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brain-rot-central · 2 months

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Sonnet of the Lone Cardinal, Ch. 3

A/N: Thank you all for your patience. She's finally here.

Word count: 3.5k Rating: M (nothing sexual; mostly topics that may be uncomfortable) Pairing: Ascended Astarion/Fem!Tav Warnings: 18+; Mentions of murder, violence, death, blood, gore (very minor), blood drinking, sexual acts. Angst, alcohol consumption.

Summary: Tav and Shadowheart finally reunite for a simple lunch date. Their discussion turns toward Astarion, and a particularly unsettling event.

Chapter track: Cry - Cigarettes After Sex

♥ Previous Chapter ♥ Next Chapter ♥ Link to Ao3

Dawn breaks over the horizon. The subtle stirrings of a city coming to life once more fill the streets. Maids and matrons pat down their mats just beyond their front doors. Street vendors begin setting up their carts. A young boy with a satchel carrying copies of the Gazette goes from home to home delivering the day’s latest print.

Tav kneels before her front window, watching the street below. A few days have passed since her meeting with Jaheira. Astarion hasn't been to see her; the longest stretch of time between visits since they began their ordeal. She fully expected a visit last night. However, he never came. She hates admitting it to herself, but she feels a shallow pit in her stomach beginning to form having gone without him for so long.

Standing up, Tav closes the window and brings herself into the washroom to prepare for the day ahead. An old friend has requested a lunch date; she hasn’t seen Shadowheart for many months, and owes her dearest friend an audience.

Tav pours the carafe of water into the wash basin, dipping a cloth into the water before bringing it to her face. Studying the various soaps and creams she has lined along the shelf, she chooses one of nettlebark, smelling of citrus and pine forests. This scent is one of her favorites, and she’s relieved she can still find comfort within the smell. Scents are still a trigger for her nausea at this stage in her pregnancy. The usually tempting smell of breakfast wafting about the air of the city turns her stomach upright, now. Tav has found that if she holds off eating until mid-morning, she's in the clear.

Yet… odd cravings have begun.

For instance, she's since gone back to the butcher's, profusely apologetic to poor Gideon. Of course, the kind soul that he is, he was nothing but understanding and even offered her a few rations free of charge. Tav politely declined his offer, yet as she stared into the display cases full of various raw meats, she found herself practically bewitched by the sight. Rich, bloody beef; cut straight from the animal. She recalls how intensely saliva pooled within her mouth staring at the provisions. Tasting the metallic twang of the blood on her tongue, swallowing thickly as Gideon returned with her order.

Patting her face dry with a small towel, Tav returns into the main room and begins rummaging through her dresser for the day's outfit. The midnight blue bottle Jaheira gave her sits atop the dresser. Tav considers the potion every morning, but quickly declines as her heart aches at the thought.

She believes the weather to be rather warm today, so she settles on an airy, light blue sundress and a wide brimmed hat. The gray scarf she recently bought matches perfectly as she stands before her mirror, assembling the ensemble.

The ghost of scars catches her eyes as she adjusts the scarf around her neck. They're light enough; most wouldn't notice, though to her, they blare. Permanent gifts from her months-long affair with Astarion during their journey to defeat the Absolute. His bite was always a clean one, never marring her tanned skin. Two faint fang marks are all that remain, Tav taking the index and middle fingers of one hand to press lightly over the imprinted flesh as she lifts her chin.

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

The rhythmic beating of her heart can be felt beneath her fingertips as she pushes slightly into the artery. Accurate, Tav notes, a shiver running down her spine. She makes quick adjustments to the scarf and grabs her hat off the edge of her bed, placing it atop her head.

Returning to the mirror, Tav smiles approvingly at her reflection as she gives herself a final glance over. The dress is loose enough that it hides the new softness of her body, something she's thankful for. Curiously, she places her hands over her stomach, pushing the fabric of the dress down and under the small swell of her lower abdomen. A pleased laugh escapes her lips while admiring the sight.

Tav turns her body from side to side, tracing the movement with her eyes. Her breasts now fill the top of the garment. The deep plunge of the dress’s neckline displays her new cleavage in a flattering manner. Feeling suddenly bare, Tav unwraps the scarf from around her neck, repositioning it lays across her chest like a bandana. Better. A bit more modest.

The satisfaction doesn’t last very long as she thinks of Shadowheart. How can she tell her? Will she tell her? While Shadowheart has never been anything but supportive, Tav worries how she may respond to news of her pregnancy. Tav is not ready for the backlash and potential lecture her best friend would give her, hearing Shadowheart's scolding voice echo within her mind.

You cried over him for months! Tav envisions clearly, sour facial expressions and all. How many times did you come to me distraught in the middle of the night? Only to end up like this?

If the conversation doesn’t occur naturally, Tav decides on not discussing it. Not yet.

Swallowing past the sudden lump in her throat, Tav grabs her satchel from behind her main door, throwing it over her shoulder and across her chest. She inspects the contents quickly to ensure everything is present. Slipping her feet into brown sandals, she makes her way down the stairs to face the day ahead.

----------------------------------------------------

The morning is spent strolling around the park not far from her apartment. Tav recalls an altercation with Bhaal’s followers in this very park so many months ago. Today though, people are enjoying the sun and the company of one another. Lovers lay out on the grass, hands interlaced as they speak freely of their devotion to one another. A book club gathers in the middle of the park to discuss their latest obsession. Tav overhears bits and pieces of mixed conversations, finding comfort in the fact that life is slowly returning to normal for the citizens of Baldur's Gate.

The midmorning quickly slips into afternoon, and Tav begins her trek over toward the Elfsong to meet with Shadowheart. A few people nod in recognition as she passes by. “That's our hero!” they shout. “The savior of the city!” Tav smiles and bows graciously toward them, never quite comfortable with everyone suddenly knowing of her existence. Still, she is thankful for their praise and support.

Upon entering the Elfsong, Tav scans the tavern and quickly finds Shadowheart seated at a booth along the wall. Their eyes meet, Shadowheart waving her over with a warm smile on her face. “There you are!” she exclaims as Tav draws closer. “My goodness, I feel as if it's been ages!” The two women exchange a quick embrace, planting chaste kisses upon eachother's cheek.

“Good to see you again, Shadowheart,” Tav says as she settles into the booth. She removes her hat and scarf, placing both items on the cushion to her left.

Shadowheart soon joins her, taking a sip from her glass of wine. “Shall I ask for another glass?” she proposes, nodding to hers. “We could just order a bottle,” she quickly adds with a smirk.

“Oh, no, I'm quite fine,” Tav declines, a sharp twist in her abdomen forms at the thought. “Truth be told, I haven't had the best stomach, as of late.” Bile begins to rise in the back of her throat as a quick wave of nausea passes over her. She quickly swallows it back down.

Taking another sip from her glass, Shadowheart cocks her head to the side. “Truly? Why haven't you been to see me yet?”

“Not to worry,” waving a hand in reassurance. “I've been to a healer. All is well,” Tav replies with a liar’s smile.

All is not well. None of this is well.

Fortunately, Shadowheart takes the bait and quickly switches subjects. Waiting for service, they begin a pleasant conversation about resettling back into their lives. They speak of their new jobs and all other mundane activities of day-to-day life, sharing a few laughs between remarks as they pursue the menus in front of them.

The waitress takes their orders – Shadowheart keeps it light, ordering salad with grilled chicken; Tav orders a rare steak with potatoes and a side of vegetables. “Rare?” Shadowheart comments as soon as the waitress is out of earshot. “You hate all meat, unless it’s well done.”

She's right. Any hint of pink in Tav’s portion would go right back into the fire. “I-I've been trying new things lately,” Tav explains, rubbing her neck coyly. The cravings only seem to grow as the days pass, and she briefly wonders if it's a consequence of having a half-vampiric pregnancy.

Shadowheart raises a brow again, but fortunately does not pry further. The women then delve into a discussion regarding their old companions as they wait for their meals. Tav talks of her efforts to bolster the city watch with Wyll, now the Duke after his father's unfortunate death. Shadowheart speaks of Gale, who she notes has since opened a school of wizardry back in Waterdeep. Neither has heard much regarding the others, though they agree that they're most likely doing well.

Shadowheart wastes little time once their meals arrive, forking salad into her mouth. “So, have you heard from Astarion at all?” she asks casually after swallowing.

A shudder passes over Tav as she begins slicing into her steak. “No,” she feigns with eyes cast downward, “I-I have not.”

Gesturing toward Tav with her fork as she chews, Shadowheart swallows. “I read something interesting in the Gazette a few days ago,” she suggests.

“About him?” Tav questions, bringing a potato wedge to her mouth.

Shadowheart shakes her head in disapproval around a sip of wine. “Not in particular,” she clarifies. “They don't name him explicitly, though it made me think of him.”

Silence befalls the table as Tav awaits her companion to continue. She doesn't trust her voice enough at this point to offer more to their conversation now that Astarion is the topic at hand. Playing idly with the vegetables on her plate, she chooses a small piece of broccoli to bring up to her mouth. The heavy pull of dread is beginning to creep in, her chest tightening.

“They… mentioned an incident that occurred in the sewers but a tenday ago,” explains Shadowheart, a sour expression befitting her face. “Some sort of deal gone wrong.”

Tav looks up to meet Shadowheart's gaze, puzzled. “How exactly does that involve him?” she inquires.

“Well, that's just the thing,” Shadowheart continues, “those first on the scene mentioned five victims in total, all young males.” She interrupts herself to feed another forkful of salad into her mouth, swallowing before resuming, “They were all reported as being exsanguinated, though only three had their throats slashed.”

Tav swallows hard around another piece of steak, silently savoring the rare flavor washing over her tongue as she focuses her attention on Shadowheart. “And the other two?”

Shadowheart looks sheepishly around the bar, discomfort evident. She dips her head. “Tav, I know of your history with Astarion. I don't wish to speak ill of him out of respect for you.”

Tav's fist tightens around the knife in her left hand. The tightness in her chest has traveled up to her throat. Her heart pounds rapidly as she drinks from the glass of water within her right hand. “What of the others?” Tav insists, placing the glass back down on the table with force.

Eyes falling closed, Shadowheart sighs heavily. “The other two…” she begins, voice trailing off. She pulls in a deep breath. “Well, they're reported as having two pin marks on their necks.” She gestures to Tav's throat with a soft nod of her head. “...Not unlike the scars you bear.”

A prickling heat spreads across Tav’s face. A tenday ago? she speaks within her mind. Rather close to when she'd last seen Astarion. Tav recalls again how miffed he'd been that night; impatient and direct, wasting little time coaxing her down onto the bed.

She pushes around a chunk of potato on her plate, anxiety mounting. “What makes you think it was Astarion? It could have been a kobold, or a spider, or-”

“They were gone the next day,” interrupts Shadowheart, bluntly.

Tav’s heart nearly freezes. She locks eyes with Shadowheart. “Gone? What do you mean gone?” she asks frantically, furrowing her brow.

“Gone,” Shadowheart reiterates, raising the wine glass to her lips again. “When the investigators returned the following day alongside the medical examiner, only the three with the knife wounds remained.” She pulls a long drink from the glass. “The other two were nowhere to be found. As if they'd simply gotten up and walked away.”

Tav shivers, entire body twitching with the thought. “T-that doesn't mean it's Astarion, Shadowheart. It could be-”

“Could be what? Another vampire?” suggests Shadowheart, sarcastically. “I don't think Astarion would take kindly to someone else moving into his territory.” She sighs, clicking her tongue. “I'm sorry to say it, Tav, but it sounds an awful lot like him.”

The sounds of the tavern flood Tav’s ears. Her vision narrows to a single pinpoint, the edges of her vision growing fuzzy. She leans back in her seat and closes her eyes. “We don't know that,” Tav states, trying desperately to calm the wild beating of her heart. “We don't know what happened.” She shakes her head, slowly opening her eyes. “We won't know until the case is settled.”

“Why do you still defend him?” asks Shadowheart bluntly, mouth pulling into a displeased pout. “Surely you remember how badly he hurt you. Why continue to defend him at all?”

The question echoes in her mind. Why does she defend him? The man is a monster; an abomination, as Jaheira had called his child. Tav knows not who he’s become. Small glimpses of the man he once was shine through now and again, mostly when they argue. The stubborn selfishness of him reveals itself, inevitably bleeding into raw passion once she works at him enough. It almost makes her feel at home in his arms, albeit for a few hours.

“He wouldn't, Shadowheart. It's not like him…” Tav says, quietly. She's unsure if she believes it or if she's lying in an effort to convince herself that it's true. She's suddenly lost her appetite, pushing the plate of food away from her.

Shadowheart is quiet for some time, eyes cast down at the table. “Well,” she says, cutting through the silence, “let's hope he's as innocent as you say.”

Silence stretches across the table before the two women agree to shift the conversation elsewhere. They inevitably tie up their gathering, sharing an embrace and chaste kisses to the cheeks once again. They vow to meet the following week, and head out on their way.

Walking back toward her apartment, Tav's stomach begins to sour as she thinks over her conversation with Shadowheart. Vivid images of Astarion sinking his fangs into the necks of the alleged victims flood her mind's eye. She feels a tingling sensation over her own scars as she imagined how they must have felt. Could he have really done such a thing? The sounds of the city are almost absent from her ears as she ponders the question.

