#ty for reading and hope you enjoy

[villainbait]

Collective Warmth

Pairing: Sylus x MC / fem!reader Rating: T | Teen Tags: fluff, kissing, whimsy, flirting, playful sylus, playful mc, date, picnic, yearning if you squint Summary: It's been weeks and finally you and Sylus are able to steal a moment for an afternoon rendezvous. Word Count: 550~

The two of you had made plans to have a small rendezvous in the park. It had been weeks since you had laid eyes on Sylus, work keeping you busy as usual and Sylus was off doing whatever it is he wanted. When you spotted him already sprawled out on a comfortable looking quilt in the grass, your heart leapt into your throat and your steps quickened to meet him. You’d never sacrifice honesty at the cost of your pride, but you had missed him. 

It was an easygoing afternoon, the waning sun bouncing to each one of the clouds above the two of you. What you chatted about was a secret kept only by the two of you, and both of your heads were bowed together intimately as Sylus feeds you the confections he had brought back from his latest trip. You forced him to eat one and he obliged you, his lips twisting when it was sour. 

“You know I dislike sour things,” he replied tartly, but he noted the way your eyes were full of mischief. You had done it on purpose and he scooped a dollop of the lemon icing from another treat, trying to smudge it on the tip of your nose. Yet he was too lazy and you were too quick, dodging his attack with a playful outcry.

“Hey!” You protested, popping to your feet with ease. “I’ll pay you back for that.”

“I didn’t even do anything, sweetie. Why are you so nervous?” Sylus drawled indolently, and he sat up straight as a sudden idea occurred to him; his lips curling with deceptive warmth. 

“Shall we play a game?” 

“Sure,” you replied, your eyes already sparkling with mischief. Before he could propose the game or state any rules, you smudged the lemon icing onto his cheek instead, your expression lit up with childish delight. "You're it!" You sprinted in the opposite direction across the greenery of the park towards the shade of a nearby tree. It wasn’t quite the game Sylus had had in mind, but he played along. Of course, you didn't make it far and you felt the tug of his evol dragging you back. Sylus’s echoing laughter was lost to the wind and distant rustling of trees dancing in the wind as he swept you up into his arms. Your stumbling protests are interrupted by the press of his warm lips against yours, claiming his prize for winning your little game. His kiss is playful, his lips grazing across yours in a way that leaves you breathless, but greedy for more.

You whine softly when he doesn’t immediately kiss you again and he chuckles against your lips at your impatience, but Sylus gives in, kissing you deeply as he urges you to wrap your legs around his waist. He carries you back to your blanket and sits down with you in his lap, pulling your bodies flush against one another. It was like you were the only two people in the park, the rest of the world drowned out by the collective pounding of your heartbeats and his lips against yours. Sylus’s expression is lazy with desire when he pulls back and he stares at you quietly; waiting. You realize he's waiting for you and that whatever you want from him is yours.

Will you take what he’s so willing to offer?

When your hand curls around the back of his neck to pull him down for another kiss, the lingering smirk on his lips says you’ve made the correct choice. 

[hoshiina]

pairing: narumi gen x gn!reader (no prns)

summary: he's always thought that anyone would do if he just wanted to find love but he realizes you're the one he wishes for, inspired by pop song by yonezu kenshi

warnings: some profanities from narumi

wc: 1300

Narumi Gen hated a lot of things, but one of his least favourites of all time was "true love". He despised when people would describe their love for another as "true love". It couldn't possibly be that serious. Just say you loved your partner. That was probably the extent feelings got to anyways— you just so happened to like each other at the same time. To him that was plenty of a feat alone, why would you have to make it sound like more than it is? For the sake of love? Ridiculous.

To him, that was truly all love was. If there was someone who liked him when he happened to like them too, that was enough. No need for years of pining, no need to get attached to some unrequited love. All that noise about love and destiny surely wasn't all that necessary.

Now, this wasn't to say that he didn't wish to find love— because he did. Like any other person, he truly wished to be loved. It was just that what he had in mind wasn't some deep pure love that'd last forever, nor was it a promise for eternity. He just wished for a light-hearted "I love you" here and there with someone he found special.

And for that, anyone would do. He'd find someone who fancied him along the way, and hopefully he'd like them back. That was all there was to it.

This meant his plan for finding his partner was sitting around and waiting. As horribly lame as that sounded, because he was Narumi Gen, this wasn't that hopeless of a plan. So, that's what he did. He'd go around saving people and doing his duties (to the absolute bare minimum) while making sure he was constantly trending, hoping that one day, someone would like him.

Today he was standing around for a solid five extra minutes after he defeated the honju with ease, hoping the media would snap some nice pictures of him, or he'd finally charm someone this time.

"Captain, you ought to stop that," you said. "It's rather embarrassing, you look desperate now."

"Oh, would you shut up," he said. "You're ruining my good name!"

You snorted. "What good name," you scoffed.

"I'm starting to think its your fault I'm not charming anyone. Perhaps if you didn't stop me every time, someone would have found me by now," he said.

"Yeah, right. Captain Ashiro seems to be having no issues charming people and I've never seen her try to," you said.

"You little shit," he said.

"Besides they're going to be utterly disappointed if they think this is what you're like and then they find out what you're… actually like," you said, and he was starting to think you wanted him to fire you. "It's okay. Someone will see how you're actually lovely at times soon."

"What?" he asked, shocked by what you said.

"What?" you replied, confused.

"You— you said lovely," he said quietly. Suddenly he felt flustered.

"Oh," you said, looking away and avoiding eye contact. It wasn't like you didn't mean to say that, but you didn't think it was that big of a deal. Rather, how flustered he sounded took you by surprise. “Well, you’re a little lame but you’re a good guy. Like you pretend you only do it for the media, but I know you’re always checking the alleyways that don’t have as much surveillance just in case, and checking alleyways isn’t something a captain has to do. And we both know the media isn’t writing about anything you do there. Things like that.”

