#so I just made him the fantasy dragon stereotype

[theratlivinginyourcouchcushions]

I’ve been obsessing and looking for this fic for weeks so I could make accurate fan art, and then I just stumbled across it one day.

[sungbeam]

𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐞

dragon shifter!park seonghwa x f!reader

just because you're both dragon shifters doesn't mean this courtship thing is easy.

▷ 6.1k words, pg-13, f2l, dragon shifters au, urban fantasy, swearing, mentions of a big roach/insect, shoulder kiss, seonghwa goes shirtless once (1), mentions of courtship/mating traditions, the boys are implicit in shenanigans ofc, love in the form of jewelry, very mild jealousy, pining

a/n: this au idea was like ,,, 3 months in the making but i reopened the draft yesterday cuz i was tired of rotting 😭 anyways... i think shy, romantic seonghwa is cute ! (also very much hoping this isn't too boring jsfnkdnf)

Park Seonghwa was pretty sure he fell in love with you the day you met. 

It wasn't something he openly admitted to, especially since his attraction had come first when he saw you across the dormitory common room, and was struck dumb by the curve of your smile and the way the sunlight hit your irises to make them glint like jewels. While it was stereotypical to think that dragons only cared about appearances, it didn't come from nothing. It was part of the reason why Seonghwa didn't like saying it was love at first sight; it technically wasn't, by all definitions. He just thought you were beautiful. 

It wasn't until he finally worked up the courage (thanks to his best friend Hongjoong's encouragement (shoving)) to introduce himself to you that he realized what you were—a dragon shifter, just like him. It was no wonder he felt a pull toward you; dragon shifters were a dime a dozen, especially in the city where you both attended university. He told himself his fast friendship and bonding with you came from his excitement of being the same species, as well as learning each other's cultures and traditions, as you came from different clans. 

Though, that didn't account for the amount of times he daydreamed about adorning you in his family's jewels, as it was customary in courtship traditions to wear one's mate's gems. Neither did it account for the way his heart beat faster whenever you were around, the purring from his chest after that one time you fell asleep on his shoulder… It was complicated. 

“Everyone, let's load up the cars! Quick—off your asses. Let's move, people!” Hongjoong hollered like a drill sergeant, his hands cupped around his mouth before clapping too loud for six in the morning on a Saturday. 

Who in their right mind would be crazy enough to wake up so early on the Saturday of their last spring break? Only one demon in particular, and his name was Kim Hongjoong. 

Seonghwa was still half asleep, his eyelids droopy and his limbs even droopier. He nearly flopped face-first onto the pavement outside the apartment complex. He slung his duffle bag over his shoulder and slumped over to the passenger side of the SUV. It had taken all of his willpower to not trudge out in his Lego Movie pajama set.

“—and for goddess's sake, where is Yn?”

He jolted upright. “Yn?” He blubbered, head going on a swivel. 

Hongjoong peered at him weirdly with his hands on his hips, and Wooyoung snorted, then scurried past to avoid Seonghwa's scowl. “Yes, Yn,” Hongjoong said. “Are you awake, Hwa? We literally talked about Yn coming on the trip with us last night.”

Oh. Right. 

Seonghwa blinked his bleary eyes open and nodded sheepishly. Thank goodness he wasn't in his Lego Movie pajamas. “Y-yep, of course I remember!” 

He glanced away, nostrils flaring as he caught onto a familiar scent coming down the street. He could pick out the smell of apple blossoms, tangerines, and your particular musk from a mile away if he was more awake.

“Sorry, I'm late!” Then there came the voice. Your voice simultaneously jump-started his heart and made his heart swoon. If he was about to faint, it probably wasn't going to be from sleep deprivation. 

He couldn't believe he nearly forgot you were coming to the lake with them. 

Your form came into view, your hair a windswept mess and a sheepish sort of smile on your face as you wrestled with the duffle on one shoulder, your backpack on the other, and a paper grocery bag. 

Seonghwa practically fell over himself in order to drop his own bag on the sidewalk and rush over to you. “Here, I got it,” he murmured, taking the grocery bag and duffle bag away from you so he could hold them. 

Your smile widened at him, and he swore the soft morning light was purposefully making your eyes glow right now. “Thanks, Hwa. Very sweet of you.”

“Of course,” he said with a humble nod, pointedly ignoring all of the looks he was getting from his friends. 

“You're just on time,” Hongjoong greeted you with a small smile. “How were exams for you?”

You brushed a hand through your hair, a tired laugh falling from your lips. “They were… alright,” you opted to say. “Glad they're over now, and I'm so ready for this trip.” You gestured to the grocery bag Seonghwa held. “Oh! I brought snacks, by the way.”

Mingi stuck his entire upper body out of the passenger seat of Yunho's sedan. “Yn-ah! You're riding in our car, right?” 

Seonghwa's expression molded into something sour. “Where did you get that idea from?”

“Mingi, you should just give up now,” San chuckled. He sent a wink over to Seonghwa, then glanced back at the naiad who's head Seonghwa was currently trying to glare a hole through. “We’ve already claimed Yn for our car.”

You looked on in confused amusement. “I'll split the snacks between the cars, guys. And plus, the SUV will have more room than the sedan.”

“Exactly,” Seonghwa piped up. He marched over to the back doors of the SUV to safely deposit your things within. There was no need for you to be squished between Yeosang and Jongho in Yunho's comically tiny car, when you could be in the same car as him—no, wait. That wasn't what he meant—

“Well, this is just favoritism,” Yunho jested as he slammed his trunk shut. He shot you a sunny grin that made Seonghwa glance over at you for your reaction. Yunho's being half-siren always made his voice and gestures a little more silken and sweet than the rest of them. “Are you sure it's 'cause of the extra room and not because Wooyoung's cat is gonna be in that car?”

You chuckled, shrugging. As if on cue, a lithe feline in silky black fur trotted out from the bushes. She strutted over to you, purring as she wrapped her tail around your calf. “Okay, maybe you caught me,” you said, crouching down to pet Wooyoung's cat familiar. 

Seonghwa was not going to be jealous over a cat. He was absolutely not. Some sleep would screw his head on straight—yes, sleep did sound nice. He didn't know what was up with himself this morning. 

“Pretty sure she loves you more than she loves me,” Wooyoung pouted as he stuck his head out of the SUV's back window. 

You picked the feline up with your hands, and she gave a crooning meow as you held her up to her witch through the window. “I wouldn't mind adopting her if she wasn't permanently bound to you.”

Seonghwa's eye twitched at the same time he and Hongjoong made eye contact. 

The demon's mouth curled into a knowing, teasing smile—I see you. Seonghwa could feel the heat lift to the surface of his skin as he ducked into the car. He really needed a nap.  

The remainder of the time was used swiftly as everyone finished packing things into your respective cars, including your bodies. About an hour later, you were well on your way out of the city. 

As this was all nine of yours last year of university, this spring break needed to be a memorable one. Yeosang had heard talk through the grapevine of a collection of interlinking caves overlooking a small lake. It was located a few hours out of the city proper, but it would pose as a peaceful getaway for the week. Each of the small caverns were open facing, peering over the water's surface, and each was designed to be like rooms in a house. There would be enough for the boys to sleep two to a bed, with you getting your own. 

The drive out of the city was an easy one. Seonghwa slept nearly the entire time, only waking up to a near-quiet car, save for Hongjoong's choice of music playing softly from the radio. 

“'Morning,” Hongjoong murmured, taking his eyes off the road for a brief moment. 

Seonghwa yawned and turned his eyes up and outward at the world around him. Concrete jungle had become emerald green trees speared with beams of buttery sunshine. He bet it smelled glorious. “Morning,” he said back quietly. “Are they still…” 

His voice trailed off as he twisted around in his seat and took in the middle row behind him. You, San, and Wooyoung were squished arm to arm, thigh to thigh; Wooyoung's black cat familiar laid fast asleep in Wooyoung's lap, with Wooyoung's head against San, San's head against you, and your head against the car window. Seonghwa cooed to himself at the sight, carefully snapping a picture with his phone, before returning to face the front. 

The remainder of the drive was swift, and as you approached the site of your home for the next several days, you all slowly began to wake up. Seonghwa rolled his window down and braced his arm over the open sill, a smile breaking onto his lips as he greedily inhaled the clean, crisp air. 

His eyes flickered to the side mirror, locking gazes with you. For a moment, he held your eye contact. He watched your mouth curve into that pretty smile of yours that made his insides flutter, before you looked out at the forest again. 

When Hongjoong's and Yunho's cars broke out of the trees and into the next clearing, everyone's breaths stole away. 

“No way we scored this good,” San whispered in giddy excitement as he shoved his body between Hongjoong and Seonghwa to peer out the front windshield. 

Before you stood a wide lake, its waters so clear that one could see straight to the bottom. The caverns that you would all bunker up in were on the far shore, stacked atop one another in two layers with four openings on the bottom and three on the top. A waterfall curtained off two of the cavern rooms as it flowed from the rocky outcropping that loomed over the lake, and into the lake itself; the sound was not thunderous, but a dull sort of roar that was almost muffled. 

With the sun rising higher into the sky, its beams reflected off the cascading spray of water to create a small rainbow in the mist. Suffice to say, the view in front of you deserved its own magazine. 

“Let's get our spring break on!” Wooyoung hooted as Hongjoong pulled the car around the shore of the lake to reach the base of the caverns. 

As the day sank from late morning to early afternoon, you and your friends transferred all of your belongings from the cars and into the caverns. Rooms were decided by an efficient round of Rock Paper Scissors—you luckily scored first, and chose the most private room behind the waterfall for yourself. 

Once everyone was settled, it became a race of who could get into the water—

“WAAAAHOOOO!” SPLASH!

—first. 

Seonghwa peered out from the living room cavern on the second floor to see the bodies below take a running start into the lake. He chuckled to himself, leaning his hip against the wall with a can of soda in his hand as he watched his friends break the surface of the lake, one by one. 

“You're not swimming?”

Seonghwa nearly fell forward and out of the open cave, down into the water. His hand slapped against the wall to catch himself, his heart practically tumbling out of his chest anyway. 

To your credit, you looked apologetic, grimacing through a smile as you came to stand next to him. “Sorry. You didn't hear me come in?” 

You had changed out of your T-shirt and shorts from earlier into a cropped tank top and loose skirt, a silver waist chain winking up at him from where it linked around your belly. 

The thought shoved itself into his brain—that you would look terribly divine in his jewelry.

He swallowed, dragging his eyes up back to yours. “I didn't,” he admitted sheepishly. “Guess I was too focused on watching everyone else. Have you settled in alright?”

You had chosen the cavern bedroom right next to the living room, but it was the only bedroom on this level. 

With a nod, you turned your gaze outward at the ocean of emerald green trees surrounding this little oasis. “I have,” you said pleasantly. “You?”

“Same here.” He carded a hand through his hair. “It's really quite beautiful here.” But not as beautiful as you. 

You glanced over at him again, and he wondered if he could concoct enough things to say to keep your attention on him. “Oh, I definitely agree; it's a perfect paradise, really. The waterfall” — you inclined your chin to your left — “I think it'll be most beautiful at sunset.”

He lifted one of his brows and pushed off the cavern wall. “Oh? Why do you think so?”

“If the sunset faces us,” you explained, gesturing your hand out to the eastern horizon in the distance, “then it'll reflect its light against the waterfall. As the sun sinks down and lights the sky on fire, so too will it set the water aflame.”

Seonghwa could envision your words in his mind's eye as he took in the waterfall careening into the lake below. Its crystal blue waters were so clear that it undoubtedly would reflect the shades of the sunset, and become illuminated as you said—where water turned to flame. 

A soft smile came to his face. What a gorgeous image. 

“I bet it'd look incredible from the skies.” Your words drew him back to your face. You were already looking over at him, and his heart gave a loving lurch. 

Seonghwa cleared his throat. “I agree. Have you been able to stretch your wings recently?”

You hummed, tilting your head from side to side. “Not super recently because I was locked inside to study for the last week or two. You?”

