#the fonts will be changed but this is the general idea

[ellecdc]

elle elle elle can i request something with moon water killer (i think that's with barty?😭) with a reader inspired by the song Matilda by harry styles???

Since i saw you haven't gotten many requests with song inspo

omg! I'd never heard this song before! it's really beautiful, so thank you for sharing! also....I hope I did it justice <3 ** .... fuck ok I posted this and noticed you perhaps asked for reader to be Matilda coded? sorry I didn't catch that at the time

poly!moonwaterkiller x fem!reader who exceed expectations

CW: mention of Barty & Regulus' shitty childhoods and families (but nothing is described), lyrics are in a different font & the lyrics I inserted directly into the fic are in blue

You don’t have to be sorry for leaving and growing up. You don’t have to be sorry for doing it on your own.

Being born a Black came with a lot of expectations.

A young Black was expected to be well-groomed at all times, to be quiet, obedient, well-mannered, and have proper etiquette training.

They were expected to be dutiful sons and daughters, driven and successful students, and to keep up the family’s good name.

They were expected to grow into robotic adults, find a partner who was probably not too distantly related from them, and raise the next generation of Black children who would then wash, rinse, and repeat. 

Regulus Black expected the same for himself. 

He expected to be a dutiful son, a diligent student, a successful heir to the Black family name, and produce a suitable offspring who would amount to much the same. 

And by some brilliant stroke of luck, he did not meet those expectations. 

Though he tried to be a dutiful son, and he was indeed a diligent student, it hadn’t seemed to be quite enough for Orion and Walburga Black. 

And it wasn’t until Sirius left that Regulus realised that it would never be enough for them. 

So he left, too. 

You can let it go.

And when Regulus believed that there was lingering Darkness that flowed through his veins, he had found three people who saw the Light in him… even when he couldn’t. 

And Regulus won’t bore everyone with the details; but somehow that Light brought him here, to this day, with these people. 

And though both you and Remus were privy to the life Regulus lived growing up, neither of you truly understood it; and Regulus was happy for it.

But Barty did. 

Barty knew what it felt like to never live up to the expectations that came with your Name, to be perpetually wrong and disgraceful, and unfortunately that the consequences of such were really quite high. 

But they made it. They made it out.

Though it was not without scars.

Birthday’s had always been somewhat touchy for Barty, which may seem strange for the boisterous, egotistical, cocky son-of-a-bitch that everyone knew Barty to be.

A whole day? Dedicated to you? Where people were obligated to shower you with love and gifts? What self-absorbed, high-performing only child wouldn’t like that?

Barty didn’t.

Though Regulus supposed it was less that Barty didn’t like the idea, and more that birthday’s had never been a positive experience so he never quite knew how to handle them.

But - God love you both - you and Remus were determined to change that; and Regulus thought you might actually be succeeding. 

Because Regulus stood in the backyard of his small, cosy, modest townhouse with string lights hanging between beams and bannisters, basking the space in a golden glow as the small fire crackled and music played softly from Evan’s sound system that he brought for the event.

The event being Barty’s birthday. 

Everyone Barty loved was crammed into the small space; and the people Barty claimed not to love but rather tolerate (read: Remus’ friends) had shown up too. 

Throw a party full of everyone you know.

Regulus had the prime view from where he stood leaning against the wooden fence; some drink in his hand that Potter insisted was “so sodding good, mate, you’ll love it” - that Regulus could admit wasn’t horrid - as he watched Remus twirl you around in sloppy circles that the two of you seemed to think was a dance (years of proper etiquette and dance training would have Regulus saying otherwise). You threw your head back in a laugh that echoed in Regulus’ rib cage as Remus dipped you low; his honey brown curls glowing ethereally in the golden glow of the string lights as he pulled you back up to your full height to press a kiss to your lips. 

And Regulus’ prime viewing location also allowed him to watch Barty as he, too, watched the two of you.

Barty always talked of the pain like it’s alright; ever the comedian, he was always able to play off some of the most traumatic stories from his childhood as funny. And Regulus understood that; nothing about the way either of them had been treated had ever seemed especially alarming until now…until they saw that it could be better, that it should be better. 

Barty had been laughing and chatting with Evan, Pandora, Dorcas, and Marlene from the deck, but he had since opted to lean against the bannister as he watched two of his lovers enjoy the party; his party.

A party that Barty likely never imagined…expected for himself, a party that would have seemed impossible years ago. 

If the subtle glisten in Barty’s eyes and the mystified look on his face was enough to go by; the sentiment was not lost on Barty, either.

Their eyes met then; two boys whose families never showed them love who moved on to find freedom in love and a family that they started all on their own. 

It should have been impossible for Barty’s face to soften anymore than it had been as he watched you and Remus dancing, but it seemed to do just that when he shot Regulus a wink.

Regulus raised his glass to his boyfriend then; to growing up, to moving on, to showing love, to their little family.

And to exceeding every expectation either of them ever had for themselves.

[momolady]

Art the Orc

If you live in a small town, maybe you'll know this place. It's a little art store run by the same family for ages. It's not changed in all that time either. Picture it, feel it, you know it's the only place that sells that one supply you like. Now, imagine an orc behind the counter. Female Reader x Male Monster

The visage of the old place looked like it had once been a gas station. There was one of those big metal awnings and signs that gas pumps had once been outside. But everything else looked like the art supply store it was. The window was painted, done up with flowers and a flourishing font, but it hadn’t been touched in ages and was chipping and weathering away.

The old place had seen better days, you could tell. But you were excited to tackle such a special project with your own two hands.

Inside the place had a familiar smell of paint thinner, book pages, and coffee. You looked around the front as the bells on the door chimed. The old floor had seen better days and was worn out where you stood, even the welcome mat was hard to read.

“Welcome to Greengold Creative Station,” the deep voice came from behind the front desk where there was an open door. ‘I’ll be out with you in just a moment.”

“Take your time,” you replied. You continued to look around, noting the mismatched shelving and thrown together renovations dotting the place.

A moment later, a large orc came from the back. He was wearing thick glasses and had on a corded cardigan that covered a paint splattered t-shirt.

“Can I help you find anything?” He asked as he adjusted his glasses.

You approached the front desk again, extending your hand to him. “Hi! You must be Mr. Greengold, I’m from Regency Renovations.”

There was a surprised look upon his face as he shook your hand. “You’re the renovator?”

You smiled, half expecting some reservation based on your appearance. “I specialize in business and storefront renovations. That is what you wanted, correct, Mr. Greengold?”

He fumbled with his words for a moment, stuttering, touching his glasses until he spoke. “Call me Art, please.”

You held it in, but he knew where your mind went.

“It’s short for Arthur, but it's also my dad’s name so my mom calls me Art. Yes, I know, ha ha, very fun. A man named Art runs the art store.”

“It’s an easy target.” You tried to squash your giggling but a few came out.

He sighed and shook his head. “So, you’ll be handling the whole store. I want it updated completely. It was fine for my parents, but I need to bring in a new generation of artists and online shopping is destroying us.”

“It’s a common issue, Art,” you didn’t look at him as you said his name. “I already have some ideas brewing and I would be happy to discuss your thoughts for the business with you.”

He sighed heavily, gazing out at a store that was once his family’s legacy. “I would say I would like to keep some of what my parents did to this place, but I don’t think any of it is salvageable.”

“Well recycling is a thing.” You replied. “Like some of these old shelves, the wood can be reused to create a rustic facade for the front desk here.” You patted the worn out formica top. “And the vintage signage out from can be reused and framed, hung just right behind you there.”

Art made a face. “You can do all that.”

You returned his face, adding a smug smile to it. “I can do lots of things, Art. My father was a carpenter and my mother was a viper. Be careful of what you inflict about me.” You patted your chest proudly. You knew you were small and chubby, not many people expected much out of you, but your work spoke for itself. And that was how you told people off.

“Sorry,” he sighed. “I have a lot riding on this so-”

“So you hired the best. That I can promise you. Now I know you said you didn’t have a lot of funds, but I already have my plans made for how to help you with that. I plan on doing most of the work on my own, but for heavy lifting and other things-”

“I don’t mind helping with that,” he said with a shake of his head.

You had planned to bring in your brother for help, he enjoyed the destruction part of your job and he worked for free food. “Well uh…if you’d like Art, I wouldn’t say no.”

“I wouldn’t want you getting hurt on the job. It would be best if I helped out,” he said.

You couldn’t tell if he was being kind or underestimating you again, so you brushed it off and continued. “I would also like to film the process of the renovation. Stuff like that will help reach your new audience.”

He frowned, and his thick brows pinched together. “You must be joking.”

“I am not. You’d be surprised what the kids these days are watching.” You smirked up at him. “I know what I am doing, Art. Have some faith.”

His face read: easier said than done.

Discussion and planning was always the hard bit. You had to convince your employer of what needed to be done. Art was hesitant about some things, after all it was a family business and a place he had grown up in. But for the most part he was willing to go along with some of your ideas.

Art started the clean up process by first putting away his stock and setting most of the mismatched shelves outside. Once that was taken care of you began ripping up the old carpet and ancient linoleum.

“I remember when my dad put that stuff down,” Art said from behind you.

You looked up, eyes covered by goggles and mouth surrounded by one of those thick industrial masks. “Oh really?”

Art gave you a look. “Is all that necessary?”

“You’d be surprised.” You stacked another chunk of the linoleum to the side. “Lots of debris and who-knows-what is under these old floors. Decades of dirty shoes, dust, skin, and life are stored here.”

Art’s grimace deepened. “Skin?”

“Oh yeah, we shed like mad,” you laughed. “If you have dust in your house you can be assured it came from you!”

Art looked perturbed by this revelation but he continued in moving stock to the back and other store property outside.

Once the flooring was removed, you accessed what was underneath. It wasn’t marble or granite, but it was some type of stony tile that had existed when it was a gas station.

“Mom said it was inhospitable.”

You used a dust cloth to clean off a bit of the flooring. “But it’s easy to clean, and it’ll make the whole place appear brighter and bigger.” You turned and looked back at him, taking off the goggles. “It’ll be so much better in the long run. Plus! You won’t have to buy anything new except maybe a rug or two if you wanted.”

Art’s pinched brow was becoming the norm to see, but you could tell it was because the gears behind it were working so hard to process everything going on.

Once the tiles were cleaned and all the old flooring was hauled off to the dump, you started working on the walls, taking down slapdash shelving, and anything else hanging up. The old paint job, or jobs really, were layered on so thick and hadn’t been properly done. They had painted over the trim and electrical outlets, all of which needed to be replaced. The holes in the walls needed fixing too, and there were a few dents and scrapes from the years.

“You’re not hiring a painter?” Art asked one day.

You zipped up your coveralls and turned around to face him. “Not unless you want to shell out twice the money. Besides, I’m a good painter. A great painter even! Maybe not Rembrandt or anything, but I can handle a roller better than most.”

Art looked over your paint supplies. After days of you working on freeing the electric sockets and scraping the excess from the trim you could finally start working. You were painting the wall white, but you had found cheap sticker tiles to create a great accent wall, which could then be used for photo opportunities and special displays. Then another wall would also be painted white and used to display local artists and projects from the art class that Art taught.

“Mom always wanted to put wallpaper up,” Art murmured. “But said it wouldn’t be practical with everything we needed to hang up.”

There was a melancholy to Art’s face and tone as he said this. “What kind?” You asked as you poured your paint into the tray. “We could always find something close to what she had in mind for the office.”

Art glanced over his shoulder then shook his head. “I doubt I could afford it. I tried looking already.”

You put the roller into the paint, sliding it back and forth until it wasn’t too soupy. “Was this place your mom’s idea?”

“Yeah,” he murmured, his gaze going all about the store. “I can’t believe how empty it is now.”

“It’ll be full again in no time.” You gave him a reassuring smile when his amber eyes returned to you. “Do you have any pictures of your mother you would want to hang up?” you asked. “I can plan a special place for it.”

He huffed, seeming put off by this suggestion. “Excuse me. The smell of this paint is giving me a headache.” He walked off, stomping his feet a little as he went.

Art came back by the time you were finished with the first coat of white. You were sitting in front of the checkout desk, leaned back against it so your foot propped the door open. He stepped over your leg and looked at your work.

“The white really makes this place look…different,” he murmured.

“Don’t worry, there will be some color back soon enough,” you sighed. “Is your headache gone?”

Art nodded, leaning against the desk. “Sorry if I’ve been…obstinate.”

