working on"

His words send a shiver of danger down Landon’s spine who tried to remain indifferent but the more Vaughn spoke, the more the hair behind Landon's neck started to stand up.

Vaughn turned to Landon, his gaze piercing, focused on the bandage on Landon’s head, covering a wound he caused as he spoke,

"You know flower language. You understand the meaning of the Bouquet I gave you, didn’t you?"

Finally, his eyes flicked to a dressing table across the room, where a bottle of perfume sat, its scent subtly permeating the studio and radiating faintly off Landon’s skin.

"And you have a very distinct scent, a mix of petrichor and sandalwood. Probably from that perfume you are using recently"

Landon’s hands stilled on Lucifer’s wings. He felt a chill run down his spine, a stark contrast to the heat that had been building within him from rage. He turned, his eyes wide with a dawning horror of every detail Vaughn was picking.

"How…?"

Vaughn smirked, a flash of something dark and dangerous crossing his innocent face, behind his glasses as he spoke,

"What’s wrong, wifey? Did I discover something you wanted to keep hidden?"

He took a step closer, his presence filling the space as he stood closer to a statue of the demon that Landon had created last week.

The pieces started to clicked into place.

With each observation, each detail unveiled by this terrifyingly perceptive man, the truth began to form a horrifying picture in Landon’s mind.

The meticulous precision of the Bratva Heir, the calculated strategies, the ruthless efficiency…it all pointed to one man.

And now, looking at the smirk on Vaughn's face, Landon saw the pieces of the puzzle fall into their rightful place.

The forced marriage, the sudden accept from the criminal underworld on their company's good, the sudden fall of the King Empire's shares and their disappeared money......…it was all the handiwork of Vaughn, the man standing before him.

The man who called him wifey.

Landon’s breath hitched in his throat. Vaughn Morozov, the charming, observant, eerily attractive man who had claimed him as his fiance, was not just some heir to a mafia empire.

He took a good look of Vaughn, he was clearly less built than the other Heathens thought much taller, showing that physical fight, altist the raw, brutal one aren't his pluse point.

Those glasses worked to accompany his eyes that had detoriated due to heavy focus on studies or technology probably.

He was the architect of his misery, the puppet master behind his forced engagement, the man who had engineered the complete destruction of everything Landon had known.

His heart pounded against his ribs, a frantic bird trapped in a cage. He had been so caught up in his art, so consumed by his grief and anger, that he had failed to see the predator hiding in plain sight, the wolf disguised as a lamb.

The workshop, once his sanctuary, now felt like a cage. Vaughn wasn’t just observing him, he was dissecting him, taking him apart piece by piece.

And the realization that all of this was intentional, calculated to trap him, filled Landon with a cold, gut-wrenching dread.

He wanted to scream, to fight, to lash out, but he was frozen, caught in the web of Vaughn’s carefully constructed game.

He knew, now, that he had been played, and he had been played brilliantly. And the worst part of it all was the horrifying realization of how deeply Vaughn already knew him, far better than his own family did.

How had he fallen for this?

How could he not noticed what is in front of him?

He stared at Vaughn, his mind racing. This wasn't a marriage of convenience; it was a calculated move, a power play.

He was a prize, a trophy, a possession in the hands of a man who saw him not as a person, but as a tool in his grand chess game probably.

Vaughn's smirk widened, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light, at this moment, even Jeremy Volkov looked like a less difficult obstacle and Nikolai Sokolov looked less of a trouble compared to this man who was nowhere near their built, but definitely more intelligent than all of the Heathens combined.

"Cat got your tongue, wifey?"

Vaughn asked, his voice a silken purr that sent shivers down Landon's spine as his Hazel eyes observed ever muscle that twitched in Landon's body.

He had only just begun.

Landon knew, with a sinking feeling, that his nightmare was only just beginning.

And he was trapped, completely and utterly trapped, in the web of the man he was supposed to marry.

However, Landon wasn't the one who gave up before putting a fight to death. He will crawl his way out of this mess if he must.

Landon scoffed, finally turning to face Vaughn completely and abandoning his sculpture, fury blazing in his eyes.

"You orchestrated this, didn't you?"

Vaughn raised an eyebrow at him, his amusement evident as he took a step towards landon.

"Orchestrated what, exactly?"

He was met with a annoyed snarl from the living greek god everyone in the Brighton Island flawed over.

"Don't play coy with me, Vaughn Morozov"

Landon snapped, stepping closer with his fists clerged tightly from anger, veins popping from the adrenaline.

"You are the one who stole more than nine billion dollars from my grandfather’s empire. You were behind the Bratva’s seizure of those cargo ships. You hold more than thirty percent of my family's market shares"

Landon’s eyes twitched as venom dripped down his lips that could burn the world down.

"And this…......this marriage? You were the one who proposed it"

He finally stood infront of Vaughn, being slightly shorter than the other so he had to tilt his head up a little to look at the future Pakhan as he accused with hundred percent accuracy.

"You planned all of this"

Vaughn's composure faltered for a split second as Landon spoke those words. He was honestly impressed. Landon had pieced it all together, and so quickly, too, not even his fellow Bratva heirs could do it so quickly.

He allowed a unhinged, predatory smirk to creep onto his face, finally showing Landon the Bratva heir hiding in the mask of a innocent finance as he didn't even deny it.

"You are astute, my little wifey. How did you deduce all that?"

Landon crossed his arms over his chest, his jaw clerged as the sound his teeths gritting inside his mouth was audible in the room, his gaze sharp on his fiancee as he spoke.

"The timing of it all was too perfect. The King empire almost collapsing, the fall starting right after i had first put your psycho doctor on his place, the Bratva swooping in to save us, not with money, but with…....marriage, yeah, like you guys are that kind"

His blood boiled inside his veins at the sheer audacity of this man to not even deny any of this, just standing in his room casually, relaxed and smiling at the volcano of emotions boiling inside Landon.

"It was too convenient. And then there are my siblings and cousins and their…....love for Bratva heirs. I get it now......You did it so that they would all be bound to the stupid mafia heirs they love, and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it"

Landon took a step closer, grabbing Vaughn’s tie and tugging on it harshly to bring the two of them closer as his deep blue eyes pierced into the hazel ones while he asked,

"Right?"

Vaughn let out a low whistle, admiration for Landon's sharp wit completely clear in his eyes as he spoke up,

"You're right, Wifey. You truly are a genius. And yes, I did do it to make sure my bratva brothers and sister got what they wanted – to be with their Kings without you being a thorn in their side"

Landon scrowled, holding back the urge to punch this man squeeze on the face and causing a trouble for his entire family and their empire by angering this fucker's father,

"So, why me?"

Landon asked, his voice taking on a dangerous edge and showing to have no patience to beat around the bush as he spoke up,

"Why did you go to your father, the Pakhan, for this marriage of all things? Why not just let me play the field with Mia?"

Vaughn’s smile turned sly as he shrugged casually and dropped the bomb as if they were talking about weather.

"Niko and Kill didn’t want you dating their precious sister and cousin, so here we are"

Landon rolled his eyes and really held himself back from going downstair and punching those two barbarians who have their hands all over his younger siblings as he spoke up,

"So, it's alright for your Heathens to date mine, but not me? How hypocritical is that?"

Vaughn laughed, the sound rich and genuine but the words contrasted his tone as he spoke up with sarcasm dripping down his lips,

"We’re mafias, we don’t play by the rules. Isn’t that what we do wifey? Dig out all the dirty information and do whatever we want to do?"

Landon’s spoke back, his voice was drenched in sarcasm to shoot it right back at Vaughn as he tsked,

"And that’s it? That's the only reason the future Pakhan wants to marry me? To keep me away from one of the Bratva Princess?"

Vaughn took another step closer, his proximity making Landon's breath hitch. Up so close, he could smell Vaughn’s aftershave still lingering on his skin along with his cologne that smelled heavy of a scent he couldn't pin-point, probably some strong russian perfume.

His eyes met Landon's, and there was a spark there that wasn’t entirely amusement, but something darker, more intense and twisted than anything else Landon has ever seen.

"No, Landon. I don't want you as my other half to keep you away from some bratva princess. I want you."

