#collect your sins

[toytulini]

god im not starting shit on the post but "medical and pharmaceutical companies thank you for your long term patronage" really does not work as a thing to shame anti maskers. this is not a system i get to opt out of even by masking. unfortunately, i really dont think masking is pwning the predatorily priced healthcare system in the usa. especially considering how many of the ppl who are still doing it are unfortunately beholden to it anyway for some other fucking reason. fuck, even if i didnt have medications i take everyday anyway, the company i buy n95s from is a fucking medical /surgical supply company? its such a weird. just. no.

[emporium]

Behind the Meme: Complaint Tablet to Ea-nasir

In 1953, explorer Sir Leonard Woolley discovered and acquired the tablet from what is believed to be the ruins of Ea-nasir's home while on an expedition to the city of Ur. Several other similar tablets complaining about poor copper quality were also recovered, suggesting Ea-nasir frequently sent his customers poor-quality goods. The tablet is currently held at the British Museum.

A few of the most viral Tumblr posts about this meme: https://probablybadrpgideas.tumblr.com/post/171826102481/your-players-are-faced-with-an-ancient-sumerian https://brightwanderer.tumblr.com/post/645195882465230848/ea-nasir-is-that-you

Translation of the tablet:

Tell Ea-nasir: Nanni sends the following message:

When you came, you said to me as follows : "I will give Gimil-Sin (when he comes) fine quality copper ingots." You left then but you did not do what you promised me. You put ingots which were not good before my messenger (Sit-Sin) and said: "If you want to take them, take them; if you do not want to take them, go away!"

What do you take me for, that you treat somebody like me with such contempt? I have sent as messengers gentlemen like ourselves to collect the bag with my money (deposited with you) but you have treated me with contempt by sending them back to me empty-handed several times, and that through enemy territory. Is there anyone among the merchants who trade with Telmun who has treated me in this way? You alone treat my messenger with contempt! On account of that one (trifling) mina of silver which I owe(?) you, you feel free to speak in such a way, while I have given to the palace on your behalf 1,080 pounds of copper, and umi-abum has likewise given 1,080 pounds of copper, apart from what we both have had written on a sealed tablet to be kept in the temple of Samas.

How have you treated me for that copper? You have withheld my money bag from me in enemy territory; it is now up to you to restore (my money) to me in full.

Take cognizance that (from now on) I will not accept here any copper from you that is not of fine quality. I shall (from now on) select and take the ingots individually in my own yard, and I shall exercise against you my right of rejection because you have treated me with contempt.

Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/complaint-tablet-to-ea-nasir

[abxtchbetired]

seven deadly sins headcanons

because i'm tired of sinday memes being all about sex. send a category + a number. warning: some of the questions in the lust section are nsft. that's why it's at the bottom.

gluttony - - -

what could your muse eat all the time without ever getting tired of it?

a feast of all your muse's favorite foods is laid out in front of them. what's on the menu?

is your muse the type to leave the last bit of food for someone else, or to take it for themselves before someone else can claim it?

does your muse frequently overeat?

does your muse go back for seconds? thirds? fourths?

how many meals and snacks does your muse eat in a day?

what are your muse's go-to beverages?

does your muse drink enough water?

does your muse drink many sugary drinks, like soda or juice?

is your muse a heavy (alcohol) drinker? if so, what do they drink? in what situations do they drink? do they know their limits? do they stop at their limit, or go past it?

is your muse addicted to caffeine? if so, what is their preferred caffeinated beverage?

does your muse have a sweet tooth?

greed - - -

what does your muse collect, if anything?

is your muse prone to hoarding anything?

what is your muse's financial situation? what are their financial goals?

is money important to your muse? why or why not?

how much money does your muse keep in their checking account at any given time? if your muse keeps cash, how much do they usually have in their wallet? does your muse carry coins around? what is the limit on their credit card, if they have one? do they have multiple credit cards?

does your muse have good savings habits? how much do they currently have saved up?

is your muse prone to shopping sprees? if so, what do they usually indulge in buying?

is your muse in debt? if so, are they managing it well, or are they struggling?

would your muse throw others under the bus/step on others if it meant they could find more success/make more money?

would your muse steal anything?

wrath - - -

does your muse like to get revenge on those they feel have wronged them?

how does your muse handle anger? do they have anger issues? how do they manage or vent their anger?

does your muse believe in karma?

did your muse get into fights as a kid? do they get into fights as an adult? if your muse never got into fights before, would they in the name of self defense?

what, if anything, provokes your muse to violence?

does your muse believe that violence can solve some problems? or are they more a "violence is never the answer" type? somewhere in-between?

does your muse destroy things for fun, or to let off steam?

was your muse a bully? or were they bullied themselves?

has your muse ever considered murdering someone? or have they actually gone through with murdering someone?

does your muse enjoy hurting others, whether it be physically or emotionally?

pride - - -

does your muse believe they are the best at everything, even if that belief is unwarranted?

in what areas might your muse be a little overconfident? are they overconfident in the sense that they don't have the skills to back it up, or in the sense that they do have the skills but they are obnoxious in their confidence?

does your muse accept responsibility for their actions when they have done something wrong?

is your muse comfortable with apologizing to others?

does your muse feel remorse? if so, how do they express it?

has your muse every blown off preparing for something because they were confident they could complete the task without preparation? if so, what was the situation?

is your muse prone to bragging? what do they brag about?

does your muse look down on others they perceive as being "not as good" at things as they are?

sloth - - -

on what day(s) does your muse feel most lazy? at a specific time of day, or all day?

is your muse prone to procrastination?

what chores/responsibilities does your muse avoid doing at all costs?

how many hours of sleep does your muse get? do they feel rested after, or are they still tired?

once your muse gets started doing something important, do they drag their feet, take many breaks, and ultimately prolong the task? or do they work as quickly as possible, at the sacrifice of a quality job? or do they work efficiently without sacrificing quality?

does your muse put on real clothes every day, or only if they have to go out?

if your muse could get away with wearing pajamas all day every day, would they?

does your muse complain about responsibilities a lot?

is your muse the type to get up on time on their own or with an alarm? are they the type to hit snooze over and over?

envy - - -

does your muse get jealous easily, or does it take a lot for them to feel it?

what kinds of things does your muse get jealous about?

does your muse compare themselves to others often? if so, how does it affect them?

lust - - -

is your muse sexually active? if so, how often do they have sex? how many partners do they typically have at one time? if not, why not?

what is your muse's sexuality? if asexual, are they sex favorable, sex indifferent, or sex repulsed?

is your muse vanilla, or are they kinky? if kinky, what are their top three kinks, and why do they like them? if vanilla, what position(s) does your muse have sex in?

what sex-related words turn your muse on? what words make them cringe?

does your muse masturbate? if so, how often, and how do they get themselves off? if not, why not?

does your muse have high, medium, or low libido?

is sex compatibility a dealbreaker for your muse in a relationship? why or why not?

how does your muse feel about one-night-stands?

what was your muse's first time having sex like? who was it with, why did they choose that person, where did it take place, how old were they, and what happened?

[kitto-paint]

HELP WANTED: png edition

If you got any silly pictures you'd like to share, I'm collecting them right now - meme format, little goobers, fanart welcome

reblog/tag your befriended art gremlins - together we can make this pointless task! I have said in my drunken stupor that I'll help with convent and now I have to repent for my sins.

[chainsawcorazon]

January 8th - 14th, 2024

Monday, January 8th - Sins of the Family // Isolation

Tuesday, January 9th - Prophecies // Deadly Devotion

Wednesday, January 10th - Superman Cults // Possession

Thursday, January 11th - The Forgotten One // A Hole in the World

Friday, January 12th - A Parent Knows Best // Eldritch Horror

Saturday, January 13th - It Takes a Village // Inheritance

Sunday, January 14th - Mistakes Were Made // Horror Movie AU

Purpose?

Not enough horror-themed fanworks in the world about the Superfam. Got jealous of the Batfandom having all these horror-themed events and projects, so I decided to host one for the Superfam.

Why should we participate in this?

Because you like seeing the soupeyfam in ever-increasingly fucked up situations that elicit a deeply-rooted, ancient dread :3

So how does it work?

The release date for fanworks is from Monday, the 8th of January through Sunday, the 14th of January, 2024. 

This aint a Halloween-themed event! You have well over three months to write, draw, and create fanworks. However, use the spooky season to help generate some ideas and propel you forward! :3

This an opportunity for people who’d like to explore the Superfamily characters, dynamics, and relationships through a variety of prompts. Although romantic ships are nice, please make sure the Superfam are the focus of your fanwork.

Superfamily characters include, but are not limited to:

Clark Kent

Lois Lane

Kara Zor El

Jonathan and Martha Kent

Jon Kent

Osul Ra and Otho Ra

John Henry Irons

Natasha Irons

Kon El/Conner Kent

Chris Kent/Lor Zod

Karen Starr

Kong Kenan

Superfamily characters of ANY comic book universe are acceptable. If you want to spend the entire fanweek exploring Ultraman and Injustice!Superman because you love drama, then be my guest! If you want Ultraman to kidnap Lois this time instead of Jon, go for it!! Let that imagination run WILD!!!

Darkfic, horrorfic, genre-specific work, and other both safe and not-safe-for-tunglr dot hell tropes are welcome. Just make sure that you post any Mature content on a landing page that doesn't restrict Mature content (like AO3). I don’t want anyone getting their blog banned. We cannot defeat our capitalist overlords, but we can definitely work around them.

This fanweek will not have a dedicated blog. These prompts are free for anyone to use. Because it is a non-traditional, non-monetized, and free-to-opt-in casual event, there will be no mods but moi, no advertising of paid services, and no ratings or participant restrictions. I will open a collection on AO3 in January for anyone who wants their work collated for this event.

In order to ensure that both creators and the audience are making informed decisions about what they engage with, all creators are encouraged to include triggers, ships, and any other squick warnings. 

Please utilize the read-more function for fanworks that are longer than 250 words. We're tryna read yer stories, not get spammed with a wall of text. Please Be Courteous.

And last but not least - if you are engaging with any of the fanworks, reblog, reblog, reblog! Share the work with your followers. Send all the love to the creators for crafting their masterpieces!!

What can I contribute?

Fanart (standalones, comic strips, etc.), fanfiction (one-shots, multichapter, etc.), fanmixes, gifsets, graphics, meme collections, fanvids, whatever your heart desires! Go wild!!!

Can I create/write not-safe-for-tunglr dot hell content?

Yes!!! All creators are encouraged to include triggers warnings, sub-genre specifications, ships, and other warnings in their posts. I will not discourage you from writing your 16k Kara-goes-evil fic, but please... Be Courteous and tag your fanworks appropriately so people can make an informed decision on what they're comfortable with viewing.

What does (X) prompt mean?

Each day has two prompts!! You can either pick a prompt OR you can combine prompts in different ways. Let your imagination take you where you want to go with each prompt!! If you want to explore both in the same fanwork, then be my guest!!

Mainstream Canon, Elsewords, and AU content is acceptable! Just make sure to stay within the comicsverse. Creativity is key! Have fun!!!

Can I crackship/multiship/harem/OT3/polyam the characters?

Absolutely!!! Just please remember that this is the Soupeyfam horror week, not the Lois-Has-A-Harem-of-Elseworlds-Supermen week. We love ships and things, but this week is about the Superfamily. The characters can have their lovers, but their personal romantic dalliances shouldn't overtake the Soupeyfam dynamics (unless you're pulling a Cersei and Jaime, lmao, if that's the case, go wild).

Does this have a tag?

During release week, use the general “superfam” tag to share your work with the wider Superfam fandom on tunglr. You can use whatever other tags you fancy. The best way to share, however, is to directly @ me so that I may reblog it.

I didn’t read a damn thing before this, Ava.

TL;DR: Over three months until the fanweek!!! For all fanwork creators out there, now’s the time to start thinking about what prompts you want to utilize for your creations. There are no creative restrictions, but I do ask that you follow these posting tips:

All fanfiction should be under a read-more.  

Not-safe-for-tunglr fanwork should be LINKED to whatever landing site the content is being hosted on (Twitter, AO3, etc). This includes both fanfiction and fanart. I don’t want your blog getting flagged bc tunglr hates gay people.

Provide content warnings for all triggers, squicks, and sub-genres. Unfortunately, in my ten odd years away from DC Comics, the fandom's seen a resurgence in puritanical behavior and tons of censorship and self-censorship. Please list content warnings on your work but do not be discouraged in sharing your work. If a fancop gets on your ass, block them. Please block as MANY as you can. They're like pests, they're always gonna be there, but their influence can be diminished by staunch blocking and reporting.

