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hiyashortking · 2 months ago

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You Have an Epic Crush on Lucifer and There’s Only One Bed

Disclaimers and credit: read this post before reading any of my content, please. This is for the belated kinktober 1st prompt of handjob, even though not a single handjob will be performed.

Summary?: Along with the delicious only one bed trope and forced proximity, I also tried to go for a grumpy/sunshine in which you’re the tsundere and Lucifer’s got the soul of a golden retriever.

Since the hotel was off and running at a steady pace, Charlie decided to send some of you out campaigning. In an effort to protect yourself, your friends, and the other residents, you made a suggestion over a private dinner with Charlie and Vaggie, for Charlie to ask for her father’s assistance. Your reasoning was he would have the most influence over the inhabitants of Hell. Charlie was so impressed by and happy with this idea that you couldn’t turn her down when she signed you up to be his assistant and keep him on track.

So now you were travelling throughout Hell with the King Himself.

You were nervous. Any time you’d spent near the King before this, you did your best to be unlikable or to flee. He was fucking intimidating. You didn’t want him to have any awareness of your existence. Somehow you ended up making him laugh or getting pulled into conversations with him, so it was usually best to avoid him altogether.

But after a few weeks travelling with him you found the being much less scary. As enchanting and imaginative as he could be, he could also be clumsy with his words or childish with his reactions. And he seemed to genuinely enjoy your snark, and sometimes even your downright rudeness towards him. At times it felt like he could see right through your charade of pretending you didn’t like him.

So when the dreaded moment came, you were mostly okay. It was a cliché, but you were certain this was going to happen. At one of the places you’d be staying, they would run out of rooms or beds and you would have to share. At this establishment, they gave their best suite to The King, but there wouldn’t be a room available for you. And their best suite only had one bed.

aasdefrgghjkryukegwef

You may have seen it coming, but it still felt so fucking unbelievable.

“That’s just fine, we will share,” The King pat your shoulder gently in front of the concierge when you’d received the bad news.

Once you were in the suite together, you noticed there would be plenty of other places to rest. There were settees and chaises, and a rug so fluffy it could double as a bed.

“I’ll sleep out here, Your Majesty,” you told him, avoiding even looking in the direction of the bedroom.

“Nonsense! I would not be able to sleep knowing you are out here suffering.” You loved how dramatic he was. Everything was so intense with him. Every inconvenience experienced as the end of existence. He was a diva on his best day!

You were absolutely certain there was not one inch of this room where you could possibly suffer, but didn’t want to debate with him. You’d already learned during your travels that he could be quite stubborn when he wanted.

“Then we will share,” you told him, and rummaged through your belongings for pajamas to wear. You typically slept in your undies, but were savvy enough to predict a night like tonight. You brought your most severe nightclothes that felt scratchy to the touch, a two piece of long pants and a button-down shirt with long sleeves. You were doing everything in your power not to be seen as a sexual being or even a being at all by His Majesty.

Because the truth was you had the biggest fucking crush on him. All the fucking feelings. You were falling in love with that goofball and you squirmed against a pillow every night of this fucking campaign, going fucking crazy over the knowledge that he was just a few doors away from you. There was no way you could survive a night sharing a bed with him. You were going to double-die from the overpowering lust, if you were able to sleep through it at all.

“Would you like to bathe first?” he asked you, always the gentleman.

“Yes, if that’s okay,” maybe if you made yourself come in the shower, you’d be able to fall asleep before he came back from his, and before you’d know it it would be the morning and you would have survived the night with ease!

“Of course, honey,” he said to you.

He called you all sorts of pretty terms. Sweetheart, sweetie, sweet pea, sweetness. Angel, precious, darling. Once or twice even a cherub, dollface, and baby slipped out. There was a time when he called you beautiful that you played on repeat in your head for days. But if you allowed yourself to believe he meant any of these words, you were certain it would break your undead heart.

The pressure in the shower was helpful. You adjusted the setting on the showerhead so the water hit your clit with ferocity. The power startled you and you let out a yelp.

“Everything okay, sweet pea?” you heard him through the door, which only made your cunt more desperate.

“Yes, just spooked myself with the temperature settings.”

“Let me know if you need any help~,” he sang the end of his sentence.

Help? The motherfucker. You were already naked, wet, warm, and trying to come. You prayed to him to keep talking. You felt embarrassed by how badly you wanted to come hearing his voice.

“I- don’t need any help,” you quivered into your other hand. Being around him all day was enough foreplay that you were ready. You knew you could come from the showerhead alone, but your cunt was throbbing inside and you wanted him so badly. You slid your ring and middle finger into yourself and tried not to let your knees buckle.

“Are you sure? You sound very uncomfortable~,” he sung the last word in his angelic voice.

You came quickly, listening to the melody.

“I’m fine! Go away!” you feigned annoyance and changed the temperature to cold as fuck to punish yourself for being so fucking thirsty for this being.

After actually bathing and toweling off, and when you felt like you could function again, you finally stepped out of the restroom. He was sitting in a hotel robe on a settee in the main room, his legs crossed poshly. His body skewed slightly to the side, as he had one arm draped around the back of the settee. He held a remote control in his hand and you could swear his thumb was gently fondling the buttons as he surfed through the television channels.

He flashed you his enormous grin and you hoped he didn’t notice you forgot how to breathe.

“All yours, my liege,” you tried to sound tired to hide your swooning. Who gave him the right to be so fucking hot?

He turned off the TV and jumped up from his seat. “I hope you left it nice and steamy in there for me!” Was he teasing? Or just talking? You could never tell. You wouldn’t dream of considering it flirting.

“Nope,” you totally-not-flirted back. “I made it cold and clammy just how you like it.”

He chuckled before closing the door.

You immediately jumped into the king-sized bed, and tried not to giggle at how your king’s size wasn’t king-sized, but this horrible thought led you to thinking about your king’s other size, and so you covered your face with a pillow and tried not to whine.

You were driving him fucking wild.

Though it was easy for him to want to fulfill any of Charlie’s requests, when she told him you would be accompanying him on this campaign, his tail popped out and wagged wildly in response. Good thing she asked him over the phone!

The eternal romantic with abandonment issues, Lucifer attached to one being at a time. Ever since your first conversation during which you’d made him laugh several times with your snark and genuinely piqued his interest by some of your ideas, his fate was sealed. After he liked speaking with you, he started admiring your body too. Your mesmerizing eyes and pouty mouth. Your hips that you mindlessly bumped into him and others, as if you had no concept of where your hips ended and the rest of Hell began. He even liked how you feigned disinterest, thinking he couldn’t see the way he made you blush, the way your undead heart would race when he charmed you, and the way you inhaled his smell when he was close enough. He tried his best not to toy with you or let you know he was aware of your affections. He wanted to give you the time to come to him on your own. After all, y’all had all the time in Hell …

As smart as you were, you seemed to have forgotten that he could portal or fly the both of you anywhere in seconds. You seemed not to have clocked how instead of doing that, he choose to stay in various hotels with you, from the luxurious to the quaint.

As patient as he was, this was the night he had been waiting for. He thought surely you would confess your feelings if you found yourself in forced proximity. He’d read enough romance novels to know tonight’s setting was perfect for a first fuck. He would have even settled for a kiss- okay, no, he would not have. He would have begged for more and would have had to excuse himself into another territory completely if you turned him down. But surely it would not come to that, he thought. He heard you coming in the shower while he spoke to you! Surely you would not be able to keep your hands off of him tonight!

Wanting not to waste time, he bathed with urgency, toweled off, slid on a pair of boxer briefs for the annoying appropriateness of it, and pulled on the hotel robe.

But when he came into the bedroom, it was too late. You were sleeping sweetly, your breathing even and your mouth open. You hugged a pillow in your arms and one between your legs, and you looked so precious and comfortable.

He actually felt angry! How had he managed to fuck up this perfect scenario?!

With as quiet a groan as he could suppress, he tossed the robe to a nearby chair, lied down on the other side of the bed, and turned off the light.

He tried not to notice your luscious ass in his periphery, his cock already straining against his briefs.

He turned to rest on his side in your direction, sighing softly and deciding he could not wait anymore. Once you returned to the Hazbin, he would tell you how he felt about you. Or maybe he would plan a dinner this week, to set the mood. Or maybe he would just blurt it out tomorrow morning over breakfast. Or maybe-

You shifted in your sleep from lying on your side to being on your back. One of your arms fell to the middle of the bed, your palm facing up, only inches from his cock.

Lucifer, you disgusting creep, you absolute degenerate, do not even think for a moment about violating this precious angel’s hand, he scolded himself.

Oh, but you could make it seem so innocent, another part of him retorted. You could just slide it in so gently, and just leave it there. No one would get hurt. They wouldn’t even notice. They’re sleeping so soundly.

Hating himself, he abruptly jumped from the bed and began to stomp back over to the other part of the suite.

“Luci-” you mumbled.

He stopped by your side and whispered, allowing himself to gently caress your head. “Ssshhh, I’m sorry for being noisy, go back to sleep, beautiful.”

You reached out and held his hand. “Where are you going?”

“I unfortunately can’t share a bed with you, my darling,” he admitted his disappointment. “I find you far too attractive and I can’t fall asleep.”

You scowled a bit and started opening your eyes. “What?” you asked him.

He sighed. “Nothing, sugar. Please, sleep sweetly,” he leaned down to kiss your cheek.

But when he lingered, you kissed him quickly on his mouth.

His eyes still open, he was frozen.

You kissed his mouth again. And again. And again until what was happening finally reached his brain.

He was on his knees between your legs in a flash, throwing away the pillows and comforter from all around your body, making sure nothing could prevent him from having access to you.

While snaking his tongue into your mouth, he ripped open your pajama shirt completely, buttons popping off with ease, but also tearing it clear across the back. He cupped one of your breasts and then the other, before moving a hand to your ass and lifting you effortlessly to grind you against himself.

“I don’t know what you were thinking with these,” he pulled away from your wet kisses, ripping your pajamas pants into pieces and throwing them away.

“Fucking Hell, Luci, what if those were my favorite or something?”

“Shit-” he growled, forcing himself to stop what he was doing to pull away from you, running a hand through his hair and trying to catch his breath. “I am such an asshole, I am so sorry-”

“I’m kidding!” you told him.

“Please don’t toy with me,” he exhaled with relief. “Those pajamas deserve to be in hell, but not on your gorgeous-”

He fixed his gaze on you.

“Soft-”

He slid his briefs down, exposing his majestic swollen cock.

“Thick-”

He rubbed his cock against you. He slid it from your clit to your wet, and back again.

Your moans sounded otherworldly, as if to match the way he made you feel.

“Irresistible body.”

“Oh my Lucifer, are you still talking?” you taunted him.

He grinned like the fool he was. Or had he been a genius? His elaborate fantasy coming to fruition just as he’d planned and hoped.

“You are so cruel to me,” he leaned down and kissed you again, prodding your entrance. “Tell me, sweetness, why do you pretend not to care for me? Is it your goal to break my undead heart?”

“You know? How long have you-”

“Oh please, like anyone can resist-”

“Be serious,” your body disconnected from your mind. The top of you was in this conversation, but the rest of you was moving a hand to hold his penis and continue prodding your wet, tight hole with it.

“O-okay, darling,” he loved the way you dominated him with your hand and played with him as if he were your sex toy.

“How long have you known I’m attracted to you?”

“About as long as you’ve been attracted to me I-I fathom?”

“That’s fucking embarrassing, I thought I was hiding it well!”

“Oh, precious,” he put both hands behind his back to keep from taking the sexual control from you. “I am not a regular being. I can smell how wet I make you from several rooms away.”

Mortified, you dropped his cock and covered your face, whining and whimpering into your hands.

He laughed and with gentle touches encouraged you to move your hands away.

“I hate you!” you lied to him.

“Yes, of course, darling. I am known for being incorrigible. It would only make sense if your arousal was mixed with hate.”

“Ugh, you know I don’t hate you at all!”

“Then why do you say so, dearest? I know you don’t want to hurt me. Why are you so desperate to push me away?”

You looked down to check if he was still hard. This was the first time you’d actually seen his dick. It was just like the rest of him: gorgeous, alluring, intimidating, and as he noticed you observing him, eager became something he and his cock shared as well.

“Maybe we have sex first and we argue after?” You suggested.

“Oh, but I am such a sensitive soul,” he teased with his words and again with his cock, putting his free hand on his chest to feign offense. “I would not be able to handle it if I gave myself to you only to be rejected and abandoned.”

“You’re such a fucking drama king,” you tried not to let him make you moan, but it was becoming more difficult to breathe regularly as he played with you.

“I love the way you talk down to me, like I’m not the fucking King of Hell,” his eyes changed color and his horns came out, as well as his tail and wings.

“Holy shit,” you sat up, sliding onto his cock completely and pushing him slightly back with a hand on his chest. Your excitement from seeing him in this form coupled with the excitement of feeling his erection finally inside you, filling up your cunt the way you’d needed him to for days. You fucked yourself with his dick, riding him slowly, while also fondling his horns and caressing his wings.

“You- you’re not scared?” he let himself grab your ass to help support you and with hope that it would quicken your movements. It did not.

“Were you trying to scare me, Sire?” you mocked. You were enamored with his wings and pulled them close to feel them against your face. You contracted around his cock from the pleasure of contact with these magnificent and unique parts of his body.

