#she's back to her confident self

[simgerale]

CHAPTER NINETEEN ; 2/3

TRANSCRIPT:

magdalena: Ahem.

antoin: Empress Magdalena, this may be your castle, but you have crossed yet another line by barging in here—

m: He is awake.

a: ...How?

celeste: She is his, and he is hers. The Seam has spoken. Do discuss the politics after I have left.

[incoherent arguments fill the room]

m: In light of recent events, I am feeling rather forgiving and will overlook the fact that multiple Eden citizens have trespassed onto my land this morning.

[everyone goes silent]

m: Since the entire delegation seems to be here, I ask that Emperor Antoin and his people meet with my council and I in an hour.

a: I am afraid that circumstances do not permit—

m: Should I not be so forgiving? Perhaps you and your men would like to fulfill the punishment that the treaty permits, even in its last days?

sheridan: We will be there, your majesty.

m: Good. Our empires depend on it.

[lovesickeros]

can.. can I ask for an affectionate reader with characters who aren’t normally like… used to the love? like, not just through words but physical affection like hand-holding, kisses, hugs, all that shebang. probably with a few people like yelan, ei, basically any character that is either cut-off from society or seems socially distant or isolated. 😞

☆ affectionate reader with yelan, ei, & furina

[ 4.2 Archon Quest spoilers ]

× yelan

Varies between how you display your affection, to be honest. Just like being affectionate with people? She's cool with it as long as you don't pop by while she's working (mostly because she'll end up dragging you into it for a bit of fun). I don't think she's all that touchy feely herself, but she'll absolutely get you gifts instead– like pretty knick nacks? She'll make sure to snag any she thinks you might like. Like a good meal? Sure, she'll take you out to one of the restaurants in the city, doesn't matter how expensive. Her treat. If you do prefer physical gifts rather then being taken out, you'll eventually get used to the random unmarked letters and packages showing up where your staying pretty often. It's obvious to know who it came from even if she never signs anything.

Flirty reader, though? Whole nother can of worms and now it's a challenge. The more confident you are the more interested she is. The other acolytes would absolutely seethe at the idea but she has no hesitation at just straight up flirting back– she's as charismatic as they come and she's got a poker face that's basically impenetrable. She'll probably also make a bet to see who cracks first (she always wins, unsurprisingly). Probably won't get dragged into any of her schemes this way but if you ask politely maybe she'll consider it, anyway.

The smell of freshly brewed tea and the clatter of dice across wood was a common sight at the Yanshang Teahouse– less common was the woman secluded in the far corner, her lips pulled into a grin that flashed fangs and a look that would scare off the most confident of men.

She'd normally try to scope out any new blood that'd made the mistake of stepping into her teahouse and was equally stupid enough to accept a gamble against her just for the thrill of it, but she was far too absorbed in the warm body at her side, one of her die clasped tightly in their hand as she guided them through the motions– they had a knack for it, she had to admit. The thought made her preen, the clatter of the die as it rolled across the table giving her that subtle, familiar rush.

Even if she knew exactly where it'd land.

"Six. Hm, maybe you're just lucky," She muses, plucking the die from the table and holding it up to her eye like a prized jewel, "Or maybe you're not as innocent as you'd have us believe." There's a sharp glint in her eyes at the prospect, but everyone else has the sense to keep their heads down and their words to themselves as she tosses the die herself.

"So why don't we find out and make a bet, just between you and me?"

× ei

Varies between Ei and the Shogun, because you'll probably be seeing either as much as the other. Sometimes you gotta really squint to tell who it is sometimes, but you get used to it. Both are fairly similar, though, in that their first instinct (especially in public) is to tense up like you're about to attack them or something. Difference is Ei eventually relaxes after a solid minute of trying to process your sudden affection and, if no one else is around, she might even reciprocate. Just don't tease her for being a little stiff and awkward about it, she's trying. That's what happens when your only company is a robot and uh. Nothing. For like 500 years. She's trying. Raiden, on the other hand, is just about as awkward as you can imagine. She's polite (blunt) about it because Ei is fond of you and also you are. The Creator. But she's not really built to deal with personal relationships and so she doesn't know how to deal with affection.

..Depending on what you do you may or may not blue screen Ei hard enough that she retreats back to PoE

Ei usually isn't fond of sitting still, unless it's to meditate. At least then she goes in with a purpose, something to achieve– but now, she's just focused on trying not to make a fool of herself. Her muscles are starting to ache from how hard she's tensing, though, in an effort to sit as straight and still as possible as their hands glide through her hair, weaving it into a single braid.

