#totally original fantasy world

[sandwitchstories]

The Crone of Purgatory Ch1: Hinokoku

Intro: Hi everyone! After many months of talking about getting my high fantasy fic written, I am proud to present you with the first chapter! This is a wholly original world and alternate universe created by me and me alone. The KNy characters involved will not always act like they would in canon and that is because this is not canon!

This is my first attempt at writing fantasy and I hope you enjoy it and will be back for the rest of the story! Likes, reblogs and comments always make my day! I have Tinkerbell syndrome - interactions from readers gives me life!

MDNI. 18+ only.

I am not responsible for what you choose to consume on the internet.

Here we go!

Fic Summary: In a world filled with magic where soulmates exist, newly mated Bri Tsugikuni and Kyojuro Rengoku have their new life together thrown into turmoil when a betrayal that crosses dimensions threatens to give the blood thirsty Muzan Kiutsuji the power he needs to take over the Ubuyashiki lands.

Chapter 1 Summary: After awakening with a mate's mark on her neck, Bri Tsugikuni finds herself trekking into the unfamiliar territory of the Dragonkin homeland to have a little talk with their prince, Kyojuro Rengoku.

If you prefer to read on AO3, please click here! (Please visit AO3 link for a full list of content tags)

WC: 4000+

Chapter CW: Sex mentioned, mates marks, soul mates, fem OC, witch OC, Dragonkin Kyojuro Rengoku, Fantasy AU, talk about dysfunctional family, witch craft, useless hellhound familiar, this chapter is actually SFW.

Bri Tsugikuni took a deep breath as she stared at the small distortion in energy floating in front of her. It was a portal that would take her to Hinokoku, the land of fire. It was there that the Flame Grove, composed of an elemental species known as Dragonkin, had put down their roots millennia ago.

She chewed her lip as she put her grimoire away. She picked up her familiar, a miniature hellhound named Maybe, into her arms and kissed his small fluffy head. She needed to get moving, she needed to speak with their prince and it could not wait.

“Alright, Maybe, here we go!” she said to her familiar, smiling at the supportive yip it let out.

She summoned her magic and held out her hand, touching the distortion with her open palm before resting her fingertips against the ripple. It had a seal on it permitting only those of the Dragonkin inside. She closed her eyes and focused her magic to mimic the flow of trace energy in the seal so the portal would allow her in, reading her as one of their own. The fissure opened into a larger oval shape and with a deep breath, she stepped through.

Hinokoku was nothing like she had thought it would be. She had imagined the home of Dragonkin and Dragon Kind would be desert-like, with dark rocks, sand, stone and steel buildings, sparse landscape. She could not have been more wrong. 

It was warmer than her northern homeland and there was luscious green all over the landscape. There even appeared to be ivy hanging down from the many floating ‘islands’ sprinkled throughout the sky. There were tall cliffs with different sized and colored dragons, known as Dragon Kind hanging from ledges as some soared above head in the clear blue sky.

“It’s so beautiful here,” Bri whispered in awe as she took it all in. “Incredible.”

Maybe yipped and squirmed to be put down. Bri obliged, happy to have her arms free. She adjusted the bag on her back before they began walking down the path they had materialized on. 

Other than several trips to visit her maternal grandparents, she had spent her whole life living far north in the bustling city of Bukhta Ved'm. It was the capital of the witch’s territory and located on a stretch of land near the gulf. It’s name meant Witch Cove. It was more commonly referred to as The Crescent for it’s moon-like shape. 

It was where the Grand Coven’s Headquarters were and where her family castle, Tsugikuni Keep, stood. While not as nearly as large as the capital city of Wisteria, one had to go out into the woods or the far out beaches if one wanted to lose themself in nature, which for witches like herself was incredibly important. 

The Crescent was cold more often than not. Its winters were harsh, often dipping below freezing. Bri had spent her life navigating swamps and marshlands during the thaw and  navigating tundras, snow packed mountains, and miles of landscape filled with leafless trees reaching out from a cloak of fog like ghostly fingers during the freeze. 

She had joked once at a family meal that Bukhta Ved'm should be referred to as a necropolis instead of a metropolis, but only her cousins found her amusing. Her father, Yoriichi, had simply stated that would be illogical as the Crescent was full of many actual necropolises. Her uncles had just… slowly blinked and resumed another conversation. Her father and his brothers were oftentimes the personifications of the term ‘wet towels.’

Bri frowned at the memory of that meal. Regrettably, that was how most conversations with her family went. She had never ‘fit in’ with her family or the coven as a whole, really. She was not soft spoken or submissive. She did not fall in line simply because she was told to. She questioned everything. If something had limits, she was going to find that limit, poke it and push it. Her open defiance and refusal to continue with the status quo she did not agree with were a constant source of contention with her uncles.  

Her father loved her and gave her far more freedom that he should have in her uncles’ eyes. But Yoriichi knew when she was young that she would need to run free. She remembered a time as a young teenager that she had gone to her father crying because one of the boys had told her no one would ever want her because she would never be tamed. Her father had tucked her hair behind her ear, kissed her forehead and told her that some women were not meant to be tamed. He had said there were those like her who were meant to run wild until they found someone who could keep up and run wild beside them. He had told her there was someone for everyone and that he would look away if she turned that boy into a tadpole. 

Turns out Papa was right. The mate's mark on her neck was proof there indeed was someone for everyone. Kyojuro had kept up with her step for step (and thrust for thrust) during their whirlwind weekend in Wisteria. She just hoped that experience had not been an isolated incident.

Bri worried her lip as she walked. She was hoping she would be welcomed and that the flame-brained prince she needed to speak with was somewhere around. A week ago she had ended up spending several very… passionate days and nights in the company of Kyojuro Rengoku, the Dragonkin’s eldest prince. This morning she had woken up with a mate’s mark in the exact same place on her freaking neck as Kyojuro had sunk his teeth into during a moment of passion.

Kyojuro was not just a prince though. He was a well known and well respected warrior who was one of the knights of King Kagaya’s most elite force, the Hashira. They had both been visiting the capital city for different reasons but had crossed paths by sheer happenstance of both being friends with the Sound Lion Pride. 

The Sound Lion ‘s King, Tenge Uzui, had a pride made up of himself and his three wives who happened to be witches who had also trained as kunoichi - Suma, Makio and Hinatsaru. As a High Priestess of the Grand Coven, Bri knew them pretty well. Kyojuro and Tengen were Hashira together and got along exceptionally well. 

Bri blushed as she thought about it all. The first night had been sloppy, goofy drunken sex filled with the passion and excitement of a new partner. But the next morning had been an entirely different experience as had the next several days that followed until their duties forced them to go in opposite directions.

Bri had certainly wanted to see the handsome man again, but not necessarily like this. If her mark had shown today, she had no doubts his had as well. She had sunk her own teeth into the crook of his neck that very same night. And it just so happened that the universe had decided they were in fact soul mates. 

The only reason Bri had even been able to find the portal here was following the traces of the red string that would forever connect the two of them to each other. She paused and looked down the road ahead, it was a ways until they got into the village that was still small dots on the horizon. She could teleport them closer but she was trying to keep a low profile and not set off alerts by using her magic. However, she had no intentions of walking that far.

