#it’s the same thing she does when he says she looks good the day she confronted him 5 months earlier 😷

[ushifiles]

╰  4,114 words · ˚ ༘ ꒱ When the doorbell rings after a few months, Sylus does not hesitate to put down his glass of whiskey and smile to himself in the darkness. Good girls never disappoint, and she just happens to be his best and only girl.

alternate universe — no powers. female reader. third person. age gap ( sylus is in his late thirties, and reader is in her early twenties ). friends to lovers. freak for freak dynamics. mentions of alcohol and violence, an unnamed shitty ex for reader. caretaker ! sylus. sugar daddy dynamics, heavy power imbalance. masturbation. somnophilia. drugging. babytrapping + breeding. fingering. cunnilingus. dubious consent, includes groping and manhandling.

For as long as anyone can remember, she had always been with Sylus.

They are not together, not even in the slightest, but they are friends — one would even say that they are the best of friends. The difference in their ages never bothered either of them. Sylus may have been in his late-thirties, and she, in her early-twenties, but that never had been a problem.

‘She makes me feel young,’ he mused one too many times, always after a few too many glasses of straight vodka emptied on the table. ‘You’re not even that old, oh god,’ she would groan to his shoulder, the fabric damp with a mess of her sweat and tears and more than one of the numerous alcohol in her glass that barely cradles the full volume of her monstrous concoction. Everyone in their circle would always end up laughing, and he would spend the night trying to bribe her to get down from the table before bringing her to his home, and to his bed where she would spend the night.

Nobody even knows how they began, not that they can answer it either. One day, they were both alone, until one day, they were not. It just felt — and it still feels — like the most natural thing in the world, being with Sylus and having him by her side. 

After all, where one goes, the other follows. 

He picks her up after class, and she visits him at work. He brings her to the restaurants that she wants to try, each one she talked about before having seen it on her social media; she brings him food, a sandwich or a few pastries that he mentioned once before that he wishes to try.

If one sees Sylus, then it is of no surprise if they end up seeing her too.

Some people even say that if they cannot find her, then just look for Sylus; chances are, she will be hanging off his arm with the brightest smile that makes even the sun pale in comparison. On the other hand, if they cannot seem to find Sylus, then just look for her; more often than not, he is definitely trailing after her with a besotted curl of his lips.

Eventually, his things end up mixing with hers, a sweatshirt hanging on the back of her couch, his imported sauces that find a home in her kitchen cabinets, and even bottles of his toiletries in her bathroom. In the same vein, her things find their way to his home too, a few of her stuffed animals on his bed, more than a few days’ worth of clothes in his closet, and her own fluffy robe that hangs right beside his.

Just like it has always meant to be.

She ignores how much the mere sight of their things mingling with their respective spaces makes her preen, just like how she has been ignoring how his mere presence is enough to cloud her senses in a rose-coloured haze.

It is easier this way, to pretend that nothing is out of the ordinary.

Her feelings do not matter when compared to their friendship. She is a big girl who can swallow the affection that threatens to spill from her lips every time he looks at her. She can take having to bite down the words that wish to interrupt whenever someone approaches Sylus, but she cannot resist the smugness that drips out of her whenever they all always end up rejected and his attention is returned to her like nothing ever happened.

Sylus is what home should feel like, warm and safe.

His plans shatter the moment a yapping pup enters the picture.

The man-who-should-never-be-named enters with all the bluster that comes with youth and more bark than bite, arrogant little shit. Sylus is not afraid of his proximity to his darling girl, not when she is far more clever than anyone — save for himself — gives her credit for. His presence in her life means that her standards should have risen to bars that only he can surpass. 

Unfortunately, for all his foresight, such a thing did not happen.

Sylus can do no more than watch from the sidelines as she falls way too quickly, way too deep, that he can no longer bring her to the surface. It makes something in his chest ache, his teeth to dig into his cheeks until the taste of iron is all-encompassing. From the tightness  of his clenched fists, pomegranates bloom from burst blood vessels until half-moon indents turn red from the blood.

Everything is fine, all of it is fine. He can be patient, especially when it comes to her.

But he is no saint, not when this stupid mutt keeps on testing him.

When she comes to him, eyes heavy with weariness and resignation, giving voice to words that do not belong to her heart — we should probably keep distance, it wouldn’t look nice to anyone if they see me hanging around you while I have a boyfriend — Sylus has to resist the urge to rip that bastard’s head off of his neck. All he does is smile, eyes curled into crescents to mask the rage that simmers deep inside of him, and agree.

He can never deny her anything after all.

So, he bides his time.

Foolish boys like that piece of shit can never take care of girls properly, can never spoil them the way they should be, can never fuck them the way a real man could. Little mutts like him tend to bark the loudest, knowing that it is all they have when their fangs will never be sharp enough. 

He keeps his distance, watches through the sidelines, and waits.

When the doorbell rings after a few months, Sylus does not hesitate to put down his glass of whiskey and smile to himself in the darkness.

Good girls never disappoint, and she just happens to be his best and only girl.

When the worst happens, there is only one place that she knows to turn to.

The breakup had been a long time coming, everyone who knew her and the ex-who-must-never-be-named have always said that she was too good for someone like him. It is only now that she finally let those words sink into her brain and packed her bags, but not without leaving him with a parting slap — right above the kiss mark on his jaw that was not done in any of her lipstick shades.

She breaks up with him in the morning, and finds herself on Sylus’ front porch before evening falls completely and drowns the rest of the city in darkness.

There is no way that she will stay in that shitty apartment of his, not when she was paying more than half of the rent on top of the electricity and water bills. Let him be kicked out, he should not have cheated on her in the first place anyway.

She is here because she knows Sylus, knows that she can stay for a few weeks just to get her bearings back, and knows that he would be delighted.

He is kind to her like that.

It has barely been a minute since she rang the bell, but he is already there, windswept and breathless as if he ran just to open his door so she would not have to wait. Her heart aches with the fondness, but it is overtaken by the weight of her sorrow.

“We broke up.”

Three simple words that fall from her lips unbidden, her first words to him in months, but Sylus does not even falter when taking her into his arms and letting her cry on his chest over the time wasted on a man who did not see her worth and the time they had to spend apart because of his fragile masculinity. She weeps and clings to Sylus like a lifeline, like he is an anchor to her life that is splintering at the seams, then she lets herself rest.

He will take care of her, he always does.

They are friends, nothing more and nothing less.

Now though, everyone knows that it is only about time before it turns into something more, with the upstart pup finally out of the picture and she is finally in his home. The arrangement was only meant for a few days, then it extends to a few weeks, and when it turns to a month, she tries to offer him payment for the rent he never asked for that he snaps his teeth at playfully.

His eyes remain cold, however.

“Do you think I can’t take care of you?” He asks, teeth bared in a playful snarl but the threat of his bite is true. “Do you think I’d need your money to take care of you, hm?”

It is offensive, how she thinks that she owes him money after everything. As if he demands monetary compensation when her presence in his life is more than enough. She brings light to his days, a stability to the chaos that runs around his mind. She is all that matters, much more now that she is finally in his grasp.

She shrinks at his words, and he feels something inside of him turn cold. He was too much, too fast, too harsh. His arms reach for her almost immediately, tucking her underneath his chin for an embrace. Sylus is careful to not hold her too tight, to not hold her too loosely either. “Baby, really. I’m sorry for snapping at you like that. You understand, don’t you? I can take care of you, of this house, and everything else. All you have to do is to be pretty, safe, and happy. Can you do that for me, darling?”

When she nods hesitantly, he relaxes and presses a kiss to her crown.

“Good girl.”

For a few weeks, that is that.

Sylus thinks that peace has finally returned to their home, because this entire space that belongs to his name is shared by another — the only one that he wants to stay here forever, and she is finally letting him take care of her.

Until he stumbles upon her one night, scrawling on her notebook with her money separated into bills and coins. Something like irritation builds in his stomach at the mere sight.

“What are you doing?” He keeps the tone of his voice even, red tracking the way she jumps in surprise and tries to hide the notebook before giving up with a sigh. She gives him a small smile, shaky at the corners, but he is not fooled in the slightest.

The silence stretches, becoming filled with tension.

She gives in, breaks her gaze to look elsewhere. “Budgeting,” she whispers, but to his ears it sounds like a scream.

His eyebrows furrow, meeting in the middle. A frown finds its way to appear on his features. “Budgeting,” he repeats, not even as a question but as if a statement on its own. For a moment, he sees red. This stubborn little girl, really. Sylus does not know if her youth is equal to this behaviour or if it is simply in her nature, he does not know, and that lack of control and knowledge over one thing so dear to his heart is enough to rattle him.

Instead of letting it turn into another argument when she does not answer, he only pulls out his wallet and plucks a black card to lay it flat on the table.

“Use that,” he smiles, despite the way his teeth ache from the tightness in his jaw. “Don’t tell me no, darling. I don’t care for your protests and cute little refusals. You live under my roof, you better spend my money. That’s the rule. There is no such thing as having to budget for things here, alright?”

The only consolation he gets is the delightful flush on her cheeks, the widening of her eyes, and the clenching of her thighs to one another.

“I said, alright?” It was a demand for a response, one that makes her breath hitch before she gives him a frantic nod. A pretty little thing so desperate to please. Sylus watches as she reaches for the black card, holding it close to her chest with something like awe and finds something in him finally settling.

Her thighs pressing against one another under the table does not go ignored, not when all of his senses are intimately attuned to every movement that she does.

Sylus can feel his mouth go dry at the sight, daring himself to move, and when he does? It is all pure instinct. He takes a seat beside her, places one palm over her knee — dangerously close to the lace of her shorts adorned with a little bow at the waist. It is something that can be considered a friendly touch, nothing more and nothing less.

But his brain is whirring with images from his deepest fantasies, each one more depraved than the last when her legs automatically part the slightest bit in response.

[ … ] sharp spots of a kaleidoscopic lights bursting before his eyes, heaven in the shape of her perfect fucking cunt squeezing him tight with each inch that he presses deep inside her. Their lips are pressed together, her face scrunching rather adorably as sobs come spilling straight from her mouth to his—

[ … ] hair bunched between his fingers, his hand nearly engulfing the back of her head from the force of his hold. Each pull makes his bed squeak, the expensive springs making noises in protest from the ferocity of how he loves his sweetheart. His hips snap, delighting in the obscene squelching of her wetness and the copious amounts of cum he pumped into her—

[ … ] a comfortable weight above his lap, her legs spread wide open with the help of his knees so that they can both see the reflection they make in the mirror. His fingers are knuckle-deep inside her folds, skin pruned from how drenched she is. Lips to her ear, filth comes pouring out of his mouth, and he delights in the blush that overtakes her features—

[ … ] weighed down by sleep, she barely stirs when he falls to his knees between her slightly parted legs. His hands spread her open, thumb rubbing soothing circles on her knee. There’s no hesitation in the way his tongue hangs out, a starving dog and nothing more, and presses flat against the honeyed tang of her arousal—

There is no point in speaking, not when that touch is all he does. Sylus does not bring his hand higher, to the heat he can feel emanating from between her legs even this far down.

