#devilish charm

[regency-monster-love]

Monstertober day 12: devilish charm

Male cambion/tiefling x female human | Regency era | SFW

“How glad I am that you did not come to Bath with your parents,” the captain told his dance partner as he took her hand and moved in a circle around her.

“Why should you be glad of that?” she asked.

“Because not many human parents would approve of their pretty little daughter dancing with a cambion male,” he replied, a slow smile stretching across his face to reveal the tips of his sharp teeth.

“Oh!” She glanced back over to where her friend and chaperone stood, who had brought her on this trip, but the woman was looking away. Surely it wasn’t improper for her to be dancing with a cambion if her chaperone had not objected when he asked for her hand. 

Even though cambion were wicked in the frightening novels she liked to read, she was fairly certain the authors had invented their darkest qualities. “But aren’t those simply myths that cambion are descended from demons and drink blood and whatnot?” she asked him. (She would not admit to herself that she would not terribly mind if the myths were actually true.)

Rich laughter rolled from his lips at her having the confidence to come right out and ask him such a thing! He found her candor amusing, but more than that, it was refreshing and quite charming. 

But she colored, so he checked his laughter. “Yes, those are myths. I am no demon,” he told her sincerely, with no mockery in his voice.

He leaned his head down close to hers as their bodies came together on the next step of the dance. “But I am devilishly charming, don’t you think?” he murmured with an arch smile.

His boast made her forget her embarrassment over what she had asked him, and a delighted smile bloomed on her face unbidden. She couldn’t deny that he was. It was precisely because he was a monster that she had been excited to first meet him, but once she had started to speak to him, she’d found she quite enjoyed his playfulness that skirted the edge of being improper but never quite crossed it.

His physical attractiveness added to his charm for her. She had always been partial to a smart red coat on an officer, and this officer not only had the coat but the dusky red skin, dark red horns, and rich red-black hair to match. And oh! he was so much taller than her! She had to tilt her head back quite far to be able to look into his violet eyes when they stood chest to chest, as they were now, in the dance. Something about him towering over her was very alluring.

She suddenly remembered he had called her “little.” And “pretty.” She’d forgotten it in her momentary distress over whether it was improper for her to dance with him. Now, recalling the compliment made her blush.

He noticed it. Oh, he did so like seeing that pale pink flush on her cheeks. “Mm, should I be impertinent and ask what it is that is making you blush?” he mused. The pink deepened and spread at that, and he smiled broadly at her.

He couldn’t help but think of what he could do to provoke an even deeper blush on even more of her skin.

“Don’t be afraid,” he assured her. “I’ll let you keep your secrets. It allows me to imagine the most pleasing option of what may be going through your mind, no matter how unlikely it is to be true—and I have a very good imagination.”

“That sounds like a trick to get me to correct your assumptions and reveal what I was actually thinking of,” she countered.

He laughed again. “Aren’t you a clever one! But I did not actually mean it as a trick. I’d much rather you not tell me, so I may keep the incorrect but pleasing thought in my head.”

“What if the truth is even better than whatever you are imagining?”

He gave her a wolfish smile. “I think it’s impossible that you’re thinking of something more pleasing than what I’m imagining right now.”

“You might be surprised. I read very shocking novels,” she admitted.

He arched an eyebrow at her. “Do you?” She was indeed proving to be a surprising girl, even more intriguing than he’d originally presumed. Yes, he was very glad to have taken this opportunity to dance with her, and he hoped to have the pleasure repeated.

His violet eyes gleamed, and he fixed her with a look dripping with his devilish charm. “Then I think we will have many interesting things to converse about, you and I.”

~ 😈🎩 ~

Inspired by Northanger Abbey, of course! I’ll be posting more Regency monster ficlets and snippets like this with the tag “my writing.”

[kdram-chjh]

Kdrama: Devilish Joy (2018)

“Dylanf•卡农（经典钢琴版)”

Shared on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jcc_msgbfan/

Watch this video on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7GsLffpT13/

[strawberryblondie-locks]

hello. i have come to the dai dark community with peace and moderate effort comics

[borgialucrezia]

CESARE BORGIA + dragging his brother around "You have a priest for a brother?"

