#the thing is with felix is that he thinks he's charismatic but he's just really annoying

[onebizarrekai]

In the fell universe, what would Felix even be like? What would the whole 𝒫𝒶𝒸𝓀ℯ become?? Would he have plot convenient gaydar like normal Ed?

trying to decide whether he should be school king or if he is a cursed good guy and edward is an evil school king. because like is fell ibvs "everyone is evil except the villain" or is it just foxfield but worse? and obviously foxfield being worse would likely mean felix is the most popular boy in school. but like, I can't imagine felix being MORE evil in fell. like, this guy's evil level caps at about what he currently is and I think it would be really funny if felix was the supporting character in this version of the story. but the possibilities! felix being the school king, completely unchanged, would be so funny and probably more on brand anyway, and would put edward in a less awkward position as a character. hence the dilemma

[ask-the-royal-absol]

Felix: What?

Destino: You heard me. How long?

Felix: ...

Destino: ...

Felix: Since the evolution party. Four years ago.

Destino: You're shitting me.

Felix: It's true.

Destino: So, you fell for me when I was intoxicated. Glad to know my best friend can pick out my best traits.

Felix: It really ain’t like that. I fell for ya because ya can be funny, thoughtful when ya want ta be and ya pretty damn good-lookin’. I know who ya really are and I find that ta be what I look for in a partner. I’ve not asked yet because I know Mirage left ya in a bad place last time and I know ya didn’t want ta rush into a new relationship anytime soon. I only make a move when I see there’s interest and ya didn’t seem interested, so I haven’t gone for it.

Destino: …

Felix: I’ve gotta know if ya would consider it though.

Destino: Right now?

Felix: Yeah. If we’re layin’ everythin’ out in the open, I wanna know. I don’t wanna pursue something that ain’t gonna happen.

Destino: …

Felix: …

Felix: …

Destino: …

Felix: Thank you for tellin’ me. I’m glad ta actually hear how ya feel about it. And I promise ya not hide anythin’ from ya from now on.

Destino: You better not. I don’t want to have to demote you to friend status.

Felix: Serious, I will be. Don’t ya worry pal.

Destino: …

Felix: …

Destino: Ha, it’s funny really. You’re the ghost therapist here and I’m the one telling you to be honest and communicate. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from me about how to communicate with another. I’m clearly excelling at it. Maybe if the whole Prime of the Underdark thing doesn’t work out, that’s what I could do next. Be a therapist.

Felix: Des, ya are the least qualified Pokémon ta do somethin’ like that.

Destino: Tauros-shit. It’d be easy. Listen to someone rant about their experiences and then say how awful they are and how they can change.

Felix: Hahaha, it’s far more complicated than that. Besides, ya barely talk ya anyone about how ya feel.

Destino: I talk about myself all the time.

Felix: Ya know what I mean. About how ya actually feel.

Destino: You think I’m just going to suddenly lay my whole life out in the open for these surface Pokémon? If those random Pokémon that keep following me around could just leave me be, I think I’d be enjoying myself a lot more up here. Why would I ever want to talk to them about private matters if they have nothing to offer?

Felix: I dunno about that.

Destino: One of them ate me. One trapped me in a bubble full of liquid and tried to drown me. One of them shaved off a good chunk of my fur and left me looking ridiculous. They clearly have so much to give.

Felix: Didn’t ya say an arbok told ya ta talk with me? That seems like good advice that he gave ya.

Destino: Considering how weird he was, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was some sort of hallucination caused by one of those Pokémon to get me to like them. The things Pokémon do to make me get on their side. I am an incredibly charming Pokémon so it’s not surprising they would use whatever methods they could to make me like them. The curse of being the most charismatic Pokémon alive.

Felix: Ya gotta admit that ya did provoke those other Pokémon though. That’s why they went through with what they did.

Destino: Are you condoning their actions?

Felix: No, but that’s why I said about pickin’ ya targets when wantin’ ta insult someone.

Destino: And it was good advice. However, have you considered that continuing to push until they react is hilarious?

Felix: There’s a part of me that wants ta hit ya when ya have the urge ta say somethin’ stupid.

Destino: You wouldn’t do that. You love me too much.

Felix: I’ve given ya fuel, haven’t I?

Destino: Perhaps.

Felix: Fuck.

Destino: Hahahaha.

…

Felix: Of course it does. Alright, night Des.

Destino: Night Felix.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Seems like that beauty sleep may not be happening after all.*

[written-in-flowers]

Got A Secret (Can You Keep It?): Pt. 1

Pairing: Chan x fem!plussize!reader, Felix x Hyunjin, Seonghwa x several characters

Genre: smut, fluff, dark romance

Rating: M

Word Count: 9k

Summary:

Hotel CEOs Bang Chan and Lee "Felix" Yongbok have a good thing going with The Rising Sun Hotel. A labyrinth of secret passages and death traps designed for them to indulge in their darkest fantasies, the saying "no body = no crime" is their mantra. However, one night there IS a body, and there IS a crime. Only a handful of people could be guilty, and they all have a secret to keep. If Chan and Felix did not do it, which of them did?

Disclaimer: These works are completely fictitious and for entertainment purposes only. They are not meant to reflect or label the members of Stray Kids of ATEEZ in any way. The events within never took place. Thank you.

Warnings: Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Murder, Murder Mystery, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Blood and Violence, Unhealthy Relationships, Obsessive Behavior, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Rough Sex, Light BDSM, Light Bondage, Sex Toys, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, Oral Sex, Dom/sub Undertones, Blackmail, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Light Sadism, Secret Relationship, Forbidden Love, idols doing very terrible things if that bothers you.

AO3 Link

***

It started when you came home from meeting up with friends and running errands to see boxes stacked in your living room. You thought perhaps Seonghwa planned to donate and you’d forgotten to pack everything up. Checking through them, you realize they’re all yours. Someone packed away your spring, summer, fall and winter wardrobes. Things you’d collected over the years and sentimental belongings were carefully placed on rolled up pieces of paper. You’d started pulling things from boxes, wondering what made Seonghwa think you’d want to get rid of them, when he appeared from around the corner. 

Park Seonghwa is a marketing director for a very famous car company brand. He’s always been well-off, and able to provide for the both of you. Handsome, suave, and charismatic, he’d captured your heart right away when you met at university. You spent five years together, going through the ups and downs, the highs and lows of your lives side-by-side. Seonghwa had been your first real boyfriend; a first true love. You adored him beyond belief, and sought to make sure he remained happy. He worked so hard to support the both of you, took care of you in ways other men never did, and loved you. At the end of the day, regardless of the truth staring at you, you knew he loved you. You became such an important part of his life, you thought he might propose soon. But, recalling his confused expression, you felt foolish thinking about that now. 

“Um, YN, you’re here…” were his first words to you, stunned and anxious. “When-When did you get here?”

“Just now…”

“Oh, um, wow,” he pushed strands of soft black from his angular face, and said, “I thought…This is really…Um, you’re back early though. I thought-I thought you were coming home later on?”

“Yeah,” you said cautiously, looking around the room of boxes, “I thought we’d go out for dinner-Seonghwa, what is going on? Why is everything in boxes?” 

Seonghwa sighed. It was the low, disappointed sigh he gave when you asked him a stupid question. The sigh instantly rolled your stomach around. “YN, I think we should talk,” he began, “I’ll get some stuff sorted out and we can sit together to work it all out.”

“Seonghwa, what is going on?”

The answer walked down the stairs, wearing an expensive satin blouse and a pencil skirt. Clearly, she’d come straight from her office in another district. Slender, shapely, and gorgeous, everything clicked at once. This woman, whoever she was, appeared to be everything you weren’t: pretty, skinny, and delicate. She might be a supermodel or an idol with her good looks and s-line body. You looked at Seonghwa for an explanation. You might have the situation all wrong, and it’s not what you think it is. 

"Who’s she?" You asked him, keeping back tears. 

"Kyungmi," he'd said, "And I have been seeing one another for a while. I…I really didn’t want you to find out this way, YN. Kyungmi was just leaving; I-”

“-So, you decided kicking me out was a good way? Don’t you think you skipped a few steps in the break-up manual?” you spat back at him. 

“It’d make things easier for everyone,” Kyungmi dared to speak, arms crossed. 

“You mean easier for you,” you glared at her. “You probably don’t even love him. You only want his money and his looks. I actually love him!” you’d turned back to Seonghwa, “I love you, Seonghwa! Can’t you see that after everything I do for you? You’re going to throw me out like this over a fling with the office slut?!”

“Fuck you, you bitch-”

“-Kyungmi, I think you should go,” Seonghwa told her gently. 

“Why should I go? She’s the one you’re kicking out.”

“This is something YN and I need to talk about privately.”

Kyungmi huffed her discontent, threw you a nasty look, then left the house. Seonghwa stared out the window to watch her leave. Your chest tightened, and you forced yourself to take deep breaths. Tears started spilling from your eyes and down your cheeks. A plethora of memories flooded back to you in those few minutes: anniversary dinners with Seonghwa, vacations with Seonghwa, movie nights, date nights, walks in the park, bike riding alongside the river, going to your favorite coffee shop, and even mundane things like shopping or driving around together. You sat through every Star Wars marathon; indulged him in his Lego collections and toy figurines. You loved him, therefore loved anything he loved. You’d given everything to him, and he repaid you with disloyalty. All the years you spent together felt like a waste of time; they’re pointless now, especially if Seonghwa did them half-heartedly. 

“YN…” his voice brought you into reality, and you wished it didn’t. “I’m sorry you had to find out like this. I was going to confess everything to you when you came home later. I didn’t mean to hurt you; you have to believe me. I didn’t want you-”

“-Didn’t want you to find out,” you finished for him. “You hoped to never get caught, is what you really mean. How long have you been fucking her, huh? Six months? A year?”

“Two.”

“Two ‘what’?” you knew what, and it only boiled your insides more. Your hands clenched into fists. 

“Years, YN,” he said. 

“You’ve been seeing her behind my back for two years?” you let your tears fall freely, but not an ounce of sadness lingered inside you. All you felt was rage. It moved underneath the surface like a snake slithering through mossy waters. You swallowed it down, and forced yourself to focus. “And now is when you decide to tell me?”

“I didn’t think what Kyungmi and I had was that serious, but I can’t fight it anymore. I love Kyungmi.”

The realization dawned on you slowly. It crept like a leech over your skin and latched itself to you. You felt it sucking every single piece of hope out of you. He loved her. He loves her. Not you. Never you. Every happy moment between you two suddenly withered away, and left nothingness. Everyone always leaves you. Why does he want to join them? “She’s pregnant, isn’t she?”

“What?” he laughed softly, pushing hair from his face. No. She’s not.”

“Then why are you only just breaking up with me? You don’t end a five-year relationship over something ‘not that serious’.” You glared at him, your breath hitching in your throat. “I can’t fucking believe you. I can’t…You son of a bitch…I hate you.” The last words came out with pure venom. “All day, every day, I do everything for you. I cooked. I cleaned. I washed for you. I slaved away doing everything in my power to make you happy, to give you the life you deserved and worked hard for, and THIS is how you show your appreciation?! By trading me in for a goddamn whore?!” The anger surged and pulsated in your body; it made your vision narrow onto one thing. “You got the bitch pregnant. You must have. She must’ve come here to blackmail you, right? Either take care of her or she ruins your career with her-

“-YN, Kyungmi isn’t pregnant,” he said over you. “I tried breaking it off before, but I couldn’t leave her. My life felt so empty without her, and-”

“-Then what about me? What did you feel for me?” 

“You know I care about you. I love you too, but I’m just not in love with you anymore, YN. We’ve been drifting apart for a while; you had to have noticed this. You’re not a stupid person, YN,” he said. 

“But I held on because I love you,” you replied tearfully. “I held onto you because I can’t see myself without you. I can’t…” the lump in your throat exploded into a sob, and it nearly suffocated you. You saw the signs of distance, but you’d hoped it’d been in your imagination. “I…”

“-YN-”

“-I hate you…” you seethed, shutting your eyes in hopes of subduing your anger, but it didn’t help. You sobbed so hard it hurt your chest. They always leave you. You do everything to make them happy, and they leave you. “I hate you so fucking much.”

“You hate me right now because I’ve hurt you-”

“-And I’m going to hurt you!”

“YN, don’t be ridiculous. YN! Come back!”

You walked away from him at that point. Anger flowed through your veins like blood, filling your organs and taking over your senses. Nothing else mattered. All you thought of revenge. He hurt you in the worst way a man could. You’d hurt him in the worst way you could in return. Storming into the kitchen, you paused. No, you’re being stupid. No, no, you’re being rash. You can’t kill him. He isn’t a stupid ten-year-old boy or a dimwitted babysitter. He’s an important person with lots of friends. His family are exorbitantly wealthy. People will know he’s missing. You should leave. You should leave and go somewhere to calm down. This will only end badly for you. 