“You never know!” he said, and you snorted.

“Alright then,” you said. “You do you, Captain.”

“I will!” he said back, trying to sound proud.

A week had passed and here he was, doing what he always did after arriving fashionably late to the scene and taking all the kaiju out in a matter of minutes: standing around trying to look good. Because he wanted love, and anyone would do. Anyone who liked him was supposed to do.

...

And yet he wished for you.

He wished that when he woke up, the first thing he would see was you. He wished that you'd smile at him everyday with love and genuine joy the way you did to others, and he wished that you’d smile that way to him alone. He wished that after a long day, he was the one you came home to. He wished from the bottom of his heart that you would always be safe and no harm would ever come your way. He wished that your days were filled with laughter and smiles and he knew he would risk his life to protect that.

It was so unlike him in a way he absolutely hated. True love was supposed to be nonsense and someone being ‘the one’ was supposed to be some dramatic line in a movie. It upset him, that he was so utterly fond of you. Yet, no matter how much it upset him, it didn't change the fact that he was, and he couldn't deny it anymore after trying to ignore it for the full week.

So here he was, acting stupid again, hoping that you’d scold him again or tell him he’s embarrassing himself, because that’s what it’s come down to. He just wanted another reason to talk to you.

But you wouldn’t come to stop him after 10 whole minutes.

“Why aren’t you stopping me?” he asked, irritated.

“Pardon?” you asked, utterly confused.

“Why aren’t you telling me to stop?” he asked again. He was aware how silly he sounded, but he was pissed off that you meant so much to him so he had to take it out on you.

“Because you told me to stop last time??” you replied. “I thought you were going to keep this up until you found yourself a partner.”

“You’re the one who told me to find someone that saw how I was…. lovely…. at times,” he said, but said the lovely very quietly. Remembering that you had described him as lovely made his cheeks burn and he’d rather die than let you see that.

“I mean, yeah. I do think you should,” you said.

“Don’t you notice, though?” he asked quietly, avoiding eye contact. There was a moment of silence.

“I do,” you said, and immediately he looked up to face you. You had a grin on your face and you looked so proud— you looked like you had won a game. Oh, how he hated you.

“You’re so annoying,” he said, and you raised an eyebrow.

“Rich coming from you,” you said.

“So, do you—,” he started to yell before cutting himself off. Carefully, he tried again. “Would you please… uh… be mine…?”

Oh, this is so embarrassing, he thought. Perhaps you’d laugh at him, but he wanted to do this properly, or at the very least try to. He’d be far more than just stupid to mess this up now. He was finally in love.

But your laughter never came. When he looked up your eyes were wide and you looked so flustered, but soon you had the most beautiful smile on your face.

“I would absolutely love to,” you said.

So he kissed you right then and there, because there was nothing he wanted to do more at the moment.

He laughed a little.

“What’s wrong?” you asked.

“No, nothing,” he said.

There was no way just anyone would do— it had to be you.

[reynaruina]

Part four of the comic!!! Zim tries to prove his Human-ness to Dib, but things get dertailed...

Part one Part two Part three

[castawavy]

November Save MEGA summary (part 9)

before [the end]

and here it is... the last post 👋🥺

and on the weekend they drove all the way out to del sol valley to look at apartments with adelaide to rent (she has been asking them to let her move there for years now)

convincing them was tricky, but steve is kind of on board already & wants her to follow her dreams of being a muscian 🥺

on the way back they visited Claire, who just had twins (for some reason everyone was having them) and adelaide met her aunt 🤸‍♂️❤

whilst they were away, elijah asked sita out on a date

and they went rollerskating but elijah was useless and sita was good

moose became an elder

and then it was finally adelaide's birthday party! I dont have a lot of photos but she basically threw a house party, and then celebrated with her family with a cake (which I streamed so some people saw)!

and she also invited jolene and kissed her again HEHE

as soon as she was a YA, I moved her out, and I was so excited to play the next chapter, but alas my PC broke. at the same time though im really glad I got to finish gen 1, as I feel like its a complete story 🥺❤

I like to think that adelaide went on to be a star, and that she met a cast of crazy celebrities along the way who she probably had whirlwind romances with. I planned for her and jolene to hook up, but drift apart and have a super messy public breakup, and for elijah to become a scientist, and marry sita but in my mind thats canon 😉!

thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed the short but brief November save on your dash! 😘~💕

before [the end]

If you haven't read November Save, but want to from the start, you can choronologically >here<!

[suffarustuffaru]

If emilia had known all the manipulative and deceitful shit that echidna did to subaru in greed If and how fucked up subaru became under her influence, and how much Echidna despised everything about her and saw her as a useless, annoying naive doll, and eventually found out that Echidna was in fact so greedy and inhuman, do you think she would have changed her mind about Echidna and started to wary and disgusted by her? (Plus the talk of Beatrice waiting 400 years in Arc 4's Dream Castle would probably add fuel to the fire)

YES. absolutely. yes. itd be barely even a question, of course emilia would be wary of echidna and disgusted by echidnas actions if she (emilia) ever found this out. but im gonna explain why i think this🙏

we see some major instances of emilia standing up for herself—the biggest examples include her post arc 4 development, also her being mad about subaru calling her satella in arc 1, her arc 3 speech to the royal council (that was sadly glossed over in the anime but you can see it in the manga and its SUPER badass) and also her arc 3 fallout with subaru, etc etc. but the ones where she has more of a negative reaction, ie the arc 1 example and the arc 3 fallout with subaru—are particularly interesting to me.

