#i think thats very romantic

[eustasskiddsprosthetic]

Now that my YouTuber AU Sabolaw fic is ending soon, I have a new wip fic. Long ago, I floated the idea of a blind prince!Sabo (x) and I'm happy to say I've gotten something concrete down!

Like I said, Sabo is blind as in he can't see things clearly. He's mostly self-reliant and refuses to accept help from people he doesn't trust and that includes help from his own attendant, Law, a man four years older than himself.

They were 'okay' with each other. Sabo thought Law was too serious and Law thought of Sabo as a bit naïve, even if good-hearted.

One day, Sabo realises that he would be eighteen soon and that meant he had to do be king. Oh, fuck that! He's running away! He refused to be king over a kingdom that refuses to acknowledge its sins, for refusing to do anything that would help people. He would not inherit this shithole of a country,

Ace and Luffy promised not to snitch. That's a solid enough plan, surely!

It was not. This will be a long story. I love slow burns!

Literally on the first night, Sabo was attacked by bears and would have died if Law did not immediately step in with a gun.

Being the little tsundere that he is, Sabo refuses to trust Law. Law's an adult. A shady, no-good adult like everyone else who made fun of him for being blind.

Maybe this is shit writing, but the only reason why Law won over his trust is because Law gave him a short letter, telling Sabo exactly what he intends on doing: they would go to Corázon's place to seek asylum, Law had a budget for food and necessities, Law had specific routes to take and Sabo was supposed to follow him.

Sabo thought it was such a stupid plan but then it suddenly hit him. Law learned how to write in braille with a slate and stylus. Law refused to elaborate on the details, thinking it was not necessary. It absolutely was but Sabo did not have the energy to complain. He was too hungry. The palace chefs spoiled him so much.

Law tried his best, though. Meagre meals of bread, some hunted deer and boiled water from rivers in the forest. Law was a shit cook. Everything he made was almost always burnt but, then again, it was edible and Sabo would rather not go hungry.

Law would buy food sometimes but they would never be much. Law explained that there weren't many food options and Sabo accepted the explanation. Law took them to ghost towns sometimes. That was when Law would sometimes leave for several days, claiming that he needed to find work—whatever that meant.

For accommodation, Law tried but they did not have many options. Not many places were safe and unaffiliated with the royal court, let alone places that were comfortable.

They really were shitholes and brothels but Law always cleaned the rooms and beds as best he could before letting Sabo sleep on them. Sabo still sneezed from the dust but Law never complained when Sabo did. He just smiled and said he'd try to find a better place to sleep next time. He said Sabo needed to man up and Sabo begrudgingly admitted it was true.

Sabo liked it best when they camped out in the forest. It was quiet and peaceful. Law was laughing at a horrible pun he made about bugs or whatever. Sabo learned that Law loved making jokes that were as bad as his cooking.

One night, while camping, Sabo was trying to sleep after taking a piss somewhere and he felt something touch his lips. It was quick and gentle, nothing too forceful like the kisses he shared with strangers before in the taverns whenever he snuck out. Sabo thought this was some stranger who had a weird kink but he was surprised to hear a familiar voice apologising to him.

"I'm so sorry, your highness. I went out of line."

"You kissed me, Law," Sabo said blandly. "Why?"

“I… it’s a spur of the moment.”

“Do not lie to me.”

Law hesitated. Sabo couldn’t understand why. If Law wanted to have sex with him, he should say so. Sabo wouldn’t mind. Sabo’s curious and Law’s an adult. It felt right, anyhow. That was the way it should be. Law should teach him this and not the boring stuff from books.

“I’m sorry, your highness,” Law said softly after some time. “You’re pretty. That’s why I kissed you.”

Sabo knew there was more to the story. He knew Law was staring at his body. He knew Law liked his body, found him not just pretty but attractive. He knew Law was turned on. Plenty of people told Sabo he was handsome before, and it was unsurprising Law thought that way too. In fact, it would be insulting if Law didn't.

“No, your highness,” Law said with strained finality. “I can’t. I refuse.”

Sabo shrugged. “Pity,” he said without meaning it.

Law struggled to breathe. “You say that as if you actually want to have sex with me.”

“I won’t say I want to,” Sabo said. “I don’t know why you’re so uptight around me. I’m not the king, you know, I have no real power yet.”

