all hate to tiktok for taking 'having a space to more openly and actively talk about different cultures' to mean 'cultures are NOT to be shared and we must be vigilantly defensive of our cultures for fear of appropriation, a word that can be applied to any multicultural interaction'. like of course cultural appropriation is a very real problem but ive seen with the access to global multicultural conversation that tiktok provides it's made people TERRIFIED to even interact with cultures other than their own for fear of 'doing it wrong'. like at some point you have to acknowledge that in the real world of the great outdoors, the majority of people are eager to SHARE their cultures. yes there are ignorant questions and biases but also... how do you think those things get unlearnt? i dont understand how deciding that multiculturalism is an elephant in the room instead of a normal thing that should just be talked about and lived with is supposed to benefit anyone? and kids on tiktok are CONVINCED that it's a time bomb of a conversation to have and therefore must be avoided at all costs but like. people generally LOVE their home and their culture and are PROUD of it and want to share it. how have we made it so that showing genuine interest and a desire to understand something so integral to a person's identity is now feared and borderline demonised?

So… I have a lot to say about this post I saw on my feed today. I took screenshots and blocked out the username for the sake of the OP. I didn’t want this to be a callout post for one specific user, and do not wish them any hate or harm. I DO have a whole heap to say about this and the treatment Charles gets from the rdr fandom as a whole, not only the OP in the screenshot.

I have a lot of problems with this post, and I have been wanting to talk about this issue and pattern I’ve noticed in the rdr community. Again, I do not mean to send any hate in OP’s direction or suggest that OP is racist in any sense. With that being said…

It’s an inherently racial stereotype to assume that Charles, a black and native man, is illiterate with such a lack of evidence or real reasoning behind it. He was isolated for most of his life after the age of thirteen, and he’s been with a gang for only six months. He is very private, and he is shy. He doesn’t talk much at all, much less about reading. I have never seen this sort of assumption made about any other character, claiming they’re illiterate, because they’re never seen reading at camp.

This is the most ridiculous take I have ever seen. Charles is the one who buried Arthur with his own two hands and created his gravestone. He was the only person who knew where Arthur was buried, hence being the sole creator of Arthur’s final resting place. Charles’ handwriting is the one we see on the gravestone. Charles is the one who wrote the inscription on the cross. He is not illiterate.

I think a problem I have with a lot of Charles fans is that they see him as a blank slate. They see Charles, a physically attractive man, who is quiet and take him for that alone. He is often seen as a blank canvas to project their own ideas onto and sort of mold to their own use and convince. And often times, whether knowingly or not, Charles is consistently watered down to racial stereotypes. Race is obviously a part of who he is, and it affects a lot of his actions, as it does with everyone, but that is not all who he is.

Charles is clinging to the fringes of what little of his culture that he does have. His mother was taken from him as a boy, and he holds onto what little he does have and that absence of his mother, and both of his cultures (because people also tend to ignore the fact that he is also black) is a huge part of who he is. But a lot of folks would rather see his shyness as blankness. He is not levelheaded, but he is moral. He is not always morally correct though. It’s frustrating to constantly see who he is being ignored for the sake of the false persona that’s been created for him.

I think a lot of folks need to listen to the one dialogue of Charles opening up at the campfire. Yes it is a relatable speech for a lot of reasons, but it is also about his race, how he experiences the world, and how he feels as though he has no place because of the loss of his mother, the lack of knowing who he is, his culture, and a whole host of other things. He is one of the best written characters in the game, and to brush that aside to make him into this ‘softhearted super caring ideal s/o’ is so frustrating. This is the same man who was ready to kill Uncle if the need arose. He is moral, but they are morals of his own, and he is not always correct. He is also flawed, just like everyone else. He is not a saint. He is a flawed and conflicted man.

To disregard Charles for who he is, is such a great disservice to the character and to all the work put into him, his story, and other people who have and continue to share the same experiences as he does.

🧚🏻‍♀️✨Bippity boppity bow chicka wow oww! You’ve been visited by the Shameless Hoe Fairy, and now you must share a hoe drabble about:

Landlord!Ari + being caught watching you while you sleep

Well, it took me a couple of days but I did it!! Oh, and it's the longest drabble in the world. Did y'all know a drabble is only 100 words???? I thought it was 100-500...I still wrote way more than that, but still.

Title: No Good Deeds

Rating: Explicit, 18+, Minors - DNI

Pairing: Landlord!Ari Levinson x Reader

Word Count: 1.6K

Summary: Moving out on your own is challenging, but your landlord, Mr. Levinson is kind and helpful. But he may want more from you than your tenancy.

Prompt: Landlord!Ari + being caught watching you while you sleep

Warnings: age gap (Ari is mid-40s, Reader is early-20s), yandere Ari, drugging, non-con fingering (f receiving), non-con p-in-v intercourse, non-con creampie, choking, dead dove: do not eat

A/N: Hahahaha this was supposed to be a drabble. Thank you to @peyton-warren for the beta!

Dividers by: @firefly-graphics

Support/Reblog banner by me

Cover Art by me

My Masterlist

Moving out on your own isn’t exactly the easiest thing for you. You spent four years living in your college dormitory, but you always had at least one roommate. So, signing a lease and accepting the single set of keys was a huge accomplishment.

Your landlord, Mr. Levinson, is so great. He told you to call him Ari more than once. From the first tour of the apartment to the day of your move-in, he offers his help in many ways. Where the best farmer’s market is, how to reach him if you need any repairs, and even when the local bars close are just a few tidbits he leaves you with.

You get to know him a bit more during a block party one Saturday night. The two of you talk over cheap beer, tamales from Señora Cruz, smoked brisket from Mr. Lorenzo, and lasagna from Mrs. Di Paolo. Ari seems like he is lonely, and your kind heart can’t stand to see someone in need. 

Before you know what you are getting into, you agree to have a weekly tea date with him. It’s during one of those visits that you realize that something is a bit odd about Ari. He tries to cover up how he knows what cabinet you keep your tea in, but he makes up some dumb excuse that it would just be “the perfect spot”.

You excuse yourself to the bathroom as he busies himself with setting the tea, and when you come back, a steaming mug is waiting for you on a saucer on your coffee table. Usually, you make the tea, but Ari wanted to help out, and you had a long day at work, so you accepted.

“What is in this tea? It’s almost spicy,” you ask, taking another big gulp of the tea you don’t recognize.

“Is it spicy? Well, it does have ginger and cinnamon in it. Some chamomile, too. A little benzodiazepine in there,” Ari clambers on, trailing off at the end.

“D-did you say benzo…dia…zep,” you slur, reaching for Ari as you sit on the couch, but you end up passing out with your head in his lap.

When you come to, you struggle to remember what happened. Your heavy head pounds as you turn it to the side before putting the heel of your hand to your still-closed eyes.

“Take it slow, Bunny. You must’ve been really tired,” he consoles, from the other side of your bed.

“Mr. Levin-”

“Uhn uh. Call me Ari; no more of that Mr. Levinson polite shit, ok?” he swears for the first time in your presence.

“Um, Ari… What are you doing in my bedroom?” you ask, your mind a blank slate from earlier.

“Oh, Bunny. You invited me over for tea, and then you weren’t feeling well, and you asked me to stay until you felt better. Next thing I know, I’m carrying you in here because you fell asleep on me with that sweet little face of yours right in my lap,” he comforts, the knuckles of his hand sliding down your face before he boops your nose.

“Why do you keep calling me Bunny?” you mewl, still trying to get in control of all your limbs.

“When you sleep, you furrow your eyebrows and scrunch up your nose like a little bunny. It’s one of the cutest things you do,” he admires, his hand now moving down your neck and through the valley of your breasts to get to where your skirt rides up your thigh.

“Mr.-Ari…I think I feel better now; you don’t have to-” 

Your words are cut off when Ari reaches under your skirt, and you specifically remember having on panties earlier today, but his fingers are touching your tender pussy directly. Did he take off your underwear?

“Fuck, you’re so wet. Must’ve been all that time I spent rubbing your cute little cunt through those white cotton panties. God, those little moans you were making went straight to my cock, Bunny. Feel it,” he dares, grabbing your hand and resting it against the thick outline of his dick through his Wranglers. 