Anticipation makes everything much sweeter down the line.

Something is definitely wrong with her.

That is the only thing running through her head as she watches Sylus move around his state of the art kitchen with ease to prepare her a meal.

She has been living in his home for nearly a year now, all of her food is prepared by him or bought by his money, everything that touches her skin is paid for by the swipe of his black card that sits heavy in a bag that he bought for her. Everything that she has now all came from Sylus, and something about that makes her head spin with pleasure.

It feels nice to be taken care of like this, to have nothing to worry about.

Her footsteps bring her to the sink, knowing that it is only right that she cleans the dishes considering that he is the one cooking.

Barely even managing to touch the ceramic bowl before a hand immediately wraps around her wrist, halting all of her movements. She has always known that Sylus is big in the very literal sense of the word, he is tall and heavy and bulky, but this is the very first time that she has actually felt so little when compared to him, with his hand dwarfing the circumference of her wrist.

“Sit down,” he murmurs to her temple, pressing a quick kiss there before returning to the stovetop as if nothing happened while she remains frozen for a few more seconds. 

Her heart is pounding, like she just ran a ten-mile marathon, and her legs shake when they bring her to the dining table. There is a haze setting into her brain, like she is floating but not quite. Her eyes remain trained on Sylus as he cooks; back, ramrod straight. She does not even fidget or squirm, does not even try to protest, she just sits.

“Good girl,” he praises with a smile, giving her a bowl of pomegranate seeds drizzled with honey. “The food’s gonna be done in a few.”

A part of her likes this about him, the ease in the way he makes her do things. The fact that he does not need to actively order her to do them before she does. It makes a part of her brain go numb, just hazy in the delight that comes with obeying, and being good for him.

So that is exactly what she does, she eats, spoonful after spoonful. She licks the honey from her lips, and scrapes the bowl when she is nearly done. She makes sure not to leave a single seed behind. Unlike Persephone who only had six months per year, she will be spending all of her time in the Underworld by choice and with no regrets.

Winter can come for the rest of the world and never leave, she does not care. She will stay with him, inside this home that he rearranged just for her — safe and sound, happy and warm.

The meal arrives after the press of lips to her crown, and a part of her just takes great pleasure in being taken care of by him. She does not have to think, to fret, and to stress over even the smallest of things when Sylus is around. When he tugs on her wrist, she goes and sits above his lap. He does not ask, she does not refuse. No words are necessary, not when he takes such great care of her. A tap on her lips with the fork gets them parting, accepting the offering of meat in bite size pieces. A finger on her throat makes her head tilt, taking small gulps of water then wine then water again. 

Dessert is in the form of chocolate-covered strawberries, one that he taps against her bottom lip with hunger in his eyes. She looks up at him, meets his gaze, and bites. Pale red juices come dripping, down her chin to her neck, and even between the swell of her breasts.

Sylus looks at her, eating from his hand, like a man half-starved and half-feral. It is not a bad feeling; in fact, it feels delightful to be wanted in such a way.

Their gazes locked, she lets her tongue dart out to press against the pad of his fingers, tasting both him and the strawberry. It is such a heady combination that it makes her giggle, part-drunkenness from the wine and part-drunkenness from him.

“I really like you,” she murmurs the confession, blunt teeth nipping at his skin. “I really like being with you like this.”

She can see the way his pupils practically dilate upon hearing her words, a shaky exhale coming loose from his throat like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders at the admission. “I really like you too,” he whispers, leaning in close to let his forehead rest on hers.

He does not kiss her, and when night falls, she has to cum several times by humping her pillow — one that he bought for her — before she can admit that she was disappointed.

A part of him knows that he should not be doing this; unfortunately, it just so happens to be a very small one.

Blood rushes even further south, and Sylus can feel himself going dizzy. When he pulls his hips back, there is a very loud squelch that drowns out the sound of her even breathing. His fingers twitch from where they hold her by the waist, resisting the urge to hold her even tighter — he does not want to leave marks, not yet, but his control is a rapidly fraying rope. She is so fucking tight, he thinks, panting like a feral dog that turns to a drawn-out moan when she clenches around him subconsciously.

She was so naive, so willing to trust everything he says. All it took was a few pretty words, a gentle touch here and there, and she was so eager to down the offered glass. A few milligrams of the drug, crushed and mixed into the juice, is enough to knock an average adult for eight to twelve hours. But she has always been smaller than him, more delicate — not that it is even a significant point considering that everyone is smaller than him. It only took thirty minutes before she stumbled on the steps, a few more before she completely dropped faint in his arms. 

It was so easy to lay her on his mattress, where she should have been since the very moment she stepped foot in his home. Perhaps, even way before that. His bed is where she should have been the first time they met, he should have been Troy to this Helen of his, whisked her away to his kingdom at first sight without care for the repercussions.

What was not so easy was stripping her out of the clothes that she bought using his money. It felt like a waste, to not be able to fuck her in things that basically scream of him, but there will always be a next time.

‘And there will be a next time,’ Sylus vows to himself, mouthing the words to the skin of her nape like he wants to imprint the very intent of it into her. He can feel the tightness in his lower abdomen, the warning of an impending climax.

He does not want this to end just yet, not when she feels too good around him. But it is precisely because she feels too good that he feels himself beginning to unravel.

A hand reaches around to rub circles on the throbbing nub, breathing out a hoarse laugh when she squeezes even more around him. Even in her state of unconsciousness, she is too good— too perfect for him, and he loves her all the more for it. The sound of amusement turns into a groan, his hips stuttering in their pace. 

Reluctantly, he pulls away from where he has been slobbering all over the back of her neck to lean backwards and watch how puffy her folds have become.

Sylus is mesmerised, moving his thumb to trace the outline of her pussy wrapped snugly around his cock. There is already a frothy ring around the base of his girth, and he wants to make her into an even bigger mess. He needs her filled with him, leaking of him. ‘Maybe it will get her with a baby,’ he thinks with grim pleasure, eyes alight at the thought of seeing her womb swell with his seed taking root.

She is so sweet, so delicate. Someone like her will always try and refuse him, out of some misplaced sense of independence — damn, he needs to fuck that thought right of her head soon. This is where she belongs, in his house, in his bed, with her cunt wrapped around his cock. Having a baby with him will break her, but only just a bit, Sylus will never let her be completely broken by his hand. Just enough to make her malleable, to keep her with him forever.

She is so good like that, so perfect for him.

His pace quickens, almost frantically. It is of no surprise how quickly he finishes, he holds on to her tight and brings her close as he pumps her full, hissing under his breath at the intoxicating heat.

Unaware of the fluttering lashes that roll in the back of her skull and the grin she hides on the pillow, still pretending to be asleep on her stomach.

Like calls to like after all, and too much time spent in his company has made her all the more similar to Sylus to the point where even their schemes have begun to synchronise, striving for the same goal.

Not that he is aware of how much she knows.

How much she wants.

© ushifiles ( 2024 ): do not claim, modify, copy or repost my works without permission. minors do not interact.

[mydarlingclaudia]

christmas party hop

note : SECRET SANTA FIC FOR @candlekiss !!! MERYY CHRISTMAS THIS IS EXTREMELY RUSHED BUT I WISH YOU THE MERRIEST CHRISTMAS I HOPE YOU GET EVERYTHING YOU WANTED!!!! the quality inst that good because I didn’t write this in like an hour im so so sorry erm

wc : 1.5k

tags : @withonly-sweetheart @leonsecretsanta

desc : roommates and mistletoe don’t mix well. roommates to lovers, fluff (??), no outbreak au, re4r!Leon, fem!reader, not proofread

It feels like you have to force Leon to do anything that involves socializing. He can manage the dishes and laundry by any other chores himself, but when it comes to having people over, he always shuts himself away in his room. You really shouldn’t care, it’s none of your business and not everyone likes having company over, but you can’t help but wish he’d come out for at least an hour or two and have some fun.

He's always been nice to you, civil, at least. He's appreciative of any dinner you cook for him or taking time out of your day to take care of him while he's sick, he does the same for you, if he's able. It's typical roommate behavior, you think. Maybe Leon's just more comfortable around you than others, though it could also be that it's your friends that come over more than his.

But he's never really had any of his friends or coworkers come over. You've met Chris and Jill a few times, same with Claire and Marvin, but you've never come home to see any of the four sitting on the couch talking with Leon. The times that you've met them you seemed to get along, they had mentioned Leon talking about you and that you seem as sweet as he says, so that's a good thing, right?

So you get the idea of throwing a Christmas party for yours and Leon’s friends, no big deal. It's not like it's a huge thing, just a few more people in your apartment than normal, you're doing this for Leon's sake, anyway.

Only Chris and Claire had shown up thirty minutes early to help set up (which they hadn’t really mentioned to you) along with Sherry, Jill brought Carlos and they both brought more than enough booze, Marvin’s arrival was fine, your own friends came in a little loud, but they brought pies so it was ok.

But now you’re jammed in the kitchen with Sherry whose trying to scoop cookie dough onto the cookie sheet, Claire whose pulling turkey out of the oven, Carlos whose coming back into the kitchen for more beer, and yourself who has been trying and failing to make eggnog. People are still running in and out of the kitchen, squeezing behind everyone cooking, yelling over the Christmas music that was playing.

“I put up mistletoe,”Claire nudges you as she walks past, carrying the pot full of stuffing. “Keep an eye out.”

“You decorated?” You turn to face her, licking some of the eggnog off your finger.

“Sherrys idea,”

“Pssh, sure.”

“Honest! Come on,” Claire laughs, “Is there a problem?”

“I’m not kissing you,” Claire rolls her eyes, setting the pot of stuffing down onto the table and starting to scoop it out into a big bowl. Two of your friends squeeze behind you to get first pickings of the food being set out, Chris and Jill follow after.

“You gotta kick Leon off the tv, the only thing he’s watching is that stupid Christmas baking show.” One of your friends giggles trying to get your attention as you help Sherry slide the cookie sheets into the oven.

“Yeah? What do you wanna watch?”

“Well, we were supposed to turn on Home Alone ten minutes ago…” She mumbled, already shoving turkey into her mouth. You flinch away from the heat of the oven and shake your hands as you pull away, standing upright.

”Alright, alright, I’ll talk to him.” You shove by Carlos and Sherry, through the doorway into the living room and walking towards Leon who is still hogging the remote. Leon can hear you walking towards him, he looks to you, his resting face changing into a smile.

“Got no holiday cheer?” You tease, sitting next to him on the couch.

“I’m filled to the brim with it,” He mutters rolling his eyes slightly.

