#so they may have to be immortalized in a short story

[that-ineffable-devil]

Meet the Character: Mercury

TTRPG: Cyberpunk RED

Pronouns: They/Him

Role: Solo Rockerboy (orator/singer)

Age: Indeterminate--appears late 20s/early 30s

A quick summary I provided on a previous post:

Imagine Rick Gonzalez and Robbie Daymond had a love child with the dress sense and body language of Klaus Hargreeves, the goofy yet undeniable sex appeal of David Tennant, and Michael Sheen's attitude and ability to serve cunt in any situation. That's Mercury.

Appearance

Knowing that appearance and swagger are genuinely the most persuasive arguments during a negotiation in Night City, Mercury has invested much in maintaining and improving his image. Their nails are always neatly self-manicured, typically painted all black save for the ring finger on each hand, which is usually a crimson or orange. He is rarely seen without makeup--and has never been seen without his bold, black eyeliner by anyone but his twin sister, Rhapsody.

Physique & Physical Appearance

Standing at a solid 5'3" and rail thin, Mercury is often considered a "little guy" by those who underestimate him. Their thin frame belies the wiry, Nightcrawler-esque musculature underneath, honed from a life growing up on the streets in Belize. You don't survive as many scrapes as Mercury without having the athleticism and wit to get quickly out of reach.

Their café con leche skin is dotted with moles and individual freckles, and starkly contrasts the white of their surprisingly well-cared-for teeth. His top and bottom canines are filed to wickedly sharp points--just enough to look uncanny when he smiles.

Their long hair is a flame-like ombre that starts at a shimmering metallic crimson at the roots, gently graduating to a flaming orange, then yellow-gold as it cascades down their chest. He keeps much of the right side of his scalp closely shaved to display the intricate orange and gold EMP threading that glimmers in script-like patterns. They maintain well-trimmed and cared-for black facial hair that somehow still manages to work with their wildly unnatural hair.

His hooded, almond-shaped eyes give the appearance of calm nonchalance, despite his constant vigilance. Their trademark golden snake-eye contacts have become such a part of their persona that no one knows the natural color hidden beneath them. His thick black brows play an enormous role in every part he plays, though his right brow is marred by a scar towards the outer corner--one encounter he only narrowly escaped.

Piercings and Light Tattoos

Piercings and light tattoos are extremely common in Mercury's line of business, and he is no exception. Their ears are studded and dripping with various, asymmetrical piercings, all black and crimson metal. The black bar piercing their tongue is set with a smooth, red, heart-shaped gem. Glittering black snake-fang piercings adorn each nipple, though they are often covered--Mercury must leave something to the imagination, after all.

Their arms, which are nearly always on display, are decked out in vibrant light tattoos.

Starting at his neck, a crimson red lancehead viper curls down his left arm, the snake's mouth open wide as it reaches his wrist displaying glowing silver fangs and golden eyes. The words "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" are inscribed in flaming orange along the snake's body, the words facing outward for all to see.

On the inner part of their right forearm, the name "Rhapsody" is written in brilliant orange ornate script, surrounded by black musical notes lined in glowing gold.

On both hands, each finger holds a ring of crimson light that covers the flesh between the first and second knuckles (and the knuckle and base of the thumbs).

Clothing and Accessories

Mercury is nothing if not well-dressed for the role they play.

His sleeveless and hooded black leather duster jacket bears faint red EMP threading designs, and terminates at a sharp angle around his knees. The crimson, feather-patterned lining is rarely seen, but made of high-quality and durable silk and holds many pockets of various sizes. A pair of large, crimson EMP-thread wings fold across the back, wrapping around to the front.

The top beneath their jacket is a tightly-fitted crimson sleeveless turtleneck that's just a smidge too short, leaving a small expanse of skin exposed between its hem and Mercury's pants. Two stylized, orange devil horns glow a bright orange around his collarbone, while a matching devil tail begins in the lower back, wraps around the middle twice, before terminating with the tip pointing up at his face.

Their tight nylon-like pants tuck neatly into their boots, a thick stripe of flame ombre color running down the front and back of each leg starting at the waistline. The pants are further held in place by a set of black suspenders with red metal accents.

His boots are stylized black leather knee-high combat boots with crimson soles and accents. They use a complex series of buckles and leather straps across the front to keep them on their feet--or at least, that's the way it seems. Mercury's actually broken them in so thoroughly that they can quickly and easily be removed or put on without fuss.

Despite their constant use of contacts, no one survives in the City long without some form of eyeshades. Mercury keeps a pair of crimson red, round, mirrored lenses in sturdy black metal frames. Perforated black metal "blinders" cover the sides of the frames, helping to hide any radiant glow from his eyes while still maintaining peripheral vision. The perforations are shaped like small stars.

The final accents are a series of inexpensive metal and silicon rings across their fingers and a gorgeous, glittering black cybernetic snake necklace with glowing red-orange eyes. The necklace moves about on its own, but has no combat capabilities or other function. No one is certain whether the necklace is sentient, but it does sometimes appear to react to situations and comments. It typically rests around Mercury's neck by clamping its jaws around part of its body, the rest of its tail trailing down his chest.

(Simplified) Backstory

Family

Mercury grew up on the streets of Belize with their twin sister, Rhapsody. Their parents were betrayed by a close family friend (or family member, details unknown)--a fact Mercury is unaware of. Their parents were gone before Mercury and Rhapsody could form any concrete memories of them. Mercury doesn't even know whether their parents or alive or dead--and does everything he can not to think about it. Due, in part, to this, an undercurrent of rage, betrayal, and abandonment issues color their interactions with people, but they have to be particularly stressed to show it.

After being abandoned at such a young age, the twins made a childhood pact to never leave the other behind for any reason. A promise that family would always mean everything. But life often has other plans, and as often happens with siblings in a place like Night City, they were eventually pulled in different directions. Rhapsody moved onto a more luxurious life as a lounge singer and personal entertainer, with a whole host of wealthy patrons. Rhapsody eventually cut ties with Mercury, sending a handwritten letter by courier to say goodbye--she knows how much they value this archaic form of communication. Despite that, Mercury refuses to believe she wrote actually wrote it, thinking someone had paid her off to stay away from him--and yet he still keeps the note on him at all times. In truth, Mercury may have pushed her away subconsciously--partly out of self-preservation and partly because they thought she would have a better chance in life without them.

After losing their sister, they threw themself into their work, picking up singing and speaking gigs at nightclubs all across Night City--along with more than a few lovers along the way. Despite their carnal predilections, Mercury has indeed had three true romances in their life.

Love Life

cw: death/suicide/violence

Anthony, his first love--oh he was beautiful. And kind and caring. Anthony believed in a world beyond the executive and corporate horrors they lived in each day. Unfortunately, he burned too brightly. Barely a year into their relationship, Anthony died in a horrific fire--one Mercury is unconvinced was an accident, despite police reports.

Then there was Phoenix--oh how they soothed Mercury's soul and brought them back from the brink of destruction after the loss of Anthony. Phoenix truly lived up to their name, a brilliant life rising from the ashes of the flames that destroyed Mercury's world. Then, a mere two years later, Phoenix's implants drove them to cyber-psychosis, and they tried to rip Mercury--who barely escaped--to shreds. He never went back to find out what happened, leaving all his belongings in the ruins of the home they'd made.

And finally--Eve, Mercury's latest--and last--great love. For all his swagger, Mercury could not believe he'd turned the head of such a majestic creature. She was everything--beautiful, talented, smart, tough, wise. When she sang, Mercury could believe in the existence of angels. But Eve was not without demons...and one day, they took her from Mercury forever. He found her in their shared cargo space, splayed along the now darkly-stained couch. She didn't even leave a note.

Personality

After losing their parents and sister, a series of truly tragic romances, and a harrowing experience with a particular Exec that tried to buy (and then capture, when Mercury refused) them, Mercury keeps all people at a less-than-healthy distance and can't stand most of them, though you wouldn't know it from their interactions. They've mastered the art of being disarmingly charming, and can make almost anyone feel adored and flattered while keeping themself out of harm's way.

On the surface, they're the most friendly and gregarious person you've ever met--especially for a place like Night City. But inside, they know that people bring pain and danger--and worst of all, they always eventually leave.

Values, Beliefs, and Motivations

Above all things, they value these two: their sister and their word. Despite their estrangement, Mercury still considers Rhapsody their whole heart and would do anything for her--except sell out and join her serving the wealthy and powerful. It hurts him to be estranged from her, but he'd never admit it.

They've seen too much bad in society to truly trust people anymore--and yet some small shred of hope still glimmers within their soul. A hope that people are, in fact, innately good and kind--they're just driven to misdeeds by societal pressures, fear, and hurt. Despite his superficial cynicism, his music and speeches show a very different side of him. One that they rarely show off-stage. One that inexorably draws them back to people, despite their need to protect themself.

And just because Mercury doesn't believe in trusting others doesn't mean they are equally untrustworthy. Oh, they'll lie--all day, any day. But if they give their word, they will abide by it, no matter what--which is why they give it so sparingly.

Mercury is subconsciously haunted by the constant rotation of abandonment and the cruel reality of their childhood, but they repress it by being constantly busy. If they have too much downtime, they begin to spiral out of control. So they are constantly writing new material, doing shows at nightclubs all across the city every night, and occasionally sinking into the arms of whichever patron was just eager enough to play and interesting enough to be worth the time and effort.

They believe that if people would stop catering to Execs and corporations and band together against the oppressive technology of this age, life would improve for everyone--something impossible to achieve under the current regime.

That's not to say they don't approve of (or use) tech--they absolutely do. But Mercury knows tech has gone too far, and that corporations have made everyone dependent on their technology (and by extension, the corporations themselves). So, they speak against corporate rule and plutocracy, advocating for turning to history as a means of fighting against their oppressors--particularly the French Revolution.

Stats

Mercury is built for negotiation, persuasion, charm, and rapid escape. They are, quite literally, a lover--not a fighter. Cyberpunk RED does not offer character progression in the same sense as some other TTRPGs, so their stats will largely stay the same unless we have time and money for gear and cyberwear upgrades.

Base Stats

Skills

Intelligence: 7/8

Reflexes: 8/8

Dexterity: 6/8

Technology: 6/8

Cool: 7/8

Willpower: 6/8

Luck: 7

Move: 3/8

Body: 5/8

Empathy: 5/7 (lost some due to implants)

I've invested extra points into the following skills:

Conceal/Reveal Object (INT)

Concentration (WILL)

Perception (INT)

Athletics (DEX)

Contortionist (DEX)

Stealth (DEX)

Brawling (a bit) (DEX)

Evasion (DEX)

Acting (COOL)

Conversation (EMP)

Human Perception (EMP)

Personal Grooming (COOL)

Persuasion (COOL)

Streetwise (COOL)

Trading (COOL)

Wardrobe & Style (COOL)

Education (INT)

Language (Streetslang) (INT)

Language (Creole) (INT)

Local Expert (INT)

First Aid (TECH)

Pick Lock (TECH)

Pick Pocket (TECH)

Player Note: You'll notice some visual cues from Crowley (Good Omens) and maybe Freddie Mercury, because they were my initial inspirations for their appearance. However, nearly everything about the character, from country of origin to number of past loves, was rolled for on a table--I just added some extra color to them. Also, I have no experience with the Cyberpunk games prior to this invitation, so anachronistic criticism means nothing to me.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Now I need a lab safety wizard! U

se your PPE, do not microwave food or eat food. Specially in the Ethidium bromide area. Stop touching things with gloves that touched contaminated areas pLEAse!