“Same,” he chuckled and reached behind his back to scratch at the nape of his neck. Usually, he tried to shift into dragon form at least twice a week to keep his wings strong, but when life got busy, it was difficult to find enough time to take to the skies. “Would—would you like to take a flight with me sometime?” He stammered, fumbling over his words. “Just, y'know, like a casual thing.”

Excellent, Hwa. The spitting image of confidence. 

He sipped on his soda, already hearing Hongjoong's exasperated sigh in his ear. 

Your smile softened at the corners. “I'd love to. After dinner, maybe?”

His shoulders loosened in relief. “Sounds like a plan.”

“This is your chance! It's a sign!” 

Seonghwa frowned at his reflection in the vanity mirror as he played around with his dark curls. Tied up? Kept down? It really didn't matter; he was literally going to be a dragon for the majority of the time, but it never hurt to appear well-groomed before a potential… ahem, friend. A friend. 

Hongjoong slumped down on the foot of their shared bed, a deadpan on his face when Seonghwa continued to ignore him. “Park Seonghwa, so help me, I will plant one of your anklets in her jewelry box—”

“And if you do that,” Seonghwa drawled as he gave up on his hair and reached for the tube of lip gloss on the vanity top, “I will tell that elven girl you've become so fond of about how you—”

“Okay, I got it,” Hongjoong cut in with a scowl. “Aish, so touchy. I'm just saying that this trip is the perfect opportunity to let her know how you feel, and to court her.”

Seonghwa knew that; of course, he fucking knew that. The thing was that if anything went poorly, you would practically be stuck here with him until the end of the trip. He cringed to himself at the mere awkwardness of that potential outcome. “It's just a wing stretch,” he reasoned aloud to himself. He grabbed one of the bottles of cologne on the table to spritz around his scent glands. “It's not like I'm going to offer her a necklace.”

“Yes, because you need to smell nice for a wing stretch.” Hongjoong fell back onto the bed with a grumble under his breath at Seonghwa's stubbornness. 

Dinner had finished up about fifteen minutes ago, and while everyone departed to do their own activities, you and Seonghwa agreed to reconvene at the tops of the caves in five minutes for your planned flight together. The days were growing longer as spring waltzed toward summer, and thus, the sun reigned the skies for a lengthier period of time. The two of you would ideally circle back in time to watch the sunset hit the waterfall.

Seonghwa left Hongjoong to their quarters as he made his way up to the rocky outcropping at the top of the waterfall. 

You were already waiting for him, your bare feet standing in the shallow end of the river leading down to the waterfall. You still had on the top and skirt from earlier, and as a light breeze wafted past, it blew through your hair and your clothes like a dream. 

You glanced up at him. “Ready?”

“Whenever you are.” He grinned as the anticipation and excitement of breaking his wings free slowly bubbled up into his chest. It wasn't only being able to spend time with you, but simply the thoughts of being his dragon self that made him so giddy. 

You hopped out of the river and padded across the soil toward him. 

Once you were in line with him, Seonghwa flashed you a wide smile and sprinted toward the cliff edge. Your laughter followed him as he dove off toward the water below, eyes falling closed as he relished in the wind whipping past his skin. 

When he opened his eyes, he skimmed the water's surface with the edge of a veiny, membranous wing, before swooping back up toward the ripening sky above. His humanoid features had fully transformed into that of a creature nearly five times his human height. Scales of obsidian, gleaming a dark blue in the light, rippled across his back, his skin. He huffed steam from his nostrils and searched for you. 

A body of iridescent white, so pearly that you appeared a shade of light purple in the burning gold light, blurred in his periphery. 

He whipped his head in your direction, watching you soar around him in a loose circle. You wrapped around him and grazed the end of your tail against his, a caress. 

He didn't want to think too much about that. 

And then your irises, blue-purple in this form, were blinking at him. Northward? Your snout gestured in that vague direction. 

Seonghwa huffed his agreement, and the pair of you took off into the skies. 

A dragon shifter's courtship traditions were different from other shifters’ cultures. For one, the value of wearing a potential mate's jewelry was equivalent to acceptance of courtship; additionally, wearing one another's jewels essentially spelled out a long-term partnership. It was similar to humans’ exchanging of rings. 

Dragons dressed their mates in their own jewels as dragons were ruthlessly protective of their hoards of treasures, and a mate was even more precious than any jewel one could acquire. There were other rituals, too—such as dousing one another in dragonfire, performing a certain mating dance, consuming meals made by their mate—but the jewels had always been emphasized in Seonghwa's clan. 

It was why he stiffened when he saw a slim, silver chain wrapped around your ankle this morning. 

The piece of jewelry looked awfully similar to something he owned, except the one you wore was studded with an amethyst on the tail, whereas the one he owned was studded with sapphire. He struggled to swallow as he stepped into the kitchen, eyes pinned to your ankle. 

The way the light refracted off the gem made the article appear so much like his own jewelry; his heart could not take a scare like that so early. Perhaps scare wasn't such an accurate word—he simply hadn't had the time to mentally prepare. 

It didn't matter how long he'd fantasized about it. Seeing the real thing would likely bring him to his knees regardless. 

“Hwa,” your amused chuckle greeted his ears as you peered at him from over the rim of your coffee cup. “Good morning.”

He tried for a smile and forced himself to look at something, anything, other than your ankle. “Hi. Good morning.” Seonghwa grabbed a cup of his own to pour a helping of the brew into. “Sleep well?”

You rolled your shoulders back, followed by your neck. But as he blew on the hot coffee, he failed to notice the way your eyes watched his movements regarding the coffee. “Mhm, way better after we flew last night.”

Seonghwa hummed warmly. “Yes, same here.” Last night was a blissful night of deep sleep. The tension between his shoulder blades had lessened considerably. 

He took a gentle sip of his beverage, and the rich bittersweetness hit him as an alluring wakeup call. You were still watching as he took a larger gulp. 

His eyes met yours. “Something wrong?” He asked, licking his lips. 

Your eyes widened. “Nope,” you squeaked out. You coughed, setting your mug on the table to lace your fingers together. “Uhm so… thoughts on kebabs for lunch? I was gonna go hunting later.”

“Mmh.” Seonghwa drained his cup of coffee. “That sounds good. I can go with you—if you'd like,” he added swiftly. Sometimes hunting could be a therapeutic solo trip and he hoped he wasn't encroaching. Though, going hunting just the two of you sounded nice, too. 

“I'd love the company,” you said. When you smiled, his own widened. 

The brief moment of peace the two of you shared shattered as two bodies barrelled into the room, followed by another set of thundering footsteps behind them. 

“YAH! Choi Jongho, I know this was all your idea!” Wooyoung appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, drenched from head to toe with dark and damp bangs hanging in his seething eyes. A puddle was beginning to form beneath him as he glared at the two giggling imps cowering behind the opposite end of the counter. 

You and Seonghwa connected gazes across the chaos. Good grief. 

From behind Wooyoung's calf, another creature poked her head out to hiss at the perpetrators. Wooyoung's cat familiar looked akin to a wet rat, the poor thing. 

“Seonghwa hyung, do something!”

Seonghwa's eyes drifted over to Jongho and Yeosang, who flashed him a pair of sheepish smiles. “Aye… both of you. Now.”

“We didn't get water on San,” was what Yeosang offered with a shrug. 

That seemed to not be the answer Wooyoung was looking for. If the witch was a dragon instead, Seonghwa was sure he would be blowing steam out of his ears. “Are you kidding me? I am going to hex you so badly, you will never know a day of peac—”

Jongho suddenly yelped, startling everyone as he leaped a couple feet in the air and ran to crouch beside you at the breakfast table. 

“What, what? What is it?” 

Yeosang's eyes had widened to the size of globes, too, as he scurried backward to the edge of the cavern. His stare was still pinned to something on the other side of the counter. 

Seonghwa peered over the ledge and swore sharply. “That is the biggest fucking bug I have ever seen in my life,” he said with his hand pressed to his face, stressed. 

Wooyoung had magically disappeared, and his cat had retreated alongside him. If even the cat didn't want anything to do with the big hunk of insect—

“AH-AH! HYUNG, IT'S MOVING!” Jongho screeched and grabbed the back of your chair to hide behind you. 

Seonghwa paused at that action, but snapped out of it when he saw the legs peek out from around the corner. “Can someone get Yunho?”

“Ohhhhh, I'm too young to die,” the youngest whispered toward the ceiling, his face contorted in fear and anguish; it was a rare thing to see from Jongho. “Yn, please, flame its ass or something!”

You sputtered, curling your feet up onto your chair with you in case the bug came scuttling toward the table. “Uh no. Yunho would literally flame me if I did!”

“Screw what he thinks. He's not here right now.”

Seonghwa clambered up onto the counter and peered over the edge again. He slapped a hand over his mouth after seeing the bug for another time. “Okay,” he said carefully, “on the count of three, we're all going to run for the edge and jump into the lake.”

Three nods from around the room. 

“One…” Everyone shifted an inch toward the cave opening. “Two…”

The fuckass bug moved. 

The countdown was abandoned—Jongho ran for the opening and tackled Yeosang into the water. Seonghwa leaped over the remainder of the countertop in time to swan dive into the lake beside you. His body sliced into the water like a hot knife through butter, and the lake's cool temperatures engulfed him in a refreshing embrace. 

Your head popped up right beside him and you shot him a laughing grin. “Well, that's definitely one way to start off the day.”

He laughed alongside you, slicking his wet hair back and out of his face. “I mean, we were gonna end up in the water at some point,” he mused. 

“True.” Your eyes zeroed in on something just below his jawline. You swam a little closer, and Seonghwa's heart catapulted into his throat. “You have a little, uhm, watercress…”

Your fingers brushed over his collarbone as you gently plucked the strand of watercress out from the links of the necklace sitting on his sternum. You lifted the plant up as if to say, 'Ta da,’ before pausing at your physical proximity. 

Seonghwa watched as a drop of water dripped down the middle of your face, down the slope of your nose, and slipped over your plush lips. Woah…

He had half the mind to reach out and thumb it away. 

“Two dragons, a fae prince, and a water mage couldn't handle a fucking roach?” 

You and Seonghwa jolted away from each other like similar poles of a magnet, heat rushing up to the surface of your skin. You both tilted your gazes up to the caves and saw Yunho appear at the mouth of the kitchen, a wide grin on his face as he held the bug up between his two fingers. 

“That sounds like a joke I've heard before,” San laughed as he walked up next to Yunho. He waved down at the lot of you in the water, a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. 

Wooyoung peered out from behind San. “Instant karma!” He hollered. 

“Come down here, and we can talk about instant karma,” Jongho threw right back up at him. He flicked his wrist and sent a jet of lake water up to the cave mouth, hitting Wooyoung square between the eyes with scary accuracy. 

San howled in laughter as his friend hissed from the friendly fire. 

Seonghwa loosened a warm chuckle before turning toward you—wait. Where did you go? He twirled around in the water, eyes scanning the lake for where you'd gone. 

“Hwa!” You were by the far shore, raising your hand up to wave him over. 

He didn't hesitate to swim over toward you. The two of you swam over to the furthest edge of the lake, far from the others. The morning sun had not yet crested high enough to penetrate through the trees here, and that left you both in a patch of dreamy shade where long leaves dripped into the water like Mother Nature's curtains. 

Seonghwa clambered out onto the bank and yanked the hem of his shirt up and over his head. The material had stuck to his skin like glue, and he was a lot more comfortable without it on. 

Behind him though, he swore he heard your breath hitch. 

The corner of his lips curled upward in satisfaction. He continued to feign ignorance as he wrung his wet shirt out, arm muscles flexing as the water trickled out of the fabric. “You coming up, love?” He asked casually, peering over his shoulder at you lingering in the water. 

You cleared your throat as you pulled yourself onto land. “Y-yeah,” you said, covering your stammer with a breathy laugh. 

“Cold?” He teased, finally turning his body to face you in full. 

You passed him an expression of playful exasperation. “Freezing,” you jested back. It was difficult for dragon shifters to be cold; the amount of heat either of you generated on your own was enough to keep you warm all the time. After all, you did spew fire from your mouth on occasion. 

Seonghwa whipped his shirt out in front of him and blew a breath of steam through it. The fabric dried up fast, but instead of putting it back on, he slung it over his shoulder. 