Bri held out her hand and focused her powers, conjuring her broom to her hand. Space swapping was a very handy ability to have. She picked Maybe up and set him in her lap as she mounted her broom, once again glad she had never been the gowns and skirts type. 

After a while, Bri needed to stretch her legs and let Maybe run a bit. She was delighted when she found a small waterfall with a blue lagoon at its base. She set her broom down and took off her boots and socks, followed by rolling up her pants to her knees so they would not get wet. 

The first thing she did was rest her feet in the soft grass to ground and tune herself to the energy of the land itself. And then she plopped down on the water’s edge and stuck her feet in, letting out a sigh of pleasure at how warm the water was. 

“Those pointed ears and your odd magic stick out like a sore thumb, girl,” a man’s voice said from behind. 

Bri turned, startled that she had not sensed the man before he spoke and Maybe had not barked. He better be glad he is cute, he is useless as a familiar. 

She found herself looking at an older, more hardened and stubble faced version of her mate. “I stick out like a sore thumb everywhere. It’s kind of my thing.”

The man chuckled and came to sit beside her. “I recognize you, that hair color and those markings. You’re Yoriichi’s daughter.”

“I am. And you are King Rengoku?” she asked, testing if she should bow or anything.

“Just call me Shinjuro,” he gave her a lopsided grin. His eyes caught the bright red runic mark on her neck and he chuckled. “Ah, so that’s why a High Priestess is paying us an unexpected visit.”

“It is,” she said, subconsciously touching the mark with her fingers. “I awoke with it this morning and I set out… It did not feel like something that should wait.”

“Why didn’t you just teleport into town?” he asked, cocking his head at her.

“My magic is off putting even to those who have been around it my entire life. I did not wish to make anyone uncomfortable and I was… unsure how my presence would be perceived since I… kinda…broke in…”

“Broke in?” Shinjuro repeated with a laugh, it softened his features and made him resemble Kyojuro even more. As if that were possible.

“Yeah…”

“Nah, you didn’t break in, kiddo,” he said, reaching over and squeezing her shoulder before standing.

“If I did not break in, what would you call it?” she asked, looking up at him.

Shinjuro extended a hand and helped her to her feet. “You’re mated to my son. I’d simply call it coming home. Are you ready to go see your mate and meet your mother and brother in law?”

“Yes. Thank you,” she said softly, blinking back tears. 

She had never felt truly welcome anywhere. Her father loved her dearly, she knew that. Her late mother had been warm and beautiful, loving. She had been killed during a coups when Bri was young. Her mother and others that died that night still had not gotten their vengeance, their killer, a filthy traitor, still walked free to this day. If Bri ever found out who it was, she would happily pay them back in kind.

They lived with her father’s family and her uncles were not warm. Her father was very unexpressive but had a heart of gold. She was not sure her uncles even had hearts at all. Her cousins, Kanae and Shinobu loved her dearly, but they were off being newly mated couples with their own Hashira, as irony would have it. But even when they had been there, she had still never felt like it was ‘home.’ Or maybe that was to say, it had never felt like she imagined one’s true ‘home’ would feel like.

Her saving grace had been her mother’s best friend Gailen and his husband, Ragnar. They were Nichirin Mountain Dwarves. They had grown up mining and learning the art of blacksmithing before leaving it all behind to live a life that made them happy, choosing to relocate with her mother when she moved in with Yoriichi. Gailen brewed the finest meads, ales, wines and sakes in all of the lands of Wisteria as far as Bri was concerned. Ragnar was a master craftsman who made the wands and brooms for the Tsugkuni clan and the other families of the High Council, the ruling body of the Grand Coven. The two surly old dwarves had decided to stay at the keep even after Ute died. Bri wasn’t positive as to why, but she would always be glad they had.

Being the Crone meant that Bri’s magic was what many would refer to as black magic or dark arts. It was a common misconception, across seemingly all races, that those magics were inherently bad. Magic was a tool. Just like a bow or a blade. Whether it was used for a good cause or a bad one relied solely on who was wielding it. Magic itself had no morality.

Her abilities were heavily intertwined with death, time and the spirit realm. Topics and magics that were always referred to as ‘unsettling’ by those who did not work with them, And yet, Kyojuro had welcomed her into the booth at the pub that night with a smile. He had then spent the next several days (and nights) welcoming her into his arms (and bed). He didn’t seem to mind that her skin ran cooler than most others or her aura that was said to feel like the chill of an early morning mist. 

She glanced at Shinjuro and noticed he seemed at ease. Time would tell if the others of his grove felt the same about her presence. She hoped they did but she knew better than to get her hopes up. She put her broom away, grabbed her bag and Maybe, and moved to stand next to Shinjuro. 

Her father in law teleported them directly into the main hall of the main Rengoku mansion. She looked around, taking it in. The home was decorated in ornate tapestries, with intricately decorated shoji doors, bonsai trees in gorgeous vases and a beautiful rich flooring under her feet. 

She followed behind Shinjuro thinking to herself how stark of a difference there was in their homes. Tsugikuni Keep was a black stone castle and fortress. It was always cold and dark. Even the draperies were dark. Everything was dark. 

But not here. It was warm, colorful. It felt lived in. More and more she was starting to see why Kyojuro was as warm as he was.

“Father! We have almost finished making lunch!” a young voice called from another room.

She followed Shinjuro into a large open kitchen where a beautiful woman and a pre-teen boy stood side by side making dumplings. It smelled delicious and her stomach growled in agreement. She just hoped no one had heard it.

“Did you find the distur-” the woman stopped speaking mid sentence when she turned around and saw her husband standing with the young woman next to him. She took in Bri’s hair color and markings. “A visit from a High Priestess?”

“I am not here on official business,” Bri said quickly, reaching up with one hand to nervously tuck hair behind her ear.

“Oh?” the woman asked, reaching for a towel to wipe her delicate looking hands.

“Bri, please meet Ruka and Senjuro,” Shinjuro said as he moved to kiss his wife’s forehead. “And you two, please meet Kyojuro’s mate, Bri.”

“Oh,” the woman said, a smile spreading across her face as Bri’s hand once again moved to touch the mark on her neck. She moved forward and took Bri’s free hand in hers. “Welcome home, daughter. Are you hungry or would you like to go speak with Kyojuro first?”

“I’d like to speak with him, if you don’t mind,” Bri gave back what she hoped was a pleasant smile that did not reveal her anxiousness. Maybe yipped in her arms and Bri instantly shushed him.

“Is that a dog?” Senjuro asked as he approached but stayed close to his mother.

“He’s a hellhound and my familiar. He’s very friendly. His name is Maybe. Would you like to pet him?” Bri asked.

The younger copy of Kyojuro nodded and hesitantly reached out his hand, laughing when Maybe started licking his fingers as soon as they were close enough and then tucked his head into the boy’s palm. Senjuro giggled and looked up at Bri with bright eyes, “Would you like me to take you to brother, sister? Oh!... Uhm… is it okay to call you that?”

“I would appreciate it if you would take me to him and as for calling me sister, it would make me very happy if you did,” she grinned at him. 

Gods, Kyojuro’s family was so welcoming. It was such a different experience than any she had had before. She felt almost unsure what to do when confronted with kindness. She was used to her family’s indifference or the coven member’s fearful respect. Sure, she had her cousins and a few close friends, but even their warmth paled in comparison to what she felt here. 

