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suzukiblu · 25 days ago

Note

this is a question that is not meant to come off as judgemental, and if it does i apologise and you don’t have to answer

for you, or anyone out there in the world if they see this,

What is the appeal of (the?) Omegaverse?

Ive never quite gotten it? And it might be the big bold orange, blue and white letters spelling out aroace, or being european, younger than most people who are knowledgeable about that particular genre of content (still 18+) and while I did get on the internet at 11, I didn’t start reading fanfic until 14-15

this is a long and rambly ask so I just want to clarify, this is a genuine question I would like an answer to, no matter how short and sweet, or long and convoluted it may be

It's all good, I don't mind getting questions! And, like, I've written a LOT of omegaverse, so it's a thoroughly relevant question to this blog, haha.

. . . and this definitely wound up long and convoluted. So like, yeah, we are SO gonna need a read-more here, friend. 😅

Obviously everyone's gonna have their own reasons for liking the genre, but as another (much older, I'm assuming) aroace, for me the appeal is the opportunity to use the tag "Fantasy Gender Roles". Like, there's other stuff there, def, but "Fantasy Gender Roles" is my favorite part. Omegaverse is a game where the rules are made-up and the points don't matter, and you can interpret and re-interpret the involved sexes and genders however the heck you wanna, and in fact are ENCOURAGED to. I also really like certain tropes that are common to the genre, like pack dynamics and breeding kink and having babies and feral behavior and courting/courting rituals, I just really enjoy playing with and reading about all of those.

Also, the worldbuilding. I get to do ✨GENDER-BASED WORLDBUILDING✨.

And obvi, like, some people are just into omegaverse for the kink/porn factor, which is totally fair, but personally I am here for ✨GENDER-BASED WORLDBUILDING✨. And then also the kink/porn. Generally speaking a recurring comment I've gotten from a lot of readers is "I literally hate omegaverse but I love yours", so a lot of my stuff is allegedly a decent jumping-on point for the genre if you're looking for that. Like, I'm not the only person who writes omegaverse the way I do, obviously, just I'm a pretty accessible one who's written a LOT of it.

( and in the event you DO want any jumping-on omegaverse recs from my stuff, I'mma just pop a few of them from various fandoms here. no DC-related ones 'cuz I don't have any of those currently on AO3, only scattered in my WIP tags, but hopefully something helpful will be in here. )

original fic

to the victor go the spoils - human omega OMC/dragon [ GENDER NOT FOUND ] OMC; 16.7k; explicit Fantasy AU. This one includes porn but honestly the heart of it is just one of those fairy tales where the protagonist is somehow both incredibly genre-savvy in their story and yet still a total fucking idiot about other people's feelings, and especially considering it's original fic, it is honestly one of the most popular things I've ever posted, hah.

The dragon arrived early in the morning, and by noon the entire village was in a panic in the town hall. No one in the village knew anything about dragons, aside from what they’d heard in fairy tales and stories, and the plans for dealing with it were about that level of sophisticated.

“We’re not sacrificing a virgin to the dragon,” Viktor said in exasperation.

“Well what would YOU do?!” the mayor demanded.

“I’m going to go talk to it,” Viktor said reasonably, and got up from his seat and went to do just that.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

does the pain feel better when I'm around? - beta!Sokka/omega!Zuko, beta!Sokka/beta!Suki, past alpha!Mai/omega!Zuko, polyamory; 3k; teen Societal dynamics-focused fic. Zuko goes into heat at the Western Air Temple immediately after the Boiling Rock happens and goes off to den down alone and stay out of everyone's way without realizing that the local betas are gonna lose their ever-lovin' MINDS about that.

“Cool,” he says. “You realize we’ve been looking for you for, like, two HOURS, right?”

“Why?” Zuko asks, sounding confused, which is kind of sad.

“Because the world is full of people who wanna kill you and you didn’t bother telling anyone where you were going?” Sokka says. “Obviously?”

“Oh.” Zuko falls silent. Sokka glances moonwards in supplication. Yue save him from dumb, dumb firebenders.

every act of communication is a miracle of translation - alpha!Mai/omega!Zuko; 5.7k; teen Post-series fic where Mai and Zuko are about to spend their first cycle together and they're both really awkward about working out how it should go. Not actually a sequel to "does the pain feel better when I'm around?", but you could definitely draw a relationship between 'em.

They leave the office, Mai pretending that all her senses aren’t full of Zuko’s warm, spicy scent, and he keeps looking worried. She wonders if it’s THIS he’s worried about, now that she’s thinking about it. They agreed they’d share their next cycles together, but again, they haven’t really talked about it.

They can talk about it now, Mai thinks.

Unfortunately, that means now they actually have to talk about it.

Overwatch

even if I do I don't, even if I could I won't - omega!Genji/beta!the-character-who-was-at-the-time-I-wrote-this-fic-known-as-McCree; 5.1k; explicit Blackwatch-era fic where Genji did not fill out his heat partner designation forms and "Fuck or Suffer Unspecified Health Consequences" is gonna make that a problem. Worldbuilding, assisted negotiation, a touch of workplace-influenced pack dynamics, and porn.

“Yeah, you’re hilarious, kid,” Gabe says. “Get back to work. And Shimada, call your heat partner and we’ll see you next week.”

Shimada’s shoulders tense. Gabe . . . pauses.

“Shimada,” he says slowly. “PLEASE tell me you have a heat partner on base.”

“I have a heat partner on base,” Shimada lies. Gabe and Jesse both stare at him, then Gabe calls up his file, takes one look at it, and starts cursing.

don't, don't, don't let's start (I've got a weak heart) - alpha!Genji/omega!the-character-who-was-at-the-time-I-wrote-this-fic-known-as-McCree; 17.3k; explicit Blackwatch-era fic about Genji and the character formerly known as McCree dealing with their complicated feelings about each other and also the cybernetics and trauma and physical disabilities that are fucking up their sex life, including ED.

“You busy?” he asks. Genji stares at him in bemusement, which is fair. Genji’s only ever busy when they’re on a mission or he’s in the middle of an upgrade. “Dumb question. My heat’s coming on, wanna do me a favor?”

“What favor?” Genji asks, still looking mystified. Jesse tries not to laugh at him.

“The obvious one,” he says meaningfully, tipping his hat back and raising his eyebrows at him. Genji looks no less mystified for a moment, then startles. “THERE we go."

Marvel Cinematic Universe

come hang (let's go out with a bang) - omega!Darcy Lewis/omega!Johnny Storm; 5k; teen Darcy almost dies again, tries to figure out which omega buys the courting gifts in an omega/omega relationship, and has her first date with a super-hot superhero.

“Was there traffic?” Jane asks.

“I have a date with Johnny Storm,” Darcy says.

“What?” Jane says.

“Oh, and I almost died again,” Darcy says, pulling out Jane’s papers for her. “But that’s kind of secondary.”

“WHAT?!”

pack up, don't stray (oh say say say) - alpha!Natasha + polyamory; 3.4k; teen Natasha collects a harem pack and Captain America is fucking difficult about it.

Natasha is an alpha on a mission, and that mission is simple and clear.

I said you're holding back, she said shut up and dance with me - alpha!Peggy/omega!Steve/omega!Bucky; 10.3k; mature Alternate timeline where Steve and Bucky don't "die" and they all run away from the States to get married and start a family. Illegal adoption and biokids and lowkey pack dynamics involving figuring out how to fold pups into their lives, oh my!! And also, they all get to dance.

“One alpha mating two omegas? Really, Steve?” Peggy asks, mouth quirking wryly. “What WOULD the newsreels say?”

“We’ll go to France,” Steve says. “No one will care in France.”

“I do love France,” she muses.

oh don't you dare hold back, just keep your eyes on me - alpha!Darcy/omega!Bucky, polyamory; 187.4k; explicit MY MAGNUM OPUS, MY WHITE WHALE, THE LITERAL REASON OMEGAVERSE TOOK OVER HALF MY BLOG FOR HALF MY STINT IN MCU FANDOM. I wanted a goddamn female alpha and I wanted that female alpha to be Darcy Lewis, and Bucky was my fave blorbo at the time so the inevitable happened. The inevitable happened for three and a half years and 187,430 words, to be more precise.

Darcy is thirty feet out of Stark-cum-Avengers Tower when she starts craving cinnamon rolls--the sticky-sweet iced-up old-fashioned kind, yummy and messy and dripping gooshy icing all over your mouth and hands and down your yuuuup, yup, that is a super, super fertile omega that she is smelling, holy SHIT is it ever.

“Jesus Christ,” she groans in frustration, then follows her alpha instincts (and, more easily and importantly, her NOSE) to go track them down. They’re in the middle of New York City; middle of the day or not, not checking on somebody who smells like THAT is, like, the ultimate dick move.

OKAY SELF THAT'S ENOUGH LINKS, WE MOVE ON NOW, haha.