An idea plunked itself into the forefront of his mind. “Shall we hunt?” He asked and extended a hand out to you. 

He saw the flicker of blue-purple in your irises—like lightning—as you brushed a lock of hair from your eyes. You took his hand, your fingers and palms slotting together like matching clasps of a chain. “We shall.”

Seonghwa sat at the vanity table in his and Hongjoong's room. The world beyond the mouth of this cavern was a dark sapphire, embroidered with small diamonds in its fabric—the night sky and its stars. The muffled rush of the waterfall nearby played in the background as he sifted through his traveler's chest of jewelry and gemstones. Hongjoong had half fallen asleep in the hot spring somewhere behind him, so Seonghwa was taking this time to pick out what he wanted to wear to… tomorrow…

His hand movements stilled as something caught his eyes in the chest of shiny stones. He held his breath, carefully withdrawing a silver chain out by its amethyst stone. There was no question about what it was and that it didn't belong to him. 

Your fragrance still lingered on the metal, though cool from being away from your body heat for a while. 

Seonghwa breathed out loudly through his nose as he stared at the article in his palm. 

He could hear Hongjoong emerging from the hot spring pool. “Something wrong, Hwa?”

“Did you” — Seonghwa's brows furrowed and he twisted around on the vanity stool — “steal her anklet?”

Hongjoong frowned, wrapping a towel around his waist before coming to stand beside his friend. He peered down at the article, reaching out to touch the anklet. 

Seonghwa moved his hand away and his chest rumbled with a low growl. 

A soft huff of amusement fell from Hongjoong's lips, and he settled his hand on Seonghwa's shoulder instead. “No, I wouldn't dare. I don't want to face a dragon's wrath for stealing from their hoard, thank you very much.”

“Hmph.” Seonghwa considered the article in his palm once more. If Hongjoong wasn't pulling his leg, then the logical answer was that you put your anklet in his jewelry chest. But why would you do that, and when did you? He would have smelled your scent lingering in this room if you had, and he couldn't pick up on any of his friends’ scents either. 

A flower of hope blossomed in his chest as he thought about the implications of this gesture further. Maybe it didn't matter how it got here, only what you thought about it being here in his possession.

“It's a sign,” Hongjoong giggled, squeezing his shoulder. He trudged away to go find his sweatpants to sleep in. “Your move, Park!”

Seonghwa slowly wrapped his fingers around the chain, a small smile flitting onto his face. In the mirror, his cheekbones burned the color of the rubies in his jewelry case. 

His move, indeed. 

In the morning, Seonghwa rose before day broke the dawn. 

It had come to him like a strike of lightning last night as he laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling, weighing the option of wearing your anklet like a lovesick fool or returning it to you in the morning. What he'd remembered, instead, was something you told him about your clan's traditions. 

While his family held a lot more emphasis on adornment for mating traditions, your family clan put more importance on the act of making a meal for a potential partner. Consuming said meal was an acceptance of courtship and love. 

As he hunched over the kitchen countertop pouring over a recipe on his phone, he marinated on how to go about this. Presenting you with breakfast—that he only made for you, might he add—was not a subtle move in the slightest. Perhaps slipping your anklet into his things could be interpreted a couple ways, but it wasn't a glaring neon sign like this gesture was going to be. 

Nonetheless, Seonghwa got to work. He was counting on his friends to stay the fuck asleep. 

About an hour later, he was just finishing up when he picked up on the sound of your bare feet padding across the hallway toward the kitchen. Your perfume followed next, carrying into the room on an invisible breeze. Seonghwa drummed his fingers against the countertop as you strolled into the room, eyes wide and bright when you saw him there with food made. 

“Well, something smells yummy,” you said warmly. “Should I go wake the others?”

“No!” He laughed nervously, breaking into a bashful smile. “No need. This—this is just for you. I mean, I made breakfast for you.”

Your eyes seemed to grow even wider. “Break—breakfast for me? Just me?”

He nodded and wrung his hands in front of his body. “Just you… if that's okay.”

“Of course, that's okay. More than okay, really,” you murmured, eyes turning shy. The implications were too blatant not to miss or deny. 

Seonghwa gestured for you to take a seat at the breakfast table and presented you with the hot and fresh plate of breakfast he'd just made. He claimed the seat across from you with his own plate, but didn't touch it yet. His nerves made his hands shake beneath the table as he watched you take your utensil and fork a bite into your mouth. 

Something warm burst in his chest as you swallowed, then took another bite. 

“It's really good,” you said to him between bites. Your mouth was pursed into a wide smile, a tenderness swimming in your gemstone irises. “I think though,” you murmured after swallowing, “that we need to talk.”

Seonghwa's stomach tightened, but he nodded. “Agreed. I, uhm, I found this in my jewelry case last night.” He pulled out the strand of silver and amethyst from his pocket. The metal and jewel glistened in the soft morning sunlight pouring into the open cavern. 

“Oh, you didn't wear it?”

He went doe-eyed. “I wanted to—I just wanted to be clear about intentions first, just because if I wore this…” He stammered, “Then you'd be mine and I'd be yours.” 

The wording of it made your pulse skip, but it was exactly what you wanted. All of this stumbling around each other, falling over yourselves, was for this purpose. 

“Is that right, love?”

You nodded, as the two of you shared a smile in the glow of early morning. “That's right.”

He would be yours, and you would be his. 

Breakfast was dined upon in peace with quiet murmurings exchanged between the two of you, accompanied by light laughter and loving gazes. It was a marvel none of it was interrupted by the other occupants of the lakeside getaway. 

There was another thing that had to be done in order to seal the deal, however. 

When breakfast was finished and cleaned up after, Seonghwa barged back into his and Hongjoong's shared bedroom. His demon best friend was nowhere to be found, but it was no matter. Seonghwa went over to the vanity table and carefully picked up the necklace he had laid out last night. It was white gold studded in fat, glistening rubies—his prized possession, and one of the few pieces he had saved for only his future partner to wear.

That giddy excitement curled in his stomach again as he took the necklace with him up to your bedroom on the second floor. You were there waiting for him, your foot braced on the vanity stool to fix his sapphire chain onto your ankle, as your amethyst one laid around his. 

“This,” he murmured as he came up behind you in the mirror, “I've been saving for someone special.” He locked eyes with you in the looking glass, a sweet smile playing on his lips as he draped the heavy gems over your sternum. 

Blood rubies were precious and harder to come by these days, which was why Seonghwa coveted them. It only made sense that they should rest now on a person he would also come to value even more. They sat perfectly upon your collarbones, like a tiara upon your head… like it was made for you. You were yourself a treasure. 

Seonghwa could hardly contain his contentment at the sight. He wrapped his arms around your middle as he pressed a kiss to your shoulder, smiling against your skin. “Perfect.”

a/n: don't forget to reblog + comment if u enjoyed!

atz m.list

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[quirkwizard]

So recently I have been on a huge tabletop RPG kick so I thought it would be fun to talk about Class 1-A playing their own tabletop game, both the characters they'd play and how they'd be as players. For the sake of this, I will be writing in the context of Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition since that's the system myself and others would be the most familiar with.

Rikido Sato: Half Orc Life Cleric Doesn't really get the game too much. Tends to forget the rules a lot and his own abilities. Just kind of picked a class at random. Is the king of bringing snacks and the like, all of which are homemade.

Mashirao Ojiro: Wood Elf Open Hand Monk Pretty average in all respects as a player. Not too remarkable in all respects. Doesn't realized how bad the monk is until they started playing, but is too attached to the character and their concept.

Koji Koda: Firbolg Shepard Druid Is only really here to hang out with his friends. Too shy to really do any roleplay with the rest of the gang, mostly doing small moments with his animals friends. Accidently made an overpowered build.

Minoru Mineta: Dhampir Phantom Rogue Knows the rules, but is a power gamer. Uses the game more as a power fantasy to look as cool as possible at all times, even if it is dumb, though will quickly panic if anything goes slightly wrong.

Hanta Sero: Gith Horizon Walker Ranger Really interested in all the lore and history of whatever the dungeon master came up with. The kind that dungeon masters either love or dread. Is the one constantly asking question and cracking the odd joke about it.

Toru Hagakure: Changeling Arcane Trickster Rogue Super big into the roleplay of it all and is always excited. Mostly took Changeling so she'd have the excess to play as many roles as possible. Probably makes little masks to remind people who she currently is.

Yuga Aoyama: Aasimar Glory Paladin Is insanely devoted to the role of the noble paladin, much to the detriment of everyone else. Likely says the line "But it's what my character would do more then any other player. Constantly hints at a backstory that nobody is biting on.

Mezo Shoji: Hobgoblin Gloomstalker Ranger Not the biggest into roleplay, does fairly well with the actual gameplay. Plays the typically reserved ranged. Tried to tie his and Koda's backstory together to try and take some of the stress off of him in terms of roleplaying.

Kyoka Jiro: Half Elf Whispers Bard Wasn't really sure about all of this before play and went with a bard because she liked the idea of playing music. It was a rocky start, but quickly got into it and started having fun. Will make custom songs and playlists for the party, as well ambient tracks and battle music.

Denki Kaminari: Air Genesi Storm Sorcerer Wanted to try it out because it was popular. Went with something he thought was cool and did not expect it to be so complicated. Needs to be constantly handed the book and remined of the rules in order to make sure he gets it. The amount of math hurts his head. Eijiro Kirishima: Goliath Giant Barbarian Like Denki, wanted to get into because it was popular. Bakugou helped a lot with building the character. Has a lot of fun smashing stuff. Plays his role pretty well, even if his character doesn't go beyond the nice brute whose name is very close to Kirishima's own.

Mina Ashido: Satyr Glamour Bard One of the students the most into the roleplaying. Is very light hearted and goofy about the whole thing. Can play a lot in bard stereotypes because she thinks it's funny. Another instigator, though mostly from her getting too into character at the worst of times. Fumikage Tokoyami: Tiefling Fiend Warlock Has been playing the game the longest and super familiar with all of it. Always makes characters he thinks are "cool", which means are super gothic and depress, both in class and in race. Does occasionally have Dark Shadow dress up and roleplay as his patron. Ochako Uraraka: Fairy Zealot Barbarian Ochako just wants to smash stuff. She has a lot of fun rolling dice and doing cool stuff with her friends, both good and bad. Likes playing the typically pixie before going nuts. Can be an instigator, but tends to backtrack when she realizes just how badly it goes wrong. Tsuyu Asui: Halfling Moon Druid Like Koda, is mostly here to have fun with friends. Often plays mediator both in and out of character. Does a good job with roleplaying thanks to how much she had to play pretend with her simplies. Always causes a riot whenever she becomes a dinosaur. Shoto Todoroki: Hill Dwarf Fighter Champion One of the worst players both in game and in roleplay. Played a character Izuku basically made for him. Is somehow still one of the best because he is constantly getting amazing rolls at the most critical moments, much to the frustration of Bakugou.

Katsuki Bakugo: Custom Lineage Chronurgy Wizard Powergamer, no question. He knows the rules back and forth to make the most broken build possible. Acts like D&D is a game you can win, even when it comes to roleplaying. Not a full on murder hobo, but by far the biggest instigator in the group.

Tenya Iida: Warforged Devotion Paladin Very much devoted to the rules, both in and out of the game. Gets confused when people say that he's doing a good job at playing a robot. Collects a lot of dice. One of the best Dungeon Masters of any of the students, though can be rather controlling at times. Momo Yaoyorozu: High Elf Forge Cleric A really good player with the rules though can be pretty awkward with the roleplay with how much she tries to get into it. One of the best DMs in the class. Makes custom miniatures for everyone in the party. Puts a lot of money to make the ultimate game room. Izuku Midoriya: Variant Human Bladesinging Wizard The perfect player. Knows the roles, but focuses more on making characters. Takes the most notes, pay attention, and makes sure everyone is having fun and feels included. Likely gets roped into the role of dungeon master more then anyone else because of these reasons.

[eerna]

so how's fourth wing so far :]

CHECK IN TIME! OK so I am on chapter 22, which is the 51% mark of the book. I continue to be disappointed, but now I have read enough of the book to know I'm not overreacting or judging too early.