“Only to play with you, but my ruse didn’t seem to work,” he was intoxicated by your facial expressions, how you panted, your brows responding to the pain and pleasure of his length filling you and his girth spreading you. But also by the awe in your eyes when you stroked his feathers and especially when you once again let yourself handle his horns.

He lifted his hips into you while you lowered yourself onto him, causing a startled moan to escape you without your permission.

You wanted to tell him to stay still, to let you do the moving, but he felt so good inside you that you forgot how to speak. Instead, you wrapped your arms around his shoulders and tried to keep up with his movements, even when tears filled your eyes from being overcome by the sensations. You laced your fingers through his hair and pulled his head back with it, forcing him to watch the pleasure on your face.

“You are so fucking beautiful,” he said as he pumped into you.

Your moans were starting to sound monstrous, as if fucking this beast of a being was changing you from the inside.

“You better fucking mean that,” you told him, letting out squeals of surprise when he hit against your cervix. “Call me all those- aahh- ridiculous fu- fucking pet names again,” you growled through your teeth.

He ran through the list every other thrust. “Darling- baby- angel- my queen- my king- sweetheart- mmmfff beautiful- lovely- precious- my fucking everything- my love-”

“I’m coming!”

He pulled out of you once your cunt stopped throbbing with orgasm, and asked if he could finish on your chest. Rolling your eyes, you nodded and made a motion with your hand for him to hurry up, which made him laugh as he unloaded his golden jizz all over you.

His wings and horns retreated, and his eyes returned to normal.

Absent-mindedly, you dipped a finger into his come and smeared it across your lips for a taste. You licked your lips while he watched, and then the rest of the liquid from your finger.

“It tastes like apples!” you groaned, exasperated. “Sweet apples!”

Still on his knees, he started shifting between your legs. “And what does yours taste like?”

You tried to squirm away, attempting to close your legs.

“My darling, please let me taste you,” he pleaded. “Let me at least clean you up.”

“Are you not satisfied?” you grumbled in annoyance, assuming he wanted to continue being sexual because what you’d already done wasn’t enough to please the King of Hell.

He tried to gauge from your face whether you were teasing him or serious, but he struggled to discern this. “My love, I will not be satisfied until I bring you to orgasm enough times that you forget how to think entirely, as clearly your thoughts are preventing you from being here with me.”

He spread your legs again, and slowly leaned between them, keeping his eyes fixed on yours.

“Tell me what troubles you, my darling, and I will make it and everything around it violently disappear.”

“Like you did with my pajamas?” you laugh, your body relaxing as he rubbed his cheeks against your thighs, first one, then the other.

“Exactly, sweetness,” he said between kisses. “If I can make you love me,” his lips brushed against your clit. “I will make sure you never feel,” he licked it, “an ounce of suffering again,” harder this time, “unless it’s mixed with pleasure and happening in our shared bed.”

You gripped the sheets with both hands and lifted yourself up into him.

He pressed his tongue against your cunt and you felt its strength and thickness. You moved again to encourage him to shove his tongue inside.

“Tell me what I am allowed to do, my love.”

You groaned in embarrassment. “Fuck you, you already know.”

“I’m sure I know nothing,” he could sense you contracting already. It pleased and excited him to know your body wanted him his badly. But he wanted your heart, mind, and soul, as well. He was greedy and gluttonous; he wanted all of you entirely. And right now he wanted your permission.

“Then you won’t get to taste me any more than this,” you threatened.

Fuck, he shuddered, and allowed himself to palm his cock. He pressed his face against your crotch harshly, inhaling you and swooning with lust.

Why had he thought you wouldn’t be difficult?

“Tell me to eat you, darling, please,” he whimpered, writhing against you with his face and against his hand with his cock. “Let me devour you. I promise I’m so good with my tongue. It’s even longer than you’ve seen. Please, please, please.”

“No,” you couldn’t believe what you were saying. Your body was moving against his face, begging you to see reason.

You wanted him; he wanted you. What the fuck else was left?

“UGH, FINE!” you responded.

He rose from you, still rubbing his cock. “Enthusiastic yesses only,” he teased.

“I have never fucking hated someone so much in my entire living and undead lives!” You absolutely did not hate him. You wished he hadn’t thrown the pillows off the bed, because you desperately wanted to throw one at him.

“Why is it so difficult for you to just say you want me?” He stopped holding himself.

Whoops, you fucked up.

“Let’s just go to sleep,” you got up from the bed and walked to the bathroom for a towel, smearing his come all over you, causing your skin to glow. You’d have to take another shower. You left the door open but turned the water back on and hopped in.

He followed you and wrapped his arms around you, hugging you from behind. “I need aftercare,” he said.

Some of your frustration dissipated. You turned around to embrace him, warm water caressing your back. You pet his head, fingers through his hair. You kissed the top of his head. Taking care of him was so much easier than having him take care of you, as long as he didn’t want you to talk.

“What can I do?”

He looked up at you with glistening, watery eyes. “Tell me you love me, even if you don’t.”

Your heart started pounding from the anxiety. This fool. Of course you loved him.

“I love you,” he told you, with strange emphases.

“Is that real,” you startled. “Or are you training me on how to say it?”

He tilted his head to mirror his golden retriever soul. “Did I not say that earlier?” He looked up as if digging through his memory. “I’m positive I confessed my feelings earlier.”

“You definitely did not tell me that you love me.”

“But-” he looked at the doorway and back at you, and at the doorway again. “I am so absolutely positive I said it.”

“Nope,” you felt ridiculous, naked and covered in golden ejaculate, arguing with the most feared creature in existence, whose face was eye-level with your tits, about whether or not he had told you he loved you.

“I love you, Y/N. I love you. I’m in love with you. I cherish you. I adore you. I love you.”

You stood in shock. Somewhere along the way you had realized he wanted to fuck you. You heard him say some pretty things, but thought that’s just what he did, like it was a kink or something. You didn’t for a moment imagine he could love you.

He looked up at you, his face so darling and precious. Sweet. Beautiful …

Wait- is that what he thought when he looked at you? Is that why he used those words when he spoke to you?

“You are not doing great with providing aftercare,” he deadpanned.

“What?”

“Tell me you love me!” He sounded exasperated! Him! With you! What was happening?!

“Oh my Lucifer, yes! Obviously!”

“Yes, what?” aaaand he was for sure crying. You were certain that wetness on his face was not coming from the shower but his fucking doe eyes.

“Yes, I love you, you motherfu-”

He pulled you down by your neck to be able to engulf your mouth with his.

“Say it a million times,” he pleaded, between kisses. He wrapped your legs around him and pinned you to the shower wall. Having your crotches aligned like this solved the height discrepancy and let him reach every part of you he wanted.

Your face was hot with embarrassment, but you finally conceded. With every confession, you felt your body relax more against him, his kisses feeling more nurturing than arousing as he focused on your neck and cheeks and the top of your chest. You recounted how you felt when you met. You told him why you avoided him. You told him every humiliating thing you thought and loved about him, until the nurturing kisses became ravenous again.

“I want you to fuck me again and then I want you to eat me out and clean me up with your tongue and then, only then, can you bathe me and take me to bed to sleep.”

“Wow, you’re really an all or nothing sort of person, aren’t you, darling?”

He did as he was told.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel lucifer #lucifer x reader #hazbin lucifer #lucifer morningstar #grumpy/sunshine #only one bed

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midnighthazee · 2 months ago

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Greenridge ABO Series

Series Masterlist Masterlist

Characters:

I just kinda made things up for them/their personalities. Sorry if it's weird or cringe. Also.... sorry to be another "Alpha I.N." story as well but I like the idea lol

Omega Y/N L/N

- Bought at a young age by the Nyko pack.

- Abused by them (mostly the alpha) and forced submission (almost died from a sub drop once).

- Lived with them for nearly ten years.

- Convinced you that the neighboring packs are worse than he is....they would kill her just for being on their property unwelcomed.

GREENRIDGE PACK

Alpha Chan

Leader of the Greenridge Pack

Amber eyes, black hair

True Alpha known to be ruthless

Rumour is he killed his older brother to be Alpha (did not, was there when he was murdered and got blamed)

Protective of his own

Secretly a softie for those he holds dear - barely sleeps worrying over his pack

Doesn’t do well with disobedience/defiance

Usually with Jisung or Seungmin during his ruts

Alpha Minho

Second to Chan

Menace

Brown hair, dark eyes

Doesn’t open up to people easily

Refuses to submit to anyone but Chan

Helps guide Jeongin and teach him how to control his Alpha urges

House chef

Favors Jisung to help with his rut

Gets aggressive leading up to and during his ruts if he doesn’t get what he wants

Beta Changbin

Head Beta

Dark hair, dark eyes

Keeps the other Betas in check

In charge of training to keep everyone in shape and fight ready

Also does interrogation with Minho and tortures if needed

Intimidating but softie

Gets babyish and pouty leading up to his rut (and during)

Pouts and begs for Hyunjin to help with his rut (eventually Hyunjin reluctantly caves)

Beta Hyunjin

Quiet, keeps to himself

Best tracker and hunter

Black hair, dark eyes

Tech savvy and good at reading people

Becomes clingy and touchy leading up to and on his rut, slightly aggressive during it. Very jealous

Prefers Felix or Changbin during his ruts

Beta Jisung

Loud and boisterous

Brown hair, dark eyes

Impulsive and acts without thinking a lot

Has the messiest room

Gets aggressive leading up to his ruts and Only minho gets thru to him.

Prefers Minho during his ruts

Beta Felix

Sweet and kind

Blonde hair, blue eyes

VERY Sensitive to emotions

Trusts too easily

Usually helps Minho with cooking

Training to be pack medic with Doc Quinn

Prefers Minho or Seungmin during ruts (likes it rough)

Very emotional leading up to and during his ruts and exhausts himself worrying about everything.

Beta Seungmin

Laid back and even tempered. Takes awhile to get a rise out of him.

Light hair, dark eyes

Reads often and likes photography

Leading up to his rut, his tolerance is shorter and he gets lazier.

Usually gets help from Minho or Felix with his rut

Alpha Jeongin

Newly presented alpha

Was thought to be a beta originally

Dark eyes, dark hair with highlights

Eager to learn from Minho

Does well with just the boys - only an occasional loss of temper

Still training and practice with Omegas, pheromone control, and urges

Gets antsy and quick tempered leading up to and during ruts

Usually has Chan or hyunjin help him

They are all mates with each other so yeah LOL

I'm VERY OT8 for SKZ but I do have a bias....hopefully I don't make it obvious :)

Doctor Quinn

Pack medic

Also helps with a few other ally packs but priority is Greenridge

35 years old

Been tending to injured since she was 15

Rogue Beta

NYKO PACK

Alpha Lewis

Leader of the Nyko Pack

Has 2 little brothers in the pack: Hayes and Milo

Pack also contains 4 other betas and 3 omegas (including y/n)

Used y/n for his own needs and couldn’t care less about her

Keeps her locked in the basement until he’s ready to use her.

Ruthless and feared by most the neighboring packs. No one dares to cross him

Took over 2 neighboring packs and expanded his territory, gaining their numbers as well

Alpha Hayes

Little brother of Lewis

Alpha in training

Older than Milo by 1 year

Beta Milo

Little brother of Hayes and Lewis

With Hayes always doing the alpha’s bidding

Other Betas:

Samuel

Triston

Frankie

Mallory

Omegas:

Y/n

Asher

Harper

#stray kids x y/n #stray kids abo #bang chan #lee know #lee minho #seo changbin #hwang hyunjin #lee felix #lee yongbok #han jisung #kim seungmin #yang jeongin #stray kids x reader

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tigreblvnc · 2 months ago

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BLUE LOCK OPTION MATCHUP EXCHANGE — @lapsthings

— Karasu Tabito

✦ Laziness?

✦ No daily schedule?

✦ Acquaintances but no friends...?

✦ Stop.

✦ Karasu's your guy.

✦ Well, not really.

✦ :)

✦ But I'm saying he has the qualities of someone active, responsive—even proactive—which can create a balance with your more laid-back, passive side.

✦ Sure, determination is kind of a driving force for all the characters in the manga, but Karasu has this direct and insolent streak that could make for quite a fiery combo with your Nagi-like temperament.

✦ (Plus: his voice..........)

✦ Technically, he's the type to say, "Move your ass!" to get what you want, when you really want something. He's not paternalistic, but rather relentless; they don't call him the assassin for nothing—once he's set on a target, he won't stop until he hits it.

✦ "Although I'm shy and have social anxiety, I can engage in conversations with an individual or a small group of people depending on the situation." On an outing, he's the one who initiates the conversation without effort, knows how to follow up, throw in little jabs, and, most importantly, put himself between you and others if something makes you uncomfortable.

✦ I see him more as a protective type who shows it through actions rather than words. Like, I don't really picture him leaning in to hold your hand and whisper reassuring words; instead, he'd verbally tackle whatever is bothering you. And similarly, I don't see him resorting to fists—he's savvy enough to take down an ego instead of wasting energy throwing punches. That's what they call winning a battle with flair and without breaking a sweat.

✦ I also think he's pretty good at reading you—like he gets that you don't actually not care; it's just that showing your emotions and being explicit isn't really your thing. You don't quite know how, and it's awkward, but that's okay because Karasu is good at reading between the lines. Honestly, the guy probably spent his childhood analyzing people around him to make sure he didn't mess up or leave himself vulnerable; he's had to get good at understanding the underlying reasons behind people's actions.

