#the exception to it compared to everyone else doing it

[iloveseraphims]

Giant and Little Crows

Seraphim see a giant for the first time in their lives.

Seraphims x Giant Reader

!! Words Count 976 !!

S-Hawk

🗡-) At first he's uneasy about not being able to see you at eye level. Being forced to examine you from below, while he has such physical superiority over everyone else, hurts his quiet pride.

🗡-) He never looks down on you, but he doesn't maintain eye contact for long in the early days. Known for his agility, he considers you a threat despite your size, and silently analyzes your potential weaknesses.

🗡-) But you don't belittle him, but rather approach him seriously, that will catch his attention.

🗡-) One day when he realizes that you are strong enough to break his defenses without even drawing his sword (perhaps unintentionally, by reflex), he will develop a secret respect for you.

🗡-) He gives special meaning to your choosing to be with him instead of fighting him, beyond your size or strength. A quiet but impressive trust forms between you.

🗡-) Plus, your size allows him to find you quickly, making his job easier.

-----

S-Snake

💕-) When she first sees, she goes into a little shock.

💕-) “Wow…you’re this big but…I think you’re so beautiful!” Even she himself hadn’t expected to give you such an honest compliment.

💕-) At first she sees you as some kind of "fairytale giant." It's both fascinating and frightening. But your soft voice makes her smile with curiosity.

💕-) She didn't like most people who looked down on her but if your eyes were soft and understanding when you looked at her, she didn't mind.

💕-) She'll see you as a bit of a "big sister." Gently touching her hair will make her feel safe.

💕-) Sometimes she'll sit on your shoulder. She'll lean over and tease you, saying. "Tell us news from that sky."

💕-) Even if she clashes with others, everything stops when you intervene. She doesn't want to hurt you. She values ​​the bond between you.

-----

S-Shark

🫧-) He doesn't talk much, but he can ask strange questions at times. "So what's your muscle mass? How many tons of food do you eat a day?"

🫧-) As soon as he sees you, he starts analyzing you, his interest peaking. Or rather his curiosity about your race.

🫧-) He wants to measure, see and understand everything that's different about you. But he's also respectful of your personal space.

"If you're into the 'giant' size, that'll be the first."

🫧-) He sees you as a member of a slow but sturdy race. He does not compare you with his own mechanical perfection, for you are natural, and he is captivated by naturalness.

-----

S-Bear

🐻-) His reaction is very quiet. He looks up at you and then quietly turns away.

🐻-) But he doesn't move away from you. He stays close, watching you.

🐻-) Next to you for the first time, he feels...not small, but "in need of protection." This isn't in his programming.

🐻-) Once enemy fire targets you, and you take S-Bear behind you and protect... he'll stop standing in front of you.

🐻-) Now he tries to synchronize his steps with yours when he walks next to you.

🐻-) He rarely answers you with words, but one day he says. “Walking with you...feel safe.”

A small smile that you couldn't see appeared on his face as you hugged him tearfully at his words.

-----

S-Crocodile

🐊-) “Being big…doesn’t make you untouchable.” Even if he doesn't see you as a threat, he thinks you'll tarnish his pride.

🐊-) But if you get down to his eye level and speak calmly, without making fun of him, for the first time he will perceive your greatness not as an advantage, but as something that represents nobility.

🐊-) "You're worth your height." he'll tell you one day. Even though it's hard to understand what he's really thinking, he'll accept you as a friend that day.

🐊-) He usually thought of giants as brute force. Your strategic mind, your ability to speak to him as an equal, overturns his thoughts.

🐊-) He doesn't bother listening to most people except for orders. Except for you. He's always looking forward to chatting with you.

-----

S-Flamingo

🦩-) "Ooooh look at here. Who brought this tower woman here?"

🦩-) He might sound dismissive at first, but he's actually impressed. He finds you incredibly interesting.

🦩-) Your height doesn't deter him; on the contrary, it only piques his interest. He'll tease you and try to irritate you.

🦩-) But when you come back to him with the same tricks—for example when you lift him up with your big hand and put him down with one movement—his face changes color.

🦩-) "You're fun." he says. He looks like he's actually having fun.

🦩-) He is the one who pushes the limits the most among the Seraphim, but one day he says to you. "I don't care if I'm small. As long as I have a place in your world."

-----

S-Gecko

🦇-) His mouth drops open when he sees you, so wide that you have to gently clamp his jaw shut with your finger.

🦇-) “WOAGH…I thought I was meeting the giant version of myself…”

🦇-) At first he thinks you are a monster from Elbaf, but then he is enchanted by your speech.

🦇-) He loves hearing stories from you the most.

🦇-) He'll ask silly but curious questions like. "What do giants eat? What do giants like? Do giants poop big?"

🦇-) He tries to imitate you. He makes your footsteps with his mouth as an effect and opens his hands like yours.

🦇-) An interesting sibling energy develops between you.

🦇-) One day he watches with pride the moment you raid an enemy and says. "I love hanging out with you. Because when everyone looks at you, they forget to look at me." He is happy to be able to surprise attack people.

[batfam1]

Time travel would be almost every single batfamily member's worst nightmare, IMO.

The waking up as your younger self kind.

Bruce: may save his parents if sent back enough, but he'd be in crisis after that. He's too used to being batman and parental love is unfamiliar to him. Also while he can adopt everyone, damian will not be born unless he is batman and trains at the LoA. Which is... how is he going to explain doing a probably dangerous world tour to his parents? Also how would he be able to keep batman secret from them...?