You can participate as much as you want!! Maybe you only wanna create for one day? Cool! Maybe you’re an overachieving corporate clown insomniac like myself, and wanna create for every day of the week? Go for it!!! 

The most important thing is to have fun :)

Truth be told, this event is entirely selfish. I personally love to the horror genre, and would love to see the characters in the Superfamily get more canon content as seen through beloved horror tropes. Unfortunately, Status Quo often gets in the way, and the current fanworks are largely ambivalent to the Dreadful and Despairing. If you'd like to join me in creating deliciously dark fiction featuring our favorite DC clan, please do! I would love to read your 10k character study of Otho and Osul assimilating into human society after spending their formative years as slaves in Warworld.

We’re over three months away from release week, so take your time, look through the prompts, and get your creative juices flowing! I will be sending out reminders until the go-live date.

For the people who showed interest during the initial interest check, I hope you're able to participate. To the four people who hate me, your mom's a hoe. Thank you.

[jannwrites]

book meme : WHAT MOVES THE DEAD by T. KINGFISHER.

a selection of lines from the novel what moves the dead. modified slightly for rp purposes.

i'm delighted by obscure passions, no matter how unusual.

it's cold and poor and if you don't die from falling in a hole or starving to death, a wolf eats you.

god, but it was a depressing scene.

i am, for the most part, not an imaginative soul.

he was the gentlest of souls, though he did collect rather odd things.

i swear to you, if i had not heard his voice, i would not have recognized him.

you look like you've been dragged arse-first through hell.

you have grown into an outrageous liar.

in some ways, it's rather refreshing to be treated in the same way as a fungus.

i will tell you, this is a recent dissolution.

i think it might be enough to make anyone ill.

i do not know how to deal with this sort of death, the one that comes slow and inevitable and does not let go.

death that simply comes and settles is not a thing i have any experience with.

i knew most of them would die anyway, but if they died in front of me, it felt worse.

we were friends once. i hope we still are.

i hear things now. everything. my own heartbeat. other people's breathing sounds like thunder.

sometimes i fancy i can hear the worms in the rafters.

but this place has made me afraid.

you don't pull punches in the morning, do you?

what sins could you possibly have?

you know i'm not a superstitious soul but i swear there's something wicked here.

they say mushrooms spring up where the devil walks and where the fairies dance.

perhaps they believe that the fungus is part of them.

it's in god's hands, not mine. perhaps not even his.

are you a witch, then?

don't listen to him. the dead carry lanterns down in the deep.

this place breeds nightmares.

he complains of nightmares. says the walls breathe them out.

i begin to think that this place has killed all of us, in its time.

most of us go to the devil without him having to personally oversee things.

the dead don't walk. you of all people know that.

really, what good would it do? have you not seen enough bodies in your time? maybe it helps other people, but it's just one more face to haunt your dreams.

headache is always preferable to heartache.

perhaps this miserable place has weighed down my spirit and left me vulnerable.

they don't fear ghosts where you come from?

i don't believe the dead actually care about those things.

[name], i have come to think of you as a sensible person, but there is something quite unsavory about all this.

you don't believe in possession, of course.

the dead may walk but i will not walk among them.

this thing, whatever it is, it's what's killing you. devouring you alive.

i've been dead for at least a month.

i could never help anything that killed you.

i know exactly where i would place the match.

[daisys-reality]

𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬

- A COLLECTION OF POSTS MADE BY @DAISYS-REALITY -

❂ 𝕬𝖓𝖘𝖜𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖉 𝖆𝖘𝖐𝖘

In this section you can find all the ask/questions I received here. All of them are also always tagged with the hashtag #t.asks .

☆ Mermaid dr ask one (anatomy) and two (reproduction & diet) + further mermaid dr asks one and two

☆ Does your mind(set) need to be positive? How can you change your mindset?

☆ Do you think I'll make it?....

☆ How do I get more In touch with my intuition?

☆ i've been trying to manifest but something in my mind keeps putting a block. do you think i'll make it? i'm having problems as to how to manifest like affirmations or subliminals....

☆ i've seen that in every tarot pick a card there's a word "reality shifting", can you please explain what's reality shifting and does that it make your readings different?

☆ how do i make a state feel natural to me? and how do i deal with intrusive thoughts?

☆ do i do exchange readings? + shoutout to another shifting tarot reader

☆ how do i do my tarot readings

☆ i just wanted to ask if listening to subliminals a sin?

☆ when I listen to subs, do I have to listen 92722882 times a day? And can I listen to multiple different subs? Does it “slow the process”?

☆ how do I politely/lovingly say no and decline their request?...

☆ how do i make sure i get my complete manifestation and not a part of it? i don't want movement...

☆ do your DR readings also apply to the future, for those of us who don't have intentions on shifting/don't shift?

☆ how do i request a tarot reading?...

☆ do you still take tarot reading requests?

☆ what happens to someone's family when they shift? do we leave them energetically?

☆ after two years I still don't understand what shifting is or what it requires...

☆ as someone who practices divination techniques, how do you see the law of assumption and reality shifting? || + part two

☆ i'm wondering if shifting can be for my own reality? for example not when im sleeping i can change my hair color etc??

☆ i don’t feel comfortable with astral projecting, lucid dream, or entering the void. will i enter those places on accident or unintentionally when I try to shift?

☆ have you ever dealt with jealousy? (law of assumption)

☆ supernatural powers vs. shifting and manifesting

☆ can we manifest time travel?

☆ dreams and signs related to the 3rd eye chakra (reality shifting)

☆ waiting for desires is not living in the end?

☆ living in the end and waking up with all desires

☆ how to embody the state of consciousness as someone who already has their desires?

☆ cycles of doubts and overthinking

☆ does inducing a specific brainwave help to manifest faster?

☆ struggles with negative thoughts and visualization

☆ struggles with feeling trapped and hopeless

☆ what advice would you give to someone who's trying to figure out what they want? (manifesting)

☆ transgender/lgbtq+ vs. religious beliefs/spirituality/law of assumption

☆ is reality shifting like a dream or are you actually awake? how does that work?

☆ i heard that you can talk to your higher self while you're in a void state. are you also planning to?

☆ is it supposed to be so uncomfortable? (void state)

☆ do you have any advice on how to figure out what we exactly want? (manifesting)

☆ would you ever cheat on a kpop idol? (i know that was so random)

☆ cheating in this generation's dating culture

☆ can you let me know if the next time I shift will be a success?

❂ 𝕺𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖑 𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖙𝖘

Here you can find some of my original posts... I guess. This is pretty random, I mainly chose those that could be interesting for you guys!

☆ a guide to scripting (reality shifting)

☆ manga moodboard

☆ law of assumption memes, law of assumption memes

☆ law of assumption vs. tarot/astrology spirituality

☆ reality shifting memes

☆ mini shifting imagine (CR lover), mini shifting imagine (animal crossing DR), mini shifting imagine (prison life), mini shifting imagine (anime x astrology),

☆ fantasy moodboard (reality shifting)

☆ gregory peck moodboard (old hollywood crush)

☆ working on self concept

☆ show yourself how trustworthy your are

☆ if you don't know how your ideal life should look like

☆ don't let other people confuse you

☆ fashion moodboard

☆ affirmation of the day

☆ fear of change and victim mindset

☆ mermaid DR moodboards: xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx

☆ screenshots from my pinterest

☆ me doing dumb but fun quizzes lol: xxx (deity), xxx (mystery novel), xxx (greek god lover), xxx (kpop type), xxx (underutilized spn angel), xxx (y/n stereotype), xxx (not your love language), xxx (colors), xxx (naruto villain), xxx (villainous woman from greek mythology),

☆ cute tattoo ideas 🤍 || + part two

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

WIP title ask meme

Prompt: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

-

I was poked to do this months ago, twice at least - once by @docholligay and I think the second was @jeejyboard, but I can't find the tag for the life of me. SORRY. I felt like doing something a bit more meta today re:writing and post about The Process, and this was a perfect excuse - thanks for thinking of me. So here's some actual effort! I went and dug deep, trawled through some really old stuff, which was fun. I write and scribble down way, way more than I actually polish and post (which I assume is probably normal, but who knows). 

General info, for whoever is interested: I mostly use Google Docs with offline backups for fic writing, as I shift between computers a ton, and I put fandom tags at the start of my filenames for organisation. I have a ton of prompt/meme/ask/event collection files - for example, the very latest: "[BG3, STRAHD, SM] Fic Prompts 2024". In these I jot down both the prompts people send or that are listed and the ideas/outlines/notes for each, then when I really get going with a certain fic I spin it off into a separate document. 

I hate coming up with titles and usually do that last, so most of my document names are silly references for my own amusement or just a boring old brief description of the main concept. For instance, my latest posted fic Cerimonia Compedum was for most of its WIP-hood known simply as "[BG3] Tadpoled Isobel". Sometimes I keep different versions/revisions/parts of the same WIP in different files, and if that's the case I've grouped them here. Note that for simplicity's sake this post includes my "solo" fic only, no collabs or coauthored stuff, of which there is also a bunch. 

Some of these are ancient and hit me in the face with "12 years ago" timestamps. Some ficlets will never make it out of the mixed prompt plot bunny dumping grounds into their own doc. I think Sailor Moon 10-ish years ago was the one outlier fandom where I actually wrote most of my concepts out fully and posted them. The ol' brain is currently overproducing stuff for the more recent BG3 flavoured moon lesbians (and no, that ship name will never stop throwing my HaruMichi-loving ass for a loop). Note that some of the SU WIPs on the list I've already posted about here, here, here, and here.

Obviously all of these vary wildly in terms of completion level, word count, refinement, and age (and capitalisation, apparently). So yeah, here's the list, roughly sorted by fandom - ask away, if you feel like it!

[BG3] Moon-chosen, Moon-guided | Moon-chosen, Moon-guided - Part III [BG3] Cerimonia Alārum | ISOBEL TO THE RESCUE AU [BG3] Tremulous Cadence followup | The Return of the Moon Daughter [BG3] Wizard Tower AU | Aylin & Rolan stuff [BG3] Karlach/Minthara Act 2 conclusion aka why are paladins Like That [BG3] I'm having something very strong indeed

[STRAHD] The d'Avenir Treatise verse tidbits [STRAHD] Road Trippin' [STRAHD] In-character notes & ficlets

[SU] eeEEeeeeEE BISMUTH | Bismuth ficlets | Like talking to a wall | Muse. Galatea. Suffering. [SU] SU Daemons HDM AU [SU] The Adolescence of Rose Quartz | But I don't think anyone turns into a car  [SU] Freedom To And Freedom From | Pearlrose Fixit | i love suffering!!! [SU] Forge Showdown AU [SU] Pearl Playing the Field TM | All I need in this life of sin is me and my pearlfriend [SU] The Grand Aventurine Heist (Not Really Grand And Only Slightly A Heist) | oh no who let Rose read the Scarlet Pimpernel

[SM] Future Vision blatantly ripped me off THANKS REBECCA | PUU fic [SM] Outers fall of SilMil | michific | The End is the Beginning is the End

[DS9] Kira fic bits

[TLOK] Five Times Kya Healed Lin and One Time She Couldn't | Kyalin fluff [TLOK] R.C. Noire | Lin BAMFong

[WATCHMEN] Silhouette fic bits

-

That's it! I don't think I have a single person that I know writes fic left that hasn't already been tagged in this, so feel free to do it (again) if it strikes your fancy.

[theoutcastrogue]

Masterposts

How to Rogue: a D&D 5e Masterpost

D&D 5e: Roguish Archetypes Masterpost Part I & Part II

Building a Rogue in 3.5 and Pathfinder: Collected Resources

Rogues in Fantasy Literature Masterpost

Dagger Fighting Masterpost

Thieves’ Cant Masterpost

Lock Picking Masterpost

Traps Masterpost

Tags and Credits

Basic Tags

How to Rogue: Exploring the Rogue class in D&D and assorted roleplaying games. Includes #fluff (roleplaying tips, character concepts, #backstories), #crunch (optimisation tips, guides, #magic items, #homebrew), and memes.

Rogues in Fiction: Exploring the Rogue archetype in literature, folklore, poetry, comics, games, etc, and #analysis thereof. Also relevant art.

Rogues in Theory: Exploring the Rogue archetype in history and society, and relevant subjects. Also #words of the trade (#etymology, synonyms, #thieves’ cant, linguistics).

