#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.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[astercontrol]

On the subject of problematic stories, fanfiction archive policies, and "(x) fans DNI"…

Here's my analysis on… well, how a visceral moral/ethical response can never fully work in tandem with the practical considerations of policy and enforcement.

Yes, there are some stories that I find irredeemable, stories so upsetting that I would genuinely not want the writers of them to ever interact with me. Mostly these are stories about truly horrible acts-- things like rape, child molesting, domestic abuse, racist hate-crimes, genocide--

--and I don't just mean any story that mentions or depicts these acts in any way, because lots of stories can talk about those concepts without making me hate the author or wish the story would disappear.

No, I'm specifically referring to stories that portray these things in a way that strongly suggests the author likes them… a lot, to the point of probably wanting to commit these acts in real life.

And yes, there are some stories that do convey that feeling quite strongly, without much room for other interpretations. I'm not gonna claim that every story has the right to a charitable interpretation. Some people do just… write to express really hateful, toxic thoughts without any redeeming quality about them.

And yes, I do think that there are certain stories that "All Reasonable People" would agree fit in that category.

Not many of them. The vast majority of stories have some room for sympathy. And even for the worst ones, reasonable people can disagree a lot on just what should be done with such stories. But I'd say that for those few, bottom-of-the-barrel worst stories, those same reasonable people would at least be in agreement that the writer is someone they would not want to ever be around, and that the stories do nothing much except spread hate and encourage hurtful ideas.

Practically speaking, though-- just how could you structure the rules and rule-enforcement of a fiction site to exclude those stories specifically?

For instance. Say I'm a site-owner writing my terms of service and trying to make it clear there's no tolerance for rape or abuse, underage sex, racism or sexism or homophobia…

Well, for one thing, there's all the technical detail of how you define every one of those things. And that's its own whole set of challenges, which have been explored in many many other essays. Do stories about sex-pollen or mating cycles count as rape? Can a coffeeshop AU romance between customer and employee ever truly be consensual, with that power dynamic where the employee knows she can get fired if a spurned customer makes a retaliatory complaint to a manager? And how clearly do you have to show characters planning out healthy boundaries to stop BDSM play from being abuse? Is it abusive to ship characters who have had fantasy or sci-fi battles with each other? In a world that has magical beings, robots and clones and space aliens of all kinds, what even counts as a race? And in that same diverse setting, is a character's age defined by number of years, mental maturity level, appearance, or some combination thereof?

It's all been analyzed into oblivion, without ever reaching an overall consensus.

But even on the topics where there is consensus-- even regarding scenarios that that are very obviously rape or abuse or racist violence or child molestation in the consensus of All Reasonable People-- even there, how would I word the policy so I'm not prohibiting critical discussion of those topics?

If I just say, for instance, "stories can't have child sex abuse or racial hate crimes in them" …

...then, I'd be making it technically against the rules to post a story in which, say, a traumatized character talks to a therapist about their childhood experience of being a victim of sexual or racial violence.

And of course I don't want to ban that kind of story! Being free to talk about traumatic experiences is vitally important. Being free to show fictional characters having that kind of talk can also be vitally important.

And, personally, the degree of detail or explicitness also isn't what I'd try and regulate. The gist of the rule I'd want to write would be something along the lines of, "I don't want any stories that show these things and glorify them, eroticize or romanticize them; that portray them in a positive way."

But this rule-- like most definitions and rules, honestly-- cannot be written in a way that inherently, explicitly forbids all the stories I want to keep out, while inherently, explicitly allowing all those I want to allow.

Language simply can't do that.

Apart from rules written in programming language for governing the activities of software, rules never work "inherently" and "explicitly," anyway. They work in conjunction with human rule-enforcers.

The closest I could get to my goal, here, would be to use something like that vaguely written rule, "No stories that glorify, eroticize or romanticize these things," and then have a team of moderators interpret it on a case-by-case basis.

A case-by-case basis is the most high-effort way to enforce anything. But for a LOT of things, it's the only way that comes close to working. Anything that can only be defined as "I know it when I see it!" …has to be regulated by people knowing it when they see it.

And yes, if all those people had the same general common sense that I consider myself to have, and enough time and freedom to exercise it-- yes, I think they would be able to weed out all the stories that "All Reasonable People" would consider so toxic as to have no redeeming value.

But two big problems here:

This would require the moderators to read every story-- or at least to read and make a decision on every story that got enough reports from users who felt it broke the rules. Unless the site was very small, this would be a huge undertaking, requiring many hours of labor from the mods.

Unless the site was very small, they would not be able to do it without also weeding out some stories that do have redeeming value.

Because they would have to draw the line somewhere.

And with a large enough population of site members, a large enough team of moderators, and a large enough volume of stories posted, they could not draw that line consistently.

There would, inevitably, be complaints from all directions-- writers of all walks of life making accusations of bias, citing specific stories that got allowed, and contrasting them to other specific stories that got taken down.

