#manipulative charm

[aventurineswife]

Aventurine with a gamer reader who asks him to do gacha pulls for the new 5 star character (just imagine, you dont even have to go whale with such luck)

The House Always Wins

Summary: Aventurine is asked by you to perform a gacha pull for the coveted new five-star character. Confident in his legendary luck, he accepts the challenge. With a playful grin, he turns the moment into a wager: if he succeeds, you owe him a homemade dinner; if he fails, he’ll owe you a favor. To your amazement, he pulls the rare character on the first try.

Tags: Aventurine x Reader, Fluff, Light Humor, Gamer!Reader, Playful Banter, Lighthearted, Manipulative Charm.

The evening glow from the city outside filtered into Aventurine's sleek, penthouse suite. The dark glass walls reflected the opulence within—roulette motifs on his tailored blazer, the gold trim of his accessories glinting faintly in the low light. Aventurine lounged on the velvet couch, one leg crossed over the other, his eyes lazily following your pacing figure.

You, on the other hand, were anything but composed. Clutching your phone tightly, you let out an exasperated sigh.

"Please, please, Aventurine," you begged, holding out your phone as if it were an offering to a deity. "I’ve been saving up for this banner for months, but I’ve got a streak of bad luck that’s—frankly—embarrassing. I need your touch. Your magic. Your insane luck."

He tilted his head back, a smirk curling on his lips. "Oh, darling, flattery will get you everywhere." His voice dripped with amusement as he gestured lazily for you to sit beside him. "But are you sure you want me to take the reins? What if I squander all your hard-earned currency on nothing but trash?"

"Not possible." You plopped down next to him, clutching your phone like a lifeline. "You could do a ten-pull blindfolded and still get the banner character and their weapon. You’re basically a walking gacha cheat code."

Aventurine chuckled, clearly relishing your faith in his supposed supernatural luck. "Very well, but remember: the house always wins, darling. I make no promises."

With a flourish, he plucked the phone from your hands and studied the screen, his eyes darting over the details of the banner. His finger hovered over the ‘Summon’ button, but instead of pressing it, he turned to you, his enigmatic smile widening.

"Let’s make this interesting," he said, leaning closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "If I manage to pull your precious five-star on the first try, you owe me dinner—cooked by you, naturally. But if I fail…" He paused, his smile turning sharp. "I’ll owe you a favor. Anything you desire."

You hesitated, your heart skipping a beat—not just at the prospect of the pull, but at the idea of Aventurine owing you something. "Deal."

"Wonderful." He tapped the screen with a dramatic flair, as though sealing a pact with fate itself. The summoning animation began, glowing lights swirling on the screen.

The first few results were three-stars. A predictable disappointment. Aventurine clicked through them with mock boredom, his expression unreadable. But when the screen erupted in golden light, signaling a five-star pull, he raised a brow, his smirk deepening.

"And there it is," he drawled, turning the screen toward you. The banner character's splash art filled the display, the rarest gem of the event staring back at you in all their glory.

You blinked, stunned. "You—how? On the first pull?"

"Darling, I did warn you." He handed the phone back with a smug flourish, leaning back on the couch as if the whole affair had been beneath his notice. "Luck follows me like a loyal hound. Or perhaps…" He trailed off, his gaze locking with yours. "Perhaps it’s just your influence."

Your face burned, but you refused to give him the satisfaction of flustering you completely. "You’re insufferable, you know that?"

"Ah, but you love it," Aventurine teased, his tone dripping with self-assured charm. "Now, about that dinner you owe me…"

You groaned, half in exasperation, half in disbelief. "I’m never living this down, am I?"

"Not a chance," he replied, his smile softening just a fraction. "But I’ll make it worth your while. After all, life’s a gamble, and tonight, you’ve made quite the winning bet."

[waitineedaname]

I made a flowchart for Binghe's average decision making process

[mohntilyet]

still i think the one of the more fun differences drawn between illario and lucanis that was lost would be illario's ability to endear himself to others but serious lack of empathy, vs. lucanis' (self perceived) inability to be charming but how much he cares. it's interesting that the game has gone with the "lucanis' ability vs illario's lack thereof" because i think illario being the dellamorte 'best in show dog' vs. lucanis' attack dog would have made me so unwell.

lucanis is... awkward. he's not unlikable, because he is usually very polite, but he doesn't speak much and only seems to care about the other dellamortes. he once sent viago de riva a knife with no note (who knows what he could have meant by this). he does what caterina asks of him, and by his own admission, cannot say no to her. he is a dramatic and prolific killer, and that makes how untouchable he is even worse.

and the crows like illario, sure, AND he's a good assassin! he's even a good crow! he's so good that he can make lucanis smile, and so he is the charming, sociable one. he's the one that stays in treviso and can be relied upon to care, illario's even the one people prefer over caterina and lucanis!

but illario is decoration. he's the prize poodle, and even if poodles were bred to be working dogs, nobody will ever pick him to protect the house over the german shepherd that regularly mauls intruders. anyways the analogy is getting away from me. the point i'm trying to make is that i want illario to have a different kind of jealousy/hatred that's not just over 'being bad at killing' but also an arrogant loathing for everyone around him that is getting harder to hide, because they've forgotten he can bite and is just itching to rip someone's jugular out. illario is very good at hiding his family resemblance to caterina, while lucanis suffers under his grandmother's, and his own, reputation.