You can see I'm frustrated lol

I have sent a helpful Lab Safety Gnome your way. May he guide you, and any students in your proximity to respect the Lab Safety Rules.

[serpentface]

GOD AND HYENA AT THE DAWN OF THE SECOND WORLD

[A short Cholemdinae folktale in a body of creation stories, explaining why all hyenas have penises and how they got their short(ish) tails]

God summoned all the animals to the First Lake, the only place left untouched by the fire that had ravaged the first world. It was here that they breathed death into the animals and thus made them mortal, and it was here that they separated them into male and female.

God cut the female skin from each animal's penis, and so they made all the animals male. And God took these cut skins and red clay and shaped these into the forms of each animal. They placed their living spirit into each, and breathed life and death into each body of clay. And so God made a female for each animal. They did this tirelessly until almost every animal in creation was mortal and paired.

Hyena, however, was not one of them. He avoided the assembly altogether. He was quite fond of being immortal, you see, and didn't want God getting anywhere near his penis. He liked himself the way he was, thank you very much.

And he had good reason to like himself. He was spotted and striped and big and strong, and had a lovely long tail that he carried high with pride. He considered himself the handsomest of all animals by a long shot. And he had all the strengths that would one day make him the best of all wild hunters- his teeth were sharp and brutal, his jaws could crack bone, and he could run for days on end without tiring.

But alone in the dawning of the second world and without other hyenas for council, he sorely lacked wisdom. In fact, he was an utter fool. Hyena felt very confident that he could simply outrun God.

Hyena set off in the pitch dark, running east towards the great distant mountains from which God would be reborn. He hoped to cross them and hide on the edge of the world before dawn. He ran with all his might all night long, but the sky began to grow light before he even reached the foot of the mountains.

Cursing his misfortune, he turned tail and ran straight west. God rose behind him and could surely see him, but they were still far away. Hyena figured he had a good chance of reaching the sea before God did. He could hide underwater and would just have to figure out what to do from there.

All day Hyena ran, and to his dismay, God came closer and closer. First they were behind him, then overhead, and finally the day's shadows grew long and Hyena found himself running directly towards God. There was no escape.

And God had seen Hyena, and took the form of a human to touch down upon the earth in front of him. When Hyena saw God approaching, he panicked and began to dig a hole in the scorched, dry earth. Hearing footfalls right in front of him, he thrust himself as deep into the ground as he possibly could. His nose broke through to the underworld and his whole body fit in the hole, but his long tail trailed out from behind.

“I can see you, Hyena.” God said. “Are you going to come out now?”

Hyena poked his tail straight up out of the ground.

“I don’t know any Hyena,” Hyena said. “I’m a stalk of maize.”

“Ah! I almost didn’t recognize you, Maize. I suppose the fire is what has left you so brown and bare of your leaves.” God said.

“Yep,” said Hyena. “The fire did it. Quite a shame.”

“That certainly is a shame. And this ground is quite barren too, you won’t do very well here. I think I'll cut you down and plant you somewhere better, that you may spread your seeds and feed my people.”

“Please don’t.” said Hyena.

God leaned down and breathed death into Hyena, so making him mortal. And when Hyena still did not emerge, God sighed, shrugged their shoulders, and cut Hyena's tail right in half.

Hyena remained in his hole, yowling and whimpering, and so God could not separate him into male and female like they did with all the other animals. Still, God went about fashioning another hyena. They shaped the body out of red clay, and placed the cropped tail on its rear. God placed a piece of their living spirit into the second hyena, and breathed life and death into him.

And so the second hyena came into being, with his body shaped like the first in every way. And God returned to the sky and went on their way.

The first hyena remained in his hole long after God had vanished into the sea, humiliated and unaware of his new company. The second, growing bored and impatient, stuck his neck down the hole and dragged the first out by his rump.

The first hyena growled in indignant fury, thinking his day had just gone from bad to worse, but he softened upon seeing his new counterpart. This was a creature like himself: a little short of tail, spotted and striped and big and strong, and almost as handsome as he was. He was instantly enamored. The pair of hyenas trotted off into the bush under the rising light of the newborn moons and stars.

The two spent most of the night figuring out the complicated logistics of mating. It was an awkward affair given their matching anatomy, and required a good deal of balance and even more patience. But they worked out a system well enough by morning, and the second hyena soon fell pregnant.

He was impregnated through his penis and had to give birth through it too, and so would all his children and all his children's children. The hyena today still has this painful lot in life. But he is proud nonetheless, for he is the best of all wild hunters, and he alone still walks in the body God first made him in (albeit with a shorter tail).

NOTES:

The notion that the tail of a hyena is cropped (in spite of being of fairly decent size and not notably shorter than most carnivorans) comes from the presence of the king hyena in the same region. The latter bears noted resemblance to a hyena and generally assumed to be a related (though this is not actually the case). Their most pronounced anatomical difference (other than size and bulk, and the hyena's androgyny) is the king hyena's very long, catlike tail.

The king hyena is often cited as the 'older brother' of the hyena in animal folktales, and Cholemdinae and South Wardi tales (both deriving from recent shared ancestry) describe the hyena as having lost half of his tail (and often being jealous of his big brother for this and other reasons).

---

The reason why God can't just sculpt a vagina into the second clay hyena is not based upon hard logical practicality, but has meaning. A human body with a penis, foreskin, and scrotum is regarded as its most fundamental form, the way the body was first created and a reflection of God. This body in of itself is traditionally regarded as neither male or female but carrying the potential for both. The foreskin is the element of female potential, and it is removed to make a person truly a man.

It would be naturally understood that God, when first creating female animals, would shape this androgynous body out of clay, and would require the female element to be separated from a preexisting animal to make this female counterpart. Once these two bodies came into existence and began to reproduce, females could occur naturally within the womb from the model of their mother.

---

The 'translation' of God's pronouns as 'they' here reflects a unique pronoun used in the source language. This pronoun refers to God, and to people in this society's 'genderless' space. I use this as opposed to the Wardi 'It', because the latter is exclusively used for God and never used to describe humans.

The animals (in spite of being considered genderless for the bulk of this story) are referred to with 'he', as each of the first animals was made male, and became the interactive element of each kind of animal's collective Spirit after their deaths. When animal spirits are invoked in religious practice or these folktales, they are always described as 'he'.

---

It is not directly mentioned in this story, but Hyena's brief time in the underworld (with his nose sticking through) exposed him to the evil spirits who haunt the dead in their travels. The hyena's cackling 'laugh' is partly explained with his boisterous nature, but is also something he learned from hearing the shrieks of underworld spirits, and uses to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.

His exposure to the underworld is also cited as why hyenas are involved in Cholemdinae funerary rites (being a fairly close analogue to the guide/guardian dog in contemporary Wardi funerals, though exclusively in effigy form). Hyena spent some time dangling between the underworld and the world of the living, and is the most powerful animal to be familiar with the underworld realm. Hyena's spirit would later be tasked by God with guiding the dead through the underworld to help them reach rebirth.

---

This story would be told to an audience already familiar with the creation narrative, and starts late into the story. The creation narrative is as such:

God is the first being. They are referred to as the First Ancestor, though they are sometimes referred to with the title of Od. The creation story does not linger on the creation of the land (it tends to be implied as already present), rather focuses on God's own emergence and usually skips ahead to the creation of life.

God came into existence at the boundary of sea and sky. God is neither male or female, but carries inside themself the potential for both. They are the sun, and watch over the world during their daily travels. They hold the breaths of life and death within themself and are not truly immortal. Rather, they die in the ocean each night, travel through the underworld, and are reborn at the underworld's entrance in the great mountains (the Blackmane range) far to the east. Their nightly journey through the underworld is harrowing; it is the realm of evil spirits that God keeps at bay with its nightly self-sacrifice. When they decided to create life in their loneliness, they wanted it to be free of this burden.

God is a being that is powerful and wise, but they are not omnipotent, nor are they completely infallible. They are benevolent towards their creations, and desired to create a world without the burden of death, but this turned out to be a mistake.

They first created a world they saw as perfect. They shaped animals out of red clay, gave them a piece of their living spirit, and gave them only the breath of life, rendering them immortal.

This first world was a paradise- the plants grew in great abundance without need for rain, and freely gave their gifts to the animals. There was no death, no need of killing, all the days were pleasantly warm. But it was not truly perfect. It became significantly less of a paradise at night, when the world was cold and pitch-dark in God's absence.

Many of the animals grew restless with this way of things, and decided to steal God's fire so that they could be in the deity's presence and comfort (and continue their revelries) without end.

The theft occurred successfully, with three birds snatching the last sparks of solar fire in bundles of grass as God died in the ocean. Hespaean carried the fire in his beak, and it singed his face and back black and he dropped into the sea (becoming flightless and aquatic). Crow carried the fire in his talons and lasted longer, but his whole body was singed and he dropped his fire into the sea. Dragon, the most powerful of all birds, made it all the way to land, but was totally aflame and in tremendous pain by the time he crashed to the earth. The fire began to spread in the grasses and soon grew out of control. Most of the world was consumed overnight. Almost all the land was aflame, the rivers and lakes dried, and the sea diminished to mere pools.

The animals were immortal and could not die, but could feel pain and fear, so this was a distinctly awful state of affairs. Some fled to the First Lake (the great crater hill range and lake to the northeast, called Sons of Creation in the Wardi sphere), the only place that ended up untouched by the fire. Some fled into the remnants of the sea (and were thus transformed). Some found other ways of evading the flames (often explaining unique aspects of each animal- the human hung from the tallest tree he could find, and his hair was burnt off everywhere but his head).

God was reborn again the next morning, and to their great dismay, all of creation was on fire. They went to great work to stop it. They transformed a serpent to create the rains (creating the sky serpent, a lesser but highly venerated deity-spirit of storms and rainbows) and doused the world in a great storm.

When all was said and done, they realized that their perfect, deathless creation was not to be, and summoned all the animals to the First Lake in order to create a second world.

Some animals contributed directly to the creation of the second world. The many-horned Ox broke off three of his horns, and God used them to create the moons. Several animals volunteered to become the stars (forming constellations). With the moon and stars, the world would now have light during God's nightly absence. Dragon (ringleader of the fire thieves) still had some of the fires smouldering in his long tailfeathers, and became the spirit of lightning (thus fires would still come to the world (and would eventually be harnessed by people) but could not destroy the world altogether thanks to the rains).

