#ngl this is my type of romance scenes

[chrlie-cox]

QUEEN CHARLOTTE: A BRIDGERTON STORY - S1E2 "Honeymoon Bliss"

[htchnr]

♰ pure bliss ༻ C. HOWARD.*ೃ˚

➻ masterlist. ➻ buy me a coffee!

CW ➻ pure fluff ⋆ i made up the plot to Cooper's movie 'Under The Covers' purely based on the fake movie poster ⋆ but i kinda really like my take on it ngl ⋆ fluff so sweet it'll rot your teeth ⋆ if i missed anything, lmk!

PAIRING ➻ Actress!Reader x Prewar!Cooper.

SUMMARY ➻ tired late night couch cuddles, based on a convo i had with the lovely @sandy-rat ☺️💕. WC ➻ 300~.

AUTHORS NOTE ➻ i'm not quite back from my break yet, i just wanted to put this out cause UHGGGG i wanna cuddle on the couch with this man 🫠😭🥲🥹 also trying a new writing format, PLEASE let me know what you guys think!

© 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐇𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐍𝐑. 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫!

Cooper looks up from the television at the sound of the floor creaking, " what're you doin' up? " your southern drawl thick with sleep. his eyes meet your form, standing tiredly in the doorway to the living room in your silk nightgown.

Cooper quickly turns the volume on the television down, one of his movies playing. " was i too loud? i'm sorry honey, " he offers, watching you rub your eyes and yawn as you make your way to him.

" you weren't, jus' missed you 's all. " you yawn, melting into the couch as you lay down, your head in his lap. he sighs, a warm yet tired smile pulling at his lips as you settle down. " what're you watchin'? " another yawn.

your tired eyes watch the screen for a second, catching on to the scenery of 'Under The Covers'. " 'course you're watchin' this, " you smile, nuzzling against his thigh. he wraps an arm around your shoulder, calloused hand massaging gentle circles into your skin.

you knew Cooper loved Under The Covers, mainly, cause you two starred in it together — you were the female lead in it.

it was his character's goal to seduce your character in order to learn company secrets and get closer to the man he was after. though, in the end his character falls in love with yours, disregarding the operation to get away together,

it was where the pair of you properly talked for the first time, actually. sure you two had crossed paths in the studios while crossing sets, but you had never sat down long enough to have a meaningful conversation.

and here the two of you are, happily together, rarely apart from each other. he sighs happily as his eyes return to the screen, one of your big scenes playing. " what else would i be watching? " he chuckles, giving your shoulder a gentle squeeze before trailing his fingers to your hair, carefully combing the strands that lay across his lap.

you practically melt into his lap and the couch as his fingers lovingly scratch across your scalp. your eyes drift shut at the pleasure. " y'know we have other movies t'gether right? " letting out another long yawn as you curl up more against him.

" i know, but this one means the most to me, " he smiles tiredly, the rhythmic massaging of his fingers and the tangle of your hair around them slowly tiring him.

the two of you did many movies after your first, varying from the same type of spy movies, to westerns, to plain romance movies. and you loved them all dearly. you don't think you had a favourite that you did with him, you loved them all equally in your heart.

the ' tik! ' of the old grandfather clock and the rhythmic movements of Cooper's fingers slowly lull you to sleep, cheek pressed against his warm thigh as he tiredly watches the movie. it isn't long before he drifts to sleep either..

TAGLIST ; @live-logs-and-proper @looonytooons @seeingstarks @thewastelandwriter @lacey-mercylercy @marina-and-the-memes @p4rsuade @anonymous-creep @likoplays @iceviolet11 @https-junebug @silverose365 @athanza @songbirdemerald-blog @justt-myth @looneylooomis @v3lv3tf0x @keyofgigi

[tellmeallaboutit]

knock knock (Raphael x F!Player)

Chapter 2, In Which You Meet A Tall Dark Stranger 

Chapter 1

SUMMARY: Careful which mods you install for BG3. Did you read the terms and conditions carefully?

TAGS: meta romance, psychological horror, smut, the character is the player, Raphael is after you, you wanted him, you invited him to our world, he accepted your invitation

RATING: explicit

AO3

Chapter 2

The next day, during your lunch break, you made another attempt to persuade Raphael to take his clothes off. The clock struck noon; your private laptop was on the right side of your desk, while your work laptop was on the left, Teams open and your mouse ready to show signs of activity from time to time.

The sun was shining through the wide open window, children playing outside. Idyllic. Nothing sinister could be happening in broad daylight with those happy sounds in the background. The horror movies told you so. Except for Midsommar.

Well, screw Midsommar, then. This isn’t Sweden.

"All right, I'm going to set some ground rules here," you said to the loading screen. "I can be as creepy as I want to be to you, because you're just a bunch of pixels, but you can't do anything creepy to me, because I'm a human being. Got that? Good."

The sound of your voice made you feel braver.

As you heard the familiar sinister 'you-let-the-villain-win-bad-player' music in the background, you covered your eyes with your hands and peered through splayed fingers.

Then he appeared. Just as you had wished. Perfectly naked, with a stereotypical video game six-pack and just the right amount of body hair. The orange lighting made his skin glow, and his flaccid penis, like that of the game's generic male model, vanished from sight as he strode closer.

Your ears pricked up to listen to the scripted monologue you knew by heart, watching (waiting?) for any hiccups or new animations, the YouTube app on your phone playing the identical scene for comparison.

Everything happened exactly as it should, word for word, save for the speaker’s nudity.

All good. You breathed a sigh of relief and spread your fingers wider to admire Raphael a little better. 

Same as always. Handsome and charming and completely imaginary, which, now that you thought about it, was the biggest part of his charm. 

"Ta-ta... for now," Raphael's signature line echoed through the room.

"Bravo, Raphael," you praised the screen. "You've done nothing creepy. You have earned your title of Archdevil Supreme."

After waiting for a response that never came, you laughed off your silliness and shook your head. Your laptop was overheating, giving off a slight synthetic smell. Should have upgraded a long time ago. Just need to put enough money aside.

"OK, screenshots," you said. "I wanted to take some screenshots. Do you mind, Raphael? Can I have your consent? They’ll help recruit more followers for you, my liege."

Your phone vibrated. The FaceID gave you a preview of the Discord messages from Queen-of-the-Bored, one of the few Raphaelites you'd actually spoken to directly and felt like you kinda sorta knew.

queen-of-the-bored: ngl that was some really funny joke, we spent the whole night trying to recreate it :-D queen-of-the-bored: you sounded legit worried over that voice message tho haha you: it was legit. check the reddit thread queen-of-the-bored: which thread

Ok, let me google that for you. You typed in the same search words as yesterday, "Raphael naked mod April prank," clicked on the thread from yesterday, and skimmed through the comments.

“nah not joking there is this naked mod for teenage mutant ninja""

“all dongs appeared MASSIVE on April’s first”

Scrolling further, you realized that was not the correct Raphael - it's Raphael the Turtle, not Raphael the Devil. Why was there so much NSFW content about him? What did people see in turtles?

You quickly corrected your search to "Raphael BG3 naked mod April prank," but it didn’t bring back any relevant results. So, you changed it to "last twenty four hours" just to be thorough.

Didn’t help. Nothing. You were the only to be called a naughty little mouse. The special one.

queen-of-the-bored: which thread dude??? you: my bad it was the turtle queen-of-the-bored: ??? queen-of-the-bored: I am slowly getting worried about you haha

Next step? Contact the mod developer directly? What if they have no idea what you're talking about?

Then what? What were the alternative theories? You've been hacked and doxxed to madness for that one Twitter post that got people waving pitchforks at you? 

There you go, you were scared again. Daytime, sun shining and children playing outside, but there you were, alone in your flat, scared again.

You took a deep breath and looked at the screen. "All right, I understand, Mr Archdevil Supreme. No screenshots. I'll uninstall the mod and I apologise for my disrespectful behaviour."

You couldn't bear to see Raphael's face on the screen again so you hit ctrl alt delete instead of Escape and stared blankly at the Task Manager.

Next, you uninstalled the mod that had caused all this trouble. Then you went to Tumblr and removed the reblog of Raphael in a cat playsuit with the tag "my poor miau miau". Then you deleted your bookmarks on AO3. Your Twitter account was beyond repair, so you deleted it altogether.

None of these actions made you feel any better. You grabbed a quick cup of shrimp noodles, but eating it only made you feel worse. As you tasted the sodium on your tongue, you came to a realisation: what you needed was to go the fuck outside.

You had been stuck in your flat and home office since the start of the pandemic, chronically online. Online work, online colleagues, online friends, who was the last real person you saw, talked to and hugged?

Your mum, probably. 

Oh yes, no wonder you were going mad. You need to get out there and meet some real people. You opened Discord, quickly scrolled past the sketch of Tav giving Raphael head, and typed a message: you needed to touch grass.

queen-of-the-bored: well there is Comic-Con this weekend  you: this is NOT touching grass, this is burning it queen-of-the-bored: true you: besides not going alone queen-of-the-bored: maybe Raph will keep you company 😈 

What? Such a strange thing to say. Or was it? Who the hell was that behind the screen anyway? Apparently someone called Sammy from Ohio. Supposedly. Wasn’t she the one who recommended this mod?

She was.

