#we’ve been backstabbed

[cybersoldier82]

Update with the pred part 4

She took me in a car ride to a surprise for Christmas which turned out to be a trampoline park…,you can imagine how that went💀

She’s abt done laughing now and we’re abt to go at it again wish me luck

[annimator]

Fitpac shippers after Fit’s Dec 30th stream: FIT’S GONNA DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM PAC AND RAMON NOW THAT HE KNOWS THE FULL EXTENT OF HIS MISSION ITS SO OVER D:

Fit telling Ramon about his mission and confessing to Pac about his feelings and said mission a week later:

[yourplayersaidwhat]

Context: Post bbeg monologue, the gender-ambiguous aaracockra bard decides to flirt right before the fight starts for shits and giggles. Bard is often misgendered as female, but they’re male identifying.

Bard: *insert obscenely horny pick up line here, I don’t think I can post this one*

BBEG, who just barely passed his saving throw: I’m- I’m not even into- what gender are you?

Bard: Well, seeing as I’m a bird and we’ve got the same hole either way, dealers choice? 

Entire table: *stunned silence, mostly the party trying not to laugh while the dm sits there*

Rogue, clearing his throat: So assuming he’s stunned, can I roll for backstab with advantage? 

Wizard: No no, I wanna hear what his deal breaker would have been.

[mischiefmaker615]

Please Please Please

Inspiration: Please Please Please by Sabrina Carpenter

Summary: You break the news to the team that you're dating a certain.. god of mischief..

Rating: PG 14

Requested By: @Hav3nLauf3ys0n (wattpad)

“Absolutely not!’’

‘’I don’t remember asking for your blessing.’’ You quip dryly as you and Steve cross your arms simultaneously.

‘’you know what he’s done-‘’ he starts, having leaned himself now on the kitchen counter as if preparing for a long lecture on why but you waved a hand at him.

‘’and he’s gotten better, you cant tell me you haven’t noticed the improvement upon staying here at the tower- be glad they’re just harmless pranks and not plots to try to-‘’

‘’why do you want to date Reindeer Games anyway?” Tony asked, coming into the room with his usual ‘never empty’ glass of booze in his hand. ‘’despite the whole killing and taking over the planet thing, what would necessarily be listed on his Tinder profile?”

“Tinder?” Steve raised a brow and Tony backtracks with a shake of his head.

‘’an app where you could find your local singles- actually that might be a great place for y-‘’

‘’guys! We’re getting off track here’’ you chime in, a hand at your temple as the boys looked over with silence for once. With a heavy sigh, you look at them with as much confidence as you could muster, regardless of the shakiness in your voice as Steve’s expression softened.

‘’he and I have already started dating.. kinda.. but I wanna try to make this work, he wants to see how it goes.. there’s something there and we’re happy when we’re together.. regardless of his first impression here, forgiveness and second chances should be in the picture until said other wise.’’

‘’kind of hard to give a second chance to literally the god of backstabbing.’’ Tony muttered while you shot him a look.

‘’he’s been here for almost a year now since New York, he’s helped us in the field when we’ve brought him along and has been a huge help. He would have compromised the missions somehow if he were still in his old ways but you have to admit, some of those assignments wouldn’t have gotten done without his abilities..’’ you note, your eyes moving to Steve who now stared at the ground in thought while he listened. Their silence was enough to have you keep going as you took another breath.

‘’this is happening, and I know to be careful.. he’s different, and he cares for me.. i figured I’d just make my rounds to let everyone know-‘’

‘’is it basically a heads up that we’ll be seeing a lot of touchy- feely stuff??” Tony gawked quickly and you shook your head with reddened cheeks.

‘’like you don’t do that stuff around here Stark.’’ Steve rolled his eyes, reminding him of how many girls come and go when no one’s watching.

‘’n-no- I just- I’m tired of all your attempts to set me up at your parties, I’m done with the dating game.. Loki and I just have something here that I’ve never felt with anyone else..’’ you explained and heard a sigh from Rogers who didn’t exactly look like he approved but he knew you were going to be stubborn on this so he raised his hands in a surrender position.

‘’just be careful.. that’s all we ask.. Nat and Clint have been assigned today but I think Thors still around somewhere- do not hesitate if he even tries to-‘’

‘’ill be fine Steve, thank you..’’ you say gently, giving a small smile before you exit the kitchen in search of Thor.

Not your best speech, it honestly felt like you were talking to your parents who didn’t approve.. but you were an adult, you’ve dated before and knew all the red flags you needed to dodge. Sure the whole ‘taking over the planet’ was a bit of a red flag.. a big one.. but as he’s stayed here fulfilling his ‘community service’, the two of you have had quite the opportunity to bond over that time.

Its been almost a year and the two of you seem to have had a connection where you craved the attention of the other when you were separated. You both would gossip, flirt and have lengthy talks about your interests and differences. Coming from completely different realms gave you both much to talk about and you even got to teach him a bit of basic things on how to adapt to the tower. The television was your favorite to teach because you stopped him faster at trying to throw it than your laptop. Apparently, many ‘magical moving pictures’ presented the illusion of possession to Loki. Thor wasn’t that much different when he was adapting too.

~

‘’what ails you Y/N?” Thor asked, having ran into you in the halls not long after you went in search of him.

you almost choked on your heart for a moment when you noticed his wet hair and towel in hand first, feeling stupid the next second after when he was indeed dressed and that your mind had thought otherwise for a moment. He’s hot- but he wasn’t for you.

Where the hell was coffee when you needed it..

‘’nothing in particular, just-‘’ you didn’t exactly know how to word it to him compared to literally anyone else. ‘I’m dating your brother’ sounded a little more awkward than telling anyone else that wasn’t family related- and this time you did mentally choke when you realized you had thought out loud.

‘’oh Lady Y/N that is wonderful!! I am so happy for you both! I’ve truly noticed how much happier my brother has been since earning your affections!” Thor beamed as he wrapped you in almost a bone breaking hug, squeezing all the stress out of you as you relaxed and wiped the previous embarrassment from your face when he set you down.

‘’t-thank you.. I just figured I was going to let everyone know by making my rounds-‘’

‘’is it because we will be seeing particular affections around here-‘’

‘’what?? No! why does everyone keep thinking that..’’ you blush and hide your face in your hands as he laughs. Its not that you both weren’t doing anything.. but you weren’t going to make it a goal to exactly show anyone your personal business-

‘’my brother can be very.. sexual hungry, as Stark seems to say.’’ Thor explains casually and you hold back from scrunching your nose as you look up at him. ‘’he always has and I’m sure when you both begin to get even closer, we might see you a bit less and less’’ he hints and your cheeks redden again.

Was he referring that you both would practically never leave the bedroom?- why was he so causal talking about this.. wanting to quickly change the subject from your sexual future and to your more concerning thought, you shifted in place as you looked up at him with hesitation.

‘’.. the team seems to disapprove..’’

Thor nodded, his features sympathetic as he sighs. ‘’I understand their reasonings Y/N,’’

‘’but he’s gotten better-‘’ you add quickly before you mouth goes off. ‘’sure he throws some pranks here any there- changing all the water to vodka, cutting holes in Steve’s costumes- dropping the temperature in the middle of the night- but I swear there’s no world domination in sight anymore. We’ve bonded a lot during this time since he’s been here, he gets me and I get him and I think we have something greater than friendship where he even through around the word courting- whatever that means but I think I love-‘’

Your rambling got cut off as Thor places his hands upon your shoulders, shutting you up as he gives you a gentle smile. ‘’my brother is a much better man because of you and I know you both will be happy Y/N. if there is any need for concern, we are here but I have no worries for you two. You have my blessing.’’ He beams and your body relaxs, giving him the same smile as you begin to turn.

‘’thank you Thor,.. I think i know just who to find next’’ you smile and give a gentle wave as your mind tells you Loki’s probably in his room.

‘’all the best wishes Lady Y/N’’ Thor chuckles and heads off just as you do and enter the elevator.

As soon as you press the button for the room floors and the door begin to slide closed, a hand shoots out and grips one of them with barely an inch of them closing. With barley any effort, the hand pulls the doors apart and there stands the god himself you were trying to find.

Loki.

‘’hello darling, I do believe we have a bit to discuss.’’ He says casual, not so much asking as he smirks yet his eyes drink you in seriously as he takes a step in, making you step back before the doors close behind him.

Although he’s been here quite some time, he always appeared in his armor and leather when he needed to speak about something serious. Granted, although he tried using it as an intimidation prop, you always seemed to get distracted as your eyes began to wonder.

‘’darling-‘’

‘’sir?” you said quickly with a start, holding back a small laugh as you wondering out of all the terms you had on file in your head, you had called him that one. Loki didn’t seem to mind as he raised a brow slightly and took a step closer, a hand gently taking hold of your jaw as he tilted it up and kept you looking at him.

His leaned down ever so slightly, his nose ghosting against yours as your fingers fidgeted nervously now while he spoke. ‘’please tell me as to why I have spotted you with every breathing male under this roof except me? Specifically, the one that’s hard to over look is my idiotic brother who then proceeds to have you in his arms.’’

His voice was dangerous, careful but yet not angry that you could tell because you knew he was waiting for you to give a perfectly good explanation. Shifting in place, you softened your features and let your excitement show with a smile while your hand came up to rest on his wrist.

‘’I was merely telling everyone the news that we were officially together and that-‘’

‘’is it a fair warning on what they might witness us doing?’’

‘’Jesus- even- whatever, anyway what I mean is, it’s a fair heads up that Tony can stop with his shipping whenever he throws a party, Steve can stop worrying about you being around because with us being together, if I trust you, he trusts me and thus, trusts you won’t do anything. Also so that Nat can stop her insistent teasing and innuendos-‘’

Loki cut you off as he presses his lips against yours, firmly and with love at the enjoyment to see how giddy you can get. The hand at your jaw lightens tremendously and moved to run his fingers into your hair at the side of your head, making you tilt your face to the side before he deepens the kiss. His other arm snakes around your waist, pulling you closer against his body before he nips at your bottom lip before pulling away.

He chuckles at your small pout at him stopping, his thumb stroking your cheek as his body relaxes from his unnecessary tension he came in with. ‘’I am pleased that you wish to ease everyone into our relationship, but they’ll see me how they wish, regardless if I am with you or not. Frankly I couldn’t care less, because my only focus is with you. I will treat you nothing less than of a goddess because I know that despite my introduction to this realm, I do not have an ounce in my body or the capability of bringing harm upon you.’’