You waved it off. “I’m used to you.”

He shook his head. “No. I’ve been questioning and judging everything, all because I never really wanted to do this.”

You tilted your head up to look at him. “Then why are you?”

He let out that heavy, burdened sigh again. “Because it was in her will.”

You clicked your tongue. “Oh.”

“She left me money, but only if I used a portion of it to renovate the old store. She said it was mine after all, it deserved to reflect the new generation. Even in death she was still hinting I get married.” He scoffed at this, but he still had a smile on his face.

“Sounds pretty motherly.” You stood up from the ground, standing beside him. Not feeling much taller than you did sitting beside his great size. You motioned to the front window. “Did she paint that?”

Art laughed. “No. I did. That’s why she kept it so long.”

Your smile beamed. “Really? That’s pretty adorable.”

He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “For years upon years I’ve looked at that painting and wished every day she would wash it off and do something different. But I suppose her sentimentality was far too deep for that.”

“It’s a good painting,” you offered.

“I never thought she’d keep it so I barely tried,” he grunted and crossed his arms against his chest. ��Boy, was I wrong.”

“Would you like to paint the new display? I was planning on just hanging a new sign and leaving the window clean.”

“I don’t know,” he muttered.

You patted his arm, and his eyes darted down to your hand, his brows unpinching for that one moment.

“I’ll wait till you decide then.” You stepped away from him, but his eyes still lingered on where you had touched him.

A few days later, as you were working on putting the sticker tile onto the wall, Art came from the back and offered you a ticket.

“A friend of mine has a gallery showing tonight. He gave me two tickets so I thought-” He hesitated and cleared his throat.

“How fancy is the affair?” You asked.

“Nothing too fancy. I mean, dress up, but not like black tie event or anything.” He cleared his throat again. “I was going to get dinner at my favorite restaurant since it was close by if you wanted to come.”

It clicked and you looked up at him. Your cheeks flushed and your mouth started to go dry. “Oh. Sure.” You tucked your hair behind your ear. “If that’s the case, maybe we should go in together. You know? Save the earth and stuff.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Smart idea. How about I pick you up tonight. Say…around six? Since the gallery is at eight?”

You nodded, biting down on your lip. “Yeah. Perfect. That should give me enough time to get ready after work.”

Art turned awkwardly away then back towards you. “Oh I uh, I guess I should get your address.” You traded info and the rest of the day went by in a jerky, tense sort of way.

That evening you waited in your living room until you heard from Art. You were wearing your favorite dress, and had even gotten your next door neighbor to do your makeup. You got his message and went downstairs to meet him at the front door.

Art was dressed nice in a dark purple suit and he had his long hair slicked back and tied into a bun. He didn’t have on his glasses, which surprised you. His eyes lit up when he saw you.

“Wow, you look great!” He said, a touch breathless.

You blushed and smiled. “Thanks. You look pretty great too. I’m not used to seeing you without your glasses.”

“Yeah, contacts tonight,” he said shyly. He then took your hand and led you to his car.

The restaurant was nice, the two of you had a clumsy start to it, but eventually you both started having an in depth conversation about color. From there, you both laughed and joked around, having a good time with great food and even better wine.

From there you walked to the gallery, meeting his friend then roaming through the show. Her artwork was lovely, but you noticed Art’s pinch brow had returned.

“A lot more nudes than I expected,” he whispered.

“I think it’s nice,” you replied. “I can see what her intent with the motif is. How it’s classic, it's natural, but also subversive.” You turned to Art, noticing him fidgeting and adjusting himself.

“Yes. I understand what she is doing,” he muttered. “I must have had just a little too much wine I think.”

You smiled at him, chuckling as your cheeks grew warm.

The car windows were fogged over, and in the dark all you could do was touch. His kisses felt rough but intimate. His tusks brushed against your skin, making your shiver. Every so often the darkness was halted by the motion light of the parking lot turning on. You’d still for a moment, then continue on with your youthful antics.

“We should stop.”

“We should.”

“Why aren’t we?”

“It’s hard.”

“Very hard.”

You kissed Art and breathed, looking into his eyes while you clasped your hands around his face. Maybe it was the wine or the nudes on display, maybe it was weeks of working so close and holding back so long.

“It’s hard.”

“Very hard.”

You smiled at him, kissing him again while his hands moved below. Your panties were pushed aside, his zipper brushed against your thigh. Big. Oh my god it was big!

You gasped softly and he stilled, watching your expression. You eased over him, taking as much of Art as you could stand. You pressed your palms to the roof of the car for balance, his strong hands kneaded into your thick thighs.

“Aren’t we a bit too old for this?” he breathed.

“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we.” Your laughter turned into moaning. Maybe you were both a bit too old for this, but you’d never had so much fun before! He pressed deeply inside you, and his hands couldn’t stop touching your body. He roamed over the soft curves, and plump form, his desire seeming to grow the more he did.

The next morning you came into work, seeing Art standing in the middle of the room. You held your breath, wondering if it was all a wonderful dream. He turned and smiled, his thick glasses back in place.

“Hi” he said breathlessly.

Your smile bloomed. “Hi.”

Art motioned to the desk. “I brought coffee.”

“I see that.” You smiled and took a cup he offered.

He sighed then laughed and you laughed. “So uh…last night.”

“I liked your friend’s gallery. It was very nice. I also liked your favorite restaurant.” You took a sip of the coffee, testing it before you added anything.

Art nodded, his gaze drifted until it fell back onto you. “Is that all?”

You smiled over your coffee cup. “No. Just barely.” You looked into his eyes. “I wasn’t sure if it was an appropriate work topic.”

“Not exactly but uhm…I just wanted to check.” His eyes darted over you. “Were we really too old for that?”

You laughed and cupped your hand over your mouth. “A little. But I’m not too sore. Are you?”

“No. But I would prefer somewhere much comfier next time.” he leaned in close and you closed your eyes, accepting his kiss and the touch of his tusks against your cheeks.

“Yes, it would be nice.” You saw he had paints and brushes set on the front desk. “What’s this for?”

He sucked in a breath through his teeth. “I thought I’d paint the window. I got a bit of inspiration last night.” He grinned your way. “Plus, I think mom would like to see how I’ve improved.”

You grinned. “I’ll be very excited to see how you work. Outside a car at least.”

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

Ramshackle Family PowerPoint Night Slumber Party Headcanons

Masterlist

Bonus: First years

Sleepovers at Ramshackle are common but one day you decided to spice things up by having a powerpoint night party

You told Ace and Deuce your idea on Monday so that they had enough time to prepare for Friday.

The party begins in the afternoon and the three of you start baking all sorts of treats in the kitchen like cookies and brownies before you get changed into your pyjamas

Deuce: 

His are really simple but bless him he worked so hard

He gets super into his and gets all animated and excited 

He loves it when you ask questions 

His slides are very neat, like one or two bullet points at most with a few pictures. He uses a baby blue background with standard black text. 

“I didn’t want to make it hard to read” ♡

Ace: 

Ace is what happens when a primary schooler is introduced to powerpoint for the first time

Every single transition and animation is used. He uses those cool font sites to make gif fonts that are going on every slide. It looks like a party popper exploded all over it. Each slide is a different garish colour. ‘Body text’? What’s that? Word art and word art only is his text

His presentations are either typical meme stuff like playing smash or pass with smash bros. characters or they’re the saltiest roasts you’ve ever heard

Yes, the last one was specifically made for you. He loves you dearly and has noticed that you’ve been on the receiving end of many a wandering eye. Prefect, you could do so much better

Grim

Since he’s baby™ he can’t make a powerpoint so he just has a whiteboard with the words ‘BUY ME MORE TUNA’ scribbled on

I’m not going to do the reader’s slides to make it more general but when it’s your turn to present you bet that it would be dead silent. If Ace so much as coughs, Deuce is decking him with a pillow.

After powerpoint night has ended, you play other games like those random Kahoot quizzes, charades with the ghosts, board and card games etc.

You even assemble a blanket fort that takes half an hour longer because of a pillow fight Ace instigated 

You all decide to do it again next week

[knightotoc]

I always liked the riddle scene in the Hobbit, but I never knew what it really meant until I read the original just now. The main idea is lost in adaptations because you need to get into their heads. I knew it was a high-stakes version of a kids' game and a mythology/fairytale reference, but it still seemed pretty random and hard to believe, since these two are the last characters you'd put in a battle of wits.

But the scene is actually about how people's environments shape the way they think. Bilbo and Gollum are both so flustered that they can only think of what are, to them, very easy riddles. They keep feeling ashamed that they can't think of something harder, and confident that the other guy will get this immediately. But the other guy is stumped, because his mind works differently, because he lives in the opposite environment.

Solving the riddles isn't actually about being smart, but being empathetic in Bilbo's case and nostalgic in Gollum's. Bilbo is only able to comprehend Gollum's nasty way of thinking because they are in his lair, amongst the dark and fish. Bilbo is repulsed and even unable to guess Gollum's final riddle, only winning by luck (he stutters "I need more time" so badly it sounds like the correct answer, "time").

Gollum is only able to imagine Bilbo's pleasant answers by thinking back to his past, when he was a normal guy who lived with his grandmother near flowers, eggs, and cats. In this book, he isn't confirmed to be a former hobbit, but the parallel becomes more tragic with this retroactive backstory. Gollum indirectly tells Bilbo that time is the only thing that separates them, and Bilbo does not understand this. If Bilbo had the "more time" he requests, hundreds of years here in the dark, he would become like Gollum, wisdom at a terrible price.

The main theme of The Silmarillion is how immortality affects people. Elves are fated to live forever in the undying lands of Valinor. Humans instead have the "Gift of Ilúvatar," the great mystery of an unknown afterlife. Elves are counterintuitively jealous of this gift, since death allows humans to escape the music of Arda, the fate which defines all creation.

Bilbo and Gollum, who were so different in life that they could barely follow each other's thoughts, also end up with the opposite deaths. The elves take Bilbo to Valinor, while Gollum goes to the mysterious afterlife of the other unchosen mortals. (At least two elves, Lúthien and Arwen, chose this fate for themselves out of love for a guy. But generally this is the unchosen/fate defying route for souls to go.)

So during their first meeting, Gollum is the one who understands the destructive power of time. But in the long term, Bilbo will come to understand time as an endless font of wisdom and peace, since nothing can be destroyed in Valinor. We don't know how or even if the mortal afterlife experiences time; if Gollum's pessimistic definition would hold true, or if that, too, would eventually change.

[thera-daydreams]

SCARLET & SHADOW

ᱬ The Darkling x Scarlet Witch!Reader ᱬ

[aleksander morozova x wanda maximoff!reader]

Warning: This will be very canon-divergent, considering that it will be a fix-it fic for the Darkling's story. Will contain elements of violence, manipulation, and gore present in the series. Plus, mentions of depression, trauma, regret (as W. Maximoff) and the inclusion of possible adult themes in the later chapters.

Majority of this will also be based on the Netflix show since I haven't read the entire books yet. There may be inaccuracies and a whole lot of changes. You have been warned!

Otherwise, proceed and enjoy! ♟️🌹

(Sidenote: So... okay. I'm deciding to write this and make it a formal fanfic—as per previous post one and post two—because I seriously cannot sleep with the overwhelming inspiration I'm getting from shipping these two characters. Aleksander and Wanda are practically the same person in different fonts. They both did shitty, selfish things but I need to give them a happy ending. Together. Somehow. And hate it or love it, I firmly believe this idea should be shared to the world. If you know my other JJK fic, you'll know Wanda is an obsession of mine. Also, also, also! Please bear with me if updates are scarce. I'm juggling my academic review, work, another unfinished fic, and my daily fangirling. 🥹)

1. once upon a dream

Aleksander had dreams of you long before he even knew you. Maybe it was the stress of this neverending war. Either way, you weren't real anyway... were you?

(3.9k words)

2. coincidence

The Black General finds himself magnetized by the seemingly inconspicuous gardener in the Little Palace. He gets to know you, contemplating life. Just when he thought you were just a strangely wise, young otkazat'sya woman, he finds out why exactly you decided to work in the Little Palace.

(2.5k words)

3. reflection

You are confronted by a certain Shadow Summoner about your motives in bringing the kids to the Little Palace. He realizes that you've loved and lost so deeply, eerily the same as he had. Perhaps that's the reason why he was so drawn to you; he could see his reflection in your eyes. But the more answers the Darkling got, the more questions he had. Unfortunately for you, Aleksander was a patient and persistent man who would stop at nothing to get what he wants.