For the first time since they met, Vaughn said his name and it send a visible shiver down the sculpture's spine. He tried to hide the shudder of his shoulders and but failed as Vaughn seemed to notice it, a smirk tugged in his lips for getting this reaction from Landon.

He placed a hand on Landon’s cheek, his thumb caressing his jawline and smuging some clay sticking to his face across the sharp cut of his face as he spoke up dangerously,

"Landon King, the man who can single-handedly trouble all the Bratva heirs and walk away unscathed. The arsonist who walked past all of Heathens's security and set the mansion on fire. Who kidnapped not one but two Bratva heirs for getting tangled with his siblings and walked unhindered into their den to declare his interest in their princess........I want that Landon by my side. I want you, the chaos, the unpredictable storm, to rule with me, over Bratva one day"

The words were spoken like a vow.

Like a unhinged universal fact.

Like a declaration of of a emperor that can't be denied.

Vaughn, for all his veiled words, spoke these ones with so much rawness that they took away the the air from Landon's lungs.

"I want your chaos to control Bratva one day, Wifey"

Landon stared into Vaughn's eyes, feeling a strange mix of fear, intrigue, and something akin to excitement.

He was left speechless for a second, searching Vaughn's hazelnut coloured eyes for any tint of deception and he found nothing but the naked, confident truth in his words.

Landon was taken back, for having the world reject him for his chaos, it was a first for him who tossled the universe around to have Landon’s chaos.

For people trying to calm Landon’s storm, this was the first time who wanted Landon to unleash the full strength of his strom.

Landon had always been a whirlwind. A beautiful, destructive cyclone of brilliant ideas, impulsive decisions, and a heart that beat so loud it threatened to shatter his ribs.

He’d grown used to the world recoiling, to people wanting him to temper his edges, to quiet the storm that brewed within. He was a masterpiece of chaos, and for most, a masterpiece that needed reining in.

He was taken aback. The world had always sought to tame him, to mold him into something more palatable, more predictable.

Yet here he was, this man who will forcefully hold his hand for the rest of their life, wanting him with every chaotic, fractured piece of his being.

It was a first for him, a universe he had tossed into a frenzy, now embracing him in his rawest form. Vaughn didn’t want the calm after the storm; he wanted the storm itself.

Landon found this situation so fucking unbelievable and so ironic that he couldn't help it, throwing his head back and laughing.

His eyes wrinkling as he laughed till his stomach hurt, clutching on his stomach as the genuine laugh that echoed through the room while Vaughn just stared at him.

When he finally calmed down a little, he looked up at Vaughn, meeting his lion like eyes with his own that held the depth of ocean in them as he smirked, a unhinged devilish smirk that everyone in the Brighton Island feared as he spoke,

"Careful to-be-pakhan, you don't want to open the pandora's box to unleash a plague on humanity now, do you?"

Vaughn however returned his smirk with his own devilish one, stepping closer and leaning near Landon’s face as they held a unbreakable eye contact with their smirks never leaving their lips as he spoke up,

"As a matter of fact wifey, I am really eager to open the box. You see, I am a very curious man and a very selfish one who cares less about the world and more about himself"

Landon stared into Vaughn eyes silently for a brief second, taking note of how his pulips worked before stepped back, turning around to go back to his sculpture.

The smirk however never left his face as he spoke up a challenge very smoothly,

"Then you'll have to win me, future Pakhan, because Landon King belongs to no one."

Landon invited Vaughn on a dangerous dance of manipulation and domination.

And act of annihilation and destruction.

A rhythm of pure chaos with his demons that he ruled.

And Vaughn’s smirk widened, a predatory gleam in his eyes as he stepped on the dance floor where their genius minds will clash and dance together in a fiercity that can burn the world down.

"Game on, wifey"

The tension in the room was thick, a magnetic pull between two powerful forces.

This was no longer a forced union, a calculated move on a chess board - it was a battle of wills, a dangerous dance of desire and ambition.

And Landon, despite his anger, found himself drawn into the game, a willing participant in the chaos that was about to explode. The scent of clay and burnt cigarettes still hung heavy in the air, a reminder of the fire that had just been ignited.

[phoenixfeathersinfall]

Hello! ☄️ and 📚 for the ask game?

Hi hi friend, thank you so much for asking this! I had to think about it for a little bit! 🤔

Favorite Fic You’ve Read: I have so many, I re-read fics I enjoyed fairly often because I find it comforting, just like I do with my favorite published books! If you want to know more specifically about a show or pairing, just ask! One I come back to frequently because it ticks a lot of my boxes (feels like an episode, hurt/comfort elements, etc.) is “Standards of Care” by sahiya. A Dominion-engineered virus infiltrates the station and Julian works to find a cure at great risk to himself while Garak tries to protect him. Anything by this author is great, tbh, they always choose intriguing plots and they have such a wonderful approach to the characterization of all the Niners!

Headcanons: I will literally sit and consider headcanons as a form of amusement. Here’s a few!

Jadzia has so many hobbies (many of them niche) from all those lifetimes! Julian will try most any of them with her because that man is down to try most anything. They have a lot of fun!

Seven mentions that as a child, she wanted to be a ballerina, so I think it would be really neat if she had the chance to take up ballet as a sort of reclamation and a homage to the little girl Annika was 🥺

B’Elanna is such a romantic and she loves storytelling; I think she’d use some of her limited free time to write her own short stories or novels! They’d be very popular if she decided to share them, but these are just for her so she can explore anything she wants without judgement.

[liberty-mutual-138]

Hello! I'm dropping in to ask for 18, 19, and 25 from the ask game for Annika😃

Hey! thank you so much for the ask! It really means a lot!

18: Animals. Not a lot of things make her laugh; she could watch a comedy show without ever smirking; but a puppy with ears too big for its head will make her laugh so hard that she starts crying. It’s simple, though it’ll always make her happy.

19: Loss was a huge part of Annika’s life ever since she was a kid. Her parents were extremist terrorists with no regard for life. She’d have babysitters, friends from her parents ‘work’, and ‘siblings’ who’d disappear under mysterious circumstances. In her head, it was only a matter of time before the people around her died, and she grew desensitized to it.

However, the loss that hurt her the most was her childhood dog, Boris. Well, he wasn’t hers. Boris didn’t have an owner. That damn stray was the only constant, unchanging thing in her life. He’d always come back to her no matter how beaten up he was, or how hard Annika tried to push him away. When Boris got sick and died, Annika lost the only security she had growing up. That was the loss that ruined her. A goddamned dog.

(Think I got sidetracked with this one lmao)

25: Yes and no. Annika’s right eye is constantly dilated, making her extremely sensitive to light. Overhead lighting, flashlights, and being around a fire is the equivalent of being stabbed in the eye for her. Typically, when she isn’t on missions, she covers it with an eyepatch to keep the light off it. It isn’t necessary, but she wears it for comfort.

[ramonaflow]

Current Tag Game

Thank you for tagging me @flowertrigger @a-noble-dragon @obsessedwithdavrick and @mallpretzles 🥰

Currently listening to - Always Noah Reid but recently I've been listening to Sam Fender a lot aswell.

Currently watching  - Trying to decide what to watch next. I watch Shane and Ryan most nights before I go to bed. I've recently binged Annika s1, The Bear s2, and Silo s1. I really enjoyed all of them. I also rewatched Killing Eve and No Offence. I love both of those but I'm still so mad at the ending of Killing Eve.

Currently reading - I've barely read anything recently. The odd sc fanfic.

Current obsession - oh I'm back in my Hamilton obsession and obviously Schitt's Creek.

No pressure tags @saraminia @rainbowcoloredpalmtrees @trickiwooao3 @carolrain @smblmn @njwoman @statueinthestonetoo @tyfinn @beaiola @demora00 @stereopticons @goodiecornbread 🧡

[wizardofgore]

can you tell me about your wips? i took the oc quiz and now i'm curious about them.

Hey!! Sorry I was sitting on this for a sec trying to put together my answer but essentially I write around characters/settings/vibes and struggle to create plots and narratives but I’ll do my best to tell u about them.