Anachronisms continue to run rampant. At one point the MC uses the expression "Are our wires crossed?", which is an explicit reference to telephones, meaning this world has telephones but not pens. This could have easily been a modern fantasy and better for it, there is 0 reason for keeping it a historical setting.

I am on chapter 22 approximately because I actually accidentally fell asleep during Amber's trial and it was so insanely ridiculous I just signed off, and then rewinded to the beginning of the chapter when I woke up. Dain not believing his best freind in the entire world and a bunch of other people because "AMBER LOVES RULES TOO MUCH TO BREAK THEM!!" is one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen.

The characters.... Good lord literally everyone is just an empty shell of a person, someone who serves a certain role in the story and nothing else. It's been a while since I read a book where not a single character gave me anything to work with. That includes bad things I could complain about, or flaws. No one dares step a toe outside the stereotypical roles - wow, here's the Petite Delicate MC With Hidden Power, her Overprotective Childhood Best Friend (well ok he is depicted as bad in this one but more on that later), her Fun Extroverted New Best Friend, the Mysterious Brooding Dark Haired Bad Boy, the Evil Bitch, the Craaaaazy Murderous Competitor....... Like damn give me SOMETHING.

The deaths that people say raise the stakes and feel brutal and realistic are really funny to me because it is Super Obvious who is gonna be next to die. Why are we suddenly focusing on this random background character? Because they are gonna perish next page. Please pretend to be shocked when it happens. Rinse and repeat.

Ngl the "our dragons are mates and that means we are gonna be serving the army together for the rest of their lives also gotta learn how to work together" as a forced proximity method is an absolutely amazing idea. Too bad I feel nothing for this specific combination of characters.

The romance is so immature. It's not even SJM level relationship development. So Violet is in love with her childhood best friend, but then decides she doesn't want to be with him because there is no "spark" when they kiss. Not because he is controlling and belittles her and has no faith in her. Oh no. It's about how she can't even look at Xaden without getting horny!!!! It's about how she hates him as a person but his BODYYY WOWWWW YUMMMMM!!!! PLENTY of sparks!! At one point she describes his cousin and feels the need to specify the two look similar, but she is NOT physically attracted to him, which is just so funny. The book is still painfully straight and treats me to the "Big Burly Muscular Man and his Tiny Dainty Little Woman" shtick.

It's the EPITOME of those "imagine a book where..." tiktoks. Ohhhh the villain is KILLIN PEOPLE to SAVE THE MC even though she thought HE HATED HER..... Oooohhh he has DARK HAIR and ENCOURAGES HER TO BE STRONG....... Ooooooh the MC has bnded to THE STRONGEST DRAGON EVER and also HAS TWO BONDED DRAGONS which has NEVERRR HAPPENED BEFORE...... It feels like a collection of out-of-context quotes meant to be shown as a greenscreen backdrop while the reader pretends to be screaming into their hand in the foreground.

All in all. I am still not enraged angry the way some other books from the book club have made me, but we still haven't reached the smut so there's plenty of time for the nosedive. I'm just reading this and wondering why this specifically was chosen as the next Big Thing. What makes it special??? I see Nothing. Maybe I will find out if I keep going - I don't personally have to like it, but I'd like to figure out why so many other people do.

[terrence-silver]

Okay because nick mirini has play dnd before and plays downfall do you think Terry has played it before and tried to get John to play with him when they were younger

Like I could see terry having a collection of dnd items in his mansion in like room like he has with his katana collection 👀

And terry playing dungeons lord also like I feel like Kenny would have got him into it 👀 like this man would be the most competitive person ever on that game

---

I mean, Terry Silver was a fully formed adult in the 80's, at the cultural zeitgeist of Arcade games, Dungeons and Dragons, various Low Fantasy genres, Street Fighter, the Martial Arts movie craze, Dance Aerobics, Star Wars, heavy metal music, and the first ever video games as we know them so really, it is highly probable he has interacted with these parts of American culture by osmosis in the least. Like, it would be extremely unbelievable if a man in Los Angeles didn't (the same way I cannot possibly imagine Johnny Lawrence, a native of LA, not knowing what an Uber is in the 2020's, year of our Lord, no matter how airheaded he is meant to be; it just isn't believable). Canonically, Terry mentioned the Superbowl and Starbucks at least once, so that's something. His Wah-Wah mockingly directed at Mr. Miyagi a vague nod to Bruce Lee movies. An indicator Terry Silver is aware of popular culture, in-universe. Like, there's something there.

Now, if he actually indulged in these thing is another matter altogether.

For John Kreese, my answer would be mostly negative. He seems like a man stuck in the past whenever we encounter him, like he purposefully, pridefully and very spitefully emerged from a bubble whenever he is reintroduced, giving me the impression of someone who reviles the progress of the 'times' and sticks to his own ways (even if his ways are the more difficult, but I feel that's exactly how John Kreese likes it too) and the old ideals he considers worthy and timeless. He likes the things he knows and has known all his life. He's a newspaper kind of guys and probably has been for sixty years or something as crazy long as that. Listens to music slightly, or very out of date, enjoys movies slightly, or very out of date and generally consumes media out of date too. When everyone was raving on about Star Wars, man was still rewatching old Westerns, or something of the type. That's what I envision. Likes the feeling of reading paper under his fingers. Doesn't care what the 'kids nowadays' do for fun or how they do it because he considers it a waste of time no matter the decade, be it in the 70's, 80's, 2000's or present day. He strikes me as a dyed-in-the-bone contrarian and if he ever indulged in the subcultures of the 80's it is because likely, Terry pushed and coaxed him into it with great difficulty, capitulating to Terry like a grumpy older sibling would to the more energized, younger one, seated in front of Terry's state of the art Dungeons and Dragons board, in his equally state of the art multi million dollar playroom, ready to go along with it, because hey, after all, it's his friend, Twig. John might've prefered a good, old card game if he personally had to choose, but for Terry --- hey, ho, he'll endure it and mainly do so purely to be vaguely amused at how into the game Terry himself is. It is not that John Kreese is unaware of popular culture, he just chooses to remain uninvolved and he strikes me as the type who doesn't care. He's entrenched in his ways and there's no changing that. So, nope, probably ain't a fan of Dungeons and Dragons and never was. Sorry.

Now, Terry Silver? That's different.

I think he does care and has a weirdly juvenile and even geeky streak to him, not in the classical sense where he was ever actually a nerd the way we know nerds (especially in 80's media), but Terry Silver's a jock with very stereotypically nerdy interests, weapons collection and all. Wouldn't surprise me if he had custom made arcade game boxes installed somewhere on his mansion's compound premises for Snake and Dennis to use, if they played Monopoly with actual stacks of money, courtesy of Mr. Silver, if Terry Silver actually relished in Hong Kong martial arts movies in the 70's, watching them ironically in, say, his personal home theatre, to mock them but in actuality, rather enjoying them beneath layers of gleeful disdain or if his so called D&D items included actual antiques, expensive collectibles obtained on high end biddings and stuff that genuinely cost a fortune. Or, hey, why just play Street Fighter on a personal Arcade console, when he can take on the whole aesthetic. He could've jumped out of a game and you couldn't tell me otherwise. Terry Silver embodies the times far more so than John, whatever the times may be --- after all, when we first see him, he's funding and kickstarting an app. Nobody needs to introduce Terry to the concept of games or popular culture because he was already well present for all the OG classics and while I don't necessarily see him playing video games present day, I can genuinely see him doing something as fringe and bizarre as buying the company that produced Kenny's Dungeon Lords and becoming that odd footnote in history when that one Billionaire randomly took ownership of a video game production studio as a business venture.

But, in the 80's?

I flat out see Terry Silver doing something even more laughably bizarre and donning his working class, poor man's clothes, sneaking out to an arcade club on a weekend, wrecking all the participants there solely because he must win, regardless what he's winning at, or investing weeks on a really petty, impish scheme of walking out victorious out of a D&D tournament purely because that currently tickled his fancy and what makes him laugh most as of recent-- becomes a long forgotten urban legend that a guy that was once on a tournament so happened to be someone famous some dude who knows a dude swears he saw and recognized at a ribbon cutting ceremony broadcasted on TV for some refinery plant out in Borneo, but nobody can confirm or deny this tall tale.

[blackautmedia]

It ended up being way more intensive than I had planned, but I did finish the writing for the Zelda video.

I managed to grab that James Somerton video he made about queer portrayals in Nintendo before it was privated. I haven't located any evidence suggesting it was plagiarized given the extent he's done it in nearly all his videos but that doesn't mean it hasn't occurred. I'm still trying to search and see if I can find any evidence of plagiarism to credit its proper author(s) if it is in fact stolen. There will be a section discussing the intersection of queerness and race with queer readings of Link and the Gerudo.

That aside, I wanted to share a bit! I picked out paragraphs out of order from how they're actually written, but these are a few of the points in the section about "the natural order of Hyrule."

Both film and TV westerns purport to be based on US history: the past is reframed as a glorious undertaking, the fulfillment of God's wish for his chosen people or as a rescue mission designed to rescue the pitiful other from himself or from some demonic other. Such fantasies serve to justify and legitimize colonial norms and practices. Stam and Spence explain that the colonial enterprise was often presented as a philanthropic "civilizing mission," reframing the colonial presence as a humanitarian intervention rather than an invasion. - Native Americans on Network TV : Stereotypes, Myths, and the 'Good Indian'

In Zelda Lore, it's said according to an entry in Hyrule Historia that "Hylians possessed a special power: it was said that their long ears allowed them to hear the voices of the gods." there's an inherent birth connection to the gods and to divinity in this series.

The best examples of community portrayal in the game exist when you remove Link from the equation. There are numerous instances of the different tribes providing support to one another--the Gerudo providing aid to refugees of Lurelin village, people providing resources to the Rito in their time of crisis, and the construction town helping in the rebuilding effort.

But a central part of what separates gaming from other types of media like books and TV is that you're not just a reader or viewer, but a player--you're asked to actively take part in the narrative and influence it yourself.

That community commentary also conflicts with the desire to treat Link as a demigod with the most major figures in the story continually sacrificing their autonomy and personhood to become resources that Link is ultimately to wield. Rauru gifts Link with some of his powers to save him from the Gloom. Mineru becomes little more than a rock 'em sock 'em robot for Link to pilot with little to no actual concern for her as a person.

Zelda is given the illusion of having agency in this story with how she orchestrates the conditions for Link to be able to defeat Ganon, but ultimately that doesn't come from her utilizing her research skills or building off the things her family provided her. Rauru even says he believes Zelda arrived to them for a reason, and based on what happens, it was ultimately so she could sacrifice herself yet again.

I'm not in the camp of people who wanted to see Zelda permanently stay a dragon at the end, I just want Zelda to not continually be sidelined in a series that constantly asks to sacrifice herself so she can't be an active part of the story.

The land and society once owned by gods must be restored and brought to its former glory as it is fated to be led by the divinely chosen Hylians. To that end, to defeat the evil and violent Middle Easterner who has defied the natural order of Hyrule, everyone must sacrifice themselves for Link to become the divine governor of power.

(This portion is part of the conclusion)

In thinking over what to write for this last portion, I came away feeling Nintendo's patterns here are a good example of why we should heavily value and take seriously the talents of artists and character designers.

It's important because art is so valuable in how it shapes the implications of the story, intentional or not.

I'm not here to convince you to boycott or stop playing Zelda because the issue goes beyond the scope of this individual franchise. What I ask more than anything is to see the people being propagandized as human and to equip yourself with the tools to better detect and resist the narratives both in fiction and non-fictional media.

[evajellion]

List of Compile Heart and Idea Factory grievances to look out for

Since my post on Madou Monogatari 4/Fia picked up more steam than I thought, I figured as a former fan of their games, I should just make a post about the work from this studio and what to keep an eye out for when the new Madou Monogatari game releases.

Hopefully the new Madou game will be free of these issues, but… even with the original staff, writers, and D4 involved, it's hard to tell. So this will be a mild PSA of sorts.

Extremely tedious grinding and gameplay: Some of the Neptunia games and other titles required RNG/save state nonsense just to get the best ending. Yes, these games often had multiple endings, and you could lock yourself out of them very easily.

