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sailorsoons · 3 days ago

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Giving Season (c.sc & l.c)

Pairing: Chan x Reader x Seungcheol

Summary: You always enjoy the office holiday party each year, especially when you get to do secret santa. This year, you enlist Seungcheol’s help to give Chan the perfect gift.

Word Count: 5,632

Genre: PWP, Polyamorous, Established Relationship (Cheol x reader)

Type: Smut

Rating: 18+ Minors are strictly prohibited from engaging in and reading this content. It contains explicit content and any minors discovered reading or engaging with this work will be blocked immediately.

Warnings: Just pure filth honestly. Fucking in an office when they totally should not be, mention of power dynamics in the sense that Seungcheol is both Chan and reader’s boss but they kind of skip around that even though Cheol explicitly makes sure to let Chan know it’s okay to reject, semi-public sex if you count the fact they’re in an office, implied but not explicit dom/sub dynamics with Seungcheol as the dominant and reader/Chan as the more submissives, oral (f. receiving) and vaginal fingering, pussy drunk Chan, spitting, multiple orgasms, a little bit of overstimulation, some hair pulling, biting, a lot of heavy kissing and making out, it is a light threesome - this is mostly reader and Chan with Seuncheol very involved in instruction/kissing/touching them.

A/N: This was originally posted as a request fill for @daechwitatamic and as a belated birthday gift back in December. I love you Mojo Jojo Dojo Siwa Casa House

A/N 2: THIS IS UNEDITED BECAUSE I’M THE GRINCH AND I DON’T WANNA BETA READ MY OWN STUFF. SPELL CHECK WILL HAVE TO DO FOR RIGHT NOW.

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Nervousness creeps up as you watch Chan open up his gift, eyes zeroed in on the way his deft fingers peel back the wrapping paper carefully. Chan is always so careful, his touch delicate and precise, sliding his fingers under the seam of the paper to pry it open without ripping anything.

Holiday music plays loudly over the speakers on someone’s desk. Everyone talks and sips on drinks, gathered around the conference room table as Chan finishes opening his git, shedding the wrapping paper. He’s already grinning, lower lip tucked between his teeth as he shakes his head, red creeping up the side of his neck.

You try not to react, pleased to see that he likes the stack of limited edition books you’ve gifted him. He runs his fingers over the decorated edges, just as careful not to damage them as he was with the wrapping paper. You squirm in your seat, sipping more champagne to quell the dryness in your throat and give you more liquid courage.

Someone places a hand on your shoulder and you spare a glance upward, though by the scent of the heady cologne you already know it’s Seungcheol. He’s watching Chan with a smirk, his dark hair pushed out of his face and his glasses sliding a little down his nose as he watches Chan look around the table, flushed and pleased.

“This is way over the purchase limit,” he laughs, scratching the back of his neck and shaking his head. Mingyu lets out an impressed noise, leaning over to see the books and ask what they are. “They’re a limited edition and signed copy of my favorite fantasy series.”

“Damn, someone likes you,” Mingyu mutters, sipping his beer. “Time to guess.”

Chan’s eyes flicker to you. You hold your breath, your pulse thumping in your throat as you try not to avert your eyes. Chan’s eyes drift upward to Seungcheol, who you can feel is equally amused. There’s indecision on Chan’s face, his fingers drumming atop the stack of books.

“Come on,” Mingyu urges. “Guess.”

Chan’s eyes return to you. Back to Seungcheol. Then to you again. You grin, watching as he tries to work out which one of you bought them. You’re the only person in the office who would know how much he valued that specific book series, but Seungcheol is the only one in the office who makes overspending and spoiling his employees a habit.

Especially Chan.

“Fuck, it’s hard,” he admits, gaze settling on Seungcheol, finally. “You, boss?”

Seungcheol chuckles, the motion of it shaking the back of your chair. You can feel his thumb brushing back and forth on your shoulder, soothing and warm. It feels nice, the champagne turning his touch molten.

“Nope,” Seungcheol answers, popping the ‘p’ sharply at the end. “Sorry, Channie.”

Chan’s blush intensifies as he drops his gaze, shaking his head. He cradles the books close to him, possessive. He spares you a glance when he says, “Whoever bought these is far too nice of a santa. I don’t deserve this.”

He does deserve it. Chan is the youngest member of your company and by far the hardest working and the sweetest. Over the last two years, you’ve watched him grow from the shy, nervous junior employee to a full time member of the staff who is… still shy, but a little more confident in his work with an incredible mindset.

Sure, your opinion of him is a little bit biased. Chan is your work husband, the person you’re closest to and who you can always go to when you need to vent about Mingyu fucking up your spreadsheets or for help when you have a last minute firedrill to solve.

Despite, of course, your actual boyfriend being a few yards away in his executive office.

Seungcheol doesn’t mind that Chan is your work husband. In fact, he adores it, teasing you when you get shy after vehemently praising Chan during a meeting or nominating him to take more responsibility to prove himself. He likes that Chan has you to take care of him, to lead him through the corporate world when Seungcheol is too buried underneath meetings and paperwork to do so.

Someone else starts opening a gift, but your eyes are reserved for Chan. You lean into Seungcheol’s touch, eyes fluttering when his hand moves from your shoulder to the back of your neck. His grip is firm, kneading the muscles along the back of your neck until you’re melting. Your grip tightens on the flute of champagne a little, the plastic nearly cracking under your grip.

When secret santa has finished, you stand up to help gather the leftover wrapping paper. Coworkers filter out into the main office, turning up the music and dancing around the cubicles as another bottle is popped. You help shove wrapping paper into a trash bag with Joshua, feeling a little dizzy and warm from the bubbles.

A hand on your lower back makes you straighten. Seungcheol leans down, mouth brushing against your ear when he murmurs, “Go wait in my office. I’ll bring Chan in for his real gift.”

Your stomach flips at that. You glance at Joshua to see if he notices, but there is nothing to notice. Everyone knows that you and Seungcheol are together - you’ve been dating for five years. He limits his affection in the office, but it's not uncommon for him to press a quick kiss to your head or leave his hand lingering on you for too long.

Clearing your throat, you nod and let Seungcheol take over balling up the wrapping paper. You’re not drunk but you feel the buzz of champagne and excitement as you hurry toward Seungcheol’s office at the far end, away from where everyone has gathered around Soonyoung’s cubicle to take shots.

Inside of Seungcheol’s office is dark. The blinds are shuttered so no one can see from the main bullpen inward. Lights glitter beyond the floor to ceiling windows, the city awash in color underneath the light sky, giving the illusion that the world is blanketed in Christmas lights.

A heavy desk sits in the far side of the room with towering bookshelves behind it. Seungcheol’s monitor is off and his leather chair is pushed into the desk. In front of the desk is a sitting area, equipped with a full leather sofa, glass coffee table, and two arm chairs.

You go for the sofa, hands shaking as you sit down, pressing the hem of your skirt down your thighs. Swallowing thickly, your eyes dart toward the door when you hear the volume of singing suddenly increase out in the main office. You grin, shaking your head when you realize it’s because Seungkwan has figured out how to use his portable karaoke machine gifted to him by Jeonghan.

Shadows pass by the window. You stiffen, leaning forward and placing your hands in your lap when Seungcheol opens the door, letting Chan enter first before he slips in after, flipping the lock. Chan immediately stops in his tracks, looking at you before his eyes dart back to Seungcheol.

Your heart races, watching carefully as Seungcheol starts to undo his tie, slipping a finger underneath the knot to pull it, walking toward you. The action hypnotizes you, your attention solely on him as he finishes undoing it, tossing it onto an armchair before his fingers work the topmost button of his shirt loose.

He sees the nervous look on your face and he wings, his grin lopsided as he rounds the couch to stand behind you.

“Take a seat,” Seungcheol tells Chan, his hand landing on your shoulder. You react instantly, leaning into the warmth of his hand, nuzzling his forearm a bit. Chan follows Seungcheol’s instructions, his steps slow and full of trepidation. “We don’t bite, Channie.”

You huff and Seungcheol chuckles darkly in response, amending, “Usually.”

Chan is the picture of anxiety, wringing his hands in his lap and looking up at Seungcheol through his glasses with wide eyes. His gaze darts to you only for a second before he licks his lips and looks back up at Seungcheol, shifting back and forth in the armchair as he watches the elder.

“Relax,” Seungcheol laughs. “You’re not in trouble. I told you she had a second part to her gift.”

“The first one is too much,” Chan drops his gaze to you. He picks at his cuticles, showing he’s as nervous as you feel. “You shouldn’t have. The rules were no more than fifty dollars.”

“It was too good not to.” He softens. “I wanted you to have it.”

“You deserve it,” Seungcheol agrees. His hand massages your shoulder, fingers brushing across your skin. You shiver under his touch, watching Chan as his eyes zero in on where Seungcheol’s hand is on your neck. He licks his lips, shifting. “That’s not the only thing she wanted to give you, though.”

Chan chews his bottom lip. You feel skittish, twisting your fingers in the hem of your dress. You and Seungcheol had broached this subject several times before, though this is the first time you’re committing to voicing your thoughts to Chan.

Suddenly faced with having to give him your proposition, you’re terrified. What if he says no? Worse, what if you upset him or make him uncomfortable? It’s a huge risk, what you’re asking, especially with the position that Seungcheol is in as your boss.

The weight of how bad of an idea this is hits you fully. You open and close your mouth, unable to voice your offer to him, the question dying on your tongue.

Seungcheol’s fingers are still on your shoulder. He leans down, tilting forward to catch your gaze with his. His eyes are dark and calm, a cool lake undisturbed by anything, a constant you can always look to when you’re afraid to do something. You root yourself in his gaze, letting his proximity wash over you, comforting.

Taking a deep breath, you remind yourself this question isn’t coming out of nowhere. Neither you nor Seungcheol would bring Chan here to the office in the dark, away from everyone else if you weren’t borderline positive what his answer would be.

“I wanted to um…” Your voice is hoarse, cracking with nervousness. You swallow, dropping your eyes into your lap, feeling both of their gazes. “Jeonghan said you kind of had a crush on us.”

You peek up at Chan to find him white in the face. His mouth parts in horror and you realize this isn’t going the way you planned, your nervousness driving you to the wrong path.

Seungcheol sees it too, giving you a gentle squeeze and telling Chan, “What she means, but is very bad at saying because she’s nervous, is that she wanted to give you a taste.”

Silence hangs heavy in the air. Outside of Seungcheol’s office, you hear Mingyu singing All I Want for Christmas Is You. It feels apt, both you and Seungcheol staring at Chan as he looks back at both of you, mouth parted in surprise, chest rising and falling with how heavy he’s breathing now.

“I don’t… understand,” he says finally, addressing Seungcheol.

“I think you do.” Chan starts to shake his head and Seungcheol tsks, sending a lick of heat down to your core. You know that voice better than anything, and the sound of it turns the air heady. “You can say no. This is the worst place possible for us to be offering this to you and I understand the implications of it coming from… well me. You’re under no obligation and we can go on pretending it didn’t happen.”

“Jeonghan didn’t mean to tell me.” you tell Chan. “But when he did… I wasn’t mad. I told Cheol and he was pleased to.” You look up at Seungcheol, who smiles at you affectionately. His hand drifts to the back of your head, cradling it carefully. “He likes you too. And me - I like you.”

“You like me?”

You nod eagerly as Seungcheol grips your head and faces you back toward Chan. “So I was thinking… you could have an extra gift. If you wanted it. To see if you liked it.”

“And what does… a taste involve?” Chan asks the question softly, his eyes flickering between you and Seungcheol. “Help me understand better.”

“Her,” Seungcheol answers. “Whatever you want.” He pauses and smirks, adding, “You’re not ready for me. So just her… for now, if you want.”

Multiple emotions flit past Chan’s face. Confusion. Fear. Indecision. Anxiety. Desire.

You see the desire there, the way he settles his eyes on you, dark and swimming with want. He doesn’t move, the silence filling the room as Seungcheol let’s Chan choose. You feel your own desire welling up inside of you, a shy and skittish thing that is perhaps too breakable to be offering this way.

Chan is your mirror. You can see yourself in him, the want that lurks beneath a shallow surface, a fragile thing that he wants to handle but is too afraid that it’ll shatter. You lift a hand from your lap, reaching forward, palm up. Reaching for Chan, reaching for the thread that connected you since the first day he started.

Your hand wavers there for a second, an invitation, a moment of vulnerability. Just when you think he’s going to reject you, Chan surges forward slowly, extending his hand toward yours. A smile lights up your face, growing even wider when his fingers tentatively skate over yours, rough and unsure.

Tugging on him gently, you urge Chan from the armchair toward the couch. He’s like a frightened animal, eyes darting toward Seungcheol like he might intervene when he sits next to you, close enough to smell his juniper cologne but farther than you want him to be.

Seungcheol lets go of your shoulder, walking around the opposite side of the couch. Chan looks at Seungcheol, alarm on his face. The elder chuckles roughly, sitting on your other side a little ways away and murmuring, “Relax, Channie. I’m just sitting down.”

To further ease his anxiety, you pull Chan’s hand into your lap, lacing your fingers and squeezing. He looks at your linked fingers, marveling at them. It takes him a moment, but he squeezes your hand in return.

“Can you look at me?” You ask, voice barely above a whisper.

He does. Chan finally looks at you, gaze raw and burning. Your toes curl when you see the amount of want there, the way his need is right on the surface, simmering. His eyes trace your features, scanning your face to the curve of your neck, dipping lower, lips parted as he drinks you in full.

“What… What now?” He asks, dragging his eyes back up to yours.

“Try kissing her.” Seungcheol leans back behind you, supervising. His voice is gentle and coaxing. “She likes kissing.”

Chan looks at you, asking for permission. You smile, nodding eagerly as you tug on his hand. He obeys, sliding closer to you, thigh pressed against yours. Even through the fabric of his pants, you can feel the heat of his leg wash through you, intoxicating.

He leans in slowly, his eyes darting toward your mouth as he does. You meet him halfway, breath shaking as you softly press your lips against his. His lips are soft and tentative, nose brushing yours gently. You sigh, leaning into the kiss, making it a little firmer.

