#by vaguely I mean very much but I have to pretend it doesn’t matter. and I know not a lot of ppl follow me anyways

[unoislazy]

Jealous Mizu Headcanons

Disclaimer: A tad bit of NSFW is included in this so be warned

A/N: again, i apologize for not getting anything super extensive out. I thank you all for being so patient and so sweet!!

————————————————————

Mizu’s not the type to be outwardly jealous.

She’ll get jealous but she won't say much about it, she’ll just let it fester inside her quietly until it gets to be too much and she needs an outlet.

More often than not that outlet is fighting (more on that later)

She would never think to label you as “hers”, you’re not an object that she can possess.

However, when it comes to other people being around you, she finds it very tempting to start.

Before either of you confessed, you had already made up a plan to act like you were a couple to avoid unwanted stares from men and women alike.

Turns out Mizu enjoyed that much more than she thought she would.

God help the person that decides to flirt with you while she's around

If that person happened to be Taigen? Forget the duel that man's dying TONIGHT

Mizu of course would recognize that you’re your own person and you can choose to be with whoever you want… but the thought of you choosing TAIGEN of all people is not a thought that would allow her to sleep well at night.

She would claim its for no other reason than she thinks you deserve better than a man who abandoned his engagement for honor

She wouldn’t be wrong but you wouldn’t have even been interested in Taigen in the first place so her coming up with all these reasons why you shouldn’t choose him would just be outing herself.

She refuses to come to terms with the fact that she feels jealous about anything

She would be deep in denial for as long as she could manage until someone finally calls her out on it.

Her jealousy causes her to become a tad bit possessive

She’s not the most secure person in the world when it comes to relationships no matter how hard she pretends to be

She would go above and beyond to try and make sure no one was going to try and lure you away from her.

NSFW Headcanons

(Pretty vague in favor of remaining gender neutral)

Remember how I said “More often than not that outlet is fighting”

Well the alternative to that involves you

It would be less about being possessive over you and instead it would be her way of proving to you she can give you more pleasure than anyone else

And she would without a doubt prove that successfully

She might not be incredibly experienced but you wouldn't have been able to tell that by the way she treated you

Despite her feelings she would actually be extremely gentle with you

It’s not your fault she's mad that other people also find you attractive, so she’d have no reason to be angry with you.

Which means praise. Lots and lots of praise

Constantly reminding you how pretty/handsome you look while beneath her

What, you thought she wasn’t going to pin you down? That’s like her signature move at this point, she’s GOING to be on top.

She would take an opportunity handed to her to tease you and usually that meant one of two things

She teased you with compliments

Or she teased you by stopping what she’s doing all together and having you beg for her to continue

Just cause she’s not mad at you doesn’t mean she can’t mess with you a little

Considering before this point she wouldn’t have been so open about her feelings you would’ve been taken by surprise

She would find it incredibly entertaining if you got embarrassed by all the sudden attention she started giving you

As rough as she deals with things in her everyday life I think she’d be a service dom honestly, in this specific instance at least.

She wants you and she wants you to know that.

She wants to sear it into your brain so any time you even so much as look at someone else all you’d get is a flashback to how good you felt with her.

She would not let you do anything for her, she wants to focus on you and only you

She would just enjoy knowing she was making you feel good and that’s all she’d need

If you tried keeping quiet, she would persuade you into letting go, she wants other people to know that she was the one making you feel good

Needless to say if Taigen had attempted to flirt with you before, he definitely knew not to now.

[drdt-headcanons]

April Fools’ Day Headcanons!

A list of headcanons for what each DRDT character thinks of/does on April Fools’ Day!

———

Teruko Tawaki: She hates April Fools’ Day. No matter who the pranks people set up are meant for, she always ends up being the one pranked. She usually gets at least a few minor injuries throughout the day. She doesn’t want to prank anyone, since she’s worried one of her pranks will go wrong and she’ll accidentally hurt someone, whether it be physically or mentally.

Xander Matthews: He takes this holiday as an excuse to break school rules, especially the stupid ones. Running in the halls, chewing gum in class, breaking the dress code, etc. etc.. Any rule he deems a useless restriction. (He soon realized the rule of no running in the halls was not a useless restriction when he crashed into Teruko while running, making her nose bleed).

Charles Cuevas: Routinely forgets it’s April Fools’ Day…Until someone (*cough cough* Arei and Whit *cough cough*) decides to prank him and others. He thinks the holiday is dumb and immature, meant to be grown out of once you graduate high school. That’s the reason he gives for disliking it, but in reality he doesn’t like how he’s almost always the butt of the joke for the whole day.

Ace Markey: He’s been dreading April Fools’ Day for weeks. He doesn’t really like to pull pranks on anyone else (he’s terrified they’ll somehow get revenge and pull a humiliating prank on him). So the whole day he’s on edge and on the lookout for any obvious pranks. But his intense paranoia fails him and he usually falls for a few anyway and he hates it.

Arei Nageishi and Whit Young: They pull pranks together all day. They’ve been planning for months and have at least one prank for every one of their classmates. Arei usually comes up with the idea, and Whit tones it back to be less mean-spirited, because he wants everyone to have fun. They plan pranks to pull on each other, too.

Rose Lacroix: She forgot what day it was until she fell asleep in class and woke up with a drawn-on mustache, hearts, stars, etc. on her face. She thought it was kinda cute and pretended not to notice for a bit. Nico felt bad and admitted they submitted to Arei’s peer pressure and drew on the hearts, but she told them she really didn’t mind.

Hu Jing: She doesn’t usually participate in any prank-pulling, but is happy to see the class having fun. If she thinks a prank was too cruel she’ll step in, but she mostly stands to the side to let the others have their fun. She might switch up her wardrobe to wear something silly as a ‘prank’, but it only really works on Levi, who is horrified at how none of the clothing she’s wearing matches.

Eden Tobisa: She likes to pull pranks in literally the nicest way possible. She’ll give someone a cake, claiming it’s vanilla flavored, and then say “Ha! April Fools!! It was actually a chocolate cake!” once they take a bite and she’ll be so proud of herself. It’s cute, and people get free baked goods, so everyone’s happy.

Levi Fontana: He’s not quite sure how to approach pranking someone, because he worries any attempt will be too mean. He tries to look up light-hearted pranks on the internet because he doesn’t want to be left out. (I was looking up pranks for him and thought this was a vaguely fashion-related prank he could do:)

(I think this one is funny to imagine him doing).

Arturo Giles: He didn’t want to participate, but Veronika insisted he do something, or else she would prank him as many times as she could. Arturo, admittedly afraid of that threat, pulled a prank by copying dozens of photos of Mariabella Rosales and putting one copy in everyone’s locker. People were very confused and he found it quite hilarious. But he won’t ever tell Veronika he enjoyed himself, she’d never let him forget it.

Min Jeung: Doesn’t see much point in participating, and was quite annoyed to find that Whit and Arei replaced her textbooks with identical copies, just that the ones they made were blank inside. She demanded to have her books back and they eventually relented. She retaliated by pulling a prank so amazing I can’t even think of one good enough to put here. But it was great, whatever she did.

David Chiem: He enjoys playing nice pranks on the people he likes (he puts misleading compliment cards in Xander’s people’s lockers) and plays mean pranks on people he doesn’t like, except he never admits the mean ones were him and always ensures he never gets caught.

Veronika Grebenshchikova: She enjoys pulling as many outlandish pranks as possible, on anyone and everyone. No exceptions. Since she doesn’t have a Whit to tone stuff back like Arei does, her pranks are a lot more…eccentric. She really likes scaring people the best when it comes to pranks, and litters fake plastic spiders all over the school (Ace fell for at least five of them).

J Moreno/Rosales: She really wants to pull a cool prank but doesn’t know what prank to pull. But she doesn’t want to look on the internet for ideas because she wants her’s to be original. Evantually she settles for hiding behind doors and then jumping out and scaring Arturo specifically.

Nico Hakobyan: As previously stated, they drew hearts on Rose when Arei prompted them to, but otherwise were too scared to pull any pranks, since they thought people might get mad at them. They decided to just tell cat puns instead, which Whit loved. His reassurance that this was a worthy replacement for a prank made them happy.

———

All done! Hope you guys liked it, I know I don’t usually post my own headcanons. But if people wanted to ask me for headcanons about characters, ships, situations, etc. I’d be cool with that! This was really fun!

[sunshine-and-moonshine]

Dbd - You Offer To Eat Them Out

Requested: Yes [I love your dbd hcs sooo much! (NSFW) Could you please write how the killers would react when a survivor they find attractive offers to eat them out/give them a bj? (you can choose anyone, but I'd esp. love to see Huntress, Charlotte, and/or Max)]

Warnings: Slight Angst in Max’s, Spice, implied virginity for all three killers

Huntress

Well however you manage to communicate to Anna what you want to do, she still doesn’t understand at first. “Eat her out”? You want to eat her???? She’ll threaten to eat you first, no matter how attractive she thinks you are. It’ll take another moment of explaining (while she stands there pointing a fork at you) before she really understands what you mean. You’ll probably need to provide her a chart. Or a drawing. Some sort of charades need to be done. But eventually she’ll get the gist, chuckling with a little smirk as she drops her axe, cupping your cheeks in her hands before forcing you down by your shoulders, undoing the laces to her pants. Who is she to refuse such a….kind offer?

Charlotte

Charlotte is also confused at first, though not at the same level as Anna, and will likely catch onto what you mean just a smidge faster than her. She’s blushing, absolutely flustered by the very idea. But she’s not opposed, especially with how attractive she thinks you are. But she doesn’t have any experience to speak of so she’s hesitant when you kneel in front of her, hiking up her skirts. But all worries fade from her mind the second she feels your mouth on her, and she can barely think for the rest of the day after this event.

Max

Another person who also doesn’t understand what you’re asking. But unlike the girls, he doesn’t understand when you explain to him. Yes, he has a vague idea of what sex itself is, but to the best of his knowledge that does not include putting your mouths on each other. His brain is also kinda malfunctioning cause he doesn’t understand how someone so attractive would want to do something like this with him anyways. Eventually he’ll just reach the conclusion that you’re doing this for mercy, so that you can escape in your next trial against him. And while the thought hurts, it’s the only thing that makes sense to him, so he feels like he can just pretend you actually have an interest in him as you swallow his cock, his moans echoing in the shack of Coldwind farm.

[jadedvibes]

Always (IV)

Summary: Bucky realized he could lose you for good, so he caught a red-eye flight to make sure that wasn’t possible.

Pairing: best friend!Bucky x reader

Warnings: lots of fluffy feels, very minor angst with the happiest ending, vague allusions to future sensuality, swearing, pet names.

Word Count: 2.7k

A/N: Thank you to all that followed along on this little mini-series! Angst isn’t my strong suit, so that's why I really appreciated all your support while I gave it a try! Hope ya'll enjoy this final part ♡

Series Masterlist

Like, comment, and/or reblog to put a giant smile on my face ♡

After getting off the phone with you, Bucky had a revelation. He realized that the longer he was away from you, the worse off things could be. He felt you slipping through the cracks. And he sat there for a long while imagining what it would be like if you met some “Mr. Right” tomorrow. 