She gave Ruka and Shinjuro a little wave and followed behind Senjuro as he headed out into the yard. She kept pace with him easily, looking around as they walked at the tall trees with bright blooming flowers. “It’s so beautiful, so… bright here. Is it always so warm?”

“Most of the time. We do get winters and it snows sometimes, but for the most part it's like this,” Senjuro answered. He looked up at her and asked, “Where are you from?”

“I grew up in Bukhta Ved'm, way up north on the Crescent,” she answered with a smile, setting Maybe down to let him run.

“What is it like there?” he asked.

“Most of the time it is very cold. It rains and snows quite a bit. And we don’t have floating islands,” Bri chuckled.

“I can’t imagine living somewhere without them,” Senjuro looked up into the sky as they walked. “Being somewhere without the islands, without Dragon Kind soaring through the sky… It just would not feel like home.”

“If I had lived somewhere like this, I never would have wanted to leave,” Bri admitted. “It’s unlike any place I have ever seen. I have traveled to territories belonging to elves, fae, trolls, dwarves, even to the goblin capital once - and never have I seen something that could compare to this.”

Senjuro grinned at her, “Does that mean you and brother will live here?”

Bri stumbled at the innocent question. Shit, what should she say? She opted for honesty, “I do not know. Your brother and I have… many things to discuss.”

Senjuro furrowed his brow. “Are you not happy to be mated to my brother?”

“It’s not that at all!” Bri was quick to say. “I am very happy Kyojuro is my mate. We just need to talk and figure things out. I do not want to give you an incorrect answer.”

“Oh, okay,” Senjuro nodded.

“I… I would like to though,” Bri admitted with a small smile.

Senjuro grinned at her before he pointed out to the horizon to the west. “Keep an eye on the sky right there. Brother is training with his Tsuguko.”

“Tsu-gu-ko?” Bri sounded out the word.

“That’s right!” Senjuro gave her a bright smile that made him look younger. “They are like… apprentices. They are learning how to use their abilities and the art of the sword.”

“Are they Dragonkin as well?” 

“Tanjiro is Sun Dragonkin but Zenitsu is a Storm Wielder. Inosuke is a shapeshifter and Nezuko is a changeling,” Senjuro listed them off while they continued towards them. 

“Interesting,” Bri said. 

She mulled over the information in her mind. A Dragonkin apprentice made sense for obvious reasons. As did a Shapeshifter as they could channel the aspects of different animal souls they harbored within them. It would not be out of the realm of possibilities for them to make a pact with a Dragon Kind; they would then need a Dragonkin trainor… 

The other two however were puzzling. Changelings could change the traits of their physical form but it was always a humanoid form. And a Storm Wielder? What on Earth was an elemental sorcerer doing here?

“How did your brother come by his Tsuguko?” She asked, hoping to get some answers.

“Tanjiro and Nezuko are siblings and the other two they met during Final Selection.”

“Ah, so they are member’s of his Majesty’s Corps. That makes sense.” She felt her cheeks heat. Of Course that’s how they met, her mate was a Hashira after all… Doh! 

She thought about his words and had a follow up question. “Didn’t you say Tanjiro was Dragonkin and Nezuko is changeling?”

“They had a parent of each background,” Senjuro supplied with a smile. “A lot of Dragonkin mate with other races.”

“Got any other witches?” Bri asked with a chuckle.

“You would actually be the first,” Senjuro gave her a smile that seemed unsure.

“Really? Wow,” Bri made a noncommittal noise as she tried to rack her brain to think of a single other witch she had heard of mating with a Dragonkin and she could not. Interesting. Oh well, they were missing out.

“Do you guys have Dragonkin on the Crescent?” he asked.

“We do have several emissaries that live in the city. They are not from the Flame Grove though. The main city is mostly witches but with their mates we have werewolves, elves, fae, troll, goblin, dwarves and more all living on the Crescent,” Bri smiled. “My mother’s two best friends are Dwarves. They work with the coven and live at my family's keep. They pretty much raised me since my father was gone so much.”

“Not your mother?” Senjuro asked with the expected innocence of a child.

“She was killed when I was young in a coup. I don’t really remember her, but she was a frost elf. Hence my pointy ears.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s alright, it was many years ago and it does not upset me to speak of her. Speaking of the departed are how we keep them alive in our hearts,” Bri gave his shoulder a squeeze. 

A sudden loud noise and a flash from the sky had Bri snatching Maybe off the ground into her arms and shoving Senjuro behind her, intending to protect him with her life. An impact shook the ground vigorously and knocked them over onto their backs. Bri felt an incredibly strong presence rushing towards them and began to summon her magic. In less than the time it takes to blink, Bri found herself flat on her back staring into the handsome face of her mate who was currently squatting, hunched over her with his nose centimeters from her own. “Kyojuro…”

“Good afternoon, High Priestess!”

Bri was in awe of his shifted form. His curled horns were far more pronounced in this state. The usually golden scales on his hairline and neck were currently a deep crimson. His pupils were serpentine and his fangs elongated. He wore crimson leather armor and a giant smile on his face.

With a shake of his head and a flash he was back to the form she knew well, “Something wrong, my treasure?”

“You big, scaly jerk!” Bri thumped his chest, flustered and glaring up at him while her heart worked to slow to its normal rhythm.

Kyojuro let out a loud laugh before standing and helped her to her feet. He gestured to Maybe. “And who is this?”

“That is Maybe!” Senjuro happily answered, completely unphased by his brother’s almost overwhelming power and getting to his feet.

“He’s my familiar,” Bri added as the small black dog with overly large ears jumped from her arms onto the ground. 

Kyojuro squatted down and held out his hand to the small beast. “His energy is odd.”

“He’s a hell hound. He is neither living nor dead,” Bri answered, watching him scratch the mangy mutt’s back. 

“Why Maybe for a name?” 

“My father said Maybe I could keep him. Then we said Maybe he would grow into his ears. Then we said Maybe he would just.. grow. And then we said Maybe he’s just going to stay tiny and be filled with condensed evil,” Bri chuckled with a grin. “So, Maybe it was. And little and condensed evil he stayed. I found him when I was 6, we’ve been together since.”

“He’s cute,” Kyojuro smiled as he stood and Maybe made his way over to Senjuro, who immediately bent down to play with him.

“He’s a useless pain in the ass,” she corrected with a smirk. "But he's mine and we come as a set."

Kyojuro moved closer to her, once again giving no mind to her personal space. Warm, calloused fingers gently turned her chin up to look into her eyes. “What luck I have then, as that means I get to claim you both as mine.

[broncoburro]

VERY FASCINATING THEORY... but I don't think Oscar agrees. Not that he has any reason to have opinions on designing disguises or anything.

[robotsafari]

i just want more destiny islands lore tbh.

[byoldervine]

Word Count Update

WIP: Byoldervine

Phase: Initial draft

Chapter: 13

Chapter Word Count: 2554

Total Word Count: 45,555

Status: I'm gonna need to cut right down on my word count once I'm done with my draft holy shit

[amphiptere]

what are everyone’s ranking order for the narnia books. as a kid mine was 5-7-3-4-6-1-2, or something like that, with each number denoting the chronological order. now I have come to my senses about the seventh and I’m midway through a grown-up reread but I think it’ll be something like 5-3-6-1-4-2-7.

