#like the debt is too much for one human person to repay | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

abysswalkersknight · 4 months

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This one is probably my oldest twst WIP. Pretty much I wanted to try my hand at a darker Silver while still keeping to his normal personality, that and my sibling wanted me to try something with Octavinelle and this clip. And just a warning... this was not edited.

Enjoy!

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‘Place all of your valuables in here, please.’

‘Wh-what?!’

Posed elegantly behind his polished desk, Azul rubs the space between his eyes with an irritable sigh, praying to the sea witch for even an ounce of patience. What was he thinking, having the silver haired Diasomnian do this to repay his debt, I should have just had him work in the lounge like everyone else.

Alas the fault lies with him, after advising the second year during halloween Azul was ecstatic at having a student from the infamous Diasomnia indebted to him, oh all the tantalising trade negotiations and contracts he could have wormed its inhabitants into! And having thought that a guard of the Malleus Draconia would naturally prove to be a formidable bouncer, perhaps someone who could even match with Floyd when Jade isn’t around, but instead all Azul got was this overly nice, air-headed fool who hadn’t the slightest sense of intimidation at all! Perhaps I struck too low with this one, I may need to raise the stakes to get into a contract with The Draconia prince.

Incidentally, Silver waited patiently and held out the bag that Jade had so graciously given him towards the confounded fool who thought he could run from his debts.

Usually it would be Azul who’d personally settle the score with his clients, but in his greediness he foolishly gave the task to Silver to test out the human’s capabilities, which were currently lacking at best. At least he still had Jade around to keep a close eye on things while Azul was forced to watch miserably from the side.

The Diasomnian’s warm auroral gaze peered earnestly into the anxious student’s eyes ‘Since you have failed to repay what you owed in money it is only right that you must pay with something of equal value’ Silver says matter of factly, shaking the bag for emphasis ‘though preferably with whatever valuables you already have on your person or whatever goes in Octavinelle.’ The student stares at him with a tense uncertainty, unsure of what to make of this new “employee” of Azul’s, normally the silver haired beauty was found at Malleus Draconia’s side or walking the hallways with Diasomnia’s vice housewarden, he was certainly less… intimidating than the Leech twins. Speaking of, a little aways from them, Floyd listlessly peels himself from the luminescent aquarium wall which appeared to be slowly crowding with schools of brightly coloured fish and mosied over to drape himself dramatically backwards on the sofa, right next to an unfazed Silver’s head, and lightly flicked the human on the side of his head with a huge voracious grin plastered on his face ‘Ha ha, silly Jellyfish, you're doing it all wrong you have ta’ scare ‘em more’ he cheerfully trills. Then, still upside down, he stares directly at the fidgety student with those piercing mismatched eyes ‘isn’t that right, little fishie?’ the Leech asked, the dull blue light from the aquarium illuminated those razor sharp teeth which grinned at them. When the student suddenly stutters and stammers and doesn’t answer, that shark-like grin fell into something far more vicious, similar to Silver’s wolf friends as they stalk their prey. ‘I asked you a question, fishie’ Floyd growled, fingers twitching.

The student yelped fearfully and nodded so fast Silver worried that they might have hurt their neck. And like a switch being flipped, Floyd instantly returned to his usual lazy grin ‘see? Just like that, now you try Jellyfish,’ he tells Silver with a surprisingly soft slap to his arm. ‘Hmm, well I suppose I could try as my father has said to use similar methods in negotiations’ Silver murmured aimlessly, though hesitation was written all over his features, did he say they were for negotiations or interrogations? Malleus says there's hardly a difference but…

Next to the table Jade gracefully stood from Silver’s right, smiling to himself as he chuckled gleefully ‘why yes Silver, your father certainly sounds like a wise man and if I may contribute. If you see there are no forms of immediate payment, be sure to negotiate other options that may be paid forthwith, in these circumstances it doesn’t matter how arduous your terms may be,’ the elder twin advised, sparing the quivering student an amused glance ‘as per the contract says of course, we are on a timeframe after all.’

Still at his desk, Azul resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands and groan in misery like some uncouth moron. This was utterly ridiculous, how could he have ever thought that entertaining a proposal from those damn eels was a good idea! Those sadistic slimy pool noodles relish in seeing him suffer!

Of all the things Azul could have forgotten it just had to be the twins' odd infatuation with the silver haired human, it was near insulting how the twins were as reeled in by the second year’s knightley charms as the wildlife were (namely those pesky aquarium fish), Silver practically had them wrapped around his pretty little finger!

To be honest that wasn’t the most comforting thought as Azul remembers how Jade and Floyd sometimes stumble upon their fellow second year whenever they ‘find’ him dozing around campus and think it would be a brilliant idea to snatch him up and drag him back to the Mostro Lounge whenever they pleased (really Azul never had the energy to ask why they preferred to shove the sleeping diasomnian into a giant potato sack and over their shoulders). It always drove the housewarden into near cardiac arrest whenever he’d hear the twins snarling at each other the moment they barge through the Lounge’s mirror, bearing needle like teeth at each other as they all but brawled for the bag, ignorant of their delicate cargo inside which pierced adrenaline through the suave Housewarden’s chest every time a tuft of silver hair so much as peeked out of the bag’s edge, it was just as if the three of them were still living beneath the coral sea and either twin didn’t want to share a certain snack or toy. While the two grappled, it was up to Azul to make sure that not a scratch was left on the human who slumbered peacefully throughout the whole ordeal, not out of any misguided affection mind you, but because that wretched Diasomnia has made it abundantly clear of what their housewardens will do should anything happen to this particular student of theirs, the dealer felt a shiver fall down his spine as he recalled back in his first year the last incident where some foolish Octavinelle students thought to rope Silver into a particularly nasty deal. He could still smell the acrid scent of burnt clothing and hair from that day.

Suddenly, Azul was pulled from his musings as the very air around them felt as if it fell by several degrees. Turning back to the group he raised an eyebrow as the silver guard now read from a small stack of papers Jade must have just given him, judging from the faint signature and beautifully yellowed paper, Azul recognised it as being the client’s contract. Silver leaned back on the sofa, one leg languidly crossed over the other while his head rested against his free hand. The human’s expression remained eerily impassive as he skimmed the contracts elegant handwriting, not a single muscle shifted other than a raised eyebrow ‘hmm, how terrible to have run into such misfortune, well then, first order of business I must commend the effort you have pulled together to avoid this meeting’ Silver hummed after a moment of heavily tense silence. The second year’s lips twitched at the corners upon seeing the client’s seat being the only thing keeping their trembling knees from buckling when those wicked, gleaming eyes fell down upon them ‘though unfortunately now we must abide by the contract, by any means necessary or so I’ve been told’ Little by little in the dim blue lighting of Octavinelle, something cold and piercing slowly began to devour and fill that warm knightley gaze, as if one had melted all the light in the room until nothing but darkness remained. For a moment Azul had to blink and fix his glasses, he was not expecting that. Was it something all of Diasomnia could do? He had to find out, this could be a golden opportunity to finally profit off those damnable drama queens! The brightness had fled the lounge, even the twins had ceased in their awful teasing and only watched the proceedings with hungry eyes.

‘Thus I must repeat myself; put all your valuables in the bag.’ No protests were made this time as sorry little trinkets and whatnots were haphazardly tossed into the bag. Silver gave it the most unimpressed frown he could manage as the bag jingled mid air, even the sound of its contents were deplorable ‘hmm, I’ve seen better’ he murmured dryly ‘and this is everything?’ another meek nod, pathetic really, even the lowest of palace servants had better offerings ‘what about that watch? That seems very valuable, gold I believe it is, and not the fake kind’ after all Lord Malleus made certain that his guards knew the difference between a fake and the real thing. The client’s hand swiftly clamped over that alluring shine ‘I-I-I can’t, it belonged to my grandpa!’ they whimpered, shrinking even further as Silver was unmoved, he tilted his chin up slightly and glanced down at them ‘that is none of my concern now, is it? You should have thought better than to fall so whimsically into a deal then’ he sighed touching his fingers to his forehead ‘though again, you were one of those foolish three hundred students who thought they could gamble their way through finals so perhaps logic is beyond you. Nevertheless I believe there can be a way we could work around this predicament’ Silver then leaned forward, hands clasped between his knees.

‘If you refuse to offer up the watch, you may offer your memories of it instead’

‘What?’

Grinning peculiarly, somehow the silver human’s very presence suddenly enveloped the whole room, the very air became frigidly cold, Azul was no longer there behind his desk with his greedy, expanding grin, ecstatic at the second year’s regal performance. The twins weren’t caging them in from the sides anymore, figuratively licking their teeth at the prospect of playing with a new toy.

‘Allow me to explain; instead of giving up your precious watch which you say was given to you by your grandfather, I will be gracious enough to allow you to give all your memories of it in its place. Every memory which makes it special to you, that should make a fair exchange.’

Either way you will part with the watch, went unsaid but was clear in their minds, even if the client gave their memories it will turn the watch into that, an ordinary watch with no personal value. And the client somehow figured this out.

‘That’s not fair, it’s just the same result with different methods!’ they yelled all of a sudden, putting on a show of bravery, but that's all it was, a show.

‘It's not fair?’ The expression on Silver’s face shifted, locking everyone, including Azul and the twins in place. It was an expression that demanded naught less than fear, submission and perhaps even worship. It was a look that told the weak to bow until their heads grazed the dirt, eerily similar to a certain housewarden. ‘You do understand that you are to serve Octavinelle until your graduation, right? And you wanted to modify your terms of the contracts so we must find something of equal exchange. What you have offered is miniscule to what is required and your only saving grace is the value of that watch or your memories, I’m just giving you the less painful option, so make your choice now’

The Octavinelle housewarden was ecstatic. Maybe he needn’t look for another potential pawn in Diasomnia after all…

—

‘After a little more persuasion they finally handed it over and we concluded negotiations’ Silver recounted, shivering in his seat ‘ugh, I’ve never felt so cold blooded before, it felt awful’ across from him, the small fae crooned sympathetically then chuckled with the soft clink of a teacup settling on its saucer ‘oh my dear boy, if it's any consolation I believed you did wonderfully despite your disapproval, truly Malleus has taught you well.’ Lilia jumped in surprise as brightly green thunder suddenly clapped and flashed around the Diasomnia dorm

‘Almost a little too well if you ask me, what in twisted wonderland could have gotten that boy in a tizzy?’