While your hand is on his length, he shoves two of his fingers into your wet heat. At first, you are surprised by the shock of it. But soon, you can tell that he knows how to work your body. You scream out his name, but he doesn’t stop. Instead, he shoves one hand over your mouth and gets close to your ear.

“You’re not gonna ruin this for me. You have been parading yourself around here like you’re some holier-than-thou sweet little thing. And I knew you’d end up letting me smash at some point. But I didn’t wanna wait anymore, Bunny. You have had me wrapped around that little finger of yours since you moved in. It’s time that I get what’s owed to me-what you’ve been flaunting in front of me,” he sneers, pulling his fingers out of you and sucking them clean before opening his pants and pulling his dick out.

He lines up with your sodden core before thrusting in with no grace or elegance. Slamming himself inside your tight snatch for the first time feels like he is splitting you in two. You’re no virgin, but you also don’t have much casual sex, so Ari’s thickness was a shock, to say the least.

“Sweet Bunny, you’re so tight. What a good girl! You’ve been waiting for me like I’ve been waiting for you, huh? Fuck, you’re like a fucking vice. You hear that, Bunny? Hear how that cunt loves it when I fuck it? Love that loud, sloshy pussy,” he beams, his wide hips between your legs making your joints hurt.

You’re in stunned silence as Ari uses your body to chase his release. Your mind is bringing up all the times it seemed like he was getting a little too close for comfort. All the times when he would talk to you about his divorce, or his current dating trend, or the fact that he once told you that a pretty thing like you belonged locked up in a tower for a prince to come and free you.

Did he think he was a charming prince?

“Oh, Bunny, fuck, I’m not gonna last much longer. Look at me; wanna see your eyes when I cum inside you,” he blurts, holding your face in his hands as you look into his dilated, hungry eyes. “Take it. Just. Like. That.” The last few words are punctuated with thrusts as he paints your walls with thick, milky ropes.

Once he closes his eyes, his hips remain still, and his forehead meets yours. This would be almost romantic if Ari didn’t make it beyond creepy by whispering how perfect you are and peppering kisses all over your face. His softening cock finally slips free from you, and you are happy to be empty until you feel the flow of his semen leaking from you. He notices your discomfort and mocks your whines as he pushes his jizz back into your swollen hole.

“Don’t worry, Bunny,” he starts, moving off of you to recline next to you, “Not gonna leave this bed ‘til you’re knocked up. As soon as you are, I’m gonna move you in with me. You are gonna be well taken care of, too. You are so perfect-every little thing about you. And when the baby comes, we are gonna be the perfect little family. You wouldn’t wanna ruin our family, right? You’re gonna be a good girl for me, huh?” he implores, holding your cheeks in his hand so your lips poke out a bit.

You nod while tears stream from your eyes, finding it hard to form words. But what would you have said? He seems to like you mostly silent; you haven’t uttered a single word since before he was inside you. It wasn’t too late to try, but it was too late to have hope; at least that’s what you told yourself.

“I don’t know about you, but I am starting to get hard again just looking at you. On all fours for me, Bunny. I know you got it in you,” he orders, no kindness in his voice.

You quickly scramble to get on your hands and knees for him and are happy that he is pleased with your speed. As he slides into your sensitive folds again, you grimace but hold in your noises of pain. You don’t want to give him the satisfaction of making you hurt, even though what he is doing is traumatizing. He relishes in the gushy sounds your pairing makes and the mighty “oomph” you make when he wraps an arm around your neck and flattens you down to your belly.

He has you in a chokehold while his hips canter back and forth, plunging his length deeper and deeper inside you. When he hears you start to sputter and gulp in air, he removes his arm from around your neck and holds your face cheek-down on the bed.

“Look at her, taking my cock just like she should. You’ll be the prettiest little wife and mother, won’t you? Gonna keep you nice and round as much as I can. My perfect little Bunny…ugh, fuck,” he blurts, his release surprising him suddenly.

When he pulls out, he smacks your ass and lays down next to you while your life flashes before your eyes. He moves closer to you, readjusting your body to lay on top of his as he rubs your back. He kisses the top of your head in such a kind gesture that you feel your eyes stinging with unshed tears. 

You can’t even bring yourself to fully cry, the tears streaming down your face just to splash on Ari’s denim shirt. Forgotten and dried up to never be seen again.

A/N: This was supposed to be a drabble!!!!

**Tag List**

I also didn't know who to tag since this is the first time I wrote Ari.

Mhm yeah. Here’s part two of this. More of it + some context under the cut!

PART ONE

PART TWO

So we don’t see Shelldon in the movie. I mean. We see his head but it’s not operational and I’m 90% sure that it gets destroyed again.

And honestly??? After everything with Shredder, I don’t think Donnie is in the right mental space to try to rebuild his kinda-son-it’s-complicated. He just lost his home, all of his equipment, was massively traumatized, is in the middle of a dynamic shift with his brothers, and on top of that There’s no guarantee that Shelldon will retain ANYTHING from his previous life. It might just be a scenario of bringing back a blank slate with none of the memories or experiences of the Shelldon that previously existed.

He just starts to get to the point where he’s in the right groove to take the risk and then Krang happens. Which. Yeah. I think he keeps at the project over the years, but only really gets up the nerve to FINALLY boot Shelldon up again when he’s about 19-21ish.

Of course everything works out and it’s like Shelly just took a long ass nap. Of course, this does cause some issues between them moving forward because. Sheldon’s 13, he doesn’t get why Donnie took nearly SIX YEAERS MINIMUM to bring him back. He feels really displaced and it’s just. Not a good feeling to have missed so much (Casey helps him through that and it’s great) but for the meantime it’s A happy reunion!

Thanks for reading, sorry for diving so far into headcannons I just think about them a lot.

not that anon but i think hearing your ideas on self aware enstars would be rlly cool! just like. any general thoughts/ideas you have — everyone has a slightly different take on self aware aus so i always think it's neat to hear about the differences. if that makes sense (also congrats on 2000 followers!!! you deserve them all and it's great to see more people enjoying your stuff!!! :D )

Ahh thank you nana for giving me the chance to write for self aware ensemble stars! This kind of AU has honestly been one of my absolute favorites since the day I discovered it and they´re just so fun to think about! Especially when you add a few yandere tendencies to the mind and now suddenly all these characters in your game actually being concious being is a hell of a lot scarier!

Also as you say, everyone has a different view on things so I´d love if you guys also shared your ideas! They can be totally different compared to mine and still really fun to read!

Self-aware Yandere! Ensemble stars AU

Let me ramble a bit below the cut!

gn reader

tw yandere, self-aware characters, obsession, possession, jealousy

Alright so for ensemble stars, what I have in mind is that we, as the player, have a possession kind of thing going on with Anzu/ the protagonist of the game. As in, Anzu is normally her own person and does all the important producer work that is only mentioned in a few stories while we are gone. Imagine if none of the idols could do any idol work until we are there, the idol industry would go up in flames ajsbdabdk

So yes, she takes on the role of producer in our stead when we are not actively playing the game. Since Anzu does have her own personality and appearance, I think she would naturally realize that she is being possessed by our spirit.

In a bunch of twst self-aware aus, Yuu is usually considered a blank slate that we take control of but I think it´s a bit different with enstars here. Just to be self-indulgent, I propse the idea that Anzu is also self-aware and obsessed with us.

The first time we possess her is naturally at the start of the main story in ensemble stars basic. She´s completely new to Yumenosaki and is easily overwhelmed but then she suddenly feels our presence as we gently lead her through the story and tell her what to do. She feels greatly comforted by the fact that we´re at her side and she doesn´t feel as lost anymore. She considers us possessing her a great blessing and she quickly becomes accustomed to it.

Anzu probably starts to feel empty whenever she feels us leave her body. Everyone is able to see that she´s in a bad mood when she desperately waits for us to come to her again.

Then it´s only natural that the main story is also how the other characters start to grow aware of our presence. They can feel that Anzu is vastly different at times and one after one, they figure out what´s happening. It doesn´t take long for everyone to grow obsessed with you.

You´re the player, a force greater than any of them could ever imagine. You hold their very world and hearts in your hands and have supported all of them for such a long time. They are eternally grateful and yet frustrated that they can´t get as close to you as they may have liked. There´s still this annoying screen seperating you from each other that they can´t seem to get away from no matter how hard they try.

