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dave-me0wstaine · 8 months

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thinking about domestic 90s dave who's home from tour and loves the slowness of everyday life back at home. he especially loves the fact he can wake up next to you, and show you just how much he loves you.

nsfw under the cut!

dave's recently gotten back from tour and you're sleeping in bed together. it's early in the morning and there's a slight drizzle outside. you feel his calloused, warm hands lift up the old shirt of his that you're wearing and spread out across your tummy. in your sleepy daze, you feel dave begin to lazy kiss up and down your neck, slightly nibbing at your skin along the way. slowly, you feel his warm hand begin to trail downward toward your heat.

"missed you so much, pretty girl," dave mutters, his voice ladden with sleep. "you gonna let me show you?"

sleepily, you nod, and pivot yourself to face him so that you can place a kiss on his lips. quickly the kiss becomes heated with dave coaxing his tongue into your mouth. all the while, he's rubbing lazy circles over your still clothed clit.

"lift up, baby, wanna feel you." dave whispers, tugging at your panties. he helps you pull them down just enough so that he can rub you properly, and moans begin spilling from your mouth. before you realize, dave has his own underwear discarded, and you feel his hot length nudge at your slit.

"gonna make you feel so good, hun," dave breathes out as he lines himself up with your entrance. slowly he pushes himself inside, letting out a hiss. "fuck, missed this."

"please," you whimper and begin trying to rock back into him to gain some friction. dave starts shallowly fucking you from behind, all the while running his big hands up and down your body.

"shh, just lay there and be good for me, pretty baby." dave cuts you off, however your pleas don't fall on deaf ears. dave begins picking up the pace, fucking into your heat with a gentle, deep pace.

he continues slowly rocking into you and whispering praises and profanities into your ears. he feels you clench around him, and picks up your leg to get himself even deeper inside of you.

"go on and cum for me, i know you can, baby." he pants, he himself getting close. its only a few more seconds before you're reaching your high, your hands gripping his arms and your body rocking back into his. behind you, you hear dave let out a deep groan as he spills inside you. you and dave lie there for what feels like hours, just holding each other and coming down from your respective highs. you try to turn around to face him, but before you can, dave stops you.

"wait, i wanna say inside you for a little bit longer," he admits, and you crane your head back to see a blush on his face. "i wasn't kidding when i said i missed you, y'know?"

#dave mustaine #dave mustaine smut #dave mustaine x reader #megadeth #megadeth x reader #megadeth smut #metallica #metallica x reader #metallica smut #i think about sleepy early morning sex with dave wayyyy too often #i just had to get it out

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somewhatsentientspellbook · 6 days

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Somewhere in Nicodranas...

#veth will never let any of them live this down #is the editing shit? mayhaps. have i made my point? also mayhaps #point is that king accidentally calling fjord 'dad' is something that has been floating in my brain for so long #i just had to get it out #critical role #cr shitpost #cr memes #critical role memes #the mighty nein #mighty nein reunited #cr fjord #fjord tusktooth #jester #jester lavorre #veth brenatto #yeza brenatto #kingsley tealeaf #brooklyn 99

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rootbeer-queer · 5 months

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What pronouns do minecraft villagers use?

...

She/Hurrgh

#i'm so sorry #i just had to get it out #minecraft #shitpost #lgbtqia #she/her #minecraft villager #funny

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morgana-ren · 5 months

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Alrighty, everyone mute me here cause I'm about to go on a tirade.

Look, I've been playing video games since I was young. Very young. Probably too young, if we're being completely honest. We had an old Nintendo 64 from my step-dad's youth that I used to play religiously. I played my ps2 for hours and hours a day as a way to cope with a.. shall we say unstable household. I had Gameboy Advanced, Gameboy color, all the way up to Nintendo DS to the switch. This is something I've been doing since I was barely old enough to speak. I used to get games at Blockbuster, okay? I played the OG Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights on a clunky old computer. Even when we were flat-busted ass broke with absolutely no money to spare, I would play at friend's houses. I would play old AV consoles on those fat ass TVs. It's my oldest hobby besides reading, is the point here.

