#call it characterization but either way I'm just having fun

[fairweather-fangs]

F was exhausted. He'd been working all day, staff had announced they needed someone to helo the grounds keepers pressure wash the outside of the building and when no one took the job F stepped up to save some miserable soul from being randomly selected. He hated that he was so compassionate, after all had he kept his mouth shut someone else would be stuck with this job and he wouldn't be in this situation but alas, when push came to shove F personally viewed himself as a sort of martyr. He'd take the brunt of the suffering for his fellow students, for no other reason than to promote happiness. It was stupid and thankless but there was one reward: he was trustworthy.

F was the go to great student of Wammys, not a good detective but definitely a great person. At this point he believed he was kept in the L rankings just to keep someone more volatile from going off after they were bumped to last place. The house keepers were happy to have him around, he was kind and very helpful, a very promising young man they said. His teachers spoke highly of him, always one to volunteer in class and while not exceptional like the upper most ranks, he was still dedicated. Yes F was truly a staff favorite in the orphanage.

Which is why after long hours of pressure washing he was summoned to Roger's office for an important mission.

"Ferrum," the old man croaked, "There’s something very important I need to discuss with you."

F sat down in the plush chair situated in front of a luxurious desk and focused at the sound of his ailias. Iron... not a terrible metal, but not exceptional. A great, perfectly ok and reliable element, just like F himself.

"Of course, Roger, what is it?" F asked in his most professional tone.

"There have been.. issues... regarding some illegal substance usage in this establishment. Several students have been lacking in their performance and at least two have been admitted to the hospital due to overdose. I was wondering, since you have such a pension for drug related cases, if you could help find whoever is distributing these substances?"

F nodded along. Hearing the words 'illegal substances' made him almost smile, but he had to maintain his persona.

"I came to you because truthfully... it could be anyone. I thought you might be the least likely to be involved in the trade. Please investigate the other students if you will. If you can bring me the ring leader of the market they'll be a hefty reward for you."

F gave one strong nod, "Of course, Roger. Anything to help rid our wonderful school of such a terrible epidemic."

"Thank you, Ferrum. Take as long as you need, but please help find whoever is distributing these drugs."

F smiled and stood up, "I'll get right to it."

With that he left the room and marched to his dorm with a fire in his eyes. Only after he entered his space and closed the door sid he finally react the way he truly felt.

Laughter.

F broke down cackling, that Roger thought he was the least likely to be involved in the Wammys drug ring. It spoke to how stupid the staff truly were.

F had been in a drug cartel himself before Wammys, his first friends were known drug abusers and he was known to keep a large portion of drug dealers out of prison to use for 'other cases.' Not only that but he was incredibly secretive about his room and pockets, often snuck around to the dark, secluded parts of the property and was fucking high and or/drunk half the time. Anyone with common sense would suspect him, but that went to show how much a little good behavior made the adults who ran the building over look suspicious behavior.

F was a good boy with a troubled past, he had a few bad friends at one point and everyone keeps a few criminals free for later use. F likes his privacy just like any other 17 year old boy, he lokes exploring and sneaking out at night to see the stars not do drug deals obviously, and F's behavior isn't weird, he's always like that. That's what the staff told themselves.

F sat down on his bed. He was lucky the staff trusted him because this was a golden opportunity to pin the drug issues on other kids who tried to compete with him. Of course, there were issues with the plan, so F had to plot.

"Ok," he whispered to himself, "Roger needs me to get this job done. If I do the job I get whatever reward he's offering and I get extra brownie points with the staff, not completing the job will result in likely punishment and a massive decrease in said brownie points and not to mention... added suspicion which may compromise the operation..."

'No... failure is not an option. Not at all...' F thought to himself.

In order to succeed he knew what must be done. He needed to frame another student as the largest drug pusher in the orphanage, collect enough evidence to look convincing and make sure no one interfered or tried to expose him. This plan presented a few major issues.

First off, F was the premier drug lord of Wammys. He estimated he controlled roughly 70% of the drugs trafficked through Wammys in some way or another. It would be very hard to make a convincing drug bust without sabotaging his own business, though he supposed he could lay low for a while after his culprit was detained.

Second of all collecting evidence would be hard. The cameras complicated things, staff would be abke to watch him investigate so he'd need to actually appear to investigate. Obviously a false investigation would raise suspension in the other students, though he supposed that worked in his favor. If thw staff asked why he wasn't investigating, he could always say he had to show no signs he was doing so, lest the other detectives in training notice.

This was the third issue. Interference. Certainly if an upper rank student was involved it would complicate things. F was not stupid, only lazy, but he knew that even if he tried he would not be able to succeed top five. If for whatever reason an upper ranked student decided F needed to go, they'd dispose of him. Getting the culprit to not snitch on F was also an issue. Naturally, exposing F as the real monster was the best defense so he'd need either someone who wouldn't do that or a way to scare someone into not talking. F could think of a few ways to break a man, that or manipulate them. Now that he thought of it... weak links in his chain of command were also effective dummy drug lords, but he was unaware if anyone in the so called Fang Gang would be willing to go down for their boss.

The more he thought about it, the more pressing the issue became. F held his head in his hands and sighed. He supposed that sitting around contemplating hsi predicament would not fix anything and decided he could at least work on his mock investigation. He needed a suspect list after all.

Walking down the halls he wondered who would make for a good scape goat. He had rivals who came to mind, some other students in the program, some regular orphans. He supposed someone with no detective training would be easiest to break, or better yet less likely to be able to retort against him in a coherent way.

Sitting in the library he observed. It was a quiet Saturday afternoon, and there wasn't much for entertainment around Wammys so naturally many came to the library for something to do in their spare time. F eyed the camera in the corner, placed perfectly to overlook a good portion of the shelfless space in the library. He wasn't sure of the specific range of all the cameras in the house but there was no doubt the camera could clearly see what he was doing.

In an attempt to look like he was actually doing something, he took out a notepad and began writing the names of people in the library, noting their behavior while trying to be somewhat discreet about watching them. Though of course, F already had a pension for people watching, so it was only the notetaking his peers would find strange. Regardless, he was in his own world, simply trying to reason which student to pin his blame on.

[kurogane2512]

The absolute feral things I’d do to be in between the four Fatui harbinger women I swear-

The most intense fivesome holy shit 🥵 Oh and it'll be a sixsome once we get Tsaritsa god I hope she'll have adult model 😩

18+ CONTENT

La Signora + Colombina + Sandrone + Arlecchino x fem!reader (I'd love to put Crucabena too ngl but hmm next time)

Smut with plot, fivesome with the Harbinger ladies 🥵 (I do apologize if some characterizations and dynamics are....different from what you'd expect or are used to seeing, I don't necessarily hc them the way majority of the fandom does. Also apologies for Signora bias it just happens naturally 😖).

This definitely turned out longer than planned but I thought to do it properly at once, might be messy idk first time writing a fivesome everything is so confusing but I did my best 😭

"Oh my, aren't you being quite rough with her, Marionette?~" a cheerful melodic voice resounded in your ear, the voice belonging to none other than the 3rd Fatui Harbinger, Colombina.

"May I remind you that you are the one who suggested doing this, Damselette?" the 7th Fatui Harbinger, Sandrone, retorted.

You were currently in one of the private rooms in the Zapolyarny Palace. You had been called by Sandrone stating requirement for some work, little did you know she simply wanted to use you for some stress relief. What you predicted even less was the involvement of Colombina, who invited herself in after finding out your whereabouts from the Fatui soldiers here and there. Her reason being that she was bored and was looking for you for some entertainment.

"Hehe, now now don't mind the details. She looks adorable this way, doesn't she?~" Colombina spoke in a cheerful voice sending shivers down your spine. How exactly were you looking? Ah that's right, you were blindfolded with your hands tied to the bedposts while both the Harbingers were seated on either side and watched you squirm.

"M-My ladies, please, we must not—"

"Oh, hush. I'm in a good mood right now so you might be in for a treat~" Colombina said.

"Hmph, if you are worried about your superior finding out then you should have resisted earlier when I called you, doll~" Sandrone added, her thumb tracing your lips.

Colombina gave a sound of agreement with Sandrone. You then felt another pair of fingers tracing your chin down to your neck, likely Colombina's considering their softness.

"Hmm, let us have some fun now, little lamb~"

You weren't new in the Fatui anymore, you had been here for 10 years now. But perhaps in the eyes of these immortal Harbingers, you were just a flicker of human life. And literally speaking, you were taller than Colombina but of course, nothing compared to her in terms of power and status. You felt a pair of hands roam down your chest and fondle your breasts through your clothes, one hand roaming even further down your abdomen.

You pursed your lips and breathed out intensely, your arms aching from being tied in the air but the 2 Harbingers didn't seem keen on releasing you anytime soon. You heard ruffling of clothes and assumed they had taken off their dresses; oh, how you wished to see them right now. Another pair of hands now unbuttoned your coat and draped it away to expose your body but didn't remove it completely.

"Ahem, what have I walked into here?~" a familiar voice spoke from afar, coming from the direction of the door.

"Knave, who gave you permission to enter?" Sandrone asked in a heavy tone.

"I knocked many times but nobody answered, Marionette. I meant to simply check if something was amiss and the door wasn't locked." The 4th Fatui Harbinger, Arlecchino, answered while standing in the doorway and looking at the scene in front with amusement.

"Oh, oops~ That would be me, I left it unlocked in case more parties were interested to join~" Colombina said in her cheery voice again.

You became even more nervous realizing another Harbinger was here and looking at your state of depravity. If your actual superior found out about this then you would be in trouble....

Arlecchino remained silent for a while and observed the scene before speaking, "Don't you both know Signora doesn't take well to her subordinates being used without her permission? Especially when it comes to her...."

The Knave was correct. You belonged to the 8th Harbinger, La Signora's unit and were one of her favorites, everyone knew that with the way she treated you. It was also true that she didn't like other Harbingers taking her subordinates without permission, especially when it came to uses like this.

"Hehe~ What? Are you going to tell on us like some obedient child, Knave?~" Colombina teased.

"Not that we care if you do, just to inform you~" Sandrone added.

Arlecchino gave no response and instead kicked the door close while walking inside. You heard her heels clink as she walked closer and became more anxious with each approaching step, you knew what was going to happen. Arlecchino removed her coat and pants then you felt the bed sink as she climbed on and crawled towards you. You could very well feel 3 dominating presences around you, all of them ready to devour you in their own ways.

"You prepared her like some lavish treat. I think it's time to unwrap~" Arlecchino remarked before removing the blindfold from your eyes. Bright light was cast on your vision causing you to squint your eyes for a moment before you opened them to see the 3 Harbingers around you, all of them sitting in just their bra and underwear.

"Are you scared, kitten?~" Arlecchino asked with a grin while grasping your jaw. You gulped then shook your head sideways, "N-No ma'am...."

