#does my cat need to 'prepare for the real world'????

[queenerdloser]

honestly hate it when people complain about pets being spoiled. like yeah, i do treat these animals that depend on me for literally everything with all the kindness and tenderness i have in me!! yes i do actively try to make their tiny existence better because my apartment is their whole world and i have the power to make their lives so comfortable!!! why are people trying to teach life’s hard lessons to a fucking cat!!!

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Am I the asshole for teaching my cat how to hunt?

So here's the thing, my cat (M2) has the equivalent of cat ADHD and can spend literal HOURS playing with his hunting toys. Specifically his birdlike hunting toys. My family and I tend to take him outside twice a day (with his leash) so he can release some of his energy. However, the nearby birds have realized what's going on. They know that my cat (Tamarindo) goes out twice a day at around the same time everyday, and have started to make fun of and incite him while having full knowledge that because he's leashed they are perfectly safe. I say this completely serious, they will blatantly fly in front of him or rest on the farther branches of the tree he climbs. So what Tamarindo does, to vent, is give 1000% of his energy into playtime and pretend his hunting toys are the birds to train for the day when he can finally catch one. So playing into that, I move the toy similarly to how birds move when they accidentally enter a house and have no idea how to get out, as in, flying all over the roof and resting on high places. Tamarindo gets really frustrated because he can't catch it that easily, and my mom says that I'm torturing him by not giving him the satisfaction of catching it as often. My counterpoint tends to be "well, he wants to catch a bird, he needs to know how birds act, I'm preparing him for the real world and for the occasion if a bird EVER gets into our house". But neither my mom not Tamarindo are convinced. AITA?

Here is the tiny menace

What are these acronyms?

[nalyra-dreaming]

Can’t wait for people to flip when they meet “Privileged French White micro-aggression compilation”’s mentor, Mr. macro-aggression colonizer superiority complex Marius “I married a thirteen-year old former sex slave and adopted him as my son” de Romanus. Marius is his own trigger warning. Wait until they hear about Marius’ disciplinary methods involving whips and willow switches. Or the fact that Marius sent his son-wife to a brothel to learn “important skills”. Or that when he told Lestat about Those Who Must Be Kept, Marius literally framed Akasha’s genocidal tendencies as “taming savages”. Oh boy, it’s not gonna be good.

Like… Who do you think Lestat learned his skewed world view from? Moving to America was probably a bucket of cold water to Lestat. I would like to give Lestat the benefit of the doubt, as his father was an asshole aristocrat. Lestat quickly learned how privileged he was, even as a disgraced marquis’ son. His genuine horror at how the racist fat cats treated Louis said everything to me. I don’t think anyone understands that Lestat is interested in doing better. He is. He’s working through it. He will fuck up, because nobody ever gave him a look outside his little world.

The thing is, vampires do end up in ruin when they stay behind as the world around them goes forward. Just like humans, when we get stuck in outdated ideals. It’s heavily implied at the end of the Blood Communion novel that Marius is slowly going mad. All vampires do, at some point, go through a period of madness. Some just come out of it better than others. In the IWTV novel, Louis eats grass and mopes around his brother’s rectory for a while after Armand hesitantly leaves him. Armand kills his own coven. Khayman loses his memories for a while and wanders the world, snacking on mortals’ bone marrow. Daniel becomes mute and obsessive, luckily finding an outlet in model trains. Poor Lestat lost an eye and had to be restrained, before he slept for a long while. Thorne got tied down for a while. Benji and Sybelle. Unm. Well, Benji ended up with a podcast and Sybelle delved into the piano. And Louis, of course, tried to kill himself once— but it changed his relationship with Lestat for the better.

Okay, so I went on a meta tangent, but the point is, Marius is an even bigger fuck-up than Lestat, and covering him is going to get pretty ugly. And even more existential. I hope viewers stop and philosophize, you know? Everyone stops to question the nature of mankind and how we fall if we don’t move with time.

And as far as Marius goes, hope Justin Kirk is prepared. 😅

P.S. I swear I’m not high, just tired. 🥱

:))

(For those who think the "eating grass" is an euphemism here: "I was picking at the grass, and tasting it, though the taste was bitter and unnatural. The gesture seemed natural.":))

Marius... is going to be something. Which is part of the reason why I keep saying that Justin Kirk will be perfect if he is, because it needs a very seasoned actor with a lot of thick skin to pull him off (and, I mean, Justin does not shy away from difficult characters as we know *nods at Succession*).

It will be interesting to see what kind of wounds they will put their proverbial fingers in.

Like, the casual racism and superiority complex Marius employs has to clash with Armand's recast, too. Not necessarily with the choice (of Amadeo) per se, but with the circumstances. I am betting real money that there will be some very uncomfortable meta commentary on sex slave trade in combination with racism coming up right there (and I for one want them to make that commentary! Even though it will probably lead to more fandom drama.).

These vampires are children of their times, and they do change/adapt/grow, but... slowly. (I am not so sure about Lestat getting his world view from Marius, I think there is a reason why Lestat never became the pupil Marius wanted him to be, and I do think that Lestat might be willfully ignorant at times, which can come off a certain way, but his own backstory is more to blame here than Marius, imho.)

I do not need Marius to be a good character to enjoy the fuck out of him, on the contrary.

I am not sure if the show will go the "whip" way. They might insinuate. I think they will, as with other scenes let the mind of the audience do the rest, which will be more than enough, too. I mean, the audience can read up on it all in the book *coughs*. There's no need to go more explicit than needed.

But yes. I hope Justin Kirk is prepared :)))

And... I hope the audience is prepared as well.

[borathae]

↳ Index [Chapter 17 - Blurry]

Warnings: Fluff, Smut & Angst, besties it’s the best of all worlds, the beginning has me kicking my feet, the middle part has me on my knees, the ending rips me apart, Rough Dom!Taehyung, sub!Reader, the sex goes from a zero to a hundred real quick, body worshipping, rough jealousy sex, consensual mind control (he tells her to orgasm each time he bites her), biting, blood drinking, blood like there is lots of it jfadj, forced orgasms, multiple orgasms (f.receiving), he degrades her in a loving way, he calls her good girl & needy girl, he is also really possessive over her jsjs, his huge cock makes an appearance, he fucks her stupid with it, he is legit so rough with her, a full on animal, like besties omfg

Wordcount: 13.6k

a/n: there are no notes, i’m in shambles. be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster

You wake up to Yoongi and Jungkook spooning. Yoongi is holding your hand while his body is cradled against Jungkook’s bigger frame. They are so cute. You stifle a giggle at the view, feeling fuzzy in fondness. Yoongi wakes because of it, fluttering his lids a few times before he finally focuses his gaze on you. He smiles.

“Hm?” he furrows his brows, wiggling once now that he realises in what sort of position he finds himself in.

“Good morning”, you whisper, snickering.

“Morning”, he mumbles and tries to push off Jungkook’s arm. It backfires as Jungkook proceeds to close his arm around him tightly and throw his leg over him, quite literally keeping him in a lock.

“Help”, Yoongi gets out, getting smothered under Jungkook.

The view is so adorable that you can’t help but laugh, shimmying closer until you can kiss his barely visible nose. It is the only thing still sticking out now that Jungkook is squishing Yoongi’s face into the pillow and nuzzles his own face into him. Yoongi wiggles, whining your name.

“You’re so cute”, you say, settling back to gaze at them.

You know that he doesn’t actually need your help. He is stronger than Jungkook and if he actually didn’t want to be snuggled, he would make sure that Jungkook knows. His little whines are just for show.

They manage to wake Jungkook however, who flinches awake. He sits up straight, staring at the wall with widened eyes.

“You okay?” you ask him, watching him blink in confused sleepiness. 

“Mh, hm, mhhm”, he lets out, blinking quickly.

“That's how he wakes up. He's so weird”, Yoongi says. 

“Mhm not weird”, Jungkook gets out as he yawns. He drops back into the pillow and snuggles his nose into Yoongi’s neck as he purrs loudly, draping his limbs back around him.

Yoongi huffs out air and pouts, but stays still otherwise. 

“Did you sleep well?” you ask, petting Jungkook’s lower arm.

“So well”, he mumbles, “did you sleep well too?”

“So good, yeah.”

“Yeah. God Kook, wanna let me go now?” Yoongi asks in a chuckle.

“No. You’re so soft”, Jungkook says, squeezing Yoongi tightly, “you’re like a soft squishy toy.”

“Really? That’s what you wanna go with?” Yoongi asks and pouts, “tzt stupid.”

“You guys are so cute”, you gush.

Jungkook lifts his head, smiling at you with his eyes.

“You are so pretty”, he says.

“I am? But I just woke up.”

“So?”

You fluster, “you’re both sweet talker”, you mumble.

Yoongi chuckles fondly, running his fingers down your temple. Jungkook settles back against Yoongi, hiding his face in the crook of his neck.

“Should we do something today?” he asks.

“What do you have in mind?” you ask.

“Don’t know. Just do something fun. Like hang out in bed all day or something.”

You snicker, “this does sound like fun, doesn’t it?”

“I would love to, but I have to meet up with Carla today. She’ll help me track down the last of Namjoon’s goons. Given how Charles’ clue was useless, I hope to get more information out of them today”, Yoongi says.

“So unfair, I wanted to cuddle”, Jungkook whines, rubbing himself against Yoongi like a snuggly cat.

“Same”, you whine, shimmying closer until you can snuggle into Yoongi’s chest.

Yoongi laughs, “you two are unbelievable.”

“You love it, be honest”, you mumble.

“Mhm”, Yoongi lets out, petting the back of your head. He cranes his neck to leave a kiss on the crown of your head then goes to kiss Jungkook’s arm. He doesn’t need to do more for the both of you to know that he is enjoying every second of it.

“I really gotta get up now”, he says.

“No you don’t.”

“Yes princess, I do”, Yoongi chuckles, “and you guys should too.”

“But it’s comfy.”

“Kookie”, Yoongi warns.

“Hmpf so unfair”, Jungkook mumbles, peeling himself off of Yoongi, “can I take a shower first?” he asks as he rolls out of bed and then stretches his arms over his head. He makes a loud squeaking sound as he stretches, squeezing his eyes shut. He ends the stretch with a low grunt and a content “good stretch.”

Then he scratches his tummy, looking at you and Yoongi in anticipation.

“Yeah sure, go ahead. Don’t take an hour though”, Yoongi says.

“Yeah, yeah”, Jungkook dismisses him, disappearing in the bathroom just moments later.

So now it’s just the two of you. Yoongi looks at you and rolls you to your back, placing himself atop of you to kiss your cheek.

“Thank you for last night”, he says.

“What do you mean?” you ask, heart fluttering like crazy.

“Just, I don’t know, last night was really nice.”

“It was. You were so hot when you were whining.”

Yoongi squints his eyes, making you laugh with it.

“I’m serious. I think that you’re really hot whenever you’re being all squirmy and vocal.”

“Tch, you’re so weird”, he mumbles.

You roll your eyes fondly.

Yoongi rests his head on your shoulder, stubbing your neck with his nose.

“I wanna be like this forever”, he confesses.

“Yeah? So you’re not gonna get up today, mhm?”

“No, I just meant. Forget it, it’s dumb.”

You smile, hugging him tightly.

“I wanna be like this forever too, my love”, you say, braiding your fingers through his hair, “don’t take it the wrong way, but this is what I had in mind when I pictured our journey. Just you and I sharing nice moments.”

“Are you disappointed in how it’s actually going?”

“No, of course not. I’m just happy to be with you and Kook and the others.”

“Mhm.”

You smile, “I have to thank you for last night as well. I feel so spoiled. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure that the sex I’m having is real.”

“Why?”

“Just that, I don’t know, I feel like a priority and not just a piece of meat”, you say, “the encounters I had before you guys made me feel as if my purpose is to please without receiving anything because that’s what a girl’s supposed to do. But I don’t feel like this with you guys. It’s really nice.”

Yoongi lifts his head, staring at you with darkened eyes.

“What’s wrong? Did I say something?”

“Who made you feel that way? Tell me their names. I’ll make them fucking pay”, he grumbles, furrowing his brows. 

“My love, no”, you crack up, squishing his cheeks, “that was years ago and I’m okay.”

Yoongi relaxes, exhaling deeply. 

“Good, that’s yeah”, he clears his throat, “yeah that’s good.”

“You silly kitten, you don’t have to protect me all the time”, you coo, caressing his brows.

“No, I do.  Don’t be fucking ridiculous”, he insists, hiding his face back in the crook of your neck. He closes his arm around your head, tickling your skin by huffing out air.

“Okay, okay”, you snicker, caressing his arm, “my strong prince.”

“Mhm”, he snuggles closer, “pet my hair.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Pet my hair”, he orders, stubbing you with his nose, “please.”

“Like this?” you ask him, running your fingers through his messy and incredibly soft hair.

“Yes. Good”, he whispers, purring seconds later. 

“You’re so cute”, you say, heart fluttering in your chest.

Jungkook leaves the bathroom when you and Yoongi are almost asleep again. It is you who opens your eyes first, looking at Jungkook. He is naked, drying his hair by rubbing a towel over it. He hasn’t looked at you yet, strutting through the room with confidence. 

“The shower’s empty now”, he says.

Yoongi stirs beside you. His purring stops. He inhales deeply and opens his eyes, lifting his head a second later. It forces your hand to slip from his head and land on his back instead. 

“Were you sleeping?” Jungkook gasps. 

“No. No we weren’t”, Yoongi lies, sitting up with a groan, “I’m taking a shower now. Or do you want to first?”

“No go ahead, the shower’s all yours”, you assure him. 

Yoongi rolls off of bed, soon disappearing in the bathroom. And with that, you and Jungkook are left alone in Yoongi’s room, while behind closed doors the water runs.  

Jungkook giggles, getting under the sheets with you and scooting closer. 

“I’m really happy”, he confesses.

“Me too.”

He takes your hand and rests his cheek on it.

“You feel so good.”

“Really?” you feel yourself fluster, “this is so sweet, thank you.”

“Last night was my first time with a human where I didn’t need to be restrained. I still can’t believe that I was able to experience it with you”, he says, eyes sparkling like crazy.

“I’m happy too, Kookie. You were amazing.”

“I was?” he gasps.

“Of course you were. You felt so good.”

“Even when I unhinged my jaw?”

You snicker, “that’s still really funny to me. I didn’t even know that you guys could do that.”

“Me neither until I accidentally did it during a hunt once. I guess your boobies are really yummy to me”, he says, scrunching his nose up, “that was so embarrassing, I’m sorry for saying that”, he says, giggling cutely.

“You’re so cute, Kookie.”

He grins, wiggling his shoulders.

“Sorry for the feeding by the way, I know that must have been really weird. But I kind of spiralled when I finally slipped inside. You were so warm.”

“It was actually really hot.”

Jungkook widens his eyes.

“Don’t say anything. I know that I have issues”, you murmur, sending him a defeated pout.

He laughs, pressing a quick peck to your knuckles.

“You don’t. I actually think it’s kinda hot that you think it’s hot.”

“Okay good”, you say and chuckle.

As does Jungkook. He presses a second kiss to your knuckles afterwards, resting his cheek on them. He gives you a cute bunny smile, the kind which makes the corners of his eyes crinkle.

You retort it, getting lost in his eyes.

“I was a little rough, wasn’t I?” he asks.

“Yeah right?” you agree, “when you pinned me down, that was really hot.”

“You think so?”

“Mhm yeah”, you shimmy closer, running your fingertips up and down his pec. Goosebumps litter his skin instantly, “I like it when you guys use your strength on me. You can definitely pin me down more often. Or, like, throw me around in general.”

Jungkook licks his lips, letting out a soft sound. He presses his legs together, squirming softly.

“Why?” you ask him as you watch it happening.

“It’s just…you’re really hot when you say stuff like that”, he confesses.

You chuckle fondly, “I’m just telling the truth.”

“You’re seriously so hot”, Jungkook whispers, earning himself a soft kiss from you.

“You’re so cute”, you say, caressing his cheek.

Jungkook scrunches his nose up, letting out happy little sounds. He shimmies closer, wiggling his toes under the sheets. He likes this so much. He is so happy that he can spend time with you that way. This is everything he dreamt of.

“I’m happy that I met Yoongi”, he confesses, “I think I lied to you when I said that I couldn’t imagine being together with a man, because I’m really happy that I met Yoongi.”

“I’m happy too. He’s helped you so much.”

“Yes, he has. I still feel really drawn to you and your smell is so addictive. But most days, I can control my instincts now. They don’t control me anymore in everyday life and I know you’ll never really get it, but it feels so relieving”, he says with his eyes becoming glassy in emotion.

“I do get you, I really do. I know I won’t ever know how a Ripper truly feels, but I can imagine how exhausting and lonely it must be.”

