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bae-del-moon · 2 years

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From the Heavens || Sangyeon (C3)

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Pairing: Sangyeon x F!Reader

Word Count: 6.8k

Rated: M (for Suggestive and Violent themes) | TW: Mentions of Fire, Allusion to Sex

Genre(s): Romance, Fantasy, Angst, Supernatural, Strangers to Enemies to Lovers, Star-Crossed Lovers, Royalty AU

Summary: The sun has set. The moon has risen. The night has end, and another day has begun. Happy birthday to you. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it does. It’s time for you and the only other Gifted in the world to partake in the crowning ritual. Only one with the gift of summoning may rule. So who’s it going to be? You? Or the Lee Heir who might have stolen your heart?

[SERIES MASTERLIST] || C1 | C2 | C3

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The smell was stronger than you expected it to be after nearly two decades. You had only been a child when the Mons family home had burnt to the ground, the fire raging so violently that by the time everyone had arrived to help, there was nothing to be done. The same thing happened to the Angelo’s only a couple of weeks later. It was a tragedy that no one could fathom and, in the end, was concluded to be the fault of unattended candles in the libraries.

The estate hadn’t fallen. But it had been burned into a crisp. The walls were dark and charred, the floor was just the same, and soot blanketed everything that had survived the fire.

It had been seven months since Sangyeon began bringing you here on outings. Still, every time you breathed, you could smell the burnt of everything around you as if the fires had been alive mere hours ago. It scathed your nostrils, but you couldn’t bring yourself to wait for him outside. That was too dangerous.

So, you waited in the parlor, studying the way nature had begun to reclaim the land, ignoring the prickly feeling on the back of your neck that you got every time you ventured into the estate. Your roaming eyes stopped on the family portrait of the Mons resting above the fireplace.

It was covered in ash, but other than the singed corners and broken frame, it looked untouched by the fire.

You brushed aside the vines covering the image, creating a second frame around the portrait. Then stared at the image before you.

You couldn’t recall ever meeting the Mons as a child or the Angelo’s, but there was no mistaking the teenager that had been sat amidst the rest of his standing family. They surrounded him. Singling him out as he sat at the center of his family.

You memorized his oval face, his high cheekbones and thin lips, his brown eyes, and black hair. You traced the scar he had under his left eye with your eyes. Then, you closed your eyes and pictured him as you had seen him in the portrait, trying to conjure the youngest of the Mons in front of you.

Your hands balled into fists as you tried to force his spirit to appear, emerging from the darkness your eyelids provided.

Behind you, Sangyeon leaned against the frame of the parlor’s door. His arms were crossed over his chest, a love-struck smile painted on his face as he watched you.

A chuckle threatened to escape him as your face scrunched up in concentration from the amount of power he knew you were trying to draw on to call a spirit forward.

Your lips moved— words were spoken under your breath. An attempt to summon vocally, he concluded.

He waited another minute, hoping to feel a shift in the atmosphere. But, when there was none, he took soundless steps forward, intent on sneaking up on you.

He held his breath and, a moment later, grabbed your shoulders as he screamed, “Ah!” Then, as you jumped and whirled around, eyes as wide as saucers, he curled his arms around your waist and pulled you into a hug.

“Sangyeon!” You slapped his arm.

He laughed, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. You were taking so long to notice I was watching you from the door.”

“I was taking too long?” You laughed. “Who was the one who asked to meet here at midday but was still late?”

Sangyeon sighed, grinning as he scratched the back of his head bashfully, “A fair point, Princess. I’ll just have to make it up to you.”

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A gust of wind swept through the yellow poppy fields where you laid with Sangyeon, staring at the blue skies.

“A lion’s roar?!” Your eyes crinkled as you laughed incredulously. “A creature that big, and you think it roars like a lion?”

“What do you suppose it sounds like then?” He turned his head to look at you instead of the sky.

You hummed as you thought of your answer, “Well, the books say its roar was… big, so big that it was capable of making our lands tremble. So, I suppose it could have been like a lion’s, only… bigger. Deeper? Stronger. Like a lion only a hundred times greater.”

“So…” Sangyeon smirked, “your answer cheats off mine.”

“It does not!” You protested. “My answer comes from what I’ve read in books!”

“But it consisted of my example.”

“It was not the same,” you laughed.

“Alright. Alright.” He conceded and, after a pause, asked, “What do you think they looked like?”

You stared at the sky intently, trying to picture what a dragon may have looked like based on the descriptions you had read and the faded diagrams that usually accompanied them.

“Of course, you’ll have to answer first,” he continued to tease, “I’d like to hear your answer, not mine.”

You laughed, “I’m not sure what to think. Most accounts say they had long necks, large, thick talons, and leathery skin. Perhaps, like a cow? But, I cannot picture them completely. What about you?”

“Long-necked birds,” Sangyeon matter-of-fact, causing you to look at him disbelievingly.

“Sangyeon,” you huffed, coming to, “now you’re copying my answer.”

“I did not.”

“Yes, you did! I said they were li—“ He leaned forward and stole a kiss from you, cutting you off.

“Perhaps, I can distract you from my answer like this,” he stole yet another kiss.

“You cannot,” you answered, slapping his arm lightly.

“Are you sure?”

“Quite,” you giggled.

“Then why aren’t you chiding me anymore?”

You laughed at that, and a moment later, when a gust of wind swept through the field, he closed his eyes to shield them from the dirt. You took the moment to drop one of your hands beside you and grip a patch of grass. Then, you pulled it out and tossed it at his face in a single swift movement.

He sat up alarmed, wiping his face from the grass that had stuck to it before giving you a look.

“What?” You asked, feigning innocence. “I didn’t do anything. It must have been the wind.”

He shook his head disbelievingly, trying to look reproachful though the ghost of a smile gave him away. Then, swopped down to pepper kisses all over your face.

You giggled as he did so, pushing on his chest playfully to get him to stop. When he finally did, you both laid down again to watch the clouds as they passed. But, your thoughts grew louder every time you came out here, and this time, refused to stay silent.

“We shouldn’t have come out here,” you whispered.

“What?”

You had tried to forget that day, but you couldn’t. The shadowy figure that had chased the two of you all those months ago in the forest behind your home refused to be forgotten. He haunted you, even in your dreams.

You chewed your lips, “We shouldn’t have come out here. It’s too dangerous to be here.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Sangyeon hadn’t once brought up the night of your first outing since the two of you had begun courting each other. Had he already made peace with the events of that night? Manage to forget it, put it out of his mind?

Would bringing it up mess with the peace of mind he had achieved?

You felt bad bringing it up, but if you didn’t, how were you supposed to forget it? You couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was eating you alive— the paranoia of encountering it again and not being able to defend yourself or get away.

Your outings took place at the only place they could without being caught, at the Mons’ estate, always at the edge of the forest but never truly inside. Even now, Sangyeon had taken you to a meadow that grew not so far from the edge. That had to mean he still thought about it, right?

“I don’t believe you.”

“… Alright.” He relented, though he refused to look you in the eyes, “An animal.”

“That thing that chased us was not an animal.”

“Yes, it was.”

“No, it wasn’t. It looked like a spider, if only for a moment. But, that was not a spider, nor was it some animal.”

“Yes, it was. A new one.” He insisted.

“Sangyeon—“

“That’s what it was.”

“It wasn’t.”

“But it was.”

“No—“

“Sangyeon—“

“There’s no use remembering this.”

“Sang—“

“No.”

“Sang—“

“No.”

“Sangyeon.” You huffed. “That thing flickered in and out of existence. And I know it didn’t follow us out of the forest, but that doesn’t mean it can’t. What if it leaves the forest and attacks our kingdom? We don’t even know what it is.”

He sighed. “You’re right.”

“It’s not like I’m happy that I am.”

He hummed, and his hand found yours. He held it and gave you a squeeze before answering, “I’ll look into my family’s collection. With any hope, we might not have been the first to see it before. Someone else had to have been curious enough to enter the forest before.”

“I’ll check mine too.”

Sangyeon hummed, and silence engulfed the two of you before a thought popped into you, “You know, the Royal Library would probably be a good place to look too.”

He shook his head, “We aren’t breaking into the Royal Library. We might be royalty, but I’m not convinced they wouldn’t have our heads for sneaking into the castle when we’re not supposed to be there.”

A bit disappointed, you pouted as you turned your head away. Still, Sangyeon caught it and smiled to himself.

“I’ll tell you what,” he began, as he turned on his side, “I was told that the date of my presentation ball has been fixed for Friday in two months. I’ll search the Royal Library then if we don’t find anything, alright?”

You nodded, “I suppose that sounds reasonable.”

“Good,” Sangyeon nodded. A smile wound up on his face as he saw your spirits start to lift. Then, he toyed with a poppy growing above your laying head. “Now, if we must talk about that day, may we focus on something nicer?”