Come on, you're just letting your paranoia get the best of you.

queen-of-the-bored: oh BTW I found THE hottest Raph smut  queen-of-the-bored: mind the tags it's so hot but soooooo fucked up queen-of-the-bored: just read it trust me thank me later

Who the hell were you, Sammy from Ohio, Korilla? You put the phone down and started pacing around your small flat. It was not much to pace around, only forty-two square meters. 

At least you rent a flat in a building with other people and not some house at the edge of the forest. Strangers live below you, above you and on either side of you. They don't know you and you don't know them... but they were there, just in case...

Just in case.

"You know what?" you said to your computer. "I need a break. I need to focus on my mental health. Self-care, Raphael. I'm not playing with you. For now".

The moment you finished speaking, your phone lit up again with another notification. This time it was an email. You made a mental note to start managing your notifications better.

Did you enjoy your Devil Dick © - Natural Red experience? We know you will be back for more 😈 Check out the new...

What the fuck? Oh no, no, click away and make a mental note to never order from Bad Dragon again with customer satisfaction emails like this. It's borderline harassment. You ordered from them ONCE, as a joke, just to see what ridges might feel like.

Not as good as the smut had promised you,

Private. Private stuff. Between you and your bed drawer. Between you and your browser. God, how much stuff you have in your browser history. You should have used incognito mode more often.

Would that have helped? 

"That was low, Raphael," you muttered. "Or is it Haarlep today?"

You glanced around your room before angling your computer screen towards the wall, then retrieved the Devil Dick © from its hideaway in your bedside drawer. Your fingers grazed over the silicon ridges as you swiftly stashed it away in a box beneath the bed.

"If you must know, it was too big for me. Flattered?"

Crawling out from under the dusty bed, you looked up and realized for the first time that anyone in the building could easily peep into the flat if they tried hard enough or cared enough to do so.

Enough is enough.

You need to hydrate, you need to eat some vegetables, you need to start jogging again and you definitely... you definitely need to go out and talk to some real people. Maybe it's time to get back on Bumble and try your luck again. Who knows, it might actually work this time.

He wouldn't like that.

Where did that thought just come from? He wouldn't like it, who the hell cares what some imaginary devil thinks.

Standing up straight, you pointed a finger at the screen in front of you.

"Raphael, just so we are clear, you and I: I really like you. I do PR for you every day for free. You don't have to scare me to get my attention. You should appreciate me and be nice to me. I'm the best agent you'll ever have.”

Having made your point, you put on your running shoes and AirPods. It brought back memories of all the times you had jogged through the nearby park. Afterwards you'd sit on the bench and eat an ice-cream, watching couples, happy and glowing, watching families with children, happy and stressed, watching people living their lives in a reality parallel to yours, and then you'd come home and go into a reality parallel to theirs.

The AirPods picked up right where they left off last time.

I want to hold you close, soft breasts, beating heart, as I whisper in your ear

I wanna fucking tear you apart

You removed the AirPods from your earlobes and exhaled. This wasn’t Raphael's fault. This is She Wants Revenge, you have listened to it a thousand times. You knew the lyrics, they hadn't changed. 

You can't even listen to music anymore. Pull yourself together. 

Get some vitamins from the pharmacy.

Touch some goddamn grass.

***

You stuck to your digital and physical diet until the weekend, and as a reward, nothing happened. No oddly timed emails, no strange messages, no random phone calls. Maybe it was your pitch talk or the vitamins you started taking, but either way, Raphael was on his best behavior, and so were you. 

No Tumblr, no AO3. Didn't even touch Steam. Got into a highbrow podcast about the Roman Empire.

You set a new personal record for days without 'self-indulgence', as Raphael would put it, although that wasn't really the intention. Something always seemed to interrupt - whether it was the loud hum of the fridge (which was always obnoxious) or the flickering light in the hallway (which had been broken for over a week). 

By Friday, you had finally finished the work projects you had been putting off for months. The job wasn't too bad, but it hadn't been any fun for years, if it ever had been. You did the bare minimum to get the paycheck and keep the job, and your employer kept the paycheck at the bare minimum to keep you. If there was anything else you could do, you would do something else.

Still, this was probably the most productive week you had in years. You scrubbed your flat from top to bottom twice and cleared your wardrobe of clothes that no longer fit.

You were proud of yourself.

Gradually your sense of security began to return. You tried not to dwell too much on the incident with the naughty little mouse; if you didn't think about it, it almost felt like it hadn't happened.

On Friday, you plucked up the courage to play BG3 again, wandered through Baldur's Gate, avoiding the House of Hope for the time being, had a few fights, played the graveyard scene with Astarion (daring, but a small part of you hoped it would make Raphael jealous enough to come out again), and shut it down. 

Nothing out of the ordinary.

You hadn't planned to go to Comic-Con. For one thing, it was on the other side of the city, in the business district of the convention centre, so it would take at least an hour to get there. Secondly, going alone just felt... weird.

It was not until Friday night that a little voice in your head started to whisper, "Why not? Maybe you'll meet some like-minded people”. Make some friends you can actually touch (not in a creepy way). 

It's a better chance than endlessly swiping on Bumble.

Maybe you'll meet...

Neil Newbon. If you can get past the hordes of fangirls. Andrew Wincott. No, Andrew Wincott wouldn't be there; you'd checked beforehand. To be honest, hearing his voice might have been too much for your psyche at that moment.

So you decided to go. You went, and it was as fun as you had imagined it would be - that is, hardly any. The convention hall was huge and crowded, rows and rows of stalls, crowds and crowds of people. Live panel discussions, cosplayers, flashing lights, bright colors, chatter, laughter, very loud, very lively.

Raphael wouldn't last a minute in that chaos.

"Hell is other people," you thought to yourself, quoting Sartre. If you ever met Raphael, you'd quote Sartre to him too. He must know that you read intelligent books and not just fanfiction. 

Some people might be comfortable going to events and eating alone in restaurants, but not you. It's even worse being the odd one out in a group of odd ones. How come all the others had someone to take along? Where did they find all those people in this godforsaken city?

You talked to a few people and a few people talked to you. Nothing really took off. Your mind was elsewhere, to be fair. You were looking for something in the crowd. 

Someone.

It was absurd, yes, but so was what happened this week with the mod. You had met a few Raphael cosplayers, three at least, but they were...

Well, of course they weren't him. But they did a great job with the clothes and the hair and the make-up, and one had really great prosthetic horns, and you touched them and admired them and praised that particular Raphael for all his hard work in creating them.

They were real people, not video game characters that had come to life, and neither were you. You looked down at your jeans, at your thighs, and thought you should start jogging again, and felt even less comfortable in your own skin. 

Then Neil Newbon came along and things quickly became too chaotic for you.

You decided to take a break and walked down the street until you came across a cosy café - none of that generic chain stuff, but something that tried hard to be authentic with pretty flowers in the windows.

Sitting alone at a table for two, you looked down at your phone and opened the Discord chat because you came here to talk to some real people.

In the main chat, there was a heated debate about whether devils are allowed to torture mortals into signing contracts. Both sides presented arguments based on lore, edition contradictions, past precedents and personal conviction. 

A man's voice interrupted you as you typed your own very elaborated opinion of hellish law. "Excuse me, may I?" he asked, his words slightly muffled by the AirPods.

"Sure," you replied with practiced friendliness, not even looking up. That was always your default answer. It's not like you can say no to this kind of request anyway. 

People ask and do a lot of things out of politeness. That was precisely why you took the AirPods out of your ears.

The moment you lifted your eyes to meet the man's, you learned the true meaning of the word 'jumpscare'. Your body jerked upwards, the table shook and the coffee cup tumbled - narrowly missing Raphael.

Raphael. 

Not a man who looked like Raphael, not a man who was dressed like him - Raphael. 

You weren't sure if you made any sound or uttered any words. You probably yelped.

What you did do for sure was gawk.

His skin tone identical; hair slicked back just right; eyes uncannily accurate in hue and shape - down to every wrinkle. A perfectly realistic rendering. Not the uncanny valley type, no, perfectly believable. This is exactly what he would look like if he were real and swapped his fantasy clothes for a business suit.

So this is what it feels like to go completely insane.

Very banal, actually. You are having a psychotic breakdown and no one is even looking at you, except for an imaginary devil.

"Oh my, my apologies," Raphael said as he quickly grabbed napkins to mop up the spreading lake of coffee on the table. "I did not mean to scare you."

Oh, but he did, very much. You could not breathe, your chest encased in an iron brace of fear. It's you who needs to apologise, and apologise fast, and apologise a lot, and beg for mercy. Especially for liking the Twitter art of him being spit-roasted between Yurgir and Haarlep. 

If you only knew... you would never have clicked on it... absolutely never... all those posts you wrote... 

"Raphael?" you managed to squeak out. “I didn’t mean it, I swear.”

This must be how a deer feels in the headlights of an oncoming truck.

He looked at you, very sincere confusion etched across his handsome face. "Excuse me?"

You drew in a shaky breath, your nostrils flaring as you tried to catch a whiff of cherries under the aroma of fresh coffee, not caring how absurd you appeared. Yes? No? Or was that strawberry jam on his croissant? Have your senses gone haywire? Your mind certainly has.

"You're... you're here to cosplay Raphael?" 