Dick: he couldn't have prevented his parents deaths even if he went far back enough. Nobody would have taken a child seriously. And then what? He could stay with bruce longer, but the teen titans? What happens to them if he's not there to found the group? What if his interference isn't enough to save jason? What if Jason's death is needed for tim to join the family and for Talia to send over damian?

Barbara: honestly idk. I don't know much about her. But joker targeting her father, paralyzing her, then her brother, then Jason dying, we'll, definitely not easy for her either.

Jason: he could end up not stealing Bruce's tires. But he probably would. He's on the streets and desperate enough to steal tires. I don't think he's staying on the streets. But he makes sure to not fall into joker's trap. Maybe he decides to not be robin. Takes up his own vigilante name. But I think the resentment post death Jason had would be bad for overall relationships. I'm not sure what else to write here because I'm not that good with Jason.

Tim: would try to prevent Jason's death, his parent's deaths and many other things, actually the only one I could see somewhat being fine with time travel thing

Damian: might end back up on the LoA any younger than 10, not a fun time. Even is it's at 10, he needs to attempt to gain trust all over again.

Steph: ending up with cluemaster if she's too young. Not good. Then black mask. She could probably avoid it, I haven't read that comic and I don't know what happens there except that her death is faked in some convoluted way to test tim.

Cass: again, ending up with David cain. Having to relearn speaking and sign language. Not well versed with her timeline

Duke:not familiar enough with his character

In general : a lot of denial, stress over fucking the timeline up and making life worse for the others compared to the prev timeline, guilt over seeing them be happy in the new timeline because "was it my fault last time that they were unhappy" and stuff, general trust issues and can't being themselves to tell the other people that they're from the future. People you've known from your perspective reverting back to strangers and your relationship with them will be forever different due to the fact that they will never know you as anything other than what you are currently. Stress over mind reading. What if the info falls into someone else' hands. Like a villan. There's just a lot of stuff.

[a-tangled-mermaid]

Hey there, have a fic lol.

An exploration of the second time Tav and Astarion have sex from Astarion's POV. Complete with the dawning realization that his little plan may not be going as perfectly as he thought it was, but before he's ready to reveal it to her in Act 2.

Ao3

Please be warned: The intention is to explore how Astarion would actually be feeling at this stage in the game, unhealthy ideas about sex and consent included.

Astarion has been patiently, or rather, impatiently waiting for her to make her way over to him for the better part of the night and she's still managing to find new people to talk to instead of him. Whatever the tieflings she's speaking to have to say can't possibly be all that interesting if they're anything like the ones who tried to talk to him. He made sure to shut that down the moment it began.

Their praise stirred something bitter and angry in his chest that he'd rather not deal with right now. Not when he has plenty of other things to be worrying about. Like his plan coming to an end if the wizard has anything to say about it.

It surprises him a little how angry Gale’s proposition makes him, but he supposes that's to be expected when a plan goes awry. Not that he would know, he's never been much of a planner.

Although perhaps he should be, after all, things are going surprisingly well so far. With the exception of Gale’s attempt at interference tonight, he's yet to hit a single snag in his schemes…

He glares at his wine bottle, double checking the label to be sure it is in fact wine and not some sort of vinegar Gale packed for cooking with.

Flashes of their first night together creep up on him, replaying sensations he still can't fully understand. It was… different. Not good, but also not bad. Something else. Something he wants to try again.

“There's my little treat, with their cheeks all flushed," he smirks at her as she finally saunters over. “You will come to my bed tonight, won't you?"

Delicious color deepens and spreads further across her face, down to her tantalizing neck. If nothing else, at least the trade is worth it. Her blood is like nothing he's tasted before, or since, and gods know he's been trying.

Now that the worm has freed him from Cazador's rules, he's been feeding from every kind of thinking creature they come across just to experience the difference. Everything has been better than the swill he's used to, but nothing so far has come close to her. All the more reason to keep this going.

Her mouth twitches, suppressing a smile.

"Very presumptuous. I'm undecided what I'll do tonight.”

Cheeky.

“Ah, you need a bit of enticing, let me see… Hmm… How about this one? All these accolades from the tieflings are nothing compared to the sound of my name, cried from your lips."

Familiar revulsion begins to pool in his gut, but then she laughs, and it recedes back to where it came from. He does enjoy making her laugh. Nobody else appreciates his sense of humor the way she does… although admittedly, he wasn't exactly trying to be funny just now.

“Is that the best you can do?" She raises an eyebrow, fighting off more of her addicting smiles.

“Hmmm… let me give it another go: Every part of your perfect body whispers temptation — it's as if the gods made you, just to ruin me.”

He gives a slight shimmy to his shoulders as he says it, just to break her carefully neutral expression, satisfied when he's successful.

“Your're sweet, and sillier than I thought."

… Sweet.

Nobody has ever called him sweet before, at least, not that he can remember.

Though he could have been, once, when he was just an elf working in the city... Was he sweet then?

“Hm. I can go all night with the flattery, but is that really all you want? How about if I said these little words? Everyone's favorite…"

Looking at her, for a moment, he imagines what it would have been like to meet her then. If he knew how to mean the words that lured so many victims to their deaths.

Would she have wanted him if he had wanted more than this? If he were sweet, and wanted sweetness in return, could the words have been true one day?

“I love you."

They're bitter on his tongue. Regardless of what could have been, he's too far gone for sweetness now. Dwelling on ‘what ifs’ is a waste of his time.

Her smile falls just a little, the crease that forms between her eyebrows when she frowns at him threatening to make an appearance, but she recovers quickly and rolls her eyes.

