#only willing to get to know people when he's sure he'll gain something from it!!

[triple-starsss]

I don't know if you know how much I love this au, this is like THE au for me, I love it sosososo much <333333

Any little thoughts about it that you haven't posted?

KICKING MY FEET AAAH THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO HEAR ABSJDF

might aswell use this as an excuse to talk about black doom in the au!!

unfortunately he's not an alien anymore, instead a mobian hedgehog (who would've guessed). STILL SHADOW'S BIO DAD THOUGH!

literally the only reason he gave Shadow up was because he simply. did not know how to care for a child nor did he really want to. he had his focus on bigger things and wouldn't put them aside for his own kid (child neglect booooo). he does still keep pictures of Shadow when he was a baby though and ITS. VERY RELEVANT TO HOW THEY REUNITE LATER LOL

he never kept in touch with Shadow. hell he didn't even know who took him in after he left him!!! he didn't see a reason to because there was no gain for him.

SO... WHEN HE FINDS OUT THAT SHADOW IS NOW A FAMOUS MUSICIAN... he decides to look for him.

he traces down that he lives with Gerald Robotnik (lucky for him the guy is a lil famous himself for his advances in medicine so wasn't too hard to track him down) n decides to go pay them a visit.

WHEN HE DOES IT GOES DOWN AS WELL AS YOU'D THINK. ie. complete and utter chaos. i plan on making a lil comic for when they meet so not gonna go into depth about that hehe

he sort of ends up intergrating himself into the family despite how much Shadow and Maria want to punt him into the sun. n lets just say family dinners are hell.

[shiut]

Both danganronpa and even rain code have this underlying but incredibly persisting theme of the cognitive dissonance between one's personality vs their own nature that I can't help but think about a lot.

In my head I tend to call it the "Leon paradox" because he's the first and most obvious character I think of in regards to this, though he's far from being the only one. Despite being an effortlessly talented baseball prodigy, he dislikes doing it and his actual passion is becoming a musician. However, he's pigeonholed into doing something he doesn't enjoy simply because he's good at it and it's a means to an end since it's his only way of getting anywhere.

This gets expanded in dr2. Imposter's dissatisfaction with having to always be someone else. Akane not caring about being a gymnast much at all aside from the perks it gets her. Nagito's disdain for his luck talent that brings him constant misery while also acknowledging that it's the one thing about himself that he can count on the most.

It even becomes a focal point with Hajime, who did everything to fight his nature of lacking a talent. However, Chiaki points out that it's the fact that he has no specific talent that gives him more freedom than any of the ultimates that he admires. Turned out, gaining every talent put Hajime into his own prison, and it's his loss of personality that made him essentially useless.

Even in V3 you have Kaede who actually loves her talent so much that she feels like it's an obsession that affects her ability to socialize normally. Kokichi also seems to have brief moments where he acknowledges that his talent is a huge barrier to being able to actually connect with people and causes his loneliness, but decides that it's a compulsion that's too troublesome to change so he just accepts it.

Shuichi sticks out to me when it comes to this theme. He's extremely good at detective work and will often do it on impulse regardless of reward. However, even just stumbling on his first murder case and solving it before the police could even touch it, he could not cope with the results of the person he'd affected. His emotional sensitivity traumatized him into being avoidant, even using a hat as a literal blinder. He was prepared to die in the first trial in fear of revealing the truth. His compulsion to do detective work even kind of ruined Kokichi and Kaito's plot in ch5, as he got so ahead of himself with revealing the truth that just kind of blurted everything out before realizing that he shouldn't have. His compulsion with detective work even seems to make him comparatively calmer and more focused during investigations than the other protagonists, despite easily being the emotionally weakest-willed out of all of them. He repeatedly keeps falling back into his talent despite the emotional toll it has on him because he just can't help himself. He kind of acts as an example of one of the reasons why Kyoko was trained to be emotionally detached.

Jin actually is very much like Shuichi. He tries to actively avoid detective work because he despises the emotional detachment required for it. You wouldn't even know that he's actually really good at it, but you see glimpses into his skill in the novels where he'll end up figuring things out before even Kyoko does on more than one occasion. I can talk a lot about Jin, but I do get the feeling that one of the reasons why he works at Hope's Peak is because he knew more about what would end up happening there than he let on. He probably could have gotten quite a few things done if he wasn't so insistent on fighting his own nature as a detective.

Very honorable mention to Yui, who turned down an invitation to Hope's Peak for her high-jumping talent in order to pursue her passion as a very mid detective. She might've even lived if she went to Hope's Peak because I'm pretty sure she would've graduated by the time of the tragedy, but at least she died in the most based way possible by rejecting them.

And of course, Junko is a prime example of the detrimental effect of talent. Because of her analytical abilities, she can practically guess everything that's going to happen. Her obsession with despair is a desperate attempt at being mentally stimulated in a society that has let the status quo stagnate to such a critical degree that it's the reason why the very concept of talent had been rotted to this point. Sorry to Kodaka, who has repeatedly said that Junko is meant to be a truly evil villain with no motivation, but he did kind of accidentally give her a motivation in dr0 where we're shown for a fact that without her memories and ability to analyze, she's relatively normal and tame. That is her nature, just a kind of weird girl who wants to be a tradwife and go grow corn somewhere. However, I think it can be argued that what is meant by "pure evil with no motivation" is that she doesn't have any sort of tangible tragic backstory. You can even say it's not her analyst ability alone that caused her madness, since there's plenty of normal non-world-ending analysts. It may simply be that her personality happened to mix terribly with her talent, and that's the nature of what makes her pure evil, because both of those aspects of her are part of her nature that she can not (nor does she even want to) control despite the misery it causes her. She simply learned to love the misery.

Makoto himself is very clear about being bitter about his luck. For the most part, what's apparent to him is that it causes him constant trouble and the good that it actually does for him is so subtle and disjointed that he doesn't even realize it's his luck. However, I think what makes him different from people like Nagito or Junko is his personality. He doesn't obsess like they do, and his optimism makes him bounce back easily. I think his luck even feeds into his personality and, inverse to Junko, it's the unpredictability of his luck that makes him hopeful and optimistic. Since he never knows what's going to happen to him, he had to develop a way to roll with the punches.

The aspect of personality vs ability also carries over to rain code. The master detectives are people who have innate psychic abilities that are seemingly based on their nature, and then it gets refined and specialized based on their personality. Not only does their personality help to refine these powers, but you see that their personalities and abilities often have detrimental impacts on each other.

Halara can't see living things in their postcognition because they aren't good at looking at people. Pucci's ability makes her hearing so sensitive that it's at least partially caused her emotional detachment. Melami not only likes fashion so much that she must wear the clothes of someone to use her power, but she also has to actually like the clothes too. Vivia is constantly fatigued and has depressive tendencies due his tenuous attachment to his spirit.

Former Number One/Makoto are a great example of this sort of destructive feedback loop of cognitive dissonance. You can infer that their empathy and obsession with helping people is what gives them the ability to use coalescence and share anyone's abilities, yet it's the fact that they can do anything that makes them feel like they must do everything. Ironically, the fact that they've convinced themselves that they must do everything makes their ability essentially useless because they end up only working alone. As a result, Former Number One became detached with every emotion except for his obsession, and it's what caused Makoto to ultimately spiral.

[angelsdean]

another funny thing about people saying spn is only "a brother show" and not acknowledging it's "the destiel show" is that dean and sam (cain's instinct) don't kill each other under spells and etc thanks to outside interventions (a not-working-weapon, bobby, garth, cas), while dean and cas don't kill each other only bc of each other DESPITE outside interventions urging them to

sorry this has been sitting in my inbox for a few days but god yea sooo real.

literally the crypt / prisoner fight scene parallels make me insane the way dean and cas hardly put up a fight against the other, esp once they think they're gonna die by the other's hand. they give up the fight, don't want to hurt the other bc they know it's not them, they're being manipulated and controlled (by naomi / the mark) and it's usually that moment of just giving up and asking them to stop that snaps them out of it, when they shouldn't be able to snap out of it. (similarly w/ them snapping out of lucifer and amara's control too, cas is able to gain control back for a bit / dean is able to snap out of amara's spell when cas is around)

like obvs i do think the brothers care abt each other but just, nearly every time** they've tried to kill each other it's been other people / circumstances that stop them. whereas for dean and cas it's usually them snapping themselves out of it. and that sure is something !

also like. i can just never ever ever forget dean trying to bargain with chuck to get everyone on earth back including cas (and the birds!) by saying he'll straight up kill sam if that means they all come back (crucially. cas. "you got to bring him back.") he'd kill sam ! that's how crazy desperate he was. he'd be willing to do that if it meant bringing cas back. insane insane. how do the brothers only ppl reconcile with a line like that huh??? i mean, they probs just pretend it doesn't exist. like they seem to do with so much of this show lol

(also the flipside of that line, "or sam will kill me. we'll kill each other" just. speaks to how suicidal he was feeling then imo.)

**sam DOES fight through lucifer's possession and stop him from killing dean in swan song. see more re: this in the replies

[raayllum]

Callum's skepticism where he knows there must be something else at play here, even if he can't quite figure out what (and he's right)

Finnegrin framing dark magic as something that provides freedom through power and control (even if S4 shows more than ever exactly why that's not true) while also actually preying accurately on Callum's weakness here: "When you care about someone, it's hard to hurt them" / "I'm afraid that he'll use me to do awful things. Or hurt people I care about".

More hand symbolism framing / Callum being in the centre of the screen showing how he's torn

Ezran being willing to lose a hand rather than have Callum do dark magic, and Rayla urging Callum not to do it again. I do love that it's them being emphasized more than say Soren, since even while Soren and Callum have their own close dynamic (and Soren's own history with dark magic) I don't know if Callum would do dark magic for Soren alone the way he would for Ezran or has for Rayla

And we see Callum, pretty clearly, already making or leaning towards the decision of doing so, even if he knows there will be a cost (reason to believe Aaravos could possess him?) and that he can't wholly trust Finnegrin's word. Just a chance they might live is enough to nudge him towards it. I think it goes a long way towards us not being exactly surprised by the end of the episode when the truth is revealed

This scene is also what I consider to be the turning point of the episode in a lot of ways, since as I've explored in a larger meta about Aaravos and Finnegrin:

because technically… the episode could’ve just ended here. Think of it this way: the overall structure of the episode is to get Callum’s back against the wall so he uses dark magic, and accepts that he would use it, so he can gain a deeper understanding of himself and access the Ocean arcanum, leading to him throwing off Finnegrin’s ice spell. Right? That’s the Plot structure stuff that had to happen. If that was all that they wanted, you could do it in these scenes. The main cast would know Callum had done dark magic, which is the major difference, but surely wouldn’t hold it against him. Callum could’ve done dark magic to get their chains off, could’ve had an impromptu Ocean arcanum realization, and things could’ve played out exactly as they do in the final scenes of the episode. The episode could end here, but it doesn’t, because well…

They wanted to get more specific and heighten / push Callum even further (specifically the spell giving scene in a lot of ways) but I'll talk more about Rayla throwing herself on the line to stop him from doing something awful, only to be the reason he does that and more, in the next post

[fireofjudgement]

would you please write an angst on how chishiya reacts to being cheated on? - fem reader (ty!!<3)

Chishiya reacting to being cheated on

Warnings: angst, mentions of cheating, manipulation and betrayal, f!reader

--

Chishiya almost immediately noticed that you didn't treat him the same way you treated other members of the Beach.

Although your hints were subtle at first, he seemed to know exactly what was going on inside your mind.

If he was being completely honest, he found your interest in him rather peculiar.

It wasn't for a lack of self-esteem, oh no. Chishiya knew he was quite attractive, he's never doubted his intelligence and wit either. Interacting with other people, however, especially on a deeply personal level? Admittedly, that has never been his strong suit.

If you were in it for a long-term, serious romantic relationship, or even just for the sex-there were multiple people at the Beach, who would be more than happy to satisfy you. He was sure that, as soon as you met a more willing partner, you'd lose all interest in him. That's just how the human brain works.

And so, when your hints got less subtle and your interactions more frequent, Chishiya was rightfully perplexed. He's never done or said anything that could be perceived as an invitation for you to enter his life. And yet, the longer you persisted, the more open he became to the idea of having someone around. He might as well have picked you since you were always there anyway.

Of course, your game of "will they, won't they" didn't go unnoticed. From rejected admirers on both sides to executives unhappy with you distracting Chishiya, who's always been reliable until you showed up-it was safe to say nobody at the Beach was willing to support your relationship.

Maybe except Kuina. She took a liking to you ever since you arrived, although she wasn't exactly sure why. But she knew Chishiya started to care about you more than he was willing to admit, and she would do anything for him to be happy for once. Or as close to it as possible.

It took a while for the two of you to get close. Gaining his trust was more difficult than you could ever imagine. Even after you became an item-he's never used the word relationship, despite claiming he wasn't interested in anyone else-you weren't sure you could tear down all those walls he built around himself. They seemed pretty impenetrable.