Your hands grip his shoulders, eyes full of admiration towards the man god before you as your heart flutters in your chest. He shared your smile as you pull him down and press your lips to his again, running a hand through his hair as well that makes him practically growl against your lips, turning his head more into your massaging fingers before you feel him back you up.

Feeling the wall of the elevator against your back now, Loki presses his body against your front while his hands run up and down your sides before a hand joins your side to grip the hand bar, trapping you in the corner. His other hand snakes behind you to grip your ass, the mere feeling of it enough to have his lips press harder onto yours while you hold him close by the straps against his front.

*ding*

By the feeling of the elevator stopping, he slowly pulls away with the dangerous yet familiar mischievous glint in his eyes while he presses his forehead against yours. ‘’..are you in the mood for some mischief darling?’’ he purrs.

Part of you wasn’t sure if it was a sexual innuendo or he wanted you to join in of his little pranks he tried to keep up daily around here. Yet seeing the excitement on his features made you down for either one.. one more so than the other as you laughed and gave a nod.

“I beg you, don’t embarrass me. I already went around trying to hype you up that you’ve changed with your whole mischief thing’’ you lightly tease as he takes hold of your hand while the elevator doors open.

‘’oh darling, I was referring to the other kinds of mischief..’’ he smirks and your eyes suddenly notice his erection.

Please.. please.. please.. 

DM/Comment a song for your own Musical Mischief One Shot :D 

Note: Fan fiction makes Elevator rides longer than they really are LOL

Tag List: @foxherder  @asgards-princess-of-mischief @fire-in-her-veinz

[deanstead]

Safe Space

Pairing: Matt Casey x Reader

Requested: no

Summary: After a bad day, Y/N returns home to her very own safe space.

Word Count: 800+

Tags/Warnings: fluff

A/N: Written for my best girl @seatsbythepit, I hope you like this!

MATT CASEY MASTERLIST

Days like these were the worst.

It was bad enough you’d had to cover for people who weren’t pulling their own weight in the team. But of course, like they said, bad things came in threes. At least it was never just one thing.

Everything that seemed to go wrong, did. Then, there came the finger pointing, the backstabbing, and your boss’ yelling.

You were practically drained by the time the office was emptying out.

Yet, the universe didn’t seem to be ready to let you off for the day.

You’d passed a cafe on your way back, grabbing an ice cream on a whim, hoping that your mood would have improved by the time you saw Matt that evening. You weren’t crazy about ending the day on a less than happy note, and you hated making Matt feel down with you as well.

You’d just taken two steps down the street with the ice cream in your hand when a guy had rushed past, practically crashing into you.

The force sent you stumbling at least three steps backward, and you’d barely managed to stay upright but your ice cream had ended up top down on the street.

“Would you at least watch where you’re going!” The guy yelled.

On any other day you might have ignored him, but you’d had more than enough unreasonable people in your face for the day.

“You bumped into me.” You responded, keeping your voice as even as you could. “And that’s my ice cream you knocked out of my hand.”

The man glared at you, flashing a rude sign at you and muttering about how you were lucky he was in a rush before he continued his way down the street.

That only served to worsen your mood but you headed home anyway, feeling the fatigue of the day start to hit you.

You stood outside the door of the apartment you shared with Matt for just a minute. You weren’t sure if Matt was already home. He wasn’t on shift today but he’d been working on a construction project and hadn’t been sure of his timing.

Just in case, you steadied your emotions as best as you could before you opened the door.

Matt was indeed home, and he heard you the moment the door opened.

“Hey babe!” You heard his voice first, before he appeared before you, leaning in to give you a welcome home kiss. “You’re a little later than usual.”

You smiled back at Matt, feeling your emotions stabilize a little just by seeing him standing in front of you. “Yeah, I just took a little detour to pick up some things.”

Your words sounded lame as you heard them, but even so, you thought you’d handled it pretty well, considering.

Matt, however, seemed to pick up on everything. The look in your eyes, the tone in your voice, or the smile that didn’t fully reach your eyes.

Matt's brows furrowed, just a little. “Y/N?”

You weren’t sure what it was that caused the prick of tears. Maybe it was the soft tone of Matt’s voice, or just the fact that Matt was standing right in front of you.

“Yeah, I’m…” You couldn’t even finish your sentence before Matt pulled you into his arms, your face fitting snugly into his shoulder.

That was all it took before you were a mess, the frustrations of the day seeming to flow out with each tear that soaked into Matt’s shirt.

Matt didn’t ask you anything, merely holding you tight against him.

When your shoulders stopped shaking, Matt spoke, “We’ve got pasta and I can pop out the wine that Kelly brought the last time he was here.”

You smiled through the residual tears. “Sounds perfect.”

That’s how you and Matt ended up on the couch after the meal, the plates forgotten in the dishwasher as you cuddled into his side. The television was on, but you weren’t really paying attention, your head laying on Matt’s chest, close enough that you could hear the regular thump of his heart.

“You want to talk about it?” Matt asked quietly, adjusting the quilt he’d draped over you earlier.

You shrugged but told him anyway, starting to feel a little stupid about your mini meltdown.

“It’s not really a big deal, I don’t know why…”

“Hey.” Matt interrupted you. “If it's a big deal to you, it's a big deal."

You didn’t say anything, merely scooting closer.

Matt’s arm tightened around you. “But I’m glad you know I’m here. No matter what.”

That’s when it hit you, the realization of what had caused the onslaught of tears. The only place you could let go, be yourself and allow your emotions to take over was your safe place.

“Thank you Matt.” You whispered quietly, almost to yourself.

Matt pressed a kiss to the crown of your head. “I love you too.” He responded.

This was indeed your very own safe place - Matthew Casey.

THANK YOU FOR READING!! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF THIS!!

Taglist is open, send me an ask!

If you want to support me, buy me a coffee!

[theloganator101]

An Alastor Fan Rants about one of the Season 2 Leaks

I’m making this as a way to voice my opinions on the whole Alasor and Rosie leak alongside his backstory and just how it doesn’t work… and ruined Alastor as a character in a span of minutes.

So first off! Rosie being the one to own Alastor’s soul! Out of ALL the characters it could’ve been, they chose Rosie. A character who was rather chummy with Al and seemed rather nice, and gave NO hint or implications of this being a possibility. That shows how they just pulled this out of their ass and prove the theorists wrong that it wasn’t Lilith or Roo, both that would’ve made way more sense in terms of story.

And quite honestly, I didn’t really care who it could’ve been as long as the execution was decent enough. But that’s not what they did! And not to mention that the song that follows after Alastor’s backstory, after we learn he’s a poc and whatnot, the song itself feels very… racist and uncomfortable to sit through. How the lyrics are all you’re my pet and you have to do everything I say, like Vivzie… are you actively trying to get people pissed at you? You’re already in deep shit with being accused of being sexist and lazy with research, why you gotta add racism into the mix?

Like, I can ONLY see this working if it results in Alastor and Charlie growing closer together, like Charlie genuinely cares about him and doesn’t treat him like he’s a monster or a pet, to have him realize her kindness and accept it.

Okay, let’s step away from Rosie and talk about Al’s backstory, because it does a HUGE disservice to Alastor and what he’s supposed to be in Hazbin Hotel.

So from what we’ve seen of him before the leaks, he’s shown to be cunning and manipulative. Using his sharp tongue as a weapon and to be able to turn the tides in his favor, he had this air of mystery to him as to why he’s so powerful. So it leaves viewers second guessing as to what he’s gonna do and if he’ll go as far as to backstab the main cast in the process.

… Well FUCK ALL THAT!!

He’s a serial killer just because! No motive or anything, he’s in it for the lols! Oh and he contacted a demon (AKA Rosie) to give him power when he dies so he can continue his reign and all that!

Which… What the actual fuck is this?

This doesn’t sound like Alastor at all! He’s someone who would put in work for the things he wants, not just ask for it on a silver platter! And what about his mom and dad? Are they just not in the picture anymore when they could’ve been used effectively for how he turned out?

And it’s like okay, I can understand if when he did arrive in Hell he tried to rise up but got curb stomped by demons stronger than him and did way worse things than he did. Thus leading him to meeting Rosie and accepting the deal just so he can feel in control again like when he was alive, but this just feels VERY out of character for him!

Usually when a creator has a favorite character they tend to coddle them and give them what they want, so why does it feel like Alastor is getting the short end of the stick this season? Even more so than Charlie!?

It’s just… as someone whose favorite character is Alastor, seeing how things are gonna turn out for him this season is not giving me hope that this season will get better.

[stupidstrawberrystars]

Okay! I have this fic idea. Wolfstar and Jegulus. Ready? 

So, Remus and Sirius have been on/off dating since Hogwarts. They’re currently off and have been for the last year, the longest break they’ve had so far. 

Regulus didn’t go to Hogwarts, and runs into Sirius one day at a cafe and they get to catching up. Regulus and James flirt but, despite prompting from Regulus, James won’t ask him out. 

So once the brothers are vibing, maybe a month after re-meeting, Sirius introduces Regulus to Remus and they hit it off. Platonic Moonwater is living it up.

And then Regulus decides to introduce his friends to his brother and the others. They get along alright(ish) but Remus really hits it off with everyone (mostly…)

So Remus starts hanging out with the Slytherin Skittles more often. 

Say like 2-3 months later and they’re all hanging out (Skittles and Remus) and Barty goes, “I’m the opposite of gullible, I never fall for your shit Regulus” after some conversation about Regulus’ tricks.

And it gives Regulus an idea. 

So later that night when they’re alone, Regulus comes to Remus with said idea. 

There’s a fancy social event happening in like two weeks that Regulus is invited too. And he’s got a plus one. So he suggests Remus and him go as a “couple“ to prank Barty. And Regulus isn’t supposed to know Barty will be there (you can thank Evan for telling him) so it’ll seem like Remus and Regulus are just trying to get away from everyone and be together in secret. 

Remus is in since he’s been finding Barty a bit annoying and wants to prove that he is gullible. Plus he’s doubting Sirius intent behind his recent flirting with Remus and he could use a fun night out to distract himself. 

So they go. They go and they trick Barty so fast it’s laughable… but Regulus has been weird all night. He keeps sneaking glances at the door to the big fancy room they’re in, and 30 minutes ago he asked Remus if it’d be alright if they kissed to fuck with his homophobic boss who’s here… except they still haven’t done it? And Regulus isn’t super touchy.

Just when Remus is about to ask what’s going on, Regulus turns to him and announces they must kiss. And they do.

It’s alright. Regulus makes some joke about Sirius’ pining making more sense now he knows what a good kisser Remus is. And Remus doesn’t even get to ask about the “pining” because from the other side of the room, a very familiar voice yells “WHAT THE FUCK?”