Very poorly made dungeon mechanics: Explained in a video about Spectral Tower, known as the worst RPG ever made.

Performance issues or crashing that will make you lose your progress: Most notable in their PS3 era of games, which may have been the fault of NIS America, but their Switch games do still lag quite prominently. I have had the unfortunate, repeated experience of losing progress due to these games being held together with duct tape.

Recycled assets: While it's normal for games such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest to use recolored enemy assets or maybe pixel tile sets, CH/IF take it to a whole other level by recycling… entire dungeon layouts with very little differences in color. If you've seen a few areas in one game, then that's the most you are getting for the rest of it. A game that's a sequel to another in a franchise will even use the same assets as its predecessor despite it looking terribly jarring.

Now uh, the rest of this I have to put a content warning for. None of these are gameplay related, but are strictly about the objectification of minors and LGBT+. I know a lot of the bottom half of this list is subjective and some people won't be bothered by it, but some other people are going to be bothered by the extremely outdated humor.

Sexual assault: CH/IF are totally okay with making jokes about SA or using it for shock. It's considered funny when Plutia or CFW Trick harass girls, or when accidental pervert moments happen. Assault also happens in the game Fairy Fencer F, and while the character responsible is a villain he's also just… forgiven by the end.

Predatory depictions of LGBT+: Quite a few characters are the stereotypical, predatory, yandere or gropey lesbian types and one Neptunia game is outright transphobic to a character that is depicted as a stalker of sorts, with the character wanting to be referred to as she/her but the game never does so.

Loli and underage: CH/IF have no issue sexualizing their blatantly implied underage characters in both Neptunia and Mugen Souls. No, being immortal doesn't make these any less creepy and weird. Especially when Nepgear is called a teen before being assaulted. Even Pupuru from Sorcery Saga, who is only 16-17, is lusted after by the ambiguously aged counterpart to Satan, who wants her to "step on him" and frequently nosebleeds.

Erasure of LGBT+: Despite blatantly fetishizing yuri and yaoi, their Otomate division adaptation of HameFura, well-known for its accidental bisexual reverse harem, removed all wlw-related interactions present from the anime. This is something that fans were rightly unhappy about.

Again, I hope that Madou 4 will be free of ALL of these known issues, since a handful of these games are almost over a decade old, it would be wise if CH/IF didn't do anything of their usual shenanigans. In fact, I would be more than elated if Madou 4 doesn't have any of their usual issues.

We'll just have to see.

Sexual assault: CH/IF are totally okay with making jokes about SA or using it for shock. It’s considered funny when Plutia or CFW Trick harass girls, or when accident pervert moments happen. Assault also happens in the game Fairy Fencer F, and while the character responsible is a villain he’s also just… forgiven by the end.

Predatory depictions of LGBT+: Quite a few characters are the stereotypical, predatory, yandere or gropey lesbian types and one Neptunia game is outright transphobic to a character that is depicted as a stalker of sorts, with the character wanting to be referred to as she/her but the game never does so.

Loli and underage: CH/IF have no issue sexualizing their blatantly implied underage characters in both Neptunia and Mugen Souls. No, being immortal doesn’t make these any less creepy and weird. Especially when Nepgear is called a teen before being assaulted. Even Pupuru from Sorcery Saga, who is only 16-17, is lusted after by the ambiguously aged counterpart to Satan, who wants her to “step on him” and frequently nosebleeds.

Erasure of LGBT+: Despite blatantly fetishizing yuri and yaoi, their Otomate division adaptation of HameFura, well-known for its accidental bisexual reverse harem, removed all wlw-related interactions present from the anime. This is something that fans were rightly unhappy about.

[bepop-moon]

!!SPOILERS!!

The Fourth Wing review !!!

WHAT. I just finished the fourth wing like 5 minutes ago and i NEED to talk about it before i go to the store and buy the second book.

- I am an ultimate book-lover and it takes a lot for me to dislike a book so this is just gonna be filled the positive things that i loved

I’ll get nerding about the world-building out the way first

So for starters, this book was so well written. As a fantasy lover, i’m a sucker for a well-built fantasy world. I loved how without being too heavy on description Rebecca managed to describe the world beautifully and naturally. I love how developed the history and culture is, the religion and beliefs and values.

I love Rebecca’s take on dragons. The idea of bonding and the mental communication and emotional connection. I don’t know how original it is but it was so well-done in this story. The design of the dragons and the different species are not overcomplicated and the way she wrote it made it easy to understand. I love the descriptions of the dragons, but also (this is just my opinion) i love that Rebecca didn’t shy away from the sheer size of the dragons. Ik in fantasy there are no rules about species like this, but in all folklore and mythology dragons are like, huge, and not enough books show that.

Overall, the world building is 10/10 and perfectly woven into the story.

Things that had my jaw on the floor

Something that had me ✨flabbergasted ✨ was the small details Rebecca snuck in there unnoticed. Now i was kicking myself when it came to Violet finally finding out her signet was lightning and Xaden tells her he suspected it from the first time they kissed. I went back and realised that in that scene lightning was striking. I usually pick up on these things 😭😭

Another example is- and this one hurt me physically because i realised like the paragraph before they said it- all the times dain “caressed her cheek” or “cupped her face” the actual vulgar little maggot (i hate him). I hate that they didn’t finish him off in this book and i so hope that Xaden or Violet ends him when they get back. if not i will.

Also, the ENDING??!! THE LAST FEW LINES??!! HELLO?!?!? I did call it though as soon as she woke up and Xaden looked at her wound and it was all healed up, i was like woah hang on i thought this was the venins poison. But I WASNT EXPECTING TO MEET HIM. I do want to just say that it really ticked me off because i don’t believe Xaden knew Brennan was alive but didn’t tell violet. I want to think he found out when he got there but i think he mentioned knowing this was the place to come or something. They must have a bloody good reason to be keeping this one ☝️

The characters 🥺🥺🥺

i was in love with EVERY single one of the characters. I love how every character was focussed on at one point or another so you could connect with all of them. I love the entire groups chemistry. I think an easier way to explain would be to go through them individually:

VIOLET- So, i made a post when i was in the early chapters of this book about how she annoyed me. She was very much a stereotypical “aren’t i just💁‍♀️…too small and weak🥺to play rugby👉👈” kind of girl, and i could see myself disliking the book if it kept up. I also said i can see how, if done correctly, she could have the BEST character development and gods, it didn’t disappoint. Rebecca showed Violet growing mentally and physically in a really real and natural way. It was forced, rushed or skimmed over. It was really a big part of the whole story, and i really loved it. Violet is my short, feisty girlboss and she’s litterally my idol. I volunteer as tribute guys, i will join the riders quadrant to be with her 😔😔. Dw, I can replace Liam. I love her sarcasm. She’s litterally me if i had confidence. Her chemistry with everyone else is on point.

RHIANNON- So dispite the fact that I was pronouncing her name wrong for a good chunk of the book, THIS GURL IS ONE OF MY FAVS. Everyone needs a friend like Rhi, period. She’s also a bisexual queen (** i will lead into this later) which makes me love her even more. Massive crush. She’s so badass.

RIDOC- okay now hes just a cutie patootie 🥰🥰 like “YES THATS OUR GIRL” when Vi beat the gauntlet had my heart melting. I want one. i want a ridoc. He’s my under appreciated baby.

THE OG GANG (Vi, Rhi, Ridoc, Sawyer)- I honestly wish they had more time. I could never get enough of them. The chemistry 😭 get me a friend group like this.

LIAM- i cried. no sorry i balled. like omg why was taking him like that necessary 😭😭 But i did know he was gonna die cuz i remember when he gave vi the wooden tairn he made, i said to myself “uh oh he’s too nice he’s not gonna live”. The emotional attachment i had to this man. But besides that, the whole backstory of him and Xaden being his foster-brother and the two of them having gone through so much together was soo good. I’m so glad Xaden was given a character to fall back on, and in a sad way, i’m glad that his loss was what made him break in the end. He stayed so strong for both Violet and Xaden. He’s so loyal and sweet, there is nothing not to love about him. RIP 🩷🩷🩷

XADEN- Where do i even start with this man. just love. love love love love ❤️ Ngl, i didn’t like his description and his initial impression looks-wise which (silly me with my high fictional person standards) put me off him for the first part. But- i made a post about this aswell- i think that’s just me personally not liking big, tall, dark, hunky men. I couldn’t picture him correctly. That is until i went onto pinterest and started picturing a slightly more buff Zayn Malik with fluffy hair and reading-glasses that i liked the sound of him a lot more. OkOk besides looks, I think Xaden is my favourite character. He was so compassionate to Violet as they got closer, and just every small thing he did i loved. I mostly loved how gift-giving is his love language. Okay let’s list off the things Xaden gave: The dagger, the saddle, flowers, dick, coffee, head, his jacket, more daggers. lol anyway he had it made just for her 😭😭 So i love how we got to see him and his high defences all come crumbling down at the end. He knew he messed up when he kept secrets, and the way he was like “i will try every day for the rest of my life to make you trust me again”. The battle- Liams loss and thinking he lost Violet must’ve affected him so much i just wanna give him a big hug. AND HIS CHAPTER AT THE END 😭 i squealed when i saw it was his perspective. i want more of that ngl. When he said he felt unloved since his father died. He’s a little bundle of trauma and i love him for that. Angst aside, the pet name, the banter, the mind talking thing THE CHEMISTRY AHHHH. Best boy.

The Family trio (Liam, Xaden, Bodhi)- their connection was so cute and refreshing. It was so nice to see Xaden have people he can rely on other than Vi, and they are so iconic. I wish they got more time. I also wanted to see more of Bodhi and how he dealt with Liam’s loss. It was all very Xaden-heavy. Let’s not forget about him 🥺

The cool bois 😎 (Xaden, Garrick, Bodhi)- Honestly, i bet they act like young teenagers. I like to imagine them getting extremely competitive over a card game like dobble or smt and flipping the table. The way Garrick and Bodhi both always had Xaden’s back, keeping his secrets, knowing his history, which he doesn’t tell many people. They also quietly had Violets back too, when they cleaned up her room after her attack in the night, and then hauled in a new armoire after their.. evening together. They are also funny and Garrick and Bodhi are so quick to defend Xaden in a rlly wholesome way.

Sex 🫢

Okay so this is a fun one 🤩 First i’ll talk about sexuality in this book and the representation. Although this is just a small detail my queer ass naturally picks up on, is how i love that sexuality isn’t an explicitly identified thing in this world, it just is what it is. You sleep with who you sleep with, you love who you love. It’s not a labelled thing. Rhiannon slept with tara- normal. Then she slept with Sawyer- normal. Ridoc slept with some older guy idk- normal. Ridoc then made jokes about sleeping with violet. normal. It’s just so natural and normalised and i like that she didn’t read too deep into it. that’s all. And also the Non-binary (again not labelled) rep with i think their name was Heaton? idk but i like never see they/thems in books so it was kinda nice. I think it’s a nice thing about creating a fantasy world, you can litterally portray things like this however you want, because it’s your fictional society, and you can give them whatever norms and values you want.

Ok smut 🫣. The book had good smut, a dedicated smut chapter, and a lot of steamy moments after that. But i won’t lie to you, the main smut scene was giving edward cullen destroying the bed 😥 like ngl i was scared- and then the lightning?!? girl- anyway it was wild. I like how Xaden was openly humble, reluctant to go any further in fear of “taking advantage of her after a shit day”, He cares so much 🥺❤️. The consent was a nice part. And then another thing, that kind of relates to what i was saying about the perks of being able to create the norms of a fictional society, is how they both mentioned they were on fertility surpressants. Both of them, not just her. I liked that small detail. OTHERWISE I WAS LITTERALLY SCARED FOR HER LIFE ON THAT SCENE😭😭

My only complaint about this in particular, some might disagree is that as much as i like smut in a book, i prefer it a lot more when it’s evenly split with fluff and wholesome cuddles and forehead kisses and stuff. It was just a very sexual-heavy relationship. Although, it’s understandable considering they ARENT ACTUALLY DATING !!!

Just some other things i liked:

- Tairn and Andarna 🥺 They are so cute just eeee!!