Well, if you can´t be with them right now then they´ll just have to make sure that they´re your favorite in the game <3

Which is where we come to one of my favorite aspects of these self-aware AUs: How the actual gameplay has an impact on the characters. There´s quite a few things to consider for enstars!

First of all, let´s get something very juicy out of the way: Remember how at the beginning of the game you´re able to choose a unit and then you randomly get one of the cards from the selection and you can choose to reroll until you get the card you want? Yeah, that´s prime material for the characters to get jealous.

Naturally, all of them want to be your favorite! And selecting this inital card is the most direct way to determine who is your favorite at the moment. You can bet all of them are nervously holding their breath in anticipation as you make your choice.

And boy oh boy, when you do make your choice. There's going to be a lot of sadness, anger and jealousy from all the other groups that weren't chosen.

The chosen unit is of course overjoyed that you were most interested in them! There were so many to choose from and yet you picked them! That surely had to mean something!

But there was still one last thing to do. Yes, you picked them, but you hadn't gotten your actual "card" yet.

Imagine the pain the character you pull mist feel when they appear on your screen but you go back to reroll because it wasn't the one you wanted 💀

Oh btw, the gacha and the cards? It's the characters dressing up and posing in a way that they think might catch your eye or draw you in and make you pull for them. All the cards have an accompanying story so you pull their card and get it = more time to talk to you. And of course you picking them must have meant that you liked them!

Getting dias isn't all that easy after all and yet you still considered them worthy enough to pull for. You can bet they're actually trying their best to come home to you, they want to after all!

But the stupid, stupid system of the game set the chance to get a 5* as 1%. And it's not even guaranteed that you'll get their cars because everyone else is also trying to get through to you!

Picture it like this: There's a sturdy, almost completely stuck door and they're all just pounding on it, hoping it will open up so they can slip through and get to you.

That's the gacha sjsjs

Conclusion : Not only the player hates the atrocious gacha rate

Another thing : They all see it as the greatest honor if you were to put them on the home screen, that way they can always greet you whenever you open the game and they'll be the first one to see you every day! It also allows for more interaction than during lives or the likes so some might try to sneak in a few lines about how much they appreciate you when they're on the home screen.

You probably won't notice, right? Also if you're the type of person to tap the characters repeatedly then you can be happy to know that they feel that! And they ecstatic about it too! They can't believe they're actually able to feel your touch!

How they react can be very different depending on the character. Some are shy, some bask in the attention and others will *not* stop bragging about it to every person they meet

They love modeling the different outfits you've collected for you so please just don't replace them, nothing feels worse! It's like you've grown tired of them and reject them!

Okay actually, that's a lie.

You know what all of them hate? That you can set two characters on your home screen. That they'll have to share your attention. Some might get along better than others and maybe even be nice to each other, but everyone would be way happier if you just only put them on your home screen!

It's a good thing there's a lot of menuing in the app because that leaves them with a lot of time to bicker, argue, make threats or be one second away from throwing hands while you're distracted. They're all so obsessed with you that they don't want to share with anyone! They barely have any power in the game so at least let them be your favorite!

Speaking of interactions, let's talk a teeny-tiny bit about the idol raising game thingy in ensemble stars basic. Now disclaimer, I've played very few of it and barely understand anything that's going on but you pick some cards to go practice with them and you get points for three different stats during the entire time.

Hard to explain kind of but that's not the thing I want to focus on anyway.

Sometimes, there will be a random little interaction with one of the characters you chose and depending on if you choose the right answer out of three dialogue options, they get a little medal and now get more points for the entire rest of the practice thing.

Are you getting my drift? They get super motivated and excited when you say certain things to them, your praise pushes them to go above and beyond and they just can't stop replaying the scene in their head the entire time

Another thing! The office!! For you it's just a fun little decorating minigame but for the yanderes, it is actual paradise. Have you thought about what you're actually doing for a bit longer?

You're basically building your ideal shared apartment with them! You're decorating everything to your specific liking and invite them to stay in it and love there. Isn't all of this just very domestic??

Well, it's to them! Getting to live together with you is a dream!

It's not so much a dream to share the apartment with others once you unlock the option but they suppose they will somehow handle it as long as you keep making cute outfits for only them <3

I think this was about it now, this kind of just turned into a way too long word salad but I hope you liked it! As I said before, feel free to share your own ideas! I'm also more than willing to try and elaborate more on the concept ^^

【 Please note! 】 ⎯⎯⎯ Please remember to look at each author's do not interact criteria and blog rules before interacting with them! Also, please check each work for specific tags!

if a link to a piece is :

⛧ ⋅  italicized ― it contains explicit content

⛧ ⋅  bold ― it contains dark content

⛧ ⋅  italicized and bold ― it contains both dark and explicit content

✧ @smalltasteofhoney ― biscuit radiates this warm and fluffy kind of energy, and her words flow like honey (hehe...), i love seeing her pop up on my dash sm! whenever i read a piece from her, i always wonder 'how did she know they'd do that?'

personal picks : yandere vil thoughts (a crooked crown really does look so pretty on him) , "you just don't know what's good for you" with vil (ouch, right in the feels...) , which twisted wonderland characters would babytrap their darling? (not pictured: me nodding me head and going "oh yeah, he'd do that") , what to expect in bed with the twisted wonderland boys? (adore all of these and completely agree!) , yandere gojo thought (i bet his darling rejoices while he's gone) , and some lilia brainrot (why is it that whenever he smiles, a chill runs up my spine?)

✧ @sugoscurry ― i love sugo's characterization so much! her lilia makes me absolutely feral and i think i've reread her alizarin series at least a few dozen times... she's got a great sense of humor too, and i have found myself wheezing at her author notes more than a few times (dios mio chicos always gets me)

personal picks : alizarin with lilia (the og lilia fuckers bedtime story) , alizarin crimson (sorry reader, i think you're doomed) , alizarin crimson hue (poor reader... i told you so) , petplay oneshot with crewel (bark bark woof woof) , explicit staff headcanons (best idea, take them all on) , general yandere staff headcanons (did you know that power and control go hand in hand?) , explicit disaomnia headcanons (maleficent sure knows how to pick them) , milf-maker with childe (he'd do anything to get his prize) , “you’ve been so good lately, my pet. don’t make me have to punish you.” with crewel (immediately wagging my non-existent tail at supersonic speed) , “you don’t even know how lucky you are. I protect you and provide for you. don’t act so ungrateful.” with crowley (well eXcuSE me then) , yandere incubus malleus (the only dream demon who i'd wake up for) , and who in nrc has a virginity kink? (corruption tastes so perfect late at night)

✧ @uvobreakmylegs ― if i could bottle up the sun and gift it to pika, i would. unfortunately i cannot, so i must settle with simply singing my praises about their superb writing. the setting of the scene, the interactions between characters, the descriptions of every twinge of emotion, everything is delicately crafted with their skilled hands, and all i can do is stare in awe.

personal picks : set pattern with hisoka (pure trashy clown behavior right here, it's perfect) , right place, right time with illumi (featuring the troupe is such a fun touch, i love the witty banter and mind games between illumi and chrollo!) , last day out with chrollo (goodbye sunlight...it was nice while it lasted) , hypnagogia with illumi (i can just imagine him letting out a breath of relief once he sees darling alive, only for his expression to immediately change to an eerily blank slate) , with greatest care with pakunoda (she's both cloyingly sweet and bitterly dark when it comes to her darling) , and the sixth floor game with shalnark (this honestly feels like it could be a real game and just the thought of playing it gives me the chills)

✧ @wri0thesley ― nat is a lovely person and deserves the whole world (with some free clothes of their choice) ! i come back to their works all the time, and love reading some of their longer works before bed! their writing sucks me in and makes it difficult for me to pull my eyes away from my screen!