“Oh my God, let’s just watch some Christmas movies. I spent hours in the kitchen for this, y’know.” You lean on his shoulder and pry the remote from his grip, he sighs.

“You’re so lucky I like you,”

“No shit, come on.” You grab his hand and pull him to stand up with you, dragging him towards the doorway and into the kitchen, getting plates for the both of you while the others continue to rush around the two of you.

You’re sure that if you and Leon had a driveway, Leon would find some reason to be outside shoveling, or if you had decorated outside, he’d find another reason to fiddle with the lights. He does come out of his shell a bit and chimes in to talk to Chris and Claire, he jokes with Sherry, pokes at Carlos and plays up being offended.

He’s not paying attention to the movie, but he taps his foot along to the Christmas music that’s still playing, he follows you around, though.

Leon normally does this if the two of you are ever out together, he trails after you, trying to hold k to your sleeve so he doesn’t lose you in a crowd. You know it’s not typical roommate behavior, but you find it cute, plus it’s not hurting anyone, right?

Even when you and Leon get knocked around by everyone else in your small apartment and end up bumping into each other, he holds your gaze and almost reaches out to grab you so you can stay for another moment and ignore the party.

There are kisses under the mistletoe— all between Carlos and Jill, though.

Leon and you do get held under the doorframe for a moment. It’s when Chris is talking to Sherry in the living room while she was trying to make her way into the kitchen and when one of your friends was trying to come into the living room, both you and Leon were standing and chatting.

Leon didn’t kiss you, unfortunately.

Claire didn’t take down her decorations when the party was over, everyone helped pick up the mess they made, but your apartment looked more holly-jolly than it did before the party.

You’ve already brushed your teeth and changed into your pajamas, Leon’s done the same, but he’s been looking up for the past few minutes.

“What’re you looking at?” You question, setting your cup of water down on the counter and stepping closer as he waves you over. You stand beneath the doorframe with him, looking up at the mistletoe hanging from it.

There’s a kiss pressed to your cheek within the next second, you look back to Leon to see the grin on his face.

“Just on the cheek?” You tease, crossing your arms.

“You want it on the lips?”

“Well, that’s the tradition, isn’t it?” You giggle, bringing your hand up and cupping his cheek, he pulls you in at the same time for the kiss you both expected, only he’s a bit more passionate than you.

[onlyrains]

[5:21pm]

genre: comfort, fluff wc: 1.1k ┊not proofread!

you are nothing near from being the greatest singer of the century, to begin with. you're not even a singer at all. but layla, a border collie of your best friend's–jake, might be your first fan ever.

whenever she sees you around in some comfortable circumstances, she's never hesitate to lay down beside you and sometimes even rest her jaw on your thigh. on top of that, one day when jake come to your place to check on you while you lay sick on your bed, she also lies and put her paw on your arm.

she keeps ignoring her nature as one of the most active and energetic breed and you have a soft spot for her also. so of course, you always gladly sing for her. you even made a playlist to sing for her, which full of coldplay's old songs that you found she loves the most.

as an owner, jake found this quite beneficial sometimes when he needs to done his things but very much confused at the same time. what's up with your voice? he's a good singer too. people even recognize him for that. but why's his dog, his best buddy, his love, never react the way she does for you?

"she's my child, jake." you always say.

"stop saying that. i literally clean, do the chores, and work for her?" and he always replies.

today, as he promised yesterday, he came to your place with layla. and no, you're not sick today, it's apparently the opposite. he arrived with a pissed, frustrated face and refuse to talk fifteen minutes ago. he's just walks around your living room with his disheveled white office shirt.

you continue to read your book while playing with layla's hair and humming to coldplay's song. you make sure to open your bedroom door widely to let him know that he can come in when he's ready. it's not the first time you've seen jake in this state and you know the best way to deal with it is just let him do anything he wants. he will talk about it when he's tired.

speaking of which, the tail of your eye catches his movement towards you. well, maybe it is a very serious matter since he has never got tired this quick.

"what's up?" you snap, closing your book on your stomach. layla got up at your sudden movement as she sees her owner walks in your direction. she jumps on the floor and her favorite song is now long gone.

"jake?" he sits on layla's spot earlier and lets out a deep sigh.

"it's work." his eyes looking at the white sheets beneath him and draw an imaginary circle with his index.

"i know. wanna talk about it?"

he drags his body to lay next to you, head burried in your pillow while his arms stretched out to his side and your neck, almost choking you.

"i don't know, girl. i'm just... tired."

"is it that bad?" you ask carefully.

he nods. "there's a problem with the project and this mf blame me for it," he groans. thank god your pillow muffled his voice.

"oh? what a prick."

"can you sing for me?" he raises his head.

you never turn your head so fast.

"what?" you blurt out a laugh.

he lies on his side, perfectly facing you. "oh, c'mon. you always make layla chill out with it."

"but you're not layla?"

"i'm her owner, you know. she's my daughter. like father like dau–"

"okay, stop. you started sound silly,"

"babe, c'mon. i just need to sleep. you know how much effort i put on this project? i barely had a proper sleep,"

as soon as that pet name came out of his mouth you know it's hard to win over him. he will starts pleading as soon as he can, so you let out a heavy sigh and stretch your arm reluctantly.

"c'mere,"

the next thing you know, he already burried his head on your shoulder. well, actually, this is your first time being this close with him in this kind of position despite your nth years of friendship.

so when he’s seemingly already found his spot on the crook of your neck, you can't help but squirm a little, but jake is too quick to catch your waist to prevent you from moving anywhere.

"don't move." he says against your neck.

you bite your inner cheek to hold back a sharp gasp that almost come out of nowhere.

you take a deep breath before placing your hand on his head, brushing his hair lightly. you decide to continue to sing to spark, which was previously forcibly cut off.

"my heart is yours," you start to whisper.

"it's you that i hold on to,

that's what i do,

and i know i was wrong,

but i won't let you down,

mmm, yeah, i will, yeah, i will, yes, i will," your voice get slightly lower.

"i said, oh,

i cry, oh,

yeah, i saw sparks,

yeah, i saw sparks." you massage his scalp lightly.

"sing it out,

la la la la la la,"

you feel his breathing becomes steady while in fact he's just enjoying his action to inhaling your scent that mixed with a soft fragrant from your newly washed sweater. he has never been this relax in a long time.

you keep on with the lyrics in humming as your eyes glued to the plain ceiling of your room. you feel his arm is still lazily attached to your waist then what are you doing, really? is it normal to cuddle your friend from high school? is it okay to comfort your guy friend like this?

you haven't finished think about that but jake already raised his head.

his eyes slightly red from the drowsiness that suddenly hit him but the smile on his mouth is as wide as ever. "y'know, layla actually has a good taste."

a heat suddenly strikes your cheek, causing it to turn to a shade of red.

his head turns to his dog on the floor. "dang, my girl is talented, for real."

you roll your eyes at him. "okay, now move."

he's quick to back on his previous spot, even more suffocating right now as he pulls you impossibly close to his body.

he tilts his head upward to face you. his wet eyes stares at you so innocently, which quite opposite to his actions that practically hugging you so tight while trying to sleep.

"ey, c'mon, don't be so stingy," he snuggles to you, again.

you bite your lip this time. maybe you just as tired as him, but you swear, you saw the sparks.

[henke-penke]

time to wrap this bad boy up

Niagara brawls

Blaineley has entered the chat

The pairs for this challenge are; Alejandro-Courtney, Noah-Sierra, Tyler-Blaineley, Eva-Gwen. This is also the order they complete the challenge.

Alejandro and Courtney are killing it. I know that in canon Alejandro said it'd be unwise to appear too strong early in the merge, but here he has a secured alliance so I think he can show off a little more. Courtney did well in canon, all things considered, and with a partner who respects her, she's unstoppable.

Noah and Sierra would be nowhere near as good but they'd still be a solid duo. Especially since Sierra is free of the canon Cody-curse and can properly lock in.

Tyler and Blaineley... yikes.

Eva and Gwen = Toxic yuri let's go !

The votes end up being tied: Eva (Alejandro, Courtney, Gwen, Tyler) and Tyler (Eva, Noah, Sierra, Blaineley). There's no way Tyler's beating Eva so, bye bye king.

Chinese Fake-out

With the alliances now being tied for numbers, Blaineley becomes the swing vote. Something she's well aware of and thus doesn't make an alliance with Chef.

In my head both alliances come up with the same plan; one/two of them will focus on winning, whereas the other will work on convincing Blaineley to join their side.

For the Alejandro-Courtney-Gwen alliance it's the former who does the convincing, because not only is he good at it but the other two aren't fans of Blaineley and can't readily hide that distaste like Alejandro. (We get some small bits of them having beef here and there to solidify this).

For the Eva-Noah-Sierra alliance it's the former's job to focus on the challenge. Noah will argue that there's no way he's going to convince anyone of anything, to which Sierra will point out that they're two on the task and that if Noah can take his wine-aunt-energy up a notch then he might end up being more likable than the rest to Blaineley.

So then on the wall Blaineley will get to the rickshaw first, but instead of Chef pulling her it'll be Alejandro and Sierra bickering over who gets to do it. It sorta ends with them both pulling it, but in the middle of an argument they'll step on one of the landmines and Alejandro is sent flying. Cue Sierra looking around like "Oh mi gosh, where did he go? Anyways-"

(During the race Eva will also pull a real bro move and throw Noah the last bit, hurling him straight into the gong because I think that'd be hilarious.)

Courtney wins the challenge. Though during it we get wine-aunt Noah, who is actually successful in getting Blaineley to like him. Which means she has picked her side.

Before voting, the Eva-Noah-Sierra alliance plus Blaineley gather, ready to finally say bye-bye to Alejandro. Except, Blaineley has other plans. See, while she does favor their alliance, she will only vote with them if they vote for the person she wants gone; which would've been Courtney, but since she's immune she'll settle for Gwen. ("You guys vote with me. If not, I'll just join the other guys, who will be more than happy to send either one of you home. And I don't wanna do that, because you guys are far more tolerable. So, what will it be?")

(Let Blaineley be nasty and threatening please.)

The trio is obviously frustrated with this, and Eva might even go for an attack when Noah stops her. Before either she or Sierra can say anything, he agrees to Blaineley's terms; they'll vote for Gwen.

When he's questioned about it later, Noah will reason that while he's pissed off at her, Blaineley's plan isn't necessarily dumb. Getting rid of Gwen means getting rid of an ally to Alejandro, meaning he'll be one vote weaker and they'll be four against two. ("Alejandro has believed he's in charge of this game since day one, let him sweat a bit before we take him down.")

Voting arrives and with four votes against her, Gwen takes the drop. HOWEVER, she's not going alone, Blaineley is disqualified for a technicality with the second chance challenge. And we are down to our final five.

African Lying Safari

Another episode in which Eva is absolutely thriving.