✦ So, I think he can tell when you need some alone time, to be at home and do your own thing. He does his own thing, too—resourceful, independent, and entrepreneurial, he handles his business solo.

✦ Unlike you, I'm convinced he's a financial mastermind, missing nothing when it comes to his expenses. He keeps track of his money and watches what he spends. I think this could cause some occasional clashes if he sees you spending your savings on things he deems unnecessary. You might resent him for it, but deep down, is he wrong? Wouldn't it be smarter to wait for a better time to spend what's left in your wallet on goodies?

✦ Actually, I lied. He's a bit paternalistic.

✦ He's a pro at making quick decisions, even over little things: choosing a meal, which route to take, what to wear, when to leave. I think this could be a big motivator for you and help you assert yourself more. I sense some uncertainty in you—you're not always sure what's best, even somewhat neutral. When someone asks what you want to eat, you're the type to say, "Whatever you want" and then reject three suggestions in a row.

✦ Not with the raven around!

✦ I'm sure there are times when you don't know what to choose, so you want everything just to be sure you won't regret it.

✦ Please, don't stay glued to your phone when Karasu's around and talking to you; it'll annoy him.

✦ "Learning how to make money (because I'm broke and want to be rich)"—I think this is the most direct key to Karasu's heart. I believe that right after performance, being the world's top striker… comes money. Investing, playing the markets, checking out NFTs, dominating the world, basically. So, he'd happily sit down with you in the living room to show you how he does it. And I think he could go on for ages about the charts, graphs, and projections he works on outside of his sports career. Do you think you could keep up?

✦ "Love language: giving - acts of service, gift giving" I like to think acts of service are something Karasu would appreciate. I picture him as a guy who takes initiative and wants to handle things on his own—not because he doesn't trust others but because, to him, most people just aren't capable of helping him. So, if you handle some of life's small annoying tasks without asking, he might be thrown off at first because he's used to dealing with everything himself. And then... bit by bit, it becomes part of his character development, and he starts appreciating not having to handle everything alone. Especially when it's coming from you, let's be honest—it has an effect.

✦ "Preferred dates: Amusement parks, arcades, aquariums, cafe/dinner." Honestly, I think the places where you're most likely to spot the crow are quiet, nature-filled spaces. Somewhere he can observe from on high, analyze, think, get lost in his thoughts. That said, I can totally picture him in a café; we already saw him like that in the manga when all the players were on break before the U-20 match. It's a pretty classic, casual setting that works well with Karasu. Same with an amusement park—I think he'd save that for special occasions.

✦ In moments like these, I think he spends more time focusing on whether you're enjoying yourself than on actually having fun. Like, the guy's always on high alert, watching everything and everyone, even the security systems. And in the roller coaster car... I think he's more focused on assessing the height and potential damage from a fall than actually enjoying the ride.

✦ That's where I think your chill side could help him relax a bit.

✦ So, now it's the perfect time to pull out your phone for a selfie on the Ferris wheel. ;)

A word about your match: Oh my goodness, it's been ages since I've done a regular matchup, I missed them! I even forgot how I usually do the formatting lol. So, thanks for your input, it was a big pleasure to write this one. I almost depicted Karasu as a man in working life, he's so serious in this matchup lmao. Hope you liked it, and feel free to come again for another matchup :)

#karasu x reader #karasu x you #karasu tabito #bllk karasu #bllk x reader #blue lock #blue lock x reader #bllk #blue lock matchup #blue lock headcanons #suo matchups #bllk matchups #matchups

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15-lizards · 1 year ago

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sorry to bother but... what about gender swapped lannisters twins?? how much worse are male!cersei (kevan or cerso) and female!jaime (jaima)?

Oh my god wait…

Also disclaimer I’m aware that doing these gender swaps messes up character dynamics/what makes them so complex but again this is just for speculation and good fun 👍🏻

Cevan is somehow so much worse than regular Cersei because he has male audacity now (which fem Cersei does have but now he can back it up) Originally wanted to marry the Targ princess whom he still obsesses over to this day, so he was quite annoyed when his Momma sided with Roberta. He does Jamie’s eldest son failure by marrying the new queen and giving up his claim as heir to Casterly Rock, bc of course he only cares about himself and his power. Whenever Roberta is pregnant, Cevan’s beloved sister Jenna is miraculously pregnant at around the same time. And once Roberta gives birth, her chubby and dark haired babies have a sudden tendency to lose weight and have lightened hair. He’s scheming and notably irritable and paranoid, but thinks he savvy enough to outsmart the small council. He’s also constantly getting bombarded by noblewomen to be his mistress, but he prefers to keep it in the family ofc. Though he has tried Lord Merryweather once or twice. By the events of GOT he manages to get Roberta killed on one of her hunts, installing his dear insane daughter Johanna as king, making his mother start a bloody, continent wide war to protect that claim. Through pure luck does he get his enemies killed and his sycophants in positions of power. But feels lost without his mother after she dies. Classic Cersei through and through.

Jenna Lannister living in the most gilded cage in the world…she was never a female knight or warrior but rather the most loved and sought after courtier in the Red Keep. She was well liked at court and preferred to socialize and dance and gossip (much to possessive Cevans annoyance) to politics and scheming, taking few things seriously. When the war started she was the favorite of the king, and was thus stuck at the Red Keep. On the day he started screaming to burn them all, she managed to convince the kingsguard to leave the hall and quickly forced his neck down on one of the thrones blades. After the war her mother marries her off as a war prize to a useful Lannister ally. Despite her good health she’s unable to carry a baby to term, and the three times she’s given birth, the baby has tragically and suddenly died of mysterious complications. By GOT she’s now one of Roberta’s ladies in waiting, and despises her and what she’s done to her brother. The court half fears her and half loves her, calling her Kingslayer behind her back and even to her face at times. She goes off as an emissary during the war but gets captured when the Lannister army loses a battle to the Young She Wolf, resulting in the hand she killed the mad king with getting cut off. Brienne is still her gf bc lesbians.

Mommy issues bonus round. Tyresa Lannister is the first cousin and widow of Johan Lannister, who died. She is a domineering woman, a powerhouse in politics, but is deeply resentful of any woman in power besides herself (cmon internalized misogyny). Close friends with the king and queen when she was young, and eventually became the royals closest advisors, leaving when they would not wed their daughter to Cevan. She was the unofficial head of the Lannisters by the time of the war because she sure as shit was not letting her useless cousins and brothers and uncle be in charge of an army. She plays her cards right and becomes the most revered and feared woman in the seven kingdoms, no man objecting her to her face. She sells her daughter as a war prize and is going to arrange her heirs auction, but he goes off and becomes king, leaving her to secure her legacy on her own, starting an entire war to keep her family safe and their legacy in tact even if she doesn’t particularly like them.

#asoiaf #*chanting* baby swap baby swap baby swap #fem Tywin dom gilf #sorry

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flightfoot · 1 year ago

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I know a lot of the fandom are angry at Marinette for not telling Adrien about his father/the rings at the end of season 5 and I get it. She should tell him eventually. But people say it proves she hasn't learned anything from Season 4 and... I feel like what happened in Season 4 and what happened in Season 5 are two very different scenarios?

Like... in season 4, she's keeping technical secrets from Chat Noir- that Rena Furtive is active and several gameplans including her Ephemeral plan, Hack-san and the Sentibubbler one. She's holding her cards too close to her chest out of fear of losing control and not delegating enough. Once Alya is in the know, she has a new, closer partner in her and unintentionally neglects Chat, forgetting to include him in technical aspects that he should be savvy on. She needs to relinquish control and trust more, needs to keep her team in the loop on necessary knowledge. Chat Noir may have still been upset that it wasn't just the two of them anymore, but he'd feel better if he at least felt included as a partner.

The biggest indicator that she actually did learn something from this is her decision to no longer keep each miraculous at the end of Season 5. She relinquishes them to each holder. There are also small examples like her entrusting Chat with the rabbit miraculous early on, going along with his plan without a good explanation in the switcheroo episode and accepting Nino's lead without boggarting, being overbearing or trying to shut it down when he starts The Resistance. As in real life, character flaws will always pop up every now and again and while it's true that she is pretty much forced to work with Chat alone in Season 5, the evidence of her change is there. Chat is a bit of an afterthought in Season 5, but that's more a crappy narrative decision than Ladybug avoiding him.

Some have said she hasn't changed because Chat still doesn't know the other holders' identities, but that always confuses me because since when has that been a problem, for him or otherwise? There was a popular misconception of his line in Strikeback that he was demanding to know other identities when he was actually asking why she couldn't know HIS identity. Maybe that's where it comes from, but Chat has always been primarily concerned with the two of them sharing their identities.

My point is that Marinette learned a lesson about not holding her cards too close and trusting her partners. The climactic discussion was lacking but it's dishonest to say she learned nothing. She's changed her approach accordingly.

What's happening with Adrien at the end of Season 6 is different. This isn't some gameplan aspect that she needs to communicate to keep her trusted partner in the loop. This is a series of soul crushing truths that she has been saddled with communicating to her new boyfriend who just lost his mother and father within a year of each other. Like hey I know you're an orphan now and you're still dealing with that, but you should also know your dad was evil and victimized you and your friends continuously to bring back your coma mom. Not to mention, they were both controlling you from birth with their wedding rings. Because you're a sentimonster. You're not a real boy! Nathalie, your only trusted remaining guardian, was in on it before making a sharp heel faced turn at the tail end. Felix knew too and he told Kagami, but not you. Your dad asked me not to tell you right before he died so not sure if I should be betraying an evil dying man's wishes like this.

Not defending this choice. There's info in there that Adrien needs to know to protect himself. He needs to process his trauma- much of which she has no idea about. Just from a narrative standpoint, it's almost criminally disappointing and a failure to his character to keep it from him.

I also get why it's not at all easy. I get why the lessons learned in Season 4 finale do not help with this. Season 4 secrets were about controlling or withholding all the variables and information to avoid a technical failure and learning to trust others judgement. Season 5 secrets are about the moral dilemma of lying to spare someone emotionally. This is "I'm going to withhold this logical info for logical reasons without considering the emotional damage of keeping my partner out of the loop." VS "I'm going to withhold this emotionally charged info for emotional reasons without considering the logistical problems of not telling a sentimonster they're a sentimonster wearing their life on their ring finger." Sharing something that you know will crush someone inside out, that irrevocably changes all they know about their existence, that you cannot take back... is not the same as letting someone in on your gameplan.

It's a bad call and if this show has any wits, it will examine that. But it's easier said than done and not as "OMG DUH!" as people make it out to be. I can't even completely consider the urge to want to "protect" him insulting to Adrien because honestly, this would fuck anyone up. A secret like this is liable to land any kid in a facility for a bit for an existential meltdown. People have cracked over less. She doesn't even know how strong Adrien is. She doesn't know he's Chat Noir, who she's been through thick and thin with. The idea that what she's doing is a kindness, while flawed, is not unfounded.

Her lesson here should be 'Brutal truths are better than pretty lies' or 'Lies are not a kindness, they're a disrespect." Imo, very different from the motivations and the lessons learned in Season 4, even if the core of them both were withholding information. It's like...if you learn that a type of vodka makes you sick, you're probably not going to stop drinking it altogether. Lessons are complex. It's not going to be "I'll never keep a secret again." It's "I'll never keep a secret in this type of situation again."

Marinette hasn't learned the brutal truth lesson yet. Yeah, she did this small scale with the scarf in Season 1. That worked out for her, right? Even if you count Chat Blanc as a comparable secret (I've never really understood people who are mad about this. It's not like she knew what specific events led to it and it has no bearing on events in their current, future or past timeline. I mean I'd love if she mentioned it for drama. I just don't think she's obligated to?), sparing him the knowledge of it also has worked out in keeping him ignorantly content? Most of the more damning Season 4 secrets were oversights, technical planning and things that he was going to discover anyway that she just neglected to tell him. Emotionally inconsequential things that he wasn't made blissful by not knowing- quite the opposite- and were not lies told on his behalf.

So yeah. 2 different situations, 2 different motivations, 2 different lessons. One improved on, hopefully another to be considered and not swept under the rug.

The real question is: Will she tell Chat Noir? If she doesn't tell Chat Noir because she doesn't trust HIM with this information then I take back this entire ask. I admit defeat. Miraculous has made a clown of me once again. But I can't judge her on that considering she and Chat have not interacted since before it happened? We actually don't know how the writers are going to spin that yet.

So just some housekeeping to start off with, the situation in Ephemeral is very different from the ones in Sentibubbler and Hack-san. In Sentibubbler and Hack-san the plans were very last-minute, and Marinette was unable to communicate or even MAKE a plan in Sentibubbler, and for Hack-san, she didn't have an opportunity to talk to Chat before giving the earrings to Alya, and didn't seem to think of what his reaction would be to seeing a new Ladybug Holder out of nowhere.

Ephemeral, by contrast, had Ladybug deliberately lying to Chat Noir, saying that she wanted an identity reveal because it would make them stronger, in order to manipulate him into unknowingly revealing his identity to a third party, because she didn't want to risk him potentially not agreeing to reveal his identity to someone else. Very different situation.

I do agree that Marinette seems to have learned something from season 4 at least, in terms of relinquishing control and telling people need-to-know things about gameplans, with giving the Miraculous out to their wielders permanently helping to show that.