He's never said it or shown it to you-or anyone else for that matter-but in his own way, he did care about you. He wasn't sure if he loved you or if he was even capable of doing so, but he did grow attached to you. Whenever you were by his side, he felt..calm. Safe. Especially after a rough game.

He was sure your feelings for him were genuine. In fact, he could have sworn you wanted him more than he could ever want you. That you needed him and whatever it was that you had, even if it wasn't what you were hoping for initially.

So when he saw you with him-why him out of all people?-your smile so wide, your hands wrapped around him, and all of that in public too..he felt something he's never felt before. He couldn't really tell what it was, but the moment your eyes met, he realized you knew exactly what he was going through.

He tried desperately to find a hint of remorse in your eyes, maybe even disgust at your own behavior. But no. Your smile only grew wider, your arms tightening around the man you were with.

It was only a few weeks later that he learned this wasn't a one-time occurrence. You've had an eye set on the other guy, playing the same kind of game with him as with Chishiya. Getting close despite him pushing you away, slowly but surely gaining his trust and becoming a part of his life. A crucial part of his life. But he probably didn't know that yet. He'll know when he inevitably loses you.

Chishiya wasn't a vengeful person. He wasn't petty, either. Most of the time, he didn't care enough to seek revenge from people who hurt him in one way or another.

But with you, it was different. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't forget that smile of yours when he saw you that day. It was almost as if you were challenging him to do something about it.

If only you weren't so naive, so full of yourself, maybe then you'd realise his forgiveness was about as genuine as your apology. And maybe you'd also notice him and Kuina manipulate you into joining their plan. Except you were never meant to be their partner, their equal. You were never meant to be more than bait. A means to an end.

And while you were being carried out of the room by Niragi and a few other militants, screaming and trashing around, trying desperately to escape-when your eyes met for the last time, there wasn't any remorse in them either.

[mdhwrites]

what's your opinion on hooty

So my personal opinion is that he is OKAY but entirely inessential. This is because he is THE comic relief character. I don't mean he's the only comic relief character for TOH obviously. He still has less screen time than Gus and King in S1 because WHY DOES THIS SHOW HAVE THREE COMIC RELIEF CHARACTERS AT A GIVEN TIME!?

Objectively... Well, let's first define what I mean by him being THE comic relief character.

No, what I mean by that is that he is the definition of what you think of for a comic relief character when you think of one. He's loud, obnoxious, rude, contributes nothing to the story and EVERYONE HATES HIM. Not actually even metatextually. I mean in universe, EVERYONE HATES HIM. It's a running problem with comic relief characters honestly despite active disdain from the rest of the cast (the Mooses in Brother Bear, the Slugs in Epic, Sid from the Ice Age series, Donkey from Shrek, etc.) they just... stick around.

This is frankly the only element of Hooty that the show tries to subvert at all with "He's part of the house so... we can't get rid of him." Frankly though, it just makes him come off as a rip off of Calcifur from Howl's Moving Castle, another character people didn't show much respect to but the female lead in that movie did show a care to him as the movie went on. This is actually also pretty normal for comic relief because their aggravating personalities are usually tied with being well meaning and so the rest of the cast gains a begrudging friendship with them. This is ABSOLUTELY Sid in Ice Age.

This is also where TOH fucks up because while I think Hooty in a bubble is fine... In the context of the show, he is character assassination. After all, NO ONE. LIKES. THE COMIC RELIEF. This includes LUZ. "Weirdos gotta stick together" Luz. And there is NO ONE in the show who comes even close to being as weird as Hooty. And she treats Hooty like King and Eda do. That he is this revolting monster that exists only to be the house and to be given sympathy only when he helps them in some way or gets injured. As far as showing kindness to the creature who is literally the roof over your head, I don't think that even counts as clearing the bare minimum of being a good person. Caring about someone who is injured should be basic human nature after all, let alone if they get hurt helping YOU.

And what are Hooty's crimes? Like what does he do in order to deserve all this hate? We don't get much time with him but easily his biggest character trait is that he's lonely. He's not just lonely, he's lonely after having lived with Eda and King for who knows how long. He just wants someone who is willing to FUCKING TALK TO HIM. Hell, I'd argue I talk to my cat, who cannot communicate back, more than any of The Owl House denizens talk to Hooty.

The twist here is... It kind of works in S1. Because literally no one likes him, you get the idea that he is what the Isles considers a true monster. Something you make a deal with in order to get protection but that you don't want to spend time with. It's questionable if in this setting, people CAN like Hooty. It's tragic if you think about it too much but Hooty has a grating voice, boring stories and to most, like the writers, he'll come across as just the comic relief. Someone not to care about in text or metatextually because he's just a joke. Who could love him?

Do you see a Lilith sized problem coming? Cause I sure do.

Lilith changes the context of Hooty. Lilith comes off as the MOST understanding and caring character of the SHOW because when Hooty shows her sympathy and kindness, not even in an annoying way or forced upon him, she responds in kind. She genuinely cares about him and treats as another living being from then on. Even before she's pure comic relief, she is still capable of caring about Hooty. Frankly, I argue that this is sadly the first sign the writers gave the audience that we weren't supposed to care about Lilith. Possibly ever even. They immediately stop properly caring about her come S2 after all and she befriends the character who, by their narrative role, is not meant to be cared about. After all, if you care about the thing that has misery inflicted upon it or in some way is inflicting misery on others, the usual MO of a comic relief, you can't laugh at it. So if Lilith befriends Hooty, we can't actually care about that relationship. It's theoretically to paint Lilith as a joke. As a fool for being able to care about a bird tube.

Honestly, it makes S2 just really awkward, especially because of Knock Knock Knockin'. Admittedly, I don't think people quite treat Hooty as badly after that episode, though the show still wants us to laugh at him being horrifying since Skeletal Hooty doesn't happen until S2B, but like... The point of Knock Knock Knockin' is still that Hooty ACCIDENTALLY succeeds. Mostly by pissing off or endangering, or blackmailing for that matter but I don't want to get into how the Lumity confession is actually fairly flawed but in minor ways that stack in this blog, others. It even ends with him explicitly being told never to help again and then him being an ass and eating King's letter which... They've lived with him long enough that mail should have been sorted by now.

There is one last aspect of Hooty that is a problem. It's Hooty's power level. People between S1 and 2 would CONSTANTLY joke about Hooty being some sort of god. Some being that even makes even Belos quake at night! In Power of Love, one of the better jokes in it is Hooty thinking a Titan empowered beam from Belos is a snack and face tanking the damn thing. (There's a lot more to that joke that makes that payoff even better but it's just a funny idea in and of itself.) And... This is actually justified. The only thing that seemed to actually be able to slow Hooty down was the Owl Beast and one could argue that Hooty lost that fight because it's Eda. He doesn't want to fight a friend (which only makes him sweeter which causes the above problems). Otherwise... Everyone remember how Agony of a Witch starts? If you don't, here's a brief recap. Eda is inside, knitting Luz's cloak and acting like all is right in the world. Meanwhile, outside, in her desperation, Lilith has brought soldier to take the house and take Eda. Theoretically, she has the element of surprise and is one of the most powerful witches on the Isles backed by some of her best men in order to get the job done.

Hooty goes onto single handedly not only get the jump on them but arguably murders some of the guardsmen before wrapping Lilith up like a burrito in his own coils and bringing her in like a trophy while still looking fairly unscathed. Now yes, this is played for comedy and I can let SOME amount of power go for the sake of a joke. But... Also Hooty is the only defense Eda can rely on for her lifestyle so this actually is fairly cohesive with the narrative for how strong Hooty needs to be for the fact that no one comes after the bounty on Eda's head.

This is the first time the EC is really characterized as purely a joke and their narrative incompetence and the problems with it are another blog. For Hooty though... It means Hooty defuses all tension minus Belos. You have to send a real siege weapon if you want to take the Owl House. That's what that intro, which isn't short, it's not just a throwaway gag, tells us.

Then come S2 when in Edge of the World, Eda forgets ALL OF THIS and her experience of running from the EC for presumably at least a decade, if not closer to two because of how old Odalia's children are, and sends away her ultimate defense with Luz and King. Who then promptly, IMMEDIATELY, gets taken down by the Titan Trappers when a fight breaks out in that episode. That episode is also probably Luz's weakest post S1 by a LARGE margin.

It's all just VERY frustrating from a writing standpoint. And it makes Hooty kind of 'of a kind' for TOH. He's a character who isn't a bad idea for this sort of story, been done WAY better in many stories before this, but because of lack of care with his writing, the character and how he interacts with literally any other part of the plot... He just is a failure that you cannot think about and still like. Or at least think about without revealing cracks in the show.

And just like the rest of the show, frankly... He's just not that fun. He's kind of basic frankly. And for a comic relief character, that's not surprising but it does mean he explicitly fails in his narrative duty.

And that's a shame because unlike the cast and crew, I don't inherently want to hate someone who just wants a friend.

=======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[mylevisdontfitanymore]

i was thinking about those eating competition/contest videos on youtube, where people eat so much food in 30 mins or an hour, etc. then i thought of steve/bucky/nat and eating contests. maybe one of them is involved, maybe multiple.

they have always been into eating and these seem like a good way to finally be full. they start out slow, maybe once a month participating to avoid piling on weight. they are good and win some contests, and start doing more. once a week they have an eating challenge. to avoid getting fat, they eat healthy during the week. maybe large salads to avoid too many calories but keep their stomach capacity up.

they have to take a break from the contests and all is okay still, but they get bored of the healthy eating. they decide to have a cheat week and just eat whatever they want. the weight piles on, and they decide they like it (their partners like it too) and they keep gaining.

I've been holding onto this ask for forever 😫 so sorry!

The eating contest component immediately made me think of the fic "No Contest" by caloriebomb, which is literally just FAT STEVE and I-

It's good.

Anyway, you know what this made me think of-?

This made me think, what about an alternative universe in which Steve, Bucky, and Natasha meet as competitive eaters? Maybe they aren't, like, famous competitive eaters but are just casual enthusiasts. Local gods, perhaps.

Anyhow, they all meet at a competitive eating contest...

Natasha seeks out Steve and Bucky intentionally when she sees the newcomers at an annual contest she's been attending for a few years. Not only are they new, meaning they don't know about her crazy stomach capacity and stretchability, but they're also both very handsome, and she feels like seeing some handsome men eat their words, literally. She wonders if either of them with blush. That, or if either of them will willing admit that they're wrong when they end up being wrong about her... maybe they'll just say it. Maybe they'll squirm 😈

So, she elbows them, offering a bet while the announcer is, well, announcing the event. I bet I'll eat more than you. She makes sure to smile softly. She doesn't want to give away her plans just yet. She's having too much fun.

The slightly shorter man with dark hair immediately agrees with a charming grin of his own. He looks her up and down and then gestures to himself, inviting her to do the same to him, raising silent eyebrows. It speaks only of, are you sure? The blond haired, taller man only stares at her. She can tell he is trying not to panic, having a pretty girl talk to him - it's cute. Normally, she'd roll her eyes, but there's something about blondie. Something about the brunette, too.

She likes them 😏

The brown haired guy nods when blondie doesn't do anything and says, under the announcers excited tone, that he'll bet.

"What're we betting?"

"$100?"

"Shit, I can't resist that," he says, offering his hand for her to slap in agreement.

She does. "And you're friend?" She bats her eyelashes at him, blondie, and watches him open and close his mouth like a fish. She almost laughs out loud. He's a golden retriever. Cute.

"He's in, too. Trust me."

Oh, yeah, this will be fun, Natasha thinks, and she has to look away because she doesn't want to give them her "predatory" smile. Predatory as her friends have told her it looks. What? She can't help that she knows she's right. She's gonna win.

Natasha learns the boys' names as they're announced to go on. Bucky, the brown haired one. Steve, the blond haired one.

So, Natasha meets and greets and beats the the boys.

At this competition they're eating poutine. Not Natasha's favorite, especially considering that she didn't grow up with it. It being just fries with shit piled up on it, but it's still pretty good. Poutine is good for shoving down. Good for contests like this one. Soft and relatively wet with good flavor. It means that fistful after fistful can go down before she has to take a millisecond break for water or before she can tire of the taste.

Natasha empties her first tray, then her second and third and fourth and fifth and on and on and on.

She smashes through it. Her stomach filling and expanding but not full.

She can feel Steve's eyes when they stray to her every once in a while. Flicking. Not checking her out, but, just trying to figure out how she's going so fast. Her fingers are a blur. Lifting fries to mouth again and again and again, shoving it down, getting it inside her. The faster, the better. C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, she urges herself.

Suddenly, he opts to go whole hog, shoving her face into the fries and inhaling them.

She doesn't look at Steve.

