#but they ended up getting scrapped because i didn’t like the original pose he was in

[theoldworldsrunnerup]

hi i have an art request because i can't draw but like near in like pagan apparel?? i headcanon him as like agnostic pagan and like i really wanted to see him in like a pentacle necklace with crystals and like witchy symbols using his tarot or just anything pagan!near really

Hi anon I’m SUPER sorry this took me two months to finish!! Honestly I didn’t really have a proper idea of what I wanted the final result to look like and I don’t feel like I put enough emphasis on the pagan aspects of the drawing and generally I don’t think I did your headcanon justice :( Regardless, I tried my hardest with this and I hope you still like it!!!

[darrx-moon]

Artwork Analysis time!

I went though the P5R design works book and uhhh I already thought there was a lot to analyze about the cover art, and after seeing the scrapped design it made me want to analyze it again^^

P5R spoilers ahead:

Joker

• Him being the only one sitting in both versions kinda feels like he’s comfortable with where he’s at in life, a good balance between Akechi and Maruki’s views, but closer to Akechi.

• Joker’s actual shadow being hidden (probably there because that’s how light works but I wouldn’t know cause I’m terrible at knowing where shadows go-) made me think of P4 and that he’s come to terms with repressed parts of himself basically.

• One hand reaching up to his glasses and the other in his pocket in comparison to the scrapped version where both hands are out, tells me 2 things-

That the one in his pocket parallels with Maruki who also has his hand in his pocket, probably about how the two of them have a past that isn’t shared with others (for Joker it was shared with Sojiro, Sae, and the PT by his own choice, the rest of it being shared with all of Shujin outside his control), and that they’d rather keep it to themselves. For Joker, it’s not like it’s kept to himself out of shame or guilt, but more so that his past didn’t really need to control his life and thus doesn’t need to constantly be brought up to anyone.

And secondly, the hand reaching up alludes to the ending where Joker takes off his glasses (and mask in the reflection of the bullet train window). It also keeps Joker looking confident while also adding a deeper meaning compared to the original design of his pose for the cover art.

Akechi

• In the scrapped version he appears more sinister (mostly thanks to the shading choice and tilt of his head), though the decision to have him look confident but in a calm(?) sort of way could indicate the more nuanced Akechi seen in Royal as opposed to the more antagonistic force seen in Vanilla.

• His shadow is most likely behind him and thus can’t be scene, and it’s also due to the fact that his face has the most focus while the rest of him is less seen compared to everyone else. I’d like to think it’s because you only need to see his face and positioning on the stairs to understand that he’s made his decision to be in control of his life and not making any exceptions, so there’s no insight into potential uncertainty in his pose or hands since they aren’t in frame.

• It’s also very fitting that he’s the furthest away from Maruki, seeing as he wholeheartedly rejected the Maruki’s ideals.

Sumire

• She’s the only one actively walking on the stairs, signifying both her deliberation over the decision she has to make in third semester and perhaps a false sense of moving forward. It could be that when she made the decision to ask Maruki for her to become Kasumi, as well as when she actually thought she was Kasumi, that she believed she was moving forward in life, getting better. But going up the steps would lead her to where Maruki is, actually running away instead.

• The difference in Sumi’s literal shadow in the 2 versions is drastic and tells a bigger story in the final version imao. The shadow can be seen as her repressed self again, or as the actual Kasumi, reaching out to either catch up with Sumi or to try and keep her back where she was near Joker. Where Sumi is looking tells that she would only be able to see it in her peripheral at most, also connecting to the fact that part of her was aware what she was running away but she didn’t want to admit it.

• I take her staring in the same direction as Akechi and Joker to just mean that she’s unintentionally fooling the audience, unintentional because she thinks of herself as Kasumi most of the game, and fooling because she’s giving the impression of like “yeah this is me!” sort of thing.

Maruki

• He’s both the furthest away and the only one whose eye’s aren’t visible, his head turned to face elsewhere too- all of which signify the emotional distance he keeps from everyone.

• In the scrapped art, his pose is almost similar but is a lot more carefree and slightly more open with the hand behind his head. In the finalized one, he keeps up the unbothered pose while subtly keeping to himself with not just distance but with his ankle crossing over the other, still having a hand in the pocket, and drinking apple juice with the arm closer to him instead of up-

• Which leads me to the apple juice, immediately thinking of the fact that he likes the drink but also that it could illustrate drowning out sorrows like one can choose to do with alcohol (he’s done it before). It’s just an apple juice here because uhh apple juice and also because it signifies the pure bond he had with Rumi seen with his talk about sweet and salty snacks with her from his past- just 2 lovebirds ^^

• Not only does him being at the top of the stairs provide him with distance, but it also parallels to the fact that Joker and the PT have to climb a staircase to get to Maruki to fight him. This also connects back to Sumi going up the stairs and how Joker had to fight her and save her.

• As for his shadow, it’s not too far away from him but just enough to indicate that while he’s steadfast in his ideals, he hasn’t come to terms with his inner self and past yet due to never taking a proper moment to settle with himself and stop running from the past.

In conclusion? Probably overanalyzed all this tbh-

Ya’ll can ask me what to analyze next…I love focusing on all the little details!

[arengnera]

The Flesh Dress

All of the fabric for this was reclaimed from curtains, scraps, tights, discarded tule from a local highschool prom that I snatched up like a horrible little vulture. The boning in the bodice was done with huge zip-ties but I’m not convinced getting real sewable boning wouldn’t have been worth it. The channels on the reinforcement were a bit of a bitch. The swords I also forged myself, but this ain’t about them. A lot of (mostly fake) blood, sweat and tears went into this one and I’m super pleased with the results. Huge shout out to @spoonbendersanonymous​ who was kind enough to lend me the fake blood, their anatomical text book, and had me sit down to watch Bride of Reanimator for inspiration.

Process photos and bonus photoshoot pictures below the cut!

Original sketches! A lot of me trying to figure out how to make boning look like bones while maintaining a classic shape. I said edwardian on the sketch but it honestly might be Victorian I'm really not sure. This was a combined art project for one of my classes, the idea was using old fashioned mourning traditions and clothes in a modern and campy way, to complain about how much capitalism erodes our time to mourn. At least that’s what I told the professor, It’s really about making a weird and off putting dress first and foremost.

Tape pattern and paper pattern! This was my first time doing this so don't take thus as any sort of guide.

It worked though, as shown by the world’s worst corset fitting - the pink thing on my arm was where I was planning on putting the upper sleeve, I was trying to see if my poof was good since my sleeves were a lot thinner and a lot longer than what would have been optimal for the amount of poof I wanted, I had to do some work around with the fabric I had

Now I’m just bragging about getting eyelets to look clean and good for once in my life. If I was going to do anything different about this though, I would ad more eases in the back, because I need to contort horribly to get out of the bodice, I fit it too well

This bad boy was really the crux of the whole project. The entire thing was a pun so I could applique an anatomically accurate heart on a sheer sleeve.

This was was it’s intermediary stage, where I was suddenly very much out of time for the first deadline and had to put off adding all of the gore I wanted to, so the simple applique heart had to do. The skirt itself was way less poofy than I would have liked, and didn’t quite give the silhouette I wanted. I ended up going with the train because the under skirt isn’t actually connected in the back. Thus is the nature of working with weird panels of curtains you’ve already cut into for a few other projects. God bless the thrift store curtain section.

The guts were made by sewing together sheer tights, and filling them with polyfill. Here they are, before they were stippled with liquid flesh colored latex and soaked in fabric paint - and after where you can see all that extra TEXTURE

I was able to use it for another project though, and I was very happy with the beading work here, although I did end up losing my biggest strand at some point.

Here’s my makeup test! I played around with doing some blood red lips but decided the blueish corpse look was better. Fun fact! I drove home wearing a sweatshirt that says “I heart corpse desecration” on it through the snow storm, and pulled over to offer some guy a hand with his car, forgetting I still looked like this. He turned me down.

The face of someone who can definitely be trusted for road side assistance. - Also I was posing as the two of swords tarot illustration for the final gallery exhibit.

[lem-argentum]

hello here is THE official overview of all lemmy argentum selfship aus (or the ones that came to mind at this moment). <3

COSDOUGMEG

doug & meg actually have the least amount of aus out of these f/os, because i almost always imagine them in either their original universe or real life with me! but there is one that’s developed <3

-castle cr.ashers. it is hit hack-and-slash game castle cr.ashers. i take the place of red knight and meg takes the place of the blue princess. we’re together before the plot starts and they avoid getting kidnapped so we go through everything together <3. eventually we meet doug who has the role of the conehead groom, we defeat him and he begrudgingly joins us, we have an enemies-to-lovers journey, the end <3. i’m very fond of this silly au because doug is very cute when you put her in a situation like this :) also cosmeg adventures!!!!!! <333

LEMPROM

we have some!!! our dynamic/development are similar in most of them, it’s mostly messing with the world/circumstances where we meet :) <3

-ff.xv plotless au. this is the main lemprom universe actually. basically all of The Tragedy doesn’t happen because it would BREAK. MY HEART.!!!!!! it’s my fun self-indulgent universe where no one is in immediate peril <3.

-ff.ix au!!!!!!!!!! NOT developed but you can probably tell from my blog that i love combining prom and ff.ix (my icon is him in a colorswapped vivi outfit :>) SO <3. i just think “i wish to be kidnapped right away.” “wh-!! okay!!!” is the PERFECT dynamic introduction so prom takes zidane’s general role and i take dagger’s. <3 :) i like thinking about prom in a tantalus-type group because he’d be a really fun dramatic actor and a very cute thief (“well i guess it’s a good thing *somebody* got the keys to the whole fortress ;)” <- ONE OF MY FAVORITE LINES) <3 i don’t know how the whole story goes but i just love the concept so <333.

-p.okemon :] <3. this one’s also just a concept. i’m a trainer and prom works at a daycare. he has a doduo and a rotom, i have an ampharos and a mime jr. <3 (i’d have to channel old pkmn knowledge to think of full teams but those are the main ones.)

-OH YEAH college au. prom’s a photography major, i’m an illustration major, we meet through art classes and meet up to work on things together and model/pose for each other and ahmfndmfkd <3333. i have a scene pre-relationship where i visit prom’s dorm and go “:0 is that…. a picture of me on your corkboard??” and he has to be like “UH . WELL, THE LIGHTING IN THAT ONE WAS NICE, SO—” HFNDJ <333

CHRENO

SIGH this is gonna be the longest section. since they’re on opposing sides in their og ff.vii universe there are a lot of complexities that come with it, and the aus are mostly playing around with that by getting rid of that element completely……..

-turk!chrome au. this one’s kind of simple it just means they work together instead of against each other, and also the number of possible scenarios goes up a lot because of the close proximity. ciss.nei is also present in this au and her n chrome are both turk partners and qpps!!!!!

-octo.path 2. INITIALLY in this au chrome n reno were both thieves (chrome being dancer class who was also story-wise a thief, reno being actual thief class) who because of Unlikely Situations ended up being traveling partners, but THEN i realized HEY. WHY DIDNT I MAKE RENO A BLACKSNAKE. so he’s a blacksnake now. i don’t know why i didn’t think of that he’z literally a new delsta guy. and there are jester npcs in new delsta!!! so chrome can fit in pretty well without having to change much about him. i really like the vibe of this one but parts of it give me emotionz . you get it. moving on,

-i did think of a b.aldur’s gate 3 au. i guess it’s similar to the scrapped octo.path one.. they’re both rogues (chrome arcane trickster, reno assassin), meet after the tadpole debacle and decide trying to cure it together is the best option. (it might be in-character for reno to be like Eh. if i die i die *walks off alone* but i’m not lettinf him do that they’re doing this together somehow. maybe when they do the tadpole mind-connect thing he sees something interesting from chrome’s past and is like hmmm. i dunno.) this one is mostly for funny dnd moments (they’re my comedy ship after all.) such as chrome being like “uh no i don’t trust you to disarm that i’ll do it.” n reno being like “you sure?” and then chrome crit-failing and them standing there in silence with the blinded status effect. (“…see, i knew that was gonna h-” “don’t say anything.”)

-HFNDJ I JUST REMEMBERED I MADE THEM A GHOST TR.ICK AU. I DONT REMEMBER THE DEAL WITH IT HOLD ON. it was like . chrome died and became a ghost like s.issel……. and found reno dead too, used his ghost tricks to save him and ended up helping him with his shady real life work stuff …… ? it conflicts with regular chrome’s morals but if you mess with it the concept is really fun. ghost partner in crime. mind communication shenanigans. i wanted to draw fake screenshots for them in the art style hfndj i should do that sometime.