In the meantime, Alejandro and Courtney are locked in to the extreme. They have to win, and they have to win together. Somehow. Because they know they're both targets and have the numbers against them.

They have a cute little scene where they indirectly acknowledge each other as friends. It's disguised as strategy and for the game, like "Well it doesn't matter which one of us wins, we're doomed either way, so let's win it together" something like that. It makes sense in my head.

Noah is fighting for his life, but he's still fighting. (He's having fun with his friends he just won't admit it.)

It's canon typical chaos on the Serengeti, but in the end, the victors are Alejandro and Courtney, who hug upon realizing neither one of them is going home.

In economy class we find Eva, Noah, and Sierra being anxious over the elimination, knowing that it's going to be one of them. Sierra will suggest they all vote for themselves and just let what happens happen, but Noah opposes. "We still have the numbers against them." "But they're both immune. We can't vote for either of them." "No, but we can keep them from winning."

At the elimination ceremony, Alejandro and Courtney are ready to say goodbye to Eva. But she won't be taking the drop of shame; Noah is. Because he can't beat Alejandro, but Eva can.

Rapa Phooey

At the start of this episode, Eva and Sierra have a bonding moment that kinda boils down to Sierra expressing admiration for Eva prowess, painting her assertiveness and strength in a way more positive light than Eva is used to outside her friend group. She will return the sentiment, being less awkward than she expected, and commend Sierra's social skills.

They're friends, your honor.

Up in first class we've got Alejandro and Courtney being satly over the previous elimination ceremony.

Rest of the episode plays out similar to canon. Bird hatches, is attached to Eva, Sierra calls it some fuckshit name (NOT Cody Jr. fuck that).

Eva wins, but it's a reward challenge. It's mostly a squad and bonding type episode.

Awwwww Drumheller!

Eva and Sierra must be turned against each other, and Alejandro knows just what to do. Instead of banking on Sierra's Cody obsession, which thank god doesn't exist here, Alejandro will make it appear as if Eva doesn't value Sierra, calling back to the Cody situation in Paris. It's super effective.

While I'm unsure of what evidence he will use, Eva will be able to disprove it in the end, most likely paired with some admittance to her own insecurities and a declaration that they are friends.

Alejandro and Courtney might rock with a similar sentiment to Tanzania where they have to win it together. Although here it will be more relaxed as they observe Sierra turn her back on Eva.

(If Courtney knows of Alejandro's trick, I'm not sure.)

When it comes to the boulder, it's Courtney who gets stuck under it. Eva will come to her aid, but will only help if Courtney agrees to vote Alejandro. ("Are you seriously expecting a friendship finale? That he'll just let you win? Come on. You're smarter than that.") Courtney will refuse at first, but reluctantly agrees.

At the same time, Sierra and Alejandro have their own confrontation where Alejandro questions Sierra's choice of alliance. "I thought you were joining our side, amiga." "I said I'd think about it. Jeez, you're not that hot." "And you think you've made the right choice?" "Considering we've been one step ahead of you this entire time, yes very much."

Sierra still makes her cake, this time as a farewell Alejandro cake in disguise. She blows up the plane and is medically evacuated, saving Alejandro from elimination.

Planes, Train, and Hot Air Mobiles

Reveal of Courtney's betrayal, which she'll defend to hell and back as something she was forced into and that there could've been a chance at a tiebreaker he could've won. But there wasn't, and Alejandro storms off. Courtney yells a bit at Eva before doing the same.

Don't have too much to say about the travel part beyond these three are at each other's throats.

I do want Alejandro and Eva on the train though and I want them to chew each other out and point out their flaws. Leader-on-leader violence if you could believe it.

During the boat race, Courtney and Eva will start chewing each other out, leaving Alejandro to claim the first spot in the finale, and them tying for second.

Note that when the fighting happens, I want there to be a focus on Eva's tendency to destroy things, or even how that's all she does, like Courtney goes as far as saying Eva destroyed her friendship with Alejandro. For the theme of everything, ya know

Aloha, Finale!

Not a fan of pitting two queens against each other but Eva and Courtney are in a tiebreaker. Going by canon in that everybody believes the winner will be determined by a vote of the peanut gallery, Alejandro might feel screwed whichever way it goes, but would prefer a finale with Courtney despite still being hurt.

It is, however, Eva who comes out victorious. (My reasoning being that Courtney is still hung up on her ruined friendship and thus not fully in the game. Her and Eva are pretty evenly matched, but ultimately I do think Eva wins, even without the hurt, but feel free to disagree.)

It's Eva versus Alejandro versus the Volcano !!

Noah and Izzy will help Eva, with Owen having surfed for her during the aftermath. On Alejandro's side we've got Courtney and Tyler as his helpers, and Tyler as his surfer most likely (Gwen would've played for Courtney).

They're evenly matched for the dummy building, but team Alejandro will win it.

Eva gets trapped in the cage to which Alejandro, after having crossed the river, will turn around and say "Guess you couldn't beat me after all."

Eva has an angry breakdown and is ready to give up when the rest of team E-scope comes to her aid. They give their motivational speech in true E-scope fashion (aka kinda unhinged for everybody else) but the main sentiment of focus is Noah circling back to their talk in Australia with the line, "You've made it this far, no way are you giving up now." which is what really sets off Eva.

If she loses, then so be it, but like hell is that lost going to happen with her trapped in a cage. Queen.

On the volcano, we get Alejandro and Eva straight-up fighting. Eva is very much in her element, and Alejandro is more... shall I say unhinged ? Either way, it's an even match to make either winner more believable than just... grabbed the wrong dummy (fresh what the fuck was that ??)

But Eva is the winner in my heart <3

And scene.

That, my friends, was World Tour but with Eva instead of Duncan !

Fuck it,

World Tour but with Eva instead of Duncan !!!

Some plot points I conjured up while procrastinating my illustration

Eva ends up on Team Chris Is Really Really Really Really Hot.

She's almost immediately wary of Alejandro, but will write it off since she's not good with people, so it's likely just her reading into things wrong.

However, this changes in Germany, when Noah makes note of his own suspicions.

Owen is the one medically evacuated in Jamaica.

Team E-scope wins the challenge in London, and because there is no Duncan to capture, Team Amazon loses. And realistically, Heather would be voted out, sad but true

This means that Alejandro is in a bit of a situation, because Noah and Eva are both onto him and they along with Izzy have the majority vote on their team. (Which, they've technically had since day one, but Alejandro wasn't aware of their suspicions of him prior, he didn't see it as a threat)

His best strategy is then to take away that advantage. Because of his interaction with Izzy in the Paris episode, I'm going to say that Alejandro manages to convince her to vote herself, and Izzy leaves in Area 51.

Because of this Team Chris now has to stay on a winning streak where Eva and Noah will try their damn hardest to get Tyler to vote with them. Which will be a fucking task because he and Alejandro are friends.

And quickly for the Amazons. Because there's no Duncan, Courtney and Gwen can properly establish a friendship. Absolutely not without a handful of hiccups along the ride, but it'll be much more stable without him being there and they can actually talk out any issues they may have.

If we're rolling with the canon of Team Victory being eliminated in the first half of the season, then the players making the merge will be; Alejandro, Eva, Noah, Tyler, Courtney, Gwen, and Sierra (Cody is eliminated in Australia I have my reasons trust). Which means that with the addition of Blaineley, we get an f/f couple in the wedding challenge hell yeah !!

Oh and Eva makes final four because she's awesome like that

[atsadi-shenanigans]

Fingers Sifting Black Earth 1 - That Awkward Moment When

Happy Yuletide, motherfuckers! Next story's up.

On AO3.

It is important for me to be down on my knees, my fingers sifting the black earth, making those things grow which will grow. —Ann Struthers, Planting the Sand Cherry

So you’re in hell. The air scorches the back of your throat and your pits are beyond dank. Your new (relatively) tunic clings to your back beneath your new (also relatively) drow armor, and your tit region is a full blown swamp.

Even Astarion, famously undead, shines with sweat.

“Everyone present and accounted for?” Gale says. Poor man is more soaked-through than you. Turns out wizard robes, without cooling enchantments which he’s short of at the moment, ain’t all that good for running around a magical forge embedded in a mother fucking lava lake.

“Let’s just get out of here,” Shadowheart says. She at least got a sweet, new set of armor outta that forge.

Lae’zel sways, and then glares when you notice. You don’t say nothing.

Only Karlach stays chipper. She’s waiting over with Wyll next to the big ass lever. On Gale’s nod, they manage to kick and shove the creaky bitch down. The metal platform y’all stand on groans. Jolts. You expect, for a pants-shitting moment, for the fucker to crack in half and drop y’all onto that lake. You read somewhere that people don’t actually sink into lave, like that volcano movie. Cause it’s melted rock with the same density. It’s a lot more like dropping a square of cold butter onto a hot-ass, stainless steel pan. Lots of sizzling and skittering around as the water in the body boils off. Course, you’re dead before you hit, since the superheated air sears shut the lungs—

Everybody’s staring at you. Wyll grimaces.

Oops. You’re all up in the brainworm group chat with that one.

“Sorry,” you say.

“That’s pretty accurate, actually,” Karlach says.

To which Wyll turns his horrified look to her. She just shrugs.

The platform shudders. Wheezes. Screams a little. And then starts to rise. All in one piece.

You sigh and slump. Let your head fall back to try to keep breathing the oven-hot air. You grew up in Oklahoma-sticky, been caught out in one-hundred-thirteen degrees with ninety percent humidity and northerners are always surprised when you tell that that yes, you can actually sweat on the backs of your hands.

Ain’t none of that compares to this hellscape. Literally.

Eventually, the first drafts of cooler air brush your cheeks. You’re beyond things like modesty right now, so you loosen the sides of your armor—thank you Gale for the perfect-fit enchantment—enough you can flap your tunic and try to relieve some of the tiddy sweat.

Catch Astarion watching you with one eyebrow quirked.

You try not to think about that just now.

It’s been a helluva few days. Fresh off escaping a drow hunting party, y’all ran into a group of duergar slavers working a bunch of gnomes half to death to free some Absolute cultist piece of shit. They’re all dead, now. Between them gnomes, the cave buffalo, and all y’all, you’re pretty sure every slaver got ganked.

Astarion…

He really does not fucking care about other people. Not even people in a position a lot like his own. You met others like that. You were others like that for a while. But when he made that “joke” (cause it ain’t never actually a joke) about “motivating the staff” (and by that he meant “torturing defenseless people”) you cold-shouldered him. Hard.

He’s been slinking around your peripherals ever since.

You wipe the sweat from your face as best you can. Which mostly means smearing it around.

It ain’t right to let him carry on like that and treat it like it’s fine. It ain’t. And you’re pretty sure he knows that—you try hard not to think of him as a dog tiptoeing around after getting yelled at. Especially since this dog seems way more used to kicks than words. But you ain’t sure what you should do about it. If you should. Because…you care about the stupid shit. And then you think you shouldn’t because the man has screaming red flags. But…but so did you. When Sasha first tried to talk to you, you went full, flaming Testimony on her.