I will also say, if you're interested in, like, gender-exploratory AU concepts, apiary genders might be more your thing and more easily accessible for you? It's a MUCH newer thing than omegaverse and really only has a few fics around, some of which are linked in the "inspired by" of that AO3 primer linked above, but the concept is a bit more strongly "hive"-based than a lot of omegaverse is "pack"-based, and also there's no physical differences from baseline. I've got a WIP or two going about apiary myself, actually, but I haven't gotten too far into them yet, alas. The only one I've posted anything from is this one Superbat one.

#anonymous #rintalk #omegaverse

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thelampisaflashlight · 3 months ago

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Dress Down

[Based on this ask I sent @iamthecomet , Rain is more than a little obsessed with the way Dew is dressed for their ghouls night out at the bar.] Below the cut.

If there's one thing Aether's good at, it's finding a decent bar in the middle of nowhere; He's like a bloodhound for booze, if such a thing could exist, and, while any place would do given how long it has been since the pack has gotten to go out in full force like this, he doesn't settle for anything less than the best.

"Best" being pretty much anywhere that can tolerate their loud, obnoxious asses for more than an hour before trying to kick them out.

Admittedly, though, this outing isn't exactly a celebratory one -some of them might be celebrating, but if they are, they won't dare to say it out loud- really, it's more of a means of destressing and perhaps unpacking a bit of the events that unfolded while they were on tour.

Sister Imperator's death, Copia stepping down from the title of Papa and stepping up to take his mother's place as Frater Imperator... Really, it's a mixed bag of emotions all around, and none of them are quite sure how to feel about, well... everything.

Least of all the older, more seasoned ghouls, who had already witnessed what "retirement" had meant for the previous Papas, though they were mostly hopeful that Copia would not meet the same fate as his predecessors now that his new position was solidified.

Mountain, for example, had breathed a sigh of relief seeing the placard on his office door change from Papa IV to Frater Imperator and not "Papa V", not quite ready to accept life under new leadership just yet.

Now nursing a bottle of lager, the earth ghoul has pressed himself into the corner of the cozy, red pleather bench he's sharing with Cumulus and Cirrus, looking more flushed in the face than expected after only one drink, but, despite appearances, the man's always been a lightweight.

On the opposite side, Swiss is talking to Aeon and Aurora in an animated fashion, hands gesturing wildly as he tells some tall tale or another that's probably only a hair away from the truth, and Dew can't help but roll his eyes when he sees the younger quintessence ghoul looking at the multi ghoul all doe-eyed, thoroughly enraptured by his story.

Personally, Dew's not really in the mood to be out on the town tonight, like Mountain, he's thinking a bit too much about what's to come, too stuck in his head about the what ifs and when's of the situation to really relax and enjoy himself.

He's trying though; Holding a sweaty glass of whatever cheap piss the bar had on tap, because- "No, Aeth, I'm not doing shots with you after what happened last time!"- he'd rather drink something closer to water than relive that experience again, he takes little sips, cringing at the bitter taste.

He's never been much of a beer drinker, he used to be, kind of, he was really more of a "anything that gets me wasted" drinker, but he's toned it down over the last couple of years to the point that certain types of alcohol just don't appeal to him at all anymore, beer least of all.

He gives a bigger sip and sticks his tongue out, hearing Swiss laughing at him from the booth, flipping him off when he sees him whisper the word "princess" under his breath.

"You should get something you'll actually like instead of trying to impress literally no one by drinking shitty beer." Aether says, slipping the glass from his palm and downing it himself, "Eugh, at least something better than this swill... Try a cocktail or something."

Dew grimaces, "Fuck no, I feel sick just smelling anything sweet anymore, plus I don't want a nasty hangover tomorrow..."

"Just switch it up, yeah?" Aether suggests, then whispers, "If you just want a fancy soda, I won't tell anyone else otherwise... I know it's hard not to drink when everyone else is."

"I appreciate that..." Dew says, giving his friend a genuine smile, "I'm okay drinking tonight, since it's a special occasion, kind of, just gonna take it easy though, ya know?"

Aether nods and claps him on the shoulder once before heading off to join the others, scooting a chair over to the table so he doesn't have to take a seat away from them.

Dew considers his options.

He could just order a fancy soda or a mocktail, Hell, the bar even had that weird canned water that looks like a tallboy can of beer, but he keeps the idea in his pocket for later, and instead orders himself the sweetest looking glass of rosé he can find on the drink menu.

He sips it slowly and lets the liquid coat his tongue.

Sitting at the bar with his drink, Dew can't help but feel like a bit of wallflower; Everyone else around him seems to be having a good time, and even went through the trouble of dressing up for the occasion and he's just...

Dew looks down at his outfit, at his lightly stained hoodie, his black skinny jeans with holes in the knees -and another, smaller one near his crotch that is subtly hidden by the black of his boxers beneath- that have seen better days, and his ratty Converse sneakers with dark smudges on the white rubber tips.

He doesn't exactly scream fashion when compared to Swiss, who's wearing a borderline gaudy silk shirt and tight slacks that leave little to the imagination, or Cirrus, who is absolutely rocking a very low cut shirt, braless, and jeans that could very well just be painted on with how closely they hug her curves...

...Or Rain, who took two whole hours to get ready and now looks like the goth nightmare queen of his fucking dreams.

Rain, who has been cozying up to the bartender for the last hour or so, giggling and batting his long lashes at her in an incredibly unsubtle way that is certainly NOT making Dew jealous whatsoever and-

"Aw, fuck."

Dew curses as a bit of his wine sloshes out onto his pant leg, not enough to lose his drink entirely, but enough for him to feel the splash of it against his thigh as it all seems to hit exactly where the rip in his pants is.

Standing up almost urgently, Dew makes his way to the bathroom in hopes of blotting up the mess before it can trickle down his leg and make it look like he pissed himself, but, as soon as he manages to slip inside and shut the door... he hears it open behind him just as quickly.

"You alright?" Rain asks, looking less concerned and more... Dew isn't really sure how to place the expression on the water ghoul's face.

Between his glamour and the make-up obscuring his familiar features, Dew's a little at a loss for what the face he could be making could mean, but the tone...

"I'm fine."

"Good."

Rain closes the door behind them and locks it in one swift motion, briefly walking over to examine the stalls before returning to Dew and-

"Rainy, what are you doing-"

-dropping onto his knees in front of him.

"You've been driving me crazy all night, baby." Rain purrs, running a hand down both his legs, pressing a kiss to his knee, "Dressed up all cute..."

Dew feels a heat creeping up over his face.

"Me? Cute? What, no, I'm..." Dew flusters, "You're the one that's driving ME crazy, Rainy. Look at you."

"Yeah?" Rain coos, "You like what you see?"

He leans back for a moment, putting himself on full display; The flouncy white shirt with the ruffled sleeves, the black corset, the lacy skirt rucked up to expose the black and white socks underneath, and Satanas, the heels...

Rain looks sinfully gorgeous, and here he is, on his knees, telling Dew that HE looks cute, no, there's just no way-

"Can I taste you, Gumdrop?" he asks, leaning in to squish his face against the wet patch on his inner thigh, inhaling deeply, "Please?"

What kind of man would Dew be to deny someone as pretty as Rain what he wants?

"O-Okay..." he whispers, and no sooner do the words leave his mouth, than does Rain's latch onto him, nibbling at him through the whole in his jeans, "Rainy!"

"Shhh..." Rain shushes him, "You have to be quiet, okay, sweetheart? Or do you want the whole bar to hear you, hm? Make a big scene of the door being locked and have them wondering what's happening in here..."

Dew groans as Rain moves to undo his zipper.

"You're so sensitive, you know that?" he teases, "I haven't even gotten my mouth on you properly and you're already ready to give me everything, aren't you?"

"Can't help it...You're just so... so beautiful..." Dew whines as Rain eases his pants and underwear down just enough to expose his ass -and disappointingly not his cock- to the cool air of the bathroom- "Rainy-"

"Said I wanted to taste you, didn't say which part~" Rain says, standing smoothly and bullying Dew up against the counter between the sinks, he stumbles a bit as the other tugs his jeans down further and flushes when the other drags him up with an almost comical, "Upsie-daisy."

Dew feels his back press into the mirror behind him as Rain forces his legs up in the air, and has to slap his hands down on the marble to keep himself from sliding down, "Really, this is-"

He doesn't quite get to finish his sentence before Rain dives in, earning a gurgled moan from Dew as he feels Rain's clever tongue lap at his hole.

"Not fair, Rain, I should be-"

Rain pauses, breathing hot, wet air onto his skin, chuckling, "You should be what? The one fucking me?"

Dew sinks into his hood a bit, mumbling, "Y-Yeah..."

"Hm... Let me think about it..." Rain pretends to consider Dew's request, then with a happy chirp, dismisses the idea entirely, "No, sorry, don't think so, love. Maybe later, but you're not the one who paid off the bartender to make people use the other restroom for the next hour."

"You d-did that...?" if Dew wasn't blushing before, he was certainly pinker than his rosé now, "That means-"

Rain leans over top of him, coming nose to nose with the ghoul on the counter, "She knows I'm fucking you? Yeah."