The first story (characters from the quiz: nymeria, ophelia, hugo, sofia) always felt like a dark fantasy/political drama where I wanted the characters to be a classic rpg party exploring a world on the brink of revolution, and through them I wanted to create a fantasy world that satisfied me politically (by implementing the immortal science of Marxism-leninism and so on and so forth) but because of my recent interest in fear and hunger I also want to create more lore for the religion that some of the characters follow. I imagine the story will end with the party being split somehow, and I think the best way I can imagine developing the rest of it would be to think of it like a video game where u can explore things in a nonlinear way and learn about the world in small increments. I think my dnd character olivier exists in this canon as well, and could maybe be a late game antagonist and someone who’s lore is revealed slowly over time. The setting of the dungeon is really intriguing me right now too, and thinking of the dungeon as a living entity like a haunted house would be part of it too if I had them explore the dungeon? Idk this is all over the place but hopefully it gives some clarity 🙏🏻

The other story (annika and anna) is supposed to be an exploration of two different peoples responses to traumas and solitude, they find each other and form a relationship that’s simultaneously the most fulfilling each other has ever had but also “toxic” and codependent because neither of them know how to navigate relationships, thus leading to their demise. These two characters feel like 2 different sides of my own response to grief. Annika is the anger, the self-sabotage, the quest for vengeance, the hope that others will pay for the harm they have caused her. Anna is a retreat into the self, complete lack of self-esteem, imposter syndrome, and she has neurotically convinced herself that her hunger and iron deficiency are actually a result of her not being human. Annika both sympathizes and takes advantage of this, and Anna both uses and consoles Annika. I want their relationship to be really beautiful so I’m still building up the events that happen in their short time together hehe.

The third is the newest and least developed, and I actually just named the characters for the sake of the quiz lol. Myra and maeve are (also shockingly) are also symbolic of my different neuroticisms, this time about death/thinking of oneself as a ghost, seeing someone you love die and realizing you have to live. I see this story as a classic mystery but probably with some nonlinear storytelling…hope that makes sense lol

Thank you for asking, im really bad at explaining my thoughts which is why I usually only communicate in roundabout ways (hence uquiz lol)

[mermaidsirennikita]

Hi! I hope you’re doing well. This spring most of my peers are graduating college and the fact that I have yet to start (or even decide if I want to go) has me feeling like a total failure. I could really use recommendations for your favorite lighthearted/fun romances. Thank you!

I'm sorry that you're feeling down. Honestly, take this time to think really hard about it and don't conform to what seems "right", do what's right for YOU. College was always a given to me--I "had" to go, even though it was basically entirely up to me to pay for it... and I did, with some scholarships but mostly loans, and now I'm in massive debt with a degree I didn't really think through (however much I loved what I studied) because I was 17 and had basically zero guidance and felt obligated to begin college ASAP.

I also had a total mental breakdown during my first semester and had to take over a year off before I was ready to go back. I still graduated, and though I have regrets about not thinking through the money and major stuff, I did genuinely enjoy my college experience after I went back. I think I would've enjoyed it even more if I'd taken time to decompress and figure my brain out. So sincerely, no pressure, no rush, in terms of timelines you can do this at any point. One of my favorite classmates was in her 60s.

ANYWAY. Soapbox over, I've got you!

Generally, I would recommend Tessa Dare if you want a fun historical romance. Some of her books do deal with heavier topics--from what I recall, The Wallflower Wager touched on childhood sexual abuse, and that's the heaviest one I think I've read from her. But if you want to try her out, read A Week to be Wicked--it's fun, it's a road trip, the hero makes an amazing joke about the heroine being a sword swallower... And they're really hot. I also love When A Scot Ties the Knot, Any Duchess Will Do (though heads up, this one does discuss the loss of a child) and basically the entire Spindle Cove series.

Talia Hibbert has some really fun contemporaries. Her Brown Sisters trilogy is great; usually they touch on serious topics like mental health and chronic pain while not getting TOO heavy. Act Your Age, Eve Brown may be my favorite--it's light enemies to lovers and both leads are on the autism spectrum. There's a scene where he finds her dildo that's both hilarious and hot?

Alexis Hall is HYSTERICAL, and I would super recommend Something Fabulous and Something Spectacular, his historical romcoms. The first one is a m/m road trip romance where this stuffy duke proposes to a woman horribly, she goes on the run, and he has to track her down with her sparkly fun twin brother... who he falls for... Something Spectacular has a nonbinary genderfluid lead try to help her ex get the attention of a famous castrato soprano, only for the soprano to notice her rather than her friend. These books are literally laugh out loud reads for me.

Heated Rivalry and The Long Game by Rachel Reid. M/m hockey romances, light enemies to lovers--these two dudes are the biggest hockey rivals in the league, but they've been secretly hooking up since their rookie season. Hot, romantic, emotional. It does deal with themes of homophobia and internalized homophobia and there is some "can we make this work" angst but it's really such a lovely and loving duet. It makes me SO happy, and they're two of my top "pick me up" reads.

Annika Martin's The Billionaire's Wake-Up-Call-Girl!! Such a fun contemporary romcom, but it's also sexy? The heroine is supposed to set up wake up calls for the billionaire CEO of her company, but she fucks it up and can't afford to lose her job, so she does them herself and he really likes her caustic attitude and doesn't realize she's an employee, so they get... dirty? It's so frothy and fun. The next book in the series, Most Eligible Billionaire, is also fun and light, but the heroine does have a backstory involving attempted SA that's heavier, so heads up. Aside from that, it is ridiculously funny.

A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley if you're open to paranormal. A witch who's supposed to have untold power accidentally summons a demon who needs to collect her soul, and they enter into a stalemate that does involve fake dating. Hot, also?

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian. Local lord needs to steal a special book from his evil dad, so he tries to hire a retired highwayman who's like "fuck no but I'll teach you how to do it". They fall in love. So funny but also emotional; Kit (the highwayman) is desperately besotted while Percy (the lord) is like "UGH I CANNOT HANDLE YOUR EMOTIONS".

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn is a great "I am stuck in life and need to figure shit out" book about a 28-year-old who returns to her small town after losing her job as a celebrity's personal assistant. She uncovers this notebook where she wrote all her hopes and dreams as a young teen, and begins to try to live them out with the help of the older brother of the guy she had a crush on (and of course, he's a former bad boy).

Praise by Sara Cate, if you want an adventurous contemporary that has some angst but nothing super heavy? The heroine is 21 and recently broke up with her cheating boyfriend. She goes to his estranged dad's place to pick up the rental deposit the bf owes her, and the dad.... who is 40... thinks she's one of the girl's sent to audition for the role of his professional (not inherently sexual) submissive? And she thinks being told to kneel on the floor is just something he's doing for a bit so she does it and LIKES IT? And he realizes who she is and is like FUCK but feels bad so he hires her as his (platonic, super professional) secretary? And he is the partial owner of a sex club?

Never have I read a book where I felt more "God I wish that was me", I won't lie. The whole series is very good, explores some deeper topics but isn't SUPER heavy.

The Nanny by Lana Ferguson is a contemporary about a woman who takes this nanny gig working for a hot single dad chef... only to find out that he used to be a huge fan of her on OnlyFans. Hot and light and I liked it A LOT.

I also would sooo recommend India Holton's Dangerous Damsels trilogy. I love them all, they're hilarious and romantic and have a great world of flying pirates and witches and spies.

[lords-of-fortune]

OC tag game

Tagged by @gvnseylike (thank you!!) I'm sticking to dragon age ocs for the dragon age blog because I have made so many ocs I don't think I'd be able to make these choices otherwise lmao

Favorite OC: This changes almost literally hourly. Right now I'm leaning towards Rodaine but Tierce is so close behind it's barely a difference lmao

Newest OC: of dragon age ocs I *think* it might be Halen's brother Ephraim. I just recently figured out quite a few of his character traits and renamed him so he's basically a whole new guy now lmao

Oldest OC: I literally wouldn't be able to answer this if I wasn't doing just DA ocs lmao. Of DA ocs, though, my oldest is the apocryphal Nico Tabris who was my very first Warden ever. He was a massive contributing factor to my absolute obsession with dragon age lmao

Meanest OC: I think it's Tierce? But Rodaine isn't close behind. Tierce tends to be very blunt when asked for feedback and he can also be rather glib in situations where dicking around maybe isn't appropriate. Rodaine is also very blunt and he doesn't always realize when that bluntness should probably be tempered a bit to soften a verbal blow. He tends to be a lot more apologetic about when something he says lands differently than he intended it to where Tierce tends to just shrug it off or double down because he's stubborn as fuck so that is why I think he's meaner lmao.