She's not looking at anything but her prize, looking through the poutine servings just like a runner doesn't stare at the finish line, they look through the finish line that way they'll go the whole way with full power. She's going full power. She can see poutine when she shuts her eyes to chew harder, getting more into it. She is in the zone. So much so that she hardly feels the stretch of her flexible stomach muscles. Rounding out. Convexity created by the weight, the mass, of the poutine. No, she doesn't feel the stretch. She just feels the fire under her ass. She knows she can beat any beginner, but she wants to do her best. She doesn't wanna win a little. What's even the point in that?

She wants to win by a landslide.

A landslide that was slid right down her throat and into her gut. All that rock and earth heavy and full, making her massive. For anyone who didn't see her figure prior to the event starting when she gets uo, they're gonna question who let a pregnant lady join an eating contest.

She's still packing it in.

And, God, she must be massive with how those fries and toppings slide right doooown.

Down her throat.

She's getting heavier.

It has to be almost over.

It's been so long.

But-

She's not going to stop until the buzzer hits. She's not even going to look at the clock. No distractions. Not even the handsome boys to her right.

She hammers down more. She's almost done with this tray.

Another. Get is down. C'mon, you have this.

BZZZZZZ!

There!

Yes!

It's over!

Natasha finally lifts her head, "wooo," she huffs, feeling how her head buzzes with the rush of sensations. Now that the heat of the moment is done, it's all coming back. Woof. She's stuffed. She can feel the grease and fat going straight to her veins. She can feel the heavy, solidness of fullness. Wonderful. And-

"Holy shit!"

She can feel pure satisfaction at knowing she's won. Easily. She's a cat that's got the cream. A whole gallon.

She looks over to her new favorites. They're both sweating with messy mouths.

New heat stabs Natasha when she sets her eyes on the pretty gape of Steve's grease-slick, shiny lips. It's multiplied by the grin growing over Bucky's own lips. Equally shiny but not as plump. Steve's bottom lip takes the cake on that. And, my, my, my could it be cake. It looks soft. Natasha would like to sink her teeth into it. Into them both.

Natasha wins the eating competition and $200 extra from her new companions.

As they stand to waddle heavily off stage, Nat notes that Bucky has managed to do well. She can see the bloat of his belly. It looks nice and firm but still soft. He would be good to touch she bets. He had more padding than she initially thought, strong but still soft. Steve, however... Steve is not fairing well. He's probably eaten just as much as Bucky, perhaps even more than him, but he was not padded. He's all hard muscle with pounds of poutine attached to him.

Woof.

His new gut sticks out like a beer gut. Through his tight shirt that's been forced to expand enough to expose a few inches of pale, strained skin, she can tell that his abs are not happy with him. They're stretched taut. She licks her lip, picturing how pink his freckled skin must be, those muscles struggling to keep his belly attached to him.

That time, they part ways.

The next time they meet up, it's another competition. Bucky strolls up to her, Steve behind him like a trailing puppy, and confesses he's been training, patting his belly with a charming grin. She laughs, oh, really? You think you can beat me?

He does.

They end up betting again. Steve stays out of it this time, clearly the smarter of the two, Natasha teases.

Because-

Natasha wins again.

Bucky may have been training, but he's been training with water. Water is different from food. It goes down easier. It might be heavier than food, and it might stretch you out like food, but it isn't the same. Natasha blows him out of the water, pun intended.

She ends up with her gut sticking out past her tits, breathing hard and heavy and caressing the sides of her gut with her fingernails while Steve looks on, trying and failing to hide his interest. He's blushing now worse than he was immediately after eating.

Steve's muscles may not want to stretch, too used to being tight and perfectly sculpted, but he's stubborn, and he packs a lot down. Bucky, too. He's having an easier time, but he burps something crazy. Steve hisses out little moans and gasps. They're both delicious in their own ways.

They meet more and more and more.

They exchange numbers and constantly are texting and sending photos. Talking about training exercises and sometimes even showing exactly what they mean. Boasting about wins (Natasha) or near wins (Steve and Bucky) from competitions they all don't attend. Showing off photos of their guts post-contest then showing the subsequent damage days after they get stuffed full for contests. Their own and others entertainment.

It becomes routine to crash into an Uber on the way back from a contest, all together, making the car sink that much closer to the ground as a result of their combined weight. They go back to either Bucky's and Steve's apartment or Natasha's apartment to spread out on couches and floors and beds. Anywhere they can starfish out to digest. Sometimes separate. Sometimes, in one huge bloated pile.

After contests, Bucky burps and pats his belly hard like he doesn't mind how tender his gut must be. Steve, meanwhile, moans and gasps and complains about how much he ate, how he should stop, or how he can't believe he did it again, and he has the loudest gurgles. He can hardly seem to touch his own belly. It's too much. Post stuffing, Natasha would purr if she could, feathering her fingers over her stretched belly and taking the time to massage lotion into her skin. She'd purr because of the feeling of her own body along with the feelings of the bodies around her. Two big, big guys squishing her, confessing that they still don't get how she can just do that.

It's a gift. Her capacity and her boys.

Her boys because... aomewhere along the lines, they start becoming more and more intimate.

Steve begins letting Natasha rub his belly with lotion and moans like she's wrapped his dick up her in lotion-slick hand. If not her, otherwise he won't touch himself and will actively lift his heavy body up and away, groaning as he moves like it's the most difficult thing he's ever done, from Bucky. He does not want his gut slapped or prodded. He will burp when his body wants him to, thank you very much.

Bucky begins pinching her hip and telling her how nice she always looks but blushes when she does it back to him. Bucky starts unbuckling his belt and letting his pants drop after pushing up his shirt. Crashing hard and getting comfortable. He also gropes his gut in front of them both. Nat catches an eyeful of his dick getting interested in his rough touching more than once. Steve takes off his shirt but leaves his pants off. She isn't so thrilled about it though, she's curious if he's like Bucky. Truly into this. And she's slightly concerned those pants are going to cut him in half one day.

Soon after those developments, Natasha allows herself to slip out of her bra more often than not when they're crashing after contests. Bucky both jokingly and sincerely confesses that it's crazy hot that she can stuff herself so much that the band of her bra becomes too tight. It gives her enough confidence to slip out of her pants, too. Leaving her to join Bucky in just a t-shirt and underwear.

They begin to see each other at times other than post-competition, too.

Eventually, they're more often together than not. And one day, Steve blurts randomly, "are we dating?"

Bucky bursts out laughing, shaking his head, "when I left it to you to figure that out, I- I didn't! Think you'd!!-" he slaps his knees, laughing harder.

Natasha looks between them, crossing her arms, "so you've talked about this together. Without me."

They both stumble and stutter.

She relaxes, allowing herself to grin, "good. You're both on the same page then."

Steve mumbles about having a heart attack. Bucky smacks his shoulder, "serves you right."

"So..."

They stop behaving like children and snap to attention. Starting at her.

"Do you want to date?"

They both nod eagerly.

"Good. We'll keep doing what we're doing then."

And that settles it. They keep living in each other's pockets, and they keep going to eating contests. It's the same. Just as good. Until... something breaks.

Steve stops working out. Like that.

It's so sudden.

He shrugs and claims he just doesn't feel like it. He'd rather be home with them or out eating with them. He doesn't want to waste time at the gym. He's full of love. He doesn't need to obsess over a hobby to fulfill him any longer. Bucky and Natasha cuddle him extra tight that night. And night by night... Steve gets softer and softer. His abs fade fast. His trim waist widens a little. And. It breaks them. Natasha and Bucky become even more obsessed with Steve. There's more of him.

If they all also gave up their obsessions of eating healthy and being active during the week when they don't have eating contests... there would be more of all of them.

And they can't go back once they realize that.

More. There could be more of them all. More love. More to touch and hold and-

Okay. Yes.

With the ending of their self-imposed rules about healthy eating and exercising and the continued entering of eating contests, they all start feeling the brunt of those calories near immediately.

Steve changes the most rapidly because of his sudden dropping, cold turkey, of working out. His poor body. It doesn’t know what to do with continued heavy calories that aren’t protein; his body could work off the cheat meals of competitive eating contests and put it towards more muscle, bulking, but his body can’t deal with cheat meals every day. Stuffing himself every day. Moaning about it. Loving it. As a result, Steve’s waist actually gets wider. His abs are gone impressively fast, and he starts to look puffy. Thick like frosting. (Natasha certainly thinks he’s as good as frosting - he’s sweet and pale white, and she could spend hours and hours licking and tasting him). His waist as well as everything else. His hips and thighs and ass. His chest and arms. And his jaw. Oh my god. His face starts filling out, those model cheekbones filling in. It’s cute.

He looks so good.

The frame of a liftaholic, gym rat is still under his new weight, but it’s buried, leaving him wide and fluffy looking. It’s only when you press your fingers into his new fluff that you can feel those hard-earned muscles underneath, holding up his new bulk.

And as much as Steve’s chin begins to get a twin it’s worse for Bucky.

Bucky already was holding onto a lot of puppy fat, youthful with a soft, smooth belly and face. So, as his gain creeps up on him - gaining slower than Steve - his face is chubby. Full cheeks and a soft jawline that both Natasha and Steve are obsessed with kissing. Natasha has a thing for biting it. When they don’t have to go anywhere for the weekend or the rare alignment of their schedules off work, she’ll leave marks on his double chin and press on it with her thumb every chance she gets, admiring her handy work and feeling all the weight Bucky has gained. It’s not just his face, though. Bucky gets nice and wide, too. His shoulders widen, his back starts to arch and forms little rolls, his legs begin to soften, and his chest gets hit. But it’s really his gut. He gets a great, full gut. Along with his swollen gut come chunky thighs and an impressive ass. Steve looks like he’s been inflated like he’ll pop if you poke his constantly stuffed ball of a gut while Bucky looks like he’s been hitting beers too heavily for too long. Bucky is relaxed and carries himself with a jiggling, heavy swagger. Steve is seemingly in pain, in the best way. He’s moaning and working around his gut. He doesn’t know how to carry himself. His mind can’t keep up with his body.

Natasha gains right along with her boys, of course. Her tits get bigger - she gets stretch marks on the sides of them, right around her underarms - and for a while, unless she’s stuffed, you can’t tell her belly is getting soft compared to her chest because of the size of her chest. But. Her gut catches up eventually. Suddenly. Her body gains weight in her thighs and hips and chest until, bam! Overnight, she suddenly has more than a soft little curve to her belly.

Bucky goes from burying his face in her tits or between her thick thighs whenever possible to pressing his face against her tummy. It’s kinda the best thing he’s ever seen. Nice and round and balancing her top and bottom half. Connecting her curves with an even larger, more irresistible curve.

Steve is never as brash as Bucky. He is less shy than he once was, but he still blushes and still is shy, curling in on himself whenever he’s turned on and has the chance to touch Natasha or Bucky. It’s adorable. It brings out the sadist in her, wanting to force him to beg or wanting to encourage him, grabbing his wrists and making him grab her tits or belly or ass. It's her game to make Steve call her fat. His good boy manners and society’s conditioning leave him tongue-tied until he’s really, really strung out. She can sometimes make him stutter it after a good, long week of stringing together eating contests day after day until they might as well roll themselves home after the last one or after Bucky and her have spent the day winding Steve up. Stuffing themselves and complaining about how full they are, obscenely eating food. Touching each other or even straight-up having sex in front of Steve without inviting him in. Anything. Everything. Teasing Steve until he’s willing to admit she’s fat. Nice and round and plump. Whatever naughty, big word she can get from him, she cherishes.

She also cherishes all of Bucky’s words, but Bucky’s mouth is filthy. She needn’t encourage him to call her names that should make her upset but instead make her hot. She doesn’t have to do anything before honey is dripping from his mouth, and he’s making himself and Steve blush. And they all love it. Natasha often jokes that they have turned their lives into an orgy of gluttony. Bucky kisses her right on the mouth and wonders out loud if three is really an orgy. Steve just groans. The two of them together is too much and he’s had too much - his body is still the most sensitive, he’s gained the most weight, and they both seem to favor shoving food at him the most, so he’s never not stuffed full, lying back under his pale, mountainous gut. Steve is their bloated playground. They tease him. They mess with him. Stuffing immobilizes him. He doesn’t have enough self-control to stop until they stop him, so while they can crawl all over him and all over each other… Steve lies back. Panting. Moaning. Weakly shifting as his gut burbles and they kiss on top of him, pressing their guts together. Natasha will often ride him while Bucky fucks his mouth or fucks Natasha’s ass, struggling to get close enough to her now that they’re all so fat.

It’s a good life.

Big fat partners 🫠😵‍💫😵‍💫❤️

[death-breeds-wisdom]

If I ever turn them into stories I think I'm gonna have the centre conflict revolve around lying. They all have done majorly fucked up things in the past that, if come to light, would make them not be able to look eachother in the eyes. So they agree to never speak about who they were/what they did before Belldale.