My point is I'm old enough to remember when gaming was a niche hobby that you could actually get bullied for. It was back when studios made games mostly out of passion, and not to sell to a broader audience. There wasn't really even such a thing as microtransactions. You bought a full and complete game. Blizzard released good products, actually (unbelievable, I know.) Games knew their audience, and there wasn't necessarily an assload of money in it, so it was mostly made out of love for the games and their community.

Gaming has grown in popularity over the last 10-20 years, and that can be an excellent thing! Really! It can be! But Baldur's Gate 3 winning game of the year brought something to my attention that has been driving me mad for a few days now. It's a concept I've found myself repeating for a long time, but barely just sort of sat down to analyze it:

Not everything is for you.

The last few winners of GOTY have had some... sour people be very upset. Not that this is uncommon, but especially the last few years. People saying Elden Ring is 'too hard,' people saying that Baldur's Gate 3 is nothing but pedantic dice rolls, etc. People who, in general, were very unhappy that these games did not appeal to them in particular, and they were very vocal about how these games should be changed to appeal to them personally.

What I'm saying is that these people, along with most others, were not there during the days of niche gaming, where when you didn't like a game, you didn't necessarily throw a tantrum and stamp your feet and demand that these games aren't good and that they need to change, but rather, you just... didn't play them. They weren't made for you.

We live in an age where absolutely everything is being scraped for every last dollar. Games that used to be made out of passion for their communities are now being made to sell, sell, sell as many copies as physically possible to everyone. If it won't pander to every last person, it's not going to be made. Things are being 'streamlined' to make the games appeal to anyone and everyone who might play them.

'Streamlined' in this case, means 'dumbed down.' As Bethesda famously says, KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid.

Games that used to be a little bit more 'niche' and 'complex' like Morrowind, are now games like Skyrim, that are dumbed down to sell to everyone. They remove a lot of the aspects that made them beloved in the name of 'garnering a new and broader audience.' Older folks, adults, children, everyone. But this attitude of inclusivity isn't as great as it might seem initially. It isn't done out of community. It is done to get absolutely every last person possible to empty their wallet at the altar. To get every last fucking dollar out of everyone.

Games are passionless money pits. They sell you a half-baked, simple product that insults your intelligence. It's impossible to fail quests, because God forbid one person doesn't like that and asks for their money back. They won't touch on complex topics, because they don't want to cause a controversy that might drain their prospective bank account. They can't make things so intricate that God forbid a toddler might not understand them. They are milquettoast, miserable little games that appeal not even to people who enjoy games, but rather, people who don't.

Yes, they are making games to try and get money from people who don't even like them. They can't make anything nuanced or put a learning curve or put any actual work or fun into the game, because people who don't actually like playing games might realize "Hey, actually, I'm not enjoying this at all." and not give anymore money.

I'll get to the point.

Games being disliked by certain people is a good thing. It means those companies were unwavering on their vision and their loyalty to their fans. It means it was a game made from passion, and not just to be marketed and sold to literally every living person. They were made with their communities in mind, and no offense, but if you aren't one of the people that likes the things those communities stand for, maybe you should seek it elsewhere rather than trying to change something someone loves to suit you instead. You are not the demographic here.

You hear people that hate turnbased saying that Baldur's Gate 3 should not have been turnbased. Guess what? That's literally DnD. It's a DnD game. Don't like the lack of day cycles? Again, that's long resting in DnD. Pedantic dice rolls? That's fucking DnD, baby. Maybe you don't like it, but just because the game got popular does not mean it was made for you. Too much gay? Go away. Baldur's Gate was not made to sell copies to everyone. In fact, it was a relatively niche prospect that gained massive popularity near the end because of a scandal. I've been with them since Patch 2 of Early Access, and it very much was a passion project by people who loved DnD and TT games. They did not think it was going to hit this level of popularity, and they stuck to their guns even when it did. I cannot tell you how rare and remarkable that is.

Dark Souls is too hard? Maybe it's not the game for you. If you don't like certain design aspects, that's fine and okay! But Miyazaki and Fromsoft should not be forced to change their vision of their passion project because you personally do not like it. It was around before you, and they have a loyal community that does love the game just how it is. If you want a game with a difficulty slider, maybe you should play a game that has one. I'm sorry if you don't like the fundamentals of the game, but they exist for a reason, the community likes it, and no, it's not just for elitist reasons like I see all too often. You just do not understand because you don't like the game and do not like being told no for once by a company that has integrity.