“Having fun, are you?"

He laughs, and then because it's true, and because he can't stop the words from coming out, he says, “I am… It's hard not to with you.”

Fun is something this process hasn't been in well over a century. In the beginning, before the hopelessness of his situation had truly sunk in, before he stopped caring whether the people he bedded were beautiful or vile, he'd been able to have a little fun now and then.

But that only made it worse when they were taken away.

Not the time.

Better to focus on the matter at hand, namely: keeping her on his side.

“Now as much as I'd relish standing around and saying all my favorite lines at you, I'd much rather we got to experience each others full portfolio of talents once again.”

“Hm,” she hesitates, "I'm sure we'll get another chance soon… but not right now.”

Oh. Well...

How unexpected.

“I look forward to the day. Meanwhile my hunger for you will only deepen.”

He tracks the rise and fall of her hips as she walks away from him, surprised at how disappointed he feels. Of course he's relieved too, which just makes the disappointment all the more difficult to comprehend.

That night he lies in his tent staring at the fabric ceiling and ruminating over her gentle rejection.

Why? Why not tonight? Because of Gale? Because of him?

But it wasn't a no… not forever.

What was the point in saying yes but later? What would later give them that now couldn't?

The question nags him well into the next day and the next, until he can't stand the uncertainty anymore.

This time he doesn't wait for her to make her rounds that night in camp, finding an opportunity to snatch her wrist and pull her away into one of the monastary’s empty rooms while the others search for some axe or whatever it is they're supposed to be looking for.

She doesn't pull away, doesn't protest their closeness as he moves to press her back against the wall.

“Oh? Something I can do for you Astarion? I'm a little busy at the moment."

Her racing heart and flushed cheeks betray her attempt at appearing impassive. It stirs those strange, hard to decipher feelings to see her like this. Their fearless leader, coming undone by the smallest suggestion of what she knows he's capable of. How can it make him feel so powerful, while making him feel so small?

“I'm amazed you've managed to keep your head clear enough to fight. I've been thinking of our last night together ceaselessly."

Not a lie, not technically. He pushes her further into the wall until the rigid metal of her armor digs into the soft leather of his.

“I'll be in quite a spot of mortal peril if you let me keep distracting myself dreaming instead of doing. We can't have that, can we? It would be very dangerous."

This part is not quite so true, though she seems to know that, laughing breathlessly and holding his gaze with playful eyes.

“I've managed so far, I'm sure you'll be able to do the same.”

His plan doesn't work if she won't stop using her head instead of her heart — The heart that was foolish enough to trust him, the heart that has never been anything but gentle to him even when he didn't deserve it... He swallows down the revulsion to pout and continue playing his part in their game.

“Don't tell me you don't think of me, lying in your bedroll all alone. Wouldn't you prefer the real thing? To spend another night lost in eachother before we march into the belly of the beast?"

She tilts her head to the side, considering him, considering his offer, and he's wracked with sudden guilt at her affectionate eyes and the gentle curve of her mouth. Maybe he should have chosen one of the others for this all those days ago…

But she had been the easiest, and the most useful. Why would he choose anyone else?

It's the very sweetness she regards him with, the softness of her heart that had made her the easiest to stomach in the first place.

More than stomach… something more, something that makes him feel less pleased than he should when she nods, falling for his charms again like so many others before her.

“Tonight? I'll come find you when everyone is asleep."

“I'll be waiting."

He bends to catch her burning lips in a lingering kiss, not sure why he's done it when she already agreed to another night together. She hums quietly into his mouth, parting her lips and allowing him to taste her for the first time since their first time.

This kiss is odd. Different. It's not a means of seduction when he's already secured his goal for the night. Just a kiss for the sake of it before they go back to getting themselves killed by a bunch of Gith.

It's… exhilarating.

For once he's permitted to just enjoy the warmth of her lips and the taste of her skin, to feel her heart thrumming so hard and fast against him that it nearly feels like his own.

With a bit of a jolt he realizes that he likes kissing her. When there are no strings attached, no terror infecting the sensation, he enjoys it quite a lot...

She pulls away too soon after this discovery, kissing his cheek in a strike like lightning that leaves him dazed and confused.

“We should go. I don't want to be on the wrong end of Lae’zel’s blade if we keep her waiting."

“Now that would be a shame, seeing as I have other plans for you tonight... Lead on, darling."

In a cruel twist of irony, he finds himself in much more danger of being too distracted thinking of her to keep himself from mortal peril than he’d implied himself to be before.

He's a little slower than usual to realize their encounter is heading towards violence when speaking to the Githyanki general. Too caught up in the back of her head and wondering what it means to want to touch her almost as much as he never wants to be touched again to see the signs.

One of the giant hounds is lunging at him before he's drawn his blades, catching him on his back foot and forcing him to play defense.

It happens again in front of the inquisitor, though he'd had his weapons drawn before they even started speaking this time. The others would probably never notice; he's still the first to strike when the Gith move to attack, but he's horrified to realize he'd been thinking about her again just as the fight began.

More disturbing still, he finds himself watching her every chance he gets to make sure she's still on her feet.

The final straw is when she catches his eye from across the battlefield mid combat and flashes a radiant smile his way before splattering herself with Githyanki blood, and he can't help but think she's the most beautiful creature he's ever seen.

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

He stabs his next victim with a little more vigor than usual to keep the panic from overwhelming him.

What has he done?

How could he have let this happen when he knew what this was from the very beginning?

When did it happen?

