#idk how best to describe them but i think i got my point across and u know who each is

[inchidentally]

Why do you think Max f protect Lando like his children? Do you think he does it because he saw how Lando struggled in f1 and couldn't just stand there and watch?? 🤔

oh anon idk how much Lando/Max F lore you know but Max has been Lando's protector from day one. Lando was teeeeeny tiny for his age up until like 19?? so Max was bigger than him up until around then. I'm still learning a lot about them as I go but Max's protective instincts toward Lando run extremely deep. it's why I can't decide if they're more common law husbands, platonic soulmates or each other's weird gamer racing gremlin guardian angels.

I think for me one of the biggest standouts for me about their bond is how much Lando wanted to look after Max when Max left racing for good. because when you read about Max's particular struggles, it's like hearing Lando all over again:

Getting bad results each weekend was just having more of a knock-on effect on my mental health. Normally, I’d say that’s one of my strengths through a championship. That’s how I’ve been able to win titles, I’m able to stay calm under pressure and I don’t let many things get to me but when you have a bad qualifying result and you see guys up there that you know you’re capable of beating, it definitely takes a dig at you inside and it’s been a lot to process throughout the year. -- As soon as more thoughts come into your head, it gets worse, then you start panicking, over-driving, and it all goes wrong. I think a lot of the pressure is in your head, but it does get to a point where it just all piles on you. [source]

it's got to mean the world to have a best mate who can completely and openly identify with exactly what you're feeling - esp since they're each now looking at racing from the inside and the outside.

what I find interesting is that Max was just as much of a hyper competitive kid as everyone who came up through that system and from what I can tell he performed strongly enough to easily assume he could make F1 (but he doesn't seem to have assumed that) so him taking to this tiny kid with all these little quirks who was absolutely dusting boys older than him, idk that's just something special about Max. he comes across as kind of gruff or misanthropic at first but he's extremely emotionally intelligent and self-aware - he's always the one to open up and be vulnerable to Lando and unlike Lando he doesn't squirm or make jokes when things get serious. it sounds like I know the guy super well which obv I don't but idk, it just feels like Max is an easygoing but also extremely loyal guy - especially with Lando.

anyway I'm not enough of an authority on nortrell and if anyone wants to add to this please do <3 but yea

side note I always love how in this video we get a sort of funny confirmation that Max approves of Oscar as temporary guardian of Lando. but then I get a little emotional and serious about that bc Lando has cited precisely Oscar's ability to stay calm and not let things pile on top of him as something he's reminded to do for himself. and that Oscar quickly observed Lando and after only a couple months (or maybe even just a month) as his teammate realized that patience and loyalty are what make Lando feel the most relaxed and comfortable with someone. he's adorable and fun w the friends who make him laugh all the time and swat him down when he gives them attitude. but as a self-described shy kid who's also hyperactive, you can see the difference between Lando alone with Max and Lando with other friends. and well, Oscar spent years before his McLaren contract watching that dynamic so. makes sense he'd get the nod of approval from Lando's closest friend <3

[wheelie-sick]

hi! if you dont feel comfortable answering this no pressure, i completely understand! im assuming the bipolar disorder diagnosis (sorry this is the only way ive seen it referred to) didn't just come out of nowhere as like a surprise diagnosis or anything, but what had you start thinking that you might have something wrong? sorry idk if im wording this right, but when did you start thinking that you might have bipolar disorder? i think i might have it, but i don't know if it's just me finding myself in the list of symptoms or what. i was talking about how i want to go on birth control because i spend a lot of time flip flopping between "everyone sucks and should die" combined with just generally being really angry, and then i might have a week or two of being a functional human being, then i'll switch to "i suck and i should die" combined with generally being depressed and anxious. i've always just chalked it down to my period and i was planning to ask my doctor for birth control, but after my friend mentioned it i keep thinking about it. anyways like what had you start thinking that you might have it?

my bipolar disorder diagnosis actually did come pretty much out of nowhere. I have bipolar 1 and was diagnosed after my first manic episode because it was incredibly textbook. I had a history of severe depressive episodes (though that's not required for bipolar 1) and had occasional elevated barely-hypomania-if-that episodes. nothing really on the charts.

suddenly I got very absorbed in a Palestine solidarity encampment to the point I was skipping classes, missing midterms and subsequently finals, not moving my stuff out of the house with the lease ending, and spending about 4 hours a day at max at home. my roommates (one of whom being my best friend) practically didn't see me for over a month. running away like this is incredibly typical of manic episodes and I was on the mild end-- I've heard of people running away halfway across the globe.

I started engaging in a lotttttttt of criminal activity to a life-threateningly-dangerous level. I got away with all of this so you get no examples

I wasn't sleeping. I would go days without sleep, I probably averaged around 2-4 hours a night the entire first month. I felt completely well rested and energetic. I wasn't eating either.

my friends earnestly thought I had taken up doing crack. they described me as "as if all of my mannerisms stayed the same but my personality was scooped out and replaced with someone else"

I was inconsiderate and I was easily annoyed. people would tell me things and I'd earnestly listen in the moment then forget and/or disregard them the next hour.

I could go on.

mania and hypomania are not being normal and functional. they are quite the opposite, really. you feel normal but you are anything but and you are far from functional. people lose jobs, fail classes, go bankrupt, go to jail, etc. because of manic and hypomanic episodes.

[summercreolefanfictioner]

Lol your defending for GabiYui is really on point. I remember some watchers even said 'too bad Gabimaru's heart is stick on his wife, Sagiri is much prettier or hotter' or 'go for it Gabimaru, it's okay to have multiple wives'. Come on, are we now living in an era where a husband being loyal to his wife is something really weird? I need Gabimaru to show his ninjutsu to these people lol.

awww thank you! ofc I will defend GabiYui no matter what since this pair is so close to my heart and has actually inspired me to write better at romance (aside from the other characters from different fandoms I am in) and do my best in life (Nishinoya from Haikyuu is still my main drive but still)

now onto some big points of this ask hehe

re: "Sagiri is prettier than Yui" issue

these two are absolute sisters your honor

I won't deny that sagiri is beautiful like I swear have you seen her and the way she fights back despite men looking down on her and how she swings her sword? plus episode 6 highlighted her being able to balance her emotions, making her gently kill rokurota. ugh perfection. chef's kiss. 1000/10 rating.

but ya know I don't get why people have to be like "Sagiri is way prettier and hotter but too bad Gabi is not in love with her" like what do you mean too bad? like ???? idk if it's just me but does gabimaru have to appreciate her being hot or what? plus ya know gabi is not into the appearance anyways. he even said in the latest episode (which is episode 7 as of this writing) that appearances really don't matter.

plus I don't get why people love comparing yui and sagiri's physical appearance against each other and saying "this girl is prettier" yada yada when they are both best girls with distinct beauty. in fact, there is an interview with Chainsaw Man author Tatsuki Fujimoto about Hell's Paradise author Yuji Kaku where he discussed about drawing female characters. according to Fujimoto-sensei, Kaku-sensei always drew his female characters beautifully in an aesthethic manner and his reason behind this is bcos "all girls are cute regardless so we must always draw them as cute girls" (not exact quote but you get what I mean) that's why Fujimoto-sensei added he has been trying to draw his female characters as cute as possible. so yeah both sagiri and yui are cute and pretty or whatnot. they just exhibit different vibes like sagiri has major main female chara vibes while yui is def softcore cottagecore vibes 🥰🥰🥰

besides, no matter what people say, yui will still be the most beautiful person in gabimaru's eyes. he even said so in both manga and episode 7.

note: he used the word "utsukushii" for the term "beautiful" and in Japanese, using this term means you really find a person so beautiful inside and out that it moves you emotionally so the mere fact gabimaru described yui in this manner despite her telling him that she's ugly is something else 😭🥺💖

re: "it's okay for Gabimaru to take on multiple wives" issue

(THIS ONE WILL CONTAIN MAJOR MANGA SPOILERS AND OTHER CANON EVIDENCES THAT HAVEN'T BEEN TRANSLATED OR MOST PEOPLE HAVE NO HANDS ON DUE TO LIMITED SOURCES)

here's MY NOT SO CONTROVERSIAL TAKE on this one bcos you all know my answer.

it is no doubt that gabimaru can take on multiple wives. after all, gantetsusai mentioned he has multiple wives across japan. plus their time period allows men to marry multiple women so people making this statement knows what they are saying.

HOWEVER!