There would be bias. There would be unfairness. It's not avoidable. And no matter who you are and what your tastes in fiction may be, it would, without fail, happen to some things that you think it shouldn't happen to.

Now, depending on your tastes, you may feel this would be a fair tradeoff for a site that successfully kept out most or all of the fiction you consider the worst.

But, so far, that has not been the case with any big fanfiction site.

On every large site that bans certain types of fanfiction identified on a case-by-case basis, there is widespread dissatisfaction with how it is or isn't enforced. It just isn't possible to do that kind of enforcement, on that kind of scale, and keep any large percentage of people satisfied.

Even AO3, which has very few rules of that sort, still gets its share of complaints. It does have some rules-- no monetizing fanfiction, no plagiarism, no doxxing-- and those are, to some degree, things that have to be interpreted and identified on a case-by-case basis by individual volunteer moderators.

And even with these comparatively simple decisions, there is a limit to how much of that they can get done in a day, and how consistent they can be at it… and, therefore, a limit to how much of the userbase they can satisfy.

And if you want to understand why they won't make more rules about the content of the fiction--

--just try to imagine, for a few moments, adding all that, on top of the current enforcement tasks those volunteers already do.

Imagine the logistics of it, the details. The work of reading and categorizing everything that gets reported. The dilemma of where to draw the line in each and every case, without those decisions forming any unfair pattern of inconsistency.

It could be done, maybe.

But it hasn't been done successfully, on that scale, ever.

If you were in their position, would you want to take that risk?

[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.

[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…

[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.

[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.

[rodanhoax]

Wow... Let me just say, before you possibly read this, this was originally just another copy pasted rwby quote shitpost thing like I usually do. Said copy pasted quote will hopefully be more obvious near the end. But then, as I was writing, I just kept going, and going, and going, and going, until a hour in I realized, I was still going. But, I had already written most of it, so I thought I may as well finish it. 

I don’t really know how many will like, or even care about this, but I hope the ones that do enjoy the read. It’s pretty rough not gonna lie, don’t got anybody to beta-read this. I’ll probably not do something this again, except possibly on a random whim out of nowhere, much like this. Either way, I stalled long enough. 

Behold what happens when an idea expands further than intended with no certainty about the quality!

Atop a lonely single tower, sat a princess. For an almost undermined amount of time, this one room was all that she knew. All that she could exist in. At one side sat her her handmaiden, currently making the room as clean and neat as she could. The girl was a cat faunus about her age, with long black hair and vibrant amber eyes, along with cute little cat ears atop her head. The two weren’t particularly close, the girl seemed to hold a quiet distain for the princess if anything. Not that the princess could blame her, seeing as her family practically enslaved her and forced her to work for the princess. On the other side were two guards, perched in front of the door to the room, her only means of leaving. Before her was but a single window, perched up to allow her at least some connection to the outside. She brushed her silky white hair as she looked out at the world, wishing longingly to be apart of it. All that she knew about the outside came from books her handmaiden leant to her occasionally. 

While many were rather fantastical, leaving her to believe them to be fiction, there were also tales of numerous knights and heroes who could certainly exist. Her favorite, certainly being the story about the Rusted Knight. While many were uncertain about his actual appearance, some accounts claimed him to be rather handsome. Others would even state to have gotten the chance bed him, claiming him to be a rather well-endowed and... virile lover. Oh, how she wished she could be part of his tales. Rescued from her lonely tower by him, giving her the chance to not only explore the world, but take back and restore her kingdom, as well as her family name, from her bastard of a father. Perhaps this would also be enough for the knight to feel he has redeemed himself, and settle down. ‘Preferably with me...’ The princess thought, a red tinge arising on her cheeks as she imagined the knight taking her, and blessing her with many heirs. A sigh left her mouth as her imagination died down, revealing her cage once more. As much as she wished she could escape into her mind and leave this world behind, she couldn’t ignore where she was. Her fantasy was just that. A fantasy. One she couldn’t hope to leave from.

However...

Just as her hope was nearly diminished, the subtle sound of a horn ran through the air. This surprised the princess out of her stupor as wondered where that sound came from. Then she heard it again. Louder this time. As she listened in closer, her head almost fully out the window, she could make out yet another sound. A sound of collective stomps upon the ground, getting louder and louder with each step. A march. And upon the third horn, she could just barely fully recognize the sound, as well as it’s significance. And her worries were confirmed, as but a minute later, she could make out a large army making their way to her tower. Knights clad in all sorts of iron armor, brandishing weapons from swords and shields, to spears, to even mases. The princess could feel her heart begin to race, wondering just what they could want. Money perhaps? Maybe they’re here just for the thrill of a battle? Art they perhaps here for... her?

