#wait I got the age wrong she's 17 lol

[very-straight-blog]

Many things in this fandom and show puzzle me, but one of the most odd ones to me is the reaction the general public had to Lucerys' death "He was just a baby! Aemond is such a monster! Lucerys was literally just an innocent child!"

Like- I mean, I consider myself team black ig, and I was sad for Luke's death but also ... Aren't these kids kind of all of the same age?

Now, correct me if I am mistaken, but isn't Aegon around 19 (some sources on the internet say even 18? Which seems a bit too young to be believable with the actors-), which makes Helena around 17 which then makes Aemond like 16? Like- yeah Luke was 14, but a mere 2 years difference doesn't seem enough to me to proclaim one a "defenceless innocent baby" and the other "a full grown adult merciless murderer".

I literally had classmates who were 2 years older than me when I was 14/15 because they were repeating the year or whatever, truly, a couple of years don't make THAT much of a difference in maturity. Like yeah, maybe visual wise, the actors look to have a much bigger age gap, but just because a teenager looks "older" physically doesn't mean he is any less of a teenager.

I also don't like the insistence of making Lucerys a "child". Like- yeah, he totally was, but also, is kind of hypocrite ppl then go around claiming that Aemond "deserved it" when he got his eye cut out (and he was even younger than Luke!).

"oh but Aemond stole Vaghar!"

Is literally impossible to STEAL a dragon, especially the biggest dragon alive! If she doesn't like you, she will burn you to a crisp, you cannot force her to do anything at all. Would it have been more "tactful" for him to wait and to claim her in the morning after warning the adults? Sure, but he was also A CHILD? A bullied one at that, ofc he saw his opportunity and he took it! You cannot blame a child for forgetting to be "tactful" or acting on a whim.

Also, people are acting like Lucerys' is the sweetest angel ever. Did we forget he also made fun of Aemond? "Oh but he was just a little kid copying his older brother, cannot blame him for not being tactful" But Aemond, also a child, doesn't get the free pass for not being tactful! I was also a child, and I never made fun of anyone, even if I saw others doing so. Did we forget he literally cut his eye out? Yeah, it was in defense of Jace, but also, is not like after doing it he felt regret or remorse for it. He could have pushed Aemond, or punched him, or kicked him, yeah it wouldn't have taken him down, but would have been enough for him to drop the rock.

Tho, I understand we cannot blame a child for acting impulsively and without tact. He was merely copying the defending the big brother he loves so much.

THEN WHY DID HE LAUGH AT AEMOND'S FACE DURING THE DINNER? Jace was trying to be civil, why wasn't Lucerys copying him then? Now he is old enough to understand bullying is wrong (especially considering he should relate to Aemond? Considering how inferior he feels due not feeling up to standard as lord of the tides). He is also old enough to understand maybe cutting out his eyes warrants some kind of apology-

But NOT- he just laughs at his face! And then gets offended when called a "Strong boy"! And ppl justify him as if he never did anything to warrant Aemond's dislike of him!

Make it make sense!

Sorry for the ramble lol

I can't say for sure if you're right about their age, I don't think the screenwriters themselves know how old their characters are lol.

You know what the problem is, everyone can "just be a kid." Everyone can make mistakes, act on emotions and make rash decisions. Everyone, but not Aemond. If four children are the first to attack one, knock him to the ground and kick him - oh, but he was rude to them, and the girls' mother died, they could be upset! However, Aemond couldn't be rude without thinking, when he had just claimed the world's largest dragon and felt (for the first time in his life) stronger than his abusers. No, he did it on purpose! If Luke cuts out Aemond's eye, it's just a mistake, he was protecting his brother! But Aemond, of course, wanted to kill them (all four of them, yeah) in cold blood with a stone, and not defend himself. It always works only one way.

And Luke wasn't a child at the time of his death, not by Westeros standards. He was literally sent to negotiate like an adult. If you want to judge by modern standards, they were both teenagers.

Some TB fans like to howl that we love the characters because of their looks, but it's amazing how quickly big eyes and a plaintively open mouth can make them forget what a person has done.

[thiefcats]

Why you aren't, but should be shipping Mihawk and Perona together, an essay.

First of all, Perona and Mihawk are adults. When they met, Perona was 23 and Mihawk was 41. Yes, this is an eighteen year age gap, but I want to start with this because it's the primary reason I see for people not liking the ship. After two-three years living under the same roof, by the time Perona leaves to go find Moria she is 25-26 and he is 43-44 (depending on how long you believe is sailing time between arcs and when their birthdays may fall between the time Zoro was dropped off at Sabaody and the summit at Mariejois took place. 

Let's pretend for a moment Mihawk really is a vampire. This means one of two things, either he died at 41 and is actually centuries old, or he became a vampire sometime in his 20s and is legit 44-45 years old. Either way, Mihawk comes off as extremely old fashioned in the way he talks, the way he dresses. I would say he, like Perona, is a gothic romantic. Romantics tend to put their other passions first in favor of actual romance, keeping this in mind this would indicate that like many handsome dark brooding autistic men before him (the good ol' Darcy type) he has put romance on the wayside because he wants a love that is real. This is not an uncommon romantic trope amongst gothic romantic and vampire lovers and generally stories with immortals. 

Often in fiction and romance novels the centuries old immortal is paired with a mortal (usually completely human) woman between 18-35. This type of romantic man has waited centuries for the right person they could form a lasting bond with and has not had much experience with actual love, if at all. For a few examples: ACATOR series Feyre and Rhys got together when Feyre was 20, and before that she was even younger with her first faerie boyfriend. In All Souls Trilogy Diana is suggested to be in her late 20s/early 30s and Matthew is pretty much old as dirt. In the Twilight Series Bella was 17 when she met Edward, who was 104.  These are a trope for a reason, and when done right it’s a pretty good trope. 

I'm going to include an incredibly unpopular opinion here, but "Goth Fam" is weird and here's why. While amusing in theory, portraying two grown adults and another grown adult as children and one adult is incredibly infantilizing. I won't disagree Zoro and Perona have a very close relationship where Perona especially is seen taking care of and is incredibly protective of him, I don't see where this necessarily makes them sibling coded (the same way I don't think Nami and Zoro are sibling coded). I won't get into that in more detail here about my thoughts on Zoro and Perona, but here's my hot take. 

Both Zoro and Perona are incredibly autistic coded, which makes drawing them drawn as children with Mihawk incredibly cringe. Mihawk did not know Zoro and Perona as anything but adults and does not get a right to claim either of them as his children unless they offer that up first. We never see either one of them directly call Mihawk a father figure. 

A 5’3, petite queen, the way Perona dresses and wears her hair is a fashion statement. I don't think she would like being portrayed as an actual child. Post-time skip she even has a tattoo on her arm the same place Nami’s tattoo is placed on her left arm, permanently branding herself and displaying her loyalty as a Thriller Bark Pirate. Perona does not need another father figure, she has not only Moria, but multiple other male figures in her life from her crew more rightful to the claim of being a parental figure than Mihawk does.

I think some people take the title ghost princess too seriously. Do not get it wrong, Perona is Moria's Ghost Princess and has been a pirate since she was presumably a child. Of course her epitaph is ghost princess. But if you see the way she is treated by Moria, he lets her run the place. There's signs of her everywhere, she shows up to his meeting like lol boring you woke me up for this? He lets her have a pick of whatever servant she wants and I'm pretty sure she has Thriller Bark’s master bedroom. She's like Regina George meets Usagi meets a pastel goth pirate. 

This also brings me to Mihawk calling Perona "musume". I think Mihawk calling her "gosuto musume", just like her epitaph, is taken too literally. In the modern context, this might mean daughter, but we've already established nothing about Mihawk is modern. One Piece itself is supposed to be 1500s if we're going to get super technical. 

Not only is Mihawk incredibly proper, but he's also a piece of shit. This is the same guy that called Zoro a little green froggy when they first met just to get a rise out of him. We only see him calling her this once, and this was presumably days after they met (a week or two tops). Immediately after she's called this, Perona yells at Mihawk not to give her orders. Contextually, this could be taken that he's giving her a backhanded compliment for appearing youthful, a lot like calling someone "auntie" might be taken as offense to the wrong person, which would indicate he's trying to get a rise out of her and it worked 

When they first meet, it does not go too well. Perona was already incredibly lonely to begin with before Zoro was dropped onto the island, she had taken care of his wounds for days on end and spent at least a week playing hide the swords so she had someone to keep her company. Meanwhile Mihawk is mildly irritated his quiet castle has uninvited guests and Perona's demands of him, his blasé attitude towards Zoro going out and trying to get himself killed has Perona deciding that he's heartless and she doesn't want to be alone with him.

Somewhere within two years, this changed. Not only does Perona go back to the island after seeing to it that Zoro didn't get lost trying to find his own damn ship, but when it's time to go we get a glimpse of what kind of life they've lived without Zoro around. If she couldn't stand him, that would have been the perfect time to go. 

Instead, we see that they have high respect for one another enough to take care of each other. To me, this bickering between them about what they did together isn't a conversation between a father and a daughter, it's a lover's quarrel. 

This is your typical “old married couple” banter. She’s saying "you never liked my father and you're ungrateful" and he's saying back that she's the ungrateful one because he's done more than enough for her in return to prove he does care.

I think Perona is trying to start a fight here, to protect her own heart so that she can leave on hostile terms and this bastard reels her right back in with just a few words. 

When Mihawk says this, there's a pause in the music from the silly arguing background, to this soft romantic beat, much like one might see in a romantic anime or drama when the couple are having a moment of intense feelings for one another.

Mihawk actually doesn't say much at all, but Perona knows his meaning immediately that if he didn't care for her in any way, he wouldn't have said anything at all.

Perona's personal style has changed a lot in the last two years. She no longer wears her hair in pigtails and appears in a younger style. If anything, it looks like her personal style is heavily influenced by Mihawk's in romantic black, whites and reds. She hung up her crown (presumably because she was under the impression Miria was very likely dead and he was the reason she was a proper princess). Her hat in particular is very much the female version of his, featuring white roses instead of a big fluffy feather. Red lining and all.

Hats in One Piece are so important, and I personally love the idea of him gifting her a hat to make her feel better about hanging up her crown (or because she was stealing his- one of my favorite headcanons).

[your-unfriendlyghost]

3, 17 and 21!!

3. Who is your fave character OUTSIDE* of the main 7?

  Well I just wrote a big fic about Evie, so I’m liking her a lot right now- but I don’t think that really counts since she’s never onscreen in the book :/ 

  I guess otherwise I’d have to go with Marcia! I really liked the brief scene she had, and would have loved to see more of her. I mean I get why we didn’t, since I don’t think that would really fit in, but it’s still fun to think about. I do also like Cherry, but I admit a decent part of that is that I think Diane Lane is hot- uh lemme rephrase that, her performance was solid.

(Along a similar vein, I really like Buck Merril- less because of his character and more because I’ve been a Tom Waits fanboy since I was old enough to like music, and Tom Waits plays him in the film. I do like Cherry a lot more though, so her reasoning is more balanced- like 70% because I like her as a person and 30% because of her actress in the movie lol)

17. Are there any criticisms or salt you have with the book?

  I mean it woulda been nice to see some non-white characters/more girl characters, but like it was the 60s so I think it did well enough for its time. And Johnny’s kinda ambiguously tan so that’s something I guess. I don’t really have any real salt with the book honestly, I think it did what it set out to do. And plus it was the first book I’d read in three years that I legit enjoyed reading lol so I ain’t got many complaints

21. Unpopular opinion/s?

Johnny Cade is tough as everyone else in the gang. This ain’t exactly an unpopular opinion I guess, but I see a lotta stuff that portrays him as sorta weak and sad- but c’mon guys, he’s tough. I think sometimes people hear Ponyboy’s description of “short-big-eyed-kicked-puppy” and forget that Pony also says Johnny rarely cries, looks like a hood, and is good at fighting- I mean guys, Johnny’s closer in age to Sodapop than he is to Pony! Idk just he’s quiet and can be sensitive doesn’t mean he’s not outwardly rough like the other greasers, and I wish more people would remember that? (Again don’t get me wrong plenty of folks DO ABSOLUTELY remember it, but sometimes I’ll find something that mischaracterizes him so badly…) (...I mean who cares really, everyone's just having fun at the end of the day. Still it does occasionally grind my gears lol)

Thanks for asking, these were great questions! Lemme know what your thoughts are too on these :))

[niobe-loreley]

Heaven Is In A Shortcake {xvii}

AND NOW~ IT WAS TIME~ FOR TUMBLR TO DROWN IN THE SWEET SORROW OF THIS FIC'S 17TH CHAPTER

disclaimer: The Gray Man and the characters are NOT mine, even the reader. I only own the plot and the reader's character lol. Pictures used in the fic are NOT MINE, but only the edited version (u can msg me if u ze owner); credits to the rightful owners and canva + weheartit. Additionally, I am not a Subic/Zambales native, so my apologies for any wrong locations, descriptions, or languages.