And the truths she's keeping from Adrien ARE more of the soul-crushing variety (or well, at least of the "likely to severely mess you up" variety). I do see why this would hit Marinette as a different sort of thing to keep from Adrien, since she's not telling him everything because she doesn't want him to get hurt, and he's dealing with a lot as it is.

The main issue is... why wouldn't she tell CHAT NOIR about this stuff? I mean, I could maybe see not telling him the Senti stuff under the premise that that's a private matter, but there's no reason not to tell him that Gabriel was Monarch.

I'd love if Season 6 ended up conveying to Marinette more of the "she needs to be open and honest" message, with brutal truths being better than pretty lies, though I'm kinda doubting it'll happen.

#ask #miraculous ladybug #ml analysis #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste

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bbygirl-aemond · 1 year ago

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I love your characterization so much and my brain keeps thinking about HP crossovers so - What Hogwarts houses would you place the characters in? I just can’t quite decide on Aemond’s…

(I love Stormbreak and your meta so much!!! Thank you for sharing all your wonderful thoughts and works!!)

i'm not sure if this will be a controversial take, but aemond is definitely the kind of person who considers himself slytherin/ravenclaw but is, to his core, a gryffindor. he likes the reputations of intelligence and cunning associated with the first two houses. but the most important points of his life in canon- claiming vhagar, the strong boys toast, chasing luke at storm's end, abandoning his captive mother in king's landing to wild around in the riverlands- those all revolve around gryffindor character traits, both positive and negative, such as courage, lack of impulse control, arrogance, and recklessness.

helaena is 100000% a ravenclaw. she's the hotd luna lovegood.

aegon elder would be a hufflepuff who forced the sorting hat to put him in slytherin because of family expectations and ended up miserable, poor thing.

canon daeron is likely a gryffindor (the whole daeron the daring thing), but stormbreak daeron is much more of a slytherin. very pragmatic, intelligent, cunning, and ambitious. planned out every stage of his life, and all that.

alicent is a hufflepuff, very loyal and devoted and caring and hardworking, but fiercely protective and dangerous when she feels that her loved ones are threatened.

otto is very obviously a slytherin, just a very well-learned and intelligent one. he's the definition of ruthless pragmatism.

rhaenyra is a gryffindor, through and through. she's super confident, arrogant at times, has several big displays of bravery, the whole shebang.

this might also be a bit controversial but jace is a slytherin. hear me out!! he's super devoted to his family and he's obviously very kind and good, which don't come to mind when someone thinks slytherin, sure. but he's very cunning (the whole dragonseed idea) and in stormbreak he is just ruthless (for the greater good, but still). the abdication? the harrenhal arc? he figures out exactly what he needs to do in order to get what he wants and he does it.

luke is a hufflepuff. he's loyal to his family, sweet, doesn't care much about fame or ambition or recognition, just about him and his family being happy. and if he thinks his family's lives are at stake, he'll cut out eyes without hesitation.

joffrey is a ravenclaw, no further questions, my dragon-obsessed hyperfixation king.

daemon... daemon embodies many things. i'm truly torn between gryffindor and slytherin with this one, and whichever one you believe, the sorting hat was definitely torn between the two as well. he's a good fit for gryffindor in much of the same way aemond is, since he can be very reckless and impulsive and brave to the point of idiocy. but he's also very ruthless and cunning when advancing his family's goals, kind of like jace but with less morals and compunctions against murder.

baela is a gryffindor. she values her freedom and independence more than anything and has inherited every one of her father's gryffindor-like traits of arrogance and bravery.

rhaena is a hufflepuff, just like luke, which is why the two of them are so wholesome together. she's very loyal, similarly is content with a low-key but happy life. and she can be very dangerous and fierce when she wants to be; she just uses that side of herself rarely.

aegon is a hufflepuff like his older sister. his priority is primarily to his family, he's not highly fond of the spotlight, he values duty a ton.

viserys is a slytherin, but everyone takes him for a ravenclaw because he's quiet, reserved, and bookish. but he's canonically very cunning and intelligent; you don't successfully rule the seven kingdoms for decades (as king but also as hand) without a ton of political savvy and a ruthless side.

#thanks for this it was fun!!#ask #asks #answered #hotd #house of the dragon #harry potter #hp #fire and blood #fab #fic: stormbreak #fic #stormbreak #gryffindor #ravenclaw #slytherin #hufflepuff

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mwolf0epsilon · 8 months ago

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Forceful Intervention AU - Supporting Cast

The Masterpost for the Forceful Intervention Verse got ridiculously long and reached the character limit, so I opted with making a post for the supporting character cast instead of stressing over trying to make everything fit into one singular post.

Without further ado, meet the cast of OCs!

---

Lissa Colo'Ba - A natborn officer who served with the GAR while under the command of Jedi General Chora Tuteru and the 209th Battalion (aka Avis Squadron). Known simply as Dove (a nickname given to her by the troopers of the 209th), this mysterious pilot has a past that links her both to the Jedi and Mandalorians alike, in more ways than just her service record. Like the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover.

Maeleen Eppa - The renegade daughter of two very corrupt senators, Mae was reluctantly conscripted into the GAR after finding herself in hot waters with both her parents and the Republic (after accidentally stumbling into Separatist space while trying to run away from her home planet of Poluzitania). Spending the majority of the war serving under the 104th as an engineer and mechanic, her loyalty towards both Jedi Master Plo Koon and the 104th became the driving force for her rebellion against the Empire.

Zed Kwinde - A strong Force Empath that was raised as a Guardian of the Whills for the Kyber Temple of Jedha. He grew disillusioned due to feeling powerless in the face of war, as he could sense the misery and pain of others but was not allowed to interfere as that was not his battle to face. Unwilling to sit around idly, Zed fled the temple and completely reinvented himself, becoming somewhat of an expert in cybernetic enhancements, slicing and marksmanship. While he comes off as snarky and selfish, his intentions are often much purer than they seem.

The Golden Ladybug Crew - One of many brothels in Coruscant's red light districts that has allied itself to the Coruscant Guard, due to having formed a mutual respect for each other's street-savvy survival skills. The Golden Ladybug is not only open to clone troopers who have nowhere else to go, but also often provides supplies and information to the Guard in exchange for protection from the shadier folks who threaten the Madam's business and affairs.

The 105th/Petrichor Company - The veteran troopers of Krell's defunct Battalion, who could not be relegated to other Jedi due to their distrust of Force Users. Having initially worked with the 501st to try to rehabilitate them, several incidents involving in-fighting and excessive violence ended up forcing the Jedi to leave them under the Coruscant Guard's jurisdiction, in the hopes that some community service might help them get along better with "outsiders". The 105th was then assigned to work with the Golden Ladybug, who through sheer commitment and infinite patience, managed to rehabilitate the traumatized troopers.

Scully & Erin - An unlikely duo of a Changeling with connections in the Coruscant Underbelly, and an AgriCorps Jedi Ruurian. Scully and Erin both have ties with clones that (despite the horrors of Order 66) have clearly not been sullied or forgotten, as they are always willing to lend a hand to whomever most needs it. Even while on the run. The two travel with ex-501st Trooper Nax (known to them as Hobbs) who they rescued from Daiyu.

Metronome Squad - A batch of clone troopers divided among four battalions who maintained close contact throughout the war. They were ultimately separated by the tragedy of Order 66, but later managed to reunite with each other (those who were left anyway). The group consists of Rhythm (Communications Officer of the CG), Pitch (Clone Medic of the 501st), Beat (ARC Trooper of the 104th) and Tacet (ARF Trooper of the 212th).

Guard Remnant - A group of surviving Coruscant Guard troopers with faulty inhibitor chips, that managed to flee the heart of the Empire after Order 66 went out. Comprised primarily of riot troopers and unofficially lead by Slick, the Guard Remnant has made of the town of Bakkskrash their home and keep the settlement protected with the help of Dogma and Rhythm (whom both accidentally became the sole law enforcement for the entire town).

Sponge Clan - A tight-knit family unit comprised of ex-501st clone medic Sponge, their partner Hugo Espin, their adopted clone children, hybrid clone child Molly, Pitch of Metronome Squad (who at the time was having issues reconciling with Rhythm, thus had nowhere else to go), scuba trooper Penguin, heavy gunner Lichtenberg (who was considered MIA on Umbara but managed to survive by the skin of his teeth) and several pets (the most notorious being Beautiful, Sponge's barghest companion and most trusted friend). They are not immediately allied to any of the many Mando clans whom seem to have taken an interest in them, instead focusing on the Guard Remnant and the town of Bakkskrash.

AI Troopers - AI copies of Fives and Tup that were created from brain-scans that were done prior to their deaths. It's unknown who exactly created these AI copies, or what reason they had to do so, but the experiment seems to connect to one of Palpatine's various Immortality projects.

The Lost Children of Mandalore - Several Mandalorian clans that reside in Epifania, after their ancestors settled there while on the run from the Mandalorian Wars. While the clans sometimes don't see eye to eye, they are united in their affinity for the clone troopers who have sought shelter on their quaint little planet.

The Golden Pye-Dogs - A band of pirates that have allied themselves to the Guard Remnant and the Sheriff of Bakkskrash. While most don't understand why these scheming scoundrels would willingly work with law enforcement of any kind, one can't ignore the fact they seem to have an adopted clone child as the factor behind this particular choice.

The 13th Sister - Once an AgriCorps Jedi and dear friend to Erin, Kera Brookii willingly became an Inquisitor in the pursuit of power. Having grown disillusioned with the Jedi Order's seemingly "unfair" training policies, Kera felt like her potential was wasted and sought revenge on those who she assumed looked down on her. Cruel and manipulative, she is suspicious of Zed's activities as a mercenary for the Empire, being sure of him being a double agent. None of the other Inquisitors believe her however, as they consider her traitorous by nature and far too power hungry to ally themselves with willingly.

Sulu Ra, the Mad Cloner of Kamino - A microbiology specialist on Kamino. He was adept at perfectly replicating microorganisms that comprise the majority of a being's internal and external body flora, thus helping their products to live outside of lab conditions, making Sulu Ra's work an important part of the cloning process. However, due to his morbid curiosity of natural mutations and hybridization, interest in bio-weaponry, and natural dislike of wasting resources, the once highly sought out microbiologist became a nuisance that actively tampered with the cloning process to indulge in his own sick and twisted experiments. His list of victims includes Tup and Dogma, Olly's entire batch, two entire battalion's worth of rookies, and many more beings that they themselves created from scratch.

Aoife - A mysterious young lady with seemingly omniscient knowledge of the world around her. No one knows where exactly she came from, but Aoife seems to have good intentions regardless of her strange nature. She saved Hardcase from a fate she herself says was impossible for him to have been relegated to because it just "didn't make sense in the story".

The Rascal Gang - A group of kids who's parents were either a part of the rebellion or who were clones. Mismatched in all sorts of ways, this oddball group seems to have ended up on the Colossus, and are on the lookout for something. What exactly that something is, remains unknown (but likely has to do with the Resistance).

#star wars #the clone wars #the bad batch #rebels #sequels era #Forceful Intervention AU #star wars ocs #clone ocs

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cross-my-heartt · 1 year ago

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Rewriting Ahsoka episodes 1-3

(Or: if Sabine wasn’t force sensitive and how I think that could have benefited the show)

I don’t think it’s a secret but I’ve been rather disappointed with the writing choices in Ahsoka so far and I wanted to try and write my own take on how the show might have gone without changing any of the major plot points.

This is mainly with the aim of expanding on the main characters' arcs and giving them slightly different motivations. Take this as an exercise in writing or simply a character study. Because if nothing else, Ahsoka gives us some interesting premises in regards to Sabine and, well, Ahsoka.

So without further ado, let’s get into this.

For starters in this rewrite, Sabine isn’t force sensitive and the whole idea that anyone can use the force is scrapped (more on why I don’t like that in another post because I don’t want this getting too long). We use the same theme of working hard and not giving up as the show does but we change Sabine’s motivations entirely. What do I mean by that:

In this scenario Sabine isn’t discouraged by her poor ability to use the force but rather by her complete inability to do so. Something that makes more sense given her backstory and ties her motivations more closely to the Ghost crew.

We now have a Sabine who is still suffering Ezra and Kanan’s loss and partly blames herself for not being able to help them. Who feels inadequate because in the time since, she’s come to the conclusion that it was her inability to use and understand the force that prevented her from being by their side.

Kanan was blinded and they nearly lost Ahsoka on Malachor and she couldn’t do anything. And it wasn’t even the first time their two force users pranced off to do Jedi business. Kanan died using the force to protect all of them and Ezra disappeared when he went off to deal with Thrawn by himself. Both instances where she must have felt helpless.

(What if there’d been another force user there to help Kanan contain the explosion? Would it have made a difference? What if Ezra didn’t feel responsible for acting on his own because he was the only force user left in their group?)

It eats her up from the inside but she pushes it down and moves on. But then it all comes back to haunt her when Ahsoka approaches her to ask her to be her backup on the various missions she does for the New Republic after the war. And Sabine agrees but the more missions they go on, the more she feels like she just can’t keep up.

She grows more and more frustrated because it feels like Ahsoka is stronger and faster than her, her lightsabers more efficient, her intuition more accurate, her skills more diverse and Sabine just… keeps falling behind. Eventually she starts botching things just because she gets into her head (and if there’s one thing we know from Rebels, it’s that Sabine is very good at getting into her own head, her training to use the dark saber being the best example.)

