#from someone who i think ripped it directly from the game

[petrichormariposa]

Oh dude this is one of the most astarion expressions i’ve gotten out of the sims so far

[unikhroma]

we need to talk about ramb [analysis/theory]

MASSIVE shoutout to my friend mycringefactory for ripping his sprites

ramb! he's the power strip darkner in chapter 3 that runs the stand in the green room and introduces you to the set of games that leads to the chapter's unusual secret boss.

weird attention to detail with his sprites, telling kris that he knows they want, dismissing their concerns that something might be up, having a page of the sweepstakes ARG named after him instead of the location it's showing, directly introducing kris to a rendition of the weird route and saying that it's "REAL fun".

seems like if it were some other character, these would be ringing more alarm bells. but i knew, i Knew there was something up with him. he is the secret boss, it's just not in a way we're used to. strap in, cause this is long as fuck <- not an exaggeration i've been writing this for the past three days.

ramb is the shadow mantle enemy.

ramb wants kris to have fun and enjoy the games he's provided! no he really wants kris to have fun and enjoy the games. he mentions it a lot, and keeps saying that he knows kris and what they want. in the context of a game about the weird route no less.

and all this is much like the shadow mantle enemy. it says outright that it thinks a part of kris isn't getting the shadow crystals because it'll get what they want, instead it's that they're just enjoying this, like ramb keeps saying is the case for them.

it wasn't there to stop kris: what it wanted was to see kris play, said plain as day. i believe the flickering red comment is about kris' eyes, that it wanted to see them really get into playing the game.

it's hard to believe that this is all just a parallel when it lines up So Closely. i feel like you don't just have two characters speak almost exactly the same and with such an emphasis on the same things, with the only difference being an accent in one of them. not to mention that there's an NPC tells you who ramb parallels.

can't find footage, but m-chromatic says this is from a pippins NPC

the shadow mantle enemy also further emphasizes its interest in kris having fun with a secret room in one of the games:

"Having fun?"

it feels like such a personalized message to them, and whether kris is having fun is something that ramb is very concerned with.

something particularly notable is what happens the first time you get proper dialogue from the mantle enemy. after the board is cleared, kris asks ramb about someone being backstage, and he denies it and says he's been there on security the whole time.

also i find it odd that the first line is one of the few times that expression of his shows up. in the second line he turns his head away in a smile

another thing:

and this bit might be a stretch but it's worth mentioning: the little creature that the mantle enemy turns into does happen to have floppy ears like ramb does.

once again shoutout to mycringefactory for ripping these sprites

alright, so ramb may have control of this game, probably from the wide variety of controllers in the backstage (though i have a personal theory that he can go into the game himself). but why do i think he has anything to do with the game itself? well, this ties into a sub-theory:

MANTLE/MANHOLE is a dragon blazers romhack made by ramb, and is what tenna unknowingly built his game off of.

in case you're wondering why i'm giving it two names. i personally think it's manhole cause it ties into other things

tenna's game vs the original game. "some big ol' blasted line from A to B" vs "the ORIGINAL game where YOU decide what to do". the parallel of regular route vs weird route is a lil on the nose. in this game, you're made to do a re-imagining of the weird route in chapter two and something beyond that. but the game wasn't always that.

the spamton sweepstakes is how we know this. the d_a_m_n_y_o_u_t_e_n_n_a page and noelle's icepalace_glaceir blog teases MANTLE/MANHOLE and ties it back to ramb. clicking the TV will change the screen to be static-filled (like the game cuts to when the controller isn't plugged in), and the lowest point of the page contains static squares, one leading to a neon blue screen and the other leading to ramb's page.

the neon blue screen (similar to the title screen of MANTLE/MANHOLE) can be scrolled up to show what looks like a representation of the ice area in the old game where you use the ice key. the door on the page leads to noelle's icepalace_glaceir blog, where she describes an oddity in dragon blazers that lines up perfectly with an area in the old game.

this cross area in the old game is accompanied by a track named GLACEIR. on noelle's blog, she writes that she's currently listening to a song from dragon blazers of the same name. it would make sense that if she's writing about that area and feeling nostalgic about it, she'd be listening to the song from it as well.

the choice of word for what her mood is.. i can't help but think of how that one weird ass expression of ramb's is called "nostalgic"

with all that in mind, i feel like it's pretty clear that that "old thing" tenna says he based his game on was intended to be dragon blazers. except that "original game" was clearly tampered with. it's not a coincidence that this game has a rendition of the weird route's beginning, it was put in there by someone. tenna is bothered by MANTLE/MANHOLE's contents as well:

another clue on the game being modified by ramb is, despite it being dragon blazers, the third board isn't a non-specific RPG location and is instead based on cyber world, specifically cyber city and queen's mansion's basement.

ramb originates from cyber world and while tenna may have known things about cyber city due to his connection with spamton, it's highly unlikely that he's seen the mansion basement, so it had to be ramb who modded it. ramb mentions people who live in queen's mansion like he knows them well.

another thing.. think about the names associated with him: his name is ramb. like RAMb. to put it simply, RAM is any data in a computing device that can change or be modified, and it's implied that he modded dragon blazers.

his name is misspelled as ROMb in-game and in the sweepstakes page regarding him and the old game. the track that plays in the S-rank room and thus when you speak to him about the game is called "Dump". to mod a ROM, you'd have to dump it from the hardware first (though i don't think that's necessarily what ramb did since we're in a fantasy world).

the dump thing is interesting to me also cause as mentioned before, the spamton sweepstakes has a page for ramb, but it was first accessed by clicking "[scrap heap]" in one of the prize descriptions. another allusion to him and trash... btw i feel like it's worth stressing: HE'S HAD A PAGE NAMED AFTER HIM THIS WHOLE TIME!!

oh and there's these two lines from him that absolutely implies that he had some kind of hand in the games backstage. the "HIS" would not be emphasized like that if the old game was impersonal to ramb.

so why is ramb like this?

why'd he want kris to play his fucked up snowgrave game so much? what's all this talk about fun? and then after all that, asking them if opening the fountain was that good of an idea... after all, doing so would cause him several darkners to turn to stone.

he's a power strip. like outlets, power strips can have a large variety of things connected to them: fans, chargers, TVs, video game consoles.. the key difference though, is that they can have multiple things connected to them at once and they're portable.

ramb shouldn't turn to stone because, unlike that zapper that turned to stone because its likely to be for catti's TV and isn't compatible with the dreemurr's, he's not bound by that kind of restriction. in fact there's a lot of uses he can have, multiple at once even. he's also directly relevant to TV world as being able to provide power to tenna himself.

but ultimately, in the same vein as tenna, he stopped being used. and getting kris to play these games, when his purpose is "letting you play your games", might've been a way to keep himself alive. "Without play... the knife grows dull." i think this line from him as the shadow mantle is also in reference to how without him being played, he'll turn to stone (grow dull).

i don't think this is just that side of himself being un-petrified because of the light. the light is enveloping him entirely, you can see it go well past him. i think he needed to be as close in proximity to the game as he could since it's tied to his purpose. more on this later.

selfish actions aside, i do think ramb cares about kris. but he was also suffering from being outcasted both socially and by lightners including them, so i think he was preparing for a fountain opening and the opportunity to convince kris into spending time with him again.

he was really done dirty by his fellow darkners man

he projects onto kris so much: he wants to have fun too. he misses those times. an opportunity to meet an old friend in the midst of loneliness and to relive those good memories he holds onto so much? well, he had to do something.

...and the something he did was steal the shadow mantle and create a fucked up game for this kid because he missed seeing them have fun and thought that all that fucked up shit was what they liked. (i think it's implied that kris plays video games in a bit of an aggressive way? unfortunately struggling to find specific scenes about it)

the thing about how he was already stone on the inside makes me wonder if that's a way of saying that he died inside a while ago and the loneliness broke him. part of me thinks he's intended to represent mentally ill people who fall through the cracks cause they don't "seem" like they are. this power strip needs therapy and medication man

the implications of him modifying the game to show the weird route in particular though... is he trying to encourage it? is it a warning? was learning about the weird route the thing that made him spiral and turn to doing this? it's very likely yes, since similar things happened to jevil and spamton.

how does he know about the weird route and what happened to him?

awesome first question: i don't know. it's possible that, because he's meant to parallel tenna, that he too was contacted by the knight, and they told him about it. however, it may not be that one-to-one. since spamton's forbidden knowledge came from someone outside of the in-game universe (we presume gaster), he could've gotten it from that.

and what's up with all the DEVICE_FRIEND appearances in his romhack? ..honestly can't explain it either. but since he depicts queen's mansion in it, i get the feeling that he's been down there and he saw it. maybe it's something that really stuck with him, or he had extended contact with it.

now as for his fate.. after the sword route is complete (meaning all three boards of his game are finished), the rabbick in the S-rank room expresses fear over something that happened with ramb.

so what the hell happened to him to freak this rabbick out so much?

most likely: he parallels tenna, so maybe he was also enlisted by the knight, and his job was to keep the shadow mantle out of kris' hands. because he failed to do so, he got taken or hurt by the knight as punishment.

less likely but more interesting to me: let's address the rabbick saying that kris already went past. we saw the pixel kris leave the backstage, so that seems to be what they saw. the pixel kris escaping the game may mean that the game will technically never be turned off, making it so that ramb is always being "used" and thus not fated to turn to stone while the fountain is still open

so the rabbick might've been frightened by a darkner that shouldn't be alive coming to life again (..thoough i have a theory that he might be able to shapeshift and that freaked them out but that's for another post)

either way, if you completed the sword route, ramb is somewhere else now. isn't that fun?

so! now with all of this information about him in mind: do you see why i'm insane about him. there's more evidence for some of my points (like ramb knowing you missed the ice key and having another creepy message for kris in a secret room) and evidence for potential counterpoints, but this post is so fucking long man.

thinking about exploring other things about him like his beef with tenna but we'll see. because this took a lot out of me LOL. anyway:

THANK YOU FOR READING!

oh and by the way, if there's a little man who doesn't fit with the other darkners telling kris to do some weird out-of-the-way shit and telling them that that's what they really want and he's talking about freedom, you should be asking questions

[applestorms]

There's this One (1) idea I keep trying to capture about Sebastian and Ciel's dynamic and I'm not sure if I've managed to quite get at it properly in my previous takes so. Guess I'm gonna go for it one more time ahahhaha =3=" (SPOILER WARNING FOR THE USUAL SHIT)

It all goes back to This Fucking Page, which I've seen plaguing the minds of at least a couple of people around here more than a few times. The question is clear: how the hell can Ciel not trust Sebastian at this point? After years of putting his life directly into Sebastian's hands, not only pulled from danger but doted on constantly, fed, bathed, and protected at all times by him 24/7-- even after all that, he still claims to trust him the least. Is he lying? Fucking with him? Making a joke?

I'd argue: none of the above. Regardless of how their relationship may actually function on a base level, Ciel is telling the truth as he believes it here, and revealing a key part of what drives him in doing so.

To fully understand this moment, I think we have to take a step back for a second and really look at what Ciel's motivations are, and also the origin of his contract with Sebastian. Specifically, the points I'd like to focus on here are as follows: what was o!Ciel's emotional state of mind like in the weeks after their introduction to the cult, and what changed at the exact moment that he summoned the demon?

In the case of the first question, we get a pretty clear answer: o!Ciel believed.

Despite the insanely horrific child abuse these kids were forced through at the hands of the cult, o!Ciel still managed to find hope and peace in the form of his protective older brother. He believed, had faith-- in God, and also his brother (same difference?). It is made quite clear throughout not only these chapters but also the few flashbacks we get pre-129 and onward that r!Ciel was the primary thing getting o!Ciel through this period of time, the one constant he could rely on. Everything about their lives changed on that day-- their parents were dead, their house destroyed, their lives and futures and known universe entirely ripped apart as their entire existence was groomed to turn them into the ideal sacrificial lambs for someone else's gain. Through it all, they had nothing but each other.

To put this another way: o!Ciel trusted his brother.

It is clear from the way in which o!Ciel talks about himself, in the few instances that we get of his most bare-faced honest narration, that he does not think highly of himself. Frankly, the fact that he felt the need at all to impersonate his brother is proof of this. o!Ciel did not grow up respecting or trusting himself, always easily accepting the view that he was simply the Spare, the sickly extra that had to stay inside and watch while everyone else got to play outside. Ciel was the brave one, the one that proudly introduced himself to strangers, who was mentored directly by their father for a job o!Ciel would never have. Ciel was the strong one, the capable one, the one powerful enough to stand on his own feet and support his brother as well. Ciel was the one to check the house, to fulfill his duty and protect him.

For all their appearances as mirrors of one another, it is clear from the moment of their birth that the twins were not and never would be truly equal. The elder, Ciel, is the future Earl of Phantomhive-- the other is only there to pick up the pieces he may or may not leave behind.

It is a dynamic ingrained in these two deeply enough that it follows through even as the rest of their lives are torn away from them. r!Ciel protects and o!Ciel believes, trusts that his big brother will always know the right path. There is thus little need for o!Ciel to ever take action or make any major decisions when it comes to ensuring their future. r!Ciel swallows the ring-- all o!Ciel has to do is keep the secret. Maybe in their previous life he could've worried about toy stores or games or making a living for himself outside of the Phantomhive manor-- but right now, when the two of them are still very much stuck in Survival Mode, all he needs to do is trust.

And then.

The object of his trust is torn away from him. They are separated, wholly and utterly, forever-- for nothing that is lost can ever again be regained. And suddenly, there is nothing left to believe in.

Thus, we reach our second point: o!Ciel's mental state at the moment he summons the demon. Faith in God/Ciel is broken, all hope is lost, familial blood has been spilled on the sacrificial altar and o!Ciel is still locked in his damn cage. Trust has disappeared entirely-- all o!Ciel wants now is power, control over his life and the shit happening to him, the exact thing he has lacked all this time, really his entire life.