“That’s exactly why I refuse. You have no power.”

“Huh?” Sabo did not understand and Law refused to elaborate. Sabo got frustrated and said that Law should explain so Sabo could learn instead of avoiding the topic. Weakly, Law agreed but never explained why having sex with Sabo was such a horrible thing to do.

That day made things more awkward. Neither refused to talk about what happened, and maybe that was for the best. At least, Law now never left Sabo's side, which made things easier.

Eventually, they did make it to Corázon's house and that was when Law left Sabo abruptly without ceremony. Sabo wasn't worried. Law would come back like he always does, with some food and other little gifts he could find along the way. Law always came back.

One day passes. Law is not here. Fine, maybe Law was on vacation. Two weeks and still nothing. Sabo tried not to get worried. Maybe Law got a job. One month later and there was still no news. That was, until one day, a guy with flaming red hair came by to ask for Law.

"Hey, blondie. Where's Trafalgar? He owes me money."

"Excuse me?" Law never borrowed money.

"Huh?" He said. He shrugged. "Whatever, it's not serious. Just tell him to find me if you see him around. There's something else I want to tell him. Name's Eustass. See ya."

"S-sure..." This man looked fucking terrifying!

Corázon was in the kitchen making breakfast and so Sabo forwarded the message. Corázon smiled and said that Law had been borrowing money from him and Eustass. Eustass was a kind man so Sabo need not worry about him.

"What? Why?"

"Law knows he can't give you the luxury you're used to but he insists that he must try," Corázon said kindly.

The first lesson Law taught Sabo in the palace when Sabo was still sixteen was to never to be in anyone else's debt. That was why Sabo started realising something was very wrong.

"But Law always told me how much budget we have and we camp outside. He had always been transparent. He works sometimes, that's why he disappears for three days at a time sometimes."

"Have you actually touched the money Law claims to have?"

N-no, he did not. Corázon invited Sabo to sit down as he explained what's really going on.

Like Sabo, Law had been running away, specifically from a man named Donquixote Doflamingo. At first, Sabo did not know who this person was or what they did to Law but after an info-dump from Corázon, he realised more and more that he was not as smart as he thought he was.

Doflamingo killed Law's biological family when Law refused to work for him. Doflamingo tracked down Law's friends and somehow forced them to distance themselves from Law. Law, now, was dedicated to finding out where they were and setting things right. That was why Law left Sabo alone.

And now, Sabo learnt that these 'palace guards' Law kept complaining about were not palace guards at all. They were Doflamingo's men. That explained why they spoke to Law like that, like he was some sort of slut. Real palace guards spoke to Law with professionalism and formality.

And yet, Law would go so far as to marry Doflamingo! To accept being talked at, degraded and losing basic agency over his life if it meant keeping Sabo safe and, worse of all, free.

"If it means anything, Law said he wished he could've made things easier. You had to get used to a lot of things you're unfamiliar with and there wasn't much of a coping period to help you with your blindness. He regretted not arranging things better for your sake."

Sabo really was a child, after all! He learnt nothing! Nothing at all!

"I forgot to mention this, but Law left a letter for you." Sabo snatched the letter away and felt it. It was written in braille, and it only had a single sentence. Sabo started crying.

"Young man," Corázon said lightly. "How about you write a letter to Law? Or, I'll type one for you. How about that? There's still some time before Law leaves the country with Doflamingo."

Sabo shook his head. He stood up, demand that Smoker give him a ride on his white horse named Chaser towards the Northern Chapel. If Chaser was as fast as Smoker said, then there's still time for Sabo to prove himself to the only person, other than Ace and Luffy, to say, "Sabo, I love you."

[mblue-art]

BAD SANSUARY // [14] tears for owl-bones's event !

"...Killer, it just looks like I have running mascara."

"it's such a look though."

messy kisses and post-nuzzles

[atoriv-art]

older designs for my specialest guy

[hraeesvelgr]

so.. costume epsilon, huh?

[junotter]

All the jokes about Ken and horses are good but I just wanna say it's such a good parallel to how actual young men get swept into misogyny and the patriarchy.