It’s innocent, but you feel the way his fingers tighten in yours, a gentle sound stuck in the back of his throat. You pull away slightly, lashes fluttering open to peer at him. You see your half-lidded eyes in the reflection of his glasses until he opens his eyes.

The urge to have him grows tenfold. Chan’s pupils are blown, the hungry look in his eye raw and real. It makes you surge forward, kissing him for real, letting the hunger for him channel through your mouth. He makes a sound low in the back of his throat, desperate and whiny as you school closer, leg looping over his to keep him in place.

Letting go of his hand, you bring it up to his face, threading your fingers through his hair. His mouth is warm and wet as he kisses you slowly, tasting of champagne and the frosting of the cupcake he had earlier - sweet, just like him.

Kissing Chan is unlike kissing Seungcheol. Chan is sweet and slow, running his tongue against the seam of your mouth tentatively while his hands go to your thighs, barely giving you a squeeze. Seungcheol’s kisses are demanding and all consuming, bruising your lips as he swallows you whole.

Parting, Chan kisses the corner of your mouth, hesitating and glancing over your shoulder where he can no doubt see Seungcheol. Seungcheol must reassure him, because Chan smirks and leans forward, pressing open-mouthed kisses on your jaw.

Your head falls back, lips parted. His tongue is rough against your skin as he tastes you, a mix of tongue and teeth working toward your neck. Your fingers twist in his hair, blunt nails scraping at his scalp and making him groan quietly.

“She likes when you bite her a little,” Seungcheol supplies from behind you. You feel the couch shift as he moves closer, his warmth radiating toward you as he settles directly behind you. His voice makes you shiver when he says, “Right under her ear - yeah like that.”

Chan’s teeth nip at the soft flesh under your ear and you keen, melting at his touch. He grows more confident at the sound, his hands drifting to your waist, squeezing and holding you tight. You lean backward into the heat of Seungcheol, trapped between the two of them.

It makes you dizzy. Seungcheol is firm behind you, keeping you pressed toward Chan, who is kissing his way to your shoulder, eager for more of you. One of his hands runs up your side, sliding up your arm until it settles on the side of your neck, his fingers gently pulling you to give more access.

You keen and Seungcheol laughs behind you, muttering, “Hear the little sounds she makes? She loves when you touch her neck.”

“Mmmm.” Chan presses kisses to the tops of your shoulders, looking up at you through his glasses. “What else does she like?”

“If you want to see her come apart, eat her out.” Chan moans, burying his face in your neck. You shiver, feeling his hot breath against your spit-slick skin. “Yeah?” Seungcheol laughs. “Dying to taste her, huh?”

“Fuck,” Chan whispers. He lifts his head from your neck, breathing ragged as he looks at you, cradling your face in his hands.

You look up at him through your lashes, dazed. He looks so good in the dim light of Seungcheol’s office, his hair a little disheveled, glasses a little eskew.

“Do you want that?” he asks, voice barely above a whisper. His thumb brushes back and forth across your jaw, pausing to brush along the corner of your lip. You nod eagerly, unable to find the words and tell him that is exactly what you want. “Fuck. Yeah. Okay.”

Chan sinks to the ground. Seungcheol plants his foot against the coffee table, pushing it back slowly to give Chan room. The younger looks up at you reverently and you feel your breath catch, watching as Chan settles on his knees, hands reaching to brush gently up your calves.

His touch is like fire. It feels too hot in Seungcheol’s office, sweat collecting on the back of your neck and along your hairline. You squeeze your thighs together at Chan’s gentle touch and he grins up at you, keeping his fingers feather light and teasing as he skims them up your thighs toward your dress.

Seungcheol leans you against him, pressing his lips to the side of your temple. Chan leans forward, placing an open mouth kiss on your knee. You twitch, knee nearly knocking him in the face. Seungcheol admonishes you softly, reaching down to pry your right leg open and drape it over his, resting his arm over your knee to keep you pried open.

Chan’s hands continue to caress your skin, the drag of his fingers driving you wild. You stare down at him, panting slightly as he looks up at you. He maintains eye contact as he drags his mouth to kiss your inner thigh, watching as you react with a sigh.

He moves his mouth upward slowly, each kiss firm but gentle, his lips blazing a trail upward. You feel your core ache for him, a hot, throbbing need that makes you whine a little bit, shifting in Seungcheol’s grip.

Chan pauses but Seungcheol promises, “She’s fine. She’s very needy.”

A grin splits Chan’s face as he presses another kiss to the softness of your thigh, followed by biting gently. That gets a reaction out of you, your hips twitching upward and your hands shooting to grip the couch with one hand and Seungcheol’s forearm with the other.

“She loves when you start slow,” Seungcheol murmurs. Chan nods, taking his elder’s guidance in step. His hands creep toward the hem of your dress, hesitating. “Go ahead.”

Your breath gets stuck in your throat when Chan pushes the hem of your dress upward. The newly exposed skin feels cold in Seungcheol’s darkened office. Chan bunches the fabric at your hips and Seungcheol reaches around the back of your waist to hold it in place.

With one hand on your spread knee and the other locked around your waist, Seungcheol has you pinned. The thought makes your eyes flutter, head tilting back as you watch Chan drink you in, his eyes dropping to the lacy underwear.

His mouth resumes its curious travel, kissing the tops of your thighs as his fingers brush the edges of your underwear. You let out a breathy whine and he smiles but doesn’t stop this time, teasing the crease of your thighs with his devilish finger while he gives a harsh suck to your skin.

Chan rests his chin atop your thigh, eyes focusing on the wet patch of your under. He dips a hand between your legs, pressing the flat of his thumb against the dark spot on the fabric. You give a high pitched whine, fidgeting in Seungcheol’s grip. Chan grins, wiggling his thumb back and forth a little to apply pressure to your clit.

It is heaven. It is hell. Chan’s eyes drift back and forth from where he teases you to your face, unable to decide which he likes watching more. Seungcheol watches him with a smirk, his hold on you like iron, hot breath fanning your ear as he whispers for you to behave for Chan.

You want to. You want to more than anything else right now, completely forgetting about the party going on outside the office, forgetting the way you’d been afraid to ask Chan if he wants this, forgetting anything else but the look in Chan’s eyes as he hooks his fingers in your underwear and pulls them down.

Lacy fabric scrapes down your skin slow-soft. It is delicious torture. Chan handles you like you’re something precious, something to be loved and treated with care. Your thoughts turn to static, totally hypnotized by the way he peels your underwear from your legs and tosses them somewhere else. His eyes are half-lidded as he stares at your glistening cunt, groaning low in the back of his throat at what he sees.

Chan slides his hands under your thighs, dragging you toward him a little. Seungcheol helps, peppering your face with butterfly-soft kisses as he slides you down the couch. You’re nearly folded in half as Seungcheol adjusts himself so that he’s sitting behind you with you between his legs. He grabs your thighs, hooking them on the outer edges of his knees to keep you open for Chan, who slides closer, licking his lips.

“Look how wet she is for you,” Seungcheol purrs. You glance up at him. His dark eyes are focused on Chan, mouth twitching in a smirk. “Start slow. She likes you to build up to it.”

Chan glances at Seungcheol and nods before his eyes fall to you. Dark. Hungry. Wanting. To see your deepest desire reflected in Chan’s eyes makes you insane. You’d only guessed at his affection for you and Seungcheol, but the fierceness of it drives you wild.

So does his mouth. Chan drags his mouth up your thighs, kissing delicately. You hold your breath, fixated on him as he audibly plants another kiss before he moves to your center, hesitating. You try not to squirm and move closer, try not to force yourself on his mouth.

He can tell. He gives you a cock grin, letting out a huff before dipping forward, running his tongue up your center and oh oh oh. Your head falls back against Seungcheol’s shoulder, breath locked in your chest. Chan’s tongue is warm and wet, sliding up and down your pussy at a leisurely pace.

Then he moans. Your fingers dig into Seungcheol’s thighs, making him hiss. He hooks his chin on your shoulder, watching as Chan’s tongue circles your aching clit slowly before dipping back down.

You’re burning, melting, disintegrating. Pleasure ripples through you when Chan dips his tongue tentatively into your clenching hole. That earns a loud moan from you. Seungcheol quickly hushes you, reminding you that you can’t be loud with a harsh whisper.

A whimper falls from your lips. Chan grunts, closing his eyes as he fastens his mouth to your cunt, suckling gently. You throb under his mouth. He looks up at you, eyes misty as he flicks his tongue back and forth over your clit.

“Like that,” Seungcheol encourages when you thrash. “She likes it kind of messy too - spit on it.”

Chan is obedient. He dips his tongue into your cunt, gathering arousal before he lifts his mouth, smeared in your slick, and spits directly on your pussy. You let out a loud sound that is cut off by Seungcheol’s mouth on yours, stealing you in a devouring kiss.

One hand shoots to Seungcheol’s forearm to cling to him, the other to Chan’s hair when he reattaches his mouth. He moans audibly against you, the sound buzzing right through you to the pit of your stomach. He redoubles his effort, licking and sucking at you vigorously now to match the pace of Seungcheol’s tongue.

They both swallow you whole. It’s overwhelming the best way, Seungcheol pressing you into his chest as he steals the breath from your lungs, Chan pressing your legs further apart as he buries his face between your legs, little sounds of pleasure dripping from his mouth as he loses himself in you.

Seungcheol parts with you for a moment, lips swollen and pink as he looks down at Chan and grins. He reaches down, running his fingers through Chan’s hair gently, making the younger groan.

“Look at him,” Seungcheol coos. “He’s been dying to taste you, huh Chan?”

“Mhmm.” Chan licks a hard stripe from top to bottom. “So fucking good.”

“Tell him how good he’s doing baby,” Seungcheol whispers, pressing his mouth to your ear. “He’s working so hard for you.”

“Feels so good,” you gasp as Chan sucks your clit hard. You thrash in Seungcheol’s lap but he holds you still. Chan pins you down too, fingers gripping your thighs as he gets greedier, flattening his tongue and whipping his head back and forth. “Fuck fuck fuck - Chan.”

“Just like that, Chan.” Seungcheol keeps running his fingers through Chan’s hair affectionately. “She’s gonna come for you, right baby?”

All you can manage is a nod. You’re beyond the capacity for words, feeling your orgasm twist low in your stomach as Chan works your toward its peak. It feels like he drags you there screaming, the pressure building as he keeps going and going and going-

You break. Seungcheol’s hand clamps over your mouth and you cry through his palm, hips twitching and legs straining against both of their hands as you cum hard. Chan doesn’t care, pressing even further, drinking you in as your clit pulses in his mouth.

When you quiet down, Seungcheol lets go of your mouth, hushing you with soft kisses as you whimper. Chan’s tongue busies itself as he leisurely licks your thighs, catching stray drops of arousal. You sag against your boyfriend, panting. He rubs his hands up and down your aching thighs.

“More,” Chan murmurs, words a little slurred as he presses a sloppy kiss to your thigh. He inches closer to your messy folds, hesitating. “Can you take more? Please tell me you can.”

You nod and Seungcheol hums, pleased. “She can.”

Looking between your legs, you watch as Chan grabs his glasses and rips them off his face, tossing them somewhere behind him. Your stomach flips at the site, lips parted and gasping when he dives back in, fucking you with his tongue.

“Shit,” you squeak, hands flying to his hair, wrapping your fingers in his locks and twisting. He doesn’t mind the sting, too focused on you. “Oh my god.”

Seungcheol chuckles darkly. “Fuck, he’s hot. Use your fingers, Channie.”

Nodding eagerly, Chan complies. He’s eager to comply, bringing a hand up between your legs. You hiss when he slides a finger in, the glide easy from your first orgasm. He removes his mouth from you, panting and lips swollen as his eyes focus on where he gently fucks you with his finger.

“Another,” Seungcheol recommends.

Chan does. He slides another finger in, tilting his wrist so that they brush just right. You moan his name, throaty and worn. Chan hums happily, kissing his way back up to your clit where he wraps his lips, sucking gently as he sets a slow pace with his fingers.

It only lasts for a few moments before his pace increases, feeling the way you squeeze tight around him, hearing the way your breath turns shaky and uneven, watching the way you continue to grow slick with sweat.

He fixates on your face, sucking at you hungrily in time with his fingers, driving you toward another release. Seungcheol’s mouth finds your jaw, teeth nipping and tongue soothing. Again you’re pulled between the two of them, feeling stretched thin and overwhelmed by their mouths.

“I’m gonna,” You gasp, shaking in their grip. They both can tell. Seungcheol bites your neck a little harder, sucking the soft skin between his teeth. Chan turns ravenous, nearly folding you in half as he pushes into you, the wet sounds from his mouth bracketed by your heavy breathing. “Fuck fuck fuck.”

Every muscle in your body squeezes with the force of your orgasm. You can’t breathe, stars exploding behind squeezed-shut lids, breath stuck in squeezed-tight lungs. You’re barely able to hear Seungcheol murmuring in your ear, only able to hear the high-pitched ringing as you hit the top of your high, suspended for a moment before you start to come down.

You go boneless against Seungcheol. You feel spent, sucking in breaths of air while Seungcheol rubs his hands up and down your arms and Chan presses butterfly-soft kisses to your inner thighs, his hands rubbing your calves.

The three of you stay there like that for a bit, quiet in the dark of Seungcheol’s office with the distant singing of your coworkers. You feel a bit floaty and dreamy, stuck somewhere between nearly asleep and happily present.

Chan shifts and you drop your eyes to him, seeing him looking around, a little unsure what to do. You and Seungcheol notice at the same time, both of you extending a hand to him. Chan’s smile is shy and tentative, taking both of your hands and letting you pull him to his feet to collapse on the couch next to you.

Immediately you squirm toward him, half falling out of Seungcheol’s lap to fall against Chan’s shoulder. He laughs, lifting his arms and hesitating for a second before he wraps them around you. His lips are pink and swollen, still covered in your arousal.

“That,” you sigh. “Was better than I imagined.”

“You imagined it, though?” he asks, glancing at Seungcheol. “Both of you?”