And then Sirius and James are stood in front of Remus and Regulus.  

Oh. That’s why he’s been watching the door. Regulus knew Barty would tell James, to be a pain, and that these two would come here and see their kiss and then, what? Beg for them back? 

Regulus played Remus. The genius.

Anyway, Sirius starts talking, contradicting himself every next sentences, going from saying he’s happy for them and doesn’t want to lose them, to calling them names and accusing Regulus of backstabbing him. Then he leaves. James whispers, “I should’ve asked sooner Reg. Taken my head out my arse. I’m sorry.” And follows Sirius. Clearly Barty told them what they told him. They’ve “been together” for two months.  James and Sirius both thought him and Regulus were an actual real couple. 

Remus freezes for a moment but then he heads to the exit to follow them, Regulus close behind. And Remus shoots him a look. An annoyed one.

So they get outside and before Sirius and James can get in a taxi, Reg yells “WE’RE NOT DATING YOU DICKS!” 

Sirius turns around and silently walks over to Regulus with the most murderous look on his face. And whispers “What?”

Then Remus decides to interject, “We’re not dating. For the record though, we could. You two have been fucking hopeless at communicating with us. Hell, we’ve been broken up over a year Sirius.”

And Sirius turns to Remus, and with a slightly raised but wobbly voice, he answers, “We’ve been on and off again since we started dating Remus. We weren’t supposed to end on OFF. I still have the fucking ring I was going to give you before you broke up with me, it’s in the corner of my room. And while you’ve been kissing my brother, I’ve been planning a big gesture to ask you out again for months. Fuck, I was going to do it next week. The anniversary of when we met.” 

(btw Remus broke up with Sirius but because Sirius was pulling away and they weren’t talking. They’re at equal fault but where Remus has been trying to talk, Sirius has been brushing it off and just flirting). 

But long story short, Remus kisses Sirius and they’re all happy again. Oh and they agree to get some couples therapy. Cause that’s always important. 

Then James makes his cutesy speech, going all, “I should’ve gotten over myself sooner” and “I wanted to make it perfect” and “I thought maybe you didn’t actually like me and just liked out flirting thingy” and, after some torture from Regulus, pretending to say no, they hook up too.

And everyone’s happy :) 

[oceanbug]

when worlds collide

smau non!idol ningning x reader

17. anxiety.

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"Are you going to fucking stare at me all day, or are you going to start speaking?"

Ah, that’s what Aeri meant by "you’ll know."

You start to clear your throat and formulate your thoughts. While you think, Giselle starts the conversation.

"Y/n and I aren’t dating." Oh! Okay! I guess that’s how we’re starting things.

"Ugh, Obviously. You two barely know each other?"

"Don’t act like you knew already, Ning; weren’t you the one who ran away crying?" That didn’t take very long for the conversation to go south. You weren’t going to let this meeting go to waste, so you tried to regain control of the conversation.

"Okay! Let’s just calm down a bit. How about we start off with a positive conversation? I’ll start. Ningning, I’m sorry if you felt offended or betrayed in any way by me hanging out with Giselle. It wasn’t my intention. There, now, does anyone else want to give it a try?" Both parties at the table remained silent. Ningning had an angry scowl, while Giselle was smiling brightly.

"Apology accepted? Is that what you want me to say? Listen, it doesn’t matter what I think anyway; in a week we’ll go back to being strangers. Unfortunately, I’ll be stuck with this obsessive stalker for life, but you and I, Y/N,  won’t stay in contact." Ouch. It was obvious that you and Ningning didn’t have the same social circle, and you definitely didn’t plan on staying close to her after the presentation, but did she have to be so rude about it?

"You know, I am curious about one thing, though. How did someone like you end up in contact with someone like you?" She meant Giselle when referring to it, and you knew that. You gave Aeri an apologetic look, and she just returned a bright smile. I guess it didn’t phase her; I mean, she has dealt with Ningning for years.

"I messaged her on Twitter. I felt like we had something in common and could be friends."

"In common? What being backstabbing bitches? Aw, the BB club, cute!"

"Nah, being framed for being buddy buddy with your boy toy."

"Okay! Things seem to be getting out of hand." Like usual, you’re cut off by Ninging.

"How dare you? You’re still lying after all these years? When are you just going to own up to being a slut? It’s getting pathetic. How many times do I have to tell you that Wonyoung told me what you did? Yeonjun even admitted to it."

"How many times do I have to tell you she’s lying?"

"Give me one good reason Wonyoung would lie about that. She’s my best friend."

"So was I. So, why didn’t you believe me?" The room was silent. Ningning's face softened, while Giselle's bright smile faded. You awkwardly cleared your throat and began to speak. Might as well get your thoughts out now before you get cut off again.

"I know you have no reason to trust Giselle or me. I get it. But what if we could prove it to you? Prove that Giselle’s innocent."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"Well, in this story, the only people involved are you, Giselle, Wonyoung, and Yeonjun. We’ve gotten 1/4 sides of the story. If you tell us your side of things, we'll already have half of the story together. If we can just get the other half, I’m sure we’ll be able to prove Giselle right."

"What does it matter if I tell you my perspective? It'll just be the same as Wony's since she told me about the cheating. Go ahead, chat it up with Wonyoung and Yeonjun. Why should I stop you? Why even tell me your plan in the first place?" Ningning began packing her things and signaled to her driver that she was ready to go.

Giselle rolled her eyes and responded.

"Ning, you know getting to Wonyoung isn’t going to be easy. We’ll need your help. Please. Just tell us, what did Wonyoung tell you?"

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masterlist ~ next

(Synopsis) Y/N had never been the type to take life for granted. You grew up with the mindset that if you wanted something, you had to work for it; So getting paired up with the university’s “Rich Bitch” Ning Yi Zhuo for your midterm was the last thing you wanted. Are you willing to step into the world of fame for an A+?

taglist (open): @azraism ; @kimsgayness ; @sewiouslyz ; @winieter ; @llluvbluy ; @i06kkura ; @everydayiloveyves ; @edamboon ; @rdfgfv

[wuxiaphoenix]

Worldbuilding: Succession Problems

AKA one of the reasons the United States started as, and remains, one of the weirdest countries in the world.

Long story short: When you have a power structure with someone in charge, who takes over from that person in charge, when, and how?

For as long as there have been humans, we’ve been trying out different answers to those questions. Most of those answers have involved inheriting the position; either direct descent, or the most direct descent the culture recognizes. For example, in matrilineal groups the most closely related heir to a guy is not his own son, but his sister’s son.

(No, matrilineal does not mean matriarchal. It only means the culture recognizes that it’s really hard to miss who gave birth to a child, while who fathered the child might be a matter of dispute.)

The problem with inheriting a position... well, there are plenty of problems. First, the kid might not have the combination of smarts and personality that made his (and it’s usually his) predecessor effective. Second, if war, death, accidents, or assassination attempts happen, the kid might not be old enough to take over. This tends to lead to regents, and we have all kinds of stories and histories about how that goes. Tokugawa Ieyasu was supposed to be one of the regents for the Toyotomi heir. That ended badly.

Third... well. What if there’s more than one potential heir? Yeah that gets messy real fast. Just look at the whole history of the Ottoman Empire with the sons of the harem. I mean, if you want to. Being stuck in that court as a noble hostage is what gave Vlad Dracula his charming personality, which should be enough warning for anyone.

Fourth, what if there’s no potential heir? Various Chinese empires tried to short-circuit political dealings and court infighting by making officials eunuchs, so they had no heirs to gather power for. That... did not work either. Historically, it seems to have made the infighting even more vicious and the bureaucracy ever more entrenched. There are multiple reasons most of those dynasties tend to end with burning the official books (and often the officials) of the previous regime.

We’ve tried other ways. Councils, town meetings, democracy... that last one, if it’s direct democracy, is incredibly dangerous. The majority gets what it wants, and that is not good if you’re in the minority and have... well, anything. It’s a bare breath away from mob rule, and that turns deadly very easily.

The only thing that seems to work, most of the time, is creating offices that people do not hold for life, where the majority of people affected by that office choose whoever’s going to hold that office.

This doesn’t cut down on the politics, the wheeling and dealing, or the potential for backstabbing. What it does do is take the lethal pressure off. You know going in that you’ll only hold that office for X number of years. And then you can leave, and no one will kill you because you’re not in power anymore. On the flipside, if someone beats you at the polls? You don’t haul off and order him assassinated. You just wait. And lay groundwork for another run when his term’s up.

Weird. Unheard of. Absolutely not what our still-geared-toward-tribal-life instincts expect. A democratic republic is very, very hard to pull off. And messy, even when it works. Maybe especially when it works.

How do cultures in your world solve the succession problem?

[xxnashiraxx]

(Teaser) Chapter 4: Behind a Broken Frame

Hi everyone!! Here's a teaser for tomorrow's chapter of With Stars to Fill My Dream 🖤 (and another screenshot of my girl)

“Damnable roach. Provoke the blade,” He punctuates his words with a stab as the goblin falls limp. “And suffer its sting.” He shoves the goblin’s body down into the fray, setting off the powder keg that leads into a full skirmish in front of the gate. “That was pretty cool,” Ofelia whistles and Astarion rolls his eyes. “Please. With an entrance like that, he’s sure to get himself killed. All those showy types usually do,” She stares at him incredulously, either in disagreement or for some other reason. As she begins to rise, Astarion grabs her arm, keeping her in place. “What are you doing?” He hisses. “We’ve obviously got to help them! They’re clearly outnumbered- we can help balance the fight a little.” He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. “You don’t stand a chance against half of those enemies, least of all the bugbear, and I’d rather not drag around dead weight while trying to stay alive.” She flinches and jerks her arm away from him before narrowing her eyes. Great. “I did just fine on the nautiloid, thank you very much. I have a crossbow, I’ll hang back-” “And what? Let Lae’zel take an arrow for you? Shadowheart? The wizard?” At his words, her eyes flare in anger and he instinctively leans back, somewhat pleased he’d drawn such a reaction out of her. Before she’s able to speak, Lae’zel cuts her off. “The teeth-lings before mentioned seeing githyanki. This appears to be their encampment- let us do battle and get inside. I would like to question them.” Lae’zel stands, forcing them to join the fray as they’ve now been spotted by the man above the gate. “Get behind me, Ofelia,” Shadowheart motions slightly and Ofelia nods, shooting a look of distaste at Astarion. He scoffs and turns away, focusing on the battlefield as he creeps up the hill and backstabs a goblin archer on the rocky outcropping above them. Lae’zel takes the bugbear by surprise, her sword catching against its right flank just as it’s about to bring its club down on the adventurer group’s ranged attacker. It bellows in pain as it whirls on her, and Shadowheart utters the incantation for Shield of Faith to help lessen the impact of its weapon against Lae’zel’s sword. As Astarion’s eyes track the impromptu battlefield, searching for his next target, he sees Gale send a puddle of acid off towards the warg and cold realization dawns over him. Ofelia isn’t anywhere- not behind Shadowheart, like the cleric had instructed, nor beside Gale or near Lae’zel. Where could she have gone? Idiot. “You gonna take out that goblin or what?” He nearly jumps out of his skin at the soft voice in his ear, turning to see her eyes flare with satisfaction. “What in the hells are you doing up here?” He whisper-shouts, watching her lean back. “I figured I'd be better off trying to take some potshots from up high. I’ll die if any of those things try to stab me.” Her voice is steady, but her gaze darts around the clashing weapons and cries below with an undercurrent of wariness. “I’m better at sneaking around if scaring the shit out of you is a good enough tell.” There’s that smug grin again and he sneers at her, unwilling to yield.