"Told her you were gonna spill your drink on yourself as an excuse to sneak into the bathroom with me in case she didn't believe me, and then you just happened to pour just a liiiittle bit of wine on your pants and run off..." he says, rubbing their faces together lightly as Dew feels Rain's long fingers tickle his sides, "...Just a tiny wave of my hand and just like that, you're all mine."

"You-"

"So if you think I'm going to let you top after all the effort I went through putting together this outfit and locking this place down, you are sorely mistake, mon cheri~"

"Oh no..." is all Dew manages to say before Rain sets about taking him apart with his mouth again.

It's not long before he's moved again, pressed against the wall, legs spread with his pants pulled down awkwardly to give Rain enough access to slam inside of him as he holds onto him for fear he might tumble onto the floor, unable to bring his legs together to wrap them around Rain's lithe form thanks to his strong arms holding them apart.

Rain is relentless as he pounds into him, and Dew feels the back of his head bump into the tile with every other motion, until Rain shows mercy and hooks one of his legs over his hip and cushions the blow with his hand.

It's a difficult position to maintain, and Dew's pretty sure aside from Rain's impressive grip strength, the other thing keeping him aloft right now is his dick, and something about that has Dew's brain going more than a little screwy.

He's entirely unprepared for when Rain cums inside of him, shockingly cold and a reminder that, right, even in his glamour, Rain's still a water ghoul, and his seed is nothing if not colder than the depths of Hell's frozen lake.

Dew shivers and latches onto Rain, curling against him in a desperate search for warmth, and he finds it in the gentle kisses Rain gives the side of his face.

"Come on, baby, your turn, your turn, Dewdrop."

It's hardly the most impressive orgasm he's ever had, but it's certainly one of the gentlest, and as he dully becomes aware of how he's managed to cum so hard he's painted the front of Rain's silly, flouncy blouse, he can't help but laugh a little.

"You're going to get punished for that later..." Rain clicks his tongue, "For now... gimme your hoodie."

"Can't..."

"Oh? Why not?"

Dew looks up at him coyly, "'m not wearing anything underneath it..."

Rain makes a hurt sound in the back of his throat, "If I'd known that, I would have insisted you took it off first... Oh well, let's see..."

He slides his phone out of his shirt, checking the time, "We still have another fifteen minutes..."

"Rain?"

"How about I give you your punishment now?"

"O-Oh-"

"Geezus, Froggy, you doin' okay, you keep looking like you're gonna fall off the sidewalk the way you're moving..." Aether sighs, pulling Dew upright as the shorter ghoul lurches forward for the third time on their walk home -none of the local cabs would take them... shocker- "I thought you weren't going to drink that much tonight?"

"Didn't..." Dew cringes, pinching his eyes shut and stopping entirely for a moment before regaining his composure, "...Remind me to get rid of these pants..."

Aether furrows his brow, then whispers, "Did you fucking piss yourself or-"

"No!" Dew shouts, drawing the sluggish attention of their drunken friends and one all too pleased looking water ghoul, lowering his voice, "No... It's just... Rain... Inside... and it's..."

The quintessence ghoul looks between Dew's flushed face and Rain's smug grin and puts two and two together easily, "While we were at the bar-"

"No, while we were walking home just now- Yes at the fucking bar!" Dew hisses, "...Twice."

"Rain!" Aether calls over to the ghoul, earning a panicked, squeaky, "Whatareyoudoing-" from Dew before the ghoul motions for him to come over and, "Take some responsibility and carry your boy home, will ya??"

And that's how Dew finds himself hoisted up onto Rain's back -thankfully not fully up onto his shoulders- and, in a way, getting to be on "top" for the first time that evening.

Swiss, despite being piss drunk, takes time out of his busy schedule -trying to climb every light post they pass by- to walk beside them and tease him about just that, albeit none the wiser to the events that unfolded in the bathroom.

#lamp writes #shitghosting #nameless ghouls #dewdrop ghoul #rain ghoul #aether ghoul #ghost band #the band ghost #ghost bc #raindrop #rain/dewdrop #cw alchohol mention #cw alcohol

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devotion-disorder · 10 months ago

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HI HI HI HI!!!! I LOVE YOUR NEW HAIRDO!! CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME IF THERE'S ANY REQUIREMENTS ON GETTING YOUR HAIR DONE? ALSO WOULD KUUYA EVER LET ANON CONTROL HIM IN ALMOST EVERY ASPECT? LIKE WHAT HE EATS, WEARS, AND DO??? BTW YOUR ART STYLE IS SO YUMMY!!!!!!!!

THANK U!!!! While I think it's possible to go to a point where Kuuya just...relents to every single thing you demand of him, its not like he's going to let go of all rationality so easily (ironic as it sounds). He's a pushover not only to his partner but to most of the other people in his life as well, so he's not going to let go of his commitments just like that. But I think it's definitely possible if you play your cards right.

and info about getting your hair done under the cut:

If you want to do it exactly like how I did, its actually a balayage instead of a full bleach! anyhow, I guess the biggest thing is that bleaching is definitely a commitment. Here's some stuff to note based on my experience:

It depends on your natural hair! my natural hair color is pretty dark, so I needed to bleach it twice to get any sort of bright color. my hairstylist also said apparently my hair is just kinda resistant to bleach, which is why it took literally 9 hours lol (and other complications because Ive gotten it bleached before)

I've always gotten it bleached at a salon and it can be a bit pricey ngl

You can't bleach your hair if it's been chemically treated (eg. straightened / permed)! and you can't do it afterwards either, because of how damaging bleaching is. So i have to style it myself if i want any sort of curl!

you might also need to invest in some decent hair care products + colored shampoo etc etc if you want your hair to not be the texture of straw lmao

More on that, you might want to be careful if your hair is already pretty dry/ brittle to begin with, because bleaching will really truly make it so dry lol

the color can fade pretty quickly, even if you keep up with the proper shampoos and stuff. I expect the pink color in that photo to be gone by at most a month LOL

so yeah...pretty hefty price to pay for funky hair color. That's why I didn't bleach it until ~2 years ago, because I was so hesitant. But!!! I can say that i regret absolutely nothing, because having pink hair rules LOL. I mean this is literally my third time bleaching it!!

#ask #anon #yandere oc #kuuya posting #now i look in the mirror and its like OUGH...pimk #best decision ever #its adds a nice pop of color to your outfits and shit #but its also gotten to the point where I dont ever want to go back to dark hair anymore LOL

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misc-obeyme · 6 months ago

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omg the 4th wall break asks lately have been making me think about belphie in that kinda situation hahaha i might be predictable oops

you get home from long day at work and some emo guy owns your bed, he's already made a nest and gotten a good few hours in too. you don't even have time to be scared before he starts being super entitled about it too LOL like "ugh mc, what took you so long?? ive been waiting here forever... why are you just standing there looking shocked, seriously >:v "

also i hope you're having a lovely day!! <3333 sending lots of love!!

Ahhh hello Starr!! I am having a lovely day and I hope you are, too!! 💕💕

Oh Belphie would be such a little punk lol! And I kinda think if you try to ask him how he got there, he's having none of it. Who cares about those kinda details?? He's here now and he wants your attention! If you ask him why he made the effort to find you this way, he'll blush and brush it off.

And if you're tired from working all day, you know a little bit of cuddling with Belphie will help you relax. Maybe take him outside to look at what you can see of the stars (depending on the amount of light pollution at your location), so he can point out to you how they differ from the Devildom (I just think Belphie has knowledge of the human world stars, too... like he made it a point to learn them).

I think he would help you make dinner if you're hungry, too. He probably knows a decent amount about human world food just from hanging around Beel. He might complain about it... like c'mon MC he came all the way here to see you and you're making him cook? But he'll still stir the sauce or saute the veggies...

But in the end, Belphie would want you to join him in his newly created nest in your bed. Let him cuddle you to sleep, all warm and cozy and he'll make sure you only have sweet dreams...

I'd be worried that he'd get smothered by my cat. Like that one chat photo where all the cats are super attached to Belphie and Satan's all mad about it? My cat very much likes to sleep on the same pillow as me, so I'm imagining walking in to find her sleeping on his head. I'd be concerned about his ability to breathe. Also pretty sure this would make him my cat's new favorite person lol!