I'm not trying to insult you. I'm being honest when I say that it's an attitude that is expected in the current climate where everything is changed when people complain the loudest because changing it means more money, and more money is the goal. These people are not your friends. Do not forget that. They are not changing it because they care about you. They are changing it because they think they can con you out of another dime.

People have a masochistic relationship with these companies. They have gotten used to being pandered to. They have gotten used to being sold a shitty game that everyone from their grandmother to their toddler niece and nephew can beat. And no, there's nothing wrong with games for everyone. But it's not because they wanted to make a game for everyone. It was because they wanted everyone's money.

People make hour long youtube videos about how Baldur's Gate would have been better if it was real time, and if it was more like this game and that game (namely games that pander to everyone) and then, in the same week, release a video bewailing that all games are so bad now and they don't understand why. They grasp that greed has a part in it, but they don't understand that they are directly contributing to the problem.

Games are bad because when everything is for everyone, nothing is truly for you. You won't have a chance to be passionate about anything, because on the off chance you find something you love, you will inevitably watch it die the same way that those of us who have been here forever did, because someone outside of the community doesn't like it, so it has to go because Christ forbid they don't sell two more copies.

And no, I am not talking about 'woke' or 'political correctness' so you alt-right weirdos can keep the fuck off of this post. I am talking about things like a lack of quest markers. Complex puzzles that you can fail. Political nuance. Things that take brainpower and are fun but not everyone likes.

Maybe not everything is for you. Maybe a game is allowed to exist even if you don't like it. Maybe communities are allowed to have their thing while you have yours. Maybe you have gotten so used to being pandered and catered to with every game being this blase, half-baked experience that is sorta liked by most, but... beloved by none. It's a forgettable, boring experience that garners no real loyalty, but at most a "Ha, that was alright." And then you put it on the shelf never to touch it again.

It means these companies aren't thinking of money; they are thinking of their communities. They are thinking of their fans and the people who love their games. Every time Miyazaki says 'no' to changing the formula that we love about his games, he is thinking of his loyalty to his community and his passion to the game. When Sven refuses to change aspects of the game to suit people who don't like DnD, he is staying loyal to the DnD community.

More companies should be doing this. Not less.

But consumers need to remember that one little creedo: Not everything is for me.

It can exist and I can exist. I do not have to play it and I do not have to enjoy it. It doesn't mean that it's bad. It means it's not for me. And that's fine.

#morgana and friends #im going nuts here I just had to say it #so many people whining about bg3 and dark souls and like #these are games I LOVE #and if you don't like them DON'T PLAY THEM #not everything has to be for you #this is a good thing #it means these studios CARE about the people in their community!#it means they aren't thinking with their wallets!#they are making games out of PASSION #something larian is actually famous for #and ill be damned if I have to sit and listen to another whiny toad whinge about how 'they don't like it so it should be changed'#im not tagging this cause I'm not railing for popularity points #I just had to get it out #back to your regularly scheduled filth

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the-art-of-surviving-hiatus · 6 months

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Imagine you create a character. He’s rough around the edges, abrasive, but highly skilled and competent at his job. He’s deeply in love with his friend/boss, and does everything he can to make him happy, but he’s failing and he doesn’t know why. Suddenly a new guy comes into the picture, the kind of guy they usually hate. But, to his horror, his friend and this new guy hit it off immediately. This is wildly out of left field for his friend, so much so that our character suspects some kind of trickery is at play. Nothing he does seems to help restore his friend’s sanity, and the norm he’s been used to is flipped on its head. Used to working with teams of competent professionals, he is now forced to deal with a small group of inexperienced people who have little interest in doing their jobs.

Finally, the new guy leaves and our character has his life back. Except now that he has his friend’s attention back, the love he had before is gone now. Dark, violent rage is all his friend has left for him in return for his love. He demonstrates this by brutally removing parts of our character’s body. He violates and verbally abuses him, using the crew’s lack of obedience as reason. Despite this, our character sees the warmth and love he’s been craving in the crew. He takes a chance on it, and is rewarded with their loyalty. His friend tries to kill him, tries to have him do it himself. He nearly does. He drags himself into a storm on one leg to protect his new family - the only people he can trust now. When the other guy finally returns, our character tries to mend what has been broken, but is dismissed. He struggles by himself, drinking his days away and waiting to die.