God also realized this new world could not sustain itself without death. The existence of death would ultimately prevent such a catastrophe from ever happening again, and a cycle of death and birth (akin to God's own) would restore the world from any devastation. They made each animal mortal by breathing death into them, but gave them the means of perpetuating themselves by separating them into male and female. God cut the foreskins from the animals and thus made them male, and then used the severed foreskins along with red clay (used to shape life to begin with) to create female animals of each kind. Each animal was no longer alone and unique, but could propagate indefinitely and fill the world with their peoples. Individuals would die, but their deaths would ensure that the world could cycle away from its worst extremes, and the collective would live on forever.

The hyena is noted as an exception. Hyenas have virtually no sexual dimorphism and their sex is extremely difficult to distinguish (the only visually identifiable difference is the shape of the tip of the female's pseudopenis), and this is not broadly recognized. Hyenas can reproduce like anything else, but they have to mate (rather awkwardly) via insertion of a penis into another hyena's (pseudo)penis, and give birth through this same structure. This is a notable curiosity among animals, and is explained as the hyena having remained in its primordial genderless form.

---

The Cholemdinae people are notably the only society indigenous to this region that practices circumcision in the present day, seen as the means of initiation into manhood via removing the 'female' physical potential from the androgynous youth. This would not have been wholly unique to them, but was lost in other groups in the process of assimilation into Wardi identity. The Wardinae tribe (ancestral to Most of the South Wardi population, whose division from the Cholemdinae defined the two groups) is definitively recorded as having practiced circumcision as well, and in relatively recent history. You can still find some (mostly elderly) men in isolated South Wardi villages who are circumcised, but the practice has lost its religious elements and is dying out. Circumcision in the Imperial Wardi cultural sphere is broadly regarded as a form of mutilation and sometimes described as an outright 'barbaric' practice.

Circumcision (or lack thereof) plays a role in the Cholemdinae culture's additional gender spaces. One space applies to people assigned male at birth and encompasses most deviation from fundamental aspects of the male gender role, when manifested obviously from early childhood. (This encompasses both what would be considered cis male homosexuality and transfeminity, though not all cis gay men or trans women would actually end up in this gender space in practice. It is not 1:1 with any set of LGBT identities). These individuals are left uncircumcised and considered genderless in a similar capacity to God, though take female social roles. They are referred to with the same pronoun and other gendered articles used for God, which I translate here as 'they'.

The other role applies to people assigned female at birth and is significantly more restrictive to enter- it requires successful completion of initiation into manhood on their first attempt, seen as divine confirmation that they are meant to be men (this is a rite where a gazelle is run to death on foot in a potentially multi-day solo persistence hunt). They are circumcised via the removal of the clitoral hood. They are considered to be a subcategory of the male gender space, and take male gender roles, and are referred to as men. They are differentiated from other men by being priests in society, which is an obligation of taking on this role. They are required to be celibate (meaning no PIV sex rather than no sex at all) and to remain unwed.

---

Cholemdinae religion is a living tradition and should not be regarded as a static fossil of older beliefs (or devoid of syncretic elements). It is, however, one of the most intact representatives of the monotheist + animistic traditions of the proto-Wardi groups that settled the central-southern grassland and scrub that were heavily changed (and in many instances fully lost) under Burri occupation, assimilation into Wardi identity, and the development of the Faith of the Seven Faced God. Cholemdinae practices survived with significantly less change due to most of their land never being directly occupied (this is scrub and dry grassland best suited to nomadic pastoralism and hunting+gathering and not colonial extraction of grain) and the group at large never assimilating into Wardi identity (this is not universal on an individual or community level; a small but significant minority of the South Wardi population in the Imperial Wardi sphere has more recent Cholemdinae ancestry than Wardinae).

Some shared factors are a result of syncretism due to cultural exchange (and there are folk sects of the Faith that are heavily syncretic with Cholemdinae practices). The most obvious is the adoption of the word Od for the sun + God. Most of the contemporary Cholemdinae people use the terms 'First Ancestor' and 'Od' for the deity, sometimes using the latter to refer to the sun with more specificity. It is generally acknowledged that the Wardi Od and the First Ancestor ultimately refer to the same being, but many consider the Wardi Od to be a misinterpretation of the same fundamental truth.

Some shared factors are not a result of syncretism and rather are cousins to older proto-Wardi beliefs that are still in the Faith. Most significant here are the concept of a primordial female sea and male sky that predated any beings, an androgynous God (though in this case being Neither male or female, while the Wardi Od is dual-sexed), an ox giving his horns to make the moons, death being brought into the world to kick off its present state, the centrality of the cycle of death and rebirth, and God having sacrificed themself in some capacity to preserve the order of the world.

[tales-of-wocdes]

Tales of Wocdes: The Silver Protector

A WIP Twine game! The demo is now available (demo updated 27.10.2024, ~103 500 words with code inside text and different branches):

Also about 11 k words of bonus content published as a part of the demo 13.12.2024. See this post.

Tales of Wocdes: The Silver Protector is a high fantasy interactive fiction made in Twine. During the story, your protagonist will change from a helpless child to a Silver Protector, an elite warrior and protector. In time, you may wield powerful magic, or be a master of the blade.  

The game is in early development. All content is subject to change.

There is also now a kofi page.

Premise

Wocdes is a world full of magic, monsters, and secrets. No beings in this world embody all three better than the Ancients,  godlike in power and unbeatable in battle. Incredibly wise and compassionate. Incredibly terrible and cruel. Immortal and glorious. Petty and vengeful. Or so the stories go. 

Not that you know the stories. Why would you? You are a child kidnapped for unknown purposes.  You barely know anything about yourself. Your life is one of pain and suffering at the hands of people you do not know. 

In a moment of desperation, a plea leaves your lips. Or perhaps it is only in your mind. Unexpectedly something hears you and will never ignore a broken child alone in the dark asking for help. You are saved but you are permanently scarred by your experiences. Given into the care of the newly created Orphanage of Firgrat, here is where your journey truly begins. How will you cope with your past and current reality?  Can you survive the cruel world of Wocdes, the weight of your trauma? Can you help others survive?  Can you grow up, make friends, learn to love, and become a real person again?

What to look forward to

In this game, you will (eventually) be able to:

Customize your character, from their appearance and gender (male, female, non-binary) to their abilities and personality.

Admittedly, your characters emotional development has taken a bit of a hit due to recent events, leaving them a bit confused in general about... everything. 

You can add elements of fantasy races to your character's appearance, such as a tail, wings, pointy ears and many more.

Discover why you were kidnapped, eventually.

Protect those you feel deserve it, become stronger for yourself or to protect others.

Grow up alongside other orphans and kids from the city, journey through childhood at the orphanage and the surrounding city, to adulthood with responsibilities. 

Develop your relationships with your fellow orphans and other companions, maybe even get into a romance. 

Speaking of romance, the author aims to offer an option to be completely and utterly dense about romance, like completely oblivious to the degree people worry about you. Or maybe you will be a smoother operator.

Go on adventures and missions, both innocent and not, in an original fantasy world full of magic, wonder and cruelty.

Characters

Primary

The twins Atru (m) and Azha (f): The original inhabitants of the orphanage and the only children already there when you arrive. Both twins have short blond hair and green eyes. Atru is a seemingly silent emotionless boy who clings to his sister Azha. Azha is a little girl shaped ray of sunshine and well-meaning mischief. And chatter!

More characters will be filled out later. A bit more info is available here and here.

Secondary

Havard (m): The head custodian of the Orphanage. A father figure to all the children. His duty is to guide the children, and it is a duty he takes very seriously.

Lexia (f): The Silver Protector in charge of you. Young, excitable and strong. One of the first to be chosen for the new elite order called the Silver Protectors.

Alessa (f): The custodian in charge of the twins. A sweet young somewhat shy woman who the twins adore, both in their own ways. 

Sandor (m): The Silver Protector in charge of the twins. A good-natured and somewhat shy young man often trailing after the twins with a fond look. 

The Ancients

RAFO (Read And Find Out). You might meet some. 

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction! Any potential resemblance of appearances, names, or personalities of characters with people in real life, living or dead, is coincidental.

This story is meant for adults. The game contains depictions of violence, blood, gore, sexually suggestive content, black humor, explicit language etc. A more complete list can be found in game. Like everything else, this list is subject to change. 

The game contains dealing with traumatic events. The author is not a qualified medical professional, and the in game responses to trauma are not in any way encouraged.  If you are uncomfortable with what you are reading, please refrain from continuing until you feel better. Or drop the story entirely. None of this is worth your health.

[yan-lorkai]

This idea has been on my mind for a while and was wondering if I could request a Yandere! Lilia Vanrouge x Male! Vampire! Reader platonic headcanons

I’ll try and shorten this as best as I can, but long story short, M! Reader was turned into a vampire when he was 13 years old. He had a rare illness that shortened his lifespan. His parents were desperate to keep their baby alive. Fast forward to NRC present day, M! Reader is approximately 16,000 years old. Due to his young transformation, he’s stayed in the body of a 13-year-old boy. His classmates assume he’s a child prodigy. He casually mentions his real age during Halloween. Lilia lowkey brain freezes since he’s literally been babying M! Reader since he was first sorted into Diasomnia, and now he’s just finding out that he is in fact the baby in this situation because his 700 years of experience are nothing compared to 16,000 years.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ a/n: This was so funny, help-- imagine you dote and baby talk with someone and then you found out that this person is older than you. Tbh this happens with me all the time 🤡🤡 y'all I'm 20 but I have the same face since I was like 12. Anyway, I hope u like darling!

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ You must think this is funny. But you can see Lilia going through the 5 stages of grief in the short span of 10 seconds. First of all, he is in disbelief. Completely, utterly disbelief as he stares at you. As a general, he knows you're not lying and this leaves him with conflicted emotions he has to deal with before approaching you again (which happens quite quickly to be honest, Lilia is old enough to know that the age difference doesn't matter all that much. You're immortal, he is immortal. So what?)

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ He understands the struggle you may go through, looking this young but being this older, alone while you wander the world without ever stopping. As another immortal being who fought and saw death, Lilia can relate with your problems more than anyone, even if he is so much younger than you, he is still too paternal with you, it's the fae instinct.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Which isn't to say that you don't tease him for being small, cute and younger than you are. Yet, for the first time in a long time, you feel you can simply relax and stop being so on guard. Someone else can see you and it's offering you a shoulder to lean on, so you take that offer; even more because it's hard to be alive this long and being so lonely. You sometimes miss your family, though you can't remember at all their faces or voices, or even the time you spent with them. It was so long ago.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Both of you develop a codependent relationship where you fall into the role of a dutiful son and him into the doting father - it's so strange at first because you can't remember how a dad acts nor what they do with their sons and the time passing doesnt help at all. Though age doesn't matter. What matters is that both of you are healing and learning with one another slowly.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ If you're ever feeling hungry, he lets you drink from him or from a cup if you're uncomfortable. Though, he can help you hunt for blood if needed. He knows some students who were talking badly about you that nobody would miss.

