#human!venus ; drama queen

[jellys-multimuse-blog]

Welcome to Mod Jelly's Multimuse Blog!

This blog will feature:

@ask-orion ★

@carmilla-carmine ★

@ask-emily-the-seraphim ★

@ask-lucifer-morningstar ★

@ask-rosie ★

@ask-exterminator-lute ★

@red-velvette-cakes ★

@silk-the-moth ★

@cupid-the-killer ★

@mochi-the-shapeshifter ★

@selkie-the-exorcist ★

@electronic-moth-venus ★

@theatrics-of-venus ★

@the-television-host ★

@the-real-verosika-mayday ★

@barbie-wires-drugs ★

@vox-in-heaven ★

Beelzebub / Queen Bee ★

Sera ★

Fallen!Sera ★

Dana ★

Skye ★

The reason for this is that all the blogs featured above are on my computer account, whereas this one is on my phone, so I can actually use this to reply to things quickly. If you want to have some more information about the characters such as the OCs or AUs, please check the accounts themselves!

[eth3real-ess3nce]

PICK A ♡ PILE - THREE MONTH LOVE FORECAST

Top left (1) , Top right (2) , Bottom left (3) , Bottom right (4)

Enjoy!

PILE 1

This reading is meant for you if one of more of these apply: ♡ you have been planning your Christmas holidays (2-3 months prior) ♡ you were born in March or April ♡ life path 3 6 or 8 ♡ someone close to you (or you) is named Christina ♡ summer is your favourite season ♡ you hate coffee ♡ it's your last year of high school or college ♡ you own a cat ♡ you are from Asia or dream of visiting Asia / Eastern Asia ♡ you love Starbucks ♡ you see angel number 333 ♡ you used to love Bratz or Monster high ♡ I see you regaining your confidence, how lovely! Many of you have been thinking about making changes to your appearance & you will make these thoughts come true. You will be PAMPERED by the universe. Feels good to finally spoil yourself, huh? Totally! And because of the radiance your glow up offers you, you are going to attract multiple "knights" who will want to add to it. I see material gifts, thoroughly planned dates and tokens of appreciation in your future. Many of you will be meeting new potential love interests during Christmas holidays. Please be careful of lovebombers. Now it isn't the case for everybody of course, since it's a collective reading. But if you notice that someone is making big promises early on and you feel uncomfortable with it, listen to your gut please. For many of you, there might be a third person you don't know about. And whether you know about the third person , please avoid getting entangled in such situations as it won't end well for you..I'm saying this with love Being showered with gifts and being treated like a queen is amazing , but just be aware of the hidden agendas. In cases a third person doesn't exist, they will attempt to lure you in by pretending that you are everything you ever asked for. Keep your lovely eyes open! ✨ 💗 Zodiac signs mostly present/related: Taurus, Leo, Cancer (sun, moon, rising or venus)

PILE 2

This reading is meant for you if one or more of these apply: ♡ Life path 5 or the number 5 on your birth date ♡ you are christian or muslim ♡ you wear earphones most of the time ♡ your favourite colour is a shade of blue ♡ you have sensitive stomach or food intolerances ♡ you drop things on the floor easily lately ♡ you like to draw, you use black&white filters on pictures a lot ♡ you live near a thrift shop ♡ your name ends with an "e" ♡ you have practised art before like drama or sculpting I feel that this is my heartbroken pile. I want to start by giving you a BIG warm hug and try to offer you the sweetest, most encouraging words possible today. I'm sensing some type of betrayal here whether it's literal or emotional. You tend to overgive to people close to you, even if they don't deserve it. You are tired of feeling taken advantage of. You feel that so much is owed to you and you definitely have the right to feel this way. You have been stepped over and over again. This is the time where you will be given the decision to put an end to these energies. Some of you might be still entangled in situations where they drain your soul and your light , others might have walked away but are still trying to pick up the pieces of their hearts & heal.. It seems very difficult for you, because making the decision to prioritise yourself & your needs is something brand new to you. You never thought you were supposed to put yourself first before ; to think that your physical mental, emotional wellbeing must come first. My dear pile 2, I know you are seeking a glimpse of hope in today's reading but I ought to be 100% honest with you. Dating is not what is meant for you right now. You are going through one of the deepest spiritual transformations in your life currently and I am not exaggerating. You are still learning how to perceive yourself as someone who is human with needs and desires, and NOT as a doormat for others to step conveniently on. "But is there hope for me to find love?" Yes. I see that happening later than sooner, though. When you will be coming out of your "winter" phase in your life ; with your healed scars and with confidence you never even imagined you'd possess before. The future holds endless, limitless blessings for you, pile 2. All the power & courage you're seeking is within. Zodiac signs mostly present/related: Pisces & Sagittarius (sun, moon, rising or venus)

PILE 3

This reading is meant for you if one or more of these apply: ♡ you have short hair ♡ life path 9 or have 9 on your date of birth ♡ one of your parents or siblings has aries placements ♡ you traveled inside USA in the past month ♡ you own a green jacket ♡ you are an athlete ♡ your chart is water or air dominant ♡ your name or last name starts with an "M" ♡ you have trouble sleeping lately ♡ you have neon lights in your bedroom ♡ you prefer older guys (I don't blame you) ♡ one of your favourite artists is Taylor swift, Jhene Aiko, Beyoncé ♡ you have tattoo(s) on your wrists/hands ♡ you stay home a lot lately Currently, it seems that you prefer your solitude. Many of you have given up on dating, you feel defeated in some way. You are extra picky with people (as you should) , as you can clearly see through them & make correct judgements about them often. Some of you might have been practicing abstinence, you are spiritually isolated and you are single by choice. I see you living your truth and stand firmly on your beliefs, even if it comes off harsh or weird to others. You don't care. 😉 In the next three months: Initially, you will stay this way. It's very likely that for some of you a past lover might return and even offer closure. You will have reflected a lot on past mistakes that were made & since you took time off the dating pool, you will be able to make healthy choices for yourself. And also, to say "no" to what doesn't serve you. Dear pile 3, I agree it's good to be highly selective, but I see here that many of you struggle when it comes to receiving. You might be looking at those videos where girls are getting princess treatment, flowers, etc. from their boyfriends and you deeply yearn for it. I know some of you won't even admit it 😅 But it's PERFECTLY fine to desire those things. You deserve to be properly loved & cherished. Allow this into your life when the opportunity presents itself, because I assure you it will. Something passionate is in the cards for you. You won't expect it and you won't expect with whom it will happen. You might know (or get to know) this person & not like them at first, but then sparks will begin to ignite. Mark my words. I'm sensing heavy air energy from this pile, woah. (gemini, libra, aquarius) sun moon rising venus. Because of your naturally detached nature, you don't fall in love with just anyone . This time, though , your inner child finally feels safe with someone. This is what your spirit has been asking for. A love that feels like home. Zodiac Signs mostly present/related: Pisces, Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, Libra (sun, moon, rising or venus)

PILE 4

This reading is meant for you if one or more of these apply: ♡ you braid your hair very often ♡ you're reading this while you are not in your hometown ♡ you were born in 2005,2006,1997 ♡ your father is an attorney ♡ you have leo placements ♡ you come from money ♡ you have heart(s) in your bio ♡ you have dark hair and light eyes ♡ you mostly wear boots ♡ you love Green Day ♡ your venus is in Aries ♡ you have nose ring(s) ♡ your name has two A's ♡ you ate cereal the same day you read this ♡ you have a pet with green eyes ♡ you own a necklace with a crystal/stone ♡ you're half European Hello hello! I must say, this pile is scaring me a bit. So wild! 😳 and so much secrecy... 👀 Pile 4 your love lives never cease to be boring. I can hear you thinking "why am I falling in love with the wrong people" "why do i have to make difficult choices in love". I see.... There are multiple energies coming through so bear with me as I'm going to cover them all ❤️ As I said, I sense so much secrecy here. But during the next 3 months everything will be revealed. Do you have feelings for someone you shouldn't, but you keep it to yourself? You will probably either tell them or they'll know. Someone from your friend group or class has a crush on you? You will definitely discover it. Do you have an affair behind someone's back? Baby.. it will be known. Does the person you are involved with know that you don't want something serious? It's time for them to learn... I don't seek to be strict, only honest and loving with you, so this is why I advise against being reckless, okay? With your heart and others'. One of the first messages that popped up, is **warning against unwanted pregnancies** so pretty please make sure you use protection if you don't plan on getting pregnant!!! 💗 Pile 4, in the next 3 months karma will be served, whether it's good or bad. If you worry, it's not too late to change how things are. You always have free will. It's just the overall energy that I am getting. For example, if you don't want your crush to know that you like them, then they won't. BUT, opportunities will present themselves.. just sayin'! It's your choice, always. Expect those changes to occur during the next mercury retrograde (December 13th if you're reading this before that date). I advise you to be on your best behaviour, pile 4!!! I know "forbidden love" situations & mind games are giving you adrenaline and meaning in life... but it's not the time to act up if you want to be free of consequences 😳 And for those of you who know you're doing nothing wrong, I got you. Someone is absolutely infatuated with you but something is holding them back. I have channeled a few clues for you ❤️ : "dark hair" "Scorpio" "19 (could be age or numbers at their date of birth)" "Works in retail" "Initials J or D" "has a flag/scarf of their favourite football team in their room" "met at a party" "subtle ways to have physical contact with you" "had a cringe emo phase a while ago" "has randomly bought you food before" Does it ring a bell?? Zodiac Signs mostly present/related: Aquarius, pisces, Scorpio (sun, moon, rising or venus)

[yukidragon]

I wonder if Barbie was a singer and a performer in the AU, would the story go differently or the same? Would Bo be Barbie's "biggest fan" aka the classic crazy obsessed fan?

I assume you mean in the Mafia AU? That would be an intriguing alternative to their story. Of course, the life of a singer and performer is a busy one, which would probably be too much for Barbie to juggle with her crusade against the Blouin family to free her big sister from being contracted to them.

But hey, I made variants of AUs before, and the initial idea did come before I fleshed out more about the King family, and it does seem a shame to not involve them with the fun of living in St. Valen's... Why don't I explore a version of the story where they have a little family run business of their own in this city of sin and vice?

Content Warnings: This AU talks about dark subject matter like criminal violence, human trafficking, emotional abuse, child abuse, weaponized religion, cults, religious trauma, childhood trauma, excessive drinking, drug usage, yandere obsession, and of course sex. Chances are one or more of these topics will pop up as I ramble on. I'll try not to be terribly graphic when these subjects appear... unless I get inspired by some self-indulgent OTP smut ideas.

I might also use some artwork drawn by the awesome Sauce to illustrate a point or two, so I'm going to do a quick plug for the SnaccPop Patreon. Signing up not only gives you access to a lot of special works of art and audio dramas, but you'll be supporting the team. They deserve lots of love for working so hard on Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack, DachaBo, and Aphrodesia. This AU that blends the three together wouldn't be possible without them.

@channydraws @earthgirlaesthetic @sai-of-the-7-stars @cheriihoney @illary-kore @okamiliqueur @kurokrisps

With all that out of the way, let's play with some slightly different circumstances for Bo to meet his puppy in this crime-ridden universe, and Jack to get a little bit of sunshine in his life.

Not too much will change on Jack and Bo's end in this variant of the AU. I love the idea of Jack suffering from a form of haphephobia too much to drop it, but the way he'll be touched by sunshine for the first time will be a bit different.

The Royal Garden

The King family set up shop in the City of St. Valen's as a literal mom and pop joint known as the Royal Garden. Mama Lycoris has an eye for cultivating talent, and her beautiful husband is a well known singer with many years of experience. Together they set up a rather well to do entertainment venue that draws in a lot of up and coming talent in the area.

Of course, being the crime-riddled city of St. Valen's, they needed to occasionally get rough with the local thugs that tried to shake the business down for money. Lycoris might not be part of any mafia organization, but she knows how to take care of trouble and how to get rid of a body if necessary. You wouldn't think she was so formidable from her small stature and warm, motherly aura, so she catches people off guard when they try something funny with her. She makes sure the security in the garden is second to none, so nothing will happen to her family, anyone who works their, or her customers while they're on the premises.

For the most part, the talent at the club comes from the family. Since the Royal Garden opened, the star of the show has always been its lead singer, Ambrose King, who as given the nickname the White Rose of the Royal Garden. He's also been called the White King or the White Queen. He was very well known for his beauty and singing talent long before they ever met Lycoris, and he's unintentionally stolen many a heart over the years. Still, no matter how many people look their way, his heart belongs to his beloved wife.

On that note, I'd like to proudly proclaim that I finally gave Papa King a name - Ambrose! It felt very fitting to me after I decided that Lycoris insisted that all their children have the middle name of "Rose" in honor of their love story. She, being a flower lover, plucked the "rose" from his name and that flower has been the symbol of her love for them ever since.

I also gave Ambrose a bit of a makeover in picrew since I don't think the dadwear cardigan look he sports in the regular continuity would fit an alluring club singer living in a city full of sin and vice. I couldn't get the look exactly how I wanted, but here's something a little bit closer to the sultry look he might sport in this AU.

Alas, picrews are a bit limited when trying to capture the Aphrodesia style. Maybe someday I'll be able to draw Ambrose in a proper sexy outfit fit for this sort of setting. There are many people who have fallen for this beautiful singer.

Of course, since Papa King has gotten a bit of a picrew makeover for this AU, I should do the same thing for Mama King.

Whether she's called the Red Queen of the Royal Garden or its gardener, Lycoris runs the show, both figuratively and literally. Sadly, with the limitations of picrew I can't show her as dolled up and decked out in jewelry as I'd like, but she's a very classy dame.

While I'm at it, I think I'll see if I can get picrew to makeover for the three oldest siblings to be a bit more fitting for this AU. I know I already drew Alice in this AU, but with her backstory changed, she's going to have quite a different appearance. She can't perform on stage wearing second-hand clothes from a thrift store after all. Fortunately for her, there's no need for her to wear a Phantom of the Opera mask in this version of the AU.

Again picrew limitations confound me, but I think this gives a good gist of how this version of Alice fared a bit better than her sniper counterpart in this sort of setting. Just imagine this dress being a lot more glittery all over with some more jewelry accents, perfect for putting on a show.

Alice has grown up on the stage. Though she did face some bullying due to her weight while growing up, and even today she'll receive the occasional awful comment, as she does in the regular continuity and virtually every AU, the praise she received for performances since she was a child helped boost her confidence. She's a wonderful singer, just like her papa, and she's also surprisingly light on her feet, having been a dancer on stage before she started singing.