“Mhmm.” Seungcheol leans forward and presses a kiss to the corner of Chan’s mouth, pink tongue darting out playfully. “Mmm. She tastes good.”

Pink creeps up Chan’s neck and flushes his face. Seungcheol grins and you can tell he’s just as smitten as you, leaning his head against the back of the couch to watch Chan settle down. He drags his fingers in patterns on your arm, eyes losing focus.

“Was this just for tonight?” Chan asks. There’s a note in his voice that makes you look up at him. You can tell he’s unsure, a little nervous. “Just for giving season or whatever?”

Your voice is raspy with disuse. “Not if you don’t want it to be. Cheolie and I like you.”

“Really?”

You lift a hand, brushing strands of hair back into his damp hairline. “Mhm. We want to keep you, if you’ll have us.”

Chan chews on his bottom lip, contemplating. Seungcheol watches in silence, but you can tell by the way his fingers drum on your thigh that he’s nervous. He might exude calm and confident most of the time, but you know he hopes Chan will say yes - that he’s desperate for it.

“I think I like that,” Chan says slowly, looking at you both. “I would like that, yeah.”

Seungcheol grins, closing his eyes as he reaches over and runs a hand through Chan’s hair. “Good. Also - it’s always giving season at our house. So buckle up, Channie.”

PERMANENT TAG LIST:

@ddaddunugu @ourkivee @tie-nn @cookiearmy @thesunsfullmoon @stray-bi-kids @ldysmfrst @thepoopdokyeomtouched @eoieopda @onlywon4u @hopeless-foolery @iamawkwardandshy @gyuguys @codeinebelle @ateez-atiny380 @bultaereume @yoongznme @kaitieskidmore97 @coffee-addict-kitten @gyubakeries @archivistworld @asyre @kaepjjangiya @fancypeacepersona @beckyloveshannie @imujings @do-you-remember-summer-127 @jbluen @mingumis @kimsaerom

#dino smut #chan smut #seungcheol smut #scoups smut #svt smut #lee chan smut #choi seungcheol smut #chan x reader #chan x you #dino x reader #dino x you #seungcheol x reader #seungcheol x you #scoups x reader #scoups x you #svt fanfic #svt fic #svt imagines

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wingsdippedingold · 2 days ago

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My rapid fire ACOTAR hot takes that y’all will hate:

I pray the pros don’t find this

I don’t ship Elriel or Elucien because I ship Elain with singleness and just traveling Prythian to learn about different plants and then settling down somewhere to become an apothecary. Is she aromantic and suffering from comphet in my head? You’ll never know

Nesta would not have eaten Lucien alive, I think she’d be tentative at first but then realize he’s not a threat to her then grow to enjoy his presence. They could have had a great romance that actually helped her grow as a person, unlike Nessian.

Nessian is a mutually destructive relationship. Cassian is too insecure to date someone who he thinks looks down at him. Nesta needs an emotionally supportive partner.

There was ZERO need to actively SA Feyre publicly to make her look subservient or as if she had a “claim” laid on her. The reasoning is weak, and SJM an Rhysand fans need to admit that they only defend it because they thought it was sexy, or because they self-insert and can’t make Rhysand actually look bad.

Tamlin isn’t a bad leader, but it doesn’t suit him. He’s much more of a people person than someone who would like to be removed from them and working on laws and politics.

Tamlin should be walking around the SC as they rebuild and see a woman directing townspeople on how to do so. Tamlin would admire her for being able to connect with people but also being able to govern well. They would have a romance and that woman would eventually become a lady and help Tamlin govern because she wants to make a difference and is good at that stuff. They eventually get married 💥

Canon Elain is my least favorite Archeron. I think she’s manipulative and worse than Nesta in her cabin behavior because she wasn’t upfront about it. She let Feyre think she was useless and kind, to later only throw her under the bus. Nesta is the one who went to the wall for Feyre, and Elain didn’t gaf about Nesta caring for her the second is stopped benefitting her. Elain even acknowledges all that Feyre did for them, and yet she still didn’t do anything

BUT to append to that, I totally get why she’s that way. It’s her only means of survival because since childhood she was treated as a doll with noice of her own. She can’t be upfront like Nesta because she won’t get taken seriously, so her only way to get what she wants is to manipulate people and use her niceness as a mask.

Nesta and Feyre have a closer relationship than Nesta and Elain solely because they were constantly arguing. Nesta “favored” Elain, but it was still distant, but she actively watched Feyre and treated her like a whole person even if it was poorly. I think this is also exemplified in their appearance. Feyre and Nesta look very similar, while Elain doesn’t look like them as much.

You can’t argue that Feyre’s childhood was traumatizing (it was) but then say that it had no negative effects on her development and ability to socialize.

Feyre is NOT good at reading people despite what y’all like to argue. She can barely read Nesta, a woman she’s known for 20 years.

She suffers from hubris and has a savior complex. For example, when the debtors came to cripple her father she notes that they only left after SHE cried and soiled herself. In her perspective she will always be the hero because that’s how she makes herself fell good.

Arguable my hottest take: I don’t think Nesta and Feyre had a power imbalance in the cottage to make their relationship abusive. In fact, I think Feyre held more power over Nesta, Nesta just didn’t acknowledge it/was mean so it didn’t seem like it. Feyre was their father’s favorite, was the breadwinner, and technically dictated whether they would get to eat. Feyre held control over her family’s survival, even if she didn’t want it, and they all knew this. It is specifically why Elain sucked up to her (a character know to jump to whoever has the most power at the moment and would protect her the most)

Feyre doesn’t act how she wants to, but rather as she thinks a good person would. She doesn’t want to hunt, but she does so because she thinks she has to. Many of her acts are “selfless” but are often shallow. She also thinks everyone wants to the helped the same way she would want to be.

To add to this, she doesn’t love her sisters. She doesn’t love them for who they are, but because of proximity. She even says to Nesta when trying to get her to come to solstice “but you’re my sister”

Feyre did not know love and it did not know her, and thus made her latch on to whoever gave her affection and she deemed as her own savior (Tamlin and Rhysand). Should she finally ever feel suffocated by Rhysand (though he has ensured she won’t), I wouldn’t doubt that she would run to another.

Feyre has 0 healthy relationships. ZILCH

By adulthood, Feyre’s illiteracy is no one’s fault but her own. As a child she didn’t want to ask Nesta, but she didn’t ask Elain or her father either. Even then they fell into poverty at like 9 and she still didn’t learn much so that doesn’t make sense. She refused Tamlin’s help and Rhysand literally had to force her to learn.

Rhysand’s character makes 0 sense when you consider her upbringing, family, friends, personality, and powers, and is just a product of SJM trying to write the morally grey ultimate love interest.

I’m on the fence about him being a master manipulator towards Feyre and the IC. I doubt Sarah meant for him to come off like that, but if he actually was it would be a masterful story and make his character feel more cohesive.

HOWEVER, if he was a manipulator I don’t think it would be that impressive for him to manipulate Feyre. She is naive and new to the world of fae, and she switches her opinions like night and day. She would be the perfect target. Again, this comes about from her upbringing and her own hubris.

The series should stuck to being a trilogy. Insert it drags on and makes new problems that aren’t even properly addressed

This was not rapid I fear

#anti acotar #anti rhysand #Rhysand critical #feyre critical #elain critical #nesta archeron #pro nesta #Anti feysand #Anti nessian #anti inner circle #anti feyre

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obae-me · 18 hours ago

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The Devil's Desire

Nothing like trying to come back from a long hiatus with more Luci content. It's always him, I can't escape.

Warning: This fic contains a makeout scene but nothing explicit, so 16+.

Disclaimer: I am NOT bashing religion, nor am I calling out any specific faith, denomination, etc. It's written to be mostly generic on purpose, and is simply based on a real life experience I have had before. Don't take this seriously, please.

Word Count: 2.3k

With that out of the way, please enjoy some Luci romance!:

To lie with the devil is to wake up in hell. Tender lips stained with debauchery embrace nothing but lies. Tainted is the temporary vice. Lost is the lamb who leaves the flock. Damned is the devoured; the ones drowned in their own sins, plunged into the fires, entombed in brimstone. The cries of pleasure now ones of wailing. Of gnashing their own teeth. Made to suffer an eternity of eternities for shunning the light.

At least, that’s what they say.

And by they, right now you meant the very adamant woman standing in front of you, brandishing pamphlets like they were her very own Ten Commandments. If only 'Thou Shall Not Harass Unsuspecting People on the Street' were one of them. If you had your own rules, that would make it into the top five for sure.

Unfortunately, the lady slowly singling you out from the rest of the passers-by did not share your same sentiments. She was on a mission. Her mission? You. The goal? To wear you down and pester you long enough to join whatever group she was promoting. You’d seen these things enough before to see the danger signs in advance. A clipboard so they could take your name and number. A promotion selling tickets that you’d inevitably have to use your email to register for. All in an attempt to get your information so they could track you down in a less stalker-y sort of way.

“Oh, hello, dear. How are you today?” The hunter was closing in, two teens carrying signs at her side working on sequestering you- the weaker link- away from the pack.

“I’m good, how are you?” Damn your polite force of habit! Curse you, customer service default settings!

She grinned, knowing that if she played her cards right, she could probably keep you trapped here for a while longer. She spoke, and due to the survival instinct in your brain, you were capable of tuning her out for the most part. Something something, for the greater good, something something, special soul. They never meant what they said, or even if they believed their own words, it was undermined by their intentions. You’d been in this boat before. You kept waving your hand and nodding your head, explaining to her that you were busy and had someone you were meeting.

As you stepped backwards, she approached again. “Just one minute of your time! One minute could save your soul from Lucifer’s clutches!”

Without entirely meaning to, the drop of that name made you pause. Every once and a while, you forgot that the person you had come to know so well was such a prominent- albeit infamous- figure in the human world. Although, the way he tended to be described made him seem more like a boogeyman rather than a demon capable of Armageddon, scaring children across different nations and cultures into behaving. Perhaps you should be insulted on his behalf. Perhaps you should share some of the stuff you had seen. Tales of ivory wings and the blinding glow of a fallen angel whose twisted voice now told beings to Be Afraid. With a haunting beauty so enveloping, you openly fell further into the nightmare. That being said, you almost laughed in her face, wanting to tell her that the man she was so afraid of had been fretting over what kind of coat to wear this morning. Black was classy. But blue made his eyes pop more. But red was his color. Thirty minutes he pondered over this. “I’m not all that worried about it.”

Maybe you hadn’t contained your amusement as well as you thought you did, because for some reason, a righteous fire had lit under her sandy open-toed wedges. “You should be! Whatever promises the devil gives you, it will only bring you misery in the end! He cares nothing for you! Only HE can give you the joy you seek.” Her pointer finger raised up while she gazed to the clouds like she could peer into Heaven from down here. It was hard to tell if the dramatics were more for you or her. When she glanced at you again, she appeared spooked, clutching pearl hands at the ready.

An arm snaked around your waist, a hand settling on your hip. If the touch wasn’t so familiar, you would’ve jumped. “I don’t know. I think I bring plenty of joy, wouldn’t you say, love?”

Speak of the devil, in a quite literal sense.

Relief flooded your body, the tension you’d unknowingly built in your shoulders loosening. Even posing as a human, Lucifer was intimidating. At the very least, no one bothered to approach him out of the blue. This party buff seemed to extend to you as well. This lady seemed much less interested in trying to convince you of anything now. She cleared her throat and thought about potentially leaving you one last message of warning, but the man in your company wasn’t having it. He scoffed under his breath before he gestured to some of the other sign bearers in the group, tilting his head slightly to the side.

“Strange weather today, isn’t it? You might want to help retrieve your things,” Lucifer announced. Eyebrows raised. The weather was quite nice today, albeit a little cold. Curiosity got the better of her. Just as the woman turned around, a heavy gust of wind blew over you all, making pamphlets and signs fly upwards and into the streets. Subtle. People scrambled. The lady hiked up her skirt and ran to the edge of the sidewalk. Cars screeched to a halt and honked, people stopped to gawk at the calamity, all the while, you felt yourself being tugged away.

Lucifer’s hand remained on your waist for a few minutes until he was certain the annoyance was far behind you. How much of a mess was the scene now? You turned your head to look over your shoulder, but only saw darkness as a gloved hand covered your eyes. A slight huff sounded off to your side.

“Leave it. This hesitancy of yours is what got you caught in the first place.” The hand moved from your eyes to the top of your head, making you look up at him with a twist of his fingers. “I leave you be for a few moments, and you once again find yourself tangled up in nonsense.” His narrowed eyes flitted over your form as if checking for signs of distress or injury, like the woman was a master of combat with pamphlets as her weapon of choice. Always the worrier that one. He’d have still a similar reaction if you found yourself lost in a grocery store…

A frown crossed over your face. “I did try to leave. How many times do I have to say ‘no thank you’ before someone leaves me alone?”

He tisked, his posture straightening as he fixed the scarf around your neck. The plush fabric was rubbed against your jaws. “There’s your first issue. Manners are all well and good until someone takes advantage of it. At some point, you have to drop the politeness and just say ‘no’. With your entire chest.” All of a sudden, he took two pointer fingers and manipulated your cheeks and lips to mouth some words. “N. O. Just like that. Can you say it with me? Nnnn…ooo…”

You narrowed your eyes a bit at his teasing, batting his hands away. “Knock it off, Luce…”

“Hmm. Maybe I should go get one of those eccentrics and tell them we changed our minds and—“

“No!”

“Ah, see, you are capable of it.” Someone was mighty pleased with himself. Anytime he found himself in a place where he was free from his responsibilities, he always got shockingly more playful. It would be cute if it weren’t so frustrating right now. His hand started running over your head. “Good job.”

“That’s not funny. You heard how they were talking about you… I hate listening to it.”

At your words, his teasing smile faded. Rolling his eyes, he lowered his hands. “I would much rather you save that vexation for yourself and how they treated you. All the humans in the world could despise me and I would not bat an eye.” Suddenly, his finger tapped your chin, trying to regain your full attention. “I only care what one of them thinks about me.”

Something about the sudden sappiness in public snapped you out of things. You turned a bit on your feet and started walking. “Did you check us in already?”