His heart constricted at the thought of you moving forward with someone else, while his soul still belonged to you. The thought of having to spend the rest of his life pretending that he was happy for you, seeing you fall for some schmuck that didn’t deserve you – he just couldn’t do it. 

He refused to truly let you go. He knew he’d never love another as completely as he loved you. The thought of being with someone else made him feel sick, and that had to mean something. You said you didn’t know whether it was too late to be with him, but Bucky decided that it wasn’t. 

It wasn’t too late, it would never be too late, because you belonged with him. He just needed you to see that. 

Taking a deep, steadying breath, he picked up his phone and called Steve as he completed a quick booking of a plane ticket on his laptop. His mind was on autopilot, he only knew that he needed to get to you. 

Steve groaned into the phone, sounding like he’d just woken up. “What’s wrong?” 

“Hey buddy…best pal. I need a ride to the airport.”

“Dude it’s nearly midnight,'' Steve grumbled. 

“I know but listen, I’ve gotta go see my girl, and time is of the essence. You’re right around the corner.”

“Shit, is Y/N okay?” Steve inquired, his voice laced with concern. 

Bucky bit back a smile, his other best friend knew exactly who his girl was. Why’d it have to take him so long to realize it? It didn’t matter, he knew it now. 

“She’s fine, don’t worry. I just really need to see her, I’ll explain on the way,” he huffed out, haphazardly throwing clothes into a duffel bag. 

Bucky heard Steve shuffling with his keys, heading out of his door and into his car. 

“Fine, but I'm the best man at the wedding. And this is going into my speech, and I’m also throwing in all the fun details you kept from her. Like when you beat up that prick that stood her up at Freshman Formal.” Steve started his car.

“She doesn’t need to know about that and he threw the first punch.”

“He sucked, but you didn’t have to go all Brooklyn brawler on his ass.”

Bucky sighed, that guy hurt your feelings and he didn’t regret what he did for a second. “Agree to disagree. Are you here yet?”

“Just pulling up.”

“Great, you can annoy me on the way while I try to figure out what I’m going to do.”

┈┈┈┈┈・・

His tongue took no prisoners as it swiped through your lips. Uninhibited need pulsating off of him as he kissed you with so much intensity and adoration. You met his passion, everything finally making sense for the first time in a month. He was all you needed, he would always be everything you needed. 

His grip on your face tightened as he tilted your head, deepening the kiss as he walked you backwards, until your body met the wall. “Tell me it’s not too late for us, honey,” he whispered before kissing you again. 

“Mm, it’s not,” you murmured against his lips, hands falling to his firm chest. 

Bucky pulled back to meet your gaze, relief written all over his features.

“Yeah?” he grinned. 

Snaking your arms around his neck, you pecked his lips before looking into his hopeful deep blue eyes. “Yeah, B. I never should’ve left.” 

“I never should have let you go,” he shook his head.

“I was gonna call and tell yo–” He gently trailed kisses down your jaw, to your neck, before slowly returning to your lips, savoring your taste. You melted into him, desire and longing overtaking both of your senses. A mutual dream actualized. 

“Marry me,” he suddenly blurted out, a soft smirk on his lips.

Raising your eyebrows in surprise, “B! Not before I date you,” you giggled.

“Oh alright, later then,” he chuckled under his breath, his eyes alight with amusement. He was only sort of joking, although deep down he would’ve been more than happy if you agreed. 

“Can I take you out on a date?”

“Right now?” You looked at him, taking in the faint dark circles under his eyes. If his brain was anything like yours, and you knew that it was, he hadn’t slept much if at all on his trip over.

“Why don’t you go upstairs and get in bed, or take a shower, whatever you want. I’ll whip up a couple omelettes and then we can take a nap?” you offered, knowing that you both needed just that.

“Omelettes don’t count as our first date, right? Because I sort of have plans for that.” 

You playfully rolled your eyes at your silly best friend. “No, B. Go settle in, I’ll be up soon.”

“Okay, honey,” he nodded, realizing he could use the rest. Adrenaline had kept him up, and he needed to come down. “I’ll go put my stuff upstairs and grab a quick shower. But I think I’ll pop over a few doors down to grab us that chamomile latte you’re always telling me about. I think we could both use a comforting drink before a nap,” he smiled. 

“Sounds perfect,” you beamed. He always remembered the little things you loved; he made it so easy to fall in love with him. 

���┈┈┈┈・・

The two of you happily ate at your breakfast bar, sipping your drinks and sitting close to one another. It had been a long time since you’d felt so at peace. 

“I think this has been the longest I’ve gone without seeing you in person in four years,” Bucky sighed. “It sucked,” he bumped his shoulder against yours. 

You smiled at him, it really did. In fact, that was an understatement. You briefly thought about discussing how rough it was being apart from him, but you had a much better question to ask.

“Soo does this make you my boyfriend?” you grinned. The thought making your heart race because it sounded so foreign, yet it felt entirely right. 

Bucky tilted his head, biting his lip as he looked at you. “Could be fiancé, honey. Just say the word. I quit my job, and I think I’d make an excellent house husband.”

You let out a laugh, taking in his exaggerated serious expression. He was kidding, but when you smiled like that, he felt how easily he could spend the rest of his life making you laugh. It’d be as easy as breathing. 

Because he could, he tilted your chin up and kissed you, just a little to hold him over for a short while. 

Sighing into the kiss, your lips ghosted over his before you remembered what he said. “Wait, you didn’t actually quit did you?” you asked to be sure. 

“Dad was pissed,” he closed the distance and bit your lip. “But now I can focus on being a good house boyfriend for you.”

“B,” you pulled back so that you could look at him. “I don’t want you to give up the family business.”

“I don’t mind,” he shrugged because he really didn’t. As long as he had you, nothing else mattered. 

“Well hopefully you can apologize and get your job back because I want to move back. Plus, I know I would make the perfect housewife,” you smirked. 

Bucky shook his head, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “So you are marrying me then?” 

“Wait, I meant– I just meant I want to move back to New York.” 

Bucky grinned, he wasn’t expecting that. “Why don’t you move in with me?” he asked casually. 

You furrowed your brows. “Because we’ve been dating for like two minutes…” 

“C’mon, I have the space. Maybe, you could keep this place that way. We’d be able to visit your family whenever you want.” 

“Hmm, that's a compelling offer,” you nodded. That would simplify your life a whole lot; his loft was spacious and terrific, and that way you wouldn’t have to move all over again. You’d be able to stay at your job and go back to him easily once you found a solid place to transfer to. 

There was also the fact that he was your person, had been for a long while, and taking this next step felt natural. Moving in with Bucky was jumping ahead a few steps, but you knew him, better than yourself sometimes – it would be a fun adventure. 

“Think about it, I heard living in sin is the new thing,” he kissed your temple before getting up and clearing the dishes. 

You blinked in surprise, your minor internal debate tabled for a moment. “We haven’t even sinned yet!”

“There’s still time,” he winked. 

┈┈┈┈┈・・

Your eyes roamed over his strong arms that were wrapped tightly around you, holding you to him. The long nap was much needed, the cuddling and the passionate kisses were an excellent bonus. 

Throughout the years you had taken many naps with Bucky. Sometimes it was easier to take power naps in between classes and during stressful times together, no one having to inconveniently go back to their place. But this time it was so different.

The way he held you, the way he looked at you, like you were the most beautiful person in the world. How he could convey such emotion through a simple look, you couldn’t comprehend. He wondered how you managed to do the same when your brilliant eyes gazed at him with immeasurable love and admiration. 

You could tell he was restraining himself from pursuing more, but your best friend/boyfriend was nothing if not respectful, and you thought about what it would be like to live with him. Waking up beside him every day, getting to kiss him, and move onto that sinning he mentioned. It would become so addicting, just as his soft touches and sweetness had already become.

Before you could picture it some more, Bucky shifted towards you, rolling onto his side and facing you in his sleep. He looked so peaceful. 

You took in his handsome features and reveled in the warmth permeating off his body – you could get used to all of it. 

“I love you, honey,” he mumbled before unconsciously pulling you closer. 

You closed your eyes and realized that your mind was made up. You were moving in with him, and this would be your new normal soon. You just had to find the right time to tell him. 

┈┈┈┈┈・・

You felt your heart flutter when Bucky looked down at you. Squeezing your hand, he gave you a broad, charming smile. “Are you still with me, honey?” 

“Hmm?” you bit your lip as you met his gaze. 

Bucky let out a laugh. “I asked if you wanted to grab a coffee before heading back.” 

“Oh, yeah that sounds great,” you wrapped your free hand around his bicep. “Sorry, I still can’t believe we’re doing this,” you admitted. 

“I still can’t believe you agreed,” he beamed, his brain not fully caught up with the fact that you were his. He was treating this like a first date, and he was doing his best to woo you. 

He’d taken you out for a late lunch, a short stop at a little bookstore he knew you’d love, and another pit stop at a local ice cream shop that reminded him of a similar one you used to go to together. You told him that the date felt reminiscent of your usual hangouts, which you really appreciated, and he conceded with – “Yes, but this time it’s even more special because I get to hold your hand.”

He’d spent a good chunk of his flight researching the best places to take you in your area. Before you told him you were hoping to move back, he had already planned a day to show you how comfortable he was with moving for you. Because no matter where you lived, he’d be fine as long as you were together. 

As you stood in line to get coffee, Bucky took your hand in his and kissed the back of it. Pesky butterflies fluttered in your stomach as you allowed yourself to get swept up in him. The guy that your heart knew it needed somehow truly wanted you too. 

After ordering, he lead you to a seat at the coffee bar. Helping you hop up onto the bar stool before sitting beside you. 

“Seems like someone really wants this date to keep going, huh B?” you teased. At every point that you thought the date was over, he suggested going somewhere else close by to extend it. 

A faint blush crept up his face. “Can you blame me?” he brushed his thumb along your cheekbone. “I missed you so much, and I really can’t believe this is happening. So excuse me for wanting this first date to be the very best,” he grumbled playfully. 

You shook your head with a grin. “I really really missed you too. So much that I applied for a transfer and have been looking into work back near you.”

“Wow,” he smiled, you really were coming back to him. The barista called out his name, and he left to bring over your drinks before he could tell you how happy he was.  

You took the opportunity to check your email because the New York office requested additional documents to go along with your transfer request earlier in the day and you wanted to ensure it went through okay. 

Tears filled your eyes when instead of further follow up information, you read that somehow the transfer for your exact position had been accepted. The chances of this happening so quickly was practically out of the question, and you could only silently thank the divine source that intervened to make it possible. 

“Hey,” Bucky quickly set down the coffees once he saw your emotional expression. “Honey, what’s wrong?” he gently grabbed your free hand, his blue eyes brimming with concern.

“You’re officially getting a new roommate,” you sniffled before smiling. 

Bucky’s breath hitched in his throat. “You’re moving in?” 

You nodded your head enthusiastically, shocked and thrilled by the news. “I got the transfer.”