“Wait a minute,” she speaks aloud, freezing in place. Her eyes are cast down to the cobblestone street below as her heart fills with horror. Her mouth dries quickly, choking as she tries to breathe.

The last night she'd seen Astarion coincides almost exactly with the timeline of the murders within the sewers. If the report is true, then Astarion's enthusiasm that night wasn't solely due to want, necessarily. Tav dips into a small alley between two buildings, leaning against the brick wall as her knees grow weak.

No, his insistence was not due to missing her. It was attributed to blood-fueled lust, a state Tav has seen him in a number of times. She clasps a hand over her mouth as a sob suddenly racks her chest. Her whole body shakes as the horrific realization sinks deep into her bones. The puzzle aligns near perfectly as the thought continues to blossom.

Astarion had come to her bed after draining two people dry. He didn't spend time on their typical foreplay because he couldn't. Tav knows the power mortal blood has over him, and she doubts the ascension has changed that. She recalls how it all but possesses his thoughts, his feelings, and his body, enslaved by the sheer power of unbridled desire running through him.

Lurching forward, she begins to dry heave; a million thoughts race across her mind. He couldn't have done this on purpose, could he? He wouldn't. There's simply no way he would. Denial clouds her thoughts as saliva drips freely from her open mouth, gathering it together to spit upon the floor. Holding a hand to her stomach she rises, leaning her temple against the cool brick of the wall next to her. She closes her eyes, trying to calm her excitement with slow, deep breaths.

“No innocents; you have my word.”

Astarion's past promise to her rings loudly in her ears. It was from this promise their almost nightly affair to keep him well-fed began. Tav tries desperately to block out the memories of what would transpire after their sessions; how could she have not noticed? All the signs were there.

Because he didn't drink from me.

Her stomach churns again and she rubs her hand in a circular motion above her navel. Her chest burns as she chokes back tears. What to do, now? Does she wait until his next visit to confront him? When will that be? The anticipation will burn a hole through her soul, she knows. But, what other option does she have?

A small voice wrestles from within as she wipes her mouth with the back of a hand.

…Do I go to him?

The decision is made before the logical side of her mind can argue a rational point, her feet carrying her toward the Crimson Palace. She second guesses the choice; from some place within, a voice yells for her to reconsider.

He'll tell me the truth, surely, she argues against her doubt.

Right?

Aware that she's potentially putting herself in a grave position, Tav cannot rest until he tells her otherwise. She needs to hear from Astarion's own mouth that he didn't murder five people only to share her bed mere hours later. She needs to hear from him that he wouldn't do this, that he still abides by his promise to her, that her blood is all he's ever known.

“Why do I care so much?” Tav questions aloud to herself, practically running now toward the monastery. She shakes her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts; he will eventually drink the blood of others. If he is to create an army of spawn as he'd so claimed after the ritual, that would be the only way to do so.

They're no longer lovers; no longer deeply acquainted. They just sleep together, and she fell pregnant as a result.

Why does she care so much?

Before long, Tav stands before the immaculate palace. Grand mahogany doors stand proudly at the building's entrance, adorned with intricate carvings along the wood. Black metal knockers depicting the faces of gargoyles signal a way in. Tav’s hand reaches instinctively around the bell of one, pulling up.

Before she can complete the knock, the door creaks open. A faint glow from a distant light source cracks through the opening of the door and Tav releases the handle, stepping back. She freezes in place, fully expecting the door to continue opening. Yet, it halts, remaining only slightly ajar. Stale air greets her nostrils and a shiver passes through her.

Silence suddenly engulfs her, the sounds of the city falling dormant. As she surveys the area around her, Tav notes no other presence out on the street for as far as the eye can see. Her ears pick up the soft sound of someone humming, and she determines its origin lies within the palace.

An assimon carved into the middle of the marble trim along the heavy doors catches her attention as she looks up. Tav turns her head as she studies the figure; a young woman with long hair, eyes closed and wings outstretched as she holds a lance within one hand.

The humming from within the building turns into a tune and cuts through Tav’s daydream. She shakes her head briefly, regrouping. She can turn away now and forget this entire thing. Forget that this was even a thought that crossed her mind, leave, and no one would ever know she was here.

A quick flash of Astarion’s fangs piercing into skin flits across Tav’s vision. She winces. I simply must know, she reassures herself. Drawing in a deep breath, she steps forward.

Resting the flat of her palm against the door, Tav slowly pushes it open. The old metal and wood fuss loudly as the door gives way under the force of her hand. The faint glow of the light from within now pours out, illuminating the street behind her. With some hesitation, Tav steps over the threshold, disappearing into the palace.

#astarion #ascended astarion #bg3 astarion #fanfiction #astarion ancunin #astarion angst #astarion smut #astarion x female tav #astarion x tav #bg3

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athingofvikings · 9 months

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Intro Post: Who I Am And What I Write

So this is overdue, but I figure that I should finally get around to it; I have an older, half-finished version... somewhere in my drafts on here, and well... I stopped looking for it and started over, just to give you an idea of how deep in there it's gotten.

So!

Hi, I'm athingofvikings, aka Joe, aka The Evil Authorlord as dubbed by my readers. I've been in fandom for close to 20 years, and for the last seven or so, I've been primarily in the How To Train Your Dragon fandom. I was a substitute teacher in the US, and have since emigrated to Germany, as my spouse is a German national. These days, I'm studying German, trying to decide if I want to try to teach again in the German school system, and trying to get my own writing career off the ground.

As for fandom, my then-fiancee, now-spouse introduced me to the first HTTYD movie during the Parental Introduction Visit in 2016; my first comment after finishing the movie was, "Cute, but not historically accurate."

A month later, I was preparing for NaNoWriMo 2016 when the plot bunny bit down.

"But what if it was historically accurate?"

So that's the core plot concept for my eponymous fanfic, A Thing Of Vikings. I take the first HTTYD film, anachronisms and all, and drop it as a Real Life Event in our history, and proceed to write it as an Alternate History, with the movie being the point where the timelines diverge.

And boy do they diverge, because, in a time when the most advanced military tech on the planet is Greek Fire, a small Norse tribe up in the British Isles suddenly has a fire-breathing air-force.

I do my best to keep to historical accuracy, even as I also borrow judiciously from other fictional media to patch holes in the historical record and add to the narrative as I need them, and since I'm a Leftist and my primary fictional source material is a movie made for children, there's a distinct progressive bent to the story itself, and I make no apologies for that. And since I'm Jewish, I also have a Jewish subplot that has made many people very happy, and made a number of bigots absolutely furious to almost ludicrous extents, which I consider to be a positive on both ends. (There was a period where some reactionaries with a fondness for Alt-History were recommending my story to others of their ilk just to troll them, which, well...)

And, of course...

I explore what would happen if humans suddenly have access to the capabilities of dragons in the context of the medieval era--what flight, the ability to breath fire, shedding fireproof scales, and more--will do to human society... especially as one of the main characters is a certified technical and engineering genius. To say that I have fun with the Mundane Utility aspects is an understatement.

I hope that you're intrigued, and if you are, you can find the fic on AO3 here (currently on lockdown to registered users only; I don't fancy my work being scraped for AI training sets).

#a thing of vikings #httyd fanfiction

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hyacinthsdiamonds · 13 days

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The reason why they don't follow each other lmao, I still cackle thinking of Charles - literally on Max's freaking plane going home to Monaco after Austria 2019 - looking over at Max to see if he noticed that he'd unfollowed him.

(this point from a post of yours btw)

is there any proof to that point? i'm genuinely asking

Hi Anon,

So I don't have any screenshotted proof from this pre & post Austria 2019 era myself, but maybe another blog does (I've only been active myself in f1 tumblr since 2021, despite following the sport my entire life and looking over the tags every so often before setting up my blog here) so I'll throw this in the tags so if someone does have that type of evidence, they can add it here.

Here's what we do know and have evidence for;

We do know that Max and Charles did follow each other on their various social media platforms until circa 2019, as - (if you scroll back far enough) - you can see different interactions between them pre 2019, pre Austria specifically. [Unrelated note: the unhingedness of them and the rest of the then teenaged members of the grid at this point of time is beyond hilarious. Genuinely, if you have the time it's worth the scrolling because they're such teenage boys tm it's ridiculous, and we kinda forget how long their lives have been interconnected, and it's before they got proper pr training and before certain drivers - most recognisably Max - gave their socials to a media team to run. There was a good period of time around 2017/18 when Victoria, his sister, ran his accounts as well as he wanted to include her in his team, before a proper media team took over. Objectively, the idea of Victoria noticing Charles unfollowed Max and then being the one to unfollow Charles in response, while Max remains oblivious to the entire situation is killing me lmao].

Now we do definitely know that they shared the flight home from Austria as during press after the race, Max was asked if things were going to be awkward with Charles now and he was essentially like "??? We're literally sharing a flight home???" This was Max's "It was just an inchident" ngl. Meanwhile, this was Charles on the podium:

... so he certainly did not share the same sentiment. It was his "it's just unfair" era. You can see a clear difference in Charles' driving post Austria, he started taking more risks and was more aggressive afterwards, because he felt if max was allowed to take risks and be aggressive, so was he. In the story of Charles' racing career, Austria 2019 is a significant race in his journey, even though it wasn't the win he wanted it to be. He would win his first two races in the aftermath of it.

It would not be the first or last time Charles would pettily unfollow someone on the grid after feeling he had been dirty by them and/or the FIA. In 2021, he followed every driver on the grid bar Max and would unfollow Valterri after what Charles dubbed the bowling incident in Hungary. While Bottas caused the main chaos of that opening lap, Stroll was the one who actually took Charles out of the race, but Lance has Charles following him as of 2024. Bottas also may have been unfollowed because of his preference of being as little clothed as possible in his insta posts lmao, but Charles did follow him before Hungary 2021 and quickly unfollowed afterwards.

I hope this provides some help, anon. And I'm sorry that I don't have the relevant screenshots to validate and accurately fact check this section of lestappen lore.

#f1 #formula 1 #formula one #max verstappen #charles leclerc #lestappen #if anyone has any further info please feel free to add 🥰

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howaboutcastiel · 2 years

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I Can't Help Myself (Marc Spector, Steven Grant)

VERY MUCH 18+ THIS CONTENT IS EXPLICIT

Summary: Jake accidentally touches a cursed artifact while on a mission. The consequences span a couple of days, leaving you and all of the moon boys in a pretty interesting dilemma. (Part 2, featuring Marc and Steven) Read Part 1. Epilogue.

Word Count: 6.4k

Content: Sex pollen. SMUT. Like honestly filthy, kinky, unapologetic smut. Manhandling, bondage, riding, PIV, vibrators, anal plugs, dub-con kinda (per the nature of sex pollen). THANKS FOR 800 FOLLOWERS!!! Consider this a token of my appreciation ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

You only had to get through the next twelve hours.

That shouldn’t be so hard, right? You were halfway there already and now you had a solid grasp on your predicament, or more accurately Jake’s predicament.

You woke up to the sound of your alarm and were relieved to find that your boyfriend was still fast asleep, having found his way underneath the covers sometime during the night. You tried not to wake him as you snuck out of bed.

Heading to the kitchen, you had your heart set on an omelet with spinach and cheese and whatever other fresh vegetables you could find in the fridge. Last night had given you quite a workout and you were ravenous. You opted to make a second one for Jake, but you made sure to pull the oat milk to the front of the refrigerator in case Steven was the one who woke up instead.

Halfway through making the second omelet, you heard stirring in the other room. A tiny rumble set off in your chest as you had hoped Jake would be able to sleep through more of the day, avoiding his problem for just a little while longer. He seemed relaxed enough, though, as he stumbled into the kitchen lazily. He was wearing his boxers.

“Morning, baby,” Marc grumbled to you. The recognition of his voice sent fire down your spine. How could you explain this to him? Had he noticed anything yet? “Whatcha cooking?”

“Omelets.” You hummed in response. He seemed to be alright for now and, thankfully, his body wasn’t showing the same unfortunate symptoms that it had the night before. In plain terms, you were thankful that he didn’t have a boner yet.

“Smells great. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Jake must have worked hard yesterday, because I feel like I could eat a horse.”

“Yeah, about that…” how could you even begin to explain his predicament? Should you wait until he noticed something himself? Would he even notice, or would he be blissfully ignorant like Jake had been, too driven by lust to even think straight?

“Oh! I forgot to tell you,” he interrupted your internal wrestling, “Jake has a new agreement with Steven, apparently, and he kinda roped me into it. He said he’ll stop eating red meat if Steven would stop trying to make us go vegan. He even said he would try to stay Kosher, but only if I didn’t get to eat burgers anymore. He said he didn’t want to be the only one making sacrifices.”

“Um… okay.” Marc was giddy. Distracted. You couldn’t tell if it was from just waking up, or if the brain-fog of the curse was weighing on him. “I’ll try to make sure you stick to it, then. Beef is bad for your cholesterol, anyway.”

“I just thought about it because I’m so hungry,” he explained. “I guess it was a random thought, though. There’s no red meat in omelets, usually. Except ham, but I don’t eat that anyway.”

He was rambling. Not only that, he was happily rambling. Mindlessly. This wasn’t normal for Marc, especially not at the crack of dawn. No one in that body was remotely a morning person. You decided not to mention anything to him yet, only because you like to see him so carefree. Marc was never carefree.