I actually don't think gabimaru will engage in this sort of thing (see, I told you my opinion on this is not controversial hehe) and here's why.

we all know that osa (aka iwagakure village chief) killed gabimaru's parents and took gabimaru in, even to a point where gabimaru literally lives in the village chief's home like some sort of special treatment.

however, I think one reason gabimaru got special treatment is bcos both of his parents are high-class shinobis (like jonin level) and ofc osa saw his potential that maybe "ah this kid might inherit his parents' ninja skills or something"

plus, osa doesn't have any sons to begin with bcos surprise surprise YUI HAS NEARLY 20 HALF SISTERS with her being the eighth daughter. and accdg to Kaku-sensei, there is a major possibility of yui and gabimaru meeting as children (but alas it is hard to tell since yui has so many sisters). and yes this is all mentioned in Jigokuraku Kaitai Shinsho (pls someone translate this huhu)

so when tsuki (the toasted marshmallow gabimaru that we know) became the 58th gabimaru by killing the 57th gabimaru, he was rewarded for his skills and intellect by marrying yui. but the thing is, it's a common talk among iwagakure ninjas that osa has been looking for a successor and bcos he doesn't have a son, the only choice is to have gabimaru marry into his family (which is common in Japan)

fun fact: gabimaru actually doesn't know why he was married to yui though. he even thought maybe yui has some kind of secret ninjutsu or something. he tried to find out but this boy went home and when yui greeted him with a beaming smile, he was immediately overwhelmed with feelings that he forgot his own agenda 😭😭😭

so what's the point of all this? you see gabimaru has never realized why yui was so adamant abt this sense of normalcy and all that stuff until he finally learned the meaning behind her dream. after all, in iwagakure, when a man is born, he automatically has to be a ninja and a woman has to get pregnant and bear more children that will become ninjas. and if they die during training, then they'll be replaced by another batch of offsprings that will be ninjas or vessels for children.

in short: women in iwagakure are not only beaten, but also treated as baby-making factories (ofc some of them become kunoichis but most of them just become a housewife that takes care of dozen babies). doesn't matter how young or old. as long as you can get pregnant, then you go do your duty for iwagakure. hence why yui loathed this kind of set up and when she voiced out her want for normalcy, she paid the price by having her face scarred.

but what if a girl doesn't get pregnant? ahh then the guy will take another wife, get her pregnant, then process repeat and repeat. it's a cruel cycle that never ends.

in osa's case, it took him like so long before finally accepting his wives cannot give him a son. and in my own opinion, these things can influence gabimaru into not having a harem marriage in the first place. like imagine marrying multiple women just for the sake of a duty.

besides, given how bad he's down for yui, I don't think he would want another woman other than her. like srsly gabimaru has so much respect for her and having a harem marriage would defeat every single thing he and yui are fighting for.

after all, gabimaru hates the idea of women being treated as broodmares. remember, his wife has been "marked" for the same reason. like he really abhors the idea and there are theories of yui being possibly pressured into having children with gabimaru and tbh it all boils down into this canon evidence from the manga.

plus I hate it when people normalize cheating like "gabi might cheat with sagiri" or something like srsly? I thought we were all past NTR and all that stuff? if you are into NTR kinks, there are various media forms that can cater to that and sadly, Hell's Paradise is not the medium for NTR as much as these people want it to be.

that's all for today, folks.

[sugawarassoulmate]

Hii! I was binge reading your loser kuroo and oh my god 😭 it's literally everything I hope you don't mind me just venting everything I felt when reading fr.

The dynamic is just amazing! I'm not sure if bully!reader is not that common (everytime I search it's a bit hard to find, so omgg when I came across your work!). Sub guys are just 😪😔 a want you know?

The (lots of) 'first' interactions they had were so ughshsjsbs S-est tier! I felt the excitement on my body, like actually for real! Not gonna be a weirdo and get into details 🤭

And since I was reading it throughout the day I had to pause a few times, chorezz, and when it was getting too tiring and boring I'd stop to read and!! That's when the more angsty ones started and I was about to combust like lord how can life be like that?? Ik I'm being dramatic but it was like the story was kind of matching my mood.

So! It was the best rollercoaster I've been on so far. And again I really hope I'm not being too pushy? but I wanted to ask about some parts of the universe if that's fine! 😔

• are all of the works connected in the universe? I feel like to some point yes, not all of them, but you're the author!!

• about their dynamic in bed!! is the mc kind of like a sub? cause mc definitely leads the relationship. and how would tetsuro define himself? cause he acts like a sub (just realized how repetitive it sounds, sorry!) but when it comes to sex, at times he seems to be the one in "control", control might not be the best word to describe but, you know? for example when he's drunk. Sorry I don't know how to exactly say what's on my mind but you have a gigantic brain!! So I think the question is a tiny bit understandable.

• that part where he started showing interest in someone else?? That was my biggest wtfff moment (very respectfully). The part where I think I have more questions about. I feel like I'm really pushing my luck by asking these, so of course you can ignore these or just idk 😭. 1. Why did he start having feelings for someone else?? 2. Why did mc just ignore it like it was nothing when in other occasions they would be livid? 3. Why did *he* do that to mc? I was like damn bro there's no true love anywhere. In some occasions you mentioned mc being insecure and things like that. 4. How did mc really take it? Did mc feel sad at all with all that? What was mc really feeling through it all? Why did mc forgive him so easily? How was it when they got 'back together'? was mc even more of a cruel bitch to teach him a lesson or something? I'm light headed just thinking about it 😩.

I'm pretty sure there's more I want to ask but I can't remember right now and I feel like I went way over the socially acceptable to ask 😷

I just saw that were both infp and leo!! So happy very belated!!!

Thank you for the patience!

omg no i love these kinds of questions!!! i’m so glad you love their dynamic 🥹 trust me i love hearing all y’alls thoughts when it comes to my stuff it makes me so happy.

i’ll answer your questions one by one haha 

okey the worlds are kind of connected. you’re definitely right that in some ways they are and other ways they aren’t. i like the idea of everything being kinda interconnected in the sense that loser!kuroo, bully!osamu, and stoner!suga can all exist in one universe (the peach cinematic universe if u will) but i didn’t want to make hard rules if that makes sense??? cause i didn’t want to limit what scenarios i could put the characters in! so there’s deff the canon of osamu and reader being childhood frenemies and kuroo and his reader being college lab partners yeah but other than there aren’t rigid rules they have to follow. the freedom allows people to send in whatever request they want for those characters (so long as it doesn’t break my rules!!!) i hope that makes sense!!!

you’re definitely right about reader and loser!kuroo’s dynamic in bed! i just thought it was interesting for the mean, abrasive character to also be the sub in bed?? like “you’re a fucking loser, you can’t do anything without me but alsoooo please pin me down and hold me in bed.” i tend to imagine reader as being shorter/smaller than kuroo (but y’all can imagine reader any way you want!!) just cause i like the idea of mean person a who bullies and bosses around their much bigger/taller person b 😅

ok!!!!!! so i’m glad you caught onto that! it’s a dynamic that i’ve kind of been playing around with bc i have plans for a longer, possibly chaptered fic with that kind of plot in mind. if y’all remember that monstrous 8k fic i wrote for bully!samu and reader….i kinda want to do something similar??? (maybe reader finally tells kuroo she loves him?????) that’s very tbd at the moment haha

this was fun!! it felt like a press conference 😂😂😂 please send more asks like this i love talking about my writing and i LOVE even more hearing what all of you think!!!!

it’s not a bother to me at all!!!

[celaenaeiln]

idk much about the rwby x dc crossover except jealous bumbleby but i did sort of keep up with the latest rwby season and your comment about dick and ruby getting along makes so much sense to me.

like ruby is the leader and it’s really been weighing on her for a couple of season until it kinda comes to a head in the latest and she snaps. like this season has rwby + jaune go through basically a wonderland dimension and while the others went through instances where they faced their inner selves/troubles there’s a being that actively made sure ruby couldn’t and that lead to the others becoming more sure of themselves and even for blake and yang to finally get together and it’s great and sweet!

only issue was ruby had been closing herself off slowly the entire season and putting on a brave face until she couldn’t. because as much as the others were getting better they never stopped looking at her to lead and she basically goes why am i always the one with the plan and the one who’s happy etc until she runs off after she realized she snapped. which all leads to her having a no good bad time where the others are too late to uh. let’s say stop her from “remaking” herself into a new person who fundamentally isn’t ruby anymore.

she does get a therapy session in and realizing it’s ok for her to love herself and be herself burdens or not and coming back to kick ass with everyone.

sorry for the ramble especially if you’re already kept up on rwby but idk ruby and dick to me have so many parallels with both being the youngest and leader in their respective og teams (rwby and teen titans) as well as the burden of being the one who always has to move forward through everything. also both of them being literal beacons of hope with how ruby in the season before last sent out a worldwide transmission asking for help and giving hope in the same speech and dick being dick. ok now i’m done thanks for reading the word vomit <3

Not at all I loved reading all of it!

I'm actually not caught up with the RWBY but I really got into Ruby when I stumbled across the RWBY: Ice Queendom opening scene.

And I was instantly hooked!

I kept watching the show and I just fell in love with Ruby. My favorite type of characters are those that are cheerful and sweet but unstoppable badasses. AKA RUBY AND DICK. Not only that, both Ruby an Dick are the leaders of their teams. Ruby with the RWBY team and Dick with everyone. Literally, he'll walk into the room and everyone else automatically treats him like the leader.

Saw this by @hadesisqueer-

and went Dick Grayson.

They're so alike!!

I never knew that about Ruby closing herself off but that's another way they're so identical.

Dick loves his family and friends but on his worst days he's really closed off.

Outsiders (2003) Issue #12

As Huntress calls him emotionally repressed.

But that's what his friends are for and Wally points this out. The Titan's are there for Dick so he doesn't turn into Batman.

"she basically goes why am i always the one with the plan"

OH MY GOD THAT'S A CANON DICK MOMENT

The New Teen Titans (1988) Issue #77

Word for word! I'm starting think that dick and ruby might be the same person in a different universe.

Lindsay Jones who plays Ruby described her mentality as, "selfless, but that means she's not dealing with her own issues. Compartmentalizing and internalizing her grief is what might eventually destroy her."

ALDHFBAKHADKFHALKH I LITERALLY WROTE AN ENTIRE POST ABOUT DICK'S COMPARTMENTALIZATION AND HOW HE INTERNALIZED HIS GRIEF SO HE DOESN'T BURDEN OTHERS WITH IT AND ALSO ACT LOVING AND HAPPY

Ruby also has a strong sense of moral justice and her understanding of the battle field makes her battle tactics one of the best in the entire RWBY universe. Much like Dick, the two of them are able to understand the situation quicker than everyone else and are able to formulate a plan that leaves them winning practically every time.

Not to mention, they both have sweet tooths. Ruby with her sugary coffee and Dick with his sugary cereal.

There's so much I could go on about the similarities between these two. The crazy intelligent cinnamon rolls with the tactical sense of Sun Tzu and the heart of Mansa Musa.

I was so happy to see all their interactions.