“Nicer?”

“Mmm. I was very manly carrying you back, no?”

You laughed, “Yes, very much so.”

“I’m also very giving,” he sighed dramatically, looking away, into the distance, with a hand over his heart.

You chuckled, eyes narrowing, “Of cour—“

“Unlike my Princess, who throws grass in my face while I give her gifts of affection.” He cut the poppy he was toying with and held it out to you.

You tried not to laugh. Still, a breathless chuckle made it past your treacherous lips. You accepted the flower nonetheless.

“Do you see how great I am?”

“Sangyeon!” You laughed, and a second later, he leaned over you and began pressing a series of kisses on your face.

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You hummed as you padded down the stairs, tying the strings at the end of your sleeves of the loosely fitting blouse you wore into a bow.

A letter had been delivered to you two days ago, the envelope claiming to have been penned by the son of Duke Ju, Ju Haknyeon.

It had been carried up to your room with due diligence. You smiled to yourself as you reached the bottom of the stairs. After all, it wouldn’t do you any good to ignore the contents of the letter of a man who would soon be taking over his father’s position in the kingdom’s Council. How was anyone supposed to know that amidst talk of a group of commoners asking for an audience with Council in regards to a tool advancement they’d like to discuss, Haknyeon was also letting you know when Sangyeon had decided to take you on your next outing.

(You had almost attempted to do the same via Haknyeon until you realized you’d have no way of getting the letter to him without having it scrutinized more than his to you.)

You had already called for a carriage to wait for you outside, sans everyone except the coachman, in secret. All you had to do was get to the door, hoping no one would cross your path.

You were practically riding on a dragon’s back when Olivia came through the front doors and made your world come crashing down.

“Oh, good. You’re already ready.”

“Ready?” You asked her after your surprise at seeing her passed. It was almost immediately that you realized that probably hadn’t been the smartest thing to say.

Luckily, she didn’t seem to notice as she studied the boots you wore.

“Let’s go then. The carriage is already waiting outside.”

You followed her out silently, climbing into the carriage as the footman came running from one of the service doors, yelling his apologies.

The carriage took off soon after, and stuck in the silence between you and Olivia, a note of distress entered your thoughts as you remembered Sangyeon.

He knew your weekly schedule by memory, and you’d never had something thrust upon you unexpectedly. So neither of you had ever had to think of what to do if you couldn’t accept his invitation. You had no time to try to write a clever response to Haknyeon’s letter so he could warn Sangyeon.

How long would Sangyeon wait until he realized you weren’t coming?

The carriage bounced against the rocky roads that led into town, though you had yet to figure out where you were headed. Olivia had yet to mention it, and you couldn’t figure out if it would be imprudent of you to ask.

You assumed, however, that this impromptu event had something to do with the announcement of the date of Sangyeon’s own presentation ball. Your parents probably weren’t exactly keen on the kingdom’s attention shifting onto the Lee family.

You sighed. Your thoughts strayed back to Sangyeon waiting for you at the Mons scorched estate. You felt a pang in your heart at the thought. Even you, who usually got there early, didn’t like spending much time inside the building. The atmosphere felt heavy and made the hairs on your arms rise in macabre anticipation.

Shivers ran down your spine as you felt the same feeling creep inside the carriage though you were nowhere near the estate. You grimaced as you forced yourself to understand that, and then, your eyes locked with Olivia’s.

She stated at you unblinkingly, arms crossed over her chest. How long has she been staring at you?

“So, where are we going?” Ah. Your heart jumped.

One of her eyebrows rose before she answered, “Oh? You don’t know?”

You smiled politely, avoiding her question just as she had avoided yours. Noticing this, her eyes dropped to the boots you were wearing again.

Trying not to tense under her gaze, you flicked your own to the window above the door. A curtain rested over it, but it swayed as the carriage bounced, and you tried to focus on the glimpses of trees you got every now and again.

“I hope you had fun last week,” Olivia said, startling you into looking at her again. For a moment, you thought the expression on Olivia’s face was that of a guard. Then you caught her frown, more pitying than anything, and you realized she was talking to you as your cousin.

“What? What do you mean?”

She shot you a look, “Last week? When you went to the old Mons estate? I presume it wasn’t to actually practice but to have fun where no one could stop you.”

“Oh, right.” You smiled and hoped it looked more genuine than you felt it did.

“I know your upbringing hasn’t been… easy. But I’m glad to know that you’ve still found a way to have some fun.”

“Of course,” you nodded. It was hard trying to swallow the sigh of relief that threatened to leave you now that you understood that she didn’t know the actual reason you had chosen to go to the Mons estate. You doubted she knew how many times you had already gone.

Now, your smile was genuine, small, but at ease. Olivia matched it with one of her own. Then said, “As to where we’re going, it doesn’t matter. We’ll soon be there anyway.”

She had only just finished speaking when the carriage began to slow.

You gave her a wide-eyed look, “How did you do that? Look, if you were born Gifted, you need to tell me, okay?”

Olivia grinned, amused at your attempt to joke.

The door opened then, and the footman bowed at the entrance before extending a hand to you. “Your highness, we have arrived.”

You shot Olivia a quick glance, pleading for her to tell you where you had been taken before being thrust into it. It came to nothing, so you stood and accepted the outstretched hand.

Your feet had only just pressed against the ground when you noticed your parents a little way from you, inside the kingdom’s main park. They stood with another couple, though you couldn’t see who they were as they were blocked from view.

Then, they shifted, just a little, but it was enough to see there was a third person with them.

“Younghoon?” You whispered harshly, whipping around to question Olivia.

“Darling!” Your parents called to you before Olivia could even think of answering. “Come here!”

Sending Olivia one last distressing look, you turned around with a painted smile and made your way to them.

“Good morning, Lord and Lady Kim. It is a pleasure to see you, as you, Lord Kim Younghoon.”

“The pleasure is ours, Princess Y/N,” they replied together, each taking your hand to place a polite kiss on the back of your hand.

“Younghoon is fine,” he smiled politely at his own turn.

The pair of parents laughed as if amused at the polite nature around the two of you and his confidence. When they stopped, your parents motioned for you to walk further into the park, “You two, please, go onto the pavilion that awaits you. Have your outing—”

Your eyes widened though no one seemed to take notice.

“— Olivia will accompany you for propriety’s sake. We’ll take a walk ourselves and talk details about your wedding.”

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You glared at Younghoon as he dug his knife into your steak, cutting it into small pieces for you as if you had asked him to. When he was done, and he lifted his gaze to return your plate of food, you forced yourself into a blank expression, only nodding in polite thanks.

“I know we have only met a few times since we were fifteen, but I hope I may be everything you have ever hoped for.”

You hummed, “Thank you.”

“Y/N,” he began. It was a miracle that you managed to keep from squeaking out indignantly. “Since we are to marry, perhaps we may begin to compensate for lost time and get to know each other. We mustn’t be strangers, after all.”

There was a smile on your face. You could feel it. It was as obvious as it was stiff, and you were sure he had taken note of it. But if he had taken notice of it, it didn’t seem like he cared much about it.

“Of course,” you agreed, “We shouldn’t marry… strangers.”

“I am glad you agree,” He grinned, “We can start small if you like.”

“What do you have in mind?” You stuffed another piece of steak in your mouth.

He motioned to your plate, “Perhaps, what is your most beloved plate of sustenance?”

Your thoughts strayed to your first outing with Sangyeon. “Sandwiches,” you mumbled without a second thought.

“I adore bread!” He exclaimed, the grin on his face never straying.

You gave him another stiff smile, proceeding to stick your fork in the bowl of mixed fruit that had been placed on the table in front of you without another comment.

There wasn’t a doubt within you that the subjects roaming the park— because they were here, roaming the park as if you weren’t present, watching and listening to the two of you— had heard Younghoon’s bright exclamation clearly. Your parents, no doubt, had planned for this, for you to be seen courting Younghoon.

“What about fruit?” He continued on.

“… Strawberries.”

“Mine are watermelons,” he offered.

“Watermelons are wonderful,” you answered, brushing him off for the umpteenth time.

A short distance away, under the shade of a tree, Olivia leaned against the trunk where she could see the two of you clearly and watched. When her eyes roamed, they fell on the kingdom’s subjects that were roaming the park an equal distance away like her. They would often stop and stare, alone and in pairs. They pointed and gossiped. Murmurs were all she could hear, though once she managed to hear one say, “The Princess! Courting the son of Lord Kim! Do you think they’ll marry?”

They never noticed Olivia, and that was fine. Preferred even.

But, there was something else bothering her. Something else pulled her back toward the pavilion where you ate and made her forget that she should be focusing on the gossip she could gather from the commoners.

She couldn’t hear you, or the young Lord Kim, for that matter, but she could see everything happening between the two of you.