.⁠｡⁠*⁠♡ Overall, he will adopt you and introduce you to his other children, hoping that all of you get along, even though your secret is very much safe with him if you don't want him to spoil it to them or to anyone else.

[lych33dragoncookie]

Only the masterpieces that survive the fiercest flames earn their place in history.

(Analysis post)

Alright, they absolutely cooked this update. Like, undeniably so. I was admittedly not that huge of a fan of the last 2 beast yeast chapters we got; they had really good ideas, and Mystic Flour is a wonderful character, but... Dark Cacao hasn't really been done enough with for it to feel like it had the amount of weight it could have, and it really doesn't feel like much about him actually changed at all. Combine that with a complete lack of interesting dynamics and you have a lot of very good and genuinely pretty well thought out story concepts with extensive cultural research, executed in a way that feels more like a traditional old-school story that weakens the attachment the audience feels to the components of said story.

Here, though? I have no complaints so far. It was absolutely wild in fact, to the point where I don't think it's gonna happen again (nor am I entirely sure it should ever happen again). This was back to back, non-stop, smack to the face one after the other. The moment the first point of conflict came up, it was just shit happening left and right; even in the mandatory moment of rest where we chill out for a bit, it's revealed that hey, these sandstorms? Yeah the sand is actually ashes. It's the remains of all the people that live here. Whether they died off on their own or were killed by someone else.

And if that wasn't enough, very shortly after;

... It's fucking crack.

So, people die and kill each other here very frequently, and not only are their remains visibly on display, their ashes also become sandstorms that make it near impossible to navigate the land; on top of being something that people snort like cocaine to become more energetic and aggressive.

We started fucking wild, dude. This whole thing is pulling no punches.

Though, I do wanna note; I really, really enjoyed the interactions between Smoked Cheese and Golden Cheese. It shows not only how forgiving she is, but how these two have known each other for an incredibly long time, and know each other well. They're incredibly comfortable around each other, despite it all, and despite how brazen and Very Much Not Strategic the queen here can be. I really, really enjoyed them.

Always fun to see a recovering villain do things for good, but in their own unique way that's still not exactly heroic but definitely effective and, at times, very gratifying.

Though I enjoyed all this, there's one thing I wanna talk about above all else.

The star of the show. Note that every single part was enjoyable, of course, and he wouldn't be half as interesting without Golden Cheese Cookie to serve as a parallel, but they've cooked up something special here.

So far, Burning Spice's extent of onscreen appearance is very, very short, but... I don't think I need to tell you that he's already made an impact and a half.

Christ, that's violent. With the sound effects and everything too, god damn. But, I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a pretty superficial source of judgement for this character. It's very very telling of what kind of person he is now, what he's all about, what he's willing to do, what he likes doing, but...

More than anyone else in recent memory, the devil is in the details. So let's look at those details.

Nothing too much so far, other than how much he absolutely loves destruction, but there's already a trend; namely on "Nothing lasts forever. It's as simple as that", "In the end, everything becomes dust.", and "You, too, shall see that destruction is the only way.". There seems to be an infatuation with the natural process of everything fading away, turning to dust and dying out. An entirely honest one, believing that there is just about nothing else to life. These will be important to keep in mind.

Here, we see a bit of his current relationship with his own immortality. He doesn't seem to mind the idea of losing it, finding something that may eventually take him down, but he still takes great pride in it. These lines, in text, seem somewhat miserable (and trust me, they definitely are), but the voicework in just about every language conveys that they are said in a more neutral, even potentially proudly manner. Again, not much on their own, but...

Here's where we get into the fun part.

This. This is the crux of their character. At the start, him and Golden Cheese cookie were more or less the same. Benevolent royalty, close and personal with their subjects. Beloved, and loving.

And then, they lost it all.

One way or another, their kingdoms were lost, reduced to almost nothing. They were overcome by grief, desperate, unable to cope with their loss. One tried to latch on as hard as possible. Preserve what she could, blindly, replacing the harsh truth of reality with an idealized, constructed world, where no one would ever have to know pain ever again. She shut herself off, and retreated in the safety and peace of a false reality. She would rather have lied to both herself and all her subjects than face reality. And eventually, she had to learn to move on. Let herself and her kingdom heal more naturally, facing reality. The other, meanwhile, was desperate to let go. He detached himself, trying to move past the pain of loss. But, of course, he couldn't force it to happen. No one can. And so with the grief of losing that which he held dear, continuing to be faced with the reality that nothing is forever, over and over, while he endured, the world slowly turning to ash around them again and again... It's no wonder something in there eventually cracked.

What will it take to destroy me. Nothing is forever, and yet, I am.

Nothing is forever. And yet, I am.

With time, misery turned to mania, and in an attempt to overcome their grief, they embraced it, in the worst way possible. A coping mechanism gone horrendously wrong. That destruction, that loss, the inevitability of death... It's not painful, no. It doesn't have to be. It can be thrilling. Exhilarating. A new reason to live. If all you care about turns to dust anyways, if that's really the only logical destination... Why not have some fun with it? Why not embody that inevitable, unstoppable force? Why not become what you fear, so you no longer have to be afraid anymore?

... You know, at least that's what I think is going on here. The next chapter could contradict this reading, but... From what all we have right now, it seems like Golden Cheese and Burning Spice are two completely different paths for the exact same type of pain. They are, in a way, the same, but diverge in almost complete opposite ways where it counts.

Spice is genuinely equal parts absolutely terrifying and absolutely miserable; a balance that is incredibly hard to strike in writing, but always absolutely fascinating and wonderful to observe when it happens. I have to say, the more I found out about them, the more I couldn't keep my eyes off everything they have going on.

I'm loving every little bit of this update. Mad props to the devs for cooking something up here that I am genuinely incredibly invested in, almost to the same degree as White Lily and Dark Enchantress. Banger update. Absolute S tier material.

TL;DR: Burning Spice is terrifying, miserable, and ridiculously cool. Everything about this update was an absolute merciless flurry of consecutive gut-punches. And I loved every second of it.

... Now we sit and wait for Shadow Milk's release next year.

[ohai-there]

post canon SVSSS x minato hokage era naruto crossover where it's scumplane (bcos i love scumplane) heading to the elemental nations on official business for some reason or another (maybe theres a barrier between their lands to prevent leakage of spiritual energy or somethign) SJ hates being alive purely because it means he's in SQH's debt for ripping him out of SQQ's body that Shen Yuan was inhabiting and reviving SJ (because SY decided to fuck off and live his best life as the demon emperor's wife and Cang Qiong NEEDS a peak lord for Qing Jing)

canonically immortals are extremely beautiful (even SQH is described as a 'proper' face iirc) and SJ is like TOP TIER beauty, but also immortals are sometimes described to have faces 'carved from jade' so I imagine when they step into immortality, they no longer have micro expressions and have like... crazy control over their facial muscles - so it kinda freaks out the ninjas, because the only emotions they can see is exactly what scumplane want them to see (SJ - disgust, usually. SQH - cowardice/flattery)

Scumplane also have 0 sense of danger when it comes to shinobi - they're immortals and old (lets say this is an indetermined amount of time after canon wraps up) so things like mundane steel and mortal poisons mean nothing to them when theyre so old. They also don't even bother holding back their tongues because what can these mortals even do to them? Worse comes to worse, they just seal up the worlds again, or just wait out for all these mortals to die (a strategy they use for troublesome emperors or politicians).

They also bring their disciples (Ming Fan specifically because I want him to have a redemption) and after canon had wrapped up the PIDW's story finished, everyone in the world actually bounced back into their rightful places (e.g. MF suddenly got a second puberty, his face improved to be beautiful as it should be and his intelligence returned to the level that the head disciple of the scholarly peak should be).

I want it to be during Minato hokage's short, short tenure - Minato is 23, a war hero and recently hired as ninja president, Konoha just came out of a war and suddenly the daimyo is paying WELL and hiring for the best teams of Konoha to escort these foreigners who are so otherwordly beautiful and so otherworldly RICH, like, the material of the clothes they wear puts the daimyos court to shame, they can pay in pure gold and stones thrumming with power.

SJ's whole thing is like... based on image. So imagine SQH bowing and being like 'ooh thank you for your hospitality' and SJ just grabbing him by the back of his collar and hauling him up like 'wtf dont even bother bowing to this guy. Have some face. he's only got the same rank as you AND he's a fucking child.'

(He's figured that Daimyo = weak emperor-ish, because what kind of a emperor only has control of such a small land AND has others in nearby lands with the same, competing title????. Hokage & Konoha is like the sects, and all the peak lords of CQS are of the same rank as a sect leader. Of course, they all defer to YQY officially, but tbh all the peaks run like their own individual sects, and SJ has never allowed himself to act below YQY in rank)

During Minato's reign, Orochimaru is still a loyal Konoha shinobi.... his interest in immortals makes him soooooo crazy invested in them....

SJ looks at Orochimaru who's questioning him on immortality and is like, 'out of all these people, you are the closest. Your mind is too unstable, however (ironic, coming from SJ) and you still cling too tightly to the material world. Abandon all worldly matters and immortality may be in your grasp, if the heavens deign it so.' acting like he's a good teacher or something, while SQH is in the background, the voice of reason like 'SHIXIONG WTF!!! WE'RE NOTT SUPPOSED TO BE GIVING UP THE SECRET TO IMMORTALITY TO THE MORTALS OF THE FORBIDDEN REALM????'

Maybe SQH does know they're in the naruto world, and knows what naruto is, (hc that the water walking we see YQY do in the donghua was ripped off from naruto, when SQH was still writing PIDW) but it's been like 200+ years! He can't remember shit!!! This is all new information to him!

[ikol-art]

Hello! I'm trying to get into comics Loki more. I've only read Agent of Asgard though. I was just wondering in what order should I read the comics?

Hi! I'm so sorry I completely missed this ask 🙈

My go to answer for when you want the most important modern Loki comics is this:

-Journey into mystery first (it helps to know what happened in Siege but you don't have to read it), this one will rip your heart out

-Young Avengers after that, which is more fun (but still, it's Loki, the angst is a given)

-Agent of Asgard goes here, including the Original Sin event, loml, reason I exist blah blah so a reread should always be on the table, Al Ewing and Lee Garbett the ultimate combo

After that there's more comic hopping and it can get confusing, but I read all of them so you're getting all of them

-Mighty Thor 2016, I liked Jane Foster as Thor but I have to admit that I mostly read all the non-Loki comics for Loki anyway and skip over parts where he's not involved sometimes 😂

-Infinity wars

-Thor 2018 (vol 5)

-Wolverine infinity watch 2019

-War of the realms 2019

-Loki the god who fell to earth 2019, this is a loki comic again, but it was cut short so we never got to see it's full potential, still fun

-Thor 2020, very healing for brodinsons fans, Al Ewing and Lee Garbett team up for the anniversary issue again

-Marvel defenders beyond 2022, loml goddess of stories loki mwah mwah, Al Ewing remains the best

-Loki 2023, more fem Loki mwah mwah

-Immortal Thor 2023 (still going), SKALD LOKI I REPEAT SKALD LOKI also still praising Al Ewing, and Lee Garbett worked on one of the upcoming issues as well

That's it for the most important parts of Loki's comic journey, yay!