- Golden one and silver one

- “violence”

- Jesinia, using sign. love 👏the👏inclusivity👏

- The way the storyline all came together at the end. It’s just the best feeling when you read a book and you’re getting the ending and you can see all the small details tying together perfectly, and Rebecca did SUCH a good job at that

- I love the note at the beginning saying “the following text has been translated..” because it adds such a cool small layer of depth to the whole story

- How Rebecca showed violets trauma. She couldn’t bring herself to show weakness in front of others so she runs away to somewhere where she knows she can be alone to cry. How everything comes crumbling down on her when she sees mira again. How she panics when someone she loves is at risk. How she has flashbacks when she killed Barlowe. Beautiful 😍

- Jack’s death being her discovery of her signet and a big moment for her, how it was ruined by the fear and instant trauma of killing him (lol he had it coming)

Complaints !!

I don’t think i have many complaints about this book at all, only that all the guys look the same with different hair colours 😭 i said earlier about how i don’t like the stereotypical buff protective guy and that’s what im imagining them all as. More male diversity. Obvs i mentioned the lack of fluff. Probably could’ve done with more angst.

also dain was the biggest ick from the start

The next book???

I CANT WAIT!! i’ll probably stop by and buy it tomorrow. There are a few things i’m interested in:

-Brennan 🧍‍♂️

-Xadenviolet fixing itself

-Torturing Dain 😍

-The REBELLION!! hunger games who? violet everdeen who?

something i do hope is that it continues right where it left off, because istg if rebecca decides to do something clever and introduce a whole new set of characters and not even MENTION my babies until like the end of the book i will come to her house and scrap her (a formal threat). I hope it will be just as good as the first one!! it was very quick to be released but i bet she has a trilogy or series or something lined up she will be popping out soon. I don’t see Iron Flame being the last book of the series.

Conclusion 🤩🤩💃🕺

10/10 would recommend to young-adult readers!! It just had the perfect blend of, fantasy world, storyline, romance, plot twists and action that a story could have. Will give me so much daydreaming material to work with. Very inspiring for my own fantasy world aswell !! lots of small details to take inspo from and a very cool world to explore. The whole Xadenviolet arc from start to not-so-finish is annoyingly touching and Dain is just annoying!! (i hate him)

If you got this far thanks for reading :) xx

[anonshu]

Hello a long awaited post,

Welcome to Shu's "Ranking Media My Friends Have Gotten Me Into"!!! If I missed any, feel free to say, and I will make a part 2 if there's enough I missed! Let's go!!

Hazbin Hotel - 5/10

I really enjoy the songs of this show but I found the story too rushed for me to care for the stakes of what's going on. I also didn't feel any strong connections with much characters. Maybe Sir Pentious, but his character, much like the others, didn't feel very.. complex, so his death didn't that impactful to me. Which is unfortunate. I found the show concept interesting, but it just felt a bit lame to me by the end.

Dungeon And Dragons - 10/10

This is a category with many subcategories, but the overall concept and game and everything of DnD? LOVE LOVE LOVE. My desire to be in a fantasy world is somewhat documented well, so the concept is perfect for me. The idea of being able to create a character and a story and be able to EXPERIENCE it is my heart's only oxygen. And to play with friends and experience their stories they've created? BEAUTIFUL. LOVE LOVE. I love DnD

DnD The Movie - 9/10

I really liked this movie. It really captured the essence of what I imagine is a stereotypical dnd session would be. It was so fun to see that in a movie. Just a bunch of idiots trying to do a mission. Gorgeous. I didn't like the romance they added for Doric and Simon, seemed unnecessary. Should have had more Xenk in the movie. I loved him, he was so goofy

Epithet Erased - 6/10

I already made a post detailing my thoughts on this show but to re-iterate it, I really liked the characters and the first part of the show but I did find the plot structure a bit strange? Read my old post for my proper review, give me views.

Baldurs Gate 3 - 6/10

I think I'd really like this game if I could make it farther in the story without my mac exploding. I do really like what I've done though. The battle system isn't my fav but I would have sucked way more if it was any other system. The designs of the characters and the world is absolutely stunning though. And I love Karlach, my wife.

Dimension 20 - 9/10

I love what I've seen from this. I love the variety of stories, and Brennan DM-ing is so delightful. I love how he does it.

Dungeon Meshi - 10/10

LOVE LOVE LOVE. SO FUN. GREAT SONGS. GREAT CHARACTERS. AMAZING STORY. LOVE LOVE. Only downfall is the changeling arc, not my cup of tea BUT EVERYTHING ELSE STUNNING

Good Omens - 9/10

I love love this show. Beautiful. Gorgeous. There's so much to be said about this show. I love the dynamic of the Aziraphale and Crowley. I love seeing their past experiences together. The pining?? It's beautiful. I just- AUGH!! The characters are my particular favourite, as I just love that I can reason with what's happened because I have an understanding of the characters. Augh, beautiful

One Piece/Live Action - 9/10

I absolutely adored this so so much!!!!! This connects both anime and live action because I watched the anime because of the live action. I absolutely adore this show. I love the diverse goals and abilities of the characters. It just feels so real that way. I love the bright, exciting adventures portrayed while also showing more serious moments when necessary. I love stories that aren't so down and moody, and are about a group of friends going on stupid little adventures!

Six Of Crows - 9/10

To go against what I just said. This is found family like how one piece is but has a different tone. As opposed to being friends connected through fun, they are co-workers connected through experiences. I love the fact that they are on a mission and begin as co-workers, but later on, trust is formed, and I just love seeing that. I'm realising my review is gonna be very one note soon.. oh well

Ace Attorney - 7/10

I am not that attached to the characters of ace attorney yet. But the game concept is so my thing. Investigating and solving a crime. I love puzzle games sm ahdhhrf I do find some stuff really stupid and tedious BUT that's honestly fine because I feel like a genius every time I complete a trial whdht

Shrek 1 & 2 - 7/10

Stupid, fun kids movie. What can I say? Watching it on a bus.. was an experience.. but I really liked going to the cinema to see it. I found it really fun to watch this with friends. Love

Tom Cardy - 10/10

This is a small addition, but I love love love this man. Such good songs. Love it.

Spiderverse- 9/10

Also a small addition, but the art of this movie was so incredible. So excited for the next one! Loved loved loved the chase scene and the ending scenes

[fixfoxnox]

FERAL FOR ROACH IN THIGH HIGHS DAMN-

HE'S SO SJSNJDJDJF AHGGG

Also because of this I went through and found lingerie that the different Roach's would wear so if you want to see my thoughts on that go below the cut (pictures included so be aware):

SiTO Roach:

Simple, elegant, would make Soap and Ghost pass out. Not sure about the color though I think he might go with like a soft purple or pink color instead of the green

Ultranationalist Roach:

THE CHAINS??? ALL THE PLACES THAT THE BOYS COULD GRAB??? THE SHEER POWER OF IT??? literally he would be too powerful and the 141 + Jackson would be all over him

Dragon AU:

Flowy very erethral kinda fantasy princess vibes from it. He's leaning fully into being Soap and Ghosts trapped princess in a castle and though the boys hate that stereotype they are 100% in to it (roleplaying ensues)

Pirate AU:

The corset???? Soap and Ghost make him wear dresses around anyways might as well lean in to the fantasy of being a kidnapped aristocrat about to get ravished by two pirates. ALSO THE THIGH HIGHS SHSJSJD

Monster AU:

Werewolf boy knows what he's doing and he adds the collar as a special touch 😌 showing off enough to tempt his boys but still give an almost "innocent" illusion because of the babydoll style

Anima AU:

The heart fixtures?? The lace??? He's a slut for it I'm sorry. Was probably at the mall with Soap and Ghost and saw this and stole Ghosts wallet to go buy it sjsjdjdj

Compound AU:

This but in like a dark blue. Ghost bought it for him on a whim while on a mission with Soap. Soap made fun of him for it but then they got back and Roach put it on and he changed his mind sjdjdjd

Camboy AU:

Honestly wears the most lingerie out of the AU's because of his job sjsjdjjd. Usually wears stuff viewers have sent him but this is one he bout for himself and wears a lot, even outside of streaming. The strings at the sides and leaving it open to see just enough skin to tease...just him

Assassin AU:

Honestly he's not about all the frills and stuff. They make him feel itchy and too uncomfortable and he doesn't like that. Not a fan of how exposed it makes him feel. Chooses something a little more simple and a little less revealing for his own comfort. Still absolutely drives Soap and Ghost wild. He ends up wearing them as sleep clothes a lot because he likes the material ajajajsj

[acaplaya-musings]

Screw it, have a not-fully-human Voiceplay AU (Part 1)

I'm obviously not the first person to do this, and I very much got inspired by other AUs and fics I've seen floating around (I haven't even read any of the fanfics, but just reading the tags/summaries were enough to get my brain buzzing with ideas). And let's be honest, it's almost natural to imagine at least some of Voiceplay's members as non-human when they're that good, and don't even get me started on some of the videos!

This is mostly just a collection of thoughts/ideas though - I don't plan on turning it into a proper fic or doing art of it or anything like that, but I thought I might as well type it up here anyway, so it's not just stuck bouncing around in my brain. Sticking it under a Read More link because this ended up being kinda long. (And note that this AU is less of a "what if they had powers" AU and more of a "what if a lot of real life stuff was explained by magic / occult forces and the like" AU, though I don't know a great deal about Voiceplay's early days so bear with me).

Geoff: Half-demon, sort of. Not exactly "demon" as in "representative of Hell/linked to Satan", more "demon" as in "innate connections to a part of the Earth far, far below the surface, deep in the mantle, if not deeper". "Half-demon" is about the best description in the English language for him, even when considering many popular works of fantasy and myth

(Yeah I considered a few other options for what Geoff could possibly be, including a half-dragon/dragonborn, but his voice is much too smooth and clear imo to be typically reminiscent of a dragon (other than his growls and vocal fry), and some other people have already referred to him as a demon god/demon lord/etc, so yeah might as well. I'm putting my own spin on it though).

Geoff is still at least partially human, and just human enough that for the first three and a half decades or so of his life, he was able to almost fully suppress the non-human part of himself. Half-demon!Geoff, not fully knowing the meaning or implications of what he was, feared that the ground may one day swallow him up whole; the depths of the earth staking its claim once and for all. He took up pole-vaulting in high school [true], and had aspirations of being a rock tenor [also true] - hitting high notes in songs and soaring over beams many feet in the air made it easier to ignore the faint occasional rumbles from far below the ground that nobody else ever seemed to hear.

(I'll get back to Geoff in a minute, but lets start talking about...)

Layne: Extra-terrestrial being, for sure, though not quite a stereotypical alien per se. In this AU, Layne started off as a vaguely-animal-shaped collection of cells (or the celestial/outer space equivalent anyway) that crash-landed on Earth via a small asteroid and took on the (main/primary) form of a human.

(And just for funsies, let's say that "Layne" was what TV Tropes would call a Line-Of-Sight Alias after seeing a street sign. He was originally "Lane", but someone once stuck a Y in the middle of it while writing it down and he chose to keep it that way).

Layne and Geoff became friends in middle school [true], both sensing there was a notable uniqueness about the other.

I'm a bit hazy on the origins of Voiceplay (or rather, 4:2:Five, as it was first named), it's been a while since I've watched/listened to some of the interviews Geoff has done where he talks a little about it, and I can't be bothered doing too much research/recollection for a random fun AU idea, so I'm playing a little fast and loose with details here.

Layne, now attending high school with Geoff [true I think?] was inspired to create an acapella group [I'm fairly sure it was at least partially his idea but don't @ me] not too long after first learning about them and hearing some examples of acapella performances. The idea that humans could create music without any typical instrumentation and be just as enjoyable (if not more?) as someone singing with a band was fascinating to him, and he was very keen to try it out for himself.

Geoff meanwhile was spending his time learning the oboe [true, iirc], and wasn't fully keen on the idea at first, especially when Layne asked him to be the bass singer for it, but the two were[/are] best friends, and it didn't take too long for Layne to convince him.

