#i am so strong. bc i could be so so so mean so very often. but i have a little bit of self restraint so i wont

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

i would never survive tiktok i get WAY too annoyed when people are annoying in my notes on here

[onyourowndaisymae]

obey me characters hands hcs (demon brothers, dateables, + side characters)

college has whooped my ass but your girl has officially graduated with two degrees!! finally!! hopefully i will be able to get out more writing soon. i think i am also going to tweak my request rules in the coming days to make writing easier on myself and my schedule, so expect that soon. anyways enjoy these random headcanons that came to mind one night out of nowhere

content warnings: none

Lucifer

lucifer is usually wearing gloves, so you rarely get to see or feel his hands. so when you do, it's a treat.

his hands are cold, but not unbearably so. they perpetually feel like he's been out in the cold just a few minutes too long. when he touches your bare skin, it makes you jump-- but keep them close for a few minutes and you'll chase the cold away completely.

his hands are soft. probably not super surprising considering he's always wearing gloves, but it's still pleasant.

he's got big ass, strong hands. they may be soft, but that doesn't mean they're weak. lucifer is the type of person that could open a jar for you with such ease that he'd almost look disappointed in your weak little human arms. if he's in a good mood, he might tease you about it.

he's pretty pale, so you can see the color of his veins under his skin. he's also got just a few prominent veins-- nothing excessive, but just enough to hit that sweet spot between too much and not enough.

his nails are always pristine. he's the avatar of pride. do you think he'd willingly walk around with chipped nail polish? if something somehow happens, they will be redone by the next day, almost like they'd never chipped in the first place. either he'll call asmo over to fix them, or fix them himself, depending on how much time he has.

Mammon

mammon has pleasantly warm hands. sometimes they get a little sweaty, but it's not much of a problem honestly. he's like a nice little heating pack on a winter day. because his hands are warm, though, yours usually feel cold to him... and he will complain. it's mammon.

his hands are also pretty soft. gotta look nice, y'know? i can see him keeping lotion (and chapstick-- not relevant here but it's worth a mention regardless) on his person pretty often. this came about bc he got tired of the lotion he borrowed from asmo smelling all perfume-y getting him odd looks.

this man is always wearing at least one ring and you cannot convince me otherwise. i can see him wearing a lot of matching gold ring sets. they just look like they belong on him, y'know?

i think he's got a few subtle veins across his hands. he knows that people like that, so i think he's pretty proud of his hands. he even takes care to avoid chipping or otherwise messing up his nails so the whole look will stay cohesive.

Leviathan

oh you know this man's hands are clammy as fuck. sorry bud. facts are facts.

he's blessed with very pretty hands. his nails just grow in a pretty shape (and asmo makes sure to keep them that way), his fingers are slender and proportional, his hands are a normal size, and his skin stays pretty moisturized, even in harsh weather. he doesn't have to try. which is good, because we all know he wouldn't.

i think levi actually hates the feeling of rings and hand jewelry. he'd fidget with it too much and eventually become so aware of it that he'd need to take it off before he goes crazy. if he gets married and wears a traditional wedding ring, it would have to fit perfectly and be very comfortable for him to eventually get used to it.

levi picks at the pads of his fingers a lot when he's anxious, but he's not super prone to scaring there, so it isn't super noticeable. he'll go through bursts of trying to break this habit where he covers his poor hands in vaseline, but nothing even quite breaks him of it.

Satan

satan has hands crafted by god specifically to play piano and look nice holding books. look at him. there's no way he'd have ugly hands. they're soft and pretty, but i think he has to put more effort than expected into maintaining them.

he's another one that i think would be anti-ring for much of the same reason as levi. i think it would just feel odd on his fingers and he'd get irritated by their presence. he's okay wearing bracelets though.

his hands, slender and pretty as they remain, are also quite strong. he's the avatar of wrath, after all. he's probably the second or third best to go to when you need a tough jar opened.

his nails and cuticles always look presentable, but i think he finds grooming them unpleasant. he lets asmo do it for him-- the younger one's chattering distracts him from the irritating feeling of pushed back cuticles and trimmed hangnails. his hands aren't naturally soft, either, but asmo has developed a routine for him so they stay nice with a bit of regular (secret) effort. satan's all about seeming effortlessly perfect, after all, and his hands are no exception.

Asmo

softest hands in the entire cast. simeon and mephistopheles are good competitors, but this is not a battle he will lose.

his nails are always perfectly manicured and soft. he's got a million different lotions scatter across his room, the HoL, RAD, etc., all to make sure he never encounters even a hint of dry skin. he's got emergency nail polish, too, just incase a nail were to chip while he's out and about.

asmo reaches a lot for daintier, tasteful jewelry. think small rings, delicate bracelets, pretty gemstones, the works. he's very particular about matching the jewelry both to his outfit AND his nails.

he doesn't have any visible veins, so his hands seem inhumanly perfect at times. he likes this. compliment his hands and he'll swoon-- not that he cares more about them than the rest of his body, but because it shows you notice the smaller details he puts effort into, and he appreciates it.

Beel

big boy's got big ass hands. even if you're grown yourself, putting your palms against his will make you feel like a kid again. he could palm a basketball like shaq.

he's got his fair share of callouses. i think he mostly leaves them alone because they serve the purpose of improving his grip, which is nice for the gym or fangol. asmo probably gets on him for it, but beel doesn't care enough to do something about it. i can also see him having quite a few prominent veins on both hands.

his hands fluctuate in temperature a LOT. it's pretty unpredictable, too. you can touch his hand and find it scorching hot, then touch it again ten minutes later to find it eerily lukewarm. nobody knows why this happens.

beel has to be very conscious of his hygiene, or his hands will get really dirty in a matter of minutes. he's constantly eating and touching things, so he needs to either be careful or have a napkin on hand. i think lucifer carries hand sanitizer for this exact reason (although he won't admit it).

Belphegor

belphegor's hands are upsettingly lukewarm. it's like touching things or inclimate weather has no effect on him. they're always lazily warm, like a glass of water sitting out in the sun.

his hands stay soft mainly because he doesn't do much with them. he is, however, prone to hangnails. he's lazily bite them off and accidentally cause more in the process-- not that he particularly cares.

he leaves nail and hand maintenance in asmo's hands. he'll let the fifth born do anything to them so long as he gets to sleep through it.

not anti-jewelry/rings per se, but doesn't care enough about it to a) put any on, or b) make sure he doesn't lose whatever he's wearing that day. if it somehow falls off, the most you're getting from him is a quick look around, unless the piece was really meaningful and/or borrowed.

Diavolo

is anyone surprised to hear that diavolo has massive, strong hands? no? didn't think so.

he's got really thick fingers, too. you feel like a toddler comparing hand sizes with him. he's just a mountain of a man.

his hands are always hot but never sweaty. it's comforting most of the times, but if you're already hot his touch is like fire. dawg. don't touch me. i'm sweating. his entire body is like this, too.

his nails are always very particularly manicured (it's an image thing) and fairly soft. he cares enough to use lotion but not enough to carry it. he's not one to be super vain in that regard.

there's a tasteful amount of veinage on this prince's hands. enough to be attractive, but not enough to make him seen overworked or to age him.

Barbatos

definitively the coldest fucking hands in the entire cast. barbatos' hands are cold enough to wake the dead with just a touch.

his hands are always covered by gloves as well, so they're not as rough as you'd expect. still, though, the butler is always keeping his hands busy, so i imagine there are still some minor calluses across his hands. nothing enough to be super noticable, but still there.

he's got long, slender fingers. very regal. his hands themselves are average sized. compared to someone like diavolo, though, they're dainty.

his hands are also very pale, but for some reason you can't spot a single vein. it's odd. you can see the tendons and bones shift when he moves so you know his hands are built like normal... but something about the veins just seems so odd. mammon tricked luke into thinking barbatos doesn't have any blood, so that's why no one can see his veins. this is wrong, but luke is too polite to ask about it. (the real explanation is that, although he's pale, he's got pretty thick skin-- demon perks-- so you don't really see much below it).

Simeon

simeon's hands are pleasantly warm at all times. you can feel the heat through his gloves. it's just a very comforting thing-- he'll hold your hand anytime you ask, so don't be afraid to ask if you're a little chilly or in need of some reassurance.

when he takes the gloves off, his hands are silky smooth. did you expect anything different? i can see him being very methodical abut hygiene in general, and in this case i think he's always using a nice lotion on his hands before he puts his gloves on for the day. when they come off, his hands are soft and sweet-smelling-- like cocoa butter and vanilla.

he doesn't paint his nails or anything, but they always look very nice. his liberal use of lotion pairs well with his other grooming habits. his cuticles are never overgrown, his nails are always short and uniform, and his nail beds are healthy and clear. it's minor, but it just adds to the overwhelming perfection that simeon exudes.

Solomon

solomon's hands are somehow both clammy AND cold. pick a struggle, peepaw.

on the plus side, his hands are soft. even in the winter, solomon never has to worry about rough knuckles or dry skin. which is good, because you cannot convince me that this man would remember to regularly apply lotion. he's a menace.

his hands are pale, like the rest of them, but also more veiny than i think most would anticipate. he's got one prominent one heading to his ring finger, and the rest are a bit smaller but still noticeable. his pale skin allows you to see the blue of his veins underneath. they're interesting to just stare at at watch move when he flexes his fingers.

i can see him wearing a ring or two on occasion. i don't think he'd care a whole lot about the aesthetics, but i think he'd put in enough effort to wear gold when his outfit has gold and switch to silver when wearing outfits with silver in them. it's a small thing, but it lets your know he's putting in at least a little thought.

Luke

luke has got such little, cute hands. his fingers are small and a little stubby, just like his nails. his nails also grow slowly, too, so he doesn't have to do much to keep them presentable.

unfortunately, they're often a little sticky. he bakes a lot, and while he's not usually dirty or messy, he's still young and somehow just attracts stickiness like any other child. it's especially bad when he uses honey in his recipes-- his hands are perpetually sticky for like two or three days after, no matter how often he washes his hands.

luke is a nervous little child, and for that i could see him being someone that picks at his cuticles. simeon gently discourages this habit, but at the end of the day he can't do much but make sure they heal properly.

BONUS:

Thirteen

she gives barbatos a run for his money in the cold hand competition. her fingers are ice. unlike barbatos, she will use this to her advantage. you'll find her frigid fingers on the back of your neck or under the hem of your shirt when you least expect it. she doesn't have any reason to do this. she just thinks it's funny.

her hands are a little dry, mainly around the knuckles. she strikes me as someone that constantly rubs her dry hands together and bitches about needing lotion, while simultaneously never remembering her own. she probably bums a dab of lotion off of someone ever day (i'm thinking asmo).

her nails are always really nice. they're just naturally shaped really well, round at the top and pretty straight. they're strong and don't break easy, which is good, because a hangnail can throw off her concentration for an entire afternoon.

Raphael

like belphegor, raphael's hands are an upsetting temperature-- no matter how warm or cold your hands are, his feel lukewarm against yours. it should literally be impossible, but then again, a lot of things you've encountered in the devildom should be impossible.

he's got some calluses. they're pretty interesting, honestly-- if he was a human, he'd have the bumpy, dry hands of a weathered veteran or lonely woodworker, all rough skin and long years embedded into his flesh. but he's an angel. the calluses on his hands are small and fairly easy to miss if you don't touch him. but run your hand along the ridges of his fingers or the fatty parts of his palms and you'll find them just fine.

raphael has really pretty nail beds. something about the way they look is just so clean and nice. he never has overgrown cuticles or anything, either. just really nice hands for a man that does not spare a single thought to the way they look.

Mephistopheles

this man has hands like butter. they're just so soft and luxurious. you think they'd be a bit more rugged seeing as he's a rich boy with a penchant for horseback riding, but no. i can see him being very anal about his hands. they're always soft with not a callous or imperfection in sight.

speaking of perfect, this motherfucker has amazing nails. they're just a tad longer than you'd expect to be traditionally "masculine", but that just enhances how slender and pretty his fingers look. no wonder he's always pointing and gesturing so dramatically-- he's gotta show off all that hard work!

pretty boy here just has really nice, strong hands. not really veiny, but very smooth and even. his palms are a bit lighter than his skintone, naturally, but across the board there's no discoloration or scarring to be seen. you can tell he's a noble just by looking at his hands.

he's usually in those gloves but, if not, i could see him being a rings kinda guy. only tasteful ones, though, and in moderation. not like mammon.

[melodic-haze]

Could you maybe do nsfw hcs for Jinhsi?