[starrynightsxo]

"Cardan grins at me as though we've been great friends all our lives. I forgot how charming he can be--and how dangerous that is."

- Jude Duarte, The Cruel Prince

[axollungz]

devil + angel what will they get up to

[maridotnet]

rereading some @buggachat BEAU and this panel is SO fallen angel...adrien as the rebellious son cast from his father’s mansion in disgrace, looking back with resentment and longing towards people who were supposed to treat him with love...haha i’m having heretical thoughts again! 🙊

[q8qwertyuiop8p]

Help 😭

[grovekeepers]

robin <3 i'd love to hear about robins own, personal views on his sex and gender, please!

Thanks for the ask, Fray!! (answering it gives me something to do while i wait for the electricity to come back on!)

I'm putting this under a cut, because I've been typing for a while now and I feel like this'll be a long one. I will add that I'm briefly mentioning an eating disorder under the cut, in case you or anyone else wants to back out of reading that.

For the longest time Robin didn't really have any views on his sex or gender. He had a lot going on as a neurodivergent kid/teen due to poverty and, well, the repressed queerness; was just out there functioning/surviving somehow and was in general just pretty miserable all around, so any discomfort about his gender identity/expression was just part of a big heap of everyday sensory overload. There really wasn't time for him to focus on or take a closer look at himself much, and besides, he wouldn't have known the terms needed to put it into words.

He developed a bunch of unhealthy coping mechanisms about All Of That (drugs, sex, an eating disorder, ...) and really spiralled for a while until he met this man called Murdoc, who sort of became a mentor to him, and set him straight again.

And if Murdoc's one thing, it's perceptive.

So while Robin and him travelled together for a while, he provided him with the space he needed to just take a breather for once. Maybe express himself for once. And the option to talk about his feelings instead of having to bottle them up. And most importantly, since his wife Cynthia is a trans woman, he taught him the terms he needed to put all that dysphoria related turmoil he had going on into words.

So really, up until that point Robin hadn't thought about it much. Not thinking about it meant not having to deal with it, he was just hoping all those weird feelings, whatever they are, would go away one day. But of course they wouldn't have if he'd just continued to keep on going like that.

Now that he'd talked those feelings through with someone and then went on to change up his gender presentation, though, things got a hell of a lot easier. Murdoc used the right pronouns for him, called him by the name they'd chosen together (one of his favorite wildshapes to use to spy on people is an odd looking robin, and they both decided it's a nice fit), and after a while of that, Robin began to cook up medicine (cough, testosterone) that would change his body.

And all of a sudden he just felt GOOD about himself for once. His body wasn't just existing to carry him through the days anymore, instead he actively liked looking at it. His voice didn't hurt his ears anymore, it just sounded right. There was growth and hair in the right places and muscles where there used to be softness that he'd previously tried to get rid of by starving himself down to the bones.

See, and only then is when he started to really develop views on his gender and sex.

He is and always was, by all definitions of the word, a bisexual man, even when he was still blocking out the thought and just hoping for the dysphoria to go away on its own. Gender non-conforming (if he can wear them in a masculine way, he still wears many of his old clothes because he can't afford new ones for example, and he's insanely fond of jewelry, be that piercings, earrings, rings, bracelets, ankle bracelets, waist chains, etc) and somewhat gentler than other men he's gotten to know so far, sure, but really not all that different. Transitioning, to him, was like a lifeline he didn't know he needed extended to him, but now that he's gotten a hold of it, he wouldn't ever let it go.

Masculinity can be expressed in very many ways, and his way of expressing it is being forceful like rumbling thunder and strong like a centuries old oak that you can shelter underneath. He'll bear the brunt of the storm for you and keep you safe. And when it's over, and you open your eyes, rather than the lashing rain, you'll see the beauty of the sun's first rays shining through the greenest leaves you've ever seen, while their warmth caresses you.

