#i was actually pretty lucky with villagers early on

[gamebunny-advance]

Crossing the Animals

I've been playing ACNH a lot again recently, and I kinda hate what the new overwhelming power that the player has done to how I view my villagers.

On the one hand, I have given into the "creative player" mindset, where only the aesthetics of the animals really matters to me in terms of inviting them to live on Moonside. But on the other hand, I also still have the old "social sim" mindset, so I have difficulty letting go of animals that I've had a long time.

For example, I've had Raymond on my island since the game first came out because he was my mandatory smug villager, but tbh I don't really care for his businessman theme and was kinda put off from all the hype he had.

At first, I kept him because I felt bad throwing such a "rare" villager in into the void, especially when I knew others would really want him. My original intention was to pass him off to someone else when he got a thought bubble, but before that happened, I actually got attached to him for reasons not important enough to detail here. So ironically, even though this is the game with the (IMO) worst villager dialogue, he still managed to become a "character" for me, the same way Mint, Coco, and even Cole had in the past.

But even so, the bland dialogue and character interactions have kept him from becoming anything more than that, and the little affection I did have for him have started to fade.

So now, as I try to gather villagers that fit the aesthetics of my island better, Raymond keeps coming up on the chopping block, but I just can't bring myself to let him go, even though I know he really isn't going to do anything more for me. It's like I want to be able to say, "I've had this villager on my island since the very start of the game." even though a statement like that means literally nothing anyone, including myself.

And yet. I want to hang onto it. Even though it brings me no joy.

Ya know.

Now that I've written that out, I actually feel better about finally letting him go the next time he gets a thought bubble. I guess venting does actually work on occasion.

[808len808]

Noted

!Leon S. Kennedy x Male Reader!

summery: You always flirt with Leon, getting him all worked up for nothing, so when Leon finally got the chance to get you back he took it immediately.

Authers note: I've officially read every single Leon x Male reader fic, so I decided to tribute too like the good samaritan I am.

!Warnings!: nsfw themes, amab terms used for both Leon and Reader, Hypothermia.

(Words: 6,070)

The rain poured down like a thousand waterfalls, fog filling the air as you tried to find your way through the old abandoned village, Leon leaning on you, his hand clamped to his side as the rain and his blood drenched your black shirt in a mean color. You had to find shelter, to tend Leon’s wounds, to warm up in the cold winter storm. You were lucky there wasn’t snow involved yet, lucky that the mission was a success and that you were safe, sort of. 

You looked beside you, Leon’s feet slumped on the ground his boots brown and covered in mud his socks were already soaked and probably very uncomfortable. You praised yourself for getting water-resistant boots before the mission. Leon held his wound covering it the best he could after you told him to keep pressure on it. His face contorted into a painful look his eyes closing every once and a while as he breathed out shacky breaths. 

“Just hold on a bit longer”, you whispered although it was barely audible above the pounding sound of the rain.

Leon had been your partner for over a year now, working together on missions nonstop. 

The first time he got to work with you on a mission he was flustered non-stop, trying to shrug off your comments, and flirtations because you did and said it to everyone…right?

Well technically true, but you did like Leon, maybe not that much at first, but he kind of grew on you, and so did his blush.

Besides the flirty comments from you, you guys were a pretty great team, greater them most, hence why you were sent on missions together so much.

This brings us to where you and he are today, on a mission to retrieve some stolen virus, you didn’t have much details, just what it looked like, and you were supposed to bring it back in one piece for research. You had worked for the D.S.O. long enough now that you knew not to ask too many questions. 

The mission was supposed to be short and easy, you did the first part without any setbacks and finally, you were happy to wrap this up and go back to your apartment and relax. Maybe go to the bar if you are in the mood, maybe invite Leon to the bar? yeah, why not? You had formed a plan in your head already, it wouldn’t be out of character for you to ask him, your flirtations were honestly just part of your and Leon’s routine by now.  But your whole plan was destroyed when a storm came up making it impossible for the chopper to even get close to you and Leon. You were stuck.

Your relationship with your work partner was honestly fun, you were always happy to work with Leon, not only was Leon brave and sweet (and can kick like a mf). He was also funny, and ever since you started working with Leon you actually started to enjoy your job. 

Leon joined your team very early on at the age of 24, making you a bit more protective of him sometimes. "He’s just a kid", you’d say to your superiors every time Leon got dispatched on another life-threatening mission even though you weren’t even 3 years older than him. 

It started off as just harmless comments about Leon’s looks or just cheesy one-liners, eventually, Leon even started to form a few of his oneliners making you grin every time because yes they were bad, so bad that it was funny. But the more you were around Leon the more you started to care about him, even when you didn’t want to admit it, even when you thought you weren’t capable of ever falling in love, even when you didn’t want to, you’ve fallen for the guy, literally and figuratively.

The sun that had previously been shining was completely gone, you squinted your eyes trying to figure your the environment. The village that once was beautiful and would be a beautiful one to live in was now cold and decayed. The old cabins were barely holding up, especially with this weather. The wood creaked threatening to fall apart, even with centuries on its back the storm seemed to penetrate. 

Suddenly you spotted a house in the distance. It was bigger, the roof painted with green tiles instead of the straw roofing of the rest of the houses. The house is made of brick instead of wood standing steady in the rain. 

Your eyes darted back to Leon who still had a look of pain on his face.  “You’re gonna be okay”, you reassured yourself more than Leon, you weren’t even sure if he could even hear you, you’d be surprised if he did. 

You quickly made your way over to the house. You opened the door in a swift motion, your footsteps hard on the wooden floor as the water fell down on the ground with every step you took. The door slammed closed immediately the strong wind pulling it back with a hard smack. You let out a breath you didn’t even know you were holding once the dry atmosphere of the house surrounded you. It was almost as if you had put headphones on that damped the environment, inside the house it was quiet, with no sign of danger. It was dark inside, you struggled to see anything. Your body was working faster than your head. You turned a corner leading up to the stairs, Leon was groaning in your ear as you almost dragged him up the steps. A slim hallway led to one door upstairs, you grasped the walls trying to stabilize yourself as you held on to Leon. 

The room at the end of the hall was as you suspected a bedroom. The sheets were a nice green the same color as the roof, this house seemed clean and new like the people had just left a few days ago. The sheets seemed brand new the wooden bed frame carved. You sat Leon down on the bed gently laying him down, not caring that his blood stained the sheets. “You’re gonna be okay”, you reassured again to which Leon responded with a grunt. 

The side of his abdomen did not look good. You got a few test tubes filled with herbs out and lit a candle on the bedside table giving off just enough light to see Leon’s wound.

You went to work immediately giving Leon a few sorry’s as you slowly lifted up his shirt. He was apparently horrible at staying quiet because with everything you did, he groaned or let out whimpers even after you numbed the wound he just couldn’t keep quiet. It was certainly something you would have to remember in the future.

“There ya go, all better”, you said as you wrapped up the wound nice and clean. Proudly looking back at your work, you were certainly no medic but it was less worse than you expected mostly because it was a fairly small cut and not that deep. 

“Thanks, doc”, Leon joked back to which you gave a wink. “I’m going to double check the house,” you said already standing up to walk away, grabbing your flashlight and toying with it in your hand. “You’ll be all right here?” 

“Yeah I’m fine”, Leon responded his voice slightly hoarse. “You’re always fine”, you quipped back with a grin and quickly left the room, missing Leon’s eye roll.

You thoroughly checked the house and even booted up the windows that were threatening to break with the gushing wind. Going back upstairs you tried to contact Hunnigan again but there seemed to be no signal. 

Leon was sitting up on the bed his radio in his hands as well. “Got signal?” You leaned back against the wall observing as Leon fiddled with the buttons. “Nope,” he sighed. Upon looking down at your watch you were shocked to find out it was already around midnight. The storm had combined day and night in one big tornado. 

“It’s getting late,” You ran a hand through your hair as you spoke. “You should get some sleep, let your body heal.” You walked around to the large fireplace placed in front of the bed, shoving some wood in and catching Leon’s eyes as you glanced back. “What about you?” 

“Don’t worry about me, get your beauty sleep”, you replied with a cheeky grin as you got your lighter out. 

“We can take shifts-“

“Not necessary, just sleep Leon”, you shot a look back cutting Leon’s sentence off. Leon let out a small scoff. But the bed shifted, and the small clang of a radio being placed on the nightstand was heard. You smiled to yourself as you sat down knowing Leon wasn’t fighting back anymore, leaning against the bed frame as you sat on the wooden floor. The fire illuminated the room in a warm color but left the corners dark and unpredictable.

The fire crackled over the sound of the rain against the one window in the room as a loud thunder erupted from the clouds. The fire was hot against your skin even when you weren’t even sitting close to it, it left a tingling feeling on your cheek as you felt your damp hair already dry together with your clothes. 

It was only then that you realized you were still wearing your cold wet clothes. It stuck to your skin as you tried to remove your tactical harness clipping it and letting it sit by the fire, you took off your belt, shoes, and socks as well as your shirt.

Even when your pants felt like hell right now you didn’t want to take them off, not with Leon in the same room. So there you were laying your clothes by the fire leaving you in only your cargo pants. 

“What are you doing” a voice croaked from the bed making you chuckle, you didn’t bother to look back instead staring into the flames. “Drying my clothes”, you responded. “Are you naked right now?!” Leon’s voice was high pitched which made you laugh. 

“Yep, I’m totally naked, dick out and everything”. 

“Are you being serious right now?!” 

You looked over your shoulder and could barely see Leon his face flush and turned away from you. Leon took the silence as an answer. “You weren’t serious were you?”, Leon sighed.

“You can check”, you invited keeping a strict eye on Leon to see if he would actually turn around. And slowly but surely you saw Leon’s head move just to take a quick glance. He immediately retracted his steps once he was watching. “You pervert!” You dramatically said taking a fake look of disbelief on your face. 

Leon covered his face with his hands hiding away from you. “How dare you!”, you placed your hand on your chest acting like you were deeply disturbed.

“You’re the one undressing next to me!” Leon said anxiously making you erupt out in laughter which he automatically mirrored.

“Go to sleep!” you laughed back. 

That night you didn’t sleep not that it mattered anyway because it seemed you and Leon were stuck. That’s right, you had watched the entire night with an aw-struck face as you watched the snow fall down. The ground was already covered with multiple inches of perfect white snow when morning came. And still, the storm went on and rain and snow came together with mud making the beautiful clear ice turn a dirty brown. 

By the time Leon woke up you had already gotten to explore the whole house finding enough food to last for at least a week, and by the looks of it, you would be stuck here for a while.

Leon and you kept tight in the bedroom since the fire was the only thing keeping you warm right now. You and Leon sat by the fireplace as you handed him some random can of soup you found and warmed up above the fireplace while holding one for yourself as well. 

“How long do you think we’re stuck here?”

You shrugged looking outside the window again the blizzard had covered the houses making the scenery seem nicer somehow. Specs of snow and ice slashed across the sky riding the heavy wind.

“For however long that storm is”, you lifted the spoon to your mouth softly blowing it before letting it touch your lips.

“And then just hope that we can get some sort of signal.” You sighed as you spoke the situation was really not looking good.

“We’ll figure something out”, Leon replied back hopeful making you smile. He was always more optimistic kind of funny how he can still be even now.

You sat in silence, sipping your soup while the fire brought warmth to both of you, sitting on the ground in front of the fireplace. It kind of reminded you of Christmas as a kid you’d sit in front of the fireplace waiting for Santa and playing in the snow outside later. 

Your eyes trailed back to Leon who was looking out the window, lost in thought as well. You decided it was time to strike up some conversation again before the silence became too much.

“How’s your wound?”

Leon’s head turned back to you and down to his side as if he initially didn’t know what you were talking about. “Yeah it’s fine”, Leon nodded as he spoke. “At least not infected so that’s good” he spoke with slight cheerfulness in his tone his hair moving with his head as he spoke. 

“You got lucky,” you grinned. “My very professional medical skills saved you.”, you said proudly. 

“Ah, yes, of course, where would I be without you?” Leon questioned back raising an eyebrow. “Probably Dead. So you should thank me honestly for saving you” You took another spoon of soup holding eye contact with Leon as you did. “Oh how will I ever repay you my brave hero”, he said putting his hand on his forehead as he dramatically spoke.

“Oh I certainly have some ideas”, you mumbled to yourself stirring your soup. Leon became quiet and you could quite literally see the redness slowly creeping on his face. 

After the wonderful breakfast soup, you and Leon decided to talk about a plan.

“I want to go outside and see if we can find any help” Leon announced putting down his knife on the downstairs table. 

You raised an eyebrow “You can’t be serious, do you see that blizzard?”

"Yeah well I want to check it out, maybe it’s not that bad, and maybe I can get a signal or something.”, Leon replied back sternly looking directly into your eyes with his blue orbs. 

“There’s no point, Leon, it’s best to just wait it out.”, you argued back, and your argument was true but to be honest you just didn’t want Leon to get hurt. 

“But what if they already sent help and they’re already here,” Leon placed his hands on the table leaning slightly as he looked up at you.

You pinched the bridge of your nose, sighing, already tired of Leon’s stubbornness. “You’re still injured,” you pointed down to his side. 

“It’s nothing, why won’t you just let me go?”, Leon was slightly raising his voice. You leaned back against the kitchen wall your eyes piercing Leon’s in a silent battle of who would look away first. “You could get hypothermia.” Leon just scoffed at that, leaning back as well, standing up straight as if to look more intimidating which he definitely didn’t, well maybe if you were shorter but you’re taller than him so it just looked kind of silly. (I can’t take short people seriously) 

“I’ll be back in less than an hour I promise,” You opened your mouth to speak but he interrupted you again holding up a hand to silence you. “And-, and I won’t go too far.”, he put on his puppy eyes which made you break away. 

“Fine,” you gritted through your teeth, ignoring how Leon smiled as he won the argument. “But if you die on me I’m gonna be real mad.”

“Yeah, yeah” Leon nodded putting on his jacket and backpack as well as all his tackle gear. “Be careful.” Leon gave you a firm nod before closing the door behind him with a loud slam.

The house felt even more quiet now. 

After an hour passed you started to get nervous he was supposed to be back already. It was stupid how much you were stressing out, walking circles in the bedroom profusely looking outside the window for any sign of Leon in the blizzard. You kept checking your watch over and over. When two hours had passed you started to freak out, contemplating if you should go out in the snow to try and find it.

Just as you were going downstairs to get your equipment and go after Leon the door opened.  Leon was standing in the doorway cold wind grasped your hair to stand up in your skin. Leon was absolutely trembling, not looking at you. 