Less plot, more Agent Loki:

-Miss Marvel issue 12

-Squirrel Girl comics, I adore her comics so this is a hint to just read all of those as well

-Doctor Strange issues 381-385 for sorcerer supreme Loki specifically, but he is also in Squirrel Girl

More kid Loki:

-Asgardians of the galaxy

Like feeling things?

-King Thor 2019

-Thor: what if

Want some fun good times?

-Alligator loki

-Thor and loki double trouble

-Marvel meow infinity comic

-House of harkness (still going I believe? But I need to catch up with this one)

Not sure what to say about these but hey:

-Marvel's voices infinity comics (from memory he's in America's, iceman's and Loki presents.. but you don't need these, I read them because Loki)

-Vote loki... if you want to torture yourself, read this, the art style is.. a choice

-Thor season one, this is a more classic comics one, I love Loki's outfit here, also he's a little shit in this, 10/10 recommend

-Mighty valkyries, I don't even remember what happened here, he was in it.. but that's all I know

-Axe judgement day Iron Fist, also not sure what the point of this comic was but it had Loki's aoa design and some flashbacks I think

There's still a lot left out, single issues, small crossover things, but I think you've got enough to read here 😂 (also I may have forgotten things because it's a LOT so if anyone wants to add, feel free)

[thebomb-thebird-andtheburntbitch]

a/n: 1.6k - immortal!reader asks zhongli to tell tales abt guizhong (this is technically a small blurb linked to my fic Dragonfly, however i've tried to make this so you don't *need* to read it to understand this, but feel free to do so regardless! note-the reader was 'dead' during a period of the archon war)

"zhongli, do you have some time?" you, after having just returned home, pop your head into the tearoom on the second floor of your shared home with zhongli. it was on the cusp of evening, the last light of afternoon shifting into deeper colors that will soon give way to nightfall. your partner in which you hope you aren't bothering after his own long day at work sits comfortably at the small round table with a pot of tea. It must still be fresh since the amount in his clay cup still wafts high with steam.

"always for you," he hums. he turns his neck towards the doorway and jerks his chin inwardly in silent invitation. you make your way to the table across from him as he begins to pour new tea into the spare cup he always keeps along with his kettle in case you join him. he has discarded his long-tailed coat and sits in his buttoned collared shirt that has wrinkles of the day creased into it. still, he even makes disheveled clothing look elegant.

he pours your tea and slides it towards you, along with any additives that you may use. honey, sugar cubes and the like. he never used to keep such additions on hand since he was never fond of sweetened teas. but he always wants to accommodate your presence.

"today, the traveler and i made a trip up to cloud retainers abode."

"oh?" he hums, taking a sip of his warm tea. "that is quite the journey."

"it's not so bad with the traveler's ability to access teleport waypoints," you muse, but quickly catch yourself from going on a tangent since that was not the purpose of your attendance of his time. "while she spends more time among humans as xianyun, cloud retainer was very accepting of us having a meal together aside her home at mt. aozang."

"she's become much more hospitable to humans lately. it is a nice change to witness in her demeanor since she was particularly adverse to mortals for so long."

"she's also quite the story teller. she spoke about so many things over such a short meal. i don't think I've quite seen paimon more confused trying to keep up with everything." you chuckle at the recollection and the dizzing swirls that clouded the confused fairy's eyes. zhongli chuckled in tandem.

a comfortable silence falls over the room like a warm blanket. the sun had changed and evening had begun with it's golden hue. zhongli's focus was pointed outside, watching the day's stragglers dot the streets down below. you tap your fingertip on the tabletop softly, wondering if you could really ask about what you want to. just from hearing second hand, you didn't know if it would be a sensitive subject for zhongli if you breached it.

"you're awfully fidgety," he flicks his eyes towards you as you sigh. tearing his face from the direction of the window, he returns his full attention towards you. "is something on your mind, my dear?"

"here sits rex." zhongli's spine locks his posture. "here sits guizhong." you whisper both short phrases. the small table you shared with xianyun, the traveler, and paimon today was the very table she used to share with her rex lapis and guizhong many, many years ago.

maybe this wasn't a good idea.

zhongli's face did not show any anger or resentment, but the way the aura around him shifted? it made you feel guilty for even bringing it up. you sigh, clear your throat, and shake your head.

"i... nevermind. i apologize for bringing that up. please, forget I said anything at all."

silence returned, but it was less comfortable than before. you take a couple sips of your tea, swallowing hard but the liquid warming your chest all the same. zhongli has not lifted his cup, but he has redirected his gaze outside once again. maybe he really would drop the conversation as you insisted.

half way through your cup, your tea started tasting too bitter for your liking and you thought it would be a good time to leave the room altogether. just leave zhongli to his thoughts and maybe preparing some food as another apology for prying into a past that had nothing to do with you.

you set your cup further away from you, a clear sign that you were finished. your chair pushes back and zhongli looks across the table to you. with your downcase gaze to make sure you didn't trip over any of the table legs, you miss the hard swallow of zhongli's that bobbed his apples adam and the near desperate look he shot towards you. like he was pleading with you not to leave him just yet.

"dear, wait-"

"it's getting late, so i'll start dinner."

"hold on," he breathes. joining you by standing to his feet and rounding the table so quickly his hip brushes back the corner. "please, y/n, wait a moment," he steps in front of you. his arms come up to gently rest his hands on your forearms.

zhongli sighs seeing your dejected look. one of his hands come to hook under your chin to bring your gaze up to his. seeing the sliver of guilt in your eyes made his heart ache. his thumb brushes over your cheek and you lean into his touch, making a weak smile run across his lips.

"please don't misunderstand, i'm not angry." his hand slips down your neck. "I'm not angry" -he reiterates with a sigh- "but could you tell me why you're interested?" his palm rests on the crook of your neck now, thumb absentmindedly rubbing softly back and forth across your pulse point. he's always enjoyed feeling your life under his fingertips.

"i've always been interested," you tell him solemnly. "knowing about the god who was at your side when i wasn't, taking care of you. i've always wanted to know about her." you advert your gaze elsewhere with a small pout on your lips. the silence in the room that follows your reply gives you time to clock how you sounded... and you gasp. with a quick motion that zhongli wasn't expecting, you whip your gaze back up towards him and grasp his wrist in your hand firmly. "i'm not jealous or anything!"

"i didn't think you were," he chuckles, continuing his soft thumb stroke across your neck. he wasn't sure if you heard him though since you continue trying to save face that you haven't even sullied.

"really, im not at all. whether you had any romantic feelings for lady guizhong or not has nothing to do with me- or us? this us, of today i mean. or... i guess of the past? i mean during that time i was dead- so to speak anyway- so, i really don't mind if you two were intimate. she seemed like a wonderful god, and so it-"

"y/n," his voice cuts through your nervous rambles as his second hand comes to rest on the opposite side of your neck. you stop speaking and he chuckles at the flustered expression you wear. using the heels of his hands, he lifts your face up by the undersides of your chin to kiss your cheek. you can feel the smile of his lips on your skin. "calm down," he whispers.

your racing pulse does as commanded and soon you were relaxing in his hold.

"guizhong and i were never lovers," he tells you. "she was a dear friend of mine, but even back then, taking a romantic route with someone other than you was never an option for me, rest assured."

"i was never worried about it," you pout again. "if you two were lovers, at least i would've had the satisfaction of knowing you were being taken care of. according to cloud retainer, guizhong was quite the mother hen."

"she cared deeply for others, that's true. still, nothing between us romatically ever happened."

zhongli should've told you about guizhong long ago. he knows this, but still, sometimes talking about his dear lost friend still stings. such a pure and kind soul didn't deserve the ending she got.

your free hand that wasn't loosely wrapped around your lover's wrist, comes to gently place itself against his chest. your palm resting against the center of his torso.

"you truly do not need to tell me anything. i understand." and zhongli knows you do. you're so sincere that sometimes he truly believes you're too good for him. still, he wants to tell you. zhongli wants to tell you, his partner in this long life of his, all about the lord of dust guizhong; about his best friend from an age long past.

zhongli slides his hands off your neck and down your arms to soon lovingly encase your hands in his. without his gloves, you can see the golden veins running through him. sometimes you wonder if zhongli secretly had the sun inside him. the god of old brings your clasped hands to his chin and kisses the top of them, eyes shut gently to take in the warmth of them against his lips and skin.

"please," he whipsers. "rejoin me for some tea? i'll tell you all about her." his eyes open and there's a shimmer of mirth behind their golden hue. he lowers your hands just enough to show off his mouth. his smiling warmly and nostaligically. "she'd surely give me quite the lecture if i did not tell my dearest lover all about her."

as he leads you back to the tea tables, he moves his chair to be beside yours so he can continue to hold your hand. entertwaining his fingers with yours, he strokes your knuckles as he weaves his words together as fluently and elgantly as possible.

telling you silly things, serious things, sad things, happy things. everything he could think about. he watches you laugh and your eyes mist over at her demise. he smiles as you listen to him so intivitely.

"guizhong would have adored you."

a/n pt.2: this was sitting in my drafts foreverrrr and i could never find a way to feel like it was written the way i wanted it to be?? but im tired of trying to fix it so into the wild it goes (i just really wanted to write about guizhong ;-; )

[baldursgate3tempobsessed]

Astarion Very Happy Ending, Part 2

Hey y'all, so I did a part two of this because I love happy, insanely, fluffy romantic endings. So I'm going hard here. There will be one more part!

Also, don't judge my Gale x Shadowheart bs here 💀💀 Long story short, first playthrough that was abanadoned, I picked her orgin and did get sweeped up by the mage man. It has not left my brain since.

Also, this has a time skip! A pretty long one too (10 years)

~

Astarion had been having… thoughts lately. Ideas that he couldn’t quite shake. Nothing bad, no. There really wasn’t much to complain about in his life, not anymore. Not when he could walk in the sun freely, unburdened by parasites and his own vampiric nature. The two of you were free to explore the world with no shackles, not including your religious zealotry. And ironically enough, his own. 

Astarion would never have guessed that he’d ever become a Selune convert. Well… even now convert may have been to strong of a word. Yes, he was immensely appreciative for the whole sun immunity blessing and he did have a newfound respect for the work of her worshippers. But Astarion wasn’t exactly looking for a deity, or anyone, to be subservient to. Not again. No, he’d much rather watch his love do the dirty work for his savior than fully commit himself. Besides, just because he wasn’t devoted to Selune didn’t mean he wasn’t devoted to you. Which might as well have been the same thing. 