Silver looked out the window a little sheepishly ‘ah, I suppose that’s on me, apparently after negotiations Azul wanted me to work for him full time but I politely declined as it collided with my duties toward Lord Malleus’ he spied a little glint of glass hidden within the bushes ‘and it seems they are still in pursuit to recruit me’ Lilia chuckled good heartedly while covering Silver’s eyes as a flash of lighting hit the bushes directly. Maniacal laughing followed as both Floyd and Jade leapt out with little bits of smouldering ash burning in their hair ‘my they sure are persistent,’

‘Fools! Idiots! You dare try to claim what is already mine, I shall burn you to cinders!’

#knight's writing #twst #silver twst #azul ashengrotto #floyd leech #jade leech #I believe Malleus teaches Silver more elegant methods than Lilia who'd probably just show him how to maim and hide evidence

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imminentinertia · 3 months

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Pre DFF finale: brain churning, latching on to genre

I've nearly lost count of the number of genres Dead Friend Forever has pressed into service, but I'm trying to make a list, because I love this very good post on DFF and horror genres by @chaos0pikachu and that made me think about how much it's been throwing us around:

slasher essentially a frolicsome and fun horror subgenre, if not for those who see little amusement in some characters terrifying and murdering others:

the first frenzy about the curse of the film, Por impaling himself spectacularly

the masked would-be killer chasing various characters, notably Phee and Jin having to hide in something that looks very much like a funerary box

mystery thriller trying to solve one or more puzzles:

is Non alive, where did he go?

possibly the mystery of who is the killer with the mask - but that's more of a slasher staple and less of a mystery to be solved, slashers don't necessarily reveal the murderers' identity

horror of personality the villain is human and technically normal, but is awfully murderous and/or sadistic etc.:

Fluke's descent into madness - I think him shooting Top goes here rather than into the slasher basket, because it's notably done in front of everyone and not by the/a masked killer

Tan-New's losses escalating his focus on revenge

Keng being subtly menacing underneath the friendliness

note that Non's descent into vengeful violence doesn't count towards this genre, as he's the main victim in all the genres DFF uses

erotic thriller what it says on the tin, it's suspenseful but there's sex:

Tee, White and The Hand

Keng's arc including his manipulation of Non

Phee having sex with Jin with the primary secondary purpose of getting closer to the friends group

social drama and how. Surely they didn't have to go this hard. School bullying, money trouble and debt all the way into inhuman terms for repaying, class divide and upper class suppression of lower class, police corruption, inadequate health care, power abuse, motherfucking organ trafficking, the list goes on and the shift from episode 4 to 5 left me reeling.

Most of the genres DFF makes use of are of the horror/thriller variety, and while social drama definitely can cross-pollinate with other genres, DFF injects some social commentary into the first four slasher episodes but then drops the horror/thriller entirely. Then it proceeds to do a very well crafted critique of a number of societal issues, with no hint of anything horror-y, until it picks the suspenseful genres up again in the later episodes. I was still reeling when they turned the social commentary back into those.

gangster this may be stretching it a little because DFF doesn't really tell any stories from the gang life POV and the organised crime is present mostly as a threat to the characters, but:

Tee is a (low-ranking and untried) member of a criminal gang, working for his gangster uncle, and part of the story is told from his POV

and there's even romance! sweet sweet passion, affection, wooing etc. etc. etc.:

Phee falling like a broken parachute for Non and proceeding to do all the cute things in the world with him

Tee and White with their meet-cute and not too unsettling relationship (White has some lines that hint about a dynamic that may not be all sweet)

I'm sure I've forgotten about ten genres and subgenres.

There's one episode left, and while I fully understand wanting it to turn slasher/vengeance thriller/etc. again and MURDER ALL THE ASSHOLES IN CREATIVE WAYS, I'm very curious about what genre notes they end this on.

Personally I'm still stuck in the social commentary and expect the finale to be Mike Leigh levels of unhappy, but with a Final Girl walking away, and I have no idea at all who that would be. It would depend on how many Sharpened Screwdrivers it gets on the Leigh Scale (probably fewer than I think, it's probably not supposed to end entirely unhappily. 4/10?).

(Side note 1: for terrific examples of social commentary horror, check out George A. Romero's films.)

(Side note 2: horror of personality is one of my favourite genres and my absolute favourite such film of all times is Michael Haneke's Funny Games. I love it, it nearly made me throw up and I don't know if I can recommend watching it.)

#dead friend forever meta #dead friend forever

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predictable-affairs · 2 years

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Fate? in: i. Blonde men

Student body!Bakugou x f!reader smut - kakegurui au

tw: smut; spanking; impact play; dirty talk; name calling; brat taming; slight petplay; fingering; size kink; power imbalance.

Starting a new school is never easy. All the rules you have to learn, written and unwritten, all the new friend you have to make, the new personas you have to create to fit in. The time it takes to gain trust from others. And the absolute hell it is trying to understand another person.

It was way easier when we were younger. The kids would tease and make fun of you, until you got the hang of. And when you showed a hidden talent… Oh! And there you go with a band of friends.

Simple friends.

Simple times…

However, the older you get, the more do things change. No one cares for teasing you to get comfortable around. No one really takes that much of an interest in you, unless you stand out in some sort of way, but even then, it’s quiet giggles and whispers, never adding you to the conversation.

That’s when you need to add more initiative and that’s when you start to gain a reputation.

Making friends and talking to people, the history of what you said is what grants you a role in the school’s hierarchy. And that’s exactly how you do it here in this new school, right?

Yeah, as long as you plan being a nobody in the eyes of this school.

Hyakkaou Private Academy is not one of those places.

Making friends and telling intriguing stories is not the way you’ll gain a name for yourself in this school.

Hyakkaou Academy is an intimate and alluring place. With dark walls, black and red uniforms, and an atmosphere rivaling the comparison of classical erotic romance novels, this prestigious school is where your worth is measured not just by how much money you have, but how much you can gain gambling.

And you’re exactly here; with a scholarship and funds from the school no less.

You’ve heard about this Academy before, read all about it in the newspaper.

“Student from Hyakkaou Private Academy shocks economists by increasing government funding for public schools and work sectors!”

“Student from prestigious Academy becomes world’s top investor.”

“Hyakkaou Academy scores first for best exam scores in all of Japan yet again!”

The fame, the knowledge these students were getting, the money that comes with it too.

You were hoping for all that too, as soon as you stepped foot onto campus. However, destiny and fate are never really fair when your bank account isn’t drained by luck.

Oh boy, did you have a lot to learn.

“Show your cards!”

And you were going to learn fast.

“Hngh…”

“Well come on, show your cards, loser!”

A high, bit raspy voice, probably belonging to a female.

“Full house!”

Oh, and there seems to be a boy talking. It seems like his voice is shaking a bit. Is it nerves? Yet so much relief put into those two words…

“Heh,”

“Four of a kind.”

And the noise! So much noise now, it seems there’s a commotion starting from those simple words. Are they playing some sort of game?

“Bring me the tag!”

“There you go, little puppy,”

What’s going on there?

“Now go get me some strawberry milk!”

You never would’ve guessed that the shadows of people preforming against the floor were of a blonde-haired boy, with, what looks to be a thick black streak in his hair, kneeling in front of a messy, blonde-haired girl.

Hmm, he seems… cute.

“Hm? What are you waiting for? Move, housepet!”

“I- please! Please, lend me a bit more money, Himiko! I swear I can repay, just give me a week! A week! Please!”

“I didn’t ask you to repay me your debt, I asked you to go get me my drink!”

“And last I checked, dogs don’t speak, they bark.”

“…”

“Bark, housepet! That is an order!”

“…”

“I said bark!”

“…woof…”

“I couldn’t hear you, pet~”

“Woof!”

“Atta boy!”

“Now go be a good puppy and fetch me what I asked of you.”

“…woof.”

What’s this? What’s happening?

Why is she treating that poor boy that way?

More importantly: why is no one stopping her?!

“Hey! You can’t treat a human being that way!”

You swear it was said that this is a prestigious and respectful school. So why is this sort of thing happening? The games and privileges of the rich; maybe you’ll never understand.

“Huh?”

Such a high pitch exclaim, annoyance so audible it echoes through the room.

“Who said that?”

The blonde boy sees you, oh how the color drains from his face.

“Hey you, new girl.”

Why does he seem even more anxious than before?

“Me?”

“Yeah, I’m talking to you.”

It’s as if burning, his eyes feel so intense. Everyone’s eyes feel so…

“You the goody-two-shoes telling me how to treat my pets?”

“I, uh…”

Though, perhaps, it’s not that different. After all, confidence is key.

“Yeah… yeah, I am.”

“Hm,”

The expression she gives, not a single muscle pulled for a smile. Mayne instead of smile lines, she’ll have frown lines when she gets old.

“You don’t know the rules here, do you?”

They’re all staring at you.

“No, as a matter of fact, I do.”

Silence. Perhaps stunned silence?

“And I don’t think this just goes for the school.”

“I think, that everywhere, you treat people as human beings; this being no exception.”

The blonde girl tilts her head, she seems more open this way.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, and I’m not letting you treat this poor boy that way,”

You turn to look at him, still so much worry echoing in his face, it seems to reap as electricity does.

“You can’t let them treat you this way, you’re a human being.”

The boy still doesn’t move. Why won’t he speak?

“Come on, get up, let’s go and talk to a teacher about this.”

What you’re doing is right, right? No one should be allowed to bully someone like this. Then why does it feel as if you’re rain on oil?

“Ahaha!!”

What a high-pitched laugh.

“You really are clueless, aren’t you, new meat?”

“God, we’re gonna have so much fun corrupting you.”

Why won’t he move? Why won’t anybody move?

“What do you mean?”

“With that attitude of yours, there’s only two ways your time here will go,”

What is she talking about?

“You’ll probably end up losing fate while staying here and end up in the shadows.”

“Or?”

“Heh,”

She smiles, an intimidating sight.

“Or, you’ll become a housepet, just like your little friend here.”

Liar, she’s a liar, she knows nothing of what she talks about.

“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself mixed into, new meat.”

No, maybe you don’t.

“No, I don’t know.”

She can rot in hell, everyone can rot in hell if they think they can intimidate you.

You walk forward. You don’t know how to play these games, but you do understand the school. No one holds empathy for each other, cause that’s what they feel they deserve. And those who do? They end up bullied and stuffed into lockers as trash. This school doesn’t care about your story, or even your history. Hell, even your background is irrelevant. Money? That’s one thing, but control, power? That will get anyone on their knees in front of you to beg for mercy.

You’re manicured nails dig into the wood of the desk.

“But I’m sure I’ll catch up,”

Money and power.

“Hm, then why not try right now? Save your little friend from his oh so terrible fate!”

Control.

“And how would I do that?”

You can gain all that through one thing.

“Gambling.”

…

“The rules of this game are simple.”