☆ — DEMO TRACK: sub!Jinhsi x dom!Reader

☆ — TYPE: NSFW

☆ — CONTENT WARNINGS: bondage and use of toys

☆ — NOTES: it's 1 am and I should be sleeping bc I'm fucking off to London tomorrow early morning. Oh well LOL

☆ — PARTS: Part 1, Part 2 (you are here)

So we witnessed the part 1 right? Day mode Jinhsi content? If not and you came straight for this then you're FILTHY❗️❗️❗️❗️❗️ Jokes me too

Anyway she's as sweet in bed as she is in the streets my babyyy 🫶🫶🫶 AND she's also as strong and formidable too. Thoigh tbf cmon you're BASICALLY bedding royalty/royalty-adjacent 🤷‍♀️ like be real

As much as she holds power and authority in her duties with a balanced grip, soft and caring yet firm and watchful, she does like the feeling of letting it go. She isn't a workaholic despite the workload she acc has so she recognises just how nice it is to simply stop thinking. And she puts herself in your hands, so full of trust as if she wasn't superior to you. Though really, in the room you're in? You may as well be equals-- no, you may as well be the one superior to her

I think while she may seem like very vanilla, she's definitely looked into things once or twice to experiment and see what she likes and doesn't like, sort out her preferences and stuff yk. Don't think she's be open about it though, more of a 'need-to-know-but-you-have-to-ask' basis which nobody's ever been.....until you, DUH

Ohhhhh I see her as a toy enthusiast. She doesn't get them out often (and no FUCKING way would she display them or anything) but she does certainly have a collection. She buys them under different names, has trusted couriers deliver it without knowing what's inside and it would be a disgrace upon the Magistrate to take a peek❗️❗️❗️ and just keeps them in a hidden box with different compartments. I just KNOW she'd be extremely knowledgable on them though, like how you're able to use them to gain max pleasure and etc despite not actually using them a lot

I personally don't think she'd have much of a libido!! Might be bc of how swamp she basically is with work, both while she's clocked in AND clocked out, but she's just never had that constant want or need—that kind of thing is at the back of her mind, esp when she has an entire region to manage and protect as its Sentinel's blessed

When she does get the urge to do so though, especially when she's with you, oh it hits STRONG I fear. Maybe it's bc of how pent-up she may be (bc really sometimes toys get to the point where they jsut aren't enough), or maybe it's bc of her being closely linked to said Sentinel ☺️☺️☺️

By THIS I mean with the whole sharing powers thing, there's no way some of its draconic traits haven't affected her in a certain way. SHE SPROUTS HORNS FOR GOD'S SAKE

Maybe that was mean of you, leaving her all alone for a little while in the dark while the vibrator inside her pussy operated as it should.

Really, you were just having way too much fun with her collection and you just wanted ti grab a few more.. at least, before you got distracted with one thing or another.

Now that you're back, though, you can't say you regret being distracted; the overall look that you lover was currently sporting, all bound and oh so wet as flickers of the power you both fear and respect make themselves known by having her—or rather, Jue's—horns manifest on her head from the overwhelming feeling of wanting to let go. But she can't, not when you've yet to give her the command to do so.

"For a leader, you obey me so easily, even when I'm not even there," you notice. "This whole time, you're just really eager to please, aren't you, dear Magistrate?"

Of course she couldn't answer verbally, you hadn't told her to speak, but she nods her head desperately as she trembled and that was good enough for you.

You see her eyes tracking you as you came closer, her irises quite literally glowing a celestial gold from the need of release. The closer you got, the more you see her struggling with her bonds to reach you... And failing miserably, much to her credit considering how you knew she could tear through them if she really wanted.

When you finally, finally get close enough, your hand goes over the dildo vibrator inside her, yet you don't grip it. Instead, you simply graze your hand on the toy's handle, perhaps even knocking it slightly sideways for a little extra motion, to which she lurched so delightfully—unbefitting of a government official like her, of course, but certainly befitting for your beloved in the bedroom.

"Do you want to cum, babe?"

She nods.

"How badly do you want to cum?"

No answer.

"Speak."

And all at once, her thoughts burst forth, the blatancy still unfamiliar to you to this day yet it still isn't any less satisfying to experience such a strong, independent soul to fall like this.

"I-- I need you so very badly, please..! I can't.. I don't-- I don' think I can h-hold it any longer--"

"Bold of you to decide what your limits are by yourself." You raised your eyebrow, "You wanted me to take the lead, the least you could do is—" and you turn the vibrator off, "—follow it. Stop thinking, there is no place for you to do so here."

All she lets out is a desperate whimper—she doesn't dare to upset you any further.

..And that has you turning it back on again, though you put it at a relatively low setting for her, keeping in mind that her draconic-esque endurance would need more than the average to break your beloved completely, as per her request.

She wanted true bliss, right? She wanted you to ravage her completely and take control of her in the way nobody else has managed or dared to?

If Jinhsi wanted it all, then she had to let herself go completely first.

Anyway ab her horns, touching the base of them would set her the FUCK off 🥰🥰 no, not the horn itself. Apologies have to be made right here right now but I believe in horn technicality which means horn sensitivity is not a thing, ESPECIALLY when it's her type which only really appear when she's channelling her abilities. The ROOT of it however would be a different matter, so massaging her head would basically K.O. her self-restraint

But that's fine, you'll make sure it happens.. no matter how long it'd take and how loud she ends up becoming.

Along with that, she probably has INSANE durability and stamina let's be so real. Each time you do anything remotely harsh on her, her tacet mark flickers for a brief second and it's like you're simultaneously striking soft skin and scales at the same time. She can ALSO go for a VERY long time, so edging her? Is REALLY fun when you wanna test exactly how much shr can take befkre she breaks and starts begging for you to help her get off 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[lavend-ler]

tips on how to write cane user Neuvillette from a crutch user

Neuvillette uses a cane - and that's amazing! but increasingly I got worried that the portrayal of him being a cane user could be based on harmful stereotypes. hence I wanted to make a list on tips I can give as an irl crutch user

DISCLAIMER - this is in no way exhaustive list and I am no end all be all authority on this. I'm just a disabled person in fandom who is tired of ableism. of course this list can be used for other disabled characters but I esp wanna focus on Neuvillette (cause I love him)

Neuvillette is an occasional cane user (just like me) and that's totally fine. he doesn't have to use it all the time to be "disabled enough". he probably uses it during the days he feels worse

he holds cane in his right hand - that means it's his left leg which needs support (again, just like mine!)

a lot of disabled ppl are prone to the changes in the weather. I think it'd be interesting to keep in mind esp in Neuvillette's case

as long as we don't have the canon confirmation on what is Neuvillette's disability, all hcs are fair game. personally bc I relate to him I hc him with my own disability - arthritis

don't be afraid to portray him using his cane in combat. mobility aids are often used by disabled ppl not only as a support in walking but also in every day things. for example, he could be pushing buttons with it or helping himself while walking the stairs

bend the ableist stereotypes - make him use his cane and be badass with it. esp since he proudly uses it during his burst

canes make ppl more visible. don't fall into ableism and make characters only care abt Neuvillette when they notice him using the cane. if u choose to do so, make Neuvillette remark back, noticing how ppl treat him differently and unfairly

do not make jokes abt his cane. I have already seen ppl make jokes that he's an old man who needs to use the cane. it's disrespectful and unnecessary. don't bring up him being a cane user only when u talk how he's old

canes are very personal. even if others offer help or to hold it, Neuvillette would be against it

on that note DO NOT MAKE OTHERS CHARACTERS TAKE HIS CANE esp if u want to treat this as silly fun or even worse, romantic. Neuvillette's cane is his business and any character taking his cane from him would be extremally disrespectful

Neuvillette might have to take breaks between longer strolls to sit down and regenerate. again, sth that happens to me a lot

tho every character in Genshin has to be quite active, remember to portray Neuvillette to be relaxing too! he can be badass, active and strong and that won't make him any less when he's relaxing. I absolutely suggest u portray how he relaxes after the day and how he takes care of himself. maybe a calming tea or some ice packs - those are definitely great options for chief justice to relax and ease his aches after an eventful day

HERE is another post that focuses on more on experiences of mobility aid users. I find it very relatable and useful, it's a fantastic further read

hope these will be helpful for u! ablebodies please don't derail. other mobility aid users, feel free to add more things to the list <3

[bella-rose29]

Bank Holiday ~ a DTH Special

the Schmoopies are back!

only a little one this time bc I actually couldn't think of much to write oops, I just knew I wanted to see my Schmoopies again

word count: 894 words

warnings: like... two? swears? and the ending is kinda meh bc I couldn't figure out how to write it edit: also unedited so any mistakes are purely at the fault of that whoops

(the picture is related I swear)

Anthony Lockwood was confused. 

He was often confused, so that didn’t mean much, but he rarely told people that he didn’t understand what was happening. 

Unfortunately his girlfriend could read him like a huge sign in neon lights and block letters on the side of the Fittes building, and within about five seconds of him walking into the kitchen she was asking him what was wrong. “You look confused, Schmoopie. What’s up?” She popped the ‘p’ at the end, perfectly in sync with the teabags she was holding being put into the mugs lined up on the counter.

Anthony cast a glance around the kitchen before leaning in and whispering “Why is Lucy still in her pyjamas?”

“Anthony, we’re the only ones in the kitchen. Why are you whispering, dumbass?”

���I don’t know,” he replied, sighing and leaning back against the nearest chair. “Why is Lucy still in her pyjamas? And where are you going?” Y/n had pulled her boots on while he’d been talking, and now she was heading for the hallway. He followed after her, partly closing the kitchen door behind him. 

“Oh, the tea was for you three. I’m just heading out for tea with my mum and Will; they’ve come down for the weekend but we were busy before now. Can you get my coat down please?” Anthony obliged, reaching for a jumper at the same time. When she looked at him in question, he shrugged. 

“It’ll be cold out. The wind is still pretty strong and you haven’t got a jumper.” He tugged it over her head, laughing when her head poked through the top with her hair all messed up. 

“Why are you giving me your jumper? I’m pretty sure I’ve got one hanging around here.”

“I’m so offended right now,” he said, shaking his head and staggering back. Y/n snorted. “You mean you don’t want to wear the jumper that your loving boyfriend just helped you put on? That I am sacrificing for you?!”

“Shut up,” she laughed, pushing at his chest when he came back towards her and snuck his arms around her waist. 

“Anything for you,” he grinned. Somebody behind him groaned, and when Anthony turned his head he caught sight of George at the bottom of the stairs. 

“Can you please go one day without being all lovey-dovey with each other? I would rather not throw up today.” He slumped down the final step, scratching at his side and making his shirt ride up to expose his very trouser-less legs. Disappearing into the kitchen, Anthony frowned after his friend. 

Why was nobody ready for work other than him? And how come Holly wasn’t here yet? He supposed they could make do without Y/n (although he would much rather that she stayed home with him all day), but did nobody seem to understand that they were a company who worked every day of the week?! “…Anthony? You alright?”

“Why is no one dressed?!” He lifted his arms to gesture wildly in the air. “It’s ten in the morning and George has only just come downstairs, Holly isn’t here, Lucy’s in her pyjamas still - am I missing something?” He huffed in frustration, arms flopping back to his sides. They were a prestigious company, and nobody would believe that if they saw George in his half-dressed state with jam on his shirt.

“Ant, you do know… that it’s a bank holiday today, right?” Y/n was trying not to laugh, but a faint smile was playing on her lips. 

“What?”

“It’s the anniversary of Fittes and Rotwell finishing their first successful case? Government declared it a public holiday a few years ago? And you decided not long after that we would have the holiday off every year? Is this ringing any bells?” Her smile had grown now, and Anthony felt his cheeks grow warm from embarrassment. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Well, thank you for the jumper, Schmoopie!” She was far too cheery about this, and Anthony pursed his lips in response. 

“Piss off,” he grumbled, not really meaning it. She knew he was stewing like his tea currently was (ah, he should go and sort his tea out), so she pressed a small kiss to the end of his nose and turned for the front door. Anthony reached out, grabbing her hand and pulling her back in. “You missed,” he said, planting a kiss on her mouth. 

“Better?”

“Better. Say hi to your Mum and Will for me.”

“I will. Enjoy your day off, Ant.” She stepped out of his embrace and unlocked the front door, blowing him a last kiss before she was gone. 

“Stupid bank holidays. Why didn’t we put that in the calendar?” He shuffled back towards the kitchen for his tea just in time for George to appear with the calendar in his hands, showing off a very large red circle around today’s date and the words ‘DAY OFF’ in the middle. 

“Idiot,” said George, shoving the calendar at his friend. “Your tea’s looking a bit stewed, by the way. Oh, and we ran out of pulpy orange juice.” He didn’t seem too bothered about the fact that he’d just ruined Anthony’s morning by announcing there was no juice left, and he schlepped back up the stairs with a tea mug in one hand and a plate of toast in the other. 

tag list:

@strawberryloveyyy, @chameleon021, @genderfluid-anime-goth, @cottagecore-babe, @anthonylockwoodandco111, @a-taken-url, @ahead-fullofdreams, @aislinrayne, @anathemaloren, @anthgoldenhrry, @augustisintheair, @aysha4life, @briar-rose23, @curseofhecate, @dangelnleif, @edible-rat-vomit, @el-de-phi, @ell0ra-br3kk3r, @ettadear, @fearlessmoony, @fudosl, @idkbubs, @imaginebeingmentallystable, @informedimagining, @karensirkobabes, @lady-ashfade, @light-23, @locklyebrainrot, @locklyle1kanij, @locknco, @magicandrosewaters, @mentallyillsodapop, @mischivana, @mitskiswift99, @mrsklockwood, @mrsyixingunicorn10, @newbooksmell777, @no-morning-glories, @novelizt, @phlooper, @ran23sblog, @reggiepeterss, @simrah1012, @somethingrandomwatzit, @star-of-velaris, @superpositvecloudshipper, @t2sh0, @taygrls, @tournesol77, @whistle1whistle, @whenselenefallsinlove, @wordsarelife, @y0urm0m12, @zoom1374, @asyouwish-fromcabin3, @rhysand-devorak, @a-candle-maker, @h0lyheck, @apple-bottom-jeans6, @icantwaittoliveandlearn, @moonlitcanvas, @cielooci, @35-portlandxrow, @laumire

@neewtmas, @bobbys-not-that-small, @avdiobliss, @demigoddess-of-ghosts, @maraschinomerry, @lewkwoodnco, @uku-lelevillain, @oblivious-idiot

as always, if there is anybody who wants to be added to my lockwood tag list, then please go here!