Rogues in Practice: Tips on #how to stab and #how to steal (or, ahem, how to write/roleplay about stabbing and stealing), #exemplars of the trade (real life rogues and their exploits), and some less exemplary exploits. See also our esteemed colleagues in the #animal kingdom.

Art - Rogues Gallery: Rogue character portraits.

Art - Scene: Landscapes, fight scenes, #bar brawls, #heists, dungeon-crawling, etc. For urban landscapes, see #the city speaks.

Thieves’ Tools: Lockpicks! And assorted tools for breaking and entering where you’re not supposed to.

Tools of the Trade: Weapons! Mostly knives and daggers from all over the world (see the Dagger Fighting Masterpost for all the relevant tags), and some pretty swords and crossbows and the like.

Prison Ballads: The soundtrack.

…There is some overlap.

Quirky Thematic Tags

The ecstasy of gold: For loot, treasure, gold, and the deadly sin of greed.

The city speaks: For the hidden splendour of the city, from the gutters to the rooftops.

Heroes and villains: For good and evil and that grey waste in between which Rogues so often populate.

The phantom of liberty: For freedom, and storming the gates of heaven.

No tears for the creatures of the night: For the deadly sin of lust and its professionals.

The gambler’s face cracks into a grin: For gamblers and card cheats.

Dishonour on your cow: For honour among thieves, criminal codes, omertà, and blood feuds. File under the deadly sin of pride.

Fearlessly fleeing: For craven rogues and clever rogues. Wait, there’s a difference?

The ramblin’ rover: For vagrants and vagabonds and for the long-winding road.

The right to be lazy: For the deadly sin of sloth.

The hired man: For (mostly against tbh) the Rogue’s nemesis, the cop. See also #prison.

Swinging from the gallows tree: For the ignominious end that awaits us.

The quirk is strong with this one: See also #the potatoes of defiance, #big thief little thief, #the thrill of the heist, #the rich remember, #daring escape, #be the chaos you want to see in this world, #carnival, #stabbity, #only knives left, #dubito ergo sum, #fuck the king, #profanity makes everything better, #information wants to be free, #a begging I will go, #forbidden fruit, #the groaning rogue, #I fought the law, #the deserter. (#Tag namer explains some of the quirkiness.)

More Tags

Tabletop tales: It happened in somebody’s game.

D&D history: The conceptual and mechanical evolution of the Thief Rogue class in D&D, and other interesting stuff from the history of #roleplaying.

TRS: The Rogue speaks. Not to be confused with TSR.

Self explanatory: #D&D, #3.0, #3.5, #5e, #Pathfinder, #Pathfinder 2e, #AD&D, #roguish archetype, #feat, #skill trick, various #skills (#deception, #sleight of hand, #stealth, etc), #rogue fashion, #correspondence, #long post.

For anything else, try the search function and hope, but don’t get your hopes up because tumblr’s search function is appalling. Googling with the parametre site:theoutcastrogue.tumblr.com might actually be better.

Credits

All original work published here (i.e. the words and the occasional photograph of @theoutcastrogue​ aka @we-are-rogue, 2016–2023) is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Avatar image: “Tymora’s Luck” (detail) by Ryan Pancost, from Dragon Magazine #388 | Wizards of the Coast 2010

Header image: “The Thief” (detail) by capprotti, for the game Exile Gods | Distant Orbit 2009

The WeAreAdventurers collective was started in 2016 by @wearepaladin. 

See also the archival blog @wewererogue​.

[asquared-ohgodnotthehorrors]

Ok, I was talking about niche superpowers with my friend, and it was then and then only I revealed my #1 fantasy superpower that also fit the bill, to which we collectively realized how perfect it was:

Limitless telepathy. No not mind reading, think unlimited castings of Sending, audio only, single target and two way.

It’s limited, and it’s niche, but like… it’s so amazing.

Have you ever wanted to talk to your friends but the delay of needing to use your phone to reach out to them was too much of a hurdle? You have telepathy just speak into their mind. You can even do it while you’re/they’re in the middle of something boring so you/they can zone out.

In trouble? Call someone, instantaneously.

Someone bother you? Annoy them with terminal memes! Pretend to be da devil, tryin to convince them to do sin. Beam YTP audio into their mind. Follow up everything they say with “You Know Who Else-?” So many possibilities.

I then realized that if you trained the power enough, you could probably learn to subconsciously beam whatever you’re hearing to target of your choice while you’re listening automatically. *You can force people to experience your media with you…* audio only but that’s not too bad, hell if you’re reading something it can be pretty akin to just reading aloud.

Of course, if you do it to a friend frequently enough they’ll probably learn to do the same thing back because, well, it’s 2 way, but that’s a perk in my eyes.

And there are so many more possibilities *just with your friends.* Imagine what you could do to your enemies. Full on psychological warfare… granted this could really be used for evil and make you an awful person, but like… if you mostly meme and/or try to make them confront what they’ve done is bad it’s probably fine. You either make them redeem themselves or drive them insane. Not like you’re actually hurting them.

The worst use of this though would be bothering artists and streamers. Cause then you’re just harassing them with free superchats.

[elderscrollsconceptart]

how many tes games have you played, what was your first build/character in each, and why did you pick those skills/traits/etc?

Hi and thank you!

I've played admittedly not a lot of Arena. Its hard to get into due to its age 🧙‍♂️ Love Jeff Perrymans work on the game though!

I've played a good amount of Daggerfall! I played a bit of it ~13(?) years ago but it was the original version so like Arena it was super hard to both play and get into it. I was actually doing a classic "sword and board" play through via Daggerfall Unity just last year and was having fun until my saves got corrupted somehow 🥲

I actually touched Redguard for the first time this year but I'm holding off until I finish my current Morrowind playthrough 🏴‍☠️

Battlespire I've actually never touched despite owning it. Its weird because I've POURED over that games wiki and its actually my favorite old school TES game based purely on aesthetics and its designs. A full play through is on my to do list for this year!

All the old TES mobile games, shadowkey, Oblivion Mobile, etc. I have limited experience with. I've seen them IRL on friends phones back in the day but never got hands on since I actually didn't have a phone until later in Highschool. I think the internet archive has at least a few of them playable? I'd have to check, maybe it's worth checking out!

Morrowind...ahh morrowind :) its my fav TES game in terms of quests. My first play through was not a full one, it was at a friends house on the XBOX version way way back in the day. For my first REAL play through it was on my first gaming PC and I played an athletics focused halberd wielding orc who bonked people on the head 😂

Oblivion..This one PAINS me..I've only actually played though it entirely a single time and it was ages ago on the Xbox 360 and I played a...stealth archer 😵‍💫..It wasn't a meme at the time I swear! I just liked sneaking and archery! When I got it on PC, every time I tried setting it up with or without mods I had technical issues. I've mentioned it before but I absolutely loathe the bad draw distance and pop in that plagues even "ultra" settings on PC. OpenMorrowind on PC is a technical marvel. I wish they'd do something similar for Oblivion or port a stable version of Oblivion to PC. I really want to do a full playthrough again!

Skyrim. Fun fact I calculated it one time and I'm certain I collectively have 3,000+ hours in Skyrim over the past 13 years. Possibly close to 4,000 but thats from my Xbox 360 playthoughs and I don't remember the exact times for that. The base game is long worn out for me but god damn is Skyrim's modding community incredible. Thanks to mods, the game has remained fresh in various ways for the past 13 years and at this rate I'll probably add another 1k hours before TES 6 comes out 😁

ESO. I'm gonna be 100% upfront here. I got the game when it came out and had lots of issues with it. The game had a rocky start and I wasn't ever a big fan of MMOs to begin with. That said! Zenimax has done amazing things over the past 10 years and really kept that game alive with continuous improvement. I haven't kept up with it the past few years ago outside of the lore (and art) stuff but I think after I give the older TES games another go, I'll probably hop back in to ESO.

Legends. I've never played it! TBH don't like card games, Hearthestone, Gwent, etc. Legends doesn't have much going for it besides the art BUT BUT BUT...Legends art is fucking incredible 😍😍😍 Seriously, after Perhaps Skyrim's concept art, the various artists of Legends are my 2nd fav to look at. I can ignore the actual gameplay but I really wish we knew more about who actually has created all the Legends art. We only have hints such as studio names for vast portions of the art, or straight up ZERO sources for who made a lot of the core decks and original release era art. I keep my head on a swivel for that stuff because its so amazing and beautiful!

Lastly, TES Blades. I'm not a huge fan of the game since I don't like touchscreen controls (eg. I play Morrowind on my phone but with a controller). I've played a fair amount but never beat it since the controls are bleh and gameplay doesn't appeal to me a ton. Most of the stuff that interests me about blades is the armor designs and the fact it gives us a super small glimpse into the period between The Great War and Skyrim.

Sorry this went a Lil long but thanks for your ask!

[fecto-forgo]

and Flamberge

favorite thing about them:SHES SO FUNNY IN THE SENSE SHES SO NORMAL.hear me out francisca has a frozen corpse collection zan is insane abt their cult leader n competitive n violent.berges just mad you beat her sister up.they even show that in the dialogue w franciscas light struggle w talking n zan sounding like she reads the dictionary for fun n flamberges just casual impolite.franny n zan will be breaking the geneva convention in the background while flamberges sniffing flowers n frolicking through the fields n thinking abt how beautiful life is while also thinking shes an absolute freak of nature whos so cool.the jamba cult is this meme to me n shes the fighter

least favorite thing about them:THE STREAK NEVER ENDS KIRBY CHARACTERS R UNSTOPPABLE N GODLYYYYY

favorite line:"For what you've done, I'll scorch you to such a degree that...that...even tasty, toasty marshmallows will seem like ice cubes compared to you!" youre doing great baby girl dont listen to the haters

brOTP:half her dialogue is wanting to beat you up for beating francisca up i think we know the answer to this

OTP:none yk how i see the cults dynamic

nOTP:read above !

random headcanon:she has Some Degree Of Doubt that started w hyness worsening behavior n her n zan keep fighting abt it bc doubt is sin n shes daring criticize hyness' greatness but alas the girls dont have anyone else so they cant stay anything but subtly bitter at each other.someone get francisca out of there she has to witness those two fight every week

bonus gijinka (similar to frannys some parts can translate to canon designs)hc:most of her body is burnt n bandaged, that started w hyness patching the wounds up, evolving into zan having a weird insistence she has to keep them patched even after theyre.as healed as can be n eventually berge just thinking they look sick

unpopular opinion:IF YOU DONT LIKE FLAMBERGE YOURE CATCHING THESE DAMN HANDSSS !!!

song i associate with them:uhhhh yeah you can guess i got none 💔

favorite picture of them:

she looks like a child throwing a tantrum i love her

[justmemethings]

Disclaimer ! I'm not the original creator of these fill-up memes. I simply collected them from the search section / dash. The credit goes to the original source (which unfortunately I haven't been able to track down.

Your OC as the solar system

RULES: bold what applies - italicize sometimes - strike out never. Tag some friends to play along! Repost, don’t reblog !

