#out of Spite for how she was treated in particular

[yuridovewing]

last post i promise but i want to outline a yellowfang's secret razorverse rewrite at some point. not right now cause i'm way too busy, but at some point. i wanna tear that beast to shreds. i am gonna write foefiction

[hecksupremechips]

Minor thing that really irks me is when people treat the femc route in p3 portable as like the lesser story or like it’s a fanfic where nothing that happens in it is the “true” canon like. Bitch. The femc and everything that happens in her version of the story is just as canon as the male protagonist and everything that happens in his story. And there’s literally been so many fucking versions of p3 at this point like the base game, fes, portable, the movies, stage plays, reload, as well as spinoffs and manga and they all do things differently. I don’t see anyone acting like the base game is more canon than, say, reload so why do they do this with portable? Why can’t the (infinitely superior) version with the female protagonist just be respected for five fucking minutes goddamn

[punkeropercyjackson]

Stephanie Brown:

Is poor

Has an abusive dad who was also a supervillain and that led to her becoming a superhero to spoil his plans but she focused a lot on helping out other less fortunate people in addition to fighting crime

Did badly often in school despite her extreme intellegence

Has anger issues and violent tendencies that manifest in her getting extra brutal in fights and being lowkey mean in general but she almost entierly directs it to people who deserve it

Is emotionally intense with ways of showing friendship that her classmates found offputting and that led to her being isolated from them and having almost no friends

Listens to Metallica

Took Tim Drake on a date to a shitty basement party with a bunch of alt teens

Was willing to kill at 14,including her own dad and only changed that because Bruce Wayne convinced her too

Loved Cassandra Cain romantically in a gritty dark future Batman run,has been Batwoman in two which is a mantle that has been held exclusively by a Kate Kane who is a butch lesbian and has shown multiple hints of being bi in the main timelines

Yelled and screamed at and even assaulted grown ass adults in her teen years for treating her badly with no fear and this stays into her adulthood

Grew up to be a Team Mom by at least her Batgirl days and the targets of her mothering were a biracial boy(Damian Wayne),two darkskin black girls(Nell Little and Tiffany Fox),a japanese girl(Maps Mizoguchi)and MANY other unnamed kids we see her being implied to care for

Presents super femininely but in a way that most guys in-universe find bad instead of attractive and she dosen't care about this because she dosen't want normies

Is a literature nerd,an artist,a gamer,a pianist AND a gymnist

Makes her own superhero gear

Uses optimism for a better world and trauma fueled spite as her motivation for heroism

Got treated like shit by almost everyone as a kid but we see this explicitly in her hero days with how much Bruce puts her down because she wasn't good enough for him

Does activism even outside of hero work

Is canonically pastel punk and accidentally autistic-coded and genuinely a real weirdgirl,not a fucking 'basic white girl' or a queen bee just because she's blonde and blue eyed and it's worth noting she's also been described as flat-chested as a jab but it not working because she loves her looks perfectly and that she's never shown any particular liking for being blonde and seeing as she got her hair from her dad,this is completely valid

She's Stephanie Brown,not Stacie White.Stop.Making.Her.Only.Trait.Her.Gender.Babygirl deserves better

[averyangrypossum]

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the

Flowerbroadcast AU!

Based on the two drawings I did of a fankid for the ship radiostatic.

The full-body one

And the one with both Vox and her

And now, I’m gonna tell you all about it and exactly who the fuck this little kid is.

Lotus is the daughter of Vox (as you can tell) and Alastor and is six years old. She was created shortly after Vox and Al broke up, oh yeah I should probably talk about their relationship status. Vox and Alastor, unlike in canon, weren’t only close friends but were dating at some point, mostly because Alastor wanted to manipulate Vox’s feelings to where he’d be more compilable but accidentally took it too far, and since Vox is a piss baby Alastor decided to entertain Vox for a while.

Was this relationship healthy?

NO!

Would Vox say these were the best years of his afterlife?

Yeah.

But anyways, in this au when Vox asks Alastor to “join his team” he was actually proposing and Alastor finally realized,

“Shit maybe this has gone out of hand” and breaks it off with Vox which leaves Vox heartbroken and with an incel breakdown. Now instead of trying to move the fuck on, he has our little darling Lotus, who he has trying to fill the hole that Alastor left.

So obviously having a child for that reason isn’t going to make you a good parent.

Lotus’ relationship with the Vees are as follows in the particular order.

1 Velvette: She does Lotus’s hair everyday and picks out outfits for her to post on her social media before Lotus immediately undos everything that Velvette does and just goes for pigtails and her nightgown. Velvette has wine aunt energy and is probably the only one of the Vees to know how to talk and get through to Lotus.

2 Valentino: Surprising I know, but Lotus doesn’t know what he does to his workers, she knows what he does for work but grew up with thinking that was just something normal since Valentino was never hush hush about his job around her much to Vox’s dismay. Valentino isn’t a big fan of children and doesn’t hang around her often, but sometimes he’ll draw along side her while bitching about a particular show she’s watching even though it’s literally made for kids.

3 Vox: Wow, how bad do you have to fuck up for a pimp who hardly spends time with her to be ranked higher than her own father?? Vox, despite making the conscious decision to have her, he isn’t around like at all. Hes a workaholic through and through, and mostly leaves her with nannies and Velvette. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t love her. Au contraire he loves her with all his heart and soul. Will give her anything except quality time. He uses her more of an accessory than a child.

Now how exactly Lotus was made is up to you.

A robotic creation Vox made? Sure!

Some voodoo magic shit? Yeah!

Some weird magic thing where she kinda just poofed into existence? Why not!

Mpreg? I mean, do what you wanna do ig?

Cuz it really doesn’t matter!

This whole au starts with Lotus running away from the Vee tower to explore hell since she's basically Rapunzel. She gets lost and terrorized by sinners until our deer Alastor rescues her. Seeing his chance to promote the hotel he takes her there where she is offered to stay there by Charlie when Lotus complains about how bad her dad is. She graciously accepts because shes only six but is going through her “My dad hates me and I hate him” era. Which I mean…I would get that impression too if I didn’t see my dad that much.

Wait my dad lives across the country…don't talk to me rn I’m busy dyeing my hair black and becoming emo 🖤

But anyways she stays there while Vox is loosing his fucking mind, and becoming more mentally unstable.

Meanwhile! She's having the time of her life with the hotel's residents and a new father figure who treats her well and pays attention to her! Alastor! Now Al doesn’t know she is his kid, but that doesn't stop him from being a better dad than Vox out of spite!

Anyways, thats all I have, for now! Stay tuned my friends~

[shy-urban-hobbit]

Jaskier retreated from the main hall. Leaving the remaining Wolves to see to their injured and dead and readying himself for another night tucked away in his wreck of a room, determined to stay out of the way after already having been largely ignored since his arrival and then shoved away by Lambert twice. He found himself wondering if he should count the first time, considering that he probably saved Jaskier’s life in the process? Probably not. The second time though was just plain spiteful. But then, he and Geralt had been travelling together for years and the white haired Witcher tolerated his casual affection at best – why else would it always be down to Jaskier to initiate when he'd seen the Witcher freely hug and give causal touches to Ciri and Yen multiple times?

He swallowed down his self pity as he realised he’d taken a wrong turn somewhere – he definitely didn’t recognise that particular crack in the wall.

“Fuck.” He sighed as he slumped against the wall. Part of him wondered if he should maybe be feeling a little more panicked about this turn of events, considering he’d been warned that some parts of the Keep were unsafe (whilst neglecting to tell him which parts. So that was incredibly fucking useful). Then again, it wasn’t exactly like he’d be missed, even if the Wolves weren’t currently preoccupied with the aftermath of a possessed princess unleashing almost literal Hell. He closed his eyes and rest his head against the freezing stone. Sod it, this was just as out of the way as anywhere else. He’d try and get his bearings in an hour or two.

“Jaskier. Jaskier!”

Jaskier jerked awake at the shout of his name, squinting at the sun through the window, surprised by how little time had actually passed.

Geralt barrelled around the corner just as he was trying to shake some of the stiffness out of his shoulders, the Witcher looking panic-stricken as he practically ran to the Bard, “Jaskier.”

“Geralt, what’s wrong? Has something else happened with Ciri? Has Yen’s chaos - oh!” He was cut off as Geralt pulled him to his chest, wrapping his arms around him tightly and effectively trapping the Bard’s own between their torsos as he hid his face in Jaskier’s shoulder, “Fuck. Geralt, talk to me. What’s happened?”

“I couldn’t find you.”

Jaskier gave an eloquent “Huh?” at that, “Geralt, did you hit your head and not say anything again? You did find me. You broke me out of prison, remember?”

He felt Geralt shake his head, “No. Just now. You weren’t in the hall, or where Yen showed me you’d been sleeping or anywhere else I checked. I thought something had happened to you and none of us had noticed. I hadn’t noticed.” He pulled his face away, allowing Jaskier to fully look at him, “You scared me.”

Jaskier lowered his eyes, ‘Congratulations Julian. Yet another fuck up.’

“I’m sorry. I thought it’d be better for everyone if I stayed out the way.”

“No, Jaskier.” Large fingers tilted his chin up until sky blue met molten yellow, “I’m sorry. For pushing you away on the mountain, for keeping you at arms length here, for how the others have treated you.”

“I don’t think you have much control over the last one to be fair.”

“Yes, I do. Ciri made me realise I should have set them right as soon as I arrived back. She gave Lambert an earful for shoving you like he did after his injuries had been checked over.”

Jaskier gave a brief smile at that before the mood turned serious again, “Can I ask why though?”

“Hmm?”