#I would also be checking the settings on my security system because how do these demons keep getting into my house?? lol #obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me belphegor #shootingstarrfish #cc mutuals #misc answers

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cugzarui · 18 days ago

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watched episode 3

i think this show might be bad at female characters. i tried to be fair to gwen when analyzing her because i felt i might be bad at analyzing female characters but now that ive seen three episodes i realized its not just me. this show has basically NO female characters whatsoever. so far theres been gwen and...bens teacher? who is shown exactly twice for a whopping screen time of like two minutes and three lines. and thats. that's about it. theres like literally, no i think there's ACTUALLY, no other female characters so far save for an extra or two.

i cant even blame this on the show being from the 2000s cuz avatar the last air bender is *verifies online* yep from the exact same year and yet has a bunch of prominent female characters that are actual unique characters rather than just archetypes. phineas and ferb aired just a couple years after ben 10 and also do well for female characters. im pretty sure even spongebob does better than ben 10 here.

i didnt notice it the first time watching but its a little bizarre now that i did. in modern shows it's incredibly common for not just female characters but characters from all sorts of groups to be in any and every role. its a point of pride even as shows try to be as inclusive as possible. there is still some of that in the 2000s but not nearly as much. female leads for instance would be unusual in a show not explicitly made for girly girls (example: club winx. totally spies). but it would be standard to include at least one girl character (the token girl), and would not be at all unusual to include girls in other roles as well. ben 10 though just said "no thanks" and basically only included the token girl. bens and gwens bickering now becomes funny on a meta level cuz even the characters arnt happy that shes there. well except max anyway. ben literally asks what shes even doing there like he knows this isnt the show for her, and honestly? maybe we should've gotten that lucky girl spinoff. maybe she wouldve been better served by having her own show that actually knew how to write women.

i dont have much to say about the actual episode.

its a typical ben 10 adventure. it is the first time ben couldnt just punch his way out of a problem though, as theres a whole thing of who is the real bad guy that he has to figure out first. a mystery episode, and its a decent mystery as well, just not unusual for the ben 10 franchise. but i guess that's probably because this is one of the episodes that would set the precedent for how the show is written.

i would say the fight scenes and fight choreography in this show is top notch, and the animation in general. which i forgot to mention in my last post. but the fight with the kraken is one of my all time favorite fight scenes.

also max isnt as selfish in this episode so maybe i was too quick to judge him

and that guy...captain...shaw? sho? sh-never mind. exposition guy. i like him. hes a good true neutral character. he aint a bad guy but he can be trouble and you gotta watch out for him. he dont respect authority and he aint no snitch. hes unlikeable enough i dont root for him but i like him around. honestly maybe he shouldve been in more episodes.

#cugzarui post #ben 10 #ben 10 classic #analysis #review #long post

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mmkin · 9 months ago

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Hooked On You (Shioyaki x Reader)

For fans of my Arlong Pirates collection, the next chapter is up! Featuring the Master of Banquets! Whee! It can be found here on AO3 but also under the cut here.

Content warning - mentions of slavery and abuse, but teen-safe. This chapter is SFW but the rest of the chapters of the story so far aren't (as a fair warning to those who want to read the rest)

IV – Hooked On You (Shioyaki)

Shioyaki is the Master of Banquets, and I do like his shirt :) Mido is never named in the anime, but he is the big fishman with light pinkish-purple skin and bright green hair (or fins?) along the top of his head and the sides of his head. I saw him in several different scenes and decided to use him because why not, and named him thusly.

I wanted to shake things up a bit because all previous stories in this collection have the relationship starting amicably enough and on equal footing (in regards to race, at least) and I wanted to do something different here given that I've gone into the issues between humans and fishmen and all that stuff.

So the Reader/OC for this story is a mixed-breed half-fishman/half-human woman. Enjoy!

o0o0o0o

Your father used to be part of a pirate crew. His captain is long dead, and so is his fishwoman lover – your mother, who died when you were just a baby. Wanting to leave the pirate life, he took you and set up on a peaceful island in the East Blue.

He eventually married another woman – a human – so you’re the lone person in the family – and town, actually – with fishman blood. Your father is a decent fellow, and though you’ve had arguments with your stepmother, she’s not the evil stepparent you find in fairy tales. Your father had enough booty from his pirate days to establish himself so his family has never had to worry about food in their belly or a roof over their heads.

Naturally, some people in town had issues with someone who had fishman blood in them, but your father always defended you. You know he cared about your mother, and he's told you that if these people who hate you see what he has seen, they'd realize that someone of mixed blood is the least of anyone's worries.

Sometimes, you get a weird look or a snide comment, and though you learn to not react to them, it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. And as your father pointed out, you have abilities no one else on the island does. So under his watchful guardianship, you learn to negotiate and sell these skills to those who would make use of them. Though your dad is an ex-pirate who enjoys the quiet life, he enjoys passing some of his skills to you. So even if some of the townsfolk see you as odd, you're able to make your way through life.

Once in a while, your younger siblings might be brats, but you do love them, and they care for you too, and as you've gotten older, your stepmother has afforded you more space and respect. It's not a perfect life, but you know what, you're pretty happy with it. Sometimes you ask yourself what you're going to do with your future. Will you remain on the island forever, or might you take to the high seas and become a pirate, or perhaps go to Fishman Island where your mother came from?

o0o0o0o

Before you can make a definitive decision about your future, your (mostly) quiet life is broken up by the blowing of the emergency horn. The town does have a local militia and several patrol boats, but these are overcome seemingly by the ocean itself as fishmen emerge from the sea to take control of the island.

You would run, but you have your younger siblings with you as today was a festival day. You’re not sure who’s more surprised – you, or the fishmen who see you as the people are being gathered up in the town square. The little ones cling to you and as you see the fishmen moving around, and again, you’re given curious glances, and it seems they’re less inclined to treat you roughly when you and others are ordered about.

The tallest man – human or fish – you've ever seen comes into sight with the longest nose you've ever seen. You and the rest of your family and neighbors are forced to listen as Arlong the Saw declares the island to be his, and how there is now to be a tribute system. People who do not pay for it will die. And so on. It's something you later see is something this sharkman does every time he takes an island. Comes onto it boldly as he pleases and declares it as his and… well, he's damn strong.

Even you, a half-fishman, are in awe and fear of him.

You’re taken from your family and brought to Arlong as a bunch of fishmen go around to collect tribute. He stares at you with these cold eyes and asks you the questions one might expect. Name? Family? Where did your fishman’s blood come from?

“Well, since you’re half-fishman, I suppose you can be spared having to pay tribute,” he says with a wide grin.

“Thank you,” you say, blinking as his words sink in and what that means for you and your family and neighbors. Your father isn’t poor, but he does have a sizeable family to support, and several employees who will be counting on their paycheques to be able to cover the tribute that they’ll have to pay for themselves and their families. You do the math, and realize that it is doable… but it will be hard.

Not having to worry about you will lessen his troubles by a fraction, and… that’s better than nothing, right? But you’ve learned enough from your father to know that someone like Arlong isn’t going to give this to you without at least a string attached.

“There is a way you can show me your appreciation…” he says.

Well, there we go! He’s probably going to ask for sexual favors, right? He looks like the kind of asshole who would do just that. Hmph.

“You’ve lived here most of your life, right? So you’re pretty familiar with this town and the rest of the island, I surmise.”

You nod, wondering what he is getting at.

“I could use someone here to show some of my men around. This is a very nice island, and I intend to make good use of it.”

You stare at him, considering his words. You’d love for nothing more than to tell him to shove it, but one look at him and you know fighting him is a fool’s errand. And he’s… asking for tours, not sex. It could be a lot worse. So you give assent.

Your fish heritage has been both a detriment and an asset in the past, and it continues to be as such, a double-edged sword hanging above your head as you tread the line between continuing to support your family and showing your loyalty to your friends and neighbors, and paying lip service to Mido, the large fishman that Arlong assigned as the new mayor of the island. This is such a nice island, Arlong says, that he will be setting up some fishmen here. And Mido firmly establishes himself by kicking the former mayor out of his house. And as the fishmen have proved, their strength in the water is nothing to scoff at, which means they can corral or sink merchant or Marine ships that come here.

You had heard rumors of a fishman pirate establishing himself in the East Blue, but the Conomi Islands were quite a ways off. These rumors had circulated for the last few years, of a fishman collecting tribute from various islands, of humans that were not quite slaves but nonetheless forced to work just for the privilege of relative safety. Your father did not go out of his way to attract the notice of the Marines, but he did not hold them, or the World Government in high regard. Arlong the Saw was but a distant threat.

Until now. You remember how you felt when you made a circuit around the island when Arlong and a handful of his men followed you. He had the eyes of a predator, and you know that cold gaze was fixed upon you as you walked in front of him, just in case you tried anything funny. But you didn’t. Your self-preservation instincts were in overdrive, so you just walked along, pointing out several locations of significance and answering Arlong’s questions, doing everything you could to mask your racing pulse.

And even after Arlong left, there was still Mido and a number of other fishmen to deal with. You answer his questions honestly – but not without care. You try to preserve as much privacy as you think you can get away with. You feel the hostile glare of farmers as you lead fishmen past the fields and orchards. Eyes follow you as you go through the marketplace and the docks.

Human eyes are not the only ones that follow you, though. You’ve heard jokes of love-starved pirates and mermaids, and the like. But you act cold and professional, wanting nothing to do with these assholes who barged onto this island like they owned it.

Having collected the first of many monthly tributes, the fishmen generally leave the humans alone other than claiming a few houses and buildings. It sucks but there’s nothing you can do about it, and you stand at the docks with your arms crossed, staring out at the ocean. Perhaps you could flee this island. But then what might become of your family or friends?