“Jezus Leon”, you quickly ran over swiftly closing the door and looking at Leon to check for injuries. “Are you okay? You had me worried”, you patted down his arms checking to see if he was fine, he was he just seemed very cold, shivering. “Help” he breathed out, you quickly realized what was going on, you had even warned him about it. “Shit.” You quickly picked him up into your arm heading upstairs in a record of time, the fire was still going. “How bad is it?” You asked sitting Leon down on the bed and taking off his soaked coat that was covered in snow and ice by now. 

“I don’t know, one moment I was fine, and then suddenly-“ Leon groaned as your warm fingers touched his now naked arm. “Sorry,” you mumbled back. You got down on one knee and roughly got off Leon’s boots and set them aside. His socks were absolutely soaked you were impressed that he still had all his toes. “Can you move?” You stood up straight noticing how Leon was already staring at you when you made eye contact. Leon gave you a small nod. “It just hurts when I do.”

You held out your arm, signaling for Leon to balance himself with it if needed. “Stand up.” Leon leaned on you as you helped him get up. Your hands went down trying not to think of what you were doing, you were trained for this, it was protocol. But still, you couldn’t help but look away as you fiddled with the button of Leon’s pants, and then the zipper. You were trying to act as nonchalant as possible keeping up a stern face when in reality you were getting sweaty.

“You’re real stupid you know that?”, you asked going down in a swift motion to peel Leon’s wet cargo pants off. “I told you this would happen,” you continued guiding Leon to sit back down again so that you could remove his pants completely. “But you just had to check,” your eyes met his again he was blushing profusely hugging himself with his shivering arms.

“Lay down,” it was more of a command now because you were getting pissed off. Leon obediently did as you said laying down on the bed leaving enough room for you. After wrapping Leon under the warm covers and getting every blanket you could find you finally scooted up behind him trying to warm him as your clothes chest pressed against his exposed back. You couldn’t see Leon’s face but you already knew what he was looking like. You wrapped your arms around him, just like you learned in training, well maybe not totally but hey, this was life or death, right?

“Well?” 

“What?”, Leon questioned back confused as you kept spooning him. 

“Was it worth it? Did you find anything? Anyone?”

He stayed quiet for a while before finally responding. “No”

You scoffed and Leon could feel your hot breath on his neck as you did. “Then what was even the point”, you said disappointed.

Leon was getting fed up al this backlash from you only made him in an even worse mood, even when he was flustered with your arms around him he still found a way to be annoyed, or rather you found a way to be annoying. “You just got hurt for nothing”

Finally, Leon snapped he turned around. “Why do you care?!” His face was almost fuming but his eyebrows were scrunched up in confusion. You suddenly felt bad, and mostly embarrassed by the fact that his face was mere inches away from you. “Because-“ You couldn’t find the right reason even when there were a thousand you just couldn’t bring yourself to speak.

And the way Leon was looking at you right now definitely didn’t help, it stayed quiet Leon keeping strict eye contact with you while you kept finding other places to look at. apparently, Leon wasn’t faced at all by the fact you were so close and by the fact that you could just lean in and-

You noticed a change in Leon’s face his eyes averted down to your lips, and your heart raced in your chest. “I think we both know why”, you whispered making Leon look back into your eyes again while a faint blush painted his cheeks. He leaned in and immediately you did too, meeting him halfway into a heated kiss, even when his lips were cold you brought him all the warmth he needed.

You kept your lips connected with Leon as you propped yourself up on one elbow your head hovering over Leon as you penetrated Leon’s mouth, your hot tongue warming the inside of Leon’s mouth pulling out soft noises from Leon that went straight to your dick.

You tried to pull away to catch your breath or say something but Leon’s lips were on you before you could even process what was happening both his hands in your messy hair. You groaned as Leon pushed you as close as he could his body bare body pressed against yours under the sheets.

You pulled away again this time going straight for Leon’s neck, Leon’s head fell back into the pillow, and finally, you could hear all the noises he was making in his small pants and that soft whimper when you sucked too hard on his sensitive skin. 

It felt like a dream, because you had dreamt about it very many times maybe that’s why your brain had trouble processing the situation. 

“Fuck,” you groaned, “I’ve wanted to do this for a long time”

“Oh yeah how long?”, Leon breathed back, you looked back up, one of your legs between Leon’s legs, your senses were heightened as your lips trailed further down leaving wet open kisses on Leon’s now warm skin, keeping eye contact with the younger man. “You don’t want to know,” you replied with a grumble as you sat up on your knees your eyes averting to admire the view in front of you.

Leon’s muscles tensed his face red his semi-hard erection pulsing through his boxers. “How far do you want to take this?” You asked your knees between Leon’s legs. 

Leon rested his body on his elbows the bed shifting in weight as he did. “I want to take this however far it can go”

You grinned leaning back down to meet Leon’s lips again making Leon tilt his head further back to deepen the kiss. Your hand traveled down Leon’s abs going over his abdomen and touching every bit of skin that you could get your grubby hands on. You toyed a bit with the edge of Leon’s waistband just to test Leon’s patience for a bit. “Please-” and there you had your answer so you complied your hand slid under the fabric making a whine escape from Leon’s mouth.

You started panting yourself your heart beating loudly in your chest as your head dipped down to Leon’s collarbone nipping at the skin there as your hand started stroking his length. Leon closed his eyes his hot breath on your neck. Everything turned out hot and sweaty, you didn’t know how it was possible in this condition but it did.

“Ah, shit” Leon’s voice was raspy and much higher than normal his face had a pathetic look on it like he was just asking to be fucked with his eyes, which he probably did on purpose. You kept a firm rith knowing better than to rush yourself. 

The fire made small cozy noises in the background, and all of a sudden you were happy to be stranded with Leon because now no one could interrupt you, nobody could come and ruin your fun.

You smirked at the thought. “Fuck, please!” Leon mewled out.

“What is it, baby? What do you want?” You again leaned backward admiring Leon’s erotic expression, his lips slightly parted, he wasn’t looking at you almost as if he was ashamed. “Use your words come on Leon”, you grinned as your hand sped up making Leon sputter our more choked moans. 

“You’re usually so talkative..” you teased leaning closer to his face. “Spit it out baby” As much as you encouraged Leon still seemed like he wasn’t obliging. You raised an eyebrow as Leon stayed quiet. So you decided to take matters into your own hands or rather out of your hand. 

You redirected your hand out Leon’s underwear finally grabbing Leon’s attention.

“No, no wait” Leon tried to get your hand back, reaching out for your wrist but you dodged his grabs and clicked your tongue in disapproval. You sat back with a slight smirk sitting on the bed your eyes piercing through Leon as he hesitantly looked at you. “Please-“ “What?” Again you raised an eyebrow seating your hands behind you on the bed. “You’ll have to tell me if you want me to continue” Leon looked at you stubbornly his eyes following the messy sheets of the bed before they met yours again. His dignity was fading by the second and Leon couldn’t figure out whether he liked it or not.

Leon’s puppy eyes met yours as he sat in shame “Touch me,” he mumbled out your lips perked up. You could press him on for more but you felt satisfied with the small response Leon had given you. “Good boy”, you praised signing him over to you as you patted the space between your legs. “C’mere,” Leon happily obliged, he sat down his back pressed against your chest as your hands immediately went down his body again.

Your chin rested on his shoulder watching everything you were doing to that poor boy. “That wasn’t so hard now was it?”, Leon shook his head biting his lips as your hands caressed down again. “Words Leon,” you said gripping his shaft. “Ah! Yes, it-“Leon let out another choked moan his head falling back onto your shoulder his hair tickling the side of your face. 

Leon was trembling in your grip his legs shaking as you embraced him, your free hand found one of Leon’s tits squeezing the muscle, massaging slowly as your fingers crept closer to his sensitive nubs, your rough fingers teasingly rubbing circles around the red ring making Leon’s heart pound loudly. 

The house creaked slightly the stone walls keeping you safe from the cold and whatever the fuck else was out there. 

“Fuck-, please fuck me”, Leon said his words reaching your ears but going straight down. You wanted to fuck his tight little asshole so fucking bad, to make Leon feel you for at least a few days, to truly penetrate him. But atlas you were hesitant, you knew Leon had experience so did you, but maybe this was just not the right setting, you were still in a workspace, and above all that Leon had just recovered from hypothermia. 

“Lee, I’m not sure”, You said your mouth stuck to his neck like glue. “We don’t got any lube or anything, I don’t wanna hurt you,” you replied genuinely concerned. “I don't care just- please,” the corner of his eyes caught yours in an utter most desperate look. And how could you say no to that?

“So stubborn”, you mumbled with amusement. You let out a small sigh your hand slowing down and reaching up. You kissed Leon’s cheek and Leon turned his head back slightly so you could properly kiss him.  “Okay, we’ll start slow yeah? See where it goes”, you said making sure Leon heard every word. Leon nodded and you looked at him for a second waiting for him to catch on. “Right, yeah, words”, Leon nodded his head hanging. “yeah, no that sounds good” he answered with a boyish smile.

“Great, now open up.” Leon was opening his mouth to protest but before he could get a word out of his throat you shoved your middle finger and pointer in his mouth without any warning, well technically you did give him a warning.

Leon moaned around your fingers his eyes closing as his tongue swirled around your fingers, his mouth adjusting to the taste and shape. You looked at him with a face of pride as you let him suck off your fingers. Once you got bored with it and the top of your fingers were starting to form water wrinkles, you removed your fingers releasing with a small plop a string of saliva that connected your skin to Leon’s lips before you broke it and moved them down. 

You went with patients at least you tried to, it was hard when there was a get moaning and whimpering in your ear with every move you made. One finger slid in easily, Leon tensed and shook everyone and a while shivers rolled up his spine as your finger moved to stretch him out. “Relax” you mumbled soothingly in Leon’s ear. Leon was already panting his chest standing proud as he arched his back into your touch. “I’m trying” You believed him on that front. “I got you all right? So just…relax”

Leon’s head nodded as he agreed in a slur of yes and apologies to which you chuckled. Leon wasn’t used to this, it was slow and passionate, you were actually caring for him caring for his pleasure not just toying with him for your own gain. 

With two fingers you got Leon squirming on top of them he was getting impatient and you could tell he wanted more. “Please-, I’m ready”, he complained, you slowly removed your fingers your lips sucking on the skin below Leon’s ear. “I don’t know”, you started trying to think this through, maybe this wasn’t the best idea, fucking your co-worker on a mission. You started to doubt this whole hookup in a whole. “Maybe it’s best if we just stop here, no hard feelings-“ Leon shook his head almost violently. “No”, 

Leon turned around sitting on his knees across from you on the bed. You looked at him questioning. His hair was messy his lips swollen with many marks on his neck that would soon become bruises. “No?” You returned Leon’s words tilting your head.

“We’re still on a mission Leon”, you reminded him to which he rolled his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said under his breath. “You’re only thinking about that now?” 

“Yeah,” you admitted with a small smile. Again Leon scoffed. He looked straight into your eyes as he moved closer. “You’ve been flirting with me since the moment we met” Leon crawled closer his hand beside your hip on the bed his face dangerously close to yours. “I know you like me” Leon continued full confidence. You gulped as you leaned back trying to create some space between the two of you. 

Leon ignored it, his hands going down to unbuckle your belt while you sat there totally in shock at Leon’s attitude.

“Leon I don’t-“ 

“Oh come all that big dick talk has to come from somewhere right?” With that sentence all your thoughts and doubts were thrown out the window you tried to fight it but Leon was quick to go down and shut you up, grabbing your length and pulling it out of its restraints. “Ah- shit-”

His next few moves were quick time blurted together in pleasure his hole aligned with your dick his hand at the base of your cock guiding you while your eyes followed his every move. Slowly Leon lowered down sinking on you as his thighs straddled your lap. Leon’s eyes rolled back his face going from concentration to pure pleasure in a blink of an eye. 

All you could do was dig your nails deep into the flesh of Leon’s ass as your mind became fogged with a big cloud of pure erotic pleasure. “Ah- fuck baby slow down”, you pleaded with grasps feeling how Leon’s walls hugged you tight squeezing you. “Shit!” Leon moaned as he finally bottomed out his head falling on your shoulder. “Fuck” He let out a small choked sob. His hips slowly roll down on you making you groan. 

His dick was squeezed between your body his angry red tip leaking into your skin, rubbing against the fabric of your shirt with Leon’s movements. 

Leon’s pace was sloppy his face concentrated, trying his best it was adorable honestly, but just not pleasurable enough for you. You decided to just take a tiny bit of control, beginning to guide Leon’s hips at a much steadier and faster pace. “Ah- fuck!” Leon’s head fell back his eyes going up in ecstasy as you fucked him back making sure to delicately grasp his sweet spot with every thrust. 

You could tell Leon was trying hard not to cum, his hands anchored on your shoulders sweat dripping down his hairline. His whimpers became more apparent the longer you went on. 

“You wanted this didn’t you?” You panted. Leon’s mouth was agape as he closed his eyes. “Mhm mhm” he nodded frantically. “Wanted me to fuck you like this” you continued beneath your breath. Leon let out a loud moan as you started to rut against his sweet spot, drool was at the corners of his mouth soft sobs leaving his mouth. “shit-shit-shit!” Leon panted his words slurring. “I’m coming- ah- shit coming!” Leon mumbled incoherent things as webs of white landed on both your abdomen, and your movements became frantic trying to race to your own release desperately. 

Leon’s forehead landed on your sweaty shoulder his hot breath on your chest as you finally released inside him. Holding his hips as you slammed your chock deep into Leon not caring that Leon was practically crying on your shoulder as you did. He let out high mewls as your movements slowly came to a hold. 

The both of you sat there in silence panting as you came down from your high. You wrapped your arms around him. “You okay?” You asked genuinely worried that you may have gone too far. Leon let out a small huff of a laugh which made you instantly feel better realizing you hadn’t totally ruined the relationship you had with him. “Yeah…that was amazing” 

You smiled at that sighing with relief. “Oh thank god”, your thumb rubbed small circles on Leon’s back. Leon let out a small giggle. 

After another while of silence and your dick becoming uncomfortable in the wetness of your own cum, you pulled out making Leon whence. You muttered a small apology just as you had done when you treated his injury a day ago. How times change huh?

You gave Leon a kiss on the cheek, you found some towels after rummaging the house, you cleaned off Leon and after that yourself. 

“I’m sorry that I can’t give you proper aftercare, you definitely deserve it after that”, you grinned covering the both of you under the blanket spooning him once again. “It’s okay, you can make it up to me when we get home” 

“Is that so?” You playfully squeezed him. To which he giggled cutely.