[secretsandpurplethoughtss]

Candy's / Ysaline's Backstory

I decided to write a story based on what we already know about our Candy in MCL New Gen. I obviously took some creative liberties and I am imaginaing this to be my Candy's story, but I hope you guys like it. As the game goes on I might turn this into a full on fanfic! :)

Enjoy:

I studied journalism at university, because writing is truly my passion and I’ve always wanted to become a writer, a journalist. Following said dream, I moved to Spokane after graduation to work at my dream company as a “Staff Writer and Analytical Assistant”. EPMC had its headquarters in Los Angeles, but they were a huge company and so they had a couple of offices around the U.S. I always thought that EPMC seemed fun and lively, but I realized on my first day already that it was all just an appearance to please the readers, the content consumers, its customers. The company was cold, and it was extremely competitive – something I wouldn’t necessarily mind normally, but I was raised to believe that competitions should be fair and honest. At EPMC, backstabbing and sabotage was not just allowed but encouraged.

The only person I trusted at the company was my boss. It felt like we pretty much had the same values and he always voiced to me how “he hated the atmosphere in the office” and how “barbaric these competitions were”. Because I felt lonely and most of my days were filled with fights with colleagues I couldn’t stand, I was a more than frequent visitor in my boss’ office. We’ve became friends and soon… more. I should have known that dating my boss would bite me in the ass, but he seemed like such a great guy, and I was so lonely and desperate for kindness and companionship. Not to mention that I upkept the “happy façade” to my friends and family, because I didn’t want them to worry about me. My boss, my boyfriend was the only person I could confide in. My colleagues soon caught onto the fact that we were dating, but I didn’t really care about them gossiping about me. Even before my boss and I got together they would gossip and try to make me feel bad just for existing in the same space as them, so… it didn’t really matter. I was happy with him; at the time he might have been my only source of happiness.

That and my weekends where I ventured out into the city to explore it – museums, coffee shops, hikes. I liked the city: Spokane was breathtaking.

Things started to go even more downhill one day however, when I was in the office of my boyfriend waiting for him to return from a meeting. We were scheduled to discuss the analytics of the EPMC website, but his meeting was running late. He left his phone on his desk, and it kept buzzing, buzzing, and buzzing. It was unusual for him to forget about his phone and although he did get a lot of texts – the company didn’t provide us with separate work phones, so his phone was always going off, my mind went to darker places. What if his phone wasn’t buzzing itself practically off the table because a lot of people emailed him, but because there was an emergency? What if something happened with his family?

I was an overthinker and so my panicked thoughts led me to picking up his phone. I couldn’t see the texts he was receiving since they only showed themselves through face ID, but I could see the name of the person who sent them – “my love”.

My heart skipped several beats, before I put the phone back on the table. Could “my love” be anyone else besides a lover? No… he was cheating on me.

Soon, after I came to the shocking realization that he was unfaithful, he came back to his office, and he acted like everything was normal. Like he wasn’t a cheater. He gave me a kiss on my cheek and started apologizing for being late, cracking jokes and laughing at them.

I knew I needed to confront him, but I questioned myself – what if I was somehow wrong? What if he wasn’t cheating? I went on, telling him about the analytics and at the end of my presentation he commented on my “strange behavior”. I just lied about having a headache and left his office shortly after. At my cubicle I was bombarded with mean comments by my colleagues (as always), telling me how “I was sleeping my way to the top”. Usually, I didn’t give any attention to these comments, but that day I did. And then someone called me “a dirty mistress”.

“I’m a mistress?”, I asked the colleague that called me that word with genuine confusion. “Why would I be a mistress?”

“Are you really that stupid?”, he lifted an eyebrow.

I truly didn’t know what he was getting at.

“Wait, NO! DON’T TELL ME! HAHAHAHA!”, he started laughing and kept calling attention to himself. “She doesn’t know guys! She really doesn’t know!”

Other people caught on and started laughing with him and kept giving me certain looks. Their behavior always reminded me of high school or those nightmares where I was naked and people pointed at me, all while also ridiculing me.

“What are you talking about?” Anger was boiling inside me, but I knew that giving them what they wanted, an angry reaction, wouldn’t benefit me at all. Plus, then they’d win.

“He is married! You’re his mistress, his side peace. He doesn’t wear his ring at work but come on! Did you really not know?”, the guy finally explained with tears in his eyes from laughter.  

My entire world shattered in that moment. They were liars, they were jealous, they were competitive assholes, but I knew they were telling the truth just for once. It would explain why I never stayed at my boyfriend’s place after all these months (he said that they were doing construction at his place and that he was currently staying at some hotel), why he had someone in his phone under the name of “my love” and why I barely met anyone from his private life. He wasn’t really unfaithful to me; he was truly unfaithful to his wife. I was the other woman, not the woman in his phone named “my love”.

All the frustration inside me just broke loose – I hated my job; I hated my colleagues, and I hated my boyfriend for being a lying, cheating bastard. I got up from my desk and marched straight into his office, determined to break up with him, to let everything out. He was on the phone, but when our eyes met, he quickly ended the conversation. I closed the door behind me – quiet forcefully – and started chewing him out.

Normally, I wouldn’t let myself get so off the rails, as I always tried to rail in my negative emotions, to have some kind of control over myself, but I’ve been through hell ever since I walked inside EPMC building on my first day of work. He was the only one I trusted, the only one who made me happy in Spokane and he wasn’t even the person I thought he was. I quit right then and there and packed up my desk on the same day. I threw every gift, every memory of him and I in the trash, when I got home and called my mother, telling her, crying to her about the whole thing.

“Come home, baby. Just come home! We’ll work this out, I promise!”

So, I did. After that phone call, I put on some music and packed all my things. I started to re-assemble all my furniture, despite my inability to be handy. I blocked all my previous colleagues’ and my ex’s phone number, and I booked a ticket to Seattle for the next day. I was exhausted and I was in pain – all I needed was my mom and my sometimes-annoying little sister.

Seven hours later, my apartment looked just like the way it did when I moved in almost a year ago. My entire life was in boxes and in a couple of hours, movers would come around to get all my things. Almost all my furniture would go to a storage unit, and I’ll sell them on Facebook Marketplace as cheap and as soon as possible – I didn’t want to own the things he touched, where memories with him and his bittersweet-lies would always hunt me.

This new chapter of my life closed too soon. Not even an entire year did I live in this apartment, in Spokane and worked at EPMC. This was not at all how I imagined it to go: I was mentally drained and heartbroken. My dreams shattered and now I was left with anger and embarrassment. Despite all of this I tried my best to look at the bright side of things. I missed mom, I missed Tasha, Taki and I missed Seattle, so going home would be good. I would start therapy again – My God, I so was desperate to message my therapist this entire time, but because I moved and felt confident in myself, I broke it off with her before I moved to Spokane.  So maybe, when I focused on all these things this will be good – I’d find a good place to work, would spend some desperately needed time with my family (maybe even dad).

A new start. A fresh start. Truly, what are your twenties for if not that, right?

With a sad and somewhat forced smile on my face I closed the door of my apartment one last time.

I would focus on the positive from now on. It’ll all be okay… this is just a new chapter in my life.

I will welcome it with open arms.

[thetravelerwrites]

The Hunt (DuMont)

Rating: Explicit  Relationship: Female Elf/Male Tiefling/Female Tiefling Additional Tags: Exophilia, Tiefling, Elf, D&D, Dungeons & Dragons, Sex, Biting, Marking, Group Sex, Dom, Size Difference  Words: 5228

Enania includes Kharis in The Hunt, a special event where DuMont gets to let loose and follow his instincts. Please reblog and leave feedback!

“I don’t know about this, all of a sudden,” Kharis said, hoisting the pack higher onto her back. 

“This was your idea!” Enania shot back, tightening the straps of her own. “As soon as you heard about the hunt, you immediately begged to join the next one! You can’t back out now, we’ve already left the group!” 

“I know, but I don’t know the first thing about camping or survival!” Kharis said, wearing new hiking clothes and a pair of sturdy boots. She had thankfully forgone wearing the normal flowy gowns she preferred to wear around her wings and tail. She liked unrestricted movement. “I’m a city girl, I’ve never been in the great outdoors before. I’m completely out of my element. I don’t know what I’m doing!”

“Well, I do, so quit your bellyaching,” Enania replied. “We’ve only got a day’s head start, and we’re going to need every second of it. DuMont is relentless when he gets into a hunting headspace, so we need to be just as relentless if we want to try to beat him to the summit.” 

“Why do we want to beat him?” Kharis asked. “Since when was this a competition?” 

“Trust me, it’s not,” Enania said. “We were never going to win against DuMont, but the chase is the part he likes the most. We have to give it our all or he won’t have any fun. Plus, the big guy likes to cheer us on, in his own way. If we were, by some miracle, able to reach the summit first, he’d be even happier than we would be, I’d wager.” 

Kharis smirked in a fond way. “He has seemed kind of down lately. I wonder why.” 

“It’s the anniversary of his foster father’s death,” Enania informed her. “The first anniversary, in fact. I knew it was going to be a rough day for him, so I suggested a hunt to take his mind off things. I was surprised he agreed.”

“Hm,” Kharis said. “Strange. I wonder what it’s like to feel close to family. Never experienced it.” 

“Likewise,” Enania said with a sigh. 

“What about your brother? Weren’t you close with him?” 

“My brother was much older than me, more than ten years older. We got along better than anyone else in my family, but we were too far apart in age to have anything in common. Our relationship was good because it was surface level. I suppose that’s why: we didn’t know each other well enough to hate each other.” 