SUN • egotistical • melted wax wings and fingers • stretching sunburnt skin • the most generous soul • blood in the fruit • halos • anger on fire • high vitality • thunderous laughter • is pride really a sin? • halogenic aura

MERCURY • expansion of the mind • silver-tongued • an everlasting wanderer • polyglot • high dexterity • handwritten letters • innately critical • en vogue • eyes in the trees • hidden libraries • there’s always room for improvement

VENUS • in love with strangers • iridescent waters • love potions for your mirror • selfless devotion • shattering crystal • seafoam upon sand • the golden ratio • drowning in your own passion • material value & high principles • luring • plush lips

EARTH • fresh springs • tree hugger • we can start again tomorrow • a blazing rainforest • respects survival of the fittest • nature’s adversity • lazy bones • constantly evolving • flowers sprouting from wounds • a granite altar • fossilized remains

MOON • illusory • silver shimmer off the ocean • secrets and gossip • cycles of reincarnation • a crybaby • physically ethereal • shared glances with a stranger • cat eyes • mistrusting their intuition • fear is a prison • ornate magic wands

MARS • healthy competition • attraction and repulsion • magma and rubies • a blade being forged • wrath wrath wrath • malefic • intense eye contact • cannon fodder & fireworks • blood floods • copper taste on your tongue

JUPITER • red robes and a suit of armor • beacon of stability • leader by birth • thunderbolts and lightning • guilty but can’t stop • secret rich kid • golden touch golden tears • innate optimist • failure isn’t an option • constantly reaching for more • unfinished symphonies

SATURN • traditional • overbearing energy • a sculptor of reality • this existence is a karmic one • has a heart it’s just.. way down deep • law, order & justice • avoid all necessary risk • the sound of shackles clanging • sisyphus’ struggle • grappling with the reality of time • self-governing

URANUS • psychedelic funk music • overflowing cups • a rebellion with skin • looking good in photo id • oblivious but caring • middle fingers in the air • double rainbows • icy diamond exterior • holographic • afraid of their own mediocrity • pearlescent smoke

NEPTUNE • an elegy for the lost • dissolving boundaries • white horses • the burden of mystical conditions • deceptive • escapism is their reality • a polarizing entity • artists soul • paranoia • searching for the unseen • a siren’s swan song

PLUTO • angel statues over graves • power • the cycle of necrosis • transformative • unfathomable depths • an ivory tower toppling over • screaming at the sky • violets and irises • eclipsed darkness • speaks with their shadow • sex, death, rebirth

tagged by: tagging:

[embossross]

The Devotion of the Girl in the Mirror

Chapter 2 >> Masterlist

✣ Pairing: Rindou x AFAB fem!Reader

✣ Warning: 18+ explicit content, minors DNI

✣ Series: part of the In the Belly of the Beast fic universe

✣ Chapter CW: dom!Rindou, oral (fem receiving), BDSM negotiations, degradation / name-calling, edging / orgasm denial

✣ Story CWs: BDSM dob/sub relationship; sex (oral, ptv, pta, etc.); genre typical drug use, alcohol, smoking

✣ Synopsis: A story of two lonely people find love for better or worse. Or, dom!Rindou is sweet on his girl. Or, on paper, you and Rindou have nothing in common. But sometimes chemistry defies logic, and with every conversation, you find yourself more bewitched until all you see, smell, or hear is Rindou.

The memory of Rindou haunts you. Despite only exchanging a few words, there is a shadow of him that lingers every time you close your eyes.

None of your university friends know that you lied last week when you claimed a sore throat, ditched their plans to drink beer and watch cartoons for the hundredth time to check out a BDSM club. They see you as a little lost girl. They would try to stop you. They would warn you away from Rindou.

It is their voices, joined together in an eerie collective, one discordant note, that ring in your head as you dial Rindou’s number, as you make plans to meet for coffee. Going on a date with a stranger is dangerous. Going on a date with a stranger that likes to tie women up and beat them is suicidal.

But there is no escaping those penetrating eyes. When you brush your hair after a shower or laugh at a meme, you imagine his violet eyes are watching. You swear he watched you that night in the club, even as he played with the body of an older, more experienced woman, his eyes pierced through to the center of your dirty soul, where you imagined yourself in place of the other woman, how you would not be able to withhold your whimpers in her place, how you would beg – if he allowed it – how you would lose your sanity to the barest graze of his fingertips.

It was like he understood what you truly wanted in your venture to the underbelly of town, not one night of sin but a lifetime of pleasure. You hoped to meet a man who would take you under his wing and into his heart, to train and love in equal measure.

Imagine your delight then to be taken to a café so similar to a lifetime of past first dates, all with men intent on charming you. The café is charming but unremarkable. Located on a busy street of restaurants, retailers and real estate offices. It sees a steady stream of patrons on the weekends and in the early mornings before the work rush, but on a Wednesday at 3 PM, the place is mostly empty. The barista’s rehearsed greeting rings loud in the quiet shop when you first enter. This is a place where two people can really talk, the hours tallying up with none the wiser.

He wants to court you in the bright light of day, like in the stories.

Rindou strikes a different impression here than in the dimmed dungeon. As he orders and pays for your drinks, you study him shamelessly.

The garishly dyed hair and startling tattoo – a literal neck tattoo! – seemed right at home in the deep of night, but now they draw stares. He is younger than you first realized, all of that confidence befits a man in his forties, but Rindou looks like he might be in his late twenties or early-thirties. Just a very worn-out young man. You thought he wore makeup when you first saw him, dark rimmed eyes and purple circles beneath, but your realize now that he is simply tired. Like the other night, he dresses casually in a black tee shirt and black jeans. The effect is flattering, and you surreptitiously trace where muscles stretch the material with your eyes.

When you first greeted him, he didn’t smile, even as you beamed at him like an idiot. There was ice in his gaze, not the hot fire that burned your gut. You were thankful when he took your order, left you nestled in a corner table by a window overlooking the main street. It gave you a moment to regain your confidence. He chose you.

“Here you are,” Rindou says, returning to the table with your drinks.

Rindou ordered a black coffee, roasted from the café’s proprietary blend. Despite the modern décor and menu, the coffee is served in a vintage ceramic mug. Steam circles the cup.

“Don’t judge me,” you say cheerfully as you accept your own iced coffee and immediately reach for the gomme syrup and coffee fresh.

“Are you putting that in your coffee?” Rindou asks, somewhat unnecessarily as you tip the cream into your coffee, followed a moment later by the sugary syrup. The black of your coffee lightens into something milder, and you stir the new mixture around.

“I know it’s not very sophisticated, but I can’t drink my coffee black. It makes my heart race,” you say.

“You like it.” Rindou’s voice is as mild as your newly flattened coffee, and you can’t tell if he means it as a question.

You take a tentative sip, and your face immediately puckers. You add a second serving of coffee fresh.

“Delicious,” you lie, and Rindou rewards you with a small smile. He drinks his coffee without hesitation, of course, and you almost scowl.

“I shouldn’t be surprised. Sweet thing like you,” Rindou says.

“Does that make you hard and bitter to swallow?

He isn’t far off. You do like sweet things, candies and grenadine-flavored cocktails, Shoujo manga and romances, walks through the park with friends and gifts on Ochugen. Every day you find a new series of little pleasures to sweeten the hard work or tedium. Right now, the pleasure of his praise lights you up from the inside.

“I was happy you invited me out,” you admit.

“I was glad you called.”

Hard to take him at his word, when he appears to apathetic now, slouched in his seat and eyeing the coffee nearly as much as he glances at you. He is courteous, but dispassionate. You wonder if he is always so monotone and tired or if you fail to excite him.

You want to impress him, and the nerves make you ramble.

“Well, I like this place. It was a good pick. I live by Nakano Station, so when I’m home, anywhere in the city is an easy meeting place, but I go to Seikei University, and the bus is a pain, so meeting in Ikebukuro is a good middle for me. Only had to switch trains once to get here.”

“Seikei? That’s a good school.”

“Thanks, but I’m not like the daughter of nobility or something. I know that’s the reputation, but a lot of normal kids go to Seikei, too. We’re not all sons and daughters of CEOs.”

“Still impressive you got in,” Rindou says.

“Oh, um, thanks,” you mutter, embarrassed at even more unearned praise. “It’s been a dream so far. I mean, the campus is beautiful and the professors are like the smartest people I’ve ever met. I wasn’t sure if I’d make many friends with being so busy, but a lot of people commute like me, so we have a study group and are always together. It’s been wonderful.”

“The stereotypical student life,” Rindou says. His warm tone makes you think he is making fun of you, but when you meet his eyes, you see they are focused and bright for the first time. “What are you studying?”

“Early Modern Japanese literature. Not very practical, I know, but I love it.”

“Who’s your favorite?” Rindou says.

Sharing a favorite story or author always embarrasses you. It is too revelatory of how you see the world, or worse, how you want to see the world. Too many classmates have asked only to pounce on your answer. For that reason, you have a stable of fake responses, designed to make you sound smart, but they dry up on your tongue. Lying to Rindou doesn’t sit right with you.

“Well, depends on if you mean poetry or fiction. My favorite haiku poet is probably Fukuda Chiyo-ni, but I hate telling people because I worry they’ll think I just like her because she’s a woman, and I’m trying to prove something. But, I’m not. I just think the scenes she sets are beautiful, so clever. And for stories…probably A Smiling Death’s Head by Ueda Akinari.”

‘Why?”

“It’s kind of a long explanation,” you hedge, eyes sliding downward to where an ice cube bobs in your cup. The reason you never admit to your love of this story is to avoid the question of why. Why not one of Ueda Akinari more beloved and well-studied works? Why the one often dismissed as the diminished storytelling of a dying old man?

“Look at me,” Rindou says, and the lack of give in his voice startles your eyes back to his. “Tell me in detail. I want to hear it.”

It is a voice that brooks no challenges, the same voice he might use when telling you to stop squirming and take it, and you lose the breath from your lungs. Helpless to resist, you begin to spill out the whole wretched story.

“Well, it’s based on historical fact, and it was fictionalized several times. According to historical record, Unai was the son of the once noble and still affluent Danji, and Yae was the daughter of the Danji’s impoverished kinsman. Yae and Unai loved one another, but Danji refused to let them marry. Yae ignored her mother’s counsel to let the matter drop and went to beg Danji herself, only for her brother, Genta, to behead her. Everyone in the entire ridiculous affair got off with barely a slap on the wrist – well, except Yae, obviously – because Genta was seen as so noble, doing what he must to protect his family’s honor. Ayatari Takebe famously wrote about it in the Nishiyama Monogatari, which is interesting in its own right, as he himself was exiled after a shameful affair with his brother’s wife…” you trail off self-consciously. “Tell me if I’m boring you.”

“Not at all,” Rindou reassures you. “You’re teaching me something new.”

The warmth in his voice is at complete odds with his blank face, and you think you may be starting to figure out his weirdly contrasting signals. You decide then and there to stop worrying about what Rindou thinks of you. Making friends has always been a special talent of yours, and this self-consciousness doesn’t fit you at all. You love to talk about literature. With his permission, you see no reason to stop.

“Right, well Ayatari Takebe’s version follows the general consensus of the time, that Genta is the hero, Danji an ass, and Yae unfilial. In his version, a familial curse that caused a ghost to literally terrorize their family is broken by her death and Genta’s heroism. It’s…kind of upsetting to read as a woman and hard to understand as Ayatari himself is guilty of the sin he writes about. Then, in The Tale of a Man of Valor, Ueda Akinari writes about it for the first time. What I like about this version is it has Yae ask to be killed and made a martyr. It treats her as if she is just as capable of honor as Genta and the men, but it doesn’t give her or her mother a name. That just bugs me for some reason! So that brings us to A Smiling Death’s Head, which is the second time Ueda writes about the incident, only this time it’s really a romance! In real life and every other version, the Unai character completely abandons Yae at his father’s orders, but in this version, he actually stands to leave with her even though it will mean his disinheritance. So, then the brother executes Yae the shame of marrying a disinherited son, not for shaming the family. I like that the love is actually validated in this one, that the character of Yae isn’t dying for a man that wouldn’t even protect her. And, best of all, everyone gets punished in the end! The brother is exiled, the lover and father exiled to monastic life. No one was on that girl’s side in life. They celebrated her murder, and the original stories afterwards did the same. I actually cried when I read a version where she gets a kind of justice. It was such a shock to see any kind of justice for her, even if it is in the unreality of literature. I think it’s lovely.”

“I’ll have to check it out,” Rindou says, and while it may be a throwaway line, just something to say after you spilled out a whole thesis on the story, you think there’s real approval in Rindou’s eyes, the subtlest sparking of interest.

“Are you a big reader?” you ask.

“Sometimes I listen to audio books. Mostly about history. I don’t have much time to sit down with a book,” Rindou says.

“Audio books totally count,” you say. “And if you like history, you should check out the first one by Ayatari. They say he actually met Genta and wrote the story based on the facts. It’s technically considered fiction, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”

“I’m surprised that’s not your favorite version.”

“Oh really? Why?”

“I understand wanting justice for the girl, but in that version she doesn’t even need justice. She wanted to die. It makes her an active participant in the story, doesn’t it?” Rindou says.

“Ugh, I know! I’m a bad person. I should prefer that one. It’s better written, too. I just hate the lover in that version. I think it’s so pathetic, the idea of dying for a man who won’t even fight for you. Who could choose dying for a man like that? I don’t believe she wanted to die, and there’s something so twisted about perverting the historical fact to make you complicit in your own murder,” you explain.

“You’re a romantic,” Rindou snorts.

“Yeah, well, a girl shouldn’t be judged for being a romantic, especially when she reads.”