Your eyes narrowed into slits when he wasn’t looking at you. He talked adamantly and encouraged conversation, but you provided one-worded answers or short phrases.

She grimaced. She had yet to figure out if the young Lord had taken note of this.

Even now, as you accidentally dropped a slice of jammed bread onto his lap. You apologized simply, and he only smiled and brushed it off.

Minutes later, she watched as your hand brushed against your glass of wine, and he caught it just as it started to topple toward him. It didn’t fall, but she could see him brushing off a few stray drops that had managed to find him.

You apologized, simply again, and Lord Kim did nothing but laugh and wave it away.

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There was silence inside your carriage as it carried you homeward.

You itched to scratch the back of your hand where Younghoon had planted a farewell kiss as he politely wished you a safe journey home.

His parents had done the same, bowed, curtsied, and given you a polite farewell kiss on the back of your hand. But, your hand hadn’t felt as if it were burning when they had done it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about what your parents had planned.”

You hummed, watching the trees thicken and clear on the road home. Your thoughts wandered to Sangyeon and if he had made it home alright. Had he been upset that you hadn’t met him like you had planned to or found a way to send him notice.

How long had he stood—

“Y/N,” Olivia said, voice rising as she sought your attention, realizing that you weren’t paying attention to what you were saying.

“Yes?” You asked, turning to look at her, a bit shaken because of the volume of her voice (and the lingering thoughts).

“I understand if you’re upset, but,” she sighed, “you’ve known since you were young that Lord Kim’s son was being considered as your marriage partner.”

“Yes, I know,” you nodded.

“Then, why did you act like that?”

“What?”

“Spilling your food on him, responding curtly, you were purposefully ruining your first outing with him.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I did no such thing.”

“Alright,” she frowned. “My mistake.”

Olivia had stolen the air from your lungs upon questioning your behavior with Younghoon. She’d been a good distance away, and you were sure she wouldn’t have been able to see anything. And for what?

She was right, though you’d never tell her— you couldn’t. Why had you acted like that? You’d been rude beyond a doubt to the man you were supposed to marry.

With or without a crown, his hand would be waiting for you. Even more, if Olivia had noticed your behavior, who’s to say the subjects of your kingdom hadn’t.

Why? Why had you acted like that?

You knew you’d felt annoyed knowing that you weren’t going to be able to meet Sangyeon as you had intended to, and all because your parents had decided to ambush you with Younghoon.

But it had only been that… right?

Your heart clenched.

Sangyeon.

No. You frowned. Your annoyance had only been a product of having been ambushed. That was it. The only reason.

Not having been able to meet Sangyeon was fine. Great, even. In the end it didn’t matter how long he had waited for you. You didn’t like him. You were only pretending to like him, to court him.

You were only pretending to court him to keep your enemy close…

Oh, you wanted to huff. Why had Olivia had to have seen you?

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Your hands curled in and out of fists as you pictured the Mons burned estate for the twentieth time that hour.

Summon the youngest of the Mons. Summon the youngest of the Mons.

The words were repeated like a mantra as you pictured yourself traversing through the Mons’ estate, coming to a stop in front of the family portrait. The vines had already been moved, and the portrait stared down at you. The face of the youngest of the Mons was clearest.

You’d memorized it. All you had to do was call out to his spirit, lead him out of the netherworld and to you.

Then the skin of your arms prickled, spreading through your body until all you could feel was a heavy sensation radiating around you. It clawed at you from behind, and just as you were about to turn around, the feeling disappeared, and a hand fell on your shoulder.

It urged you to turn around, and when you did, Sangyeon was there. He smiled at you, and though his lips didn’t move, you could hear him ask how long you’d been there. He smiled and leaned in. He’d kiss you, and everything went black.

A gasp escaped you as he pulled away, and suddenly you were under blue skies. Sangyeon leaned over you, and his breath fanned your face at the proximity.

He laughed.

“Imbecile,” your tutor snapped. “How many times must we practice summoning for you to actually be capable of summoning a simple spirit.”

Like a pail of ice water, your eyes flew open and strained to see her in the darkness. Blinking as you tried to adjust to the dark room, the flickering candles gave you brief glimpses of the furious expression on her face.

“I’m sorry?” You asked incredulously, glaring at her.

“You’re an embarrassment to all the Gifted that have ever been born!” She continued in a tirade. “You’ve had these gifts inside you since you were born, and you aren’t even capable of bringing forth an infant from the netherworld!” She began moving toward you, seething as she continued. “The youngest of the Mons used to give people heart attacks with his summoning since he was three! Three! Are your parents even sure that you really are a—“

“Enough.” Olivia barked, rushing to stop in front of you.

You sighed. How many times was it now that Olivia had come in and saved you from the words your tutor always seemed to aim at you.

“Lady, Lady Hye,” she stammered, the seething look on her face disappearing in an instant.

“Last I remember, my cousin is the royal one here, and you are a mere commoner who was given the opportunity to raise their status by assisting the Princess in her education.”

She was affronted. Her face morphed from expression to expression, anger to annoyance to anger again before becoming apologetic.

“I apologize, Lady H—“

“It is not to me that you should be apologizing to.” Olivia stepped aside, and you watched her raise a single eyebrow.

At that moment, while she seemed to go through all the same emotions again, this time with her hands coming in and out of fists, you saw a flicker of a darker shadow outside from the corner of your eyes. You turned to it, squinting as you tried to figure out if you’d actually seen something.

“I apologize, your Highness.” You heard your tutor say to you. Turning, you found her smiling stiffly, like a painted mask of pleasantry.

“Good,” Olivia sneered before you could reply. “You may take your leave now. I will be speaking with my aunt and uncle about your behavior.”

“But,” she protested, though she didn’t get very far.

“Leave,” Olivia motioned to the door, “now by your own will, or I will call for the other guards.”

Not knowing what else to say, your tutor grabbed her things in a huff and left without a second glance.

“You need to start defending yourself,” she said once the door shut behind her.

“She caught me off guard,” you defended yourself, watching her grab one of the candles and head toward the window to look outside, “and you didn’t give me the chance to say anything.”

She shook her head and still did not turn around to look at you, choosing to study the outside, “Then don’t just stand there and let her berate you next time. Because I assume that isn’t the first time she’s done that to you.”

“Excuse me,” you growled.

“I don’t understand why you’re getting upset. But, I will be telling my aunt and uncle about this.”

“Go,” you snapped, “I don’t need you to defend me.”

“I bet you didn’t even realize her hand was rising to hit you. Though I do have to admit that you seemed just as distracted while you were trying to summon.”

“Perhaps it’s because I don’t want to marry Younghoon.” You snapped. “Next,” you hissed, “time, don’t defend me. I don’t need you to do it for me. I can handle it myself.”

A surge of energy washed over you as anger began to course through your veins. What right did she have to get mad at you over what people said to you?

“Can you?” Olivia scoffed, finally turning around to look.

“Oh, fuck you.”

You turned on your heels and stormed away, pushing the door of your study shut with as much force as you could. Then, slammed the door of your bedroom shut after you were inside.

“Argh,” you huffed as you paced the length of your room. The anger you had felt while you were arguing with her had yet to go away.

So you hadn’t been properly focused on summoning. So your thoughts had strayed to Sangyeon. So what? How was that any of her business?

A knock from your balcony door startled you, sending a cold flash down your body. Unsure if you had imagined it, you stared at the curtains that covered them and waited in bated breath.

It came again and stepping forward carefully, you laid a hand on the curtain. You hesitated. Who the hell could be knocking on your window. Or what?

No. Who. It couldn’t be that thing from the forest. It just couldn’t. Then, without giving yourself another moment to scare yourself, you yanked the curtains open.

“Sangyeon!” You yelped, slapping a hand over your mouth.

He pointed to the lock on the door. Nodding at his indication, you unlocked your door and let him inside.

“What are you doing here, Sangyeon?” You asked him, speaking quietly this time, hyperaware of your surroundings. “Olivia’s here. It’s not safe for you to be here.”

He frowned, “I heard you had an outing yesterday.”

“What?” You blinked. Out of all the reasons you could have imagined, you hadn’t thought of this one.

“I heard you went on an outing. With Lord Kim’s son.”

“Younghoon?”

If it were possible, you swore his frown intensified while he nodded.

“Sangyeon,” you sighed. “I did. But it didn’t mean anything to me. I had to do it.”

“You had to go on an outing with him on the same day you were supposed to meet me?” He scoffed.

“It’s not like that.”

“I waited for you,” he insisted almost desperately. “I waited for hours, only for Haknyeon to come and tell me you were out galavanting with Lord Kim Younghoon.”

“I was ambushed,” you insisted, “I was getting ready to meet you when Olivia came and took me without warning.”