Without warning, he pressed his lips to yours, kissing you madly right there in the coffee shop. 

Your brain went foggy as your tongue moved along with his – time standing still, or passing by in a blur, you couldn’t really tell. 

“I love you so damn much, honey,” he finally mumbled against your lips when the need for air became too strong. 

“I know,” you smiled, exhaling a breath. “I’ll always love you, B,” you tugged him back towards you, connecting your lips again. Feeling him smile into the kiss, you couldn’t help but grin as you kissed him deeply. 

From stressful late library sessions, to all-nighters and warm bonfires, Bucky was your truest constant. 

In time your best friend turned boyfriend would become your fiancé then husband; sooner than you expected and to the surprise of no one. You’d hear new stories about the ways Bucky quietly watched out for you in college from Steve and Sam, the best men at your wedding. Reaffirming the way he silently loved you through all of his actions – and you loved him all the more for it. 

He’d hear stories from Natasha and Wanda, your maids of honor, about all the times they knew you only had eyes for him, a fact you hadn’t realized was so obvious.

Somehow in the end your wish upon that star came true, and you were beyond grateful that you let yourself believe in it. Because now you couldn’t imagine a reality in which you weren't happily married to your best friend – where the love you shared was ever present and built upon the strongest foundation, where it would never waver, no matter the circumstance.

The end. 

[co-mixed]

Doctor Doom - The Loveable Autocrat 

Fantastic Four #247 is quite an issue. It impressed me so much, I decided to dedicate a whole post to a single issue. If you’ve been around for a while, you know I almost never do that. There’s usually not enough to say about just one single. And yet, this one forced me to reflect on real-world history and very controversial ideas presented in the book. 

What’s Up

In this issue, the Fantastic Four are forced to help Doom reclaim his place as the monarch of Latveria. Since he was defeated by, well, also the Fantastic Four, his rightful (according to him, obviously) place has been taken by Zorba. Doom can’t think of anything better than taking FF on a tour of the new and improved Latveria in order to show them how much worse life without Doom actually is. 

Now right off the bat, I have plenty of issues with this whole premise. First of all, Doom is a dictator. A nasty, unapologetically evil dictator, whose country is messed up no matter which way you look. We know that from the issues #84-87 in which the FF with Crystal on their team, end up traveling to Latveria to witness the beauty of Doom state. It’s not a pretty picture either: it looks like the land of the free, dressing like it’s the 1910s instead of 1960s, and fachwerk. 

It’s impossible to hide the fact that the people are brainwashed and afraid of their own shadows.

You are free to call me out on imagining too much, but we all know exactly how these states function. 

The Background

In Latveria, the people are forced to love and praise Doom. As long as they keep their head low, do their job, don’t ask for anything, and don’t cross Doom directly- they can live a normal life. This illusion of normalcy comes from everyone knowing their place and the rules to follow. And on paper, it even sounds like a textbook Utopia. It's anything but.

In one issue, for instance, Doom is exercising a favored trick among his peers: a peasant bumps into him, and Doom pretends to forgive him.

But we as readers aren't that easily fooled. He's obviously terrified because he knows the rules, and the main one is to love and obey the "leader". Already sounds culty if you ask me. But what this does in terms of narrative is it establishes the condition of Doomism — his state is built on fear, not on respect. 

When the FF approach the border, they are immediately informed that neither side (neither the soviet bloc nor the democratic countries) can protect their people within Latverian borders. Latveria does not recognize any international agreements or laws which means absolute, unlimited, uncontrolled power in one set of metal hands. If you underestimate the severity of it, imagine that your absolute authority on all matters including basic freedoms is one man who may or may not be insane. 

Like any self-respecting dictator, Doom has a private guard. The one that shoots people if they try to escape his land (which hey, is one of the basic freedoms, shocking.) Doom is clever enough to know what he’s doing, and not nearly naive enough to imagine that if he had allowed his people to move about freely, they would move outside the border and never come back. You can trust me on that. 

When Doom is once again consumed by his desire to destroy the accursed Fantastic Four, he doesn’t think twice about sacrificing a whole village of his “beloved subjects”. And even before that, when his private bot guard gets out of hand, he even informs the populace that anyone who dies would be considered a hero. Sounds vaguely familiar, doesn’t it? If it doesn’t, consider yourself lucky. But keep in mind that the whole situation is solely Doom’s fault. And he handles it in the worst possible way with little regard for his people. 

None of this screams “a leader who truly cares.”

After reading this issue I figured it would've been better and made Doom more sympathetic if his subjects were actually happy. He could've been established as a just and respected leader, especially considering how his predecessor mistreated the people. 

Even with all that, It's hard to imagine such a scenario since power corrupts indiscriminately. Sure, that could've given a complex twist to his character as well as added conflict to the decision the FF ultimately had to make. It could have been a commentary on cultural and historical differences since:

a: monarchies are not that rare in Europe. 

b: Latveria was surrounded by communist states, so it had enough struggles as is. 

That, of course, didn't happen and we got a plain and simple dictator, who follows every other page from the dictators' handbook. A very black-and-white view that was not uncommon for comic books in the '60s and the '70s. 

Changing Spots

In issue #247, John Byrne takes it upon himself to retcon the essence of Doom. This makes sense, the ‘80s have elevated comic book narratives and gave depth to many characters. 

Doom was not an exception. With the FF walking the streets of Doomstadt, we see the devastation that his successor brings to the land. And to top it off, we hear the tragic story of the last few months since Doom has been ousted.

Zorba Fortunov is the heir apparent to the Latverian throne. His father and brother were both murdered by Doom but you shouldn’t feel too bad because they were terrible people and even worse rulers. So is Doom, but we know Doom and we don’t know those guys. 

Doom also tortured Zorba (because, and I don’t want there to be any confusion, torturing your political opponents is exactly what Dooms do.)

Now initially Zorba was portrayed as a member of the resistance who was looking to restore democracy in Latveria. Well, restore would be a loud word. Long story short, with the help of American superheroes (who shamelessly collaborate with the government) Zorba comes to power. 

But democracy is apparently too hard to handle for the state. Because turns out (according to Doom and his loyalists), the repressive laws were actually for the good of the people. They were too afraid to commit crimes. For some reason, they also immediately stopped working which may or may not indicate forced labor. And the ‘prosperous nation of Latveria’ fell into complete disarray. That’s confirmed by a few destroyed streets and fearful citizens but other than that, there is only Doom’s word to prove that. 

This is a great time to note that any major economic transformations are risky and may result in poverty and a rise in crime. Especially in a society that’s not prepared to said changes in stages. We have actually seen that with post-soviet states. 

Either way, Zorba revoked Doom’s cruel laws and punishments (from what we have seen so far, they include murder if “the master” is in a bad mood and you are in his proximity). People were promised an election (which it seems like Zorba really planned to have.) But some happy and liberated citizens of Latveria chose violence and it became so bad, Zorba declared martial law. Which naturally gave him all the power… that he was supposed to already have as an absolute monarch. But who cares? 

Zorba reprogrammed Doom’s personal guard to police the streets and they are referred to as ruthless (as opposed to Doom’s tender and caring ones?)  

So slowly, learning this story, the Fantastic Four figure that the devil they know is actually pretty good compared to the devil they helped install. Despite there being little difference except the fact that Doom was planning to rule till the day he dies (and possibly after). 

And then we see that he cares so much, his main priority is restoring Latveria to its former glory. 

But… why?

Of course, my main question is the idea behind this whole narrative. Are we supposed to believe that a shaky democratic state is much worse than the iron rule of one leader with order? Or is it something very specific to the people of Latveria? If Doom is so great, why does the Fantastic Four fight him relentlessly when he tries to take over the world? And why do they feel entitled to repeatedly make decisions and instigate conflict on behalf of the people of the country? 

I don’t have the answer, I see the story and the attempt to rewrite Doom’s history into something that can justify keeping him around. But if he’s a dictator, if he’s a tyrant, we probably shouldn’t romanticize him that much. Because once again, I want to look at the Latverians here - we rarely really do. They went with a democratic choice, with a possibility of change. And there must have been reasons for that, I mean they were NOT happy. In one of the issues, Doom murders the Ambassador of his own country (ok it was a doombot but if you ask me, same difference). So how exactly does that align with the just leader narrative?

If the idea was to not interfere and let things flow naturally as they are supposed to, why does the FF help reinstall Doom?

Let’s be honest, Zorba doesn’t care much for the people. He proves it in that same arc. But neither does Doom, that’s no secret. And neither do Reed, Sue, Johnny, or Ben. Everyone is this story has their own interests and not one of them is the prosperity of the country. 

They might be able to rewrite Doom and turn him into a good leader, I wouldn’t be surprised because I’ve seen heroes shake hands with him later on. But it still will always feel like a hypocritical joke. 

The suggestion that Doom might be better for the country is one I have a hard time with, on so many levels. We can’t trust the collective amnesia of the populace, caused by the trauma of drastic changes.

At the end of the day, either option is bad for Latveria. Doom is vengeful and bloodthirsty and so is Zorba. Both occasionally had good intentions. In both cases, they didn't matter. Zorba was the rightful monarch, while Doom was an usurper yet both revolutions happened with the participation of the FF. And it doesn't seem like free Latveria is this team's priority.

[multi-fandomsfreak]

Hello, how are you doing? 😉

I’ve got a funny idea.. Well it’s funny to me I’m not sure if it will be funny to you. 😅

So I vaguely remember Luigi’s day out Mario calling Luigi “dumbass geek” and I was like what if he had a geeky S/O. It would kinda be like “Haha Karma came back and kicked ur butt.” Moment. Like reader doesn’t look like a stereotypical geek. She’s like very very attractive so it kind of flew under the radar and it isn’t until later into the relationship where her geekiness starts to show itself.

I feel like Luigi’s day out Mario would be having a full on crisis. He would probably be like “Oh my god I’ve been dating a geek this whole time.” type thing but in all honesty he doesn’t think it’s too bad cause reader doesn’t act like his brother so that kinda helps a bit and he also thinks it’s funny [Not in a mean way tho.] to hear her ramble about what her current interests are. Sure he might not get some of it but he likes hearing reader’s voice.

[In this request reader will be using She/Her pronouns 👌]

[That’s all! Hope you’re doing well and taking good care of yourself. 👍]

Luigi’s Day Out Mario With A Geeky S/O

Hey there! Thanks for the ask!

I’m doing good thanks for asking. Ngl I almost wrote for LDO Luigi because my brain decide to write out that you wanted LDO Mario and assume it was for LDO Luigi because I saw the quote about him calling Luigi a ‘dumbass geek’. But I managed to save myself lol. Anyways hope you like it. ~Blaze/Dawn

Pronouns: She/Her

Warning: ❌

Requested: Yes/No

Characters: Luigi’s Day Out Mario + Luigi’s Day Out Luigi + His Mother (idk her name sorry) + Mentions of Luigi’s Day Out Daisy + Luigi’s Day Out Waluigi

Proofread: ❌

Credits: Art originally by hotdiggedydemon + Banner by Haterlovin on Pinterest

———————————

- Honestly the fact that you might possibly be a geek completely flew under his radar. I think he would be too focused that he managed to get you. You were considered very attractive by many people so the fact that he of all people managed to get with you admittedly fueled his ego a bit. He feels like he won some sort of competition with you being his girlfriend. I like to think he actually wasn’t expecting you to say yes to him. He’d probably did it in a joking way so when you accepted it he was surprised but overall played it off like ‘he knew you’d say yes’ and how ‘no one could resist him’ overall being a cocky bastard but is actually happy that you said yes but pretended to not be too affected by it.