“I took care of it. Did you want to head in now or wander around the town a while?” His partial pout at ignoring his romanticism could almost be felt physically as he matched his pace with yours.

“I think I’ve had my fun for now.”

A hum, and his hand found your own. Clasping it, guiding you to the hotel as you both walked. It was astonishing how such a move cast a level of camouflage over you two. Suddenly, it was as if you both were a normal couple following the regular flow of foot-traffic, keeping each other warm in the crisp air with the heat of each others close proximity.

If the devil was so callous, why were his hands so tender?…

The rest of the walk was a bit of a blur. The people, buildings, spoken words, all unimportant compared to the sensation of having him near. The elevator ride jostled, giving you some more awareness to your surroundings. A short walk, a brandished key card, and he opened the door for you, the very picture of a perfect gentleman.

If the devil cared not for you, why would he bother with chivalry?

The “room” was huge, with an entire kitchen, walled off bathroom, closed off bedroom, and separate living area. This was more an apartment than a simple hotel room. The luggage was already brought inside, Lucifer’s portion already opened and put away. “Leave it to Diavolo to save you the biggest, fanciest suite in the hotel. If the tub has jets, I’m never leaving.��

“Do you expect the Avatar of Pride, the right hand to royalty, to expect anything less?”

“You’re funny if you think Diavolo wouldn’t give you something like this regardless of your gilded titles. Careful, your sin is showing.” You rolled your eyes and gave him a playful nudge.

He swiveled on his feet and poked your ribs. “You dare push me?” His voice rumbled in amusement deep in his chest. “Rather bold to do to such a dangerous demon.”

“Oh? Is that a threat? Going to take my soul? Well, you’re going to have to get through me first.” Fake punches flew through the air, striking at his chest and face with no force. Although you knew real punches would have the same utterly useless, painless outcome for him.

The world tilted, some of the air leaving your lungs in a giggling gasp as he scooped you up over his shoulder. He twisted, spinning around occasionally to leave you somewhat disoriented until you were plopped down on top of the bed, the whole mattress bobbing. Lucifer hovered over you. “You cannot hope to win, human. You’re mine now.”

Something in your chest fluttered at that. “So you win then, is it? How would you like my soul? Grilled? Blended? Braised?”

One of his hands worked on removing the scarf from around your neck, the back of his index finger tracing the outline of your chin. Just a breath away from being in contact. “Let me see…” Adjusting, rubbing his nose against yours, he waited for that tell-tale sign of permission, of you closing some of the distance. Temptation struck you, flooding in your heart. The plunge was too alluring. You bit of the fruit, and the devil wrapped his clutches around you.

Watch out for the schemes of the devil, who prowls like a beast, waiting for the moment to strike and devour- lips whispering inner desires. Raise up your guard to save yourself from being pulled into darkness, into his embrace, limbs aching and craving. For his claws shall tear and shred in eagerness, unable to contain themselves as they remove the body of protective vestments. He will take the very breath from your lungs. Crush the bones with a heaving chest. Partake of your flesh.

Lucifer raised his head for a moment, letting you both catch your breath. Your thumb traced his bottom lip, puffy and scarlet where you’d nipped it. Red was always a good color for him. That’s why you picked the crimson coat for him today. It matched his cheeks, the end of his ears, his longing eyes.

“Authentically,” he said, answering your question you felt you asked two lifetimes ago. His mouth covered yours as his broad hands squeezed your shoulders. “Slowly…” You could almost feel his hum in the back of your throat as he spoke between kisses. “Bit by bit…” His teeth grazed you top lip. “Over the course of a lifetime…” His affection moved on, venturing out and exploring your cheeks and gently over your eyelids. “So you’ll be right here with me… exactly like this… for a very-“ a searing mark was placed right under your earlobe, against a tingling part of your neck, “…very long time.”

To lie with the devil is to wake up wrapped up in braids of limb and cloth. Tender lips stained with last night’s embrace whisper saccharine words. Cherished is the temporary stillness. Beloved is the lamb who measures the meter of the heartbeat of the wolf. Blessed is the enamored; the ones drowned in their own affection, plunged into the fires of passion, entombed in each other’s chests. The cries of pleasure echoed with ones of mirth. Of declarations and vows held tight between their own teeth. Made to persist an eternity of eternities for existing as the other’s light.

For it's his desire.

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me nightbringer #obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #obey me lucifer #obey me lucifer x mc #obey me lucifer x reader

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n250s · 2 days ago

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various thangyu headcanons because these two ugly ass loser boys have unfortunately wormed their way into my brain like a parasite. warning there are a lot. some of these are straight up canon but idgaf :P

- thanos’ hair dye stains nam-gyu’s pillows and it pisses him off so bad. thanos has started purposefully showering before falling asleep just to make the staining worse.

- thanos let nam-gyu die his hair once and never again. he fucked it up and left it all patchy. he ended up having to pay for more box dye and just did it himself.

- despite popular belief, thanos prefers cats and nam-gyu prefers dogs. thanos enjoys how low maintenance cats are and he especially loves how they all have such dickish personalities. nam-gyu just likes dogs. specifically big dogs that crush him when they lay on him.

- thanos started calling nam-gyu “nam-su” purely because he’s dumb and honestly forgot his name. now it’s just an endearing nickname that nam-gyu pretends to hate. nam-gyu calls thanos by his actual name when they’re alone.

- adhd vs. autism couple. nam-gyu reminds thanos of important dates or errands he forgets and thanos indirectly helps keep nam-gyu relaxed and grounded by his presence, although nam-gyu will never admit that.

- mango cotton candy watermelon mint burst vaper x cigarette smoker. thanos tries so hard to make nam-gyu take a hit off his fruity concoctions and he refuses every time. he hates the taste and smell. thanos is definitely a “bro you can’t even smell it” type of guy. you absolutely can.

- both enable each other’s bad habits but only because they’re just a little too dense to really realize that they’re bad. both with hard substances or just in general stupid ideas.

- undiagnosed bpd warrior nam-gyu is real in my eyes. thanos doesn’t understand it AT ALL and neither does nam-gyu tbh. thanos unintentionally sets nam-gyu off often just because he doesn’t really grasp the concept of his normal behaviors being that upsetting. he knows he’s obnoxious of course, but he doesn’t understand how nam-gyu can be that upset. when he first called him “nam-su” because he genuinely didn’t remember his name it sent nam-gyu spiraling.

- nam-gyu has featured in some of thano’s raps but never as an actual collaboration. just occasional sound bites of his voice mixed into the background or something.

- casually cuddle. they just kind of do it unintentionally and it’s never anything romantic or awkward, just comfortable. they’re both very handsy and clingy. thanos has definitely made a few gay jokes before about it but neither of them care.

- insufferable to be around when they’re both high. one is enough but the two of them are excruciating. some how their bad ideas get worse under the influence.

- nam-gyu pays for majority if not all of their snacks. it’s of course all gas station junk food that has an unhealthy amount of caffeine or red 40. thanos constantly steals some of nam-gyu’s despite having his own.

- additionally, thanos is a chronic food stealer. he can’t help it. whatever it be, he steals from nam-gyu. a fry off his plate or a bite of his burger, he steals it.

- thanos LOVES biting nam-gyu and not just inherently sexual. he likes to occasionally bite his skin just to be annoying or when he’s bored.

- unhealthy amount of “dude” and “bro” usage from thanos. nam-gyu sticks with “man.” they don’t use sappy pet names but settle with those. they don’t even consider them pet names but they pretty much are.

- their wardrobes are a complete contrast. nam-gyu wears a lot of black and white while thanos wears neon clothes and anything that doesn’t really match. neither of them try dressing nice either, they just like wearing casual clothes in public. they both sleep in clothes they wear in public and vice versa.

- there is no tame vs. chaotic energy, they are both simultaneously awful. thanos is probably worse by like an ounce, they’re both bad. keep them both on leashes tbh.

- in another universe they’re friends with the rest of team thanos. i know se-mi and gyeong-su HATE to see thing one and thing two pull up to the function. min-su tolerates it but has had his fair share of teasing the two of them for how clingy they are. they’re the worst group to come across in public. loud and always making a scene.

- “would you still love me if i was a worm” thanos and “no lmfao” nam-gyu. he doesn’t mean it. probably. thanos definitely texted him that at three in the morning.

- nam-gyu wears prescription contacts and thanos likes to say they’re matching cause he occasionally wears blue contacts. nam-gyu wears his glasses when they’re alone and thanos always has to try them on. he has no awareness over the fact that asking someone to try their glasses on is overly annoying.

- thanos is definitely bisexual and nam-gyu is strictly gay. thanos would probably have a preference towards women if it weren’t for nam-gyu, but he can find anyone attractive.

- thanos cannot sit still. something is always moving. very fidgety too even without the drugs. nam-gyu is slightly better but always has a leg bobbing or is picking his nails. thanos will stand up and walk around mid-convo just because he feels compelled to move.

- thanos also cannot sit properly. he's always sitting on his legs, has his legs raised up, etc. both feet are never planted on the ground, one at most.

- unsure if they have official birthdays or not idc, but i can imagine thanos as an aries and nam-gyu as a scorpio based off of their personalities.

- xbox thanos vs. playstation nam-gyu. thanos makes fun of nam-gyu for buying a ps5 and is a firm believer in xbox being better. he hasn’t bought a new console in years. he’s running off of an xbox 360.

- thanos speaks english randomly of course, but he starts doing it more often once it clicks that nam-gyu really cannot understand him just for fun. he’ll say something like “you’re stupid” and say it translates to “you’re sexy” for no reason other than he wants to.

that’s all i can think of but i’ll most definitely concoct more over time. be ready. or not idk. i hate these two soooooo much like i don’t even like them. i hate them so much guys you have to believe me.

#probably ooc idk god fears me #squid game #squid games #squid game headcanons #thanos squid game #namgyu squid game #choi su bong #nam gyu #thangyu #thagyu #headcanons

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cloverandstuff · 6 hours ago

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WIEGE TEASER ANALYSIS

The Teaser doesn't seem to match with the other Teasers, in a very specific way. It doesn't have a single lyric.

Usually, with every single other Teaser, we get some singing. Either a few words at the end, or just faintly in the background (In Round 6 TEASER)

However, in this Teaser, the only semblance of words we get is from the morse code playing on top of the very calm music in the background.

It spells out -

.- .-.. .. ...-

-which translates to 'ALIVE'. This is played out twice.

Now we go back to the actual video. It seems to start off roughly a short time after the end of FINAL, where Hyuna and her team had stormed the stage.

Hyuna is in the focus of the shot. Not the gun, not the person behind it. Just Hyuna. Everything else is blurred out. This makes it obvious this is Luka's POV.

We cut to Luka, who has a gun pointed at his head. (Probably by Isaac, judging by the hand). Luka does not seem to care or even pay any mind to it. His eyes are fixed on who we can only assume is Hyuna, visibly flushed and smitten.

Next is a very quick sequence of clips from their childhood. It doesn't seem to be only Luka's childhood, because Mizi, Sua, Ivan, and Till are all there despite being in a different batch.

But this could be joint training, or some kind of other program. They were all in their childhood, and were in the 50th and 49th batch, so it wouldn't be impossible.

It flashes from a view of Sua and Mizi talking and laighing with each other, Sua holding a piece of paper. This might be because they were undergoing their singing lessons. The rest of the people are not detailed.

Then it cuts to a view of manly Hyun Woo, with Hyuna being visible but not fully in view. They both are the focus of shot, with no one else even being visible.

We next see Luka from a distance slightly short than him? He seems to be looking at someone with a very wide smile, and his fingertips are purple. While initally, i thought this was after Luka had killed Hyun Woo, there isn't any blood visible on him. But he does have some rough patch on his head, so maybe after a fight?

But with the theme we have with the rest of the clips, this might just be a clip of Luka while he is playing with others. (Most likely, Hyun-Woo and Hyuna)

Next, we see Till drawing a landscape on the walls, with Ivan just observing him. They are again the main focus of the shot, and there is no one else visible.

The reason I'm specifying the main focus and the way others are blurred is because i believe these are all shots from certain people's perspectives. Its also possible that these might be from the perspectives of the cameras hidden in ANAKT GARDEN.

I could be entirely wrong on this, but I did initially look at this clips and think they all looked oddly very candid. Like it was all in the POV of someone observing.

Now we come to the final clips, which shows Luka sitting under a fake tree all by himself. The video seems to want to make this a point, seeing how every other child seems to be in a group. He is a lone, and it's important.

He seems to be counting on his fingers, rather clumsily and slowly. This might show how;

A. Luka slow at learning basic things when they don't relate to his performance training.

B. ANAKT GARDEN is not good at teaching the children anything besides ALIEN STAGE practice.

C. Luka wants to learn counting and is rather stubbornly learning it despite it not being taught.

(A and C can coexist)

Then another set of hands reach out to Luka, two pointing fingers pressed against each other. They aren't slow or hesitant, though. They very siwftly enter the frame.

Now, there are two possible people this could be. It's either Hyuna or Hyun-Woo.

Now it's probably Hyuna, since this new video seems to be focusing on them. It would only make sense that Hyuna would be the next set of hands.

But considering how vital of a role Hyun-Woo seems to play in both their childhoods, I don't think it's impossible for it to be Hyun-Woo. He seemed to play the role of initially being the glue in the trio's friendship, being the one to convince Hyuna to become friends with Luka.

The art style seems to be similar to that of FINAL, though the colours seem to match up far more with the short flashback in it. The colours are brighter and more pastel in shades.

The video might feature a lot more flashbacks than any of the other Alien Stage videos. And while the focus would be on Hyuna and Luka, it seems to lean far more to Luka.

'Wiege' also seems to translate to a germanic word meaning Cradle. This seems to support the idea that this will be a more flashback focused video.

I am scared and excited. There is no telling what ALIVE might be foreshadowing.

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sillygoofyqueer · 1 day ago

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JiuYuan route is delicious. Accommodations? For Shen Jiu's PTSD? YES PLEASE.

(Also Yes, being comforted by non verbal communication? L)

Although I don't actually see SJ coming across LeviathYuan and deciding to take him with him/interacting. Man is too paranoid and aware of his weaknesses.