Izzy has never left belldale and his history is somewhat of an open secret (the abuse, the addictions, the trauma is all worn on his face, sleeve and demeanour), but Jackrabbit made sure no one knew that he was the one that caused the Bela debacle. Not because she cares for Izzy, but because if people target izzy they target her, and she cannot ever appear vulnerable. The canines are only allowed to exist because she seems unshakeable and constant. Immortal. Eventually though, when the govt starts poking the canines and jackrabbit starts unravelling, his crimes will come to light. Or maybe he'll slip up and say something he wasn't supposed to know. Or maybe he'll start getting targeted a suspicious amount. Because after all, how could be an alcoholic kid that important to the national government.

Roz straight up used to work against the canines. The canines are the dominating group in the federation, but the closest rival, the townies, are based in Rovenport where Roz used to live. She started out as a fighter for their boxing clubs but quickly became a body guard. She was originally sent to belldale to sabotage, but the entire operation went tits up and people don't ask too many questions around those parts. The canines sort of have a don't ask don't tell policy. Her doom will most likely be her old colleagues recognising her and wanting revenge for sinking the mission. Or maybe there's been a leak on the townies' side and the names/faces of the high ranking members will reach jackrabbit.

Mika killed his dad. It's actually the crime most forgivable, but only cail knew what he did. Not their mother, not his sister. His secrets are way more acceptable (I avoid using the word moral because on the occasion he has made bombs), but they'd still change your perception of him. I think he'll just non chalantly admit it in the middle of a drinking game. Or maybe... roz will think about making amends with her father only to find out that he's been dead for years. Maybe returning to Rovenport to seek out her father is what gets her caught.

Cail's biggest fuck up is willful ignorance. They were ripped from this reality and shoved into a world with 4 dimensions where they gained sacred knowledge and was tasked with killing a god, but they declined and went home. They practically brought about the end of the world and just sort of ignored that. The 4th dimension held onto them for a while and tried to pull them back, bit Cail severed their connection to that. They could've saved the world but thought "nah fuck that I'd rather go back to bothering Mika." There isn't an answer to the question of how much he'd sacrifice because he couldn't be fucked to care enough. Truly, I have no idea how the others would find out about the existence of the 4th dimension or an impending doom originating from there. For all they know Cail had a psychotic break and carved out their own eye.

Hedry, the ever-loyal and considerate Hedry is the only one who can be blamed for her fate. She and quite a lot of her school friends left Manfort Isle for Ineverue and she is single-handedly responsible for one of their deaths and dissolving the group. She is the one who got them into crime. She is the one who got police sent after them. So she fled to Belldale. She, unlike the rest, talks alot about her time in Ineverue, but she seemingly seems to forget the most painful details. The others don't question why she suddenly left for Belldale but they will once they find the police reports.

Julia... has too many secrets to count. He's a hyperreligious liar who only answers to his god and thus would throw everyone that cares for him under the bus in the name of staying faithful to a canonically uncaring god who will sentence him to hell regardless. He lies for no reason and no remorse. The fact that he's faked his death twice before aren't even the craziest things (Okay yeah and he's also killed innocent people in the name of pettiness). Even I don't know why he fucks people over that much. His real self being revealed is directly linked to Izzy getting suspiciously targeted, because he's the one to rat him out to the government people and after Izzy gets back from his little meeting with the officials, he starts to wonder how they could know. Besides, the only people who know are either dead or Jackrabbit and Julia...

[imsparky2002]

Batraculous: Spider-Boy and his Friends

Vince Le Blanc-Bustier

Age: 12

Hero Name: Spider-Boy

The first-born son of Commissioner Giselle Le Blanc and Caline Bustier. Gained powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider similar to the one that bit Socqueline, a.k.a. Spider-Girl. Aside from the usual benefits of Spider Powers (shooting webs, crawling on walls and super reflexes and strength) he is able to turn invisible and absorb electricity, though he can’t do it on command.

He's never been afraid to take risks, which is why he jumped at the chance to become Socqueline's protege. The Teen Titans see him as a little brother and he works hard to eventually take his place on the team.

Has a job as delivering Le Rapport Quotidien (The Daily Report) newspapers through various streets of Paris. Often has to use his Spidey-Senses to avoid collisions with cars.

Vince's Friends and Acquaintances.

Chris Lahiffe

Age: 12

The younger brother of Nino, a.k.a. Sonic Bat. He's the opposite of his older bro in almost every way. An intellectual and uptight kid who tries to act if he's already an adult. This can lead to him stressing about not just helping Vince as Spider-Boy, but also maintaining his usual standard of grades in school.

His constant perfectionism and slight know-it-all tendencies can get on his friends’ nerves from time to time, but they love him nonetheless. He serves as a bit of a Yin to Kiran’s Yang with their opposing personalities. Sasha Bruel and the Cesaire twins like to rile him up at times.

Chris considers himself a boy of science and logic, though seeing Doctor Strange has given him an interest in time travel. Perhaps he could pursue a career at OsCorp Industries...

Kiran Anciel

Age: 12

Marc, a.k.a Writer Bat's little brother, Kiran is unquestionably the heart of the group with his positive outlook and easygoing demeanor. He keeps his friends spirits up, particularly Vince, Chris, and his girlfriend Sasha.

Currently training alongside Sasha in the Batcave to become Batheroes just like their older brothers. The only problem Kiran faces is his stamina, since it doesn't take much to put him to sleep!

He and Marc share a close relationship. He'll often calm the older teen down, and Marc helps Kiran to find new creative outlets. Kiran idolizes his big brother and aims to be a hero like him someday. He also loves listening to Marc’s stories.

Sasha Bruel

Age: 12

Something of a mother hen to her friends, Sasha is the one who steps in whenever Vince gets himself hurt, and while she may not show much emotion outwardly, no one can deny how much she cares.

She idolizes her brother Ivan, a.k.a. Strength Bat. It's why her and Kiran are training to become heroes in the future. And so they can help out their web-slinging buddy. The entire Batcrew and the Titans will do anything to keep them safe.

Sasha still shares an incredibly close relationship with her brother, and he is one of the few people she shows her softer side to. The others are her besties, and especially her boyfriend Kiran. They have an adorable relationship and their brothers approve wholeheartedly.

Ella and Etta Cesaire

Age: 12

The twin sisters of Alya, a.k.a. Reporter Bat. While they were a lot more hyperactive when they were younger, they still like to make mischief every now and again. They're almost always on their phones, whether using social media, filming their friends and themselves or filming the heroes.

They're little shit-stirrers to be sure, usually winding Chris up for a laugh. Still, they care about their friends and family very much.

Ella's a jock and currently on the track and soccer team. On the contrary, Etta's a nerd who knows how to code and whizzes her science and math classes.

Vince's Little Bro

August Le Blanc-Bustier

Age: 8

Vince's younger brother. A total sweetie who thinks the world of his bro and is always willing to help whenever he can. Possibly the only kid in the world who's happier than Ayesha or Kiran, and generally has a problem with saying no to people.

August has a notorious sweet tooth, and usually has some kind of snack on him. The others enjoy spending time with him and are quite protective of him despite him being rather tall for his age, which is something he unfortunately gets bullied for. Still, he doesn't let it phase him.

Even though one of his mothers is Commissioner of the Paris Police Department, August has always felt a soft spot for criminals. He wants to understand why criminals do the things they do. Caline and Commissioner Gisele feel that he has a bright future in Paris's mental health services.

And here's the next post for Batraculous. Just a reminder that Vince is the name I gave to the kid who got akumatized in Risk and August is the name of the baby who got akumatized in Gigantitan. There'll be more on each Bathero Section's family soon. @artzychic27 @msweebyness

[aspoonofsugar]

i'm sorry in advance that i'm sending you this wall of text. but i've been rereading and rewatching the yorknew arc that now i have /so/ many thoughts on how the succession war arc could mirror and contrast the former wrt the phantom troupe that i wanted to share. also i love reading your hxh theories and meta, they have really helped me gain a better understanding of the characters and themes of hxh. feel free to ignore this tho if it's too much.

when the troupe are gathering to yorknew they remark that it's the first time in years that all members have been together. they also mention that two of their members have been replaced. i think that when they finally gather on tier 1 after several weeks on the black whale two of their members will have been killed.

which members? well back in yorknew chrollo did not send the following members to infiltrate the underground auction: pakunoda, hisoka, kortopi, phinks and bonolenov. on tier 1 the first three won't be part of the mission for obvious reasons, but once again phinks and bono will be absent bc they are already dead.

at the auction franklin and shizuku are the only ones shown killing people (feitan and uvo torture info out of that poor security guard but that's all offscreen). after reaching tier 1 those two will be killed. symbolically franklin is the voice of reason and helps to settle disputes while shizuku cleans up their messes so their deaths would further destabilize the group. tho if shizuku really does die then i hope togashi will never touch machi bc it'd suck of all the female members were killed.

chrollo will again attempt to get close to the heir of a powerful family who has a future based hatsu (neon/tserri) but will fail either bc he'll be unable to gain tserri's trust and/or bc tserri's nen beasts can sense chrollo's intent and attack him.

the ten dons sent the shadow beasts to prevent the pt from stealing the treasures but ultimately they were killed by uvo. in contrast the guardian spirit beasts will succeed in protecting their princes from the pt (my predictions are basically just the pt taking Ls one after the other lmao)

after kurapika finds out that the pt are on the black whale he will confront chrollo but instead of a deathmatch he will strike a deal. in yorknew kurapika was hired as a bodyguard to protect neon from threats and was collaborating with hisoka against the troupe. now kurapika will strike a deal with the pt to help him guard oito and wobble, in exchange he will help the pt find hisoka.

i've seen the theory that nobunaga will want to fight kurapika since he was the most upset about uvo's death. but it think it's interesting that during the hostage situation nobu was willing to follow kurapika's orders to keep chrollo alive. it was phinks and feitan who were opposed to following kurapika's orders. so when kurapika approaches the pt with his proposal i think nobu will agree to it if it's benefical to the troupe while it's feitan who will protest the most.

chrollo will have a rematch with hisoka. he'll probably have assistance from at least one of the spiders, after all he was only able to beat hisoka the first time with help from shalnark and kortopi. most likely machi since she seems to have the strongest connection to hisoka out of the pt. but before chrollo and machi can land the killing blow illumi will intervene and save hisoka's life.

ok i think that's all i've got for now. thank you so much for your time.

Hi!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! It is entirely possible this arc will mirror Yorshin to an extent, even if I am not sure of the details!

Similarly, I think Kurapika and Chrollo might be forced to form an alliance, even if I don't know how it comes to be. And I agree about wanting something for Hisoka and Illumi, even if I am expecting it to be fucked up :P

In short, I agree with the general idea you have, but I am not sure of the details or if it will mirror Yorshin in such a precise way :)

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

[waiting-on-a-dream]

𝙼𝙱𝚃𝙸, 𝚎𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚢 𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚖 𝚘𝚌𝚜!

𝙼𝙱𝚃𝙸

Ichiro: INTP (He's curious about the world, despite getting stuck in his own head and losing track of time often. He gets many ideas but forgets them just as easily. He doesn't care much for what people think about him, but goes along with the flow so nobody will be unhappy (he probably doesn't care about the topic either but that's besides the point). He's also really detached from his own emotions, and finds it hard to empathize with other people.)

Akane: ESFP (She's really focused on her surroundings and is often experiencing everything that's happening around her, never missing a single detail unlike Ichiro. She also has a good grasp of her emotions and has a strong moral code, hence why she's often so angry with other people who look away. However, knowing that she's angry doesn't help control her emotions that well. She doesn't like being a bad mood, but she doesn't know how to manage her feelings properly.)

Daisuke: ESTP (Like Akane, he also pays attention to his surroundings well. He's always up and about, flitting from one exciting activity to the next. He also likes to think about things in a logical way and doesn't care about the morality of what he's doing as much (his job, cough). However, he has FE as his third function, so he's not completely terrible at navigating social and emotional situations. In fact, he's quite good at utilizing his emotional manipulation.)

Suzume: INFJ (She has a bad habit of always having her head in the clouds and worrying about the future. She mostly gets by with life through her intuitive gut feeling, which hasn't failed her so far. She also wants everyone to get along and will sacrifice her thoughts and feelings in order to go with the majority, to the point where she might put on a mask for someone if they want her to act a certain way.)

Haku: ISTJ (He tends to relate his past experiences to present circumstances, where his memories are used as a frame of reference to build ideas about how the world is and how it works. Whatever has been established to work well, he'll keep going with that until another solution is required. He's reasonable and rational, but has enough emotional intelligence not to rub most people off the wrong way.)

Yui: ESFJ (Her decisions and opinions are heavily influenced by her interactions with other people, as well as cultural and societal norms. She's friendly, sensitive and empathetic, always willing to help other people whenever she can. She also tends to act and respond in patterned ways that have been proven to work in the past, not willing to step out of her comfort zone most of the time.)

Rin: ISFP (He's sensitive and very aware of his inner emotional state, having a bad habit of being self-centered and aloof often. He only does what seems right to him, and doesn't enjoy being told that he's "wrong". Like most teenagers, he's trying to form his own identity while still gaining approval from his peers (its hard to do both). He also pays a lot of attention to his surroundings, concentrating on living in the moment instead of planning ahead.)