- He’s definitely the type of boyfriend to be constantly talking about you to anyone and everyone who would listen whether they actually want to hear it or not. As I said before he’s a cocky bastard so from the day you two got together he is not going to keep his mouth shut about you. He kind of feels like he has the right to no matter how many times people complain about it. If someone does tell him to shut up he just shoots back “Aw what’s the matter? Jealous that I actually managed to get her” or “Your just mad that I got to her before you can huh?” things like that. The way he talks about you to other people honestly makes them want to punch him sometimes. He’d say things like “Imagine not having a girlfriend?” “[Name] is so beautiful, glad she’s with me.” “Don’t you wish you had a Girlfriend like [Name]? Too bad she’s with me” etc.

- Adding on from the previous point since he literally can not keep his mouth shut about you pretty much everyone knows that the two of you are dating. Ranging from strangers, his ‘friends’ and his family. Their reactions vary, some are absolutely confused at the fact the two of you are dating. How did this emo fucker managed to get someone as beautiful as you? Even his own ‘friends’ are so confused. As for his brother and mother they were very excited and happy (mostly his mother though). She pretty much acts like how every parent asks every single question about you like what your name is? What were you like? Were you pretty? Is he treating you right? And goes on and on about it even after Luigi’s Day Out Mario telling her to stop and being embarrassed at the ambush of questions. For his Brother Luigi he’s just happy for his brother. He doesn’t really have any bad opinions about it even if he did (not that he has or will) Mario would tell him to shut it.

- He’s definitely the type of person to show you off and your beauty. As soon as he spots someone eying the two of you up you can bet he’s suddenly all up in your business. He’s grabbing your hand tightly bringing you closer while giving said person a smirk while giving them a look like ‘you jealous?’ Even around people like Daisy and Waluigi. The both of them are like “dude? I know you like her but do you have to publicly show it?” and he’s like “Of course I do. How else am I supposed to show she’s my girlfriend?” He likes riling people up by doing this.

- He definitely likes to get the two of you in trouble. Sometimes he doesn’t mean to do it but just like in the original animation he’s probably doing some shit that should've grab the police attention but does he care? No. He hasn’t gotten caught yet so why does it matter? He enjoys the feeling of doing it and he enjoys it more doing it with you. That’s how he likes to spend his time with you. So do expect yourself to be in situations like jumping fences or visiting abandoned places to have smoke sessions.

- As I said in the first point, due to your attractiveness he doesn’t really acknowledge your geekiness until the two of you feel really comfortable in the relationship. He probably accidentally stumbled upon this while the two of you were hanging out (e.g. in his room or during your smoke sessions). He probably just mentions him trying to get into a new band and it just evolves into you just giving him a full blown lecture of your favourite musician. For example “I don’t know I’ve been trying to listen to other things. Been tired of listening to the same shit over and over again.” he complained while toying his finger on his guitar that he owns then you just asked him “have you listened to [insert band name] before?” he looks at you before asking “no, who are they?” then you just went into airplane mode about your love for said band. Just think of that one yapper x listener tiktok meme.

- That’s pretty much when it pretty much hit him that he’s dating a geek. As you continued to talk about said band he’s listening to every single word you're saying. Lowkey having a crisis like “Is this what I get for calling my brother dumbass geek?” But overall surprisingly besides the initial surprise he’s actually really okay with it. Like sure if it was someone else he would’ve told him to shut up but he actually really likes it. Besides some slight teasing from him he just lets you do it because he likes to think that it’s just your voice that makes it a lot more tolerable. Plus you actually look really cute doing it even if he doesn’t get what your saying half of the time.

- I feel like he would purposely try to find ways into getting you into your little sessions just to hear you talk. He likes to offhandedly mention one of your favourite shows or comics and ask you questions about a certain character or the overall plot of said show or comic. Sometimes he likes to show off your knowledge, if someone says something wrong about a topic you know he immediately pauses them and says “I’m not sure if that’s correct, what do you say [Name]?” He says teasing the other person as you talk to said person about the topic.

- I feel like he would be the type of boyfriend to do anything for you and you alone. For example if you wanted something and have been talking about it to him you can bet he’s getting it for you. Even if the thing is expensive he would get it and by that he would probably steal it but to him it’s worth it if it’s for you. He doesn’t care that much about what people say about when he does this he just tells them off and for them to mind their business.

- Pretty much the only time you get to see him outside of his dick behaviour is with you. You can see him actually seems calm around you, when the two of you are chilling together, the two of you are just up against each other as the two of you just talk about random shit and just rant about things you like or don’t like. Overall, despite being an asshole he’s actually a good boyfriend to you.

———————————

[tsururoach]

Danmaca B-Side Minific

Vito x Lerche (vaguely. probably.)

no content warnings apply || 2.1k words

Lerche is a pleasant company on the condition that he not be accompanied by Vito. It is not to say that Vito perhaps does not enjoy being around Lerche. Saying so would be absurd, when often he went on months on end with only the older man to dissect his thoughts. Dear Celestial. He didn’t even think he’d had problems with his few lingering thoughts.

The problem lies within the fact that Lerche felt far too interested in his thoughts– for someone who merely wished to survive day in and out. 

“Vito,” Comes the steady voice he’s long been familiar with, “Have you had enough of dancing around me?” 

“...” Quickly averting his eyes, Vito tries to not look constipated. Because he’s not- At least shouldn’t be. Lerche’s last gambit with an odd looking snake still left him feeling queasy, but not ill. “If anything, I wonder if it even matters to you.”

“Why you wish to live?” Lerche laughs in that curious way of his, “I find that rather important.”

“Years down the line does not count for importance,” Vito pauses before tilting his head, “And that does not seem to be something you can afford down on the Surface.”

Lerche leans back onto the withered tree, lamp light flickering against his weathered skin. That specific look comes over the man- one Vito has seen several times before. One he pretends he didn’t have the name for.

“Landmarks are those that are weathered and worn.” Lerche’s smile turns tighter, “Isn’t it so, even the most astute would only know what stays?” 

Vito muses over that for a second. There is not much fault in that.

“Well, why do you?” Vito replies earnestly. It’s not something grand or terrifying he needs to keep close to his heart. He’d rather not, counted as enough reason to him. Want and will was the way he lived.

Lerche seems mildly taken aback.

To the Vito who followed him around, it was the equivalent of stumbling backwards in shock. Lerche is emotive- all good storytellers were- but the genuinity hidden in that mere gesture sends Vito into an emotional recoil. He’s not sure what to do with the fact that he might be a bit endeared- and not just obligated.

“Me?” Lerche echoes, as if haunted with what thoughts came from that. It’s only fair that he gets cross in the ricochet of his own question- but to Vito’s disappointment Lerche laughs. “Isn’t my age enough? Seeing everyone scour research to reach what I’ve long got.” 

Vito shakes his head, assuming that his question will lead nowhere once more.

“I don’t need a reason, I just don’t feel like dying.” Vito muses over it some more, before he makes a move to sharpen his knife. Cleaning would be a good call too- goop covered and dull from trudging through an unfriendly thrush. All that for an unidentifiable plant he’s sure Lerche will discard two days past. 

To his surprise, Lerche elaborates.

“Instinct and want do not always go hand in hand,” he grieves, “Did you know I had a child?”

Vito very carefully does not react. He doesn’t touch the feelings that come hiding behind the thin layer of curiosity- he’s finally learning more about his companion. 

“Well, I would only know of what you’ve told me.”

“A legacy” Lerche sighs, “A legacy is a treasure one may not often get to have.”

Vito’s not sure if he should point out that his child is very decidedly not there. But as tragedies are on the ark, he has the grace to let Lerche say as he wills.

“As such, I like the idea of a legacy. Not being one- I wouldn’t dare.” Lerche smiles, “Owning a legacy though… Not that is what that child was.” 

“Then what do you mean?” 

“Well, I’d like to one day tell a legend I see first hand. Change? Destruction of what we know?”

Vito’s stare could only be described as disbelief.

“That’s what it is? Or- well, then what?”

“I lied,” Lerche smoothly adds on, “Perhaps I just want to see all that I can see- you know I’m fond of things like that. My child has long gone on her own path and I have no need to haunt her steps.”

Vito doesn’t believe him. Vito surprisingly doesn’t believe in a lot of things Lerche says. Perhaps it was the trust in what he’s fed is for some greater part of living. Brushing off the implication that Lerche just had a family he’s long separated from Vito can’t help but feel irritation at how easily Lerche marks his words as bullshit.

“Alright.”

Lerche barks out in laughter, “Maybe you’ll be a part of it, Vito. You’d be a brilliant talent to bring into my stories.” 

Vito sighs and shakes his head with exasperation before settling back into the rhythmic grindstone. 

“You won’t get much story from me- or at least more than you already have. If there’s a journey it ends with that terrible escape. I just wanted to live.”

“Is that so?” Lerche taps the binding of his book, “If that’s so, you should’ve just stayed with the Order.”

“...What?” 

“Wasn’t it easier to live up there? You certainly don’t seem pleased with the state of ‘life’ down and around here. The endless faction wars, the greed, sitting ducks that we all are,” Lerche flicks to a page with sketches of the corpse of a Unity Order soldier. One that Vito had to fend off and bury, “All you had to do was submit Show your hackles and your neck. They wouldn’t bite the herd they lead.”

“Just because I miss ignorance does not mean I will simply retreat back into it.”

Vito hadn’t meant to let it sound so harsh. He knows his decisions are impractical, after all he saw Reue fall his way to the top. He’d seen plenty of people go that path. Easy. Safe. Convenient. He can’t help but wonder if they felt nothing of it. That submission.

Or was it truly the thought of yielding to another that plagued him?

“It’s not that much different down here.”

“It is.”

“How so?”

Vito struggles to find the words. Before laughing mirthlessly.

“For one, I like to think that everything I did was of my own will.”

“So it was the idea of choice? Is that it?”

“They didn’t give me a second option, so I had to find it.”

Lerche seemed to think that Vito was hiding something deeper. Perhaps something more inspiring- more meaningful- something worthy to document in that almost eternal book of his.

“If  that is what you consider true,” Lerche relents, ”But besides instinct and beside will, there is something else that is controlling you.”

Vito carefully does not let himself linger on what that implies.

—

“Factions are like sheep,” comes Lerche’s abrupt voice. “Led by the nose until they must meet their use.”