The only way is to force him via goading.

I need you to know that when I first went to answer this, I had to go back and check what I wrote yesterday because I swear I was in a haze that consisted almost entirely of "j-jiu-thuehtawhyjiuyuanjaif-jgieh-gjiyjiy-jyuah--ahahuhanahiyijuayangon--" and I don't even know what was going on in my little brain. (I say, actively rechecking it as I write this)

Okay so now that Shen Jiu is feeling more frustrated by Leviathyuan's kindness, I think that he would absolutely go out of his way to try and trip him up. Like, try and prove to himself that Leviathyuan is just acting and that he will eventually trip himself up if Shen Jiu pushes just enough! With this plan in mind, he begins to be...not. Friendly, but a little kinder. Speaking more comfortably, referring to him as "Yuan-di" (or "Yuan-ge" if you want) and then trying to inconspicuously check how Leviathyuan reacts to this.

The issue is that there's literally no change in how Leviathyuan acts because the human's body language isn't changing or anything, and even if it had, he's hardwired into politeness. The land demons may be used to taking and snatching and fighting for what they want, but aquatic demons are much more chill and all you gotta do is be polite down there, because they understand that there's a food chain and they're all very aware of how their ecosystem works. "Oh you hungry? Sure you can eat me, thanks for asking!!"

All this to say that as Leviathyuan starts learning human language, he's like the politest person ever. "You have food specifically for me that you laid out for me and nobody else can eat?...May I please have some?" Shen Jiu is like offering Leviathyuan a hand up after a lesson or something (to catch him off guard and see if he takes more than he's allowed) and the demon just stares at his hand before being like "can I touch your hand so you can help me up?" (In broken Chinese of course) And Shen Jiu is like "???? A respectful man thing?????"

In the background, there's Yue Qingyuan who is hearing Shen Jiu acting more familiar with Leviathyuan and is like "I'm glad Xiao-Jiu is making friends ☺️" as if he isn't about to explode. He is genuinely pleased that someone else is being friendly and kind to Shen Jiu, but like....DAMN IT, at the same time. (Shang Qinghua is watching this all go down and is watching in horror as Yue Qingyuan crushes his third teacup of the day.)

#leviathyuan au #relatively short one today boys #better something than nothing eh?#anyway #respectful demons that are just built that way #I think about you a lot #Shen Jiu is trying to catch leviathyuan off guard #and the demon is just like “I'm making friends :D”#scum villain self saving system #ren zha fanpai zijiu xitong #scum villain #mxtx svsss #svsss au #svsss #shen yuan #shen jiu #shen qingqiu #jiuyuan #yue qingyuan

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androdetective · 2 days ago

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I wish people talked about the recruiters backstory more. His story is one of exploitation and class tensions. He came from poverty and was a young guy who became a pink guard. Who eventually caught Oh Il-nam's interest, which is what got him promoted from soldier to manager to recruiter. He was only able to become successful because a rich guy happened to notice him. That was all entirely based on luck. We know he's rich now from that recruiter morning routine video that was released. He's one of the very rare people who actually went from poverty to riches.

When he was at his lowest when young, he was swept up by bad people who gave him the worst mentalities. But that's what caused him to be able to live a comfortable life. The way he talks, he talks exactly the way Oh Il-nam (and even the front man) talk about the games. How he's just a messenger who delivers messages, how he told himself during his guard years that the poor people are trash with no purpose. It's the simplification of horrible things. The mindset of the games/system got a hold of him. His poverty roots are irrelevant to him. He probably thinks he was different and a hard worker, which is why he made it unlike the other trash.

When he gives that "you're just another piece of trash who made it out of the garbage" speech to Gi-hun and how he only made it because of luck, that entirely applies to him. He had a millionaire VIP to help him, compared to the other hundreds of regular guards. It's unbelievable luck to have a millionaire to help you up the ranks/class. He is a self-hating class traitor. He's those types of people who went from poverty to upper class. And because they managed that, they swear that the system works and will be horribly classist to people below them. They think that lower class people are garbage and need to work harder just like they did. Ignoring the fact that they only managed to because of luck.

We know that outside of his work, he messes with poor people through games/social experiments. When he gave the homeless people the choices between bread and a lottery ticket, everyone but one chose the tickets. Which is already cruel, considering it takes extreme luck to win. It's even worse than a 1/456 chance. When he's finished, he dumps the bread and stomps on them. He then blames all the homeless people for wasting the bread because they chose unlucky tickets. This isn't even a part of his job, but he does this to reaffirm his belief in the system/game. It's a special type of cruelness because the money he spent on the tickets and bread was nothing to him. He could've given each person both of each and continued to be rich. But he doesn't because he views them as wastes who don't deserve it.

When holding Kim and Choi Woo-seok hostage. He ties them up and bounds them with dog bone gags. Something he probably got from the love hotel on such short notice. There are countless jokes about the gags, but I do think they have meaning. The recruiter is called a dog by Gi-hun. Something that means he's below his masters. He did not like getting told that by Gi-hun. We know the recruiter likes putting others below him. The show choice of specifically dog bones, to me, is another instance of him transferring that powerlessness to those below him. To have a sense of power and control. A reminder that he's made it. He even plays a classical song during the game (and even during russian roulette). With the song named "Time to Say Goodbye", it's one last mocking. Classical songs are seen as very high class. It's the kind of music played in the games. And that's what the recruiter enjoys and strives for.

We know that during his pink soldier days, he ended up shooting his dad. There are two beliefs people come to about him. That he was either a regular dad or a bad one. If he was a regular one, it shows that the trauma of poverty and capitalism can make you turn against loved ones. If he wasn't, it shows that already vulnerable people with no support are more likely to get preyed on by the privileged. The recruiter ends up saying a line I found interesting, "One day, they gave me a gun. I liked the way it felt. It was like someone had finally acknowledged my existence. " This was the most vulnerable we've seen him. This implies he didn't feel he had support until he was given power. A bad kind of power given to him by Oh Il-nam. He was being set up to become a valuable asset, not a person. That line could imply he didn't feel acknowledged not only by nobody before the games, but by even his family. If that's true, then that could further explain his happy attitude when he talked about shooting his dad. If he already sucked, then he was even worse by being desperate enough to play the games. Even all that aside, his feelings about his dad didn't matter. He had a job to do. If he couldn't do his job, he could get killed. It's either his dad dies or he dies. And that's exactly how the system works. He knows it's a dog eat dog world.

He becomes such a strong believer in the system he is willing to die for it. He followed the rules of Russian roulette because if he didn't, he'd go against of the rules of the system he wholeheartedly believes in. The system who got him to greatness. The system wants you to kill and die to uphold it, so that's why he does it.

Before he shoots himself, half his face is confident while the other half is scared. Gong Yoo has said he did that on purpose. Even before death, he was putting on a confident performance. But his fear, from seeing that HIS luck with the system ran out, was enough to crack through. From what we've seen of him, he's almost never genuine. He puts on a customer like service kindness. When we know he hates the people he recruits/interacts with. The most genuine we've seen him was during rock paper scissors and russian roulette. And even then, he's putting on a show trying to freak out the players. He looks down on them, and he wants to be the one in control. He's not allowed to be genuine with those he recruits, nor does he let himself. He's a good employee who does his best for his employers. And that's exactly it, he's another employee who's easily replaceable. After the recruiters' death, we don't see In-ho worry about it. No one cares because there's others like him. As Gi-hun has said, he runs around, barks, and grovels like a dog for his master. The recruiter is no one special, no matter how much he sucks up to those in power. It shows best in his lack of a name. His personhood doesn't matter, what matters is his job.

#squid game #squid game 2 #squid game spoilers #the recruiter #the salesman

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auguryofjellyfish · 2 days ago

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my chap 4 death predictions as of day 26. i made this a few days ago and surprisingly, it stayed entirely the same even after the motive drop.

this is more vibes-based than anything. would ojima make sense as a killer? ....maybe? i don't know how though. i guess that he could be the victim and yanagi the killer, i think it could be either-or. my reasoning for this order specifically:

three words- maximizing tragedy factor.

hirojima and/or hayashigeki ain't surviving. one, or both pairs are gonna get broken up now.

ojima dislikes yanagi and actively holds a grudge against him for hurting hiroaki.

ojima was in absolute awe when he heard hayashi killed her abuser, he wished he could be stronger and able to fight back too.

ojima has said many times that he would never kill, so being pushed to murder/or killing by accident would be tragic as hell. pure drama.

i thought about mai as a victim for a second, but i don't see how ojima, or anyone could make a drop on her, plus they have their solidarity thing going on.

yanagi's death would be devastating for mai. here he was, always worried about her safety, when she should have cared more about his all along?

ojima's been a victim his entire life. him dying as a victim would be fitting and devastating, but also...eh. eeeehhh. i guess if he killed by accident/unwittingly, it would also make him a victim of circumstance.

yanagi's self-sacrificial to a fault. if you live to be of service to others, could you say that you would never die for someone?

i'm not too certain about ojima killer, i don't know how it could be compelling AND well-written. woah, an abuse victim being a killer, so original. he can't kill while he's dissociating, that would be bad and stupid. he also wouldn't kill on purpose because he simply dislikes someone. what i feel is just... ojima killer would bring a different kind of devastation than ojima victim. he's a very kind and caring person, the idea of him going against who he is like that hurts so bad. there would be an undertone of betrayal there. like, et tu, ojima? especially if hiroaki carries the trial again, and as he's putting the pieces together, he realizes that he has doomed ojima to death. that, to me, would be an entirely different type of agony than the one of ojima getting murdered. not to say that hiroaki wouldn't also be completely incapacitated by ojima dying as a first thing.

also, i thought about a scene like, hiroaki thinks the 'but i wouldn't do it!' argument is always invalid and never lets it slide. so, it would be quite funny if someone accused ojima in the trial and hiroaki was like '??? uhhhh, are you stupid? ojima wouldn't do it, he can hardly tell his left from his right' and ojima's like haaahhh yeah. anyway, i'm putting a pin in it, i dunno. i'm still very fond of the idea that someone will try to kill hiroaki and they will get killed by ojima instead. (thanks bronze-ocs!)

however, yanagi is DEAD dead. deadady-dead-dead-dead. i'm certain. my man's just gone. he's been going above and beyond this chapter, stretching himself thin to support many people and keeping up morale. and so far he's the only one who sort-of kind-of believes in monomoko. or at least, that she might be imprisoned and coerced, just like them. i can't see how he could make it to chapter 5. for him, either scenario works. him being a killer, after all the good he's done for so many people, after he's been trying his hardest to redeem himself and make up for his mistakes? especially killing someone as beloved as ojima? oof. unforgivable. ESPECIALLY because of his knight's vow. he was supposed to protect others, that is what he lives for, and ending someone's life...honestly, now that i think about it, yanagi killer might just give himself up immediately out of pure guilt.

yanagi victim works for the same reasons, he's been trying so hard, struggling, growing, devoting himself to hayashi, wada, and tamba, and he gets killed for it. pure tragedy. it's just fucked. either way, i strongly feel that he's not going to survive.

briefly about some others:

mai: i feel like she might be a goner too, but i'm not sure. i don't see either ojima or yanagi killing her, or vice versa. wellllllllll... anything can happen if it's an accident.....?

tamba: maybe? either she's dying here, or she's a survivor. i just don't feel very strongly about the possibility of her dying.

hiroaki: as substitute for ojima. but i don't think he will, he had JUST tried to kill himself. plus, there's a hell of a lot more evidence for ojima dying rn than him. and my biggest reason...ojima's death would devastate him more than his would devastate ojima. but still, i'm not ruling it out completely.

watari's worrying me, but i think there's a big likelihood she'll survive. i saw the hama killer theories, it would be unexpected and tragic ig, but i dunno. ken and wada are surviving. and that's about it, for now, i'll see how it changes in the upcoming weeks.

#tetro danganronpa pink #i just realized that with ojima and yanagi gone there'd be only reds‚ purple and brown left....#damn i need to throw this entire thing outta the window now #blakewords

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liliasenbyhusband · 22 hours ago

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Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein hate fucked

18+

In case it wasn’t clear by the title this is nsfw (especially the second part) so minors dni!!

Before I go on this rant I do want to say that I’ve only seen a couple of clips from this musical and have never fully seen it (if anyone has a link 👀). I do however listen to the soundtrack religiously and I’m a lesbian so I feel that qualifies me and makes me right about this.

Also please note this is about the characters and not the actual people!

Firstly their sexualities just cause I can:

I believe Helena Rubinstein is a lesbian, the only reason she ever entertained men is because that’s what was expected and needed to get where she wanted to get. In If I’d been a man she says “I love only men I can't caress” and that honestly sounds so much like someone experiencing comphet to me. Like only loving men you know you can’t have cause it brings you some solace that you at least still like men??? Of course we also have the absolute obsession with Elizabeth and like nothing is straight about that. On top of all of that in Forever Beautiful she very proudly talks about how Tamara De Lempicka had a crush on her which is also not very straight of her and then there is this little moment in No, Thank You where she talks to mr Paley about his wife that had me question if she’s fucking his wife… ngl… like the way she says “I insist, it’s sapphire, like her eyes” had me going like 🤨 “and how do you know that, ma’am???”.

I find Elizabeth Arden more difficult to place, I’m going to be honest. Of course the obsession with Helena is very fucking gay, it reminds me of the song ‘loathing’ from the wicked musical, so she is definitely sapphic. I believe she does like men as well though, like she was genuinely into her husband, I think. My gut is saying bisexual but with good arguments I could be persuaded of most other sapphic identities as well.

Now for the main event: they fucked.

They were obsessed with each other for half a century... HALF A CENTURY… that is a different kind of loathing like… that is a type of obsession that in and of itself is so fucking sapphic that I can’t even put it into words. Like they live in each other’s heads rent free. And when you think about someone that much, you can’t tell me that you don’t, at some level, want them. Once again think of the song ‘loathing’.. hate and love/lust are not opposite emotions, they are far closer to one another than one might think.