“I thought we were ok after you trusted me to escort Ciri and then you just acted as if I were invisible. what did I do wrong?” He couldn’t stop the tears blurring his vision, “I know I can be too much. I was too much when we were together, I see that now and I want to try and fix things. Stop being so, well, me. But I can’t when I don’t even know what I did between the prison and here to make you angry at me again.”

Geralt looked at him like Jaskier had just been the one to sucker punch him, “You did nothing Jaskier, you never did. I acted as I did because, well, you terrified me. Still do.”

Jaskier gave a wet laugh, “I seem to be making a habit of that today.”

“I mean it.” Geralt continued, “You shoehorned yourself alongside me and you were – are – so full of life and joy and light. I wanted to keep you for myself. Something I’ve never felt so strongly before, not for Yen, not for Renfri. I wanted to know you completely and be known in return and that realisation scared me more than any monster I’ve faced. I didn’t know how to let you in like that, so I pushed you away.”

In a moment of bravery (or perhaps madness), he brushed his lips against Jaskier’s forehead, hearing the Bard’s breath catch, “You’re not the one who needs to change, Jaskier. You never were. I just don’t know how to start, but I’ll try. For you and Ciri and Yen.”

“My darling Witcher, you already have changed.” Jaskier, squirmed until he was able to loop his arms around Geralt’s waist, finally returning the embrace, “You and Yen are able to be in the same room and act like actual adults, you finally took responsibility for Ciri, and as for me-“ Jaskier gave Geralt’s waist a squeeze, “You do realise this is the first time you’ve hugged me first?”

Geralt brushed his lips against Jaskier’s brow again, firmer this time, “First of many. If you’ll allow it.”

“Always.”

[elerrinacrownedwithstars]

Why doesn't Thingol just give the Silmaril to Fëanorians?

One thing I find curious about the discourse around the Silmarils and their ownership issues is how it seems to often simplify the Sindarin and especially Thingol's perspective. I mean, Thingol giving the Silmaril Beren and Lúthien stole from Morgoth's crown to the Fëanorians is framed as somehow easy and obvious option. But I don't think it really is?

It's not even about whether Thingol is right or wrong to act as he does, it's about why his actions are justified from his point of view (and why it is more believable than him being compliant to Noldor).

1. Noldor disrespected and antagonised Thingol from the start. They have given him little reason to be nice or helpful.

When the Noldor arrive in Beleriand, they immediately start to do their own thing, and disregard Thingol, the local sovereign who is regarded as the overlord or at least respected and revered by the Elves native to this region. But Noldor (and Fëanorians) do not attempt to gain his friendship and alliance, they don't establish diplomatic relationships, they bring no gifts (which would be expected in this kinda medieval based society) and neither do they ask for help as Exiles, they don't let Thingol know where they are going to settle down or ask whether it's convenient but grab lands whether the locals like it or not, they don't recognise his position even as a friendly gesture, they don't disclose the nature of their expedition, withhold important information, and most of all, they bring violent trouble to his backyard. This must seem deeply and outrageously insulting to Thingol, especially because these princes are children and grandchildren of Finwë, Thingol's close friend - and yet they treat him without an ounce of respect.

Thingol is no less proud or particular about his position than Fëanor or Fingolfin is. He probably has not had it challenged or ignored by anyone except Morgoth's servants. Also he may see it as indicative of general Noldor prejudice/disdain against Sindar.

Whether Noldor had justified reasons for the way they act upon landing in Middle-earth, you can't deny that they don't do even the bare minimum to win the locals over. Yeah, you could argue that bringing reinforcements at the time when Morgoth returns and becomes active in Middle-earth again is something, but this is still not a way to treat potential friends and allies.

2. The Kinslaying of Thingol's people and kin at Alqualondë and the burning of their ships.

Obvious, really. He may see himself as standing in for Olwë, and regards the Silmaril as weregild for slain relatives and friends - people he himself probably knew before Teleri were sundered. Also why would he respect Fëanorian property rights when from his point of view, Noldor don't give a damn about Teleri or their rights?

Thingol may also judge that the Kinslaying and burning of the ships disputes the Fëanorians' right to the Silmarils and their moral high ground to a degree where anyone brave and cunning enough to reclaim even one of them becomes a rightful owner. Obviously he is biased in Beren and Lúthien's behalf but it would be weird if he was not? After B&L's efforts and their suffering, and quite literally achieving the impossible, he may be of the opinion that they have more right to the Silmaril than Fëanorians who seem more invested in competing Morgoth for land than for the Silmarils. Thingol may share the same attitude as Dior has in one of the drafts: there are two more Silmarils in the same place where the one in his possession came from, so why don't the Fëanorians go get them first?

3. Celegorm and Curufin.

I mean, after the way Lúthien was abused and attacked by the two brothers, Thingol could be holding on to the Silmaril out of pure spite. His daughter never gets any apology for how she was treated, and Thingol has no reason to believe that C&C's actions - and the attempt to force Thingol into an alliance - were not sanctioned and approved by the rest of the brothers. These people have been consistently terrible at everyone Thingol loves and cares about, so why should he help them in any way?

4. The Silmarils mess with your brain.

It's clear that the Silmarils have an unwholesome effect on almost everyone who possess them. Time and again Tolkien describes how characters fall prey to this greedy, possessive lust for the Silmarils. I mean, Fëanor and his sons are ready to spill blood again and again just to get them back. There is something about the jewels that, if you desire them for their own sake, kind of enslaves you to them. Thingol won't give up the Silmaril to Fëanorians because he can't.

5. The Doom of the Noldor compels him.

It's explicitly stated in the Doom that while the Oath will drive the Fëanorians, it will never yield its objective, and the Silmarils will elude them. As soon as Thingol names a Silmaril as a bride price for Lúthien, he becomes involved in the Doom and what it dictates, limiting his control of the situation. Because of the Doom (and the effect the Silmaril has on him), Thingol is not free to give it to the Fëanorians.

[bonefall]

Do you have a top 5 dotc characters line-up? Just ones you like in general

"Top 5" is really more of a... "guys I hate the least" lineup. Characters whose treatment made me so angry it's become spite-love. It's bad in here. It's REALLY bad in here.

In no particular order, the characters I like in DOTC are,

Bumble Not JUST because of how dirty she was done, either. Bumble's amazing. She's confident, she's outgoing, she's funny! She's there for Turtle Tail when Gray Wing is treating her like shit, and friendly to every cat she meets, even when they're being dicks to her. She ALWAYS does the right thing in the end and has the best interests of her friends at heart. She's a GOOD PERSON! The ONE time she was ever ANGRY at anyone was when Turtle Tail just let her get dragged back to their wifebeater. She's only part of TWO books but she's the BEST character in the entire arc, hands down, above and beyond the rest of the cast. JUSTICE for Bumble!

Bright Stream She got fridged, killed in a shocking, gruesome way, with uncomfortable detail put on how the pregnant woman probably died slowly and was eaten alive, ripped to shreds by eagles... for Clear Sky's man pain. Clear Sky literally fucking broods in a moonbeam. All because Gray Wing tripped like an idiot in a horror movie. And it was a WASTE. Bright Stream IS INTERESTING ALL ON HER OWN. Gray Wing was downplaying Clear Sky emotionally pressuring her into leaving, dismissing him going "I HOPE YOUR HUNTING SUCKS SO YOU REALIZE YOU SHOULD FOLLOW ME" with a 'good humored flick of his tail,' thirsting over how attractive Bright Stream is and how lucky Clear Sky is to have her as a mate while Bright Stream is obviously feeling upset about how her shitty husband has been talking to her. And it's actually insulting how the writers never acknowledged this-- that Clear Sky has ALWAYS been manipulative. From BOOK ONE. And then she has these absolutely bizarre Angel Fetus Children that Gray Wing coos about on his death bed, because god for-fucking-bid a single scene go by that doesn't become Clear Sky-centric.

Snake This arc tries SO bad to make this fucking guy a villain. SO hard. They describe his stinky breath and his bad teeth and how icky and gross he is, and they make him kill Frost during Clear Sky's Murder Party as if I'm supposed to blame HIM instead of the ESTABLISHED MURDERER WHO ORDERED HIS MEN TO KILL EVERYONE. Then, they choose HIM to stand up against Clear Sky after he let a murderous evil tyrant into his group against all warnings. And they treat that like it's a bad thing. Like SNAKE is the one who's awful for TELLING CLEAR SKY TO SHOVE HIS HALFHEARTED APOLOGY UP HIS UGLY ASS They even make him follow One Eye's evil lackey in the next book, like they're trying to slander him in hindsight. "Oh nonono, ackshually, Snake wasn't principled at all. He wasn't making a point about how Clear Sky let One Eye into his group and that he's sick of following tyrants. DONT WORRY. THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE CLEAR SKY ARE EVIL :)" FUCK you. I'm going to stan Snake OUT OF SPITE.

Tall Shadow While I still can't stand what they did with her and Bumble... she's an interesting character and done SO DIRTY because the writers don't fucking respect women at all They chose to have her go through a "self-confidence arc" because everyone nonsensically HATES her and just wants Gray Wing to lead, where she has to choose taking care of her burn-victim brother over leading because her "emotions" are getting in the way, only to clear up once her family is fucking dead because the books KEEP INSISTING that women in particular can't be leaders if they have an important emotional connection. And THEN they have Shaded-fucking-Moss, her predecessor, descend from heaven after Clear Sky's Murder Party to tut-tut at her for killing someone after she was THROWN INTO A CROWD OF PEOPLE TRYING TO MURDER HER, because I'm DEAD serious, god forbid women do anything. Clear Sky's got a direct body count of 3 at this point, PLUS the indirect body count of a dozen people killed on his orders, but ACTUALLY Tall Shadow is the one who deserves the fucking scolding. INSANE. And YET. She remains a practical person. She's diplomatic when she can be, and harsh when she cannot. Against all common sense, she LISTENS to Gray Wing's AWFUL advice to do Just One More peaceful meeting where maybe THIS time sucking Clear Sky's toes will work, because she is fair. I cannot help but love her.