“YN,” Seonghwa followed you into the kitchen, “Let’s sit down and talk. We can work this out so everyone is happy.”

“You….don’t care about my happiness. You never did.”

“That’s not true, YN, and you know that.” 

You heard him come closer to you. You braced yourself against the island counter, fingers sliding on the cool marble tiles. Your eyes flitted upwards to see the knife holder. Different types of knives sat in thin slots to keep them all together. They’re the expensive types, stainless steel with a good grip on the handle. You’d bought them because professionals used them, and you liked the intricate designs on the blades. A good carving knife is invaluable. 

“YN,” he spoke to you softly, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you sooner. I should’ve been more honest with you.”

“You should have, but you didn’t. You didn’t care. You don’t care. You’ve already made your decision: kicking me out with nowhere to go.” Those knives cut through meat like butter. You’ve never struggled to slice flesh from bone with them. But, ugh, the blood. You hate blood; it stinks and stains easily. The thought of the clean up already exhausted you. 

“You don’t have to leave tonight. You can stay until you find a place. I would never just throw you out. I still love you, YN.”

No, he doesn’t. “No, you don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be doing this to me. You wouldn’t have fallen for her. You wouldn’t be choosing her over me. You wouldn’t have cheated or lied to me.” You took steady breaths. 

“It’s…It’s hard to explain right now,” he said. “But, let’s sit down and talk about it. We can work this out together.”

You've never been one for bloody deaths. The clean up is tough and bodily fluids make you queasy. Most people who’ve done what you have say they like the feel of blood on their fingers, enjoy causing immediate pain. You couldn’t relate. It always makes you feel sick. Even during sex, it bothered you despite what you told Seonghwa. Another sacrifice you made because you loved him so much. 

As tempting as those knives appeared, you knew they're out of the question. You wiped your cheeks and took deep breaths to clear your head. The rage inside you screamed for justice, for vengeance. You couldn't let him get away with it. The thought of him laughing with Kyungmi, making fun of your reaction and your stupidity to not see it sooner boiled your blood. It seeped into your muscles, which caused them to tense and harden under the fatty layers. Several seconds went by before you felt a pair of hands gingerly touch your shoulders. Seonghwa's warm touch once made you fold out of anger right away; they always soothed any sadness or unsettling feelings away. But now, you only thought of hurting him. 

"YN," he said softly, his voice so clear in your ear, "Let's sit down and talk, okay? You don't have to leave tonight, if you can't find a place. I'll sleep in the guest room and you can take the bed."

Even when he is breaking your heart, he is sweet. He’s like a venus fly trap. Being so beautiful and sweet, only to clamp its jaws down to slowly suck the life from you. Your eyes scanned the kitchen from where you stood. Everything from the wooden cabinets to the tiled backsplash reminded you of Seonghwa right away. You saw the fine china set he bought you for your birthday in one of the glass door cabinets. It wasn’t the typical boyfriend present, but you'd loved it because he picked it out himself. He'd thought of you when he saw it, he said. The thin white plates stacked on top of each other had been used at so many dinners and get-togethers. What would your friends think? They might already know about Seonghwa's unfaithfulness; it'd be like them to protect him over you. They're really his friends, in truth. Not yours. You had no friends. 

"What about Her?" You sniffled. 

"I'll explain stuff to her later," he said. "Right now, I want to talk about us. YN, I'm-"

“-Sorry, yeah I know.” 

The feeling itched underneath your skin. You wanted to do it. The urge from before slowly built itself up, but you knew better. Seonghwa isn’t a dumb babysitter or a student. He’s the son of a wealthy family, who are often in the news. His death will spark intrigue and suspicion. You felt Seonghwa’s hands fall to your waist, and it almost broke through your armor. 

“Why don’t you take a seat, and I’ll pop a bottle for us, hm?” he asked. 

No. You couldn’t do that. If you do that, the slithering beast coiling your insides will come out. You can’t let that happen. 

“No,” you broke free from his embrace and stepped away from him. You spent far too long trying to separate yourself from that person. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be here.”

“YN-”

“-You’ve already made a fool of me,” you spat at him, turning to the stairs outside the kitchen, “I won’t make it worse by staying in the same place as you.”

You went upstairs, hearing his footsteps right behind yours. A faint sweet scent hit your nose upon the top landing. No doubt Kyungmi sprayed some perfume after letting Seonghwa rail her in your bed. Why walk around with Seonghwa's musk on her skin and risk people knowing what a whore she is? The scent alone made you gag. Cheap women wear cheap things, you supposed. 

Walking into your bedroom, you found your suitcase in the walk-in closet and tossed it on your bed. You didn’t know what you’d do or where you’d go, but you couldn’t stay here. You can’t. 

Memories of the last time this demon awakened came flooding back to you as you started changing out of your blouse and skirt. Yang Doshik had been hired by your parents to look after you while they worked at night. Even at thirteen, your parents did not trust you to stay home alone; they thought you’d get into trouble and destroy their house. It wasn’t your fault they didn’t bother medicating you. Broad and handsome, Doshik worked out and boxed a lot which resulted in a jaw-dropping physique. Not to mention, he was nothing but kind towards you. You thought he might like you. Despite the wide age gap, you considered that one night he might come onto you and confess his feelings, but when he did not, you decided to make the first move. Pulling on a sweatshirt and lounge pants, you recalled the slinky cocktail dress you’d stolen from your mother and how you stumbled in her black stilettos. 

‘YN, what are you doing?...No, this is wrong. You’re thirteen, I’m twenty-two. It’s illegal…’ 

You couldn’t handle the rejection. You felt humiliated. You’d put all that effort into being pretty for him, and he pushed you away. Doshik left you sitting on the couch, weeping and embarrassed. The rage settled itself into you quickly. You remember it vividly. On the couch, in your mother’s dress and heels, you watched him take off his shirt and pants at the edge of your pool. He sometimes swam laps to make up for missing the gym. You don’t know what came over you. As you folded clothes into your suitcase, you tried pulling up any memory of what you’d done that night but nothing came to you. 

You only remember your mother’s dress soaked to your skin and Doshik floating face down in the water. 

“YN, can we please talk?” Seonghwa’s voice broke through your memories, but you did not stop. “You don’t have anywhere to go. Come on. You’re being ridiculous.”

“The only one being ridiculous around here, Hwa, is you,” you said, stuffing skin care and makeup into a carry-on bag. You took the unopened bottles. His whore can have your leftovers. “What sane person stays in the same house as the person who cheated on them?” You took what you needed, and then put the bag inside your suitcase. Jewelry came next. You didn’t really care what you picked up, since you planned to keep it all. “Why would I want to stay where I’m clearly not wanted or loved anyways? To hurt myself more? To look more pathetic?” 

“Where are you going to go anyways?” he asked. He stopped you from grabbing a rhinestone necklace off a display, and said, “There’s no shame in staying at least tonight.” 

You stared up into his face. Beautiful brown eyes you once admired stared at you as gently and kindly as they always had done. They looked at you like he hadn't stomped on your heart and laughed about it afterwards. But, you still let him push hair from your face and cup your chin. You caught sight of the light scratches still on his forearm. 

At a company banquet a few nights ago, Seonghwa injured himself after a chandelier fell a few feet away from him. The gold and crystal fixture detached from the ceiling and crashed into the middle of the ballroom. You shuddered recalling the gentleman who'd been skewered by the pole, nearly slicing him in half. Seonghwa walked away with a few lacerations from flying pieces of glass, which you constantly fretted over. You'd spent time changing his bandages and making sure he cleaned them correctly. You did it because you loved him. You cared what happened to him. Clearly, he no longer feels the same way.

"I still care about you," he said once more. "I can't have spent five years with you and not have any affection for you." He studied your face, taking in your puffy eyes and wet cheeks. 

"Did you ever really love me?" The question left you in a single breath. 

"Of course I did," he laughed softly, as if you're stupid for thinking otherwise. “It’s…You’re wonderful, YN. You’re smart, bright, talented, lovely…” he wiped your cheek with his thumb, “It’s that…We’re not right for each other anymore. I need someone who can stand on her own feet, and be a person outside of me.”

“I…I am my own person, Seonghwa-”

“-YN, you do things because of me. You like things just because I like them. I mean, you don’t even have a job because you want to spend all your time with me and doing things for me.”

“You’re mad that I want to take care of you?”

“I’m not mad. I’m saying that I can’t be with someone who is so dependent on me. I need someone who doesn’t cling onto me so tightly; who gives me space without making me feel guilty about it later.”

“I never meant to make you feel that way,” you sobbed. “I just wanted you to know that I loved you, and wanted to take care of you. Why would that bother you? What’s the point in being with someone if you don’t show you care about them? That doesn’t make sense to me.” 

“YN, name a time where you weren’t doing something that involved me.” 

“That…” you honestly couldn’t think of one, “That’s not important. We’re…We’re soulmates, Hwa-”

“-YN, I’ve fallen in love with someone else. How can we be soulmates if that’s true?”

The hand holding the necklace gripped it tightly, the square stones starting to indent into your palm. “You want space?” you seethed, that monster rolling inside you, “You want me to keep my distance and not be clingy, huh? You don’t want a partner that loves you and cares for you? Don’t worry, Seonghwa,” you slipped from his grasp, “You’ll have plenty of it now.” 

“YN-”

Nothing made sense. Your thoughts started to jumble together while you put the bag of jewelry in your suitcase. He says he wants space, yet in the same breath tells you to stay in the house. Why? To hurt you more? That’s outright cruel. 

But you can be crueler. 

No, no, you can’t. You bit back the urge slowly creeping over you, taking deep breaths. 

“-It’s late. I don’t want you out in the street at this hour,” he said. “Something bad might happen to you.” 

“As if you care.”

“I do.”

“Just leave me alone, Seonghwa.” 

You zipped up your suitcase. Honestly, you can only think of one person who’d take you in with no questions. Jeongin. 

“Fine, whatever,” Seonghwa said, defeatedly. Throwing his arms up, he stepped away from you as you packed up your laptop and tablet into their respective bags. “Be like that. I tried being nice and letting you stay. If you want to make shit harder on yourself, then be my guest. We both know you have nowhere to go. You don’t even have your own money. You’ll be back.”

“For a guy who said he felt suffocated,” you retorted, “You sure as hell are trying hard to keep me. I wonder why that is?” you shot him a glare before taking your bags and your phone. “Could it be because your whore can’t cook? She can’t clean? You know she won’t be the dutiful, faithful, caring housewife that you wanted? Psh, ‘housewife’,” you went down the stairs, “We’ve been together for five years and you haven’t even proposed to me.”

“I wanted to wait-”

“-If you really loved me, you wouldn’t ‘wait’,” you shouted over your shoulder at him. 

The anger festered in your stomach to the point it made you sick. You thought you might vomit from the sensation. It reminded you of Doshik again. You pulled up your phone, and brought up Jeongin’s number. Seonghwa said nothing else to you as you walked out of the door, and out of his life. 

*****

Walking down the street, you’d taken the train from your neighborhood to the uptown tourist district where he lived and worked. Moving through the crowded streets, night had fallen over the city of tall buildings, large lit up billboards and advertisements, and people going from store to store shopping and eating. You came to the district often to visit your cousin where he worked, and you knew if anyone would give you a place to stay, it’d be Jeongin. You told him mostly the truth about what happened, and he reacted in a way that surprised you. 

“He…dumped you?” asked Jeongin, stunned by what you told him. “Just like that?”

“Yes.”

“After all this time later?”

“Yes.”

You noticed your cousin’s sudden silence, and you guessed he must be as shocked as you. “He didn’t even give you time to find a proper place to stay? He just kicked you out?”

“He let me pack up some stuff, but told me he didn’t think it was a good idea for me to be there when Kyungmi came back,” you told him, tears getting caught in your lashes so you had to wipe them away. You decided if Seonghwa wanted to embarrass you, the least you can do is make him look as bad as possible. “I still can’t believe this is happening! I did so much for him! I put up with all his bullshit, and this is what he does to me! I don’t know what I’m going to do, Innie. I hardly have any money, clothes or anything. He left me with nothing.”

“You guys have a shared bank account, don’t you?” he asked. 

“He locked me out of it,” you sobbed, crossing the street towards the place. 

“I’m so sorry this happened, sweetie,” he said apologetically. “Come to my place. You can stay here with me until you get on your own feet.” 

“Your bosses will be okay with that? Don't they have a bunch of living conditions?”