But she didn’t give up. She saw something in you. The part you would later find in the root cellar, covered in sticky pear juice, staring down at a piece of shattered glass. All the talk you ever heard—the books, the podcasts, anything you could listen to before it got too much and your chest got too tight to breathe and you was right back there again—says that bringing people outta shit like that is work. It takes time. Patience.

If it can be done. If the person ain’t too far gone.

If your sorry ass can possibly navigate the fucking minefield you’re starting to realize that man is.

Fuck.

At least y’all found explosives. Lots of them. Including a giant fucking barrel of something called “rune powder” that y’all sorta stole that made all them other gnomes real fucking nervous about. You’re gonna find whatever controls the cult and the fucking brainworms, and you’re gonna paint “fuck you” on the side of that barrel before you have Karlach—or Lae’zel, actually—chuck it right at their face. There’s an easy answer for one of your problems (ninety-nine problems and that man is one).

The rest of the group is run fucking ragged right now. Between all the murder and the coups y’all have initiated, between the fight with that murderfuck Absolutist and the giant fuck off robot at the forge, y’all can probably sleep for a collective week.

Astarion is still watching you.

Shadowheart raises an eyebrow for you to catch. Turns out stepping off a boat with your neck fucking purpled from hickeys tends to tip off everybody that you was fooling around with that goblin of a vampire man. Elf. Shithead.

You look away.

You just don’t know. He kissed you and you liked it. You liked the whole fingerbanging, too. Like, a lot. Then he ain’t letting you talk to him about it, then suggested you two do it again, then goes off to be a fuckhead racist and then y’all almost got squashed by the iron giant.

And now he’s sidling up to you just as you’re starting to savor the suggestion of cooler air on your skin.

“Hello, darling,” he says.

Okay, fine, he’s stupid handsome. You actually see it now, despite the granny hair (fine, it adds to his “bisexually hot” vibes). Now he’s all sweaty, and that’s gross, but the gross part of your brain fucking perks up anyway.

“Hi, Astarion,” you say.

The elevator rattles and clanks around you. Y’all are lifting up through a shaft cut so smooth, you’d think it had to be made with either water, or modern Earth drilling equipment.

Probably fucking magic. Fucking Middle Narnia.

The magma glow has receded, and now the only light comes from Karlach’s thrumming hellfire heart engine and the tiny flames dancing through her hair and on the tips of her nails. And from Shadowheart’s glowing face-smashing mace that Astarion stole, which then obliterated a whole ass Githyanki creche.

It’s enough to give the illusion of privacy.

“You know, I can’t help but feel we’ve grown somewhat…distant, the last few days,” Astarion says.

“We been kinda busy,” you say.

He hums. Shifts beside you. Then he leans in, his breath cool as it tickles the hairs on your neck. “We never did find an answer to my question, either.”

You know damn well what he’s talking about. Sidling up next to you in that dead temple. Leaning in as he’s doing now, his scent washing over you, voice low and silky in your ear when he asked “your tent or mine.”

“Huh,” you say. Like a smart person.

You got no idea what you’re doing. No idea what you should be doing. You are stumbling around in an unfamiliar, pitch-black room, half drunk, tits swinging, banging into every goddamn piece of furniture in there.

“So,” Astarion says. Leans so close he could kiss your cheek if he moved another inch.

Seems he wants that answer.

What are y’all? What is this? A one-time fling after surviving some bullshit? Stress relief? A new hobby?

You ain’t never done this before. Certainly not with someone like him. Don’t know the rules. You…you’re scared. If you ask him, if you question this or press him for any of the thoughts in your head, he’ll spook.

And deep down (maybe not so deep), you’re a greedy little shit yourself. A whole childhood denied things like cellphones and internet, like steady meals and safety and any kind of privacy and not getting publicly switched in your underwear. And then coming out of that and the group homes, the food stamps, the public health insurance and barely scraping by until so, so recently.

When you got kidnapped by a squidward alien and dropped without so much as a stitch of clothing (but with a fucking dildo, jesus) into another dimension.

You want something nice. Just for once. Just without having to think about the shoulds or should-nots. The morals and the risk and being able to fucking afford it.

This is a terrible fucking idea. Maybe you really are a weak piece of shit. Because you turn to look at him. In the dim glow of y’all’s companions, his eyes reflect a predator’s shine: two copper pennies glowing in the gloom.

You gotta figure all this shit out. Sort the mess in your head. Maybe after y’all find this cult shit and throw a bomb at it and the brainworms is gone.

Astarion is a bitch and an asshole. He makes you laugh. He stabbed a man like eight times for you, and goddamnit, kissing him feels like it paints your skin in electricity.

God ain’t real and neither is sin. And if sin ain’t real, then there’s no reason to feel shame or guilt about engaging in consensual tomfoolery.

Right?

You clear your throat. “We can, uh. Mine. I guess.”

Jesus.

His fangs is shockingly white when he grins. He brushes the tip of his nose against your cheek. “Excellent. I can’t wait.”

“Aww,” Karlach coos.

Right as Shadowheart says, “Do try to remember we can all hear you.”

You jerk away so fast you almost trip right off the edge of the magic fucking elevator. Which they all saw, and which makes you consider hurling yourself off on purpose just so you don’t have to deal with any of this.

Until a faint sound bounces down the shaft at y’all.

Shadowheart lifts her face. Squints. “Is that a dog?”

[baatarthefirst]

You're Doing Fantastic, Sweetie!

Why should Janai spare him? So he can cause more unrest and death for the sunfire elves? I don't care how the show frames it as an act of bitter anger. I don't care if the six horns look at each other with worried expressions. I don't care if even Amaya appeals to him one last time (though that comes across more as 'I wish you would die, but your death would break my wife's heart, so here I am, sharing my experiences'). Janai did good here. She's being reasonable, even merciful with everyone, including Karim. The army got mislead, so they're being pardoned with the understanding that this is their last chance. When she finds out Miyana is pregnant, she doesn't set her execution for the day after the birth, she lets her live under the condition that she will never have the power to mislead anyone ever again. She even gives Karim the same chance. He gives up his name, and he goes free to live with Miyana and raise his child. She gave him a third chance, even after telling the army there wouldn't be one. But he refuses to take it. Aggressively refuses. In fact, he's angry that she spared his own followers; she showed her weakness (truly an elf who should be responsible for the safety and welfare of an entire kingdom...)

So here she shows a moment of sadness, but steels herself and follows through. Because Karim may be her brother, but he is an unrepentant threat.

She's given him chance after chance, and all he's ever done is pay her back with aggression which has always led to casualties. She banished him instead of killing him- he sends Kim'dael to steal the sun seed and guards are killed. She lets Ezran take an offer of peace to him and his army, and he choses war. Some elves must have died in the battle.

And then there's Janai herself. He has tried to kill her in a duel, he's tried to kill her in a hostage situation, and he's tried to kill her using Sol Regem. Three times, he's tried to kill his own sister. Despite his claims, he hates Janai; the fact that she's his sister means nothing.

And now, perhaps worst of all, he only cares about his heir (Not his child), as a chance to finally kill Janai and finally bring about a "Great" Sunfire Empire. Does he want to live so his child will have him around like Miyana? No. Of course not. He would rather die than have peace. He's still planning violence and retribution while on death row. So why does the show take the stance that it is somehow evil, or at least the first step on a dark path, to stop risking innocent lives to save one remorseless villain?

And another thing: He betrays them to Aaravos later. He would rather let the world burn, including his own S.O. and child, than lose. After all the frame work, the music, the angles, the people saying things like 'he's your brother' (as if that didn't just make the betrayal worse), they proved her right; sparing him would have been a mistake.

[kawoala]

DRIVEN BY ADRENALINE suna rintarou. chapter 003 ; mcdonalds.

২ 𓂅 ࣪ ೨ ; 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 (757)

২ 𓂅 ࣪ ೨ ; 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 (filler chapter, short but sweet, only child! reader, a little angsty in regards to reader beung an only child, just backstory on reader + runa family, profanity, mcdonalds)

a/n: i dont do authors notes, and i probs wont do this again, but i wanted to wish all those who celebrate a very merry christmas !! i hope you eat yummy food and have a great time with your family !

When you get a text from Runa asking to join her for lunch, of course you say yes. It’s your fourth day here and you still haven’t made a peep to any of your classmates. Runa’s kind of the only person you know at university.

You meet her in front of your dorm building and the ride to Mcdonald’s isn’t too long. Apparently, they built this Mcdonald’s last year purely because it’s around a bunch of broke college kids.

Runa orders first and you order the same thing. Who knew you two were so similar? You sit down and, for the first few minutes, you’re both quiet.

Runa breaks the silence first by asking about your family.

“Oh, I’m an only child,” you say with a shrug. “My parents are also both only children, so I don’t really have a big family or anything. I only have a few cousins who are much, much older than me. Courtesy of my great aunts and uncles.” You shrug again and pop a fry in your mouth. “Um, my mom is a pediatrician, so she was never really home, and my dad works for the local newspaper.”

She nods along as you speak, watching you intently. Once you finish, she hums. “That’s too bad. Growing up without a lot of family, I mean.” She frowns slightly. “Your dad is a newspaper guy, though, is that why you want to teach English when you get older?”

“Um,” You think for a moment. “Maybe? I don’t know. I’ve just always been good at English.” You pause, then shake your head. “What about you? What’s your family like?”

Her eyes widen and she suddenly smiles widely. “Oh, I have a huge family. I have three brothers and one sister. I’m the oldest, which,” she rolls her eyes, “sucks, by the way. My mom passed away when I was little, but my dad works for a car company. Not selling them, building them. He’s, like, a genius. That’s why I got into cars. I’m assuming Rin told you about Atsumu’s dad’s car?” When you nod, she nods as well. “Yeah, they were always working on that stupid car. It was, like, twenty years old, but it was cool as fuck.”

You nod, taking a bite of your burger. “That sounds awesome. When I was younger I used to be super jealous of other kids with siblings. My house was always quiet, so I used to turn all the TV’s on and pretend that there were people in the house.” You laugh at the memory, but when you look at Runa, she’s frowning once again. “It’s okay, though,” you try to backtrack. “I liked my privacy, too. I never had to share a room, there was always hot water to shower with, never had to deal with siblings chasing after me with a knife or something.” You snicker and shrug again.

She stays quiet for a long moment. The two of you sit in silence again, just eating your food.

Eventually, you clear your throat. “So, um, what do you do for fun? You mentioned being a manager for your high school’s volleyball team, but what do you like to do now?” You raise your brows inquisitively. “Oh, what are you majoring in?”