They caused themselves (and their businesses) so much damage just to be able to hinder the other. Imagine hating someone so much you want to make their life that much more difficult and will even shoot yourself in the foot for it. That in itself is so sexually and emotionally charged.. like she really means so much to you that you’d damage yourself just so she suffers too?? If that isn’t the gayest thing you ever heard then idk anymore.

The tension that comes from hating one another so severely and trying to continuously make life harder for the other person can so easily slip into something more sexually charged that you cannot convince me that during a specifically heated argument the sexual tension didn’t become too much for them. So they snapped and just let it all out. It was definitely rough and not pretty, I’m talking clashing teeth, fighting to have the upper hand (I believe Helena ends up winning) and torn up clothes. It would truly bring out their most feral side and any composure and grace they previously held goes out the window.

And once the dam broke the first time well.. let’s just say whenever life got too much and they needed to take it out on someone… their arguments turned into something more carnal.

Now let’s talk about Face to Face because that song is gay as all hell. What do you mean you wonder about what her favourite perfume and artists are??? Like the way they’re singing about one another in this song is the reason I first was like “oh they fucked”.

At the beginning of the song Helena complains about how she’s always been attached to her ‘rival’ but they’ve attached themselves to each other, no one forced them to remain enemies or to continue being petty and make life harder for the other. They could have detached at any point.

Also how they suddenly wanna share their struggles with one another??? GAY!!! And how they suddenly admit that maybe the other person is possibly just as good as they are because why else would they be able to annoy them this much??? SAPPHICS!!!

Now onto stealing each other’s confidant… like there is something so petty and so gay about that like why on earth do you want the person that is closest to her by your side? Is it because you want to get under their skin so badly that you’ll do anything?? Is it because it’s a way to have her closer to you without being closer? Or do you want to gain more knowledge about her??? No matter the answer, the outcome is so fucking gay and most definitely leads to hate sex. Like what do you mean you stole her husband to have as your right hand man??? That is so utterly bizar and is such a messy lesbian move. What are you trying to get to know about her that you need her husband as your right hand man 🤨.

Beauty in the world + the entire finale is so fucking gay. It’s basically like “yeah only us two know about when there was true beauty in the world” and like “we should just stay enemies for business” HELLO??? “Our secret” EXCUSE ME???. Maybe we helped the other survive/thrive??? What kind of gay ass shit????? Helena asking Elizabeth her opinion on her lipstick. The way Helena looks at Elizabeth when she sings “Eyes that glittered like a gem. The lovers we bewitched with them.” They definitely fucked.

“Strange with you I see it all again like new. A glimpse of beauty in the world.” SORRY??? I DON’T THINK ANYONE HAS EVER SAID ANYTHING AS ROMANTIC TO ME AS THIS.

The way they look back so fondly on their rivalry.. it really was a way to cope and survive and blow off steam and you cannot convince me that they didn’t hate fuck to help with that.

After that encounter they had sex one last time and for the first time it wasn’t purely hate filled but there was some softness and fondness there.

And lastly THE WAY HELENA APPLIES ELIZABETH’S LIPSTICK IN beauty in the world. LIKE THE WAY SHE SO GENTLY WIPES IT AWAY THEN APPLIES IT AGAIN?? The first time I saw that I nearly screamed and died. If that moment can’t convince you that they slept together then nothing can.

That’s it’s for now. I wanted to add more clips as proof etc but I can only add one sooo I chose this one

(This rant was inspired by a reaction from @yourbasicqueerie)

#they totally fucked #war paint #musical #elizabeth arden #helena rubinstein #patti lupone #christine ebersole

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its-no-biggie · 3 days ago

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okay i also don't know much japanese, but i have an interest in linguistics and have been watching subbed anime for like 4 years - and i know saying that as a qualification makes me sound like the kind of weeb who says "arigatou gozaimasu" to retail workers, but listen. immersion is an effective teacher! i'm not claiming to be an authority, but i've definitely picked up on some nuances of the language in that time, so just hear me out here. generally i think your translation/breakdown is pretty good, but there's a few things that stick out to me.

first off, the use of そんな (sonna). translating it as "such [people]" or "those other [people]" is accurate, but to my understanding this does, in fact, indicate emphasis on the concept of "strangers". he could've simply said "people" with no article and the sentence would still be complete, unlike english which requires an article in most cases. he's explicitly saying "*those* people", or "that kind of person (plural)". drawing a distinction between them and himself. this phrasing could either be referencing some specific quality about this group of people (i don't remember if there was a line establishing something like that before this or not), or just an unspecified indication of otherness - either way, coming from kuusuke it's pretty clear what he means by this.

conversely, your point about passive voice - yes, kuusuke doesn't use a first person pronoun, but that's not really significant the way it would be in english. the japanese language uses pronouns far less often than english does. sure, the structure is analogous to the english passive voice, but that doesn't mean it carries the same meaning - it's simply the default way of speaking. it's certainly worth noting the way these kind of linguistic quirks can subtly influence the meaning in the source language, but taken in context i wouldn't say that changing this to active voice in the english translation is less accurate - using passive voice instead would imply that he's deliberately avoiding referring to himself, which would suggest a level of passivity that isn't actually being conveyed.

and now for that conditional verb. my understanding is that the phrase 犠牲になる (gisei ni naru) means literally "become a sacrifice", and なる (naru) is conjugated first in negative present conditional, then in negative present. so this conditional seems to kind of refer back to itself - as in, "if he doesn't become a sacrifice, then he doesn't become [a sacrifice]". the conditional he uses is specifically for hypotheticals - after all, a direct conditional here would just be redundant. but this conditional paired with the "why" makes it very difficult to phrase in english, which is likely why this translation is not a conditional, but rather a rhetorical hypothetical. both pose a hypothetical, but the result is explicitly stated in the original japanese (ならないんだってね - he doesn't become [a sacrifice], wouldn't you say?), and only implied in english. pretty clever, if you ask me.

so. putting it all together (to the best of my ability):

(the sake of those people) (for) (why)... (my cute younger brother) (if) (a sacrifice) (he becomes) (not) (then) (he becomes) (not) (wouldn't you say?)

"why, for the sake of those people... would my cute little brother become a sacrifice? (he wouldn't, you know?)"

"why should i care about those people... if my cute little brother wouldn't be sacrificed for the sake of something like that, then he won't be sacrificed, don't you think?"

"if the reason to sacrifice my cute little brother is for the sake of those people, then naturally he wont be sacrificed, right?"

so, personally i think the original translation gets the meaning across pretty well? it's certainly less clunky than my attempts. but you might just have a different interpretation of kuusuke's character - here are some of my thoughts on what he's getting at here.

you mentioned kuusuke's motive for creating the device, and i believe he does say just before this that originally his motive for creating it was to benefit humanity, or something along those lines. but the way i see it, this panel is kuusuke rejecting the idea of sacrificing kusuo, whether it would be the right thing to do or not. he's saying "i've decided i don't give a damn about the rest of the world, i'm not going to sacrifice my beloved little brother for a world full of people who are beneath both of us". and paired with the fact that he's taking off the telepathy canceller - he's opening up to his brother, revealing his true intentions. it's one of the few times kusuo would know if kuusuke was lying or not, and we can tell from his reaction that kuusuke is being 100% genuine.

which is why kusuo is surprised and confused - what kind of person just disregards the whole world for the sake of one person? well..... kuusuke. we know he puts kusuo on a pedestal and does not think highly of the general population. just look at the alternate timeline...... but kusuo views their relationship as primarily antagonistic, and doesn't consider them close at all - he even calls kuusuke by his first name. this moment challenges kusuo's image of kuusuke as this evil mastermind, hellbent on ruining kusuo's life, who has only been unable to achieve his goal because kusuo is stronger - revealing him instead to be a very bored genius who just likes playing and competing with his brother (and has a tendency to take things too far).

and maybe kuusuke really did think it would be for the best if the whole world knew about kusuo's powers, but thought he had no right to impose something like that on kusuo unless he was strong enough to win it from him. maybe he thought he had no chance of actually winning and just wanted to up the stakes. whatever his reasoning was originally, he obviously changed his mind, and this panel tells us why - because he cares more about kusuo than he does about "those people". normal people. the rest of the world. even if he still thinks the world would be better off knowing, he doesn't care about that. why should i have to sacrifice my cute little brother for the sake of strangers like them?

i really like this scene! kuusuke says to kusuo's face that he regards him more highly than the rest of the world combined, and kusuo can't explain it away as a lie or an alternate timeline or anything else - it's definitely a turning point in their relationship. yeah, it's kinda fucked up that kuusuke views humanity as beneath him. yeah, it's kinda fucked up that he didn't reveal this to kusuo sooner. but i mean. it's kuusuke. he's kind of a fucked up guy. i'm not here to pretend their relationship is normal or healthy - the point is that kuusuke doesn't genuinely wish any harm on kusuo. which seems kind of ridiculous to say after he just attacked him with a tank (hence why kusuo is surprised), but like. kuusuke has been observing kusuo and testing his limits their entire lives. he almost certainly knew that he couldn't do him any real harm. this panel is one of the only times we can trust that kusuo is reading his intentions correctly, and kuusuke could not have made it any clearer that he cares about kusuo. this is the essence of their dynamic to me - buried under all the misunderstandings and antagonism, kuusuke admires his brother, and kusuo enjoys having someone around that he can compete with.

anyway feel free to let me know your thoughts - i know a lot of this doesn't line up with the general fandom interpretation of kuusuke, so i don't necessarily expect you to agree...... just wanted to share my interpretation of this scene ^_^

This panel never made sense to me, and I finally took some time to pick it apart after buying Saiki k vol 25 in physical form.

during the last PSIHOWDOWN panel where kusuke takes off his telepathic canceler, here’s what Kuusuke said in Japanese, transcribed from my physical copy of volume 25 because I couldn’t find it online:

first speech bubble

そんな者達の為に何で…

(sonna mono tachi no tame ni nani de…)

second speech bubble

かわいい弟が犠牲にならなきゃならないんだってね

(kawaii ototo ga gisei ni naranakya naranai ndatte ne)

which I broke down like this:

そんな者達の為に何で…

(such) (person) (counter) (possessive article) (word ‘for’/sake) (why)

translation: but for those other people’s well-being why…

かわいい弟が犠牲にならなきゃならないんだってね

(cute) (younger brother) (subject marker) (sacrifice) (for?*)(if it doesn’t**)(must not***)(I heard)(emphasis****)

* ni= particle indicating something about the word right before it

**gisei ni naranakya = won’t be sacrificed (if…)

***naranai = must not, should not, cannot resist, cannot help (doing)

****ね (ne) particle can also be asking for affirmation, like using the word ‘right?’ in English

the entire phrase naranai ndatte ne might just be “there’s no need to (it seems?), right?”

translation: should my cute younger brother be made a sacrifice (if it’s unnecessary)

really not sure how accurate this is.

originally I thought this part was saying that Kuusuke thought it was necessary for Kusuo to be a sacrifice but also he personally thought he shouldn’t. I was wrong; naranakya translates as “could not be sacrificed,” as in conditional negative, not “must be sacrificed” as google translate says.

The root verb is なる(naru), to become/attain/reach etc.

Idk here. someone who actually knows Japanese, please feel free to comment. I can only get so far for now.

Here’s what I put in the notes of my last fanfiction on the subject of this panel:

After years of being confused by the meaning of the panel where Kusuke admits the reason why he disabled the device that would broadcast kusuo’s powers globally, I finally get it.

It has nothing to do with Kuusuke being selfish/weird; it’s actually the opposite. He’s trying to tell Kusuo that his actual motives for making the right device were selfless (to benefit humanity) and be honest with him about the fact that he personally doesn’t want it to happen, but he thought it was best.

For whatever reason the original Japanese there seems to be pretty different than the English translation.

I’m not sure if I am translating it exactly right (probably not…) but Kuusuke’s wording makes the statement way more ambiguous in Japanese. There’s no emphasis on the word “strangers”; as a matter of fact, from what I can tell, what he says is just “people” or “those people.”

He doesn’t say “I” at all; it’s what would be considered passive tense in English. There’s no possessive “my” little brother either; it’s implied. So it comes across as a lot less controlling (it’s not about Kuusuke, instead it is about Kusuo.) And I still can’t quite figure out what he meant in the second half of the speech bubble (two conjugations of the same verb in succession) but i think he’s making the distinction between what he doesn’t want to happen (kusuo to be sacrificed) and what he feels is unavoidable (kusuo being sacrificed.) which is basically exactly what Kusuo said a few panels earlier; that it was unavoidable. And Kuusuke also said the previous panel that he still thought it would be best for humanity if his powers were globally known. So the conclusion here is that the original Japanese seems to make a lot more sense.

There’s a lot of instances in the manga where I was just confused by what was written because it doesn’t quite make sense in English. So I plan on revisiting the most bothersome ones when I can.

#i fear this is becoming a kuusuke fanblog. i love my little freak <3 #free my man. he did all of that but he had love and whimsy in his heart!!!!!#can anybody hear me #saiki k #biggie tumbles

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avicinda · 23 hours ago

Text

A Guide to Faewish Sprite Jobs and Uniforms

I went around the Wishing Woods taking note of what colors corresponded to what jobs, as well as the ornaments on their hoods. This is mostly for personal reference so I know where to find specific types of sprites. Due to the nature of this post there are unavoidable spoilers from Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 of the main story.

In general, the uniforms work like this:

higher ranked (i.e. supervisors) or otherwise unique (i.e. shopkeepers, named NPCs) fairies have the long ribbon-like wings, as well as the large ornament on their hood related to their work

generic fairies within a job have the standard tiny wings but in the same color as their uniform and a small version of the corresponding ornament at the end of their hood

fairies also seem to be allowed to add accessories however they like, a few of my screenshots include some who are wearing extra accessories that are not part of their uniform

For simplicity I will be referring to the two types of uniforms as "supervisor" and "standard". I've also tried to be clear about what things here are my assumptions so hopefully I haven't accidentally missed being clear about anything that is.

I will also mention where I feel I am missing information. This post also does not include the unique jobs like Eltinada's or Dorobo's.

Before we start, for comparison, here are what the general, non-uniformed Faewish Sprites looks like:

This is VERY image heavy so I've put the main content under a cut.

