#of you answer questions together and compete in a weird way

[ninupi]

Hello I have a request! Could you write a scenario where either Kakucho or Draken (you can write for both or do one or the other I don't mind) have a crush on reader(they're friends though but they haven't confessed) however there's someone else who also likes reader and asks them to help them get together with reader🥸How would they react? And what would they do? I hope that makes sense 😅

Thank you 😊

Jealous | k. draken & kakucho (separately)

₊˚⊹♡ tags; fem!reader, both of these are in a good timeline where everyone look gets along, mention of reader looking up at draken, everyone lowk making fun of sanzu in drakens lol, ran being canonically blind but refusing to wear glasses is so funny to me LMFAOO, kakucho being a liar boy

₊˚⊹♡ wc; 830 (draken) 331 (kakucho)

₊˚⊹♡ a/n; ahh im so happy I finally found time to write this, I literally couldn't stop thinking about it when I first saw it lol

k. draken

Draken was intensely watching the TV from the couch while Mikey and Mitsuya were competing in mortal combat on the TV. Most of the guys were over at Mikey's house right now taking turns playing the new game. 

"I'm going to kick your ass Mitsuya..." Mikey warned after receiving a combo almost ending his character's life "You said that the last two rounds, maybe you should focus on fighting!" Mitsuya laughed nudging Mikey with his elbow trying to distract him. 

"You seriously suck at this Mikey!" Smiley laughs angering the blonde even more "Next round, you and me asshole!" Mikey yells pointing at Smiley after Mitsuya's character brutally rips Mikey's apart. "Ok let's go, this is gonna be a piece of cake" he smiles while switching places with mitsuya to sit on the floor. 

While the two of them argued about who they wanted to play Draken heard the front door open "I'm home! And I brought y/n so don't be weird!" Draken perked up once he heard Emma mention your name, you two had become friends earlier this year at school and Emma's been bringing you around a lot more. 

"Ok, so no one cares that I'm home?" Emma asks walking into the living room while y/n is behind her "No, not really" Mikey answers locking his character in "Oh screw you Mikey, I hope you lose!" she yells throwing a couch pillow at the back of his head.

"Hi y/n! How are you?" Draken can't help the way his face contorts in disgust at Sanzu's tone of voice "Hi Haru, I'm fine. Are you playing too?" Haru? Draken didn't know that the two of you were so close "Yeah, I played against Baji earlier and won" he bragged causing Baji to yell at him. 

"Are you not going to say hi to me Draken?" you question softly kicking his leg, he can feel the back of his neck getwarm. "Hey" He knows he probably seems like an asshole he just gets so nervous every time he talks to you. But when he sees you smile at him he knows you don't mind his cold demeanor. 

"Come on y/n, let's go!" Emma grumbles grabbing your hand and leading you toward her room "Bye y/n!" Sanzu calls out waving to you "Bye Haru! Bye Draken!" you smile waving at the two of them. Draken gives Sanzu a certain look when he hears Baji speak up. 

"You're so embarrassing man..." he sighs and Draken looks at Baji who's nodding towards Sanzu "Huh? What do you mean?" Sanzu questions offended "When are you going to tell her you like her? I'm sure she knows but it's best to get rejected now" Smiley laughs starting up his round with Mikey. 

"What are you guys talking about? I don't like y/n..." Draken turns to give Sanzu giving him an unimpressed look while everyone else turns to look at him including Smiley who paused the game to do so, much to Mikey's dismay. "NO!" he screamed out at the paused screen displaying how he was about to hit a combo on Smiley's character. 

"Do you think we're dumb?" Mitsuya genuinely questions fully turning to face Sanzu "Hi y/n! I love you y/n! Can I lick your shoes y/n!" smiley mocks Sanzu causing the guys to all laugh except Sanzu who starts protesting in embarrassment "I don't sound like that, and be quiet what if she hears you!" he hisses looking in the direction of Emma's room where the two of you were. 

"Her room is on the other side of the house, they can't hear anything" Mikey explains while fidgeting with the controller in his hands "Whatever man just ask her out already she might say yes, who knows" Smiley shrugs turning back to the tvand unpausing the game.

"Can you help me ask her out?" Draken can't even hide the way his face contorts in disgust before facing Sanzu "What?" he asks even though he heard him the first time "Can you help me ask y/n out?" Sanzu asks again a bit more harshly this time "No, do it yourself" Draken snaps feeling a bit annoyed about Sanzu's presence now. 

He feels Sanzu slump into the couch next to him when he gets up saying he needs a drink when the others ask him where he's going "Get me a soda!" Mikey calls out before losing to Smiley, again. When Draken walks into the kitchen he sees you sitting there almost like you were waiting for him. 

"Hey..." he mutters walking to the fridge "I heard you guys," you say without much emotion "Oh" Draken just continues to stare at the inside of the fridge not really caring about a drink anymore "I don't really like Haru like that you know..." you sigh leaning against the counter next to the fridge. 

Draken can feel a weight lift off of his shoulders "Oh really?" he questions standing up a bit straighter while closing the fridge, without grabbing a drink. "Yeah I kinda like someone else...someone a bit taller." you smile looking up at him. "That's nice to know" he smiles giving you his full attention now. 

kakucho

Kakucho really liked ran haitani, but right now he really wanted to punch his teeth in. "I'm real sorry about that sweetheart, are you alright?" Kakucho watched ran held your arm softly with a clenched jaw as he approached the two of you "Yeah I'm fine, don't worry about it" you smiled up at him.

"Hey, what happened?" Kakucho questioned walking up behind you softly pulling you out of rans hold. "Oh nothing, we just bumped into each other" you explain with a soft laugh while ran moved a bit closer to Kakucho squinting at him. 

"You should wear your glasses, then you'd see where you're going" Kakucho muttered pushing Ran's face away roughly "Come on my eyesight ain't that bad" he laughed standing straight realizing it was Kakucho who joined the conversation. 

"It actually really is, you need glasses" Kakucho sighs wondering how Ran's gotten this far in life being so blind "Oh yeah you should probably get glasses if it's that bad! But I have to go, I'll see you later kakucho?" you question looking at him with hopeful eyes. 

"Yeah, I'll come pick you up" he smiles nudging you with his elbow "Ok great, I'll see you later, bye guys!" you call out, running towards your class "You gotta set me up with her Kakucho" ran immediately says once you're out of earshot, nudging him with his elbow.

  "Yeah, not happening man," Kakucho says walking away from the taller boy "What? Why not? C'mon, help me out man" Ran sighed throwing an arm over the younger boy's shoulder "I'm not gonna help you ask out my girlfriend."

Kakucho is forced to stop when ran stops walking looking at him slightly shocked "Oh man I'm sorry, I didn't know you two were dating…that's my bad" Kakucho refused to look at ran knowing he was lying straight to his face. Ran didn't need to know that right now though, "It's fine, but yeah I'm not setting you up with her."

[p1z-d0n7jud6em3]

THINKING ABOUT…..

Ryusei Shidou with a gymnast!reader, who he is currently friends with.

It feels weird, really. He watches all your routines and competitions, cheering you on at the back, and yet when he's with you, like on a normal day, or when you guys go out together, he feels…weird. He dislikes the way his face gets slightly hot when he’s with you, he mentally questions himself whenever he notices himself catching up on the littlest things you do, he doesn’t know what’s wrong with him whenever he misses you a little too much every time you’re not around.

His ears pick up on your voice and your coach’s too, as he walks in, his eyes immediately catching you. His fuchsia irises slowly rake up and down on your form which sports a baby pink leotard and shorts in the same color (which was your favorite). His eyes then land on your face just staring at you whilst you talk to your coach about something, one foot on the balance beam (probably about an upcoming competition you wanted to join, he did listen to you talk about it with him).

Shidou’s expression is one of curiosity and concentration right now for God knows what, as he just stands there, admiring your face like some creep. Pushing the dangerous thoughts of his feelings aside, he walks over to you, grinning his usual grin as he greets you and your coach.

After practice is over, you both sit next to each other, just there and quiet, as you take a sip of your water, clearing your throat. “Um, Ryusei, I have something to say,” you speak, eyes staring up at him, filled with nervousness and Shidou wonders why, hoping it’s not some news that will probably ruin his day. “Go on,” he urges, now almost desperate to hear what you have to say. You chew on your bottom lip, wondering if this is the right time, right place to say this, not when you’ve been crushing on him for months now.

“I’ll be competing in the Olympics,” you finally say, now blinking up at him. You sigh a soft sigh with relief, feeling the tension leave your shoulders immediately. (You worry about his answer). Shidou blinks, caught off guard. He thought you would say something crazy like confessing your love to him. But of course, you wouldn’t-why would you? You would never like him anyway. “Wow,” he says, eyes wide as he chuckles. “That’s nice, congrats,” he says smiling and you squint your eyes a little at him. Weird. He’s acting weird. And you can already tell by his unusually soft eyes and smile.

“Will you miss me,” you ask, your eyes now staring at the balance beam in the middle of the room, as you sigh. “Of course, no shit,” he says, wrapping an arm around your shoulder. Unbeknownst to the both of you guys, your hearts race at the contact. You smile up at him. “Good luck on your journey,” he says, looking at you, now that you’ve turned away. But then this time, an even weirder feeling erupts inside of Shidou, most probably hope, as he stares at your side profile and blinks. He doesn’t have to worry about anything. He just has to win you over before someone else does. And he has a lot of time for that (he hopes).

You sigh under your breath. You’ll miss him. A lot. To the point it hurts. You’ve been hurting for months now, keeping these feeling of your love for him bottled up as you spend time with him, thinking, he wouldn’t like me.

But little did you know, Shidou was already planning on confessing his love to you pretty soon. Very soon.

[httpvomitello]

The Bet Oliver Wood x Y/N Oliver and Y/N are competitors in a school challenge or Quidditch rivalry. One day, they make a bet that leads to them spending time together. What starts as rivalry soon turns into a deep connection and romance.

Helloo, i hope you like it ~ ♡

Bet on You .｡*･ﾟﾟ

Summary: You and Oliver Wood have been rivals for as long as you can remember. Whether it’s on the Quidditch pitch or in any school competition, you’re always trying to outdo each other.

oliver wood x f!reader

The Gryffindor common room was alive with post-match excitement, warm light flickering from the torches on the walls, and the sound of celebratory cheers filling the air.

Oliver Wood was at the center of it, beaming like he’d won the bloody World Cup. You rolled your eyes as you pushed through the crowd, still dressed in your team robes, hair damp with sweat from the game.

"You look like you’ve got something to say," Oliver mused, leaning against the arm of a chair with that insufferable smirk of his.

"I always have something to say," you shot back, crossing your arms. "Like how your Chasers barely scraped by today. If it weren’t for you guarding those hoops like a madman, you’d be crying into your pumpkin juice right now."

He laughed, shaking his head. "And yet, we still won. Again."

Merlin, he was unbearable. This had been your dynamic since first year—constantly trying to one-up each other. It wasn’t just about Quidditch. It was everything. Who could get the best grades in class, who could pull off the best prank, who could answer a question the fastest. Even who could walk to the Great Hall first. If there was something to compete over, you and Oliver found a way to turn it into a battle.

And yet, for some reason, you never truly hated it.

"I bet you couldn’t even last a week without turning everything into a competition," you said, raising an eyebrow.

Oliver scoffed. "Oh yeah? I bet you couldn’t go a week without challenging me to something."

A grin tugged at your lips. "Fine. Let’s make this interesting. We spend a week together—no competing, no keeping score. Just… normal interaction."

His brow furrowed. "And if one of us breaks the rule?"

"The other gets to pick a favor the loser has to do. No arguments."

Oliver considered this for a long moment before sticking out his hand. "You’re on."

The first day was… weird.

At breakfast, instead of racing to grab the last piece of toast before him, you just let it sit there. You both stared at it, then at each other, as if waiting for one of you to break.

"You can have it," he finally said, pushing the plate toward you.

Your eyes narrowed. "Is this a trick?"

"No tricks," he said, sipping his pumpkin juice. "Just… being normal."

You hesitated before finally picking up the toast. It was oddly unsettling, like the very foundation of your relationship was cracking.

The second day was even weirder.

You had Astronomy together, and normally, you’d see who could get the best telescope positioning first. But instead, you sat next to each other in silence, focusing on your own work.

That is, until Oliver nudged you. "Did you know Jupiter’s moons are called the Galilean moons?"

You blinked. "Yeah. Everyone knows that."

He looked genuinely surprised. "They do?"

You laughed. "Merlin, Oliver, you’re great at a lot of things, but you’re terrible at pretending you like schoolwork."

He chuckled. "Maybe I just like talking to you."

You nearly dropped your quill.

By the fourth day, you found yourself walking with Oliver through the castle after dinner, the usual tension between you… softer, somehow.

"You know," Oliver said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "I never really thought about why we compete so much."

"Because we’re both stubborn as hell?" you guessed.

He laughed. "Probably. But I think I just… like getting a reaction out of you."

You turned to him, surprised. "You like annoying me?"

"Yeah." He gave you a sidelong glance. "But this is nice too. Less yelling. More… this."

Your heart did something weird in your chest.

That night, you lay in bed staring at the ceiling, replaying the conversation over and over.

By the sixth day, things had changed.

You found yourself seeking him out, not because of the bet, but because you wanted to.

In the courtyard, he leaned against a stone pillar, watching as you helped a group of younger students with their spellwork. When you caught him staring, he didn’t even bother to look away.

"You’re staring, Wood," you teased, adjusting the scarf around your neck.

"Maybe I just like looking at you," he said easily, and you nearly tripped over your own feet.

What was happening?

You weren’t competing. You weren’t even teasing each other. It was something else entirely—something new.

And for once, you weren’t sure you wanted to fight it.

By the seventh day, neither of you mentioned the bet.

Instead, you met up by the Black Lake, watching the giant squid ripple the water’s surface.

"So," Oliver said, leaning back on his elbows. "I guess we lasted the whole week."

"Guess so," you murmured.

"You didn’t challenge me to anything."

"And you didn’t turn anything into a competition."

A pause. Then, Oliver turned to you, something unreadable in his eyes. "What do we do now?"

Your heart pounded. "We could go back to the way things were."

He studied you for a long moment before shaking his head. "I don’t think I want to."

The air between you shifted. It was like standing on the edge of a cliff, knowing you were about to fall and not being entirely sure if you wanted to stop it.

You swallowed. "Me neither."

A slow smile spread across Oliver’s face. "So, if I kissed you right now, would that count as winning?"

Your breath hitched. "Not everything’s a game, Wood."

"Good," he said, closing the distance between you. "Because I wasn’t planning on keeping score."

[ofeliaxoxo]

https://x.com/ln4norris/status/1940825095800607127

Landoscar, Dando + jealous Oscar who’s envious of Daniel but also attracted to him

idk idk

And by the way the most important threesome in the whole world is Lando Oscar and Daniel. Literally landoscar dando and jealous Oscar who’s envious of Daniel but also attracted to him. I fear I have no notes like you are correct. I wish I had some more coherent thoughts to give you but I’m unwell and brain won’t work. Something something the fond memories with Daniel being stronger than Oscar’s years long presence something something Oscar feels the absence of himself and tries to assert his existence into the dynamic something something idk

Here is some nonsense I typed out in my feverish state

They work together. It makes sense. The matching tans, sunny and golden, the dark hair, the lovely curls Daniel taught Lando how to deal with. Once it worked out for Oscar, the right moment, he was able to skim a hand over them, feel the soft bounce, the little spring of resistance. He couldn’t feel any product, only soft hair, but Lando told him there was loads in it. All things Daniel had told him to buy.

Lando likes Daniel more than he likes Oscar. Still. Oscar had been thinking maybe he wouldn’t still.