The princess did her best to steady her breathing, knowing she must look at this situation calmly, and vigilantly. She looked over the army, spying out any potential weak spots she could make out from her high vantage point. What she found however, had changed the course of her approach. As she scoped through the army, she saw one knight in the front, seemingly leading the rest behind him. That alone didn’t really catch her attention. What did, was the giant jackalope he was riding. There was also the man’s armor. The white plating with gold lining alone was attention grabbing, none could ignore the clear rust that covered every inch of the armor. If that wasn’t enough, the princess could make out one more thing. His shield held a rather familiar crest, that of two crescent moons. A gasp left her mouth as she comprehended just who this man was.

“The Rusted Knight!” She exclaimed, much to the confusion of her two guards, whom seemed to have spent more time leering at her beauty than noticing the army at their doorstep.

Looking away from her however, they quickly realized the situation, fear clearly emanating off them. It appears they wouldn’t have to worry however, as a large number of the guards stationed at the tower quickly left to fend off the approaching army. The two guards let out a sigh of relief, believing themselves to be safe from the upcoming carnage. The princess however was quite horrified at the display.

“What art they doing? Do they not knoweth whom they are up against? You must telleth to them to retreat or surrender! Before they all lose their lives!” She shouted at the guards.

The however brushed this off, believing their men to be of a superiors caliber. And if they were not, they’d at least by the two guards time to escape. Hearing this disgusted the princess, not believing the audacity these two portrayed. Not only ignoring an order from their princess, but also condemning their comrades to die. And yet, considering the attitude, as well as the degenerate behavior all her guards have portrayed in her time here, she shouldn’t be surprised. A guard had suddenly burst into her chambers in a state of clear panic. The two standing by the door look at him perturbed, wondering what was the alarm. Quickly trying his best to recollect as his thoughts, he stands front and center. “One of the soldiers outside has breached the tower!” He shouted, the shock of all in the room. Looking out at the continuing battle however, something had caught her eye. Or rather, something missing.

Where had the Rusted Knight gone?

The sound of a slam had rang through the room, turning the heads of all present to the double-door entrance to the chamber. Another slam against the door could be heard, nearly knocking it off it hinges. The two had attempted to put their guard up for whoever was coming, however, they didn’t expect both doors to violently fly open smashing them into the wall. The princess gasped as she watched their broken bodies slump to ground, a trail of blood leaking onto the floor. Looking back towards the door, she was nearly blown away at the sight of their trespasser. Before her stood nonother than the Rusted Knight himself. However, his trek up there had clearly been a trying one, as his chestplate had been slashed and torn apart, revealing his rather broad and muscled chest. With scratches and slight blood sprinkled about, there was no fat or softness that could be spotted from his rippled pecs, all the way down to his tight abs. Looking even lower however, she could see a light outline of what appeared to be his... manhood bulging from his pants. The stories clearly did not do him justice.

The princess could feel her bodies temperature raise at the sight, feeling the need to cool off any way she could. She undid her bolero, dropping to the ground. A soft, sensual moan left her lips as she could feel the cold air from the snow brush up against her now bare shoulders. The coldness failed to cool her off however, it only building up.

Without a second to waste, the Rusted Knight unsheathed his fabled broken sword. Now, many would immediately brush this off as a rather foolish plan. The Rusted Knight however, had built up a legend for a reason. Quickly, he flung his blade directly toward the last guard with blinding speed. The guard didn’t even know what hit him until it was already too late. The blade pierced right through his armor and pinned him right up against the wall. The force of which had nearly blown the princess away, the princess could only moan as she felt the hem of her dress be torn off in the process. She could only imagine how flushed her face must be as she took a look at her now torn dress, making her appear to be not but a harlot.

“Lady Schnow,” A deep voice penetrated through the knight’s rusted helmet. Reaching up, he began to lift his helmet up, much to the shock and anticipation of the princess. A small breath of surprise left her as she gazed upon his face. Before her was man hardened through many battles and hardships. She didn’t know his age, but could guess he was about ten years her elder. Her eyes lingered on his soft-looking, dirty-blonde hair, a few white strands strewn about. There was also his long beard, the thought to run her fingers through it briefly passing through her mind. The most enchanting thing about him however, was his eyes. A beautiful sapphire blue, as clear and as wonderous as the sky itself. Behind them, she could feel a piercing gaze looking straight through her soul.

Dropping his helmet to the ground, the knight began to make his way over to the princess. Standing before her, she is forced to acknowledge his dominating height over her, being a full head taller. “I... am John of the Ark Clan.” Said the now revealed John, taking the princess’ hands into his own as he looked down at her. “Legend of your beauty hath traveled ‘cross the sea.” He stated as he raised a hand to her. Brushing a loose strand off her face, the knight gently caresses her cheek with back of his knuckles, the princess failing to resist shuddering at the action. The heat in her neither region was becoming too much to handle. She desperately needed to sate this desire bubbling up inside of her. The princess knew succumbing to this... brute, would most surely be unbecoming of someone of her status. As well as be something her father would most certainly disown her for. But then again...

She never was particularly a daddy’s girl.