“It’s literally suffocating. There were days where I wanted to turn off my emotions because it was too much.”

“I guess that explains why so many of you guys end up turning off your emotions.”

“I understand them and I think without Yoongi, I would have ended up just like them”, he says and sighs sadly, “I lived a third of my life in sewers”, he confesses. 

“In sewers?”

He nods his head.

“I hid from the humans and the sewers were the only place where I didn’t smell their blood. You know, the stench masked it.”

“God, I’m so sorry.”

“Whenever I felt weakened by hunger, I cried because that meant I had to leave the tunnels and kill someone again and I didn’t want to do that.”

“I can imagine how hard that must have been.”

“It was. There were days where I forced myself to hide until the very last moment where I could barely even move an inch because I was so hungry. And, and on those days I killed more than one person. I knew it was because I starved myself and I hated myself so much that I cried until I passed out.”

“Oh, Kookie.”

“Jin hyung found me in the late seventies. He bathed me, clothed me and took me into his home and then he tried to help me with my instincts as best as possible.”

“That sounds wonderful, Kookie. I bet you were so relieved to finally have someone who helped you.”

“I was. I was so relieved”, he smiles, “I love Jin hyung so much. He taught me how to eat blood from a bag. I always ended up lashing out and hurting him during the process. And I felt so guilty and bad afterwards, but Jin hyung never scolded me or told me that he was angry. Even if I bit him or broke his bones, he was never angry at me and I finally had a home and, and family and I just”, he spills tears, “I love him so much.”

“I love him too, Kookie. He is so precious.”

“He is”, Jungkook smiles, “and now Yoongi hyung is training me and he actually knows how it is to be a Ripper and I learned so much from him. Jin hyung saved me, but Yoongi hyung freed me and I’m so happy to have met them.”

You scoot closer until you can give his lips a kiss. 

“I’m seriously so happy for you”, you whisper, “you deserve to have them in your life. I can’t wait for the day where you mastered everything. Seriously, I’m so happy that you and Yoongi found each other.”

Jungkook smiles, caressing your cheekbone.

“Do you love him?” he asks.

“Yes, so much.”

“I love him too. He accepted me for who I am, you did too.”

“Of course I did Kook, you’re so loveable.”

“Oh”, he lowers his eyes, “what the hell, don’t say that. I’ll actually blush.”

“You’re cute Kook”, you say, pinching his cheek.

Jungkook giggles and kisses you. Deeply, gently and with little giggles rumbling in his chest. You kiss him back. Passionately, slowly and with giggles just as happy leaving you. He rolls you onto your back and gets atop of you while you hook your arms behind his back. And so it happens that you and Jungkook are kissing under the sheets, both naked and with your limbs entangling closely. 

You lose track of time during that kiss until Yoongi comes back. You don’t hear him come in, but Jungkook does. He ends up breaking the kiss just to turn his head and look at Yoongi. You are resting sideways again. Jungkook has his knee between your legs. His skin is damp because of you.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just getting my stuff.”

You grin, snuggling into Jungkook’s chest whilst gazing at Yoongi. 

“You were really fast.”

“I actually wasn’t, you guys just made out for twenty minutes.”

“Geez, we did?” you gasp, “well damn, I lost track of time completely.” 

“Me too. I was so lost in the kiss.”

You and Jungkook exchange a love drunk look.

“I don’t want to eat you”, Jungkook confesses, “how is that possible?”

“Because you have my blood inside your system. It’s gonna keep you satisfied for longer. Don’t try to fuck though, that’s not gonna work”, Yoongi explains as he snatches his rings from the bedside table in the meantime, now turning to leave. 

But Jungkook isn’t having it. He tugs Yoongi back, forcing him to fall on top of Jungkook. 

“Don’t do that”, he grumbles, but gladly lets the younger vampire manhandle his body so Yoongi would be resting in the middle of you and Jungkook. 

The latter currently leans down to claim Yoongi’s lips in a surprise kiss. And Yoongi reacts accordingly, widening his eyes while his hands open and close as they can’t decide whether to hold Jungkook’s hands or not.

Jungkook breaks the kiss with a smile. He only has to send you one look for you to know what to do. 

You shimmy closer and cup Yoongi’s face between your hands just so you can kiss him deeply. 

Yoongi lets out a shuddering breath, blinking quickly while his fingers still decide whether they want to hold Jungkook’s hands or not.

You break the kiss, caressing his flushed cheeks. 

“Don’t do that. Both of you.”

“Shush, accept it”, you say, kissing his lips softly.

Yoongi sighs, closing his fingers around Jungkook’s hands.

Jungkook nuzzles into Yoongi’s neck, giving the flustered vampire loving neck kisses. 

“Guys, the time”, Yoongi sighs, shivering. 

“You’re so sweet”, you mumble, kissing him lovingly. 

“So sweet”, Jungkook agrees, now kissing Yoongi’s shoulder. 

Yoongi makes a sound. A deep purr. Then he squirms, not to escape but to get more comfortable. You break the kiss, giving him a sweet smile instead. Yoongi retorts it, feeling good doing so.

“You two are brats”, he says fondly, faltering in his smile when Jungkook drags his lips down his neck again.

“No, we’re not”, you giggle, “we just love you.”

Yoongi widens his eyes.

“Yeah, love you”, Jungkook murmurs, nibbling on Yoongi’s earlobe so good his once widened eyes falter with keeping open.

He huffs out air, “whatever”, he says defeated. He is way too soft for you and Jungkook. You could get him to do anything.

“Mhm, I gotta go now though”, you say, pecking Yoongi’s lips, “I feel so sticky from last night”, you say, rolling out of bed even if you don’t want to.

“Should we play guitar?” you hear Yoongi ask Jungkook and then you close the door on them.

You felt happy before your shower, but feel even better afterwards. The water was warm and the soap made your skin smell so nice. It was also very nice not to feel sticky anymore. As much as you love feeling the remnants of good sex on your skin, there is a limit on how long you want it sticking to you. It feels good to be clean again.

You leave the bathroom after doing your skincare and brushing your teeth, wearing a towel around your body.

Yoongi is playing the guitar while a finally dressed Jungkook rests on his tummy next to him, cheeks squished between his hands and eyes glued to Yoongi’s fingers. He is singing to the melodies Yoongi plays, swaying from side to side. Yoongi shifts his eyes to you, following you through the room as you pick out some clothes to wear.

He looks at his guitar when you open the towel, wanting to give you privacy. You return to the bed once you are dressed, sitting down on the edge of it and kissing Yoongi’s cheek.

“You guys sound so good”, you tell them.

Jungkook stops singing to instead smile at you. Yoongi continues to play, lowering the volume so you could talk comfortably.

“You think so?” Jungkook asks.

“Yeah. You are both so talented”, you say, busying yourself with putting on your earrings, “are you guys both meeting with Carla?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. When will you leave?”

“Lunchtime.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Why?”

“I plan on meeting with Tae later. I texted him and he told me that he has Charles’ place for himself this afternoon, so I plan on spending time with him.”

“Okay, that sounds good. Make sure to stay with him.”

“I will, don’t worry”, you promise Yoongi, “I could also talk to him about you, Kook. If you want to.”

Jungkook lowers his head, “you don’t have to.”

“I wouldn’t mind, seriously. I’ll tell him that he shouldn’t be such an idiot and talk to you.”

“So you also think that he's pretending?”

“It has to be. What you told me doesn’t sound like Tae.”

Yoongi and Jungkook exchange a look. So you are on the same page than them.

“I mean”, Jungkook scratches his neck, “I guess, if you want to”, he mumbles.

“Yeah? Then I’ll talk to him.”

Jungkook nods his head, lowering it shyly afterwards.

“Okay then. I’ll text Tae that I’m coming over later”, you say.

“Yeah okay”, Yoongi says, nodding his head.

“But for now, I wanna listen to you guys”, you say, letting yourself fall into the sheets. You rest your head on Yoongi’s knee, closing your eyes.

Moments later the room fills with the sounds of Yoongi’s guitar.

Jungkook closes the distance between you and him, running his palm up and down your tummy. 

You glance at him. He is smiling so brightly that his cute teeth are on full display. 

You reach down and caress his cheek, retorting his smile. 

“I’m happy”, he says. 

Your smile grows, while Yoongi’s face lights up in fondness. 

“I’m happy too, Kookie”, you say. 

Yoongi changes songs. The melody he chooses to play is cheerful and light. 

“I was so sad yesterday, but I’m not anymore. Thank you guys for cheering me up.”

“Hey, don’t. We’ll always be there for you.”

“Hehe”, Jungkook giggles and tilts his head to the side, “I’m still upset about it though, but it’s better than yesterday.”

“This is totally valid. The situation is really sucky”, you say. 

“Yeah”, Jungkook says and huffs out air, “it’s what I get for dating around.”

You chuckle, but caress his cheek to let him know that you were there for him.

“Yeah”, Yoongi says, “I don’t know why you felt the need to date around either way.”

“Hey”, you nudge his knee, but Jungkook doesn’t seem offended. 

“Maybe I just wanted to know how it is. I never had that before. I was really curious and it felt nice to date someone”, he says and rests his head on your tummy, looking at the ceiling that way. 

“Yeah well, you shouldn’t do that. Date around. It’ll only get you hurt.”

“You’re not helping, love”, you say, glancing up at Yoongi.

He is pouting, “I just mean that…that…” he stops playing to instead rub the side of his neck, “you’ve got us. ___ and me, yeah. We won’t leave. Uhm. Yeah. Don’t date around. You don’t need to. You’ve got, you know…us, you’ve got us”, Yoongi reaches out and nudges Jungkook’s cheek, “whatever, you fucking know what I meant”, he hisses and looks to the side. 

You and Jungkook stare at Yoongi with big eyes. Not a day will go by where his awkward yet terribly sweet confessions of love won’t surprise you. And also leave you incredibly soft for him. 

“You are so cute”, you breathe, feeling giddy all over.

“Yoongi”, Jungkook whispers and sits up. 

Yoongi lowers his head, picking at the guitar strings nervously. It fills the air with random, nonsensical notes.  

“I love you too, Yoongi”, Jungkook says and leans in to press a kiss to his cheek. 

It moves Yoongi’s head to the side in a soft nudge. His hair falls into his eyes from the movements but Yoongi fixes it with a gentle shake of his head. He meets Jungkook’s gaze with shy eyes. 

“Heh”, Jungkook lets out and grins, tilting his head to the side.

“Mhm”, Yoongi hums and brushes his hand over Jungkook’s soft cheek. He traces his lips with his thumb, allowing Jungkook to take the hint and lean in for a kiss. It was a sweet kiss, you could watch how greedy Yoongi was for it as he tilted his head and welcomed Jungkook with parted lips. It feels nice to watch it happening. They look really good when they’re kissing. 

Their kiss breaks with a soft sigh from both of them. Yoongi nudges Jungkook’s forehead with his own and runs his hand down the side of his neck. 

“Thank you”, Jungkook whispers.

“For what?” Yoongi breathes.

“For saying it out loud. I never knew what to make of us.”

“Yeah uhm”, Yoongi clears his throat, “we’re family, right?”

“Yeah, family.”

They break away from each other when you squeak, glancing at you. You are grinning so brightly that your cheeks hurt. 

“You guys are the best ever”, you say and giggle, “I think we three fit together so well. Don’t you think?”

“You’re so cute”, Yoongi says and pinches your cheek, “my love.”

“Yeah, so cute”, Jungkook agrees and picks you up in his arms just so he can roll around the sheets with your body locked in a tight grip. 

It forces waves of giggles and laughter out of you, making your two vampires laugh right with you. 

Today is going to be a good day. You can feel it. 

You finish your book once Yoongi and Jungkook leave to meet Carla. You only had a few pages left and wanted to get it done today. Quite frankly it was very nice to read, bundled up in Yoongi’s bed and with his guitar watching over you. It was as if he was still here with you. And it was also really nice to have some alone time. It really recharged you. 

It was already dark outside when you decide to leave for Taehyung, which wasn’t that surprising as the days are short at this time of year. It was still a little eerie and so you decided to take a cab to Taehyung with the money Yoongi left for you. You feel safer in a car than on public transport. At least like this, Namjoon or his followers can’t snatch you away. The drive was nice and gave you an opportunity to see a small glimpse of Brussels. Not much, as most of it was hidden in darkness, but you really liked the lights and how they made everything look welcoming.

You pay the driver handsomely and wait until he leaves, jogging up the stairs afterwards.

Charles’ butler James opens the door for you on your second ring, bowing his head at you.

“Good afternoon, Miss. I am afraid I must inform you that Master Charles isn't present as of now. He will return by nightfall” he greets you.

“Good afternoon, It's okay. I’m here to see Taehyung. Is he here?”

“Ah yes. Master Taehyung is in his room upstairs. May I invite you inside?" 

“Yes, thank you”, you say, stepping inside.

James closes the door and turns to you.

“May I take your coat and shoes, Miss?”

“Thank you very much”, you tell him, slipping out of them.

James takes your coat, throwing it over his arm and proceeds to present you a pair of fresh felt slippers.

“Thank you”, you accept them.

“May I offer you some refreshments, Miss?”

“No, I’m okay. Thank you.”

“Very well”, he says and bends down to take your shoes. “I will clean them for you. Shall you need me, don’t hesitate to ring for me”, he tells you and disappears in the small butler’s room just by the door.

“Oh? Uhm…thank you”, you say, watching the door close. You shake your head, “that wouldn’t have been necessary”, you murmur, “oh well, let’s find Tae I guess.”

You follow the sound of jazz music, wandering through the hallways in hasty steps. Jazz music can only mean Taehyung. That and classical music. You stop in front of the second door in the left upstairs wing of the house. The door is leaned closed, letting the music escape into the rest of the building. You know that Taehyung wouldn’t mind if you barged into his room without knocking, but you still want to be polite. Maybe you were wrong and there lives someone else in this house who enjoys jazz. Barging into their room announced would be embarrassing.

The door swings open with your third knock, revealing Taehyung in nothing but a silk rope.

“My darling?” he gasps, eyes lighting up, “what are you doing here?”

“You didn’t answer my text.”

“I apologize, I must have left it in the powder room”, Taehyung says, looking over his shoulder at the closed bathroom.

“It’s okay, I just took matters into my own hands. The others are out and I didn’t want to be alone at the hostel. I heard that you have the house for yourself tonight, so I thought that maybe we could spend time together?”

“Of course we can. What a pleasant surprise, my darling. Please come in”, Taehyung says, stepping out of the doorway for you. 

“Thank you.”

“Please forgive the darkness in my room. Sometimes I am too lazy to turn the lights on”, he says in a soft chuckle, lighting a few candles quickly.

“It’s okay. I get it. What were you doing anyway?”

“Painting”, Taehyung says, “and drinking, I guess”, he adds, sagging his shoulders. He sits down on the floor. The candles cast dark shadows onto his features.

You join him on the floor, facing him with your legs crossed. He mimics your position, pulling the rope closed in order not to flash you.

“What’s the matter?” you ask him.

“Why do you think that something burdens me?”

“Because you only drink when you are upset. Well, at least wine with blood”, you say, lifting the cruet of blood.

He snatches it away instantly, hiding it behind his back.

“It’s not how it looks, I promise. I asked for consent.”

“Relax, I’m not here to judge. Not for the blood at least.”

“Oh no. This doesn’t sound good. Am I in trouble?”

“You’re not in trouble”, you place your hand on his knee, “Tae, I heard what happened with Jungkook.”

Taehyung lowers his head instantly, shoulders sagging in sadness.

“Darling, I made a mistake”, he confesses.

“Yeah? I’m sure that Kook would love to hear that as well.”

“I can’t talk to him. I made sure of that. I messed it up.”

“I’m sure that Kook is willing to hear you out.”

Taehyung shakes his head, “no, I know better. He doesn’t want to see me again.”

“You don’t know that unless you try.”

“Maybe. I don’t know”, Taehyung whispers.

“Tae, may I ask? Why did you push him away in the first place?”

“I didn’t want him to get hurt.”

“Hurt? Why would he get hurt?”

Taehyung hesitates, looking at you with cautious eyes.

“You can trust me”, you assure him.

Taehyung sighs in relief, nodding his head.

“Jimin can get really ugly if he feels threatened", he confesses, "he can be terribly mean to people. Especially if he is jealous. I just”, Taehyung pouts, “I just didn’t want Kook to be involved in fighting. When Jimin pulled me away to talk that night, we had a terrible fight because of Jungkook.”

“You did?”

Taehyung nods his head, “he told me that I had to choose between either him or Jungkook. I can’t lose Jimin again.”

“So you chose him.”

“Yes”, Taehyung barely wants to speak the word, lowering his eyes in shame.

“Oh Taehyung. This is so awful of him to do. Especially to you. You are so full of love for so many people and he shouldn’t ask something so terrible from you.”