“I didn’t hurt you too much did I?” You asked your worries over taking you once again. “Not really and besides I like a bit of pain.” 

“Noted” 

[justatalkingface]

If we already on Aizawa talk, it’s pretty obvious that Hori wanted to create another kakashi.

But he ultimately failed to understand what made Kakashi so popular, kakashi also wasn’t that much liked in part 1… while Aizawa is worshipped in the fandom as a saint that can’t do anything wrong.

Kakashi regretted everything at the end of part 1 and improved so much by the time of part 2.

Aizawa took 2 wars to apologize to izuku, and even then it was felt half assed.

Fundamentally, I think the thing is that Kakashi is a character that belongs in the Naruto setting. Like. He's a character that makes sense; his motivations make sense, his actions make sense... he fits.

Eraserhead, though, is unironically just all of Kakashi's beats copied onto MHA, but... you know, he's not in ninja land, so a lot of his actions don't make sense? He is a character that exists in MHA, not one that fits in it.

For example: we know Kakashi teaches because he's basically mandated by law, as part of a master apprentice system. Because the village helped raise him as high as it did (along with it being an absolute military dictatorship built around trying to monopolize violence), he's obligated to give back to it by helping raise the next generation.

Moreover, it quickly became apparent that he liked teaching. He may not have been the best at it early on, but the man unironically seemed to have a blast fucking around with teaching them every day, even before he really became attached. Also, he actually taught them things.

Aizawa teaches because he... likes teaching...? *flashes back to every moment where Aizawa basically says, 'Don't you dare child anywhere I can possibly perceive you* along with... peer pressure. Apparently.

He's in a school, where he's expected to teach entire classes of children all day, five days a week... but he seems to hate that?

He's admitted, I think on multiple occasions, that he hasn't taught them anything, (which I agree with, since he generally just exists nearby while the kids teach them damn selves.)

Another notable flaw is Hori fundamentally misunderstands why Kakashi wouldn't shut up about 'underneath the underneath' before Shippuden (where all subtly flew out the window): because the man is a fucking ninja, in a world populated by ninja, dominated by ninja wars, teaching ninja children how to be ninja.

By definition, they're supposed to be paranoid, unhappy little shits that'd sooner kill someone than believe a word they say, because that means they would have better odds of surviving the hellscape that is Naruto.

Aizawa, meanwhile. is teaching heroes. Public figures. And not only that, he's teaching how not to trust badly.

Kakashi's lessons are practical, yet calculated: when he tricks them, it's always light, harmless teasing, or a dead ass serious lesson on, 'if you keep doing this kind of thing some asshole is going to stab you'. Even though he's doing all that, though, there's never a doubt in the kid's minds to trust him if he gets serious because his happy go lucky persona is clearly that: a persona. It's just one more mask he wears, which means Serious Business is clearly separated from Silly Kakashi Fun Time.

Aizawa teaches them... that he's lazy, he hates them, and that he's allergic to the truth. That's... that's it. No matter how much he pretends it's a lesson, it's really just his personality, so the kids have no reason to trust anything he tells them without evidence.

Fundamentally, their trust in him should be so broken that it actually puts them in danger, because there really doesn't seem to be anything he takes seriously, so when he tells them something important.... they say, 'Cite?', instead of acting on what he says, because of all the other times he told them something 'important', and it was 'jUsT a LOgiCaL RUse'.

Unironically, the fact that this man was never fired actually breaks my suspension of disbelief more than the idea of superpowers ever will, and the fact that he's never gotten any of the kids he's 'taught' killed flat out destroys it. I've mentioned it before, but his behavior logically would have gotten some of that class murdered because of how little they trusted him.

All of that combined, I think, is why he's designated The Mouth of Hori, given that 'sacred' role to push whatever message Hori wants to readers to get: because he's not a character in his own right, he's a half assed Naruto character randomly put there to get viewership, so whatever out of nowhere action he does to push Hori's agenda doesn't distract from all the other out of nowhere actions he does to push Hori's agenda.

[junosmindpalace]

Can I request a senku x fem reader where she goes with the group to the cave instead of magma and her and senku end up cuddling for warmth and senku is all flustered by it.

hi anon! thank you for your request! short n sweet scenario 4 this that i wrote while i was sick..,..,.

synopsis: as the strongest in your village, you accompany senku and chrome on their quest for tungsten.

warnings: none

wc: 1.3k

“We’re lucky to have you instead of Magma, isn’t that right Senku?”

As the strongest person in Ishigami Village, you joined Senku and Chrome on their exposition to acquire tungsten for the cellphone that the Kingdom of Science was creating. The two were obvious choices as they were the most experienced scientists on the team, but your strength was necessary in order to actually mine the tungsten. 

The exposition would take a lot of time and tough work, but it was a necessary step in the development of technology--and one that could be pulled off. 

Your small group had left the village in the early morning and entered the designated cave with the tungsten only a short while ago. The three of you were now making your way toward the skarn deposit that held tungsten, climbing over walls and bridging gaps along the way. 

“If we had brought Magma, I bet he would’ve used the opportunity to kill Senku so he could take over the village.”

You gave Chrome a look. “That’s a harsh judgment. But a fair one no less…”

“If he were here, he could easily push us into a hole and say we died accidentally- it would be the perfect crime! Plus, he could take our heads as proof to Tsukasa that science is officially extinct and they wouldn’t have to worry about the war!”

Senku rolled his eyes while listening to the conversation. “Get real. There’s no way the big ape would think that far in advance.” 

A little while into your trek later, as you were admiring the cave, Senku suddenly stopped in his tracks and extended a warning hand out to you and Chrome. “Stay back!”

You and Chrome eyed each other nervously. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s mica, a lot like baumkuchen…which you’ve never heard of. The point is, it's a rock brittle enough to break with your fingers.” Senku directed his flashlight toward multiple large pits in front of him. 

“You see? It forms natural pit traps.” 

“Damn. Nature’s got some bad ways to getcha…” Chrome muttered out breathlessly. 

“So if you accidentally fell into one, you couldn’t get out?” You asked, carefully examining the pits alongside the boy. 

“For sure. Try getting back up with a rope or ladder and it’ll cave in on you and bury you alive.” 

Ironically, at that moment, you heard cracking from beneath Senku’s feet and your eyes widened. He had shifted too much of his weight, and the ground was about to cave in underneath him. 

In an attempt to save him, you dove toward the scientist and pushed him out of the way, but in the process, created a pit right underneath you. Chrome cried out in fear and you screamed in terror, but quickly a hand grabbed yours. 

You looked up toward Senku, whose face was contorted into one of great pain using up every ounce of his strength trying to keep you from falling in. 

“Let Y/N go, Senku, or else you’re going to fall in there with them!” Chrome yelled out from a distance, trying to keep himself steady to avoid the same fate as you. 

“Chrome’s right! You have to let me go, Senku! I’m not dragging you down with me!” 

Senku's panicked and struggling face stared straight at you, and his grip on you didn’t loosen despite your protests. But as Senku applied more pressure underneath him to keep himself steady, another pit opened up underneath him, and the two of you were both left spiraling down. 

The two of you were stuck in the mica pit for a pretty long time. Once you both reached the bottom and recovered from the harsh impact, you were left thinking of ways to get yourselves out of the mica pit. Eventually Senku took inspiration from Chrome’s idea to swim back up by filling the pit with water from a nearby pool of water. He threw his bag up and instructed Chrome on how to fill the pit more efficiently, and after some time, multiple streams of water slowly started streaming in. 

The wait became harder to endure as you kept yourselves afloat. You were freezing and getting weaker with each passing minute, but you could tell Senku was struggling more than you were. His teeth chattered loudly and he shook violently, his skin turning blue. You shared his symptoms on a more minor scale, and so you decided to prioritize his own rescue over yours, knowing you could wait out the rest of the time it would take for you to swim your way back up. You dove under the water and swam beneath Senku, securing his feet on your shoulders and surging him upward toward the surface. 

He looked down at you in concern, and you attempted to reassure him. “I grew up on the water! I’ll be alright!” 

Eventually, the two scientists helped pull you out of the pit and both you and Senku were saved. After the tiring extra work that had to be put in to rescue you and Senku from the mica pit, your small crew was exhausted.

Senku started a fire beside the pits and prepared food for the three of you to eat, while Chrome offered the two of you blankets to keep yourselves warm and dry. All of you got to talking over your food about the events of the exposition, the development of technology and the Tsukasa Empire, but eventually, you slowly started to feel your consciousness drift in and out. 

Resting your weary body beside a cozy fire in the comfortable presence of your two friends made it easy for you to relax and succumb to exhaustion, and as you fell asleep, your body gently collapsed against Senku’s side while he was talking to Chrome.

His eyes widened for a second as the impact interrupted his train of thought and he looked down at you, observing your tensionless face with a surprised look on his. You were asleep. 

And leaning against him. 

“Already out, huh?” Chrome chuckled, and a yawn followed. “We did go through a lot of trouble today.” 

Senku couldn’t help but stare dumbly at Chrome, and then turn his attention back to you. You didn’t shift at all, continuing to sleep peacefully against his arm.

For a couple of moments, all he could was stare at you, processing the sight. Senku wasn’t the type to feel comfortable with things like this, and if you were any other person, he’d probably go stiff and stare in disgust. But to his surprise, he felt his face warm at the situation. He’s never been in such close proximity with someone, and there was something intimate about such a small show of trust and comfort. His initial flustered reaction (which embarrassed him greatly) only lasted a minute before he relaxed and attempted to adjust himself so you were more comfortable.

“You’re gonna let Y/N sleep on you like that? Aren’t you uncomfortable?” Chrome asked as he finished his fish and went to pull out sleeping bags.

“I don’t want them complaining about neck pain in the morning.” Senku joked gently, hoping that Chrome missed the small crack and waver in his voice, and turned his head back down to look at you. Deep down, Senku also felt some guilt for having you sacrifice your small amount of strength to hoist him up from the pit. So allowing you to recover on him was the least he could do to repay you. 

It wasn’t long until Chrome fell asleep, Senku following suit a short while later and waking you up briefly so you could move into your own. But that wasn’t before Senku forced himself awake by staring at the fire for just a couple of minutes to let you rest your head in the crook of his neck and revel in his body heat. His tired eyes stared at the last embers of the dying fire as you slept with your head bowed into his side, letting himself be soothed to the sound of your soft, steady breathing. 

i'm still recovering from some other aches and pains (and also exhaustion in general LMAO), but i hope you all are taking care of yourselves!

[just-anka]

Our new home! Wah a lot has happened over the past few months and I'm only just starting to process it all. We knew all along that we were leaving Zurich after I finished my PhD, and vague plans to move to the mountains have been around for years. In early 2023, we started talking about it more seriously and soon realised living IN the mountains (rather than in a town in the valley at the bottom of the mountains haha) would involve buying a house because there aren't really any rentals in the villages around here. We spent a lot of time that winter looking at different places to find areas we liked, and then a lot of time in the summer viewing houses and figuring it all out. We decided on a house in late August, thinking there would be plenty of time to get it all through before the end of the year, that I would defend and then we'd move. As usual, that didn't go to plan and instead we found ourselves driving the 3.5 hours to Valais to sign for the house 4 days before my defence 🤦‍♀️ not ideal and all the uncertainty around the buying and the move combined with the defence stress over all those months really did me in, I'm still exhausted now even though the pace of life has gone from 100 to 0 (okay maybe more like a 10 but still) in the past few weeks. And the house is definitely not without issues 🤣 some of which we knew about, some we didn't, so the actual move in process has also been more exhausting than anticipated. There's also a ridiculous amount of admin involved in moving canton in Switzerland, it's almost like moving to a new country, especially as foreigners. But we survived the first bits, we moved in properly in the days after Christmas, and it's all slowly coming together now, and I love it SO much already. It's so quiet and peaceful, there's a little forest right outside our balcony that has deer walking through it almost every day, they come up all the way to the front door sometimes. Skiing is 10 mins away. It's been pretty cold as we're still figuring out the heating but we have a wood stove and it's so cosy. I love walking down the stairs in the morning in my warm jumper and making tea and meditating and journalling, all the while looking out at the mountains. I'm so burnt out from the end of the PhD and the entire past year it's been hard to take it all in, and it doesn't feel real yet most of the time. But when it does I feel so lucky. And I have a lot of time now, because I'm finally taking that gap year I've been saying for years I will take haha. It won't be an entire year, probably, but it will be a few months at least. Lots of skiing for now and some time to write, finally, getting settled into the house, and then some travelling.

[mixelation]

I got a couple of questions for the reborn AU

1.  Are they Team 4 because it's the other unlucky number?

2. Are that generations team 7 more lucky than team 4? If yes, by how much?

3. If team 4 is made up of the worst team-up, how are others viewing them? I mean especially Tori, cause in comparison to the Jinchuriki Sensei and 2 prodigy teammates (one being able to essentialy causing mass hallucinations and the other causing mass destruction via bomb). Like do others look at that team and think "poor girl. The only normal one" just to get hit with the fact that Tori can be even worse? Would Tori become the weird cryptic?

4. How would Itachis parents react to his teammates? Like, Mikoto must be over the moon that her best friend teaches her son. And we kinda know how she likes Deidara thanks to homemade dynamite, but it's DIFFERENT.

I love Minatos growing horror of Tori

They're Team 4 because I picked a random number and then went ".....oh yeah! the death number!" and realized I couldn't change it now. So Minato did approximately the same thing.

Minato: Oh, there's no active Team 4. I'll just assign that number.

Minato: Oh, there hasn't been a Team 4 since before the war. I wonder why?

Minato, after the ink is dry: oh right

Since it's an unlucky number, it just doesn't get assigned unless there's somehow too many teams to NOT assign it. Or if your Hokage was woken up at 4 AM by his eight year old giggling too loudly because he drew on the walls and assigned you a team number before he'd had his coffee.

Part of Tori's charm is that she just... comes off as very underwhelming? Like, she doesn't have strong main character vibes. She looks like she's someone's babysitter. One thing I wanted to play with in the snippet I posted is that even though Minato knows she worked for Orochimaru, he's still like: okay but she's a generic twelve year old girl. She must be the normal one. Sort of like a parallel take on how I write Minato, who looks like he'd cry if you were mean to him, but is secretly one of the deadliest ninja of all time.

Giving off background character vibes is great for being sneaky or forcing enemies to underestimate you! But yes it does mean your reputation in-village is "poor girl :(" or perhaps even a few "lucked out & doesn't deserve to be on that team."

