#it's so much fun to come up with ideas for these characters...

[angelltheninth]

When Arcane Men Get Jealous

Pairing: Viktor, Jayce, Ekko, Vander, Silco, Finn, Marcus, Loris, Steb x Fem!Reader

Tags: fluff, jealousy, possessive behavior, being protective, kissing in public, biting, holding hands, public display of affection, canon typical violence, suggestive

Ko-Fi | Rules | Fandoms and Characters | Commissions

A/N: Would die if they were jealous over me. Melt into a puddle. Gone.

When Viktor gets jealous he gets a bit more withdrawn than he usually is. Not that he was ever a social butterfly, however he was always more open and happy to talk when it was with you. So his behavior is odd, he even seems to get quieter whenever you walk into the room. Like he's trying to remove himself from you with silence.

"I am not avoiding you. Look, there has been a lot to do for the past week, I'm sorry if you got a bad impression but I was simply busy. If you want more company, go ask Jayce, or Skye, I'm sure they will be more than happy to entertain you, darling."

Viktor is short with his answers, saying as little as possible to minimize the amount of time he spends talking to you. Not because he doesn't want to talk to you, he loves talking to you, but if he keeps talking there's a chance he might say something he's going to regret. And end up hurting you.

"There you go again with these ridiculous accusations. You won't leave it alone will you? So now it's my fault that your project is running late? I would have been happy to help but someone was too busy talking with... you know what, nevermind. You're right, we both have a lot to do, so let's just drop this conversation and focus on work."

If you keep getting in the way of his work, Viktor will eventually come to a breaking point. Him not being able to work is only adding to his emotions, and he's never been the best at dealing with them. While he doesn't exactly yell at you, it's very rare that he ever raises his voice there's a notable frustration in his words, and pain, fear that you'd leave.

"If I'm being so unreasonable then leave. Go. Have fun. I know it's not idea to be cooped up in the lab all the time. There are so many more things to do out there. if you... want to go with other people I suppose I can't stop you, nor can I stop my own jealousy. How am I being even more unreasonable? I know you wouldn't leave me without talking about it. Look... I do not... want you to leave, working is more fun with you. But am I truly all that you want? Me? This lab? Because you're all I want. All that I can think of."

When Jayce gets jealous he keeps invading your personal space when you're around the person or people he's jealous of. His behavior is nothing innapropriate or pushy. It's just his arm around your waist, just him bringing you that drink you wanted, just him bragging about you a bit too loud and saying how much he loves you.

"You really are great, babe. How in Runterra did I ever find a beauty like you huh? What's that bashfulness for now, I always praise you, and I'm never gonna stop. You're my girl right? I can be a proud boyfriend and talk you up every once in a while."

Physical affection a big deal to Jayce and a way he shows he cares but also a giveaway to his jealousy. He holds your hand longer, his eyes flicker between you and the one he's jealous off, his smile is a bit more nervous when he has to leave you alone. Then there are his kisses, not as gentle, not a little, quick peck on the edge of your lips but a real kiss, lips pressed against yours until you let him know you need air.

"Got a bit carried away there. Ah, sorry, I can't resist you sometimes. All the time. Do you expect me to when you wear lipstick like that? Makes your lips look like they're made to be kissed. By me specifically. I'd kiss you all night long, for the rest of our lives and never get tired of it."

Jayce keeps denying that he's jealous when you bring it up in a teasing way. Logically there's no reason to get jealous, everyone knows your relationship is doing great, in fact you're hardly ever fighting and even when you are it doesn't last too long. How does he turn that part of his brain off? How can he not get jealous when all those people look at you the way he looks at you?

"They're always looking at you. How can you not notice? It's so obvious. You don't notice because... you're only looking at me? That doesn't even make sense! Of course they're looking, you're breathtaking everywhere you go. I just hope that wherever you go, you'll always take me with you, because I want to be by your side forever."

Ekko often jokes about being jealous so you don't pick up on him actually being jealous. A little jealousy is fine but not when it's getting in the way of his missions and operations with his team. He'd been a bit distracted in the past, by one of the Firelights flying too close to you, so he pushed his way between you two.

"It was the formation! Which you would have remembered if you weren't too busy chatting. Come on, Firefly, get your head in this. Otherwise you're gonna make your leader jealous. Wouldn't want that right? What if... what if you get demoted for it? Hey! Ow! I wouldn't demote you, who would listen to all my plans?"

When you have free time together Ekko makes sure to spend as much time with you as possible. If you're together all the time there's less chance that someone else will swoop in and flirt with you. He would never describe his behavior as being clingy, all he wants is to spend free time with his girlfriend. That is perfectly normal behavior.

"What do you say we go out to get some food? We don't have to spend all our time here. Not like the tree is gonna burn down if we're away for a couple of hours right? Besides it's been a while since it was just you and me all alone. Miss being alone with you. Don't you miss it too?"

If the person he's jealous of ever puts you in danger in any way Ekko will go off on them. Harder than he scolded others in the past. He might let some of his jealousy show then, but he storms off, well flies off before you can talk to him. As much as he wants to be alone he also makes room for you on his hoverboard when you float down next to him.

"Shouldn't have went off on them like that. I know, you don't gotta say it, I'll say I'm sorry. Let cool off a bit. You'd think that if they were flirting with you that much they could have been looking out a bit better. I'm always looking out for you. Maybe a bit too much. Sorry if I've been weird about it lately. Would you forgive me if I took you on a romantic hoverboard ride?"

No one wants to piss off a big man like Vander by flirting with his wife. Everyone values their life and their bones too much. But... they stare at you. Quite openly actually. You see it, and you bet he sees it too. He sees everything that's happening at his bar and he won't stand for someone ogling his wife, even if he has to get aggressive about it.

"It's my damn bar, I've got the right to break the table with their heads when they're looking at ya like that. Tell ya what, a lot more people would avoid this place if I started beating up every asshole that looks at ya wrong. Only reason I don't is cause I don't want ya to be mad at me after."

He hasn't banned anyone from his bar in a very long time. Vander knows he tolerates a lot, this is Zaun, and some people don't have the best manners, that's not exactly their fault. But on the other hand if they start something with him then he will finish it. When he tells them to stop looking at you like you like you were one of Babette's workers and they get in his face he will pick them up and throw them out.

"Bastards had it coming. I tried to be nice, then they had to go and call ya names. Ain't no way in hell I'm gonna let anyone insult my wife. Not here, not on the streets, not anywhere. I went there and I wanted to talk to them, tell them to fuck the hell off, they were the ones who started getting violent. So I responded in kind."

Vander calls you over to the bar a bit more often if he sees a particular table is trying to monopolize you. He carries some of the drinks over, the food plates too, or he simply walks up behind you when one of the guys is getting flirty. Seeing his imposing, huge frame behind you, his muscles bulging, is enough to get most to back off you.

"See, darlin', I can talk things out just fine. When people are being smart about it that is. Might have to stop selling so much booze in this place, then they won't be so bold with ya. Ya are a pretty sight, I can't say otherwise. But ya are a pretty sight for me, not them, ain't that right? Mhm. I know, I'm all yer's too."

Silco never ever says he's jealous of anyone. He is the most powerful man in all of Zaun, everyone is scared of him and with good reason. As the Eye of Zaun he knows when people are looking, talking too, and might even try to touch you. Those people are often payed a not so nice visit by his men.

"I did hear about that gang, yes. It's very unfortunate that they don't know how to keep their noses where they don't belong. It's not that big of a loss on our end. There are a hundred people who can do their work, and better. All that matters is that they won't even have to think about not touching you again."

He rarely has to get his own hands dirty when he gets jealous. All it takes is him saying who the target or targets are and he makes them dissapear from Zaun. That doesn't always have to be deadly, but if they're really dumb it is. If Silco feels that you're in some kind of danger then he will keep you close by. He tries to distract you from seeing he's jealous.

"All I'm saying is that we could take a break from work. Sevika and Jinx can handle a week of it. And you and me can lock ourselves up in our home and not come out. The bedroom works perfectly fine too, if you'd rather spend our time in there. And what is it that I'm doing, darling? Jealous? You are an observant one. I wouldn't want you any other way."

The only time Silco will threaten someone in person is if that someone is bold enough to flirt with you in front of them. He can scare people within an inch of their life just by talking to them, he's not just a good businessman, and some people tend to forget that. He has Zaun in the palm of his hand, and everyone in it.

"He did not actually piss himself. Did he actually. Hm, I wasn't look at him anymore to be honest. He was spineless, surprising given he talked to you like he did. Guess he was thinking with his other head a bit too much for his own good. Why are you looking at me that way? Ah, I see. Looks like someone enjoyed watching me put a scumbag into his place a bit too much."

Since Finn isn't someone who would take anything lying down he will be damned before he sees someone coming onto his woman and not do anything about it. He might have a certain charm about him but that doesn't mean he's not ready to makes heads roll the moment when someone crosses any kind of line with you. Imaginary or otherwise.

"Hah, did you see that doll? As soon as I threw one punch he went down. All his buddies ran like rats. Left him all alone there. After all that tough talk and he couldn't even defend himself. Serves him right. He's lucky all I did was break his nose when he flirted with you. I wasn't even that far away."