KEY POINT: o!Ciel does not want (another) hero. If there is one thing that this moment proves to him, it is that he cannot ever again put all of his faith into another person to save him. Rather, what o!Ciel wants is agency, the power to decide his own fate for himself.

Again, we can infer that this is a large part of why our twin even bothers to take the name "Ciel" in the first place-- because, at this point in the story, the only way he can even conceive of having that kind of power and independent autonomy is by literally becoming his brother, the object of courage and bravery and protection that he has been looking up to for all this time. And this is something that he doesn't only believe internally, in his own mind, but constantly sees getting affirmed to him externally as well-- because, if "everybody would be happier if Ciel was the one to return," if Ciel is the only one capable of handling the job of the watchdog and fulfilling the Phantomhive duty for the Queen, then the only way he can move forward is by becoming Ciel, and leeching his power that way.

This is the fundamental moment that establishes o!Ciel's relationship with trust and Other People more generally for the entire rest of the series as we get to see it. After having his faith broken in every conceivable way, watching every single member of his family be killed in front of him while he was completely unable to do anything, o!Ciel finally arrives at a decision-- to take the power that has finally been offered to him, regardless of the consequences, just for the chance to finally have some control over his own life and fate.

o!Ciel does not care about the fact that this contract will kill him, about the fact that he is entrusting his soul to a starving demon that will eventually eat him. o!Ciel is perfectly willing to step under his own personalized sword of Damocles, perfectly accepting of the fact that it will eventually lead to his own demise-- all he wants is the power to set it up himself, to decide exactly when it will inevitably fall.

Thus: trust. From this point forward, trusting anyone else is simply not an option. Because if Ciel couldn't protect him, if Ciel couldn't uphold his faith and grant him their hope, then who the fuck could? Frankly, o!Ciel is even kinda granting him a second chance by taking his name as he dedicates himself to his revenge...

...which gets to my biggest point. Trust in other people may no longer be an option. But: trust in himself?

Now we have a chance to keep moving forward.

This is what Sebastian and his whole demon contract schtick Truly grants o!Ciel-- power, agency, and the ability to have faith in his own abilities, to stand up on his own. o!Ciel does not want another hero to save him, he is not going to set himself up for failure like that, and certainly not with the guy whose first big move is to fucking lie directly to his face.

What o!Ciel trusts here is not Sebastian, not directly, but rather his own ability to manipulate Sebastian into doing what he pleases. And this is exactly what he wants!! Again, o!Ciel does not want Sebastian to play the hero for him, to replace that which has already demonstrably failed him. He wants Sebastian to give him the power that he wants, and, perhaps ironically, he grows into a more capable and competent person in order to work as efficiently as he can under the terms of their contract to get that.

Ciel says that Sebastian is the person he can trust the least, and DUH. o!Ciel is not stupid, of course he believes that. There's a reason why every one of the terms of their contract are specifically designed to bind Sebastian down, why his first wish was to ensure that Sebastian would never be able to lie to him like that again. Never forget: Sebastian is dangerous, a starving animal that o!Ciel has only barely got chained back, who in this very arc was fully prepared to eat him alive if his traumatized state of mind made him go back on their contract a little too much.

YET: the intense irony of all of this is that Sebastian's very untrustworthiness is exactly what makes him reliable. o!Ciel knows exactly what the fuck Sebastian wants (him), and how to use that weakness to his advantage. And, in turn, this gives Ciel exactly what he has wanted and needed all this time, the chance to grow and take charge and believe in himself, that he is capable, and meaningful, and that his life has value as more than just The Spare.

It is this exact axis, the contradictory truth that o!Ciel trusts Sebastian to be untrustworthy, that their entire relationship revolves around in my opinion. It is what allows the contract to be such a beneficial force in Ciel's life, what makes Ciel and Sebastian's dynamic so appealing and fascinating to me.

Sebastian isn't a person, he isn't a human that can grow and love and be relied upon in a more traditional romantic sense. He's a domesticated demon, not an enemies-to-lovers bad boy love interest-- his fangs can never be cut. YET. Even so, I see absolutely no reason why Ciel's recognition of this fact must detract from their relationship in any way, or the fun of shipping them together. Rather, it is this exact facet of their dynamic with one another that makes Ciel such an emotionally compelling protagonist to me, and sebaciel more generally such a lovely relationship to explore. ^__^

They're fucked up as hell!! But you don't have to disregard the knives they are constantly holding to one another's throat to also acknowledge the ways in which they are loving, and warm, and build each other up into something they never could've been on their own. Ciel doesn't trust Sebastian, but he never wanted to in the first place. Instead, Sebastian gives him the chance to gain something much more meaningful, that he has never before truly had: trust in himself.

[thatswhatsushesaid]

the part of this first face-to-face confrontation between shan gudao, fang duobing, and li lianhua that is hitting me the hardest on my second mlc watchthrough is how, given the camera angle during shan gudao's evil villain monologue, he doesn't even seem like he's looking at li lianhua. and he's standing right across from him.

listen to shan gudao speaking about li lianhua like he isn't even here, standing directly across from him with tears streaming down his face, having to speedrun all the stages of grief for the brutal murder of his understanding of his relationship with his shixiong. like that's what is really at the bleeding heart of this confrontation: they have profoundly different understandings of what is happening here, and only one of them is remotely compatible with reality.

(spoilers, it's not shan gudao.)

screenshots alone don't do cheng yi's microexpression game justice here. he's incredible. give this man all the awards for this role, he deserves them.

contrast shan gudao's abject refusal to look li lianhua in the eye throughout his entire villainous monologue with fang duobing's laser focus on li lianhua--which i think deserves praise and recognition all on its own, quite frankly, because he, too, is going through it! this is his first time speaking with shan gudao since learning that he's his father, rather than his uncle--since he was a disabled child struggling to swing a sword from his wheelchair--and this? this is the reception he gets, from the man who called him trash and abandoned him? but compassion and kindness come as naturally to fang duobing as avarice and resentment do to shan gudao, and so it is no hardship for him to shelve his feelings while li lianhua is clearly just barely holding it together next to him. right now, fang duobing has both the strength to carry them both through this moment, and the willingness to do it. because he loves li lianhua (again, however you choose to interpret that love, be it romantic or platonic--that's what it is), sincerely and artlessly, and he doesn't want to see him in pain.

which is a real bummer for fang duobing because, well:

of course, li lianhua's agony here has nothing to do with being the 'joke' that shan gudao is making him out to be, because li lianhua has never looked at his relationship with his shixiong as a scale in need of balancing, or as their time training together as martial siblings, and then running the sigu sect, as a ledger of wins and losses to be scrutinized and tallied up. (i may come back to this paragraph in the future because there's something specific to unpack here about li lianhua's very particular feelings re: how he failed the sigu sect, and his shixiong, and his shifu and shiniang, and how this failure--to recognize shan gudao's resentment and contempt for what it really was--is just the last nail in the coffin when it comes to his feelings about his life as li xiangyi. but i can't quite get the thoughts to come together. rip.)

now shan gudao is willing to look at li lianhua, and once again i don't think the screenshots do the flicker in shan gudao's expression justice. it's this minute, blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment of surprise and uncertainty, which to me only emphasizes how unnecessary all of shan gudao's machinations prior to the battle at the east sea really were. because over and over and over again, we see him confronted with concrete evidence that his perception of himself, his relationships, and his place in the world is at odds with how things really were, and are. and frequently, reality was not even to his detriment!! or rather, it didn't have to be, but each time he encountered one of these crossroads and diverging paths where an alternate path was available to him, he balked at taking it.

because to actually walk these diverging paths, shan gudao would have to put down the giant chip on his shoulder long enough to recognize that there was someone else walking along the path beside him, willing to help him carry that burden.

[noctiva]

Tiiiv, It's me again..

OMG, OMG, wait! There's something I've always wondered... what do you think of Toby's relationship with his sister Lyra?

Many people leave this character aside, and it is not surprising, since he does not have much relevance in the story, Even though it was a BIG trigger for the killer we all want <3.

Do you have any thoughts on Lyra? How does she influence your version of Toby? And of course, depending on your thoughts, at some point in our relationship with Toby, can he open up and talk directly about his sister?

This is an excuse to comfort him and never let go, yeah

I'm leaving a song that sounds incredible with these siblings... I think Lyra would be the best sister-in-law, she's so beautiful in a horrible family.

OHHHHHHH Lyra :(

okay yes I do I have a lot to say about her actually!

growing up I think toby and lyra were closer than thieves

toby spent a lot of time in the hospital growing up bc of his conditions, and obviously that’s got to be a big mental strain on somebody so young. the isolation, the constant poking and prodding from nurses and doctors, the sickly smell of antiseptic day in and day out (not to mention his father’s horrid attitude, blaming all of the family’s financial issues on a son who didn’t ask for ANY OF THIS) - so Lyra keeping him company there was the only thing that would really keep him sane tbh

she’d skip school to go see him, sneak in all of his favourite snacks and sodas, fill an mp3 player with songs she thought he’d like just so that he had something to do when she was gone. she’d bring over sketchbooks and pencils, doodle on his bandages with sharpies much to the nurses distaste, play card games at his bedside and tell him dumb stories from her own life (dramatically, of course)

out of the hospital they were just as close. she’d let toby hang out on the floor of her room while she did homework on her bed, try out makeup on him just for the laughs, cut his hair for him when their dad would start picking on him for letting it grow out too long.

Lyra was quite literally Toby’s everything. She was the only one who really got it, who never judged him or teased him, who just let him be himself (their mom too, but honestly I think that the stress would really get to Connie, so I see her getting more distant from him as toby got older)

so losing her… that’s where the abandonment issues in my version of toby come from. he quite literally watched his everything - the only person who actually cared - get ripped away from him right in front of his eyes. had to watch the cops carry her away and everything.

i think he had nightmares for years. honestly, probably still does - and that’s most likely the driving force for his insomnia. he doesn’t want to sleep, because he knows that when he does he’s just going to see a replay of that horrid horrid day all over again

he isn’t quick to get attached to people - especially other proxies - because he’s got this irrational fear that life is just going to come along and snatch away anyone who makes him happy. like he’s cursed or some shit

she affects him in positive ways too I think though! I think he’s so caring and protective other those he loves because of her - he got that from seeing the way she treated him. he’s also very very appreciative + respectful towards women in general and would definitely break someone’s wrist if he ever saw them lay a hand on a girl

he had seen his mom and lyra bruised up from his dad way too many times to ever think about tolerating anything of the sort ever again. to him, it’s deplorable behaviour - he’d place an abuser below himself and he’s a serial killer. needless to say, he would never even THINK about laying a hand on his so either.

I think he still has the mp3 player Lyra gave him all those years ago. it’s busted, the screens cracked, and it’s broken from water damage - but he doesn’t care. it was hers, and it’s the only thing he’s got left - so you’ll usually find it hidden away snug inside of his inner jacket pocket, close to his heart.

I think it would take awhileeeeeeee for him to open up and talk about lyra. it’s the type of thing that still makes his tongue feel dry when he thinks about it - a wound that never heals. so bringing her up just makes him relive those memories allll over again. the good ones, but the bad ones too. but as well as that, I think he’ll come to a point where he feels almost as if he’s doing lyra a disservice by not speaking about her - like he’s leaving her behind, pretending she doesn’t exist. so, eventually yes, he’ll open up.

I also think he catches himself still referring to her in the present tense, even after all these years. it’s tough for his brain to wrap around the fact that she’s really truly gone - and the scariest part is that he’s starting to forget her.

can barely remember her face, but he remember that she had bright blonde hair like their dad. he can remember her laugh, but can’t remember all those funny jokes she used to tell him.

like grains of sand slipping through his fingers, and he knows that one day they’ll be nothing left to cling on to - but he’s still going to try to anyway

[wondersimp]

Red Fangs

Synopsis: The Red Hood can't be around all the time. Being the vampire king's General means it's his job to hunt down any that cross the king. These are the worst times for him because that's when he's forced to leave you on your own, exposed to the hungry eyes of the spawns. He's made it clear you belong to him and therefore off-limits to others. But with him gone, being his personal blood bag can only protect you for so long.

Before I start, I can not emphasize enough that this AU does not belong to me. This was directly based on @heavysighing-dreamyeyes series "Blood Bag AU" So if you haven't read that yet, go check that out first (trust me, the angst is delicious.)

Basically, I love Vamp!Jason and this is my way of coping with it. Or... when someone's writing is so good, you write a fanfic about the fanfic lol.

One week.

It took a whole fucking week to track down the bastard Dick sent him to hunt down.

Why they were on the King's shitlist was anyone's guess. With his mood lately, the reason could've ranged from anywhere between planning an uprising to some snide comment being overheard regarding the new "Discowing suit" (Now with a vampire cape!) worn last month. Whatever the case, Jason couldn't care less. They were to be taken out, and that's all he needs to know. He knows better than to go against the king's orders.

Unfortunately, someone must have tipped them off, cause by the time he left, the target was already halfway across the country. All it really does in the end is buy the bloodsucker a few days, but that meant another few days with you at risk without him. And Jason can't afford that.

He's made it clear multiple times to the court that you were his. His pet. His property. Therefore, you were under his protection, which means you were off-limits. Anyone who tried anything didn't live long enough to regret their mistake.

But that was when he was there by your side. Right now he's far away, and you were left behind to defend yourself. Alone and amongst a court of vampires, with only your status as the General's personal blood bag as protection. But he knows some of them will think with him gone, so is the danger. They'll either grow bold or decide the taste of you is worth the risk.

The Red Hood's name can only keep you safe for so long in his absence. Which is why he wants to rip the head off the slippery fucker wasting his time playing this damn game of chase. Luckily, it's not long before he gets his wish. He'd almost feel bad for the spawn if they hadn't put you at risk dragging this out.

Clearly, they don't know what happens when you piss off the King's second-in-command. Otherwise, they might have given up sooner in hopes for a quick death. It was too late now though.

Jason was the General for a reason after all, and it wasn't for being merciful.