Despite the family business, Alice and her siblings were never pushed to perform if they didn't want to. It was always their choice on what they wanted for their own futures. Alice was always enamored by how magical and sparkly her father and the other performers were on the stage.

Even in this AU, Alice had issues with being nonverbal when she was very young. It took her a while to overcome those issues, even with therapy and using a puppet like Honey Bunny to help her find her voice. What helped her find her voice was the encouragement of her family, especially her younger siblings, who also have a talent for singing.

The Royal Garden is a very classy club that has two faces. During the day it's a fine dining experience with live entertainment that is suitable for all ages, though it caters to an adult clientele. The atmosphere is chill, pleasantly lit, and relaxing a place to stop and unwind for breakfast, lunch, or an early dinner.

Once night falls, the club is exclusively for the adult crowd, with neon lights, an open dance floor, a wide array of alcoholic beverages to partake, and acts that can get rather suggestive. Of course, the more racy acts are clearly labeled and scheduled so customers can choose to opt in or not on watching a far more adult show. The vibe of these acts is of sophisticated seductive elegance.

When the King kids were old enough to handle performing before a crowd, it was only to the daytime side of the club until they became adults. They all learned quickly that sneaking out to get a peek at the club at night was a bad idea and brought major punishments with it. Adults only means adults only!

Initially, Alice and Barbie were a duet, but over time they became solo acts in their own right. It was duetting with Barbie that helped Alice open up and enjoy singing on stage. Alice preferred to stick with performing in the day club, but Barbie switched to nights as soon as she was of drinking age and got permission from their parents.

Sadly the picrew that I used for Barbie doesn't have much in the way of jewelry or sparkly club outfits, but at least it can help convey that she cares a bit more about her appearance in this universe.

Both girls, as you can see, have slightly different hairstyles from normal. Alice has allowed her hair to grow much longer, and she often has it styled in fancy ways for her shows. Barbie stuck with the same short length, but gave her hair a blue-fade much like how her heterochromia fades from brown to blue. The dye intentionally matches her eye color.

Despite knowing how to play to a crowd, Barbie is still very much a misanthrope. She just learned how much fun it was to toy with people while on the stage. She can entice the crowd, tease and titillate with suggestive looks and moves that have given many a patron the wrong impression. Fortunately, security is there to remind the patrons that they can look and listen, but they can't touch. She gets a kick out of taunting people with something that they can never have and how desperately she can make her audience lust after her in vain.

Many a poor soul has tried to shoot their shot with the King siblings, but Lycoris is a very protective mama bear in this crime-riddled city. She strictly enforced stranger danger into her children and made sure they knew how to defend themselves both unarmed and with a gun. Among the security at the club are trusted bodyguards whose job it is to keep the King family safe.

The Kings are pretty well off in this universe. The Royal Garden caters to a pretty wealthy clientele, being a very upscale club during the day or night. There's a pretty hefty cover charge at the door, especially at night. Of course, the money patrons spend at the club tends to be from questionable places, but what person isn't dealing with dirty money even indirectly in the city of St. Valen's? Lycoris and Ambrose have certainly participated in a shady deal or two in their time, regardless of their feelings about it.

What happens in the VIP rooms, stays in the VIP rooms.

It's fortunate that Barbie has no inclination to date, especially not any of her lustful fans, or the overprotectiveness of her parents might be suffocating. Of course, things are going to change for her in ways she never expected in the future.

That overprotectiveness certainly got in the way of Alice and Ian getting closer romantically, or at least it didn't help the issues that got between them. Though more on him and his rocky relationship with Alice later, since I want to get through the rest of the King family first, and Ian deserves to have his new background fleshed out a bit as well.

While I didn't originally intend to use Elias at all in this AU, it'd be a shame to leave Coraline out, or for her to never meet her ghostly groom. I might save him for another post though, as I'm still considering what background would best suit him in this AU. I can stay that he'll be a fair bit more corporeal like Jack gets to be.

Really, when I think about Elias and his family, they'd probably fit right in to a criminal-infested city. Probably a family-run business with shady dealings and sleazy connections that Elias is trying in vain to clean up despite his chronic illness and the way his family treats him.

I can't help but think back to the conversation MC has with Elias in the game, where he laments his health problems and asks if medicine has advanced enough since his death that a cure was found. Multiple Sclerosis' symptoms can be managed with modern medicine, so he wouldn't be bedridden in this AU.

Now that gives me an image of Elias in a spiffy modern-ish suit with a cane looking dignified as he comes to see Coraline perform at the club. Maybe he'll look something like this dashing picture Shroomaz over on twitter drew.

It's kind of romantic to think about, with Elias managing to visit the Royal Garden during one of Coraline's rare performances. At first he felt kinship when he heard of her suffering from an incurable chronic illness like he does, yet she, like him, tries to live life. From there, he can't help but fall in love. It's as if fate drew them together.

Oh, and on that note, use this picrew to give Coraline a pretty outfit to perform in.

Coraline's acts are a rarity at the Royal Garden due to her poor health. Her specialty is more somber songs that speak of loss, heartache, and death, which never fails to move members of her audience. Though she does occasionally switch it up with much more silly yet still very morbid songs, which can be a bit of mood whiplash. She's earned the nickname of the Mourning Glory of the Royal Garden for her tendency to dress in black and choose such dark topics to sing about. This preference, plus her odd hours, means she exclusively performs during the nighttime hours. Still, she has very devoted fans, and one gentleman in particular never misses a single show.

Unlike Alice and Barbie, Coraline didn't perform when she was a child, though she did inherit Ambrose's talent for singing as well. It was only when her health became relatively more stable in her adulthood that she was able to sing before a crowd. She did practice with her siblings when they were younger, however.

Speaking of siblings, I shall now unveil the fourth King child thanks to this picrew. I've been toying with this character off and on for a while, including whether I should stop at 3 siblings. Still, this stubborn 18-year-old persisted and insisted on expanding the roster. May I present you with the dazzling Jem Rose King!

Jem would like to inform you that they are just as fabulous in the regular continuity as they are in the Mafia AU. They have an eye for fashion and love experimenting with their style.

Fun fact for this AU and the regular continuity - Jem coming out to their family and explaining what it meant to be non-binary and their feelings on their identity were what helped Ambrose realize that his gender was a little more fluid than they realized as well. Though still masc-leaning, Ambrose uses he/him and they/them pronouns interchangeably.

Another fun fact: Unlike their older sisters, Jem doesn't have a love interest from any current or future SnaccPop game. The love interests for SnaccPop average around mid-twenties, and if I choose to ship them with anyone, I would prefer it be someone a bit closer to their age.

That won't stop Jem from having fun though. They're quite the mischief maker, often playing pranks on their siblings and friends. I won't go too deep into regular continuity Jem here, as that's best saved for another post, but in the Mafia AU, they also perform during the daytime hours of the club like Alice. They would prefer to join Barbie and Coraline in the night side of things, but Lycoris is insisting that they wait until they reach drinking age. Jem finds their mom's overprotectiveness quite frustrating at times, especially since they're finally a legal adult, and the two of them occasionally get into arguments over it.

Still, Jem has their ways of getting info about the juicier things happening at the Royal Garden, and in the city of St. Valen's as a whole. Aside from their obvious family connections, they're very social, making friends easily with the non-family talent, regular patrons, and their peers. They learned quite a lot from watching Lycoris over the years and might be better suited for the business side of things rather than the stage. However, they just can't give up the allure of the spotlight and all eyes watching them shine.

Jem being a bit reckless worries her family at times, especially Alice. The oldest child has to watch out for the younger ones after all, which makes Alice feel responsible for the safety of all her younger siblings. Jem was the one most often caught sneaking into the nightclub while they were children despite Alice's best efforts to be the responsible one and curb such mischief from her siblings.

I haven't fleshed out the remaining siblings quite yet, though I am still inclined for there to be 7 of them in total. I'm letting the ideas develop slowly over time, as that usually makes them fit in quite naturally into the stories like Barbie, Coraline, and now Jem. It's also possible that I might eventually choose to stop at 4 siblings total. Regardless, I'm going to let these ideas simmer on the stove a bit more as I develop the family's story.

Religion in a City of Sin

As one might expect, it's not easy to raise a family in a city that is rife with crime. It can lead parents to potentially become overbearing and overprotective, especially if they've experienced hardship.

Lycoris and Ambrose are more prone to jumping the gun when it comes to their children's safety in this AU compared to the regular continuity, especially Lycoris. They're not the only parents who are overprotective, as Ian's mother is even more of a helicopter mom.

Ian's mother is deeply religious, as we've seen in the afterlife story. She is so obsessed with things being sinful that she's emotionally abused Ian, leaving him questioning whether his perfectly healthy feelings and urges are sinful. She will send her flying monkeys after him if he tries to leave her. And this is in the normal setting, just an average town in the USA, not a mafia setting where crime and violence is a lot more visible all around them.

Given that Aphrodesia has a bit of a religious undertone to it, what with cherubs, angels, priests, etc. I think that Ian's mom would fit the role of the hypocritical religious figure that is trying to seize control in the city of sin under the justification of having the moral "right" to do so, even if that means hurting others for the sake of her faith. It might be a role similar to Vaticus Arch, in a way - a shepherd overlooking a flock of faithful devotees. She certainly has a way of influencing others if she's able to send people to go after Ian in the regular continuity.

Admittedly, I still know very little about the lore behind the angels, cherubs/etc. of Aphrodesia, so I probably shouldn't tie her too deeply into this aspect, or at least not go too deep into that part of the lore. I mean, imagine Ian's mother as an angel with wings like Vaticus. That'd make her feel even more justified in weaponizing her faith against others.

Of course I say that, and now I'm imagining Ian with angel wings and how much pressure those wings and his mother's faith would put on him, especially in a city filled with sin.

I mean, in this AU we still have people with supernatural traits to them. If Bo can be part dog with special abilities, and Jack can have natural blue hair, then perhaps Ian could have angel wings.

Credit as always goes to the awesome Sauce for inspiring me and many others with this AU.

Aw heck with it, let's give Ian a pair of angel wings. Is he a descendent of angels? His mother insists that's the case. It's a mystery if she's lying about that, deluding herself, or telling some twisted version of the truth. The Duff family is divine and holy, as these wings prove, according to her.

Religion has been beaten into Ian's head since he was born, as was subservience to his mother, who wants control over every aspect of his life. Unfortunately, since she has more power and more followers in this AU, it's harder for Ian to escape her clutches or conditioning. Her influence as a mother and religious leader would be even stronger too with angel wings giving her this air of heavenly importance and divine righteousness.

This made things difficult for Ian to make friends. His mother was very watchful of everything he did and thought. In fact, the only time Ian really got a break was when he was attending Catholic school. Sure, the teachers there could be strict, but it was far less suffocating than his mother's clutches. As long as he didn't get into trouble and did his homework properly, he could actually enjoy something close to a normal childhood thanks to his school.

The King family isn't very religious, but the private school was a secure place with a good reputation, which was a must in a city filled with crime. A school with security detail was a must to protect their children.

Much like in regular continuity, Alice and Ian met at school when they were very young. Alice had a lot more experience with performing, showmanship, and taking charge in the Mafia AU, while Ian was even more of a wallflower. He was his mother and God's obedient follower, taught to do as he was told and to police even his own thoughts. Alice took him under her wing, and they became friends, with Ian following her lead most of the time.

Interestingly enough, Ian probably would be more popular in a religious school with angel wings than he would be in the regular continuity. Or at least he'd get more attention, though whether or not that's a good thing is up for debate. Kids can choose anything as a reason to bully someone, especially if they're someone meek who has already been conditioned to take abuse.

I can imagine overall the bullying Alice and Ian faced at school was less in this AU compared to regular continuity. Ian's wings and being a pastor's son would give him a mixture of admiration and resentment. Alice would be more prepared to fight back despite her kind nature when it was drilled into her since she could talk how dangerous the city can be. She wasn't afraid to stand up to anyone who bullied Ian either.

Unfortunately, it was difficult for the pair to hang out after school. Ian was afraid that his mother would forbid him from seeing Alice if she knew that they were friends. Alice didn't make it a secret that her family owned one of the most popular clubs in the city, and that was one of many, many places that his mother deemed as a den of sin, full of harlots and demons addicted to drugs.

Ian did worry about Alice living in that sort of place. Being a child so controlled by his mother, he did believe much of what his mother told him. Some cults even go as far as to teach their kids to proselytize the religion and convert their peers into believers, otherwise they can't play with them. Ian did try to do what his mother wanted, but he was always too shy to pull off converting anyone to his mother's brand of faith. Every time he mustered up the courage to try with Alice, she would shut down the topic and switch to something else so they could just enjoy playing like normal children instead.

It wasn't easy for Ian to sneak away from his mother's watchful eye outside of school, but he did manage to visit the Royal Garden a number of times over the years. He only ever saw the club during the day, bright and clean, totally the opposite of what he was supposed to expect of such a place. There were no drugs, no sex, nothing untoward, just delicious food, a comfortable atmosphere, and entertainment.

It did leave Ian questioning his mom's teachings in spite of his indoctrination. He tried not to think too hard about it because such doubts were "sinful," but his friendship with Alice and her family helped expand his world.

For a place supposedly made for sin, the Royal Garden felt far more welcoming and relaxing than his own home. Ian especially adored the shows that performed at there. It was amazing! There were singers, musicians, magicians, actors, dancers, and all sorts of performances that rotated through day after day. It enchanted him, and the way all eyes looked at the performers with admiration, but not that crazed desperate zeal like at home or the church... it made him envious in spite of himself.

It was on a day when Alice performed while Ian was there that he fell in love with her. She always shone brightly to him, being his hero at school against all the bullies, but on the stage she was truly a star. Her voice was magical, and he was spellbound.

Lycoris and Ambrose were warm and welcoming to their children's friends, but also wary behind their smiles. They were aware of Ian's mother and the cult she was steadily growing. Granted, her group were no worse than some of the other patrons that visited on the regular, but the pair were cautious with whoever their children interacted with.

Still... Ian's meek, beaten down personality did win the hearts of the King family. He was like a wounded puppy left out in the rain. Lycoris and Ambrose helped in what ways they could, giving Ian an open invitation to the day club to allow him a reprieve from his overbearing mother for a while.

Unfortunately, dating was something of an issue. Ian couldn't go out on a date publicly, not even to a school dance, unless it was with someone his mother approved of. With her strict criteria, such a person probably didn't even exist. Alice was someone his mother would never approve of, especially if his mother knew that Alice also performed at the club. It's guilty until proven innocent in his mother's eyes, and only she defines what is pure and innocent in her world.