The fight ends, but he's in more danger now than he was with swords aimed at his chest, and far more nervous now about tonight than he has any right to be.

His little plan is very quickly falling apart.

***

She's true to her word, approaching his tent once the firelight dims and the only sound in camp is Gale’s gentle snoring.

It's too late to back out now, isn't it? He'd already asked her for this before he knew how he felt. Hells. He still doesn't know what he's feeling, just that it's more than he wants to be feeling, and far more than he has any idea what to do with.

“Where do you want to go?" she asks, almost shy… How infuriatingly adorable.

“With you my sweet? Anywhere."

The panicked buzzing and wild anticipation mingle and infect one another until he can hardly tell which is which. It doesn't help when she grins so deviously, threatening to restart his heart only to stop it once again.

“Are you up for a bit of a walk? I saw a place earlier… it might suffice.”

Putting this off for any longer than he has to does not in fact sound appealing, but he can hardly tell her no when she's looking at him like that. Besides, this will surely be just as dangerous no matter where it happens.

"How mysterious. Lead the way then darling.”

She takes his hand in her own and laces their fingers together to take them to his ruin.

He should make up an excuse, stop this from happening before it's too late… but her hand in his feels devastatingly nice.

What an idiot. There's no way out of this mess now is there? All he had to do was what he's done thousands of times before and he couldn't even do that without screwing it up.

People have sex with feelings all the time though, don't they? It probably won't even matter when it comes down to it. He won't really be there for it anyway…

“You're quiet tonight. Something on your mind?"

“Just the usual. Depraved carnal lust and all that."

She snorts. “Really Astarion, what is it? I'm not used to being able to hear the wildlife when I'm standing next to you."

This is his chance. He could lie his way out of this… or gods forbid, he could tell the truth.

But he doesn't.

Because a very, very stupid part of him wants to know what it's like, and he doesn't want her to go just yet.

“I’m just wondering what this shadow curse business will entail. If our little run-in with the undead on the way here was any indication, I can't say I'm looking forward to it."

“If you ever need it, you can always ask to feed from me again while we're in there. You don't need to go hungry."

He's overcome with the urge to run. Or perhaps to drag her to the ground and kiss her senseless before they reach this secret location of hers… Or maybe to be violently ill.

“How very sweet of you my dear, but be careful what you offer, I may just have to take you up on it."

“That was the intention. Silly vampire."

They step through foliage onto a large cliff overlooking the vista down below.

“Do you like it? I thought the stars might be nice from up here, and you seemed to like—"

He cuts her off in a desperate kiss, either to satisfy the overwhelming desire to do so, or to keep her from finishing the sentence that would make the terrible guilt he already feels that much worse.

The stars are beautiful, but she is better.

More complicated, harder to understand the way she lights up the darkness, but undeniably better.

His body reacts the way it always does, knowing the routine by heart, but he hasn't had enough time yet. He doesn't want his turn to end yet and let his body take over.

Slowing his pace, he kisses her more gently and savors the feeling before it's inevitably replaced with the rest to come. She smiles against his lips, bringing her hands to either side of his face and running her thumbs across his cheeks as she matches his tenderness with her own.

Is this what she feels? It didn't matter to him before whether this was something special to her or not but now he can't help but wonder.

“Why tonight? Why not before?" he murmurs in-between bittersweet kisses.

She lingers against him for a moment longer before pulling away and moving her hands to his his chest, looking up at him with darkened lips and painfully affectionate eyes.

“I was feeling a little lost that night. Confused maybe… but not anymore. I know what I want now."

“You do, do you? And just how did you make that little discovery?"

He would honestly love to know. It hasn't been so hard for him to know what it is he wants in… well, ever.

Before she answers she takes his hand again and guides him into sitting with her closer to the edge of the cliff, looking at the stars instead of him.

"I just had to think about some things… confront some personal demons better left undiscussed for tonight… though you're free to ask any other."

She glances at him briefly. “I know you have your fair share as well, and I'd never pry, but I want you to know you are also free to tell me about them any time. If you want to."

“I can't imagine a worse use of my time than sitting alone contemplating my demons." He sneers, and his voice comes out more antagonistic than he meant it to, but she only shrugs and smiles like she understands, but how could she?

“It wasn't fun, true… but I'm glad I did. I feel lighter now, different. They aren't gone necessarily but.. I know where they are now, and I'm choosing not to be afraid."

He wants to ask what she was afraid of, but he's afraid himself of the answer. Fear has been his only constant companion for so long… to be rid of it would be like getting rid of his hunger. It's impossible to imagine.

Instead of asking, or finding anything worth saying, he distracts her from the topic altogether by pushing her onto her back and kissing her again. Harder, like she might slip free and drift away if he doesn't pin her to the ground.

He doesn't resist this time when his body takes over. Being with her has suddenly become too painful. Too… real.

This is much more comfortable. He watches from a safe distance as his hands rid them of their clothing and move across her body with perfected rhythm.

A safe distance. Until she pulls his head down to hers and murmurs his name against his lips before kissing him with such agonizing slowness, that he's catapulted back into his body against his will. The movements he didn't realize his hips were making stutter with the shock of it. They'd moved much more quickly than he realized.

“Astarion… you are — gods above you are so wonderful.”

“I'm glad you appreciate my talents." He smirks and redoubles his pace to snap her out of whatever starry eyed musings she's fallen into.

“No— oh," she sighs, arching her back and digging her fingers into his hair. “Gods. Yes. I do, but I meant all of you. I've never —"

He slams into her, not wanting to let her finish what she was about to say. Once sufficiently distracted she tilts her head to the side in offering and he accepts greedily.