Six x F!Reader / Courtland Gentry x Female Reader

warnings: moderate amount of swear words. some filipino dialogues. slow burn. fluff. trust issues. dramaramramamama. comedy if you use a magnifying glass. culture shock. word count check. slightly proofread/revised.

CHAPTER SELECTION IS IN THE ✨Masterlist✨ Chapter 16 was the icon Chapter 17 is the legend

word count: 3.9k (N/N) = nickname *Kiara = Clare *Kurt = Court *cover names = reader doesn't know YET (except you do know #wreckthe4thwall)

This has got to be kidnapping.

Yet how can it be when you're not even verbally struggling to escape?

The only physical binding you have is your sprained ankle. If you didn't have that, you can easily jump out of the car.

But you dare not anger Court any further. He might not let you leave them until you ripen of old age.

Would that be so bad, though?

You blush, sharply averting your gaze out the window as if it would throw the thought away. Being with Court and Claire in less than three hours for thrice a week should be enough for friends hanging out.

Right?

So, why are you wishing for more time?

Why are you always at the edge of your seat waiting for them?

Why is it always hard to watch them walk out of the cafe without you?

The answers are obvious. You just don't want to indulge them again, especially after what happened tonight.

"Home runnnn!" Claire shouts happily as she races through the garage. She certainly looked like she batted a ball out of the field, arms raised overhead, open-mouthed grin, and keys dangling noisily.

You and Court stay silent as Claire unlocks the door. He has you in his arms again, but you don't breathe a complaint this time.

"Want to take a bath, (N/N)?" Claire asks when the three of you entered the guestroom.

You nod. "Sure, that'd be grand."

Court gently sets you down on the bed. "Do you, um, need help?" he questions with a red face, "Taking a bath?"

You laugh. "I'm not that incapacitated, dude. Just get me a chair, towel, and clothes."

"Here's a towel!" Claire gets one from the closet and deposits it on the bed in a flash, "I'll go get a plastic chair!"

She's out of the room before either of you can blink.

"What a proactive teen," you comment amusedly before the silence becomes awkward.

Court snorts in agreement, looks at you for a few seconds, and turns away. "Hey, listen, you can borrow my clothes for the time being."

"Do you have my kind of underwear this time?" you tease.

"About the underwear.. we can buy some tomorrow morning." Court awkwardly rubs his nape, "There's a— what do you call this.. a small market at the park tomorrow. It's always there every Saturday, from 6 AM to 10 AM."

"A tiangge?"

"Yeah, that!"

"Alright, it'd probably be good for me to walk around tomorrow."

"Who says you'll be walking around?"

"Uh, I did?"

"No, you're staying in the car."

"What?"

"My house, my car, my rules."

You chuckle. "Court, seriously.. what are you doing? This is rather sweet and all, but you're lowkey scaring me." you swiftly add to ease his growing anxiety, "It's scary in a funny way, actually. But I'm getting worried that you're over-worrying about me."

He glances down at the floor. "Isn't this what friends do?" and peers at you with eyes so dubious it's as though he doesn't know the meaning of friends.

"Yeah, it is.. and I would do the same for you, it's just that…" you look straight into his eyes, "This kind of overworrying feels different. I can't help but think it feels different. This, us, we.. feel different. But I don't want to think it does, I want to know." 

You're quick to realize what you just said, their weight and meaning, so you let out a loud laugh. Hopefully it will dispel your statements.

"Or maybe it's just me!— Me being silly ol' me," you snicker.

Yet Court is looking at you as though he understands the facade you're wearing.

"What's so funny?" Claire drags a monoblock chair into the room.

You shake your head. "I was just mimicking Flint Lockwood."

"You know Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs?!"

"Know it? I've watched it a hundred times!"

"There! Good as new!" Claire declares, satisfied.

After taking a bath, the father-daughter duo helped you with your wounds again. Claire has just finished bandaging your elbow. While Court went to get another compression bandage after leaving an ice pack on your ankle.

"Kiara.. may I ask you something?"

She snorts. "Of course. And no need to be all formal."

"How did you and Kurt find me?"

Claire freezes, the look on her face somewhat resembles a search engine loading continuously due to a weak internet. "Um, well.. we were going to invite you to watch a movie with us," she smiles sheepishly, "It's Friday. And it's been a while.

"Anyway, we knew you were going to Lillia's, so we turned around and drove to the hotel. We got there just as you were being chased."

You resist a shudder when you hear derisive howling in your ears. You wonder how long those guys will be in your mind, their laughs and hoots bouncing back and forth, reverberating your skull.

"I'm glad you two turned around," you smile at Claire with glassy eyes. "Thank you, Kiara."

She's stunned until tears brim her eyes. But Claire doesn't let them fall. "Don't just thank me. It's Six who beat their asses," she snickers.

"Who?" you ask.

"What?" Claire replies and freezes in realization.

"(Y/N), are you hungry?" Court inquires, sidling in the room.

"No, thank you." you glance at him from head to toe, "How about you? Didn't all that ass kicking got you starving?"

"Not really." Court sits on a chair at the edge of the bed. He takes off the ice pack from your ankle, which he towel-dries before he mindfully wraps a compression bandage around it.

He's too focused on your sprain while you're so engrossed watching him that neither of you notice Claire sneaking out of the room.

"Hey, can you come over here and hand me the ice pack?"

Court just finishes bandaging your sprain. Yet he wastes no time obliging you. This, again, neither of you notices.

"You found another welt on you?" he asks, sounding like he's half-joking (but he's not).

You snatch the ice pack from him and press it up against his left jaw. Court is monumentally unprepared for the "assault" that he winces in pain.

"Nope! Found a bruise on you, though." you say, snickering.

Court lets the astonishment wash over him. "You notice that?" he asks, somewhat amazed.

"At first, I thought it was a tattoo."

"Really?"

"No, I'm joking."

"Oh.."

You snort. "Doofus."

"Twerp," he fires back, flaring.

You double over, laughing. But you still have the ice pack steady on his jaw. "Sometimes you're a sore loser," you examine his face for any more injuries, but it's hard when he's scrunching it up to a scowl. "No, scratch that, you are one."

"And you're just infuriating. All. The. Time." he remarks with hardening emphasis.

"But you love me," you intone jokingly.

Court stares at you, astounded. And as the blood creep up his face, your laugh dies down in shame.

He knows you're joking, right?

You know you were joking.. right?

Sure, you like-like him, but you wouldn't call it love. Infatuation is more like it. Or stirrings, as Captain Jack Sparrow termed it.

Your inner self gives you an unimpressed look.

'Ok, fine.. feelings.'

Court calls your name.

"Huh? What?" you snap out of your stupor.

Court grabs the ice pack from you and off his jaw. "I asked if you want to call somebody." he says with genuine concern.

"Oh… I don't think I can talk to anybody about what happened just yet."

"Okay," he pauses, "Sorry.. I thought you'd feel better if you talked to Mindy. Or maybe Erick."

You chuckle. "I would if we were still dating."

Court blinks at you.

You elaborate. "I mean, we were only dating. He's not really my boyfriend in the first place."

"So… You two aren't dating anymore?" Court asks.

"That's right." you nod and pretend like your heart is not leaping up your throat because of what you plan to say next. "I told Erick I can't  date him anymore because I realized I already like someone else. Even before him."

"So," he hums inquisitively, "You're dating this someone now?"

You shake your head, smiling sadly. "No, I haven't told him I like him yet."

He gulps. "Why is that?"

"Because after what happened tonight, as much as I want him to know.. I don't want him to think it's because he saved me."

Court is looking at you like you're a thousand-piece puzzle.

You blush. "I know I've liked this guy for a long while now. And I know this isn't the right time, but.. I'm idiotically still trying to tell him. That I like him."

Silence spreads to every corner of the room. And if it weren't for the crickets serenading outside, the silence would be awkward the way it should be.

Court is still saying nothing. He has his eyes on the floor and you have no idea what's going on in his mind.

Typically, you're that friend who advises their other friends to just say it— do it!— Don't ride the merry-go-around.

Yet here you are, dangling on one of the carousel horses as it spins for all eternity.

"You should get some rest." Court says finally.

"Huh?"

"I said, you should get some rest."

"Oh… That's what I thought you said."

He hauls out something from his jacket pocket. "Here.. the channel is all set," he nods at the walkie-talkie, "Keep it open and call me as soon as you need me— or anything."

"Sure," you grab the device absentmindedly. "Good night."

"Good night."

And then he leaves, shutting the door behind him.

You look at the transceiver, place it on the bedside drawer, and expel a hefty sigh. "Ang tanga mo talaga," you tell yourself, forcibly lying down. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! You should've just told him!— Why didn't you tell him? Oh right, because I'm an idiotic, no good, shit for brains, twat!"

A sharp twinge rises up your leg as a scratching pain erupts from the rest of your body. "Ow, ow, ow," you stop thrashing, slowly placing your sprained ankle atop the pillow it was on. You sigh exasperatedly, "I'm such a dumbass."

"You're such a dumbass!"

"Excuse me?" Court glares at Claire over his shoulder as they climb up the stairs.

She rolls her eyes. "Her message was as clear as the archipelago sun!"

"Whose?"

"(N/N), duh!"

He furrows his brows. "What message?"

She snaps her fingers. "And that's why you're such a dumbass."

"Fine. Whatever. Just get to bed."

"Fine! Let's all see how this stupidity between you and (N/N) plays out!"

Claire storms in her room and noisily shuts the door before Court can retort. He ponders what she's got to be mad about.

He takes a short bath, sets another set of clothes aside for you, and checks the house's security.

No one's after you three.

That's not just why Court suggested you stay with them for a few days. This is better than you staying all night at the cafe alone. And like hell he'll ever leave you alone after what happened tonight.

Court checks the handgun under his pillow as he looks at the guestroom's feed.

If someone did come after them, he'll have no choice but to take you with him and Claire.

Suddenly, he recalls what you said earlier as he lays on the bed.

"...as much as I want him to know.. I don't want him to think it's because he saved me."

You're not talking about him, right?

"I know I've liked this guy for a long while now—"

There's just no way, right?

"—And I know this isn't the right time, but.. I'm idiotically still trying to tell him. That I like him."

Court abruptly sits upright. "Fuck!" he breathes out, wishing he can do the same to the heat in his cheeks. "Don't do this to yourself, man. You're 100% uncertain."

Maybe you were just delirious from the trauma.

Yeah, that's plausible. 

But also worrisome.

Court glances over to his desk, where the security feed is showing any events live inside, outside, and ten meters around the house. But he's focused on one feed: the guestroom.

You're fast asleep already. And how you're so unmoving sets paranoia ablaze in his veins. 

He has the right to worry, right?

So, it's okay for him to switch on the guestroom's camera audio and cranks it up until he hears your breathing, right?

He puts on one earbud and doesn't dwell on the fact that what he's doing is downright creepy.

Setting up a tablet beside him on the bed, Court finds the security feed on the device. He then lies back down and tries closing his ends. Not after a minute, he ends up watching you on the screen.

'Hopeless..'

He ignores his demons snickering at him.

As he continues eyeing the security feed of the premises, particularly you, Court doesn't realize he fell asleep.

Until he hears you scream.

"NO! NO! STOP— PLEASE!"

Court practically becomes The Flash. He bolts down to the guestroom before his eyes can fully open.

He shouts your name as he bursts in the room. Opening the lights, he finds that you have no (external) attacker.

You're sitting down, yet you looked like you ran a marathon. "Hey, Kurt," you wipe the cold sweat off your brow. "I'm so sorry for waking you."

He stammers. "No. Not really, I.. I just got up to get some water."

You glance at the time, 1:35 AM. "Still, sorry for disturbing you and shit."

Court sighs. "Stop apologizing. How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Maybe 99 more to get it through my thick skull?"

"That's probably not enough."

You laugh, shaking your head, and you scratch behind your ear. "Did I wake Claire up, too?"

Court glances out the door when he hears footsteps. Claire carefully rounds the corner, armed with a handgun dipped towards the floor. 

"No, she's still asleep." he blankly says as he turns back to you.

You heave a brow. "Why are you lying?"

Court is taken aback. Was he that obvious? No one can usually read him, not even Claire; although, Donald and Margaret used to.

"Oh, Claire!" you holler in a singsong voice.

The teen reluctantly peers in the room, hiding her weapon behind her. "H-Hiya," she smiles nervously.

You chuckle. "The two of you should get back to bed. I'm sorry for getting you out of there in the first place."

"It wasn't your fault you had a nightmare, (N/N)." says Claire. "Would—"

"Would you like some company?" Court asks just before the teen could. He looks at her in befuddlement, while she sneers maniacally at him.

"No, you two should rest." you give a small smile, "I'll be fine."

Except you didn't get to be.

For the past three hours, you've woken up from several nightmares. Only a few of them did you wake up screaming. Sometimes you can't even sleep immediately because it takes you back to the same bad dream. 