For the second time, his life is saved by the kindness of his crew. They give him another chance at life, a way to continue what he’s good at while also experiencing the softness he’s been missing for far too long. The next time the crew is in trouble, our character is a solid part of the group. He’s put in a situation where he’s going to be physically vulnerable, and he says nothing. The vulnerability is exposed and attacked, and he says nothing. He internalises his pain and holds on until his crew are all safe.

He dies apologising for needing love. He dies not knowing he had it. He dies thinking it’s for the best, since his usefulness has come to an end. He dies not knowing that he never needed to be useful to deserve to exist. He dies not knowing how wanted he could have been if he hadn’t been so focused on being needed.

His funeral is awkward, rushed, and mainly silent. His body is buried and his friends immediately move on. He never knew the deep love and acceptance he could have enjoyed, but imagine if he had.

#I don’t even know what this is #i just had to get it out #I’m so sad #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 #izzy hands #our flag means death

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cybernightart · 8 months

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This isn't very well written out because it's 1 am and I just have to get this out so I can sleep lol

Very heavy Gency content!

Okay so I've seen quite a few people say they don't like gency purely for the reason that it would put mercy in a position of constantly looking after Genji like she does with every one and it's the role she gets put into all the time but I would like to present this idea. (More than likely nowhere near unique idea and is definitely been depicted before but this is just how I view their relationship)

While in everyday stuff mercy is the caretaker and the one that looks after everyone and makes sure everyone is healthy and okay, we know she is not very good taking care of herself in the same way. So, I very much picture in their relationship Genji more often than not is the one taking care of her, he makes her food, she makes sure she's taking care of herself, he physically lifts her away from her desk and carries her to bed because she has not slept in far too long, and she's just overall destroying her own because she is clawing and scraping for every drop of energy that she can put back into trying to help people while completely ignoring herself. She has been helping people for so long that she doesn't fully know how to justify helping herself, so Genji helps pull her away from this downward spiral of basing her worth off of how much she can help others, I either mentally or physically pulling her away from her work and taking care of her and being with her.

End of the exact same time mercy is allowing Genji to be something he wasn't allowed to before, when he was in the shimada clan he saw the name sparrow for being too soft and small and having too big of a heart for what was needed, they tried to turn him into a heartless killer and when he didn't want to and he said no they tried to have him killed. And with that not working, they unintentionally succeeded on their goal of turning Genji into a weapon, he was raised and now made especially in black watch for the sole purpose of revenge, destruction and death. Thanks to zenyatta he was able to come to terms with his body and see he is not a weapon he is Genji, he is his own person that his past is not determine him but rather forms a part of him which is ever growing. And even now he is still a ninja, that is something that will never change, but he is still deadly and dangerous and can be brutal swift and efficient, but when he's with Angela he can be soft and caring and be something other than a bringer of death. He can be gentle, cuddly and warm with her. She needs someone to force her to take care of herself and he wants nothing more than to just take care of her, obviously she takes care of him too but Genji is doing more small but meaningful and big gestures.

Genji when he's with mercy can lay there just holding and cuddling with her, that nothing else around the matters, he gets to live this unfamiliar but amazing feeling of pure love, pure love that brings an uncontrollable grid to his face whenever he gets to hold her. And even when they're just together, he can stand near her, be by her side, protect her and take care of her. And he knows she does not need him to protect her, if someone tried she would kick their butt.

So in short mercy gets to take a break from giving and receives, and Genji gets a break from brutally taking and gets to give.

I Can also see this playing into the Love languages I picture them having, they both love quality time, Genji loves giving acts of service, while mercy loves giving words of affirmation. And without dangerous their jobs are, and Genji wearing armor 99% of the time whenever he gets a chance to take off his armor, love physical affection. They'll both just constantly be touching each other in some way, like Genji moving Angela's hair out of her face/brushing his hand against his arm/pulling her in for a full embrace will he buries his face into her neck, or like mercy running her fingers through Genji's hair/holding his face in her hands and running her thumb gently against his scars/holding Genji's hand (or fingers) whenever he seems nervous.