As we've seen from afterlife mode, Ian was taught by his mother that lustful thoughts are sinful. No doubt this got especially ground into him when he hit puberty, and doubly so when she realized that he was close to someone. Hell, she might have even realized Ian had a crush on MC and that fueled her manipulation.

Naturally, in this sort of setting where Ian's mother is even more controlling and oppressive with her religious teachings, with a following of people fueling her power trip, if she caught wind that her son had a crush on someone, she's going to start beating that bible over his head harder than ever. It doesn't matter if he's a child in puppy love who innocently thinks that couples kiss and nothing more. Such desires are still sinful in her eyes.

Given how little Ian's mother cares about his boundaries, his privacy is virtually nonexistent. Once her boy hits puberty, she's prying into his relationships, who his friends are, and who is tempting her boy to sin. When she identifies Alice as Ian's friend and figures out who the King family is... well, she's not going to approve, to say the least.

Man, imagine if Ian crushed on a MC who was tied to a crime family, and maybe even actively participated in criminal activities. His mother's head would probably explode!

As it is, a club like the Royal Garden is a den of sin, and it's up to the truly faithful to save those lost lambs from sin, according to his mother and her congregation. The Kings aren't necessarily outside the realm of being saved, and perhaps their popularity could be useful to bring more wayward souls to the church if they could be properly converted.

Ian is pressured even harder to proselytize to anyone whose faith is weak in his mother's eyes, especially Alice and her family. Clearly the catholic school wasn't as good as she believed it was if it was allowing non-believers to remain unfaithful even within its halls. His mother used her connections to the school and its church to put a more watchful eye over Ian, stripping away more of what little freedom he had by pushing the teachers to be stricter with him too.

It would be tragic if Ian never fully escaped his mother's grasp in this universe, his thoughts only growing more warped by her teachings as he grew older. He could even serve as an interesting antagonist to criminals like Jack. Still, not without hope of breaking free of his mother's chains.

The relationship between Ian and Alice became more strained the older they got. He was pressured more and more to not think "sinful" thoughts and to make sure he only surrounded himself with those who were truly faithful. Being with Alice created a complicated push and pull in his mind, as her friendship was important to him, too important for him to let go of, but he felt guilty for his feelings towards her and for being friends with someone who didn't share his faith.

The potential push and pull could be even more complicated and twisted if MC was intentionally trying to tempt and "corrupt" Ian. Not to get too lost in the weeds here of different MC possibilities, but I can see this being an opportunity for some MCs to have a very spicy antagonistic enemies who are lovers relationship that leads Ian to feel guilty afterwards, but also lustful and loving on MC.

Alice had strong feelings for Ian that she hadn't quite realized had crossed the line from friendship into crush. Unfortunately, things would never develop to allow her to realize or act on these feelings. She can only open up to someone romantically if she feels like she can trust that person. It doesn't help that her overprotective parents steer her away from dating, especially someone who is as troubled as Ian is.

Still, Alice sympathizes that Ian is in a bad situation with a toxic home life, even if he couldn't accept that as the truth due to the conditioning from his mother that his life is "good." Alice wanted to help him as much as she could, even though their friendship was very stressful on her. She couldn't bring herself to just give up on a friend.

Unfortunately for Ian's mother, Alice wasn't going to convert to the faith. On Ian's urging, Alice did attend church with him once, to give it a chance for his sake, but she was incredibly uncomfortable the entire time. The teachings of brimstone and damnation, the urging to confess sins, and the oppressive atmosphere were bad enough, but his mother made a spectacle of her in a way that was very unlike the stage shows. It was with the intent to pressure her to convert, to be baptized and accept their teachings in front of an entire congregation of devout followers. It was a pretty scary experience for a young teen.

Fortunately for Alice, Lycoris wasn't about to let her daughter go there alone or let her daughter be pressured into joining any cult. Both mothers clashed in the middle of the church with verbal barbs. Ian's mother veiled her attacks beneath a righteous air of saving ignorant sinners from salvation. Lycoris was civil at first, but soon was direct with her disdain for the pastor, throwing many choice words with very colorful language before ending the interaction by calling Ian's mother a psycho bitch as she took Alice home despite the pressure from the congregation.

Depending on how zealous the church is in St. Valens, things might have escalated beyond words in some way. I'll have to look more into Aphrodesia's lore on this point to get more ideas on how to go deeper. Regardless, the congregation was certainly not on Lycoris or Alice's side, and the entire situation was very hostile.

Needless to say, this incident didn't earn Alice any points with Ian's mother.

In the regular continuity, the relationship between Lycoris and Ian's mother is civil enough, though with the occasional subtle snipe. In the Mafia AU, it became openly antagonistic from that incident onward.

Ian's mother felt that she had been humiliated in front of her congregation. Even though she spun it as entirely the fault of the "sinners they tried to save," it was a blow to her ego. She would make it a habit to harass the King family and the Royal Garden whenever possible, most often by having devotees try to redirect potential customers to the church instead of the club. Of course, the Kings won't just take this interference lightly and chase away these nut jobs whenever they show their mouthy faces.

After that, Ian was forbidden from being friends with Alice until she was a true believer in their faith, just like him. His mother's tighter control over Ian prevented him from ever acting on his romantic feelings in this AU, even feeling guilty for having them. Ian is still struggling with following his heart and his mother's teachings at the same time, even though they conflict with one another. Alice's compassion in reaching out to help him has led to her getting burned more than once, with Ian constantly apologizing both to her and his mother for never doing anything right.

Now as adults, Ian has a bit more freedom, but only because he's shown himself to be a devout follower of his mother. It leads to some pretty unpleasant confrontations between him and the "sinners" of St. Valen's.

Man, I did not realize I would go on such a long tangent about Ian's backstory in this version of the AU. Shows where rambling takes me, huh? Hahahaha. Anyway, let's move on to the next character shall we?

Cat Papa and Baby

I mentioned way back in the initial AU ramble that I imagined Shaun as the owner of a cat-themed night club. I considered changing it in this variant of the AU, as it might be redundant, but then I realized that it'd be interesting that he's in charge of a rival business. This one is purely a nightclub, with raves, a goth theme, and very sexy acts. There are stripper shows and other type of spicy things that make it exclusively an adults only club.

I will change the idea that it was a family-run business though. Shaun created it all himself from the ground up, though he did inherit money that he used to get the business started from his late parents. His very religious uncle Abraham greatly disapproves of Shaun's line of work in this universe as well, and often claims his parents are rolling in their graves because of it.

Shaun hates that he's at odds with his uncle. Fortunately he has friends like Olivia to support him. He also has his baby girl Moon Pie who is just a little less fuzzy in this universe.

Yup, I had to use this absolutely adorable human version of Moon Pie that Sauce drew in this AU. Bo gets to have his fuzzy ears and tail outside of a computer screen, so Moon Pie gets to have opposable thumbs and can talk to her papa.

I imagine her adoption was something entirely accidental. Moon Pie was an orphan just surviving on the streets, when she ran into Shaun. Shaun, of course, couldn't just leave this blind little baby to fend for herself all alone in such a cruel city. They came across one another not too long after Shaun lost his parents to gang violence, and it seemed Moon Pie lost her parents in a similarly sudden and violent manner. It was a shared pain they bonded over, which eventually led to them forming their own family.

Moon Pie doesn't talk much about her past before meeting Shaun, as she was fairly young when he found her and a lot of those memories were suppressed. Initially a shy and uncertain child, she grew more confident and flourished under Shaun's care. When she called him papa, his heart melted, and he realized that this little girl would now and forever always have him wrapped around her little finger. He's the proudest papa in the world if you ask him, and he brags about his little baby every chance he gets.

Like Bo, Moon Pie is the result of scientific experiments mixing human and animal DNA to make obedient "pets" of sort to work for some pretty heinous criminals. It's unknown if she escaped the lab with the help of her bio-parents, if she was born after they escaped, or some other similarly dark scenario. In a way, it's a good thing that Moon Pie doesn't remember much.

Moon Pie's senses are exceptional, save for her eyes. She's not completely blind, as she can detect some light, but for the most part the world is as gray and fuzzy as the fur on her adorable ears and tail. She is surprisingly good at handling the world around her thanks to her other finely tuned senses, though she is pretty sensitive around exceptionally strong sounds and smells. More than once she's expressed her displeasure at her papa smelling weird after a night out at the club.

Of course, Moon Pie knows next to nothing about what goes on at the club, just that her papa has to go out most nights to work. She has a very nice nanny to watch her during those nights, and Shaun makes sure she's happy, healthy, and even a little bit spoiled by his doting on her.

Shaun loves Moon Pie more than anyone else in the world, and if anyone hurt her he would make them pay. He loves her so much that when thinking of names for his club, he was inspired by her and how much her presence brightened up his life. The Blind Feline seemed to be a purrfect tribute to his love for his daughter, even if she's way too young to ever set one paw in the place.

Admittedly, I might wind up changing the name of the club if I come up with something I like better, but there's no way it isn't cat themed. Also, I really like the idea that Moon Pie helped Shaun choose and/or inspired the name in some way.

Anyway, before Shaun started the club or adopted Moon Pie, he went to various clubs around the city to get a sense of what he needed to start his own club. He even worked at a couple of them. Really, he's been going to clubs since he was a teenager because he loves the vibes and the fun he has. He's been to the Royal Garden both during the day and the night, and although he prefers the night time action, he did wind up making a friend in the day club.

Shaun got a job at the Royal Garden for a short stint, not as an entertainer but doing various jobs ranging from clean up to serving meals. This allowed him to interact with the entertainers and make some connections that he hoped would entice them to do shows at his club when he finally set it up.

In the process of this, Shaun and Alice got to interact. They hit it off right away and became good friends, with Shaun soon developing a crush on Alice. Watching her perform in a gorgeous outfit with a beautiful singing voice left him smitten. He did admit to her his dream of starting up a night club and "jokingly" asked her to be his headline act. It was a pretty clumsy ask, with lots of fumbling, so Alice didn't take it all that seriously, especially since he was already aware of how much value Alice put in her family. She playfully turned down the offer of being the star of his club and they laughed the whole thing off. Though it was disappointing for Shaun, he understood her decision, especially when he suddenly gained a family of his own.

Still, Alice does perform at Shaun's club on occasion, particularly in the beginning to help him get his business off the ground. Her family isn't going to stop her from making friends, connections, and living her life. Performing at the Blind Feline was a totally different experience than the Royal Garden, even at night, and the more sexually charged atmosphere made her feel uneasy being the center of attention. Fortunately, Shaun always went out of his way to make sure she would be safe at the club and never feel pressured to do or see anything that made her uncomfortable. Thanks to him she was able to enjoy her time there helping out a friend. Naturally, Shaun insisted to pay her for every show she performed.

Of course, a more overtly sexual club would be seen even more unfavorably by the local religious organizations. Ian wouldn't have grown up with Shaun, so his feelings are less conflicted than they are with Alice and her family. Ian wouldn't even think about that club at all for fear of corruption if he didn't find out about Alice performing there. It made him fearful that Shaun was tempting her down the path of sin and debauchery, which led to more than one altercation between the two men. Alice would have to play peacekeeper, though it would always be an uneasy peace.

Needless to say, Shaun and Ian are anything but friends in this AU.

Shaun still occasionally stops by the Royal Garden, but during the day when Alice is performing. It's a great opportunity for him to have some daddy-daughter bonding by bringing Moon Pie along. He also gets to show off just how adorable his little girl is.

The Blind Feline becomes pretty popular for its distinct style and at times very spicy acts. A couple performers even made a name for themselves there, which included Nick.

Alluring Nights

Yes, Nick is a dom by night in this universe too. The Blind Feline offered him his first big break that got him a lot of positive attention from a very devoted following. His performances get very explicit, but he's always in control.

Of course, behind the scenes Nick is a lot more shy than the front he puts up before the crowd. It's almost like he's two people sometimes. He became good friends with Shaun over time, and of course he wound up meeting Alice there on a night when she was performing.

Poor guy can control a thirsty crowd but gets tongue tied in front of the cute lady with the sweet smile and beautiful voice. He's barely managed a few awkward interactions with her that haven't yet left an impression with her beyond the thought that he seems nice.

Nick wasn't the only one who became aware of Alice because of her occasional performances at the Blind Feline.

Jack isn't one to go out to clubs all that often, or public spaces in general outside of business meetings and public appearances. When the touch of other human beings feels like bugs crawling underneath one's skin, a person will usually try to avoid people.

Still, Jack can appreciate a good show, and there are times when certain business partners insist on having their business meetings take place somewhere with a crowd around. It was one such instance that brought Jack to the Blind Feline that night when Alice performed.

Her voice enchanted Jack, as it had many others. He assumed what drew him to Alice was mere intrigue, a random whim that kept drawing his thoughts back to her even after her performance ended. The person he was doing business with was also interested in Alice... but for far more blatantly carnal reasons.

The business partner appreciated Alice's singing and appearance, but was disappointed in her performance style to say the least. All the acts at this club had some spice to them, showed skin and offered the possibility of more personal attention to the customers if the price was right. Alice's performances are far more tame and modest by comparison. It was almost like a tease in and of itself that this person took as a challenge.

Jack was aware of how this person's "interest" could be dangerous for someone. It didn't sit right with him to do nothing, especially when it involved someone who caught his attention like Alice did, but he also had to keep in mind that politics in St. Valens could be delicate and lead to a lot of blood being shed. This partner was still someone the Blouin family needed for business, regardless of their hobbies. It certainly wasn't the first time he had to work with unsavory characters, and won't be the last.

When the partner insisted on going to see Alice personally, Jack cheerfully came along to ensure things didn't go out of hand.

Alice wasn't a stranger to being hit on, especially after a show. She had plenty of experience in turning people down. It was at least funny for Jack to see the partner grow more and more flustered by such flat refusal from Alice. Jack found himself more and more entertained by Alice as time went on, but he did try to deescalate the situation.

The business partner's continued persistence made Alice feel unsafe and uncomfortable. She tried to excuse herself, but the business partner just got more forceful, offended by her refusal, which was Jack's cue to cut in.

Unfortunately, Jack underestimated just how worked up this particular business partner would get, and it led to a mild scuffle that led to Alice falling into Jack's arms.

Jack didn't want to actually touch Alice, or anyone. He never intended to let things get this far. Alice had grabbed onto his exposed wrist with her bare hand to stop herself from falling and...