Only biting into the soft flesh of her neck and letting her blood pool into his mouth doesn't bring him relief. Somehow, it makes it worse.

Her blood is heavily saturated with affection and desire. More than before. Much more. Too much.

He moans, and it isn't even calculated. It's just her. The way he can't escape how… how something she feels. Overwhelming. Divine. Horrifying.

She is everywhere, flowing inside him even as he buries himself in her. Filling his ears with her breathless cries, his nose with her scent, his mouth with her blood.

His control slips, the rhythm he maintained with little effort now thrown off completely as he detaches himself from her neck and licks it clean.

“Astarion,” she whines.

“Good gods. What are you doing to me?"

“Kiss me."

He shouldn't. This is already too much. He has no idea what will happen if he goes further.

"Please."

“Darling you can't talk like that if you want to finish tonight."

The little devil grins at him, pushing up against him to roll him to the side until she sits on top of him setting her own pace. A vexingly erratic one.

“Don't talk like what?" She grinds against him with such slow, measured strokes that he begins to feel a little offended that she doesn't seem to be nearly as undone as he is.

“You know what."

Impossibly, she moves even slower. He growls and yanks her hips down onto himself with a sudden intensity that makes her gasp and close her eyes.

“No, but I would love to, if it makes you act like this. I may never stop again."

Act like what? Like he's forgotten everything he knows about sex?

“Don't be ridiculous. This is hardly my best performance."

She truly is a vision, her body on full display above him and smiling like an idiot while she tortures him with unpredictable movements that make it hard for him to retreat to safety.

“I know. I like it. I like you."

Embarrassing. He twitches inside her. She grins wider, leaning forward as she moves faster against him.

“I like you a lot you know. I like you like this…"

She punctuates her sentences with forceful rolls of her hips.

“I like your jokes. I like your laugh. I like when we fight together."

“Darling please.” He digs his nails into her hips, begging her to release him from this foreign state of wanting that feels like uncontrollable falling.

“I like when you call me darling. I like watching you pick locks and spin knives. I like being near you, with you, on you."

“Fuck."

“Do you like me Astarion? Will you show me?"

He laughs even as she threatens to make him come undone, closing his eyes and arching into her without thinking.

“I'm not sure how much clearer I can be darling."

Heat spreads across his torso as she leans forward to whisper against his ear, slowing down and speeding up and remaining completely unpredictable. It shouldn't work. There's a tempo to these things. Rules she isn't following.

“Please. Will you come for me?”

It shouldn't work, but it does.

He spills inside her while fully inhabiting his body for the first time in so long he doesn't anticipate the strength of emotion accompanying the physical waves of pleasure. He isn't in control enough to stifle his own animalistic groaning as she continues to work him until she herself is crying out and tightening around him.

But he knows to expect what comes next. This part at least, is the same.

As he comes down from his unexpected high, the low that follows feels all the lower.

Two centuries of being used as a prostitute and he's still desperate to be fucked by the first person he sees after he achieves his freedom. He recoils from the memory of his own ecstasy, disgusted by it, by how he enjoyed it.

He waits for her to get up so he can clean himself and try to be rid of the shame that feels so physically present on his skin, but she doesn't. She rolls to the side with him in her arms and kisses his forehead with a soft smile.

“Thank you,” she kisses his cheek, "I do mean it, you know? You're… very special to me, Astarion."

He should throw himself off the cliff.

It would be a better fate than feeling the full weight of his actions settling on him like soil over an open casket. She can never know what he's done to her.

“Yes you made that clear when you were crying my name darling… We should head to camp. There's another long day ahead of us tomorrow."

“Will you come with me to my tent?"

His stomach drops.

“My dear much as I would love to I don't think I can go another round with you tonight, I'm —"

"No, not for that. Just to… just to be near me. For the night.”

“What for?"

“I'll show you… and if you don't like it you can leave, any time.”

He forces a smile though dread is making its way into every corner of his mind and body.

“Of course my dear."

The trepidation on their walk back to camp is almost worse than the one they made to leave it. He needs to be alone to let his mind clear itself of the debris leftover from another sexual escapade. Perhaps when she's fallen asleep he'll be able to get in a few hours of private moping before morning.

She crawls into her tent and pats the spot beside her while he stares warily for a moment before following her direction.

The tent flaps fall closed and they're submerged in darkness.

As her head comes to rest against his shoulder he stiffens instinctively, waiting for whatever comes next. He waits for a while.

“What now?"

“Hm? Oh, this is it, just a cuddle. If you can't sleep or trance or whatever you do you can always go back to your own tent."

He scoffs. “I don't cuddle."

“Okay."

He waits for more, and he's left waiting again, this time his patience wears out quickly.

“You're telling me people just… lie here twiddling their thumbs for no reason? I never knew people were so boring.”

“Well no, you can hold on to me, or I could hold on to you, we could talk, or sleep, or yes, I suppose we could twiddle our thumbs… I'm a fan of the sleeping option though, personally.”

After a few minutes of silence, he hears her heartbeat slow and her breathing become shallow with sleep. He's free to leave now to go rinse himself of his shame, but how is he meant to move without waking her?

While carefully shifting her away from him, she seems to stir just enough to misinterpret the movement and wrap herself around him, burying her head in his chest and sighing before promptly falling asleep again. He freezes.

But as the seconds tic past, his muscles relax and he decides bathing can wait for a little while.