Never mind that Ahsoka is older and more experienced than her, in her eyes she’s decided that it’s because she doesn’t have the force. She’ll never be force sensitive and that’s why she’ll always be one step behind. It’s Kanan and Ezra all over again.

Eventually she gives up and leaves despite Ahsoka trying to convince her otherwise. She tells Ahsoka to find a real partner, someone force sensitive. Sabine doesn’t want another repeat of what happened to her family. She doesn’t want to feel useless again, standing helplessly on the side.

In time she even gives up on maintaining her other skills because what’s the point? For all the skills she had mastered (weapons, close combat, even her tech savviness), it had all been in vain in the end so what’s the point.

Ahsoka is understandably disappointed – because she knows Sabine is wrong and Ahsoka’s never been one to take things lying down like that. Ahsoka in the Clone Wars was a spitfire, energetic, someone who can’t tolerate sitting idly.

These differences cause a rift between her and Sabine – maybe even an actual falling out or an argument – and that later leads to the tension we feel between them.

All of these things don’t have to happen in the show either, they can be implied through dialogue. We can have a talk between Hera and Sabine in the hospital where Sabine admits to the guilt she feels about Kanan and Ezra. Maybe Hera has known Sabine has been keeping something bottled up for a while but Sabine has never opened up about it and only does it now when she’s hurt and at her lowest.

Heck, maybe Jacen comes to visit her with his mom and it’s the sight of him and the fact that he reminds Sabine so much of both Kanan and Ezra that makes her finally break down.

(There’s just so much you can do with these characters and the convoluted past hey have. It’s an actual crime that we’ve had Sabine bond more with Ahsoka in this show than she does with Hera. But anyway I’m getting ahead of myself.)

The show opens with the ceremony only this time Sabine is attending. Something that’s more in line with her character because this is an event honoring the people who fell in the war and we know this is no small deal to her. She walks out to the sound of the crowd’s cheering and applause but suddenly freezes.

When she turns to leave and the mayor stops her to ask what’s wrong she tells him she doesn’t deserve this because in her mind she doesn’t – she’s not the hero who died to save everyone. That’s Ezra and Kanan and they’re not here.

A classic case of survivor’s guilt but one that I think can be used very effectively. This is the first time we see Sabine in the show and by all means we agree that she does deserve to be proud of herself and that seems to be the case until she has her little ptsd moment and he audience realizes that something’s wrong.

Then we move on to Ahsoka who’s retrieved her map and is discussing it with Hera. They’re talking about the best way to go about deciphering it and Hera suggests that Ahsoka could try and ask Sabine for help. Maybe she’s not the most logical choice (it stands to reason that there are people out there more qualified than her) but Hera knows Sabine is struggling and hopes that this might make her recover some of her self-esteem and she tells Ahsoka as much. She’s also hoping that she can bring these two together so that they might finally work out their differences.

This to me is a nice way of underlining Hera’s role as the voice of reason in the crew, to remind the audience, or communicate to them if they haven’t seen Rebels, that it’s her emotional intelligence that often keeps the family together (because the Spectres have always been stronger together).

Ahsoka reluctantly agrees to do it.

I’m not a fan of the way they handled the stealing of the map in the show so we’re changing that here. Rather than just slipping away, Sabine is disturbed by Ahsoka’s reappearance and tensions run high until another argument breaks out. This is how we get Sabine alone with the map.

Shortly after her worst nightmare comes true when Shin, a force user, confronts her. Sabine panics and botches the fight because she’s decided she’s lost it before it’s even begun. Ahsoka senses that something is wrong and interrupts the fight but by that time Sabine is wounded (a lighter wound this time because that would have definitely killed her) and she has to protect her while trying to get the map back. In the end Shin gets away and Sabine is taken to the hospital.

When she wakes up, she hits a new low. She’s once again become a burden for a force user. Instead of helping, she actually held Ahsoka back and this reaffirms her belief that Ahsoka should just let her be and find a proper padawan to be her partner.

This is where her and Hera could have their heart to heart. Then Ahsoka marches in with the droid head and tells her to hack it. Sabine starts to protest but Ahsoka’s had enough and puts her foot down – Sabine can either keep moping around and stew in self-pity or she could pull herself together and start helping Ahsoka fix this mess and stop Thrawn’s return. Sabine reluctantly agrees but says that she’s only doing this for Ezra.

On their way, Ahsoka starts training Sabine. Unlike in the show though she’s not training her how to be Force user but rather how to fight a force user (a literal representation of Sabine facing her fears and insecurities head on.)

This plot could also give some more substance to Sabine’s annoyance with Huyang’s tendency to parrot Jedi aphorisms and protocols, a reminder of her current struggles with all things force related.

And I’m going to stop here because what follows are mostly action scenes and while I have gripes with those, I want to focus on the characters and I’m not the best expert on space battles and lightsaber fights.

But in essence, what I would have liked to see for Sabine is a character arc ala Sokka from Avatar style. In Sokka’s case he was the single non-bender in a group of benders. This caused him to feel redundant and useless but instead of magically giving him bending, the show sent him on a journey to find his own strengths and develop his skills until he was able to keep up with his team and become invaluable to them. The same ‘work hard and don’t give up despite not having superpowers’ that I would have liked for Sabine.

The show could still do something similar with her by letting her realize she doesn’t need the force or have her use it in her own unorthodox way but it still could have given us that same arc without tampering with canon and introducing a slew of meta problems in the process.

In addition, I think this could also give Ahsoka a better character arc: as far as we know she’s never had a padawan until now. And though Sabine isn’t Force sensitive in this version, Ahsoka could suddenly find herself in the same position as a jedi master: as someone who needs to guide and teach. Only it’s even harder for her because Sabine isn’t a padawan, she can’t use the same methods that were used with her, she can’t teach Sabine to meditate or look to the force for answers and balance. No, she has to figure this out without the help of the force.

In the progress she could also turn to Hera for little pointers and advice because while Ahsoka may be the jedi here, Hera has much more experience doing this. Being a leader, a mentor, a mother. These new arcs could serve to highlight each of the characters’ strengths: Hera’s emotional intelligence and leadership, Ahsoka’s passion, drive and determination and Sabine’s perfectionism and capacity to care for those she loves.

In the case of Ahsoka and Sabine, their strengths are also tied to their shortcomings: Ahsoka is still headstrong and fiery (rather than the stoic wise version this show keeps on pushing) which gets in the way of her relationship with Sabine and Sabine’s tendency to overthink and expect so much of herself ultimately ends up sabotaging her.

And that’s a decent jumping off point for some good character development down the line.

#ahsoka #ahsoka show #ahsoka tano #sabine wren #hera syndulla

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alwayswasagoodthief · 1 year ago

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Abigail Marston RP Bio

Main blog here. Basics here: Background:

Abigail was born May 11, 1877 in the Virginia area. Her mother, Adelle, passed from puerperal fever after giving birth to her. Her father, Henry, was a kindly woodworker. Her family was always destitute due to her father’s unfortunate luck with repaying loans. They were poor in money but rich in love. Abigail had to fend for herself during the day as her father worked himself to the bone, causing many nights where she went to bed without food. As a child, she was always musically gifted. Later in life, she used to sing on street corners or perform in places of ill repute in order to bring in extra income. Unsurprisingly, her dream was to be a singer. Her father provided for her the best he could and taught her a few basics of music, but he passed when she was seven. She was then sent to an orphanage but escaped at around eight years old to escape the abuse and take her chances on the street, eventually falling into hiding out in saloons. She continued to sing and beg for money for years. She eventually fell in love with a traveling musician and begged the woman to take her as well. She agreed, but the managers didn’t want a street rat like Abigail to join, so they called the local orphanage to drag her back while the troupe left in the night, leaving Abigail heartbroken. Abigail broke out once more and began focusing on her craft as a con woman and thief. She accidentally killed her first man at twelve after a man tried to get handsy.

Abigail was eventually scammed by a madam who promised she could kick start her career and make Abigail famous. She foolishly believed the woman. At first, she did make a name for herself by singing, but eventually, she was requested to perform “private shows,” mostly for men. Eventually, she realized that was conned into becoming a working girl. Even worse, the Madam forced her to discreetly kill on occasions, teaching her to become a manipulator, seductress, and actress. Abigail had no choice but to kill whomever the Madam needed to have killed - something many ruthless madams required their girls to do. This lifestyle hardened her. It wasn’t long until Abigail was one of the most gifted con artists and working girls in the Madam’s business. She met Uncle from the gang by chance. The Madam held a grudge against Dutch van der Linde due to unspecified reasons. The Madam wanted Dutch murdered but was disappointed that Uncle showed up instead. She told Abigail to befriend Uncle and assist the gang in whatever ways were needed so she could gain the gang’s trust.

Unfortunately for the Madam, Abigail had enough. Uncle was kind, fair, and protective of her, something she had lacked for years. Uncle was savvy enough to recognize the Madam’s scam. He offered Abigail a better life - turn on the Madam and join the gang. Abigail and Uncle then murdered the Madam so they could safely escape. Uncle told Dutch the entire tale of how he met Abigail, the Madam’s plans, and what Abigail’s skills were. It was then that she would do whatever the gang required of her - she did it out of a sense of duty, and she felt the need to repay them for saving her. (Contrary to popular belief, she did NOT sleep with the entire gang, likely 2 or 3 at the most. )

It didn’t take her long to become accepted as one of their own. The gang quickly realized how efficient of a con woman, thief, and occasional killer she was. She was the most active and successful female member after Bessie and Miss Grimshaw.

Then John Marston happened.

She fell for the raspy-voiced, gangly man at first sight. She didn’t mean to, but he brought out a whole new side of her. She found herself horrified by how quickly and deeply she fell for John. Fortunately for her, John Marston was just as enamored by her. However, they always had a tumultuous relationship. When they loved, it was intense, but the fighting was also fervent.

Her world was turned upside down when she discovered she was pregnant with John’s child. She was horrified. She wanted a family, but not like this. She enjoyed being an active gang member. Even worse, when she told John, he refused to believe her despite the fact that they were exclusive for well over a year. He attempted to stay with her out of fear of Dutch, Hosea, and Susan’s wrath. However, when a son, baby Jack Marston, was born, John couldn’t handle it. He abandoned her and their newborn son.

Now, Abigail witnessed the loss of her status in the gang and was saddled with a screaming boy and no husband. Arthur, Hosea, and the others helped Abigail pick up the pieces, but Abigail was a shell of a woman for

quite some time. Some would argue she is still a shell of what she used to be.

When John returned, he acted as though nothing had happened. He completely ignored Jack’s presence and mostly ignored her as well. She was furious and envious that he could come and go as he pleased. Their relationship returned to its tumultuous cadence and is where it is today. At this point, she cares more for John acknowledging Jack than her romantic relationship with him.

Now, after the failed Blackwater heist, she is becoming increasingly concerned about where the gang is headed. All she knows is that Jack and the rest of the gang are hungry and suffering. Abigail is done sitting around waiting for things to happen. While she will never become a working girl again, she will provide for her family no matter the cost. It’s time to return to work.

#abigail roberts #van der linde gang #abigail marston #john marston #jack marston #rdr 2 #hosea matthews #red dead redemption 1 #arthur morgan

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jeysecretive · 10 months ago

Text

The Dark Secrets

of the Deep Sea

Chapter two: Captive

Chapter one

💓 = Amy, Rouge

🟢 = Vector

🟣 = Background characters

🔵 = Sonic

🔴 = Shadow

🟠 = Tails

"NO!!!" Rouge shouted, belatedly firing her weapon at the spot where the enemy had stood a second ago.

As if blown away by the wind, Ghost's body flew down of the ship. There was no point in him staying there any longer. Sonic, his crew and Shadow had been in on it from the start, which meant it would be pointless to protect any of the gang of those left on the Black Wind.

He wasn't worried about the ship.The pirates were not unconscious enough to destroy the world's fastest brigantine. All they have to do is give them a little time to talk to each other, to find out and estimate the value of their booty, and then they'll have only two outcomes: embezzle or sell.

He had heard tales of such traps many times before, but this was the first time he had fallen into one. It was rare for pirates to pull a scam like this, and that ensured its high success rate.

A fake command, then an "attack". A combined force overpowers the target and captures or kills.

But these guys clearly had no plans to kill him.

Tales of kidnapped captains pushed through his mind again.

What happens on the Threat of the Seas after the pirates are caught?

***

Entering the water column he wasted no time. Raking his arms, Ghost moved into the open sea. He had to get away from the dive site soon in case they came looking for him.

Being underwater for an extended period of time did not frighten the captain. After all, he had little tricks to help ensure a long stay without air.

Suddenly a sharp, mind-numbing chant reached Ghost's ears.

Siren.

***

He had heard much about them, and had encountered them more than once. But their tantalising howls could not satisfy his ears.

He had heard these creatures actually sing. The sirens' calls made him shrink with almost physical pain, and he could not submit to the sounds of this cacaphony.

The sirens sometimes tried to drag him away, but they were harmless on land. It was only in the water that he truly feared their charms.

These creatures were powerful in the water, and once in their clutches the victim could feel their true power.

On land, the creatures could only attract humans by their singing and their appearance. But when an unbewitched person fell into the water with these creatures, they could cast a stronger spell.