She can just barely hear the subtle lilt of their voice as they hum– and though it is soothing, it is also..very distracting. She can't focus long enough to try and meditate, too lost in the gentle rise and fall of their voice and the care they take to braid her hair. If she'd had a heart, she'd sure it'd be beating so wildly against her ribcage they could hear it.

But then it stops– their hands fall back to their sides and their humming falters. She freezes, too, racking her brain for any slights she must have committed. Instead, she is met with a calm, tender touch on the back of her neck, making her inhale sharply.

"Am I making you uncomfortable, Ei? You're so tense.." She has to grit her teeth to stop herself from bowing so low her head presses against the ground, her hands folded in her lap, clenching instinctively. "..No, Divine One." She answers simply, trying to contain the adoration swelling in her chest.

Yet as much as she tries to relax, to ease their worries, she finds that she cannot.

"Hm." That small murmur, a simple sound that nearly made her jump, was the only warning she got before they scooted closer, wrapping their arms around her stomach and resting their chin on her shoulder with a grin she would liken to Miko's, if she dared to make such a comparison. "Really?"

She swears she must've been feverish at the affection, lightheaded and dazed until she thought she might simply perish at the brush of their hands against her own.

Much to her embarrassment, however, she doesn't realize she's instinctively pulled back into Plane of Euthymia until she sees the familiar dull purples engulf her vision once again.

Though only a small solace, it seemed a little..brighter, this time.

× furina

Varies between pre 4.2 and post 4.2 archon quests to be honest.

Pre 4.2 she comes off as very vain– of course the most Divine would see fit to spoil her with affection! She deserves it, and is obviously their favorite! Just don't look too hard because she's terrible at hiding how flustered she actually is. Absolutely goes home right after and screams into her pillow for at least thirty minutes minimum.

Post 4.2 she's a lot more openly bashful and flustered. She's really not used to affection and even the smallest show of it has her folding immediately. Now that she doesn't need to worry about being found out she's a lot more receptive to affection. Cup her cheeks and compliment her and her knees are buckling. Like. Especially weak for compliments and praise (she deserves it. please spoil her).

She swears she must be hallucinating– she had been having trouble sleeping recently. But..no. The visage of the Creator was as real as the sweat beading on her brow as she stared at them for a long, awkward moment. Should..she let them in? But then they'd see the pathetic state she was in, and the last thing she wanted to do was make a fool of herself in front of them-!

Her choice was quickly made for her, anyway, as she let out an undignified squeak of surprise when they suddenly tugged her forward into their chest, enclosing her in a hug.

Her first reaction was to freeze– her second was becoming absolutely flustered, her cheeks flushing a soft pink and her mouth closing and opening as she tried to find her words.

"I– ah..um." She stumbled over her words instead, floundering like a fish out of water. Yet she felt a distinct sense of emptiness wash over her when they finally pulled back, looking a touch sheepish. "Sorry, sorry– you just looked like you needed a hug."

The silence spoke for itself, her shoulders tensing slightly. But the way the concern and affection bled through their voice made her waver, her hands trembling as she let out a shaky breath that almost sounded like a sigh.

"It's..It's fine! Fine, I'm fine." She repeated, trying desperately to ignored the way her voice cracked and how hot her face felt– though it was more an attempt to affirm herself that she was not thinking about how warm they felt, how much she..actually enjoyed the hug. She wasn't thinking about it all! Absolutely not!

..Maybe a little.

"Just warn me next time, please?"

[dangans-ur-ronpas]

revamped them a bit

stylistically not much has changed but i did put a sticker over the icon on polaris's laptop and added the prep school logo from chihiro's original design to the vest

some other stuff i came up with on the fly:

polaris is not wearing a school uniform despite how it might look. she didn't attend school consistently since she was on the run from her shit ass family but she likes the aesthetic so most of her clothes look vaguely academic

polaris's laptop is actually something custom-made by some tech company in the togami conglomerate. one of the first things she did with it was deactivate all the tracking and background programs and more or less gut its operating system

if chihiro hadn't stepped up to help his father's company he would have gone down the route of research and programming. as it is he knows enough about tech and software to be able to work with them, but not to the degree of being an 'ultimate'

chihiro did go to a private school but only attended it sporadically since he was also co-running an entire company. but he usually wears his school outfit to give the impression of being an innocent fancy lad (however, the cross-tie was not originally from the school's uniform)

[t-u-i-t-c]

Grand in Green

↳ Mashin Sentai Kiramager - Sena Hayami - Kiramai Green

[astraveil]

oh, how far we've come.