(One thing I'll say (and it is really just more of a game-related issue) is that his in-game model looks pretty unchanged in terms of testosterone changes even after all the mods I installed to get him a little closer looking to himself. It does unfortunately have a lot of people jumping to the conclusion that he's some flavor of non-binary or futch/butch (and leaving comments that make ME dysphoric at the end of the day lmfao), when in reality, looking at him would not really differentiate him from a cis man and I'm simply limited by the game. There is no room to doubt his gender if going off "traditional" (binary) characteristics. He does bind his chest sometimes, and he usually wears his clothes in a way that covers/hides the shape of what's underneath. Funny enough, I am currently working on a painting of him and I'm kinda hyped about the absolute physical likeness I'm achieving with it, so I'm adding a little WIP!!)

[kamikazeonwings]

ty being in love with michael is so funny to me. cowboy so charming you cant NOT save him the first chance you get

[ittybittybumblebee]

Wheres that post thats like dogs dont know what naughty is and cats do, naaahhhhhhhh man , our dog knows what naughty is. She loves it . Shes the naughty queen

[milquetoad]

like ;

GULP !!

[murasaki-cha]

Which is funny because the women never mention any of that so why are you guys bringing that up? Why are you, as men, talking about another man's sexiness?

Not only are they losing the argument but they're also exposing themselves

Love whenever a woman defends Wei Wuxian and it forces every man in the vicinity to immediately rage about how they're only saying that because of his deviously handsomeness and incorrigible sexy charms . is that supposed to worsen his case or.

[s1nfu7h0r53f7y]

Two-part question for my fellow Lucifer fans: should we start calling ourselves “Lucsimps”, and if so do we go with this spelling or “Lucimps”?

[goldenteaset]

Easy (?) solution: Belial drags Cammy to a hot spring

I think I remember him saying that he likes those somewhere. Or I guess he likes hot stone spas, he mentioned that in a PASH interview I can look up for you if you're interested, I have the link saved somewhere for research purposes and then I just twisted that into him liking hot springs too because it makes sense to me

Then he spreads his wings underwater. At her insistence. To get them nice and clean

If the spring is sufficiently large, they'll fit for sure

Otherwise, them sitting in the bathroom and her tenderly sponging the wings down because they won't fit in the shower with them out is also a nice mental image

Also a friend of mine has decided that the part where the wings connect to his back should be especially sensitive

!!!! Potentially easy, yes! Maybe he wins tickets to one, in romance manga tradition… (Or in the aforementioned cave?)

I would love that, thank you! I only vaguely remember that interview, but I do remember the hot stones spa because I had to look up what it was. It stands to reason he’d enjoy hot springs in general, they’re both relaxing and a good excuse as any to seduce people/get them mellowed out enough to reveal something they shouldn’t. (And then this time he’s the one mellowing out of his comfort zone and showing Cammy his wings! Revenge!)

That is a nice mental image, I keep pondering it… =v= Cammy doing her best to touch him carefully despite his (languid, sleepy) attempts to convince her “I like it rough, mm, right there…” (And then she scolds him a bit, which he also likes, and—

[befallenstars-archive]

*rubs hands together*

Here we are again, folks! Nyla writing and I am ready to yap about this~

Spoilers and lots of yapping under the cut!

...the way I can actually here him say this though? Word for word it feels like the dialogue is coming from childe himself. Which is genuinely amazing in my eyes bc I'm surprisingly nitpicky about dialogues in fics.

Childe, keep it in your pants. Goddamnit.

Okay, but I do think a small Kaeya hiding behind the reader and clutching on to the hem if their shirt is adorable.

"You find it absurd your mother could travel the whole of Teyvat with nothing but a knapsack slung over her shoulders and a pack of cigarettes but Celestia forbid you decide to do the same."

Mothers...this feels a little too accurate *sighs*

The pack of cigerettes is WILD tho—

Reader, trust Childe. The man has money. I promise you that. If you don't like people spending money on you, it's alright. But the man genuinely has enough money to spoil you a little.

Aweee, at least he's being considerate.

"Staring at your beloved so shamelessly?"

Listen here...

I was genuinely lost in reading as I do when it comes to good fics. Getting invested and all that. Then this guys cuts in with this? Had to suck in a sharp breath and stare at the ceiling before letting out a curse.

HOLD YOUR HORSES—

Okay, snookums did make me giggle. But the following words that left this man's lips had me going "sir??? Calm down???" Starting to feel the reader sleeps with one eye open around this man/lh

"We're not even dating" "Yet"

His insistence and arrogance is oddly charming at this point actually. Wait, we must stay focused.