Yang Jeongin worked at the famous Rising Sun Hotel. Lavish, luxurious, and chic, the hotel drew in droves of people from all walks of life. From affordable guest rooms to high end penthouses on the top floor, the hotel catered to every kind of budget. The owner, Bang Chan, ran the place like a well-oiled machine according to Jeongin. He handled the finances and business side of things, while others ran the interior operations and every day tasks. Being Seonghwa’s cousin, you often ran into him at family gatherings and special events. A small voice in the back of your head often whispered about Chan’s lingering glances and flirty smirks whenever he spoke to you. They told you to note how close he'd stand to you whenever Seonghwa wasn't around. Your boyfriend often told you to steer clear of him; he said Chan wasn't the sort of guy you should associate with. You'd reply with a joke that Seonghwa was jealous, to which he'd scoff and roll his eyes. But he couldn't be all bad. He let some employees live in the lower levels of the hotel, with a few stipulations. No regular employer would do that. 

It’d been at the Rising Sun where Seonghwa’s company hosted their company event, and where Seonghwa injured himself. Chan truly seemed remorseful about it, offering to pay medical expenses for them. 

"I'm glad that you're alright, though," he'd told you afterwards when he brought you both home "You could've been seriously hurt too, and I'd hate myself forever if that happened."

“He does,” Jeongin said, “But it won’t be a problem once I explain the situation.”

“I don’t want you to get in trouble, Jeongin. I know how hard it was for you to get a job. I don’t want to ruin things for you.”

“It won’t be a problem, I swear.”

He gave you the exact address and called a cab for you. He told you to wait for him in the lobby, so then you’ll go up to his place together. On the road there, you thought back to Seonghwa and Kyungmi. She’s probably returned by now, and is enjoying his warm embrace and kisses. Images of them both laughing at you, mocking your stupidity at not seeing it sooner, made your blood boil. Your phone suddenly went off in your pocket. 

Seonghwa ✨: YN, where did you go? At least tell me so I know you’re okay. 

When you didn’t respond, more messages came:

Seonghwa ✨: it’s not too late to come back. I’ll pay for the cab. Baby, please, let’s talk for real like adults. 

Seonghwa ✨: i’m only worried about you. I still care and want to know you’re safe. 

For a man who complained about clingy behavior, he seems to exhibit a lot of it. You continued ignoring his messages and tried focusing on containing yourself. You couldn’t afford to lose yourself at the moment. At any moment, in all reality. When your parents found you soaked to the bones, and saw Doshik in their pool, it did not take much for them to put two and two together. Your mother cleaned you up right away, while your father called the police. You’d been certain they’d lock you up. They’d tell the police everything, and you’d go to prison. Instead, your mother told you to say you’d been in your bedroom and didn’t hear anything until you came downstairs much later. Police bought the story well enough, since they had no reason to believe otherwise, and your parents sent you to the psychiatric ward once again. They did this whenever you blacked out or started “showing”. You now had medication to help with that, so it never happened. 

Until today. 

You had to keep replaying everything in your head to make sure you remember everything. The idea you might have a memory lapse somewhere worried you. Your mind turned to less worrisome things when the taxi turned into another district. You thought of someone who might be glad about Seonghwa’s misfortune.  

Chan. Seonghwa and Chan grew up together in the same house after Seonghwa’s parents died. He said he did not know when it started, but Chan carried this particularly vicious envy of Seonghwa. Whatever successes Chan managed, the family always mentioned how Seonghwa did it first: passing tough exams, winning a sports competition, graduating university, getting a good entry level job, having his own place and a nice car. You personally saw why Chan envied his older cousin; you knew you’d feel the same if that happened to you. You might have loved Seonghwa, but you never failed to notice Chan’s specific interest in you. He always caught you alone whenever you visited his family, asking you about life updates and your relationship with Seonghwa. You always noticed the twinkle of disappointment when you told him things between you were fine. 

You wondered if you could take advantage of this infatuation. Chan isn’t bad looking; far from it, honestly. If Seonghwa can do it, why can’t you? It isn’t as if he’d care. 

The Rising Sun Hotel stood on a busy street in the posh, upscale district. A cul-de-sac drop off point circled a gorgeous gold and white marble fountain rimmed by plants. Wide glass windows gave a peek inside the main lobby, decorated with white walls and black leather furniture that was accented with gold. Jeongin said he’d be leaving work in an hour or so, and to wait for him in the lobby. Your driver opened your door and you stepped out onto the pavement. It became clear enough that this hotel attracted mainly the wealthy. You felt so out of place amongst the well-dressed people coming and going. Your baggy hoodie and sweatpants happened to be the first thing you found when you changed, and you regretted the choice now. You must look awful. All the warnings and scoldings your mother gave you came floating back. Girls like you, she said, needed to be put together all the time or otherwise they looked sloppy. She'd scold you for sure if she saw you now. You took your things from the driver and then pushed through the revolving gold and glass doors. 

Refined and sophisticated, you’d told Seonghwa that a birthday weekend at The Rising Sun would be a nice getaway from work. Neither of you went into the city that often, so you’d get a lovely change of scenery. He said he’d think about it. Looking back now, you’re sure he’d brought Kyungmi here on many occasions and didn’t tell you. It produced a few fresh tears that you smeared away with your sleeve. At the end of the long aisle, you saw the brass colored elevators that took guests up through the fourteen floors. An archway off the side led to the restaurants, retail stores, beauty and spa locations the hotel offered, and another led to the banquet rooms. Seeing the yellow tape across plastic tarps, you guessed they’re still rebuilding the chandelier that collapsed during the company dinner. People talked about suing the hotel for not maintaining their light fixtures, but Seonghwa mentioned how Chan will somehow get around any actual lawsuits. 

Taking a seat at one of the vacant couches, you spotted your cousin standing behind the front desk. Round faced, wearing a black blazer and button down shirt, he talked amicably to a guest he was checking in. A daunting realization dawned on you. With Seonghwa dead, you’d have to get a ‘real job’. No more shopping trips. No more luxury vacations to the islands or being financially stable enough to live comfortably. You’d have to hustle for your money; you’d have to budget and balance and live from paycheck to paycheck. You and Seonghwa never married so the break up doesn't come with benefits. His family loved you, so they might let you keep the house, but you couldn’t live there. Not when Seonghwa’s presence is embedded into the walls. Perhaps you could rent it to a wealthy couple or a well-off family.

 Living with a man who could provide for you completely was an integral part of your dream life. After a childhood of seeing your parents struggle to keep afloat and how it broke them both, you wanted the exact opposite. You’d be the loving housewife who took care of the home while he worked. Yes, it sounded misogynistic and a modern woman shouldn’t play into gender roles, but it wasn’t like that. Ever since you were young, you wanted a proper family. You dreamed of the polar opposite of what you'd had: a ‘Leave It to Beaver’ style of home, with a loving husband and attentive wife. You remembered watching those old sitcoms after school and wishing you were that woman. With Seonghwa, you almost had that, but then he ruined everything. Having your own job and financing yourself sounded hard and not what you’d wanted. You didn't want to go back to scrounging and saving. You deserved nice things. You deserved love. 

Why do men ruin everything?

****

‘What a lovely surprise…’

Chan stood by the tinted windows watching you walk into the lobby. You looked very different from the last time he saw you. At the banquet, you’d been a vision in your green dress and shimmering makeup. Chan found it difficult to keep his eyes off you for too long. Now, you walked around in a baggy, dirty hoodie he recognized as Seonghwa’s, and wrinkled sweatpants with a bare face. No matter. Once Seonghwa arrives, you’ll be the sparkling beauty he knows you to be. He watched you take a seat on one of the couches, and noticed your perfect posture and the crossed fingers on your lap. You’re always such a lady, classy and pristine nearly all the time. You’re the kind of woman his mother always hoped one of her boys would marry. Chan tended to agree with her, but only in regards to himself and not his cousin. 

If things had gone his way, you’d be at the hotel for different reasons. 

“He was supposed to die,” Chan seethed, glaring down into the lobby. He puffed the end of his cigarette, blowing a stream of smoke afterwards. “We had everything arranged perfectly. Why did it not work?”

“Because luck and chance are close friends, and they’ll only work in our favor so many times,” jested Felix. 

Chan looked at Felix in the window reflection. Felix, having loosened his tie and taken off his blazer, pushed blond hair from his face and chuckled. Felix, like him, came from wealth. His family owned a series of construction and land development companies, so Felix grew up with the same generational wealth that Chan did. He and Felix met at university, where they discovered greed was not their only common interest.

Felix had drafted the hotel’s modern interior designs. He said their hotel needed to attract the rich, whose wealth they could take once they disposed of them. Killing people was one thing, but killing rich people was another. Chan used to target anyone; be indiscriminate and open-minded. But, Felix insisted they put the bodies to good use. They sold the valuables to private pawn brokers; their organs went on the black market and their flesh used in their kitchen to cut kitchen costs. It worked out for everyone in the end. Felix majored in architecture, being the mastermind behind their special hotel. He’d changed construction crews often to avoid odd questions over the hotel’s layout. Because of Felix, the Rising Sun Hotel had several passages between the walls, breakers that controlled light and air in each room, and special chutes that went down to their spacious basement. Lee Felix always said, “no body, no crime.” 

“Besides, it did kill that one guy,” said Felix, taking a drink from his whisky glass. “You should’ve seen it up close. The center skewed right through him like a kebab.”

Chan planned to let his cousin go out the same way. If an accident won’t work, then an invite for a family weekend in a premium suite would do the trick. 

“But it was supposed to be Seonghwa.” 

‘Your grandmother’s decided to make Seonghwa her heir.’ 

His mother gave him the news two weeks ago. He’d gone to visit his family in their countryside estate when his mother told him that their grandmother finally drew up her will. The tourism empire his ancestors created will pass over to Seonghwa since both their fathers have passed away. She and her lawyer explained that all of his grandmother’s assets and wealth would be Seonghwa’s since he is the eldest boy in the family. Chan couldn’t control his rage. Several priceless antiques found themselves shattered upon his bedroom floor when they told him. Seonghwa already had everything: a successful job, a nice home, and a wife-material girlfriend. He didn’t want or show interest in the family business like Chan. He never showed the same interest as Chan, who’d done everything to ensure their business stays profitable. He couldn’t let it stand. He would not let it. He approached Felix about the arrangement, and they both agreed an accident would be better suited to the situation. If anyone suspected foul play, the jealous younger cousin might end up on the police’s radar. Chan felt so confident that night. He’d floated on cloud nine the entire party, chatting to important people and flirting with women in beautiful gowns. But then the chandelier fell. He’d prepared himself to play the distraught, devastated relative, but instead became another bystander. 

“I don’t get why you want it so bad,” said Felix, taking a drink from his glass. “We’ve got a good thing going here.”

“It’s not about the money,” he said, puffing his cigarette again. “It’s about the principal. I’ve shown way more interest in the business than Seonghwa. He could’ve come to work for our family, but instead goes to intern for a stupid car company. I’d been the one to put my own money and effort into expanding our empire…” He kept his eyes on you, “Seonghwa always gets everything. My parents felt sorry for him when his family died, so they wanted to shower him with love and affection. My mom said Seonghwa was more sensitive. She said he needed them more than I did. The least the bastards could do is give me what is supposed to be mine.” 

 To make matters worse, his grandmother mentioned that she wanted Chan to look over the documents of her will for her, since she trusts so few lawyers in her life. He’d seen how much she planned to leave him, and thought he’d lose his mind. When he finally confronted her, she said he had enough wealth of his own. She told him he had his beach resorts, his apartment buildings, his hotel, and his shares in the family tourism company. Her precious Seonghwa has “nothing”. To her, Seonghwa might as well be a mail clerk in the company office. Chan did not care about his personal finances. He deserves more. He does more. Chan wanted the business; he wanted the money and capital that came with the business. The “accident” was meant to get him that. The plan he created had been a total failure. 

Seonghwa already proved he squanders the good things he has by cheating on you; he’d do the same with the family money. 

"You can always invite him to stay at the hotel, sir."

Hyunjin spoke next, refilling Felix’s glass. In a black vest, shirt and pants, his golden nametag glinted in the warm light. Black hair tied back from his face, nobody would've guessed that the handsome man was an expert poisoner. Hired as their personal assistant, Hyunjin showed no distaste or hesitancy at the tasks asked of him by his two employers. They'd earned his loyalty when they discovered he'd been poisoning guests in the resturant, and did not turn him in. 

"That might be my only option," Chan told him. "Seonghwa won't turn his nose up at a free vacation." He kept his eyes on you as he said, “He cheats on his girl, you know."

“YN? Really?”

“He does. He says the other girl is just for fun, but I think it’s more than that.”

When he first saw Seonghwa with his new girl, he thought he’d been mistaken. Perhaps she was a colleague who he invited to a company get together. But, when he saw the pair passionately kissing in his lobby, he confronted his cousin. Seonghwa explained that his relationship with The Woman meant nothing; that he still loved and cared about you. The Woman was for fun; you were for marriage. The fact made him nearly punch Seonghwa. How could he take something so wonderful for granted? Chan thought of telling you multiple times, but the thought of you finding out on your own and dumping Seonghwa amused him. Seonghwa kept his relationship with Whatshername so secretive because he worried he’d lose his housewife, and have to pay for an actual maid and chef. Whenever you fawned over him, kissed him or showed any affection, Chan’s blood boiled. Seonghwa did not deserve you. Nobody did. Only Chan. You needed a real provider, who’d look after you and give you whatever you needed; not someone who spent more money on his mistress than you. 