Noa: INFP (She's sensitive and empathetic, unfortunately jaded and anxious from bad experiences in her past. She used to be an idealistic dreamer when she was younger, but she knows now that she was just naïve and unaware of the world. She's also speculative and creative. Her NE allows her to see patterns everywhere, jumping from one thought to another as each item reminds her of something else.)

Kiyoshi: ENFJ (Like Yui, he's friendly and helpful to everyone he meets. He feels a sense of responsibility over people in a humanitarian way, and often sacrifices his own thoughts and feelings to keep up the peace in a group setting. He makes sure to plan ahead in life, but ends up relying on his instincts to guide him more often than not. Its okay, his gut instincts rarely fail him!)

Mayumi: INTJ (She worries a lot about many things, always stuck in that chaotic head of hers. Even though she thinks so much, she finds it very hard to voice her thoughts in a way that others will understand. How frustrating. She might be anxious often, that doesn't necessarily make her an emotional wreck though. She's actually quite level-headed when the situation calls for it, making reasonable and rational judgements every time without fail.)

Haruto: ENTP (He has a speculative and creative intellect, seeing patterns and connections everywhere to make a bigger picture. Whether or not he chooses to share his vision is another thing. He also prefers to think about things objectively and logically, questioning many things he comes across. Like Daisuke, he's also perfectly capable of tapping into his emotional intelligence.)

𝙴𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚖

Ichiro: 5w6 (sp/sx)

His self-preservation instinct manifests in his tendency of retreating into his head to think, hence why he's so detached from reality. He's hesitant to do something if he isn't sure how it'll go, leading him to observe life from a distance instead of participating in it. His six wing causes him to feel alone and incapable without outside support, and he wants to feel safe with the people that he trusts. But he's primarily a type 5, so despite wanting attention from the people that he likes, he ends up minimizing his needs to avoid having them think he's too needy.

His social instinct comes in second because of his natural curiosity towards the world, wanting to learn more despite being so detached from it. He also finds comfort in knowing the acceptable boundaries of how to act through "authority figures" such as: his mom, Haruto and the other adults in Milgram. Because they're supposed to know more than him, he automatically trusts most authority figures and what they tell him.

Akane: 6w5 (sx/sp)

Her sexual instincts manifest in her tendency to appear bold and fierce in order to protect herself from any threats. Sexual sixes have the mentality of "the best defense is a good offense", and Akane is no exception. Her constant anger isn't a façade per say, but it stems mostly from her fear of getting or being allowed to get hurt. She would also like to have someone to rely on, but that isn't her main priority. Her sexual 5 tendencies manifest in her distrust of people instead, constantly analyzing and testing them to find out if they're any threat to her. Her guard is always up.

She doesn't trust any authority around her (they've all failed her so far), but she can't help the small feeling of hope that they'll help her every time. They're the authorities, so they should care about her and want to help, right? Right? She also doesn't pay much attention to anyone she doesn't like, as they tend to make her angry and that isn't good for anyone. If someone can connect with her and/or hold a conversation with her without pissing her off though, she's surprisingly loyal once she gets attached.

Daisuke: 7w6 (sp/so)

His self-preservation instinct manifests in his characteristics of being practical, opportunistic, and good at networking. He likes the sense of banding together with trusted others in which he knows he'll be looked after. Its funny. He fears being completely reliant on others, yet wants to be able to rely on someone. His six wing further emphasizes his need for support. His morals are questionable, but he still seeks friendly connections and alliances. And to do this he projects a friendly, trustworthy, and supportive persona as good allies are supposed to be.

Daisuke imagines having something better than his bleak reality sometimes, but only sometimes. He's not enough of a dreamer to be so idealistic. He has a flair for being dramatic, and exaggerates good effects when trying to rope in clients, but that's about it. His romantic side likes to sneak out in the presence of a certain someone though. He isn't as aggressive as Akane (sexual 6 wing), but he does tend to feign calmness in the face of "danger". He's good at not showing it, but he's actually quite scared most of the time.

Suzume: 9w8 (so/sx)

Her social instinct manifests in her tendency to work hard to support the people she cares for and prioritize the group’s needs above her own. This is due to the feeling that she doesn't actually belong among the people she cares for, so she overcompensates by being generous and sacrificing whatever is necessary to meet the needs of the group in order for a sense of belonging. She is also very focused on protecting her loved ones but has a hard time expressing vulnerability and emotions. 

Its hard to live in such a harsh and cruel world, but she is able to find a sense of comfort through the satisfaction of physical needs. Enjoyable activities like eating, reading, watching television, and even sleeping get her from one day to the next. As long as she focuses on the present instead of the daunting future, she'll be fine. Her 8 wing allows her to be good at making things happen. When she wants something, she most certainly will work hard to get it! She just needs to actually want something first.

Haku: 5w4 (sp/so)

Like Ichiro, he tends to keep to himself and learn about the world through observing rather than participating. While Ichiro has garnered a love for drawing, he has a passion for music, specifically piano. His 4 wing is where he differs from Ichiro's enneagram type. A type 4's greatest sin is "envy", and Haku tends to compare himself to others in terms of music capability. He actually isn't that talented when it comes to playing the piano, but he makes up for it through hard work. Still, he can't help being jealous of others who seem to get by without having to suffer as much as him. There's no point in whining about it though, so he learns to endure everything with a stoic face.

Sexual fives live for a kind of ideal connection, always searching for someone who they can trust with all their secrets. They can be said to be romantics in that way. Luckily for Haku, he already has his beloved brother who is always by his side. Everyone else in the world pales in comparison to him. The sexual side of Haku's 4 wing manifests in his competitive streak towards his peers. When it comes to the piano, he hates to lose to anyone else. Even though he isn't as naturally talented as everyone else, its what he's best at. Its an important part of him, and he can't let go of it.

Yui: 4w3 (so/sp)

As a social 4, she tends to feel things deeply and finds it hard to regulate her negative emotions. A part of her wants her suffering to be recognized and understood, but she also fears displaying such vulnerability to the potential of being rejected. To compensate for this innate sadness, she projects the exact opposite image. She's flourishing and beautiful and popular, liked by everyone. Her smile will surely outshine her shadow.

She also often feels competitive towards other idols in the industry, especially those that seem to be better than her. She can't stand the thought of being forgotten in someone else's shadow, so she works hard to shine in her own right. Its not always about her though! She likes to see her loved ones flourish as well, and will often work hard in support of the people she cares for. There's a special kind of pride she feels when her loved ones are acknowledged after improving with her help.

Rin: 1w2 (so/sp)

As a social 1, he is highly idealistic and driven by an internal sense of morality. He strictly believes in rules and responsibility, hence why he takes pinky promises so seriously. He can be nitpicky and stubborn, causing him to feel separate from his peers because he struggles to find someone he can totally relate to. Even though he finds most people annoying, he quickly grows attached to anyone who treats him nicely. He's a hard worker with the occasional competitive streak, wanting to stand out and make an impact within whatever group he's joined (his school's science club).

He often feels that he knows the “right” way to do things, and will get frustrated at those who don't follow his views. Its not that he believes in perfection, but there's a certain standard that everyone should live up to. He can't understand people who fuss over trivial things that don't amount to anything in the end. Once someone manages to befriend him, he'll give lots of attention to them, wanting to be their best friend just as they are his. He gets lonely quite often actually, and isn't good at letting go of people.

Noa: 4w5 (so/sx)

Similar to Yui, she's sensitive and has a bleak outlook on life and the world as a whole. Its as if she was born to be sad, and she can't help but feel as if life isn't worth living most of the time. She tries not to burden others with her depressing thoughts and feelings, but it feels good to let the weight off her back once in a while. A part of her fears that her loved ones will start seeing her differently once she shares too much though. These feelings might be born from her tendency to live in her own head, filled with romantic ideals of a better world with better people. She was never one for mundane, ordinary life, how could she be? The books and movies she watches are much more interesting, and they often make her wish she was living in another world instead.

Her self-preservation instinct tries its best to make her not seem like an utter failure. Others will surely be annoyed at her whining, so she should just keep these messy feelings to herself. This inner conflict only causes her turmoil most of the time. Her 5 wing also causes her to have a need for clearly defined boundaries, to have a place of safety she can retreat to to avoid feeling lost in the world. Even though she wants to, its hard to voice her thoughts sometimes. Especially with the potential of rejection.

Kiyoshi: 2w3 (so/sp)

He's obviously a social 2 with him being the helpful and responsible leader type. He wants to help people and preserve the peace of the community, and is ambitious in pursuing any goals he sets for himself. Everyone who knows him admires him for his accomplishments, he's a role model for his community after all. A part of him needs everybody's admiration and respect as a way of earning a sense of belonging in his community. His parents are very active in the community as well, so he's learned that people who go out of their way to help others are always well loved and accepted. He makes sure to live up to everyone's expectations.

He also strives to forge intimate connections with others. It'd be nice to have some close friends, to share secrets with others and to be shared with. But he wants to be approved of and liked so much that he is willing to agree to anything someone says. He doesn't even realize that he says whatever the other wants to hear until hours after the conversation. Because he tries so hard to be good and perfect, he doesn't know how to react to criticism. He also goes out of his way to support others, particularly his loved ones. He wants everyone to get their own chance to shine!

Mayumi: 1w9 (so/sx)

Similar to Rin, she believes that everyone has a certain standard to love up to and responsibilities that they must fulfill. She strives to be the perfect example to others by living according to the rules and portraying correct conduct. She has a strong moral compass and bad habit of judging others in secret (she tries not to). However, she's more peaceful and compromising compared to Rin, as she doesn't want to offend or cause trouble for anyone. She works selflessly for the group without desire to be in the spotlight or be heaped with praise, simply being part of a meaningful group of people means the most to her.

Her self-preservation instinct manifests in her tendency to be plagued by worry in her daily life. She wants to be prepared when things go wrong, and will put in a lot effort into making sure her life is in order. Despite her anxiety and annoyance whenever things don't go smoothly, she still strives to live a calm and peaceful life. This means that she is practical and routine-oriented, trying her best to focus on the present and find ways to make her environment more enjoyable and comfortable.

Haruto: 8w7 (sp/so)

He doesn't have to worry about such things as a prison warden in Milgram, but he actually has a strong need to obtain what he needs for survival. He has a sort of ruthlessness in going after what he wants and finding ways to get around people who might stand in his way. He's efficient and calculating, but not entirely cold-hearted. His 7 wing also helps him with being opportunistic and good at networking, qualities that are always good to have for survival. He believes in strength in numbers, so being friendly and forming alliances with others is important to him. Even more so when he comes across someone who can help him in achieving his goals. Perhaps he struggled a lot before Milgram.

His sexual instinct has him being distrustful of rules and not afraid to go against the grain of convention. He's found himself in a strange place with no memory of anything before, so he's always uneasy despite being in the "highest position of authority" in Milgram. He wants to be in control of himself and his environment, and gaining more information is the only way to do so at the moment. His optimistic 7 wing keeps him in good spirits despite his uneasiness, and he tends to be impulsive because of it, much to the chagrin of some prisoners. Planning, improvising, envisioning – these are the things that occupy his time.

𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚞𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜

Ichiro

Gender preference: None. He'd probably grow feelings for anyone within his age range that treats him nicely.

Giving:

Gift giving - Its a nice way to show his affection without coming off as too clingy. He tends to dedicate and give his drawings to the people close to him. Drawing is his hobby, and he's quite good at it so he thinks his drawings are a good gift for his loved ones. He'll also pick up anything that he thinks his loved ones would like. Flowers, keychains, food, smooth pebbles for paperweights (that he paints first), you name it.

Quality time - When he likes someone, he wants to spend time with them (isn't it like that for everyone?). He'll try his best to pay attention when they're talking or trying to show him something. Compared to the way he usually ignores other people, his preference for someone can be quite obvious over time.

Receiving:

Quality time - As long as he can be doing the same activity as his loved one, he's happy (like a cat). The amount of attention they're willing to give him is how he measures their feelings towards him actually. If they don't want to spend time with him, that must mean that they don't care about him.

Words of affirmation - He has mommy issues, so of course he wants to be called a good boy. But seriously, compliments and kind words will have him curling into a ball of happiness. He doesn't believe in lies, so he thinks that any words of affection towards him is true. He likes being reminded that he's loved.

Akane

Gender preference: None. She's giving pansexual vibes actually.

Giving:

Acts of service - She's used to doing all the chores around the house, so doing the same thing for someone she actually cares about shouldn't be a problem. She isn't very good at cooking, but she'll practice if she wants to impress someone- He first-aid skills are quite good from experience, so she'll insist on patching up the wounds of her loved ones whenever she has the chance. She's not happy about them getting hurt or anything like that! She just likes having the opportunity to show her care for them.

Quality time - She's never had someone genuinely care about her before, but he wishes she had someone to talk to often. She's very picky about who she spends her time with, but when he likes someone, she'll go out of her way to seek them out. Who would've thought? Even a tsundere like her wants love.