Softest OC: Probably Alding? Or maybe Serenity, who is Rodaine's younger sister. Hard to really say though because most of my character have a very tough edge to them even if they tend towards softness. I like that Alding and Serenity both choose that softness despite the difficult things they've been through.

Most Aloof/Standoffish OC: Rodaine. He doesn't mean to be, he's just quiet and has a resting bitch face most of the time. He's very serious and is slow to trust so he comes off as unfriendly and unapproachable and he isn't good at picking up social cues so he doesn't immediately realize when people are trying to befriend him and that sometimes makes him seem uninterested in friendship when that isn't true.

Dumbest (Affectionate) OC: all of my ocs are dumb in their own ways but I think I'm going to go with René, who's Rodaine's brother. He's just a jock and he's at peace with that and I think that's the right mindset but also he's just a himbo.

Smartest OC: Rodaine. Big gifted kid energy. He's not great with social stuff but he's smart in most other areas, clever, tries to think things through before he does them. He loves magic and has spent so long studying his craft and he's a nerd who likes to read history books

OC I'd Probably Be Friends With: this one is hard... I think maybe Alding? Soft boy but he knows how to have fun. I think Rodaine and Tierce would intimidate me in different ways lmao. I think I'd also like Annika and Rosalie (Rodaine's sisters) and Aned (Halen's sister)

This took me a second to get this one done lmao and I will tag...

@iamonlybutaneel and @my-dumb-obsessions

[noratilney]

I Love annika! Whats her relationship with Rory like?

Thank you so much!!! Sorry that this is so freaking belated :( I saved it as a draft and it got buried under other stuff.

So, Annika and Rory are not super close given their age gap as they’re in very different stages of their life. However, they each care about the other deeply.

Rory listens to Anni talk about whatever chapter book she’s currently reading (which of course Rory already read when she was Anni’s age) and while neither Rory nor Lorelai understand Anni’s interests in athletics, Rory goes to all her sister’s games (and only reads her book through some of it). She is often the one to pick Rory up from school or ballet class and bring her to meet up with Lorelai at the Independence Inn.

Rory actually chose Anni's name. (Her first choice was Pippi because she was nine and Pippi is the heroine of Pippi Longstockings obviously and not Annika. Actually Annika is pretty timid especially compared to Pippi and her brother Tommy unlike Annika Gilmore. But as quirky as Lorelai is, she did not traumatize her daughter by naming her Pippi (although I would LOVE to hear Emily's reaction to that! she probably has plenty to say about Annika's name as it is) and they went with the safer, second choice.)

Anni loves her big sister. I’m not quite sure I’d go as far as saying that she idolizes her but she definitely looks up to her and on the question of reading, she definitely takes Rory's opinion very seriously even if she doesn't always agree with her sister (although frankly almost always she does). Anni plays with boys and girls but she thinks kissing boys is icky and doesn't really like any boys older than her besides Luke. Dean has his work cut out in order to win her over. She's protective of her big sister and when he makes Rory cry, she kicks him very hard in the shins, proving Lorelai correct when she said Anni couldn't be trusted with learning martial arts. What can I say? Six year old Anni does believe violence is the answer. At least when the violence justice is enacted by her.

On the more discordant side of things, I think she definitely feels left out of the close knit relationship between Lorelai and Rory, which is only natural given the ages of everyone involved. She adores Paul Anka and had been asking for a dog for ages. I think she and her mom become a lot closer while Rory is away which is weird for Anni because of course she misses Rory a lot but that increased closeness with her mom means a lot to her and is only possible without her sister's presence.

Anni is the most effected by Rory's transfer to Chilton because her sister is suddenly around much less, no longer as available to her and more enmeshed in their grandparents' world. Anni's too little for them to exactly bond over it but she and Lorelai similarly resent or worry about that.

[aehyei]

hello! for the prompt game, can you do yuta + 'i think i’m falling in love with you'? if it could be a bit angsty but also really fluffy (if that makes sense lmao) it would be awesome :D

𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗚

There are exactly three reasons why you shouldn’t fall for a man named Nakamoto Yuta: (1) he had a reputation of being a cheater. (2) he’s your sister’s ex. (3) he always carries a red flag. 

PAIRING : sister’s ex-boyfriend!yuta x reader

GENRE : angst, fluff, mini crack, slight enemies-to-lovers, college!au

WC : 3.12k

WARNINGS : mentions of cheating, cuss words, yuta is low key an asshole in the story...or is he? 

TAG LIST : @annikae @inupinggu​ @ahtisa02​ @severefireangelprune​ @mastergibbs93​ @ukiyokan​ @changminurheart​ @terjeno @rinyx @pu-nch @mark-wife-renjun-whore @myeowmyeow @cheolsgirl @lilacboba @jenoobies @k1lljoyss @stayzentiny @kkotjia @brookgyu @artgukk @love4keum + fill out this form to be added on my general tag list.

PLAYLIST : (i knew you were trouble • taylor swift), make you mine (acoustic) • public), (perfect two (acoustic) • auburn)

 PROMPT USED : “i think i’m falling in love with you”

AUTHOR’S NOTES : THIS TOOK TOO LONG TO FINISH I AM SO SORRY >_< btw the fic is lowkey related in to jaehyun story ‘New University? It comes with a new crush!’ so check that out too!

“SO YOU’RE TELLING ME YOU PERSONALLY MET THE 127 MEMBERS!?”

You groan in annoyance, staring at Yuri in disbelief. “Yes I did. One of their members used to date my sister. How many times do I even have to say this?”.

“Oh my god! You’re so lucky! Why are the new students always the lucky one?” She whinnied, stomping her feet on the ground as if she was a kid who’s having a tantrum. “I’m not lucky, 127 are jerks. All of them are.” 

“Well how do you know that?!” 

“Nakamoto Yuta cheated on my sister.” You stated, blankly. 

Yuri blinked at you, then covered her mouth in pure shock. “Wait really?! Oh my god, that’s a scandal! 127 boys are known to be the perfect seniors!”. 

“Yuri, I would love to continue gossiping with you, but I’ve got to go. I got to make an important phone call.” You lied, taking the phone out of your jacket’s pocket before letting out a fake smile and turning your heels. “Wait—Y/n! Let’s talk again later!” The older girl shouts from your behind, waving her hand. 

You didn’t even look back, nor did you look forward to even meeting her later. 

“Name?” 

“Jeon Y/n.”

“Age?” 

“17.”

Chunja nods her head while lazily slouching at her seat, “Write your number here, Ms. Jeon.” 

You did as she said and passed her back the pen. Chunja signed your id, “Welcome to NCITY University, hope you enjoy your stay here or whatever.” 

“This isn’t a hotel.” You narrowed your eyes at her and clicked on your tongue, leaning more at the table before snatching the id out of her hands. You walked away to the other side where your first class is without even thanking her.

“She’s creepy.” Jinyoung peaks his head from the corner. “No. She just knows her stuff,” Chunja scowls at her little brother, grabbing a crumbled paper to throw at him, “And don’t you have class?! Be responsible for once and don’t be late!”. 

“Noona, chill! I still have to get my sugarcake to class before I go too. You know, to show how much of a boyfriend material I am?'' Jinyoung smugly says, referring to the new freshmen over a month ago who he has a crush on. “I told you, don’t even bother her—you know what? I’m telling mom.” 

“But Noona! I’m a big boy now!” 

There’s a huge difference between you and your sister and anyone could see it even without glasses. Your sister’s the bubbly type, talkative and adorable, while you’re the complete opposite: quiet and composed. And honestly speaking, when the news of your sister dating spread, you were happy for her at first. You knew how much she always dreamed of having her own love story. 