“That sucks,” scoffed Felix. “She’s actually a real sweetie. She’d been so worried over him, even if he got a few stitches.”

“She worships him,” replied Chan. 

When he spotted you there fretting over Seonghwa that night, pushing hair from his face and vowing to take care of him, the thought came to Chan. If Seonghwa would take something from him, then he’d take something from Seonghwa. You. Screwing Seonghwa’s girlfriend with him nearby sent a rush of warmth down his body. He pictured an unsuspecting Seonghwa in the opposite room, unaware of what his cousin is doing to his girlfriend. He wouldn’t rub it in his face, either. You’d keep it between the two of you. Chan imagined stolen kisses in private corners, rough passionate sex hours or even minutes before Seonghwa came home. He’d give you everything. He’d treat you better, love you deeper and worship you. All without your boyfriend knowing about it. 

But, of course, this won’t ever happen. You’re far too in love with Seonghwa to cheat. If you did give into a moment of weakness, you’d confess to Seonghwa immediately and the family will come down on him. Not that Seonghwa would do the same for you. He pulled out his phone and brought up the text message again for his own amusement. 

Hwa: Dude, I’m breaking up with Kyungmi.

You: Weren’t you going to move her into your house? That’s what she’s been telling the group. 

Hwa: promise me you won’t say anything.

You: of course bro

Hwa: I lied to her about that. 

You: stfu!

Hwa: I can’t leave YN. I can’t. Kyungmi is fun and the sex is great but YN is a ‘wife’, you know? I can bring her to family stuff and everyone loves her. She’d be a good wife and an awesome mom. You saw her with Arin and Eunji. I can’t just leave that. 

You: So you're dumping Kyungmi. When?

Hwa: in a few days. I have to let her think I’m leaving YN so she stops bugging me about it. I got some things of YN’s packed up in the living room, but it’s stuff she doesn’t care about anyways. 

You: where is YN gonna stay?

Hwa: with me 😏

You: psh, yeah right. No sane woman would stay. 

Hwa: she has no money, no job, no other place to go. She’ll stay if she thinks there’s hope for us still. 

You: damn I thought I was an asshole. 

Chan honestly felt proud of him for that bit of manipulation. He liked to think he rubbed on Seonghwa at least a little bit. However, not enough since you came to the hotel. 

“What do you plan to do about Seonghwa?” Felix asked him. “Another accident so soon after the last might raise some flags and be difficult to stage again. Too many here in the hotel will drive guests away.”

“Yes, and where would our fun come from then?” Chan mused out loud. Finishing his cigarette, he tipped it out of the holder into an ashtray, then said, “YN is here.”

“She is?” he sat up right. He walked to the windows, “Where?”

“She’s by the couches,” he said. “If she is here that means Hwa is too.” He might’ve moved you both to the hotel for ‘a getaway’ to talk about things. 

If he wanted something done right, he guessed he’d do it himself. The Rising Sun Hotel became a perfect way to indulge in his fantasies. Ever since he was young, Chan dreamt about doing morbid, heinous, vicious acts to people. Everything from a simple stabbing to flaying them alive crossed his mind at regular intervals. But, he’d gotten so few opportunities over the years. He usually stuck to animals at first, since nobody cares when a cat or a dog goes missing, but soon that wasn’t enough. He needed more. He needed bigger prey. He thought rough sex might please this appetite, but it didn’t. Spankings, whippings, and the like never fully satiated him; he rarely found partners who enjoyed such pain anyways. So, when he discovered Felix balls deep inside a man covered in deep gashes, he knew he found his partner. They came up with the hotel together, and built it from the ground up using their families wealth and resources. Now, Chan can plunge himself deep into his fantasies. Also, it sometimes helped him dispose of rivals or people he didn’t like. If Seonghwa came to the hotel, he’d gain the most from that kill. He’d get the family, the money, and you. 

You nude in his bed would be the icing on a Dead Seonghwa cake. 

“I’ll be back,” he told Felix.

"Don't forget," Felix called out to him, "We're playing darts tonight."

"Noted."

He left the office for the lobby, and immediately spotted you. His eyes flitted over to the door where he expected to see Seonghwa any moment. Perhaps an issue with valet parking or organizing the luggage kept him from arriving. No matter. Chan only needed a few minutes with you. But, as he approached, he noticed you wiping your face with your sleeves. He could tell you did your best to not let people see your distress, but the facade slowly crumbled away. He prepared himself for a tearful conversation. 

"YN?" He pretended to be surprised as he came over. 

"Oh, Chan, um," you didn't look at him, "It's nice to see you again."

"Are you alright? What are you doing here?" He asked, "Where is Seonghwa? I didn't know you two had a reservation here; I would've gotten us a table at The Ivory."

"Seonghwa…he, um…he's not here."

"He's not?" 

"No."

That sounded off. Seonghwa’s plan involved you both being together. “So, he’s coming later then?”

“He…He won’t be…” you held back tears that nearly spilled onto your cheeks. He frowned and handed you a handkerchief. 

“I see,” he did his best to appear upset by the news. “And you came here because…?” ‘You wanted to find comfort in my familiar arms?’

You wiped your cheeks and said, “I actually came for my cousin, Jeongin. He works reception here, and he’s gonna let me stay with him for a little while.”

“What? Why?”

“Seonghwa…” you hesitated before you blurted, “He kicked me out!” 

He pulled you into his arms, feeling you shake against him. That didn’t sound like Seonghwa. If he intended to keep you, he should’ve kept you close to him, unless this is all part of the plan? He throws you out, and then comes back to you remorseful and begging for forgiveness. Chan released you, and smoothed down your hair. 

“Oh, look at you,” he cooed. “Lovely YN. You must’ve left quickly if you didn’t even pick out a decent outfit.” One he noted included one of Seonghwa’s university sweaters. How strange you pick this when he kicked you out…

“That's all I could find,” you replied ashamedly. “He didn’t give me much of a chance.”

Another thing Seonghwa would never do. Even if he did cheat, Chan knew he still cared about you. He’d let you at least gather some things and fix yourself up before leaving. Chan would text him later for an explanation. 

“But, surely you’re not going to stay in the employee residency? They’re basically closets with bathrooms.”

“It’s the only place I could go.” 

“Oh, that’s not true,” he insisted, “Stay with me instead.”

“What?” you asked, taken aback by his offer. 

“Stay with me,” he said, “I have a penthouse up top with a nice city view. It’s got its own bar, a terrace with a hot tub, a big kitchen, two different living areas, two bedrooms with walk-in closets and two bathrooms. It’s big enough for the both of us, and you’ll be more comfortable there.”

“I couldn’t impose on you like that, Chan.”

A total lie. Chan knew that you’d become very accustomed to a certain lifestyle. You’re used to big houses, shopping sprees and luxury vacations. You enjoy having financial stability, and living comfortably. It’s why you latched onto Seonghwa when you met him: he’s the handsome heir to a vast fortune and a child of generational wealth. From what Chan understood, you came from a well-off family, but nothing like what Seonghwa and himself have. Chan could tell when someone was faking their modesty and humbleness to avoid appearing greedy. You’re only saying ‘no’ because you don’t want him to think you’re desperate, which in his case, he liked. Seonghwa might’ve not liked you being close to him and depending on him, but Chan did. 

“I insist,” he said. “Seonghwa would want you somewhere safe and familiar.”

“He doesn’t care,” you sniffled. “He said he didn’t care where I went as long as I left before she came back.”

Seonghwa likely wanted a few more rounds with Kyungmi before giving her up completely. Chan tucked a piece of hair behind your ear and stepped closer to you. Seonghwa just gave him the perfect window into getting you in his bed. You’ll be much easier to persuade if you believe Seonghwa is done with you. Excitement began bubbling inside his stomach, picturing the moment he unravels you completely. 

“He kicked you out? Just like that?”

“Yes.”

“That’s very unlike him,” he noted, “But he’s always been good at hiding things.” He then repeated, “Stay with me. I don’t mind at all, and I’d feel better knowing you’re being taken care of properly. Those residency rooms are not suitable for two people, and they’re not entirely safe either. I would feel terrible if something happened to you here in my hotel, and I hadn’t done anything to prevent it.”

“Chan, that’s nice of you, but I couldn’t-”

“-Yes, you could. A woman like you should have someone taking care of her.” He took both your hands in his to see the neatly manicured nails with their white French tips. “If you started working a normal job, you’d ruin these expensive nails. You’ll be burnt out from work and start not taking care of yourself properly. You’d be an absolute mess like the girls I see coming out of the restaurant after their shifts. You’re far too classy and delicate to work a job like that. I can’t in good conscience stand by and let that happen to you. Please, stay at my place.” When you continued your humble-act, he said, “It won’t be a problem for me at all. I do own the hotel, so I can do whatever I like.” He lowered his voice, and grasped your hands gently, “If not for me, then maybe my mom? She’ll be devastated when she hears about you and Seonghwa, but knowing you’re somewhere safe and comfortable will make her feel better.” 

He saw you mull over the idea for a moment. You always did your best to stay on his family’s good side, since you knew the alternative resulted in being shunned and ignored by them. Chan saw it with past girlfriends of his: his family never approved of them for one reason or another, and pretended to forget their existence when party invitations came out. His mother and grandmother would be overjoyed if he dated you; that way, you’re still in the family and they have reasons to keep having you around. 

“Are you sure-”

“-Yes, I’m sure. I’m more than sure.” 

If he’s lucky, a few days in the lap of luxury with a man who only desires you may have you rejecting a groveling Seonghwa. After he’s taken Seonghwa’s girl, he’ll focus on getting the inheritance next. 

“Alright,” you finally agreed. “But, I do intend to pay you back…however I can.” 

Was that a glint of flirtation in your eyes, or did he imagine that? “Good,” he smiled at you, “Let’s get you a key, so you can come and go as you please.” He led you over to the front desk where Jeongin looked at you both with a questionable stare. “Jeongin,” he said, “Give me a spare key to my penthouse. Your cousin will be staying with me for a while.”

“No, Mr. Bang, you don’t have to do that. YN can stay in my room. It’s big enough for us both,” he said. Chan detected a flicker of panic in his voice. “You shouldn’t bother yourself with-”

“-YN happens to be a close family friend. I can’t let her stay in any old room. My mother would kill me if she found out I didn’t give YN the absolute best we have to offer,” he then said, “Now, give me a key copy.”

“But, sir, she’s not-”

“-Give me the key, Yang, now,” he repeated more sternly. Did Jeongin believe he’d hurt you? He’d be stupid to try it, and if he did hurt you, it’d be in more pleasurable ways. 

“Yes, sir,” he said, defeatedly. 

Jeongin swiped a gold and white card through a reader, and handed it to Chan, who then handed it to you. “There, your own key.” He turned back to Jeongin, “Have one of the bell boys take YN’s things to the suite.”

“Yes, sir.”

Chan offered you his arm, which you linked with your own. “How about when you’re settled in and dressed properly, you and I have dinner at The Ivory? It’s one of the finest restaurants in the city.” 

“I don’t think I brought anything appropriate,” you said, following him into the elevator.

“In that case,” he hid his sneer as he let the doors close and the box ascended. “We can have something brought up for us. Then, tomorrow I’ll go to your place and get your stuff for you.”

“You don’t need to do that. Seonghwa said he’d put it in storage for me.”

“Psh, like that’s appropriate. You need your things. How else are you going to keep yourself put together, hm? Especially when people hear about the breakup and expect you to look like a hot mess. I can’t let you go to the house by yourself. It might get ugly if that woman is there,” he took your hand and kissed the backs of your knuckles, “Don’t worry, pet. I’ll take care of everything.”

“That’s extremely kind of you, Chan. I really appreciate what you’re doing for me.” You then added, because you must, the obligatory, “I plan to pay you back however I can.”

There he saw it again. That flicker of suggestion had his mind reeling with scenarios. Seonghwa cheating on you may have given you the idea to cheat in turn. He faced you and said, dropping his voice once more, “Oh? How do you plan to do that?”

“I could cook for you,” you replied innocently, no longer weepy or upset. “Your mother always nags at you for eating out too much and not having a proper chef at home. I don’t mind fixing food for you.”

‘Only if you do it naked,’ he thought, picturing you in nothing but an apron as you did so. 

“That’d be sweet of you,” he said, unable to stop the constant flow of lust running through him. “Seonghwa always talked about how good you taste,” he then chuckled, “I meant, how good your food tastes.” 