DC/RWBY Issue #2

Issue #3

[melonminnie]

( I AM ? ) Episode.one

-Isis x Fem! Reader

Warning!: stalking behavior, somehow follows the movie! ‘20th century girl’

-this does have one of my oc’s in it cause I idk who to add as the bsf sorry!

“Oh, name your never understand how I felt that day he helped me” the girl had sighed dramatically, on hand over her head as she squealed with excitement.

“I read his name tag!” She smiled, sitting up straight and starring directly, at her best friend of a lifetime, Name.

“What did it sa-” Mabel didn’t give anyone a Chance to speak, as she continued to flaunt over the mysterious man that had helped her out when she fell helping her mother at the bakery.

Although Mabel came from a noble family, they were mostly known for their bakery that’s prices match both nobles and commoners, at the time it was early in the morning and it was practically empty.

Mabel had seen the man, and was head over heels for him by first sight.

The girl had explained all of this to her best friend, Name, who came from a noble family too, her father who ran away as a teenager met her mother and inherited the title of the marquis.

Mabel continued her rant about the boy, describing his features and everything she could remember.

“we’ll do you know his hair color?” Name asked a handful of clothes in her hands as she added them into the millions of bags across the floor.

“No!..But I remember it was really really shiny” the girl grinned. Her friend starring at her.

‘Shiny..?’

“But anyway that isn’t the point Name!!” Mabel got up from her bed running towards the girl once again, “hey don’t ru-”

Mabels hands stretched out hugging Name, both falling to the floor in the process.

“You’ll do this for me won’t you Name please pretty pleased with a cherry on top” The red heads short hair fell onto names face.

“Fine..”

Taken by suprise Mabel got up from their position, her smile was beyond happy at this point.

Mabel’s plan was definitely going to work!!.

And just like that the two girls had departed, While they were both quite sad, the both had promised to send letters to each other every week or so.

And with a sad smile and a wave, They wouldn’t be seeing each other for a very long time.

‘Alright I think I can do this’ the girl thought starring at her lunch, it had been one week sense Mabel left to get treated.

With a confident smile she started looking around, the academy name went to separated boys and girls to two different areas the only time they were able to see each other was during lunch.

Quickly the girl had spotted a name take exactly like Mable had mentioned.

‘Isis de elmir’

Was what was written on his name tag.

‘I’ve finally found you!’

Isis was quite different than anime had expected, as he had red hair with blue eyes.

‘He looks different than I imagined him to look like’

Now to the second problem was, how to talk to him without coming up as interested in him. Her eyes everted to a different boy, the boy next to Isis, unlike Isis he had shiny blonde hair that was eye catching if you noticed it, with bright green eyes.

Suddenly a light bulb came to the girls head, how about getting the most information she could get.

Unfortunately Name was too caught up in a pleasing her sick friend to notice that what she was considered was considered stalking behavior she’d follow the two everywhere around school.

It got to a point where she even entered an audition because Isis had entered it, it was to enter a club. It was a journaling club.

Almost like the news paper where they’d write about almost any topic that doesn’t go above school rules.

To audition to said club you had to do speak or write something that would make people feel intrigued. Isis auditioned and got in his friend did the same and also got in.

The girl smiled starring into the overfilled audience hall, slightly terrified she began her act, grabbing a sword from the floor the girl began her act. Some where taken by surprise while others amused.

When name was a child, her father made her learn self defense in case she ever got into any trouble, she’d learn day and night on how to hold the sword right.

So that was the most she can do as she didn’t think any of her other qualities were amusing this was the better out of all of them.

Once the act was finished she kneeled down, the audience clapping from joy.

Isis stepped out and raised his voice,

“I would like to withdraw from this club” he said with a smile, “there are more talented people that can join this club that would be more fittin” the red head declared.

Tag list!: @yevenly

[seldaryne]

haven't finished the durge pt yet (idc about spoiling anything though that has 0 impact on me enjoying the game fdgh) but i've been thinking Thoughts.

edit okay as i was writing this i went ahead and just read up on the backstory so i could continue my thoughts in a coherent manner lmfao

(lots of info here, apparently ive gotten Very attached to her in the last uh. three weeks give or take. kinda sorta chronological?? idk it makes sense to me lmao)

--

velrith probably definitely only settled on that name in act 2. prior that she was just called whatever people drifted to if they needed her attention. & she didn't really care, having a void for memories will do that to a bitch, but it can make introductions awkward or give them a weird 'im too good to even give you my identity' energy. not super great when paired with someone who doesn't really emote or put a ton of effort into masking tonal inflections. she pointedly allowed other people to do more of the talking as a result for a while & would get roped into conversations that way.

i'd like to go ahead and tie in astarion's frequent use of pet names here to this too. he's got a goal here, and can't just drop a 'hey you' every time he's angling for something. it's easier to fill in the blanks that way & make sure it doesn't come across as cold and calculated as the seduction actually is for a time. of course, the mental gymnastics weren't necessary here. aside from the fact that she's extremely intense about her oath & therefore is legally obligated to send cazador straight to hell on sight, he'd also have the same luck with a low-effort, straightforward 'do you want to have sex?' the lines are... usually fine, never actually crossing boundaries, but she does find a lot of them to be really goddamn weird & unnecessary when the point could be made in less than 10 words.

picture a distraught-looking sighthound & you have the general idea of the face she makes when he lays it on thick. she's giving her best shot at a socially appropriate expression. it's not working.

also on names, she can't say for sure if that's who she was before or if she just pieced together syllables that sounded like Something from memory. again, doesn't really matter either way, since she's not in any hurry to reclaim her former self. it's fine.

ketheric felt straightforward. a tragic figure who she did extend an olive branch towards, but ultimately felt nothing when it came time to bring her blade down (besides, isobel seemed like she knew what she was talking about when velrith confessed [suddenly coming back into her room just to point-blank tell her about the desire to spill her blood] certain thoughts of violence towards the cleric, and it felt like the sort of assurance she should be trusting, right? more than any of her own emotions, anyway.)

gortash gives her the ick. like, there's no other way to describe that one. he actually probably still would even without all the history (and the fact that he needed to repent for what he'd done to karlach), but the slimy over-familiarity was really the nail in the coffin there. velrith isn't smooth nor particularly socially gifted, but she has a certain air of formal pride she carries herself with. acting like you know her better than she does herself (even if it may very well be the truth!) is so beyond an overstep of what she's able to function with. stripping away everything else, if he even tried to touch her casually on the shoulder, he would have been liable to lose that hand.

orin troubles her. for the obvious reasons, but she also just... pities her. almost. pre-tadpole, velrith was honestly relatively similar compared to her current personality. colder and more able to justify slaughter, sure, but still staunchly refusing to compromise her own feelings for social games. she understood how the game pieces moved when she watched other people, even when she was younger, but if asked to copy the same techniques, she was only ever able to bludgeon straight through in a line. consequently, people don't really care how strange you are if you're just that good at your job. orin made a one-sided rivalry out of someone who otherwise just regarded her as a peer in the same arena, and now sees her as someone who wouldn't have been able to take the chance at redemption even if it had been on the table. she was too far gone, unable to stand on her own or cope with the fact that she would always be lesser than someone who genuinely could not have cared less about standings. maybe if velrith had feigned some interest, there wouldn't have been so much hatred. or maybe there would have.

either way, she sees orin in a depressing light. someone who had nothing and no one but the prospect of power, and who crumbled as soon as that chance at power was taken away. to let her live would have been to co-sign on her projecting those emotions outwards. velrith isn't stupid and knows there's a good chance she might have gone the same way if she hadn't been lucky enough to receive her parasite. in another life, she thinks that maybe she could have found a connection, and they might have saved each other (either genuinely or in a twisted version of the word). this isn't a thought she shares with anyone. she thinks about that death and their interactions for a long time afterwards.

her 'normal' childhood sometimes comes to her in fleeting memories that disappear out of her periphery if she focuses too hard. she thinks she liked her parents, and they seemed like nice people from what she can semi-recall. but she can also tell that there's always just been something wrong with her if she compares herself to other people. many of these snippets feature her looking anywhere but at her parents' faces, unable to express herself verbally in a way they could understand (the words were right, they way she used them was... her own, shall we say?). something flipped at some point, and all of the sudden she would stare too much at them, not blinking or looking away at the right moments. they'd seemed to squirm a bit under this. they always seemed a bit sad when they looked at her, as if they'd loved her but she was never quite as they hoped she would be.

she had to be taught what to do during a hug as an older child instead of leaving her arms limp at her sides. she knows that.

she doesn't remember killing them. she doesn't remember how it would have felt to receive her first order or how she was unable to do anything but listen to the violent urges.

there's more guilt for not feeling much towards them than there is for the killing.

the staring hasn't shifted again. she knows she looks at people too hard and/or too long, looks at them dead in the eyes and studies their faces, but she can't help it. one, it's good to be aware and alert. two, looking away doesn't seem to be the answer either. at least this way they know she's paying attention, right?

she thinks she shouldn't care about these things, that it's so ridiculous coming from her blood-soaked past, laughable that she'd wonder what it meant to have people relax in your presence instead of becoming more visibly anxious. but she wants to be good, she really, really does. she wants to be able to join a group like everyone else, slipping seamlessly into their words and laughing how they laugh instead of her own (the faintest of smiles and a soft rush of air running past her lips, blink-and-you'll-miss-it laughter that may as well not exist outside of her head). she doesn't hate herself for these things, because she doesn't know how else to be, but she does wonder. she wants to know what it's like for these things to be easy. bhaal's favourite hadn't been blessed with charisma, apparently.

consequently, she has a very hard time now figuring out how to actually connect with anyone, or what it should feel like to have friends.