But when you met Yuta, you instantly saw the red flags. He had tattoos on his arm, ear and belly piercing (don’t ask how you know that), and the way he styled his hair in a comma. He looks like the bad boy that came out of every girl’s dream. You really don’t give a shit or two for bad boys, but there’s something about Yuta that radiates a huge dick energy. 

No, you don’t mean it in a sexual way. You mean it in a way that you know he’s the exact meaning of trouble. 

So just like any other good sister would do, you warned her about Yuta but she kept defending him at all costs. The more she speaks about him with hearts in her eyes, the more you grow to hate her boyfriend. 

“Is that Y/n?” Taeyong lets out a huge shit eating grin seeing you, he puffs his chest and chuckles in surprise. “Oh, Y/n! Long time no see.” Doyoung was no better, his voice sweet enough to fool anybody but his eyes showed something else. 

Oh, another thing you hate about Nakamoto Yuta: his fucking friends. Whenever your sister forces you to come with her to every party 127 throws, there will be no day that they’ll let you live your life down. Hell, you didn’t even really want to spend your college life in NCITY University, knowing all the shittiest boys you know are here, but thanks to your mom, here you are anyways. 

You didn’t give any of the two the blessing of your attention and walked past him, making sure your shoulders bump theirs for good measure. 

“Crazy bitch,” you hear one of them mutter under their breath. You freeze on your tracks, clenching your fists tightly. But instead of punching them in the faces, you continued walking away. 

“Y/n, I don’t know you go here,” Jaehyun’s eyes widened seeing you. “That’s probably because it’s my first day.” You reply coldly, pushing past him too. 

Jaehyun’s the sweetest out of everyone, at least. If the rest are the worst, he’s just bad. 

“Well, well, well, Jeon Y/n.”

Speak of the devil. 

“How’s Somi? Is she doing good?” Yuta asks, leaning his whole body on the wall just beside where you stand to cover your way. “Who even gave you the right to speak her name?” You laugh dryly, poking your tongue in the inside of your right cheek. “Ahhh, I see you never changed. Still overprotective over your little sis? Tell me, Jeon, is she still crying over me?” 

God knows how much you want to break his jaw right now. 

“Get out of my way, Nakamoto and no one gets hurt.” You threatened, stepping a step closer. For a minute, you forgot who you were talking too. But you were reminded that this was Yuta, the cockiest man you ever know, so instead of stepping away, he inched closer. 

“No offense, but I feel like getting threatened by a cupcake.” 

You just have no time for this. 

“Look, just stay away from Somi. Don’t you have a heart? You slept with her own best friend you prick.” 

Yuta narrowed his eyes at you, slowly licking his lips, “That’s what she told you? Huh, Somi, you’re more than I expected.” 

“I don’t care what you expect from her.” You raised both your hands to the air then shook your head, leaving the Japanese man alone in the hallways. Yuta looked down at the floor and noticed an id that may have slipped out of your hands. He tried to glance around to find you, but seeing that you were gone, he decided to pick it up. “Jeon Y/n, not so smart to drop your id where I am.” 

“Where is it? Fuck, where did I put it?” You mumble to yourself, patting all the pockets you have then rummaged inside your backpack. “Hey, it’s past time for freshman’s classes. Are you okay? Do you need help?” A girl who looks older than you asks, kneeling right beside you. 

“No, I’m fine—”

“—I’m Nam Hyunjae, by the way! And you are?” Hyunjae introduces herself with a warm smile, helping you even if she really doesn’t know what you need help with. “I don’t need your help.” You decline, being as polite as you can but you were sure that you sounded rude instead. “No biggie, you’re like the new friend I met last month.” 

You were half impressed at how she didn’t sound offended even if you tried to push her away. Maybe some people are just too kind for this world. 

“I...lost my id.” You admitted, neck and ears flushing out in embarrassment. You couldn’t believe that you just lost the most important thing as a student. Not to mention, but that id also contains your personal information. Whoever took it knows where you live, your number, your name, and your birthdate. 

“That’s awful! Come on, I know the perfect person who could help us!” Hyunjae gasps, then stands up, dusting off her jeans before lending out a hand to help you stand up. You stared at her hand then back at her. “I can stand on my own…uh, thanks.” You say, standing up after.

“Oh yeah, I knew that,” Hyunjae flashes an awkward smile then removes her hand, “anyways, come with me. Chunja works part time for the school, so I think she could help you with your id.”

You followed her to where Hyunjae claims that Chunja always stays on; that's basically on the other side of the whole campus, so you were able to tour yourself around. There was two things you noticed: (1) Hyunjae’s just like your sister—talking and bubbly. (2) This university is fucking huge. You didn’t really listen to half of what she’s talking about as you breathed in the fresh air.

“—That’s Chunja! Chunja! Over here!” Hyunjae calls a familiar looking girl who’s busy texting someone on her phone. Chunja looks up then where the both of you stand and that’s when you realized that she’s the one who made your id in the first place.

“Hyunjae? What are you doing with a freshman? Their class started like 15 minutes ago.” Chunja frowns noticing your figure. You sensed that she really didn’t like your company but not to worry, you also weren’t fond of her either. “Ahh, this freshman lost her id and I thought maybe you could help us find it!” Hyunjae answers her old friend.

“An id is one thing students in NCITY University could not replace. This place has a strict policy about that. No id, no entry; which means this freshman could never enter the campus ever again which also means that i’m not helping at all.”

“Oh come on! Chunja!” Hyunjae whinnies, skipping over to the girls side. “Let it slip for once, it’s a common mistake! Anyone could lose their id.”

“It’s fine, I could talk to the dean—“

“Nonsense! Chunja will help us, she’s really a kind hearted woman. Come on Chunnie…please?”

Chunja’s frown deepens after hearing the nickname Hyunjae called her. She sighed and slipped her phone back into her pocket. “Fine. Just…never call me that again.” She then proceeded to look at you. “First things first, do you know who took it?”.

You shook your head.

“Where did you last see it?”

“I was holding it then after talking with Yuta—oh shit. Oh.” So your id is with that fucker. You inhaled sharply as anger started bubbling deep in your chest. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch.”

“You know Nakamoto Yuta?” Hyunjae asks, eyes widened. You sighed, “Yes but it’s complicated and I—“.

Hyunjae didn’t really let you finish when she started squealing and jumping up and down like her butt was on fire. Chunja winces and shakes her head disappointedly, “Don’t mind her. She’s always like this when it comes to 127 members.”

“I met a girl named Yuri a while ago and she acted the same thing. Is 127 that popular here or whatever?” You scoffed, not actually believing people love those jerks. “Yuri? Oh to hell with that bitch. She’s bad news—every dirty gossip comes out of her mouth. Yuri can’t keep a secret and tells everyone all the dirt she hears.”

“You actually know Nakamoto Yuta personally!? Oh my god! Oh my god! You’re so lucky!”

You slightly cringed at Hyunjae, giving her an annoyed look. “Knowing that prick isn’t lucky, he’s a normal person to begin with.”

“Prick?” Chunja chuckles. “What did Nakamoto do to you?”.

“Nothing. He had done something to my sister but that’s not the point here. What’s important now is that Yuta has my id and I know he’s not going to give it back to me without anything in exchange.”

“Why don’t we ask him nicely? Oh! Oh! This is a good opportunity to approach 127! Especially Doyoung oppa.” Hyunjae sighs dreamily, literal hearts showing in her eyes. “I’m saying no,” Chunja stares at her and blinks. “I’m saying no too,” you agreed.

Just then, your phone dinged.

unknown: i know you want something back, but listen, i want something too. how about we do a friendly exchange and we’ll both get what we want?

“Who is it?”

You grit your teeth. “Nakamoto.”

“He must’ve gotten your phone number in your id, text him back or something.”

you: what do you want from me yuta?

nakamoto yuta: simple. i want you to understand that i did not cheat on your sister. i’m not that kind of man.

you: go to hell.

nakamoto yuta: oh? no id for you then.

you: fucking bastard.

nakamoto yuta: that’s not nice :(

nakamoto yuta: but you can be nice by meeting me later at 6 at the convenience store near campus. who knows? maybe i will give you back your id <3

You left him on read, exchanging unreadable looks with Chunja. Sure, you hate her, but maybe that’s because she just reminds you of someone who’s like you.