[bartletslesbians]

Doing nsfw analysis of the west wing instead of serious work but !! I am once again thinking about it being this canon character trait that CJ, when confronted with heavy emotions or loss, has sex with someone to avoid feeling that. And that's so messy, and not totally healthy, but I honestly love it as a character choice.

It happens twice, and that’s not that often, but for a show where sex is rarely talked about and not often even heavily implied, I think it's plenty.

First in "The Long Goodbye" we see her and the guy from highschool. This is especially interesting because they barely know each other; they know names and highschool personalites (sidenote, CJ being known as the saddest girl in dayton? Tragedy), but she didn't even know he'd gone to jail.

They leave for the reunion, but just before leaving her dad holds up a picture of CJ as a kid and declares he doesn't know who that child is. Obviously this hurts her, and instead of going to the reunion, she and highschool guy go back home and have sex until she really can't postpone heading to the reunion anymore.

There's no strong connection there, she didn't seem particularly interested in sleeping with him from the get go, or even really at all until the very moment they're in the parkinglot and she can’t bring herself to go inside the school after what just happened.

And that's one thing. Could be an error of judgement. The Long Goodbye is after all written by a guest writer, invited and checked by Aaron Sorkin ofc, but not an official longterm writer on the show. You can, if you want, decide it's not canon, I guess. I don't, but you could.

But she does it again!

In "Requiem", the day of Leo's funeral, Danny and CJ talk in her office. We find out that they've been having plenty of sex, but haven't talked a bit. But Danny specifically says that started last wednesday. That on Wednesday, she came over and refused to talk to him, just came for sex. (Presumably, given we don't hear anything else about their relationship between their dinners and this episode, it's the first time ever they've had sex. That wednesday.)

Now, this is the day of Leo's funeral. Realistically, imo, it's not been more than a week since he died. Leo died on election night, either late that night or very early in the morning. US elections are always held on a tuesday. Leo either died late tuesday evening, or early wednesday morning.

That same wednesday (again, bc the funeral wouldn't be that much later), she shows up on Danny's doorstep after previously having told him that nothing would happen before the inauguration. She shows up just to have sex, no talking, and it's within 24 hours of Leo's death.

And I just find that such an interesting character decision. (And as an aside I think it also explains some of her hesitation around really committing to Danny so quickly). I know it's only two times, but it's interesting that in both situations where she's losing or at risk of losing someone, when her emotions are all over the place and she's really upset, she just finds someone and has sex with them as some means of not feeling that emotion anymore. Would honestly love to see (or use) it in fic more bc??

[skiller0dani]

Secrets | Sebastian Sallow

M A S T E R L I S T Other Masterlist Harry Potter Masterlist

smut | shy!hufflepuff!reader requests info w.c | 7.3k summary | You had a crush on Garreth before you started dating Sebastian, and neither of them can stand the other. Garreth can't accept the fact that you're in love with Sebastian, and Sebastian can't stand the fact that Garreth won't let you go.

Am working on requests now, keep an eye out for them! :) I know I posted this photo recently but Sebastian looks so enamored in this photo, I'm obsessed. You aren't the MC from Hogwarts Legacy in this, and I'll most likely refer to the MC as 'MC' lol

As I'm writing this, I realized this could easily become another mini-series lmao, all of my ideas are so elaborate.

Also just bc I forgot to mention this earlier, I would happily write for Garreth Weasley as well! He's featured pretty heavily in this piece.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

You were never one for danger, never one to put yourself unnecessarily in harms way. You don't like dangerous activities and much preferred to keep your head down so you could focus on your studies. You spent 5 Years at Hogwarts doing just that- being a good student and mastering your spells to pass your O.W.L's. You had always know of Sebastian through your friend Ominis, but never spent much time with him until the end of 5th Year. You're not quite sure what had happened during 5th Year with that new student, but you knew that Sebastian suddenly found himself all alone. Abandoned by Ominis- who was quite cross with him, and that new 5th Year you knew nothing about. You pitied him, so you begun to spend time with him. You couldn't stand the thought of him being all alone. Especially with his sister still sick, though you weren't sure with what.

Sebastian very quickly became attached to you, and that attachment turned to possession. He didn't mean to come across as overbearing and possessive, but he couldn't help it. You're gorgeous, easily the most beautiful girl in the entire school. You were kind, the way Hufflepuff's usually were, and you had this magnetic aura. People were drawn to you, you were never seen in the hallways alone. You had a lot of friends, and more than that you got a lot of attention from other guys. It drove Sebastian fucking crazy to see them trail after you, their eyes shamelessly gawking at what was rightfully his. Truthfully, you weren't technically his until halfway through 6th Year but Sebastian knew from the first second he saw you that you were going to be his.

Sebastian didn't mean to scare you away, but at first he did. You were very timid, tended to shy away from conflict. Flinched when someone rose their voice at you, and unfortunately you tended to be a people pleaser. You would often agree to things you weren't particularly comfortable if someone asked you to do it nicely enough. Sebastian worried that people took advantage of your giving heart, and that caused him to come on kind of strong. He's extremely protective, and once again his possessiveness overwhelmed you. Sebastian quickly realized that if he wanted you, he needed to soften up a bit. He kept his heated glares directed at those who wanted to use you, and his loving smiles for only you.

It was easy for you to let Sebastian into your heart, once he stopped being so overbearing. Stopped with his 'who was that guy I saw you with yesterday?' interrogations. He's charming, funny, charismatic, and kindhearted. There was a darkness to him though, you could feel it. A dangerous edge that he tried very hard to keep tucked away, like a wolf trying desperately to fit into sheep's clothing. He didn't want to scare you, and he would never ever hurt you. He'd never use any of the curses on you- though it was tempting to Imperio you and keep you all to himself. He knows though, that you'd never forgive him if he did that. That you'd be scared of him if he did- you made him want to be better.

Sebastian had nobody else, all he had was you. Anne left and didn't bother telling him where she went, Ominis was so angry he avoided Sebastian like the plague. His new friend from 5th Year had sided with Anne and Ominis, so he saw the two of them together a lot. You were the only good thing in his life, the only person who hadn't turned their back on him. Granted- you had no idea what he did 5th Year, if you knew he murdered his Uncle...he doubts you'd still stand by his side. Which is why Sebastian was so possessive, so overbearing, borderline controlling. He was terrified you'd find out, scared Ominis would mention something. That MC would pull you aside and tell you what he'd done. He hardly let you out of his sight. If you didn't love Sebastian so much, you might of had enough sense to be frightened.

Sebastian tried to be a good person, the way you would want him to be. But he let the Dark Arts into his heart, and slowly it was poisoning his soul. He knew it, he could feel it in the way his palms twitched when he saw Leander or Garreth walking with you to the Great Hall, making you laugh and their eyes drifting to where they shouldn't be. If he saw Garreth glance down your shirt again he was going to be itching for blood. Sebastian was never like this before, always more mischievous than dangerous- but he changed after 5th Year. If he could change back he would, but it's too late for that now. All Sebastian wanted to do now was make sure that what was his stayed his.

Garreth had always been a good friend of yours, often having you try out his concoctions he brewed. He never asked for your help making them however, he said he couldn't risk getting you into trouble. He was funny, and you previously had a crush on him before you begun dating Sebastian. As soon as Sebastian came into your life, no other guys mattered anymore. All that mattered was Sebastian, he had you. Mind, body, and soul. Which is why it baffled you that he got jealous so often, why he felt the need to throw an arm over your shoulders and pull you firmly against him if you were with another guy for too long. Doesn't he know that no other guy could steal you away from him? That you're his? That you love him and him alone? There was something he wasn't telling you, something that made him afraid of losing you. You wished he would tell you what it was, but you doubt he ever would. You're pretty sure it has to do with Anne, which is why you haven't pressed him to tell you about it.

You also worried he knew of your previous crush on Garreth, Sebastian has always been more hostile with Garreth than the other guys who normally lingered around you.

"Haven't decided on a name quite yet...but it's just about finished! Want to try it?" Garreth asked you, he caught you walking from Potions to Divination. You weren't actively avoiding Garreth, you honestly missed hanging out with him. You were just worried about Sebastian seeing you.

"I'd love to!" You beamed, taking a sip. The flavor was sweet, but quickly shifted and tasted like...your Mother's chicken dumpling soup.

"It tastes like whatever you're craving! Neat huh?" Garreth smiled, and honestly if Garreth decided to sell these concoctions of his some day...he could make a lot of money.

"That's really cool Garreth! Wait, where did you get the ingredients for this?" You questioned suspiciously, Garreth throwing you a playful smile.

"That's need-to-know information I'm afraid, can't be giving away all my secrets now can I?" He teases, a glint in his eyes you don't recognize.

"You stole from Honeydukes didn't you?" You place your hands on your hips, giving him your best 'disapproving stare'. Garreth always thought you were too cute to take seriously, much to your dismay.

"I didn't steal from Honeydukes. Somebody did, but it definitely wasn't me." Garreth winked at you, and you laughed. You should have been paying more attention to your surroundings because before you can process what's happening you feel an arm over your body. You're yanked firmly against Sebastian's side, his arm pressing you tightly against him. He's grown since 5th Year as well, and you unfortunately haven't grown much at all. You crane your head to look up at him now, which is why the very top of your head barely reaches the bridge of his nose. Garreth however, stands eye-to-eye with Sebastian.

"Weasley, don't you have a potion to blow up elsewhere?" Sebastian snaps, his eyes narrowed. His grip on you is firm, but it doesn't hurt. You can sense tension, and you detest conflict. You try to melt into Sebastian's side, your hand curling around his robes as you turn your face into his shoulder. Sebastian can feel you trying to hide, and it makes pride swell in his chest to know that you're pressing yourself against him and not Garreth.

"Easy there Sallow, you don't want to scare her." Garreth fires back, he's always protested your relationship with Sebastian. He's worried Sebastian is manipulating you, that he's controlling you. You've tried to reassure him that isn't true, that Sebastian just loves you too much to lose you. He's never believed you.

"Who say's I'm the one scaring her?" Sebastian snaps, you can feel the tension rising. Soon enough, there will be a full on duel happening in the hallway. You wished you could speak up, tell them to stop, but you can't seem to find your voice. All you can do is tremble and hold onto Sebastian, he makes you feel safe.

"We were having a fine conversation before you interrupted Sallow, can't tell when you're not needed can you?" Garreth was pushing him on purpose, he can't help it. Doesn't Sebastian know that it was you and Garreth long before you ever even knew Sebastian? Garreth knows you've made your choice, and yes it stings that it wasn't him, but that doesn't mean he has to approve of you you've chosen to give yourself to. Sebastian feel rage flare up in his chest as he takes a step towards Garreth, his arm still firmly around your shoulders. You were his. He would happily fight anybody to prove that.

"P-Please stop..." You whisper, your voice shaking. You weren't scared of either of them but you've always been scared of yelling and fighting. Ever since you had to endure listening to your drunk Father become enraged at a moments notice and start hurling objects at your poor Mother.

"Not needed? Does it look like she doesn't need me?" Sebastian seethes, and Garreth clenches his jaw. You had turned your entire body into Sebastian's side by now. Your face pressing into his shoulder and his arm curling around your back. You just wanted them to stop, you wanted the fighting to stop.

"Seb please, let's just go." You whisper to him, but Sebastian isn't listening. Garreth won't take his eyes off you, and it's starting to piss Sebastian off.

"She sure as hell didn't need you before, she has me. I can take care of her just fine without your help, Sallow." Garreth shrugs casually, sending you another wink. Why won't he stop pushing Sebastian? Why won't Sebastian listen to you and just walk away?

"It's not your job to take care of her, she chose me." Sebastian's eyes were sharp as knives by now. His left fist beginning to curl, and his chest heaving. His jaw was locked, and you could feel his entire body thrumming with adrenaline.

"She chose wrong, and I will spend every second of every day proving that to her. Why do you think she sneaks away to be with me?" Garreth pushes, taking a step forward. Sebastian pulls his arm from you and moves you behind him. Their chests are nearly pushed together as they glare at each other. You do sort of sneak away to hang out with Garreth, but not because you still have feelings for him! Only because you know that this is how Sebastian reacts every single time you're within 10 feet of Garreth.

While Sebastian has never caught you doing anything with Garreth other than talking, he still has a point. You haven't stopped hanging out with Garreth even though Sebastian has practically pleaded you to. Deep down he knows that asking you to drop your closest friend since 1st Year isn't fair, but he knows that Garreth is in love with you. He doubts you know that, but he does. He can see it in the way Garreth looks at you.