Tentatively, he experiments with holding her, as she suggested, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her a little more snug against his chest. When that fails to trigger any dread or disgust with himself her pushes further, kissing the crown of her head and savoring the scent of her hair.

It's nice… Surprisingly so.

In fact he's soon forgetting his plan to leave entirely as his eyes flutter shut and her steady heart and comfortable warmth lull him into a more peaceful trance than he's had in centuries. When he dreams, the memories that play are from after the Nautiloid crash, and from within them he's both free from Cazador, and from the awful realization that his plan has been completely and utterly ruined.

[grimmcheems]

Naruto Toad AU Cont.🐸🍄

Finally got back to doing something for this AU. Basically how Naruto and Tsunade meet??? There’s a lot I should’ve made before this but honestly this is probably the most sense it’ll be for now, at least just to start off with.

Mane this canvas size I’ve been using was so hard for this, I probably should’ve planned this better but tbh I’m way too tired for that and never have enough time. Pls let me know if it’s hard to follow, ik it’s all over the place but it makes sense to me but that’s most likely bc I’m the one who made it lmao. No elaborate coloring for this one, I feel like these parts just wouldn’t make that much sense to put more detail into, especially considering how small everything is. You wouldn’t even rly be able to tell that well.

Anyways, Naruto is a bit of a selective mute for a while in this: he’s never had to interact with people before, much less with so many. It’s all just overwhelming to him but he’s also in uncharted territory so he’s being cautious before he decides to make a move. I have to include the toads pep-talking him before they send him off bc it makes it all make a bit more sense, but yeah. No one except a select few know who he is or that Kurama is sealed within him (something that I will be exploring with him and Iruka at some point).

His identity and presence in the village is kept secret until she debuts him at one of the chunin exams. Ik he looks smaller here than the last art I did of this but tbh he’d be a bit small with the way his diet isn’t up to ninja par, he does end up getting a growth spurt tho. So let’s just say his growth coincides with when he finally gets to interact with everyone else.

Even though Tsunade doesn’t exactly love the idea, she ends up going with the option to act as if she’s his direct grandmother and it throws everyone off bc no one expected she would have a direct descendent or be willing to introduce him as such within the village. It becomes a whole thing on some people not believing it bc Naruto is just “weird”, but lil goober was raised in the woods by toads so-🤷🏽‍♀️also this reveal causes some strife with Konohamaru and his loyal subjects, since he was the only living descendent of the previous hokage till that point.

Konohamaru is just a kid but he struggles to understand that Naruto’s existence isn’t a threat to him, he was the beloved grandson up until that point and Tsunade had been begrudgingly taking care of his matters so far since the previous Hokage died. He just feels like he’ll be pushed out and lose the life he once lived and thinks Naruto will become a replacement of his of some sort?

Once again Jiraiya is nowhere to be found in this, he’s a deadbeat godfather but tbh Tsunade isn’t that much better. The two refused to take responsibility over raising him or finding him a proper guardian to take care of him until he was of age. The war jaded them and Jiraiya agreed to “take care of” Naruto but somewhere along the way he takes a step back and decides he’d rather do ANYTHING else.

Naruto basically ends up in Jiraiyas care bc Hiruzen banishes him as a baby lmao😭bro was not taking ANY chances. He called upon a trusted few that his parents knew but none had the time and resources compared to Jiraiya. Tsunade also ignored his summon and when she finds out through Jiraiya what it was about she still wouldn’t consider it an option.

Meeting him in this makes her curious but nothing more than that, I do plan on continuing this though and exploring some guilt👀🗿

The toads send him to the village bc he’s getting to that age where they can’t teach him much more, but mainly bc they found out Hiruzen died so his banishment became null lmao💀

Idk but I love Naruto he’s just a baby😭���😭🙏🏽🎀😩💖i plan on exploring the cultural shock he goes through while being in the village and have him develop insecurities that otherwise wouldn’t have formed if he’d stayed with the toads (not having parents and such).

[milimeters-morales]

Miles “I’m An Emotionally Intelligent Guy” Morales and Pavitr “I Can Read People Very Well” Prabhakar about to start extreme drama in the comment section of a youtube short about empaths and the ethics of rpf

[egophiliac]

I love your take on Crowley!

I know that the early, non-Diasomnia stories aren't really your thing, but are you reading the novels at all?

I have been following some of the fan translations and the second book seems intense! Would love to hear what you think about them.

thank you! 💚💚💚 I'm not really sure why you think I don't like the earlier arcs though, I love pretty much all the characters and their storis! (I think 5 and 1 are my favorite of the past episodes, though 6 infected me with the Shroud brainrot something fierce.) I just...ESPECIALLY love diasomnia. :') but there is room in my heart for all of these dweebs! like, who among us is not just as ride-or-die for Adeuce as they are for us.

that said, I don't really follow the other adaptations like the manga (aside from a dip-in just to see the new Yuus) or the novels, though I keep meaning to check them out! I do like seeing the differences between the different forms of media, and how certain things get adapted one way or another! but alas, time/a lack of accessibility stands in our way more often than not. :( someday...someday I will have time to consume all of the media...

[lambmotifz]

this is a controversial take but i don’t really think sexual wincest dynamic would be the same as the dynamics they have with girls. mostly because this interpretation tends to ignore canonical nuances that define sam and dean’s relationship, which includes dean’s extreme possessiveness, sam’s willing submissiveness with dean (especially when it comes to physical touch), the fact that dean is the only one with whom sam is able to be physically vulnerable in a way he can’t with anybody else, the fact that dean genuinely loves taking care of his little brother. it’s an essential part of their relationship, and it just makes sense for it to be part of their sexual dynamic too

[lady-corrine]

One of the (many) reasons I deeply dislike the "Annie and Finnick's wedding was only a propaganda move that meant absolutely nothing to anyone" take is that is... simply not accurate?