The light may appear to come true, and you may try to get to the surface, only to go to the bottom in vain. Hallucinations can be so realistic that you won't realise you are dead. Even the strongest can break by following their call, and whoever escapes the siren's web of sorcery may lose their mind forever. You have been preserved by Poseidon himself, if you can escape this creature in her domain unharmed.

***

In the dark water, Ghost recognised the shape of the one who had called out to him.

She was clearly not "wild". The leather jacket and the large gold earrings hanging from her ears told him that she was somehow connected to pirates.

He knew that sometimes the bravest sailors caught sirens and bewitched them so that the creatures would serve their interests. Perhaps this girl was one of the "domesticated" ones.

His body involuntarily twisted in spasm as a new call reached his ears. This girl was quite powerful, and the captain's weary mind could not dismiss the echoes of the horrifying sounds.

The siren was calling him insistently in the direction of the enemy ship.

It seemed that Captain Shadow, taught by bitter experience, had his own trump card up his sleeve. Ghost guessed that the ebony hedgehog had taken extra measures to prevent the most savvy captives from escaping.

He flinched instinctively when his hand was suddenly touched by cold fingers. Blue eyes glittering with magical light blazed directly in front of Ghost's face. It looked like the girl was using a spell of suggestion, forcing him to obey.

A sharp ringing grew in his head, and a voice urging him to follow her scratched at the captain's subconscious. The girl couldn't bewitch Ghost with her song, but his mind, exhausted from earlier calls and battle, was vulnerable. The pain of the new sounds of the siren's magical howl clouded his vision, and the captain knew how strong it could be if he resisted.

Many escape options instantly swirled in his mind, but the new call forced him to make the only sensible decision: follow the girl, giving the illusion of submission. Fighting a siren in the water was a perilous business, especially in his weakened state.

Once the captain was away from the water, he would have a way to contemplate how to escape safely. It was clear that the pirates wanted to capture him for personal gain, and the threat of instant death from Shadow was more of a formality. This was confirmed by poison instead of bullets.

If he was careful, he could find out what he was being kidnapped for and deal with the trouble at the first port the Threat of the Seas approached. After all, he'd gotten out of worse situations than this.

Ghost wrinkled his nose involuntarily as he remembered the time he had been held captive by the military of Soleanna.

He had nearly destroyed that ship and its crew when he had escaped, and it had left a residue of imprisonment.

He should have been more careful about letting them aboard, maybe he wouldn't have had to spend so much time and energy trying to get out of it now. Maybe he would have found some gold laden Eggflot and robbed it, replenishing his money supply...

***

In his sad musings, Ghost almost didn't notice that he was on the surface of the water next to the Threat of the Seas. The girl, who had been holding his hand before, swam off to a small, sturdy dinghy waiting for them near the frigate's port side. There was no one inside the dinghy, and it seemed to mean that the captain trusted the siren's abilities, sending her after the fugitive alone.

Turning to the person following her, the girl let out another call, inviting him to sit down with her. Pulling herself up on her arms, she deftly jumped inside the jollyboat. The siren's tail began to blur slowly in a magical transformation, and soon, instead of a soft pink scaly body, she was wearing a funny floor-length skirt made of dense fabric with fringes and a pair of rough pirate boots made of thick leather, clearly hindering and uncomfortable for her feet.

With a chuckle to himself, the Ghost flew over the edge of the dinghy with equal grace, but his clothes, unprotected by magic from getting wet, got in his way and squelched awkwardly with moisture.

The girl giggled amusedly, looking at the motionless wet creature in front of her.

"You know, cap, if you weren't trying to kill everyone in a row, I might even call you funny. Normally, Sire Shadow wouldn't let anyone get away with harming his friend. You're the first person he's asked to let live after stunts like this, he seems to like you a lot."

This statement interested Ghost. He wasn't surprised that he was wanted to be held captive, but leaving him alive and unharmed was something no one wanted to do before.

Siren looked thoughtfully into the distance through Ghost. Her eyes clouded over slightly, as if she was thinking about something important. This hunch was confirmed by her subsequent mumbling. It was slightly unintelligible, but the captain was not concerned with that. He was more concerned with the meaning of what was being said...

"I wonder what you look like, "mister Mirage". Guys who cover their faces are usually either freaks or thugs wanted for serious crimes. I wonder what type you are." She said it as if half-jokingly, but inside the captain everything froze in anticipation. With a quiet groan inside he braced himself. He knew what he would have to do.

The girl move from her seat and took a cautious step towards Ghost. Her lips pressed nervously into a line, foreshadowing her next action.

A soft pink hand in a thin glove reached for the dark fabric of her cloak. But the hand dropped, never touching the hood.

From the shadows of the cloak, heavy with moisture, the eyes looked up at her. Reflections of pure white light faintly framed the indistinguishable features of the eyelids.

Siren took a step back. Her eyes glowed with the same sparkling white light.

No one must know his face. It was an unspoken rule that had entered his life. He knew, what would happen if he stopped adhering to it.

"The girl wants too much. I hope this compulsion works on her for the rest of my time here."

She blinked a couple of times, snapping out of her forgetfulness "...H-huh? Oh... I must be pretty tired chasing after you..."

Serena grinned "You're a tough nut to crack. Usually guys stick to me right away, and you didn't even try to touch me.... Anyway, I got you!" She giggled.

***

Suddenly there was a subtle shout from upstairs.

"AAAAAAMYYYYYYYY, DID YOU FIND HIM?!!!"

The girl jumped slightly in fright. She squinted slightly against the sun, cocking her head back.

"Yes Tails, don't worry! I got him in the dinghy, you can hoist us up!!!"

There was a cheer of approval from the side of the deck, and a few seconds later the dinghy was pulled gently to the very side of the frigate. Apparently she was tied by a rope.

From above with a loud rustle came down a young fox cub. Two fluffy tails swirled lightning fast behind his back, supporting the boy in the air. The presence of this detail almost didn't bother Ghost, as he had met with unusual inhabitants of this world quite often and was used to such features in the appearance of people.

Tails looked to be eight or nine years old, and Ghost was surprised that a child of that age had been taken on the high seas. Amy and Sonic, however, didn't seem too old either. From their appearance and behaviour, one would have guessed that they were normal fifteen year olds.

The boy tilted his head thoughtfully, looking at the fugitive's soaked silhouette. After pondering for a moment, he turned to Siren, "I thought Ghost would be more um.... Powerful in appearance?.. Cap told me he took Bark down, and this guy doesn't give up without a fight..."

The girl snorted, wrinkling her nose slightly. "Sonic said he hit mutie in the neck, though I'm not quite sure how that worked. At any rate, the "captain" isn't a threat now, I put a good spell on him. Let's get the dinghy up before Shadow gets mad we're taking too long."

Foxy nodded in agreement and flew upwards.

A minute later he came back with several ropes in an armful, then carefully tied each one round the dinghy boat's.

Finally finished, the boy put two fingers in his mouth and whistled shrilly. An answering signal was heard from above, and with a great shudder the jollyboat began to rise.

***

About a hundred pirates were waiting for them on the deck. Among them Ghost saw several of those on the Black Wind, Omega and a red echidna named Dread conspicuous among the crowd. Here, too, Sonic and Shadow stood at a distance from the others and watched the arrival of the jollyboat with anticipation.

The bear he had managed to defeat earlier was shuffling unsteadily from foot to foot behind them all. Apparently that punch hadn't been hard enough to keep him unconscious for long, but enough to keep the guy disoriented.

Sonic jumped merrily towards the boat when it finally landed on board.

"Hey Amy, how'd it go?!" He shouted halfway down, waving his hand animatedly.

"It's fine, Sonic. With any luck, he won't wake up until morning." Serena climbed out of the dinghy, beckoning her companion with a finger. Ghost obediently followed her, watching the pirates tensely from under his hood.

"STAND BACK, YOU LITTLE DUSTINGS, LET ME CHAIN HIM UP!" A cheerfully-worried exclamation was heard from backside.

Behind Sonic appeared a large crocodile in a leather waistcoat and with a chain around his neck. The gold lustre of the jewellery spoke volumes about the price of this accessory. A delicate orange bandana was tied around his forehead, and Ghost was surprised that a pirate's ragged outfit could have such a high quality silk and expensive chain around his neck. As far as he knew, criminals rarely flaunted their wealth, and expensive fabrics, beautifully stitched clothes, and gold were mostly worn only by captains. But this guy was clearly not one of the high ranking ones.

The iron shackles rattled in the crocodile's hands. They looked heavy, even for a big man, and Ghost wrinkled his nose, realising that he couldn't run far with that weight. Usually those who caught him were handcuffed or roped, but these guys seemed to be serious.

Ghost tried not to move as the crocodile approached him. If he tried to defend himself now, the whole armada of these thugs would be there to stop him.

Judging by the way his head was throbbing after his siren adventure, now was not a good time to fight.

***

Cold, rust-smelling metal closed around his wrists.

The crocodile hummed contentedly and shook his captive's arm, testing the lock. Moving on to his ankles, he suddenly snorted and with difficulty forced himself to finish the job.

"-What's wrong, Vector?" The voice of Captain Shadow came from the side. While the pirate fiddled with the shackles, the ebony hedgehog pushed his way through the crowd of his minions and watched the crocodile at ease.

"-I humbly beg your pardon, sire! I was amused by the sight of this loser's clothes. I can't imagine how he could be a captain with such a poor man's outfit. His cape isn't even embroidered with gold! No one we've ever caught has ever worn clothes simpler than this. I have no idea how holey his pockets are!" The crocodile clucked his tongue mockingly and poked the object of his derision under the rib.

The gesture nearly knocked Ghost to the ground, but he managed to regain his balance at the last moment.

"Well, he may have an unpretentious outfit, but his coin chest sure isn't empty!" Snickered Sonic, watching the process from the sidelines.

At those words, the eyes of each of the pirates lit up.

"Wow, we finally have gold?" "There's jewellery in there?!" "He has money!" "How much does he keep?" Excited exclamations sprinkled from all sides.

"Hey-hey, keep it down, guys!" The blue hedgehog chimed in with a ringing chuckle "I haven't determined how much jewellery he has yet, but I think you'll be able to find out!"

The crowd roared with joy. Vector, having done his job joined in the general excitement.

"I'll let you guys search the Black Wind while we deal with this guy, just don't pocket too much or I won't have the possessions to make it to Angel Island. Have fun, fellas!"

Sonic opened his arms in an inviting gesture, and the pirates spilled onto the deck of the neighbouring ship like peas with enthusiastic cheers.

Despite their general cheer, the Black Wind had so far remained unharmed. This surprised Ghost, because usually pirates acted like a typhoon, destroying everything in sight. But apparently they didn't want to disobey Blue's orders.

About half of the original bandits remained on the deck of the Thunder of the Seas. For a few minutes they talked animatedly among themselves, but then began to gradually disperse to their places.

Fox and Siren were the last to leave, leaving the two hedgehogs alone with the captive captain.

#hehe #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #my fic #sonic fanfic #The Dark Secrets of the Deep Sea

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caparrucia · 2 years ago

Note

17 and/or 18 for the writing ask meme, please?

Under a cut, because spoilers for the Regis/Aulea/Titus fic and a LONG ramble about the puppyverse.

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

Right now I'm wrapping up a +20K one-shot revolving around the formation of the Regis/Aulea/Titus triad in the puppyverse, which is like. The conclusion of a solid ~20 years of pining and slowburning from Titus and Regis and a closer look at who Aulea is, as a character.

This is a story that I, regretfully, knew I had to cut out from the main story of the puppyverse. For those who don't know, the puppyverse is my fanfic equivalent of "hold my beer and watch me" story that's 100% self-indulgent and written primarily for my own amusement. It's a collection of disparate AU prompts floating around the XV fandom over the years and my sincerest attempts at writing them all at once coherently.

It's also fundamentally a story about people figuring out their own definition of humanity and personhood. Through love, yes, in some cases, not not necessarily romantically or sexually. The story revolves around the five main "inhuman" co-protagonists, with the main plot broken up in two clear arcs: Arc 1 introduces the setting and the first few AU premises, which sort of stack on each other. It's primarily driven by the CorNyx (non)relationship (it's complicated) and takes advantage of the fact both of them are outsiders in their own way: Cor has extensive knowledge of the past and the things that have caused the current state of the world, having played a (very traumatic) role in the events that precipitate the setting: ie, Mors yeeting the Scourge and the Astrals into the shadow realm. Nyx is a foreigner who views everything and everyone with a layer of cynicism that only really gets challenged by Cor's shameless sincerity about everything. There's other POVs in the story, particularly to setup things that neither Cor nor Nyx would have been privy to, but arc 1 is mostly about THEM and the war and what they've become, throughout the course of it. Act 2 is when the plot itself picks up and things start actively changing, as a result of all the setups from act 1 and the backstory. The dominos are in place and now we get to tip them off and watch the pretty patterns they make, so to speak.

So as much as I love the Regis/Aulea/Titus story and their character development and the nuances of their interactions, it very clearly did not fit within the framework of the main fic. I've written tidbits here and there, about them, to scratch the itch, but I genuinely love this ship. They're a fantastic power triad and I really wanted to tell their stories, so I decided I was going to, for my birthday. Which I missed, but it doesn't matter, it's getting done now.