“You think so?” Taehyung sounds surprised, lifting his eyes in childish hopefulness.

“Of course I do. You love many people, but you love all of them dearly and truly. And Jimin should know that by now. You don’t love him any less now that you have Kook, do you?”

“Of course I don’t.”

“See? Did you tell Jimin that?”

“No. I was scared that he would yell”, Taehyung confesses and lowers his head.

“I see”, you say, running your hand up and down his thigh soothingly, “should I talk to Jimin?”

“You don’t have to. It will only end in fighting.”

“I can handle Jimin’s bad moods, don’t worry about me”, you tilt his head up with your fingers under his chin, “I hate to see you upset, my darling. Can I truly not talk to him?”

“Perhaps you could try?” Taehyung whispers.

“Yes? Then I will try next time I see him.”

“Thank you so much”, Taehyung says, exhaling in relief, “I missed you so much.”

“Gosh Tae, I missed you too.”

“May I hug you? Please?”

You close the distance between you and him, taking him into a tight hug. Taehyung cradles you against his chest instantly. He buries his face in the crook of your neck, inhaling deeply. He seems to grow softer because of it, tension in his muscles disappearing instantly.

“This is so nice”, he whispers.

“Yes, it really is”, you agree, running your fingers through his hair.

Taehyung nuzzles and sighs, dancing his hands up and down your back. He is so happy to have you with him now. He was so scared that you wouldn’t want to see him anymore. So to have you hold him right now, feels so healing to him.

“I want to stay like this forever”, he confesses, pressing you closer, “you are so warm.”

You smile, nuzzling into his neck. You kiss him gently, basking in the soft sigh he does because of it. This is it. This is the moment you missed so dearly with him. Life was so busy lately and if it wasn’t, he got dragged away by Jimin. And because of it, you missed out on so many sweet, tender moments with Taehyung. 

It feels so nice to finally share one again. Nice, but also just a little bit wrong. Wrong, because you were still burdened by a secret. A terrible, terrible secret.

You take a deep breath. You have to tell him. You can’t bear the secrecy anymore. It is weighing you down to the point where it hurts.

“Darling, can I tell you something?” you ask him quietly as you run your fingers through his soft hair.

“Anything, darling”, he assures you. 

“But you have to promise me not to get angry, please.” 

“I...promise?” he says, putting distance between you and him, “darling, what’s the matter? Why are you making me promise such a thing?”

“Because I’m scared of your reaction.”

“My reaction?”

You nod your head. 

“Okay? Tell me, I promise not to get angry”, Taehyung assures you, placing his hand on your knee. 

“Okay so uhm. Do you remember the night we went out together?”

“And you got so intoxicated? Of course I can. I was really worried for you.”

"Yeah well, uhm, the truth is. I wasn’t even drunk or on drugs, I was just….scared.”

“Scared? Scared of what?”

You touch the side of your neck, needing it to soothe yourself. You are going to do it. You are going to tell Taehyung. And it’s the scariest thing you have ever done. 

“You know how Jimin and I, you know, fucked?”

“Yes, I do. Why? What happened?”

“He lost control and bit me and-”

“He bit you?!” Taehyung interrupts you, widening his eyes in shock.

“Yes. It was an accident. I know that. But then he uhm, made me drink his blood so I would heal and I didn’t want to drink it. So he forced me.”

Silence. 

You lift your gaze, meeting Taehyung’s shocked expression. 

“You are lying”, he gets out, shaking his head, “he did not, did he?”

“He did.”

“No. No he did not. Darling?”

“He did”, you whisper, “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising?”

“I don’t know. I feel guilty and I don’t know. It’s so messy. All of it.”

“My sweetest”, Taehyung breathes, cupping your cheeks gently, “my darling, I am so incredibly sorry. He never should have done such a terrible thing to you. Oh, why did you not tell me sooner?”

“Because I was scared. He said that if you knew, you would want him to leave again and I would be responsible for your heart breaking again. I didn’t want to break your heart.”

“You are not at fault here. I carry no anger for you”, Taehyung says and shakes his head, “oh my sweetest, everything makes perfect sense now. Why you cried so much and why you begged Yoongi to keep you safe. I knew that it couldn’t have only been because of the alcohol. You barely drank any.”

“I was so scared. I didn’t want to be a Glutton”, you confess, eyes filling with tears, “I’m sorry, it just feels really good to tell you. I hated keeping secrets from you”, you confess, spilling tears. 

Taehyung wipes them away instantly, “don’t apologise. I understand. No more secrets from now on.”

“No more secrets”, you say, “Tae, can I be hugged again? I really need a hug.”

“Of course my sweetest, come here”, Taehyung says, taking you atop his lap so he could cradle you in his strong arms. He allows you to rest your cheek on his shoulder and for your face to hide in his neck. He runs his fingertips up and down your spine, soothing you immensely with just this simple touch. 

“Are you going to fight with Jimin now?” you ask him.

“I will definitely talk to him. What he did to you was terrible and he needs to know never to repeat it again”, he says.

“Do you want him to leave now?”

“I don’t think I do. I should have expected something like this from him. So while I am angry, I sadly am not surprised.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

“I will talk to him, my darling. I promise you. He did a terrible, awful thing and I will tell him that he did.”

“Thank you and thank you for listening. I really needed to tell someone.”

“Of course. Does anyone else know?”

“Just Jimin and Emma. I told her. I’m too scared to tell the others. Especially Yoongi. He would worry so much.”

“This is the right decision. Yoongi would only want to kill Jimin and I can’t allow that to happen. If he were to ever hurt him, I could never forgive him.”

“I know”, you whisper. 

“Good. Please keep that in mind, sweetest.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

“Thank you. Truly.”

You hug him closer, inhaling his scent.

“Are you angry at me now?” you ask him quietly.

“No I am not”, he assures you, “oh, my darling I am so glad that you told me. It explains so much.”

“Yeah it was awful.”

“Oh, come here my darling. Let me hold you”, he says, standing up with you in his arms just so he can carry you to his bed. He lies down, hugging you against his chest. 

“Rest against me, just like this.”

“That feels so good”, you say, inhaling his scent. Lavender. You missed it so much. All of it. His hug, his scent, his warmth. Although already tainted by coldness, it was still really nice to feel. 

You slip your hand inside his rope, placing it on his waist. Goosebumps cover his skin instantly and a soft sigh rolls off his tongue. 

You tilt your head, looking up at him. He smiles down at you, running his fingers down your cheek. 

“You’re a little cold already”, you say. 

“You can feel that? Please forgive me. All the blood I consumed lately was already cold. I think that it might have stolen me of my warmth.”

“It’s okay. You’re still warm. Just warm enough to hug”, you say, squeezing your cheek against his pecs, “Tae, you are so soft.”

“No, you are. Oh, I could squeeze you”, he says, doing exactly that. He squeezes you and exhales shakily, burying his nose in your hair, “oh darling, to think what he did to you”, he whispers, “it makes me furious, but more than anything it makes me terribly protective over you.”

“I like that”, you confess, giggling cutely, “I think.”

Taehyung smiles fondly.

“You do?”

“Mh-hm”, you look up at him, “it’s so nice to know that you want to keep me safe.”

Taehyung cups your cheek, “oh, how I want to kiss you.”

“Please do.”

Taehyung leans down and claims your lips in a chaste kiss. Nothing more than the brush of lips and then he already pulls back, chuckling fondly when you chase him with a sigh. 

“More”, you beg. 

Taehyung kisses you. Just once. Softly and sweet. The sensation leaves you desperate for more. 

“Like this?” he asks.

“No. More”, you beg, gazing at his lips.

“You sound so sweet when you beg”, Taehyung whispers and cups your cheek, closing the distance between your lips to finally kiss you properly. 

He can’t bear to tease any longer. It has been too long since he last tasted your kiss. He pulls you closer, sighing your name against your lips. You answer him in a soft moan and your fingers closing around his hip in a needy grasp. 

“Darling”, he sighs, chasing your touch. 

“Darling”, you breathe, shivering when he runs his fingers down your back. His hand slips under your jumper, nails scratching up and down your skin gently. The sensation feels so good. Taehyung’s touches are so healing. 

To know that he is part of your secret now and that he still sees you as precious, heals you so much. It is truly everything you wanted ever since that night in the club.

It happens naturally that your bodies melt together and as that happens, your leg finds its home over his hip and your fingers grab his hair instead. 

Taehyung’s rope opens messily just as you were about to twist his hair. He breaks the kiss, laughing breathily. 

“It seems as if someone wanted to undress”, he says, chuckling.

You let your eyes run up and down his freshly exposed chest, the soft curves of his pecs and the contrast of his pale skin and his dark nipples. It looks like art in the golden candlelight. You lower your head, placing a kiss upon his sternum, circling your fingers on his nipple as you do. It pebbles instantly.

Taehyung squirms, exhaling shakily. His thigh lodges itself between your legs, grinding against your warmth. Sparks of electricity course through you because of it. 

“Tae”, you whisper, looking up at him.

“That felt really good”, he says, breathing quickly.

“Yeah”, you sigh, rolling your hip back and forth on his thigh. 

“I feel like we have stumbled into a situation, haven’t we?”

“I think that we have”, you say.

His eyes race between yours. The tension between you and him is unbearable. You touch his nipples, chasing his lips. 

Taehyung growls playfully, rolling you onto your back and claiming the spot above you. He places his knee between your legs again, claims your lips in a kiss and moans, running his hand up and down your torso. 

The pressure on your warmth feels intense yet gentle. Taehyung moves his knee slowly, timing it with the natural movements of his needy squirms. It feels like heaven, leaving you breathless. 

You break the kiss once the loss of air is unbearable, moaning his name instantly. 

Taehyung claims your neck, sucking on your skin hungrily. His fingers dimple your thigh, gripping you strongly as he changes positions. Like this, he isn’t using his knee to grind against you but his hips, hard cock rubbing against your clothed pussy each time he squirms. 

“Oh god, Tae”, you moan, rolling your head to the side as he marks it in his love. 

His rope has slipped off his shoulders by now, pooling by his elbows whilst keeping his buttocks covered. His back is fully exposed, getting felt up by your needy hands. You love how his muscles shift and tense under your touch.

Taehyung tugs on the collar of your jumper, trying to expose your collarbone to his lips. He whines because he ends up failing, nudging you with his lips and whispering a pleading “please”.

“Clothes off?” you ask him.

“If you want to”, he sounds out of breath. 

“I do. Give me a second.”

Taehyung sits up, slipping out of his rope as you undress. First your jumper, then your bra. You slip out of your jeans but keep your panties on. You love it when Taehyung takes them off for you. 

“You are so beautiful, oh my sweetest”, Taehyung closes the distance between you and him, touching your waist, “my darling, I am so blessed.”

“Stop”, you whisper, “you are flustering me.”

“Good”, he says, picking you up just so he can place you into the sheets. He kisses your neck, grinding his exposed cock against your pussy. The unfiltered touch makes you gasp. It feels so intense now that your jeans aren’t hiding the sensations from you anymore.

“Good?” you giggle. 

“Mhm, good”, he mumbles, running his hands over your naked tummy, “I love it when you fluster because of me.” 

You touch his shoulders, sighing his name. His words make you squirm. 

“So soft”, he rasps, leaving hickeys down your neck until he can finally kiss your collarbones. “So beautiful”, he whispers, sucking on your skin, “oh you have me starved for a taste. Oh so beautiful”, he whispers. His fangs brush against your skin, riling you up in the process. “I want to feed on you. Oh how I crave you.”

His words are like honey to your ears. You chase his lips with an arch of your back.

“Do it”, you whisper.

Taehyung lifts his head, “are you certain?”

You nod your head.

“No darling, I couldn’t. Not after what Jimin did to you”, he says, shaking his head. 

You stop him, cradling his soft cheek. 

“I’m not scared of you”, you whisper.

“Are you certain? I would never forgive myself if I hurt you.”

“I’m not scared”, you say and smile.

“Oh darling, you make me so happy”, Taehyung says and cups your face, “may I suggest something? Something incredibly fun?”

“Yes.”

“How about you take off your ring and I compel you to get wet each time I bite you? By the time I am finished with you, you will be a dripping mess.”

“Hot”, you croak, “I think that I won’t even need compulsion for that to happen.”

Taehyung chuckles, caressing your cheeks.

“You don’t have to say yes. I just thought that I haven’t compelled you in ages during sex and I miss the feeling of it.”

“You really haven’t”, you say, gnawing on your lower lip, “will it hurt?”

“On the contrary. Each time I bite you, you will feel orgasmic ecstasies. It will feel so good.”

“This does sound like a lot of fun”, you whisper, “okay. I trust you, let’s do it.”

“Oh darling, you are truly wonderful”, Taehyung says, kissing your lips with a big “mwuah”. It makes you giggle and squirm.

He takes your hand afterwards, kissing your knuckles as he slips off the ring. Once done, he places it on his nightstand, returning to you with an excited giggle.

He cups your cheeks.

“Are you ready?” he asks you.

“Yes. I can trust you, can’t I?”

“Of course you can, my darling. I will make it so enjoyable.”

“And it’s not dangerous?”

“Of course not. I will keep you safe.”

“Okay. Then uhm, then do it.”

“Okay. Here it comes.”

Taehyung widens his eyes. You feel dizzy instantly, brain going hazy as you lose control.

“I will bite you and each time I do, you will feel ecstatic beyond recovery”, he speaks slowly. 

“Yes, understood”, you lull without wanting to, rubbing your legs together.

“Good girl”, he praises and lets go of your cheek, “now come back to me.”

Clarity returns to you. You blink, looking into Taehyung’s eyes. They are spilling over in adoration for you.

“How are you feeling?” he asks you.

“Did you do it already?” 

“Yes.”

“Oh? I didn’t even notice.”

“Good, that’s good. Relax now, my sweetest. I will take such great care of you”, he says, returning to his rightful spot on your neck to kiss his way down to your breasts.

You melt in his hands, skin tingling like crazy. His lips are eager and hungry, leaving marks all over your chest. You are excited for what was to come. Excited but also a little nervous. What if it will hurt?

Taehyung gathers your breasts in his big hands, guiding your left nipple to his hungry mouth. He sucks harshly, moaning around it. 

“Ah”, you let out, shivering in pleasure.

He sucks gently, sending shivers down your spine. His mouth is so warm and wet. It feels so good to have him go from harsh to gentle.

“Tae, that’s nice”, you moan and tangle your fingers in his hair, sighing happily when he kisses his way to your other nipple. One harsh suck and then he releases it again to bite into your flesh. The bite goes deep, which means that it should hurt, but it doesn’t. The moment his fangs pierce your skin, electric pleasure courses through you, forcing you to yelp because you weren’t ready for it. 

You tremble, tugging at his hair in panic. Your body feels on fire, the pleasure between your legs is almost unbearable. 

“Oh god, oh god, oh god”, you babble, gasping for air. 

Taehyung slurps, licking your bite wound hungrily.

“So sweet. So fucking good”, he murmurs under his breath, doing the unthinkable of biting a new spot. 

“Ah!” you yelp, flinching from the intensity of the pleasure. You feel hot and dizzy, trying to squeeze your legs together but failing and squeezing Taehyung’s waist instead. “Taehyung, what are you doing?” You squeak, arching your back, “ah Tae!”

Taehyung lifts his head, licking his red lips. His eyes are ruby, his cheeks are covered in veins.

“You are so sweet. Oh how I missed this taste”, he rasps, “what’s the matter, darling?”

“I, I don’t know”, you stutter, gasping for air, “oh god, what did you do to me?”

Taehyung places his hand on your pussy, making you gasp and squirm. He smirks.

“Mhhm darling you are soaking your panties”, he rasps, “don’t tell me that you’re getting wet from being fed on, mhm?”

“Oh god Tae”, you croak, arching your back, “oh god what did you do?”

He chuckles, rubbing his fingers over your clothed pussy. You have to squirm because of it, feeling so overly sensitive that you have to grip his arm for support.

“Tae, what’s happening?” you gasp.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it?” he rasps, gawking at your face hungrily. You look ruined and all it took was two bites. He shifts his eyes to your breasts. Your skin is covered in your red nectar, taunting him. He leans down and bites your other side, forcing you to scream up and orgasm in an instant.

You claw at his back, begging him for an answer of why you feel the way you do. And Taehyung bites deeper, growling deeply as your sweet taste covers his tongue. Oh to have your blood soaked in your ecstasy. Taehyung dreamt of the taste ever since he first had it running down his throat.

He releases your bruised flesh, moaning deliciously. His hand slips back between your legs, pushing your panties to the side so he could pick up your slick. You whimper, squirming desperately.

