#it has some redeeming qualities and I worked on it for ages so here it is!

[lizzaneia-elizalde]

Hi I'm back. How are you?

How about... A yandere that has had a bunch of lovers and either killed them because he got bored or broke their heart beyond repair? But them he meets the reader and something changes?

Idk it seems like a fun dea.

Yandere! Male! Player x gn! Barista! Reader

Uh ohz, here is the player 🙄 there's a little twist to the request, meowing! I hope you don't mind. (Another Greek mythos twist. Not as blatant as Hades though. Only a bit of the Greek mythos is grabbed, not all.)

I'll see to it how can we break this little man

ヘ(￣ω￣ヘ)

AND, I AM GOING TO STOP TAKING NEW YANDERE REQUESTS! But, I am going to take asks about the existing yanderes now!

Yandere! Player name: Amor

A resounding slap echoed throughout the bustling cafe, silencing the people talking to each other. The woman, tear stricken and angry, looked at the man in front of her.

"We're over!" She yelled before stomping away from the cafe, leaving the man behind.

The people started to gossip amongst each other, but one particular action by the man stunned them.

He just sat down, took out his phone, and called somebody.

"Hey, fancy meeting tonight? I just know of this nice cafe. Date, my treat."

Shameless, the people thought as he chuckled and ended the call with a lazy smirk, stirring his coffee and sipping it.

Amor. Extremely handsome man. Charming, always knew how to get the ladies.

That's what made him full of shit since being handsome is his only redeeming quality.

He's arrogant, a bastard, selfish, has a pride taller than the Eiffel tower, and a total player.

He juggles women left and right, flavor of the day, who's gonna be my girl for the morning, afternoon, and night?

Why do people flock to this man again?

Ah, because the Gods favor this bitch.

What did he do in his past life that women love this man?

Well, in his past life, he's a boring nerd.

His family loved him dearly, and wanted him to succeed in life.

So, attending academic camps, prestigious schools, goddamn Kumon? He got it all.

Awards, upon awards. He collects them like pokemon.

Did it make him interesting?

No. All he knew is academics, and no outside skill.

He's book smart, not street smart.

Poor guy wasn't even attractive. So, when he finished University in an Ivy League Uni, he's lost. He doesn't have charisma to charm employers, he doesn't have the confidence to do public work...

Well, that, and NASA already hired him.

What? He is not street smart and has a hard time finding a job himself, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have connections.

In short, he's a Nepo baby.

At least he's a genius so NASA made sure to use him thoroughly.

But, he felt... Bored.

He wanted more from this life of his.

He wanted a girlfriend for fuck's sake!

So, by some stupid and desperation he himself never thought of doing, he turned to the old gods.

The old Gods, surprised by a sudden influx of eager and desperation of faith from only one man, decided to entertain them.

"PLEASE! WHEN I DIE, MAKE ME EXTREMELY HANDSOME AND HAVE WOMEN LEFT AND RIGHT!"

Oh... That's not...

He's really superficial....

Did the Gods care though? Nah. He's really entertaining. Awakening old Gods just for... Women?

So they granted his wish.

When he died of old age (unfortunately for him.), He woke up to another wealthy and loving family. But this time, he's the son of a world renowned Kpop idol, and a Miss Universe.

"This is overkill." Amor thought to himself as his mother cradled her. "But damn, ain't I happy!"

Growing up, even as a kid, girls liked him. He felt like on the top of the world. He retained his memory, so he's practically a gifted child. No, perfect child even!

Except that he's actually a foul kid.

He became arrogant, a snob. Someone who viewed himself too highly for people.

But do his parents care?

Eh...

They spoil the kid a lot. And turn a blind eye to his lack in manners.

Again, went to prestigious Universities, to Kumon, academic camps.

Everything was a breeze for him now.

He got a job as a model immediately. He decided to not go down the academic path, but use his parents' connections once more to climb up the showbiz ladder!

He's still a Nepo baby in this life.

Well, again, his handsomeness is almost too good to be true (work of the goddess of beauty), so his model career is skyrocketing in success.

And women.

Countless of them.

He cycles through them like toilet paper. Throwing them away once he's got his fill.

Yet, people don't care.

He somehow built a reputation off of being a player. When people say that "he broke somebody's heart again!"

"Eh, what did you expect from being in a relationship with Amor?" They would say with a shake of their head and a smile.

That's how much the Gods intervened with his life.

Once he sets his eyes on someone, he 100% would get them.

Unless....

"Tsk. Where can I go now..."

Amor paced around the street, turning heads left and right as this man sculpted by the gods had a worried look on his face.

The cafe he frequents closed down, now he needs a new place to take his women to dates to.

He's about to get his phone when a flyer hit him directly on his face. With an irritated glower, he grabbed the flyer.

"ow! What the f... Oh?"

He stopped, seeing the content.

"new cafe open?"

It looks like a generic cafe. But what was interesting was that the cafe is located in an indoor garden. Like a greenhouse.

"This is interesting. Women love flowers, don't they? And a garden of all places!" He laughs, making the gods stir from the sudden new cafe they got.

They all fuzzed, saying that this would be a good place. But, the goddess of Beauty stirred. Saying she got a bad feeling about this.

"relax, nothing will happen."

And when he got inside the cafe, he immediately got shocked by the barista, you.

Has there ever been an ethereal beauty like you? Someone... Someone who rivals even the goddess of beauty herself?!

The goddess stirred again, shackles raised. She never made you, so why are you this attractive?

Then, the goddess whispered on his ear.

It's to make you fall in love with a monster. Someone ugly, a beast... Anything to get your status down! Nobody can be as beautiful as her!

Envy filled the goddess as she gave Amor arrows to hit you with.

Now, assigned with the task of making you fall in love with what the goddess call a 'monster', he sets off to your house in the middle of the night. With the help of the other Gods, he became invisible and flew on to your balcony.

With a creak, your balcony doors opened. Making him shimmy inside through the small crack.

Yet, fate tempted him as the moonlight hit your form. In a vulnerable state, your androgynous beauty is amplified. Your long eyelashes, your skin... Your figure...

Truly, your beauty rivaled the goddess. No, you were more beautiful than her.

His throat dried, eyes glazed over.

Gods, are they tempting him?

It would be a waste for you to fall in love with an ugly guy.

His fingers twitched, trying to grab the arrow.

"OW!"

He seethed, doubling over as he clutched his finger. It got pricked by the arrow.

He somehow forgot a crucial information.

'whoever the first person the pricked sees if the arrows only pricked one, they will fall in love with the first person they sees.'

And, as his eyes irritably looked at you, overwhelming love filled inside him as he gasped in the sudden influx of emotions.

He kneeled down, eyes wide.

He's rigid. All he could see is your form. Lovely and so bright.

And hid eyes softened. A dull light in it as his lips twitched into a lovesick smile.

He was already attracted to you before, and now, pricked by the arrows, he's utterly obsessed with you.

With a twitch of his hand once more, he grabbed the arrow and stabbed himself fully to the thigh.

"GAGH!"

He doubled over, gasping, twitching for air as his heart pulsed through his ears. His eyes frantically finding your sleeping form before letting out a shaky moan from the satisfaction.

It was like a drug. Everytime he sees you, he gets overwhelmed with feelings of affection.

Is this what love is about?

And before he knows it, the arrows are all used up.

It was morbid, seeing this man stabbed with so many arrows.

But his face says otherwise. Like a drugged up man, overdosed on ecstacy, he was in a drooling trance from the addictive feeling of love for you.

The arrow is effective enough by one arrow, and now this?

Well, let's just say...

"I count, right?" He shakily asked the gods. "I'm a monster, somebody who breaks women's heart left and right."

He trembled, standing up.

He walked over to you, legs unsteady as he dropped to his knees once more and planted his lips on your own.

It tasted, you tasted so sweet, divine upon his lips.

He wants more, but he can't risk waking you up.

"Goodbye, my love. See you tomorrow." Amor whispered, grabbing your hand and dragging his nose on your skin and inhaling your scent. Exhaling shakily, he stood up and flew away.

Let's say, the goddess of Beauty was really angry at him.

But her condition, a 'monster', fits him. So, what can she do?

She gritted her teeth and looked at him with hatred, yet complacency.

You're so pretty, it hurts.

"Welcome to the Psyche cafe! How may I help you-- oh hello, sir Amor! The usual?"

Amor slowly nodded, clearing his throat.

"yes. The usual."

It's been weeks since then. And he made sure to make himself a regular in the cafe. He stopped going on dates, and pulled a lot of strings to somehow burry the player accusations. He knows he can't really burry it all.

So he made (threatened) the women he dated to be positive about him.

He wants to fly on your radar, spot on the middle, so bad.

So, with the invisibility power he got from the Gods, he always followed you. Even up to your home.

At first, his heart pounded like crazy. What if he suddenly appeared? Will you be freaked out? Surprised? Will you run away--

No, you can't run away.

Like you can, anyways.

He knew of your favorite food, fashion sense, hell, your taste in men...

He slowly changed himself into the man of your dreams.

Like a persona he integrated into himself, this sudden change shocked the people. But, they welcomed this change.

"Is he in love, that's why he's changing?"

More than that.

He's making himself into the perfect boyfriend for you.

Now, all he needs is you!

"Here's your coffee, sir!" You greeted with a sweet smile that he swore he had to grab his soul from leaving his body. "Enjoy!"

He gently grabbed the coffee and as usual, gave you 200$.

"sir..." You grimaced.

"Please, just accept it." He smiles. "You've always been a pleasant person to talk to, y/n. So, just see it as a generous tip. That I frequently give."

You looked down at the bill and smiled. Warmness spreads through your chest.

"thank you s--"

You looked up, and froze from the look he's giving you.

Deep, crazed...

Obsessed.

You shivered in fear.

Sensing your eyes on him, he coughed loudly, averting his eyes before returning to the man you knew.

Or did you actually know him?

You don't even know anymore.

But hey, he gives huge tips.

"Thanks again for the coffee." Amor smiles, trying to sweep what happened under the rug as he waved at you.

He went to his usual table. Somewhere secluded, yet has a clear view of you surrounded by flowers.

He observes you. Plans on what to do next.

He knew he can't just waltz in and whisk you away. That's barbaric.

But he's not opposed to the idea though...

He smirks.

He can probably pull tons of strings for you to end up in his arms.

He loves you, don't mistake that.

But, a little bit of... Force would be good.

He's an impatient man.

Also, did he mention that he's a selfish asshole?

How about, making your life so miserable. Getting you kicked out of this cafe, your family suddenly getting a huge debt...

Something he knows you can't pay immediately.

And his family would coincidentally sponsor you by giving you a condition of marrying him!

Anything to be with you, really.

Or, just steal another arrow and hit it with you. That's also plausible.

But, the goddess is pissed with him. So that's the last resort.

He sips his coffee and crosses his long legs.

He's favored by the Gods anyways.

His eyes narrowed slightly as you interacted too amicably with your coworker. An obvious blush on the coworker's face as he got too touchy with you.

No, everyone in the cafe is enamoured with you. Your beauty too good for this world.

He gripped the handle of his cup.

But first, let's get rid of potential rivals, yes?

You are only his.

What is there to fear? He has the resources in his hands to make you his.

You didn't know yet, but your fate is already sealed, tied, and shackled to him.

You don't really have a choice.

[notebooks-and-laptops]

Why the Dragon King Sucks: an Exploration of What Makes a Good Villain and a satisfying Story Conclusion

Dragon Age as a franchise has some of my favourite villains, and also villains I think kinda suck. DATV is not immune to this; Ghilan'nain joins the ranks as one of my favourite villains of the series but there is one villain I can't stand. I get mad just thinking about him. And so I thought I'd share my thoughts.

So firstly, before we can unpack why a villian sucks, we must first unpack what makes a good villain. Contrary to popular belief I don't think a villain needs to be a fully dimensional person to be compelling, but I do think good villains generally fall into one of three categories:

Interesting because of the relationship to the hero/protagonist

Interesting because we understand their point, or because of moral complexity/ambiguity

Interesting because they're scary as all hell

Dragon age has dabbled in all of these types of villians.

The example of a villian who is interesting because of their relationship to the hero/protagonist is Danarius. Danarius is flat out evil with 0 redeeming qualities. His main motivation is to a) experiment on his slaves and b) recapture his favourite escaped slave. We know he regularly tortures and kills people. We don't even meet him until act 3! BUT his relationship to Fenris makes him work. He is everywhere in Fenris's narrative; from the house Fenris lives in, to the actions Fenris takes (he won't even be with you until hes dealt with Danarius), to the feeling that Fenris is being constantly hunted. Danarius is terrifying to Fenris, the things Fenris did FOR Danarius is terrifying to Fenris (killing the Fog Warriors), all of this makes both us AND Fenris angry. When he shows up he's menancing because he's been built up the WHOLE game. He works because of his relationship to Fenris.