Arlecchino's eyes flared, "Good. The Fair Lady indeed trains her subordinates well~"

Arlecchino then crawled to sit behind you. She undid your arms from the bedposts and made you sit on her lap, her breasts pressing against your back while her arms wrapped around your torso. Colombina and Sandrone spread your legs apart to sit in between and started roaming their hands all over you, caressing you like some prized possession. Arlecchino's fingers grazed your nipples through your bra while Colombina and Sandrone caressed your crotch, feeling your essence drip through and soak your pants.

"Oh, she's enjoying this. Give us your cute noises, little lamb. Show us how good you feel~" Colombina encouraged you.

You sighed through enclosed lips and threw your head back on Arlecchino's shoulder, giving her the perfect opportunity to kiss your exposed neck. Colombina and Sandrone slid down your shirt from each side and threw it away then dived in to kiss your chest and shoulders, their hands fondling your breasts simultaneously. Arlecchino's hands roamed down to your abdomen, pressing a finger against your clothed clit making you softly gasp.

You felt warm all over as they increased their ministrations gradually, their own body temperatures radiating through. However, the warmth was short lived as the room suddenly became frighteningly cold causing everyone to stop their movements. All of them smirked and looked towards the doorway to find the source of the sudden cold; of course, it was your superior standing at the doorway making the surroundings cold with her delusion.

You shivered feeling her presence and piercing gaze at you. She stood with her eye squinted and looked at the scene with clear anger on her face. Oh, you were in serious trouble, weren't you? Signora proceeded to walk in and stopped at the edge of the bed, looking at you and others with her arms folded over her chest and a frown on her face. The 3 Harbingers around you spoke nothing and instead continued their movements from earlier.

"How dare you three....!" Signora shouted, making you tremble from her high pitch and heavy voice. Colombina was first to chuckle and traced your cheek with her finger before planting a kiss on it, "You are late, Signora~"

Arlecchino followed and licked a strip up your neck, "She's already ours, Fair Lady~"

Sandrone continued by lightly biting your collarbone, "You can pick her up later. Unless you wish to join~"

Signora was seething at this point. She couldn't believe the audacity of her colleagues, but more than that she couldn't believe that you agreed to this. She knew it was futile to argue with them so she instead focused her gaze on you. You were speechless looking at her, you didn't know what to speak. You could tell she was angry but at the same time, she looked almost hurt as if you betrayed her.

"Explain yourself, Y/n!" she demanded.

"M-My lady, I'm sorry! I-I...."

You trailed off and struggled to give any explanation. What could you really say? You indeed consented to this even if you were initially caught off guard. This wasn't the first time the other Harbingers did these things with you, and Signora also knew that but she never had such a radical reaction like now.

"Do you want this, Y/n?" Signora asked further after sensing your silence, but what could you say other than silence?

"Tsk tsk, this is unfair, Signora~" Colombina broke the silence and replied in your stead.

"Mhm, you are putting her on the spot." Sandrone added.

"Indeed. What are you really expecting her to say?" Arlecchino also added.

Signora gritted her teeth at the unbelievable situation. She also wasn't sure what she wanted you to say; perhaps she wanted you to stop and go with her, only her. The three of them released you for a moment, letting you breathe and crawl off Arlecchino's lap to go near Signora. Signora furrowed her brows then turned around with a scoff and proceeded to walk away, not saying a word to anyone. You looked at her wide-eyed and quickly got up to catch up to her and stop her.

"M-My lady, please stop! Please listen to me!"

You grabbed her wrist and finally stopped her for a moment, begging her to listen. Signora turned to face you but she really didn't want to listen to anything.

"I...I'm sorry for doing this without your permission. But please, don't leave like this...."

Signora silently listened and you continued, "I promise this won't happen again but for now, could you please.... stay?"

Signora looked at you wide-eyed hearing your surprising request. The other 3 Harbingers were also caught by surprise but were more pleasantly amused. Signora thought for a while then let out a sigh and suddenly kept her hand on your chest and began pushing you backwards while she walked forward with you. You hit the bedside and she pushed you down to sit on the edge while she began removing her clothes.

"We do this one time. Is that clear?" Signora finally spoke and eyed each of the Harbingers around you.

Your breath got caught in your throat as you watched her remove her cape and slide down her dress to reveal her tempting figure, leaving just her bra and underwear on like the rest.

"Sure sure whatever. Now come here, litte lamb~"

Colombina feigned agreement to Signora's condition, the other 2 also giving a simple hum showing they didn't take it seriously. You were so caught up gazing at the Fair Lady's body that you froze in place and didn't move at all. Signora chuckled at your state and cupped your face, lightly caressing it before tracing your jaw with her cold fingers. You flinched slightly and realized the situation, Signora was ready to climb up on you but you quickly shifted back to your previous position and gave her space to come closer as well.

"Hm, disobeying my order, little lamb?~" Colombina pulled your face to her side, making you look at her.

"N-No ma'am! I'm sorry I didn't mean to—!"

"I'll forgive you if you make up for it~"

You vigorously nodded and waited for her, or any of them, to do something. All of them shifted closer to you and caged you within, leaving absolutely no space to escape. The next thing you knew, your body was being groped and felt all over by their hands. Signora caressed your neck and slid down to your belly, Colombina and Sandrone fondled each of your breasts while Arlecchino was caressing your nape and shoulders.

They then leaned in at the same time and began kissing you all over. Signora was busy marking your neck with her red lipstick, leaving visible imprints all over your chest. Colombina and Sandrone kissed your arms and licked your ears, Arlecchino was occupied with kissing your nape and back. You shuddered feeling each of their lips on you at the same time, numerous sensations running through your body making you lose your mind.

Signora licked up a long strip from your neck to your chin then connected your lips with hers in a passionate kiss. Your mind went blank feeling her soft lips on your own, the kiss being deep as she rolled her tongue with yours and explored your mouth. You gasped as she pulled away but had no time to breathe as your face was pulled to the right side and another set of lips kissed you.

"How unfair, Signora! I wanted to kiss her first!~" Colombina protested before deeply kissing you, her tongue swiping against your lips and exploring your mouth in a hurried manner.

Signora smirked, "You had her before me, you had all the time to make your move~"

"Hmph, you get to be with her most of the time. You must have had your fill already." Sandrone commented and pulled your face away from Colombina's grip then kissed you as well. Her kiss was slower but equally passionate as them, her tongue rolling with yours too.

"Now now, let's not overwhelm the poor girl~" Arlecchino's voice brushed past your ear as your face was turned to the extreme and she leaned forward to kiss you, biting your lower lip before rolling her tongue with yours. Your mind was numb by the time each of them kissed you, and you had no idea how you were going to handle the rest of the night.

"You all didn't even undress her properly. Am I supposed to do everything here?~" Signora remarked while looking at you still wearing your bra and underwear. Arlecchino was quick to act and unhooked your bra followed by Colombina and Sandrone sliding off each of the straps and putting it away. Signora's gaze roamed down to your underwear and your body acted on its own as you spread your legs and raised up slightly enabling her to take off your underwear.

"Good girl~" Signora praised with a smirk.

Soon after, you were lying flat on your back while Signora and Colombina fingered your folds and Arlecchino and Sandrone played with your breasts. You felt 2, even 3 fingers circling your clit and pinching it before parting your folds. Colombina was more impatient as she inserted a finger inside you immediately and started thrusting in and out, giggling along while looking at you moan and squirm.

Signora rolled her eyes at Colombina's behavior but wasn't going to be beaten by her. She inserted 2 fingers in one go as you were so wet already. Your body arched unexpectedly as a loud gasp was pushed from you, their fingers grinding and rolling inside to pleasure your sweet spots. Both of them also used their hands to continue rubbing your clit, making you wetter and grasp their fingers.

"Oh, she's so cute. I never have so much fun with anyone else~" Colombina cooed.

Meanwhile, Arlecchino and Sandrone were pinching and caressing your breasts. Their dainty fingers squeezed and pressed your nipples, eliciting even more moans from you. Arlecchino leaned down to wrap her lips around your nipple, her teeth grazed your bud before she suddenly started sucking. You gasped in pleasure and writhed more, making Sandrone annoyed as you weren't staying still as she wanted. Sandrone also resorted to sucking your nipples now and you had no way of moving around, essentially being weighed down by both of them.

"Aaaahn.... p-please.... I'm c-close—!~" you cried out, begging them for your release.

"No, you have to hold on, little lamb~" Colombina said.

"Mhm, you can do better than this, my tiger~" Signora added.

You bit your lower lip and desperately tried to hold on as they wanted but it was extremely difficult with all the pleasure you were receiving.

"It's our turn now." Arlecchino demanded after letting releasing your nipple with a pop, still circling the bud with her fingers.

"I don't know why I'm even bothering to wait this way." Sandrone commented.

"Oh, don't be in such a hurry both of you. We are going to make her cum first so just shut it and watch." Signora scolded without even looking at them, she was entirely focused on you.

Arlecchino and Sandrone took offense to her words but nevertheless waited for your sake. Signora curled her fingers and hit a particular spot inside you which made your eyes widen and body roll away, feeling overwhelmed instantly.

"There it is. I know your body best, don't I?~" she proudly said and continued hitting that spot. Colombina followed suit and touched the same spots as well. Your eyes rolled to the back of your head, your legs trying to close in and clenching their hands but both of them easily spread your legs wide again.

"Looks like it is time now. Cum for us, little lamb~" Colombina praised and you felt the knot in your stomach release as you finally came, drenching their fingers with your slick.

Both of them took out their fingers after a while, giving you a brief moment of relief as you breathed in and out. The break was short lived as you were suddenly flipped over to lay on your back then rotated around to face Signora and Colombina while Arlecchino and Sandrone had your crotch in sight. You whimpered from the rough handling, the 4 of them coordinated the movement with ease as if handling a mere toy.

Your legs were spread wide and you were pulled closer by Arlecchino and Sandrone as they occupied spaces between your legs and rubbed their fingers over your dripping folds. You looked back at them and blushed with the way they gazed at you, their lips curled up in a devious smirk and eyes flaring with desire. You tried to sit up slightly but found it difficult; as if sensing your difficulty, Signora pulled you closer and made you lay on her body.

Your face flushed against her breasts and her arms wrapped around to hold you comfortably. Colombina caressed your head and nape in this position and soon after Arlecchino and Sandrone started fingering you. You gasped and held onto Signora tighter, your moans muffled while Arlecchino and Sandrone's fingers wrapped inside your tight mushy walls. Their movements were more erratic and unkempt compared to Signora and Colombina, it was almost as if they were competing who'll make you cum.

"Nghhh~ M-My ladies.... s-slower, please— aaahn!~"

"Hm? Did you say harder?~" Arlecchino teased.