“Here,” you handed him the already-cooked omelet as you finished cooking the second one. “Go ahead and eat. I don’t want it to get cold.”

He scarfed down the food in no more than three bites, giving you barely enough time to even plate up your own serving. You scoffed as you turned to see his empty plate, his apologetic puppy-dog eyes meeting your own.

“You said to go ahead.” He pointed out. You couldn’t exactly argue with that. You started on your omelet, much more slowly than he had.

“Did you sleep well?” You asked through a mouthful of food. Marc grinned at you and nodded slightly.

“I had really interesting dreams.” He had a cheeky look on his face, which sent a little bit of nausea to your gut. “There was a beautiful girl in them and I was sad to leave her when I had to wake up. Good thing she didn’t go far.”

So the pollen infiltrated even their dreams. It must have even more of an effect on their brain than you had thought before with Jake. Even now, it was evident that Marc wasn’t all himself. He was unfocused and unstressed and optimistic and all of the things he normally wasn’t. But at least he wasn’t all over you right now. Not yet.

“So what’s your plan for today?” You hoped you could get him to do the talking while you finished your breakfast. He stood to pour himself a cup of juice as he spoke.

“Well, I don’t really know. I thought that Khonshu might have something for me to do, but he’s oddly quiet. I hope that he’s finally come around to the idea of giving me some time off. It gets pretty annoying having to listen to the orders of an old, dead bird. Plus, he doesn’t just say what he wants me to do. He yells it most of the time.”

He continued to babble as you scarfed down your food, only pausing periodically to take sips of his juice or to catch his breath. You had finished your plate by the time he was off the topic of Khonshu, at which point it was evident to you that he had no obligations for the day.

“I think I’m gonna watch the morning news. I haven’t really done that in a while, you know? Maybe it’ll say something really important. Or maybe it’ll tell us it’s national cupcake day or something.”

You followed him to the study, where he plopped down dramatically on the couch. As he spread his legs across the cushions, you could see his dick twitch underneath his boxers. The nausea grew a bit in your stomach.

“Come sit down, babe.” He urged. You obliged without saying a word. As soon as your back hit the cushions, he wrapped you securely in his arms, nuzzling his face into your neck from the side.

“Marc, there’s something I gotta tell you.” You began. He hummed to indicate he was listening before softly latching his mouth onto your shoulder, his hands beginning to move around your arms and back exploratively. You had to bite the bullet. “Something happened on the mission last night. Your body was… cursed.”

His lips stilled against your skin and his hands slowed.

“Cursed?”

“Yes. I didn’t mention it before because I didn’t want to ruin your good mood, but Jake and I noticed it last night. There was an artifact that he touched and it was enchanted, we think. The curse is supposed to only last a day, but we’re only halfway there right now.”

“What kind of curse?” He was only half-listening to you. You craned your neck to look in his eyes and you could tell that his pupils were dilated. Peering down, you didn’t even have to see the tent forming in his briefs to confirm that he was getting worked up. You sighed frustratedly.

“Have you ever heard of sex pollen?” You asked him. He shook his head and hummed in denial. You were beginning to feel hot. “It’s kind of like… well—I don’t know how to say it exactly. It’s like you can’t control yourself. Like you’re permanently turned on and you can’t really think about anything else.”

Marc groaned lightly, and you could tell he was only pretending to take you seriously. He was obviously distracted by other thoughts. You took his head in your hands, jerking upward.

“I’m serious, Marc. We need to talk about this. Last night was really worrying. Look—” You pulled down the neck of your shirt, revealing the various bruises that Jake had left the night before. “You’ve got to try to control yourself. This is dangerous.”

“Jake did that to you?” His face scrunched in concern. For a moment, he seemed more like himself. Guilty. Ashamed.

“He didn’t mean to. That’s my point! We have to be really careful about this. You could hurt yourself. You could hurt me.”

A look of determination grew in his lidded eyes.

“I won’t hurt you, I promise.” He was decisive. “I won’t even touch you if that’s what you want.”

A bit of guilt ran through your chest and up your neck. It was ice cold and hot all at once and it mimicked the nausea from before.

“No, that’s okay. I don’t want you to have to handle this by yourself. I trust you, and if I don’t think you can control yourself, I’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

With that, Marc resumed using his mouth to worship your neck and chest. He made sure to restrain his strength as he began to grind up into you. The gentle touch sent waves of heat between your legs.

“That’s it, baby. Let me help you out. Just show me what you need.” You felt somewhat like you were guiding a teenager through sex. Someone crazy hormonal, desperate, and not sure how to balance his pleasure with yours. He would need your direction if he didn’t want to hurt you, or even himself for that matter. If you truly had another twelve hours of this, he would need all the help he could get.

“More.” He murmured into your skin. Marc was grinding up against you desperately, now painfully hard. You pushed your hips down into him, which caused him to throw his head back and squeeze his eyes shut. He was panting quietly.

“More specific, babe. Tell me what you want.” You cupped his face again in your hand, pulling his lips up to yours. With his tongue in your mouth and his back pressed against you, you could feel the wetness beginning to pool in your panties, your heartbeat in your ears.

He moaned into your mouth as he sucked on your tongue, trying to somehow hold you closer to him. Marc’s whimpers we’re high pitched. Needy. Pitiful. Beautiful. He pulled away, gasping quietly for air.

“Just… help me. Please.” He did the best that he could. You knew Marc’s brain wasn’t capable of many more words than that right now. He whined as you stood up off of him.

“Come with me.” You beckoned him over to the desk. Marc stared in confusion, but followed you to the corner of the room without so much as a complaint. You patted the chair to indicate he should sit down. He begrudgingly did. “I think this will work better if I’m the one using my strength.”

“I don’t understand.” He stated. His eyes glowed wider as you brought your legs over his, situating yourself in his lap. You wiggled your hips.

“This way, you don’t have to worry too much about hurting me.” You explained, and brought your hands to the sides of his face. He used his own to cup underneath your arms, a feeble attempt to feel in-control underneath you. “Is that okay?”

“Whatever works,” he mumbled, “Just get on with it.”

You tried not to take his rude impatience personally. Even though you knew he was cursed, part of you felt a bit like used goods. If you weren’t the one helping him out, he would find the next-closest willing participant to ride out his magical dilemma with. You tried to imagine that he simply loved you so much that you drove him mad with lust. To be fair, it wasn’t too far from the truth normally.

His cock was completely hard as you pulled it from under the fabric, leaking precum and dawning an angry red color that bordered on purple. You pushed your panties aside to brush the head against your slick, your legs trembling as they tried to hold your weight. Marc sucked a breath through his teeth.

“You’re so good to me.” He cooed as you lined yourself up. His eyes displayed the genuineness of the words. As lust-filled as he was, Marc was also brimming with adoration and appreciation for you. “The best thing that ever happened to me.”

“I think you’re a little drunk on that curse, baby,” You laughed. He smiled and shook his head a bit, pausing when you lowered yourself an inch or so onto his cock. “You’re just saying that.”

“No, I’m not.” His grip tightened on your back and his eyes fluttered closed. You sunk down another inch and he whimpered gruffly. “You’re everything to me.”

“Okay, don’t get too lovey dovey.” Tears welled in your eyes at his sweet nothings. Marc was normally not the best at showing his gratitude through words. It felt almost unfair to hear them from him now.

His lips returned to yours as you bottomed out. He explored your mouth lazily with his tongue, hungrily pressing his chest into you further. You rolled your hips sloppily, drawing a whimper from him. The tip of his dick hit your cervix when you leaned into him.

“Fucking Christ.” You moaned. He seemed equally satisfied with the movement. You began to roll your hips at a slow, steady pace, lifting yourself off irregularly as you tried to find a rhythm you could maintain.

You were definitely sore from yesterday, but that didn’t stop you from chasing the pleasure that shot through your core as you bounced up and down. If you were this desperate for pleasure, even considering the pain in your joints and the sensitivity of your cunt, then Marc must be unfathomably needy.

With you controlling the pace, Marc’s pleasure was growing a little slower than he would like it to be. He began to relay his frustration through little whines and grunts and mumbling phrases of discontent. He stared into your eyes with a yearning look, trying to plead with you in as many ways as his body would allow.

“Baby, faster,” he groaned, tears starting to form in his eyes. He tried to buck his hips and you were grateful that he had only limited leverage to fuck into you with—you didn’t want to turn out even more sore. A high pitched whimper left his throat when you obliged his request.

“Better?” Your breath was becoming labored as you had to use so much of your body strength to fuck yourself on his cock. He nodded. Marc’s eyes fluttered shut again and a single tear crept down across his cheek. You brought your hand up to his face, swiping the tear away with your thumb.

His mouth fell open subconsciously as you grazed his face. You brought your thumb down to his lower lip, swiping delicately over the glistening, swollen pink skin and he poked his tongue out just enough to touch the tip of the digit. You pressed in a bit more, welcoming the warm feeling. His mouth closed around it.

Marc sucked your finger hungrily. The move caught you off guard, but you could feel it making you wetter even with his cock buried deep inside of you. Tightness enveloped your chest, a sharp feeling that only fueled your high. You pulled away your finger and his mouth fell open with disappointment.

“You want to suck on my fingers?” You hummed. Marc nodded furiously, his eyes unable to flutter open and still trickling tears. A quiet sob broke in his mouth.

“Please,” he cried wantonly. When you didn’t move, he tugged at the skin of your back, grinding into you. “I need more.”

“Okay, baby.” You obliged. He reopened his mouth drunkenly, laying his tongue on his bottom lip to invite you. You rested the pads of your index and middle fingers there and you clenched around his dick as he closed his mouth, his lips beautifully wrapped around the knuckles of your manicured hand.

You watched as salty tears continued to fall from his eyes. What a glorious sight. By this time, you were losing stamina in your pace, but Marc’s feverish bucking of his hips made up for your loss of strength. His hand crept up to the back of your neck as the other one cupped your ass for leverage. Before long, it was him that was almost entirely fucking you, not the other way around.

He didn’t have to warn you that he was close. Your pleasure was growing faster than his, miraculously, and your orgasm ripped through you as he began to show signs that he was close to his own. You tensed around him, muscles spasming and clenching out of your control as the ecstatic current shot up your chest. Barely in time, you lifted yourself off of him right before he began to coat your thighs and stomach in hot strings of cum.

For a moment, he looked too fucked-out to move much. That was a relief. You took the reprieve as an opportunity to walk to the bathroom, grabbing a wet cloth for yourself and another for Marc. You began to tidy yourself as you watched him in the corner of your eye struggle for composure.

Reprieve, unfortunately, didn’t last long.

You had vastly underestimated his ability to regain his stamina. As you approached him to offer the washcloth and perhaps a comforting touch, you felt the ground come away from your feet. Marc tackled you in one clean motion, pinning your arms above your head and forcing your lips open with his tongue. Steven’s books and stationary flew off of the desk. With a crashing sound, his cup of pens and pencils scattered on the floor and Marc shifted your weight underneath him so that your back was flat against the desk.

“Get off!” You tried to shout into his mouth, but your words were obviously muffled against his tongue. Regretfully, you braced your full weight against the desk, lifting your knee as hard as you could into his lower chest. He lost his grip on you and stumbled back, the breath violently stolen from him. “What the fuck?”

You weren’t mad. Scared, maybe a bit, but more concerned than anything. His eyes were as wide as you’d ever seen them, maybe more. He clenched his fists.

“I’m sorry,” he winced. He backed away another foot. “I don’t know how to stop.”

“I know, baby,” You pulled yourself off of the desk, holding your upper arms defensively and squeezing your legs together. “This is what I was talking about. The curse is pretty powerful.”

“I don’t know how to stop.” He repeated more desperately. His dick was hard. Still, somehow. Marc’s chest and face were bright red and he looked terrified. “Tell me what to do.”

“I’m not sure,” you explained, “This is what I was afraid of. I can’t keep doing this, though. I’m exhausted.”

“Is it gonna stop?”

“Eventually, but you’ve got to ride it out until then.”

“Literally, I guess.” He scoffed. It was a pitiful, sarcastic and miserable comment, but it gave you an idea. Marc was still clenching his fists and you could see that he was using all his willpower not to tackle you.

“Honey… don’t get mad at me.” You blurted as you scrambled to the closet. Marc’s face contorted and another whimper left his mouth. It was a very different kind of whimper than the others.

“Why?”

“I can tell that it’s taking all your strength to control yourself and, no offense, but I don’t think you can keep that up for long.” You rummaged through the shoebox in the top of your wardrobe. He swallowed thickly.

“So what do you suggest?”

“I think you have to be restrained.” Marc’s face dropped at the words and his chest shuddered. He didn’t refuse, though. “You’re gonna hurt yourself otherwise. Or me. Or both of us.”

You motioned to the bed and pulled your hands out of the box, a thick length of rope in one and a thinner, longer strand in the other. Marc may not have his god-given avatar strength without the suit, but he was still incredibly built. He would need a lot of restraint to hold him reliably.

“You’re probably right.” He sauntered to the bed defeatedly. Marc sat on the edge, holding his hands out in front of him, wrists together. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“For the record, I’m sorry I have to do this.” You started by wrapping the thin rope around his wrists, making sure the knot was doubly secure as you began winding the length along his forearms.

“Don’t be,” he tutted, “I’d normally be stoked about it, to be fair. And I’m glad you're helping me.”