+ extra shots that i liked :)

[aeolianblues]

it is literally not about legality, if you’re in your late 30s literally what are you hitting up 21 y/os for. Don’t you have investments to make.

[shannonsketches]

lays on the floor do you guys ever think about how in ResF Bulma falls for Vegeta's fake-out with Freeza and both she and Yamcha are worried about Vegeta's villain fake-out strategy in Champa and Beerus' mini tournament and how it's only been a couple of years since the Buu saga and how Vegeta straight up stopped using that strategy after that tournament

[avatarkcrra]

tlt enjoyers i am so curious to know what has been occupying your mind the most during the alectopause. i for one Cannot Stop Thinking about judith deuteros.

[skania]

#TBH would love to see your opinion on akane getting the star eyes#other than just ‘she’s copying ai’ bc I think that’s a bit of a cop out#sure i think she highly empathizes with ai#but I think there’s more too it but idk how to put it in words

Thank you so much for bringing this up @verimin because this is another thing I see a lot and I just. don't. get it!

We see Akane acting as Ai twice in the manga. The first time she does it because she needs to put on a role, and the girls suggest she act as Aqua's ideal woman.

That's it, that's all there is to it. Akane was just playing a role.

The second time is, again, all about playing a role. She is auditioning to play Ai, so she obviously acts as Ai.

These are by no means the only instances where we have seen Akane with the star eyes though.

(Spoilers for the entire manga below the cut!)

Whenever she becomes one with the character she is playing, she gets the starry eyes.

This is also the case for these two instances:

In both cases here, Akane is channeling the emotions of a character that she has made her own. She is empathizing with Ai to the point that she feels her emotions, but it's only because she constructed Ai's profile and character so thoroughly in her mind.

So basically, it's once again about acting.

This one instance could be the only outlier, but it actually fits the same pattern.

Her experience during Love Now taught her that she needs to play a role in front of the camera to protect herself.

Before Love Now, Akane was always just herself in front of the camera and that almost killed her. Now, she knows better than to show her vulnerability.

So instead of showing how nervous she is, she acts collected.

And so, since she is still acting, she gets the star eyes.

It's not that Akane is imitating Ai, it's that what she went through during Love Now changed her. She didn't only learn to lie in front of the camera, she also gained the confidence to do the kind of acting that commands all the attention to herself.

So you could say that doing a psychological analysis of Ai made some of Ai's confidence and her ability to tell convincing lies rub-off on her, but that's about it.

Besides, while it may have contributed to bringing her out of her shell, the fact that Akane is able to pull it off so effortlessly shows she was born with it.

All in all, saying that Akane is copying Ai makes no sense because we can clearly see Akane do a 180° whenever she plays her lol

[teabookgremlin]

thinking about how someone pointed out that van usually wore her hair tied back before the wolf attack but always wears it down after it

[royalreef]

@infernalpursuit inquired: how does your muse react when they're scared? does it change, depending on what is currenly scaring them?

(( Oh, absolutely it depends on what's currently scaring her!

The thing you have to understand about Miranda is that she's less of a person, in the sense that her personality and reactions are organic and naturally occurring, and moreso that she's someone who has been so intensely groomed and micro-managed and pushed in such a specific direction that a lot of the way that she is is entirely on purpose.

Her personality isn't really a natural product of her birth nor her circumstance in the same way someone else's personality might be. It's more like... There's no way that people can go through something like what she had gone through and not turn out in a very similar way to her. It's a designed process in this way, something that very intentionally obliterates any other chance to be anything else, and makes becoming this highly specific mold of a person into a life-or-death matter, something that you can't will or whim or nature your way out of. Miranda is the way that she is because she's been intentionally ground down and shredded into the person that she is. She doesn't really have a concrete sense of self. She doesn't even really know who she is. She's not supposed to, she's just supposed to be a means to serve a singular purpose and a singular end, and all she even can comprehend doing is that purpose.

Fear is a major part of this process, this total obliteration of any other mere possibility, but I also feel like it's a little disingenuous to call it fear in the same way most people would relate to it. It's the kind of fear that's so big and bone-deep and constant that it stops really feeling like fear at all, the kind of thing that Miranda herself has a very hard time of realizing that she's feeling even when it's particularly bad.