"I believe she said faster~" Sandrone added.

Your body trembled as they increased their pace opposed to your protests. Both of them had 2 fingers each inserted and scissored them roughly, grinding and thrusting everywhere all at once drawing out your juices. You were eventually standing on your knees and leaned into Signora, moaning into her ear while she held you and the 2 Harbingers behind continued fingering you.

"C-Cumming, please.... mmh— ngh!~"

Signora smirked and eyed Arlecchino and Sandrone who gave a nod of approval then hilted their fingers deeply, thrusting against your deepest spots. You jolted forward with a mewl, pressing into Signora even more as you neared your release. Arlecchino and Sandrone leaned on your back at the same time, their arms wrapping around you making you straighten your back. Their lips neared your ears, warm breath brushing past the edge as they whispered together, "Cum now, kitten/doll~"

You whimpered breathlessly and came, an intense orgasm washing over you making you go limp. They took out their fingers and played with your essence coating their tips while gazing at you with a smirk. You panted out hard while recovering from the mind-numbing sensation, but you were well aware the 4 of them were far from done with you. The fact that you could stay awake even now was commendable to them, and certainly fueled them to do more.

They looked at your quivering body and waited for some time before flipping you over again, making you lay flat on your back. Your legs were parted and you felt Signora straddle you in a scissor formation, keeping one leg over the other. You realized she had removed her underwear as you felt her folds rub on your thigh, you then looked around and saw all of them had discarded their underwear sometime while you were recovering.

Signora wetted her fingers and rubbed her core with them while Colombina was quick to straddle your face and place her core on your lips while facing you, looking down at you with a playful smile.

"Seems to me you both are far more impatient than us." Sandrone husked then grabbed your left hand and placed it under her core, aligning your fingers up.

Arlecchino moved to the other side and did the same with your right hand, "Indeed, I'll have to forcefully take her if this keeps up~"

Signora scoffed, "I don't care where you all take her. In the end, she will always come back to me~"

"Mmmh, I'll just go ahead and start while you three bicker away~" Colombina announced then started moving back n forth on your lips, you lapped up her folds with your tongue while her fingers gripped your hair and used it as leverage to grind herself on you.

Signora was next to act as she slowly joined her core with yours, your wet folds gliding over each other's and eliciting muffled moans from you that went straight to Colombina and made her shiver in ecstasy. Signora sighed in pleasure as your clit bumped with hers, her body shifting closer as she held your leg up on her shoulder and grinded with you.

The next course of action was obvious to you so you took the initiation and inserted each of your fingers inside Arlecchino and Sandrone respectively. Both of them were caught by surprise but maintained their composure and stabilized themselves before grinding back n forth as well, making your fingers hit the right spots inside them.

It was a highly erotic situation for you, all of your senses were occupied by them in some way and you were desperately trying to do your best to please them. Good thing your Fatui training came in handy, it would be impossible to keep up in a situation like this if you were just some normal citizen. Even then, this was more difficult than your field operations since you had to please 4 of your superiors at the same time, all of them having high expectations of you.

"Aaahn.... yes, right there.... little lamb.... oh, you are good at this~" Colombina moaned.

"Mhm... i-indeed, not bad.... she's improved— hngh!~" Sandrone added.

"R-Really? Mm.... s-she can improve more but perhaps.... this is better than b-before.... mmph~" Arlecchino followed reluctantly.

"Hehe.... don't underestimate her t-training.... ha— aahn~" Signora continued.

Colombina gripped your hair tighter and was riding your face with all her heart now, clearly becoming desperate to cum now. Her petite frame was easier to handle but she was also relentless, grinding back n forth on your face as if it was just a pillow. Sandrone was rubbing her clit now while you fingered her, curling your fingers inside her and hitting her sensitive spots.

Arlecchino was bouncing on your fingers now, trying to take them as deep as possible. Signora was being deliberately slow, she wanted to let the others finish first so she could have you all to herself for this moment. She thrusted into your core with long arcs, making you feel every sensation of her folds rubbing with yours. You were in cloud 9 by now, absolutely surrendered to all of them.

"Yes.... yes.... I'm there, little lamb.... just here.... yes— aaahn!~" Colombina moaned loudly as she released first, her juices dripping on your mouth and you tried drinking every drop. She panted on top of you for a moment then stood up and rolled on the bed, laying down in ecstasy.

Both Arlecchino and Sandrone were holding back their moans, simply giving little gruff sounds as they thrusted and bounced on your fingers before releasing one after the other then got off and laid on the bed as well, fanning their faces while resting. Signora took the opportunity she was waiting for. She grabbed your waist and pulled you closer, a startled gasp coming from you while she wrapped your thighs around herself.

Signora then leaned forward on you and covered your entire body, enabling you to see and feel nothing but her. Her hips rolled into you faster now, your core bumping and sliding off each other as slick mixed together. You gazed up at her with a pleasured look, eyes hooded and lips parted. She leaned down even further and almost embraced you now, her breasts pressing into yours and palms intertwining together.

You moaned as your legs were pushed back by her, your knees folding close to your chest and she kept grinding and rocking her body, fucking you as if she owned you which, in a sense, she did. You felt her face near your ear as her lips brushed the edge and her soft moans resounded closely, making you even more aroused from just her voice. But what she said next made you instantly release.

"Cum with me, my love~"

As if like a broken dam, you released abruptly and squirted all over. Signora grinned at your state and released immediately after, colliding her core with yours and keeping it connected as you gushed over her. Your body heaved intensely, you were seeing stars at this point and your mind practically stopped functioning. Signora rocked a few times to finish her orgasm then removed herself from you before sitting on the left side and recovering.

"Ah, this was good. But I want more!~" Colombina keened with a pout.

"Did you forget we have work to do, Damselette?" Sandrone scolded.

"Ugh, who cares about the boring work? Don't worry, I'm sure Her Majesty will understand~" Colombina retored.

Arlecchino sighed, "If we are continuing, then I demand to change some things."

Signora chuckled in response then suddenly stood up and wore her clothes again then picked you up in her arms bridal style and wrapped her cape over you.

"I said we do it once. I will be taking what's mine now, Y/n needs some rest then I will have a nice long talk with her~"

Signora proceeded to walk out, ignoring the protests of her colleagues- Colombina, particularly since Arlecchino and Sandrone accepted this and began to leave as well. Signora gazed at your curled up figure snuggled into her and smiled to herself, thinking how much importance you held in her heart.

[openphrase123]

i just finished this fic! it's good!

and because it's all done i want to like... be a LITTLE self indulgent and talk under the cut about some miscellaneous things that i ran into while writing it. don't click the readmore if you're interested in the fic and haven't read it yet i'm about to spoil the Whole thing.

also there is an epilogue to this fic now - go read that before this post if you're getting to this before the update!!

so!! i haven't written fanfiction in like FIVE YEARS. it's been a while! part of that is because i was doing original stuff and part of it was i was in a creative slump. so isat kind of dug me out of that and i owe it my thanks. i've been able to do a crazy amount of original work since starting this fic, it's brought back my creative discipline. in like seven years when my video game comes out you can thank isat for that probably

i originally set out thinking this was the only fic for isat i was going to write. and then as i was writing this i fell deeper into it. i kind of got out of isat a little disappointed in how it ended?? but now that i'm here i'm like ah it's fine. just cause i would have done something different in dev's position doesn't mean it's bad. it does mean i can write a bunch of fanfiction exploring things i wish had been tackled more in the game though LOL

i said this in one of the chapter authors notes but i DID start out curtain call hating loop with every fiber of my being. (as in i liked them as a character UNTIL the act 6 reveal which i thought was lame) and then i played through the game a second time knowing the loop twist and went "oh nvm this makes sense" so a lot of the loop stuff in this fic was actually written twice. originally i was just gonna have them soulmerge with siffrin and not be present at all but then i was like. no. i do want to keep this lighthearted and that's too depressing of an end for loop. i do have a loop postcanon doc so i'll go repay them for their slapdashed involvement in curtain call someday

i'm in a weird position with curtain call in that i wrote the themes and major conflicts Directly After playing through isat the first time. before i could really marinate and analyze the characters fully. so there are a lot of scenes and points where i think i wouldn't characterize certain people like that if i were to rewrite this from scratch? however i don't disagree with what i've written either - it's just an interpretation that i don't necessarily think is my favorite anymore.

neither is any of the worldbuilding i did for any of this - it works for curtain call and i think it was nice but i don't necessarily think it's my current interpretation of what the culture and people were like? i like the wishes being permanent thing, i like the language stuff, but i'd probably go in a different direction if i went through this again

i do actually still think "the forgotten island was destroyed by a volcano" is my solid headcanon explanation of what happened to it. in my heart. i think like - with siffrin as a character especially it's very important that he's always missing something, that it's not idyllically happy for them at the end of everything. so even if he can remember more from their own past, it's - you know - there's no way to go back. only forward.

in the vein of this i probably could have killed siffrin/loop's entire childhood family but i did not. mostly because i did think it was fun for him to have to explain all of those cultural taboos they broke to survive. which, of course, was not a big deal - any good parent would rather their kid be alive than lawful - but what is isat other than a vehicle to make siffrin work through every moral compulsion and spiral they experience

i had a thought halfway through writing the fic that i was stepping on the very good and beautiful odile friendquest by making the island real and having a lot of siffrin's personality dictate how it went. but i ultimately decided on keeping siffrin very close to their country, more than odile is to vaugarde, because siffrin actually DID live on the island when he was a kid and that i think is a Different type of "longing for your country" trauma than odile's. i think they can still drink over the feelings together though

writing bonnie is very fun but very emotional for me. the bonnie&siffrin age gap (preteen to late-20s) is the exact age gap between me and my niece so every time i need to sit down and write something for them i think about her and how much she's a little baby growing up. this has nothing to do with bonnie it just makes writing bonnie really hard for me

if the entire history of my ao3 account was not an indicator, i'm a very big fan of writing romance, but i did not want it to take over curtain call at all. i also could have left out sloopis entirely and almost did, but thought "you know. with the way loop functions in this fic. i should at least let that be open ended" cause sharing a body with a version of you who is dating some other guy is gonna get messy no matter what. it's just not necessarily something i had time to or the urge to explore here. think of it as a fun spiritual nod to the fact that isafrin is technically open ended in isat (<- cop out answer)

i think i'm pretty vocal in how much i am absolutely insane for the flashback "happiest i can remember being" conversation. who let them do that. i think a lot of how i worked with mirabelle and siffrin's relationship in this fic kind of revolved around that. important to me that it ends with mira checking in on him and getting the answer she was looking for all along <3

overall i'm happy with curtain call. glad i am done with it though. there's so much that's running in with it at once. i'll probably wait a month and reread the whole thing to myself front to back before i start having fond memories of this. i mean it's always gonna be the fic my nephew was born during and i'll always remember having a panic attack in the airport right after posting chapter 7 but it's gonna be weird letting this one sail off into the ocean of the internet. however feel free to ask anything about the fic, i wrote this in a lil hurry on a bad day and probably didn't cover everything

goodbye, curtain call!! i love you!!!!! i'll miss you!!!!