Wish Pass Office

Color: black

Ornament: quill feather

Roles: customs, passport issuance

Every interviewer along the Cavern of Wishes uses the supervisor uniform, so presumably you have to be highly ranked to be an interviewer.

The standard Wish Pass fairies are only found along the road immediately after you enter the Wishing Woods. Their main role seems to be inspecting goods and taking inventory of items entering the Woods.

During Chigda's rule, they were instructed to reject all applications for a passport, giving them a fairly lax work environment for that time.

Given we can find Aventura in the Wishing Woods after Giroda is elected, Giroda presumably encouraged them to start earnestly reviewing applications again.

Wish Inspection Center

Color: pink

Ornament: pink heart with a white heart outlined in blue inside for the director, solid pink heart with a broken blue heart on top for bizarre orb supervisor, solid pink heart for everyone else

Roles: handles everything related to all kinds of Wishing Orbs, splits accordingly into departments for Delicious Orbs, Bizarre Orbs, and Desperation Orbs

Note that only Director Boboda has the two toned heart ornament.

The above are wish auditors, sorters, and inspectors found in the Wish Inspection Center. They are responsible for ensuring the Wishing Orb pipeline goes smoothly.

They sort wishes by listening to them and identifying the kind of wish from there, which is a natural ability to all Faewish Sprites. However, with the development of an amplifier by the Wishcraft Lab, they can now do this much faster, while also improving their accuracy.

It seems you have to pass a sorting accuracy test to join this office. The record is 99.9% accuracy, held by current Director Boboda who is also the youngest director in history.

Wishing Orb couriers/transporters also use the supervisor uniform (as seen in the cutscene where they take Afubo's doll).

There's also a unique ornament for supervisors of the Bizarre Orb Hills.

The Desperation Orb Warehouse presumably originally fell under the Wish Inspection Office as well, but was taken over by the Paladins under Chigda's orders. Currently, there are no uniformed supervisors from the Wish Inspection Office on-site.

Due to Wishing Orbs being the Faewish Sprites' primary source of nutrition, the Wish Inspection Center seems to be one of the two largest organizations.

Wish Celebration Center

Color: yellow

Ornament: yellow and orange striped cone hat with confetti ball at the end for supervisors, yellow and white striped cone hat OR a yellow puff ball for everyone else

Roles: coordinating the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, management of confetti cannons, making decorations and gifts, managing and preparing parents for the ceremony

One of the busier areas outside of the Grand Millewish Tree, the Wish Celebration Center is all about the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.

They work with the parents of baby sprites to assist both them and the babies for the ceremony, including helping them choose gifts for their baby and ensuring they have a name and clothes prepared. They provide ready made gifts like balloons and flowers.

They probably work closely with the dye station.

They're also in charge of the confetti cannons we use to launch Momo and Nikki.

Vikda is part of them, but has a unique outfit.

With how important the ceremony is to Faewish Sprite society in general, they are probably the other one of the two largest organizations.

Wishcraft Lab

Color: dark blue

Ornament: light bulb with a four pointed star inside

Roles: all kinds of research, Whimtech development and engineering, equipment maintenance, Wishing Orb study (i.e. studying the properties of Desperation Orbs, developing better methods to handle Bizarre Orbs), Desperation Syndrome study

These guys do a LOT of things and can be found in almost all the other offices as well, usually near equipment. They are in charge of Faewish technology, but also study things related to the mutated vines and Desperation Syndrome.

Many can also be found in the area around the Desperation Orb Warehouse.

Giroda has tasked them with upgrading the electrical system of the entire Wishing Woods within five years.

Research Institute

Since I was kind of confused by this initially, I'm giving this a subsection here. Created by Chigda and Avicinda as a separate office from the Wishcraft Lab, the Research Institute took budget and resources away from the Wishcraft Lab. Publicly, they were stated to be developing Whimtech weapons for the Paladins, but never actually produced anything. In reality, the Research Institute was a prison for human stylists kidnapped by the Paladins. Quick-Wish Bottles were also created here in the process of trying to create a second Aureum Vase.

After Chigda's defeat, fairies who had unwittingly joined the Research Institute have been absorbed into the Wishcraft Lab.

Quick-Flight Firefighters

Color: red

Ornament: splash of water

Roles: firefighting, preparing water balloons, emergency services

They're obviously found at the fire station in the residential area, where they have many water balloons prepared.

Fires were previously more common in the Wishing Woods when the confetti cannons were powered through ignition. Since the switch to compressed air, this doesn't happen as often anymore and the firefighters now mostly work as a general emergency service and also also help out other fairies where they can.

Wish Master's Paladins

Color: orange, may actually be brown

Ornament: feathered plume, supervisors additionally have a metal band with the four pointed star, captain gets a helm with the four pointed star

Roles: Faewish sprite military, bodyguards to the Wish Master, security guards, peacekeeping

Yes, Avicinda's outfit really is yellow compared to the orange/brown of the other Paladins.

Paladins carry wooden swords and use either Whim or some other natural Faewish magic to fight. Most of them can be found around the Grand Millewish Tree, naturally centered at their garrison, but also as guards in key entrances to the different areas of the tree. They are however, also found all over the Wishing Woods, either as guards or patrolling the area.

At the garrison there is also a trio of non-uniformed fairies doing exercises. I assume these are fresh recruits.

Under Chigda and Avicinda's control, they were exceptionally corrupt and abused their power against other Faewish Sprites while also regularly invading the Abandoned District. It would seem no Paladins other than Avicinda were aware of the true purposes of their work, being only given pieces of the truth here and there, just enough to keep them loyal and willing to abuse their power.

Giroda is presently working on reforming them into a better peacekeeping organization.

Temple of Wishes Library

Color: light green

Ornament: dark blue gemstone of some kind

Roles: maintaining the books in the archive, importing new books, Faewish education

As head librarian, Pokobo's coloration is more yellow-green than her colleagues'.

They seem to be far fewer in number compared to other groups.

Under Chigda's rule, the library was completely closed off to the public as part of his efforts to control history.

Giroda reinstated Pokobo after her firing and has allowed the lending of books. He's also allowed her to start importing new literature to improve Faewish Sprites' critical thinking and general education of the world beyond the Wishing Woods.

Delicious Wish Clinic

Color: standard blue

Ornament: bandage patch on side of hood

Roles: doctors, medical staff, treating Desperation Syndrome, assisting the dye station

We saw them in action when the mutated vines attacked the wishball field. Not much to say about them IMO, they're doctors and most of them are found in the clinic, which is one level above the residential area. Desperation Syndrome is their biggest concern but it's not as common as in the past due to the improvements to the Wish Inspection Center. Most of their work comes from young Faewish Sprites.

Interestingly, you can find a lot of them helping at the dye station.

Dye Station

Note: I'm unsure if there is an official name for this one

Color: light blue, close to cyan

Ornament: glimmergrass flower

Roles: conversion of glimmergrass into dyes, bottling and storage of dyes, management of dye inventory, several also work for Timis

There does not seem to be any of them with the supervisor outfit that I could find.

They are mostly found at the dye station, reachable via cannon to the right of the Temple of Wishes (I'm noting this because I always get lost trying to find them).

Most of Timis's Beauty Lab staff appear to also be from this group, so they also probably consist of a lot of designers or are more inclined to be interested in makeup due to the nature of their work.

The dyes are mostly used in preparation of clothes for baby Faewish Sprites for the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.

Medical staff can be found assisting them as well. Maybe because a lot of them left to work for Timis...?

Anglers

Note: there's no official name for this if they are a formal organization/group, so I am going by Gooeybo's shop "Angler's Catch"

Color: light(ish) blue

Ornament: fish fin

Roles: they are fishing!

As far as I could find, Gooeybo is the only angler with the supervisor style outfit, but does not seem to use the coloration.

A few can be found diving in the river beside the Beauty Lab's Waterwheel.

Gardeners or Farmers

Note: this is another one with no official name as far as I've seen and in fact it's not spelled out what they do, but based on the placement of these NPCs and what Bachada sells, I assume they are either of the above

Color: turquoise

Ornament: four pointed star flower with two green leaves for supervisor, two leaves for standard

Roles: appears to largely be in charge of cultivating plants like lampbloms and glimmerglass, harvests sol fruit and stellar fruit, presumably they are the ones who wrap Delicious Orbs in sol fruit leaves

Bachada seems to be the only one with this ornament and the supervisor outfit, but does not use the coloration. I feel like I've seen other NPCs with this ornament, but I'm having trouble finding them.

They can be found in several places, but notably some of them are working in Dorobo's kitchen overseeing the Delicious Orbs and other vegetables.

Ironically, I couldn't find any of them working in the farm that Timis rented.

Minigames

Color: dark orange

Ornament: standard minigame hat

Role: facilitating minigames

I just felt like I had to include them.

#infinity nikki #infinity nikki spoilers #infinity nikki lore #faewish sprites #i uhhh this probably wouldve been better as a google doc or smth huh but. i got really far into it before thinking this so i got committed #TIL THERES A 30 IMAGE LIMIT #thankfully I hit it on literally the last image #i think i got everything i wanted to say down

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cripplecharacters · 20 hours ago

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Hello! Do you have any advice on how to handle an inherently fictional facial difference (that was caused by a fictional reason and while may have some partial crossover/parallels with elements of real world FDs, ultimately is a fictional one and is specific to the world/lore) in a way that would not come off as harmful to real facial differences? I also have some characters with actual real life FDs in the story, but maybe there's something else I should consider?

Also, what is your opinion on fictional disabilities in general? Not when the story just has a vague disability that can't be strongly connected to anything specific from real life, but when author specifically develops a fictional condition/disability/chronic disease etc in context of/based on elements of their fictional world?

Hello!

A fictional facial difference has basically the same potential pitfalls as any other fictional disability. You can take a look at this post where we talked about what not to do, TLDR: make sure it's actually a fictional disability and not just one you haven't heard of yet and be mindful of what real conditions it could be reminiscent of (and avoid stereotypes accordingly).

It's good that you also have characters with actually existing disabilities, it honestly annoys me to no end when people boast about their "disability rep" while all they have is 20 different "magic character can't do magic" characters. So this is definitely a big plus.

The only thing you need to keep in mind is to not split the two (character with fictional FD vs characters with IRL FD) into separate categories, consciously or not. Don't treat the one with a made-up FD as better or as inherently prettier than "those other people". Ideally they're all just treated the same in the story since that's the only option that makes logical sense.

Also, it was mentioned already in the post I linked, but unless you have some very specific scenario you purposefully want to do and actually comment on, avoid making the cause of her FD either 1) result of her parents doing Evil Drugs or black magic or whatever or 2), contagious. Very little FDs have those origins, but many are stereotyped or downright accused of being such.

Other than that, think of the same stuff as you would with IRL facial differences existing in a story. How does society treat them? What is the acceptance level? Are the majority of people knowledgeable (a person can know exactly nothing about being disabled and still be kind and accepting; it's not exclusive)? Are FDs more common because medicine is less advanced?

For the last question; it depends. If it has symptoms that real people have, there are gonna be real people who will relate to it (if done well) and real people who might be offended by how it's portrayed (if done badly).

Let's say your setting has a magic toxic flower that causes lower limb paralysis and/or weakness after someone steps on it - that's fictional, but there are many real world disabilities that share similar symptoms, even if the cause is obviously very different. If this was the fictional disability, the characters who have it would probably share the same community as characters with SCI, neuropathy, MS, etc.; it's based in fantasy but it's easy to imagine that it could be real.

In this context you should be researching the symptoms - leg paralysis and weakness - and potential treatments - physical therapy, learning how to walk with orthoses/crutches, painkillers, etc. Real readers with real symptoms will be able to relate to this kind of fantasy disability.

But let's say the fictional disability mainly presents as chronic pain and muscle spasms caused by the person not using magic enough. This on the other hand, doesn't work as a (respectful) fantasy disability. The main "accusation" people with chronic pain get is that we are lazy and if we just did more of [usually exercise] we would be cured - it doesn't work like that, and it would be frankly offensive to make a whole illness where the chronic pain is caused by someone not waving their wand enough or whatever. No one will be relating to this because it's not based on how stuff works, it's based on a stereotype. "It's fantasy" isn't a get out of jail free card, you still have to be conscious of what you are implying.

As long as you do research and keep in mind which real things your fantasy disabilities resemble (e.g. Hansen's disease and ALS will have very different stereotypes attached to them) so you can avoid making a connection you don't want to make.

Hope this helps,

mod Sasza

#mod sasza #anonymous #fantasy disabilities

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goddessofroyalty · 1 day ago

Note

FF7 AU where Sephiroth gets sent back in time to about the Crisis Core days and suddenly poor Zack has to deal with Sephiroth going rogue, murdering President Shinra and Hojo, and running off with starry-eyed, teenage Cloud to get a quickie marriage in the Golden Saucer!

I always feel sorry for Zack in these ideas because he does not remotely deserve to be dealing with this shit. But he is the only person even slightly qualified to do it so it has to be him.

The funny thing is that really there should be an order out for Sephiroth's execution after he's killed the president and head scientist of Shinra. Except the person who inherits Shinra is Rufus and he kind of wants to give Sephiroth a medal for having solved so many of his problems and speedran something that otherwise would have taken Rufus 10 years of planning to be able to complete. He just also wants to make sure it's going to be a one-off thing and that he doesn't need to worry about looking over his shoulder for Sephiroth coming to kill him as well.

And it is because of that specific need to understand Sephiroth's motivations in this that has him tasking Zack with going to go find him and figure it out. If it wasn't for that I could honestly see Shinra writing off Sephiroth and Cloud as no longer their problem and continuing about their lives.

Saying that Zack also would very much like to know what is going on in Sephiroth's head. Because this isn't like him at all! And Zack has just dealt with Angeal and Genesis suddenly acting out of character only to have to be effectively put down. So yeah he's definitively investigating this and hoping that there's a perfectly rational explanation for it all (he's going to be so disappointed).