----------------

He doesn't bother cleaning the blood off his clothes before immediately hightailing it back to the castle. By the time he gets back, he's a tight ball of anxiety and marching straight towards your chambers, barely registering the buzz of gossip around him. The feeling of unease grows as he gets close to your room, and he slightly begins to pick up his pace when he overhears a group nearby uttering your name.

Now he's running.

Your door practically shatters from how hard he slams it open. Little splinters of wood go flying everywhere, and he'd be more concerned about one hitting you, except the room was empty. No sign of anyone there recently.

...

Where the FUCK were you?!

------------------------------

The Red Hood is on the warpath, and no vampire is safe from him.

(A/N: You know that scene in 'Beauty and the Beast' where The Beast is roaring at Belle to 'GET OUT' while she's fleeing the room? Same vibes.)

There's screaming, bodies are flying, and by the time the Vamp! King is on the scene, the stone walls have been permanently dyed a scarlet red. Anyone unlucky enough to get caught in Jason's path was now a corpse. The only thing preventing Dick from being his next target is the fact that Jason still doesn't know where you are, and a part of him still clinging to sanity knows that he has to get a fucking hold of himself if he wants answers.

So, he crams that familiar rage into a box, bows his head, and kneels, submitting before the king of vampires.

When he lifts his head, Dick looks almost like he feels sorry for him. It's only the slightest twitch in his lips that tells Hood that he's full of crap. He then proceeds to go on a long-winded speech about what a tragedy it was. How it's such a shame what happened and he knew that they were his baby bird's favorite plaything.

Even as the cruel undead king of vampires, Dick was a dramatic little shit and he was milking this performance for everything it's worth, building up the tension while evading giving a straight answer.

It's taking all Jason has not to bare his fangs and lunge at the man he once called his brother. Perhaps Dick can sense it because he finally confirms his worst fears. One of the spawns managed to break into your room. You called for help. You called for him.

Nobody came.

One would assume that this would reignite Jason's blood slaughter from earlier, but there's...nothing. Even the familiar green haze permanently residing in the back of his mind goes quiet. There's a buzzing in Jason's ears and he wonders if he died again. But this time was worse because at least the first time he died you were still breathing. You were still alive. Now, you were gone.

...What was all this for then?

The blood on his hands, the distance he kept towards you, every moment of agony he had endured, every act of cruelty just so he could see you the next day, even if it meant you looking at him like a stranger. All of it, and it still wasn't enough. He failed you.

Slowly, the world starts turning and noise starts to filter back into his ears. Dick was still talking, informing him that he has your attacker in custody for him to deal with personally. That allows a flicker of something to reignite with him. He couldn't save you, but he could damn well make sure the one who took you pays for what he did. He wouldn't be able to make them feel a fraction of the pain Jason felt but he had years of experience as a crime lord. He could get creative.

But before anything else, you came first. Even now, you were his priority, and he wants to make sure you were sent off in a way you deserved. With the care and love you he couldn't give you in life. So playing the role of an obedient dog for a little longer, he asks where your body was?

"Body, what body?"

There's a flicker of sick amusement in Dicks eye while he watches Jason struggle on his last thread of patience before he finally reveals: "I never said they were dead"

It takes a moment for Jason to process what he said before a timid hope begins to rise, and it only takes another for it to immediately drop to the pit of his stomach as his brain flies a mile a minute.

If you're not dead then what-

Jason loses all the color on his face, and Dick smiles while watching the final piece click into place in his brother's mind. No, you were were not in fact dead.

You were turned.

And you've escaped.

A/N: Holy paragraphs Batman! I haven't written anything in like five years and then suddenly this thing just magically manifests from my cranium. Like, where in the ever-loving fuck nugget did this come from??? Anywho, this is unedited so sorry for any mistakes made. Will probably fix any errors later on. (If I remember) Do I have an idea where to go from here? Yes. Will I write another chapter? No idea. Maybe, if anyone's interested. And only with the approval of the original creator.

Again, this AU does not belong to me. All credit goes to @heavysighing-dreamyeyes and their Blood bag AU. Please check it out if you get the chance it is amazing.

Wondersimp...AWAY!!

[awakenedsalamander]

Thinking about how vampirism in the World of Darkness isn’t just dehumanizing in the sense that it makes you a literal monster but also how the Embrace quite directly rips away some of the most meaningful parts of someone’s identity to make room for the Beast.

Like, the obvious examples here are Garou and mages, given that the former, when Embraced, become the aptly-named Abominations, who lose their connection to Gaia and the Umbra and find themselves forcibly aligned with the Wyrm, the force that they view as the most horrific and destructive thing in the world; and the latter have their Avatar, their connection to magic and possibility and understanding, utterly annihilated— their one guiding light extinguished and replace with an entity that is (except for probably in the case of widderslainte) more vicious and cruel than even the most harrowing Avatar.

It’s telling that the Embrace is thus reflective of something each group considers to be one of the worst fates imaginable: dancing the Black Spiral and undergoing Gilgul, respectively.

But that’s a lot of jargon and doesn’t really hit if you don’t know the details of those game lines— the haunting part is that the basic idea remains the same even for mortals.

I mean, it’s true that everyone, mortal or otherwise, has some degree of intrusive urges toward malicious behavior, but the Beast is just so much worse than that. To be Embraced is to straightforwardly die, to lose the essence that keeps you alive, and have it brought back in this twisted form— from now on, to live is to kill and the Beast will never let you forget it.

Sure, vampires still retain their old interests and passions. I’m personally not keen on the interpretation of Kindred as inherently not having things like empathy, creativity, or grief. I think they still feel compassion and curiosity and tranquility and love and all that… but always, lurking behind them, is the Beast.

And maybe I’m just being a self-serious edge-boi but that’s such an unnerving thought. To still care about the people around you, but never without something whispering about how much you need— deserve— their loyalty, their service, their deaths.

[funger-rips]

Inbox Status: OPEN

How to Search Blog For Specific Sprites

This blog is dedicated to exporting the in-game artwork and archiving development updates for Fear and Hunger and it's sequel, Fear and Hunger: Termina. Please see below the cut for details on how I run this account, as well as the tagging system I use to make finding certain images easier.

Pinned last updated on: June 26th, 2025

Reason: Added a new tag, "artwork and graphics".

Blog Guidelines:

I post rips/archive works up to once a day, aside from answering asks or blog updates. I run on a queue usually. I may post less frequently depending on how busy I am.

I will not answer requests directly, but I DO read every request and try to get to them in order. It's just me here, a one-man band. So please be patient if I do not get to your ask/request soon.

There is a 30 image limit per post, so I will space out requests and similar content across posts if needed. I will leave links on each post that has another post that directly connects to it.

I try to answer and post requests as precisely as possible, but please note that an unclear or overly broad request will have to be taken with a grain of salt. It helps if you specify the game, and request something small or very specific. A general request for more of a certain character is acceptable.

I am open to revisions if I am incorrect about anything I state on this blog. I try my best to research where sprites may or may not be used, but I do not know every little thing about the series. If I make major revisions, I will state it in the post after editing.

I do not require credit. I don't really care, it's not like I made the art. If anything, credit Miro. However, if you wish to credit this blog or link to it, be my guest. No yums shall be yucked.

I am not the original owner of this blog or the idea of archiving in-game content. This blog, "funger-rips", was owned by someone prior before it was deleted. I am only mentioning this because all of the content they ripped was deleted. So if you think, "I swore I saw this ripped before," that's maybe why. I do not know the original owner.

Please no joke asks/requests! Unrelated questions about me, the blog, miscellaneous stuff, etc. are acceptable. Just no joke content that's rhetorical that I can't really give a reply to.

Q&A:

"Who runs this blog?"

Just me, a lone fella, no one in particular ₍^. .^₎⟆

"Are DM requests acceptable?"

Yes, though I say that hesitantly- it's harder to keep track of what I need to work on if I have multiple sources of requests to check on. I prefer the inbox.

Blog Tags (I will update as I make new ones):

#sprite rips: The bulk of this blog. I go into the game's files directly and convert the artwork into usable png's.

#devblog content: Archive of any "third party" content Miro posts. Includes dev screenshots, YouTube videos, teasers, old scrapped content, etc. posted on his various socials. Sources will be given. I will NOT archive something unless I have definitive proof Miro posted it.

#mod talks: Blog updates and maintenance content. Mundane stuff that aren't rips or archives.

#askbox: For when I answer asks directly. I only answer asks if they aren't requests, just actual questions about the blog or what have you.

#battle backgrounds: The background art used as set pieces in combat in-game.

#inventory items: Full and mini sprites of any item you will find in your inventory.

#ui and related: Anything constructing the game's UI and menus.

#overworld sprites: Sprites found on the overworld, outside of combat.

#maps and tilesets: Any in-game maps and items that function as the game's overworld.

#battle sprites: Sprites found exclusively in combat. Excludes any battle backgrounds.

#artwork and graphics: Any still images used for events, cutscenes, etc. that do not belong to any other tag. Also includes standalone artworks by Miro himself, in-game or not.

#moonscorched: Any moonscorched content.

#unused content: Any content that is found in the files, but not used in-game. Includes things like "beta" versions of designs.

#sprite edits: Whenever I post a sprite that I actively modified outside of cropping. I only modify content for informative reasons- such as comparing canon and non-canon content, or stuff between games.

#videos, #gifs, and the characters' names are all self explanatory.

[loz-chainsofcorruption]

Got inspired by The Great LU Hero Gremlin Tag Game that Sprite made and had my own idea that I thought could be fun

What headcanons do you self project onto each LU boy?

Like things that aren't technically canon but are definitely things you relate to/experience/used to experience/like/dislike and then put on the boys. If you have em, anyway. Feel free to skip any boys you don't have any for.

I'll go first (+ a bonus character)

Also warning: mental health struggles ahead!

Time - Though he's gotten better (unlike me lol), I think he still has moments of high anxiety where he can foresee every way something can go wrong and tries in advance to keep that from happening. I imagine he got really used trying to make everything work out as best case scenario as possible with Majora's Mask, and though he's improved, it probably comes back sometimes when he's really stressed or worried about something, and tries to fix stuff in advance so he won't feel the desire to rewind and try again. Most weak to hot temperatures compared to the rest of the boys. Loves sitting by lakes with a good breeze. Watching the water move and the sound and feeling... Good stuff. Always stiff after sleeping.

Twilight - Sensory sensitivities. Specifically hearing and smell for him. When it's too crowded and loud, if there's a lot of different smells and he's already feeling on edge, it can overwhelm him. (There's surely a reason his basement is dark and relatively empty...) Believes anyone who hurts an animal or child on purpose is unforgivable and should be in jail for a long, long time. Needs floor time. Just a few minutes to lay on a floor can ease his feelings and unknot his chest sometimes. Alternatively, burying his whole face in an animal's fur can also unknot his chest and help him to breathe easier (well, once he's come out of the fur for air).

Warriors - (pats his back) This boy can hold so many of my projections. Paranoia about other people and their motives, perfectionist, keeping emotional struggles to himself and working hard to mask it, feels like he's seriously messed up when his mask cracks and someone gets worried about him (or feeling like the world is ending when he messes up at all) - and therefore struggles with self punishment, specifically with food. If he messed up, he feels like he doesn't deserve to eat anything more than what will get him by. Of course he can't risk passing out or something, so he basically goes back to however little he managed to eat and still survive war battles. He's improved, but still sometimes falls back on it. (I thankfully have fully moved past doing that and some other things I've dropped on him lol). I also have been considering giving him OCD? Not so much the contamination fear like I've got though. Needs to have things done in a certain way or it stresses him out, catastrophic thinking, and occasionally feeling like the world might fall apart if he doesn't xyz even tho he knows that's likely not the case. Often puts himself in the Stick In The Mud role. Hates being the stick in the mud role, but sometimes gotta do it, and a lot of times - if it's not Time - it's him.

Sky - Usually enjoys observing (distant) drama more than being directly involved in it. Like, he wants to know all the ridiculous stuff going down between others as long as the argument isn't happening with him in the room. "I'm not a gossip" but is an absolute gossip fiend. LOVES to know what's up with everyone. Can't stand not being in the know. Hates gray skies but enjoys the snow (as long as it's covering the ground enough to look pretty). Unexpectedly great at lying unless you know his small tells. Weak to spice. So weak. He's got the excuse of just not having the chance to try much and get used to it, unlike me. Rip.

Wild - Derealization, depersonalization - sometimes he, the world around him, or both just Don't Feel Real. He might be laughing and joking with the others and then suddenly feel a million miles away from it all. He also might do some really reckless stuff to try and Feel Things, or on the opposite, do reckless stuff when he's feeling too much. Will also just straight up forget to tell people stuff sometimes. Not trying to withhold information, just kinda forgets that the others might wanna know about it, or doesn't think it matters enough to say? Could hum or listen to the same song for hours if it scratches his brain just right. ADHD probably - if you have a long list of stuff he needs to do, you best write it down, and even then... No promises they'll all get done, especially not within a reasonable amount of time.

Legend - He'd be the kind of person who paces when he's on a phone call LOL so I'll hand him pacing around when trying to work out a problem out loud in a conversation with someone. Hates watching someone else do something in a way that he feels is less efficient or successful or good or whatever. Drives him up a wall. Likes being able to use other people's stuff whenever he wants but hates when people touch or use his stuff without explicit permission (Each time. One permission does not apply to every time you want to use it. Ask each time.) Jiggles his leg or foot really hard when he's trying not to cry. Doesn't want to be touched when he's really overwhelmed, and if he's feeling Too Much he wants to take it out on something and just. Destroy some stuff. He'll feel a little bad about it afterwards but he had to get it out so he wouldn't explode on someone or at a very bad time. Gets on people's cases about stuff that doesn't necessarily affect him as much as it's about the principle of the matter. Loves autumn the most. Has trouble resisting touching something that looks like an interesting material or texture. Promptly recoils if it's a gross texture. Sometimes snorts when he laughs and gets embarrassed about it (unless he's with Rulie - Rulie will just laugh harder which makes Legend laugh harder). Loves puzzles. Struggles with chronic pain. Headache prone.