"She loves me." Sebastian fires back, though he's trying to convince himself that more than Garreth.

"For now." Garreth says with a sly smile. Your hands are curled around Sebastian's robes, and you're standing close enough to feel the heat of his body. You can see that look in Sebastian's eyes, you can see that he's losing the ability to restrain himself. You don't want to hurt Garreth, but you love Sebastian. You need him to know that because through the anger you can see insecurity, the gnawing fear that Garreth is right.

"I love you Sebastian, can we please go? Please?" Your voice is so small, but this time he actually listens. He releases an angry breath, turning and pulling you against his side once more. Garreth feels anger pulsing through his body, how could you choose Sebastian fucking Sallow over him? He's dangerous, and Garreth is determined to prove that to you.

"Don't forget Sallow, she loved me before she loved you. She still loves me, she just doesn't realize it yet." With that Garreth is slamming the doors leading to the Grand Staircase open, and you flinch at the force. You're trembling and Sebastian feels guilty once the flare of anger has faded.

"Don't worry, everything is alright dove." Sebastian soothes, pulling you against his chest and pressing kisses to your hairline. You feel the fear flow out of you as you nuzzle against his chest. You've never felt safer with another human being...besides Garreth. You try to push him out of your mind, but he's always lingered. But you still love Sebastian, and you will always choose Sebastian.

"I'm sorry." You mumble against his chest, you know how Garreth makes him feel but you don't want to lose your friendship with him. You feel torn.

"It's okay- we're okay sweetheart. I'm not angry with you." He whispers, tilting your chin up to kiss you. It's languid and slow, it makes your insides melt. Your entire body is tingling when he pulls away, a knowing smile on his face. You and Sebastian haven't slept together yet, and the entire idea of it still makes you feel very shy. You're comfortable with Sebastian, and you know you want to. You just don't know how to bring that up with him... or if you're even ready to yet.

"I don't want to be late." You whisper, knowing that Divination is going to start soon.

"Then I shall escort you there with haste, my lady." Sebastian says, using a silly voice to make you laugh.

Garreth knew there was something Sebastian refused to tell you. He knew because you had told him once, that you were scared Sebastian was hiding something bad from you. He probably was, probably hiding something he did. Garreth was determined to find out what it was, you need to know that Sebastian isn't who you think he is. Garreth doesn't want to hurt you, and he doesn't want to do this so he can brag and say he won you from Sebastian. That's not who Garreth is, not why he wants to find the truth. He just wants to keep you safe, and he knows you're not safe if you're with Sallow.

Though, he'd be lying if he said there was no part of him that wanted to look Sebastian in the eyes- knowing he won you back from him.

He doesn't like to think about it, doesn't like to admit it even to himself...but he loves you. He thinks he always has, before he even knew what love is. You love him too, deep down he knows you do. He can see it in the way you look at him. Why else would you continue to see him, despite Sallow being so clearly against it? It's because you can't stay away from Garreth, you can't fight the way you feel. Some might think he's delusional, but there's nobody that knows you better than him. Not Sallow, not anybody. He has to protect you, needs to keep you safe from him.

Which is why Garreth has been following Ominis around, bothering him to open up about Sebastian.

"Garreth." Ominis is annoyed, Garreth can hear it in his voice. Ominis has been infuriatingly tight-lipped about Sebastian which Garreth found odd.

"Are you even friends with Sallow? You haven't spoken to him in a year." Garreth pressed. It was hard for the other 7th Years not to notice the sudden rift between Ominis and Sebastian. They've been attached at the hip since they met in 1st Year, and suddenly Ominis won't go anywhere near him. Something happened. So why is Ominis still protecting him?

"Yes of course I'm friends with Sebastian. Just because I am cross with him, doesn't mean I will be forever." Ominis says, though there is uncertainty in his voice.

"Angry enough to still be angry over a year later?" Garreth wasn't going to let this go easily, Ominis was beginning to discover. Ominis huffed, he had to tell Garreth something or he won't leave him alone until he does.

"Sebastian and I had a fight, he made a mistake. That's all." He said, his voice firm but all he did was add fuel to Garreth's fire. Sallow made a mistake? What kind of mistake?

"What happened?" He pushed, continuing to follow Ominis towards the Slytherin common room.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with." Ominis sighs, Garreth was really starting to get on his nerves.

"Is it about Y/N?" He asked urgently, almost like a Private Investigator would. Ominis paused, he furrowed his brows before he felt his irritation slowly morph into anger.

"Is that what this is about? Ruining Y/N's relationship? Have you nothing better to do?" Ominis snapped with anger that Garreth wasn't anticipating.

"I'm trying to help her Ominis. You know something that Sallow did, I know you do. What I don't get is why you're protecting him if you haven't spoken a word to him in over a year. Does your friendship with Sallow mean more to you than Y/N's safety?" Garreth snapped harshly, a scowl on his face.

"No it doesn't and she isn't in danger. Sebastian would never hurt her, but if you don't stop you will." Ominis fires back angrily, turning and entering his common room after he does. Ominis is wrong, Sallow has this entire school fooled. Garreth should have known better than to try and get Ominis to tell him, he's always been loyal to the twins. Garreth briefly considers trying to find MC, they were close with Sebastian during 5th Year and stopped talking to him around the same time Ominis did. It's worth a shot.

The first thing Ominis does upon entering the common room is find Sebastian. He spends a lot more time in his dorms than he used to, and Ominis can only guess it's because he stopped talking to Sebastian. He feels guilty about cutting Sebastian out, but his use of the Dark Arts drove Ominis away. That and the fact that Sebastian manipulated Ominis into getting what he wanted...the Dark Arts began to change him. You were starting to bring Sebastian back, the boy Ominis met in 1st Year. Sebastian loves you, truly, unconditionally, and if Garreth were to succeed and tell you the truth? Ominis shudders to think of how Sebastian would react, the path he would follow as a result.

Without Anne and you, Sebastian doesn't have much to live for- and he's already lost Anne. Which is why Ominis is entering the 7th Year dorms without so much as a knock, heading straight towards Sebastian's bed.

"I had an interesting conversation with Garreth today you should know about." Ominis says, drawing Sebastian's startled gaze.

"What did he say?" Sebastian's voice is already tense, Ominis can practically feel the frustration rolling off him in waves.

"He knows something happened in 5th Year, he's trying to find out what...so he can tell Y/N." Ominis informs him carefully. Sebastian is worryingly quiet, which concerns Ominis.

"Sebastian?" Ominis tries, and he hears Sebastian stand from his bed. He's begun pacing in front of Ominis, he can hear his heavy breathing getting heavier. He's angry, very angry.

"That fucking snake. Why can't he let us be happy? Why is he determined to take her from me?" Sebastian is seething, Ominis isn't sure he can calm him down.

"You know why." Ominis says factually. He knows why Garreth is doing this, Garreth didn't hide his feelings for you as well as he thought. Even Ominis, who's blind, can understand he's been head over heels for you since he met you.

"Well he can try all he wants, he won't take her from me. I would happily kill him if he even tries. She chose me. He needs to accept that." Sebastian snaps, tugging angrily at his hair. Ominis knows Sebastian didn't really mean it, but it was still disconcerting to hear him say it after what happened with Solomon.

"You know if he finds out what happened, Y/N is never going to speak to you again?" Ominis points out, as if Sebastian hasn't considered that already.

"Yes Ominis I know that." Sebastian snaps, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn't want it to happen like this, but Sebastian needs to make you his. Entirely. He needs to stake his unrivaled clamed upon you, mar it onto your very skin.

He needs all of you.

"Hey." You hear a voice from behind you. His voice is quiet, as Madam Scribner would regularly throw students out of the Library for being too loud. You'd come here to study for your O.W.L's, you know you're going to pass but you like to be well prepared.

"Hello Garreth!" You say happily as he lowers himself into the chair next to you. Sebastian is unlikely to stumble upon the two of you this time, not that you're trying to avoid him. You don't want him to start another fight with Garreth, the two of you aren't doing anything wrong! You're just talking with a friend, you wished Sebastian could understand that. You didn't know how to reassure him that you're his. That you love him and only him, he doesn't have anything to worry about. You chose him, and yet he still worries.

"I'm sorry about the other day...with Sebastian." Garreth says sincerely, and you feel your chest warm. You wave your hand with a smile as you flip your book to the next page.

"Don't worry about it, I'm starting to get used to the fact that you two will always fight." You say, keeping your tone light. You don't want him to know how much it hurts that your boyfriend and best friend don't get along. You wished they did.

"No, you shouldn't have to. I'll do my best to be nicer to him." He promises, though you're not sure you believe him. He's just as hostile towards Sebastian as Sebastian is towards him. 'She still loves me, she just doesn't realize it yet.' His words from earlier flash in your mind, replaying over and over despite you trying to push them away. By now Garreth has brought out his potions notebooks. Not anything from class, his notebooks are leather-bound and usually full of ideas for other things he can make. You love how creative he is, and that he's smart enough to make all these potions. He makes them blow up a few times before they're finished but he never quits until he finishes the potion. You admire that.

"Gar? Can I ask you something." You ask, nervously chewing on your lip. Garreth lifts his head, his expression softening once he notices the anxiety on your face.

"Of course, are you alright?" He worries, making your skin feel tingly with the way he looks at you. You turn your head to refocus on your book.

"When you fought with Sebastian...there was something you said that I don't understand." You started, and Garreth felt his palms get all clammy. He hoped this wasn't going where he thought it was going. He didn't think about what he was saying during the fight, just said what came to him naturally.

Garreth waited for you to continue, but your face was fear-stricken and you began to nervously pick at your thumb.

"Y/N, you can say anything to me. I promise." He reassures you gently, giving you time to feel comfortable saying it on your own. You were easy to scare off when you got in your head like this, he knew he needed to tread carefully and be gentle with you.

"You said that I love you...that I just haven't realized it yet. What did you mean by that?" You whisper the words quietly. You're afraid to look up at him, you don't want him to be angry and you sure as hell don't want to embarrass yourself. Garreth feels like his heart is going to burst out of his chest, this cannot be happening. He doesn't want to admit his feelings for you while you're still in love with Sallow.

"I only said that to irritate Sal-Sebastian. I shouldn't have. I know you don't feel that way towards me, I'm sorry." Garreth says, correcting himself. You don't like it when he calls Sebastian 'Sallow'. You think it sounds mean, maybe it's just because of the way Garreth says it. You're not sure how his answer makes you feel.

"Oh."

Garreth tries to fight the smile that threatens to stretch across his face. "If I didn't know better I'd say you sounded disappointed."

"What? N-No of course not. I love Sebastian so you're correct...I was just...wondering." You feel your cheeks color, and you know Garreth can see it too. Your voice was shaking and it made you stumble over your words, what is it about him that makes you feel so nervous?

"Are you sure?" Garreth says, and you swore he wasn't sitting so close just a minute ago. Your heart begins to race.

"Sure a-about what?" Your throat suddenly feels very dry, and its as though the temperature in the room rose 10 degrees. Your entire body feels hot and flushed.

"That you love Sebastian." He says, his voice a tad bit deeper. You turn your head to look at him, and his pupils are blown open. There's a look in his eyes you can't define, it makes you feel like a lamb looking into the eyes of a wolf.

"Yes, of course." You whisper, adrenaline pumping through your veins when he leans forward a little. His eyes staying firmly locked on yours, he can tell you want this. That you want him. He can see the way your eyes have dilated a little, there's curiosity in your gaze. He can feel the tension between you. His lips barely graze against yours before you snap out of it. You feel horrified with yourself as you scramble away from Garreth. You love Sebastian, with all your heart. Why did you let him get so close? What is even going on?

"I-I have to go!" You squeak out, cheeks blood red and pulsing as you quickly pack up your things.

"Y/N-" Garreth tries, but you're standing and stumbling towards the stairs before he has a chance to catch your hand. There are tears streaming down your face as you head to the entrance of the Library as a realization hits you. It makes you sick to your stomach and a fresh wave of tears gush down your cheeks. It's too awful to admit, even to yourself. But Garreth was right.

You love Sebastian...but you love Garreth too. Oh no.

You're pacing back and forth outside the Slytherin common room, you'd woken up early today to get ready and wait for Sebastian. Normally it's the other way around, and he's waiting outside your common room to talk you to your first lesson. It usually makes him late for his own class but he's never cared, he's happy to do anything for you. You feel nauseous just thinking about it, but you have to tell Sebastian what happened in the Library. You didn't kiss Garreth and that makes you feel better but you almost did, and you feel like not telling Sebastian means you're trying to hide something. You don't want to have any secrets from him.

When Sebastian emerges from his common room, he looks surprised to see you. He smiles at you, but that smile is quickly wiped away when he can see the panicked expression on your face... and the fact that you're pacing back and forth like a caged animal.

"What's wrong sweetheart? Talk to me." Sebastian urges, taking you into his arms and feeling your entire body trembling. You're as fragile as a flower and absolutely anything can send you over the deep end like this, so Sebastian isn't seriously concerned quite yet. At least, not until the first tear drops and you refuse to meet his gaze.