I actually haven't thought super hard about what's up with Itachi's family. I kind of imagine there's a Naruto-Sasuke friendship, but it's the kind where your parents insist you're friends because they want to hang out with each other. So Sasuke probably meets Team 4 pretty early on, and Tori is the type of person who'd think it's really funny to intentionally and "harmlessly" troll an eight year old. As for Mikoto and Fugaku... this Itachi went into ANBU even YOUNGER and his only friend is Shisui, and also he's like 10x more terrifying because his life philosophy is still recovering from being a missing-nin. So I think they've semi-recently had the revelation that even if their son is a celebrated prodigy, they have uuuuuuuh fucked him up. Like a lot. So Itachi willingly hanging out with people his own age seems like a positive, and they're just going to blithely ignore Deidara complaining he found human teeth in his hair after that last mission, or Tori asking if he kept them.

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Ace Trappola Broomquet Birthday Personal Story: Part 3

"Happy Birthday"

(Part 1) (Part 2) Part 3

[Heartslabyul Dorm – Birthday Party Venue]

Epel: Okay, here's the last question.

Epel: "How do you spend your days off?"

Epel: I'm also pretty curious. What do you do on the weekends, Ace-kun?

Ace: I'm not doing nothing fancy or whatever.

Ace: When I stay in the dorm, I'm usually playing a game, or reading comics that I borrowed off a guy in my class.

Ace: But it's pretty boring to just stay in my room, so sometimes I head down to the town at the foothills.

Ace: Like the other day, I left early so I could get there around noon, and I was able to kill time until evening, basically.

Epel: So, what did you do there?

Ace: I mean, I just kinda wandered around. I guess you could say I was shopping?

Ace: Oh yeah, I remember, something super lucky happened then!

Ace: I got my hands on this limited-edition hoodie from my absolute favorite brand, even though it had originally sold out immediately on their online shop.

Ace: 'Cause we're in a remote location, I guess not many people would come here to buy it. So basically, I got super lucky.

Ace: Sage's Island's got a ton of stores that're more geared towards us students, so it's super fun to just wander around.

Ace: But, compared to an actual city, there's not much merch coming in all the time, so sometimes it feels like it's pretty lacking, though.

Epel: Eh, you think that's lacking!? And here I was all impressed by all the different stores we got here!

Ace: You're seriously impressed by that little town…? Dude, just what kind of place were you living before coming here?

Epel: Even if you ask me that… No, we're interviewing you right now, not me. So, what other stuff did you do other than shopping?

Ace: Hmm… I guess other than that, I just grabbed a hamburger for lunch.

Ace: There's a chain restaurant here on the island that also has a place back home I used to go all the time. When I saw their sign, I just had a sudden craving.

Ace: Oh but, even though it was the same dish, the sauce had just the slightest difference in flavors. I wonder if that's something that depends on the region we're in?

Ace: Now I definitely want to try out some of the other dishes there. Oh yeah, why don't you come with me next time?

Epel: Yeah, I'd love to! I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference in the sauce flavors, though…

Ace: You wouldn't be able to tell the difference? Oh, are you not that interested in exploring flavors of food, Epel?

Epel: Ahaha, that's not what I mean. Back in the village I'm from, we didn't have a restaurant where we could eat hamburgers.

Epel: I've only eaten them a few times when we actually traveled out of the village by car, so I don't really remember how the sauces tasted.

Ace: What? Seriously? I can't believe you guys don't have that chain restaurant that's basically everywhere…

Ace: Wow, that's shocking… But that makes sense now. That's why you're impressed by that small town.

Ace: But hey, that in itself is another reason why it'd be worthwhile to take you. I'll recommend to you all my favorite dishes.

Epel: Great job, Ace-kun. The interview's over now.

Ace: So now, I gotta fly on the Birthday Road with my broomstick, right?

Epel: Yep. Here you go, this is the broom that was prepared for you.

Ace: Woooah!? Wow, the brush end looks like a bouquet!

Epel: There's so many red flowers, it's super gorgeous. I bet when you go and fly with this, you'll really stand out.

Epel: You better do your best to not do anything that looks uncool, Ace-kun, heh.

Ace: I ain't gonna let anyone see me screw up! I'm usually pretty good at stuff when it's crunch time.

Ace: Hup, alright… Okay then, time to make my grand entrance!

(Part 1) (Part 2) Part 3

[tallsc]

AvA Yellow and Leadership: Character Analysis

Well, the last character analysis went over very well, and I'm always down to ramble about sticks, so here's some stuff I've been noticing about Yellow and their struggles with leadership and pride. I don't have quite as much planned for this one, but we'll see how it goes.

So in the Color Gang, everyone seems to have preferred roles on the team. Orange and Green like to be leaders - albeit in different ways - and both tend to take leadership roles whenever appropriate. Blue and Red don't seem to enjoy the leadership role as much, and thus take support roles in the team. Yellow, however, seems to me like they like being a leader in a way, yet when it comes to it, generally ends up in a support role.

There's a lot of evidence of this, mostly in season 1 and 2, though a little in season 3 too. In the early days especially, Yellow loved taking charge and showing off, not unlike Green in some aspects. Yellow made the roller coaster so that all their friends could take part in something of their design - without even riding it themselves, apparently, since I would have expected they'd notice the problem at the end if they tried. The Lucky Blocks episode started with Yellow figuring out a bit more about the lucky blocks and then showing off to their friends. They drag Red into a lot of their plans too, both when first discovering command blocks and when messing with texture packs. They do similarly with Blue in the first Ravager episode, leading Blue to Mango's castle.

So it's pretty clear Yellow likes making the plans, or setting the scene. They love being the one who knows everything, the one who makes the decisions, the one who leads. So why, whenever there's a bigger fight or something that has to do with the whole team, are they so rarely the leader? Why are they the ranged fighter in the back who spends most of a battle giving their friends supplies? While it's helpful, it doesn't seem like much of a leadership style, right? Well, I think there's a few reasons.

First, they love being the one who knows everything. Turns out, in a new situation, they're rarely the one who knows everything. In the Raid, even Blue was more of a leader than Yellow with the villagers, because the only thing Yellow knew about the situation was the command block, so they focused all their attention on that. It went well, and they seemed quite happy about it, but their time was spent giving their allies buffs and gathering reinforcements rather than really taking charge themselves.

Second, there just isn't space in the team for a third leader. Orange and Green balance each other out, Green taking charge in tighter situations and Orange tending to step up when there's a bit more time to think, or occasionally just leading their own sub-groups. The only times Yellow really gets the chance to take that role is when they set up the whole situation themselves, which is what they do quite often as prior stated. In most other situations, they don't have the time to figure everything out so someone else steps up before they get the chance to.

Third, especially in the case of an actual battle, Yellow just isn't much of a fighter. They know how the game works incredibly well, but give them a sword and they don't end up doing much with it. So in a fight, they're better suited being a backup for their friends, getting everyone the supplies they need while lobbing bombs from a distance. Their fighting style just lends itself to a supporting role.

Fourth, this is less of an analysis and more theoretical, but I wonder if there might be some lack of trust between Yellow and the others? In all the examples I used for Yellow acting as leader, it did not end well. Whether it was dropping most of the group off a cliff, or making the computer devolve into chaos, or getting everyone possessed, or falling for a villain's trap, every time Yellow leads, bad things happen. So it wouldn't be surprising if the rest of the CG didn't quite trust Yellow in a leadership role again. Which has got to be frustrating for Yellow, cause it seems all they want to do is make their friends happy and proud of them.

That's why I'm quite happy with how the last few episodes are going, and am really hoping Yellow's command staff doesn't get used for anything bad. While Yellow spent most of the Raid doing their own thing with the command block, when they returned to the nether, taking point in the fight against Mango, I feel like that has to be the perfect spot for Yellow to be in. With the command block, they're in an element they're comfortable with, they're in the lead like they want to be, with still the supporting, defensive aspect that they're good at.

As dire as the situation is right now, at least Yellow might finally be settling into a better role for themselves.

That ended up quite a bit longer than I expected, huh! There were even some more points I had in mind that I never felt a good time to bring up, so guess I had a lot more to say than I thought. Well, if you read this far, hope you found it interesting! I'm sure I'm going to be making more of these in the future, so see you then! (Please look at my art too though I work very hard on it ^-^)

[megandcomics]

Tears of the Kingdom vs Breath of the Wild Story Thoughts Ramble

There will be lots of Story Spoilers!!!

So I beat the main story of Tears of the Kingdom last week and I’ve been thinking about the emotional impact of BoTW and Totk and the stories they are trying to tell. In most regards Tears of the Kingdom is a superior game in gameplay aspects, the world having the land, sky, and chasms, there’s just a ton to do. There’s a feeling of hope and teamwork, the world is more established. I love the game with all my heart, as I love breath of the wild, but I just felt a little more attached to the BoTW story and I wanted to just go over why.

Tears of the Kingdom story is essentially, Ganondorf is revived, Zelda vanishes (to the past) and Link lost his arm. His arm is replaced by original king of Hyrule, Rauru. Once you get off the sky island you go to talk to Purah and find out about regional phenomenons and sightings of Princess Zelda. You are tasked with investigating those regions to get info on what happened to her and also helping the local groups of hyrule.

How I played the game was similar to how I played Breath of the Wild. I go after towers and wanted to check in on some places just to get a lay of the land. So as I’m getting towers I get the dragon tears quest, and a lot of the geoglyphs are near towers. So I did those and memories pretty simultaneously. I also went to Rito Village, Zora’s Domain, and Gerudo Town. I like to know lore so going after the memories was something I always did early. (I actually forgot about Goron City for a minute too, I went there last because I forgot)

ToTK Memories

So the memories explore Zelda’s time in the past, her encounters with Rauru, Sonia, and Ganondorf, the assembling of sages, the Imprisoning War and Zelda’s draconification. I don’t know if getting the memories first made the rest of the story fall more flat to me but that’s really what I want to discuss.

So now that I’ve activated the quests and know what happened to Zelda, the regional phenomenon quests felt kind of silly. Like the dungeons were awesome, I loved having the sages as companions, helping them get out of their environmental situations, but the aspect of the quest where you were supposed to be “investigating” what happened to Zelda just felt repetitive. I kept going, obviously this isn’t Zelda, Zelda is that dragon up there.

I also felt disappointed the ancient sages had like no story and no personality. Each cutscene where your companions met with their ancient ancestor followed the same script. I was a rito/Goron/Zora/Gerudo sage who fought in the imprisoning war. Followed by a generic cutscene of them standing looking defeated while ganondorf is looking at them menacingly. The amount of times they said “let me tell you about the imprisoning war” “so that was the imprisoning war” “he wanted my secret stone” started sounding like the scene in Pokémon where they go “just wait till I use my secret weapon, hydreigon. So that’s his secret weapon. No wonder your Hydreigon is your secret weapon” scene.

Then after the imprisoning war scene you see Zelda saying hey I need you to support this guy named Link in the future he’s going to beat up Ganondorf. And you get that essentially 4 times. So not only am I not attached to the past sages, the cutscene is repetitive (because the game doesn’t know what order you’ll do things in).

The 5th sage quest does improve on this exponentially but it’s because we know who Mineru is (if you got the memories) and even then her take on the imprisoning war is more personal and you get to see Rauru’s sacrifice. That’s what I felt was missing from the other 4.

I also did the Lucky Clover Gazette side adventure where you are investigating Zelda sightings and proving the leads aren’t actually Zelda. Again, the story heavily relies on the idea that you don’t know what happened to zelda.

When you go after Zelda in hyrule castle I didn’t feel as desperate as I think I was intended to feel. It was a great experience chasing her around and the fight with phantom ganon is fun. I do understand the whole point of Link going after these leads and the lucky clover stuff is because any mention, any possibility of finding Zelda is what matters most to him. I think that notion is beautiful but I still felt generally disconnected from it since I did the memories.

Should I have waited to do the memories? In breath of the wild it just helps you get an understanding of what happened 100 years ago, but TOTK memories actually tell you where Zelda is and what she is doing. Yet Find Zelda is one of the main quests.

Once you do everything necessary to get the master sword and decide to confront Ganondorf it’s a lot better though, I think the story has a great payoff where you lose zelda to start and you are able to save her the way you lost her the first time. Fighting Ganondorf was rewarding, and it was tricky. I think that the boss fights overall were on a whole other tier than BoTW. The dragon battle was epic, the Light Dragon assisting even without her sense of self while wielding the sword she gave everything up for. Then Link falling and catching Zelda had me cheering. I think the best way to describe the story overall is that the ending feels earned.

So why did I personally feel less connected?

I think Breath of the Wild thematically is more coherent. The concept of waking up in a different time with no memories, the strange quiet and loneliness of the world. Something about it is so melancholic. I know breath of the wild gets a lot of “there’s no story” comments but I feel the story is in the landscape. I went after a lot of towers in my first play through and some memories first. I didn’t get memories in order. But what I loved about the memories were the fact they were MINE, they were Link’s. There is such a tragedy in the story that really does pull my heart strings. You learn of all these people, the champions, Hyrule’s effort, Zelda’s distress, and how despite everything they did, they didn’t win.

The shrines and towers were in the world because they were unearthed in an effort to stop Ganon. Every Divine Beast was heartbreaking because you experience first hand what happened to the champions and how they died (plus the SOS signals and the dungeon themes were filled with desperation) They are trapped in the beast that killed them. I wanted to set them free. I felt so bonded to the champions, their stories, the way their people spoke of them, the memories of their relationship with us and with Zelda, and how they fell one by one, sacrificing it all to save Hyrule. Knowing I had also fallen but was lucky to still be alive.

I think in that respect Zelda herself had a story most could feel attached to. She has so much on her shoulders, her Dad puts a lot of pressure on her, she feels not good enough. Her interests and person are sidelined for the good of Hyrule. Watching her break down and blame herself every step of the way was hard to see. I’ve felt that way, even without the weight of the world on my shoulders. And unlocking her powers too late, it was already over. But the fact she went in to hold back Ganon and sacrificed herself showed her sense of duty to her kingdom.

I felt like that was something to fight for. For your fallen friends, for that princess who gave up her life to a cause that she was powerless to stop, the guilt on her shoulders. All of that in the backdrop of this quiet world.

I think also having so much bonus content with the champion’s ballad and even Age of Calamity made me so attached to that struggle they shared. The knowing of a timeline where they all survive, juxtaposed by going back to play breath of the wild to know that it wasn’t real. But you still feel for the characters deeply. You think about what could’ve been.

That sadness and tragedy is not as present in tears of the kingdom. Yes Zelda is gone, there are gloom holes all over. But the threat doesn’t seem immediate. Ganondorf stays in his hole in the ground until you come to him. I understand through his phantom form/phantom zelda he was impacting the world but again everyone seems to be alive, just struggling. There aren’t guardians running around to make you feel like the battle isn’t over and the Divine Beasts causing havoc. There was nothing like the feeling of climbing hyrule castle for the first time, being full of guardians and monsters and still finding more memories from zelda and rhoam’s diaries.