The princess took one more good long look at the man before her, her eyes once again rest on his bulge. She subconsciously bit her lower lip as she brought a finger up to her cheek, giving the knight a rather coy look. She subtly moved her finger over to his bare chest, dragging it down teasingly slow. “And legend of your... longsword, hath traveled here~” She sensually claimed, emphasizing her sentence by grabbing ahold of his “sword”. A gasp left out of the knight, not expecting the princess to so... forward. Unsure what to think at first, the knight gazes down at the princess with growing arousal, a gaze  she happily returns.

“Lady... Thy boldness” He stated, before immediately being silenced by her pressing a finger to his lips. 

“Shusheth!” She shouted. The heat was now unbearable. It must satisfied here and now. And with the growing hardness she is now feeling in her hand, she knew exactly how to do it. There was but a moment of silence between the two, neither moving, or talking. That moment of calm was almost instantly broken however, as the princess immediately leapt into the knights arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. Holding her up by her tight and supple posterior, the two quickly came together for a deep sensual kiss. Their tongues collided in a lustful clash, neither letting up or backing down both as tried to dominate the other.

As this went on, the knight subtly steps closer and closer towards the princess’ large bed. Losing patience however, he leapt them both into the air, crashing down on top the bed, the princess now underneath him. As the two continued their competitive lust-filled kiss, they began disrobing one another, stripping the other of any possible blocks from their body. While this went on however, both neglected to realize not only was the princess’ handmaiden still in the room, but was now watching as the two continued to give in to their base, carnal desires. Completely ignoring her prescience. Instead of feeling awkward however, the faunus couldn’t help but feel her own arousal building at the display. Slowly, she subconsciously reached her hand beneath her skirt, watching them finally rip off every article of clothing they had. 

The knight and princess looked down at one another as they finally separated for a breather, both breathing heavily as they gazed into one another's eyes. The princess let out a gasp as she felt a hot object rub against her naked entrance. Looking down at said object, the blush on her face got even hotter. Gazing back into John’s eyes, she felt like the two didn’t even need words to understand one another. He knew what she wanted. She knew what he wanted. And they both knew the other knew. Princess Schnow looked up at John with a sultry smile, feeling him about to claim her womanhood for himself.

“John of the Ark Clan!-”

Weiss: Wonder me with your massive knightly-!

Yang: Woah woah! Slow your roll there!

Weiss: *Looks up from her story at her team* What’s wrong?

Ruby: Weiss, you never said your story was... f-filthy.

Weiss: Uh, because it isn’t. This is a historically accurate medieval tale... with slight erotic undertones. 

Yang: Oh, there were no slight undertones in the end there.

Weiss: Well, surely you lack the ability to look underneath the surface, as expected from someone as unrefined as you.

Yang: *Quirks an eyebrow* Ok miss refine, tell me this. Why is this story about how you wanna bang Jaune?

Weiss: Excuse me?

Yang: What, I thought that much was pretty obvious.

Weiss: Clearly you thought wrong. This story is about the beautiful princess, Lady Schnow of the Atlesian Kingdom, and the her rescue by the graceful, gentle... *Blushes* skillful hands of the Rusted Knight, John of the Ark Clan. Where did you pick up that it was me and Jaune.

Yang: ... Ok, so there’s a princess?

Weiss: Yes.

Yang: With long white hair, and is called Lady Schnow?

Weiss: Uh huh.

Blake: And there is a rusted knight that has blonde hair with blue eyes?

Weiss: Right.

Ruby: And is named John?

Weiss: ... So there may be some superficial similarities.

Yang: *Rolls her eyes, deciding to give up before she gets a headache*

Blake: Why am I a handmaiden watching you two on the side?

Weiss: First of all, you think just because you both are cat faunus with long black hair, and amber eyes, and collect books must mean I based her off you? Conceited much?

Blake: I’m being conceited here?

Weiss: Second of all, it helped to add to the fiery passion built up in that scene.

Blake:  And a faunus handmaid because...?

Weiss: Historical accuracy.

Yang: Alright, I think Ruby and I had our fill for the day. *Grabs Ruby’s hood and begins dragging her out*

Weiss: But I haven’t finished yet. I was just about to get to how Lady Schnow undoes John’s pants to reveal-

Yang: Later!

Ruby: B-but I wanna-!

(Slam!)

Weiss: *Sighs in defeat and prepares to pack away her story. Only to see Blake having not moved from her seat*

Weiss: Oh, you’re still here?

Blake: Yeah. I actually want to hear where this goes. *Casually settles in her seat* Continue.