The thought tumbled out of your mouth before it had time to fully form in your head. It was the only explanation that made sense... It didn't, but it made more sense than all the others put together.

Raphael moved closer, pulled up a chair and asked, amused: "I beg your pardon, I'm here to do what to whom?"

The voice. The voice was the same. Andrew Wincott's voice. The man had simply stolen his voice. Or had the man stolen it from him? The movements, the mannerisms, the facial expressions. This man could not be Raphael because...

Well, because this man was real. As real as you were. 

"Raphael," you explained. "From the video game. Are you here to cosplay... to play... Raphael?"

The man gave you a look as if questioning your sanity, and rightfully so. You were also sweating bullets - could he see the damp patches under your hoodie? You pressed your arms against your sides; wouldn't want him noticing.

"I'm hardly an actor," Raphael replied with a polite smile, "although there was a time in my youth when I entertained such ambitions."

He chuckled lightly and took a leisurely sip of his coffee. 

"I'm here to enjoy my espresso, nothing more. I... have never been particularly fond of..." he added with the disdain of a typical middle-aged man, "... video games.”

You had no response for that because Raphael wouldn't be into video games either; that much was believable.

"My office is across the street," he said, pointing towards the office complex opposite you. "Precisely there."

The golden sign on the building across from you, d'Avergni & Partners, told you nothing, except that Raphael had an office job and an office space and a desk and all the things that the devil shouldn’t have because the devil invented them to torture the others.

Raphael was dressed like he had just stepped out of a board meeting. A three-piece slate gray tailored suit, white shirt peeking out from underneath, silk tie and matching pocket square. Of all the modern Raphael AUs, you preferred the Professor one, you voted for it, you had Sucharide’s fic bookmarked. The Professor was more, ugh...

Safe.

As for you, you were wearing a hoodie with your university on it. A clean hoodie, but a hoodie nonetheless. What the hell else would you be wearing to Comic Con? You didn't do your hair. Well, putting it in a ponytail is not doing your hair. Why did you not do your hair? 

"I know, I know, you must be wondering why anyone would toil on a weekend," Raphael continued. That was the last thing you were wondering. "Alas, no rest for the wicked."

"Wicked?" you echoed. You looked at the people in the cafe, sure they were staring at the both of you, but they weren't.

"Oh," he chuckled lightly, "it's just an expression – 'No rest for the wicked.' You've never heard it before?"

"Of course I have," you said, momentarily embarrassed. "Never mind...sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for," Raphael raised his eyebrows. "In fact, I should be the one to apologise for startling you. May I offer you another cup of... ah, what was that... cappuccino? After twelve? Tsk-tsk, young lady".

Not a single modern man could ever manage to say the words "tsk-tsk, young lady" as charmingly. That was Raphael.

"No bother, I can get one myself," you said quickly, about to stand up. 

He raised his hand slightly and put it down to halt your movement, and for a second you thought he was going to touch you, and if he had, if you had felt the skin of his skin, he would have felt more real and you would have died on the spot from a bursting heart.

"I have no doubt about that. But may I treat you? It would be my absolute pleasure”.

Pleasure. The way he said the word was straight obscene. You couldn't handle the word 'pleasure' coming from a man who had been responsible for more than half your orgasms in the last few months.

So in your daze, you mumbled: "Yeah. Yeah, sure."

Raphael stood up and walked over to the barista. She acknowledged him, so that's one point for him being real and you not hallucinating. Not only did she acknowledge him but she flashed him a goofy grin - clearly smitten.

Of course she is.

You have to take a picture of him. How do you take a picture of someone without their consent without being a total creep?

You don't. It's in the fucking definition; you can't. But you should. Maybe you'll open your camera roll and see someone completely different, and then you'll know it's time to call for mental health services.

Your phone was buzzing with messages, which you quickly swiped away and went straight to the camera. You took a picture of him from behind while he ordered you a coffee. The barista gave you a “fucking weirdo” look. 

Fuck you, you thought, you have no idea what I am going through right now. Then you switched to the camera roll and checked to see if the photo reflected what you saw.

A broad, fit back of a very attractive middle-aged man with lush brown hair, paying for coffee with cash.

You couldn't decide whether this made you feel better or worse.

When Raphael returned with your cup, you had something for him too. "This is the character I was talking about," you said, a screenshot of virtual Raphael ready on your screen.

Anyone who saw the screenshot would say, "Who motion-captured me?" 

Not Raphael. He barely glanced before shrugging and handing your phone back. "Hmm, I see some resemblance, I guess."

Resemblance? What fucking resemblance? There was no resemblance; he WAS Raphael! You were about to argue but he beat you to it: "Why? Were you hoping to meet this...Raphael?" 

His voice dropped an octave and he looked at you intently. He was flirting - openly, unashamedly.

"I...I was," you stammered out. "He's my favourite character."

Brilliant, brilliant line. Dear diary, today I wanted to meet Raphael, my favourite character from my favourite game. So much for quoting Sartre.

"Well now, I'm flattered," Raphael purred, causing you to wriggle uncomfortably in your seat. "I do bear some physical likeness."

That was a massive understatement. 

The man had a disarmingly charming smile. You tried to remember if Raphael had ever smiled like that in the game. It was mostly scowls and grins and smirks, but this kind of smile? You didn't think so. You caught a glimpse of yourself in his hazel eyes, and that was not Tav; that was you. Just you.

Not that you were unattractive or anything. Average. Maybe even a little pretty on a good day. You didn't like yourself very much. Then again, most people don't. That's how the beauty industry makes its money. 

You got your share of attention, some, nothing to brag about. Had two boyfriends, it didn't work out, you used to care, now you don't. Certainly never got any attention from men who looked like him.

Why should this man be interested in you, why? Ah, yes. Your soul. He probably wants your soul. Is it worth much at all? Is it worth coming all the way to Earth? You wanted to apologize to him for going through all this trouble just for you.

"So this event in the convention hall down the street..." he snapped his fingers as if trying to recall a forgotten name.

"Comic-Con 2024," you supplied. "It's huge in fandom culture. TV shows, video games, that sort of stuff.”

"Ah. Not my kind of entertainment - or my kind of audience, for that matter," Raphael said with a slightly raised eyebrow, eyeing the “Astarion approves” badge on your backpack.  "It does remind me of a deal I signed recently."

"Deal?" you asked in a weak voice. He nodded. "What deal? With who?"

"With who? No, I meant the Microsoft-Blizzard acquisition". 

Ah, that kind of deal. The words felt so reassuring, so real, the acquisition. Raphael would have no idea about these words. Raphael wouldn't say "Microsoft". You mean the real Raphael. What the hell is a 'real' Raphael again?

For the first time, you let go of a little tension. You took a first sip of your coffee and leaned back slightly in your chair. 

"Actually, I think these acquisitions are really harmful for the industry," you said. 

Why did you have to be so confrontational? You didn't have anything clever to say about such things, so you spoke the truth instead. Bad idea.

"How candid of you to say that. Well, I’ll be just as candid with you: I am indeed a villain." Raphael grinned. "I hope you can forgive me." 

There went your short-lived relaxation, which lasted less than a minute.  Raphael had just looked at you and said "I am a villain". Challenge him. Tell him it's him because, well, it's him. It can only be him. Tell him you know it's him, and then...

And then what?

"Everybody's got a job to do, I guess", you managed to utter the most generic phrase in existence.

"Isn't that so..." Raphael replied, pausing for a moment before finishing the sentence with your name.

You did not introduce yourself to him. You were sure of it. Absolutely sure. 

"How do you know my name?" you asked, half rising from your chair, raising your voice and quickly lowering it again. "I didn't tell you my name. How do you know it?"

Raphael gestured to your phone, which lay on the table screen between the two of you. Your work ID card was tucked away in its transparent case - something you hadn't needed for a while.

It had your first and last name on it.

"I saw it right before my eyes," he explained. "I thought it was a hint."

"It wasn't," you said.

"Oh, another faux pas on my part then," he said. "At this rate, I owe you something to make up for all my many transgressions. Perhaps dinner?"

You let out a nervous chuckle. One of your popular Tumblr posts had been an impassioned rant about how Raphael had promised a similar in-game offer but failed to deliver despite the many times you gave him the Crown.

"I seem to have absolutely terrified you, and that was not my intention. I insist on making it up to you. If you allow me, of course. I don't want to impose. Would you allow me to?"

He looked at you with the intensity of a man admiring a beautiful woman, his shoulders back and chin slightly up, trying to present himself from his best angle - something you've seen men do before, but rarely (if ever) to you. It was as if he could hang on every word that came out of your mouth, simply because he enjoyed watching your lips move. Raphael looked like he was in love, for Christ's sake.

Your cheeks grew warm. 

"Yes," you replied.

He kept silent for a bit, savouring your answer. 

"Splendid. Where might I collect you?"

It took you a moment to realise that he was asking for your address. Your personal address. Shouldn't he know it already, if he was Raphael? You replied as nonchalantly as possible:

"Why don't I give you my number and we can arrange to meet at the center?"

His expression darkened slightly; you've seen this look in the game before.

No, you shouldn't have said that. You wanted him to like you. 

Desperately.

"You don't trust me?" Raphael's voice dropped an octave or two, playful and just a little threatening.