Let's move onto a villian who is interesting due to their moral complexity. There were a few to pick from here, but I think ultimately I'm going to go with the Arishock (but shout outs in particular to Calpurnia, Zathrian, Illario and Isseya). The Arishock undoubtedly does some pretty evil stuff, and yet we UNDERSTAND him. He does not want to be in Kirkwall, yet he cannot leave until he gets what he needs. He wants to be peaceful, but is being pushed by the constant way that his people are being agitated; stolen from, blamed, tricked and manipulated by chantry zealots. He doesn't understand why kirkwall is allowed to function as it does when it leads to such misery/pain for everyone. He's very reasonable with a Hawke who is reasonable back and respects them. The thing that tips him over the edge is the fact that he's unwilling to hand over elves that the guards refused to bring justice for, and most people agree that the guards were in the wrong there. Nobody thinks the Arishock should have tried to take over Kirkwall, killing the Viscount and trying to take Isabela. But we UNDERSTAND why he might be doing what he's doing and THAT makes him compelling.

Final category; when a villain is scary. I think writers sometimes confuse this for the villain having a lot of power (*cough* Elganarn *cough*) but that's not what scary is. Scary is usually invoked by feeling that the hero/protagonist is under genuine threat if they were caught or feeling that this person will do fucked up things and has no line; even about people they care about. Absolute main dragon age villian to sit here is Branka who went so mad in her pursuit of the anvil she was willing to let her house be turned into Brood Mothers so they could pump out darkspawn who could test the traps. Ghilan'nain is also in this category.

To make an EXCELLENT villain you probably want to take a few strands from each collum; Loghain stands out here as someone who has a connection to our of our heros (Alistair's revenge quest) but also is morally understandable/interesting.

So now I've laid all that out...tell me. Where does the dragon king fit?

The dragon king doesn't really have a connection to Taash. They want Taashs blood sure but they only make two plays for Taash the whole game and Taash never seems scared of them. We don't find out why or what they want to do to Taash. Taash just. Doesn't know this guy. Like until the very end when he kills their mum, they don't have a reason to hate him.

The dragon king is not morally complex either. He is just. An evil guy working for an evil god who wants power. He's not got a particular point; he's not even like the red templars who at least had the motivation that the chantry had abandoned them and led them to be addicts for no reason. Theres no talk of that being the case with the antam. There is just. Nothing. He's some evil guy.

And finally, he's not scary. He's in fact so un-scary that our protagonists never ever get to fight him because he'd make a shit boss. I think this is a WILD choice. what I think happened was the Devs realised that as the other Taash quests had involved fighting dragons that should be their boss fight but like. What? I literally was so confused when this happened; I wondered if the dragon king could turn into a dragon for a moment or was riding the dragon but it's not that. We kill a dragon and don't even throw so much as a single spell or punch at the dragon king.

AND to make matters worse, we don't meet him until the very end and Taash doesn't really talk about him until then either. Varric narrator style mentions him and that's it. If you're not going to introduce your villian until late in the game you NEED to have build up like what we get for Denarias or Branka or Meredith. That's the whole issue with Corphyeus that everyone bangs on about; he's just not in the narrative enough to carry the feeling that he's an undefeatable big bad.

The dragon king is so boring. There's just. Nothing there. There's no relationship, there's no complexity. Just an evil guy.

And that makes me so annoyed considering that I love Taash and also that the voice acting when Taash's mum dies is so stunning. Taash deserved better than most of the plotlines they got, they deserved a better villian and they deserved choices beyond those that demonised multiculturalism. They don't even need a villain if you do their story right; many dragon age characters have no central villain and are still incredibly interesting: Sera, Blackwall, Vivienne, Cole, Wynne, Bull, Bethany, Carver, Sten to name just a few.

Tblr; the dragon king SUCKS

[iamnmbr3]

This is inspired by that person responding to your response to the ask about JKR, but this is also something that's been bothering me about this entire conversation for so long and I feel like you might agree with it or at least have a good perspective on it, and I'm curious what your thoughts are.

But so many times when people are telling us to stop interacting with anything HP, they bring up the point of quality, and it just really irks me. Personally, the quality of a work has very little, if anything, to do with my enjoyment of something, let alone when it comes to engaging with fandom. For me, the fun comes from the initial canon experience at first, but after that, it largely stems from all the things I can imagine based on the work, all the alternative endings, the things and characters and relationships that canon didn't dive into (which is why I love reading and writing fics so much), and when it comes to that, the quality of the original work has practically nothing to do with the quality of the fics, but a lot more to do with the quality of e.g. fic authors. And even then, I read and enjoy (and maybe even write!) so many 'poorly written' fics, and I just don't understand when those people reprimand others for enjoying 'lower quality' works. It also lowkey makes me feel like 'lower quality' works need some redeeming quality to be enjoying, like a 'decent' author (???), and I just don't get how that makes any sense! Like, let people enjoy 'bad' things!

Another thing is how so many of them bring up that there haven't been any recent developments, and that's why we should de-engage, like fandom is supposed to die down a certain amount of time after the last canon material came out. It always feels like they're saying that a work is only relevant for x amount of time, and I just feel like that's so wrong. Even without bringing up that a lot of people join late to fandoms, why should we place a time limit on ours and other people's enjoyment of something? Why must everything we like be relevant? Like, sure, there's a lot of good 'alternatives' to HP, but 1) we don't have to ditch one fandom to join/enjoy another?? and 2) it's not like we choose what interests us?? Like, there are a lot of similar ships to drarry, some of which I also enjoy because I really like the kind of ship those are, but I simply don't feel compelled to read or write for them, because they're still not the same.

Either way, silly rant maybe, but I've been meaning to get this off my chest and since I'm not active on social media and I always feel like you make a lot of good points, I thought I'd drop this here.

(Anon is referring to this).

Yes I TOTALLY agree! And it really exposes how this has nothing to do with activism and everything to do with plain old bully. "This thing you like is cringe and weird and unpopular and bad" is the age-old refrain of the typical, shallow, popularity obsessed (and perhaps secretly insecure) bully. Even when they're pretending to be virtuous by stealing some buzzwords from actual activists their real priorities leak through.

[thekingofwinterblog]

How to fix Halamshiral as a Zone

Inquisition is a flawed game.

I don't think there's anyone who is going to argue otherwise.

The only question is wheter you place it higher or lower than DA2.

One of the things I think it does better than DA2, is that it managed to give every place a soul, an identity of it's own, and at least a distinct, if not always amazing storyline.

The emerald graves doesnt have a very interesting plot, but it has some spectacular side quests, and atmosphere, inculding a haunted mansion, which might be my favorite possession based quest in all of DA because it shows much better than others just how dangerous untrained mages actually are to those around them.

The storm coast tells a story of what was once an important dwarven port, and shows how it fell and was repurposed over time.

The Hinterlands shows the aftereffects of the templar mage war, as well as solas stupid plan to give cory his orb, and the mage rebellion and an actually decent time travel story.

I could go on, but the point is, I usually have at least aomething nice to say about every single region.

All except one.

Halamshiral.

Halamshiral was the single worst part of all of Dragon Age Inquisition for me, and every single time I boot up this game, it's always the last thing i do before the temple of sacred ashes, despite how bizarre the game flows as a result.

And the reason is because i hate everything about it.

I hate it's unique attempt at side quests, i hate the characters involved, i hate the Orlesians who inhabit it, and i hate how this section tries to copy what worked so amazingly well with Orzammar and Denerim during the landsmeet section, and fails every single shot it lines up.

The ONLY good thing i have to say about this, is that it's at the very least relatively short.

So here's today's question. How to fix Halamshiral?

Let's begin with the three main players.

Celene, Gasparde, and Briala.

The big problem with every single option, is that they all suck.

Celene and Gasparde are both fucking awful people without any redeeming qualities, they have no charisma, and there is no prospect of the Empire reforming itself under either of them, the way Orzammar would under Bhelen.

Meanwhile, Briala is much, much better, but the problem is that we know exactly what is going to happen here if you support her.

Maybe today elves will have it better, but tomorrow, when Gasparde is gone, or celene turns on elves again as she always does all the progress will be repealed, and reversed, along with a few purged alienages.

Its an old story that's been told before in Dragon age.

In short, there is no reason at all to care about this overall plot. None whatsoever.

There were so many reasons to care about both Orzammar and Denerim in the same situation, and every single character involved had so much more charisma than either of these would be monarchs.

So let's fix that.

Starting with Celene, take the idea of her wanting to reform the empire, and actually take it to the next level.

Celene is genuine in wanting to reform the empire, and has already taken grand, successful steps to make the entire thing much better for everyone, even elves, giving them and serfs more rights, outlawing the practice of chevaliers having a tradition of killing unarmed city elves to graduate.

But the catch is, while she is genuinely making progress, she is doing so within the confines of the great game.

Celene has nonintention of changing the great game, no plans of wanting to remove this thing that holds Orlais back more than any other, this center stone of their nobility and it's culture.

Meanwhile, Gasparde is a different kind of reformer, one that takes the ideas he had of him claiming to hate the game, and actually doing something with it.

He is far less progressive, has no love for elves, is far more warlike than Celene ever was... But unlike Celene, his ideas of reform isn't going to act within the grand game.

He's going to break it.

Unlike canon gasparde, this gasparde is hated by every single noble family in the entire empire. His only support, and it's a strong one, is the army. The parts of the army that supports Gasparde, and they are a huge part, are loyal to him personally to the hilt.

And he hates them back. He hates the game, he hates the way it cripples the empire, and he wants to change things. Like Celene he plans to break the serfs free of their chains, for the good of the nation and it's power and economy if not for any progressive reasons.

And he'a going to start with Halamshiral.

For this Gasparde isn't merely positioning men to stage a coup... He's planning to kill EVERY SINGLE NOBLE in Halamshiral. Evety man, every woman, every child there.

He's going to reform this empire by wiping out it's cancerous nobility in one fell swoop, and install himself as supreme dictator to see his reforms through, and wiping out the entire Orlesian nobility that might have opposed him, french revolution style.

And thus the Inquisitor has a dilemma.

Unlike Orzammar, where only one side was a reformer, both of these Orlesians are... But you have to choose one.

Do you choose Celene? The more progressive candidate, who wants a more peaceful Orlais going forward? But who is not willing to get ridd of the grand game to do so, thus making it a permanent risk that all her reforms will be undone...

Or will you support Gasparde, and by doing so be complicit in destroying the entire nobility of Orlais, many of whom are not guilty of the shit that Celene and Gasparde here both hate so much? Gasparde is far less likely to create a peaceful Orlais going forward... But he will have obliterated the Grand Game for good and all, a prize that might be worth this Red Wedding style bloodbath.

Meanwhile there is Briala, the elven spy who has enough influence to allow, or prevent Gasparde's plans from going through.

Here there should be another moral dilemma, quite different from the base game.

Do you convince her to aid Gasparde, in exchange for the Elves getting a duchy of their own in Halamshiral? Do you then back her up with Inquisition forces and support, forcing Him to publicly announce her as such, and trust his own, twisted version of honor to actually stick to it going forward(Something he ultimately does), or do you throw her to the Wolves the moment things get rough?

Or alternatively, do you convince her to side with Celene, and bury the hatchet? And if so, on what terms? And similarly, if she actually wants to get something out of this, you actually need to back her up... Something you may, or may not choose to do.

And voila, here you have an actual story of intrigue, massive, lasting political changes as a result of the Herald's actions, and morally grey on grey choices.

Everything that Denerim and Orzammar had in spades.

Now moving on from the plot to the actual place.

Halamshiral has no soul.

It's a french villa on a mountaintop. Whoop de freaking do.

It has no interesting murals, unique art only found there, interesting geography, or anything really to make it stand out.

Compare it to Denerim and Orzammar, and the way they fleshed out the entire city's levels of power and criminal underworlds, and you see the difference.

Denerim is a very realistic, squat, squalid medieval city, with it's buildings built on top of every single bit of available space.

Orzammar is a full on high fantasy dwarf city lit up by a lake of lava.

Halamshiral is a villa presented as a city.

How do you fix that?

There is an artist here on Tumblr who pretty much showcased what Halamshiral could have been, if they had taken the idea of the Dalish(who were the original owners) taking inspiration from native americans(amongst others), and use that to build a truly spectacular city, which has long ago been paved over, but the structure is still there.

Make it a city on the water, like the aztex capital of Tenochtitlan, a marvel of canals and stone.

Make it this Venezia like city, with canals everywhere you look, and the entire city running on water. A marvel of Dalish city building, where they took something as simple as a couple of islands in a lake, and built the most beautiful city in the world.

And rather than just limit you to the palace, instead let you actually explore this city.

Expand the entire event from one night, to a week.

Let the Herald explore the city, meet the players, interact with the nobles, become friends with a few like you could with Ferelden's bans, which in turn makes the possibility of sacrificing them for the greater good hit so much harder.

Let you choose what fancy stuff to wear to the balls and meetings, rather than have this stupid motto of forcing you to wear one, pre determined outfit like this game had for some reason.

Let you discover the places where what little Elven Architecture and art still remains can be found, and talk with the elves who still live here, the descendants after the first elves the Orlesians enslaved.

Make the plotting of Gasparde and the positioning of troops be gradual, not instantly discovered and twarted.

And at the end, if you choose to back Gasparde, you mirror that scene from Dragon Age 2, where the Templars sail across the bay, and you either step aside and witness the bloodbath you just allowed to happen, or you fight them and be recognized by the nobility(most of which are horrible, horrible people) as a hero who just saved the day.

Have the venatori plot be to kill both Gasparde and Celene, rather than their involvement mostly be about handing the player the the easy knife for the knot of which monarch to pick without having to get your hands dirty.