When Rindou straightens his back from the hunch he affected while listening to you, you are reminded just how much taller he is than you. Sitting casually across from one another, it is easy to forget. You cross and uncross your legs a few times, aware of the laminate, sticky against your bare thighs. The little flared skirt you wear is hiked higher than you usually dare. You spent over an hour that morning shaving and moisturizing the skin to a supple invitation.

“How old are you?” Rindou asks abruptly.

“Guess,” you urge.

“Young enough that I should feel ashamed,” Rindou sighs, and you are charmed at what you imagine to be self-flagellation in his posture as he returns to a comma-like hunch. The couple lovers you enjoyed until now have all been older, likely older than Rindou even, and none of them hesitated for a second at your vulnerable age. They liked you most when you were nineteen and starry-eyed.

“I’m twenty-one,” you say, sparing his feelings.

“Twenty-one?” Rindou repeats. “And you’re just starting your first semester at university? Sorry, that’s none of my business.”

“Don’t’ be. We’re here to get to know each other, right? Besides, I’m not ashamed of it. Proud actually,” you reassure him.

A crowd of high-school boys coopt the table to your right, striking up an immediate ruckus. If they are seniors, they may be closer to your age than Rindou, but the chasm between you and these almost children is enormous. One of the boys props his feet on the chair opposite him, another drops crumbs all over the floor, and another yet laughs like the crack of a gun, interrupting the peace of the café.

With a concerted effort to block out the disruptive students, you say, “My mom raised me and my siblings on her own pretty much. My dad was only sporadically in the picture. So, money was always tight. I’d planned to go to university right after I graduated high school, but my mom lost her temporary position right before I would have enrolled. I knew she wouldn’t be able to support my little sister on her own, so I decided to stay at home and work until my sister could go to school, too, which she did. She’s left Tokyo altogether. Her university is in Kyushu.”

Maybe this was oversharing, but you feel no shame when it comes to this subject. The sacrifices you made for your family mean they are now set to start new chapters in their lives. Putting off university for four years was nothing compared to the payoff.

“You said siblings, plural,” Rindou says. “Guessing you’re the oldest.”

“No, I have an older brother.”

Rindou frowns. You realize his blank face is far quicker to twist into a frown than a smile. It will be twice as satisfying when you manage to earn a rare smile.

“Where was your brother in all of this?” Rindou asks, clear judgment in his voice. You also realize that his tone is a more honest indicator of his feelings than his expressions.

You wave his judgment off. “It’s okay. I don’t blame him or anything. He eloped with his girlfriend right out of high school, so he had his own family to take care of. They have two kids already. The advantage of being an aunt so young is I plan to be a cool aunt and spoil them rotten!”

“So, you re-enrolled once your sister was in school. Must be difficult to go from earning an income to being a student. How do you support yourself?”

Talking to Rindou feels a little like an interrogation, like he is building a profile on you or something. You went on dates before where the guy bombarded you with questions, but that was usually because your date was shy or uninteresting and wanted to keep the focus on you. Not for a second do you believe Rindou is shy or boring.

You pride yourself on being an open book, so you shrug off the weirdness.

“It’s not that tough, to be honest. I still live at home, so I don’t have to worry about rent, just food, tuition, books, the usual. I actually made a pretty good salary as a factory worker, and every dollar I didn’t give to my mother for household expenses went straight to savings, so I’m able to support myself mostly. I do plan to start applying for jobs next semester though. It would be nice to have some fun money and treat my classmates on occasion,” you say.

Rindou leans back in his seat, arms crossed and scans you up and down. “You’re a lot tougher than you look, aren’t you?”

“I guess that depends on how I tough I look.”

Finally, you earn a smile from Rindou, and it’s the smile of a predator. “Oh honey, you look positively breakable.”

The coffee shop is a world away from a seedy sex dungeon, so you found it easy to compartmentalize, act like this date is no different than any other, or like there are two Rindous. Both dress flamboyantly and are reserved in manner, but one looks at home with an espresso and the other belongs to your dirtiest daydreams. Now, the two collide, and your body tenses with the reminder of just what this man could do to you. What he would like to do to you.

You lick your lips, completely submerged in Rindou’s gaze. Those same eyes studied his handiwork on that woman’s body so clinically, so proudly, so…

To your right, the students start arguing about copying each other’s homework, and you skyrocket back to reality. A reality where you are nearly drooling in a public place.

Time for a subject change.

“Anyways, I’m applying for all the on-campus food service positions. I’d like to get something in copywriting or proofreading because it’s at least somewhat relevant to my career, but I have to be realistic. My dream would be to work at the library though,” you speed through the words as if each is a battering ram against the tension in your belly.

“You as a librarian? I think I could be bothered to check out a book once in a while,” Rindou says.

“Well, it won’t happen. Everyone wants to work there. Only the upperclassmen get hired,” you say. “What about you? Who are you Haitani Rindou? Do you have family? Friends? What do you do for work? For fun? I’m curious.”

Typically, when you go on a first date, you already know the basics about the man you’re seeing. On arranged dates, your friends or coworkers would give you their credentials as if the man is interviewing for the coveted position of your boyfriend. And, in those instances where you met a guy at a party first, you would have already talked for some time. Dates are meant to determine if you have any chemistry. Nine times out of ten, you leave disappointed.

With Rindou, it is the exact opposite. You know you want the man across from you. Too much. If he asks to take you home, you won’t have the power to resist him. Hell, if hells you to get on your knees under the table, a delirious part of yourself would be tempted. He is so serious, so impenetrable, but his focus when he looks at a woman…

You shiver in your seat.

“You’re cold,” Rindou says. “Get yourself another coffee. Whatever you want on me.”

Without realizing, you sipped your coffee to the dregs. Hard to imagine when you got the time considering you’ve done all the talking until now.

“No thanks. If I drink another cup, I won’t be able to sleep tonight,” you say. It’s a lie. You don’t want to interrupt the conversation, not when it’s finally on Rindou to answer a question for once.

Without a word, Rindou pushes a bottle of water towards you, and you, thankfully, take it. This man makes you thirsty in more ways than one.

“So, tell me about yourself,” you urge.

“You wanted to know about my family. What is there to say? I have an older brother. We’re close. Then, there’s my grandmother. My grandfather passed a few years back. I see her once a month. Good woman,” Rindou says.

“How much older is your brother?” you ask.

“Only a year.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” you pout. “He probably doesn’t spoil you so much then.”

Rindou snorts, literally snorts. “No, he really doesn’t. He’s my best friend, but he positively terrorized me as a kid.”

“Same! I always wanted an older sibling to spoil me rotten, like I do with my sister, but my brother was always teasing me and eating my food!” you moan.

“Tell me about it. We lived together for a few years as adults, and I bet you can guess how that went. It was his rules all the time. I couldn’t have friends over or play music or do anything past eight pm because he needed his beauty sleep. Meanwhile, I couldn’t get him to take out the trash on his turn or follow any one of my rules,” Rindou complains.

“Ugh, that’s just so typical. Younger siblings get all the character,” you say.

Rindou nods solemnly, and you find yourself giggling at your own joke.

“I’m surprised that you haven’t asked about my parents. Most people would.”

It barely qualifies as a compliment, yet you wiggle in your seat at the idea this impresses him.

“I didn’t tell you all the sordid details about why my dad isn’t in the picture either,” you point out.

“True. How about a deal? You tell me why your dad isn’t around, and I’ll tell you about my parents.”

Your father is a sore spot. Not because you have any feeling towards the man at all. His name evokes the memory of a grassy hill, mud sticking to your boots, and the air scented with manure. The memory sticks somewhere in the back of your brain, but the details of the when, where, and why skitter away when you try to grasp them. Nothing there to cling to.

No, it is not for your father’s sake that you avoid the topic, but rather for your mother. The story of your conception doesn’t paint your mother in the best light. You already told Rindou she failed to support her children on her own. Your mother whose very name summons up too many memories for you to catalogue. Who smells like mikans and can never pass a book vendor without bringing you something home to read. Your mother who raised you and praised you from an embryo into the young woman you are today. In how many ways can you poison Rindou against your mother before he even meets her?

Wait…before he meets her?

Rindou may be a wet dream with a voice that makes you want to follow his every order, but he is a stranger. You do not need to worry about what he thinks of your freaking mother.

Squaring your shoulders, you confess, “My father was married when he met my mother. Still is. I only met him a few times when I was a kid. He’s not someone I think about.”

“What about your siblings? Did your mother marry?”

“They have the same father,” you admit. “It was a…prolonged lapse in judgment on my mother’s part.”

Growing up, your school friends and the neighborhood kids would insist you visit their homes or meet at a neutral shopping district. Your mother was silently ostracized by the parents, punished on behalf of wives everywhere. You learned to tolerate the indignity. Less sufferable were the fathers, introducing themselves to your mom at school, offering to help around the house, eyeing her like easy meat on the bone. Your mother never noticed any of it. Her eyeline rested above the heads of most people; she looked to the sky, never the ground.

But you noticed. You saw it all.

Rindou reacts unlike anyone you have ever told about your mother. He doesn’t seem to process that you are a bastard or that your mother is the kind of woman condemned in proper homes. He nods in understanding. His nods contains years of experience in the sins of people. It isn’t really that surprising. Plenty of men become beats where women are concerned.

“My mom died when I was still pretty young, and my dad basically disappeared on us. Technically we lived with him in his apartment, but he would stop by maybe once a month with no warning, leaving just enough cash to eat for a week and then disappear again. Found out later he had several women around Tokyo that he would stay with, didn’t hold down a job for more than a few weeks at a time. Our grandparents made sure we were fed, but my brother and I were left to fend mostly for ourselves. It made us strong, smart,” Rindou says.

“I feel the same,” you whisper. “I mean, just that people always pity me when I talk about my background, but I think I’m a lot stronger for having sacrificed for my family and lived the life I have. It also makes me more appreciative of where I am now.”

“Exactly.”

Where have your nerves disappeared? The conversation wraps around you, weighs you down like a heavy stone, and you sink into some liminal space where the coffee shop and its patrons disappear. Where only you and Rindou exist. It’s unlike anything you have ever experienced.

You find yourself thinking about a passage in Snow Country: “Again she lost herself in the talk, and again her words seemed to be warming her whole body.”

What did it mean to think of a doomed romance now of all times? And yet, how perfectly the words capture your feelings!

“Because we didn’t have enough money, I skipped university and went straight to work,” Rindou tells you. “It’s honestly a miracle I graduated high school. I knew a diploma wouldn’t matter one way or another, but my brother insisted and paid my school fees. When I graduated, my schoolmates started a business, and I joined up with them.”

“Oh, that must be fun to work with friends!”

“I don’t know if I’d call them friends, maybe a couple of them. I think it’s good to keep some distance between your life and your work, not to be one of those men who only socializes with his coworkers and lives for the job,” Rindou says.

“What do you do?”

“I’m in the export-import business,” Rindou answers.

Your mouth drops, which is completely impolite, but you can’t help it. You expected to hear that he was a landscaper or drove a taxi or a million other respectable blue-collar jobs. (Or, yes, a yakuza. The tattoos are hard to ignore. But Rindou doesn’t match the look of the old men with their big bellies and cat calls that lurk outside pachinko parlors. He is not yakuza.) Rindou doesn’t match at all your vision of an international businessman. He doesn’t wear a million-yen suit or check his phone every other minute or talk in jargon. Rindou, despite his eye-catching hair and sexual predilections, seems so…normal.

“Wow. I mean. Wow! That sounds so cool. Do you travel a lot? Do you get discounts on products? What does it mean to be in export-import?”

“No. yes. And it means that my business imports goods into the country, and then my role is to connect with buyers in Japan to purchase our products. It’s more boring than you make it sound: supply chain, payroll, competitive analyses.”

“You’re telling me you and your friends started your own business in international trade and expect me not to be impressed?” you laugh.

Rindou shrugs. “I don’t talk much about work. I work to live, not live to work. I’d much rather be drinking coffee with a pretty literature student than discussing pricing strategies.”

“Well, when you put it that way,” you say. How many times did he call you pretty? You think it’s twice now.

“I always wanted to go to university to be honest. I love to learn, and there are so many classes that I know I’d love, but at first, I couldn’t afford it, and even now the timing just doesn’t make sense,” Rindou admits. “I know you can relate to that.”

“Alright, a thought experiment,” you say. “If money, time, location wasn’t an object, and you could go to any university in the world, what would you major in?”

“Easy, history. I’d probably specialize in the Tokugawa period, but I’m also interested in modern warfare, post-atomic bomb,” Rindou says.

“Little boy in love with the age of samurai,” you tease.