You felt his breath on your face (cherries?) and the next second you stopped feeling your legs. The attraction that had been simmering inside you for months started boiling over.

Breathe. Pretend it's not Raphael. A man came up to you in a coffee shop and asked you if you trusted him in that kind of tone, leaning in like that. You know what the sensible thing to do would be - get up and walk away. And if it really was Raphael, get up and run away. 

You remained seated and stayed. 

"Just, ugh..." was all you managed to get out of the jumbled thoughts in your head; two coherent sentences so far into the conversation, and both of them made you sound like an absolute madwoman. 

Raphael laughed.

"Of course you don't trust me, that's only prudent, and you seem to be quite an intelligent young lady. But just so we are clear, you and I: you have nothing to fear from me. What is that number of yours?"

Quite an intelligent young lady, the words echoed in your mind and you remembered your naughty anonymous Tumblr confession: I would suck every last drop of cum out of him as long as he kept praising me.

God, everything you've read with him in the main role. Double penetration, double vaginal penetration, pet play... you weren't even into half of it. You hoped Raphael didn’t think you actually wanted him to do all of the things you read with you.

You just liked clicking on random links.

"Do you need something to write it down or...?" you asked hesitantly.

"I will remember," he said curtly. “I do not forget things easily”.

You realised that there was something far more frightening than anything that had happened before: that he wouldn't remember, that he would never call you, and that this conversation and this meeting would end there. 

So you carefully enunciated each number, then took a pen from your pocket and wrote it down on a napkin: it seemed romantic in the movies, but your handwriting and the coffee stain made it look like a secret message from the madhouse.

He grinned and tucked the napkin into the pocket of his suit.

He took the last sip of coffee and then took your hand in his. He touched you. His skin was warm and real and soft and everything you had ever imagined, his touch surprisingly tender. 

Your whole body responded to that tiny crumb of affection, viscerally. You hadn't realized how famished you were for a touch until that moment.

He lifted your hand to his lips and pressed them against yours. His lips were soft too, slightly damp from the coffee.

"I am looking forward to our rendezvous," Raphael murmured against your palm. "Ver much so."

Rendezvous.

In any other situation, a middle-aged man kissing your hand would be downright creepy. But this... this was a fever dream, an illusion, anything but reality. Because there was no way this madness could actually be happening to you.

Was it a bad thing? Was reality ever... this? So unpredictable? So exciting? 

You only snapped out of it when the door closed behind him, but you snapped out hard. You practically threw yourself at the next table, where a group of guys were sitting, their appearance screaming video games - backpacks and scruffy beards, Warhammer-emblazoned T-shirts. 

You grabbed one by the shoulder and hissed urgently: "Guys-guys-guys-guys." Your words came like rapid fire. "Tell me that guy doesn't look exactly like Raphael from Baldur's Gate? That one? On the street behind the window?" 

Damn, you sounded desperate.

"Ah, sorry, never played it," came the nonchalant reply before he turned back to his friends' conversation.

"Baldur's Gate," chimed in another, his face lighting up. "Amazing game. Looks like who?"

"Raphael," you said. "The devil."

The guy laughed, but didn't even look where you were pointing.

"Ah, the two-pump chump?"

You shot a quick glance at Raphael. His eyes met yours through the glass window, and they were cold now; his smile was gone. 

I didn't say that, you pleaded with him in your thoughts. That guy said that. That guy over there. I would never say that.

Your defence of his bed skills stretched from Reddit to Tumblr threads, you argued that Haarlep was slandering him, that Raphael was the best fuck there ever was and you personally vouched for that because you fucked him a thousand times in your head.

"Don't call him that, please," you whispered to the guy. He gave you a confused look when you pointed at Raphael again: "Look at him. The one staring at us. Does he look like him?

Is he real? Do you see him too?

"Ah yes," he admitted with a grin on his face, raising the cup of coffee to his lips, "he sort of does. Yes, he does! Well, I hope he doesn't...oh shit! FUCK!".

The guy's face contorted in pain as he clutched his mouth, jumping, cursing, tears streaming down his face. You could see the skin on his lips reddening and blistering.

"What the fuck?! It's fucking boiling! FUCK! "

The barista rushed over to him, spewing apologies as she tried to handle the situation. You took a step back and glanced at Raphael whose lips were moving subtly - two syllables that matched rhythmically: 'bye-bye' or maybe 'ciao-ciao'. 

It didn't have to be 'ta-ta'. He waved nonchalantly at you.

You waved back.

NEXT: Chapter 3, In Which Larian Introduces The Raphael Romance

[jaylver]

jay as your bee eff <3

PAIRINGS: boyfie!jongseong x gn!reader

GENRE: established relationship, romance, fluff

WARNINGS: none, except this might be a little messy

WC: 575

A/N: in celebration of jay being back, here's something hehe, it's also really random and sudden but being a jay girl, i needed to write these down and delulu a little (come join me) share some of your thoughts with me through asks if you wants! (it's the best option bc i can't reply to comments help)

masterlist | © jaylver all rights reserved.

– most likely met through someone. friends or family, maybe even family friends. very invisible strings coded ngl.

– IMO he's very gold rush coded too! everybody wants him and that made you second guess, so that's why you never really chased after him

– but knowing jay, he's the type to never back down, he wants you, he is gonna get you. period.

– he's a passionate lover, he's the one to fall harder and deeper

– he would do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to get you

– sacrificing his own to make time for you, bringing you out, listening to you, planning dates together

– cinema dates, dinner dates, he'll always find a way to spend time with you

– he would ALWAYS remember the smallest details about you

– "oh i remembered you said you like xx" and he turns up with that next

– you liked the cake he bought? it's going to be in his hands the next time you meet

– very lowkey about being rich, it's basically like the 'crazy rich asians' scene where she founds out he's rich 😭

– is the type to shower you with gifts even though you already said it's no need, but it's his way to showing you love by gift giving

– mutual pining, lots of mutual pining before being official

– he probably confessed to you in a really romantic poetic way let's be fr

– he's very affectionate, he loves with his HEART

– lowkey pda, doesn't like kissing in public but he does like skinships, he does like small kisses on cheeks, forehead pecks!

– holding hands, hands around your waist/shoulder, reassuring squeezes

– your family LOVES HIM!!! he might seem shy at first but he KNOWS how to charm your relatives

– your mum loves him, he's always over and helping her out, being the gentleman as ever!!

– family dinners with relatives, he would check up on you from time to time, squeezing your thigh in reassurance, telling you jokes and making you laugh

– from a 3rd pov y'all just seem like you're in your own world #cute

– REALLY GOOD AT COMMUNICATION!

– as someone who gets really quiet when mad, i feel like he'll definitely know, giving you space to calm down and then approaching you, making you feel better

– good with words, he knows what to say to make you feel better/less anxious

– for my swifties out there, he's very "all of the girls you loved before" coded to me ☹️☹️

– he gets possessive sometimes, but nothing serious, also can be a jealous boy at times

– he needs words of affirmation! he can get a little worried/insecure sometimes, so it's important to give assurance!

– he's talkative, you'll give all ears and listen to his rants

– being talkative, it also means he CAN NEVER stop talking about you <3

– to his friends, family, he'll just be saying "oh y/n loves this" whenever he sees something that reminds him of you, he's a big sweetheart wbk

– secretly loves it when you come and bug him when he works

– enjoys cuddling in bed, running his hand over your back and playing with your hair.

– loves when you play with his hair, his hands, just the most simple things ever and he loves them all

– when the lights are off and you two are still awake, best believe you'll be talking until late into the night.

– at the end of the day, he'll give you the most healthy and stable relationship ever <3 he's the absolute best !!!

– super husband material, get ready for your family/friends to start asking "when are you guys getting married?"

– soon!!

( © jaylver all rights reserved. do NOT copy, plagiarise or edit my work and repost whatsoever. once discovered will be exposed and blacklisted. )

[miimo96]

Thoughts on TBHK Chapter 114

Looks like we're finally Diving into the Relationship between these 2 , Ngl seeing a relationship between the 2 most "Fake" Characters in the series is Really gonna be interesting, especially with the New timeline and stuff, I wonder if people's theories on the whole comparison to Sumire's life and the minamoto clan will be correct.

GOD I Hate on How SMUG this character Is, how you just gonna start off the chapter like that Knowing on How Akane will React!? Also between this and How Akane is treated most of the Series, the Man is a walking L

This tells us so much about the 2 and how they see each other, he initially Didn't even think twice about aoi, immediately getting down to business and figuring What changed In the timeline, only using the "aoi as his Finance" excuse to get under Akane's skin, he sees her as Nothing more than something to play with Akane's emotions with, however aoi is doing what she Does best, Putting on an act and playing along, He knows that Aoi would initially not even take his hand, and brush him off slightly, as she does not see him that way, however aoi is playing along and Does grab his hand, which uneases him, because what if She does see him that way Now?