It takes all of Court's might not to barge back in the guestroom, lay down next to you, and kick all those nightmares in the ass.

After your first nightmare, Court hasn't slept a wink. He returned to his room and watched you through the security feed. When you've had your second nightmare, he quickly sets up the sandbag in his room and starts whaling on it.

But there's only so much that he can take from hearing your cries. He tried muting your security feed, yet for some reason, it's worse than before.

So, Court has selfishly decided that you need someone with you tonight. Whether you like it or not. 

He waited until you're back in deep sleep after a nightmare.

Without little to no sound, Court sneaks into the guestroom and places a chair beside the bed. And as he sits there, it just hits him that he doesn't know what the fuck to do. You'll probably have a heart attack when you wake up and find him staring at you.

How should he comfort you?

He pinches himself when the first thought he has is to get in bed with you. There's got to be another way other than that— it'll be the last resort.

You suddenly let out a grunt, stirring, and Court flinches, readying to flee. But you're still asleep. It's another nightmare.

Court spots your clenched fist and tightens his jaw. He looks at your grimacing face, and for some reason, it's similar to your concentrating face. Now, here's a thought: what if you're suppressing yourself for him and Claire? So that you won't wake them up because of your nightmares.

He chuckles in both disbelief and admiration. That'd truly be you. Even when you're having trouble, you're still looking after them.

Breathing in and out, Court takes your balled hand in both of his. He strokes your fist, tracing patterns on your skin until he feels your muscles release their contraction. Gently, he unfurls your tightened fingers and soothes them one by one.

Compared to his, your appendages are small and smooth. It astonishes him how a hard worker such as yourself has dainty hands. But he stands corrected when he feels a few callouses. Nevertheless, your hand fascinates him.

What would it feel like to hold both of your hands in his own?

The thought is cut short when he feels crescent marks on your palm. Court frowns at that and then at you. "Idiot.. stop taking on everything by yourself," he whispers and carefully holds your hand in both of his. "I'll be here for you, (Y/N). I am here. You just.. gotta see me."

For the second time tonight, Court has fallen asleep watching you.

And once again, you're the one to wake him. But not with a scream this time.

"Court," you softly call, tugging on his hands.

With his name like a feather on your lips, everything within him stirs wildly into life. But he doesn't show that effect you have on him.

He slowly rises from slumping on the bed. "Hey, sorry, did I scare you?" he blurts out with one eye still closed.

You chuckle. "No, you didn't."

"Get back to sleep. I'll just be here."

"Why don't you..?"

"Hm?" Court blinks at you curiously.

You fight back the blush, scoot further in the bed, and pat the space beside you. "I don't think you're comfortable there. Why don't you sleep here instead?"

He gulps. "Aren't you gonna ask me what I'm doing here first?"

"Will you answer me honestly? Or tell me to shut up and rest?" you question amusedly.

"Both?" he stifles a grin.

You shortly laugh before you tug him towards you. It doesn't take long for him to fold. Just you holding his hand is enough to make Court roll over for you.

He worriedly climbs in the bed—

"Oh, wait!"

"What?!"

"Let's switch."

".. Why?"

You redden. "I don't want you sleeping on my sweat, man! Understand?!"

He looks at you for a few seconds and sputters out a laugh. "Alright, fine," he says before you can chastise him for laughing. You scoot over as he rounds the bed, "There. Happy?"

"Very," you nod and settle down.

"Oh, wait!" he exclaims this time.

"What?!"

Court returns to his room to retrieve his clothes that you were going to wear later in the morning. "Change. You stink." he chucks them to you, sneering.

"Go away, then." you snarl.

"Like hell I would."

"Just turn around, moron!"

He obliges, snickering, and when he faces away from you, horrific realization strikes like vicious lightning across his chest. 

You're undressing. With him still in the room. And it's just the two of you. Has he mentioned that you're currently undressing?

His demons are biting into the side of his neck, yanking at him to look over at you. This is bad. His self-control is losing a lot of blood.

"Need any help?"

Yup, that's significant blood loss right there.

"No, I got this. Thanks, Kurt."

After an eternity (minute) of suffering..

"Done!" you exhale, relieved.

And so did Court. 

He rigidly gets in the bed without glancing at you. His self-control needs recharging, it doesn't help that you're half-an-arms length away. But even just a visual on you is lethal.

The two of you are staring at the ceiling. Until you turn your head to Court, just as he risks a glance at you. His self-control can't charge anymore.

You grin apologetically. "Sorry for keeping you up. Let's get some rest," and roll on your side, facing away from him. "Good night."

"Yeah, night." he replies, staring at your back.

Before horrendous thoughts can start invading his mind, Court notices something amusing. 

He stifles a grin, his shirt is like a blanket on you. The way it hangs on you with too many folds screams that you're wearing an extremely baggy top. It'll never not be entertaining to have you in his clothes. What's more, only ⅓ of your feet are sticking out the hem of his joggers.

This time, Court doesn't fall asleep watching you. Because with you up close, he's granted visual acuity to scrutinize you evenly.

Your hair doesn't appear damp despite the cold sweat you're experiencing from the nightmares.

The curve of your shoulder somewhat displays tenacity and elegance simultaneously.

How can such a tiny body hold so much strength and carry such burdens?

Eventually, the nightmares are back. And Court is ready for them.

As soon as you're stirring abnormally and moaning in fear, Court props onto his elbow and carefully grabs your shoulder. He calls your name, shaking you gently.

You jolt awake, breathing heavily. "Court," you look at him, the fear in your wide eyes diminishing gradually. "Did I wake you?"

"No," says Court, steeling his resolve. "Come here."

You almost didn't understand what he said. Until he pulls you to him. And you move compliantly.

Court shimmies his arm under your head, while the other clutches your waist, pulling you closer until there's no space between your back and his chest.

You stifle a squeak when he slips a leg between yours. "Sorry," he says in your hair, "Just gotta get this.."

He clasps the edge of the pillow with his toes and carefully reels it. "Lift your left leg up," he tells you, and you oblige. He leaves the pillow between your legs and grabs the one you lifted. "You can put this down now."

He helps you in setting your sprained ankle down on the pillow.

"Good girl."

Oh, damn..

Thank the heavens you're not facing him right now. He'd probably mistake your face for a stove.

"No nightmare is getting to you now."

"Huh?"

You feel him moving his face against the back of your head.

"I said," he pauses, voice low, breaths fanning on your ear. "No nightmare is getting to you now. Because I'm protecting you."

Your heart finds it hard to go back to its place after cartwheeling up your throat. And when it's reminded of the position you and Court are presently in, your heart threatens to roll out your mouth.

"The nightmares are in my head, though." you chuckle, placing a hand on the arm you're resting your head on, you reach for his hand. "Thank you."

Court watches, with fireworks gleefully exploding in his chest, as you intertwine your hand with his. When the festivities calm down, he gives your hand a squeeze.

"You're always welcome, (Y/N)."

A/N: these chapters will be all FOR NOW~ I am continuing this fic y'all, albeit it'll be from time to time (ehem month to month huhuhuhu)

The door to Chapter 18 is blocked

✨TAGLIST✨

@kat-thepoet @queenofhellhasrisen @sierrasixswife @vallyb @lyuir @yvxcy @justareaderdude  @sortingharryshairclip

[emo-metalhead-punki]

Rant About SolarDiscomfort

⚠ TW // Gr00ming ⚠

(idk I do wanna draw this so yea....this isn't a gift)

So SolarDiscomfort or Brooke which is her real name

She is a deviantart artist that I meet in 2018 when I was 13 yrs old (I was okay, kinda, mental health issues)

So I remember Brooke followed me and requested me to draw her OC and so I did, and she thanked me so yea

Then I followed her back, her art is...alright ig lol, but I think is cool but need some progress, and we send each other gift and all that, so it's before all the gr00m3R thing happened, so let's talk about that if I can remember

So on somewhere on 2020, Brooke has proposed her best friend named Kate who is 17 at the time, they been best friends for 4 years but later becomes a couple which I was "nice, congratulations you two" but it's not...so, I use the wayback machine and I do remember reading this but I didn't understand

Ngl this give me a huge "WFT" moment like, what kind of state that you live in and how this is okay?... And get this, she doesn't support mapp even tho she DATED A 17 YEAR OLD WHILE BEEN A 20 YEAR OLD LIKE YOU CAN'T DO THAT BITCH

And then one year later, they fuxking broke up which is a good thing and I remember Brooke telling me to stop supporting Kate cuz she's.... too be honest, idk

All I remember that Kate is a tracer cuz she use a base without giving the artist credit but then her mutual tell her and then there the credit and more drama of Brooke did

Like, she would rant that one artist named serpy and I try to understand what's going on after reading the posts of Brooke but I feel like Brooke is taking her anger out on serpy, but I did stay away from the drama cuz is was too much and she keeps typing "crazy laughs" like...uhm...okay then...no one cares what you did man....I do really remember the drama but her account is deactivated....like every Deviantart artist do....

But if you know her, here a drawing of it, in case you recognized the art style

The left one is Brooke and the left one is kate

And I do wanna talk about Kate, like she may be kinda of annoying (cuz she kept requesting me a lot like everyday ) but all in seriously, I do remember her dating that one Mexican dude named Max (not his real name lol but I'm gonna called him)

That I don't trust like I hate him, I don't trust him and I seeing his irl photo of him and I still don't trust him...and I do remember seeing the message from him like I got highly uncomfortable by him

(I'm a Mexican, if someone didn't know lol)

Oh btw he also made NSFW as well, while being a minor ofc, classic teenagers in 2017 are started drawing NSFW cuz that's fine...right?...

Nope...it's not...you gotta wait dude...

But I did check his bio for his age but he didn't put his age...but then I saw a post of it, it turns out his 18 (on 2020) so I assume that he was 15 or 16 while Kate was like either 12 or 13 (i can't do math right, if I'm wrong then yea...) but I do believe that Kate was also groomed by him and till this day, she didnt talk about this like she was like too busy being happy instead of talking about this like why, how you deal such a traumatic thing and then later forget it, i mean, good for her but I will like be traumatized for life and not feeling happy

But for Brooke, yea...so if she like made an account on Tumblr and then see saw this post I be like...yea man...you got exposed as a P3d0 and a groomer man like...you should have say any of these things and your so toxic to serpy that she didn't do anything to you

So your career is over lol but I'm glad you didn't groomed me and talk shit about me cuz I didn't even like you like your so toxic towards any artist like why man...you didn't do anything to you like "oh she suck ass" and "she ugly asf" and "she's dumb as hell*

I mean...I dont like serpy ship cuz it's a zoophilia ship like...she basically ship Anne from frozen with mr. Peabody (the dog) from I forgot the name like it's highly uncomfortable to look and which I should have say no to her when she requested me that shit...so yea...she still ship it till this day...and her ships are mostly crossover so...yea...(That one shipper that ships spinel with a fucking car from cars movie)

So yea...Brooke...if you reading this...

Keep your nasty behavior to yourself instead of spreading it like a disease, I use to think your cool but now, your just a toxic woman, a p3do and a groomer

Peeps, watch out for SolarDiscomfort in case she made a Tumblr account

[avemstella]

I've been having a great time with this new patch (harbingers and Remuria, I was only ever going to have a fun time), here's some small rambling thoughts under the cut that aren't particularly spoilerly but just to be safe

Teenage father Arle, I'm in tears. She's a baby. I both love it and hate it, what is this pfft. Also because there is a very real chance that she became a Harbinger at 17, and Ajax has been stated to be the youngest person to become a Harbinger, that means he became a Harbinger sometime between age 14-16 (maybe slightly older if we bump up Arle's age because there is ambiguity there, but still). Of all things my fic to get right, honestly not the one I wanted because of the implications lol. 16-year-old Harbinger Childe, what a thing.

Also, people were always saying that Arle would be shitty because of Childe and Scara's voicelines, but I was always like 'yo those two are super biased they aren't the best source of info' and I like being right pfft. I love stuff like this, it's such fun character building for both parties.

It makes me really curious about Pulcinella, like there are two ways of reading his shit talking of Arle to Childe. A) he's got along with the previous Knave and is pissed she killed her so he's complaining to the kid he picked up, or B) he's intentionally isolating Childe from the other harbingers by making them out to be the worst. Also, could be a mix of both, and either way neither particularly paint him in the best light. Either way, super intrigued (though I personally hope there's nuance to him, we already have the Dottore/Scara dynamic that's just Dottore being the worst. Like don't get me wrong don't want Pulcinella to nessisarilly be a secret amazing guy (and I do like the Dottore Scara dynamic), but I think there's a balance u know).

Rip harbinger found fam u were too good for this world, though I will admit if we aren't getting that I do love a good political drama. I'm digging all the different Fatui factions and how they fight, but also work together.

Also, talk of Tonia rebellious phase makes me giggle because of future fic plans, and that's all I'm gonna say haha.