Though he had pulled his boxers back over his waist, they were doing little else than feigning modesty. His dick was plainly outlined underneath the cotton, rock-hard and leaking pre-cum in a small spot under the band. It twitched with every other pass of the rope over his arms.

“Should I secure you to the bed?” You pondered out loud how best to ensure that he wouldn’t break free. He didn’t have much to offer with his brain jumbled and horny and still. “I’m gonna have to bind your arms to your chest, baby. Otherwise, I think you might wank yourself raw.”

“Whatever you have to do.” He said vacantly. Marc wasn’t really processing what was going on, his mind deep in his thoughts as he watched you wind the rope up across his elbows and halfway to his shoulders. You passed the length across his chest and over his neck, ensuring it wouldn’t slip down toward his wrists. You secured the thin, coarse bindings in a hexagonal pattern and then reached for the other rope.

“Try to flex for me. I wanna see your range of movement.” Your voice was soft, almost nurturing. Surprisingly, Marc didn’t seem too upset with his predicament. His face was flushed and his eyes lingered on your hands as they nimbly fondled the rope. Again, he swallowed hard. You were satisfied by how little the rope shifted as he raised and tensed his arms.

You used the thicker strand to secure his arms tightly against his chest. The rope passed over his stomach and around his arms, aligning in the shape of a Magen David across his back. You tugged on it testingly and he let out a gasp.

“You can pull it tighter,” he breathed, “I mean, if it would make you feel safer.”

“I feel perfectly safe. Do you want it tighter?” He blushed and lowered his head. There wasn’t much room in that cursed, foggy brain for him to feel ashamed or embarrassed, but Marc could always find a way somehow, couldn’t he? You felt a laugh bubble in your chest. “It’s okay if you do. Is that what you want?”

“Yes, please.” He murmured, eyes still below your face. He groaned as you pulled the remaining give from the rope, forcing his shoulder blades together a bit. You finished the final knot and helped him onto his back and he made a careful attempt to temper his breath and relax his body. His dick was still painfully hard and he was panting.

You stood away from the bed, admiring your work. The bondage seemed secure enough—if not to hold him down completely, at least to keep him from tackling you again. As you pondered what exactly to do next, his meek voice scrambled your thoughts.

“Honey,” Marc murmured in almost whisper, “What now?”

“Well, what do you think?” You offered. After all, the least you could do was account for his opinion, considering he was at your mercy now.

“I can’t—” He whimpered. “You can’t just leave me like this. I need some kind of relief.”

“It doesn’t work like that, baby. You’re not really gonna feel relieved until the curse wears off.”

“But I need something. Anything, please. I can’t hurt you like this, right? It’ll be fine, just give me something.”

“I don’t think I should,” you explained, sitting in the chair next to the bed and pulling one of Steven’s books from the shelf. “You’re gonna be wanting that for the next twelve hours, babe. If I obliged, I’m more worried that you would be the one hurt. Your body can’t handle all that.”

He whimpered, but resigned himself to your logic. Slacking his muscles, Marc tried to relax on the bed as you opened the book and started reading. The television was still droning on the news behind you, barely within his line of sight or range of hearing. He tried to focus on it to distract himself.

You were relieved to find that it was somewhat working. Marc looked focused enough on the telly, his eyes following the screen intently as he craned his neck to see it properly. For about a half-hour, the both of you got to rest. At least, it seemed that way. Once you were a few chapters into your book, though, you heard shuffling coming from the bed. You peered over the pages to see him tugging at his bindings, a scared and confused look on his face. He whimpered as he locked eyes with you.

“Darling?”

Oh, fuck.

“Steven?” He looked mortified. You dropped your book and stood from your chair, over by his side in an instant. “It’s okay, don’t freak out. You’re okay.”

“He was—Marc was in distress. I could feel it, so I came to the front to give him a bit of help. I don’t understand what’s happening.”

You explained to him his predicament as he listened intently, the look of fear only growing on his face. A red flush migrated across his cheeks and further as you outlined exactly why you couldn’t release him from his binding. Just like Marc before him, he twitched in his boxers each time he tensed or tugged on the rope. He looked even more pitiful than the other two had.

“I’m sorry,” You provided, “it’s just best this way. You can’t hurt me and you can’t hurt yourself. You’ve just got to wait it out for a few more hours.”

He nodded, trying his best to accept your reasoning. His body screamed something contrary, though, and it was hard to even listen to the logic, let alone comprehend it and fight to align himself with it.

There was nothing you could do but watch, for a while. Steven tried his damnedest to relax and distract himself, as you’d instructed him to do, but he just couldn’t comply. He squeezed his thighs together, desperate for friction, and you followed the beads of sweat that formed and fell around his collarbone, along his temples and down the back of his neck. His curls began to stick to his face as he rutted fruitlessly, all the while whimpering and hissing and choking on air when he stretched his muscles beyond their reach underneath the rope.

You finally caved when his silent tears evolved into broken sobs.

“Darling, please,” he cried, arching his back and curling his toes, “you can’t just leave me like this.”

You tried to explain that twelve straight hours of stimulation would ruin his body, but he was having none of it.

“It doesn’t have to be all that. I just need something now. I’m losing my mind here. Please. Just—please. Anything. Anything.”

You thought for a split second about giving a hand job, too tired for anything else. A devilish thought pricked in your mind, though, and it made more sense the more you thought about it. You gave him a reassuring look and he responded with subtle relief and much less-subtle pleading.

“Okay, baby, I’ll give you something. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” You travelled back to the closet and once again rummaged through the shoebox for that object that you desired. Steven’s eyes widened as you pulled out a small bottle of lube and tossed it his way, followed by a black, remote-controlled vibrating plug.

“What are you doing?” He mumbled worriedly.

“Helping,” you explained, “I don’t have the stamina for what you need, and this thing has hours of battery life in it.”

He swallowed hard as you approached the bed again. Steven subconsciously clenched all the muscles in his body and his neck and chest blossomed red with some emotion between longing and shame. He couldn’t hide his excitement for it, though he knew the long and intense ride he was in for.

“You know the drill, baby. I need you to relax.”

You pulled his boxers down slowly, careful not to touch his rock-hard length as it sprung free from the fabric containing it. Your logic was sound and anatomically-based. Prostate orgasms, even multiple ones in a row, were much less of a drain on the body than ejaculatory ones, and you wouldn’t have to worry about him trying to hurt himself to chase any more stimulation. It made perfect sense in your head.

Coating your index and middle finger in the lube, you continued to murmur much-needed praises and reassurances into Steven’s ear as you pushed his legs apart and circled his rim with your hand.

“Everything is fine, baby. I’m going to make you feel good. You don’t need to worry, you just have to relax for me for a bit first. You can do that, right? You’re always so good for me.”

You slipped one finger in first, drawing a deep and rigid moan from him. As you curled the digit inside of him, Steven rocked backward onto your hand and you watched another bead of sweat fall down his neck. His skin was glistening with desperation and his face was flushed pink and abused by your lips from earlier and yesterday. He looked ravishing, of course.

Another finger pushed in beside the first, curling and pulling and pushing and twisting until he became used to the movement and was able to relax into it. Steven’s breath was labored and he refused to open his eyes. He bit his lower lip and clenched his fists in an effort to ground himself. You pulled your hand away and he yelped frustratedly.

“I know, baby, don’t worry.” He hissed as you pressed the head of the plug against his entrance, slick with lube and not quite warm enough from your hand. You pushed it in slowly and he struggled to take it at first, moaning as the widest part of the bulb stretched him open. Once it was in all of the way and the flat bottom of the plug rested against his skin, you placed the pads of your fingers on the toy.

“Tell me where it feels best.” You instructed as you began to shift the toy back and forth, feeling for the spot that would give him so much glorious pleasure. He cried out as you pushed at the bottom of the plug.

“There,” he sobbed, his breath hitched, “Right there. Please.”

“Okay, baby,” You stepped back from the bed. He was a sight to behold, for sure, and he was needy and desperate and vocal and embarrassed and all of the prettiest things he could be. You fumbled with the remote for the plug, finding the on switch with your thumb.

Steven grumbled a low sob, whimpering and pained and ecstatic and greedy all at once. His cock jolted helplessly and he tried to grind back farther into the toy. The rope scratched against his skin, pressing into his biceps and rubbing a red line at the base of his throat.

“Does that feel good?” He nodded frantically. Satisfied, you turned the vibrator up to the second-lowest setting. Pre-cum trickled from his tip.

“Thank you,” he breathed, “F—feels, ahh… Christ.”

You returned to your book, though you were admittedly too distracted to focus on it. Steven’s little whimpers and groans and sobs and delirious murmurs made it hard for you to concentrate. Despite how entirely fucked out you were, some of the filthy noises shot straight to your core.

A pang in your chest drew your eyes from the book as he made a particularly feral sound. Glancing up, you could tell that he was close to his first orgasm. Steven’s back arched and his toes curled and he shut his eyes tight as pleasure ripped through his body. He began to writhe as he rode out the high and the stimulation failed to slow.

You almost felt bad for him, until you saw the absolutely drunken look of satisfaction on his face. He continued to rock backward into the toy, even pulling at his restraints in an attempt to reach his hand to his needy cock. Steven was hardly able to catch a proper breath, but when he did, he immediately used it to appeal to you again.

“Darling,” he gasped, “higher.”

“I’m sorry?”

“The toy. Please. Turn it up.”

You obliged, setting the vibrator to the next-highest setting. His moans grew more frequent and more desperate and he was covered in sweat as tears streamed from his eyes. He continued to try and reach for his cock, to no avail. After a few more moments, a second orgasm befell him and his face contorted into sobs as he continued to cry.

“Can you—” He couldn’t choke out the words. He sniffled and swallowed another sob as the stimulation made his body jolt. “Can you come here?”

“Baby, I already told you—”

“I know, I know! But you helped the other two out, right? I just—just need you to touch me. Hold me. God, please. Love, please come here. Please.”

He mumbled and sobbed hopelessly, his chest rocking and his legs shaking and his breath catching. The look in his eyes was pitiful and lustful and loving and yearning and of course you couldn’t say no to him.

“You want me to hold you?” You asked, just for clarification.

“Yes.” With his confirmation, you got to your feet once again. You even tugged your shirt off for him to reveal your bare chest, though you left your panties on. He eyed you pleadingly as you stood at the bed.

You curled your fingers underneath the rope across his chest, pulling him foreword and snaking your hand to his back for further support. Helping him into a kneeling position, you rubbed circles into his shoulders and subtly adjusted the parts of his bindings that were chafing his skin. He breathed a relieved sigh as you tucked your legs around him from behind, pressing your chest into his back and nestling your chin into his neck. He leaned into the touch as much as he could and you wrapped your arms around his front.

“Is this better?” You hummed into his skin and he nodded, breathing out a jumbled affirmation. You pressed kisses into his neck.

“Kiss me.” Of course, you were happy to comply with his request. His lips were wet with tears and sweat and they moved feverishly against yours. Steven kissed you so desperately that it brought a deep pressure to your chest—the kind that made you feel safe and important and understood. His mouth moved sweetly and gently, but passionately against yours. You had to force him to pull away for breath and he smiled loftily.

His brows furrowed and his body stilled as he reached his peak again. Surely, he had to be getting tired. If nothing else, his brain was obviously exhausted and he had lost his ability to form words for the most part by now. Even still, Steven’s noises of pleasure were an adequate form of communication, and you could tell from the grinding of his body back against yours that he still needed more.

Begrudgingly, you grazed your hand down the knots of rope along his chest until they traveled past his stomach and down to the base of his dick. He swallowed hard and a begging whimper erupted from his throat as he realized the placement of your palm. You wrapped your fingers around his shaft with a feather-light touch.

“Please.” It was perhaps the only word left in his vocabulary. You increased the pressure your hand was exhibiting and you could feel the vibration of the plug course weakly through your palm.

You began to slowly pump your fingers up and down and Steven barely had the strength to buck into your hand, but he tried nonetheless. His voice was destroyed and tattered and raspy, but he didn’t attempt to quiet or restrain the noises falling from his lips. His entire body shook as you worked your hand over his cock and you returned your lips gingerly to his neck, which was salty and sticky and inviting you so perfectly.

Steven slumped considerably after his fourth orgasm shot through him. A measly shot of cum drizzled down your knuckles and his body became limp once he finished spurting his load into your hand. You sighed in relief when you noticed his measured breathing. He must have passed out from exhaustion.

“Sweet boy,” you whispered as you gently, slowly parted from his touch. You coaxed him back down onto the mattress as gingerly as possible, desperate not to stir him awake as you got him back into a lying position. You reached for the remote, turning it down notch-by-notch until the plug was still. You didn’t try to pull it out.

As much as he had certainly earned his release in more ways than one, you knew it still wasn’t safe to untie him. Carefully, you lifted his head and pulled a pillow under him before throwing the blanket atop his skin haphazardly.

Hopefully, he would be able to sleep through the rest of the curse, but it would be a miracle if he did. Only nine hours to go, you thought to yourself.

He looked so peaceful as he slept.