the arc 1 example shows her standing up for herself with something that was done to her directly. subaru called her satella in public when shes already out there showing her face and being judged as she always is, but people arent usually so bold as to directly call her satella. its why she gets pissed—its a very personal insult, and its one that shes had to deal with for almost her entire life due to more factors out of her control (which is a reoccurring theme with her—shes rarely fully in control of many things in her life). this also is you know one of the examples where she DOES stand up for herself!!

but regarding the arc 3 fallout—yes, of course shes upset that subaru humiliated her at the royal selection when shes already bound to have a hard time because shes a half elf. of course shes upset that subaru broke his promise (especially when you remember her trauma with that), and of course shes upset because subaru absolutely looks like a massive liar right now (especially when you remember her trauma with that) and again, didnt keep his promise. but its interesting to note that emilia has this huge guilt complex regarding people being hurt because of her in some way (which isnt her fault at ALL but thats how it feels to her and this is how its often justified by perpetrators in universe!!). puck even tells her in memory snow that subaru keeps getting hurt because of her because puck is a shit father. so yes, emilia is upset that subarus hurt her, but so much of her dialogue in their arc 3 fallout is about how subaru got hurt because of her, and how she doesnt want subaru to be hurt anymore. a big part of why she leaves subaru then is because of that!! she was personally hurt, her trauma has been triggered by this too, shes been publicly humiliated on a deep level when shes already bound to struggle in the selection, and yet shes thinking more about subaru in this instance. that says so much about her.

and once you get to post arc 4 emilia in general—this is an emilia who is grown and is still struggling with her deepest insecurities but shes finally started to face them head on. of course shes gonna feel disgusted by what echidna did to subaru (and beatrice!!) if she ever found out—subaru and beatrice are very dear to emilia, and theyre the two people emilia is closest with thatve been affected by echidna the most.

i just think that on the scale of things echidna has done, emilia would care the least about how echidna feels about her specifically. not in the sense that emilia wouldnt care, because she does. she cares deeply about what others think of her and she always tries to be kind and nice and proper. she always tries to prove herself to others because she always has something to prove. shes the half devil, and shes someone whos often overshadowed both in universe and narratively.

echidnas feelings on her are only unique in its intensity and mystery—we see echidnas face scrunch up and she looks and sounds like shes going to cry when she admits in the anime that she hates emilia. we dont know why, only that this is the one and Only time we echidna with such negative emotions of this caliber? but echidna is probably far from the only person in the world to hate emilia and see her as useless and annoying and naive. and echidna is most definitely not the only person to hate emilia in the first place for various reasons.

emilia is extremely aware of just how many people despise her. how could she not when its connected to her appearance and existence? shes reminded of that like 90% of the time she steps outside. or when she thinks about other demihumans or about the fate of her own people. would it still sting for emilia to learn about the full depth of echidnas hatred? yeah, because like i said, echidna really has a personal vendetta against emilia, and also because this is all poking and prodding at the same core insecurities emilia has—that emilia is and will always be some useless doll thats paraded around. would it make emilia a little wary because echidna has a personal grudge? yes. of course. when theres a threat to emilia herself personally, that tends to extend for other people (such as her camp), so she unfortunately has to think about that. and of course emilia would probably also be wondering Why its so personal for echidna.

but emilia will IMMEDIATELY fixate more on the fact that echidna deeply hurt beatrice and subaru.

emilia is someone whos hated by the world, someone whos near constantly targeted unfairly in various ways—but she continually chooses to try and be kind and try to keep her courage and try to do the right thing even as shes completely terrified. shes deeply scared to hurt others due to her traumas and Various Experiences. she may not be entirely certain what love is, but she has felt it numerous times and loves her loved ones a lot. she cant fathom someone like echidna, who locked her own daughter in the library to wait for a person who isnt real just so echidna could watch and see what happens. echidna used her own daughter like some sick twisted lab experiment, and emilia would be even more deeply uncomfortable when you remember that she too was put in a princess room by her mother figure (which was well meaning and WAY different than beatrice of course, but im sure the room parallel would be Uncomfy anyway). and beatrice was waiting for 400 years too, emilias going to be so grief stricken and angry on beatrices behalf!!

and subaru's behalf too!! but let me go deeper into explaining greed if first.

when it comes to greed if, i dont like to entirely attribute everything to echidna here—mainly because i dont want to ignore subarus agency in all of this. subaru is the antithesis to someone like emilia or reinhard—subaru has infinite choices. hes choice itself. he can change in any direction and make whatever choices he wants and nothing can stop him once he sets his mind to something.

and greed if subaru continually makes decisions that makes him and everyone around him worse. he threatens felt and rom to leave the election to manipulate reinhard into joining him. he holds meili hostage in a cell to control elsa. characters like garfiel and ram understandably resent him for his manipulative bullshit. otto leaves because of it. emilia and beatrice’s mental health are completely and utterly destroyed because of his actions. yes, echidna is VERY MUCH to blame for how subaru ended up. he accepted her contract when he was vulnerable and at his lowest point, and now hes in this horribly toxic dependent relationship with her because shes the only one he can confide in. she helps him plan things, she helps him move things along. shes made him worse all this time, and while she plays a HUGE role in greed if for this reason, subaru continually makes the choice each and every single time to keep going down this path. he can try and turn around at any point, but he doesnt. hes a horrible person now, which i think should always be remembered in general for the vast majority of the ifs. he is a victim and a perpetrator at the same time. hes not innocent anymore—everyone is ultimately stuck under his control in greed if because he’ll just keep abusing rbd until he gets what he wants. no one whos near subaru has any free will here. echidna whispers in subarus ear and subaru chooses to listen to her and make more shit decisions.