Finn will make out with you in front of who ever he is jealous of just to prove a point to them. And while he has you moaning, has your head buried against his neck and your body running hot he will look at the other person and stick his tongue out at them, right before making a V with his fingers and putting his tongue between them. He's vulgar but it gets the point across very well.

"All these people looking at what's mine. Now, I can't have that right? I love that you're showing off your body, it's a great body, you know how much I love it. But sometimes I want to keep you away from prying eyes. And if I can't the least I can do is give them a show. Make them know I'm the only one who can touch you."

His jacket is a signature part of his outfit, but Finn will let you wear it. Hell, he will walk over and drape it over your shoulders while not even looking at whoever you're talking to. Sometimes they're not worth looking at when he can look at the pretty way you blush as you touch his hand that's lingering on your shoulder.

"Thought you looked a bit cold there. Keep this on all night. Later on I'll help you warm up my way, a much more fun way. Don't even worry about your perfume getting all into this, love having your scent all over me. And by tomorrow you're gonna be wearing all of my marks."

There are a lot of people in the Enforcers who tease Marcus about having such a pretty wife. He knows you're pretty, but he doesn't like that the department is noticing it so much as well. Not that there's any way for him to hide it, or that he wants you to hide it, that would be a real crime.

"I was not pouting. That is so childish. I was glaring at them. Well, they were the ones who stared first. You visit me at work, like that's such a big deal. We're married, honey, I pick you up from work too. Why is it such a big deal here? I think they're just trying to get a rise out of me."

Won't deny that he's feeling jealous or shy away from showing it. When Marcus notices any of his men flirting with you he makes them work extra hard that day, he gives them more paperwork, something that everyone hates there, or assigns them to the toughest jobs that he knows will take them days to complete. He can't help but chuckle when you visit again and they're too tired to flirt with you, they just say hello.

"What do you mean I'm picking on them? Of course not. You know how hard it is to deal with all these extra cases. Someone has to take on a few more. No, the fact that it's the same Enforcers who gave you flowers that one time has nothing to do with it. You think it does? And do you have evidence of this accusation?"

Marcus isn't shy about kissing you in front of the whole department. If that's what it takes to send them all a clear message to back off. It's always perfectly chaste kisses, but he does make sure that everyone hears him say he loves you when you leave. He smirks when eyes turn to him and he wishes them all a good rest of their day.

"Now you call me petty. All of these accusations and you still don't have any evidence. That's not a very good way to have a case. You've been keeping count have you? Oh. You... actually have been keeping count? I'm guilty? Fine, you got me, you got me. Maybe... that was a little petty of me, but I'm not sorry."

Every time Loris is jealous it's almost impossible for him to hide that fact. He's a big guy, nothing about him is easy to his, not even his emotions. And he's loud, so every time he huffs, mumbles something, or grunts you hear it. Your eyes meet and he looks away, his hand grasping yours and running his thumb over the back of your hand.

'They were staring at you a bit too much for my liking, pretty girl. If they were as tough as they pretend they were they should have held their ground more. Proves they were all bark and no bite. People like that really get on my nerves, and then they talk to my girl like she's single."

Loris invites you to have lunch with him quite often, even more often when he gets jealous of someone who works with him. Dealing with them in any other way would be unprofessional of him, and might get him in trouble. This way he gets to avoid that, avoid them, and spend a nice lunch date with you. No matter how you look at it he's the real winner here.

"Looks so good. But if you keep looking at me like that I might get hungry for something else besides the food. Just try shifting the blame on me when you know exactly how you're looking at me right now. I wouldn't risk it at work, but... if you showed up with a few hickeys on your neck it might get the rest of the department to stop flirting with you."

As much as he tries to make his jealousy go away it's not easy. Loris knows he should be an example for others, after all he had been an Enforcer for a long time, he can't just let his emotions get the better of him. Hard to keep those emotions down when they concern you. If nothing else works he will intimidate people. Easy enough for him. But he would rather that be a last resort.

"If he wasn't ready to throw fists and words at me then he shouldn't have thrown flirty words at you. He should be able to back himself up if he's gonna be saying stuff like that. All I did was pick him up and throw him outside. Hey, I might get in a bit of trouble for it, but at least he'll leave you alone from now on. I'd risk my badge for you if I have to, you know that."

Since he is the quiet type Steb shows his emotions and jealousy is one that he works hard to surpress. Every time he notices that someone is standing a little too close to you he walks over and looks at you, lovingly, then he looks at the other person with a glare, a deadly one. All the while he's standing shoulder to shoulder with you.

"Come now, angelfish, they weren't even worth your time. We both know they only had one thing in mind when they were talking to you. I could see it in their eyes. I don't appreciate that they looked at you like that. And I know you don't either. So I felt like I had to step in."

He is very physical with his jealousy. Steb lets his eyes and touches linger a few moments longer when he wants to make a point to someone. While he knows you don't hate it he also doesn't want to come off as too jealous or too possessive over you. You can take care of yourself and he loves that about you, he's watched you put people in their place often, but there are times where he can't hold himself back.

"I could feel your fingers interlocking with mine. You wanted me to stand close to you when they weren't leaving you alone. Would you have raised your voice if I hadn't walked over? It would be amusing to see it. But I think those kisses we shared also sent an equally powerful message. You didn't have to bit me though."

Steb nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck when he's feeling really, really jealous of someone. He makes it look less possessive than it is, pretending like he's overhearing something you have to say, and then pushing himself just a little bit closer. His cold lips make contact with your neck, sending shivers down your body before he brushes your lips with his thumb and leaves with a smirk.

"That ought to be enough. I could have done more but marking you in public might have been a step too far. We can enjoy things like that in private however. I enjoy being close to you in any context, and if it makes others realize you're not looking for anyone because you've already got a man then I enjoy it even more."

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

You mentioned how ace's dream was like a vague fanfiction addressing some fun fandom theories and ideas but I think whats the best part about it was how the progression up to that point made sense. Theyve dropped so many moments showing ace caring dearly for yuu to the point where this dream as fanservicey like that it was it feels natural for ace to have such a dream if that makes sense WAAGH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH

What did you think of the dream though ms raven? The dream made me wail so badly ough hes finally cried too m sure hes been through a lot 🥹 seeing cater talk to ace so sincerly it hits me so hard in the feels im so glad hes finally got to cry (a little anyways)

Ace’s dream felt like fanfiction, but at least it felt natural or like everything up to this point was leading up to this being his wish. I unfortunately cannot say that for several other dreams. Certainly ones definitely felt egregious or contrived. Some were largely fanservice (Savanaclaw Rook, dorm leader Cater, delinquent Deuce) or just excuses to make new cards (merform twins), even if it didn’t make complete sense for the character to wish for it.

dgjswvizjsowk I know you’re probably expecting me to comment on Ace in his own darn dream, but I actually have a lot more to say about Cater. Ace’s motivations + butting heads with the rescue squad were what I expected them to be (though I give him props for being the only character so far to resist waking up right away). More on my precursory thoughts in this post (but based the exact wording of your ask. I’d be tired to guess you’ve already read it 😅)! But CATER????? TELL ME WHY HE WAS THE GOAT THIS UPDATE 😭

Cater does SO much???? First he suggests the third years help Trey cook BBQ so the darkness is distracted while the others can isolate Ace and try to wake him. When that attempt fails, Cater pretends to agree with Leona’s proposal to leave Ace behind to bait Deuce to come after him to play as his support. Cater sitting down to have a heart-to-heart convo with Ace??? And then mercilessly using his UM to gang up on Ace and beat him up??? 😭 Him reminding Ace about his courage facing off against OB Riddle… Cater confessing he wanted to run, but being encouraged to join the fight because aaaaah his kouhai looked so cool and dashing!! Thanking Ace??? Finally verbalizing some of his feelings???!?!?!?!???! CATER PULLING ACE OUT OF THE DARK????? MY GOD… OTL ThE biG BRoTHER EnERGGY WaS SO DTRONgGGGGGggGGGGG

And he kept this up even into Trey’s dream???????? Where Cater once again does a TON. He volunteers to investigate since makes the most sense (he is a Heartslabyul student so it’s not shady to be in the dorm and his UM is useful for combat). Cater also the third years with him into the kitchen to have a look around. Him saying he’s impressed with Silver’s will and how he would’ve given up so much sooner if he were him???? Dropping interesting lore about Trey??? Cater admitting that he has always been a spectator and now realizes he should have done more than just watch events unfold???

CATER CONSISTeNTLY puTTING hIMSELF AnD THE THirD YEARS IN hARm’s WAy FiRST… StRAtEGIzING… mAnIPULATING… AND ACTUAL SELF-REFLECTION AnD SINCERiTY????

Cater got to shine SO much this update, especially in Ace’s dream. He really came off like a big brother figure to Ace. A little mean, but also able to be so very vulnerable with him. Him not wanting to give up on Ace even though he later says if he were Silver, he’d have given up on everyone a while ago… MAN. CaTER cARES SO muCHHHHHhhh 😭 This might actually bump him up a little in my tier list… I didn’t like him much before 💦

[pukefactory]

I'm not sure if you take twisted!reader requests, but if you do. Then could I request platonic Twisted!user who is surprisingly chill and non-violent with RnD?

Hehe, of course! This is such an adorable concept, and I had a lot of fun writing it. I ended up making it a headcanon post instead of a short story because I had too many ideas for just one scenario—I hope that’s alright!