#Final Fantasy #Final Fantasy VII #FFVII #sefikura #SephCloud #Sephiroth #Cloud Strife #Zack Fair #Ramblings of the Goddess #Q and A with the Goddess

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2-old-to-guard · 23 hours ago

Text

Nicolò, Nicky, di Genova

For the second analysis I shall be exploring the inner workings of Nicky. Now, Nicky is a VERY quiet character so a lot of my analysis shall be subtext delievered by the amazing Luca Marinelli who put 110% into this role.

First Impression:

The first time Nicky is mentioned is between Andy and Booker. He uses the couple as a tactic to get Andy to consider the mission. (You can see that when Booker looks at Andy immedietly after Nicky opens the door).

This is actually the first example of Nicky being the first line of defence. He opens the door while Joe hangs back. But both of the men relax when they see her. The hug Andy and Nicky is much more soft than the one between her and Joe which shows Nicky's more reserved character. It also heavily differs to the ways Andy and Booker touch each other, which is discused in Booker's post here. I also like how the couple are kind of matching shirts, I think it's cute.

Relationships:

I've spoke about Nicky and Booker in my Booker post so you can read that here. But from Nicky's perspective, I believe he's humoring Booker and clearly holds no actual anger when he loses. He's known Andy for longer than Booker and must know she'll guess the baklava. But he places the bet anyway as it seems to be a little tradition between the duo, giving them a unique relationship. Finally, it shows they have a rather flippant approach to money as they bet A LOT of money on this silly bet, which could also show how long this bet has been going on for.

Nicky's role in Andy's story is to be the constant postive approach to their immortality. He is clearly under the belief that their long life has to mean something and this is what fate has dictated they do with their undeath. At the beginning Andy is hostile to this and snaps at him multiple times. Simply through their differing personalities, they have the least connection but the small moments they have together show their love. He is also another gift giving person and gives her the baklava in a rather affectionate way. Unlike Booker, Nicky values gifts that serve a purpose (food).

I'm going to talk about Joe and Nicky in the Van scene as it deserves its own section.

Sniper:

Nicky is the sniper of the group which continues through the beginning sequence. Each of the members have their specific role.

I like the little moment where Copley waves at Nicky through his rifle. It's subtle but works to explain Nicky's later remark:

"We are usually a better judge of character."

As it gives Nicky and Copley a moment before the betrayal.

Sudan:

Nicky is the only immortal to talk to the group of people they pass on their mission.

This analysis is inspired by this post. It's subtle but it shows Nicky's kindness and how he goes out of his way to be kind to people. It's not just about rescuing people from kidnappers, it's about being kind to people.

Also, I think it's interesting that Nicky knows many languages and goes out of his way to speak to people in their native tounge.

Another subtle moment of showing the skills each of the Guard have. Not only does Nicky kill two guards with one bullet, he also catches the shell casing to ensure no evidence is left behind.

As the mission is revealed to be an ambush, Nicky's sole focus is on the hypothetical girls, even after they are killed. Nicky believes Copley is on their side and so cannot comprehend that he lied to them.

Whilst Joe is discussed as being "an incurable romantic", Nicky also has his moments. Specifically, in this scene Nicky dies looking at Joe so when Joe turns to see if Nicky is still alive, Nicky is already staring at him.

Later on, when Andy is fully in despair Nicky tries to comfort her with the same line as before. But this time, Andy snaps at him. This is the middle part of this conflict between them. The first is the status quo, the second is the conflict, the third is the resolution.

Contextually, Nicky's first conflict was the Crusades and that is considered one of the worst conflicts in history. Nicky most likely feels immense shame for it and that is what drives his need to do good. Saying they did what they did "For the right reasons" shows Nicky is acknowledging you can do it for the wrong reasons. He shows great sadness at Andy's cynicism in this scene but doesn't say anything, once again showing his reserved nature.

The Dreams:

As stated previously, the ways each of the characters interpret the dreams shows us something about their characters.

Nicky is the first person to state what he saw in his dream and he zeros in on who the new immortal and what she looks like. Next, he talks about the surroundings "dirt walls, clay walls". Thirdly he brings up the weapon that is used. "The pesh-kabz is an Indo-Persian knife used extensively in northern India and Afghanistan". In three lines, Nicky has figured out the physical appearance of the new immortal, the setting in which she died, and the geographical location of the new immortal. This scene highlights Nicky's practical nature, similar to the way he used his rifle to kill two men at once to ensure the alarm wouldn't be raised.

From Nile p.o.v all she sees of Joe and Nicky is them embracing. Joe and Nicky's first priority is love, whether for each other or the rest of their family.

This is immedietly followed by Nicky's monologue about one's first death. This scene, like "peace be with you", shows Nicky's empathy for other people. He immedietly decides to save her not for a practical reason (like Andy), but for emotional reason.

"Whoever she is, she’s confused, and she’s scared, and she’s more alone than she has ever been in her entire life."

This also seems to be him emploring Andy's softer side, which works and shows how close Andy and Nicky are and how well he knows her.

Finally, Booker claiming that Nicky always had Joe is incorrect as he woke from death alone and was isolated for many years before they put their differences aside (apologies for the Booker slander but my boi deserved that).

The Dinner Scene:

In many of the deleated scenes, Nicky has a strong passion for food. This was cut but this moment where he smiles seeing Nile eat his food is really cute and shows his caring nature.

I also like the subtle difference where Nicky finishes Joe's sentence after Nile appears confused:

"So you good guys or bad guys?"

"Depends on the century."

"We fight for what we think is right."

I don't know why no one talks about this but Nicky is the first one in the relationship to tell Nile about it.

This line doesn't hit as hard at the van confession but it's so simple in the way it states that Joe and Nicky are together. It's so sweet how Nicky doesn't even hesitate in explicitly stating his love for Joe.

There is also a little regret in the way he says "many times" which adds to Nicky's regret over the crusades.

The scene, for Nicky, ends when he notices how conflicted Nile is and offers her a place to rest. Another example of Nicky's kindess.

Quynh:

Nicky and Joe's sleeping pattern has been highly analysed by the fanbase so I won't talk about it in a lot of detail. While Joe is shielding Nicky with his body on the train, Nicky is protecting Joe with his body in Gousanville safe house. Nicky, as the sniper, is the most observant of the group and is awake and alert first out of all of them. He also has a gun in his hand by the time Joe and Booker are awake.

I think it's very important for Nicky and Joe be the ones to talk about Quynh. For Nicky's side, he must feel immense guilt for the imprisonment of Quynh as it was his fellow christians who dropped her into the bottom of the ocean. The guilt he feels is shown through the camera angle. Andy views Nicky talking about the witch trials through a church window. Whilst it's commendable that the movie keeps Nicky a christian even after his long life and his relationship with Joe, it adds to his complexity as he fully recognises the crimes of his fellow christians but remains faithful, probally because the same God that make him immortal gave him the life he has with Joe. He also fights through his pain to explain to the scared Nile what she saw. His kindness doesn't blind him, however, and he allows Andy to be the one to talk to Nile after she storms off.

The Van Scene:

Whilst Joe and Nicky are joined together for the most part, to the point where they are mostly referred to as Joe and Nicky, they are their own seperate people. Joe is more outspoken and emotional whilst Nicky is reserved. This is most clearly displayed with the different ways each of the characters react to the homophobic comment from the guards.

While Joe begins to preach to the men, Nicky says very little. He shows exhaustion at the comment rather than just anger, showing how this kind of bigotry is nothing new to him and someting he is tired of. As Joe's speach continues, Nicky goes from tired, to touched. As Luca said it an interview, all he had to do was get lost in Marwan's eyes.

But Nicky isn't completley emotionless. By the end of Joe's speach, Nicky is overcome with love that he leans forwards and kisses Joe. The focus on him in this scene makes it seem like Nicky moved first and Joe followed. Another moment of Nicky being the first to show affection to Joe.

All of this culminates in them kicking the guards ass as all good power couples should.

Whilst the idea of them only doing this because they're homophobic is funny, in the comics it's clear that they did this to try and escape. Still, this one of the first time Nicky is snarky. I believe this is Nicky putting on a persona to try and intimidate the mercanaries and make them unsteady in another attempt to escape.

This is also the first example of Nicky absolutley gagging someone. Having him turn to Copley and say "We are usually a better judge of character". Copley holds an immense respect for the immortals so having one of them dunk on him works well to support his change of allegience later on.

The Merrick Confrontation:

Again, another scene that foucses on Joe's outspokeness. But Nicky is again subtly displaying more of his character.

After Joe headbutts Merrick, Nicky subtly tries to reach for Joe. He probally realises this will result in something bad and so tries to protect Joe.

When Joe is stabbed, Nicky, for the second time, loses his composure and tries to reach for Joe. From the a story writing perspective, obviously this will not kill Joe, but having Nicky be so reserved for the majority of the film his out-of-character panic adds to the tension of the scene.

As Merrick monolouges neither of the couple are really listening. Nicky is solely focused on Joe and making sure he's ok. You can see Luca subtly look to Joe's neck before moving in for the blessed headbump. The fact that Marwan and Luca improvised that, probally inspired by the deleted scene where they do the same thing, hurts my soul. Anyway, it is only when he knows Joe is ok, Nicky then focuses on Merrick. This could also show to symbolise that Merrick isn't the threat Nicky is worried about. That fear is reserved only for death.

The Lab Scene:

Despite being in extreme pain, Nicky doesn't scream and tries to keep in any noises. This could serve two purposes,

The first is that he doesn't want to give Kozak the satisfaction of seeing him in pain. Including lines such as "do you feel the wound trying to close?" shows she clearly holds more sadistic interest in these experiements.

The second purpose is that he doesn't want to worry Joe. From the following dialouge, "As much as I like watching you sleep, I’m glad you’re awake" he was working under the assumption that Joe was asleep and if he was asleep, Nicky screaming would wake him.

This is the second example of Nicky gagging his captors. But this one seems to go over Kozak's head, which makes me laugh. The script has to balance the weight of each of the characters' lives with making them seem relatable and like real people. This is an example of Nicky's imortality dictating his response. Even though Kozak is actively torturing him, he holds little resentment towards her and admits he understands her actions. From a personal perspective, his involvment in the crusades, and from a historical perspective, all the ways humanity has experimented on others claiming to be trying to save the world.

When Joe wakes up, Nicky tries to soothe his panic by saying, "As much as I like watching you sleep, I’m glad you’re awake". The couple are clearly trying to pretend that what is happening to them isn't happning. I think Nicky is the one who is more accepting of what they are going through.

The subtle smile Luca does when he says 'Malta' shows him letting nostalgia consume him insted of fear. But when he says "we should go back", he's letting the reality of the situation settle in again. But he still holds hope that they will escape, showing the trust he has in Andy.

The Lab Scene Continued:

The despair on Nicky's face can be seen from the beginning of this scene. He seems genuinley shocked that Andy has been captured, once again showing how much he's trusts her. The difference between Joe and Nicky is shown again when they react to Andy's mortality. Nicky slowly lowers his head whilst Joe's is more explicit.

Furthermore, when Nicky says "All things", he isn't looking at Merrick. He's seemingly looking at the sky, possibley towards God. He's not angry but instead seems to be sad and accepting.

The final example of Nicky gagging his captor. The line "as is yours" works in two ways. The first is to remind Merrick that for all his money, and influence, and connections, he is still mortal and he will eventually die long before Nicky ever does. Secondly, it works as a threat. Merrick is reminded that the extremely skilled killers he has tied up in his basement could in fact escape and they'll come straight for him. Nicky's reserved attitude could make him seem a passive character but lines like that show the anger that bubbles beneath the surface.

The Final Battle:

This is really short but despite not knowing Nile for a day, Nicky still warns her about the incoming attack.

For all his talk of 'we die when we die' Nicky is still worried about risking Andy's life. It's the only time his faith is really disputed and this time, Andy reassures Nicky's faith which is a fun development between them.

This fear for Andy is further shown in the fight scene. Nicky is consistantly looking for Andy and making sure she's ok. This fear leads to his own injury.

Joe and Nicky's relationship is further shown in the absolute confidence Nicky holds for Joe. He doesn't even look behind him during a fight as he knows Joe will be right behind him. I actually love this too.

Also, this shot of Nicky glaring at Booker shows that even though he doesn't want to punish Booker AS severely as Joe, he still holds an immense amount of anger towards Booker. This difference between Joe and Nicky might be due to their differing realationships with Booker. Nicky and Booker were less affectionate, and possibly more distant so his betrayel doesn't hurt Nicky as much... but it does.

The Keane Scene:

This is the final moment where Nicky's calm demenor is uprooted by an intense emotional moment. At first, when it is just him in danger, he uses skilled fighting techniques to fight Keane. But when Joe is the one in danger, he just lunges for Keane just to try and save Joe. This scene is highly controversial as many people see it as unnecessarily violent and too close to real life crimes against gay people. From my perspective, it is meant to symbolise the way gay people have persevered despite their many struggles. It's why Nicky doesn't die in this scene and it ends with the couple embracing.

Also, despite having just DIED, Nicky first concern is Andy which is the pinnacle moment of his kindness.

Final Nicky Scenes:

With everything we've learnt of Nicky throughout the movie, it makes total sense that he's the first person to reach Nile after her fall. Unlike Booker, who was just telling her to give up on her old life, Nicky tries to show her that her new existence is worth something just like he does with Andy.

As as stated by https://www.tumblr.com/wickedpact/629810255706079232/love-is-stored-in-the-nicky?source=share, him willing sitting in the middle is so quintessential Nicky.

After all the debates around what is their purpose and why they are what they are. This quick shot of Nicky smiling after Nile's line "maybe this is why Andy" is the resulution to his arc through the movie.

His arc doesn't work in the way that they usually work. He doesn't change in his beliefs or world-view and instead, it is other people realising that he was right. It also involves him realising his is right and having his world-view confirmed.

Conclusion:

Like Booker, Nicky serves a specific role in the movie. Most of the other characters are loud and outspoken but Nicky serves as the quiet warmth in the background. He doesn't go through any major crisis and seems mostly self-realised. On the opposite end of Booker, he stands as the angel (hah) on Andy's shoulder and gives her the second option for the reason for their life. Also, shout out to Luca Marinelli for doing all of this with such little dialogue!!

#the old guard #the old guard 2 #luca marinelli #immortal husbands #nicolo di genova

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