[askuemki]

I haven't like.. Posted here in awhile so here's smth for an art class assignment 🔥🔥

shes so lovely and so silly hrhahrharhahrahrhahrahrah

[theshalesky]

No one gets me like the Brothers Grimm...

[unravelingwires]

Sworn

“I know it’s childish and stupid,” Max said. “I know you were under a lot of pressure and ten years old. I know our situations have changed and holding to your word would be weird. But you promised you’d always be my sister, and I don’t know how to deal with the fact that you lied.”

Jaya winced. “I am your sister, still.”

“That’s worse.”

[isthi-isthi]

Also there's a TV show! I was surprised no one mentioned it, and then I thought, hey was this just another weird Canadian cartoon and no one in the reblogs is Canadian so no one knows about it? So I looked it up. And yes it sure is. I really liked it as a kid! No idea how closely it follows the books though, I haven't watched it in years.

every horror writer in history wanted what the 19th floor subplot in the Wayside School books had

[azu1as]

bingqiu au where sy is thrown into the unexpectedly female body of sqq. so when sy finds out, he gets carried away with the bright idea that the best way to avoid the terrible fate of the original goods is to take on the role of a mother-figure for luo binghe.

after all, in pidw there were only two roles for good-looking women like him (and really he didn't expect the original goods to look this good actually. no wonder airplane never posted official art for this man—woman?—the dudebros would definitely clamor to make sqq part of binghe's harem despite all the abuse and torment he—she??—put the man through) that won't end in getting his entire body ripped apart: a) fall in love with luo binghe and join his harem or b) be a mother-figure for binghe and tragically die.

his prospects were, at face value, not very promising. he wasn't female so he couldn't possibly fall in love with binghe so sy has no choice but to follow through with the latter.

the system is surprisingly silent when his mind races through the idea and doesn't raise any complaints about sy messing with the plot this way.

sy believes that, with all his stock knowledge of murim and fantasy worlds, he can avoid the fates that often befell these types of characters—often sacrificial deaths that lead to the protagonist's next power-up. he could gather all the artifacts for level-ups and give them to binghe at the right time!

another good way to lock in on the surviving mother-figure role is by promising to be present during the protagonist's wedding. so he does just that (not understanding the dazed look that enters his bun's face) and, to really make sure, also promises the same for all of binghe's wives (to ning yingying, luo mingyan, wife #124 a defected qiong ding disciple, etc.).

suddenly, everyone in cang qiong is abuzz over rumors of sqq wanting a wedding/looking for a husband/getting wedding fever/etc. the rumors have all jumbled up at this point into a massive mess at this point.

lqg and yqy are trying to figure out if sqq is trying to subtly shoot them a sign by approaching their sister/disciple.

meanwhile, sy thinks that he's totally got this and how on track he is with his plan when binghe accidentally slips and calls him, "mom" one time. unfortunately, all he did was stir up the hidden pseudo-oedipus complex in his poor bun.

[euphoria-looney]

Idk if you’ve seen Nosferatu but I think a situation like that could totally apply to (Name).

Brief overview:

In Nosferatu, the main character Ellen grows up feeling lonely and isolated. She pleads for a supernatural being to arrive and comfort her and she wakes up ‘Nosferatu’ who makes her pledge herself to him fully. There’s loads of other stuff as well but I think this main idea would be interesting. Nosferatu in the movie is really, really old and ugly, but I think (Name) deserves a fit, hot vampire boyfriend/husband. But essentially he’s like a Vampire Count, aka Dracula.

How it’s play out:

(Name),as a young child, calls out for ‘Nosferatu’ (or whatever name the vampire will have) and he wakes up. He makes them pledge their complete loyalty to him for all eternally, essentially making them his ‘bride’. (Name) is comforted by him, but this connection fades as they grow older.

Then, when they turn 18, Nosferatu calls out for them in their dreams and travels to Gotham, keeping them in his manor. He’s basically a yandere in the movie anyway, so (Name) is kept quite weak and docile due to his mind control, spending most of their time doting on him or sleeping.

Now, I think it’d be interesting for the Batfam to react because the thing about Nosferatu is that the oath to him MUST be consensual, give or take MAJOR manipulation, but still, (Name) has to willingly go with him. So the Batfam have to come to terms with the fact that (Name) literally chose an obsessive, undead (but fit) vampire husband over them.

And ‘Nosferatu’ is NOT going to play fair if they try and take his bride. Literally no Dracula variant does.

I Asked For a Friend, But Got a Husband?

"I sense her in my mind, she's my collar" She's My Collar (feat. Kali Uchis)

So Much More. (Should I name this something new? Since it's a different AU?)

Special (?)

Divider Creds: @anitalenia and @qqmariztwsse

Being young, barely seen or heard, I could only busy myself with books. Even then how many books could I read before feeling that loneliness knaw on me?

Okay, dramatic I knew but who knew this one feeling would lead me to immediately get married by the age of eighteen?

I know how bad that sounds, trust me, I was the one who experienced it.

"What are you thinking about right now, honey?" I felt arms wrap around me.

Meet Elzire.

(Cred to this art and oc: @♱⋆༒︎Ren༒︎ ⋆♱/lcttuve)

"Nothing much," I replied looking through our mail.

How we met, well I believe it because of this, but don't take my word for it, I might just be delusional.

I had gone to the library and saw [D/D] she ecstatically waved to me before Damian pulled her away giving me a sneer. I waved that off and looked around before spotting a book that I’d never seen before. 

It had a blood red cover and the title ‘Forever’, curious, I opened it. It seemed like a child's story as they had short sentences and photos. It starts with a girl who, one day after being tired of being lonely prays to the gods of her world she doesn’t care who or what they sent no matter what they looked like or how they acted as long as they were her friends, and nice to her at least, she would be happy.

Then it happened, a boy her age descended to her and every day they would play before growing old together.

The end.

I put the book back before returning to what I was originally doing, studying for my next exam.

— 

It had been a good week since I read that fantasy child’s book, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I went to the library at night when everyone was either on a mission or asleep and to my surprise the book was gone.

Someone must’ve thrown it out, there’s no reason to keep it here anyone.

I let out a sigh before heading back to my room and though I accepted the book was gone I couldn’t help but wonder, could I do that?

No, that’d be silly.

But…

It never hurts anyone to try.

“Please, whoever is out there, please accompany me and become the pillar I can lean on.” 

.

..

…

Welp I tried, back to sleep I have a piano recital tomorrow no time for these goofy beliefs.

3RD POV

 A figure descended into [name]’s room their black hair fluttered from the wind and their red eyes and fangs glistened in the dark of night, their hands like claws before stepping into the light a little more revealing a tall yet built man he looked angelic despite being a vampire that was friends with a demon, specially Barbatos.

He creeps a little closer to [name]’s room crouching to caress their faces. Making them blink open their eyes.

“... Am I still dreaming?” They question themself. Making the vampire chuckle holding their hands in his and asking.

“Do you mind becoming mine forever?”

“Woah, my wish worked… sure, why not.” He smiled happily placing one of their hands on his cheeks and relished in the warmth that their hand brought to his freezing complexion.

Before they had passed out.

He caught them before they could slam back onto their bed and gently laid them down.

“Don’t miss me too much.”

—

Holy crap what was that dream? 

Maybe I shouldn’t mind it. 

For the next few years, nothing changed except my dreams. Then I turned eighteen and it was out of pure luck that I met him, his name was Elzire.