Yes Tears of the Kingdom is a superior game, it’s a blast and I still cried my eyes out during the story because I’m a sucker. I know Zelda isn’t really known for having strong stories, it’s more about discovery and dungeons. But the story is still something I deeply value and especially in the music with the use of leitmotifs you can feel everything. At least I do. The thousands of years of in game history and the concept of reincarnation and fate are so strong. I could talk about it all day and my love in general for The Legend of Zelda.

I do wonder if part of breath of the wild’s impact on me was that I started playing in December 2019, and then 2020 hit and I played it constantly during quarantine. That lonely world reflected what I felt during that time.

I guess my overall point in this post was me wondering if anyone else felt disconnected especially with the nameless ancient sages when before we had unique champions who were decently fleshed out with individual experiences and relationships. I’d love to hear thoughts on all of this. This was a ramble so hopefully it’s semi-coherent.

These thoughts are also based on my first impression and first play through. I’ve had years to sit with my breath of the wild feelings so my overall feel of the game may also change with time.

PS. I think I spend too much time in game flying around with the light dragon cause I miss Zelda

[mysticstarlightduck]

Hey, I know that ask game! :D

🐹 Which would be your OCs favorite Pokemon? What kind of trainer would they be?

🌊 Has your OC ever seen the ocean? If not, do they want to? What do they think of it?

Yay, thanks for the ask, @i-can-even-burn-salad!!! (:

🐹 Which would be your OCs favorite Pokemon? What kind of trainer would they be?

Whoa, okay, such a cool question! I haven't watched anything pokémon related in years (though it was one of my favorite card games when I was a kid) but after a quick research to refresh my memory my answer is this (for some of the main cast of Of Starlight and Beasts):

Corah - her favorite pokémon would be Charmander. Because it looks cute and derpy in a way, like a little dragon, and she'd find the flaming tail a cool detail. She'd be a reliable, if unorthodox, trainer - she'd always be kind to her pokémon but also expect them to always try their best.

Arammys - I'm 100% sure his favorite pokémon would be Pikachu. The little pokémon is bright yellow, electric, and happy, Arammys literally has a whole sunlight motif and is very energetic - he'd really like Pikachu. He'd be a happy-go-lucky trainer that would probably spend more of his time playing with the pokémons or getting distracted by lore books about them rather than doing any actual training.

Eidan - his favorite pokémon would be Arbok. He likes snakes and reptiles in general, and would probably think Arbok has a pretty neat design (plus I just think he'd find its "hunting style" rather fascinating). He'd be the kind of trainer who doesn't really talk to many people and just kinda does his own thing - he'd have the kind of vibe of that emo kid that no one ever really sees do any homework or seem to put in much effort but also always gets As on the test every time.

Tomasa - her favorite pokémon would probably be Parasect, though she'd be adamantly sure that it looks more like a crab than a mushroom-bug thingy. The reason why I think it'd be her favorite is because she'd see it and be like "Aw, look at this skrunkly lil guy!". She'd be a supportive trainer with a tendency to be overly enthusiastic and will constantly have to be reminded not to use her pokémons to cause chaos around town.

Kyran - he'd never admit it, like, not ever, but his favorite pokémon would be Doduo or Dodrio, even if he would pretend not to like pokémon at all. Mostly because he likes birds and because he also has a twin, even if they annoy each other all the time. If he were a trainer he'd be the stern and demandingly perfectionist kind that always expects his pokémon "students" to excel at everything.

🌊 Has your OC ever seen the ocean? If not, do they want to? What do they think of it?

Most of the main cast of my WIP "Of Starlight and Beasts" does see the ocean during their adventures because, during their quest, one of the cities they go through is Orloch, the realms' coastal jewel, where a lot of important events of the story's development take place.

But if we consider the events before that, then the ones who had already seen the ocean (before the events of the book) are Kyran, Masen, Elias, Tomasa, Eidan, and Rin.

Kyran, Masen, and Elias were born in a town on the outskirts of Orloch and grew up in its capital. Most of their lives were surrounded by the sea in one way or another - not only for the fact that well, the sea can literally be seen by almost any place in the city, but also because most of their early jobs and occupations had something to do with the ships and docks of the kingdom, especially after Elias's became a pirate in their backstory. They like the ocean - in varying degrees of intensity, but since it's such a common thing in their past and daily lives, it is not such a big deal to them as it would be for other people who never saw it - to them, it's more mundane than anything else.

Tomasa was born in a village somewhere in the wilderness next to the Frosts but moved to Orloch - where her grandmothers live and where her maternal family was settled - with her mother when she was a child. So it could be said she has already seen two kinds of oceans before - the frozen seas of the Frosts, miles, and miles of beautiful crystal blue ice that never breaks (even the waves frozen and immobile forever), and the actual/regular ocean in Orloch. She was amazed by the sight of the sea, and everything about it - as she'd only seen a frozen one in her childhood. Being able to swim in the ocean became one of her favorite activities. She still holds a lot of admiration and wonder for the seas and its mysteries, even after all those years of living in a coastal city.

Eidan didn't see the sea until the fall of Monbern's old royal family. Most of his childhood and teen years were spent in that duchy, which is landlocked (and built in the middle of an enchanted forest), so the largest bodies of water he'd seen so far were just lakes and rivers. After the events of the duchy's siege (where he lost everything), he became a lonely warrior seeking to purge the wicked rot of corruption that was consuming the realm - something that led him to travel far and wide across the continent to hunt down evil people and their work. One of those travels led him to Orloch a few years before the book - which is very relevant for the story since it is one of his contacts in the city that allows him and his allies (during their main quest) to find some crucial information. He doesn't really see what "the big deal" is about the sea, or why people are so mesmerized by it, and it is implied that he doesn't really like swimming (even though he knows how to) and has some degree of thalassophobia.

I can't say much about Rin's backstory without spoiling some reveals about him and a certain other character's past, but let's just say that he has indeed seen the sea before since, as a con artist, he's always looking to get more gold, and what better place than the melting pot of trade (legal and... less legal) in the realm to try his luck? Regardless of that, he has some very strong feelings about the sea, mostly negative, because, since he has feathery wings, he doesn't like to get wet often (it takes a long time for his wings to dry when they do get wet). The only thing he likes about the sea is fish and seafood in general.

Most of the other main characters (since Arammys has little to no memories of his past other than his name, there's no way to know whether or not he has seen the sea before - not without spoiling the reveals of his past in the story - and so, for all effects and purposes he has never seen the sea) only do see the sea when the main events of the book lead them to Orloch, and because they're literally running against time to save the world, they don't really have much time to enjoy seeing the sea for the first time.

Corah grew up in the kingdom of Tirawen - which, as a kingdom settled in one-half of the most mountainous region of the realm and blocked from the other half by a deadly curse, is very, very much landlocked (it is the most important kingdom of the realm, and the kingdom's capital, so it does have strong diplomatic and political ties to Orloch for the sake of seafaring trade). She knew a lot about the sea from books from the palace library, travelling merchants who came to trade goods from the coastal cities in the capital, and from her father's own adventuring experiences, but only ever saw the actual sea during her actual quest. She really liked the sea and found it incredibly cool, as well as beautiful, though she was wary of ever swimming in it (mostly because there are actual sea monsters in the Mist Sea).

Arammys is the character that was by far the most mesmerized by the sea. His lack of memories means that more often than not he is experiencing things for the first time, and the sea is no exception. He was fascinated by it and found it rather curious. Arammys also expressed his desire to swim in the ocean one day and that he'd really like to see a sea monster up close if they weren't so aggressive, that is.

[ungrateful-cyborg]

Happy birthday!

💬 (what is this about DA characters I'm hearing? Can you show/describe them and their personalities?)

In order: Armin, Lancelot and Amaya. Hawke is just Hawke so I didn't put him here.

I'm sorry, this is... long :'D

Armin Surana

He's my mage Warden. Born to a Dalish clan, he developed his powers at an early age. Unfortunately for him, his clan already had a few mages so they gave him to another clan living nearby. Being a young boy who very much didn't understand why his people didn't want him anymore, he decided that he didn't like his new clan and ran away. Eventually he found himself in a village where Greagoir discovered him after he set his own hair on fire out of anger. And Greagoir being a Templar, he brought the kid to the Circle of Magi where the story starts when you chose that origin.

Honestly his life in the Circle was actually pretty good. Past the few first months, he managed to find his place and didn't particularly want to leave after his Harrowing. If not for Jowan, he was mostly set on becoming First Enchanter at some point in his life.

And I think Alistair was very lucky that the only surviving Grey Warden save for himself actually enjoyed leading and already had a strategic mind.

Though mostly Armin is fairly diplomatic, merciful and patient. He does have strong opinions about certain things, but is careful about which ones he publicly expresses and which ones are for his inner circle only.

I do think though that not a lot of people figured him as the kind of people to become Zevran's fuck buddy... and to eventually settle with Morrigan (and their son).

By the time Awakening happened, he was a changed man. More military leader than idealistic Grey Warden, still driven by the will to help others, but as you can imagine, having to sacrifice the citizens of Amaranthine didn't help him sleep at night. Although I think that knowing he'd do it again if the need arose was really what made him look at what he'd become and decide he needed to take a break from that kind of responsibilities.

Hence why he purposefully doesn't return in Inquisition. He didn't trust himself to not be more ruthless than actually needed.

(Please don't pay attention to the tattoos, I didn't know he would've needed to be an adult in a Dalish clan to have them since it's not explained in the Character Creator. Also he was meant to look East Asian but the CC is... well, it exists.)

Lancelot Cousland

My second Warden, a Warrior this time because I wanted to replay all three games as pro-Templar this time. And what better for this than to start with a young and charming noble who mostly succeeded in everything he attempted, except for, you know, saving his entire family.

I'm not yet done with him (currently nearing the Landsmeet) but he's grown more serious, albeit still joking and occasionally teasing people, and also increasingly interested in having a say in how Ferelden is ruled. I'm still not entirely sure how to go to make him marry Anora but that's the plan XD

Overall, he's charming, smart and resourceful man, albeit still a bit entitled as you'd expect from a handsome and rich young noble (though he's not exactly rich at the moment).

He believes in Andraste and the Maker like Armin does, but while Armin wasn't much of a practitioner outside of asking for a Blessing from time to time (never hurts when you need to save the world), Lancelot is more devoted overall and also a lot more wary of magic and mages. He doesn't hate them, however, and always tries to treat people fairly. His upbringing just occasionally gets in the way and blinds him, and he's more likely to seek to maintain the statu quo.

Also Loghain won't survive this play through (he did in my first and Alistair didn't forgive Armin for this, but Armin figured that killing a National Hero wasn't the smartest political choice. Especially not when you're trying to marry your friend to his daughter.)

Lancelot is romancing Leliana, because I want to see what she'll say in Inquisition—and it was the most ic choice for him.

Hawke

I won't go into too much detail about him considering he's a lot more fleshed out in the game than the Warden or Inquisitor. But I chose to play a mage again, and he took the mages' side because really, much as there is a blood mages issue in Kirkwall, the Templars were completely off the rails.

And he's an apostate.

Anders survived my first play through because you don't erase 6 years of friendship this easily, and contrary to Fenris, Anders didn't force him to kill him. They've lost contact since, however. Hawke couldn't forgive him.

He died in my Inquisition playthrough to help Loghain and the Inquisitor get out of the Fade, and it broke my heart. And Varric's.

And Isabela's.

But mostly mine.

I even took a screenshot to whine to one of my friends about it

Amaya Lavellan

A confident young woman, proud of her heritage and the mission of her people to preserve as much of their history as they could, Amaya was never one to entirely reject Humanity but never really trusted them either. Which is, in fact, specifically the reason why she never completely rejected them: she prefers to not blind herself willingly of what humans are doing in the vicinity of her clan.

I purposefully made her less diplomatic than Armin and Hawke, especially in the beginning because she wanted nothing to do with the Inquisition. Once she became the official leader, however, she took her role seriously. But even though she'd been trained to become the next Keeper of her clan, she never felt completely comfortable in her role as the Inquisitor.

Part of that is simply that Amaya wanted nothing to do with anything related to the Maker and the Chantry. Being called the Herald of Andraste kept irking her until the end, though over time she became less vocal about her disliking of the title and more pragmatic about it. She even gave more space to the cult of Andraste in Skyhold, as she figured, with a little bit of Josephine's nudging, that one of the strongest common point between Orlais and Ferelden was a powerful tool to wield to unite both countries against Corypheus.

The other reason why she didn't feel comfortable in her role was simply that the Inquisition grew too big too quickly, and the fallout in Trespasser was honestly not a huge surprise to her (she opted to disband the Inquisition rather than risk corruption again).

But because she has impeccable taste in men, and a purposefully made a female elf to romance Solas, she hm... she couldn't pretend to be surprised that the Inquisition was crumbling onto itself but she was not prepared for him to be the main culprit.

She's still hoping she can make him change his mind.

I also used a mod to be able to romance several people. And she does have impeccable taste in men, so obviously she also romanced Blackwall. And dumped him after learning the truth, though she chose to let him truly become a Grey Warden instead of letting him die or making him lie. Again.

Fortunately, Cullen proved more reliable than her other partners. They eloped in Trespasser.

(She also became a Red Jenny. An excellent way to deal with her anger while still being useful to the people.

It took me a while to figure out while she kept Sera in the Inquisition, considering that Amaya didn't consider her really fit for the job even though she does see Sera as her friend, but eventually it became obvious to me that what made Sera so important was how she never let Amaya lose sight of her priorities. She kept her down-to-earth, and with the power Amaya had at her disposal, someone not afraid to tell her when she started to lost herself in politics was truly precious.)

I'm sorry this is so damn long, but I hope you enjoy learning about them! And thank you so much for the ask, @confusedtia!

[hazbinextgeneration]

Demon Bride Ch18 Curiouser And Curiouser

(DISCLAIMERS AND IMPORTANT INFO!!!: EVERYONE in this story is in their early 20s-30s! This story will contain mentions of past abuse and death! I'll be keeping it as SFW. Some backstories have been slightly altered for this particular story, and some characters cannonically dead or harmed is alive and well. I own nothing.

Credit to @flanelltees​ for the designs I based the demons off to look more demon-like with tails and pointed ears.

This story will be sfw, but there will be some blood, implied death, fighting, some gore mentioned, and a few other things that will be made aware by warnings. Pay attention to warnings at the top of any chapters just under the summery please.)