“We’re gonna play durak.”

“You have to protect yourself from my cards by placing a higher-ranking card on top with the same symbol. The cards with the same symbol as the one on the bottom of the deck are trump cards that can beat any card except other trump cards.”

“The goal is to get rid of all of your cards, however, you have to have six cards in your hand until there are no more cards in the deck.”

“If you don’t have a way to protect yourself from a card, you have to take them all.”

“Any questions?”

A game of luck to free the boy with the black streaked hair from his debt.

“No.”

“Good, then let’s begin!”

…

Russian games are always so scary. The names or the way they end up. You guess this card game fits both. The way each card is set on the table, oh the swirls, they’re all so intricate. You’ve never seen playing cards so beautiful. They’d never belong anywhere else but here. That’s what you get for a school specializing in gambling.

The hierarchy seems weird and pitiful even. The way everyone seems to care less and less. The way you can raise your status just as easily as you can drop it. Actually, no. It’s a bit more difficult to raise your status than lower, since just money won’t help you win a gamble. It can be the death of you, really.

Oh, how fun it’d be to waste it, to waste someone else’s money. To reap your life choices with no consequences or repercussions. How fun it’d be to get money for nothing. How fun it’d be to get money just because someone thinks you’re special.

Oh, how fun it’d be to be you.

You, a scholarship student. A person, which the school decided was special, and gave you an enormous sum of money just to go to their school. Money, which you can spend here gambling to save the lives of others.

Yeah, that’s exactly what you want to do. That’s exactly what you’re going to do!

Screw these rich snobs! This is exactly the situation people can’t help but get into, because there’s no other way of life for them, no other way to realize their dreams, even with hard work. Kiss up or beat the rich kids, but no one likes a kiss up.

“Last three cards, new meat.”

Shit, she’s right, she’s on her last cards and there’s five cards left in the pile.

“Ten of diamonds.”

“Two of clubs.”

Damnit! A trump card; she wouldn’t use it unless she had a higher one.

“Got anything more?”

She knows she’s going to win; she wouldn’t be asking me for more if she didn’t, she must have a really high trump card.

“No, your turn.”

“Hm, hehe~”

What is she…

“Hey! You can’t do that!”

“Hm, what do you mean?”

“You can’t take the bottom card!”

“Hm, but I am~”

“That’s against the rules.”

“Not in my game of durak.”

“I never specifically said you have to take the top card of the pile,”

“So I’ll take the four I need from the bottom~”

“But you-“

“Relax, I’ll leave the one for you, but oh! Would you look at that,”

The girl raises her elbow, as the bracelets make a harmonizing sound clashing together, she takes a shimmering card from her hand. All you can see is white for a minute, as the polished surface seems to direct light right at you.

“King of clubs!”

Shit, now you’re really screwed.

She giggles with joy and malice, shooting a look right at you, faux sympathy sewn between her words.

“You wanna give up now, or keep playing, see how far you’ll get?”

No, you’re determined to save this boy from the utter humiliation he’s been put in.

“No, let’s keep going.”

You’ll win this somehow.

“Fine, can’t wait to have two adorable little housepets~”

You definitely will.

…

“Oh, and would you look at that, we both have one card left,”

Her eyes dance around the table.

“Ah, but there’s one more card left in the deck.”

“It’s all yours, new meat.”

“I…”

Shit, shit, SHIT! How could this happen, how did it end up like this?!

One card, ONE card, and you know she kas the king of clubs. God, this is so unfair! Sorry, but it seems you just couldn’t save him, the boy with the black streaked hair. Guess you’ll both have to succumb to the fate of bad luck.

And that smile, that smirk on his face, it’ll go away. It’ll go away with the next one card.

Card…

The card!

You can’t believe it. It’s… it’s an ace of clubs!

“Well, your turn, new meat.”

She interrupts your thoughts like darkness over light, however the polish of these cards will never cease to bring light.

“Ace of clubs.”

“What…?”

The blonde girl seems to drain. She looks as if an empty blood bag, all see through and crumbled, about to be tossed in the trash with small little blood drops and smears.

She picks up the card, her bracelets no longer dangle with the glee and mischief they did before, adding it to the collection of cards that was and is her demise.

“Queen of spades.”

And that’s how she lost. That’s, how you ended up saving the boy. And that’s exactly when lady luck started enveloping you.

Maybe luck wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe it’s a viable currency to have. No inflation, and no cost of investments, all you have to do is control, for it’ll come to you naturally.

Lady luck, the spotted currency of our future. And power, the food that’ll feed luck, the light that will bring demise to this school.

You, the key to ending them all.

…

Four months have passed since you joined the Hyakkaou Private Academy.

And it’s been exactly four months since your very first gamble.

The blonde girls name, you learned, was Himiko Toga, and she was one of the students that recently gained fame, for suddenly rising to the top in the gambling game. Luck had quickly overcome her, and she was playing games with people left and right, sometimes even challenging some of the higher ups, however, never getting too far. Himiko became arrogant. And it seems that arrogance and luck don’t mix transparently for long.

The time for her downfall accumulated quickly, and what seemed to crack the hourglass was the gamble with you. After winning the game and freeing the blonde boy with the black streak in his hair (whose name, you later learned, was Denki), Himiko felt humiliated and challenged you to another game, however, turning it down as to not push your luck too much, Himiko seemed to become even more enraged, starting to question if ‘do you even know who I am?!’ and threatening to ‘ruin your life and start here at this school!!’.

Long story short, Himiko didn’t seem to recover from her loss, going on to engage in even riskier and bigger gambles, until she played herself into debt and is now rumored to be a housepet.

However, for you, luck seemed to cling on as if a bee to honey. Was it beginners’ luck? Were you just that good at playing the variety of card games? Did your mind just function a different way? Was it easier for you to grasp the concepts and loopholes of such games? You found as time went on, you raised these questions to yourself more and more.

And as time went on, you seemed to slowly lose the path to the quest you seemed to grace yourself upon.

“Alright, so that’s three today, we can end it here as to not push our luck too hard,”

“Uhuh…”

“But with the way it’s going, I’d say we have quite good chance of saving another.”

“Right.”

“They seem to be-“

“These gambles are getting boring.”

“What?”

“I don’t know… It just seems that there isn’t the same excitement there is to them as there was before…”

“Was before? (y/n), it’s been four months.”

“And?”

“And I think the winnings are getting to your head.”

It’s true, it does seem that the late string of success is seemingly getting longer, however thinner too.

“Agh! I don’t know, Denki, I think I’m just used to the level of stupidity these people radiate.”

“Wow, that’s low.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Maybe that’s why it’s so easy to win against them?”

“Yeah, once you figure them out, it’s easy, boring sailing from there.”

“Maybe you should challenge more powerful opponents.”

“Meh, they’ll probably be even easier to figure out,”

The arrogance.

“Spoiled little babies with golden spoons up their ass.”

It’s getting to you.

“Easy.” you sit back lamely, with a flail of your hand in the air, a show of boredom. You probably look like a rococo painting, spilled on the red sofa, as if a garden of red dahlias surrounds you. Dramatic.

“If you feel that way, maybe you should candidate for the student body president.” Denki seems a little fed up.

“Hmm… maybe…”

“It’d be for a good cause.” he tries to encourage.

“I’ll think about it,”

The coziness of the lonesome breakroom seems to dissipate slowly, as if melting time.

Melting time.

Time is melting…

A groan escapes your lips.

“Whatever, let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“Doesn’t matter, just go.”

…

The library once made a huge impression on you. The love for literature runs deep in the Hara blood. Legend has it that when spilled, your families blood roots deep into the soil and grows the most mightiest libraries. Apparently, that’s how the library of Alexandria came to be, and apparently it burned down because of rivaling enemies.

So, it’s no surprise that the same love for books runs deep within your soul. From learning to read at the age of three, to sleeping in the library, amongst the books is where you feel most at home.

The school’s library was definitely something to behold. It’s a place that seemed to flood instant stillness onto you. At the beginning weeks, you spent a lot of time here, sitting and reading, finding meaning amongst the words of dead trees.

However, it faded quickly, as one late night here opened a whole new world of the school to you. The conversations, the moans, the gambles – it all seemed so strange, so sacred, so… sacrilegious. The library was a sanctuary, yet it’s defiled by the dirty thoughts and lustful actions preformed here late at night.

You’re back here, the middle of day. The day is when the sanctuary sleeps, and so it seems not much action is taking place today.

A few gambles, some poorly hidden makeout sessions, and a sprinkle of studying students. The definition of a diverse haven.

“Deeenki–!”

“Right here, (y/n).”

“I’m bored, let’s gamble for a bit.” You smile at the blonde man, flashing the glossiest eyes you can in an attempt to persuade him.

“Oh man, I’d sure love to,” he excuses, “but I think I’m done for today, gonna save my energy for the night.”

Ugh, excuses, excuses.

“You prude, you’re just afraid I’m going to win again.” You argue.

“Maybe,” he steps closer to you, right in front, “so I think I’ll save myself the humiliation and meet you later at class.” He leans down and gently pecks your forehead. This doesn’t seem to satisfy you.

“Denkiii–!” you whine.

He leans back.

“Yeah yeah, why don’t you stomp your foot too and start fussing even more.” He muses, playfully teasing you.

“Screw you!” you retort as he turns his back and simply waves, walking out of the huge room and probably to the café.

Whatever, guess you’ll have to find your own fun.

…

One, two, three gambles in and the adrenaline is already wearing off. It’s boring, really. The fourth gamble is no longer to save a housepet. The fifth gamble is no longer a small sum of money at stake. The sixth gamble gets some blood rushing to that head, as it no longer stops at card games. And the seventh? Oh, the seventh gamble is what sends you to heaven. The riskiest one with the biggest amount of money at stake and even later: your life.

Success did not abandon your eyes for even a second; the housepets, the money, the winnings, following you like a tightly sewn shadow, not one piece daring to flake.

With power and luck, adrenaline seems to disappear, soaked up with the likes of a drying sponge, right in heat.

And so, it seems that–

Oh?

Who’s that? Who’s there?

Another little blonde boy seemingly not knowing where to gamble?

He seems lost.

Come on, why don’t you be a good little girl and help this poor student out. Show him the ropes, get him under your wing. After all, you are the best, so why not give him a good start.

A little voice whispers to you in the back of your head. ‘It’s wrong,’ it says, ‘your mission is to save them, not gamble them into debt’.

But, is it really that wrong? From the looks of it, he’s going to gamble himself into debt sooner or later, so why not make the circumstances nice and at least give him an easy start, a chance to grasp the reality of his situation and then let him go when he seems to toughen up a bit.

‘You mean, pays you back,’

No.