it made her somewhat uncomfortable in the beginning to be asked questions by these people on a regular basis. not even personal questions, just things to signal that she existed to them in some capacity. gale remembers when she'd wrinkled her nose at a certain seasoning, and leaves it off her plate when he makes dinner going forward. lae'zel likes how she fights and asks her questions on technique, asking to spar so she could better understand the answers. shadowheart thinks they're alike with similar holes in their memories, and seeks out her company because of it. she doesn't understand, and for a while she even feels a bit suffocated by it. exposure therapy is really the only remedy here.

initially there are some reasonable assumptions on whether she just dislikes them all that much, or if she thinks she's better than them, or some other nasty reason. it takes approximately two conversations with her for everyone to understand that's not the case. it's like speaking to someone who only every studied social behaviour from an incomplete textbook and was visibly struggling to fill in the gaps in real-time. is she scary? yes, a bit. does she stare at you Way too much when you're speaking to her (at her, really, because you will be carrying that conversation until she's gotten her footing)? also yes. but she's really earnestly trying to sort herself out for the sake of the people around her, brain twisting around itself to learn things that were as easy as breathing to most. and it's sort of sweet, in its own way.

over time, she stops simply caring about these people based on her code of ethics. she starts to remember things about them too, her love language starts to show itself through gift-giving at an absolutely glacial pace, but it's noticeable to literally everyone despite that. a small trinket picked up at the market matching shadowheart's usual taste is pressed into her hand with only a nod before velrith is turning on her heel and almost running away. a tome is thrust at wyll with such startling intensity that the kindness actually comes off as a bit of a threat, but she looks visibly relieved when he takes it with a smile. so on and so forth. every incident like this, every blunt display of 'i notice you. i think you would like this. i thought of you today,' is accompanied by a hasty exit. task accomplished, but now the script has run out, so she's doing the same. she also finds it hard to look at people once the exchange has taken place, and is pretty sure this is an affliction only she suffers from.

she's going to push through it anyway, even if it makes her skin feel like its trying to recoil off her bones.

it also comes out in the protection. again, it's expected as a paladin of devotion, but no one is quite prepared for the molten fury that burns in her eyes or the weight of her voice whenever ghosts from the past arise. not only has she sworn her protection to those suffering from harm (and names like orin, gortash, cazador, viconia & more absolutely qualify as those who cause harm), but it feels personal. acting as shield and guillotine is when velrith is truly in her element, standing tall and embodying the virtues laid out in her tenets.

she is fighting internally just as much as externally, pushing back against base instincts to continue her sworn oath. driving her sword through the flesh of the emperor is just as much about defeating him as it is proving to herself that she is still capable of goodness. if she falls here, she can at least die knowing she was dedicated to rebellion until her very last breath.

this does not mean that she actually registers it when people like her, though. in fact, once she pieces together what her true nature is (she hadn't wanted to kick that poor animal, or make a spectacle of that nice bard's corpse, or try to rip out astarion's throat as he slept--but she had done those things, and more, and what's worse, some of them don't even to her like they would anyone else) she's pretty sure that the unanimous, logical choice would be to put her at a distance.

so she braces, prepares, makes peace with returning to the status quo & starts pulling away before staging her little ted talk. jaheira catches her first, though, and it gets to her. she's not spoken much to the woman, but she's... incredibly understanding, actually. so much so that it leaves velrith with a profound ache in her chest when she rolls over and tries to sleep again (jaheira's insistence, and her promise to stand watch all night in case she lost control again). being around jaheira hurts like hell, but she still seeks her out after that incident. she looks at her kindly but doesn't treat her with any more fragility than before. she's good-humoured when answering question after question about bhaalspawn, and stays honest the whole time too. she seeks her out when she isolates as much as she can on the outside of camp, dropping a sack of potatoes at velrith's feet and sitting beside her so that they can peel them in easy silence.

she likes that the most. sometimes it feels like velrith's head is too full; not from the parasite or the echoes of a murderous god, but from--she's not sure, actually, but it makes thinking hard, and speech tends to take a temporary leave as well. no amount of coaxing makes a difference, it'll return when it decides to. that's the bad sort of silence, the type that other people feel like they should fix so that everyone can be comfortable again. except jaheira, who apparently can figure out what she needs before velrith can even process that question. and sometimes, she just needs to peel some potatoes for a bit.

standing before everyone else, she prepares for the logical choice of rejection again. instead, she's greeted with shrugs, support, sympathy, but overall--not much of a change. that's the part that sends her off, only pausing just long enough to take a breath before excusing herself to the surrounding woods. it hurts so damn much, being loved like this. she wonders if any technicalities in her oath actually require her to slay herself at this point, just based on the implications alone. they should be appalled. fearful. cold. and she'd wound herself up so much inside determining this to already be the only end to her confession. bare your soul, lose what you'd only started to ease into, return to your duty.

the other shoe never does drop, though. it's gone so catastrophically well that she can't even make the tears flow properly (she's only done it once before that she remembers, but that should be adequate). instead, her sobs are muffled gasps against her hands, choking on her own confusion as she sinks to the ground, shaking.

of course, this comes out after the "incident", in the underdark, which means astarion has already seen her cry precisely once of something that seemed to her a similar scale. he's got a better handle on it, he'd like to believe, and he can sense that he's being silently volunteered for the 'fetch our bhaalspawn' quest. she's not hard to find either, an ice-white tiefling amongst the greenery with her head hidden in her arms, folded in on herself like she's not worth the weight of her own bones. it's sad, and a little annoying, actually, because if she was to insist that he possessed worth like it was the most obvious fact in the world, like he was strange for not feeling the same way, why shouldn't that same sentiment extend in her direction.

of course, there's little he can say to soothe in a way that matters, he's not going to make that mistake again, but he's at least able to bring her up for air. yes my love, perhaps it is foolish and unwise for any of us to stay around something so dangerous, but that argument can be made in many directions, not just yours. you would be the first among us to dismiss those very notions if they were coming from someone else, and have done so--multiple times, may i add--as bhaalspawn. if there's upset about the reveal, i'm confident that it's more to do with how you feel than anything else.

and really, what's she supposed to do with that aside from break even more (from relief, maybe? tension and fear of rejection that she hadn't known how to recognize, hadn't known she was holding onto? the understanding that this is not just from him, but on behalf of everyone else too?) and crumble into him.

against all odds, she is worthy of loving. despite her bloodline and her personal shortcomings, she is worthy of that much.

nothing in half-measures, as most paladins tend to be. does she remember when or why or even how she took the oath? not even a bit. but it's the only thing in her head when she wakes up on the mind flayer ship, the sole thing she's sure of, the only guiding direction she has. it should be enough to understand right and wrong, but it isn't for her. following the oath is a choice, something she can steady herself on when nothing else makes sense. devotion to her cause of protection, restoring some of the balance in the world that she lost before orin killed her. maybe that was why she lived; something needed her to right some of her sins before death arrived. or maybe a divine power was looking for someone who wouldn't be missed if they were lost in stopping the ithilids.

whatever it is, she does everything in her power to stick to it. until, of course, life happens (as it tends to) and she does something in the underdark. what did she do? she doesn't know, because she thought she was helping--that myconid was going to betray the colony that took him in when he lost all others. she raised her sword when it was clear a scolding wouldn't change his mind. and then... the sinking feeling that something was wrong.

something was missing. the only part of her that felt like it was anything was gone, and for the first time (maybe ever?) she gets emotional. there's no anchor anymore, no calming guide of tenets to follow.

the oathbreaker knight will find her later, she knows. at camp, she's distraught, and the little bit she dared interact goes out the window entirely. there's nothing anyone could actually say that would help, anyway. this does not stop astarion from trying.

glib as ever, were she in a more normal headspace she would have seen the dismissive comment for the hand-waving attempt at comfort it was. he probably knows there's nothing he can actually say to bring her down, but surely a joke (meant to reassure that she would be fine regardless, whether the oath stayed broken or was re-taken, she was competent on the field and he at least trusted her that much) would be alright?

it was not.

for all that he carried, he could not--did not--understand. of course he could be cavalier about it; despite all that was taken from him, he still had his own gods-damned name. he knew who he was, wasn't scrambling to put together fragments of his own ghost just to make some unimpressive small talk like she was. she has not yet chosen her name at this point, and that oath is where she begins & ends as a person.

he's silent when she snaps, unexpected. like a cornered animal about to tear its own leg out of a trap, daring anyone to come closer to 'help' so that they too can be maimed. a total loss for words, even when she stalks off to keep herself from acting out even further (who knows how prone she would be to violence now? not her!), raising her voice for the first time at him in pure grief.

he doesn't really get it, but he understand more in the middle of all that. the pieces click together in his mind, working themselves out during the berating. the gods never answered his cries, and so his outlook remained fairly bleak on the whole pantheon. paladins occupied a space at the opposite end of the spectrum, and he'd assumed that her more uptight habits were an offshoot from that (it's not like she gave him a ton to work with, either. he did his best from what he was allowed to see). for her, there may as well have been no gods involved in any capacity. it was simply the thing that kept her from fracturing entirely, now gone thanks to a misunderstood line in the agreement.

she still refuses to speak to him, even after she's begged for the oath back--she'll be good this time, really, she'll be good, she promises, it won't happen again, please--and received it successfully. she's not talking much to anyone, feeling both too exhausted and over-sensitive to even contemplate that. his apology isn't... good, exactly. but it's honest and that's really all she gives a shit about. things are still weird and cold for a bit, manifesting in a physical distance & reinforcing just how off his initial read on her was. but it's her first real brush with interpersonal conflict, so learning curves are expected. time and circumstance eventually help things settle, with there being bigger things to worry about.