[looks both ways, waiting for most people to leave]

also. if you've read this far. i hope it's not too gauche of me to link my personal project. if you've read over 100k words of this you might enjoy the game i'm developing? i've been working on it for almost a year but i just started the devlog last month. it's still in early baby stages as far as a full video game goes but if you liked this you'll like the game when it comes out (similar nickname culture, timeloop trauma, petty interpersonal drama, very stupid jokes, natural disaster angst)

also there isn't a lot on the devblog yet, i've mostly been doing programming on it, i JUST started visdev i'm sorry if it's uglyyyyy (FOR NOW)

anyway i'm trusting you with that link. i'm going to use my professional name on that project when it airs don't cross the wires pretty please just pretend that's a butch-y cis woman's game <3 guard the closet door babeyyyyy

[arakkne]

Forget who it was, but earlier today I saw someone (a radfem, or at least someone commenting on a radfem's post) making fun of a hypothetical TIF and saying something to the effect of "lol imagine a girl with a hormonal beard and her vagina sweating in her boxers having the audacity to put down other women" (because the context of the post was about TIFs who get gender euphoria from being misogynistic), and I just think that characterization is super uncool and misogynistic in and of itself.

Like, (and I say this lovingly, because I know you can do better), you have a billion other ways to criticize TIFs without resorting to physical appearance. As a gnc woman who wears boxers (which are more comfortable and breathable than any "women's" underwear I've ever worn btw), that characterization made me feel weird, as if I'm doing something gross. I'm sure women with facial hair (who may have PCOS, hirsutism, or are detrans and were or are on testosterone) would not appreciate those words either.

So, yeah. Feel free to disagree, but I don't think I'm out of line by calling this out. Disparaging someone's appearance or clothes (especially if they're afab) is almost always misogynistic, or at the very least just unnecessarily mean. We can do better than that.

[ariaste]

Okay, I have to share this story because it was a hilarious experience, I'm not sure if the ask box will let me get through it in one message, bear with me.

So I'm scrolling through IWTV fanfiction on AO3, reading some of the more recent fics, and I find one fic that I really love. They've really got the Daniel tone and essence down, I'm laughing to myself on the couch. I decide to wait and read the fic out loud with my partner because when a fanfic is really good we like to share it. While I'm waiting for my partner to get back from canning peaches, I check the author's profile briefly and I'm like 'oh shit they write for The Untamed,' which is cool, that was our last fandom that we were super into.

My partner gets home-- I excitedly tell them that I've found a new fic for us to read and they'd better buckle in because it's got a hell of a vibe and they're not even ready. My partner is like 'oh hell yeah' and gets out their crochet project. (we're in our mid twenties I don't know why this particular day makes us sound like we're in our eighties)

Anyways, I tell them that the author also does MDZS content so we can check that out after our IWTV fic and then we start reading the story and it's very good-- they have to hold up a hand to make me stop reading because they're cry-laughing, and all is well. And then suddenly I go.... wait. Wait, hang on. Hang on, I have to check this person's profile. This is a little too familiar.

And my partner says "Wait. Is this the MDZS writer-" and I say "I don't know I'm checking, hang on" and then I look up and we make eye contact and I'm like "oh my god babe it's the Meng Yao writer."

Essential Background: Meng Yao is my favourite MDZS character and it's hard to find good fics for him. A couple of years ago, my partner was reading the HOA fic and gushing about it, I was insisting that 'an act too often neglected' was simply the best MDZS fic that could ever be written, and we were absolutely shocked to discover they had an author in common, and then a while later there was ANOTHER fic I started reading out loud to my partner because it was That Good and it turned out to ALSO be the same author, so we just started calling them 'The Meng Yao writer' aka the only person we trust to write him.

Basically what I'm saying is that whenever either of us reads anything you've written, it's so goddamn good that we end up sharing it with each other and not realizing that it's the Same Author every time. So. I'm buying one of your books for my partner's next birthday I guess because you're clearly just That Good. Thank you for the multiple years of enjoyable fics and the consistent joy you're bringing to our household. Also I want to eat up your Daniel Molloy characterization with a knife and fork. Thank you.

This is the most delightful ask that it is possible to get. I am giggling and kicking my feet and grinning ear to ear. This is so sweet.

This is also so fucking funny to me. "The Meng Yao writer" ahhh my legacy. The arguing over which fic is better until the moment you realize they're both mine. The way you keep finding my fics and independently discovering every time that they're Finally Some Good Fucking Food without having learned my AO3 name at some point during that process until the third or fourth time i have jumpscared you with it dfghjkkdfghjkfghj Ariaste/Alexandra Rowland is everywhere, they're in your walls, they're currently standing right behind you actually ghjklwwghjwkl;

BLESS YOU AND YOUR PARTNER, your relationship sounds honestly ideal. I hope you keep reading fics and crocheting together forever.

Also very flattered that you're taking a swing with my original works! Thank you!! They are all set in the same world but they're usually (so far) about different characters, so as you read more of them you're going to start catching some fun cross-references between them. My thirteenth book comes out next month, so here's some good places to start based on the fics you've pointed out that you've particularly liked:

if you want more laughing-until-you-are-crying-and-have-to-stop-because-you-genuinely-cannot-breathe content (a la "different for vampires", HOAverse (Meng Yao and the Board of the Homeowners Association), or any of my other high comedic fics), start with RUNNING CLOSE TO THE WIND. It's about queer pirates accidentally stealing and trying to find a buyer for the most valuable secret in the world, and standing up against institutional hegemony. Also horny sea serpents. Also a plot-relevant cake competition. If you cried laughing at any of my fics in the past, you are not prepared for what I'm about to do to you here.

if you are enjoying the Snarky Old Man content that is Daniel Molloy and his disquisitions on the nature of storytelling and truth-seeking in "different for vampires", go for A CONSPIRACY OF TRUTHS, which has more of both of those things. It's about an elderly wandering storyteller who has been imprisoned on charges of witchcraft, treason, and brazen impertinence, and the stories he tells to rescue himself from the situation. And the corrupt government he accidentally knocks over along the way, whoops

If you liked the yearning, sweeping romance of the main pairing in "an act too often neglected", try A TASTE OF GOLD AND IRON, which is about an Exquisitely Beautiful Prince with a chronic anxiety disorder and his Stoic Beefy Bodyguard as they attempt to track down a coin counterfeiting ring that could bring down their whole economy, and also they fall in love along the way.

My next book, YIELD UNDER GREAT PERSUASION (out in September), is also great for that sweeping romance vibe, but preorders are not quite up yet! If you are looking for a cozy M/M romantasy about a prickly, grouchy tea shop owner, his childhood nemesis who he's been fucking since they were teenagers, and the hard, unglamorous journey of personal growth toward self-love and self-forgiveness to be able to accept love from other people... Watch this space, get on my Discord server (where i am these days constantly ranting about IWTV in a dedicated thread), or sign up for my newsletter linked on my website

Thank you again for the entirely LOVELY ask, I will be beaming all day. Please give your partner a high five from me, I hope the two of you enjoy the books (and if you want to get autographed copies for their birthday, hit me up in DMs and we can get that sorted out)!

Also, there will be a new chapter of "different for vampires" going up in the next hour or so :D

[showsandstuff]

WHAT'S UP!

Welcome to my post where I praise the fanon original league version of Jayvik!!!

I'm gonna be real, I will miss the Og machine herald Viktor. I never played league, and I'm not going to, but before season 2 came out I read his lore and he's actually a pretty fun character.

Then after season two act 1 came out, I dove into the world of fanfiction cause I started shipping Jayvik and found kind a few fics about the league of legend versions of the characters. And here is what I will say.

If we go with fanon alone, I actually prefer the league versions.

League Viktor and League Jayce are actual enemies for most of the time. They used to be colleagues, then Viktor was getting into brainwashing whilst Jayce was a dick and got him kicked out of the academy. He also didn't speak up when some other scientist took credit of Viktors invention. Oh and there were misunderstandings about some crystal...

Long story short, they don't like each other. But in the fics they often times either clear the misunderstandings and make up or yearn for each other whilst on opposite sites. Or they fight each other which leads to make out sessions because why not.

The characters are also generally more fun to read about.

Jayce is a huge dick, that is literally his most defining personality trade. He is a cocky bastard and people like him until they get to know him because he's just such an asshole.

And Viktor is just... Really fucking silly. He wants to get rid of his emotions and says that he already did get rid off them, but then Jayce pisses him off and you can tell no way?? Where did you get rid off your emotions? You've been whining non stop. There's also still love, kindness and empathy within Viktor, but he somehow convinces himself that he is emotionless. It gets especially good when that's played for comedy, which it oftentimes is!

Also, the nicknames! They still call each other Jayce and Viktor but Viktor also calls Jayce "Defender" short for "Defender of tomorrow" which is jayces title, and Jayce calls him either V or Machine Herald, depending on the mood.

Arcane season 2 was too rushed and packed with so many seperate story lines that we didn't have enough time for the characters. We needed at least one more season.

But the fanon for the league version, as someone who never played it, gives me this huge time frame of them being enemies but they used to be colleagues or friends (or more than friends depending on the writer), and then a huge time frame of them being enemies.

Og machine herald League Viktor though??? PEAK, WHAT A FUNNY CRINGEFAIL LOSER!

Now more to Arcane...

I think as much as I love Jayvik there, it's all just too sad, especially if you don't necessarily want to read act 1 fanfictions or AUs.

Also Viktor is super hard to characterize because his personally changes with almost every act. That's why I don't buy it when people complain about the way he is characterized because Ik all yall want is sassy S1 Act 1 Viktor, but I prefer the less confident and workaholic Act 2 Viktor. We are not the same.

The Fanon of League is just, somehow, more consistent in a way, because it has existed just much longer and people probably get inspired by the same shippers for how to write their dynamic.

Arcane fics though depend on how the individual interprets the characters, and with characters whose arcs were rushed sm it's just impossible.

So Og machine herald Viktor, you will be missed. I hope people don't stop writing for them and drawing fanart!!

[emmitaaa4]

Addressing some fandom BS inconsistencies

Gwyn was shadow mommy, Az was shadow daddy, they were gonna have shadow babies with her extra super pliable bones.