I hope I get everyone tagged here @romanarose @babylockley @twwcs @harrys-tittie @taisha-san @toracainz z @in-between-the-cafes @saahmi @friendlyneighbourhoodgothicpagan @bit-dodgy-innit @stevengrcnt and OF COURSE @rmoonstoner

#moon night fanfiction #moon knight #steven grant #marc spector #jake lockley #moon knight x you #steven grant x reader #moon knight x reader #steven grant x you #marc spector smut #marc spector x you #marc spector x reader #moon knight smut #steven grant smut #masterlist

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kaiowut99 · 3 months

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Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 106-107 Subbed (Finalized)

(Previously: Episode 105 Subbed [Finalized])

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

TURN-106: Judai and Johan of the Gem Beast Deck

A new school term has started at the Duel Academia. Invited to the Academia as transfer students and becoming new friends are the Academy Champions known as Amon, O'Brien, Crocodile, and a mysterious boy--along with one Professor Cobra. Meanwhile, atop the school building rooftop, Judai meets a boy who can see Spirits--who turns out to be the "mysterious boy," Johan. Cobra proposes an Exhibition Match, pitting Judai against Johan. Johan turns out to be a duelist in control of the rare Monsters known as the Gem Beasts.

TURN-107: The Neo-Spacians VS the Gem Beasts

Johan summons one Gem Beast after another, from his Amethyst Cat to his Topaz Tiger. Judai also has Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab and Neos perform a Contact Fusion to take them on with his Flare Neos. Then, Johan destroys Judai's Field Magic and activates a new Field Magic, Ancient City of Rainbows -- Rainbow Ruins, sending his Neo-Spacian back to his deck. Seeing these skillful attacks, Ed begins to speak of the unknown relationship between Johan and his Gem Beasts.

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...so, didn't mean to let these take about a month and a half since 105 was all finalized, but heremst we be *sips indie coffee*

Season 3 gets into full swing with these two episodes as it starts us off with a hint of our upcoming big bad right off the jump (RIP Hiromi Tsuru, your Yubel is still fantastic), then introduces us to the big foreign players we'll be seeing quite a bit of going forward. Judai has a nightmare taking place in an area similar to his vision with Saiou--which I'm sure is unrelated to anything--and then opening ceremonies ensue before we're introduced properly to our new transfer students, and the Ancient Roman lore around Johan's Gem Beasts which was pretty cool to include; Judai and Johan then have a fun duel together as we see the Gem Beasts in action facing Judai's Neo-Spacians. These episodes also see the debut of some of my favorite OST tracks from Season 3, like Fervent Duel (used really well in 107) and A Pinch here. Ed coming in for 107 and giving us the background on Johan from Pegasus, featuring cameos of Dark Yugi, Kaiba, and Jounouchi (from the Warriors and Unstopping Overflowing Feelings OP/EN in DM--these nods were kept in the dub, so it was the first time those particular shots of Kaiba and Jou were used in the West), as we learn that he gifted the Gem Beasts to Johan during a tournament in Europe was good, and I still love Johan's little fakeout at the end with the Rainbow Dragon he doesn't actually have yet. A fun duo of episodes with a fun, low-stakes duel that we should enjoy while we can.

Quick side-notes for the dub, but want to take a sec to shout out Jim's dub VA who perfectly nailed his Australian voice for the guy, and who I hope comes back if we're ever lucky enough to get a more accurate GX redub (though I think he was recast in DL? But still sounded pretty good). Dub!Yubel, though... I'm still baffled by the decision made with that voice, and I'm glad they eventually went with a better voice in BBT. 107 also saw them make a bunch of--I assume--time cuts, including most of the cold open which featured our first in-series look at Martin, and other shots as Cobra set up his evil lair in the old SAL lab (continuity!), but also the ending shot as Cobra looks at the duel energy he collected and comments on their impressive duel--most of those are fair as far as time cuts go, though I think the ending scene should've been kept. It's also interesting that, with Johan's southern accent being a thing in the dub (which has grown on me, though I like his later no-accent voice more), that they had Pegasus say the tournament he went to with him happened "down south;" according to a comment on the Crunchyroll upload, the venue's the "All-England Lawn Tennis Club where the Grand Slam Wimbledon" happens in the UK? lol

Animation error-wise, there were just over a handful that I picked up on in each episode that I went ahead and fixed up--mostly quality-of-watching ones along with a couple of card errors, and I also translated the bio on Amon that O'Brien hands to Cobra early in episode 106. As always, details below the cut if interested, along with Translation Notes for the bio.

Anywho, enjoy! The next two-parter features our fiery boy O'Brien, and with some really nice art/animation in 109 that I always love to revisit; I'll begin work on that once I finalize some special side work that I should hopefully get to post about soon, too, though I'll also be going back to episode 1 to fix up a card error I forgot to tackle, lol. Stay tuned!

Fixes/Edits! (106)

Early in the episode, Professor Cobra enters O'Brien's room on the ship and asks who else would be visiting him; he hands him a bio pointing to one Amon Garam. As detailed here, I translated Amon's bio in this shot, first compiling a full image to edit from its later appearances in 111 and 121, then keyframing it into the rotating zooming-out shot that happens here with AfterEffects and Sony Vegas. (The full text of the bio is in that detailed post)

In the next shot, Cobra asks if Amon came to see O'Brien, noting that he seems to be a meddler but suggests that he doesn't pay him any mind, turning to pass the bio back to him--as he does so, a few quick animation errors happen: 1) Cobra's face/mouth glitch for a few quick frames as he shifts his face into a smile (likely his current face being left over his moving face behind it); 2) the bio page in his hand jitters a bit in the frames leading up to his turning towards O'Brien; and 3) once O'Brien's holding the paper and moves it down, there are a quick few frames where a small part of his hair (the one bang on his left) is missing before it comes back. As detailed here, I edited in my translation to the bio while Cobra's holding it and as he passes it back, masking in Cobra and the rest of the frame over it for blending, while also fixing those errors for the Japanese scene by holding Cobra's face pre-glitch over the glitched frames, editing the Amon bio so it's steady throughout, and masking in O'Brien's full hair bang over the frames where it's cut short.

Later, as the Judai/Johan duel gets underway, Judai and Johan give their "Duel!" shouts and draw their hands, but a few things happen as they jump into a split-screen for it: 1) Judai moves a frame before Johan starts to slide in on his split; 2) once the screen pans down to their decks as they draw, the split-screen border seems to have been drawn in oddly, as part of Judai's side ends up just on top of the border (also seems to be slightly cut off in width halfway down); and 3) as they split apart, more of Judai seems to have made it to the left of his split's border. I fixed each one in Vegas by first sliding in Johan a frame earlier as Judai moves, then enhancing the split-screen border a bit to cover up what ends up on top of it and to its left as they split out (I generally try to avoid making redone borders that much bigger, but thought it was the only way to cleanly/consistently fix that).

After Johan plays Gem Beast Emerald Turtle, we cut to the Overseas Champions watching on, with Jim whistling before Amon expresses his surprise at the Gem Beasts--but a coloring error happens in the rapid pan from Jim to Amon, with both having odd coloring spots. A quick fix in Vegas by redoing the panning using a frame of Jim post-whistle and a frame of Amon before his mouth moves.

After Judai summons Neos, Johan laments that he can't ask for his autograph while they're dueling, but notes that he was waiting for him to summon a new Monster--Judai slides in on a split-screen to question that, but a few things happen: 1) Johan starts moving to make room for his split a frame before he does so; 2) a coloring error happens as Judai and Johan then split apart before Johan activates Triggered Summon (more noticeable on Johan), and 3) Judai's uneven slide-out leads to it taking a frame longer than Johan's to get offscreen. Fixed each one in Vegas by sliding Judai in a frame earlier as Johan moves, masking in Judai and Johan's pre-slide-out splits over the frames as they slide out to fix the coloring error, and making Judai's slide-out match Johan's by masking one frame in earlier.

[continued below, just split thanks to stupid text-block character limits]

(6) A bit later, after Johan talks about not having any destruction cards in his deck so he can see his opponents going all-out, Judai notes how neat he finds him; as they split apart and Johan tells him to bring out his new Monster (due to Triggered Summon's effect), there's a quick frame where the border is missing on Judai's split. Quick fix in Vegas as I just added it back on by duplicating the one on Johan's and touching it up as needed.

(7) As Judai then summons Neo-Spacian Gran Mole, we see it pop up in front of him, but Judai has black rectangles on his Disk where Gran Mole, Neos, and Aqua Dolphin should be. Fixed using AfterEffects to slap on proxies for each in one frame, which I then took into Sony Vegas and shook around position-wise frame by frame to add it to the full shot (thankfully, this was just shaking around and not zooming in or out lol).

(8) During the preview for 107, we see Judai on a split-screen jumping as Johan declares an attack with his Amethyst Cat, but as they slide apart, two quick things happen: 1) there's a quick frame where there's just black behind them (and Johan's split's border isn't as glowy as Judai's), and 2) some of Johan's split's border hangs on for two frames after he and Judai slide offscreen. Fixed each in Vegas for 107 proper first, then applied the fixes here, masking in Amethyst Cat behind Judai and Johan as they split apart, then masking in some of the whooshing background behind Amethyst Cat to cover up the remaining bit of Johan's split border for those two frames.

Fixes/Edits! (107)

After Judai summons Flare Scarab, he has it do a Contact Fusion with Neos for Flare Neos, but as he declares Flare Scarab's name for it, we see that the cards on his Disk--for Gran Mole, Neos, and Flare Scarab--are flipped upside-down. Fixed in AfterEffects first by applying proxies as Judai swings his Disk around, then on one frame during the zoom-out on Flare Scarab after he moves--I then took the latter frame into Sony Vegas, where I redid the zoomout on it for the whole shot, masking in Flare Scarab on top of it.

After Johan plays Rainbow Ruins and Judai's Battle Phase ends, we see his Disk as Flare Neos returns to his field, but not only are his cards upside-down again--he also has regular ol' Neos where Flare Neos should be. Fixed both in AfterEffects by applying the Mole and Flare Neos proxies correctly, masking in the orb part of Judai's Disk over the Gran Mole one.

A bit after the eyecatch, as Judai realizes that Johan hasn't played his ace yet, he starts to ask about it, startling Johan as he slides into a split-screen with him to ask as much, but Johan starts to move for it a frame early. Fixed in Sony Vegas by sliding Judai in a frame earlier there.

Later, after Johan explains that Ruby Special-Summons itself and the other Gems in his Magic/Trap Zone when placed there (rude of the OCG to remove that part of its effect), we split out of the split-screen there as Ruby's summoned, but the border on Johan's split hangs on for an extra frame. Fixed in Vegas by just masking in part of the whooshing background over it.

A bit later, Johan declares a direct attack with Amethyst Cat, and Judai jumps as their split-screen splits apart to show Amethyst Cat pouncing at him, but as they slide apart, 1) there's a quick frame where there's just black behind them (and Johan's split's border isn't as glowy as Judai's), and 2) some of Johan's split's border hangs on for two frames after he and Judai slide offscreen. As noted for the preview version of this shot in 106's list, I fixed these here first before applying the fix there, masking in Amethyst Cat behind Judai and Johan as they split apart, then masking in some of the whooshing background behind Amethyst Cat to cover up the remaining bit of Johan's split border for those two frames.

Later, after summoning Air Neos (who), Judai slides into a split-screen to explain his ATK-gain-per-LP-difference effect; as they slide apart, Judai's uneven slide-out causes his side to take a frame longer than Johan's to slide offscreen. Fixed in Vegas by just masking part of Judai's slide-out a frame earlier to even up the slide-out.

A bit later, after Johan hypes up Rainbow Dragon only to end in a "just kiddin'," Judai clicks in for a split-screen in confusion before they split apart to show Air Neos's attack connecting with Amber Mammoth--as they split apart, parts of the border on Johan and Judai's splits hang on for an extra frame. I fixed this by just using the touched-up version of this shot from the recap in 108, which had Judai and Johan's splits slide out more naturally.

After the duel, Cobra walks out to congratulate the two on a duel well fought; he beckons them towards him, but as he walks up to the center of the arena to do so, his still feet jitter as Judai and Johan start to walk over. Fixed in Vegas by masking in his feet from the frame as Judai and Johan start to walk over over the 2-3 earlier frames as he gets to the center of the arena to keep it consistent.

#GX #yugioh #ygo #ygo gx #yugioh gx #yu-gi-oh gx #yu-gi-oh! gx #Judai Yuki #Johan Andersen #my subs #give it up for best directionless boy Johan #god i remember the old April Fools joke on Janime where fake dub names were announced for the Overseas Champions #including one changing O'Brien to Marz Kelvinheit or something--it was amazing lmao #these first few S3 episodes really are the calm before the impending storm; good times

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ladyloveandjustice · 1 year

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Anime Recommendation: Raven of the Inner Palace

I said I wanted to give this one more attention since it got lost in the shuffle of last season, so here we go! Raven of the Inner Palace is a supernatural mystery series set in a fantastical version of ancient China. It’s bursting with ghosts, bloody demises and courtly intrigue. It’s fast-paced, dramatic, beautiful, and has some heartwarming character development at its’ core. If you want an extra reason to give it some love, it’s an adaptation of a story aimed at women, which is increasingly rare in the modern anime landscape.

The series follows a mysterious woman dubbed “The Raven Consort”. She’s isolated and confined to the inner palace, and (as the intro narration likes to remind you), she’s skilled at the mystic arts and does not have any nighttime duties despite her title (meaning she doesn’t have to sleep with the Emperor, or even answer to him). Even the new Emperor, who only just recently retook the throne after being ousted by a spiteful relative, has no idea who she is or what her true role in the court is, but he’s understandably intrigued.