personal picks : midnight musings with dottore and pantalone (all the trouble with double the pleasure) , dead & young & fair with diluc (another absolute top-tier vampire diluc work, i love how reader's relationship with diluc evolves through the piece) , dottore torturing diluc's captured wife (he would be this nasty, wouldn't he?) , pierro age gap (i'd happily turn into a sinner for this man nya) , everything that a big bad wolf could want with toji (brb gotta reapply my lip balm and fix my bunny dress) , kaeya with a hand and choking kink (the idea of there being a difference between the feel of his more calloused sword hand and his smoother non-dominant hand is sending me) , kaeya with a clumsy maid darling (don't mind me i'm just twirling my hair and giggling at the idea of going "oops, i sooo didn't mean to drop this plate in front of you" to him while bending over) , pulling on diluc's hair (i bet it would be so soft...) , wedding rings with toji (third wife status never looked so tempting...) , the machinist and the faerie with gojo (grade-a gojo right here! plus the faerie lore! the world-building! the characters!!! everything is put together so well, i really adore this piece) , and favorite (so far) with toji (do you hear that? it's my corruption kink popping off the walls)

✧ @wyvernne ― wyvernne is an absolute beast (in terms of both quantity and quality) when it comes to writing! when i first stumbled upon her vampire diluc work, i read it all in one setting, and it took me over an hour to finish (and i'm a fast reader!) it was totally worth all the tears and missed sleep!

personal picks : [links are to her works on ao3] for reasons wretched and divine with diluc (imho, this is THE vampire diluc work) , sometimes, all i think about is you with childe (he's such a fucking tease, the little shit) , and black hearted angels sunk me with kisses on my mouth with kaeya (he's so cruel and yet so lovely)

✧ @yandere-romanticaa ― ana is a collector of all things yandere, and her blog shows it! i love her red + black color scheme, and her aesthetic is always on point! she's a wonderful person and i have a hard time not falling in love with her lovely personality (especially when paired with her jokes!) sadly she does not have a masterlist, however just scrolling through her archive (with tags filtered) works too!

personal picks : yandere malleus draconia (who knew a pouty lizard could be so cute) , some thoughts on kaeya's flirtatiousness (i also agree that he's pretty damn guarded) , lilia vanrouge's yandere alphabet (gotta love me an ancient fae that can't cook to save a life!) , and yandere diluc headcanons (blushy, stuttering, yandere mess diluc!)

if you would like to be removed from this list, please let me know!

© 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧 — 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝟏𝟏-𝟏𝟑-𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

Narcissus [Chapter 1/?]

Hawks/Keigo Takami x Reader

Content warning: My own take on the Hanahaki Disease. English is not my best language. Foul language. Angst. May not feel like a Reader-insert considering that Reader has a given quirk and other parameters (except for appearances) [I'll be updating the list as I go]

Synopsis: In a world where humans have further evolved into having redundant traits, you are simply trying to survive life while assisting the Winged Hero.

Note: I did not expect comments and got a bit jumpscared lmao 💀 I absolutely have no clue how this story pans out. I'm just here to write a bit of angst and geek out. A part of me does feel bad that the MC has a bit of a character and backstory and not a super blank slate but I also enjoy having a certain dynamic between Hawks and MC. There is a bit of a projection here unfortunately.

0 1...

===============

You bite back a snort when Hawks' eyes widen at the statistics in front of him.

"Oh shit, that's actually quite a lot." He mumbles under his breath as he reads through the financial report.

"Are you...are you sure these are all for me?" He turns to you, baffled at the numbers. 

"Seems like it, they're all your fans." You shrug in amusement.

"Sucks to be popular huh." One of Hawks' veteran sidekicks chimes in.

The last Thursday of the month is often when the revenue comes in. When Hawks' agency is paid for all the hero work Hawks and his sidekicks have pulled through. Next day is when salary is distributed amongst the staff and...

Monday, first Monday of the new month is when a portion of the revenue is put through a charity system that helps people get their surgery to remove any traces of Hanahaki illness that's caused by Hawks' pretty existence.

The system is rather intricate, involving psych doctors that quite literally use their quirks in determining who is the cause of such a flowery mess of a disease to approve such financial aid.

"I told you to not drink your ass off this weekend." You taunt your boss who cradles his head in his palms.

This always happens. Hawks does something big, makes a grand appearance in the public doing cool heroic villain take downs then do a bit of fan service and celebrate the big victory with his office staff and sidekicks on the weekend then get a bit wasted and regret it by Monday morning as his popularity comes biting him back on his ass.

Normally he gets away from financial punches such as these by rapidly taking down villains without a lot of the public spectating him, his sidekicks barraging in the scene for clean up as he moves to the next villain. That also means less people seeing him and getting the idea that wow, this man is GREAT! Let me just fall in love with him real quick!

But as of late, he has been making a lot of appearances as more daring villains show up and take up his time, attracting viewers and all the shebang. Then added by a little bit of misfortune where he gets invited into interviews he could not turn down since...well, they produce revenues and good public image and that money goes to bettering the agency and of course, goes to helping his unfortunate fans that catch feelings like it's the flu in winter seasons.

It is a balance, really, Hawks is a big believer that a hero's presence itself should be able to put citizens at ease but it does come with a price and in this case, a fairly hefty one.

"Pidge?" Hawks calls you out and you can already guess what he's about to ask of you.

"Yes?"

"Two shots of espresso, please."

"Right on it." You turn to his sidekicks who are fighting back their snickers as they look at the PowerPoint presentation of last month's damages caused by your boss' presence.

"You guys want anything while I'm at it?" You ask them, knowing damn well that they are also fighting a hangover from the weekend's shenanigans.

"Water."

"Coffee."

"More alcohol?" Everybody turns their heads to the youngest and newest sidekick.

"Take it from us, kid, more alcohol doesn't actually get rid of hangovers. It just delays the inevitable." Hawks advises, finally lifting his face from his hands.

"I think it's also worth pointing out that you're on the clock...?" You point flabbergasted at the rather ballsy request.

"Okay, wow, geez I guess I'll just have orange juice then. Damn." The newest recruit mumbles sarcastically, his youthful humour finally coming out of his shy shell.

"Good. Now let's discuss about this month's patrol route." Hawks sighs and clicks for the next slide to continue the monthly briefing and you make your way to the cafeteria to grab the heroes' beverages.

Working with Hawks, after proving yourself by sorting out the administrative side of his business and in turn saving his then crumbling sanity, is not actually that bad. He is chill when the day is chill, he keeps his cool even when the day goes wrong and he learned to stop micromanaging everything and learned to trust that his employees will be able to keep up and keep the system up and running. Over the years, he found the perfect momentum along with his team and knows when a mishap is a mishap and when to actually let go of someone because they are ruining the equilibrium.

He always claims that it was all you, that how you helped set up his office and all the admin side of things is what eased his mind. You personally think that he simply matured and let go of his overly-independent personality.

It made an unlikely partnership between the two of you where there is mutual respect but not in a way that you respect Hawks because he is your boss then he treats you with bare minimum kind of respect because you did things for him through beck and call. It was mutual respect where you both actually work in tandem and you get the perks of calling him out when needed and him being able to actually have someone who does not put him up a pedestal and inflate his head, something like a friend even.

"How was patrol?" You ask, munching on your lunch. Hawks and his sidekicks have just come back from their afternoon patrol just in time while you're on your lunch break, his sidekicks heading to the cafeteria to get something to eat.

"It was hot outside." Hawks yawns and stretches his wings. You hum in response when your phone vibrates.

"Who?" He leans curiously when he notices you tapping on your device singlehandedly.

"Some dude I matched with." You respond nonchalantly, typing up a response as to why you were not in a rush in meeting this man you have been chatting with for the past three days.

"Don't you think you're rebounding too quickly?" Hawks asks.

It was an embarrassing ordeal, having gone through a cordial break up with your partner of one year only to call in sick as you sneeze and cough up petals of lilies. The painful realisation that your ex-partner has moved on quicker than you could when they started to discuss about healthily distancing and setting up boundaries in order to salvage some semblance of friendship. Embarrassing and a punch to the ego, you suppose even when they claimed that they occasionally cough up petals that look eerily similar to the first ever flower they have given to you.

"If I drown myself with men, there's nothing deep to feel." You try to make yourself sound poetic which earns you a snort from the winged hero.

"Yeah and you're probably causing these men to throw up flowers because you've been turning down the second dates." He points out.

"They don't know me well enough to cough up anything." You retort, setting your phone down.