Alice was warm. Her touch wasn't cold, slimy, and crawly. It didn't feel like his nerves were distorting into static until Jack felt like tearing his skin off to escape the sensation. In fact, her hand was delicate, soft and sensual, and he found himself reeling from the sensation even after she got back up on her feet and scampered away from them both.

Jack was stunned, but he couldn't be still for long, as the partner was raging, and probably a bit tipsy. Security of course was starting to sniff around, which made things incredibly complicated. Jack was forced to deescalate things and leave, rather than risk violence breaking out. Though he could handle his own easily, especially with his right hand Bo waiting for his signal, but he didn't want to risk Alice getting caught in the crossfire should bullets start flying.

Jack was obsessed with Alice after that. He had Bo tail her, find out all about her, where she lived, her family, friends, schedule etc. He found out about the Royal Garden, and made sure to start paying the day club a visit on a regular basis whenever she was scheduled to perform.

Before Jack became a regular at the Royal Garden, Bo made sure to scope out the club, both its daytime face and its nighttime sides. While Jack would only be interested in a certain show during the dayclub, it was what Bo found at the nightclub that drew him in.

Clubs like the Blind Feline were the type of scene Bo liked, hot, spicy, and stinking of sex. He loved to watch strippers and get lap dances. He visited virtually every club in the city that had a very adult night life and had his fair share of trysts with adult entertainers.

Bo had visited the Royal Garden's nightclub in the past, though briefly. The spicy acts at this club were far too mild for a wild dog like him, and other places had a lot more heat to feed his lustful desires.

That changed when Bo saw Barbie perform. She had a fire in her eyes and a commanding presence that made it impossible to look away from her. Her scent enticed him and her voice was beautiful. Her sensual movements and provocative poses enticed him a way that no other performer ever had even without their clothes.

Even after Bo's job of casing the club was done, he kept coming back to see Barbie. Bo had scoffed at Jack falling for a singer, since Alice wasn't special to him. Bo had always been certain that he would never fall like his lovesick boss, but he underestimated Barbie.

Barbie doesn't do dom performances in the traditional sense, but she has a commanding presence. Audience members who act up get put in their place and denied any chance to feel anything but the bottom of her heel as she stomps on them. She's got a powerful, intimidating personality that demands obedience from her audience, and Bo found himself wanting to roll over and expose his belly to her even if it meant he'd get stomped for it.

It'd be worth it to Bo if he could be the only person Barbie paid attention to.

Naturally, our two criminal yanderes quickly become absolutely obsessed with their respective singer of choice.

Unlike in the original version of this AU, Jack can't arrange it so Alice spends every day with him as his assistant. Oh, he'll try to hire her under some excuse or another, but she politely turns down his offers. She's quite happy to work with her family and occasionally her friends, and that's more important to her than whatever obscene paycheck he offers.

Jack pivots his plans to focus on befriending Alice, figuring out her schedule so that he can "accidentally" run into her in more casual settings, striking up friendly conversations and show that he's a good person worth knowing. His shining reputation in the community helps in this regard. He even offers to be her escort when going to and from her performances at the Blind Feline. Shaun has tried to act as an escort for her before, but since he's so busy running the place and raising a child, he doesn't have a lot of free time. Funny enough, Jack always manages to have his schedule free whenever she needs it!

By appearing so friendly, kind, and harmless, Alice starts growing closer to Jack. Of course, this leads to some jealousy from the other men who are also hoping to grow intimately close with Alice.

Bo does try befriending Barbie as well, but his method is a bit rougher. He's a lot more overly eager, which pushes Barbie to bring him to heel more than once. Though she finds him annoying, she also finds it fun to make this dog who barks so big whimper and beg her for her approval. Over time she starts intentionally goading him, getting a thrill out of leaving him a pathetic mess with only some blue balls to show for it at the end of the night.

Without the whole human trafficking angle or Alice being stuck with the crime family, Barbie doesn't have a reason to hate Bo and the Blouin family right out the gate. Oh, she'll be wary for sure, but when she learns how dangerous Bo is, she finds it actually adds to her thrill of humbling him. This big bad hunting dog is a weak whimpering puppy before her. She starts seeing how far she can push him, tame him, and soon she realizes he'll do anything for her.

Barbie has all the power in their relationship, and she quickly grows addicted to it.

Bo is different than the other customers Barbie has put in their place over time. The more time they spend together, the more she looks forward to his company. Soon things escalate during a performance. At the climax of the song, as she's done before, she pulled Bo in close by his collar. She would feign as if she might kiss him, as she had teased him and other patrons with in the past, only to shove them off the edge of the stage to assert her total control over her audience and their lust for her.

This time Barbie decided to cross the line. Bo had made it clear in the past he wanted to kiss her and so much more, so she took that as an invitation to steal a kiss from him at the end of her act, much to the shock of him and her regular audience. He melted into her, wanting to hold onto her and never let go... only to be shoved off the stage like usual.

Barbie ended her performance like normal, asserting her dominance before the crowd and her untouchable aura, but her cheeks were rosier that night.

Much like in regular continuity, Barbie is the one in charge of their relationship. She sets the pace between them, which Bo is only too happy with as long as she keeps him on her leash and pulls him closer. He always scoffed at the idea of being whipped by anyone. Even his servitude to Jack was a begrudging one. He was a lone wolf, doing what he wanted, fucking who he wanted, killing who he wanted. But in front of Barbie he was as weak as a newborn pup. He found himself willing to do anything as long as he didn't lose her.

Barbie sees Bo as an enticing toy at the start, but over time he draws her in and she starts to see his human side. She starts finding herself wanting someone for the first time. She doesn't like very many people aside from her family, but Bo slowly starts to grow on her. She finds herself desiring someone for the first time, both sexually and emotionally. Before she realizes it, she's getting jealous over attention others give Bo.

One night when Barbie catches Bo exchanging banter with someone else who clearly has the hots for him, she interrupts them.

...

Bo caught her scent even before he felt her warm touch, her finger slipping underneath his collar in that familiar way to pull him back. He twisted around to face his beloved Barbie, his tail wagging with happiness at the sight of her. "Puppy!"

Barbie's brown and blue eyes burned with a fire that could burn down a city, but that look only enticed Bo further. "Bo," she said in a low, dangerous tone as her long nails dragged across the tender skin beneath the collar. "Tell me. Who do you belong to?"

Bo shivered at the sensation, a whimper escaping him in spite of his pride and the people around them watching him. He felt weak under that burning gaze of hers that made his blood sizzle and his pants tight. "You, puppy, only you."

Barbie smirked, pleased by the pleading in his eyes and tone. "Good boy," she crooned before claiming his lips.

It was her most lewd performance yet, a kiss blatantly with tongue. Bo was only too eager to join in, drinking deep of his puppy in a way she had yet to permit him before. He was addicted to her flavor, and he whined when she finally pulled back, leaving them both breathless and panting.

Barbie held Bo back when he chased after her lips for yet another kiss, her smile smug and satisfied. She savored that yearning for her, how desperate he was with need for her that left him practically on his knees before her.

Almost lazily Barbie slid her gaze to the interloper that tried to steal what was hers. "You can go now," Barbie she dismissively, her smile taking on a cruel curve. "My boyfriend and I have plans."

While the other person seethed, Bo lit up, his tail wagging so hard he generated a small breeze. "Boyfriend? Me?" He sounded pathetic, he knew. If the person he was only a few months ago could see him now, he would hardly recognize himself, but he was too elated to care.

"That's right," Barbie practically purred as she turned her burning gaze back to Bo. "You're my boyfriend as long as you keep one thing in mind... I don't share."

"Whatever you want, puppy," Bo said as he clasped her hands in his. "Anything you want, it's yours. I'm all yours."

When his gaze slid back to his companion, all trace of pathetic subservience disappeared along with his earlier friendly attitude for this person who was now only an obstacle. Bo was a predator, ready to rip out anyone's throat at his master's beck and call. "You heard her. Leave. Before they have to carry you out in a body bag."

...

Needless to say, Barbie quite enjoys being Bo's new master. He certainly enjoys following her orders far more than Jack's.

Although Barbie is pretty forceful and dominating, over time she does start showing Bo more and more of her softer side.

Of course, that doesn't mean Bo isn't still going to be following Jack's orders. I figure their relationship is a bit more complicated than he would like, and one he just can't sever whenever he wants.

Speaking of Jack, I can imagine it'll take him quite a bit more time to get closer to Alice in this variant of the AU, though not for a lack of trying on his part. There's just going to be a lot more rivals and variables in play. Still, you know me. Eventually my ship has got to sail, which will make some guys pretty unhappy. At least her family would be less worried about Alice and Jack getting together in this version of the AU.

Well, as long as they never realize that Jack is the head of the most dangerous crime family in all of St. Valen's. Let's see how long Jack can keep that innocent squeaky clean image in place while he's trying to win Alice's heart and keep some pesky rivals at bay.

Really, this version of the AU would be an even bigger tease for Jack. As his assistant, he could come up with so many excuses to get Alice to hold his hand, help him change his gloves, help him put his suit on as an excuse to touch him, etc. Alice as a performer keeps a more polite distance from people until she really grows to know and trust them.

Heck, even in Sunshine in Hell, Jack had more opportunities to touch Alice when he needed it. Not to mention the connection between their souls means they're technically always touching in a way. That bond they made is quite the cheat mod.

Man, poor touch starved mafia boss Jack is going to go crazy waiting for Alice to be comfortable enough around him to want to touch him. The man is so touch starved, and she's the only person who he can stand to touch. He might wind up just as pathetically needy as Bo is with Barbie by the time they finally get together. At least Alice isn't intentionally teasing him like her sister!

Well... at least not yet. Once they get together, I'm sure Alice wouldn't be opposed to teasing her boyfriend a little. All in good fun of course~

After all, I imagine their first time was quite memorable thanks to how maddeningly pent up Jack was. No doubt Alice didn't get any sleep that entire night, and they would've made quite a mess of the bed. Once he finally has her in his arms, he's never going to let her go and make her feel so good she'll never want him to.

Can you really blame Alice for wanting to wind up her boyfriend a little to encourage a repeat of such an intense wet and wild night of passion and love~?

On that delightfully spicy note, I think I'm going to wrap things up here for now. This ramble has gone on way longer than I intended (25 pages last I counted,) and I got a weeeeeee bit off topic for most of it. Haha, sorry about that. I hope it was entertaining despite taking so long to get to answering the actual questions at least!

I have a feeling I'll play with this more musical version of the Mafia AU again in the future. Maybe I'll mix the two versions together somehow, or come up with yet another variation. There are no limits in AUs after all!

Huh. Now that I think about it, with Something's Wrong with Sunny Day Jack being inspired by the Phantom of the Opera, an AU where his sunshine is a singer who enchants him is pretty fitting. Sure, he's not a mysterious phantom guiding Alice to become the star of a famous opera house like the Phantom of Sunny Day Jack, but he's certainly going to make his sunshine sing for him.

Yes, I mean that both literally and suggestively. ;3

Jack might have become smitten with Alice after seeing her sing on stage, shining like a star for all to see, but nothing compares to her private performances with him in bed~

On that extra note of spice, I better wrap up before I make this ramble even longer. I hope you enjoyed the many unexpected directions my rambling took me. Please let me know what you think of this and any of my other ideas/writing. Thank you for reading!

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

System restore on my computer finally finished, but I don't know if I'll be able to do any writing tonight. I may be too stressed out at this point.

Like. I hate it here. The right wingers insisting this is a "Christian nation" are ignoring the whole "do unto others" bit. The left-wingers insisting that eye-for-an-eye punishment and violence are wrong on the whole are laughing about it.

And none of them are making any logical sense, and none of them are even concerned that we've reached a point where attempting to kill one another is not only acceptable but also funny.

People have been shot at in a public venue, people have been killed, and they're fucking laughing at each other.

Supposedly they both fundamentally agree that killing each other is wrong, but they're both trying to make light of it and justify it?

And nations have this funny little habit of fallling into turmoil when the citizens become so divided that they can approve of vigilante justice and/or approve of hatred and violence in the name of religion?

And I fucking HATE IT HERE.

For FUCK'S SAKE WE'RE ALL HUMAN.

WHY IS THAT SO HARD TO GRASP.

I JUST WANT TO PUT ALL OF THESE IDIOTS IN A ROOM WITH BLINDFOLDS ON AND NOT ALLOW THEM TO DISCUSS ANYTHING EXCEPT THEIR FAMILIES AND LOVED ONES

AND MAKE THEM ALL SEE EACH OTHER AS EQUAL FUCKING HUMAN BEINGS WHO ARE BEING NEEDLESSLY STUPID ABOUT POLITICS AND RELIGION

But that's not going to happen, and I can't see anything coming from this except further division and animosity, and I hate it more than I've ever hated anything.

I have a niece that identifies as bisexual, who has never hurt anyone in her life and would support absolutely anyone for being themselves and stand up to bullies that say otherwise, who could be persecuted for the same reasons that make me so proud of her.

I have an almost four year old son who could grow up in a nation that tells him that thinking for yourself should be punished.

I wish I could say that I never thought I'd see the day something like this happened here.

But it's been coming for a long time. And it's more terrifying now than it's ever been before.

And it's happening pretty much everywhere at this point, in some way or other.

I really don't care if I'm being overdramatic. If it's overdramatic to care about people attempting to kill each other in the name of political affiliation, or religion or race or any other skin-deep difference, then I'll happily be a fucking drama queen.

Because fuck absolutely all of this.

I've always said this blog is a safe space, and this is what I mean. I don't give a single flying fuck who you are, or what you believe in, or what you look like, or what the dangly bits between your legs mean to you.

With all the collective knowledge we have at our fingertips, it doesn't mean anything if we can't coexist and just be fucking nice to each other.

So I just want you all to know, I absolutely love all of you.

Unconditionally.

And if you're scared or disgusted or worried or pissed off about the direction humanity is headed in, then you can still come here for reprieve.

And I'll be right here with you. I can't promise much else, but I can promise that.

And we can all fade off into a happy little sunset together while the rest of the world sets itself of fire.