Going from what I said earlier it's pretty clear that aoi's Just playing the part and is not really into Teru, and teru Knows this by confirming saying "he'll send it to Akane" to which Aoi shakes her head, it's lovely indication to show that even in this New timeline, she Still very Deeply cares about Akane, and doesn't want him to see her with Another man

Teru and Aoi are like the couples you'd see in movies, the type of "Perfect" Couple you'd expect (The most popular boy Dates the most popular girl) it's the perfect type of Relationship for these 2 characters, a fake romance fit for Fake people

Ya know I don't think Teru's ever been "hit" before, aside from the beatdown hakubo gave Him and Akane, teru's the type of character that's Never been "humbled" like he's never received a Proper smack to Reality; Yashiro won't do it because She has a soft spot for him, plus He's Handsome, Kou has too much respect for his older brother and aspires to be like him, Akane is completely terrified of teru and would probably Die if he tried, So Aoi being the 1 to do it is pretty fitting like saying "I don't care if you're my upper clansmen, part of the minamoto clan, or completely handsome, You ever try some shit like that again and I WILL END YOU"

Upon Re-reading the chapter I love the reaction here, he's Relieved of the fact that She DOES NOT have a crush for him, meaning that she still does care about Akane in someway and He's happy to hear that, aside from all the teasing and bullying he does He Still does care about Akane and his feelings and does NOT want to hurt him.^^

Looks like people's theories on the 2 being in Relationship as a result of the Sumire incident/ sacrificial bloodline was Correct, also the fact the Seven wonders don't exist is really interesting, I wonder if it has anything to do with Tsukasa being the only apparition for Now, which is weird because aside from No.5, Yako should be a wonder regardless the timeline

I can't tell if this Akane or teru, probably Akane but it's Nice that she still has feelings for him, also Aoi having 2 sisters is a Surprise to me, so far i don't think we've ever seen or known about them till this point, also her mom seems to be more important than we think, hmmmm 🤔

Ngl this hurt me a bit, that line "So that's the type of world we're in" really sums up the Pain in this timeline, and you gotta wonder if he really wants to do this anymore, It really hurts me and that's saying something considering I'm a Huge Teru hater and because Now I'm curious of how Kou will react act due the SCENE in The Red house arc

This are 2nd look at Kou's mom ever since the red house arc, aside from the Tear jerking moment we've Never seen the 2s relationship and how they must've acted before her passing so it's really Heartbreaking to see it here finally and I kinda wonder if kou will eventually find out the Truth and Be against putting things back to Normal, this arc may be a lot like the picture perfect arc just Cranked to 11, also can someone tell me what this Says in the background, I cant read Japanese and my translator isn't working

I Love the Dynamic between these 2, at 1st I was a little worried that the call Kou got about a missing student was about Mitsuba, thinking that mitsuba probably dying or something happening to him was a Canon event and that this is all ment to happen eventually, Thank GOD it isn't, Also I love the face mitsuba gives him here, just a little "I Love f@#king with my Boyfriend" face, Also I Guess this confirms that Hanako is still alive in this timeline, meaning the Man we saw in the last Chapter Definitely was Hanako, I wonder if we'll see him run into yashiro soon^^

[scribz-ag24]

Hey buddy one question, from your perspective who would be a better match for Grovyle? Dusknoir or Celebi? (It's for a project about photosynthesis)

I think a quick look through the actaeonshipping tag versus rendshipping tag in my blog should tell you enough about who I prefer with Grovyel xDD

I am VERY biased since when I first played the game I greatly disliked Celebi's characterization (pink = girl = boy crazy tee hee uwu) and didn't even care much about it until I played Special Episode 5. Hell, I almost thought it was unfair how popular the shipping with Celebi was because of a crush and 4 stray dialogues and one good final scene while Dusknoir got totally ignored despite being the catalyst for the Grovyle speech that leaves everyone mindblown and remembering this game forever.

I got around to appreciating them as a polycule, especially since I feel they can soften out each other's rough edges. But as separate couples I have a hard time imagining them seriously ngl. I feel like Grovyle would care so little about any romance that Celebi wouldn't make a move and their relationship would stay stuck in the status quo we saw in the future, where Celebi has a half-denied crush on him and Grovyle focuses on other stuff. And Dusknoir and Grovyle would die again before talking about their feelings willingly, so they just work all day on missions and reconstruction of the future.

But if I had to choose between the two ships, I can't say anything other than Dusknoir. if only because the relationship between the two is actually interesting and changing and evolving. Grovyle cares deeply about Celebi, which is cute. Celebi's got a little crush on his ugly ass, very cute. Then that's it. They're very close friends, it's very sweet, a lovely tale of love in a doomed world, sure. but idk, you have to fill celebi's character with headcanons a lot more than Dusknoir's. She has a beautiful hug at the end but she doesn't have an entire episode worth of development, and I value the latter one more.

I'm not good at character analysis and personality types and stuff like that, but I feel like Grovyle's dynamic with Dusknoir has much more potential and has even been a bit underappreciated, not in small part because it's basically all inside the special episode of a game that sold less than half of his predecessors. Boy, I wouldn't blame anyone who has only played Explorers of Time and Darkness for forgetting about Dusknoir.

[haunted-xander]

Finished the 6.55 MSQ so here's my (very positive) thoughts:

‌Love love LOVE Wuk Lamat she's so fun and her dynamic with Erenville is hilarious. Very excited to see more of her in Dawntrail.

‌Krile is already getting some nice scenes and I'm very happy she's finally gonna get the spotlight in dt. My girls been side-lined for 4 expacs it's about damn time she gets to shine.

‌The inventor of Pictomancy is literally Relm. Like they name drop her. Obv not the same Relm as in VI but still! Relm is real! And she was an Archon! tbh them naming an important character related to this type of magic after her isn't surprising- I just expected it to be something in the job quests rather than the MSQ.

‌Zero made super-spicy dishes popular in Thavnair lol. Wuk Lamat trying to toughen it out was hilarious. God I love her.

‌Wuk Lamat & Erenville being childhood friends was not something I expected! Very fun.

‌The catboy from the dawntrail promotional artwork is probably Wuk Lamat's brother, Koana(Was that his name? tbh I forgot. But she has a Miqo brother that's what's important). He looks smart, and it's possible he's gonna be another candidate claiming for the throne.

‌Based on the artwork, I had figured our main group was gonna be WoL, Krile, Thancred and Urianger, as they are the only Scions featured, but based on the quest it'll probably be Wol, Krile, Alphinaud and Alisaie. G'raha is allegedly staying behind, but since he's shown in Tural in the trailer I think he'll find an excuse to come along anyway lol.

‌Thancred and Urianger are going to be competing against us, which will be interesting. I think it'll be fun to see some of the Scions take on a more rival-y role, if only for a bit. It looks like they were petitioned by someone else participating in the Rite of Succession, so maybe they're working for Miqo boy? They're on his side of the artwork after all 🤔

‌(Also I think the writers know how popular those two have gotten together lol they're like making it a point to have them with each other at all times)

‌Estinien is going to Tural just for the hell of it which I think is hilariously in character. Literally going there at the same time as us purely by coincidence. He really can't escape us can he.

‌Y'shtola is neither seen nor heard of which tbh I think is fair given how much screentime and focus she got during the whole Zero arc. I do wonder why she's going to Tural tho, she's in the trailer too so I'm certain she will be there.

‌(Also, since G'raha, Estinien and Y'shtola aren't aligned with any particular side as of now, I think they'll be a neutral third party in the Succession rivalries going on. That, or they'll end up siding with the 3rd sibling that isn't the Obvious Villain (based on Wuk Lamat and Erenville's accounts) somehow. Will be fun to see in any case.)

‌The little memory dialogue from Emet was nice :) just a reminder of the adventures yet to be had. Also he's finally in the unending codex which I think is nice (ngl I kinda forgot about the codex until he got added to it)

ALSO I almost forgot to include it BUT we have a nice heart-to-heart scene with G'raha alone on a bridge and if the writers weren't COWARDS (and/or worried about romance ambiguity, at least for those relating to the WoL) he could've proposed to us then and there. You know he wants you. Do not hold him back writers let him do what he wants. (I'd have said yes ofc)

‌Backpack :)

[r0t-t1ngxeyy]

Tw: Loli/shotacon, proship, Levi x Luke, Dark romance/abuse/kidnapping, NSFW!!! and

the Lollipop joke..

Im not letting anyone in this fandom forget those two obey me fanfics on ao3 from like 2?? Years ago. Please tell me I'm not the only one who remembers them?? It was such a big thing for the fandom, Im so glad I read them before they got deleted because the memory is soo FUNNY HELP ?? I need opinions on these two fics, if anyone actually remembers them:(

Dia x Luci : The Red Means I love you

ABSOLUTELY TRAUMATIZING SHIT BRO WHAT IN THE DARK ROMANCE?? wouldn't even call that romance it was such a hard read. Stumbling across videos of it made on tiktok was probably the worst event that I experienced 👽 ON MY MOTHER THE SCENES WERE SO UNNECESSARY (but the adrenaline rush was pretty good ngl)

I read through that with my heart dropping with each new chapter bro?? I couldn't even read through the entire story. I'm pretty sure it's deleted now cus I've been searching for it to make a whole OM fandom lore post but heyy

To sum it up for the people who were fortunate enough to not read it;

Diavolo kidnaps Lucifer, and keeps him in some cage/almost prison cell area. I think he's chained up to the ceiling, I'm not so sure. It starts off with Dia being nice I think, trying to gain Lucifers trust and eventually have him submit but that shit doesn't work and all of hell releases. Lucifer endures some physical and sexual abuse and attempts to escape. But before he successfully escapes,he bumps into Barbatos who offers to help him

He does not help him. Infact, he locks him back up and informs Diavolo.