-oh i do have a rune f.actory au for them i guess. just in concept though <3. i can’t think of??? many canon rf charas that act similar to reno?? but he would have leon-esque dialogue humor-wise (AGH). and if chrome is the protag, giving him supposed “disliked items” does nothing because he just thinks it’s funny. game mechanic where you CANNOT lower this guy’s affection . i don’t think he would be affiliated with the sechs empire but he would have something mysterious like that going on… and he wouldn’t say much about himself so maybe his heart points would be capped lower ‘til a certain point like doug’s are??? and he wouldn’t tell you what gifts he likes either. there’d be a dialogue branch like “so what do you like, then. :/” “where’s the fun in that? try figuring it out.” and then his reactions to gifts onward would change based on that. (“really? thought you knew me better than that.”) (“hey, you’re gettin’ warmer!”) (“you’re puttin’ a lot of effort into this game. almost like you *care* about givin’ me shit.” “UH, *NO—*”)

[jerreeeeeee]

📓 👀👀

so originally, offworld was supposed to have a sequel. it fell apart for a couple reasons, but the premise was that barry, despite being personally forgiven by his friends, didn’t receive a pardon or anything for the many terrible crimes he’s done.

most governments don’t allow necromancy, but the raven queen in particular fucking hates it (this was one of the thing i got stuck on - kravitz is a bounty hunter and doesn’t really answer to mortal laws, but i couldn’t decide if the raven queen’s followers were, like, a dispersed loose group that didn’t really interact except with the raven queen directly, or if the raven queen would be the ruler of an entire theocratic planet. the second would be cooler but also more difficult to flesh out). so she sends kravitz to hunt them down. the majority of the plot was, at first, kravitz chasing barry lup and taako (referred to as blt in my notes) but i ended up also threading in a b-plot featuring angus mcdonald.

we start in the first chapter with a pretty normal day for blt, preparing for sizzle it up; they’ve been touring all over the place, but have stayed on this planet for a while. at the end of the chapter taako leaves the ship so barry and lup can have a date night. he tells them he’s got “lessons with the kid,” which we learn is why they’ve been staying for so long in one place: taako has an apprentice! when he gets there, though, “the kid” is not angus but sazed, eager to learn how to cook.

this was another thing i didn’t know what to do with; taako being an asshole to sazed doesn’t really work here, because he’s happy and has a family, and i wouldn’t want to undo all the work with regard to learning to trust people and allowing himself to like them etc etc from offworld. he wouldn’t be so dismissive or at least would be nicer about it, so the glamour springs incident would just feel a little awkward and forced.

anyway, glamour springs happens, but taako is more confident and his wizard powers weren’t reset to level 1, so he thinks something weird happened. he hires a local detective… who turns out to be a child. but whatever, the kid is confident he’ll be able to solve it, so along comes angus. after a confrontation with kravitz, though, angus gets a second case, “who the fuck is this guy, and why does he want to kill barry so bad?”

i never wrote this because i couldn’t figure out how to end it. the necromancy is definitely intentional, so kravitz can’t really just, like, look the other way? also, introducing angus posed a huge problem because i wholeheartedly believe taako does NOT want to be a parent and would be bad at it (especially if he’s just starting a relationship with a guy that not long ago wanted to kill his brother in law), but angus is still a child and he NEEDS a parent. i didn’t want to just wave it away that he’s just an apprentice, because he’s still, like, twelve, and none of the adults in his life (reduced to blt and kravitz since the rest of the starblaster crew are pretty scattered) are equipped to raise a twelve year old, but also, if the ango subplot isn’t in there, the rest of the plot gets pretty flat and boring? also, i don’t have the skill or interest required to write a romance, and that’s what the resolution to kravitz’ plot would end with. so in the end it was scrapped :( rip kravitz

[sanctus-ingenium]

u guys wanna see more WIPs... similar to the last post, here are Some WIPs

all of these were started in sai before going on to procreate. before going back to sai again in the case of the strength card

so Blue Sky/Out Of Time... yeah it’s extremely self-explanatory, it’s very obvious what this scene depicts and i’m sure everyone gets it (this is a joke i’ve had multiple people dm me asking wtf this even is). the one element that absolutely NEEDED to be there was the LED digital clock with a bullshit time on it, and i decided to replace it with an AIRE warning sign instead and put the LED readouts in the bg. the warning sign in this setting serves the purpose of informing ppl when there are hostile faeries around. i knew what the colours would be from the beginning, but it took a bit for me to realise what sort of shading style i wanted (it took forever). but i did know i wanted to contrast the very sketchy black void against the cleaner and almost cartoony/comic book style rest of the drawing, to emphasise the fact that the foreground sky and background void are made of two very different things. again i used a colour shifting brush to quickly make all the shards of sky different colours, but originally i planned to have some of the shards be dark or night time (with stars or the moon etc). unfortunately it didn’t work, it was too dark and pascal got lost against it.

My Eyes Are Up Here is pretty obviously the exact same scene with the same character, in the same field, but with a different sort of atmosphere. i sketched this in sai then did the final in procreate. originally it was going to have a black background

i really like this version tbh but the blue works better. i think he looks good against dark backgrounds where it’s kind of hard to see wtf is even happening there

so about the neon signs..... i’m well aware that the sketch has way more promise than what the final ultimately was, and that’s because i found that i didn’t have the technical or artistic ability to pull off the complex neon signs like i wanted to. i couldn’t get it looking good enough so i had to scrap them. but these signs will be back, i want to draw them properly and do them justice. the gif was unplanned too but i thought it would be fun to have the flicker be very intermittent so that if you scrolled past it you might not even realise, or you’d have to stick with it just to catch it looping. i used GIMP to make the gif and change the frame rate, and this actually took a very long time because i had to preview it over and over. anyway if you WERE to get lost in the púca’s field, in this story, you would see neon signs like this encouraging you to follow them.

Strength is actually the last drawing i ever made that ended with a paint-over in sai, and the oldest drawing here. as such i actually don’t think it’s representative of my current ability but i do have a soft spot for it for sentimental reasons lol. the reason for the paint-over in sai was because i drew this at a time when i still did not trust procreate to be able to place the level of finish on it that i wanted

the background took me a thousand years to figure out. literally it was so annoying that i considered scrapping it for something simpler. but the idea was for it to be a kind of fairytale-ish lost in the woods sort of look while also appearing like the blood vessels around the human heart. the branches were also supposed to be heart-shaped in cross-section but i spent so long zoomed in painting them that i forgot to zoom out to see if all those fine details were actually visible, and it turned out they weren’t. i was disappointed that i couldn’t get félix’s tattoos to look right but that’s what i get for making a character with shit tons of both tattoos and body hair. i also got rid of the foreground branches really soon because they weren’t adding anything and muddied up the readability of his pose

the swan is from a daemon au and bears no relation to my other swan characters. i just like swans a lot

[shirubae]

Lingering Memories: The Sonic Generations Analysis

Silver and Blaze have only a handful of appearances in Sonic Generations. However, they have potentially world-changing implications... potentially.

Blaze in White Space

Blaze attends Sonic's birthday party, spending time with her friend Cream. Crossing dimensions for Sonic's birthday shows how much she values him. When the Time Eater attacks, she ends up in White Space, frozen at the entrance to Sonic 06's Crisis City.

It’s pretty significant that Blaze represents Sonic 06. In fact, it’s significant that 06 is in this game at all. Back then, it was a popular misbelief (at least in the western fandom) that 06's ending rendered the entire game non-canon. Lots of fans chose to ignore Blaze’s journey with Silver, focusing only on her appearances in the Rush games. But this game made it clear that Blaze did indeed spend that time with Silver, even if those events were reset.

Once Sonic restores Crisis City and frees Blaze, she is embarrassed by her rescue and asks him to keep it a secret. However, she also has no issue relying on his help (consistent character growth!)

Blaze has a mission clearing flames from Sonic’s path. The music used is a remix of Sonic 3D Blast's "You're My Hero", which originally has vocals expressing gratitude for a friend showing them the light. This could be a wink to Sonic helping Blaze come out of her shell in the Rush games, but the same song also plays in missions with Knuckles, Cream, and Rouge, so it may be a coincidence.

Silver in White Space

Silver appears as a rival boss. He wasn’t at Sonic’s party, so he must have been pulled to White Space separately, from his own time. When Sonic approaches, he assumes he's an impostor (classic headstrong Silver).

Sonic fights Silver in Crisis City too, rather than in Soleanna where their battle in 06 originally took place (the other rivals, Metal Sonic and Shadow, are fought in their respective iconic arenas). This is likely because it’s better-suited to Sonic’s speed and Silver’s psychokinesis, but it nevertheless strengthens Silver’s connection to Blaze by being in the same location.

Silver pulls some impressive psychokinetic tricks; he’s grown a lot since his previous scuffles with Sonic. I like how Sonic defeats him by knocking him into his own ball of scrap, showing Silver’s still a bit self-destructive and jumps into situations without considering the consequences.

Side note: in the 3DS version of the game, Silver instead challenges Sonic to a race in Tropical Resort from Colors. He was indeed on Eggman's amusement park in the DS version of Colors, so it works.

Speculation: Memories of 06

An especially interesting detail comes after completing the Challenge Act "Blaze: Piercing the Flames". Afterwards, Blaze seems to remember Crisis City. The entire cast was supposed to have forgotten Sonic 06 thanks to that game’s ending, and yet she says: “I never thought I’d find myself in Crisis City again.”

If we're to take this line seriously, and not as a cheeky 4th wall break, it appears that Blaze is remembering Sonic 06! She got to fight through it with Sonic. She is also the only character to interact with their respective stage entrance, posing atop the debris once Sonic frees her. Maybe being in Crisis City jogged her memory? Or maybe she only remembers Crisis City, and is yet to recall the rest.

Conversely, we don’t know if being in Crisis City jogs Silver’s memory at all. The Japanese version of Team Sonic Racing suggests it didn’t, but we'll get to that in a later post.

A Reunion?

Blaze and Silver cheer on the Sonics in the final battle, and once the Eggmans and the Time Eater are defeated, they return to Sonic's party. They nod at each other upon realizing they made it out, and Blaze watches Silver celebrate.

Speculation: I’m probably reaching, but that look Blaze gives him strikes me as adoring. Upon returning from White Space, her first instinct is to look at him. While Silver pops off, Blaze just smiles at him. Interesting... Does she act differently around him now, remembering their old relationship?

And in the following group shot, they're shown to still be talking (on the left). Is Blaze trying to get close to him again? Just speculation.

They're last seen waving goodbye to Classic Sonic with the others.

Conclusion

It’s nice to see Silver and Blaze a little closer than we last saw them in Colors.

So Blaze might remember her and Silver’s journey from Sonic 06, or at least part of it. However, it's likely that Silver doesn't remember. What a fascinating dilemma: should Blaze tell Silver about their time together and his ultimate failure, or should she leave him in the dark and simply start anew?

Will this ever be explored? I doubt it LOL. As a milestone game that’s not too concerned with sorting out canon, plots, or characters (not to mention a Pontac-Graff production), I wouldn’t be surprised if these implications are never brought up again and it’s treated as a throwaway line. Blaze will probably go back to never bringing up 06 again after this. It’s possible they’ll follow through, but who knows.

Update: I should say, Ian Flynn has since addressed Blaze's memories of Sonic 06 in Generations. He said that she only recognizes Crisis City, having déjà vu but not remembering the story associated with it. Well, that works for me.

[chiwhorei]

green scrunchies

pairing: dom!k. ukai x sub!fem!reader

genre: smut, 18+ minors dni

word count: 4.1k

warnings: swearing, spanking, smoking, daddy kink, dom/ sub dynamics, brat taming, subspace, dirty talk, degradation, age gap(reader is 22ish and ukai is 26ish) spitting, fingering, oral (fem receiving), edging, orgasm denial, dacryphilia, a little dumification, public nudity (kinda), unprotected sex, tattoos (there’s a tattoo in a really unholy place), this is just filth okay

a/n: i have been sitting on the bulk of this piece for a fucking month and am honestly so surprised i finished it. this was inspired by a picture i saw of a really naughty tattoo and my mind want crazy and vomited on to a google doc.

hymn: nothing’s gonna hurt you baby by cigarettes after sex

“but today isn’t a day of honey-sweet ministrations.”

Ukai Keishin is a gentle man. The team of highschoolers he coaches, his friends, hell, even his mother would beg to differ. But they were not privy to the Keishin you know. The man that serenades you with Elvis Presley while cleaning up after closing the store, grabbing your waist and pulling you into a clumsy slow dance as his gravelly voice croons into your ear. 

He’s entrancing. Hypnotizing you, almost two years ago now, in the most tender pursuit possible, so softly you were unaware of falling deeply in love with him until you had already tipped completely over. Turning to an ink pen and scraps of receipt paper to flesh out the feelings he worried would not sound perfect when they hit your ears. To this day, you’re not entirely sure if he meant to leave the pages to his extemporaneous romance novel for you to find on purpose, but you have your suspicions.

You were in your second year of college when you met Keishin, only 20 years old at the time and clueless to any world outside of studying frantically from one exam to the next. Chasing after a degree you could pursue your dreams with and getting tattoos that would piss your parents off, you crashed into him, literally. 

While walking to class with practiced steps and flipping through a small stack of notecards, you frantically try to accomplish last minute cramming and making it to class promptly at the same time. With one final attempt to understand the scribbles in front of you, you take a sharp turn into a brick wall. A flurry of white papers thrown into the air and falling back down like snow.

It happened in a minute, a minute that held sixty of the longest seconds to ever pass; from the moment you smack your nose into his cemented chest to the moment he saves your head from kissing the ground below. “You need to watch where you’re going, kid.” He says with a cigarette pressed between his teeth. It all happened in that single minute, your soul escaping and crawling into his jacket pocket without even realizing. It’s been there ever since, for safekeeping, of course.

He’s perfect in every way. But just as he is soft and loving, Ukai is not one to take shit. Especially when his sweet, shy baby girl is being a raging brat. It’s like any normal fall afternoon, slightly chilly and crisp on your walk from class. The air is biting at your skin, but the temperature is not what sends a piercing shiver down your spine. You know that as soon as you get home, Ukai Keishin is going to ruin you. 

“What are you doing here, princess?” Your presence is made known with a soft ding from the bell above the door, but Ukai doesn't look up from his magazine when acknowledging you. 

“I live upstairs?” Your tone is light and playful. You decide to test the waters, wondering how much Keishin will let slide today.