Also have the entire group be gathered for once. Every inner member of the Inquisition just like at Denerim.

Each of whom have their own thoughts on the events.

Who supports who? What is the right thing to do? What is better for the inquisition? Are you staining your honor beyond repair if you back Gasparde? Does the Inquisitor maybe have a breakdown after witnessing what they just allowed to happen and they walk through the gardens or rooms filled with corpses? Maybe have the scene at the end with the love interest be about a moment of them truly comforting their lover in the aftermath of it all, understanding(or not) that as boss, it's your job to have to make the tough decisions. And now you have to live with them.

Or if you wanna go the other way, this could be one of the breaking points like Origins had. If you support Gasparde, Blackwall choses to tell you to get bent, and that he will die as benefits a knight. Defending the week, and calling you out on how you are just as bad as he ever was, a child killer who's going to run away from responsibility, to pretend you are some better person than what you actually are. You're a murder. Just like he was. You are just as responsible for the blood that's flowing as he was with that carriage back in the day.

It would have been a far more impressive reveal moment for his crimes, that's for sure.

Cole probably would be the one who would be second most upset, but wheter he leaves or ultimately stays should probably be depended on your other choices and your relationship with him prior to this, probably have his personal quest be the determinating factor of what he chooses to do.

And i could go on, but point is, this would be a return to Origins choices actually mattering. There were choices that could make or break a characters bond with you. Shale would not budge regarding Caridin, Leliana and wynne would stand against you if you choose to defile the urn, Sevran would choose to betray you for his old friend if he didn't like you enough, and of course the age old choices at the end of act 3 in da2, where you have to pick between templars and Mages, as well as anders fate, and chances are regardless of what you do, at least 1 person ends up dead.

If anyone reading this has any suggestions for how to further improve this storyline, feel free to share, but regardless, i think we can all agree that this is a vast improvement of what we actually got.

[that-left-turn]

I really hope the possible rewrites and post production will do the exact opposite as last year. Obviously they changed quite a lot in post which led us all being disappointed as Melissa (just think about her favorite scene).

We're quite loud on X and Tumblr but on X the critics are far more visible on EVERY post about DD from the official accounts.

I really hope it changes the dynamics, not just about Caryl but also bts. They can't reverse the damage but they could lay the ground for successful future seasons.

If they don't change anything, I don't think there will be any fans left beside the Norman stans. And I'm so looking forward to the first interviews to get a feeling about the atmosphere.

Keep being vocal, we need everyone to support Melissa. I'm already so proud of everyone under the posts who shares their feelings. ❤️

Thanks for the note on positive reinforcement, anon 🙏

One caveat: it's important to have somewhat realistic expectations for S3. If they didn't shoot them, post-production can't add more joint Caryl scenes. They can remove shipbait or whatever goes on between Daryl and the woman who's about half his age. (I don't think anyone has to worry about the 20-year old.) Post will be damage control, but like you said too, we need the BTS dynamics to change so future seasons will be better. Someone has to redeem Daryl and fix all the other things Zabel broke, like taking away Carol's iconic knife.

I would also urge you, even if you don't watch Dead City, to be supportive of Lauren Cohan's directorial debut. She needs to diversify her income (because she's in the age bracket when acting work dries up) and I think we need to lift up all the women who are actively working in the franchise. It's vital to see more female TWDU directors, just like it was great to see Danai write an episode for her show, and maybe we could get Melissa to direct in the future too?

The franchise desperately needs more women in positions of power/influence. TWDU's EPs, other writers and directors are overwhelmingly white and male, which provide for a limited perspective and it's difficult to speak up as a female EP and be the sole dissenting voice. (You quickly become tiresome and a 'nag.') A show, which features two DV survivors as leads, really needs a showrunner who has some sort of understanding of the psychology behind that. You can't write for characters if you don't understand what's shaped them into who they are.

Like I've said before, Daryl and Carol are unique in TV writing. They represent several different demographics, not just abuse survivors, that seldom get any kind of positive attention. They're mostly victims or villains in other people's stories, so Caryl's legacy is important. Being able to write nontraditional, emotionally mature men and strong, flawed but still loving women is wonderful and we need to not backtrack into toxic male heroes and women as wallpaper.

It's great that people share their feelings with AMC across SM platforms. And, thank you, anon, for sending this ask, recognizing everyone who's still here, fighting for equality and a better quality show. It means a lot to see fans be this passionate. Thank you.

Also, thanks to everyone who sends me asks: it's nice hearing from you and a big thank you to anyone who reads my very long and wordy posts 🙃❤️

[theheirofthesharingan]

Anti Itachi people are weird and I honestly don't understand them. I saw some ppl say Itachi doesn't deserve sympathy because he killed Gaara, joined Akatsuki and tortured Kakashi.... outside of abusing sasuke. So they don't get why he's so popular among fans. 🙄

People really just single out Itachi so randomly among the many characters to shit on because of morality and then crib about their favorite characters as if their favourites are saints. What is it that they feel entitled to hate on Itachi because of his morality and then defend people who did worse than him? Gaara himself is one fine example.

Who'd tell them morality isn't a binary or one-dimensional concept in a fictional world where child-soldiers are common and kids are subjected to being a victim of it and causing it from a very young age.

He killed Gaara

Okay? Gaara killed people for fun. He and his siblings attacked Konoha, killing people. What this fandom believes in is that the lives that Itachi took — no matter who that is — are more important than the lives that other characters took. Which is why Madara, Obito, Pain, Gaara etc., shouldn't be seen as villains and they act all pissy because Itachi isn't seen as a villain.

Here, people, I'll yell it out for you: conscience. Itachi was burdened by his conscience and never justified his crimes. It's literally canon. He wouldn't go out of his way to kidnap a child, manipulate him so the said child could fulfill his dreams after he was dead. He wouldn't unnecessarily attack an unsuspecting village with innocent population and murder them because he hated the world and was heartbroken that his childhood crush who didn't like him back was dead because she chose to. He also wouldn't make the world worse than it already is because he thinks his pain is worse than others.

Endurance, admission of one's mistakes, regrets/guilts etc., are some of the many redeeming qualities Itachi has. Of course people can see that and love him for them.

joined Akatsuki

Unbelievabl that people think this is a bad thing, lmao. On one hand they simp for Obito, Pain, and Madara who are the main ideologues of this extreme philosophy which works on nothing other than violence, then simultaneously have the audacity to be upset why is Itachi a part of this group. Make it make some sense, people. I can't see past your hypocrisy.

and tortured Kakashi... outside of abusing sasuke

Look, there's no justification for any of what he did to either Sasuke or Kakashi or anyone else. But when he came to the village, he had a reputation to uphold, that too that of a criminal who had single-handedly murdered the entire clan that was supposed to be the strongest of its time. He avoided fighting Asuma and Kurenai. He only took on Kakashi because Kakashi was the only one with Sharingan (and Mangekyo Sharingan). Idk if something in an Uchiha's brain goes off when they sense Mangekyo in someone else, or Itachi just did it to keep up his façade. But Kakashi did start to use his MS after his encounter with Itachi.

Either way, Itachi coming to the village, then avoiding fighting the mediocre jounins, taking on only the strongest one, inflicting enough pain to paralyse (in this case coma), but not killing him... That's what one would expect from a "dangerous criminal" like Itachi. Kakashi straight up wonders why Itachi didn't just kill him.

In regards to Sasuke - Itachi didn't plan to meet Sasuke. It doesn't excuse his actions afterwards, but the narrative that he's irredeemable and his love must be questioned as a result is pure unadulterated bullshit. If he wanted to hurt Sasuke he would have done it at that dango shop. When it was only going to take less than a second, then why not do it right away? The only people present there couldn't even touch him with Kisame by his side.

Gai and others also wondered why Itachi was taking so long to kidnap Naruto when he knew what Naruto looked like. Simple. He wanted to get out of the village. He didn't want to come across Sasuke. Traumatizing him again was the last thing he'd want to do.

they don't get why he's so popular among fans

Good thing is, those who love Itachi doesn't exactly need permissions or certificates from the people who don't like him. It's as simple as that. They don't have to get it. We don't care.

[rainyflock]

This blog is an archive for photos and videos of my rescued starlings, who live in a large outdoor aviary on my property! These are all birds who were either raised and imprinted by humans, or were born wild and raised by their parents but sustained life-altering injuries that prevented them from being releasable.

Starlings are invasive in many parts of the world, including where I live, but they still have plenty of redeeming qualities, and that includes being very personable, intelligent, and beautiful birds who are a delight to keep and interact with. Generally speaking, wild birds do not make good pets and deserve their freedom if it's possible- and they should always be taken to rehabbers or vets if they need help. If you have any questions, please feel free to send them either here, or to my main @rainystarling

Answered questions are tagged #starling questions

Below is a little bit about each bird.

1. Prince: Prince was my first starling. When I found him as a chick, I had already been doing wildlife rehabilitation for some time and was aware that he would be euthanized if I brought him to the center. I stuffed him back into his cavity, but he fell out of the nest twice more and after the last fall, I found a dead sibling next to him, so I brought him inside and raised him myself. He does some educational programming but prefers to hang out with his girlfriends, swear, and scream loud enough to disturb the neighbors. You will also see me call him Pog, and he refers to himself as Poggy.

2. Shrimp: Shrimp is Pog’s #1 girlfriend. He has created a nest with her every year that they’ve been together, and she hates my guts during breeding season when I am the only thing that gets his attention more than her. As queen of the aviary, she fiercely scolds any of the girls when they get a little too cozy with Prince, but is never aggressive. Other than Pog, she and her sister Onyx are best friends and can almost always be found side by side on the same perch in the aviary at any time. 

3. Onyx: Onyx’s is Shrimp’s adoptive sister. The two were admitted to me within 24hrs of each other at the same age, so I raised them as siblings, and they have been inseparable ever since. She is a very masculine female, and she has incredible singing and mimicry ability. She also builds her own nest, wing-waves, and humps stuff, so there's probably something going on there, and I have wondered if she may be some form of intersex.

4. Manco: Manco is my only male starling other than Prince, and he’s likely an older guy. He was brought to me after being found on the side of the road after a bad winter storm, frozen to the ground but still alive. He had been hit by a car, and had spinal injuries, a shattered shoulder, and some neurological trauma. He still can’t fly at all, and has occasional neurological difficulty under stress, but he can navigate the majority of the lower half of the aviary, loves bathing, foraging, and singing, has a mate, Iris, and even begrudgingly communicates with me when he wants something.  

5. Iris: Iris is Manco’s mate. She came into human care as a juvenile shortly after leaving the nest with her sibling. She and a presumed sibling were found tied together with all four legs very deliberately broken. Iris’ sibling passed away before they could get to a rehabber, and by the time Iris made it to me, one of her legs had to be partially removed. Because she came into human care so young, she’s relatively comfortable with me, and has done a lot of work teaching Manco that I’m not that terrible.

6. Milo: Milo is a sweet gentle girl about Prince’s age who was grabbed by a hawk. Her wing was dislocated, which is a fate that is unfortunately unfixable due to the very fragile nature of bird bones. She has some flight and is able to reach the top of the aviary perching along with the fully flighted birds. She does a range of really good mimics of other bird species, including jays, killdeer, hawks, crows, gulls, and robins. She is Pog's second girlfriend, though they have yet to build a nest together, just flirt.

7. Aurora: Aurora is another girl with a dislocated wing, she was hit by a car. She is one of my newest birds, and so I’m still getting to know her and her personality. She is understandably quite wary of me and avoids coming down when I am in the aviary. I am hopeful that with a little time she’ll get used to me!

8. Icarus: Icarus was found after a big storm, stunned after having slammed into someone’s window. Unfortunately, that person was terrified of birds, and while they were trying to do the right thing and get her some help, they broke her wing so severely that it had to be amputated. She is capable of some flight but mostly gets around by climbing. She also has some residual neurological symptoms and tics. She and Aurora are very good friends, being the two newest and most nervous girls, and spend a lot of their time together in a spot where they can spy on me out of reach. Most recently, she has started to eat and bathe in front of me, which is a great first step!

[leserattevirginie]

Crown of Shadows by C.S. Friedman

Genre: Sci-Fantasy Star Rating: 4,25 ⭐️

Plot: ⬜️ Plot holes big enough for a herd of elephants ⬜️ I think I’ve read this before. (Unoriginal to the max.) ⬜️ No plot, just vibes ⬜️ Enjoyable but not super memorable. ✅ You have my undivided attention. ⬜️ Mind = Blown

Characters: ⬜️ Mary Sue is in the house! ⬜️ These are cardboard cut-outs. ⬜️ Good main cast, but the rest is forgettable at best. ⬜️ Generally well written. ✅ Complex ⬜️ What do you mean characters? These feel like real people!

Personal Enjoyment: ⬜️ DNF ⬜️ Somebody free me from this hell (but also no, I won’t DNF) ⬜️ WTF did I just read??? ⬜️ I don’t like it, but I also don’t hate it. ⬜️ It’s a good book but I just never want to pick it back up. ⬜️ No strong feelings either way. ⬜️ Enjoyable read ✅ What a page turner! This is fun! ⬜️ I think I’m in love ⬜️ (new) all time favourite

World Building: ⬜️ This takes place in our world. ⬜️ Worldbuilding what worldbuilding? ⬜️ This feels like a TV set. ⬜️ Not super deep, but present. ✅ Detailed, believable. ⬜️ You bet every single ant has its own 100 page backstory!