[insidiousncss]

(   leyna bloom  .  trans woman  .  she, her  )       —       blasting  daisy  by  ashnikko  down  main  street  we’ve  spotted  marina santos  sporting  their  stilletto filed nails,  blank eyes,  cell phone.  the  five hundred  year  old  mermaid  who’s  been  in  town  for  nine months  often  can  be  seen  doodling in the corners of spare paper, sitting for hours for an elaborate manicure, fluffing pillows and searching for satin objects,  or  working  as  an  owner  at  neon ink.  people  say  they  display  vibrant  and  carnal  traits,  but  we  rather  trust  their  vibes:  baubles rolling across a marbled floor, tinkling laughter lulling one into false senses of security, uncontained sighs of woe and carnal hunger.  also,  we’ve  heard  they  love  MUSIC BOXES  !   aren’t  they  fascinating ?   

✱  LAYER  ONE … the  basics.

full  name: marina santos preferred  name: rina by friends and family date  of  birth  &  age: unsure but she likes the summer like months place  of  birth: quezon city, phillipines zodiac  sign: taurus sun, leo rising ⸺ the proud queen leo is a fire sign and offers a splash of drama to the taurus’ earthy calmness. our earthy taurus, who is generally a bit laid back, suddenly becomes very large and in charge, thanks to the leo influence. that leo rising is like a regal cloak wrapped around the sturdy taurus sun.

the leo rising makes our taurus friend more expressive and authoritative, with a personality that shines brightly. this combo personifies someone who is strong and stable but also has the charisma and attitude of a leader. they aren’t just enjoying the comfort anymore; they’re the ones setting the standards of what ‘ comfort ’ should be.

since leo is ruled by the sun – the center of our solar system – and taurus is ruled by venus – the planet of love and luxury – those with these signs combined could be seen as a magnificent blend of love, life, and luxury.

gender  &  pronouns: trans woman, she & her orientation: panromantic, pansexual spoken  languages:  tagalog, english, spanish, italian education:  worldly knowledge, uninterested in formal education occupation:  owner of neon ink  

✱  LAYER  TWO … the  connections.

parents: mariella santos siblings: gabriel santos, saphira santos children: none, would never. pets: wouldn't call them pets, but feed and take care of various animals both above and below water. relationship  status: widowed.

✱  LAYER  THREE … the  appearance.

faceclaim: leyna bloom hair color & frequent style: natural black with highlights, allows it to be in its natural curls as more often than not eye color: deep brown, almost look black height: five feet, ten inches scars: various on her legs showing scratch marks on her tail tattoos: one, small date behind her left ear piercings: both ears triple pierced, helix left notable features: frequently looks as if she has her fangs out but at second glance, marina will gaslight

✱  LAYER  FOUR … the  observations. 

handedness: right sociability: ambivert, will socialize when she feels like it then retreat to replenish her energy emotional control: rigid, prone to fits of jealousy that will be executed once she's calculated the best way to get what she wants drug usage: none. alcohol usage: doesn't see the point, but if she has some it's shots with no chasers phobias: anything that looks like a hook / hook adjacent voice / accent: light, polished and never betrays much

✱  LAYER  FIVE … the  tidits.  will be added onto.

one.  marina's trek to portum came as a result of her husband being killed in a shipwreck ⸺ a mermaid married to a human whose lungs filled with water before marina could bring him to the surface. she's indifferent as to how she feels about the town but isn't ready to venture back into a world that contains humans that have little regard for the space around them. she prefers to spend more time on land than in the sea, and bought an apartment where she and her sister reside.

two.  her, seeming, disinterest stems from her lack of desire to know anyone deeper than a surface level. the facade she's built lends for someone to think she's sweet, and she is, yet the face will flip once she's alone. for those that annoy her it comes in full force at all times and she has no problem showing her claws.

[lindalung]

The Queen of News - Review

The Queen of News recently swept the TVB awards (well-deserved), namely Charmaine Sheh's 3-time best actress in 3 different areas for this role. Her acting is subtle at times but chillingly good, conveying something with the smallest eye twitch. I went back to really rewatch it in depth and wow I'm just obsessed and blown away at how good it is. I forgot how damn good dramas can be when they're serious about the production and having a thoughtful creative process. There are a number of things that I want to talk about, so where do I start?

The Women

This drama is women-centric, with its 5 main women as some of the most 3-dimensional, complex, morally-grey characters that I've seen in a while. It's easy to make a shallow drama with women fighting (usually over men), with some typical "women are catty" misogynistic tropes. Though this show doesn't have a female director I'm glad it still handled the women's storylines well in my opinion. They're women doing some awful, questionable, morally grey things in the name of news, in the name of the truth, or in the name of gaining power. You end up gaining sympathy for them nonetheless.

You have the queen herself, Man Wai Sum "Man Tse" (Charmaine Sheh), who's at the top now and she's a tough girlboss, using everyone around her as chess pieces, but you come to find out that she too has weak spots and vulnerabilities. She also has regrets, she wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth. She had to lose a part of her soul in exchange for her spot, in a very Faustian way actually.

Cheung Ka Yin (Selena Lee) is a very very interesting character. In the beginning she's the only one with morals, a heart, and real news in her best interest. She's stubborn but resilient in her beliefs, but you watch as her hope in Man Tse and humanity in general, dwindles over time, until it reaches a breaking point. When she snaps, she becomes a different person and she's had enough. I was fully rooting for her up until the incident with Slash (Mark Ma), but that’s the whole point. None of these characters are fully good or evil, and that’s what keeps them interesting.

I didn't find the character of Cathy Hui very compelling personally, but that’s just me. She’s also devious, starting out in George (Kenneth Ma)’s side, before switching over to Man Tse’s team. The audience is pretty much made to hate her until we gain a little sympathy when we find out that she does all these things to be Prime Time host, not for fame but so her dad with worsening dementia can remember her again. She’s a woman who is portrayed to feel comfortable with her sexuality and uses it to her advantage, and that’s liberating for her. Good for her.

I ended up having the most sympathy for Tsui Hiu Mei (Regina Ho), not just because of her mental illness but come on that girl went through so much trauma on the show. Loyalty is supposed to be her forté, but she's also the most treacherous, playing both sides. At the end of the day she just wanted to feel useful, as that gave her purpose in life. She grew up poor and wanted a better way of life, but the system is rigged so she had to cheat the system, and can anyone blame her?

The only character who might actually be “good”, is Lau Yim (Venus Wong). She’s the fresh faced newbie who Ka Yin takes under her wing, and she may be “Stupid” but she has a fierce passion, she’s headstrong, and remains just despite how bad it gets around her.

Of course, there’s also other supporting female characters like the ever mighty Mrs. Fong (Mimi Kung) who is the real queen of the game, the only woman who can make Man Tse tremble. Then, there’s Wa Tse (Stephanie Che), a has-been, a woman who once was in a high position but gave it up for the sake of family and children, and now struggles to keep up with the times. 

There’s compelling though maybe shallow surface-level explorations into questions of women balancing their careers with motherhood, and the role of being a wife whilst being a working woman. 

The Women’s Relationships with Women

Watching this from a sapphic perspective, it’s really hard not to put a yuri spin onto these female relationships. Just look at the supertopics of the top 3 f/f ships on this show - Man/Yin , Man/Hiu Mei, Ka Yin/Lau Yim. Man Tse and Ka Yin are my favourite pairing, two very headstrong women and Ka Yin is probably the only one who could get near to Man’s level. When they collaborate, they work really well together, and have some great moments, like the volleyball case for example. Yet, they’re always in some argument because Ka Yin doesn’t agree with the way Man Tse works. 

On the other hand, Hiu Mei is essentially Man Tse’s maid, she does everything she says even though she’s also kinda secretly dating George. Man Tse will tear her down and be the cause of her breakdown, and then also be the first one to comfort her. The toxic yuri potential is there. It’s even wilder to think that when Hiu Mei was attempting to end her life, she hallucinated Man Tse, who she took out her rage at and then eventually gave her a pep talk to continue to live strongly. Man Tse obviously cast a huge shadow over her life, and she’s sick of being her chess piece, but you can tell deep down Man cares about her.

Finally there’s Ka Yin and her mentee Lau Yim, who she’s slightly annoyed by at first but slowly grows to care about. They’re endearing to watch, and she gives her tough love. It’s a little like Man/Hiu Mei but not as toxic. She also does care about Lau Yim, but Lau Yim’s morals are in check, and she chooses not to blindly follow Ka Yin down an unethical path towards the end. 

The Women’s Relationships with Men

It’s clear that this show centres the women’s relationship with other women, since the men in their life are very much background noise. She’s everything, he’s just… well. George is supposed to be Man Tse’s greatest opposition, but he’s not really all that threatening. Fei Ye (Eric Tang) is supposed to be an exec in a high position but is honestly pretty useless and has a non-threatening aura. 

It’s interesting that Man, Ka Yin, and Cathy all have younger love interests. Man Tse has her situationship Ivan (Matthew Ho), a man who is much younger and her subordinate at work, plus she makes him leave her house by 11pm. It’s clear who’s in charge in the relationship. Her ex Kit (Shaun Tam) is a bit closer to her age, and honestly they were a really cute couple until that incident changed their lives forever, but in present day he’s still the only one that she can be herself around. He is the only one who Man is vulnerable, chill, and funny around, which I think is important to show that she also has a weaker side. Ka Yin’s romantic storyline is evidently about how she won’t succumb to patriarchal ideals of marriage, and throughout the series showed zero interest in her boyfriend-turned-fiancé-turned-ex Lawyer Siu played by Matthew Ko. She refused to quit her job and settle as a housewife, and she’s a modern feminist through and through. One line I remember is when she said “Women aren’t war trophies” ( 戰利品), it made me love her so much. Cathy also dates a much younger man, Wong Wai (Niklas Lam), who she also seems to be kind of playing with this feelings sometimes. He also has a super boyish and dorky look to him that really highlights their difference. I feel like these relationships are to show that the women are the ones in control for once. 

The Themes

CW: Sexual assault 

I was nervous to watch sexual assault storylines cause I didn’t know how the show would handle them. The first case with #MeToo called out for George was kind of iffy for me with how they handled Debbie (Judy Kwong)’s storyline. The incident kind of becoming a tool for Man Tse to do some manipulation made me worry it’d be bad for victims if they highlighted the false accusations too much, but I suppose they tried to show every side. It was a good segway into the volleyball team SA storyline, which I think was handled really well (surprisingly). Nicole Wu’s character voices the struggles of victims, about how no one believes them, not even their friends sometimes, the isolation, and why they’re afraid to speak up. Roxanne Ho’s character also shows that unfortunately sometimes even women aren’t stepping up for other women, until they become victims themself. The way Man Tse handled it despite being an old friend of the assailant also shows how sometimes people may know someone for many years, and swear “they’d never do something like that!” or “they never did anything to me, so that can’t be true” but still be wrong. 

The rest of the themes and symbolism is quite self-explanatory and even on-the-nose sometimes. The constant Chess pieces, the Queen piece (I don’t play Chess but I suppose the point is that they’re the Queen), Hiu Mei referring to herself as Man’s chess piece, etc. Yes, they’re all making sneaky moves at each other, also shown in the many Mahjong scenes. 

I feel like overall, this is a very excellent series. Of course, I went in with low expectations as I always do, and I understand that there are certain things they can’t really touch on. Nonetheless, a very well made series that I will be thinking about for a long time. 

[denimbex1986]

'...Tennant has played Macbeth before, a two part radio version for the BBC that overcame the sometimes stilted limitations that can affect radio drama to create a terrifyingly intense portrayal of the character. Full of whispering menace, the low tone of that interpretation has been the inspiration for the Donmar Warehouse production directed by Max Webster, who is also credited with transforming Kit Harrington into an ambiguous warrior king in Henry V for this venue in 2022. Eschewing the overtly angry or despotic perspectives, Tennant brings that same quiet danger to the central character, a man driven by his own ambition, a human agency and belief in his own invincibility that underpins a ferocious but nicely restrained performance to render a terrifyingly cold Macbeth.

Leaning into the radio drama concept, the technical approach that sets this Donmar Warehouse production apart is the distribution of headphones to all members of the audience, wired into your seat and through which you listen to the entire show. What may seem like a gimmick at first soon becomes essential to the proximity and potency that this production creates. Sound effects can be barely noticeable in theatre, there to create mood or part of the melee of sounds, music and words that are received simultaneously, but here, with Webster’s background in opera and live music, the ways in which layers of sound are controlled, disbursed and blended through the headphones has fascinated effects on the way in which the audience engages with the performance. Even in the already small environment of this venue, the management of sound greatly heightens the intimacy of the story, bringing it more directly into your head in a way that replicates Macbeth’s own interior course.

But the other thing that headphones permit is to alter the vocal balance of the story, allowing the actors to perform as though to camera, demarcating moments of dialogue with others and their private thoughts, the face that Macbeth and his wife show to the court and the ones they wear in private with the audience. Actual asides as indicated in Shakespeare’s text now become possible because the viewer at every level can hear them bringing a new range to the text on stage that adds a different focus to the production. Webster’s Macbeth is a dark and destructive piece taking place in a court riven with factionalism and vaulting ambition where plots are cooked up in corners and performed in the dark, and some of the physicality of that comes to life through the placement and management of the sound experience. It may seem alienating at first, a temptation to remove the headphones to hear the words spoken in the room, but rarely has an audience been so still and so focused for almost two unbroken hours without distracting each other, because the show is in our heads as well as in front of our eyes.

A big question of productions of Macbeth is the balance within the marriage and the extent to which Lady Macbeth cajoles her husband to perform regicide. Webster’s approach creates a balance between them, a sympathy that looks to turn their curdled family ambitions into a chance for royal power that for Lady Macbeth is entirely opportunistic when Duncan arrives at their home – although it seems clear this pair would have sought out alternative opportunities to dispose of him once the idea is fixed in their minds. This too makes sense of the slow dislocation between the couple, that having achieved their aim, Macbeth distances himself from his wife, a man already steeped in the blood of war, starting to rely solely on his own judgement and jettisoning his marital relationship and leaving his wife without a defined purpose in his new kingdom. Here she is neither mother, wife or Queen in any true sense prompting her own decline when unable to reconcile or enjoy any of the roles she murdered for.

David Tennant is an extraordinary performer of Shakespeare and brings the same nuanced understanding of his character’s changing psychological trajectory from the radio to the Donmar Warehouse. His Macbeth is drawn to an idea of destiny suggested by the witches, believing in the inevitability of his rise to power, but chooses to make that happen, an active and decisive figure in his own life. Tennant has played these conflicting presentations of self before in Good, the man underneath and the one on the surface feeling consistent in the character’s mind but not appearing so to others, and Tennant draws on these reserves in Macbeth, where the bombast and certainty of the Scottish King in the later sections of the play emanate from a psychological reassurance from the voices in his head that he is indestructible and therefore a worthy monarch. It is a chilling performance of untempered authority and bristling violence.