What the fuck

The most notable things I believe Dia did was clip lucifer's wings?? And pulled out his teeth (i think Barbatos actually did that I'm not so sure). But I can't really explain how gruesome and detailed the writing was. What's worse is that it also included how the brothers were reacting to Lucifer just disappearing. Very interesting fic, story wise it was fine and well written. It's just the plot in general was what the actual fuck??

LEVI X LUKE : i forgor the title and I'm very relieved that I did

VERY UNCOMFORTABLE READ BTW!! i hated summing this up so much

An absolute wreck, these fanfics were so well written I can't even hate the authors for what they did (the Dia x Luci one didn't deserve any hate imo, but this one?? Holy fucking shit??) This fic was so out of pocket, it ruined the way I saw Levi for a good while.

P.s!! Not the same author!!

WHAT I RECALL!!! aka summary?? Kinda...

So I think Simeon called Levi to look after Luke? Which is really fucking weird because Luke is an angel, sure he's depicted as a kid but if Micheal chose him to follow Simeon down to the Devildom for the exchange program then I'm pretty damn sure he can at least take care of himself without adult Supervision, but whatever. Nice plot, I hate it

Levi was totally against the babysitting thing and actually disliked having to look after Luke

Until

At some point, Luke wants to take a bath and Levi's like suree okay.

THEN ACCOMPANIES HIM TO GIVE HIM THE SAID BATH??? Obviously that's where this all downplays from what could've potentially been a found family fic to some proship shotacon fic. Levi gives him the bath and Luke gets

turned on... (I hate typing this out so much)

So, Levi gives him head. I fucking hate this with burning passion :(((

His mouth 'pops' when he stops which reminds him of a Lollipop!! And I quote this from memory:

Kinda like a Lollipop. Heh.. Loli.

I hate this fanfic so much, I don't claim it in this fandom,its a fic not a fanfic👽👽👽

And yeah, the rest of the story went on with Levi doing that bullshit!!! I don't think I read through the entire thing because curious kills the cat. I just saw some tiktok post about it and decided hey!! Im gonna look for it and read it.

I would've been fine without reading this fic, ever, i would've turned out the same as I am today LMAOO

[olderthannetfic]

Can I get a row of opinions of Brandon Sanderson's writing? Finding out he's Mormon has put me off it a tiny bit ngl. But I keep hearing So. Damn. Much. About him.

--

I tried out one of his audiobooks because it's long as fuck and I needed something to distract me while cleaning. I listened to maybe half of it and it was pretty good.

I like his writing advice on youtube. He seems like a nice guy with reasonable social opinions given that he's a devout Mormon.

But yes, lots of people promote his books because they're ~clean~. Sanderson fandom is pretty annoying.

On average, I'd pick a lot of types of AO3-y book over Sanderson, but I'd pick Sanderson over someone writing in the present tense or writing those contemporary romances where nothing happens and it was only interesting before the serial numbers were filed off.

I'd also pick him over a lot of other cis dude fantasy novelists. Him being a prude means he's not prey to "But it's reeeeeeealiiiiiiistic to have 4254145141 rape scenes of ladies!!!" nonsense.

He's an enjoyable read, but I wish my kind of person would stop kissing his ass just because he's not a bigot.

[mikuni14]

We Are - Ep 4

PhumPeem As a shallow person who forgives a lot of characters if they are played by a pretty actor, and as a boomer raised on toxic yaoi manga, this couple is still in my first place 🤡 I look at them with mixed feelings. Hope, because Phum improved a lot in this episode, he apologized - even several times, but most importantly, he said that he was an asshole, didn't look for excuses and tried to make amends. This is crucial for me: not only an apology, but also awareness of what has been done, owning it and compensation (which I mentioned many times during DFF analyses, because THIS was missing there). But I also don't trust them yet, because PondPhuwim had their other series start off quite well, only to disgust me later with the inequalities and simple toxicity in relationships (and yes, even their prettyness didn't help lol). PhumPeem as of this episode have a dynamic that I like, that is, they are both strong characters, with an air of adulthood mixed with a childish banter, acts of service and mutual attraction mixed with keeping a distance and lingering distrust on Peem's part. Plus a "handsome big bad boy" in engineering and a "beautiful artist" - as a yaoi boomer, I am completely defenseless against such a couple 🤡 What intrigues me about them is that they are clearly interested in each other, they are probably types for each other and if it weren't for the stupid and unfortunate beginning of their relationship, it's quite possible that they would have already had their first hook-up and their relationship would be more adult and in my style, and their problems would be more problems of mature people. I'm a little concerned about the speed at which this relationship is moving, knowing that there are 16 episodes. Good lord, what are they thinking of to fill 11 episodes when the boys will probably kiss in the next one? I can only imagine 😬

QToey A very enjoyable pairing that started for me with the scene in the last episode where Q is possessive and doesn't let anyone take care of Toey. I admit that I'm not a big fan of this couple, probably because Q is too dominant in this relationship for me, due to his character, personality and the fact that I like him A LOT. But I'm starting to warm up to them 😉

TanFang Pretty much the same situation: Tan dominates this couple so much for me that I don't see them as a couple at all yet. Besides, I don't really know what Fang's feelings and intentions are, because there simply isn't enough of him.

ChainPun I'm not interested in this couple ngl. Characters like Pun have to have really well-written roles so as not to come off as irritating or cartoonish (something like Khem from The Sign), or so that this kind of personality type doesn't dominate the ENTIRE character.

After 4 episodes, I can say that I'm most interested in Peem, Q and Tan, their relationship, their friendship, their lives, their characters. This is actually pretty funny because they are SO interesting to me that I am more fascinated by their interactions with each other than with their respective partners 😄 (with the exception of Phum, who is a strong enough character to be able to match Peem). But I freely admit that the most interesting scenes in this episode belonged to these three and had nothing to do with romance 😉

👆This was actually the best scene from this episode 😆

[sunnysaystuff]

queer hcs for septimus heap characters

canon compliant <3

simon heap: he's trans. he's genuinely just a little trans boy. he and lucy are absolutely t4t pookies

lucy heap (nee gringe ig): trans girlie. she and simon are 100% adorable wholesome cuddling et cetera and i need them in my life forever

marcia overstrand: have you SEEN her? have you HEARD her!???!?!?!?! she's 100% aro lesbian she and milo had a cute lil thing going there in todhunter moon (and fyre iirc) but it was 100% qpr coded like ain't no way they were romancing . aroxaro hc, fight me

milo banda: deadbeat dad SORRY sorry um. aro pansexual because yeah he was 100% getting it on while at sea like some ofmd type shit

queen cerys: heehee i actually really don't like her but anyways. aroace girlie like she did not want to do any of that shit i hc she and milo fell in love in a cute platonic way and it was like "yeah you can go to sea and fuck whoever ily bye" core ngl

sarah heap: bi. she and galen the physik woman 100% had something going on don't even argue with me

silas heap: stop he and sarah were 100% bi4bi bbgs and i think silas and gringe's frenemyship is VERY homoerotic but not in the way that either are cheating because they'd never, silas would NEVER

septimus heap: sooo yeah. he's ace. 100% fight me. i think he's also aroflux panromantic because likee. sep is so very Flamboyant with romance it's really funnie and the way he has Stuff Going On with syrah driffa aND rose is hilaaaarious. also he and wolf boy,,,,??? kinda gay??? wolf boy is canonically homo so don't tell me that at some point they weren't crushing on each other. also2 septimus was giving genderfluid vibes throughout the series like idk i always got the vibe that he didn't always feel like a boy but maybe i'm tripping

jenna heap: ahhh my bbg<3<3<3 she and beetle were so cute but let's be real jenna was Not straight like errrrm anyone remember that one scene from darke??? her first kiss was a GIRL???? jenna is The fuckyouidowhatiwant pansexual and i'm so proud of her for it

marissa: stop her thing with jo-jo was so sillybilly i'm ngl Also also She Was Definitely like. demigirl. on the nb spec. she kissed jenna and definitely enjoyed it soooo do with that what you will

o beetle beetle: AGH he's so pookie i genuinely can'tttt. trans boy and he's so wonderful btw

part 2 to come?!?! comment requests !