Like they're told to believe it means men get to be cool and manly and have this power but with that comes extremely rigid commands of what they can be as a man and a cycle of self hatred for never matching those gender roles perfectly. Patriarchy tells men that if they just do exactly what is expected of them, then they get all the "cool stuff" that comes with. That doesn't work though when there's only a small group that actually gets that power, but men will keep trying to fit into those roles in hopes that they can.

In the end there are no horses or the myth men are told, it's just endless cycles of self hatred and ingroup fighting.

[mamawasatesttube]

wish more ppl in the timkon tag understood the concept of "best friends to lovers" 😩 where's my "years' worth of stupid inside jokes referenced at the worst moments just to make each other giggle" nonsense. where's the bone-deep understanding and knowing of each other. the ease and relaxation in each other's presence. the "i know how your head works without you having to tell me" of it all. where's the "no one knows me better than you. how could it be anyone but you" of it all!!!

[starry-bi-sky]

Okay so this is almost a direct copy-paste of my earlier reblog but only the Xin Yuan parts, because its long enough to be its own post and i want to share it! It deserves it's own post <3 typical starry stuff to write a 2k word long reblog, unfortunately.

I say almost because I went through to proof read and ended up adding more stuff.

I've been cooking on this idea for the last two days since I saw the Xin Mo!Shen Yuan post but??? I can't find anything on Xin Mo's backstory or how it came to be -- which means that's free fucking plot right there baby. That's a sandbox and im making LIFE SIZED CASTLES. I'm so excited.

The idea of Shen Yuan transmigrating centuries before the events of PIDW as Xin Mo -- but when he wakes up, he's not the sword. He wakes up in the body of a young boy named Xin Yuan. Now it makes sense for this boy to be a demon, but the drama, the intrigue, the spice of Xin Yuan being a human child.

SY wakes up as a boy below the age of ten, and the System tells him where he is, and SY is excited to meet his favorite protagonist -- only to gradually realize that he's like, a thousand years or so before the events of the novel. The rant he gives the system is legendary.

Bc what's the point of getting dropped into PIDW if he's never going to meet his favorite character??? This is a scam! BUT he settles into his new life, he's like, some orphan street rat or some other tragic airplane-esq backstory.

The system gives Shen Yuan his first mandatory quest: become a righteous cultivator. Which was like, kinda his plan/hopes anyways, except! There's like?? No official cultivator sects anywhere? The Cang Qiong Mountain Sect hasn't even been established yet, and there are pockets of cultivators running around, maybe some groups or schools popping up and then sinking back down, but nothing's really taken root!

If he asks someone how to become a cultivator, there's no straight answer. No "oh you can go to X to do that". He's pissed! How can he become a cultivator if there aren't any schools around to teach him? Deus ex machina, that's how.

Out of sheer luck, SY manages to help save a rogue cultivator, and promptly gets adopted by said rogue cultivator, who gives SY the name 'Xin Yuan'. He is ecstatic. And you know what? It's actually pretty fun!

He's getting to travel the world of PIDW in its early stages, and gets to see the building blocks for the eventual main story. He's discovering all this local flora and fauna that are foreign to his old world and unmentioned in the book, and he's learning cultivation! Granted, its unsafe, newly(ish) discovered cultivation, but it counts!

Wistfully, he thinks about perhaps he'll do something grand and get his name carved into legend. Something that would eventually help the protagonist later down the line in his quest for revenge.

The system remains silent to his thoughts.

But Xin Yuan doesn't take much stock in that daydream anyways. It's nothing more than fantasy to him; wish-fulfillment. He does discover however, that he is positively brimming with spiritual energy. Overwhelmingly so.

It's both a blessing and a curse, as it puts a strain on his meridians if he's not careful, and leaves him prone to qi deviations for the exact same reasons. He already has a heart demon or two from a few traumatic experiences in the past.

(bc hey! angst a day keeps the writer sadism at bay, and all that)

I'll say he's about... eight when he gets picked up by the rogue cultivator, who I'm calling Lin Kai bc he deserves a name. They travel around PIDW up until Xin Yuan is twelve, where he goes through a traumatic experience that results in a heart demon.

It's after that that Lin Kai decides to put a stop to his wandering, and find a place to settle down to raise Xin Yuan in. Coincidentally! They settle down in a nice mountain region that's thriving with spiritual energy. The mountains at the time were called something different, but they will be eventually known as the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect

Coincidentally, the mountain Lin Kai and Xin Yuan end up on is Qing Jing Peak. XY does not realize that the mountain he's on is Qing Jing. The System does not tell him. But he likes it there, more than he was expecting. And as much as he's traveled around, he really does enjoy being in one place.