We got married that same year after a few months of dating which I was totally against but then he convinced me and it hasn’t been like our marriage has been going great. I don’t like that he wanted me to be a stay-at-home wife.

Don’t get me wrong I appreciate him wanting this for me because he doesn’t want any workload on me but I just feel that it’s unfair for him.

Too bad the only payment he wants from me is to do simple household things but even that he just hires some housecleaning or helpers instead of letting me do it and when he comes home to get his pillow, it’s nice to play with his hair, might be better than mine.

Today again though I’m stuck at home and there’s nothing to do as I finished everything, it’s not hard when only two people are living in this house.

I went to look through the mail before finding a letter addressed to me.

It’s from Alfred, but I had never told him where I moved… It’s fine, this is Alfred we’re talking about.

“Dear young master, [name], 

How have you been? It's been 7 years since we last saw you or contacted you, I managed to get a glimpse of you and was able to deliver this to you.

Your family has long awaited meeting you again, if you could give them the chance to see you that would be lovely.

Sincerely, 

Alfred Pennyworth.”

I looked over my shoulder to Elzire before responding.

“I got a letter from my old butler Alfred, saying that my family would like to meet with me again.”

“So suddenly, darling?” He raised his eyebrow at that. Seems he was as lost as I was. I told him everything like he was my therapist so he knew too well himself why this wouldn’t make sense.

-

Despite my hesitance, I decided to go.

"Really Sweetie, you don't have to this isn't something that I would waste my time on, so neither should you." One hand on the steering wheel and the other holding my hand.

"Come on, El, I'm curious, 23 years of my life and only now do they care to see me. Wouldn't you also wonder why?"

"Wonder, not meet. but because I love you and I care for you we'll still go." He squeezed my hand a bit before softening his grip again.

We pulled up on the driveway and saw Alfred come out of the manor.

Elzire got out of the car first before opening the door for me, helping me get out.

I approached Alfred before bringing him into an embrace.

"Alfie, it's been so long." I pulled away before directing his attention to Elzire.

"This is Elzire."

"Pleasure to meet you, young sir." Alfred did his bow before leading us to the living room where the whole family was.

"[name]" [M/D] whispered, tears welling up in her eye, standing up and starting to approach me.

I smiled but didn't reciprocate the hug she was trying to give me.

"[name], we realized our mistake. it's time to come home." Bruce told me.

"Well, as much as I'm... grateful for that offer, I've already moved on and had a life, where you guys no longer matter or are related to me anymore."

"What are you-"

"This is my husband, Elzire. And I don't plan to leave him, for this."

Guys I quit on this if you couldn't notice the ending was rushed so badly, I'm so sorry to the one who sent the request I know this isn't what you would like but I kind of had a mind exploration, and now I have no idea what or how to write this request.

Maybe I'll rewrite this in the future but for now, this is the main result. If you were looking for a confrontation. It's kind of the situation of this Special.

Genuinely y'all could make your own or imagine this scenario. I have no idea what I'm doing anyway, thank you so much for reading this I don't think I'm tagging anybody on this and supporting other batfam authors, especially with all the hate that I've been seeing Luckily I haven't received anything.

Bye-bye, if anything is too unclear and grammatically wrong inform me!

Elzire:

(Cred to this art and oc: @♱⋆༒︎Ren༒︎ ⋆♱/lcttuve)

-ILoveeeMoney

[blackblooms]

Reposting this one because i put a lot of effort into it. Remember that we gotta reach 30 followers on Gamejolt for the release date. You people should get to it. You wouldn`t want us to reach the goal only to find out that the game has been out for months already, would you?

We have officially reached 20 follows on gamejolt. Which means you people earned the character page for irredeamable main antagonist.

Keep following Irredeamable and i' ll do something once we reach 30 follows.

Ursula Valenhart:

Ursula is the daughter of the great Uther Valenhart, Owner of Valenhart Industries and wealthiest man in New Eden. She is the latest descendant of Boris, the legendary hero who defeated the great calamity centuries ago. Working directly under her father, Ursula acts as an unofficial leader to the New-Eden Peacekeepers in their mission to protect the city from thieves and ruffians. Ursula is a bold, proud, and fierce woman, showing no mercy to her opponent and taking great pride in her work as the city's finest champion.

Having grown in the city slums as a young lass, Ursula is very fammiliar with the grimy bowels of the city and the many gangs of criminals that occupy it. She had acted as a local hero in her youth, but was eventually discovered by her father who raised her as proper heir to the Valenhart name and the Thunder Dragon Title. She rarely frequents the lower city anymore, finding it to be a shameful reminder of her less than remarquable past…

This character profile was sponsored by Valenhart Industries and the New Eden peacekeepers.

[lisafication]

This post is uh, extremely normal I swear

So hello yes I am absolutely On My Bullshit regarding my new favourite game. 

That’s right, it’s the cannibal incest game, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. And I’m here to shove five thousand words of pretentious analysis down your throat because, and I do not exaggerate, I think it is one of, if not the best written game I have ever played. And I have played a lot of games, including Baldur’s Gate 3, Final Fantasy XIV and Undertale, to name a few narrative luminaries to come to mind.

That wordcount is not an exaggeration. My brainworms are extremely powerful and now you can share them with me as I walk you through my insane skyscraper of inference-driven analysis.

Or you can click away. I really wouldn’t blame you, it’s quite a lot.

Content Warnings: …Yes?

(To drop the bit for a moment, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley covers extremely disturbing material and challenges you to examine aspects of living in this world that many have taken for granted all their life, it is not a comfortable game, this will cover similar topics and will often echo the game’s unremitting scepticism on basic principles of society and humanity and you should look after yourself first. My Content Warning is framed as a joke, but it’s also quite real in that the game is designed to make you uncomfortable and there’s no shame in that not being for you.)

This was originally posted on and formatted for Sufficient Velocity, and you can probably more easily read and discuss it with me here.

With that said, let’s dig in. I have had to split this into multiple posts because tumblr will only allow so many images. There will be spoilers for all endings.

She’s excited, are you?

It’s All About Ashley

It really is, isn’t it? I mean, for approximately eighty percent of the total game as currently released and the entirety of Episode 1, you’re in control of Ashley, just as she’s in control of her and Andrew’s relationship for 80% of the game, up until the various ending sequences where it begins to slip. The only other characters who really matter at all in and of themselves are Andrew and her mother — and the former is under her thumb, and she eats the latter. It’s all about Ashley. Even her obsession with Andrew is, ultimately, about Ashley.

But who is Ashley? What is Ashley? Why is Ashley, even? Let’s take a look.

Ashley as presented to us in Episode 1 is very straightforward, so let’s list off the traits we’re given — she is malicious, she is fearless, she lacks empathy, she doesn’t have anything resembling a conscience, she demands Andrew belong to her and her alone, she has him at her beck and call.

In Episode 2, we’re ostensibly shown how she has him at her beck and call— she leverages the threat of reporting Nina’s death over him and had him swear to be with her forever. We’re shown that even as a child she was “just, like that” — but as a child, she hadn’t learnt to live with it yet, to laugh at the farce of it all.

Yeah, exactly like that!