Pacing: ⬜️ drags/is rushed in all the wrong places ⬜️ Inconsistent ⬜️ something undefinable feels off ⬜️ I don’t love it it but it fits the book perfectly. ✅ Good/no complaints ⬜️ Amazing! Could not put this down!

Writing: ⬜️ This is painful ⬜️ I’m cringing ⬜️ Not great, but not bad either. ⬜️ Neutral (Didn’t really notice.) ✅ Elegant but not overly flowery. ⬜️ So beautiful I actually stopped and noticed it. ⬜️ I’m not sure if this is just a bad translation. ⬜️ I’m not confident enough in my language skills for this language to comment on the quality of the writing.

Wow, I can't believe I've finished the series this fast! That alone says a lot about how much I liked it :) As usual, here's a bunch of rambly thoughts:

For the most part I feel like I did about the other two books - plot is fine but character work and world building take the cake. The plot was still fairly straight-forward, but I will say that it was a bit more complex with the dual plot-lines. A bit I don't think I've mentioned before that I love: due to the set up we get sorcery and sword type stuff but also tourism, instant soup, insurance companies, etc. (Did I imagine the aspirin?) The mix between modern and old timey things is great!

Unfortunately I also still feel the same about the treatment of women within the series. Sure, the argument could be made that maybe it's just Damien who's a bit misogynistic in his POV, and Gerald is just generally The Most Terrible Person ™ around, but it still doesn't sit right with me. Especially since we start the book with Gerald's lunch committing suicide. Was that weird bit about Damien's landlady necessary? Was there no other way to explain how Iezu perceive the world other than "Holy shit can you believe that middle aged lady dares to think of herself as attractive, lol what a hag" ?? But hey, Narilka is still alive! I suppose if you exist to redeem the Gerald clone you get to live. (I can't believe I forgot poor Almea in my last rant. The fridging that started it all! ...is it still fridging if the man murders her himself??)

As for the plot lines, on one hand I really, really enjoyed getting more POVs! ...maybe just not the ones we actually got xD The patriarch was probably my favourite, even if almost every second I spent inside his head was incredibly frustrating. Some of that may be due to Calesta's influence, but for the most part it's probably just him being the fantasy-pope. There's a reason I left the church xD That being said, I appreciate that he actually whole-heartedly believes what he is preaching. The thing that confuses me the most about the church is its stance on working the fae. As I understood it, it was designed to focus the fae, making it a bit less dangrous for the general population. And also providing humanity with the concentrated power of the beliefs and faith of thousands if not millions, which could eventually be used for space travel. (Or something in that vein.) Anyway, I thought it was very clear that they are still manipulating the fae, just on an enormous scale, and disapproved of private sorcery. But at times it kind of felt like the patriarch sort of forgot that (or deliberately repressed it?). All those "no, this isn't witchcraft, this is a miracle from God!" moments felt so odd because - of course its the same thing? You literally created your God yourselves by those exact same means??? Oh well, church is hypocritical, fork found in kitchen.

Andrys and Narilka I actually liked well enough, as long as they weren't on page together. Or thinking about each other. Actually, scratch that. I liked Narilka when she wasn't being compared to teacups or dolls! But then she had to fall in love with Andrys after talking to him...twice? Andrys... I mean he was there and relevant to the plot. I do feel bad for him, but there wasn't really that much to him other than (admittedly horrific) trauma and an uncanny resemblance to his great-great ....-great grandpa. And drugs to cope with all of that. Small pet peeve: the nickname Andri. WHY. You're literally just taking of one letter (and changing the other because....aesthetics??)

On to more enjoyable ramblings!!! The Damien-Gerlad dynamic in this book was just *chef's kiss* You can't just hit me with the "You changed me" speech that early in the book, I was not prepared xD The many ways in which we see the depth of their...friendship... were just sweet (especially post-hell), and such a contrast to the first book! (Well, Damien still tells us constantly how hot Gerald is, that hasn't changed at all xD My dude literally described his very platonic bestie as "aesthetic perfection". A few pages after Karril rerminds us of how very straight he is, of course.) Now maybe at this point my rose coloured shipper glasses are just glued to my face, but that moment when he tried to explain how Almea supposedly feels also slightly came across as him projecting just a bit. (Gerald is right, Almea (or the Almea-thing) has every right to be pissed, honestly she should have shown up with ghostly divorce papers. Or maybe Damien was right and she just wanted to see him jump into a volcano for a good cause, who knows.) There are some things I would have loved to see more of: - the mental link between Damien and Gerald was criminally under-used, imo. Did it change Damien physically somehow, since Gerald no longer felt cold to him? Is he now part vampire for ever xD (And dear god that whole bit about taking the Hunter into his body, whyyy xDD) - honestly I would have loved to see Gerald readjusting to being human (and being incredibly annoyed about it) a bit more. It's been 900+ years, surely there's stuff he's forgotten? I mean he spent the vast majority of his life being the stuff of nightmares! - Gerald honestly wanting and trying to redeem himself (sure, he was ready to sacrifice himself in the end, but it kind of struck me as a last minute decision. And you can't tell me being the first to kill a Iezu and saving the world didn't also appeal to his ego). But I get that that would take another 10 books, minimum

Damiens break with the church was a long time coming, and handled well, I think. Oddly enough, priest never struck me as a job that you can just quit.

I just remembered about Gerald's apprentice (Amoril?). What an idiot. I would have loved to know how he came to be the Hunter's apprentice though. Can you apply for scolarships? Anyway, trashing a library is unforgivable in my book ;)

Oh, and Hell! Hell was surprisingly meh to me, but I did appreciate the insight into how the Iezu operate (which was probable the main point of that scene anyway). Love that Damien could just reason with the literal devil. (But the concept of the Devil as a non-unified entity was actually cool though). How did it take Damien so long to understand what the mountain of dead women could possibly be. Neither he nor the reader are stupid enough not to get it. Friedman usually doesn't hold our hand and over explains in the series, why start now?? Shock factor? I doubt anyone cared enough about Sisa? Sasi? for that to work.

OK I promise I'm coming to an end soon but guys. Guys. The epilogue. The freaking epilogue. What a trip that was xDDD 1) The Wedding. Karril POV was... certainly something! We now officially know that not only women find Andrys attractive. (Take that, Damien "idk, he's probably attractive to women but also aesthetic perfection" Vryce. Did I need to know about potential Iezu sex that only benefits the (currently presenting as) male partner? No, not really. Also WTF was that scene with Andrys' ex lovers. I know we're supposed to see and rejoice in the fact that Andrys is no longer a playboy, but did we really need that "women hating women for the benefit of some hot guy" thing in here? I swear there were bits in the series where I could have sworn it was written by man (derogatory). At least Narilka remained unbothered. Presumably moisturised. Very happy and in her lane. Focused on her wedding, as she should be. She gets to live on to be compared to countless fragile things made of porcelain, whether she wants it or not. 2) Freaking Riven Forrest. I was cackling throughout that whole bit. Not only does he get to hunt and terrify people just like his father, he also runs a successful (?) fishing rod business on the side. (I know, I know, hunting supplies in general, the rods just kind of stuck out to me). The fact that the intelligent prey he looks forward to hunting the most is once again a woman (even if it is an abusive, horrible woman) tells us exactly what part the Iezu mother chose to take from the OG Hunter, huh. Which is great for Gerald, but a weird choice on her part?? But dear God the last bit. He keeps a portait of Gerald above his fireplace??? I finally completely lost it at "Here's to you, dad" xDDD 3) The "dark haired youth". Of course he survived. I was suspicious as soon as we didn't actually get to see Andrys kill him. As for the new persona - I suspected who he was, but the moment I was really sure was when Damien started describing him in loving detail. For an entire paragraph. That was half a page long. But the ending. WTF. I could have accepted Gerald's Death, but this? You're telling me after all they went through together, and after he basically just risked his life again by saying hi to Damien in the most cryptic way possible, they just...never talked again?! Nah, in my expert opinion they just met up in the next bathhouse. Also I wanted to see the guy suffer be annoyed a bit more because he can no longer Work to maintain his image. (I'd also have loved to know Geralds criteria for his new body, vain as he is. What was his thought process? "Oh no, the wonderful world of magical horse-breeding is now lost to me! Guess I'll just have to make sure that from now on I have the most majestic ponytail out there!"? Although, come on. He might be willing to risk his life for a horse.) My last words: I enjoyed this series so much more than I ever thought I would, and these idiots now live rent-free in my brain. Also how the f- are we supposed to read these books as an entirely platonic relationship? The most I'll agree to is some weird, slightly cursed QPR. But come on. COME ON. Even if they are both heterosexual (notwithstanding Damiens constant thirsting casual descriptions) they are definitely in love. Or just so deeply obsessed with, and at this point, sort of dependent on each other (Gerlad's words, not mine. sort of) that it makes little to no difference.

I know there's some prequels (?) I think I might check them out sometime.

[wolfgirl-sister]

A lot of times, I have people ask me for recommendations for incest media, or just don't know where to start, so without further ado:

Cocteau Azaka's Incest Reading List!

Books

Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block

Incest Rating: 9.5/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Romance, Drama, Tragedy, Coming of Age

Overall Rating: 9/10

Wasteland is a beautifully written, albeit heartbreaking, book about love, loss, and growing up as an outsider. The book utilizes multiple points of view, signified by changes in font and narrative distance, to paint the picture of three teens in 1980s SoCal who are looking for answers. The first time I read this book, I finished it in tears and immediately read it a second time, just because I wanted more of it.

Hale by K Webster

Incest Rating: 9/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Romance, Drama

Overall Rating: 5/10

Hale is... Not a great book. The characters are so painfully cishet and neurotypical that, while they're ostensibly fleshed out, they're so perfectly, stereotypically normal that I legitimately felt alienated. I suppose the point is that it's not always the fucked up people who can be in a forbidden relationship, that even the girl next door can fall in love with her brother, but in execution the only reason the characters weren't boring is that they wrapped around to being fascinating if only because this was what being "normal" is like.

Overall quality aside, the romance itself is not only convincing, but spectacular. It's a poignant depiction of the line between siblings and lovers blurring until it's inevitably crossed, and it has an explicitly happy ending— a rarity in incest media.

Love's Forbidden Flower, by Diane Rinella

Incest Rating: 6/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Will They Won't They, Explicit

Genre: Romance, Drama

Overall Rating: 4/10

To be blunt, this book was a letdown. I appreciate what the author was going for, and I felt that it did achieve that, somewhat?

But I could not stand the characters, particularly the secondary love interest that's introduced after the main character is let down by her brother time and time again. The reason why this book is on here at all is the end of the second act/early parts of the third, where the protagonist's brother is redeemed and they finally are together, even if it's only temporary when they find that they're not able to withstand the challenges of a socially unacceptable relationship. Rinella wrote a fascinating turn in the plot with a bravery not usually becoming of Western authors of the genre, and for that I applaud her.

Kara no Kyoukai: Records in Oblivion by Kinoko Nasu

Incest rating: 6/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Unrequited, but Explicit, Sub-plot

Genre: Urban fantasy, neo-noir

Overall rating: 7/10

Obviously, I have a fondness for Kara no Kyoukai, and for Azaka specifically, but I'll admit that this isn't the most incestuous book on the list. It does have some payoff with a platonic date at the end, but primarily it's on this list because it does a good job of exploring Azaka's feelings and not invalidating them or downplaying them. I would recommend reading the KnK books prior to this one first, or else you'll most likely be hopelessly lost.

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

Incest Rating: 4/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Questionably Requited? Auxillary to the Plot

Genre: Chuck Palahniuk, Drama

Overall Rating: 8/10

Like most of Palahniuk's works, Invisible Monsters is about fucked up people doing fucked up things, driven by self-destruction until they enter todestrieb. As usual, it's fucking glorious.

Invisible Monsters focuses on themes of beauty, identity, attention, disability, and the way that all of these intersect with womanhood. It's not for readers who are squeamish about depictions of transphobia or a narrator who is somewhat transphobic herself, but if you're able to stomach it I highly recommend it.

If you're reading it just for the incest, you'll probably be disappointed, but if you want a fantastic book with some small amount of explicit incest feelings, I would say go for it.

Not Forever, but For Now by Chuck Palahniuk

I'm putting this on the list because though I haven't read it yet, I know that it's explicitly incestuous. I cannot promise that the incest is good, I can't even promise that the book is good, but I can assure you that those brothers are fucking.

Manga

Sayuri-San no Imouto wa Tenshi

Incest Rating: 10/10

Incest Type: Explicit, Sisters, Focal Point

Genre: Yuri, Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy

Overall Rating: 9/10

This manga is very short, but focuses on the day to day life of a young woman and her estranged, sickly younger sister, who re-enters her life suddenly with a halo and wings that only the protagonist and her friend can see.

It's an extremely sweet, funny and lighthearted manga that is nonetheless deeply touching.