A fisherman you’ve done business with for a few years approaches you to ask about helping him with his work. Your reputation in selling your skills is solid, so you’ve had an amicable relationship with this man – until now.

“Since you’re exempt from the tribute, the least you could do is help me without charge,” he says. It’s been an excruciating few days for you. Being followed around by fishmen while giving tours and carefully deciding what places to not show them. The sideways glances from your neighbors. The tightness of your stepmother’s expression as the finances are discussed. And though your father tries to hide it, you know he is nervous too.

You were giving honest consideration to sharing some of the money you’d saved up with those who need it. There were those not as well-off as your father, and even if they’d made one payment, it was no guarantee they’d make the next. You weren’t an asshole.

But this man’s rude tone gets your hackles up. You’re not sure what to say. You want to reprimand him, but you know he has a wife who is pregnant and they already have three children. That’s another 50 thousand Berry added to that family’s tribute payment in a couple of months. You know you’re not the only one who’s spent a restless night or fretful day over this whole shitshow.

You stare at him, and he stares back at you, resentment smoldering in his guarded glare. You become aware of another fisherman looking at you from some way down the pier and realize that if you choose to ignore the first man's rudeness and help him out, there will be a line of people seeking favors from you, even though you only consented to be Arlong's lackey under duress.

Usually, if someone challenged you, you'd have something smart to say, or at least a joke to defuse the situation, but there's really nothing you can think of that feels right here. You're too on edge, and you understand why this man is on edge, and you don't want a fight. All you can do is turn around and walk away, hands balled at your sides.

“Hahaha, see how quickly she switches her loyalty!” you hear his voice call out.

“Why should she be loyal to someone who would exploit her work?” you hear a new voice say. Oh no, it’s a fishman. You turn to see a fishman, tall but nowhere near as broad as Mido, glaring at the humans on the pier tending to their boats. “So typical of humans, exploiting fishmen, making them work for next to nothing if that! There will be none of that in the Arlong Empire!” he barks.

All you can do is stare in horrified fascination before you raise your hands, waving them in a gesture of placation. "Please, gentlemen," you say with a chuckle you hope doesn't sound too strained. You give the fisherman a pointed glare, hoping he remembers the last few years of friendly acquaintanceship he shared with you well enough. The human looks at you before lowering his gaze in submission. You glance at the fishman, whose name you remember is Shioyaki. He's not bad-looking for a fishman, and even better-looking than some of the humans here. And out of the fishmen you've seen, he has the nicest shirts.

But he’s still part of Arlong’s gang, so you’ve kept your distance from him. “There you go. It’s just… been a time of adjustment for all of us,” you say. You quickly back away and turn to leave, thinking to just go back home and avoid others for the rest of the day.

You go a few blocks before you hear your name called out, and turn around to face Shioyaki, biting back your irritation. You’d been so intent on getting away from the shore that you didn’t hear his footsteps coming after you.

“Yes?” you ask in icy politeness. You could almost swear he’s smirking a bit like he finds your act amusing. But it’s not an act. You’re not going to be warm towards these assholes who’ve come and taken over this island, are you? Fuck that, fuck Arlong, fuck these fishmen.

“I was wondering if you might like to go for a walk with me?” he asks. You narrow your eyes.

“Your captain… hired me as a guide. My work is done for today,” you say dismissively. You know you’ll likely be called upon tomorrow for something, but after your confrontation with the fisherman, all you want to do is go home and make yourself a cup of tea. And perhaps add a shot or two of rum to it, but who has to know?

“Huh, you’re just going to leave like that after I stepped in for you?”

“You did that out of the goodness of your heart, I assumed?” you ask dryly. He takes a step closer to you. Under different circumstances, you might have flirted with him. But circumstances are what they are, and you step back.

“I know I’m new here. But the way that man talked to you. I’ve seen it plenty of other times. Humans looking down at us because we’re fishmen.”

“I assure you that your being a fishman has nothing to do with my disdain for you." Still, you're a little shaken at how quick that man was to turn on you and demand you give him free work over something you had no control over. Empathy can only go so far, and you remember the handful of townsfolk you've known for years who still have not quite let go of their prejudice for fishfolk. And now, even people you've been friendly with are looking at you differently.

All because of Arlong and his assholes. “And for your information, I got along with that man just fine before Arlong came here. So you’ve made things difficult for me, in a place that I have spent most of my life in!” you say hotly.

He blinks at you. You regard him with an angry, tight expression, anxiety forming a knot in your stomach. Then he smirks. All you want to do is punch him in the face.

“Yeah. I’ve seen how the humans look at you when we’re following you around. Even though as far as I’ve seen, you haven’t done anything to them. But now for many of them, all they see when they look at you is that you’re a fishman, too.”

“Only half!”

“Does that make much of a difference?”

Your hands ball into fists. “Just leave me alone,” you mutter. Stupid asshole.

“You’ve lived your life so far with humans. It’s not working out very well, is it? Maybe it’s time to embrace your fishman heritage and side with us.”

“No, thanks. I don’t wanna end up an a- uh, jerk like you or Mido or Arlong.” You almost called him an asshole to his face. You’re normally cool-headed, but this fishman is getting you all flustered, and not in a good way.

He chuckles at that but lets you go.

o0o0o0o

Your reprieve from Shioyaki is short-lived. When you report to the mayor's house in the morning to see what Mido might want of you, Shioyaki is with him. He smirks at you when you take notice of him, but you keep your face impassive as you stare at Mido, nearly blinded by the bright green fins on his head as they catch the sunlight. Even for a fishman, his appearance is ridiculous, especially when compared to someone like Arlong. But he has a fair amount of intelligence to go with that brawn, which explains why he was given the mayorship of this town and control of the island.

“You will work with Shioyaki today,” Mido declares before he dismisses you, the other fishman following behind you.

Fuck me. Could this day possibly get any worse? And the day has only just started! Could you pretend to be ill? Maybe complain about cramps, since a lot of men will back off when a woman mentions certain troubles? You stop at the gate in front of the house before turning to face him.

“What sort of work did you have planned for today?” you ask coolly. Suck it up and get on with it. If not for the fear of reprisal from Mido or Arlong, you'd have laid this salmon fishman out already and rubbed his face in the dirt for good measure.

“I was thinking we could go for a walk. I’ll tell Mido it’s a tour.”

You let out a defeated huff. Looks like he’s going to get that walk with you, after all. “Where do you want to go, then?” you ask.

“Hmm. This island is pretty nice," he says. Of course, he would know, you've taken the fishmen on several walks around the island so they could see for themselves what they were going to be managing for Arlong. "Let's just walk by the sea?"

Fine. So the two of you make your way down the slope before taking a left, walking past the docks. You avoid eye contact with the humans working there, stone-faced as Shioyaki walks at your side, half a step behind you. Inevitably, the pier stops, giving way to a trail and rocky sand, the waves crashing nearby. There are a few houses up the hill, but you know if you continue down the path you'll head through a forested part of the island that is occasionally used for foraging or grazing. Shioyaki had been quiet thus far, and you're not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

So you keep walking, treading a path that is long familiar to you. At a few points, it has been widened, giving people places to rest or even have a bit of a picnic if they so desire. Island life is pretty great… at least, until fishmen pirates show up and demand tribute. You stare off through the trees at the sea and give out a gasp as you bump into Shioyaki.

He stands in front of you, facing you. You look away out of mortification as you take a step back. “Sorry,” you mumble, trying to forget the smirk on his face. He’d planted himself in front of you on purpose when he saw you were distracted, hadn’t he?

“Relax. You’re way too tense, you know?”

You lift your head to glare at him. “Why should you care?”

He shrugs. “We’re just out for a walk. These are supposed to be fun, right?”

“… Yes,” comes your guarded reply. You’re tempted to say that his absence is what would make the walk fun.

“And I’m certain you’d rather be having fun than doing actual work for Mido, right?”

You raise an eyebrow at him. “You’re not worried about getting in trouble?” you ask cautiously – if this fishman does get in trouble, you don’t want to be held accountable.

He gives out a small laugh. “No. I’m Arlong’s subordinate, not Mido’s. I’m the Master of Banquets, but I’m here for a few months because I have other skills and I’ll admit, I wanted a change of scenery for a bit.”

You shrug at that. Nothing wrong with having a variety of skills, or wanting something new. If it wasn’t for the circumstances, his comment would be entirely reasonable.

“Arlong Park is pretty great, but this island is not without its charms." He looks around for a bit before his gaze falls back to you, resting on you. You were dressed similarly to most other islanders this time of the year, with a t-shirt and knee-length shorts. You felt that you exercised a reasonable amount of modesty and comfort in your choice of clothing, but under his gaze, you feel almost naked. Eyes up here, bud, you’re tempted to snap at him.