“Don’t be dense, little one.” He graces you with his eye contact for the first time, “I know you have a Biology lecture on Friday afternoons. So, why is that cute little ass here instead of on campus?” His lips are pulled tightly in a thin line and he rakes his eyes down your body. You’re wearing a short pleated skirt and a baggie pull-over. Exactly what he picked out for you this morning. Well, almost exactly. He was already opening up the store by the time you woke up, so the clothes were placed neatly on his side of the bed. What he didn’t pick out though, were the stockings currently brandishing your mid thigh, cutting off the supple skin with the soft, black cotton. 

“Oh! My professor cancelled lecture today so I came home early to have lunch with my loving boyfriend.” You smile sweetly, dropping your backpack and rounding the corner of the counter he is sat at. Ukai hums softly- dismissively- and lights a cigarette, his eyes don’t give away any emotion, so you are left hanging off the end of the burning cherry. Has he caught on yet? Maybe the thigh-highs would be enough to distract from your real surprise. 

Before you can ruminate on the thought, a wide, kind smile spreads across his face. If you didn’t know any better, this smile would be comforting. Your boyfriend pats his lap, motioning for you to take a seat. You adjust yourself to fit snugly and lean into Keishin’s chest. He presses a chaste kiss to your temple and takes a drag from his cigarette. Customers trickle in slowly, and you stand a few times to ring up their purchases, always the dutiful girlfriend. Keishin watches you with adoration in between paging through a magazine, everything you did was so perfect, even if it’s just scanning a few groceries. Such a good girl you are. 

It’s not until you sit back down, and he adjusts your hips to settle back into him that he is made aware of the game you’re trying to play. And he is pissed.

“Princess, did you not like the clothes I picked out for you this morning?” He has fully caught on to you at this point, and you both know it, but he isn’t going to show you his hand quite yet. 

“Of course I did, Daddy.” You bury your burning cheek into his neck, letting the familiar smell of cologne and campfires calm your clambering heartbeat. 

“I see, then why are you wearing these…” Keishin’s voice trails off and pulls at the material of the thigh-highs, snapping it against your skin.  

“Actually,” he interrupts, “I have a more important question. But I need you to be a good girl and answer honestly.” Keishin whispers into the shell of your ear and nods a goodbye to the elderly man leaving the store. You two were alone now, the promise of other customers wandering in diminishing quickly with the time of day. 

“I’ll be a good girl Daddy.” You try to coat your words in velvet as best as you can, but Keishin scoffs, clearly unamused. 

“That’s rich, princess. Now tell me, did you go to campus this morning without panties on?” You knew the question he was going to pose, you could have even saved him the breath. You knew you were going to get caught, I mean, that is why you did it. But now, faced with having to atone for your sins, the confidence in your original actions was melting away. 

“I forgot to put panties on this morning, Daddy. I’m sorry.” You try to pout in the sweetest way possible, but Keishin knows. You’re lying through your teeth.

“Tsk, you forgot. How could you forget if I laid them right on top of your skirt this morning?” He fishes in his pocket and pulls out a damning article. As he moves the exhibit into evidence, light pink thong hanging off of fingers, you resolve that your little game was over long before you even tried to start. All you can do now is wait with baited breath and flushed cheeks for his next move. 

“Stand up princess.” Ukai grabs onto your hip bones and lifts you upward. He spins you around to face him and perches his elbows on his knees. “Show me what’s mine baby girl.” His request, his demand, rolls off the tongue like icicles. You know what he means, but still stare back dumbly, mouth wide at what he was insinuating.

“You know I don’t like repeating myself, little girl.” His words stir inside you. If he sees how wet you’re getting, you’re done for. There’s no escaping this moment though. You take a deep breath in a feeble fight against the suffocating feeling in your chest, and lift up the end of your short, black skirt so he can see you. All of you.

Your precious, sumptuous thighs now in his view. He studies the lines of the tattoos not covered with your stockings. Beautiful floral designs in delicate black ink. Keishin thinks the work you get done is always so beautiful. Every addition befitting you perfectly. He loves tracing the pads of his fingers over the art in softer moments. This moment though, was not soft, and the tattoos on your thighs were not the subject of Ukai’s attention. 

He flicks his eyes up to meet yours briefly, and trails down from your quivering bottom lip, to your delicate, freckled collarbones peering sweetly from your large sweater. He drags his darkening gaze down further, cherishing every inch until he reaches your hips. Nestled in between the apex of your thighs, in small, dainty writing lays his prize.

“My Daddy Will Kill You.”

No matter what you did, he would always be there, snugly under the second layer of skin. When his fingers weren’t intertwined in yours, when he couldn’t have a protective hand in your back pocket. Whenever he was away with his team for tournaments or just when you were in class. He was always on you.

“Such a gorgeous little cunt you have.” He leans back in his seat, watching you fidget under his stare, “Whose cunt is this, baby? Is it your classmates? Is it your professors?” You bow your head in shame at Ukai’s insinuation, you know that going to class with a bare ass and a short skirt was going to get you in trouble. How could you resist though, when the punishment always feels so good.

“You’ve been acting like a petulant brat recently. I’ve been letting things slide because I know how stressful your senior year of college has been.” His tone is exasperated, but his eyes are calm, level, dark, “I can’t ignore this, you know that right?”

“I know, Daddy.”

“Your class was cancelled. So that means we get to start the weekend early.” He pulls your hands from your skirt, letting it fall back into place and holds both of your hands in one of his much larger ones. “Go upstairs and sit on the bed. I want you in just your skirt and those cute little tights you were so keen on wearing. I’ll be up in a few minutes.” 

“But Daddy…” you really did like to test your luck sometimes, but the look he gives you, slightly shocked and more than lightly infuriated, was enough to make you hurry to the back and up the stairs to your shared apartment. You kick your sneakers off at the door and head straight to the bedroom. You pull the sweater over your head and unclasp your bra. Usually Keishin likes to do that step for you, savoring the way you shiver as he brushes the straps off of your shoulders, but today isn’t a day of honey-sweet ministrations. 

You tremble like a puppy as you wait for Ukai and almost jump out of your own skin when you hear the front door creek open. Usually you are met with a bellowing voice upon his entry, walking through the door with a hearty, “Honey, I’m home!” even if you had only walked in a few steps ahead. Now, all you can do is wait as he mulls about the apartment with lackadaisical intent and a deafening silence. After a few agonizing minutes and feeling like he made his point, Ukai finally appears in the doorway, arms folded and pressed tightly to his hard chest with a categorically sadistic smile on his face.

“So, you do know how to follow directions?” You gulp loudly and nod your head, but quickly correct yourself. If you don’t use your words you’ll make things worse for yourself. “Yes, Daddy. I know how to follow directions.” It’s not a lie, obviously you are aware of his rules, you just prefer breaking them. Your response is small compared to the loud, sarcastic laugh falling from his throat. Ukai steps towards you slowly. 

“You are such a little tease, I came up to kiss you goodbye this morning and found these still sitting on the bed.” He pulls the thong out of his pocket again and drops the lace into your lap. “You left them there because you wanted me to find them. You wanted me to know you were sitting in class with a bare cunt.” There’s no use trying to find an excuse to push past your locked jaw, because he’s not really asking a question. 

“I left them on purpose, Daddy. I’m sorry.” Your mea culpa is underwhelming to say the least, and you both know it. You may be pleading guilty to all charges, but you don’t seem eager for absolution. 

“You are such a little attention whore. My timid, darling girl has been acting like an insolent slut recently. What am I going to do with you?” His voice sounds questioning, but unmistakingly rhetorical. He’s known what he was going to do to you from the moment he spotted your panties weighing the bed down this morning.

“Turn around baby.” Ukai unbuckles his belt, and you turn away from him, tucking your legs to sit upright. He gathers your long h/c hair from where it was settled around your face and meticulously braids it to lay flat on your back, attaching the green scrunchy from his wrist to the bottom. 

Just like a calling card, Keishin always had a scrunchy of yours around his wrist. Whenever you are hunched over the kitchen table in the middle of writing a paper, he pulls your hair behind you and fastens it into a bun, careful to keep it loose so as to not invite a headache, and kisses the crown of your head. Regardless of where you are: shopping, date night, visiting him at practice, if he notices your hair becoming annoying he will slip it from your neck and twist it into the green scrunchy.

And when you are about to be punished, Ukai pulls your hair into a neat, low braid.

You feel him run his hands from your shoulders to your wrists, pulling them gently behind your back. He presses your palms together and gives them a squeeze so you know to keep them together. Ukai pulls off his shirt, and  frees his undone belt from his jeans, folding it in half and running the cool leather up your thigh. He swats softly at your skin, just enough to make you flinch. 

Ukai tosses the belt to the ground, deciding he would rather you feel the sting of his palm, and sits down next to you on the bed. You face him with your hands still laced together behind you and let him position you to lay across his lap. The side of your face and your shoulders lay flush against the bed and your ass is raised up above his jean-clad thighs. 

“You know the rules, right my love?”

“Yes, Daddy. If I lose count you have to start over.”

“There’s my smart girl. You look so beautiful like this.” He lands a smack on your right cheek, actions greatly contrasting his soft, almost taunting tone. “It’s such a shame you’ve been acting like such a whore.” 

He delivers slap after slap on your bruising ass and you count every one out to him, briefly considering what would happen if you stopped counting, but you know that your punishment is already going to be harsh enough. You’re a masochist, yes, but not an idiot. 

“Why do you always seem to be on your best behavior when I have you over my knee, darling?” Ukai connects his palm with your tender flesh again. “How many was that baby?” 

“Fifteen, Daddy.” You speak in an even tone, if your boyfriend catches on to how much more you like this than he already knows, you’re, quite literally, fucked. 

“You really know how to play me, baby. I’m always wrapped around your little finger.” He starts to knead your ass cheek with his large hand, skimming the tips of his digits against your wanton cunt. He’s testing you, wanting to see if you’ll start squirming or unclasp your hands from their position behind your back, but you hold steady.

“You leave me naughty little surprises. I had you on my mind all day, thinking about this naked little pussy walking around campus. One tiny slip and you would have shown everyone what’s mine.” Another sharp swat to your butt reverberates through the room and you can barely mumble out your counted response. 

“But that’s what you wanted isn’t it? You wanted everyone to see this slutty pussy of yours didn’t you?” Whether that was the truth or not doesn't actually matter, you know not to make an excuse. You are just meant to count and thank. 

“You need to stop squirming, princess, or you’re going to royally piss me off.” Ukai continues his relentless pace, two thick fingers pistoning deep in your dripping pussy. This was one of Ukai’s favorite games, finger-fucking you to the point of the bed under you slamming into the wall. Your job was to keep completely still. One arch of your back or escaped moan and he would land a sharp slap to your puffy, untended clit. 

He’s actually being quite generous despite the circumstances. Usually, you would be propped on your hands and knees, but Ukai has laid you flat on your back with one leg tossed over his broad shoulder. The position, while easier to keep your body still, does mean that Ukai’s piercing, hungry gaze has you pinned like prey under him. The completely pornografic sounds of his fingers are making your head spin. The fact that he’s been hammering his fingers relentlessly into your g-spot for an hour, is starting to make your mind foggy, all thoughts are starting to slip from your brain and your boyfriend can tell.

“God, baby, I love making you absolutely stupid for me. I bet all you can think about is my cock filling this little cunt up, huh?” His words are sneering, taunting. Your response is a babbled agreement and plea for his cock, and the sight of you so completely fucked out makes the bulge in his jeans strain even further. The feeling of his fingers in your squelching pussy is dulling all other senses, so when he pulls the digits away, you can’t help the cry that rips from the back of your throat. 

“Don’t worry, precious girl, I’m going to give you what you want. What you’re fucking desperate for.” Ukai pushes himself from the bed and removes his jeans and boxers, and you watch as his thick cock springs free to slap against his abdomen. The sound makes you mewl, your cunt clenching in anticipation. 

As Ukai crawls back onto your shared bed, his head dips down in between your legs. He licks, flat and languid across your slit, collecting your arousal on his tongue with a feral groan.

“Please, Daddy. Please fuck me. I- I need you. Wa- want to be your good girl.” You find your words as best as you can to beg for him, the sweet cadence of your voice and the way your weak arms reach out for his messy bleached hair signals to him that you’ve fallen completely into a foggy, submissive haze. You tug lightly at the tresses and the impressive self-control he has kept up thus far snaps like plywood under a heavy boot. 

Ukai takes one more deep, hungry lick at your soaking pussy and sits up, pushing your legs further apart, digging his nails into the soft skin under your knees. 

“Open your mouth, Princess.” You are quick to comply with his request, sticking your tongue out and looking up at him through your lashes. You hear the sound of him spitting, his saliva and your arousal coats the thickest plane of your tongue, but connecting one thought to the next becomes impossible as Ukai pushes his thick cock into you at the same time.

“Jesus Christ, no matter how much time I take to get you ready you’re still so tight. God, you make it really hard to stay mad at you.” His hands keep your legs pressed up to your chest, pushing his thick cock into you at an agonizingly lazy pace. Ukai was right, it didn’t matter that he had finger-fucked you into the mattress for an hour, taking him was a tight fit every time. As he buries himself in you, the intoxicating burn of being so full takes all of the air out of your chest. His thick cock stretches you so far, you swear he can feel your own heartbeat within the walls of your tiny cunt. He’s barely halfway into you and you can’t help but constrict, the tinny flavor of your orgasm crawling up from your spine to your mouth. 

“There’s no way I’m letting you cum already.” Ukai snickered sadistically, thumb brushing across your tattoo, the dirty secret you shared, right over where you need his fingers most. He wasn’t going to touch your deprived clit yet, and hoping for him to do so was a waste of energy. 