(4.8k words)

4. haunted

You were no powerless otkazat’sya, Aleksander finds out the hard way. He’s pushed you too far, and he’s left to deal with the aftermath of the new knowledge he half-regrets he gained. On the other hand, you see something bad about this new world that wished you had never seen.

(6.0k words)

5. ?

(tba)

... more chapters?

Synopsis:

"No more magic." You swore to yourself after the madness that you'd spiraled into; the chaos you'd wrecked upon the Multiverse under the influence of the Darkhold. Now, you had destroyed the Darkhold in every universe.

The last universe that had a Darkhold? Safe. Book of the Damned, gone. It was a land with no heroes, gods, or sorcerers... just... normal people and... Grisha? Either way, it was time for your atonement. Your repentance for your mortal sins.

But when you save and bring three orphaned Grisha children to the Little Palace, working as an otkazat'sya gardener to secretly keep an eye on them, it turns out that a certain Shadow Summoner begins to have his eye on you, instead.

taglist: @idohknow @robertthehoover @the-desilittle-bird @pearlstiare

[notaorbital]

hi I really like your mb and I'm new here. Do u have any suggestions or tips to make mb? like where did u get the pics and the captions.

��oodboards: a guide for beginner blogs!

I decided to bring here a small tutorial that can help other blogs that are starting out and still have questions that need clarification, with tips and links that you may need. I wrote this from my point of view of creating moodboards and I tried to be as brief as possible in my explanation, there may be errors in English as I'm not fluent in that language and everything here was translated using Google Translate, any questions you can contact me via asks or by message.

how do I find pics for moodboards?

Pinterest is where you will find most images for moodboards, so create a Pinterest board just for these images, separating them into subboards for each color or aesthetic to make it easier.

Some blogs leave the link to their Pinterest accounts in pinneds or in the carrd, you can follow them and save the pics they published on the app in your boards, this will influence the Pinterest algorithm so that they recommend more of the type of images you want.

You can also search on Pinterest for the aesthetic and color you want (coquette pink aesthetic, cottagecore aesthetic, y2k, etc.).

how to make moodboards + tips:

Well, it's not such a complicated thing for me. I generally make moodboards with 6 or 9 images, taking inspiration from the moodboards of other blogs that I admire, so I can get an idea of ​​how to make the captions and how to position the photos in a way that matches them.

To make it easier, first I create the moodboard and then I look for an icon of a kpop idol that can match the aesthetics and color of the moodboard. The reverse can also be done: first choose an icon and make a moodboard for that image, paying attention to the color palette and tonality (and for some reason, for me it's better to create moodboards in Tumblr's light mode instead of dark mode)

When I finish the moodboard, I add the caption, the hashtags (which will be very important for your post to reach other people) and maybe a divider. You can find these dividers on other blogs or by searching for "dividers" on Tumblr.

If you want to split a photo into two or more images, use this site.

how to create captions:

To make the captions, I use parts of songs that I like or that I found searching on Pinterest for "Spotify song lyrics", but they can also be album or song names, movie names, a phrase you thought, etc. The symbols you will put in the caption can be found on this website or just by searching for "symbols", "kpop symbols", "kaomojis" on tumblr.

If you want to use a different font for the letters, there are these two websites (01 and 02). And to change the color, there are also these two tutorials (01 and 02).

what to do to make your blog "popular":

Add popular hashtags that relate to the content you are posting. If you use almost the same tags as other big blogs, your posts will have more reach. Posting frequently and your account looking nice and organized helps too.

Ask several other popular blogs to promote your account. This was very important for my profile to grow in the number of followers and engagement.

Join the events that some blogs do, as they offer good prizes like reblogs if you win. And remember to have patience, as it often takes a while to get good engagement on Tumblr.

[katoobee]

I HAVE. MY OWN DREAMTALE HEADCANON THAT HAS GOTTEN A BIT. LARGE.

so i wanna put it into a big post!

i like the ideas for Nightmare that Passive and Corrupted are separate beings, as its implied (or iirc, outwardly stated) in the story that Nightmare isnt a worse version of himself, its literally just a really evil entity possesing him.

so with toying with the set ideas for Nightmare (different person, negativity, shapeshifting) i came up with this!!

-

the general idea for this version of Nightmare is that his Evil Schemes and Dastardly Deeds have been resoundingly successful, much to the dismay of literally everyone

his power becomes abundant due to the amount of negativity in the Multiverse, and he changes his form more and more. (my HC height of Nightmare is related to this!)

his minions (ie Killer Dust Horror) slowly get more and more beat down by Nightmare and look more exhausted, due to more prevalent abuse in the gang

Nightmare loses the need to manipulate other AUs by appearing as Sans. his body starts to look,,, saggy. with the more power he gains, his features more long and "incorrect" (like he's not respecting anatomy). the teeth in his mouth are the only thing that moves when he speaks.

his minions notice this around (i guess i can call it stages?) stage 3, and theyve started feeling like theyre not respecting Nightmare's orders anymore, and that they're respecting someone elses orders.

all this leads to this image which also introduces

NIGHT TERROR

Night Terror i imagine, is quite literally the Human that killed Nim and was imbued into the Tree of Feelings, once again given form. the driving force that started everything

he no longer hides in the costume of Nightmare nor sans, as he shows himself for what he truly is. (quite literally tore off his skin and stepped out of it like a costume, i might draw this later)

he knows fully what his presence entails, and he plans to uphold himself to that no matter what. he will stop at nothing to cause as much death, destruction, and suffering as possible.

he's freakishly powerful, a step above how Nightmare already was.

Dream is the only thing that can stop him completely, with the help of weakening him by other sanses and other powerful bodies.

calls Dream and Nightmare "Nim-Child/Children"

his body is still goopy, but its smoother and not runny. akin to surface tension in water.

his eyes glow when he speaks.

he can summon knives, mimics of the actual knife that killed Nim. he can also summon a LOT more tentacles. these are all lot stronger than his relatively "weaker" form

he can single out one person in an AT-Lich like manner (uses this to talk to Dream directly, and also generally uses few-line commands)

his hands can become coated in pure toxicity, acting like agonizing acid that isnt just exclusive to Dream. his fingers can also become sharp like razors when coated in the toxicity.

where everyone else speaks in the sound-font, noise for each letter, he has his own voice. like fully, audible voice

he still is going for Dream's golden apple, but is more forceful about it due to his mask basically being dropped

(visuals made here with lyrics from a song by Chonny Jash, yes i know its a LOZ song IT JUST FITS THE VIBE)

i imagine "killing" Night Terror restores the real Nightmare to what he was once was. "killing" Night Terror doesn't actually kill him, but makes him go into dormancy, keeping himself inside of Nightmare's soul, like a worm burrowed into an apple.

the only feasible way to save Nightmare is for Dream to severely hurt himself, since negativity is like acid to him,,,

arms go byebye!

i also believe that reverting Nightmare back to normal would mean he'd still be his young age, like when Dream was encased in stone

ok thats all i have to say about this if anyones curious feel free to ask about it :]

[ch3rriiii-bunn]

Generous offer

Word count: 5.5♡

Part 2/4. Enjoy 😍🙏🏾

Warnings: fem!reader, demon reader, sub reader, pleasure dom Douma, pleasures dom Karaku, double penetration (2 pp's inside pussy),dirty talk, oral (reader receiving), nipple play, reader is mentioned to have sensitive nipples, Dacryphilia, squirting

There is only one demon that has ever entered Douma's temple, and it is his lord, Muzan. Not only is this temple very well hidden from demon slayers, especially at a hashira level but it is also filled with humans, also known to known to be Douma's "Disciples," or as others would refer to them as cult members.

Muzan only came to Douma's temple once to turn him into a demon and invite him to report back to him about his search for the spider lily and the ubuyashki family. Douma practically gave up trying to invite the other upper ranks to his temple, but faith brought you to keep this demon company.

Douma became obsessed with you. A demon weaker than himself willingly to care for him and teaching him new things, especially how to love? He definitely kept you as his woman. He practically begged muzan to let you stay at an upper moon meeting. Although douma is disliked by muzan, he still wanted special treatments like Akaza and Kokushibo. Even if it meant you were just sitting there. Douma just wanted you to be everywhere with him.

Once the meeting was done perusal, you watched as muzan disappeared. You are sitting next to douma and looking over to see him try and make small talk to Akaza again. You hold back a laugh to see him quickly get rejected, but before you could comfort your boyfriend, you felt a pair of eyes watching you. Your eyes change direction to see the same, emerald eyed demon in font of you in the distance get a look at you.

It didn't make you uncomfortable. However, it did disappoint you how he'd turn his head away and act like nothing just happened. Is it because you're with douma?. You turn to your boyfriend and touch his hand "Douma I've been meaning to ask you something." You leaned closer to whisper in his ear.

"Mm?" Douma smiled, leaning closer to you, and chuckles softly when he felt your breath touch his ear lobe. "There's an upper rank who stares at me a lot. I'm not mad, but what's his name?" You ask and tilted your head to the side and made eye movements to indicate who you're talking about without making it obvious.

Douma's eyes followed but only saw the 4 clone brothers standing together. "Try to be more specific. y/n there's 4 of them," douma asked, making you groan in response. "The one with green eyes." You grabbed doumas cheeks and turned his head in Karaku's direction.

"Ah, that one. I believe his name is... Karaku, " douma said. You turned his face back to you to meet your gaze again. "He's quite handsome, isn't he?" You continue to whisper. "More handsome than me?" Douma fake pouted and held your hands. "Of course not. However, you did tell me to pick out a handsome or beautiful demon to do that with, right?"

Douma's pout slowly turned into a smirk. "Still thinking about the 3some i mentioned?" His hands go from regularly holding your hands to slowly Intertwining his fingers with yours. "When I first suggested a 3some, I didn't think you'd pick a male demon. You must like it rough, don't you y/n?" Douma let's out a light chuckles at how easily you fluster at his question. "I approve." Douma, let's go of your hands and picked himself up from the floor.

"Douma-" you sighed and kept yourself remained on the floor since it was only you two plus the 4 clone brothers in the infinity castle. You didn't hate Douma's boldness to approach Karaku, and it's not like you disliked the idea of a threesome. You just felt a little shy to be exposed in front of two male demons.

Even though this is something new to you, the excitement couldn't stop growing inside you. Two big, handsome musclar demon men handling you however they wanted? The idea couldn't stop making you rub your legs together as you watched douma approach the clone brothers. Hantengu's clones weren't known to be very tall, so when douma approached them, he easily towered over them and looked down with a big smile, and had his eyes closed.

"Karaku is your name, right?" Douma asked, having the four clones' brothers speechless to have upper 2 approach them. The three turned their heads in Karaku's direction and made him realize douma is speaking to only him. "That's correct. I didn't think you'd remember my name, Lord Douma." Karaku had his usual smile and spoke in a formal tone to the demon ranked way above him.

"I'd like to invite you to my temple!" Douma cheerfully asked and grabbed both his hands before Karaku could realize and even startling him a little bit. You got up and walked over and tapped douma lightly on his back. "Calmer approach, darling." You lightly smirk at Douma's approach.

You felt a little more confident now being this close to Karaku and even giving him a flirtatious smile. "Sorry. It's not every day I get to see my beloved comrades," douma laughed a let go of Karaku's hands. "There's something I want to do and requires a handsome demon for this task. Can you come to my temple?"

Karaku felt his cheeks heat up from just the compliment and lightly laughed, almost letting himself get flustered. It didn't help that you also gave him that flirty smile and made him smile ear to ear "yeah I'll come. Sounds exciting," he said and then got pinched on the arm, hard by Sekido, making Karaku cleared his throat.

"I accept your invite, Lord douma," Karaku said. In a second, Karaku's feet were lifted from tue ground, and his eyes widened, realizing he was just easily picked up by Douma. "Great! Ah, I'm so excited! Isn't this wonderful y/n? Isn't it!?" Douma asked, still holding Karaku in his arms and his brothers, watching what's going on before them and them feeling fear for the first time.

"This is exciting, but please, put him down." You reached to touch doumas biceps and gave the clones a reassuring smile to try and erase their fear. Karaku was put down, and you took a step in front of him. "I will be at the temple as well, so I look forward to your arrival. My name is y/n," you bowed. "I'll definitely be there. My name is Karaku." He smirks and bowed as well.