It might be more accurate to call it getting locked into a constant state of flight-or-fight. It's a constant existential threat where Miranda is sincerely and totally convinced that she could die at any moment and anyone could hurt her as much as they wanted, constantly living solely in the very present and unable to think of what even a short distance ahead in time would be like, because she just never feels comfortable or secure enough to stop thinking of the right now. She's what happens when the fear has been intensified strongly enough that it never dips below what would be debilitating for anyone else, and thus has become wildly detached to her own body, physical harm to her body, threats to her own life, or any escalation of fear.

This is, in fact, one of the things that I worry about disappointing roleplay partners with at times! Because their muse will act scary or try to frighten Miranda, and it just doesn't work. She just doesn't respond to the situation in a measurably different way than how she normally does, because she's under so much constant stress and strain and terror that it's not really any different to her than how everything else already is.

The only real times when she starts to show it, in fact, are places where her aversion and fear of them have been specifically cultivated. Miranda is a tool, and a tool doesn't break under expected strain, but you do have to be able to sharpen it and make sure it remains useful. You do have to take it apart to do maintenance on it, make sure it's working. The points where Miranda starts to actually, sincerely, show her genuine fear and terror, are during these points and in these situations where her aversion of them can be used to punish her and make sure she's being redirected in the proper direction.

In which case, Miranda's fear response is also highly specific and the only real option that other people who have gone through it come out with.

Mostly, she freezes up. She starts fawning hard. She lets it happen, over and over and over again until the object of her fear goes away, because it's going to be easier if she doesn't fight back or resist. She starts disassociating, disconnecting from her body and her thoughts, forgetting where she is or what's happening to her, because then she doesn't have to be present to register it and the memories are easier to repress later. She starts to people-please, trying to make the object of her fear happy and content them, because doing what they tell her to do and making them happy makes it not last as long. If she just does what they want her to, then they won't hurt her as much. If she just listens when she's told, then she won't get punished as much.

The end result is that she's very... robotic, in a sense. She does what she is told, to the letter. She will do what she is told, and she will not fuss or cry or cause any further problems if it also hurts her as well. She will be good, because the only choice other than being good is total obliteration. They should tell her what to do. They should make her do what they want her to do. It's okay that she's not there, or it's hurting her. It's even better if that happens, in fact, because then it's not as bad. She will not mention it after the fact, she will not hold it against them, she will not upset them again. She will be good. She was designed to be good.

Which, again, is part of why Miranda's fear response can be so inappropriate sometimes... Because she's been cultivated this way, because other people punishing her is so ingrained into her mind as a fundamental way of being, very often she will pick the seemingly much scarier or painful option over that cultivated social fear. She will happily hurt herself for someone else, and she will not be afraid of it, or be very upset at all. She will happily do many frightening things and deal with things that anyone else wouldn't be able to, because she's already locked into a permanent state of terror, and the only exception would be what happens if she doesn't do this. She's a tool. The only thing a tool has to fear is not fulfilling its purpose.

It's why she keeps doing increasingly dangerous things, too, seemingly without regard to her own life or death. Fear is an adaptation which allowed living things to avoid situations and things that were dangerous to them. Because Miranda's fear is constant and always at its peak, she doesn't register minor fluctuations to it, nor does she have it to try and get her to avoid things that might or will hurt her. It's also why her pain response is so bizarre and detached, and doesn't take very many efforts to avoid pain in general.

It also means, too, is that the potential for other people accidentally setting off or triggering this particular type of cultivated fear is very high, basically intentionally so. She has to be easy to control and redirect as needed, after all. If someone else gets close to her, gets her in an intimate situation similar to how she was cultivated to respond to punishment, then she can very easily get locked into a loop that they didn't know they were setting off. She's not in the state of mind to notice contradictions or try and correct herself, let alone notice if something is wrong, so nothing she can do can stop this from happening beyond general discouragement from those situations.

It just also means that it can be rather upsetting for other people when they notice that Miranda's immediate fear response, in wholly out-of-proportion situations, is to just sit there and take it without protest, even to the point of seemingly not reacting to someone nearly killing her if they do it in the right way.

[marinerainbow]

🍷 could I ask for my girl Shiny? 💫

EEEEEEEEEE!!! I was hoping I'd get Shiny ^^

Since she was a waitress as a teenager (15-20. 20 was how old she was when she found her club and decided to work there) and will occasionally be a server in the club she works at now, you'll get two greetings from her past self and present self.

Tw warning for implied toon racism and cursing.

~

"Twenty. Five. Cents..." The girl felt ready to throw in the towel as she glared at the quarter pinched between her clawed thumb and forefinger. Her 'tip' on a 30 dollar check from some asshole who sneered when he saw a weasel was going to be waiting on him...