“I’m sorry Daddy. I promise, I’ll be good.” Your tears are rolling down the side of your face, wetting the sheet next to you. 

“You’re a pathetic mess and I’m not even all the way in you yet. I would save the tears if I were you, babydoll.” You try to compose yourself, but Ukai’s words of dismissive degradation give your whimpers more body, sobbing and babbling as his cock bottoms out. 

You can feel every inch of him, hard and thick and so so full inside of you. Ukai pulls out of you completely, his soaking tip rubbing on your labia before slamming back in to the hilt. His pace becomes brutal with every thrust, original slow pace completely unknown to you now. There’s no way you're going to be able to stand properly after this. 

“Daddy, please. Please let me cum. Need to cum, Daddy. Need to be your good girl.” A series of calls for your daddy and prayerful begs are the only things you know at this point, drool and tears covering your face.

“You know what, Princess? I bet I could make you cum with just one touch to that little clit.” Ukai takes one hand off of your thigh and hovers over where you have needed him since you woke up this morning. “If I’m right, I’ll make you cum again. If I’m wrong, you’re not gonna cum at all.”

You can feel the warmth of his finger looming over the neglected bud, the anticipation is overwhelming and cruel, but all worth it as soon as he pushes the rough pad of his thumb down. Ukai presses a single, taught circle into your clit and the coil wound tightly in your stomach snaps with incredible force. You know there is a scream that rips from your dry mouth, but you can’t hear it with the blood rushing through your ears. Ukai works you through your first orgasm, stilling his thrusts as until you come floating back down.

“I know this slutty little cunt better than the back of my hand. Now, my precious little thing,” You watch as Ukai hooks your limp legs over his shoulders, lining his throbbing cock back to your slopping entrance. “Let’s do that a couple more times.”

“Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can’t help, falling in love with you.”

You feel your senses coming back to you slowly, with every delicate touch Keishin glides over your skin. He pulls you back to reality with sweet touches and the deep, gravely sound of his voice. After several meticulous moments and even more words of praise, Kei delivers a delicate kiss to your forehead and carries you to the shower. You take a deep, relaxed sigh as he massages your aching muscles under the hot water. After drying your exhausted body with a fluffy towel, Keishin helps you into a comfy pair of leggings and one of his sweatshirts. 

“Take my hand. Take my whole heart too.” Your boyfriend’s broad arms wrap around your waist, hands finding purchase under the orange sweatshirt currently drowning your form, and you melt into his chest. “Because I can’t help, falling in love with you.” You turn around in his arms to steal a kiss, but as your lips attach to his a small laugh bubbles up from your stomach. 

“What are you giggling at?” Keishin eyes you curiously, and you start laughing even harder.

“Oh nothing, I was just thinking about the bloody nose you gave me when we first met.” You cackle at the memory and feel Keishin take an exasperated but amused sigh, joining your laughter with his own.

“First of all, Princess, you ran into me.”

all writing is dymphnasprose’s original content, please do not repost or modify. do no read my content as asmr.©️

[createandconstruct]

can i ask about amarant coral? the monk in red himself~

Can you ask about Amarant Coral? *cracks fingers* Oh I insist that you do. Welcome to my Amarant Appreciation Post:

favorite thing about them: First off best thing about Amarant? His theme. The percussion and the guitar. It’s great and it captures him so well. People out here like “take Amarant out of the game he adds nothing.” EXCUSE ME? You remove the Amarant you remove the Amarant Theme my friend and that is something I do NOT vibe with. 

least favorite thing about them: I wanna know more about him. Now Amarant doesn’t need a backstory or history in the game. In a sense, he already has one that connects him to Zidane and explains his motives and actions and eventual arc. But my issue is, Square never gave him anything else. If you look at Ultimania there’s additional lore about other characters, like Steiner for instance. You learn Steiner was a war orphan who was saved by the Pluto Knights - explaining his devotion to them. Amarant though? Square was like “uh... yeah he was born....? And then he uh got famous...? Idk then he met Zidane. You figure it out.” Square. I hate you. 18 years from his birth until he became “well known”. WHAT WAS HE DOING. WHY’D HE BECOME A SECURITY GUARD. WHAT WAS ON HIS RESUME. TELL MEEEE. Like, okay, what the actual in-game canon gives us on Amarant is sort of enough. He’s a purposely written mysterious “cool-guy” character so we’re given scraps to make him unknown but come on. In the published after-game canon, like Ultimania, we could have been given a bit more. He says he doesn’t remember anything about his origins or parents, but why. Was he another victim of Gaia’s wars? Probably. Was he born on a battlefield? Fighting for his life, living without comrades, taking scraps whenever he could? Was he betrayed when he was young? Is he a supposed to be a version of Zidane had he not been adopted into Tantalus by Baku??? These are questions I deserve answers to, Square.

favorite line: “’I can't just walk away. It goes against my nature...’ You're a real simpleton. Forget it, guys. There's no stopping this fool." I love this. Amarant figures Zidane out pretty quickly after Ipsen’s Castle. Zidane is hardheaded and also an actor. He acts cool and pretends his reasons for doing things are loose but when he’s decided something it’s always for a reason. You don’t need a reason to help people, but Zidane has his reasons for helping Kuja and while Amarant doesn’t give two shits what they are he knows Zidane won’t be stopped because, despite everything, Zidane saved a loser like him. Also this line “Tell me! Why didn't you kill me!?" Because I quote it all the time and it makes myself laugh. Amarant is such a drama queen and Zidane knows it. Zidane’s like “dude... what is your damage, it’s 5 pm on Tuesday in Madain Sari. I ain’t getting blood on my gloves cause you’re having a temper tantrum.” And then Amarant runs away to have an existential crisis. He’s 26 but compared to Zidane, he’s the real teenager with angst.  

brOTP: I could talk about Zidane or Freya with Amarant but instead I’m gonna say the underrated dynamic of Amarant and Eiko (and also Vivi).  Amarant with the kids is truly the greatest gift given by his presence in the game. Amarant has never known true suffering until he became a designated legal guardian of a group of minors. It also kills me how he’s the one to volunteer to carry Eiko and Vivi up the Iifa tree. He looks at Zidane and is like “you have seriously been the ‘adult’ of this group???”

OTP: Gotta say the Freya and Amarant dynamic. I really enjoyed their unlikely friendship in the game but then the content. The fan content. The Freya x Amarant fans out there, you win. Ya got me. You captured me and I am now imprisoned by their banter and begruntled allies to lovers story. Even if they’re not romantic I love them together and really wish the game gave us more of them. But even Lani and Amarant together are valid, though I prefer them as butting head bros. Not much content for my girl Lani out there either, she deserves more.

nOTP: Nothing I can think of. I tend to like platonic pairings for Amarant. The dude needs friends because he can barely define the word friendship.

random headcanon: Before Zidane returns at the end of the game Amarant wanders around a bit, unsure of what to do. He doesn’t feel any place with the others in Alexandria, Burmecia, or Lindblum. I imagine he goes off on his own for a bit like before but this time he’s not after Zidane or a fight. Instead he’s got no particular destination. Yet he somehow always finds himself running into people just like him - or the old him - friendless lonely people who are looking for a fight. He doesn’t go out his way to find these folks he simply runs into them and decides he might as well knock some sense into them. He does however make it his business to go after any murmur of people hatching any ideas of going after the far off little village on the Lost Continent. The home of the genomes and black mages. They were so helpless, so weak that anyone who’d want to mess with them is pathetic in Amarant’s book. Until Zidane returns, no one has the chance to even look at the Black Mage Village the wrong way because in the shadows Amarant lurks, making damn well sure of that.

unpopular opinion: I kinda love that he’s just there for most of the game? While I agree he gets the short end of the stick in the same way as Freya, not receiving additional individual character spotlight (which could have very well been supplied through discoverable lore in the world/npcs or through sidequests) I never considered his “standing off to the side” as a detriment to his character. 

Many would probably agree that Amarant always felt like a bit of a parody of the loner character, or at least the stereotype of the loner character. Amarant is so easily paralleled with Squall and Cloud’s surface-level attitudes because his dialogue always felt like something to poke fun at. As the player we’re supposed to align with Zidane’s way of thinking and how he views Amarant. When Amarant loses to Zidane and pretty much grits his teeth and goes “KILL ME,” along with Zidane we’re supposed to kinda raise our brow at him and go “...really, dude?”

 Amarant’s a character introduced as an antagonist who has more in common with the power hungry villains of the game. Like many of the characters in FFIX, Amarant is in search of purpose in life, which he has never found, because he was always looking in the wrong places - in places of violence and power. Very toxic-masculinity of him. Amarant is “cool” on an aesthetic level but in reality he’s the polar opposite of cool in terms of what FFIX states about the need for others to be intertwined in your experiences so that you can live a full life. 

I sort of love that he’s like a grumpy pitball following a 16 year old and his friends around. Then he sits in the corner when they all meet up and discuss current events acting like he doesn’t care (not to mention he casually walks as everyone is running as fast as they can to escape Terra - made me laugh cry on my first playthrough) He is “just there” but that’s because he has no where else to be, no where else to go, he’s a man without a home. And until Zidane offers his hand, at the point where Amarant is most willing to take it at Ipsen’s Castle, he’s not truly a party member. He IS an outsider for almost the entire game but at Ipsen Castle he joins the party, becomes a comrade, and decides he’ll allow himself to change paths and start a life where he has friends and lives, as well as fights for them. Which is why after that moment, Amarant finally has a victory pose.

song i associate with them: I was scratching my head for so long trying to think of a song or track that had Amarant vibes until it hit me. Outskirt Stand by Tsukasa Tawada (from Pokemon Colosseum). Amarant is so chill, he’s not a bombastic guy, so he needs a theme that drops me in the rocky open desert of the Lost Continent like I’m just lumbering around looking for a monkey-tailed menace. Some other Amarant tunes:  Pyrite Town, The Under, Snagem Hideout tracks from Pokemon Colosseum. This post is just an elaborate call to action for everyone to listen to the Pokemon Colosseum soundtrack. Tsukasa Tawada is so great and he has a YouTube. Check him out.

favorite picture of them:

Yoshitaka Amano’s Salamander Coral. I love him. He had too much power. 

Also everything drawn by @crispy-ghee. Everything. I will think of this Comic forever until I die. Tattoo it on my flesh. The banter, the dynamics, the post-game content, the Zidane prince-consort outfit, the new Amarant outfit, the stuck-in-the-same-place relationship him and Freya have. Perfect. Go read it and consume Crisipy’s stuff. And also check them and their current art out, they just consistently get better and better. Here’s a first panel preview of my fav comic. Read it.

 @hannahlady​‘s Amarant art and their Freya/Amarant art is just ugh. *Chef’s Kiss* Here is another preview because you should go look at it.

Here’s a piece that deserves so much more love by @snackage. I LOVE how they drew Amarant. Here’s a little preview. It’s SO GOOD

Anyway TL;DR: Amarant is love and life and you’ll have to pull him from my little gremlin hands.

[riisinaakka-draws]

Part 4 of my old Black Sails scraps and doodles from 2016–2021. Not in any particular order.

And of course, please do not steal and repost elsewhere. But if you do get inspired, feel free to make your own interpretations! :D

This post contains chicken on Walrus doodles, lots of touching faces, mustache shenanigans and grooming, inktober plans, surprisingly many parental moments (?) etc.

Under the cut, because this is another very long post!

Old plans for the “chickens on the Walrus” serie (2016) inspired by [THIS]  @balloonstand​​’s post (s4 ideas) where The Walrus crew aquires lots of chickens and here are some scenes I imagined could further happen, lol.

The fluffy chicken and those rubber ones were a hot thing at the time, so I tried to incorporate them somehow xD Also I think only one person “got” my joke of “c*ck between his legs” but I guess it was also because I didn’t really draw a proper rooster... Here the chicken have occupied the cabin and are looking at maps:

Max trying to console Anne while Jack looks, snuggled in a hammock. This was right after the episode 7 of season 4 and I had no idea how things would go - but I wanted them to make amends :) I like this sketch more because the end result (2017) became quite murky and blurry :/ (I think my screen wasn’t calibrated properly, lol)

I drew this in 2016 and I remember how paranoid I was after the series ended (in 2017) because I was so afraid that some anti-silver people would be mad if they stumbled on this and didn’t read the caption properly and somehow took this like I was trying to replace Thomas (yeah I know I was overthinking things wayyy too much but things were quite heated after the finale).

But anyway, the sad hidden truth is that the ref for this was the moment when Flint is grieving Mr Gates in s1 and holding his body... and I drew this because I was just wishing there would be at least a hug in season 4 (because who else would be there to hug Flint now that Miranda was gone too? Well now we know!). Still wish there had been also a silverflint hug...

Now moving on!

“That’s my wee lad, Gimli.” (2017) This is one of the early drafts for Woodes Rogers and captain Berringer. Idk why, but I laughed when he was looking at that locket in the show and it reminded me of the Hobbit movie scene with Legolas and Glóin... Woodes regrets asking about the locket, lol. This was around the same time as the MaxAnneJack+hammock, because the lantern is very similar here. And I was drawing these right after the episodes.

Next, the grooming shop at the Nassau’s market (2019):

as you can see, the original sketch was mirrored. Another one, thinking about the values and adding Anne:

There were other versions too. One where Flint is twirling Thomas’ (?) new mustache and one where Flint is playing with Silver’s hair/mustache while they are in bed, one with Jack and his mustache and one where the Brothel Blackbeard, Silver (still clean faced bb) and Max have fun after the orgy with fake mustaches made of their long dark curly hair and Jack stumbles on them (shocked, when he wasn’t asked to join) - but the timelines were all over the place and one art was enough, lol. Although this idea grew into another piece with Flint, Thomas and Silver but I have not finished it yet.