Weiss: *Smiles* Glad to see someone in this team has taste. *Clears her throat as she resumes, only just scratching the surface of her depraved tale*

[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

[torchickentacos]

Every Opportunity Pokemon Missed by not having Drew in Destiny Deoxys: A Non-Comprehensive But Still Long-Ass list

Art above- credit to the lovely @salon-maiden-anabel ! So. This is a topic that, if my sister mentions, she knows I will go off about it at the dinner table while my mother stares on confusedly. This is a topic I feel very strongly about, and I decided to put it into words for this post-and I KNOW I'm not the only one with strong feelings about this topic! @raich-raichu I know you showed interest in this topic when I said I'd do it so hope you don't mind if I @ you! THIS GOES FOR EVERYONE: PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REBLOG WITH YOUR OWN OPINIONS AND/OR ADDITIONS ON THIS. I thrive on hearing everyone's takes and opinions. Images are included which makes it kind of long, each number on my list has a corresponding image below. For funsies. Also, I imagine this happening right before the last grand festival, though I know that’s incorrect. It just gives me more developed characters to work with since advanced and battle frontier Drew are pretty different development wise. This is with late AG Drew.

Some background. Why do I think Drew should be in Destiny Deoxys (which will be referred to as DD for the sake of my carpal tunnel)? What is the connection? Why DD and not, say Temple of the Sea? The key is the location. Drew is canonically from LaRousse City. And DD is the ONLY time we ever get to see it. Connection has been established. So... what would he even do in the movie? I'm glad you asked! Let's get into it. A numbered list of every missed opportunity the writers had by not including him.

1.) Character building through backstory. We know little to nothing about Drew's backstory, and this would have been a really natural way to learn more about it. We could have had a scene where we learn, oh, this is the flower shop his mother worked at and he grew up helping tend to the plants or whatever. This is the garden where he met budew. Just little things here and there would have been fascinating, and this movie's setting was a PERFECT opportunity for it. Plus, here's the vision. We get a semi emotional, nostalgic scene with his favorite place as a child, right? Rare Drew emotional moment, maybe sharing it with May and co.? And then, later in the movie, we see that place destroyed by the conflict in the city and we get an emotional sad moment there!!!! And in the ending credits with the song??? WE SEE HIM AND HIS POKEMON STAYING BEHIND IN THE CITY AND STARTING TO REBUILD IT (after waving at Ash and co. on the train back to mainland Hoenn). Guys, my vision is CLEAR AS DAY. Greenhouse time.

2.) Seeing him interact with other characters. Drew isn't the most extroverted guy out there, and we only ever really see him talk to Ash, May, Solidad, Harley, and Brianna. Also, May is the only consistent one in that list. That's literally five people, for those of you keeping count at home. In DD? A large cast of interesting characters for him to interact with, possibly childhood acquaintances that know him! We have Rebecca, purple hair metagross trainer who likes her computer more than most people. Sid, a human golden retriever. Rafe, who's basically Drew but with brown hair and none of the redeeming qualities. The two twins, whose names are never spoken and are only in the credits as Audrey and Kathryn (one of them also has a masquerain iirc, or at least a Surskit!). And Tory, kid who is scared of pokemon and tbh I wouldn't change Tory's role or screen interactions much. I would, however, say the others have a lot of potential for interactions with Drew. Rafe taunting both Ash and Drew at the same time? Rebecca and Drew getting along well because they're the only two who appreciate silence as a form of hanging out? Audrey and Katherine taking little sibling roles, possibly? Tons of possibilities here.

3.) Shamelessly plugging the contestshipping agenda here, but why else do you all follow me? Anyways, Sid from Destiny Deoxys has a sweet but entirely blatant crush on May (who actually knows and does not give much of a shit, though they get along well anyways). Now, I usually do not like jealousy tropes. I think they're easy to do poorly and for them to come across as posessive, which I am not a fan of. HOWEVER, I am a fan of Drew being all moody and bitchy /affectionate. I can see it going either one of two ways: one, we get asshole Drew back from season one of Advanced, who makes snide remarks at Sid who would likely brush it off as fun banter, further annoying Drew who literally cannot get under Sid's skin due to Sid's overwhelming optimism, or two, we get the Drew that has all of his walls up, hiding behind this cool facade of professionalism and aloofness, sort of emotionally overcompensating for trying to hide how much it irks him. Either way, would have been fun. Could have been used for comedy, too, since May is dumb as shit with the guy who has genuine feelings for her, but clocks the puppy love crush from Sid immediately. Would I have trusted the pokemon company to do this trope well? No, but it could have been funny as hell in the right hands.

4.) On that note, THE PASSPORT PHOTO SCENE. May isn't the most photogenic person in the world. Does he tease her about it? Does he make some offhand remark about how he thinks she looks nice before aloof-ly and deftly moving on from the topic, leaving her with the rare compliment as she tries to figure out if he was serious or not (or was it for her beautifly)? Does he show her how to retake it? DOES SHE GENUINELY SMILE IN THAT RETAKE PHOTO, LOOKING AT HIM BEHIND THE CAMERA ROBOT THING???????ASDFGHJKL so much potential with this already gold scene.

5.) More location-based character building. LaRousse City is home to the (or at least a) Battle Tower, and no mention of contests. This means, likely, that LaRousse is a very battle-enthusiast city. Did this make Drew feel like an outcast as a kid, being interested in something different from his peers? Could have been interesting.