Milkweed I haven't gotten to her in my read-along yet but she's done so dirty, too. It makes me sick. She's revealed to be a friend of Misty and distrusts the Mountain Cats for, you know... stealing all the native cats' land and murdering her friend? But don't worry, Gray Wing's here to do Clear Sky Apologetics and convince her to go join his group. While there she gets verbally accosted by Leaf, a recurring background asshole, who says she's useless, her stupid babies are stealing his food, and that when she gets sick she's just keeping the whole camp awake with her coughing. So anyway, because the Erins LOVE domestic abuse, they get shipped together lmaoo. Normal book series.

Bumble, Bright Stream, Snake, Tall Shadow, Milkweed. I also have feelings about Wind Runner though, and what they did with her. But GOD, explaining my complicated thoughts on Wind Runner would take a long time. She is both a favorite and also a symbol of several huge problems in WC.

[sebastianswallows]

I want to talk a little bit about Frank Herbert and the Bene Gesserits, because it's something that's been on my mind for a while and I haven't seen anyone looking at these characters from this perspective yet (not that I looked very hard, but I check the tags occasionally and just haven't seen it, and this would be the first place I'd expect to).

It's strange in a good way seeing Dune become popular, and people actually reading the books, and it being cool to do so, not it being a niche and nerdy thing. But what's equally weird is to see all the praise Frank Herbert's getting, especially from women readers 😂

Because at any point between, I think, the 80s and the 2000s, if a guy said he liked Frank Herbert that was considered by women to be a red flag. I remember women chatting about this in online forums back in the day. It was the equivalent of a guy saying he likes Jordan Peterson now.

It's an analysis of Dune that doesn't seem to have come through again. Audiences have caught on to the homophobia inherent in how the Baron was represented, but nobody is talking anymore about the blatant sexism of the books.

And I say this as a long time fan, because I was super inspired by most of the female characters in the novels and in particular the Bene Gesserits, so to hear that Herbert was supposed to be a misogynist took me by surprise. "What do you mean it's sexist? This is great!" The idea of a group of women who fully dedicate themselves to their own intergalactic girl gang, who follow their own plans, who use their femininity to their own ends, who live through discipline and self control and are fully empowered to face down any threat, that was so inspiring to teenage me.

But I guess the sort of women I most admired were the ones who were terrifying to men.

I mean, the only "good" female characters are either not Bene Gesserits, like Chani, or are Bene Gesserits who go against the order, like Jessica. Moreover, the only "good" female characters are those who betray their group for the sake of men. Like Jessica going against the word of the Reverend Mother because Leto wanted a boy.

Irulan's only redeeming features are her complete dedication to Paul and being basically in love with him and being the author of glorifying history books about him in spite of the fact that he deposed her father and is keeping her in a loveless marriage and constantly publicly humiliates her by treating Chani as his wife.

Even Chani, an otherwise bland and marginal character compared to the film, is at her most poignant when dying in child birth for the sake of giving birth to Paul's children. A death which happens because Irulan had been secretly poisoning her out of jealousy. Frank Herbert just has women clawing each other's eyes out for the sake of Paul's affection. I don't care how good that dick is, it's not worth poisoning another woman over. Poison him instead and take the throne, girl.

But oh yeah, in this intergalactic empire tens of thousands of years in the future, they seem to have discovered neither the concept of divorce nor of female inheritance of titles and property. It can only be a man inheriting the throne, not the Emperor's biological daughter. And once Irulan is married, well she's just stuck there. Pretty incredible.

And however great the Bene Gesserits are, they still need a man to "see where they can not see". No matter how empowered a group of women becomes, they still need a man. Only a man can see into the future. Women can only see into the past. Therefore, only a man can save the world.

I get that they tried to conceal some of this in the recent film, and they managed to do so to some extent, but it's mostly been with Chani. You still have the problem of Jessica and Irulan being just servants for the whims of the men in their lives, a fact which gets them into a lot of trouble. And you have the Bene Gesserits portrayed as scheming witches who are evil to have their own plots and designs, and are dependent on a man to see into that place which terrifies them.

I mean, enjoy the books by all means. I always did in spite of all of this, and I still like the story and the world. I still love the characters too. But man if the author didn't have some unflattering ideas about us 😂

[fishhawish]

I'm back with a Diluc request and am in the mood for Vindictive!Reader. When Jean started her affair with Diluc, she had assumed that you were a meek, submissive housewife she can easily browbeat into divorcing Diluc. So, when Diluc tells her that you want to meet up because you found out about their relationship, Jean decides it was the perfect chance to bully you into divorcing Diluc. Much to her surprise, she finds a confident, assertive you; a you who declares that while you accept her relationship with Diluc, you have no intention of giving up your title as wife, so Jean will have to settle for being the concubine.

Orderly roles.

Unfaithful (bit possessive) Diluc x Vindictive Reader ❤️

Also reader x whatever character you insert

Tw: cheating, hints of sexual advances

Reader is gender neutral however there is hints of being female and them having kids with Diluc

Not proofread btw

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Your mirrage was perfect, up until the point you noticed that your husband was acting unfond of you. Even Infront of your own children he is not kind to you like he used to be. The gentle yet well put together man you once knew and loved separated from you more day by day. You knew it hurt your kids, you know it'd hurt yourself to leave him too. Unfortunately what bound you to Diluc was the fact you're financially dependent on him.

So when you found him undressing a particular beautiful, strong and resilient blond woman you didn't even bat an eye. You just kept doing what you where, wether it be reading or baking you'd stay away from them. You've always known you're just her replacement, so why would you even bother to be upset to begin with? You've seen the way they look at eachother, even on your wedding day. You love Diluc, but he is definitely not yours by heart.

Unfortunately for Jean, he's not hers legally either, and what She did not plan on was your stubbornness about leaving diluc. From attempting to bribe you to bullying you to divorce him, but you did not budge. Going as far as offering to have the knights fund you to be able to live comfortably without diluc and yet you turned it down every time. Effectively putting Jean in her place with every rejection.

By then some of the towns folk where starting to notice the separation. Thus some young men began to attempt to pursue you. Courting became quite common when it came to other men, and yet for some reason it upset Diluc. If you talked to a handsome young man, striking simple conversation Diluc couldn't help but feel jealous. But he didn't understand. Something else he didn't understand is why you wouldn't leave. Partly that he secretly doesn't want you too.

Eventually you meet a fine man, strong and sweet. You found yourself falling for him, spending time with him or to bake him treats. He'd take you on adventures and teach you things you never thought where possible. He was aware of your relationship, you told him everything because you trust him. With that, is how you began to also pursue this man. And it made Diluc's blood boil. Diluc couldn't understand why he's be mad.

Shouldn't Diluc be happy that he can be with Jean alone finally? Despite everything you never divorced him. Jean wasn't quite happy about this situation, and neither was Diluc. Diluc's heart aching knowing you're with another man, and yet he doesn't know why, he doesn't know why after he's cheated for so long, tried to leave you and such. And yet he feels so upset. Perhaps he's mad that he was replaced.

Although you considered taking your kids and running away with your lover, you decided to rub salt in the wound and come home to make dinner every night to spite diluc for ever cheating. Sure you may love each other deep down inside, but he brought thus into himself. It's only payback for him cheating on you. All that is to come from this is an annoyed Jean and a emotionally wrecked Diluc.

Diluc wasn't good enough anyway considering he never spent time with you or his family.

[turtleboyo22]

Cyno is not known for his capacity for joy. Whether cracking jokes or saving lives, Cyno never displays even an ounce of emotion on his face. For this, the General Mahamatra commands fear and respect across all of Sumeru. After all, it's hard not to cower away from a man whose expression lends nothing of itself to anyone.

As for Cyno himself, he is not ignorant enough not to have noticed how those around him act when he's there. He's hyper aware of the effect his entrance will inevitably have on a room, tense silence sucking the air from everyone else's lungs. Though this can be useful for a great many of Cyno's duties, he can't help but feel somewhat resentful of the reputation he has cultivated.

In spite of what the majority of people may believe, though, Cyno spends most of his free time quite content, joking around and enjoying life's leisures. Still, those who witness him outside of work from a far may assume that he's as serious as ever due to his perpetually neutral expression. It is only those who truly know Cyno that understand that the man does not lack emotions, but rather he merely displays his in an abnormal way. In fact, for the people who know Cyno, his joy especially is not only obvious, but also exceedingly common.

The only problem is when Cyno's job requires him to comfort those who don't know him. His expressionless face and toneless voice aren't the most soothing, and his blunt way of speaking certainly doesn't help the issue. Even his jokes can't save him, as most people just stare at him blankly afterwards. This is also what made it so difficult when the general rescued a young girl; he had no idea how to make her feel less scared of him.

When Cyno first brought Collei back to Sumeru, the young girl couldn't help but fear him. After all, ever since she was a young child she had been surrounded by people who wanted nothing more than to harm her. She underwent experiment after excruciating experiment day after day for the first 10 years of her life, all while battling a life-long illness and finding out her parents had died. When Cyno had found her, Collei was still adjusting to the idea of people treating her with kindness. Her past combined with Cyno's stern disposition compounded into Collei being afraid of the man who was trying to save her. She thought it was silly, looking back.