she's quiet during sex. responsive and hyper-aware of her body, definitely, but still restrained. she enjoys the act, however, despite the lack of volume, and this shows through a readiness to explore and feel things. the ability to feel physical pleasure is something that at least seems to be something she has in common with most people. but she's overly permissive too, sometimes uncomfortably so; she's simply not attached enough to her body to have real concerns or strong preferences. at first glance, this seems to be deference, the need to be agreeable in every situation lest she tip the scales too much in her own direction.

he puts his finger on that after the third encounter, and finds himself taking a break from her for a while after as a result (once again, an act that she's absolutely fine with--god, has the thought of challenging him ever even crossed her mind in this department?). Further observation, however, reveals something else. her actions are exploratory. experimental. there's no frame of reference, she needs to establish preferences all over again for this version of herself. in fact, he sees that this extends to other tasks people ask of her as well. every action or accompaniment is met with the same reserved curiosity, considering what's being asked of her before ultimately deciding to try something new. perhaps that was why he felt like he was being intensely studied if he squints.

there's no doubt that she does see him. but she only sees enough to know that she lacks the connections to actually do anything with that. an unbalanced, vexing sort of safety net. (still, there was probably no one better for him to glue himself to than a paladin, and he tells himself that's why he spends so long trying to figure her out. because surely, her motivations can't be as obviously honest as they come across--can they?)

it's only after she tells him on the name she's privately decided to give herself (private for now, since everyone else will be informed in the morning) that he starts to realize just how much he enjoys kissing her. she's not nearly as practiced as he is, but gods, there's such a single-mindedness to the kisses it actually leaves him dizzy. her focus is so all-encompassing, the world around them may as well have been unravelling at its seams and she still wouldn't break contact. chasing pleasure but holding back just enough to keep her head above the water, prolonging the act as much as she can. he's been kissed before. many times, actually, but not like this.

there is... so much disappointment when rejecting bhaal doesn't actually change anything fundamental in her. on one hand, that really does mean that it's been her personality the entire time. that the good choices she made were hers, and they were worth fighting for.

on the other hand, fostering even that small seed of hope that she might become less of herself and more like other people had been a dangerous game. the distance remains, along with the lack of understanding and knowledge that some things would always be more hard-won for her, while others would simply be entirely beyond her reach. knowing this logically is one thing. accepting it is... entirely different. it will take time, and she will at least allow herself as much so as to properly grieve a version of herself whose body knew how to laugh freely.

she'll be okay.

[molloytheboy]

tagged by @dead-ghost-walking to answer these fun fic writing questions!

How many works do you have on AO3? 42

What’s your total AO3 word count? 138,556

What fandoms do you write for? currently just the Vampire Chronicles but when I first got back into fic writing in 2020 it was Dragon Age

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Does it feel like a dream, Mr. Molloy? | Next to Never | The Fight | Come As You Are | If This Be Nothing

5. Do you respond to comments? Usually yes! I love receiving them so I try to encourage it as much as I can by interacting <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably gotta be the fic where I killed Louis (which I do still plan on finishing btw)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Holy Ground :)) this one is sickeningly sweet tbh i was in serious need of some fluff when I wrote it

8. Do you get hate on fics? only very rarely. basically never happens now that I only allow comments from people with accounts

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? yes. all kinds. all of the kinds. VC Kink Week 2023

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? not currently but crossover crackfic was how i started my fic writing career back in high school. craziest was a roleplay with my bestie that involved characters from Naruto, Samurai Champloo, DNAngel, Fruits Basket, Gravitation, and Fullmetal Alchemist

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? not to my knowledge. nice thing about writing for such a small fandom someone would probably notice and notify me pretty quick

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? no

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? yes

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? idk if i can pick one definitively but its a VC ship for sure. its kind of all of them tbh all the main canon ones. i cycle thru obsessing over each of them depending on the fic im working on. if i was forced to choose at gunpoint i would go with Nickistat

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? hate the phrasing of this how dare u make me face my demons. I will finish all of my wips i will break the cycle and then i will be free and never again be plagued by thoughts about the Characters in Situations. i know this sounds like a cop out answer but i genuinely with all my heart believe that i will eventually get to all 17 of my wips this is simply the extent of my hubris

16. What are your writing strengths? dialogue i think. and smut idk can smut be a strength. tbh i haven't received a lot of constructive feedback on my writing outside of fan spaces so i dont feel qualified to answer this

17. What are your writing weaknesses? over-explaining/over-describing characters actions and motives and emotions in a scene. i feel like this is smth that doesnt come across in my final drafts as much anymore bc ive been actively working on it but this is the thing i consistently struggle with during the process. also i tend to be kind of lazy with research which isnt the best quality to have when you write mostly in historical settings. but with fanfic i feel justifed in only spending one hour instead of three reading up on life in 18th century Paris since i do have a life to get back to at some point. if i was writing for publication i would try harder

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I do it, poorly. almost exclusively French in this fandom, and a little Italian. I do my best to check multiple translation sources (from real speakers if possible) and find example sentences to base my grammar on. but again, this is a hobby so I don't hold myself to the same standard I would if I was doing it professionally

19. First fandom you wrote for? pretty sure my first fanfic was that crossover i mentioned earlier so. all of those

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? oh boy. hold on gimme a sec. ok i think its Against All Odds rn. i was at the top of my game when it comes to Loustat banter (had recently reread the first 3 books) and its very tight and compact and cinematic im still really pleased with it 2 years (??!?!?!?) later

tagging @nightcolorz @butchybats and anyone else who wants to! u can say I tagged u <3

[thebreakfastgenie]

Ao3 20 Questions

Tagged by @queerbashir! Thank you! I am tagging @onekisstotakewithme @koboldkatalyst @majorbaby @youngpettyqueen @xslytherclawx-writes and anybody else who wants to (please tag me if you do it!) because I never keep track of who among you writes.

1) How many works do you currently have on ao3?

30

2) What's your total ao3 word count?

92,888

3) What fandoms do you write for?

The ones I still think I'll write for again are MASH, The West Wing, and Star Trek.

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

'Til Death (Un)does Us Part

5) Do you respond to comments?

Usually!! I try to, but sometimes it's hard and then it's been so long it feels weird to do it... I often do it anyway. I respond to most of them.

6) What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh that's easy.

Downpour

If you choose to read this one, please heed "creator chose not to use archive warnings." It's there for a reason.

7) What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

8) Do you get hate on fics?

I haven't! I did get anon hate about a fic, calling me cringe for writing a fic about abortion. I called them a pro-lifer and got a follow-up clarifying they meant fic isn't activism. Of course I never claimed my abortion fic was activism so idk what they were on about.

9) Do you write smut?

No, but this was supposed to the be the year I started. It still could be.

10) Do you write crossovers?

I wrote a couple chapters of an NCIS/Ace Attorney crossover when I was about 14. It is not on AO3. It is still on fanfiction.net as far as I know.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! I really doubt it.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I'd love it!

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic?

No. I'm open to the idea in theory but I'm kind of a neurotic control freak about art so I think it would be hard.

14) What's your all time favorite ship?

I guess I have to go classic and say Kirk/Spock, in terms of ships I've written for.

15) What's a WIP you'll probably never finish?

Josh Dies AU will probably never see the light of day but oh do I have some good ideas for it...

16) What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue and characterization. I like to think I use narrative devices competently. I have pretty strong grammar and vocabulary fundamentals and that's really helpful.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

Action scenes are the worst. Sex included, which is why I haven't really written smut in the past. Description can be hard; I think I'm getting better at setting a scene but describing characters and what they're doing is the hardest thing for me. Any kind of action, as simple as nodding or walking across the room, sounds unnatural to me when I write it.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages?

I would only do it if absolutely necessary. If the reader isn't meant to know what the character is saying, I will simply describe that they are speaking in another language. If the reader is meant to know, I will indicate in the dialogue tags and maybe throw in some italics if I think they're called for. I would consider using dialogue in another language if I thought something really called for it, but I'd want to get a professional translator I could work with, and that's obviously not going to happen in a fanfiction setting. I might do the odd word here and there, especially in a language I have some familiarity with, but that's it.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

NCIS. First on AO3 was Supernatural.

20) Favorite fic you've written?

The Emergency Room

I just think it's my best writing. It has a nice theme to it to but I can't take credit for that, I was just reiterating the point the episode already made. I have some WIPs that I think are writing of this quality but this has the benefit of being completed. I have other fics that I think I was more creative with or have more interesting concepts but when I reread this one I go "wow, I wrote that?"

[spoiltizzy]

Aside from Izzy, Ed, and Stede, what, if any, other OFMD characters do you have an interest in seeing gain?

In addition, do you tend to favor certain branches (ik there's def a better word but I am like 3 mins away from bed so my brain is off rn) of feedism over another for particular characters, or do your interests remain fairly steady across the board (ex: prefer to see character A getting hand fed, have a thing for character b burping, seeing stretch marks on C, vs liking to see the same scenarios for a, b, and c)?

I was in the pub when I got this and I’ve been thinking about it but that doesn’t mean my answer is going to be any less rambly than usual sorry haha. I talk about dubcon scenarios in this more than I usually would, so. Just a warning. Um, I did once write sprizzy, but unfortunately at this point I’m sort of more in the Stede, Ed, and Izzy fandom than the OFMD fandom, if that makes any sense. You’d think that I’d be more interested in the heavier characters in OFMD, given my kink, I guess? Or more interested in other characters for other reasons. I mean, Fang has his tummy out all the time, and Roach seems to be quite a passionate chef. But I connected the most with Stede, Ed, and Izzy, and sadly the other characters really just do not scratch my brain, and there are some of them that I actually really dislike, like Ricky and Jack.