"We must get going now since my disciples will arrive at the temple shortly. When you come tomorrow, there will be demons and some humans escorting you on your way there. I'll see you tomorrow night!" Douma took your hand and waves. "Bye-bye. See you tomorrow, " he said, and you waved as well and began to leave with Douma. "Tomorrow night! See you Karaku!" Douma said, far away and kept repeating his words until he wasn't heard anymore.

"Alright, let's go home. The meeting is done so." Karaku put his hands on his hips and stretched with a wider smile than usual. "You're a fool." Sekido snarls. "Can common sense go into that brain of yours and take this seriously? You didn't even ask what he needs you for," Sekido said and poking at Karakus head until it hurt. Karaku just playfully slapped his hand away and laughs. "You're the one taking this too seriously, Sekido. It sounds fun, and i forgot to ask. I'll just figure it out when i get there," Karaku said.

"You're right, but aren't you a little worried? Well, if anything happens, it's not like you'd die, but still.. how sad," Aizetsu said. Urogi groans, "You guys are such buzz kills," he said and put his arm around Karaku. "I'd kill just to be in that temple. Do you know how many pretty human women there are in his temple? It's just rumors, but it's gotta be true," Urogi said, putting his arm around Karaku. "It sounds so much fun and exciting. I'm jealous of you. Don't listen to the, it'll be fu, n" Urogi sai, and Karaku put his arm around Urogi aa well "damn right it will be!"

"Fucking idiot's..." Sekido snarled.

Sundown came to an end the next day. Karaku said his goodbyes to his brothers, and they stayed outside until they could no longer see Karaku once he walked into the pitch black forest. The temple would've been impossible for Karaku to find on his own if it wasn't for regular demons dressed in clut like clothing and their faces covered to lead the way.

For once, Karaku wasn't talkative on his journey there. Most likely, since this is the first time, he's going somewhere without his brothers, especially Sekido. Karaku wasn't necessarily worried, he is very calm about the situation but still thought back on what Sekido said. Maybe it was better for him to ask what he's needed beforehand. However, it's too late now, and he will have to find out for himself.

"We have arrived," the demon guide said. Karaku snaps out of thought, and his eyes squinted to adjust to the lighting after coming out of the pitch black forest. Karaku raised his eyebrow in confusion to just see a bald man along with two women behind him. "You must be karaku. Lord Douma has told us about your arrival," the bald man said and bowed along with the two ladies.

Karaku held back his demon urges to not hurt or eat the humans in front of him since Douma's cult followers were important to him, and he wouldn't want to upset Douma when he just arrived. Karaku didn't bow back to a human and just grinned "well I hope I'm the only demon named Karaku," he said and placed his hand on his hip, then took a look around the outside building.

Karaku turned back to the demon who led him here. "Hey you. Your guiding skills suck. This is just a bathhouse," he laughed. The bald man in front of Karaku pulled out a letter from behind him and handed it to Karaku. The letter is from douma. He didn't need to see a name to know it was from douma. The symbol of a fan was enough.

The note said, "Oh! Forgot to mention something! Anyone who comes to my temple is required to take a bath. Not because you stink or anything but because I just think everyone feels nice after a bath! Enjoy, Karaku."

"...I can't tell if he's being genuine or if he thinks I stink." Karaku said to himself and crumpled up the letter and put it in his pocket. "Follow me this way, sir," the bald man said and started to walk inside the bathhouse. Karaku followed behind him and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Do I stink??" He asked the man. "It's only normal for a demon to smell like the outside. It's okay," he answered honestly and left Karaku shocked.

Karaku was happy the bathhouse was empty. He scrubs his skin with a cloth and the soap he picked out in frustration. "Demon's do that baths. We just can't get a moments peace because of demon slayers," he said to himself and picked up a bucket of water to dump on himself to wash the soapy bubbles off his skin.

He then goes into the huge tub and has half of his body submerged in the water up to his nose, where he starts to create bubbles in the water and continues to sulk. Once he came out to dry his skin off, the same man was waiting for Karaku in men's changing room and handed him a new kimono.

".... Where's my hakama pants? And my Yuigesa harness," Karaku asked. "That has been put in the wash. These are clothes, Lord douma picked out for you and insisted you wear them," the man said, making Karaku look at him in disguste. "Is there a problem?" The man asked and felt concerned. "Yeah, I'm being forced to look like my older brother by covering myself up!" Karaku raised his voice.

Eventually, Karaku put on the kimono that covered him more than he liked, and it took a lot of convincing from the man to make him put it on. Other than being fully clothed, Karaku was amazed at how big the temple is and how many human women there were.

They were frightened to see a demon here, especially seeing Karaku's large horns, cracks in his face, and his dark green eyes. Karaku knew the human woman and men were doumas cult members and he could see them trying to be respectful since Douma was the one who invited him but he could see the fear in their eyes which only made Karaku lick his lips and trying to hold himself from having a food feast. He's here on an important task, not for food even though that was killing him inside.

"Lord Douma is in his bedroom along with Ms. Y/n. I will take my leave now." The man pointed down the hall with a red carpet and then bowed. As the man left, Karaku held out his hand and was about to ask something but sighed once he left.

Karaku started to walk to Douma's room. The walk down the hallway was normal, but the vibe quickly changed until Karaku heard muffled moans. He stopped close to the door, too close for comfort, but he only took a small step back and listened some more. Those were definitely your moans. A smirk curls on his face and his hand, making its way down to his crotch, almost like he's controlling himself. "Maybe this is a bad time to come here," he whispers to himself and palms his dick softly through his kimono.

Karaku lets out a deep yet quiet sigh before taking another step back away from the door. "Oh, is that you, Karaku?" Douma's voice called out from the room. Karaku's eyes widen, and your moans stop, which makes him holt his hand from palming himself. "I almost couldn't sense you," Douma sarcastically said. "Come in, come in," Douma said in a welcoming and non threating tone. Karaku hesitant for a moment and having his leaf behind his back.

He placed his hand on the door knob and gripped it , turned it slowly, and opened the door. Karaku's mouth hung open in a small 'o' shape at what he just opened the door too. He sees your naked more, shiny, and moisturized over Douma's lap. Douma had his kimono down to his hips and his chest, looking the same as you and clearly showing your body covered with body oil.

You softly moan, slipping your hips side to side on Douma's lap. Karaku wonders what you're getting off to until he heard a buzzing sound and then looked to see a small remote in Douma's hand. "I didn't know you were into stuff like that y/n. What a nice side to see of you," Karaku said, making you whimper softly in response.

"I didn't know if I should've come in since I heard moans. Or do you guys get off to someone hearing you guys go at it?" Karaku chuckles and makes Douma laugh in response. "I did plan for you to hear that, but i don't think it's a kink. Now close the door," Douma said and spanks your ass making you yelp. "Let's have a talk." He said.

Karaku's smirk grows wider seeing how you reacted to that spank and shuts the doot behind him. Douma caresses where he spanked and grabbed your ass, smirking at how smooth and slippery your skin is with the oil on your body and how your hips move side to side in his grip "D-douma please~ I'm gonna cum again-" you whine but then cut off by a hush from douma.

Douma places his finger over his lips to hush you again. "Not yet, y/n. Hold it in until Karaku and I are finished talking, okay?" He teases and watches your head fall into the pillow, too quiet yourself. Karaku clenches his teeth together as he watches as your hips move in circles from the vibrator and your feet pushing back and forth in the air. "Would you like to have a 3some with us?" Douma asked and started to take you off his lap.

Karaku was taken back by the question but answered honestly. "Yes, but... why me? Wouldn't you rather Lord Akaza or Lord Kokushibo for this?" Karaku asked and looked up at douma once he was close enough to speak one on one. "I have, but they always turned down the idea." Douma's head tilts down a little in fake sadness, "y/n also had no interest in them. Just you. She loves the way you look at her and suggests you should join us in a 3some," he said.

Karaku's eyes softened, knowing you enjoyed when he looked at you and even gave him an ego boost. He looks over in your direction and sees your head peeping up from the pillow and then quickly hiding your face again once he notices you. "Can't be all shy now. I'm into you too, princess, " Karaku smirks. "Y/n maybe shy at first, but once you touch her, she's not as shy as she may seem," douma said, making Karaku more excited.

Douma stepped to the side to make Karaku more visible to you. "y/n, look here for me," Douma said, and you turned your head to look at the demon men by the door. Douma's hand grips on Karaku's jaw, hard enough to make him open up his mouth. He stuck two fingers in Karaku's mouth and clipped his two fingers down on Karaku's tongue to pull it out slowly. Karaku almost gagged at the sudden touch and sticks his tongue out to make it easier.

"Look y/n it says "pleasure" on his tongue," Douma said and ran his nail down Karaku's tounge tattoo. You watched and saw the drool beginning to fall from his tongue to moisturize it. "I was right to pick you." You licked your lips and got up from the bed and made a finger motion for Karaku to come closer.

Douma gave Karaku a little push, and he walked closer towards you. Karaku makes the frist move and grabs at your hips and his hands slowly going up to cup your boobs "you're body is so beautiful" he said and rubs his thumbs over your nipples and watches you jump from his touch. "You were right to pick me. I'll make sure to have you cumming all night" Karaku said and sticks out his tounge

"I can't wait~"

Karaku cups your cheek with his hand. He looks into your eyes and watches you try to keep them open once he puts his knee between your legs while having a hand on your back to support you. "This vibrator is such a tease, isn't it?" He asked and rubbed his thumb on your bottom lip. You nod and your brows knit together, desperate to cum.

"It was just new something to try out," Douma said innocently, but you knew this was planned to tease you. "Let's keep it in there," Karaku said and pulled you in for a deep, passionate kiss. Douma goes back to sit on the bed with your back facing him. Douma's nails touch your back and slowly go down, making you shiver from his touch and then feel his soft kisses on your back, leading up to your shoulders.

You moan in Karaku's mouth from the feeling of Douma's nails, which gave Karaku the opportunity to slip his tongue inside your mouth, tasting your tongue and feeling your heavy breath with his. Your legs tensed when Karaku's fingers pressed on your clit tightly and your hands grip onto his kimono.

Karaku started to rub your clit in small circles but from being edged on before Karaku came in the room, you couldn't hold yourself back from releasing an early orgasm. Karaku swallows your moans in the kiss for the moment and then chuckled as he pulled his lips away from yours. "That was quick. Did it feel good? Of course it did," he said and made his fingers slip past your folds to grab the vibrator, slowly pulling it out.

"You're so wet the vibrator was already falling out of you but you're already too fucked out to realize that huh?" Karaku laughed and began to take his kimono off. "Don't like the clothes?" Douma asked. "I prefer to have no shirt." Karaku said but stripped down to nothing. "Have you ever tried this oil? It's good for the mood," you breathlessly asked and walked to the small desk next to the bed with slight wobbly legs after your second orgasm.

You purposely bent down in front of them to pick it up, then held it in your hand and turned around to show Karaku. "Heh. Can't say I have tried that. Why don't you come here and put it on me?" Karaku said and held out his hand for you. "I'm coming. I'm coming," you joked and took his hand and gasped when he pulled you into his arms. You couldn't help but smile and admit that it was very smooth yet romantic.

"Tell me how his body feels y/n," Douma said and watched you squeeze the oil body to let it fall in your hands. You rub your hands together and start by touching his biceps and then the rest of his arms. "His skin is so warm for a demon. His pretty tanned skin also looks beautiful... especially being oiled up like this." You giggled softly and continued to rub his arms and then move your hands to Karaku's chest.

"I love his chest..." You whispered to yourself and rub the oil on his pecs. Karaku flexed his pecs making you both chuckle and you shake your head "and his abs look perfect" you said sliding your hands down his pecs, down to his sides and giving his waist a little grab and then feeling his abs. "You're forgetting to compliment something eles" Karaku takes your hand and makes it go lower fo touch his hard cock.

"Right, I can't forget this," you said and touched it lightly. "Is it bigger than mine?" Douma teased "n-no... but you two do look the same size. It's big, " you confessed, making both of the demon men chuckle at your cuteness. "Come here, darling." Douma pulls off the rest of his clothing into the floor and lies down and patting next to him on the bed.

Karaku hopped onto the bed and laid down on the other side and made just enough room for you to lay in the middle. As you put your knee up on the bed and jump up, douma gives your ass another spank. Once you've gotten in the middle, Douma makes the first move by cupping your tit.