“W-what are you doing?” you stutter, eyes squeezed shut. His touch burns in the best way possible. You are so wet and sensitive. His fingers are parting your folds, touching your clit, torturing your pussy in the best way possible.

“Look at me”, he orders lovingly.

You try your hardest to focus your eyes on him, spilling a few tears because it just felt way too good.

“Take a breath for me.”

You barely manage to do it, gasping for air.

“There we go”, he praises, retreating his touch to instead caress your thighs, “what’s your colour, my darling?”

“Green, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“I-I feel so, s-so..much”, you stutter, chasing his touch, “w-what did you do to me?”

“But darling, I told you, didn't I? I bite you and you are supposed to orgasm like a good girl”, his voice sounds taunting to your scrambled brain, which results in your brain scrambling even more. You remember now. He told you something of this sort. Oh dear, you didn’t think that it would work that quickly. Just one bite and you crumbled without any sort of touch.

“Tae”, you mewl, “Tae, why are you so hot?”

He chuckles lazily, “you are so precious”, he says, kissing your cheek, “tell me whenever it gets too much, yes?”

“Yeah okay”, you whisper, touching his arm, “what are you going to do to me now?”

“Why? What do you want me to do?” he is taunting you again, whispering against your ear, “don’t tell me that you want more, mhm?”

You whine, making him purr seductively.

“Oh my darling, you are such a needy girl”, he rasps, sending heat to your cheeks. It’s so embarrassing to be called out on how desperate he has gotten you. Oh, how you need him to touch you because of it.

Taehyung leaves a chaste kiss on your neck then disappears between your legs. He picks up your left foot, placing soft kisses on your instep. The contrast of going from harsh bites to gentle kisses leaves you breathless. You look at him with your eyes slightly out of focus, breathing heavily.

“My most precious”, he whispers, kissing your ankle, “oh how I want to treat you right”, he breathes, running his tongue up your calve until he reaches your knee. You squirm, twisting the sheets. It riles you up so much to have him lick you like that. “he had no right to take you”, he adds under his breath and for a second you wanted to ask him what he meant, but before you could he bites your inner thigh, forcing you to crumble and wail his name.

Taehyung growls, sucking on the bite. He has to hold back, fingers aching with the desire to squeeze you with all their strength. You taste so good. Taehyung feels himself leaking on the sheets because of it. He releases your thigh, moaning deeply.

“Fuck so good”, he lulls, leaving red kisses up your inner thigh. He hooks his fingers in your panties and rips them off. They were just in the way. He needs to taste you as long as he still has blood on his lips. He buries them in your pussy, giving you no time to recover as he mixes your blood and your pleasure for him to feast upon.

“Tae please”, you squeak, grabbing a bundle of his dark hair. You close your thighs around his head, wailing up when he forces them apart harshly. It gives your muscles a gentle stretch, reminding you that you were utterly at his mercy right now. He strengthens your role as he bends your legs and forces them to rest in the sheets beside you, keeping you parted for his hungry mouth.

“Oh god, oh god, oh god Tae, oh god”, you stutter, spilling your slick all over his chin. His tongue is changing between lapping at your entrance and circling your clit, his deep growls and moans of ecstasy send vibrations through your pussy.  “please oh god, please.”

Taehyung lifts his lips, looking at you with dark red eyes. He carries just enough craze in his gaze that you feel yourself writhe.

“You taste heavenly”, he rasps, speech impaired by his fangs, “I’m in fucking paradise.”

“You, you are so. Oh god”, you stutter, rolling your head to the side and arching your back, “Tae please”, you beg.

Taehyung straightens up, running his hands down your inner thighs. you are so complacent for him that he doesn’t even need to hold you open anymore. He circles the bite mark on your inner thigh, pupils dilating in hunger.

“Only I can do that to you, can’t I?” he asks.

“W-what?”

“Only I can get you to scream like that, can’t I?” he stresses, squeezing your thigh and forcing new droplets of blood to ooze out of you.

“I, I don’t understand.”

“You’re mine”, he growls, dark eyes pinning you down, “not Jimin’s. Mine.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, that's right. You’re mine”, he growls and smirks darkly, “only I can get you so fucking wet”, he adds and moves in to bite your thigh right next to his first bite.

“Oh god not agai- ah!” you yelp, breaking violently. Truly, you don’t know how much you can take. Each orgasm he forces out of you feels stronger than the one before. You are clawing at the sheets, spilling tears, soaking the mattress. And Taehyung still doesn’t stop. He bites deep and sucks hard, strong fingers keeping you hostage and cock growing in desperation. This is territorial. This isn’t just pleasure for him. This is to take back what was stolen from him. Your blood is his’. Not Jimin’s, not anyone else’s. His. And he needs your body to remember that.

Taehyung lets go of your thigh only to bury his fangs in your other side without warning. The sob of utter despair you let out because he makes you orgasm again sounds like music to his ears. That’s what you are supposed to do. You are supposed to cry and scream and climax. It’s the only punishment Taehyung sees fit. Because this right here is your reward as much as it is your punishment. Your punishment for not telling him sooner, your punishment for keeping secrets from him and your punishment for sharing your blood. He is aware that you didn’t want to share it, but the betrayal still feels the same. Taehyung is driven mad by angry jealousy and addictive pleasure and he needs you punished for driving him insane.

He growls, slipping his fangs out of your flesh. You whimper above him, dropping into the sheets and writhing under his fingers.

Taehyung chases you. Within a second he is above you, dripping saliva onto your face and panting heavily.

“Fucking look at me”, he growls, gripping your cheeks.

You peel your eyes open even if it is hard, meeting his fiery gaze.

“Tell me your colour. Now”, he is harsh in his orders, forcing you to spill tears because you can barely handle it.

“Green”, you choke out, sobbing softly, “Taehyung please.”

“All the begging in the world won’t get me to stop, do you hear me?” he hisses, moving closer. He keeps your face pinned by your cheeks, dragging his lips over yours as he speaks. You can taste your blood that way, you are so far gone that you don’t even mind, “now be a good fucking girl for once and beg for my cock.”

“What?” you get out.

“Did I fucking stutter? Beg me to stuff your slutty, little pussy with my cock.”

“Please stuff me”, you beg and quite frankly you have no idea if he just controlled your mind or not.

But Taehyung didn’t control your mind. He doesn’t have to. He got you where he wanted you. Depended on him and addicted to the pleasure only he can give you.

“You’re such a good girl”, he rasps, rewarding you with a soft kiss. Just once, to let you know that despite his anger he was still there for you. He straightens up, getting on his knees. He grips his cock, jerking it off.

“Legs up”, he orders you and you obey. “Bend them. Now.”

You obey with a whimper, mewling his name when he slaps them further apart.

“Do you truly think that I can stuff you when you’re hiding away? Have you seen my cock?” he growls tugging on it harshly, “keep your legs open, it’s for your own good”, he orders, moving closer to drop his heavy cock on your sensitive pussy. He spanks your clit with it, making you jerk and gasp in surprise each time he does.

“Oh god Tae”, you whimper, glassy eyes glued to his cock. He is so massive. You are honestly glad that he made you as wet as he did, feeling new excitement seep out of you because of it. Oh you want him so bad, it hurts not to be stuffed by him.

“Do you want this cock?” he asks.

“It’s so huge”, you mewl.

“I know. I’m not holding back tonight.”

“Fuck, please give it to me, please”, you beg.

“Yes? You want it?”

“Yes, please.”

“Then take it”, he growls and pushes inside.

“Ah!” you gasp, eyes falling closed instantly and toes curling in bliss. This is it. Your rebirth. His girth stretches you out so much, claiming his ownership over you.

“There we go. Take me. Fucking take me, I know you can”, he rasps, bottoming out easily. He growls, grinding his teeth, “fuck, you’re so tight”, he gets out, dropping his hands on your waist to squeeze it gently, “how are you doing? Are you in pain?”

“No”, you whimper, shaking your head vigorously, “no please move, please Tae please.”

“That’s my girl”, he rasps and begins moving. Carefully at first because no amount of jealousy in the world could excuse him hurting you during something that was supposed to be your most pleasurable punishment.

“Oh god, Tae”, you mewl, arching your back and rolling your ankles. You are so fucking sensitive. Each time he bottoms out, you feel your body shuddering against your control. You are so wet, you know that Taehyung is fucking it out of you each time he thrusts into you.

He runs his thumbs up and down your skin, dark eyes glued to your face. His instincts tell him to fuck you hard and fast, his heart tells him to be respectful. He has to tense every muscle in his body not to give into his most primal urges. You look so perfect all spread out and claimed by him. Breasts covered in his bite marks, thighs still red from all the bloody kisses he left on your skin and neck marked by him.

“I want to ruin you”, he presses out, putting pressure into his touch, “it takes everything inside of me not to scramble your insides.”

“Just do it, please”, you mewl, “please Tae, please.”

“Fuck”, he hisses, “fuck ___, you’re so fucking perfect”, he growls and grips your thighs to tug you onto his cock.

“Ah!” you yelp up, convulsing in surprise now that Taehyung shows you how he truly wants to fuck you. Deep, hard, fast. You can take it because he made you want it by forcing orgasm after orgasm out of you. And you have to take it and beg him to continue with desperate moans.  

“That’s it. Take me. That’s what I want from you. You’re mine. Fucking mine”, Taehyung babbles, falling deeper and deeper into the madness you make him feel. It consumes him whole. Your warmth, your body, your taste, sweet sounds and the power that makes him feel. He owns you. Right here and now in this moment in time, he owns your every fiber and Taehyung rides on that feeling with his head pounding in pleasure, driving you to the brink of complete ruin in the process.

“Mine. You’re mine. All mine”, he chants, pinning your kicking legs into the mattress beside you. He leans over you, forcing them to slip over his shoulders. He twists the sheets beside your head, filling your ears with the sound of it ripping under his punishing grasp.

He angles his cock deep into you, grinding his pubic bone against your clit as his girth continues torturing your insides.

Your only help is reaching up and gripping his face. He shakes his head, forcing your hands to slip to the back of his head. Your fingers twist in his hair, sending jolts of painful pleasure through his veins.

“That’s it. Hold onto me”, he praises, cock throbbing at the view of your face. You look so ruined. Just for him. This is all for him. Every tear, change of expression, gasp for air and desperate moan is for him. Just for him. “hold onto me, darling. I’ve got you.”

“Tae please”, you sob, “please don’t stop please.”

“I won’t. You’re going to climax for me now. Do you hear me?”

“W-what?”

Taehyung gives you his answer by turning his head and biting into your arm.

You scream, trying to flee by you can’t. Taehyung has you folded in half and under his mercy and all you can do is climax around his huge cock as he sucks the blood out of your arm. This is it, you think, this is how you will die. Killed by Kim Taehyung’s huge cock, she just couldn’t handle it. You can see it written on your gravestone.

Taehyung releases your wrist, moaning from the deepest depth of his stomach.

“You taste so good”, he croaks, “holy shit, I can’t stop”, he moans, moving closer so your foreheads were almost touching, “take a breath for me, darling. I know you have more in you”, he whispers.

You whimper and gasp, sob and wheeze. His hips are gentle, but moving. No break even if he makes it seem as if he gives you time to recover. He really doesn’t, keeping your pussy sensitive and leaking around his throbbing cock.

“There we go. That’s better. Colour?”

“Green”, you whimper, hands falling from his hair to grip his wrists instead, “Tae, I can’t do this anymore”, you sob.

“Yes you can. This is what you exist for. You are supposed to soak my cock, it’s what you’re supposed to do”, he orders you, speeding up his hips again, “now scream for me, darling.”

You do so without wanting to, kicking his back involuntarily but when Taehyung fucks you that hard, you can’t really control your limbs.

Taehyung doesn’t mind, calling you his good girl over and over again while his fangs drip saliva.

“What the fuck is going on here?” this wasn’t Taehyung’s voice.

You try to look, barely getting your eyes to focus. Taehyung has got you so fucking dizzy. 

Those thighs in those jeans. That black leather jacket. That posture. Jimin. Jimin just entered the room. You want to react to his presence. Hide away, tell him to fuck off, beg Taehyung to stop. But you can’t. Taehyung picks you up and changes positions with you still on his cock. Like this your legs are around his hips and you  are facing Jimin. He wants Jimin to see how good only he can get you, how ruined you are because of him. Taehyung speeds up his hips, forcing your body to slip up the bed and for your head to fall over the edge. He pins you down, slamming into you with angry precision.

And so you wail up, head dizzy, eyes teary and body on fire. You wail and tremble and forget all about Jimin’s presence, wishing for Taehyung to keep fucking you.

But Taehyung doesn’t forget about him, staring into Jimin’s eyes with dark, demonic anger. 

“Mine”, he growls, making you squeak with a harsh thrust of his hips, “understood? Mine.”

“What are you talking about?” Jimin asks and scoffs. His eyes however are glued to you. The bite marks on your tits are still bleeding, covering your skin in a tempting layer of blood. The bite marks on your inner thighs rub against Taehyung, covering his body in your red nectar. Jimin gulps. 

“I know what you did”, Taehyung growls.

Jimin looks into his eyes, gulping in nervousness. So you told him. That is why Taehyung’s eyes are filled with so much anger. 

“And she is mine, understood?” three harsh thrusts and you are choking on your moans. Taehyung lifts you, getting on his knees as he begins bouncing you on his cock that way. Your legs are behind his waist, your arms are hugging him tightly. You feel so small and fragile right now, dizzy and breathless and so goddamn ruined. Taehyung is using your body as if it was nothing more than his favourite fleshlight and you can barely handle it. Big, strong hands bruising your ass and huge cock stretching out your weeping pussy. You are on fire because of it, burning up, holding onto him because otherwise you would break into a million pieces.

“You don’t get to touch her without my permission”, Taehyung spits, ruby eyes pinning down Jimin. 

Jimin looks at your pussy.

“Eyes on me”, Taehyung orders loudly.

Jimin obeys with a flinch, swallowing heavily upon meeting Taehyung’s harsh gaze.

“You don’t get to taste her. She’s mine”, Taehyung growls and buries his fangs in your neck.

“Ah! A-ah!” you yelp, clawing at Taehyung’s back to the point where you scratch him bloody. He sucks hard and he drinks hungrily. Maybe you are going crazy but you can feel the blood get sucked out of you. Your head pounds because of it. The harsh, angry bouncing on his cock doesn’t help. On the contrary, Taehyung begins meeting his bounces with long, hard thrusts of his hips, growling demonically. He breaks away for just a second, showing Jimin his messy, blood covered mouth. You are still dripping, covering the sheets in your juices as he keeps you on edge in the roughest ways possible.

“Mine”, he growls, burying his fangs back in your neck. 

It stings, forcing you to convulse in his arms. The bite is so deep. It burns you alive. You feel close to dying because of it. The good kind of death. The kind only sex and getting fed on can give you. You twist his hair, wailing his name with a broken voice. He is making you cum again. Over and over and over again.

Taehyung growls, breaking the bite. His body is burning up against yours, quite literally. His skin is so fucking hot. You can’t stop getting wetter and wetter. Each time he bites you, your pussy produces more slick, gets more sensitive and hungrier for his cock. As if he wants you to completely lose yourself. Taehyung fucks your wet desperation out of you harshly and angrily.

“So go on”, he growls, throwing you back onto the mattress. Like this you are facing Jimin’s crotch with your head tangling over the edge. You can feel the blood ooze out of your bite marks, it tickles your ear and drips onto your hair. Holy shit you are so dizzy. Taehyung’s cock goes so deep.

“Go on and beg me”, he spits, “beg me for a fucking taste.”

Jimin lets out a breathy laugh, “you’re insane.”

“Beg me!” Taehyung yells, taking out his anger on your poor, weeping cunt. You want to scream but can’t. You are so dizzy. Everything feels fuzzy and far away. So far away.

Jimin falls to his knees right before you. You can barely take it in. 

“Please let me taste her”, Jimin begs.

Taehyung laughs. Deep and filled with manic craze. The sound is distorted in your ears. Somehow the blood is filling up your left side. You can barely hear out of it. Shit, you are so dizzy.

“Yes Jimin, yes! That is exactly how you should behave! You-”

“What the actual fuck!?”

Jimin leaves your side forcefully, Taehyung flies against the wall seconds later.

You get picked up and pressed against a chest.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Yoongi is screaming, staring at Taehyung in soul shattering disgust.

“What are you doing?” Jimin tries to complain but shuts up quickly when he gets one look from Yoongi and sees how truly murderous he looks.

Taehyung stands up, body covered in your blood and cock way too hard against his stomach.

“What’s your problem? You can’t just barge in here.”

“No, what the fuck’s your fucking problem? You were in the middle of draining her!” Yoongi roars.

“What?” Taehyung laughs, “I have been doing this for months, I wouldn’t dare to drain her.”