Enania’s older brother and eldest sibling, the former crown prince Heron, ran away several years ago after expressing that he had no desire to ascend the throne. He was declared officially exiled from the capital as punishment for his desertion, not that he would have cared, and was believed by most to be dead. He, like Enania after him, had grown bored of political intrigue and tired of the bloody backstabbing between the many warring factions of court, all desperate to put the puppet they supported in power in the effort to keep power for themselves. 

Kharis had been desperately in love with Enania’s brother before he left, and though she said she was over him now, Enania couldn’t help but notice the wistful glitter in Kharis’s eye whenever he was brought up.

“I see,” Kharis said, looking thoughtful. “I didn’t have any siblings to either fight with or get along with, sadly. Considering how much my parents hate each other, it’s kind of a miracle I exist at all. I couldn’t possibly be a worse mother than my own was, that’s for certain. Maybe we could make better families for ourselves, now that we’re away from court.” 

“Speak for yourself,” Enania said with a derisive snort. “I’m having way too much fun to settle down and start popping out kids. Honestly, I don’t know if I’d be any better of a parent than my own were, and I doubt I’ll ever be in a mood to find out.” 

“Yeah…” Kharis said distantly. “But… a real family could be nice. Maybe. Being loved could be nice.” 

Enania looked at Kharis and smiled sadly. “It is. I hope you get to find out one day.” 

Kharis blew a dry laugh through her nose. “Me too.” 

Enania took Kharis’s hand, and together, the two of them entered the treeline, making their way toward the summit. 

DuMont stepped into the forest, tamping down every sense besides smell, and lowered his head to the forest floor. His quarry had come through this path, no doubt, but it had detoured off the trodden path into the overgrown brush. If DuMont could have smiled, he would have. They were going easy on him to start, it seemed. Well, he’d have to teach them a firm lesson about underestimating him, then, wouldn’t he? 

Crouching, he launched himself into the greenery, disappearing among the trees.

Part of the reason Enania had agreed to take Kharis on this hunting expedition was to teach her some survival skills so she could manage if she got separated from the group. As the moments passed, however, Enania was growing more and more concerned about Kharis’s ability to survive on her own in the wild. In less than an hour, she had tripped over nothing twice, almost accidentally eaten poisonous mushrooms, having mistook them for edible ones, and had come close to knocking down a low-hanging beehive with her long tail. It didn’t help that her tiny wings, an artifact that alluded to possible fae heritage deep in her genes, dropped magical fireflower seeds that bloomed and wilted within seconds of touching the ground, leaving a trail that was both visible and detectable through smell. 

Stealth was not going to work. They were going to have to rely on speed instead.

“I need a break!” Kharis said, huffing a large breath and setting down her pack. 

“Kharis, come on, we don’t have time for this!” Enania said, looking over her shoulder at the underbrush. “We’ve already wasted too much time! Our head start was over two hours ago!” 

“Do you really think he can cover that much ground in two hours?” Kharis said, sitting on a tree stump and pulling a canteen from her hip. 

“Are you kidding me?” Enania said. “I’m surprised he hasn’t caught us already!” She shook her head at Kharis. “I love you, babe, but you are not suited to this kind of thing at all. I don’t know how we’re supposed to take you on quests or into dungeons.” .

“I volunteer to be the party treasurer,” She said, holding up her hand as she took a large gulp of water from the canteen. 

“You’re gonna have to fight Norman for it, but sure,” Enania said.

Kharis sighed and closed her eyes, letting her head fall back. 

“Do you think I should take up juggling?” She asked Enania. “Maybe I can make money as an entertainer instead of an adventurer.”

Enania didn’t answer, and Kharis opened her eyes to find that she wasn’t there. She was instead sitting on a stump by herself, surrounded by the tall trees. Panicked, she got to her feet and spun, looking for her friend. 

She heard a sudden moaning and followed the sound, coming around a particularly large tree to see that Enania was on her hands and knees, her face pressed into the grass, her eyes half-lidded and her mouth open, a giant smile plastered across her face as if she were the happiest she’d ever been. Her clothes were in tatters, the pieces of it strewn around her body. Kneeling behind her, holding her down with bits of Enania’s clothes in his teeth, was DuMont, his jaws open and drooling, fucking her mercilessly. 

Before she could move, DuMont’s tongue lashed out like a whip and wrapped itself around her ankle, pulling her legs out from under her and dragging her toward him. A momentary panic gripped her until she remembered why she was here, and then she gave over to it and submitted to the experience. 

With one giant hand, DuMont picked her up and pushed her against a tree, not necessarily roughly but certainly not gently. With his hips still pistoning against Enania’s body, DuMont lifted his head and used his teeth to rip out the crotch of her pants. Whimpering with both anticipation and a hint of fear, Kharis spread her legs wide, resting her feet on his horns. DuMont’s long, long tongue slithered out of his mouth and licked a clean stripe from her back to front. She moaned at the sudden sensation, her head hitting the tree behind her. His tongue entered her, thrusting in time with his thrusts into Enania. The moaning from both women shook the birds out of the trees. 

Enania came once: Kharis could tell from the pitch and frequency of her moaning–and also by the swearing–but DuMont did not stop, his pace relentless. She came a second time, and then a third, before DuMont arched his back and roared, his tongue still embedded inside of Kharis. Ribbons of his seed splurted out of Enania, over and over. Kharis came after they were done, drenching her thighs in her cum, and DuMont withdrew his tongue, setting her back on her feet, although she fell to the ground, since her legs had no feeling in them. She rolled onto her back and gulped air. 

DuMont sat back on his haunches, now out of his hunting space and meekly watching the women recover, before setting up camp while they were starfished on the ground. 

“Are we resting already?” Enania asked, heaving breaths. “It’s not even midday yet.”

“Are you really in any state to keep going?” Kharis asked sardonically, sitting up and brushing the dirt and leaves out of her hair. 

Enania groaned, rubbing her legs as if to get the feeling back. “Shut your face.” 

“I’m hungry anyway,” Kharis said, standing and helping DuMont lay out the stones to build a fire. “That took it out of me.” 

“You gotta build up some stamina, otherwise you’ll never survive this week,” Enania said, finally sitting up and watching Kharis and DuMont set up. 

“Big talk for someone who’s basically naked right now,” Kharis retorted. 

“Hey, you’re not much better, you know,” Enania shot back, standing up and wandering drunkenly toward her pack. 

“At least my tits aren’t out,” Kharis said.

“Pfft, that just means I got more out of it than you,” Enania insisted, stripping off what remained of her clothing and digging around to find replacements while completely nude. 

“I shall go get lunch for us,” DuMont said abruptly, and sauntered off into the woods, looking for prey. 

“He really likes hunting, huh?” Kharis asked. 

“He really likes hunting,” Enania said. “I guess it’s partly his nature and partly being locked up his entire life. I wish I had known it sooner, we could have had so much fun.” 

“You’re a pervert,” Kharis mused with a laugh. 

“Hey, you’re right here next to me, what does that say about you?” 

“That I’m a follower, clearly,” She said. Enania snorted. 

Shortly, DuMont returned carrying a wild pig on his shoulder. 

“At least we know we’ll never starve with this big lug around,” Kharis said, impressed. “He wasn’t even gone five minutes.” 

“Yeah, we’ll always be good on food as long as he stays healthy and we have access to the forest,” Enania agreed. “Our food budget is pretty low. Which is great, because he eats like a bear.” 

“Can you blame him? Look at the size of him,” Kharis said, gesturing at him. “Can you even imagine how much energy he burns by just breathing?” 

“I know how much he burns by fucking,” Enania said. “I’ve done plenty of research on it.”

“You’re a pervert,” Kharis repeated.

“Yes, that’s been well established.” 

DuMont made quick work of gutting the pig and butchering it, and had it roasting on a spit while the girls drooled. He kept gently knocking their hands away as they tried to sneak a piece or two off of the spit. Once it was done, he cut the girls generous portions before inhaling the rest himself as if it were fresh mountain air.

Finally fed and suddenly exhausted, all three of them fell asleep. However, Kharis was shaken awake sometime just before nightfall by Enania. The sky was pink and purple, and she couldn’t see any beams of sunlight through the trees. 

“Shh!” Enania said. “He drank an entire bottle of whiskey, so he’s a little buzzed and sleeping pretty hard, but he’ll wake up soon. We gotta get going now.” 

“But he caught us,” Kharis said, getting her things together. 

Enania snorted, and then held a hand over her mouth, glancing at DuMont, who was curled up like a puppy, sleeping. 

“So what? It doesn’t stop just because we got caught, you quitter. The hunt is still going. It goes until we reach the summit, no matter how many times we get caught.” 

“Oh, gods, I’m gonna need a month to recover after this,” Kharis said, groaning. 

“Don’t worry,” Enania said quietly as they stalked into the brush. “DuMont will take very good care of us when this is over. Very good care.”

“The way you said that does not make me feel very confident that I’ll recover at all,” Kharis grumbled. 

“Let’s just get going,” Enania said. 

“But I’m hungry,” Kharis said, her stomach grumbling. 

“Don’t whine,” Enania said. “I’ll teach you how to forage if it kills me. We may not always have DuMont hunting wild pigs for our convenience, and we shouldn’t expect him to, either, so we need to know how to do it ourselves. Do you still have your daggers?” 

“Yeah,” Kharis said, reaching into her pack and taking out a belt with throwing daggers on it. “I don’t know why you insisted I get these. I’m hopeless at hand to hand.” 

“You won’t be using it for that,” Enania said. “The best you can hope for at your size is defensive or ranged weapons. If you could wield a bow, that would be even better, but that attempt ended badly. I don’t know if Sanoh will ever really forgive you for ruining her favorite veil, but what can you do?” She gestured to the daggers. “ I can teach you to hunt small game with those. Hopefully.” She looked up at the darkening sky and crinkled her forehead. “We’ll have to table that for now, though. I can’t teach you much while we’re moving in the dark. Let’s go, and keep your eyes open, will you? You’ve got better dark vision than me.” 

Kharis snickered. “All those trees running up to hit you in the face and all.” 

“Hey, it’s not my fault I’m mildly colorblind. It’s the trees’ fault for being a weird color in the dark.” 

“Sure, sure,” Kharis said, strapping the belt to her waist.

Another day of travel brought them to the base of the mountain they’d be climbing. It wasn’t a large mountain; climbing it would only take a day or so to an experienced climber, which in fairness, neither of them were. It was specifically chosen for how easy it was to traverse. 