"Let's see of we can make you cum by just sucking on these nipples" Douma said and plays with your harden nipple between his fingers. "Just look at her shaking already," Karaku said and scooted himself down for his mouth to be at your nipple and give it a light lick. Your eyes closed, and your mouth opens slightly to let out a soft moan. "Keep going..." You begged.

Karaku hummed as he grabbed your tit in his hand and behind to lick your nipple. He starts off with light, wet licks and watches as your nipples harden and smirks in satisfaction before being in to kiss and suck on your nipple. Douma continued to tease your nipple with his fingers and even use his nail to poke at the center of your nipples and smirks at you, arching your back already.

Douma begins to grope your tit and then gives you a kiss before getting to Karaku's level to lick your other nipple. Your legs rub together, and your bottom lip folds in your mouth, biting it with soft whimpers escaping you. Douma lied though, he did want to make you cum from just playing with your nipples but he couldn't help his hand from making its way down to your pussy.

Karaku follows, and they both shrink their nails on their middle and ring finger so they don't hurt your pretty pussy with their sharp nails. Douma slips two fingers inside easily from your wetness and begins to finger fuck you while Karaku places his fingers back on your clit, this time making faster circular motions on your clit.

"O-oh fuck!~" Your mouth hangs open, and your heavy breaths mixed with moans leave your throat with your head pushed back into the pillow harder. "That it. Cum for us" Karaku said, giving your nipple a soft bite and flicking his tounge on your nipple while rubbing your clit faster with more pressure on it. "Let go darling~ cum on my fingers" Douma curls his fingers thrusts them inside you faster until it made soft clapping sounds.

Your body joints and your thighs flex as you cream on Doumas fingers. "Fuck~, let me taste her," Karaku sits up, making his way between your legs. "W-wait, I just came," you moaned when douma pulled his fingers out of you and watched as Karaku lays on his stomach and 6 his head between your legs.

Karaku makes a 'V' shape with his fingers to spread you open. He smirks at your pussy throbbing and sticks his long tounge and making its way inside your pussy. "Karaku!" Your thighs quickly close in on his head and your hands grabbed onto his hair. You felt his tounge lick around your inside and tasting you just like he said he would.

"Open these legs darling" Douma said but before you could comprehend his words he places his hands on your knees to force your legs open himself "I know you can cum for us again. I wanna see it." He said. Karaku sneaks his hands under your ass to lift your lower half up and sits himself on his knees so that douma can help him hold your lower half up and turn his head to the side to lick at your clit.

Your body is folded in half at this point. Your hands gripping onto the sheets smd your teeth clnechrd together akth your euss shut with loud moans. "C-cumming! Cumming~" you groan slightly with a loud moan as your stomach tightens, your clit thobbing and your insides squeezing Karaku's tounge in until you cum.

Your eyes were still shut once your lower half was back onto the bed but then quickly opened when you felt a hand tapping on your cheek. "Don't pass out on us yet, darling," douma said while caressing your cheek. "You haven't even been stuffed yet. Where's the fun in that" Karaku said and you watched him stroke his cock in front of you.

"I have an idea. Let's stuff her pussy with both our cock at the same time" Douma suggested with a big smile on his face. You were dumbfounded at the idea. How is that even possible? Their big cock fucking your pussy at the same time? You thought this was a joke until you heard Karaku's dark chuckle. "Sounds like a great idea" he laid down and taps his thigh "come here princess and get on my cock" he said.

"I-i don't know if this will work.." You nervously said as you claimed on top of Karaku. His hands caress your hips softly. "It will. You've been prepared enough to handle two cocks don't be so worried princess. Now come here" Karaku said and watched you lean forward.

The oil is still on your bodies, so when your tits met Karaku's chest, it was slippery, but your tits still rested on his chest just fine. Karaku reached his hand down to grab his cock and slides it through your folds and watches you moan softly "your voice is so sexy. Let me hear you moan like a slut on my cock y/n" Karaku grunts as his tip pushes inside you and thrusts the rest of his length inside you.

You let out broken moans at how easily his cock pushed its way inside you. "Karaku, Karaku~" You look down at him with glossy eyes and bit your bottom lip softly when you felt Karaku's hands on your ass. "Crying already? I haven't even moved yet" he chuckled and grabs you ass cheeks to spread you open until you heard your pussy make a small wet sound as Karaku opened up more.

You look over your shoulder with knit eye brows to see douma behind you. "Look at that~" Douma moaned as his tip rubs your hole with Karaku's cock inside you. "Be a good girl and let me in darling" Douma sticks out his tounge to let his saliva fall off it and onto your pussy. Douma then slowly pushed his tip in, making you jump at the feeling and then letting out hitched breaths as Douma pushes his length inside your pussy.

"Almost in~ haa you're so tight." Douma moaned while grabbing both your ass cheeks. "Dose it hurt?" Karaku asked and kissed your chin while his fingers rub your clit softly. "N-no. It's just so big~" You moaned and then looked up to see Doumas sadistic smile. Douma makes a final thrust with a satisfied moan as he gets his cock inside you.

"C-come on." You wiggle your hips and place each of your hands at the sides of Karaku's head. "How needy," Douma comments while thrusting his hips slow and gives your ass a spank. "Fuck~, she's clenching down on me harder when you spanked her." Karaku lets out a dry laugh, followed by a moan and thrust his hips upwards."You like that, dont you?" Karaku asked and spanks your thighs

"I-i d-aaah~ I doo~. Haa m-ore faster!" You slur your words, mixed with whines as you felt their thick cocks already hitting your spot. Douma bends down and gives your ear a light kiss. "Like this?" Douma whispered in your ear with soft grunts as his thrusting started to get faster. "Just like~" you let out a long whine and look at Karaku "you too, fuck me faster~ please" you begged.

"Already on it," Karaku grabs your hips, and his upwards thrusts sped increases. "Heh, I don't have to worry about my c-cock slipping out. Huh~" Karaku moaned while watching your tits bounce in his face "your pussy is clinging into us I don't think we can pull." He said lifts his head up slightly to catch your nipple in his mouth and sucking on it.

Your back arches and your legs begin to shake with your sensitive nipples being played with again to push you to another orgasm. "How dose it feel to be stuffed with two cock in your pretty pussy darling. Oh, I know you love it~ love it so much you want us both to fill you up, mm?" Douma's thrusts became harder, making your body jerk forward but he bends down to have his fingers rub at your clit.

"T-too much!~" You let out a loud gasp with tears rolling down your cheek as you began to let out high-pitched moans. "Too much? Aah~ but it feels so good, doesn't it darling? Think you'll squirt for us?" Douma whimpers softly in your ear, getting close but continues to fuck your pussy hard while over stimulating your clit.

"Fuck yeah you are" Karaku clenches his teeth as he watched his cock thrust inside your sloppy pussy. Your pussy felt so good, he wanted to cum so badly but his realse would only feel better once he sees you squirt. "You're gonna squirt on our cocks like the slut we are training you to be." Karaku said, digging his nails into your thighs and his brutal thrusts fucking you harder and harder.

They seemed to get off from your tears, your high-pitched moans, and how your body shakes when they over stimulate you. It became so much you couldn't even announce that you're cummimg. You could only hang open your mouth scream in pleasure as you released the clear white liquid Douma and Karaku have been demanding you to let out.

It didn't stop there. As you're squirting they continue to fuck you through your orgasm "what a mess your making on my stomach, and you're still going." Karaku moaned watching your liquid drip on his stomach. "A-and on my thighs, fuck~ y/n, y-y/n~" Douma moaned your name repeatedly until he, and Karaku cum inside of you.

It finally came to an end.

The two demon men ride out their orgasms until they stop for a moment. "Felt good?" Douma asked, and you nodded your head. You opened your eyes and calmed your heavy breathing down but then noticed that they're still inside you. "Guys?" You questioned only for Douma and Karaku to let out a dark chuckle.

"I'll feel sadness for the first time if it's over already," Karaku said as he caressed your cheek and then slipped his thumb in your mouth to play with your tongue. "We've only made you squirt once. We have to keep going until you can take it anymore, " Douma said and kissed your neck. "Let us fuck you to sleep since the sun will rise in an hour. Won't you let us?" Douma asked and bites your neck.

It wasn't over, but it wasn't a bad idea. You weakly grin, still wanting to be fucked dumb by these two until you sleep.

[belle--ofthebrawl]

Hi. I don't know what this is. 2k of nonsense, mostly religious and Dew/Copia. Please take it and don't ask too many questions. We're sexualizing and spiritualizing Dew's transition and the trans experience in general. Or whatever. How many times can I rephrase the same basic idea is the real question.

@askingforthesun talking to you inspired me to finish it for better or for worse. Does this even make sense. I don't know.

There are fifteen votive candles burning in the chapel. Five on the left, five on the altar, five on the right. If he focuses he could tell exactly what temperature they burn at; from the base that gobbles up the soft cotton wick to the dancing and flickering tip. He could estimate what temperature the wax melted, what temperature the glass holders were. Anything to do with heat and flame, Dewdrop could pull from some unknown source and tell anyone who asked.

Nobody asks. 

And he can't tell if there's water in the baptismal font.

He has his new uniform on, a triangle stitched on the inside of his collar. He had done it himself and when the needle slipped, stabbing the soft flesh of his unprotected thumb, he let the blood well out and soak into the thread. It seemed like the right thing to do. Even after everything, he didn't think the fire completely took hold of him until that one private moment.

Everything he was, given up for everything he could become. It had worked. When the others asked, eager for details and gossip, he had lied and said he couldn't remember the process.  Only Delta had understood the trial of it all, a silent camaraderie shared with knowing looks and shared cigarettes. As much as he loves the others, they just…they weren't like him. They hadn't felt that strange, hallowed call coming from the very fibers of their being. Something must change, this is not right. He often wondered if Delta had an easier time of it— if his Quintessence soothed the anxiety in his blood of not being in the right form, or if it made things worse. Instinctively he knows it's not something he could ever ask. Dew might have taken himself down the path of elemental transition but the similarities ended there. The only footsteps here were his own.

“Dew?” Mist says softly, breaking him out of his reverie. “We'll be here when it's over.”

The same words spoken before the door to the ritual chamber shut behind him and his ordeal began. He'd given his pack a nod, straightened his spine and knocked. And when the doors shut behind him…

Change was never easy. 

But it had been worth it, in the end.

“I know.” He replies, looking over his shoulder at them. At everyone.  Zephyr and Mountain and Ifrit and Aether and Mist. Omega and Alpha. Delta, with his heavy, knowing gaze. The water ghoul holds his palm over his heart and gives the slightest of bows. There's a faint smile on his face when he comes and Dew…Dew smiles back. The worst is over and this is the blessing. The celebration and giving thanks to Lucifer. On the other side, Copia awaits to start this ritual and Dew straightens his spine, looks ahead and pushes the door open because he's already been accepted. There's no need to knock.

Fifteen candles and Copia at the altar. Tradition dictates that fire is welcomed best at the zenith of the sun's progress through the sky and the light that shines through the stained glass windows sends multicolored blocks of light kaleidoscoping across the floor of the chapel. The door closes silently behind Dew and Copia turns around. He's in his black robes and biretta, with a design of face paint Dew has never seen before and his heart stutters. This is not the Cardinal. This is his very first glimpse at the Papa Copia will someday become.

Copia holds his gloved hand out with a soft smile and Dew begins his slow walk down the aisle. Goosebumps break out in a ripple on his skin though the air is pleasantly warm, not stuffy in the slightest. The fire calls to him as he passes, welcoming him like it welcomes all kindling but he knows it will not devour him. It has accepted him as an extension of the flame. Copia's white eye burns far hotter than any flame as Dew crosses the final distance between them and takes his hand. 

“My ghoul.” Copia starts. No nervousness to him, no anxiety and if Dew was capable of anything other than awe, he would laugh. This is the Copia that welcomes initiated Siblings into the fold, brings them into the flock with love and care. How many Sisters have swooned under these exact circumstances? “I welcome who you have chosen to become.”

He wonders if the words are scripted but does not dwell over them much. Besides, now Copia's giving him a sly little wink and murmuring, “Let's get this show on the road, eh?” and that's the Cardinal he's familiar with. Dew nods in silent resolution. With a sweeping gesture, Copia beckons towards the black idol of Baphomet just beyond the altar; shaggy and goatheaded, male and female. Baphomet is large, both the statue and in stature but his lord does not frighten Dewdrop. In the carven eyes, he sees the flicker of candlelight and then, something more than just candlelight. The stone itself seems to take on new life the longer Dew looks and as Copia bows to the idol, Dew breathes in and catches the faintest scent of sweet hay and fresh goat milk. Though Copia addresses Baphomet as the Unholy Father in his opening speech, the idol's face is as kind as a mother looking at her newborn for the first time.