He has a tendency to go down the mountain and help the village setting up down there, and when he's a teenager he starts venturing out more and more.

Xin Yuan forgets sometimes that he's in a novel, especially after settling down on Qing Jing peak. The system becomes remarkably quiet since there's no quests for him to do and not a ton of opportunities to get B-Points. He cultivates with Lin Kai, helps tend to the garden they're growing, goes down to the village to play with the other kids.

There's one boy he's best friends with, a boy whose not all that good with words, named Liu Zhihao. He's got potential for cultivation though, so Xin Yuan drags him up the mountain when he can so that Liu Zhihao can sit in on lessons with Lin Kai. He drags him all over the forest at the foot of the mountain to go look at bugs and animals.

(One time, when they're fourteen and Liu Zhihao has been learning cultivation for a few years now, Xin Yuan drags him out of bed late one night to go look at the stars. Xin Yuan tells Liu Zhihao about ascension -- something that still feels like a far off dream to many in this time -- that night, while they're sitting on the wet grass.)

("We should ascend together." Xin Yuan tells Liu Zhihao, jade eyes gleaming. Never let it be said that Xin Yuan doesn't love deeply, no matter what kind of love it is. He was always so lonely as Shen Yuan, Liu Zhihao is his best friend. "We'll become immortals, and then we won't ascend until the other is able to.")

(Liu Zhihao stares at him silently, his face unreadable. Then, quietly, he asks; "Promise?")

("Promise.")

When he starts adventuring outwards, further away from the mountain and the village, Liu Zhihao sticks to him like rice. Not that Xin Yuan's complaining, that's his best friend after all, and Liu Zhihao has become a formidable cultivator. He deserves to show off his skills.

He starts making something of a name for himself by the time he's, like, 18 -- although that name is in its baby steps, along with Liu Zhihao. They're slowly growing renown.

Perhaps XY uses his knowledge of PIDW and cultivation in general to help make advancements in the cultivation field. Although the system prevents him from sharing too much, it doesn't mean he can't practice it himself. Perhaps he's one of the first cultivators to develop a golden core. One of the first known immortal cultivators. One of the first to have a spirit sword.

(Although I don't know the logistics of any of this since my knowledge on xanxia/cultivation stuff in general is all still pretty new and google wasn't all that helpful lol.)

Either way, its my excuse to eventually make Xin Yuan come across as ethereal to other people. Peerless beauty SY for the win. Hs wifebeam is too strong, Xin Yuan has a line of suitors following after him and he's completely unaware of it. The rest of history is not.

Demon realm stuff has been stirring up since Xin Yuan was a kid, but at the time it was rare and in the beginning stages. Its been steadily ramping up and the system is sending him on more and more treacherous quests -- some of them mandatory, some optional. SY doesn't often take the optional ones unless it comes with a sufficient B-point reward.

for all intents and purposes though, he's a wandering rogue cultivator with Liu Zhihao, going from place to place to either help a town or village, or to discover more creatures or artifacts (although there aren't that many). Just all around living his life. He participates in a few major quest lines that are sure to get him mentioned in legend, even if it's a background character way.

(Unbeknownst to him, rather than being a side character in these legends, he's named directly. You can't become one of the first immortal cultivators and NOT get name dropped for clout.)

He has a spirit sword named Shā Mó, (杀 shā - to kill/weaken/counteract/reduce) (魔 mó - evil spirit, demon, possession). He routinely goes back to QJP to see Lin Kai, or to rest when traveling has worn down on him and he wants nothing more than to sleep somewhere he knows he'll be safe in. It becomes more frequent as Xin Yuan becomes more famous. Liu Zhihao often comes with him.

it all comes to a head though when the rifts between the demonic realm and the human realm become too great, and the balance between both realms becomes unstable. A demonic emperor's influence, wanting to merge the two realms so he could conquer both to satiate his own greed.

Typical evil king stuff. This comes to a climatic head in a great battle between every cultivator available and the demon emperor's army. Xin Yuan was one of the many who helped lead the charge.