And she does this throughout Episode 1 — The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is a remarkably silly game much of the time, finding moments of absurdity and levity against a backdrop blacker than pitch — and most of the time, your internal narration is coming from Ashley and the jokes will not-infrequently come at her own expense.

She will later get negged by her human sacrifice for her poor ritual circle drawing

Her reaction to being told that her soul is as dark and viscous as tar is “You guess you already knew that” — it’s confirmation to her, not new information. Ashley knows who she is. But who taught her this? There’s layers to this, nothing in this game is as simple and straightforward as it appears at first sight, which is why I’ve been obsessing over it for days.

While it’s common in fiction, the truth of the matter is, most ‘bad people’ really do think they’re good people. But Ashley has never once thought of herself as a good person — or perhaps better put as a person worthy of love — as we learn across Episodes 1 & 2, with our flashbacks to Andy and Leyley and the VERY VERY QUIET!!!

I really wish I had space in this essay to talk about this, but I’d like to touch on these being traits usually more easily forgiven in young boys than young girls at some point.

If she removes all other options, only then can she expect him to like her.

This is something that is echoed in the modern day — her seeming self-assurance is easily shaken and she reaches out to the world — usually Andrew — to affirm and validate her, soothing her insecurities, using any tool she deems necessary. Even when her life is on the line when Andrew has her by the throat at the climax of Episode 1, the only ‘compelling reason’ she can give Andrew to not kill her is her ability to soothe his nightmares. When he tells her there are sleeping pills for that…

Most people would have a bit more to argue for their existence.

While she, unlike Andrew, acknowledges having had friends before the quarantine… you know she’s got a point that they didn’t even bother to answer her calls, that was clearly not something the state was interfering with given Andrew’s calls with his mother and his girlfriend, and given her general demeanour it’s not hard to imagine that… they weren’t ever very close. When we see her and Nina talk in the infamous ‘box scene’, it’s clear that Nina doesn’t like her very much, despite Andrew’s assessment of Nina as being one of Ashley’s friends.

We see further support for her general lack of companionship in her dream sequence in the Burial route — Leyley and Leyley Alone. No matter what you do, you can’t place the pink plushy at the family table, the flowers won’t bloom if you give the Julia and Nina plushies her own as a companion instead of Andrew’s — and if you’re bold enough to go for the ‘incest route’, in the ‘Love’ room you see that no one ever looks happy to be with her in the childlike depictions of her history, nor is she happy in turn, save for when she’s with Andrew. In a bit of heavy-handed metaphor, the player then overwrites all of these tense, upset, hard moments with Andrew, having him fill in for everyone else in life — and happy with her.

Once Upon A Lousy Life…

THE END

And that’s why she needs him to affirm her, because no one else ever has and no one else ever will. It’s even included in their comic beats — when the siblings are getting along well, they’ll often play a game where Andrew dramatically overpraises Ashley while she demands more; it’s a comedic bit but I mean — it really does matter to her!

For the record, she opened a door. She gets a little heart in a speech bubble after this exchange.

We have a great example of this dynamic, that of insecurity and affirmation, in Episode 1, after Andrew has killed for her, butchered for her, his girlfriend broke up with her, he’s seemingly thrown his entire life away for her… she’s still insecure over her relationship with him, she’s uncertain of her control and she needs him to reaffirm it for her.

This is her victory, surely?

Andrew affirms her once, with his usual dead-eyed look.

But she's still not so sure.

He actively reaches out to affirm her again with cheer.

Look how happy she is!

While it’s most obvious and clear cut here, it’s hardly the only case. Let’s look back to the aftermath of Andy and Leyley and the VERY VERY QUIET!!! (I’m not using the other name). Leyley is, after similarly extreme acts — he murdered a girl and hid her body for her — convinced Andy doesn’t like her and she needs this leverage to keep him around, to meet her basic needs for survival. Because that’s what this is — she receives no care of affection elsewhere, so she forces it out of the only source she sees available through the means she sees as necessary.

I really hope we see some of their earlier childhood in Episode 3

What exactly made her like this? Was it just neglect, or something more specific…

She needs this to be the case because otherwise she doesn’t believe he’d stay.

This pattern repeats throughout — Ashley’s insecurities are hit on and she reaches out to Andy to affirm that she is not alone, and she will use any and every tool to exploit her ostensible control over him and force him to be what she needs him to be — and as long as she has that, as long as she is everything to him and it’s not possible for him to leave, she’s happy. As long as she thinks he loves her in her very particular, very peculiar view of love, she’s content, come what may. As long as Andy and Leyley are together, they can take on the world.

Let’s talk about that view of love, because there’s always more layers to unpack here I’m only scratching the surface with this essay — Ashley consistently refers to anyone else Andrew may have befriended or spent time with as a whore, a slut, a bitch — highly gendered insults that bring to mind the idea that he’s cheating in some way. But it’s not even about sex — when Andrew mentions that their parents had friends, she accuses them of cheating on each other in the same way!

There’s a lot to unpack about Ashley’s view of femininity and the role the patriarchy plays in their relationship.

Any kind of emotional engagement, any kind of commitment, any kind of life outside of your significant other is, to Ashley, cheating. Because that’s what she needs from Andrew, a seeming complete and total commitment, secure in her place as the only thing in his life, because she cannot understand anyone picking her if they have a choice.

This insecurity she has in her relationship is what drives her to empower the trinket — he can’t leave her as long as she can protect him with prophetic dreams, after all. She needs every kind of leverage she can get because until she succeeds in being everything to him, in devouring him so completely she has him in her thrall mind, body and soul she can’t be sure of herself — hell, her dream sequence in Burial has you placing Andrew’s signature green plushy, ‘the best thing in the world’ in a cage far away from anything else.

Ultimately, it really is all about Ashley — even her seeming obsession with Andrew ultimately comes back to her own insecurities. If she is everything to ‘the best thing in the world’, some of that ‘best’ must surely reflect on her! 

But that’s enough about the more normal, straightforward and understandable sibling. 

That was not a joke.

Andrew’s Rank 100 Deception

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he did not exist.

Let me explain.

You might have noticed that in the previous section I often use language such as ‘ostensibly’ or ‘seemingly’ to describe Andy and Leyley’s relationship, and there’s a good reason for that. From the beginning of the game through to its end, Andrew is lying to you, the player, without ever falsely representing or misinforming you about events that occurred.

The common, or obvious ‘initial take’ on Andrew as presented in Episode 1 is fairly straightforward. The game primes you to think this way, it frames things and strings reveals just right so as to make it very easy to overlook the incongruities it introduces in Episode 2. He’s a victim. Plain and simple, Ashley is his abuser and he is her victim and would be fine, a normal albeit kinda depressed guy without her.

It really is not a difficult conclusion to draw

You can go all the way through the game, have him try to accept his mother’s olive branch and enter the Decay route as a method for him to finally actualise his desire to get out from Ashley’s thumb and it makes sense, it’s a reasonable way for the story to go, given his character.

You see him this way because the game primes you in Episode 1 to view their relationship like Andrew does — he’s lying. He’s lying to himself, he’s lying to Ashley and he’s so good at it — Deception Rank 100 — he even lies to you. Without misrepresenting a single event or otherwise misleading you directly, the game gets you to buy into his preferred self-perception. Nina? Ashley. Julia? Ashley. The murders they commit in the course of the game? Ashley, Ashley, Ashley, it’s not his fault he’s not to blame he’s just a doormat at the beck and call of his demonic sister.