Collei first saw Cyno happy a week after she was brought to Sumeru. Cyno had come to visit her and Tighnari to see how she was settling in and Collei found herself playing card games at a too small dinner table with her newfound guardians. Cyno had been telling puns throughout the evening, a past time of the man's that Collei had yet to become accustomed to, but Tighnari's defeated expression told her it was commonplace.

In any case, one joke in particular caught Collei's attention: "I don't think we should play poker today," Cyno said. "Why not, Cyno? You usually jump at the opportunity to beat me at everything," Tighnari snarked, making Collei smile. She'd adjusted to her new master's occasional sass over the past week, meaning she'd learnt there was no malice behind his words. "Well Collei has already been through so much, I wouldn't want to hurt her more."

A beat of silence.

"Do you not understand the joke? You see, poker sounds like poke her. As in I'd be poking Collei, harming her further. But also it's the game's name," Cyno explained.

Another beat.

"Cyno," Tighnari groaned, covering his frustration with a hand over his face. "I thought it was funny," Cyno said, stoney tone and twin expression both very much still intact. "It was insensitive to Collei," Tighnari argued, "you can't just say things like that."

"But why not? All three of us know that she's had to endure a lot of pain in the past. It's not a secret," Cyno argued back.

And as their bickering continued, Collei found herself smiling. She was fond of them, she realised, fond of the men who had rescued her and fond of their playful arguing. Her smile grew until a small laugh escaped her mouth, more and more following until she was giggling. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed.

Cyno and Tighnari immediately shut up, snapping round to look at Collei in shock. She'd barely spoken since she arrived at Tighnari's hut, and now she was giggling. "Told you it was funny," Cyno gloated and Collei couldn't help it. She was full on laughing now, arms wrapped around her torso as her cheeks ached with joy.

Tighnari started to chuckle a bit then, so endeared by Collei's antics. Cyno just watched the two. From afar, anyone would've thought it cold but typical of the general mahamatra. He did not smile nor did he laugh. In fact, he was so expressionless that he seemed almost detached. But Tighnari knew better, and Collei was starting to as well.

Cyno's shoulders had relaxed, Collei noted, not realising they were ever tense until they weren't anymore. As her laughter died down, she also noticed how Cyno's eyebrows were less bunched up now, highlighting the newfound pink of his cheeks and red of his ears.

"Proud of yourself?" Tighnari teased the man, but there was no bite to his words. It was clear Tighnari had noticed Cyno's sudden change in demeanor, attempting to prolong Cyno's (and Collei's) joy for as long as possible by jabbing further. The softness of Cyno's movements as his hand found its place upon Tighnari's put Collei at ease. Perhaps she could find a home here with these two afterall. After all, this was the safest she'd felt in years.

[velvetvexations]

I'm genuinely trying to not just be constantly negative and starting shit and arguing with people. I feel like even the people I mostly agree with are getting put off by it if they haven't already. I'm very self-conscious about my opinions and how much I talk on a given subject, and I know I do have issues that make my expressed opinions more pointed than necessary.

But like, me jokingly comparing the Bad Kids to the protagonists of 8-Bit Theater is interesting, because I love 8-Bit Theater to death, it's an extremely important work to me, it hurts a lot that I didn't hear about the scriptbook Kickstarter until it was over and I'll always be looking for a pre-owned copy for the rest of my life.

Like, I think the issue isn't that I have a problem with the Bad Kids acting so awfully. That's okay, especially in a comedy. Comedic sociopathy is a totally fine trope and I enjoy it on a regular basis. The issue that gets me is that it's such a hard counter to not only D20's usual tone, but also the way the DM, the players, the narrative itself, and most of all the fandom treat them and their actions.

That's why I soured on Kristen specifically so hard and so fast, because before JY I just thought she was like, A Lot, but not really a big deal and had some good, solid moments in SY (I did not like FY in general for completely unrelated reasons, sadly). But with JY, it was like, right out the gate she's ignoring Cassandra literally half to death, and I wonder if that would have seriously bothered me as much as it did if the fandom wasn't determined to completely excuse her for it in spite of the fact that it was clearly meant to be a personal character flaw and not just "unfortunately mental illness is happening to her".

Even then I was like, hey, I watched those promo videos, this is obviously something that's been planned ahead and will be dealt with. I'm very far from the first person to point out that we're now entering the season finale and chaos has not yet stopped being cute. Partially that in particular may have been hamstrung by the dice rebellion in the mall fight, with the original plan having been for Cassandra to not get separated from Kristen so fast and subsequently unable to have them actively work on their relationship and Kristen's commitment to her. Kristen running for president also likely threw a monkey wrench into decutifying chaos, because there was never any chance of Ally going about that by having Kristen put on a slick suit and say "I need to take this seriously and research school governance and formulate a policy I'll elaborate on in a debate with Kipperlilly". The race for president could only possibly be a bit the second it went to her instead of Riz, not because I don't think Ally could handle that kinna plot if they set their mind to it, Margret Encino would have killed it just as good as Riz, but because it's simply so far from who Kristen Applebees is as a character.

So anyway, I sat there watching this season waiting for Kristen to grow up because I had faith that was going to happen. But lest you think I just hate Kristen and possibly also Ally, these last few weeks they've been the least of the issue.

As hilarious as it was I don't understand how in the good Lord's name we're supposed to care about Oisin "making Adaine think she liked him" by acting a little flustered around her when Fig literally started catfishing Ruben on the first day of school ages before they had any in-character reasons to suspect the Rat Grinders of anything, all so she could...no, really, why the fuck did she do that? What was the impetus for that decision? I cannot emphasize enough how little motivation is given for this course of action:

There is nothing to it except that Emily correctly pegged he'd be an antagonist later. It's like the detectives on Law & Order arresting someone because they recognized the special guest star.

And like, other people, I get it, other people who don't like the direction JY has taken can shrug it off more easily than I can, there are a million reasons to not treat this like the end of the world, but unfortunately my autism gets me stuck on shit and I just cannot reconcile things like this. I cannot take the show seriously and care about the protagonists as people and share joy in their triumphs and sorrow in their failures and ignore something as blatantly breaking the logic as stuff like this.

I'll grant you, okay, Adaine was understandably hurt but neither the Bad Kids nor the Intrepid Heroes were really like "oh now we have to really fucking ruin Oisin for being the worst person alive". The fandom treated it like he Frozen'd her but fandoms are dumb and should not dictate as much of my opinion as they do, I simply cannot fathom the kind of person who'll cry over the deep and traumatic emotional damage Oisin caused Adaine with his missed beer pong shots but doesn't think Fig should be in jail.

That's also not the end of it, though. I could keep going on just about Fig specifically and the fact that she is at least sex crimes-adjacent, not to mention Emily's infantilization of a very autistic-coded character, but I'm trying very hard to not just come off as being like the people who have harassed Emily and Ally over their roleplaying choices in the past. As I keep stressing, I like both of them and especially Emily because I've been a CollegeHumor fan longer than some D20 fans have been alive. I think I actually like Fig more accepting that she kinna canonically sucks and taking her as more a Complicated Woman than someone whose actions I need to reconcile with the expectation of her being better than that, although I know none of it will ever actually be addressed.

So yeah, all the Bad Kids have been fucking weird this season in ways they weren't in SY. Adaine's intense and completely inexplicable loathing of Kipperlilly was funny at first and then increasingly uncomfortable as it fed into the fans wanting to crucify her. Gorgug going full bully was weird but also like, a one line bit, but whatever. Riz stealing Kipperlilly's file was gross and would or SHOULD deeply hurt Jawbone if he ever found out, and you can say they had to do this horribly unethical action in the name of homeland security or whatever, I accept that there were extenuating circumstances, but it's given no thought whatsoever and absolutely no regard is given to the fact that she was trying to address her issues with the closest mental health professional available who Brennan goes out of his way to note is failing her by overcorrecting for his bias towards the BKs.

But as much as I genuinely believe Brennan has been planting seeds the Rat Grinders could be reached, he's not been great here either and like Mice & Murder these things are more on him than any of the players because he's the director here. Like, I'm embarrassed I got snippy with someone who guessed ahead of time that Kipperlilly desecrated the rogue teacher's grave, but nonetheless think it was a weird conclusion to reach and that it's just even more bizarre that it ended up being "right", except the way it's described doesn't even make sense.

Like, the goal was "find the rogue teacher", right? And the rogue teacher is dead. So to me, it certainly seems like bringing a back hoe to the graveyard is one hundred percent the right move! But even if we accept the apparent canonical intent that was Kipperlilly threatening to merely destroy the grave as an act of vandalism rather than retrieve the body, it's like...so what? Literally who cares? As if the Bad Kids or any other adventuring party wouldn't dig up a dead body to cast Speak with Dead or something, as if the foundational Dungeons & Dragons formula wasn't raiding tombs like 19th-century colonial archeologists? And why would any of that be necessary anyway, when Riz found Eugenia by just...walking up to the grave?

But regardless, that, you might say, is a matter of the Rat Grinders being unfairly presented as evil and not the Bad Kids being unfairly presented as good. When it comes to Brennan's part in it, though, these are the same issue, because as the creator and director of every atom of the world outside the PCs, he's just so very willing to go with what the players start to expect. That's fine for a home game, but this is like, a television show that people pay money for, and that's an issue. He'll plant enough seeds of the Rat Grinders being better than they're treated that a chunk of the audience will notice and think the players are being weird about them, but he won't push it further than that and instead just rolls with the players being weird because his first priority is their enjoyment.

Again, fine in a home game, obviously. But it creates this divide between the players and the audience because the world has been crafted in such a way that when the players being weird is noticed it's like, why are they being rewarded for that? Why are they getting zero pushback? Brennan and I both heavily, heavily value collaborative storytelling for good reason, it's why I love TTRPGs and actual plays, but if this were a story told by a single person you could either have the protagonists pick up on those hints, have it be a point that they didn't pick up on them, or just not even include them in the first place.