Once in the mountain villages it was a custom that once a year on the night of the new year's first moon, an unlucky young lady would be selected and left for the demons to become one of the unlucky few who married such a husband. In exchange for this offering the demons would protect the villages and leave the humans in peace. Until one day a powerful warrior drove the demons away freeing the humans of them. Now 2,000 years later, it's become a tradition that once a year, a new young lady would be picked and wait for her future husband to retrieve her from a shrine in the mountains. And now the lucky tradition would fall upon Y/n L/n. It would be her own turn to take on the tradition and not have to worry about demons. After all that part of the old tradition was just fake, made up by paranoid ancestors. Everyone knew demons didn't exist.

...Right

(WARNINGS!!!: )  

First Part Here:

Demon Bride Ch 1 Thus It Begins

(WARNINGS AND DISCLAIMERS!!! EVERYONE in this story is in their early 20s-30s! This story will contain mentions of past abuse and death! I'l

TUMBLR

Last Part Here:

Next Part Here:

Well ...This day had gotten much more awkward  .

This day had already been eventful with meeting Akaza and saying a sudden good bye to the small children you'd been reading too so quickly.  Then Kyogai had been so kind to offer you both another book to read during your stay and a delicious  lunch. It was actually pretty peaceful and honestly one of the best meals you'd ever had! You weren't sure what spices  Kyogai's chef used to cook the chicken meat in but it was delicious. But what you weren't expecting was for Kaigaku to come back with a vengeance. Or...what you thought was vengeance at first- Just a few hours later.

"Don't these hurt?"

"...Huh?"

You both might've lost track of time before Eri had awkwardly suggested she gets you back to bed as it had gotten late. Kyogai seemed ..strangely reluctant, but agreed that it would be best for your health to get some early sleep. However something had eventually caught your eye and it just so happened to be the  drums that was sticking out from his body. They were half way embedded within his flesh and looked to be one with him. You couldn't help but stare and ask which caught him off guard, more so when you suddenly reached out and touched  the drum embedded within his right shoulder. It didn't  feel like it was flesh.  It was made of leather and wood like a regular tsuzumi drum. Your fingertips grazed across the smooth leather one would be at for a drum. It seemed he used them to get around the mansion like a ghost. Did it hurt when he moved and shifted them around? Did it hurt when he placed them in his body? Does it hurt when he hits them?

"I-I...W-W-What are you-" His gaze fell silent when your other hand gently reached for the other.

"Your drums. Do they hurt your body embedded in like this?"

Her purple eyes gently looked up at him making his face light up a bright red. Too close! Too ..pretty- "I-I-IM FINE!" Her eyes blinked as  he suddenly backed away from her clearing his throat. "T-They do not cause me pain. Although your concern is a-appreciated. *AHEM!*" With a hand wave to Eri, he dismissed you both. His other hand shakily reaching up to grab the drum your hand touched. "P-Please escort Lady Y/n to her room. I-I have to finish settling some paperwork."

..You looked to Eri who seemed to be both knowing of something you didn't see and almost dying of second hand embarrassment. You were going to ask her what was up with all of that but the four armed demon only forcibly turned you around by the shoulders and pushed you down the hall back towards your room.

"Haven't you ever heard of keeping your hands to yourself? You embarrassed him! And why would you run through the halls after Lord Akaza!? You're supposed to be taking it easy until Lord Enmu comes back! Are you trying to get the both of us in trouble? I'm supposed to be taking care of you!"

"Sorry. I couldn't just let Kaigaku get hurt because of something I said." 

"Hmph! He would've been fine considering he's survived Lord Akaza 's punishments before, YOU however are more squishy than a sponge! You need to be more careful around the Lords. You're very lucky the few you've encountered aren't interested in harming anyone without a better reason than just 'she annoyed me'. If you did that to someone like Lady Daki or Lord Gyokko, then your life would've been forfeit!  From now on, you need to be more careful until you can safely leave."

"I know. I know. And I apologize for that. I promise I'll try not to do anything else that'll worry you but now that you mention the other Lords just how many are there?" Eri hummed as you turned to look at her. "It's just that I've lived on the other side of the mountain all my life and never even believed you all actually existed until three weeks ago. Why do to you all have Lords? Is your Master more of a king? I'm very confused."  

"Oh. I keep forgetting you're not from here so you wouldn't know." She looked at you know with a smile. "I guess you'll have to know if you stay here. That way if any more Lords show up, you'll be more careful."

"Thanks. I guess.," 

"You'll thank me later when I save your life. But since you asked, our Master is I guess our equivalent to an Emperor to you humans although he doesn't like being called that or so I've heard. He's one of the oldest and most powerful demons besides a few handfuls of  ancient families. He is in rule without question over all demons and the humans who live in his territories.  His family are the most wealthy and prominent of all of us. Under himself are the Twelve Kizuki or the twelve Lords as you probably have an easier time remembering." 

"Are they all relatives of his?" Was that why they had such high positions compared to the millions of other demons living around you? But you thought Eri said Kaigaku and Kyogai weren't related?

"Only a few of the Lords are related to each other since they're siblings but otherwise no. No Lord is related to the Master. There's always six of them and each of them has a very important job assigned from the Master to keep our kind from running rapid and wild." 

"What kind of jobs?"

"Well it depends. The twelve Lords are decided into two groups of six. The Upper and Lower Moons. The Upper Moons are the most powerful demons under the Master and are given the most important jobs. The strongest of them is Lord Kokushibo who holds the place of Upper Moon One. He's the delegate between humans and demons as well as in charge of the other Upper Moons. Lord Kokushibo is also Lord Kaigaku's sensai. He teaches him sword fighting." A grimace suddenly appeared on her face. "And just under him is Upper Moon Two Lord Douma."

"That was the man you mentioned before!"

She glumly nodded. "Yes. He's also the human recruiter." You gave her a look. "By that I mean he's in charge of attracting more humans to live in the Master's territories. He's also in charge of managing the..." She hesitated for a moment. "Managing the shipment of certain..'goods' for all demons. But he's rumoured to be a womanizer and constant flirt with many humans and demon consorts however I don't know if that's true."

"Well doesn't he sound like a great ray of sunshine."

"Well they say he's also very beautiful and can't feel emotions. But I've never even seen him so I don't know if any of those things are true. But none sound pleasant. Not like Lord Akaza!" 

Your eyes lit up. "That's right. He said he was an Upper Moon."

"Number three to be exact.  He's security for humans. You can say he makes sure no human is harmed by any demon unless ordered by the Master or Lord Kokushibo. He's the kindest of all the Twelve Kizuki besides Lord Kyogai. Directly below him is...Or should I say WAS Lord Hantengu, but since he retired from the position earlier this year the title of Upper Moon Four is shared between his five sons."

You blinked. "So... Upper Moon Four is shared by five people then?" 

Eri nodded. "Lords Sekido, Karaku, Aizetsu, Urogi, and Zohakuten. They're all brothers and sons of Former Lord Hantengu.  They are all Upper Moon Four and the newest Lords. However they haven't had their initiation ceremony yet so for now they are just placeholders of said title. They are the punishers and collectors. They're in charge of chasing down any traitors or law breakers whether they are human or demon and enacting righteous punishments, they are also in charge of collecting any owed debts to our Master whether it be money, land, or even blo-.. Goods. You'd be surprised exactly how many there actually is ." 

"They sound scary." 

"I wouldn't know. Never met them. However to keep on track is Lady Nakime as Upper Five. I don't exactly know much of her other than she's the communicator between all the twelve kizuki. No one I've talked to knows that much about her, I just know she's been Upper Five since Lord Gyokko retired over a hundred years ago.  Under her is the last of the Upper Moons. Upper Moon Six Lord Gyutaro and Lady Daki. The brother and sister. They're informants and work underground, whatever that means. They both live and work in the entertainment district however they're well known because of their...habits."

"What...Kind of habits?"

"Well...It's rumoured that Lady Daki is very beautiful. I don't know if that's true or not, but even the rumor is enough to make desperate men go and look around mating season. Many men go but ...no one I've heard that went has ever come back. At least not in one piece. Lord Gyutaro's very protective of his sister you see. That's what brings on much of the carnage from desperate suitors. "

You didn't know what to say about that. All these demons, other than Akaza, sounded scary. You wouldn't want to meet them without protection either 

"And what of the Lower Moons? What do they do?" 

"Oh! Well you already met three of them! Lower Moon One is Lord Enmu! He's in charge of all travel within Masters provinces and transports most of the goods in and out of his domains, also responsible for helping Lord Douma bring in other humans by train. And Lower Moon Two is Lord Kaigaku. He's the guardian of the Eastern Mountain Border and Lord Kokushibo's apprentice. Lower Moon Three is a mystery however...I heard someone new is getting the role but it's unconfirmed."

"And the last moons?"

"Those would be Lord Yahaba at Lower Moon Four and Lady Susamaru at Lower Moon Five. They both work together and are the personal guards of the Master's family. And last but CERTAINLY not least is Lord Kyogai in the last position. He's the record keeper. Documents any important event in our history, any information Master would want or need, and he's also in charge of documenting many laws, deaths, births, and marriages."

You stared semi in awe at her as you both passed other servants approaching your room.  "That sounds like a lot of work and pressure for one person. " And you were kinda glad you didn't have any drama in your life-

Eri only shrugged and reached a hand out to grab the sliding door. "Well they're all perfectly capable of handling themselves. Besides you don't have to worry about anything they do."

The door was slid back in one motion and both of you turned to the room...Only to pause at exactly who was inside waiting for you.

"It's about dam time you showed up! I've been waiting here for hours!"

You blinked as blue and black eyes glared up at you from the floor as Kaigaku sat there cris crossed, tail curled by his legs, and with one hand tapping the floor while the other held his frowning face. He continued to stare at the two of you just dumbly staring back at him.

"...Why are you in my room?, " You eventually asked raising a brow. Did he mix up rooms? His was right across from yours, so you pointed behind you. "Your room is right across the hall from mine."

"I KNOW THAT!! I'm not stupid! I've been waiting for you to show up!", He countered back which made you blink, "Hey, Eri. Go get us that food I mentioned to you earlier !" Eri blinked. "Well what are you waiting for? Go get it!"

Eri blinked as Kaigaku waved a shooing hand at her making her blink at him then turned to you with a half worried look before sighing and bowing to Kaigaku. "Yes, Lord Kaigaku. As you wish?"

You made to call Eri back as she turned to walk away- "And you!" You turned back to him as he motioned for you to come inside. "Come in and close the door. I want to talk to you."

...You scowled at him before stepping in and grabbing the door. "You know you're really making it hard for me to like you!" 

His face perked up slightly. "Oh. So you DO want to like me?"

You closed the door a little harder than maybe you should've. "Well you're not making it easy! You're really rude you know." 

"I've been told. Would you sit down?" ...Your brow rose. "What?"

"It couldn't hurt you to say please?"

He inhaled like he was trying to compose himself to not get angry, but his eyes narrowed at you. "MAY I be able to get you to sit down and talk with me?"

Well...he didn't say please but you supposed that was as close as a please you'd get from someone like him. So you went over and with about a yard between the two of you, went to sit-... purple eyes blinked at the floor. 

"What now?"

"Did...Did you bring me a pillow to sit on?" The small pillow looked like the one you'd seen in that one dining room when you first got here 

"Does it matter? I'm here to talk, not discuss furniture."...Well you guessed it probably didn't matter but it was still strange he brought it here. Perhaps he wanted to get on your good side, which only made you give him a suspicious look before slowly sitting down. "Hmph. What took you so long? I've been waiting for you long enough."

"Well excuse me if I promised Kyogai I'd talk with him." He was starting to get on your nerves again.

Kaigaku flashed his eyes and gripped his face harder. "Oh yes. And just WHAT exactly were you both talking about?"

Tch. Why did he want to know? Y/n's face deadpanned. "He just wanted his book back is all. I don't see how that concerns you." 

"It does  concern me thank you very much considering what happened between us!! First Akaza and now Kyogai's budding in where they don't belong!" 

What was he talking about now? What did those two do to Kaigaku to make him mad this time? And how did that concern you?...Oh no. You groaned annoyed. Was this because you got between their fighting? Was he really that annoyed by a girl stopping him from getting flattened like a plank of wood?

"Is this about what happened earlier today with Akaza?"

"And Kyogai now! Yes!"

So it was because you embarrassed him. You groaned again reaching up a hand to rub your face. "You can't be mad about that-"

"The hell I can't!'' he pointed at you. "Don't think I didn't see how you were gripping his arm!"

TO SAVE YOU!! You wanted to yell but instead sighed. "Alright. So just so I get what you're trying to say... You're angry about what I did today?"

"And the parts they played."

"Right, right. *Sigh* Alright. Just to make you happy, what if I promise to never do that again?"

That sure made him perk up in interest. Making him raise a brow and eye you carefully. "... You're serious?"

"I promise you. I'll never try anything like that again if it bothers you. And I always keep my word, but in return can I ask something from you?" Perhaps you out could use this moment to bring some kind of peace.

He only looked more suspicious now crossing his arms. "Yeah? And what's that?"

"Would you please tone it down with the attitude for me?" It surprised him enough to raise both brows, your hands gestured around. "If  we're going to be living together then we can at least show each other some courtesy can't we?"

To your surprise your words seemed to actually make him think because Kaigaku hummed and looked off in thought. "...Yes..If we're going to be together." He then nodded. "Very well. Just stop doing things to annoy me-"

"And I have a name. I'd like it if you used it more."

"Ugh. Fine if it'll make you less annoying about it." 

Wow. You were honestly surprised! The last thing you were expecting was for Kaigaku of all demons to somewhat apologize and somewhat be polite-ish. To be honest this was something you didn't think he could do but it still make a suspicious feeling bubble up in the back of your mind that he was doing this for some other reason besides wanting you to stay out of his business, which fair enough you guessed. But it still begged the question.

"So was this it?" He hummed at you in question. "What you wanted to talk about. Was that all? It's odd you'd want to stay for dinner and be so nice to me if there wasn't something else."

He frowned again and huffed before rolling his eyes. "Can't do anything without you being antsy. But now that you brought it up, yes I do. And it's something I would've done before if I knew them what I know now." 

What was he talking about now? Was he talking about kicking you out again? Oh no. Was he about to lecture you about how you should be kicked out again? You thought he was done ranting about that. Instead purple eyes watched as he lifted his right arm up, and with his other reached towards his wrist. The confusion in your eyes diminished some when the hand went to the blue charm dangling from his wrist. That's right. He wore three of them all the time. Two were secured around his neck in some kind of necklace, and the third was wrapped around his wrist. Sharp black claws gently tugged and pulled at the thick string keeping the third blue charm stuck  around his wrist until it all fell away, the now lose charm harmlessly falling into his grey palm. With a final stare at it, he exhaled and turned back to you.