Vito laughs, “Aren’t livestock like those far too valuable for slaughter? Not even your generation would have been familiar with them”

“Words that outlived their time, I fear.” Lerche simply shrugs off, “Perhaps it’s poetic that only people are merely livestock now.”

Vito hesitates as he holds onto Lerche’s bloodstained bag. No sign of wear or struggle as if the owner was attacked. He’s not sure he’s ever seen Lerche try to fight. Patience was a learnt trait and he’s reminded of it constantly when confronting the oddities that cling to that man.

“Is there any particular reason you’re telling me this?”

“You seem bothered.”

Vito wants to bite back with ‘shouldn’t you be as well?’ or ‘It’s natural.’ He could afford pity and grief on the ark- he could not assume that Lerche had the chance to be the same.

“...Weren’t you just talking to them?” Vito tries to grasp some kind of fact to relate back to Lerche, “Wouldn’t you lament the fact they will no longer have their story recorded?”

Lerche smiles very slightly. 

“Oh Vito, I record deaths before I record lives.” 

“What’s the point of recording deaths if you don’t even- If they don’t even live?”

Left with silence, Vito stands up from where Lerche was waiting for him. This time it didn’t look like a simple raid done by another faction- the kills were too brutal. Too careless with equipment that had long been forced into scarcity. They didn’t have the knowledge the ark did, but they developed technology too quickly- in a way the head of the church likely couldn’t agree with.

The itch comes again. Why had they let Lerche live?

“Do not take me for a biased person, my friend.” Lerche nods to the broken crowd by his feet, “But I warned them appropriately.”

“They never had a chance.”

“Indeed. Another late night for you?”

Vito glances at the buildings and then to Lerche. 

“If factions treat people as livestock, what are you?” Vito lets the unspoken ‘we’ run away. He knows that he didn’t want that answer.

“I don’t know.” comes honestly. “But I find that doesn’t matter.”

Vito doesn’t catch himself fast enough, but he catches Lerche just fine. His hands moving faster than his mind- he grabs Lerche’s arm. 

“Lerche.” comes seriously, “What do you want from me?”

Objectively speaking- the answer Vito wished most for was to be a simple mercenary. The trade off of daily necessities being provided in order for putting his neck on the line was simple, but anything that came from this guy couldn’t be. Vito’s done this same routine until his nails stained red and his mind worked on practicing indifference. It’s cruel that the only moment he truly acted on the hesitation was when Lerche felt so distant. 

The world was cruel anyways, so Vito packs aways those feelings.

Lerche meets his eyes calmly. If it had been someone else, that would be a sign of sincerity. Instead, Vito watches as Lerche studies his own face with strong fascination. As if he didn’t feel any real threat at all.

… Not that Vito would do anything anyways.

“I just find you interesting to have around. This old man has the luxury of boredom after all.”

“...”

Lerche turns his body fully as Vito is hit with the hilarity of it all- one who sat through a bloody conflict and one who didn’t. One would think Vito had been there for the massacre judging by the blood on his hands.

Taking a sticky step closer to Vito, Lerche leans into his shoulder. 

“It’s not often you run into someone who values death as much as you do.” Vito feels oddly stifled- unsure what to do with any part of his body. Lerche laughs into his neck- warm air brushing against Vito’s scarred ear. “And I’m not keeping you here, Vito. I’m not your shepherd.” 

Vito’s heart clenches hearing that.

He couldn’t. 

Would he survive? 

He pauses. He’s not entirely sure what to make of that thought that suddenly hit him. Not so gently as a ship hitting shore- but as if a heavy caravan had derailed and knocked into him.

Never before had the air felt so arid. A miracle despite the (bloodied) puddles around them.

“Aren’t you?”

Lerche’s face is hidden from view, but he can feel the way the man’s face shifts against Vito’s stiff body. 

“Now what does that mean?”

Somehow Vito isn’t convinced that Lerche doesn’t know- if anything Lerche knew better than Vito himself. Feeling intense resignation, Vito lowers his head and looks down at Lerche’s shoulder. 

“You’re exhausting.” 

“And yet you stay.” Lerche smiles, “It’s not like I treat you poorly, so does the reason matter?” 

It does. Vito reminds himself.

“Alright,” Vito says.

Perhaps Vito was like a dog. Loyal even when it bites back at him. He still can’t get used to the killing no one calls murder. He can’t stand finding Lerche’s neutrality despite claiming the same for himself. And yet he stays.

Backing away from Lerche in a poor attempt to separate himself with these feelings, he wonders how he’s still falling into the same pitfalls he criticized merely years ago. Nothing changed except the environment. Vito wonders why he’s fine with that.

Lerche is smiling. Looking at him as if he was ready to accept whatever Vito chose- including leaving. There is no choice in that- he knows that he cannot leave and still be himself.

Want and will are different things, Vito acknowledges.

“... I don’t know why I bother.”

Lerche takes that as an affirmation that Vito would be following once more. Turning heel without checking behind him, Lerche heads for their next destination sooner than expected.

“Well, I managed to bargain for some dried meat for you before it happened.” Lerche gestures backwards (presumably to the sack Vito was carrying for him), “Nothing they would bother to confiscate.”

The bag feels heavier than mere food supplies should be.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Does That Make Her Human

Summary: "Where do I come from, where will I go when I die?" Lust thought that she was ready to have the answers. Right up until they are given to her.

AN: So I haven't made an FMA fic since like 2014? And that one was a silly, poorly written, not serious thing so I thought that I'd write for Lust again. FMA is still cool right? We still love FMA in this house.

She doesn’t have to wonder anymore. 

Her curiosity has been satiated. 

And how sublime it is.

It hurts. Yes it definitely hurts. But she is glad for it. She has been waiting for this. Is she afraid? Yes, she realizes. She is very much afraid. At first she can’t place it, doesn’t even recognize it for what it is. She can’t remember the last time she has felt this thing…this fear. She imagines that it had probably in the time before; in that other life that she remembers in only snippets and fleeting flashes. 

She knows the woman’s face. 

It is not unlike her own. 

But yet it is so different.

It is similar enough for her to know with a fierce certainty that it had once been her face. Her skin had, had some color then and her hair had, had a warmer tone–a deep, burnt wood brown. Her eyes a soft cinnabar shade. She wears her hair the same way and they have the same face shape, the same facial features; the delicate outline of her lips, the length of her nose…

And maybe that’s what will happen when she dies. 

She might return to the woman that she once was, whoever she is. 

That woman had loved a man who she cannot remember; maybe Lust will get to meet him. 

That doesn’t sound so awful. She thinks that she can be satisfied with that. Perhaps she can even welcome it. Not that she has a choice. 

She hears the sound of transmutation, of flesh shaping into metal. A blade that extends with a metallic swish. She closes her eyes. He hasn’t brought it down upon her yet, but she imagines that it won’t be much longer now. She can feel a chill, the cool of steel before it even meets her skin. Lust exhales. It very well could be the last exhale that she gets. 

It is most certainly her last exhale. 

Her chest tickles, her stomach flutters. She has never felt so human. For a moment, her very last moment, she can pretend. Pretend that she is not what she is, but what she desires to be. A human.

A human whose lifespan is so short that she can’t possibly underestimate and forsake its value. A human who knows just how precious life is. 

A human who can feel to the fullest and know exactly what those feelings mean. Someone who can truly live rather than exist, because existence is simply too short to spend it just doing that and that alone. A human who has desires and troubling thoughts that persist…

She thinks that she has always had the last of those things. 

Existential dread. 

She has witnessed many humans struggle with it. 

Lust’s lips part slightly. She can’t say exactly when it had begun, but such matters had been troubling her too. The nature of her dread isn’t exactly like the dread that the humans have. They grapple with what their purpose is and how to fulfill it given the fleeting time that they have. She has to reckon with how to spend a life unending. 

A life that is now ending. 

Did she have any goals? Real goals. 

Had she completed them?

No. No, she doesn’t think that she had any goals. None aside from achieving humanity in genuine.

And so in her final moments she does. She does wish that she could have traveled more and seen more. Because, for all of the time she has been some perverted state of alive, she has not done much living. 

In her final moments she makes a list. A short list of things that she would love to do and achieve. They are typical things, mundane things, vague things that she often hears humans craving; she wants to see more parts of the world, she wants a gorgeous house of her own, she wants the finances to keep it, she wants find a lover–someone to hold her the way that the man in her other life had. She wants to have that man’s children. To have a family. 

Suddenly some 250 years seems like a very short time. Long compared to humans but terribly short compared to someone like Pride. She hasn’t really done much with her existence has she? She has spent much of it wishing to be human so that she could learn what it is to die. Too late she yearns to be human so that she can learn what it is to live. 

Lust is scared. 

Lust is mournful. 

Lust no longer wants to die because there is still so much that she has to do.

Lust understands now.

She wonders if she has achieved her goal after all. 

She doesn’t want to die.

She is suddenly afraid of death.

But she is dead. 

Does that make her human?

[finisnihil]

I read your post from 4/10 and wanted to double check: you mentioned that Sunday took Sparkle up on her offer to pose as Robin, but I don't remember a time when that happened? He mentioned the family had a plan + the emanator post by hyv basically says they can take on the form of other family members. If you mean the convo between Aven/Sparkle couldn't that have just been Aven's misconception? She never confirms it in that convo as far as I remember. Loved the post btw just curious

That could very well be the case as well! It's all very vague so I went with what I thought made the most sense based on context clues, which was Sparkle replaced her.

Looking at it from a meta perspective I don't see why the writers would have Aventurine say that unless the statement/question held some genuine weight. When writing you wouldn’t typically introduce the idea of Sparkle replacing Robin by her demonstrating her ability to do so believably, having her offer to do it for the Family to upkeep airs, and then bringing it up again later as Sparkle being the culprit if that’s a plot line you don’t intend to actually upkeep as it would be redundant and take up time and space.

Speaking of Sparkle not confirming it, it’s in line with her character. Sparkle as a Masked Fool lives to invoke chaos. Just because she didn’t confirm it doesn’t mean it can’t be true, think back to her conversation with Aventurine some more. She doesn’t lie to him but she doesn’t reveal her hand enough to help too much. Basically her attitude about it all can be summarized by a quote from her character trailer: “Let me tell you what foolishness is, pretending to be smart like you do. Then what is a fool? Knowing when to act clueless, like I do”.

It’s only when he’s found the right questions to ask he’s able to push her for more details, and even then she’s cagey about the information she shares. Sparkle enjoys watching everyone run around trying to manage the disaster because that’s Elation to her. It would be more out of character for her to give a clear yes or no on the matter, hell the closest she gets to giving one is implying that’s the answer by saying “…and if I say ‘no’?” Adding to this she only gets this close to giving a clear yes or no because Aventurine entices her with the idea it will cause further chaos.

But then again, 2.1's writing decieved us in a lot of ways so like you said, it could've been a misconception. This is just my take on the matter based on what we’re given.

By the by, which Emanator post do you refer to specifically? I don’t recall seeing the information they can take on the form of other family members on any Insta posts (I don’t use Twitter/X) or the big Emanator rundown the official HSR account posted on HoyoLab. If I missed it I’d like to know!