And finally Remuria! Okay this will be short because I've not had a lot of time this week and only just started that quest lol. But damn what I've seen so far is so cool. I love exploring this sort of thing and because I have a decent grasp of the lore has helped a lot.

Also this me being delusional, but me seeing the cat with heterochromia and how the ruins of Remuria were sealed under a Spring... looks at my Furina fic... (I know I'm delusional, but it brings me joy pfft). Furina is part of my Remuria exploration team for a reason haha.

But yes, I'll probably have more to say later (for example I'm waiting to unlock naturally Arle's voicelines/stories, though I have seen some talk of them), so stay tuned (maybe).

[luluprevention]

𝑶𝑪 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆

Finally I'm getting around to showing off my first child, haha. Well, at least she is the first one that got a full character sheet so I have enough of an excuse to ramble about her lol.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ Character Info Below ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Well, I say character info, but it will be more like reading through the notes of a man befallen by madness. Still, enjoy :3

I created Colette as an OC for Love and Deepspace, not as an MC stand-in but specifically as someone with an unrequited love for Rafayel. After the twins, Kieran and Luke, entered the game along with Sylus that did change a bit though. But I'm about to get ahead of myself so let's do the basics first!

Colette is a vampire (don't judge me pls lol) who has been around for a very very long time. I never decided on a written down age for her bc I'm not gonna lie, the lnd timeline is something I don't even want to pretend to understand. One thing is for sure though, she is old enough to have witnessed the first reincarnation cycle of MC and Rafayel (whenever that may have been, infold don't play with me now and change the entire lore around the reincarnations I beg). And that is also about the same time that she fell for Rafayel. Guess that little fishie isn't the only one who has been waiting around, heh.

But yeah, the concept of her being a vampire basically came about bc I wanted her to have spent a long time with those feelings of love already, to have seen what the love between Rafayel and MC has caused over and over again and to ask "is that really worth it?". (Little fun fact: in my mind's canon she has brought this exact question up to Rafayel before. Let's just say it didn't end well lol.) Of course I could've made her something else with a long lifespan but I definitely didn't want her to be Lemurian bc I was worried that new game lore would make what I'd established for her unworkable so I just went an easier route.

This was around the time that Sylus got announced and there were so many theories about him being a vampire, so I immediately latched onto that. For some reason it seems like I was a lot more confident that the game couldn't come up with any vampire lore that'd destroy everything I established for Colette. And, well, lucky me? Sylus isn't a vampire, so that means any vampire lore is now up to me, myself and I, right?

Anyways, what I, the ultimate writer of vampire lore for lnd, have decided is: vampires are kind of like Lemurians. Like, Vampires didn't get hunted down the same way Lemurians did most of them were actually doing the hunting bc Lemurians are very very tasty and if the humans are already doing much of the heavy lifting. Well, can't blame them for joining in, right? Wrong. There's now a ban on consuming Lemurian blood forever lol. but to humans they are just as much of a myth. Vampires established their entire society behind a bit of a veil so even though vampires are most certainly walking amongst humans they also have what could be called their own dimension? I guess? Basically, they have a home to return to without causing the regular questions of "how long have you been 17? ".

Oh yeah, on that note, quick vampire age intersection! They can manipulate what age they look like to a certain degree but there is an age where their bodies naturally stop aging and revert back to if manipulated, the exact age depends from vampire to vampire. Presenting as an age younger or older is possible but takes an extreme amount of control, focus and power. That is why it was a thing in noble society for a very long time that nobility had to keep up a specific age range that is not their “natural” one just to basically flex that they have the power to do so. Nobility's gotta nobility, always.

But all that to say, humanity is living blissfully unaware of the hungry danger that is always watching, in large part thanks to Colette and a few other old vampires. Colette herself has been born into the aforementioned vampire nobility, so her rise to power started at a pretty high place already and with how driven she is to succeed it wasn't much of a surprise that she managed to carve her own spot at the top, reaching even higher than her parents ever dared to.

To reach that high she had to make sure to provide very tangible achievements that no one could refute, so, shortly after she got to meet Rafayel and MC in their first cycle, Colette had to leave for a trial specific to nobility. One could imagine it a bit like going abroad to study, except that it is into the oldest vampire's consciousness. Okay, wait, maybe that needs more context.

So, this entire veil and lowkey separate dimension situation that vampire society has going on is all thanks to the First Traveler, or simply put, the oldest vampire. This vampire had abilities that even the strongest vampires nowadays can only dream of ever reaching and this vampire, fearing that their children (read: younger vampires) could face danger if discovered, decided to put themselves into a deep, eternal sleep to create and maintain what is now the home to every vampire.

The noble families are ones that are immediate descendants of this First Traveler and as such they are the only ones who stand a chance of surviving inside their ancestor's consciousness. This entire thing is for safety means, the nobility is expected to protect and keep in check the rest of vampire society and in exchange they are provided with considerable additional power directly from the First Traveler. Well, that is, the nobles who survive the trial.

As might have become apparent, the First Traveler is very focused on keeping everyone safe and alive, so they can't just have anyone in charge, right? And yeah, sure, nobility is nobility. But even among nobility there are always those who are just.... lacking. And having a lacking person in charge really doesn't sound like it would keep everyone else safe and sound, so... Into the consciousness it is! In there the noble vampire partaking in the trial is left fully to their own devices, any situations that are created by the First Traveler need to be solved by that noble alone and to the full satisfaction of the First Traveler. These situations can range from negotiations to more business oriented things but can also be something a lot more dangerous that could result in death. Most times there will be a mix of situations for every trial bc the whole thing takes quite a bit of time. 

Once the trial has started the noble is only able to leave again upon successfully clearing everything or upon being deemed unfit. If they should be deemed unfit (and survive the trial) they will be stripped of their rank as a noble, having to live out the rest of their days among the other vampires. Of course, every noble has the right to refuse to partake in the trial but if they should decide to do so they also automatically give up their rank. Should the noble die during the trial the information will be relayed to the outside but the body will be absorbed by the First Traveler. I think that should cover the most important parts for now. 

Back to how this relates to Colette. As established, she is very driven to succeed so when the time came for her to take part in the trial there was no question about whether or not she wanted to partake, the only question in her mind was “how can I possibly set myself apart from the rest and rise above them?” The answer to that came to her surprisingly easy when she managed to get through the entire trial in a mere 103 years, the fastest clearing that anyone has been able to achieve and, as of yet, an unbroken record. This was her first achievement on her way up and many more were to follow. 

And we are just gonna skip the details on what happened with Lemurians bc Rafayel might be my fav among the LIs but even he can't force me to actually study up on the history. 

But that is also the first time she was confronted with the very short lifespans of humans bc while Colette was doing her trial MC died. And yes, of course MC died young (I'm pretty sure?) but even before Colette found out about this she had already been told by every other vampire that humans just simply don't live that long. That no matter how well this particular human would've lived they would've still already been dead or close to it by the time she finished her trial. So yeah, that was pretty much her awakening to properly understand what the differences in lifespans really mean.

What is more important to know is that, since creating Colette I never planned for her to be crazily obsessed with Rafayel even though she is in love with him. So after the initial infatuation phase her love for him just became a constant thing she carried around with her, never something she had the urge to act upon. Even more so after seeing Rafayel and MC together multiple times. Most of the time Colette thought the two were actually quite cute together and over time she herself grew very fond of MC. But of course, we all know that MC rarely has a good time for long in her incarnations bc at some point something bad happens to either her or one of the LIs. 

To her credit Colette does feel bad for MC and does keep an eye on her when she can but she still has to do her job as a noble and take proper care of vampire society. So she spends most of her time divided between gaining achievements to cement her own position, keeping other vampires in check and looking over MC. 

There was opposition to the idea initially, especially from the older vampires who had been accustomed to how things had been before, but Colette had amassed enough power for herself at that point that she could've implemented this new rule simply by force if necessary. Which means, yay, more vampire lore! 

That is, at least for a while. More specifically until she sees the need to put rules in place on how vampires are to interact with reincarnations of previous loved ones. Or well, how to not interact might be more accurate. Having seen one too many cases of a vampire, very obviously much older than the person of their desire, resorting to creepy tactics that can only be described as grooming, Colette decides that for the benefit of the humans, as well as the honor of vampire society, some rules need to be put in place. And so she did. 

A very very short summary of these rules: vampires are not allowed to approach reincarnations of loved ones except for unavoidable cases (e.g. buying something from them but it has to stay strictly a customer - worker relationship). The human has to initiate everything, needs to be the one to approach, the one to flirt, the one to make physical contact. And just because the human has initiated doesn't mean that the vampire is now free to act upon it. A human's fancy is fleeting and ever changing in the eyes of vampires, which means that the human has to keep up the initiating for at least a year, just to make sure that they have an actual interest and it isn't just them being slightly infatuated. The vampire on the other hand is not allowed to do anything in this timeframe that could possibly get the person to act towards a specific outcome. So, basically that means that no vampire is allowed to show any kind of approval or disapproval to the attention they are getting from their human. Which is really strict but also, a way better alternative than creepy old vampires preying upon humans. 

The rules for dating or having any close relationship (friendships, etc.) with any human are very similar to this tbh with a bit more leeway for really young vampires but this only applies to the ones that are under 90 bc I imagine that at that point they would have the maturity level equivalent of a 30 year old human, the actual age difference still makes it a squint worthy thing but we have to do what we can to not cause an uprising among the young ones I fear. Then it would become a case by case kind of thing until they reach the age of 120 at which point they are now bound to the exact same strict rules as anyone else. And let's be honest, considering everything vampires might as well just give up on the hope of ever being with a reincarnated loved one ever again bc what human is realistically going to keep initiating contact for a year or longer while getting not even an indication of returned interest? Okay, to be fair there might be some humans out there who would do that but I'm sure they would be a minority. 

With these rules in place now though that also means that Colette can no longer be the one to approach Rafayel or MC. Of course she still gets information on what and how they are doing but she herself can no longer get involved even if she knows that something is about to happen. Considering that her hands are basically bound there has been the thought that maybe she should just stop getting information on the two, save herself the hassle and the worries, but ultimately she has still decided to keep an eye on them up until modern times. 

And that is where we get to do our timeskip into the future, and more importantly, the game time! Colette has created her own, very lucrative, position as one of the top information brokers worldwide, which is largely thanks to all of the time she has had to establish herself. While others might be limited by their short lifespans no such thing applies to her and so she capitalizes on that. Ah yes, the wonders of immortality and of inheriting your own wealth over and over again.

Speaking of her being an information broker, I can now finally get into her Evol which I've been excited for for a good while! I decided for Colette's Evol to be blood (or well, I guess water if we are being really specific) to go along with the entire vampire concept. A vampire manipulating blood freely is just such a staple, right? But also, her Evol being water was a really nice choice when we consider that Rafayel has fire but lives(lived) in the water. I just think that's neat :3

Anyways, back to the blood manipulation and how this works. Manipulating water is a lot easier than actually manipulating blood (among other things bc it doesn't prompt questions of “where did you get that blood from?”) but as Colette is a noble she cannot simply be as good with her abilities as others are. Even just being a bit better than everyone else is not good enough in the eyes of nobility. She has to be so far above everyone else's level that there is never a worry that anyone could come close and she has to make it look absolutely effortless. Because of this, one will rarely ever see her actually using water for her abilities, even if she might be able to do even greater feats if she did. It is about making sure that no one else can do it the way she can and not about doing the things that she would be naturally good at.

Thinking about her Evol in combination with her work as an information broker I decided to go with the assumption of “water retains memories” and that is what she uses to get most of her information (we are just ignoring the giant information network that she has built throughout her entire life while I make this claim, okay? :3). Of course she could just read whatever body of water is nearby, and sometimes that is what she has to do, but more often than not she will be using a small amount of blood to create little butterflies that she can send off to do some spying for her. Why butterflies? She likes them and she has a reputation to uphold, so making something small and delicate will only help to show off how great her control over her abilities is. 

I also gave her a scythe for fighting! Once again mostly for the aesthetic and because it was very easy to incorporate the blood manipulation into the weapon. That also means though that the scythe is very obviously for show mostly bc to create the bladed parts she needs blood, which means that she will need to have made someone bleed a considerable amount already before she is even able to use her scythe properly. I wish I could say that this is another weird thing that nobility has going on but unfortunately this is just a Colette exclusive lol. 

Moving on though, thanks to her work as an information broker she is very well connected and this also extends to the N109 Zone. Which means we are finally at the part that I alluded to very early on! One thing everyone needs to know about me is that I really really like the twins. Instantly fell for their charming ways the first time they got introduced and now they are sharing the spot of my #1 for this game. So, needless to say I just had to have Colette getting involved with them (and by extension Sylus and MC but this isn't about them) 

Of course, earlier we were talking about all these rules of how vampires are supposed to interact with mortals, but not to worry bc I didn't plan for Colette to be romantically involved with either of the twins, heh. She sees the two more as particularly interesting and amusing kids and doesn't mind humoring them and spending some time with them. Fortunately for her she has business to take care of with Sylus fairly regularly so she finds herself interacting with the twins just as often even without breaking any of the rules. And once the time period stipulated by the rules has come to pass she is now free to interact with the twins of her own accord instead of having to wait for them to approach her. (There's also stuff going on with a friend's OC but that's not for me to tell right now :3) 

So yeah, at this point my Colette is basically just the go to information broker that is playing around with the twins whenever not needed for any other duties lol. Also, her having this one sided love for Rafayel is still going on to this day but it is more of a reflex instead of an active feeling of love that keeps evolving. And I do think that is most of the basic things I have for her! 