"My love you're beginning to scare me, please talk to me." Sebastian is nearly begging, and you feel tears spill from your eyes again. He's going to go ballistic once you tell him about Garreth, about what he tried to do. You shudder, you don't want him to hurt Garreth or get himself in trouble.

"L-Last night I was in the Library..." You can hardly speak, your voice is trembling. You don't want to say it.

"Garreth c-came and sat next to me for a little." You pause again, feeling your heart thumping so hard against your ribs you worried Sebastian could feel it. You saw his jaw clench, and the tension beginning to seep into his shoulders. You haven't even said it yet and he's already getting angry.

"A-and Garreth, he...well he tried to..." You stammer, your eyes dropping to the floor. Sebastian felt a red haze of burning rage swirling around him.

"My love, he tried to what? Did he touch you?" Sebastian's voice was trembling with anger. If Garreth touched you then he's as good as dead. You shook your head, your fingers curling around his robes.

"N-No I pulled away before he could...but he tried to- to kiss me." You breathe out, and you can only pray that Sebastian isn't angry with you. You couldn't survive it if he was angry with you. Sebastian's nostrils flared, you could see the rage all over his face. His eyes were focused on the stairs and his jaw was tightly clenched, if you let him you know he'd race off to beat Garreth to a pulp this very instant. You won't let him hurt Garreth, you need to calm him down.

"S-Sebastian? I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I love you, I would never cheat on you I swear! Please don't be cross with me." You explain desperately, trying to do anything to pull his gaze back to yours. You begin to cry again, pressing yourself against Sebastian's chest. He wrapped his arms around you, he wasn't angry with you.

"I'm not angry with you, I'm not. I love you, always." Sebastian says, finally turning back to face you. You lean up to kiss him as his thumbs brush away falling tears, and you surprise him with the desperation in your movements. You wind your arms around his neck, your lips moving against his as his arms wind tightly around your waist. Sebastian knows sooner or later Garreth will find out the truth, so he needs to follow through with his idea before he looses you. He needs to make sure you'll never be able to look at Garreth or any other guy for that matter without thinking of how good Sebastian can make you feel. He wants to open you up to a whole new world.

"Do you trust me my love?" Sebastian whispers against your lips. You nod instantly, making Sebastian smile as you try to kiss him again.

"Then skip your first lesson with me." He says with a playful grin.

"Skip a lesson? Are you crazy?" You ask him, the idea of skipping an entire lesson makes you feel anxious.

"C'mon, I promise I'll make it worth your while." Sebastian says, taking slow steps backwards with his fingers laced through yours. He slowly pulls you towards the stairs, and smiles victoriously when you let him pull you along without any further objections. You feel butterflies rising in your tummy when you look at him, grinning at you playfully as he tugs you through the castle towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts Tower. Just as you're crossing into the courtyard, your eyes briefly lock with Garreth's- who is sitting next to the fountain with Samantha Dale. You feel your cheeks tingling as you quickly snap your gaze back to Sebastian, and Garreth feels jealousy burning under his skin as Sebastian drags you off. You've never looked happier, and he knows he should be happy you found someone you love. But he isn't, and it kills him to see you smiling like that at someone else.

"Where are we going?" You whisper, a smile on your face as he drags you just past the stairs to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Towards the Undercroft Ominis had finally opened up to you about just last year. Sebastian pulls you inside and once the gate shuts behind you, you see a beautiful plush looking bed tucked against the back wall of the Undercroft, it looks slept in.

"I come here most nights, hardly sleep in the dorms anymore." Sebastian shrugs, you didn't know that. When he isn't with you, he's alone? Every day?

"Seb…why aren't you in the dorms?" You ask sadly. He shrugs off the sadness in your tone, he's used to the fact that he has nobody except for you.

"Easier to be alone. Easier for times like this." Sebastian quickly shifts the focus off of him and onto the reason why he brought you here in the first place. You blink up at him innocently, it makes sets his insides ablaze.

"Do you remember what we talked about a few weeks ago? When you said you were ready?" Sebastian asks softly, his eyes darkening as he watches your cheeks flush and feels your skin heat up.

"Y-Yes I remember."

"Are you still ready?" He whispers, slowly leaning down to brush his lips against yours. You feel a shudder run down your spine as you keen up into him, trying to press your lips against his.

"Yes, please." you beg quietly, and Sebastian groans before pressing his lips firmly against yours. He deepens the kiss by turning his head, reaching down to life you by your thighs. His hands reach under your thighs, lifting you with ease as he walks you backwards towards the bed. His lips never leave yours and soon he's placing you gently against the plush mattress. Your legs fall open to allow him room to slot himself between them. His hips meet yours and you moan feeling him pressed firmly against you, he begins grinding gently. He draws soft moans from your lips every time he rocks against you.

"Can I take this off my love?" Sebastian asks, pulling at your robes and you nod, sitting up to let him push them off and throw them to the side. His lips return to yours then, his fingers slowly pulling your sweater off your body. You feel flushed under his heated gaze and you quickly press your lips against his again when his stare becomes too intense. He shrugs his robes off before reaching up to unbutton your shirt and you can feel the shyness creeping back in as more skin is slowly revealed. Once his fingers open the last button, you pull the shirt off to toss aside. You lay back against the bed and Sebastian's eyes are hungrily drinking up your figure, committing every inch to his memory.

Sebastian's lips press against your neck, slowly trailing down your shoulder as his fingers slyly undo the clasp of your bralette. His eyes meet yours, waiting for any protest before he's slowly pulling the fabric off your body. You reach up to cover yourself, turning your head to avoid his gaze. You feel exposed. Sebastian reaches up to gently take your arms and press them against the mattress. You can feel a heartbeat from between your thighs.

"Don't hide from me my love." He whispers, his eyes locked on your bare chest. His finger turns your head to look at him again, he wants to see that beautiful look on your face as he makes you fall apart.

"Is this okay sweetheart?" Sebastian asks, he has to make sure. You nod instantly, feeling too sky to speak. Sebastian gives you a gentle kiss before his eyes drop again. His lips encircle one of your nipples, his other hand pinching and rolling the other between his thumb and pointer finger. You moan instantly, rolling your hips against his. Sebastian smiles as he sees your eyes shut tightly, your mouth falling open as he gently bites down on your nipple. It feels better than anything else you've ever felt before...and you know he's only getting started. Sebastian switches to the other nipple and sucks it into his mouth, humming against your breast as you moan wantonly.

His right hand slides down your tummy to flip your skirt up, his fingers gently rubbing your aching clit through your panties- which are quickly becoming wet and translucent with your slick. You moan again, feeling him gently rubbing you while his lips and tongue lave your nipple and breast. Your hips can't stay still, and you try to grind against his fingers, which makes you smile. Your fingers wind into his hair, holding him against your chest firmly. He groans every time you accidentally pull on his hair. Soon Sebastian reaches another hand down, his fingers hooking into the waistband of your underwear.

"P-Please." You beg desperately, and Sebastian swears he can feel the blood surging south. He slowly pulls the soaked fabric off your body and as soon as he does he sits back to get a better look. You watch with pulsing cheeks as he examines your glistening folds. He looks utterly entranced as he reaches forward to pull your lips apart, getting an even better look. You turn your head to the side, embarrassed.

"Seb…" You whisper, feeling very exposed as he gapes at your heat. Instead of answering, Sebastian leans forward and drags his tongue through your folds. You cry out, your hand flying into his hair as he begins to lap at your cunt. His tongue circles your entrance before briefly dipping inside, only teasing you as he sucks your clit gently into his mouth. You continue to cry out and grind your hips against his face, and your sounds of pleasure are music to his ears. He laps at you like a man starved, his arms circling your thighs to pull your cunt more firmly against his lips.

Your chest is heaving as you moan, throwing your head back as he licks a broad stripe through your folds, from your entrance to your clit. His gaze is dark and intense and his eyes will not leave yours. You can see the lust in his eyes, and no matter how shy you feel- you keep your eyes locked on his. His tongue explores your folds, his teeth nipping at you gently every so often. You moan like you're a bitch in heat, shamelessly using Sebastian's mouth to chase your orgasm. He presses sloppy kisses to your clit, flicking it with his tongue before you feel your body convulsing. You cum all over his face and Sebastian happily laps up every drop, making sure to lick and suck at you until your body is jerking with overstimulation.

"Did that feel good, dove?" Sebastian asks against your lips, as he reaches down to undo his belt. You nod, but that isn't good enough for Sebastian.

"Words sweetheart." He urges as he opens the buttons of his trousers.

"Yes Seb, it felt so, so good." You moan against his lips, kissing him firmly again. You feel the sharp heat of his cock before you see him, and he's gently notching the head against your folds. You whine nervously, placing your hand on his hip to stop him.

"Trust me, my love. It's going to feel really good. It'll pinch at first, but I promise it'll feel amazing after." He whispers, and you can already feel him pressing himself into you. The stretch burns, and it feels like he's going to tear you in two. Sebastian reaches up to rub circles on your clit to help distract you from the pain. He continues to slide inch by inch into you, and when he meets a little resistance he surges his hips forward until they're flush against yours. His fingers are still playing with your sensitive clit, and it makes slick gush out of you, coating his shaft.

"How do you feel? Are you okay?" Sebastian asks through pants, your walls are hugging him like a vice grip.

"F-Full. It hurts." You whine, holding his face against your neck as he presses kisses into your neck and shoulders. Sebastian feels pride swelling in his chest, you're writhing underneath him. Stuffed full of his cock, and he is the one making you moan and cry out in pleasure.

"I know sweetheart, it's going to feel good soon." He whispers while gently grinding his hips against yours. You moan desperately, wriggling against him. Sebastian takes that as his cue to gently pull his hips back before sliding back into you again. Stars erupt behind your eyes as he continues to sweetly thrust into you.

"You feel- so fucking good my love. So tight, so wet, taking me so well." Sebastian praises, making warmth flood through your belly. You feel stretched beyond your limits, and your toes curl when you feel him sliding against your walls. Your hips begin to push against his to meet his slow thrusts. You feel heat building in your pelvis.

"G-Gonna cum Seb. Please don't stop." You beg and Sebastian is more than happy to oblige. He presses his face into your neck, thrusting into you soft and slow, steadily building up the pleasure until your back is arching and pressing your breasts against him as you cum.

"That's my good girl, you're beautiful when you cum my love. You feel incredible, so so good dove." Sebastian rambles, continuing to thrust into you as his own orgasm approaches. He feels your walls continue to clamp down on him and your cum drenches his cock, making an erotic wet sound whenever he thrusts back into you. With a deep groan Sebastian is cumming, his fingers playing with your clit as he does to make your body convulse and tighten around him again. He pumps you full of his cum, leaving his mark on you. A claim that cannot be challenged by Garreth or anybody else.

You're his. You always have been.

Garreth knows he should stop, knows he should just let you be happy. He still can't get the image out of his head, watching you walking through the courtyard with Sebastian around an hour after he saw you the first time. The way you looked up at Sebastian made him sick, your rumpled clothing and the button you forgot to close on your shirt made him feel even worse. There's no way you slept with Sallow, he knows there's some other explanation for what he saw. There has to be.

But what made Garreth feel the worst was Sebastian's victorious gaze as it meets Garreth's. His eyes bore into Garreth's as you press yourself against his side and they're saying 'checkmate'.

Garreth clenches his fists before turning to find that damn student Sebastian met during 5th Year, they know what Ominis knows and Garreth is determined to find out what it is they're hiding.

TAGLIST: @weezley @eddiemunson4ever @idcabouttumbl @saturnawa @valyrra @cerulione @dilucente @riokunova @theknightssecrets @rinascere-di-fiore @sallowapologist @kaixoly @cosmicmadwoman @turnip-milk

[wosowrites]

Tattoo Tour (Ona Batlle x Reader )

Warnings: none! pure fluff

A/N: I had to invent some meanings to Ona’s tattoos bcs obviously i don’t know what they all actually mean. UPDATE: this fic rly flopped oops

Prompt: reader and ona play for man united and are doing a tattoo tour video for manchester uniteds youtube chanel.

"You guys ready?" The media manager asks, looking between you and Ona. "Yeah, let’s do it!" Ona answered, her spanish accent making your heart melt for her. You two had been together for over a year and a half now, but every day, your love for her grew even more.

"Okay, 3,2,1, rolling!" The woman behind the camera said. "Hey red devils! I’m y/n y/l/n…" you start saying, "and I am Ona Batlle…" Ona finished, "and today we are doing a tattoo tour. We both have a lot of tattoos. I think i have 9 and Ona has… 8?" you say, turning to Ona. "Sí, eight." "Right, so we’ll be showing them off to you guys, and explaining what they mean. So… let’s do it!" you finished the introduction and the camera woman cut the video taping. "Which tattoos do we show first?" Ona asks, turning to you. "Uhmm… I think i’ll start with my arms. I have three on my left and two on my right." You told her. "Okay, i’ll do my back first." Ona said. "But we should show our matching tattoo at the same time." She then added. "Yeah, of course."