Layne started off as the baritone of the group [true], and a beatboxer wasn't added till a little later after the group's inception, after Layne was further inspired by the group Rockapella [also true, except idk who originally had the idea to add a beatboxer (that's why they were called 4:2:Five btw - they started out as basically a barbershop quartet, but then added a fifth member for vocal percussion)]

This is starting to get quite long, even for a Read More imo, so I'm making a separate post for part 2. And yes, Eli will get included as well!

[chrkrose]

What aspects of Brienne’s character (or any other character in ASOIAF) resonates with you the most?

There are so many characters that speak to me on some level, but I go with three:

Brienne

Oh man… she’s just my favorite in every single capacity you can imagine. I know George deserves a lot of criticism, but when he gets right, he gets it. I think Brienne is the result of when you actually look at female characters as people and decides to explore what it means to be a woman, and how complex it is . The way she questions not only what it means to be feminine, but what it is to want those things, to want things you are shamed for because they are “girly” or considered weakness. Of course Brienne wanting to achieve things that are deemed unfit for women is already interesting to explore, especially in such context as the one of Westeros, but what resonates with me the most is how he didn’t fall for the stereotype of warrior woman “I’m not like other girls tm feminine stuff suck 🤮 ugh women suck 🤢”, and instead presented us with a girl who wants to be loved and to love, who wants marriage, who wants romance, and is not in any way weak or less because of it. Her strength is in her compassion, in what men and society in general consider as flaws because they are deemed inherently feminine. Someone who is so good while making tons of mistakes and having her own flaws that don’t detract from her goodness. And how she questions what it is to be ugly and why the hell do we care so much about physical appearances like this? And who said that ugly people are less deserving of anything? Who said that beauty is the most valuable trait you need to have to be treated as someone worthy of love and sex and compassion? You see, it is very important to me that Brienne is ugly, because it truly made me rethink a lot of my day to day speech and thoughts when it comes to beauty and how I approach this in real life. To have such a character be desirable and live a romantic arc, probably the best romantic arc he created in the entire story… ugh I love Brienne and what she represents.

Jaime

He has never done anything wrong in his life ever and if he did, he looked really hot while doing so and he’s also funny so I don’t get how people want to hate him for it and condemn him for it 🥰. I love Jaime for many many many things, his entire arc is fascinating, he’s so so complex and has so many layers, I honestly think he’s one of the best written characters of the saga. I also think his sense of humor really makes his chapters a delight to read. To spend entire books hearing about how bad of a guy he was, how he was a villain, tainted, dishonorable, only to have the first line of his chapter being “I’m alive and drunk on sunlight”… George can be many things, but he damn knows how to make you instantly fall in love with a character.

Nettles

I love Nettles because of obvious reasons (the underdog who gets the special dragon, the bad boy and actually survives the war and becomes a legend), she’s right up my alley in terms of arcs I enjoy. Add to that the fact that she is a black woman, and I’m sold. You never, ever, see black women getting the hero journey arc. They are never the special ones, they are never the ones who win. But she was. She is exceptional among several characters who think themselves to be the exception when they are nothing but a bunch of losers with a superiority complex. She is the exception and proves herself with everything going against her. She’s fantastic, and is the type of character that we people of color don’t have growing up, that we don’t see in fantasy stories, and she’s that much more special to me because of it.

[nekorenge]

Some days later, the shining sun dawned on a new day at the Host Club- on a “Fantasy”-themed day, it seemed. The elaborate costumes of the Hosts were within minutes proving entertaining to the starry-eyed guests. Renge spread a stack of her self-made Host Club fanzines out on a back table for the guests, a watchful eye over the club as she did so.

Haruhi clunked over to where some of the Hosts had gathered in the center of the club room, stiff in her movements, a grimace on her face.

“I really have to wear this?” She gestured towards her costume, a suit of silver armor that was slightly too big for her and a red cape at her back. Haruhi was the stereotypical “knight in shining armor”, for her “damsel in distress”-

“Haru-chan!!” Honey-senpai bounded towards her- a blur of copious pink fabric, flowers, and shining golden curls- and upon reaching her, he hugged her armor plated torso tightly. “My hero!” He grinned cheekily up at her. He was playing up the part, never one to mind what he was dressed as, as long as it conformed to his cutesy aesthetic and allowed him to continue to eat cake and sweets. His long golden ringlet-curled wig was reused from a previous costumed event. His glimmering tiara and layered pink gown, however, were freshly purchased.

“Ow, lighten up a little, Senpai, the costume’s digging into my waist now.” Haruhi chuckled, her nose wrinkling.

“Mitsukuni.” In a flash, Mori-senpai was there, and Honey-senpai had been removed from Haruhi with ease, held in his arms instead. Mori’s stoic face was today offset by the cartoonish onesie he had been goaded into under the prospect of matching with Honey-senpai. Mori, the ‘dragon’, was green with purple accents and sported a small set of wings and a tail. Honey-senpai squirmed in Mori’s hold, arms flailing out reaching to Haruhi as he called for his “hero” to “save him”.

The regulars that had already filtered in squealed at the sight of the two, erupting in a chorus of “So cute!”. Renge had perked up at the back table, her hands on her cheeks in delight as she watched. It was all just so moe.

Tamaki, decked in regal white and scarlet, huffed, adjusted his crown, and muttered with a hand discreetly covering his mouth. “I still don’t get why we made Haruhi the knight and Honey-senpai the princess… Haruhi would have looked so cute as the princess!”

Kyoya responded deadpan, eyes buried in his usual clipboard. “You can’t argue with results. The dragon-princess duo is already a big hit.”

“And what are you supposed to be?” The twins slid in, side-eyeing Kyoya curiously.

Kyoya adjusted his glasses. He was clothed in all royal purple with a shining golden crown on his head and a trailing velvet cape. Most uniquely, his costume seemed to include an elegant long dress skirt that hung down from his waist sleekly rather than jutting outwards with poofy layering like Honey-senpai’s.

Tamaki slung an arm around Kyoya’s reluctant shoulder, a wide grin on his face. “Kyoya is the Queen that rules over this Club at my side!” He puffed out his chest in dramatic pride.

“Honored, truly.” Kyoya replied dryly without even looking up.

“A classic ‘evil queen’, huh...” Hikaru and Kaoru smirked. Hikaru tipped the wide brim of his hat in flair. He had his back leaning up against the wall, looking all too natural in his fantasy costume, Kaoru mirroring this. Kyoya was unphased beyond a pointed look in the twins’ direction.

The twins were dressed in wizard’s hats and draped in blue cloaks, with regal costume beneath. Hikaru whisked his hand underneath the cloak, its material flipping outwards to showcase the interior lining. His hand had returned with a prop crystalline ball, which he tossed upwards and then caught in repetition, still slouched against the wall of the club room. He and his brother stared out into the room for a moment, seemingly in thought as conversation continued around them. The usual white noise of giggles of guests and the clink of teacups filled the room.

Renge approached the group, hands folded on her hips. “No one’s said anything about my costume.”

“Yeah, because we didn’t even know you were dressed up.” The twins snarked. She huffed, but quickly brushed off the comment, too excited to explain the reference of her outfit.

“While it might be a modern setting, I think that the visual novel series I based my costume upon is the pinnacle of ‘fantasy’ in gaming. The character I am dressed as is a witch who gains her magic through her garden! The character interactions are really the highlight of the game and-“ Renge continued on, posing to show off her costume- really just a ponytail, her usual hairbow, a purple skirt, a green off-the-shoulder top and a dark blue-black shawl.

Suddenly a glint sparked in Hikaru’s eye, he caught the crystal ball in his hand and he grinned toothily, his gaze turning to meet Kaoru’s, whose smile quickly matched. Renge, along with the rest of the Hosts, could always readily recognize this expression on either of the twins as a sign of some kind of imminent trouble. Renge trailed off from her excited explanation.

“Magic… well that gives me an idea.”

[endless-sketching]

Wow I'm actually kinda mad this manga got axed

Sozoshu Nano De Motto Yasashikute Kudasai! (Please be kinder, because I'm the creator) - Seto Ichiri

General premise is that it's an isekai with a game developer but set in a more down to earth realization. No fourthwall breaking, being able to pull up the command prompt kinda deal.

So you follow this gave developer that got isekaied as a kid, and to the dev's surprise the isekai world was a game they developed.

And I love that the dev knows a lot about the world's species and characters because they created them.

The story was setting up this really cool world, where it's a world the dev created but somethings seem to have changed in the past 10 years of that world. Like the strange preist the dev doesn't remember creating.

The preist is still to vague to talk about, so I'll briefly talk about the other characters. Mainly Risse.

She's a big ol' dork and an elf. And Toru, the dev (wow I took that long to mention the dev's name), delibarely criticized how elves are often depicted as that stereotypical beautiful type shtick and wanted to give the elves varied traits like face tattoos and different hairy ears.

When the story first introduced her, I thought she was going to be a tsundere from how she lost the game of straw to take Toru for a bath and how angry she was. And get this, no lewd bath scene. Austonishing I know, any manga or anime would've taken advantage of this and did 2 whole big panel fully body bath pages, but they just skipped it!

They were literally more focused about exploring the world than being lewd.

It's cheesy in the right aspects, but seeing how it's only 7 chapters could explain why.

The world's whole rune magic was so cool too, forbidden runes being OP because they're a miniboss reward. It's like really late as of when I'm writing this so I'm definitely doing a disservice for the really cool scene of Toru walking up to this guy that was wielding a dragon, only to recite the exact way to obtain a forbidden rune, actually taking it only for the guy to fell off the massive dragon and Toru catching him because they want to help the other species out. DID I EVEN MENTION HOW THE DEMI HUMANS HATE HUMANS BECAUSE OF A MASSIVE SPECIES WIPING WAR???

It all sounds really subpar for a fantasy isekai when I write them out all sloppily like this but you have to see this through the perspective of a person that made that world. A game dev visiting the world they created only to see it be changed in the times passing.

It is criminal that this manga only has 7 chapters. Thank you fan scanalators.

Dont think I'll ever do these kinds of blogs again tho. Just felt like writing about this manga I really like.

[thegreatstoryteller]

The Great Shift: The More Things Change

Ralph was always more of an indoor guy growing up. Video games in middle school, robotics in high school, dungeons and dragons in college. There wasn’t a lot of things he liked, but the ones he did could all be done from the comfort of his own home. 

After the great shift made its way through the world friends and family of the introvert were shocked to see him in some huge bodybuilder type! He towered over his family, could outlift any of his more athletic friends, and was certainly drawing the attention of men and women he hadn’t met yet... However, despite the vastly different body.. Ralph himself hadn’t changed all too much.

People around his university would find him being most socialable when he was playing word games on his tablet. Former athletes gawking at his muscles wouldn’t find him at the gym maintaining that body, but at the cafeteria, grabbing a quick snack to satisfy his constant hunger!

Countless people would encourage him to try out his new body in some new way, but Ralph just wasn’t interestd.

-

“Hey Ralph! After we finish this assignment what do you say we hit the beach?” Clarissa said from within her new Italian supermodel body, winking as she did.

“I’m good. I’ve got a new game on Steam I was planning to try tonight. Thanks though. See you tomorrow.” Ralph would say as he packed away his nerdy bookbag and walked away, still slightly slouching despite his powerful shoulders.

-

“Yo! You’re the big guy I see walking around campus. I may be small but I used to be captain of the rugby team. We’re looking for new members, and you look like the strongest guy in this place. Wanna join?” Peter, the former jock asked from within his new spindly 18 year old nerd body.

“Oh sorry.” Ralph replied with a blushed mumble. “I don’t know how to play a lot of sports and I don’t want to embarrass you or the team.”

Before Peter replied Ralph took off running, not wanting to reveal  how much his new monster of a cock was throbbing at the sight of such a cute guy talking to him.

-

When Ralph would finally get back to his off campus apartment he would sigh in relief. Being around others was so tiring. He knew one day he’d have to face his fears when talking to people he actually wanted to talk to, but till then his online friends and his personal projects would suffice. 

He turned on his laptop, and ran his new game for tonight. Robotics Simulator!

It ran a tutorial vid on how the different heavy metals used in this game were realistic and could be used to build actual technological marvels.

“We’ll see about that.”