Receiving:

Gift giving - Her father is a good-for-nothing, and a high school girl is only able to rake in so much income, so she doesn't have much to herself. Practical items like food, bandages, clothes and stationary are the fastest way to her heart. She'll find a way to repay the giver because she doesn't like feeling indebted to people, but she appreciates the gesture all the same.

Words of affirmation - She is so weak to compliments. Butter her up a little and she'll be a flustered blushing mess. Its nice hearing her loved ones tell her that she's pretty cool, okay? Especially after the things her father and teachers have said to her.

Daisuke

Gender preference: None. Bisexual disaster at his finest.

Giving:

Physical touch - He's a touchy guy, even towards people he just met as long as they don't seem to mind (most of the time). If he likes someone, he'll definitely be draping himself over them a lot like a sloth. If he likes someone, he'll be thinking of kissing them so much its embarrassing. Even he gets embarrassed about it.

Gift giving - A part of him gives gifts in hopes that the receiver will think of him whenever they look at or use the gift, like a little reminder of his affection for them. But for the most part, he has money and he likes spending it on the people he cares for.

Receiving:

Quality time - His parents were often busy, so he was quite lonely in his childhood. Its easy to arrange for meetups with friends now that he's an adult, so that's exactly what he does. He'll do the same for anyone he has feelings for too. He doesn't call it a date, the potential of rejection is too much. He just wants to spend time with the people that he likes, preferably doing something fun.

Physical touch - Is he touch starved? Any skin contact makes him happy actually, even if its a little rough. Maybe he's just a masochist. Cuddling is his favourite, especially with his special someone playing with his hair. Not that he's ever had a special someone cuddle him... But its nice to dream about.

Suzume

Gender preference: None. I'm getting bisexual vibes from her too.

Giving:

Acts of service - Her main method of showing her love is easy to overlook, hence why she feels she isn't good at loving. Doing the chores, remembering important things for her loved ones, positioning things around the house for convenience... Even though it feels like she's being taken for granted sometimes, its her way of showing her love and she isn't stopping anytime soon.

Quality time - When she cares about someone, she gives them her full attention and tries her best to remember the important details about them. She'll only remember the times she spent with them in the end after all, so why not create as many happy memories with her loved ones as possible?

Receiving:

Quality time - She's really happy when her loved ones talk to her or do an activity with her. Watching a movie together is one of her favourite activities to do her loved ones actually. She gets to enjoy the movie with them, and then discuss it with them afterwards.

Words of affirmation - She's the type of person to hear "I love you" a thousand times over and still not get tired of it. Same goes for compliments and reassurances. She just has to hear it with her own ears even if they're lies and she'll be alright.

Haku

Gender preference: None. He isn't interested in dating, but he probably has the capacity to be attracted to people.

Giving:

Acts of service - His way of showing love is quiet. He's already a responsible older brother, so doing chores and offering massages to his parents is normal for him to do. Helping his brother talk to others is a loving act of service as well. His parents tell him he coddles his brother too much, but he can't help it.

Gift giving - He tends to buy snacks, flowers and little trinkets for his loved ones like a cat bringing its spoils to its master. Whatever he thinks they'd like. Learning to play piano songs that they like seems to be a gift rather than an act of service, so I'll put it here. He also leaves the portion of his meals that his brother likes for the other to eat, another example of him spoiling his brother too much.

Receiving:

Quality time - He just likes being around his loved ones. He could be in the same room as them, doing separate things, and he'd still consider it quality time. Of course its more special when they're doing an activity together though. He especially loves the music related activities, it feels more meaningful to him.

Physical touch - His family members are quite touchy actually. His dad pats his head frequently, his mom often squishes his cheeks, and his brother is always clinging to him. Since physical touch is their giving love language, he's likely adapted to receive it. He's quite picky with who touches him though.

Yui

Gender preference: Male. She thinks girls are cute, but isn't interested in dating them?

Giving:

Words of affirmation - She can't help but want to blurt out all the nice things she can think of about her loved ones. When someone mentions them, she automatically goes on a spiel about how amazing they are. She has to stop herself from ranting for too long most of the time. Shell praise compliment her loved ones face-to-face plenty too. And she means every word.

Physical touch - its hard to hide when she's feeling clingy. She loves hugging her loved ones, throwing an arm over their shoulders and tucking her chin onto the crook of their necks. She especially loves playing with their hair, no matter the length.

Receiving:

Quality time - Having her loved ones want to spend time with her is a surefire way to cheer her up during a bad day because she finds their presence comforting. She just needs them to sit with her. It lets her know that they don't find her annoying? Its a silly thought, she tries to shit it down every time it pops up.

Words of affirmation - Receiving compliments always improves her self-esteem. When she's feeling down, a few compliments is sure to get her mood back to normal in no time. She turns into a flustered mess when showered in kind words too.

Rin

Gender preference: Female

Giving:

Gift giving - He likes to treat his loved ones to snacks and buy little gifts for them. He doesn't receive that much pocket money, but he still insists on buying things for his loved ones because it makes him happy to see them happy with their gifts. He looks forward to special occasions like Mother's day and Valentine's day to be used as excuses to buy gifts for his loved ones.

Quality time - He likes seeing and interacting with the people that he likes! He can actually get antsy and restless when he hasn't been able to interact with his loved one(s) for too long. Like that time his parents went on a week-long trip for their anniversary. He was fidgeting while waiting for them at the airport.

Receiving:

Quality time - He tends to measure how much his loved ones love him based on how much time they spend with him. And he has a bad habit of taking it personally when they're too busy to spend time with him. It isn't that hard to hang out with him though. Most of the time he just wants to share a meal or read together.

Acts of service - He can sometimes forget to take care of himself when he's engrossed in his work, so its really nice when his loved one runs him a hot bath or brings him a snack while he's working. Little acts like that never fail to make his heart melt.

Noa

Gender preference: Male

Giving:

Physical touch - She can't help but want to feel her loved ones with her hands. Ruffling her brothers' hair, holding her mother's hand, hugging her beloved husband. There's something comforting about being able to feel their skin against hers. It grounds her, reminds her that they're here and alive. Is that weird?

Quality time - She isn't very busy, so she has plenty of time to spend on her loved ones. If her loved ones have something to show her, she's sure to give them her full attention! Any time spend sharing love for each other is quality time for her.

Receiving:

Words of affirmation -She tends to feel down sometimes, but little words of support and reassurance always help to pick her back up. Sometimes she just wants to be distracted and will ask them to ramble about something instead. She finds her loved ones' voices soothing, so they serve as good distractions.

Quality time - Since she likes spending time with her loved ones, she feels loved when they want to spend time with her too. She feels rather honored when her loved ones share something special to them with her actually. That means they trust her enough to share something close to them. How wonderful.

Kiyoshi

Gender preference: Female

Giving:

Acts of service - He wants his loved ones to be safe and comfortable at all times, so if there's anything he can do for them, he'll do his best to help them. Especially his beloved parents. He's a reliable assistant for his father while working, and frequently brews relaxing teas for his mother.

Gift giving - He likes to buy fancy and expensive gifts for his loved one on special occasion. Watches, fruit baskets, decorative items they're sure to like. His mother has a fondness for flowers, so he makes sure to buy a bouquet every Mother's day. He just loves seeing the look of joy on his loved ones' faces when they receive something they like. He can't get enough of it.

Receiving:

Physical touch - He's used to being touched a lot as a kid. His parents hugged him often, and his elderly neighbours liked to pinch his cheeks. They still do it even though he's all grown up now. Not that he's complaining! He quite likes the attention.

Acts of service - He's always making sure everyone else is taken care of, so who will take care of him? Sometimes he gets so engrossed on his work that he forgets about his own needs. Just having his loved one check in on him gives him enough motivation to keep going (and remind him to eat something).

Mayumi

Gender preference: Male

Giving:

Acts of service - She's more of a practical person, so she'd rather do something useful for her loved ones rather then profess her care with words. For her, talk is cheap. So she doesn't mind doing extra chores and cooking meals and such.

Gift giving - Another practical way of showing love that Mayumi prefers. She's known to knit sweaters for the children living in the hospital she works at, and her mother is always happy to receive more cooking equipment. Basically, she prefers to get things for the people she cares about that they will use.

Receiving:

Quality time - She's busy with her job as a nurse, so she treasures the precious moments spent with her loved ones. Even time spent doing chores with her mother is treasured by her. But she prefers activities like having a conversation over a shared meal.

Acts of service - She's very tired at the end of every day, so it'd be nice to be taken care of for a while. A simple cup of tea is enough to get her spirits up most of the time. She also tends to misplace her things quite often, so having someone help her to look for it and bring it to her would be really helpful.

Haruto

Gender preference: Both, both are good.

Giving:

Acts of service - He has traces of responsibility in him (likely from his past) and is always helping the people he care about feel comfortable. He's the kind of person that always has to be doing something, and that translates to his love language as well.

Words of affirmation - He tends to casually compliment the people he cares about, usually with a lighthearted tone. It just slips out so easily for him, he hardly has to think about it. The ever meaningful "I love yous" are saved for special occasions though.

Receiving:

Words of affirmation - Compliments and praises make him so happy! They inflate his ego too but we don't talk about that. If someone likes him, they must think he's pretty cool and want to voice it, right? He knows lots of people don't operate like that, but he wants to hear proof of their love from their lips. At least once in a while. That shouldn't be too hard for them if they love him.

Acts of service - Its nice to have things done for him. Even better if his loved ones is proactive about it! He's sure to do the same for them, so its only fair. The little things like being brought a drink and having his hair dried really makes his day!

[moonfurthetemmie]

Sometime after finding the last surviving records from Alinda and her team, and doing a little research himself, Deimos realizes he's going to need some help. maybe a lot of help.

He has to be very careful about who he asks.

Lodo and Bea seem like they'd be willing, but they also seem to be more afraid of Gonzalo and Petruccio than most of the rest of the manor. He's not convinced they wouldn't tell those two everything the moment they ask.

Antonio seems more likely to want to help, but Deimos isn't fluent in ASL which would make it pretty difficult to talk to him. A small hurdle, but he's not ready to jump it until he's assessed all of his options.

Sortino doesn't know shit, but as the maid and cook it would be very easy for him to hang around people under the pretense of cleaning to eavesdrop. Gonzalo and Petruccio may not suspect him of trying to stop them, too, even if they notice he's heard something he wasn't supposed to. which they likely will. He's not too eager to get on their bad side, though. He might not be willing to help.

He might not realize at first that Bella is 100% on Gonzalo and Petruccio's side, but it won't take long. Especially since, presently, no one really thinks he's going to try and work against them. Clearly they haven't convinced him to stay and help them, but he's doing an excellent job of feigning innocence so far.

Francisco seems to know a lot. Demios will definitely need to ask him some questions. But he's awfully scared of the pair as well, so he might be a risk.

Sforza...Deimos only met him once, but he doesn't like that there's so much of that blue magic all over Sforza's skin. He doesn't seem to be in any condition to help, anyways.

That leaves...Antonio, Francisco, and Sortino. Great. Well, that's three more potential allies than he had before.

He decides that, ultimately, it would be a good idea to learn ASL anyways. It looks like everyone in the manor is fluent, so they could talk about things in complete silence. Anyone who saw them would know what they were saying, but it would be better than speaking out loud. Theoretically.

With that in mind, he asks Gonzalo and Petruccio to teach him. As expected, they're delighted to! They love hanging out with him. And if he wants to be able to talk to and understand everyone here, well...that's most likely good for them.

They're aware that he's still suspicious and wary. That he's been wandering off on his own quite a bit. But they also know that he's still struggling to keep his distance from them. They're quite confident that they'll get him eventually. If they can't convince him nicely, they have other options. They'd rather not, buuuut if they have to...

he is not aware of their backup plan. if he doesn't figure out how Bella ended up being such a trusted member of the team, he's prooobably fucked.

deimos made a slight miscalculation. they're very patient teachers with this and it's making him like them more and he's pretty sure they're not doing it just to gain his trust. help him

anyways. One by one, he manages to get Antonio, Francisco, and Sortino's help.

Sortino's not too easy to convince, but Deimos manages to convince him that while he doesn't have a plan to stop them yet, he does have a plan should Gonzalo and Petruccio find out about his helpers. Deimos doesn't elaborate, but he promises that he'll make sure that Sortino, and whoever else he manages to recruit, won't get in too much trouble if they're found out. When Deimos mentions having some info on what all is going on here, Sortino becomes a little more interested.

Francisco was pretty sure Deimos was starting to sympathize with Gonzalo and Petruccio, so he's very suspicious when Deimos comes to him. But Deimos says he's found something very interesting, he he'd like a bit of help from Francisco when he goes through it. He can tell that Francisco knows a lot about what's happening. He hints that he thinks what he's found is the answer, and he'd like to see if any of it matches up with what Francisco knows. The prospect of finally getting the answer to this puzzle, as well as maybe being able to stop Gonzalo and Petruccio from murdering, kidnapping, or torturing more people, convinces him to help.