Ona started unzipping her training jacket, leaving her in her sports bra. Ona had always been very comfortable with her body, often posting more revealing pictures on instagram, you were always the one behind the camera. So, you follow suite, unzipping your training top, revealing a red, manchester united muscle tank so that you could easily show your arms. "Giving the fans a show, eh?" Ona whispered lovingly into your ear. "Aren’t you to one with your abs out?" You answered, looking down at the shorter girl. "Yeah, but you have guns." Ona said, poking your bicep.

Little did they know, the camera had started rolling already. "Guys, we’re rolling." The camera woman said, laughter in her voice. "Oops… sorry." Ona said, blushing. "Okay! Ona is going to start, she’s going to show us the three tattoos on her back, while i’ll show you the ones on my arm. Then we’ll move on. Good?" You said, turning to your girlfriend at the last part. "Muy bien." She answered. "You start." You told her.

Ona turned around and started talking about her tattoos. "I got the lion when I was 22, a few months after I met y/n actually. I think it’s kind of a reminder to stay fearless, while still being kind and caring. Lions are known to be protective animals and y/n always calls me protective even though she’s 10 times more protective than I am." Ona says, laughing as you roll your eyes. "When your girlfriend is teeny and gets thrown all over the place on the pitch, you get pretty protective." You simply answer. "Ha, ha." Ona says.

A camera man comes up to the duo to get a close up of the artistic lion on Ona’s back. "Then I have this sentence right here." Ona said as you traced your finger under the sentence. "It’s in spanish but it translates to 'love should be a two sided coin' and it’s something my abuela always used to tell me. She’s never cared that I like girls, as long as the one I love loves me just as much." Ona explained.

Once again, the camera zoomed in on the sentence. "Okay it’s a short video so show yours y/n/n!" Ona said, giving you her full attention.

Despite your strong build, you were known in the world of women’s football as a pretty shy person, so every time Ona’s eyes met yours, your blush would give you away. It was something you and your best friend, Jessie Fleming, shared. "Okay. Sure." You said, turning to the main camera. "First things first. Almost all my tattoos have stories behind them, so bare with me. Speaking of, my first tattoo is a bears head." You say, turning your left bicep towards the camera and pointing to the tattoo that was about the size of your fist. "This was actually my first tattoo, which is kind of weird because usually people opt for a smaller one as their first. But I kind of just went straight for it. My teammates at UCLA used to call me bear, which is weird when you don’t know the backstory. Bears are used in two common expressions. Soft like a teddy bear, and strong like a bear. And they always used to say that those sentences both described me." You say, a camera coming and filming the tattoo up close.

You don’t notice Ona smiling at you, her eyes almost twinkling. "Then on my forearm-" you say, turning your arm to show words. "-I have the words rationed trust. That’s kind of simple honestly, never trust just one person. Then, on the back of my hand I have butterflies. Butterflies are my favorite animal. I’ve had butterflies land on me during football games like… three times. They’re just really special to me." You say, smiling at the two butterflies. "I’m gonna hurry this up a bit to get back to Oni but on my other arm I have two tattoos. One of which i’ll let Ona explain. but on the back of my arm I have a bike. Which is matching with Jessie Fleming, who’s one of my best friends in the entire world. We got them after our first year of university because we would bike everywhere, all the time and it became one of our favorite activities." You finished explaining, smiling at the camera.

You looked at Ona, staring at her as though she was the most mesmerizing person in the universe. Which, to you, she was. "A lot of people have caught on to this but we’ve never actually confirmed it. We both have a tattoo in the crook of our arm that says lover. We’re pretty big Taylor Swift fans and well, yeah." Ona says. "Plus this one here is really corny. She always says how people would tell her not to get matching tattoos with partners because what if you break up. And she always says 'the pain of getting the tattoo removed would be nothing compared to the pain of loosing Ona. So I don’t care.' " Ona quotes you. "Hey! Now everyone’s gonna think you have me wrapped around your pinky." You pout at her. "Oh but I do." Ona joked, all thought she wasn’t really joking.

Ona then explained a couple more of her tattoos, and you pointed out the whale on your rib cage, the human heart on your upper left back, the olympic rings on your hip bone, and the daisy, rose, and orchid bouquet behind your ear.

Finally, the video wrapped up, and you and Ona were free to go home.

THE WEEK AFTER:

"Oh my god guys you need to see this." Alessia Russo said, rushing towards you and Ona. Ella was right beside her, smirking. Alessia was on tik tok and pressed play on a video. It seemed to be a fan page for you and ona. the username was onaxy/n and in the caption it said 'I will never ever get over how y/n looks at Ona.'

The song playing was MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT by Elley Duhé, and at the beat drop, clips from the tattoo tour video were played, edited in sync with the audio. Clips of you looking at Ona with so much love in your eyes, the clip of you tracing Ona’s tattoo with your index, clips of you smiling down at her like she was the only person in the world.

"People are obsessed with you two." Ella said as the edit ended. "Is that how you look at me?" Ona said, smiling at you. "I don’t know! I didn’t notice I was doing that." You answered, your cheeks burning. "It is. All the time." Lessi answered, smiling cheekily. "Ha! You looove meeee!" Ona said, teasing her girlfriend. "Don’t get cocky Ona, you look at her like that too." Ella said, giggling and rushing off with Alesia. "You were saying?" You said, smirking at your girlfriend. "Te amo, bebé," Ona said, kissing you sweetly.

[hongluboobs]

(sending myself an ask I got on Retrospring a while back because I was able to get a really interesting answer with help from a friend and I think more people need to be aware of this stuff. the original asker was anonymous and this question was sparked because I was compiling Hong Lu's lines for something and noticed just how many tildes and ellipsis he uses... and that it was making its way into my own typing patterns lmao)

about the hong lu ellipsis/tilde thing: i remember hearing an offhand comment from a kr speaker that hong lu's speech quirk is talking girlishly, and while i am not an expert in korean by any means, i've read that women tend to speak softer and more passively, drag out their last syllables (probably the reason for all the tildes), and end their statements with rhetorical question tags more often, among other things. it's unfortunately generally theorized this is a result of misogyny in korean culture. i wish i could say more but i really don't know korean and i don't how it compares to like, everyone else in the cast

(Original post can be found here )

This was interesting to me and i’m lucky enough to know someone who natively speaks korean and plays limbus in kr so i asked him about it! All credit to Ciel @/10seisan for this incoming text wall :)

Here’s what he had to say:

I, too, read that Hong Lu’s tone and speech patterns as being more feminine. Specifically, I would describe his tone as sounding like a mixture of customer service and feminine speech, if that makes sense. His vocal inflexions are more noticeable and they tend to go upwards in pitch, which is associated with feminine speech patterns. I would say that what the asker sent about how women tend to speak here is accurate, and I think that misogyny plays a large role in it as well. As an example, the passive speaking, we have the word 돌려서 말하다, which means “to indirectly speak about a topic” or “beat around the bushes”. This is somewhat expected for people of all genders in formal situations to be polite, but women tend to do it more often and in less formal situations as well due to societal pressure to not seem “aggressive” by coming across “too strong”. Tangents aside, Hong Lu’s tildes in the text corresponds to the voice lines where he drags out syllables, speaks more softly, and/or has a particularly noticeable rise in inflexion at the end of a sentence, so they certainly are indicative of his feminine mannerisms in speech. As for the ellipses, this depends more on the context, since they can be used simply to indicate pauses, but I wouldn’t be surprised if at least some of them coincided with something specific to his speech mannerisms as well. As for how he compares to the other sinners, I would say that, in some ways, his speech sounds similar to Rodya’s, actually—more so than the other sinners. Especially when it comes to the (canonically) male sinners, his speech is not at all similar to any of them. Yi Sang may be the closest if I were required to choose—solely due to his voice being on the softer side—but even then, Yi Sang has very little inflexion and typically ends his sentences with a fall in pitch, unlike Hong Lu

(Ciel’s thoughts end here)

This is all really interesting to me because as an english speaker (and as a person who tends to tune out vocal performance in general, esp if it’s foreign) i can only catch some of it. The delivery on Hong Lu’s lines make sense, especially when taking his background from his source book into account. (whether you want to purely read this as overly formal speech bc of the whole “family is like a cohort of kin looking for a chance to stab you in the back” thing or you want to read gender in it is up to you)

The fact it’s most similar to Rodya’s speech patterns is interesting too… I notice this in the english text as well (i’ve seen people mistake abnormality log text written by Hong Lu for Rodya and vice versa on numerous occasions) Rodya plays up her feminity a lot as a mask so it makes a lot of sense that it’s the closest to Hong Lu’s but still. very interesting. I’m a huge fan of their dynamic in general but that’s a tangent for a different ask, it’ll just be interesting to see if/what can make Hong Lu drop those speaking patterns…

I could yap a bit more on this but i think i’m just gonna leave it be for now because Ciel did a really good job at explaining it all :)

[noel-levine-fan]

ok something i just realized is that lilia, despite seeming like a very motivated person determined to live her life, doesn't appear to have any hobbies that we know of (like, iirc she can cook but we don't see her do it often), as opposed to ashe, who has these collections of things he can do that he doesn't seem to be super personally interested in.

i know this may be entirely unintended but i feel like realizing i was probably chronically ill is giving me a different perspective because i was explaining somewhere about how lilia often asked or bugged ashe to do things in her place and then i had a thought of "wait but lilia seems like she really wants to participate in things and we rarely ever see her with her own hobbies so why does she usually ask ashe to...?" and then it just suddenly clicked. bc i remembered how im largely unable to make food for myself and have to ask other people to make or get it for me. or how i am unable to engage in even very simple hobbies. and then i realized. maybe lilia, like... just doesn't have the energy for hobbies. lilia seems upbeat a lot of the time, but that doesn't mean this doesn't take a toll on her even when she's not actively having a flareup. it just means she's sociable. it's entirely possible lilia actually was curious about learning the piano but never tried because she thought it would take up too much energy. (or maybe she genuinely didn't want to learn and just liked hearing its sound, but this still applies generally i think even if not in this specific case.)

i know i could be projecting here as someone who finds hobbies extremely hard to pick up (even studying is very hard when it involves writing and i dread doing it solely because i'll have to sit up for a while) but honestly even if i am i think it's a really compelling interpretation. i think lilia is the kind of person who is unashamed about asking people to do things for her either way, but it's kind of hard to ignore once you think about it that chronic illness makes sense as a factor in the way we don't usually see her do things herself, even though it seems at least like she clearly wants to.

and i realize ashe and lilia are kind of the inverse of each other in a way that's extremely compatible.

i've always felt like ashe is someone who struggled to find any internal motivation to do things which is part of why the death of his family wrecked him so badly. lilia, on the other hand, seems to be pretty motivated to do things. ashe, despite not being very internally motivated to do things, is physically and mentally very capable. he's smart, and while he may not be very strong, he's able bodied and seems to be well coordinated and good with his hands. lilia, despite being internally motivated to do things, is chronically ill and unable to do a lot of things she would otherwise try doing.

so then, lilia's desires are able to motivate ashe's direction in life. ashe is able to do a lot of things for lilia that she cannot always do herself.

idk man i love them. again maybe lilia just asks ashe to do different hobbies in the games and in comics and stuff just because she thinks that ashe would be good at those things/it would be entertaining if she could watch him do those things, but it makes so much sense if part of the motive here is she feels this is the only way she'd be able to engage with those hobbies on a regular basis.

sorry if this post is dumb as fuck but like it just makes sense to me intuitively that a chronically ill character who seems to want to do things but rarely does, doesn't do those things due to the way chronic illness affects ones life. idk lilia makes me sad bc she's tragic yes but she was also unashamed of herself, funny, and unabashedly just wanted to live. like i really think lilia just wanted to be able to engage with the world in ways that were inaccessible to her and that despite all the nonserious bickering and mutual whining that ashe just wanted to help her do that.

[voiceofthesilly]

Hi, uhm.

Your designs for the voices in STP are..

Genius.

The premise of their design are simple (birds(?) with animal skull heads(?)) yet it makes them so distinguishable!

Also your art is very yummy- It's beautiful.

Ajsjadhdja thanku!! this means a lot, espeically since i love your designs for them a LOT Gonna take that as an opportunity to explain them some bc i havent really done that so beware, long rant under the cut

The general idea was for them to have masks of various woodland creatures, as a general reference to the cabin being set in the woods and to add a bit of a fairytale twist, as often in fairytales guiding voices in form of animals appear But thinking about it skulls are such a sick idea and might use them for less cartoony iterations honestly

From left to right!

Cold was actually pretty hard to pick an animal for - @3zethe3zr has been immense help figuring those out with various voices and we went through options like wolves and bears before i settled on lynx (quick, efficient and solitary assassin). I wanted Cold to feel big and overpowering, blocking out everything else. In a way that silence is big, sorta. You might also notice that they're the only voice without markings - its partially because everything i could come up with felt too on the nose, and partially because well. what symbol better than vast emptiness. Largest voice! 8'2" tall

Paranoid is a mouse, i feel like the association here is pretty straightforward. Big wings to hide behind and bald patches from overpreening. Their pattern is the eyes, they can't seem to get rid of them. Some on the feathers, some straight on the skin.