Tbh when analyzing media like HSR, which is constantly updating in real time, you're always running the risk of getting something wrong simply because you're working with an incomplete puzzle. Some of my analysis posts don't hold nearly as much water as they did before 2.1 and whatnot so if I am wrong on that I wouldn’t be too surprised. I try to keep up to date on the lore to the best of my ability as it’s the main reason I even play the game but until Penacony is complete and we have a full picture to work with I really appreciate people like you bringing possible holes in my analysis to my attention!

I’m really glad you liked my post and tysm for the ask! Have a great day, mwah!

[ozimagines]

thanks for the account recs! god i fucking love oz... on that note, can i request a "dating chris keller would include..." imagine? he's such a fine ass motherfucker and a dangerous mix of toxic and sexy

Oh yessssssss, Chrissy boy is one toxic bitch when he wants to be, but when he loves he puts his whole pussy into that shit. Bonnie and Beecher and I think Sister Pete at some moments. And played to perfection by the always sexy and even more crazy Christoper Meloni. I give you… (drumroll pls)…

(Also, loves, trigger warnings are hard to add for this show because like… everything is triggering😅 especially for characters like Keller so read at your own risk, we all know this guy is a walking red flag)

Dating Chris Keller would include…

Ok so let’s not pretend this motherfucker even knows how he feels for you at first

Baby boy is just caught in the thrill of the chase

He just wants to know he can have you… or more realistically, if he can take you.

Hot and he knows it. Man’s has that non-gender specific rizz

Uses his size to make you blush, leaning over you and leering down

“See something you like, kid?”🥵🥵

Subtly is not in his vocabulary, when he flirts, he flirts hard

Takes his shirt off a lot around you, like even when the situation doesn’t warrant it

Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Minister Said judging you🥲

After you’re his, you’re HIS, baby

Arm always around you in public, hand in your back pocket, head on your shoulder/head (he’s so damn tall😤)

Possessive fuck

I’m talking full yandere mode at times

“Tryna make me jealous, is that it?” -he growls after seeing you smile and thank the barista☠️

Sulks for a whole day

Will go beast mode when you’re disrespected

Body positive… but like, not on purpose lol, he just loves sex and bodies

If you got a little weight on you, he’ll be squeezing you constantly (he loved his Bonnie-bear)

When you tell him you’re insecure (like he can’t already smell that shit out) he just smiles his dimply, impossibly white smile

“Why?” He husks, lips on your ear.

Presses your hand to his crotch

“See what you’re doin’ it me? Still don’t think you’re pretty?”🔥🔥🔥

Anyone else points out your “flaws”, they’re dead, no questions asked.

Like, even if you don’t ask or want it

Arguments with him last for fucking ever, over the smallest shit

Doesn’t apologize, just buys you your fave drink or rubs your leg or something

To him that is an apology 😂

His favorite sport is getting you hot and bothered in public and watching you squirm, teasing you about it in a borderline mean way

Rubbing your leg with his foot under the table or fully bending over to get something even vaguely low to the ground.

“Just can’t control yourself around me, huh?”😘

Hate to say it because he’s such a douche but the man is an absolute unit in bed

Scratching? Licking? Tickling? Slapping? D: All of the above!

Kinkyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

If you’re a virgin/inexperienced, he can be a bit much

“School’s in session, baby”🙃

To quote Stanzi Potenza, ouchie daddy that hurt my mind, body, and spirit

Teasing, teasing, teasing, TEASING

There isn’t a place or time in this world he wouldn’t drop everything to get freaky with you

Broom closet? Tree stump? Your parent’s bed?!

Shares very little with you at first, but asks a lot of questions about you

Remembers EVERYTHING but pretends he’s not interested, it’ll just come up in conversation something you said to him in passing

Says “I love you” easily before he means it… and then when he does he can’t say it😂

Says things like “he/she/they love me, alright.”

Trying to convince himself more than anything

Insecure boi, even if he doesn’t admit it

Has nightmares that he won’t talk about

Big spoon all the way, doesn’t matter with whom

Can’t see him having kids, but if you have one, I think he’d jump into the role of step-dad

Doesn’t know how to talk to kids

“So… you’re in fifth grade… cool?”

Like he said, he wants a life, and anyone that gives him that is everything in his eyes

“Hey… you know I love you, right?”🥰

Bonus round: I like to give very specific traits to guys in Oz that just fit. Chris Keller loves burgers! Like all of them. Loves to drown them in onions. I think if he had the chance to grill a burger, beer in hand and you on the other, he’d be in heaven.

[borealalice]

This exquisite trope about the fuck or die Monza curse by @cvrthage, @yekoc, @baking-soda and @veryspecificfantasies has bewitched me body and soul, particularly the "every year there are teammates secretly hoping it will be them (max, every single year with daniel. george with lewis) and teammates desperately hoping it won't (lewis with george)" bit, and I just couldn't resist. So here's a little George x Lewis drabble (angsty, beware).

George knows that Lewis knows he has a big fat crush on him. Everybody in this damned sport does, and George has never been cool enough to be different. The tacit agreement is that he tries to control himself and not be too much of a loser around Lewis, and Lewis pretends not to notice when he stutters or stares for a beat too long or praises him excessively in interviews. It’s a delicate balance, but they mostly make it work. Mostly.

Except there’s Monza. George is still not sure what exactly the Italians woke up when they dug the foundations of the track, but everybody knows it’s cursed, and will not hesitate to try to maim and kill if it’s not paid in lust. Every year, a teammate pairing on the grid gets chosen at random, and if they don't fuck, everybody suffers the consequences on track. Nobody has ever outright admitted to being chosen, but there’s always speculation and hushed whispers around the paddock about which team has had the misfortune during the weekend. The only real way of knowing whether the bargain has been fulfilled or not is to start the race and wait for the chain shunts to pile up. It’s never happened in all his hears in F1, even though there have been several driver pairings known to hate each other’s guts, so everyone must have been doing their part. If Magnussen and Hülkengerg have indeed fucked each other’s brains out for the greater good, it means, to George’s understanding, that everybody is in silent agreement that it’s just something to do for the safety of the whole grid, nevermind the rumours that Webber once refused point blank to fuck Sebastian. He has a poor opinion of him for it. A duty is a duty, is the way he sees it.

He entertained thoughts of being chosen and having Lewis fuck him exactly once, his first year at Mercedes. Then he realized he wanted it too much, and put the matter firmly out of his mind. The chances of it happening where nigh anyways. Albono had confided in him that Max had once told him at an after party that he hadn’t been chosen yet, despite being four years into his career at the time and “wanting it very much” with Daniel (George resolved then and there to steer clear of Max if there ever was vodka in their immediate vicinity, a promise he’s kept ever since); and George wasn’t even sure if he would last the year as Lewis’ teammate. There’s always a chance you’ll get demoted from a top team in F1.

He’s also not sure he’d enjoy it if they got picked anyways, regardless of his big fat crush, because it’s rotten to only have Lewis sleep with him because some evil supernatural entity is mashing them together like Barbie dolls, and not because he really wants to (but you could, whispers some pathetic part of him, you could let yourself enjoy it if it were to happen. He pretends he does not hear it.)

Mostly, he doesn’t think about it. It’s going on five years now since he stepped into Formula 1, and he’s somehow still in Mercedes, and they haven’t been chosen. There have been no horrific accidents in Monza. He makes the mistake of getting complacent.

And then Monza, in all its cruelty, picks them.

He senses something is off from the moment he wakes up on Friday, but he can’t quite pinpoint what it is. He is sweating more than normal, but he chalks it up to the warm Italian air. Until Toto grabs him by the scruff and drags him to his office.

Lewis is also in Toto’s office. His forehead is also beaded with sweat, and he looks vaguely ill. George puts two and two together, and his stomach drops.

“It’s us this year.” Confirms Toto. Lewis doesn’t say anything. Lewis doesn’t say anything for a really long time, until George can’t stand it anymore and blurts out. “Okay, well, let’s get it over with then. How do we go about it?”

Toto sighs. “We haven’t had to do this in a very long time, but the standard procedure means we have a room for you two-“

“We’re not doing it.” Interrupts Lewis. George’s jaw drops. The mean little voice in his head says see, he won’t touch you even when there’s inocent lives on the line. He’ll never want you back.

A muscle jumps in Toto’s jaw. “If you don’t do it it will fuck up the race, and if anything happens the FIA will investigate and I will be forced to tell them that it was us. We could get heavily sanctioned for putting other drivers at risk." You could be throwing your and our championship bids away, is what he’s really telling Lewis.

“I’m still not doing it.” Reiterates Lewis, his tone final. George gapes, trying to reconcile the man he idolizes with this stranger in front of him who would be willing to potentially throw other people’s lives away because he finds the idea of fucking George that repulsive.

“You’d put everybody at risk?” He can’t help but ask, sounding pathetically close to tears even to his own ears. He doesn’t want to know what his face is doing. 

Lewis’ only answer is an undecipherable look. In the end, he doesn’t. He gets Toto to leverage his considerable power and a technicality in the regulations surrounding the Monza situation to get the race cancelled. He breaks George’s heart and what little self-esteem he has all the same.

[sweetfirebird]

So I did some more fake reddit posts for my characters. They are only vaguely in reddit-style format but I also don't really care. They are meant to be silly.

r/advice

So, my brother is hung up on the son of the family we work for. Sorry. I don’t like beating around the bush, but I should probably back up a little, I suppose. My brother and I are all that are left of our family. Don’t ask. We don’t like to talk about it. I’m older, so I have done my best to look out for him. Not that he allows very much—he thinks he has to protect me, which is… Anyway. Since we lost them, he has done his best to be strong, and that might seem nice on the surface, but I worried about that too, because that is not who he was before everything happened. He’s guarded now, keeps to himself, and tries not to get attached. But I think beneath his stone face, he is the same gentle, loving boy he was before. The kind who read the histories and believed in all the fae tales and love stories. Which brings me to the current problem.

He’s fallen in love with the fucking beat-of---with the son of the wealthy family we work for. We’d barely settled here and he started getting stars in his eyes for this kid—not a kid. He’s of age, just small.

I didn’t know what to say at first. It’s a bad idea, messing around with any beat-of-four, but especially one from an eccentric family like this one. But for years, my brother has been so avoidant of any softer emotions and I wanted him to find some happiness.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s had lovers, as far as I can tell, but not lovers. No one he talked to me about. No one he brought to meet me. Mostly… well, mostly people that don’t think of him as anything other than a pretty face. That might be unfair. Maybe some of them did, but he wouldn’t let them closer. I don’t know. Like I said, he didn’t mention talk to me about them.

Then this kid… boy… man. This weird little beat-of-four. Compared to the rest of his family, he’s actually not that weird. But sometimes talking to him is like talking to a fae pretending to be a human and not quite sure how to do it. He means well, I think. Or I thought. I don’t know. He treats people well. I will say that of him. Even the people who work for him.