Antonio is surprisingly easy to convince. Deimos is the one who's suspicious now, but Antonio tells him that Gonzalo and Petruccio killed his family in front of him, and are the reason he lost his hearing. Of course he wants to stick it to them. If Deimos can promise that he can keep his help from getting too fucked up if Gonzalo and Petruccio find out what they're doing, he'll be happy to help. Keep in mind, he still has absolutely no idea what Alinda had been doing, and currently doesn't have any reason to suspect that it had anything to do with Gonzalo and Petruccio.

His little team now assembled, he tells the three of them, separately, to meet him in Francisco's office around midnight. Gonzalo and Petruccio should be asleep, so they won't notice a thing.

Deimos goes through the basic shit. He found this stuff in an abandoned building, looks like some people were trying to figure out what was going on and how to stop it. Long story short, they think Yighraru is some kind of eldritch god.

and all three of them go "huh?" and then Antonio and Francisco, but especially Francisco, go "oh god that explains everything"

they fill in whatever Sortino didn't know about, which is a lot because he was, up until now, trying to keep his head down and stay out of everything.

Beyond that, the only other solid idea that I have is that in the very beginning of their notes, Alinda put basically the entire story of why she even exists, and what her mission is.

While she never said a word about her mission, she did tell Antonio what she was, and that she was given a super secret mission the day she was born. She never went into where she came from.

Some months into their alliance, Deimos lets the others see more of the documents for themselves.

Deimos may have changed the names in the document, but so much of that opening was so achingly familiar that he had to ask Deimos if he remembered what the name actually was.

And by this point, Deimos has found out what happened to Alinda and her team. So when Antonio very shakily tells him that 'Peridot' was his wife, who told him a good chunk of the stuff in here, Deimos has to figure out the gentlest way to inform him that Gonzalo and Petruccio completely wiped out the whole group.

Somehow, despite everything, it just got even more personal for Antonio.

It wasn't random. They specifically targeted Alinda. And for some goddamn reason, they decided that they should kill her and their ten year old daughter, who had nothing to do with everything. And that they should specifically wait, until Antonio got home, and could watch.

anyways. antonio's mad

[cyraniadebergerac]

Something to add about Darcy fighting Wickham. In defense of it, I think it has less to do with Darcy being seen as a Byronic Hero and more people wanting Wickham to have a harsher comeuppance for what he's done. Wickham is so slimingly evil, not truly caring for anyone but himself and willing to lie, flatter, and manipulate for his own benefit and out of sure spite. Darcy is the one man he cannot manipulate and so there would be a narrative justice to him being the one to take out Wickham once and for all. Then also, with Wickham out of the way, Lydia has a chance to actually improve as a character and not trap herself with him. Maybe marry someone else that she can better appreciate now.

I'll admit, I'm defending this because I have two aus of Darcy defeating Wickham to save Lydia, but neither were proper duels.

One takes place in a merfolk kingdom where due to seeking to imitate the English fashion and culture and since they're already a monarchy, the kingdom is an underwater parallel of English society though with unique dynamics that don't exist in the upper world. Darcy goes to negotiate what he expects to be a typical 'get Lydia out or persuade the black guard to marry her' situation, only for it to turn out Wickham plans to sell Lydia to the surface to pay off his gambling debts. With Darcy's arrival, he could also sell Darcy for profit and to be rid of his shadow on his life. Cue Darcy & Wickham fight where Wickham dies, thanks in part to his sharkmer 'servant' he won at cards who turned against for Lydia's sake and ends up becoming her husband after Darcy and Uncle Gardiner arrange for him to become a clerk in Gardiner's firm.

Another is my take on a Darcy is a vampire au where it turns out Wickham was the one to turn Darcy after Darcy foiled his plan to elope with Georgiana then make her his thrall. Darcy then is striving to not only hide and handle his new 'condition' in as hidden and ethical a manner as possible, but also to have Georgiana married to someone he can trust to look out for her before he's found out or he dies from the drawbacks of his situation (especially as I'm thinking that this would be a situation with lesser vampires who are vulnerable to sunlight and have the harder time against their urgings and Lord Vampires who can control those they turn to an extent, can walk openly in the sunlight, and have their hungers not be as pressing so they can play out the longer game with lesser ones becoming Lords after a length of years or by killing the Lord that turned them. Darcy then is a lesser vampire while Wickham is a Lord vampire). Hence, he really isn't that impartial about not wanting Jane to marry Bingley as he wants his friend to marry his sister since he's the man he most trusts, even if he's not even told him about his new nature as he certainly hasn't told his sister. The proposal scene is when Elizabeth finds out as he has a moment of anger at her defense of Wickham that reveals his vampiric nature before he gets himself immediately back under control, horrified that he almost attacked Elizabeth. He then panics and begs Elizabeth to wait to tell what she's seen. He'll send her a letter explaining everything but to please wait. Then he retreats from the house, barely recalling to wear his hat, coat, and gloves and so gaining intense sunburns on his wrist. But still, he writes the letter, finding himself laying it all he could stand to write down because Elizabeth deserved to know the truth after what she witnessed. He makes his apologies for what occurred and merely begs for the sake of his sister to not reveal what she knows until after his sister should marry and be safe from Wickhamand and others like him seeking to prey on her again. After that, he's willing to meet the fate a vampire deserves.

Elizabeth doesn't tell, leaving out the part about vampires and Darcy's part in separating her and Bingley when she tells Jane. For one thing, who would believe her if she told? For another...A man like she had imagined Darcy to be wouldn't have stopped when he did, not with only one other servant in the house. He certainly wouldn't have been so horrified with himself. And either way, he wouldn't invent such a story about his sister.

And now that she looked, she could see the signs of Wickham's true nature and ward herself now against it. There was still no one though that could believe her story, and to expose Wickham unless done carefully could very well expose Darcy and she could understand Darcy's fears. The regiment leaves, she more strongly protests Lydia going and goes as far as to relate to her father that people close to Bingley played a role in separating him and Jane due in part due to Lydia and Kitty's wild behavior. It doesn't stop her father from still letting Lydia go though as he would likely consider it more a failing of Bingley's part to be led away from a woman of real quality like Jane just because of someone close to him opposing the match than something that requires him to actually be a father for his younger children. Lizzy hates it, but doesn't fully consider that Lydia could be especially vulnerable to Wickham as she imagines him as wanting 'new prey', a thought that disgusts her and really makes her look forward to that trip with the Gardiners as it means a break from it all. Then they're at Pemberly and she's confronted with Darcy's true quality and the ways he's sought to change for the better because of Elizabeth, seeing all the ways being a literal vampire does not suit him at all. Then the letters from Jane of Lydia's flight with Wickham and her realization of what that means. Darcy's flight to track down Wickham as he's uniquely able to track him down. Finding Wickham in the process of making Lydia his mistress and thrall to bring ruin on the Bennetts and make it so Lizzy's only hope for a good marriage would be to marry him as repayment for how she started rejecting him after coming back from Lady Catherine De Bourgh's estate. Cue Darcy Nd Wickham fighting. Darcy wins, becoming a Lord Vampire, then frees Lydia and brings her to the Gardiners so they can aid her recovery and help with finding her someone she could marry or somewhere quiet she could live without the stain of what happened constantly over her life. The Gardiners let the Bennetts know that Lydia's now free of Wickham who was discovered dead. Lydia comes home for a time, quite a changed girl though still ends up slipping out Darcy's involvement. Binglry returns with Darcy, Lizzy is finally able to thank Darcy, and both marriages happen. Then when Lizzy becomes Mrs. Darcy, she aids her husband in hiding his condition and helps him to not feel shame for what he'd never chosen for himself, but had forced upon him.

In both above cases, I would consider Wickham's death justified.

Do you think there's a reason why Mr Darcy is so popular?

Yes! Many reasons.

Firstly, this is something that I think the Reading Jane Austen podcast brought up and I think it's very insightful. Darcy, though I don't think he's shy, is very much an unsocial clam; he's reserved. Elizabeth is one of the very few people he opens up to, especially at the end of the novel. That sort of exclusivity is very sexy to some people, as stated in Emma:

“It is a most repulsive quality, indeed,” said he [Mr. Knightley]. “Oftentimes very convenient, no doubt, but never pleasing. There is safety in reserve, but no attraction. One cannot love a reserved person.” “Not till the reserve ceases towards oneself; and then the attraction may be the greater." [Emma]

Secondly, Darcy is portrayed as a Byronic hero in P&P 1995 and a lot of JAFF (think dark, brooding, and mysterious) so I think many people consider him one. I'm not an expert on what women like, but I know during Byron's lifetime a lot of women just ate up these sort of men with a spoon. Here is a description from Wikipedia of a Byronic hero:

Historian and critic Lord Macaulay described the character as "a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection"

I don't think Darcy is a Byronic hero, if anything he's a subversion of Byronic. While he is proud, cynical, and capable of strong affection, he turns out not to be vengeful. Darcy's implacable resentment towards Wickham is built on a firm foundation and he hasn't acted on it! I think Byronic!Darcy would have hunted Wickham down and killed him. (Willoughby is also totally a fake Byronic hero, his "deep and strong affection" is false).

Side Note: A lot of JAFF has Darcy hunt Wickham down and duel him.

Third, I think a lot of people love the idea of someone being so overcome with irrepressible passions that they propose despite their better judgement. This might be why Darcy "compromises" Elizabeth so much in JAFF. While I'm onboard for passion leading to proposals, I'm not wild about passion leading to unwanted kissing.

Fourth, Darcy does some very sexy things, like listening to what women say and offering to stop going after a woman. These traits are so freaking rare that they make women swoon. It's honestly pitiful that we still are just looking for a man who will take no for an answer with grace! Like listen to this: "If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged; but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.”

"If you don't like me, I'll leave you alone." HAWT. SEXY. Makes me feel safer walking at home in the dark. GIVE ME MORE!

Lastly, I think people really love the enemies to lovers trope and Darcy is one half of that in Pride & Prejudice.

[feralmoonlight]

Are you willing to expand more on your face value au and what you had in mind? I’m curious !!

FIRST UP This one hasn't actually been touched yet! by me at least aside from a doodle and adding my own two cents to it cause I keep forgetting to ask @pillowspace if they're planning anything more with it since the flailfest I unleashed over it XD And idk if tumblr search is being a butt but the only post/thread/thing I can find for it rn is this pic I did? no idea where the reblog chains went?? THOUGH in the last... 2 hours I think? I'd end up combining my thoughts on it with the red string soulmate AU cause who doesn't like to throw in the tension of 'how am I linked to a robot' as a soulmate??? THE MAIN GIST of it though was that YN has pretty bad vision. Enough to occasionally use a cane but not so much they can't get around on their own as long as they know where they're going. They have SOME vision but it's pretty blurry so their job options are also pretty limited (they insist on working to take care of their kid sibling, who's kind of a lovable brat). Sun/Moon have escaped from The Faz, and are currently in 'hiding' as a drifter/hobo sort. They've got a big hoodie and sun hides his rays during the day, but pretty soon after escaping they run into a street kid. Absolutely not standing for this, they end up doing what they can to help provide food/shelter for the kid, and eventually sort of gain their own little pack of them(and their families) and put their skills to use to build nice ish but still crappy shelters and work around here and there to bring back food. At some point they cross paths with YN and help them out with some heavy lifting, but YN doesn't pick up the fact they're an animatronic. They part ways, but run into each other again (pluck the red string a bit here for the pull of fate slamming them together again). Stuff happens, there's an incident with a third party, and Sun offers to walk YN home for safety. They talk as they go and things go well. They part. This goes on for a while and eventually Sun meets the sibling. Sibling is IN THE KNOW right away. BIG SQUINT. They get blackmailed by the child. Meanwhile YN is unaware and starts doing little things like making food for them as a thankyou. Food they cant eat, but the people they're helping can. THIS keeps going, more cute interactions, then one day there's a bigass storm and YN insists Sun stay over cause it's dangerous. He can't justify going out enough so he begrudgingly stays. The lights go out. NOW, MOON is not ok with this. Sort of. He doesn't trust YN at all at first and is only slightly ok when they start giving them food they can bring and also helping them out with more cash than they were making otherwise to get things their folks need. When he shows up though, he does his best(bad job) to try and pass for sun until the storm passes, but it's uh... A Struggle. YN isn't sure what's up but they shrug it off. Later after more basics, the news picks up The Faz is looking for the runaway animatronic. Sun/Moon panic. They're not in the most hidden area, but now there's a problem. MOON is not on board with maybe asking YN for help. They're definitely getting closer, but they're also positive that YN would rat them out. Not justified, but still. He's wary. SO time to test YN. He'll prove to Sun You can't be trusted, and one day after walking them home a little later at night, flips the switch and bam. Moon Time. Classic Moon Time. Well, Almost. Something of a chaotic reveal, YN is scared, but mostly taken aback they never put two and two together. BUT there's that pull. That little red string pulled tight in their soul. Moon won't hurt them. And they couldn't bear ratting them out. There's some back and forth along the way of the boys being in denial about actually having some kind of string of fate, and once the bot reveal happens, YN is like Oh god. Oh god I was falling for them. They aren't even Human. Im an IDIOT. But they also couldn't bear to throw them under the bus and let something bad happen. So as the Faz follows the rumors of the boys helping out this little pocket community, and they need somewhere to actually hide, the offer is made. Things are tense with Moon out and about freely now, now that Sun knows he won't be a problem, but Moon is still waiting for things to go south. The next while is pretty domestic, mostly them hiding out and getting anxious they can't help their kids. YN realizing how stupid they've been about SO MUCH. But also having Sun and Moon around the house as another pair of hands is... very helpful. Extremely so. And even though Moon is standoffish, both do go out of their way to make some things easier. YN can breathe for the first time in a while. they aren't doing things all on their own anymore, as much as they could, it's nice to be able to have someone loosen the line. They fuss over some things, the 'i can do it' vibe running strong, but Sun and Moon try not to step on their toes. Aaaand I tHINK that's about as far as stuff got in the rambling? (But Pillow, idk if you did wanna do stuff with this, but if not I am all kinds of on board to futz with it XD')

[yanderes-galore]

This concept talks about Deimos pre and post-purgatory. How I write Deimos is also a combination of the original series and Project: Nexus. I hope I write my version of Deimos well!