────༺ LIFEJAM ༻────

ᗢ Summary: A compilation of headcanons featuring RnD with a Twisted reader

ᗢ Character(s): Razzle and Dazzle (Dandy’s World)

ᗢ Genre: Headcanons, Fluff, SFW

ᗢ Warning(s): None - Completely Safe!

⟢ When they first encounter you, RnD are terrified, just as they would be with any other Twisted. However, when they realize you mean no harm, they lower their defenses and attempt to communicate. Razzle does his best to speak with you, while Dazzle remains hesitant, voicing his concerns—though Razzle quickly dismisses them, albeit with some uncertainty of his own. Yet, due to your unexpectedly calm nature, they both gradually relax the more Razzle interacts with you.

⟢ Eventually, you wander off, leaving RnD to fill the ichor machines alone. As they work, they catch a glimpse of you chasing another toon around the area. They immediately stop and rush to their friend’s aid, but the moment you spot them, you halt, simply staring at RnD before turning around and walking away once more—leaving them, and everyone else, even more confused than before.

⟢ After finishing with their respective machines, RnD begins searching the area for items for themselves and their teammates. During their venture, they are intercepted by you, who nonchalantly hands them a box of bandages without a word. Before they can thank you, you walk off, only to return moments later with a first aid kit just for them. Finally, they get the chance to express their gratitude. Though you simply nod in response before scurrying away again, the pair remain very thankful for your help—even if they find you a bit perplexing.

⟢ Actually, you may go a bit overboard when giving RnD items. While you do hand them useful supplies, you also give them anything you come across—chocolate bars, candy, sodas—just whatever happens to be lying around. You provide so much in such a short time that they eventually have to start stacking everything in a corner. The rest of the toons are frustrated that you’ve left them with nothing, not even a single item. However, at least they can rely on RnD for whatever they need, and your constant gift-giving keeps you distracted, allowing them to work on their machines in peace.

⟢ Once the floor is nearly cleared of items, RnD decides to keep you occupied and away from the other toons by showing you what you’ve given them. They attempt to explain what each item is, which ones they prefer, and which they don’t. Though this was originally meant as a distraction, the pair soon become engrossed in their one-sided conversation while you calmly listen, occasionally responding with muffled groans. It’s nice to have someone who listens.

⟢ Just because you get along with RnD doesn’t mean the other Twisteds do. If another Twisted tries to attack them, you immediately become hostile, chasing them off and, in some cases, even attacking them. You take on the role of RnD’s personal protector, driving away any threats that come their way. They appreciate your vigilance—at least until you start turning your attention toward the toons. At that point, RnD has to quickly find a way to distract you before you can harm their friends.

⟢ When it’s time to leave, RnD feels conflicted about abandoning you but ultimately knows they have no choice. As they depart, guilt lingers, and they briefly consider finding a way to bring you along—until they realize you would be a danger to the other toons. That’s okay, though, because they can always visit, and they do! You may not be much for conversation, but you’re kind, protective, and always ready to help when needed. Even if you’re not who you once were, RnD still cares about you deeply—and that means something.

[sky-scribbles]

Next up on Things I Liked About Veilguard: the faction leaders. We all know some of the factions and their NPCs did not get anything like the amount of content and character that others did (Strife and Irelin I'm so sorry, I still love you), but sometimes I take a step back and realise how wonderful the stuff we did get was.

I mean - Evka and Antoine. Everything about them is so heartfelt. I hadn't read the supplemental material, but they barely needed to interact before I understood why this sweet, smart guy and this tough, smart woman loved each other. They affirm each other constantly. They respect each other so deeply. They have written letters for the other to take to their Callings: a cipher only Antoine could read. Je t'aime. Je t'aimerai toujours.

I love how Myrna and Vorgoth are introduced, suddenly and unsettlingly there in the Lighthouse. I love Vorgoth speaking in all caps. I love the fact that nobody knows what they are. I love that they raised baby Ingellvar. I love how Myrna is calm and polished while every so often coming out with the absolute wildest shit. They're fun.

The Viper and Tarquin? Top tier. They might be my favourites, just because of how much they have going on. Each of them has a backstory, and you can see exactly how those backstories produced their personalities. Ashur has a secret identity you can piece together from notes and codexes (and it's the funniest identity possible). I love their argument over Ashur's paranoid investigation into Tarquin, because it shows that the world goes on when Rook is not in the room, and the NPCs have relationships that go through ups and downs.

I'm mildly insane over the level of devotion, with Tarquin's desperate letters to the Wardens if Ashur is blighted, begging for a cure Ashur won't take. Him standing over Ashur to defend him in the final mission, or else his devastating reaction if Ashur dies: 'It should have been me!' God, these NPCs are alive. (fun fact: I wrote most of this post, and then Sheryl Chee confirmed these two were written as being in love with each other and stupid about it. I'm so happy.)

Speaking of NPCs who love each other: Teia and Viago, my beloveds. Again, I was coming in without the supplemental material, and I was sold on them so fast. The way Viago tenderly cradles Teia from behind as they mourn Caterina. The way they're so involved in Lucanis's personal quests - they're his family, they're there for him, they love him. I love Teia's fierceness and her heart. I love their banter - so much mutual understanding, exasperation and affection mixed together. 'We know each other too well to be strangers.'

Isabela is as wonderful as she always is - I especially appreciate how her depiction in Veilguard makes it clear just how loving she is. But can we also talk about Rowan? (I don't know if she's technically considered a faction leader, but meh.) I love her poetic speech patterns; I love that she's a scholar who wrote a bunch of codex entires; I love her calm, soothing voice. I love getting to see a Rivani Seer at last. And I love how she'll suddenly turn around and say, still calm and soothing, 'Spirit of Determination: may your enemies die bitter and in pain.' Perfect, no notes.

Strife and Irelin, sadly, drew the shortest straw when it came to being fleshed out in-game. But what I do love about them is their relationships with your companions. I love the tiny detail of Irelin, Bellara's ex, helping her pack for the Lighthouse; I love how she writes to Bellara to beg her to take care of herself, because she still matters to her.

And while I am a profound Emmrook lover, I appreciate Emmrich/Strife so much too. I love their shared curiosity and sense of adventure; I love thinking that Emmrich might give Strife tenderness that his life has lacked, while Strife could help nudge Emmrich toward boldness. I love the idea of two older men who likely think love has passed them by suddenly going, oh. If the Veil Jumpers didn't get a deeper relationship with Rook, at least they got relationships with Rook's friends.

Dragon Age games always give us a fun roster of companions, but honestly? Veilguard got me invested in the non-companion NPCs more than any other game in the series. Yes, there should have been more - but what we got was so much fun.

tl;dr: Faction leaders, my beloveds.

[springismss]

ᱬ ࣪𖤐 thoughts of cosplayer! satoru while taking a break from vessel satoru (a w.i.p).

g/n! reader and sfw.

as always, reblogs/likes are always appreciated! enjoy! ᱬ ࣪𖤐

links; jjk masterlist | masterlist

cosplayer! satoru who is quite a popular person in the community, may or may not have over 4m followers on each platform and gains more by the second.

cosplayer! satoru who is known mainly for cosplaying characters with blue eyes, because let’s face it, he hates the thought of wearing contacts to change his eye colour.

cosplayer! satoru who, despite hating the thought of wearing contacts, will still cosplay other characters and wear them if needed - he’d rather show off his stunning blues.

cosplayer! satoru who spends time and money, which isn’t an issue, on making his own costumes and accessories as well as styling his own wigs. sure he has the money to buy them already made but where’s the fun in that? he needs everyone to admire his hard work and obvious skill. How else will they know him as the best?

cosplayer! satoru who makes sure to book himself into every single convention he can find at a time. that one’s that’s a few months away? check, he’s making plans of who he’s going to go as as he clicks confirm. the one that’s next year easily? he’s already booked into the hotel room and drafting up new cosplay ideas to bring to the table.

cosplayer! satoru who loves to post sneak peeks and previews of his upcoming lineups just so his fans can hype him up even more - this guy loves all the attention.

cosplayer! satoru who receives a ton of fan mail as well as fan art of him as various characters. he has a wall in his office dedicated to the stuff his fans send, they’re one of the main reasons why he loves doing what he does.

cosplayer! satoru who spends the days at cons letting fans take photos, taking part in group photos, showing off his cosplay as well as walking around artist alleys being sure to buy from small businesses because they make the most adorable pieces and he has to add them to his collections.

cosplayer! satoru who is aimlessly scrolling trough his tiktok one day after filming some drafts when he comes across a video from an account he’s sure he hasn’t seen before. he would know everyone he has on his fyp so this video came as a bit of a shock.

cosplayer! satoru who clicks in the comments to see that his friends photographer! suguru and vlogger! shoko have hyped up the person in the video, with comments of thanks and love being replied to them both. just who is this random person?

cosplayer! satoru who taps on the profile to be met with a page full of videos showcasing the various characters they’ve cosplayed over the years. finding that he has quite a few mutuals with the person and may or may not have met you a few times without realising.

cosplayer! satoru who ended up spending a good few hours scrolling through your page, smiling at some of the videos you posted, even your out-of-cosplay ones before scrolling back up to the top and tapping that follow button - receiving a notification a few hours later that you followed him back.