Daniel keeps doing this thing where he talks only to Lando but looks slightly to the left of him so that it looks like they’re all together properly, all at the table just the same, until Oscar thinks he would go if he didn’t know it would be the only thing he could do right now to bring their attention to him. It would be less embarrassing to go than to keep sitting here looking at them but he’s not sure he could find an excuse, pull off the lie, knows Lando would see through it, the little smirk in the corner of his mouth, alright mate, pleased to have smelled a rat.

Instead he’s sitting quiet, their audience of one. He’s drinking too fast so it looks like he’s not talking on purpose. Just chilling. Enjoying his drink.

“You’re not bothered, are you, Oscar?”

Mid-sip, it jolts him. His name, in Daniel’s mouth. He thought they’d basically forgotten him. He wasn’t listening anymore.

“Wh - I’m not bothered about what?”

“Any of it. Couldn’t give a shit. Lando told me it’s like competing with a brick wall.”

Daniel’s eyes are gentle, a nice brown, nothing sharp in them. Smiling, he’s only joking. He’s not being mean.

Oscar feels it like a slap to the face, the way his skin heats up, flushes, probably pink enough for them to see even in the dim light of the bar.

“Um.”

He shrugs, smiles. He has an answer for this one, because it comes up a lot, but he can’t say it here, to Daniel. Lando will know he’s doing an answer. He says Oscar has a special voice he puts on for answers that he got ready ahead of time, and that he can always pick them out from the things Oscar came up with on the spot.

Lando’s funny like that. Sometimes he pays all this attention to Oscar, notices all sorts of weird stuff, but not always. Sometimes he takes it away.

Oscar needs to think of a new answer, right now, but he’s run out of time already. It’s gone on too long. The two of them staring over, as if he’s supposed to agree, and they want him to go no, isn’t it weird, I don’t give a fuck about anything. As if Daniel is actually asking a real question.

“See, can’t even be bothered to speak to us. Very rude, Osc.”

Oscar doesn’t know what else to do except laugh, laugh and laugh and down his vodka, the horrible end of it. He wishes he could think of something funny, something that would come out naturally, like he was speaking as it occurred to him, not needing to prepare the words.

“I think you’re the one being rude now,” and Daniel pretends to hit him. Gives Lando a fake slap, his hand so familiar with Lando’s face Oscar realises he must have done it before, hit him properly, a real blow, reddened the skin. Lando is small next to him, although Daniel’s not big.

Lando doesn’t get mad, lets his body take the impact of Daniel playing, lips parted. Ready to laugh but not laughing yet. Maybe if Oscar wasn’t here he wouldn’t laugh at all.

It was never really a proper smack, but it softens further, Daniel’s fingertips lingering on the cheekbone, the temple, the touch lasting a second too long. They’re perfect, Daniel’s tattooed arm the link between them. Oscar imagines it, Lando under his palm, just getting one good whack in, one good crack at it, and then he’d kiss it better, and he’d mean it much more than Daniel.

[idrellegames]

Hmm so I see people are sharing their views on MC/Aeran relationship after that Ep.2 finale, but --in the spirit of "different people focus on different things and get different takes out of it-- I figure I'd add one more I haven't seen yet:

---

Context: my MC comes from orphan background. She was, rather naturally, pretty vary of men she met, including the boy she got to ride with, but for whaterver reason pretty much immediately imprinted on Brissa. Saw her as a mother she never had and wanted nothing more but to be acknowledged by her would-be "parent" and to make her proud. Being allowed to adopt Varyn's name was her biggest pride and something she's made the core of her identity since.

She started Ep.1 as "relatively good friends" with Aeran, and progressed their relationship from 60->90 by the end of it. She was also hyper-competent in that episode, achieving all goals --including freeing Aeran's ex-lover from his bond and talking down Viridian Lady at the end-- with next to no bloodshed and without any real check fails. She's also succesfully conducted all talks in Ep.2 so Aeran wouldn't have to interact with the mages when he clearly didn't want to. Which all combined made Aeran's "you'd be nothing without me" outburst at the end of Ep.2 feel like total bullshit and an eyeroll-worthy bunch of self-aggrandizing posturing from an angry manchild way too full of himself, but I digress.

So anyway, given that background, in the confrontation at the end of Ep.2, ironically all the bullshit Arean threw in my MC's face wasn't what broke her and put a real rift between them. (even if it hurt, too) It was the earlier, almost casual reveal that Varyn had taken him on a mission --or missions-- after the graduation, when she's apparently never done that with my MC. Together with the impression that Aeran always had deeper connection with Varyn, it made her question there if maybe she never mattered to Varyn the way Brissa mattered to her, or at the very least in this weird "family" she's conjured in her head it's Aeran who was the favored child and she's… what was she, really?

I imagine it's a question that'd be gnawing at her from that point forward -- why would Varyn apparently pick Aeran over her, as preferred companion, when he didn't even seem to care about it all that much and butt heads with Varyn over her teachings? Was it because they're both elves and she wasn't? Or because he was a boy, and she wasn't; was there some attraction, or maybe even something romantic that happened between them?

She wouldn't ask about any of it, but with no answers coming she'd twist herself into more and more paranoid knots over it, and it'd affect her sense of worth, fueling inferiority complex, but also her relationship with Aeran from that point forward. Because, while she had opted to let the matter of Spire rest at the end of Ep.2 (in large part, again, trying to follow Varyn's teaching that it's better to reconcile than fight) she'd now be reminded of apparently being deemed less worthy each time she'd see Aeran's smug face. Meaning, all the time. And no matter how hard she'd try to pretend nothing is wrong, it'd leak in their interactions rendering her more distant and colder toward someone she's now on the verge of despising, for seemingly receiving the one thing she'd really wanted.

---

Yeah, I know, that was waaay too long xD NGL, I've (over)shared it in part because I'm curious if there's a possibility for MC to have this sort of feelings/behavior towards Aeran in the actual game in the subsequent chapters, in this scenario where they had shared their mentor. Like, I doubt it, because it's very specific (and unhinged) and the ending where you reconcile seems to be more along the lines of "I'm so happy we're now unshakeable BFF" with no room for "Yeah I said it's fine but I kinda hate you now", but, you know. One can always hope there's some room for other options~

Thank you for sharing!

So, without any spoilers, I will say that there is a lot of flexibility in Episode 3 for how your MC relates to Aeran depending on past choices and other conditions. There's a whole flag—it's literally called $aeran_good as a variable, and in my word documents it gets referred to as "aeran good" and "aeran bad" because I found it funny and I needed something quick and easy—and whether this variable is flagged true or false is not dependent on strictly on approval, but on prior and current choices.

"aeran good" and "aeran bad" are then split further based on approval. So, your MC may fall under the "aeran good" category with a low approval level because of something they say to him or a decision about him they made, or they may fall under the "aeran bad" category with a high approval level due to the same. While it may not be as specific as you are looking for, it should give some flexibility in terms of how your character feels about him.

However, if you do reconcile, your MC is choosing to put certain things to rest. While I do wish I could have every imaginable response under the sun, there are limits to how many different flavours of things I can have.

If you want the most flexibility in how your MC feels about him and have it be more vague, I would pursue a different Episode 2 ending (don't go back to the apartment, go see Mel or Veyer).

[i9messi]

Rivalry — Max Verstappen

Being a pilot of f1, you are competitive by nature, and Max is competitive as well. Fighting with him seems so easy to do, so why stop?

social media au

(rivals to lovers)

max's masterlist

yourusername

P1 baby 🏆

liked by carlossainz55, charles_leclerc, georgerusell and 423.289 others

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user1 you stole the podium of max, im screaming

❤️ liked by yourusername

user2 thank you!!! I was tired of the same national anthem every weekend

user3 I feel sad for max but happy for you

pierregasly congrats!!

yourusername pierregasly thank you!

charles_leclerc well deserved👏

user4 max is still crying

user5 is it weird that max still doesn't follow her on insta

user6 user5 i have the feeling that they don't really like each other

yourusername

today wasn't the result we were expecting. I'll come back stronger🤍 thank you for believing in me, I will not disappoint you

liked by charles_leclerc, schecoperez, georgerusell and 423.162 others

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user1 i hate max

user2 You were leading the race until he gained positions

user3 I like this rivalry between max and you, finally something entertaining to watch

user4 user3 yeah, I was tired of watching Max winning all the races lately. Finally someone who actually challenges him

user5 max and you will end together, mark my words

yourusername

apparently some guys don't know how to drive properly

liked by yourbestfriend, landonorris, arthurleclerc and 781.162 others

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user1 you forgot to tag max

yourusername oops my bad, maxverstappen1

user2 SAVAGE

user3 she chose violence

user4 I spilled my water, she actually tagged him

schecoperez 🤔

yourusername what

schecoperez nothing, paz ✌️🕊️

user4 I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!! WHAT DID HE TOLD YOU

user5 she really said that a twice world champion can't drive properly? girl

user6 user5 don't take it seriously, she's angry. she lost way too many positions today because of the incident

user6 I love the drama

maxverstappen1

apparently some girls don't know how to drive properly

liked by charles_leclerc, pierregasly, landonorris and 923.162 others

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yourusername well, your sense of perception is altered

user1 SHE ACTUALLY COMMENTED

user2 it was an inchident

❤️ liked by charles_leclerc

landonorris 🧐

user3 both of them have the blame, they made a lot of mistakes today

user4 they were too focused on competing with each other rather than focusing on the actual race, yes

georgerusell is hard to believe that both of you are adults

NEWS. Heat in F1?

Y/N, driver of Williams, has been involved lately in many scandals with the double champion of formula one, Max Verstappen. According to some fans, since it was announced that Y/L/N was going to start driving in formula one, the news had a good reception from the other drivers, except one. Verstappen does not follow her on any of her social media and avoids answering the questions he was asked about Y/N.

The two drivers are competitive and it has been noticed that in recent races they have been fighting for the podium. However, at the Miami Grand Prix, drivers had a major incident. They both made mistakes that led them to collide and yet, it seems they blame each other. According to some sources nearby, they say that neither of them can face each other without starting to fight. We still don’t understand what the breaking point has been, but we can ask ourselves some questions, will Verstappen and Y/L/N finally have a moment of peace? And more importantly, who will win the upcoming races?

yourusername

You should take it as a compliment that I got drunk and made fun of the way you talk

liked by charles_leclerc, pierregasly, maxverstappen1 and 673.145 others

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user1 max's accent????

user2 suspicious

user3 my rivals to lovers arc is coming

user4 max where are you boyy

user5 MAX LIKED THE POST

user6 MAXXXXXXXXXXXX

user7 HE DOESN'T EVEN FOLLOW HER BUT HE SOMEHOW LIKED HER POST

yourusername

an idiot sent me flowers, they're cute

liked by maxverstappen1, charles_leclerc, carlossainz55 and 623.162 others

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user1 the 'idiot' is max?

user2 user1 I'm sure he is the idiot indeed

maxverstappen1 can we have peace now?

yourusername maxverstappen1 fine

georgerusell finally you act like two adults

charles_leclerc I prefer when you fought with each other, it was funny

carlossainz55 yes, it was. I'm gonna miss that

yourusername charles_leclerc carlossainz55 now you are the idiots

schecoperez we recover peace, thanks god

user3 MAX SENT HER FLOWERS

user4 I LOVE THEM ALREADY

user5 a lot of steps forward !!!

user6 they're in the friends stage, next step is the lovers stage yess

NEWS: Y/N AND MAX VERSTAPPEN SPOTTED TOGETHER!

Formula One drivers, have been seen together, leaving a restaurant and having a casual conversation. Is this the end of the bad blood between them? Two weeks ago, Y/N uploaded some photos on her social media showing a bouquet of flowers given to her by Max Verstappen, and since then, the tension seems to have died down. Next Sunday is the race at Silverstone, where only one of them will win the podium. Who will it be? Verstappen or Y/L/N? A new scandal is coming?

[lorelilly]

sorry you're feeling down <3 are you reading anything currently? (i'm reading real life by brandon taylor rn, so good!) what authors inspire your writing?

also, anything you're willing to tease from upcoming wips?

Right now I’m reading Faebound by Saara El-Arifi. I haven’t really read much in the Romantacy genre, but I heard people online saying this book was ACOTAR if it was queer so I’ve been giving it a shot and it’s pretty good so far.

I think what typically inspires me to write fanfic though is other good fanfic. I just finished reading Sweeter Than Honey by @followingthebutterflies7 (omg amazing please go read it) and I’m currently reading Bound by Winter by @and-claudia and The Only Reason (I Stayed Here) by @ephemore (which are both currently in progress but I’m loving where they’re going). I also frequently go back and reread older fanfics I love. It doesn’t even have to be from the same fandom. My favorite AO3 author is surveycorpsjean who’s written A LOT of really good stuff (mostly for My Hero Academia and Haikyuu but for tons of other fandoms as well).

As far as teases from upcoming WIPs, I just posted a snippet from my next chapter of All This Potential last week. And while that is my main focus right now, I do have a couple other short things I’ve written the last few months so—anyone care to read some of my Shourtcer idea that I may or may not ever finish? It’s an AU where Shayne and Spencer are competing in the rodeo circuit as bull riders and Courtney is a farrier.

What’s under the cut isn’t nsfw but it is just a little spicy.

Courtney stands in front of their full length mirror, pressing down on a weird ruffle in her dress that just won’t lay flat. She briefly wonders if she’s got time to iron before he gets here and then immediately scoffs at herself. Spencer isn’t gonna care about what her clothes look like. He’s most likely coming over to take them off her anyway. That’s why she chose this dress in the first place, a simple denim number that buttons all the way down. Just thinking about it makes her palms sweat.

Despite the mirror, Shayne still manages to sneak up on her, his reflection magically appearing over her shoulder while she’s lost in thought.

“Nervous?” he asks like it isn’t obvious. Courtney tries to shrug the question off anyway. “We don’t have to do this,” he adds on, and Courtney turns around to face him.

“Do you not want to do this?”

Shayne swallows heavy and takes a breath.

“I—I love you,” he says like it’s an answer. And because they’ve been together for so long, because she knows this sweet and wonderful man inside and out, it is.

“Shayne, baby, I love you too.” She slips her arms around his neck. “This doesn’t mean we aren’t in love anymore. I know you still love me. Do you know that I still love you?”

“Yes,” he says, and when Courtney looks deep into his eyes, she believes him. She nods once firmly and then lets her arms drop.

“I want to do this. I want��“ I want him, she thinks. Lord help her, but it’s true.

Shayne nods a couple times like he’s shaking out some final nerves of his own and then finally smiles at her softly. He spins her back around so she’s facing the mirror, hands gripped loosely around her waist but already starting to move up and down, casually feeling her curves.

“You look beautiful,” he whispers, placing a kiss to her neck. And god she’s so keyed up already that just the kiss is enough to make her shiver. Shayne doesn’t miss it.

“He’s not gonna know what hit him,” Shayne says with an even wider smile and Courtney feels some confidence come back to her.

“Same to you,” she says.

Shayne’s not wearing anything fancy, but it doesn’t take much in her opinion. Even in some light-washed denim and a white t-shirt that hugs his biceps, he’s already everything anyone could possibly want.

His arms tighten around her middle, hugging her close until she can feel the start of something pressed against her lower back. Seems like she’s not the only one who’s keyed up already.

The sound of the doorbell startles them both.

“Speak of the devil,” Shayne mumbles.

They reluctantly pull apart and head downstairs to greet Spencer. Shayne’s little pep talk has Courtney feeling so much better, but she still feels unprepared for the sight that greets her when she opens the door.

Spencer’s in a pair of dark jeans, probably the nicest ones he owns by the look of it, with a dark green and blue plaid shirt and a simple bolo tie. He’s not wearing a hat, and it actually looks like maybe he’s run some kinda product through his hair to accentuate his curls.

“Hey,” she says, voice sounding too much like a sigh for her own liking.