Maybe…

‘He won’t have anything to pay you back with if you do this’

Hm, then he’ll be a pretty little housepet for you. Plus, he’d look just so adorable right on his knees for you.

Hm, this voice is getting annoying, and if you hover around too long, he might just get taken away. Go to him.

‘It’s wrong!’ the little voice screams. It seems to keep fading away. So far, far away…

Meh, what does it know about wrong and right? This feels right, this feels… exciting. So you’re going to do it. You’ll cure your boredom here, for now…

“Why hello there, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before,” you extend your hand with a smile, “I’m (y/n), what’s your name?” you keep that cute, most innocent smile you can gather plastered strongly on your face.

The blonde man turns around, throwing one fiery eye down to you, right from his shoulder. There seems to be true warmth burning and melting your face off, as his stare only intensifies the longer you stay quiet.

You know, he doesn’t look too bad up front. Even a bit scarier than you initially thought and saw from afar. Clean blonde hair defiantly, though, nicely, spiked with a little bad boy punk vibe. Sharp eyes and jaw that, no doubt, look just gorgeous looking up at you and dirtied. And the way his uniform fits him… He’s bigger than you, taller too. Shrinking a bit in his presence, he seems firm. Those biceps can’t successfully hide from you, and no doubt the abdomen under his shirt has a nice, hard round to it. The belt on those pants? Seems a bit loose, you catch yourself wondering if he has a pretty little trail down his stomach that you can trace down with your finger…

Oh, you can tell he’ll be a fun one to break.

“Bakugou.” a rough voice interrupts your thoughts.

You smile at him even more, not moving your hand for an inch. Bakugou seems to ignore this, staring at you lazily, a neutral frown flowing through his face.

“I said your name, dummy” you tease, lightheartedly laughing.

Bakugou shifts his eyes to your hand and back to you, his hands occupied by his pockets. He snarls.

“And it’s polite to shake a person’s hand when they offer!” scolding him seems to drag a bit more emotion out.

His eyes dart down, up, up, up and, he smiles, sharp white teeth shining on display.

“Katsuki,” he continues smiling a malicious grin, grabbing your outstretched palm, that was starting to get sore from how long you were waiting for him to shake it. He shakes it roughly, a truly firm, authoritative grip.

“You’re new here, aren’t you, (y/n)?”

The way he says, uses your name, flakes of boldness seem to simmer from your eyes.

“No actually, I’m not.” A little sparkle glints in your eye; how cute.

How cute indeed he thinks.

“What business do you have with me?” Bakugou cuts right to the chase, a bored expression now shadowing his face.

“Well, I, uhm...” you’re caught off guard, “I wanted to show you around the school, introduce you to the rules and all.” you beam, confidence once again pooling in your voice.

“Don’t need it.” he states simply, hardly swaying his hand, putting it right back into his pocket. You realize you’re losing his attention as he starts to slowly fidget, absently turning around.

“Oh, well, I’m sure I can give you a better tour,” you lean in “I can even show you all the cool hidden places.” you giggle as if you just told a secret in middle school.

“Like I said, don’t need it.” he shrugs, now fully taking the attention out of your grasp and turning to walk away onto his business.

No? Is he saying no? No one ever tells you no!

“Hey! Why don’t you quit being so arrogant, or it’ll get you into a lot of trouble around here.” dissatisfaction slurring the lines of your sentence.

He starts laughing. How adorable, a little bitch that doesn’t know her place.

“What’s so funny, you jerk!”

God, you’re like a child.

“Why don’t you watch that tongue of yours,”

“It’ll get you in a lot of trouble.”

How dare he? Ho fucking dare he?!

You don’t even feel bad about the fate your about to bestow upon him.

Neither does he.

“You know what?” you’re fed up, “I challenge you to a gamble.”

He looks back at you from afar. Confusion seems to color his face.

Yeah, this’ll show him.

“Why would I even-”

“It’s the school’s rules,” you cut him off, “you can’t refuse a gamble.” lies flow out of your mouth like dust from a book.

Bakugou smiles.

“Really?” he questions, “those are some dumb rules, don’t you think?”

Ugh! Why is he so difficult!

“No, they’re not dumb, and you have to obey them!” more symphonies of lies.

“So, let me get this straight,”

“I can’t refuse any gamble, even if I don’t have any money?”

God, you’re so cute when you get lost in your lies. He would just love to place a few hard smacks on that plump ass of yours, see if you’d stop being such a brat.

“Well, no… but…”

But, but, what?

“But you can’t refuse a gamble from a higher up, and since you’re new, you have to listen to me.”

You’d look so cute if you started crying right now.

“Fine,” Bakugou laughs, “I’ll gamble with you, princess.”

Yes! Finally! You’ll show this little bastard his place.

You grin.

“But,” Bakugou interrupts, “we play my game, by my rules,”

A smile, malice dripping from his lips.

“To make it fair.” he clarifies.

Whatever, why do you care, you’ve got plenty of luck on your side, so even fairness won’t save him from oncoming fate.

“Housepet! Get us a table.”

…

“We’re going to be playing a card game, called ‘more than’,”

Great, another card game. Maybe it won’t get your adrenaline pumping, but it will surely bring some nice satisfaction as you wipe the floor with Bakugou Katsuki.

“Are you listening, princess?”

“Yes, and stop calling me that.”

He grins.

“The aim of the game is to flip a higher card than mine and vice versa.”

He’s awfully smug for a newbie. Whatever.

“There are two stacks, you can choose which one you want to take and we can only switch decks once, and only half the deck.”

His attention is drawn to the cards as he sits in front of you. He touches and flips through them, giving a nod to the dealer and handing them over to mix and divide; dreamlike dark warmth of the room surrounding you. The dark brown, almost black, of the table hooks your eyes. With a nail digging the side of it, you seem to meditate, slowly storing, gathering the shining luck that seeps your eyes like an aura.

“Don’t be nervous, princess, choose a stack.” he smiles.

“I told you to stop calling me that.” with a rude drag, you snatch the card deck on the right.

“Let’s just begin this.”

…

Four and six, five and two, seven and three, nine and ace. Wow, you’re pretty good at this. Though, no surprise, no need to knock you out of your boots, after all, this is a game of luck and you just about mastered the art of it.

One - two, that’s a lose. One - two, that’s another lose. You know what, no, it’s okay, your just saving up your luck towards the end.

Seven - four, there you go, things are starting to get better.

Eight - king. Alright, maybe not that good.

Ten – ace. Shit, that’s not good.

Queen and… another ace?!

“This is unfair! You’re cheating!” a bold claim, worth the knock of the chair.

“How can it be unfair, princess? This is just a game of luck.”

That smug bastard, he’s gonna get what he deserves.

You narrow your eyes.

“I wanna switch decks,” you proclaim with a bratty tone, “now.”

What he wouldn’t give to get you over his knee right now.

“Fine, take the half you want.” he complies, splitting the remainder of his deck into two parts.

“Hmm…” you ponder for a second, reaching for the right again. However, a tiny flash of his grin seems to stop you and with a sudden change, you twist your hand for the left side.

Bakugou seems a bit enraged, though, his expression may not have of changed. You’re not sure, you didn’t take a proper look at his face; you’ll have plenty of time to do that once he becomes your own personal housepet.

Eye contact fails to secure you in place, as you lean back with a deck in your hand, sticking out your tongue to Bakugou and mixing the cards at grasp.

Bakugou’s expression drops, as he leans in closer to choose his side of the deck, mumbling some incoherent words along the way.

Your earrings clink as you move your head forwards with a malicious smile.

“You know what, this whole big money thing isn’t really getting the adrenaline pumping through,” let’s put your plan into action.

“I think we should up the stakes.” You lean a bit more forward, cradling your chin with the warmth of your palms. Silver earrings feeling cold against the warmth of your check.

Bakugou smirks.

“That’s some big talk coming from someone who’s miserably losing.”

“Screw you, it’s because this isn’t interesting enough!” complaining, the symphony of brats, “OoOoh, let’s play a boring ol’ card game, oOoOh, let’s make it as easy as possible, OoOoh, let’s not even involve any math! Just a plain little kids’ game.” you mock, eyes rolling to the heavens, hands mimicking something unknown, furious red washing your words.

Bakugou’s grin drops.

“Fine, doll, let’s up the stakes,” he agrees through clenched teeth, “what do you propose?”

Such a slowness envelopes his last words, a chilling feeling dances down the back of your spine.

The adrenaline’s kicking in.

“Let’s gamble for our lives~” the words flown and drawn out nicely, a change in pitch to really cement the idea. Bakugou starts laughing.

“Ahaha! Really! Our lives?” he continues laughing.

A huff escapes your lips, a feeling of confliction drowns your body.

“Yes, new meat, our lives,” you sit back, arms and legs crossed, “if you didn’t know, there’s a housepet system in this school.” eyebrows pinching with every word of the explanation.

Bakugou lets out an even more roaring laugh.

“Oh, I know it,” he plays with his fingers, eyes peaking at you through darkened lashes, “I know very well.”

“Then let’s bet that; if you lose, you have to be my housepet.”, he smiles at this.

“And if you lose?”

“I won’t.” a simple answer cuts him off.

“How courages,” he muses, “but if you do, the I guess the same rules apply to you.”

“I won’t lose.” you repeat yourself.

“Heh, let’s continue the game.”

…

God, switching cards really wasn’t a good idea.

King and ace. Four and queen? What is happening!

The stacks of cards are almost exhausted, thus, you come to an end. You only need two more cards, that would be greater than his to win all and everything.

Oh, the adrenaline is pumping, each touch of a card seems more numb than the other.

One, two, three, four cards left. Four.

“Watcha waiting for princess, turn your card.”

You gulp.

“I told you to stop calling me that.”

“I’ll call you whatever I want once I win.”

“Yeah, puppy? I’m sure you will.” you tease, giving your best gleaming innocence eyes. A mocking nickname suiting his scowl.

“The only way you’ll win is if you have the blessing of Apollo on your side,”

“A blessing?”

“A blessing of luck.”, a look straight from your lashes.

“But, sadly for you,” a hinder to your actions, “I’ve got his blessing,” you reach out your arm to flip a card from your stack, Bakugou does the same. “For, you see,” you flip your card, eyes shooting straight to his, “blonde men seem to like me.”

Three – two.

The odds are in your favor.

Bakugou’s demeanor doesn’t seem to switch, as he crosses his arms, elbows on the table. Tilted head, shimmering the colorful light of his eyes straight through the thick sloped strand of blonde hair. He doesn’t say anything, the echo of a clearing throat playing through the room as he looks away, reaching to switch another card. The first to break eye contact, for you did never.