So I decided to encourage my brother in this. He was speaking to me about it, after all, and I watched the little beat-of-four for a while to judge how he felt, and he seemed, to me at least, as if he was just as starry eyed over my brother. But he must have just been enamored with my brother’s face like all the others, because my brother told me he planned to offer him a courtship, then suddenly became withdrawn again and no longer spent any time around that little… around this other man.

Which he had done a lot of, I realized later. Riding together and talking… or at least, listening while the other one talked and talked, and the more that happened, the more my brother had opened up to me. I should have noticed it sooner, how deep his feelings went. Not that it should matter now, since that is all over.

Except. Except… the young beat-of-four has been… well, in a normal person, I would call it moping. He dares, he fucking dares, to gaze longingly after my brother as though he is a pining lover in a song. Even though, from what little my brother has revealed, he is the one who refused the offer of courtship.

But whatever. The family doesn’t treat us differently although the head of the family almost certainly knows something happened. And the boy in question probably going to be sent off soon for some beat-of-four arrangement. My brother is clearly not happy about that, and yet I think he’s planning on escorting that little… on escorting him to meet his potential betrothed. Because my brother’s an idiot who believes in fae tales… and in this boy, for some reason. Maybe because the boy is fae, in a sense. My brother thinks this beat-of-four boy with money and power… and a strange, distant family and no friends, granted… needs protecting. And he will do it because he… I think he loves him. And I am trying to respect that and to acknowledge that everyone is allowed their own feelings. But it’s my brother who needs to be protected, and my brother who finally reached for something soft again, and my brother who would probably leap in front of an arrow to save that… tiny moping weirdo. So I’m not being very understanding about it, and it’s making my brother close off again. So. I need to know how to… if not forgive then at least not drag this boy into my kitchen and stick a blade under his chin and tell him to forbid my brother from escorting him anywhere.

He'd probably agree with me. That’s the thing. The thing I… the thing I think my brother sees in him. The thing he admires so much.

It might even be why this boy said no to the courtship, because his family is going to send him away. There’s no getting out it, not how I can see.

That’s bullshit. If he… that’s some beat-of-four “noble duty” bullshit and I hate that my brother would admire that too. I hate that it makes sense to me that this oddboy would say no if he thought my brother needed to hear it. And I hate feeling sorry for that kid, but I won’t feel sorry for him if my brother is tasked with taking him to find his happiness elsewhere.

So. How do I not kill him?

Waiting in the Kitchen with My Blade

[yourworsttotebag]

I've put up some fics about my Tav, Evie, and it turns out I have a ton to say about her! So if you're curious about her as a character then this might interest you!

As far as her background, Evie is from a Kennedy/Rockefeller-type family of sorcerers in Baldur’s Gate. She’s the youngest of three sisters meaning she has a lot of privilege and money but basically no responsibility. No one is looking to her to maintain the family name and barring a catastrophic incident, she will never be its figurehead. She is not Prince William - Evie is one of the ones you see at a royal wedding with a big hat and you’re like, “Oh, isn’t she one of them? Stevie, I think?”

I don’t think this makes Evie a cruel person. She’s just young, directionless, and doesn’t like to get dirty. This start doesn’t preclude her from becoming the leader of the group but she does have to work on it. Imbuing her life with adventure and purpose will really help her flourish. Even after her heel-face turn, Evie will still cut people down for hurting her friends and probably tell them their outfit looks like shit.

How she interacts with each companion is under the cut. I got really into it, as you’ll see.

Astarion: Even with the “dagger to your throat” introduction, Evie and Astarion click immediately. She isn’t as intense about it as Astarion but she does tend to agree that the way the party stops for every bird with a bent wing is a little nuts, right? They are always having fun together even if it’s sometimes a little mean. Evie sees through Astarion’s seduction attempt immediately and thinks that gives her the upper hand but there is no upper hand in a healthy relationship, which she doesn’t realize until she’s already stuck to him for good. She falls into that classic fake dating spiral of “my beloved was just pretending to like me so I can’t possibly reveal that I actually love them,” and she tries to bury herself in all of her new responsibilities.

Once they figure things out, they stay together because they grow side by side and the ways that they support and shape each other will bond them forever. Evie will always look to Astarion to celebrate an accomplishment. Astarion will grumble vaguely about her “being so heroic, ugh,” even while he’s following all of her kind-hearted plans and kissing the crown of her head. Can two vain blondes with bad attitudes make each other better? Yes, I like to think so.

Shadowheart: Evie kind of rubs everyone the wrong way at the beginning of their journey but she scraps the most with Shadowheart. Part of this is just about Evie’s personality when they meet. She’ll really only help after some cajoling and has no tact. Another aspect is that Shadowheart kind of resents Evie for having a secure upbringing where people gave her everything she wanted and loved and protected her. Shadowheart is not in the business of coddling a frivolous noble, and while Evie deserves to have more asked of her, Shadowheart does sometimes border on needling her.

They would be very cute though once Evie has a purpose and bothers to start using her 20 charisma on her friends. Evie will loudly clock every time that Shadowheart is nice to her and Shadowheart will only really play at protesting when Evie hugs her and presses their cheeks together. They both develop big fat crushes but there’s a little too much Astarion in the mix for Shadowheart and Evie to get to that next level of romantic intimacy, even when they’re both free to date. I also don’t think their post-Illithid cure plans would really align, preventing them from being good long-term romantic partners. It wouldn’t damage their bond though and they would stay very close no matter how tangled up their feelings ever became.

Gale: Evie and Gale also clash but not in a “maybe I’d kiss you if you were less annoying” way. Just a standard, by the book, “I don’t really get you” way. They’re both stubborn when they think they’re right and have that natural sorcerer vs. wizard rivalry. Evie probably pushes a little too hard on this rivalry at first and then doesn’t get why Gale is annoyed about it. But Gale never forgets that Evie wanted to keep him around even after learning about his condition. They’re both witty and like doing over the top magic stunts, they can’t stay mad at each other for long. When they aren’t fighting for their lives every day, they’re able to bond over their shared love of fine foods.  

Romance wise, I don’t think they’d click. It would not even occur to them to try dating. Evie had ONE really intense sex dream about Gale and spent about a week dropping things whenever he talked to her and avoiding all eye contact. Gale figured she was just really sick of him.

Karlach: Karlach tries to be the most understanding with Evie while she’s figuring out how to be on her own and play nice with others. She’s not afraid to call Evie out but she does it with a lot of love and doesn’t try to make it a big argument. Evie tries to push back but Karlach is so good to her that she crumbles almost immediately and just wants them to stay friends. Karlach calls Evie “kid” a lot and at first Evie hates it. Then one day Karlach tenderly says, “I’m proud of you, kid,” and Evie cries.

Since their relationship is the most similar to an older sibling and her twerp kid sister, I don’t see Karlach and Evie being romantically interested in each other. Once Karlach is cooled off and trying to find love again, Evie is going to want to gossip about every detail of her dates afterwards.

Wyll: I keep thinking there would be a high probability that Evie and Wyll have met before. They probably met at some high society party when they were teenagers and Wyll wrote Evie off as a typical Baulder’s Gate rich kid. He would be pretty shocked to find her in the druid grove but not shocked to see her starting to take charge. Wyll tends to see the best in people and he’ll tell Evie that he always knew she was capable of anything she wanted and that he’s proud of the path she’s taking. He’s definitely not above a little bit of gossip about nobles they both know.

Wyll might be a little too princely for Evie to seriously consider dating. I mean, she’s interested in Astarion and Shadowheart for Christ's sake, she’d probably be worried that asking Wyll out would ruin his life. Evie wants to stay with someone for the long haul but probably not be married right away and settle into domestic bliss. There’s a tiny part of her that wonders what life would be like if they had both just stayed in Baulder’s Gate, if anything could have happened between them. Evie also wonders what it means that she still thinks Wyll is handsome after his transformation.

Lae’zel: Lae’zel will be annoyed if she feels Evie isn’t pulling her weight but she absolutely doesn’t care about any personal abrasiveness. She’s not exactly about to back down from a fight either and expects the same from her companions. Lae’zel is also a soldier and doesn’t mind that Evie kind of wants to be the boss and sometimes tells her no. As long as Evie is standing her ground, Lae’zel can respect her resolve. She will insist that Evie learn a little more physical combat from her if she’s supposed to be their de facto leader. Lae’zel doesn’t go easy on her but it toughens Evie up in a way no one else can.

Romantically, Evie would be a non-starter for Lae’zel. She does not have time for this 25 year old goofball making googly eyes at a vampire and making out with her goth bestie. If Lae’zel isn’t at the top of Evie’s list, then she doesn’t even want to be on it. 

Halsin: I haven’t gotten to spend a lot of in-game time with Evie and Halsin yet so my thoughts are still cooking but I think they’d have an interesting dynamic. Halsin never meets Evie when she’s at her worst. He only sees her taking her first tentative steps into adventure, rescuing him from a prison cell and mowing down goblins to save the innocent. I think Evie would have this tiny crisis where she’s like, “What if he only thinks he likes me but he doesn’t really know me? What if I disappoint him when he realizes I’m terrible?” But Halsin is much older and wiser and he’d try to impart on Evie that the “old you” isn’t a distinct different person that you have to be ashamed of or kill. She’s just changing and Halsin appreciates Evie on any part of her journey.

Romantically, I’m honestly not sure yet. I kind of take Astarion at his word that he doesn’t mind his partner wanting to explore some avenues with other people. And I think it would be a little heady and exciting for Evie that someone sees her as competent and heroic. I wonder if their interests might be too different to translate into romantic compatibility. It’s unclear to me.

[mysdrymmumbles]

u know what i would read obsessively? either mevix comforting liila bc he found her panicing somewhere bc the scourge suck or like a fic OaF style with maybe not liila but another oc? idk hes underappreciated and while i adore thales him and mevix isnt my fave ship tho its super cute

I really liked this idea, so I ran with it <3

The Maw Walker has made a name for herself as an admirable whirlwind of death, and though Liila Dragonlily comes through Maldraxxus infrequently, when she does, everyone knows it. Enemies drop before her, and she has earned quite the reputation, enough so that some muse she will be sent to Maldraxxus upon her death–her talents would be a waste otherwise–and Vole himself has been trying to figure out how to lure her into a formal event at the Theater of Pain.

By the Primus, he wants to duel her himself.

Mevix is sure that will be one hell of an entertaining fight. 

That is why he is all the more baffled when he finds her now. 

When he stumbles across her during a patrol that takes him a bit further from his usual stomping grounds than usual, Liila is not the cold, fearsome fighter he has come to know. 

Instead, she is…small.

Smaller than he remembers, smaller than he thinks she should be. She is curled up beneath a low mushroom, legs pulled up to her chest and arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her breathing is erratic and she is whispering something too low for him to make out clearly, though he catches a few phrases that repeat, like, ‘he’s not here’ and ‘doesn’t matter’. 

She doesn’t seem to know he is there, and with the way she is whispering, head bent forward so that her forehead rests against her arms, he is not sure he wants to reach out and touch her, lest he spook her.

That, and he’s heard from Mitchell that Liila can have her ‘moments’, whatever that means.