Both and neither. Dew could fall to his knees at the love he feels emanating from the god. You have chosen and shaped yourself. Baphomet whispers into his mind. To do so is to truly follow in my footsteps.

“Thank you.” Dew breathes. Copia pays no notice. His job is direct and contain the energy of Lucifer in all three of his forms as Dew asks for the blessing going forward; Unholy Father, Fallen Son, and the Unknown Spirit. Each an aspect of their Lord and each equally important in their faith. With the three of them invoked, their presence filling the little chapel, a second is needed in the Ritual to channel their images. One alone ran the risk of losing themselves in the power. 

Dew trusts Copia. He'd known the little man since his summoning; then, a nervous little bishop always in the background. Scurrying around with his folios and paperwork, always sitting in the back pew and praying long after Mass had ended. And his prayers were answered, as the machinations of the Clergy elevated him to the lead of the Ghost Project shortly after he became Cardinal. Not to discredit Copia's own hard work. Dew thinks the only ones he might trust to act as conduit are the previous Papa's and he only said yes to Copia because he'd been the first to ask.

“And now, we begin.” Copia states. To their left awaits the shrine to the Unknown Spirit. Dew follows close behind Copia as they proceed, searching in the shadows for something that shows Lucifer has heard his prayers. To depict the Unknown Spirit goes against the very nature of its being. It is the presence felt at the crossroads, it is the creak of the gallows and the sound of the fiddle. It is the space between stars and the darkness of the tomb and it is the red light from the stained glass reflecting off Copia's glove.  It will grant any request if the asker can pay the price of its favor. 

And Dew has paid.

His action here is nothing more than lighting the sixth candle sitting cold and unlit on the altar. Action itself, is highly valued by the Spirit. The first step down the long, dark, and twisting road. He calls the fire and it dances into being for him, a tug in his heart similar to one he felt upon making the choice to transition. 

The shadows stir and for the briefest of moments, Dew sees a figure; clothed in black, a wide brimmed hat hiding eyes that burn like coal. The hat is tipped, a nod given. An understanding has been made.  Nothing else is required here.

Across the nave, to the shrine to the Fallen Son of Heaven. Here, a statue is more appropriate– to show the lovely features of Heaven’s brightest twisting in righteous anger, his wings burning and halo disintegrating.

As Copia stands beseeching, Dew thinks about gratitude. He thinks about what would make a beloved son of heaven wrest power from an unfair god that didn't deserve his child's devotion. What stirred the first thought of rebellion in a perfect machine made only for worship?  He thinks it might be odd to be grateful to his Lord for something he did entirely on his own. It was his own strength of mind that brought him through the ordeal of the change, his own desire to see the process through. How much did Lucifer really have to do with it, to the point where He needed thanks like the god He rebelled against?

We made our choice, you and I. The statue whispers to him. We fought to be what we are now. Feel the body you now wear. The fire has always loved you too much to let you burn away.

Lucifer, Morningstar. A streak of light across the darkness outside of heaven’s eternal purity. Burning as he fell, the blaze cloaking him, shielding him. Becoming his home once his descent was complete and there were eons between earth and heaven. Dew sees the wall of fire from his ritual, how walking through it took all his strength as it enveloped him, tested him, scorched away anything that might keep him from his destination. Any doubts he had, any worries lingering, all were taken by the flame. The water of his essence,  steaming out of him, dripping and hissing on the hot tiles below his feet. The flame loved him. He would not burn. 

The warmth comes back to him now as he stares at the depiction of Lucifer. Most beautiful among God’s angels. Beauty to inspire a host of angels to break away and fight, beauty that would never be passive and subservient. Fire was aligned with lust and passion for a reason and the eyes of the statue seem to burn with both the longer Dew looks. A hush seemed to fall about the chapel as Dew steps forward, past the praying figure of Copia. He knew, he just knew if he reached out and touched it, the marble would be warm like flesh and there would be firm muscle underneath. 

No longer angry, Lucifer regards him with the sort of intensity that made Dew weak in the knees. But he stood. He stood and reached out towards his Lord and the hand reached back and the statue was alive, it wanted him, it longed for him to come close enough to snatch away and feast upon, for them to burn together in each other's flames and Dew opened his mouth, called to the fire like a lover, poised on his tiptoes ready to be taken and-

The sixth candle on the altar flares to life, jumping so high it licks his skin and the moment is gone. Lucifer, mere marble again. But the weight in his gaze remains, made more demanding by the denial of Dew’s touch. 

He's not surprised to realize he's aroused. An aching thrum of sheer want coursed through his body and came to rest between his legs, where his cock was starting to swell up. There is no judgment and nothing is forbidden here, in this blessing. What he feels, he is to act on, and there's not an ounce of shame as Dew's hand almost absently goes to soothe his cock with a press of his palms against it. Was it a trick of the light, or was Lucifer gazing fondly at him? 

Take what you want and feed me your desire.

His legs wobble. Dew spreads his stance, as if that will help but it only serves to pull the fabric of his pants tighter against his cock. He's warm all over, hyper aware of his own body, skin prickling as the statue devours him by looks alone. A pearl of pre well up at the top and melts into fabric. His shirt rasps over his chest as he breathes, just rough enough to brush over his nipples. The buttons, once a comforting tightness, now hug his waist, turn it waspishly thin and highlight how wrong it feels to not have hands there, nothing guiding him, grabbing him, doing whatever they wanted with him. 

He moans and immediately covers his mouth in embarrassment. Copia doesn't react. Too absorbed in the ritual, his voice a comforting drone in the background. It's second nature to reach for him, a source of stability in the faith as Dew treads new ground. His robe is soft in Dew’s hand and he feels only a tiny bit of guilt when he realizes how sweaty he is. 

Give it to me. The statue hisses and Dew damn near doubles over, clutching onto Copia like a lifeline as his cock surges, jumps and weeps pre. A swoop of arousal hits him so hard it brings tears to his eyes and it's with one shaking hand that Dew undoes his pants and falls to his knees, burying his face in Copia's robes as he cries out, frantically tugging at himself because if he doesn't cum now he thinks he might die, he really will. A hand, heavy and gloved comes to rest on his head, scratching just right between his horns and Dew sobs. He can't stop. He's so close, so fast and Copia is touching the sensitive skin right by the base of his horns-

His core flares, the flames jump higher and he cums faster and harder than he ever has in his entire existence. Thankfully with the presence of mind to catch most of it in his hand. Lucifer might forgive him for staining the red velvet of the kneeler, but he's not keen on a repeat of the ordeal when he inevitably is the one to scrub them out afterwards. 

Now he collapses. Ash crumbling away, but Copia catches him. Breaks his prayers to murmurs words of comfort to Dew as he easily cradles him, lifts him up. Dew brings his soiled hand to his mouth and cleans himself with his tongue as Copia brings him to the center. Lays him on the black marble of the altar, under the gaze of Baphomet. 

You have endured much. Baphomet says. A trial of your own doing. 

And he would do it again and again and again if it meant feeling the presence of his Lord so close.

Oh, little one. Baphomet says warmly, so full of love Dew could cry. I am always with you. Fire was yours to call home from the start.

The dark waters of his home in Hell. Far below the churning surfaces, to vents spewing black and white plumes. Hiding Dew from predators, keeping him warm. The memory of scrabbling at the sharp black stones, trying to pry them apart to make the cracks bigger, to one day wriggle inside and be engulfed in the heat. 

I am not all powerful. Baphomet says thoughtfully. Nor do I control every aspect of my realm. One is always encouraged to test the limits, push past boundaries. Discover what breaks them and what makes them whole. There is no sin in self discovery.

If Dew wasn't hanging on to every word the figure spoke, he would notice Copia’s silence. The way his eye took on a new light and the shift in his whole being.

And I applaud you for this journey, little one. Baphomet tells him. Be proud, for what you have done is worthy of pride. Change does not exist in heaven. An eternity of stagnation is a horrible thing.

Hands tenderly cup Dew’s face. Warm lips press against his, human and trembling with a want that has been there for so long, Dew doesn't know how he didn't see it earlier.  But the fire has burned away what blocked his vision. His arms come up to hold Copia; his Papa. Hard against him as Dew is dragged to the edge of the altar, ripe Communion for a Black Mass. He tastes paint and wine and blood as his fangs cut Copia's lip in their kiss. 

Do as all flames do. Baphomet speaks for the final time. Consume.

Dew opens his mouth and holds Copia tight.

The sixth and final candle lights as they move against each other; the ritual now complete.

[saradika]

— canva template (penguin classic book covers)

I saw this video on the ⏰ app about using this website to generate fic covers that look like the penguin classic covers. (Please check it out! It is very easy to use and very fun to make covers with - I would absolutely recommend it!)

But I also love customization, so I put together free templates in Canva, giving you the ability to change font colors, styles, etc. Wanted to share it in case anyone wanted to try it - it was fun to imagine my fics having fancy book covers!

Templates & info below:

template one

template two

When opening the templates, there’s options to change the author, fic title (& subtitle on #1), design colors, and the photo. If you choose a photo first, then when you’re changing the details, it will offer you color options picked from the photo (which is so helpful!) And if you have any questions, please let me know! 💕

References:

Original Video || Original Template Link

((Reiterating that this is not my design idea. All trademarks, trade names, or logos mentioned or used are the property of their respective owners. This is just for fun and aesthetics - please do not use for any sort of profit!))

[emelinstriker]

You say third brand, I’m not sure if it was mentioned before or if it’s a spoiler (I’m going through the blog and only saw it being mentioned once and only seeing the chest design)…. What exactly is the branding in the Esau? How badly does it hurt them? :(

Answer:

I was waiting for someone to ask about their brands fhfgnhfg-

It's not much of a spoiler, it's more of an identification thing. And no worries, it doesn't hurt anymore. But it did hurt a lot when they got those. They did get marked with eternal branding iron, after all. :D

Basically, the biggest and first brandmark on their backs stands for "Servant". I guess also technically slave for some, but being a servant would be the generally nicer term. Quite a few have this mark within the palace, so it's not uncommon.

The medium and second brandmark is on their chests and stands for their titles as their Master's "Champion"s. The champion title is like the VIP rank of servants, which does include more direct responsibilities, such as being a bodyguard, personal servant and all that. In return, Champions do get so much more attention and recognition though. They also got more perms and can be put in charge of soldiers like generals. Only a handful of the Master's most trusted have this mark.

*And lastly, the third brandmark is a lot smaller and is basically only available to those who are worthy of being in the Master's chambers. It stands for "Toy". I'm not gonna go into details cuz the position of that one is already telling of how NSFW that shit can become. But there's only very few selected ones with the third mark. This mark specifically is usually treated like a sacred symbol however, so the boys don't like showing it to anyone except their beloved Master.

(*Update from 12/3/23: Due to the recent drama that happened, the third mark is now no longer being considered part of the canon as of today. People can still go the NSFW route with characters regardless. Nothing is being affected by this change other than the characters' designs.)

It's not required to always show either of the marks, but they do come with benefits within the palace. Wukong actually tends to prefer showing his champion mark for the respect he gets; Macaque on the other hand doesn't deem it necessary as he doesn't need the crowd's approval if his Master loves him.

Fun fact: There was actually the idea of having the Reader trail their fingers along at least Wukong's brandmark during the Obedience one-shot, but then decided against it cuz I wanted to let that happen another time. So instead he just got headpets like a good boi.

But generally speaking, literally anyone with the champion marks are very much obsessed with their Master and they love it when their Master places attention onto those marks. c:

Another fun fact: Each symbol is actually a letter from my self-made alphabet font/language I use in basically everything for years. Like, especially now with those mysterious members from the group pulling on the strings... Ehe~

[0v3rcast]

Gnaw (4)

You stand at the precipice of Liyue. The land of Geo. The resting place of a corpse-god, the dragon Rex Lapis, and the home of Archon Zhongli.

Though some part of you hopes that they'll be less hostile, you can't help but feel that Liyue will simply be more of the same.

More suffering. More death.

But now you have a gift. A way to protect yourself. The symbol of one of your loyal creations, and a font of power from which to draw destructive energy. You are not alone. And you will not fall so easily.