The plastic glaze of the card scratches the wooden surface, a rustling of another card following close behind, as a grin never leaves your face.

Three – six.

Uh oh.

Don’t worry, no need to panic, there are still two cards left; all you need is for them to be higher than his and voila! You’ll have saved your life and gained a new pet.

Getting a new pet… something you’ve never done before. It’s mostly been just taking pets from others, saving them from their miserable lives. Lives, you could never imagine having.

The room slowly starts to spin as the time to flip your cards comes again.

Phew, this card game really is pushing the adrenaline through your body.

The convulsion…

What a disease.

Katsuki sticks his tongue out, if only for a bit, licking his lips simply, before reaching for both his cards.

“Ready?”

“I thought we were supposed to flip them one at a time…”

“Yeah, but you’ve only got two cards left, and from my counting, if both are higher than mine, then you win,”

“Let’s not drag this game out more than we have to, and just finish it quickly, whadya say, princess?” he smiles, the row of sharp tooth on display. Such an ingenuine smile, you’ll teach him to make it better.

You frown.

“I’m ready, puppy.” you retort easily, his smile instantly dropping to one of annoyance. Right, what a fucking brat.

“One,”

“Two...”

“Three!”

A blankness, sheet of white envelope the sight before you.

White, simple light.

Nine to jack, and King to joker.

That retched fucking joker.

Your smile drops, along with it, pride seems to tumble down the souls stairs.

Nine to jack? King and a joker? This can’t be fucking right… Can’t be fucking fair!

“W-what…” a quiet tone drags the words in a breath from your lips.

“Heh,” Bakugou grins, a malicious smile playing on his lips, “see, princess, that’s the problem with you,” he stands, the draw back of the chair not even daring to rival the ringing sounding through your head right now. “You’re naïve,” he leans on the table forward, flicking your forehead, “a little dumb in the head,”, he comes closer to your face, “you don’t know how to count your cards yet,”, he leans completely over the table, a whisper right up against your ear: “and you don’t know who you’re playing against.”

You continue staring, into the distance, at him, mouth agape, in shock, in disbelief.

The feeling of a simple kiss on your forehead, the wetness of his lips a little present in the same spot.

“You’re mine now,” he whispers, “and I can’t wait to have so much fun with you, princess.”

He leans back completely.

“Who knew you’d fall right into my arms?”

“W-who are you?”, a stutter.

“Me?”, he smiles, “I’m Bakugou Katsuki,”

“Head of the student body.”

Shit.

“And now, your first little punishment for even trying to go against me, why don’t you lift that tiny little skirt of yours and show me that pretty little ass.”

You stare at him in disbelief, still processing the previous words, not grasping, or even registering what’s being asked, no, demanded of you.

“Come on,” he encourages condescendingly, “what are you waiting for?”

“Bend over the fucking table and show me your ass.”, you probably look just adorable all fucked out, red, and crying.

You can’t… you don’t have anything to say. His words, his actions, his wants, they’re just undefinable to you.

You stand up slowly, still in denial, still processing your defeat.

Luck, luck has abandoned you! How could it, how dare it! This is not the way it’s supposed to go! You were supposed to be in control of it, it was supposed to serve you. How could it, how could you… Apollo must’ve cried the river of rains, thus, washing away your glow, the aura of your luck. Was it fate? Could you blame fate? Does fate control luck? Or does luck control fate? There is no way to know, there is no need to know. It’s luck, your luck has been abandoned.

Bakugou is not a man of patience. And, as you soon found out, it did extend to you, as he found your preparation for your humiliating consequences too slow, and with a little push, he has you face down and ass on display over the table; pretty little chest squishing the cards, and silver earing digging into the side of your face.

“What are you doing?!”, you struggle, complaining and moaning of anger with squirms to stand up and give him a piece of your mind.

Though, lucky for you, Bakugou knows exactly how to tame brats like you.

Your exclaims and thrashes of anger die down quickly, as a hard smack echoes through the now quite room. A harsh spank, delivered by Bakugou stings the right of your ass, as you still and gather on what to do next.

Meanwhile, Bakugou places a warm palm on the small of your back, keeping you in place, gathering your arms and manicured nails into one of his. As he switches arms, he speaks to you harshly:

“Count, and fucking thank me for the patience I have with you after.”

“Miss a number, and I’m gonna teach you how to count the old-fashioned way.”

SMACK, ‘One’.

“I don’t hear you counting.” SMACK.

“One.”

SMACK.

“T-two.”

SMACK.

“Three!”

SMACK.

“Ngh… four…!”

He raises his hand for another.

“Ngh-agh…”, you whimper, readying for another pool of pain.

SMACK.

“Five!” you moan with that word, leaning forward and biting hard to your lips, as not to cry.

God, if you think you’re going to leave a room with Bakugou without being made to cry, then you’re one delusional brat.

Bakugou rubs the reddening plump of your ass, as he readies, disorientates you for your next hit. And that’s exactly how six, seven, eight spanks go through; all the way till you reach ten. Little droplets of tears rain from your cheeks, as you stifle and hold in those cute little hiccups and sobs for mercy.

Aw, how cute, you think you can really get away from Bakugou without giving him what he wants.

By the hard, reddening sting of spank twenty, your walls have long crumpled, as the river stream of tears and melodious prayers of begs fall from your plump lips, Bakugou stops at twenty-two, and runs soothing circles against the raw flesh.

As he keeps running them, his fingers slide down, down the back of your frilly, girly panties (God, you’re just so adorable, aren’t you?), and from the back of that cute little dampening spot, to your puffy little clit.

A quiet, but sweet, moan of satisfaction leaves you, as his rough fingers hit a touch against that spot...

...

interested? finish reading the story on ao3

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minhosimthings · 8 months

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Skz as Mythical creatures

Bang Chan - Werewolf. There's nothing to question here about this. Man literally gives so much wolf vibes that writers on Tumblr use wolf memes for his smaus. But also werewolves have been used throughout history to provide a sense of wisdom combined with misinterpretation. Wisdom, in the form of living and going through so much in their moon drunk lives. And like is that not Chan?

Lee Minho: A warlock. Warlocks are basically wizards who get their magic from evil sources. They conjure magic called 'blue magic' aka evil magic from shady sources and repay that debt with their own blood. They have been known to help people from time to time but only the people who need it the most, like a raped woman who no one believes. Oh also they are known to have cats as their companions! And they live very secluded lives usually in forests and grow mushrooms. My brain is dying thinking about evil warlock Minho cause my standards are so fucked up

Seo Changbin: A dragon. Listen LISTEN TO ME. I chose a dragon for Changbin, because they have many myths of false appearance. When I first got into skz, I really though our Binnie was the most serious person in this group. But then I saw how those hips moved, and I was like 'oh so he's Barbie and Shakira combined and put into one man'. Dragons are known as fierce creatures who protect the gold that they hoard and destroy villages, but how much of that is true? Mostly they do it to protect themselves and the gold which they have rightfully earned. Also they are extremely loyal and friendly once you understand them and don't harm their loved ones (yes even dragons have loved ones)

Hwang Hyunjin: Selkie. Selkies are basically mermaids, who originate from Scotish folk tales (trust me they are VERY popular here). They turn into seals in water and turn back into human if daylight or moonlight touches them, Aka if they come on land. They are very dual creatures, being pretty and kind to most humans, especially women, but they can also be the most savage beasts when it comes to men who have corrupted for their own pleasure. Their siren songs are very captivating and they are known to make art out of conch shells.

Han Jisung: A shapeshifter. Han Jisung is truly a puzzle. Like man could be intense babygirling one moment and then two seconds later literally kill all of us with wavy hair, sweaty face and those fingers playing the guitar finger kink go brr. Jisung is more fitting to the shapeshifter brand when you realise that the humans who used to be good at doing everything and not crack under intense pressure were awarded this shapeshifting power by the Gods. So yeah our fourth gen ace would definetly be a shapeshifter.

Lee Felix: A fairy. Need I explain anything? Need I even write an entire essay about this? (Already wrote it but fine). He would definitely be a healing fairy. Like he would whip up medicines and hide them in his delicious brownies to trick unwilling children into taking them (MY HEART IS TOO WEAK FOR FELIX HANDING OUT BROWNIES). He would def live in the woods in like a tiny cottage, which is decorated with creepers and vines and soft moss, where he rests his pretty wings, excuse me I need to write something on this.

Kim Seungmin: A nymph. Nymphs are actually more powerful than they are portrayed nowadays. Many of them were sons and daughters of river or tree Gods and they used to possess the quality of being able to fic someone in a trance with their voices. LIKE HELLO? MR KIM SEUNGMIN WITH THAT GOLDEN VOICE? Also they were known to be mischievous, always teasing pixies and fairies and taunting beings older than them. (I am not making this up yet legit used to taunt old trees for being so old and wise because nymphs never used to age or they would age VERY slowly)

Yang Jeongin: A vampire. Alexa play Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo please. I mean dude's literally immortal I'm telling you. He looks LIKE THE SAME PERSON EVEN WHEN HE WAS A CHILD LIKE HOW? If y'all look at me, I look like a completely different person from when I was a kid. And also there's something about our baby bread that just screams vampire vibes. Like he would totally live in a castle all alone, drinking blood and having foxes as pets.

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undreaming-fanfiction · 1 year

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Pirates of the Caribbean Steddie + Ronance AU

So. I'm aware of the pirate Steddie AU, but what about a Pirates of the Caribbean AU?

Eddie as Captain Eddie Munson who lost his beloved ship, Hellfire, when he refused to carry "human cargo". He needs to repay his debt to Davy Jones, but newsflash - Eddie is actually a good guy and doesn't do shit to collect the souls he owes. He just collects misfits into his crew and tries to prepare for the moment he ends up in Davy Jones's locker. His crew has a lot of kids that lost their parents to the British navy - Dustin lost his dad and he joined the pirate crew to provide for his mom, Erica and Lucas were freed from a slave ship, El was being transported as a part of a circus/freak show...all that and more.

Nancy Wheeler is the daughter of the local British official, Mr. Wheeler. She would prefer to study and travel the world, but her only value lies in being married to a suitable person to expand the connections for her family. Nancy plays her role well and often talks to her assigned match, Steve Harrington, a son of a local wealthy merchant family. She and Steve are childhood friends and actually dated for a while, but it didn't work out, they function better as friends and they know it. They are both resigned to eventually being married, Steve finally having his family off his back and Nancy regaining some freedom in marriage with Steve because she knows he'll allow her to pursue her dreams, as much as possible.