It was too easy to say that you skipped the first day of university but so hard to realize that yourself. You can’t believe you're forced to pull yourself out of class just because your sister’s ex-boyfriend stole your id. And you also couldn’t help but feel bad for Chunja and Hyunjae—your two seniors who also skipped their classes of the day—to help you get your id back.

And to be honest, the two girls were fun to be around with. Hyunjae’s all about sunshine and rainbows while Chunja’s all about the dark and stormy seasons. It’s amusing to see them call themselves friends when they are obviously the opposite of one another. It makes you wonder: why can’t you have friends? Why do you love pushing people away before they could even get close?

“You okay, kid?” Chunja asks you, puffing her cheeks. “Yeah, I-I’m fine,” you didn’t mean to stutter, but thank god that she chose to ignore how distressed you sounded. “So we’re meeting Yuta? As in that hottie? In the convenience store? I think I’m gonna faint.” Hyunjae exclaims, fanning herself with both her hands.

“Well don’t. Yuta isn’t the prince charming you're thinking of.” You grumble.

“No, not at all. He’s the villain, that one hot papi villain.”

You had trouble showing how annoyed you are the more you hear Hyunjae gushing about Yuta. Does no one really know the true colors these boys have? Do they all think they’re the perfect kind of boyfriend?

“Hyunjae, shut it.” Chunja shuts her friend, noticing how uncomfortable you looked. Hyunjae kept her arms up, closing an imaginary zipper on her lips. You sighed heavily, bringing both your hands on your hair before pulling on it’s strands, “Nakamoto Yuta is my younger sister’s ex-boyfriend, and he isn’t the most loyal one.” 

“Oh…my…god…” Hyunja might’ve forgot that she zipped her lips, because in the next second, her jaw dropped. “Well, that took a turn,” Chunja bit her lip, her heart clenching for you, “If you want, I’ll meet him instead and give him a piece of his mind.” 

You chuckle bitterly, shaking your head, “Nah, if someone’s going to beat his ass, that’ll be me.” 

What made you trust these girls easily? They just have something in them that makes you comfortable. You felt warm, welcomed—is this what friendship feels? 

“Well, it’s almost six. The decent thing to do at least is to drop you off at the convenience store.” Chunja wrapped an arm around you, ruffling your hair. For some reason, you were like the little sister she never knew she needed. Don’t get her wrong though, she loves Jinyoung too. You let yourself be dragged, too coped up yourself. 

“Hey, Y/n,” Hyunjae calls, making you humm. She pouts, “I’m sorry for not shutting up about you-know-who, I didn’t know he was a bad person. Your sister didn’t deserve what happened.” You cracked up a smile at this, shrugging, “It wasn’t your fault. Besides, I couldn’t blame you.” 

“Are you saying you find you-know-who and his friends attractive too?” 

“What? No!” 

“Thought you’d never show up,” Yuta says, his eyes scanning the chips area of the convenience store. He didn’t have to look at you to know that you’ve arrived. “My id,” you demanded, making sure he knows you aren’t here to mess around. 

“That fast? Don’t you want to catch up?” Yuta imitates a pout, finally facing you. His grin widens seeing how pissed you are, “I missed you, Y/n.” 

“Sounds like it’s not my problem.” You hissed, blood boiling once again. You want nothing but to slap the cocky smile out of his face. Yuta sighed, leaning his back on the nearby wall, staring at you with hooded eyes, “What made you think it was me who cheated? Did Somi never tell you about the kiss she shared with the guy she met at the club?”. 

“Don’t twist the story, Nakamoto.” 

“I’m not the bad guy here, Y/n. I didn’t cheat on her. But if breaking up with the girl who kissed another guy not just once, but twice, is bad, then maybe I may be a bad boy.” Yuta says, reaching for his pocket to reveal your id. 

“My id!” You yell, a little relieved to see it. You tried to grab it, but Yuta immediately raised your id on the air, making it difficult for you to reach. “Hey! Hand it over, you asshole!” 

“Not until you believe me.” 

“Why the hell will I believe you and not my own sister?” You stand by your ground, not afraid to back out. Even if Yuta’s face was close to yours, you still stubbornly stayed in your place. “Because,” he shrugged, his eyes slowly dropping on your lips before looking back in your eyes, “I’m telling the truth. And one of the things I hate the most is when someone turns their backs on me.” 

You cursed under your breath. If you’re stubborn, so is Yuta. 

“I fucking hate you, Nakamoto. But fine, let’s say I believe you. Now my id?” You grumble, taking a step back to create some space in between the two of you when you accidentally stepped on the wrong side and lost your balance. Yuta immediately wrapped an arm around you, pulling you towards his chest so you wouldn’t fall. 

You both gazed at each other’s widened eyes, mouth opened wide in surprise at what happened. But then Yuta grinned afterwards, a teasing glint in his eyes, “I think I’m falling in love with you, Jeon Y/n.” 

“W-Wha—” 

“Here,” Yuta helps you stand up properly and passes you back your id, “See you at classes tomorrow. I’ll take the word that you believe me.” 

And with that, he left you inside the convenience store still flustered over what happened. 

Wait…what did happen?

© AEHYEI, 2022

[lilicohirukoma]

YOU S4 EP2 LIVEBLOG

Here we go again

- I wouldn’t be too married to the idea its one of the new people here, could always be someone from your past (maybe the guy the Quinn’s send)

- Is this season gonna be Joe’s descend into madness/paranoia? I kinda dig that

- Oh wait an actual murder mystery party? Even more fun!

- But I still don’t get why they want him around so much, like he isnt rich so that can’t be a reason

- YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT ABOUT WHODUNNITS MR GOLDBERG

- But then why would she conviently leave a voice mail about him being dead right in front of you?

- Shit okay he made that deduction too I’m gonna go cry now

- Kate’s being sussed out so I feel like its def not her and she might even die

- Ah yes hello Nadia you still exist, how convenient you love the mystery genre

- WHY ARE YOU CALLING ABOUT THIS IN A PUBLIC AREA IDIOT???? GO HOME AND THEN CALL how has Joe never been caught oh my god

- Don’t like being stalked huh Joe

- Delete the app/destroy your phone, clearly they want a game and if you try to deny it they’ll have to make measures to keep you in it and through those measures you could get closer to their identity

- Lady Phoebe is giving me some Annika vibes I love it

- Now hold on a minute... Phoebe might be a bit more manipulative than she looks

- I know Ralph is Ralph Lauren but who tf is Tom

- Liking the Soo siblings a lot and I think one of them will survive, my bet’s on Sophie

- No Kate’s the red herring move on from her

- Louis XIV for Sun King w Dagger? Makes sense for the rich entitled assholes theme the show is going with (as usual)

- His detective superpower is probably gonna he the fact that he’s a serial killer and can thus think like a murdering stalker

- I feel like we are gonna get more crazy stuff from Gemma and Blessing, I think the characters have more to offer

- When charged with a DUI one moves to London and starts an elite club obviously

- WHAT DID I SAY SUN KING LOUIS XIV BABY, thank god he was one of my biggest history hyperfixations

- How much did they pay Adam’s actor for that scene I got to know

- Hmmm why did that lady want a picture of Joe

- EWWWWWW NFTS GET IT OUT OF MY FACE. Kill Simon for me please

- I dont think exposing a piss kink equals murder and framejob

- Wdym Roald Joe smells of New York, Virginia, Vermont and those kinda places

- Do love this snake skin suit Adam has going on

- Yeah I don’t think it’s him either, he’s weird but that isnt a crime

- Red paint meant to symbolize blood I see whats going on

- And ofc Simon immediatly makes performance art out of it

- Didn’t you literally say to stop helping people? Why are you helping Kate out again fool? (Yes its bc hes in love w her I know)

- He sells NFTs of course he stole the other art works

- Nah, he’s an asshole but too casual and laid back to kill someone, frame a person and then fuck around on text about it

- Simon’s gonna get killed I can feel it

- So Malcolm was missing a finger and Simon an ear, both of those had jewelry (a ring and an earring) on those parts so that might be something

- Rhys is getting more and more suspicious but that might also be on purpose

- Kate is just reserved man, not every good act should be for public display

- I love Nadia, if she dies I’m gonna be so mildly disappointed

- OH FUCK YES LETS GOOO GET HIS ASS

[ryehouses]

Paz/din anon here: i love the angry teen Mando vibe. Qs: who started it? who escalated it? who ended it? was it after a fistfight?(lol obviously). din seems like he wouldn't trust many people. has he only ever been with Paz and Annika? was it always the 3 of them, or was it ever just Paz/din or Annika/din? did anyone ever catch feelings for din? does jealousy play into Paz's feelings re: boba? DOES BOBA KNOW DIN SLEPT WITH PAZ? I guess if he didn't, the plasma cannon gave it away, lul. K thx ilu

HOWDY okay i feel like i'm on a game show, let's do this:

1. paz probably started it.