“Hey,” he says back. “I uh—“ His hand comes up from by his side, holding out an honest to god bouquet of flowers. “I wasn’t sure what’s proper for a situation like this. But my mama taught me to never show up empty handed so-“

Courtney takes the flowers from him, a brightly colored assortment that reminds her of springtime, and tries not to bite her lip when she smiles.

“They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

“Nothing for me?” Shayne teases over her shoulder.

Courtney barely contains her eye roll at the obvious prod. Everything’s always been a competition between these two and she’s not sure why she thought tonight might be any different. But Spencer isn’t thrown for a second. He quickly reaches forward towards the bouquet, pinching a carnation off its stem a couple inches beneath the base, then steps closer to Shayne and slowly slips the flower over the top of his ear.

“There. Pretty as a picture,” Spencer says in a low voice and Courtney coughs to hide her laugh as a blush spreads across Shayne’s cheeks. Point, Spencer.

“Well come on in before you let all the AC out,” Courtney says, breaking the moment and ushering Spencer inside.

They all meander their way into the dining room where Spencer looks surprised to see the table set. It’s nothing ostentatious, just three white plates with some plain napkins and cutlery set out. But Spencer looks at it like she’s done something amazing for him.

“You’re cooking?” he asks towards both of them.

“Chicken’s on the grill right now,” Shayne says. “And Court’s got veggies roasting in the oven.”

“And some of your bread,” she says to Shayne.

“I don’t know if I’d call it my bread-“ he says like he’s nervous to own up to it in front of Spencer. But Courtney’s having none of it. If he’s gonna be their—or more like, if they’re planning on inviting him into their—well regardless, they’ve gotta start being honest with each other.

“I would.” She walks over and gives him a short but firm kiss on his cheek. “You’re the one that got this new sourdough starter to work after my last one died while we were away.”

“I’m sure it’ll be amazing,” Spencer chimes in, making both of them turn to look at him. “I mean, I don’t think the golden boy over here is capable of doing anything less than perfect.”

Shayne pulls away from her and scoffs in Spencer’s direction.

“If I was perfect, I would’ve beaten you in Cheyenne,” he counters.

But Spencer just throws him that smile, the one that’s somehow boyishly charming and also unfairly seductive.

“But where would be the fun in that?” he teases. “Nah. You losing to me sometimes just makes you more perfect in my book.”

Shayne huffs out a noise somewhere between amused and frustrated then turns away.

“Gonna go check on the meat,” he says, but Courtney can see his flustered face before he makes it outside and closes the patio door behind him. Two points, Spencer.

[nor3gertz]

hihi question... do you think p2 and p3 would ever tell each other they love each other.......

heyy yes they would (in my p2 x p3 au at least) but its kinda heavy

one fateful day p2 was relapsing bc he rly regretted shooting himself (ironic) and he's reminded of his ex-wife everytime he gets a migraine, when p3 was fooling around with him p3 noticed the change of demeanor and said to him if there's anything wrong, he's always open. p2 tried denying that he wasnt feeling off, to which p3 was a bit pissed because he can clearly tell from the way p2 doesnt grumble or whine or whatever to his annoying remarks. they kinda argued in a bro to bro way, p3's insistence to ask about p2's wellbeing was what set him off to lash out at p3. he cried in the process of it, and even said a few things that were a bit too hurtful for p3. p3's face lowkey looked like a sad puppy and p2 would usually be smug about it but he somehow felt GUILTY, which was weird to him because he never felt guilty when saying hateful shit to his ex-wife or anyone in general. probably because that person literally just asked him about his wellbeing. p2 immediately apologised for a quick second and sprinted to his room, locking the door behind. after probably 2-3 hours he walked out of the door and sat quietly next to p3 on the couch, p3 even though he was hurt, he just sat there completely still, watching some kinda soap opera there was on tv. p2 apologised for the abrasive behaviour and tried to laugh it off but p3 also apologised for forcefully asking about him. He also admitted that he never asked anyone about their wellbeing, not even his ex-wife. p3 then CONFESSES that he cares about p2 and that p2 was the first person for him to have a bit of empathy for someone else. p2 also confesses that he never had someone to care about him and he felt guilty for once in his life. they both had their similarities and that made them feel more empathetic to each other. this is not rly a romantic confession but its still a sign that they love each other.

they both hugged n crode together in the end btw

the romantic confession is another thing, in my au p3 was sucked into p2's world (maybe Paradise Lost never happened here, i'll make adjustments to that later) and he barged into p2's trailer as if it was his. their first encounter was pretty funny (to me at least) and p3 was like "urm can i be your trailermate or smth" and p2 even though he was pissed he took the opportunity to be a "landlord" and offered the couch to p3. but in one condition. p3 has to do the errands for him and p3 also needs to pay the rent as well. p3 just shrugs and accepts it.

its why i said this before, p2 takes over the Bitch's place. he just stays at home doing absolutely NOTHING most of the time (before he got a stable job anyway). sometimes he does go out and drags p3 along to be his henchman lmfao (its mostly just giving p3 the task to carry his shit for him as he goes on a killing spree, which pisses p3 off since he also wants to kill as well. let a man scratch his itch dude). somehow they get playful when they go out together, chasing each other, competing who can do this and that better, pulling pranks on people (read: throwing krotchy grenades at people), those little things kind of form a bond with each other, it feels intimate to them having to spend time like that. they've been trailermates for approximately 3 months since their first encounter.

after the relapsing episode i just wrote in the first paragraph, one day p3 started to ask p2 out to run errands with him. p2 said okay sure and they ended up... dating. went walks through the mall, window shopping n bought stuff (usually they'd steal but it was different that day), p3 actually paid for the stuff and when p3 bought p2 icecream he felt like p3 was awfully gentle the whole day. he said "are we on a date or something?" as a joke but p3 nonchalantly answered "sure, if you want it to be". it took him a while to finally realise that they were actually on a date. p2 was a fucking mess im telling you his head was blank as soon as p3 said that lol. even worse was that p3 brought him to watch the sunset at the rooftop of the book repository building. p2 cant THINK STRAIGHT. they both confessed they love each other indirectly in the end they were giggling and flirty and shit yayyyyyyy

also what the hell im writing a fucking fanfic over here holy shit!!!! idk if this answers your question anon whoops

[badninken]

Hi bad ninken!

I know you've speed ran the episodes, but what's your thoughts on One Piece overall, from the perspective of a Naruto fan?

(Hope our questions aren't bothering you)

Hi!

Not bothered at all! I don't always answer but I'm always happy to receive them <3 This question is a BIG one. I'll write so much.

So, I didn't know exactly what to expect from One Piece when I started watching. It always looked like a goofy and childish pirate show to me. I'm very picky and I knew it was insanely long so just casually giving it a try never occurred to me, until Law.

Now, Naruto could be said to be a goofy and childish ninja show so it's not like I was up on some high horse, thinking One Piece was lesser than. Nothing is that popular for no reason. I could at least give the first episode a go. It would feel like cheating if I didn't even try to watch it from the start and get to know the main character before rushing to find my character.

The lead characters:

So I watched the first episode and I liked it! Or, I liked Luffy. I liked him a lot. Instantly captivated by his crazy eyes, crazier smile, unique voice and his message of "do whatever makes you happy and screw the people who try to stop you"

Now, I like Naruto (the boy) too. He's incredibly cute and charming, he also has a voice I love and he brings lots of fun, motivational energy that can be really inspiring. I've never been interested in seeing him fulfil his dream though, because I genuinely think it's a bad one.

Their goals:

The lead characters are the foundations of these two stories. I expected Luffy to be very similar Naruto. There are a lot of parallels. Like the adhd, eating habits, huge potential, but most importantly in their dreams/goals. They both want to be the king/hokage and gather + protect friends on the way. They both have their goals clearly spelled out and repeated often.

Luffy's "I am me. I'm going to get crewmates, find the treasure and become king of the pirates."

and Naruto's "I'm going to become the strongest ninja and become Hokage so people will acknowledge me."

Naruto wants strength and power to be seen, loved and to make positive changes in the shinobi system, and to protect everyone. Luffy wants to liberate everyone so they can be happy and free and eat lots of food. "I just want to be king of the pirates, not anyone important"

These goals set the premise for their respective stories and I can say, without a doubt, that I think One Piece is the better story outline. It's honestly been so refreshing to not have the plot dominated by the main character's personal quest for physical and political power, because that aspect of Naruto (the show and the boy) has always weirded me out.

Overall experience:

With that said, I found Naruto (the story) to be a tighter, much more focused experience than One Piece, and it's not just the number of episodes. The cast of characters in Naruto grows at a pace that's easy to follow and while they don't all get the time or space they deserve, they all serve a purpose. The scope of the plot starts out small and grows steadily. There are a few plot threads running parallell to each other until they get woven together into one huge event at the end. It's big but it's contained.

One Piece, on the other hand, is a fucking hydra of a story.

One thing leads to another which leads to two others which leads to four and you get the picture. Eventually you reach a point where ten, twenty, thirty separate narratives, each with their own sprawling cast of characters, compete for attention at the same time. It's exhausting. It's confusing and often, in my tunnelvision case, infuriating.

I can not care about that many things at once and characters that I probably would have liked end up annoying me because they steal time away from the parts of the story I'm interested in. I was extra impatient since I was speedrunning it all, fueled mostly by hyperfixation on one guy. Even if my attention was more evenly divided across more characters it's still way too much. I totally respect the artist's right to invent new characters to make work more fun after working on a series for that long, but, man... I can't take a new kingdom with a squeaky-voiced boob princess and 60 new named bad guys who take forever to beat while flashbacks have more flashbacks within them to explain lore I don't give a fuck about.

Ok I might still be a bit agitated.

About the boobs:

So, I haven't talked very much about the sexism while doing this speedrun. The cishet male centered fan service and the blatant misogyny in general, and I don't even want to touch the Sanji part of the timeskip period. I have thought about it though, because it is impossible to miss. It's everywhere and it's in your face and it will not miss a single opportunity to disrupt a scene. It's baked into everything. One Piece is at times fucking disgusting to watch. It was only made worse by reading some of the Q&A pages of the manga, because some of that bullshit got etched into my brain and tainted the viewing experience. The thing is that shonen manga/anime to me feels like having my favorite food while trying to ignore that half the plate is rotten. I do my best to ignore that part, because I can't get this dish anywhere else and I'm fucking hungry.

I am sick and tired and pissed off about it, and I can't pretend it's not there but I refuse to let it poison the entire experience for me. I will separate the good parts from the rotten ones, that's just how this goes, for One Piece and Naruto both.

The sexism in One Piece is extremely blatant and obvious. It's visual in a way that it just isn't in Naruto. The female characters in Naruto aren't framed boobs-first or put in lewd outfits and positions every time they're featured. The female characters in Naruto don't get half the character development or narrative importance though, and that is worse, in my opinion, than a tiny metal bikini. Only marginally, but still.

I'm going to be a bit brutal here, but there are so many insignificant female side characters in One Piece that get twice as much background story as Sakura, one of the lead characters of Naruto. That is insane. Real stories too, and real motivations that don't have anything to do with them being women or in love. They're fighting for their villages and countries and themselves, not because they need male validation. My behated Rebecca, tiny-metal-bikini squeaky pink haired princess at least had a goal in life that mattered on a big scale. Sure her boobs jiggled ridiculously in the wind and she started crying annoyingly every time that counted (don't volunteer to deliver a dude's handcuff keys if you're gonna stand in a field and weep while he has to be carried to you) and I hated every moment I had to watch her story BUT SHE HAD A STORY.

Fuck. I'm angry. Sorry I've had this pent up for a while.

The conclusion to this is that Kishimoto's complete lack of interest in his own female characters pisses me off worse than Oda's way of being a loudly outspoken perv but it's pretty much a tie here. Both of their works are half rotten and no series like this will get my full respect until they dare have a woman beat a man in a fight with the same power that is afforded the men. WITHOUT making a big deal out of her being a woman in the process. Will never happen but one can wish.

Fight satisfaction:

I put up with all that stuff because few things hype up my brain with dopamine and endorphins the way a cathartic shonen fight moment does. I mean the cycles of building power, struggling to reach full potential and the inevitable defeat against the big bad before the emotional and desperate moment where it all turns and then BAM! New power unlocked. Victory. Release. It's like sex. It's much better than sex. I'm ace so most things are, but the formula is the same.

It's been so long since I watched original Naruto, but I remember the impact those moments had on me then. Rock Lee's weights and Naruto vs. Sasuke that moment Naruto goes crazy fox mode and just RAWGRH, you know the one. Kakashi vs Hidan and Kakazu gave me some of that. Kakashi vs Obito doesn't follow that exact formula but the emotions and animation and THEM all makes it the best fight experience everrr. Kid Kakashi's first short sharingan fight belongs in there too. The fight satisfaction of Naruto is very, very high.

It's really high in One piece too, and because of how long it is, there are more moments. Luffy, Zoro, Law and Kid all had several moments that made me stand up and roar like a football fan or flail around while silently screaming at the screen. I get charged with power when my favorite characters do really cool shit and I've been super charged for weeks.

One Piece wins in power but Naruto wins in emotion, so it's a tie. It's hard to compare because of how fresh the One Piece experience is. Also because Kakashi's emotional fight moments are so, so emotional and Law's power moments are so HOLY FUCK HE CAN DO THAT?

Conclusion:

I need to go make dinner now, wow.

[namazunomegami]

Atonement

Pairing: Geto Suguru x gn!reader

Synopsis: How can you cleanse yourself from the sin that has been tainting you since your attempt to escape? The answer is easy: walk on barefoot for him, suffer some misery, risk your health for him, open yourself up for him and you can earn his forgiveness.

CW: canon compliant, established relationship, toxic and complicated dynamics, religious symbolism, porn with feelings, Geto is a manipulative ass how surprising, gaslighting, m!receiving oral, fingering, non-consensual edging, good old unprotected sex + creampie

WC: 5.3k

Credits: my lovely @notveryrussian who worked so hard to get this fic proofreaded. Ngl they deserve all the praise and respect because we lost literal pages from the already edited draft because windows is crap and they had to start over again. Take one big break darl, you deserve it 💕

Song rec: mythical creature by pregnant whale pain was my main inspiration during writing but i think tumblr dot com is not ready yet to listen to an unknown hungarian avantgarde metal band while reading porn lmao. Maybe i'll drop the acoustic version later.

A/N: Here is part 1 in case if you missed it. I think you need to know what happened to completely understand the buildup and have a general idea about their relationship. This fic is probably my fave I’ve written so far, a special lil brainchild of mine. These two are living in my mind rent free with all their lore and they'll never let me go.

Reblogs are greatly appreciated 💕

Minors don't interact unless you want me to stand outside your house at 3 am with a pitchfork

It was very hard to explain to your family what happened to you. The worry which they approached you with, especially Mimiko and Nanako just stirred a weird sense of guilt in your chest. The twins even offered to help you out with chores, eagerly telling you to rest, let your body heal. Your heart shattered to pieces in that moment, weeping endlessly with fat, salty tears. Your precious darling girls, so considerate of you, so caring, their hearts filled with everlasting gratitude. And you wanted to leave them. You felt like a piece of shit of a parental figure, obviously.

Days passed as if nothing had ever happened. Even in your private moments with Geto, the issue was never brought up. He took care of your wounds, of course, but your escape attempt wasn’t a topic of conversation at all. You swept it under the rug.

Which means it was only a question of time until he was going to wield it against you.

“Leave the scabs alone.” he reprimands you softly, dragging your wrist away from them. The hot water softened your scars, making them itchy, easy to pick away at them. But Geto is so thoughtful for looking after you like some kind of crazy mother hen, right? Even sitting in the tub behind you.

He takes hold of the edge, stepping out of the tub swiftly. The water suddenly drops around you, goosebumps dot your skin from the sudden touch of the moistened air as he hides that broad, sun-kissed form of his beneath a bathrobe. You ache for a bit of peace, a bit of me-time, but since the so-called “accident”, he just couldn’t stop himself from keeping an eye on you constantly.