But beneath this, Tennant layers all the doubt and uncertainty that make this such a fascinating and challenging role. Macbeth veers wildly between ambition and existential crisis, so his path through the play is a twisted and rocky one, not a consistent rise from subject to murderer to tyrant as is often seen. Tennant’s management of soliloquies in Shakespeare has always been exemplary and with microphones here providing an opportunity to alter the size of the performance and the vocal quality of the reading, they are each electrifying in different ways. The ethereal dagger is another presentment of his mind, entirely unseen which visibly shakes his character’s conscience, crouched low on the floor and still wondering whether he can truly become a king killer. Later a psychological turmoil seems to rage through his entire being as paranoia consumes him, unsettled by the many more murders he must commit to feel secure, appearing on the brink of self-destruction with a mind full of scorpions, while the final soliloquy following the death of Lady Macbeth is full of pained and a quietly moving resignation. Exhausted by the fight that has bought him so little, Tennant, freed by the audience’s ability to hear every word at whatever register, uses whispers and phrases half spoken under his breath to ultimately pull himself apart. He may rally for one final fight but this Macbeth is weary of life and finds there is nothing left worth striving for.

Cush Jumbo’s Lady Macbeth has an ‘otherness’ in the world that Webster provides and like Kurzel’s casting of Marion Cotillard as a nod to European dynastic marriage, Vize dresses Jumbo in white to signal her separation from the militaristic and otherwise entirely Scottish court. The performance draws out the hard ambition of the marriage, the pair an equal force at first, but later Jumbo gives her greater emotional reaction, and as her husband hardens Lady Macbeth softens, referencing her lost child, her friendship with Lady Macduff and crucially her own overwhelming guilt about Duncan that makes her final appearance on stage quite moving...

...Tennant has more than risen to this particular challenge, telling us more about this monstrously charismatic, layered and endlessly fascinating killer and king.'

[quaissants]

❝  AND  THE  TRUTH  IS  I  DIDN’T  REALLY  MATTER  ˒  𝐢.   general  tidbits

NEW YEAR & THEME  =  OLD POTATO!   hi, my name’s mona, but you may know me as the ultimate procrastinator, crybaby gemini, angst queen, 1/2 of deobi’s gremlins.. wow those are a lot of titles-  i’m an 04 liner whose pronouns are she / her, and i’m (weirdly enough.. maybe the site glitched when i took the test) an infp with nothing but said test results to back this theory up!

come to think of it, you may have found me through my other sideblogs like appleofthemoon (yandere + dark content)  cupofikeu  (filo au content)  soleurs  (all of us are dead + one piece)  wencore  (reading recs)  atolua  (ateez addition)  en-lista  (enhypen addition)  panoralis + labitule  (oc girl groups)  ..  yes, there are a couple more but they’re my secret treasures ~ unless you’re matty who i cannot keep a secret from after 3-5 business days..

oh! yes, i do write for plenty of kpop male idols, but my mains are enhypen and the boyz (’though do feel free to check out my misc. masterlist!) my dream? to be in love earn money, lots and lots of it! and i believe in one thing only: i’m not totally useless, for my purpose is to be used as a bad example ♡

HE  SAID  HE  LIED  SO  I  WOULDN’T  BE SADDER   ˒  𝐢𝐢.   rules  &  dni  criteria

writing is a hobby, not a job. the official translation is that you’re not allowed to harass me with asks of when am i going to post again. actually, it’s an unspoken law that every creator, human or alien, should not receive that treatment

this blog is dedicated to sfw works for the artists listed below. no buts, no coconuts.

i try my best to write each fic with a gender neutral reader in mind but sometimes i may not be able to do that, so please note the details on the fic before continuing 

this is a safe space for everyone, i promise you that. if you find something in one of my stories that you feel must have a warning, please send me an ask so i can fix it

DNI if you fit the basic criteria: disrespectful towards others’ gender, race, beliefs, religions / hater of kpop / plagiarizer / a rude person in general, supporter of israel

WHAT  A  WAY  TO  MAKE  ME  FEEL  BETTER   ˒   𝐢𝐢𝐢.   special  tags  &  networks  ❞

GENERATION.  i am a member of @hiraya-m  @k-labels​  @enhanet  @deoboyznet & owner of @bluesia​

DRAMA.  karma  enhypen  ..  babydoll  the boyz  ..   venus  pretty humans  ..  om nom  asks  ..  attention please!  mona talks to herself  ..  rose our glasses  milestones  ..  louvre girl  lovely mutuals  ..  mona mania  tag games  ..  navillera  aesthetics

LOVEMAIL.  ..i have no anons so-

[qnewsau]

2023: The Australian queer year in review

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/2023-the-australian-queer-year-in-revew/

2023: The Australian queer year in review

As the year comes to an end, we look back at some of the Australian LGBTQIA+ news, events and queer moments that made up 2023.

January

Midsumma: Melbourne held its annual multi-week Midsumma Festival where former premier Daniel Andrews marched with pride goers. 

Sam Stosur retires: Sam, who won the US Open singles titles plus seven Grand Slam doubles titles, retired at the Australian Open. Sam publicly came out later in her career in 2020. 

February

WorldPride: Sydney became the epicentre of the queer universe when hosting WorldPride. The two-week extravaganza featured an opening night concert, the traditional Mardi Gras parade, a Human Rights Conference, a Bondi Beach party, a pride march over the Bridge and a closing party. 

Big names like Kylie Minogue, Dannii Minogue, Sugababes, Agnes, Nicole Scherzinger, Kim Petras, Ava Max, Jessica Mauboy, Courtney Act and Casey Donovan featured throughout WorldPride. However, there was only one true icon of the event: Progress Shark. 

Queerstralia: ABC broadcasts the series Queerstralia. Hosted by Zoe Coombs Marr, it took a deep dive into the queer history of Australia. 

March

Australian Idol: Queer First Nations singer Royston Sagigi-Baira won Australian Idol. Royston is a Thanakwith (Aboriginal) and Wagadagam (Torres Strait Islander) man from Mapoon in Far North Queensland. 

Posie Parker rejected: Anti-trans activist Posie Parker was drowned out by counter-protesters during her tour of Australia. During her visit to Brisbane, hundreds rallied against her hateful views. While in Melbourne she was joined by neo-Nazis which saw widespread condemnation. 

In Our Blood: The musical drama inspired by Australia’s radical response to HIV/AIDS in the 1980s was broadcast on ABC with many scenes shot at Brisbane’s Sportsman Hotel. 

The Wickham reopens: After many months closed for renovations, Brisbane’s iconic LGBTQIA+ venue The Wickham reopened. 

April 

Censorship rejected: The Australian Classification Board rejected a call to ban or restrict a gender and sexuality memoir after a conservative activist complained to Queensland Police.

May

Archibald Prize: Artist Julia Gutman wins the Archibald Prize with a portrait of queer performer Montaigne. While queer musician and artist Zaachariaha Fielding (from Electric Fields) won the Wynne Prize for best landscape. 

Kylie’s back: Long-time queer ally Kylie Minogue released Padam Padam. The song charted in the Top 10 in the UK and the Top 20 in Australia. The first time the singer had achieved this in more than a decade. 

June

Queens Ball: The 62nd edition of the Queens Ball in Brisbane was held at City Hall. More than a dozen Queensland queer community advocates, performers and organisations were honoured in a ceremony hosted by Paul Wheeler and Chocolate Boxx. 

Trans legal win: The Queensland government passed a new law allowing trans and gender-diverse people to change their gender on their birth certificates without having to undergo surgery.

July

Logies: Out actor Tim Draxl was nominated for the Silver Logie as most outstanding actor while RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under received two nominations for Best Entertainment Program and Best New Talent for Kween Kong. 

Patricia Karvelas: Proudly out presenter Patricia Karvelas was named as the new host of one of ABC’s flagship programs Q&A.

Gymnast: Out Australian gymnast Heath Thorpe was controversially not selected for the World Championships despite winning the Australian All-Around title. 

August

Women’s World Cup: Australia and New Zealand hosted the Women’s World Cup with a record 96 publicly out players competing. The Matildas, who had 10 out players including superstar Sam Kerr, reached the semi-finals after a thrilling penalty shoot-out win against France. The Matildas broke attendance and ratings records, becoming the most-watched event in Australia since Cathy Freeman at the Sydney Olympics. 

Honour Awards: NSW’s largest annual LGBTIQA+ community awards were held and presented by ACON. 

September

Brisbane Pride: Brisbane hosted its annual pride event including fair day, rally and march, and other community events across the month. 

Drag Race: The third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under crowned the first-ever Australian winner. Isis Avis Loren from Melbourne took the crown with Ballarat’s Gabriella Labucci runner-up. The show was co-hosted by Rhys Nicholson and included queer Aussie guest judges Keiynan Lonsdale and Josh Cavallo. 

October

Big Gay Day: The Wickham held its annual Big Gay Day with Peter Andre and Rogue Traders headlining. 

Troye Sivan: The Australian queer artist released his album Something to Give Each Other featuring hit singles Rush, Got Me Started and One of Your Girls. It went straight to the top of the charts giving Troye his first Australian No.1 album.

Pride Adelaide: The annual event took place with a march and a celebration featuring artists Ricki-Lee, Crystal Waters, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Samantha Jade.

November 

Gay Games: The 11th edition of the event was co-hosted by Hong Kong and Guadalajara in Mexico. This was the first co-hosting of the games and the first time it took place in Asia. Australian LGBTQIA+ athletes competed in both cities. 

ARIAs: Troye Sivan and G Flip dominated the ARIA Music Awards with four and two award wins respectively. Troye took out Song of the Year for Rush. 

Natalie Bassingthwaighte: The Rogue Traders lead singer and actress known for her work on Neighbours revealed she was in a relationship with a woman.

PrideFest: Perth held its annual pride events with events across the month celebrating the city’s LGBTQIA+ community.

BayPride: Despite protests the inaugural pride event in Wynnum, Queensland took place with a large family-friendly march.

December

Hate Crime Inquiry: The long-awaited Special Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes in NSW saw 19 recommendations made. Advocates welcomed the findings and called on the NSW Police Force to action the report’s recommendations.

JOY Media: The Melbourne-based LGBTQIA+ community radio station JOY 94.9 celebrated their 30th anniversary.

NT politics: The openly gay MP Chansey Paech made history as the first Aboriginal man to be appointed Deputy Chief Minister in the Northern Territory.

Olympics: Australian climber Campbell Harrison qualified for the Paris Olympics and shared a kiss with his boyfriend to celebrate.

For the latest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) news in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[absolutepokemontrash]

omg omg well now im interested in all of the kids backgrounds/families but i can't choose which to ask about... Wildcard?

I’ll do all of them how about that? Time for some DRAMA!

Once again, link to the OG post explaining everything here.

Everything’s under the read more!

Lucifer’s kid, Venus! (The OG)

(Venus goes by they/them pronouns)

Venus’ ren has already gotten screentime in the main fic, but a quick rundown of them is: They grew up in a family of magic users so they already knew plenty about demons and the Devildom, they’re a professional musician, and they’re one of the only people in the known multiverse that can calm Venus down from anything.

Venus worships their parents, their father for his reputation and power (and later his overall dad-ness) and their ren for raising them so lovingly.

But… Vee’s ren has a bit of a shifty side to them… they put on the act of ditzy dumb human, but there’s a lot more craftiness behind those eyes…

Mammon’s Kid, Ash! (There they arrrreeeee!!)

(Ash goes by They/she/he pronouns, they hoard pronouns like a gender dragon.)

Oh god bless Ash’s poor parent…

She had a wonderful week just kicking it with Mammon, and then one day they wake up, he’s gone, so is some of their stuff, and he’s left them with a baby.

…yay…

This isn’t actually entirely Mam’s fault, he got summoned back into the Devildom before he could leave any contact info, and he was just lookin’ at the watches! Honest!

But anyway, Ash’s ren wasn’t getting paid the best salary as a nurse, but they got by. They also didn’t know about the whole demon thing, and they despise Mammon for it… (but not Ash, it’s not their fault.) Being a greed demon, Ash has always had a hunger gnawing away at their gut for more, they wanted the finer things in life, but what they really truly want is for their ren to really know that they aren’t the scumbag they think their dad is. They want to put their ren in a nice house somewhere where they don’t have to worry about money ever again!

Levi’s Kid, Percy! :D

(Percy uses he/they pronouns!)

Percy’s mother met Levi at an anime con in the human world, she was dressed as Neo Queen Serenity, he was dressed as Tuxedo mask… it was so romantic… until Levi cried midway through sex because he hadn’t been given any kind of physical affection for a while

But yea, Percy’s mom is actually quite well off, she has a massive indoor pool, good for Percy because when she gave them a bath for the first time they sprouted gills and a tail, so uh… they need the swimming space.

Percy’s mother wasn’t aware of any demon-y happenings, she had a pretty normal life until she had her snake-baby. (She loves him very very much though)

Percy themselves on the other hand, they’re really happy and positive! They try and keep their mood up and not let their envy get the better of them… no matter how hard it is sometimes…

Satan’s Kid, Lyssa! 

(Lyssa goes by they/she pronouns!)

So uh… Satan fucked a married woman.

…

…*distant applause from Asmo, known marriage ruiner*

Lyssa did NOT have the best time growing up, her life SUCKED because she looked nothing like her mother, and ALL like her real biological deadbeat demon dad (alliteration, how do you like that, English teachers?!). Because she’s half WRATH DEMON, she would fly into a rage insanely often and just wreck shit. It didn’t help that she was in a constant state of stress because both of her human parents resented her appearance and existence and only stayed together and kept her around to keep up their reputation.

Lyssa actually gets summoned into the Devildom in their clothes from juvie… yeah… one of Lyssa’s rampages ended up hurting someone. She and Satan get off to a rocky start, both parties being real jerks about everything, until they finally have that cliche kind of heart to heart talk about emotions and junk.

Okay, onto Lyssa’s relationship with Venus, that shit is wholesome as hell. Lyssa was trying to scare Venus away, but Venus has crackhead determination so it didn’t work. Lyssa had a full scale “why aren’t you leaving like everyone else..?” breakdown, and after that, Venus added another blond child to their now growing list of them.