Like I don't have the words to describe how I imagine fully their love being except for like comforting warm fire, like a fuzzy blanket with a warm drink cuddled up on the couch with a crackling fire as it blizzards outside, just pure love not only romantic but also best friends, they could just sit talking for hours being in each other's company and even sit in silence comfortably and just being together is enough.

Vibes like the one song "rises the moon" calming almost like a lullaby or "golden hour"

I have no idea if any of that made sense because I'm exhausted but I hope I at least got some of my point across.

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #genji #genji shimada #mercy #gency #angela ziegler #gency fluff #fluffy relationship stuff #its 1 am #i just had to get it out #i suck with words XD #overwatch headcanons

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robineatsworms · 1 year

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saw that one pic on twitter and immediately thought of #them

#venom #symbrock #eddie brock #save him #fanart #meme #sorry its messy #ive had this idea in my head for days #i just had to get it out #can you tell ive never drawn a muscle in my life #art #drawing #robindrawsthings

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paranorahjones · 1 year

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The 1975 song 'About You' was written about Lockwood and Lucy particularly in The Creeping Shadow, no I do not take constructive criticism.

Dive into this with me.

Down to the fact that it's nearly a duet, this song is THEM. I'm gonna break down the lines that stand out to me and explain why.

Let's begin. Listen along, if you like.

youtube

I know a place It's somewhere I go when I need to remember your face We get married in our heads Something to do while we try to recall how we met

Starting off strong with the second half of the first verse, which immediately brings to mind the quote from TCS, where Lucy talks about imagining Lockwood "going down on bended knee" to beg her to come back. Not quite a marriage proposal, but let's not pretend she hasn't thought hazily about that scenario as well.

Do you think I have forgotten? Do you think I have forgotten? Do you think I have forgotten About you?

And on to the chorus. To me, this is coming straight from Lockwood. It SCREAMS 'conversation in Lucy's apartment' to me. Lucy tries to pretend that she was unbothered by her departure from Lockwood & Co. and then by Lockwood's sudden appearance, when in fact she's an emotional hurricane internally. Lockwood, on the other hand, barely tries to disguise how much he wants her back in his life. He makes an effort not to pressure her or scare her, but he can't keep himself from telling her that there's "no one else I would want at my side." look at that, another proposal parallel

You and I (Don't let go) We're alive (Don't let go) With nothing to do, I could lay and just look in your eyes

I don't think I need to remind anyone how much these two love to gaze into each other's eyes; yes, I'm bringing show canon into this. But really it's both. Lockwood regularly finds Lucy's gaze in the books, so much that she notices, and she of course can't stop looking at him ever.

Wait (Don't let go) And pretend (Don't let go, oh) Hold on and hope that we'll find our way back in the end (In the end)

OKAY HELLO?????? THIS IS WHERE IT GETS REAL

This is literally the plot of the beginning of TCS. Both of them pretending that they're okay being apart, that they don't miss each other desperately, and yet still holding on to hope that they'll find their way back to each other. Lucy hoping that Lockwood will come after her, Lockwood spending all winter trying to figure out how to bring her back (his literal words). And (as I imagine them) Lucy's "don't let go"s begging him to hold on to her, even though she had to leave for his sake, in her mind.

Now on to Lucy's bit.

And there was something about you that now I can't remember It's the same damn thing that made my heart surrender And I'll miss you on a train, I'll miss you in the mornin' I never know what to think about I think about you (Don't let go) About you (Don't let go)

This paints a perfect picture in my mind of Lucy's turmoil in trying to be okay with leaving Lockwood behind, but surrendering to the fact that she can't let go of him. She misses him everywhere, in everything that she does. The frustration and the tension of her undeniable feelings are EVERYWHERE here.

It's also worth noting that those last two lines are Lockwood literally telling her, again, that he's thought all winter of how to bring her back and how much he misses her. He doesn't pretend.

And then the chorus repeats.

So anyways there's that, this is one of my favorite songs and reading The Creeping Shadow has given me a whole new reason to cry about it.