Ralph then got up, pressed record on his webcam, and then opened up the big 10 foot tall package in his room. Inside were hundreds of pounds of dense metal mechanical parts. With his superior strength he began to follow the tutorial video in the game to ensure he was properly assembling the different machines being presented. He’d spent all of last week coding and now he’d get to see the fruits of his labor.

The young genius was not oblivious to his scenario. He knew he was huge. But rather than use his muscles to pursue some stereotypical fantasy he wanted to lean further into what he loved! With each new piece of dense machinery moved, Ralph smiled. Maybe one day he’d  find more friends irl to share his hobbies with. Till then plenty of people loved tuning into his private videos he uploaded of him building huge machines. The anonymous bodybuillder making big machines was viral on certain parts of onlyfans, and his viewers were very generous. After all, he needed to get funding for his new projects some how. 

[beels-burger-babe]

All is Fair in Dice and War

***Soooo, @bagelsinatoaster I love this request. However, you didn't specify which board game and as I am a huge nerd I decided to take some creative liberties and combine this with another idea I've been meaning to write which is: MC introducing the demon bros to Dungeons and Dragons. I certainly had fun with this and I hope you like it!*** Summary: Leviathan's world is flipped upside down when MC tells him there is a game that basically allows him to be the Lord of Shadows in real life!! He demands that his brothers join him as MC introduces them all to the chaotic shit show that is Dungeons & Dragons. For once, it was a peaceful day in the House of Lamentation. Lucifer was lounging in the living room with a cursed record playing softly in the background. For once, Satan had willingly joined him and was sitting by the fireplace, thumbing through a book on the human world. Belphie had been passed out on the couch when he arrived and was still laying there with an impressive puddle of drool collecting near his mouth. Even Asmodeus and Beel had joined in, with Asmodeus gently humming to himself as he painted his nails and Beelzebub happily munching on a snack as he enjoyed the sight of his family getting along. Yes. It was perfectly quiet and peaceful, and Lucifer didn't even have any traces of his regular migraine. But of course, nothing good lasts forever. Everyone jumped as the door slammed open and a wide-eyed Leviathan dragged you into the room. The two you very closely followed by Mammon loudly complaining. "Oi! You're gonna hurt them! Cut it out, Levi!" Lucifer sighed and closed his eyes, momentarily mourning the peace that he had just barely begun to enjoy, and closed his book. "Leviathan, let MC go. What are you freaking out about this time?" Lucifer regretted asking the moment the words left his mouth. Levi looked at it with the expression he only ever got when his limited edition Ruri-Chan merch arrived; his eyes were wide and glittering with excitement while his face bore a grin so large that Lucifer was surprised it didn't rip his skin. The third-born was practically vibrating as he let go of your wrist and pushed you forward. "Tell them! Tell them about the game!"

You laughed at Levi's excitement and casually rubbed your wrist. "I was just telling Leviathan about a game that we play in the human world called Dungeons and Dragons-" "You get to make a fantasy world that everyone plays in, and everyone makes characters. You can be a wizard and cast spells against a huge monster! Or a war hero fighter that has been betrayed by his brother! Or a noble knight who is looking for his lost kingdom! And the best part is that it's real!" Levi interrupted, nearly jumping in place as stars danced in his eyes. You put your hands out towards him to try and calm him a bit. "Well, not entirely real. It is played in person, but it's a role play tabletop game, meaning it mostly relies on the players' imagination. That is unless you have thousands of dollars to spend on 3D maps and figurines of your characters." Levi's eyes grew even wider, if possible, as he started shaking his hands up and down. "I CAN HAVE A FIGURINE OF A CHARACTER THAT I MADE?! GAAAAAAAAAHH!" A pillow flew across the room and hit Levi square in the face as a now awake Belphegor glared at him. "Will. You. Shut. Up?" the Avatar of Sloth hissed as a dark dangerous aura grew around him. Beel gently patted his twin's head in hopes of calming him. Leviathan pouted as he noticed no one else seemed to be getting excited about it. "C-Come on guys! This isn't even a video game! It's a thing that we can all do together and personalize it to be something that everyone will like. It'll be fun! Right MC?" You nodded as you gently tossed Belphie's pillow back over to him. "Yeah. I love D&D. I played it all the time in the human world. There's action, suspense, and even romance if you really wanted it," a couple of the brothers perked up at that. "I could put together a one-shot for you guys to try it out if you'd like? I'll help you make your characters, and we can all get together for an evening and play it sometime in a couple weeks." The room went quiet as everyone thought it over. Most of them had no interest in the game itself, but if it was organized by you... "I'm in," Beel decided with a nod. "I think it will be fun. All of us trying something new; it could be neat." Satan casually flipped a page in his book, "The creative aspect of it is definitely appealing. We'd be the masters of our own fate, and that most certainly piques my interest." Asmodeus smirked as he put the cap on his nail polish. "And you said it could be whatever we want? My, one might say that this game could help our wildest fantasies come true~" he made sure to wink at you as he giggled. Belphie, who had only just got back his pillow, scrunched up his face in disgust and launched it at Asmo. "Don't make this weird Asmo," he looked over at you and shrugged, "So long as you do all the work in putting together the character thing, sure. Why not?" Mammon looked over at you from the corner of his eye. "Ya mean to tell me, that you can make it so I'm some awesome, rich, and powerful prince?" Asmo scoffed as he pushed the pillow off his lap. "Please Mammon, even the world of make-believe has its limitations." Mammon blushed as he growled at his brother. You just chuckled and teasingly elbowed his side. "Don't listen to him, Mammon. There is a set amount of how much money you start out with depending on your class and background, but I'm sure we can find something that will make you happy." The second-born blushed even more as he grumbled quietly under his breath. Lucifer tilted his head in thought. "I suppose that if everyone else is playing, naturally I must as well," he stood and began to make his way to his office. "I look forward to seeing what you come up with MC." The next two weeks were spent planning and carefully figuring out the details of the one-shot and the characters that everyone was going to play. Levi was, of course, the first one who came to you to build his character. The two of you spent hours going through the Player's Handbook and sourcebooks to find the perfect build to recreate the Lord of Shadows. In the end, you put

together a human fighter that you gave a couple magic items to make Levi's vision really come to life. It seemed basic, but for the Lord of Shadows, it was perfect. The moment the two of you finished, Levi dove to his computer and ordered a custom-made mini that looked exactly like his character. Satan was genuinely interested in the game, especially after he learned about all the lore and rules behind the different classes and races. You had just been chilling in your room one day when the door burst open. Satan stood there with wide eyes holding a copy of Volo's Guide to Monsters. "MC, why didn't you tell me there are cat people?!" You chuckled, knowing exactly where this was going. "They're called tabaxi, but yeah, they're basically cat people. Would you like to play as one?" He scoffed and snapped the book shut. "Is that even a question? Of course, I'm playing as one." After some discussion and bouncing back and forth between classes a couple of times, Satan settled on a tabaxi druid; that way he not only looked like a cat, but he could speak to them as well. After a few days of you spending time with his brothers focusing on getting their characters ready, Mammon came to you wanting the coolest, most epic character ever. At first, it was clear that he wasn't fully invested in the process, but as he saw the customizable options and all the cool stuff that his character could have, you got his attention. You ended up designing a golden teifling rogue (you tried to tell Mammon that teifling usually wasn't yellow, but he gave you such a sad look that you couldn't say no) that was decked out with piercings and gems all over its horns and tail. He tried to act like he wasn't that excited about it, but one day during class you caught him doodling what looked like a stick figure version of the character on his sheet with a big smile on his face. Asmodeus came in shortly after Mammon finished,

insisting on having the most charming and beautiful character there was. You tapped your chin at the request. "I mean, stereotypically bards are extremely charming and...well seductive...almost too seductive. But that's only thei-" Asmo had hearts in his eyes before you could even finish. "That's what I want to be!" You sighed and made a mental note not to include any dragons in the session as you marked Asmo down to be an elven bard and helped him create his character sheet. You hadn't heard anything from Lucifer for nearly that entire first week, until one day as you were lounging in the living room, he walked in holding a stack of resource books. "Ah, MC. I've been looking for you. I wanted to inform you that I will be playing a half-elf multiclassing as a paladin and hex-blade warlock." You blinked at him as he put all the books down in front of you. "O-Oh. Would you like help putting together your character sheet?" He just grinned and began to make his way out of the room once more. "I've already done it. I must admit that this was quite a bit more interesting than I thought it would be," and with that he was gone, leaving you to try and figure out what had just happened. With only a few days left until the one-shot, you had to go find the twins and get them to make their characters. Beel apologized like crazy for you having to track him in down in order to get his character made. The poor guy was in the middle of peak Fangol season and had completely forgotten. Once the two of you sat down in the kitchen with an empty character sheet in one hand and snacks in the other, Beel gave you his full attention. He put a lot of thought in his character and wanted to make it really good since he appreciated that you were doing something that they could all do as a family. He bashfully decided to play a halfling. Not only did the little creatures share his love for food, but he thought it would be neat to try being small for once. His class was also a surprise. After carefully flipping through all of the class options, he had eventually settled on a cleric. "They're the healers, right? This way I can help the others if someone gets hurt." You gave him a huge hug then and there. Belphegore, on the other hand, was not so easy to work with. "Belphie, come on. Just flip through the book and choose something!" He groaned into his pillow and rolled onto his side to glare at you. "I told you I would play if you did all the work for me. Me flipping through a book is work. It's not happening." After an entire hour of trying to get him to cooperate, you gave up. In retaliation you made his character a goblin barbarian, just to drive in the fact of how much of a brat he was acting like.

Finally, the day came for you all to play the one-shot, and much like you expected, it was complete and utter chaos. You had tried to maintain some structure and keep everyone on track, but it was hopeless. Levi and Satan were taking the game seriously and, Diavolo bless them, were the only reason their party was making any progress. Mammon was trying to pick-pocket every non-player character that they met while Asmo distracted them by flirting. This worked great for them until Mammon got caught and would've died from the resulting injuries if it wasn't for Beel. Speaking of Beel, the poor fella was trying his best to do well in the game but kept getting confused by all the rules and different stats and modifiers. Belphegor spent most of his time, trying to explain it to his twin, but in the end, Beel accidentally ate his dice and Belphie passed out on his shoulder. And then there was Lucifer. He had been mostly quiet the entire game. Surprisingly, he let Levi and Satan take the charge in any investigations and puzzle-based interactions, but he did so with a smirk. You had a funny feeling in your stomach that he was up to something, and you were right. It was the final boss. Satan and Levi were on the edge of their seats, having worked so hard to get the party to this point. You smiled, knowing that one of the best parts of D&D was finally taking down the big bad. In this case, you had prepared a beholder for them to fight. It would be no easy task. The fight should have required them to work together in an epic battle of wits, magic and melee attacks. Only, when everyone rolled initiative, Lucifer went first. The eldest smiled as his eyes sparked menacingly. "For my bonus action, I'd like to use my hex blade's curse on it, which allows me to add my plus four proficiency bonus to all damage, and makes any rolls of nineteen or twenty critical hits. I will then use my long sword with divine smite at third level to attack him and attack him again using my extra attack," barely giving you time to process what he said, Lucifer rolled his dice twice. "And that would be a nineteen and a natural twenty, meaning they're both criticals due to the curse. That should hit, yes?" "Wha-" You could only watch as Lucifer, now with twice the amount of damage due to his critical rolls pulled out a disgusting number of dice and rolled them all. And of course, with his luck, they all rolled high. "So that's 90 points of damage plus the extra damage from the curse and the bonus from my duelist ability per attack, brings this 102 points," he smugly perched his chin on top of his hands as the table gaped at him. You gulped and looked down at the beholder's character sheet, "Y-You just took o-over half of his hit points in one round..." His grin widened at the information, "What, like it's hard?" You never got the chance to finish the game, as Satan burst into his demon form and pounced on Lucifer, the eldest laughing like a mad man, while Levi tore up his character sheet in a fit of jealous rage. Levi never asked to play with everyone again after that. ***This was just so self-indulgent and I just- I loved it. It combined two of my favourite things and I have never been happier. This was more crack than fluff, but either way, it was fun and I hope you nerds out there enjoyed it 🥰 Thanks again for the request @bagelsinatoaster!*** Taglist: @mimik248 @roseytoesy @ester-is-here