[stars-n-kites]

really funny 2 see fics where taako is portrayed as like. a skilled liar / manipulator bc in canon hes just an absolute mess at it. like.... dont get me wrong, he can bullshit his way around people who dont know better than to take him at his word, but the moment someone is even remotely suspicious of him he panics and starts making up insane shit, contradicts himself, and then makes up even more insane shit to uncontradict himself. he can absolutely bend the truth just fine, but his straight up lies are moreso word association improv exercises than real scenarios a person would believe if told them. if anything his lies are most effective as like. verbal octopus ink. like yeah im clearly hiding Something but you dont know what and now youre too confused by the fifteen other things i just said to process what the fuck im even talking about. now whats up asshole

[mellosdrawings]

Oh, my sweet little gang of assholes~

Ruggie and Jamil pairing during the Glorious Masquerade event is still seared in my mind, they're just so perfect together. Now I just need Jade added to the mix to have the perfect team !

[guardianbee]

rewatching s1 meljay scenes just to feel something and while I want to do an analysis of their relationship to argue against every bonehead that touts "mel manipulated jayce" I got to the end where jayce tells the council to go fuck themselves BUT THEN POINTEDLY TURNS TO MEL AND SOFTLY SAYS "Except you. You were right. You were always right." And I CRY OKAY. Her eyes widen and it sinks in that there's someone who supports the same vision of peace she has, who VALIDATES her views. And one of the LAST scenes is them smiling at one another when the council agrees to Zaun's independence. They made peace without going to war. Without using hextech and corrupting jayce and viktor's dream. Without compromising mel's values.

And then s2 fucked that all up.

[royalarchivist]

Pac: Why is she sad? My god, she's devastated! Guaxinim?

Guaxinim: I think she wanted...

Gris: I want 100 reais.

Pac: She wants 100– [Laughs] She's sad because she wants 100 reais?

Guaxinim: [Innocently] You don't have 100 reais, do you?

Pac: [Laughs] I have negative 100 reais, Guaxinim. Gris, I'm just like you! I'm sad too.

Guaxinim: [Whispering to Gris] Cancel the plan, cancel the plan, go back to normal.

Pac: What do you mean? Wait, wait, wait– [Laughs] No no no–

First rule of passa tudo: make sure your target has money before trying to scam them! 😅 (Thank you to sebbs12 and disfrutalakia for double-checking my translations and transcript! The help is really appreciated!)

[Full Subtitle Transcript ↓ ]

—

Pac: [Gasps in delight] Oi, Guaxinim!

Guaxinim: Oi!

Pac: How cool it is to see you here! Oi Gris!

Guaxinim: Look, how cute.

Pac: How cute you and Gris are here!

Gris: oi :( I'm so sad.

Pac: Why is she sad?

Guaxinim: I don't know, man.

Pac: My god, she's devastated! Guaxinim?

Guaxinim: I think she wanted...

Gris: I want 100 reais.

Pac: She wants 100– [Laughs] She's sad because she wants 100 reais?

Guaxinim: [Innocently] You don't have 100 reais, do you?

Pac: [Laughs] I have negative 100 reais, Guaxinim. Gris, I'm just like you! I'm sad too.

Guaxinim: [Whispering to Gris] Cancel the plan, cancel the plan, go back to normal.

Pac: What do you mean? Wait, wait, wait– [Laughs] No no no–

Guaxinim: [Laughing]

Gris: kkkkkk

Pac: I can't believe what you're doing with poor Gris to get money!

Gris: bom dia tio Pac [Good morning Tio Pac]

Pac: Bom dia, bom dia. [Laughs] Seriously, how is a crazy plan like this going to work, huh? Insanity!

Guaxinim: [Dancing with Gris] Muahaha! Muahahaha! We're the most badass evil duo, got it?

Pac: How incredible, man. You guys are great, you're even in sync! Did you guys already get 100 reais?

[turtleblogatlast]

Something I like about Leo is that he’s honestly really chill? It’s easy to remember the moments where he’s being obnoxious or excitable but I feel like most of the time he’s incredibly “go with the flow” and has an overall affable demeanor.

[cautiouslyyyoptimistic]

The best part about the bingqiu epic-misunderstandings-era during the jin lan city arc is that it works so well BECAUSE luo binghe is genuinely scary and unnerving at times. I think he should have been SCARIER actually. The dreadful feeling of inevitability that justice will be enacted upon you by the protagonist and his presumably world warping powers and persuasion should be utilized MORE!