6.) Let Drew have his hero moment. Let's be honest- most of the times that we see him, he's being either a jerk (affectionate), head-over-heels in love, or pathetic (see: Who What When Where Wynaut drowning incident). And in what I would categorize as an adventure anime, he has remarkably... little adventuring, save for a traipse in the woods with On Cloud Arcanine. This can be his moment to actually shine! He's obviously a great battler, though he prefers contest-oriented formats. He beat Ash with a type disadvantage. He's a strong trainer- let him put it to use and try to hold off the Deoxys clones (bonus points if he's holding them off from May, not that she needs him to save her ass).

7.) Forced togetherness with the crew. We know Drew has no issue spending time with May, and he's at the very least quite tolerant of Ash. But... Brock? Max? Fun fact, Brock CANONICALLY does NOT like Drew. At all. Calls him nails on a chalkboard. Makes this face at him (pictured below). Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want more of that. Tell me to my face that you don't want more of him having to socialize and of Brock being... like this. Shit's hilarious.

Look at him.

I need more of this in my life.

8.) The angst. He has his entire city destroyed, let him have a grieving moment for it. Hell, let him have a moment where May tries to reach out and he has to decide if he's going to let her in or shut her out. Does he snap, like he did in May, We Harley Drew'd Ya? Does he let her in, like The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing? Do the other LaRoussians reach out to him and let him know, hey, we're in this together? DO THE PLUSLE AND MINUN TRY TO CHEER HIM UP??????

9.) Let him get separated from the group, or let the group get separated from him. Let him have panic, uncertainty, worry for his newfound friends. Humanize him a little bit for casual viewers who know him as 'that asshole with the roses'. You know how Pokemon loves shots of people reaching out to save someone? Give me that. Let him not reach their hand in time as Deoxys clones pull them away or as they get lost in a swarm of security bots. Give me a Drew that thinks he’s failed, that it’s his fault. It isn’t of course, I just like putting him through it. Then… give me a reunion scene. An “oh my god, you’re all safe, I thought I had lost you” scene. Did you guys know we don’t get a single contestshipping hug????? Ever???? No, her keeping him from drowning doesn’t count. I think that’s a crime and I think a “thank god you’re alive” hug, from either end, would be amazing. Ship mode activated. Imagine. May, spotting him from across the city plaza once the dust settles, and sprinting to him, nearly knocking him over with a hug that he hesitantly returns, before realizing he doesn’t want to let go. Alternately, the other way around: he lets his walls down long enough to hug her, to feel safe to break down for a minute in her arms because he was so fucking worried. May, short-circuiting slightly because wait, is this really the same rival that she accidentally threw a frisbee at and hated so long ago? Give me Sid reacting forlornly in the background too fhdhhf. I love Sid, he’ll be ok. (Also: Brock having a moment of “Oh. You’re still alive. Great.” Kidding, mostly.) also… Brock giving Sid a “yeah, I know how it feels” pat on the back???? Just a concept.

10.) More Roselia teasing him. She's the biggest contestshipper out there. I love this little green rose gal. We need more of her being snarky to her trainer. She had so much personality with so few appearances, I love her. GIVE HIS OTHER POKEMON PERSONALITIES TOO!!!! Give them time to shine! My own takes here, but I like to think Absol is over Drew's bullshit 24/7 and is the serious one of the group. Flygon? no thoughts head empty, like most reptiles. Ft. a picture of my own no thoughts head empty reptile, who made friends with a cricket in his cleaning bowl below under Roselia gif. The others, no idea but there's my takes.

[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.

[emotionally-charged-arson]

Character lineup, Transitus historical redesign edition. In their sepia tone versions, in actual artwork they’d be drawn against some pretty vibrant painted backgrounds. Come back to me on that. Been meaning to do this for a while!

Have some design notes:

Daniel - Third from left. In @hawthorn-crow’s words: "like a stiff breeze would blow him over." His shoulders/upper body have deliberately been scaled down from that of real-life Tommy Karevik. I don’t know how else to say this but if I were Henry I wouldn’t be easing around in my brother’s personal life if he could drop kick me directly into the sun. Looks pretty normal, all things considered. The "standout" trait comes from the trust fund kid status: his clothes have a LOT of variety. Literally a different jacket, vest and tie almost every single scene in a period where that was not something easily attainable. Common thing between all of the ‘normal’ outfits is the little watch chain, somewhat prominently displayed.

Abby - Third from right. The exact opposite as Daniel; cycles through two or three outfits maximum outside of her work uniform before 1884. Her box braids are thicker than the original design. Has a pair of emerald drop earrings; gift from the himbo. As for the shoes, homegirl is working minimum 13-hour days, for Christ’s sake, put some treads on those industrial strength high heels. She likes quilting Why? Cause I said so and wanted her to have hobbies like human beings do. The dress shown here is one fabric/color all the way down, but the seams form a fun little pattern that looks nothing like fire haha what.