Citrus

Incest Rating: 5/10

Incest Type: Step-Sisters, Focal Point, Explicit

Genre: Yuri, Romance, Drama, Gyaru

Overall Rating: 6/10

Citrus is the queen of sister yuri, earning the rare privilege of an anime adaptation, which in this genre is rare! However, just because Citrus is queen does not make it the best, not even by a long shot. The plot is extremely melodramatic, the kisses questionably consensual for most of the first acts, and with the strict uniform standards, a lot of the tertiary characters can be difficult to discern in black and white. It has it's redeeming qualities, but mostly I've found that it's over-hyped.

I Met My Sister On A Dating Site

Incest Rating: 7/10

Incest Type: Sisters, Focal Point, Explicit

Genre: Yuri, Slice of Life, Comedy, Romance

Overall Rating: 7/10

This is a really cute and short manga with a great premise, but honestly it's very lacking in substance. That's okay though, because it does exactly what it sets out to do: be something short and sweet that ends with sisters dating.

Oshi no Ko

Incest Rating: 8/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Twins, Explicit, Ostensibly Requited? Sub plot

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Revenge, Idols

Overall Rating: 8/10

I've written my thoughts on Oshi no Ko elsewhere, but to keep this brief, this is a fantastic series, and reading/watching it was the time of my life. The art is glamorous and over the top, with visibly heightened emotions that really sell the drama of it all.

We've only just started to get to the incest as of this chapter being written, but Ruby's reaction to her brother are so endearing that I'm preemptively rating it very highly

Koi no Kaze

Incest Rating: 7/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Romance, Slice of Life

Overall Rating: 6/10

I don't have too much to say about this one— it's your basic, straightforward sibling love story played straight, with not too many twists or turns. I do appreciate that it includes an outing scene, so I'm rating it a bit higher, but it also hits on public acceptance, which for some people is a really important part of the fantasy.

1 x 1/2

Incest Rating: 8/10

Incest Type: Mother/Daughter, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Romance, Drama, Yuri

Overall Rating: */10

Taiyaki, the mangaka who created 1 x 1/2, is in my opinion one of the greatest mother/daughter writers and artists out there. 1 x 1/2 is a complicated work to judge as an English speaker because what's currently on Mangadex is an excellent fan translation of an unfinished, no longer canon first draft. This is phenomenal, and does a great job of everything it sets out to do, until it ends very suddenly. When Taiyaki restarted 1 x 1/2, she partnered with an (incredibly mid) translation partner called Yuri Hub, which means that her work can no longer be fan translated, and the translation published is pretty clearly machine-based. It's honestly very disappointing, as I would love to have a proper translation of the new 1 x 1/2.

Visual Novels

Full Metal Daemon Muramasa

Incest Rating: 8/10

Incest Type: Siblings (Explicit? Implicit? Somewhat unrequited?), Parent/Child (Explicit)

Genre: Fantasy Mecha, Action, Drama, Samurai

Overall Rating: 9/10

Muramasa is an epic, and I don't know how to impress the drama of the fight scenes throughout, and the way that they combine real swordplay theory with imagined mecha combat, crossed with samurai tropes. It can be really difficult to get through, as the game is not even in the slightest for the squeamish. There's a lot of rape, both implied and explicit, however the antagonist's motivation is that she wants to ascend to godhood so that she's no longer bound by the rules of morality and therefore can marry her father. Additionally, her relationship with her brother is extremely sexually charged, and their fight scenes often involve comparisons to sex.

This is one of the best mecha VNs ever written, with a truly fantastic ending.

Tsukihime

Incest Rating: 7/10

Incest Type: Siblings, Explicit, Focal Point (of one route)

Genre: Action, Urban Fantasy, Horror

Overall Rating: 7/10

This game is a touchy subject for me. I've had the misfortune of playing Tsukihime after having it hyped up for literal years, so it not measuring up to that hype is less a statement on my objective assessment of the VN, and more a statement on how beloved it is.

Having said that, the Akiha route is fantastic. I'm not sure that I have much to say on the subject that hasn't already been said, but believe you me, Tsukihime is worth playing.

Love Ribbon

Incest Rating: 8/10

Incest Type: Sisters, Explicit, Focal Point

Genre: Slice of Life, Drama, Romance, Comedy, Yuri

Overall Rating: 6/10

Love Ribbon is a short, sweet VN that's a really solid 6/10 and is worth the $15 it costs to support an indie dev. It focuses on two sisters who were raised apart, and only meet when they share an apartment to attend a prestigious high school. The romance is cute, the plot is uncomplicated, and there are only two routes, but there's a long epilogue where they're explicitly dating and ostensibly get symbolically married. If you have unresolved daddy issues that you can't touch for fear of untangling something massive, this is a great read because so do those girls.

Thank you for reading, I hope that this list helps people!

[unorthodoxiguana]

I might have seen this said before, on a different post, but I couldn't find it, so I'm just gonna say a few words on this, partially because of that and partially because it's been ages since I've last read the series, despite it being ingrained into my head.

Almost all of the characters in TUC have moments where they are genuine assholes. Gregor has a few points where he says some genuinely disrespectful shit. Luxa, as well as most of the other humans (including Gregor, although arguably to a lesser extent), are deeply prejudiced against the gnawers. Ripred, is, well, Ripred (look, I love him, we all do, but he's a dick).

Even Vikus, arguably one of the nicest characters in the series, admires Sandwich (I think, been a while), a man who literally used poison to commit genocide in the name of stealing land that didn't belong to him.

The only characters I can think of in TUC that don't have flaws are the ones who also have the least lines: Aurora, Dulcet, Miravet. Oh, and all of those characters? Probably also prejudiced against gnawers, just never explicitly stated (to my knowledge), probably due to their obscene lack of lines. Of course there are characters like Lizzie and Hazard, who are literal fucking children so as nice as they are, I think it's safe to say they can't really be counted up here. (Should probably also mention that Gregor and Luxa are also children, just ones that were forced to grow up faster, sadly).

Then again, all of these characters have redeeming qualities. Gregor can be disrespectful at times, but that's mainly because of the stress placed upon him by the various bullshit situations he has to go through, and he usually apologizes after. Luxa and all the humans are deeply prejudiced (actually, I should probably add the fliers might be in that category too), but they are basically raised from birth to hate and kill gnawers, and vice versa. plus, it's shown that despite what is practically being brainwashed from birth, they can grow and change to overcome their own bigotry and accept gnawers as genuine people, as well as friends.

And yes, Ripred, the glorious bastard himself, is a dick. But he's also a war veteran who's lost his family, and most of the respect from his people, meaning he mainly works with humans, who tend to treat him with suspicion, if not outright hostility (until they get to know him). And he makes up for it by letting his guard down at times to be a father to the traumatized pups that dragged him into their pack.

Point is, flawed characters are one of the things that make TUC so great. They're not few and hid away either, they're everywhere, with visible flaws. If you want to make a good character, TUC is a great series to use as an example. Everything casts a shadow, just like every character has a flaw. If they don't, you probably just can't see them from your angle. And if they don't? Like, at all? Give them some, just make sure the shadow they cast matches up with the object itself.

[selunesdreams]

Chapter 13: Pillow Talk

Pairing: Lucanis x Fem Rook/OFC x Spite???

Summary: Rook recalls her last contract with Teia and some of Illario's more redeeming qualities. Illario soon after reminds her of his UNredeemable qualities. (Not much Lucanis this chapter, sorry!)

Word Count: 5k

Things of note/warnings: 18+ fic, MDNI! warnings: : Attempted SA, violence, blood, bodily injury, death, glass-related injuries, drugging/poisoning. Please read on AO3 if you need to track warnings, they will be inevitably detailed better there (or just want to be real sweet and give me hits/kudos/comments).

─── ⊹⊱♤⊰⊹ ───

Fiamma watched the party over the rim of her glass, tapping her nails on the side as she looked for a familiar face. It had been months since Viago had prohibited her from taking contracts, but he said nothing about her assisting on them. 

“I’m the one seducing our target, Fi. You didn’t have to out-dress me.” 

She turned and smiled, exchanging kisses on the cheek with Andarateia Cantori.

“I wasn’t trying to, but unfortunately, Viago would have asked questions if I came home to get clothes, and Caterina only keeps her deceased daughter-in-law’s dresses in the spare closet. The Dellamortes aren’t exactly subtle.”

“Lucanis’ mother?” Teia asked, appraising Fiamma’s gown. Just classy enough for a gala, but leaving little to the imagination. “Good taste.”

“So, who is our target?” Fiamma asked, following her best friend through the crowd. 

“Over there.” Teia settled against a wall, inclining her head. “Alessandro Varro. He took a large sum of money from the king that was to be invested, but there has not been a return on it in several years. He’s avoided all correspondence and recently had quite the return on his own investments. The king suspects he’s been conned and isn’t pleased.”

“So that’s how you ended up with this contract? Viago’s daddy put it out?”

Teia winked. “He needed someone discreet.”

“I don’t need to hear anymore.” Fiamma said, cutting her off. She squinted, assessing their target from afar. He reminded her of a weasel. Greasy hair, beady eyes, and the kind of unkempt appearance that came with excessive wealth and little class to match. His skin was red and puffy from inflammation - probably a lethal mix of a poor diet and too much alcohol. If Teia was patient, her target would probably die of natural causes and save them both the trouble of having to be here tonight.

Just as she tore her eyes away, the man met her gaze. She feigned an embarrassed smile as he stared.

“Change of roles, Fi.” Teia said, leaning in close as she held her champagne to the side. “Looks like Alessandro’s already interested in you . I’ll handle his guards once you get him alone.” 

“What? No way. I light fires, mix poisons, and slit throats, but seduction is not my specialty. I’ll fumble this so badly we’ll both regret it.”

“You’ll do just fine.” Teia gave her a small nudge in Alessandro’s direction. She stumbled forward, catching her balance in a pair of heels she was not accustomed to, and shot a glare over her shoulder as her friend wiggled her fingers in an innocent wave and disappeared into the crowd. 

“I haven’t seen you at any of these parties before.” A voice purred in her ear as an arm snaked around her waist. Fiamma twisted her head, restraining herself from lashing out.

“Illario?”

“Viago will not be happy to hear you’re taking contracts against his wishes.”

She shoved him off. “Not my contract. I’m just helping.” 

“Who’s your target? I’ll handle them.” He said, kissing her hand. “That way, you can enjoy your evening back at the villa. Where you belong . These parties are no place for a woman like you, Fi. The men here are appalling.”

“Well, that explains how you got an invitation.” She said, yanking her hand away.  

Illario caught her by the wrist. “Let me take you home.”

“Let go of me,” Fiamma hissed. 

“Is this man bothering you?”

Alessandro Varro appeared beside her, looming over them. Two guards lingered at his back, eyes shifting back and forth. 

“No. Just a misunderstanding.” Illario released his hold on Fiamma with a scowl and gave her a deep bow. “My apologies. Enjoy your evening.” He said stiffly and stormed off. 

Fiamma looked back at Alessandro, resting her hand on his shoulder. “Do you make a habit of saving women?”

“Just beautiful ones. And you’re…” he let out a low whistle.

Fiamma smoothed her thumb against the collar of his suit. “Your accent tells me you’re Antivan, but I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Are you from Treviso?”

He chuckled, dismissing his guards with a wave. “Just passing through on business.” 

“No time for pleasure?” She asked with a wink. 

Alessandro smiled, exposing a set of yellowed teeth, and extended his hand towards the stairs. 

“I could make time for you. Care for a tour? The host is a dear friend.”

He was taking her upstairs already? Too easy.

She curtsied and took his hand, letting him lead the way. As she ascended the staircase, she caught sight of Illario sulking against a pillar, drinking his wine. His dark eyes tracked their every movement, before he frowned and set his drink on a nearby server’s tray, vanishing into the sea of bodies.

“So, what do you do for a living?” Alessandro asked as she bunched her dress in her hands, lifting it over her ankles.

“Business. Contracts.” she said. It was the truth, after all.

“Of the legal sort?”

“It’s tedious. Let’s talk about something else.” She said, Also not a lie. “What do you do?”

“I make powerful men a lot of money.” He said, helping her up the last step. She smoothed her dress at the hips, fingertips lingering over the imprint of her sword for reassurance. 

“Anyone I know?”

“Likely, but my clients value their privacy.” He replied, the hallway becoming darker the further they ventured down it. Alessandro paused, pushing open a door to his left. “Ah, through here. This is the study, where he keeps all the good wine.”

Fiamma nodded gratefully, slipping inside and forcing herself not to recoil when his hand touched her back. As Alessandro busied himself perusing the wine collection, she settled down on a small settee by the door. High-quality art decorated the room’s walls, and a large, canopied bed adorned with velvet green sheets stood on the opposite side. Not a book in sight. Fiamma swallowed uneasily.

This was not a study for work, but one for pleasure. 

“Are you in town for long?” She crossed her legs so her weapons were easily accessible, ready to get this over with before it got messy. Teia’s target - now hers - was a full foot taller and double her weight. If he decided things were going to go his way, her options would become very, very limited. 

He pulled a bottle down off the top shelf, reading the dates, and put it back, continuing to assess their options. “I come and go frequently. The duration of this trip will only be for a few days, though.” Varro’s response was too smooth, calculated, as he settled on a bottle that appeared far less extravagant than the others. A bad sign. He had no intention of impressing her, only intoxicating her enough to take advantage. Fiamma’s gaze shifted around the room, taking in every detail as she tried to formulate an escape plan.

“Can we get back to the party?” She asked, rising from her seat. If she could lure him to the door, she could slit his throat before his hand reached the handle.