This is original plan I had for the Abigail and Miranda piece (2018):

The ref was from the show but for some reason I ended up changing quite a lot. Although I like the colours and the ship in this one a bit more than the final result.

I just realised that this post has a lot of touching people’s faces! xD

As does this one too, lol. (finally posted the finished art in 2021)

The original working title was “PinkyChair” because the idea was that Flint was tied to the chair and Silver was teasing him, but Flint still managed to touch with his pinky, lol.

The parallels, lol ~ This is just a sketch with no further development. It had something to do with the funny pose when 1) Flint is fighting Teach on the beach and falls on his back, leg kicked straight up 2) and what if Silver used his peg leg as an extra blade when he and Flint were training.

Next, some plans for inktober 2017. I was planning to draw Anne and was trying to figure out which prompt would fit. I brainstormed almost all the prompts so I wouldn’t have to spend time thinking about them daily during the month, but never really got into it after all.

Some ideas I did use later, tho, like the De Groot and “SCREECH”:

Same batch, prompt “TRAIL” (Dooley and Flint carrying the treasure chest and Silver, Israel and company going after them). 

The next sketch is quite old (and never continued) and had something to do with the interview where Toby talked about eating his kids candies secretly or something? and how hard he found lying to his mom about things? I don’t quite remember anymore. But of course here’s a combination of Captain Flint and his mom, the dowager from Downton Abbey, heh.

Thank you for checking this out and I hope you had fun! <3

[cherrywoes]

inferno.

𝘼𝘾𝙏 𝙊𝙉𝙀:

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗢𝗡𝗘. 𝘈𝘚𝘊𝘐𝘈𝘕.

— a person who has no shadow.

HELL IS THE personification of human sin. Despite the various myths and unknown facts that humans exchange between each other, each faction with different or slightly changed beliefs, the truth was this: hell has no ruler, nor was it ever meant to be something to rule over. A creation of God, it was meant to punish those who followed Lucifer in his rebellion and keep the Morningstar himself imprisoned before the return of Jesus upon the Earth. Until then, the souls of mortals would linger in limbo, never in peace, but waiting for a judgement that was uncertain.

The Nameless One had no issue with leaving Lucifer to his punishment—it was his punishment, after all, one he had no part in. At least, not by any stone cold allegiance to an angel who was no less interesting than any other who had fallen into the layers of Hell for the side they had chosen. He had spent long enough in the freezing bowels of Cocytus, reliving memory after memory, pushing past feelings of envy, guilt, sadness, all of it manufactured to torture him until the next coming of Christ, where he would be released and smote down as quickly as he had been freed from his prison. He refused to sit and wallow in wrath and insufferable pride, like the once great Lucifer, and he grew weary of this repetitive cycle—the same punishments, the same hellish overseers who chained him to slabs of frigid marble and allowed frozen creatures of ice and snow to peck at his inhuman flesh until there was nothing left of him. He would renew himself, and he would be on to the next, a permanent, never ending cycle that he was determined to be rid of even if it cost him his life.

Whispers from demons who made contracts with humans reached his ears, like it did with every other ancient being locked in Cocytus. They paid them no mind, but the Nameless One listened, and listened closely, reaching for any scrap of information that might let him escape and earn his freedom once more. The demons, posing as their overseers in phases, would make deals with humans for anything—wealth, extended life, healing, wisdom—in exchange for their immortal souls. It was easy enough for them to sign them over willingly, for no demon had the power to rend souls from mortal coils as the long vanished Archangel, Azrael, did. The humans got what they wanted for a century or so and when it was time for them to pay, the demons would scoop up their souls as payment before they ever reached Edom, the Realm Between.

Over thousands of years, humanity changed. The Nameless One was not surprised when they quickly surpassed the need for making contracts with his admittedly disgusting overseers; many of them worshipped his Creator in one century and disregarded Him the next, fluctuating in rapid and interesting cycles of belief and disbelief and even going as far as to kill in His name—a sin that would earn them quite the nice place in Cocytus, if it was awful enough. The most recent event discovered a splitting, a chasm between belief and disbelief or outright hereticism.

By then, the Nameless One had grown tired of listening, tired of the aches and pains in his bones and flesh, tired of the endless amount of scars that formed on his body from divine weapons used against him. He did not recognize the immortal body given to him by God any longer. It was wrought with damage, with darkness that seeped into him over thousands of centuries of torture and anguish and pain, creating a place right alongside his angelic soul that threatened to snuff out the light of his divinity any time he wavered. The entirety of Cocytus was dyed gold from the blood of the angels who had fallen, creating a mimicry of a golden city draped with chains and occupied by demons far older than he was.

“An angel made his way out of the gate,” one of the demons overseeing his punishment told another, brandishing a cat o’ nine tails against the hard ice wall to test its strength. The knots and metal shards ripped away chunks and left ragged scratches in its wake, each individual tumbling past the Nameless One’s eyesight. “Left his angelic soul behind and climbed right out into the human world. Once he was gone, the Hounds couldn’t find him over the stench of humanity.”

“The man on high isn’t doing anything?”

The demon swung the cat o’ nine tails down across the angel’s shoulders and shoulder blades harshly. It cracked against skin and cartilage, ripping away flesh and muscle and sending blood scattering across the already gold stained walls. The Nameless One was numb to it, far too used to the pain to manage a scream, and felt another lash against the back of his legs, severing the ligament in his knee keeping him upright. He sunk to the ground and earned another lash to his head, chunks of hair and flesh leaving with every scrape of the knots and metal.

“No, ever since his incarnation died and returned he’s been absent from human life.” The demon shrugged. “No one knows why. Orders haven’t changed, though, so we’re going to be here until the second coming.”

Demons talked like humans, oddly enough, after spending enough time in the mortal world. It had started after the rise in worshippers of Lucifer—which the Nameless One found the tiniest bit funny—and they had picked up slang and little fragments of human made language since then, to the point where the Nameless One had picked it up as well and understood when they spoke with contractions and odd metaphors like ‘a cat has nine lives’. A cat did not have nine lives, but he figured the sentiment was more widely used by mortals rather than demons.

But he had his way out now—all that was left to do was separate his angelic soul from… whatever the darkness was that clung to it like a lifeline. He wasn’t sure what it was—it did not feel like anything he had ever felt before in his thousands of years being alive. Not even Lucifer felt as he did, as if there was a second entity slumbering away inside him waiting to reach up and strangle his immortal soul down into the abyss it had come from. He had no name for it, no clue as to when it had begun to fester, to rise like an insidious boil that refused to go away; but it remained, and grew every day, faster, until it was the size of his soul and growing, turning the color of oil against water.

Pain became an annoyance as the angel worked tirelessly to undo every miniscule stitch that kept his angelic soul tied to the darkness within him. The punishments, once agonizing and overpowering each time he went through them, were nothing more than nuisances. Even Lucifer, whispering to him when they changed punishments, was an irritant he couldn’t get rid of, lingering in his head even when he was gone and distracting him from his freedom.

Stories reached him of others escaping in the same way he wished to: their souls lingering behind as their physical body rose to the mortal world and climbed through the portal, never to be seen again. The silvery silhouettes of their angelic souls were immune to torture, to time, to pain; there was nothing the demons could do to them unless they had their physical bodies to bind them.

Lucifer spoke to him, before he’d tore his angelic soul from his body, while the demons were busy chasing down another angel before he could escape to the portal. “You are perhaps the only one of the original legion who still remains with me. I thank you for that, Nameless One.”

“Don’t thank me just yet.” The angel lifted his limp wing from the ground, tattered and ruined past flight; stray feathers drifted to the ground, each one darker than the last, until the final one was as black as pitch. “You might despise me one day.”

“I don’t see how that will be possible.” Lucifer sounded amused; tired, but amused. Hell got to him slowly but surely, and in pieces—where the Nameless One remained indifferent to his punishments, Lucifer allowed them to get to him, made him doubt, made him wonder. He was no longer as brilliant or commanding as he used to be; he was weak, cowed, sufficiently imprisoned in Hell. He would never escape, not as long as he thought he deserved the punishment for what he had done. “You may be my only friend left here.”

The demons returned before the Nameless One could admit to what he was about to do. It was for the best, perhaps; because when he finally tore his soul from his body, he felt the darkness stir. The demons were ready for him, as if they had known what he was about to do.

“Don’t let him escape!” One shouted, a shadowy figure dwarfed by the others who were bigger, physical, and dangerous. They were blurs as he shoved past them and clambered over them one by one, desperate to reach the golden glowing light of the portal just behind them. “If he escapes, we’re all doomed!”

The Nameless One didn’t know about that. He fought his way through the crowd, until all that was left was a slowly healing group of demons, keening in high pitched voices as their heads slowly found their way back to their severed necks. Demon blood, black and viscous, like tar, dripped off of his body and smelled harshly of brimstone, but he couldn't bring himself to care as he once would.

In a moment of weakness, or concern, that was as brief as a brush of wind, he turned to look back at the depths of Cocytus once more. There, standing chained to a frozen throne he would never own, stood Lucifer, anger and fury burning in his eyes where there once held friendliness, affection. His entire person radiated betrayal, his wings high and bristled, but the Nameless One didn’t care like he thought he would have when he imagined betraying the great Morningstar.

No, no—he felt a sense of relief, instead.

Casting a quick glance to the demons at his feet, the angel turned and walked into the portal without a second thought, fresh, clean air entering his lungs the same time a dark, evil voice spoke within his mind, a thousand voices merged into one, stopping him dead in his tracks in a field of blush red poppies, baby’s breath, and calla lilies.

Freedom… At last.

prologue | masterlist | two

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[shadlad24]

More Funny Little Moments #1: Season 1, Episodes 1-12

So, I decided to do this post after all. Halp. LOL Because I apparently LOVE giving myself a bunch of unnecessary work, I decided to choose two to three extra moments, per episode! SUPER halp! X’D Anyway, these are moments that didn’t make the cut for my FFLM series because: my sense of humor is a little weird, they were gonna be too much work (LOL/Siiigh), I like to highlight patterns, and I don’t like a lot of repetition. [Links to each FFLM along the bottom of the post. :)]

Let’s start with something I originally agreed with other fans on but have since changed my mind. A lot of people didn’t like this part of “Chariots of War” because it seems so ludicrous that Xena would forget her chakram anywhere. Well, let me tell you! This lady has left her weapons behind most episodes thus far. I didn’t note it every time here (and especially didn’t bother with her whip) because that’d really overrun the post buuuuut… You’ll see. XD

1.01 Sins of the Past

Xena’s shift being so much dirtier than the little boy’s clothes though she’s high up off the ground, and he lives in smoked-out rubble.

Yup. Xena forgot her sword (and later, her main saddlebag) at her mother’s tavern. Pft.

Sorry these were kinda lame, but I didn’t want to re-use any more of the original fifteen points I made about this episode... Ah well. Moving on! (heh)

1.02 Chariots of War

Xena loses her sword after the chariot crash, taking up and discarding Sphaerus’s but walking off without her own. (See her front and back and both of Argo’s sides.)

Gabrielle chewing Xena out, Xena being bummed about it, and Argo being surprised. X’D

1.03 Dreamworker

This got me good. Gabrielle does Xena’s war cry so well here that I really thought it was Xena for a few seconds. Realizing it was GabbyWabs only made me chuckle more because she apparently can’t do it when it really counts in “The Greater Good.”

Argo NOT being on Team Gabrielle. XD (Their feud is a little funny to me.)

1.04 Cradle of Hope

Xena tossing aside her sword after killing Nemos. Extras even dance and celebrate right on top of it! Wut thuh?

I decided to avoid mentioning Hope in the FFLM because Xena’s quote here is more ironic than comedic, and Gabrielle’s little face is just so sad, but I didn’t want to let it pass by entirely unremarked upon. At least GW gets to show off her oracle skills again? :’)

1.05 The Path Not Taken

So, Xena and Gabrielle walk into a bar… Heh. No, but really, they enter this tavern for the first time ever, yet the bartender not only knows what they want, he knows that they’re coming and has their drinks waiting for them too. All Xena has to do is knock on the counter and nod to get her fire-breath alcohol/oil, and Gabrielle barely has the word “cider” out of her mouth before the guy hands it to her. Xena, like me, is duly amazed.

Lucy, through Xena, making another timely anti-peanut statement. I just didn’t want to do the same thing twice back-to-back in the FFLM. X)

1.06 The Reckoning

Gabrielle thinking along the same lines Xena and I did about this poor excuse for a judge.

Me not being well-versed in ancient Greek heroes and picturing the fool who Draco killed so handily in the first episode. heh

1.07 The Titans

I’ll let Xena explain this one. …Mostly. I can’t believe Gabrielle not only sassed the Titans such that she unashamedly put Xena and Phyleus in danger too, but also kinda got this (admittedly awful) town demolished and didn’t lift a finger to actually help anyone in the temple. Tsk tsk. XP

So… Hyperion here can smash homes and businesses that were probably well-built and reinforced and all, but he can’t get his hand out of a stocks-cuff that was made in a single evening with scraps from those destroyed buildings. He also, inexplicably, has no use of his left hand or the power-breath that he used to knock Gabrielle over. Okie. XD

1.08 Prometheus

Is this really a thing? I was giggling quite a bit in disbelief that severed windpipes can heal. Like, perforated is one thing; completely bisected? Yeah, I don’t think so.