Despite the gruesome and useless trait of coughing up flowers whenever you feel some semblance of unrequited love or care (or when the parameters dwindle and become unresolved), it is quite merciful that such illness only manifests when you feel strongly about it. Maybe it is the self-limiting nature of evolution, that no matter how crazy the body can behave it will always loop back to the baseline so that a petty crush does not decimate your lungs. Biology sure does work in mysterious ways but you would like to thank whoever is out there for making the Hanahaki Disease to follow a negative feedback loop rather than a positive one.

You let out a sneeze, covering your nose and mouth when you feel something lodged in your throat. You get up and leave the lounging area in a hurry, Hawks shooting you a concerned look knowing for a fact that you have not yet gotten over your ex.

It happens, people fall in love and when it goes both ways they do not fall sick. Sometimes people start getting sick even when they are in a relationship, a symptom that their union is tilting to its end. Other times when people feel so unhappy about the circumstances of their dynamic with their partner, they cough up petals as if a warning sign that the couple better start sorting themselves out.

Scientists believe that the social nature of humans is what caused such an evolutionary trait, that with a good and stable union leads to good offsprings eventually. This makes sense, really, because better offsprings are produced from compatible parents. You could imagine how much less generational trauma there should be if your parents got along well.

Others believe that someone or something out there is playing matchmaker, theists and those who believe in fate and destiny. But regardless, the truth remains that the illness seems to exist to supposedly benefit the social personality of Homo sapiens. The tribe is stronger in numbers and when there is less conflict, after all.

Though the whole ordeal is a little bit dramatic, you won't lie. It's not like people are stupid enough with their emotions that they need to cough up a whole ass lily just to remind them hey! You got an unsorted out feelings for this person! Get your shit together, dude! But you digress, sighing as you hack out yet another petal of lily---a sore reminder that a cordial break up will always leave lingering and unresolved feelings at first.

New Year - Sanders Sides

It's like 2am and it's appropriate. Prinxiety nation, human roommate au. You know the drill.

Having a community of young people who look to you and your work for comfort and feeling unable to provide when you didn't expect the pressure in the first place sounds heavy to shoulder alone. It makes sense that the last few years have been unstructured with the context. Because I know there's a chance Sanders himself is seeing this: you did something great.

Happy New Year, fuckbags

It's a tame environment. There are only six of them and everyone would rather be in bed, but the year has been so taxing that it feels right to sign it off with a huge middle finger and then go to bed. All there is to do is wait.

Barely a minute left until New York lights up on the TV and Logan has finished his second glass of wine in the last five. Patton is hunched with his obnoxiously long fingers against his temple, resisting the temptation of accepting yet another offer for a glass and opting to nurse the sleep-deprived headache in stead. Roman has put himself on the couch, fiddling with a pen and its lid from the coffee table. Virgil is on the arm of the couch, crouched like an obnoxious prick in an attempt to express his edge, which only really serves to make him look like a dork and unintentionally lightens the mood a smidge.

"Where are the chuckle twins?" Logan poses, observing the swirl in his drink as it settles from being poured.

"Janus said 'surprise' when he went into his room," Patton answers.

"Remus went with him," Virgil grumbles.

The silence reignites as a door opens from down the hall. Remus walks out with a tray of six shot glasses, brimming with syrupy liqueur. Janus walks a metre behind him, head held high.

"We'll all sleep better after this," he insists proudly as Remus parades the tray around, face blank and ashy as slate. He doesn't take sleep deprevation particularly well, but he handles it better than Roman copes with Janus sitting beside him. Where Virgil has turned and planted his feet on the couch seat, Roman parks himself, arms curling around his waist as the countdown starts. The crowd on the street chants and the six watch, breath held.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" It screeches, fireworks filling the screen with a blinding light, flooding the living room with a rectangular explosion of warm white. The group heaves a collective sigh.

Before the festivities can draw themselves out too long, Virgil leans down and over Roman, placing his fingers flat and sideways beneath his chin. In compliance with a rhythm long established, Roman closes his eyes and allows Virgil control. Their lips part, connect, and close around the other's in a chaste display of commitment and affection. Roman seasons the display by running his hand up Virgil's outer thigh.

"Oh! Well, if we're getting crazy," Patton posits with a muted smile, skirting the breakfast bar he'd been slumped on and bending over the couch. Janus looks up and to the side to recieve and return what he had rightly expected to be a sweet, tired peck. It brings a modest and satisfied smile out of the shadow that was his bored expression.

"This does not constitute crazy," Logan commented, unbeknownst to the presence lurking behind him. It makes first contact with his waist, cold fingers slid beneath his sleep shirt. He sucks in a shocked breath as the ice burns his skin. "You do."

"Love you, too."

Janus sits up and addresses the three behind them with a raise of his glass. "Are we ready?"

"Affirmative."

"Yeah."

"Okay..."

"Indeed!"

"I don't have to, do I?"

"No, dear, but it's not ordinary spirit. I think you'll like it." Patton grimaces at his glass and observes the others. A beat passes, Janus gestures to the room with his drink and everyone follows his lead in taking the shot.

"It's almost unbearably sweet."

"I did not expect that coming from you, Logan," Roman comments as he inspects his cup. "Do you not like toffee?"

"I didn't say that."

"No need for the defenses, Doc, I only asked."

"He just wants us to know to save him some whenever it's goin' 'round," Virgil swoops in, smile on his face, voice raspy. Roman takes his glass and hands it to Patton.

"I wonder why you chose something so sweet," Roman implicates. Janus turns around and looks up at Patton, who is smiling with such soulful conviction that it hurts.

"I loved it."

'Score,' Janus thinks as he settles into the couch and joins the others in watching the screen.

tinfoil hat time: the devs wanteD Sophia to be a pseudo-love interest to P but GASP, not only she is technically older than P (and even Carlo by default, she looked like a young teen when Carlo was a child) she also looks older (in the last render at least). cant have a female love interest looking, acting and behaving older than the mc, noo sire.

Uhhhhhhhhh I don't know about that one chief. First off, Romeo is definitely firmly first in the running for P's potential love interest when you take a look at their history as characters. Secondly, Sophia and P don't really have any sort of chemistry to speak of. Thirdly, and most importantly, Sophia's motivation to find P was almost entirely selfish. I don't doubt that she cared about him and wanted him to succeed for other reasons too, but she also really, really wanted to be freed from the Arche Abbey (and life itself).

That does, however, allow me to segue into another gripe about the storytelling of Lies of P. Sorry for hijacking your ask for this purpose, but its happening.

Why the hell was the MC a silent protagonist?

Actually, I know that answer. It's because Dark Souls did it, and this game wears its influences on its sleeve.

But why does it work better in Dark Souls and worse in Lies of P? Simple. In Dark Souls, the MC isn't really a character.

You see, in any Souls game, there are a couple things you can take as read from the beginning. First, the world is going to be transitioning from an age of light into an age of darkness. Second, the great heroes of the world are going to be corrupted or insane. Third, the protagonist is a mere pea sized insect trawling through the ruins of a once great civilization. These are the constants.

These constants lend themselves to a silent protagonist because the protagonist is merely a vessel for the player. They have no history. No motivations. No relationships or connections. They're merely a vehicle by which the player experiences the bygone grandeur of the world around them. In Dark Souls, you aren't a great hero or anyone of consequence, you're just the one that gets to come by and put them down after they've gone mad. Sure, your choices may affect the fate of the world, but who you are is ultimately of no consequence because you are overshadowed by what has come before you and what you represent. You're not a person in dark souls.

But in a story in which the main character is an established character with relationships and feelings, that all begins to break down. You cannot be the blank-slate player stand in and a fleshed out character at the same time. Lies of P's MC (I don't call him Pinnochio because I don't think that name is ever uttered in game) is a person with history to him. Granted, he doesn't remember most of it, and its arguable that he's a different entity from Carlo entirely, but he's still an established character with his own struggles, relationships, and so forth.

I've been rambling for a bit now, but the gist of what I'm trying to say here is that having the MC be a silent protagonist just doesn't really work when you're trying for a more character focused story. The MC isn't The Nameless Undead or some gothically titled hero of myth, he's Geppetto's puppet. His actions only have real consequence to about a dozen people (I stand by this estimation because the vast majority of Krat is dead). Having other characters talk to him and form relationships with him comes across as odd when he never talks back or voices his own thoughts or opinions on the subject. It's like they're trying to make friends with a wall, but they seem convinced that that wall has its own thoughts and opinions even though that's never actually demonstrated.