“You, you-” Yoongi stops talking, stumbling back in shock. He blinks his tears away, “this will have consequences Kim Taehyung”, he presses out with his voice shaking and then he runs.

He runs with you in his arms and he runs until he is sure that they wouldn’t be able to find him. He runs and runs and runs all while your head is resting against his shoulder weakly and your neck is covering his shirt in your blood.

“It’s alright princess, you’re safe now”, he whispers, barely getting out the words, “you’re safe, I’ve got you, you’re safe.”

He runs and runs and runs. And then finally there is enough distance between the dark room he dragged you out of and your shivering body.

Yoongi rips the hostel door open, stumbling inside.

“Okay, it’s safe now. You’re safe here.”

He places you on the bed, hurries to the door to lock it as many times as possible then disappears in the bathroom just to return with a bowl of warm water and a small towel. All of that happened within seconds.

“Who are you?” you ask him, feeling really dizzy. What happened? Where are you? Your body is still burning up in pleasure, but it feels so burdening all of a sudden. "Please don’t hurt me. I, I know Min Yoongi. He will hurt you", you beg.

“It’s me. It's Y-Yoongi”, Yoongi gets out, breath shuddering as he exhales in panic, “stay still, princess. I’m here now.”

“Yoongi what is happening?” you croak, unable to open your eyes. It’s so weird. Why do you feel so out of it? Why is it so hard to breathe?

“Stay still, princess. It’s, it’s okay”, he tells you, breathing shakily as he works to clean the wounds on your body.

“Where are we?”

“Somewhere safe. They can’t get you here, I promise. Oh god my love, what have they done to you?”

“I don’t understand, why did you drag me away?”

“They were feeding from you”, he can barely get the words out, “fuck, I knew I shouldn’t have trusted them.”

“But Yoongi, we were just having fun. Tae and I did, did, we uh…” your voice drowns out in weakness.

“Fun?” he presses out, staring at you with glassy eyes, “this wasn’t fun, this was madness.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I. Holy fuck, I’m so angry. I’ll kill them, next time I see them I’ll kill them.”

“Why? I don’t understand”, you lull, breathing heavily. It is so hard to breathe.

“Why?” Yoongi laughs in madness, “because they were feeding from you, that is why! Holy fuck, how dare they use you like that. I’m going to hurt them, they are going to beg for their mothers before I’m even as much as finished with them.”

“But I allowed Tae to feed from me.”

Yoongi’s face falls.

“What?” he barely gets it out.

You open your eyes slowly. He is staring at you with heartbreaking shock.

“Sometimes when we fuck, he bites me and drinks my blood. I want it to happen.”

“Why would you do this?” his voice is tiny, filled with both disgust and hurt.

“I don’t know”, you whisper.

Yoongi exhales, covering his mouth with his own hand. He rubs it over his lower face, staring at you as his eyes fill more and more with tears.

“Why?” he croaks.

“I don’t understand.”

“You, you’ve been weak for days. I was worried shitless for you because I couldn’t figure out why you were always dizzy and why your skin just felt a little bit colder and, and you are telling me that all this time you, you a-allowed them to drain you slowly?”

“It’s not like that. Taehyung only took a little.”

“No he didn’t!” Yoongi raises his voice, “your heart is, is barely beating right now and your blood is barely audible.”

“Please don’t yell.”

“No, please don’t tell me not to yell. Not right now”, he begs, stumbling off the bed, “holy fuck, you’ve been dying slowly and I didn’t even notice the most obvious reason”, he twists his own hair, “holy fuck.”

“No, Yoongi it’s not your fault”, you try to get out of bed, having to realise that you are way too dizzy for it.

“Uff”, you let out, seeing black.

Yoongi catches you before you can collapse, keeping you on his lap as he hugs you tightly.

“Holy fuck”, he croaks, “___ why? Why would you do this?”

“I’m okay”, you lull.

“This hurts”, he croaks and shakes in an involuntary sob, “this hurts me so much.”

“Oh…”

Clarity comes back to you. As if a switch was flipped and whatever madness Taehyung had inflicted upon you was finally wiped away with Yoongi’s confession.

“It hurts me so much”, he whimpers, hiding his face in your neck, “why would you do this to yourself? W-why would you kill yourself slowly?”

“I really wasn’t trying to.”

“I hate vampires, I hate them so much. I hate them so, so much”, he shudders in a sob, “I hate everything we do but I, I hate the blood drinking the most. Why would you do that? Do you want to break my heart?”

“No!” you exclaim, “no Yoongi, I don’t! Please don’t say that, please my prince.”

“I’m so hurt. All I want is to keep you safe and you willingly risk your life behind my back.”

“This wasn’t my intention. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Yoongi finally lifts his head from your chest, staring at you through his tears.

“You have my heart in your palms”, he croaks and his lower lip trembles, “please don’t crush it, I’m begging you.”

“I won’t, it’s safe with me”, you touch his chest, “feel it, I want to hold it safely. And I want to…oh god wait.”

Your eyes fall closed all of a sudden, gravity forces you to fall into him.

“Princess”, he croaks, “oh god, my princess you’re so cold all of a sudden. Oh god, why is it not stopping?”

He works with shaking fingers, tugging you under the blanket.

“It’s going to be okay, ___”, he croaks, pressing his hand to the wound on your neck, whimpering heartbreakingly, “why is it not stopping? Please stop”, he begs, “please stop b-bleeding please.”

“Yoongi, I think you’re right. I don’t feel so good.”

“I know”, he forces down a worried sob, cupping your cheek, “p-princess I have to, to do something t-terrible.”

“What?”

“You need some of, of my – oh god”, his eyes fill with tears, “I’m sorry, I have to give you my blood.”

If you weren’t so close to passing out and losing yourself in darkness, you would have picked him up and sobbed into him. You are putting him through so much pain right now and it hurts you so, so much. Even if right now you can’t show it because your body feels numb.

“It’s okay, you are not evil”, you assure him.

Yoongi bites his pointer finger, guiding it to your lips.

“I’m sorry”, he whispers then touches your lip. He squeezes his eyes shut, not bearing to look. He feels you suck on his finger, he also feels how tightly you hold his hand because it burns you so much. Your touch becomes warmer again, forcing his eyes to open. He watches as you break away from him, licking your lips. The wounds on your body healed, your skin doesn’t look as lifeless anymore. He healed you but all he can truly see is the remnants of his blood on your lips. He did it again. He fed you his blood, filling your veins with his curse. One wrong movement, one wrong meeting, one wrong step in the next three days and he would be giving his awful fate to the one person he wants not even close to it.

With tears in your eyes you pull his hand closer, resting your cheek on it. Yoongi closes his fingers around you.

“I’m so sorry”, you whisper.

He can’t talk. He just nods his head.

“I love you so much, Yoongi”, you croak and pass out in exhaustion.

He stares at you, crying audible tears. 

“Why?” he presses out and seeks your embrace. He doesn’t want to hug you, but his broken heart craves it. His head fits perfectly between your arms and your chest, his legs connect with yours like two matching puzzle pieces, his arms find their resting spot automatically for he has hugged you just like this a dozen times before and tonight is yet another reminder of how easy it is for you and him to become one. 

Even in your sleep, you leave a kiss on the crown of his head, just like always, and tonight it brings tears to Yoongi’s eyes.

He closes them and seeks refuge by drawing closer until he can smell your scent through the blanket and feel your warmth soak through the fabric. It’s so strong again. It is this realisation which makes Yoongi realise that he did that. He gave you back your warmth. Yoongi finds some peace in that thought, just as he finds peace in your embrace and harmony in your scent. And while his heart felt shattered tonight, right this moment he can’t feel it because you are with him and you finally don’t carry the scent of sickness with you.

“Why would you do this?” he sobs, knowing very well that you have long left him in consciousness.

[youngmasterwisdomperson]

I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes for a legitimately helpful superhero who isn’t just a cop with superpowers and even less accountability for their violent actions, and I think it largely comes down to whether I would consider their approach to hero work as more like that of a firefighter or, well, a cop. Because the stereotypical thing for a superhero to do is like, fight criminals, stop muggers, foil bank robberies, that sort of thing, but not a lot of superhero media acknowledges that crimes are largely just symptoms of large-scale socioeconomic and political issues.

I mean, sure, if you’re bullet proof or whatever and there’s someone who’s about to get shot, then by all means stop the guy with the gun. But crime fighting in my opinion shouldn’t be the main focus of any superhero. A great superhero only fights crime in the sense that a fireman might “fight” things like arson and building code violations. The primary goal of a superhero should always be to protect people from danger and take steps to ensure any given disaster doesn’t happen again, or if it does happen again, to ensure that they’ll be more prepared for it the next time around. A great superhero should be fighting to create a world that doesn’t need them anymore.

Well-written interpretations of Superman are especially good at this actually, with a very recent example in the form of the show My Adventures With Superman. This Superman’s goal is never once to fight the bad guys just for the sake of it or because they’re committing crimes and he thinks they ought to be put in jail or anything. In fact, I’m struggling to think of any example in that show where Clark’s motivation in a fight against the villain of the week was anything other than to get civilians out of harm’s way and then save the human bad guys from themselves. This Clark doesn’t want to hurt or imprison anyone! He’s extremely aware of his overwhelming strength and power and capacity to break things by accident, having grown up in a world that may as well have been made of cardboard, and when we see Supes out and about doing casual Superman things, the help he provides is almost never about catching criminals. Most of the time, he’s rescuing cats from trees, helping lost children find their parents, saving people from getting hit by cars, stopping bridges from collapsing, catching people who fall from high places, rescuing people from burning buildings, that sort of thing. This superman is a firefighter type to his very core.

Even when he defeats Dr. Ivo, a man who Clark has been shown to despise for the ways he’s been using his wealth to uproot people from their homes (and for the way he treats women), he doesn’t turn him in to the police. Instead, he notes his state of critical health as a result of the side affects of the Parasite suit, and brings him to the nearest ambulance. Even objectively horrible people who have done terrible things aren’t exempt from Clark’s desire to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Fighting supervillains was never about fighting evil for him. The goal was always to bring people to safety first and foremost, then to de-escalate the situation, neutralizing the source of the threat without causing anyone unnecessary harm. That is what Superman is all about.

Moving away from MAwS for the moment and into the characterization of Superman as a whole, I think that all too often Superman writers who don’t understand the point of the character undersell the importance of Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter in the ways Supes goes about helping make the world a better place. Far too often in media, superheroes serve only as defenders of an imperfect status quo. They prevent the villains from bringing about whatever change they have in mind that would make the world worse, but more and more often as of late supervillains have been written with pseudo-sympathetic goals and motivations. They’ll pay lip-service to real-world systematic problems and social issues, then proceed to immediately undermine the validity of their stated mission by attempting to fulfill their alleged motives through needlessly ruthless, violent and authoritarian means, which only serves to imply to the audience that any sort of societal change will only make things worse, and that the status quo is the best we can possibly hope for. A bad superman writer will have Superman help the world by punching bad guys really hard. A good superman writer will have him focus on protecting people and saving those in peril instead. But a great superman writer knows that Superman alone is not enough.

Saving people, while noble and righteous and something Supes alone could do to such an effective degree, is ultimately just a patch job. A great Superman fights for a world that no longer needs his help, and Clark Kent is a big part about how he does that. Systematic problems can’t be punched, and bulletproof skin can’t save people from it. Superman can’t encase police brutality in a block of ice, or cut systemic racism to bits with his laser eyes. The tools Superman uses to protect people in a direct, physical sense are therefore not the powers he needs to create real positive change. No, the only thing that can overcome that sort of monster is the spread of information. More specifically, the truth. That’s why out of all of Superman’s abilities, it’s his super hearing and X-Ray vision that offer him the greatest amount of power to enact positive change, because while both of those have their uses as the Man of Steel, they’re actually infinitely more useful to mild-mannered newspaper reporter Clark Kent.

Superman can take on pretty much any physical threat, which is why his greatest foes are always those who threaten the world with problems he can’t punch. Picture in your mind, if you will, Superman’s arch-nemesis. I don’t even have to say his name, do I? Sure, you might debate for a split second the importance of the more direct threats like Braniac, Doomsday, and Zod, but everyone knows who Superman’s true nemesis is, and it isn’t any of them. It isn’t anyone with special powers or the innate capacity to level entire cities, but instead Lex. Fucking. Luther. A human man. A rich CEO, a politician. The living personification of the problems Superman can’t punch. That’s why Clark Kent is so important. Because he’s a reporter for the daily planet. It’s his job to chase leads, seek out the truth and expose it to the world. And Clark hears everything. He knows how severely corrupt the police are, because he can hear them from his office. He knows how awful the prison system is, because he can see what goes on in there through multiple layers of concrete walls.

True, he has to hide his identity as Superman and thus can’t just tell his coworkers everything he sees and hears. And even if he could tell them, it would all amount to little more than hearsay. But Clark Kent can also just follow up on “anonymous tips,” or leave hints of a big story for his coworkers to find and sniff out for themselves. Honestly, being Clark Kent must take infinitely more restraint for Supes than being the Man of Steel, because if he follows up on too many tips or knows too well where to look for leads on too many scandals, he’ll draw too much attention to himself and lose his edge against the bad guys. Hell, even with ample amount of subtlety and restraint I wouldn’t be surprised if Clark came to earn something of a reputation around the office as the “spiders georg” of police corruption and political scandals. And all that on top of that one really good tumblr post about Clark cracking down on lead pipes in Metropolis. Like this man must be a journalism machine, the whistleblower to end all whistleblowers! Superman may be able to save the world, but Clark Kent is the one who can actually change it for the better.

Not to say Superman wouldn’t publicly speak out about these things as well of course. Save enough families from burning buildings and people are bound to start caring about what you have to say sooner or later. And what are the police going to do about it if fucking Superman calls them out? Shoot the man of steel? Arrest a guy who can melt through concrete just by looking at it? Call the fucking military to deal with a man who spends his time rescuing cats from trees and helping old ladies across the street? Superman represents everything that cops want us to think they are, and logically speaking he would fucking despise them. Because Superman stands for Truth and Justice. And all cops are bastards. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[rae-raewrites]

How about some headcanons of Arkham Riddler, with reader getting jealous? Just something about seeing him interacting with Ivy, or how Catwoman always calls him Eddie in her sensual tone, it just drives reader crazy with jealousy, thinking that Edward may leave them for someone better or prettier.

Is this just gonna be y’all giving me the best prompts possible? Because I’m in to it! (This one is long but only because I got so much inspo from this so thank you anon!)

Arkham riddler seeing his s/o be jealous

For a flirtatious as ivy can get let’s be honest Selina is gonna be seen as the REAL threat here

It doesn’t help you found out Eddie left out trophies for HER! A whole 35 of them!

A few flirtatious winks and words do nothing good for anyone with their own self doubts.

And yet here you are.

Edward nigma without a doubt is the most powerful man in Gotham despite what people will try to dispute. Brains,money and power. All of it.

Yet he chooses you.

It doesn’t make any sense!

Selina has worked on and off for Eddie for years so they clearly have a mutual understanding.

However that can only go so far especially when you can’t help but clearly give a look of agitation when she stops by to hand deliver Edward his packages.

Your pretty sure she can tell it bothers you but she certainly doesn’t make a fuss about it.

But let’s not act like doesn’t Edward start to notice eventually either.

He’ll be right in the middle of talking with Selina when he starts to notice you basically death glaring her into her soul.

Leads him to some pondering afterwords. Were you really jealous of Kyle? Really? Nonsense! Unless….?

It was a hypothesis.

Something to be tested and he was a man of testing nonconformity

It was a simple “my dear” towards Selina that clearly set you off.

When you rushed out of the room into his office slamming the door behind you apart he couldn’t stop smirking. Selina however was a bit concerned.

“Are they gonna be okay?”

“Nothing I’m not prepared to deal with,now go run along and retrieve that energy cell. I have to go quell my Aphrodite.”

He finds you grumbling at his desk. Green light illuminating your skin

“My my what a fitting color.”

“What?” You sneered out. Dangerously. He was treading a fine line clearly.

“Green. Dear. Your green with all the envy in the world.”

“Over her? Please!”

He’s positively glowing with pride as he sits himself on his desk and lifts your chin up with a finger.

“Oh really? A couple of words of affection had you storming out of the room! What’s wrong my sweet? Not wanting to share Gotham’s smartest?”

Now you were basically forced to admit it.

“Fine! I’m jealous! But she knows what she does……….”

“My ruler of riddles you need to understand your in competition with no one.”

“Prove it.”

In that moment he went to the place he always went i times of vulnerability. His riddles.

“I can break, I can be clogged, I can be attacked, I can be given, I can be kept, I can be crushed, yet I can be whole at the same time. What am I?”

The answer came to you simply but you had to stop yourself for a second.