One of the reasons I really, really like Aabria's DMing, as I've said recently, is that she truly remains firm in her worldbuilding and is not shy about providing realistic consequences or acknowledging PC behavior is dissonant with what's going on around them. And it just makes it super ironic that Kipperlilly's whole deal is correctly identifying the fact that the world is warped around the Bad Kids, and in this season more than ever the DM is like, fully changing reality to accommodate them and giving them plot resolutions on a silver platter, to the point of letting them just full-on take back spells because the target turned out to not be there, which is pretty far beyond the quibble about the climactic move in Calamity's final boss fight.

It's not that I think D20 is 'rigged' exactly, because it's not really a game, or at least it's not really Dungeons & Dragons. This was a revelation I had when I watched Critical Role other than Calamity for the first time and was amazed by how they'd stand around after a battle looting bodies for random magic items. D20 isn't a sandbox TTRPG, it's a very on-rails shooting gallery with roughly as much choice in the narrative as a modern RPG video game, and it has to all wrap within a certain amount of sessions. That's fine, but occasionally it can feel deceptive when we pretend there's much chance of things going radically wrong. One of the reasons I liked the first half of Crown of Candy and all of The Ravening War so much is because they're the only times where failure has really, truly been on the table in an Intrepid Heroes season, but I still liked most of the other Intrepid Hero seasons nonetheless.

This season, I just, I dunno man. I don't believe Ice Feast just accidentally wah wah wah had the effect of completely neutralizing the primary threat of the final boss fight. And Blimeygate, like, I thought it was mostly a fun moment, but it also felt like the most exaggerated-for-marketing-purposes the "got'em!" bits have ever been.

But despite all that, I am still currently capable of enjoying the next season. I'm hoping next week does not make things dramatically worse.

[winter-dayz]

Bound to You

Pairing: Hwang Hyunjin x Reader Cerberus AU; Goddess AU; Greek Mythology AU Genre: Fluff; Smut Words: 4337 Warnings: cutting; ritualistic self-harm; sexual content (dom!reader, sub!hyunjin, choking, humping, knife play, female receiving oral, vaginal penetration); strong language

Masterlist | Fictober Masterpost

Taglist:  @soobin-chois

“Ceeerbeeeruuus~” She called as she came down the stairs to the grand entrance of the underworld.

“I told you not to call me that, goddess.” Hyunjin growled as she came into his line of sight.

She pouted, “And I told you to call me Y/N, but if you aren’t going to listen, then why should I?”

Hyunjin scoffed at her, leaning against the stone wall beside the gate. He shook his head, letting the fiery red strands block his face from her. “Yours is a matter of station, not preference.”

It was who she was—a chthonic nymph, the Bringer of Nightmares and Madness, daughter of Persephone and Zeus, the goddess of the restless undead and propitiation, Goddess Melinoë, wanderer of the Earth, Y/N. As much as he wanted to disregard all that she was, he never could without repercussions.

Her hand gripped his chin, tilting his face back up to her own. He had no idea when she moved over to him; the nymph was always silent on her feet. A perk, he supposed, since she was a being of undeath. It certainly helped when she was parading all of her lost souls at night and scaring the locals.

Y/N’s eyes found Hyunjin’s icy ones. “What’s the matter, Hyun?”

He rolled his eyes and jerked away from her grip, glancing to the doors. “Nothing, god– Y/N.” He added in a whisper at her glare.

She reached up, hesitantly, and brushed his bangs behind his ear. There was no telling how he’d react when he was like this. He’d either bend to her will or snap at her and send her scampering to her room.

It was who he was—the guard “dog” of hell, Cerberus, a man with a split soul, Hyunjin. He couldn’t help it when he was like this. He couldn’t help when his anger clouded his mind from anything else.

To her immense pleasure, though, as her hand glided through his silky strands, the hair shimmered and blonde was left in its wake.

“Take a break, Hyun…” she whispered.

“You know I can’t,” he whined, pushing his head harder against where she was still petting him.

She cooed at her puppy. “No one will know… Just come by my room for a while? You need to relax.”

“I want to; I really do… But what if Hades notices?” Hyunjin pouted, eyes rounder than they had been before and lips plumper.

Y/N, on the other hand, was scowling at the god’s name. “Let me handle my fa– Hades. If he even finds out.”

Hyunjin frowned at her displeasure and leaned off the wall. He wrapped his arms around his goddess’s waist and nuzzled against her neck, only stopping and pulling away when he felt her demeanor relax against him.

  It had been like that for eons. Since Y/N was the offspring of Persephone and Zeus, Hades held a particular dislike for his step-daughter. It wasn’t her fault though. She didn’t ask to be born. No one was to blame but Zeus himself. He had disguised himself as his brother just to sleep with his brother’s wife. Typical.

Still… Hades saw Y/N as a reminder of that and treated her as such. She was sure if it weren’t for her mother’s loving heart, she would’ve been cast out of the underworld. Hades tolerated Y/N for his wife’s sake, nothing more. And, in return, Y/N grew to treat her step-father (slash uncle) with the same “respect” that she received.

What could she say, she was her mother’s daughter… A spiteful one at that.

Her feud with Hades did bear one good thing, though.

A beautiful relationship with Cerberus.

Cerberus was not as the stories told. Or, well… Not quite.

He saw himself as a beast, a monster, and so that is what the mortals saw him as, as well. But, in reality, Hyunjin was a man with a shattered soul. Cursed to immortality and split into three: love, desperation, rage.

Hades saw an opportunity and ran with it. He captured Hyunjin’s souls and chained him (metaphorically) to the gates of hell. He was bound to the king’s will and forced to guard the underworld entrance for eternity.

He loathed Hades for imprisoning him.

Something which he bonded greatly with Y/N over.

“Please, Hyun?” Y/N whispered, breaking his silence and regaining his attention. “I have something important I want to talk with you about… Something private.”

Hyunjin’s gaze traveled from her eyes to the thick chains and locks on the gate. When his eyes remet hers, he gave a subtle nod. “I’ll see you this evening, goddess.”

Lips downturning ever-so-slightly, Y/N understood. She nodded and gave a small bow before turning to head to her room.

With her soft, loving stare no longer on him—her warmth no longer in his presence—Hyunjin’s hair faded once more from blonde to hellfire red.

🎃

As Hyunjin approached her room, he felt himself tensing.

His goddess and he often found themselves alone, but he had never strayed from his post. Not more than a few yards anyway.

Sometimes Y/N would coax him to settle into a nook with her and chat. Other times, she would find him at hell’s doors with paints and canvases in tow to distract him.

If she was busy with her own godly duties, she would bring him books to keep him busy during the many, many hours of the day.

His favorite times were when she would forego meals with her family to eat with him instead. She always shared her fruits with him, and would even sneak sushi back from the mortal realm since it was his favorite.

Once in a while, she had been unable to rest, coming to sit by his side in the dead of night—silence surrounding them—until she drifted back off to sleep.

The first time that had happened, she had slouched against him, looking very un-goddess-like with her mouth open a little and brow furrowed. When he had tried to readjust, Y/N had grumbled and clung to him.

He knew he was a goner then.

He would sooner die than let anything take his goddess away from him. It wasn’t for another fifty years or so that he realized she felt the same way. But once feelings had been reciprocated, their relationship had flourished.

And yet… He had still never been to her room.

He had never dared to defy his orders.

It wasn’t out of respect for Hades. No. It was for fear that if he disobeyed, the king would punish Hyunjin by taking his goddess away.

So why was he putting her at risk now? Why allow her to convince him that this night was worth it?

It had been something in her eyes. The way she had been so insistent to have him just “take a little break.”

She had never suggested something like that before.

Sure, she would bring things to him to help him destress; she would grace him with her presence to help him relax; she would dote on him to help him unwind.

But always at the gate.

Y/N knew the consequences that Hyunjin could face for abandoning his post. So for her to insist on him coming by her room then there was something she needed to tell him within the confines of her own protective wards.

Something Hades could not know about.

“Hyun,” Y/N breathed, opening the door. As their eyes met, his red hair, tinged with a hint of black, lightened. “Come in…” She led him into her room, to a small sitting area by her fireplace. “I’m sorry if I startled you… I could hear you pacing.”

Hyunjin’s lips parted into a sorry smile, but he moved towards Y/N for an embrace regardless. “I was nervous about what you needed to say privately to me.”

“Is that what this is about?” Y/N questioned, reaching up to curl a lock of black hair around her finger.

“Ah…” Hyunjin grimaced. “That was more the thought that you might be ending our relationship…”

His eyes met hers seriously, questioningly, and watered. His hair darkened once more, losing the bits of blonde that had appeared with his love for her, and the inky red—a mixture of his desolation at the thought of losing her and permanent anger at their predicament—took over once more.

Y/N tutted. “I have no plans in ending our relationship, Hyun. Actually… What I needed to discuss with you is quite the opposite…” Hyunjin’s head tilted, and she continued. “When you first explained to me about how you were… trapped. I started doing some research…”

The goddess pulled Hyunjin to sit with her on the couch, gathering a large book from her side table to show him her centuries-old notes.

“The curse from your living days has kept your soul in fragments, divided by the three strongest emotions you felt at the time of your death. The… being that created that curse has long been destroyed, and unfortunately their knowledge along with it. And, without knowing the original parameters, putting your soul back together is… improbable.”

“I– I understand…” Hyunjin whispered, voice wobbling. “Honestly, once Hades found me, I never expected to be put back together anyway. I assumed I would always be this… mess. Monster.” He spat the last bit.