Knowing the climb would slow them down, they wasted no time in starting the hike, looking behind them for any signs of DuMont. He needed less sleep than his companions, so they both knew he was hot on their heels already. He’d always give them a full day simply out of courtesy and love of the hunt. He was very aware that nearly every normal bipedal person of humanoid size was at a disadvantage against him, and he adjusted accordingly.

“I hate climbing!” Kharis yelled around dusk. The shadows were cast long on the floor of the forest, and Kharis was praying they would make camp soon. 

“Shh!” Enania replied, looking around. “There’s a cave just ahead. We can scout it and take a break there if it’s clear.” 

“Thank the gods,” Kharis groaned, though she balked at the word break . “I almost regret suggesting this.” 

“Almost,” Enania said with a grin. “Keep your voice down when we get inside. The cave will amplify our voices. And don’t light a fire. Oh!” Enania pointed into the distance. Kharis saw a small dog, possibly a farm dog from the village to the west, poking around the underbrush. She crouched down and clicked her tongue, beckoning the dog toward her. Reaching into her pack, she took out a biscuit and offered it to the dog. The dog came close and took the biscuit from her hand, and while he was munching on it, Enania took a tiny bottle from her pocket and used a small amount of twine to affix the bottle around the dog’s neck. Then, she took another biscuit from her pack and threw it pretty far. The dog bolted, and Enania stood back up, smiling. 

“That was my perfume,” Enania said. “It’ll buy us time.” 

“Smart,” Kharis said, and pulled Enania’s sleeve. “Let’s get to the cave. My legs feel like jelly.” 

Inside, they both sat down, let go of their packs, and stretched out on the ground, letting the coolness of the rock ease their tense muscles. 

“Let’s go ahead and get a snack in while we’re resting,” Enania said, sitting up. “We’re gonna need it to get up this mountain.” 

“Fine by me,” Kharis said, sitting up as well. “I could go for a pastry right now. I want something sweet so badly. I almost miss living in my mansion. At least then, I could eat whatever I wanted and didn’t have to subsist on jerky and trail mix.”

“You like trail mix,” Enania insisted. 

“Well, sure, as a novelty, but not every day,” She rebutted. 

“Stop complaining, we’ll get you a nice feast once we regroup with the others,” Enania promised. “Get you some donuts and some cinnamon rolls…” 

“Stop it, I’m starving!” Kharis cried. 

“Don’t be a baby. We’ll reach the summit by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, and it’ll be much easier getting down the mountain than it was going up. DuMont may even let you ride on his shoulders all the way down.”

“Ugh, that would be great, my legs are going to fall off.” 

A growling sound issued from the deepest part of the cave, and the two turned to look. They recognized the sound: no bear, no wildcat, no wolf sounded like that. They knew exactly who that growl belonged to. 

“Enania…” Kharis asked. “Is there another entrance to this cave?” 

“I don’t know…” She replied, hastily snatching up her gear. “Go, go!” 

Kharis stood just in time to see a red blur blow past her and skid to a stop near Enania, kicking up the dust from the stone floor. DuMont towered over Enania with a rope in his hand, deftly tying Enania up and flipping her over, ripping at her clothes again. She seemed delighted by the prospect, but that was all Kharis saw before she turned, abandoning her own gear, and ran out of the cave and down the slope. She had to admit, as much as she hated the climb, the chase was exhilarating. She could do this part of the hunt all day long.

He must have been occupied with Enania, since he hadn’t chased after Kharis, but she knew that wouldn’t last long. Outrunning him was impossible, but hiding and evading could be an option. Being light and on the short side, only 4 foot 11, she could shimmy up a tree pretty well and leap from branch to branch, using her tail as a counterbalance. DuMont, with his massive size and height, being over nine feet, and possessing no tail to help him, would be at a disadvantage up in the branches.

Climbing like a spider up the side of a tree, she climbed as high as she felt comfortable doing, which was pretty high, cloaked herself in the leaves, grateful that she had worn a more neutral colored outfit for the hike. It would only be a matter of time before he caught her scent and nabbed her, but the camouflage would help. 

At some point, though, she started to grow bored, wondering what was keeping him. As she was contemplating coming down to check on them, she felt herself being snatched out of her perch and falling, in the arms of a giant red tiefling. 

“How?!” She asked incredulously. “I didn’t even hear you!” 

DuMont didn’t answer, still in his hunting space. He pinned her to the ground, swiping her pants and undergarments off in one fluid motion, and entering her slowly despite snarling and struggling to keep himself still. He was so large that she could feel him in all corners over her body. Pleasure burst through her body as she moaned. He sped up, his tongue finding its way into her shirt to tease her nipples. His wide, lidless eyes wild and intense, staring down at her as he salivated, breathing heavily with each thrust inside of her.

“Oh, fuck, harder,” She gasped, and he obliged, ramming into her hard enough to sting but not enough to really injure her. She hissed in a breath, her brow furrowing and her mouth open as he slammed into her over and over. Her moaning echoed throughout the trees as he railed her on the forest floor… until she felt something fall into her eyes, immediately stinging the left one. 

“Ow, ow!” She cried out, pulling away from DuMont and cradling her face.

“Let me see it,” He said, instantly out of the hunting space. DuMont took his role as the protector of the group very seriously, especially when it concerned any of the girls, and any injury they sustained was enough to pull him out of any rage or aggressive headspace he may have been in. Enania loved to talk about him like a guard dog, but in reality, he was the biggest puppy that ever lived. 

He gently lifted her hands away from her face and studied her eye. 

“You’ve got something in there,” He said. “It looks like a piece of bark.”

“Can you get it out?” She said plaintively. “It really hurts!” 

“Be still, please,” He said, carefully using the smooth side of his claw to gingerly nudge the bark out. Using his canteen that hung from his belt, which again caused her to wonder how he’d managed to sneak up on her, he poured water into the eye to clean it of any remaining debris. 

Now that her eye was better and the mood had clearly been ruined, she pulled her clothes back on and DuMont allowed her to climb on his back so that she didn’t have to trudge back up the slope. He was thoughtful like that. 

Enania was still tied up, her clothing in absolute ribbons, and she looked up from where she was trussed curiously. There were bite marks all over her shoulders, some of which were bleeding slightly.

“That was fast,” She remarked, looking completely unbothered. 

“A bit of bark decided to plant itself in my eye, and it kind of killed the moment,” Kharis said. 

She shrugged as best she could. “It happens.” 

DuMont untied her, removed her ragged clothes, and began fussing over her bites, apologizing for being so rough.

“Stop saying you’re sorry,” She said, waving at him dismissively. “I told you to do it, so it’s not like you did it against my will.”

“Even so,” He said, gently applying ointment to the bites. “I do not enjoy seeing you injured, nor do I enjoy knowing it was I who injured you.” 

Enania sighed a little guiltily. “I know, big guy. It’s not your fault. If it makes you feel any better, I really like it.” 

“I feel only slightly better,” He said, massaging the areas. “But no more biting until these heal.” 

“Sure, sure,” She assured him. She allowed DuMont to redress her with fresh clothing from her pack, which was something he did when she couldn’t be bothered to do it herself. She liked using him to be as lazy as she wanted, and it worked out perfectly for DuMont, since he enjoyed pampering her whenever he could get the rare chance to do so.

“Can we just make camp, since he’s caught us? I’m so done for the day,” Kharis weedled. 

“Alright, alright,” Enania said. “I’m feeling a bit sore anyway. But no bitching when we get up in the morning. We’re in the last leg, so I won’t hear any bellyaching from you.”

“I won’t, I promise,” Kharis replied, picking up the bag of trail mix she’d dropped when she ran. 

The next morning, they set out in the same way as they had before, in the dark while DuMont was sleeping. They weren’t very far from the summit at this point, and they were likely to reach it by midday. They were mostly quiet, as even Enania was starting to get tired, but just as the sun reached the apex of the sky, she shouted out loud.

“The summit!” Enania said, pointing. “We’re almost there! Run for it!” 

Before they had even taken the first running step, Kharis could hear the sound of something charging them, and turned to see Dumont gaining on them fast, down on all fours and breathing like an overheated dog.

“Oh shit!” She exclaimed, and took off, straining the muscles in her legs. “Go!” 

As they went, they passed a young elf man going the opposite direction. He seemed to have been on a pilgrimage to the summit himself and was on his way back down the mountain.

“Everything alright, ladies?” He called just as they passed, only to swear and drop his pack when he saw DuMont hurtling toward them. He somehow produced a short sword and pointed it at DuMont, who skidded to a stop upon seeing the silver blade pointed at him, tilting his head much like a dog who didn’t understand the command. The two didn’t stop to help either of them, both reaching the expanse just before the peak of the mountain, Kharis shortly after Enania.

“We made it!” Kharis said, jumping in triumph. “We made it to the summit! He didn’t get us!” She stopped jumping. “Well… he didn’t get us the third time.”

“Actually, I think he needs some help over there,” Enania said, trying not to laugh. 

DuMont was standing at the incline, looking down in bemused helplessness at the elven man, who was threatening the over-large tiefling with the sword and shouting about “leaving these poor women alone”. Well, “threatening” would be an overstatement: he barely reached DuMont’s chest, despite being rather tall, and his arms were noodles by comparison. At one point, DuMont grabbed the blade of the sword, completely unfazed since his skin was inexplicably as tough as troll hide, and said something to the effect of, “You oughtn’t play with knives. You’ll get hurt, you know.” 

“Let’s stop that poor man before he injures himself.” 

“DuMont?” 

“Pfft, no, that other fellow. He’s more likely to break his bones trying to fight DuMont than do any harm to him.” 

Snorting, Kharis followed Enania down the hill, shouting over the elven man, who was going absolutely feral at this point, though looking much like an angry kitten. 

“Give off!” Enania shouted at the well-intentioned but confused man. “He’s ours!”

“Ours?” The man said, bemused, ceasing to struggle against DuMont’s grip. DuMont released him once he went still. 

“We’re playing a game!” She called back. “Don’t interfere!” 

“Oh!” The elven man said, mollified. “Well… Carry on, then!” 

Sheathing his sword, he waved at the three of them and quick-marched down the slope, seemingly embarrassed by his own actions. 

“Poor thing,” Kharis said with a laugh.

“You made it!” DuMont said, jumping back and forth happily. “You have both made it to the summit! I only caught you twice! You did so well!” 

“Aww, thanks, big guy,” Enania said, grinning. “To be fair, you’d have caught us if it wasn’t for that lout.” 

“He’s not a lout,” DuMont replied, cocking his head. “Just… over-enthusiastic, perhaps.” 