Oh

“ the heart”

“And my dear you won the fight for mine a while ago. You’re intellect may not be on my level yet but you certainly beat the likes of cat woman by the whole length of miagani ”

[poisoned-pearls]

okay okay, THEIF AU. hear me out

the tweels are mafia implied??? iirc lmao but azul mobster vs jamil viper swiper

jamil is a theif for hire and azuls just a silly mob boss silly guy :3 but jamil gets paid BIG BUCKS one day, to steal from azul. he does and is the ONLY person who has ever succeeded on azul. he gets snapped into this infatuation because he NEEDS jamil by his side.

you know how he tries to get jamil to join octavinelle..? yeah thats him trying to get jamil to be his mob wife. he starts STALKING forums to see who hires jamil and what they want him to steal. he starts showing up to all the places jamil does, even canceling important business meetings in order to see jamil, just to pester him.

"we could rule together, side by side." "i can give you anything you want, all the riches of the world. you wouldn't have to move a finger, with me, if thats what you desired, love." -azul, probably.

and jamil "i just stole important shit from you??" viper is CONFUSED AS HELL because this important guy, isn't doing anything to enact revenge. so he thinks that azul is trying to conn him, to hurt him. he cant imagine that azul would be genuine in his attempts.

so they play cat and mouse. (aka azul follows him on his hires and lets jamil steal his stuff (tweels are ???))

meanwhile, azul has been personally ensuring the safety of jamil, even though zu doesn't know his real identity so he protects him on jobs and stuff. then one day the worst happens and jamil gets knocked unconscious. azul is immediately in action (probably uhh does some erm bad things to the guys who did it tbh!) and takes azul to his base to nurse him back to health and make sure hes not concussed.

when jamil wakes up hes so confused because 1.) where is he? 2.) what happened? 3.) why is his mask still on?

you would assume if you get kidnapped by people who want to hurt you, you would have your identity revealed. in rushes azul, who immediately starts fretting over him. checking his forehead, asking if hes okay etc.

jamil just looks at him and asks "why is my mask on?"

and azuls kinda stumped because, why ask that of all questions. he just says "why, is it hurting you? im sorry, i didnt want to force you to reveal yourself to me."

and jamil just melts because thats the kindest thing hes ever heard (he needs therapy and good friends fr)

(jamil is probably really flexible and agile, moving like a cat while azul is just stiff as a board (its okay hes packing heat))

how dare you put this into my head. I love it. (also how did you know about the mafia fic sitting in my drafts.)

Jamil for the asims forcefully, so Azul IS using his spy just to figure out where he’s going. He’s utterly INFATUATED. He’s full on prepared to see him constantly. He HAS a ring on him whenever to propose before people even realize he likes him.

Azul definitely has him on a list of “you do not hurt these people unless YOU want to be hurt. Badly,” so very few people mess with him on his runs. It almost concerns him.

When Jamil IS like, shot, Azul is going absolutely insane. No one except for his men in that room is safe. If Jamil has to leave with a shot everyone else is leaving with something worse.

He’s fretting over him for DAYS. When they get their doctors to treat the bullet wound he is in that operating room as well. Every single second he has is dedicated to staying by Jamil’s side.

When Jamil wakes up he shoots up immediately, which gets Azul to straighten up too. He’s sitting over in the corner and is immediately like “you’re up! Do you feel okay?- don’t- don’t move your arm it’ll just irritate it- do you want anything? Food, water? I can get you whatever you want.”

“Why is this….” As he gestures to the mask on his face.

“Hm? Does it hurt? I didn’t want to force you to reveal yourself but if you need to take it off I can close my eyes-“

Jamil is like. Beyond suprised. What.

He ends up staying around Azul’s base for a while (Azul is definitely like “oh I just want to make sure they don’t put you back to work when you’re still healing) and he doesn’t realize that he was given the second best room in that place. The only reason he didn’t get the first was because Azul couldn’t clear out his own room in time. But best believe, if Jamil even mentioned something like it Azul would be gone and it would be his.

The entire time Azul is trying to PROVE how happy Jamil could be as his husband. He’s full on courting this man. Everyone in his mob is fucking terrified of messing up around him. Azul’s standards are through the roof so everyone else has to be too.

Azul brings him giant bouquets, expensive accessories, even tailored clothing to his exact size. All of the attendants around the house are told to pay attention to what Jamil wants so he can get it without him even asking. Every time Jamil wants to eat he’s getting expensive food, prepared by their best chefs.

and the entire time Jamil wants to resist, but he just… can’t. Over at the asims he WAS a servant, he didn’t get this kind of treatment, and Azul really wore down his walls the moment he woke up.

Once Jamil has fully recovered though, he doesn’t really want to go back. So one day during dinner he’s just like “I’ll marry you.”

“W-what?”

“I Said, I’ll marry you. You’ve proven your point, I like this. And…. It seems fun to have a mob boss wrapped around my finger.”

Azul’s face is fucking burning alive at that point. (He is however, very much like “and I will gladly stay wrapped-) he pulls the ring out of his pocket and slides it over to him.

“You have this on you?”

“I always do-“

[tofu-loverx]

Maybe illusions?

I know, I know that I have been dead for a long time, but I have had a lot of preoccupations and studies until now…. So I am so sorry.😞🙏 I spoke too long Let's get into the topic…

Summary:You return to your home or apartment after a long and hard day, to be surprised by the surprise that awaits you… This is what I imagined in philosophy class😅😂. Fandom: Genshin Impact Characters: Childe/ Scaramouche. Warnings: none. Type: HCs Note: English is not my mother language, sorry for any spelling errors.

As soon as you opened the door, you were surprised by the cleanliness of your house. Yesterday, you were drowning in a pile of papers, and from the severity of your fatigue, you slept on top of them, leaving the house scattered as if it had been hit by a hurricane.

You walked quietly, waiting for someone or someone who might have cleaned your house, thanks to whoever cleaned it, and while you were walking, you were lured by that delicious smell emanating from the kitchen.

You gave a careful look and shouted in surprise, "Childe!?"

Gingerbread Head in your cute cat apron is turning towards you.

Childe: "Grace!, welcome back!!"

You're confused:" that's impossible…"

Childe with luminous eyes:" I know, but when I found myself here, I felt comfort and peace, and I immediately knew from the hanging pictures that it was your house.." Pictures of yours..

You turned around and grabbed your head: "I must be hallucinating… I need some sleep…"

Drawn on the features of the worried childe: "Your grace!, I am real and in front of you here and now.."

He held your hand in a spontaneous manner and made you touch his face.

He continued, saying:" You see!!, I am real, I am no longer in the world of Teyvat, I am here with you, your grace"

You said with shock mixed with happiness:" I can't believe, your skin… is warm"

Ginger head smiled at your expression, then took you to the dining table and said: "There are a few left and dinner is being prepared, I hope you like it"

I'll leave the rest to your imagination

Usually, when you open the door, your cat will greet you at the entrance, but this time it did not.

You entered wondering where your little girl with black fur disappeared, as she was the one who renewed your energy whenever you pet her.

You went to your room and was shocked by the boy sitting on your bed, you screaming: " Who the hell are you!?"

He answered you, standing quietly: " Your grace it s me, Scaramouche, your loyal follower."

You: " No no no, it's true that your costume is well-made, but it's impossible for Scara to appear in real life!."

Scaramouche added:"Your grace, it may seem impossible, but it does not negate the fact that I am in front of you. Somehow I found myself here and did not move because I knew that it was your dwelling."

You in amazement: " Okey… that explains your calling me your grace"

Seriously Scaramouche:" Honestly, I was shocked to see your dorm so messy."

You are ashamed: " what can i do!!, I let the work pile up on me until I ended up like this"

Scara:" That explains why you haven't been in Teyvat these days"

You: " What's the use of going in now that I've got who I actually want"

His cheeks turned red and he turned his face screaming: " You are a dirty creator!"

You smirk: " I know , also Choco loved you" Your cat's name, I couldn't find a better name, call it whatever you want

He said:" All I did was caress her and play with her until you return"

you approached him and pet his head: " Thank you for taking care of her while I was away"

I'll leave the rest to your imagination

[queenpiranhadon]

Just gonna vent a bit

This past week has been extremely stressful and I’m just done.

I’m a theatre kid - I love performing - and we have a show coming up this week and preparing for that is just so draining because apparently since I’m a cat and the costume they gave me has a masquerade style cat mask with ears, I’m not allowed to wear my freaking glasses and no one realizes that I have really bad eyesight - not so bad that I can’t walk or function completely - but if you were me - you’d realize how fucking terrifying it is when the world around you is blurry and you feel like you’re going dizzy except you’re not because this is just the damn body you’re born in.

To add on to all the stress, I have to maintain my grades and it’s just so exhausting because it’s like “test!” “test!” “review!” “review!” “oh you got a 96%?” “do better! you can’t keep distracting yourself with all this spending time with friends”

Mixed with “you never leave the house - why don’t you go out with friends?” Maybe it’s because YOU DONT LET ME.

And to top it all off, my dad is leaving for India tomorrow- and he just got back from another business trip within but still far in the country.

Tomorrow is also my brother’s birthday - my dad was supposed to leave yesterday, but he changed it so he could be here for my brother’s birthday.

How sweet and caring and thoughtful of him right?

And yes, I get that my dad is a very hardworking man and I’m very proud of him and his accomplishments but he never cares. It’s always about my perfect little brother who is far from perfect if you ask me. No matter what I do it’s always “be better!” “do better!” “you’ve been given a privilege and you’re putting it to waste!” With him, it’s always “we believe in you!” “we’ll help you through this!!” “no matter what, we’ll always love you.”

His punishments for doing literally terrible things are so small, yet when my parents find out I’m not straight, they give me emotional trauma for months. The little fucker literally trashed the neighbor’s front yard with a friend on purpose and then when confronted about it, lies straight through his teeth.

But here’s the real topping to the cake - yes I do love my parents, no matter how many times we may disagree on things, they are my rock and I wouldn’t be where I am without them. But this one small thing they couldn’t do for me. My dad goes out of his way to make sure he is there for my brother’s birthday but he isn’t there for mine last year. Last year when he left for a trip, he missed my musical’s show nights - had to watch it on a stupid hard drive - and when he did, he never said a goddamn thing. No “good job, your singing and acting was great!” or “I wish I could’ve been there in person!”

And even now, he’s still doing the same goddamn thing - he’s missing the show I’m doing and doesn’t feel a single ounce of remorse. All my fucking hard work for nothing.

It just fucking sucks when others seems to get what you want, what you need so easily, when you’ve worked your entire life to experience barely a ghost of what could’ve been.

And finally today, my brother is lying on the floor of my room, refusing to leave me the fuck alone even though I’ve been annoyed all day from walking around shopping for shit and sitting through church and trying to keep a clear head even though I just really want to go home and take a long nap but I can’t because the little fucker and trashing the room I spent all week trying to keep clean and my mom won’t do a goddamn thing because “it’s your brother and he’s just playing with you.”

And at this point- I’m just done. Because no one gets it. No one ever does.

And so I say something along the lines of “You’re turning — tomorrow. When I was your age, I was working hard, and auditioning and competing and you’re here lying on the floor of your older sister’s bedroom completely useless.”

And yes I admit that was a little harsh - he started crying - but my mom’s response was what got me.

She said “never call you brother useless again. Keep your achievements to yourself, you hear me?! I have never heard you this mean to anyone before.”

But she doesn’t know. She doesn’t know what I go through every day m, trying to keep my head high and my eyes looking forward even though I can’t see anything.

She doesn’t know, my dad doesn’t know, my brother doesn’t know, heck, most of my friends don’t even know. They all just think I’m a smart girl who’s never had a problem with her position, getting to where she is in life.

They don’t know how hard I work, how hard I worked, to keep my shaky feet on the ground, to keep myself standing tall when there’s nothing to keep me up.

For those who surely don’t need to know, I’ve been crying while typing all of this, and I’m exhausted so I’m ending this here.

Sorry for unexpectedly trauma dumping - I just needed shit off of my chest.

Hope y’all are doing okay!

Lotsa love from Kae <3

[piracytheorist]

OKAY

I think it says a lot about my job that I was able to concentrate on it today and completely forget we GOT TRAILER

It was a mistake to check tumblr first thing in the morning, before I even got out of bed, but in my defense, I didn't expect it would drop at such a day and time! But anyway I did jump off of bed, turned on my laptop and recorded my face as I watched it. I needed to have that memorized XD

So, spoilers about the trailer below, and my own predictions about what each scene could be for! Reminder that I'm anime only, but have read the chapter that the first episode (probably) is based on, so for the most part I know what's going on, but for the rest I'm very much NOT aware :D Don't spoil me please :D

FAKE FAMBLY IS BACK

Manipulative Anya at her best! We love our gremlin!

Oh he's looking good :D

I fucking love this image. Look at Twilight pouting in the background. He doesn't understand why a child finds news boring.

WE GOT BLOOD WE GOT THORN PRINCESS IN ACTION LET'S GOOOOO

your honour I love him. Why does he look like he's ready to cry!

Ok from a first hearing the OP song sounds super cool. I feel like it's got "Mixed Nuts" vibes and I love it! I gotta look it up later!

Jeez Loid. Woman just woke up. Is that how he honeypoted all of his other missions?

Yor having a meltdown in the foreground and Anya being cute waking up in the background <3 I love my fake fambly <3

... okay. That's how his honeypots worked.

Yellow roses, if I'm correct, symbolize friendship. Interesting.

This is going to be a disaster and I cannot wait. Also I'm spotting Anya and Franky doing a horrible job at hiding in the left pic XD

My heart skipped a beat when I heard Anya's voice say "Moja-Moja" :')

Very sneaky. Much hiding. Wow. There's no way Franky thought this was working XD

The way all of this could have been solved with a "I tripped down the stairs and fell on my butt and now it hurts to sit" but hey we're getting a funny date how can I ask for more

Also the way Yor says that line my god

I am so ready for more Yor you have no idea

I gotta say, showing this moment is perfect for anime-onlies who haven't actually read this specific chapter. Loid just looks worried and Yor looks enraged. So many feelings for this episode XD

Are those macarons? What were the fucking chances that yesterday I went like "Next morning I'm gonna pass by that bakery that makes macarons". I haven't had macarons in years, yet I see one (1) advertisement about that bakery and its macarons and I go like yeah why not. Macarons. And now this. The fuck.

GREMLIN ANYA IS BACK

Honestly, her face in official merch is always a :D face with an almost unnaturally big smile all the time that I've missed her silly little face.

AH I WAS SENT THAT AS A MANGA SCREENSHOT!

Are those playing cards she's throwing? And is she reading someone's mind? I don't even care if she's cheating, good for you girl

Yeah, buddy, welcome to the real world.

I remember that line from the end of the bullet-in-butt date chapter, and I gotta admit I don't really like it... but the way Eguchi delivers it makes me think he's not like "Women amirite" but more like "All my years of training did not prepare me for how people are like in their day to day lives because spy training has skewed my perception of day to day 'normal'" and that's perfectly valid.

But also what the fuck is happening here. What is that cat. Why is Yor about to Thorn-Princess it. What.

So Anya goes on a studying rampage, fails, and ends up crying on her penguin?

This only made me sad, what the fuck. It looks like Loid and Yor are looking at her failing grades, and Anya is disappointed in herself. I will don my clown wig again and say "If Loid doesn't go and reassure her so help me GOD"

I... don't like the ending theme song. But that's mostly a matter of taste, I guess.

Aw.

They dare throw this to anime onlies when they know we won't get romantic canon twiyor content until three to five business years from now at least

The assassin group... I'm supposing he means the one Yor works for? How long does "for a while now" mean? Wasn't Yor working for them since she was a teenager caring for Yuri?

In any case, wow that's a very intense visual.

omg omg omg

from the colour and the angle this looks like a vision Bond has. Loid and Yor are smiling and blushing but why does it make me feel sad!!

I don't know if it's because of what is said in that moment (they look like unrelated scenes since the line is being said by a woman who I'm guessing is a fellow assassin working with Yor or something) but then there's this

And we just don't see Yor like that often, if at all in the anime so far.

What is Franky wearing? It looks like a military jacket or something. I wonder if that's just stylistic choice or it's something more important.

*snorts laugh*

Gotta admit, from a few tidbits here and there it looks like Twilight is finally gaining some more understanding of himself and his situation... but the way he says that just makes me think that realization makes him more concerned than anything else.

So I can say with conviction this did fix something in me. Though I guess the first episode will be the bullet-in-butt date, so it will take me another week to go into new territory. But! Bullet-in-butt date in 12 days! And new cool stuff to look for later on! I'm so happy!

(Again, I don't want spoilers for any of these. Just let me have my fun speculating :D)

screenshots taken from the unofficially subtitled trailer here!

[talenlee]

And The Druid, Too

Druids are cool.