Y/N reached over to him, squeezing his hand in a moment of comfort. He smiled, albeit pitifully, and she continued with her news. “It’s not impossible for you to be whole, Hyun… There are just external forces that have to fill in the cracks.” Y/N sighed, “Technically that is what Hades did for you. He melded the shards of your soul together with underworld magic. He eternally bound you to his realm to serve him… And, I–”

She set the book back on the table, turning her body to bring both hands to hold Hyunjin’s shoulders. “I found a ritual… I’m not powerful enough to break my step-father’s magic, but I can alter it. I can… I can sever your chains to the underworld gates by tying you to another ‘object’ of the underworld, so to speak…”

“What?” Hyunjin whispered, but by the way she gazed over him with a sorrowful love, he already suspected he knew the answer.

“Myself.” Y/N shook her head, cutting off his objections. “I would bind my soul to the fragments of yours. Mine would become the glue holding yours together.”

“You’d be stuck with me forever.”

She smiled, leaning forward to place a gentle kiss on his pouty lips, hands entwining with his—now very blonde—locks. “I could think of no better eternity.”

Hyunjin, however, did not fully reciprocate her affection and gently pushed his goddess away. Y/N’s smile fell, pulling her hands away as well. “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you your freedom, Hyunjin… I tried to find something, anything. But if Hades created a key, he destroyed it long ago… This was the best solution I could come up with.”

“No, goddess,” Hyunjin grabbed Y/N’s fiddling hands, “This is more than enough.” He met her eyes seriously, “Yes, once I would’ve given anything for my independence. But now… All I want is the freedom to be with you… I just worry that you haven’t thought through the repercussions of this…”

Y/N snorted a laugh. “Hyunjin, trust me, I have. I want to spend the rest of my days with you, and after, if The Fates allow, we will be together in our next life as well. We would be bound together, come death and rebirth. I can think of nothing I want more.”

“Then… it would be my utmost pleasure to be bound to you, my goddess.”

With a somber nod, Y/N turned once more to the side table and retrieved a few items. She placed a small wooden bowl with a red string inside between them.

“I will ask this of you once more… Hwang ‘Cerberus’ Hyunjin, Hound of Hades and Guard of the Underworld, do you consent to binding our souls together. Entwining our fates for all eternity?”

“I do, goddess.”

“Please give me your hand.”

Silently, he held his hand to her. She took his hand carefully, caressing the soft skin before placing a light kiss on his palm. Y/N raised her small blade, slowly carving her ritual symbol into his palm.

Hyunjin couldn’t deny how his heart skipped a beat at the kiss, but it nearly stopped as the knife bit into his flesh. He desperately tried to bite back the whimper that he let out when his goddess began to literally carve herself into him.

But he couldn’t help himself and the smallest moan slipped between his plush lips, causing Y/N to hesitate before moving the blade to her own hand.

After another few, silent, moments she showed her palm where she carved his own symbol as well before grasping his palm in hers. Y/N’s eyes finally raised from their conjoined palms as their blood melded and dripped into the bowl, coating the string.

Once the cord had soaked and their hands had healed sufficiently, she withdrew her hold on him to tie the blood-bound string to them both. Her fingers moved deftly in tying a tight knot around his pinky and nodded for him to tie to the other end to her own finger.

His hands tied the knot a bit shakier than hers had but once he was done, Y/N leaned forward to rest her forehead against his.

“It is done…” She whispered, “You belong to me… with me. And I, you.”

Hyunjin glanced at the string in time to catch the ritual magic disintegrate into a red glimmer. The magic soaked into their bodies and highlighted their healing symbols, moving through their veins and into both of their hearts—their souls.

His lips split into a wide-smile, eyes becoming nothing more than crescents as he felt her within him. He felt her undying love for him; her loyalty and trust. He felt the warmth she always brought with her but took when she left… except a piece of it now resided in his own chest, never dissipating.

“Hyunjin,” she nearly panted. His eyes snapped open, his smile faltering at Y/N’s expression. If he was feeling her… was she feeling his soul as well? His love and… desperation for her. His eyes widened as hers darkened, a mischievous smile forming. “Maybe I should’ve chosen a collar for you instead of just a leash, hm? Is that what you want, puppy?”

Hyunjin froze, and when he didn’t answer, Y/N pressed on. “Oh come now… You have to be a good boy and tell me what you want. Show me what you want, puppy.”

He remained frozen for a moment more before she noticed him gulp and his gaze shifted back down to her hand—the one that would forever bear his symbol. His chin tilted upwards, baring his neck, and when she didn’t get the hint, he, ever so slowly, wrapped his slender fingers around her wrist and guided her hand to his neck.

As her own fingers fit against his throat, giving a light squeeze, Hyunjin continued to hold over her hand and hold her eyes as well, pleading. His gaze shifted, lowering his lids until his eyes held a teasing promise of passion, darker and hotter than the depths of hell. He broke her stare, eyes fluttering closed and mouth dropping open, when she truly tightened her grip around his neck.

Y/N tutted. “So that’s what you want then, puppy? You want me to be your collar.” She smirked while she pushed him to sit against the back of the couch, climbing to straddle his long legs. “You know… I can feel what you’ve felt in your soul for eons now. I can feel how desperate you’ve been for me.” She clicked her tongue, alternating between cutting off his blood flow and air supply and caressing his neck lovingly. “Have you touched yourself to the image of me? Made yourself a mess to the thought of what I could have done to you?”

Hyunjin whimpered. “I apologize… I couldn’t help myself. You’re so beautiful, goddess.”

She clenched around nothing, eyes fluttering for a moment, at the use of her normally formal title being used in such a… reverent manner.

“Please, goddess…” Hyunjin continued in a whiny pout, “Let me worship you.”

Y/N’s breath hitched imperceptibly, “Very well, puppy. Get on your knees and show me how much you adore me.”

Hyunjin nodded, eyes glazed and lips wet, as he stood from the couch and dropped to his knees in front of her. Without breaking eye contact, she shifted and spread her legs, raising the skirts of her dress and exposing her dripping cunt.

He leaned forward, nose tracing the inside of her thigh and nuzzling lightly against her pubic bone. “I’ve neglected you, goddess.”

“Should I punish you?” She quipped. Hyunjin’s eyes flew up to hers pleadingly. Hers was the only punishment he ever craved. “No, I think not tonight. Tonight we will worship one another; we will celebrate.”

The whispered promise of pleasure, in combination with the heavenly scent of his goddess just on the tip of his tongue, drew a deep, guttural groan from Hyunjin, eyes rolling back as well.

He waited for no further instruction, no need for pushing, and dove into her. A sharp gasp escaping her at the sudden feeling. Hyunjin, ever so pleased with himself, smirked against her lips before flicking her clit with his tongue.

Y/N’s head dropped back, lolling against the sofa, and she rocked her hips forward when he flattened his tongue. “Hyun… Oh my gods,” she moaned.

Sweat began to gather on her brow—her dress becoming suffocating—as Hyunjin continued to fuck her with his mouth. Her fingers found their way into his hair, tugging harshly on the black locks, when she felt him scissor two fingers into her.

Y/N exhaled slowly, a shudder racking her body while he alternated between sucking on her clit and dipping his tongue into her heat—all while his fingers diligently opened her up for him.

She was going to cum. She could feel it building, fire burning in her belly.

But she wasn’t done with him yet.

Y/N pulled him harshly by the hair, a pleasantly pitiful whimper escaping his lips as he lost contact with his treat.

“Hyunjin.” Y/N scolded as he growled and tried to pull her back to his mouth. He glared up at her, defying her. “Stop that, puppy. You did good, so so good. But I want something else…”

“Yes, my goddess?” Hyunjin’s eyes softened, his head cocking, “I will give you anything, anything to show you how much I adore you.”

“I want to fuck you,” she smirked, pushing him backwards with a foot so that she could gracefully stand from the couch. “All night, if you would like,” she added as she untied and let her dress pool at her feet.

Hyunjin’s eyes widened. He had hoped this might be where things would lead to after he received the depth of her feelings within his soul, but now that it was actually happening, he was shocked.

His gaze met her soft one and trailed down to her outstretched hand. Gently locking his fingers with hers, she helped him stand. Y/N reached up, brushing his own, rather sweaty, hair from his face and caressing his cheek.

She leaned up, placing a lingering kiss to his bottom lip, and whispered, “Come with me.”

He nodded slowly, allowing her to lead him to her bed. Y/N pushed his shoulders gently so that he sat on the edge. Hyunjin was dazed, already fucked out just from tasting her, and he struggled to keep his eyes open.

Anything she wanted, he would give it to her.

Y/N gently threaded her fingers through his hair, scratching the now-blackened roots, and delighted in the shiver that visibly racked his body.

Edged terribly, Hyunjin’s hips bucked forward at a particular tug of his locks. His eyes flew open, widening comically, and her own narrowed on his minute reactions.

He held himself too still, eyes flitting between her stare, her lips, and her thighs.

“Poor puppy…” She tsked, stepping forward to push one of her legs between his and subsequently pressing her delicious thigh against his painfully hard cock. “Just a dumb dog, needing something to hump.”

Hyunjin nodded pathetically, experimentally rolling his hips forward into her thigh. At the press of her warm skin, even against his clothing, Hyunjin felt himself fall fully; his midnight hair reflecting his deep need for his goddess, and only his goddess.

“Hyun, are you okay?” Y/N whispered teasingly, fingering the locks of black that had completely overtaken his blonde hair.

“Yes, please goddess, please continue.” He whined, continuing to rut against her lightly.