She wanted to go after that guy and give him a piece of her mind. Her paw was shaking just at the idea of going out there and knocking that jerks lights out, or at least make him re-think his life decisions with a very strongly worded reality check... But she just got this job. If her boss caught her confronting one of his customers, she could be back on the street within a week! God, she hated people sometimes...

"Shiny! You got someone at table 5!"

Shiny had to bite the inside of her cheek and count to ten to resist throwing out a sarcastic retort. Her coworker didn't deserve her wrath. The toon just took in a deep breath- or three- and plastered on her trained big smile before heading to the table. She mentally cursed herself out when she realized she didn't bring you any water. Just another tiby thing to add to her racing mind, "Hello! My name is Shiny. What can I get you?"

You could see small signs that the waitress looked stressed, with her frazzled fur and too wide of a grin. It was easy to guess that she was new here. Or maybe she was just having a bad day. She could definitely use a break, or at least a nice customer, right about now.

~

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." Despite having to deal with an entitled customer- some guy who thought just because he could afford the booze on the top shelf meant that he could play around with her tip; the 'ol 'every time you mess up, I'm gonna take a dollar away' power trip- Shiny was pretty happy. The second he tried pulling that card, she just told him to fuck off and left him alone at his booth until he got the message and left... Without his wallet. And man, the guy was loaded, "Pfft. Well, not anymore he's not~"

This was the easiest 'tip' she had gotten by far tonight, she thought as she slipped all the bills and some cards into her bra (one of them was a gift card to one of the best furniture stores in town, too! Ohhh, she's been needing a new bed frame for a while). With a flip of her hair, the toon went back out on the floor with an all too pleased smirk on her lips. And then she saw you, in the same booth that twit was in. Time to get her head back in the game.

It didn't take long for her at all to get your complimentary drink, along with a cocktail menu. Honestly, she could navigate this crowded club with her eyes closed. You could see it in the way she radiated confidence in her stride towards you, and how relaxed her smile was. This place was definitely like a second home to her, "Heya, doll~ I'll be the lucky gal serving you tonight. You can call me Shiny. You got a date comin'? Or do I get to have you all to myself~?"

The flirty tones were expected in a place like this. She had done this countless times, honestly. It was just second nature to her at this point... But Shiny also had a good feeling about you. You looked like part of her kind of crowd. She'll just have to see how this all played out.

~

I hope you like this! I'm sorry it took a while, but thank you for sending this in! ^^

[gumm1defloor]

Personally speaking if I had to pick one rairpair out of the entire hellaverse to become canon it would be Velvette x Verosica but man it is going to be the most lavish, fluffy, intensely intimate, passionate, rancid & disastrous 24/7 trending full blown shitstorm hell has ever seen I don't think anyone is going to be ready. Not even these two. Dear god especially not these two.

Man Verosica is just 2 for 1 on short gremlin kings who are also coincidentally emotionally constipated walking talking sacks of untreated mental illnesses wrapped up in 3 layers of intimacy issues isn't she but hey at least this one's pretty much guaranteed never to steal your credit card for horse riding lessons and most definitely won't be caught one ring down in wrath in the middle of fuck knows where with said credit card so.... yay improvement?

[kraviolis]

im gonna say it. the only people who genuinely think willow "forgave" amity too quick are all under 17 years old

[twelvedimensional]

also the depth the interiority that idle rambly monologue of the dr's holds, the fact that his offhand thoughts just coalesce into this wonderfully stark image (the tardis, revered, the tardis, reviled, the tardis, the center of a city and then all alone again at the edge of a sea)

[quartzskies]

random but is anyone else into yosurise but in a doomed kind of way. like kind of one sided. like a yosuke is into rise in a puppydog kind of way and rise keeps trying to find a relationship but can’t and finally decides to give yosuke a try because at least he’s a friend and she knows he won’t try to take advantage of her being an idol etc. And yosuke is ECSTATIC and wants to give her the world but in an unsustainable kind of way, a desperate “i don’t deserve her but she’s giving me a chance and i need to do anything i can to keep her happy” kind of way. And rise is so flattered and like yosuke is nice but she can’t match that dedication, no one can or should, but it’s all so one sided and she feels so guilty about that but she doesn’t want to break his heart or be “mean”. all while yosuke is becoming almost self destructive by trying to give her “what she deserves” but it’s an unhealthy level of dedication and it’s honestly hurting both of them