"Now, there are no more stories."

...damn, I got sobered up real quick.

"They're going to make me a Harbinger."

And we get another bomb dropped mid-way. Yes, I know that he has always been a Harbringer but to bring it up...like right now???

"A Harbinger," you repeat incredulously. "A Harbinger?"

Valid reaction honestly.

Listen, I knew there was going to be slight angst. But when Character A changes in a blink of an eye while Character B is left grasping at straws for what happened and why something so significant has changed— my heart cracks a litlle as I curl up in bed while hugging a plushie.

The ending leaves a bittersweet taste on my mouth. In short, if this were a series I would genuinely be binging it and maybe even have it on my calendar when the author might update.

Actually, the shorter version is that this was so good that I just wanted to read more.

one step closer

cw. f!reader (no pronouns or specified anatomy), pre-canon, pre-relationship, childhood friends, slightly(?) obsessive behaviors, slight angst

pairing. tartaglia x reader

synopsis. your mothers always swore one of their children would marry one day, making them both officially sisters. but for now, they'll take ajax escorting you from mondstadt to sumeru to pursue your education

notes. a christmas present for my good buddy @hash-slinging-slasher-trash. an unexpected comradery was built up between us both this year, so let's have fun in the new year! they recently got into genshin this year and, unsurprisingly, they've been bagged by mr. 11th fatui harbinger himself hehehe

"You didn't have to come all the way here for this."

"And break my promise to my beloved aunt? Perish the thought!" Ajax gasps aghast, clutching his invisible pearls. "Besides, why would I miss a road trip with my future wife? The two of us. Alone." Playful blue eyes glance your way accompanied by an equally playful smile. You give him a pointed look and Ajax raises a hand defensively. The red insignia pinned to his shirt glints in the sunlight at the movement. "I kid, I kid. Just a joke. We can save that stuff later."

"Or never," you reply without missing a beat.

"I draw the line at waiting until after our wedding night."

"You're incorrigible," you groan.

Ajax can only laugh, eyes closed and grin wide. When he's like this, he's like the Ajax you remember from when you were children. The boy who unabashedly declared he'd marry you in one of your earliest memories. Your mothers were only too happy to indulge him, long since having their own jokes about how one day their children would marry and make them officially sisters.

That had been how many years ago now?

Too long ago to recall. You simply know it had been the first time Ajax's family had come to visit your own in Mondstadt. It became a yearly tradition from before either of you were born for your families to visit one another.

According to your mothers, they became friends your mother's first trip to Snezhnaya. You'd been raised on a healthy diet of your mother's travels, your mother telling them to you much like they were old folktales. She told you about the various shades of the thunder sakura of Inazuma. How she spelunked in Natlan with a few friends you can't remember the name of. Even regaled you with dramatic stories of Fontaine's Opera Epiclese where she witnessed trial and opera alike and what she swears was a love story bubbling under the surface between the Hydro Archon and her Iudex.

All of those stories paled in comparison to her most harrowing tale of surviving a month long blizzard that ended with less importantly, your father, and more importantly, your mother's now lifelong friend.

That was all took for their future families to be intertwined and for Ajax to be a present as constant in your as the bards of your homeland.

A summer in Mondstadt here, a winter in Snezhnaya there.

A Ludi Harpastum there, a Krsnik Noc here.

You distinctly remember Kaeya's first Windblume Festival after the Radnvindr's took him in. He was more quiet and would cling to the figures he found most familiar, you included. Ajax hated it. Unfortunately his complaints and intense nature only led to your coddling Kaeya more, scolding the ginger for being insensitive. Presently, Kaeya and Ajax's relationship has improved little.

Ajax has been there for many a life event.

Now here Ajax is, your official escort on the first day of your own journey. It was the only way your mother would relax about your finally leaving the nest. You find it absurd your mother could travel the whole of Teyvat with nothing but a knapsack slung over her shoulders and a pack of cigarettes but Celestia forbid you decide to do the same. It isn't even exactly the same!