Now time for my delulu: 

If she actually ever were to be put into the game I would really enjoy having her as a possible love interest for our MC (who are you calling biased?) and as a possible contact for information gathering when MC is romancing someone else. (I know, the game doesn't usually have the love interests in any scenes together in any way shape or form -correct me if that has changed tho lol- but I think MC deserves some more female friendships) I think her route would actually be really frustrating for the player simply bc of some of the vampire lore that I have established. Colette is the one who made the rule that vampires are not allowed to approach reincarnations of people they have known before, so what do we think will happen if she is the one to break that rule by approaching MC and being closer to her than is strictly necessary?

Absolute chaos, that is what.

In my mind that would create a ripple effect that goes not just through all of vampire society but also the human society and the consequences would very likely be a bunch of old ass vampires going after the young reincarnations of their past loved ones. Bc if Colette, a very old noble vampire with the accompanying standing, is breaking the rule that she has held up for so long, then really, what is stopping anyone else? Rules for thee but not for me? I don't think so.

And at that point even if she were to try to put her foot down and keep everyone in check no one would listen to a hypocrite like that. And yes, maybe not everyone would be creepy about the whole thing but do we really want to risk that? Colette certainly doesn't and she is more than aware of the consequences that getting close to a mortal like that could have. So yeah, no missteps for her.

Anyways, for the players that would mean that now they can get the Zayne Deluxe Treatment™ twice in the same game! Oh wow and for such a low price as well! But yeah, I'm being kinda serious with that actually. Colette would have her hands bound when it comes to any flirting with MC and there could only be a chance if there is enough plausible deniability, which can only happen so many times without becoming overdone for the players or suspicious to vampire society.

So, as per the rules MC needs to initiate everything and bc we know how the world works it's not just a thing of "Oh, MC initiated the flirting with me once so that means that she is interested and I can now reciprocate without breaking the rules" bc as stated further up when talking about the whole reincarnation & vampire society intersection thing, the human has to keep that interest up for a good while. That means MC would have to do her best while Colette can basically only stand there and do nothing much. Very exciting stuff everyone! 

But yeah, Colette would still willingly help MC out with whatever she needs under the pretense that she is only doing her job as an information broker. Especially if it is relating to the Protocore MC is looking into or smth like that bc as established, Colette has grown fond of her over all the reincarnations that she has witnessed, even more so if the player is playing her route(? moments?). It would be kind of a "whatever it is, just say the word and it shall be yours" kind of vibe but played off as something more casual bc Colette simply isn't allowed to show that kind of devotion.

Then I guess for card stories... some could definitely be them going traveling to find some information or even them going undercover.

The first pair of myth cards I would put somewhere between the first Rafayel cycle and Colette establishing the reincarnation no no rule timeline wise. It would be a reincarnation where MC doesn't run into any of the other LIs which draws Colette's attention and worries her tbh. So she puts herself into MC's life, at first only to look over her until one of the usual faces enters the playing field, but they grow closer in the time they spend together and if none of the others show up then who can really blame her if she starts to feel that almost forgotten excitement whenever she meets up with MC. But yeah, these myth cards are set at that point in the timeline for a reason and so we can only imagine what must have happened to MC for Colette to work out a rule that keeps vampires away from reincarnations. (The rule gets established one way or another, it's just that in the version where Colette is a LI there are a lot more personal reasons involved as to why this rule is necessary basically)

Apart from that I think it would be really fun if there were some cards where MC can get some first hand insight into vampire society. Like, I know most lore stuff would probably be coming up in the Anecdotes but I just really want to see MC herself having to navigate through all that. Or well, less navigate, I guess it would be more likely that Colette would be leading MC with a possessive hand on her lower back as she smiles down at her but sends warning glares to any vampire that even thinks about stepping out of place and oh my god I'm reading this out loud in my head and I feel like I saw that exact scene happen in Vampire Knight, the Kaname Kuran allegations can no longer be denied. Not like I was ever trying to deny them tbh. But yeah, I just think it would be neat :3

Some more fun facts:

I just flipped Rafayel's birthday to come up with Colette's lol. I was really leaning into the small connections when I first started working out some details and that's one that stuck

Her Evol being water was simply bc I thought blood bending would be cool for her to do. All other explanations I gave above were just me justifying why it would totally work

Colette's entire concept (except for the high ranking vampire part) was supposed to be different. My initial plan was soooo much more angsty and dark and would've played so much with reincarnation and what happened between Rafayel and MC. But I'm ngl, the ever evolving lore made keeping everything reasonable too complicated for my taste and I really like my Colette's current concept so all is good. Maybe one day I will write out the OG concept tho :3

For her outfit colours my only thought was (and still is tbh): Nemo

Her hair being a jellyfish cut is equally as well thought through as the colours lol

Also, she made me realize that I don't actually know how to draw a parasol and that I also couldn't be bothered to learn. That's a lie, I really want to do fan art with her and the parasol is kinda a staple for her look so I gotta actually learn sobs

I didn't intend for this but whenever I'm writing her she kind of takes on an older sister/cool aunt vibe, which wasn't intended but you know what? Considering that she is multiple hundreds of years old I can't complain

I think the theme that fits her the most is: love that is willing to let go. You know, like, the selfless kind of love where you let the other person go because it is best for them and will bring them more happiness while all you can allow yourself is to watch from a distance and be happy for them even while knowing that you can never be that happiness for them :3

Would absolutely use her Evol to cheat at the claw machine

Also, no mercy when it comes to the kitty game. Will probably be making small talk at the same time to get some intel while she is at it

Colette is definitely one of those vampires that drink their blood from wine glasses only bc everything else is low class

Out of the major Arcana in tarot I would be assigning her the Strength card

After working on Colette for all this time I actually grew really fond of her so now she has joined the ranks of my core OCs that I will be using for other stuff. But more importantly, that means that in my OCverse she now has a sister who is a dragon even though she is siblingless in the lnd universe

Thank you so much for reading through this essay of a post! Unfortunately my target audience is me, so that is why I've just been freely rambling instead of putting this down in a more summarised version, heh. But yeah, congrats to anyone who made it this far.

Also, I'm ngl having written all of this out really makes me want to write something for the myth cards. Maybe when I have time to also make an illustration to go along with it :3

[shoukiko]

I hope ya'll don't mind if I OC ramble a bit about Shouko. I still have a cold so I'm still on the verge of death.

Tags: @octiism, @wishesforyou, @konig-s-hood, @imtotallynormalmhmyes

I recently changed her up just a bit, like her last name and such 高村 - Takamura is her new surname, Taka (高) meaning "tall, high" (lol), and Mura (村) meaning "town, village"

Felt funny to give her a name like that when she's... tiny, which is a bit mean to myself since she's literally my height..

Her and Ghost's relationship is very much sunshine x grumpy, but to me when Ghost is Simon, he's not really that grumpy, he's just a chill dude, he just has to be more strict when he's Ghost.

They became close friends after she really just.... wanted to exist next to him all the little "May I sit here?" "Can I come?" "Did you eat?" "Can I ask for your opinion?"

sitting on the other end of a couch where he was, clutching her knees to her chest, just happy she's allowed to be near someone so respected.

She saw him as someone she could look up to, someone she could prove herself to, someone who wouldn't pity her or treat her differently because of her size. He showed her respect.

He enjoyed her company, it was refreshing to him, she wasn't overly excited, she knew when there was a time and place for everything, but if she had the time, she would jump up and squeal with excitement if she was happy.

Shouko met Ghost after being transferred from the US marines at the age of 20, she joined the military at 17 after moving to the US after some family matters ocurred.

She has pretty big eyes when she's not on the verge of death, poor girl needs sleep. Yaeba teeth are her charm point.

If I got to choose who would play her in a live action film, I would choose Shida Mirai (志田未来) Beautiful woman.

Shouko saw his face on accident after walking in on him washing his fash in the communal washroom, they locked eyes in the mirror and it was like a switch flipped in her, he was the singlehandedly most beautiful person she's ever seen aside from her mother. He wasn't upset really, mistakes happen, but he did get a bit uncomfortable after she stood there for a good 30 seconds not saying anything.

She wasn't there in Las Almas to see his face, she was briefed and brought in later, she helped with Price in the helicopter instead.

Shouko is also like, very much an airhead, if someone she trusts tells her something, she just takes their word for it, but obviously she's very smart and wellspoken because she has to be.

She's very knowledgable in a lot of things and takes the time to learn about random topics just for the fun of it, but when it comes to things like...

I'm using a conversation I had with my boyfriend as an example, just switching it to Ghost and Shouko.

Shouko: I never really see wind turbines a lot, I forget what they're used for.

Ghost, Obviously kidding: They're for cooling down the earth, hun.

Shouko: Wait, really?

Ghost, thinking how long he can keep this going for: Yep, they regulate the tempurature.. of the air. (Bullshitting)

Shouko: Oh. Huh okay then.

A day later, Shouko would tell maybe like her brothers or her friends about it. Noone telling her she's wrong because they just can't bring themselves to tell her, until her eldest brother Satoshi is like "The fuck are you on about?"

She'd race back to Ghost, SCREAMING about how she trusted him and how could she embarrass her like that, and he has his head in his hands, shaking, absolutely losing it, trying not to break down laughing because he didn't think she'd actually believe him.

Change Satoshi to one of my friends and... it actually happened, my bf still won't let me live it down... Fucker also made me think Sperm cramps were a thing ... ;-;

That is all, I will ramble more later, I love Shouko frfr

Now have more art of here I haven't shared (probably) All drawn by @wishesforyou <3

This one was drawn by me :3

[caliburn-the-sword]

final cress thoughts!!!!

i absolutely inhaled that book holy shit lol. got winter at the bookstore today because shipment just arrived and i gotta say it's HELLA chonky. i am EXCITED. of course fairest will have to come first

since the plan has been explained to us the readers, that means it's DEFO gonna go wrong (note: it did - sybil ambushed them)

god why is cress married to everyone. first thorne now wolf

rolling my eyes sighing bile is rising in my throat. i CANNOT take this alpha nonsense. admittedly when cress says it in a brightest star of a constellation way, that's cute. unfortunately the omegaverse connotations cancels it out completely

OMG CINDER AND KAI FINALLY. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG. rip to everyone that was reading these as they came out because i can't imagine how PAINFUL it would have been to wait two years for them to see each other again as opposed to me just binging the books across like 3 weeks max by the time i finish the series

respect for torin holy shit that must have been SUCH a hard choice for him to make to not only let the prince go but to reveal his tracker chip

NO ERLAND IS NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE LETUMOSIS AND HE'S NOT ALLOWED TO DIE AND HE HAS TO REUNITE WITH CRESS. CRESS NEEDS TO KNOW. I AM LITERALLY IN STUDIES OF RELIGION CLASS RN I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS PAIN

I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT THE PLAGUE IS BIOWARFARE. i'm a genius. but the mutated strain was just genuinely a coincidence judging by levana's reaction LMAO

was absolutely baffled why tf thorne was kissing cress before i remembered the promise he made. i feel sickly and nauseous. get off that minor rn

as much as i hate thorne. gotta admit that the shooting scene was badass

YES SYBIL TAKE THAT, BITCH

wonder who the queen is married to

i respect every ounce of rebellion in erland's bones. yeah piss off the queen!!

grossed out by cress and thorne some more. please man keep pushing her away. literally his responsibility as an adult. ew

holy shit scarlet actually lost her finger

it's nice to properly meet winter

something very strange seems to be going on with winter. master and pet lunar stuff?? weird af. wants to be besties?? girl are you even understanding the situation?? also has she never met a ranga before??? is she HIGH????? and what's with the role playing games??? she's somehow more delulu than cress, acts even YOUNGER than her actual age than cress does

winter seems to THINK that she was friends with cinder. interesting. once again i want cinder to get her memories of pre-fire back real bad

winter is a SIMP for jacin

OH I'M SO DUMB HOW DIDN'T I REALISE THAT SHE WOULD BE DELULU BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T USE HER GLAMOUR. respect for winter has increased. this means that ALL the time scarlet spent thinking about how beautiful winter is was the truth LMAO. gay gay homosexual gay. is it too much to hope for a polycule?? they'd literally be like parks and rec. "i'm wolf andthis is my gf scarlet, this is her gf winter, this is winter's bf jaycin".

ofc a lake on the moon is gonna be called artemisia lake LOL. now we've had one moon titan and one moon goddess reference. chang'e when????