Jack, at least, I’d be willing to have horny thoughts about, but the situations I mentally put him in are all sort of demeaning and humiliating towards him. Sometimes worse. Maybe there’s a market for that, haha, idk. I didn’t understand hate sex until I read a CJ fanfic one time. I find him so annoying that I’d do kinky things to him but in a demeaning way, which is weird, because normally this kink is, if not always soft, usually at least sort of loving for me. It’s almost the only time that I have any interest in gaining being used in a genuine humiliation or punishment way, rather than anything of that sort being just roleplay between characters who actually love each other. Even when I think about Izzy being humiliated or feminized in a humiliating way, which is a weird kink of mine but hey, I grew up in a society full of gender roles so I’m allowed to have kinks about shit that’s been a part of my upbringing’s culture, usually I imagine that the people doing that to him have a lot of affection towards him, whereas any cuteness Stede or Ed saw in Jack in the scenarios in my head is in an actually condescending way with no respect for him. In fact the scenario sort of rests on them approaching the exchange with animosity towards him, which probably makes this my most controversial horny fantasy about pirates. Still, just because I find Jack annoying and don’t like him, I doubt I’d ever actually be able to write a fic or draw any art of this scenario or of chubby Jack or any of that. I don’t like the guy, the only satisfaction I get from thinking about him is either in this weird fucked up capacity, OR in a very very specific scenario involving Stede which I’ll get to later, because I think it’s kinda related to the second part of the question.

Given I am mostly only interested in my three favourite pirates, I can only really answer that second part of the question in relation to them, so I hope that’s ok. But yeah, there are different things that I like best for different characters.

I tend to favour Izzy in I guess what you’d describe as more submissive roles. That doesn’t necessarily always mean him being bigger. For example, the idea of a fat Stede and Ed feeding Izzy because their baseline for what he should weigh is thrown off by their own ideas of how big someone should be, given what they’ve done to themselves. Izzy also tends to be the only one who I’d put in more dubcon situations, like… force-feeding (though it’s worth noting I want him to secretly enjoy it) or weird fantasy intox scenarios where he’s being fattened up and might not be fully aware of it. He’s also my favourite pick for being the spoiled pet out of the three. In general, though I adore Izzy, he’s unfortunately the one that I tend to put in the weirdest most demeaning scenarios of the three. I have also been guilty of making him so fucking stupid because I think it’s funny, cute, and sometimes a little hot in the right scenarios. Like, if the crew realises giving Izzy food shuts him up and he has no idea why it’s happening and doesn’t realise he’s getting fat because of it, or, like I said, in weird fantasy intox scenarios where he’s just… not especially aware of what’s happening. He likes it, though. And he’s always very very loved. The only scenario I can imagine Izzy being somewhat akin to dominant in is just under the circumstances in which he’s petting Ed’s hair and saying sweet comforting things to Ed while Ed “some kind of mommy issues probably” Teach nuzzles and mouths and sucks on Izzy’s tits. Um. What can I say, dude, I’m a weirdo.

Ed’s really hot, and though he may not be suave at heart, he’s capable of acting all cool and sexy and stuff, and for some reason that kinda inspires the desire to see him be completely unabashed about his gain more than I want to see that with either of the others. Or even perhaps unaware of it, or at least acting unaware of it. Ed’s the sort of person where I can totally see him always eating whatever the fuck he wants, and then one day his metabolism really starts to slow down but he keeps eating like always and it just doesn’t occur to him that gaining weight is ever on the agenda. Sneaks up on him because he’s never worried about managing his weight in his life, so he’s not prepared for getting a little older and his sweet tooth having consequences all of a sudden. But I don’t think he’d be ashamed when he realised he was getting chubby, or at least he definitely wouldn’t if he realised Stede and Izzy liked it. And because he’s never had any shame about his food choices, he remains shameless about his sweet tooth and his appetite. That’s a specific fantasy I have quite regularly about Ed, but wouldn’t necessarily put to any of the other characters. And this is related to intox more than tummy, but this is my kink blog so I’ll just say whatever I want on it, but I also sort of like the idea of an Ed who somehow still expects his alcohol tolerance to be what it was when he was in his 20s and partying a lot— I imagine this is sort of just Ed lore in every universe, lol, in some context. Even if “partying” was just getting drunk with Jack on pirate versions of shore leave or something. So he might overdo it and then just insist, while tripping over his words a little and hiccuping, that he wasn’t drunk. But not cause he’s lying, just because he genuinely didn’t expect to be drunk already, and he’s a cute silly billy who thinks he isn’t drunk. Ed’s versatile. He can be a good kitty or a sweetheart who deserves to be spoiled or he can be the kraken demanding to be fed more with a gun in his hand. He can be using his appetite and his pudgy belly to fluster Stede or Izzy on purpose, or he can be so unprepared to have gained weight but so unabashed about his cropped tops and appetite he’s doing it accidentally.

Stede’s a funny one because I usually make him slightly more dominant than the others, in a soft way, in my head. Though that is NOT a rule. I will write flustered or submissive Stede or Stede being teased sometimes. I like a lot of things for Stede, I love it when he feeds another character or fattens them up, I love it when he has those desires and he executes them, but obviously mutual gaining is a really big thing for me so I like him to gain and/or be pudgy too. Though I always want Stede a bit chubby, and usually pudgier than he canonically is by a notable amount, I don’t necessarily feel a need for him to be as big as the others, whereas if I were writing a scenario where Ed or Izzy were not as fat as Stede I would want them to catch up or surpass Stede in weight/size. Maybe it’s because I relate more to Stede, but I tend to give him the most feedery role in my head and though I don’t mind the thought of him catching up or matching the others if they were gaining, I don’t have anywhere near as much of a desire to see him surpass the others. Ed or Izzy on the other hand I would love to see surpass the others. I know I’ve just repeated myself but oh well.

Also, though I like it when all of them burp, I have more of a thing for Stede burping. It’s odd because to me it counts as a sort of subversion of expectations that I adore applying to Stede, but it’s hard to explain exactly why. After all, Stede’s not exactly polite. I guess, though, that he doesn’t come across as gross or messy, so the idea of Stede burping aloud, or aloud in front of others, unabashedly, or letting out rather loud/big burps is kinda hot to me BECAUSE Stede… though he’s willing to pick up pickled noses in his bare hands or dig around in the dirt, he doesn’t have gross vibes, or the vibes of a man who would burp aloud.

That’s where that other Jack fantasy comes in, actually. It’s purely this: I think it would be sort of hot, if say, Jack and Ed were drinking beer and trying to one-up each other’s burps, you know, like the frat boys they were, and Stede just. Got fed up of it, and tried to get them to stop by proceeding to burp in such a manner as to win whatever silly burping contest Jack and Ed were up to. Or if Jack and Stede got catty with each other and it somehow lead to some sort of competition like that, and Ed and Stede’s crew were like “wow, ok, didn’t see that coming” about it. Haha.

So yeah, it is rather different for all the characters, and my rules do all tend to have exceptions. But in general, Izzy’s the one I’m most willing to demean, lovingly. Izzy’s not the only one I tend to make stupid or under the influence of something that makes him so so silly and dumb, but I tend to enjoy doing that to him a lot more than the others. I don’t really like Stede to be the biggest one in the endgame but he can be equal to the other(s). Also, this has nothing to do with tummy, but I like Stede to top. I think this is because Stede is sorta my projection character a lot of the time, and I have an unwavering preference for topping. I like the idea of like… force-feeding as roleplay for both Ed and Izzy but not really for Stede. I tend to like my Ed shameless and my Izzy more often full of shame but for horny reasons, though when Stede’s full of shame it’s usually for angsty reasons.

Basically, yeah, I have a set of different preferences depending on the character, but it’s all sort of weird and complicated and full of exceptions and not really following all that many patterns. I mean, it does follow patterns, but… ah, I don’t know.

SORRY for talking this much, have fun tackling this fucking CHUNK of text, lmao. um. oops.

[de1-os]

i'll bite, whats the story about why you turned down those coms?

okay I wroite a whole response and everything but then my pc refused to connect to my router so I ahve to rewrite. all of it so I'm gonna try a keep it as thorough but short as possible

The 2nd one was requested a couple years ago (sweating nervously I wonder if it's been too recent to talk about it) but yeah this is when i did paypal only commissions on my old acc. The request was for me to draw a. Ok I don't know the semantics of the character's race but he's White and From Japan (like, the setting of the story, he was born and raised in Japan iirc).

^ this guy. he also has a wolf form with the same color scheme

and the requester asked me to draw his wolf form as a "Djinn" (shirtless, magic lamp, turban and all). Which. I was not comfortable with! And I was like "idk dude I don't think I draw something like that esp. because I don't. Know anything about Djinn." and they insisted and explained to me what a Djinn was and gave me examples of what they wanted, and tbh I don't remember if I was like "Seriously. No." or if I stopped responding entirely but they never contacted me again.

I looked up the person's url during this whole interaction and apparently they've publicly requested (and I assume commissioned) other artists to draw various other anime characters as "djinn" (which. the most distinct one I remember was Mt. Lady from BnHA.) and Only That. And it's just. it's feels at best cultural appropriation and at worst race fetishization (maybe not the precise phrases that describes what I mean, but if it gets the point across....) to me.

-----------

The 1st commission I've ever rejected (and mind you the 1st one I got ever), I got back in late 2016. Despite having a tumblr at the time I only really posted my art on DeviantArt (and Google+ but I digress). I decided to open commissions after an internet friend of mine explained to me how it works (and the prices were horrendously low, like maximum $10 low, but I was like 12-13 years old) and I mostly did requests anyways.

Anyways this guy (and I still have the screenshots I sent my friends at the time, referring to them for accuracy) sends me a really polite message (like. waaay overly formal) asking me to draw Kumatetsu from The Boy and The Beast but "shrunk" and him going about his daily life in his shrunken form in oversized clothes. But like. this guy was really insistent about the specifics of how this character looked when "dwarfed". and was like "I Will Negotiate to get this art" (paraphrasing) and also asked for a comic about How this character was shrunk "if I wanted to" (paraphrasing). Which. 13 year old me had no idea how to take this??