She clicked her tongue at him again, “Oh, puppy. You’re more desperate than I thought…”

“Yes…” Hyunjin leaned forward, trailing his lips across her bare stomach. His breath a warm whisper on her, “I’ve wanted you for centuries, my goddess.”

Not one to pass up an opportunity to tease him, Y/N began to pull away, “Only a want, a mere fleeting desire for me?”

“No, goddess! Please, I need you,” Hyunjin cried, swiftly pulling the goddess down and rolling over so that she was pinned beneath him. “I need you so badly. I’ll be a good boy… Please!”

In his begging, Hyunjin had failed to notice that he had begun to grind down against her wantonly. He winced at how hard and sensitive his clothed cock felt, rubbing against his goddess, but he continued regardless, delighting in the painfully pleasurable drag.

Y/N flexed her thigh, enjoying the hiss of appreciation that came from between his thick lips. “Alright, puppy. Let me show you then, what it means to be mine.”

Hyunjin nodded rapidly, almost making himself dizzy, and sat up to straddle her. She pulled on the fasteners of his pants to free his cock.

“So hard, puppy…” Y/N fake pouted as she rubbed a thumb over his weeping tip.

He whined. Loudly. And rutted into her palm, fucking himself with her hand. The faint roughness from the scar of his mark dragged down his shaft, eliciting pretty moans from him further.

Y/N guided him against her wet folds, the tip catching against her clit while he continued to rut, and coated him in her desire.

Finally– Finally.

She lined him with her entrance and gave him the permission he so desperately craved.

“Fuck me, Hyunjin. Be a good puppy, and fill. me. up.”

He pushed into her slowly. Not for any reason as to tease her or defy her orders or even to let her adjust, but because he simply needed to pace himself.

Hyunjin had only dreamed of being able to be with his goddess in this way. He wasn’t going to blow his chances by literally blowing too soon.

Y/N could tell he was struggling, and she grazed her hands up his covered torso, wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled him to her, kissing him and swallowing the little whimpers he let out every time she—mostly—involuntarily clenched.

As a goddess she was expected to control herself, be in control of herself. But being surrounded by, filled with, Hyunjin made her weak.

Luckily—or not—for her, Hyunjin was just as uncontrolled. The desperation that consumed one of his soul fragments had grown and taken hold of him. And once he felt how warm and tight she was around him, he couldn’t help but snap his hips forward.

Hyunjin’s thrusts became erratic. He kissed her sloppily, movements becoming messier when she moaned and becoming harder when she whimpered.

He nipped down her jawline, biting down particularly hard on her jugular when she buried her nails into his back. When had her hands found their way under his tunic? He couldn’t think of anything else except how good, how right, it felt to be inside her. To fill her and claim her and be one with her.

Y/N felt herself peaking again, never having fallen too far from her own edge, and reached between her legs to rub her clit. Hyunjin might’ve been a bit sloppy, too caught up in his own pleasure, but the stretch of his cock in her was just too delicious to not finish her off.

“Good boy, Hyun,” she moaned in his ear. “Cum for me, in me, puppy. Become mine.”

She hadn’t even finished her words. At his goddess’s command to cum, he was spilling himself inside. Feeling the warmth flood her, Y/N arched herself as the pleasure blinded her, vision whiting out as if she had entered Olympus. She might’ve screamed or maybe that was just the ringing in her ears.

Hyunjin, eyes heavily lidded as he stared down at her, fucked her through her orgasm. And when she settled, he kissed gently around her neck and cheeks.

Y/N smiled, bringing her marked palm to his cheek, and kissed him deeply.

After a few, long, moments of breathing and gathering their bearings, the two readjusted in her bed. Silk and luxury surrounding them, nothing felt more comforting than each other’s arms.

“Hades is going to destroy us when he finds out what we’ve done.” Hyunjin finally spoke quietly into the darkness of her room.

“Good thing I have the fearsome Cerberus to protect me.” She teased, nipping at his collarbone.

“I’m serious, Y/N. I need you… I– I love you. I can’t have anything harming you.” Hyunjin squeezed her tighter to him.

“I love you too, Hyunjin. I swear to you, you will never lose me. I am eternally yours.” Y/N sighed, her heart full. “I don’t know what will happen with my step-father. But, you are mine now as I am yours. We will deal with whatever comes, together, in this life and the next.”

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

I know you are tired of being reminded of the whole mess that’s been going on. I had no idea what was going on until foxyanon told me cause I asked. The shock that went through me when I was reading ems post. I was decent friends with bel and interacted a lot with her. Had no idea how vile those bloggers are, just damn right disgusting and rude. But I told em as well that I have nothing to do with what’s her face. I’m always here for you! This fandom needs some serious work done and rethinking. I’m screaming the biggest f you to her! I love your content even though I don’t say anything much. You’re wonderful and deserve better! 💗💗

Thank you for reaching out, and treating me like a human being. It is more than I currently deserve. I will place the rest of my response beneath a cut, as it will be quite long and I'd like to give people the option to scroll past, as they are doubtless tired of all of this, and rightly so.

Yes, the behaviour of that group is despicable, but I cannot downplay the gravity of my own in that.

I had a longstanding block with two users (I am not going to use their online nicknames, I do not deserve to), arcielee and sylasthegrim, I said disgusting things about both of them - the screenshots of my messages regarding them both on the post you have doubtless all seen are real (so is the final screenshot where I mention an anon I had received telling me to die in my sleep, the rest of the screenshots in that post have been falsified, doctored or snipped heavily out of context to make them appear hateful - the doctoring has been confirmed by two individuals well versed in Photoshop)

I hold my hands up and apologise to both those people, and the people that have seen those messages and been harmed by them. They are inexcusable, indefensible and were guided by a false belief that those two people were being hateful in turn about me, and actively going out of their way to harm and spite me. I am unsure what Bel thought she had to gain by exacerbating the animosity between me and Em and those two women, regardless, we should have done the mature thing and reached out directly to them. I will say, that I have never once sent anonymous hatred to either person. The extent of my vitriol was confined to that group chat.

Bel also used slurs in the group chat (I would like to point out that myself, Em and Fae did not). I won't repeat what these were. I do not want those ugly words on my page. They made me uncomfortable and I called her out any time she used one in particular, but she always laughed off my discomfort and carried on anyway. She is mixed race, I am white, in my mind it is not my place as a white person to tell an ethnic minority what is racism and what isn't. There are enough white voices shouting down others in online spaces. I know better now. I should not let my own discomfort silence me. I will call out hatred, bigotry and discrimination in every instance that I see it. My past inaction is embarrassing, it's offensive and I am devastated by the hurt I have caused to others. I am so deeply sorry.

I didn't speak up for a long time, because I have seen what these people are like when they have a grudge against someone. It's frightening, I was a coward. Yet despite staying silent on all of it, I have been doxxed just the same. I suppose perhaps that's karmic retribution?

I appreciate that people have felt my response has been lacking, however, I was out of the country, away from home, from the 14th until the 22nd, with only my phone at my disposal and with the expectation from my husband that I would enjoy the vacation we were on, and not be online dealing with all of this.

I would like the opportunity to atone for my behaviour, to make amends. Currently, I feel I am not going to be given the opportunity to do that, and understandably so. Emotions are high, people are raw from what they have learned and they do not feel comfortable being around me.

Seeing the screenshots of the people in their group passing around my personal photos and saying incredibly vile things about my appearance triggered a lapse with the eating disorder that I am in active recovery for. I then had another a few days later. I need to take some time away to get myself well, as the fear and anxiety of all of this is taking its toll. I also need the space to deal with the legal action I will be exploring with regards to Chris having doxxed me. I am not running away. I simply need to get myself into a space where I am stable enough to handle all of this, be accountable, and take responsibility without my own emotions diminishing other people's.

I know people hate me right now, but it pales in comparison to how much I hate myself. I am so very sorry for allowing this to happen.

[13eyond13]

If you don't mind, can I ask something from Death Note? What do you think are Light and L's greatest personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic? Sorry if you've answered these questions before.....

Interesting question! I'll just give a few for both of them: LIGHT'S STRENGTHS: He's extremely good at being patient and keeping calm under ridiculous amounts of pressure, actually. We often remember him for his explosive tantrums, but when you think about it those are pretty rare and usually when he's literally experiencing something that could genuinely see him exposed as the world's worst mass-murderer + get him the death penalty for it.... pretty hard to come up with any bigger stakes than that. I love watching him walk through the methodical steps of his plan and talk himself down from the panic ledges he often finds himself on. He's often so good at thinking ahead and typically makes pretty smart judgment calls (unless his ego kinda trips him up) He's also good at being flexible and utilizing the people/things he's surrounded with to suit his needs and help him achieve his goals. He repurposes many of the things he already owns to be good hiding places for the notebook, for example, and he allows stuff like Misa to become his partner because it was the best solution for his overall goals, even though he clearly didn't think she was actually his ideal romantic match. He's a weirdly pragmatic guy in spite of all his idealism and fussiness about the particulars of his "brand"

He's got time management and organizational skills up the wazoo. All that top student in Japan prep school stuff definitely helped him maximize his "saving the world" and sneaking around kinda schemes. He's good at reading people and figuring out what they want/like and then trying to be that for them. Obviously a strength when it comes to charming and persuading other people to do what he wants and to see things from his POV. LIGHT'S WEAKNESSES: I think he's deathly afraid of making mistakes or disappointing his family or having to consider himself one of the evil people that he grew up thinking were the irredeemable scum that the world would be better off without. He's also got a pretty inflated and fragile ego that is easily bruised by somebody treating him as inferior or mocking him or teasing him in any way. I think partially he's that oversensitive about things because ON SOME LEVEL he really does feel incredibly guilty about what he's doing as Kira, so he reacts with wild lashing out whenever somebody voices those things about him that he's so adamantly refusing to consider or believe. THE TRUTH HURTS, as they say. He's empathetic to a point, but certainly has a sizable cruel streak and seems to enjoy watching other people suffer and die whenever he's the one deciding that they defied him or got in his way as well. And I think the privileged lot in life he had and his young age and the particular family he was born into up makes it so he has a lot of naive blinders on about the complicated reasons things are the way they are, and gives him a very over-simplified black and white version of right and wrong that he sincerely believes he knows best about and can forcibly slot the entire world into for the betterment of all of mankind.