cosplayer! satoru books another con with his friends and posts in the group chat about it, finding out from photographer! suguru and vlogger! shoko that you’ll also be attending with some of your own friends. who ends up suggesting that you should all meet up and spend the weekend together.

cosplayer! satoru who’s smiling brightly when vlogger! shoko pops a message in the chat saying that you’d be more than happy to do that, finding himself added to a new group chat with you and your friends. watching the messages pop up as you all exchange greetings and begin to discuss your lineup for the weekend and what you’d be doing.

cosplayer! satoru who, when the con weekend comes, has a blast with everyone especially you. he had to admit he’d had more fun than any other con with you there, much to the amusement of photographer! suguru and vlogger! shoko who’ve got so much content from the days that they’ll be busy for a week at least sorting everything out.

cosplayer! satoru who messages you one day asking if you ever wanted to collab the next time you both end up meeting up, of course he’s ecstatic when you agree that he ends up spending a good few hours just texting you about the most random things he can think of, smiling like a little kid when you match his energy.

cosplayer! satoru who sees you’ve posted a video you took at the con weekend that has him in, double tapping to love and leaving a comment that he sees you love almost instantly with a reply of “totally didn’t mean to catch a candid background moment of you ha!”.

cosplayer! satoru who finds himself starting to be fanboy! satoru the more he looks over your content, even finding both your public and private instas thanks to a few of your friends, which you accept his follow request on your private before requesting to follow back and following back on your public one.

cosplayer! satoru who sends you a message asking if you would like to meet up one day outside of cosplaying, he wants to get to know you as you and not as a person in a costume who’s quite popular yourself.

cosplayer! satoru who ends up having the time of his life with you at an arcade, winning prizes and being competitive before finishing the night at a burger joint for some food - making sure you’re back home safely before saying goodbye to you.

cosplayer! satoru who can it’s videos and pictures of your day together on his private insta, making sure to tag you in every post and story he pops up. not that you mind, you’re glad he had fun.

cosplayer! satoru who finds himself duetting/stitching your videos with characters from the same fandoms as you cosplay, making his dream of doing a proper video with you one step closer to coming true.

cosplayer! satoru who one day finds himself at another con with you, being dragged toward your phone as you laugh, selecting a sound before you both start recording a video together, having the time of your lives.

cosplayer! satoru who spends more time with you as the days go on, especially on video calls, as you talk about things happening in your lives. could it be he’s starting to catch feelings?

cosplayer! satoru who confides in photographer! suguru and vlogger! shoko that he’s got all these feelings stirring in him when he’s spending any amount of time with/talking to you, not noticing the way the two of them smirk at the other. they clearly know something he doesn’t.

cosplayer! satoru who ends up finding out that you feel the same about him after he overhears you on the phone to cosplay repairer! nanami one day on the way to a local meet-up for cosplayers in your area. he swears his heart skipped a beat as he knows he has to make this one perfect.

cosplayer! satoru who ends up asking you to be his better half at a con a few months later. you’d both finished recording another video and having some photos taken. of course you said yes, how could you not when he showed up matching the fandom you chose to cosplay from?

cosplayer boyfriend! satoru who posts an almost identical video and photo on his socials with the caption “when you have an excuse to do couple shoots that ooze genuine love now @/itsthemisms” which kind of matches your caption of “can’t wait to let the love flow through the screen with my boo @/blueeyesfordays”.

cosplayer boyfriend! satoru who loves posting you both in and out of cosplay as much as he can. why not when he’s proud to call you his other half, he just has to show the world how much he loves you and how much you love him. couple cosplay photos, videos, and vlogs of daily life? check, you’re both so in love with the other it shows to anyone and everyone around/watching.

cosplayer boyfriend! satoru who will do anything to make sure you’re happy, who'll make sure you’re looked after at cons when he’s not there and travel the world growing your combined fan bases. you’ve both become quite popular as individual cosplayers and as a couple. did somebody say couple goals?

cosplayer boyfriend! satoru who’s just so helplessly in love with you, and the fact you can both support each other in what you do is more than enough for him. you’re so perfect in every way to him.

cosplayer boyfriend! satoru who is so glad that he found you when he did; he can’t wait to make memories to last him in this life and the next, who knows that no matter what, home is where you (and the cosplays) are.

[poppyknitt]

Also, wanna add that Roots of Pacha is an in-development farming sim, too! No idea how "cozy game" it is but its cozy for me. It's based on a fictional interpretation of neolithic (i think) era groups and extremely fun. I can not recommend the game enough. Looked it up, and the only controversy i can find looks to be a publisher dispute that evidently resolved, as they're back on steam and have been for a while. (Adding a more in-depth explanation of what i like below. Going into depth about roots of pacha as it is one of my favorite games and I don't have many of those).

It's a bit different in that there's currently no combat, and while there is a bit of ease added through using the wiki, you can absolutely figure a lot if not all of it out on your own. There is animal domestication, lots of seasonal and a few year-by-year shifts, and from what i saw, polyamory! You can choose whether to do that when you get to the appropriate amount of hearts with a second/third/fourth/etc romanceable npc. Currently, there does seem to be a thing that no matter your intentions, romanceable npcs do interpret your kindness as romance by default, but I don't know how normal that is as I'm not actually that big on the genre, and I haven't looked to see if there's plans to modify that. Just know some npcs apparently take being only your friend a bit harder than others.

Also theres a sapphic couple w 3 wolves as their pet and a son. I love them forever. Another few notable things (albeit a marginal spoiler) are that several characters, romanceable and otherwise, address some very real topics. A widower who is trying to move on with his daughter who doesn't want the life he's trying to give her, a man who comes home with a family he didn't have before & the family learning to live with these new people, misunderstandings that led to xenophobic beliefs, and mental + physical disability. While no characters have confirmed diagnoses, it is interpretable that at least one is autistic (imo, as an audhd individual myself), directly shown that another is physically disabled and uses a cane/walking stick, and several other conditions can be inferred if you wish to do so. There's probably more I've missed, as I'm not even that far in! Imo this game is so inclusive, and that plus everything else makes me love it so much.

Sun Haven still doesn't have credits

The game Sun Haven is a cozy farm sim in a magical world. It released in Early Access in 2021, and exited into its full 1.0 launch in 2023. It has over 15k Steam reviews and over a hundred dollars' worth of DLC.

The game still doesn't have credits of who worked on it.

I don't understand why this is. For more than a year, folks (myself included) have politely asked on the community Discord server where the list of people who worked on the game is, and it's always ignored. At most, the team makes their comm manager say "they're coming soon."

Implementing credits is not difficult. Even most Early Access titles including a WIP credits in the game. It's a list of text. It's the bare minimum you can do. It's really disrespectful to both your devs and players to not want to share who made the game. Also a red flag.

It's become clear enough from the Discord that the game enlisted a fleet of contract workers, plus fan volunteers, plus machine-assisted work like for language translations.

I don't know if the credits are missing because the director doesn't care about the team, or is embarrassed, or is trying to hide something. I hope they reverse course soon. But I can't in good conscience recommend anyone play or support Sun Haven.

There's lots of great cozy farming games out there: go play Littlewood, Fields of Mistria, Fae Farm, Disney Dreamlight Valley, or heck...go play some more Stardew Valley.

[shakethediseeas]

ALIEN STAGE CHARACTERS WITH AN ALIEN READER

alien stage x reader

maybe ill make more (ivan, hyuna and sua)

CHAFACTERS: TILL, LUKA, MIZI

On your 15th birthday your parents decided to give you a planet as a gift, they took over and made a stage to keep you entertained! its so fun! its humans trying to survive by performing music you've never heard of before.

One day, you decide to visit the garden to take one for yourself and when you saw that figure running by, you knew you want that one.

heads turned at the sound of children going 'woah' as you twirl and walk past them, looking at them as if they were animals in a zoo. two aliens behind you as you keep searching and start getting frustrated-- no one was appealing for you.

just when you were about to turn and head home to complain you finally spot one. they were running after someone with flowers in their hand, and more kids chasing after them.

they stopped when the kid bumped into you, and it went silent. They fell to the floor as you brushed your outfit clean of their filth before pointing down at them.

"i want this one."

to take them of the joy and friends they had in here didnt really matter to you. to you its like picking an animal from a shelter, bringing them to a better home where the only one they would rely on would be you.

that smile you saw before you picked them no longer existed. They were quiet and nervous of getting any negative reaction out of you which only made you mad but you had to be patient with them in order for them to be happy!

'first few months'

how come these humans dont come with a manual because this human was shattering things in rage when they thought you werent home and they hide in a corner so they dont get caught.

You heard of their behavior problems before picking them up, but you didn't care as long as you got to see that smile they had—but since they weren't smiling, you'd have to fix that.

you took Till to visit the garden for a bit, even though your guards were against the idea but who were they to tell you what to do?

He was so happy—the happiest he's ever been since you took him away. When you came to pick him up, he shyly asked if he could ever visit again, to which you nodded.

'you werent THAT bad' is what he thought after you gifted him a custom guitar. you noticed he played with an imaginary one so you decided to build trust and gift him a fancy new electric guitar!

and you still took him constantly to see his friends even though he heard you being scolded for it, that fake argument made him feel more appreciated.