Wind - He's a people pleaser deep down. Doesn't come across that way necessarily unless you know what to look for. Sometimes will slightly shift his opinions to match someone else's (or like, agree with theirs while still agreeing with his own) if it's someone he looks up to. Might do or say certain things and then later wonder if he looked or sounded stupid. Was that lapse in conversation because they thought he was weird? Because they were offended? Was he annoying them? Tries not to worry about it too much but the doubts creep in. Sensitive to other people's emotions and gets anxious when there are arguments between others. Tries to mediate or distract.

Four - It drives him crazy when a final decision can't be made. Can SOMEONE make up their mind, please. Anyone. Which is funny, because I also imagine he can get really indecisive about stuff when his brain gets too split. I was actually suspected to have DID and went to a specialist who decided I did not, but I've dealt with some very odd stuff that bordered that enough to be questioned, which works because that's how I like to picture Four. Not a system, but a weird Something that comes and goes. That also means sometimes part of his brain makes a decision that the rest of his brain didn't catch - to use some actual examples of things that happened to me before, standing up while announcing he was getting water and then sitting right back down. Doesn't remember doing that when asked. Also held conversations longer than recalled - only remembering saying a few things (or possibly nothing at all) compared to what was actually said. He's also unexpectedly picky about very specific things. Enjoys the sound of rain, and the sound of fire. Likes to play devil's advocate sometimes, pointing out the other side just for the sake of talking about it. Deep discussions can be fun! Despises bitter flavors, will never wind up liking alcohol if the flavor of alcohol is there. Will have 10 things he wants to do at once and wind up not doing any of it because he couldn't figure out where to start. Prefers to hear things from the source or gather more evidence before believing just anything. Headache prone.

Hyrule - Struggles with imposter syndrome, self doubt, and confidence issues, but tries to hide it. Tries to hide anything Bad so as not to worry others. Might be about to express something but then stop because Does it actually matter? Does it really add to the conversation? Does anyone really care about that? Especially when it's something close to his heart. You gotta get close to him for him to start expressing those things comfortably. Also laughs or makes jokes sometimes at inappropriate times, realizes based on atmosphere or response that maybe that was not the best time for that joke or comment or laugh. Same thing as Wild about forgetting to tell people stuff or not realizing he should. Lowkey manipulative. Not trying to hurt people but just like... to get what he wants sometimes LOL. Learns the things that gets people to cave easier, the ways to ask, good at nudging plans in a certain direction if he wants to do something. Can come across pretty natural and easy to miss if you don't know him well enough or are really observant. The more stressed he is, the more he craves sweets, usually.

Ravio - Got a problem that he can't give to someone else to deal with? Avoid avoid avoid avoid. Pretend it doesn't exist. Go do something else (and still feel stressed the entire time because try as one might, cannot actually stop thinking about it). Also somewhat manipulative but like. In a more overt way HAHA. Straight up will lay out the Why this is Better while coming up with great reasons why it wouldn't be a good idea to Not do the thing. Capable of crocodile tears. Cries when he's angry and trying to express that anger. Thinks dark chocolate is the superior chocolate. Doesn't know what to do with kids, so he gets kinda freaked out around them. Gives names and personalities to objects.

No pressure tags: @interlink-au @sprite-and-the-bunnydragons @palmolli @mmelete @forestslocaldead and honestly, whoever sees this and wants to lol I'm worried about tagging a bunch of people when I just recently did that soooo if I usually tag you but didn't, it's not because I'm overlooking you or don't want you to do this, I just don't wanna be a bother, and if I did tag you and you're like arghh another tag game? Go ahead and ignore I don't mind fkgkgk

[micer2012]

hi :D

xisuma talked about the theory (the one game theory stole) about 38 minutes into the latest stream! (Feb 4)

he once again mentioned that yeah, he belives game theory plagiarized it, but he also mentioned that your theory included the point that was based on a rendering issue (and GT "made the same mistake") and idk if he mentioned it before but now I'm wondering what that part is 🤔

that's it ty byeee

HOLY SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.

2/4/24 Hermitcraft 10 | First Stream with Sicksuma! 31:48:

“Hey X, big fa[n], wanted to know if you watched the Hermitcraft game theory and what you think about it.”

Yeah I did see it, and…

I still, I still have very mixed feelings about it. I don’t wanna get dragged into, yknow, um… A sorta calling people out or anything like that, but the explanation, that we were given about that had never been satisfactory for me. 

I-I really think that that was plagiarized. Um- The biggest reason I think it was is because… Apart from the theory being SO on point with this fan theory, like beat for beat, the fan theory, the original one, has a detail in it, which is a complete and utter misunderstanding of something that was just a rendering issue? There was a rendering issue in the video that this fan extrapolated into meaning something. And then, so did the Game Theorists, um… fan theory or whatever you wanna call it, right? They made the same extrapolation on a rendering error, to me it was just… too uncanny, and… supposedly, no, the writers never did that, uh, y’know I’m not here to say they did or they didn’t, it’s of course entirely possible and you can never know, it’s just it never satisfied me, it never felt right. 

So um, yeah, I-I still feel not too great about that. Like it was nice to have my story in a big video, that- that felt really cool, but the way in which it happened, not cool I don’t think. It just, uh, I don’t buy it. 

[...]

34:35: “X doesn’t buy his own lore, that’s so damn cool” says memcbest- I don’t know what you mean by that, I’m not saying I don’t buy my own lore I’m saying- I think- I think it was plagiarism. I really do. Like I said, an uncanny amount of similarities, like beat for beat with this fan theory, and then even misinterpreting a rendering error the same way, it just- it didn’t feel right AT all. It really felt like this had been ripped off. 

…So yeah, so therefore, I feel bittersweet about it. Like it’s cool that there’s a video out there on Evil X, but it… it should’ve been made by someone else, y’know. Or with the original theorist’s consent. That’s how I feel about it. 

Later on he goes on about other channels not citing their sources and furthering the same misunderstanding/false info because they’re just plagiarizing from each other, but it’s not directly related so I won’t transcribe it. He says plagiarism is an interesting topic to think about. He also talks about how AI will make it worse, and about having seen the hbomberguy video ^^

I THINK. THE RENDERING ERROR HE'S TALKING ABOUT IS the point of EX's eyes reflecting as Jeff's i put at the end of my first post:

BUT ANYWAY. THIS MEANS A LOT TO MEEE THIS REALLY DOES MEAN A LOT. the stance xisumas given before this to my knowledge is "it looks suspicious but we cant know unless they say something" so to hear. someone who absolutely has all the facts, is unbiased towards either of us, say firmly game theory's statement doesn't hold up and it's Obvious it's copied from mine. IT. MEANS A LOTTTT

[alluringlight]

Sparkle x (Gender Neutral) Reader

NSFW, 18+ only

Warnings: overstimulation, dub-con, Sparkle being Sparkle (crazy but she loves you), use of her Mask/powers

I actually posted this yesterday before the Sunday one-shot but for some reason it wasn't showing in tags?? So trying this again rip

Your vision went dark, and you yelped at the sudden intrusion; a pair of hands cupping over your eyes as you could feel someone pressing into your back. “Guess who?” There was only one person who could get into your house and sneak up on you without making a sound. It startled you every time she did it, but you were more than half certain that your reactions were the reason she did it in the first place.

You breathed a sigh of relief, “Sparkle,” You twisted in her grip, smiling at her. “You’re home.” You pulled her into a hug, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Blegh, c’mon cut it out.” She squirmed in your grip, breaking away to look at what you had cooking on the stove instead. The weather was getting colder so you were craving soup, and luckily it was just about finished. She peered into the pot, sticking a finger in to taste it. “It needs more salt.”

“Babe, you’re gonna burn yourself doing that,” you chastised.

She sighed, shrugging as she spoke, “I come home after a long work trip and you’re already nagging me. Lighten up.” You’d feel bad if there was any modicum of sincerity in the statement, but she was a Fool afterall, and she loved to grace you with any number of masks, always making you guess which was the real face beneath.

Sparkle started dishing up the soup, and the two of you sat at the dinner table to eat together. It was a rare occurrence to be able to have these quieter, domestic moments with her, as she was always flitting about traveling everywhere and you didn’t want to tie her down. Not that she ever could be. But it was becoming increasingly obvious she wanted you to join her on her excursions, even if she’d never directly ask.

“How was your job?” You asked. She hadn’t disclosed many details, but you knew it involved the Stellaron Hunters, so it couldn’t have been a particularly easy time.

She smiled at you, her eyes playful even though her smile was sharp. “Everything went off without a hitch. I’m taking you to Penacony soon. The Planet of Festivities is quite a sight.”

“I’ll have to take time off work,” you replied.

Sparkle’s smile widened, an obviously fake cheer added to her voice as she spoke, “Work this, work that, can’t we talk about something else? I can always kill your boss to get you time off.”

You tried to stifle a giggle, knowing if she thought it’d make you laugh she’d actually do it. “C’mon it’s not worth all that.”

She propped her head on one of her hands. “You don’t even need a job.” This is about as direct as she’d ever be. She was always peculiar about expressing her desires to you, either telling you nothing or telling you a million and one things, making it impossible to guess which were true and which were not. She was like this in most things, intimacy included. Sometimes, she’d insist on being so close to you it was suffocating, like you were trapped in a spider’s web, and sometimes she refused to touch you. Everything was always a part of the game, the play, a Masked Fool to the end.

As always, she was right though. She always deposited money into your account regardless of whether you wanted her to or not. So you didn’t really need a job, though it was one of the only threads to the past you still had from before you met her. Sometimes you thought it made her nervous, other times angry, others still, sad. You weren’t sure which was correct, though at the end of the day it didn’t matter, since it seemed to make her feel some way.

“I was actually thinking of quitting soon,” you admitted. You’d been thinking about it for a while, since Sparkle had first insinuated she wanted you to, and you couldn’t think of a good reason to stay. You’d rather explore the stars with her.

“Oho, and here I thought I was destined to walk about the universe by myself.” She clutched a hand to her chest dramatically, tilting her head down and closing her eyes. “I’d resigned myself to kidnapping you away with me, but I see my plans were futile. You’d instead join me of your own volition, how wonderful!”

You laughed at her overdramatics, before pausing, her words sinking in. “Wait, were you really planning on kidnapping me?”

Sparkle giggled. “What do you think?”

Honestly, you wouldn’t put it past her. She’d stolen you away on surprise trips before, pushing you to go with her and abandon your life for a handful of days to instead spend time with her. “Well, no need for all that,” you said, your voice fond despite the subject.

It seemed she was getting bored of the conversation as she pushed away from the table, coming to stand in front of you, bowing low with a hand held out. “My love, may I have this dance?”

You grasped her hand, and she pulled you out of the chair. Despite there not being any music playing, you two danced in rhythm. You followed her lead, and the two of you waltzed across the room, she spun you around, dipping you low to the ground, pressing you close and spinning you out.

Eventually, she seemed to tire of the dancing, instead tugging you towards the stairs, up and towards your bedroom. Being with her was always a guessing game and sex was no different. Her first night home in particular was a whirlwind. She rarely felt like being gentle, instead she would take you hard, fast, rough, all manner of toys or roleplay on the table, always, always down to try something new. Sometimes you’d fuck her and sometimes she’d fuck you. But other times she wasn’t even interested in sex when she came home, going straight to sleep. Though, she didn’t sleep regularly, so instead she’d just watch you sleep. You’d made the mistake of mentioning that to someone before, forgetting that most people would find that sort of behavior creepy, not romantic.

With the fervor in which she started pulling off your clothes, you knew she was definitely interested in something tonight, the gleam in her eyes alerting you that she had some sort of scheme.

“Something you’re wanting to try?” You asked.

She hummed, her smile unwavering as she started shucking her own clothes off. “Don’t know what you mean.” She pushed you down on the bed. “Face down,” she said as she fished around in the bedside table.

You turned over without resistance. It was apparent something new was on her mind and she didn’t feel like sharing what it was. Although it made anxiety swell in your gut, it also sent a bolt of arousal through you. If you wanted some sort of stability, you wouldn’t be with her. Instead, you loved the impulsivity she bore. You trusted her implicitly, probably more than you should if you were honest.

She settled behind you, shoving your legs apart with no care to be gentle. She poured a generous amount of lube directly onto your hole, causing you to shudder. She pressed a finger into you, humming in appreciation as she added a second finger in. “You feel so tight. Neglected yourself while I was away, huh? Or are you just nervous?”

“B-both,” you stuttered, hips rocking back as a moan left you as she hit a sensitive spot in you.

She chuckled. “Don’t be nervous baby.” Sparkle moved herself up a little, straddling your thigh as she rocked down, teasing herself while she prepared you. It felt like she was everywhere. Her presence was all encompassing, she always seemed to overwhelm your senses.

She pressed another finger into you, scissoring her fingers to open you up. Her other hand trailed your spine, causing goosebumps to erupt on your skin. Gently, she traced your skin.

You yelped in pain as her nails suddenly dug into your back, raking down, leaving red lines in their wake. The pain melded with your pleasure as she abused your insides, her fingers pressing in and out of you faster and faster. Her other hand trailed back up your skin, before she tapped at your mouth. She smiled as you opened up, and she gently pressed them into your mouth, roving inside, petting your tongue and the inside of your cheek. So gentle, even as her other fingers drilled into your hole, bullying every spot within you.

You could feel heat build within you, the contrast between her ministrations turning you on further. She forced you to orgasm, not stopping even as you whined in overstimulation, spit spilling out from around her fingers in your mouth.

She didn’t stop until tears clouded your vision, and then she pulled away so suddenly it made your head spin. You gasped for air, unable to form a sentence as your ragged breathing filled the room. You could still feel her grinding into your thigh, her sticky wetness coating your flesh. She leaned forward, licking at the tear tracks on your face as she finally pulled away from your thigh, instead settling herself between you again.