“You’re too nice, big guy,” Enania said. “Come on. Let’s have a party up here. I saved a bottle of the good stuff in my bag.” 

“You can’t leave me when I sleep this time,” DuMont said, sitting and beginning to build up a fire from the sticks he’d carried on his back. The women figured he had done it when he was giving them a head start and found himself bored. 

“I won’t,” Enania said. “The game is over, We leave together. Hell, I’ll probably ride you back down the mountain.” 

“Ooh, would you let us do that, DuMont? My legs are sooooo sore.”

“Of course,” He said. 

Kharis threw an arm around his waist and pulled him down to kiss his cheek. “Always the gentleman.” 

They proceeded to get very drunk, or as drunk as DuMont was capable of getting with the size of the bottle, and slept the rest of the day away right there at the base camp. Waking in the night,  DuMont woke both women by nudging them with his boney nose. He was breathing hard and grunting, and Enania realized he was hard. She grinned. He never initiated: it was usually her who took charge in that respect. He must have felt frustrated when they were cut short earlier and hadn’t realized it. 

Enania pulled Kharis to her feet and placed her so that she was sitting on DuMont’s chest, and pulled her to lay down, her back to DuMont’s front, with her pussy presented for licking. DuMont’s arms wrapped around Kharis, holding her in place as his tongue entered her, and she moaned. Enania sat between DuMont’s legs, pulling the tip of his cock into her mouth and sucking it, using her hands to stroke the length of him that wouldn’t fit. He groaned and growled, and he came quickly, painting the ground in cum. 

Without waiting, as he was still rock hard, Enania climbed on top of him and eased him into her. He bucked and she gasped, grinning. She bounced hard and fast over him and braced her hands against Kharis’s shoulders, bending to kiss her. Enania moaned wildly, heedless of who might hear her, while playing with Kharis’s breasts and stomach. Roaring as he came a second time, DuMont reared up and pulled both women off him, spinning Enania around on her knees and re-entering her roughly from behind. Kharis wound up under Enania, who took up the task of sucking Kharis’s pearl and pressing her fingers inside her. 

Enania’s body shook while she came, howling. DuMont pulled out of her and gently knocked her out of the way and entered Kharis, still raring to go. Kharis cried out and gripped DuMont’s wrists as he took her hips in his hands and rammed himself into her. Kharis had been brought to the edge by both Enania and DuMont’s talented tongues, so it took no time at all for her to cum as well. DuMont came again one final time before relinquishing Kharis’s body.

Satiated, DuMont fell onto his back and the women curled up under his arms, one on each side, and they fell into a well earned sleep.

Since my work is no longer searchable, please do me a favor and reblog this story if you enjoyed it. Help me reach a wider audience! To help me continue creating, please consider buying me a Kofi, becoming a Patron, or donating directly to my PayPal!

Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

[dandelionjack]

i miss russia i miss my friends i miss the odd unexpected freedom that living under an authoritarian government gives you. in moscow queer circles and the alternative music scene(s) there was little talk of “cringe”, people weren’t shit-talking others for “trying to be cool” or whatnot, the irony poisoning that has infested similar demographics in western countries hadn’t reached it yet. we were just queer kids doing queer kid stuff, organising all our own events, all those swap meets and tea parties and house shows, trust and respect for identities of all kinds. fakeness and backstabbing at a minimum. i don’t know, maybe slavic culture just prioritises openness and there’s less of a cliquey vibe? but i have a feeling it had something to do with the fact that outcasts need to stick together.

all of that’s gone now, though. we’ve been scattered across the globe, the ones lucky enough to be able to flee. they’ve clamped down on any kinds of self-expression that isn’t completely in line with the official narratives over there, even holding hands with a same sex partner in public is now considered “propaganda” and punished by a prison sentence. all the clubs have been shut down by the authorities. all the independent venues have gone bankrupt.

i’m sure the city would be unrecognisable were i to visit it now.

[balanceoflightanddark]

Monsters We Create Chapter 20 Update

Apologies for the delay. Again. I...broke my foot and it took me a while to get myself together. That and I'm going on vacation to Alaska next weekend so...yeah.

But I do have Chapter 20, which is roughly about 50% done. Maybe. So to hold everyone in the meantime, here's a little snippet of the chapter as a sort of appetizer. Forgive me if it's a little rough.

They walked a good distance away from the war tent. Yet not once did Kori let her guard down. Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee. Three names she had a lot of good reason to be wary of. One was the Fire Lord, obviously. It wasn’t too long ago when he nearly got Yu Dao destroyed out of his own stupidity. The other two? She could understand Azula being difficult, yet to turn their backs so suddenly and completely was beyond her.

When they came to an abandoned training ground, Zuko turned around. “Alright. We’re here.”

“If you think you can get me to stab a knife in Azula’s back-”

“Listen! I’m not here to talk about Azula. At all. I meant it when I said she’s going around unbound. It’s just…well, you know how she is! I can’t trust her with all these rogue armies running around. Somebody’s got to keep tabs on her,” Zuko explained.

“Besides, we’ve got Mai here if Azula needs some knives thrown at - OW!” Ty Lee rubbed her arm after Mai gave her a swift and rather hard elbow.

Zuko simply sighed from their little spat. “The point is, if you can keep Azula in check, that’s great. I only have the guards there so it can keep those generals off my back. And hers. They wanted her thrown back into that asylum.”

“You could’ve just told her that, but whatever,” Kori muttered. It amazed her. He says that he wants to do good, but then has some secret or leaves some lasting remark that invalidates it. No wonder he and Azula were so dysfunctional. Seemed like the only way they could even interact was through backstabbing, betrayals, and fighting. If this was what they were like when they were allies, she didn’t want to see how they were when the pleasantries failed and fire was being thrown.

Agni help her no fire was thrown today yet. She certainly didn’t see it in the Fire Lord’s eyes right now. They were…well, dull. His shoulders were a bit slumped. It was as if he aged a few years in the span of a few days.

“Can we forget Azula for a few minutes? It’s not why I called you out here.” Zuko swallowed as he collected himself. “I know you’re part of that movement the assassination attempt came from. Your father talked quite a bit about what you’ve been up to.”

“I assure you, our movement was to protest and prevent innocents from being harassed by Fire Nation guards! None of us had any intention of murdering anybody!” Kori still couldn’t believe it. Who’d be stupid enough to make an attempt on the Fire Lord’s life? She wasn’t a fan of his either, but nothing he did indicated he was personally overseeing what was going on in Yu Dao. A bit ignorant and heavy handed, but not responsible. It’s one thing if he stepped in personally and started threatening people.

Yet an attempt at his life without any solid reason for? That was inviting for the army to come in and stomp on their movement. Who knew how many civilians would be caught in such an escalation?

“I know. It’s why I want you to look into it.”

Kori, out of surprise or bafflement, let Zuko continue. “I get it. The Fire Nation hasn’t done Yu Dao much good. I’d even wager you and your people have done more for the benefit of this city in a few months than my country has for over a hundred years.” His eyes went downward for a moment, as he swallowed a lump in his throat.

Yet it only lasted for a moment before he took another breath. “Figure out what’s going on and who sent that kill order. I’ll do things on my end with the assassin. Maybe together we can bring whoever did this to justice.”

The rebel wasn’t sure what to say. It sounded too good to be true. Indeed, after running his proposal through her head, she saw the problem. “I appreciate the offer, Fire Lord. But as long as that captain and his thugs roam the streets, there’s only going to be more violence. Whoever’s doing this wouldn’t be able to get away with it if the guards didn’t build this pyre of theirs.”

“They will be brought to justice,” Zuko responded. “I’m going to try and override this curfew and get a tighter leash on the officers. If you can work on your end and help me bring this mastermind down, that’ll give them less incentive to crack down on your people.”

When he ended, he once again remained silent and waited for her response. Mai and Ty Lee stood on the sidelines watching the whole thing, giving Kori more eyes that were on her. Truth be told, she still couldn’t trust him. Who could? Everyone said he had the hallmarks of his father right down to how he ascended to the throne. And who could say they bring peace when they wear a crown drenched in blood.

Yet he didn’t wear the crown now. No grandeur. Nothing. He was baring his true intentions out to her. If nothing else, she could trust that. “Alright. All I can say is there might be some Fiery Raptors within their ranks.”

Ty Lee snorted. “Of course, Azula would pull something like that.”

“It’s not what you think,” Kori interrupted, making sure they all had her attention. “I wanted some people to back us up in the protests in case things got violent. She offered to have some of her men to back us up and I said yes.”

“Can’t say I blame you there. You go up against soldiers, you’re going to need some muscle.”

“Who’s side are you on?!” Ty Lee yelled at Mai, her frustration with her reaching a boiling point.

The emotionless girl just gave a noncommittal shrug. “I’m just saying it as it is. From what I’ve heard, the Mayor hasn’t exactly done a good job of keeping the peace on his end. Can’t blame Azula for taking advantage of something that was already there. We certainly did.” Ty Lee promptly shut up from Mai’s assessment, looking a bit downcast herself.

Kori also had a harsh truth slapped in her face. Her father. Mayor Morishita, the one most responsible for Yu Dao’s woes. He’s the one who ultimately had control of the garrison and determined who was in charge. If it weren’t for him, that captain and his goons probably wouldn’t be able to run rampant and bully the citizens into submission.

Still, it was a hard truth to swallow. Needless to say, his actions were part of the reason her mother left a long time ago. True, she made her peace with it when she saw what her father’s cronies were willing to do. Yet it still hurt too much to ignore.

Something that Zuko noticed. “You know your father’s going to have to go on trial for what he’s done. Right?”

Forcing down her queasiness, Kori crossed her arms and tried not to look like she was hugging herself. “I understand.”

“Good.” Then, the Fire Lord did something rather unexpected. He walked up and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. It was…surprisingly warm. Kori wasn’t sure what to make of it before she saw the scar on his face. Seemed as though she wasn’t the only one who had issues with her parents.

A similar story was told with Mai and Ty Lee, who gazed at her with soft eyes. Kori wondered: what was it about the Fire Nation that equaled parental issues? She had her father. The girls had their parents. Agni help Azula and Zuko for getting stuck with Ozai as a father.

Azula.

“Before I agree to this, there’s something you need to promise me,” Kori declared.

Zuko looked a bit surprised but then gave an uneasy nod. Having got his attention, the rebel dropped the ultimatum. “Give Azula a chance. Stop treating her like she’s the worst thing in the world. And stop treating her like a bomb about to go off.”

“...you know I can’t do that,” he admitted with pain in his voice.