“You couldn’t have told me you couldn’t meet me?”

“I didn’t have time. I would have if I had the time…. I thought you might have figured it out for yourself when I didn’t show and leave for yourself. I didn’t realize you’d wait for me for so long.”

Sangyeon was silent. He looked at you like he couldn’t understand why you had to have met with Younghoon instead of him. Gods, you felt guiltier now than you had when you had thought about him on your way to the park.

“Sangyeon,” you whispered gently. Closing the distance between the two of you, you held his hands and led him to sit on your bed.

“There’s a rumor in the winds that he is your betrothed. That he is your intended.”

You grimaced, and that was all the confirmation he needed. He made to leave, pulling his hands from yours and getting to his feet. But you stopped him, snatching his hands back into yours as quickly as you could and pulling him back down.

“It’s true. My parents intend for him to be my husband, though I have no feelings for him.”

“Right,” Sangyeon sighed disbelievingly.

“I won’t lie. They’ve been considering it since I was child. He, along with a number of other sons of Lords. But, it wasn’t until recently that they decided it was he that I should marry.”

Sangyeon pulled his hand out of yours and stood again. When he stepped toward the balcony, a panic swept through you.

“Sangyeon,” you cried pleadingly, “You can’t be mad at me for this. I’m sure even you have someone you are betrothed to.”

He flinched.

“See. We should have known this was coming. Our families loath each other. We wouldn’t have met were it not for the fact that you snuck into my presentation ball.”

“But, I do not go on outings with her. I avoid her as much as I can. Why can’t you avoid him the same way I do her.”

“But, you can’t evade her completely, can you? She’s your intended,” you whispered, at last grabbing hold of his hand again and choosing to play with his fingers rather than look into his eyes. “He is mine. Though, I do not intend to marry him. Still… I don’t see how we….”

“We’ll find a way,” he said, giving your hands a squeeze.

“Will we?”

“We—“

Footsteps fell against the carpeted hallway that led to your room. With every step, they got increasingly louder, like their owner was purposefully choosing to stomp on the floor.

“Y/N!” Olivia yelled.

“Olivia,” you gasped. “You’ve got to go. Now, Sangyeon.”

“Ok,” he nodded quickly. Olivia’s footsteps pounded down the hall as he stepped out onto the balcony.

He rushed to the side, swinging one leg over the iron railing, then the other, before extending an arm toward the lattice leaning against the side of the wall.

Throwing a quick glance inside, you spoke rushed, "This is how you managed to climb to my balcony?”

“Yes.” He nodded. Only his left foot remained on the edge of your balcony. “Why?”

“Apart from being dangerous? I’m just surprised at how lucky I am that no one has tried to come kill me.”

“A valid concern,” he agreed. Then, giving you heavy-hearted smile, “Outing? Next week?”

“Of course,” you assured him, matching the heavy-hearted smile he bore.

The two of you stalled, he on the lattice and you against the railing, neither of you knowing what to say to the other, and yet neither of you wanting to separate yet. Perhaps, you could lean in and give him a goodbye ki—

“Y/N!” Olivia yelled again with an angry growl just outside your door.

The knob turned just as you rushed out, “Don’t forget the books,” and you turned on your heels.

You had only just shut the doors to your balcony when Olivia came into your room uninvited.

♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕

Horse hooves clopped lightly against the patch of grass growing alongside the Mons field’s river. You flipped through the book in your hands absentmindedly, scanning the text for the nth time since you had found it. Sangyeon rode beside you on his own horse, reading through his own book.

Storms of frustration brewed inside you. Two months had already passed, and you kept thinking to yourself that you had yet to find anything of use.

Next to you, Sangyeon sighed, “Squirrels. Yet another entry for this mythological creature. Why? Is it because they’re so small and pleasing that this was the one creature’s legend they decided should never fade?”

You groaned, “Have you nothing more? I swear all of my books discuss creatures just as small as the squirrel.”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“This is useless,” you huffed, shoving the book you had been reading back into your satchel.

“Then perhaps we should stop,” he suggested, “after all, most of our books coincide. We’re just reading the same things over and over again.”

“You’re right,” you conceded, releasing a sigh of your own. “I don’t think I’ve found a single mention of a creature as dark as night or a creature with long spindly limbs.”

“The description of a ‘bear’ seemed to come close to its height. Though I don’t think that’s what we’ve been looking for.”

The world around you was silent for a minute, save for the gentle coursing of the river beside you. But, your thoughts raged on until all you could do was let out a disgruntled huff.

Without your noticing, Sangyeon maneuvered his horse closer to yours and reached out to hold your hand.

Suddenly, you were distinctly aware of his presence and the space around the two of you.

“I’m sorry,” you mumbled.

“What for?” He hummed.

“This was supposed to be a day together. But all I’ve been doing is complaining about that thing.”

“You needn’t apologize,” he squeezed your hand. “Besides,” he grinned, “I did have something else prepared for when we took a break.”

Confused, you blinked silently at him, trying to understand what he meant by that. Your confusion was soon cleared though as he nodded at something up ahead.

Only a short distance away from the two of you, you saw a conservatory overgrown with weeds and vines. It reminded you of the condition of the Mons estate. Where had it come from? How had you not noticed it before? The grass patch beside the river seemed to lead directly to it.

“You were engrossed with the book,” Sangyeon answered gently.

“Did I speak my thoughts aloud?”

“No,” he smiled again, and you were sure time had stopped at that moment. “I can just see the question on your face.”

Oh.

Your face burned. With words stuck in your throat, you rode in silence until you reach the entrance and dismounted your horse.

Then, as Sangyeon tied your horses to a post by a patch of grass, you asked him, “What did you plan?”

“Nothing much,” he answered as he held the door open for you, “Just some food.”

It was darker than you had expected. Light filtered in through gaps in the foliage over your heads and broken window panes.

Candlesticks lined a path to the center, where a blanket was spread out against the floor, and plates of mutton, and golden brown rolls of bread, were covered with glass cloches.

“What is it with you and picnics?” You laughed when you sat down.

“You’ve got to admit that I’m pretty good at them.”

“Yes, indeed.”

You ate shoulder to shoulder, huddled together in cozy secrecy. Whether from the multitude of candles or the decreased space between you two, a bubble of warmth encapsulated the two of you.

You sat there for hours, giggling and laughing after all the food had already been eaten, and the sun had already set.

It hadn’t been something planned, something either of you had thought of before. Not until that moment. Later, neither of you would be able to remember who had initiated it. No matter how much either of you thought about it, remembered it, the beginning stayed muddled in a haze of movements.

All you could really see and feel was Sangyeon. The way he had hovered over you, the ghost of his touch as if it were etched into your skin. Your own hands undoing the knots, the laces, of his tunic.

His breath, and yours, mixing together and fanning over your faces.

In giddy remembrance, you could hear him laugh bashfully and muse to you, “Perhaps, this is why they insist on chaperones.”

♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕☈♚♕♚♕

[SERIES MASTERLIST] || C4

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aspiringsophrosyne · 1 year

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Episode 11: Whispers at The Ziggurat

The beginning of the end....in more ways than one.

We have soda, snacks, and popcorn with so much greasy butter you gotta wipe your hand on your jeans, and that shit never comes out.

Curtain's rising.

Why don't we find our seats?

There are a few neat little easter eggs in Delilah's chanting; they're even more noticeable with the subtitles on.

Looking back after Campaign Two, everything the Briarwoods do makes even more sense as, during the second campaign, we met quite a few of their contemporaries: wizards of privilege and power who were heavily afflicted with self-serving tunnel vision.

They're together.

They got what they wanted: they achieved their goal.

As they deserved to.

Why should they care if the rest of the world burns?

There are parallels between some of C1's and C2's villains is what I'm saying; it's neat.

The Good.

They had to dance around copywrites here, but they managed well.

Vagueries honestly serve the narrative in some ways, as it makes sense that little would be known about the Whispered One; secrets are his thing, after all.

Bad Influences

God, when the manipulative monsters of Critical Role stop playing nice by their standards, they really stop playing nice.

Orthax throwing away every pretense of subtlety is dread-inducing, but it's also strangely cathartic.

There's no more bluffing; the time has come to call.

There aren't words for how much I love that awful little moment between Cass, Sylas, and Delilah before Percy storms up.

Cass, knowing what Delilah wants, her immediate acquiescence, the older, healed bite marks on her neck...In just a few seconds, a complete, agonizing story is told.

Just Cassandra addressing Delilah as "Mother" is enough to trigger your gag reflex.

I adore how much just these couple of seconds does with so little.

This kind of subtle show-rather-than-tell storytelling rings every one of my bells.

The Fights

On multiple Q&As, the CRew has talked about how they had to find ways around doing too much work for what wouldn't have merited the price, effort, or time.

It's a sad fact that animating is difficult.