Henry - Second from left. Lots of age lines, grey streaks. Visibly much older than Daniel. Loads of aggressive angles, you want a sense of the douchebag aura from a distance. Literally Andrew Carnegie but with none of the redeeming qualities. Really narcissistic and intent on showing off his status and is thus obsessed with outward appearance. Sharply dressed and deliberately so. Flashy, patterned waistcoats and one very expensive and painstakingly tended to pair of sideburns.

Lavinia - Second from right. Same as Abby, just a few outfits to her name and sturdier shoes. Though she comes off to me as someone who has expensive tastes that can’t be pursued to their fullest extent. Don’t we all. Pays close attention to new fashion and alters her existing clothes (and hair) accordingly under budget. Is keen on appearing above her station, though not with any malicious intent. More just a desire to fit in and look nice.

Abraham - Far right. The beta version of Abraham of from the earbook bonus pages is peak and this is very heavily inspired by that. Has not purchased any major clothing items for himself since the mid 1860s; he’s got other priorities. Any new stuff is smaller, and usually cut from the same material as Lavinia’s skirts. Fabrics are worn out (along with their dyes) and lots of layers are worn as a result. Outermost layer that he wears pretty much everywhere on account of it being the only coat he has is a bleached and dyed Union army jacket.

Dee - Far left. Entire character is defined by being stuck in the past. Like Abraham his clothes are very 1860s based but in a more fashion forward and emotionally stunted, "I never got over my wife dying a d am making it my kids’ problem" way, as opposed to the much more reasonable "being impoverished" route. Hair is also very much mid-century and meant to look out of place next the shorter, clean-cut 70s/80s style that Henry has. ….old. Like basically on death’s door, he kicks the bucket almost immediately after Daniel does.

[ghostbox-nostalgia]

Oh and since I've started the rough drafts of them, here's some info on the 12 disciples in my au. No I did not mean to make 12 it just sorta happened. I also want you to note that all but two had the same thought of "holy shit that's a child" when they met Eden and that's the main reason they decided to become followers in the first place to make sure he would be ok.

This is just some rough info to act as some backround

WARNING THIS IS LONG AS SHIT, MY APOLOGIES!

Starting off with canon(?) sort of characters we have:

-Webber, he/they/we: spider character from the game don't starve who was added during a collab to cotl. the youngest and a disciple in training. We first meet him at age 8 and is the last to come along. Life has been extended

-Haru, he/him: the yellow cat from the one animated short. Was a priest of leshys until he fought the lamb on a crusade and lost. Was brought back after realizing how much was censored about the slaughter of the sheep and asked if he could redeem himself. Age 24 and was the third last to become a disciple. Immortal

Now we have the not Canon characters who I have in my actual save file. I will also share their silly ridiculous names I have for them in game since I am atrocious at being serious.

-Mamer, he/him, has always been Mamer: a teal rabbit and the first follower and disciple of Edens. He was taken in by the compound that eden was born in and swore himself to protecting whoever was to become the prophesied lamb. Was captured by cultists a week before Edens execution and was about to be sacrificed when ratau and eden found him on the way to the compound. Taught eden how to fight and the traditional boxing style of the sheepfolk. Current grounds keeper. In game this man goes on hella missions and is responsible for at least 20 followers. Age 32, immortal.

-Clement, he/they, Friend Traitor in game: a big, surly orange tabby cat. He and his sister Cerise came as a pair and were found in the ruins of a village in darkwood, rummaging through their belongings to see if anything was salvageable. They had been taken temporarily on orders from kallamars clergy to aid in the construction of one of the wings of his temple. While they were away, their village started refusing to give anymore of their materials to the bishops so an attack was ordered on it. When they came back everything was gone. Both Clement and Cerise became disciples at the same time and became disciples second. Clement taught Eden how to build. Clements the head of the builders hut. In game they're just a silly feller with a silly name and I love them. Age 30, immortal

-Cerise, she/her, Amigo Treachery in game: a red and that's more magenta coloured. I said quite a bit of her backstory with Clement but the difference is that she runs the stonemines and lumberyard and taught Eden how to find and gather quality materials while on Crusading. She works in lumberyard mostly in game too but she also spends a fair amount of time at the shrine. Age 29, immortal

-Ellis, they/them, Taxes in game: a rosy maple moth and the third disciple. They were captured by helob while in darkwood and was a day away from being eaten when eden found them and bought their freedom. They had offered to walk Ellis back home but they had decided after working in Shamuras treasury for most of their life they didn't really have anything worthwhile to get back to and so decided to go back to the compound with the lamb and now work as the treasurer and tax collector. In game they're tax enforcer but otherwise kind of unremarkable. Age 34, immortal.