2. din definitely escalated. doesn't have any back down in him, tbh.

3. paz also... probably ended it, honestly, around the time din became his covert's hunter. din makes some allusions in ast to the fight he and paz had that decided who'd get to be hunter -- it was very ugly and also very emotionally charged, and was the first -- or biggest, at least -- crack in the rift between them.

4. everyone in din's "cohort" -- his age group of foundlings, including din, paz, annika and a few others -- probably did their fair share of experimenting with each other, honestly, being as cloistered as they were, but paz and annika were definitely din's most frequent partners. (frequent being relative, of course.) and yes, sometimes it was din/paz, paz/annika, annika/din, and sometimes it was all three of them!

5. everyone had feelings all of the time, and no real way to process or understand them, lol. there was a lot of love and affection and camaraderie, but a lot of competitiveness and bitterness too. ast 'verse, they were all raised to be pretty much constantly jockeying with each other for status in the covert, which only got more intense as they got older.

5. din and paz were both bitterly jealous of each other as children and young warriors -- adults too, though more paz than din -- but it was not really jealousy over romantic or sexual partners? moreso that din was jealous of what paz had -- easy acceptance, a clan name, etc -- and paz was jealous of din's increasing skill and stubborn refusal to, like, do what was expected of him.

6. yes, absolutely, some of those unresolved feelings play into the way paz reacts to boba, lmao. paz is outraged that someone else would presume to know what din wants or needs (ignoring, of course, that paz's knowledge of what din wants and needs is like twenty years out of date. paz has big ol' blinders on)

7. boba doesn't know-know, but he has more pieces of the puzzle now. honestly paz better hope that boba never puts all of the pieces together, because boba has a phenomenally low opinion of how din has been treated in the past, and knows several people who would help him hide a body if said body had dropped on din's behalf noora, kasyyk, cobb vanth, fennec

i love you as well thank you for playing mando4mando with me

[liberty-mutual-138]

Hello darl! For Annika, I have some numbers from that ask game! <3

26, 28 and 48!

Hey pookie! Thank you again for the ask! 💜

26: This one was kinda hard tbh, but I’d have to say they are:

Annika’s erratic behavior: You can’t really predict how she’s gonna react to any given situation. Annika can take something from 0-100 in a very short period of time, and often doesn’t think about the consequences of her actions.

Her loyalty: With the select few people who succeeded in getting close to her, Annika will do whatever it takes to keep them safe. Despite her petty behavior, it wouldn’t matter if they fucked her over countless times, she’d still do anything for them if she truly loves them.

Her (almost) indomitable will: Dudebro’s like a goddamned cockroach. Shoot at Annika however many times, if she wants to do something, you best believe she’s gonna get it done one way or another.

28: Empathy. Annika’s entire existence she’s done her damn hardest to repress it. To make herself a mindless killing machine with no qualms taking as many lives as needed to complete a mission. She’s been able to shut that empathy since she was a teenager, but that’s not to say she doesn’t feel it.

After the whole brainwashing thing fucks up her brain, she’s forced to confront her emotions. Annika was like “Oh shit, people actually exist and aren’t just bullet sponges… I royally fuck up.”

As for how she copes- she really doesn’t. Annika shoves it all in a box and drowns it with alcohol. Self medication, eh? Can’t feel remorse if you’re too drunk. After the events of the story, Annika’s barely sober. She can’t deal with any of the emotions sober.

48: Pre-campaign (since it’d obviously be Arash’s betrayal), it’d be when Annika left her ‘family business’. She wanted to be more than just a criminal, so she decided to become a war criminal instead by joining Perseus. If Annika stayed in the Organized Crime group, the campaign wouldn’t have happened, and she’d either be dead or happy. (sorry for short response on this one!)

Yeah! I hope that kinda answered the questions! It’s always great to hear from you pookie bear

[gaybarbiegirl]

brietta from barbie and magic of pegasus for the character game 🍂 💛 🌸

1. What do you like the most about them?

This might be a weird one but I love how much of a downer she is. She just has sad girl energy all around, you know? The girl is (understandably) pretty pessimistic, but she's very nonchalant about it in a way that's both relatable and endearing. It's also a nice contrast to Annika's extreme optimism, and just a good break from the easy positivity that most Barbie characters tend to have - staying positive in though situations isn't easy, and Brietta gets it.

2. What's their sexuality?

I get huge lesbian vibes from her

3. OTP ship

I wouldn't call it an OTP but I alway caught a bit of a vibe between her and the Cloud Queen, and honestly I'm all for it. Two beings who aren't fully human and who share a type of maturity/understanding that no one else around them has ruling over a magical kingdom together? Yes please.

4. NOTP ship

I don't really have one. Maybe her and Wenlock, since he did want to marry her, but that's just a given.

5. Favorite friendship

Her friendship with Aiden was great and I wish we got to see more of them.

6. Would you date them?

Maybe...

7. If you were them for a day what would you do?

Fly like the wind, are you kidding me?? If I got the chance to be a pegasus or any other flying creature I'd never touch the ground again.

8. If you could change something about them what would it be?

Her human design. Sorry, but it was always a bit underwhelming to me, especially with how expressive her pegasus design was. Don't get me wrong, her human self was very pretty, but that's all, you know? Her character design isn't very engaging to look at. If I could, I'd have her keep some of her animal features like the characters in Swan Lake, and play around with the pegasus aesthetic a bit.

9. What do you think they smell like?

Like ozone, from being up in the clouds for so long.

10. If you had the chance to ask them only one question what would it be?

How did you spend the 16-18 years between the day you got transformed and the day you met Annika?

Girl must have some stories to tell...

11. Do you think you have something in common with them?

I'm also quite pessimistic at heart but try my hardest to be positive and hopeful and all.

12. Have you ever wanted to slap them?

No, why would I??

13. What would you do if they kissed you?

I'd be a bit confused but I think I'd enjoy it.

Thank you so much for the ask!! I don't get many Barbie asks but I honestly love it when I do!

[mermaidsirennikita]

Can you recommend any contemporary romance novels? Thank you!

For sure!

One of my favorite contemporary series I read this year was Kylie Scott's Stage Dive series, which I recommend reading in full and in order. It's about a rock band and the women who fall in love with the members of the band, basically.

Lick--hero is the guitarist/songwriter, heroine wakes up with no memory of the previous night in Vegas and oops they're married

Play--hero is the wacky drummer, begins fake dating the level-headed heroine For Reasons

Lead--hero is the lead singer, had biiig addiction issues and is the older brother of the hero of Lick; heroine is his sober companion/assistant, and the professional lines are.... blurred, to say the least

Deep--hero is the bass player, has been tempted by the little sister of book 2's heroine for a while even though there's an 8-year age gap and he's been instructed to... not touch her; one night later and whoops, she's pregnant

American Royalty by Tracey Livesay--pitched as "what if Prince Harry fell for Megan Thee Stallion", and it is, delightfully, hilariously, very heatedly that

The Brown Sisters Trilogy by Talia Hibbert--Very fun, very soft, very hot. Book 1 has chronic pain rep with the heroine and book 3 both leads on the spectrum. I believe the hero of book 2 has anxiety.