"This is a magatama charm," he said holding it up to you. Now closer, it seemed to be made out of some kind of polished smooth stone. "I figured out a way to get out of the trouble you caused me by coming in here and also our little problem with others budding into things they shouldn't, I'm planning on making a statement about exactly what I think of you."

...Your brow rose deadpanned between him and the charm. "And what exactly does that have to do with me or your jewelry?' your hand pointed at the admittedly lovely piece.

"You gifted me a dowry so I'm simply gifting you one in return as is customary and to show that there isn't anymore hard feelings about losing my last peach from your blunder."

"...So you're trying to make peace with me so Akaza doesn't try to flatten you again?"

He squawked and you saw him instantly scowl. So that was a yes then- "IM DOING THIS TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THOSE ASSHOLES TO BACK OFF AND MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS!!"

So that WAS a YES. Nice. But you'd play along if it meant Kaigaku would be 'nicer' to you, and so the other two would stop arguing with him. So rolling your eyes and sighing, you nodded.

"Alright. You win." You blunt response got him to shut up in the middle of calling Akaza a woman stealing something whatever he meant by that. "I accept your apology. And your promise. And your terms of the deal from before as long as you accept my terms. I also accept your generosity of the gift, but I can't take your jewelry."

"WHAT?!", He yelled but not in anger, he looked more..lost. Sputtering he blinked back to the charm in his hand before holding it up to his face and twisting it this way and that as if to check for even the slightest imperfections on the beautiful blue surface. "...Well what's wrong with this?!"

"Absolutely nothing. It's perfectly beautiful."

"Then take it!," He thrusted it back at you firmer, "If there's nothing wrong with it, then accept it! If you don't like this one, I have two others if you'd prefer one of them!" Already his other hand made grabbing motions at his neck. "Just name which one you want and it's yours."

"I wouldn't want those either-"

"Then tell me what you want and I'll get it for you! Whaddya want?! Gold? Dresses? Food? I can provide most anything."

"Kaigaku it's not about the gift! I just don't want to take something that might mean so much for you, and it's not fair for me to accept something so expensive from you when I just gave you mere peaches!" He paused. "Despite what you might think, I'm not a greedy or materialistic woman. I wouldn't want to accept such a thing unless I earn it or have enough money to buy such a thing."

"... You've already earned it from me. I wouldn't give such a thing like this to anyone unless I want to go through this. And I decided I wanted to with YOU. Although I never thought I would or with a human of all women. Y/n. Take it. I refuse to gift you anything less than this. If I want a new one!," He spoke louder interrupting whatever you were about to say when you opened your mouth, "I know where I can get another easily to replace this one. It's a perk of being a powerful man. Now will you accept this or I'll find you something else."

God's above! Just how stubborn was he?! ...sigh. He wasn't going to stop unless you accepted it was he? Ok. New plan. You'd accept it for now, and then 'accidentally' leave the charm in Kaigaku's room when you left. That way he'd stop bothering you with it and you'd be too far away by the time he found it to make you take it back. Yeah. That sounded like a good idea. 

"Alright, Kaigaku. I'll accept your magatama." For now. 

His face lit up in a smug, satisfied glee. "Heh. I knew you'd love it." Suppressing the urge to roll your eyes, you held out a hand- ?! You jumped when he literally leaned forward quickly towering over your body. "Hold still so I can put it on you!" You never even got to argue with him before he was on you, hands going around your head and something like thick string touching your neck. "Hold still!"

"Kaigaku, get off!"

"Stop being a spoiled child and hold still like I said!"The string was wrapped twice around your neck and a knot was tied to the left side of your neck before the hands finally backed off with a happy look from Kaigaku. "There....It's perfect."

You shoved his body away from yours with a frown. "I could've put it on myself." You glared at his smug face, and let you hand reach up to touch the necklace wrapped around your throat. It was some thick string, and soon your skin grazed the smooth surface of the charm hung off it. "...*sigh* But thank you. It's beautiful."

"I know. It's why I chose to present you with that instead of those cheap human items."

You rolled your eyes but didn't have anytime to say anything before the door slide back open and both of you turned to Eri who looked almost annoyed to be ordered to bring food a second time today. But paused when she spotted that shimmering charm on your neck all four eyes widening-

A rapid clicking came from Kaigaku's throat. "If you tell her ANYTHING I'll make sure you have a decade attached to your working years here." Eri snapped her mouth shut as you looked at him. "Now leave the food and wait for us to call you back in -"

"Eri stays." His head snapped back to you. "Eri is assigned to me, which makes her my servant, and she's supposed to take care of me. If something happens while she's not here, we'll all going to be in trouble. And I say she stays so she stays. That's FINAL, Kaigaku."

"....UGH! FINE! I can already tell you're going to be a hard one to live with."

"That goes for you too. Now shall we eat? It's been a long day."

"Tch. Fine. I've already done what I came here for anyways."

At least dinner was more peaceful. Kaigaku scarfed down what Eri had brought before abruptly leaving and leaving you with Eri for the rest of the night. Once he was safely out of earshot you turned back to Eri who had gone back to staring at the necklace around your neck with a half worried half deadpanned face.

"Hey. Are you alright?"

She slowly nodded. "Yes...So, what did you and my Lord speak about?"

You groaned. "Oh nothing much. Kaigaku wanted to...'apologize' because Akaza must've threatened him."

Her brows rose. "Oh. Is that all?" 

"He also told me to stay out of his business and gave me this-" You pointed at the necklace. "-in order to get on my good side. But I plan on returning it to him later before I leave."

Her face perked up. "Oh...So you DIDN'T accept it?"

"No not really." Eri breathed a sigh of relief placing a hand to her chest, your brow rose. "..Why do you ask?"

"No reason. But a word of caution, try not to accept any gifts from any men while you're here. Don't ask why as I'm not allowed to tell you but it'll just save us all a massive headache later."

You weren't sure what she meant about that but it must've been a demon secret so you'd keep in mind to do what Eri said and keep yourself out of trouble. Another half week passed by with yourself doing the same routine as before with Eri. You would read to her and both of you would be entertained by the many poems and stories unfolding within the pages. You were surprised more when Kaigaku seemed to keep his word about toning it down with his attitude. Whenever you saw him in the halls, he'd smirk proudly at himself and the fact you were wearing the necklace he'd given you. You only continued to wear it to appease him before you left, but the strange reactions you were getting from everyone was also suspicious. Many servants would stare at your neck or give glances at you before quickly turning away. You supposed it had something to do with it being a gift from one of their nobles. However you were not ready for the reaction from Kyogai when he saw you wearing it. It was when Kaigaku left to go back to his duties along the Eastern Mountain Border and you and Eri were passing by him in the hallway. Kyogai had lit up upon first seeing you approaching but it was completely wiped away when he looked lowered to your neck and saw a very familiar blue charm.

"WHERE DID YOU GET T H A T?!"

You were taken quite aback at the sudden yell and pointing at you in such sudden anger. It had Eri peddling back behind you, head instantly bowing on instinct in face of her main Lord's anger.

"Oh...You mean this necklace?"

"I WOULD V E R Y MUCH LIKE TO KNOW HOW IT HAD GOTTEN AROUND YOUR NECK!!," He strained his voice eyes narrowing at the necklace.

"Kyogai be calm," you said holding up your hands to try and calm the strange anger, "It's just something Kaigaku gave me to try and apologize. I'm only wearing it to keep peace, but I'm giving it back to him later."

That last sentence had him looking directly at your face for a solid ten seconds of silence. "...So you aren't accepting that?!"

"No! I only took it to not hurt his feelings but I never to told him I would be keeping it." With every word the largest demon relaxed little by little. "I'm just going to give it back later when he's not around."

"HA! So he doesn't know yet?'

"No. And I'd appreciate if you kept your mouth shut about it since if he knew I'm planning on giving it back he'd just throw another fit about it." 

A big smile broke across Kyogai's face as he hummed in thought staring at the necklace. "…..Very well. I will respect your wishes, but if he thinks this is going to change anything then he has another thing coming! He doesn't seem to understand the laws don't apply to this situation!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing. ...Hmm. But perhaps he has a good idea for once. If the law doesn't apply here then it seems I might still get ahead."

Did he want to do this though? Marriage seemed like a big step especially with someone he just met a few weeks ago-

"Kyogai?" A hand softly grabbed his with a worried cute face beaming at him and the smell of roses hitting his senses. "Are you alright? You're worrying me here."

YEP! IT WAS WORTH IT!!

"I am fine. Perfectly fine. Do not worry. However I must leave. There's a special task I must prepare if I want to present it. Excuse me. Eri, let me know if Kaigaku returns immediately."

And he left just like that. Leaving you to stare at Eri who only groaned and shook her head, so you didn't bother to ask. It just seemed that the two demons really didn't get along. However Eri's strange behavior seemed to get more and more noticeable. You'd catch her staring off into space not paying attention to even the stories as you caught back her attention to which shed apologize and ask you to repeat yourself. Or sometimes she'd take glances out the window with a longing look. Or she'd give glances at your necklace with envy like she almost pictured herself in it-

"Alright. What's gotten into you?'' You finally asked her about it two days later when she stared off for the fifth time in the last hour.

Her many eyes blinked at you as you caught her attention back. "Uh...What ever do you mean?"

"This is the fifth time I caught you staring off, and you're starting to see worry me. Why have you been acting so strange?"

"Oh. Well..You shouldn't concern yourself with that.?" A nervous hand combed through her hair nervously. "It's not that big of a deal."

"It is if you're acting like this," you assured her, "You can tell me. I promise I won't judge you for it."

She hummed nervously wringing one pair of her hands together before sighing. "Well...Do you remember how I mentioned I was engaged?" You nodded. "W-Well it's February already. Usually I'd be permitted to visit him once a year, I haven't seen him since last last summer, and with a few ...'others' falling in love around here.. It's just reminding me a lot of him lately."

"Aren't you going to be marrying him soon?"

"When I agreed to work for my Lord, I agreed to work for him for a certain amount of time. I can't leave until next year when it becomes March, which is still a year away. I also can't ask to visit him now, not when I was ordered to watch over you.  I'll have to wait until you're free to go before I can see him again."

You looked at her for a long moment. "Eri, exactly where does your fiance live?" 

"He lives in a small series of ponds and water bodies five miles south from here. Usually I can go and be back within a single day. Why?"

"Well mating season is over right? That means it's safe for me to be outside for a while. If I explain to Kyogai how you're feeling then I'm sure he'd allow me to go with you."

"Mistress Y/n! No. You're still recovering and I couldn't ask that of you-" 

"Eri, if I spend one more day cooped up in here without stepping out once I'll go crazy! And I already decided I'm going to ask so there's no getting around it if he says yes."

"IF he says yes being the key words here," she pointed out, "My Lord is very worried about your health and safety. Even if you ask him in the politest way on earth and give the most reasonable of reasonable reasons back, how are you so sure he'll say yes to this entire thing?"

"By using a simple trick I've learnt from growing up with a grandmother like mine." You smiled very slyly making Eri raise a brow. "When would you say he's going to be the busiest?"

"Tomorrow when he'll be processing some treaty negotiations into the archives. Why?"

"Perfect."

Eri didn't say anything but the very next day she seemed both anxious and curious to be seeing what you'd be coming up with when you had her follow you very early in the morning towards Kyogai's study. And it was EARLY. The sun had barely even risen out of the sky when you tugged a half asleep Eri behind you. Kyogai as always woke up before the sun even did to work, and combined with his workload would make for a perfect time to ask him. A few servants seemed surprised to see you walking around so early but most didn't pay attention to you just walking around doing their own chores, and Kaigaku still wouldn't be back for a few days so it'll all work out fine! The main study was the one he usually worked from so you went right up to the door and paused for a moment. Eri and yourself exchanging a look before your hands grabbed onto the door and slide it just open enough to pop your head in. Indeed Kyogai was there already working. The sounds of furious quill scribbling filled the air as the large demon sat down in his usual spot, a two foot stack of papers to the left of him on the desk. Yikes. He really was going to be busy wasn't he? Whelp. You came here all the way to ask so you might as well ask.

"Hey, Kyogai?"

He hummed not paying attention and not looking up from his papers.

"Can I go with Eri to meet her fiance?"

"Yes,yes. Whatever you need."

"Thank you."

You then popped your head back out, slid the door back shut, and turned back to Eri who had her haw dropped and all four eyes wide. "Well you heard him! Let's go! We can be back before nightfall."

".... I'm very much starting to think you have a death wish."

"And Ill take that as a compliment."

[loregoddess]

Reverse Unpopular Opinion for Faye and Rinea!

Okay, well first of all both of their designs are really good. Like, I know I'm biased because Hidari is one of my top-favorite illustrators and I think all Echoes artwork is excellent, but Faye and Rinea's is like, especially excellent. Like, we have Faye:

This is the most generic "local girl who lives in a fantasy faming village" look and I mean this in the best way possible. Of all the Ram kids, she's the only one who actually looks like she could have been someone who just hung around some little farming town, and I especially love the little touches that the apron and satchel add. And the color palette is really good, which isn't something I say a lot for FE, and her being dusty blond and paired with lots of browns and whites could have made her look like a sepia photo, but nah, everything's balanced well enough that this looks like a legit.

And then we have Rinea, and just:

LOOK at the amount of thought that went into that dress's design! I'm no seamstress nor cosplay artist, but I do love me some clothing designs where the artist thought out how the clothing might work. And while all the layers aren't broken down, enough are that I can imagine how the dress works, which also makes it easier to draw for me for whatever reason. And again, this is a fantastic palette! Granted, blues and whites with some off-blacks is actually a pretty safe palette to go for and really hard to mess up, but even how the colors get divided is nice, since most of the whites (the "lightest" colors) are at the top of her design, and the black stockings (the "heaviest" color in her palette) are at the bottom. Rinea's color palette looks like glacial, snow-capped basalt mountains, and I love it.

Also like, in line with Echoes' strong emphasis on the divide between the nobility and the commonfolk, we can really see those themes in these two designs. Faye's just a girl from a small farming town, and while she's clearly very trendy and conscious of her appearance, given how she wears cute little bows and has decorated her satchel, there's still something very humble and utilitarian about her outfit. Whereas Rinea's a noble, and her outfit shows as much with the incorporation of more complicated sewing patterns, and the addition of metals as pretty--but essentially non-functional--decoration. Everything about her outfit looks more expensive to produce, and really helps to illustrate her status as a noble engaged to the heir of Rigel. It's such a small detail, but I've seen a lot of fantasy stories where the character designs get a bit carried away and you can't actually distinguish things like social class, or even trends from different geographic areas.