“You look so cute with tears in your eyes,” Sparkle cooed. She moved, caging you in with her arms, her hands settled by your shoulders as her knees kept your legs spread. She kissed at the back of your neck, nipping at the skin here and there, and sucking bruises into your flesh as she fostered the flame of your desire. She pulled one of your hands up, lacing your fingers together.

Suddenly, you could feel something shift. She seemed to take up more space, her hand heavier where it sat atop yours. Adrenaline rushed through your veins as you felt the body of a man drape over you, the hard line of a cock digging into your back.

Your brows furrowed, your head turning enough to see what she’d done. Instead of Sparkle, the visage of one of her friends, (coworkers?), Sampo, greeted you instead. It was disconcerting hearing her ragged breathing in your ear, her normal voice replaced by one several octaves deeper. “Sparkle, what are you doing?” you asked, your previous anxiety knotting up your stomach.

Instead of answering you, she simply chuckled, the noise grating your nerves. You wiggled beneath her, trying to dislodge and get out from under her, but she simply pressed further into you, laying all of her weight on you as she pressed you into the bed. You kicked at her legs. “C’mon cut it out,” you said. Despite your protesting, you could feel your arousal spike, warmth building beneath your skin at the situation.

She kissed your ear, her lips rougher than you were used to. “Shh, it’s okay,” she said.

You could feel your heart jump to your throat as she pressed her cock to your hole, teasing for now. “Sparkle stop, let’s talk fir- Ah!” She cut you off with a rough thrust in, sheathing herself in your heat in one thrust. Tears pricked at the corner of your eyes, the rough stretch burning into you. It was a lot to take at once. You had no idea if her copy was, uh, exact to Sampo’s real size, or if she’d made it the size she wanted, but if it was an exact copy then you had to admit the guy had a huge dick. You felt like you could feel it in your throat, as she roughly pulled out before slamming back into you, punching a moan out of you at the harsh treatment.

She grinded into you, pulling whimpers out of you at the insistent movement. Hearing her moan caused guilt to spike in you, hearing her voice - Sampo’s voice - like this felt like you were intruding on him in so many ways. Guilt settled heavy in your gut, you felt guilty getting off to this, to someone who wasn’t Sparkle, even if it was actually her doing this to you, pulling your head apart in such a way. Your tears finally spilled down your cheeks, the guilt of the situation causing them to fall one after another.

Despite everything, though, arousal still burned in your veins. Which became all the more apparent as she began to fuck you at a steady pace. You felt trapped beneath her, where normally there were soft lines and curves, you had dense, hard and heavy muscle caging you in, pressed against you as she practically smothered you beneath her, forcing you to just take what she was giving you, nowhere to run.

Her cock scraped you raw, physically and emotionally draining as she pistoned into you, directly targeting your sweet spots. It didn’t take long to bring you close to cumming, but you tried to hold yourself back, not wanting to cum, not like this, not when she wasn’t herself.

The hand that held yours pinned to the bed squeezed your fingers, and her other hand trailed to your neck, pinning your head to the bed as you felt her breath caress your ear as she spoke, “I can feel you clenching on my cock,” she purred, punctuating the statement with a particularly hard thrust, forcing a whine from your throat. “Go on, cum. Cum to someone who isn’t me.”

You choked on a moan, fresh tears spilling down your cheeks as you snapped, cumming and clenching down onto her cock. You felt gross afterwards, and you knew your face was a mess from the crying.

Sparkle didn’t stop though, continuing to fuck you through your high and through your regret and through your guilt and shameful arousal. She chuckled, the sound deep, the vibration rocking your chest. “So cute,” she said, staring at your fucked out face and tear tracks. “Gonna make me cum at this rate.” Her pace picked up as she fucked you into the bed, not letting you move even as you shuddered through overstimulation.

She moaned into your ear, the sound going straight to your core. You could feel her cock twitch within you, and as she finally came, her cum spilling deep into you, she bit down on your shoulder, teeth sunk deep into your flesh. You whined as she pulled her teeth out, instead licking at the wound before biting into another spot.

You thought after she came she’d stop fucking into you, but as she fucked her cum deeper into you, her cock still rock hard, you could tell she had no intentions of stopping yet. Your hand grasped at the sheets, trying to ground yourself as she bullied your insides until you saw stars.

“You like getting fucked like this?” Sparkle asked. “Like you’re just a stupid toy for me?” You whimpered, your cheeks heating up at her words.

The pleasure seemed to be never-ending, until she completely withdrew from you. For a second you thought maybe she’d grown tired of this, that she'd given you mercy, but then she half forced you into flipping over onto your back.

It was so much worse being able to see her like this, Sampo’s sleazy smile taunting you as she watched you like a hawk. Being able to see the flush on his cheeks, his disheveled hair, finally seeing the flushed cock between his legs. “It’s rude to stare.” Sparkle said, nudging herself between your legs, grasping her cock and guiding it to your hole again, slowly pressing into you as you hissed in pain from overstimulation.

Strong hands grasped beneath your knees, pushing your thighs up, up, up, until your muscles screamed at the strain and they laid flat to your chest. Your face contorted in pain, the position tweaking your muscles, but that only caused Sparkle to let out a throaty laugh.

“I just want to eat you alive,” she said. She pressed further into you and your breath left you all at once as her cock forced itself further into you, the new position allowing her to hit deeper into you, causing your hands to fly to her back to hold onto something. Sampo was way broader than Sparkle, bulky in a way your girlfriend definitely wasn’t. Hard back muscles flexed beneath your fingertips as you dug your nails into her back.

She leaned forward, trying to kiss you, but you tilted away, not wanting to kiss her like this. Her smile slid away, a frown tugging at her mouth. “Don’t be a brat,” she said, tugging your chin until you faced her again and she could press your lips to hers.

It felt rougher than usual, her lips slightly chapped. She snapped her hips, the sudden movement causing you to moan in surprise and she took the opportunity to shove her tongue into your mouth.

She fucked into you once more, her cock bullying you open hard and fast as she pressed into you. The kiss wasn’t any gentler. It was barely kissing at this point, instead she was practically tongue fucking your mouth. She was overwhelming you, wholly and utterly. Normally, you loved being overwhelmed by her, but guilt still pressed into you, roiling in your gut, blending and braiding into your arousal until it was impossible to separate them.

Your third orgasm came out of nowhere, hitting you hard as you clenched down onto her, milking her cock as you moaned around her tongue. Your nails raked down her back, causing her to whine at the sting. Your eyes flew open, locking with hers as she was already watching you, her eyes half lidded as she watched you as a predator stalks its prey.

You couldn’t stop your noises, whining and whimpering as overstimulation held you firmly in its grasp. Sparkle shoved her cock into you, upping the ante as she pulled her mouth away, fully bracing herself before snapping into you even faster, harder than before. You yelped, sobs leaving your throat as it turned truly painful.

Her cheeks were red, her gaze piercing as she watched you cry, a smile creeping onto her face as she shuddered. That expression was so delightful. Her nails dug into your thighs, as she thrust into you. Her hips stuttered as she came again, but she didn’t stop yet, fucking her cum deep into you until she was satisfied.

Finally, she pulled out of you, gently lowering your legs back onto the bed as she shifted, laying on to her side as she gathered your broken form into her arms. You felt a bit hollow, your hole empty as you felt cum spill out. Her illusion finally fell away as she pressed close to you, her arm wrapped around your waist.

She pressed apologetic kisses into your shoulder and neck. “Too rough?”

“No. Just caught me really off guard shifting like that,” you admitted.

You could feel her smirk on your skin. “But it was good.”

“Felt good, just hurt a bit because it was you but not.” You could feel her smile drop, as she hummed at your confession.

Sparkle’s voice was low as she spoke, “Sometimes I forget you really love me. Sorry.”

You grabbed her hand, lacing your fingers together. “Love you,” you murmured. You were exhausted after all of that.

She hummed in appreciation but Sparkle didn’t say anything. Though, the way she squeezed you tighter to her spoke volumes.

You started to drift to sleep but the only thing you could think was that although you were excited to start traveling with Sparkle, you really hoped she wouldn’t take you to see Sampo any time soon. It’d be really hard to look him in the eyes.

[urfavebookworm]

Your Muse

Aone Takanobu X Reader

Warnings: None. Implied fem. reader, but I think all references to the reader are relatively gender neutral.

Just a short story for Aone, who definitely doesn’t get enough recognition. I hope you guys enjoy!

Aone paced back and forth outside the door, trying to hype himself up enough to open it and walk through it. Anyone walking by would be questioning what horrifying scenario was going on behind the door to make the stoic, 6’4 Aone anxious to walk through. Much to their surprise, it is infact an art club. 

Aone has very little interest in art, yet he found himself watching YouTube tutorials late into the night on how to do a basic anatomical drawing. The reason, of course, was you. 

You, who had caught his eye all those months ago when you asked him for directions to the Chemistry lab. Most people would avoid Aone like the plague, claiming he was too intimidated and scary to approach. But not you. You had tapped him on the shoulder and asked him, a slight embarrassed blush dusting your cheeks, and asked him with no qualms. 

Since then, he’s payed special attention to you; sneaking glances at you as you giggle with your friends over a silly joke, ripping your hair out in the library as you try to solve a particularly challenging maths equation for the umpteenth time. He remembers one time you even showed up to one of his games. He knows damn well that you were probably forced to go by one of your friends who knew someone on the team, but on quiet evenings he likes to close his eyes and pretend you were there for him, to cheer him on and support him. 

So how did all of this lead to him standing outside of the art classroom at 4.30pm on a Tuesday, when he should be taking advantage of his day off from training? 

As he had been walking to class yesterday morning, he noticed you handing out fliers promoting your new art club (American tv show style) and encouraging people passing by to join it. As he walked by, trying to stare at you inconspicuously, you pushed a flier into his hand. Startled, he stopped in his tracks. You mistook this for him taking interest in the flier and your eyes lit up. “You should join!! It will be really fun!” You smile. 

Aone knew deep down that this was a persuasive tactic, and the big smile and encouragement to join was clearly something you would say to anyone who showed interest. Despite this blatant fact, he decided to pretend you were asking him specifically to join, and Aone wouldn’t deny you anything, especially if it meant he got to spend more time around you. 

So here he was, taking deep breaths and trying to steel his nerves. Deciding to just get it over with, he knocked gently on the door before pushing it open. 

Inside, the chatter and clattering of paintbrushes against glass jars filled with water stopped, as everyone turned to look at him. 

Immediately, his face went up in flames and he took a step back, ready to skitter away, thoroughly spooked. Before he got the chance to, you leap forwards. “You came!” You call out in excitement, and grab the sleeve of his shirt to pull him into the room. He moves at your command with no resistance, staring directly at the point of contact between your hand and his sleeve. 

Aone sits down at the large table and becomes instantly aware that he is the only man in the room. He notices two of your friends elbow one another and whisper furiously to eachother, lacking any subtlety at all. 

Turning to face you, he just catches the end of your sentence, “-happy to start with pencil?”

He gives a firm nod, trying to remember what he practiced last night. 

Thankfully, you step away to help someone else set up their canvas. If you had stood and watched him, he is fairly certain he would have forgotten how to draw a straight line. 

Despite the fact that he’s only using a pencil and rubber, Aone’s large frame is lumbersome and bulky. He finds himself knocking into things and akwardly bumping into the table, causing a number of colouring pencils to  crash to the ground. 

Eventually he gets the hang of moving in smaller, gentle movements to avoid shaking the large communal table. 

In his peripheral vision he can see your friends whispering animatedly to you, clearly scheming. 

After another few minutes, he almost jumps when he hears one of them all out, “Aone would you mind coming over here? We need your opinion on (name)’s drawing!” 

He blinks in surprise and watches as the girl yelps, clearly having just been kicked or pinched under the table. However, nobody tells him to ignore what she just said, so he stands up and walks over towards you. 

“What do you think?” Your other friend asks, a devilish smirk on her face. On your page is an intricate drawing of a landscape, filled with prosperous trees and a gently sloping lake. 

The work is highly impressive and he is very aware that he wouldn’t be able to do something as good as that, even if given all of the supplies in the world. 

“It’s lovely” he says simply, his deep, rumbling voice causing your eyes to widen slightly and colour to deepen in your face. 

Out of the corner of his eye he catches a flash of movement and his hand shooter out, catching a glass bottle filled with paint water before it crashes and shatters on the ground. 

It was simply the result of muscle memory and quick reflexes that have been honed in basketball, so he thinks nothing of it. 

However, he finds himself feeling slightly

smug and pleased with himself when all of your friends let out little gasps of awe and ask him if his ‘spidey-senses were tingling’. 

The rest of the art class passed peacefully, with you and Aone catching eachothers eye over the table a number of times, followed by the both of you promptly turning beetroot red. 

Aone was thoroughly glad he had agreed to join the club, because he got to see you completely in your element, laughing with your friends and working on something you enjoyed. 

At 5.30, everyone began to file out the door. Aone washed the dirty plates covered in paint and helped you organise the space, reluctant to leave you any early than he absolutely had to. 

“Can I help?” Aone asks, and butterflies erupt in your stomach at the unexpected use of his calm, baritone voice. 

You were currently trying to haul up your overflowing bag of art supplies, while simultaneously balancing your A3 art book and an expensive set of charcoal pencils. 

“Oh you don’t have to! I’m sure you’re anxious to get home” you respond sweetly, smiling. 

Aone doesn’t move, having already made a decision to help you. He knows his mother would scold him if he knowingly left someone to carry a huge amount of stuff by themselves, most of all a lady. 

“Look at the size of you” she would say, swatting his arm lightly “you need to make use of it”. 

He steps forward and gently picks up your heavy case full of artworks and your A3 notebook. 

“Thank you” you say “you really don’t have to”. Just as he was about to shake his head and firmly inform you that he did have to (as he had self assigned himself to help you in any way possible), you cut him off by letting out a laugh. 

Aone eyed you curiously, unsure why you are laughing but very grateful you are doing so. 