Yet Kori stood her ground. “Nobody’s asking you to forget. I’m simply stating that if you want this thing to work out, you need to uphold your end. That means no threats. No harassments. No lies. And no dangling her over a cliff. Got it?”

He shuddered when she threw out that last demand, but that didn’t soften her glare. Especially when she saw Mai and Ty Lee paralyzed in shock. Oh yeah. Azula told her about his little stunt that almost got him killed. She didn’t care if it was a low blow or not. If it meant he wouldn’t pull the same garbage twice, then so much is the better.

As for Zuko, he didn’t say anything for white seemed like an eternity. Then he gave a defeated nod and said, “Alright. As long as she isn’t a problem.”

Satisfied, Kori turned to rejoin her friends. Since that’s what friends do after all. Though not before she said one last thing. “I do mean it. You try anything without any incentive…just remember what happened with Godzilla. It won’t end well.”

And so she left, leaving the trio behind. Truth be told, she didn’t enjoy having to lay out the cold truth. Yet Zuko struck her as somebody who needed to be slapped in the face and have a rock hammering into his skull in order to get the point across. Agni knows how many of those blockheads she had to put up with growing up.

Mentally she kicked herself for having to go from one blockhead to ANOTHER blockhead. If there was one thing Azula and her brother had in common, it was digging in and covering their ears when they didn’t want whatever ideas they had in their head to be challenged. Sort of made things a bit depressing that it took a kaiju of all things to get them to cooperate.

Let’s just hope they haven’t killed each other by the end of this, Kori prayed.

[snakeassassins]

Pokemon Theory: Hassel, Drayton, and "Sinister Hands"

Hey guys! Before the pokemon presents starts tomorrow, I wanted to hash out some observations I’ve made on the scarvi dlc and the implications they have on pokemon lore as a whole. I don’t have much of a big hook to draw anyone in, though, so let’s just jump into it.

Hassel is only one of two characters in all of gen 9 who is left handed. The other is professor turo, who does so to symbolically mirror sada. Through this, I don’t think it’s hard to say that Hassel’s left handedness is also something designed to mirror someone else.

A lot of people have already pointed out that Hassel and Drayton have a lot of mirrored animations.

As such, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that they are the big foils here.

There’s a bit of a snag, though.

With Sada and Turo, it’s obvious that this right/left theming is in regards to the past/future, but it becomes a bit murky if you attempt to apply this to Drayton and Hassel.

If anything this theming is reversed.

Drayton’s supposed to match Sada’s past, but his ace is the futuristic Archaladon.

Similarly, Hassel is supposed to represent the future, but his ace is Baxcalibur, who is themed around dinosaurs, much like past paradox pokemon.

The major exception to this is their signature moves. Electro shot takes a turn to fire, while Baxcalibur takes double damage after using Glaive Rush. Drayton’s ace’s weakness is the “past”, while Hassel’s ace’s weakness is the “future”.

So… how are we supposed to read this exactly? It’s an intentional contradiction —a paradox, if you will—but one whose intent is hard to parse.

Something else has been nagging me about Hassel’s left-handedness: it’s an anachronism.

See, given the name, Baxcalibur is designed to be a medieval weapon. In which case fighting with it left handed would be considered a major taboo for that time period. Swordsmen of that period were trained exclusively with their right hand, which meant fighting with your left was considered to be inherently underhanded.

This bled into a lot of the language and culture at the time. The word “sinister” itself literally means left in latin, we just use it to mean evil in modern times because those were the traits associated with left handed people back then.

It was a common trope for duels to be won unfairly by having the perpetrator fence with their right hand, only to stab their opponent with a hidden blade in their left. A left handed fencer in most medieval fiction is almost inherently duplicitous.

Another one was for left handed fighters to be masters attempting to hide their true strength by using their non-dominant hand to fight. A more benevolent form of trickery, but deceitful nonetheless. Maybe it’s a sign that Hassel is pulling his punches, given how low “elite four member” is compared to the multiple dragon tamer champions we’ve had?

You can see both of these tropes being invoked by this scene from the princess bride. Both opponents intentionally start with their weakest hand before switching to the right, but it’s a double entendre also meant to show that neither is as bad as they appear to be either, a fact made even more obvious by how honorably they fight.

To be honest, I was a bit concerned I could be grasping at straws with these comparisons, given that Baxcalibur’s Japanese name doesn’t even refer to a sword, but then it hit me

Its signature move is it literally backstabbing you. That’s the pun.

Which leads me to what’s been nagging at me here: why is one of Hassel’s major character motifs centered around him being a traitor if he never once betrays anyone in the story? If he was built from the ground up to be our metaphorical Brutus, then who is Caesar?

I think the obvious guess of who Hassel is a traitor to would be the dragon tamer family he seems to have run away from.

He tells us why he left, but his explanation is more than a little vague. Why did he stop being a musician and join the elite four? Why is he so necessary to his family’s hierarchy that they are willing to fake his father’s illness to get him back, even after all these years? There’s more to this story that Hassel is either downplaying or straight up not telling us, and that makes it the prime suspect for Hassel’s “traitor” status.

However, as we are in Unova for the dlc, my inner fan theorist can’t help but also point out the faction actively themed around medieval knights.

Especially when their boss is yet another blonde-ish lefty with swept back hair who is, frankly, more than a little ceasar coded himself.

Hassel’s backstabbing is probably a good thing for us either way tbh

Drayton’s the right hand man, however, and as such we can assume that he is aligned with whatever Hassel is against, willingly or otherwise. The Mark Anthony to our Brutus, if you will. The responsibilities of which he is likely dragging his feet on by staying in school as long as possible. Which actually brings us back to the original right hand/left hand dichotomy.

I think the big difference between the Sada/Turo dichotomy and the Drayton/Hassel dichotomy is that Sada and Turo are defined by a relentless pursuit of something. Drayton and Hassel, on the other hand, are defined by avoidance.

What’s important to the symbolism isn’t that Drayton is using his right hand, it’s that he isn’t using his left. He isn’t someone pursuing the past like Sada, but using his obligation to the school as a way to avoid the future.

Similarly, I think it's safe to say that Hassel is using his teaching position to escape his past moreso than he is looking to his future.

Because of this I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that Hassel’s past and Drayton’s future… probably coalesce in the same place.

What this actually implies is a question that will probably only be answered by our inevitable black and white remake, but I am curious about it nonetheless. I’ve got a bunch of extra comparisons to make between these two that didn’t quite make the cut here, so feel free to add your own observations and theories if you come up with anything.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

TWST related: about Idia’s designer choices, Azul’s Jamil-related fantasies and other stuff.

Anonymous asked:

Are you going to draw more genderswap twst soon? My bisexual heart enjoys the men but craves the females. I'll even take writing.

Anon!! Thank you so much for enjoying the ladies~ 🥹 They’re very special to me as well.

I actually draw them quite often these days, this is why we post them a lot on our Ko-Fi and 🔑🔞twt… Maybe I’ll finish up something and we’ll post it. Eventually. At some point. Knowing that you’re waiting for them. 💪

As for the writing, we have at least one ask prompting hcs about them, so maaaybe I’ll write some pretty soon.

Anonymous asked:

thank you for being one of the sole people feeding the shroudcest nation. i will lay my life down for you

We’re happy to do our part, Anon 🫡 The only nation I am willing to serve.

In all honesty, I am very glad you like our interpretation of these two and their relationship <3

Anonymous asked:

I just want to say as a robotfucker Ortho’s appearance with his bondage gear inspired look that is canonly built by Idia just carries the ship by itself. Why is Idia such a weirdo degenerate pervert lol

YES LOL

I love that the majority of sus decisions in Ortho’s gears are the result of Idia’s design. And we’ve heard a couple of times that Idia is all about aesthetic + functionality, so…. Idia, mister, sir, please explain this…. Or rather, show your inspiration board. Come on, don’t be shy, we won’t judge👀

Anonymous asked:

You know those femme fatale characters that are as dangerous as they are beautiful, but who also seem completely devoted to the big villain of the story? I think that's the first thing that comes to Azul's mind when he imagines a romantic partner, except instead of an elegant and mysterious lady it's Jamil.

Azul, don't you know that those types turn against their boss/partner as soon as it's convenient for them? (something that is also true for Jamil, oh!) Realistically he knows that he would hate to be in a relationship with someone like that, but he can still let himself fantasize from time to time

This is actually quite a good point, Anon. I think this is exactly where Azul would put Jamil in his fantasies: this way they end up being a power-couple, but Jamil is still his pretty trophy snake. He is also probably aware that Jamil would never be fully and genuinely devoted to him, but yeah, just like you said, that won’t stop him from fantasising lol

Actually I think in Azul’s mind he would always outsmart Jamil somehow. Like Jamil would try to backstab him, but Azul predicted that he would, and therefore Jamil’s plan would backfire… hey, this is actually their dynamic in Ch4, sort of, at least in the Snake Whisper scene. So yeah, Jamil tries to betray him, Jamil gets overpowered and outwitted, they have a fight and then they have passionate sex during which Jamil can’t help but give in because he wants Azul so much and finds his intelligence and cunningness very sexy.

Of course, those are the fairy tales Azul tells himself as he falls asleep at night… who knows what the reality of that scenario would be.

m1lk-n-cook1es asked:

I saw you talking about twisted Shrek & Donkey and I've been thinking about making a DreamWorks-based fan school (but idk if they'll have a rivalry with NRC and RSA since it'll be a company feud, but I'm referencing the fact that DreamWorks was founded by a former Disney employee) so maybe their twisted versions can be from there

That would actually be funny lol Not sure what role they would play in-universe, but yeah, a mage that used to work at RSA/NRC suddenly opening up another school for those who deemed too unfit for these two schools? Or something like that.

Anonymous asked:

There are, surprisingly, or maybe not, a lot of mushroom themed household objects.  Do you think Jade only uses objects shaped liked mushrooms?  Is he trying to replace the utensils in the Mostro Lounge with mushroom shaped cooking ware?  Do you think any of the other boys have similar...fascinations?

I think Azul wouldn’t allow that… He is a meanie and doesn’t understand just how much it would boost everyone’s morale if Jade used mushroom-shaped cooking ware! But unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to fit the Lounge’s theme, even if it’s just for the kitchen…

In reality, I think if Jade were to try to sneak in some mushroom-themed stuff, he would do just for the sake of subtly being a menace lol

Also, there are surprisingly little mushroom-shaped things in Jade’s own room and accessories. What if he only acknowledges the real ones? 🤔 But then again, I could easily see him having an obnoxious collection of ceramic and plushy mushrooms in the future. It all started with a mushroom-shaped salt and pepper shakers…