“Communications,” she answers quickly. The sudden smile on her face almost makes you giggle. She sure does change emotions rather quickly. “I want to do something to do with public relations, maybe? I don’t know. When I was a manager I felt like I was doing something that fit, you know? So I’m thinking of becoming a PR manager for a sports team or something. Volleyball or maybe soccer.” She shrugs.

“That makes sense.” You nod. “I think you’d be good at marketing, too. You’re very…” you trail off, thinking. “Persuasive.”

She laughs and shakes her head. “I just talk a lot.”

You laugh, too, and look back down at your food. It’s nearly gone, but you don’t think you can finish it. “Do you want the rest of my fries?” You ask.

“Um, yeah, obviously.”

As you laugh once more and hand her the french fries, you can’t help but think that Runa is going to be a good friend. She’s funny and nice and she included you in something dear to her the first day you met her.

You go to sleep that night with a smile on your face for the first time in a while. Similarly, for the first time, you’re excited to wake up with Runa tomorrow.

২ 𓂅 ࣪ ೨ ; 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

@sahrii , @cherrysurf , @heartmaddie , @jpegarchives , @massacremars

@vertejay , @tiramizuloz , @gumims , @mybelovedvi , @chaotic-neutral-ig

@usbrous , @iheartamora , @iluv-ace , @xavlyzn , @velvetreds

@mysticstrawberryballoon , @h0n3y-l3m0n05 , @aethersluvrr , @smiithys

[hazshit-hotel-hater]

As a person who was genuinely made uncomfortable when I discovered Viv does all this crap like 🍇-romantification, I appreciate this blog so far.

For months I've been trying not to interact with hazbin because of viv's actions, which genuinely makes me sad cause I really liked the show (not including episode 4).

I understand darker skin not suiting your style (like mine) or having trouble with different proportions of characters due to where they're from or something (like me) but the fact that she made all the bad guys that way really doesn't scream "I have trouble drawing ____!"

⚠️YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO REPLY OR READ FULLY⚠️

Hi! Totally get this all dw, I just got out of the hospital however so if I explain weird please forgive me 😬 also dont take all of this as me giving specifically you a lecture, this is just me letting my thoughts flow out to whoever is reading 🤝

Also theres leaks in this! If you people don’t want leaks be sure to not read past “read more”!!

Its been brought to my attention that the information in the next paragraph is not true and Vivzie did not design or draw these characters! So she apparently just actually can’t draw them at all

Viv has absolutely no problem drawing POC! I mean just look at the human designs for the succubi in Helluva boss

These designs are wonderful and very diverse! But out of these characters, the ones that are important are Verosika and Vortex and even then these characters are side characters. And on top of that, technically they’re only really coded as POC since these aren’t their true bodily forms, but hey thats a topic for another time. Let’s just ignore that for now and say they 100% are POC, they’re still side characters. She can draw POC wonderfully, she just has issues… making them important.

For characters like Alastor (who was only made POC to get away with demonising a closed religion) we don’t see him as his human form. I mean to be fair why would we- but also why did he turn white when he died?? Why did his entire hair texture change. This is a problem for Vivzie where she doesn’t want to commit to representation or feels she doesn’t need to. Vivzie could’ve made Alastor’s design look more like his leaked human design or couldve just altered his colours a bit, but she didn’t do this because she feels so connected to her original high school OC design that she cant bring herself to change him. Like look at this.

Yeah it’s got a different style, but this is the same guy; he’s just weirdly marketable now. It’s incredibly easy to tell that Vivzie didn’t want to change him if she didn’t 100% have to. Lets take a look at Alastor’s old human design.

This guy definitely looks like he could be Alastor! He’s got the same sort of hair but shorter in the back and a little more combed, but looking at this you can still tell it’s Alastor. However this guy doesn’t exactly seem mixed, right? That’s because he isn’t! Back way way in ye olden days when Alastor went from race ambiguous to white, he just kind of looked like that! And there’s no problem with him being white! Good for him on doing that! I guess!? But when you look his design now, things start to come off as a bit odd.

This is where you non-leakers go read somethin else

This is an entirely different person now. Not just race wise, but personality, the way he presents himself in the arts pose, and just overall the actual look of the character. He looks conniving yes, but he doesn’t look like Alastor. This is not a face matchup.

Now, you definitely can have your ugly little red thing design and still use that human one! You just have to not be too chicken to actually change your character so it makes sense. Let me demonstrate.

Shocking how easily this design can fit the human one while still maintaining the original aesthetic of the base design isn’t it! This Alastor looks like the provided new human design. If you don’t want the character to change, don’t change them physically. And if you do, follow through on it and don’t be a wimp. I don’t see whats so hard to grasp about that to this lady. If you want to keep that same ugly fucking bob then just keep him white. She literally only changed his race so she can use it as an excuse to appropriate vodou. Vivzie can draw POC, she just doesn’t want to when it comes to actually having to change a character. Anyway, good day!

[funky-lizard-imp]

SINSMAS MAJOR SPOILERS!

I haven't seen too much of it on here but I've seen a lot of it on Tik Tok so I wanna fucking say something about it.

People are saying that Millie cheated on Moxxie and that's why she was panicking and didn't tell him right away when she found out and I am willing to bet everything I have that is not what happened.

People's arguments are that she called Sallie May first and was freaking out like she's realising she can't hide it anymore, but that's not what I got from her reaction at all. It is very normal for people to freak out and panic during first time pregnancies, especially if it was unplanned which I'm willing to bet that this is. And I also think it's pretty normal to first tell someone that you're close with, but isn't very directly involved, like a friend, or in this case, her sister.

Millie might not know how Moxxie is going to react, because even though I think he'd be very supportive and happy and be a great dad, having your own kid can be different, and telling someone literal life changing news like this for the first time can be scary even if you think they would be happy so I think its reasonable that Millie talked to Sallie first.

There are also other reasons why Millie could have been panicking about having a baby, and the one I'm seeing the most is their job. Raising a baby or being pregnant while being a literal assassin can be very dangerous, and Millie might not want to give up her job for the baby and I swear to god if I see anyone calling her selfish for that you're getting blocked instantly because shut the actual fuck up that's also pretty normal. I don't think anyone would say that but just making sure.

Millie also might not be ready to be a mother. Again, a pretty common thing and a pretty normal reaction in that situation.

So my money is on Millie is just scared and nervous because it was unplanned, its new, and she might possibly be scared of raising a kid in a very dangerous business. She's scared herself and still coming to terms with it so she might not be in the right head space to tell Moxxie immediately, but I bet when she does, he is going to be very supportive and happy, and reassure her that everything will be fine. He might even freak out a bit himself, but like I said, that's pretty normal. And I bet they would be great parents and Blitz and Stolas would be great babysitters.

Also, I feel like if she did cheat, there would be a bit more proof and foreshadowing. I know you don't usually recognise foreshadowing until after watching something and going back, but hear me out. When that demon lady was talking about her husband cheating, Stolas was really guilty. I feel like if Millie cheated, they would put more signs, and I feel like they would have her in the background looking very slightly guilty at the moment as well. It's kinda nonsense but at the same time it also makes sense because most plot twists have subtle hints of it before hand so it doesn't completely come out of the blue and people can spot all the signs on a rewatch. I think if Millie cheated, some good foreshadowing would be that and that wasn't there. Again, it's nonsense, but it's part of my defense.

So, in conclusion, I don't think Millie cheated, and stop finding reasons to hate her because I'm convinced that's what some of these people are doing. Her reaction and calling Sallie May is very reasonable and normal when you put more than one ounce of thought into it, and I can't believe I even had to say all this in the first place.

Good day.

[nyxthedeity]

𝓒𝓸𝓷𝓯𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓬𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓭

Synopsis: What's more romantic than confessing your love while the curtain of her eyes are closed? Such a risky deceleration but risky is how George does things.

Pairing: George Weasley x Hufflepuff!femreader.

🎃🍁🍂🏉

Y/n Jacobs doesn't have to worry about getting pranked by the Weasley twins. Why? Because she's the most pure person out of all of them. At least that's what George say.

George have always envisioned himself to be dating a girl who can keep up with his tactics, the fun, the chaos. He barely saw it coming as he fall for someone who hardly keep up with thta sort of life. But he found herself slowing down just for her.

Fred have always teased his twin brother, it's not everyday you see a student safe from the relentless madness they plan. Though George have always been the sensitive one.

Y/n was walking down the halls, books in hand, when George slowly caught up with her. "What's up, Jacobs." He said with a smirk that she knows too well.

"What's the plan now, George?" The girl responds as they turn a corner. "What do you think of a prank that shoots goo in people's faces?" George says as if what he's saying is the most normalest thing in the whole wizarding world.

"Don't you think that's a bit... Too much?" Y/n have always been sympathetic to those victims to these plans. Her words planted itself on George's brain, just how every other words she mutter. "Yeah? What do you think we should do then?" He asks.

Stopping in front of the charm's classroom door, the girl sighed, adjusting her black and yellow robe to look more just. "I don't know... Maybe just stick to your schedule? Lay off the pranks, George."

He could almost melt at the sound of his name through her lips. So he subconsciously nodded with a smitten smile and sent her in the class. Fred came running, "Ready for that prank, George?" He was already holding the tools. He's so sure his twin is on this plan.

"No... No... I don't think I'll be with you George." He says in a quiet mutter with thta same smitten smile. The moment he turned to Fred, her brother thought he was broken.

George left his twin with a bounce on his step. Fred blinked for a couple of times with his mouth agape. He was so sure this is because of Y/n. He could only groan and go on his own way to find Dean.

----

Y/n was so sweet that she lets George pests her during her studies. She's too pure to think that maybe she shouldn't do that so she could finally get off her giggles and actually study.

But with no work done, she was tired. She stretches herself out with a yawn. "Didn't think laughing could be so tiring..." She says with a soft smile. "Laughter from me is always this tiring." George says with a smug smile, finally letting himself sit still beside her.

She started to droop pretty quickly, eyes closed already, her head banging as she slips in and out of sleep. Maybe it is true that everywhere is a good bed.

And George suddenly felt this... Sudden courage that he reached for her head and made her lean it to his shoulder. The ginger froze after he did it. He just trapped himself here, but... He wasn't so complainant.

A good half an hour goes by and he was so sure she's in a deep slumber.

Something about the feeling of the girl he didn't know what taking up space in his heart for herself that really want to just... Spill everything out. Surely she wouldn't hear. Surely, soon he'll finally grow a pair and say whatever he is about to vomit when this sunshine of a girl is awake.

"You know... It's funny how I feel so tensed up but so carefree around you." He started, and before he knew it, he spilled it all out.

"I don't even know when the tingles from my toes up to my stomach even started whenever I'm with you... But... I did. I love how you crinkle your nose whenever you like something... How high the bounce in your steps whenever a day is doing you good.

With all rubbish I feel... I deeply want you to stay. In any aspect, in any position, in any label... I want you to stay."