'a few years later'

he jumps to sit down on your bed before demanding to visit a friend who was with their owner, you half listen, too busy painting your nails and kicking your feet in concentration.

mid rant you push the nail polish to his face and say "paint my nails first then ill think about it"

and he does so with a red face.

'first few monthd'

you were pretty sure you were speaking their language so why the hell was this human just staring off into space while drool escaping its mouth. you recoil in disgust and start regretting your decision a bit.

it took you a lot of patience and time to figure out what he likes, you ended up spending a lot of coin on the human for him to at least look at you with stupid big eyes.

you had to spoon feed luka unless you wanted him to starve to death, he couldnt sleep or change properly without you there glaring at him before reluctantly helping him.

you suppose it was okay, if he relied on you too much that would mean he couldn't really leave you, you were in charge.

'.....' though you wished he was a bit more vocal, you thought about it for a long time, if he didnt have the brain capacity to say a nice thank you maybe he could sing for you.

so he did. you bought him whatever you deemed necessary, and he sometimes mentioned another small thing and u gave it to him.

'a few years later'

you dont know why he wanted to sing for anyone else other than you but you allowed it. ever since you took him to see the stage in the VIP section he finally voiced out 'i want to do this' well not really but his face said it.

you get back home, a bit tired and hes tailing behind you as always. you land on the bed exhausted before flicking your hand in the air to signal him 'sing me a song'

after hes done he asks if you requested anything else, noting how tired you looked. but you just shook your head and tell him do whatever you want.

what you didnt expect him to hug you from behind. you couldnt see his face but youd assume its that blank face as always. only he knew that you were wrong.

it was face of pure adoration, a face that said 'you will never leave me' and he held tighter before saying to himself 'im in charge'

oh how you jumped around excitedly at this well behaved human! so sweet, like a cherry, they tried to have a conversation with you by asking "do you like making flower crowns?"

of course you havent who those this human think you are? but instead of saying something like that you shake your head and deny, before asking if they would teach you.

you make flower crowns with Mizi. you demanded to your guards any flowers she would ask for and bring batches of them to her before saying 'where do we start?'

shes happy at first but then you notice that she starts looking a bit sad, you ask her whats wrong and she looks at you with big eyes and says "when will i see my friends again?"

oh well with that sweet face how could you not take her to see her friends every day. and with a big smile she cheers and every day she makes new flower crowns or crafts for them.

'a few years later'

you start thinking 'maybe i spoiled her too much. maybe listening to her every request was a bad idea' as you cross your arms, on your custom designed chair in the center of the audience, the VIP section.

you stare as shes almost shot down by soldiers. you stare as shes taken away from you. you stare at the 'MISSING' message with her face plastered on it.

of course, you knew where she was. you had a tracker on all your pets. but for some reason, you let her run around. it wont be long until she realizes she wont have anyone left anymore.

it wont be long till she realizes she has no one else but you.

[hitomisuzuya]

Hi Suzu, how are you?

Could I request a fluff fic with reverse isekai and harbinger! scaramouche please :)

harbinger!scaramouche x fem!reader. fluffy fluff fluff. reverse isekai.

i know my fluff doesn't hit as well because i know that's not why you guys are really here, but, i enjoy writing fluff so 😊

scaramouche wasn't an idiot. once he'd discovered that the stars in teyvat were fake, he got to thinking. the idea of the stars had to come from somewhere else. the second he mysteriously arrived in your world, he sure got his answer.

your world's stars have to be the blueprint for teyvat's stars.

that wasn't the curious thing though. the curious thing was you. at first, you were just a means to an end. somewhere to stay until he adjusted to your world and then he would dip.

or so he thought.

he totally didn't expect this world to deal him a hand of cards in his favor. you sure are strange to him. you are well versed for some reason about where he has come from, so he didn't really have to explain anything to you.

once you got over the shock of him actually being here right in front of you, it didn't take him long for him to figure out that you are really, really in love with him. which stretched his ego in ways you couldn't possibly imagine.

so sue him if he used that to his advantage. it was sweet how often you dote on him.

needless to say, thanks to you, it was incredibly easy for him to adjust. your worlds mechanics are more similar to teyvat's than he thought.

as you would like to say, scaramouche was soaking up reality tv like a sponge. the overblown drama was the funniest thing in the world to him. and 95% of the time, these people did it to themselves. and he got to sit back and watch it all without even lifting a finger.

"i wish i could've taken you to a harbinger banquet. the drama that can be stirred up is just as good as this," he has probably what you would describe as a shit eating smirk on his face as he watched this woman cry about one guy she likes not returning her affection because she slept with his best friend.

scaramouche struggles to understand sentiment sometimes. this woman was waxing on about how she couldn't stop thinking about the guy she realizes she has more feelings for. about she even thought about him at night while she fell asleep. but she was losing sleep because she always was thinking about him.

"what is this shrew even talking about?" he scoffs, "she talks in a tone like all woman are like this. you either think about him while you fall asleep or you don't. how is she losing sleep thinking about him then?" he glances over at you, and immediately grits his teeth.

why did you have to look so cute right now?

you are having a delayed reaction of sorts. oh you heard every word he said, but you are still processing something he said before his rant. you had a soft, happy smile on your face while you fidget with your fingers. 'i can't believe he just said that to me. he said he wishes he could take me to a harbinger banquet. that would make it kind of like a date, right? should i bring it up later? or-'

"did you even hear a word i said?" scaramouche's voice cuts right through your pounding heart in your ears, and your racing thoughts.

"i think she is being truthful, at least in that respect," you reply, quickly trying to gather yourself. things have been very hard for you lately to say the least.

you enjoy actually being able to dote on scaramouche in ways you thought you never would've been able to. he is a fictional character, this shouldn't be possible. but sometimes you can barely handle being in his presence. it really reminds you of how in love with him you really are. he just flusters you so much.

and it shows all over your face.

scaramouche's eyes widen for a moment. what was with you? you usually made fun of these people with him. but there was something about your voice that sounds different now. like you relate to what she said a lot. "oh?" he raises his eyebrow in indication for you to continue.

"mhm, i do think she is being truthful," boy, did you know what she was talking about. "i have lost so many hours of sleep thinking about you. what she meant by losing sleep is she tosses and turns in bed thinking some kind of activity will force her to stop thinking about him, but it doesn't work. she can only think about him while her tossing and turning keeps her from sleeping," once you start talking however, you can't seem to stop.

"i have lost so much sleep doing exactly that. there is not one girl, no scratch that. there not one person on this earth that doesn't have someone they lose sleep thinking about like that," you took a breath to steady yourself, very firm on standing your ground. any second you knew scaramouche was going to cut in so you have to quick.

"for god's sake, i barely sleep knowing you are in the room next to mine. especially when i know i would.." you trail off in a fit of shy. you can barely bring yourself to finish what you are saying.

that you knew you would sleep so much better if you could be curled up next to him.

scaramouche snorts, and taps his index finger on your lips. "i hear you up at night, you know," he teased, smirking as your eyes widen for a moment as the blush on your cheeks darkens.

"huh? you do? i tried to be as quiet as possible. the last thing i wanted to do was disturb you," how?! you worked so hard to stay quiet at night.

"it's not disturbing me. i just have extra sensitive hearing," you couldn't help but smile a little bit at his response. it was his bristly way of reassuring you. this is why you are so interesting. you just confessed to being in love with him without actually saying it. it feels strangely...nice to him when he has these moments with you.

"since you humans are fragile enough to need sleep, i will sleep in the same bed as you so that you can sleep. i am not opposed to it," he glares at you, daring you to protest.

"you aren't?" you reply with shy hesitation that he quite frankly found adorable.

"i don't like being in debt to people. so consider that as repaying my debt you," things would've been a lot harder for him without you. and it didn't even make sense to him that you stay in a separate room at night.

"you are such a man, scara. and i mean they in the best way," you reply, smiling at him. it startles scaramouche how much he has been anticipating your smiles lately. you usually look away shyly at moments like this. and he was glad you didn't.

oh please, go on. he knows how great he is.

"let's watch these people implode themselves more," he clears his throat and unpauses the tv. he didn't even realize he automatically did it when you started talking. he glances at you and sighs.

you seem unsure of what to do now. you kept giving him side glances, looking at him for some sort of guidance. he realizes he can genuinely get used to the feeling of you depending on him for once.

sighing, he put his arm around you, bringing your head to rest on his chest. he mimics breathing for you to relax

[zenkindoflove]

So for the last two weeks I've been really contemplating my writing goals for the year. Reevaluating what makes me happy and what is intrinsically motivating. Gonna ramble a bit under the read more. But the jist is I'll be taking a fanfiction hiatus.

After I finished Let the Light Linger - I sort of had a bit of a crisis and needed to have a come to Jesus moment.

I started writing fanfiction again in October of 2023 because I was really pulled into Elucien and missed writing. Needless to say, the last year and a half I went hard. Harder than I ever have before. I wrote almost 500k words of fanfic and it was all really fun and exhilarating.

About 6 months ago though, I think a shift happened.

My desire to write canon compliant Elucien has been waning. I've done a lot of it, and told their story multiple times. And what I've realized is that ultimately I'm a lot more motivated to write Eris and Alexius or explore little weird AUs for Elucien instead like I did with Carrion Flowers.