Not real druids, real druids are complicated people representing a host of varieties of real world religious disciplines that for the most part are so watered down by layers of colonialism that they are at best a way to meet someone who will sell you weed in a big hat, and at worst just the crystals and indigo child community with beards instead of SUVs. Druids as a real world religious discipline? Not my thing. Don’t want to bother you, you can do what you’re doing over there, and give my love to the mud wizard that made the cops look silly that one time.

Druids in games are usually something I like. They tend to show up in a host of forms with almost no unifying identity for how they work, but a very strong vibe for what they do. Whether it’s using a big wooden club to hit someone with or turning into a jaguar, or casting spells while at a distance and making fields of wheat dance, druidness is encompassing but druids are wildly variable.

I promise this isn’t going to be about 4th edition D&D. Well okay maybe a tiny bit, let’s get that out of the way.

In 4th Edition D&D the druid is a type of mixed operator. They get to turn into a beast form that is nonspecific but melee capable, kinda a mobile teeth delivery system. The non-beast form of the druid, the form I intuitively go to call a ‘human’ form is a flexible spellcaster that can do things to mess up the battlefield, which means the druid swaps between casting spells to set the rules, and then takes to that battlefield as a form capable of exploiting those rules.

This is pretty common across most editions of D&D where druids have a rule of ‘doing everything.’ 3rd edition was probably their most powerful point, and I don’t care about what 5th edition is doing. In each of those games, the druid is very open and flexible; they prepare spells, so there’s some forethought elements, they turn into animals, so there’s some melee or infiltration elements, there’s a grab bag at work there. These rules also show up not just in the TTRPG space but also in the videogames building on that – in 2ed CRGP megabeast, Baldur’s Gate, the druid gives you a whole bunch of options and isn’t good at any of them (because it’s a gear focused game and you need to mod it to introduce Pitchwife).

In World of Warcraft which is just Dungeons and Dragons for people afraid of math, the druid is a little bit more flexible, but the flexiblity is less situational. If you’re a druid who wants to turn into an animal and bite things to do lots of damage, that type of druid is set, ahead of time. The big tuff bear tank druid turning to a sleek speedy sneaky cat druid can’t do that as a fluid game option, for balance reasons, and instead it’s much more of a sub-class choice that you pick between. Which is fine, I love them anyway, but it is interesting that one of the things that a videogame can hypothetically do (create a fluid, contextual shift in play experiences), it kinda gives up on because of balance concerns.

Druids in movies and TV shows – well, it depends what they build on. In Dungeons & Dragons: The Game The Movie or whatever it’s called? Fun movie, love it to bits, but also, its druid is presented as being someone who is capable of those fluid shapeshifts as the prime thing she does. There’s spellcasting but it’s much more ‘hey, person who can turn into a owl, can you heal people, can you talk to animals, can you understand the things the birds say?’ That’s still a spellcaster and a shapeshifter, but it’s treated as a very different thing to how the sorcerer in the party works.

There’s also the way druids are kind of a menacing force in movies like The Rite and Wicker Man. That’s kind of just an all purpose sort of creepy pagan wizard style of person, maybe with some antlers on a cool headband that signify their immense ability to be sick as hell and live out in the woods like a kind of bog creatures. But those ‘druids’ it’s more of like a job or a religious affiliation, it’s not a position that brings with it any kind of magical powers, and let’s face it, if you’re a druid in a horror movie there’s a good chance you’re going to be the first person eaten by the horrible thing you’re supposedly keeping at bay. Real lack of job security at work in these locations.

Don’t keep jotuns, they’re not good for you.

What’s really interesting to me is that broadly speaking ‘druid’ is a category that I’ve kind of covered in all its major incarnations with just these list of examples. I imagined that maybe there would be a lot more, like famous characters who stand apart as ‘druids’ but then when you look into them they’re all covered by, more or less, World of Warcraft and D&D. There were some fun obscure videogames – particularly, there’s the famous Mystery of the Druids, which is really known for its box art more than it’s known for its actual content, and the really interesting game Druid from 1995 that was on the Sega Saturn and PC. That was a game where you cast your spells by stitching them together out of elements – so to throw a fireball, you needed to first use earth, then fire to set the earth on fire, and then wind, to throw the thing you made. That’s pretty novel and a system that wound up being a fun enough thing it was the basis for a whole category of mobile phone games unto itself.

I want to be able to point to more examples. I think that druids are a cool idea space that could be represented in a host of ways. But it’s funny that D&D has kind of cornered the concept space and now most things that use the term use it because they got it, in some way, from D&D, even if the thing they use the term to refer to wouldn’t fit in D&D at all.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[megamindsupremacy]

Avatar: The Last Airbender Fic Recs (Part 1)

Where the stars do not take sides by witchofendor

When Azula is nine, she becomes an only child. She hears the Fire Lord call for Zuko's life, and in the morning, her mother and brother are gone. Azula may be young, but she isn't naive. She knows what happened to them.

Which makes it all the more surprising when Azula tracks the Avatar down and fights his group of peasant friends, only to find herself staring into an eerily familiar face.

-

The sundered sea by aloneintherain

It was a sight Hakoda never thought he would see: a firebender dressed willingly in fur, cradling an Earth Kingdom girl, the both of them laughing with an Air Nomad.

Their thoughtless joy. The easy way they touched each other. Three different benders, laughing in the Southern Water Tribe, as if they belonged there. How could any of it be real?

Or: several months after Kya’s death, Hakoda gets a glimpse of the future.

-

Do you hear the people sing? by generic_username

The Fire Nation has only rebelled once in its long history. They are a proud people, and a loyal one. They do not turn against their own for no reason. They protect their own.