The shitshow starts when Mr. Wheeler reconsiders the marriage and actually agrees to wed Nancy to a young officer from the navy, Jason Carver. Carver is traditionalist, considers Nancy more of a trophy wife and if Nancy thought that lifetime being married to her childhood friend and pretending to be in love would be dishonest, this is way way WAY worse. She and Steve try to plot, they try to figure something out, but Nancy's father forbids them to see each other as it would be improper.

As luck would have it, the pirate ship Hellfire targets their port next. It is well known for its connections to the Royal navy. However, what the pirate Robin Buckley - joined Eddie's crew at fifteen when her parents found her in bed with her music teacher (would be bad as it is, but the teacher was a woman, gasp!) - goes to plunder the house of the wealthy merchants and finds a handsome young man there instead. He tosses all contents of his parents' safe at her, already packed, and informs her that this is all hers if they take him and his friend out of this hellhole. Before Robin can react, Steve climbs the window to Nancy's room, tells her they're joining/being captured by the pirate crew (Nancy just rolls her eyes and says "well, beats marrying Jason fucking Carver") and that's how they end up on Eddie's ship.

Eddie just stares at the two and very guilty-looking Robin. "So. Are you joining us or are we capturing you for ransom?"

Steve returns his gaze and doesn't flinch when Dustin ransacks his very hastily put together sack of clothes. "Whichever allows us to stay longer. Now, shouldn't you set sail? The navy usually reacts by daybreak."

The pirates aren't happy about the newest addition, thinking Steve and Nancy would be a burden, but they soon prove themselves. They disregard their fancy clothes and scrub floors, climb and fulfill their duties without a single complaint. Nancy soaks in all information about navigation and shares what she knows about weather patterns from her studies, back when she was too young to get married and was free to do what she wanted. Steve inspects the crew's weapons and identifies when they could crack, which ones should be better maintained. When they ask him how the hell would a rich boy know this, he just shrugs and says that since his parents were never home, he often stayed with the local blacksmith, Benny, and observed him working. He would have liked to become a smith himself, but of course his parents wouldn't stand for it.

Of course they fall in love. Of course Steve adores the dashing captain with his heart, soaks in adventures, freedom, the new friends, but mostly just Eddie, Eddie who is vilified but always does the right thing. And of course Robin and Nancy fall for each other, finding in each other what their families refused to allow.

And maybe Eddie gets saved by Steve from his fate, moving in front of him when Jason Carver wants to kill him. Maybe Steve has to serve for ten years on the Flying Dutchman, but he'll be fine, because Eddie wants to pay his dues and will serve those ten years with him, no matter what Steve says. And in ten years Steve and Eddie will be free, because if in ten years someone who loves Steve waits for him on the shore, then the curse will be broken, and Robin and Nancy will be there. They will live on the shore, watch the sea every day. And in ten years, there will be a free room in their house for their two friends who didn't age a day, and neither did their love.

#steddie #ronance #stranger things drabble #steddie drabble #ronance drabble #stranger things au #sorry for my absence my sickness took all the will to write from me #so have an au treat #pirate au

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gauntletqueen · 1 year

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That person Nintendo went after was genuinely a very very bad and exploitative scammer, some reblogs on that post go into it in detail including how taking a portion of wages is a standard way to collect fines that cannot be immediately paid in full. I dont feel bad that he received legal action, but considering the total fine is so large he might have his wages taken from for life, I do feel like Nintendo is overreaching to scare others into not trying the same thing. Which I think is a really dumb and dystopian "we have the money to fuck this one guy up real bad so you better not try the same" situation that makes me think less of the company, a company I already disliked.

Bit of a meaningless ask, sorry, just saw a lot of people thinking he was some innocent modder and Nintendo was big and evil and scary, but really Nintendo just really screwed over one bad guy way more than was necessary and it was a gross misuse of power to scare others into not messing with them. No harm meant by this, just wanted to say this to someone, if you feel differently I'd like to hear about it

First off, yes, the story is more nuanced but Nintendo still comes out the villain with how insanely severe the punishment is. Second off, this isn't a single instance, Nintendo has a long and disgusting history of fucking over fans and creators. They are a built-for-profit corporation which does everything in its power to earn more and more each year, no matter what. It has been repeatedly proven that things like piracy and fan games don't really hurt sales, and for Nintendo to crack down on it again and again shows their disregard for the consumers beyond how much money they can extract from us. This should be taken as a harsh reminder of that if nothing else. The same goes for every other corporation, but Nintendo gets away with it the most because people are blinded by nostalgia goggles and the like.

To go more in-depth, Gary Bowser wasn't a "scammer". He ran a company that made pirating hardware for consoles, including the Nintendo Switch. Their products allowed you to run pirated and homebrew software. There wasn't any scamming there, the products functioned as advertised. The problem was that they contained DRM protection, preventing others from copying the software's code. Using an unofficial cartridge would lead to bricking the console, which is definitely hypocritical. It was also faulty and could, unintentionally trigger even in the original cartridges on rare occasions when you messed with settings too much for example. So yes, that is bad, BUT obviously Nintendo doesn't give a shit about that. All they care about is that someone used a Nintendo product or IP in a fashion which they did not ordain, profit or not, and they once again acted with extreme prejudice. It's highly likely that Gary Bowser will never, ever be able to repay the massive debt to Nintendo before his death, especially considering his poor health and age will make it hard for him on the job market in general. And there is no way Nintendo's lawyers didn't realise this, it isn't to recuperate any supposed losses. It is, as you say, a scare tactic, because Nintendo's higher ups care that much more about their money-making products over a human life which they have, effectively, destroyed. Regardless of how good of a person they might be. (all this info regarding the case can be found in the articles in the post I reblogged, and articles linked in the reblogs you mentioned)

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zwy01 · 2 months

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Noble OCs - Loyard

Making five OCs for every clan!

Adaliah Loyard: Pureblood. Alive in the present day, belongs to the Previous Lord’s generation.

Adaliah walks amongst humans. She is mysterious and lurks in the woods as a shadow, only to be seen in places where war has taken place. Adaliah believes that war is inevitable in a strong-eats-weak world and doesn’t interfere with the development of human history as one would simply observe a snake devour a bird in nature. Sad to witness, but neither is in the wrong. The strong shouldn’t be subdued for their power nor should the weak receive aid for being pushed back. That is Adaliah’s philosophy of life. However, she believes that people should be spared of pain when possible. She deals with the direct aftermath of war. Adaliah appears in battlefields after armies leave their gravely wounded behind. She silently walks over to them and communicates with them one by one through projecting her voice inside their heads and reading their minds. She makes herself invisible at all times except to the person she’s directly speaking with. First, she asks them if they still want to live and tells them she’ll save them if they say yes. If they agree, she treats their wounds. Then, she gives them a basket of food and a jug of water and moves onto the next person. If they say no, she uses her noble superpowers to numb their pain and induce them into a deep sleep with the sweetest dreams before sending them off to peace. Finally, she gives them a proper burial and wishes for their eternal freedom from Earth. Adaliah also offers something similar to the terminally ill. The journey of life may be painful, but the destination of death doesn’t have to be. Whether Adaliah does her acts of charity out of love or pity is a mystery. All that matters is she cares for humans. In some human cultures, there’s a myth about a barefooted and cloaked silver-haired goddess of mercy. There are no collective witnesses, yet there are many individual accounts of the same experience. Adaliah’s partner is an unnamed Pyradros.

Yuelin Loyard: Non-pureblood. Entered eternal sleep, belonged to Gejutel’s generation.

Yuelin was a close friend of Lagus. The young and curious Loyard boy met the Tradio Clan Leader when he accidentally stumbled into the off-limits herb garden and got trapped by aggressive plants that recognized him as an intruder. Lagus happened to be nearby and heard faint cries for help. He told his plants to let go of the boy and carried him indoors to treat him with antidotes because the plants had injected him with a poison. Yuelin woke up to Lagus chuckling at him and telling him that he was pretty close to becoming fertilizer. The young boy apologized profusely, bowed, and ran back home. Lagus didn’t think too much and carried on with his business. To his surprise, Yuelin returned the next day and waited outside the garden this time. Somehow, he took a liking to the eccentric Lagus and wanted to be closer to his savior. He was willing to help out as an assistant to repay the debt of a life saved. Curiously, Lagus did not tell the boy to go away and let him tag along. Yuelin spent most of his time with his diplomat parents and visited Lagus whenever he could. The two grew close and created happy memories together. Then tragedy happened. One day, young adult Yuelin was on a diplomatic mission with his parents and some other nobles, and they were ambushed. A werewolf clan that pretended to be friendly lured them into the outside world and slaughtered them. Yuelin survived because he was curious and ran off to explore his surroundings a few moments before bloodshed erupted. When he noticed the chaos, he hid in the bushes and stayed there until the massacre ended. He could only watch the horror with his hands over his mouth. The werewolves left when they thought they had gotten everyone and a very distraught and frightened Yuelin crawled back home alone.

Yuelin returned as a different person. It was as if he underwent a complete personality change. His cheerful and optimistic self had been replaced by a dark and maniacal one. He suddenly gained an obsession with the color red, especially glowing red lights. Perhaps that was his way of dealing with trauma. Turns out when his family and fellow nobles were getting slaughtered, he focused all of his attention on the red lights in the sky from the dead to distract himself from the other screams of agony. Yuelin became fixated on the red lights of dying nobles and that remained unchanged for a lifetime. He still helped Lagus as an assistant, but spent most of his time gathering information on nobles who were about to get executed just so he could be a witness and see more red lights. To him, the death of nobles painted the most grotesquely beautiful scenery and seeing them was the only way to temporarily quell his internal unrest. Yuelin had been living with the Tradio Clan Leader since his return from the disastrous diplomatic trip because he had no other place to call home after his family’s death. The two of them bonded even more after living together, and perhaps something developed between them. Time passed, the men aged, and their friendship flourished. At some point, Lagus embarked on his path to darkness which he kept a secret from his Loyard friend. Somehow, Yuelin knew. He offered himself to Lagus and told him that he wished to die because he had had enough, but wanted to make the last of himself useful. He requested Lagus to absorb him. He also asked Lagus to prolong the process as long as possible because he wanted to see one final show, the red lights his body emitted as it disintegrated. Lagus reluctantly agreed to help out his beloved friend. They exchanged farewells and Lagus initiated the process. Yuelin sighed of relief as he slowly faded away. His last words were “beautiful” and “at last” as he watched his own body disappear. Before Yuelin was euthanized, he may or may not have offered a soul fragment to Lagus for the creation of Claudia.

Dian Loyard: Non-pureblood. Alive in the present day, belongs to Raskreia’s generation.