It sucks how her eyes are closed. She couldn't see just how much love his chocolate eyes held. How his gaze only soften on her. He wanted to shkae you awake and repeat it all out. Maybe you'd give him a yes, maybe a kiss instead... He could let you say no, too. But thta doesn't mean he'll give up.

He still wants to see her bubbly face.

Maybe someday, when he finally has a bouquet of flowers in his hand, dressed nicely, and facing this one heck of a girl, he'll be able to say all this and have themselves smiling forever.

🍁🍂🏉🎃

Can you guess what song this is inspired of?

I wanted to showcase how soft George can be and I think I'm just getting started! I do hope this is very fluffy and very wholesome.

Feel free to request, sweetings!

Your dearest author,

NyxTheDeity.

[echologname]

In support of Sam x Danny

We never got to see what the relationship of the Phantom trio was like before the portal accident but I think it's mostly similar to how we see them in the show. To me, it seems like it's implied that Sam always secretly liked Danny and then one fateful day, she and Tucker witnessed him almost die, don't you think after something traumatic like that, it's harder to keep feelings for another inside? Also, after Danny got his powers and started fighting ghosts, Sam got to witness his bravery and willingness to help people put to extreme tests. She didn't fall in love with him because of cool powers, she genuinely fell in love with who he is. His new life as a halfa, like all trials in life, helped him to become a better person, throughout their adventures virtues were strengthened and vices were weakened and their friendship was matured through its testing. I don't see it but it's a common claim that Sam only started crushing on Danny AFTER he got his powers which paints her in a shallow view. So, I'd like to point out correlation does not necessarily equal causation. Clearly Danny went through big changes from the accident but I betcha Sam and Tucker weren't quite the same themselves and if one of them being a more prominent openness to showing affection then there's nothing wrong with that.

Whether friends or lovers, I think both work but I just wanted to say, Sam doesn't deserve the hate she gets from fans for canonically being the one to end up with Danny in the end. And who's to say it's a forever thing? Teens are constantly growing and changing and so are their romantic interests. It's OK to think you work together at one point and not so much the next. Their identities are still developing and so are their brains. And if they do stay together forever, no matter what happens, then isn't that all the more sweet and wholesome? Even if Sam had an inkling of ghostly bias towards liking him, it's totally the green eyes given how much she likes plants and nature (ironically green is the color of life and health).

The whole episode with Sam falling for the fake foreign exchange guy who looks a lot like Danny's ghost form doesn't help her case. I get it, because of an example like this, fans fear she likes Phantom more than Fenton. But his whole persona WAS all an act for the purpose of targeting what a specific girl likes like telling Sam he was a vegetarian then acted like a jock in front of cheerleaders. Or maybe this is what she needed, to see that like Danny, this guy also had an alter ego but he was using it deceptively for personal gain. Meeting Danny PHANTOM for the first time might have felt like meeting a new person to her, so a stranger from another country symbolizes that. Then the truth about him being a jerk comes out when he metaphorically, "drops his mask." Sam knows both sides of Danny and knows that he isn't like that guy at all, and she's seen for herself that he's still himself no matter what he looks like. He genuinely wants to help people and doesn't put on an act. Perhaps this failed relationship helped her realize how much Danny cares for her both as Fenton AND Phantom and that he's always been a good friend she can trust (he DID spy on her in the episode and of course Sam was offended but it didn't really hurt their relationship).

Disagreeing with them being together is still understandable but c'mon, how many relationships were you in that was also a cringe pairing? Relationships aren't perfect but the people that we were/are with have helped us understand ourselves and each other more. The person you're with now may be who you need to be with for a certain period of your life to help prepare you for the one you'll be with forever. It's important for even awkward and rash relationships to take their course so we can grow from them.

So, I think we can find it in our hearts to be more forgiving to some cartoon kids. Sam and Danny's relationship is an important part of their character development no matter how it turns out or how much the ship is hated.

[shvdwscng]

"that  depends  on  the  day."  he  tosses.  there  were  seldom  things  the  commander  would  ever  admit  to,  and  with  siara  he  did  not  need  to,  for  she  understood  all  that  he  did  not  say  and  read  between  the  lines  too  well.  it  was  still  quite  frightening  that  siara  was  able  to  see  through  the  walls  he  had  secured  so  well  around  him,  that  how  was  it  this  strange  woman  seemed  to  chip  away,  without  even  intending  to,  at  his  armor  until  there  was  seldom  left  for  him  to  hide.  kalore  enjoyed  his  reputation  as  the  enigma  commander,  his  gifts  only  known  to  a  handful  of  people,  but  it  seemed  that  siara  had  been  quick  to  piece  apart  the  daemati.  it  was  both  intriguing  even  it  had  been  unsettling,  and  it  certainly  had  caught  his  attention.  he  hadn't  set  out  to  intimidate  her  at  all  when  she  had  joined  the  inner  circle,  it  was  simply  a  response  he  was  used  to  from  others  in  his  presence.  he  should  have  know  she  would  not  fear  him,  the  steel,  unwavering  look  of  determination  in  her  gaze  when  she  sized  him  up,  that  despite  not  knowing  a  single  thing  of  her,  it  was  hard  to  deny  the  story  that  hid  behind  her  dark  hues.  a  story  he  wished  to  uncover  more  and  more  the  longer  he  was  within  her  presence.  then  kalore  could  not  understand  this  strange,  inexplicable  draw  to  her,  only  that  he  was  certain  even  if  he  had  denied  then,  that  she  had  been  made  for  him.  his  predictions  had  been  proven  right,  she  had  turned  his  life  upside  down,  but  in  a  manner  that  left  him  entirely  breathless.  in  a  manner  that  she  has  brought  him  back  to  life,  when  he  had  entirely  sealed  away  his  personal  desires  for  the  good  of  his  court,  to  carry  on  what  his  late  parents  had  began.  the  closer  he  was  drawn  to  her,  he  did  not  wish  to  be  alone,  that  he  needed  her  by  his  side  in  whatever  form  she  would  allow  him.  as  difficult  as  the  thought  was,  the  fears  taking  hold  that  when  she  learned  every  bit  of  him,  kalore  vanishes  the  thought  as  swiftly.  he  trusted  her,  and  understood  that  without  a  doubt  she  would  stand  by  his  side  regardless.  it  was  a  silent  promise  he  had  made  to  her,  that  before  he  went  any  further  into  her  mind,  he  would  first  allow  her  into  his.  if  he  claimed  to  love  her,  and  he  does,  without  a  doubt,  this  would  be  his  way  of  proving  it  to  her.  the  realization  had  settled  in  long  before  this  moment,  and  he  wondered  if  she  could  see  it  in  his  gaze.  "and  you  knew  this  long  before  i."

that  rare  look  of  tenderness  appears  on  his  features  as  he  watches  her.  "i  will  make  this  promise  to  you  for  that  alone  -  you  will  not  regret  all  that  you  have  given  me  of  yourself.  i  intend  to,  i  will,  offer  you  every  bit  of  myself  ,  as  you  deserve  nothing  less."  it  was  becoming  easier  to  allow  the  thoughts  of  her  to  be  spoken  between  them,  that  each  time  siara  displayed  her  vulnerability  it  made  him  wish  to  do  the  same  for  her.  that  her  efforts  did  not  go  unnoticed  that  he  knew  it  was  as  difficult  for  her  to  do  so,  as  it  was  for  him.  he  tried  for  her,  and  would  continued  to  do  so,  and  he  would  once  this  evening  was  over  and  they  were  alone,  he  would  keep  his  silent  promise  and  this  verbal  one.  he  simply  wished  to  hold  her  and  dance  with  her  tonight,  so  he  spins  her  gently  when  the  music  changed  before  reeling  her  back  against  his  frame,  once  more  as  she  expressed  her  thoughts  of  the  illyrian  mating  ceremony.  "then  how  fortunate  an  illyrian  claimed  so  that  she  cannot  be  rid  of  me  if  i  earn  her  ire."  this  bit  was  a  jest,  but  the  words  laced  with  something  far  deeper.  that  he  could  not  fathom  not  being  with  her,  after  all  that  they  shared,  he  didn't  wish  to  be  without  her,  without  his  heart  that  was  entirely  hers,  and  whatever  good  remained  in  his  compromised  soul.  "you  do  not  need  any  such  thing  to  know  i  am  yours.  nonetheless,  it  is  something  that  means  a  great  deal  to  you.  anything  that  is  imperative  to  you,  it  is  for  myself,  as  well."  kalore  wouldn't  deny  it  was  a  strange  feeling,  it  left  more  puzzled  and  intrigued,  and  while  he  was  never  one  to  dabble  in  such  ceremonies  or  rituals  as  a  whole,  what  she  wished  to  do  with  him  was  something  to  take  pride  in.  illyrians  were  guarded  and  protective  of  their  rituals,  and  something  he  was  certain  they  did  not  offer  to  high  fae.  the  commander  felt  only  a  sense  of  privilege  and  honor  that  she  had  deemed  him  worthy  of  being  a  part  of  that.  it  was  one  thing  to  be  close  friends  with  an  illyrian  but  another  to  lay  claim  to  something  so  sacred  to  them.  he  waits  with  baited  breath  when  he  all  but  demands  she  finish  her  earlier  thoughts,  the  word  she  cut  abruptly,  not  allowing  her  gaze  to  move  from  him  but  only  drawing  her  flush  against  him  as  his  arms  nearly  became  an  iron  grip  around  her,  careful  still  not  to  hurt  her.  he  doesn't  know  how  long  he's  yearned  to  hear  them  until  she  offers  them,  it  was  uttered  so  softly,  it  was  her  warm  breath  brushing  over  his  lips.  the  racing  of  his  heart  intensifies,  a  searing  hot  sensation  settling  in  his  being  as  her  words  echo  in  her  mind.  she  loves  him.  there  was  a  far  more  intense  look  in  his  gaze  allowing  her  to  read  what  she  confessed  to  him,  in  his  own,  "just  as  you  are  mine."  it  was  then  he  drew  her  closer,  slipping  a  hand  around  the  nape  of  her  neck  and  kissing  her  tenderly  but  with  the  ferocity  of  his  passion,  and  the  love  he  held  for  siara.  there  was  not  an  ounce  of  emotion  he  had  left  out  as  his  mouth  claimed  hers,  every  bit  of  long  his  longing  poured  into  the  kiss,  every  thought  that  crossed  his  mind  of  her,  felt  through  his  kiss  since.  kalore  had  waited,  impatiently  for  the  return  of  his  abilities  so  that  he  could  show  precisely  how  she  existed  in  mind and inside his being,  that  his  words  would  never  do  any  justice to encompass all the drew from. "as  i  love  you,  siara  darke.  my  brave  shadowsinger,  and  warrior."