Asmo’s kid, Cecil! (My baaaaaby…)

(Cecilia goes by they/them pronouns)

(Just to be safe, I’m going to put a trigger warning up for implied emotional abuse, please don’t read the first paragraph or so if it’s going to upset you)

Cecil’s mother is as anxious and skittish as Cecil themselves, and Cecilia learned this behaviour due to the upsetting fact that not every boyfriend of their mother was as nice as Asmo was. (Not that Cecil knew Asmo before the exchange program). At the time of the exchange program beginning, this particular piece of human trash was out of the picture, but the figurative mark he left on Cecil’s life was still very much there. (I’m sure Asmo wreaked some bloody vengeance on that sumbitch)

Cee’s mom does love her baby, even if she is a little… scared of them sometimes. I can’t exactly blame her for this, imagine if your one-night stand resulted in a baby that suddenly grew wings and horns… but everything she does is to make sure she and Cecil have the best life possible. (And because I’m not completely evil, Cecil’s mom finds someone who treats her right after Cecil goes to live with Asmo).

Beel’s Twins, Cane and Pepper!

(Both twins go by they/them pronouns)

The twins 2.0 were actually raised by the sorcerer’s society. Their human parent put them up for adoption just after they were born, and the sorcerer’s society couldn’t exactly have not one, but TWO baby gluttony half-demons running around, so they took the two in.

They both didn’t exactly have a concrete caretaker, they really only had teachers and other magic users who would pop in to act as parent figures. Oh well at least they had each other!

Just a refresher, Pepper is a capybara, Cane is a fucking honey badger on crack cocaine. They’re also identical, so it’s very hard to tell them apart… fuck with the wrong twin and you’re free trial of life will expire.

Funny story, Lucifer once strung up the wrong twin, and since Pepper’s so chill, they just hung their without issue for the whole night.

Belphie’s kid, Arien!

(Arien goes by he/they pronouns)

I went into it in this ask, but I’ll add a bit more flavour.

Arien’s mom was a well respected witch, and uh… okay, fuck, have another trigger warning for doing the deed under the influence of alcohol, because there is no way in hell she would have survived the encounter if Belphie wasn’t wasted.

Overall, Arien’s mom just didn’t care about Arien as a separate person, more like a prize. The only Half Human spawn of the Avatar of Sloth was her achievement, not her kid… unless the title of mother suited her in the moment. Yeah… she’s not a good lady…

[svturnschild]

The Venus signs: What you love

🔥Venus in Aries- being in control, action, being right, laughing until you can’t breathe, going on adventures, everything new and exciting, love affairs, summer, the beach, praise, fire, being physically active, the fun part of life, doing reckless things without a care in the world, being direct and honest, independence

🏕️Venus in Taurus- luxury, appreciation, friday nights, self-care, Earth, nature, money, coziness, staying home, hot chocolate, baking, expressing affection, physical touch, expensive wine, feeling like a kind/queen, stability, routine, people not telling you what to do, breathing fresh air, everything beautiful and aesthetically pleasing

💭Venus in Gemini- talking, expressing your opinions, fun, road trips, exploring the world, books, movies, being the most knowledgeable on a topic, getting out of your comfort zone, meeting new people, intellectual stimulation, animations, smiling till your cheeks hurt, dancing, singing, interesting people, diversity, equality

🥧Venus in Cancer- comfort, home, family or the idea of it, taking care of people, the sea, nature, art, childhood, 20th century, children, gentleness, familiarity, emotionality, heart shaped sunglasses, siders, acoustic guitars, music, poetry, kindness, hopefulness, cuddling, jewelry,  eyes to lose yourself in, pretty colours, spring, everything being quiet for a moment

👑Venus in Leo- excitement, gatherings, loud music, expensive clothes, public displays of affection, romantic fantasies, confidence, attention, optimism, red nail polish, accessories, gifts, being yourself, animals, making people happy, concerts, tequila, the sun, warmth, perfect teeth, contagious smiles, hugs, their friends, loyalty, Hollywood

🍂Venus in Virgo- intelligence, people taking your advice, nurturing, healing, nature, autumn, being right, productivity, a quiet type of confidence, manners, being polite, maturity, doing things right, the smell of books, warm colours, green eyes, history, trust, herbs, perfumes, flowers, connecting with your inner child, vintage stuff, alone time

🍒Venus in Libra- balance, justice, equal rights, art galleries, the Renaissance, literature, femininity, making your friends happy, multitasking, libraries, looking good, connecting with people, romantic movies, shiny hair, holidays, variety, a certain aesthetic, tea, chocolate, thinking, consideration, politics, eyeliner, smelling good, social media

🥀Venus in Scorpio- adrenaline, black clothes, grins, grunge, eyeshadow, class, dark academia, rings, nail art, vinyls, honesty, ride or die, protectiveness, motorcycles,  tarot cards, crystals, cigarettes, forests, edgar allan poe, dark metal, candles, solitude, respect, doing things your own way, champagne, reassurance, the paranormal, spicy food

🌤️Venus in Sagittarius- optimism, freedom, feeling alive, hiking, travelling, denim jackets, tequila shots, deep talks at 2am, comedy movies, churches, belief, weirdness, not being tied to anything, experience, parties, fearlessness, hook-ups, hippy fashion, bluntness, the universe, different cultures, wanting to run and never look back

💸Venus in Capricorn- money, quality, productivity, glory, leather jackets, proving themselves worthy, nostalgia, rationality, calmness, quiet comfort, lana del rey, empty streets, expensive alcohol, work, business attire, cigarette smoke, self-deprecation, cold weather, oscar wilde, sad songs, making people proud

🛸Venus in Aquarius- standing out, evolution, change for the better, humanity, outer space, independence, adventures, charities, niche humour, david bowie, loud colours, technology, pop art, icy looks, abandoned places, conspiracy theories, retreatment, sharp breaths, thinking outside the box

🌊Venus in Pisces- getting lost in a fantasy, magical realism, empathy, surrealism, lsd, poetry, music, sacrifice, idealised views, pastel colours, helping people, all artforms, existentialism, the ocean, whiskey, psychology, drama plays, eccentricity, experiencing every human emotion possible

[anneimaginesundertale]

Mettaton Across Universes

So I got an ask about what the Mettaton are like when they’re angry and I realized that I didn’t have a post about what they’re like in general. So here is my general headcanons list about everybody’s favorite sexy calculator. I don’t like Mettaton all that much, but I know some people do. I’ll try to be nice.

UT Mettaton is the flashy, dramatic star of the Underground. He craves attention. He really, really wants to be a star and wants to be liked. He also wants everyone to feel great about themselves. He likes humans. He finds them fascinating.

US Mettaton has swapped with Napstablook, so he was still a ghost. A very lonely ghost who kind of wished for fame but also didn’t want to be in the spotlight. I think he wrote down a lot of ideas for shows and plays and stuff but he was too shy to share them with anybody.

UF Mettaton is more ruthless than UT Mettaton. He’s got a lot of impressive weapons in his robot body (in both forms). So many that two arms just wasn’t enough. He’s got to have four, darling. The better to hug you with! Or turn you into shishkabobs. Whichever comes first! Ha hah haha! He’s still very flashy and dramatic. He likes to take everything to the next level. It can be kind of scary.

SF Mettaton is also swapped with Napstablook. Unlike his US counterpart, SF Mettablook is resentful of the attention his cousin gets. Why doesn’t anybody recognize his genius? He spends a lot of time on the Undernet posting to forums about how stupid Napstaton’s stuff is and how he would have made it better. He very much thinks of himself as an artiste and loves wallowing in the idea that nobody understands him.

MT Mettaton is a ghost in a steampunk robot body but other than the difference in how he’s built, he’s pretty much got the same personality. He preferred to be his own boss, rather than officially working for the mob. He ran one of the most popular magic speakeasies in the city and was also getting famous as a performer.

MF Mettaton runs his own branch of the mob. He owns a lot of the local performers. He pretends that he’s an agent, but everybody knows that if you work for Mettaton, he owns all your ideas and controls your schedule, etc. He and the Mafia bros have an uneasy alliance, since he owns the talent and they own the venue. Grim doesn’t trust him. Smiley would like to throw him on the scrap heap. This robot has an ego the size of the casino and is very much a drama queen. (I guess technically that’s all of them, but it’s obvious to the point of annoying on this one…)

OT Mettaton can fly! He has built in rockets in his legs. He loves doing aerial tricks and acrobatics.

DT Mettaton dances to electronic music. That’s all I’ve got for him really. Sorry.

Did I miss any AUs? I can’t remember all of the ones I’ve got. I will say, there is no HT Mettaton (anymore) and there is no G!verse Mettaton.

Do you want me to do the Swap Napstatons with this grouping too?

[ellavaday]

dres2 cast reveal nerd things and general fangirling

ariel saying if paulina rubio can have music ofc i can too 😭🤣 shady bitch (go listen to her music tho, she's got your typical club music but also stuff like this if you're more into avril lavigne)

DIAMANTE la que no es puta no disfruta; lets go drunk caribbean hoes let's gooo (she's from arantxa's drag fam and i like her)

sethals shadying vulcano as soon as she opened her mouth💀nobody asked but this is the polemic performance that won her the Canarias carnival drag pageant that she was talking about and it's not bc the dancers look like US t*rrorists (that's another thing entirely), it was bc some group of homophobic catholic lawyers association tried to sue her for religious image usage 🙄 and bc both the president of the islam federation and the catholic obisp of las palmas de gran canarias accused her of blasphemy (... honestly i Stan)

estrella and jota are gonna be so funny; jota i'm specially 💖 we love a calé queen (also she's 18 and has been doing drag since she was 14 lying to clubs lol) i love that they're both from jerez de la frontera

juriji is so beautiful I'm not over her. She's a siren y'all.

onyx had me the second she opened her mouth "I'm from Carabanchel [Madrid neighborhood] vía mons Venus, humans beware"

marina looks like fun. And fashion. And drama. And i can't wait.

marisa! small town baby girl! she seems sweet

samantha reminds me of darby from imho? A bit ditzy and off beat

i hate hate calling anyone mommy but sharonne? sharonne is definitely mommy

venedita. that's all. v e n e d i t a.

[isdisorigionalenoughforyou]

Super sexy aa7 ideas that will never happen

*puts on my clown shoes

Themes: “the worst times are when lawyers have to smile their brightest, but you can’t be a lawyer 24/7” “sometimes (esp now) the system is WRONG”

CASE 1

Klavier Gavin prosecutes, because society has progressed beyond needing Paynes

And if the widespread complaint is that he’s too nice, this position is perfect

Make a witty remark abt feeling demoted >:(

Athena and Trucy dream team girls

Murder took place at a theater/has something to do with acoustics, to ~fit the characters~

Maybe Lamiroir was there 👀

Phoenix is once again a witness, but hes less infuriating. But still fucking funny infuriating

He mentions his college degree, vaguely. Pressing him reveals nothing.

Also address that TRUCY AND KLAVIER PROBABLY HAVE SOME TRAUMA FROM MURDERS AT THEIR PERFORMANCES

Defend a rando

The twist: the murder only could’ve been committed by someone with superhuman hearing, so Athena’s senses are vital here!!

End: the culprit tries to psychologically fuck with everyone, but Athena stays strong, maybe uses some noise cancelling headphones, and corners the SHIT out of them

Also, there’s a new judge. A higher judge than your normal judge, who is a boomer. BOOMER JUDGE

Post-trial: a comment about all them missing Apollo…

CASE 2

Athena vs Franziska von Karma

Athena calls her out on the whipping if that’s still a thing

[Maybe Trucy is there again for extra spice,,,] but Solo Thena would be EPIC

NEW FRANZISKA DESIGN

Maybe we can bring Maya back here, but NOT ACCUSE HER FOR MURDER

Or accuse her at the scene but quickly disprove it

Idk also address her trauma

Wow this is turning into ATHENA CYKES- ACE THERAPIST

Put Simon there too because he’s hilarious

Maybe him and Maya are casually attending Comic-Con for the Steel Samurai panel

Defendant: some toxic celebrity with DRAMA

the twist: the murderer was targeting several high-profile ppl, but only killed like. A janitor instead. They aren’t found OR arrested, but you get a not guilty by… indicting their accomplice. And it HURTS but you have to or its your not-guilty kinda-a-dick client that gets guilty

New judge plays by the written rules, so u can’t ague ur case

Franziska is skeptical of the Accomplice’s guilt, but she lets the verdict go because your client is innocent.

Athena cries to Phoenix about how she feels like she fricked up b/c she empathizes with the accomplice but also everyone, Phoenix does his best dad comfort—this is the truth that’s allowed in the confines of their court system.

CASE 3

NARUMITSU DATE

Open with a call from Maya. She loudly thanks the god/the holy mother for this

MURDER!!! AT THE VENUE  

Kay and Sebastian are there

GUMSHOEEEEE (OLDER SPRITE??? Higher salary?? Maggey too?)

Classic Wright vs Edgeworth

All the options are flirty

Everything is an innuendo

Trucy co-council is embarrassed by ur Old Man Flirting (NEW SPRITES)

Lampshade conflict of interest what with dating opposing council. Gloss over it completely

Phoenix’s college degree is vaguely mentioned to be helping him. This is Not elaborated on

The murder is some crazy shit that basically parodies the whole series

TWO SETS OF EVIL TWINS

3 cross poisonings and with INTERESTING results of chemicals mixing (Ema: 👀)

All the dying messages were faked

Handedness contradiction.

Some gross old guy appears, but you can punch him

The murder weapon goes from bloody knife with defendants fingerprints on it to glass shards of a broken bottle to an icicle to an overly spikey piece of hair

EXTRATERRITORIAL RIGHTS

For extra funnies: BOOMER JUDGE IS NOT USED TO THIS. They are the straight person of this comedy clown case.

For extra feels (the twist): Phoenix actually has an emotional breakdown on one of the investigation days. Maybe Trucy gets put at risk again, or something with poisoning, or even something with Kay or Seb (to show how much Phoenix cares, in general) and we address all the shit that he’s gone thru

Awkward comforting by miles

HUG SPRITE/ART

CASE 4

(shoves Klavier into Khura’in) GO FAKEGERMANBOY GO

Play as Apollo (khura’inese clothes sprites)

KLAVIER CO-COUNCIL (CASUAL SPRITES?? Put his hair up in a bun capcom im begging)

ADRESS AA4

Maybe at the end of one investigation, theres just. A heartfelt talk.

Ok ill make it heavy (b/c if its lighthearted these fuckos will never talk about their feelings)

LAMIROIR IS HERE TOO??