is echidna guilty for essentially manipulating subaru into accepting her contract and becoming worse as a result? yes. is subaru guilty for doing all the things he did following accepting the contract? yes. these two things coexist. granted, i would still give echidna more of the responsibility for greed if of course, i just don't want to ignore what subarus been doing either hah.

but basically emilia finding out about all of this gets extremely complicated Very Fast.

to find out the full extent of the shit echidna does to subaru in greed if, emilia would have to know about rbd. and emilia finding out rbd is a whole other complicated subject on its own, but long story short, her guilt complex regarding hurting other people is gonna really FLARE UP. her worst fears have basically been confirmed with the existence of rbd because subaru has chosen time and time again to be involved with her, and being involved with her unfortunately means that he gets caught in the crossfire of ALL the things that keep trying to hurt emilia (which again isnt her fault and she has no control over any of this happening). so theres the double whammy of 1. emilia finds out rbd and 2. emilia finds out about greed if which brings whole other layer to this.

emilia is inevitably going to be horribly horribly guilty and In Despair over rbd. but then theres greed if, which shows echidna taking advantage of subaru for her own greed, subaru growing Worse because of echidna, and greed emilia also growing Worse in addition to everyone else involved in all of this. this is absolutely horrifying on multiple levels. OF COURSE shes also angry and grief stricken on subarus behalf—from her perspective, subaru has gotten hurt because of her and other people Repeatedly. she WILL blame herself for not doing enough (even though again, subaru and the people around them have made their own choices). she'll get angry and upset that subaru has even had to carry a burden like this alone, that hes been hurt so many times, and the fact that emilia herself is at the core of all of this. thats absolutely fucking terrifying. subaru has gone all this way for her. from her perspective—how can she possibly make up for all of this? she cant.

and then it gets even more terrifying because greed if subaru is a dark version of him that takes all his ugly traits and exerts control over everyone around him. hes miserable. hes horrifying. hes quite frankly an eldritch horror masquerading as this smiling mannequin version of natsuki subaru. and if emilias finding out about greed if, she has to find out about this other version of her thats all her worst traits amplified as well—shes a useless doll in the sense that greed if subaru removed emilias choices and did everything for her. hes the new puck to her, and puck was already a terrible parent by also exerting control over emilia in his own ways only to do horrible shit (see: destroying the whole world after she dies) behind her back. you know what that sounds like? subaru. and greed if subaru continues to enable this in emilia—hes responsible for her turning out this way and he continues to take care of her by doing everything for her because he now has this emilia that wants to bend to his every whim and follow everything he tells her to do. thats all she has left. subarus actions caused her to snap in this way because he never gave her a chance to actually flourish on her own. he never tried to help her rather than control her. and its why, in all her instability, she nearly freezes everything around her every time she gets angry and upset (see: her nearly having a breakdown after seeing subaru got hurt because of beatrice). greed if subaru has essentially gotten his "dream girl" in the worst way possible—emilia is now fully and completely dependent on him. she never had the chance to be otherwise.

its so incredibly clear when you read greed if that the moment emilia gets on the throne of lugunica, because she will, because subaru will absolutely make that happen, emilia will become a puppet ruler because shes too mentally unstable now to actually rule. because again, subarus made the choices for her this whole time, and it broke her.

greed if beatrice is also similar because really all subaru did was drag her kicking and screaming out of that burning mansion. yeah, from his perspective, what other choice did he have? he had to save beatrice. and theres no denying that greed if subaru has good intentions, but he has a hard time seeing and treating the others as people. theyre just like dolls that he has to drag around, and then he has this whole list of people that need saving, a whole quota he has to fulfill, so he drags them kicking and screaming along with him instead of talking to them as equals. as people.

greed if subaru is the subaru that keeps abusing rbd and going back in time over and over again, but not once is he actually using it to do something like, i dont know, wholeheartedly try to save beatrice by letting her make the choice to save herself like in canon main route arc 4. instead he just dooms her by never letting her choose and by never even trying to talk her out of it. or maybe he has, but he never understood how to do that in the right way. main route subaru figured it out by fully taking the time to understand her on a deep level and empathize with her. beatrice was the one to make the choice to save herself. greed if subarus had Infinite Tries and he never figured out how to actually save beatrice. mainbaru treated beatrice like her own person. greedbaru treats beatrice, and many other people, INCLUDING HIMSELF, like an object. he doesnt save them because he sincerely loves them, at this point. or maybe he does, but its not in a healthy way because hes just saving them because he has to. its an oligation, not a sincere desire to see them happy and safe and fulfilled in ways thats good for them.

and main emilia, i think, would Absolutely be horrified by herself. and i think shed pity greed emilia, but she'd also be disgusted. greed emilia is everything that emilia has hated about herself. greed emilia is the worst of her personified. but emilia would pity her. greed emilia has zero control over herself, her emotions, her own life. the two most important men in her life—puck and subaru—hurt her so deeply that shes just that far gone. and main emilia would be horrified by greed subaru of course, but i think shed be disgusted by all his manipulation. its sad and pathetic and Terrifying to watch. but of course its complicated.

and i hate the idea that emilia cant handle anything complicated (which tappei continues to push forward because hes fixated on making emilia "stupid" and "pure" and "innocent"), but while i think emilia would struggle to wrap her mind around all of this (because honestly who WOULDNT be struggling to do that with all of this shit aljsdlfjsdf), emilia would try her best. and she'd turn to echidna more because subaru wouldnt have turned out that way without echidnas influence. greed if subaru, after all, is still a victim. an imperfect victim, but still a victim, at the end of the day. but i think emilia would eventually have to reconcile that puck, while he did love her, wasnt the best (AT LEAST more than what she already kinda did in arc 4, because she doesnt know the full extent). he was far from it. he failed her in a lot of ways. hes hurt a lot of people. and emilia would have to know that subaru is capable of doing these horrible things too, but the subaru she knows and loves now is far different. shes sorry that hes had to deal with all of this alone. she'd be deeply sorry for greed if subaru, even. these things have nuances and i fully believe emilia will be able to understand even if it takes her some time to do so (because again—WHO WOULDNT feel complicated feelings about this??).