#lockwood & co #lockwood and co #anthony lockwood #lucy carlyle #locklyle #lucy carlyle is in love with anthony lockwood #anthony lockwood is in love with lucy carlyle #the 1975 about you #this probably isn't as coherent as it is in my mind #i just had to get it out #Youtube

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squirrel-fund · 1 year

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I HAD to write this scenario for Ian and Mickey for @galladrabbles. Could it become my next drabble fic? Possibly. As soon as I finish galla-cation... whenever that will be 🤣

Anywho... thanks to @depressedstressedlemonzest, here's an au with Cheerleader!Ian and Drug dealer!Mickey

🚬

Ian checks his watch and sighs. He's screwed. Cheer practice starts in five minutes, and he's definitely gonna be late.

Goddamn drug dealers.

Isn't being on time important in such a business venture? After all, time is money, or so Ian's been told.

He taps his foot impatiently while he waits for Mike... or was it Mitch? He can't fucking remember, but the one thing he does know is how this guy apparently hates tardiness. And yet, here it is, fifteen minutes after the designated meeting time, and this big, bad, mean, and scary Milkovich is nowhere to be found.

#i just had to get it out #not very exciting #gallavich #galladrabbles #q'd for your pleasure

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onewomancitadel · 2 years

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Cinder Fall is a good character you guys are just boring

#cinder fall sadsack tag #I just had to get it out #it's a meme format by the way

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thoughtfulshepherdmongerkid · 1 month

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A brainrot spiral while I dissociate at work

Have a Sammy pic for the road

I was reading this neris fic (it’s fantastic but I’m picking at it so I don’t want to like “negatively” promote them [human being behind the screen] also casually can’t remember names of titles for the life of me) and it had Beron as half human (which I fuck with) and that’s why he has so many children

But that’s not how that works. If either parent were not fully fae it’d be more like loa as the fully fae have their periods twice a year (if I remember correctly) [theoretically dropping an egg twice a year]

Unless male fae have a far lower amount of viable sperm (more blanks I suppose) but even then you still have the difficulty on the female side so like you’d still need either the fae equivalent of ivf and hormones or they’re both not fully fae

#anyway #idk where I’m going with this #it’s just rattling through my head as I organize shit #personal #acotar #Rowan’s ramble #brainrot #don’t feel the need to read this #I just had to get it out #idk why I expect science with fantasy #but also like make it believable #and I’ll go for it #idk

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its-ezraaa · 2 years

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So about Nick's characterization...

I've seen some people talking about how much the characters (in this case especially Nicholas) have changed during volume 1 to 5. I'm probably late to this discussion but I wanted to show a new point of view. There will be major spoilers for Captive Prince and Dark Rise here because I'm comparing all Pacat books. And I will exclude the novels because I don't see them as officially canon.

I once mentioned the similarities between all Pacat love interests (Seiji, Laurent, James) and there are many. But something people forget often: There are a lot of similarities between Pacat's "chosen one" kind of characters too. Nicholas, Damen and Will. And this is the point where I don't believe that C. S. Pacat will dumb-down Nicholas, making him nothing more than a puppy dog or a joke.

(And tbh, even Damen got the puppy-treatment before being able to show his true self. I'm literally quoting the book right now:)

'He looks combative, but he's really very docile and adoring,' said Laurent, 'like a puppy.'

First of all, similarities between the three:

Hiding their true (powerful) self. Nick is actually Robert Coste's son, might even have inherited his fencing skill/speed if that's possible. Damen is the Prince of Akielos. Will is THE Dark King Sarcean.

Started from the bottom and fought their way up. Nicholas is a student with poor living conditions, had to work multiple jobs to make a living for him and his mom. Damen was a slave. Will basically had the same poor living conditions like Nick but no mom or dad (sry Will)

Like their counterparts, they have unbreakable determination. But while Seiji and Co. Have planned their whole life to reach their goal, Nicholas and Co. Are more like an unstoppable train wreck going 300 km/h. (Have you seen Damen charging into battle ready to behead the Regent? Or Will single handedly killing the apocalyptic horsemen dudes (sry forgot the name)? Nicholas gonna steamroll through the fencing community at some point lmao.)

There are more but these are the main points I need to talk about Nicholas's characterization.