Yandere! Deimos Concept

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Possessive behavior, Clingy behavior, Manipulation, Kidnapping, Murder, Blood mention, Death mention, Forced relationship.

- Deimos comes off as a Yandere who isn't very serious.

- When in reality, if he has to, Deimos can be scary.

- This first section will be about Deimos Pre-Purgatory.

- Deimos would be Obsessive, Possessive, Protective, Clingy, Manipulative, and Demanding as a Yandere.

- He's also one of the two Madness Combat Yanderes who'd flirt (the other being Sheriff), but he's horrible at it (also Sheriff).

- Deimos probably gets attached to people quickly, unlike Sanford who takes time to really connect-

- This makes him obsessive once he finds someone he takes a liking to.

- He thinks of you all the time.

- There aren't many sane people in Nevada ever since the fall of Nexus city.

- He uses this as an excuse to recruit you with him and Sanford once he meets you.

- It's always good to have another hand around, right?

- "Hey there! What's your name? Why don't you come with us, I think it'll be much safer than being alone out here!"

- When in his obsession, Deimos can be possessive.

- It shows up as jealousy or reluctance when you talk with other people, but it evolves over time into something more dangerous.

- Now Deimos gets a little too trigger happy when seeing other people around you.

- Bandits and Zeds never come close to you before Deimos is yelling at them, ending the altercation with a few shots to the head.

- Deimos would never pull a gun on Sanford, but he'd probably cling closer to you when you walk with him.

- He trusts Sanford, sure, yet Deimos still feels he needs to keep a tight grasp on you.

- Deimos also has protective behavior, like with the Bandits and Zed example earlier.

- He feels he needs to keep you safe when you're with him and Sanford.

- He's sure to keep enough ammo on him to ensure your safety, that's a promise.

- "No need to worry, (Y/N)! I got enough supplies to keep us safe...."

- Clingy, it may not come up often, but Deimos is clingy.

- When not unloading a clip into some poor unfortunate grunts, Deimos wants attention.

- Only from you, too.

- You'll be minding your own business only for Deimos to come up behind you, wrapping himself around you and grinning.

- He'll babble an affectionate name/phrase in your ear before leaning close.

- Deimos smells of cigarettes and blood.

- He's a very dangerous man even if he only wishes to cuddle into you in your downtime.

- Sanford gave up trying to talk Deimos out of it.

- If he's happy, he's happy.

- A little rest won't kill anyone.

- Deimos can also be manipulative and demanding.

- Not only is he clingy but he's willing to guilt you into showing affection.

- If that doesn't work, he'll force you into giving affection.

- Deimos is someone who'd be very addicted if you gave him a hug or kiss.

- Maybe even just a sweet word of encouragement or two.

- He never wants to be away from you.

- Begging to lay down with you and cuddle into you, some stress relief just for a little while.

- Deimos would be a Yandere to murder and kidnap in a heartbeat.

- He loves you with all his heart.

- Nothing could take you away from him.

- Not even his own death.

- Which leads into the second section of this concept, Post-Purgatory Deimos/Dedmos.

- Dedmos isn't much different behavior-wise compared to regular Deimos.

- He certainly isn't human/grunt, however.

- Once out of purgatory, Dedmos gains a rock-like exterior.

- He also now bleeds black, which is scary to you once you meet him again.

- You thought him getting shot in the head would end the torment you went through with him.

- That you were free to do as you wished now.

- Then Deimos comes back as Dedmos and you just know you're in trouble again.

- As Dedmos his jaw and hands are covered in a rock-like substance.

- There's a good chance he doesn't even have a jaw for all you know.

- Dedmos most likely can't speak, or kiss you for that matter (much to his displeasure).

- Dedmos may still try to kiss you, though.

- He's persistent, his grip hurts, and he's trying to plant his rock covered mouth to yours just to feel something.

- Good luck killing him, too.

- All you'll get is an annoyed Dedmos who's now just leaking black fluid.

- At this point your fate is sealed.

- Even if you died, Deimos/Dedmos would just drag you out of purgatory.

- You two are meant to be together in his mind, even if he isn't the 'romantic' type.

- He'd crawl through purgatory and back just to be beside you again.

[evanox]

Hello! I saw your stories and I really liked them a lot, so I want to make a kind of request, basically the main 3 from last legacy (you can include rime if you want) with a mc that has gargoyle-like characteristics (like horns, some scales, wings, hard skin, etc) and that they feel insecure about that, I hope it's not a problem.

Have a nice day!

awh i'm glad you enjoyed what i wrote! and sure i can <3 sorry this took a while m.list

Felix

Well if you already felt self-conscious about being compared to Rime, the horns on your head are about to make it worse. I mean, it's not that bad but still... He thinks it might be a cruel joke that the one he ended up summoning not only inherited his dead lover's relic, but also looks like him (to a certain extent)

Then he gets to actually know you, and he no longer associates your features with Rime; if anything, he's very fascinated by you. Sure he's familiar with ilephta, but he's never come across one like you. He's done bird taxidermy once, you know, and he wonders how your human spine accommodates your wings.

I think it's very endearing how he tries to use a special interest of his to show you how amazing you are—he always found beauty in uniqueness—but if the Wonders of Anatomy aren't helping you love your features more, he can try the more tender route: no one words compliments better than he does, you see, for he's quite the cunning linguist—a master debater if you will; and if you like physical affection, he'll press kisses to all the parts of yourself that you dislike. Can he still study your scales?

He'll even wax poetic about how divine your scales or wings are when they glow silver under the moonlight—sweet and tender verses scribbled over his notebook almost absentmindedly, for his mind is too busy wandering all over your lovely features; oh, the lovesick look he'd have on his face! Not that he'll ever show you said verses; he's a little too shy to show off something that personal, but if you do stumble upon these pages and read what he wrote, he won't actually be mad—a little flustered maybe, but very curious about your thoughts.

More than willing to splurge on accessories and things that can be helpful! Hires a tailor to make you pretty clothes that accommodate your horns and wings, and are still easy to wear.

But he'd still look forward to you asking for his help with dressing every now and then; his hands are always very delicate and gentle when handling your wings.

It says that some stories consider gargoyles nocturnal creatures? Well lucky you, Felix is a nocturnal creature himself and is actually glad he can spend time with his partner when he feels more awake, and that he won't be woken up far too early for his liking.

If your MC is actually a human from Earth who gained these features through the portal (like how Celena's bunny ears became real) and it makes them feel uncomfortable, Felix could offer to use a spell to reverse it; he'd have the experience necessary to figure it out after the events of nyacromancy hehe

Anisa

Within the stiff knight lieutenant is a girl who's so hungry for life! She finds beauty in the little things and is so fascinated by everything. Ever since she found out about earth she's always been so open to learning about the new and weird!

Anisa has never seen a winged ilephta; she also did her fair share of earth studies and is quite certain winged and horned people don't exist there... Wait, are the creatures of myth really real on earth? Are you one of them? Do you shed your horns like deer-gazelle ilephta do? Can you use these wings to fly? Can you—

Her hand will fly over her mouth so quickly the moment she realizes she's drowning you in questions, and will ask your forgiveness if she made you uncomfortable.

But if you can fly... Anisa's practically vibrating with excitement. She's trying to think of a way to ask you if you can take her for a ride but she could never find the confidence. Unless you yourself offer, she'll try to find a more roundabout way to ask—oh, MC, I wonder how strong your wings are! Is it possible that you could carry one person while flying? That sure can come in clutch in an emergency, huh? Oh, MC, today's drills sure tired my legs out! It's nothing you have to worry about though! I'm not sure we can still make it to the restaurant today... unless?

Can you imagine the glee on her face when you pull her into your arms bridal-style and take to the air? Her child-like joy is contagious!! Even if you crash into a tree her laughter will still ring throughout the yard and she'll help pick leaves out of your hair and clean up any scratches on your wings.

In fact she really wants to learn how to help you take care of your wings! Your body deserves love and care and it must be difficult to reach back for them! Her hands are warm, firm but gentle, as she rubs soap over your wings during a bath, and she'll reassure you a hundred times that she doesn't find the un-feathered wings gross. In fact she thinks they're pretty cool!

Gets very shy if you're cuddling in bed and you wrap your wings around her in a protective cocoon

Will drop casual compliments every time she gives you a cheek kiss; leaves sweet notes scattered around the apartment before she's off to work (I hope you can somehow find them amongst the mess), and brings back home flowers to decorate your horns with.

Sage

Does "gargoyle-like" include a sudden urge to climb up the highest tower at night to guard over the building? If so, Sage is more than happy to show you the best spots to watch over the entire city of Porrima with all her beautiful twinkling lights; he'll bring drinks or a snack and call it a date if you don't mind ;)

If you end up falling asleep right then there, you'll wake up in the morning to the softness of a fluffy pillow and the warmth of your sheets. How he managed to bridal-carry you despite your wings, or how does he still remember your specific sleep position from the one night you spent together in that one-bed room, you may never know; he'll just brush you off with a flirty line about his strength, but really, it was no big deal.

Are you self-conscious about the size of your wings, MC? All the more reason to find a bigger, more suitable bed ;)

He doesn't understand why but he really likes the texture of your scales; might even gnaw at your arm like a frustrated cat or scratch his nails against the scales when he gets antsy, only if you'll allow him

In fact he's kind of relieved that your skin is harder than most—the extra protection is important with the kind of dangers you might come across. You should love your body for how it takes care of you!

He is kinda curious about whether you have softer spots, though. Is the base of your horns/wings/tail sensitive? He's asking just for science... would you like his help in finding out? ;)

Also hello! Horns can come in pretty handy, if you know what I (or he) mean... Balsam always used them to headbutt assholes; maybe you can too! What, were you thinking of something else, MC? ;)

If you trace your claw against his heart, or scrap your sharp teeth against his neck, he will expire right then and there. He is putty in your hands.

Sage is generally very big on physical affection, especially since words fail him so often. He'll kiss along the arc of your wings all the way to the base so he can trail more kisses over your back. He'll kiss over the scales lining your arms and this man, who always protects his feelings behind 10 walls, will look up at you with such open, un-guarded adoration that you'll see it so clearly in his eyes—you're the most beautiful person in his life, there's no doubt about that.

Rime

In the years he spent in the void, Rime has laid eyes upon countless horrors that are beyond your comprehension, so he doesn't get what you're so insecure about. That is not to say he thinks you're horrifying! Only that you're nothing out of the ordinary, nowhere near as incomprehensible.⁠

What do you mean "that's not helping"?

His view when it comes to appearance is that you're better off not trying to please other people; Lord knows he's done his fair share of that. You can't help what people consider beautiful or ugly, and the sooner you accept that the kinder you'll be to yourself, and you'll have a better chance of loving your body the way it is.

Once you've wormed your way into his heart, he's more than willing to listen to your worries and insecurities, and is more tender when comforting you; might even crack a joke about how you must think his horns are ugly then. Oh, you don't? Then how come yours are? Checkmate.

Oh my God,, can you imagine sharing horn accessories with Rime? He thinks matchy-couples are cringe but not you. You guys are hot and effortless when you do it.

Rime grabbing your horn to tilt your head and make you look him in the eye? I would evaporate.

He shall also impart his wisdom upon you regarding how to sleep and dress with horns, and how to take care of them. You're kind of on your own when it comes to the wings though. Still won't stop him from trying to cuddle.

Unbothered by the scales or any of your sharper features, if anything it'll make your spar sessions more spicy, and like Sage he can also appreciate adaptations that were meant to protect you. Maybe it's an ilephta thing...

Bonus: I don't mean to shamelessly self-promo but,,, if anyone tries to bully your mc for their features, I might have just the hc list for that