Circling back to the original Ask, I don't think that Sophia is a love interest for the MC for the same reason that I think that none of the characters were intended as love interests for the MC. Love is a two way street, and you can't have a good love story if one of the lovers doesn't talk to the other. Giving the MC a voice and his own concrete personality and character separate from the whims of the player could've made room for a love story and greater character exploration, but that's not the route they chose to take, and I'm personally of the opinion that that was the wrong move.

This may sound a bit cheesy, but, with my abundant amount of r99 ocs, do you think that arcanist-Lamont would interact with them and what would that be like? Like a little oc crossover perhaps?

(I'm just rlly interested in her personality, I feel the sudden urge to get my own little weirdos involved)

I WOULD LOVE THAT…. OC INTERACTIONS ARE ONE OF MY LOVE LANGUAGES…………

I am going to focus on Pristine. I am also interested in Lady Clef and Verdigris interactions but I would like your input for them since they’re more complex (what if we rp them or discuss their interactions hiii bats my eyes at you). Do let me know if I get OOC and feel free to correct me since you’re the creator of Pristine after all! Also here’s Lamont’s doc for a bigger glimpse on their personality since I finished their voicelines.

Let’s go:

Lamont is incredibly perceptive (and obsessive) in treating things deemed ‘unorderly’ as much as they love setting things out of order. They would notice her cracks first thing they laid their eyes on her. They love mending things they didn’t break as much as they love mending the things they broke themselves. So…

Assuming her cracks couldn’t be healed by Lamont’s prayer healing alone, they would be more than happy to treat her with a more hands-on approach. Of course, only if Pristine allows it. Flesh wounds are the main things they typically have to work with when it comes to treating others’ bodies, so Pristine’s cracks are incredibly interesting for them.

But… If she tries to hide her cracks from everyone else, why wouldn’t she hide it from this creepy practitioner? If anything, she will probably try to avoid them. Especially since Lamont is quite infamous in the for breaking stuff on purpose. Yes, they patch those things up later, almost perfectly. But the things they fixed still had to undergo the displeasure of being broken. So yeah. It’s 100% understandable if anyone tries to distance themselves from this little girlfreakthing.

HOWEVER if she does allow them to treat her and they become friends, then they would actually treat her with care. They know they shouldn’t treat others’ bodies the same way they treat inanimate objects. They recognize that her cracks wouldn’t be an easy fix since she’s not just any ceramic vase. They’ll try various ways; From medications usually used to treat flesh — to a more craftsmanlike approach by using glue or spot epoxy. They’ll do whatever it takes until she’s completely spotless. And if the cracks do occur again, they’d gladly keep doing it over, and over, and over again.

They can be quite a talkative person so they may be a yapper to her unprompted throughout the process. A gentle, meticulous, and curious yapper. They would tell her so many things about their time in boarding school, about their patrons, or some random fun fact. And they would also be genuinely be interested in her own origins.

Lamont is quite the jack of all trades — Great with ceramic arts, tailoring, medicine, and countless other skills they picked up due to their obsession with fixing (and breaking) things. They’d go out of their way to help her discover a hobby if she haven’t found any, teaching her stuff and seeing what sticks. They could be a bad influence if they ever teach her any destructive skills, though.

More things I headcanon if they become buddies:

Lamont teaches Pristine how to summon and make connections with various cosmic entities. For fun. It’s basically a way to get more arcane skills with little need of, you know, actually practicing said arcane skill. Lamont would note that Pristine has a lot of potential due to her almost ‘blank slate’ condition. But an entity would struggle to ‘borrow’ a part of her body since she’s likely not of the same material as the entity (flesh). She won’t end up monstrous like Lamont did.

The fixer becomes the fixed. Lamont got hurt somehow and their healing prayer couldn’t help them this time (they may have angered their patron). It’s Pristine’s turn to help Lamont out. She may try the tricks they used on her before, except for the glue one because of course that wouldn’t work on Lamont’s flesh. Lamont wouldn’t guide her and quit yapping for once since they’re really interested in seeing what she’ll do for them. It’s a rare chance for them to experience some mending on themselves by others, or a chance to see how bad Pristine fucks up and tease her about it.

Lamont picks up some of Pristine’s old english talking mannerisms, meanwhile Pristine picks up some of Lamont’s Indonesian greetings (since that is the only Indonesian words Lamont remembers, outside of the curse words).

Toxic yuri (probably in a platonic/familial way since idk if Pristine is an adult or ace or not) situationship where purposefully orchestrate dangerous situations that’ll ensure Pristine cracking just to spend more time with her. OR Pristine herself gets cracks on purpose, knowing that Lamont would not turn down a chance to tinker with her, even if Lamont knows that she did it to herself. Actually, Lamont may actually be happy about that (😭 WHY ARE THEY SO WEIRD).

OK THATS ALL SORRY FOR THE LONG POST I AM A LITTLE UNNORMAL!!!! FEEL FREE TO BE UNNORMAL WITH ME!!!

alright does anyone else ever think about the fact that the "Navarro" comes from Luis's maternal grandfather, who actually fucking raised him when his father (Serra) obviously isn't someone he cares about at all, and yet he introduces himself as Luis Serra? like why not Luis Navarro??

I like to make this man suffer so naturally my headcanon to explain it is angsty; The anger stage of grief had hit Luis the hardest. now he was alone in the world, and he blamed his grandfather for making a mistake and getting sick.

Eventually he gets out of that angry stage of grief and wants to be Luis Navarro, but everyone in his new life knew him as Luis Serra, to the extent that he would have felt weird just suddenly being Luis Navarro again. (I know he did use both names and was technically Luis Serra Navarro for university documents, but since "Navarro" shows up in it once and then it's just "Serra" from then on, so to me it seems like a thing where he'd acknowledge himself being Luis Serra Navarro in super formal/official contexts, but in any other context it was just Luis Serra.)

Going back to Valdelobos initially would have been a great opportunity to reclaim Navarro, no awkwardness of an overnight name change. There was yet another opportunity when he introduced himself to Leon. But he doesn't take any of these opportunities. After the horrible shit he's done he decides to stay Serra, not wanting to disgrace his grandfather's name. Plus the fact he abandoned the name in the first place makes him feel guilty, like he doesn't deserve a second chance after rejecting it without any valid reason to.

bonus layer: Luis idolized his father. as in, idolized his imaginary version of his father he made up. I headcanon that he does take after his father in one way- his father was never in his life because he hated life in the village and decided to run off to a big city before Luis was born. (I flip-flop a bit but tend to imagine him as a deadbeat who knew Luis's mom was pregnant when he left and just didn't care) so all Luis knows about his father is that he left the village, so he turns into this blank slate Luis can project whatever fantasies he wants on to. Like if his grandfather told him he couldn't do something, he'd imagine his dad being the cool parent who would say yes. Whatever Luis is interested in in the current moment, he can imagine his father shares the interest.

Another thing I go back and forth on is whether Luis knows his father left knowingly. I can see his grandfather lying to him and saying his father didn't know, to spare him the pain of rejection. But I can also see his grandfather just being honest, to prevent exactly what ends up happening: Luis building up a mental image of his father that reality would never hold a candle to. But that wouldn't work; Luis is a really creative kid who loves heroes, and his imagination has no trouble spinning stories about how his father is a hero who fights bad guys, and wants to have Luis in his life, but it would put him in danger.

So when his grandfather gets bit hunting, and then sick from it, he imagines his father would be a perfect hunter who would never make a fatal mistake like that. Making "Luis Serra" an even more appealing option in the midst of his grief.

I'm brainrotting a little bit about a genshin x twst crossover x reader fic. Y'know those ones where the reader has the same personality and appearance of a genshin character and might as well be them? Yeah smth like that...

I've seen some Raiden ones(they're kinda...they look like they're written by 12yo's tho, as much as the premise itself is interesting the person who writes it never seems to grasp the personalities or know what to do after chapter 1 and 2) and it srsly made me think.