NOT FARAFRAH. i bet you all found it downright HILARIOUS when i went on about how much i love farafrah back in one of the other posts

ngl think it's too early for cinder and kai to be eating each other's faces. kai got over his issues REAL fast lol. idk how i feel about it but willing to see where winter takes us

i didn't even think of the implication because i don't consider kai and levana legitimately engaged so i find it HILARIOUS that the silly family tree of kai being engaged to one woman and then making out with her niece. reminds me of ouat

revolutionary cinder ftw

speculation for fairest:

i did the maths and realised that since levana is like 30 and cinder is 16 then she was about 17 years old when she decided that cinder just had to go. I'M 17. cannot imagine killing a 3 year old. cray z. and then she was even YOUNGER than that when she killed her sister for the throne. ALSO insane. that will be one deeply disturbed mind to dive into in fairest

read the blurb and don't exactly have anymore thoughts other than trying to figure out who the in universe equivalent to her REAL husband would be since we're defo getting backstory on that. since she's the evil queen then it must be winter's father "the good king", however because of the blurb i reckon it's some kind of "mirror mirror on the wall" figure. idk what exactly that would entail. some kind of royal adviser???

speculation for winter, because i don't want to forget everything i'm thinking by the time i'm done reading fairest:

mother reveal for cress - i don't remember if any lunar scientists have been mentioned or named yet, but i WILL be keeping an eye out. i suspect someone who has something to do with the wolf soldier hybrids, she might even know wolf. regardless hope the bitch dies

father reveal for cinder

from the way jacin calls garan linh's device an equaliser, it's DEFINITELY gonna be reproduced in this book, ESPECIALLY with winter going all delulu, and the way cinder is concerned about becoming like levana

jacin pov chapters now that miss marissa doesn't have to make his motivations and loyalties ambiguous

ngl i HATE prequels, ESPECIALLY when they're about the villain of the story, and i often skip them. i'm a bit apprehensive about going into fairest, but i want to have the proper reading experience of tlc, and it's important to the story. putting my personal feelings aside and hoping for the best!!

@eddisfargo @francforever @winterrhayle @winterpinetrees @shellyseashell

[h0rnyv01d]

0: Height

1: Virgin?

2: Shoe size

3: Do you smoke?

4: Do you drink?

5: Do you take drugs?

6: Age you get mistaken for

7: Have tattoos?

8: Want any tattoos?

9: Got any piercings?

10: Want any piercings?

11: Best friend?

12: Relationship status

13: Biggest turn ons

14: Biggest turn offs

15: Favorite movie

16: I’ll love you if

17: Someone you miss

18: Most traumatic experience

19: A fact about your personality

20: What I hate most about myself

21: What I love most about myself

22: What I want to be when I get older

23: My relationship with my sibling(s)

24: My relationship with my parent(s)

25: My idea of a perfect date

26: My biggest pet peeves

27: A description of the girl/boy I like

28: A description of the person I dislike the most

29: A reason I’ve lied to a friend

30: What I hate the most about work/school

31: What your last text message says

32: What words upset me the most

33: What words make me feel the best about myself

34: What I find attractive in women

35: What I find attractive in men

36: Where I would like to live

37: One of my insecurities

38: My childhood career choice

39: My favorite ice cream flavor

40: Who wish I could be

41: Where I want to be right now

42: The last thing I ate

43: Sexiest person that comes to my mind immediately

44: A random fact about anything

oop this is long so

1: yeah lol

2: 6

3: nope, gotta keep them lungs healthy to stay slutty

4: nopity nope, i’m so scared of saying something i’ll regret while drunk

5: again, nope 😭😭

6: recently people have been offering me kids menus at restaurants? it’s odd, idk how old they think i am but

7: no :(

8: i wanna get a star pattern on my collarbone at some point, and maybe a jellyfish on my upper arm

9: yep! regular lobe, and a cartilage piercing on my right ear

10: i wanna get a bunch of piercings, but just on my ears, i’m getting a conch piercing on my left soon

11: probs my friend sophia but you wouldn’t know her obv lol

12: it’s complicated- we’re both into each other, and weve dated in the past, but neither of us is willing to b like “let’s get back together”

13: men just casually hinting at something they’re into. it just makes my brain go WILD with possibilities

14: being mean outside of sex

15: cinderella (1950)

16: i’ll love you if you’re sweet (my standards are so low i’m sorry)

17: my friends i don’t talk to anymore

18: i’ve had two seizures, and those were probably the worst moments of my life

19: i’m clingy but i won’t admit it

20: my chin and my need for attention

21: i got that hourglass figure <3

22: i wanna be an author!!

23: i have one little sister, i love her, but she’s nuts sometimes

24: no father, and my mom is more like a big sister than a mother to me

25: any date is perfect as long as i’m with someone i love. but if i had to pick, watching fireworks together

26: people pronouncing my city name wrong, idk why

27: he’s a lil short, he’s got curly blonde hair, and he’s so sweet, he wants to be lawyer someday

28: the person i dislike most has greasy brown hair, is 5’6, and looks like he doesn’t shower

29: protecting feelings, and also i’ve lied if i thought it’d help repair friendships

30: waking up early!! i hate getting up at 6

31: “will you wake up if i send you more pictures of cats i like, or should i wait until tomorrow?”

32: ‘we need to talk’

33: i’ve gotten told i look like cinderella twice today :)) that made me feel so amazing

34: i’m more attracted to men than women, but i’ve noticed that whenever i’m into women, they tend to be really strong

35: brunettes for some reason

36: tbh i’m perfectly fine in florida

37: my laugh

38: i used to want to be a marine biologist, and while that field is still incredibly interesting to me, i think i’d rather write

39: vanilla, i’m a basic bitch <3

40: adelaide kane, shes dropdead gorgeous i’d love to be her

41: greece, because apparently there’s a ton of cats!!

42: i had a banana a few hours ago

43: chris hemsworth. on his poster for thor: ragnarok, he literally fits leonardo da vinci’s idea of perfection, so i will unapologetically be saying this

44: the blue whale is the largest animal to have ever lived

[s0lar-ch3ri]

out of context things for a fic im reading (its from my mutual, and i might update my unfinished oneshot for gill after...and do a big oneshot seperation lol)

fic link for people who havent read it yet GO DO THAT NOW EVEN IF YOUVE ALREADY READ IT REREAD IT AND COMPLIMENT IT THIS IS ALL ABOUT CHAPTER 5

im adding "This letter is filled with glitter. If you open it you will be too." in some way shape or form into my vocab its beautiful

i honestly thought that jay was gonna say gill and OH MY GOD THATD BE SO FUNNY AND KINDA ANGSTY IF DONE IN A CERTIAN WAY LOL

(honestly kinda a fic idea there: ava gets help from lizzie as they learn lizzies brother [chip] believes that gillion likes ava or smth. i wanna see the siblings helping their siblings come together)

...oh the heart refs are starting

"He did. She screamed." pure comedy imo

"He kind of liked that idea, he needed more mean girl friends (one can never have too many)." SCREAMING MUTUAL YOU KNOW THE LESBIANS SO WELL AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

...mutual. im not your mother father or parent i wanna put you in timeout AHHHH WHY THESE REFS

mutual. hey. you dont need to remind us. you can let us be happy.

i wonder what the title of the fic means btw

as someone who calls their friend pookie, MISS FERIN DIDNT FUCKING STUTTER

"Stress shouldn’t be real, it was stupid." PREACH!

OH MY GOD HE SAID THAT BEFORE THE KISS HES SO GAY YOUR HONOR GAY AS HELL

FUCK ME I CAN IMAGINE GILLS VOICE SAYING THAT HANG ON IF I DO AN OUT LOUD IMPRESSION...

fuck it is as riduclous as it appears

bro jay and ensa have had a "they/them pussy" moment together and i see it thats the fucking look on their faces good for them

OH. I SEE. GAY "SEX" THEN DEATH. FUCK

he found his kid got a bitch and was so shocked and happy he fucking died

"But then again, maybe he deserved it." chip babygirl you make no sense

wait chips 17 here. 2 years away from being 19. the canon age. oh nononononononono

hey. anybody else notice a pretty big character of chips past hasnt been brought up yet? like, fucking price. the guy thats believed to have mistreated chip. the guy who made chip kill a man. MUTUAL WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING.

okay so i have a theory. my mutual doesnt plan on giving chip a break, hes just lost his dad unknowingly how, hes currently 17, and price hasnt been mentioned ONCE. characters act pretty similar to canon, including how theyve been mistreated in a sense (seen by the elders). the title (You'll Forget (It's Not Your Fault)) doesnt seem any good.

my theory? following the canon idea that chip has been through so much he easily forgot about kenta and his nightmare shit, chips gonna be dealing with price, and i dont think its gonna be just for a couple months. price is behind arlins shit, and price gonna make chip think this shit is all his fault.

oh nvm checked tags REDO THEORY

minor character death probs means you know who if you read it i dont wanna say it cause big spioier uhhhh READ IT OKAY IM SAYING IT NOW arlin, but from the beginning its had memory loss (how i didnt notice this before is beyond me) so im thinking its caused by like bad shit that happens (price is going to fuck with him more and ill sob) and hes blaming himself for it cause he thinks all thats happening including the memory loss is because hes doing shit wrong

(from what i know, depression and shit can cause memory loss BUT im not sure ill be back with results tmr on this so until then REBLOGS OFF)

check my mutual out or ill llegally have to eat you (on tumblr @red-might-be-dead)

[starmocha]

GIRL!

GIIIIIRL! the amount of people I have blocked on twt because they keep pushing this narrative that Caleb is evil and dangerous is surreal!

That he's a creep obsessed with MC and wants to see her miserable and alone...and they completely ignore how jealous MC is of him, how she refers to him as "my caleb", how she also hid his phone and took it upon herself to restore his memories so he could go back to being the Caleb she knew and loved. She gets a thrill whenever he asks her to fend off his admirers by pretending to be his girl (officially).

The times they almost crossed the line prior to the explosion (going by some of his tender moments/secret times cards), it felt scary but she never refused him.

They're both downbad for one another and I can't wait for their first on screen kiss

As for the age gap---there's a trend going on along fandoms that when they don't like a particular ship, ANY LITTLE THING is problematic. My first ever bf was also 18 while I was 15 and it was fine. I don't like how these people seem to think teens aren't fooling around or having sex before they're legally adults.

There's really no way to explore Calebmc having their "moments" when they lived together without accepting they were both teens. And let me tell you, the side of the fandom that hates them as a couple would be clutching their pearls even if you wrote about a 17 year old MC and an 18 year old Caleb. I'd tell you to trust your gut and write what you think you should write.

From what I've seen, to the antis crowd, Calebmc is wrong and nothing will change ghat. So I say screw them. I love your writing as well as a lot of other people do too, like, there's literally a hivemind phenomenon happening with your fics so rest assured we got your back no matter what. ♥️

omggg felt on the block thing. During his announcement, I've blocked so many people on instagram, because why tf were their comments the top ones in promos bitching and lashing at him???? I just wanted to see my fellow Caleb girlies excited, but instead people were announcing that they wouldn't accept him? 🙄 (the Caleb girlies were buried at the bottom in the comment section and they were just "omg gege is coming home 🥺" "welcome home gege!! 🥺" ugh I love my fellow Caleb girlies we've suffered so much ;~;)

They just cherry-pick what they don't like and run with it. I've seen it happened with Sylus, too, but with Caleb it feels worse. I've played so many otome games before LADS with actual toxic yandere characters. Caleb does not fit that mold. Not even close.

I think the decision to have them both mutually pine for one another makes their dynamic so interesting. Honestly, I'm excited to see how the writers portray their relationship in future cards and event stories.

As for the age gap---there's a trend going on along fandoms that when they don't like a particular ship, ANY LITTLE THING is problematic.