You step through a boundary, a line between the nations, and the world changes. Suddenly, the sky does not feel so vast. The air feels thinner, and the ground beneath your feet feels... denser. More present. As though the soil and stone of Mondstadt was gravel.

You take a few moments to breathe, to aquaint yourself with lungs that go unaided by Anemo, and begin walking.

Somewhere in the distance lies the Stone Gate. You decide to avoid it and the people of Liyue as best you can.

You decide to experiment with the abilities you now have so you can defend yourself if need be.

First, you should probably learn to sense them, starting at the symbol upon your wrist.

After a minute of concentration, you feel the faintest twitch of static in your veins. The subtle hum of energy that now calls you home.

You move the energy sluggishly, slowly convincing it to travel along your veins, and it proceeds to gain speed.

By the end of your first hour of 'training', there is a storm in your chest, your heart pounding thunder down your ribs, your blood singing with voltaic power.

It feels good.

You are unaware that special organs are rapidly growing in your dermis and flesh to allow you to conduct electrical energy safely.

You are unaware of the way billions of neurons are rearranging themselves to make your use of this power instinctive.

You are unaware of the way your entire nervous system is editing itself, allowing you to pump your body full of electro energy without a cost to your health.

You are unaware that you could now shrug off chewing on a power plant generator's active primary circuit or that you would register lightning as nothing more than a mild annoyance.

What you are aware of is the ball of lightning hovering over your hand. You grin, victorious.

(Electro watches from their throne at the peak of existence, smug smile on their face.)

Your doppelgänger howls in agony as they carve a spiral into the space between their shoulderblades with a blade that oozes molten gold.

They cannot allow themselves to be discovered as a false God. To be revealed now would be a waste of all their work.

To lose the luxuries they rightfully deserve is so horrible a fate that they'd rather maim themselves to keep up the illusion.

Soon, their acolytes will arrive.

They command that their 'imposter' shall be killed on sight.

Five Archons obey.

(They do not notice the way their Gnosis begin to dim.)

You spend two weeks slowly navigating the terrain of Liyue and exploring your new abilities.

You've learned to weave the energy into your limbs to vastly speed them up. You've learned to push that energy into your nails and teeth, turning them into vicious claws and fangs.

You've learned to push the energy into your brain to increase your reaction time and slow the world around you to a crawl.

Days of travel are collapsed into mere hours as you become a purple-streaked blur that rushes across the terrain fast enough to run up cliff faces and across water.

...you've also had countless bloody noses and scraped limbs, gotten enough dirt in your mouth to fill a flowerpot, choked on a multitude of flying bugs, and nearly drowned trying to water-walk.

Fruit and vegetables are bountiful, but you can't quite shake the urge to find some new small creature and bite down into it and fill your mouth with delicious red-

No. You are better than your urges. You are a person, not an animal, no matter how tempting the idea is.

Unfortunately this peace does not last.

You run across a small patrol of Millelith members, each bearing a weapon of some sort.

"Fuck," you hiss, ducking into the treeline to hopefully avoid being found. It's too late.

One of them cries out in alarm, and the entire group is instantly alerted to your presence.

You learn from the orders their leader is barking that you are now to be slain on sight.

Spears are leveled in your direction, arrows are nocked and readied, clubs and greatswords rise.

You easily avoid the arrows, your body humming with electro energy, and the first to swing their blade at you is met with a spear of lightning through the brain, their body writhing violently at the end.

You dispel the spear and dodge a mace, giving the woman bearing it a blast of electrical energy straight to the face, turning her head to ash and instantly killing her.

An arrow slices your side as you toss the headless body away from you, and the wound immediately begins to sizzle as it mends in a golden scar.

You reach into the head of the archer from a distance and send a jolt of power into his brain, flash-frying nerves and swiftly ending his life.

You don't remember ever being as clumsy and slow as they are before you had Electro. Are humans this pathetic, or are the Millelith just awful?

Five more stand in your way.

You gather the charge within your gift and send it out as a bolt of raw electro energy.

The leader is hit, but does not die. They are instead surrounded by a potent magnetic field. The metal of their armor and the metal of their squadmates attract to each other, and they're slammed together.

The five of them struggle to part themselves, pathetically squirming in place. You put them out of their misery to save them the embarrassment.

As soon as that's done, the gravity of your actions hits you. You just killed eight people.

You're horrified - but they were going to kill you first, weren't they?

Should you feel horrified for defending yourself from people who wanted you dead?

...should you feel anything for these people? Some part of you still desperately clings to the idea that this is all some fucked-up dream or a game.

It ceases to matter when elemental energy erupts right in front of you, and Kequing lunges out of a teleport to cleanly slice off your head.

As your vision begins to blacken, and the world drifts away, you watch your headless body stagger backward a few steps and then drop.

"Maybe next time," you mutter without sound, as the darkness swallows you.

Deep purple blood oozes from the stump of your neck as every trace of your corpse disintegrates.

("I will put you back together, my maker," whispers the Abyss. "I will always put you back together.")

((Taglist:

@the-dumber-scaramouche @thatdeadaquarius @ssak-i @imyme20 @fried-lotud @acacla @itz-luna @iruiji @crierofirony @itsredactedlove @sweetsthetik @leafanonsforest @oxyotl @kkazuyass @featuredtofu @resident-cryptid @d4y-dr3am3r @crimson-ashes @red1sg0n3 @the-real-fandom-person @code-roevember @yourlocalsourwolf @rhoswen-drake @minimari415 @reversearrowhead

[sunny-knight]

THE FONT FAMILY????

HEHUFHUDHUEHHE I LOVE THIS IDEA SO MUCH FIRST OF ALL, WAS A GREAT EXCUSE TO PRACTICE CHARACTER DESIGN,

(give me more fonts to make PLEASE)

SECOND OF ALL (massive rant)

Personally, I like the idea of S n P just living in Deltsrune, maybee Grandpa Semi still existing but probably not living with them, parents not really mattering, then oh no Deltarune things happen, and now they’re in Undertale.

see, thats the PLAUSIBLE VERSION

This is the version where I crash through the window and ruin everything for the sake of the funny

what if… they have a HUGE ass family but they all live in New Home, and never talk to them.

BUT after the pacifist ending, with all of them on the surface, Undyne n Toriel n the gang sees them and is like “AYO!!! I HAD NO IDEA YOU GUYS HAD MORE FAMILY- WHY DIDN’T YOU EVER TELL US???

and its just this… secret family drama that no one has, or will talk about. just “you know what you did.”

Like Papyrus is the most forgiving dude on the planet and Sans is the most chill guy in the world, but they just H A T E these guys 😭😭😭

enough about the skeletons we know and love tho, WHAT ABOUT THESE SILLY FELLAS THAT I WILL ABSOLUTELY MAKE MORE OF BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH EUPHORIA THIS GIVES ME-

Impact: Oldest cousin, older than sans, tries not to talk too loud but slips up sometimes, so goes inbetween Upper and Lower case. Bodybuilder, helps out his dad at their family restaurant

Kefa: Middle cousin, older than Papyrus, very chill but still pretty spontaneous. Her font is Kefa but shes REALLY into graffiti fonts and general alternative stuff. Does a lot of the art for her families restaurant

Courier: classic disapproving father in-law, but works as a busboy at his son in-laws restaurant. talks in lowercase permanently. thinks changing fonts is dumb and unnecessary. does not approve of his granddaughters love of “graffiti” but still loves her

Roman: complete opposite of her father, speaks in uppercase, very enthusiastically helps out at her husband’s restaurant by way of taking care of all the plants cause its a plant themed restaurant. Would get along with Toriel, she loves snails

Savoye: incredibly passionate and only chef at his very famous restaurant in New Home. Loves his kids to bits, all that jazz

They all hate Sans and Papyrus as much as they hate them

O yeah did you know Papyrus was going to be called Roman/Times New Roman?? we dont… we dont talk about his beta design.

[someonelookingpraediti]

Special Editions

All for the Game Rainbow Crate Edition

It's been the best part of a year since I last did an unboxing post. I have still been receiving subscription boxes, and I've even been taking photos of them, with the intention of catching up on my blog posts, but it's now been so long that the idea of sitting down and catching up on ten months of posts is just too daunting.

So I'm just going to forget all the ones I've missed, and start afresh.

And here it is - the big one. Rainbow Crate's hardback editions of the original "All for the Game" trilogy!

There's been a lot of complaints online about these - they were a lot of money, and people have been really disappointed. But I have to say, I am so, so impressed with these books!

The reason people are complaining is that there are some printing errors on the dust jackets. Basically, some of the information on the flaps is wrong, and the blurbs have been mixed around. But it's only the dust jackets that are wrong, and that is such an easy fix.

And Rainbow Crate handled it really well, in my opinion. Before I'd even received my books, I had an email from them with a form to order replacement dust jackets for free. An easy solution.

I can't help but compare this to the last set of messed-up special editions I received, which was The Raven Cycle by Owlcrate. They had the exact same issue - the dust jackets were misprinted. For them, it was the colour that was wrong - they'd been printed green instead of blue. But instead of reprinting the dust jackets, they refused to acknowledge their mistake, and brushed people off.

Looking back, I really do think that was what made me lose my passion for this blog, and consequentially, for reading in general. I've really struggled to find joy in it ever since, and have moved on to new things. I just spent so much time stewing over it, that I got into a really bad mindset.

But maybe these Rainbow Crate editions will save me!

Dust Jackets:

I have to say, when they first announced their jacket design, I wasn't that excited about it. But it has grown on me, and I really like it now, despite the fact that it looks more like Enhypen fanart than Foxes artwork! Rainbow Crate also changed the jacket font after they went on sale. I don't know why they made the change after the artwork had already been finalised, but it made such a huge difference! The artwork looks so much better with the new, bolder font.

The inside of the jackets have the original (terrible) self-published cover designs, but they're sharper and foiled and not off-centre, so actually they somehow look professional?! I'm impressed that they managed to save those designs! The originals were awful, but the Rainbow Crate versions look nice!

Hardcase:

I actually almost wish that I had ordered two copies, although I really couldn't have afforded it. Because the hardcase designs are so gorgeous, I want to be able to display them! I've always loved this character art by llstarcasterll, so I'm thrilled to have it on the covers!

And I didn't realised there would be ribbon bookmarks, but I've never been so impressed with such a small detail! I always think a ribbon bookmark really makes a special edition, but these ones go so much further. They're each printed with a different quote! When I saw that, honestly, I was blown away!

Endpapers:

The endpapers are designed by my absolute favourite AFTG artist, ouijacine, so I was going to love them, no matter what. There are six different endpapers, two per book, and they're all beautiful.

I don't know what the rules are about selling art a publisher or subscription box has commissioned, but I'm hoping she'll be able to sell these as prints on her website, because I would definitely love to have some of these on my wall.

Sprayed Edges:

The edges are fairly standard, with the fox paw, key, and chess piece design stencilled in white, but I really like that the background colour for each one isn't just solid, it matches the dust jacket design. I guess this isn't quite so good if you're planning to display them with the reverse jackets or as naked hardcases. But I think they're still nice anyway.

And bonus points because even the outbox was amazing?! They'd had a special orange AFTG shipping box made, with a fox print on top, and quotes from the books. My one criticism with this is that it was very snug to the books, so if there had been any damage to the outbox, it probably would have transferred through to the books. A bit more room for bubble wrap would have been good. But it was so special coming home and seeing this beautiful orange box waiting on my doorstep, and knowing exactly what was inside!

I haven't read the bonus chapters yet, but I believe there's one at the end of each book. And all three books had tip-in signatures, which makes them extra special.

Overall, this was a total win, in my eyes. I think they've done a really good job with these editions, and there isn't anything more I could have asked from them. The only issue is with the misprinted jackets, and I was really impressed with the way Rainbow Crate resolved it so quickly and easily.

[tendaysofrain]

Random Stuff #12:  What is Simplified Chinese?

For people like me who grew up speaking and using Chinese in day to day life, the vast majority of us have at least a basic understanding of what Simplified Chinese is, but it wasn’t until some days ago when an English speaker asked me “what is Simplified Chinese?” that I realized not many people here understand what Simplified Chinese is.  So, I’ve gathered some misconceptions I’ve encountered both in real life and online, and I will try to answer them in a concise but factual manner.