And what that made me realize is that I'm not really interested so much in writing fanfic anymore. But rather - I'm more interested in writing original fiction (or Amanda universe fic lol). I think I keep setting up these new ideas and new WIPs distracting me because I've been nervous about going in that direction.

The fact that I want to live in my own world more - with my own OCs or my own heavily altered versions of minor characters like Eris - is really evidence that what I'm doing is not really writing fanfic anymore. But instead trying to fit my own original ideas into the fanfic medium because it's where I'm comfortable.

I think the biggest evidence was toggling between Let the Light Linger and Shackled. Shackled is doing really well in terms of popularity. Which I'm very grateful for. But I kept finding myself wanting to rush through writing chapters so I can write Let the Light Linger instead - which comparatively speaking is not popular at all. It's on par for how my Erixius fics tend to do but the audience for Eris x Male OC is small. And part of me was becoming a little resentful because I wanted my Eris x OC stuff to be as loved because I know it's excellent work.

And then I realized - you dummy. Of course people want to read your Elucien fic more. That is what an ACOTAR fanbase wants. It's what we are all here for. To explore the possibilities of the canon characters we already like. Which is something I had always known and rationalized and made peace with. But suddenly my emotions weren't fitting what I already knew. And I think that was the final push I needed to know that I am ready to write original work now.

It's time to follow what really is driving me instead of what I assume is expected of me. So, for now, my fanfic Shackled will be on hiatus. I might update it now and again if I'm feeling particularly motivated, but I really want to focus more of my time working on an original book. And probably what I'll do is take a lot of the hard work creating OCs that I've done in my Erixius fics and adapt them to this new world. Alexius especially deserves to live in his own space now. And my Eris is really an amalgamation of other characters that I've loved before that are like him. So needless to say, who I create for Alexius is going to be very similar 😂. Alexius needs a grumpy guy to his sunshine.

I certainly won't be leaving the fandom because I need this ding dong Elucien book. And I'll still be reading fanfic and replying to anyone who does go and read my works and leaves comments. And you might get surprise chapter updates or oneshots from me if I'm feeling any of that motivation. But regular updates won't be happening anymore.

[dandylovesturtles]

a comment on the other Step-brothers AU post made me think that yeah, I didn't really get into the interpersonal relationships at play and since this is still plaguing my mind and I wanna talk about it, here's the start of what will probably end up a very long post about the family dynamics in the Step-brothers AU

this is mainly focused on the main fam + April because if I start doing all the Caseys and other side characters too I'll die

let's start with big bro Sondheim

Sondheim and Draxum: As I mentioned in the first post, Heim has a really hard time not seeing Draxum as his boss, even after their rescue. The AU Draxum never encouraged any parental/child feelings between them, so Heim just has no idea how to approach it. Initially Draxum likes this ("Why can't the rest of you be as respectful as Sondheim?"), but eventually he realizes that Heim acts like that because there's a lack of trust and intimacy in their relationship. It will really take Heim getting closer to his little brothers, and learning to open up to them, that will lead into Draxum and Heim getting closer and moving into a familial relationship.

Sondheim and Raph: Heim is initially quite intimidated by Raph, not only because Raph is bigger than him but also because Raph seems to have himself together in a way Heim simply doesn't feel like he does (even if he seems to on the outside). Heim is also a bit jealous of how easily Raph interacts with the rest of his family, while Heim feels such a wall between himself and his brothers and dad. But ultimately Raph will be a great role model for Heim, and the two of them grow quite close, as Heim is willing to go to Raph for any big-brother advice. Also, while Heim generally acts pretty sociable and well-adjusted, he's also quite macho acting, since that's what was expected of him from the rest of the soldiers. Being around Raph, who is open with displays of affection and who still loves plushies even as an older teen, is great for helping Heim move into more healthy displays of masculinity. For Raph's part, he worries sometimes that he's not going to live up as the role model Heim needs, but he doesn't really need to worry so much.

Sondheim and Leo: On the surface, these two seem to have a great relationship - the two of them can chat easily and never fight. But if you actually paid attention to their conversations, you'd realize they're quite... surface level. As both Heim and Leo are very "conceal don't feel" types, neither of them push the other to open up, and as a result their conversations stay casual and peter out before long. This leads to them feeling quite distant from each other. It will take both of them growing their emotional maturity individually before they can get over the wall between them, probably more when they're adults. But they do like each other.

Sondheim and Donnie: Years of knowing Viv did not prepare Heim for Donnie, and honestly he's kind of scared. He doesn't know what to make of him, and he knows even less what to make of everyone's tolerance for his insane behavior. An explosion in the lair and no one's even getting up from their seats? Hello?? They have some of the same problems as Heim and Leo at first, but Heim has a hidden competitive side that comes out when he's playing games, and once the two of them start playing video games and board games together, it comes out and the two of them start really having fun together. As Heim gets more open and less worried about being abandoned, he and Donnie have the sort of relationship where they will openly shittalk each other for fun.

Sondheim and Wilde: Unlike Viv and Sulley, Wilde's attempts at bullying Heim never went anywhere. Heim was never intimidated by Wilde, and he emulated the nasty attitude the rest of the soldiers had toward Wilde, until making fun of him behind his back (and sometimes to his face) became second nature. As a result, Wilde and Heim have a pretty terrible relationship at first! Heim feels open to taking care of Viv and Sulley, but come on - does he really have to be a big brother to that guy? But in contrast to how Leo can't push Heim at all, Wilde can push Heim a lot, with all his exposed nerves right on the surface, and the barely concealed rage that Heim can actually relate to. Their rocky start leads to the two of them being accidentally more open with each other, leading to a slow but steady turn around in their relationship. Eventually Heim and Wilde are as close as the OU A Team, but it takes quite a lot of work to get there.

Sondheim and Vivaldi: Heim and Viv have always had a straight forward, business-like relationship, never exchanging many words other than to pass along orders. They initially maintain a very similar relationship once they start living together as brothers, neither of them really knowing how to have a relationship that goes deeper. Both of them struggle with learning who they are as people, let alone deal with all the new family dynamics that have been thrown their way. But because their struggles are so similar, Viv ends up having an easier time talking out his frustrations with Heim. Heim is less willing to open up to Viv, feeling responsible for him as an older brother, but soon enough talking through Viv's issues turns into Heim talking through his issues, too. The two of them for a very close bond over this, each feeling like the other is the only person in the world who understands what they're going through. Viv is the brother Heim grows closest to the fastest.

Sondheim and Mikey: While Viv is the brother Heim grows closest to the fastest, Mikey is the step-brother who slips past his walls first. Heim is willing to humor Mikey early on, as a way of trying to fit in with the family, and Mikey takes full advantage of this, eagerly slipping past Heim's defenses and nestling himself right into his heart. Initially Heim doesn't quite know how to handle it, but soon he's unbearably fond of Mikey, even if he playfully protests that he isn't. It helps that Heim doesn't treat Mikey like a baby the way Raph sometimes tends to, partly because Heim has his own baby to worry about. While their emotional relationship isn't as deep as Heim's relationship with Viv and eventually with Wilde, Heim is truly relaxed around Mikey even early on.

Sondheim and Sullivan: Heim didn't have much regard for Sulley for most of their lives, and now he feels a lot of regret for that. Their relationship effectively has to be built from the ground up, which isn't helped by Heim still trying to learn who he himself is. They have a lot of false starts and a lot of disastrous conversations, but Heim gradually slotting himself into his big brother role and caring for Sulley helps a lot. The two of them learn a lot about the wonder of hugs together.

Sondheim and April: Humans have been Heim's enemy for most of his life, and while he actually doesn't think they're all that dangerous (yokai always had the superiority in strength and mystic ability, and thanks to Draxum's mutagen and Donnie's tech they were steadily closing the gap in numbers and technology, too), he's still mystified that his alternate family would willingly interact with one. He's initially rude to April as a result, but she has so little tolerance for that that his dismissal quickly does an abrupt swing into respect - maybe a little too much respect, because he starts treating her like a boss, too. It takes them awhile to settle back into a friendship, and she becomes a great role model for Heim as well.

Sondheim and Splinter: Lou Jitsu died in Heim's universe, so while he always knew he was mutated with Lou Jitsu's DNA, he's never met the man. He's quite a bit shorter (and hairier!) than Heim expected! Heim initially treats Splinter with the reverence and respect he does Draxum, but Splinter pretty quickly dispels that notion by encouraging Heim to address him casually and generally just acting like his goofy dad self around Heim. Though the AU boys look at only Draxum as their dad, they do still lean on Splinter as a capable adult in their life, and Heim is no exception. He likes the tea Splinter makes.

[squeakitties]

how do ypu come up with/make so many interesting characters? i envy your character writing ability and how much fun you have with your designs.

a combination of things that i think are fun, hot and cool tbh , i just kinda put all sorts of ideas i like into creatures and give em life! hehe :3

[dapper-lil-arts]

You mentioning the Big Mac comic made me removed just how much I love that story lol. It’s one of the only times we get a sense of real interiority for his character and it’s just fun to see him play off of so much of the supporting cast.

I especially love the running gag where he’s just effortlessly pulling mares left and right without even trying (including Luna? Maybe? Now THERES a ship for the ages).

It’s even funnier when you consider the fact that he was canonically a chatterbox when he was younger, so his whole romantic arc throughout the series is basically “man tries shutting the fuck up for once in his life, immediately starts drowning in women” lol.