its like how subaru continually forgives the people around him for things theyve done in other timelines—theyre not the same people in the main timeline now. emilia would recognize that, because she herself is someone who sees the ugliness of the world, someone whos experienced it, and someone who wants to reject it all and try her best to choose kindness and love. and she knows that shes capable of that same ugliness too (see: greed if emilia) (see: her killing pandora numerous times after pandora tore apart her family and home) (see: her doing the arc 3 fallout with subaru) (see: her accidentally hurting others in frozen bonds) (see: her accidentally freezing her people) (see: her lowest points in arc 4). but—isn't that part of being human?

i do think that despite everything, emilia would pity echidna a bit. echidna, who deeply loathes her but is driven to tears over it for Unknown Reasons. of course that wont stop emilia from being disgusted by echidnas actions though.

yeah so anyway tldr: emilia deserves to go absolutely feral because i absolutely think she would go apeshit on echidna if she found out about what echidna did to beatrice and subaru. shes fully capable of it and we've seen her go feral multiple times okay. the moment she finds out about her loved ones being hurt shes gonna be like cradling them gently to her chest and then she turns around and goes feral on whoever hurt them 😭 it is SO over for echidna. (AND GREEDBARU, if emilia had the chance to.)

[spearxwind]

It's those gay eels I keep talking about

[blackjackkent]

Open Your Eyes and It Will Blind You - Chapter 4

Pairing: Jaheira/Rasaad Characters: Jaheira, Rasaad, OC Bhaalspawn, Aerie, Imoen, Minsc Rating: G Warnings: None Descriptors: Angst, Avoidance, Almost Kiss, Moving On, Fix-It, Slow Burn, Romantic Tension, Canon-Typical Violence, Cliffhanger, Fake Character Death Fic Word Count (Thus Far): 21.5k Chapter Word Count: 7.9k Setting: Several years after BG2 TOB Summary: Years after the defeat of Irenicus and Melissan, Jaheira and Rasaad are both still haunted by the things they have lost. Neither of them is much good at opening up, despite the burgeoning feelings between them. When Rasaad decides he must travel to Calimshan to face up to his brothers in Sun Soul, and she and their friends insist on accompanying them, the pair is forced to start to come to terms with their emotions, and what they want from the future, while uncovering a deep darkness that has infected the place Rasaad once called home. (Chap 4/?) Chapter Summary: After escaping the guards at the city wall, Jaheira and the others bring Rasaad safely to the Monastery of the Moon to plead his case - and then things go terribly wrong. read on ao3 | send me fic requests!

----

The crowd of the market district envelops them as they flee the amlakkar checkpoint and disappear into the city.

Rasaad takes the lead, sure-footed on the roughened sandstone street. In the distance, they can hear shouts as the amlakkar begin to call out, alerting each other to the fugitive menace loosed into Calimport. They are quick, the lawkeepers of this city - quick and cold, more so than Jaheira remembers. Luckily, though, they have entered the city at one of its most populous, chaotic areas.

She has been here before. "The Khanduq Ward," Khalid explained on their last visit, his light, clipped tone barely audible under the chaos around them. Here on his home ground, his voice held only the slightest hint of his usual stammer. "Khanduq is m-m-'market', in Alzhedo. The city's b-beating heart."

Leading them away from the gate, Rasaad plunges without hesitation into the tremendous, swirling crowd. The khanduq is no grid of ordered city streets but instead an enormous open bazaar, lined in all directions with shops and stalls draped in colorful cloth. Cheerful shouting voices split the air, calling greetings, sales pitches, offers and demands of coin. A few figures on horseback or camelback, loaded down with goods in sacks and saddlebags, pick their way carefully among the hundreds of pedestrians, freely mixing Alzhedo profanity in with the general tumult. The smell is an indescribable combination of spices, cooking meat, and sweat, which might be more appealing were it not punctuated with a liberal note of animal dung.

It’s enough to make Jaheira's head spin. At the best of times, she is most comfortable in the wilderness, and has only with difficulty tolerated the crowded streets of Amn and Baldur's Gate. This wall of noise and color is overwhelming beyond anything she has seen in either city; it is pandemonium. She feels constantly on the edge of slamming into someone or clipping the edge of a stall, toppling it over and sending the whole house of cards crashing to pieces.

Rasaad, though, moves like lightning. She has never seen him like this before, dodging through the crowd with practiced, agile steps. His boots scuff adroitly into the dusty streets, pivoting him in rapid turns, finding and opening barely-visible pathways through the ever-shifting mass of people. It is all she can do to keep pace with him, and she finds herself fascinated, watching the ripple of quick-moving muscle under his tunic as he darts side to side. 

For a moment she can see a hint of the boy she has never met, the boy he once was. This is Rasaad as he was before the Sun Soul - the street rat in the Calishite shadows, native to the desert heat. He still carries a lurking piece of that boy inside him, and that boy remembers these crowded streets and noisy stalls, slipping naturally back into the maelstrom.

Would I walk so easily in Tethyr? she wonders.