At Ajax's insistence, your things were already waiting for you in Sumeru. "My men can take it ahead," he boasted proudly, reminding you of his recent promotion. "It's no problem at all, honest. Save your money!" Your protests were promptly ignored, your mother more than happy to save on the mora she would have had to spend mailing it otherwise.

"Ajax, I'm serious," you remind him for the millionth time as the Dawn Winery slowly but surely grows more and more distant. Even with Diluc and Kaeya's strained relationship, they both insisted on having a celebratory before early in the morning before you left for Liyue. You wanted your quest to be on foot as much as possible before boarding a boat that would take you from Liyue Harbor to Port Ormos. "I don't want you guys in uniform when you move my things in. I don't want to be known as the Fatui girl at the dorms."

"Relax, relax," his words due to little to soothe you. "Seriously," his tone shifts from impish to straight-laced. "I know better than anyone how the Fatui is viewed abroad. I know you worked hard to get into the Akademiya, so I don't want to ruin that for you."

You hold each other's gaze for a moment longer before you sigh in relief. "Thank you." Another beat passes before you say it again, "seriously, thank you. You didn't have to take time off to come all the way to Mondstadt. And it means a lot to Mom too. You being here helped her calm down a lot."

His lips relax into a smile that's small, "of course I'd be here for something like this. It's a big deal! You've wanted to go to the Akademiya since we were kids. Is Erna going to be there or is she still in Fontaine researching water vein flowers or whatever?"

You nod excitedly, "yeah, she said she wants to show me around when I get there. She's gonna meet us at Port Ormos." Another piece of the puzzle in helping your mother acclimate to your studying in another country. "She's only staying for the week though."

Erna, a cousin of yours had gotten in years ago leaving little Springvale behind to see the world beyond the wind-caressed hills you grew up. Busy as she'd become after getting into the Amurta Darshan, when she was able to come home it was her turn to tell you stories about a world you couldn't imagine for yourself.

The fanciful cafes with their majestic fountains, the smell of spices of a place called Treasures street. It's hard to believe you'll finally be seeing it for yourself after so long.

"Think she'll be happy to see me?" Ajax asks suddenly, observing you carefully as you

Your cheeks hurt as your smile becomes something forced. "Well," begin.

Ajax barks out a laugh immediately, "you don't have to lie, I know she's not happy I'm in the Fatui." He sighs as the last of his laughter leaves him, nonchalant and unsurprised. You wonder, not for the first time, what would be enough to make Ajax the young man shocked or hurt. Considering how you heard his enlisting in the Fatui at the young age of 14 had gone, you doubt anyone's reaction to his being an agent can get under his skin. "Not that Auntie is thrilled either. I suppose these are the struggles of those in the pursuit of strength."

You refrain from affirming his suspicions. Your mother isn't thrilled but she refrained from expressing the opinion knowing she had little to stand on when her former husband had been a Fatui agent once upon a time. "If that boy's own father couldn't keep him from enlisting, I doubt anything I say will make him change his mind." The next time you saw your old friend after his enlisting, he surprised you for a visit when work led him to the land of freedom.

For the second time in the past ten minutes, your eyes look at his the red insignia pinned on his shirt. He's a lieutenant now.

He's moved up the ranks faster than you can blink. It's expected, you believe, with how many of his letters recounting his many assignments and achievements he'd sent.

"Staring at your beloved so shamelessly?" Cheeks warm, you push him aside. The movement does little to make him budge and he laughs when you try again. "Sorry, snookums, that's not going to work on me anymore. Don't let my acknowledgment stop you. Stare away! I'm pretty popular, y'know. Someone'll steal me off the market if you're not careful! We should have the wedding the moment we get to Sumeru! Why wait actually, we should turn back now and head to the Church!"

Your eyes roll into the depths of the Abyss, "we're not going back to the City for a wedding. We're not even dating."

"Yet."

"And I wasn't staring at you," you ignore his jest. "I was just looking at your badge. You have a new one every time I see you." A new insignia with a new scar or two or dozen to match. He has a story for each one, remembering every occasion he's earned a battle scar with crystal clear memory.

You remember how he's the same boy whose father would take the both of you ice fishing, telling you stories of heroes. Stories of his own adventures before he settled down to have a family. You never had the patience for fishing but you loved that man's tales.