But he wants to be there. From the very outset, the very first puzzle, that’s made clear. Does anyone else remember this exchange, from right at the beginning of the game?

Ashley wants to investigate the music!

Andrew disapproves…

…Or does he?! 

Like. Listen. Okay. You do not frown when saying ‘Nope’ and then smile when saying that you’ll instead tag along if they do it if your heart is at all in the no. That’s not an objection, that’s using Ashley as his excuse. Especially if you immediately throw her the balcony key that she could not possibly have gotten from you by force (more on Andrew’s ability to use force later).

This is the very first time you control both characters together with Andrew following Ashley instead of off on his own, the first adventure, the first puzzle! 

But put a pin in that for now, let’s talk about his initial framing in Episode 2 first. Episode 1 has set us up to, generally speaking, believe the superficial framing of the siblings as portrayed in its promotional art:

The question that we then ask, right at the heart of it is… why is he a doormat? We explore this in his dream sequence in Episode 2, which does make it clear that the boy’s not okay but— it’s real easy, given the priming from Episode 1 to make you think that he’s the one with the originally functional moral compass, to think that that him being fucked up is damage done to him by Nina’s death and being bound to Ashley for his entire life. She corrupted him.

But, well, is that the case?

You're primed to ignore this as manipulation (which it is) but the best manipulation has some truth to it.

Precisely two things spur Andrew to action in the entire game, consistently — they are the fear of consequences and Ashley. And the first incident of that fear, the very first time we’re shown his seeming moral compass as a kid — the first time it’s really hammered home that it’s a fear of consequences rather than any true moral qualms is after Nina’s death. And why does he fear consequences here?

……

The ‘natural’ read that many take away from this sequence, particularly those who have only played Decay, is that Ashley browbeat him into doing this against his will, using emotional blackmail to overwhelm his objections, and then used the event itself to bind him to her forever as her personal doormat.

In a strict sense, this is true. But this doesn’t match up with the details, something the game uses shock to encourage you to overlook. That outburst is before any kind of threat has been made, and absolutely nothing either of them say anything about it being morally bad until Ashley weaponises ‘you’re a bad person’ against Andrew — morality didn’t seem to enter his mind or the equation at all until Ashley brought it up. More than that, his greatest fear and driving motivation even prior to that is, as shown above, being taken away from Ashley.

She, of course, recognises this and uses it against him. But she never needed to, it didn’t change anything about Andrew’s attachment to her, it was there to address her own insecurities.

Just like to touch on how a lot of his affirmations are preceded by him confirming her insecurities.

I adore this phrasing

There’s a second prong to this as well, to the question of ‘who really calls the shots here’ because — Andrew can, at any stage, apply an ‘ultimate veto’ of physical violence. The game is very clear to the player that that is on the table — even when they were children, when Andy swears their blood oath, he briefly considers killing her — and take note of how he ultimately got a ‘winning’ condition out of her by not specifying there wouldn’t be others and she is forced to accept that, there. Even outside of their most serious confrontations, Ashley is portrayed as having to convince, manipulate or otherwise coerce Andrew into going along with her schemes — she really can’t make him do anything, she doesn’t have the supremacy in violence and, to a lesser extent, capability that would allow her to. 

Andrew, you are like ten years old.

The truth of the matter is, Ashley can only make Andrew do anything because he lets her. I don’t mean in the sense that I’m saying abuse victims let their abusers emotionally abuse them, I mean in the sense that he is clearly considering his options on the table and choosing to discard those that could stop her, or bring an end to any of this. He needs her.

But it’s true that he hates her, too. He has to hate her, because if he doesn’t hate her, if he isn’t forced to have done this, that means… he’s responsible. And nothing, at the start of the story, is as important to Andrew as avoiding the consequences of his own actions, not even Ashley. By the midpoint, he loves her, he hates her, he can’t live without her, he wants to kill her — by the end… well, that depends if you’re on Decay or Burial, but more on that in a bit.

A great scene to study for this dynamic is the climax of Episode 1, when Andrew grabs Ashley by the throat and considers strangling her to death. She’s pushed him too far with hurtful words and assault, and he’s seemingly had enough.

It’s still framed as a question of risk, of consequences happening to him. 

Like, this is not the usual behaviour of someone who’s been pushed past their breaking point.

He tells Ashley that he wants to kill her, because she’s just going to throw another fit and that’s a risk to him. She is… not framed as being able to fight back (she does have a gun here, and more on that in a later essay, maybe). He’s so calculated in how he approaches his use of violence here, which isn’t at all what you’d expect of someone about to commit a crime of passion… but it’s very easy to overlook because of the abuser/victim narrative that the player fits his behaviour into the narrative that the game primes them to accept, brushing incongruities under the carpet.

At the start of Episode 2, we get to control Andrew for the first time, and the first obvious holes in his cover start to show. Some of this is optional — you only learn that he’s been faking having nightmares in order to share a bed with Ashley if you choose to go back into the motel room and check the bed, for example — but not all of it.

----(See reblogs for the second half)

[demilypyro]

Demily can i have some final fantasy lore

In Final Fantasy 14 you regularly fight "voidsent", creatures resembling demons that enter the world through shadowy portals, originating in a realm of darkness called "the void." In the base game, these are not elaborated on very much, essentially just functioning as generic demons for the setting.

Way later on, you discover that thousands of years ago, the planet the game takes place on was shattered into fourteen pieces, referred to as reflections, essentially functioning as different dimensions or timelines that diverged from that single point.

One of these reflections, referred to as the thirteenth, is the void. That version of the planet was totally consumed by darkness due to a failed attempt to rejoin it with the main reflection, and the voidsent are what remains of its people. The voidsent now reach out to the other reflections for sustenance, and the game's main reflection is the closest one.

[melpomenelamusa]

Melpómene´s whump stories archive

To celebrate the new year, I've decided to share with you some of my favorite whump stories I read this year as a thank you to all the authors who share a little bit of their world with us 💜✨

My plan is to update this list annually and have it function as a sort of personal archive for me, hehe, but you can use it too if you'd like! 😁

Smile for the camera! (by @morning-star-whump ): A boy is kidnapped by a psychopath from the deep web. His parents and his little boyfriend try to find him (Andre Vazquez is the best character).

Shattered (by @oddsconvert): An anti-human-blood-drinking vampire doctor tries to save the life of a human who for years was the bloodbag of a vampire I really hate.

Total $hit$how (by @befuddled-calico-whump): 5 misfits escaping prison for their criminal records are hired by a mysterious organization to stop another mysterious, but more evil, sci-fi organization (Benji, my son).

Darius & Mianu (by @geode-crystal): A traumatized prince and his faithful knight/boyfriend want to live happily ever after, but something always happens.

The Bahkauv (by @deluxewhump): Three friends decide to buy a magical creature to study; but what seemed like nothing more than a monster or an animal may turn out to be a companion.

Overloaded (by @fleur-a-whump): The son of a supervillain wants to join the good guys, but discovers that "heroes" can be just as cruel as villains.

Blood and tears (by @whumpisgoodwhumpislife): A little half-vampire is suffering too much and a human decides to take care of him and protect him (They are both my babies).

Voyagers (by @sorrowful-hyacinth): A jerk sea captain captures a jerk mermaid prince and they torture each other. They both deserve it because they're such bastards, but you also feel bad for them and it's complicated.