Your hand dances along the surface of the water, bunching the bubbles together into various shapes, like they’re islands. Like you’re a young god, decorating the plane you’ve created. But his outstretched palm appearing in your vision disturbs your creative process.

“Come, I’ll take the stitches out.”

Compared to when your wound was sutured, cutting out the thread is a relatively quick process. Especially with his competency. The tweezer lifts and holds the knot, as he severs the thread with a pair of scissors and pulls it from your flesh before he moving on to the next. It’s uncomfortable, not in a way that it hurts, but it makes your skin crawl and your bones bend. An overall disgusting feeling. But when it’s over, it does feel better. And knowing him, you wonder if it’s purposeful or not.

“Must you make it painful?” you complain, thumb pressing down on the closed, marred skin. For the wrong reasons though, but you can freely complain.

“I didn’t intend to hurt you.” his voice is soft like silk, but not without a sharp edge in it, slowly unfurling, like the jaws of a venus flytrap. “I just wanted to teach you a lesson.”

You glare at him, your eyes piercing him like a dagger.

“Me? I wanted to teach you a lesson.”

This… was a bit too far, you must admit.

You storm out of the bathroom, like you could get away from the conversation.

“Go on, speak.” his words echo through the walls of the bedroom, making your movements halt immediately. You glance up at the window, faced with his reflection as he leans against the doorframe. “What should I learn from you? That you’re not afraid to run? To put your life in unnecessary danger?”

A long sigh leaves through your nostrils.

“If it comforts you, then yes, I realized that I had made a dumb decision.”

You don’t have to turn around to know he’s standing right behind you. Looming over you, shrouding you like an evil trickster spirit.

“I must admit I enjoyed your little attempt…” his palms are heavy on your shoulders, just like his words echoing close to shell of your ear. “Catching you, watching your resolves crumble, the raw terror plastered on your face…” the way his voice caresses you is just like the way he would hold a blade right against your throat, pressing down on the pulsing veins that could be cut open so easily. Like needles slowly being inserted into your ear canals. Eventually it softens, getting more serious and chiding. “But you did scare me. Have you ever thought about what would’ve happened if I didn’t go after you?”

You’d die, you would definitely die. Bleeding out amidst the leaves and grass, letting the frosty night bite you tense and weak. All alone in the dark.

Hold on…

You wouldn’t be injured if he hadn’t frightened you in the first place.

Did he just… no, it can’t be.

He slowly walks away from you, and you hear the bed creak under his weight. The choking feeling finally lifts from your throat. You turn towards one of the incense burners, already filled, it merely needs to be lit. But you do it slowly, just for the sake of appearing busy, to not feel obligated to carry on with the conversation.

But you should make peace with him before he does. He’ll make you face all of your mistakes and their consequences, if not outright making you suffer because of them. Rub all of them into your face until you have no choice but to plead for forgiveness.

It’s not easy, but you open your mouth. The scent of sandalwood lowers your guards, helping you be honest and brings forth the thoughts you’ve been trying to hide for a long time.

“Sometimes I wonder if we’re doing the right thing. And I wonder even more about that if we’ll fail before reaching our goal. Fail spectacularly. Because we want to do the impossible.”

“What is exactly the right thing? Being selfless? Forgetting all about our grudges and letting the world trample all over us? Or being selfish and crushing anyone under our feet to keep each other safe?”

Like an elastic band being strained for far too long, you snap. Luckily, the bronze lid of the incense burner holds out under your grasp.

“It’s too fucking late for moral arguments! Can’t you speak to me more directly for once? Instead of hiding behind your… carefully crafted scenarios that only prove your point.”

You should have avoided looking at him. At your serpent, who made you sin, who was cursed alongside you, your serpent who devoured your beloved Adam. You yearned for the remains, sitting in the bottomless pit of his stomach.

But you swore those remains spoke to you, through layers of flesh, scales, and deception. Soft and calm like a light summer breeze.

“Do you have doubts about me, darling? Are you giving up on me?”

The question breaks you, evaporating all of your anger and resentment in a flash. Devoid of any playful tone or hidden meanings, so raw that it takes hold of your heart and squeezes it so tight that it couldn’t possibly beat anymore.

You know how he twists the truth, striking right into the softest parts of you. He feeds you poison – yet you swallow it right down every single time.

“Faith has no zenith, my dear.” you answer, low and sweet, like you wanted to comfort him. The lid on the incense burner closes, giving you enough time to build up the courage to approach him. You weave your words carefully, in such fashion that it can be interpreted in multiple ways. If he switched just one little word, he’d immediately gain more insight into what’s really been weighing on your heart. “There’s no such peak we can reach on which we can stagnate forever. Faith sometimes wavers, sometimes we question our beliefs. Sometimes we’re unsure if our prayers are heard.” you get down on your knees before him, taking his hand into yours, giving him a gentle, reassuring squeeze. “But I do want to have faith in you.”

His features visibly soften. Heavy lids close in relief, and you feel his thumb brushing along your knuckles.

This is your chance! Go on, there’s no time more perfect than this to try to convince him.

“We should really get away from the temple.” you start with an almost resigned sigh, but your excitement soon starts to show. “Just for a few days. Manami will handle the followers while we leave for the countryside, or an island. We can bring the girls even.”

A faint glimmer in his eyes tells you his answer is going to disappoint you.

“They don’t know about the girls, but they certainly know about you.” he reminds you sternly. “The higher ups want us dead and the last time I offered to protect someone, they ended up getting killed.”

His voice is faint, almost shaky. He rarely talks about the death of Riko. And if he ever brings her up in a conversation, you know he means it.

The heavy lid above his eyes drops, violet irises hiding behind his lashes, averted from you. The words coming out of him are barely above a whisper, like his lips are made from lead, like forming the words is a tiring task because they’re so heavy, and filled with something violently torturing him.

“This is a risk I’m not willing to take again. Not even for you. Especially for you.”

You feel something pooling on your waterline. Translucent pearls of tears appear so involuntarily when you see him like this. Sometimes you do want to hurt him, but when you see him in pain, it torments you even worse.

“I’m not asking you to take risks for me. I never did. But you should take some for you. You could use some respite.” you lace your fingers with his. It brings you a strange kind of comfort how your hand just loses itself in his, but it’s yours that looks more lively and powerful. Like it’s you what keeps him together. As if without you he would shatter into pieces. “You take on an awful lot of responsibilities, I think sometimes more than you’re capable of handling.”

Affection sweeps through his features as he caresses your head, from the roots of your strands to the thick bone of your jaw. A lonely thumb brushing along from your cheekbone to the lobe of your ear. And there’s nothing you can do, only stare at him, wide-eyed with reverence, like he’s an ethereal being.

“This is not your cross to bear.”

He wanted to ease your concerns, but you’re much more stubborn than that. You won’t stand there, at a safe distance, watching him drag himself to his Calvary, whipped and crowned with thorns. You’ll push through the crowd, smash them to bits just to reach him and offer your veil to wipe his face. A thousand times, as many times as he needs.

“Of course it is, what do you expect from me? Unlike…” No, don’t say names, do not compare yourself to certain figures in your past and the way they treated him. “I’m worried about you, for no other reason than I genuinely care about you. That’s why I want you to put our plans to aside - let’s unwind a little, recharge. Before all of this drives us insane.”

He deliberately avoids answering, your concern grows and grows like vicious vine. Is this too much to ask for? A small moment of normalcy can’t be granted to you? What are the two of you really? Idols of worship, if not gods at this point because your sheep do regard you as such. But can’t gods long for a visit amongst mortals? Can’t they shed their divine status? You could, but maybe, before he’d let you leave, he’ll feed you pomegranate seeds.

Would you eat them again? Of course you would. Even if you fight and snarl a little beforehand. Because love is the death of duty, and of a peaceful mind, of comprehensive decisions. Love is so mystified, shrouded in the illusion of an immortalized existence, just like death. Love is, indeed, death.

Your palms cup his face, his skin radiates warmth through you. The warmth of the evening sun that makes the sky bleed with the prettiest colors you can imagine. Your touch slowly encourages him to look into your eyes, finding a strange kind of determination and care mixed with your obvious worry. A Magdalene dwells within your gaze, who already washed her prophet’s feet with tears and dried them with her hair before he starts his last journey to Golgotha.

“I told you a million times, if you fall too deep into your misery, when you feel like you can’t come back to the surface on your own, let me know, so I can pull you out. Or let me know so I can go after you. And we’ll drown together.”

All those little pacts and vows you made during the years echo through you. Even the first one, the most ancient of them all, when it was still easy to hide your concerns behind your techniques.

I’ll keep an eye on you.

It’ll keep an eye on you.

You lean closer, foreheads and the tips of your noses touching. Eyes closing in almost perfect synchronicity.

“Promise me, Suguru. Promise me again.”

You wait and wait, until his warm breath brushes your skin like fine silk, like a feather.

“I promise.”

You sigh in relief. It hurts, it hurts so much. There’s so much place in your heart for him to dwell in. He owns it and he won’t give it back. Ever.

You only wanted a chaste kiss, but a special type of hunger wakes deep below your navel. You taste his words, you swallow them down, nipping them from his lips. You look for the rest of them, his thoughts that hadn’t been formed into words yet, the rest of the sentence, you search for it with your tongue inside his mouth.

You grab onto the sheets, trying to push yourself up. Like you could overpower him, like you could battle against him. To have him laid out on the mattress, defeated. But he stops your advances with a palm resting on your shoulder, gently pushing you away.

“You’re not healed yet.” he whispers, truly concerned.

“Then I’ll be on top, I don’t care.” you oppose breathily, your fingers trying to pry his robe open.

“The cut on your hand could re-open if we’re not careful.”

Oh, how you adore him when he’s so tender with you, but now, this is the last thing you want. You want to bare your teeth and go right for the throat.

“Then you’ll stitch me up again.” There’s a playful edge in your voice, and you kiss him again with the same curve of a smile while he lets you crawl on top of him.

And he smiles against you too, delighted by your eagerness. You, trying to eat him up, digest him - he’s just enjoying you and the feast you’re having. Taking everything from you. He only wants to capture you, to cage you in his hold. He’s kneading your flesh leisurely and humming into your mouth contently, almost lazily.

In the crooks of his body, you find your religion.

The sharp line of his jaw, the tendons of his neck, the hollow caverns around his collarbone. But your mouth carefully avoids the scars slashing through his chest, after all those years, it still pains him when the lightly coloured, textured skin gets touched. As if these lips of yours and your aimlessly trailing fingers were the same blades, penetrating the flesh again and again.

There’s not a morsel of him that you weren’t intimately familiar with. In a way that rivals how much you know about yourself. And what you know even better is that how can you venerate them, dote on them, adore, and idolize with such devotion you could anger all deities created by man and make them scream blasphemy on you.

You take his cock in your hand, teasingly working your palms around him. Pumping it, stroking your thumb along the underside to make his breath hitch. His dick grows beneath your hands, getting harder and heavier. The first beads of precum get smeared along the length by your skillful fingers.

“You know you don’t have to- “but you cut him off while settling between his legs.

“Just relax and let me do all the work.” your response comes out a bit more deadpan than planned. “You deserve it once in a while.”

And with that, you wrap your lips around him, enveloping him in warmth and wetness, your tongue slowly swirling around the head. His thighs twitch, more precum oozes into your waiting mouth as the muscle between your teeth works eagerly. You give him a few, gentle sucks, slurping up the mixture of your own saliva and his arousal. Between ragged breaths, he reminds you to breathe through your nose as you take more and more of his length. You relax your jaw, your fingers tense around the base of his cock and you’re trying as hard as you can to defeat the urge to gag. When you fit all of him inside your mouth, you empty your lungs and give him a harder suck, hard enough to make you cheeks hollow and his chest heave. As your free hand is occupied with kneading his balls between your fingers and knuckles, a moan bursts out of him.

The sound boosts your confidence, filling you with a wicked kind of playfulness. The kind of wicked that makes you pull back your tongue a little, as to not keep your teeth hidden. You drag them along his sensitive, pulsing underside, balancing the pressure between pleasure and pain. Like you could prove to him that you’re ready to bite back, that this is the only moment when he can’t control you, that he shouldn’t underestimate you.

And just as if he could read your thoughts, his hand goes for your head, fingers getting lost between your strands. But he’s not as cruel as to push you down on him, instead he guides you, increases the rhythm that you’re working with. Steady and firm, but not too fast. You earn yourself his praises, soft curses pitched higher than his normal voice.

This is what real worship looks like.

When you feel the muscles in his thighs and stomach tensing up, you stop. You emerge from the space between his legs, wiping your lips clean and admiring your work. All that flushed skin blooming in pink on his chest and face. You move, trying to get into a new position, settling your calves right next to hips. You start aligning yourself with his cock to finally start grinding on him.

He sits up and traps you with an arm coiling around your waist.

“Since when were you so reckless?”

His hand creeps around the apex of your thighs. A finger barely brushes along your slit. By adding another digit, he spreads your folds, finding hot, smooth, slippery flesh.

“I would’ve prepped myself.” that’s all you can say in your defense.

Fingertips circle your hole, applying a bit of pressure, checking how much you’ve loosened up. He invades you slowly as your lungs empty, the hardened skin on his fingers stroking and massaging your sweet spots before he starts working you open.

You wrap your arms around him, slowly undoing his bun to have something to grab onto as you jolt, as your bones melt, as your brows furrow in bliss. The moans coming from you are breathy and tender, and you hide them in his strands. He twists his fingers inside you, stretching your warm muscles further, making your back arch and you press your hardened nipples to his chest. Your essence engulfs his knuckles, clear and sticky like honey.

The heel of his palm settles right against your clit and you shamelessly grind on it. Your mewls pass over his ears as he’s nuzzling into the crook of your neck, nipping at the skin of a faint scar. But you resist giving in, you stop him, telling him that’s enough, but in reality you just want your control back. Take back the lead and revel in it.

And somehow he obeys, laying back into the sheets.

You slip out of your robe, showing yourself fully. The bruises on your skin can finally bathe in the dim lamplight, painting the complexion of your sides, shoulders, and upper arm in different shades of blue and purple, like paint on bare canvas. Like the night sky carrying storm clouds, like you’re rotting, decomposing. You find a twisted, perverted joy in the fact that he must be seeing them for the whole time.

“Slowly, slowly.” he murmurs softly as you’re pushing the head of his cock inside you. “There’s no need to rush.” Trimmed nails trail up and down from the flesh of your thighs to your bruised sides. Tender and slow like a ghost, goosebumps pepper your skin from the tickling feeling. “I’m already yours.” He purrs and your heart flutters.

And there’s so, so much pride in you that only you can render him to this state. Too powerful for the world to bear him, capable to burn this plane to ruins, defying the barriers between a mortal and a god - or something way worse than that. Maybe you should receive twice the respect from your herd, for being the only person who can enslave him in this way, that only you can have this sort of power over him. Only you can overthrow him. Because you’re just too dear to him, too close to his burning heart.

Maybe it’s your time to warn him. Tame him like the monster he is.

You move with your own rhythm. His hand caged between your fingers and pressed down against the sheets. You give him no other choice but to venerate you back and he does, with pleased, low rumbles coming from his throat. Only a singular hand is allowed to roam your form freely. On your back tracing the shallow line where your spine lies beneath skin and flesh, wandering towards the inner part of your thighs, then to your stomach and chest. And you reward him with a prayer of your own, encapsulated in deep, long sighs.

But you’re too trusting of him. You let your guard down too easily.

You’re holding onto his kneecaps, leaning towards them a little, allowing every inch of you to be seen. You want to give him a show, but your knees are too worn and tired.