It is often claimed Plutarch had Finnick and Annie intentionally wear Peeta and Katniss' outfits to send some type of message, but that means to completely ignore how it was Katniss herself that offered to give Annie a dress for her wedding:

“when Plutarch has a fit over what the bride will wear — I volunteer to take Annie back to my house in 12, where Cinna left a variety of evening clothes in a big storage closet downstairs.”

How Peeta himself also made their wedding cake:

“As surely as the embroidery stitches in Annie’s gown were done by Cinna’s hand, the frosted flowers on the cake were done by Peeta’s.”

And to also disregard how everyone else felt and how happy and excited they were to be part of it:

“When it’s announced that children are wanted to sing District 4’s wedding song, practically every kid shows up. There’s no shortage of volunteers to help make decorations. In the dining hall, people chat excitedly about the event.”

All in all, it means to brush aside how everyone perceived their wedding as simply something good, genuinely so, and nothing linked to a false spectacle:

“Maybe it’s more than the festivities. Maybe it’s that we are all so starved for something good to happen that we want to be part of it.”

[arolesbianism]

Sometimes I just look at Isabeau and just know that if isat came out and I got into it when I was like 16 he would be my favorite character and I would've gone absolutely buck wild over this man and feel like he was laser targeting me. But alas Odile has a grip of steel on me rn due to her virtue of being a middle aged woman

[abyssmalice]

(thinking about tonitoni family again bc of that ask and while theres many things i can say, i should at least Definitely mention that with like, one exception, this entire family is too headstrong for their own good.

you see tonitoni's stubbornness and tendency to dig her nose into shit without really thinking about it? (or even if she does think about, she chooses to dig her nose into it anyway?) that's like, genetic, i guess.

her dad has it. her mom has it. her older sister and all her brothers Except One has it. like, they too would get themselves into major trouble if they had a good reason for it. tonitoni thinks she's just the odd one out bc of her circumstances but noooo her whole family is like this actually)

[icharchivist]

Did Lu Woh choose an Erune form because he likes cats?

Maybe!!! We can't know for sure. But considering he's so serious and focused with what he's doing it's interesting that he still picked Erune over human as a mortal form.

so he must be liking cats. I have to believe.

tho tbh i was joking a bit but the more i think about it, the more i think Granblue may be setting him up on that part -- because like... The Many Lives of Cats and Dante's whole approach to Cat and Life is something that Granblue really love and believe in, that life is worth living once you remember your own freedom the way cats do. Considering Lu Woh is the guardian of life and the fact Granblue is setting up "Cats know how to live the good life" i think Granblue has an agenda for Lu Woh in the end.

and i swear i'm not even fully joking!!! i believe!!!

who knows...

[cantdanceflynn]

OK ALAS MY LIFE SERIES EXCITEMENT HAS WANED Y REALIZING THAT BY LIZZIE TAKING THE CANARY CURSE EVERYONE WHO HAS THE ABSOLUTE WORST TAKES ON HER BOTH AS A CHARACTER AND A CC HAS FIXATED ON HER N IT SUCKSSSSSS

SO INSTEAD TAKE MY FIRST FULLY GENED BOY :) I HAVE A HABIT OF BUYING FODDER DRAGONS FOR REAL QUICK BREEDING N THEN GETTING OH SO ATTACHED BUT THIS GUY WAS MY FIRST REAL "IK UR COLORS ARENT GREAT AND I COULD DO SO MUCH BETTER W U BUT I LOBE YOU SO MUCH"(ITS ALWAYS PEARLCATCHERS LOL) SO HES PART OF MY CURRENT LORE IM PROBABLY GONNA INFODUMP BOUT BC ITS SUCH A WORK IN PROGRESS BUT THIS IS ONE OF THE ONLY NON-PNF THINGS TO FUCKING GET ME INVESTED™ LATELY AND I WANNA DO STUFF W IT

[anistarrose]

The sentences "Asexuals can still have sex" and "Aromantics can still date" need to go up on the high shelf for everyone except aces and aros talking about their own experiences. From now on, everyone else has to use the revolutionary new phrase "Asexuals and aromantics can do whatever the fuck they want forever."

Edit: Critical Thinking Questions

Imagine as many different scenarios as you can where a person might tell someone "aros can still date" or "aces can still have sex." Pick two or more of these scenarios to compare. Does the meaning of these phrases change in different contexts? Do you think every speaker of these phrases has the same intent?

Do you think the topic of this post is an "aroace community" issue, or an "asexual community and aromantic community" issue? Do you understand which one of the above is a broader category?

Imagine a scenario in which an aromantic allosexual might be told that "aromantics can still date." In that context, would that phrase be affirming or delegitimizing? Repeat, but imagine a scenario in which an alloromantic asexual might be told that "asexuals can still have sex." In that context, would that phrase be affirming or delegitimizing? If you would like, you may now revisit your answer to Question 2.

Do you think "Asexuals and aromantics can do whatever they want forever" is contradictory to the statements "asexuals can have sex" or "aromantics can date"? If so, then why? If not, then why might OP prefer the phrasing of "do whatever they want forever"? What might "do whatever they want forever" encapsulate that the other statements do not?

Many users are relating this post to fandoms' treatment of asexual and/or aromantic fictional characters. Do you think people's views of real-life a-specs can influence their treatment of a-spec fictional characters? Conversely, do you think their views of a-spec characters can influence their treatment of real a-spec people?