In the end, it was Xin Yuan who ends up defeating the demonic emperor, but the rift that the emperor used to cross between worlds is destabilizing as well. Except instead of trying to close, it's getting bigger and bigger, threatening to swallow the heavens and earth and demonic realm whole.

You know how Yue Qingyuan's soul is bonded to his sword due to a qi deviation? Let's take it a step further >:)

Xin Yuan uses himself and Shā Mó to close the rift. However, it takes all of his spiritual energy to do so, as well as him filtering the demonic qi into his body to redirect it back to the demon realm.

In the end, Xin Yuan and his beloved sword Shā Mó fuse. Xin Yuan's soul becomes trapped in the sword. His physical body is unable to handle the immense amount of power it takes to close the rift, and is destroyed. He is immortalized in legend by his grieving cultivators.

(Liu Zhihao ends up ascending alone. He ascends with the hope that one day he'll see Xin Yuan again, even if it's in the face of someone else. Lin Kai does not ascend, too weighed down by the grief of losing his son.)

Xin Yuan, now Xin Mo, falls into a stasis. He's very confused and disorientated when he regains 'consciousness'. The system has been silent for most of his life, only popping up to give him mandatory quests, hints, points, or to answer any questions.

But once he wakes up, it cheerfully pops up again, congratulating him on completing the origin story of Xin Mo. SY freaks the fuck out. he'd shake the system screen if he could, but he doesn't have arms. or legs. or eyes for that matter.

He can sense his surroundings, but its all like imprints to him. He can sense the energies, but he can't see anything. It's all very disorientating and horrifying after years of being human. Like a sensory deprivation chamber.

The closing of the rift and the cycling demonic qi tainted both Sha Mo and Xin Yuan irreparably, and it did some kind of damage that resulted in SY needing to feed in order to use the spiritual powers. Kinda like how Xuan Su uses YQY's life force for it's spiritual energy, but instead of feeding on his own lifeforce, Xin Mo feeds on others.

The rest is history. Xin Mo is originally tied to the story of Xin Yuan -- believed to be all that remained of the man after he sacrificed himself to keep the realms separate. It's believed that the force of the realms closing permanently infused Sha Mo with demonic energy, turning it into Xin Mo.

But, like many stories do when faced against the tide of time, things get lost; chipped off; changed. Xin Mo is steadily separated from Xin Yuan, especially once it becomes clear how parasitic the sword really is, until they are all but separate entities themselves and the origin of Xin Mo's creation all but forgotten.

The years blur together when Xin Mo is not being wielded, and at first Xin Yuan was agonized by the fact that he stole the lives of all his wielders. He knows it's only a novel, but his decades spent in this life have softened him, and he's grown attached to the world around him.

But time erodes the mind like water erodes stone, and he becomes numb to it, then eventually anticipating of it. He forces himself to remember what he knows of PIDW's plot, and kinda fixates back on his old obsession on Luo Binghe. But while PIDW stays in his mind, his memories as Xin Yuan fall to the wayside.

Not forgotten, per se, but... tucked away. The system prevents him from forgetting fully.

Xin Mo isn't fully a demonic sword either i think, but instead harbors an ugly cocktail of both spiritual and demonic qi. Special circumstances and all that. Everyone just assumes he's a fully demonic sword because that's usually at the forefront, his spiritual qi weakened from the initial fusion and from years of not being fed spiritual qi. It's part of the reason his wielders always end up destroyed by him, other than the whole, yk, 'overwhelming qi' thing.

Nobody would recognize Xin Mo's human form as Xin Yuan other than some truly ancient demons. Of which Meng Mo might. But even that's iffy because there's a lack of surviving paintings of Xin Yuan, but also because of XM's demonic appearance and supposed lack of connection to XY.

Xin Mo has never spoken to his wielders before, not in the same way he does Luo Binghe. He tells Luo Binghe this, and he also tells Luo Binghe down the line that he is both spiritual and demonic -- something he also never told his wielders because there was no point to it.

okay okay i've got to end it here because its already gotten ridiculously long -- of which im both apologetic and unapologetic for -- but i DO think the Shang Qinghua and Shen Yuan meeting (and reveal) would be fucking hilarious. Especially if SY has learned how to pop between sword form and human form by then -- although i guess it doesnt matter either way because SQH's reaction is still the same.