Astarion loved you, adored you really, but gods could you be nonsensical at times. He was so happy the two of you had met because someone had to keep this idiotic fanatic alive. Someone to remind you that no darling, not everyone is redeemable. Please put the goblin down.

But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy being your protector. It was the least that he could do considering everything you’d done for him. And he just… liked having a valid excuse to accompany you everywhere. Astarion had never imagined himself to be such a clingy lover, but here he was. The two of you had been attached at the hip for nearly a decade now, with no end in sight. You had built a life together, had friends together, adventures and celebrations that filled his days with endless excitement and amusements.

That is one thing Astarion had to give Selune and her worshippers, they didn’t exactly lead boring lives. Though he supposed half of that had to with just how involved the opposition was. The two of you had slaughtered enough acolytes of Shar over the years for him to know just how covert they really could be. But it wasn’t just bloodsport that made things interesting, though it certainly did help. The exploring for ancient artifacts definitely helped to fill the time, as well as the constant search to find a cure for the rest of his unholy symptoms. 

As great as being in the sun was, Astarion wasn’t quite satisfied with that being the end. It was almost certainly impossible to find a full on cure to being a vampire spawn but… that wasn’t stopping either of you from looking for it. It was morbid, but Astarion wanted his life to have an ending. A natural one like what he hoped for you, not one where he was doomed to immortality and bloodlust until the end of time. 

Thank the gods that he had managed to fall in love with an elf. It at least gave him centuries instead of decades to figure out a solution to an eternal problem. Which brought him back to his current problem. Because the two of you had many, many years ahead. And as far as Astarion was aware you both planned on spending them with each other. Which implied… certain things.

Astarion had never been someone to fantasize about marriage. He had no reason to, not when he had been too busy barely surviving. Even when things became serious between the two of you it hadn’t been on his mind. He was much more concerned with keeping you at all instead of keeping you forever. 

But that had changed recently. Maybe it was because he had seen you officiate countless weddings over the years; young couples always clamoring at a chance to get a newlywed Selune blessing. Or maybe it was how others took note of the lack of a ring on his finger, taking it as an opportunity for unwanted flirtation. But either way, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Obsessing about it really, as he was want to do when it came to you.

He just… didn’t exactly know how to broach the subject. What was the reason? A silly little ceremony and a ring had no bearing on the depth of your relationship. He knew that. The two of you were bound to each other by choice, a love that felt as though it got stronger every day. But… it would be nice to have you in such a way. For the world to be aware of the seriousness of what you had together, shown simply through a pair of rings. And the thought of calling you his wife was quite enticing. 

He wasn’t quite sure why he was so hesitant to bring it up to you. Well… there was the slight delusional thought in his head that reminding you of forever could possible wake you up into realizing just how much better you could do than him. It wasn’t true, he was aware. But gods, your relationship had lasted a damn decade. When was he going to start feeling secure about all of this? 

It didn’t help when Gale of all people beat him to the punch. He and Shadowheart had developed quite the bond since your tadpole days. And your excitement over the announcement was adorable. Adorable enough for him to wonder just how you would react to it happening to you.

But he shoved his worries to the back of his mind, too busy being dragged all the way to Waterdeep for the week-long nuptials. You were highly involved in the wedding, which wasn’t exactly a shock. Shadowheart had stayed your best, most appreciated friend throughout the years, the two of you eternally tied through your shared goddess alone. You wrote to each other constantly and this was far from the first time you had dragged him across the realm for a visit. 

But this was probably the best time. He had to give the people of Waterdeep this, they knew how to celebrate. He wasn’t one to complain over a week filled of music, dance, and drink. The ceremony had been nice as well. Heart-warming even to watch Shadowheart walk down the aisle, smiling in a way she never could when she was devoted to Shar. With Gale sniveling at the other end and you officiating of course. 

The jealousy had been an unexpected touch. He couldn’t help but wonder what you would look like in her place. Dressed in white and silver, walking towards him with eternity in mind. 

It certainly wasn’t helping his dilemma, he could tell you that much. He was still thinking about it when they made it to the reception. It was impossible to bury thoughts of marriage when you were at a wedding. Would you want a large celebration like this? Or something more small and intimate? Hells, the two of you and a cleric in the middle of the woods would suffice to him. 

“To think, Astarion Ancunín at my wedding in the sunlight,” Gale laughed as he plopped down in the seat next to him, effectively putting an end to his internal fretting, “Who would have ever imagined?”

“Certainly not me,” Astarion scoffed with the slightest hint of a smile, “But I suppose things change.”

“I suppose they do,” Gale agreed, his eyes scanning the dancefloor for his new bride. There she was, dancing and giggling with you in the middle of ballroom,  “I just never expected it to be for the better.”

“It is a wonder that we’re all still alive,” Astarion agreed, smiling to himself when Shadowheart dipped you as you laughed hysterically, nearly falling over herself in the process, “Let alone being able to find love. Who would have thought the worshiper of the goddess of the dark would end up here.”

“Turns out she was hiding quite the personality behind the Shar mask,” Gale laughed, “Though I suppose we have Tav to thank for that. It was a real fight on who would have her as their best woman. A fight we both obviously lost. Though officiating seemed a good compromise.”

“She certainly has the experience,” Astarion sighed, “But I have a feeling this one will be her favorite. She’s happy for you two. We both are.”

“I’m happy for you too you know,” Gale added with a small smile, “I always thought the two of you would work out. I even made a killing in the pool we had going on for it.”

Astarion stared at him, brow raised, “You had a pool?”

“Oh absolutely,” Gale confirmed, completely shameless as he listed out the rules, “It got quite competitive after awhile. First, it was all about if you’d ever realize your feelings for her. Then when you went and did that we were betting on how long you’d both last before you left. And then when that didn’t happen, well. Let’s just say I got a few platinums richer.”

Astarion rolled his eyes at the news, barely even surprised, “I feel as though I’ve earned a cut of that.”

“Unfortunately it’s now our honeymoon fund. But I’ll owe you one.”

That was another aspect of this whole debacle that Astarion hadn’t even thought about. But gods, did it sound nice. Whole weeks dedicated strictly to the two of you. No religious duties or adventures to worry about, just… them. 

The joy of the thought must have shown on his face, because the next thing he knew Gale was looking him up and down, a small smirk on his lips, “What’cha thinking about over there?”

“That this wine is mediocre at best,” Astarion lied, avoid Gale’s eyes, “Tell me you at least got a good deal on it?”

But Gale wasn’t taking the bait. He was still watching him like a hawk. That was the problem with getting closer to people, and having, gods friends. 

You had to deal with the discomfort of being read like a book, “Does our little Astarion want to be wed?”

Astarion flinched at the accuracy, taking the time to shoot him a glare as he avoided the question, “I am nearly three centuries older than you.”

“Perhaps, but we both know two of them don’t count,” Gale said, barely missing a beat, “So tell me, do you already have a ring picked out?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I can help you pick one you know, there are many fantastic jewelers in Waterdeep. I believe she has the same ring size as Shadowheart, we can bring her along.”

Astarion rolled his eyes, ignoring the small blush creeping up his neck, “I want you to know that if this wasn’t your wedding day I would have slapped you by now. Consider my reluctance as your wedding present.”

“How generous of you,” Gale chuckled. But then he started to speak quieter, his voice taking on a more gentle and serious tone, “She would say yes you know. You’ve had her wrapped around your finger since the day you held that dagger to her throat.”

That was an exaggeration, but Astarion would be lying if he said the mention didn’t make him preen the slightest bit, “You forget that I did have competition.”

“Oh, barely,” Gale laughed, “You don’t get to reminisce of what could have been when you won. Gods, no one had any chance against you. And trust me, we tried.”

Astarion blinked at him, more than a little surprised, “You did?”

“Of course we did. We all did. What do you think Shadow and I bonded over? But the pining stopped eventually. Then it became…something more. Something deeper. She’s… a magnificent woman, my little shadow. Who has gone through too much…” Gale trailed off, his eyes still following his bride as he softly smiled,  “Suffice to say, neither of us are pining anymore. And I’m sure Shadow would love nothing more than to help plan her dearest friend’s nuptials.”

“Who ever said that you two would be involved?” Astarion scoffed, just to be an ass, “For all you know we’ll elope in Neverwinter.”

But Astarion’s grip backfired, if the smile on Gale’s face meant anything, “So that means you are going to propose?”

Oh for fucks sake. Astarion glared at him for the accuracy, at a loss for words. Besides it… it was true. Of course he was going to ask, where else would this fanatic line of thinking end? He just hadn’t expected Gale of all people to be the one to force him to admit it. 

“I-yes,” Astarion sighed, finally giving in, “Are you happy now? Yes, I’m going to.”

“Extremely,” Gale grinned, “Because you just won me another three hundred gold.”

[calamaroo]

Octonauts OC ~~~~~~ Mountain Mammoth🦣====================

HE IS MY SON, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH EEEEEE (I really hope this doesn't flop because I love him) (also, this may be a long ass yap, whoopsiesss)

While technically an Octonauts OC, Mountain is in the same boat of "wildly different from the show" as Stag. "Mountain," as his real name means, now lost to time, is a woolly mammoth shifter. He was an idea I had that became fully realized with the help of my friend, @mildy-vibing <33

LORE :

As for general backstory, he's still a new-ish OC (I've had him for 3-4 weeks maybe) so I'm not entirely sure as to his exact story. But, the main gist of his character/idea was . . . He is immortal, and at the very least, around 5000 years old. HOWEVER, immortal does not mean unkillable. He can get hurt, become sick, starve, freeze, and other such means of demise, but HE CAN NOT DIE OF OLD AGE.

Immortal = can die from any means beside old age, Invincible = can't die from any means besides old age. That's the simplest wat to put it.

Anywho!!

For a little history lesson, the earliest known case of living woolly mammoths was on an island near Sibera called Wrangel Island, and that little piece of history is what inspired me to make my son. In real life, they died out due to too few genetic diversity in their isolated population, climate change, and perhaps other unknown causes.

In my vague story idea I have for him, I haven't yet decided if that part of the history stayed the same (the genetic diversity problem, I mean), gets kinda iffy when you make the animals into people yk?

Basic Character Info :

Gentle and spiritual soul, with very old religious beliefs (bro is 5000 years old, and for the most part, stuck in the mindset of people from that age)

His beliefs are almost paganistic, centering around a being called "The Great Mother," who is the embodiment of the universe, fate, life, and death. Usually, I'd stray away from bringing religion into my blog and characters (people can be sensitive, and I personality find the topic uncomfortable), but it's a very crucial part of him as a man, so I think idea of basically mother nature being his god-figure can slide.

Being a mammoth, he eats purely vegetation and is, for the most part, a pacifist. If push comes to shove, though, as trouble that the rarity that he is amongst the less law-abiding side of society, he can and will defend himself.