Gabrielle being incredulous upon learning that Xena has other friends, realizing what the warrior princess means, and then wondering if that could be her one day. 

   1.09 Death in Chains

Gabrielle enjoying watching Xena kill someone for the first time, then quickly realizing that fact. Whoops.

I found this moment really odd and then kind of hilarious. This poor dying old woman begs for water and goes ignored not only by the hospice workers, but also Talus and Gabrielle. Then Talus decides to be helpful. Gabrielle goes to the woman and lets her talk a lot (undoubtedly drying her mouth and throat even more), hears that Xena might be in danger, and then just… leaves. Talus goes with her, not having gotten water from the well after all. What a couple of jerks! XD

1.10 Hooves & Harlots

I really don’t know why Gabrielle kept making this face as Terreis died, but it tickled my funny bone too. So, I provided alternate subs to go with it. [Did you notice how she kind of cringes when Terreis tries to hold her hand and then just lets the Amazon flop once she’s died, flinging her hand aside like, “Ew, get it off me!”? What was that all about? X”) Hm… maybe she has an aversion to dying people, and that’s why she abandoned the old lady last episode?]

Gabrielle being a smart aleck, just like me, because Phantes’s complaint here is so ludicrous. But then you see the close-up of little hoofies in cuffs too, and, if you’re anything like me too, kinda just topple over laughing. The poor actual horse they did this to, though, man! What even?

Gosh, this episode was chockfull of hilarity, eh? Why did this happen? Gabby, take it away!

1.11 The Black Wolf

I laughed at this too. But now I wonder. Is Xerxes related to Caesar and/or connected to Rome or something? Because Xena does this twice around them too. In “When in Rome,” she jokes that the two guards lost playing tag with her, and in “A Good Day” she informs Pompey that if there were more guards hiding around their meeting space, then she would have had more helmets. heh Oh, Xenie. I think I know why Gabrielle’s turning out to be such a little punk ...or vice versa? Is Gabrielle actually a bit of a bad influence on Xena? XP

So, this fight just struck me as really odd. Xena passes her sword to Flora though she (Xena) needs to battle the big boss of the episode, and… actually, is totally right. The king throws a single wide-ass punch, waits while Xena kicks the guy behind her a few times, lets himself get kicked in the face a couple of times, and then comes at her with a little piece of chain, presumably from the restraints that were intended to keep Flora in place during her execution. Sir, you have a sword! A giant sword, right there on your hip! What are you doing? Then, when Xena kicks him a final time and sends him flying, his (supposed-to-be) metal armor is no match for the splintered wood of the axe she broke earlier. …Okie. XD XD XD   *gif below*

Xena once again leaves her chakram somewhere. …And I am now imagining this being part of Gabrielle’s maid duties: the poor kid has to go find Xena’s weapons each night and bring them back to her. I’m especially imaging the fluffball hilariously, adorably struggling to get the chakram out of things like this wall, as she did with Xena’s sword in the tree stump in “Dreamworker,” but more parallel to the floor. Cuuuute! XD

This plus this 

*pic + GIF below*:

1.12 Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

This scene too really made me wonder, though amused as well. Why is Gabrielle so surprised that the only city nearby, that they were headed to, is the one they find? Is she really being that loud? Is Xena goofing around with the bootlaces question? Why startle Gabrielle and then yank her into enemy territory screaming, when what you want is quiet? What’s with the trapdoor-spider soldiers? Xena’s pose throwing the chakram. XD Gabrielle mostly featherlight dance-y moves through the battlefield. XD XD XD Why is it that when Xena tells Gabrielle to stick right behind her, Gabrielle disappears? And what was with the bucket-sitting soldier? Gabrielle is like, “Oh; no, thank you!” when she sees him and turns tail. Then Xena ...follows her. “We’re goin’ this way! Now we’re goin’ that way!” But they still end up dead-ahead from where they burst out of the bushes. XD That was ridiculous and nonsensical, and I’m very confused but had lots of fun. heheheh  *gif below* [ETA: Darn! The original file was too big, so I had to remake the GIF and cut quite a few things out. :( Sorry]

Xena’s outta-nowhere crusade to emasculate Deiphobus coming full-circle. What was that all about?

Welp, I hope you had as much fun as I originally and then later did. Not so much in the middle with the collage-and-GIF-making and editing and redoing, but; y’know. XD Wouldn’t trade it for …Hm… Nevermind. LOL

If you missed any of the FFLMs, then please click on the corresponding number-links below. :D

#1  #2  #3  #4  #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12

[akatsuki-shin]

Review: 天官赐福 Tiān Guān Cì Fú (Heaven Official's Blessing)

Notes:

(Very) long post ahead

Contains spoiler

This is my personal review and does not represent the entire audience, you are free to agree or not agree with what I’ve written here

Feel free to reply/send me a message if there are things you want to discuss

Summary:

The most beloved Crown Prince, pride of the Kingdom of Xianle with abundance of talents and achievements, Xie Lian, ascended to Heaven and became a martial god at the young age of 17 on the path to fulfill his dream "to save the common people".

Three years after his ascension, he saw his kingdom beginning to decline and in order to save his beloved country, Xie Lian defied the rules of Heaven and descended back to the mortal realm. Nevertheless, instead of saving them, his interference ended up accelerating the fall of Xianle, annihilating the once prosperous nation under the war of rebellion and a mysterious, horrifying plague.

The people who once praised and worshipped him day and night now condemned him, his devotees left him, they burnt his temples and divine statues, and Xie Lian himself was ultimately banished from the Heaven.

He ascended for the second time a short while later, but was banished once more very soon after. Since then, he lived among the mortals - surviving by collecting junks as he was now branded as the "God of Misfortune", the "Scrap Collecting Immortal".

800 years later, Xie Lian ascended again for the third time. Though having neither temples nor devotees, he accepted his responsibility as a martial god and carried on with his duties until one day, there came a certain, incidental encounter with a mysterious youth clad in red.

STORY: 7/10

TGCF overall is an (almost) complete, satisfying read with well-written twists and development.

Unlike the two previous MXTX's novels, the main pairing here (HuaLian) did not have to go through complicated misunderstandings and is a beautiful representation of love and devotion. Of course, this means there is a lack of conflict between them, but considering all the trials and tribulations the characters have gone through, this lack of conflict feels like a relieving fresh spring amidst the painful and exhausting journey throughout the entire five books.

The best and my most favorite plot twist is the Earth Master Ming Yi having been dead for a while, and the "Ming Yi" we know turns out to be the Black Water Submerging Boats, He Xuan. I'm the kind of person who always suspects characters, but even my furthest suspicion was "only" him being the Reverend of Empty Words, not He Xuan.

Truthfully, prior to reading this novel, I've seen Shi Qingxuan's "MING-XIONG, I'M SORRY x9999" post before without context, and I thought Ming Yi was going to die a tragic death because of Shi Qingxuan. Turns out it's kind of the opposite, huh? Nice one, really.

I also like how each character's "end" feels satisfying. Especially for the villains, they didn't necessarily have to die some tragic, vengeful death, but was provided with an ending that perfectly fits their background story and deeds. For example, in most stories, a character like Xuan Ji would be most likely be given some well-deserved punishment as her death, given everything she's done. But no, in the end she was given a reality check and was finally able to let go of her hundreds of years grudge. And then Qi Rong - I will talk more about him later on in the "Character" section.

One part I really love is the Extra Chapter about the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods. The chapter itself overall is mostly nonsensical and chaotic, but it was just so touching when HuaLian created a "Little Hua Cheng" statue to accompany Xie Lian's "Crown Prince who Pleased the Gods" statue, especially when this Little Hua Cheng statue gave Crown Prince Xie Lian statue a flower, and then Crown Prince Xie Lian received it, lifted him up and carried him in his arms. This one was maybe a bit biased because as much as I love the current HuaLian, I have a special soft spot for the young Xie Lian carrying, cradling the little Hua Cheng back then in the past. ;v;

Though, with all due respect, I must say that TGCF is actually below my expectation.

The biggest issue I have with TGCF is... What is Xie Lian's motivation? What drives him to move forward in the story? What is even the whole story's purpose?

I'm not quite sure how to word this properly, but let me give some examples.

When you read Harry Potter, you know immediately that Voldemort is the bad guy and he must be defeated.

When you read the Lord of the Rings, you know immediately that the One Ring must be destroyed to prevent Sauron from regaining his power.

Or, in MXTX previous works...

In SVSSS, it was clear since the beginning that Shen Yuan's mission is to fix the "Proud Immortal Demon Way" if he wants to survive.

In MDZS, it was clear that Wei Wuxian, together with Lan Wangji's, needs to unravel the mystery behind that fierce left arm. All of their past stories and WangXian getting together in the end are just something they discovered along the way, not the initial "motivation" that drives the character to move forward.

What about TGCF? The Xie Lian who ascended for the third time actually looks like he just wants to go along with the flow, carrying out his duties day by day with responsibility. When Bai Wuxiang later, later, later on appeared to haunt him again, it didn't seem like Xie Lian has any ambition to hunt him down or exact a revenge, just that he wanted to forget about Bai Wuxiang and never recall anything about him ever again. The main character looks like he's not being driven by anything, just...carrying on where the plot takes him? It's just missions after missions and whatever huge things happening in between is just something they accidentally passed by along the way.

At this point, the only purpose of the story I can think of is bringing Hua Cheng and Xie Lian together. The romance is great, I have no complain. But if it's just that, no need to jammed-pack 250+ chapters just to make two people getting together?

Speaking of which, I also think that the way new characters keep being introduced all the way to almost the final showdown of the story feels info dump-ish, because the background story needs to be dropped there along with the characters, but then most of these characters fade away immediately after.

For example, the previous Civil God before Ling Wen, who looks like he’s going to pose some real trouble, but then was easily defeated and was never mentioned again afterwards. And this is especially true for He Xuan; after such a huge arc where he committed such extreme things, after that he was barely mentioned again, even having his “strong impression” leveled down by the joke about him being the poorest Calamity and owing lots of debts to Hua Cheng.

Basically what makes TGCF a long story is because there are too many stories about the side characters in addition to the main characters that are dumped out of the blue instead of slowly being revealed along the way.

Though, I love how the story gradually unravels the "Four Famous Tales" because initially, I thought it wasn't something crucial, and I wished they could've done this for other characters, too.

There is a little bit of plot holes here and there, as in who actually cut open Jian Lan/Lan Chang's baby and made it a ghost, and for what? Even if it turned out that she just met a bad guy or nobody important, at least provide an explanation in one paragraph? Especially because important side characters like Feng Xin and Mu Qing are involved here, so I'm pretty sure us readers need some explanation.

And more importantly, how can Jun Wu become the Emperor martial god? There's no mention about him ascending, only that he annihilated a dynasty of gods before sitting on the throne of the Great Martial Hall. But how can he, like, emitted god-like aura and not some evil aura? Is it because he used to be a god? But he's a ghost? Explanation where???

The gags and comedies are pretty fun, but honestly, the more I read, the more they ruin the atmosphere and suspense, added with the uncalled PDA between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian even during the most important moments. Honestly, I was bored the fuck out of my life from the moment they start fighting Jun Wu with those divine gundams, and only start gaining interest again much later on when Hua Cheng dissipated into butterflies.

Not saying the story's bad. Just... It's not up to my expectation... Characters being inserted here and there with a bunch of background story, gags and a show of PDA being flaunted during crucial moments. And when Mei Nianqing started telling the truth about the Kingdom of Wuyong, that's just plain info dump right there, seriously...

CHARACTERS: 7/10

Interesting characters, but only a few bore a lasting impression on me. Other than the main characters, which are Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, the only side characters (minus Bai Wuxiang as the main villain) who left quite some impression on me were probably just Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

Pei Ming is okay, at least he is still memorable until the end, and his character improved, too.

He Xuan, after having been introduced with such extreme, after his arc is over, was easily forgotten just like that.

Mei Nianqing, is borderline Deus Ex-Machina with a huge chunk of info dump that could solve everything, then he stopped being useful for the rest of the story.

Shi Qingxuan... Honestly, he's almost annoying, too noisy. I don’t hate him (and I kind of like him initially), but the way his character was being handled and presented post-Black Water arc feels disappointingly lazy and he was just there to make the party more merry.

Xie Lian himself, as the protagonist, how do I say this... This is maybe due to the translator's writing style (not MXTX’s fault), but whenever he screams in all capslock, it feels too extreme and borderline OOC? Of course, the original novel written in hanzi couldn't have included capslock.

What's great about him, though, is that despite all he'd gone through, he can still retain a pure heart and could not be swayed to be evil, just as he himself said "Body in the abyss, heart in paradise".

Now Hua Cheng, he is overall a super interesting character and I personally love this type of male characters. But he seriously is way too OP, almost like the original Luo Binghe (Bing-ge) a.k.a. too ideal, too perfect, no flaws, always capable of easily finding a way out in every single peril. I only forgive him for being like this because he dissipated into butterflies at the end of the battle with Jun Wu, making me think "oh, finally he's actually not invincible".

Still, his devotion to Xie Lian is very well written, very well presented, and his "I am forever your most devoted believer" is just downright the most powerful line in the whole story.

Now I promised to talk about Qi Rong, yeah? I haven't the slightest idea why it is even necessary to have Qi Rong as the Night-touring Green Lantern. I mean, yes he is there to make up the number of the Four Great Calamities, but that was for the characters who live in that world. As the novel's reader, I don't see any particularly important roles there for Qi Rong other than being an annoying meme fodder despite his actually pretty-cool first foreshadowing and appearance? Even his issue with Lang Qianqiu does not seem to give that much impact on the overall story, it could've just passed simply being explained in several pages.