He takes hold of your hips, helping you guide yourself along his length. His pelvis moves along with you in synced rhythm. Your teeth are pressing down on the soft skin of your lips, but you can’t keep your whimpers in. You’re getting close, your muscles and nerves are st tight and pulsing, your walls are pressing down on his length. His name mindlessly slips out of your mouth.

Maybe you can say you love him before you shatter.

But his fingers clench around you, strong and firm, stopping your movements. Lifting your hips up so high that his cock is barely inside, robbing you from your incoming orgasm.

You’re shocked, eyes staring into the nothingness, open wide. Your stomach drops, stirring up all kinds of feelings dwelling in you. A chill races down your vertebrae as you glance down at him.

“Suguru..?” Your voice is weak, shaky.

Fear courses through your being, primordial and all-consuming.

And when he speaks to you it’s all dark, shrouded in malevolence.

“You forgot one thing, darling. After I brought you back from the forest.”

No, no, no, he can’t do this to you! He can’t hold your orgasm hostage for the sake of toying with you! You should puncture his flesh your nails, scratch him, tear him up, but you can only grit your teeth. Your features twist from bliss to rage.

“You…” boiling anger swims through your voice. It’s like it’s not even your voice - more like a hiss, a growl.

There’s an undecipherable mixture of pity and amusement in his eyes. He twitches inside you but you’re too upset to notice.

“Apologize.” he sneers - almost commands.

His words cause anger to bubble up in you.

“Oh, you piece of shit…!” you seethe, but sob and moan when he slams you back on his cock, stretching you around his length again. Wanting to quench your rage with the sensation you crave the most right now.

“I hope, for your sake, I don’t have to repeat myself.”

It doesn’t matter how much you try to squirm, fuss and wriggle, he forces you still. His behaviour frustrates you to no end when you’re so desperate for a bit of friction, the horribly hollow and burning feeling of your lost peak torturing you seemingly endlessly. To the point where you’re too tired to put up a fight, when you’re teetering on the edge of breaking. You know you must swallow your pride, you have let him have it his way.

“I… I’m sorry.” you apologize meekly, teary-eyed, your voice a pathetic mewl. He finally starts lifting you up and easing you down, building you up slowly. But it’s not enough. You need more but he won’t give it to you just yet.

“You do?” he asks you in a way that it cuts deep into your marrow. It’s not even close to a loving tease – no, he’s outright mocking you.

Vicious bastard. You should grab his throat and squeeze the air out of him.

“Yes, I do!” you cry out without thinking. “I’m sorry for running away from you.” you push the words out through your whimpers. He increases the pace, making you yelp and shake, you end up closing your eyes reflexively. He robbed you from the sensation for so long that you became sensitive, it’s easier to make a mess out of you. Your face is red with shame, so much so you can’t look him in the eyes. The humiliation is like an invisible rope tightening around your neck.

“Promise you’ll never do that to me again.”

He pushes your hips further along his length this time, shifting you a bit towards his thighs. Creating a perfect angle, he uncovers a sweet spot inside you that makes you almost incapable of forming coherent words. And he eats the sight right up.

“…I promise… I promise...” you manage to get your answer out in the form of a choked hiccup. Your vision blurs. Everything is too intense for you to handle. You swear that the very shape of you could dissolve at any given moment.

Faith is desperate. Gods are hungry for despair. So they deliberately make you suffer and only then reveal themselves to you.

His fingers dig into your waist so hard it burns. You feel the world shift with you and then you collide with the sheets. Your bruised back ripples with pain. You’re unsure if he did it out of spite or not. You don’t know if he’ll completely shatter your dignity, or if he’s fine with just enforcing the feeling that you can never be above him, that you can never defeat him.

His weight on top of you is overwhelming. The midnight dark locks of his hair spread around you like spilled ink. And through the thick fog of your mind, too far gone in twisted, masochistic pleasure, you lock your legs around his waist. You don’t want him to go away. You might as well cease to exist if he does.

“And what do we say when we apologize?”

The soft plea coming from you is more instinctual rather than deliberate.

“Forgive me.”

You ache for him to move, you’re starved for the incoming high. Like a ravenous beast, all devouring. When he finally gives it to you, his thrusts make you feel possessed, make your back arch, your head falls back into the pillow as if you were offering your neck to him (maybe one day he won’t be able to resist the urge and will bite down on the jugular, through your trachea, putting you out of your misery) - you don’t dare to beg for anything else.

Maybe just for a little blood. A mark he can wear, just like you wear your bruises. Your nails somehow acquire a will of their own, your scratches have him excited and pleased.

His fingers meander around your jaw, gently coaxing you into letting him guide your gazes to meet again.

He’s imitating you, admiring his work like you did with him. And what he sees is a being stripped from any likeness of a dignified human being. With eyes so blown he can see the bottommost pits of Hell in them.

And he’s satisfied, rewarding you with a soft kiss on your temple.

“I forgive you.”

Your release crashes over you like a tide, submerging you, burning you to cinders on the inside. Tearing you apart. And when he collapses on top you after filling you to the brim, you feel like a festering wound.

He’s a disease, miasma, a flesh-eating parasite crawling inside you.

“You’re…” you huff. “You’re awful.”

“I know. But you love me all the same.”

You wonder what you should have done to earn a different outcome, but you give up soon. Looks like he already had plans for your atonement in mind. After all, gods are impatient creatures. They’re dependent on your reverence and servitude. And you’ve waited for too long to make things right.

Why, why, why - it echoes inside your head.

But if you think about it… he’s your serpent. The vilest, most horrendous creature created by God. The one who charmed you, tempted you with sin and has now sunken his fangs into you. Of course he did, and instead of trying to heal from his venomous bite, you want to catch him - to find out his reasons, to prove to him that you didn’t deserve that.

And yet you could never, ever prove him wrong. Your serpent will always think it was right to bite. It’s in his nature afterall.

“Is your hand alright?”

He makes it up to you with spoiling you again. He cleans your wounds so sweetly, so thoughtfully, looks after you in a way that nobody could, which confuses you even further.

He cherishes you, destroys himself for the sake of keeping you safe - not like it’s a choice, but a must - just like a mother would. He scolds you, reminds you not to make the same mistake again, collars you, keeps you on a tight leash, only loosening it (just a little) when he succeeded at making you play by his rules, just like a father would.

And somehow, he excels at both. Way better than those two ever did when it came to you.

You wish your glare could pierce right through his skull when you hand the empty glass back to him. You don’t have it in you to play nice. You don’t even attempt hide that you’re sulking, he probably finds it funny - adorable even.

“Go to hell.” you spit and lay back into the sheets, your bruised back facing him.

“Oh, darling…” he coos, but the surface level sweetness of his tone hides a sharp edge of condescendence. He crawls into bed, right behind you, caging you in his embrace, forcing you to feel the warmth of his body. The warmth that you’re so used to, the one you can’t sleep without it. Nobody has ever made you feel this safe, and the fact makes your heart ache and your stomach twist.

“If there’s a Hell, I’ll see you there.”

[accirax]

Hello, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, and it's fine if you don't want to answer this. I was just curious to know if you have any final predictions for the comeback in the next episode of dc now that the trailer is out. I won't say anything in case you decided not to watch it. As I said, I'm just curious to know your opinion.

Hey there, not a bother at all! I was just thinking yesterday about whether or not I wanted to make a final check-in about who I thought was going to return in DC, so this ask was the sign I needed to bite the bullet and write it out ^_^

Typically, I haven't been watching the previews this season, but since you brought it up in this ask I decided to watch it so that I could get a general gist of what was going on. (Mostly, I was afraid that the teaser would reveal that eliminated contestants would be competing in teams of two that would succeed or fail together, thus limiting the possible options of who could return :P) Thoughts below the cut!

So, the teaser definitely makes it seem like we'll be doing the same thing as DCAS, where one of the competitors that's still in the game teams up with someone who's out of the game to help them get back in. This is weird, because we have 10 people who are out, and 8 people who are in. Regardless, the teams seem to be...

Amelie and Hannah

Benji and Jade

Diego and Spencer

Richard and Logan

Tristan and Zaid

Isabel and Marissa

Alessio and Natalia

Additionally, Ted and Lynda seem to be digging alone, perhaps implying that ONC's solution to the 10-8 divide was to make it that two of the unpopular returnee candidates have to compete without an ally.

This would also imply that Anastasia and Ivy have been paired together, as neither of them are seen throughout the challenge portion of the trailer. I guess she's trying to make good with Zaid's girlfriend in order to strengthen their alliance?

Under the premise that Ted and Lynda have been left alone, I think it must be a schoolyard pick-type situation instead of DCAS' assigned pairs, or else it would be unfair that the show determined that Ted and Lynda would be alone. In order for some of these weird pairings to happen, here's a general summary of how I think things might play out:

Isabel picks Marissa (trying to get a strong, solid alliance member back into the game)

Anastasia picks Ivy (in lieu of being able to help Marissa, Anastasia tries to strengthen alliances)

Zaid picks Tristan (with Ivy off the table, Tristan is the obvious choice for Zaid (he's still mad at Benji, probably))

Logan picks Richard (duh)

Jade picks Benji (Jade pairs with Benji specifically to try to make sure he doesn't get back into the game and sway Hannah back to his side)

Natalia picks Alessio (why not? RIP Lynda in the girls' alliance)

Hannah picks Amelie (she's very torn about whether to pick Diego or Amelie, but maybe Diego gives her the go-ahead to work with Amelie?)

Spencer picks Diego (even if things are awkward, Spencer feels guilty enough to not make Diego have to compete on his own)

Lynda and Ted are left alone

The Spencer and Hannah picks could also go the other way, where Spencer picks Diego in an attempt to make amends (or just as the only even mildly friendly face out of the crowd), and Hannah's decision to rescue Amelie becomes simple. Just throwing ideas out there.

But, anyways, that's not even really relevant to the question at hand, which is, who do I think is actually going to come back? The hour is finally at hand! Honestly, even though I switched to ranking by pairs when the dual returns were announced, at this point I think my top pairs would just be varying combinations of my top 4-or-so choices, which is less interesting than just talking about everyone. So I'll discuss each individual, and then talk about maybe my top 3 pair choices at the end.

#10: Richard

Richard is so cooked, it's not even funny. Not only is he now taking the "literally just got eliminated bullet" from Ivy or Benji, but, like, what would his return even add? He went out on such a chill note, and gave Logan a physical memento! He almost certainly doesn't have the same fire to return that many of the other contestants do. Richard already survived far longer than many people expected, so the idea of bringing him back to have him survive for even longer seems silly.

#9: Marissa

Anastasia's moved on. Not romantically, of course, but she's got other storylines cooking now which would probably get weird if Marissa came back. I said to my sister yesterday that the funniest combo of returnees would be Marissa and Ivy, because it would fully undo the revenge plot bonding that Zaid and Anastasia have been simmering (pun intended). While that doesn't necessarily mean that Marissa couldn't return in a functional fashion without Ivy, I find it unlikely.

#8: Ivy

Speaking of Ivy, here she is! Funnily enough, I think that Ivy's chances of returning now are worse than they were when she had just been eliminated in the episode prior. In that case, immediately bringing her back could be a fun subversion, whereas now, it would just be a bit nonsensical. It's the same sort of vibe I just mentioned with Marissa, where I feel like the show has moved past the Ivy portion of the season.

I put Ivy slightly higher than Marissa just because I think her return would be moderately more interesting from a strategic standpoint. If Marissa returns, she obviously joins the neo-girls' alliance, and they continue to dominate. If Ivy comes back, even if she is a girl, I find it difficult to believe that she would join and alliance that's conspiring against Zaid. Maybe she could even succeed at flipping Hannah this time!

But, that's just me trying to make an interesting situation out of an unlikely scenario. I don't think Ivy will be back.

#7: Lynda

Now that Richard is gone, Lynda is seriously strapped for friends. She has Spencer, I guess, but... come on, is Lynda really going to choose to work with audience unfavorite Spencer, serial flipper Logan, and scorned loverboy Zaid over trying to worm her way back into the girls' alliance? I mean, maybe, if it's part of a secret plot to get revenge on Anastasia, but we've already seen Lynda vs. Anastasia! Twice! Anastasia is gonna win every time!!!

There is an argument to be made that Lynda's return could throw an interesting wrench in the girls' alliance, causing them to split up, but 1) Lynda already did that her first time around, so it would feel repetitive, and 2) there are already cracks in the girls' alliance re: Hannah's general distrust of all of them and Spencer's plot to get Anastasia to lose trust in Natalia, such that we don't need Lynda back to get them to crumble. I also somehow forgot that Lynda lowkey already got a chance to return, which she fumbled. Her story is one of toughing it out and believing in yourself through your failures, but still, it might come off as a little unfair if Lynda got a second second chance.

#6: Amelie

Good on Amelie for raising up a couple of spots! I can't remember if they were on YouTube or Tumblr (or possibly even Twitter), but some comments I read somewhere did open my eyes to the benefits of Amelie returning to serve as a late-game villain, in the case that we were lacking some. Of course, I do actually take issue with that argument as well: I think that Anastasia, Isabel, and potentially Jade have already been set up to be late-game strategic villains, and I also think that (at least with Hannah still in the game) Amelie's character arc resolved with her not being as much of a villain anymore. Amelie is always going to be ambitious, cutting, and a bit bossy, sure, but if she truly came back into the game and started demeaning everyone, it would feel a bit like her character development thus far was for naught. Despite those disagreements, though, I do see the vision more now. Promise!

However, I do think that bringing Amelie back now would be a little weird for Hannah's arc. Last episode, Hannah started to internalize the idea that, if she truly wants to win, she's going to have to cope with losing her friends to elimination along the way. If Amelie, the first friend she lost to being voted out, suddenly comes back, it could help her to internalize that message: your friends aren't gone for good, they're fine and can hang out with you again later! But also, it undoes some of the gravity of that sentiment, by essentially "resurrecting" her "dead" friend.

I see the Amelie vision more now than I did before, but I'm still not sure if her return is what Hannah or the story needs. But hey, she's almost made top half this time!

#5: Alessio

I continue to be pretty neutral about the idea of Alessio returning. He doesn't have a lot setup, but he also has a good amount of potential, and that relatively blank slate could be what the writers want, especially when balancing the effects of two returnees. Although, uh, can we talk about the episode poster for a little bit?

Why is Alessio, like, ripping a hole in the fabric of his reality?

Honestly, this makes me wonder if Alessio's path this episode will be to more or less ascend, and become cognizant of the fact that he's a fictional character. It sounds ridiculous, but, like, what else would this mean?! He already knows he's on an in-universe TV show!

If that is the case, then Alessio's returnee stocks plummet. A self-aware character is an awesome one-off gag for a special episode, but not for a genuine competitor who'll probably stay in the competition for a good few episodes to come. At least, under the assumption that DC doesn't suddenly go meta, and turn into a show about all of the characters realizing that they're fictional.

Otherwise, uh... yeah, I don't know. Alessio squeaks into the top half again by not doing anything offensive enough for me to knock him lower, but not anything special enough for me to want him higher.

#4: Tristan

Tristan is a definite possibility to come back, but I'm not sure if the stars will align for them. There's potential for some interesting exploration into Tristan's gender identity in the midst of this "battle of the sexes," and I maintain that, should Tristan return alongside Benji specifically, their internal conflict regarding whether to side with Benji or Zaid could be an interesting one.

Still, Tristan's story feels fairly complete, and I'm not sure if they "need" a return in the same way that some of the others do (much like what I described with Richard). They've already found their new family!

Other than losing some characters that I think they could've had interesting interactions with (Benji, Richard), Tristan's status hasn't changed much throughout the various times I've written on them, so I don't have much more to say.

#3: Diego

What... is even going on with this love triangle anymore...?