But first, let us talk basics.  There are three things we must cover first before going into this topic.  The first is the fact that both Simplified Chinese (简体中文) and Traditional Chinese (��體中文) used today are modern standardized systems of written Chinese, as in both were compiled within the past 100 years or so (modern Simplified from 1935-1936, then again from 1956 and on; modern Traditional starting from 1973), and the two currently widely used versions of both systems were officially standardized in the past 50 years (modern Simplified current version standardized in 2013; modern Traditional current version standardized in 1982).  However, since simplified characters already exist in history (called 简化字/簡化字 or 俗体字/俗體字/”informal characters”), and “Traditional Chinese” can be taken to mean “written Chinese used in history”, in this post I will use “modern Simplified/Traditional Chinese” or “modern Simplified/Traditional” when referring to the currently used modern standardized systems.  

Second is the evolution of written Chinese.  Usually when this is taught, instructors use examples of how certain characters evolved over time, for example one might encounter a linear diagram like this in Chinese class:

(Original picture from Mandarinpedia)

However, this diagram only gives a very general idea of how characters evolved from more picture-like logograms to the more abstract symbols we call characters today, and does not reflect the complexity of this evolution at all.  To get into these details we will need to talk about Chinese calligraphy.  In terms of the evolution of written Chinese, Chinese calligraphy--all those scripts like oracle bone script (甲骨文), bronze/Jinwen script (金文), Seal/Zhuan script (篆书/篆書), Clerical/Li script (隶书/隸書), Regular/Kai script (楷书/楷書), etc--they aren’t just calligraphy fonts, but actually change the way characters are written, and are representative of the commonly used forms of written Chinese at different points in Chinese history, as in the appearance of a certain script on a historical artifact can actually be used to estimate how old the artifact is.  Below is a (very) rough timeline of when each script appeared and when they are most popular:

Oracle bone script/Jiaguwen (甲骨文):  Shang dynasty (~1600 BC-1046 BC)

Bronze/Jinwen script (金文; includes Large Seal script/大篆):  Western Zhou dynasty (~1046 BC-771 BC)

Seal/Zhuan script (篆书/篆書; sometimes called Small Seal script/小篆 or Qin script/秦篆):  compiled in Qin dynasty by chancellor Li Si/李斯 around 221 BC, was the official script in Qin dynasty (221 BC-207 AD); popularity went down after Qin dynasty but was still in use for ceremonial purposes like official seals (the archaic meaning of 篆 is “official seal”, hence the English name); still in use today in very specific areas like seal stamps, calligraphy, logos, and art.

Clerical/Li script (隶书/隸書):  appeared in Qin dynasty, became the main script used in Han dynasty (202 BC-220 AD); popularity went down after Han dynasty but was still in use; still in use today in specific areas like calligraphy, inscriptions/signatures on traditional Chinese paintings, logos, and other art.

Regular/Kai script (楷书/楷書):  appeared in late Han dynasty, became the main script used in Tang dynasty and has been popular ever since (618 AD-present).

(Note:  there are other calligraphy scripts like Semi-Cursive script/行书/行書 and Cursive script/草书/草書 that were never mainstream yet were also significant, especially in the case of modern Simplified Chinese, but I will mention them later so this won’t become too confusing)

So if we plug the information from the very rough timeline above into the linear diagram, it becomes this:

But wait!  There’s even more!  Because there is a thing called variant Chinese characters/异体字/異體字, which basically means that there have been multiple ways in which a character can be written (“one character, many forms”/一字多形), and these can come about as a result of homophones, personal preference of historically significant people, historical trends, mistakes in the past that stuck around, or the result of stylized scripts like Cursive script/草书/草書, which simplifies and connects strokes in a liberal manner.  The reason Cursive script is important here is because of the logographic nature of written Chinese, meaning the simplifying or connecting of strokes actually changes how the character is written.  Because of this, 马 and 馬 were forms that have already existed before modern Simplified and modern Traditional were compiled.  A diagram that takes variations and evolution into account should look something like this:

And since the above diagram did not take Cursive script into account, here’s another picture of a myriad of scripts/fonts (not in chronological order) that includes 馬 in Cursive script (mostly on bottom left):

Now you may have an idea of where modern Simplified and Traditional Chinese came from:  they are both compiled from existing variants.  Since both modern Simplified and modern Traditional are supposed to be standardizations of written Chinese, they each set a single variant for each character as the “standard”.  Modern Traditional Chinese kept the more historically mainstream 馬, and modern Simplified Chinese substituted it with the simpler variant 马.  Taking all of this into account but still keeping it concise for our topic here, our linear diagram from the beginning should be modified to look like this:

And that’s just an example of a single character.  This evolution diagram can differ depending on the character too, due to there being other rules for simplifying characters.  This is why standardizing written Chinese is an immense amount of work, but once standardized, the written language will be streamlined and much easier to use in communication.

Finally, we are ready to clear some misconceptions.

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About Common Misconceptions Regarding Modern Simplified Chinese:

“Simplified Chinese replaced all Traditional Chinese characters”. Untrue.  Modern Simplified Chinese only standardized 2274 of the most used Chinese characters and 14 radicals with simpler variants.  That’s really all there is to it.   For reference there are a total of about 60,000 Chinese characters, and about 3,500 of these are deemed to be often-used characters; so only ~3.7% of all Chinese characters and ~65% of often-used Chinese characters are simplified in modern Simplified Chinese.  Play around with any online tool that can switch between modern Simplified and modern Traditional, and you will find that many characters stayed the same.

“Simplified Chinese is the opposite of Traditional Chinese”.  Untrue.  Modern Simplified Chinese is just a simplified and standardized system of written Chinese.  Modern Simplified Chinese and modern Traditional Chinese are not “opposites” of each other at all, just different standardized systems serving different purposes.  Modern Simplified was compiled with ease of use in mind, since Traditional characters can be time-consuming to write, for example imagine writing 聲 (sound) when you can just write 声 instead.  Also back when Simplified was being introduced to the public, a huge part of the population was illiterate, especially farmers, poor people, and women, so Simplified Chinese was a great way to quickly educate them on reading and writing, and to improve efficiency in all aspects of life. Knowing how to read and write is key to education, and education is a must if people's lives were to be improved at all.

“Simplified Chinese is Mandarin”.  Untrue.  Mandarin is a spoken dialect that came from Beijing dialect, and both modern Simplified and modern Traditional Chinese are modern standardized systems of written Chinese.  One concerns the written language and the other concerns a spoken dialect.

"Simplified Chinese was invented by the Communist Party". Untrue.  As mentioned before, most characters used in modern Simplified Chinese are already present in ancient texts, artifacts, and inscriptions as variants.  Apparently the only character simplified by PRC was 簾 (blinds/curtain), which became 帘 in modern Simplified Chinese. History wise, Republic of China was the first to start compiling Simplified Chinese in 1935 and introducing it to the public, but this was called off after 4 months.  PRC modified and built on the original plan, and introduced it to the public again starting from 1956.

"Simplified Chinese is to Traditional Chinese as Newspeak is to English in 1984". Completely untrue.  Modern Simplified Chinese is just a simplified way to write commonly used Chinese characters and does not alter the meaning of the characters.  There are some Traditional characters that are combined as one simplified character in modern Simplified, but the meanings are not lost or altered.  For example, 發 fā (development) and 髪 fà (hair) are combined as 发 in modern Simplified, resulting in 发 having 2 different pronunciations (both fā and fà), and each of these pronunciations carrying their original meaning.  The meaning of neither 發 nor 髪 was lost, 发 will just have a longer dictionary entry.

"Simplified Chinese is a huge change from Traditional Chinese". Only partly true in that it is a change, but it is a change justified by the evolution of written Chinese throughout history.  The origin of most modern Simplified Chinese characters come straight from history itself, since many characters had alternative ways in which they were written (sometimes for convenience), for example these characters below.  Each row contains different forms of a single character (smaller characters indicate what time period these variants are from; ex:  汉碑 means the variant is from a Han dynasty inscription).

In reality, written Chinese has always been standardizing itself.  Less-used variants become forgotten over time, sometimes only rediscovered through archaeology.  Besides, effective written communication does partly rely on standardization of the written language (imagine everyone writing in the various variants...how horrible would that be?).  Modern Simplified just took this one step farther and made some characters easier to write.

“Traditional Chinese is no longer used in Mainland China”.  Untrue.  Modern Simplified is the commonly used form in Mainland China, but Traditional is still used in a variety of places, such as on store signs/brand logos, particularly for stores/brand that are old.  For example the old Beijing brand 天福号 below (est. 1738).  On their logo, 天福号 is written as 天福號 from right to left, which is the traditional way of writing horizontally.

Traditional Chinese is also used in the logos for many universities in China:

Another way in which Traditional Chinese is commonly used in mainland China are personal seal stamps.  Often times when people carve seal stamps for personal use (for example showing ownership on artwork they created or collected), they would put their name/courtesy name/nickname on the seal stamps in Zhuan/篆 calligraphy font, and Zhuan font use Traditional Chinese.  Of course, the ways in which Traditional Chinese is still used in mainland China isn’t restricted to these two examples here.  There are other places where Traditional Chinese is still used, such as traditional paintings/国画, calligraphy/书法, and many many more.

“People who grew up reading Simplified Chinese cannot read Traditional Chinese”.  Depends on who you are asking.  I grew up learning only modern Simplified, and I can read Traditional/modern Traditional Chinese just fine without having to actually learn it from anyone.  Most people who grew up with Simplified Chinese should be able to read at least some Traditional without help.  There are some people who say they can’t read Traditional without taking the time to learn it, but I doubt they’ve really tried, to be very honest.

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And that’s it for the misconceptions!  

My personal philosophy regarding modern Simplified Chinese and modern Traditional Chinese can be summed up as 识繁写简, or basically “know how to read Traditional and know how to write Simplified”.  In a way, knowing how to read Traditional is a bit like knowing how to read cursive:  a lot of history could be lost if we completely stopped using/learning about Traditional Chinese, but to meet the fast pace that modern life demands, I think modern Simplified Chinese is the more convenient choice for writing for day-to-day purposes.  Since quite a few posts on this blog concern history, you will find that I usually use both Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese for historical things, since modern Traditional Chinese is closest to what people used in the past, and modern Simplified Chinese is more often used now.  If it appears that I didn’t put modern Simplified and modern Traditional side by side, that usually means either the characters stayed the same and there’s no need for me to type the same thing out again, or the topic does not call for both to be shown.

Finally, the fun part.  Here’s a Seal/Zhuan script calligraphy work by Mi Fu/米芾 (1051-1107):

Does something look familiar there?

[entropy-game-dev]

Phylogenesia Automatorum is out!! A roguelite / incremental / life simulation hybrid

Download it here!

Over the past couple of weeks I've been working on my entry for the New Years Incremental Game Jam 2024, and I finally submitted it late last night.

It's a silly little game where you tend to your garden of digital plants, hoping to generate enough Life and Death points when they spawn/die respectively, in order to buy more plants, mutate their characteristics, and expand the field in which they live.

Mutations and field properties will directly (and indirectly) change the plants' behavior on both a local and global level, with some very interesting and unexpected results. Numbers going up isn't always better either too, as, if you upgrade their stats too much, you might make a superplant that chokes the life out of the rest of your simulation and other plants!!

(Oh, and my friend did the music for this game, and it's awesome - each plant as their own instrument/track and they layer on top of each other as you buy more!)

It's a roguelite in the sense that each run you will be choosing between random upgrades, plants, and field tiles with various effects between simulation runs in order to try and maximize your point gains and stay ahead of the reset cost. It's not totally balanced (as it was whipped up in 2 weeks), but with a bit of knowledge and juuuust a hint of luck, you can make almost any run pop off! The goal is to buy all 10 plants and have them all produce points within a single run (representing a diverse garden or something, rather than a monocrop).

As I mentioned previously, it's based heavily on Conway's Game of Life, as I am a huge sucker for incrementals with hypnotizing visuals that change and evolve as you interact with the various systems at play. I took this idea, added a bunch of plants that are variations on the standard ruleset, and went from there.

You might also notice that I used some assets from Stellar Terminus, namely, the 3 sound effects, fonts, color palette, and, retro computer theming. I swear I can do other styles, just, er, not in 2 weeks when I already had quite an ambitious idea!

Over the coming days I'll post some more about the development of it, how I implemented certain systems, and a post mortem. You can probably imagine how datastructures-heavy this game was. In the end I had 1 object that ran the entire simulation, 1 that displayed the breakdown of how each plant was doing, and like 20+ objects for UI...

For now though? I'd love for you to try it out, play a few runs, and hear your thoughts on it!!