A taste of your own medicine (by @oddsconvert): Whumper gets kidnapped and torture along with his ex-whumpee by an even evil whumper. Only one person is having fun here.

With me (by @greatgigintheskiess): A bitter guy living in the woods accidentally rescues a little boy who escaped from an evil laboratory. Parental caretaker my beloved.

Humanity Collector (by @rabbit-flaying): A cosmic creature who likes to collect human things decides to add a real human to its collection (A cosmic horror one-shot).

Writemas 2024 (by @tildeathiwillwrite): A woman suffers the mysterious death (or murder?) of her husband. This is the kind of story I would love to read in a printed book and recommend to my entire family.

Whumpcember 2024 (by @kabie-whump): An evil wizard has turned Santa's reindeer into humans, who now have to live with their new bodies. A series of shorts with very interesting and cute characters that I definitely need to keep reading if I could.

Speedster (by @writinglittlepains): A superhero with super speed is captured, experimented on, and tortured by a supervillain who wants to steal people's powers.

Guilt & Revenge (by @what-if-i-just-did): A traumatized ex-bully is kidnapped by the kids he used to bully as a kid because he couldn't afford therapy and is brutally tortured by those who actually happened to be the ones who needed therapy.

We Are TroubleD (by @whumpty-dumpty-doo): Two best friends are kidnapped by a guy who originally planned to capture one of them for ransom, but now is just torturing them for fun.

Ventis and friends (by @kabie-whump): A half draconic half air elemental and his varied adventures in a fantasy world *kindly slaps Ventis* This bad boy can fit so much trauma in him.

Drusus & Keme (by @whumperofworlds): Don´t know why it took me so long to add the whumpable husbands to the list. There´s whump! And fluffy married love! And used as bait!

[jadeshifting]

— TRAVELING THE MULTIVERSE vs TRAVELING THE WORLD

( a long-winded title for why you should never be scared to post about your niche, less-well-known or original DRs )

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

let’s be real: everyone and their mom is obsessed with jetting off to new places in the world. you know—scrolling through Pinterest boards of Paris cafes, watching vlogs of someone’s Bali retreat, or dreaming about backpacking through South America. we love soaking in the mystery of somewhere we’ve never been. but here’s the kicker: the multiverse is the ultimate travel destination, and it’s just as exciting to hear about someone’s niche desired reality as it is to hear about their trip to Rome

so why do shifters with “niche” DRs keep holding back? you think people only wanna hear about Hogwarts or being famous? PLEASE—we want to know about the far-off corners of your imagination—the places we didn’t even know existed until you opened your mouth. sharing those “off-the-beaten-path” DRs is like dropping us a postcard from another universe, and we fucking live for that

PASSPORT TO POSSIBILITY

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔

in this reality, getting a passport is your ticket to explore the world. but shifting? that’s your multiversal passport, babe. and guess what? it’s got unlimited stamps

think about it—just like every country on Earth has its own unique vibe, culture, and history, every DR in the multiverse is brimming with flavor. you’re out here specifying realities with details so rich you could practically smell the street food or feel the cobblestones underfoot. why would you hold yourself back from sharing that kind of magic?

picture this: someone casually tells you they’re shifting to a DR where everyone speaks in rhymes, the skies are lavender, and the economy runs on fruit trading. that’s wild. that’s fresh. that’s kind of a great idea, scripting it right now—that’s the kind of content i need more of. don’t undermine your own creativity. the multiverse is endless, and your DR might be someone’s next “bucket list destination”

EVERY DESTINATION HAS A STORY

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let’s talk travel bloggers for a sec, for the sake of examples. the best ones? they don’t just tell you about the tourist traps; they give you the juice. they show you the hole-in-the-wall cafe with the best fettuccine, or the tiny town with the down-low annual festival. and that’s exactly the energy i get excited for when you’re talking about your DRs

take Hogwarts, for example. we all wanna know what it’s like to sit in the Great Hall or attend Potions class (trust, we do), but if your DR is, say, a small coastal town in the Wizarding World where you run a little bookshop and spend your weekends drinking enchanted tea by the sea—i’d flip a table to read about that. it’s the details that make a place come alive, whether it’s in this reality or the one next door

your DR doesn’t have to be flashy or “mainstream” to be fascinating. in fact, the more specific and personal it is, the more i’m gonna eat it up

CULTURE SHOCK, BUT MAKE IT COSMIC

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when people travel, one of the most exciting parts is witnessing and experiencing new cultures. trying new foods, hearing new languages, learning customs that are totally different from your own—it’s all part of the adventure. shifting is a similar deal, but on a cosmic scale

(eyeing those of us with completely original fantasy DRs) maybe your DR has a society where time doesn’t exist, the sky is a different color, or you’re going to work alongside trolls and fairies. maybe in your DR, everyone has a telepathic connection to their past. or maybe you’re in a city built on floating islands where people commute via hot air balloon. give it to me, NOW

don’t underestimate how fascinating and cool your DR sounds just because it doesn’t fit the typical mold. people love hearing about the unfamiliar—whether it’s a country they’ve never visited or a reality they’ve never even imagined

THE TOURIST TRAP MENTALITY

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you know how everyone and their dog wants to see the Eiffel Tower, even though some people say it’s overrated? it’s totally natural to seek out common experiences, to want to experience and enjoy the same things others are raving about. people, including myself, often gravitate towards the most common DRs (especially when you’re just starting out shifting, and you’ve been given a ticket to the multiverse that you’re trying to make digestible)—Hogwarts, MCU, fame DRs. they’re familiar, there’s tons to read about them, and they’re beyond easy to romanticize. don’t get me wrong, those DRs are classics for a reason, but they’re certainly not the only stops on the multiversal map

your DR might not have a castle or superheroes or any magic at all, but it’s got you—your story, your vision, your unique little slice of the multiverse. and if you’re wanting and willing to share it, there’s always someone out there who’s gonna vibe with it hard—probably countless people. trust me, people are dying to hear about the realities they never even knew existed

SHARE THE JOURNEY, NOT JUST THE DESTINATION

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part of what makes travel so fascinating is the stories people tell about getting there—the long flights, the missed trains, the odd stories in airports which are basically liminal spaces. shifting is the same way. it’s not just about where you’re going; it’s about all the intricacies of getting there (read: scripting, basically programming your destination into the GPS)

did you script a whole language for your DR? did you spend hours designing the perfect house? did you practically write a novel of the love story between you and your partner? that’s the good stuff. that’s the behind-the-scenes content that makes your DR feel real and relatable, even to the people that aren’t shifting there—to us, it’s like tugging back the curtain on the most creative film of all the time and showing everyone how it was done. you multiversal mastermind

THE BOTTOM LINE: YOUR DR IS YOUR POSTCARD TO THE MULTIVERSE

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every DR is a little piece of the multiverse that you can bring to light. it doesn’t matter if it’s niche, weird, or completely out of left field. the more unique it is, the more people are gonna wanna hear about it

so stop worrying about whether your DR is “cool enough” or “popular enough.” share it. rant about it. paint us a picture of the world you’ve built, the life you’re living, and the adventures you’re having. because just like with travel, the most unexpected destinations are often the most unforgettable

post about whatever DRs you want !! i wanna read all of them. xoxo :^)