Knowing all the similarities and what they achieved (or what they will achieve)? Nicholas is a total badass. Nicholas is young, Fence is a slow burn comic. All together, it's more light-hearted and goofier than Pacat's usual novels. (Which doesn't mean that Pacat doesn't like jokes and goofy-ness at all. I mean, remember Damen starting a tavern brawl while Laurent threw peas at everyone? Yeah. These are the Kings of Akielos and Vere.) I like to think that Nick will slowly become more like Damen, the older and more experienced he gets. Determined and strong but still kind-hearted and a little like the bumbling farm boy next door. Whoever read Capri knows what I'm talking about. Damen is a BEAST. He's strong, he's fast, he's skilled and experienced. I mean, I don't even remember him LOSING one battle during the entire trilogy. But he's also 26 or something. Nicholas will get there. So will Will. Just imagine how powerful he could become once he masters his Dark King powers. Or that one time where coach Williams said that once Nicholas' technique is at the same level as his speed and reflexes, he will be unstoppable? Yeah that was badass.

Another interesting thing about Pacat's books: it always ends with both main characters being equal in some way. Laurent and Damen sharing a throne as the Kings of the same kingdom. Dark Rise isn't finished yet but I get the feeling that it will go from The Dark King and His Boy Toy to equals with the same power. So considering this, just imagine where Fence could go some day.

And everyone started as rivals with one of them hiding who they really are. I understand that some might be sad because we will lose the rivals trope but it's.. Enemies to friends to lovers (and the rivalry has been pretty one sided lmao). The friend and lovers part have to start somewhere. I personally enjoy the development between Nick and Seiji. They still have banter, they still fight over small things, but they also learn to live with one another and appreciate who they are.

There is a beautiful scene from King's Rising that describes Pacat's rivals to lovers trope:

‘When you make love to me like that, I can’t think.’

‘Don’t think,’ said Damen.

Damen saw the flickering change, the tension, as the words provoked an internal battle.

Damen said, ‘Don’t think.’

‘Don’t,’ said Laurent, ‘toy with me. I—have not the means to—defend against this.’

‘I don’t toy with you.’

‘I—’

‘Don’t think,’ said Damen.

‘Kiss me,’ said Laurent. And then flushed, a rich colour.

I think that's where we are heading. Slowly but surely, Nicholas is going to tear down Seiji's walls. Once he doesn't have anything to hide behind anymore, no sharp words, no witty insults, no disgusted sneers, once that's all down.. Then we truly reached the 'lover' part of rivals to lovers. (Is it obvious that I was in the Capri fandom before reading fence...?)

Last but not least, volume 5 was fun. Like super fun. I enjoyed it a lot. Yes, it was very light-hearted without much drama. But GOSH IT REALLY DOES CARVE A PATH FOR VOLUME 6- Every badassery and conflict we didn't get in Rise will definitely come in volume 6. V5 introduced us to so many new characters, so of course there isn't much room for anything else. But the ranked fencing, Eugene being absolutely miserable at the beginning, Nicholas sucking but now practicing new fencing techniques, the rival teams getting used to Seiji's flèche, Aiden hiding his potential skill? That's some A++ foreshadowing. Kings Row might not turn out to be the top school at the end of the camp but God darn they will make a name of themself. I'm just waiting for (fckn) Kyle getting his buttocks whooped by Nicholas once they meet each other on the same piste again. I mean, this is C. S. Pacat. Heroic fights and epic comebacks are his thing. Things will get worse before they get better. Remember when Damen had to fight against another super buff slave while being drugged and in obvious disadvantage? Yeah he friggin crushed it.

At the end of they day, I don't see such an issue with the way Nicholas is portrayed. But I am definitely biased and basing everything on past Pacat books so what do I know? But maybe that's exactly the right thing to do? I have never seen Pacat writing a pure puppy dog character. Especially not his main character. Nicholas was never, is not and will never be something like this in my eyes. The comic is funny and has a lot of jokes but that's a comic typical thing to do, especially considering that Pacat got influenced by Japanese sports anime/manga. But in the end its still a Pacat book and Nicholas will stay a true badass. (Is it obvious who my favorite author is lol?)

Thanks for coming to my TED talk and sorry for so much text. I just really wanted to shed a new light on this whole Nicholas thing.

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