Especially their Prince.

~~~ Basically this was a What if the Fire Nation said Fuck Ozai and rebelled AU. along with a sprinkling of world building built in. Enjoy!

-

Half in the shadows, half burned in flames by r_astra

“They say you tried to kill the Firelord,” Hakoda says. "Why?"

Zuko doesn’t know how to answer. Because I hate him. Because I love him. Because he wants to see the world burn. Because he knotted one hand in my hair and cupped flames against my face with the other.

Because my mother is dead.

Because my uncle is dead.

Instead, he shrugs tiredly and says: “Someone has to.” -

This is a gift (it comes with a price) by witchofendor

They had spent hours and hours drilling and preparing the servers upon the importance of everything being perfect for the new fire lord. This was fine. Jin was good at her job. She could handle one fire lord. Expect that wasn't the fire lord. That was FUCKING LEE!

-

Salvage by muffinlance

Mid-Season-One Zuko is held ransom by Chief Hakoda. Ozai's replies to the Water Tribe's demands are A+ Parenting. Hakoda is… deeply concerned, for this son that isn't his, and who might be safer among enemies than with his own father.

-

absence of heat, excess of destiny by they callmesuperboy

Sokka is born in the dead of winter with a red dragon curling down the left side of his back.

Zuko is born in the sweltering heat of summer with a sword down his spine.

—

He doesn’t want to talk about it when their gazes turn on him. They make assumptions— is it someone he left behind in the Fire Nation? He looks away when he agrees with them.

Toph brushes past him when they all part ways. She says, “I know you’re lying.

-

For hearth and home by haircrescendo

[There’s a child underneath Fire Lord Zuko’s desk.

He doesn’t realize this until he sits down and tiny hands wrap themselves around his ankles, and Fire Lord Zuko definitely does not shriek and backpedal away at the unexpected touch.

He definitely does do that but Gou, the single guard he’s agreed to let shadow him, is kind enough not to mention it.]

Or,

In which Fire Lord Zuko is a total mess and somehow people manage to love him for it anyway.

-

Burn cream for cats by bladehuntress

Spirit goes quiet, and people don't worry, but they should. Then Spirit stops being quiet, and that's when people start worrying, even though they don't need to anymore.

-

equivalent exchange by haircrescendo

[“Are you dead?” Are the first words that come out of Zuko’s mouth.

Lu Ten winces. He’s barely adjusted to the idea himself, but he still wasn’t expecting Zuko to reach that conclusion so fast. He can’t lie to him.

He nods.

“I am.”

“But you’re real.”

“Yeah. Real dead.”

He tries for a joke but Zuko bursts into tears instead.]

Or, Lu Ten makes a promise, Lu Ten dies. Lu Ten comes back

[llondonfog]

lettie i need an expert opinion. how does one enjoy tea?

i need warm drinks for a medical thing, but oh my god. i am having no luck with tea. i never have. coffee is not an option, and while i do enjoy hot chocolate, it's not something i can drink every day.

any advice would be lovely.

allow me to wax poetically (and hopefully practically) about tea (and i do hope it helps and eases your medical strains <3)

this might sound a little silly, but for me, tea enjoyment starts with the ritual of it all. heating water up in a kettle (mine's pink, naturally...i cling to the aesthetic...), selecting a tea from my pantry shelf that's entirely devoted to many loose leaf types and flavors, measuring it out into a tea infuser, selecting a cup or mug that matches the mood i'm feeling, setting a timer for however long that tea is meant to steep, and then finally settling into a steaming mug that i've prepared for myself by curling up with a book, putting on a show i've been meaning to watch, or simply opening the windows and watching the world outside while my cat sits next to me.

i say all of this because, again, it might sound silly, but it's part of a calming ritual helps me either start the day when i get up early before work, settles me from the frustrations and hectic demands of work when i get home, soothes me before bed, or when i'm making it for friends and family, an act of love where each detail is cared for so that i can savor the delight of the person i'm entertaining. i know this isn't much about flavors/types, which i suspect is where you might be headed, but i think it's equally as important because tea preparation can take anywhere between 5-10 minutes, and those minutes should be yours to center yourself.

now, for tea types: (important because tea can be ridiculously expensive and why waste your money on something you won't even reach for twice speaks from devastated experience and tea betrayals)

real quick to touch on before the flavor profile breakdown; tea types differ in caffeine widely. depending on what your goal is with tea, it can have a negative effect on your sleeping schedule (black/matcha- surprisingly high depending on the amount) if you drink concentrated volumes closer to bedtime

i have an awful penchant for black teas— i find them to be full-bodied and with such interesting, heavy flavors that i gravitate to them naturally. since they can be so biting and bitter though, i know many people might choose to soften the tea with sugar or honey to your taste preferences, but....i really just enjoy it plain, i don't tend to alter the taste of my teas if at all. there's been a wide range of tea companies/grocers in general carrying london fog or chai tea mixes in cartons at the store? i've seen them in walmart/krogers/target, and they're fairly decent? rishi and target's brand of london fog mix definitely ties for first place for me if i have to make it quickly at home lol

herbals/greens can be a hit and miss— i really dislike the heavily flavored teas that just have essential oils and shit added to them to make the flavors more pungent, i never enjoy those lol i tend to reach for these though when i'm feeling like i have a cold or like now when i'm currently cramping. a good friend sent me some maple herbal tea from the adirondack, and i'm mourning my last cup of it as it literally has carried me through so many awful period cycles. again, these teas can be flavored with sugar or honey just to add to their sweetness, but i really don't find it necessary as i prefer the original taste of the tea.

white and oolongs are probably my second favorite, but they can be very...light in flavor, almost aromatic instead of bodied. it can sometimes feel like you're drinking heated water with a floral aftertaste and hey, on some days, maybe that's just what you want lol. (again, sweeten how/to your desire, i just prefer not to do so.)

and matcha is a class all on its own lol i know it can be very divisive tea depending on the amount of sweetening you do or don't since it can be almost...fishy? if that's a good way to describe it? this is the only tea i'll add a LOT of sugar/simple syrup to when i order it. my mother thinks it is a bastardized foul but i'll order a 24 oz matcha with 3 pumps of rosewater syrup and it is honestly fixes whatever the hell is wrong with me (for at least 24 hours lol). i wouldn't advise for the matcha premixes in the cartons at the grocery store, i've tried a few and...bleh. there's something so artificial about them (i say, slurping a sugarfied sludge of matcha and rose).

so i literally am opening my pantry to list out a few and their types that i enjoy, to hopefully give a sense of their flavors:

queue mignonne tea, yuzu & earl grey— this one has such a pleasant citrus kick to a typical earl grey flavor, i love it in the mornings to wake up the senses!

maple herbal tea— a mix of chamomile, rooibos, sunflower, calendula, and maple; instantly soothed my aches and cramps, but it could have been a placebo effect just because i loved this tea so damn much lol

sleepytime tea by celestial seasonings— i can't explain this tea haha it's the tea from my childhood. my father would always make this for me when i was sick and i just associate it with warmth.

milk oolong/double milk oolong— has a meaty flavor? literally the only way i can explain it, very deep and heavy on the tongue. but it's one i reach for when i have cramps too, and it's a good staple i keep around.

ma wei moonlight & white peony— VERY LIGHT flavor teas; floral and sweet in nature, moonlight is heavy gardenia scented while the peony is....peony lol.

olbas wellness tea— THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED. this is a swiss herbal tea of over 20 different herbs that i swear to god, will knock your sinuses clear open within five seconds of inhaling/drinking. a little, A LITTLE!! goes such a long way with this tea, it's got such a pungent and unique flavor, i literally just keep it around for the winter to knock myself back into coherence lol

and as a fun little extra, i have to say that my favorite hot drink outside of tea (if it's a possibility for you) is wassail, especially now in the wintertime. it's a recipe from my grandmother and a little different than what you might find online, but basically cider and fruit juice, an orange studded with cloves, cinnamon sticks, and cooked in a crock pot for at least four hours before enjoying; it literally is a balm for the soul, and i'm more than happy to share the full recipe if it's of any interest<3

did this answer anything or did i simply ramble on about tea......

[thedaytheworldburned]

'Deja Vu' First Reactions

Well, um... I was right. Much more LOVESONG and Run Away than LOSER=LOVER of GBGB. Another notch on my mastery of TXT's concept. But not my mastery of their storyline.

Also, why does this song sound to be like a nice blend between something ENHYPEN would make and something SHINee would make? Odd.

So yeah, fun song, I like it. The story is confusing me immensely, since colours for each member are back - something from Chasing that Feeling - but they aren't the same colours per member. Is this on purpose? Are they trying to change the symbolism? Was Chasing that Feeling just incredibly lacking in preparation and thought? I feel it's the latter, because Chasing that Feeling has like NOTHING, but still, confusing, and forces us to basically make this MV a story devoid of the rest of TXT's storyline, which is weird and annoying. I'm sure Laina will have many things to say about it though :)

Full thoughts below the line.

I was watching Girl's Planet for my podcast episode on it when I opened this, and this orb confused me so much. Tell me this doesn't look like the openings of Girls Planet and Boy's Planet.

Especially with the two colours circling each other and the cosmic swish sounds.

Here we get the fox from the trailer - and also from the Little Prince. It's glowing and colourful - it's clearly from a different planet, and this shot of it descending into darkness mirrors TXT (in the form of a multicoloured cloud of energy - see the similarities) falling from the sky in Chasing that Feeling.

Also, the shape it moves towards id kind of like an eye, but also kind of like the drains from Chasing that Feeling. Some other important instances of eyes in TXT's story? The cat with heterochromia, Kai and his eyepatch, and the massive eye shape behind them in GBGB.

This segment has the subtitles that some things are precious, but invisible, and we pass them by. The eye is crying this pinkish liquid - which will come back later.

Basically, some precious things are either invisible or passed by. What things? TXT, the fox, and friendship would be my best guesses. The fox especially was left behind in the concept trailer.

The tears obviously show regret, and since the fox disappears into a star-like twinkle in the eye, it suggests that, despite being passed over, the important things will be with us forever.

Whose eye is it? Taehyun's. How do I know that? I'll get back to that later.

Here we get our main character - constantly dead Yeonjun. He's in this field with.... giant balloon animal things? Which I assume are supposed to represent the magic in the world, since they disappear when the colour (magic/power from CTF) also disappears.

Now I will point out that Yeonjun is running, the world is red, and he has holes in his shirt. Aka, Yeonjun is likely in pain. A very common motif/story element in the TXT story. Story Yeonjun is going to need billions of years of therapy after everything he's been through.

But this is also where my annoyance shows up - because in CTF, red was Soobin's colour, not Yeonjun's. Is this supposed to tie him to Soobin? Or did they just choose red since he's in pain? I'll let you choose.

This shot suggests to us that, like the fox, Yeonjun is incorporeal, and this is either his soul or consciousness floating around without his body. Everything in the red shot is an entire world that exists within this red orb in the grey 'real world'. Keep in mind - the grey, or dark, real world which contrasts Magic Island is something that's been around since the very first TXT song ever - Blue Orangeade. It's very well established in their story.

Here he is, the man himself, and thankfully he was probably just dreaming, With his horn/fang earrings (ahem, animal imagery, ahem, the fox which Yeonjun is tied to above all the other members, ahem).

My big question is why is Beomgyu glowing? Is it because he murdered Taehyun and may or may not have claimed his power? Is he the most powerful since he got his power first in CTF? But his power was green, not yellow. Has he DIED???? Lol. Goodness knows. But it is very evocative imagery, the only problem is I don't know what it's trying to evoke.

Here we are again in the grey world, and since Soobin is definitely not driving and probably not being driven, I imagine the shadows are changing over his face quickly to show the passage of time - TXT are out of the timestream - I mean, time and not following it correctly have also been a concept of theirs since almost the beginning.

Ahem, dead Kai, ahem???!?!?!!

Probably more like 'living on the edge, being risky, being a TEENAGER!' Giving himself up to feeling, you know?

And yeah, I understand that water IS blue, but blue is Yeonjun's colour in CTF, not Kai's?!?!

That said, we can still apply the same principles - blue for relaxation, which he clearly feels in comparison to Yeonjun. Colour also = magic and a different world - and Kai is literally separated from the otherworldly, magical space that is the ocean, by the grey boat he is in. He's almost reaching out to the magic that he grew up with on the island.

And this shows us how out of the world they actually are - dissociated to the highest level on the side of the path.

But also - these sports uniforms are really odd looking - they're old fashioned, they look like they're from the 1930s or something, and considering it's a group of boys running in a field with what looks like a stereotypical European boarding house behind them - I think Yeonjun may or may not have time traveled himself to 20s England or something.

This can be applied to the other members too - Soobin's car looks like a model from the 60s or something, and the boat Kai is on has these nuts that are far more common on ships from the 20s-50s than anything more modern.

I mean these nuts, fyi.

They all have masks - they are all brainwashed boring denizens of the grey world, not Magic Island. Or at least, that's my interpretation.

Yo wtf where did Kai come from? Also, Yeonjun goes right back to his dissociated sleep as soon as Kai shows up - is this supposed to show how their magic keeps them connected despite the distance? Don't forget that Yeonjun and Kai are one of our best-associated pairings in the storyline.

Well I don't think I need to tell you that people holding hands and losing grip of each other is a symbol of desperation and loss, do I?

Henceforth, Beomgyu will be known as 'glowing Gyu.'

Still not sure WHY he's glowing - and in Kai's colour, too. He is singing about stars here, so that does make sense. Has he returned to the world of magic to the extent that he's basically BECOME it?

Ahem bias alert.

The shots before this show us that 1) Taehyun is still the only member with no colour (while glowing Gyu who murdered him in CYSM is the only one with no black and white/darkness), and 2) that he looked up, just in time to see both glowing Gyu, and dark Soobin (whose colour is a mix of Yeonjun's blue and Beomgyu's green). Are they going to fight?!?! Is Beomgyu Taehyun's saviour, or is he looking at him in anger for being murdered?

Am I too hung up on the murder scene from CYSM? Yes, but it's still kind of insane that one of the members of this boy group just... murdered another. In their SECOND COMEBACK, no less!!!!

Anyway, Soobin - he's in this weird space with this scaffolding which also kind of creates watery mirror shapes. If that isn't either hallucinations or magic, I don't know what is. It's also - duh - dark and stormy - a likely reflection of his mindstate. If it's not, well, that would be bad visual storytelling.

He could also be evil, while Gyu is good - a reversal of their previous roles. That said, Taehyun and Soobin were the liars in CYSM, and Taehyun was kind of muted in the concept trailer, so maybe they're teaming up against Gyu....?

This is the problem with making your members good for some comebacks and evil for others - the story can get confused. It doesn't even really work to make them well rounded characters here either, since we're unsure on the motivations. The only characters this works for here is Kai and Yeonjun - since they are both tortured souls with two curses each - Yeonjun is traumatised and made a deal with the devil, and Kai has the angel wings, but also a lost heart, so of course he also needs to be a devil.

Not entirely sure why Kai is in Soobin's realm with the glowing globs - is he checking in on people - Yeonjun and now Soobin? Also why does he have this shocked expression on his face lol. Is he shocked that Soobin was secretly a liar?

On a quest to find his leader?

Also may I say - Kai has brought all the extra colour. Because he may have an evil alter ego, but at the end of the day he's their cute innocent maknae.

And instead of finding Soobin, he finds glowing Gyu. Has Soobin entrapped glowing Gyu?

And I'm guessing this is some psychic/magical defense Soobin has on Gyu?

HE'S GETTING AWAYYYYYYYYY. Or, getting FURTHER away. And being pulled into that eye. Whose eye? Taehyun's. Why Taehyun's? I'll get to it eventually I swear.

I mean, I imagine this is supposed to look like an eye, but because it moves so quickly in the actual MV and is kind of like soap suds or something, I'm not ENTIRELY sure. If it wasn't meant to be, the editors have some issues.

Poor dude has been left all to his lonesome.

Now the fact that 1) we were in some dream world, and 2) Soobin is sleeping suggest to be that this was all subconscious on his part. Interesting...

One eye is covered - a representation of Kai's curse, and also of having lost sight of one's purpose - in this case, friendship and being the group's leader. Because, you know, he was a liar.

Who is holding him? Based on the shirt, I'm going to say Taehyun - which would mark the first time Taehyun is given colour in this MV. Interestingly, it's as part of Soobin's story/in connection with Soobin, and both of them are costumed in yellow - which shows comraderie, but is also Kai's colour? Unsure about Kai here - I would have expected them to be in green to show their revenge on Gyu. Then again, Gyu IS yellow in this MV, so....

IT'S NAP OF A STAR, IT'S ETERNALLY, IT'S A CONNECTION WITH YEONJUN, IT'S A REPRESENTATION OF BEAUTY IN DEATH AND SELF SACRIFICE, IT'S THE EYE FROM THE OPENING OF THE VIDEO, IT'S TAEHYUNNNNNNN.

(um bias alert, I am indeed very biased, you've got to remember that after Soobin this dude is my bias in TXT)

So, Taehyun was the one who witnesses Yeonjun's death in Eternally, and now he too is covered in flowers, probably dead, and producing purplish liquid. This liquid is the same colour as the fox (which he was associated with in some of our concept pictures), and the orb from the beginning of the video - the representation of otherworldlyness and magic. Not only is he crying literal, pure magic, but also likely regret at the things that have been lost - possibly included among them, his life which was, I'll say it again, taken from him by glowing Gyu.

Also, the tears themselves are purple, but purple is made of red and blue - colours associated with Yeonjun and Soobin in both this MV and CTF. Yeonjun because he is dead. Soobin because he too is a liar.

The stop-motion style of this shot, and the use of flowers and nature imagery, ties it to Nap of a Star, while the colour purple is both 1) Eternally 2) Yeonjun's blood in Eternally, and 3) the colour associated with Taehyun in CTF.

It's the first time we've seen Taehyun explicitly with a colour in this MV - and the second time overall.

It seems to bring him out of the grey and into the colour, since afterwards we see him in colour.

This is Yeonjun, yeah? I'm not quite good enough to know the members by the backs of their heads, but this IS the shirt Yeonjun was wearing, and that's his hairstyle and ears, so yeah. Looks like he has joined Kai in searching for glowing Gyu.

Taehyun in full colour woohoo.

I like this shot, which is of their dancing feet, upside down, in the dream-Soobin world, which is then mirrored/contrasted by their feet, dancing in colour in this training studio thing?

This is such an unflattering screenshot I'm so sorry TXT. But, the room does have purple (Taehyun's colour) opposed with green (Gyu's colour). Fun fact. But it also changes, so there's not much we can take from it. Sad fact.

And I have hit my image limit, so I'll see you for the rest in Part 2!

[lavender-descendentheart]

What do you think of azure lion and his friends since I really don't like him very much, azure is a little hypocritical for me? I don't know

As it is literally "oh, that evil sun wukong and his fellow pilgrims attacked my house in the name of the heavenly court "it is not as if they did not do it first and why he is surprised that heaven retaliates for it, also it seems he blames sun wukong as if the only culprit for his defeat when enralidad they all lost was not just sun wukong (in memory they were all rounded up)

It also bothers me about the different treatment given by the fandom azure lion

Azure lion who is the same villain archetype as lady bone demon but have different deals

Example azure does questionable things for good reason, the fandom treats him oh poor cat man just wants to help the needy"

Lady bone demon does questionable things for a good reason: what an evil and manipulative monster

I don't think I don't know all the bad things lady bone demon did, because if she did bad things, although that's the point, she was a villain (an amazing villain)

But it bothers me what azure lion, in the series we still don't show much of him but I really don't want the series to start trying to justify and throw under the rug all the things he's done as they did with a certain character (look at macaque)

Sorry if it's not understood try to put my thoughts in order as best I could maybe not understood but anyway 🤷

So you think of him

ah wonderful! It has been a age now then to address the fandom thing regarding the treatment of azure and LBD respectively it is

Fandoms have a lot of it guy villains are seen as more tolerable then a female villain case in point check the genshin fandom they riot whenever a woman is even slightly mean much less evil may the heavens restrain me when arlecchino is released it will be hell and also lmk with Macaque and LBD the former being somehow worse then the latter thanks to the special which altered our bone lady so macaque is legitimately a worse person…make of that what you will we have probably incurred the wrath of the macaque Stan’s in the mentions tbh now anyway regarding Azure

this blue fluffy kitty

He’s a bit tone deaf which is to be expected he did the wukong brain tendenrizer scroll edition so he’s a bit not caught up with things as evident by his interaction with DBK our resident and earliest defanged villain and his complete and utter disdain for PIF(reading that as a word never fails to make us laugh hahah oh god we are getting into hotd discourse later) now the thing is that Azure is very much the type to blame others for shit going wrong such as the wukong scroll cut incident tbh tho he had a point but he’s very much a how to say this…a earlier version of LBD that’s more relatable because he hasn’t gone “the world needs to be perfected” yet like she has so he’s a bit more relatable also helps that his season is a better season 3 and gives us significantly more time with him then we did with LBD as she only got bits of other seasons with other characters being focused on and then got robbed of her focus so she never got any real insight other then the special which was VERY much rushed now as to our opinion of Azure as a character…

We like him he’s a bit foolish and a poor substitute for the villain that came before him but he actually does what the rushed change with her intended better he’s overall kinda neat nice design good voice a fucked up personality and the first thing he decided to do was 1v1 god all around good character and he’s most likely going to get the macaque treatment so prepare for the fics butchering him as the show regulates him to background fodder at best and that’s if he doesn’t die which tbh is a 50/50 chance also funny how the mayor hasn’t shown up at all thanks for your ask cami and even we struggle with putting our thoughts into words so there’s that now time to suffer the hell that is the hotd fandom

[bonefall]

Reply Roundup: All Over The Place Edition

Had a couple of questions piling up over time, so I’m gonna get to them all in one place! No theme to this Reply Roundup because there’s a lot of different scraps today

@halogenwarrior for Bonefall TNP: “How long will Frostfur and Wildfur live?”

For Frostfur, she can survive up to early OotS without a problem. I’m keeping her in mind as a body to toss into a major epidemic, she will probably die in one of the Color Cough outbreaks at the beginning and end of Po3. That said, I’m keeping her in mind as a possible kill for TNP, too. In any case, she won’t be left behind at the Forest Territory.

For Wildfur, he will no longer die of chest complications! There’s no need to kill him as a warning for Briarlight in the future. He’s getting a simple mobility device and he will be making the journey as a respected ShadowClan elder. He’s not getting a BIG role, it’s just nice to just have some disabled characters in the background. He’ll either die peacefully just before Briar’s injury, or shortly after giving her some practical advice.

@halogenwarrior for Bonefall TPB: “Since Cloudtail is now Firestar’s adopted son, does Cloudpaw have a new mentor?“

This is a special case where a father figure mentors their son. It’s not forbidden under the code, just usually counterproductive to the social purpose of Mentor/Apprentice relationships.

But here, the reason this taboo is being broken is because Bluestar is trying to make Firestar eligible for deputyship as quickly as possible. It’s not that she expects Tigerstar to betray her the way he does... but she also isn’t stupid. There’s a prophecy about Fire Alone saving the Clan, there’s at least suspicion about this deputy, and there’s constant war, disease, famine...

Things can change fast. Best to be prepared, and make sure that there’s no way to dispute Fireheart’s legitimacy under the Law of the Deputy (AND THEN SHE JUST WAITS A WHOLE DAY AFTER TIGER’S BETRAYAL, CASTING DOUBT ON HIS LEGITIMACY ANYWAY)

And besides, Fireheart brought this extra kittypet to ThunderClan. Bluestar also expects him to make it into a warrior as well.

TL;DR outstanding circumstance, mentor remains Fireheart.

@hehhdhejdudues “Why are Runningnose, Frecklewish, and Ravenwing in the Dark Forest?“

Runningnose is a Bad Boy in this rewrite, Frecklewish and Ravenwing are sent to the Dark Forest because of StarClan’s clouded judgement due to their mob-like fury about the Mapleshade situation.

There are lots of reasons to end up in the Dark Forest in this rewrite, but it’s also not as bad as canon. There’s even cats who go there in protest of StarClan.

@halogenwarrior “Is Hawkfrost and Reedwhisker’s age gap too steep?”

No, don’t worry, I went and charted it out. Reedwhisker is noted as a toothless kitten when Fireheart saves him from the river, meaning he’s less than 3 weeks old in Forest of Secrets (leopardstar’s humdrum made him older but we dont respect that book or its retcons). So, he’s a few weeks older than Bramble and Tawny.

Even if we went by the official wiki estimate, at most, Reed and Hawk are 1 year apart in age. Going by the toothless-kitten evidence, it’s somewhere near 9 months. That’s well below my 4-year-cutoff.

If Reedwhisker was a warrior, the small age gap WOULD still be an issue because of the power dynamic. However, add in the fact that Reed is forced to stay as an apprentice for an entire year because of Skyheart, there’s no problematic power dynamic at play here. It all checks out.

Aaaand for this last one, I’m going to talk a bit about ex-TigerClan supporters and Thistle Law in a serious discussion about fascism so this one’s going under a cut. TW for Fascism and all the racism, sexism, and xenophobia that comes with that, with a real-world example.

What exactly do RiverClan cats besides Hawkfrost (who wants an ally in his bids for power) get out of the WindClan rebellion? I would think their aggression and xenophobia would make them unhappy to get a leader who is also aggressive and xenophobic, but against THEM. Xenophobes won't be allies of other xenophobes from the very groups they are prejudiced against.

@halogenwarrior

Much like real-world fascism, Thistle Law looks different between its incarnations. Supporters of Tigerstar’s brand of Thistle Law are committed to annexing other Clans into one unit, to enforce a standard of purity into itself. Blackclaw, Reedtail, Heavystep, and the rest of Hawkfrost’s RiverClan reinforcements want a second TigerClan.

In its simplest explanation, I could leave it there. Anything that gets them closer to TigerClan 2 is their goal.

In addition though, I think it’s very important to remember that bigotry is not logical, consistent, or principled. Prejudice is irrational. Fascists only understand power and will work with groups they're actively bigoted against, until the exact moment they don’t have to anymore.

So, I flatly disagree with the idea that xenophobes don’t ally with other xenophobes of the groups they are prejudiced against. That’s actually one of the things Fascists are known for, worming their way into other movements by breaking off prejudiced subgroups. Terfs are the well-known example, antisemitic minorities are another. If fascists take power, they will turn against the JK Rowlings and Kanye Wests who were previously useful. They don’t reject the help before that point.

I could get into deeper historical examples about this, this tactic is as old as the term Fascism itself. But I’ll leave it there for now because it’s already gotten heavy.

Just know this is a topic I care immensely about. I put more effort into this aspect of my rewrite than anything else, because I think it is the most important thing I’m doing with it.

Back to Funnie Battle Cat though,

Mudclaw thinks the RiverClan cats are united in helping to get rid of Onewhisker, and fight the encroach of Firestar’s influence. Accepting all these outsiders (thinking about this part i should definitely give windclan an ex-bloodclan member), giving away land peacefully, all this inter-clan mingling... He was willing to give Hawkfrost deputyship to get his supporters on his side for that push. I do really like Winds of Change, but one thing I reject about canon is the idea that Mudclaw was just... completely Bamboozled by Hawkfrost and really had the interests of his Clan at heart.

Like, no lol. You were going to make a total stranger your deputy so you could have more claws to kill Onestar’s supporters with. The inciting incident for the assassination was finding out StarClan was going to speak to him-- totally abandoning the idea that StarClan would sort this out if One, Fire, and Bramble were all lying about Tallstar’s switch. “Best interests of his clan” yeah right.

Hawkfrost’s plan was to get deputyship in WindClan, and then present this to Leopardstar as evidence of his capability. He is actually right that this would impress Bonefall Leopardstar, and set the stage to start merging the two Clans.