"This way!" Rasaad hisses sharply, wresting her from her thoughts. Grabbing her sleeve, he tugs her down a side alley and glances behind them to see that the others are following. "Take care where you step."

read more on ao3 

[eijiroukiriot]

why do you see bkg as trans?

i've had this ask sitting in my drafts since like august BECAUSE i knew if i did the question justice it was gonna get VERY long and pretty personal - if i'm gonna talk about it then i gotta talk about it in all earnest. and you've given me the floor to talk about it. so!!

at first i had these typed out as two separate points but i think they go a lot more hand-in-hand than that, so to start - when i think about my own gender and why i can't bring myself to identify fully with womanhood a lot of it is because there's something that feels so free about masculinity. mostly just like because of womanhood on a societal level a lot of my experience as a girl forever has been "you need to think about how your existence makes other people feel. you really need to present yourself in a way that's pleasant for other people. the way you look, the way you talk, the way you conduct yourself - people are entitled to having a say in all that. and if any of that isn't living up to the way it's supposed to be, then that's a fault of yours." here's a vent post i made when i was 17:

which is mostly really superficial examples of the suffocating expectation of girlhood but it's also so blatantly about bkg. in the moment my thought process was more like "i'm so deeply unsatisfied with so many parts of being a girl, it sounds like there'd be so many less people to answer to if i were a boy" but it's funny reading back on it bc it's like "dude are you just talking about bkg". but then who's a better example of choosing to stomp through life exactly as loud and rude as he wants to be without answering to anyone than bakugou katsuki!! honest about his thoughts in any case!! free to speak as bluntly and rudely as he wants!! never putting up with shit that makes him feel unlike himself!! walks with big wide steps and wears stupid baggy clothes and doesn't care what people have to say about it and doesn't feel worse if they do disagree. grins crazy blasting himself through the air. fights with big windup swings and shouts all the while. huge huge presence and so unafraid to assert it. named himself great・explosion・murder・god dynamight. i think i project a big sense of defiance onto bkg's character because everything he is just feels so defiant to me. there's just a lot that i admire about boyhood and bkg feels like the embodiment of it to me

and then you've got bkg himself, who like- isn't even fulfilling the "doesn't feel worse about himself if he is genuinely not the greatest or kindest" part of it!! bkg's character is so centered around figuring out who he is and like navigating through the mortifying ordeal of existing and not actually liking the person you are and trying to figure out where to go from there- he really thinks he has so much to prove...both in the sense that he DOES want to project this big image and also that he really can't cut himself a break. and then he freaks out when he's not becoming the person he wants to be and picks a fight with deku over it and totally breaks down and picks himself back up and forces himself to seriously rewire the entire view of himself and others that he's had his entire life - he's 16 - and goes to all this teeth-clenching effort to be a better person and has highs and lows and wears himself raw and then comes back to life. well the quality of the later part of his arc is very debatable. but his character is so about just figuring out who he is and kind of failing at it a lot of the time. and then eventually figuring it out and getting confident and stable in it. he makes friends who rib on him because they know he's got a good heart under it all, and moreover he lets them. he gets good at shouting something back and carrying on. you see the amount of conscious thinking it takes him to take some of those steps - rethinking his relationship with deku, the god am i really fucking doing this scoff before he gives kirishima back the money - but a lot of it is just steady growth. growing up. genuinely getting more comfortable and more okay with himself over time. but there's also all these little failures along the way because he's just a kid figuring it out, and also genuinely this anger towards the world for not understanding it when he does assert himself (sports festival....where deku also specifically notes that he knows he's not as confident as he wants to be!)

i haven't really closely reread bnha in a sec so a lot of this is probably a lot of projecting (i know it's undeniably influenced by the picture of bkg i have in my head) and i probably also didn't really clarify anything, because in the end everything bakugou is feels very trans to me. "the image you have of bkg katsuki in your head can actually be so personal" etc. digging into my archives i found this post from years back where i described basically the same stuff about bkg being a teen figuring himself out and saying "so yeah he's trans" without being able to hit it more on the head. kirishima is my favorite most special boy of all time, and i love him in so many ways, but bkg is my cringefail stinky teen boy in w the unshatterable determination to actually go MAKE himself the person he wants to be, no matter how many missteps he makes on the way there. it brings me a lot of comfort to imagine him being a self-made man as a part of the because gender is so confusing and questioning can be so intense. i'm 23 and i'm typing all this about an anime boy so i hope it's evident what a soul-bearingly honest answer this is bc otherwise oh haha embarrassing. but yeah i love that kid. i hope every little victory and day where his voice sounds good to him and glance of his top scars in the mirror feels like one of the high points on the journey

[66sharkteeth]

Hi 66, I have a lot of thoughts sorry in advance! One of my favorite things about CoB is how the premise lays the groundwork for some really interesting angst, psychological horror, and identity crises. Today, when I was at work and thinking about CoB (as one does) a thought suddenly occurred to me. Bell and Rex are both interested in each other -- if they were to start dating, and Lyss found out about it, oh my god how would she even begin to process that???? (1/4)

Sharing the full thing bc I think it's good food for thought!

Honestly, I'm not sure I'm gonna give you the answer you're looking for though and might end up rambling with my own thoughts related to this. Because I can't really say much about Lyss and Bell's relationship yet, let alone each individual's with Rex. Except that Lyss did have romantic feelings for Rex, ones that she knows weren't ever requited bc of how she treated his kind before she knew he was one of them. Without those factors, Rex could have been interested back...and low and behold, he is, with Bell.

Honestly though, Bell and Lyss make me think about the argument that blanks are just a continuation of humans though. I see soooooooooooooo many comments (esp in earlier episodes) of people going like "why do people hate blanks? they're the same person." but no, they aren't, and Lyss and Bell are the most blatant example of that. Yes, they might look and act exactly the same, but Bell and Lyss are the PRIME example that when a blank takes your face, your consciousness and who you are STAYS with you (and usually dies), and a COPY of it is born. Lyss didn't suddenly wake up as Bell. She isn't Bell now that half her face was stolen. She isn't magically connected with Bell either, like they don't share a consciousness and read each others minds or anything. Lyss stayed Lyss when her face was stolen, and Bell was born as an (albeit incomplete) copy of her.