“Yes, this trail has its charms,” you say in an effort to pull his mind from that sort of topic. “You saw that lemon orchard the other day, remember? This is the other side of it,” you say, gesturing to a fence several meters from the path, rows of lemon trees sitting behind it. You remember carefree days when you and the neighbor kids would pluck lemons from the branches that overhung the fence. The owner of the orchard was good-natured about it, and your father reminded you and the other children to not abuse someone’s generosity. So like good sports, you only collected lemons that were outside of the fence, and you and your friends shared the lemons, getting plenty of lemon bars for your efforts (and you helped your stepmother make lemon bars, some of which you took to that very farmer. So it was a win-win situation for everyone, really...)

That same farmer had glared at you the other day as you stood behind Mido while the new fishman mayor made his rounds to familiarize himself with his new town. Your father knows the facts, that you agreed to none of this, and there are those willing to listen to you. But prejudice runs deeper than you have seen in your so far relatively comfortable life. It was easy enough to ignore the sneers of the few townsfolk who could not let go of their prejudices, but when you were now dealing with it from people who’d gotten along with you for years… It’s hard to not feel resentful.

The two of you walk more without incident before he stops again. This time, you catch yourself before you walk into him. You see a couple of boats in the distance, but you and Shioyaki are pretty much alone in this quiet little corner of the world.

“I’ve been observing you since I came here. I like what I see.”

So do you. You would be lying if you claimed that you didn’t find him physically attractive. But he’s one of the Arlong Pirates, and you have morals. So you shake your head. “Don’t get any ideas about that,” you warn him.

“Why not? What are you going to do, be with a human? Fishmen are superior in strength and stamina. Think about what that means…" His smirk widens into a lecherous grin. You roll your eyes. You're not exactly untouched, but you're single. Your experience comes from exploration and curiosity. Hey, no regrets, and you got to experiment a bit and find a few things you liked or didn't like.

“I’d rather not,” you say as you flip your hair over your shoulder. “That is not what I was hired for.”

“Oh, is that something you’re selling?” he asked, stroking his chin. You growl at him.

“Yeah, keep making that noise. It’s pretty hot,” he says with a chortle. You exclaim and throw your hands up in the air. He steps toward you. You back away from him. Arlong only told you to be a guide to his fishmen. You were to show them the sights and locations of the island and the surrounding waters.

Not your body. If Shioyaki assaults you what recourse do you have? Would Arlong reprimand his crewmate, or simply shrug and say you were fair game to be claimed? You blank out at that thought, horror filling you as you consider how (metaphorically) fucked you are.

“Hey, wait. No.” Your focus is pulled back to him and you see surprise on his features as you continue to back away. “I’m a fishman. Not a monster.” He quickly grabs your wrist.

“Prove it,” you say evenly, but your heart is pounding as the two of you stare at one another. Slowly, he unwraps his fingers from your arm and raises his hand, palms facing you.

“Not a monster,” you repeat his words quietly as the two of you stand there and stare at one another with the rustle of leaves and crashing of waves as a backdrop. “You and your captain and friends come to this island, and though Arlong doesn’t call them slaves, the humans here aren’t in a much better state. They are made to work under the threat of death, with Arlong taking most if not all of the profits.”

“Humans have done much worse to fishmen and merfolk for many centuries!”

Your father admittedly is ignorant of most fishman history, but he did tell you what he knew, and that included the institution of slavery and how non-humans were more prized on the slave market for a variety of reasons.

“I don’t deny that they did, ok? My dad told me about what he’d seen of slavers and all that. And that’s an amazingly shitty thing to do to anybody. Regardless of if they’re a human or fishman!” you add pointedly.

“I bet there’s plenty he didn’t tell you,” Shioyaki replies. You shrug, conceding the point. So the walk continues with him info-dumping on you about Fisher Tiger and his death and how Arlong formed his crew. Surprisingly, you find this engaging and ask him questions, which he seems all too happy to answer because he has your rapt attention.

You’ve heard a bit about fishman history from your father, and even less from the World Government-issued textbooks in school. Now you get to hear it from a bonafide fishman. And boy howdy, you get a whole fucking earful and then some.

Hours pass before you make your way back to civilization. You're overwhelmed, but you've gained a lot of insight into why these fishmen behave the way they do. Yeah, what they're doing here, on this island, is not justified, but you can see how and why they're so angry. With being constantly persecuted and marginalized by humans, and not feeling protected by King Neptune, there are going to be fishmen who feel like the only way to secure a place for themselves on the surface world is to take it by force, and that is what Arlong did. And as more and more seafolk join him, the Arlong Empire expands, creating several colonies across the East Blue. Your island is but the latest in this stronghold that Arlong the Saw is creating for his people.

“Well, I enjoyed that walk,” Shioyaki says conversationally as the town comes into view again.

“So did I,” you say. Albeit on a different level, your brain mulling over a viewpoint that was different than what you’d been raised with. But that’s not what Shioyaki thinks when he hears your words, and you blush as you realize your poor choice of words. He smiles at that.

“In that case, perhaps we should take more walks. I think you’d prefer that to working for Mido?”

You look off to some point beyond the trees so you don’t have to make eye contact with him. Work for Mido, or spend time with Shioyaki. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place. In this case, you’ll choose the lesser of two evils, and nod. Shioyaki seems willing enough to talk with you and answer your questions. You’ll think of some questions tonight, and distract him the next time you have to spend time with him.

o0o0o0o

Though you still have to report to Mido in the mornings, Shioyaki manages to monopolize much of your time. You have questions waiting for him, whether it’s about something new or to clarify something he said previously.

When he asks you questions, you are diffident. You resist his attempts to discover things you like, and you try to distract him with questions of your own.

“You already asked me that question a while ago,” Shioyaki says with a smirk. “You’re just trying to keep me talking.”

You narrow your eyes, thinking back… well, you did ask a similar question. But you honestly forgot you had asked for it, there was a lot of information about fishmen to process, and it’s not like you had reference material at home to look up.

“I forgot I asked that, really. There’s just so much to keep track of and it’s not as if the local library has material on fishman history and all that. I told my dad some of what you told me yesterday and it blew his mind. He knows that humans and fishmen don’t have a great history together but, yeah, wow.”

“Fair enough, but you’re still using these questions as a distraction.”

“No, no, I’m listening and learning,” you insist. He smirks.

“Yeah, but it's not the only reason you're asking these questions. Am I really so bad?"

You let out a soft hmph and cross your arms. Isn’t the answer fucking obvious?

“Yeah yeah, I'm a pirate. An Arlong Pirate and I'm proud of it. I wouldn't let myself be pushed around by humans. And before you say that there's a way to solve this without violence, do you think fishmen haven't tried that in the past? Arlong saw Fisher Tiger die for trying to save a human child! We could have just killed everyone here, but we chose not to!" He crosses his arms, puffing out his chest, taking a stance not much different than yours. You stare at one another for several moments.

“Is that the bar you want to set? Not killing?" you ask incredulously. His smugness gives way to perplexity. His brows furrowed in irritation.

“Like humans are better than that," he sneers. It's a pretty weak point… but it is a point, nonetheless. And no one in your town died. So there's that. You wouldn't say you're grateful for that, but the pragmatic side of you recognizes that being alive means one can live to fight another day.

“Yeah. So you get to lord over us weak humans, even though the people who live here have no part in this conflict. You brought it here and thrust it upon them. I know you’re angry, but you’re projecting it on the wrong people.” You turn away from him. “I’m going home. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Hey, I didn’t say you could leave.”

You glare at him. He takes a step toward you.

“I get that you were raised by humans, but you’ve been shut off to us since we came here. I’ve tried to be nice to you. I think you’re cute, and I have more to offer than any of the humans on this island.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Who said I was going to stay on this island?”

He seems taken aback by this.

“I mean, I don’t have to pay tribute. I’m half-fishman. I’m not bound here like the rest of the islanders, am I?” Come to think of it, that was never clarified.

“I… don’t know.” He stares at you thoughtfully. “Arlong never stated you could leave, and I doubt he’d be too pleased if you disappeared without his permission. Especially since you’re likely to try to get help.”

Well, of course, you would try to get help, you're not stupid. And you would have information on Mido and the other fishmen here if nothing else. But you hesitate. As a half-fishman, would you be treated with respect? And in the meantime, what could happen to your family or friends?

“Fuck,” you mutter, balling your hands into fists. Shioyaki approaches you slowly. You glance at him cautiously, the sun giving his cool ruddy skin a warm tint. It’s hard to not remember how visually appealing the salmon fishman is because of the time you’ve spent around him.

“You’ve spent all this time worrying about humans and avoiding fishmen as much as possible. You don’t have to make friends with all of us, but I am certain I can make it worthwhile for you to be mine.”

Your father told you to never turn down an opportunity without thinking about it. And you are aware that, as long as you’re stuck here and toeing the line with Mido, it wouldn’t hurt to have one fishman on your side.

“I’m going to need to think about that,” you say neutrally. Make him chase you a little bit. See just how much power you have or might gain, and you might be able to wield it in some meaningful way. You see the gleam in his eye, and you know you have him hooked.

o0o0o0o

Wait, wait, some of you might ask, where's the smex? Don't worry, I do have that planned for part 2 but given the circumstances of the Reader for this story, I didn't want to rush into that.