I checked out his account and found a lot of art (reuploads of art he requested/commissioned I believe). And like, at the time I had no idea what it was but it was fetish art. A whole bunch of it. Baby/diaper stuff, shrunken characters, inflation??, uhm. Large. Feet? etc. of. children's show characters.

Which, t. to each their own abt their fetishes/paraphilias/fixations and what they post in their personal online spaces (the block button is free) but the actual issue in this situation was that this was an Adult Man (30s at the time, I believe) asking a 13 year old to draw fetish art for him, and even insisted that he would do Anything to negotiate getting that art. While it wasn't sexually explicit, that's like. really fucked up!!! I even actually drew out part of the commission before deciding to just not accept any money for it because it felt too weird and gross to me.

While this was like 7 years ago I still wouldn't accept the commission if I got it now. If you're going to commission fetish art from someone commission an artist who also has that fetish and isn't a minor.

Anyways that's the only 2 times I've every rejected someone's commission before.

[hella1975]

HELAL

I have a lot of stuff running through my mind rn and im in a hurry and idk if its going to make sense but oh well.

(its list anon and I have another thing to add to my 'favorite things about finding myself in Hellas circle of existence list thing)

The thing is how much your personality sinks through into your writing and blog thing.

Let me explain,

I lost internet for a few days and I just got it back and was scrolling through tumblr and noticed one of my mutuals reblog something of yours and I was like 'I havent been on the internet for like four days, I wonder what Hella has been up to.' and so I started stalking you (as one does) and like scrolling through your blog and everything and I came across the post you thinged about your hometown and about how shameful you are about your writing and that sent me into a spiral because I know the feeling and couldnt put it into words and I felt so called out.

Thats besides the point.

I had this thing to add to the list for a while and couldn't figure out how to explain it without seeming weird so Im just doing my best here.

It's like when you post things about the things that go on in your mind. I touched on this in my first list thingy with the whole 'when you post little snippets of whats going on in your mind and turn it into what I can only describe as poetyry' part. It's simular but it's not the same.

It's really easy to see someone and follow someone who is so eloquent and brilliant and hold them close to divinity and think about how untouchable they are, which seems weird because I'm on Tumblr of all places. But like when you follow your favorite authors on twitter or instagram and they seem almost inhuman. And sometimes it feels like being that talented is so unattainable because you're not them, you can't spew out flawless lines of words seemingly effortlessly and you cant come up with a plot that clever and even if you can't you can't give the story justice because you're not that good of a writer.

Even other writers on this site are like this and so...ethereal almost. I've mentioned before how a lot of other writer almost run their blog like a business and everything and you scroll through them and see people constantly sending them asks about their works and sending them fanart and people obsessing over their art and like I said it seems unattainable for your average person. Like I dont get that so maybe I'm not that good.

Then I come to your blog and you talk about situations I relate to and you don't hide your humanity and you talk about your classes in economics of all things and your home town and all your problems (while valid) are normal. You're more relatable than the other writers I follow at least.

I've mentioned in other asks ( I dont think they were list ones but they might have been idk ) that you inspire me a lot. This is why. Also the fact that you're my age (I'm 18) and your not in your 20s and you havent taken a decades worth of writing classes and you dont have a degree in literature. You're literally just person living a normal life. That's not to say other authors and writers arent just normal people but you just show it a lot more, idk.

Like reading things like taob and tbos and then going to your main blog and seeing the way you write your stuff in your mind and then going two posts down and your talking about normal things makes me think that maybe I can write something incredible too one day.

And the reason I have the ability to feel that way in relation to you and your stupid blog (affectionate) is because you let your normal personality show, not some robotic businessy- type personality.

That's not to say that I don't think your just an average person, average people can't describe things so rawly. But, like I said, you're not untouchable.

Based on what I see from you and what you show online, I really think that you have the potential to be great one day. Not that you should hold yourself and force yourself into a life you don't want, like if you don't want to be a famous writer, don't be. But I genuinely just hope that you grow up and find a career you're happy in.

More than anyone I see on the internet, you deserve to live a life that you absolutely love, no matter what that might be.

I said it before that I always feel really obsessive when I send asks like this, and I feel creepy, so if I come off that way I'm sorry. I just try to make it a point to tell people when I enjoy them as a person.

Also I have some songs that kind of remind me of you.

The first one if Vienna by Billy Joel. I think the chances of you not knowing this one is very slim because it's such as popular song right now. But it's my favorite song and it reminds me of you.

The other one is read all about it by Emili Sande (pt 3 is the best) I think this song is also pretty popular, it also might not be, idk. But it's one of those songs that not a lot of people that I show it to like. Idk why. The vocals are weird (in my opinion) but I love the lyrics.

If you already know these songs just ignore this part :)

ME WHEN LIST ANON:

[kithtaehyung]

so its one in the morning here in brazil, and i finally just read "you're next" and... yeah. so that's what wamrth feel like? cuz i feel so, so, so... hugged? there's this portuguese word im thinking of, and its acolhimento, but i just couldn't think of a way to translate it properly, so i figured id describe it to you.

saturday i felt happy. i was bubbly, giggling the whole day remembering the show, the documentaries that i was able to see completely and overall just really happy i got to spend a whole morning with bts. of course, i had to go to work soon after, but fuck it, i was so calm.

then monday came and yeah, we know how we all felt.

today, i came to your blog, and saw the post that you said you have plans to post 3tan9 around this week so i decided to make time to read the drabble before. i come across a bunch of things im used to from you: good writing, amazing control and crescendo of tension and expectation, taehyung being the best possible friend, funny and realistic dialogue, that even without the text i could just hear and know who's speaking. but then there's something else here. there's the teasing that leads to nothing but domesticity, the natural banter that leads to two people enjoying and sharing their foods in a public place, so comfortable with each other that dialogue, the exchange, is the mere company. not that it didn’t happen before, but for it to be at fall, in public and them acting so harmoniously... idk, it reminded me of the chapter they go for a walk and he kisses her in the swing, but here's just so much more intimate, so much more comfortable and maybe its cuz of the moment but idk??????

thing is, it just made me feel like there's always this place where, regardless of where bts is, we can always find them and connect with them. and idk, just to picture the reader and yoongi sitting down together in silence, eating like they're in some long term relationship brought such comfort to my chest, a reassurance that 3 tangerines will always be here, and so will our stories that they help us tell, and the inspiration they spark in us, how their message goes beyong themselves and idk 😭

urgh IM SO CHEESY, im really really sorry, i know i drag this stuff way too much, but your writing provokes me to such degree you have no idea??? id love for 3tan to be a physical book so i could put it up my shelf

enough.

just wanna add that your smut is always super sexy and jimin and taehyung make me wanna scream into my pillow all the time???!!

also, love to picture jimin and yoongi's interaction before jimin left to leave them be lol

again, ill eventually learn to be concise 😭 hope you’re doing well!!

just realized i forgot my train of thought, so point is: i felt acolhida, in the sense that this drabble hugged me and let me breath, made me smile and tighten my chest in a good way. and i feel like i can revisit it at any time and find that comfortable again and again. that's acolhimento thanks for coming to my long ass ted talk

LUAAAA oh my gosh here i am finally responding to stuff that you sent in months ago :'))) i can't fall this far behind on feedback again my goodness, i am so so sorry!

so its one in the morning here in brazil, and i finally just read "you're next" and... yeah. so that's what wamrth feel like? cuz i feel so, so, so... hugged? there's this portuguese word im thinking of, and its acolhimento, but i just couldn't think of a way to translate it properly, so i figured id describe it to you.

already off to an emotional start!! i'm glad you got that feeling from these drabbles.. they gave me that same feeling, and i'm happy that i now have the word to describe it<3 thank you so much for that! these were meant to be lighthearted, feel good pieces so i'm glad they turned out that way.

saturday i felt happy. i was bubbly, giggling the whole day remembering the show, the documentaries that i was able to see completely and overall just really happy i got to spend a whole morning with bts. of course, i had to go to work soon after, but fuck it, i was so calm. then monday came and yeah, we know how we all felt.

ah, yes. i do remember that this was around the time we were all feeling calm before the big storm. :(

today, i came to your blog, and saw the post that you said you have plans to post 3tan9 around this week so i decided to make time to read the drabble before. i come across a bunch of things im used to from you: good writing, amazing control and crescendo of tension and expectation, taehyung being the best possible friend, funny and realistic dialogue, that even without the text i could just hear and know who's speaking.

first, this all put a smile on my face. if you're used to all of that, that means consistency and all of those are things i strive for! especially the writing and dialogue comments. wow, thank you again :'))

but then there's something else here. there's the teasing that leads to nothing but domesticity, the natural banter that leads to two people enjoying and sharing their foods in a public place, so comfortable with each other that dialogue, the exchange, is the mere company. not that it didn’t happen before, but for it to be at fall, in public and them acting so harmoniously... idk, it reminded me of the chapter they go for a walk and he kisses her in the swing, but here's just so much more intimate, so much more comfortable and maybe its cuz of the moment but idk??????

oh my gosh, sidewalk talk!! one of the chapters that will stay with me just from the atmosphere alone.. i think that one and fireworks have their own feeling that i dunno if i can truly replicate. it's the nostalgia, the suspension of time, everything that makes those chapters separate from the rest. idk. but yeah.