There is no difference in their situation than any other blank victim's, other than Lyss survived and Bell will never get 100% of Lyss' memories in her current state. But like that girl in the opening episodes? She didn't "become" a blank. A blank became her. And if Rex hadn't mercy-killed that blank, she'd be living pretty similar to Lyss now, still existing and living her life with a blank copy of her out somewhere. Just because most people die in the face stealing process, doesn't change anything.

Any of them who survive would end up essentially like Lyss and Bell, who everyone views as two very different people despite insisting that blanks are just the person whose face they stole, just now a different species.

Now, I do acknowledge this gets a little confusing and complicated when we got blanks like Claude and Charlie who were also Claude and Charlie as humans...but that's simply just a case of identity. Claude was Claude the human, then he became Claude the blank. But he will NEVER be Claude the human again. Claude the human is dead and Claude the human will never come back. However, he was comfortable with his former identity (plus he wanted to keep Claude the human's family and business ties), so he just decided to be Claude the blank when it came time to settle on his identity.

But then there's blanks like Desmond, who don't identify as their face at all. He took his face from Reese the human, and now Reese is dead and he is a blank named Desmond wearing a Reese skin. He will never be Reese, though, not even Reese the blank.

[raptureshots]

Atlas is Frank's antithesis in a way . if you think abt it ,,

but also they're also. incredibly similar sometimes

[daisychainsandbowties]

finished chap 1 of alien au and left u a lil comment on ao3. but again, because it cannot be said enough, what an incredible piece of work im obsessed with how ur mind works and I shall watch alien as soon as I can for u <3

this seriously made me tear up. i poured so much love and grief into writing this part of alien au & seeing someone receive it with so much joy makes it feel very worthwhile 🥹💖

especially bea & ava in this chapter have enormous parts of me in them and i always wanted this story to be, yes, about the source material; the eerie quiet of space and a crew of sweaty human beings trying to be stronger than they are scared, but it’s also about how much i love space and science-fiction and also girls and the ordinary things that still happen out there, like cereal and sex and falling asleep on the sofa together. so 🥺💖💖😭 really glad you enjoyed part 1 🥹

[suddencolds]

In a world where there are few reasons to get out of bed sometimes, your fics deliver reasons! No joke!! My shitty day was MADE when I saw a new Y + V fic. You’re like no other. Quality fic that has me invested with a sprinkling of snz. Nothing better in the world than that

Sending you the warmest of hugs, anon 🥹 I'm really glad my writing can bring you happiness!! I definitely have been on the other end of like, using media/fic as an outlet when life felt otherwise bleak 😭 so I'm really honored that Y + V can give you that experience. Thank you for your kind words :') ❤️

[hoshiina]

pairing: akatsuki hyoga x gn!reader (no prns)

request: i wanted to request something of hyoga with a s/o that's reserved just like him, and that even though they were always together, everyone assumed that they were just close friends and nothing more. however it turns out they're married! and everyone is surprised by this; especially moz and homura who thought they knew hyoga to an extent at least lol

warnings: hyoga is very sweet, that's truly about it he's just insanely sweet.

wc: 1100

The two of you were deeply in love. You knew he loved you and he knew you loved him back— and that was enough for both of you. After all these years, there was of course still lots to talk about, but hardly a need to talk about anything. As long as you were together, you couldn’t ask for any more. You had originally met each other at the same dojo, so often people found you training together and naturally as you did things together, you were close to similar people.

The two of you did share a living space and sleep together so while originally you assumed people would catch on that you were a couple rather quickly, considering the lack of affection you display in public the two of you soon realized they probably thought you were just roommates. However, there wasn’t a true need to bring it up all of a sudden, not to mention it would be slightly awkward after all this time— so you figured you’d just wait until someone asked.

Now, behind closed doors he would kiss you first thing in the morning and you would tell him you loved him before you slept each night and there was no doubt that the two of you were terribly in love. And that was perfectly fine.

Yet, if there was one thing that saddened you from time to time, it would be the missing ring on your left hand. 

Hyoga wasn’t one to wear his ring often, all the way back from 3700 years ago, but you were. You had it on all the time— to the point where you could hardly get it off your finger. Although you loved that it showed you were his and he was yours, you truly just loved the way it made you feel safe. It was nothing extravagant, and you asked for it that way. You wanted something that you could keep on while training, that wouldn’t get in the way, so it was just a band with a small diamond engraved in it. To many it truly wasn’t much, but to you, it meant absolutely the world. To you, that little ring made you feel like Hyoga was with you wherever you went and in danger, he would come flying. You absolutely trusted he still would, but your hand did feel empty without the ring.

It was as if he read your mind. It was early in the morning when the two of you were taking a break while training alone. He carefully took off his gloves and took your left hand and the gentle touch made your heart flutter.

“What’s wrong?” you asked.

He didn’t reply, but he took out a ring and slipped it right onto your ring finger. It was just a band, no diamond, no gem. Just a band that was exactly the size of your left-hand ring finger.

“Sorry it’s nothing more,” Hyoga said softly, then laughed a little. The look on his face was soft and gentle, one that he would only show you. “Perhaps this is worse than it was without.”

You were in love with him, you had always been and yet you had fallen all over again. He was the one for you and he will always be.

“No, I absolutely adore it!” you said, immediately pulling your hand back just in case he took it away. He chuckled again and you slowly brought your hand back out to look at it on your hand. You loved it so much you couldn’t have the words to express it. The largest diamond in the world couldn’t possibly compare to this simple hoop of metal on your ring finger. “How… did you?”