You gesture to the A3 notebook in his hands “Up against you, it looks tiny!” You explain, and Aone looks down to see that the large notebook does indeed look rather small against his tall frame. 

You walk in companionable silence on the way to the train station. When you walk by a restaurant you recognise, you begin to tell him a story about a memorable time you went there and ended up meeting your favourite author, completely by coincidence! From there you tell him about your favourite books, which leads to you comparing them to their movie formats, and then you name all of your favourite films. By the time you reach the train station, you realise you’ve flicked through about 4 different topics and not once asked him if for his opinion or if he even cared about what you were talking about. You clamp your mouth shut, mortified at the idea that he may be bored out of his mind, or worse, think you were incredibly annoying. 

At first, Aone thinks you’re considering your next conversation topic, and frowns when you stay silent for 2 whole minutes. 

“Don’t stop. I like hearing your thoughts” he says, looking you directly in the eyes as you await your train. 

You blink at him, surprised, and a warm feeling swells up in your chest. Smiling at him, you begin to call out a pros and cons of whether the cinema or watching movies at home is better. 

When the both of you got onto the train, Aone tried to make himself as small as possible, so that he wasn’t crowding you. He wasn’t used to having someone sit beside him on the train, and felt himself blush slightly when anyone glanced over at the two of you. He secretly hoped people assumed you guys were a couple. 

You continued to chatter throughout the train ride, making the time pass quickly. 

Sooner than Aone would have liked, your stop comes. He insists on coming with you to help you carry your art work home, despite the fact it will cost him an extra 30 minutes and 150 Yen, he decides it is very much worth it for the extra few minutes he gets to spend with you. 

The two of you are walking down a quiet street side by side when a strong gust of wind send a few papers flying out of your overflowing art case. You smile at eachother and begin collecting the spare pages. 

Aone picks up a page that holds a number of charcoal sketches of a masculine figure. He’s about to hand it over to you, thinking nothing of it, until he picks up on the anxious way you’re glancing at it. Inspecting it more closely, he notices two things. 

You are an INCREDIBLE artist 

The man in the sketch looks suspiciously like him

Aone is thoroughly impressed by the way you can capture so much life in a few simple strokes. He notices the tall, broad man in the drawing carrying out a range of tasks, varying from standing, sitting, eating and most noticeably, playing volleyball. 

The figure looks powerful and strong as he jumps to block a volleyball, and practicing hitting it over the net. 

Surely he’s misunderstood. There is simply no way you were using him as a reference for any, it must be another one of his teammates, or maybe a random player you had simply found online. 

Just to make sure, he turned around the page and finds another drawing, a much more recent one judging by the way the charcoal still looks fresh enough to smear. 

It’s a drawing of a man hunched over a page, clearly deeply concentrated as he tries to draw something. 

In the bottom corner of the page he sees handwriting that is not yours (a friend perhaps?) which has your initial beside his in an exaggeratedly large love heart. He feels his heart rate spike. 

When he looks up at you, your head is cradled in your hands and you seem to be letting out a low stream of curse words. 

“What is this?” He asks dumbly, refusing to let himself get carried away without your confirmation. 

“Drawings. Of you” you admit, wincing. 

“Oh” he says, nodding as if this is the most natural thing in the world, while internally he is running in circles like an overly excitable puppy. “Why?” He asks simply. 

You bring your hands down from around your head, ready to face the music. You stand tall, deciding not to be cowed by your emotions, however silly and irrelevant they may be. 

“Because I like you” you say plainly. “Also you have a great figure. Really good for practicing anatomy. Like, you can see every muscle and vein when you’re training and-“ you cut yourself off abruptly, realising you’re babbling and delaying the inevitable.  

You’re currently waiting for the sweet boy you’ve had your eye in to shake his head sympathetically and gently tell you that he doesn’t feel the same way. You’re expecting him to at least try to disguise the mild discomfort at having been so closely watched that you’ve drawn images of him, and vaguely confused as to why you’ve decided you ‘like’ someone who you have had very minimal interactions with. 

What you aren’t expecting is for him to have a small smile take over his face, as his eyes retrace over the drawings. “Thank you” he says. “I think I like you too” he continues. 

His admission surprises you so much that you drop the papers you’ve just recovered from the wind, causing them to scatter at your feet. 

He helps you collect them again and you notice the rising colour in his neck. 

“…would you like to go to get coffee some time?” Aone asks, his shyness a juxtaposition to his imposing height and straight posture. 

“Yes, I would like that very much” you grin back at him, your heart racing and the large smile on your face making your cheeks ache. 

When you had worked up the courage to ask your muse for directions that fateful day, you had never expected that he would help take your relationship into an entirely new direction in future. 

[momentomori24]

Keiji is a character that I'm pretty sure every one of us can recognize is an absolute weirdo (ok maybe some are too hard on copium for the "weirdo" part) and sketchy as hell, but thinking about everything he's done it really feels like he's so much shady and ruthless than we give him credit for. So here's me bulletpointing some the moments that I haven't seen too many talk about, a little theory throwing his status into question and addressing the massive elephant in the room that almost everyone refuses to acknowledge. If there's something else you feel I missed or wanted to evaluate on, do leave it in the comments.

[Also, disclaimer: I will be discussing Keiji and Sara in a romantic light near the end of this post, so if that makes you uncomfortable please proceed with caution or skip entirely. This should go without saying but for my own sake I will say it anyway-- No, I do not condone their relationship in real life. No, this is not meant to be "shippy" or endorsement of any kind. This will simply be pointing out their dynamic as another example to prove the whole point of this rant. But if someone else does ship them that's totally fine. Fiction doesn't equal reality and if you harass a real person over fictional characters you will not see the light of heaven. Be civil, please and thank you. My block button is rated E for Everyone and if anyone decides to ignore the warnings and be an asshole I won't hesitate to use it. Thanks for listening. Disclaimer over.]

*Being a murderer.

I feel like I should start with the most obvious and undeniable. I don't think this is debatable to anyone here. Mr. Policeman may have been an accident and kinda confirmed by Midori to have been set up, but he still shot and killed an unarmed man in a moment of panic and recklessness. Even putting that aside, there's no denying that he killed Megumi in cold blood to get out of his debt to her and covered it up to the group to preserve his credibility. Regardless of what you think of Megumi, he has no excuse here. Not only is he one more kill away from being a serial killer, he's the only participant in our group that has actually killed people directly aside from Alice. Another reason why I bring this up is cuz something that completely flew over my head is this:

At the start of the game he had the audacity to complain about not having a partner or someone he knows with him like Sara does as if he didn't literally let Megumi get ripped apart by chains probably not even an hour ago Keiji what the hell--

*Throwing Kanna under the bus repeatedly.

Despite positioning himself as a protector and someone to rely on, he's far from above putting their youngest members in danger. Next to voting for the fourteen year old girl to die, he had the great idea of letting said fourteen year old be the one to babysit their biggest liability. Up to the point where they would stay in the same room both day and night. While I absolutely 100% trust that Sou would never EVER do anything to her, Keiji had no guarantee of that when he send her off. Hell, he literally just got done accusing Sou of setting Joe up to die (which I don't believe almost solely based on the fact that he said it, more on that another time maybe). He knew Sou was bad news, and openly acknowledges how adults can be terrifying, but he did it anyway. The dubiety of throwing the already traumatised little girl to keep watch on what they thought to be the most dangerous adult that had manipulated her once before is not lost on me, and that he didn't take any responsibility for her afterwards isn't lost on me either. To be fair, the Sou and Kanna thing doesn't just fall on him, it falls on everybody (Alice gets a pass because he actually swapped out with Kanna to watch Sou for her), but he was the one with the final say on the matter and who encouraged her to take the role despite Reko's rightful protests. The fact that he also voted for her to die in the Main Game, and is the only adult to do so, doesn’t help his case.

*Attempting to frame Sou knowing Reko was actually responsible.

While you could argue he was trying to cover for her since he knew why she did what she did, trying to pin this act on Sou to cast more doubt on his is extremely shitty. Never mind the blatant corruption and the irony of a supposed man of the law abusing his power to knowingly frame an innocent person (in this situation at least), and him sowing more seeds of confusion and resentment within an already rattled group, and giving Sou legitimate reason to be suspicious of him (and by extension Sara)-- this makes it so difficult to trust him after realising he's done this. Literally every time he accuses someone of being or doing something suspicious (mostly Sou), I always have to think in the back of my head if he’s telling the truth or just telling a blatant lie. He's shown that he's willing to not only lie to cover for himself, but to lie to delegitimize someone else. And Sara never caught onto it (Sou and maybe even Nao likely did tho). She never openly acknowledged it-- No one did. The complete lack of mention of what he did here makes this action quite missable. Hell, I didn't even catch it the first time. Has he done this before? Who else has he lied about? Who else would he lie about? Who else would he knowingly pit against the group? You don't have to wait for that answer, because I will provide an example later. And with "later", I mean now.

*Casting suspicion on Gin before the vote while hiding the fact that he killed Megumi.

While it's not as blatant as with Kanna, there are two instances where Keiji shows a readiness to either put or leave Gin in harm's way. The biggest one for me is in the Main Game. Like, how dare you. That is a furry child, sir. This kid’s like TWELVE. Even though he makes a valid point about calling out suspicious actions to clear them up so we can all trust each other, casting doubt on Gin of all people right there feels pretty screwed to me. This was before the preliminary vote. His words could’ve very well gotten Gin voted for if he couldn’t disclose why he did what he did for whatever reason and therefore being unable to clear himself from suspicion. It’s even more fucked when you realise that Keiji has literally murdered his partner and is currently planning to get Sou killed while giving this whole spiel about doubting others so that we can believe them and pointing the finger at a little kid to make an example to the group. But when Nao, Sou and Sara call him out on his suspicious actions that could rightfully damage his credibility, he tries to shut them down completely. My brother in Christ, you brought it on FIRST (don’t get me wrong I’m very much aware he didn’t really mean the whole “trusting each other” bit but come on dude)--

Speaking about not meaning what he says:

*Letting the group think he’s Ok to vote for knowing he’s the Keymaster.

This kinda got to me because I thought this was Keiji actually being… vulnerable? Accepting the consequences of his actions and allowing them to vote for him in their distrust without protest even tho it could cost him his life, maybe. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I can’t remember a lot of times-- or any times, really-- where Keiji has willing put himself into the line of fire, at this point at least. He always finds a way to keep himself safe, give himself insurance, and I thought that this would be the one time he doesn’t do that. But this feels so ominous looking back knowing that he was the Keymaster the whole time. That our distrust and betrayal and his resignation to it all didn’t matter because he was going to be safe no matter what. That he knowingly allowed us to assume that he was a safe vote because he didn’t want his plan to kill Sou to be ruined, which narrowed down choice of people we can safely vote for even further. That this action is ultimately the reason why Sou and Kanna were our only options to kill off in the end. If he had admitted it there, we could’ve found someone else to vote for so our final options could consist of three people, not two. But he didn’t, and the rest is history. There’s a lot of things he’s done I can’t get over. This one ranks pretty high. The second Main Game is already a huge sore spot for me for obvious reasons; knowing that a lot of the things that happened were due to his inaction where it truly mattered and activity in all the wrong places doesn’t make me fee any better. He didn't say he was a safe vote-- he didn't lie-- but his words carefully omit that voting for him means a total party death, something he should've stated then (and before this, really).

*Leaving Sara with the sacrifice card.

Despite making a big show about “always being by her side” and being her “reliable policeman”, he chose to look away when she was in real danger. He attached himself to her as her right hand man, made her shoulder the responsibility of being the leader, constantly manipulated and flattered her to win her trust and gain her favour-- but when she needed him the most, he basically left her for dead because it was the most beneficial to him. Keep in mind that not only did he know about her getting the sacrifice (he was also the sage so he'd have seen the trade happen), but he had the tokens to help her get rid of it. But those tokens weren’t for her life. They were for his. He used them instead to give himself the Keymaster as insurance for the Main Game (the Keymaster he stole from Sou/Kanna most likely to buy Sara’s trust btw). His desperation for survival outweighed his sense of obligation to keep her safe, and that’s the most subtle yet transparent he’s been about his selfishness. What makes this so much worse is that Keiji is our support character. He’s an ally, and our closest one at that, to the point where Sara burned her hands in a futile attempt to rescue him and signed her life away to save his. And yet his loyalty and protectiveness pale in comparison to other characters. Compare his actions to Sou’s: one of their many parallels and similarities is that both their girls get hit with the sacrifice card. As we’ve established, Keiji was fully aware of Sara being send the sacrifice by Sou, had 50 tokens ready to go and chose to secure his own survival than save her life. Kanna ended up doing it instead, attempting to trade the card off Sara with Sou realising what happened immediately. And what does Sou do? Completely bend over backwards trying to keep her alive. He lied about being the Sacrifice so the others wouldn’t suspect Kanna of having that role, meaning he could try gathering vote for her without anyone seeing his true intentions. He tried to stop her about coming out with the truth of what she had done so she doesn’t sentence herself to death. After everything he did to survive-- after how much he lied, how much he schemed, how much he hurt, and how he had thrown himself away to replace everything that made him Shin with the man that had traumatised him years before the game began to scrape together even the tiniest chance to survive-- he threw it all to the wind and was willing to let it all be in vain if it meant she got to make it out of the Main Game alive. The worst part is that Sou had never intended to make it through that Main Game. He confessed to already knowing that Kanna would choose Sara over him if she truly had the Sacrifice card. Yet he still did what he did all in the hopes that she could win. Because it was all about her survival first, not about them surviving together.