Anyways, all that preamble to bring you to my ACTUAL question:

Which other(s) of the non-main and/or background characters do you Headcanon as having ungodly amounts of game? Just having others swoon over them without even trying?

I always assumed Maud’s romance game was untouchable personally (pulling Mudbriar, Starlight, and hell probably Trixie too lol).

HARD MODE: Can’t say Sunset.

Yeah that comic run is so cute, it shows a little slice of life of a festival day in ponyville and it feels so loving and fun and just cute, everyone is having a good time and enjoying themselves, even Luna! And I love that Big Mac, the big farmhand handsome quite man pulls so many bitches. Honestly I wish Applejack got the same treatment, she really really fucking deserved it, but the show is allergic to having the protags have any romantic relations.

Women literally fighting for him in the background. Good.

WOMEN REQUESTING AFFECTION, PERFORM EVASIVE ACTION

I wasn't gonna say Sunset bc she's not a sidecharacter 😎

Also I'm not sure I even agree with the idea of Maud pulling a lot of bitches, I think it makes more sense for her to be someone that pursues that a lot, but rarely gets lucky because people are 'off put' by her. I feel like she and every Pie sister would suffer of this exact issue, tbh. Sure, Pinkie might get more bitches than the average because she's much more outgoing than the other Pie sisters, but even still, how many people could even stand Pinkie on average? Most ponies hate all the noise she makes in canon and are always annoyed when she's around. By all means both pinkie and maud got lucky... Limestone and marble didnt.

But about your question, honestly, that's a hard one. If nothing else, most of the show is like. So loveless and sexless when it comes to romance, and the little romance that is there tends to be incredibly monogamous. Like, I'd LIKE to say that Cadance should be a love madwoman that has dated dozens of stallions and mares but thats just unrealistic to all of her canon.

I'd like to say applejack, I've done dozens of jokes where every femme in a mile radius can sniff her out and wants to get closer, but still. Again, tragically goes utterly against canon. Even saying that a more obscure character like Raven Inkwell regularly visits gay bars is tragically reaching... So sadly I don't think I got an answer.

[spinchip]

Never the dark 7, 10 [dareth x Cyrus, it's not a pairing I've seen before and it humors me in a good way], and 11?

[ask meme]

YAAAY THANK YOUUU

7: Where did the title come from?

Bury Me Low by 8 Graves! I was listening to this song a LOT when conceptualizing the fic and I feel like the whole thing kinda describes Zane in the fic. In retrospect, I do kinda wish I had named it something smoother, I had a few ideas for what I might change it to (Inside the Dark, Forsaken Dark, and [redacted because i might be using it for another project teehee]) but I do like Never the Dark and I think i'll keep it lol

the funniest thing about this song is that I played it so much I got sick of it and now I wont listen to it

If I die today, it won't be so bad I can escape all the nightmares I've had All of my angry and all of my sad Gone in the blink of an eye I've seen the devil. I've shaken his hand I've seen the evil that dwells in a man For all of my wisdom, I can't understand ...... If I die today, it won’t be so hard Everything scares me, but never the dark

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

Polyninja because I love them and the fucked up relationship dynamic post zanedeath called to me.

Pixal/Skylor has always been awesome but I included it here specifically because of how I view their character actions in the three year time skip. Skylor joins the ninja a few month after Zane dies and despite the fact that they don't harbor any ill will towards her, Zanes absence is a fresh wound that it feels like she's trying to step into. It makes everyone bleed. No one is coping well and things get messy and tense between skylor, the ninja, and pixal until Skylor has a mental breakdown and removes herself from the team (trauma response due to the nature of how her father raised her.) Skylor was never part of the team- she's not been there from the beginning, so she's an outsider. And so is Pixal. (Not intentionally of course, but the others share a different kind of grief that the two don't.) Cyrus eventually convinced Pixal to go to therapy where she gets some clarity on things and reaches out to Sky to apologize again for any role she played in the teams tension with her. She invites Skylor over for dinner and they accidentally end up talking for 6 hours- and the rest is history

(Skylor IS on good terms with the ninja btw. they apologized and hashed things out- but she won't rejoin the team for a lot of different reasons.)

Coppershipping my beloved. new-ish in the ficverse! They were starting to be more friendly with eachother after zanedeath, and that progressed post s11. Dareth took his grief at losing Zane as motivation to get in better shape and actually try and train, so he hits the gym and puts on a lot of muscle. takes up boxing. He wants to be able to do more to help if something happens again. He ends up putting his new skills to use protecting Cyrus from something or another and Cyrus asks him to be his bodyguard. They spend a lot of time together and fall in love teeheehee

also, fun fact for you, Dareth handmade all the ninja suits they wear in NTD!

11: What do you like best about this fic?

oh man. Is it bad to say the fact that it's almost finished? I'm just really proud I've been able to stick with it and put in the time and effort. I've got a pretty spotty track record with chaptered work- i lose motivation and drop things a lot, unfortunately. But i'm still dedicated to finishing NTD!

and im really proud of the wordcount! 100k!!!!!!! WAOW

[fanganfessions]

I personally don't like Project Eden's Garden, and I feel like it's trying far too hard to not be Dangan Ronpa to the point that it seems frankly embarassed about having any association with it from its writing and its consistent attempts to try and subvert DR writing, from the characters to even the execution we've seen (that IMO, lacks the kind of "style" canon executions have in an attempt to be far more brutal and drawn out without anything actually interesting to it in an aesthetic sense. It feels gory for the sake of being gory, even moreso than another execution I'd criticize like V3-2) and like it's trying too hard to subvert the series it's inspired by to the point it genuinely doesn't feel all that fun to engage with.

Things like the idea of a character presenting themselves as an "Ultimate Liar" just feel, for lack of a better word, fanfiction-y. A lot of the actual meat of the project feels amateurish to me, likely a result of the project changing hands due to the fallout between the old director and the original writers parting ways due to abuse 3 years ago or so, like old plot points were left behind and people tried to make them work rather than scraping things that I personally think go against his attempts to make its characters more grounded or realistic.

I don't enjoy any of the characters as they are and feel no attachment towards them or their designs, and I think the decision to replace the mascot with a guy in a mask was a poor one in a somewhat misguided attempt to make the game feel more, I dunno, mature? But to me it just comes off as another attempt to distance itself from DR, which the game fails at anyway because the twist of "characters who seem important both die chapter one" is very much a DR-esque move, for example.

There's a lot I could get into, and these are just mismanaged thoughts, but I feel like the project lacks style and any affection for the original series, and also comes off as exceedingly pretentious at times. (I personally hate the orchestral soundtrack, and I feel like something like "here's a real life orchestral composition of our theme" feels a lot like showing off at that point) I also just don't see the project being sustainable, especially with the prediction of it taking another two years for the second chapter.

All in all, though, I just can't enjoy it personally because it comes off as a very generic Fangan dressed up with high production value that people aren't willing to criticize both for fear of being attacked by an honestly rabid fanbase, and because it's definitely the big kid on the block and it can be hard to criticize a fan project being done for free. I just find it to be, well, not that good, and unworthy of the massive amounts of praise it's been receiving, but I'm biased to finding it kind of irritating due to my own personal tastes and the large amounts of praise its been receiving I personally disagree with.

But beyond that, it just feels like it doesn't want to be Dangan Ronpa, and maybe it shouldn't be, and its attempts to distance itself from it while still being clearly derivative of it (SHSL talents, the artstyle, the format) come off as more irritating to me than anything. I just don't think it's that good or the second coming of Dangan Christ or whatever, and it falls into the same trappings I'd criticize pretty much every other Fangan, and even the official series for, but it sticks out even more due to how desperate it is to be not Dangan Ronpa, or more than just Dangan Ronpa. This one just has more budget.

⠀

[knaveumineko]

Umineko Episode 3 Blog: Once Upon A Time

I had a feeling a topic like this would eventually come up. There are only so many "unforgivable" things a man in Kinzo's position could have done to his unrequited love. Somehow, it seems the truth was far worse than I thought.

I had found Episode 2 to be a largely uneventful affair. I liked the focus on Shannon and Kanon's characters at the start, and their relationship to "Beatrice," and Rosa was a riot as usual, but beyond that a huge chunk of it felt like I wasn't really getting much new information. Episode 3 kind of feels like Episode 2, but better. The magic part of the story is more interesting and has more meaningful implications on the mystery side of the story instead of being random nonsense, the game throws interesting twists on the mysteries of the previous games (killing off all of the servants on 1st Twilight was such a cool idea), and Ryukishi has provided so much important context regarding the killer's motivations, where before all we knew was that it was Sayo and her reasons had something to do with her solving the epitaph.

I'm told that people at the time found Episode 2 too difficult, and Episode 3 was in some ways a response to that, which is why we get treated to Virgilia explaining what an unreliable narrator is to Battler for the sake of those poor souls who hadn't caught on up to this point. It seems like Umineko has finally finished establishing its basic narrative tricks, and now we get to just have fun with it, although "fun" is maybe the wrong word for the main topic of this post.