Heated Rivalry and The Long Game by Rachel Reid--Must be read in order, TLG is the direct sequel to HR and about the same couple. Ilya and Shane are super-hyped up arch rival hockey players, the best of the best. What nobody knows is that they've been hooking up in secret since their rookie season. It's basically charting their relationship going from pure sex to love. Heated Rivalry is easily one of my favorite reads this year, and TLG is a great followup. Super hot, super romantic, Shane and Ilya are PERFECT leads--very uptight meets wild, very carefree slutty one has a secret emotional side and reserved one has a secret risky side.

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone--A porn star is brought in last minute to star in a Christmas Hallmark-type movie, with the knowledge that her porn career must stay a secret. But oops, the male lead of the movie is a former boy bander she used to have a crush on, and he's been subscribed to her OnlyFans for YEARS. Very fun, hot, and Christmassy.

Kiss An Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips--A wild 90s-era contemporary. The heroine (spoiled little rich girl) and hero (surly alpha) are pushed into an arranged marriage by the heroine's father, and plan on getting it annulled in six months. But lol turns out he is part of a TRAVELING CIRCUS and she has to spend those six months working the circus with him. Truly wacky and fun, great grovel.

Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips--Another insane 90s contemporary. Heroine is extremely smart (graduated college at 14 smart) and always felt alienated due to her brain and lack of social skills. She wants a baby, but she wants the baby to be kinda mid intelligence-wise, and figures she should get knocked up by a stupid man in order to have an average baby. She targets a dumbass NFL quarterback, and after some maneuvering, ends up pregnant with no intention of ever telling him. Except, oops, turns out he is actually VERY smart, and he finds out and forces her to marry him because no kid of his will be a bastard!!! Truly insane, and TW because she does poke holes in the condom the first go (which doesn't take). The second go, he's just like "what the fuck ever let's just do this" and foregoes the condom by choice.

The Billionaire's Wake-up-call Girl by Annika Martin--Heroine is desperate to make it through a trial period at her new job because she needs the signing bonus to pay off a loan shark her ex got into trouble with (yes). Her boss instructs her to arrange a wake-up-call service for the company's billionaire CEO, but she puts it off and fucks up, which leads her to pretend to be the service and call him herself. He loves her abrasive attitude, and eventually they start talking... and phone sex happens... And it goes on from there.

The Roommate by Rosie Danan--Uptight heroine moves to take a chance on living with the guy she's always been into, but he flakes out and goes on tour with his band, leaving her with a replacement roommate. Except, whoops, turns out the new roommate is a rather successful porn star, and she can't quite look away from his work.

Priest by Sierra Simone--Tyler Bell is a Catholic priest, and is happy with his lot in life until Poppy shows up at confession. She begins confessing her rather interesting past, leading to him getting hot and bothered and the two of them eventually connecting emotionally. This is an erotic romance, with unique uses of holy oil and altars. Also, it does discuss the sexual abuse of a character off-page--not either of the leads, but it's plot important.

Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan--Heroine and hero were childhood sweethearts until conflict between their parents drove them apart. Years later, heroine is a successful political consultant, and hero is a father getting out of a messy relationship. They swing back into each other's lives and begin to discover the secrets in their families' pasts together.

The Kiss Quotient Trilogy by Helen Hoang--Kicks off with The Kiss Quotient, which is about a heroine on the spectrum hiring a male escort to teach her how to be good at sex, as she feels her stiffness in bed is keeping her from getting a lasting relationship (which is what she feels her family wants for her). Each book features a hero or heroine on the spectrum, and a hero or heroine (or both) of Vietnamese descent. The author is both, to be clear.

From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata--Hero and heroine are figure skaters who hate each other. Heroine's career is on a downward trajectory, and she's given a surprising opportunity to team up with the hero.

[crqstalite]

9, 26, 27, 29, 14, 12 :) <3 and a rose for Kodelyn as well 🌹

So I don't actually know whether you wanted me to answer these questions from the mass effect list or the tumblr headcanon list (since I reblogged them in pretty quick succession). So we're doing all of them because I got bored. Thank you Bry!!

9: What squad member do you bring along the most?

Kaidan. I'd say "that's too easy of an answer!" but he's so versatile! Biotic abilities! Tech abilities! The two things I'm always in need of. There's not a single situation I regret bringing him to game-wise. Take him everywhere in 1, agonize about not having him around in 2, take him everywhere in 3. Except for when I thought him, Liara and my weakling of a infiltrator could take the Luna mission. They could not. Not nearly as easily or without as many deaths as I thought they could.

12: Favorite non-combatant?

Probably Anderson! I love his character, will never not be sad about the ending to three because of it. I just think they did his character really well throughout the trilogy.

Or Chakwas. I love Chakwas a lot because of her personality. She screams space aunt to me.

14: Who did your most recent Shepard romance?

Ceres was the last Shepard I played through ME1 with back in July, so Liara! Honestly I was just curious, I'm slowly working through all the options (though unfortunately, don't have anyone lined up for Thane yet). Not sure about how I like them together just yet.

26: Who do you wish was available as a romance option?

Joker. If you had any idea what my bookmark list looked liked...

27: How many Shepards do you have?

Counting technically Daphne? Nine. Probably too many because I haven't actually written anything with the "B Team" (Nia, Danny, Ceres and AJ) just yet.

Kodelyn - Soldier, Kaidanmancer Citlali - Adept, Jokermancer Brione - Infiltrator, Garrusmancer Annika - Vanguard, Ashleymancer Nia - Sentinel, Kaidan/Ashley-mancer. Daniel - Engineer, Kaidanmancer Ceres - Vanguard, Liaramancer Alexandra June - Sentinel, Mirandamancer Daphne - Engineer

29: If you primarily play Paragon or Renegade, is there a dialogue/interrupt/action of the opposite alignment you always take?

Yes! I always choose the renegade option for the Batarian recruiter in ME2. That and the one on Thane's mission to push one of the mercs out of the window. And the one at the end of three.

-

9. Makeup?

I think at some point Koda's hands get a little too shaky to apply it correctly herself. It wasn't that big of a deal, after all it'd just take a little longer, but more often than not she'd sweat it off. Typically would go with anything subtle, eyeliner, dark red lipstick and maybe a little concealer for the smaller scars.

12. Favorite book genre?

Romance, as well as anything escapist. The fluffier and more ridiculous, the better. However, she is still a terrible flirt. Rectifying that is not high on her list of priorities. Kaidan still loves her all the same.

14. Physical abnormalities? (Both visible and not, including injuries/disabilities, long-term illnesses, food-intolerances, etc.)

Just one, since I haven't completely ironed them all out yet. Pre-Lazarus resurrection, Kodelyn had some nerve damage from Elysium and other missions that caused her hands and feet to go numb sometimes. It wasn't severe enough to hinder her work, just annoying enough to bother her, and she tended to wear compression gloves. Post-Lazarus, Miranda had managed to mitigate most of it, but she is still subject to tingling extremities every now and then.

26. Do they have any plans for the future? Any contingency plans if things don’t workout?

I'm paraphrasing from an earlier conversation with a mutual, but her and Kaidan settle down in Vancouver after the war. She pretty much skirts around the Councilor position offered to her afterwards, and mostly just...gets a chance to enjoy life with her boyfriend. Visits to the Orchard, visits home to her family, she learns to swim eventually. She's pretty much the "cool" aunt to Esme.

(And honestly, her only aunt.)

27. What is their biggest regret?

I think it's tied between Virmire (knowing she should've been able to save Ashley, and let her personal ties blind her) and Jump Zero (knowing she should've said or done something to prevent what happened to her sister). Koda hates losing people, and she struggles with accepting the fact that sometimes it happens, and there's nothing she can do about it -- no matter how controlling she gets.

29. Reaction to sudden extrapersonal disaster (eg The house is on fire! What do they do?)

Control. Koda wants to control the situation right off the bat. Where is everyone, how can she get them out as quickly and as safely as possible? Then comes gathering everything important, she'll retrieve those things herself. She prefers things to fall to her in the event of a disaster, and make them manageable. It stresses her out though, but if she doesn't have direct control over anything, it also stresses her out. There's no win-win situation here.