Dian has an eerie atmosphere to him. He doesn’t talk much and people get the chills when they make eye contact with him. When he walks, it’s as if he’s floating around in his long robes because his incredibly small steps stabilize his balance to the extreme. Dian is the Watcher of the Candles. It’s not an official title or job of any sort. Rather, it’s a description the nobles came up for him to highlight his unusual interests. Dian’s home is massive and has floors above and below ground. No one knows how deep it goes. In his home are endless halls filled with special candles which he regularly patrols and arranges. He lights and extinguishes the candles with his noble powers. The candles are black and the flames burn blue. They all look identical with no writing or carvings of any sort, yet Dian somehow knows which is which. If you randomly switch them up, he can identify each individual one and restore them to their former positions flawlessly. No one knows how he’s capable of such a skill. Dian uses his candles to keep track of all noble lives in Lukedonia. Each candle represents a noble, sort of like a name tag. He adds and lights up a candle for each newborn and said candle will stay ignited for as long as they live. When nobles die, he extinguishes their respective candles but doesn’t remove them from the hall they’re in. The candles of the deceased serve as their figurative graves. Dian’s home never seems to run out of space for new candles. He will keep “records” of Lukedonia’s population until his own death. When he dies, he has a spell set up so his candle extinguishes itself. Dian’s partner is an unnamed Blerster.

Saoirse Jeanne Loyard: Pureblood turned non-pureblood. Entered eternal sleep, belonged to the Previous Lord’s generation.

Saoirse was the older sister of Noel, the father and predecessor of Seira. Her little brother was born when she was teenager. Unlike Noel who was kind, altruistic, and emphatic, Saoirse had none of those qualities. She never really resonated with her parents’ teachings of the importance of protecting humans as nobles. Even though she didn’t, she pretended to agree with them. That was her duty as the heir to her clan. Saoirse was envious and bitter towards Noel just as much as she loved him. Her feelings for him were very complicated and perhaps not enough to capture through mere words. Noel was the unusual non-pureblooded child born to a pureblooded Clan Leader. Their parents loved both of their children equally but even then Saoirse couldn’t help but feel resentful towards her younger brother. Noel’s status as non-pureblood meant that he could never become the successor, and she was jealous of exactly that. Despite being a hard worker, Saoirse felt numb and indifferent towards her responsibility and the expectations Lukedonia had for her. But, she couldn’t relinquish her status as heir either because it would’ve meant voiding her of all of her past efforts. Meanwhile Noel was free to live however he wanted to thanks to the indirect blessing of being born as non-pureblood. Saoirse’s discontent stemmed from two factors. Firstly, Noel shone too brightly. He was everything Saoirse wished she could’ve been but never had. He helped all and gave away pieces of his heart. His dream was to help create a safer world by protecting the weak. Saoirse thought her brother was delusional yet she admired his genuine selflessness. Whenever she was next to him, she felt dull and undignified. She was proud of him and cheered him on yet wished he would give up on his dreams someday as his radiance hurt her. Secondly, Saoirse wished she could be released from her role as heir despite wanting to clutch on simply for the sake of not tossing away centuries of tough grind. Externally, she showed nothing and continued to act as Clan Leader to-be while her internal struggles ate away her happiness piece by piece.

Saoirse’s perceived naivety of Noel only added fuel to the fire because not only could he daydream, he could do it to his heart’s desire without the constraints and responsibilities of a pureblood. Perhaps Saoirse also felt pity for Noel in that he could’ve accomplish more if he were born as a pureblood. Yes his light blinded her, yes she was bitter about him, yet part of her wished to tear off her wings and give them to him because he deserved them more than her. Eventually, Saoirse’s dissonance clouded her judgement and she would go on and make a decision to regret for a lifetime. She visited a mysterious masked Paradiso noble and made a wish to switch places with Noel. She was fully aware of the true nature of the Paradiso’s supernatural wish-granting ability but she committed nonetheless. She specified in her wish that she wanted to give her powers and abilities to her little brother and modify everyone’s memories so no one is aware of this exchange taking place except for herself. Saoirse’s wish was granted and the world’s gears turned at once. History was rewritten, and she became the non-pureblood and Noel became the heir. In hindsight, maybe she should’ve asked for her own memories to be modified as well. She immediately regretted her decision as the switch only made matters worse in reality. Not only did she not feel fulfilled by her newly acquired freedom, she was horrified when she came to her senses and realized the immense burden she had placed on her brother. Now that he’s the future Clan Leader, he’d actually go out of his way and put himself in real danger because he has the power to do so as a pureblood. No no no no, this cannot happen, I was so stupid, she thought. But wishes are irreversible. Saoirse could only wait in anxiety for the worst to come, which is the world counterbalancing the wish itself. It could happen tomorrow or a thousand years later. The uncertainty of the wait itself was a curse. Centuries passed and nothing happened, and though Saoirse knew it was impossible for the counterbalance to not happen, every day she prayed that the world would “forget” about it. Every time she looked at Noel’s face, she was overwhelmed with guilt. Every loving and soft “Sister” he called out was a lance through her heart. She could only sit by and despair. The worst came to be when the world killed Noel through Zarga’s hands. Zarga was merely a catalyst the world borrowed for the clean-up of Noel’s existence. Noel the Clan Leader was never meant to be, and ultimately had to be wiped out to restore the world’s balance. And Saoirse could only blame herself. Following her brother’s death, she would’ve immediately entered eternal sleep out of grief and self-blame, but she had to make up for her grave mistake by taking care of little Seira. That was the last correct decision she could make; she had to do it for him, and his daughter, and herself. Saoirse enters eternal sleep when Seira reaches the age of 200. She never speaks of her secret to anyone. However, her mysterious wish-granter is still alive and knows everything.

Kirsi Vuokko Loyard: Non-pureblood. Alive in the present day, belongs to Raskreia’s generation.

Kirsi likes to build things. She’s not necessarily aiming for anything specific with her creations. She’s more interested in the exploration part that comes with design and construction of ideas. She makes a variety of gadgets but her favorite always has something to do with sharp blades. Perhaps her grandmother Esther Volo had some influence on her. Before Esther entered eternal sleep, she left her extensive scissors collection to her granddaughter because her son found it to be too creepy and didn’t want it. Kirsi seemed like she’d appreciate it, so Granny gifted the goodies to her instead. She can tease her father about it. Kirsi makes excellent torture devices. She thinks of it as an art form. She didn’t start off aiming to design torture devices, though. She just wanted to create something that’d make slicing fruit and blending juice fun. Lo and behold, her talent lands her a job. How lovely. Now her stuff is the standard in dungeons. Kirsi doesn’t get attached to her less successful inventions during trial-and-errors so she tosses them out when she does her decluttering routines. Somehow, one of her prototypes survived and made its way to the human world. It became the inspiration for the guillotine. Kirsi is kind of embarrassed because the humans made a big deal out of one of her unfinished junk DIYs instead of the completed and perfected version of which she has at home. Her partner thinks it’s hilarious and reminds her that she can “correct and enlighten” them with her newer stuff. Kirsi shrugs and says she’s too lazy to do that. The humans can use it to cut each other’s heads off if they want. She uses hers to slice watermelon perfectly. Kirsi’s partner is an unnamed member of Gradeus’ clan.

Thank you for reading! Gradeus’ clan is next!

#noblesse #manhwa #myart #oc #original character #adaliah loyard #dian loyard #yuelin loyard #saoirse jeanne loyard #kirsi vuokko loyard

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knight-dwx-09 · 1 year

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Craving For It

AN: what’s wrong with me?

*Crunch**Crunch*

A faint sound deep in the Library floats the place, haunting the place but nobody seem to notices as they simply do their business.

*Crunch**Crunch*

Jaune lie back against the bookshelf in the back as he let out a low moan, chest slightly bare open but his uniform were still on. He hope no one would come in while they were doing this, if so, it’s going to be bad.

*Crunch**Crunch*

He holds his right hand on the soft hair in front on him and pet it slowly, trying to keep himself from making too much noise.

*Crunch**Crunch*

Looking down to the person on his laps. He watched Ruby hunched a bit onto his chest as her head move up and down as if she was eating something.

After a moment, Ruby stop and looked up, face covered by red substance that was his blood, and mouth puffed a bit filled with flesh of his body.

He just smiled softly and used his right hand and wipe the liquid as best as he can from her cute face.

She leaned into his touch, eyes closed and letting out an adorable noise.

Jaune: Are you done?

As her eyes flutter open, the flesh were swallowed to her insides.

Ruby: Yeah… thank for the help.

He smiled to show he appreciated the gratitude.

Reactive his aura, his body glow in white as all the missing chunks of flesh regenerated in seconds like nothing had happened except he still need to clean some blood.

Ruby turned her head from his eyes, sadness can been seen in hers that didn’t went unnoticed by him.

Jaune: Are you okay?

Ruby: …I’m sorry

He didn’t get what she was saying.

Ruby: It must be painful for you to let me eat you every time I got hungry…

Oh, that’s what bothering her.

Jaune: Don’t worry, I understand that you are still reluctant to eat other human cause I don’t really want to do it too. At least for me, I don’t have that urge like everyone does. So if you want to ask some help, I will be there for you no matter how painful it is.

This cause Ruby to look back in shock but smiled warmly by his kindness. Leaning closer, she planted a quick kiss on his lips and pulled back instantly with red cheeks, embarrassed with what she just did.

Jaune stared wide eyes, dumbfounded by the action from the little red reaper, letting out unrecognized and random voice.

Ruby: I want to pay you back… But I don’t know how to with all the stuff you have done for me… so I will try to relieve your stress in my dorm by using my body…

By now, her face was completely bright red like her cloak as Jaune’s brain had completely crashed.

After they done cleaning, Ruby pulled Jaune toward her dorm to repay her debt.