I audibly chocked when I read this @nikethestatue (btw everything said in this post was on point). No but seriously this is how they sound, too many of them insisting that there is nothing wrong with basing the likelihood of a ship on who has the more suitable uterus to be with a man... cause supposedly they're just picking up on the hints SJM wrote for them? She likes babies for HEAs so ofc children are the end all be all of a relationship, plus there's absolutely no way that she could ever write an adoption plot SJM is literally adopted and has done it in other series. Selective reading strikes again.

A minimum amount of critical thinking would tell you that 1) the infamous *magical uterus change* scene was about nessian (& feysand), not about any ship; 2) if SJM had written Nesta changing Elain's uterus, it would have given too much away, not to mention 3) how disturbing/violating it would have been for Nesta to change her sister's reproductive anatomy WITHOUT HER CONSENT?! None of it makes sense narratively; my girl Nes would never, especially given the trauma they both suffered from having their bodily autonomy--and so much more--ripped away by the Cauldron.

This argument is so trivialized that I see it every other day on reddit/tiktok/*insert media app*, and yet elriels are the toxic side of the fandom? The ones whom people are allowed to insult, to ridicule for theories all made in good fun, the women that are villainized over a difference of opinion? Don't get me wrong, there's assholes on both sides and people keep calling one another variations of delulu (and the nastier personal attacks). But by painting this fandom-wide villain there is such a lack of accountability for the plethora of harmful talking points spread by other portions of the fandom. (I've been silently reading the anti-elain & anti-elriel tags for like a year, and I'm on tiktok. Yes, I have self-destructive tendencies).

Anyways.

I never understood either how people ever actually thought (or well still think) that gwynriel would happen BEFORE elucien?? It makes no sense logically, narratively, or in terms of characterization & the arc she's set up for Elain, Azriel, and Lucien. Yet it took one controversial bonus chapter for people to decenter Elain in her own story, that is make her choice of romantic partner--which SJM spent 3+ books setting up--Azriel's. It took one bonus chapter that soo many readers are still unaware of, to brush Elain off as a "sexual object" Az is using to distract himself until his therapist-extraordinaire Gwyn comes in and heals him all up. Because ofc she will: she's badass and not the "passive and weak and boring" Eplain (aka "Plant" or "brain dead gardener"), she fits the YA archetype of the spunky warrior-girl so she can handle his darkness, and SJM supposedly spent time fleshing her out because she wrote her as a LI for Azriel; she's made for him, she is what he needs to grow (I actually enjoyed Gwyn's character btw, just pointing out how silly it all sounds). “Next book is a love triangle between Elain/Az/Gwyn” “Elain will turn evil or is secretly evil”. So you're telling me that SJM would pit Elain & Gwyn against each other in a love triangle over a man... all because of a necklace that was not even mentioned once in the actual books? Please, let's be logical for a second.

All this because instead of reading the bonus chapter in the context of the books, some people are reading the books in the context of the bonus chapter. Which now that I think of it is probably why so many people mischaracterize Az the way they do--because yes we know enough of his character to know half of the stuff the fandom diagnoses him with is questionable. Azriel? Entitled incel x fuckboy hybrid (gotta be the first of his kind, minute slay ig)? Interesting tell me more. No joke I saw a semi-popular post on here where a gwynriel said they read the bonus WITHOUT HAVING READ ANY OF THE BOOKS. I'm sorry, ship wars are silly and believe it or not idc who ppl ship, but it makes it hard to take some of the things they say seriously.

All this to say that the fandom isn't even debating the right thing. If you consider everything SJM has said in her interviews:

(she's been planting seeds for Nesta & Elain's book since acomaf; she knows who she is writing the first 2 books about + is keeping things open for the 3rd one--with 5 different ship options--which automatically rules out "Elain will close the series"; she said she's doing research for Elain's book in the ACOFAS bonus & there's seeds for future bookS in acofas; all she said recently about her beloved *heroines* and the themes of fate/true love/choice she finds *very* interesting & wants to discuss)

and if you also consider all she's written in the actual books (elain's characterization + the overarching plot in general & how she fits into it), then it's pretty evident that Elain's book is next.

The question then would be who is the MMC / 2nd PoV in her book, aka would acotar 5 be an elucien or an elriel story? Because logically, gwynriel was always a consequence of elucien. I honestly do not understand how people don't see that.

Oh and they always think they're gagging elriels with the "obviously Azriel is the next MC" as if elriels aren't saying the same thing? And we're the ones twisting info and not making sense. It's just funny at this point.

---sidenote: I realize that this post generalizes some things, and I just wanted to say that I have interacted with lovely eluciens / people on either side of this headache of a ship war. My hard limit is Elain haters though... back off I say 🤺 BACK OFF 🤺

---sidenote 2: I would have written this as a reblog except im not entirely sure how tumblr works and I get no visibility from them rip.

[metalheadsforblacklivesmatter]

Hey, love the post you make about obscure disabilities. Could you make/ have you made about dysgraphia?

Sure. This will be my post for disability pride month tomorrow. Which I'm posting now because I don't have the spoons to schedule it for tomorrow.

I hope you don't mind I turn this into a combo one because I have a hard time mentally processing one of these conditions without understanding all three.

(Obligatory I do not have any of these conditions. This is not meant to be a diagnostic tool. Please do your own research. I'm only answering a question that was asked of me and it's really hard for me to explain one of these without explaining all of the similar conditions to differentiate them.)

And I hope that you don't mind my poorer language skills right now I'm recovering from a server sinus headache I've had all day.

Dyslexia vs Dyscalculia vs Dysgraphia (bonus round Dyspraxia)

These issues have like, a 30% comorbidity rate. So if you have one there's a 30% chance you'll have either of the others. People with conditions may be perceived as "slow" but they are not intellectual disabilities (Not that there's nothing wrong with intellectual disabilities. I'm just pointing it out because people will say "you can't have dyslexia. You're so smart.")

But the fact that they're comorbid and often comorbid with autism and adhd causes some misunderstandings around the conditions because people think they have one condition and attribute all of their issues to the one condition with no knowledge that its not just one condition they're expressing.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is characterized by the limited processing and comprehension of graphic symbols, particularly those regarding language. People with it have poor reading skills, flipping letter sequences and words, and poor handwriting. Although it is a learning disability, it's important to note that dyslexia does not impact a person's intelligence, although they may seem slower due to poor language processing skills. (There's nothing wrong with disabilities that impact intelligence, I just don't want people saying "he can't be dyslexic because he's so smart".)

Many representations of dyslexia often exhibit letters tap dancing across the page, shape shifting, and doing backflips. It's important to note that these are incorrect representations, because it's really hard to give a visual representation of what people with dyslexia experience. However, it's really harmful to express dyslexia in this fashion as it leads to people thinking that they don't have dyslexia when they actually do.

As I understand it, dyslexia is the eyes/ brain being able to flow seamlessly when reading large blocks of text. Ways to combat this is cut out a strip to block off lines when you read them. Use a highlighted strip of paper to highlight lines as you read them.

Fun fact, there's a few fonts that space the letters well enough and differentiate similar letters enough that make it easier to read. Comic Sans font is the most widely accessible accessibility tool for dyslexic people as it's one of the easy to read fonts that on every machine. (These accessibility tools have proven to make everyone read faster, dyslexia or no. But people with dyslexia have found them instrumentalin functioning. )

Another fun fact. Rick Riordan wrote Lightning Thief so that his dyslexic son could have representation in a character that had the same disability as him.

Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is often called "math dyslexia". People with Dyscalculia have issues with numbers. They have poor math skills, issues interpreting graphs, issues doing basic arithmetic, issues understanding things like place value, issues understanding time especially when it comes to reading an analog clock, and issues seeing patterns. This often causes a high level of anxiety around math. Some reports say these people have issues with directions, remembering locations, and reading maps (though research is inconsistent on that one).

Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia is easy to mix up with dyslexia, which is why I needed to write all these out. Where dyslexia is difficulty reading. Dysgraphia is difficulty writing. Symptoms include difficulty writing words, expressing thoughts in written form, and organizing and processing your thoughts. This can cause issues with social communication for obvious reasons.

These people also may have fine motor perception issues, writing in a straight line, spacing their letters correctly, etc. Especially fine motor skills around writing. They may also have issues with grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.

Bonus Round:

Dyspraxia

This one gets mixed with dyslexia two. Dyspraxia is issues with spacial awareness. They often say they can't tell where their limbs are in space. They may have issues with coordination, walking in a straight line, and balance. It's very hard for me to conceptualize, but people that have it may say that they bang their limbs against things due to poor spacial awareness. Which honestly, relatable. I've slammed me calf into a door before. And my shoulder blade. How? Good question.

These people have issues in social situations because their entire focus will be on their coordination, not making a mess, and not making a fool of themselves, etc. Their issues actually get better when they drink because the stress of sucked situations makes it worse and alcohol loosens them up. (I'm not advocating for drinking, but saying that the issues resolving when your drink validates your dyspraxia, not invalidates it.)

I think a lot of people that know of the condition may think people with low depth perception have dyspraxia. A lot of people have told me they think I have dyspraxia because my lack of depth perception negatively impacts my spacial awareness.

-fae

[yunmeng-jiang]

ok it's time for my Official Jiang Cheng Ship Opinions Post. buckle in this is gonna take a bit

Xicheng: I like it in 1 extremely specific circumstance (bonding over very similar experiences post-canon) but I've only seen that done well like. twice. NEEDS to have good characterization (also rare unfortunately) and take into account what they can and can't do as their own sect leaders with regards to courtship/marriage.

Chengqing: perfect in every way. that's it that's all I need to say.

Sangcheng: ehhhhh? Cute in Cloud Recesses summer camp era, not feasible post-canon due to irreconcilable differences in worldview and how much danger it's acceptable to put Jin Ling in.

Zhancheng: honestly I prefer this to be platonic. Hatefucking is not my jam and LWJ is Wei-Ying-sexual in canon anyway. Give Jiang Cheng a friend who is as weirdly obsessed with Wei Wuxian as he is but in a slightly different way. I want to see them coming to terms with that.

Ningcheng: again, someone just as weirdly obsessed with Wei Wuxian, but a little to the left. I don't think either one of them is ever going to look at the other and not see "the guy WWX likes better than me." Maybe someday they'll form a relationship that isn't based entirely around Wei Wuxian, but it seems kind of unlikely.

Chengyao: I'm actually coming around to this a bit recently? Again, it really needs to keep good characterization at the forefront and consider their positions as individual sect leaders, and remember that their "divorced couple energy" is part of the Guanyin Temple shitshow and not the way they would usually behave, especially for Jin Ling's sake. I want to see more fics where Meng Yao grows up with the Jiang sect so that Jiang Cheng is attached to him from the very beginning.

Mingcheng: meh. I don't really think about this ship that much because it honestly doesn't compel me at all. sorry to the mingcheng enjoyers it there I simply do not get it

Chengxuan: same as above, I don't really get this one. Their dynamic is just not that interesting to me.