TRUCY ALSO- im sorry truce im shoving you everywhere because I want you to develop

maybe she and Klavier are like, performer bros

Apollo is happy that Trucy is but also feels alienated, like AA6 totally pulled him from his AA4 roots [COUGH]

CASUAL TRUCY SPRITE??? I would cry capcom

Nahyuta, Rayfa, and Apollo being awkward but trying (and mostly succeeding) siblings, Amara being a scary but p good queen momther

FRANZISKA INTERNATIONAL PROSECUTING??? Idk it’d be epic tho

She roasts Klavier so bad

Though he is very smart so she just roasts his terrible German

Resolve the Gramarye siblings here?

Include something with gender dysphoria to contrast how they butchered Robin Newman???

This is huge headcanon territory here tho

The Twist: realizing that this case cannot POSSIBLY be resolved in 3 fucking days. Also that Apollo is so backlogged that hes stressed and he probably needs help

Also someone tries to frame Klavier with his Gavinners-brand shoeprints

End: answer yes/no to Klavier working at Justice Law Offices. The choice affects his dialogue with Apollo in 7-5

CASE 5

Some fuckin. International level scandal

Elaborate on whatever the fuck “the phantom” was spying for? btw is the same that the culprits froms 7-2 and 7-4. maaybe 7-1?

And it involves MORE AUDITORIUMS

Open w/ calling Trucy, whos in the states. She mentions that Klavier casually got a Japanifornian defense attorney badge. Cue exasperation/fondness/incredulity (I promise this is relevant)

In Khura’in

Starts small- like a robbery, which leads to an attempt on Thalassa’s life. Again

Athena gets to therapy her

Then someone high-profile actually fucking dies

Athena (co-council Apollo) vs FINAL BOSS FRANZISKA

Lots of investigating with them

Talk about space center and grief

The twist: a person with low emotional output is framed, but they are innocent because LOWER EMOTIONAL REACTIONS DOESN’T MAKE YOU FUCKING EVIL

The other twist: Bring in 7-2 framed person for a character witness, show that they’re innocent. Athena is panicking because of Fear(?) so Apollo is determined to Do Something, and points out how this only happened because the system is Stupid and calls Klavier and Trucy

BECAUSE:

At the same time, there’s a stateside investigation. some botched, continued interreference at the Space Station

Klavier can pull an Edgeworth and investigate with Trucy

With parently narumitsu

Klavier talks about Apollo a lot, Trucy calls him out on it

Nahyuta is prosecuting this case

Depending on the relations between Klavier and Nahyuta established in 7-4, this will be hilarious or disastrous

Protective Yuty route: makes scathing comments about petty parts of Klavier- a petty-off

Teasing Yuty route: brings it up whenever Klavier talks about Apollo. Rlly funny banter. Klavier showing more human emotions sprites!!

Revisit the Space Center and get emo. Simon is here, arguing with Nahyuta

Because the cases go to trial simultaneously, the comment about the wrong conviction in 7-2 can be brought to the Japanifornian courts by Klavier and Trucy

They argue that Athena was forced to do that to spare an innocent and press HARD for legal reform

They call in Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth for reforms??

They also start a twitter war (that can be investigation minigame) and get public opinion up abt it

Yuty vouches for change, w/ khura’in as evidence

SO AA4 CAN GET KINDA RESOLVED!!

DUNK ON BOOMER JUDGE

BONUS: CASE 6: TURNABOUT CHILLOUT

Phoenix vs Franziska

Larry time

Scruffy time

Idk man. No more international stuff, just good old fashioned cleaning up ur shitty dad’s messes amiright

Resolve things with the Shelly card?

oldbag cameo but you file a restraining order

help trucy and pearls with college

TLDR: Athena actually tracks an international conspiracy that has weight, the AJ gang once again changes the system, Phoenix gets emotional resolution, Franziska helps international stuff AND gets emotional resolution, and i finally stop trying to throw hands with capcom. 

[rinharu-purple]

Gavin with the Black Queen- An encounter that never happened

SPOILER ALERT!!! DUH! ^_^

One thing keeps bothering me ever since the Black Queen has ceased to exist (as of March 2021). She had various interactions with the other Lis, including Shaw, and yet she was in the same room with Gavin only for a brief moment and neither of them has truly realized the other’s presence. Why was that? Why did PG deliberately refrained from bringing those together? The answer might hide in the behind the curtain chapter.

Behind the curtain final part

Kicking off things with a memory refresh. CH5 of behind the curtain event revolves around the final moments of MC in the black cabin before making her decision and revisiting the piano concert as well as the infinite future era. There, the NW troops under the command of NW717 (Gavin from Infinite Future) enter the venue the BQ was in and cause mayhem by destroying everything in his way “I will destroy all of this!”. MC doesn’t face Gavin, but still got injured by his cutting currents of wind, unable to avoid him completely. 

This encounter happens only in the background. The BQ knows that Gavin is there, but Gavin doesn’t see her. They don’t look each other in the eye, they don’t exchange words. Just a cut on BQs cheek.

This remark at the end is crucial, because the BQ only says this after Gavin’s left the venue. Meaning from this moment on, there is only one future possible. Does that mean a different future would’ve been possible if Gavin hadn’t left? I guess we won’t ever find out.

BlackQueenxNW717 vs. MCxGavin

Another aspect to this question could also be that the only time BQ and Gavin were in the same venue was when the Black Queen already has lost her faith in humanity and Gavin has spend his youth without MC, under the shadow of his father. In a way, the two versions of them meeting at this point are their alternate personalities, which came to be because those two had never met. In my opinion, this is the strongest reason for why PG didn’t put Gavin and the BQ in the same narrative. Black Queen only exists in a world, where she never meets Gavin and Gavin only chooses to join his father after high school because he never gets to know MC’s kindness. The strong bond between them which keeps their faith was never created.

In that case, those who meet in chapter 21 were actually a lost Gavin and a lost MC in the void, because they have never met and therefore weren’t there to catch each other when one of them was falling like they always do in our original timeline.  They have both crashed and scattered into pieces, thus broken. We know for a thing that the BQ is lost because she says this in CH18

See the words she is using? Love and FAITH. Remember CH15... Name of FAITH. Exactly... MC and Gavin would be lost if they didn't have love and faith. Also during the Daybreak Era and Dream edge Gavin is without love and faith, He is in a completely different sprite and mental state then the Gavin we know, love and worship.

Papergames actually put a very subtle comparison to this phenomenon by showing in CH 22 how the dynamic of Gavin and MC works even if only one of them is their original self. In CH 22, MC meets NW717, who has never met MC during high school and yet she succeeds in bringing out the original Gavin hidden deep inside him, at least in fragments, hence preventing a greater destruction or even worse Gavin’s demise (he is utmost self-destructive in this chapter). 

Gavin and MC always manage to bring the best out of each other so if this had happened in the case of MCxNW717, then we can safely assume that this could’ve ended the same way in a GavinxBlackQueen encounter. 

Needless to say, it wouldn’t have been convenient for the plot, so the PG obviously didn’t take this route and it only exists in my head ^_^

Chapter 18: Gavin’s Route?

Taking this into consideration, let’s take a moment to imagine how would CH18 have gone, if it was Gavin accompanying MC instead of Victor in their last stance in the quarantine zone. Let’s assume Gavin didn’t know about the existence of the BQ up to this point, just like Victor, and there she was abruptly standing in front of him. Surely he would be appalled at first, but then he would show her the MC, he has always known, the MC he has always believed in and the MC she genuinely is. I don’t believe that Gavin would reject her identity as the MC like Victor did, because her eyes are different. On the contrary, I believe Gavin would say that he still knows that she is the girl he knows, because he can see it in her eyes. I think that Gavin would accept the fact that MC and the BQ were the same person and therefore would give everything in his might to save her, to save them both, without having to sacrifice any of them. There is no way on earth Gavin could’ve stabbed MC in the heart. Nothing could have ever convinced him that there wasn’t any other way. On a side note, I also don’t think killing her was really the only way and maybe not taking Gavin into consideration was Victor’s flaw in his plan. 

Did MC really had to die? What would’ve happened if after MC and BQs union, MC’s mind has prevailed and both of them stayed in the same body? Thus melting two timelines together? If Gavin was there, then I think that would’ve been the case and I also think that the BQ also knew that. Which is why she deliberately avoided Gavin because he was her weak spot. Gavin would have never killed any of them. It wouldn’t have mattered to him what words had came out of BQs mouth. For him she still would’ve been “his girl”. Plus, Gavin is a person, who has faith in the good heart in everyone. Therefore his choice of action would be to fight for the MC in BQs heart. Remember, these two young women are the one and the same person with different experiences from different timelines.

In CH 18 the BQ even goes to the lengths of using Gavin to lure MC to her side:

It is really uncanny how almost everyone constantly use Gavin and MC against each other. Even the BQ shows Gavin annihilating Perry to convince MC to merge with her. It has happened at least for 6-7 times until now that people use their relationship for their end.

Final battle

In CH 36, when MC and the Black Queen have one last battle did you realize that every single LI is present except for Gavin? Kiro/Helios is there and bravely takes her on directly, Lucien is present with MC, Victor joins the group and even turns back time to allow MC to recuperate. What does Gavin do during this you may ask? He is trying to control the situation in the city as Commander of STF. Again, Gavin and Black Queen don't meet, because Gavin has the duty of saving the world from the other end and ensure the safety of Loveland citizens.

To sum this analysis up, I think there was a purpose for PG keeping Gavin and the Black Queen separate in S1, because Gavin would be the greatest threat to her existence. We see at the end that it was MCs persuasion that has led to BlackQueen leaving voluntarily. At the end she's also decided to believe in her and in the power of love (as cliché as it sounds). So in my opinion, Gavin could've persuaded her way way earlier and we couldn't have enjoyed 37 chapters of angst, drama and romance ;) I would still love to watch them interact with each other and see how the whole thing would unfold. Who knows, maybe she makes a comeback in S2 and perhaps their ways collide this time around.

Masterlist

[bard-llama]

Iorveth’s Backstory

I was typing up/compiling my notes on Iorveth’s general backstory in all of my fics, so I figured I’d share. Warning for spoilers, I guess? These things will all definitely appear in fics at some point in a variety of ways

Childhood

Born 100 years before the Conjunction

He spent the first part of his life the baby of a family where everyone was busily involved and invested in their science specialty. Thus, no one particularly had any time for him and he grew up very lonely

Discovered music when he was around 15 (human equivalent: 8-9) and he wasn’t great at it, but he practiced and practiced and practiced, SUPER hyperfixated on it. And his skill grew a lot faster than his companions in music classes and eventually he was launched into a bit of a “prodigy” career.

Adult Life (Pre-Conjunction of the Spheres)

Probably around the 16-21 range, Iorveth started to gain a following as an up and coming talented musician. Then he met Chandel.

Chandel is kind of a has-been musician clinging to Iorveth’s coattails. He is loud and flamboyant and outrageous and loves to cause a scandal. He’s also the one who taught Iorveth to embrace his inner drama queen an go all in on the costuming. 

One thing Chandel pressured him to get was piercings. Specifically belly button (acceptable) and nipple (unacceptable) piercings.

i do think he's come to like them and when he was still famous but broken up with the asshole, he liked to just barely expose them 'cause it made him unique and scandalous

Laurel leaves – one of his first pieces of jewelry. The leaves are decorated with tiny little emerald and citrine chips making the leaves yellow and green. He takes meticulous care of it as it’s the only real reminder he has that his family wasn’t all awful. After all, it had been their money that bought his fancy jewelry.

He understands how Roche has fallen prey to Foltest. Also understands what it’s like for their abuser to die before they really reconciled their feelings about it

Conjunction of the Spheres

When the Conjunction of the Spheres happens, he’s 100 years old and has been with Chandel for most of that time. The situation is extremely hectic with portals opening and closing everywhere and Iorveth is running, towing Chandel along – and then a portal opens halfway up Chandel’s arm and suddenly Iorveth is left holding a hand and forearm with no body attached. 

Obviously this is severely traumatizing, but it also means he never gets resolution as he starts to realize that some of the ways he’d been treated were not okay.

Life as a Musician Post-Humanity

From about age 40 or so to 1100, he spent his life as a traveling musician, touring around concert halls and venues and living the high life (ish). The high life rapidly declined after humanity started their conquest, but Iorveth was content to live beside humans as long as he could make music.

During this time, Iorveth “lived” in Loc Muinne, but really traveled a majority of the time.

He also met Cedric somewhere in this time and Cedric introduced him to monsterfucking (more or less, barring 1 nekker gangbang). Iorveth was 100% a slut on the road and sought out monsters to fuck. If they could pass the Harkness Test, he wanted them to fuck him and/or to be able to fuck them.

Loc Muinne

(sometime around 1050s?) Then General Raupernack of Redania massacred Loc Muinne, slaughtering all the elves in the city, most of them in their sleep. Then Redania set fire to it and cordoned off access to Loc Muinne. They refused to let any elves inside to search for relatives or lay dead elves to rest or discover if anything of their life remained.

Iorveth had been performing in Novigrad (and chilling with his new buddy Elihal) when the massacre happened. The only thing to survive, once he was finally able to sneak into the city, was the stuffed dragon Triss gives him in the time travel AU for DCfMT. Fortunately, that’s not all he has from his life before, as he’d taken some things with him. But he lost a lot.

Fighting Humanity

In the 1060s, Aelirenn starts inspiring a following. Iorveth joins her ranks and she teaches him how to wield war fans. He’s still a traveling musician at this point, but he’s also kind of a spy.

In his first battle, Iorveth flees cowardly. For a long while, he struggles with wanting and trying to fight and kill humans and failing to gather the nerve.

Something hits the breaking point and Iorveth makes his first human kill.

After that, Iorveth begins to fight humans truly and joins various uprisings and fighting forces until the Vrihedd Brigade is formed (1267). 

In 1269, 55 Vrihedd Brigade officers are executed as part of the Peace of Cintra agreement. Iorveth and Isengrim somehow manage to escape the fate that befell their companions.

The remnants of the Vrihedd Brigade formed the Scoia’tael and Iorveth quickly rose to prominence as an effective and ruthless leader.

Too ruthless, eventually. 

Cedric decides that Iorveth has gone too far and cuts him out of his life entirely, throwing away their centuries long friendship. This is the moment Iorveth realizes he is unlovable.

The Blue Stripes are formed, one of a dozen other special forces groups created by the northern kings to fight the Scoia’tael. Only all the others fall to Iorveth easily. Vernon Roche and the Blue Stripes refuse to do so.

And that brings us to Witcher 2! Obviously some of these details vary if the universe calls for it, but for the most part, this is the backstory I picture for Iorveth in all my fics.