“That’s definitely part of it,” Rindou laughs. “But it’s also the politics, the way the period is brimming with restrained forces because change is right around the corner. There’s this stubbornness to the period, this refusal that may look ridiculous in retrospect, but it’s not. They held out for two hundred years. Sometimes, I think every good thing I have is bound to collapse, and that I should just submit to it, so maybe I find that resistance inspiring.”

“Can I steal that? Write my thesis on the continuing popularity of literature from the Edo Era and use that as my theory.”

“No way. Maybe I’ll publish it myself,” he says.

“You won’t let me copy your homework? And I thought we were friends!” you whine, casting a surreptitious glance over at the students from before, now diligently at work on their own assignments. The copying campaign failed.

“We aren’t going to be friends.”

Your eyes snap back to Rindou, and this time, you don’t look away. The strange color of Rindou’s eyes only make them more magnetic. Your breath is caught in your hammering chest. If he doesn’t grant you mercy, you may drop from oxygen depletion.

“Tell me,” Rindou’s voice dips low on the command. “How much experience do you have with SM?”

You glance again, this time nervously, at the table of students. You wish they would abandon their homework and start shouting again to drown out your answer. The most noise they make is the occasional screech-scratch of a chair against the floor.

You lower your voice.

“I was seeing this guy from work a few years ago, and he kind of introduced me to it. Nothing hardcore, just simple stuff. It’s cliché, but I guess you could say it awakened something in me.”

“Cliches persist because they’re true,” Rindou reassures you.

“After that, I tried things with a few guys. None were like…serious doms or anything, but the more I experimented with it, the more I knew I really liked it. It made me want to try for real with someone who knew what they were doing. It’s frustrating having to take the lead when I’m trying to sub. So, that’s why I went to the club the other night. It was my first time, and I wanted to see what it looked like.”

A spot on your chin begins to itch, but you refuse to scratch it lest Rindou think it’s a nervous tic. Ever since Rindou called, you dreaded the moment when you would need to share your lack of experience. You feel like a play actor in the SM space, a weekend enthusiast rather than a proper sub. If Rindou wants someone more sophisticated and worldly, you won’t blame him. Compared to his, your world is small.

“Do you know what SM entails?” Rindou asks.

“I think so,” you mumble, and then more confidently, “Yes.”

“It’s different for everyone. I want to know exactly what you want to get out of this and for you to understand what I want too.”

You nod in agreement.

To your relief – because you would not know how to get started – Rindou goes first, detailing his sexual desires without a hint of hesitation or shame. “I want control, first and foremost. I want to decide what happens, how, and when. I’m mean to the women I’m with. I call them names, set them up for failure, and laugh and punish them when the inevitable happens. What that looks like is mostly negotiable. There are lots of ways to punish a woman. So, for example, if you didn’t like impact play, I could find some other way to punish you. That said, I demand orgasm control during a scene. If that’s something a sub isn’t comfortable with, we go our separate ways. I also don’t tame brats. If you need to be put in your place once or twice, that’s one thing, but I don’t want a sub who makes a habit out of it.”

Beneath your shirt, your nipples harden into peaks. It’s the way he switches from an anonymous sub to the direct you that sets your heart racing. That and his voice throughout, so steady and uncompromising.

“How does that sound to you? What are you looking for?” Rindou asks.

“All of that sounds fine.” You tuck a lock of hair behind your ear. “I like being called names…um, though I think I need some affirmation too, when I’m doing a good job.”

“Good girl?” Rindou says.

You swear you will melt if Rindou ever rewards you with that moniker sincerely.

“Yes, yes, like that! Um, and I’ve tried a little with orgasm control and liked it a lot. I can’t…do it on command or anything like that, but withholding and stuff. I’d like to try more impact play. I’ve done some spanking, but nothing more.” Your voice lowers to a whisper as you bleat out ‘spanking’ and Rindou leans in across the linoleum tabletop to better hear you. “I don’t know what all my limits are yet, though I do know that I don’t want any marks that others will see.”

“No marking,” Rindou confirms with a nod.

“Yeah, and um, I want to try being tied up and more sensory deprivation stuff. I’ve liked everything there. I like when I’m given a challenge, like um, to stay still or be quiet, something that’s really hard to do.”

Rindou’s smile is positively sinister.

“If you had to sum it up, what’s the main thing you want to get out of this?” Rindou asks.

A hysterical part of you wants to answer true love, like an idiot, but you know he’s asking about sex.

“I don’t want to be in control,” you reply simply.

“Isn’t it funny how two people can have the exact opposite desires. I want to be in control of another person, and you want to cede it. It’s perfect how that happens.”

“There are as many types of people as there are people,” you say, repeating a line you heard elsewhere but can’t place.

“You mentioned wanting to do a scene with someone more experienced,” Rindou says. “Is that because you had trouble submitting to past partners? They weren’t commanding enough?”

“No, that’s not it. I’m a good listener,” you say quickly, defensively.

Barely had a command issued from the mouths of your past partners before you dropped everything to follow it, so eager to give your all in a scene and get to that delirious release of control. The problem arose from their lack of creativity. None of the men you dated knew how to sustain a scene, running out of things to say or orders to give in the first half. Then, the mood would peter out to an anti-climactic finish (though not always literally). Inside of you is the certainty that if a man simply took the situation in hand, you would be reduced, raised, destroyed, and you would thank him for it.

“For safe words, I prefer the red, yellow, green system, but I will use whatever you prefer,” Rindou says.

“Red for stop, yellow for slow down or less of that, and green for good, right?” you ask.

“Perfect marks.”

“Then, yes. I’m good with that.”

“Good. That will apply in every scene, though I’ll remind you before each as well. It can be easy to forget when you’re caught up in the moment.”

“Can I ask you a question? At the club, the woman you were with called you ‘sir.’ Is that what you like?”

“Yes, but if it’s an issue for you, we would come up with something else,” Rindou offers.

“No, ‘sir’ is good with me.” An understatement.

“What about you? Like I said, I will call you names. Anything off limits?”

You think about it seriously, flipping through a catalog of the sweet and sour names you’ve heard used in porn.

“I don’t think I would like to be called anything involving animals, whether it’s an insult or a compliment. I want to be a person,” you say.

“That’s good to know,” Rindou says encouragingly, giving you the confidence to continue.

“And I don’t want anything to do with…rape.”

Again, Rindou nods. “Very common. Neither are a problem. What about ‘slut’, ‘whore,’ ‘bitch,’ and variations on the same?”

“Those are all fine, so long as, like I said, I get some validation when I earn it.”

One of those rare smiles breaks across Rindou’s face. “It won’t be easy to earn it, sweetheart.”

This is the kind of charisma that inspires women to empty their bank accounts, soldiers to march into battle, and believers to pray to an unseen god. It’s visceral. You will earn his praise even if it means you must empty your bank account, die in battle, and pray to a god you can’t see.

“I’m going to send you a list of different acts, names, kinks, etc. for you to look through. I want you to mark anything that you’re not comfortable with, that you especially want to try, or that you’re open but nervous about. Be completely honest. Just because it’s on the list doesn’t mean I’m open to it either, but I want to know all of your hard limits regardless. If you don’t know what anything means or have questions, just ask.”

“I can do that,” you agree easily. No as the conversation about consent and kinks nears its end, you guffaw in disbelief that you were daring enough to speak so openly where someone might overhear you. You tell Rindou as much.

“Why not?” Rindou challenges. “We’ll never see these people again. They don’t matter.”

The collection of faces around you could be found in a thousand coffee and tea shops across Tokyo with nothing to distinguish them from each other. A sea of department store bought tee-shirts, dark hair, and animated expressions. Every one of them going about their own lives with more important concerns that the sexual corruption of the co-ed on a first date. The only person in the whole establishment with an iota of individualism is Rindou with his atypical – and to be honest, ugly – violet shag. He would stand out in a police lineup, but not you, and not any of the other customers either.

“Can you do something for me?” Rindou asks. You nod quickly, feeling like a bobble head with how often you’ve nodded in encouragement these last fifteen minutes. “I’m going to order another drink. I want you to sit here and hold this in your first, closed over, so no one can see what you’re holding.”

From his pocket, Rindou unearths a dozen or so thousand-yen coins. You accept them from him and turn one over. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“But why?” you half-protest.

Rindou smirks. “Because I’m telling you to. If you want to stop, say ‘red.’ Do you understand? What color are you at right now?”

A test? A challenge? The start of play? It’s such an innocuous beginning that you don’t know what to think. But, you do know that you will listen. His voice brooks no disagreement.

“Green,” you say, folding the stack of coins into your left fist in compliance.

Rindou’s lips twitch in what you believe is approval.

“I’m going to order another drink. Would you like another iced coffee?” Rindou asks.

“I can’t have the caffeine…maybe something decaf though, or something sweet.”

Rindou joins the short line at the counter to order your new drinks. You see him shoot out a flurry of texts or emails while he waits for his turn, so you figure it won’t be rude to check your phone either. Nothing urgently requiring your attention: an email about a rescheduled class, a friend tagging you in a video from karaoke the other night, and a text from your mom reminding you to pick up some rice on the way home.

The stack of coins grows warm in your palm. A strange yet innocent secret that positions you opposite the rest of the patrons of the café. You struggle to imagine how you might share any of this strange date with your friends, as if telling might diminish the spell that Rindou weaves around you.

Rindou returns with an Americano for himself, a decaf latte with plenty of foam for you, and an apple pastry with two forks and spoons.

“The cashier said that everyone raves about this,” Rindou says, gesturing the pastry.

“Thank you. I love sweet things,” you say.

You choose not to dive straight into the pastry, instead sipping at your new drink. With Rindou focused on his food, quiet descends on the table. Your earlier observation, that Rindou is taciturn, appears accurate, though he had plenty to say when the conversation of your sexual relationship arose.

“I like this café. The coffee’s so good. I might need to come again sometime,” you say. “Do you come here often?”

“First time,” Rindou grunts around a half-swallowed bite.

“Really? Then why did you pick this place?”

Rindou chews for a moment and swallows before explaining, “Once I learned you were a student, I wanted to come to a place like this. It’s exactly what I picture when I imagine a university date.”

“Well, you picked well. I feel right at home here,” you beam. “Though if it was a true university date, you would have bored me half to death by now describing your course load.”

“Maybe I should be thanking you for sparing me the details of your course load,” Rindou says.

“You really should. I’m being incredibly gracious in sparing you. It can take hours,” you tase back.

You reach for the knife to cut into your first bite of pastry and then pause. The smile evaporates from your face.

The logistical conundrum occurs to you in one sudden realization. Rindou buying you the pastry doesn’t seem so kind now that you consider your situation.

In your right hand is the knife and in your left the stack of coins. The hold the pastry steady with a fork would require opening your fist and exposing the coins to the world. In other words, it would require disobeying him.

Rindou watches your discovery closely. His eyes miss nothing, cataloging your brain’s feeble attempts to problem solve your dilemma. Somehow, you know that not eating the pastry isn’t an option. It’s akin to admitting failure every bit as much as opening your left hand.

Giggling nervously, you deflect from the obvious situation, “So, you said you work to live. What does living look like for you? What do you like to do for fun or rest?”

Simultaneously, you busy yourself trying to test if you can lift the weight of a metal fork with just your thumb and forefinger. The answer is yes, but the stack of coins bulge in your fist, and you realize that moving your forefinger too much risks exposing a sliver of what’s hidden, so you drop it back to the table.

“I workout every day. It’s not a chore for me. I’ve always loved the chemical rush of muscle training –” you note this with little surprise as his shirt strains against the muscles of his chest. “– and I practice jujitsu, too. I love music, listening to albums, going to concerts, DJing. All of it.”

“Oh! Would you believe I’ve never been to a concert?”

“Never?”

“Not really. I’ve gone to some clubs where they had a guitar player or a DJ, but the guitarist was just doing covers, not his own music, so I don’t think that counts. Plus, no one was really listening. He was just background noise,” you explain.

You split your attention between the conversation and the pastry. You consider if you can use your thumb to anchor the pastry but quickly reject it. The pastry is flaky and covered in a wet, sticky glaze. It is not finger food.

“Having trouble?” Rindou asks.

“No!” you insist stubbornly. You try to just cut the damn thing with the knife, fork be damned, but without the proper leverage, the knife merely presses the pastry inward without breaking through the apple filling. You would need a sharper knife for that to work.