it's definitely intimate without trying to be! like they're just hanging out in public. but that's what makes this special. it's far from what they've been given and used to<3

thing is, it just made me feel like there's always this place where, regardless of where bts is, we can always find them and connect with them. and idk, just to picture the reader and yoongi sitting down together in silence, eating like they're in some long term relationship brought such comfort to my chest, a reassurance that 3 tangerines will always be here, and so will our stories that they help us tell, and the inspiration they spark in us, how their message goes beyong themselves and idk 😭

okay now i'm just emotional because you're putting bts and 3tan in the same type of commentary and i'm just SDFKSD i'm tearing up?? like what an honor to even be compared to them. in any capacity. because bangtan is my comfort place and people, so for something i'm writing to be the same to someone else? that's a responsibility i will always be aware of and will hold close.

and you're right. 3tan will always be here. yoongi, reader, the friends, and even me through asks like these and responses to lovely reviews that y'all send in. we'll be here even when things are said and done. at least, that's exactly what i plan on.

urgh IM SO CHEESY, im really really sorry, i know i drag this stuff way too much, but your writing provokes me to such degree you have no idea??? id love for 3tan to be a physical book so i could put it up my shelf

i love it all, lua. trust me, even if you think it's cheesy i adore it endlessly, and no need to apologize for sending stuff like this at all. i think i will look into making 3tan a physical book, along with all the extras that i can possibly add!

just wanna add that your smut is always super sexy and jimin and taehyung make me wanna scream into my pillow all the time???!! also, love to picture jimin and yoongi's interaction before jimin left to leave them be lol

YAAAY glad you liked the smut despite it being short! and vmin.. god i love them. so, so much lol. yoongi's and jimin's interaction before he left? ahhh, it was definitely a short convo lmfao

again, ill eventually learn to be concise 😭 hope you’re doing well!!

I LOVE NOT CONCISE THINGS LOLOL i promise!! thank you so much again for everything you say. it makes my days brighter, for sure. i'm doing well and i hope the same for you!

[foster-the-moths]

I would be absolutely honored if you made art inspired by my poems. *insert blushing reaction image here*

As for my feelings on this one, on one hand, I wrote and sent it out quite quickly, so it feels rushed. I’m not sure I like how it turned out. There are a lot of things I would’ve rathered to fix about it and I feel as if I should’ve waited a bit longer. But on the other hand, and I’m not sure how much of this came across in the poem itself, it’s quite personal to me and feels, honestly, like a call out.

The narrator is. Kind of an idiot. Charcoal toothpaste is whitening, but it doesn’t work right away. It takes a long time to see results, and before then, there will be plenty of blood. And even then, whitening is cosmetic. It doesn’t fix the underlying problems. So what’s the point in trying to fix anything when there’s so much wrong with your teeth? It feels overwhelming and hopeless to begin to heal from that, especially when it means getting rid of things you’ve depended on. There’s just so much.

Beginning that healing process, scrubbing off the gunk you’ve been living in so long, is so incredibly stressful and leaves you feeling dirtier than you were before. So you go back to it. And you keep returning to your old addictions because you don’t know how to cope in a healthy way and you’re not even willing to try. Not even if it could improve the future.

So you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hurt yourself and everyone around you, or do what feels completely impossible. And if you fail this impossible goal? It is absolutely devastating.

It’s a lot. And that’s why I wrote it, even if I could’ve done a better job.

—Poem anon.

COOOL 👍

also personally i dont think it seems rushed and i really enjoyed it (and sometimes saying 'fuck it we ball' and posting something your not 100% satisfied with is the best way to move forward lol)

and yeah i definitely got the 'call-out' vibes bc i definitely relate to some of the themes of the poem. i've absolutely been stuck in that mindset and wasn't able to escape it for a very long time. so its. VERY relatable. and holy SHIT you are hitting the nail on the head with how you are describing it (both in this ask and in the poem itself)!!!!!! idk its like. you are very good at articulating your thoughts in prose and outside of it. if that makes sense.

and i honestly think you did a great job with this one. i really like your poems, and hearing about the process behind them is really interesting :D

[captainkawaii666]

Okay so I actually sorta did this

It's a long one though so ideas under the cut

My general idea for the art style is that it would be animated, but wouldn't actually be blocky at all (besides maybe just making more stuff in the world have blocky edges and stuff, but not like, to the point of actually being made of blocks) and instead would have a somewhat Ghibli-esque style (or something similar)

The music would either be actual Minecraft music or music with a very similar style, and while it would be generally more intense in more intense scenes obviously it would still be the general somewhat haunting/laid-back combo style even there

As for dialogue, there would not be very much of it at all- Steve and Alex (who would be the protagonists) wouldn't really talk much, and when they do it'd be like, a few short sentences between the two of them at very most (potentially one of them would even be mute); most other characters would either not talk at all or only have, like, two or three lines max unless they absolutely need to have more, with the main exception being the illagers (who would be the villains), and even then only a few of them would talk more than two or three times and those guys still wouldn't say all that much

There would maybe be a narrator as well, but idk about that and even if there were they'd still not talk very much

I also imagine there being a lot of just. Long nature shots, sort of? Like Steve and Alex are on a boat just sitting there as they slowly sail across the ocean and the water ripples behind them for like, five to ten seconds before anything happens (I guess a lot of zoomed-out shots to open scenes is what I'm saying)

So uhh, actual plot! That's kinda an important part lol

I don't have the whole thing figured out yet but here's what I've got enough of an idea to fully describe (I'll reblog with a part 2 later for the rest, or maybe more parts if I come up with stuff slower)

Steve and Alex are best friends/siblings/partners/some other close relationship (it would remain undisclosed in the movie but best friends makes the most sense to me personally) who live in a house that they built together out in the wilderness. (The Overworld is populated in this movie, but it's mostly just houses, villages, and the occasional city dotting a mostly wild world.) They're both builders and adventurers, but Steve is more cautious, reserved, and focused on the building side of things, while Alex is more brave, confident, and focused on the adventuring side of things.

One day, when they go into the village near their house (relatively speaking- it's like half a day or so away but it's the closest one to them) to trade for materials, Alex meets a wandering trader, who offers to sell her a map to an ancient ruined temple out in the desert. Steve notices that the trader seems nervous about the map and anxious to get rid of it, but Alex thinks that it'll be a great opportunity to explore the desert- something she's been wanting to do for a while. Steve relents, since what's the worst that could happen, and they buy the map and head home to prepare for their newly upcoming adventure. (This whole exchange would be like, 6-8 lines of dialogue between Steve, Alex, and the trader, for an example of what I mean by "not much dialogue".)

Here we would see Steve and Alex packing supplies, which would serve to highlight their differences while also showing how they work together well as a team. Steve would pack things they might need to survive in less likely (but not unlikely per se) scenarios, or extra comforts, while Alex would pack things she thinks would make the trip more fun. Also, Steve would almost forget his archaeology brushes because he's so worried about the fact that they'll be in a desert and preoccupied trying to think of anything they might need there, and Alex would remind him.

Later, in the forest outside of the town, the wandering trader and his llamas are walking along in the dark (with torches or lanterns or something in order to keep safe from the undead and such, obviously) when suddenly the silence of the scene is broken by a crossbow bolt whistling through the air and hitting one of the llamas. A band of pillagers burst from the tree line and surround the trader and his remaining llama, pointing their crossbows at him to keep him from running away as a figure steps between them: a vindicator, and one who's clearly been around a while and seen a lot of battles, at that. The vindicator tells the trader to give up the map, but the trader responds that he can't, because he sold it. She presses him further, asking who he sold it to, but he doesn't respond, and she angrily kicks him to the ground. She threatens him with her axes, and he relents relatively quickly, telling her about Steve and Alex. She shoves him and the llama aside and starts moving in the direction he said the two of them went, with the pillagers falling in line behind her- although a couple of them take the time to shoot the trader and his other llama first.

We then cut to Steve and Alex, where we'd spend the next several minutes (though not too long since. Runtime) watching them adventure through the wilderness toward the desert. Along the way, they'd encounter some animals, navigate bits of treacherous terrain like ravines and steep hills, and fight off some hostile mobs (mostly spiders, because I feel like undead and creepers should be treated as a bit bigger of a deal), and most notably, they'd see a strange, lanky, pitch-black figure with glowing purple eyes a couple times, watching them from a distance, but never approaching. This scares both of them a bit, but Steve more than Alex, leading to him staying up late to stand guard when they stop for the night- and lucky he does, too, because that leads to him seeing the pillagers approaching them through the trees in time to wake up Alex.

When the vindicator sees Steve and Alex alert and ready to fight or flee, she orders the pillagers to attack, and they open fire with a hail of bolts. Steve ducks behind a tree, while Alex fumbles to open a pack until Steve pulls her back with him. Luckily, Alex was able to grab what she wanted from the pack: a bow, which she notches an arrow in and peeks out from behind the tree, returning fire at the pillagers- but one against twenty or so won't do much good for long. Steve tries to get Alex to run away, but Alex points out that they need their supplies to stand a good chance at surviving out in the wild, especially with these people trying to kill them. Steve agrees but doesn't see how they can get to it, but Alex sees something in the trees the pillagers are using as their own cover and has an idea. She climbs up the tree until she reaches a branch, steadying herself as it wobbles under her, and fires an arrow, knocking down a beehive on top of the pillagers. The angry bees swarm out all over them, throwing the troop into disarray and giving Steve an opening to quickly toss his and Alex's belongings into their packs. The branch under Alex breaks, but Steve tosses something (water or hay or something probably) under her just in time, giving her a soft(ish) landing.

Alright, that's all I have fully plotted out for now! More to come as I fully develop the rest of the basic plot I have in my mind

Honestly I'm gonna come up with my own Minecraft movie plot just out of spite

[arms-for-children]

Sometimes a family is an ottoman bey, his legal wife an absolute angel, her spiritual wife a kind maid, her legal husband a runaway from constantinople, his spiritual husband the ottoman bey, his niece from his sister the lady impaler and their childhood friend the sultan, who is being raised as his and his wife and their whole squad's own.