And that reaction is internally screaming and going "hey what the FUCK?? WHY DOES XIN MO HAVE A HUMAN FORM??? WHAT IS THIS??? SYSTEM??? EXPLAIN???"

meanwhile from his place on the sword hilt xin mo is squinting at Shang Qinghua in bewilderment and going "aren't you supposed to be dead" but doesn't pay too much mind to it because its not like its going to change anything.

...up until he catches shang qinghua going "WTF" silently from his little corner while all eyes are off him. One moment SQH is standing beside his king, and the next he's been tackled to the ground by one wild-eyed, human-shaped Xin Mo.

everyone, including SQH, thinks Xin Mo is going to kill him. It is a surprise to everyone when he does not, and instead dissolves into deranged, uncontrollable laughter after spitting out some phrase in some ancient tongue and watching SQH's eyes grow wide in recognition.

[ssaseaprince]

Can we talk about how Derek obviously has a type because Spencer and Penelope are so similar.

[sonknuxadow]

this is probably an unpopular opinion with the amount of "everyone is married with kids" type future aus people make for sonic characters but i cannot see sonic getting married or having a kid ever. if he did somehow end up with a kid hed be the worlds first transmasc absent father or however the joke goes

[candyheartedchy]

Once in awhile I think about my platonic f/os since I mostly only focus on my romantic ones and don’t really want to list out every f/o I have on my carrd, but I should probably draw my fictional bffs and self inserts interacting more.

[mistyscenter]

I love that this fandom doesn't understand Baxter's character, I adore how they patronize him,a whole ass adult, for facing the consequences of his actions.

I love how people make him feel like a sad little baby when he leaves mc as if that's not something he made extremely clear. I love how people treat this 19 year old as if he's not old enough to understand the consequences of his actions. I love how Baxter is aware of his flaw's but feels like he can't break them because people only see him as a tool and this fandom reinforces that.

I love how people will get mad at Nico for doing the cardinal crime of being 6 years old but will baby a 24 year old Baxter. I love how people make him this charismatic rich guy when it's shown that he's a hot mess that doesn't know what he wants. I love that Baxter's whole character arc is about his self sabotaging tendencies and how everyone ignores that. I love that people fell in love with the mask he had for most of the dlc.

I love that this fandom lacks reading comprehension skills and understanding of nuance characters, great job everyone for not understanding how writing works :)

[bigkickguy]

some daan marcoh doodles around some dialogue bits I hit in game haha - gave me some thoughts on how one could think of daan if you only bumped into him at certain points? I don't remember the lines exactly but there were a few like this? 'Are you moving on? I guess we'll split ways here.' 'Someone has figure out how to treat these people...'

'You were very heroic stepping in there.' 'In the dark, your thoughts can really get to you out here...' 'Am... I... still a good man? Or...'

[roseofspades]

Thinking about narumitsu and like i absolutely ship them together but i dont reallllyy see them getting like together together at least not in any sort conventional romantic official couple sort of way during the canon games. like maybe because my interpretations are pretty canon compliant but i only see them becoming an official couple after the current canon games or like maybe not ever officially dating to anyone at all. not in an angsty way of that they pine forever and are sad and lonely but just that like, by the time they become old and properly coupley theres just never anything said of it.

for the most part they are already together in the ways that matters to their relationship. they work together in court and trust eachother and care about eachother and worry about eachother. they become the most important people in eachothers live and they have been and continue to be eachothers reason for doing what they do. they rely on eachother and would do anything for eachother and all of these things are things that build gradually over years. a line cant be drawn for when they became what they are to eachother and while i do see it evolving into something romantic its just really a progression of their relationship and whether they are romantic or not isn't even the most important part of their relationship because undoubtedly theyve loved eachother for years. theyre partners and everybody knows that.

[daily-hanamura]

[tiny-huts]

The entire Astarion graveyard scene was wonderful but I won't lie that the entire time I was picturing them having to run out of the graveyard bare ass naked after being caught having goth sex on a grave by a worker

[minsarasarahair]

My favorite hug scenes in my favorite Makoto Shinkai films

"Every morning I put on my suit to go to school... But I was scared... I couldn't keep going... In that place... You... saved me!" - The Garden of Words (2013)

"Thank you for saving me. I'll come back to see you again. I promise." - Suzume (2022)