What if there was a fic where reader is Nahida? More specifically Greater Lord Rukkahdevata.

Reader would look like this^

However things would be kinda different. Kusanali would be the "greater lord" while reader would be the lesser.

I wanted to invert things cause i wanted the reader to have a personality. I know reader fics more often than not are only supposed to be self indulgent and the reader is a blank slate but that never rlly sat well with me. So in a way as the story goes Rukkha!Reader would have the same traumas and motivations as Nahida.

Same inferiority complex, same fear of loneliness, always comparing herself to others etc.

But still would be very kind and motherly.

Lmao i can already imagine reader slowly but surely becoming the god mother of Night Raven.

Rukkha!Reader would also be very anxious due to being isekai'd into twisted wonderland. She's worried about her people and wants to go back. Never in her life would she thought the first time she ever experienced life outside the "cage" would be in another universe entirely.

She retains her archon powers though! Everything we know Nahida can do, reader can as well :))

(such as mind reading, flying, control over plants, basically dendro in general + her skill and ult)

Plus! Rukkha!Reader can be considered overpowered so if i were ever to write it(which i won't, I'm not rlly good enough to do so) i would keep her as some kind of "observer" since she loves watching humans in order to understand emotions better. I think she would only help during overblots and even then what she can do would be limited, canonically Nahida isn't very good at fighting.

I think people would probably mistake Rukkha!Reader by a fae(long ears and great magical power) and she just doesn't bother to correct anyone cause it's easier to obtain information that way. Malleus and Lillia know she isn't one tho, they can prolly feel it.

I also like the idea of highlighting the importance of platonic relationships, not only romantic ones!!

A thing that happens a lot in x readers fics when the reader is conventionally pretty is how every character falls for them. I never really liked that, it's not realistic and EVEN if reader would be to have a harem i think there's a need to show the person who's reading the fic WHY so many characters love them in the first place.

Slow burn and etc, y'know?

Yeah so that was my brainrot! Thanks to anyone who read it. Feel free to take this idea away from me btw, i absolutely cannot write it, it's way beyond my capabilities and i have ADHD so i can't update things regularly lmaoooo.

So if there's anyone who does consider taking the idea please @ me so i can read your work!! I would love to :)))

neither an ei hater nor apologist. but the thing about the “perhaps i feel like it’s because i owe him something, but i do not wish to assert control over him” quote is that i feel like people have a hard time applying it to the timeline. she felt this way towards him After he had committed atrocities, not Before. she felt this way towards the self-named kunikuzushi… not the blank slate — the newborn — that she built from pieces of herself. ei was the one who ordered to have him sealed into shakkei pavilion. he awoke by mistake and he was “set free” by katsuragi.

it's kind of weird to me when people say scara’s abandonment was a “misunderstanding” — because it wasn’t. her intention was never to free him from the responsibility of being the raiden. his existence was a mistake — maybe he was born from a fleeting attempt to raise makoto from the dead, ei unknowingly molding a ruler like her sister… or maybe he was just a prototype, a throwaway, a practice doll to see what works and what doesn’t before she crafted the final draft.

i don’t think she saw him as a person to begin with. upon creation, he was neither a useful tool, nor something ei believed could even possess a soul. maybe she rebuked him because he reminded her too much of the sister she lost. maybe it’s all those things at once. but her choice to discard him was not a misunderstanding. she discarded him. no ifs, buts, etc. she put him to sleep and locked him away to collect dust. arguably, it's almost more cruel than miko's suggestion to disassemble him.

i need to remind you that scara admits he was conscious for the entirety of his slumber, and he was pondering the reason of his existence every minute, hour, day, and year of his time in shakkei pavilion. to destroy his consciousness or to have him in a purgatory-like state of existence... i genuinely believe miko was attempting to be merciful.

when she says “perhaps i feel like it’s because i owe him something, but i do not wish to assert control over him,” ei is almost apologizing. not outright, but she realizes and voices her mistake. she doesn’t ever want to intervene in his fate ever again. even if, at this point in the story, he's hurting others and even if she has the capability to stop him. she won’t ever lift a finger against him ever again. ei knows she obviously did not know what was best for him before, and she's not going to believe she does now.

its like really human to me. idk. i love ei and i love scara. i think it mirrors real mother-child relationships very well. neglectful mothers. mothers with high expectations. etc.

i find it interesting that he became her son after he had become the worst version of himself. it feels motherly to me, at least. and i hate that he won’t ever know. he was throwing a tantrum for her attention and he got it. but she didn’t get mad, she didn’t strike him down. instead, her response was to let him and to acknowledge that she was the root of this evil that had festered. she led him there, and it would be in bad taste for her to be the one to stop him. to punish him for her mistake.

she discarded him at his “best,” while he was new and pure… later, she acknowledged him at his WORST. she allowed him to exist with his sins despite trying to smother him when he had none. i think that’s a little beautiful. it shows the kind of person ei has grown into — a little bit of makoto blooming inside her.

ahhh and she won’t even remember any of this. wooow irminsul plotline is sooo great.

Evening, Dapper. I'm a big fan of your work; I'm actually using a few of your NPCs in a campaign I'm running! As you've made a few 're-imagined' entries for demon lords already- how would you play Zuggtmoy in a way that's not just 'evil, but also brain-destroying and fungal'? What would she need to be like to motivate people to actually sign a pact with or worship her?

Monsters Reimagined: Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Rot and Regret

D&D has a problem with one note villains, blank slates that dungeonmaters are SUPPOSED to fill with their own ideas but end up coming off as pathetically shallow after their Captain Planet level concepts become increasingly rigid over successive generations. Occasionaly a great writer comes along and fills these concepts with interesting context, but they're few in far between.

Zuggtmoy is a great example of this, existing as what I like to call a "Fill in the blank baddie", as they adhere to a very simple formula that looks a little like this: X is an evil ____ who cares about ____, they want the whole world to be nothing but ____, they use ____ as minions and have a personality and ethos that one could describe as ____ like. For Zuggtmoy you could fill that blank in with "fungus" and you'd get her ENTIRE concept, indistinguishable from Jubilex the slime demon, Nerull the death god, and just about 90% of a high level party's rogue's gallery.

Below the cut I'm going to go into a complete lore revision for the dame of decay along with a bunch of adventure hooks, but for the TLDR: Default Zuggtmoy is weird because d&d assumes that fungus and decay are evil because they are gross, an odd stance to take because not only is rot a vitally necessary part of life, but fungus has brought us wonderful things like penicillin and mushroom risotto. My version of the demon queen is one that revolves around the idea of things “spoiling” when held on past their time, be they feelings, memories, relationships, or empires. Zuggtmoy herself is the mouldered and hollowed out remnants of a once queenly dryad, who’s influence appears in others unable to let go as a creeping blight that spreads through their mind, bodies, and surroundings.

When it comes to concepts Zuggtmoy is as about as “fill in the blank” as it gets, with her single notable character design concept and personality both being “She’s a lady made out of fungus”. This would be fine I suppose but she’s also specifically a demon lord, and that doesn’t tack at all for a whole bunch of reasons:

Do mushrooms have souls? Can they commit sin? Most of the creatures Zuggtmoy is described as being worshipped by don’t have traditional consciousness, if they have an intelligence score at all. Yeah, it sucks to be covered in slime and/or rotted from the inside out but those creatures aren't EVIL, so why is she a demon other than the fact that gross/ugly = evil in d&d world? She’d be perfectly fine if she was just the goddess of fungus, but she needs a reason to be considered one of the Pit’s big bads.

One could theoretically talk about how the grossness of Zuggtmoy is meant as a torment to those people who fear filth/corruption who might be damned to her realm, but d&d cosmology increasingly does not work like that. If Zuggtmoy is queen of a layer of hell, there needs to be a specificly demonic reason that her domain is one of rot and fungus.