This is a story about politically savvy adults who are also stubborn and set in their ways, forced into a situation that forces them to be sincere about their feelings. And boy, they have A LOT of feelings. It's a get-together story where things are simultaneously too fast and too easy and too hard and too slow. They're keenly aware of the consequences of their actions and the weight of their decisions and the fact the world doesn't really CARE about them, as individuals.

It's also a story I stubbornly chose to write from Titus' POV. Because Titus is disabled and he's good at masking, and because he's mostly seen from the outside, people don't really get the weight of Titus being disabled, to what extent and what it means, for himself and his relationships. This is a Titus that isn't a traitor for the very simple reason that Mors removed the reason he would have had to be a traitor: there was no scourge to destroy his home and leave him bitter and furious at the kingdom that did nothing to protect his people. He's still a bitter, snarky, snarly shit whose primary running gag is serving as Regis' moral measuring stick and threaten treason if Regis proves to be inept as a ruler. But Regis is not a bad ruler. He is in fact a very competent ruler that Titus personally admires (and more, but he's not an idiot, he refuses to acknowledge any of those feelings because they would be inappropriate, and Regis is not emotionally available for any of that, so what's the point, cough, cough, this is why they've been dancing around each other for over a decade). Titus is crippled when he's poisoned, and this is mentioned in passing in the main story: the reality of it is far more significant than what the many unreliable narrators of the puppyverse might notice. Titus is poisoned and only saved because Cor intervenes, but while they manage to save his life, the poison has left him with chronic, degenerative nerve damage. He goes from a General that fights in the frontlines, carrying out Regis' defensive war with the Empire in the open, to not being able to stand unassisted more than half an hour, maybe an hour and a half with a cane. And because Titus has compartmentalized what happened to him as being part of the war, he sees what happened to him as being on the same level to what happens to soldiers that get crippled in action. He's not bitter about it! (He is absolutely bitter and frustrated about it.) He's so busy not being bitter about it that he doesn't really bring attention to the fact Regis lost his fucking mind about it.

See, one of the most sobering moments in the puppyverse is the purge that Clarus Amicitia leads in the wake of discovering it was Regis' cousin who was sabotaging the war efforts because she'd bartered with the Empire to let them put her son in charge once Regis was out of the picture. It's a very gut-wrenching moment, because it shatters the idea that "Lucians = Good" that the story had been peddling until then, and kinda shifts it more towards "War=Bad", which is a recurrent theme. But the incident is very colored by Cor's traumatic response to it, and the fact Ignis is caught up on it and being treated as a traitor for his associations with his mentor, Regis' cousin.

Here's the thing that none of these characters mention, in the corresponding chapter of the puppyverse: The reason Clarus did this? The reason they figured out it was Sylvia who'd betrayed them? The reason Clarus freaked out and ordered wholesale slaughter of people?

Clarus was trying to swiftly resolve the issue to try and keep Regis from going on a murderous rampage, because Regis was very much pissed when he found out Titus had been poisoned. See, Clarus is the one person who knows: a), how fucking ridiculously magically powerful Regis is, and b), how very FUCKED the entire continent would be, if Regis decided to go on a murderous rampage. How do you even begin to stop someone who commands that amount of magic? You don't, really. You can only appeal to his better nature. To his reason. The purge is Clarus hoping he can keep Regis from going full on rage monster by assuring him that while, yes, Titus got caught in the crossfire, it has been taken care of. Thoroughly. No loose ends left for Regis to gnaw on like that. Because yes, Clarus is a competent Shield and a good friend, he is 100% aware that Regis is despondently in love with Titus and refusing to act on it, because he's also, at the time, mourning for his wife. (Remember, until Aulea crashlands the party, as far as Regis and Clarus knew, she was dead. And Regis has been mourning accordingly ever since.) Regis lost his shit so badly at Titus being poisoned, that he ordered Titus to be treated in the Royal Quarters, by his own royal medic team. He also might have threatened to kill them all if Titus didn't survive it. It's not a subtle thing, is my point.

But it's also not the kind of thing Cor or Nyx or the kids would know about or notice, because the people involved are politically savvy enough to keep their feelings to themselves.

And yes, Interregnum brings up the fact the triad got together, but it didn't really go into the details, again focusing on the outside perspective (Noctis: He's fucking my parents.) and the consequences that ripple off from it, without directly acknowledging the inner workings of that relationship.

And it's a fucking fun relationship. Fullstop. They're silly and principled and fucking insane, in their own way, but they balance each other out so well! Like cogs falling into place. I'm excited to show it to you, guys.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

From the one-shot in question:

“Is that how you say hello?” Titus asked dryly, darkly amused by the way Regis’ face flushed with equal amounts rage and embarrassment.

“Knocking, Titus, have you heard of it?” Regis said, and then shattered Titus’ smirk in one swipe: “You have to know better than to sneak on someone under constant death threats. You’re not this stupid.”

“What death threats?” Titus asked, eyes narrowed, and reached out a hand to hold Regis’ throat so he could tilt his head up and force him to look at him in the eye.

That was a thing he’d just so very recently discovered: Regis lost his ability to lie convincingly, if forced to hold eye contact like that. It did a number on his ability to enunciate words with more than three syllables, too, but Titus was okay with getting the small words version of this.

“Two fifths of my court and a solid three fourths of all known foreign governments right now,” Regis replied, trying for blithe but barely scratching the surface of morose instead. He scoffed, but didn’t pull away from Titus’ hold. “You know better than most how many would rejoice if I dropped dead tomorrow. You used to threaten to join them twice a day if I annoyed you enough.”

Titus considered tightening his grip until he heard cartilage snap under his fingers and instead tugged Regis forward so he could kiss him. Was that wise? There, in the Citadel? In plain view of at least one camera? Probably not. But he felt like it, and given the fact Regis immediately kissed back, hands reaching out to claw at Titus’ clothes, it wasn’t unwanted. Untoward.

“I came to give you good news,” Titus said, not quite pulling away, basking in that moment when they were breathing the same air. “Now all I want is to discipline your Saboteur Corp.”

“Would I still have a Saboteur Corp. after you’re done?” Regis asked, and grinned when Titus bit him for the cheek of it. “Tell me the good news, I could use them today.”

This is a very interesting moment, because there's a gap in Titus' narrative. He's a very meandering narrator. He goes on tangents, thinks about details, puts them in context. He's well read and he's got a flair for the poetic. He's got a ton of very eloquent tangents and even more witticisms to deliver. He's devastatingly well spoken, and utterly ruthless about it. And yet, between them "getting together" as it where, and then dealing with the fallout of it, there's a distinct gap in Titus' POV. He laughs at himself and mocks his own sentimentality, he's very mean-spirited to himself, in places, but he doesn't SHOW us, his thought process about this relationship. About letting himself fall head first into a sort of relationship that's not just (definitely) sexual - they've had sex a few times by now - but also... romantic? Emotional? It's hard to pin it down.

There's just... this very sharp change, before and after, in the level of physicality that he allows himself, with them. It goes unexplored and that in itself highlights it. Or at least that's the intent. Clarus makes a comment, in a scene prior to this, but after Titus falls in bed with them, that amounts to mocking Titus for fucking a dragon and not realizing the implications of it. That Regis and Aulea have staked a claim on him, and Titus is a fool if he thinks he can make them forsake that easily.

The thing is, Titus has staked a claim of his own, but because he's the narrator and he's a very unreliable narrator, like all narrators in the puppyverse, he doesn't see fit to examine that claim in depth. It's a fun scene, both for what they discuss and what it means for their relationship, but also... because it represents the new status quo. The fact that Titus isn't going to dance around this and be cautious about it. He likes to pretend he's the sensible one, but he's the one fucking the literal fucking ruling royalty. So who's the sensible one, really?

(None of them. The answer is none of them. It's great.)

#rie answers #garbria

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smashlawlai · 4 months ago

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Here’s a Super Smash Bros. Lawl moveset for Lasercorn from Smosh Games:

Reveal Trailer:

The trailer opens with a vibrant, colorful video game landscape. Lasercorn appears, decked out in his signature gaming gear, and starts performing various gaming-related stunts. He then pulls out a laser sword and strikes a dynamic pose. The screen flashes: "Lasercorn Joins the Battle!"

Moveset:

Lasercorn’s moveset is themed around his gaming persona, blending tech and humor.

Neutral B (Laser Blast):

Description: Lasercorn fires a concentrated laser beam forward from his laser sword, dealing damage to opponents in its path. When charged, the beam becomes more powerful and wider.

Inspiration: Reflects his affinity for lasers and tech-themed attacks.

Side B (Power-Up Punch):

Description: Lasercorn performs a powerful punch that is charged with energy. The punch can break through defenses and has a chance to knock back opponents. When charged, the punch becomes stronger and has a larger hitbox.

Inspiration: Based on his energetic and forceful personality.

Down B (Game Over):

Description: Lasercorn activates a gaming-themed shield that temporarily protects him from attacks. The shield has a pixelated "Game Over" screen effect. When charged, the shield lasts longer and has a larger area of protection.

Inspiration: A nod to classic video game elements and his gaming background.

Up B (Jetpack Boost):

Description: Lasercorn uses a jetpack to propel himself upward. The jetpack can also shoot small bursts of energy to damage opponents above him. When charged, the boost is more powerful, allowing him to travel higher and deal more damage.

Inspiration: Reflects his gaming character’s tech-savvy traits.

Final Smash (Epic Gaming Showdown):

Description: Lasercorn activates a gaming console and summons a giant screen displaying various gaming scenes. He then unleashes a flurry of gaming attacks, such as pixelated explosions and laser beams, dealing massive damage to opponents before finishing with a powerful laser blast.

Inspiration: Combines his gaming enthusiasm with a high-energy, dramatic final attack.

Taunts:

Up Taunt: Lasercorn raises his laser sword and says, “Level up!”

Side Taunt: He performs a quick dance move and says, “Game on!”

Down Taunt: Lasercorn gestures to his screen and says, “Game over for you!”

Victory Poses:

1. Victory Pose 1: Lasercorn stands triumphantly with his laser sword raised and says, “Victory is mine!”

2. Victory Pose 2: He performs a celebratory dance and says, “Game on and game over!”

3. Victory Pose 3: Lasercorn gives a thumbs up and says, “Another win for the team!”

Defeat Pose:

Defeat Pose: Lasercorn shakes his head and says, “Looks like I need to level up!”

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anonnikulaphon · 4 months ago

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ᴀɴᴏɴ “ɴᴏɴ” ɴɪᴋᴜʟᴀᴘʜᴏɴ

Ｓｋｅｌｅｔｏｎ

>> FULL NAME: Anon "Non" Nikulaphon >> MEANING: ▪ Anon (joy, delight, pleasure) ▪ Ni (lead) ▪ Kul (family) ▪ Phon (Blessing) >> NICKNAME: Non >> DATE OF BIRTH: 1st of July, 1998, Wednesday, Afternoon >> AGE: 26 y/o >> SIGN: Cancer ♋️ >> ORIENTATION: Homoromantic Demisexual >> GENDER: Cisgender Male >> UNIVERSE: 404 Error

Ａｐｐｅａｒａｎｃｅ

>> FACE CLAIM: Peat Wasuthorn >> HEIGHT: 175cm // 5'9 // slender >> WEIGHT: 65kg // 143 pounds // slim >> HAIR: Naturally black // recently dyed golden blonde // short at base of his neck, longer at the front // grows quickly >> EYES: Deep brown // double eyelid // almond shaped // often lined >> CLOTHING: Designer // fitted suits for business and public events // baggy and hanging off of his frame when at home // likes to show off some of his skin // prefers darker tones >> OTHER: Sharp jaw-line // ear piercing on both ears // full lips // lower back dimples // no tattoos // small scar on the side of his forehead, hidden by his hair // no birthmarks // beauty mark on his neck // manicured nails

Ｐｅｒｓｏｎａｌｉｔｙ

>> STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES: Intelligent // Calculating // Competitive // Stubborn // Reliable // Proud // Studious // Business-Savvy // Well-Spoken // Independent // Slightly Sadistic // Protective // Judgemental // Holds Grudges // Jealous // Possessive >> LIKES: His family // Fashion // Jewellery // Music // Posting on social media // Soft beds // Interior design >> DISLIKES: Loud noises // Fake people // Rowdy parties // Those who have wronged him // Public transport

Ｂａｃｋｇｒｏｕｎｄ

>> HOMETOWN: Bangkok, Thailand >> RESIDENCES: Family properties and/or hotels located in: Bangkok, Thailand // Songkhla, Thailand // Krabi, Thailand // Chumphon, Thailand // Beijing, China // Shanghai, China // Tokyo, Japan >> NATIONALITY: Thai >> ETHNICITY: Half-Thai, Half-Chinese >> FINANCIAL STATUS: One of Thailand's Top 10 Most Rich Families >> EDUCATION: Graduated university, majority in Business and Finance Management with a minor in International Studies >> OCCUPATION: Interior designer, has his own business >> SPOKEN LANGUAGES: Fluent in Thai and Southern Thai dialect, English, Mandarin, can understand Lao, is learning Japanese

Ｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓｈｉｐｓ

>> FAMILY TREE: Sapol Nikulaphon (Grandfather) // Keit Nikulaphon (Father) // Jiang Lee (Mother) // Ploy (Father's Ex-Wife) // Chariya (Step-Sister, 35 y/o) // Niram (Step-Brother, 33 y/o) // Three nieces // Two nephews >> PETS: None >> ROMANCE: Boon (Ex-Boyfriend, together for 3 years, have been broken up for 1 year) // Various flings >> BACKSTORY: Anon was born with a silver spoon in his mouth as the youngest child of the well-known Nikulaphon family. His great-great grandfather played a significant political role in the shaping of the nation before eventually branching out into property management, quickly making a name for himself as a business tycoon. Currently, the Nikulaphon family owns more than sixty-percent of Thailand’s hotels and have expanded to construct their own line of hotels in China, which has proven to be incredibly successful.