Spencer and Logan kissed. That's a fact. Yet, despite that, I'm more hesitant that they'll actually be canon than I was before. When Logan described the situation to Natalia, he says that he doesn't know if he actually has feelings for Spencer, he "just liked that he liked a boy." That is confirmation that Logan "likes" Spencer, but, if the two were to become a canon couple, why not have Logan just straight up say that he enjoys Spencer's company...?

Then there's Spencer, who appears to be straight up losing it. It's definitely trauma from his past tumultuous relationship, but the fact that he looks panicked when embracing Logan isn't the clearest indication of a happily ever after. I mean, you never know, maybe in that scene Logan resolves that the kiss didn't mean anything and Spencer is upset, but the fact that Spencer somehow winds up with Diego in the seemingly-schoolyard pick one day after kissing Logan speaks to the idea that things are going to get... messy.

And then there's Diego. I've put him at #3 because the trailer makes it seem like my suspicions that Spencer and Diego's drama might be resolved outside of the competition, AKA, without Diego actually becoming a contestant again. Or, maybe it's just "confirmation" bias; it's not like what Diego says points towards the two of them coming to any sort of conclusion any time soon (or at least, not any healthy one).

Then again, when you open by saying "what's the point?" about returning to the competition, that doesn't make me think that you actually will return to the competition. It's one thing to let someone like Richard who doesn't really have anything to prove back into the competition, and another to let someone who actively doesn't want to compete again over those who do.

I'm being pretty negative about Diego's chances of coming back because I think he's a pretty popular choice, so I imagine others already know what the pros of him coming back are. A chance to get him a happy ending (whether with Spencer or not), to let him stretch his strategic legs, to flesh out his relationships with Jade and Hannah.

Oh, and, speaking of Hannah, I'm aware that bringing Diego back could mess up her "all my friends are dead" curse, which I did bring up as a negative in Amelie's portion. While that's still true, we also need to consider the playing field. Hannah has so many dead friends that the odds that two returnees won't bring back at least one of them is pretty low. Unless the returnees are two of Alessio, Marissa, Ted, Lynda, Ivy, and Richard, we'll be seeing one of Hannah's friends rejoin her once more. As you might be able to tell by my list, I think the odds of both contestants being amongst those 6 is pretty low 😅

As I think I said before, I understand why Diego is a popular choice to return, but personally, I just feel like something's off with it. I'm totally willing to eat my words on that matter if push comes to shove, but right now, my internal pendulum has swung him back to (slight) disfavor.

#2: Benji

Is this just copium because Benji was one of my favorites and also my winner pick? Certainly! But, like... c'mon... wouldn't it be really cool if he came back...?

Genuinely, though, Benji still has several plot threads that still feel unfinished to me. His early suspicions towards Jade has been left wholly unanswered, given that he didn't mention it at all during his elimination. His relationship with Zaid is still tumultuous in a show where heroic characters typically tend to make peace in their rivalries. And his romance with Tristan still has room to be explored, if the trailer has anything to say about it!

Now, could the Jade targeting be resolved with Benji pairing with her in this comeback challenge? Could Benji wrap with Zaid in the finale or the hypothetical Loser's Motel episode, depending on how far Zaid makes it into the game? Would Benji returning to the game actually be worse for developing his relationship with Tristan if Tristan isn't also back in the game?

... Okay, maybe, but, hear me out...!

Obviously, the largest problem with Benji returning is his impact on Hannah. To flip-flop again, although I was saying to cut all of Hannah's dead friends some credit given how many of them there are, I do think that Benji's return appears the worst for Hannah. He was the most recent casualty, as well as the one who sparked the change in Hannah's outlook. If she learned to update her mindset from losing Benji specifically, having Benji specifically come back would be a little strange in terms of learning that lesson. Then again, that is supposing that Natalia's words are a lesson that Hannah is meant to learn.

Personally, I think it's likely that two non-women are going to return to the game. This would bring the balance back to a girls' alliance of five (Jade, Isabel, Natalia, Anastasia, Hannah), and a non-girls' coalition of five (Spencer, Logan, Zaid, X, Y). This would then give Hannah the opportunity to undo her past mistake-- favoring the potential of being in the majority alliance over the friends she already has-- potentially even by taking out Natalia herself.

While I do agree with Natalia's position that losing an ally isn't something to tear yourself up about, as all but three will be voted out of the game eventually, in a less favorable interpretation, you could argue that Natalia is vouching for emotional repression. She's saying that you can't win while simultaneously feeling upset when you're betrayed, or grieving the loss of an ally.

On Survivor, the question is often asked whether it's better to play an emotional game or a strategic game. Each season's answer tends to show that blending the two aspects is what truly earns you a winning game. I think there's a chance that, whether Hannah is the actual winner or not, her story is meant to show off this balance: that, despite how it may seem, you don't have to always play the game with 100% strategic perfection to be valid or play the game well. And if that is the arc that Hannah's story is going to take, then I think that giving her a chance at a full redo with Benji by her side is the best way to do so.

Well, there's my highly specific fringe theory of the post. Again, I'm still totally willing to admit that it may just be my own stubborn pride insisting to me that Benji is still a far better winner pick than anyone else left in the game, which thus means that he must be a returnee. But I believe in... the Benji that believes in me? The me that believes in Benji? Sorry, I haven't ever actually seen that anime 😅

#1: Ted

Yeah, I'm back around on Ted's returnee chances. Honestly, I think the fact that he's seemingly competing for himself in this challenge does wonders for him. Ted's story is one of taking a chance on himself, and I think that managing to win the challenge against the odds based on his own power and possibly some dirty plays alone would be an excellent way to herald his return... and properly set up how he truly is returning to the game with no allies.

(If we assume that, like DCAS, all of the returning players and their partners will have immunity at the following vote-out, having one of the people with no partner come back would also limit the number of people with immunity next time from 5/10 to 4/10.)

And, you probably know the rest. Ted's story feels the most unfinished out of those eliminated thus far, he's a guy that would be a number for the non-women coalition while still not being a subservient footsoldier, etc, etc. Honestly, I think it'd be really interesting to give Ted a shot at talking to Spencer; I don't think they've ever gotten a chance to chat before. From one fuck-up to another, I feel like Ted could actually give him some solid advice.

While I don't think it's a 100% lock that Ted will come back, if I had to pick one contestant to return in a vacuum, at this point I think it'd be Ted. I mean, he's pointing to himself in a special position on the poster and everything.

Now that I've transcribed my thoughts on each of the contestants individually, what do I think about them together? In total, I think some of the most likely pairs are:

Ted and Benji, my #1 and #2. They help to dismantle the womens' alliance (as I speculated, by taking out Natalia) before branching out into their own paths. Benji makes up with Zaid and draws attention to Jade's threat level, while Ted, potentially, keeps it real with Spencer and brings some Lynda-style torment back into Anastasia's life.

Benji and Tristan. They reunite with Hannah, reminding her to not take the game so seriously, and their good vibes eventually melt Zaid's heart as well. Meanwhile, they continue their romantic inclinations, likely becoming a canon relationship before the end of the season.

Ted and Diego. A popular choice since the returnee challenge was announced, Diego can incite new drama in Spencer and Logan's situationship while Ted... I don't know, tries to fuck with Jade and Isabel, or something. Bringing back "bad decisions" of Logan and Spencer's will help to make the more severe tone of the merge even more consequential.

Benji and Diego, the silly simp sweep. While Diego's return would impact Spencer, Logan, and also possibly Jade, Benji would alter the course of Hannah, Zaid, and possibly Jade's games. As characters who were on the same team but didn't talk all that much, it would be interesting to hear Diego actually look to Benji for advice on how to last longer in the game and get the object of his affections to return interest.

Ted and Alessio, in case you really don't want to fuck with Hannah's depression arc. The two would probably act as a bickering duo that still stays loyal to one another, possibly paralleling Jade and Spencer. The introduction of two untethered, chaotic elements would force the more strategic players to suddenly think on their feet.

Well, hopefully I didn't bother you with this overly wordy answer! I'm somewhat relieved to know that this will almost certainly be the last major update on this particular analysis, such that, if I want to do a big DC theory again, I can focus on, like, the winner or whatever instead.

Thank you for sending in this ask! Also, I'm curious: since you gave your thoughts on who you thought would return before, have your opinions changed now that more time has passed, and a couple more options have been added to the pool? If you have the time to write anything up, I'd love to read it!

[sinkovia]

Laundry room

Kyle Garrick x GN!Reader

Fluff, meet weird.

Masterlist

As you diligently took notes on your laptop with headphones on, the rhythmic clatter of keys beneath your fingertips accompanied the soft hum of music in your ears. In your peripheral, you noticed your roommate and their boyfriend playfully rolling over in bed, their laughter muffled by the large blanket they threw over themselves.

Maintaining focus on the last bit of your homework, you highered the volume of your music to drown out any distractions. However, as you typed in the final answer, the music transitioned to the next song, revealing hushed breaths and a soft whine emanating from under the blanket. Grimacing, you closed your laptop, slipping on your shoes and grabbing a hoodie.

Clearing your throat, you announced, "Gonna head out for a bit."

A breathless "okay" escaped your roommate as you left, and a twinge of regret lingered in the air. Closing the door behind you with a huff, you checked the time on your phone and cursed under your breath. It dawned on you how late it was, and with everything closed, finding sanctuary in the library was out of the question.

Cursing your luck, you strolled down the hallway, and when you turned the corner, you noticed the laundry room lights still on. Recalling the vending machines and a bench inside, you approached the door, sighing with relief as it swung open.

You halt your steps upon noticing a guy occupying the only bench in the room. His head leans back against the wall, eyes closed.

Did he fall asleep while waiting for his clothes?

Approaching cautiously, you take a seat beside him. His eyes shoot open, revealing recognition upon a closer look. It's Gaz, the guy who lives in the dorm room across from yours, often seen when leaving for your literature class with the same professor.

You offer a slight smile. "Gaz, right?" He sits up, hands finding refuge in the pockets of his hoodie. "Yeah, you're Y/n, right? You're in Mr. Alvarez's literature class." You smile and nod, glancing towards the washing machines and dryers, none of which are currently running.

"Waiting on your clothes?" 

Gaz awkwardly laughs, "No, uh, I was taking a nap in my dorm and woke up to my roommate giving his girlfriend backshots." Your jaw slightly drops before erupting into laughter.

“I came here since nothing else was open,” he explained, brushing his hand over his face as laughter bubbled up between you.

“If it makes you feel better, I'm here for the same reason. At least I can say that my roommate was nice enough to cover themselves with a blanket,” this prompted Gaz to burst into laughter. "There's no fucking way."

Both of you erupted into laughter, finding humor in the shared awkwardness. As you both calmed down, faint moans from the room next to the laundry caught your attention. Gaz's jaw dropped, and wide-eyed, he looked at you. You covered your mouth, and once again, you both descended into fits of laughter.

“Bloody hell, is today national fuck me day? Why the hell is everyone in eachothers guts" Gaz wiped away a tear that threatened to fall from his laughter.

"It's like they're competing for the title of the loudest couple," you muttered between laughs.

"If only there was a medal for that," Gaz said, leaning over and holding his stomach.

"Wanna make the most of our escape? I've got my laptop; we could watch a movie or something?"

Gaz grinned, "Sounds like a plan. I'll grab some snacks from the vending machine, my treat. We can drown out the brothel next door with a scary movie?" You thought for a moment humming to yourself quietly.

“I was thinking Barbie if you havent seen it? I know this pretty good bootleg website” Gaz with a wide grin on his face sofly clapped his hands together. “Sounds perfect, I havent seen it yet.”

And so, you both made your way to the vending machine, sharing jokes and turning an initially awkward situation into a chance for an impromptu movie night in the laundry room.

[nygmaass]

I think you can only answer a Question once so I’ll just tag you, since it’s easier to split this into two parts. @kazissexy

“What would you consider to be the media that best represents Q&E? and add onto that- What do you think is essential when writing their characters?”

(This is reuploaded but slightly tweaked to hopefully answer this question by giving an example of bad writing, in reference to rogues!)

The first issue is the way the riddler treats Q&E within Rogues! Is weird and there’s no way the girls would take that treatment. they are working for Edward because it pays well, and they like to. They worked well together before Edward, and they even work for other criminals if he’s not available (Nightwing Vol 2 #1,000,000, 1998). They would not stick around for poor treatment. They are not meek in any way, and do not need to be portrayed as such. Even in Questions multiply the mystery (1995) when they are abandoned they come after the riddler with an axe.

Furthermore:

• ​Nina in particular is treated badly. She is an idiot to put it plainly, she lacks the intelligence or ability to keep up with Edward. It feels like her only purpose is comic relief not to play an actual role. It comes to a point where I’d question if she was necessary to include.

• There is definitely an imbalance in how Query and Echo are portrayed. They do not read as equals, Query is the more competent one, the one who Edward can prefer and trust while Echo is barely tolerable and frankly quite lazy. How does one forget to do their job?

• The only form of personality codotverse Q&E have is lusting over Jonathan and giggling like school girls, Which is disheartening to listen to, why are two strong women being reduced to that? It also feels a little wild considering Query is a lesbian (as seen in Robin Vol 2 #93, 2001) through her Labrys axe tattoo. The labrys axe was a commonly claimed symbol in 70’s among lesbians (though not now). “Send out the right signals so other women can cruise you” (The pink paper, 1995) in reference to wearing an Labrys axe. Echo isn’t confirmed, but likely to be queer to. They are clearly visually queer punk women taking inspiration from the lesbian BDSM scene in the 90's. Related reading would be Robinson, S. (2018) who writes about this new acceptance in the 80’s and 90’s of “sex radicalism”among lesbians creating a community to explore “a range of sexual practices and aesthetics more commonly linked with gay men, such as sexual sadomasochism (S/M) and leather.” If you want to know what this looks like Chloe Sherman has a book ("Renegades, San Francisco: The 1990s") of photos of lesbians that show the queer culture and fashion at this time (she has some of these photos on her instagram) it does not need to be explicitly said when it is ingrained in their design. They are queer women.

•Codoverse also feels like it ignores their comic book relationship. The way Edward and the girls interacts canonically isn’t strictly boss/worker, there’s quite a blur in boundaries. Edward both LIKES and fears the girls. They have a very physically close relationship that isn’t typical when you look at other characters and henchpeople (especially if you look at other henchpeople of the riddler's) he is fond of them, and they hold a fondness for him... They are affectionately close. Codotverse portrays a very different idea of their relationship that just feels cold and very black and white.

Both girls are neglected and poorly written

(This is more personal issues as well as alternative idea to fix it)

•I also find it odd that Nina is a gamer, which is really not the biggest deal, but there was more potential to build on what was already there. She’s a biker. We know that, we know her and Diedre are very bold and fun girls. They get enjoyment from the thrill of what they do. Query is shown to be trigger happy and it's clear they are both reckless. So why not have them as joyriders and adrenaline junkies because that’s who they are. I’d even like to see them in roller derby something that differs from comics but still is in line with their characters. Roller derby has a big punk and lesbian culture. It is fun, fast pace and has a positive relationship with sexuality of women which seems perfectly suited to them. If you want to read to get an idea of derby culture Jessica Stites (2008) is a good place to start.

Their personalities felt so tame and out of place in Rogues! for the characters they really are. They deserve to be portrayed better, they are interesting characters and sure comics do not delve deep enough into who they are as people (I wish there was more) but rogues! Does an awful job.

Sources l've referenced (outside of comics)

Jessica Stites (2008) Roller derby queens: short skirts, fishnets, and full contact. Inside the lesbian underground of the Los Angeles Derby Dolls. The Advocate

Robinson, S. (2018) "the new lesbian sexual revolution": Lesbian sex radicals in Sydney during the 1980s and 1990s, Australian Historical Studies, 49(4), pp. 441-456. doi:10.1080/1031461x.2018.1522654.

Sherman, C. (2023) Renegades: San Francisco: The 1990s. Berlin: Hatje Cantz.