“I asked Senkuu and Kaseki helped make it,” he said. “It was a slight hassle trying to get your ring size again.”

“When did you get it? While I was asleep?” you asked, absolutely impressed.

“Yes,” he said. “I was afraid to wake you up a couple of times. Also it didn’t help that you sleep on your side a lot.”

“Okay, but aren’t you going to tell?” Senkuu suddenly said.

“Tell what?” you asked, ignoring the fact that you didn’t know he was listening in.

“No.” Hyoga said firmly, purely out of embarrassment.

“He made the ring himself,” Senkuu said. “Late at night, after you were asleep, for multiple nights he was working on it.”

Your head spun back to look at him. “No way,” you said.

In all of your years of being married, you had not seen him look so flustered ever.

“He got it perfect in a few tries though. Considering the tools we have to work with that itself was an insane feat,” Senkuu said, and started walking away. “Okay, sorry to bother, I’ll leave you be.”

“I love you so much,” you said to Hyoga, looking directly into his eyes.

“It’s just a piece of metal really, so I thought it’d make me feel a little more part of it if I made it,” he said, avoiding eye contact.

“Why weren’t you going to tell me?” you asked.

“It’s embarrassing,” he said. “Also, it was just for my self-satisfaction… it doesn’t change the fact that it’s just a band.”

You didn’t even bother to reply because you knew that he knew you didn’t think that for a second. You knew that he knew that made you love the ring a million times more now. Perhaps that was why— perhaps he felt bad if that made you feel like you had to keep it on. How terribly silly— he could have found it on the ground some random day and you would still have it on for the rest of your life if he had given it to you.

“Thank you,” you said, giving him a kiss. “I’ll protect it with my life.”

“Please do not,” he said, returning the kiss. “It’s supposed to protect you.”

BONUS

From that moment on, you realized you did want people to know you were married to him after all. You were so insanely proud to have him as your husband, not to mention you didn’t need anyone else falling for him either. He was in love with you, he would spend nights making a ring for you— not anyone else.

So later that day when you were having a meal with Homura and Moz, you made sure to flaunt your brand new ring, surprising them both.

Hyoga stayed silent, but it was obvious he was your partner.

Today, it was absolutely obvious that the two of you were in love.

[killjoy-prince]

🌻

I wish Jaehee had an actual romance like the other routes have. Even Rika gets one if you do V's first bad ending. Sure it's toxic but its something. I'm supposed to believe me and Jaehee stay platonic throughout the whole thing?? She has some lines that seem to hint the beginning of feelings but it never gets expanded. She's smart, diligent, loyal, knows judo and can get shit done and yet they waste her potential!! She could of taken care of the main plot if she was allowed to use her judo, I promise you that! We wouldn't need the whole 11 days!!

The closest we get to a romance scene is when Jaehee passes out from preparing the xmas party in her route of the xmas dlc and the MC kisses her cheek and one of the options you can pick is like 'One day I'll tell you my feelings' LIKE WHEN IS THAT DAY COMING???? Also some anniversary and bday chats have some cute romance moments like when Jaehee wasn't sure about her swimsuit but when she thought of you seeing her in it, it made her happy and then wanted to walk the beach together just the two of you.

The company still makes anniversary and birthday art but I dont think theyll be making any more game stuff so this is all we get for her. She deserves better than this!!!!! She is the best character in the game. She cares about you so much and the feelings are mutual soooooo like why not go all the way??

Also, I was looking at her normal ending bc there's a cg of her and Jumin fighting over you in a "Hey, join my company" kind of way and as a bisexual, it's a lovely cg.

I'd still pick Jaehee over Jumin anyday but it's still nice to see two hot people fighting over me

Also, this was her bday art from 2022 and its so pretty!!!! Like they're killing me!!!!! She's so pretty!!!!!! I love her!!!!

WAIT I JUST NOTICED IS THAT A RING ON HER LEFT HAND???? DID MC GIVE HER THAT????????? IM CRYINGGGGGGG

[skelekins]

False - He/Him

Honestly not sure how much to infodump about him.

Quickies

Artificial soul that looks like a poloroid. Tether that clips soul to body is physical part of body. Soul can live without body but body will dust unless certain precautions taken.

Photography based abilities. Shown - Snapshot. Fingergun with left hand and snaps with right hand to create a "-graph" of something. Different graphs do different things.

Reverse eye lights -> usually fills socket with a ball of light with a variable pupil. Only has "normal" lights when terrified.

Bites his tongue when happy/excited/etc.

Trapped in the void for an extended period of time pictured lower right corner. Unable to summon chest-cavity flesh so took to holding self to feel more secure.

Usually summons ecto-flesh in chest cavity as a way to protect and keep soul from wiggling around. Fun fact: it goes away when unconscious but will come and go while dreaming.

Magic is meant to be grey w/ hints of blue/green. Sparkles/shimmers.

Fluff in coat is feathers / down feathers.

Has a bandana as a way to accessorize. Much of his fancier clothing here is gifted to him by his future SO. While doodling these I realized itd be fun if his bandana changed designed based on his emotions/feelings like Coffee (blackggggum). The standard is just bones (though he has a collection of different ones).

Thats all for now. :P Just wanted to finally share this little nerd.

[crescentfool]

Hi 👉👈 I don’t have a lot to say, I just wanted to hi give you from across the room because I followed you for P3 but it turns out you and I share a ton of fandoms and I just think that’s really super neat.

You get a good grade in fandom taste 💖

WAVES HI!! thank you for the follow and message, it makes me happy to hear that you've enjoyed seeing the other media i've reblogged stuff of! P3 is definitely something i hold close to my heart, but i have lots of media i'm full of love for too! so thank you for appreciating it, i hope you enjoy your stay! 🥺💙