Though I'd say he's got the best character development compared to others. Instead of dying as some hateful villain, the way he ended up deciding to protect Guzi at the cost of his own life can already be expected from miles away, but still bittersweet and touching nonetheless - how this crazed, mental person could still love when being presented with such pure, innocent feelings to the point that he acknowledged Guzi as a his own son.

By the way, E Ming and Ruoye are cute, I take no criticism.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS: 8/10

I can't really describe this with words, but MXTX's overall writing technique has greatly improved since MDZS.

It feels more "solid" to read instead of scattered here and there.

The info distribution has improved (fewer info dump compared to before), the story's no longer switching between past and present all of a sudden.

Description of characters and environment are sufficient, the plot is progressing steadily.

Several issues I have with this aspect though, the Prologue being ten pages is just way too long, I don't think I need that much information being stuffed right to my face right from the beginning.

There are excessive use of "Turns out..." every single time an explanation is going to come.

"Xie Lian didn't know whether he should cry or laugh" is honestly has been used probably more than 50 times just in the last two books. Although I'm reading a translation, I'm pretty sure the original Chinese version is being repetitive with this phrase, as well, because the translators couldn't just whip up any other phrase from thin air and put it in someone else's novel.

Almost half of scene transition is always caused by some sudden, external disturbance like "All of a sudden they heard someone's coming", "All of a sudden X visits their room", etc.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.3/10

Worth to read, satisfying overall. The main pairing's love story is just so well written and sweet. As long as you can withstand the violence and gore, though. 😂

TGCF highlights perhaps one of the ugliest natures of mankind: Being nice to someone as long as they're beneficial, and immediately throwing them away once the benefit was no more.

Once that person does not seem to be beneficial anymore, everyone would leave them instantly, even turning on them and start spitting on them without even trying to understand the reason why said person "stopped being beneficial".

Both as a Crown Prince and a martial god, Xie Lian and the Crown Prince of Wuyong were praised, revered, worshipped by the citizens of Xianle and Wuyong respectively. Because they were always helping, always fulfilling the people's wishes. But how easily it was for those very same people to turn on Xie Lian and the Crown Prince of Wuyong when they encountered misfortunes, completely turning a blind eye to the laborious effort both characters have been putting to save them from annihilation, even if it was visible in broad daylight.

It is also worth to note another trait of mankind that this story underlines: To always find a scapegoat or blame others for one's own misfortune and failure - be it another human being, another group of people, the government, even the gods - after having taking their generosity for granted.

Which is why I think the true villain of the story is not Bai Wuxiang, but those citizens of the ancient Wuyong who were now nothing more than resentful spirits eternally burning within the lava of Tonglu Mountain - a well deserved punishment after what they did to their Crown Prince.

[occasionallyish--archive]

i started writing a thing but i ended up scrapping it all because it doesn’t quite fit the vibes i’m going for- it kind of fits as a prologue for the new version lol, though i’m not gonna use it ‘cause then that’d make it too long.

but i’m too proud of my writing to just scrap it all! so i’m gonna post the original version here!

it’s tadashi yamaguchi (from haikyuu) x a goth neutral!reader. word count is 715, and i decided ion want to go thru and edit anything past what i’ve already done ,’:^)

--

last week, there’d been a rapid-fire rumor spreading about a new student coming to karasuno high. he didn’t quite know how it started, nor was he even often one to care, but suddenly tadashi found himself swept up in the same wonder that this rumor seemed to pose to many of his peers.

“...what do you think they’ll be like? the, uh, new student, i mean..” he asked, shuffling slightly from his spot beside tsukishima. just like they did any day, the two were walking to their first class, together. there was a little pause, before the giant blonde delivered a shrug. “i don’t really care what they’re like, if they aren’t a bother.” he responded honest-as-always, though of course more blunt than his freckled friend could ever care for. still, tadashi looked up to him. “why think about it?” said freckled friend gave a little sigh, eyes drifting to the floor below him. “i dunno... i guess i hope they’re nice...” his words were mumbled and, in actuality, tsukishima probably didn’t hear him. and so the two made it to class without another word.

after everybody was settled in and attendance was about to be called, there was an unusual little knock on the classroom door- it was quiet, but yamaguchi was sure he’d picked up on it. and to prove his thoughts, his teacher opened said door to have a hushed conversation with somebody the boy couldn’t quite see. but then the professor cleared his throat, standing at the front of the room where he could speak at his podium. “some of you may have heard that we’d be getting a new student, this week. well, they’re here now and they’re ready to meet you all- please treat them to a warm welcome.” he spoke with a smile, one that perfectly contrasted the embodiment of ‘doom and gloom’ that walked into the room and toward him. “why not introduce yourself, [l/n]?”

they moved to stand behind the teacher’s podium, and judging from their expression they didn’t seem to have any particular thoughts on such. they jutted their thumb up, awkwardly pointing to the middle of their own chest. “i’m [l/n] [y/n]. it is nice to meet you all.” there was a brief but heavy silence, during which tadashi watched [l/n] visually realize that this wasn’t really a place they liked. their neutral expression fell into more of a frown, and their [e/c] eyes darted away, apparently avoiding any eye contact. “i’m looking forward to the rest of the school year, with you.” but the words seem somewhat forced and, with a few more words exchanged with the teacher, the new kid went to go occupy a seat somewhere near the back of the room. aside from their awkward approach, yamaguchi looked at them and felt near intimidated. they wore thick, black lipstick and their eyes were made sharper with the use of eyeliner. and shortly before they passed his desk, he was sure he noticed that they were wearing a choker. before this, he had no idea karasuno’s dress code even allowed makeup- at least, not in such a bold fashion.

after that, class went on as usual- maybe with a little babying directed at the student least likely to have already been filled in. either way, tadashi didn’t give [l/n] much of a second thought, until it was time to pack up and head toward his second class for the day. he and tsukishima went to join up again, outside of the classroom. as yamaguchi stood near the door, waiting for his friend to finish packing up, he caught snippets of a conversation, “[l/n], this is kohana. you share most of your classes with her, so i figured that she could sort of act as a guide for your first week, here. how does that sound?” “sounds okay, yeah.” [l/n] mumbled, saying something that he didn’t quite hear. “oh, yeah, that works!” kohana was a popular girl- rightfully so, though, with just how friendly she was to anyone and everyone. “i’ve gotta talk with some friends real quick, and then i’ll meet right back up with you about 5 minutes before class starts, yeah?” “um, yeah, i’m good with that..” he heard the other mumble just before his best friend met his side.

--

the original plan was for [y/n] to end up highkey ditched, so they just kind of stand there all awkward fhdns. but then bby yams is all “i. i think i wanna go say hi-” tsukki’s just “you do you” and yams ends up talking to [y/n], even tho they highkey intimate him sometimes. but then he realizes that, “oh, wait a second, you’re a really cool friend” and they become cool sorta half-friends

then one day [y/n] was sposed to invite yams to lunch and he goes to tsukki all “so ion wanna ditch you but like-” tsukki doesn’t mind tho. he’s all “ah, yeah, i don’t mind. i’m not going to keep you from somebody you like.” which has yam’s head spiraling because just what kind of like was he referring to, but then he realizes he might be smitten for his super cool super awkward goth friend

[warriorsredux]

RE: Feedback for the Redux.

(I wanted to give you really in-depth feedback. Unfortunately, it ended up being way longer than I anticipated. I figured it would be easier to send this as a submission rather than breaking it up into a million smaller asks. I hope that’s all right!)

Note: I put this under a readmore to save space, but I have read it all and thoroughly agree with it. Thank you so much for the feedback, man!

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, I want to briefly talk about my personal relationship with Warriors - not because I want to talk about myself necessarily, but because I want to provide some relevant context. You see, I was first introduced to these books in 2004, about when I was nine years old. You could argue, in some ways, that these books defined a large part of my childhood, and were extremely influential into my teenage years and early adulthood. When I wasn’t fantasizing about colonies of talking feral cats, I was gleefully writing fanfics and roleplaying online. Those were my first tentative forays into writing, and would ultimately set me on the path to refine and hone those skills in the years to come. I was obsessed with the mythology and lore of this world, with the sprawling cast of characters, with the steady publication of new entries into the series.

Now, kids tend to not have the best critical thinking skills. Which is why it took until my late teenage years to realize that my cherished books were really, really not that great. The mythology and lore that I’d praised were starved of any creativity, steeped in the cliches of the fantasy genre, and prone to collapsing under their own weight when subjected to even the smallest amount of scrutiny. The characters that I adored? They were blighted with similar cliches, lacking in any sort of growth or development or depth; sustained only by archetypes and whatever retcons the authors thought would sell the most books, either through hype, drama, or fanservice. Exacerbating all of this was the publisher’s insistence on milking the franchise for whatever profit nostalgia could still yield. They weren’t writing more books because they had new, interesting ideas they wanted to explore - they did it because this series was (and still is) fucking lucrative. As I thought about these things more critically, and became more informed on social issues, it became impossible to unsee the uglier aspects of the franchise - the ableism, the queerbaiting and lack of representation, the depiction of minors and adults (Dustpelt and Ferncloud, Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf) having romantic or sexual relationships, the blind nationalism and eugenics/persecution of minorities (non-Clanborn cats) and characters of mixed descent (half-Clan cats). People far more informed and far more eloquent than myself have discussed those issues in-depth elsewhere, but suffice to say, I was understandably upset by these things. No amount of nostalgia could blind me to those flaws.

And yet, for some reason, I never really stopped loving Warriors. Or put more accurately - I never stopped loving the potential of Warriors. That was the thing that I kept coming back to. The wasted potential of a series depicting the lives of feral cats, and their brutal struggle to survive in the wilderness, all the while deeply immersed in their own complex societies and cultures. It became painfully clear to me that the thing I loved about Warriors was the sandbox nature of the franchise, and all the ways fans were able to explore that untapped potential. With that realization now achieved, Warriors slipped into the back of my mind, accruing cobwebs as the years passed. Occasionally those dormant thoughts stirred whenever I saw a piece of fanart on my dashboard, or I passed a new release while browsing the local Barnes & Noble. Sometimes I even entertained the fleeting thought of writing AU fics again. But by and large, Warriors had been retired from my thoughts.

And then, in 2017, I found the Redux.

While writing this segment I had several false starts, in no small part because I didn’t know what to talk about first. It was like someone had gone through my thoughts with a steel-toothed comb, and took every disappointment, every what if, and turned it into a reality. Holy shit, look at this blog! Look at the meta commentary! Look at all of the worldbuilding! I could clearly see just how much passion and attention to detail was put into developing the plot and the characters. How many hundreds of hours went into correcting the broken genetics of the canon characters. Suddenly, the Clans had culture - real, living, breathing culture! There was a pantheon of deities and demigods. A deliberate intention behind the naming tradition beyond slapping two words together because they sounded pretty or made for a trite pun. This. This was the story Warriors should have been. This lone blog managed to conceive an original lore for the Clans, while further developing the canon plots beyond their base elements. What three authors failed to do, one person achieved on their own.

You made forgettable characters interesting. And you made interesting characters unforgettable.

I lived for every scrap of content you created - the asks, the deconstructions, the amendment posts, the art, even the fucking shitposts (because they were just genuinely wholesome and funny). The Redux wasn’t just a source of entertainment, either - it introduced me to the idea of writing an AU that was sustained by meta-analysis, and grounded in critical reception of the series’ flaws (both technical and social). Your work eventually inspired me to create my own Redux-style worldbuilding/AU blog for a series that has similar issues to canon Warriors.

The Redux deserves all the praise it gets, and you should be extremely proud of what you’ve accomplished. Even if the Third Arc wasn’t finished or the Fourth started, it was still a helluva ride, one that I’m so glad I got to participate in.

But, of course, you asked for feedback, so I can’t spend the entirety of this post throwing roses at your feet. So, onto the constructive feedback.

I think a lot of my thoughts are going to echo what other people have previously said, but for me, the biggest setbacks in the Redux were the following:

[1] Pacing. This is going to sound weird, but this isn’t a criticism of the Redux’s length. Rather, it’s more about how that time was spent. While I really like how you adjusted aspects of the Redux’s plot in order to still tangentially align with the books’, it sometimes felt like the chapters were there just to connect points A and B. I knew this was a retelling of the original series, so I already had a vague idea of what the general storybeats would be. What appealed to me was how the story would get to those points. Let me give you an example: in Arc 1, we’re told in chapter 10 that Murkpelt is roaming the territories, and poses a threat to the Clans. Immediately in chapter 11 we’re taken to the scene where Firepaw finds her while escorting Spottedleaf. We’re told about ThunderClan’s efforts to track her prior, and about the looming tension in the wake of this invisible threat. But that’s the thing - we’re told that by the narration in just a paragraph or two. We’re not shown what that looks like. The setup is supposed to be everyone being on edge, but Bluestar’s lounging by the stump when the scene begins. It’s a little dissonant, and it has the unfortunate problem of contradicting the narration. It would’ve been so cool to see a chapter or two where Firepaw’s still trying to immerse himself into Clan life, and his questions are met with terse answers or impatience. Undercut his (and the reader’s) learning with other characters being brusque with him, or short-tempered, or something. And then that could lead into Greypaw or Ravenpaw consoling him and explaining why the situation is so serious. Then Firepaw could ask something like, “Have there ever been instances like this before with rogues?” Which could organically lead to a conversation where Greypaw or Ravenpaw bring up relevant lore/worldbuilding. It’s little stuff like that which would’ve helped with immersion and pacing. I think it would have balanced the two out, by providing pseudo-downtime where the audience experiences the world as the characters do. (If that makes sense.) Or, to provide another example: we never get to see Tres Idiots mentoring Snowpaw. In chapters 5 and 6 of Arc 3, we see Raventhroat struggling to develop a signing system he can use with his apprentice; and then, after a few chapters he’s perfectly narrating the Bright-Eyed Crow to Snowpaw. I think that showing us scenes where the two were actually working out the kinks would have done more to develop Raventhroat’s character arc. He went from being a meek, timid apprentice to an eloquent warrior, and him becoming a mentor is supposed to be a definite part of that journey. It would’ve have been so cool to have plot-relevant scenes broken up by smaller ones where we watch Raventhroat gain confidence through each small success he makes with his apprentice. I’m not sure if I’m conveying exactly what I want to say, but I guess the TL;DR would be something like - I would’ve gladly welcomed either more chapters, or longer ones, if it meant we got more scenes like this.