OH YES THIS IS WHY I AM NERVOUS. Which is funny because before LADS, I was semi-actively writing Sess/Kag fics for the Inuyasha fandom. Why was I able to write a 15-year-old girl and a demon lord several centuries old having a consensual relationship, but now I can't write one for two characters with a three-year age gap? 🙄 I think if it wasn't for so many backlashes against Caleb, I probably wouldn't feel like I am navigating a mine field. 😔

So I say screw them. I love your writing as well as a lot of other people do too, like, there's literally a hivemind phenomenon happening with your fics so rest assured we got your back no matter what. ♥️

🥺 love you guys so much and thank you for your support~! 💖 I've been loving all of the hcs and brainrots everyone has been sharing, either their own or in regard to any of my stories. You guys are really making the stories feel more alive to me, like I promise you a year ago, it never would have crossed my mind to be writing a conception story for Snowdrop and make him a result of Zayne's "punishment" and breeding kink lol

[virgocoverage]

You're back?!: Dreams of Exes

Girls and gays, tell me why not 1, not 2, but 3 motherfing exes were in my dreams last night?! Like sirs I have my wife laying right next to me and y'all are living rent free in my dreams, ew. Let's back track a little, now there's nothing wrong with my wife she is literally the woman of my dreams, my safe space if you will but lately I have been having dreams of her leaving and when i tell her she trips out because obvi she isn't leaving me either. So one night I have a dream she leaves right? I know how tragic, followed by the next night I have another dream she leaves only this time my ex, let's call him Fish (you know the reason lol) is now here. Fish tells me he misses me and is about to kiss me, now for some reason my dumba** was going to lean in until I jerk my hand onto his face and tell him "Wait no, you're not her, you're not (for privacy reasons let's call my wife Love and no, not like the show YOU) Love, I need to find her" Fish for some reason agrees to help me so there's the end of that dream. I wake up and tell my wife the dream, minus the almost kissing part because she would kill me and I'd like to keep our relationship happy people. I fall asleep and here's where ex no. 2 comes, in let's call him Lord of Darkness (this is very funny to me while I type lol). I can't really remember how he comes in but I do remember being the age we got together which would be 17. All I can remember is we're laughing and he's hugging me and flirting obvi, we're walking in my old neighborhood where i use to live in my apartment. While we're getting to my place I see my third ex, let's call him Jacob (yes like Jacob from twilight lol, I'm pretty sure you guys can see why). Jacob looks different, still has his beard but it more a stubble and buzz cut his hair, much more skinny too. Jacob yells my name with a smile and oh no girls Lord of Darkness is very upset (lol). Jacob hugs me but Lord of Darkness gets Jacobs arm off of me and they're about to start a fight, somehow my dumba** stops them. Here we are again with Lord of Darkness getting into my house and for some reason other students want to come in and I'm not lame obvi so I let them in. Next thing I knew school is gonna start soon so we all had to leave but Lord of Darkness and I are having the time of our lives flirting away and he keeps being charming, all i can remember is him saying "You know you love me, you miss me huh?" I laugh and say "Ew whatever" while laughing. Now don't assume this Virgo is unfaithful, that's Virgo men. The end girls/gays!

[castle-dominion]

c3x24 knockout. Wasn't the last episode in this storyline knockout too? No, knockdown.

Plot heavy episode, after all, it is the finale.

RC: Hey, guys, I could use a hand. *Esposito & Ryan applaud* Ryan wearing a sweater again. Weekly is v often. their faces drop when they mention him

The ring <3 Lol the "special" & the "usual" & the excellent choice madame. I love it. An hour ago today? Why they all cheering? Oh bc he's the cop. "He" was going to get around to me Ugh he gives him a minute & lays down politely, like this is honestly so respectful of a murder. He's have more blood probably. I remember looking like that. I am now remembering that. You know, for weeks, possibly even a month or several months I could smell blood. The first day, even the first week bc i was still healing, I thought that the smell of blood was just there for real. The bathroom must have smelled like metal; iron & copper; idk how my family didn't notice anything. Maybe it was all in my head now that I think about it. Then later I realized that it was just a hallucination. Sometimes I'd get a whiff of blood & it would remind me of that night, other times I would remember it & suddenly I could smell it. Again, in the earlier days I thought that maybe the smell was real & I just didn't notice it until I thought about it. Figuring out I was getting hallucinations shocked me. Did I just give myself ptsd? I wish I had a photo. I considered it but my phone was in the other room & I wasn't going to go get it. All that blood. Looking back, even tho I'm (sort of) clean now, I want that photo. I wanted a reference for murder scenes in my writing or in drawing, I wanted to see the progress of what I had done, now that I can't remember it as well I want to know what it really looked like & how far I actually got. I used to get nauseous every time I thought about it, even though I was fine with gore. Now all I have is the scar. You know, I used to make jokes when picking raspberries or cutting beets, I said it looked like a murder scene. During this time I realized how wrong I was. Anyway I wrote a fictional story basically transcribing my experiences, just so I'd have a record of it if my memory faded, it was already getting muddy when I wrote it. Now reading it I can barely see it. I remember it though. I remember it. At least I don't get blood olfactory hallucinations anymore. Back to the episode!

Wow it's been four months? Yeah he has an employer. idek who that employer is. Wait if she was 16 & it's been 12 years then she's only 28... alexis is 17 & if he had her at minimum 18 that would be 35 minimum. Well that fits the half plus seven rule. She's 28? 21x2=42 which sounds just as accurate for castle tbh. Yeah cool. Tho tbh the half plus seven rule does fall apart the more you age since people's brains still go thru development phases even tho the most & biggest were from ages -1 to 25.

He technically isn't hal lockwood hence why they called him john doe. OH NO FLASHBANGS. Those things are not good. Even the guys breaking him out would have been affected, even if they covered their ears & closed their eyes. (You only have two hands, two would have to be for your ears & so all you can do is close ur eyes & even so it is bright & loud & there is a physical boom. She asks "where" but how does the lady know what she means? Where is it safe? Where did they go? Where are you hurt? Poor helicopter guy. was he piloting?

Just like, check ur inbox? Can't be real names, must be code. That's why espt made that face! Just like my Mumma! She has her emergency radio license or smth like that. She's the one who taught me the nato phoenetic alphabet. Having seen this. His face when the third cop is mentioned. they were just talking abt street justice cops & monty is saying they should take him out rn rn.

JE: He says he wouldn’t have even known anybody had used it if it weren’t for the bullet holes. XD Does she know or is she speculating? No ofc she is not, but she is ok enough & ok enough to work.

Jim Beckett! & This will be the scene from the deleted scenes in the previous episode. You're so right Mr Beckett. Her life is def worth more than her mom's death. I love Jim sm. Here is his quote btw: What happens when she finds him? I’ve already lost my wife over this. I’ve already lost – (he stops) No, look. It took me years, but I’ve made my peace with that. But Katie? She won’t listen to me. And she won’t back down. Not unless someone can convince her that her life is worth more than her mother’s death.

& wow both her parents are lawyers, she was even considering becoming a lawyer. No wonder she's so pretty & educated.

Didn't sleep at all or slept a little bit? No, not Ryker!

He gon be dead. Yep he dead.

That's why the wound is so bad, GSWs are so much worse in the exit wound Death fist 4 poster (btw I like how ryan takes off his tie & stuff when he wears his vest, unbuttons a bit)

See? If u treat someone with respect then they respect u too. Aw that's actually kinda sweet. Crushing on Beckett.

Ok our theory is currently that the third cop is the employer, the one holding lockwood's leash Ok that's valid you've been angry over johanna's death for twelve years but also ryan was frickin tortured by this guy I think he wants him around as much as u do, esp since he's also mad on your behalf (tho ig she could also be mad on his behalf then...)

I like ryan's elbow patches. (Suit tie & jeans) What was that little look from ryan? Keep in mind I've seen this before, when I say this: {RM is encouraging them to find the third cop, claiming that the 3c must have the money to hire dick coonan to clean up the mess} Yeah they've been here all day & between the four of them a six pack isn't too much. It's late. They deserve it. JE walking in with a case of beer behind his back: Sir. Uh, I know we're still officially on duty, but RM: Authorized KR: Sláinte (health in Gaeilge; pronounced slAn-chuh)* RC: Nice work. Ooh, those are cold. These are really cold. KR : Yeah, we keep them in evidence, refrigerated storage. (they just keep booze in refrigerated evidence storage??) RC: Isn't that where you keep the-- JE: Don't worry about it. RC: (*Irish Gaelic is pronounced (in English) 'gay-lik'. The (Scottish) Gaelic name for (Scottish) Gaelic is Gàidhlig, pronounced 'gaa-lik', not to be confused with the Irish (Gaelic) name for Irish (Gaelic), which is written Gaeilge and pronounced 'gail-gyuh'.) (clipping)

Beer: *casually reveals smth* Calls him a dirtbag SOB, {like my dude, y r u sending em out to find that info?} ((We get to see the meeting in a future season!)) Love. Everyone knows they love each other.

That rubber tree plant The kiss was for a disguise & frozen in each other's arms was for wamrth & bc friends can do that too! She's right tho, it IS her life. (just like the s8 premier) It is the end of s3 so it has been 3 years now? (maybe 2.5 bc the first season was short?) You deserve to be happy, but in that tone? Ooh How over? He is not going to abandon you.

Man's angry! Martha <3 <3 I can see how he might feel it is his fault even tho he's not the one trying to kill everyone. He drug it back up. (could clip but I won't)

I love when she calls him by his first name, it is so intense & personal, he is her second dad. He supports her so much so well. He really is good for her, helping her laugh, bringing in outside ideas... Hug her. acab lol But seriously hug her. You are her dad.

Old guys, probably retired they say. Miami! Wow ryan's cheekbones in this lighting... KR says he DOESN'T believe a "badge" is behind this. (Metonymy) {keep this detail in mind} (But then ryan is the first to crack abt you know who)

Oh no he's the third cop isn't he? {yeah he is} lol order off the menu (so roy made a deal with The Big Bad Guy to protect beckett) He would SO be found out B'y god's got nothing to do with this

What about the son? The way u hold someone intimately lets you put a thumb over their lips & kiss them That's an old timey gun. I like it. Another old timey gun.

Wow it's already been all day! Nothing eventful happened all day... At least miami dade got back to them this evening. Going out w/o telling her? I mean ok.

Big sad.

Bro's still wearing an nypd sweatshirt? Tight is a good word. Some rookie? Young enough to not be retired yet Could he have maybe misremembered the name if there were 40 others he needed to know the names of too & it's been 10 years? Montague maybe? He looks so baby *gulp* Rips up the photo, tbh that's rude

[JE is walking out into the alley] KR Hey! You know it's him. (He looks like he's about to cry.) Montgomery's our third cop. He's the one who altered those records. JE How can you even say that? How can you even think that?! Montgomery brought us on to Homicide! What do we got? A picture!?! KR (whispered/strained) Think about it. (Nromal but strained) Why else did he want us to take Lockwood out? Because Lockwood leads us to him! (Hun he told u to go after the third cop.) He's been lying to us. (Espt also looks like he might cry.) He's been lying to us the whole time. [JE shakes his head, mouthing what I think is "I'm out" & turns around to start walking away.] KR Hey! [Ryan grabs Espt's shoulder] JE Get off me! [Espt punches Ryan & turns around again. They fight. KR grabs him from the back & pushes him into the wall/truck/whatever that thing is. Espt pushes around & gets Ryan pinned to the truck with his hands on his shirt. & not in a sexy way. JE is yelling, holding KR's face & has his fist next to his head.] KR Go ahead! Go ahead! [JE throws Ryan's head to the side as he lets him go. They both lean against the wall, breathing heavily. They both look emotionally ruined.] KR Beckett.

AAAAAAGHHDSKJFSDHJ THIS IS MAKING ME INSANE & then they just don't talk about it.

Please don't let him be the one to kill her Girl set ur phone to vibrate, u'r a cop, this stuff can be dangerous. Why cock the gun? You can't put your family thru going to jail but this happens? (So babe you uh, don't they have ballistics for all nypd guns? when they pull the slug?)

A second chance <3 Who is the "he" They might have come even if Beckett didn't show up, as long as he said he got her there. Then again, they were probs watching. He is her dad so much Good on him to bring in Castle (of all people, he brought castle, even after kicking castle out) Oof this is where I stand They probs saw three figures there & probs even know he means to kill them. Castle is great he just picked her up like that! She was flailing & kicking & he just did what the captain said! Beauty!

(so lockwood has a bunch of people here too? Lockwood is not The Only One y'all) So there are four ppl there. Didn't they kill the two guys with Lockwood during the previous relevant episode? KB & RC came in to save JE & KR & they ended up shooting two of lockwood's people? Now lockwood has four more. Shoot from the hip... RM: You got that ass-backwards, boy, you can't hide from me.

love how they brought back the ass backwards line How did he shoot all of them so fast? Also with a gun like that wouldn't he have to cock it every time? Or maybe not, it was old fashioned, not old. It probably has the mechanism set so that the back thingy & the trigger are attached to pull back too. lockwood got shot, he's back up & running now? Love the music btw. Noooo not behindy! I saw to that. You're done, Lockwood, we both are. & that's why he had a sixshot & a second gun! ...Which was just up his sleeve like that & definitely dangerous

How did u know that was the last shot? What if lockwood was still alive (again) & now he's coming to kill you? At least she is wearing short heels Check his pulse maybe?

Lol acab. I'd just as well watch the Helena music video.

Is this beckett's apatment? I can't tell. Family. Doesn't include his legal family tho apparently. & you have accepted castle back? You know it's weird, Espt & Ryan are like Becket's little brothers (& big brothers) sometimes, they give Castle the cold shoulder in defense of Beckett; other times they are brothers with Castle, they have said "mom & dad [are] fighting" as if caskett is a relationship & those two are the kids, sometimes the captain is the dad. It's just so good to me. So good. Found family is lowkey cliche but I love it still. (But this means u can't tell alexis, martha, lanie, jim, or anyone, bc they are extended "family" not immediate "family" right?)