[keets-writing-corner]

I need to talk about RWBY's Jaune Arc

okay this is 1.6k words, immaaaaaaaa put a cut

Okay so going into RWBY back in 2019, that was great right. I was in the middle of getting my degree in creative writing I was seriously burnt out from how formulaic stories had gotten for me, and then comes along my friend being all YOU SHOULD WATCH RWBY. And I said, SURE

now my friend knows my types and she nailed who my favorite character was going to be (Oscar) and she also nailed who my other favorites would be (Ren and Qrow) and I'll admit, 90% of my investment in RWBY was ya know, my favorite boys (Don't worry I love plenty of the girls, it just happened that my top 3 ended up being guys this time around). And wow RWBY was just such a breath of fresh air for me given all the story telling stuff I was learning about in college

and specifically, now that we're like waiting for volume 10 to be greenlit, I'm surprised by how much I've grown to like Jaune

I used to not care for Jaune/find him mildly annoying in Volume 1. He was the... audience stand in, so he had to be a little dumb. He was falling into a little bit of a stereotypical pretending to be confident to impress the ladies role. But ya know, I didn't hate him. He just wasn't my favorite of team JNPR

then volume 2 comes around and he has his whole IMMA INVITE WEISS TO THE DANCE WITH ME :D and I was not about that, it was pushy, and also, I really do not care for that sort of romance in the stories I'm engaging with, and then... it didn't go that route. He realized that Pyrrha wanted to go with him, that he had been unintentionally insensitive towards her, and pursued a girl who didn't even care about him who liked someone else. And Jaune just went "alright, damage control, gonna get Weiss what she wants and gonna give Pyrrha what she deserves" and that was the first time instead of being neutral or annoyed at Jaune I thought ya know, this guy... this guy has good bean potential. I'm interested in seeing where they take him next

And then there's Volume 3. He's been training with Pyrrha, he's been more supportive as a partner, he's been TRYING to be a good leader for his team, like he's not perfect at any of those but he's TRYING and he's lost a lot of the traits that I found annoying originally. Now he's starting to full step into the supportive wholesome leader role. And then, ya know the finale happens and just... ouch. Things were looking up for White boy, and the rug wasn't just pulled out from under him, it also slapped him in the face and threw him down the stairs

Now through Volumes 4-5 Jaune was still in the "I'm pretty meh" about him territory. There were moments where I found myself deeply empathizing with him, specifically in the scenes that showed him mourning Pyrrha, especially because well... I've been there. I've lost someone I was close with when I was 17 too. Extremely different circumstances but that thing where you put on a video of them and you watch it over and over and over because you so desperately want them back, that you're reaching for wisps and smoke of what used to be them all for a brief small chance to feel their presence again. And it's just, it's never enough. No matter how many times you watch the video, no matter how many times you replay their voice talking to you, no matter how many times you listen to old messages they sent you, they are gone and nothing in the world is going to change that. It hurts. It hurts so bad

this boy is GRIEVING

but, he was being bitchy. And look, I don't blame the guy alright. Grief messes you up as a person, it brings out sides of you you didn't know you had, it prevents you from being the best version of yourself. I. GET. IT. But he was being bitchy towards Qrow(aforementioned fave, special mention to that time he slammed Oscar ANOTHER FAVE against the wall), and at the battle of Haven, he initially let his grief and anger get the better of him, and ngl I couldn't watch. (To clarify, absolutely no shade to the writers, this was GOLDEN, peek character writing and whatnot) But that is what Jaune's arc is about at the end of the day. I'm not saying the other characters aren't grieving too, they absolutely are. But Jaune's arc has a lot more focus on how grief hurts and changes a person, how it gets the better of us, and how ultimately, if we want to move forward, if we want to keep going, we cannot just fight it and resist it because it feels icky. We cannot just sit in it because we hate what happened and happiness feels fake and forever gone. We cannot pretend the grief isn't there either.

Cue Volume 6 where he was mostly backstage, but all of this comes to a culmination at Pyrrha's statue and Jaune finally gets a moment where he gets to sit with his grief. Really sit with it. In a way that isn't anger, or repression, or wishing things had been different or that Pyrrha was there. He got to sit with his grief with the reality that it was. He lost Pyrrha. And it hurt. Maybe it was senseless. Maybe he really couldn't have done anything. Maybe it really does hurt so bad. But at the end of the day, it had been Pyrrha's choice to try and do something. And for better or for worse, she tried. And the rest of his team confront him. Ren and Nora are quick to console him, and join in on the grieving. And they also confront him about his behavior in season 5, where he believed that he didn't matter so long as his friends got to live. And here are Ren and Nora telling him, buddy, you DO matter. You matter so much. You matter to us just as much as Pyrrha mattered to us. We all chose to be huntsmen, so let us grow together and honor her choice even if it hurts. We can hurt together and we can take comfort together.

And listen, up until this point, when I was watching RWBY, Jaune was not my favorite. He never had been. He was just a guy that was there going through his own arcs. But after this key moment in volume 6, suddenly I find himself enjoying seeing him whenever he was on screen

for the rest of volume 6 he slips naturally into an empathetic leader. Stealing the ships was his idea but he let everyone take the roles they were good at, he played good support, he protected his team when possible. AND THEN WE GET TO 7 AND 8 and omg

friends

this is when I started loving Jaune. Suddenly, it's like he found a balance, he found himself. He was still hurting but instead of being angry he was being compassionate. He was still goofy and fun, but he was no longer annoying being respectful of people. He was no longer blundering about on the battlefield but he was moving with purpose and with skill. This Jaune feels like an entirely different character than the Jaune we first met back in volume 1. He's fallen into a character role that I personally love. I love the empathic leaders who are a little bit goofy. I love them to pieces. I love their level-headedness, i love their compassion. I love their gentleness. But what made Jaune special is that we got to see how much he had to suffer to get there. He was doing the best he's ever been, and he was being so kind and so humble (straight up, tempted to do a time travel AU fic or something with baby jaune and leader jaune meeting each other cuz they'd be so different)

Then we reach the end of 8 and ya know

THAT happened

and of course Jaune's arc is always about grief. But what a stroke of genius, have him find his footing and then REtraumatize him. ngl, I ALSO have been there, and imo the retraumatization is almost worst than the originally one, especially if you haven't properly dealt with the OG emotions because now THOSE come rushing back AND you've got new fresh ones to deal with. Call me a sadist. Accuse me of projecting my own trauma or whatever, but genuinely I loved what they did with Jaune in volume 9. It was *chef's kiss*. The unhealthy coping, the latching onto and hyperfixating on a single thing that ultimately is the opposite of what he needed, forced to be alone for decades, betrayed by someone he tried to help, being reunited with his friends without having processed or dealt with any of that and STILL trying to be friendly and kind and gentle to them while barely keeping it together- it's just SO GOOD

and ultimately he does break. But his friends are there with him, just like Ren and Nora helped him in volume 6. He's still the gentle leader he's grown into, but now there's just so much more to it, there's so many layers

I'm genuinely so excited to see where they take him for future volumes. He still can't dethrone my favorites BUT he has climbed the ranks of my favorite characters so fast that I wouldn't have believed you if you told me when I started watching RWBY that the character I found most annoying would end up being one of my favorite RWBY characters

soooooo yeah

I really love Jaune now

controversial opinion, I love his short hair

[calliopefiction]

Love this IF. Ngl tho you made me feel some type of way when we really realllllllllllly looked at ourselves in that one scene.. I felt mc so much. It was unnerving in a way? Uncomfortable to confront. But made it all that more interesting as a character.

That wasn't even what I came here to say lmao

I was gonna say I love Az'Lean's board and my suicidal ass romancing him is just a whole mess of a route I'm probably gonna regret.. right?

Why do I do the extra angsty routes I don't know why I hate my MCs so 😭

As weird as it might be to say, I'm glad I managed to elicit such a feeling of discomfort with my writing. That's exactly what I was going for! The MC is really going through a, frankly, deeply unsettling experience, and how they handle it is so interesting to see.

Az'Lean's board is so much colder than everyone else's and you really get the feeling that his route isn't going to be a fun one, haha. He and the MC definetely have the potential to ruin each other, but there's always hope that it might not end in tragedy! Possibly!

I know what you mean. It hurts, but in the good way.

[leonscape]

i can’t remember if did this or not but it popped up in my head so i’m doing it

ikepri as writers

nothing much to say about chevalier he’d be a romance author. it’s not that he can’t write anything else, he’s got the smarts for writing a mystery plot or thrillers or dramas whatever else genres. he’s just drawn to romance the most.

jin’s gotta be a erotica/smut writer but he probably has a pen name lol. very popular author with the ladies he’s pretty much the only male author that seems to nail the erotic stuff and actually knows women’s anatomy. very versatile smut writer and has a wide variety of content, you’re guaranteed to find something you like. he writes stuff with and without plot. his plots are actually pretty decent and original; although he does write cliche and overdone tropes pretty well too.

clavis is a crack fic writer. he writes “fanfiction” of chevalier’s stuff and he just pranks(?) the characters. he makes up oc’s and just memes everyone in the story. he also probably is that type of author to update his readers with the most batshit crazy out of pocket news about his life. “sorry for not updating i got stabbed by my brother so i stabbed him back so sorry if this has mistakes i didn’t have time to edit it i hope you guys enjoy!” he also writes original stuff too but it goes unnoticed and it’s not as popular as his crack fic content.

leon’s the type of writer that writes like three sentences and then goes back to just daydreaming about the story instead of writing it. or he just falls asleep. he’s got some good ideas he just has a hard time sitting down and actually writing it. he probably also falls down rabbit holes or research so he knows strange and random facts about weird topics. when he does post, it goes largely unnoticed but he has a few loyal readers that prefer to be anonymous. leon would probably write a bunch of different genres because he’s just got a lot of different ideas. he definitely draws from his experiences and personal beliefs. his characters are very lovable but if only he updated his work…

yves writes baking recipes and puts his entire life story before recipes. just kidding. kinda. i think he writes romance too because everyone else seems to be writing romance? he reads his brothers’ work, mostly leon’s, licht’s, and chevalier’s work. he was tricked into reading jin’s content and now he refuses to read anything from jin and clavis. ngl tho he has tried to write smut but it won’t ever see the light of day. unless clavis gets his hands on it. anyways yves probably spends too much time planning out his characters. he’s got an organized folder of information for each character. spends way too much time on baby name websites too. also way too much time on pinterest looking for outfit inspo for his characters. so all this time spend on planning and making them, he always gives his characters happy ends and never hurts them.