Is the treatment of real a-spec people or of fictional a-spec characters more important? For the category that you considered less important, do you think the treatment of that category is ever relevant or related to how the more important category is treated? (You may reference your answer from Question 5.) Compared to the more important category, how much discussion do you think the less important category deserves? Do you think it may ever be relevant or important to discuss on posts about the category OP sees as more important?

[drowningroane]

Reading the tag made me think of how Shen Jiu was a Worse Version of Severus Snape due to the Trauma Shang Qinghua drafted out for Shen Jiu's backstory.

i love that sqq is such a good teacher. i love that by just being in qing jing peak he changed it from a dreadful place to what airplane hysterically called a daycare for adhd children. i love that thanks to his intervention and mentoring ming fan and ning yingying grew up to be upstanding disciples that took care of everything while sqq was dead. i love that one of the reasons lbh got out of the abyss earlier was thanks to sqq's teachings and training. i love that the qjp disciples all come to receive their shizun at the mountain gate and cry for his attention, because they clearly adore him. i love that sqq LOVES teaching, to the point he takes a teaching post at an academy just because he can't stand doing nothing.

i just. love shen qingqiu so much

[luna-azzurra]

Ways I Show a Character is In Love But Doesn't Know It Yet...

This one’s for the emotional masochists writing the slowest of burns, where your readers are screaming “just kiss already!” by chapter twenty... I Love and Hate you... ♥

They compare everyone else to the person… and everyone else comes up short. Even when they’re not consciously doing it. No one’s laugh is as warm. No one’s eyes crinkle that way.

They remember the weirdest little things about them. Birthdays? Whatever. But that time they snorted laughing at a dumb joke? Locked and loaded.

They feel weirdly guilty when flirting with someone else. Like they’re cheating… except they’re not even dating. Or are they? Or—ugh, feelings are the worst.

They notice every damn detail when the other person isn’t around. "They’d like this song." "This smells like their shampoo." "I wonder what they'd say about this weird squirrel."

They use weird, overly specific compliments. Not “You look good,” but “That color makes your eyes look like a storm in a novel I’d cry over.”

They get weirdly intense about that person being hurt or in danger. Like, irrationally intense. "He’s just a friend," they say while planning to murder anyone who makes them cry.

They feel safer around them than anyone else, and it freaks them out. Like: “I’m always on guard. Except with you. That’s... suspicious.”

[curlicuecal]

playing science telephone

Hi folks. Let's play a fun game today called "unravelling bad science communication back to its source."

Journey with me.

Saw a comment going around on a tumblr thread that "sometimes the life expectancy of autism is cited in the 30s"

That number seemed..... strange. The commenter DID go on to say that that was "situational on people being awful and not… anything autism actually does", but you know what? Still a strange number. I feel compelled to fact check.

Quick Google "autism life expectancy" pulls up quite a few websites bandying around the number 39. Which is ~technically~ within the 30s, but already higher than the tumblr factoid would suggest. But, guess what. This number still sounds strange to me.

Most of the websites presenting this factoid present themselves as official autism resources and organizations (for parents, etc), and most of them vaguely wave towards "studies."

Ex: "Above And Beyond Therapy" has a whole article on "Does Autism Affect Life Expectancy" and states:

The link implies that it will take you to the "research studies" being referenced, but it in fact takes you to another random autism resource group called.... Songbird Care?

And on that website we find the factoid again:

Ooh, look. Now they've added the word "some". The average lifespan for SOME autistic people. Which the next group erased from the fact. The message shifts further.

And we have slightly more information about the study! (Which has also shifted from "studies" to a singular "study"). And we have another link!

Wonderfully, this link actually takes us to the actual peer-reviewed 2020 study being discussed. [x]

And here, just by reading the abstract, we find the most important information of all.

This study followed a cohort of adolescent and adult autistic people across a 20 year time period. Within that time period, 6.4% of the cohort died. Within that 6.4%, the average age of death was 39 years.

So this number is VERY MUCH not the average age of death for autistic people, or even the average age of death for the cohort of autistic people in that study. It is the average age of death IF you died young and within the 20 year period of the study (n=26), and also we don't even know the average starting age of participants without digging into earlier papers, except that it was 10 or older. (If you're curious, the researchers in the study suggested reduced self-sufficiency to be among the biggest risk factors for the early mortality group.)

But the number in the study has been removed from it's context, gradually modified and spread around the web, and modified some more, until it is pretty much a nonsense number that everyone is citing from everyone else.

There ARE two other numbers that pop up semi-frequently:

One cites the life expectancy at 58. I will leave finding the context for that number as an exercise for the audience, since none of the places I saw it gave a direct citation for where they were getting it.

And then, probably the best and most relevant number floating around out there (and the least frequently cited) draws from a 2023 study of over 17,000 UK people with an autism diagnosis, across 30 years. [x] This study estimated life expectancies between 70 and 77 years, varying with sex and presence/absence of a learning disability. (As compared to the UK 80-83 average for the population as a whole.)

This is a set of numbers that makes way more sense and is backed by way better data, but isn't quite as snappy a soundbite to pass around the internet. I'm gonna pass it around anyway, because I feel bad about how many scared internet people I stumbled across while doing this search.

People on quora like "I'm autistic, can I live past 38"-- honey, YES. omg.

---

tl;dr, when someone gives you a number out of context, consider that the context is probably important

also, make an amateur fact checker's life easier and CITE YOUR SOURCES