It's time-consuming.

It's expensive: especially when you've got seven characters to animate.

At once.

So they've split up the party here and there over the seasons to alleviate the burden, and frankly, even if they could do a prolonged fight with every character on screen, I'm not sure it'd be worth it. It would be easy to confuse the audience's focus. Or let the choreography become disorganized.

All that is to say, I appreciate how they broke up the Ziggurat fight.

Not only is this way more convenient for the crew, but it also gives us multiple unique dynamics between combatants.

Delilah silences Scanlan and then repeatedly tries to blast him.

The two sibling pairs square off. The twins use only their physical prowess against each other, while there's more at play than just the blows the de Rolos trade, as not one but both of them are fighting the influences that push them against each other.

Pike and Sylas do battle.

(This fight in particular was incredible, by the way. Richly dynamic; it's a joy to watch every time. Ashely couldn't be there for this fight on stream, so everyone went out of their way to show off how badass Pike is here.

Also, Cleric vs. Undead is a classic.)

Delilah and Pike have a beam fight and Scanlan plays his Uno reverse card.

Grog shakes off Sylas' charm, which is a nice nod to the campaign. (Raging Berserker Barbarians can't be charmed at that level.) Likewise, Sylas' influence fading from Vax and Cassandra as he gets more and more hurt (failing that concentration check) as Keyleth's and the Sun Tree's power builds alongside Neal Acree's beautiful score was also a nice touch.

All these fights and none of them overstay their welcome.

As I've said and will say again, titmouse makes a damn good action sequence.

(And baby de Rolos. Taliesin said in the commentary that was the nicest they ever were to each other and I believe it. Siblings.)

The woman who broke

Grey does a fantastic job here, as usual. You feel her pain and frustration. If she ever cared, she obviously does not anymore, but Delilah got hooked when she was in undeniably desperate straights. Now, this is all she has.

She broke the world for her husband: she can't turn back; she has to collect the Whispered One's debt. So the more setbacks she suffers, the more Grey lets Delilah's composure falter. Until her veneer of confidence and upper crustiness is completely burned away in that final confrontation with Vox Machina.

If nothing else, she put on one hell of a light show for Whitestone. It'll be fine, I'm sure.

The timing of Pike's fading out here is, as it was in the campaign, impeccable.

And that is the end of the Briarwoods.

For now, anyway.

The Bad. (Or at least, not so great.)

Magic:

Before Ripley makes her escape, there's more of her acting like she knows Percy when based on season one, she shouldn't.

This moment was why I pointed out the magic options available to Vox Machina in episode five; yes, Percy can't attack without alerting the Briarwoods, but Keyleth absolutely can.

All she needs is her standard: grasping vine. She doesn't even try to use that to grab Ripley?

Trying to snag Ripley and failing could've made Keyleth's big moment later even more powerful. She loses Ripley, Sylas punches her into a wall, and then she's out of a lot of the fight. Awkward, dirpy Keyleth messed up again.

So you take that and let it fuel her fire. This time she's determined not to fuck up. To put all that considerable power of hers into ending the threat to her friends.

And then she does.

It would've been cool to see.

Grog

And Grog's out of the fight again; I brought this up at the top of the season for this. It gets a little exasperating at this point. For a half-giant, the boy is strangely more prone to unconsciousness than his other, less hardy teammates.

A potentially better, funnier option would've been to have Grog awake the whole time but trying to get to the fight. Sylas and Pike were jumping around a lot. Maybe there could've been a background gag where he kept trying to run up the stairs before Delilah blasts him back down? Or Grog yelling in the background of Sylas and Pike's face-off that he'll be there soon; just a minute now, almost there. Plus, that would've been another fun nod to the campaign, where Grog's mobility was his Achilles' heal, and Matt used it multiple times to keep him out of the fight for as long as possible; so that there would be a fight.

Nitpick:

In hindsight, the "Be the light" thing is unnaturally on the nose, especially without a moment pre-episode three where Pike provides light for the team, or somebody calls her Vox Machina's light or both. Establishing that light is specifically Pike's thing before she loses that ability and passes the mantle on to Keyleth would've tied things together better and made that feel like a less contrived setup for this scene.

Writing like this will come up again in season 2, so I'm pointing it out now, even though it's not a huge deal here.

But that's about it.

This episode was fantastic, and it was hard to imagine they'd be able to top the action and emotion of episode eleven. But then they did.

That's coming up next.

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dent-de-leon · 1 year

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Satyr, elf, dwarf, genasi, paladin, bard, fighter, warlock

Hi!! this got a little rambly and long lmao but here we go:

Satyr: how did you discover critical role

okay so!! This was apparently just before crit role started streaming, cause it was 8 years ago, and anyway, I went to a signing for Matt at a con. I'm incredibly shy, but he was just very nice and friendly. Some time later, I started seeing pretty VM art and heard people talking about this DND thing that Matt Mercer did with some other VA's and I was like, oh!! I've heard of him!

I tried getting right into C1 but I felt like it was maybe a little daunting to catch up at that point. But then not long after, C1 wrapped up, and they announced they were doing another campaign. So it seemed like the perfect opportunity to start watching, be there right for the beginning of the new game. And I still remember when C2 was first teased, they posted this art of the party--but just their sihlouettes.

And it was just so fun to see everyone guessing at what kind of class everyone was and who was playing what character, and there was!! this one very striking sihlouette in particular! This one with HORNS and pretty jewelry and!! tHIS ADORABLE LITTLE TAIL!! and anyway I saw that sihlouette and I was like!! That one! I want to see that one! And watched the first episode of C2 live absolutely vibrating with excitement and when Mollymauk first showed up I knew I was already so far gone, it was hopeless--

Elf: what is your favorite side campaign

I really liked EXU Calamity!! Even if it absolutely broke my heart, it was just so much fascinating world building and character arcs. And I'm just so weak for anything related to the Age of Arcanum.

Dwarf: what is your favorite one-shot

THE SONG OF THE LORELEI!! I love blood hunters and werewolves and the concept of all the PCs being family. The sibling rivalry and banter, the mysterious family history and the way each character chooses whether to carry on this legacy or find their own path--there's just a lot of little things I loved.

Genasi: who is your favorite campaign 3 character (so far)

Funnily enough, my favorite character is a genasi, and it's Ashton!! I love the whole concept of dunamancy as raw, primal power and chaos--as opposed to the very refined science of spellwork and theorems we see from Dynasty wizards. It's just such an interesting contrast and the unpredictability of it is so fun. Love watching Taliesin react to what he rolls for those chaos bursts.

Also adore Ash's whole personality and the little so far we've uncovered about their past. I love his little found family and the way they're so protective of people when they insist they don't have friends. Grappling with their fear of abandonment and attachment, gradually learning to up again and heal. Also, Taliesin playing another trans character just makes me so so happy. Soft barbarian my beloved,,

Paladin: what is your favorite friendship

aHH the circus kids!! I think it's such a tragedy that we never got to see more of them, and it makes all of their little moments all the more heartfelt and poignant. Yasha saying that she just got attached to Molly because "he was Molly," seeing him in all his color and vibrance and joy--"he was so beautiful." A spark of life when she had been traveling so long in the wastes, where everything was dead and nothing grew, where there was no color in the world. And then there's Molly, and he shines like a beacon.

Molly making sure Yasha has ways to find them when they leave town. Kissing her on the forehead when she comes back. The aftermath of the Zone of Truth spell, when Molly's just leaning into her for comfort and thanking her for being there for him. Molly opening up to Yasha about being genderfluid, about how he really feels and what his tattoos mean to him.

Molly waking from the resurrection feeling so lost and pained and Empty--running away and holding his head in his hands until Yasha goes to his side and comforts him, promises him he's not Empty anymore. The sheer adoration and warmth in his voice when he calls her Love, the moments when he gives her the biggest hug and hands her the flowers he picked just for her and Beau.

The fact that Molly spent so long at the circus waiting for the next time Yasha would show, trusting that she'd always come back when she's ready, that she'd never leave them for good. Yasha still faintly hoping and praying, mourning Molly for so long until finally, finally--he comes home. And this time, Yasha gets to be the one to welcome him back and bring some color and warmth to his life.

Bard: what is your favorite “how do you want to do this?”

The vision of Yasha ripping Obann's wings off while lit by the temple's shattered stained glass is just so very thematically satisfying and striking, I'll never get over it.

But Jester staring down at Lucien and telling Molly that she knows he's in there, that they all love him so much and they want him back--that always breaks me. The poetry of Jester being the one to strike down Lucien when she's the one who read his tarot cards and told him, "Facing you is death," but says it is a comfort. Death--not as cruelty or something monstrous, but as a new beginning, an end so something new can be born--death coming to you and sitting beside you, holding your hand and telling you it will be okay.