So I looked up just how much Berries were worth, and according to the OP wiki, Berries are about the same as the Japanese Yen, which makes sense given the author is Japanese. That 50,000 Yen translates to about 341 US dollars, 313 Euro, or 267 GBP (UK Pounds) Double this for the adult tribute fee.

Of course, standards of living vary around the world as well as expenses, so it's difficult to say just how much value this has within OP, but I can say that for some people, this would be doable, but for others, this would strain their budget if not break it. For me, coming up with the adult fee would be an absolute pain in the ass. If I had kids to support, this would break me.

Camie the mermaid was purchased by Saint Charlos for five hundred million Berries, which translates to 2,670,400 GBP, 3,130,900 Euro, or 3,408,000 USD (as of Feb 2024) For nearly anyone, this would be a life-changing amount of money. Yes, I thought it would be fun to calculate that to get an idea of how much a Berry is worth.

#writing #strawberrycatbeans #one piece #villain gets the girl #fanfiction #opla #arlong pirates #shioyaki #one piece x reader #shioyaki x reader

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bitchfitch · 1 year ago

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It is time to finally get around to watching the Simone Giertz stained glass robot video,

and I am already much more optimistic about it than I was in the E+K one, Shes actually gotten into the craft and is doing this because it's two things she already likes. But Also. I am so jealous of her rn, that shop is Massive and Gorgeous. Like, I love the stained glass workbench, but if that place is a candy store, This one is willy Wonka's factory.

She's got a Proper grinder, and an aftermarket bit I'm legit jealous of, I need to get one of these things, it would make the little curves So much easier.

Her plan is to trace the chassis pieces of an already existent robot arm to re make it in glass. We haven't seen the arm in motion yet but I think that means these pieces shouldn't be taking any significant loads. They are going to be a lot heavier than the original pieces tho and the arm is one of those dinky toy ones so tbh, rn I suspect it's motor is going to be the week link in this. Ma'am knows what she's doing on both fronts and seems to be the only big name YouTuber to Actually give a shit about the craft instead of just using it for click bait.

I just really like the color grading in these shots. And also how good of a dog scraps is. Ive never met a dog I'd let anywhere near my sg stuff out of like, a concern for their safety but Scraps is being totally chill (It's ok to do most SG stuff around a dog so long as they're behaved and not likely to get up on the table. You do have to be careful about shard management and paw checks tho, Dogs are really good at getting Bits in-between their toes where they can hide and start causing infections. Cats groom themselves too much and might end up with shards in their mouths or throats if you let them in the room with you during cutting, most other common indoor pets are too sensitive to fumes for it to be safe for them to be in the room for any part of the process after the foil goes on. This is just an fyi)

So far the Big issue that's making this difficult is that she made the holes for the screws and such too small. She's doing the Tiffany method which means the screw holes are being made unpredictabily smaller by the copper foil and inconsistency in her soldering, This is not a skill issue and is kind just Part of things. She's going to have to melt off all of her pretty leading and pull off the tape to grind the holes bigger, effectively undoing a Decent number of hours of work and making more for herself. If your considering doing a similar project, hot tip, make the holes Massive, around the size of your screws Head, then fill them completely with solder while you do your leading, the lead is soft enough to drill through and tap with a standard hand drill like you would wood. I'd recommend a manual one over a motorized one just bc it'll stay cooler and stained glass doesn't like being vibrated that harshly.

after some adjustments to things it's most of the way put together and moving! And Yeah it looks Really Really Good. I'm kinda worried what that arm is going to do under load though, It looks like it might want to fold on itself and flex snap on the diagonal, or break the soldering away from the glass. Using thick c channel came around the edges would reinforce it pretty well if that's going to be the reason this video is called "making a robot out of stained glass was a stupid idea from the start"

It just got a wash, a base, and some patina. They put up a title card that said 'homestretch' Look at the progress bar.

Things have been going really well so far so I'm kinda worried about what could go wrong.

the mounts at the base of the arm where the pivot point is can't handle the stresses. Wrapping the outside edge of chassis pieces in came would let them flex without being able to pull away from each other. Bc the glass didn't break, the soldering gave out, came is applied in single long pieces that take some Doing to make fail like that since properly stretched came wants to flex and return to position before it wants to snap. that's why we use it in exterior windows instead of the Tiffany method.

She repaired the seam in the same way it was before glued the hardware in place, fixed up the base to make it match her expectations of it, and it failed again in the same way. This piece has a lot of play around it, obviously I don't know for certain if some c channel will 100% fix the problem, But. she does have the room to give it a shot without having to make any other alterations it looks like.

shes, very reasonably, gotten frustrated and decided to just replace the problem part with the metal piece from the original robot and it Does Seam Promising because everything else worked.

And it does!

she made tea with it. :]

(Video link here)

#there wasnt much to critique #this was just a pleasant video #live blog eksg #like Its Not but im still putting it in that tag

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zealfruity · 11 months ago

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I gotta know more about Jedi Cutup

How does he handle his antics totally not getting under Quinlan's skin?

On a scale of 1-10, how hard does their shitposting break that scale?

Is he any good with his saber? What's his favorite form of the seven? Does Quinlan teach him any -non- Jedi forms?~

How resonant in the Force does he become/what are favored "powers"?

I’m so happy you asked me this. Mostly because i love Cutup but also because I didn’t really think beyond that? So here’s what I’ve cooked up for you:

1. He keeps upping the antics. If Quinlan is unphased or perfectly in tune with whatever's Cutup's cooking up (which is most of the time that guy gets up to so much bs)? Cutup gets more ambitious. At some point he does realise that it's not going to work, but it takes a lot of trying and failing. The only time he ever threw Quinlan off his stride was the first time Quinlan heard about him from Obi-Wan, and then maybe after Cutup catches onto a Force trick very quickly Vos didn’t expect it. Afterwards Cutup didn't have much luck, which is annoying when part of your whole Thing is that you imbalance and inconvenience authority 24/7.

2. I'm not really sure what you mean here, my reading comprehension can be iffy. The Vos and Cutup duo get into a lot of shenanigans, they're a good apprenticeship match. Shit gets done but the way it gets done always ends up being…. Out of the box. So I guess 9/10, knowing eachother def raised their individual Hijinks Magnets’ strenghts.

3. He's alright with it, just not used to close range stuff. He was trained as a grenadier, which involves a lot of aiming+throwing explosives far away and then shooting deadly blaster fire at ennemies. He's good at aiming blaster bolts when deflecting them, and he's not a very traditional fighter so that definetely helps him out. Form V is the one he's best at and likes the most, and when learning with the practice saber, it was definetely the one he had to use the most if ever he needed to (still being at war on the frontlines and all). he has the physical capabilities energy to use Form IV (he was always a little bit of a showoff, he's the kid who does sick flips on the trampoline and then probs hurts himself doing a backflip wrong). It saps him of his force strenght quickly though and he hasn't quite mastered the spatial awareness it needs, so he has to be careful.

4. Cutup's gotten good at some niche hand-to-hand techniques that Quinlan knows. He learns how to use a blaster/saber way of fighting where the saber is mostly used for defence and some close combat, and the blaster used for offence and long range. Quinlan helps him merge what he’s been taught his whole life being a trooper and the new things he’s learning from the Jedi in peacetime.

5. He's not the strongest Jedi in the room, he's pretty average and the years of uncontiously supressing something like that for self preservation reasons (kamino + war = bad mixture for an untrained force sensitive, also some story and lore stuff that I don't feel like getting into right now). He's good at the whole "something is about to happen" feeling and can manage to get decently specific with it. he's learned how to concentrate his usage of the Force in one big, short burst that can have pretty cool results (but tire him out emmediately afterwards, any further Force usage is difficult and can leave some damage to him). It's the longer lasting, consistent usage (used for say, deep meditation, holding smth up for longer than 30 seconds, and sensing larger amounts of people) that he has a lot of trouble with. Gets really good at timing when to enhance his strenght and speed with the Force in short moments, but again: keeping it consistent during a fight is not his strong suit.

Hope this helped :)) As always, my ask box is open ✨

I like how little guy he looks here.

#zeal talks #domino squad lives au #tcw cutup #tcw #clone wars #force sensitive cutup #force sensitive clone #quinlan vos #au #star wars

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blizzard-nightlamps · 1 year ago

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Oh hay! Can you tell us a bit about your fursona?

hii i ABSOLUTELY can! his full name is ethan burns, and hes a cute raccoon. he barely has any real lore, or personality (aside from some tidbits about his piss), but ive had him as my only sona ever for a good 4 years or so and ive both gotten better at drawing and modified him a decent amount since then (that's part of why he doesn't look much like a raccoon). so this will be more like a mostly comprehensive history of his design and the very small very incremental changes to his appearance since day 1.

anyways! this is proto-ethan from April 2019

i had been tossing around ideas for a fursona for a while in my head but realized i wanted to make him a raccoon after reading an old tumblr post about making fursonas. it's two tone cause i wasn't brave enough to pick out colors at the time, which definitely made him look less raccoonish later on. the ears being light on the inside and dark on the outside probably also contributed to that - real raccoons have a sorta rim of light colored fur around their mostly dark colored ears.