Hunted gets a hare mask because i said so and hares have amazing prey eyes. It's rather large, but always crouched over and ready to bolt, making it much smaller than it could be - Hunted always says we're small, but there's a moment where Wild refutes that. Of course it's not in reference to physical size there, but I wanted to use that nonetheless. Target mark on their chest and mask. Eyes on the side of the head - not sure where i heard it first but it was sych a good take i had to do it

Hero !!! I struggled a lot with the animal for them, went through a bunch of deer, wolf, even bird at some point (birds were off limits). In the end went with 3zr's squirrel suggestion - a little kind voice sitting on your shoulder. Hero also gets a cape, as a treat. for being there always. And because they're a hero and im no edna mode. Markings are the slits in a knight helmet!

Stubborn was im pretty sure the first one who got designed at all, due to intense stubborn brainrot. Animal is a boar, due to the mfs being extremely hard to kill, though i did want to go with a wolverine for a while. His mask is moved aside, he's straighforward and has no need for hiding anythin. Masks off and knives out, am i right . He's the shortest voice in the lineup (whole 3'7"). this is because im not tall and i like him. I tried to strike a balance between squarish and triangle build. His wings are proudly on display, and so are his scars - a testiment to our resilience.

Opportunist! my littlest guy who missed being a weasel by like 3 milimeters and ended up fox. because of course he did. He's fucking tiny - i usually like making voices who dont consider us strong bigger than they think, but in this case it felt fitting to make it something he works with. The markings are pointed knives, pretty self-explanatory i feel. Usually partially hidden under the chest feathers. Also, his arms are hidden behind his back here but the palms are red - blood on him hands

Smitten is a deer! They always felt very noble to me, and, well, heart shape in the antlers! The mask is somewhat ill-fitting and she can't see well but that's alright, love is blind. The largest marking by far - he's not one to hide his nature, and his heart is as big as the markings would suggest. I wanted to give her this sorta chivalrous fairytale knight build. Wings folded into a wing shape!

Contrarian is another long boi, i felt it would work well for whatever silly limb contortions hed do. The animal is a natterer's bat specifically - again, 3zr's genious idea

Neck feathers meant to resemble a jester's collar. Funky patterns meant to be confusing and disorientin. In the lineup in particular i didn't do it, but the idea is that with the mask slightly more up and beak open it almost looks like he has three heads, paralleling Stranger

Skeptic i wanted to have a very solid build, so square he is. The markings are question marks - both on the mask and feathers. He's a little silly with his saying wink out loud, so he gets to have a question mark tie. Wings folded behind mimicking a trench coat. He deserves glasses

Broken is actually second longest! It doesn't matter though, does it. They can be as large as they want, doesn't change anything. Mask is a raccoon dog - felt fitting vibewise. Bald patches around neck, wrists and ankles, as if remnants of shackles locked around them. The markings are meant to mimick both cracks (in shape) and chains (in layout). Mask pulled up for them double sad eyes and because there isnt even a point in hiding

Last up, cheated! Hedgehog bastard. I guess kinda paralleling Razor in that regard? They're not particularly big and their feathers are ruffled. Uses wings for extra expression! Markings meant to both resemble scars and diamond suit

Also, earlier verisons!

[cocogrrrl]

my princess (choose your own adventure!)

a choose your own adventure story where you, a princess, spend the day getting to know your soon-to-be husband, prince kyle.

prince!kyle x fem princess!yn (arranged marriage + royal au) cw: near breakdown bc of sensory overstim for one of the routes wc: 1157 for this chapter, 9201 for all parts

an: omg its done!! :'] please wait from me to attach the links if you're early btw HAHA while there is no bad ending, there is one ending i consider to be the canon one because i may or may not make a part 2 ;0 ps: i made the parts in very different states of mind LOL + take a shot everytime it says word hum, muse, and silence

For most princesses, their fate was often sealed by the decision of their parents. You were no different.

Last week, your parents told you that you would be wed to Kyle Broflovski of Larnion. First and foremost, it was to form an allegiance with his family, seeing how your kingdom’s, Halcyon, military was quite advanced and strong while Larnion was very wealthy. Second, he and your parents have known each other for a long time, so it was a no-brainer to set your children up, I guess.

 You’ve never met Kyle, to be frank, but you’ve definitely heard of him. He was stereotypically perfect—physically active, studious, and ambitious. People praised him for the person he was. You weren’t stoked to meet him, but you weren’t upset either. You knew of your fate ever since you were a child, and what you got didn’t seem so bad.

What did he think of you, though? Most, unsure if he was one of them, viewed you as an educated, well-spoken, and graceful young lady. You weren’t well-spoken, though, you just knew when to shut your mouth. You didn’t like the very feminine appearance you had in public, yet some thought you were a bit too smart for your own good. They did get to you sometimes, but you believe that it’s best to just brush it off. However, the main thing you were worried about is if you were going to be wed to a person like those people.

The carriage turned by the circular driveway of the palace, where you would stay for the next week. If there was only one word you could use to describe the place, it would most definitely be posh. It looked like it supported only lavish lifestyles. You wouldn’t call it aristocratic, but it was shocking just how sophisticated and elegant the place was decorated.

Your parents, with your following behind them, proceeded to head to the throne hall, where you spotted Prince Gerald and Queen Sheila—two familiar faces you saw from time to time growing up. Beside them sat, what you could only assume, is Kyle.

For the most part, he looked what you expected his to look like, just a lot more lanky. You heard he took quite a few sports growing up, including football and horseracing, so your best judgment was that he was super buff—which didn’t exactly stoke you. You were happy to see that he didn’t look like a bodybuilder with a small head popping out at the top. It was the opposite, he did seem fit, but his body seemed faintly toned. Sleeper build, you guessed.

Greetings and compliments were exchanged between your parents. You stood there, smiling and waving to Mrs. and Mr. Broflovski. Kyle had gotten up to say hello to your parents as well. As the four of them chatted by the side, Kyle made his way to you, a polite and welcoming smile on his face.

“You must be YN?” was the first thing he said.

“And you must be Kyle.” Your head was raised high, nodding at him.

“I am” he hummed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, my lady,” He got on one knee as he took your hand to gently lay a kiss upon it.

You caught your cheeks heating up, taken aback by the action. You expected this, but that didn’t mean you were prepared to actually deal with it. “Please, the pleasure is all mine.” You curtsied as he stood back up.

“There’s our soon-to-be,” a voice chimed from the side. You two turned to look see who it was—it was Kyle’s mother.

You exchanged a look with Kyle, both of your eyes sending a ‘What do we do?’ to what she said. Luckily for Kyle, you spoke first.

“Oh, Mrs. Broflovski,” you swoooned as you feigned innocence and embarrassment with a chuckle.

“Please.” she grinned at you. “Call Gerald and me, Mom and Dad.”

“A-Already?” Your surprise was genuine, but your tone continued to remain soft and calm.

“We insist, dear.” She walked towards you, stroking your hair.

Your father joined Sheila. “You may call us Mom and Dad as well, Kyle,” he said as he pat his back.

Kyle seemed to laugh it off, but with a quick glance at him, you could tell he felt a little awkward about the whole thing. The tense in his shoulder and the way he look everywhere but at the people in the room said it all. “Haha, thank you very much…”

“So, you two are aware why we’ve brought you two here today, yes?” Gerald spoke. Although you knew Sheila, or now Mom, to be the sterner one between the two, Gerald had a more serious tone than the rest right now.

You and Kyle simply nodded to his question. You were going to spend time together and get to know each other better in preparation for the wedding. It’s a good thing they didn’t rush you into marriage right away, but it’s not like you had a choice if you didn’t like Kyle anyway.

“There’s going to be a masquerade ball tonight,” your mom explained. “You don’t have to come, but we highly suggest you do.”

A few more words were exchanged between you two and the adults, and, soon enough, you found them leaving you and Kyle left to your own devices.

“See you later, little baby girl!” Your father waved ecstatically as he strolled off. You shook your head, feeling humiliated. Kyle spotted your embarrassment and laughed at it. Maybe a little too loudly for your liking, but any volume of laughter from that was plenty too much for you.

Before Sheila left, she quickly made her way to Kyle. “Take care of YN. Okay, booby?” You tried to hold in laughter. Kyle stared back at you, rolling his eyes.

“Yes, Mom.” He sighed.

“Alright. I’ll be heading out now. See you two cuties soon.” Kyle’s mom smiled, walking in the direction where the rest of your parents were.

“So, booby,” You teased.

The red on his face when he got flustered or angered was cute, you thought. “What is it, little baby girl?” He spat back, not realizing how weird sounded when he said it.

“Don’t say that. It sounds weird.” You rolled your eyes, elbowing him in the arm. He paused, looking at you to process what you meant by that. Once the realization sunk in his face more red than you could ever possibly imagine.

To ease the tension between you two, changed the topic. “Today’s free rein, though,” you continued. “You have any ideas where we could go?” You gave him a smile, hoping to ease his embarrassment even a little bit.

“Well, there’s the masquerade ball,” he hummed, looking everywhere but at you. “I suppose we can also go to the garden or a nearby village here as well…”

Which do you pick?

The Garden.

The Village.

The Masquerade Ball.

[utilitycaster]

🔥 each member of vox machina

Vax: really the sadboy narrative for Liam has always been stupid but it's egregiously bad that it started with Vax, who is like, sad for maybe a fifth of the episodes and largely because Liam O'Brien's actual mother was dying, like, with all due respect what the actual fuck, fandom.

Vex: I am the founding and probably only member of the "Vex is my favorite character and also I am 100% cool with Colville's depiction of her." The generosity she shows even very early on in C1 is still a generosity borne of some degree of security - they have a keep by then - and I also just don't think you have to like a character to write them fairly. Granted it's been a minute since I read early VMO but nothing stood out to me as out of line with my understanding of Vex.

Pike: repeating myself once again but I like Pike a lot and wish we could have seen more, but because we didn't, people who say she's their favorite in C1 do tend to turn me off in that I feel they're looking for a relatively flat and widely praised character to project onto rather than a character who goes through more messy development.

Grog: I think he's often underestimated and I was guilty of doing so myself, to be honest, until I saw Travis play more and until I personally got better at D&D. Also I still maintain that playing INT 6 sensitively and well is infinitely harder than playing INT 16, all things considered, and this is yet another reason why people should play high INT more often.

Scanlan: Also underestimated; I do understand being turned off by the whole extremely horny playboy thing but as I've said before Bard's Lament is a major litmus test for me: if you think Scanlan is completely at fault here, you are wrong, and if you think he's not partially at fault, you are also wrong.

Tary: I genuinely love him and think he's a great character and one of Sam's best, but while his character arc is strong the Taryon Darrington Arc of the VM Campaign, through no fault of his own (and partly bc I personally think D&D Hell, especially pre-Descent Into Avernus publication, is kind of boring), is one of the weakest parts of the campaign because it's kind of a grab bag of loose ends. With that said I would happily watch more Darrington Brigade-one shots.

Percy: Percy is also generally a litmus test in that it's like. Is he a good person? Eventually I believe he becomes one, and even before that I think he's very sympathetic and deeply traumatized and like, 24, so I get it, but also, who the fuck cares. This ties into the Essek and the Ashton opinions and all kinds of other stuff but why are people so invested in fucking absolving their blorbo of all sins? I want someone who's lived enough of a life to have done some heinous shit because that's fun and interesting and it's pretend and also because then they can have a rewarding character arc by either working towards redemption or coming to terms with who they are or spiraling into tragedy.

Keyleth: I like Keyleth a lot but I am, as this post indicates, far more sympathetic to Vex, and so while I do think Keyleth is a fairly good person she is also extremely sheltered and naive and terrified of doing the wrong thing and I would have, like Vex, wanted to scream at her half the time were I just a random NPC wandering about the campaign. On the other hand C3-era Keyleth? fantastic no notes she has grown up in such an interesting way.

Tiberius: I think we, and by we I mean people capable of separating the art from the artist, can recognize that his concept actually fucking slapped and unfortunately he was played by someone who absolutely sucked in a myriad of ways. I would love to see the alternate universe in which the same general concept (prodigy sorcerer from Draconia who is full of themself) had to face not just the destruction of their civilization but the realization that they were taking advantage of the Ravenites and while they did not deserve to be killed by Vorugal, had done nothing to justify aid from those they had subjugated either. Like, the alternate world in which one of the current cast members or like, a close friend of the main cast (Ashly, Erika, Mary Elizabeth) played this is one I'd love to see.

[moe-broey]

Got any body type/anatomy thoughts? FEH has very little in the way of body type variation and I personally like reading that as an open invitation to get silly with it.

OKAOKAYOKAY!!!!!!!! I MIGHT. Have gathered everything.... but I have SOOOOOOO MANY THOUGHTS ON THIS bc you're absolutely right!!!!! It's like a canvas to me...

I have a few directions I take with it! My main one, is to extrapolate features that may be present in the canon design. Taking them Further. I'm so sorry to do this but he is the epitome of this for me, GUSTAV JUMPSCARE 😨😨😨😨😰😰😰

But this is what I mean! I see canon Gustav has a full beard, is big and muscular. Okay. In my mind's eye, that translates to Big Hefty Heavyset type of muscular builds that are more realistic than the 6 pack bulging muscles (that require a lot of prep/dehydration to Look Like That). Also, hairy. Which is why, to fully demonstrate this, he's.... I don't know what he's doing here. This was psychologically taxing on me, but then I reminded myself I Am An Artist and I Hate America. 🫡🧍

Sometimes, if a character fits a certain archetype, I might put a few personal touches into them... mom/mom-like characters who REALLY embody the Doting Caretaker archetype often get the same body type as my own mother. A little honorary thing... though I do wanna be careful as to not restrict a specific body type (esp fat bodies) to specifically stereotypes (aka "mom bod"). Also, a comparison to Sharena! They do share similarities! Henriette's face looks familiar though... and not quite in the way Sharena's does.