Anon’s parents married for love, after many years of longing and suffering. They were high school sweethearts, dreaming of spending the rest of their lives together, before being forced apart by Anon’s grandfather. The patriarch of the family had already organised an arranged marriage for his son, forcing the two lovebirds apart. The marriage between Keit Nikulaphon and his socialite wife Ploy was not a good one, and they hardly spent any time together; Keit would be away on business for months, burying himself into his work to avoid going back home unless he had to. Their relationship did strengthen after a few years and they did have two beautiful children together, which satisfied the requirement for an heir to the Nikulaphon business, and allowed them to open talks with their grandfathers for a divorce. It was granted, as long as their children – Anon’s step-siblings Chariya and Niram – remained with the Nikulaphon family. Now a free man, Keit contacted his first love, Jiang, and rekindled their relationship. From that marriage, Anon was born. Keit and Jing were worried about the reaction this would garner from Keit’s father; but to their surprise, he loved the baby with all of his heart. The years watching his son suffering in a marriage he hadn’t wanted gave the old man a new perspective on life, and so he vowed to treat his latest grandson with all the love he had to give.

Anon has a good relationship with his parents and grandfather, but not with his siblings. Chariya and Niram are much older than him, and have never paid him any mind, making him feel like an outsider in his own home. He knows he’ll probably never inherit the business his great-great grandfather started, but he still studied business and finance management just to be helpful, and to prove himself worthy of his family’s greatness.

Ｅｘｔｒａｓ

>> FEARS: TBA >> PHOBIAS: N/A >> HANDICAPS: N/A >> MENTAL DISORDERS: N/A >> PHYSICAL DISEASES: N/A >> PREDISPOSITIONS:

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suraan-mga2022mi6011 · 11 months ago

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The Character Bible- Pyralis Ballas

Introduction:

A one-armed spartan left on a hill to die by his parents, who is raised by the mythical creature phoenix as his own. He always wanted to become a spartan warrior as he always watched them train from afar but had to stay hidden as he was deemed a freak, but that all changed when the town found his home and killed the phoenix who looked after him.

He bursts into a rage killing all the soldiers left in his home, the phoenix's corpse melts into a flame blessing him with his powers. He swears to avenge the Phoenix and bring justice to him. Little does he know the past of his bird father and the secrets hidden in Sparta.

Species: Human

Age: 26

Date of Birth: 430BC

Gender: Male

Eyes: Orange

Hair: Brown

Skintone: Tanned

Height: 5'11 (180cm)

Physique:

More lean and scrawny compared to the other spartans Long wavy hair Sharp features Hairy

Body Features:

He has a missing arm Got cuts along his arm from when he got attacked

Facial Features:

Sharp face Has messy 5 oclock shadow facial hair bushy eye brows

Identifying Features:

His unique phoenix-themed armour His Fire aura His lack of an arm When he uses his power he gets a new arm made of fire

Physical Quirks: He has a unique skin pattern on his right arm

Accessories:

The custom spear he has made with bird wings on it. The unique armor set he made from scraps embued with his phoenix parents' power.

Specialized:

He is skilled in combat from years of watching soldiers train He can easily adapt and understand his opponent's fighting style/moves he is proficient with spears

Special Abilities:

He can grow a fire arm when he is enraged allowing him to conjure elemental spears He can also shoot out fire projectiles from his arm

Personal History:

He was orphaned as a child due to his birth defect and was set to be thrown off a cliff till he was rescued by a phoenix. He was raised by a phoenix whom he treated as a father He was always told to stay hidden to avoid detection as he is considered a freak/weak due to him missing his right arm. Eventually, he gets caught and leads a platoon of spartans to his home, his father sacrifices himself for Pyralis to escape Ever since he swore to bring an end to the Spartan empire, he later joined forces with a girl from Athens as they had to join forces to stop the empire.

Education:

He is more of a brute as he grew up with the simple life of a farmer He has vast knowledge about combat from years of observing and learning

Accomplishments: He created his own fighting style with the spear which can yet be rivaled

Failures:

He failed to protect his father as he got too scared, he hesitated He can't control his rage He does not think before he acts

Mental Trauma:

The pressure of avenging his dead Father The feeling of abandonment from his original parents All the rage built up inside him The constant feeling of being a freak and not good enough

Intellectual Characteristics:

He can identify an opponent's fighting style from just simple observations He can easily adapt to any combat situation

Morality:

He just wants revenge He will stop at nothing to achieve his goals

Sexuality: Straight

Known languages: Greek

Motivation:

To get revenge for his father's murder Crumble the Spartan empire

Quotes:

"Fire is my weapon, the flame coursing through my veins" "Afraid of getting burnt?" "ashes to ashes, dust to dust…father…"

Savvies:

He is observant He is strong He can fight for long periods

Likes:

He likes apples He likes pushing his limits in combat He likes animals (he is a softie for them)

Dislikes:

He dislikes dishonorable warriors He dislikes entitling people He doesn't like people who talk too much

Virtues:

courage bravery fearless determined resilient

Flaws:

when it comes to being book-smart he is very poor doesn't have much street knowledge doesn't know how to interact with others

Quirks:

He often gets ghost pain in his missing arm which causes him a lot of pain and stress He scratches his beard when he is thinking

Hygiene: He is not well hygienic but doesn't mind his own smell

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y-rhywbeth2 · 11 months ago

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@meanbossart First, I love the work you're doing in this blog, second, i have a question: based on the lore you know, do you think the temple would get involved with, basically, indirect, highly political methods to forward Bhaal's goal of mass death? Like Injecting money into and supporting wars that break out, encouraging political conflict between factions/lands, working against the passing of laws that improve life/health conditions wherever they reside, etc?

I should probably get back to that work (what can I say, babbling is easier than organising research)

Based on the lore I know: no. You infiltrate to control the law and protect the activities of the faith (murder), and to make the laws more lenient on your religious practices and weaken influences that might hider you so that the faith and Lord Bhaal may grow in power. You want control, not chaos.

The destruction and bloodlust of war, and the fear and rot of plague, poison and filth also aren't Bhaal's MOs, that's Garagos and Talona. Plagues definitely aren't his style, which is presumably why he employed Talona as a servant rather than ever attempting to take her portfolios for himself.

To borrow from a different murder god's teachings: "avoid plunging realms into widespread war, which would pay honor only to Tempus the war deity."

War will empower war gods like Garagos, Tempus and the Red Knight, not Bhaal. Plague and failing health conditions will strengthen Talona, not Bhaal. You want to strengthen the Lord of Murder and give him a boost over other deities you need to start serial killing and putting the fear of being murdered on his altars into the hearts of the people:

"Kill with swift skill, not by torture, forced suicide, falls, or collisions. Do it personally, with ever-greater deftness and elegance, and teach others the skills and the delights of slaying. Deathbringers are to slay with enough skill that witnesses are impressed. They are always to challenge those more powerful than themselves, the clergy of other deities being prize targets. Slay with pleasure, but never with anger. Be in exquisite control of yourself. Utter the name of Bhaal so the victim can hear it. Ideally, it should be the last word a victim hears." (He'll also accept over the top gory murders too, though)

Bhaal wants intentional first degree murder done for pleasure; he wants it personal and flashy and one-on-one, and he wants the victim to know they were sacrificed to him. Hard to do that in the chaos of a battlefield or a plague zone, what are you going to do, put up banners saying "this plague/war was sponsored by the Temple of Bhaal: thank you for your ugly, overlooked death in His name"?

Bhaal is god of assassins, was a spymaster and assassin in life, and very much comes across as a profiteer. He's business savvy. He loves death, but he also wants to get more out of it than just the thrill of it. His boast to Myrkul and Bane was that he decided how much their thrones are worth: he can decide to strip Myrkul of power by choosing to refuse to let anybody die as much as he can destroy Bane's power by killing entire kingdoms. And he does stay his hand when it serves him better. His church profits off of the fear of death as much as the actual slaughter.

I call Bhaal an idiot a lot, but I don't think he's actually that stupid. Chaotic, uncontrolled, widespread impersonal death won't serve him as well.

Mass death worked as a plan in the original games, because Bhaal needed to all of his hundreds of children to kill each other so that he could reclaim the fragments of himself he'd kept alive in them. Watching them go on serial killing sprees and kill each other in daddy's name also kept him alive in people's thoughts, which was a boost.

In BG3 he's demonstrably a full fledged living deity - a lesser deity at minimum (call him a quasi-deity if you like, game text, but that is not what you put in this game), this kind of rampant slaughter isn't so necessary. And the the death of every single living creature on the world as BG3 is trying to claim is... highly unlikely as an actual plan. No god is going to go for that, no matter how closely their nature aligns with so much death. If you're looking at increasing your power by fomenting mass death through strife and discord? You're looking at Cyric (and even he knows to tell his followers not to trigger open warfare because the other gods will take notice and crack down on you).

To-do list for the inheritor of the newly re-established office of High Primate of Bhaal of the City of Baldur's gate, circa 1480-something: politics, re-establishing the faith and getting Bhaal more sorely needed worship. And because there's only so much entertainment you can get being a group of twitchy killers living under the sewers.

Negotiate terms with local government for freedom of religion (presumably a private audience with the Grand Dukes, maybe the Parliament of Peers, maybe both, idk) Negotiations will probably begin with a more diplomatic version of: "I apologise on behalf of my Father for that thing where he manifested an avatar and went on a murderous rampage through the streets just over a century after my siblings almost drowned the world - and this city specifically - in blood. But also, considering the power just illustrated I think it's fair to say that it's in the best interests of a quiet life and an easier clean up that you just give us our temple back and let us worship in exchange for assassination and spying work on your behalf." This being the usual arrangement with evil faiths, it is in fact a winning argument. You don't kill anybody who matters (so criminals, travellers nobody knows, the homeless, etc) and honestly nobody will consider it worth the time and resources to stop you anyway. -

Weaken the political hold of enemy faiths Ilmater, Lathander and Helm have an established presence in the city, and the Ilmatari have done well enough since 14th century to upgrade from a shrine to a temple. All three of those faiths are better established, more influential, and will oppose the growth and activity of a Bhaalist presence, for some strange reason, -

Re-establish ties with traditional allied faiths (such as they are) Bhaal's traditional allies were Loviatar, Talona, Bane, Myrkul, Mask and Hoar. While none of these faiths hold the same level of sway in the city their enemies do, they all have at least one shared enemy. -

Eliminate rival/dissenting thieves and assassin guilds and organisations. Maybe establish some. Don't expect to have the thieves guilds at your beck and call (Mask is their patron god, but Bhaal generally worked with him fine - and you'll be fighting the Sharrans for influence too) but do make a space for yourself in there and ensure they understand that patronage and cooperation is mutually beneficial. Assassins? They're Bhaal's and he and his worshippers are going to expect all killers for hire to be paying their dues to the Lord of Murder or expect a "cease and decease" regarding their attempts to profit off of his domain without paying him back. -

Acquire Temple holdings Most of a temple's wealth and influence is going to come from owning land and properties. All members of the clergy of pretty much all faiths are expected to go out and claim some. Unfortunately being out of the picture for a century+ means the temple has lost a lot of its original holdings, so you might need to start working on taking some from the other temples... -

Network, Infiltrate and Recruit Gods always need more worshippers, and that goes double for gods who've been dead for a long time. Serial killers need the law to play nice. It's time to remind the peasantry to pay their "don't murder me taxes" (known as "tithes" for legal purposes) and find the city's more murderous members - even many who'd proudly call themselves upstanding citizens may just desire the execution of certain criminals the law won't touch or can't catch - and seek sympathetic ears amongst the rich and powerful... and remove and replace those who aren't. There are plenty of people like unscrupulous younger children whose ear you might have if only you helped them remove the pesky barriers standing between them and control, known as their relatives. And then you have blackmail! Things like that. Remember to wash the blood off before attending any fancy wine tasting parties in estates and pavilions in the upper city. You want your faithful in the ranks of the city watch and the Fist sooner rather than later. -

Establish presence in the Undercellar As the local criminal underworld hub where the law dare not tread (unless they're off duty and here for some crime themselves) this is where a lot of your "public" work and contracting is going to be. Remember to buy one of the back rooms for the "private shows". -

Consider a Daytime Identity, if you don't already have one An important part of being a typical Bhaalist is maintaining a separate, normal life outside the temple that allows you your own income and solid alibies... or you could just live in your dad's house, cling to your divine status and refuse to do any of that mortal stuff, I guess. -

Start repairs on the Temple It's been a dusty, out of date ruin for 100+ years. Consider the structural damage. Maybe have the butler do a bit of dusting.

#Power is determined by worship now not purely by portfolio. Can't have power without worship. Can't have worship with everybody dead #lore stuff #I suppose #the idiot three #/durge #long post

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