Who's the guy behind Espt there? Also why didn't Esposito shave?? I feel like Castle should be wearing a hat, just to fit in. Not a hat like theirs, but some sort of trilby maybe. Tbh I really like seeing the pigs in their blankets. Not only because I like fancy stuff (I say wearing the same dirty jeanjacket with holes in it like some crustpunk) but also bc I like seeing them in hats, speaking as a hat wearer myself. & who's the guy behind Ryan?

Crying quietly, 👌 love it You don't necessarily owe it to him, you owe it to his family, you owe it to them to get the pension & access to the widows+orphans fund & w/e.

I like how they let Castle carry the casket even tho he is not a cop. Ok my man definitely needs a hat, he really looks out of place. Aw the poor family. yk acab even tho he be dead. I mean best wishes to him & the families+friends. Like tbh big acab moments. A huge funeral for him? Ok how many ppl there actually knew him personally? How much of this is just because he was a fellow enforcer of the law? How much of it is REAL & how much of it enforces an institution where brotherhood takes priority? Btw did they teach castle how to do the proper stepping for the fancy parts of walking around & turning the way they do? I thought Royce did that. KB: You might find someone to stand with you *looks over to Rick* How did rick actually see that tho? I'm glad he didn't jump in front of a bullet, it hit her first. ALSO LANIE BEING HELP BACK BY ESPOSITO Girl that's not how you save someone. U might want to put pressure on the wound or wear gloves if u have any (like airplanes) & do NOT put your hands on the grass like that

Ok cool. Now I'm actually going to watch season one bc I never had the chance to liveblog that.

Ok now I've also gathered all my clips from s3 yay

[nekofantasia]

scarletdestruction replied to your post: In a spur of randomness, I have iconed just a few...

…I dunno who that is BUT SHE LOOKS ADORABLE AS HECKIE

Enter Annie Eilenberg, from the Nintendo DS game “Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island”. A 16 year old girl who was kidnapped to an island and becomes an alchemist so she could enter some contest and marry a prince.

Seriously she’s great. I love her.

[fallinfl0wers]

hellooo! this is the first time i request something from a blog :D could i request headcanons of diluc, scara, kazuha and xiao when their s/o tells them they're pregnant and possibly how they'd get used to having a kid? tyy! dont forget to take breaks and relax!

Literally baby-sized trouble.

summary: you're pregnant! how does he react to the news and how do the get used to your child? includes: diluc (26 bullet points), scaramouche (24 bullet points), kazuha (17 bullet points) and xiao (35 bullet points) warnings: fem!reader, pregnancy, children, non-explicit/non described giving birth, mostly fluff with a little bit of hurt/comfort and angst. format: headcanons thank you for your request!! this was so fun to write! >< imagining the characters being soft with children is just so cute :") i specially like these four a lot >< when i wrote this i was in a xiao mood if it wasn't obvious that his turned out longer than everyone else's lol, and it's also the first time i write for kazuha so it was shorter than the others, but i think his is the sweetest ><! i hope you enjoy it! ps. the names and meanings- i got them from google, feel free to correct me if there's anything wrong with them ><

Diluc

He's going to stop functioning the moment he hears the news from you.

Literally, he's still as a rock and completely taken by surprise.

He... can't say he'd never wanted children. He's pretty traditional and, since he has this beautiful relationship with you, he assumed it might happen sometime in the future.

But oops guess it will have to happen in the close future, since you're already pregnant.

After staring at you with widened eyes for a while, he speaks up: "...is... is it true?" You hold his hands on yours with a smile on your face, nodding. "Yes, Diluc. We're going to be parents." Hearing your words, he starts to tear up as he hugs you, his touch almost hesitant, as if you were so fragile he could break you if he wasn't careful. "...thank you." He'd whisper between silent tears, hiding his face from your sight.

Very supportive and very protective!

You will have the most comfortable of pregnancies. He will make sure you don't need to move a single muscle to get anything you want.

If the two of you aren't married or engaged yet, he's going to propose to you very soon, keep that in mind ><

He starts reading every book he can find on pregnancies and babies so that he knows what to do to help you when you give birth and how to take care of his child once they're born ><

You have to convince him that yes, you can go and eat in the dining room and you don't need to eat everything in your room or stay in bed all day and yes, you can still do most things and no, he doesn't have to worry so much.

But yeah, in later stages of your pregnancy he gets more overprotective because he doesn't want anything to hurt you or your baby :(

He couldn't be calm enough while you gave birth and had to wait outside of the room, which only made him more nervous </3

But when he finally held your little baby on his arms for the first time, he broke down crying.

You two had a boy! He looked a lot like him, too... with the red hair and eyes... so cute...

He's not sure of what to name him, he'd thought of some names before, but they all disappeared when he saw the little bundle of joy in his arms;;

So you two will have to think about a name again!

In the end, you settle for Felix; name meaning "happy" or "lucky"!

Diluc is a very busy man, but he still does his best to be there for you and his son as much as possible!

He's also not very sure as to how he should interact with him...

But he does know he LOVES playing with him as soon as he starts to understand how to play with his toys.

But... there are not so cute parts about having a kid, after all.

At times, he worries whether or not he'll be able to be there enough for him.

He wonders if he can be a good father, given how awkward he is with his emotions.

What if when Felix grows up he starts hating him for being absent? He wouldn't be able to stand it.

You always reassure him as you both put the baby to sleep on his crib.

All Diluc wants is for his son to have a happy childhood and a loving family, but worries he won't be good enough of a father.

However, when Felix's first word is "'iluc!" as he stretches out his tiny arms towards him, he thinks that maybe, just maybe, he can do this right.

Scaramouche

He thought you were joking, so he laughed.

When you didn't laugh along with him and was met with your blank face, he understood you were serious.

He never even thought he'd be with anyone in a relationship before you came along, let alone have a child with anyone... So he's obviously very shocked and confused as to how to proceed.

After an awkward moment of staring at each other, he cleared his throat and crossed his arms, looking at you with an equally blank face. "So? What do you want me to do about it?" "H-huh?" "In the sense of- what do you want to do? Keep it or not." You huffed, and when he heard your determinated answer, he sighed and gave your head some soft pats. "Alright, alright, whatever you want, I guess."

Okay listen here- it's not like doesn't care but it isn't like he cares so much either...

This man would do anything for you, really, and that's what happens.

He does anything and everything for you, because he's worried about you and not necessarily about the baby you're carrying.

It's not like he hates children- because you can't hate anything you don't perceive as equal or superior to you and a baby ceirtainly isn't either for him-

It's more like he doesn't know what to do with them because he's never been around children enough to understand them.

He's overall very indifferent towards the child ngl.

Then he sees you cradling your baby -a girl- in your arms and his mind just... goes blank. Huh, so that's what a human looks like right after being born.

Your little daughter looks more like him than she looks like you, sorry. But he can clearly see on her face some factions that will look like yours as she grows up.

But...

"Now what?"

He'll help you look after her however he can, since he doesn't want you to be too tired because he never knows when he'll have to leave for weeks or even months without notice.

He's not entirely cold or indifferent towards her, even if sometimes he might resent her a bit for taking away some of your attention.

But like when you were choosing a name for her, he gave a few suggestions and in the end you choose one of the names he thought of!

Her name is Hikari, name meaning "light"!

Due to the nature of his job, he doesn't want to be seen around either of you at the moment in public. It would only put a target on your backs.

And it takes a long, long while for him to warm up to her.

It disheartens you a little, but when you see him looking down at Hikari's sleeping form on the crib, softly poking her cheek with a strangely child-like curiosity on his eyes, you feel at ease.

And he thinks that he can probably handle this parenting thing better than he ever expected. Maybe it's not that bad, after all.

Ceirtainly, he thinks, as he holds her in his arms one day after she spoke her first word to him, this parenting thing is not really that bad.

(Her first word was "papa!")

Be ready, because once he gets attached to your daughter he won't stop spoiling her!

Kazuha

"Are you sure, love?" "Yes, I'm sure. We're having a child!" A smile painted itself on his face as he leaned in to kiss your forehead. "I hope I can be a good father for them."

So the Kaedehara family is getting a new member, huh!

Not that there's much left to his name, especially now that he's a fugitive... but he's excited nonetheless!

Although he's not one to settle down for long, he will make an effort for both you and the child, since it's not good for someone who's pregnant to wander around.

He's very protective, but not in an overbearing way! He simply wants you to take it easy and relax, he can take care of everything else on his own!

That being said, he's not rich like Diluc or Scaramouche, so he's also going to work harder than ever to get everything you or the baby need in advance so that neither of you have to stress out!

He's the one who takes it better out of everyone here, he's not extremely worried or outright indifferent, he's simply worried enough, excited and happy!

He already knew you were the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, so the idea of having a child with you didn't scare him or intimidate him in the slightest!

He's still a bit worried, though.

He is a wanted fugitive in his homeland, after all...

He can only do so much and wish for the situation in Inazuma to change soon, so that he can take both you and his child to see the places he loved to spend his time at when he was a child.

But for now, he's happy enough simply holding his child on his arms, sitting next to you in your small shared home.

You have a girl too! She has Kazuha's hair color and your eye color, she's super adorable ><

He wants you to name her, and you both agree on naming her Izumi, meaning fountain or spring!

"Kaedehara Izumi... it has a nice ring to it." He'd say, smiling down at her.

While Kazuha enjoys travelling more than anything in this world, he's reticent to leave you and your daughter alone or even bring you along with him. So he stays around for as long as you need it.

He will talk a lot to her all the time, so don't be surprised when she picks up very complicated, flowery words from a young age!

He wants her to grow up to be free as the wind and be able to do whatever she wants without fear, so he wants to do his best to be a good father for her!

Xiao

You can practically see the panic on his face when you tell him the news.

It's the most scared you've ever seen him be, and you've been there to help him through his karmic debt.

So yeah, he takes it the worst out of everyone.

"I'm not mad." He manages to tell you before disappearing to somewhere else in a panicked haze, he needs to sort out his emotions quickly before he can properly talk to you about it. The last thing he saw before he disappeared was your eyes, glinting with sadness. And that only made him feel worse if that was even possible.

It takes him the whole day to come to terms with his feelings on your pregnancy and finally face you again.

He's really, really afraid of hurting you and your child. Not to mention he fears he might've passed some kind of curse from his karma to either of you through the pregnancy :(

Like he said, he isn't mad. He's just scared.

He... he literally never, never thought he would get to be a father.

Family was a foreign concept to him, as were a lot of other things you've slowly helped him understand throughout your time together, so knowing he can have one of his own now... makes him happy, and scared, at the same ime.

He's worse than Diluc when it comes to protecting you and worrying about you.

He won't let you do anything alone, even if he doesn't want to be near you because he doesn't want the karma to harm you or your child in such a vulnerable moment of your lives.

Okay so that aside-

How do people care for babies?

What is he exactly supposed to do?

And- do half-adepti babies need any sort of special treatment in comparison to human babies?

He has no idea on what to do if it doesn't involve a physical fight with a tangible foe, so he goes asking for advice to everyone he knows that could have knowledge on that field.

Verr Goldet and Ganyu are a great help for him. Xiao listens with attention to everything they have to say and asks everything he doesn't understand.

Ganyu tells him about her own experience growing up as half-human so that he can understand what raising a half-human, half-illuminated beast baby might entail.

He also goes to Zhongli for advice and he gets more of the same advice he's already heard, along with many, many reassurances that sound like everything you already tell him every day.

He's very worried, but as the months go by and your child's birth comes closer, he can't help but feel a little excited about it.

Everyone who knows him is happy to see him openly happy for a change on those small moments when he gets excited about his new family with you.

When your child is born, Xiao doesn't want to hold him. It took too much willpower to stay as close as he was right now, standing next to your bed as you held your baby in your arms.

He was so adorable, so small, so fragile, so pure- Xiao was afraid of touching him and breaking or tainting him--

He was already crying, he'd started crying the moment he saw you holding your son for the first time.

He feels so... strange. He's crying, but this isn't a painful, or sad feeling. He feels... happy, but scared, but...

The feeling starts to make some sense to him when he finally convinces himself that it's okay for him to hold the little boy in his arms, when he stares with awe at his face.

The baby looks a lot like the both of you. Arguably, more like him, since he has the same hair and the same bright eyes, but in his face all he can see is you.

And he cries more.

You both named him Liàng, name meaning brilliant!

Xiao does his best to try and get used to parenting, and it gets hard at times.

But he tries, and that's all that matters. He tries to be a good father, and is always there to protect both you and your son from anything trying to harm you.

Even though he was so scared at first, you know he loves the new family you've formed together.

Especially when you catch him trying to hold a conversation with your son, sitting down on the bed next to him as he toys with a soft teddy bear, the two of them surrounded by pillows.

The soft look and smile he wears while he does so tells you that everything is going to be alright.

The three of you are going to be alright, and Xiao wants to make sure of it.

His son will never have to live what he lived or see what he saw. He will make sure of that, no matter what.