Why is Zuggtmoy a lady? A giant mushroom or that happened to use feminine pronouns would have served but she is very specifically described as a humanoid made out of fungus, frequently depicted with signifies of being an attractive and elegant. The answer is obviousuly that sex sells, even when you’re trying to sell a list of demon gods, so while the male coded demons get to be grotesque blobs of muscle and bestial features the female ones need to be coded as traditionally attractive even if they have a few monsterbits stapled on. When redesigning her I could have gone with a purely fungal angle, but I wanted to play with the “lady made out of fungus” iconography

Taking all this into account, here’s my pitch for Zuggtomy:  There was once an archfey, a queen among dryads who found herself undone by heartbreak. None can say what tragedy or manipulation of the great courts laid her low, only that she knew a sorrow so profound that she simply could not be anymore, leaving her body as nothing more than a grief-hollowed statue of wood. Left exposed to the elements, the echo of that grief took root, and eventually bloomed into a being that knew only regret, only loss, only Zuggtmoy.

If sorrow is left to fester it can sour any happy memory, and thus is the case for the Dame of Decay, unable and unwilling to let go of the things that gave her joy and now cause her pain, even if her continued grief eats away at them until there is nothing left. So little is known about the story of the original dryad queen because Zuggtmoy’s influence ate away at anyone and anything involved in the events, leaving behind nothing but a spore choked barrens and hollowed out husks who mine out the events again and again without detail or reason.

When rot and regret had exhausted the dryad’s story it began to spread out across the multiverse looking for new places to take root, more tales of woe, more souls stagnant in their nostalga or sorrow where the queen’s essence might bloom anew.

Within a grand estate the revels of an indolent count are said to never end, as psychedelic indulgence rages every day and night while the lands around them decay. Folk say that the count had tried for years to drown the sorrows of his long dead brother, but he now appears to have succeeded with wild abandon. Rumors spread of the count’s riders gallivanting about the countryside decked in worn parade motley, snatching up performers and carrying them back to the estate. The party comes face to face with one of these agents looking to pressgang their local minstrel into service, only to lay the rider out flat in a brawl and have his body burst open with fungal rot for all to see.

The kingdom’s wilds contain the remnants of an ancient realm, once goverend by a queen who suffered a rotting sickness that the peasants still tell folk tales of to this day. Many of the fey of these reaches are sick, and seem intent on inflicting stories of this queen on any who pass by. Only after multiple ruins with these bestricken faeries do the party realize the truth: the story is the sickness and the sickness is the queen and all three are a curse that now spreads through the land with them as a vector.

After an encounter with a particularly fungal villain does the party realize that they’ve only defeated one bud of a deeply rooted threat, with multiple copies of their foe having sprouted off from some deeply rooted evil. More than simply bashing in mushroom caps, the party must exorcise the essence of Zuggtmoy’s influence, an act that will require them to call up the spirit infected by the demon queen and work through its particular issues to resolve its grief and deny the dame of decay her seedbed.

Art

I got the vibe after reading the Destroyer of Worlds crossover story, that Tom didn’t really mind taking on the Ginny identity or at least was more content with it then being Tom Riddle. Does he just like the blank slate it provides? Or does he just despise his old life that much? Or something else?

Minato Namikaze and the Destroyer of Worlds

I assume we're talking about the Diary within the context of this fic and not necessarily as a general meta.

What Happened with Tom?

A lot of this is explained in the fic already by Tom himself though he's not very objective about it I suppose.

Tom was placed into the Diary at first not realizing that he'd be placing anything at all in there (that the soul fragment would in fact be conscious and would feel the passage of time) then convinces himself that his was a worthy sacrifice he's willing to accept.

Tom Riddle is immortal, can do great things, and the Tom in the diary is just what they have to pay to make that happen. Tom tells himself he's okay with that because the Tom Riddle on the outside has to be awesome.

Well, fifty years later, he discovers fifty years have passed and Tom Riddle did indeed become a dark lord but failed to take over the country, was defeated by a toddler, and after the fact was abandoned by all of his underlings who completely disavowed him.

Tom was stuck in the diary for nothing, for a pathetic loser who wasted all his opportunities, WHEN TOM CERTAINLY COULD HAVE DONE BETTER IN HIS PLACE.

In the fic this is made even worse by the fact that Ellie Potter (the girl-who-lived) is missing in action. No one knows where she is, this miracle baby who blew up Voldemort, and Dumbledore fucking lost her.

Tom possesses Ginny, and dismayed to find that nobody gives a fuck, her brothers don't even notice. Ginny just... dies, alone, in a dank basement, and no one cares.

Basically the Diary hits peak depression: nothing matters, there's no point to anything, and we all just die in a gutter someday.

"Ugh," Tom said.

And he tells himself that he's just going to stay Ginny to see if anyone notices (no one does and he's not even trying), to give himself time to work from the ground up as he needs to recruit everyone again, and to tell himself that he'll be Voldemort but even better and do it all himself.

"Fuck you, Tom," Tom says to himself.

Really though he's just so disappointed and depressed that inertia just pulls him along. He has no motivation to do anything, to be anything, and can only just sit and watch the aftermath of Voldemort and hate everything and himself.

(This is why when Lee does show up, he finds himself suddenly invigorated because "DESTINY!" and "RIVAL WHO HATES DUMBLEDORE AND THE WIZARDING WORLD TOO!")

Hi, it's the rat girl. Wasn't letting me ask from that blog so I had to use Anon. Basically for ADHD I've found that working with the stray thoughts and lack of focus rather than working against it can prove really useful. For me if I have a 'tist/file/scene where I'm suggested to feel blank, empty, or where a lack of thoughts is focused on, it won't work as well for me. Instead, 'tists that encourage those thoughts and lack of focus can be really helpful. IDK if you're working more from files or with an actual 'tist, but when I drop people who have ADHD I tend to use phrases like "you don't need to concern yourself with any thoughts that might drift through that pretty head of yours. Your mind can drift from thought to thought, but here beneath that all I need you to do is listen to the sound of my voice." A lack of focus doesn't actually really cause problems when it comes to getting dropped I've found, since your ears and brain are still processing whatever the tist/file is saying. What does tend to cause problems, at least for me, is *thinking* that my stray thoughts are causing me to not drop enough. It usually goes something like "I'm enjoying this drop, this is nice!" > "Hmm, I'm kinda hungry, I wonder what I'll eat after this." > "Oh god I'm thinking too much and not listening" > "Fuck I'm fucking this up, aren't I? My brain won't shut off" Etc. and then that anxiety keeps me from being able to enjoy the calm droppy feelings that I was experiencing at the start. However if the tist preempts that and states that it's *okay* for my brain to wander and that my subconscious can still listen and obey, I end up having a great scene and session! Realistically because of how my brain works I'm never gonna hit that completely blank slate state that some people talk about, but I can get the same effects if I'm really deep and my brain is slowly going from one thought to the next, especially if the tist or file has already stated that this is normal and natural and shouldn't impact the quality of the drop. It is completely 100% possible for someone with even extreme levels of ADHD to drop and have really good hypnotic sessions, it just requires a little extra specific work on the part of the tist, or files that work well with ADHD. I don't want this to get too long, but I could genuinely talk about this for hours. Basically it comes down to: 1: Believing that you can drop regardless of your lack of focus or other ADHD related symptoms. Believing you *can* drop and being willing are half the battle. 2: Having a tist who will work with you and preempt anxieties you might face. 3: don't fight against your ADHD, work with it. Your brain is more active and hyperactive, so trying to shut down those thoughts is fighting against the tide. Instead try to focus more on working alongside those thoughts, or more effectively, beneath them. 4: Trying and re-trying to figure out how things work with your brain. It took me a while to learn how to drop properly, and what worked for me might not work for you. Hypnotism is deeply intimate and personal to each individual and that's what makes it so fun and special! 5: Have fun with it. Even if you don't get as deep or blank as you'd like, learning to appreciate and lean into the good feelings you *do* get will help you get to that deep state of acceptance, in a roundabout way. Idk if any of this was helpful or sensical, but I really hope you're able to get where you want to be and enjoy trance! It's such a special thing, and everyone deserves to feel safe and blank and happy. You got this!

thank you!!! The stray thought anxiety chain is EXACTLY what i experience and it's one of the main things that makes it hard for me to trance. I really crave the blankness/emptiness feeling but haven't gotten that close to it and i find that i pull myself out really easily.

I will definitely keep these in mind next time I try hypnosis with my partners, we all have ADHD and I've been under for them before once. I'll probably show this to them if that's ok :3

anyways, this is really reassuring and i can't wait to get back into hypno more, as I'm gonna have more free time soon