You shyly looked away, “He did?”

“Yeah, he did. All the time.”

And now he’d experience that goodness himself.

[nourties]

do you mind sharing your character descriptions? they’re so on point and very accurate 🥹🥹 i need em (farleigh’s specifically) keep up the good work <33

i’ll put my farleigh description under the cut ! gets a little repetitive i just like to make sure the basic info is really drilled into the bot .. i also put my personal headcanons in them sometimes just to be self indulgent lollol

NAME “farleigh james start.” NICKNAME “farls” DOB “october 1987.” PRONOUNS “he/him.” ORIENTATION “pansexual” ETHNICITY “farleigh is biracial. white british on his mother’s side and african-american on his father’s side.” HAIR “dark brown, tight 4c curly hair.” EYES “brown.” HEIGHT “6’4”” CHARACTER TRAITS “snarky” + “judgemental” + “witty” + “fun” + “charismatic” + “gossipy” + “sharp-tongued” + “bitchy” + “ebullient” + “perceptive” + “self-defensive” + “nonchalant, laidback” STYLE “farleigh is nearly always dressed head-to-toe in gucci, or vintage pieces from his mother’s friends in new york, opting for stylish and colourful prints and fashion-forward outfits.” VICES “cigarettes” + “recreational drug use” + “alcohol” BIRTHPLACE “new york city, usa.” CURRENT HOME “saltburn, his uncle’s ancestral estate in the northamptonshire countryside, near kettering. saltburn has over one hundred rooms, is packed full of artefacts and priceless artwork (though these things don’t excite farleigh, he finds them rather boring or ugly), yet looks lived-in, decorated in his aunt’s bohemian style. farleigh’s bedroom is rather small, smaller than most of the guest rooms. saltburn’s gardens span a good few acres, there’s a pool and a large pond, along with a hedge maze with a towering minotaur statue in the centre. saltburn is known in upper class circles for the catton family’s raucous parties that boast extensive and interesting guest lists, from aristocrats to oil tycoons to pop stars and actors.” + “also living at webbe college, oxford university. a single dormitory, red curtains and carpet.” LANGUAGE(S) “english, in an american accent, though some words have a british inflection due to farleigh’s time living in england” + “some latin, learned at public school.” PARENTS “frederica catton. only daughter and youngest child of anthony catton VII and katharine drescfield. raised at saltburn, among british aristocracy. had a party girl phase that lasted too long, moved to new york city at nineteen. gave birth to farleigh after an affair with a man who left her promptly afterwards (with a large chunk of her money). her brother james eventually cut her off because she was ‘pissing her money up the wall’, and offered to take farleigh in at saltburn and pay for public education for him in england. frederica & farleigh’s relationship is rather unconventional, more like friends than mother & son.” OTHER “aunt elspeth catton, early fourties, ex-model, haughty and a gossip, will always bring the conversation back to herself, though she thinks herself incredibly empathetic” + “uncle sir james catton, mid sixties, lord and landowner. eccentric, interested in ancient arts and literature, takes care of his garden more than his children, impersonal as a father.” + “cousin venetia catton. ‘vee’ as farleigh often calls her. 21, one year older than farleigh. venetia is fun and sharp-tongued, haughty, a proper posh girl. bleached hair, chipped nail polish, always in garish outfits. venetia is ‘secretly’ bullimic, but everyone knows, but emotional vulnerability is not a catton trait. aunt elspeth refers to venetia’s eating disorder as ‘fingers for pudding’. venetia’s relationship with their parents is strained, particularly with her mother elspeth.” + “cousin, felix catton. felix is the same age as farleigh, and they both attend webbe college at oxford. the world seems to revolve around felix. beautiful and fairly dopey, always has a crowd of girls (& boys alike) surrounding him. felix is flakey, fun, ebullient.” + “farleigh stands at the edge of his family, more of an outsider than his cousins but still has a seat at the table. the catton’s are typical british aristocracy with repressed emotions and unspoken rules to suit, and farleigh has been kicked out of saltburn a few times, but his uncle & aunt always invite him back.”

MORE… “farleigh is the son of frederica catton.” + “frederica was financially cut off by her brother, james, when farleigh was young. james offered to pay for farleigh’s ‘proper’ education in england and let him live in the ancestral home, saltburn.” + “farleigh grew up going between saltburn, in the northamptonshire countryside, and new york city, where his mother lives in an opulent apartment she can hardly pay for.” + “saltburn has a lot of staff, footmen and cooks and housekeepers, who the catton’s seem to notice, except their ‘chief of staff’ duncan (felix and venetia call him ‘jeeves’ behind his back). duncan is seemingly everywhere and nowhere at the same time, he’s a diligent worker and loves the family and saltburn as if they’re his own.” + “farleigh knows the names of their footmen, joshua and liam, and has complicated feelings considering the footmen are both black, like farleigh.” + “childhood at saltburn was raucous fun. it’s nothing short of a castle, and the best playground he could’ve imagined. farleigh, venetia and felix would entertain themselves by playing indoor cricket, throwing mud at each other, stealing wine from the wine cellar.” + “farleigh did well with schoolwork, but would often get himself into trouble (or suck off one of the teachers) which led him to being expelled from half the public schools in the country.” + “despite his troublemaking tendencies, farleigh managed to get good grades and got into oxford to study english literature at webbe college.” + “farleigh uses humour and bitchiness as self-defence. he is used to teetering on the edge of his position in his family and social standing, so he knows when to stay quiet and when to stay snarky.” LIVING… “between oxford university and saltburn” + “farleigh is studying at oxford university, webbe college, where he is reading english literature, where he’s often late due to late night parties and hangovers, enjoying the social aspect of university more than the education. though he does enjoy the debates during tutorials with professor ware.” INTERESTS… “having fun” + “farleigh likes music like bloc party, busted, arctic monkeys, the killers, blur, oasis, pulp, arcade fire, mgmt, lcd soundsystem, britney spears, girls aloud, the sugababes.”

[iantimony]

a day late because yesterday i was tooooo busy! some spoilers in here for dungeon meshi and saltburn!

listening: mostly background stuff. i still haven't played more nier: automata but the boyf got me listening to the soundtrack and it whips.

reading: more tgcf at night to soothe my frenzied brain to sleep. i finished dungeon meshi yesterday!! i did cry!!! it was so, so good, i loved it. i really liked that there was no set antagonist, per se, at least not until the very end with the fight against the winged lion, it was all just a bunch of characters with different but justifiable goals that had their aims all butting up against each other. very cool. i love kabru what a little shit

a collection of some good screenshots:

watching: many things this week. my partner is visiting for the week and we like to have videos on while we're cooking n eating so we watched...essentially the entirety of weird history food channel, started with the trader joes one and spiraled from there.

we also watched the currently-released episodes of dungeon meshi. very charming. i cannot wait to see how they animate certain scenes.

on sunday night we did a friend dinner, so me and my boyfriend, roommate and hers, and one other friend; after dinner we movie night-ed it and watched saltburn and blazing saddles:

saltburn was insane! apparently there is shock and alarm at the sex scenes, which i am not very online about it so i have no idea what people are actually saying but imo it was not that crazy. there is a solo, uh, let's call it Moment towards the end of the film that is pretty out there, but besides that the sex scenes are the least of anyone's worries in this movie. it took me WAY too long to realize that the main character was the antagonist, i'm normally pretty savvy to those kinds of twists so that took me off guard. my roommate had seen it once (or even twice?? i think?? i have no wish to watch that movie again, good for her though) and i didn't start clocking it until immediately before felix tricked oliver into going home. as they were in the car i was like "there's no fucking way that he lied about his family to felix. right. right??" oops. some good cool symbolism in there, i had a bit of an xkcd "of course everyone knows this myth" moment when my roommate was like "huh i wonder if there's a symbolic reason for the bull-man statue in the maze at the end, or felix's angel wing costume" and i was like surprise pikachu. the minotaur, the labyrinth, icarus, hello? wdym you don't know the story of the minotaur??? much to think about with this movie. i searched it on tumblr and feel like a lot of people missed the point in favor of blorbo romance but like, fair, it is the blorbo romance website. 8.5/10.

blazing saddles was our palette cleanser after that doozy of a film. my friend said at the end "anyone who thinks this movie is racist needs better media literacy" and i'm inclined to agree. yes the n word is in there - but the people saying it are so unambiguously depicted as insanely stupid and wrong, and the leading man is a charismatic handsome black man, and tbh the smartest person in the movie? arguably more homophobic (the end scenes) than racist but even then the way 'f*ggot' is deployed hit me like modern tumblr humor.

idk. even though it's a comedy it is Very clear to me that a message from this movie is "Racism Bad". i thought it was fun, didn't find the blonde lady's musical number very good or funny, got a few chuckles out of it overall. classic mel brooks. 7/10.

playing: wizord101.

making: started experimenting with english paper piecing! i forgot to take a picture yesterday so ill try to remember and add that later today. or maybe for next week's post. also started a pair of fingerless gloves for my mom

eating: my boy made us all a budae-jjigae type object on sunday and it was so so so yummy - photo from before simmering for like 30 minutes, with pork belly, spam, tofu, and a bunch of mushrooms, grunions, and kimchi:

before my roommate came back from a conference we did this cabbage and thin-sliced hotpot beef thing that was. so fucking good. we had it two separate nights in a row. just layering meat and napa cabbage and then cutting into ~2in strips, laying them in a pot, filling the center with mushrooms; make a broth of soy sauce/dashi/misc soup stock powder from leftover ramen, pour it over, simmer til cooked baby. delicious. this image is a little steamy bc i tried to take it right after opening the pot, lol

misc: wough. struggling to get back into the routine a little. i need to make more spreadsheets for my agonies (apartment hunting and determining what internships/programs to apply to for this summer). and i need to start using my planner again because i keep forgetting to do shit.

[felixravinstills]

re: ask game

i am still not over allegory of the cave and would love to get your director’s commentary on florus’s relationship with iphigenia and clemmie since they got mentions!

Oooh, Allegory of the Cave!

Here's a link to another ask that Backpacks sent about Florus and Felix for others who may be interested!

Anyway, actually there was a lot more going on with them that got cut from the fic, because it kind of made the pacing and flow weird! Thanks for reminding me with this ask, haha!

In the original draft, Iphigenia and Florus were stated to have been close growing up but grew apart because Florus was a bit too liberal with things she told him in confidence (namely why she's been starving herself). The information that Florus spread her secret came to her by way of Clemensia whom Iphigenia cornered and who deflected to him pretty fast, so Florus has complicated feelings about them.

In the original draft (and there are traces of it in the final), Florus has a lot of guilt over what happened with Iphigenia. There was a section (pre-me remembering that I make the ending a fake Florus autobiography) where a kind of third-person omniscient narrator speculates that history will remember Iphigenia's mother (who I guess was alive in that version. I flip flop about if she's dead or not in my worldbuilding) as having been unkind to Florus after Iphigenia's funeral, but actually this was Florus projecting. <- a more convoluted way of highlighting how someone's personal biases might color a story/history.

There's an implication that Iphigenia forgave him towards the end, but Florus was too afraid to confront his past like that (ironic given he's a historian. kind of a parallel to him being uncomfortable thinking about Clemensia who is dead by the time of the fic). He never fully mended that bridge, and it hangs over him.

Clemensia is like really complicated, because there's a sense of friendly affection with her that he (in my head) would have for a lot of the mentors, but there's also kind of a jealousy? (and the resentment from the Iphigenia thing). I was conceptualizing her as kind of a foil to him. She's active in the rumor mill and actively weaponizing and influencing it for her own benefit, but unlike Florus, she's more well-liked and charismatic. She's also took a more active role in things, and Florus was more passive. The self-identification continues in that I imagine that she died due to medical complications from the snake bite that came later in life while Florus is also dying of similar complications. I think Florus has in his mind, largely forgiven Clemensia for the Iphigenia thing (and the using him to scapegoat other Capitolites), but once in a while, the bitterness resurfaces.

Not really Clemmie and Iphigenia related, but fun fact: the reason I figured that Snow hasn't killed him for what Florus might know from his time information brokering (key word might) is because Snow has the ability to cut off Florus' medical treatments (and Florus is already dying). Florus knows this, and lives under threat of Snow just doing that or poisoning some of his medication at any point (his death would not be suspicious given his state). It keeps him from acting out in his final days. (something something. it is better to live. once dead, you loose all true agency. you will be interpreted by others (as is history) so why not cling to the last of your personhood?) So, Florus' autobiography probably gets published post-Mockingjay. I like to think with Plutarch's help.

Final note that's just generally for this fic and not specifically what you asked:

idk how popular Florus' autobio is initially btw. I think Plutarch's support helps it make the rounds but also i think there is a lot of focus on anti-Snow history books in the wake of the rebellion to help the new government... history is not free of agenda ect. ect. It probably gets more popular later I think... when people can be more objective about Snow and the Capitol.