[baalzebufo]

so I very briefly mentioned this au I have in my last gideon doodle post and saw one tag saying to elaborate and thats all the excuse I needed. ok to be honest i didnt need an excuse i was going to talk about it anyway

i had a dream shortly after the stanchurian candidate aired where my brain made up a fake episode of GF to essentially finish gideons 'arc'. and it involved him making a deal with bill to gain demon powers. bill promised him All The Perks, and he was desperate to get outta jail, so he took it.

turns out 'all the perks' involves being trapped in the nightmare dimension without a physical form and, while being tremendously powerful, unable to truly utilize those powers without being summoned. so he sort of just gets condemned to existing as a demon and is desperate to get back into a physical body because, turns out, the human brain is not really.. designed to process that existence for too long. it freaks you out. especially if 'you' happens to be a ten year old who is still afraid of the dark and spends most of their time surrounded by nightmares.

it was weirdly grim and i woke up like 'holy shit. i need to make that an AU' and it developed from there. in the more thought-out version, bill and gideons deal involved him swapping into gideons body to further his plans for a while. he never promised he'd give it BACK, though. it, uh. ended how you'd expect bill possessing a body to end.

'what happened to his eye?' bill thought it'd be funny if it was part of his collectin on gideons 'debt'. hes got one eye, you should have only one of em, too.

honestly I make most of the details up as I go and its mostly an excuse to draw my favourite worst son in various levels of power-thirst and distress. sorry gids even you dont deserve this one

[the-nothing-maker]

Galien, the Black Dragon

(Galien is a vampire lord and NPC from @luposlipaphobya's D&D campaign, Une Cour de Chair et de Charme, with an original design by @d-cybele !)

[lgbtlunaverse]

While I think the moment in cql where Meng Yao– still bleeding from a stab wound in his chest btw– realizes Lan Xichen is in danger and decides to save the man who was so kind to him in cloud recesses is cute and all, nothing will ever beat the book for me. Little bookkeeper civilian Meng Yao, who has not had a serious chance to make his dreams of being a cultivator come true in fucking years, out of nowhere gets the fucking sect leader of Gusu Lan dropped right in his lap?

It's such a great example of Meng Yao's multilayered motivations to me. Because is civilian Meng Yao thinking of all the ways he can use this? Of the fact that having a great sect leader in his debt is the best thing that could happen to him? Duh. Obviously.

Is he very purposeful about appearing to Lan Xichen as a kind young man full of untapped potential, brave and willing to put his life on the line even though he really doesn't know so much about about cultivators, no sir, except a little he picked up here and there, because you see his father– 👉👈 Of course he is!

But the way through which he does that is... by actually saving Lan Xichen's life, at no doubt significant personal risk. The way he makes Lan Xichen believe he's kind and selfless is by... being kind and selfless. Just because he's doing it on purpose doesn't mean he's not doing it.

Is it lying if you want people to think you're nice and so you're nice to them? Isn't that just called being nice? Yes, he is very purposeful about how he appears to people, and very carefully crafts an image based on what he wants them to think of him, but most of the time he does that simply by... actually being the kind of person he wants to appear as. He still did the kind things he did, regardless of his motivations for doing them.

[ilariel]

Strahd and The Abbot relationship in The Scorpion and The Frog fic (go read it)

[royalarchivist]

Jaiden: Cucurucho, you have a lot of power, right?

Cucurucho: ...I don't know. Maybe.

Roier: Ah... Yes, you know, don't act like a dumbass, you have it. You have it, man. Eh?

Jaiden: Is there a way for us to protect all the Eggs? Do you know? I don't want anything to happen to the Eggs that happened to Bobby.

Cucurucho: Ha ha ha

Roier: WHAT? [Smacks Cucurucho]

Jaiden: [Bops him] Headpats.

Cucurucho: Maybe.

Jaiden: [Continues to bop him] Headpats. C'mon, I can get it out of you! Headpats! Chin scratches! Belly rubs!

Roier: [Joins Jaiden in bopping Cucurucho, chuckling and laughs]

Jaiden: Yeah? He's comin' around!

[Jaiden and Roier both laugh]

[turtleblogatlast]

Shockingly underrated thing about Leo is that he’s legitimately charming when he wants to be?

He’s the Faceman! He’s persuasive! That’s not just some random title he gave himself with no backing to it. People will listen to him. Even if they think he’s being annoying or if they’re upset at him, people listen to him anyway! There’s a reason his bros push him out front to talk to people, and when this happens, that talking nearly always works.

Moreover, Leo knows people. He looks at them and takes into account how they act and what they’re like as he makes his way through the conversations. It’s easy to forget this aspect of Leo’s character because he only brings it out when he really needs (read: wants) to, but it really is a notable part of him that always love to see.

And I say charm in particular because he has a knack for not only getting people to pay attention, but for getting people to stay and listen to what he has to say.