He's mostly blind and relies heavily on his senses of smell and hearing. Pachyderms don't generally have good eyesight anyway, and I wanted to make my characters more diverse. (He's just like me fr 🥺 (I have horrible eyesight))

As a herd animal, he's very sociable and friendly. He LOVES making new friends to the point that it becomes obsessive (being completely alone for thousands of years'll do that to a fella). Be nice to him once and you'll never get rid of him until you're dead, and even then, he'll wait til you're decayed. In short, he's clingy (again, HE'S JUST LIKE ME FR 😭)

When alone, however, he keeps himself hidden deep within the farthest plains, the deepest valleys, and the highest mountains.

IN REFERENCE TO THE THIRD PICTURE : He was a massive mama's boy when she was alive, and going by the rules of pachyderm herd society, she was the "matriarch," or the leader (herds were mostly females with their young until they reached mature age). While Mountain did wander and, for lack of a better term, breed (older days, older ways), he was never far from his mama. She was his rock and entire world (but not in the creepy boy-mom way because those people piss me off to no end). When she passed of old age, he was devastated, as was he for when his wife passed . . . And then his children, and his grandchildren, and so on.

When his wife aged and he did not, that was when Mountain began to realize there was something different about him. Then, as he continued to live on, he watched the fall of his entire species, and for many hundreds of years, it was a confusing, horrific, and tragic ordeal. The Great Mother had laid down a path for him never seen before, and it took many more hundreds of years for him to come to terms with. He refuses, though, to forget his former family, their traditions, and their ways. It's what keeps him trudging along --- a guilt that if he were to die, all of his people's ideas and lives would pass too.

In the modern day, he's found refuge and friendship with an oc of @mildy-vibing 's own, a fellow extinct species, Darwin the Thylacine!! (And other extinct OCs I won't say in case they don't want me to)

And that's all I have for my beautiful, curly haired immortal son!! I hope you enjoyed my tangent, and if you read it all, I truly appreciate it. I love when people actually like my stuff . . . 👉👈😔 🤎🤎🤎

====================

[throughgoalsandbaskets]

i have an idea i think is cute/cool, feel free to ignore of course!

can i get fluff hcs or a drabble of a yandere solomon w a willing mc who trusts him blindly and trusts no one else?

Super short, I wrote this during class :(

Also super sorry this is crazy late, I've been on a tight schedule and haven't had the time to sit and think about how I'd write this so it's rushed and messy, I may come back to this and edit it to be longer in a few days

Also this is less yandere and more possessive, mainly because I don't see him as a very violent yandere, more just possessive or manipulative

yandere!Solomon x trusting!darling

Brief warning for mentions of body horror to a child (made up story by the slimy bastard /aff)

★—–-

"Mammon tried to make a pact with me. Said it was to keep me safe."

A still pause occurred.

"And did you?" The sorcerer's eyes raked over the room to your curled up form, sat on the bed with a blanket in your lap and book in your hand.

The sigil on the back of your neck burned with the masked fury of the immortal, and you gave a snort despite the discomfort.

"Who do you take me for?" Silence envelopes the room once again as Solomon blinked before smiling eyes narrowing a sliver. He nods in silent approval as he stands from his chair.

A hand ghosts the back of your neck, and the magically tattooed figure on the skin soothed as his anger dissipated. He hummed and cupped it, your head bowing along to accommodate the action.

"My good, adorable apprentice." You shudder softly.

Yes, that's how it'd been for quite some time now. Sure, it was wrong. You weren't stupid. But you merely didn't care.

Chapped lips pressed into. Yours with a thumb tilting your chin, and your eyes shut as you feel the familiar warmth of a spell being cast on you. Solomon never told you what it was. That's how it always was, and how it'd always be.

When the kiss ended, the warmth faded and settled deep into your bones. You'd come to associate this particular warmth with protection.

The sorcerer was all yours, and no amount of prying or pushing from otherworldly beings such as the demons who'd kidnapped you or the angels who were too kind would ever have him slipping away from you.

He certainly wouldn't let you go without a fight, anyways.

- There is no doubt in my mind Solomon would be a casually possessive yandere. He'd thrive if you were so trusting towards him, and would get a power trip if it's only him you seem to trust

- I like to imagine he'd have taken advantage of the immediate mistrust that came with the whole "summoned into another world by stranger demons who claim this and that" to swoop you off your feet. After all, wouldn't you trust the only human around?

- the sigil on the back of your neck is like a pact I like to think, something he has to mark you as his. It burns and warms with his emotion like one, too, so if he's mad it'll get uncomfortably hot and if he's happy, it'll simmer down

- he'd definitely cast magic on you without telling you what it is, though. I picture him doing anything from tracking spells to minor love spells (as needed if needed at all) to wards to get otherworldly beings to back off

- you probably still live at the HoL officially, but you definitely spend your time with him 24/7

- after all, who knows what those rotten demons may do to you if you're not kept safe and sound? You certainly don't trust the people who kidnapped you, and Solomon feeds into that by sharing stories of all the bad things demons have done to him and others

- speaking of, he'd probably not be the kind of yandere to get his hands dirty, I imagine he'd wind up probably being a lot more manipulative and let his magic do the trick

- oh, a demon offered you something that was supposedly human safe, but you didn't take it anyways? Smart choice, has he told you of the time one of those pathetic monsters offered a child candy that melted the poor kid's insides?

- he'd be possessive, manipulative, and would definitely twist stories to keep you relying on the only human around— him

[lovelyladyabsinthewrites]

Would you ever write an Edward story where he cheats on Bella post Breaking Dawn or they break up because he falls in love with another human after her? Like a few years down the line, he starts to miss Bella’s human scent, softness, etc. and then he meets another singer or someone whose mind he can’t read and becomes obsessed with them. And it’s angsty because they realize he doesn’t really like vampire Bella and what attracted him to her was her “humanness” so now that it’s gone, he loses interest.

Ichor

Pairing(s): Edward Cullen x human!witch!Reader, Edward Cullen x Bella Swan

Warnings: major regret, kinda feel bad for bella while writing this 😅, falling out of love, for the sake of this story reneesme doesn't exist, kinda creepy stalker vibe from edward?, but what else do you expect from him 😂, sorry this is short :( been suffering from major writer's block

Words: 1443

There was no warmth of life to Bella, not anymore. Edward had fought against Bella's desire to be like him, an immortal. With her warmth went that oh so sweet honeysuckle scent of her singer blood. He missed nuzzling his nose in the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply and listening to her blood coarse through her veins. Everything was cold and hard and unwelcoming now that she was like the rest of the Cullens.

And while he was able to physically love her without restraint now, there was a gnawing dissatisfaction that burned a hole deep inside of him.

He tried smothering it, not let it grow and feed off his lingering thoughts. Just a harmless, passing thought. They'd taken vows, to love one another for the rest of their immortal lives in front of all their friends and family. Edward thought he got his happily ever after with Bella, his singer.

Never did he imagine that he would miss her mortality so much and so greatly. Profound was his distress over this realization as he experienced grief for Bella's human life once more. This time it lingered. Resting on the precipice of his consciousness.

Try as he may, it creeps into his mind whenever he holds onto her golden gaze. Grateful that Bella's special ability wasn't telepathy like him. It would break her heart if she heard the doubting thoughts that grew louder each passing day.

Edward didn't know the exact start date of this swift change in his mentality toward someone he'd loved and cherished so much that he was willing to face both the wolves and the Volturi in order to protect her.

Immense shame rendered him speechless, unable to seek help or advice from his brothers. He'd never kept such a large secret before from them. They'd always held a sympathetic ear for Edward but. . . if he told them about this, Emmett and Jasper might add onto his guilt. Bella was their sister-in-law. His brothers have proven that they genuinely care for her and accept her as part of the Cullen clan.

The world around him was crumbling. Nothing for him to stabilize himself.

Errands that took him away from town were like a breath of fresh air to his undernourished lungs- well, metaphorically.

His outings lasted longer and longer each time. The distance he put between himself and Bella growing larger.

Until something odder happened to him.

He smelled the blood of a singer once more. Each inhalation a spasming jolt shot through him. A burst of honeyed, reduced him to damn near salivating. Edward had almost forgotten the scent. Almost mistook it for something else.

Akin to an apex predator, he's easily guided to the source of such an alluring aroma that has him blind-sided. He doesn't care in that moment who lay at the end of the trail or of the consequences that may befall him from this encounter.

If it hadn't been for your singer blood, you would have blended in with the rest of the crowd in Port Angeles. A typical human female hanging out with her friends; just like many others that night. Unaware of the glowing eyes of the animal stalking her.

But you weren't like your other friends. With his vampire eyes, he saw the glow of your skin; your aura was blinding. Even Bella's presence wasn't as bright as when he laid eyes on you. His honeypot.

He frantically rifles through the crowd's thoughts, tossing them away when they didn't belong to you.

In pursuing you, Edward was essentially damning himself. Each step he took closer to you was like walking into danger itself. A moth to a flame. For the first time in a long time, Edward felt utterly helpless. Weak even.

Then he heard the ring of your thoughts.

And he smiles to himself, listening in as you contemplate leaving early to go home and finish the book you'd started the other day. How it was getting to the good part. Torn that you were also having fun with your friends though.

Subtly watching you from a hiding spot, Edward simply closes his eyes and focuses on the flow of your thoughts in an attempt to get to know you better. Another human girl with the delicious blood of a god.

Bella checks the time on her phone again.

2 am

Edward had left eight hours ago, not bothering to tell anyone where he was going or taking his phone with him. His behavior was growing more concerning. She'd asked Jasper and Emmett if they had noticed this odd turn in Edward and they too agree that something was up with him. Alice did her best to offer a positive take on the issue. Not even Carlisle or Esme had an answer.

Not too long ago Edward had been so attentive to her, relishing in sharing immortality with her.

Deciding to wait in their shared little cottage home, Bella leaves the main Cullen estate and takes to the small pebbled path that led to her home. She remembers how happy they were when Carlisle gifted the cottage to them when they came back from their honeymoon.

Her fingers lazily trail along the rugged bark of trees. Nails lightly dragging across it.

Their life was perfect now. She fit into his world. So. . . why the sudden distance? This was going on to four months now and the decline was becoming more evident.

Her other hand is anxiously drawn to her chest in an effort to comfort her. Bella could hear the cracks in their marriage and overall relationship.

Edward growls in irritation with himself. What an idiot he was following you home. Stupid that he put everything on the line just to be around you a little bit longer.

He kept bargaining with himself that he was only going to stay for an hour. An hour turned into two, then three. . . Until he was perched atop of a tree across the street from your house.

Exasperated he runs a hand across his face, making his way up the brick steps of the cottage.

He shouldn't have followed you back to your home. Now he had that knowledge of your address.

That meant. . .

So consumed in his inner turmoil, Edward was caught off guard by Bella's voice "Where have you been?"

His eyes round in alarm, the only tipoff to his surprise. "Hunting." Well. . . kind of true.

That was not the answer she wanted. Bella's brows furrow with her disdain. "Edward, what's going on? And don't say that nothing is going on because even the rest of the family has seen the change in you."