Another focal reason I started off w Gustav though, is the second biggest thing I'm Always Thinking About when it comes to character's body types. Which is, Telling A Story.

I've had.... SO many oddly specific hcs about Alfonse...... for So Long..... one of them that's always in the back of my mind is him being at different weights during specific periods of his life. That, for the majority of it/esp his youth, he was almost waifish. He only starts looking healthier when he's out from under his parents' (COUGH gustavCOUGH) thumb (but let's be real, Henriette can be EXTREMELY stressful too... opposite end of the spectrum about it).

Another example of Telling A Story though. Sometimes I trans characters just for funsies and it has no real bearing on anything. OTHER times... my trans headcanons are integral to specific lore beats in my elaborate inner world. ENTER. BRUNO

These are actually from a bit ago I was gonna hold off on posting til I felt I had everything together, BUT. BUT. It's extremely relevant!

In the beginning, I often asked myself, "Why doesn't ANY of the Askr trio recognize Bruno as Zacharias?" MY ANSWER. Is that he looked quite different!!!! In tandem with my silly hcs for him, I feel that Bruno is someone who must care a lot about his appearance. About Looking masculine. I think he's been out as a man by the time he joins the Order, but is early on in his transition (by whatever means that manifests in w ✨ Magic ✨ and shit!!). I think he passes, but definitely Looked Different. Give him More Muscle and a haircut and an even more noticeable voice drop and top surgery he dramatically shows off at every opportunity and a mask that conceals his big beautiful brown eyes with fluttery soft eyelashes and like. Who Is That Mysterious Man...... in that Damnable Mask.........

Okay. Let's back up a minute. What do you mean Lif got mysteriously taller. What does that even mean. I can grant him gaining more weight/muscle, but, Taller???? At his grown up age....?? Well.

Hel's memory of the mortals she claims isn't so good, apparently.... (Eir obviously can't tell anything by the nearly all rotted away bones, but the scraggly long hair is giving her pause...) (also is it the King Hel is thinking of in the first place....? Eir isn't going to ask.)

At this point, I definitely could feel myself getting distracted and decided to just art dump a handful of charas I have strong visions for.

Here, you also see The Secret Third Option of body type design philosophy -- which is. If the design itself isn't giving me a lot to work with. I just do my own thang LMFAOOO 😅 I think Anna def fell into that category for me... where a lot of the story/lore I added for her was purely hc territory, and I went from there. She's broad, tall, muscular, top heavy, but still kinda thin and knobby. Aerodynamic, perhaps....

Sometimes, characters are a combination of these things though... like Mirabilis definitely being a combo of qualities, having personal touches, storytelling elements to her, and doing my own thing for funsies! More about the fairies overall -- I think they all ended up having their basic needs met and were even granted dreams/desires for themselves after becoming Alfar (like becoming exactly as you see yourself, or how you wish to be... which unfortunately only goes so far, can't fully undo the damage done to Mira, but. It's free transition for Triandra, is what I'm getting at LMFAOOO). Which is why each of them did fill out more to varying degrees (again, Mira suffering the most long-term effects from her mortal life, and Triandra, already having an idea/concept of herself at the age she drank the nectar, being able to transition). I have specific human design concepts for them too, that look A Bit different than their fairy designs.... but. I'm still working on that 🧍

Eir is def a storytelling one. When it comes to Alfonse's scrawniness, he was just stressed out so bad it took a physical toll. I don't think there was ever any food restriction (or, if there was, it was a rare occasion/used as a punishment). For Eir, I think something like that would make sense for her though.... lack of access, and frequent meticulously purposeful elaborate abuse from Hel. Eir still looks like you could break her in half, but she does look a lot healthier since her stay in Askr. Another note, though I ran out of space... maybe Ymir looks more like Eir than Hel does. I wonder why that could be....

AND. BACK TO THE START. Extrapolating on canon design elements! If you're going to present me a female chara with big honking bazongas, I'm going to make her fat. Or at very least, Carry Some Weight, like Plumeria does (in that full figured curvy way!). And ESP. ESPPPPPP FOR SEIDR AND GULLVEIG. Where Gullveig has Various Lines about "Oh... I don't know how well these old clothes fit me anymore..." (paraphrasing/off memory I feel like she says something like this Multiple Times). Like. Okay. Well I took that personally. I also just like the idea of her changing over time... always having a chubbier build, but it just keeps going as she keeps growing and changing.

In putting this into words, I'm finding a common thread seems to be weight gain as a sign that someone is being taken care of... for Gullveig, I think it's just a purely neutral change over the course of her life. In Lif's case....... some sort of mix up occurred. I can see Alfonse taking more after Gustav naturally, too, as he gets older though!

One final thought is just, is there a fun little detail I can include? Like giving Seidr and the Seidrs a snake-like face? Doubling as something so cutes and something Intimidating? IT WILL BE DONE. Also Need to get to coloring an illust of Gullveig one day..... the golden stretch marks are soooo cool in my mind's eye...... also just. One Million Piercings. Also as characterization/storytelling. A lack thereof is storytelling, as well.... to me..... ALSO!!!!! SHAPE LANGUAGE!!!!!! I'M SUCH A SHAPE LANGUAGE BITCH!!!!!!!!!

I HOPE. THIS ANSWER FINDS YOU WELL 🫡

[emmabirb8]

Megamind and Zim

So, I'm a huge nerd (as you all know). And I've recently gotten a bit back into Invader Zim because my hyperfixations are a neverending cycle of whatever happens to capture my interest.

Well, since my brain likes to make connections between hyperfixations, I decided to start listing out similarities between one of my most precious blorbos - Megamind - and Zim. Just for funsies. :P

And uh, there's A LOT, actually. Which shouldn't surprise me considering they're both Very Dramatic aliens, but either way. I'm gonna post what I've gathered here for my own amusement. 😁

So here's what I got:

Aliens

Landed on Earth

Grew up parentless

Outcasts of society

Robotic servants/minions that were given to them prior to being sent to Earth (yes, Minion is a fish, but he does have a robotic body)

Black heeled boots and black gloves

Viewed as "evil" even tho neither are actually evil (Zim is self-centered, chaotic, and destructive but I wouldn't classify him as evil even if he himself might - his mission to conquer Earth is more to please his Tallest and be validated as a good invader than to actually be evil for the sake of being evil)

Have strong relationships with their rivals/enemies to the point where they give their lives meaning and purpose - both became depressed and unmotivated when those enemies were suddenly not around to fight (due to being "defeated" in Megs' case and pursuing "real science" in Zim's case in the unfinished ep Mopiness of Doom)

Both are frequently shipped with their enemies in fanworks (Metro Man for Megs, Dib for Zim)

Intelligent scientists and inventors but they're also goofy as hell and they create plans that continually fail

Speech idiosyncrasies (pronouncing words incorrectly for Megs, emphasizing certain words and poor volume control for Zim)

Very animated and dramatic/theatrical when speaking

Short (Zim more so than Megs but Megs is still, like, shorter than Roxanne)

Big egos that hide their severe insecurities

Significant amounts of angst to both character's backstories

Cool color skin tones

Bullied in school

Affinity for junk food

Many fans of their respective media are in the lgbtqia+ community - both characters themselves also read as some flavor of queer and fans often HC/interpret them as such

Both come across as some level of neurodivergent

Pretty neat, huh? Well, I took it a step further (bc of course I did) and decided to ALSO find as many similarities as I could between Roxanne Ritchi and Dib Membrane. Being the main human characters, it felt more appropriate than trying to compare Metro Man to Dib, even tho Metro Man largely fills the "enemy" role for Megamind (and bc I am a filthy shipper at heart, fight me*).

Anyway, so Roxanne and Dib:

Human (potentially questionable in Dib's case, but still)

Foils and equals to the alien protagonists

Intelligent

Sneak into alien protagonists' bases to take pictures and figure out "evil" plans to try to stop them

Have been kidnapped by aliens

Know the real truth of the alien protagonists, but their peers don't (Roxanne knows Megamind isn't really evil or dangerous, Dib knows Zim is really an alien - in Megamind's case, the people of Metro City do eventually come around, but not til the end)

Have false narratives about some aspect of their lives widely believed by the general public (most the citizens of Metro City think that Roxanne is dating Metro Man, almost everyone around Dib believes he's just crazy for thinking Zim is an alien)

Have companions who are also privy to the alien protagonists' true natures, but those companions are apathetic (Metro Man and Gaz respectively)

Concerned for the well-being of their fellow humans and cities

Like their aliens, both also come across as some level of neurodivergent (you kinda have to squint to notice it in Roxanne, but it's definitely there)

Alien boyfriends* (if you ship Megarox and ZaDr :P)

So yeah! Just some fun comparisons to ponder.

*Although I don't ship ZaDr within the canon universe of the show itself, I do enjoy it in certain transformative contexts. I'm v aware of the controversial nature of the pairing, so I wanna make that clear. I just like having fun with it.

[wetcatspellcaster]

Did you see Neil Newbon’s take that Ascended Astarion is the real him free to act on cruelty and violence and the spawn is the one with the mask? Yeesh.

Ooooooh, THAT'S the disk horse that's happening right now!! I knew something was happening (I felt a tremor in the waters) but I had no clue what it was lmao, I don't follow cast stuff.

I will try to respond to this in good faith, but I'm not very good at fandom discourse and so I'm afraid it may not be the answer you want.

I can see why that reading might make people angry, but I dont have strong feelings about it. Obviously, it's not my take on Ascension, but from the beginning I've been very upfront that my take is serving the genre I'm writing in and the ship dynamics I find hot. My Tav is lawful good to an unhealthy extreme, and that was how she was conceived in her Early Access bullying phase. And meanwhile, I wanted to be in a Gothic horror where he's obsessed (morality chains will do that to you) and they beat the shit out of each other. I have to make the Ascendent a monster, for that to work, and for people not to feel guilty every time they enjoy watching him getting stepped on lmao.

But I do feel like there is a morality policing around Astarion's ending that I don't want to partake in. This might seem dumb for me to say, given that my Tav is a veritavle walking moral policeman, but that is bc I fucking love Villain/Heroine ships, so I am literally right there, at the Devil's Sacrament with everyone else.

While I like the good ending and prefer it for many reasons, I would agree with a reading of Newbon's words that it could be read as a mask. This might be bc I mask with the best of them, am doing it right now even as I write and edit this ask 20 times. There's masking as an outright lie, and then there's masking as 'gotta get through day to day life as a functional adult without everyone suddenly deciding they hate me'... I personally think its nice that spawn!Astarion cares about other people, and cares about being a functional member of society at all! It shows he's no longer a lonely outcast.

I could also go deeper (the autism really shining through in this reply) and say it's a mask, in the sense that this has been deemed the 'polite' and morally correct ending, that is acceptable to others and enables the player to feel good about themselves. Which is often a way we derive pleasure from media, and not wrong in and of itself! Making Astarion good makes players feel good - that's not wrong, but if we're comparing endings, we have to acknowledge it. An Ascended Ending doesn't really cater to that impulse... unless the player really likes to be dommed (more power to them).

Unfortunately anon, I can't sit here with my most popular fic being an Ascended!Astarion fic, and pretend that there isn't a bunch of fascination or interest surrounding the Ascended version of his character. People clearly want to explore the implications of his evil ending and indulge in the excess of it, but feel bad doing so. People don't ascend him in-game, but they go to my fic and other people's fic because they want to have some space to enjoy the implications - in the sexiness, in the timeline where Astarion has revenge, in a timeline where he is obsessed with Tav etc. I mean, just look at me, I can't sit through the Ascended scene, but I'm here writing a fic about it!!

The fact that it seems to happen more in fic than in playthroughs tells me, if I was to get super deep in a tumblr ask, that people feel guilt about it. Some kind of mask is being employed, by someone, somewhere, in that mix. So I'm not about to add to any of that kind of policing. It would be pretty disingenuous of me to get my most feedback from an Ascendent fic I am writing, and then judge people for liking Ascendency narratives...

So while I don't have much interest in pretending the evil ending isn't the evil ending, that doesn't sound to me (second hand, through you, with my brain seeing 7 or 8 different implications) to be what Newbon is saying. He's just saying that the Ascendent is the less palatable Astarion to other people and that spawn!Astarion still has some kind of mask or a politeness filter on. Which... yeah. Kinda. In my world, I like that Astarion decides its worthwhile to restrain himself, because he has things to care about potentially ruining. But that's still in many ways employing restraint. People don't just stop masking, they learn to care about what others think in a healthy way. They have friendships, relationships, other ties to the world, that make them want to be something other than a cruel or violent or evil version of themselves. I think that's nice, and far less lonely but um... yeah. I can see Newbon's point, even if I don't want to like, live or die by it.