-Finley, she/her, Pæňïş in game (truly terrible name I'm so sorry girl): a raspberry colored raccoon and the fourth disciple along side Merrick, as they came in a pair. Both Finley and Merrick were apart on the Fox' cult and were cannibals for most of their lives. They only left after their fellow cultists turned against them while on a hunting trip. Eden found them an inch away from death and surrounded, and after killing the remaining heretics they took the two back to the compound to heal. After learning the two's story, Eden offered them a chance to redeem themselves and turn their lives around with the caveat that the cannibalism stops. They agreed and joined as followers, and earned their discipleship. Finley's the head cook and is the overseer of all the dietary restrictions, while her fellow workers take care of the compound at large. Despite the cannibalism she's actually quite lovely and very personable. Her and Merrick are just good friends and bonded after their mutual betrayal. In game I send her on missions quite a bit since her stats are good. Age 27, immortal.

-Merrick, he/him, originally Marth (my best friends a fire emblem fan and requested it. Personality doesn't match): a blue fox and the fourth disciple along side Finley. Backround info is above. He's sparky and snappish with a bit of a temper but is very good humored and lovely to be around. His job is the head butcher with a very lucrative side gig of disposing of dissenters. The lamb DOES allow the pair to partake in the occasional heretic or dissenter but by and large they both just eat regular meat now. His in game role is kept empty but he's usually the first to get to the drinkhouse when I need stuff made so there's that. Age 27, immortal.

-Azalea, she/they, was lovingly named *DJ sounds*, pronounced however the hell you want: a black koi fish and the fifth disciple. Originally from Anura and was apart of the lighthouse keeper cult. Was found calling for help just outside the cult after getting injured on the way home. Eden took them to the med bay to get patched up since the scope of the injuries was a little outside of their skill set and escorted them home once they were all fixed. They ended up going back with Eden anyway after they relit the lighthouse (they had been getting wood and Eden had firestarter on them). Her job is loyalty enforcer and assists the grounds keeper in keeping the place safe. Due to the decreased amount of heretics+high faith levels, they more just act as a welcome crew for new members and trains people in self defense. She's hard headed and blunt, and can be rude at times, but she has good intentions and has a soft spot for those close to her. Very sweet and patient with kids, less kind to adults. In the game she's also a loyalty enforcer and I desperately wish you could hide that fuckass hat. Age 28, immortal.

-Nimah, he/him, is Sonic because I had to: an albino hedgehog since I don't wanna make it SO obvious that it's just sonic. He is the sixth disciple and used to be a postman between all of the merchants and settlements outside of bishop control. He always wanted to be a doctor and kept an eye out for medical texts on his travels. He didn't have much luck in that regard until he came to deliver something to the compound and was kept there by a storm. Him and Eden got to chatting and after telling them about this little quest, Eden told him that while there's none at the compound that they could think of, they pick up books all the time while on crusades and could keep an eye out for any. One handshake and a new friend later, Nimah slowly studied and practiced to become a doctor until they got the title of head doctor. Taught some cultborn folks to do the mail route and now spends his days in the med bay. In game his only purpose is to be sonic and nothing else. His existence makes me happy :]. Age 53, immortal.

-Rowan, she/her, JAzz (I fucked up): a crow and the seventh disciple. Was a shrine maiden for Heket, and was trusted enough to be given the uncensored prophecy. After hearing it and making the very uncomfortable realization that they've all been praying for the downfall of a) an innocent race and b) a child, she dissented and fled to the cult to offer her services. Was a thief for a while, but was taken in by some followers of Heket and changed her ways. Was the second follower but had a hard time accepting the gift of discipleship for a while there. Very sweet and soft spoken, very good at quiet rage. In game she's on worship duty and is a very pretty lady and I love her. Age 30, immortal

-Florian, zey/zem/zer, named Alright in game: a silk moth and the eighth disciple. Was a primary weaver in Shamura's coterie for a good century. Zey were delivering tapestries to the main temple of Leshy when zer convoy was attacked by bandits and zey were left hiding and bleeding out. Eden found zem and took them back to their own temple since the med bay didn't exist at that point. When zey awoke, zey found zemselves bandaged in an unfamiliar place with someone they didn't recognize standing near them. Zey were suspicious until zey realized that that is a child zey were thinking of attacking, and that child is holding a med kit in their hands. Zey end up calming down and once zer'e healed, Florian offers to make a proper outfit befitting a vessel of death since zey don't like feeling like zer in debt. Eden agrees to this and they end up becoming friends, with Florian offering zer continued service in exchange for stable living. Zer personality is flamboyant but not loud. I personally imagine zer personality to be akin to one of those mob wives with the smoke pipe and the long satin feather robes. In game this fella was so unremarkable zey died of old age at level 1. Also zey get neos because I think they have so much gender that they/them simply doesn't cut it, although I understand if you use they/them for zem, it's a bit tricky to get used to. Age 33, immortal.

AND THATS A WRAP! Sorry for the length, some people are more thought out than others, not to mention I almost forgot a whole 2 people.

Their designs are coming soonish, I'm just trying to make some improvements with how I draw faces rn because Mamer looks like shit :[ I will get better and no one can stop me