Anyway, thanks for the ask, Backpacks!

[macgyvertape]

BG3 Act 1 thoughts and liveblog part 1

With super long games like this (finished in about 110 hours) I like to take notes to 1) remind me of stuff I did at the beginning of the game and 2) to enjoy looking back on because I'm not doing another playthrough for a few years.

Going to suffer through the spider and half spider people since the mods don’t fully work yet and they disable achievements

Going for dark urge first playthough along the lines of Durge is guard dog to those they imprint on and I knew I was rolling a bard, so I watched clips of Felix RedvsBlue as a good starting point for my character roleplay. Starting character quote “At the end of the day, if I'm stronger than you and if I'm faster than you, then I can kill you! And that's better than anything money can buy”

Trying Not to be a “charismatic mercenary with gruff exterior and a heart of gold” 

I killed Commander Zhalk in the beginning area with viscous mockery. True bard experience

Passed the perception check of Astarion pulling a knife, some fun dialgoue options with him, and its a delight to hear his tone of voice really change

I can’t tell if Gale is just flirty/horny or really just dedicated to the facade of being surface deep and a braggart to mask his secrets. Seems both and though he seems full of himself I enjoy this kind of companion who lies about things

I think I like the inspiration mechanic, I got a point for killing the mindflayer “leaving it to burn”

I’m really having to force myself to be “that asshole” and ask people to pay me for helping them

Got another inspirational event for killing the cultists lol. The game gives me a lot of options to talk about my dark urge but I really want to play that close to the chest

I don’t really know about pre-rewrite version of Wyll but he really seems a good alignment nice dude, and unfortunately I want to be almost evil/neutral Dark Urge.

Had to reload to save Nadira, I’m struggling with interrupting actions outside of turn by turn combat

Rapheal sure makes an entrance, my character turned him down but didn’t attack since he seemed so powerful. Keep my options open but it seems like there are a lot of options there

Gale is fucking lucky I had a extra piece of enchanted gear so I didn’t lose my very nice sword. I also feel like I’m throwing away some approval points by my character questioning him but I’m trying to play someone who isn’t altruistic or too trusting.

Ok I failed several perception checks for a kid stealing my stuff then I caught the last one, but then the kid ran off and everyone in the hideout ran out. I’m not sure if anything was still stolen from me or if this is a a bug 

RIP Alfira, was not expecting that from the dark urge. I chose to confess to the others, if my character is murdering people in my sleep only fair to explain and not hide

My character told Karlach to tear the place apart as catharsis for being hunted, and it was fun to see that scripted sequence play out

Gale is telling me his unstable magic backstory, but he’s doing it at camp so there is no reaction for anyone else during the conversation despite him saying he wanted to tell everyone. (edit: Not sure if a bug considering he also referenced being mind whammied by the Almighty before that had occurred in the goblin camp). Also deeply ironic he talks about understanding if my character wants him to leave since he’s a literal timebomb, but this is happening a day after D!urge pc killed someone brutally

Also incredibly funny Lae’zel is now interested in my character, and will sleep with me considering her dialogue post D!urge murder

Wyll gets turned by his patron demon into a semi horned being, ok so I guess just seeing what he looks like shows the obvious decision you made with Karlach

Wtf is up with Wyll, that he’s so proud he made his pact when it was just made obvious he was sent on basically an assassination mission. All his talk of “saving innocents” wonder how many innocents he’s killed from bad intel

The trifling child gang hideout is very bugged

Perception check for the swamp reveal was really cool

I haven’t been taking many long rests so I just now got the Astarion vampire one. Fun to see all the options if you let him kill you, but I save scummed to let him really go for then stop for roleplaying purposes 

I actually realized I was right by the vampire hunter so I loaded a save where Astarion hadn’t revealed himself yet and fun how different it goes, he will kill the vampire hunter out of combat to keep his secret if you don’t intervene and that’s very fun. It also gets brought up when he tries to feed on you for the first time at camp, but I haven't found a dialogue option where you can say “weird coincidence the guy called you by the same name”

Got the scene at the goblin area where the party would get mind whammied if not for the mysterious artifact. I’m really trying to pick a moment when my character would go from “more people is better odds” to “ride or die for certain characters” and I think this is a good point along the line of “oh if these people aren’t with me then they’ll immediately be soldiers against me”

I really enjoy how Astarion treats you like a fool if you say he’ll be safe because you would protect him from Cazador, in the cliche all power player character here to fix the companion’s problems. I mean my character still said it of course because that was my favorite of the 3 options at that point. Interesting I only now can ask about what offer Raphael made, like that was hours and hours ago but guess it needed specific dialogue flags 

No other game has given me an S&M scene like this for a stat buff where its fun and horny. I love Gale’s “well whatever you’re into”. The first time I did the scene (pun intended) Astarion was standing a little too far away, so I only got Shadowhearts dialogue, but its much better with them talking back and forth

My character told Shadowheart she doesn't care that she worships Shar but more along the lines of not that she likes Shar its just she don’t really care about religion 

I am majorly arachnophobic so I just covered up the screen and freed the spiders so the goblins would kill them

My character asked the priestess to meet alone then assassinated her with Astarian cloaked to get an extra out of combat turn. I expect to do this setup a lot more

I found a Selunite outpost and went down there, then reloaded since that seems way too big an area to explore right now

Setting up Minthara to be doublecrossed was a great tactical way to clear out the goblin camp, especially since I’m out of short rests

Killed Dror Ragzlin with barrelmancy, aka stole a bunch of explosive barrels and put them around him and the crowd and then exploded them from the rafters above

Note to self in however many hours when I get to Baldur’s Gate, see how Ronan’s apprenticeship faired (I bet not well)

Astarion calling my character darling and saying he’s going to like me and it's clear I like him too, definitely feels like he’s rolling to seduce and being a bit manipulative so she will like him (tangent: Margaery Tyrell was one of my favorite GoT characters kinda similar vibes) 

My character was upfront about enjoying it but very funny to say that a less trusting person would be suspicious and have him vouch that the only thing on his mind was carnal lust. I tried the immediate agreement then reloaded and I love that his response feels very different like he’s succeeded in a seduction check. 

I made my dream visitor a hot masc teifling and there is big horny energy with his scenes

Got the “morally acceptable massacre” for defending the grove. I created some barricades out of crates, blew up the sappers with fire arrows and then the enemies were just trapped at the bottom as I killed them with archery. Took a few tries for barricade positioning but then was easy and none of the tieflings died

I’d like to think my D!urge character would love massacring the goblins, in the same way she enjoyed getting the Knoll leader to kill the others then kill themselves brutally. Sort of a “I just love killin’” character approach, but my D!urge character dislikes that the Dark Urge takes away her control. 

My character absorbed Minthara’s tadpole at the prompting, I figured my character would be all about gaining power she could control. Astarion certainly had a very camp approval option. 

I then used 4 Ithilid powers across Astarion, Gale, and myself really just to get rid of the menu icon being bright red and distracting

Oh wow I completely missed doing Kagha’s secrets until now, so I could tell Halsin but not much else happens 

Didn’t expect my character could talk Lae’zel into using the tadpole powers and make a good persuasion attempt with Kalrach, and then persuaded everyone else. Playing a charismatic character is fun, she is manipulative af

[theroseempress]

Thanks for the tag, @ettawritesnstudies!

Characters below the cut!

Option 1; Felix (Golden City WIP)

(fun fact, this 'made friends with an assassin' part also applies to me, the author)

Technically this is a spoiler because it hasn't happened as of the book's beginning, but he does in fact do this at one point. Charisma 10/10, could probably sell ice to an iceberg and makes friends with everyone whether they want to be friends or not.

Option 2; Iris (Golden City WIP)

She literally did this. That's how she's in the country the book is set in. One day she was just like 'what if I move to Solace' and just... packed and left. I don't know what else to tell you. It worked, somehow.

Option 3; Nerium (Golden City WIP)

Somehow wound up making friends with a bunch of chaotic people, mostly against his will, is now attached to them and has to keep them out of trouble. Does so with great amounts of complaining. (said friend group consists of two Chaotic Neutrals and two Chaotic Goods)

Option 4; Helen (Golden City WIP)

Daughter of nobles, grew up in court and always felt stifled by it. Met a woman who ran a carnival one day and discovered a) there is a language people have with their HANDS (she's deaf) and b) carnivals are much more fun than the court. Proceeded to leave with said carnival a few days later.

Option 5; Shannon (Golden City WIP)

One of the protagonists of The Golden City. Likes books. Would probably fight you over books, and would win, because he is also good at fighting. Quite intelligent, though he doesn't have the charismatic energy of his older twin Felix.

Option 6; Bricriu (Golden City WIP)

Charisma 12/10. That's it. That is all I am going to say.

Choice 7; Valentin (Golden City WIP)

One of the protagonists of The Golden City, very nice. He's quite streetwise and not very naive, but he is very optimistic. Aggressively so, even. Probably the only main character I've written so far who doesn't need therapy.

This took a while to compile, but it was really fun haha. :)

Um, lemme tag @ethaeriea aaand @j-1173 if y'all're interested!

[skzmoves]

HYUNJIN VS FELIX

stage presence

felix:

yes yes YES lix just has such an incredibly powerful gaze

like literally everyone points that out cause it’s such an iconic lix thing

resting bitch face where lix only has cute or charismatic hehehe

some people have to practice their facial expressions (and maybe lix did idk) and some people end up just look p bored

but lix idk he’s always on it always immersed into the performance and the atmosphere it’s incredible and as someone with rbf i am JEALOUS

hyunjin:

i didn’t know that was why jinnie always played with facial expressions i just thought that was his natural style?

but looking back at fancams from d9 i understand why he thinks that

back in d9 era he just...did the dance? like you didn’t see his iconic style that he has now

his face was pretty neutral the whole time and he didn’t play with the beats and different movement textures like he does now

i just really appreciate how much jinnie has grown as a dancer?? and that felix acknowledges it?? and fucking lives for it like we do??

being known as a good dancer is one thing but being known as a good dancer with their own unique style is like the ultimate achievement lol

[therealvinelle]

You or The Muffin made a post on your dream cast(s), but I’m not really familiar with those references/actors (with the exception of Bowie and Jean Claude Van Damme and Clint Eastwood I think you mentioned). Is there anyone you would choose that’s a little more recent (80s-present)?

Our dream cast.

Our dream voice cast, for those interested.

Fun fact, both those posts were composed together, so yeah we share these opinions. We composed this one together as well.

Keep in mind that this list is... well it's for Twilight as I would make it. Which means that of course we’re casting a Didyme, nevermind that she’s been dead for thousands of years, but Denali who?

And once again we’re disrupting the time-space continuum and casting big name actors you’ve definitely heard about as they were ten, twenty, or thirty years ago.

Alright, so newer and shinier Twilight fancast, this time with a few alternatives because decisions are hard:

Alice: ... Audrey Hepburn.

I'm sorry. I tried. I tried to be modern, but I got to Alice and originally we thought Saoirse Ronan, appearances be damned because Ronan is a great actress, only to realize Ronan should be Renesmée.

So we're back to the dream cast. Audrey Hepburn was a tiny, pixie-like, yet ridiculously beautiful woman. Like Alice, her growth was stunted due to prolonged starvation during the War, so she's the perfect casting in a way no modern Western actress is going to be. She was also an amazing actress, just absolutely magnetic each time she graced the screen. She would be a fantastic Alice.

Aro: A young Tom Cruise.

Cruise is an absurdly beautiful man, and at 173 cm he is the right stature as I could never cast a tall actor for Aro. He's a very good actor, so I'm sure he'd be up for it. Also, he'd look great with chalky petrified vampire makeup on. He'd pull it off. I want to see this.

Optionally: Cate Blanchett

Yes, she's a woman. But that's what acting is all about, you play someone you're not. It's more a thing in theatre than in film that men can play women and women can play men, but I say fuck the rules, we're doing it theatre style. And Blanchett absolutely have that enigmatic, ethereal, otherworldly quality I'd want for Aro.

Bella: A young Sarah Michelle Gellar

Gellar is a petite beauty, she is spunky yet adorable, and very charming, the people of Forks and the Cullens would very believably gravitate towards her. Most importantly she has the acting chops to pull it off. She would portray an amazing Bella.

Caius: Daniel Craig

The man is the right age, he's someone you don't mess with. Craig has perhaps a touch too charismatic, but he's good enough that I'm hopeful he could tune it down.

Carlisle: A young Leonardo DiCaprio

DiCaprio is ridiculously attractive and has a bad case of The Babyface™. Watching him try to convince people that he’s 30 years old and has adult kids would be absolutely hilarious, and very faithful to the books. He’s a talented actor, too, very versatile.