THESE are like the beta and full releases of ethan from may and june 2019 respectively. most of his features were defined back then and all changes going forward are like, extremely minimal. the most prominent changes since proto ethan include the removal of the dark fur running from his forehead to his nose, digitigrade legs (i did change them back to plantigrade legs eventually), and making the side of his face and his chest have big tufts of fur (the arrangement of tufts got standardized pretty quickly because im a bitch about keeping his design consistent. not his color though weeee). here are some discord pfps i had of him back in the day

i experimented with giving him a bigger nose and claws among other very minor revisions - since then, his snout has gotten smaller, his fur tufts have gotten bigger, his ears have gotten SIGNIFICANTLY bigger, and he's taller and less stocky. also worth noting how his oval nose slowly morphed into an actual nose shape over time

i also made a bunch of 3d models of him at different points in time, most of which never got totally finished but these are probably the best representation overall of how his design changed over time (ordered by time of creation, the one with no mouth is the oldest from September 2020)

but yeah i dont have much else to say about his design and how it changed over time. also a lot of it can also just be chalked up to me becoming a better artist so there's that.

oh and as a thank you for scrolling through all these itty bitty details about my fursona, let me elaborate about the piss lore i mentioned at the start 1) he pisses liquid nitrogen. 2) due to having no genitals of his own to piss with, he basically remote-accesses the genitals of others nearby and forces his piss out of there. needless to say the experience is deeply unpleasant for those whose genitals he takes control of

#also one of these fursona images is brand new so im posting that soon on its own #furry #my art #fursona

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pokemonconsequencesmybeloved · 4 months ago

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Pokemon Consequences Progress Update

Post No. 2: Rival(?) Battle and Early Route Encounters

Hello! I've been working on the project for a bit now and since my last post I've gotten two major things done.

1) I've created the first iteration of the first battle against Kieran! Kieran isn't technically a rival to the player character but you will battle him multiple times as the story progresses, so he fills that role. I say first iteration because I am not much of a teambuilder as evidenced by the fact someone reblogged my previous Dokukieran team and made it much better, so this team will most likely be reworked multiple times.

2) I created the encounter table for the early routes of the game. I have an encounter table for two reasons, a) it's much easier to create on Google Sheets, and b) the game is going to be 2d because I cannot create a 3d one.

Kieran Battle:

(remember, everything is subject to change!)

Firstly, I read through the first two chapters of the Toxic Consequences AU fanfic again and determined that the player would have their first battle with Kieran as he leaves Loyalty Plaza after losing to Florian and Juliana, so it takes place after he meets Dokutaro but before he gets chained. This means I had to create a worse version of the team he uses at Loyalty Plaza. I based my version of the team off of the one you would fight if you hadn't beaten the story of main SV because even if you had access to a couple routes by now and had beaten a couple trainers, this is still an early game boss fight.

The first step to do that was to get rid of his Cramorant. I think the fight would be easier and better if he only had four Pokemon, and as far as I'm aware he only uses the Cramorant in this fight and no others.

Another thing you may notice about his team is that all of their natures are neutral. I'm not naturing or IV-ing or EV-ing a fight this early in the game because, once again, it's an early-game boss fight.

First up, his Gligar. It has Arial Ace and Sand Tomb for S.T.A.B. (yes I know Sand Tomb is a bad move but that's the point!), and Swords Dance to get some attack boosts. That coupled with its ability Hyper Cutter, which prevents you from lowering its attack, means that if you leave it alone for long enough it can become a real threat (even if that is unlikely to happen). It has no held item (in fact, Dipplin is the only pokemon to have one) because, again, this is an early-game fight and I don't want the game to be too difficult... yet. :)

Next, Poliwhirl. I gave it Low Kick for coverage, and for it's water move I chose to give it Weather Ball. Okay hear me out on this one- the attack uses Poliwhirl's special attack stat which is pretty bad in comparison to it's physical attack. The point of this move, though, is that it pairs well with Rain Dance. When rain is active, Weather Ball becomes a water-type move and doubles to 100 base power. Because of the rain, water-type attacks get boosted AND Poliwhirl gets water S.T.A.B., which when combined with Poliwhirl's ability Swift Swim doubling its speed in rain should make it output decent damage for this point in the game... hopefully.

Then, Yanma. As opposed to Kieran's first two Pokemon which have three moves, Yanma and Dipplin both get four. I first gave it Struggle Bug and Air Cutter for S.T.A.B., and I then gave it U-Turn as a pivot. You may be thinking, "What's the point if Yanma is sent out second-to-last?" The point is that Yanma won't always be sent second to last. How this game will work is that trainers will ALWAYS send out their lead first and ALWAYS send out their ace last, but what comes in-between is determined by which Pokemon is best against your current Pokemon, and U-turn allows Yanma to switch into Poliwhirl to take an attack that Yanma could not. Finally, I gave it Tailwind to make the team faster, which it kind of needs, especially Dipplin.

Speaking of Dipplin, that's the last member of his team! I decided to make Dipplin Kieran's ace instead of Poliwhirl because it's always bothered me that it's not his ace in a couple of battles despite Hydrapple becoming his ace in the Indigo Disk. (I don't know, I just like things to be consistent.) First off, I gave it Syrup Bomb and Dragon Breath for S.T.A.B., then Bug Bite for coverage. Finally, I gave it Recover. The interesting part is Dipplin's ability. Kieran's Dipplin usually has Supersweet Syrup, but I decided to give it Gluttony. This is because of Dipplin's item, the Pataya berry, which normally increases your special attack upon reaching 1/4 health. With Gluttony, however, this special attack boost instead occurs at 1/2 health, meaning if you don't take it out quickly because of Dipplin's high defense (did anyone else think the line's special defense would be higher? just me? okay), it gets a special attack boost and becomes the only real threat on the team.

Speaking of, should this game be double battles or single battles? Either way there will be a couple of the other option but which should be the prominent encounter type? I'm leaning towards double because I prefer it over singles and it gives me the opportunity to create more devious strategies, but what do you think? As always, your choice WILL influence the game.

Encounters:

The important thing I considered when creating the encounters here is getting through the harder members of Kieran's team, notably Poliwhirl and Dipplin. That being said, here are the encounters:

I've created the encounter tables for Kitakami Road, Apple Hills, and Reveler's Road. I've decided to do this because for progression reasons Kitakami hall will be the furthest in the game you can reach before defeating Kieran.

Kitakami Road

Just like in real SV, the only three encounters here are Wooper, Yanma, and Spinarak at night. (yes I know this has some differences to regular SV because Spinarak can be found during the day and other mons can spawn here rarely but for the first point it adds variety and for the second it makes it easier for me, okay?)

Apple Hills

This is where the encounter tables get interesting. Just like regular SV, you can find Applin here all the time and Starly during the day. (I know Starly only spawns during the day because I tried to shiny hunt it and it was a pain :[ ) You can also find Spinarak here at nighttime and Volbeat and Illumise rarely. Fun fact: Volbeat and Illumise can spawn in both versions, but Volbeat spawns more commonly in Scarlet and Illumise in Violet. They're like pseudo-version exclusives, which is what gave me the idea for the day-night exclusivity. The notable encounter here is Psyduck, whose Cloud Nine ability makes it a great counter to Poliwhirl. (I know Psyduck is not in the Kitakami dex but I'm adding it and multiple others because a) variety and b) Sneasler and Runerigus were both in the Dokukieran team so it's not off-limits.)

Reveler's Road

Firstly, Vulpix and Growlithe spawn here as day-night exclusives. Apparnently Growlithe doesn't actually spawn here but it's in the dex and I could have sworn it did so I'm keeping it. Toedscool and Poltchageist also spawn here just as they do in game, with Poltchageist appearing both at day and night because in regular SV Poltchageist does spawn at all times of day but more commonly at sunset and night. Noibat also appears as a rare spawn at night only because a) It has to be rare because Noivern is really good, and b) the Noibat line's whole thing is using echolocation to fly around in the dark so it's fitting as a night-only encounter. The notable encounter here, however, is Sneasel. It's a fast and decently-hard-hitting ice types making it practically the only good counter to Dipplin while also not being too good for this point in the game due to its BST. (I wanted the fight to be decently hard if you're not prepared but have good counters because I also want the game to be a hard nuzlocke because that's the only way I'm good at romhacking/making fangames /hj.)

Conclusion:

Wow, that was a long progress update. Everything here is subject to change, so expect me to come back to this later, but for now, I'm pretty happy with how both of today's topics came out. These updates are probably going to be daily but I might miss a couple of days because I want to actually get something done inbetween updates. For now though,

Smoliv out.

#pokemon #pokemon sv #pokemon consequences #toxic consequences au #progress update

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