"  you  enjoy  it.  "  she  replies  with  ease.  their  banter  has  always  come  simply,  almost  to  an  unsettling  point.  siara  was  a  confident  creature  by  design,  but  she  never  faltered  in  what  she  knew  of  kalore.  she  knew  who  he  was,  knew  what  he  was  made  of,  and  nothing  could  shift  that.  she  was  well  aware  that  she  did  not  know  him  fully,  but  that  would  come  eventually.  she  had  his  trust,  she  had  his  heart,  and  she  may  have  since  the  first  moment  their  paths  crossed.  siara  was  quite  used  to  being  feared,  but  she  could  easily  see  when  another  shared  that  sentiment.  too  used  to  men  who  liked  to  scare  her,  she  refused  to  let  the  commander  fall  into  that  category.  it  seemed  he  found  his  own,  nestled  in  a  place  she'd  not  identified.  his  gaze  had  cut  through  her,  read  into  her,  and  she  knew  he  didn't  even  need  his  abilities  to  do  so.  it  should  have  terrified  her,  and  while  it  may  have  in  the  beginning,  it  didn't  anymore.  kalore,  with  his  maddening  smirk  and  piercing  gaze,  had  shattered  her  barriers  and  made  a  home  for  himself.  a  laugh  slips  from  the  half  illlyrian,  no,  she  was  certain  nothing  could  prepare  someone  for  her  love,  for  she  hadn't  even  expected  to  ever  offer  it…  or  have  it  stolen.  "  no,  i  suppose  nothing  could  have.  "  agrees  she.  the  spymaster  let  her  gaze  linger  in  his  own,  dark  eyes  cast  into  his,  as  if  she  could  summon  his  thoughts  to  her  own  mind.  she  could  tell  without  a  doubt  that  her  commander  was  thinking  of  something,  and  the  thoughts  were  consuming  him.  she  wanted  to  climb  inside  of  his  mind  and  pull  them  out  for  herself.  siara  was  impatient,  but  she  reminded  herself  that  he  would  share  when  he  was  ready,  and  she  hoped  it  was  soon.  

"  and  you've  been  the  first  and  only  to  be  many  things  to  me.  it  means  something.  "  she  shares.  siara  doesn't  give  away  anything  easily,  she  never  has.  but  for  kal,  she  finds  sometimes  that  spelling  it  out  isn't  so  hard  to  do.  the  way  he  listens  to  her,  she  can  see  things  connecting  in  his  mind,  and  still  words  remain  unsaid  from  his  lips.  siara  wants  to  push,  wants  to  pull  them  from  his  tongue,  but  she  instead  allows  him  this  time.  "  you're  right,  once  we  claim  something,  we  refuse  to  let  go.  but,  i  suppose  one  doesn't  need  a  formal  ceremony  to  feel  that  way.  "  she  hints  at  already  feeling  as  much  towards  him,  and  smirks  a  bit  at  the  mention  of  his  best  friend.  she  knew  the  general  was  dear  to  kal,  even  if  she  avoided  him.  kerim  may  not  be  her  father,  but  his  position  and  history  alone  made  her  weary.  another  chuckle,  he's  right,  she  is  capable  of  making  her  behave  when  it  was  important.  she  just  enjoyed  calculated  disobedience.  his  closeness  makes  her  shiver,  the  gaze  he  offers  intense  and  burning.  his  words  settle  in  her  soul,  and  push  for  a  response  that  she  doesn't  bite  out  yet,  not  when  his  next  words  demand  something  from  her  even  more  difficult  to  say  aloud.  her  smirk  falters,  but  she  recovers  quickly,  nothing  ever  went  missed  by  her  commander.  he'd  cornered  her,  and  the  illyrian  woman  knew  when  she  was  between  a  sheer  force  of  nature  and  a  wall.  she  didn't  want  to  be  the  one  to  say  it  first,  content  to  leave  the  four  letter  word  unsaid,  but  here  they  were.  her  own  heart  beat  fiercely  in  her  chest,  and  she  could  feel  his  beneath  the  tips  of  her  fingers  gracing  his  chest.  he  knew,  he  had  to,  he  just  wanted  her  to  say  it  out  loud.  she  knew  it,  he  wouldn't  let  it  go  nor  would  he  let  her  hide.  her  shadows  gone,  striped  from  her,  and  so  she  was  left  bare  with  her  emotions  on  a  plate  for  him.  pride  and  fear  wrestled  inside  of  the  half  fae,  but  she  knew  with  certainty  there  was  no  going  back  now.  he  belonged  to  her  in  a  way  that  no  force  could  break,  and  so  the  spymaster  takes  a  slow,  steadying  breath.  "  my  commander.  my  partner.  my  love.  mine.  "  she  says,  breathless,  words  easier  the  moment  they  leave  her  lips.  siara  may  not  be  asking  him  to  do  the  ceremony,  may  not  be  asking  for  a  bargain  tattoo  to  show  their  commitment  to  all  eyes,  but  her  words  are  as  binding  as  any  of  that. 

[zoennes]

25 NOVEMBER, 2019 ✦ MAANDAG, 20:02

[vanhelsingapologist]

Strahdposting (with possible spoilers so tread lightly)

One of the worst things about Strahd in our campaign is that he's not overtly forced anyone to do anything. His underlings have, sure, but never him. He just waits for us to eliminate our options all on our own, and then presents us with his way. And of course, his way is the easiest. He'll even make it easier. We keep falling into the pit because he ensures we dig it ourselves.

We're almost past the point where he wants to bargain with us and I'm nervous about what happens when he stops being the devil we know and becomes something else altogether.

The recent reveal that there were other parties before ours has been so shattering for us, I think, because it made us all realize that our party is an amusement until it is an inconvenience, and then we'll be insects in the garden that have overstayed our welcome. And then he'll start with the force.

[vaguely-concerned]

I've been trying to figure out a dynamic between neve and rye that I find more compelling, because right now there's not much of anything there for me to sink my little teeth into. but I think I've landed on something delicious with the idea that especially after minrathous gets fucked, rye looks at neve and sees myrna -- someone he feels he keeps letting down horribly no matter how hard he tries not to and can't quite achieve the approval of/connection with that he wishes so it's better to just pull away completely and disengage rather than stay in that unshifting shame. neve is (very understandably) measured and distant with him after what happened, and he's flashing back to his student days of myrna gazing at the perpetually hungover heartbroken heap of a person of him on the other side of her desk every time he missed the deadline of a paper or project like '...can we at least both agree that this is. a bit disappointing. especially considering your potential.' (and him all smudged black eyeshadow and numb ruefulness being like 'sure that's a very kind way to put it myrna thank you'.)

aside from the 'if I let him get too deeply into this he'll go the way of brom and it'll be all my fault (again)' element, neve thinks rye is dismissing her and her city/being a bit callous in the same way he was after varric's death (listen. how fucking wild must rook's reaction to losing a beloved mentor seem to the rest of the crew who aren't seeing the blood magic paper doll ghost varric the whole time, especially those who got to see them interact. you WOULD think 'there's something wrong with this guy. putting the job first is one thing just not seeming to react at all is another this is fucking freaky', wouldn't you, especially after seeing the warmth in that dynamic in action beforehand.) perfect storm of two people who grit their teeth and turn inwards in pain deciding that not talking about it is their best bet (NEWSFLASH: IT ISN'T) lmao

(rye spent his last year of watcher training on a mostly joyless bender and then got it together enough to finish the eternal orb project last moment in a fevered near-sleepless week instead of the half a year that was intended. emmrich is both astounded and distressed to hear this. "a week? but -- but that is an astounding accomplishment rook!! and also why in the maker's good light would you ever do that to yourself?" ("well you see there was no one to stop me from doing it like that but me. and under those conditions these things tend to happen".) rye was working through/looking up stuff around transitioning and doing every kind of OTHER high level watcher research through that whole time, but ultimately he's an excellent watcher and a terrible student, at least under traditional methods. adhd from here to the fucking moon. touched by something akin to divine inspiration in moments of high tension that pulls all the threads into one coherent unbreakable cord, a bit of a frayed mess in most other settings. in our world he'd be dropping out of a masters program at the very last hurdle in this moment maker bless and protect him)

[hecksupremechips]

Ashton Frey is literally so autistic though like it’s got me making organized lists here let’s see

He’s carefully mastered the art of observation and reading people cuz he was so bored as a kid being forced to attend large social gatherings and he isolated himself and just studied the way people interacted with each other to figure out why they behaved the way they did. Despite this, he’s still really bad at understanding social cues (he is never able to tell when Rebecca is upset or what could’ve caused it, he can’t word anything properly, he talks in such a logical way that he comes off as uncaring and he doesn’t notice when it upsets people, etc) and generally doesn’t interact with most people

He’s very intelligent but hated school because the system was structured so horribly. He fell asleep in professor Andrew’s class frequently but once the professor found a way to appeal to his interests he became super committed and passionate

He’s horrible, just absolutely horrible with words and communication lol. He fumbles and stutters and says a lot of mean things on accident. He mostly communicates through his actions and it’s why he comes off as cruel and uncaring to those who don’t pick up on it and kind and considerate to those who do pick up on it (my favorite example is the difference between Rebecca and Isabella’s feelings towards him. Rebecca relies on Ashton to tell her how he feels and because he doesn’t communicate very good verbally, she assumes he doesn’t care about her when he in fact cares a great deal. Isabella on the other hand is able to get on his level a bit more, like understanding that even though he teased her about the letter he still took his day off to help her in the way he thought was best and he gave her ice cream and the charm because he cares, and she is able to see just how loving he really is)

Earning his trust isn’t easy but once you get it he WILL cling to you like crazy and shower you with memes and bad puns and do anything to make you happy

He gets a lot of attention for being hot but he’s usually oblivious to it or finds the attention annoying. He also tends to turn people off with his personality

He fixates so hard on what’s important to him that it’s detrimental to his physical and mental health and he shuts out everything else to pursue his interests

He categorizes his life into boxes and HATES when things slip out of their needed space. He finds himself lying a lot to the people important to him because he’s so desperate to keep them away from the other parts of his life. He is easily transformed by the people in his line of work and finds himself becoming like them. Also he’s kinda gullible in his job and doesn’t realize he’s been manipulated by his boss since day one cuz teehee cops are fucking assholes and he has a naive sense of justice and easily believes everything his boss tells him and it makes him the perfect pawn for some abuse (seriously i hate chief lee so fucking much god I hate him Ashton baby I’m sorry but you’re being manipulated and your boss is a monster and you need to get a better career dude)

He’s very insecure and scared of rejection and beats himself up for minor flaws. He also has trouble understanding his feelings and expressing them he tries to logic his way out of feeling and only cries when he’s hit absolute rock bottom and is like. Told that he needs to cry because he’s clearly not holding up well and only then is he able to

He’s got a damn good memory and remembers every obscure thing about his friends

He’s very attached to objects and gives them names (Shirley and Ophelia my beloved)