The hobby has lost its magic since your friend became a soldier for the Cryo Archon. Ice fishing is simply another form in which he trains, reflecting on battles past as he endures the bitter cold. Now there are no more stories.

Ajax gestures at your the chain around your neck where your Anemo vision hangs with pride. "It's a badge of honor, much like the one you have yourself."

It's not quite the same, you want to say. "We're already almost to Liyue," you announce instead, pointing at the small bridge in the distance. "It's hard to believe it's always been so close to the Winery." You remember how it was a test of courage when you were younger. Diluc leading the charge, he dared the rest of you to see who could walk the furthest into Liyue. He'd always been the winner, you, Jean, Kaeya and Barbara unable to match Diluc's bravery.

He's a far cry from the rambunctious troublemaker he used to be.

"One step closer," Ajax notes warmly, accepting your change in topics with ease. "There's a tea shop at the Stone Gate you'll like called Pop's Teas. We should sit there a while, you can see the whole of the Dihua Marsh and the inn we'll be staying at."

That brings a genuine smile to your face, "I look forward to seeing it."

A thinly veiled comfort of silence falls over you both grass and gravel crunch underfoot. Your hands swing between you both and from the corner of your eye, you see blue peering at you. The back of your hand burns and you ignore the feeling swiftly.

It's Ajax, simply Ajax.

Soon enough after you arrive in Sumeru, you'd be going your separate paths again. You studying the stars, him on whatever harrowing assignment he is given. A far, far cry from the children you once were.

"They're going to make me a Harbinger."

The silence shatters much like ice and you blink, blood suddenly as cold as the waters of your friend's home country. "What?"

He says it as casually as one addressing the state of the weather. You halt your steps right at the edge of the bridge that connects the land between Mondstadt and Liyue, staring at Ajax's back. "This isn't ambition talking either," he halts, chuckling as he turns to face you. "It's official. Once I go back to the motherland, there'll be a ceremony and everything. You're the first I've told."

"A Harbinger," you repeat incredulously. "A Harbinger?"

The young man nods, "the youngest in the history of the Fatui." It's said with subdued pride, only a dash of satisfaction. "Of course, this was all part of the plan to conquering this world so it's not that big a deal. I'm just one step closer."

You open your mouth only to close and open it again. Your hands clasp together, fingers fidgeting as you search for the correct words to say. Congratulations? Wow, you really will be wearing another badge the next time I see you. You're really moving up the ranks!

"Not happy for me," it isn't a question as Ajax observes your furrowed brows and hunched shoulders. You lower your head, finding a nearby cryo slime bouncing on the water's edge grounding. "It's alright, you don't have to be. It doesn't change anything between us."

"When is it going to be enough, Ajax?" Your question is quiet. "What happened to you?"

'Ajax went missing for three days this month. He had the entire household in a tizzy, that boy of mine!'

You remember receiving that letter after you recently turned 15 from Ajax's mother.

Ajax has wrote you religiously since he could hold a pen. That was the one month he didn't.

The letters that followed have never quite been the same. He's never been quite the same. His eyes are duller than you remember. His lust for adventure had turned bloodthirsty.

How could someone change so much in three days?

"This has always been me," Ajax tells you without much else of a reaction. "You know me, I've always wanted to go on an adventure."

"An adventure, yes, but never this," you shoot back, fervently. Back then, Ajax happily brandished a wooden sword and would declare he'd be the world's greatest adventurer. He'd join the Adventurer's Guild and make a name for himself, fight a dragon and give you all the mora he gained. "I just," you pinch your sinuses.

The only sounds between you are ones from nature.

The croak of a frog, the gushing of a waterfall.

Ajax breaks the silence, head on as he always has been. "We're still friends, aren't we?"

You look up at the man, looking at you with eyes a mixture of familiar and unknown. You used to be able to read them as easily as breathing. Sometimes you feel as if you still can. That he's still your Ajax, face round with innocence and wonder. Now he is as mysterious as the heavens themselves.

Still you release a breath and nod, "of course we are. You're still Ajax."

A smile spreads across his face again and he looks familiar again. "Yeah," with that sorted holds his hand out for you much like a knight. He always said he'd be yours, you recall as you accept his offer like you're children again. "I'm still me."