licht writes angst, but he always gives them a happy end. it’s kinda like his way of coping? writing a happy ending simply because he can because he’s the god of his own world. the sense of control he has of his characters brings comfort. they do experience a lot of traumatic things, but he always resolves everything in the end. his characters have the best development and the writing in those emotional scenes are immaculate.

nokto doesn’t really write. he thinks he’s not good at it but he’s decent. i think he writes angst or maybe tragedy is a better word to use here. but it’s in a forbidden/taboo setting (nothing inappropriate get your mind outta there). he writes situations of his characters wanting something they can’t have (kinda like romeo and juliet). he’s also a casual smut writer which makes the tragedy hurt more.

luke doesn’t writer he’s a reader. he’ll read anything as long as it’s interesting. he thinks jin’s stuff is weird but it’s easy to follow so he reads it. he also reads clavis’ stuff and thinks it’s really good (actually he doesn’t think that he was just bribed with honey to say it was good). he’s dabbled in a little bit of writing stories but it never really went anywhere. he has written children’s stories tho. it’s just sitting in his drafts collecting dust.

[ideasarestuckinmyhead]

|•♡•♡{Welcome pick your man!}♡•♡•|

|•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡.{Number 6}.♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•♡•|

Notes

{♡} personal

- Silly love notes

Crack

{♡} personal

- You....your a normie? Omfg we need to teach him a/b/o

Hand holding

{♡} personal

- buddy I need this hand, it's my dominate one. Just hold the other- WHY ARE U MAD???

Incorrect Quotes

POOKIE IS MISSING⁉️

Incorrect Quotes

For you

Casper gets migraines

{♡} requested

- migraines fuckin SUCK luckily Charlie is there to help!

Autistic Casper HC's

{♡} requested

- Charlie with a autistic Casper!

Purse Charlie

{♡} personal

- I need him in my purse.

Casper's side quests

{♡} personal

- Casper is just doing side quests at this point

Au idea

{♡} personal

- Casper's a nurse- IS THAT CHARLIE ON THE HOSPITAL BED?!?!

Incorrect Quotes

Limited options

The not so but so happy day

{♡} requested

- Autistic Sunflower having a meltdown, in a grocery parking lot. Luckily Finn knows what to do.

Finn's listeners meeting

{♡} personal

- all the Sunflower variants are losing their minds

Hooked nose

{♡} personal

- he'd look beautiful w one

Incorrect Quotes

Actor au question: Yandere Finn?

Tummy ache

Au

{♡} personal

- nepotism fucks over Faust falling in love

Faust things

{♡} personal

- teehee Faust brainrot

Gacha luck

{♡} personal

- Are you a gambling man!??!

Hatsune Miku

{♡} personal

- MIKU MIKU BEAM!!

Role play partner

{♡} personal

- YOUR MY OLD ROLE-PLAYING PARTNER!?!?

Shit talking couple <3

{♡} personal

- shit talking w your babe is amazing really

Sims

{♡} personal

- 100% a Sims girly

Talking shit in Overwatch voice chats (lil rant on my side)

{♡} personal

- Faust shit talks

Don't talk to me or my child

{♡} requested

- Rook WILL kill you.

Planning a birthday surprise hc

{♡} requested

- Auron plans something big!

Puffed up

{♡} requested

- Rook, annoyed puffed their cheeks angrily. Sadly that didn't work on Auron.

When world's collide-

{♡} ask

- So Rook and hunter swapped...how would the Auron's take it?

Theme song

{♡} reblog

- LITERALLY HIS THEME SONG WDYM

Jessica and Roger Rabbit

{♡} personal

- literally their dynamic

Vampire Rook

{♡} personal

- Give Rook the vampire and see Auron lose it

Weird kid allegations

{♡} personal

- he will NEVER beat them.

Demolishing a keyboard

{♡} personal

- FAST AS FUCK BOI

Dark romance novels

{♡} personal

- ....wanna recreate the sex scenes-

Bite his arm and hands

{♡} personal

- NOM NOM NOM

Social media thirst

{♡} personal

- NO LUBE. NO PROTECTION, ALL NIGHT, ALL DAY, FROM THE KITCHEN FLOOR TO THE TOILET SEAT-

Clowning Auron's face

{♡} personal

- could Auron kill me? Yes. Will I keep clowning him? Also yes.

Rook hacks Auron's social media

{♡} personal

- fuckin w his social media bc why not

Nasty Lustful Tango

{♡} personal

-I wanna dance w hiimm

Incorrect Quotes

Look good

50 shades wannabe nerd

Actor au question: anything break?

Auron's fault...

And bricked!

Personal Grill

{♡} personal

- What if he could be a grill almost?

Man handling

{♡} personal

- MAN HANDLE ME PLEASE ONE CHANCE-

Incorrect Quotes

Tucked in

Chimichanga stand

Ordained minister

Boo scaring the boys

{♡} ask

Art!!

- teehee boo scaring their boys

{♡} my art

- my art :D

Crossovers

{♡} personal

- more anime cross overs :D

Good Omens

{♡} personal

- I LOVE GOOD OMENS!!

Seth in a dress...

{♡} personal

- PRETTY SETH PRETTY SETH

YV boys with kisses on them <33

{♡} personal

- I can't draw men </3

OC boo idea

{♡} personal

- ex biker?, tatted?, and strong? Damn mf got a type

Who I think YV boys would main on Overwatch

{♡} personal

- mains the boys would be

What dances would the YV boys do?

{♡} personal

- dance styles for the boys!

CRACKSHIPS <33

{♡} personal

- my prized post ngl

Twitter PT11 PT12

Incorrect Quotes (Multi character):

What could have happened

Actor Au

How bittersweet chp3 ep10 went basically

Wonderful experience

Caring is giving a pinecone. On a stick

[astarionancuntnin]

✨Writing Interview Tag Game✨

Thank you for the tag @nyx-knox!! <33

When did you start writing?

Like wayyyyyyyyy back, I technically wrote my first story when i was 11. I didn't write again until i was 15 (original pieces + fanfics), then i stopped and Im back at it again at 26 ayoooo

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

if i really need to search further into my favorite books, i would definitely say psychological horror and dramas

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I don't know writers enough to really get an idea of how to compare myself to any of them, but I do know that i tend to emulate what i'm exposed to, so if I read an entire series from an author, and they used a certain syntax, i'll tend to also do it by force of habit. (i also consider it a flaw cause i see it as hindering my writing creativity ;-;)

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

its my personal pc that doubles as my work space, so its a bit all over the place ngl haha, theres a lot of astarion stickers and posters, all the furniture (keyboard, mouse, desk, etc) is pastel purple (my favorite colour), i have three screens (mostly for work but its also useful in day to day life) and my three wallpapers are astarion, of course. sometimes when i feel a writers block, i found out that writing on my laptop does unblock me! in that case, youll find me typing away on my couch in my living room uwu

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

MUSIC. What I write will be highly dependent on what I listen at the moment, like I was really into boywithuke when i wrote my angsty fics, and then i moved to a dark romance playlist and that got me going for die for you but then i was unable to continue my other fic cause i wasnt in an angsty mood anymore ._. (i swear i didnt abandon it, it just isnt the playlists turn to play on repeat) and rn im a lot into sleep token and ari abdul

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

So. Much. Smut. And angst. not surprising! my writing will also often depict my current state of mind. dw im in therapy, im working on it

What is your reason for writing?

It's my favorite creative output/the one im most experienced in! i wanna start drawing but i never find the time to really get into it and also terrified of failure which brings me to my second reason, its all i think i can do and i get dopanine reading nice comments teehee

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

when people tell me about a favourite part, when they liked the tension i managed to create, how i convey some characters, and most of all when i get told they loved a character i created!! this is so encouraging and pushes me to continue <3

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

i dont know how to answer to that .-. uh, i guess i want to be liked? seen as a good writer if anything? idk man ;-;

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Definitely descriptions, and creating a build up in a scene. I feel like it comes naturally to me and people have often told me that they are never lost when reading my scenes which reassures me so much LMAO I feel validated I also think I make really fun dialogue, especially banter with my ocs/tavs

How do you feel about your own writing?

i often self criticise my own work a lot, and i get that imposter syndrome where ill reread my work before posting and go "what the hell" in those moments, im grateful im not writing on paper cause that sheet would find its way to the trash real quick ^^ ' im sincerely truly blessed that my partner offers himself to read my pieces and beta read them, and tell me his honest opinion (there are things i wrote i wish i could forget and yall better be thankful he was there to stop me from posting first versions)

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

mix of both definitely. initially i wrote my own ideas and if people do end up liking them hell yeah!!! glad im able to find people that vibe the same way i do! then again, when i write for people, even if most of it comes from my silly little imagination, it was initially influenced by the request itself and is going to guide the writing specific to this piece, which honestly makes sense imo

Tagging 🏷️: @marlowethebard @roguishcat @anacdoce @charmandabear @marimosalad