If you like ghosts, episodic supernatural dramas that form a larger mythological arc, cut-throat palace politics, careful character development, and/or sweet romances that develop from a strong friendship, this a show for you. The general premise of the series is the Emperor or another court official will come to Shoxue, the Raven Consort, with news of a ghost, and she’ll figure out how to help the ghost cross to the other side (or in some cases, forcefully exorcise them). As Shoxue solves these problems, we learn more about her, how she came to be the Raven Consort, and the terrible truth behind her role.

If you know anything about ancient Chinese imperial history, you have probably accurately guessed the show gets very dark. There’s tons of suicides, beheadings and other executions, people being persecuted, servants being tormented and so on. Probably the biggest thing to warn for is that one of the eunuch’s backstories involves csa. The show always treats it seriously and rarely gets graphic all about it, though the show’s final episodes have a few surprisingly bloody moments. (Also one of the problems of the week involves romanticized sibling incest- it’s easy to miss the line referencing it, and it doesn’t end well for them, but still something note).

It doesn’t feel like edginess for the sake of edginess though, just an acknowledgement of the consequences of the rigid social roles the characters adhere to, and a natural extension of the commentary on the rigid role Shoxue herself is forced into. When her backstory is revealed, it definitely feels like there’s some commentary on how women with power are punished, though we don’t get far enough in the story to see if the anything meaningful will come of it.

And amidst all the drama, there’s something sweet going on here- throughout the show, we see Shoxue slowly go from someone who’s completely isolated to someone who forms warm connections with not just the emperor, but a variety of new friends who see past the creepy stigma surrounding her. Seeing Shoxue awkwardly navigate her new relationships is part of the charm of the series.

Also, they do this cool thing where the little flashback tales are done like Chinese shadow puppets:

The Emperor is definitely set up as Shoxue’s love interest. The first episode has him act a little pushier than he will for the rest of the series (they do the ‘it seems like he’s going to come on to her in bed but he actually just falls asleep” thing). During the rest of the episodes, he seems to want to be her friend first and foremost before going further and tries not to push her too much. It just becomes a sweet underlying relationship where they try to understand each other. Shoxue leans a little into mild tsundere stereotypes at times, but there’s good reasoning given for why she’s so prickly. And there’s hints at the Emperor having his own emotional struggles, and that the power he wields might cause issues that divide them down the line, so it would be interesting to see where that goes.

It's overall an elegant, slightly spooky character drama. The anime has a quick pace- often throwing a lot of information at you and insisting you keep up- but that also means it’s never boring, and the animation can be quite nice and fits the ethereal nature of the show. If anything in here sounds like your jam, I strongly recommend you check it out!

#raven of the inner palace #kokyu no karasu #anime #my reviews #anime overview #fall 2022 anime #recs

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messenger-of-stupidity · 9 months

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Unique and Powerful

It's here. It's done. I forced my mother to help me proofread it. (I'm trying to get her to simp for Vega. Idk if it's working.)

CW: Light angst, semi comfort, Vega being protective of Warden, Warden being stubborn, GN listener character, Actually proofread for once (thank my mother)

Redacted Masterlist

Ao3 Link

Summary: Someone hurt his Warden, and Vega would be damned if he didn't find out who and make them pay for the sin they had just committed

Word Count: 2054 Words

Taglist: @angel-shaw @itsyourstarboy @puffin-smoke @pinksparkl @duskdusk05 @mar-the-magician @redactedbloop @teafairywithabook @clover-46 @soup-scope @genderfluid-bastard

Vega looked at the clock, his aura pressing against the ward that held him in place. He couldn’t be sure that the clock was actually accurate. For all he knew it was another childish ploy by the Department to try to drive him into confessing or whatever they wanted from him. He doubted not knowing the time would help with rehabilitation.

It was funny that he never really cared about human time until now. He only paid attention for the small details of his projects or when to go out to feed. People thought that the cover of night helped obscure their sins and the more violent tendencies. (Spoiler, it didn’t.) And yet here he was, staring at the clock. He tried to tell himself that it was all because he had no other entertainment. When he wasn’t allowed to feed (by the Department. Everyday whenever an enforcer came close enough was feeding time.) and when he wasn’t talking to the little inchoate who had been tasked with him… he had nothing else to do.

The lock beeped and his eyes slid towards the door, a lazy smile curling his lips as he sat in the chair they had oh so graciously provided him. A familiar head poked itself inside the cell, eyes meeting his own. He leaned forward, leaning his arms on his knees as his hands clasped together in front of him.

Oh, do come in Darling. He said. He watched them take a deep breath (An unnecessary behavior they had adopted.) and enter the room. The door closed behind them and they held the clipboard close to their chest. His little inchoate, always self conscious about how much space they took up. He waited for them to take their usual seat, but they remained standing, teeth chewing on their lip. Careful Warden. You might split your lip open.

“Right. Sorry.” They were always so quick to apologize. He shrugged, leaning back in his seat as his legs crossed. He could feel their anxiety radiate from their aura, strong enough to break past the shimmery material of the ward. Something had ticked them off, he was sure. What he was less sure of was whether or not they were planning on sharing. Although knowing his Warden, they would be happy to keep it close to the vest and pretend it had never happened. For someone so curious and detail-seeking, they were a very private demon.

He inhaled deeply, filling his useless lungs with unneeded air. The inchoate’s gaze was pulled towards him. Good. He liked having their focus on him. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for them to say something other than an apology. They stayed quiet, just staring at him in a manner humans might dub as awkward. He waved a hand, dexterous fingers summoning a thread of magic that had a spark of light kissing his fingertips.

What’s wrong darling? Have you grown weary of behaving creaturely for the Department? A well worn path of a topic, but one that often had the inchoate quickly denying the claim. They sat down - on the floor - and set their clipboard in their lap.

“Can we discuss something else besides your dislike of my profession, Vega?” They asked, voice tired. He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward once more, hand dropping from the air and letting go of the thread of magic he had been playing with. Something was wrong, he already knew that. But what he was trying to find out was what. Usually Warden entertained his theatrics and musings, believing they would lead somewhere useful for their rehabilitation practices and studies (It wouldn’t. He made sure of that.) but now they were barren of that determined curiosity.

Fine. Let’s discuss what’s going on with you then. You’re my entertainment as of late, and yet something is acting as a barrier. And I’m not speaking of the ward, before you attempt to use that as a deflection. He said, watching as the other demon frowned a little at the serious flatness his tone provided. He didn’t often defer to a more serious tone (He favored teasing tones with Warden. Or threatening ones, watching weak hypocritical humans shiver as their fear brushed against his skin like a lover’s caress), but for now he was willing to. They shook their head, a smile grasping their lips to expose their teeth. He grimaced in return. How very insincere of you. Their smile dropped.

“It’s not important to your treatment, Vega. We’re here to focus on you. I thought you liked being the center of attention.” They snapped. His grimace turned into a smile and he stood up, moving closer to the edge of the ward that separated him from his Warden.

Ah. So I do. He hummed, mocking hurt. Regret and guilt made a lovely combination on their face and they sighed, hanging their head. He watched as they buried their face in their hands, any words he might have said going silent. His smile faltered at the way their shoulders started shaking and their despair pressed against his aura. Darling. Tell me what’s troubling you. You don’t need to be so stubborn.

“You were right earlier.” They said, their voice muffled through their hands. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing that the ward would just fall. Just for a split second. He stayed quiet, waiting for them. “I am tired of it. I’m tired of the long hours. I’m tired of the hostile work environment. I’m tired of the pressure, of the social obligations that no matter what I do, never seem to perfectly fit. I’m tired of the looks that they don’t think I notice. I’m tired of everything.” The words started to spill from their lips, much like how he suspected tears spilled down their face. “I’m just trying to do my job, but it never seems to be good enough for them.” He sat down on the floor across from them, expression blank.

Someone was harming his Warden. More than just someone. And he was stuck behind a ward and staring at a clock while they were trying to shoulder every expectation and every word of criticism against their behavior. Behavior they tried to emulate for the humans. Ungrateful little pests.

What would you have me do? He asked. Comfort wasn’t his expertise, so guidance was required. The inchoate lifted their head, eyes reflective with their tears from the overhead fluorescents. He felt his jaw clench as… some kind of emotion moved through him. He had been walking through this plane longer than many, experiencing the darkest of human emotions and sensing the others. And yet he wasn’t sure what emotion was causing his anger.

If anyone was allowed to make his Warden cry, it was him.

“You can’t do anything.” They whispered. He frowned and leaned forward, placing his palms flat on the floor of his cell. He stared intently as they wiped away the tears on their face, hardly being gentle with themself. That irritated him further.

You know I can do many things, Darling. I can be a weapon for you, but I need you to point me in the direction to those who must be punished for making you feel like this. He wasn’t going to drop this. Warden stared at him, hands now gripping the clipboard in their lap. He could easily read the surprised shock on their face, he didn’t need their emotions brushing against his aura. His expression fell into a more grim one. I know no one else has offered this to you. But I am now. Let me help you, Darling.

“You’re just trying to corrupt me again.” They whispered, even as they tried to hide and mask their hesitance from him. He moved closer to the ward, feeling the sizzling as his aura almost brushed against it. He ignored the sensation, eyes locked on the inchoate in front of him.

I’m trying to help you, Warden. Contrary to what you might believe, I don’t enjoy you suffering at the hands of others. Especially since you throw away so much, give up so much of yourself, simply to please those who will never properly appreciate the sacrifice you give them. I want to make wherever you are a place that actually is grateful you deign to show yourself before them. He watched their eyes grow wide and a smirk tugged at his lips. He continued. I want to make your walking places have humans recognizing the power and threat you hide so well under a meek exterior. Tell me how I can do that for you, Darling.

They shook their head, and Vega wished he could feed on the doubt that rolled off of them like an overspilling sink. His smirk tugged wider into a smile. “You don’t need to do that. I don’t need that, Vega.” They tried to insist. Unfortunately for them, he was more stubborn. But it was clear they were insistent on not telling him. Which left the two demons at an impasse. He stood up and returned to his seat. His Warden stayed where they were sitting on the floor. The sadism demon stared down at them, his expression masked into abstract interest.

The body they had chosen for themself upon arriving to Elegy was strong. He knew that. But in that moment, sitting on the floor and staring down at the clipboard in their lap that only held empty papers, they appeared so small and strained. Prone to break at the lightest touch.

I decided what I wish to discuss. He said finally, giving the inchoate something that could ground them. If they refused to outright tell him who had been the final straw that broke the camel’s back, he would play this game. He would gently pry the information out while offering truths and lies about himself. A game he had been playing from the first moment he had met the other demon. They lifted their head, and he almost licked his lips at the desperation - to cling to the lifeline he had thrown - clear in their eyes.

They were so expressive, wearing their fragile heart on their sleeve. He was going to help them protect that heart, whether they wanted him to or not. And he was far more willing to get his hands dirty for that task.

“What is it?” They coaxed, wiping their face with the edge of their uniform sleeve. He felt pity for them. They ran away from solutions to their more negative-thinking emotions to bury themselves in a work that didn’t appreciate them and treated them like they were replaceable. They weren’t.

I want to talk about the treatment from the enforcers here at this prison. He said, reading for any reaction. Had an enforcer put that crack in the inchoate? He had a few guesses of who could have had the gall. But they didn’t show any reaction that answered his question. So it must have happened outside this containment facility. That certainly made it more difficult to find the specific person and cause.

“Has it not gotten any better? I’ve put in several reports to have the enforcers under review.” They said. Sweet, naive little inchoate. Those reports were probably sitting in a pocket veto on some higher-ups desk as they pretended to deal with issues they deemed more important than the care and living conditions of Department-dubbed criminals. Only the bleeding hearts of this government actually cared.

They’re feeding me more, which is appreciated. Unnecessary, but still appreciated. But that doesn’t mean they’re kind. Or even decent. Surely, you’ve seen it. A nudge, but not playing his full hand.

Unfortunately, it seemed his Warden was more perceptive than usual. They looked up from their clipboard where they had begun taking notes.

“I’m fine, Vega.” They insisted again. He nodded, summoning that ball of light again. He stared at it, putting on a nonchalant air.

I never said you weren’t, Darling. That didn’t mean he would give up. And it didn’t mean that he was going to let go of the transgression of hurting his Warden. It was just another wound that would need to be returned to the Department tenfold. Tell me, is that clock in the corner accurate?