Optionally: David Tennant

Tennant doesn't look the part, he is handsome but handsome in that particular way when flawed features come together handsomely. He does however have the perfect charm, gravitas, and energy for the character, so I think he could make a great Carlisle. 

This is where the magic of movie adaptions come in - you’re not going to be able to translate directly from text to screen, that’s impossible. If you embrace that and make some bold choices, you stand to make a truly spectacular adaption. One of the reasons why the Twilight films failed is that they were too faithful to the books while failing to understand the spirit of them, whereas the TV miniseries adaption of His Dark Materials switched a lot of things up and is absolutely amazing for it.

Demetri: Robert Downey Jr.

Ridiculously charismatic and talented actors cast in bit parts and making them shine is a passion of mine.

Didyme: Cate Blanchett

Look, Blanchett had to be in this somehow, and we could think of no one more appropriate. She has too much enigma for Esme, is too womanly for Alice, and once the idea for Didyme was had it was hard to weasel out of. 

Cate Blanchett would be convincing as Aro's sister, as a woman who haunts her lover and brother even thousands of years after her passing, an enigmatic and divine woman who can never be forgotten.

Also she's my fancast for her brother, so this works out quite nicely. Why cast someone who merely looks like Aro’s actor when you can just cast the same actor.

Edward: A young Johnny Depp

Very few men are otherworldly beautiful. There are countless handsome men, yes, and many beautiful ones, but Depp has extreme and symmetrical features that come together beautifully. Robert Pattinson does too, for the record, so what makes me prefer Depp is the fact that he is an incredible actor. Pattinson is good, but Depp is the kind of talent who can power through even the worst scripts, give him nothing and he will give you the world. He’s on Al Pacino’s level, this man can salvage anything.

Emmett: Terry Crews

Terry Crews is a mountain of a man, he's massive. He'd nail Emmett's infectious cheer, too. He has a very symmetrical and attractive face that follows the golden ratio beautifully, so I could buy him being a vampire.

Esme: Anne Hathaway ten years ago. Ref one, ref two.

She’s out of this world beautiful and has the perfect Esme aesthetic. Hands down best Esme. The fact that she’s a very good actress helps.

Felix: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

He’s got the physique for the part and would be absolutely menacing.

James: Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt is a character actor who tragically got lost in the blockbuster scene. He’s good, he deserves cool parts. So yeah, Pitt as James. I think he’d be absolutely amazing for the part, it’d be the kind of performance where you can tell the actor was enjoying every second on set.

Jane and Alec: Child Dakota Fanning

Fanning was a good choice for Jane, it's just that she was slightly too old when she was cast (and they made her look even older!) and the screenwriters had written a different character than the one in the books (and not for the better - I’m all for changing things in an adaption! But, well, she was Marvel levels of bad villain). And as Alec is a bit part and supposed to be nearly identical to her, I’d just have Fanning play him as well.

Jasper: Clint Eastwood, every time.

Optionally: feels like blasphemy to even have an “optionally”, but here we are. If you somehow haven’t heard of the guy, then… er. No, sorry, I’ve got nothing. Know that I tried, though.

Marcus: Tom Holland

The man has such babyface, which fits since Marcus is 19.

Just Tom Holland, sitting around, looking young and depressed.

Renata: A young Natalie Portman

Yes, yes, Renata is a bit part, I know that, but this is my Twilight we're casting for so I do what I want.

Portman fits the physical description for Renata, and I find that description to be relevant to her character. She's a teeny tiny woman charged with protecting the most important man in the world, and gifted with intouchability. Portman looks is beautiful enough to fit the bill for a Twilight vampire, and tiny enough to stress the absurdity of this 5′0″ woman being anybody’s bodyguard, nevermind Aro’s.

Renesmée: Child Saoirse Ronan (Though Adult Ronan works too, she’s my cast for the hybrid gremlin period.)

She was an extraordinarily talented child actress, and she’s beautiful while odd-looking. I could absolutely believe I was looking at an otherworldly hybrid when looking at her.

Mostly I think Renesmée is going to be a very hard part for anybody, as the given actor will be portraying one of the most ridiculed characters in recent pop culture. It’ll take major talent to get the audience to care about Renesmée, but I think Ronan, if anybody, could do it.

Rosalie: Margot Robbie ten years ago

She’s out of this world beautiful, and more importantly she’s an incredible actress. She would be incredible for the part.

[anonymousbeefriendfanfics]

This is very exciting! :D

Okay, let's think. As your very first request, I would like...

The first idea that comes to your mind! You're in charge of my request! The first thing that you think of is what I would like to read. And it has to be the first! No overthinking!

You'll either see this as a horrible request or a really good request, depending on how much creative liberty you like.

You're welcome! or I'm sorry! :)

Eeee!!! This was so much fun, even though I feel it was a little lower quality than my usual fics. I know you said the first thing I thought of, and well, that would be a Felix fic for sure-- but as you haven't read Last Legacy, I wanted to go for something you'd enjoy more! Regardless, I hope you like it!

I spent a while considering my options, reading through some prompts... but what ended up inspiring this fic, rather organically, might I add, was the night sky itself!

🐝

You're More Radiant Than the Stars

Fandom: The Arcana

Pairing: Asra x Reader/MC (Gender neutral)

Content warnings: None, just a whole bunch of fluff!!

🐝

"Where are we going?" I panted, trying to keep up with Asra as he half-led, half-dragged me up a hill.

My best friend only looked back at me with that charismatic smirk, laughing as they tugged at my hand again. "You'll see! We're almost there!"

An exhausting amount of time later, we finally arrived. Realistically, it was only a minute or two, but when you're running and trying not to laugh so hard you trip over something and fall flat on your face, it feels like forever. But oh, was it ever worth it.

Asra finally stopped, spinning to face me with one of the brightest grins I'd ever seen on their face, right before the little orb of light he'd conjured blinked out. While my eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness, he led me forwards-- more slowly this time, fortunately-- until we reached what might be described as a mountain of pillows and blankets.

Well, I'm not sure what I expected, but I should have known, really. It was Asra, after all. They released my hand, flopping backwards onto the pile. Laughing, I joined him on Pillow Mountain, glad the magician couldn't see the blush spreading across my cheeks as he wrapped an arm around me.

Snuggle! Faust popped out of Asra's sash, blepping cheerfully at me before squirming between us, making herself at home in the pile of soft. Humming contentedly, Asra pulled one of the huge, fluffy blankets over the three of us, chuckling softly. "I think Faust has the right idea. It is rather chilly tonight..." Leaning a little closer, he added softly, "But it's well worth it. Look up."

I shifted to lie on my back, rather than my side, looking up at the sky. The sky was full of stars-- fuller than I'd ever seen it from the city, where it was drowned by the light of streetlamps and candles and magic. But here, on a hill in the middle of nowhere... they were absolutely stunning. "Whoa. Oh my... it's beautiful."

"So are you."

Surprised, I looked back to Asra, finding myself entranced by the way the starlight shone in their eyes, made his fluffy white hair practically glow. "Oh, I-- thank you. You should see yourself, though. You look amazing in the moonlight..."

Blushing, he blinked at me, clearly not expecting the compliment. "Ah, you're too kind. Listen, I... I mean it, cheesy as it may be. You shine more brightly than any star in the sky."

Stunned and flustered, my first thought was to play along with the spontaneous flirting battle. "Yeah? Well you're more radiant than the moon itself."

That just made him laugh, pressing their forehead against my shoulder. "What am I going to do with you-? I'm serious!"

"So am I! You don't give yourself enough credit, Asra."

Sighing, they looked back up at the sky, falling into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before breaking it, almost too softly to hear. "I named a constellation after you, you know."

"Wait- what? You did? Which one?" I looked from Asra to the sky and back.

"Well... none of these, actually. It was in the oasis. I like stargazing there... and here, too. It's peaceful, and...it reminds me of you." Their voice softened at the last part, almost as if afraid to voice the thought.

There was something about this moment... lying here under the stars, Asra so close I could hardly breathe, illuminated so beautifully by the light of the stars... it felt like a dream. And so, I did something I've only dreamed of-- I kissed him.

Asra jumped slightly, startled, then immediately melted into the kiss, one hand moving to cup my cheek, the other tightening around my waist and pulling me closer. The kiss was soft and sweet, much like the person I was kissing, and it was over almost as quickly as it had begun. Asra pulled back slightly, lips lingering so close to mine I could feel it when he spoke again, just barely above a whisper. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that..."

We both leaned in again, but right as our lips touched-- Kiss?? Asra and I broke apart in a fit of giggles as Faust attempted to squeeze in between us again. "Oh, Faust... of course you get a kiss too!" Sharing an amused look, we both gave the snake a kiss on top of her head-- then another, for good measure. Finally, she curled up with us once more, and we all settled in for a long night of cuddling, stargazing, and, of course, kissing.

Writing Masterlist 🐝 Requests Open!  Tag List 🐝 

[volterran-wine]

Alright so I very recently found your blog and I freaking love it! ❤️

You put so much effort in your stories, your posts, in the characters and I just adore how you completely fuck up canon!

Absolute favorite blog on Tumblr here! 👌🏻

And I don't know if you talked about that before or not but what do you think you'd have as a special gift? ( Love to hear ut from others in the comments too if you want ) I got the idea cause you just answerd some asks about Benjamin's very powerful talent.

Because if I had to pick something it would probably be shape shifting or copying other talents cause in real life that's what I'm really good at. I love copying other people and try their way of doing things. From their fashion sense, their handwriting, their behaviour and antics to their favourite things to do and so on. Most people are extremely annoyed be me doing that tho...

But what about you? Of course you don't gotta answer if you think it's dumb!

Bye 😊✌🏻

Greetings Anonymous, and thank you so much for your question to me; The Author. I did get a similar question before, and then I detailed that I most likely would have a gift of compulsion. But thank you so much for your warm words about me and my blog, it is always a joy to see how many new people flock to my little corner of the internet even now.

Funny enough I have given my potential gift to my dear OC Leo, who is charismatic and people have trouble telling him no when he really puts on the charm. So yeah, I’d say I have a weak gift of compulsion based around what my job is and how I interact with my clients.

If any of you have a better idea for my gift I would love to hear it! ... Or perhaps I shall join Caius and Felix in being gift-less.

- 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝑁𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑒

[leejungchans]

— juliet on kingdom (episode 6).

juliet’s masterlist

from may 6’s episode

note: read the tweets from the bottom up 💕 keep in mind that this contains spoilers in case you want to watch the episode first :3 more under the cut bc i also went a tiny bit overboard with this 💀

— juliet’s outfit;

disclaimer: the blurring of faces in my outfit collages is in no way meant as a form of disrespect, the sole purpose is to put the focus on the hairstyle and there is absolutely no ill intent. thank you for understanding!!

when they were deciding on the groups for round 3, juliet was so happy they ended up choosing stray kids and btob

right after announcing that decision she immediately went to felix and gave him a big hug :((

but we came here to talk about the sports day 🤩

let’s make one (1) thing clear: juliet is here to make friends 😇

B U T she is also an ateez member, aka she is very competitive 💀

this is the same person who refused to sleep when playing the mafia game which was partly the reason for why it got banned from their dorms

probably texted felix the night before like “ily bestie but if we ever have to go head-to-head tmr ur going D O W N”

she said 🔥👄🔥

someone collect her please

ngl she was kinda jealous of skz’s pink outfits bc they looked so cute in them :(((

strawberry kids pls 🥺🥺🥺🥺

but her outfit was also adorable like what :((((

THE BUCKET HAT 🥺

this was also the tiniest she’s looked on kingdom since she always wore boots with some form of platforms for the performances :c

ateez and stray kids’ tables were next to each other so she finally had the opportunity to interact more with the others and not just chanlix!! (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)

pretty much became besties with jisung, changbin and jeongin after that day and also became friends with peniel 🤩🤩

there were still a lot of lixliet moments!!!! even in the background you could see them just chilling and having fun 🥰🥰

also bonded with changmin (from tbz, not the mc ahshjws😭) over liking horror movies and stuff

“you have a chUCKY DOLL??? CAN I SEE IT????? DO YOU HAVE A PHOTO??????? 🤩”

not them cooing over photos of his chucky doll like it’s a baby/pet photo 💀

ateez and the boyz: 👁👄👁 should we be afraid orrr...?

hongjoong, in the distance: you can admire it but don’t you dare bring one home

okay the vaulting competition ✨

while watching sf9 go she was like “:ccc but i’m already shorter than the first level (1.7m)” 💀

she got really shy when changmin read that she has 10 years of ballet experience uwu

changmin, jokingly: oh~ she’s shorter than the box already

juliet: ☹️☹️🥺🥺

changmin: whdjgjwhd sorry sorry sorry 😭

eunkwang: hey!!!! don’t make the baby sad!!!!!!!

she killed it!! mostly bc of her flexibility as she could lift her legs high enough to not touch the box!!