It also gives a different context to Sou's panic and him stumbling over his words trying to come up with any argument to get them to stop. At first I thought that Sou was afraid for his life. Which would make sense-- Keiji and Q-taro set him up to die and seemed pretty adamant on having everyone voting for him to get it all over with. But he was already prepared to die the minute he realised Kanna traded with Sara. So it means it wasn’t his life he was fearing for here-- it was hers. To him, if they voted for him there, it wouldn’t have just been his end but hers too. But we know that Kanna isn’t the one who has the sacrifice. It’s Nao, and considering how the Main Game can end either or both of them dead, I wonder if he regrets not having given up there, not letting Keiji get away with that shitty stunt he pulled knowing it would’ve at least guaranteed her safety than leave her fate in hands of a girl with enough reason to kill her. Ignoring the sounds of my heart shattering into pieces for the 100th time thinking about the Greenblings, it’s so fascinating that our biggest rival and most distrusted member has a greater sense of loyalty and responsibility for his ally than Keiji has for his own. Sou can be a liar and manipulative and selfish, but for how unpredictable he is something I can always trust is his love for those he holds dear (Kanna) and general desire to protect our most vulnerable (Gin). Sou loves Kanna, and so he’s fine with protecting her even if it comes at a price he never wanted to pay. Keiji surely cares about Sara, but unfortunately that is something I can’t say about him-- at least at that time (also the fact that Sou ended up taking more care and responsibility for Kanna despite Keiji having been the one to throw her on him in the first is so ironic).

*Continuously pushing Sara to take on the role of leader.

I think one of Keiji's biggest failures in the game come from his treatment of Sara despite positioning himself as her most reliable ally and her partner. From the very get-go, he was very adamant of making Sara be the one to shoulder the responsibility of the group. He, along with Joe (he didn't do anything wrong here), pushed Sara to be the Challenger during the Russian Roulette, despite Q-taro and Kai being readily available. He made Sara be the one to interrogate the suspicious convict while distancing himself from the situation. And he encourages her to lead them through the Main Game, lets her make the choices that steer them all forward and as a consequence take the fall for them as well. Rather than take on the role himself, or let another adult take it, he places his full trust in her and makes her shoulder everyone's weight so he doesn't have to. And he can see the effect it has on her: having horrific hallucinations due to the immense guilt she feels. But having Sara as their leader gives him a greater shot at survival and helps his credibility, so even though he tries to provide her comfort he still continues to keep her in that role. Again, the high schooler taking responsibility for the adults falls on a lot of the older people here, but Keiji was the one who kickstarted it rather than just go along with it like everyone else had. Gin, Nao, Kanna, Reko and even fucking Sou to an extent all have moments where they take the burden off her and relieve her of that pain she shoulders all the time (or at least try to). I need Keiji to take more responsibility for both the group and for her.

*Pitting Sara and Joe against each other.

This is just another example of the previous point. This isn't as bad, and I could give him the benefit of the doubt that this might have not been intentional, but it's something I want to bring up regardless. I'll be the first to say that Keiji wasn't wrong here. Prying into everyone's votes is a very bad move, especially since no one knew that Mishima would actually die (it was introduced as a practice round, after all). I agree with him, Joe was being rash, but instead of leaving the conversation there, he decided to throw Sara into it to pick a side. Which is... not good. He already won the argument and already had Reko on his side. Bringing in Sara could not only make Joe feel worse and potentially strain their relationship (especially if she rightfully chooses Keiji's side like he was expecting and hoping for), but just puts Sara in the spotlight during something she doesn't want to be part of. While there's a chance he might've done this because he know Joe is more likely to listen to her than him, he should've known better than that. It again makes her take the responsibility of giving the final verdict that would've otherwise gone to him.

*Asking Sara to take responsibility for his life

I've got nothing other that the grown adult swearing his life to the grieving, unstable teenager to take responsibility for while asking her if she'd die along with him is weird as heck. Keiji's said weirder things prior to this, but this one is a different weird. I think Beanieman's post mostly echoes my thoughts on this on, so I'll link it here for this point. This part kinda bothers me:

He shouldn't be encouraging her taking on anymore responsibility than she already is. He knows that the deaths that happened under her leadership haunt her. He knows that she's very much unstable enough already, to the point where he takes baby-steps to avoid triggering her trauma over Joe. He positioned himself as her reliable partner, her rock to lean on (quite literally sometimes). We see first hand how emotionally dependent she is on him. If he died, it would destroy her-- she'd destroy herself over it. He knows this (or should) but he still does it. His disappointment and dismissiveness when she understandably rejects him makes it worse. The guilt of potentially not living up to his expectations is not what she needs.

*Potentially working for Asunaro

This is more ambiguous than everything else here and more a theory than anything but it's been on my mind for a long time that Ranmaru might actually be onto something here. We know that Asunaro has a strong hold on the police. Midori was able to infiltrate the force, and they were able to get rid of Mr. Policeman for looking into the corruption going on, first having Megumi fire him and secondly getting Keiji to kill him by planting false info about the suspect having a gun. Megumi was also able to get Keiji off the hook for murder, which I believe Asunaro had a hand in too (I theorize this might've been her wish). There's also Alice, who was arrested and sent to prison despite the fact that he (legally) didn't kill anyone since Midori was a doll. The police are connected to Asunaro-- by extension Megumi and extending further potentially Keiji.

Something I've seen someone rightfully point out is that neither of the options you're given to say in response to the accusation... actually deny it? Both choices dance around answering directly, which is suspect as fuck. If Keiji truly wasn't with Asunaro, why not shut that theory down immediately? There's no benefit to answering anything but "no" when he's innocent, and he's lied straight to people's faces for less. So why not just debunk it? I think it's cuz there might be some truth to what Ranmaru was saying here. The biggest reason I think this is because despite the fact that Keiji quit the force, he and Megumi were still associating with each other years later. They were kidnapped together and partnered up for their first trial. One missable piece of dialogue is Keiji admitting that he was with his partner-- or rather a "coworker"-- before getting knocked out.

That slip of the tongue and backtracking makes me believe this part to be true. Him switching from "my partner" to "a coworker", which is a lot more distant and impersonal, makes me think it's got to be Megumi. However, I don't believe that Keiji would wanna keep in touch with her after what happened willingly, so I can only imagine that it's due to that debt he has to her. My little game theory here is that after the shooting, the debt he owed her was a forced recruitment into Asunaro. It's the only thing I can imagine he meant by "the worst kind of debt", a debt he'd literally let her die for to get out of. And if this is true, then it could also explain away his instant attachment to Sara, since he'd know beforehand that she's someone he can depend on due to her having the highest chance at survival. Maybe he already knew about her beforehand, one way or the other. We know Hayasaka did (which I think we as a fandom moved on from way too fast btw). Kai and Sou did too. There's always a chance. And unlike Sou's victory rate and Midori's favourite number, it's not zero. One person made a comic about this idea I recommend checking it out, it's tastefully unsettling. But still very much unsetling and uncomfortale. Be warned that it's also Keisara-centred, so if that makes you even more uncomfortable they did the job right you can ignore it. Proceed with caution or don't read if you don't like.

*Being a predator

I have been waiting so long for this one XD For context: a while ago I made a longpost discussing the sanitisation of soushin and this kind of toxic attitudes in fandoms regarding "problematic content" (ships, characters, shows, you name it). In it, I mentioned that it's not only soushin that receives this treatment but a certain other dynamic too. It's not a rainy day, however this has been way overdue and if I don't get this done now I never will.

Something I've seen a lot, and I mean a LOT-LOT is this notion that Keiji acts "like a father" to Sara and that their relationship is a completely platonic father-daughter bond and that he's the resident dad of the group? Like, it's cute, but that's not at all what their relationship is. At all. Not even a little bit. We called Sou and Kanna siblings before the Greenblings reveal. The difference is that not only does half the fandom think this man is gay, but he's only ever been protective and caring and loving without any romantic intentions towards Kanna ever. His title as her brother was deserved, based on the genuine affection and platonic protectiveness similar to that of Alice's. Keiji has made advances tho, on many occasions, and his flirting is repeatedly acknowledged by other characters. Namely Sou and Reko.

(Sou grills him for being a creep every chance he gets I love him XD) But yeah, these are not the type of reactions and comments you receive when being a "father-figure" to the teenager. You get all this when you hit on the teenager. Which he does all the time by calling her "cute" every time she asks something and his "cute little detective", swearing himself to her by saying that "he's always on her side" or something like that, asking her if she'd die alongside him, repeatedly claiming or insinuating that they're on a date, or ""having a moment"" and going to ""take the next step"" when in private (*cough* groomer *cough*)-- you name it, he likely said it. He's a walking-talking ladykiller machine and teenage girls aren't safe, apparently.

(Quick note: The dialogue for the Russian Roulette one is a tad different now. In the new translation he says "cause you're so darn cute" now. I dunno if that makes it sound any less weird, but I felt like putting that out there. What I'm also putting out there is that according to the trivia he calls her cute 8 times throughout the game so. Yeah. *Cough* groomer *COUGH COUGH*)

Like, who tf says this?? Especially that last part 💀 Even if you wanna die on the hill that these are supposed to be "jokes" not to be taken seriously, we should all be able to agree that the (ex)police officer in his late 20s jokingly hitting on the high schooler he follows around is still weirdo behaviour at best and down right despicable at worst. The fandom seeing lowkey predatory/inappropriate behaviour from a figure of authority persistent for almost three entire chapters and dismissing it as "fatherly" and "platonic" is, well, concerning. It's very concerning. If your dad acts like Keiji, you should probably call the police. Unfortunately for Sara, Keiji is the police. And considering this guy got away with manslaughter, I don't think said police would do anything anywho. But yeah-- he uses flattery and flirting to distract her from prodding to much at him while simultaneously aiming to gain favour in her eyes. He showers her with reassurance of his loyalty and affirmation of his deeper attachment towards her and her alone every chance he gets to cement his position as her closest and most trustworthy ally. He insinuates a romantic partnership between them to others to mostly keep her to himself or the two of them alone (he always does that when they're investigating or going to investigate by themselves). There's such an obvious romantic undertone to their relationship and his actions that it going almost completely ignored in the fandom feels weird to me.

I want to make clear that there's nothing wrong with headcanoning Keiji as a father figure to Sara. It's cute. Keiji didn't have a dad himself, and the closest thing to a father figure he had was the man he shot dead. He's a damaged and hardened guy. But Sara's dad is involved with Asunaro and Gin's is an alcoholic, and in a situation where they both need guidence and protection he tries his best to grow and change, fumbling to become that decent father none of them got to have. It's nice, and a wholesome dynamic for our "characters with memorandum counterparts and only non-determined deaths" trio. But that's obviously not what their dynamic is. There's a difference between headcanoning something and erasing canon and the Yttd fandom leans heavily into the latter. Keiji's a creep, he always has been, yet 90% of people I see always portray him as a Mr. Dad Guy or completely sanitise him to hell when him being creepy and unnerving to be around is what made him such a fascinating character. Just like I said with Soushin, the sanitisation to make canon more digestible is one thing: harassing or insulting the people that explore canon is another. I'm gonna take a bullet, derail this rant and say it-- Keisara shippers get so much shit for literally being right it's so infuriating. Keiji does hit on Sara, a lot. He's creepy and weird like that. Him flirting with her isn't a "mistranslation" or a joke or anything like that; his dubious wording and antics are very much intentional. Yet the only people I see actually addressing and acknowledging that without adding fluff is keisara shippers and other ""proshippers"" only for them to get fucking sniped for it I cannot 💀💀 I have yet to meet a single eastern fan who calls this cop "fatherly". This really feels like such a western issue cuz the majority of the japanese fandom agrees that this man's a predator (correct me if i'm wrong but keisara is the most popular ship in the japanese side of the fandom, right?). Then again, eastern fandoms are more chill over there when it comes to separating fiction and reality in general anywho.

*Yeah, I think I'm done with the Keiji slander. Yay. Time to unceremoniously end this.

There's more to say about that, but this is a Keiji post, not another shipping discourse post (although it's hard discussing Keiji's predatory behaviour without bringing it up too). Before I do spiral from the original point, I'm going to try and reach some sort of conclusion here. While I did spent the majority of this post just reading Keiji to filth, and am very salty towards him in particular, this was not just to rake him through mud for my own sanity (tho it's part of it XD). Keiji's character is that he started off as someone who wanted to do the right thing, someone who wanted to be good and moral and protect others by joining the force only to kill all the progress he made along with the person who inspired him to become an officer in the first place. It heavily contrasts the Keiji we have now, a sleazy, unreliable and corrupt ex detective who flirts with underage girls and is willing to resort to the most bankrupt of decisions to save himself. A man that has long lost hope of his wounds healing that he lets them fester and his rot spread onto others. And while I headcanon Keiji to just inherently be a piece of shit, his former self tried his best to be genuinely good before he became so convinced he can never be better that he made peace with his shittiness in the end.

With all this I wanted to highlight some the shadier and bankrupt things he's done that I haven't seen much discussion around and refresh myself on them before the final part. Both so no matter how emotionally dependent and therefore rose-tinted Sara is about the man I don't forget what he's actually like and what he's done while also being able to appreciate how much he's changed for the better. Some of my favourite examples about how he's changed are these:

Before the second Main Game Keiji was willing to let Sara and Kanna die because it was the most beneficial option for him, but in Chapter 3 he takes the on the role of "it" from Kanna and refuses to tag Sara when he thought he was gonna die after failing to beat Midori.

Actually showing more sympathy towards Sou after the Main Game. He was very mean about dismantling his pretence of a cold front to Kanna's death, don't get me wrong, but he showed a lot more consideration and understanding for Sou's feelings and acknowledgement about his active role in it than he ever had beforehand.

He was genuinely fighting for everyone to survive the game, not just himself. While Keiji would prefer everyone making it out safely, he has a tendency to guarantee his own survival first through any means necessary. His plan to corner Midori in the banquet could've cost him his life if it weren't for Q-taro's final stunt, yet he still reassured Sara to save Gin even tho it could've resulted in his execution from Meister potentially finding him guilty of violating the rules.

Him hugging Mai and trying to be more cheerful was cute as heck. I'm sorry but him showing more vulnerability around his allies and being less closed off in a way he hasn't been before is something I'm very head empty about. That he was hugging and interacting with Mai without making any unwanted advances or ladykiller jokes and generally just having a more friendly vibe was nice. It makes his creeping on Sara more unfortunate, but I'll take what I can for now. The bar is in hell.