Two tieflings, two parts of a matching set, a deck drawn by them both--Jester and Molly, death and rebirth. I love them so much.

Fighter: what was your favorite funny moment

I absolutely adore the classics of 1) Vox Machina spends like four spell slots, 25 minutes, and takes 10 damage trying to open x1 door in Whitestone, and 2) THE HOSPITAL HEIST and especially eVERYTHING Molly did for it. The image of him crashing through a window full of glass and acting like he just did a ten point landing and then jumping into Fjord's arms while he's trying to convince some nearby guards that Molly ran off in the opposite direction--pure art.

Warlock: what is your favorite critical role merch

MOLLY AND JESTER'S TAROT DECK!! I've been longing for that merch for years and it's everything I wanted. I love the little introduction written from Molly's point of view and all the lore tidbits we get about Moonweaver worship and Moonweaver oracle decks. I've also just always had a love of tarot cards, and this is actually my first oracle deck, so I was really excited!

The way these decks are often destroyed and rebuilt from scratch over and over, sometimes as often as the passing phases of the moon--how this reflects Molly's own soul and his fluidity in transformation and renewal between lives. The fact that Molly really does use his cards to try and help people, and that there's another group aligned with Ruidus who make red moon decks designed just to deceive and manipulate their marks.

Molly's cards and art being influenced by the ideals of Moonweaver worship and his heart for adventure and romance. The way he really did draw cards for all the Mighty Nein, making them a part of his life and the story his deck tells--I just love him and Jester and this lovely collaboration of art they did together. (Also, Jester's little notes in the margins of the pamphlet are so cute!)

#thanks for the ask hope you had a happy holiday!

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thebirdofthechapel · 2 years

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10 Moments Showcasing swapped!Saiki and Ritsu’s Brotherly Bond

I am obsessed with sibling love and if you wanted to see snippets of it, here are 10 scenes of swapped!Saiki and Ritsu being the closest siblings in Room of Hyacinth. There are spoilers beyond the read-more up until Chapter 13 (out of 17) unfortunately. Lots of text, and a comic panel at the end!

1. Ritsu is used to swapped!Saiki’s telepathy

My attention wanes as I let the rest of Ritsu’s thoughts merge into the constant, noisy buzzing in my head. I have already become desensitized to the endless whisperings, and twelve years with telepathy, growing in range every year, has allowed me enough skill to pick through them. It’s at least good in helping me not hear thoughts of those close to me. It still takes a bit of focus, since I have to get into a state of - ironically enough - spacing out. Of course, my little brother is used to this by now. No pausing or questions asked. It’s almost psychic how he seems to have picked up on small cues even I’m not aware of. He taps me on the shoulder, picking up the rest of the dishes. “I can do the rest. You go take a bath.” — Kageyama Shigeo (C1: Not Using Pyrokinesis to Start the Fire)

2. And swapped!Saiki is saved by Ritsu’s inner voice

There’s a chime—a sharp, small ripple of sound slicing the dense mud. A transparent thread, bleeding in a pink glow. When I open my eyes, every second is a battle to keep them open. I can sense the back of my hand again and push all my willpower to force its form to clench as tightly as possible. I can’t feel my extremities, but I can feel the tension as I squeeze Ritsu’s hand. I want to black out, to sleep through these overwhelming sensations. But I have to stay with Ritsu. I can’t leave him out here. He must be scared. I’ve put him through something ugly and terrifying again. I’m still too unfocused to understand his thoughts, but his inner voice has been unraveled from the rest. Maybe it’s because we’re brothers or each other’s closest friend, but I can always zero in on it. Ritsu knows this, so he knows talking or yelling can’t help me. All he can do is to call me in his mind — Kageyama Shigeo (C11: Giving Cakes To A God)

3. Hurting Ritsu turns swapped!Saiki into a villain

“Ow, ow, ow!” howls Nendou, his offending hand hoisted up as he did with mine. Except there’s nothing touching him. Only the wrinkles in his sleeves show evidence of a force keeping him in the air. A beastly growl resounds in the chambers of my mind. Nii-san’s teeth are clenched, and his usual serene eyes, bold and alive like the shine of cutting knives Shut up. I don’t even want to hear you scream. I tilt my head at the strangeness of what I’m hearing. Nii-san? As I move my legs, I feel a cold wetness in my pocket. Which rock are you insects skittering out from? Tell me, so I can burn it down to ashes! — Kageyama Ritsu (C5: The Worst Thing to Say Out Loud )

4. ...and he’s a villain that isn’t afraid to kill (he’s 12)

The sky has turned fiery in the sunset with long trail of fluffy clouds drifting by. Because of my prodigal older brother’s mysterious machinations, I ended up watching my first sunset with this person, Nendou Riki, someone from my past who I never expected to meet again. He doesn’t seem to be aware yet that he had survived an attack that would have tragically killed him. It’s for the best. The problem now is resolving this mess. — Saiki Kusuo (C6: What Every Loving Parent Would)

5. swapped!Saiki adores/dotes on his younger brother (and is very obvious about it)

“Well,” I start, considering how to explain it without being technical. “Ritsu is great, so it doesn’t matter.” It’s as simple as it can get, but Miyaike is still confused. “Is Ritsu considered tall in the club?” “No. But since he started back in third grade, he had a lot of experience with taller opponents from facing off with the senpai.” “He must have a lot of experience sparring with you,” says Takahara-san. “No,” I answer. “I don’t want to hurt Ritsu.” Miyaike arcs a brow, smirking. “It’s not supposed to hurt.” “Well.” I blow a puff of air, somewhat annoyed. “Then I don’t feel like it.” — Kageyama Shigeo (C10: It’s an A+++ Photo )

6. ...but also finds him terrifying when angered

Ritsu doesn’t look very happy to be here. On top of waking up early and standing in long lines in the shrine, he’s been spending all day and night studying as finals draw in. I keep telling him he’ll be fine without exerting so much effort, but even I, the strongest person in the planet, started to feel like something dangerous would awaken if I continued on. — Kageyama Shigeo (C4: A Cause of Unhappiness)

7. Ritsu won’t stand for slander on his older brother - even from their own mom

“Yeah, sure… Besides,” says Ritsu, smiling as he realizes he can seize the opportunity to turn this around. “I can’t have a fan club first before Nii-san. It doesn’t make sense.” My little brother can be so silly at times. “I don’t need something so inane….” “That’s impossible,” says Mom bluntly. “We’re talking about Shige.” Ritsu gapes in disbelief. Slowly, he collects himself. “Yes, we are talking about Nii-san. An incredibly talented person.” “Yes, yes, that person,” jests Mom. “I know you look up to your brother, but Shige’s always been shy. You can’t be popular if you’re shy.” I can hear Ritsu coming up with five different arguments, but he settles for the sharpest jab. I don’t know where Ritsu gets the courage to talk to our parents like this. “What would you know? Are you going to tell us you were the most popular girl in school back in your days?” — Kageyama Shigeo (C10: It’s an A+++ Photo )

8. ... and does not hesitate to use his charm to provide him with more crepes

They even have a sign for it: 250 of their bestseller crepes a day, strictly one per person only. Ritsu addresses this next. "Of course, you can bring me along any time. I can even get you a third." Dad had been with him when he brought home two, so I'd assumed he got it with his help. Had he done it without Dad? Did he say the second extra was for his cute little sister back home? "It's a popular store for couples, so all I did was to make sure they see me talking to a girl and act like I'm buying for the two of us." I turn to stare at him. "What? I bet plenty of other people do it too." Flirting with a random girl to get an extra crepe? Somehow, I doubt that. — Kageyama Shigeo (C12: Always Blame the Rain)

9. They have secret telepathic conversations all the time

A pause. Arataka takes another glance at the mirror, and as he suspected, the brothers are wordlessly communicating with a look. They are doing their utmost not to speak to one another. He wants to reassure them they can have a conversation without including him, but calling attention to it may only discourage them. "Nii-san isn't feeling well, so - um - he may sound succinct." "Hmm. I see." Arataka is bemused at what made the younger brother speak up. "It doesn't bother me. But, more importantly, Shigeo-kun, maybe you should lay off the pudding until you get home." "Can I have one last cup?" "One last," he allows. "How many is that?" Plastic being peeled away scratches from the back. "Six," answers Ritsu-kun, picking an empty cup. "Nii-san? This isn't pudding. It's coffee jelly." "Oh, my bad," says Arataka. "You don't like coffee," goes Ritsu-kun, almost like an accusation. "Are you okay?" Shigeo-kun doesn't reply. "There's sugar…" Ritsu-kun's voice fades and the conversation ends without another word. — Reigen Arataka (C13: Almost Out of Tokyo)