Beatrice gets a bit shifty about explaining her backstory, as we'd expect from her. She wants us to believe that her death, as witnessed by Rosa, makes it impossible for the secret mansion to have any connection to the Rokkenjima murders, but it's clear that the Beatrice in the prologue is not the one from Rosa's story. Unfortunately, we've gone full Yu-Gi-Oh at this point and we have way too many different Beatrices running around, so for the sake of my sanity:

Beatrice I: Kinzo's mistress from long ago. May or may not have provided gold. Commit suicide after her daughter was born.

Beatrice II: Daughter of Beatrice I and Kinzo. Met Rosa. Died after falling off of a cliff.

Beatrice III: girl who broke a vase in the prologue. Describes Kinzo as her grandfather, which, troublingly, means she's probably Beatrice II's daughter.

Beatrice: Battler's nemesis in the meta-plot. On a metaphorical level, she's sort of a vague amalgamation of everything and everyone who's received the name of the golden witch.

Virgilia: Beatrice III's caretaker, who appears in the meta-plot and magic narrative as a mentor witch. In reality, Virgilia is Kumasawa. It's a well-executed Chekov's Gun: we were told in Episode 1 that Kumasawa often quits and then comes back after a while. The implication seems to be that whenever Kumasawa "quits" working for the Ushiromiya family, she's actually just being reassigned to the secret mansion to look after whichever Beatrice is staying there.

Sayo: masterminded the Rokkenjima killings, while occupying the role of the golden witch.

Eva: Kinzo's eldest legitimate daughter. Took over a significant chunk of the killings in Episode 3, after solving the epitaph. Was it simple greed, or are we again finding out that the epitaph hides an additional secret that makes those who solve it lean toward committing the killings?

EVA: Eva's inner child turned witch. Typically appears in the magic narrative to explain away the killings. Symbolically represents that Eva and Sayo do not have the same ends, even if they end up using the same means.

Ange: I guess they're just letting anyone be a witch these days.

Beatrice's explanation about being locked in the body of Beatrice II tells a horrid story between the lines: Kinzo had a daughter with his mistress, and after her death, he groomed his daughter to serve as her replacement. The fact that Kinzo has an extra grandchild we can't account for would seem to imply that he tried it twice. Beatrice tries to obscure this fact by working through Rosa, who didn't have enough context to understand the situation.

In any case, based on the timeline I'm guessing that Beatrice III is Sayo. She's the only realistic candidate I can think of who's involved in the story, and explains a lot. The servants are willing to work with Sayo out of a sense of obligation toward her, both because Kumasawa at the very least probably feels a lot of guilt at being complicit in the situation, and because Sayo probably became the de facto head after Kinzo died. I bet he'd sooner appoint her than anyone else in his family, although the rest of the family would certainly have disputed the claim if she'd come forward initially.

I do wonder what Kinzo was thinking having Sayo become a servant. Maybe a cover story, since the truth behind her birth was too shameful to admit? Another possibility is that the servants just got one over on ol' Kinzo and sent Sayo to the orphanage at some point, pretending she was someone else. I feel like Sayo had to end up at the orphanage somehow, even briefly as part of her cover story, since she needs to meet Kanon at some point.

The implications of this on Sayo and George's relationship aren't great, but we've already crossed that line by now, and Episode 2 did establish that Shannon avoids being physically intimate with George. Did Shannon enter this relationship in some attempt to get control over the family's assets, knowing that her claim would not be respected under normal circumstances, or did she only come to fully understand who she was and where she came from after solving the epitaph?

Sayo's connection to Beatrice feels very different now. Sayo probably doesn't even remember her mother, so the closest she's got is the legend of the witch. No wonder she takes on that role to get revenge on the family. The whole theme in the first letter of taking back what's rightfully hers fits much better as well.

We still don't fully understand Sayo's motivations. The whole conversation on the beach about Battler's childhood crush really feels like it's foreshadowing a reveal later. I'm guessing it's something like: Battler threw out a cringy line about coming back for Sayo on a white horse because he was 12, and then ditched the family. Back in Episode 1, George asked Shannon why she had stayed employed as a maid for so long, after already saving a fair amount of money. The truth was that Sayo was envious of Battler leaving everything behind, and, like her mother blindly trusting Rosa, she secretly clung to the childish notion that one day he really would come back for her and take her away from Rokkenjima and the Ushiromiyas, but instead Battler came back and implicitly revealed what she probably should have known: he never took it seriously, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

That's enough of that depressing topic. Next time, we get treated to Peak Eva Content.

[sympathytea]

Fun fic related stuff about the diamond sword goobers below CW for: References to body horror, paranoia and a bit of unreality? hopefully using that word right

So keen eyed viewers might notice that this image has..some things in it that are a bit off. Most obvious one being Ferre, so we'll start with him. (And how convenient! He's first in line!) Ferre in my fic's universe has respawned more than a few times. Less than Evbo overall but did it over a longer period of time. Respawning in my fic has some consequences if you do it too many times. Kinda like Emesis Blue's respawn machine but not as heavy into the body horror. We're still getting into body horror territory, but nothing super extreme. Think of say, zombification. Or perhaps vampirism. A little bit of both. Its a bit hard to tell (mostly my fault for overshading him whoops.) but Ferre's skin has started to turn grey-ish in some places. Its blotchy. Scars and sewn parts of his clothes are typical of respawning, but the skin turning grey is not. We're gonna simplify this and call this process Respawn Degradation. Respawn Degradation is not fully understood, mainly because Ferre is the only lad who is actively experimenting with it (until Evbo comes around, who is also, undergoing said degradation) He documents his work in a language that only he and MinuteTech can read. Wemmbu and Julie cannot read their work, and probably shouldn't for their own sake. The way Ferre figures this stuff out is disconcerting to put it lightly. Ferre is handling this about as well as one can handle something like this happening against their will, and still has an active support group now that he is on the diamond sword level, its still not great. Just because he's stopped respawning as often doesn't make the process stop happening.

Ferre's ears look similar to MinuteTech's, and that's on purpose. MinuteTech's species is a shade, rather than a human. They come in a few varieties, and are locked to the grayscale in terms of skin color. Shades always have white eyes, and while MinuteTech resembles smoke, they can be fluffy, smooth or scaled. I'm probably gonna make them their own post. The final form of full Respawn Degradation, according to Ferre is highly suspected to be a shade. Shades naturally spawn into various civilizations, but Ferre notes that this probably isn't the only way they can occur. He's dreading the day he loses his humanity fully, but his friends that he considers his family loves him regardless, even if he thinks otherwise. MinuteTech reminds him that he isn't alone, even if he doesn't fully understand what he's actually going through. Speaking of not fully understanding..

Wemmbu is an interesting case. I have partially made them out of character, mainly because when I was characterizing him, I was going off of the finale and the gold sword level interaction. But he's still a supportive friend and sociable, but quieter and less likely to suggest bad ideas. Being the defacto therapist friend of the group, he talks with their friends and offers up advice where he can, although their knowledge is pretty thoroughly limited and also, not as reliable as it may appear. Wemmbu is also, notorious for not taking their own advice. He tends to keep to themself. And also never tells anyone anything about whats going on with him and handles himself by taking sips of slowfall potions every now and then as a form of self medicating. They've all murdered to get to paradise, but Wemmbu took the rules of the sword civilization horribly. Someone with as much compassion and empathy for others simply should not be able to handle doing the things he did. But he did them anyway. Occasionally hearing whispers, and seeing things out of the corner of his eye, feeling hands where there aren't. For awhile Wemmbu rationalized this as "being haunted". It wasn't. Despite being in a place that is safe, he sees danger where there isn't any. And when they first met Ferre, Wemmbu wasn't in as good of a spot as he is now. Occasionally hallucinations will get worse, sometimes they go away for awhile. Its generally not easy to tell what is actually there and what isn't. How do they cope with this? Writing everything. Anything. Small things, details, anything to make it easier to differentiate between reality and fabrications created by the mind. This isn't foolproof, but its been working for them so far. Wemmbu takes notes on his friends, too. This in turn also helps stave off things that don't seem to align with how they are established within their interactions. "Julie is clearly planning to poison me one day!!!" Why would she do that? She cares about him. There was nothing that would indicate this before. Disregarded. "I think Mint is planning to kill us all and run away for another civilization." Definitely not. He's insecure about that even becoming a possibility. Ignored. "Ferre is going to jump off of something. I just know it. I feel it." While he does relapse once in awhile, they know the signs of that coming when they see it. Put on hold. In the background of the image there's a faint shadow, isn't there? Its not actually there. Julie would've most certainly noticed since its pretty close to her. Its still worth documenting the appearance of it, or lack thereof. To make it less scary if it comes back later. Disclaimer btw: My writing isn't perfect. Nobody is, really. So hopefully how I characterize Wemmbu is. Okay at worst? I've personally had occasional tactile hallucinations and paranoid thoughts, but I'm not a medical expert and thus not. particularly diagnosing him with anything specific. Mainly because I too, am not diagnosed with anything specific for this. Funny, isn't it. There are things planned for Julie and MinuteTech (who goes by many nicknames in the group, for fun) but this reblog is already kinda dragging? So perhaps they'll be a future post. Preferrably not a meme one.

To explain the crime i've just committed: Drew the diamond swords in a row because I thought it would be cute. Added the color band that appeared in the diamond sword level. Realized I accidentally made Weezer's blue album cover. Went through all 5 stages of grief. Decided to double down and add the font in there for good measure because there was no way I could unsee this. You have to live with this now.