Chengyi: that is a child. hard no on this one.

Miancheng: kinda cute? I like it when Jiang Cheng recruits her into the Jiang after she gives up on the Jin, it's a fun idea, but I think I like them better as friends.

Ruocheng: no. just no.

Zhucheng (chengliu? Wen Zhuliu and JC): also no.

Chengsu: I could get behind the idea of JGY desperately contacting Jiang Cheng and being like "help I just found out my fiancee is my sister can you please pretend you've been in love with her all this time and get married to her instead??? I'll negotiate to get you more Jin Ling rights if you do." she fits JC's list of desirable qualities in a wife. unfortunately she gets like 6 seconds of screen time and then dies so we really don't know very much about her, which makes it a bit hard to form a strong opinion on the ship

Other Chengsu? Sucheng/Mincheng/Chengshan/whatever this is: I actually think it's interesting that Su She and Jiang Cheng share the trait of "treat them nicely within this narrow window of time in their life in order to get them to become loyal to you forever, otherwise fuck you." It's possible that if Su She had grown up with the Jiang the two of them would have found some common ground and maybe become friends. I'm more interested in non-romantic interactions here

Cheng...yang? what do you call the Xue Yang/Jiang Cheng ship? Xuecheng? idk. again, not really my jam.

Chengjiao. Lingcheng? Jiang Cheng/Wang Lingjiao. Do people even ship this? I could see it as character development for her I guess. At this point I'm just fishing for possible pairings.

and finally, saved for last...

Xiancheng: this isn't romantic or sexual or platonic, it's all three and also a secret fourth thing that's more intense than all of them put together. As a ship, I don't prefer it, because it's too easy to flatten it out into either a boring cutesy fluffy cliche or a boring jealous/possessive boyfriend type thing. I need to see them being weird about each other in a way that no one can possibly identify, especially themselves. They'll die for each other. They'll live for each other. They'll destroy themselves and be happy about it as long as they believe that the other is going to be okay. You really can't make it as simple as "yeah these two want to fuck."

[thormanick]

NATLAN ARCHON QUEST SPOILERS BEWARE

soooooooo my feelings related to the recent archon quest might be a bit confusing in their nature (there is something about the ratio between overall pacing and lore/character/cutscene moments that made me trip a bit, I'm not sure what exactly or why), bUT I have some things to say:

I didn't expect to like Mualani as much as I like her now, as a character AND a playable unit

If anyone so much as looks at Kachina the wrong way I will tear them to pieces. There will be blood and it won't be mine. Do not touch that precious girl (I say all of this with the context of liking Kachina the least when the new Natlan characters were revealed. I truly didn't think they'd manage to make me interested in her. But her characterization really really made me root for her with all the roots I had (and I think the VA did a very good job). I think her segments had very good writing, and her interactions with Mualani served very well to build both of the characters equally)

I kinda expected to see more of Kinich? But overall my initial opinion on him didn't change - which is, I don't really have an opinion on him either way. (well his interactions with Ajaw were nice in terms of glimpsing into his/their character/s, but otherwise I really don't have much to say).

I'm kinda conflicted on Mavuika bc while everything about her character progression made sense I still had a strong feeling like there should have been at least one more scene with her sometime in the beginning/middle that could have established her a bit more as an authority figure that was chosen to be an archon, but it never happened. But it feels like there should have been something else. Idk idk (overall I really liked how they approached her character as an archon and explained her existence.)

That cliffhanger at the end. I'm watching you, Hoyo.

I liked all the battle segments, especially in the People of the Springs section. I think that was fun. It felt exciting.

Overall I have a good impression from this quest, I just wish we had more time. Not because pacing was off, but because I feel like there could have been even more material put into this first part of the Natlan Arc. Idk idk

P. S. Oh yeah Chasca??? Was there a lot??? I didn't expect that at all. I liked her character (in fact purely character-wise she might be one of my top Anemo characters??? probably??? (I'm sorry anemo folks I... generally don't like anemo characters as much as most of the fandom I feel like... (exceptLynetteshe'samazing))). But boy... I still can't comprehend her design. Which is sad because color palette is pretty and should (and could) work well, it's just... I think it's the garments, maybe the cape (? is it even cape?) in particular. I wish it wasn't split in half but was a one piece instead. And I wish she had both gloves. Or both pants. One or the other, Something about that current asymmetrical symmetry is not working as intended, but that's just my opinion.

P.P.S. When the Pyro Lector appeared my immediate reaction was: "You are not the Thing Calling Itself Enjou >:[ !!!"

[thepixelelf]

do u know nct?? if so, jung jaehyun and cupid au?!!! if not then au where wonwoo is a regular dude and also the subject of a Prophecy against his best wishes? idk i hope these are fun!!!

I genuinely don't think I could characterize jung jaehyun if I tried... but I can do reluctant Normal Guy wonwoo!! I hope you like it :]

[mr chosen one] It's been three weeks and six days since Wonwoo met the most annoying person in the world. Three weeks and six days since Wonwoo's been able to relax. Three weeks and six days of your constant pestering.

You call yourself the oracle. Whatever the hell that means.

All Wonwoo knows is that you showed up at his workplace out of nowhere as the "social media manager". Why would a company that sells Tupperware need a social media manager? Wonwoo still doesn't know. He's pretty sure you just wormed your way in to complete your life's mission-- annoying the shit out of him.

The first day, you'd leaned into his cubicle and whispered, "Hey. You're Jeon Wonwoo, right?"

And when he hesitantly nodded, wondering how the hell you already knew his name since he was one hundred percent sure he'd have nothing to do with the company's social media, you beamed.

Smiled so bright he thought he might go blind, and said, "I knew I'd find you."

Ever since that first day, you've been telling him over and over again how he's supposed to save the world.

Step number 1: find the king -- whoever that is -- in the heart of the fire.

You haven't told him who the hell "the king" is because apparently, you don't even know. And the whole "heart of the fire" thing is fuzzy to you as well, even though you're the one who said that out loud in the first place.

Step number 2: behead the king.

Yeah. Sure.

"And where am I supposed to get the sword for that?" he asked you nonchalantly a week into your nonsense, his eyes not leaving the spreadsheet he was working on. "Amazon?"

You just shrugged. "You can get anything on Amazon."

Step number 3: bear the crown under the weight of stars.

Whatever that means.

"You can't just say no," you asserted two weeks in. "This is your fate."

"I'm good, thanks." Wonwoo poured himself a mediocre black coffee in the break room, where he'd gone in the hopes of avoiding you. He didn't offer you any.

You crossed your arms. "The world is at stake."

"If the whole world is about to explode, I'm pretty sure you've got the wrong guy."

Almost four weeks of this weirdness, and maybe Wonwoo should've gone to HR by now, but it sounds a little trivial, even to him.

Hey, HR, my coworker keeps telling me I'm part of a world-saving prophecy and is convinced I need to go on a journey. I want either for them to be fired, or a couple weeks off so I can go save the world. Thanks.

Yeah, no. Instead, Wonwoo just braces himself for another day of your pestering.

...Which doesn't happen.

At the halfway point of the first peaceful lunch break Wonwoo's had in weeks, he realizes he hasn't even caught a glimpse of you all morning. He revels in that feeling for a bit, almost embarrassingly gleeful to sit in silence and eat his cup-a-noodles.

Then the afternoon goes by, and you've still yet to meet your annoyance quota for the day.

Wonwoo is happy. Yes. This is good news.

You've finally gotten over your delusions, and he won't have to deal with you anymore.

He's poking his head in Seungkwan's cubicle before he realizes he's doing it.

"Oh, them?" Seungkwan says when Wonwoo asks about you. "They left. They told big boss man we had no reason to employ a social media manager in the first place and got themselves transferred to a sister company."

Wonwoo blinks. "What?"

"Shouldn't you already know? You guys were hanging out like every day."

After that, Wonwoo walks back to his desk in silence. Awkward silence.

Why doesn't he like the silence?

When he sits down, there's a yellow sticky note on his keyboard, which he swears wasn't there when he left.

He wouldn't recognize your handwriting, but he knows it has to be yours.

Fine. I'll behead the king myself.

Wonwoo pinches the note between his fingers, and he remembers the conversation he had with you just the day before.

"It sounds dangerous," he said, focusing on the photocopier in front of him.

"Oh, it will be." You were leaned against the doorjamb. Always close by. "You'll be dodging death at every curve in the road."

"Delightful. I think I'll sit this one out."

The note gets crumpled in Wonwoo's fist. He grabs his coat and takes swift steps toward the elevators.

"Where are you going?" Seungkwan calls out when he sees Wonwoo practically run past his cubicle.

Wonwoo presses the down button before he rethinks and moves to the doors to the stairwell. He yells back, "I have no idea!"

He really doesn't.

But you said all that stuff about fate-- if it's really meant to be him that saves the world...

His footsteps, in whichever direction, will take him to you. Through fate or whatever.

At least, he really, really hopes so.

[dootznbootz]

Have you ever read a fic/headcanon post you liked so much that it influenced your characterization of Odypen?

I love this ask so much, Dear Anon, holy shit. Thank you so much! I'm so excited to talk about this!

Because...I...I purposely basically shut myself OUT of the fandom until I had MY own characterization down because I wanted to basically have a read of the texts, and then have my own ideas/opinions.

I actually had so much fun with it too!!! :D I wanna ramble about it lol

Ngl, I noticed a SHITTON of like, "hivemind fanon headcanons" in the fandom. Or at least a lot of people sharing the exact same one.

And while there is NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT, I also know that people sometimes will just be a "Yes Man" with ideas and that MAYBE that's a bit of fanon. And that my own reading could be completely different.

I REALLY love this story/myth and so I just really wanted to go into it "blind". I even just RESEARCHED on my own. I have not read a single translation introduction ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ THAT'S how much I wanted to really form my own beliefs before anything else.

And I just had so much fun reading and studying and ANALYSING the texts so then I could really pinpoint exactly WHERE I get a certain headcanon from (most of the time. lol some headcanons are simply for fun and don't have too much textual evidence)

I mean...How many Penelope's have you seen that are feral? 👀 Who is prideful, snarky, reckless, stubborn, ruthless, etc.? (I HAVE read some angry Penelope fics yes! And they're wonderful! ...But that's not necessarily MY Penelope. My Penelope curses and says "Bet" before rushing at something 10x her size. Mine has a temper and WILL lash out. She was just extra careful with the suitors.) Yes, she's intelligent and patient and thoughtful...but Odysseus ALSO has those traits somewhat as well.

THEY'RE LIKEMINDED. BOTH are a person of "many twists and turns". It's why they're fucked up lil soulmates 🥹

There's a few HEADCANONS that I really love that I plan to use and try to credit the OG person though! Just that they're small-ish and not really a big thing on characterization.