10. And, of course, they have “sibling fights” (aka Ritsu’s patience is tested)

As soon as he finishes the sentence, a scuffle breaks out. Takahara-san almost falls over as Ritsu gets into a stance and slams his elbow onto my rib cage, having perfectly predicted my reaction. That blow is serious. I catch Ritsu glowering darkly my way. No words, just a look that can absolutely kill. Is it enough to convince me to stop? Of course not. Some things are worth dying for. I grab the mic with my superior, older brother arm. Ritsu, achieving zen, is not fazed by my decisiveness and makes a smooth pass behind him. "Mishima-san!" "Huh? Me? Huh? Why?" Mishima-san scrambles to her feet and, with wide, confused eyes, successfully catches the mic like a pro baseball player. Takahagara-san gasps, impressed. You fool. You just made it easier for me, and you even picked the only person in the room who would understand how important this is. Mishima-san lets out a shrill, mouse-like "eek!" as I lock my target on her. Then, before I can make another move, I fly. The room spins, and before I can brute force a counter, it turns upside down, and I'm lying on the floor on my back. — Kageyama Shigeo (C12: Always Blame the Rain)

10.1 Comic bonus

#Saiki Kusuo no PSI Nan #saiki no psi nan #mp100 #mob psycho 100 #the disastrous life of saiki k.#saiki k #saiki kusuo #kageyama ritsu #roh #no ototo no ani #tbotc posts

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widaugast · 4 years

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Apologies for the inconsistency of activity the past couple of weeks! I've got a little over a week left in the semester with two plays to finish, three essays to write, and two projects to wrap up. Needless to say, it will be a busy week for me before things begin to stabilize again. I do plan to be here as much as I can, though.

Also — I am considering either planning a c2 rewatch-along once I'm caught up (probably two weeks out?), so let me know if you'd be interested. If enough folks are, I'll start looking into platforms, times, and etc.!

#( i am always watching clips and have started c1 but... i also already miss the nein and i've still got six new-to-me episodes left so? )#( maybe a weekly rewatch would be interesting to folks? or weekly ic CAH or something? )#out of the ashes.#announcements.

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heydragonfly · 3 years

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like two hours until cr campaign 3!!!!!!! gang how we FEELIN!!!!

#cr #ash rambles #IM SO EXCITED!!!!!#i was able to watch some of EXU live but this is my first time watching the main campaign live!!!!!#i can’t WAIT to find out who the new gang is!!!#i really want a non humanoid character lol #like a leonin or tabaxi or aarakocra #but literally whatever they do i Trust #just so hype!!! and feel like i have better context for their range since i’ve gotten farther into c1 #just. hype!!!!!!!!

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perkvpsvcho · 5 months

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#them #sam riegel #travis willingham #critical role #vox machina #ash watches c1

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xombigirl · 3 years

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hello i have a question! if they were to all have to play each others’ characters for a one-shot, who do you want to play who? C1 and/or C2, your choice!

OOOOOO!!!!!!! Okay we'll do both!

For c1:

Laura as Scanlan: I think she would have the perfect sense of humor to play that raunchy little man.

Taliesin as Vex: GIVE ME THAT WINK SIR. I WANT IT.

Travis as Pike: Big man playing a little cleric and he could get all flustered when his wife flirted with him.

Liam as Grog: GO APE SHIT BUDDY! GO NUTS! LET YOUR ID FREEEEE!

Ashley as Percy: Show us that refined bastard we all know is hiding inside you Ash

Marisha as Vax: Let your emo goth flag fly baby girl!

Sam as Keyleth: He loves a support caster anyway and you know he'd have a blast getting a blushy when Marisha flirted with him.

For c2:

Liam as Fjord: I want to hear Liam's cowboy accent and watch him be a smooth talker

Marisha as Caleb: I mean. We've seen it before and it was A TREAT AND I WANT MORE.

Travis as Molly/Caduceus: Show us your Irish big man! And can you imagine how hot his rumbly Cad voice would be???

Laura as Beau: JUST YES

Sam as Yasha: LET SAM AND LAURA FLIRT

Ashley as Veth: I just wanna hear her do the voice So BAD

Taliesin as Jester: LET CHAOS REIGN

#answered #likephysics #sleepover tuesday #critical role

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captainsspnanon · 3 years

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I just realized that this is my own tumblr and I can type up random reaction posts if I want. AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME.

I will tag these “CR C2 Rewatch” if you want to blacklist though.

SADLY I DIDN’T HAVE THIS REALIZATION UNTIL PARTWAY THROUGH EPISODE FIVE. ‘cause I am dumb.

THOUGHTS.

Sliding back into C2 felt SO GOOD. I MISSED THESE GUYS SO MUCH. I genuinely would want to run a poll, because it seems to be that people who watched C1 first think C1 is their favorite, while people who watch C2 first thing C2 is their favorite.

I totally forgot we heard Fjord’s real accent in episode five! But in episode four, Jester references that it’s not his real voice! SO MUCH SO EARLY AND WE NEVER KNEW!!!

Caleb seems oddly happy in these, ngl. Wonder if I’ve just forgotten much of his happier excited moments, because I know that he has them throughout the campaign, but it’s much easier to remember the drama. I love these adorable moments!

Seriously, I love the Nott&Caleb combo. It just works so so so well. ALL THE HEARTS. And with the knowledge now, I can definitely see the more mothering side of the relationship. I do miss how it really did feel almost like she was Caleb’s daughter at times though, just a cute protectiveness. ...which is a bit weird, because I do like the concept that Nott was secretly in love with Caleb for a bit. LOOK I LIKE THESE THOUGHTS IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS, NOT OVERLAPPING.

(also glad the accent only lasted three episodes. ilu sam but I hated early Nott accent)

Going back but lolling forever at the talks with Marisha where they talk about the Beauyasha ship (like, the second talks I think?) and they’re like THEY’LL TOTALLY BE MARRIED AT THE END completely joking but GUESS WHAT IT’S TRUE

Molly’s not bothering me that much right now! I don’t remember when I started disliking him, so it’ll be interesting to see if he’s not going to bother me as much this rewatch or not. I wouldn’t mind growing to like him, or at least be neutral towards him. We shall see! I don’t think I started out hating him though.

Definitely loving Fjord a lot on the rewatch, I genuinely forgot how friggen responsible he seemed until Cad came around! ALSO THE ACCENT. I remember during my first watch midway through I read a youtube comment of someone rewatching and talking about how they forgot Fjord had the Texan accent and I was all ‘wtf how can you forget something like that’ and then of course by the end I forgot it as well. XD

So many rolled nines!! Oh, I can’t wait! They’re in Alfield now, which means group name within this batch of episodes! Also holy shit I can’t believe I forgot that they didn’t immediately go to Zadash. ALSO IT’S ZADAHSH. Matt pronounced it with a softer ah sound! And then they all said Zadash with the ash sound and it became Zadash by fifth episode. SO WEIRD.

SAM SAID THIS IS THE FIRST TIME HE HAD MAGIC. Okay, THIS is super a joke that I missed having not seen C1 first. YOU FUCKING TROLL never used magic my ass

Interesting how Sam really took Liam’s lead with the spells though and began to be very descriptive as well. A very nice touch for Caleb teaching Nott, now even more contrasted with how Scanlan cast.

Not a fan of Molly’s Vicious Mockery, but I think it’s just a combination of I don’t like the voice and it’s nasty violent comments. Iunno, “Vicious Mockery” always to me sounded like it should be more jeering/joking than just violent threats. Very personal opinion though, wouldn’t be surprised if everyone in the world disagreed.

SPIRITUAL LOLLIPOP!!! As much as I love Pike, I REALLY love that Jester’s weapon remained a consistent form, versus Pike changing the form almost every time she cast it.

DEFLECT MISSILES!!! I fucking love Beau so much! She didn’t really do this much during the campaign, but I’m trying to remember if she really has the -opportunity- to do it much. I don’t remember if they got attacked by things like arrows and such a lot? I know she could (and forgot) to catch the bullet when Nott shot her in the ass, but it was such a great scene I’m glad she didn’t. XD

REGULAR GNOLL REGULAR GNOLL

Kinda sad that the NEIN running joke ended up dying out among the cast pretty quickly, it was fun while it lasted! At least we still have makin mah way and uk’otoa. *keeps watching* oh man, they really DO roll nine an absurd amount of times this episode. It just keeps happening!

Oh, I love scared!Caleb and thrifty!Caleb. Still my favorite, by far.

Divvying up the gold. You know, in hindsight, it makes complete sense that Vox Machina had a party fund, whereas the Nein always split their earnings. Even though both groups became family, it was such a different dynamic in so many different ways. I can’t really imagine the Nein doing a party fund.

Aaaand Molly “quietly has a nervous breakdown”. Yeaaahhh, sorry Tal. You need to stop SAYING your PC is doing something, and actually SHOW it. I had this issue with Percy and Cad as well as Molly, so it’s not a character choice. It’d be fine if it were once in a while, but it’s the majority of the time, and that’s what loses me.