And that's it, I think. Overall, I hope they do address some of his actions here in the final part or make them have an impact on his and Sara's relationship. Especially that Asunaro part. The person who wished for Sara to join the death game is still unknown and so is Keiji's consent form wish (same goes for the Dummies, Hinako and Megumi), so I'm curious if they're related or not. If he's going to go down an even darker path or redeem himself as much as he can we'll see when the final part drops. He has the potential to go both ways. This is going to be kinda awkward if the next part reveals him to have been a decent guy all along, so hopefully that doesn't happen. Please be morally bankrupt, man. This post didn't end up the way I wanted it to, nor bring up as many points as I would've liked, but I know I won't finish it if I went full perfectionist on it (I already spent months on this writer's block do be a bitch) and it's looking kinda long already. Hopefully it's still decent enough as is right now. I'd like to say that this is my apology for the last longpost I made, but I brought up one of the most controversial and hated ships and traits of Keiji's character and defended them, so maybe I shouldn't 🙃 Anywho, hope you enjoyed and cheerio.

[swampstew]

Captain's little bitch

Summary: Play bitch games, win bitch prizes. Warnings: gender bent/ Fem Eustass Kid (dom) X Female Reader (sub), bdsm dynamics in the form of pet play obedience training, teasing, oral, pre-timeskip design :) WC: 800+

Eustass Kid couldn’t not make something into a competition. A character flaw you willingly overlooked because of your beneficial friendship with her. One that left you both very satisfied. What should have been a fun game to simply drink and enjoy each other’s company…

“This game is rigged,” the spicy redhead scoffed before tossing the deck of cards across her room in annoyance for her consecutive losses.

“You taught it to me. Maybe you don’t understand the rules that well.”

“HAAH?!” she doubled over laughing, “No, doll. You should know by now, I don’t follow them at all.”

“Well maybe someone should put you in your place,” you stuck your tongue out, knowing you were inviting trouble. But, it needed saying.

“And who’s gonna do it?” her golden eyes narrowed sharply and her voice took a begrudged tone. “You? Need I remind you to whom you’re talking?”

Her red clawed nails wrapped around your throat, not pressing too deep as she pulled your face to hers while making you crane your neck uncomfortably. Her smirk was devastatingly beautiful, even with the cruel gleam in her eyes.

“Just because I let you eat me out doesn’t mean you have any authority over me,” Kid growled menacingly. “In fact, I’d say you’re the one in dire need of obedience training.”

Shoving you down to your knees, Kid pushed your head with the sole of her foot. Once you were bowed before her, she sat down in her throne like chair lifting her leg and hooking it over the armrest. Her spotted yellow skirt rode up and you could see the glistening, silk panties you had gifted her, snugly fit around Kid’s mound. It made your mouth water.

“Since you think you can talk to me like you’re my equal, I’m gonna train you to be a good girl from the bad bitch that you are,” she smirked.

“Y-y—” you tried to talk back, a plea for leniency.

“Dog’s don’t talk!” Kid snapped, taking her belt off her waist, and whipping it in the air with a crack. “Bring me the muzzle and the strap. Go on, all fours. If you misbehave, I’ll whip your pretty little ass.”

With a shiver, you crawled towards the bed and reached for the trunk stashed underneath. Pulling the requested items, you couldn’t carry both toys in your position and you had no choice but to bite down on the straps.

They dangled from your mouth as you shuffled back to your mistress.

“That’s better, although…something still seems off,” she let the implication hang in the air before she suddenly stood up and ripped your clothes off leaving you in your lingerie.

“There. I don’t dress my dogs up. Now the only thing missing…and you better fuckin’ stay right there,” Kid moved about the cabin where you couldn’t see; you almost almost wanted to take a peek, feel the leather belt caress your cheeks with a passionate strike that was sure to have you writhing.

She was back before you could try, clipping something cold and heavy around your throat.

A golden chain.

A collar.

“Now you look like a proper pup. Let’s see if you can act like one for mommy,” she beckoned you to the chair with a clawed finger. Kid took off her shirt and skirt, revealing a corset that was hooked to the panties, and assumed her original seated position.

“Ledge,” she commanded.

Gulping, you crawled on your knees until you were directly in front of her. You slowly raised your hands and placed them on the edge of the chair.

“Good pup. Now beg.”

Your mouth opened indignantly, and as you started to speak Kid shot you a glare. Biting your lip, you lowered your head on top of your hands and made short, whining noises.

“Does the puppy want my forgiveness?” Kid mocked you, tracing your cheek with her fingers as if she were giving you scritches.

You nodded, echoing your whimpers in the hopes of pleasing her from your humiliation.

Kid cooed, drawing her fingers back and pressing them against her clothed pussy. Rubbing herself teasingly as she coldly glared at you.

“Does my bitch want my affections?”

Your hands wavered on the chair as you tried to draw yourself closer to the intoxicating scent of Kid’s arousal. Your eyes dilated, round and wide as you pleaded with your eyes. Nudging your head and nose against her warm thigh with another pitiful cry.

The redhead cracked a smile, dipped her finger under the fabric and gathered a generous amount of slick between her fingers.

“You can have a treat.”

She shoved her fingers between your drooling lips. Moaning around the digits as they explored your mouth, getting drunk off the taste of Eustass Kid’s juicy pussy.

With clean fingers, Kid pushed the soaked fabric aside and scooted herself closer to your face.

“Go on, lap it up. You’re gonna need your hydration with your punishment still coming.”

[cosmerelists]

If the "Chicken Dinner" Tradition Existed in the Cosmere...

"Chicken dinner" post requested by anon. :)

If you're not familiar with it, this is the "chicken dinner post." Basically, it's a tradition that Someone on the Internet has created, where you and a friend tear apart and eat an entire rotisserie chicken with your bare hands, fighting over it the whole time. Look, the post I linked explains it better.

Anyway, let's say this tradition (and also rotisserie chickens) existed throughout the Cosmere...

1. Sadeas & Dalinar: Firsthand Observations by Jasnah

--There was but a moment of sizing each other up from the edges of the tarp before both men charged directly at the chicken

--Dalinar kept his feet but Sadeas dove and so got the chicken first. He was able to get a few bites in before Dalinar dove onto him from above.

--There is now intense wrestling over the chicken.

--I observe that while Sadeas appears focused on getting as much chicken into his mouth as possible, Dalinar appears to be more focused on pinning his opponent to the mat--I mean, the tarp

--How did both men lose their shirts?

--Dalinar does now have Sadeas pinned, but the chicken is directly in front of Sadeas' head and he is STILL biting at it. I am not convinced that Dalinar has actually consumed any chicken at all.

--Sadeas has at length grown still. Dalinar has picked up the remains of the chicken carcass and is now holding it in both hands while he consumes it over Sadeas' prone form. However, I do observe that the most choice bits of the chicken do appear to have been consumed already--by Sadeas

--If this is a game with a winner, I do not know how to declare it in this case.

2. Tress & Huck: A Post-Chicken-Dinner Conversation

Tress: A-Again, I'm REALLY sorry. Huck: You don't have anything to be sorry about! Tress: Going in, I thought: well, it's just food, and Huck and I are friends, and I don't see why we can't just share the chicken peacefully. Tress: ... Tress: I don't know WHAT came over me! I ripped that chicken apart! I think I was growling at some point! Huck: Can confirm. Tress: A-And, worst of all... Tress: ... Tress: I can't believe I HELD you in one hand and ate the chicken with my other w-while LAUGHING that you were just a tiny helpless rat! Huck: Yeah, I sure hope that didn't awaken anything in me. Tress: ...what? Huck: A-Anyway, I think it was good for you to let go! Be wild and feral! It's probably healthy! Tress: It was...oddly freeing. Huck: That's the spirit!

3. Steris Rates People's Greatest Strength in Chicken Dinner Combat

--Wax: Airtime. Is able to fling himself and the chicken into the air and eat a great deal of it before they both land again

--Wayne: Hand-to-hand technique, lack of fear. Not afraid to get in close and literally eat chicken out of his opponent's hands

--Marasi: Surprising levels of savagry

--MeLaan: Stuck the entire chicken into her body, through her ribs. May be considered cheating

--Myself: No particular strengths. Did create a Chicken Eating Suit out of the same material as a tarp, and did replace the Central Chicken with a Fake Decoy while hiding the Actual Chicken in a place only I knew, thus securing my victory

4. A Series of Drawings by Shallan, Commemorating the 4 v. 1 Chicken Duel

[Adolin running toward the central chicken, alone, while four figures in Shardplate charge in from the opposite side]

[Abrobadar eating a chicken wing in triumph in front of Renarin, who is kneeling on the tarp]

[Kaladin Stormblessed, gloryspen swirling around him, holding up an entire chicken thigh on the end of his spear]

[Adolin sitting on a shouting Jakamov while he, Kaladin, and Renarin share the last of the chicken]

5. An Apology Letter Penned by Valette, To Elend

Dear Elend,

Sazed says that an apology letter is traditional after "something like yesterday." He is helping me write this.

I am sorry that I strangled your fiancée during our chicken dinner bout yesterday. When Shan Elariel grabbed that chicken thigh, I was overcome by an uncontrollable desire to take it from her by any means possible. And though I did win, strangling her while shouting that I was the Queen of Chicken was impolite.

I am also sorry that I punched your brother so many times. Zane was not even supposed to be there, but when he showed up and tried to take a bit out of the chicken while I was holding it, well, something came over me. But when he collapsed next to your still-unconscious fiancée, I did feel a moment of guilt...but only a moment, as I was soon overcome by the delicious Victory Chicken I was enjoying.

Finally, I am sorry that I also attacked your father. He wasn't even trying to get the chicken. But he was there. And he was looking at it. And I feel like the Zane thing was his fault. But I understand that it was probably disconcerting when a small woman covered in chicken juices launched at him suddenly while screaming.

I hope we can still be friends.

Sincerely,

Valette

6. Hoid & Kelsier: A Pre-Chicken-Dinner Conversation

Kelsier: I thought you couldn't eat meat. Hoid: Not if it's from a dead animal, no. Kelsier: And you can't perform violence. Hoid: Nope. Kelsier: ... Kelsier: So what are we even doing here? Hoid: Did you know that I was once challenged to a duel? Kelsier: Why would I know that? Hoid: Do you know what I did? Kelsier: [Looks to the side where Jasnah stands, wearing a giant apron that says "It's Chicken Eatin' Time", eyes glinting] Kelsier: [grins] I do love a fight I can't win...

[eldritch-spouse]

What if Vesper's queen was into Lacai as well? I'm maybe a bit too prideful or bashful to admit it if asked directly, but Lacai is just (chef's kiss). I might even get into trouble just to make Lacai correct me. Of course, this doesn't lessen the love or lust I'd have for Vesper, but I would certainly be sparing glances at the impcubus and be too embarrassed to admit it- that'd only make it worse, I'm into humiliation too- god. If Lacai wasn't into topping I'd even be entertained by walking him around on a leash while out with Vesper despite my preferences to be the one receiving. Lacai and Vesper together just do something to me. Idk.

[Idk if you meant romantically as well, but I'm assuming you did.]

The thing with Vesper is that, out of every Icon, he's the one more likely to accept polyamory. This only works, however, if he maintains a position of power in the dynamic. It certainly helps that you have your eyes set on someone so close to Vesper, his very own confidant and an imp he's been sexual with plenty of times in the past. This is easily accepted by Vesper.

Lacai swings with the flow, so to say. While some concubi will already have the intent to top or bottom, Lacai reads your first couple of reactions and decides what'll work best. So, if you turn away or stutter some sad excuse when mildly prodded about your unsubtle oogling, he'll definitely be more insistent and domineering. It definitely riles him up to have the Queen of Lust crawling for him, debased before a mere imp servant. Is it just that you already can't control yourself around your subjects or is little old Lacai your newest cunt-throb?

Vesper has little idea as to why you'd be timid about wanting to sleep with others. This is now your Kingdom, human inhibitions are worthless, because everyone wants you here. The King clearly understands that there is much tension between you and Lacai, but you don't act on it- And so it clicks, you have a little crush. Isn't that adorable? And kind of hot to him, frankly. Vesper thinks Lacai is worthy of sharing with, so he'll just start messing with you two now.

Vesper finds you eye-fucking the impcubus while he's tidying something in the room? Alright Lacai, undress now. No other orders, Vesper just has Lacai work naked for the rest of the day, watching you simmer with arousal quietly.

Lacai, help me bathe the Queen.

Lacai, prepare the Queen for tonight's games.

Lacai, entertain the Queen while I handle the visitors.

It just won't end.

If it takes you too long to squeal, he'll arrange things differently, targeting the impcubus rather than you. Because if you're still too shy -Oh, how cute- To admit your own desires, then he knows someone who isn't. The imp.

The King is a master at setting up the perfect scene, making things look "accidental", such as when you stumble on him torturously edging his head servant, as if Vesper's goal wasn't for you to witness it. Even if you're not brave enough to walk in and decide to loom by the edge of the doorframes like a true voyeur, the other two can feel you. Vesper's teasing taunts to his servant all revolve around you, debauched fantasies of you servicing Lacai, servicing them both. The toys he knows Lacai would enjoy using on you. Loudly exposing how much of a creep the imp is, that he watches you change, that he jerks off to the scent of your panties, that he wants to wake you up every morning with a cock stuffed in you to the hilt.

Finally, Vesper will rip a confession out of the imp and pretend that the already very evident information shocks him. Most importantly, he reacts positively. And that should give you more confidence, in the Icon's mind.

If not, and by then they're both quite frustrated with this game, both Vesper and Lacai will "bully" the truth out of you. There's no hiding any lust from the residents of the royal mansion, so they'll rejoice in flustering you half to death as they share all the moments they have caught you staring, all the times your fingers rubbed soothingly over your pussy from how soaked you were getting around the imp.

Say you love them, say you want them both, and the two will use you together, make your dirty little daydreams a reality.