He frowned, looking up from where he was pouring their drinks. “Why the rush? I’m enjoying your company. Privately .” 

Crossing the room, he handed her a glass, swirling his own before taking a drink. As she took the wine, she realized she’d been too preoccupied looking for exits and vantage points to notice whether he had tampered with her drink. Viago would have chastised her mercilessly for such an oversight. But her cousin wasn’t here, was he?

“It’s expensive,” Varro pressed, a thin layer of sweat forming on his forehead. “Don’t let it go to waste. You won’t get a chance like this again.”

He was too eager. The wine was definitely tampered with. Carefully, she raised her glass to her lips, feeling the liquid slosh against her skin as she pursed them, careful not to swallow. With a swift motion, she set the wine aside and discreetly wiped her mouth with her thumb.

“Funny. I thought the rare wines would have tasted more exotic.” She said, sidestepping out of his reach and pretending to marvel at the art. Much to her disappointment, he followed closely behind, his hands finding her waist as he pressed against her, the outline of something small and sweaty against her back.

“Get on the bed.” His breath was hot against her ear, and she suppressed a gag. The only way this got worse was if he had a temper.

“I’m not that kind of girl.” Fiamma laughed nervously, trying to slip out of his grasp. His thick fingers wrapped tightly around her wrists, holding her in place. 

“You’re any kind of girl I want you to be. Get. On. The. Bed. ”

Fuck this contract.

Fiamma threw her elbow out behind her, the impact stinging through her arm as it connected with his ear. She weaved under his ribs, muscles straining as he stumbled back. Wrenching off her shoes, she swiped at him with one heel, ripping the sleeve of his suit. She couldn’t reach for her weapons yet and risk him calling for help. He needed to believe he had the upper hand until she could slash his vocal chords.

“Insolent little bitch!”

He grabbed her by the hair and Fiamma let out a sharp cry as he thrust her head into the iron bedpost. Blood trickled from her brow, and she blinked hard, stars flying across her field of vision. 

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth.” He growled in her ear, thrusting her onto the bed. Fiamma reached for her sword, but his entire weight was on her before she could move, suffocating and pinning her in place. Alessandro ripped the bodice from her dress, exposing her breasts, and began tugging the fabric down. Desperate, she kicked her legs as the room came back to her, but everything was too disorienting. Could she risk crying for help? Or would she give up Teia’s entire operation? None of this mattered if she was dead.

She opened her mouth to scream before his sweaty hand clamped over it. Her left hand now free, she scratched his face, nails digging into his flesh and tearing three crimson lines down his cheek. Fiamma’s skull reverberated with pain as he cuffed her on the side of the head, and she sensed her consciousness slipping. If the first impact hadn’t concussed her, she feared this one had.

With one last attempt to free herself, she drove her knee into his core, hitting him somewhere in the stomach, but he didn’t budge. Rather, he went limp, his full weight crushing down on her. Something warm and wet dripped onto her bare chest, and she clawed at the headboard to free herself before he rolled off and hit the floor with a thud. Fiamma blinked, just barely able to make out Illario’s face through her blurry vision, and whimpered in relief. Furious, he hauled her against him and smoothed her hair back, his thumb tracing the contusion on her head. She winced, and he pulled away.

“I told you, this isn’t your kind of work.” He took off his coat, pulling it over her shoulders and buttoning the front. “Let’s see if I can get you out of here unseen. What a mess.” 

The door creaked open behind them and shut quickly, and Teia froze in horror.

“Fi! I’m so sorry-”

“I’ll get her out of here. Clean this up, will you?” Illario said, slipping his arms under Fiamma’s knees and back and lifting her off the bed. “It looks unprofessional, but that will work in our favor.”

He paced to the window, opening it with the heel of his boot, and ducked under the pane, carefully easing her down onto the roof. The evening breeze was a relief against her flushed skin. She took a step and hesitated, the terracotta shingles unsteady beneath her feet, and Illario let out a frustrated sigh, slinging her back over his shoulder.

“I have to do everything.” He grumbled. 

The world slipped into darkness as he carried her back to the villa, and the next time she fully woke, she was in bed wearing fresh clothes. Next to her, Illario lay on top of the covers, engrossed in a book.

“Tell me Viago doesn’t know.” Fiamma groaned, sitting up in bed slowly.

“Viago doesn’t know.” He set the book aside, rolling over and searching her face with concern. “Neither does Caterina. But if you want my discretion, promise you won’t take on another contract like that again. Charm is more than a pretty face, Fiammetta. I can see how you’d get confused, but there is some skill to it.”

“You don’t have to ask me twice.” She said, tucking her hair behind her ears. 

“You scared me back there.”

“I scared myself.” She bit her lip, turning towards him. “Thank you. I never thought of you as the savior type.”

He cupped her cheek in his hand. “I save people worth being saved.”

Fiamma shifted forward on her knees, pressing her lips to his in a chaste kiss. He was warm, comforting. So different from usual. Why couldn’t he always be this way?

Illario’s hand came to her chest, delicately pushing her back onto the pillows as he pulled away.

“Get some rest. You must be concussed to be making moves on me.”

A mischievous smirk tugged at her lips. “Am I?”

“I’d wait my entire life for you, Fiammetta.” He said, his expression remaining somber. “I know you’ll never feel as strongly as I do. But I appreciate you pretending, even if just for a night.”

Speechless, Fiamma watched as he rose from the bed and slipped out of the guest bedroom, the door closing softly behind him.

─── ⊹⊱♤⊰⊹ ───

Rook woke in Viago’s worn leather chair, not even aware she’d drifted off until the front door slammed shut. She unfolded her legs from underneath her, warm and dry from the heat of the fire, and stood, brushing the wrinkles out of her red silk gown just as Teia rounded the corner.

“You know how much I hate going behind Viago’s back.” She said, placing her hands on her hips as Bellara lingered anxiously in the hall.

“He’ll forgive you. He always forgives you.” 

“Alright, Fi. I’m going to help you as your friend. Not as Seventh Talon. Got it?” Teia said, crouching and straightening the hem of Rook’s dress. “And also because the Dellamorte house is going to go extinct if these boys don’t get their shit together.” 

“Got it.” Rook reassured her, ushering them into the kitchen and opening a case on the counter, revealing several glass cylinders of poisons and antidotes. 

“Viago will kill you for getting into his stash.”

“Then good thing this one is mine.” She said as she slipped on a thick pair of leather gloves and pulled out one labeled Pillow Talk. “I’ve learned a few things from my cousin.”

“What is that?” Bellara asked in wonder from behind them.

“It’s an influencer.” Teia sighed, realizing where Rook was going with this. “It makes people very comfortable around you. Comfortable enough to trust you with their darkest secrets.”

“Like truth serum?”

Teia shook her head. “Not quite. You still have to coax the information out of your target.”

“I need to talk to Illario.” Rook explained. “See what he’s up to and if I can talk him out of it.” She reached for a small jar of black ointment, extending it to Teia. “Care to do the honors?”

Teia snatched it from her hands, applying a generous amount to her fingertip and spreading it across Rook’s lips. 

“Viago’s barrier was clear when he did this for me.”

“He doesn’t wear lipstick. Why would he think to add pigment?” Rook said. “The black should help make the green tint of the serum look like lipstick.”

“Impressive.” Teia said, leaning back and admiring her work. Rook pursed her lips together with a smile. 

“ This is why we couldn’t tell Lucanis?” Bellara asked nervously. “Rook…” 

“If Lucanis knew, he’d charge in headfirst and get himself killed.” Rook said, tucking Pillow Talk inside her cloak and closing her case of vials. “There are only two members of house Dellamorte left. I’d like to keep them both alive.”

─── ⊹⊱♤⊰⊹ ───

As they reached a rooftop near the villa, a heavy sense of sorrow overcame Rook at the sight of Caterina’s bedroom window. A single candle flickered on the sill. Perhaps Illario was paying tribute. He was capable of sentimentality from time to time.

She reached into her pocket, taking out the vial of serum and handed Teia a small piece of parchment. 

“There’s a passage underneath the villa. No one should know about it, not even Illario. You two search the west wing while I speak with him. I’ll try to keep an eye out for anything useful.”

“And if this goes south?” Teia asked as Rook slipped on a glove and painted the Pillow Talk over the barrier on her lips.  

“Then we handle it.” She said, and leapt over the ledge, her dress billowing in the wind behind her. Skirt tightly bunched in her hands, she scaled a trellis and took the cobblestone path towards the front doors. Two men, thankfully Crows, and not Venatori, were stationed at the villa doors.

“Get Illario Dellamorte.” She said, lowering the hood of her cloak. “It’s urgent.”

“He’s not accepting visitors.” One said, narrowing his eyes before his face slackened in recognition. “De Riva?”

Rook held out her arms. “In the flesh. Good to see you, Bortte.”

“Dellamorte says no one gets in.” The other Crow interjected, his voice firm.

“Let me talk to him.” Bortte said, giving Rook a wink and disappearing inside. She forced a polite smile at the unfamiliar guard and glanced around.

“So…”

He grunted and crossed his arms, saying nothing. They stood in awkward silence for several minutes before Bortte returned, holding the door open. 

“He’s waiting in the den.”

With a gracious nod, Rook stepped through the doors and inhaled slowly. Nothing had changed in her absence, but a chill permeated the house. Unfamiliar, in some way. She walked carefully towards the den, looking around for any signs of what Illario had been up to in recent months. 

“Feels empty without a woman’s touch, doesn’t it?” A voice echoed from the depths of the room. Rook rounded the corner, finding Illario with a glass of wine in hand, observing her from the couch. There was both longing and resentment in his eyes as they drifted over her. 

“Guess I underestimated Caterina’s impact on the place.” She said, taking a seat at the piano by the window and removing her gloves, fingers ghosting the dusty keys. 

Illario stood with a weary sigh, moving across the room to uncork a fresh bottle of wine from the shelf. 

“Why are you here, Fiammetta?” He asked, not looking up as he pulled out a second glass, filling them both halfway. 

“I want to know what it is you’ve gotten yourself into.” She said, “Blood magic? Venatori? Trying to have your cousin killed?”

Illario set the bottle down and passed her wine to her as he leaned against the piano. “Lucanis is an abomination. He’s a danger to everyone, including himself.”

“Is that what you told yourself to justify turning the Crows against him?” Rook rose to her feet and stared out the window. She didn’t like him leaning over her. 

“It’s the truth, Fiamma. You know it, I know it, and deep down, my cousin knows it.”

She scoffed. “You’re all he has, Illario. How could you betray him like this?”

“Betray him?” Illario threw his hands in the air. “I have been by his side my entire life! Lucanis is like a brother to me.”

“Yeah?” Rook asked, watching the crimson liquid swirl against the edges of the glass in her hand. “Then tell me why you set him up on that boat.”

Illario huffed and took a drink. “That’s a lofty accusation, Fiammetta.”

She raised her wine to her mouth and hesitated, lowering it quickly. Illario met her at the window, leaning his shoulder against it as his eyes swept across her face. 

“You haven’t touched your drink.” He mused, holding her gaze as he plucked it from her grasp, taking a sip to prove it wasn’t poisoned. “You De Rivas don’t trust anyone, do you? Unless you have something to hide.”

She rolled her eyes irritably. “I’m being professional. I’m not pregnant.” 

“Wasn’t what I was asking.” Illario mumbled, setting the glass aside and offering his hand. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

Rook reluctantly placed her hand in his, allowing him to lead her to the staircase. Her free hand gripped the railing tightly, in case she needed to throw herself over it, acutely aware that this could be a trap. Stepping between the Dellamorte cousins like this was likely to only end with her hurt, but she couldn’t stand by and watch them kill one another, either.

The walk to his room was eerily silent, save for a soft scraping behind her, like a coin rolling against wood. Rook turned, brushing aside the skirt of her gown to ensure she hadn’t dropped a piece of gold. Worry overtook her as she realized Bellara might not be as light-footed as she’d hoped. To her relief, Illario didn’t seem concerned.

“My grandmother got a cat when you left, for the mice.” He explained, pulling her along. “It’s an alright assassin, never seen, rarely heard.”

He opened the door to his room, ushering her inside by the small of her back. From his desk, he pulled a small diary, passing it to her.

“You forgot this when you left,” he said, one hand on her waist as he handed it to her. Rook accepted it, turning the leather cover over in her hands.

“Did you read it?”

“I’m a Crow, Fiamma. Of course I read it.” He said with a smirk. “Pretty disappointing, though. Nothing in there I didn’t already know.” 

“I don’t put my dark secrets in writing.” She said, tucking it into her cloak. “Do you?”

“I prefer to keep mine close.” He said, his thumb coming up to brush her bottom lip. She recoiled slightly with a sharp intake of air. 

“My apologies.” He said, his hand falling to his side. “Wishful thinking-”

Rook pressed her lips to his, cutting him off. Unlike Lucanis, he didn’t hesitate to kiss her back, his hands roaming her figure as he pressed her against the door until it shut. Illario moaned softly as she caught his lower lip between her teeth, and she shoved him off, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. He blinked in surprise, touching his fingers to his lips. 

“Did you know Manius Casini was innocent when you had me kill him, Illario?” She demanded.

He glanced down at his hand, rubbing his fingertips together before dropping it at his side.