The pink paper (1995) Queer icons: Labrys. London: Gay Times, Ltd.

[pangaeaseas]

@lilyfesthp

I'm answering the questions posed in their lily discussion post, my answers are in bold.

Marauders Era - Before School

What do you think her childhood was like? How do imagine her parents? Snape’s memory of her as a child, suggests she knew about her magic from a young age and was practicing controlling it effectively without a wand?Compared to other characters do you think this implies she was very magically talented? Why? Why not? 

My headcanons about Lily start with her class background. I often see Lily depicted as middle class compared to Snape's working class, but I personally think that she is only the barest step above him in terms of class status, and is working class herself. I headcanon Lily's parents as WWII veteran turned factory worker Roger Evans, from a working class family somewhere not Cokeworth who got a job at the Cokeworth mill and married a Cokeworth girl, homemaker Geranium Evans (who he's a little older than). The 'class difference' is literally that Roger is employed (until Lily's later years at Hogwarts, when he is laid off from the mill amidst Britain's industrial downturn) while Tobias Snape isn't. This precarity makes Roger and Geranium cling to class markers, they are striving for the impossible middle class and like to think themselves above the likes of the Snapes. The Evanses are patriotic and 'respectable'. Geranium values a neat home and cares a lot about her daughters' appearance. Roger is a bit xenophobic tbh. Lily is to some extent their favorite as the younger daughter, especially after she gets her Hogwarts letter. She is essentially viewed as the one who will make it out, the family's ticket to middle class respectability, which puts a lot of pressure on her. Lily does well in school but is a little socially awkward with her main friend being Snape. She spends much of her pre Hogwarts childhood hanging out daydreaming with him. She's kind of a romantic and enjoys fantasizing about a different life. A lot of what she and Snape do as kids is indeed practicing magic: they are probably making potions before her Hogwarts letter. She is often left to her own devices as her parents can't afford any sort of extracurriculars and her mother is often busy visiting her sisters who also live in Cokeworth. She's not popular among her classmates, seen as a bit weird and always hanging out with that one Snape kid, but she doesn't care if she's seen as weird because she has Snape and Petunia. She and Petunia are competitive but caring in their childhoods and Petunia sometimes tags along to her and Snape's adventures. Petunia and Snape however cannot stand each other and are constantly competing for Lily's affection. Lily doesn't recognize this as a kid, she's a little willfully oblivious to their rivalry until Petunia grows obviously distant from her after Hogwarts. And yeah, Lily has unusual levels of magical control and understanding of her own magic, she's a prodigy.

She also talked to Snape about his home life, as an under eleven, what does this suggest about her character? 

Lily is both romantic and practical in my head. She's clear eyed and can recognize that his home life is awful and does her best to provide a sanctuary for him (complicated by the fact that her parents really don't like him and don't want her involved with him) but also doesn't fully understand how bad it is and kind of has this idea that her friendship will 'balance it out' for him. She is kind and wants to help people but is also not always aware of the most effective way of helping.

Marauders Era/First War - School

What do you imagine her friendship with Snape was like in their early years at Hogwarts? How do you think Lily felt about him being sorted into Slytherin? What do you think she thought about her own sorting into Gryffindor?

Codependent as fuck tbh. They are each other's only close friend really and they are both happy like that. They spend a lot of time fucking around with magic together. She is honestly disappointed to not be sorted into Slytherin initially, but is soon warned about the nature of Slytherin by other Muggleborns and realizes she's better off in Gryffindor, and develops a Gryffindor identity. She views Severus as the 'one good Slytherin' and willfully ignores those Death Eater connections. She'd had an image of her and Sev's friendship as being unbreakable before Hogwarts but him being sorted away from her is the first crack in that image--she doesn't realize that fully until she has to do the postmortem of their friendship post SWM.

Having been horrified by his of father is somewhat mollified by his glimpse of his mother in OoTP? His mother had been decent. How do you feel about what we see of her?

Yeah, she seems like a great person, kind, funny, and brave. She is a fundamentally decent human being! Of course I also think she needs to have her flaws, we just don't really see them in canon.

Slughorn provides us with more information about Lily; One of the brightest I ever taught. Vivacious, you know. Charming girl. I used to tell her she ought to have been in my House. Very cheeky answers I used to get back too.This makes her sound much more like Fred and George than Percy. How do you think she was as a pupil, prefect and Head Girl? What do you imagine her priorities were at school? 

So Lily is interesting in school for several reasons. One is that she's pretty unique among the other Muggleborns of having had a lot of pre Hogwarts exposure to magic so she comes in at a higher level compared to her direct peers (normally automatically disadvantaged by being eleven years behind), and honestly she has a better understanding of magic than most pure blood students too. Oh, and she's also super smart. She and Snape are so far above the other students that often their classes don't really register it's so low level, lol. Similar to James and Sirius honestly. Lily was also taught to be polite and to present herself well to authority figures by her parents. So she coasts by in school without needing to try all that much and doing higher level work on her own fucking around with Snape on the weekends, but she presents well and professors don't really realize she doesn't need to put in much effort. Basically she comes across as better behaved than she is, too, she seems like she has it together when she really doesn't. She also actively tries to get the prefect position, she knows it will help her future as a Muggleborn. So Lily is popular among her teachers, who don't actually see her internal struggles and the fact that she isn't actually popular among her peers and is..actually a delinquent lol. She occasionally skips if she and Snape have weird magic to fuck around with and professors assume she's sick, she and Snape do drugs and the teachers have no idea. She takes her prefect position semi-seriously, when it involves like moral leadership, such as anti-bullying, supporting other students, and also the fun projects prefects occasionally have to do. But she won't really punish a snogging couple or be super conscientious about her rounds and boring duties. As Head Girl she feels a lot of impostor syndrome especially as she knows the professors have a false ideal of her, but she also feels a political commitment to be the best head girl she can be and tries to use her position to lead anti-fascist efforts at Hogwarts, which doesn't work as well as she'd like.

In Snape’s memories the only mention of another girl around Lily’s age is Mary MacDonald. Do you imagine Lily was friends with her? Who else do you imagine she was friends with? 

OOH OK I love this question. I headcanon Lily as someone who seems more popular than she is. For most of her time at Hogwarts, she has one close friend, Snape, and then more peripheral casual friends who she hangs out with if Snape is off with his other Slytherin friends. And honestly? A lot of people see her as a Death Eater apologist due to her relationship with Snape and she has to make a new name for herself after their friend breakup. Mary Macdonald is her dormmate and one of these..honestly the only one of Lily's friends (until after Snape) to be at an equal level with her as Lily generally befriends either older girls like Marlene McKinnon (who I headcanon as 2 years above her and Lily's prefect and mentor) or younger girls she mentors. Another casual friend of Lily's is Ravenclaw Pythia MacLeish, a bit of a Seer who Lily knows from Ancient Runes class and isn't as close to her as Mary but they talk about magic sometimes (Pythia is the significantly younger sister of Pandora MacLeish Lovegood). Lily makes most of her friendships over shared intellectual interests, lol. Mary and Lily have a significant falling out when Lily takes Snape's side after Mary's attack, and Lily has to spend a lot of time repairing that relationship through her sixth year. Of Lily's female friends the most emotionally significant for her is an OC of mine called Evelyn Riddle, who is another Muggleborn Gryffindor in Lily's dorm, who sort of assumers they will automatically be friends. They aren't. Evelyn is a strong personality and Lily is also a strong personality, and they clash. Evelyn amasses a clique of other girls and is kind of Lily's rival, though they are generally cordial--just get on each other's nerves. One of their main conflicts is that Evelyn, who is of a much higher class status than Lily, judges Lily's friendship with Snape as bad for the broader Muggleborn cause (which Evelyn has very reductive and naive ideals about lol). Evelyn also wishes she was made prefect and resents Lily a little for that (and honestly might have done a better job since she is less lax about the rules and doesn't spend all her time getting high making weird potions in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom). Lily thinks Evelyn is condescending and can't understand her because of their class difference and can't understand her friendship with Snape. However, after SWM Lily and Evelyn actually start seeing each other more clearly and working together, and they end up challenging each other and influencing each other. Evelyn is also an Order member and her and Lily often worked together in the Order. By the end of the war, Evelyn and Sirius would probably be Lily's closest friends.

Marauders Era/First War - Jily

It is clear from OoTP that James fancied Lily and she was not impressed by him when they were in fifth year. Remus and Sirius reassure Harry that James matured and she changed her opinion of him in seventh year. How do you imagine that happened?

I think it was several things. First was that she became friends with Sirius in her sixth year, and this made her think more positively of James. Second was that the end of her friendship with Snape made the war feel a lot more real for her, as she'd otherwise kind of had this fantasy of it not affecting her personally though knowing intellectually it would, and she admired James' anti-Voldemort commitment and was a lot less positive towards Snape and his Slytherin Death Eater friends so James fighting them looked more like war than bullying as they all got older and it became obvious that Voldemort was recruiting the Slytherins. Third was that she and James had to work together as Head Boy and Girl and did a lot of projects to try and fight Voldemort's influence and bring the student body together and they bonded. Fourth was that..well, Lily has a pragmatic side, and was not immune to societal messaging that told her to get married quick and he was there and into her and also had a very advantageous social position.

Do you imagine James told her about being an animagus? Do you think he told her about the Marauders Map?

Oh my god yes. She ate that shit up. The Map was what truly impressed her with James and might well have gotten her to marry him.

What do you think James and Lily’s relationship was like? Sirius describes him as hiding his dislike of Snape better once they got together, does that imply a lack of honesty between them? 

I want to think they were happy, though it can be interpreted as a dysfunctional relationship with lacking honesty and iffy dynamics, or as a romance. I hope they were happy, though it varies depending on what universe I headcanon out. I'm also mostly interested in Jily to get Harry, lol, as James just isn't a super interesting character to me.

Marauders Era/First War - After School

How did she get into the order? When? What do you head canon she did for them? 

As I said earlier, Lily was an unusually talented student and stuck out to her professors (who didn't realize the extent of her dabbling in dark magic and illegal activity lol). So she seemed like an obvious recruit to Dumbledore as a sort of exceptional Muggleborn, who was 'well-behaved' (LMAO NO) and looked respectable and also clearly very smart, though he didn't realize HOW smart she was. But the younger members of the Order (people like Evvie Riddle!!) DID realize that Lily was, well, a magical genius on a level with Snape. And so Dumbledore didn't give her much to do except play the good, politically acceptable, assimilable Muggleborn and do a little spying at her job as a shady potion brewer at a shady AF Knockturn shop. What she actually did was crazy magical research, inventing and brewing an energy potion that would have been banned if the wrong people had learned about it and other extralegal genius stuff. The Order's Unspeakables wanted her to join the DOM. For a while Lily had wanted to be a Healer, but she didn't want to take the Healer's Oath (which requires you to never cast any offensive magic again in my headcanon) because of the war. She could have lived off of James' money but chose to get a job for her own sense of self worth and independence and also because she felt pressure to support t her parents (her father was unemployed by this point) until they eventually died (probably due to the war, haven't worked out the details yet though). Had she lived longer she would have been a serious magical scholar and experimenter, and some of the things she invented for the Order are still being used in the modern HP canon.

According to extra-canon sources, Voldemort tried to recruit Lily and James? How do you imagine Lily responded? 

She was mostly horrified, but at the back of her mind a little bit flattered.

What was the first war like for her before the prophecy? Was she scared, proud, regretful, or dutiful about having joined the order? 

Lily was pretty proud of joining the Order, and remained so for the rest of her life, since she saw it as fully resisting Voldemort and doing her part to create a better world (Lily was part of the faction of the Order that was pretty anti-Ministry as well and wanted to go further in fighting pureblood supremacy alongside Voldemort). However, she also struggled with the stress of combat, PTSD, hiding really sucked for her, she felt underutilized by Dumbledore especially once she was in hiding and had fewer chances to do stuff on her own or share what she was doing, and she was also deeply upset by whatever happens to her parents (not entirely sure yet).

Some interpretations see James and Lily as important ideologically and symbolically for the order (the pureblood and the muggleborn in love and harmony). Do you think that’s true? How do you imagine that pressure impacted on their relationship?

If they'd lived longer this might have become the case, but it wasn't really true at the time considering the level the war was at when they joined (very high intensity). By the time Lily and James were involved, the war was at its worst and they were long past public relations stunts and symbolic warfare. Also they weren't really prominent Order members and the Order itself wasn't well known in broad wizarding society.

James appears to put her on a pedestal, how do you imagine that impacted their relationship? 

I would have hoped he got over it, but if it continued..yeah definitely difficult for them. But Lily is also used to being put on a pedestal. Sadly that kind of idealization is normal for her and she's used to coping with it. So she would have hidden the darker parts of herself and played up to his fantasy and maybe eventually snapped.

We know that she, not James, wrote Sirius a letter in early August ‘81, what do you think her relationship was like with Sirius, Remus and Peter?  

Ok so Sirius is her bestie. I am a firm believer in Lilypad BROTP. She dislikes him for five years while he actually quite likes her but also gets pissed off at her when she goes against him and James, they become friends in her sixth year after bonding over Muggle music and weird magic shit, and they honestly have a more equal relationship than she had with Snape and possibly with James depending on how positive I'm feeling about James/Lily that day.

Remus and her have a good working relationship as co-prefects, though they also kind of look down on each other as James and Snape's toady respectively. As she gets closer to Sirius she improves her opinion of him somewhat and they sometimes work together in the Order (though not often bc he's off spying). On one hand she respects him for persevering through anti-werewolf prejudice and the full moons (in a kind of magic disability way on her part), on the other hand she thinks he tends to avoid responsibility for his own actions (a trait she sometimes has and tries to work on in herself). So she and Remus are never super duper close. I'm not decided whether she thinks he's a spy but she might have.

Peter is kinda there. He really doesn't like her because she spoils his ideal of the Marauders friend group and his dislike for her leads him down a route of anti-Muggleborn prejudice. Lily tries to be nice to him at first, and she does notice he's very smart in a way overlooked by his friends, but she also thinks he has a terrible personality and notices his growing bigotry. She also doesn't notice his skill as a manipulator and looks down on him. it is possible he is able to manipulate her into believing Remus is the spy.

Marauders Era/First War - Harry

Why did Lily and James have child so young in the middle of a very scary war? How do imagine Lily felt once she learnt about the prophecy? 

TBQH I imagine Harry was an accident. Lily then decided fuck it YOLO I might as well take my chance to have a child, since who knows if I'll live long enough otherwise (she's nineteen and still self-centered here lol). She was scared, but also wanted the opportunity of having a child and also wanted to repair her broken nuclear family by replacing them with Harry.

What do you imagine it was like having a child in such fraught circumstances? 

It sucked. Especially as she couldn't go out and see anyone and get a fucking break, and most of her female friends were dead or not having kids yet so she didn't have mom friends(Evelyn's oldest daughter is Demelza Robins who was born a couple years after the war, Mary wasn't having kids and I think she and Lily grew apart after school, and Alice Longbottom, the other mother in the Order, was much older and never close to Lily at all). But she also enjoyed certain parts of it and had fun. Like it was kind of like having a fun doll for her at points? But then the crushing reality of having brought a child who might be doomed into the world would intrude and he'd be crying and it sucked again. There was, however, a tiny bit of pride in that it was her kid that might defeat Voldemort, buried under all of the horror . She spent a lot of time coming up with fail-safes in case Voldemort got to Harry, never fully thinking she'd have to use them.

How do you imagine Lily reacted to motherhood?  

She missed her own mother and her sister very much. She had complicated feelings and often felt out of her depth, though there were also parts where she was able to pretend Harry was a fun doll LMAO. She loved him intensely but often had no idea what she was doing.

How do you imagine What do you imagine the last thing she thought as confronted Voldemort over Harry’s cot? What are your head canons about her thought/action process?