My fellow fuzzy worm, Char, (@fangirlofallthefanthings) has OdyPen call Telemachus their lil "droplet" which is super cute.

Someone on tumblr, (I think it was nerdygirl2023??? Idk for sure though, I'll have to recheck later lol) mentioned how Amphitrite kind of helps Odysseus about the Oar quest which I REALLY love. (please let this sad lil fuck rest ;~; I want him in Penelope's arms PLEASE. If I don't go with that idea, Penelope goes with him. Either way, I'm not separating them for at most a few days.)

Other than that and maybe some small things from other works that SUPPORT my headcanons. (Odysseus' behavior towards Circe in Epic kind of supporting my "Odysseus is asexual/demisexual" headcanons, etc.) but most of my stupid silly stuff is from my own silly head :P

It's not like I don't like anyone else's headcanons lol xD It's just that certain things would not fit well with my lil weirdos as it would be out of character for THEM, you know?

Ngl, I sometimes get a lil embarrassed by how DIFFERENT my ideas are from others :') Or even just how few I've seen that are like my own. I love my ideas but it's like I'm a lil bee outside the hive where everyone else is working ���� I don't like that I'm so "picky" about my ideas but I just am ;~; (Especially about Penelope's characterization.)

I've seen some posts and "incorrect quotes" that fit my sillies but that was still AFTER I've established my weirdos :P

...I almost wonder sometimes if folks are inspired by MY Sillies 👀 as I've seen some stuff that really makes me wonder lol

[viridian-house]

Do you have any favorite naruto fics you’d recommend? Any pairing, complete or not, on-hiatus, gen, oneshots, anything is fine lol

I was legitimately just pruning my bookmarks the other day!! thank you so much for asking.

I don't read too much fanfic these days, and I'm picky when I do--only about grammar/punctuation and immersion though. I ship a LOT of stuff (I guess The Youth would call me a proshipper) and although I never read darkfic, I don't shy away from weirder kinks and unhealthy relationship stuff.

categorizing by pairing, if applicable. some of them are smutty, and please note that the first 3 come from FFN which doesn't have a tagging system, but there is some SA CW I'll give in advance.

KAKASAKU | my first OTP! formative fics that totally reshaped my understanding of what fanfiction could be, and how well-written chemistry can make it or break it

HOUSE OF CROWS is the quintessential kakasaku fanfic. it was written during shippuden and so is canon divergent because of that, but also tells a comprehensive story of its own right that is intriguing and well planned. excellent characterization and world building. leaves me gutted in the best way on my yearly reread.

DUTY BEFORE HONOR is another silvershine classic. I don't reread is as often as House of Crows but they are just about equal in quality. again, the chemistry between them is off the charts, and the world feels so alive.

WILL OF FIRE for me is up there with House of Crows in being essential kakasaku reading. cynchick is a multisaku champion and a wonderful storyteller. the stakes in this one are stressful, the romance tense and believable, and we once again get lovely world building and great chemistry.

ITAKISA | a pairing near and dear to me, because men who do everything wrong are so deeply relatable. they both know they don't deserve anything good ever again but they found each other!!!! ARE YOU GUYS SEEING THIS--

A SHARK HIDDEN INN THE LEAVES doesn't have my favorite version of Kisame, but he's plenty close enough. it's a lengthy oneshot that got me into certain *ahem* kinks. it is a very fun and wild fic that is entirely self-aware of how absurd it's being, and manages to have nothing but sincerity at the same time (and I highly recommend the author's other stories as well)

AN ORCHESTRA PLAYING ON, INSANE is a modern AU (extremely rare in my bookmarks) that absolutely tore my heart out. god is it SO much to ask for these losers to be happy?! yes, it is, and I love every moment of it

MADAMITO | a rarepair I am SUCH a sucker for that has some of the most talented authors writing for it. lots of them have ot3 elements between them and hashirama, often angsty, but stuff like that is part of the appeal for me, lol

A HANDFUL OF SKY is an unfinished fic that I genuinely think about like once a week. if it ever updates then I will be over the moon. technically hashimadamito but it hadn't quite gotten there yet

LIKE ALTARS is just such a beautiful piece of writing, mostly on madara. it is everything, that is all

BLOOD AND RIVER WATER is more mito-centric but has one of my favorite madaras of all time

YOURS ARE RATTLED BONES is another short, mito-centric but gut-wrenching piece featuring the opposite type of madara from the last one

OTHER | character-centric stuff that isn't necessarily shippy but also doesn't have a very "gen" vibe either?

A SERPENT IN THE RICE is a little series about orochimaru that makes me feel so so so many things. highly recommended

HERETIC is such a love letter to kushina, and kurama too. cannot stress enough how much I adore this one

there's a few others that I probably won't link on tumblr, mostly unhealthy and/or "problematic" smut hhfhdj but maybe I'll make a public rec list on ao3 for these different categories and stuff like that.

but yeah that's pretty much it!!! I know it's not a huge list with a lot of variety but it's what I've enjoyed over the last 15+ years in the naruto fandom.

[frozenjokes]

Hey, I binged read your cubscar(ian) hotguy au

And I LOVED it,

Cub's characterization is so precious, he's so autistic to me (I'm autistic so I kin heavily) the way you write him, chef's kiss and all that. Is Cub Demi? xx

Scar is so strong and yet so broken but he doesn't know it yet, I'm so glad he's in therapy now <3. I love that you wrote him this way, he's disabled (just like me) but he's not a child, he's whimsy but so life smart, I value so much when authors write him like this and his plurality is very relatable <3. And his friendship with Mumbo <3

Grian, well he's just so real, his need for a job ever tho Cub was happy looking out for him <3, his friendship just reconnecting with Mumbo so easily, warmth. I love how self aware he is, and the angst you wrote for him is heart strings shattering I loved.

Cub and Grian's relationship ahhhhh yessss. The commitment and devotion, how they are so connected they didn't notice it sliding from platonic to romantic. This just IS for me.

Cub and Scar, well (yes again 🤣) they are so sweet, and Cub holds 51% of the cards lol but Scar's 49% is really doing things for Cub wink wink. Some of the reasoning behind Cub's love is being loved. And Scar loving him because of his round edges and softness 🥹

Scar and Grian. I hope the flowers he got for them were poppies and lilacs /lh /nf; Scar's fear because of his sharp edges, Scar in other works has his weakness but he can always find in in himself to want to protect Grian almost as a superior?, but you write Scar so vulnerable and equal to Grian. They are enemies to frenemies to ... But really it's caused by the lack of knowing, eachother and their personal experiences. Again Scar and his plural view of people <3 I think Grian thought of Scar as stronger emotionally, physically, mentally then Scar ever was, and Grian used him because of this misconception. I'm glad they're getting there, truly. Did Grian feel dejected? when Scar didn't help with his wings? Angst <3

thank you!!! Cub could be Demi. So could Grian! They can be whatever your heart desires. Personally I don’t care to label any of them because it isn’t very important to me. I do think Cub would refer to both Scar and Grian has his friends even after years of being together and it drives Scar absolutely nuts. Why are you doing that. What do you Mean. Cub it’s been twenty years you can introduce me as your boyfriend I Promise no one here is going to judge you and cub just goes: ? oh right. and then he never does that. the word friend just comes easier. it’s cozy.

It’s very silly to me you pointed out scar’s friendship with Mumbo because they are not friends scar is Coping. /silly. I actually forget very often I write a lot of angst of these characters because that’s just not really how my brain categorizes turmoil. It’s always a jumpscare to see it pointed out /light hearted, joking. funniest instance of this happening 🔽

(from chapter two of the Jimmy decked out fic)

I was on call with a friend while reading this for the first time and for the life of me I Could Not think of what /nf meant and he didn’t know either so we came up with some ideas: NOT FUNNY. no fingers. non fungible. nut fart. NO FUN. no friends. Nice feet. never forget. nice flowers. new friend! NOT FAIR

it means not forced. we had to look it up LMAO /silly silly silly. thank you for the laughs

Grian thought of scar as a piece of shit self absorbed celebrity and this is true however it’s not everything. inside is a deeply, deeply, extremely deeply, unimaginably kicked puppy. he’s sad and pathetic and has big wet eyes. also he cares.

Grian wasn’t too affected by Scar’s not wanting to touch his wings, and in general the experience was a little more overwhelmingly confusing? Neither he nor Cub expected him to have such a strong reaction, especially when things between all three of them are getting better, but Scar is still carrying the weight of a lot of Grian’s poor treatment of him for weeks on end, and even though Scar’s forgiven him and understands where he was coming from, those aren’t things you can just brush off, especially when many of Grian’s gestures (good and bad) are sweeping and intense and unpredictable, and people pleasing for someone as unstable as that (less so now, but before it was bad) is Extremely Stressful. dealing with cuteguy (evil version) for months beforehand Did Not Help. there’s a reason Scar views Grian as Sharp and that’s because they have both beat the piss out of each other hundreds of times.

To a point Grian is aware of this. It’s a thing he’s discussed in therapy a thousand times, and something he had to confront directly with Jimmy. In his eyes, his friendship with Scar (despite blunders on both sides) is an act of Scar’s good will towards him as given with Scar’s forgiveness, and if Scar is having problems, then it’s not really something Grian can hold against him. Obviously that doesn’t stop feelings from being hurt, but this was more a result of The Panic Attack than the wing touching refusal. Which Grian dealt with by Pushing Minigolf Pushing Pushing Pushing Pushing. Grian’s reaction to guilt and/or rejection is I NEED TO MAKE UP FOR THIS RIGHT MEOW!!!!! and in doing so often fails miserably to read the room, which is why Cub steps in in that particular instance.

as far as wings though, if I were Grian, scar would be The Last Person I want touching them. Clumsiest motherfucker alive who in the case of this au, tends to be rougher with his affection because he literally can not tell what is too little or too much. Having someone nervous at your back probably isn’t a great feeling either, and for an activity that’s supposed to be relaxing, Cub brings a Much steadier aura. Cub also has the capacity to focus. Scar would probably need at least three other sources of stimulation to do a good job. And it would still hurt. Regular wing grooming is not supposed to hurt 💔

my rambling service comes free, well, perhaps at a small cost of a seemingly benign question. normal about her ocs frozenjokes back at it again

[lloydfrontera]

I am sooo tempted to read the novel just so I can write a fic with Lloyd and Javier in a happy relationship with a mutual benefits agreement with Alicia and Silluria (who are of course also in a happy relationship) with the right characterizations.

honestly. that's such a fun dynamic. putting all of them in a happy polycule resolves so many issues at once and gives us such insane possibilities. i am now obsessed with this concept.

but also i'm bi so like. in my head. this is their arrangement.