[2] Utilization of the worldbuilding. You mentioned this already in response to another ask, but if you could go back and change anything, it would be incorporating more lore/adhering the Redux to its lore more strongly. Your worldbuilding is perhaps the strongest part of the Redux by far. You gave us a conlang, traditions, folk stories, Clan stereotypes - so much fascinating material - but it feels like its integration was based solely on whether or not it was relevant to the plot at hand. Unless there was a reason why it was brought up, then we’d never get to see a ThunderClan cat freaking out near a ShadowClan seer and refusing to approach them at a Gathering. Or listen to Mistfoot share a poem with Greystripe and Fireheart (after being goaded into it by Silverstream). Or watch as Redtail politely interrupts the elders and asks for their opinion on an important matter. Or listen to the Clan getting together after a loved one dies and share stories about their life. Or watch as Sandpaw/Dustpaw use their age and seniority over Firepaw to terrorize him with stories of Yrrun and Terror. On one hand, I absolutely understand why a lot of lore was relegated exclusively to the Amendment section - it’s important to strike a balance between what’s interesting versus what’s relevant. You don’t wanna just throw worldbuilding trivia at the audience apropos of nothing. On the other hand, I really wish I’d seen a much larger integration of your worldbuilding into the story, because it’s so fascinating and so god damn good.

[3] Utilization of the characters. One of the things you tweaked, that I absolutely loved, was choosing to introduce Silverpaw in Arc 1 at a Gathering. Not only does it create a realistic basis for her friendship with Tres Idiots, but it fixes the canon’s issue of her saving Greystripe out of nowhere and then developing a relationship on that alone. That was fucking great! Same thing with Rainpath - it was so awesome for Fireheart to get a friend in another Clan (ShadowClan, of all Clans). It broke the mold, and their interactions were just delightful. But outside of those examples, sometimes it kinda felt like the side characters didn’t really exist? I remember an old piece of writing advice, but I can’t recall who it’s attributed to: “Treat your side characters like they think they’re the main characters.” Because they absolutely are. I might be some passing stranger in another person’s life, barely a blip on their radar, but I have my own vibrant story. Everyone does. In the Redux, it sometimes felt like minor or side characters weren’t living their own lives outside of their interactions with Fireheart and his friends. Mousefur’s the most fluent speaker of Fang in ThunderClan? Cool. How did she learn that skill? Who taught her? Does she have a friend in WindClan who’s been teaching her new words at Gatherings, or whenever they happen to cross paths while on border patrols near Four Trees? Not only is that character trivia interesting, but it could provide foreshadowing/become relevant later on. When the Clans meet to discuss how to deal with the dogs in Arc 3, perhaps someone suggests having their most fluent Fang speakers act as interpreters/diplomats, and try to broker some sort of peace/understanding with the dogs. Things like that. Basically, it would’ve been nice if Fireheart’s life intersected more with the goings-on of his Clanmates, or if his own goals/agenda were sometimes inconvenienced by the goals/agenda of others.

I think those are my major criticisms. More integration of lore, a slower/steadier pace that accommodates showing over telling, and finding ways to have the personal lives of minor characters interact with the story. Maybe adding in some additional subplots that are congruent with the main plots, and occur simultaneously, in order to keep chapters busy. That sort of thing. I hope what I provided wasn’t overwhelming in any way, and ends up being useful for either the Redux or any of your other writing projects.

As an aside, thank you. For creating this humble niche community within an even larger fandom. For asking for feedback from your readers. For being someone who makes mistakes, but eventually endeavors to learn from them, and ultimately, become a better person. I know this sounds kinda sappy, but I really do mean it. <3

(For the record I wrote this at like five in the morning, so if there are any grammatical errors I’ll be kicking myself in the ass for those.)

[jennbabeyy]

Vegas.

A/N: Thanks to @making-starsdance​ for this idea ! I changed it up little bit from what was originally suggested but all the credit goes to her. There might be a second part depending how y’all feel. Thank you for reading. 

You’ve always heard that saying everywhere, and you never really gave it much thought. What happens in Vegas usually stays there.

Except this time it didn’t. 

You knew that the trip to Vegas would haunt you for the rest of time and the two idiots who you called friends, made sure you heard about it every single day. That Vegas trip the four of you took was now an ever lasting joke.

They had made it their mission to call you “Mrs. Reyes” every chance they got. Whether it was at the clubhouse or even just through text, they officially wanted to annoy the hell out of you. And you were always on the edge because your dad didn’t know about the spontaneous Vegas trip that ended up with you marrying Ezekiel Reyes. He would absolutely shoot the prospect if he ever found out that his daughter married a Reyes behind his back.

It wasn’t planned at all, hell you weren’t even dating Ez. Though you couldn’t turn down a last minute trip to Vegas after your dad called off a few days to relax before getting back to work with the Galindos. But you definitely cursed your competitive nature when Angel challenged you to see who would drown the most shots in under a minute. Of course it was Angel who tried to make trouble everywhere he went. You knew it would end up with the four of you getting banned from the bar. 

And still you took the challenge and also proudly won, which led to you and Ezekiel drunkenly pledging your love to each other. He had taken way too many shots himself and encouraged you to go against his brother in the first place. Who were you to deny Ezekiel Reyes when he was cheering you on? 

Which had also led to the nearest wedding chapel, where according to Coco’s cell phone video, an Elvis Presley impersonator married you two and Angel obviously served as Ez’s best man. 

And Coco was stuck serving as your maid of honor. A duty that he proudly served as well.

It had all happened fast. You were Mrs. Ezekiel Reyes in under an hour. The four of you posed with the Elvis impersonator, Ez next to you in his Mayan vest and you wore a cheap wedding dress that you were sure was a little big on you.

And that was your wedding picture that Angel had jokingly hung up at his house to piss you off even more. You had woken up the next day extremely hung over and next to a shirtless Ez in your hotel bed. Which you were sure nothing had happen on your wedding night because you were fully clothed. 

But after threatening both Angel and Coco, who by miracle weren’t as hungover as you, they had recounted the previous night. With videos and photos of everything. 

You were horrified that you married your crush without even knowing how he felt about you and that just made Angel tease you even more. Coco was more into making jokes to Ezekiel but you didn’t know what to make of it.

Since arriving from Vegas, Ezekiel and you hadn’t spoke more than a couple of sentences to each other. And that was only because Angel had invited you over to dinners at his place, now that you were part of the family, literally. 

Letting out a deep sigh, you started organizing the bottles of alcohol while the rest of the Mayans were currently in a meeting. The doors were closed and you were sure Ezekiel was finally allowed to be apart of the meeting, which led you to take over the bar and have the beer ready for when they got out. 

You wiped down the bar before leaning against it, in deep thought you subconsciously grabbed onto the necklace that was hanging around your neck. For the past few weeks the constant reminder that you were a married woman was everywhere you went with the ring Ez had given you at your suppose wedding. 

It didn’t occur to you that you were wearing a ring until Angel and Coco pointed it out the morning after. And there it was sitting on your ring finger, a beautiful gold diamond ring.

You were surprised to see an actual ring after your quick elopement to Ez. 

So you now carried the beautiful ring around your neck, and also to hide it from your dad.

Angel had confessed that it once belonged to his mom. Their father had gifted it to Ez after he was released from prison, he had always been carrying it around his neck this entire time. Something to remember their mom by. And after that confession, it made the ring around your neck more meaningful. Even though you didn’t expect to marry Ez, you valued the respect that the ring carried. The memory behind it that meant so much to the Reyes brothers.

You wondered if his mom would’ve liked you, maybe she would’ve been the one to push you two together like moms always do. 

You wouldn’t know, yours left the second you were born. Your dad was the only parent you knew of, which made this secret incredibly hard on you. 

“Hey sis, I’ll take that beer now.” Angel’s voice broke you out of your thoughts. The goofy smile appeared on his face as you rolled your eyes, moving around the bar to get the Mayan members their beer. 

A chorus of thank you’s rang throughout the clubhouse as they collected their beer from the bar and your eyes met your husband’s. He was the last one out right after your dad. 

Husband.

That word still give you chills, and no matter how much you try to deny the feelings you had for Ezekiel, they were still there. 

“You’re not gonna give your wife a kiss, boy scout?” Coco snickered as Ez reached the bar standing next to Angel. 

Angel gave you a wink as you felt your cheeks flush with color.

“Johnny Cruz” Coco’s smile was instantly swiped from his face as he heard your stern voice. You were paranoid that your dad or tios would hear about your sudden marriage to Ez. 

You felt Ezekiel’s eyes on you, and you suddenly wanted the ground to swallow you up. His gaze made you feel suddenly hot and you didn’t trust yourself around the Mayans members because this man had the audacity to clench his jaw right in front of you. 

And it was like the sexual tension was on fire between the two of you. 

He tipped his head towards the door and you knew it was finally time to talk about your marriage.

After taking a beer from you, Ezekiel walked out the door, but not before meeting your eyes again. 

You cleared your throat trying to act busy as you waited a few minutes before following him out the door. Your dad was not the man to try and trick especially right in front of his face. 

 Angel let out a low whistle, “Try not to make me an uncle before telling Bishop you got hitched to my brother.” 

Coco choked on his beer as you flipped Angel off. There was no way that would happen, Ez would never especially with the president’s daughter. No matter if you were married. 

The trailer that sat in the scrap yard was off limits according to your dad, but now you stood in front of it debating if you wanted to be alone with Ez. 

This would be the first time since getting married that you would sit down, alone.

As if he knew you were outside, the door opened and Ez appeared. A small smile on his face as he led you inside the forbidden trailer. 

“Sorry if it’s a little messy, Angel doesn’t clean up after himself.” You let out a chuckle as you followed his lead and sat at the small table across from Ezekiel.

There was a small pause of silence and you kept your eyes on your fingers in front of you. 

It was all awkward, every single bit of it.

“You’re wearing it.” Ez broke the silence, as you looked up to catch his gaze. He was looking straight at the the necklace that hung and was currently sitting outside your blouse on display. 

“It’s beautiful, I’ll give it back if you want. I know it’s pretty special.” You raised both hands to try to unclasp the necklace when Ez’s strong hand grip was around your wrist. 

“No it’s rightfully yours, I did give it to you on our wedding night.” Ez’s hand slid down and grabbed on to your hand resting it on the table between them. 

You felt hot, and suddenly the trailer was too small for the both of you. 

“We need to talk about the wedding.” Your voice was a little shaky and you blamed the way Ez’s thumb caressed the back of your hand. 

“We do.” Ezekiel replied, never breaking eye contact. 

“What are we doing? We got married while we were both too drunk and your brother let us get away with it. You haven’t spoken more than a sentence to me since we got back. Do you want me to file for divorce?” You let out a deep breath after letting everything out.

Ez chuckled as he let go of your hand, reaching in between you and grabbing the ring.You let out a gasp when he lightly pulled on it, freeing the beautiful ring from the chain. 

You watched as he played with the ring for a while, curiously wondering what he was thinking. He twirled it a couple more times before finally speaking. 

“I like you. I’ve always liked you since I got back from prison.” He took a deep breath, his eyes meeting yours for the first time since you mentioned a divorce.  

“Coco and Angel combined both their brains and decided to plan a trip to Vegas in hopes that I finally got the balls to confess my feelings to you.” 

A small laugh escaped your mouth, imagining both Angel and Coco planning this entire mess up. 

Ez’s smile brighten as he heard your laugh, his eyes shining. 

“I know this is way out of order considering we are legally married but I really like you Y/n and I want to keep whatever this is going.” 

There was a small silence as you watched Ez squirm under your gaze. 

“So what you’re saying is that you married me because you like me?”

A loud laugh escaped from Ez’s mouth and you felt face blush from just hearing him. Just watching him made you feel the butterflies in your stomach go crazy.

He stood from his chair across from you and kneeled in front of you as you froze from his movement. 

“What I’m saying is that I would like to take my wife on a date.” 

You didn’t have time to think before Ezekiel managed to place you in his lap as your hands found their way around his neck. 

The kiss was unexpected but you welcomed it with as much eagerness as he did. This was your second kiss as a married couple and you wanted to cherish it as much as you could. 

A cough quickly caught both of your attention and you stood up with Ez’s help. 

“I mean, I’m glad you guys finally confessed your feelings but you still gotta tell  prez you married his daughter prospect.”

“Fuck” Ez mumbled, making you laugh as you pulled him in for another kiss, ignoring Angel’s gagging in the background. 

You wanted to kiss your husband one last time before your dad killed the both of you, no scratch that, the four of you.