Mevix doesn’t need vague warnings to let him know that startling the Maw Walker right now will not be a good thing. 

Instead, he quietly backtracks, far enough away that he can come up loud enough to be noticed. Loud enough that she can have time to compose herself.

He lets his feet fall a little harder on the rocky ground and whistles a soft tune, though it sounds a little awkward, more like air hissing through his teeth than a whistle. It still carries the melody he seeks.

He cannot remember much of his life–he has been dead far too long for that–but he remembers this tune. The words are long gone, but he remembers that it was something that made the dark less formidable, a balm on frayed nerves. Someone who loved him sang this song to quiet his anxieties, and he has found on rare occasions that it still works when he is rattled.

And so Mevix strolls over, whistling-hissing his tune. 

He pretends to be surprised to find Liila sitting where she is, watching him warily as he approaches. 

“Maw Walker,” he says, giving her a nod. “If you’re looking for a bit of quiet, I suppose this is as good a spot as any. Might want to watch for the crawbats, though. They can get a little bold when there’s nothing else around.”

For a moment, she simply stares at him, her form rigid, expression impossible to read. Not that he’d know what all that moving flesh means, anyway. 

When she speaks, however, her voice wavers, ever so slightly. “Do you–” 

She cuts herself off, looking away quickly.

Mevix cocks his head and strolls closer, taking the words, however brief, as an invitation. “Do I what?” 

For a moment, she is so still. Still as death, as they say.

And then the words tumble out.

“Do you know anyone by the name of Derrick Bloodsworn?” 

The name falls from her tongue like something bitter and sour. She recoils from the very words as though they are some wretched curse.

“Can’t say that I do,” Mevix replies. It’s true, after all.

For a moment, the tension in her shoulders eases up. It is back too quickly. “I…you don’t know everyone who comes to the realm, though.” 

“No, you’d have to go to Vole for that,” Mevix says, “and honestly, he only bothers to remember the ones that he thinks will keep his spectators entertained. Took him an eon to remember my name, and half the time he still forgets it.” 

The joke doesn’t reach her.

Instead, she is picking at the hem of her robe, staring blankly at the ground in front of her.

“Do you want me to ask around?” 

“No!” Panic laces her voice, and there is a genuine terror in her eyes that Mevix has seen once before. During the rescue of the kyrian from the House of Constructs, he and Thales had found her like this with a fallen ascended. She had been so…lost.

One of her moments, he supposes.

Mevix doesn’t bother to be careful now. He walks over and sits near Liila, watching her as she eyes him.

“Who were they? This…Bloodsworn?” 

“A monster,” she whispers. 

“And you think he’s here?” Mevix doesn’t bother to tease her that he appreciates that. Because he knows about the Scourge. One of the first mortals to come to Maldraxxus abandoned their cause because they were too much like the Scourge, because they were too terrifying to wake up in the midst of.

“I don’t…” Liila hugs herself again, looking anywhere but at Mevix. “I read in Revendreth that some of the souls that come here are…questionable.” 

“Well, I could tell you that,” Mevix says, plainly. “You haven’t met Emeni yet, have you?” When she doesn’t respond, he shrugs. “Well, the only way to know is to ask.” 

“I don’t want to know where he is,” Liila whispers. “I just want to know he’s not here. I don’t want…” She wilts then, crumpling upon herself. “He hurt me.”  

Her voice breaks on those words, and part of Mevix wants to tell her that of course this Bloodsworn fellow isn’t here. He is a protector, after all. He struggles to think how he can ease her nerves. “What was he?” When she’s confused by the question, he shrugs, “Azerothian, I assume, but what species…race?” 

“Human. Scourge.” 

“Well, Maldraxxus does not get many souls from any one place, and I can think of six or seven from Azeroth, even less who were human. Maybe three in the last age or so. None of them are your man.” 

She nods then, more to herself than anything. 

They sit there in the quiet, the sounds of nearby crawbats calling to each other the only thing to break up the silence. 

Finally, she runs her fingers through her hair and groans. She sounds more herself. “I had a dream that he was here. That I turned around and it was him. Right behind me.” She shivers. “He only ever snuck up on me like that once or twice, but that’s how I remember him the most. Just being there, so suddenly.” 

“Well, wherever he is, it’s not here,” Mevix assures her.

She nods again, shivers. 

Changes the subject. 

She asks about supplies for the realm and assistance needed and after a few mutual friends of theirs. Mevix lets her set the course for their conversation and answers appropriately. By the time they walk back toward the theater, she seems like her usual self, quiet and distant, but dutiful and filled with purpose.

He sees her to the flightmaster before turning and heading off to find Vole. He has some inquiries to make.

After all, he wants to make sure that Derrick Bloodsworn is not in Maldraxxus.

And if he is…

Well, Mevix can fix that.

[museenkuss]

Omg what's your story graph?

It’s @ Augenstern :) (maybe I’ll have to change it to Museenkuss to stay on brand, but that’s where we’re currently at)

And you didn’t ask but the review is in German (it was a German book) and rereading it now made me giggle, so, if you want, here’s a translation of my review of “der Teezauberer” (the tea magician) by Ewald Arenz:

A tiny bit of context on the book since I give absolutely none (very stream of consciousness review): guy sells tea, adores tea and loves tea. He has a wife (who mostly appears sleeping next to him) and a child (no name) that he loves, maybe, and fantasises about leaving and/or cheating on the whole book before deciding to stop cheating in the end. He has magic powers that change the temperature of the room when he reads about tea. As he lives through his midlife crisis (at 30), he starts thinking there’s no more magic in the world etc and he should just leave his family to live with “the woman from Portugal” whom he read about as a kid and dreamt about ever since. Instead, he cheats on his wife with a bunch of other women. The world around him changes as he becomes more depressed, everyone starts dressing like historical figures (and mafia bosses…? That was so absurd) and riding horses, steam trains pop up etc etc. the magical realism could’ve been fun if the book had been written by someone else. I get what it was trying to do (love conquers all and doesn’t have to be perfect), but it sucked. Anyhow:

“He should’ve just written a book about tea and tea history, because it wasn’t enough for fiction [as in, the author didn’t have the means to write fiction]. In itself some ideas have potential (the concept of people magically change based on an inner force/need), but the execution was poor.

‘Whenever the protagonist reads or speaks certain words, the world around him changes’ — It seems as if the author has read inkheart, and now pretends he came up with the idea himself. Unfortunately it lacks the charm of inkheart. Everything is thrown together arbitrarily, the plot lags and falters. Yea is ordered desperately, only to be ignored for ages, then all tea cups are shattered and the longer-after tea is copied perfectly in a heroic session of tea-mixing. No stakes, no satisfying conclusion — and that’s a constant feature of all those vaguely interconnected episodes. Then the little pedophilic episode at the circus in the fog? It’s all very senseless.

But the worst part is how perfectly the book mirrors its own shortcomings. One [<- makes sense in German as a way to politely avoid saying “the author”] is ALMOST self aware enough to realise that none of the characters have any sense or purpose outside of being extras in this book about the protagonist. Nobody loved the protagonists brother as much as the protagonist, which is why we only learn about his existence on his funeral (on page 70), in a speech that’s about the main character. Then he is subsequently never mentioned again. His name? Age? Personality? Doesn’t matter.

All in all — a book about a protagonist who fantasises about cheating on his wife without qualities who adores him for no reason with a bunch of cliches. A domina who can only be tamed by him (and loves him). A literal dream woman (who loves him). A child? (That loves him).

And all of this written in a very kitschy writing style, packed full of metaphors that don’t make sense most of the time (someone peels themselves out of the fog as if out of fabric?).

Unfortunate.”

[crazybigredlove]

10th December 2013 

Dear Pete, 

We had something, Big Red and I. Something. I know that now. Something that could've been unbreakable, and nurtured until it could blossom into something so much bigger than what it started out as, but we proved them wrong. We did it. We broke it into so many pieces that now there's nothing left but a hollowness that echoes with anger. 

I existed before it came along, I was happy. So why does that concept seem foreign now? 

After all this, at least I finally know it was real, even if he acts like it wasn't. All those times he stared into my eyes and told me how amazing I was, it felt real. And it didn't matter if it wasn't because we both knew that one day it would be. 

But we broke it. And now it can't ever go back together. There's nothing left of it. 

I'm not sad for me anymore, I'm sad that twice I was offered something that seemed so special and twice it was torn to pieces like an old rag. Maybe that's it though. Maybe if it can be destroyed so easily and without a second thought, then it really doesn't mean that much. Any value is just perceived rather than actually existing. 

I tried talking to Harry about it. 

"Do you think you can break your life so much that the only way to put it together is to start again?" 

Peering at me over his glasses, he gave me a long look up and down as if searching for signs of trauma. "I don't think it's possible to truly start again. Who we are is the result of all our experiences. We can pretend they didn't happen, but it doesn't make them any less real." 

"What if you reach a point though, where you know you just need new everything? New plans, new scene, new job... Everything. New." "I think lots of people reach that point. That's why they move interstate, or they take extended holidays overseas. Is that what you're thinking of doing?" 

"I can't choose the hand I'm dealt, I'm old enough to realise and appreciate that, but if I don't like the hand I don't see why I shouldn't try again for a new one. At least for a little while." "Was there somewhere in particular you were thinking of going?" Laughing as I speak, I'm aware of how vague it all sounds. "Nowhere. Everywhere. I have enough saved up that I could pack up the car and my dog, throw some clothes in the back, and drive for a few months. Head up the coast. See some sights. Work out what I really want to do with my life. Kind of like a holiday, but closer to home and for a lot longer than I've ever holidayed for." 

"If you're doing it for the right reasons and you're in a position where you can, I think most people would enjoy doing that at some stage, for a period." "I feel like I need a little time away from all my drama. To know that these men can't get to me, that there's no pressure to do a job I hate, and to make choices without other influences. For a period." 

"Then I think it's a good idea, provided you go away knowing that at some point the real world will kick in again and you'll have to return to work, to pressure, to reality." 

I'm not sure what the goal of his words was, but they filled me with hope. I suddenly felt so confident that mine was the right decision. 

"I still want to call him. Tell him this is it and he needs to stay this time or never come back again." 

"Do you really think he doesn't know that already? And do you really think you should?" Closing my eyes, I smile bitterly. "I know I can't. It's what I always do right? He wouldn't believe me anyway. It has to be different or nothing changes." 

Harry nodded. "If we keep doing what we've always done..." He let his voice trail off. Why waste words on things that don't need to be said? "There is a small part of me that still wants to be with him," I admit with an embarrassed scowl. "But I'm not sharing anymore. I want the version of him that would give me birthday presents and Christmas presents; the one that would show me off to his friends rather than hide my very existence. I'm not settling for anything less than that with anyone." 

"Do you really see yourself being able to sustain a relationship with a man who has behaved the way that he has though?" "Yes. Because believing 'not for now, but maybe' is what's going to help me move to 'never again'." 

Strange thoughts in my head, but I'm not sad. I'm making plans. Plans intended to be shared with people who don't discard me so easily. 

Liv x