Hell, why was he thinking about your fragrance? Likening it to standing at the threshold of the divine and savoring the ambrosial nectar that flowed through the veins of gods.

Had Bella's smelled like that? He couldn't recall.

He forcefully pulls himself back to address Bella. He couldn't keep lying to her. Bella deserved the truth. But it would hurt her once the words left his mouth. It would make everything more real to verbally acknowledge it.

"Bella. . ." Edward must have looked scared and pathetic in that moment. He could see his reflection in her golden eyes. Eyes he'd groan to begrudge. "I really don't know what's going on myself. . . but. . ." Sighing, he ignores the consequences that would follow. "I miss your humanness, Bella. Your softness. The warmth of your embraces. Your scent. . . It's-you're just- just not the same. And those were the parts that I fell in love with. Your humanity was what defined you. That delicate balance of strength and vulnerability that all comes with being mortal."

While he'd kept his tone as gentle as possible, that did little to stop the breaking of Bella's face as her lips curl and tremble. The delicate arch of her brows twitch in an attempt for restraint for despite all the emotions she was feeling, Bella's tear ducts no longer produced tears. As with all vampires.

A tremor passes through Bella. The essence of heartbreak etched itself on her face. "D-Do you still love me?"

In a moment of cowardice, Edward averts his gaze from her making the sorrow she felt boil into fury.

"Answer me, Edward. Do you still love me?" Her hands ball up into fists at her sides.

He struggles to find the words to encapsulate the complexities of his emotions.

The quietude of the cottage seemed to amplify the tension that hung between them.

Bella grits down on the back of her teeth, a burning force behind her eyes that made her desperate to cry. "After everything Edward. . ."

"I'm sorry Bella. . ."

[misc-obeyme]

If you're doing requests, can I get Solomon headcanons, theme "sightseeing in Devildom/Human World", genre is fluff or author's choice if easier.

Hello there, my friend!

Ahhh yes this is definitely fluff. And honestly I think that's the best genre for this prompt! Because imagine what a silly guy Solomon would be, taking you all over the place just to see you smile.

Thank you for participating!

COZY COMFORTS EVENT

GN!MC x Solomon sightseeing in the Devildom/human world

Warnings: none

When you tell Solomon that you want to do some sightseeing, you quickly find out that there are a lot of places an immortal sorcerer can take you. Across worlds, he knows all the best places to see and things to do. If you need him to tell you where he's taking you, he will. But left to his own devices, he'll keep every destination a secret. He loves to see the look of surprise on your face when he teleports you somewhere new.

In the human world, he takes you to famous places. He insists on selfies at the Eiffel Tower and the Great Wall of China. But he also takes you to quiet, out of the way places. He shows you a field where he found a rare flower needed for magical potions. He brings you to the hill with a view of what was once his hometown. Solomon shares these pieces of his long life with you, from a time before he knew who you were.

Solomon takes you to some of his favorite restaurants in the human world, too. You're blown away by the delicious food. You're also unsurprised when one spot kicks you both out the minute the chef catches sight of Solomon. Apparently, he once tried to show them how they could improve one of their dishes and ended up making the oven explode. You let out a long suffering sigh while Solomon just takes your hand and runs, laughing the whole time.

He shows you places in the bright sunlight, but he also takes you to locations better experienced at night. Have you ever seen the aurora, MC? He knows the perfect arctic spot to huddle together and watch the bright colors on display in the sky. You may be freezing, but he keeps you warm with his own body and a little bit of magic. He can't resist adding a little magical flare of his own to the aurora's display.

Although he's spent a lot of his life in the human world, Solomon has spent considerable time in the Devildom as well. He will tell you stories about his journey through the rings of the Underworld, though he will insist that you needn't walk through them yourself. He can teleport you to any place of interest. He's more likely to take you to hidden marketplaces and tiny magic shops. You find a plethora of cursed objects and spell books. You try to talk him out of buying you an item that makes your eyes sparkle when you look at it, but it's useless. Nothing you could say will dissuade him.

Solomon shows you places in the Devildom that you never knew existed, but he also takes you to places you may have heard about already. He sneaks you into the Demon Lord's Castle in an attempt to get past Barbatos long enough to show you the rumored torture dungeon. Once again you find yourself laughing as Solomon is promptly kicked out. You're pretty sure Barbatos pretended not to notice you for a short time because you got farther in that you expected.

Although he is no fan of the ocean, Solomon also takes you to a hidden beach within the Devildom. The water is black beneath the moon and starlight. Solomon holds your hand, keeping you close as you stand upon the shore, his eyes out far across the sea. And then, slowly, small lights appear. They begin to pop up more rapidly until the edge of the water is full of bright blue and purple lights. They glimmer gently as they ripple along the waves. Solomon tells you about a Devildom sea creature that only shows up at certain times. You're so entranced, you're barely listening. But Solomon turns you to look at him in the soft light. The way it plays in his silver hair makes your breath catch.

Solomon will take you anywhere you want to go. Just say the word and he'll make it happen, whether in the Devildom or the human world. He loves to see you full of awe and wonder, the way you look at him with delight brightening your features. As long as he can stay beside you, Solomon will go wherever you might lead him.

cozy comforts | masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[1000sunnygo]

The fun thing about long running series is that you can trace a character's narrative evolution in real time.

The Law we saw pre-timeskip clearly aimed for One Piece.

Unless it was an elaborated lie to his crewmates (which I guess is the in-series explanation at the moment), it's safe to assume that his D lineage and self assigned suicidal mission didn't exist as a concept back then. The goal is eventually re-established with a context.

While drawing, I assumed Kidd would become important, but I didn't think LAW would move forward like that. So it's youu?? 😱

Weekly serialization, it's a Wonderland.

Weekly serialization means adding oomph on micro scale. I have a particular theory extrapolated from this statement: Law's introduction in Punk Hazard wasn't planned at all.

It might sound far fetched for how integral Law is to Punk Hazard's plot. But it's not an uncommon event, and not just in One piece. Editors often suggest heavy changes to accommodate strong cliffhangers and quick surprises. Eleven supernova were created because early Shabondy lacked oomph, Law might have appeared in Punk Hazard for the same reason.

Even without Law, the straw hats would've anchored in Dressrosa to save Kanjurou, Zou to reunite with Raizo, and in Wano to escort their friends back home. Law just happened to have something going on in all of these places.

I think both Law and Kidd's post timeskip debut was planned to be in Wano arc. Law's competitive dynamic with Kidd and Luffy in Wano is more consistent with Shabondy than anything that came before.

Doflamingo was initially one of Kaido's strongest allies to be defeated within Wano country (confirmed in volume 98 SBS). It means Dressrosa was entirely different from what we got.

Given the similarity in their Jolly Roger, Oda may have always planned Law to be Doflamingo's ex-subordinate with a complicated history, keeping his and Doflamingo's conflict reserved for Wano. But Law was popular, resourceful and the story needed a boost after a monotonous Fishman Island arc. Thus, Law gets his early screentime that snowballs into a dramatic Dressrosa arc. I'm sure Oda didn't mind.

Tldr, I think this is how it went down: Oda decides that Kidd and Law would return and fight alongside Luffy in Wano -> Punk hazard is written and introduces Kinemon -> Punk Hazard falls bland and editor pesters Oda to bring Law early -> Law appears and proposes an alliance, so the plot is now directly chained to Wano -> Oda realizes ope ope makes a good device to explain Imu's immortality -> Oda makes Law a D as he's now connected to endgame plot.

Even if the theory above is wrong, it's a fact that Law was not a part of the bigger picture but became unexpectedly relevant. To work with him, Oda had to figure the smaller details of his personality slowly as the story progressed; such as his honesty and the suicidal tendency.

Law roped straw hats into his revenge scheme while deep down wanting them to leave Dressrosa safe and unharmed. But Law in the draft for this scene looks more... certain. Maybe Robin wasn't wrong to suspect Law after all.

I guess, by the time Oda actually reached the scene, the shadiness didn't suit his personality anymore. Corazon would not approve.

Wano Law was the best written Law. His personality was fully ironed out, not just the revived rivalry with Luffy-Kidd but also a reluctance to be nice while time and time proving it's mostly just talks. It's a mix of his personality traits that were decided at his very introduction and the later decided improvisations.

This post was getting too big and derailed so I had to cut it short lol. Maybe I'm reaching with my speculations but it was a fun topic to brainstorm about.

Edit: Here's a bit of extension of this theory.

[wangxianficrecs]

The Price of Forever by Witch_Nova221

The Price of Forever

by Witch_Nova221 (@witchnova221)

T, 22k, Wangxian

Part of the Summer Solstice

Summary: 'It is the nature of men to claim a prize rather than earn one,' said Lan Wangji, blinking past the tears in his eyes, 'Now, to capture a unicorn and to become an immortal means you can claim so much more. Had I...I would have been able to claim a wife, land, fortunes. My own brother, older than me, would have had to bow when I passed. I would have been held amongst the greats but...' 'But you would be cursed,' said Wei Ying, 'That's what they've never learned.' When Lan Wangji injures a unicorn, he learns the truth about the age-old traditions that his clan and the world have undertaken for generations. With a new friend to protect and the pressure of the world upon him, he knows he must pay a price, the cost of which is high on either side. Kay's comments: This story has the loveliest fairytale vibes and I really loved seeing Wei Wuxian as an otherwordly unicorn and the journey Lan Wangji went through in this story and of course, their relationship progression! Very sweet. Excerpt: Short, panicked breaths echoed back at him through the darkness and he conjured a light, letting it hang in the air until it illuminated the narrow cave. The blood glittered darkly on the floor, the trail a little thinner than it had been. 'Get back hunter or I'll kill you where you stand.' A voice. A human voice, hissing at him in anger. Did the unicorn have a protector? One of Lan Wangji's own kind, turned against the practices of old and dedicated to the protection of the creatures the rest of the world hunted? 'I mean no harm,' said Lan Wangji, daring another step further, 'I injured a... an animal and followed it here. I wanted...' 'I know what you did and I know what you want, hunter. Leave now and you may do so with your life.' Lan Wangji took another step forward, the light falling on a bare foot, a long strong leg marred with a bloody gash from knee to hip. The left leg. The same leg Lan Wangji had hit on the unicorn. He took one final step, the light fully illuminating the man curled as close to the cave wall as he could be, only his injured leg outstretched. He was almost naked, caring little for his own modesty in ragged clothes that looked as though he had worn them as a child then torn them as he sprouted into adulthood. He glared at Lan Wangji with eyes that looked too old for his face. Grey eyes that knew everything of the world and still saw wonder in it even if they were now filled with fear.

pov lan wangji, canon era, unicorn wei wuxian, unicorns, fairy tale elements, romance, action/adventure, adventure & romance, blood and injury, angst with a happy ending, hurt/comfort, mythical beings & creatures, families of choice, strangers to lovers, enemies to friends to lovers, falling in love

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(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)