-

L'S STRENGTHS: -he's really good at marching to his own beat, so to speak? His independence and his seeming indifference to how other people view him or whether or not they approve of him can often help him achieve results that a more compromising or people-pleaser personality probably could not -HE NOTICES ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. Could definitely put "keen attention to detail" on his resume as one of his big strengths lol -He's great at utilizing the element of surprise. Always has a trick or two up his sleeve, and probably an excellent poker face too - He's pragmatic as hell as well, and I think this helps him make tough judgment calls and remain mentally flexible in the face of big shocking twists and so on whenever he needs to be L'S WEAKNESSES:

-He can be very unsympathetic and blunt to other people during sensitive situations at times, which definitely stresses and offends the people he's relying on, sometimes until they feel like working with him is either not possible or a bad idea -He is so competitive and stubborn and caught up in being right that I think it can sometimes cause him to bite off a lot more than he can chew and get himself into very sticky situations and dangerous messes -He's not very flexible about things like his own routine or habits, which also probably adds to him being quite difficult to work in a team with. He's probably extremely used to working alone and being kind of spoiled and catered to in whatever ways help him personally work best WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THEIR DYNAMIC:

I love how much they're both like. Clearly not very romantic or warm and fuzzy people, yet they both appear to be ridiculously drawn to each other and fascinated by each other, seemingly somewhat against their own wills too hahaha. They literally just become attached at the hip nearly the instant they first start interacting, and neither one of them can barely spare a thought for anybody/anything else the entire rest of the time. They're just really funny together in a chemistry sense, too. I think their senses of humour and senses of fun have a lot of similarities, as well as their not-so-secret senses of superiority about almost always being the smartest person in the room / winners of everything they try. They have fun similarities but also fun differences as well - I love how Light's sort of like the popular social chameleon idealistic optimist and L's sort of the mysterious lone wolf cynical pessimist, and Light's sort of slick and organized yet secretly unhinged and L's sort of shabby and chaotic yet oddly refined. IDK they're just the funniest pair, I think they go together so naturally and so well hahaha

[gold-rhine]

For the bodypart canons askgame can we get Neuvillette? If you don't have much about him yet then I wanna be the first one to ask for Kaeya

I already did for Neuvi! In fact its easier for him bc he just came out, so i have a lot of things to extrapolate from, but I was writing long ass essays for kaeya for more than a year, so its harder to come up with anything new to say asdfghj. like i don't to repeat same headcanons i already wrote, like that he's related to candace

Headcanon: I can muster a cogent argument for why it would make more sense or make for a better story if this were the case

i've gotta say, i'm a bit peeved when i see ppl portraying child kaeya as like. a dickensian beggar boy who was let to the fireplace and cried bc he tried a cube of sugar for the first time in his life. like, alberichs are nobility and we know khaenriah took their nobility *very* seriously. and if they knew they are sending their scion to mond's nobility, they'd make damn sure he can keep up their dignity. kaeya canonically could read and write before he got to mond and game makes sure to highlight that his handwriting is beautiful.

i think kaeya was very well educated, very well schooled and mannered and prepared for like high society politics, and it was kind of a cultural shock for him how uncivilized ragnyvdirs are in comparison to his own upbringing. like he's a bit confused when he doesn't see 10 different forks at the dinner table, but he's keeping a brave face, but then he sees diluc wipe his mouth with a sleeve and like snatch a piece of meat from the dish and is just completely stunned. and diluc is like oh don't be shy, you can have more too if you want!, but kaeya is in fact seeing a heart attack his own father would have at this scene. this is why he comes off as very quiet and polite to all adults at the estate

Heartcanon: I don’t have a particular rationale for why this ought to be the case, I just like to imagine it’s true because it gives me the warm fuzzies

my conspiracy theory headcanon is that he does still have his horse, but doesn't use her for work. like when he just became a knight as a teen, he saw a horse that no one wanted or ever chose bc she had horrible temper, and slowly gained her trust with treats and attention until they've became friends like a true horsegirl would. that horse was left in mond bc she doesn't let anyone else ride her, so the expedition just left her to kaeya, but he just treats her like a luxury pet and spoils her to death

Gutcanon: it’s not that I actively want this to be the case – it just unaccountably feels like it should be

the first ability from his vision that ever activated was his C4 shield when diluc cleaved him on the head and this is what saved his life. this shield is v useful, but kaeya hates it as a reminder. he also has pretty big burnscar on his eye, bc like. he took a flaming claymore to the eye, no way he has a dainty little white line from a hit like that

Junkcanon: I like to imagine it’s true because it gives me the other kind of warm fuzzies

has a collection of corsets and elaborate lingerie sets. like, you open the corset on his default outfit and there is another, even sexier corset underneath

Spleencanon: I insist that this is the case specifically to spite the author, because, like, fuck you, sir or madam

every time hoyo tries to gaslight us into pretending diluc was right and in fact normal about kaeya and the knights the whole time, i'm sending psychic spiders to them on the astral plane

[thegreymoon]

i'm not an anti 😭😭😭 it's funny that you're absolutely missing my point. there are plenty of works about noncon fantasies. it's rare to see an author single out her shou's sexuaI abuse and depict it as erotic while in the SAME story speak about the horrors of sexuaI abuse/sIavery when it comes to other characters. i dont think this is an unfair criticism and definitely not anti nonsense. just because you disagree with me doesn't make me an anti but i digress. my point wasn't call out noncon fantasies in fiction.

You literally said, and I quote:

lmfao?? erotic novels can be written without ertoticizing sexuaI abuse. she couldve done the same with consensual scenes.

This is typical anti nonsense. Sure, we can write erotic novels without eroticizing sexual abuse, but how is that relevant? You cannot write non-con kink into it without it and Meatbun is not being shy at all about what kinks she's into. This is a book she wrote, first and foremost, for herself, and then for the rest of us who share her proclivities. People who would like to read something else - for example, vampire fic, a comedy of manners or a zombie apocalypse - are free to go and find such a book because, in theory, Meatbun could have written any of these things instead of erotic fiction of the non-con variety, but she didn't because she didn't want to, and if she had, non-con enjoyers probably wouldn't be reading it to begin with.

If you don't want to be mistaken for an anti, you should not come into someone's inbox with their rhetoric and expect them not to see you as one.

I sat on this ask for a couple of days and decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and answer in good faith. I did not miss your point, I just thought you were an anti, and in my opinion, dead wrong, so I didn't feel like typing out a proper reply. There is nothing contradictory about the way Meatbun treats non-con vs. rape within the context of this particular subgenre. It is, in fact, a very common trope, where whatever is happening between the main couple is not seen as something that cannot be overcome (or even enjoyed) because the fantasy itself is about relinquishing responsibility for your own sexuality with someone you want all this to happen with. The point is that Chu Wanning enjoyed it because it was Mo Ran, and Mo Ran did it because he loved Chu Wanning. It is the foundation of this kink.

Now, I don't know if you don't typically read fics like these, but contrasting it with actual rape that is not a part of the fantasy is actually extremely common because it reaffirms that the main relationship is an exception, therefore special and safe in spite of the fundamental violation. With actual rape, nobody wants that to happen, not the characters and not the readers, and it is treated as horrific (which is why in fic, we typically use non-con and dub-con warnings for the erotic variety and the rape warning for actual unwanted rape, even though non-con and dub-con don't exist IRL, where it is ALL rape). Yes, there is a contradiction here, but it is something that is super common within this subgenre and something that the readers definitely want to see, in part to validate that what happened between the main couple is the exception to the rule.

Chu Wanning is not going to enjoy being raped just by anyone (though there certainly are books/erotica out there that play with this idea too and 2ha is actually on the very mild end of the spectrum here, which is why I find it hilarious that so many antis get their panties in a twist over it), which we see when he is assaulted by Shi Mei. Just like Chu Wanning, we are supposed to feel visceral disgust (though I do not deny that there are people out there who are into this too, which is totally cool, you do you) because it is happening outside the main pairing, which is treated as special. Mo Ran is supposed to rescue him from the bigger villain because the readers find his possessiveness reassuring and the fact that his relationship with Chu Wanning (consensual or not) is the exception. The encounter ends with Chu Wanning's chastity preserved and Shi Mei defeated and humiliated, which makes the readers feel good.

The rape of the girl that led to Mo Ran burning down the brothel is supposed to be horrific, and it is supposed to give us insight into Mo Ran's actual personality, where we see that when he is not under the influence of mind-altering magic, he finds the act horrifying. He is not a habitual rapist and if it had not been for the extraordinary circumstances (i.e. the mind-bending magic and the fact that he actually loved and wanted Chu Wanning more than he needed to breathe), the violation would never have happened. It is the exception because he loved, just like Chu Wanning wanting and even eventually enjoying it is the exception because he also loved him in return. It is not narratively contradictory, because, within this subgenre, it is actually very consistent, again, because this is an erotic non-con novel and not an actual commentary on the evils of rape.

Anyway, I apologise for calling you an anti if you really aren't one and I hope that me answering your question seriously this time around makes up for it.

All the best! :)