Resolve. I fully headcanon that Lily had created a fail-safe in the event the Fidelius was broken to use her own death to kill Voldemort (by this point she was pretty paranoid). She didn't want to die and desperately didn't want her baby to die, but she also knew that if she played it right she would activate the ritual and possibly save Britain from fascism.

Canon Era and After

What would she have been like as a mother if she'd lived? 

She would have tried her best, and probably being able to go out of the damn house, get another job, and have mom friends would have helped. But she would be pretty imperfect! Also there probably would have been some point where she would have realized she made a whole ass real human and had a breakdown. Especially given she's insanely smart and Harry, much as I love him is average--she would have been frustrated at how 'slow' he seemed and had trouble relating to him on occasions. Her teenage problems were different enough from his that it would be hard for her, and she might have some misconceptions about him as a person (as she has a tendency to sometimes idealize people and willfully ignore what she doesn't like) that she would have to undo. She also is ambitious and intellectual and might have occasionally guiltily felt having a kid was holding her career back.

What job would she have gotten if she'd survived? 

Like I said, crazy magic researcher--possibly an independent scholar, possibly an Unspeakable. Maybe a Healer if the war had ended and she was certain Voldemort was dead. Especially if she felt very guilty about all the Death Eaters she'd killed.

How would James and Lily’s relationship have developed if they had lived? 

It depends on how I'm feeling about their relationship. I generally think they would have stayed together and maybe had more kids, but there are definitely universes where they broke up.

What is modern AU Lily like?

Politically active, probably some kind of scientist. Also probably not married and doesn't have a kid.

[imaginefan]

Liar

Chris Halliwell X Fem!Reader

Word Count: 895

Requested: Anon

Request: Cam you write a one shot Piper making up lies to Chris so he can break up with reader cause she doesn't like her or approve since she is human but Chris doesn't believe his mom lies. Thanks you in advance.

You hadn’t noticed anything at first. In fact everything seemed normal, well as normal as it can be with a family full of witches. You knew the secret of the family because you were one of the people that they had saved. Chris had taken a liking to you and decided to take you out on a date, from there things progressed like a normal relationship.

Up until now.

Chris had started asking really weird questions about you being afraid of everything that he dealt with or complaining about how little time you both spent together. When you asked him where he had heard all of this from he had told you that his mum was relaying phone called that you had both had together ones that didn’t exist on your call log but somehow existed on hers. With a simple excuse of you deleting it from your own call log he was back to believing his mum which was why you were sitting in your shared apartment talking to your friend. “I just don’t understand why she would say something like that.” You explained. “Some mum’s just love their boys too much, honestly I think you should get out while you can, you know I have a spare room for you to stay in, you could leave tonight.” She informed you “I can even come pick you up if you want.” “But I do love him.” You frowned as you pulled your knees up to your chest “I know you do but that doesn’t mean that he loves you.” She answered. “But-” “Listen all I’m going to say is that he should be telling his mum to stay out of his relationship, it’s dangerous when you don’t, he’s not listening to you but he’s listening to her do you really want to be fighting with his mum the whole time?” She asked. “No, I want to show him that she’s lying.” You answered. “That’s only going to make you look worse, the only way that he’s ever going to find out is if you step away.” She said. “I guess you're right.” You sighed. “Get some stuff ready, I’ll come get you, even if it’s temporary for now.” She said as you heard her shuffling around in her apartment. “Okay.” You said softly before handing up the phone.

You walked into the bedroom, you packed enough for a couple of days at first, in the hopes that things might change for you but you worry that it’s not going to happen. You the distinct sound of Chris orbbing into the apartment, you closed your eyes hoping that he wouldn’t come into the bedroom. Luck was not on your side and within seconds he was standing at the door. “What are you doing?” He asked. “I think that we should spend some time apart.” You answered. “Is this because of this thing with my mum?” He asked, he sounded fed up, like he felt that you were overreacting. “This thing with your mum is making everything that I do wrong, you know I sit at home patiently waiting for you to come home, I complain to no one but somehow your mum has convinced you otherwise.” You argued. “This is silly.” He stepped forward. “Not to me, I’m clearly not good enough for you, at least not by your mother’s standards, so you can have your key back, we’ll talk in a couple of days, see how things have changed… If they change.” You shrugged, dropping the keys on the bed before walking around to the door “excuse me.” “You know this just makes you look guilty.” He said standing aside after a moment. “The fact that you think that is the reason that I’m leaving.” You said softly as you continued to the door.

Chris stayed in the apartment for a few hours before he headed back to the house where he knew that his brother was “what happened?” Wyatt asked, the moment that he looked at his brother he knew that there was something wrong. “She left.” Chris answered. “What did you expect, guilty or not, there is no one that’s going to stick around when they are competing with their boyfriend's mum.” Wyatt answered. “To be honest mum has always been protective of us, you know after everything that happened.” “She knew about all that, we talked about it and about how we were closer than a normal family.” He answered. “So she already felt like she was competing and she said yes to you, now your angry because she walked away after you literally chose mum over her!” Wyatt argued, his voice raised which seemed to alert their mother to a problem. “What’s with all the yelling?” Piper asked. “(Y/N) left and Chris is feeling sorry for himself.” Wyatt answered. “Don’t worry about her, she wasn’t good enough for you anyway.” Piper said a little too quickly and Wyatt smirked, a small shrug accompanying his next sentence. “What did I tell you?” The words echoed in Chris’ head as he watched his mum walk into the kitchen talking about making something for dinner to help him feel better, she didn’t even ask why she had left or if there was any chance that they might get back together. Maybe you were right about his mum, maybe he should have listened.

Requests and general question!

[majorasnightmare]

Im SO AMAZED with Dirge, such an intriguing character !!! I was wondering if he conscripted Shadowheart into his party and if so did they get along? They seem to have much in common, ideologically, as far as the "life is suffering" goes and especially with his symbolic symbol being a wolf. Also what does he think of the other companions??

EEEEE THANK YOUUUUUU IM HAPPY TO PROVIDE CONTENT AAA

he did indeed!! orins hard reset essentially kicked him back to being a blank slate version of his core traits, that being community seeking and social cohesion. in the cult he only really had sceleritas and orin, which both reinforced a cycle of dependency on bhaal. without those two his next immediate social influences were laezel and shadowheart. act 1 dirge is a far cry from the bhaalist he used to be, and he only starts to resemble that person as he comes into himself, as it were, throughout act 2 into 3.

him and shadowheart are VERY close. dirge is, by nature, a very nosy and curious person so despite his pushing to get to know her, his subsequent respect of her answers and her devotion to shar earned him a good amount of brownie points. without bhaal breathing down his neck, he also has a pretty firm "fuck god" stance and shadowhearts relationship to shar hit a little too close to home to let stand so hes also a positive influence on her especially by act 2. there was a small crush that blossomed there in the beginning but pretty quickly faded in favor of being messy bitches getting tipsy and gossiping together. i like to think shadowheart is the one who initially kickstarts dirge into putting more effort into himself and not sitting around soaked in gore for days on end, and in return he dusts off his old braiding skills from orins younger years and helps shadowheart with her hair. theres a fun bit of foreshadowing i feel in shadowheart being "scared of wolves" but being so comfortable around dirge, which inevitably leads to shadowheart choosing to reject shar and reclaim her past

going just in order of acquisition, next (but technically first) is laezel. and what can i say. real respects real. no fuckin around, no beating around the bush, just cutting straight to the chase without any bullshit. dirge isnt afraid to get his hands dirty and doesnt shy from a fight, and i know he was thrilled to have SOMEONE who knows wtf is going on, even tho he does irritate laezel slightly by poppin shadowhearts pod open. laezel immediately picks up on what he hasnt figured out yet, in that hes a naturally skilled leader capable of making snappy but well reasoned decisions in crisis situations, with a near unshakable confidence in his own competency that bleeds over into everyone else performing better on his orders. it also helps that as soon as laezel commits to fucking over vlaakith, dirge is immediately in her corner, with again unshakable confidence that this is both doable and achievable

astarion is the first of his many weird situationships. in the same way queer people who arent out even to themselves flock together, the two of them hit it off near immediately despite the attempted throat slitting, and astarion remains one of dirges closest relationships period. in general the question of whether or not something is "moral" gets completely thrown out the window in favor of whether or not something is "helpful". absolutely no qualms about maiming killing stealing torturing etc here, but is this something that you actually want to do or just feel obligated to do? and in that vein dirge never once takes astarions seduction seriously. they fuck basically as soon as astarion puts it on the table, but dirge is explicit about it being just something fun to do to pass time, and never ties it to astarion as a person. when astarion tries to seduce dirge into a relationship, dirge just reiterates how astarions important to him and then spends the next dialogue taking the piss out of astarions cheesy pickup lines. its a very casual but consistent intimacy that constantly reaffirms astarions ability to take the persona off and still receive protection and safety, that also lets dirge figure out some key things about his sexuality, primarily that hes intensely sensory seeking (does enjoy astarion biting him, does enjoy taking a roll in the hay whenever the oppurtunity is available) but also that theres some skeletons in the closet that need unpacking (unremembered discomfort with topping or being the focused-on partner wrt sex). overall its a very slow paced intimate closeness that moves from a sortof friends-with-benefits to a purely nonsexual friendship that has astarion being really the only one consistently paying attention to dirges body language and behaviors and picking up on red flags everyone else is too uncomfortable to talk about. when astarion notices in act 3 that dirge is repeating the same twitchy standoffish behavior he hasnt engaged in since act 1, its because they have a casually intimate rapport that has no strings attached that lets astarion really commit to investing in the relationship without worrying about it being transactional. astarion also just enjoys hanging out with him, dirge is an unrepetant little weirdo and is fun without having any moral hangups the others have.

gale is dirges second weird situationship and god. rip gale this poor bhaalspawn is driving him fucking nuts. like first of all. charisma caster poorly socialized by a murder cult who has yet to figure out that whole "personal space" deal, who is currently mimicing the social dynamic of the party and taking heavy cues from mr "i totally have my shit together" ancuinin and exploring being Openly Flirtatious and typically gale saves that kind of thinking for the SECOND date thank you very much. second of all dirges second main stat is INT and his specialty is studying everything he can get his hands on, dirges main driving force when it comes to relationships is that metaphysical hunger thats so so tasty in warlocks that draws eldritch beings from miles off like moths to a porchlight. when self flagellation didnt cut it in the temple, dirge turned to consuming as much knowledge he could get his hands on, and that means the weird unwashed tiefling guy with a very noticeable animal musk scent underneath the blood is the only one who keeps up with your explanation of arcanic gate manipulation. hes a hands on learner btw whos standing right behind you so ur back hits his chest and he also just beamed an open mouth makeout sesh into ur brain. mission status Be Fucking Normal About Him difficulty impossible. it goes without saying that dirge fucking hates mystra for how she treats gale, but in a surprise twist that upsets even HIM, dirge came to the conclusion that apotheosis would strip gale of all the varied wonderful traits that make him powerful and capable, and would instead strip him down to a selfish one note wonder just like the rest of these divine bastards. we have to throw the crown out gale im so fucking sorry you have no idea how much it hurts to be a warlock of all things and to have that much power in your hands and toss it. like take two seconds and think about how much this hurts ME like GODDDD. AWFUL. AWFUL SITUATION. dirge is definitely too intense of a relationship for gale but that doesnt stop a very awkward act 2 confession. the game doesnt let me do this but i know in my heart that dirge would fuck that wizard, if only so his bro doesnt go to his death without having a nice night with the homies. the wizard sex doesnt count gale. in my opinion, post game gale, having NOT ascended, hasnt quite figured out the "wants to teach" biz yet and just kind of aimlessly loiters around dirge as a couchsurfer because he isnt ready to go home and spill his guts to his mom yet. also almost definitely has some unresolved feelings towards dirge hes still trying to work out

wyll is like. who isnt a little in love with wyll ravenguard. absolute icon. wylls opinion is important enough to dirge that it keeps his body count from climbing any higher than it does in game, and him and karlach are the sole reason the grove doesnt get razed. rip zevlor but dirge being amicable to you doesnt mean he cares, ur ass got saved by the PRIDE OF THE GATE. they never get SUPER close but dirge goes to bat for wyll every chance he gets, mainly because wyll doesnt. takes personal pleasure in putting his warlock experience to work to clown on mizora as often as possible. absolutely LOATHES ulder ravenguard for how hes treated wyll and the only reason ulder doesnt die is because wyll would be sad about it, and dirge really just has a huge softspot for the guy. wyll is a massive romantic in the classical sense so he doesnt match dirges freak sadly, but i know in my heart they are fucking up baldur gates food truck scene together and wyll is lovingly introducing dirge to the mid scene of microbrews.

karlach cliffgate is dirges best fuckin friend and hed kill for her. and die for her. but IDEALLY kill the SHIT out of zariel for her. vibes matched INSTANTLY, two deeply isolated weirdos who overwhelmingly just want to live with a passion for beating the shit out of people. dirge is just more generalist about it. karlach offers a very key and crucial component to any longterm relationship of any kind and that is Gettin A Lil Silly With It. if i programmed bg3 then whenever karlach does her idle pose lil dancey dance in the same party as dirge, hed sync and do it with her. the strongest positive influence on dirge, karlachs potential disapproval has saved the lives of many a gnome and tiefling refugee. equally touch starved, fixing her engine was a top priority, and while the game wont let me i think they have a casual friends with benefits situation happenin that stops when dirge settles into his relationship with minthara. but they never really stop being like. all over each other. karlach can kinda just do whatever she wants with him, just kinda pick him up, tuck him under her arm, leave. just move him places. when karlach can finally touch people, dirge just indulges that constantly. he doesnt mind at all. shitposting aside i rly do think karlach would like sit down by a campfire and then just yoink dirge onto her lap and hed just readjust to get comfortable and continue talking like nothing happened. theyre best friends, she helped dirge remember what its like to actually want to live, and he fights tooth and nail for her to want to choose to survive because the idea of losing karlach is too much to even think about.

extra party member bonus round!

halsin is amicable, they flirted openly early on but halsin waited too long to shoot his shot and minthara claimed him. is mostly dirges primary care doctor and the one who diagnoses dirge with chronic migraines and helps him medicate for it. extra strength painkillers cuz that bhaalspawn liver can go through a woodchipper and be fine

jaheira is similarly a "hits it off immediately" kinda relationship, esp cuz im p sure she groks the bhaalspawn deal well before he does. is good aligned but mostly just pragmatic, so she takes what she can get with dirge and is mostly satisfied that his loved ones are enough of a deterrent to keep him from doing any number of morally abhorrent things dirge doesnt actually give a shit about. playfully antagonistic family relationship, he loves bullying her in front of her kids, and her presence in the camp at night is a much needed balm for his anxiety

minsc is another "vibes matched instantly", but dirge is mostly happy he found someone he can go Psycho Mode on to vent some pent up unsatisfied Killing Urge without any risk of serious harm. act 3 is the worst for dirges Urge, so minsc being willing to spar until it dies down probably saved several unnamed randos from being gutted in the night. self described uncle, and while dirge is willing to consider minsc family, uncle feels like taking it a bit too far. not gonna complain tho. no idea what the fuck boo is and getting too awkward to seriously investigate.

minthara is honestly worthy of her own post entirely but to loosely summarize: love of his life. most important person in the world to him. it was love at first sight, and at every sight since. genuinely didnt think hed ever get to see her again and is thrilled every day they spend together. theres something So Much to the specific dynamic of Agent of God and the Divine Entity theyre in love with. isobel and aylin, dirge and minthara. how she swears her oath to him and how hes physicalized divinity. how she says there are no gods left for her but he finds her in moonrise anyways. i could write entire essays on them, and i WILL, but the summary important here is that she gets him locked down before act 2 is even over and that concretely ends most of his sexuality-exploring sensory-seeking FWB situationships because like. its minthara baenre. hes peaked.