“We have different definitions of innocence, Fiammetta.”

Tears brimmed in her eyes. “You made me do something unforgivable.”

“We’re Crows. We make a living doing unforgivable things.”

“Maybe you.” She said through gritted teeth, swiping a tear from her cheek. “But not me.”

“Of course, Fi! I forgot. You’re the morally superior one.” He sneered.

“Fuck you.”

“Manius led the Antaam right to your father’s doorstep. He ran like a coward, sentencing your father to death.”

Rook gaped. “So he deserved to die?”

Illario smashed his fist into the center of his desk. Papers flew into the air, and the wood splintered under his knuckles. 

“His recklessness could have gotten you killed!”

Rook stared silently for a moment, watching him collect himself.

“Did you know about my mother, too, then?” She asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

Illario drug both hands down his face with a groan. “Know what?”

“You really don’t know?” 

“Know what, Fiamma?” He asked impatiently.

“About the lyrium!” she shouted, before lowering her voice just above a whisper. “She was addicted to lyrium.”

His mouth parted slightly. “No…I didn’t. I swear.”

“You’re telling the truth.” Rook breathed, her eyes flicking to his lips.

“Of course I’m telling the truth! What the fuck, Fi?”

“Viago didn’t tell you. Because he knew…”

“That I wouldn’t keep something like that from you?” Illario asked. “No. I wouldn’t.”

Rook’s jaw clenched. “But you’d conceal the truth about my father’s murderer?”

“Casini may not have slit his throat, but his indiscretion killed your father. He deserved what he got.”

“Did he? I’m glad it’s not keeping you awake at night.” She spat. “Lucky for me, I’ve been sending money to his family for over ten years! Needlessly doubling the Crows’ contributions after you dumped his body in the canals!” 

“That was your choice.” He said, “Just like killing him. I put the sword in your hand, but you’re the one who ran him through with it. I never forced you. Don’t you dare imply that I did.” 

“What a splendid gift, idea, Illario. Maybe next year you can figure out where my father’s head ended up and give that to me in a box.”

He swallowed. “Don’t speak like that, Fiamma.”

“Why not? You have such a penchant for morbid gifts.”

“And you don’t appreciate them?” His eyes flicked to her thigh. “I bet if I lifted your dress, I’d find you wearing that sword right now, no? You can’t be that ashamed of what you did if you’d use that same blade to kill your other targets.”

“Stop it!” She shrieked, slamming a fist into his chest.

“You stop, Fiamma!” He said, clutching her shoulders and pushing her into the wall. She winced, trembling as Illario held out his hand, examining the green tint on his fingertips in the light.

“Oh Fiammetta, Pillow Talk?” His hand came around her throat, and she turned her head as his face moved closer. “You forget, Viago taught us both his tricks.”

From his pocket, he produced a vial and flipped the lid off with his thumb, pulling her against him. She struggled in his grasp, but he was stronger, the inside of his elbow tightening around her neck until she couldn’t breathe. As she gasped for air, he forced the liquid in, slapping a hand over her mouth and pinching her nose, forcing her to swallow 

Rook coughed as he withdrew his hand, clutching at her throat. “What did you do to me?”

“Doesn’t feel so nice, does it?” He asked miserably. “You didn’t need to do all that to get the truth from me, Fi. I would have told you anything.”

Rook’s legs felt weak, and she clung to the bedpost to keep herself upright. Whatever it was, it was working fast. She ran through her mental inventory of poisons. Afternoon Respite. One of Viago’s favorites. A paralytic toxin that weakened the muscles and eased one into a state of reduced consciousness. Good for innocent bystanders, to keep them unaware but out of danger. Short lasting, and rarely lethal at a conservative dose, but given how quickly it was moving through her system, Rook suspected Illario hadn’t paid close enough attention during his lessons. 

“I wanted the truth. I didn’t take away your bodily autonomy or poison you to death.” She panted. “You overdosed me, Illario.”

His face fell. “You think I would hurt you? Take advantage of you? After everything we’ve been through? You know me better than that, Fiamma. I would never-”

He gathered her in his arms, laying her on the bed with his hand cradling the back of her head. As he arranged the pillows behind her, she felt an overwhelming sense of vertigo. 

“You’ll be just fine.” He smoothed her hair out of her face. “When this is all over…you’ll understand.”

“Don’t leave me here….” She protested, her hands wandering the sheets as she tried to push herself up. 

“This is between me and my cousin, Fiammetta.”

He crossed the room, wrenching open the door. With all of her strength, Rook threw herself towards the edge of the bed and onto her stomach, reaching for the nightstand to hold herself up.

“If you kill Lucanis, I will never forgive you!” she snarled. Illario cast his eyes to the floor, shaking his head in disappointment.

“What he’s become is too dangerous to the Crows. To the family. You may not forgive me now, but you will…eventually.”

While the room spun around her, she heard a lock turn, and swore under her breath. Fingertips slipping from the wooden surface, she scratched at anything for leverage. If she didn’t get out of this room before losing consciousness, she might never wake up again. 

The front door slammed downstairs, and she took a ragged breath, launching herself towards the nightstand again. It rocked in place, and a gas lamp toppled off and shattered on the floor. Rook lost her balance and slipped from the bed, landing in a heap of broken glass.

Hissing through her teeth, she drug herself across the floor, ignoring the sharp pieces embedding themselves in her skin, and reached for the door handle, pulling herself to her knees. She collapsed against the wall to catch her breath, reaching with a bloodied hand to the pin that kept her hair in place and yanking it free. Her dark hair cascaded down over her shoulders as she picked the lock, her fingers stiff and numb, as if they’d been stuck in a pile of snow for days. 

With a click, the lock shifted, and she pulled on the handle, falling into the door with her entire weight. It hit the wall with a slam as her the carpet runner in the hallway tore across her cheek. She took a deep breath and used her elbows to propel herself toward the stairs. 

As she drew closer, her hand slipped on something hard, like a shard of glass, and she looked to her right to find a silver ring under her palm. Vision too blurry to assess it more closely, she slipped it onto her finger and continued down the hall. More than one pair of boots fell heavy on the stairs, and her heart sank with the realization that Illario likely had several guards - Venatori, with her luck - in the walls of the villa. Defeated, she collapsed face down on the carpet with a sigh of surrender. Maybe if she conserved her strength, she’d survive this long enough to kick Illario’s ass later. 

“Shit! Fi! What happened?” Teia’s voice called out over the ringing in her ears. Rook felt herself being rolled over and tasted blood on her tongue.

“I told you this was a bad idea!” Bellara said, shaking her.

“Get Viago.” Rook rasped as her eyelids fluttered shut.

[wellthebardsdead]

Lucy: *walking ahead of the group, pausing as she smells sulphur and the stagnant putrid scent of a bog* hellfire incoming- *backs up guarding the group as a burst of green embers erupts from the ground in front of them and a middle aged, thin but well presented man steps forward on brown cloven hooves as they ruffle two relatively small feathered wings on their back*

Karlach: no clue who this one is- Wyll?

Wyll: green fire, they’re from Minauros surely-

Lucy: *going over her memory to recall who it is before her before straightening her posture* Focalor, correct?

Focalor: *bows before her, a rather pleasant scent of parchment and patchouli now overtaking the smell of hellfire, no doubt his efforts to cover the stench of his realm* indeed I am your grace. Begrudgingly I’m here at the behest of my lord, archduke mammon. Hes taken notice that you’ve already begun making use of the infernal mint and he’s greatly impressed by your endeavours on the overworld, so much so he’s sent me to present you with his request for courtship. I would highly advise against it. Bel informs me you’re a magnificent leader already and a keen planner and strategist, certainly an alliance between you and any arch duchess or duke would be a boon for the hells but-… really I cannot in good conscience reccomend you agree to even meeting him…

Lucy: really? I’d heard he was ugly, greedy, and a poor leader but surely he must have some redeeming qualities?

Focalor: you’ll most likely be sick from the smell of him alone. And you’ll certainly be sick just looking at him. There’s plenty of reasons why all the other arch devils look down upon him and having witnessed the mistreatment of his last consort I would not wish that upon you.

Lucy: hm. Well thank you but I will have to decline his offer then.

Focalor: as expected. I am here on another matter though if I may burden you for a moment more of your time.

Lucy: okay?

Focalor: I am here to warn you, my lady. He is not the only archduke or devil in search of your hand for courtship. I’ve already heard talk from layers above and below my own that proposals will be coming your way. Mammon hoped that by being the first you would agree. However he was wrong in both that hope and the hope that you would not have heard the rumours of how deplorable he is. But even still, his poor qualities pale in comparison to the cruelty and sadism of the others seeking your hand.

Lucy: why warn me though? What do you seek to gain from this?

Focalor: the end to the blood war. Obviously. Bel is positive with you allowing him to lead the charge that victory for the hells is assured. And that will be several less problems off of my back. Then I can focus less on protecting the palace and more on gathering souls. Nearly all the devils are so focused on fighting this blasted conflict that the mint is working at half its capacity. And you won’t be of any use in the arms of any of those brutish fiends.

Lucy: huh… can you- tell me who the ones after me are?

Focalor: of course. I’d heard Lilis was in a state of utter despair that Dispater was considering replacing her with you. From what I understand she’s still inconsolable. Should you decline his advances though he may be wishing to make you his second consort or set his dukes and commanders after you, Bitru has shown extreme interest and I would be very wary of rejecting him outright for your own safety, or perhaps summon Malphas to your side, his presence alone should frighten him off. Machalas Tartach and Zepar too… their tempers are not to be taken lightly But-…

Lucy: but?…

Focalor: Cania has me most concerned… from what I’ve heard, the lord of the 8th is summoning all of his children, legitimate or otherwise… they all have his short temper.

Lucy: *snickers recalling Raphael saying pipsqueak in her mind* I’m not afraid of Mephistopheles or his spawn. But I thank you for your concern and for warning me. What are the names of his known children though? I only know of two of them.

Focalor: Ah yes. Hes always been secretive about his heirs. Except for his youngest, Raphael. A spoiled brat of a prince that one. There’s also his illegitimate daughter Antilia but beyond her efforts as a spy and her father’s blood she’s about as noteworthy and useful as a succubus. In total there is his oldest and true heir, Michaelis. Then there’s Ezekiel- or what’s left of her… she once defied her father’s commands and was tied naked out in the wastes of Cania to freeze for eternity. Then there’s Gabriel- they’re neither male nor female and choose their forms as they wish. I believe they’re the offspring between him and his consort baalphegor… And if there are anymore still living I’m afraid I don’t know of their existence… He’s been known to devour his offspring.

Lucy: charming, which one of them should I be the most concerned about?

Focalor: Michaelis is exactly like his father. I would keep a close eye on him. As for the others… maybe Raphael but… he’s only a half devil. What harm could he really do to you? *chuckles* I hope I was able to provide you with some assistance.

Lucy: yeah, you… you did. *nods* I hope we’ll continue to be allies.

Focalor: as do I. It was a pleasure, your grace. *disappears into a burst of putrid mud and sludge*

Lucy: …Ew.

Astarion: So. Our friend Raphael isn’t as tough and powerful as he really lets on~

Lucy: oh no he’s dangerous… very dangerous… *feels eyes on the back of her head and turns around cautiously but sees nothing* …Let’s keep moving… *walks on, unaware of firey eyes watching from beyond the tree line*

Michaelis: *grins and purrs to himself* so Raphael, trying to get your hands on my new plaything are you?… let’s see who can get her first…

[gimmequeerbooks]

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (review/rec)

Genre: Fantasy

My rating: 9/10

I feel like Tumblr is well aware of these books already, but I figured it was a solid start as any.

Carry On and its subsequent books was such a pleasant surprise! Years ago, I had read Fangirl, another book by Rowell. And I loved it! I also recommend that one, but there are no LGBTQ+ characters or themes from what I remember. In it, the main character, Cath, was writing a fanfic from her favorite book series from childhood, Simon Snow. Simon Snow evidently involved a teenage boy named Simon whom attended wizarding school. Oddly, some sort of event or disaster would happen at this school every year, with Simon and his friends (but mostly Simon), being at the center of it. Simon would appear to be some sort of “chosen one”. Sound familiar?

Carry On, is the fanfic that Cath was working on. From Fangirl, we already knew that it followed Simon through his last year at wizarding school and that Cath possibly made the best enemies to lovers story known to the world of fanfiction. I actually avoided reading Carry On for a long time because I usually really hate Harry Potter fics. Not to mention that I thought it was going to be a lot like other spin-off books that end up just being boring. Eventually, out of desperation to find more queer stories, I caved, and I found out that my assumptions were absolutely wrong. It turns out that Cath really did write an excellent enemies to lovers story!

The characters are extremely relatable, and over the series we get to see how these characters develop from teenagers to young adults. I love that we also get to see how they react emotionally to the things that have happened to them as well. Unlike a lot of Chosen-One stories where the main trio can just take on challenge after challenge and make it out seemingly unfazed, it feels like Carry On pulls back the curtain on what these sorts of characters would actually be dealing with after facing huge, life-altering events. I’d like to say more here, but I’m afraid that I will spoil them!