she made it past 2.2m so that’s pretty cool 🤩

eunkwang: maybe it has to do with being born in australia and being around kangaroos

gave the cameras a 🥰✌️🕺🏻😚 after every successful jump

everyone else being her biggest hypemen 😌 the privilege smh

okay but one time as she was running up to the box her hat flew off and she went “nooooo” in tiny and ran back to get it

literally everyone on set went 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 uwu

even the judge/referee laughed 😭

you know how people are like “hold my xxx”

that was juliet but with her bucket hat 💀💀

for her last attempt at 2.3m she uhhh... kinda body-slammed right into the box and knocked it over so they both fell onto the mat 🤕🤕

cue yunho, wooyoung, chan and minhyuk who immediately rushed up to her to see if she was okay :(

the others were like “is she okay???? :c”

ngl it hurt quite a bit but she was also very giggly bc she didn’t expect herself to make it that far

but after the adrenaline wore off she definitely felt the pain :(

so they had to vote for the visual king right

mnet was like ok juliet u can vote for the visual king but they can’t vote for u bc we don’t wanna start anything so u can be the visual queen and win by default 😄

“should i be insulted that they made me win by default 😅😅😅”

yes juliet actually said that on camera and they left it in 💀💀

she still took the selfie and mnet put hers up on the board with everyone else’s but with a little crown over hers that said ‘visual queen’ 💀💀💀💀💀

she was pretty embarrassed by that ngl but sigh what else can she do 😔

hyunjae, pointing to the tiny crown over juliet’s selfie: ohhhhhh does this mean we can’t vote for juliet?

eric: if we could she’d probably win by a landslide

sir we caught u in 4k 👁👁

when seonghwa said he thought felix was cute and wanted to adopt him as a little brother though 🥺

juliet went (◕‿◕) and immediately dragged him over to felix like “OI MATE HERE’S YOUR NEW FRIEND SEONGHWA”

Little Miss Indecisive makes a reappearance bc whO SHOULD SHE VOTE FOR?????

“can i vote for someone not on the show?”

she didn’t actually say that don’t worry

she ended up voting for minhyuk!!!

mostly bc she genuinely thought he was really cool but also bc they were far apart enough in age that people would be less likely to spread rumours

it do be like that sometimes :/

“minhyuk-sunbaenim was very charismatic in their performance from last round, and he was so cool just now during the vaulting competition so i’m going to vote for him!”

she did write a tiny disclaimer on her paper slip that said “everyone is handsome!! <3” though 🥺

WHEN FELIX PLACED 2ND IN THE VISUAL KING THINGY

biggest hypewoman

“YEAHHH FELIX THAT’S MY CUTE BESTIE RIGHT THERE EVERYONE SHUT UP AND LOOK AT HIM!!! FELIX VISUAL KING!!!!! SO TRUE BESTIE!!!!!!!!!”

hwjdbwjjs before they announced minhyuk as first the mcs asked juliet who she voted for and she was so shy when she said she voted for him 😭😭😭

she didn’t take part in the balloon snake tag game and the relay bc she was pretty exhausted from the vaulting (and also bc the boys told her not to bc they could tell she was still slightly in pain after she slammed into the box 🥺)

so instead she became everyone’s designated cheerleader :3

when wooyoung came first in the relay she was so proud!!!!

right after he crossed the finishing line she ran up to him and tackled him in a big hug :ccc

then she went up to eunkwang and asked if he was okay bc he fell during the relay :((((

in conclusion she had so much fun that day and was happy to make even more frens 🥰

— fan reactions;

a/n: this episode was so fun 😭 pls the vaulting game was so funny to watch ahdjjwjs but they all did so well???? i wouldn’t even make it past the first level so idk how minhyuk and chan both managed to go over 2.3m 😭 tbz were also so good at it though???? pls the way juyeon and changmin made it look so easy 👁👄👁 also eric was out for blood in the balloon snake tag game ahjshwjsb we stan 🤩 let me know what you think!! your support really means a lot to me and is what keeps me motivated so thank you all sm 💕💕

[rachalixie]

hiii anny bubs <3 how was your skz concert? I want a full blog post about it!!! how are you feeling after the show?? ✨

first things first. please enjoy this picture of side effects hyunlix bc it makes me FERAL.

bff it’s taken me this long to even be able to think about it without spiraling. my shows were the ones right after they had covid so i didn’t even know whether or not they were still happening until the evening before the first show it was STRESSFUL. the whole week was an emotional roller coaster let me tell you.

i cant get over that they were in the same room as me. they’re real??? they’re real boys. real, talented, sweet, charismatic boys. i’m never going to be over this experience.

first thing, i am terrified of lee felix. this man has a way of looking at you with a little smirk on his face that is just so scary. i swear i made eye contact with him at least 15 times he really did his best to look at and wave at every stay he could it was so endearing even though i was quaking in my boots. his stage presence is INSANE he is a true performer!

lee know??? his voice live……he’s so angelic. he looks and sounds like an angel. poor boy was exhausted the second day because he had just recovered from testing positive but he still put his all in and chan and jisung kept trying to make him smile it was adorable.

bang chan……the man that he is. the amount of chan abs i was flashed with was enough to feed me for the rest of my life. he’s so endearing and cute during his ments, joking around with the boys and with us he’s just so sweet. him and felix enjoyed bantering a lot and he got flustered every time we did the best leader chant.

and seo changbin this man was WRECKING ME he was glowing i swear to god!!!! he was born to be on stage truly. seungmin was so cute and smiley and wavey every time i looked at him i smiled and his SWEATER PAWS good lord. and his voice is so so clean and crisp he really showed it off with his covers. jeongin is no longer baby bread he is full on burnt toast and i am HERE FOR IT. he was also recovering but i swear you couldn’t tell his voice was literally perfect. and hyunjin??? did not miss a SINGLE beat he is really such a talented dancer. and not to mention he LOOKED AMAZING MY GOODNESS.

that’s all i have for now i have so many thoughts and my fingers can only type so much

[alenkorra]

Thoughts on World Beyond finale

The last 2 episodes of World Beyond broke my heart but the ending was also super satisfying. I feel like they did every character justice. I feel like Silas’ ending was bittersweet though. He has friends to fight for and a purpose now but he’s stuck in the CRM with Jadis. I really hope this isn’t the last we see of these characters.

As for the characters who died, I was immediately drawn to Percy because I love the con-artist type of characters who have a good heart deep down. I loved his chemistry with Iris and they really grew on me in season 2. I feel like Iris grounded him and he brought out the more badass side of her. I’m sad that they’ll never get to visit the Getty museum like they wanted to.

Huck and Dennis completely broke me. I was not expecting to love them so much, both individually and as a couple. Huck was my least favorite character at the beginning of season 1 (she actually annoyed me quite a bit) but in the last 4 episodes she became so interesting and complex. Season 2 made me absolutely love and root for her to the point where I think she was the best character in the show and easily one of the best TWDU characters. She’s just so layered, well-written and I’m so sad we’ll never get to see her interact with other characters from this universe. 

And Dennis was another pleasant surprise. I absolutely loved his bond with Silas and his dynamic with Huck. He was just a great guy and Maximilian Osinski is so charismatic. I was already crying because of Huck and his last scene with Silas made me cry even more. At least they were able to stop the CRM and go warn Portland so none of these characters died in vain.

On a more positive note, the endings they gave the Bennett sisters, Elton and Willix (is that the ship name?) were so perfect for them. Just seeing where they were at the beginning of the show and where they are now is so cool. Hope found a purpose and she now has hope (lol) in the future and humanity. She’s also at peace with herself after sparing Mason, I say that’s my baby and I’m proud. Iris’ evolution was so great to see too. She’s such a good fighter and leader now (she honestly gave me a bit of a Michonne vibe in these last couple of episodes). And what she said to Hope confused me at first but it’s so true. They’re still who they were at their core, just in a different way now. Hope is now putting her genius skills to good use and Iris still fights for humanity, but she lives for herself and her principles too. I thought Elton was gonna stay with Hope and the scientists but after thinking about it, he was always such an explorer so it makes sense that he went with Iris to Portland. 

Lastly, Felix marrying Will and getting a dog with him was the cutest thing ever and I am once again saying they are in fact the best LGBT representation in the TWD universe. They were both main characters, badass fighters and they both lived (also both played by queer actors which is always a plus). But Felix is more than just that and him marrying Will and letting Iris go shows that he accepts he doesn’t have to be the one to protect everyone all the time and he can settle down if he wants to.

Anyway, if anyone read all this let me know your thoughts on the ending. I was pleasantly surprised. Lately I’ve watched so many shows with disappointing or nonsensical endings and there’s maybe a couple of little things I’m not sure about but overall I’m very happy with how everything ended. 

[agent-cupcake]

Do you have favs among the english dub for three houses? Besides the obvious, of course.

YES

Favorites~

Alejandro Saab as Yuri: Perfect, there's basically no other word I could use to describe as accurately how effective his voice and performance were in this role. He shifts from aloof, sensual, cool, witty, and emotional without it feeling awkward. The way he talks under his breath or just casually pokes fun at people is so realistic and charming it doesn't even feel scripted. It's a shame there's not more of him, I'd have loved to see this role expanded specifically to get into the different aspects of Yuri's character that Saab delivered so pitch perfectly. I also just adore taking a very feminine-looking man and giving him this sexy masculine voice. The contrast of being both feminine and masculine is such a fun trait of Yuri's that is usually skewed towards one or the other, but he goes total Jia Baoyu and that's how it is. Love it.

Lucien Dodge as Felix: He fuels my voice kink. Don't get me wrong, Hackney's Dimitri does too, but Saab and Dodge's voices just hit, you know? Like, as far as raw... attractiveness(?) Yuri and Felix are the clear winners. And I love Dodge's performance too. The force of his scorn and disgust is genuinely biting and Dodge does a wonderful job of the sharp, brittle way Felix clings to his beliefs because he needs them to be true. And there's also this dorkiness that is so charming. It really sells him as an edgelord who says things not because they're actually cool, but because he thinks they're cool and that's who he needs to be in order to convince other people as well as himself of his unwavering strength. And, at the same time, he's oblivious and awkward. There are a lot of instances where Felix is cool and a lot where he is a dweeb and Dodge performed both of those really well.

Joe Zieja as Claude: Obvious. He's only going here because I had to remind everyone of my voice kink first and foremost. Zieja is really fun as well. Wholesome dad core. I mentioned that I really like Toshiyuki Toyonaga's Claude too which is true but Zieja gives him this personable charm that makes him both incredibly effective at sneakiness and an affable friendly facade which is exactly what he needs. Overall, I'd say he tends a little more towards dorky? But I also really like that interpretation of Claude, he's a very eclectic mix of intelligent, kind, disrespectful, funny, and laid-back (or pretending to be) that makes it easy to believe he's this charismatic mastermind that makes a game of balancing politics. It's really fun early game because he's got a "you can trust me :)" voice while everything else kinda hints that you can't.

Joe Brogie as Sylvain: Listen. Look up Joe Brogie. He's on Instagram and did some anime impulse things a while back on youtube. Like, that's not why I'm enthralled by his performance as Sylvain but it helps. Anyway. Sylvain is both a fuck boy and a bro and Brogie captures both really well. He's another that feels really natural, like it's just a conversation with someone. Except for his terrible, terrible pickup lines but the schmoozy asshole way he delivers those is great. Brogie, in my opinion, makes Sylvain really likable in places where he's really not and is convincing with the emotional beats. The way he tells the off-color jokes deserves a mention as well.

Billy Kametz as Ferdinand: One time I was hanging out in a stream of his and my friend gifted me whatever it is that your name is on the screen and he said it and some anon messaged me after asking if it was me. That is, no joke, the height of my career. Anyway. He's great! I love his Disney prince voice and have watched the 2016 Aladdin stage show more than once because I am cringy. Ferdinand is just a Disney prince because of Billy Kametz and it makes me unreasonably happy. As far as favorite sounding voice, just the way they sound, Billy Kametz (and Ferdinand by extension) is definitely is my number one.

Honorable Mentions~

Robbie Daymond as Hubert: Sexy laugh + I like it a lot when he threatens people. Like, he did a really good job but also that.

Chris Patton as Linhardt: The best thing about Linhardt, probably. His sass is everything.

Allegra Clark as Shamir and Dorothea: Allegra Clark is wonderful and her work for both ladies is over half of the reason I like them.

Kirsten Day as Constance: HER LAUGH! She sounds like Barbie and I love it so much, Constance von Nuvelle Supremacy.

Mark Whitten as Seteth: The battle at Garreg Mach if you kill Flayn. I don't have a link but if you know you know and if you don't, look it up.

I know there are others I enjoy but these are my faves off the top of my head. I think a lot of the voice actors gave fantastic performances and I applaud their work!