lloyd and alicia get married so he can have the tax benefits of being the royal consort and she can get rid of the annoying people that say she needs to be married and have someone to make an heir with, but he still lives in the frontera estate and they see each other every weekend when alicia gets visitation rights to yongyong because they share custody of him. once charlotte is born, she alternates between spending two weeks in the palace, one with only alicia and the other with both alicia and lloyd, and then one at the frontera estate with only lloyd.

as for why javier and silurian get married it's mostly so she can also get rid of the people who think that if she's her father's heir then she should at least be married so she can have an heir of her own. and well they spend a reasonable amount of time together, when they meet in the capital while accompanying their respective lovers so. yeah why not. they have two babies, the eldest a namaran and the youngest an asrahan, who spent two weeks at the palace, one at the frontera estate and then visit their grandfather at namaran one week every two months.

all four of them are Stressing™ about all those trips and poor yongyong and ggoming get so much work out but they're committed to giving their kids the chance to get to experience everything they have to offer them. but also they run a tight schedule and trying to organize anything is a nightmare, they get the hang of it eventually but the first couple years were An Ordeal.

everyone in court pretends not to know about their arrangement but it's really hard when the royal consort only spends two weeks out of three at the palace, bringing and taking with him lady namaran's husband, while lady namaran lives almost permanently in the capital with the queen.

that and also all three kids call alicia 'mom', silurian 'mama', lloyd 'appa' and javier 'papa'. so like. it's an open secret.

the facts its rumored that more often than not lord frontera and sir asrahan will share a room, while the queen and lady namaran have rooms next to one another, that may or may not have a secret passage between them and that more than once all four of them have been seen going in and out of the royal chamber is really not anyone's business either.

i do want to say this does not solve the fact that lloyd emphatically did not want to marry into a position of power and that silurian had a whole arc about not needing to marry, but. it is much funnier and gayer than the original ending so i'm a lot happier ajksdhjkahfkjds

of course this is just. what came out of my brain once you oppened that possibility ajskdhjkafds

please do try it out your own way, i'm sure you have some truly wonderful ideas!!! please. give us gays everything we want <333

[aihoshiino]

chapter 150 thoughts!

Chapters Since The 143 Kiss Happened And Went Entirely Unacknowledged And Unaddressed Count: 7…. ttttttechnically? they don't actually mention that the kiss happened, so i'm counting it…

ladies, gentlemen and those who know better, our long national nightmare is finally over

after… literally I've lost count of how long it's been since we had some proper Aqua introspection, our landmark chapter 150 is almost entirely dedicated to putting us back in Aqua's head (quite literally!) and sort of catching up with him. Some things about Aqua that have been mostly only communicated through showing over telling are explicitly told in text and i'm ngl, there's one or two things where seeing textual confirmation of them got me barking like a fucking dog. Overall, while the pacing of the start of this arc has been bit clunky and this chapter itself isn't free of that either, it actually feels like things are moving and meaningful characterization is happening which after the Movie Arc is a bit of a luxury lol.

As usual, I want to gush about Mengo's art before I touch on anything else. Setting the majority of this chapter in a dream sequence allowed her to do some incredibly fun things with the staging and imagery here. Aqua in that eerie void with his feet drenched in blood… Aqua and Gorou still stuck in that hallway where Ai died, while Ruby has managed to take steps to leave… It's so fucking good.

There were some absolutely top tier Kanas this chapter, too… her little baby tantrum in flashback and that gorgeous final page of her… But I'm getting ahead of myself.

While I described this chapter up top as being communicating things about Aqua, it very much feels to me like it's also serving as closure for Gorou, both in the sense of him as a person and resolving the posthumous arc that he's been going on as part of Aqua. This chapter at last draws a clear and explicit distinction between the two, that Aqua is no longer Gorou, even if he might have been built on the foundation of his identity. Gorou is even described as a 'role' that Aqua has been compelled to play that Gorou himself is now urging him to step down from - he is offering to relinquish Aqua's future back to him… if that's what Aqua wants.

This was how I'd initially read the relationship back in my 143 review - that 'Aqua Hoshino' created from Gorou, his core values and driving ideals, but 18+ years of living a whole new life in a whole new social role, meeting people and having experiences Gorou would never have and literally having a different body and brain in the process have made him different and the sum total of those differences is the person we call Aqua Hoshino. This chapter seems to lean into this interpretation, casting them as a pair of briefly intersecting lines that once crossed but have now diverged onto their own paths.

I also just really liked the dynamic that they were shown to have this chapter. Whenever we've seen this conflict externalized in the past, Gorou has always been this frightening, overwhelming presence whose existence actively prevents Aqua from having any kind of happiness or peace. Here, though, they have a much less adversarial energy, which is a really nice reflection of Aqua being able to gradually start pulling himself out of the shit he's been stuck in. Gorou almost feels fatherly or big brotherly here, not just in how he behaves in regards to Sarina-as-Ruby, but for Aqua, too.

But……….. okay, I'll stop dodging around the elephant in the room now lol

After over 25 chapters of very deliberately avoiding putting us in his headspace, 150 finally puts the ball in Aqua's court vis-a-vis the AquRuby tension and he answers in a way I think would be pretty hard to walk back: That Ruby is his precious sister and that's it. That her feelings for him are the result of her projecting Gorou onto him, chasing a ghost that is fading from this world and that she does not actually love him. Whoof.

This was another thing where seeing it in text felt pretty great. I'd caught pretty early on that there was a weird divide in the way the story was handling the AquRuby dynamic - namely, that there wasn't an AquRuby dynamic and all the supposed ship development of it was largely happening in retrospect, beefing up the intensity of the GRSR relationship and having Ruby express her feelings to Gorou-through-Aqua. When the idea of Aqua and Ruby romance was floated, by contrast, it was always treated like a gag. With the Movie arc being as much of a mess as it was, it was hard to work out what the intentionality of that was (if there was any to begin with) but this seems to make it about as clear as it can be: neither Gorou or Aqua have any had any feelings of that sort of Sarina-through-Ruby and neither of them want to pursue romance with them.

Once again tapping into my powers of Claire-voyance, I already know a lot of people are trying to insist that this is Aqua lying to himself or 'settling' and that he does secretly want a relationship with Ruby for reals! but that really isn't how it comes across to me in the art. He's calm, speaks straightforwardly and without hesitation and makes his point pretty clear. We know how it looks when OnK character lie to themselves and this isn't really it. It would also just be strange for that to be the case when this is a scene about Aqua starting to consider the idea of moving past the things that hurt him and live out his future with someone.

And who that someone is… seems to be coming into focus, but I don't think we'll be getting there quite yet.

I will say that for as much as I liked this as a chapter and as a goodbye for Gorou… it kind of doesn't really make a lot of sense as a resolution for his guilt lol. This chapter frames things in such a way that centers his guilt on Sarina and that seeing her live her life as Ruby has given him some catharsis over it. This is a sweet idea but… that's, uh, not how this was framed anytime prior! When we've seen Gorou intrude on Aqua's happiness before, his self hate and his guilt all center on Ai's death and his inability to save her. The last time we saw him in this capacity in 95, that's what he was saying with his whole chest: that he deserves to suffer as punishment for Ai's suffering, Ai's death. I'm sure that knowing Sarina is living on as Ruby was very cathartic but… it has nothing to do with Ai! Why is this being framed as narratively resolved in this way?

Like… if I chew on it a bit, I can make it make sense: since chapter 1, Gorou has been pretty open about projecting Sarina onto Ai, processing his grief that way and imagining her living vicariously through Ai's success. The idea of Ruby doing the same by continuing Ai's legacy and keeping her radiance alive being the thing that gives him release over Ai's death is interesting and I can understand it emotionally, it just feels like a weird unexplained leap for the narrative to make. I was talking to a friend about it, trying to work it out by externalizing it, and they theorized that this was always the intended endpoint of Gorou's posthumous arc but that the story had drifted in the middle section and Akasaka hadn't quite realigned them. This makes a lot of sense to me and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the case.

I will say that it really bugs me. I've already talked about the ways Ai's importance to the twins as their mother has been gradually downplayed and diluted as the Movie Arc has gone on. In my original post, I attributed this to Akasaka trying to amp up the intensity of the GRSR -> AQRB relationship in a soap opera-y sort of way, but given that this chapter seems to shut down AquRuby, I don't really know if that's the case. In general, Ai has been treated as sort of narratively 'resolved' as of 137, as if that chapter was the capstone to her posthumous character arc and while that might be the case for Ruby… I really don't think it is for Aqua!

It's possible that this is intentional. Aqua still has a shitton of work to do on unfucking his relationship with Ai and the ways his view of her, as implied by the Movie Arc, is warped by his grief. I could see this final stretch of the story being primarily about that - after all, this chapter is about confronting Aqua with the binary choice of revenge or love. In a lot of ways, this has always been what he's struggling with but putting the ball this firmly in his court establishes Ai's death entirely as his own trauma that he has to work through on his own. After all, Aqua might have confronted Gorou in this chapter, but there's a certain someone we also saw in chapter 95 that Aqua hasn't dealt with yet…

I'm talking about Kana, obviously! (ducks thrown tomatoes)

I don't have a ton to say about the AQKN romance setup in this chapter other than… yeah, I kinda saw this coming! It's interesting to see Gorou, the representation of Aqua's guilt and self destruction, be the one to so directly confront him and push him towards trying to find some happiness with her. Aqua quietly noting that he knows the things he likes about Kana and he knows that moving on with her makes a lot of sense - but what makes this especially interesting is the way it mirrors Kana's own reflection on her relationship with Aqua at the end of the chapter.

I like that a lot of the AQKN moments the two reflect on are just… mundane, everyday instances of the two of them stumbling through life together. I've seen a lot of people say AQKN is 'boring' or 'flat' because it lacks the drama of AQAK or AQRB but honestly, I feel like this is what makes it work (when it does work) - their relationship, whatever form it takes, is a safe and quiet space where they can just exist outside the drama and transactional utility of so many of their other relationships.

That said, while those montages mirror each other, what makes them interesting is their divergence point. Kana decides to commit to choosing 'love', with that absolutely gorgeous full page panel, but Gorou hands the knife - the symbol of the violence that blighted Aqua's life - back to him and makes it clear that love or revenge, the choice is now entirely in Aqua's hands. We don't see what he chooses, but… if Oshi no Ko really is a story with a happy ending, I think it's a foregone conclusion. And that makes me really happy.

Not that it's happening anytime soon, lol. I'll be very shocked if Kana's confession doesn't result in a rejection from Aqua, at least at this point in time - there's too much else going on in the story for this to be the right place for Aqua to commit to Kana. She's still an idol, after all and Kamiki is still around. The bets I'm placing right now are that AQKN are going to get their resolution, whatever form it takes, at the Dome concert during or after Kana's graduation.

As for their date… Call me cynical, but I also don't see it going particularly well. After all…

Aren't we forgetting somebody?