Aside from how much I love the designs, Faye is also one of my favorite units in the entire game. Like, when I did my run of "I'm actually going to try and complete Thabes instead of ignoring it", Faye was front and center on my dungeon-dive team. She's so versatile too! I had her as a pegasus knight my first run and not only was she able to keep pace with Clair, she outpaced the pegasi trio (which might have been lucky rng for the stat growths, but still!). I had her as a cleric for my second run (the Thabes run), and again, she was super useful. Her early access to Physic is very helpful, and while I don't normally use dancer classes, her unique spell Anew ended up being really helpful for my Thabes dive (and also helped me figure out that I didn't dislike the dancer class and its support skill, I just didn't want an entire unit tied up in one type of support only). Also, since Nosferatu can bypass Duma's godshield, I wanted to see if it was possible to get Faye to land the killing blow. This was not a feat I achieved, given that she could only deal a total of 12 damage (although if I decide to buy the DLC before the eShop goes down, I might be able to achieve this feat with an overclass), but 12 damage was the highest not-Alm damage dealt by anyone I had in that battle, which was neat! I think if I ever do another run, I might put her into cavalier and see if she can outpace Mathilda (and then I can give her Gradivus, aka my favorite weapon in the entire series).

Anyhow, I actually have a lot of love not born of spite for these two, and for FE in general, and could probably go on but we'll call it good for now.

[thesnailkiwi]

i wanna hear more about your weird vivid 3rd life dreams /not forced

Mkay mkay I really want to talk about this

First time it happened, or as I call it "first session". (Side note, everyone looked like their characters but realistic.)

Started out (normal?) And collected stuff. The usual. I didn't know anyone at all and it was weird. Everyone felt so familiar, yet I couldn't place who they were. I met Martyn pretty early on. We talked, and he threw seeds at me and ran off. I settled in the roots of a tree the first night (the rain was unpleasant to say the least). Eventually I dug out the area around the upturned tree and put a roof so it was kind of like a burrow. Boy, how I envied Dogwarts at the time.

I met Joel next. He... was something, alright. He insulted me half the time and actually does swear a lot. Oh, and he was like 5'6 so that made it even funnier. He was annoying, though. He kinda just broke into my house tbh.

After that, I heard about Tango’s game but thought it was too risky. I was also afraid because of Scar since I didn't know him and from the stories I had heard he was cruel and merciless. In my defense, he was a red.

I met Jimmy after his first death. He's such a nice dude omg. He's also easy af to fluster. I complimented him and he turned bright red. He, seeing my pathetic house, invited me back to the flower valley for the night. Scott was offended that he brought home someone other than him lmao. At first Scott was defensive but after Jimmy convinced him I was fine then he loosened up. I felt like a third wheel the whole time. Jeez Louise the sheer amount of affection between those two.

Ahaha the next day I wasnt too lucky. I got caught in a TNT trap someone set (I think it was the Crastle, but I'm still unsure) and exploded. Not fun, exploding. Let me tell you. At least it was quick ig.

Bdubs was grumpy about that since it wasn't meant for me. Sir, how am I supposed to know that when you set it near MY HOUSE?

This is where things started going downhill.

Dogwarts was starting to rise. I was allies with the flower valley so I quickly was introduced to the desert duo. I felt kinda bad for Grian since he couldn't use his wings, but realistic harpy things are weird looking. Scar was terrifying. My dude is like 6 feet tall, grey, and littered with scars. Jimmy was red and he still wasn't scary! Wtf!

Ah yes. The burning of the banner. How could I forget? I wasn't there for it, but Scott sounded scared when I visited them next.

I had seen Ren from a distance, and I was so, so angry at Martyn for becoming the monster he did. Oh yeah, and the two of them kept beating around the bush in their relationship and that was annoying as well. Like, dude, just tell him already.

I never really met the Crastle. But I did meet Martyn again and blow up on him about being part of Red Winter.

And here we are! The bunker battle.

I don't really remember much about this part. Pure adrenaline took over. But I did die to being shot by an arrow and falling into the lava moat. I ran back as fast as I could with literal leather armor. Jimmy was dead by then, and when Scott realized, oh jeebus bleebus.

Anger, sorrow, revenge. He definitely was NOT thinking clearly. Since I was closest to Jimmy in the battle, he blamed me for his death. He attacked me and killed me with his sword. Very uncomfortable way to die.

Session two.

Started out on bad terms. I killed a few of the villagers Grian saved and he definitely was NOT happy. I swear he meant the creeper for me and it agro-ed on scar instead. But we'll never know ig.

The Crastle became my home this time. Cleo was recruiting so I signed up.

It went how you think it would. Except this time I played Tango’s game. I failed and died.

Then Dogwarts invaded the Crastle. The others except Impulse got away, but then I realized he was a traitor. I got sacrificed on the altar. Dude the Red Winter axe is a huge ceremonial battle axe. Ren laughing is extremely eerie.

Then during the final siege, Martyn took my last life. Pretty anticlimactic if I say so myself.

Anyway, any questions? I can talk for hours.

I swear every time you send an ask, it turns into a whole essay lmao /pos

[laconservancy]

Membership Matters: An Interview with Etan Rosenbloom

Etan Rosenbloom, photo by Salvador Ochoa

Etan Rosenbloom is a blogger on L.A. history, a lifelong Angeleno, and a new L.A. Conservancy member! His blog Etan Does L.A. follows his journey to visit all of the L.A. County landmarks listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

We recently asked him to share his “L.A. story” with us and how the Conservancy’s resources have enriched his life and work.

Note: an edited version of this interview appeared in the L.A. Conservancy's July/August 2022 newsletter.

As a lifelong Angeleno, tell us a bit about where you are from and what sparked your passion for Los Angeles history?

My family lived in Silver Lake in the early ‘80s, back before it was hip. My parents like to tell the story of the unstable neighbor next door who enjoyed throwing statues into our pool! We moved to Altadena when I was 4, where my parents still live. After college I moved into the infamous Alexander Ruler of the World apartments, right across from Paramount Studios – I was “lucky” enough to move in just a couple months before the owner started painting it dark magenta. Since then, I’ve lived in Echo Park, Highland Park, and now Valley Village.  

Whenever I moved to a new neighborhood, I would read a book or two about local history. But my passion for Los Angeles history really took off in September 2021, when I launched my Etan Does LA project (more on that later). As I dug into the backstories of the LA landmarks I was visiting, it became clear very quickly that there were giant gaps in my knowledge of how this city became itself. I’ve been hooked ever since.  

How did your love of L.A. history and Last Remaining Seats motivate you to join the L.A. Conservancy? 

It felt natural to join an organization that does so much important work educating people like me about L.A. history. The endless resources on your website and social media feeds have informed my blog, Etan Does LA, and helped to make connections for me that I might not have made on my own. For that alone, the cost of membership is far more than worth it! My first year of membership was a gift from my mom for my 40th birthday. Couldn’t have asked for a better present. 

Last Remaining Seats was actually how I first heard of the L.A. Conservancy. Back in 2014 a good friend of mine invited me to an Last Remaining Seats screening of Citizen Kane at the Orpheum. I had never seen the film before, so to be able to see the genius cinematography and all that incredible visual framing on the big screen was an absolute privilege. Plus, I was seated in the balcony – so I quite literally had a different perspective of Citizen Kane than most people will ever get!  

Why do you think it’s important for folks to experience classic movies inside historic theatres? 

Going to a movie in a theatre is a wholly different experience than streaming it at home, no matter how immersive your system is. I love the idea of moviegoing as an experience, something you get dressed up for, something as exalted as seeing a play or a concert, something you talk about before and after the film is over. That experience is enhanced immensely by being in a theatre as dramatic and artful as what’s on screen. It encourages you to engage with the building and its history, and also gives you a sense of what moviegoing was like back before we all had 4k TVs.  

Tell us about your blog and what prompted you to start it.

My blog, Etan Does LA, documents my quixotic attempt to visit each of the Los Angeles landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places (there are around 600 of them). It started off in September 2021, a time when the pandemic had me feeling pretty disconnected from my city, and I was looking for a safe way to feel like a part of it again.  

I was setting off on a short bike ride to the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation in Burbank, and figured I’d look up a bit of information about it first (fun classic movie fact: the Portal features ornate sculptures by Federico Giorgi, who designed the epic Babylonian sets in DW Griffith’s Intolerance). I noticed the Portal was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which got me thinking about all the other things that might be on the list. If a lifelong Angeleno like me has never heard of many of these places, I bet I’m not the only one, right?  

What started as a few photos and a few sentences of history for each site, posted on my Instagram page, has expanded to a website with written histories, videos, and photo galleries. I’ve visited eyepopping modernist homes and humble post offices, missions and bridges, fire stations and funeral homes, craftsman bungalows and Hollywood high-rises, churches and adobes, plus playgrounds, libraries, Civil War-era mountain passes and of course, historic theatres. Every single visit fills in a detail about Los Angeles history that I didn’t know, and more often than not, learning about one site will send me down a joyous research rabbit hole. Like, when you learn that Grammy-winning record producer Joe Henry owned Greene & Greene’s Lucretia Garfield home for over a decade, you want to know which albums he recorded there, yeah? And if you can hear anything craftsman-y on those records? 

How is the Los Angeles Conservancy a resource for you, as well as Angelenos in general? 

I do a lot of research on L.A. landmarks for my blog posts and videos. The information you find online is often too poorly researched to be reliable, or so impenetrably dense with facts and figures that it’s hard to decide where to start. The L.A. Conservancy’s backgrounders on historic sites and architects are consistently the most accurate and concise that I’ve found. They’ve helped deepen my understanding of the importance of the buildings I visit, and they ground each site in aesthetic and social contexts. I reference your website all the time in my blog posts.  

It’s super important that Angelenos experience L.A.’s history as living history. Buildings change over time, and old ones continue to be relevant to different communities in different ways. So I value all the programs that the L.A. Conservancy offers to help people engage with historic sites – whether it’s your regular walking tours, Last Remaining Seats, or one-off events like the Griffith Park 125th anniversary celebration last year. I went to a couple stops on that, learned a ton, and met some fellow L.A. history buffs that I’ve kept in touch with.  

I also love how the Los Angeles Conservancy comes into all of this with a preservation mindset. That wasn’t necessarily the outlook I had when I embarked on my project. But I’ve come to understand how fragile history can be, even when it’s embedded in massive buildings of brick and steel! And the L.A. Conservancy plays such an active preservation role – not just through education and advocacy, but also by holding conservation easements. I recently posted about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Harriet and Samuel Freeman House, which was bought in February by a developer who we hope will invest in a complete restoration. The easement that L.A. Conservancy holds on that home is a vital way of preserving its integrity and holding the owner accountable, so that the public can learn from this building for generations to come.  

Do you have a favorite historic theatre in Los Angeles and/or a favorite Last Remaining Seats experience? 

It’s a tossup between the Mission Playhouse in San Gabriel, and the Alex Theatre in Glendale. In addition to its swoonworthy architecture, the Mission Playhouse was built as a permanent home for a single production, the Mission Play, a three-hour epic about the history of the California missions, written by LA Times columnist, poet and politician John S. McGroarty. I love the idea of an entire building constructed to house a single work of art!  

The Alex Theatre just screams classic with every fiber of its Greek/Egyptian-inspired look, and that giant floral spire erupting from its marquee. I’ll admit it though, this is a nostalgic pick…my high school graduation was held at the Alex Theatre. I wore a skintight silver disco outfit and performed Chick Corea’s “Armando’s Rhumba” on piano onstage. The Alex hasn’t been the same since.  

As for my favorite Last Remaining Seats experience, I have to say that Blade Runner in July 2022 stands out. It’s not just a classic sci-fi film, it’s a classic Los Angeles sci-fi film. It was so fun to spot famous LA landmarks like Union Station, the Bradbury Building and the Million Dollar Theatre in the film, especially at a time when I’m thinking a lot about how we use and reuse old buildings. And I was sitting at the Orpheum Theatre, just blocks away from all those spots! Unforgettable. 

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Etan Does LA website 

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[elenasadventures]

Route des Grands Crus & Australia VS Fiji

(Entry by Elena)

Today we said goodbye to beautiful Dijon which has been our favourite stop by far. Croissants for breakfast were a must from the best bakery we’ve visited this trip, and then it was off to Lyon we went. The drive was through the Burgundy wine region which was exciting, so we decided to follow the Route des Grands Crus which is a relaxing drive through French wine villages and vineyards. We were super lucky and many of the vineyards were actually harvesting; we drove past lots of trucks full of grapes which was very cool. The views and villages we drove past were also stunning. This part of France has been a wine making region for hundreds of years so many of the vineyards are on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Everything was so green and lush and it ended up being a gorgeous drive into Lyon.

Lyon was slightly disappointing which is definitely not the city’s fault (it actually looks quite pretty here, like a mini Paris!). The city is absolutely chockers with Aussies and Kiwis as our Rugby teams are based here, so accommodation was tough to get and we’ve ended up in a very run down outskirt area of town. It’s a little sketchy to say the least and transport is hard into the more picturesque centre of town. We’re spending the rest of our trip here, 10 days, so our expectation of Lyon was to do lots of relaxing and wandering around which might be hard here… So stay tuned for some possible crisis management by our fearless leader (the famed Kylie Bryant).

Even though the accommodation isn’t great, Lyon is a lovely city. Our first morning here we drove into the old town which is unreal; the area is actually one of Europe’s most extensive Renaissance neighbourhoods. We walked around and visited some markets and gorgeous cathedrals. Classic ancient French city vibes! Then we headed home early as there’s another Australia game tonight! I didn’t go to this one so it was a boring evening at the Airbnb for me, and another exciting game for Lachlan and his parents.

(Entry by Lachlan)

So. That happened. Fiji upset Australia to convincingly win and create one of the most notable games of the tournament. The stadium and the atmosphere was amazing - the seats are arranged very steeply so you feel so close to the game, and the acoustics made the 40,000 people feel intimate and amplified. The game was exciting and we got to scream and shout with the Aussie crowd around us (with the added edge that Fiji were getting the better of us). At the end when Fiji won it was clear how much it meant to them and to the fans, they hugged each other and many prayed and cried - it was amazing to be there for such a moment for their team. They haven’t beaten Australia since something like 1972, and it opens up the opportunity for them to make it to their first quarter final. So it's hard to be mad. We then made our way home via a random dirt-road detour, and had some ice creams and watched another game of rugby on the couch.