“If you say so,” Rindou smirks. You manage to break off a haphazard sliver of pastry and gloatingly take your first nibble. It’s good. “What kind of music do you listen to?”

Your task is temporarily forgotten as you groan your embarrassment into your arm. “You’re going to think I’m lame!”

“Probably,” Rindou agrees.

“Ugh, definitely,” you lament. “I don’t even know where everyone is finding these cool new bands all the time. Every time I think I’ve finally caught up, all my friends are listening to some brand new album I’ve never even heard of! I mostly just listen to playlists on my phone, so I don’t hear many new songs unless I listen to the radio, at which point…”

“You hear crap,” Rindou finishes for you.

“No! I happen to like the radio.”

Rindou eyes you suspiciously. “You’re going to tell me you’re an Arashi fan, aren’t you?”

“No! It was KAT-UN,” and now you smile gleefully at how Rindou can’t hide the disgust on his face. “I was eleven when they came out, and I was in love with Kazuya from the moment I laid eyes on him. It was a three-year love affair, and I am not ashamed.”

“He’s your type, huh?”

“He was when I was twelve at least,” you correct.

“What’s your type now?” Rindou teases back.

You pretend to think about it. “Someone who cuts a woman’s food for her. I find that very manly.”

Rindou’s laugh is as deep as his speaking voice. It seems to break free from him, resonant and rich. Even more rare than his smile, though no less precious.

“I like house music, especially techno and ambient,” Rindou says, and you almost don’t catch that he is dodging your prompt for help.

You huff in displeasure and reach back for the blasted knife.

“Is that the stuff they play at the clubs?”

“House, yes. The techno scene isn’t that big here. It’s fading out.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. What’s a song I should listen to? I’ll check it out.”

“There’s some really good stuff that just came out. Check out Emiya Elena. But to get started, you may want to try the classics: Midori Takada, Ebi, Fumitoshi Takkyu, Satoshi Tomiie, I could go on.”

“I am going to forget all of that,” you admit. “But I can remember Ebi. I’ll check them out. You mentioned DJing. Did you ever want to be a musician for real?”

“Yes and no. the best way to get exposure is to play the big clubs, and the best way to play at the big clubs is to have success and connections. So, when we were building up our business back in the day, I would sometimes imagine it was a steppingstone for my future, but that’s just not how life works.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…you can’t unring a bell. I made my choices, and I’ll die with them.”

“I think the expression is live with them.”

“I know.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” you argue. “No one’s path in life is fixed. There’s always a choice. It’s the coward’s way out to pretend that you have no control over your life or that all your choices are already made. People are just scared to live with the ambiguities of the future. It’s a way to pretend that tomorrow won’t surprise you, but it will.”

“You are very passionate about this,” Rindou comments.

Your speech surprises you as well. To call it impassioned would be an understatement. But, you would not be where you are today if not for your stubborn determination to control the circumstances of your life. No one expected you to get an education, to be successful, to do anything but get pregnant and work yourself to the coffin. A fixed life was simply too depressing to contemplate, so you didn’t. You may be a romantic, someone who believes real love is around the corner, but you still recognize that if a person doesn’t bother to check around those corners, they’ll miss their opportunity. You tell Rindou as much.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree,” he says, tone flat. “Some opportunities are just dead.”

You roll your eyes at his fatalism, so similar to your edgier classmates. “Whatever you say. I think you just don’t want to miss that you’re not that talented a musician.”

Rindou smiles conspiratorially. “To be honest…I kind of suck.”

He starts to laugh and you join along, giggling up a storm. You cover your open mouth with a palm, but Rindou doesn’t bother. His teeth are too straight and white not to be a product of orthodontia, and you wonder if he pursued that as an adult or if his grandmother stepped in to fix his teeth. His laugh makes him look younger.

“It’s not really my fault,” Rindou continues. “Whenever I would try to practice, my brother would start yelling about how I wasn’t making music, just noise. He would throw out my equipment sometimes, and I’ve have to go dumpster diving to get it back. I lost a lot of shirts to broth stains.”

“No! that’s so gross! I can’t blame him completely though. I bet you were such an annoying little brother.”

“Rude…but true. When I was a kid, I would read a page of the encyclopedia, memorize some facts, and then quiz my brother in front of our friends. When he couldn’t answer, I’d say things like, ‘You don’t know something that easy?’ or “Wow, you should really show up to class sometimes.’ Just really rubbing it in, even though I literally learned in that morning.”

“Menace! I bet your brother loved that.”

“Oh yeah, he used to kick my ass.” Mid-laugh, Rindou pauses and frowns. “You’re…surprisingly easy to talk to. I find myself telling you things I never talk about.”

That quickly, your laughter dries up into nothing, and the blistering sexual tension from earlier returns. Rindou has you on a yo-yo, whipping you back and forth at his discretion. It’s his eyes. When they drift half-way closed into a lidded stare, your whole body reacts.

“Thank you,” you whisper, tucking your hair behind your ears, shy as a schoolgirl.

“You’re so easy to compliment, too. You react so deliciously,” Rindou says. He broaches the distances to untuck a lock of hair. The strands drift back, and you track the long fingers of his hand. “I should warn you again. You won’t get many compliments from me.”

You couldn’t find your voice, so you just nod.

“Eat your dessert,” Rindou orders.

Throughout your conversation, you exhausted every trick, every angle, every idea for how to cut this pastry short of ripping it apart with one hand in a feat of barbarism that would shame you for eternity. You might problem-solve better if the fog wrapped around your brain cleared a bit. But, so long as Rindou is near, that’s unlikely to happen. You need his help.

“Could you please help me cut it, sir?”

Trained on your mouth, Rindou traces the shape of your lips around the title. His lips curve like a scythe. “Of course, baby. Open up.”

Parting your wet lips, you drop your jaw. It is strange to wait with an open mouth. A draft from the air con drifts down your throat. Like waiting at the dentist.

Then, the spoon presses down on your tongue. Sweet and tart. You moan a little at the taste.

“Do you want another?” Rindou asks.

You nod, and the spoon is removed and the process repeats. Again and again, until you’ve eaten your fill. To outsiders, this must appear romantic, a couple feeding one another. You know there is no romance here. Your pussy is a chaotic pulse between your legs, keeping time with your beating heart.

“There was another reason I chose this restaurant,” Rindou says. “Follow me.”

He doesn’t pause for the trash left on the table, so you don’t either despite your instincts to clean up. His warm hand guides you across the café, beyond its oblivious patrons, past the smiling baristas, through a door marked ‘employees only.’ He steers you further beyond the storage rooms until the very end of the hall, where an empty, single-use bathroom awaits you.

The click of the lock echoes.

“What color are you at?” Rindou asks.

“Green.”

“Red, I stop. Yellow, I slow down or change what I’m doing,” Rindou reminds you.

“Understood, sir.”

The words are still half in your mouth when he backs you into the wall opposite the door. The plaster is cool on your back, but Rindou’s body heat swallows you whole. The set of Rindou’s shoulders is wide and strong. It blocks out the world around you, so that all you can see, smell or feel is Rindou. Like he becomes the world.

Deliberately, slowly, Rindou tilts his head down. Your lips part, begging to be kissed as he lingers, denying you. His breath is sweet and warm.

With aching care, he brushes his lips across yours, drawing back before you can react, and then doing it again. Soon, you are chasing his mouth, little desperate jerks of your neck as you try to keep him close to you. Barely the taste of him, and already your lips are glistening wet.

Rindou never closes his eyes.

“Give me your hand,” he orders.

Unthinkingly, you place your right hand in his and try to pull him closer.

“The other one.”

Oh…oh! Rindou unclasps your left hand, where the stack of coins remained hidden since you left the table. You forgot they were there. Rindou drops them into a pocket of his jean, forgotten already.

“At least you know how to follow directions, huh?” Rindou says, a little unkindly, the half compliment soured, but you nod vociferously. You will take scraps if they drip from his lips.

Those same lips finally kiss you in earnest. Hands cradle your head, pinning you in place. It may be the lewdest kiss of your life. More tongue, but skillfully done, coaxing and teasing and domineering, so that you have to tilt your neck back to receive him.

Your lidded eyes remain half-open. He is focused and certain, yes, but no longer apathetic. No, now his violet eyes alight with his own passion. A passion you have sparked within him.

He sucks your lower lip deliberately, hard enough to turn it swollen and red. You aren’t shy in meeting his tongue in return, disappearing into his mouth briefly before retreating, an incitement for his to chase after

The kiss would be all-encompassing if not for the growing demands of your own body to draw closer and closer. Maybe it was poor etiquette, but Rindou never directly told you to sit still, so you throw caution to the wind and fling your arms around him – one around his shoulder, and the other clutching at his waist, his ass close enough for a squeeze. The ksis grows in intensity, somehow faster. You struggle to follow Rindou’s lead. Your hands grope up and down his back, and you can feel the muscles that hide beneath this shirt, flexing and pulsing for you.

On pure instinct, you guide him closer, until you can feel the hot bar of his erection grinding into your stomach. The size and shape are unclear through the fabric, but you can feel that he is hard. Very hard. You try to cant your hips up to confirm.

Before you can slot him between your thighs, Rindou hoists you into the air. Hands grip your ass and your legs flail for a moment before he walks you to the sink. There are dual sinks set within a solid countertop. Plenty of space to sit between the vitreous china bowls to serve as a seat. Rindou places you there and presses firmly against your breastbone, until your back caves into the inlaid mirror behind you.

You lie slumped with your head and neck straight even as the rest of your body is prone. It’s mildly uncomfortable, puts you at a disadvantage. Rindou may not be the tallest man, but from this position, he casts a tall shadow. Instinctively, your legs part, so that Rindou can slot himself closer to where you most crave him. The stretch hums sweetly through your veins and you further tilt your hips up.

Something parts inside you, peels open ripe and perspiring.

You wiggle on your elbows, searching for leverage to prop yourself up. Before you rise, Rindou stops you with a steady hand on your throat. No pressure yet, but a promise.

“Stay still,” Rindou warns.

Submission comes naturally what with Rindou glaring down at you imperiously. Your “place” has never been more obvious: quiet, obedient, spread open and accepting of whatever is to come.

A palm skims the exposed skin of your inner thigh, where you skirt rides up. Where Rindou’s palm touches, his teasing fingers follow, almost ticklish in how gently they graze your delicate skin. The back of your knee proves especially sensitive and you squirm helplessly at the caress.

“I want you to always wear skirts for me,” Rindou says lowly, eyes trained on the dark shadow at the edge of your skirt. “Do you know why?”

“I think I have some idea,” you giggle.

“You are going to stay still, while li lick and suck this little pussy. Do you understand?”

“Oh, yes, sir!”

Rindou flips your skirt up, so that it splays across your stomach. Blue lace panties greet him. One of your better pairs but they barely get their moment in the light before Rindou presses his nose directly between your legs and inhales deeply. He closes his eyes like he is savoring it, and when they open again and lock with yours, you can’t breathe.

“You can make as much noise as you like, but you may want to stay quiet. After all, there are people outside,” Rindou murmurs, his lips graze your panties as they move. He is so close.

You nod over and over again like a bobble head, unable to do anything but receive whatever Rindou offers. Satisfied, Rindou curls a finger beneath the seat of your panties and pulls them aside. He stares at your pussy, plump and wide awake from just a few minutes of heated kisses.

Rindou slides a finger through your lips until he reaches your entrance, circling the hole a few times until wetness leaks out onto the digit. Then, he glides the finger up, bringing that coating with him. Just a few circuits like this, never quiet reaching your clit, and your center melts into pure liquid. Who could resist a taste?

His red tongue darts along the edge of your cunt, drawing a drop of you into his mouth. It is a tease as it skims through your folds, flat and wide to grace every part of you except where you most want him. Meanwhile, his finger returns to your entrance. This time it nudges and pushes until your flesh parts, and he can slip inside your body. Languidly, he begins to pump.

Remembering where you are and what Rindou warned, you don’t moan or cry out as he fingers you slowly. Your breath escapes you in labored pants; but, otherwise, the only sound in the room is from your squelching pussy and – best of all – Rindou’s occasional grunt of satisfaction.

You are captivated by Rindou’s eyes as he works you over, sometimes trained directly on his finger opening you up, and sometimes trained directly on your scrunched face. Everything he does is deliberate. Even the way his other hand skims along the crease of your hip and thigh is a calculated choice to drive you wild.

There is no need to think or speak or to participate. All that is demanded of you is that you don’t move. Conceding to that simple command escalates your pleasure enormously. There are no questions, just Rindou and his fat tongue.