The world of Simon Snow is also pretty hilarious. Every once in a while, Rowell will seemingly poke fun at Harry Potter’s plot holes or stupid rules. These books had me laughing when it didn’t have me in Deep Introspection Mode. What with its tongue-twisters of spells taken from nursery rhymes and the main villain being named “The Insidious Humdrum”. That being said, while Carry On perhaps has its roots in Harry Potter, it is a complete story in its own right. Instead of being about the up-and-coming Chosen One and the chaos that ensues, Carry On is more-so about how people can and do move on and grow after their world was turned upside-down. Most Chosen-One stories, and really most young adult fiction books, end with high school, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the Rowell gave Simon and his friends a future beyond just high school. I love how she shows how at every age there are new challenges to face. Life goes on beyond high school!

Of course, I don’t want to forget the reason that these books have made it onto my blog! Where is the gay content!? The main characters, Simon and Baz fall in love, and it’s adorable. Simon doesn’t realize at first that he may be into men, so he has to have a bit of self-discovery there. Meanwhile, Baz thinks he’s pining for a straight boy who could never fall in love with his enemy and rival and hates vampires, like him. It’s like if Malfoy and Harry were to fall in love, except Malfoy actually has some redeeming qualities and proves that he’s quite nice. I feel like this comparison still doesn’t do Simon and Baz justice though. Rowell also shows the awkwardness between first loves and how it may not always be smooth sailing throughout the books. In addition, I have a headcanon that Penelope, another one of the main characters, may be somewhere on the demiromantic and/or demisexual spectrum.

If your in the mood for laughing, some crying (or both at once), discussions about change, and the feeling that you just want to reach into the books to give a hug to people that don’t exist I highly recommend the Simon Snow trilogy.

[thefinalboss387]

Praetor Amalthus Appreciation Post!

I've been a HUGE fan of the Xeno series ever since Xenogears. These games (Xenogears, the Xenosaga trilogy, the Xenoblade games) have THE best stories I've ever experienced in a video game series. They're SO GOOD.

That said, Praetor Amalthus of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has slowly become one of my favorite characters of all time. I love him, I feel like he's underrated and that a lot of people don't seem to really understand his character, so allow me to map out why he is so cool and complex!

One of my favorite character archetypes is the manipulative mastermind villain. The behind-the-scenes schemer who was behind EVERYTHING all along. The Xeno series has some GREAT villains, and just about EVERY iteration has one of those masterminds I described - in fact, some of them even have SEVERAL, so there's always suspense over WHICH mastermind grand plan will be the one to top all of the others. I'm sure I'll be gushing about other Xeno antagonists in future posts.

Although he's not the most present in the game, or the final boss, Amalthus is most DEFINITELY the main antagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and the mastermind directly behind just about EVERY single major event in the game and its DLC.

I honestly feel Amalthus is underrated - and from what I can tell, a lot of people online don't seem to understand the character very well. The game doesn't do much in the way of directly explaining a lot of his motivations, but at the same time they very purposely give us so much subtext surrounding his character to piece together the answers ourselves.

At a very young age, Amalthus suffered through an extremely traumatizing event. Trauma really changes people - without going too deep into it, I myself had a very rough and traumatizing childhood, and I'm here to tell you that shit can REALLY warp you if you let it. I let it turn me into a pretty bad, vengeful, hateful person for a while.

But here's the thing: No one wants to be the villain in their own story. As trauma changed and corrupted Amalthus, his mind justified the actions he took as a result of that corruption. He saw the world as a violent, awful, murderous place with no redeemable qualities. He turned to Indol, a religious state, to get answers and help the helpless, but his missionary work only showed him more murder and violence and lawlessness. He became so desperate for answers and hope for the world that he climbed the World Tree to confront the Architect. Instead, he found the Aegis Crystals, which he saw as holy relics, and formed Malos.

Malos was born from Amalthus's warped view of the world, and so he became a violent, hateful, murderous force. The ironic thing is that, because Amalthus essentially saw Malos as a holy symbol and a representation of the Architect's will, he took Malos's nature as proof that the world was an awful place, and that even the Architect was devoid of any sympathy. Amalthus and Malos became terrible influences on each other without realizing it.

I think, at every step of the way, Amalthus truly sees himself as a good person. It's the rest of the world that is awful. His attempts to gain as much control as possible over all of Alrest, and the countless wars and murders done in service to that, is an attempt to save Alrest from the lawless chaos he sees it as. Even arguably his darkest moment, saving a baby and then murdering it, was an act of mercy in his eyes. He was saving the baby from growing up in such a terrible world.

His motives, in his eyes, were valid. He was trying to help Alrest. But because he already saw Alrest itself as such a horrible, violent world, it meant that he, too, had the moral authority to be horrible and violent. In his mind that was just how the world worked, it was how to get things done. When he meets Rex and the party, he's pleasant and kind to them, because that is the person he sees himself as. He tries to work with them, but manipulates them and gives them his own skewed version of events.

But another thing I LOVE about Amalthus is that, even though he and Malos ultimately become enemies, and Malos and his Torna group actively work against Amalthus, they are kind of unwittingly his minions? Torna wants to destroy the Architect and, essentially, the world. Amalthus can't quite see or admit it to himself, but that is exactly what Amalthus wants too, he is just not nearly as self-aware as Torna is.

As the party learns of Amalthus's true nature and evil deeds, he starts becoming much more openly antagonistic. He essentially saw it as a betrayal of his holy purpose and saw them as the enemy. As time goes on, he starts going so far as trying to destroy the World Tree and essentially all of Alrest. I think that, partly, is a result of Malos's corruption of him, with Amalthus thinking the Architect's will itself wants to destroy Alrest. But it's also a desperate grab for control - if he can't see the Architect and/or save the world, no one can. In his mind, no one has earned that right more than him. He's the only person that was dedicated enough to climb the World Tree. He found the Aegis Crystals and bonded with one of them. He worked hard to control every government, to control the Core Crystal trade itself by registering them and licensing their Drivers, etc.

But like.... okay. I'm sorry. The game takes place in a world where continents are living, organic Titans. Civilizations live on the backs of giant monsters that roam the giant Cloud Sea of Alrest. It was probably the coolest friggin moment of any Xeno game EVER when Amalthus started mind controlling the Titans. Amalthus quite literally took control of the world itself.

I also love that his huge "final battle" form is essentially a manifestation of his manipulations. He registered and "cleansed" the Core Crystals, and turned himself into basically a grotesque monster by fusing himself with all of his Crystals. And like, sure, Malos and his Artifice are the final boss of the game, but Malos himself is essentially a manifestation of Amalthus's hatred and warped worldview.

Amalthus is a VERY effective villain, and he's an interesting study on just how much mental gymnastics a person can do to justify their own evil. He had zero self-awareness, he actively sought to find the good in humanity but instead kept finding signs that his twisted mindset was correct, and grew to use the world's own ruthless ways against it.

[genomynt]

Hello there, I recently took an interest into Niji X Cosette duo to fan art. But I still have mix feeling about it because of the canon but they are kinda cute together. So how do you deal with your feelings towards this ship?

Also, before you saw their fan art. What’s your opinion of these two when you first saw their interaction in manga/anime?

Hey there anon bud!! 🥰🫶🏼

FIRST ...I sincerely apologize for the late reply 🤦🏻‍♀️ it's been AGES since I've opened this app 😭

That's a good question 👀 and apparently, it's a FAQ for me, given the fact I've been rambling about them for 6 years and counting 👀💀

TBH with you anon, it all started back in 2017-2018 when I rewatched and reread OP again after hearing Sanji's getting married to Pudding in WCI 👀 I stopped because I was in highschool and getting ready to review for college entrance exams that time.💀So I need to take a break from long-running animes and focus for my exams.

I tried to keep up with both the manga and the anime, and apparently, my TL on twitter back then passed a NijiCose fanart and got spoiled before reaching the actual episode 800-802💀😭 that fanart was from @ovaCkuyuri... Here's a pixiv log of the said NijiCose fanarts:

At first I already knew they're problematic based on how they're interpreted on the fanarts (like Niji being a Tsundere to Cosette, and her acting nervous and flustered around him). But as I continued to watch and reread the manga... I noticed something interesting as well on Niji's character on manga that was documented on his profile page in OP wiki:

So far, he has the most "redeeming qualities from his modified brothers 👀 I know it says that his values totally contrast against Sanji, but I still have hopes for him.

In the series tho, I wish for a closure and reconciliation for both Niji and Cosette once the Vinsmoke siblings' modifications have been reversed. I want Niji to genuinely apologize to her and pay her back for everything.

Also, to answer your question how do I deal with this ship, I simply view them as problematic and angsty, yet a redeemable ship.

For sure, Cosette is traumatized deeply from Niji, and for sure she's totally aware of the modification story of the Vinsmoke siblings when she was hired in Germa. She knows what she's getting into when she was hired as their Royal Head Chef. Hopefully we got some backstory of how she got there in the first place 👀

I always daydream of them getting slowburned from Niji's existential crisis as humanity regains from his senses as he feels horribly guilty about his wrong doings as a warmonger, not just to Cosette; and Cosette knowing that he's not born to be evil in the first place, tolerating and slowly tries to understand him.

Disclaimer: I don't and NEVER patronize abuse and Domestic violence IRL.

NijiCose is fiction. One Piece is fiction. My condolences if you can't separate your views from fiction to reality.

‼️Feel free to block this account if you're uncomfortable with my ships.

Addendum:

I recently sent an SBS letter to Oda about some origins of Cosette like how she got there working under Germa.👀 Hopefully that would be answered and clear some things up

[angelicxboi]

LO critique / rant

(I haven't read LO in a while, this is based off memory.)

One thing of many things I didn't like about LO is that the fantasy world of the gods and mortals isn't explicitly explained or understood? Why do the gods need the mortals and vice-versa. How are they gonna tease Thetis and Achilles and then not really explain how and why that came to be. Why are most of the gods one dimensional, they have multiple titles and 'purposes'. And those with epithets don't clearly abide by those epithets (See; Artemis in LO. even Persephone herself. I'd argue everyone in LO...just is similar to the greek gods in name alone.)

And on the topic of 'powers' because I'm pretty sure that's how they describe it in the comic-whats the rules here? Why do some gods 'gain' different powers or titles, why do they get epithets if they hardly interact with mortals? Are other gods giving them their titles?

I understand that LO is, supposed to be a romantic, consenting re-telling of Persephone and Hades, thus these things shouldn't be my main strife but since the author added all these weird plots and plot-lines about succession to power (Apollo becoming..king?) and constantly having scenes where the gods just sit around in legit business meetings yapping about nothing- I think it'd be nice to at least have a consistent line of rules and thoughts to go along with these plots.

Also since Hades is 'king' i feel like there should be alot more discussion about that. Not just how his realm works but like, his relationship with mortals. He's a king, but unlike Zeus he's kinda a king of dead mortals, which once again. Why aren't mortals really discussed in LO? Gods without mortals are just...guys.

But even if I poke and prod at the romance aspect, its... alot. Alot wrong. Here's how I'd re-write LO.

I wouldn't model the characters entirely off real people I know. These Greek gods have literal centuries worth of characterization I can choose from, or include all of it. Ex. Persephone herself is described as 'girl' a child, her titles include the same ones as her mother, 'fruit-grower' 'lady of the harvest' etc. but she's also known as 'mad/dread Persephone' just based on titles alone this is a good basis to further develop this character.

Make it more campy and anarchic, and play into it. Or, make it completely serious. Having one panel or one chapter discuss themes of emotional abuse and dominance only to be followed by a scene where Hades dresses Persephone up as Marylin Monroe and calls her "kitten", is like whip-lash. I'd either try to make it as Barbie 2023 as possible or just not add the comedy at all.

Characters, (especially the main ones) need to be fleshed out. I cannot tell you any redeeming qualities Hades has by himself. He is a shitty partner to Minthe and creepy towards Persephone early on. (Full-grown god thinking about Persephone, a goddess not even half his age...WHILE he is still dating Minthe.) I don't know his personality other than his trauma, and that he apparently loves Persephone but...why?

^ Going off this point. Obviously, characters need to change, having Persephone as a 'blank slate' in the beginning of the story as we follow her while she grows up and discovers her strengths and boundaries is fine. But we also need that from Hades.

Hades in LO is kinda written as a guy who doesn't want to look like he's in the wrong, but by being wishy-washy he's just a really worse guy. I'd write him completely differently.

Maybe the real villain was the patriarchy...kinda like the original Hades and Persephone myth. I would cut the nonsense and villanification of Apollo, and instead give that to Zeus if we were to demonize anyone in the story.

Demeter... I love Demeter and her and Persephone's relationship would be rewritten and reworked so much.

Expand on mortals. Mortals can be the backbone of this god society, they can be envied or treated like dirt in the eyes of the gods. but regardless they are interwoven with the gods and shouldn't only be mentioned just to mass slaughter them off.

Expand on nymphs. As is, I'm not really a fan of LO's deception of them. But, big fan of Hades (game) nymphs.

TLDR; I initially thought LO was fun because of the...different character design and the premise was funny to me, Persephone being a broke college student just like me. But...then the story went on and the plot holes became bigger and less meaningful and i remember reading a panel where Hades called Persephone 'kitten'

All this to say, LO was good if you have no previous knowledge of greek myth. It was a nice way to dip your toes into it- otherwise if you are familiar with greek myth and start reading LO expecting a cool new spin or reimagining of these figures. You will only get mad.