#redacted asmr #redacted audio #redactedverse #redacted fanfic #redacted vega #redacted warden #redacted comfort #technically speaking #ive been talking about this fic for a bit

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rh3maji · 4 months

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Anime Dubs My Beloved

Dubs are at the intersection of both technical and artistic skill and that's left me in awe for the past year and a half sooo lemme just kinda gush about this medium[?], for a sec I grew up watching anime [sub & dub] and for the longest time I didn't have a clue about how dubs got made beyond "words must fit lip movements" and "actors record separately", never in a million years would've thought sight-reading was a part of it! So imagine being in a booth ye? You got your script monitor and another monitor displaying the animated stuffs you'll be dubbing over. You've never seen the script until this moment and you've likely never even seen the footage before either. The director sets the scene for you so you have the needed context and of course a script writer writes with the flaps in mind, but at the end of the day it's on you to get the timing right, the performance right, the believability right [with or without other ppl's dialogue recorded depending on when your session was relative to your fellow castmates], and you're juggling all of this all while not getting to rehearse the scene beforehand. Maybe I'm just nerding out here, but to me being able to do that's really heckin cool! Finding out that most of the directors and script adapters are also VAs themselves has also been fun. I'd just be sitting there watchin' AoT, absolutely demolishing some hot wings, glance at the credits ,and go : "Script Writer Aaron Dismuke? ...wait he wha" [This discovery would singlehandedly send me spiraling down a dub-shaped rabbit hole I have yet to crawl my way out of] But while I think I know a lot more than I did as a kid, there's still so much about the process that I definitely don't know about yet. That ignorance is a lil frustrating tbh because i'd love to know more about the translation, audio engineering, directorial, and audio mixing parts of the operation ~FOR SCIENCE!~ And by "FOR SCIENCE!" I mean for my own peace of mind, and by "for my own peace of mind" I mean so that I could write about the process more confidently and accurately. This interest in the whole shebang is also why you might see me geek out abt or draw ppl who've adapted/voiced in my favorite shows at some point, the art stuff's sort of a side-effect of when I get way too invested in a subject~ Even in dubs where the script is kinda meh or I dislike a character's voice or a VA's delivery, I can still enjoy most of them on a technical level. Thankfully, dubs these days are pretty good on both fronts so I've been eatin' good ^^ Also PS; I am begging on my hands and knees to get a good look at an anime dub script, not even one for an actual existing property, I legit just wanna know the formatting of one. PS PS; I can tell from blurry snippets of Funimation/Crunchyroll bts stuffs that it looks like a spreadsheet with timecodes and a few different colored cells but no clue of what the values are. PS PS PS; I eventually found one well after writing this draft [courtesy of @thereubeh on twitter]

https://x.com/thereubeh/status/1667561334010179584?s=20

Brilliant.

#i'm just here for the free food.#english dubs #anime dubs #i am cringe but i am free

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golbrocklovely · 2 months

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Idk if this has been asked before but what do you think happened to the supposed gf Colby was gonna have when he uploaded that tarot reading on his channel? Like Ik timing based on tarot aren’t always accurate but I just got curious with all that’s happening. I doubt it was about M since they give me temporary vibes 😂 like I wonder if he met her already but he wasn’t ready to commit or they just never crossed paths 🤔

that tarot reading took place in late 2020, if i’m not mistaken. and he didn’t meet m until sam’s bday of 2023. so… i’m gonna go out on a limb and say that reading was not about her lol

also bc in the vid, the psychic said he would start a relationship that following spring/summer of ‘21 so, again, definitely not about m haha

there was a girl he was hanging out with around that time, that i dubbed on here six flags girl. they went out occasionally and were seen a bunch from spring of ‘21 until really the midway thru ‘22. i don’t think they were ever serious, bc he also went out with some other girls. and he himself admitted in the vid he didn’t think he was ready for a long term relationship just yet, bc he was still afraid of commitment.

so… yeah. it’s also possible that the reading changed, bc no tarot reading is set in stone. it’s just more of a suggestion of things to come. maybe he never got to meet the girl he was gonna be with. maybe it was six flags girl but things never got serious enough. who knows.

#ask #personal #cb ll

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kingprinceleo · 2 months

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Playlist anon-

Np it was super fun to do and I'd LOVE to look through you're other playlists (totally not shaking in terribly concealed excitement) :)

I'm getting back into Set it Off thanks to you (haven't listened since early highschool) and I'm putting the playlist on loop

You created a monster, moon trance and another song weren't listed or playing in the YouTube app but I could see them when using the chrome link you shared so I just looked them up separately.

I haven't really seen much lore on Amy or Eggman yet so they kinda blindsided me in the analysis 😅 but I'm looking forward to the dessert vampire playlist especially because the vibes scratched itches I didn't know I had

You're one of the first creators I followed when I joined the fandom last year so it's really an honor that you like me analysis🙏🏽

(Is it okay if I message you privately no pressure of course love your blog all the same <3)

Have a good timezone (glad my thoughts weren't too rambly for you)

~🩸🎵

awwww yisss >:DDDDDD set it off is so fun!!! they are dropping a new song in a few days <333 https://youtu.be/3Acv1hRI6RA?si=TsaCSeTYcDwJ8CB3 set it off song that is LITERALLY just sonic the hedgehog ^^^^^^^^ ohhhh!!! ok this is really helpful to know actually! ive lost so many songs to youtube hiding them </3 yeahhh, ive kinda been more reserved on lore dropping bc i feel bad when people get attached to an idea and i overwrite it entirely </3 (there are also some spoilers i dont wanna casually bring up!) unfortunately there are only 3 desert vampire au songs ! but 1 one them bangs so unbelievably hard ive dubbed it the theme of the whole au (its Stampede, rouge and shadows dynamic esp with the part where the instruments are like. 'talking' to each other) and wahhh ty!! 🥺🥺 and tysm for taking the time to go thru the playlist !!! i love hearing thoughts about it.. (n yeah it should be all chill !!) you too!! (not at all i loved them :]]]]) here are the others!! (happy auau doesnt have one the poor thing </3) Desert Vampires (welcome to the circus is the weakest and least accurate song there but it has a vibe to it i wanna see if i can find elsewhere)- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvaIqf9XfBFPrqxwm8jhQkSPC8DaTGvCt

Fire n Water-https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvaIqf9XfBFM0qBfqckSVmxvWtzAQ2Ru3 1000 Years Bound (LONGEST)-https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvaIqf9XfBFNv6VjxNknUKxStdyez-HUI ^v^ eeee

#my asks #music tag

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spiritelectric3 · 10 months

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My journey through Homestuck: Act 1

The gods have chosen me to experience the horrors of Homestuck. I have chosen to do so via comic dub (specifically the Void Over Nexus dub). Here are my takes:

-Okay, I'm still in the kid's bedroom and they are already introducing such complicated mechanics. -16 minutes in and he's finally left his room. I'm so glad I didn't read this or it would have taken forever -I'll admit, so far, this does make me feel kinda nostalgic for my childhood. It has an attitude that was common for comic books and cartoons of the 2000s, but has gone away. Reminds me a lot of picking up random comic books from the library as a kid and reading them over and over. -With some deeper thought, too, this is a pretty accurate description of what it's like to have free time as a kid, how you kind of just goof off doing whatever, but somehow it all feels important. Sort of like how the Lord of the Rings dedicates a lot of pages to walking so that the reader gets a similar feeling to the characters. -Plus, from what I know from the plot, this is kind of an actually good way to set up a story like this. John's home is important, so the work spends time on it. It's annoying that it takes awhile, but that's why we have comic book dubs. -okay, tbh, this is a pretty accurate depiction of what (neurodivergent?) childhood thinking is like, at least for my own childhood -okay, so more on the neurodivergent thinking thing: I love how well the comic integrates strange system but shifts the reader's mindset towards the world of the series well. It reminds me of how I end up seeing the world differently based on my current hyperfixation -also unrelated, but I thought Stacks were first in first out and Queues were first in last out -wait, how is this inventory system different!? -thought on the language: I think the descriptions thus far are kind of hit or miss. It's a hit when we get detailed poetic descriptions of childhood mentality. It's a miss when it becomes so long and pedantic that I can't make heads nor tails of it. -Is TT… psychic!?

-I love how no one in this series can handle simply having a human body so they need inventories and the ability to move things long distance. Honestly same (oh god I'm beginning to think like the writing style) -okay, this is just what it's like to play an overly complicated video game for the first time, just in semi-literary form -I'm kind of terrified of what's gonna happen to the second person narrator later on -Why are John's eyes shaped like glasses lenses if he doesn't wear them? -I love how ominous Sberb is quickly becoming -…OH. I think I'm beginning to realize how this became a massive influence on all media in the 2010s+ -This is the moment where I am wondering if I should turn back, already realizing that it is too late -Honestly, I can already see how someone could write a paper on how this series fundamentally redefines thought, in and of itself -why does this series make me want to play Run 2 on coolmathgames.com? -this is legitimately like non-cyperpunk cyberpunk -I'll admit that for all that's been happening the meteor is kind of a weird uptick in stakes -Ah, that's what happens to the second person voice -I love how the narrator's personality shifts to match Rose's -Seeing Rose get introduced this late feels like during a first dnd session when your the last character to be introduced at the end of the session -Rose's captchalogue is pretty based -okay, I'm gonna say it. Rose is a much more entertaining character than john. She's like if Susie Derkins had a wilder imagination -Wait… WHAT THE FUCK!?

Overrall I'd say, yeah this is pretty slow. In this format it's honestly worse when they're playing the game than when John is just doing stuff in his house. Those earlier sections almost made me tear up. They didn't, but they got close. I think there is a childlike joythat encapsulates this series thus far, and has been the majority of the charm

#homestuck

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usergreenpixel · 1 year

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JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 34: DÉLICIEUX (2021)

1. The Introduction

Hello, dear Citizens, and welcome back to Jacobin Fiction Convention. I’m not feeling too great today so please forgive me if this review seems shorter and a little half assed. But I didn’t want to cancel the promised review yet again so here we are.

So, this movie came to my attention completely by accident during a flight from Moscow to Istanbul a while ago. The synopsis included the year 1789 and the setting is France, so you can BET that I was immediately curious and watched the entire thing in one sitting.

(Btw, it’s available on Amazon prime in French and English, but can be watched for free online in the Russian dub.)

That being said, this movie is far from flawless and still warrants a full review, so let’s begin today’s meeting in earnest, shall we?

2. The Summary

This movie tells the story about Pierre Manceron, a former chef who decides to leave his position when his noble employer and said employer’s friends mock Manceron’s new dish and generally impede his creativity.

After the scandal, Manceron and his son move in with a family friend and open up a small tavern, but the former chef decides not to create new dishes ever again. Little does he know, a mysterious woman named Louise is about to cross paths with him.

Eager to become Manceron’s apprentice in cooking and to make sure he begins to cook again like he used to, Louise nevertheless seems to have an agenda of her own and the secrets she keeps might just ruin everything.

3. The Plot

Overall, it’s a good story with nice pacing and structure. Of course, this story of the first restaurant in France is pure fiction but it is a fictional movie that doesn’t pretend to be a documentary, which is awesome.

Also, while Frev isn’t at the center of the story, it is mentioned quite a lot and is, in fact, part of the reason why the main villain, the former employer, gets his comeuppance in the end. It also overlaps with the storyline of opening a completely new type of eatery, since gone are the days of dingy inns and lavish feasts of nobility.

Aside from all that, I loved the found family trope used in the story, as over its course Louise bonds with Manceron and his son, thus finding a new family and a new purpose in life. I could’ve been fine without Manceron and Louise falling in love though, but that’s just me.

4. The Characters

At first, Pierre Manceron came off as a cliché reluctant cynical mentor so I was prepared not to care about him much. I was pleasantly surprised though, since he gets some nice development later on and he is realistically flawed. He is a womanizer, he can be a stubborn mule and he does attempt to hit on Louise after finding out she used to be a sex worker (read: kiss her). Luckily, his behavior is never romanticized by the narrative.

To his credit, Manceron quickly realizes that Louise isn’t okay with this treatment and never attempts to pull those stunts ever again and grows out of his time period-accurate views on women. For example, while initially correctly stating that most apprentices are young men, he does eventually begin to teach Louise and really begins to respect her, even helping her humiliate the shit out of the villain in the end.

Louise herself is my favorite character though.

I think making her a middle aged woman instead of a young ingenue is quite a bold choice. She too is flawed and at first only needs this apprenticeship to seek revenge on the noble who used to employ Manceron. Her past is troubled and includes becoming a widow and losing all of her children, for example.

However, she later genuinely becomes attached to her mentor and to his son and gets her revenge not in the way she originally wanted, but in a way that is far more harmless and doesn’t put her loved ones at risk.

Louise is also the proverbial brains behind the establishment she and Manceron open up and comes up with the majority of the innovations they use in the restaurant, like menus and specials of the day.

Benjamin, Manceron’s son, is a young adult interested in the works of the philosophers of the Enlightenment and in the upcoming revolution. He’s an idealist, sometimes to a fault, but he’s a genuinely nice guy who accepts Louise even before Manceron himself does, this avoiding the “jealous kid” trope.

Jacob, Manceron’s friend who takes him and Benjamin in, is a fairly minor character but I did like him. He’s a bit of a drunk, but a very caring man.

Duc de Chamfort, the main villain, is an ass. A typical pompous noble believing only nobility should have access to tasty food since only they can “appreciate it”. He is also a metaphorical thread connecting Louise (the woman he wronged in the past) and Manceron (his former chef whom he claims to respect but treats like shit), thus becoming a catalyst for the entire storyline. Fortunately, he does get a satisfying humiliation when the heroes trick him into eating at their restaurant while surrounded by people of lower class and confronting him about his crimes.

These are the most noteworthy characters in my opinion.

5. The Setting

I liked the setting, even though some female costumes aren’t accurate due to lack of shawls (fichu) that would usually cover up the cleavage.

Other than that, it’s pretty good in terms of scenery and costumes. I especially liked the changes in the color scheme and the lighting as the shabby inn is transformed into a much more welcoming restaurant.