As Rindou’s teasing works you up, your clitoral hood starts to part, clit growing fatter and needier with every passing second of neglect. When it finally peaks out into the open, Rindou sees it and smiles.

“There she is,” he murmurs softly, and then less kindly, “Does the little slut like getting her pussy teased?”

Before you can respond, a second finger drives inside your hole, and you keen.

“Yes sir, I love it!”

“Hmmm, I wonder how much teasing you can really handle.”

These half-ominous and half-promising words are forgotten once he drops between your thighs and plants a wet, lingering kiss on your clit. Your clit, so long untouched, pulses at the barest pressure.

 Rindou doesn’t leave you there either. His tongue returns, this time circling your clit, soaking you in saliva for an easy glide before flicking back down your pussy lips. He does this again and again, never stopping the thrust of his fingers inside you either.

Trying to stay completely quiet is pointless, and you permit yourself a few breathy cries, nothing too loud. Nothing a stranger will hear unless they stand directly outside the door.

Dual heat burns inside you. Your slowly approaching orgasm comes from two directions at once. Your clit is only swelling hotter and hotter as Rindou flicks it with his nimble tongue, the process so wet and dirty you want to cry. But meanwhile, his fingers are even more distracting as they press deep to parts of your cunt you can’t reach without help, pace steady and unchanging. If it was your finger inside, you would have lost the rhythm several times over by now, but Rindou doesn’t struggle to pump in and out of you, like your pussy sucks him back in time to a beat.

“Fuck, please I –” the shout escapes you, and you slam one of your hands over your mouth to prevent further cries.

It is Rindou’s mouth, that red wicked mouth, now closed around your clit and sucking so gently but so determinedly. And those fingers crooking, touching something spongy and sensitive inside you. Everything is too wet and too warm and too much.

All you see is violet: violet hair, violet eyes, violet stars behind closed eyelids as you approach your climax.

You want to cling to his hair, pull him back before you erupt all over his face, but also push him deeper, press his mouth against you forever and–

Everything stops.

Rindou’s finger stills inside your quivering cunt, and his mouth drops your bruised little clit, tongue disappearing back into his mouth. Your thighs clench as if to keep him there, but Rindou doesn’t try to leave. He leans his cheek against your thigh and stares up at you, smirking with a shiny mouth and chin. Your juices glow in the unforgiving light.

And all at once, you want to cry.

You were so close, a brutal apex moments away, one that was sure to shake you to your core. So close, in fact, that you are sure with just a few quick rubs of your thumb against your clit, you would shatter. You could do it yourself. Or Rindou could be so kind as to return to the task at hand.

You whimper pitifully in the hope that he’ll do just that.

“Stand up,” Rindou orders.

Knocking knees and a spasming core make following his command harder than it should be, but you manage to shimmy off the sink and onto your own two feet. Your skirt flips back down, crooked but effectively covering your spit-slick sex. Now in Rindou’s shadow, you clench your thighs together to bring back a hint of the building pleasure he robbed from you.

As you squirm and pout, Rindou rights the both of you. He pets down your errant hair, straightens your skirt, and licks the slick from his own lips. Panties soaked and nipples hard beneath the mask of your clothing, you are debauched. Yet with everything in place, no one would be the wiser.

Gripping your chin, Rindou tilts your face up to meet his gaze and says, “Tell me what you want.”

“I want you to make me cum,” you say immediately. The burn between your legs doesn’t allow for coyness.

“Good. I’m glad you want that,” Rindou coos. “But, I want you to go home with a wet, aching cunt. I want to see that pretty face all twisted and needy. So what now?”

Your stomach drops. You search his face for a hint of sympathy but find none. Instead, Rindou’s eyes mock you, victorious as he watches your flushed and trembling form suffer through this denial.

“Whatever you say sir,” you grit out weakly, only half suppressing a pout.

It earns you a smile. Rindou’s thumb eases across your lower lip as he adds, “You really are adorable.”

Right now, you would rather be adorable and cum drunk, but alas.

“I want to see you again, and until I do, you’re going to keep your hands off your greedy cunt. No touching, no cumming. If you do as you’re told, I’ll let you cum once on my fingers, once on my tongue, and twice on my cock. Do that, and I’ll play with you for real.”

You positively melt into the hands that grip your waist. It won’t be easy to deny yourself for long, but with Rindou whispering pure sin in your ear, you want to show him how well you can satisfy him in turn.

“I’ll be good, sir. I promise,” you vow.

Rindou’s mouth quirks, and then he kisses you, deep and low. It’s torture in its purest form to feel his body pressed so close and to taste yourself so strongly on his tongue, but you ignore the ache in your pussy and focus on the way he owns your mouth. You made a promise, and you will keep it.

Between leaving the bathroom and depositing you in a taxi – he insisted – Rindou kisses you several more times, ignoring the irritated glares of passerby. It’s like he knows what those drugging kisses do to you and wants to send you away in as much agony as possible.

Right before the car door swings shut and returns you to your normal life, you call out, “Rindou, thanks so much the coffee!”

It’s not quite what you mean, what you want to thank him for. Your first leap into BDSM with an experienced partner could not have been more comfortable, more enjoyable. You’re not sure if he understands how much that is thanks to him.

“I’ll buy you as many cups of coffee as you want,” Rindou declares.

As the taxi pulls away from the curb, you think that maybe, just maybe, Rindou understands after all.

'Why is it that everything I eat when I'm with you is so delicious?' I laughed. 'Could it be that you're satisfying hunger and lust at the same time?'" - Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

[i-loves-2dguys]

Obey Me OC Headcanons (Part 1)

Author’s Note: So to start my Obey Me fanfics, I’m gonna write out this headcanon in order to describe how well I would get along with each character. I’m not including Thirteen, Mephistopheles or Raphael cuz idk em that well-

But also the fanfics will be “x Reader” cuz I want y’all to feel included <3 (sorry if the personality doesn’t match tho)

Two parts cuz it’s so long-

Part 2

____________________________________

Lucifer

At first, it was hard to communicate with him due to his coldness

But after a bit, we start talking more by discussing about the brothers

We get along for the most part, except for when I get involved in pranks and mishaps with the brothers

As someone who tends to get good grades, I feel like I would avoid so many lectures from him 😎

Only lectures I would get is getting proper sleep and eating properly

Visits him from time to time while he works to make sure he’s taking care of himself too (no hypocrisy will be allowed)

Helps discipline the brothers in a more peaceful way

Will try to convince him to do the same

Oldest sibling 🤝

Gives him motivational messages so that he can have a nice day

Moon 🌙 x Moon 🌙

Mammon

Instantly connect due to his fun personality

Cuz he’s Mammon ofc

Actually lets him have Grimm but on the condition that he spends it properly and gives a lil kiss

We hang out a lot for studying, shopping, eating at a restaurant, etc

Flirts with him and compliments him just to see him blush 🤭

A little surprised that he has a crush on me, but it’s so obvious too

Defends him from his brothers and comforts him with affirmations afterwards 🙏

Loves to see his hands and feel them (I love his jewelry covered hands so much)

Collects every magazine with a photo of him

Simps as much as he simps (simp synchronization)

Goes to the casino with him just to make sure his debt doesn’t increase that much

I would let him be my first fr

Best friends to lovers 🫶

Levi

GAMER PALS

You’re weird? IM WEIRD TOO :D

He’s a lil emo at first but I just gotta act my weirdest and bam! Status is now fellow weirdo

Shares memes and references

Gaming nights are very often cuz yes 👍

Spends a lot of time with him cuz 1: I’m an introvert and 2: he’s so lonely 🥺

Cleans his room sometimes just to help his mental health

Helps him find any rare items

Cosplay together :D

Pays at least half of what Mammon owes him

Compliments him at least once a day to help heal his insecurities 🫶

Kisses his cheek often to show my love for him

Weirdo couple ✨ (but in a not cringe way)

Satan

YOUR BEAUTY NEVER EVER SCARED ME

I see his sin as a part of him and not ALL of him

He has much more to offer and I wanna remind him that 😔

Plus I have anger issues too-

Yk I always wanted to read books but I didn’t know which ones to read

I would probably ask Satan to recommend some as a way to get closer to him 🤭

Helps him find cats and gets them close enough to pet them

They might start a lil book club where they discuss the same book they’re reading or decide which one is better

Cleans his hoard of books from time to time and leaves a lil map to help him find em easily

Hopeless romantics 🤝

Cat cafe dates :)

We write each other poems >:)

Poetic rizz duo 😎

Asmo

Besties!

It was instant connection due to love for fashion and slaying 💅

I want some makeup advice cuz I’m still a noob at it

Would def also ask for a skin care routine

Paint my nails too? 🥺

Shopping :D (cuz why not? we’re rich)

I mostly see him platonically, but he can kiss me :)

We have fashion shows so we can see what outfits we would slay in ✨

Would go clubbing with him if I felt really sociable

Is involved in his fan club

Two pretty best friends 🫶

Beel

My himbo <3

I love to eat as much as he eats 🤝

And he wouldn’t make me feel bad about it :)

I think our constant running into the kitchen would make us pals

I can’t cook much but I definitely can bake a lot

A bunch of restaurant dates

We could make mukbang videos fr 🤭

Helps him work out

Works out with him too sometimes

Have snacks in my bag just for him 🙏

Gentle giant x their protector

Belphie

I trusted you smh 😒

I personally headcanon a fight with him after I come back to life

But then we’re good :)

He’s a demon so what can you do?

Also very adorable 😊

I would happily nap with him since I’m tired 24/7 😴

As a touch starved person, I would appreciate the cuddles

Enemies to friends to lovers? 🧐

—————————————————————————

Note: I ran out of ideas towards the end but yk this is an introduction after all! I don’t know how many people will read this but thank you if you <3 I’ll be back again when I finish making an official fanfic so until then cya!

[beelzebubsbois]

Welcome to The Mortuary

Adding this because it's become more important as we've used this blog more. If we don't like you, we're gonna block you. Doesn't matter if you don't think you did anything or haven't even interacted with you. If we don't like your vibe or something, you're getting blocked. Deal with it, we don't owe you interaction, much less friendship.

ED ACCOUNTS AND SH ACCOUNTS DNI. IM SICK OF SAYING IT.

We are a medically recognized DID system of ~200 members (recognized by therapist and psychologist yippee!)

Currently, we have no set host, but people will identify themselves post by post.

Our collective names are Richie or Michael and our pronouns are He/They/Xe (Unless stated otherwise on specific posts, refer to us by those. No exceptions. Not even if you think we're close because I guarentee we are not.) We are bodily white and ethnically and religiously Jewish, and we are currently dating our wonderful partner, the BlueStarSystem

Main fronter names and info!!!

- Robbie // 🪲 // He/Him // TH and Symptom Holder

- Max // 💣 // They/He // Symptom holder/Protector

- Azazel // {txt} // None // Prosecutor/TH

- Barnaby // 🧦 // He/They // Caretaker, Gatekeeper

- Leland // ♟️ // He/Him // Protector and Symptom Holder // @leland-needful <- Leland's Blog

- Opal // 🤍 // They/She // TH

- Frank // 🦋 // They/Them // Symptom holder

- Orpheus // 🪽 // They/He/Xe/Sin // Prosecutor

We are going to make DID related content (experiences, memes, that stuff) on a hopefully regular basis.

We're here to share our opinions and our experiences through time, not just about system problems but about our interests too.

Our main interests at the moment include: South Park, Entomology (insects), Welcome Home, Mycology (Fungus), Spiderman, Archeology, Stardew Valley, Osteology (Bones), Animal Crossing, Music theory, FNAF, Metal Family, Malevolent, and The Magnus Archives!

(I know that's a lot for saying our main interests but we really do like a lot of things and we would love to share them with all those that would like to listen and share in our joy of them!!)

DNI:

• Endos/Non-traumagenic systems

• Pro/Comshippers

• people that slander PDs. Specifically, cluster B, we ourselves have ASPD and BPD, so we will not tolerate that shit.

• Zoophiles

• Loli/Shotacon

• MAPS/Pedos

• If you're gonna fetishize our fictives, they're all fairly open about their sources and sometimes will include them in sign-offs or Source-based posts.

• NSFW/kink accounts

•SH/pro-ana/ eating disorder accounts (literally go fuck yourself, the shit we had to go through that almost killed us isn't an aesthetic or a fucking good thing.)

(Surely there is more to be added, but we will worry about that later)

~{Azazel}