Oh, I so miss how they would end the episode with a few seconds of silent video of the full table view. I hope they do that again for C3.

#critical role #the mighty nein #cr c2 rewatch #c2 spoilers

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lesetoilesfous · 4 years

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For the prompts, Anders/Fenris C1 being dared to have sex by someone else.

Hey, thank you so much for the prompt!!

(If you want me to write you a dragon age ficlet tonight, send me a prompt from here!)

@dadrunkwriting

Pairing: Fenders

Characters: Fenris, Anders

Tags: modern AU, college AU, no magic, random frat boys, what happens when the boys aren’t chaperoned for thirty seconds, I’m sorry I’m British what even are american universities, smoking

Rating: Mature

“I think you two should fuck. I dare you.” Jackson has had too much to drink. Everyone has had too much to drink, but Kirkwall U’s champion hockey player has really, really had too much. His fair skin is red and blotched with alcohol, he’s sweating a little, and his pupils are dilated. Anders and Fenris level him with matching unimpressed glares. The rest of the team lolls against the couches, plastic cups gripped loosely in sweating palms.

Anders gets to his feet. Music is thumping through the walls of the house loudly enough to shiver through the carpet, and he’s been too hot for a while anyway. He’d kill for a breath of fresh air, and a cigarette to boot. The hockey captain getting weird was as good an excuse as any. “Not that I haven’t always wanted a sneak peek into the kinky corners of your mind, Jackson, but I haven’t. Ciao.”

He leaves the loose ring of hockey players without a backwards glance, and finds himself wondering briefly why the hell he’d stayed at all without Kristoff. Anders weaves through the crowd without thinking much of anything, feeling the alcohol in his body slosh warmly through his blood and leaving his head dizzy with its sudden absence. He breathes, and tastes body odour and tequila. By the time he gets to the wide balcony doors he’s nearly gasping for fresh air - and the chlorinated stink of the swimming pool soaked in muffled music is like a brief taste of heaven.

Anders slips his hand into his pocket, pulling out a crumpled pack of tobacco and rolling himself a cigarette before fumbling for his lighter. His fingers hit the bottom of his jeans’ cotton pocket and he curses, tucking the cigarette behind his ear, and briefly weighing the value of going back inside or bumming a light off a stranger. His fingers tap against his leg as he thinks about it, full now of nervous energy.

He hates being alone at these things, and Isabela had dragged off Marian to ‘celebrate her victory’ about two hours ago. Kristoff was...somewhere, and Anders would be more worried about him if he wasn’t sure the man was damn near indestructable. He was probably off being dragged into something stupid by Nate.

The wind rushes over the trees in a great whispering hush, and the soft splash of people in the pool plays cymbal crashes under the low murmur of conversation. Anders really, really wants a cigarette.

“Need a light?”

Fenris’ voice is as low, rough, and unreasonably attractive as it ever is. Anders barely resists the childish urge to groan out loud, and turns to see Fenris standing quietly, a lighter held up in the air between them like a white flag. Reluctantly, Anders drags the bitter protesting teenager inside himself back under control, and forces himself to give Fenris a polite smile, snatching the lighter out of his hand before he can think better of it.

“Thanks.”

Fenris nods, and hums softly, his own cigarette held loosely between his fingers. He takes a drag whilst Anders burns his thumb on the lighter and finally, finally gets the little flickering flame between his fingers to catch his cigarette with a scratching snap. Anders breathes in, lets warm smoke fill his lungs, and feels himself relax. He shuts his eyes, and huffs out a cloud of tobacco with a contented sigh. Fenris chuckles, softly.

“I owe you.” He gestures with one long elegant hand at the open doors. “I’d been searching for an excuse to depart that miserable little gathering for forty five minutes.”

Anders raises an eyebrow at him. He certainly hadn’t consciously been thinking of an out for Fenris when he’d left. “You’re welcome?” He lifts his voice in question, and tries not to think about the tattoos on Fenris’ throat. The corner of Fenris’ mouth pulls into a small smile that Anders desperately wants to read as fond.

“I said I’d come check on you.” Fenris explains. Around them, fairy lights drip down the side of the house, woven haphazardly into the trellis nailed to the bricks. Anders thinks of Jackson’s ‘dare’. His mouth twists.

“They probably think we’re out here engaging in a liberal dose of PDA.”

Fenris shrugs. He’s wearing a black t-shirt and dark jeans, with a thin silver bracelet Hawke had bought for him years ago. He’s the most handsome man Anders has ever seen. It’s maddening. “I confess that what they think we might be doing matters little to me.”

Anders huffs and takes another drag, savouring the thick bitter taste of tobacco on his tongue. “You say that, you’re not the one who’ll be touted as your latest conquest.” He wrinkles his nose. “Honestly, you sleep with one hockey player and suddenly everyone says you have a thing for them.”

Again, there’s that glimmer of a faint, fond smile at the corner of Fenris’ lips. Anders blinks, and it’s gone. The pool is so bright under the stars it almost glows, rocking like a little ocean between the tiles. “I don’t labour under the impression that you’d sleep with me because I’m a hockey player.”

“That implies you think you know why I would.” The words trip from his tongue before Anders has the chance to think better of them. This was why he shouldn’t attend these events unaccompanied. If Kristoff was here, he’d take this moment to pilot them both back inside to the kitchen, and they’d find some nachos, and he’d listen whilst Anders had a small breakdown about what he just said and what Kristoff thought Fenris thought of it, and Kristoff wouldn’t know but it’d help to talk about it anyway.

Instead, Anders finds himself frozen as Fenris meets and holds his gaze, sucking on his cigarette before he lets go in a thick cloud of smoke. Suddenly, the music and the party seem very far away. Fenris says, a little roughly, “I think you like me because you think I’m kind.”

Distantly, Anders knows he’s blushing. With an effort, he wets his lips, and forces himself to speak, trying for humour and ending up somewhere around embarassingly intrigued. “I’m not in the habit of fucking every good samaritan I meet.”

Fenris hums, but there’s a flash of laughter and something like daring in his eyes as he taps his cigarette. Anders watches the ash fall, still burning orange, onto the tiles. He smokes his cigarette.

“You think I’m intelligent.” Fenris says, softly.

Anders really, really wants a drink. He looks quickly around the pool, where other students stand in bright colours and neon like a flock of tropical birds. He turns back to Fenris, standing in the shade of one of the garden walls, looking calm and confident and more collected than Anders has ever been. Anders forces a chuckle and tucks his hand into his jean pocket before his fingers start tapping again. “Yeah, Fenris, I have a brain. And I also know what your grades are.”

Fenris finishes his cigarette, and stubs it into an ashtray on a nearby table before stepping closer. Anders imagines he can feel his body heat and knows they aren’t standing close enough together for that to possibly be true. It’s hard to tell out here, where the electric lights of the house blaze into the darkness and fade quickly, but Anders thinks Fenris is blushing.

Fenris says, quietly, “You think I am attractive.”

Anders looks away, and swallows, and tries to ignore the furious pounding of his heart and the flush burning up the back of his neck. “Again, I have eyes.” He stabs his cigarette butt into the ashtray with more ferocity than is strictly necessary, and freezes when Fenris very, very gently tucks his hair behind his ear.

Fenris is shorter than Anders, but it’s always been hard for Anders to think of him as small - and not only because he’s pretty sure the other man could benchpress him. There’s something about Fenris, and the careful way with which he speaks and acts, which demands the same kind of dedicated attention in return. Fenris’ other hand moves to tangle gently with Anders’ fingers. Anders stops breathing.

Fenris looks at him, “I think you know that in the end, despite our best efforts, you and I are very much alike.”

Anders lets out the breath he’d been holding and it feels like he’s coming up for air. The wind rushes through the trees, and above them, where they’re not hidden by the blaze of artificial light, the stars glimmer in a blue summer sky. “Careful. I might get the wrong idea.”

Fenris’ hand tightens, just a little, around Anders’. There’s something earnest and unguarded in his green eyes that Anders thinks he’s never seen before. When Fenris speaks, his voice is a little uneven, and as he moves the lights of the house brush over his dark skin, and Anders catches the depth of his blush as it spreads over his cheeks. “I am hoping that you will get the right one.”

Anders grins a little, nervous and shaky, and squeezes Fenris’ hand back. “Well, you know me. I’m always a bit slow on the uptake.”

Then he catches the side of Fenris’ face in his free hand, and bends down, and kisses him. He tastes like tequila and cigarettes. Around them twists the warm embrace of a gentle summer breeze.

#dadwc #fenders #da2 #sneakyneighboururchin #fenris #anders #da2 fic #my fic #fenders fic

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