As for the food, it looked just amazing!!!

I also loved details like confusion about how to spell Manceron’s name (fixed spelling didn’t exist).

6. The Acting

Isabel Carré (Louise) is my favorite here, but most actors did an amazing job. I found the duke a bit hammy, but I think it’s probably the screenwriter and director who are to blame. Or maybe it’s because creating a somewhat comical villain was the whole point.

7. The Soundtrack

Not exactly a masterpiece, but quite good.

8. The Conclusion

To sum up, this movie is a pretty good fictional story about found family, changes in the food industry and the French Revolution.

Not a perfect movie by any means, but I found it pretty enjoyable so you can check it out if you want.

With that, today’s meeting has officially come to an end.

Stay tuned for updates, everyone!

Love,

Citizen Green Pixel

#delicieux #delicieux 2021 #jacobin fiction convention #obscure frev media #frev movies #frev media #Frev films

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aseriesofunfortunatejan · 7 months

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Ok so I saw ur posts about danganronpa s and even though you won't play it I HIGHLY reccomed you watch nagito and korekiyo's interaction I'm pretty sure you'll find something of interest, let's just say a certain person makes a very brief appearance

What a lovely recommendation! It made me smile that someone would come recommend me an interaction between two of my skrunklies, but I had a pretty good idea who that certain person might be.

I'm surprised I'd never heard about this before. This is probably on me, since I had Danganronpa S tags filtered for a really long time, but I did tend to look at it anyway when I browsed the Korekiyo tag, so I'm still a little bit surprised.

(Like I said jokingly when I watched the video earlier today, "maybe the "korekiyo stan" "danganronpa s hater" venn diagram is more of a circle than I thought".)

I'd have loved a video with the Japanese dub, but this is what I was shown!

youtube

I mentioned in the past that I thought Sister might never make an appearance in Danganronpa S, because there are no sprites in Korekiyo's swimsuit set that seem to represent her. I guess I neglected to take into account the amount of events with his regular clothes, and the possibility that she might make... the smallest of appearances, with no change in sprites. (Show us more Shinguuji boobie, cowards!!)

If I may just comment on this event, which may be the only DRS event I've watched in full, Komaeda's dialogue seems really unnatural and forced. The things he says seem interesting enough to explore with his character, but the event is rushed and the way he speaks doesn't feel quite right. This doesn't give me a much better impression of the game, being that comparatively, fanfiction is free and some writers do a surprisingly good job at portraying canon characters, which doesn't appear to be a given here. That being said; "did Korekiyo seem different rn? ... ... ...No I'm probably just feverish and wrong. :)" is so ME and it's ICONIC and it's my EVERYTHING and

meeeeeeee.

@purplepadlock mentioned that this ending also looked like a reference to the Despair Disease which is famously another one of my skrunklies. I'm not so sure about that, because this event is about Komaeda having a cold in the first place, but being that the writing already seems a bit off and awkward to me... it could be that this was the intention here, or that the Japanese text does it a little better.* Either way, 1. still an iconic line, and 2. seeing Komaeda mention being sick in this room at the very start also reminded me of the Despair Disease right away.

Enough with my having caught the SDR2 Disease of making everything about Komaeda - this appearance of Sister is an interesting concept, though I'm disappointed by the idea that... this is all we get. It brings up a lot of questions; one thing that was never made too clear was how Sister worked as a tulpa. That she'd appear here, after Korekiyo tried to leave the hospital because of the bad memories it brought back, seems reminiscent of the way an alter in a system with Dissociative Identity Disorder may be triggered and brought to the front by a specific setting. I am, however, of the opinion that Shinguuji is definitely not meant to be a DID system, seeing as DID was already featured in a previous game, in which it was mentioned by name, and it would seem very weird for it not to be at all mentioned this time around.* Plus, his narrative is nowhere close to one of DID, and as bad as Fukawa's representation was, the childhood trauma as described by Touko to be the cause of Shou's existence seems too accurate to be thrown out the window for a new writing of the disorder years later. Thus, the question is: is she always here with him? Does she share his body at all times? How frequent are the instances of Sister talking in his stead? This was already very confusing in V3, and this event does not help.

Regardless, more instances of Korekiyo's odd "suddenly appearing more feminine" are interesting to me - because if we saw it often enough, we might be able to get an idea of its parameters. If this is its only instance in DRS, it's still not enough, even ignoring that I'd rather this had been done better in V3 in the first place.

*I recall seeing a Japanese tumblr user call out an event featuring Hinata and Komaeda for coming across completely differently in Japanese and English. The English translation made Komaeda seem creepier and forceful, whereas the original text had Hinata be the one to contribute certain elements of the event.

*As a note, I have a vague memory of seeing that Shou and Shinguuji had interactions as fellow serial killers, but 1. I might be making this up, and 2. I wonder if a comparison was ever drawn between their respective multiplicity. I remember talking about this... I don't remember any of the details.

featuring the current only Korekiyobsessed Danganronpa Wiki staff member

#danganronpa #danganronpa s #drs spoilers #korekiyo shinguuji #korekiyo shinguji #ask

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felikatze · 2 years

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HI IT’S ME AGAIN I JUST FINISHED S5 IT IS A BANGER

i have A Lot to say about this one because it’s very really good

i looked at the cast credits only on episode 10 and promptly found out that morro and lloyd have the same VA (at least in the dub i watched lmao). congrats julien haggege on the range because i geniuenly had no idea

SOOOO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT.

ok let’s start with what a great kickoff episode 1 was. everything went batshit RIGHT from the start. i love the scene w the possessed museum guard posing with a hammer behind lloyd. i loooooove how much they leaned into the whole ghost shit and horror tropes with morro’s introduction and lloyd just getting fucking possessed.

morro has like, more.. menace? than the previous villains (as much as any of them can be menacing for having little lego faces) because of his first appearance and also just. again the lloyd thing.

which is DELICIOUS btw to just take lloyd out of the team dynamic after he’s been so throuroughly integrated into it. holy shit man. it’s sooo good how the main four have to struggle without lloyd and how they each try to be the leader and fail horribly at it.

how this is resolved is great too!! the four of them work best without a leader. after cole gets turned into a ghost (also holy shit they really just did that), they kinda just stop picking fights over which of them is better and just stay a team. this is reflected beautifully in the episode 8, grave danger, where each of them takes charge when it’s best for them to do so. zane decodes the patterns on the doors, cole gets everyone to give up and fall, jay spots the light in the ground that gets them out of the labyrinth, and kai makes the final call to rescue lloyd. that’s some good shit.

ALSOOO this season is so good to nya!! i heard abt morro and nya’s water ninja thing and cole being ghosted on my ventures through the ninjago tag, but i didn’t expect it to be... all the same season. i did not.

i like a looot how nya’s weakness got cast here, because she’s always been just. good. at everything. and THAT’S HER WEAKNESS IT’S GIFTED KID SYNDROME. if she can’t get something right first try she gives up and that is an accurate weakness for her to have without betraying the strength she’s had throughout the show. she’s soo set on being a samurai that she Cannot fathom being a ninja and she has to get over herself. it’s so good. i like that one scene after cole gets ghosted where the two bond a bit over how their lives got turned upside down suddenly at the same time, and i also liked how she picking up on ronin’s laidback nature (which wu calls a bad influence) is actually what helped her out. she needed to take things less seriously so she can allow herself to fail without getting frustrated. THIS SEASON IS SO GOOD TO NYA FR.

ANOTHER THING ABT NYA i love how her development kinda mirrors like, the boys in season 1, with how everyone’s harping about her true potential, because that’s where she’s at, elemental powers wise. she is at her own personal season 1 right now, and it’s treated as such. sooo poggers. she had a lot of moments where she got held back by wu again (a recurring trend prior boooo wu) and she always had frustration at this (the only reason i accepted this) so i love love love how it’s SHE who sinks the. preeminent? is that the english name. (german dub calls it the Ur-Evil because it likes being stupid like that). it’s soo cool nya you’re cool again after s3.

THERE’S JUST. A LOT OF SEASON 1 PARALLELS IN GENERAL LIKE. morro’s obsession with being the green ninja is exactly like the boys in s1 and esp kai i think. like in s4 we saw that he’s still not entirely over that jealousy so morro feels in a way like a bad end kai even though he’s mostly played as a foil to lloyd. abandoned by fate vs chosen by destiny ysee ysee.

i get why so many people like him he has a LOT of potential esp since like his past connection to wu is just. haha wu you fucked up my man.

it SLAPS how morro just kept lloyd for Eight Whole Episodes. all ghosts can do possession and SOME of them do but for the most part it’s Just Morro who does which makes him stand out and the ninja not wanting to hurt lloyd in fights is fun. adds to him being so Goddamn Angry all the time. again same VA which i

morro as a villain also really adds to the whole theme of this season which is teamwork (as it often is) but this time in particular it’s how you can’t do everything alone. morro has his goons yeah but he ultimately is a loner and that’s capped off by him refusing to take wu’s hand in the final episode and going under. sayonara my man.

teamwork as the theme also came on strong again with (gestures at the main four struggling without lloyd and only moving forward once they work as a unit without a set leader). and maybe how ronin only manages to truly save his soul once he starts supporting the ninja without ulterior motives.

ronin was a rlly good supporting character imo! i think it’s funny how he’s introduced as having a past with the ninja who hate his guts meanwhile i’m going “should i know who this guy is?????” he’s not a bad guy necessarily just greedy but then the reason for him being greedy is introduced (sold his soul to a ghost and is trying to buy it back) and like it’s cool how his arc ends with him dumping all his money over morro’s head. it’s cool! also again his lil thing with nya which i’m sooo happy isn’t played romantic. nothing in this season is played romantic actually even that one scene i talked abt with nya and cole i’m so glad. love triangle is WELL AND TRULY DEAD AS IT SHOULD BE. let nya exist without a romance subplot for a season so epic so pog.

is it just me or did the lighting in the animation get wayyyy better this season? i was rlly impressed with the lighting on some shots this season which i haven’t been before. it’s way more realistic and when i first saw the waterfalls in nya’s training area i was stunned by the water physics in this. generally this season just looked really good by ninjago standards.

the set design was good too i liked the different locations. the ghost aesthetic clichees carried this i like that. wang’s house or the city of stiix or the cloud kingdom all vry cool good looking sets. i love how ham they went with the aesthetic too like also sound wise. the ost on this season is BANGER i love the remix for the intro. welcome to scooby doo: masters of spinjitzu.

MORE SEASON 1 THINGS I WANNA TALK ABT. there were some nice callbacks to the pilot eps i appreciated like the guys visiting the caves of despair where they found the scythe of quakes in the pilot. like if you didnt watch the pilot you’re not missing anything but if you did then you know and it’s nice <3 also hello morro’s skeleton. in any other show discovering a ghost’s corpse would be shocking but with the lego skeletons it’s just kinda goofy. it’s very goofy.

another callback i loved is in the final episode!! because morro tried to ditch lloyd in the underworld which is an amazing callback because it’s so thematically appropiate with the whole s1 parallels and that being where garmadon was sealed in the pilot and lloyd being ykno that guy’s son and the object of morro’s envy. it’s vry cool.

some cute things in the final two eps!! lloyd wearing his dad’s robe!! that’s so cute what the fuck!! i’m gonna gloss over the logistics of that just for how cute it is. previous cute thing is kai actually wearing the headband cyrus made for him even though he was bummed out for not getting a mech. everyone crashes their mechs and kai’s the one getting real utility out of his gift it’s cute. i thought the scene of ronin hanging out with skylor was also cute because like. skylor was in a veeery similar position to ronin where she betrayed the ninja for stupid selfish reasons but turned a new leaf and her giving him tea on the house is nice full circle stuff because her extending forgiveness on behalf of the ninja is what motivates ronin to go back and help out in the finale. and it’s tea specifically too because of the wu’s tea house subplot. that’s just so nice.

I DIDN’T EVEN PROPERLY TALK ABT GHOST COLE YET BECAUSE. THAT SURE HAPPENED. like i KNEW it was gonna happen cuz spoilers cuz i jzst wanted to look at fanart but. dang that’s kinda funny. like there is cole expressing sadness over it with the twice mentioned nya scene and many points where he tries to grab someone and fails but i think it’s nice how it’s not all bad and if he hadnt been a ghost then nimbus would’ve def killed the ninja right. i love how cole regularly like... forgets he’s a ghost. he forgets he can walk through walls and stuff now and possess things like ykno a ghost because it just kinda feels. in character for him to forget once he figures out how to make himself tangible. it’s funny. my favorite is in the ice labyrinth where he throws himself through a wall and slides across the floor to knock morro over.

he and kai got a lot of milage out of both being afraid of water this season. real bonding moment to make the guy who cant swim and the guy who will be vaporized if he touches water consistently the ones closest to water. kai gets a new gimmick to be grouchy about every season and i love that for him <3

talking abt kai again actually. love how he’s the one who ultimately saves lloyd and cheers on nya bcuz he’s. their big bro. he’s the first person who vowed to protect lloyd and by god he’s STICKIGN to that. i love that.

okay i think that’s everything i wanted to talk abt here. this is def my longest season review so far. because this season just SLAPS i understand now. i understand. this season fucks.

#Feli speaks #ninjago posting #SEASON 5 SLAPS. IT'S BALLER OKAY #this is a very long post huh

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