#jaune arc #rwby #rwby jaune #ruby rose #rwby ruby #rwby lancaster #lancaster #blood #cannibalistic #indicates a bit smut

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karkaday · 9 months

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I've watched the one piece live action and as a looong time fan i have some thoughts™

I think it generally went better than i expected. Two of the main selling points of the original show are the world and the characters. So i was really happy to see that the sets were really well made and with a lot of attention to detail. The crew dynamics were also really fun and mostly similar to canon with few differences that do quite well with the flow of the story

Before watching the show i had some concerns after the trailer with Luffy's "i sense some tension among the crew". I feared that their personalities would be too catered towards one-liners and funny quips but I'm happy with the ones the showrunners decided to add

Obviously the main constraints of the show were money and time (8 episodes are really not enough for the East Blue saga). Detailed review under "Keep reading" (WARNING: contains spoilers for the live action and references to manga events that have been handled differently)

However, i really liked the way they handled Shells Town and Orange Town. Getting Nami into the crew together with Zoro allowed for a more streamlined version of events and a better delivery of emotions for the buggy fight (the scene when Nami sees what remains of Orange Town hits hard when you know what happened to the villages in the Conomi Islands). Buggy being more twisted in the live action was an understandable choice to give us more satisfaction at his defeat

I personally am not a big fan of Syrup Village arc in the manga/anime and (maybe because of that) i liked how the live action turned it into a murder mystery inside the mansion. Maybe it's also because i enjoyed both Usopp and Kaya a whole lot more in the live action, giving them more personality other than them being just the cowardly liar and the frail girl. (Obviously Usopp gets more development later in the manga but he was not very likable in the original Syrup Village arc)

Baratie (my favorite set in the whole live action) has the amazing fight between Mihawk and Zoro and i love how they shot that. However, choosing to skip Don Krieg's fight with the strawhats undermined Sanji's conflict about chasing his dream vs staying with his father Zeff to repay his debt towards him. He kinda joins just because Luffy was the first pirate he saw rather than being hit by Luffy's and Zoro's conviction towards their dreams

I get why they removed the fight (too expensive for little payoff in terms of plot advancement) but in the manga it was one of the first moments where the audience (through Zeff and Sanji) sees that Luffy is not just a goofy guy but that his resolve and his determination can deeply move people

Instead we got Arlong invading Baratie and fighting against Luffy bringing forth one of my biggest complaints about the show: Luffy should have been a much better fighter than that. In the manga he was basically just having fun against Morgan and against Buggy but in the live action he struggled against both which didn't sit well with me. And then he gets beaten handily by Arlong at Baratie, again undermining his fighting skills

The actor for Arlong was really compelling wich was a saving grace because he didn't look that scary with the oversized prosthetic for the head (which was really well made) on top of his regular human body. They should have made his body look bigger with either practical effects or cgi. It doesn't matter how beefy a man can get, manga Arlong is gigantic by human standards and very well built on top of that. One piece characters have crazy proportions and the live action should have taken that into account when they decided to actually make the show

Then we get to Cocoyasi village where (to save time?) the showrunners decided that the people, Nojiko and Genzo in particular, didn't know about Nami's deal with Arlong to save the village. The village pretending to hate Nami because they didn't want to put pressure on her was a really touching moment in the manga and I don't think they should have removed it

I really loved Emily Rudd's performance for the "Help me" moment. It was the peak emotional point of the whole saga and she completely nailed it (even if it was undermined by the lack of Nami's realization that her village had been relying on her the whole time like i said in the previous point)

Now i have to talk about the b plot with the marines. I understand why they decided that Coby was the second main character after Luffy. He feels more like a regular human inserted into a wacky world, allowing the audience to resonate better with him than with Luffy. Personally I'm not a fan of Coby as a character, especially pre-timeskip, but it was nice to follow his and Helmeppo's growth even if they have too much screen time while basically doing nothing of actual substance for the plot.

This leads to my biggest complaint about the live action (and most of the one piece fanbase agrees with me). Whoever decided to change Garp's role and personality in the story has done a great disservice to the show. Having him being the one to lead Roger's execution was immediately a red flag for me and they followed through with the later episodes

He didn't feel neither like a legendary character nor like someone who falls asleep while on the job. By this point in the manga we didn't know who he was (Luffy's grandfather and the hero of the marines), hence why he was allowed to be a gag character without feeling weird. In the live action, his goofiness was reduced to him starting to laugh out of nowhere which felt more alienating than endearing

Then his final scene in the live action was used kind of like a plot twist to show that he was just testing Luffy. Some people would say this redeemed his character but to me it was even more annoying. He was testing Luffy to see if he was ready to be a pirate?! Garp?! (Are they planning to change the climax of the whole pre-timeskip show?!) And he sends Mihawk to do so?

I understand why they revealed him to be Luffy's grandfather in the first season but, if they are planning to make other seasons, what are they planning for the original moment of the revelation? Will Garp pop into the story again for the lore dump with the new designs for Coby and Helmeppo? Or will we follow them again?

All in all i'd say a solid 8/10 which is more than what i expected

#one piece #opla #opla spoilers #long post

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toujokaname · 17 days

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Game master / Episode 18

Author: Akira

Characters: Hiiro, HiMERU, Aira, Kohaku

"As Nii-san's little brother, that is Hiiro Amagi's honest opinion. His deduction."

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Season: Winter

Location: Amagi's House

Hiiro: Fumu. But a farewell gift, huh?

In that case, the "culprit" that HiMERU-san mentioned earlier would be—

Could it be you're talking about Nii-san?

HiMERU: How did you come to that conclusion?

Hiiro: For Nii-san, the female AkanP is the producer that shared his hardships during his solo career. He feels indebted to her, and given Nii-san's character, he hopes to return the favor.

Aira: Is he really that dutiful? Doesn't he seem like he'd just laugh off and skip out on debts?

He treated his adorable little brother, Hiro-kun, so roughly after he worried and cared for him. In other words, he's ungrateful and shameless.

Hiiro: That's not true. Nii-san has gotten so twisted that it's hard to read his true intentions, but I don't think he'd repay kindness with betrayal.

Rather, the gratitude I've repaid is nowhere near enough for the kindness and affection I've received from Nii-san all along.

I've come to think that recently. No, I was convinced of it that summer.

So even now, I still love Nii-san.

And never again will I think of Nii-san as a despicable traitor who abandoned his hometown and me.

HiMERU: .........

Hiiro: In the past, Nii-san was a monarch. Born and raised for that purpose.

However, he rebelled against that destiny and ran away from his hometown.

He didn't want to be a monarch who devoted himself to his people, he wanted to be something much different.

Aira: And what was that?

Hiiro: In that summer, amidst that sweltering heat... No, even from a long time ago, Nii-san has been asserting it with his entire being.

"I want to become an idol."

Aira: .........

Hiiro: Before, I didn't fully understand what that meant.

I didn't know what being an idol was yet.

Aira: Ahaha. At that time, Hiro-kun kept on asking the same question.

—"What is an idol?"

Do you understand a little better now?

Hiiro: A little, yeah. Thanks to Aira, Tatsumi-senpai, Mayoi-senpai, and everyone else who taught me.

An idol is someone who makes others smile, brings happiness to them.

And in doing so, they find their own smiles and happiness.

They're like monarchs, but different. It's much more personal, intimate, human...

Ahh, it's hard to express, but it's something truly precious that sparkles even brighter.

That's what I think now.

That's what I've found to be the "correct answer."

And so, Nii-san is trying to become the idol he dreamed of. For the sake of becoming an idol, maybe even now—he's trying to make someone smile.

Because by doing so, he can smile too.

As Nii-san's little brother, that is Hiiro Amagi's honest opinion. His deduction.

HiMERU: —Is that so? Generally speaking, HiMERU has no objections.

Rinne, who appears to be the culprit, mastermind, and instigator behind these recent events, is up to yet another scheme. As usual.

However, it is not so contradictory to HiMERU's pursuit of becoming a perfect idol, one could surmise.

HiMERU: Because both Rinne and HiMERU are idols.

It was because of that commonality that HiMERU ended up getting involved with such a rotten scoundrel, a situation that wouldn't have occurred otherwise.

That's why we're walking the same path.

Kohaku: Yeah. We're all buzzin' around together, flyin' under the same sky.

It's annoyin' and unpleasant, but surely, we'll reach the same destination.

Aira: Ermm... Sorry to interrupt when you seem so pleased, but I'm not following the conversation at all...?

So what does it all mean? We know that Rinne-senpai seems to be up to something shady, but ultimately, what's he after? What's he doing?

HiMERU: Regarding that point, if you look at the big picture, you can somewhat infer it.

Instead of fixating on the equation, look at the solution. What phenomenon occurred as a result of Rinne's actions in this instance?

Take a look at the result, Shiratori.

Aira: Ummm, the result is that we got forced into this weird showdown...?

HiMERU: That's also part of the process. What do you suppose came out of that showdown? No, rather, what's happening now?

Aira: Uh, well, we're going through some scary stuff in this backward village...?

HiMERU: Yes, that's the current result, the answer. We came to this Amagi Village as part of our idol activities, within the context of Matrix.

Aira: Um, so Rinne-senpai's goal was that? Putting cameras in his hometown...?

HiMERU: At this stage, that seems like a reasonable assumption. Although the purpose of that action is still unclear.

HiMERU isn't sure how those strange figures, the two AkanPs, are related, either.

Hiiro: I've had some thoughts on that point. But I kept going "I wonder if it really is like that"—you know?

Back when I was in my hometown, I picked up on some rumors.

HiMERU: ...? Could you please elaborate?

Kohaku: Well, if we just wait it out, I reckon eventually Rinne-han'll come and explain everythin'.

He pulled the same stunt at the first match's wrap party. That troublemaker just loves gleefully braggin' 'bout his misdeeds; it's his reason for livin'.

[ ☆ ]

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#akira #event story #matrix #hiiro #himeru #aira #kohaku

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swaps55 · 1 year

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ooh I'm gonna need that moonlit walk one stat <3

WIP Tag meme

So, Sam and Kaidan's moonlit walk-and talk where Sam talks about his dad was the first part of Your Mess Is Mine to exist, and it was written eons before the rest of the story. And when I wrote it, I doodled this first kiss AU, because...well, I wanted to, lol, but when the rest of the story got written, I thought Let the Walls Cave In was stronger, so this one got stuck in a drawer.

I liked it enough, though, that I held onto it.

Shepard taps the branch with his fingers. “He wanted to take me to Earth. Show me where humanity came from. I wasn’t interested. Couldn’t understand why he wanted to look back when everything was out there.” He gestures up at the sky. “So we never went. There was so much he wanted to teach me, and I blew him off because he worked a desk job while my mom flew a starship, and what could I possibly learn from him?”

The bitterness in his voice cuts like a knife. He scrubs the back of his hand across the corner of his eye.

“I always saw him as an anchor. I wanted to be like my mother, not like him. My mother was the hero, the person everyone looked up to and respected. Including me. Took me too long to realize that respect and love were two very different things.”

“She’s your mother. It’s not something you should have had to learn from her.”

He shakes his head. “She’s not my mother. She’s a superior officer. Always has been, and nothing I do will ever change it. It took losing my father to figure that out. I was so stupid.”

“No, you weren’t,” Kaidan insists. “You were a kid.”

Shepard huffs. “I thought so much of her, and so little of him. Until Anderson gave me a copy of his service record after he disappeared. I’d never even thought to look at it before. Do you know what I found?”

Kaidan shakes his head, heart aching.

“He was N1. He and Anderson did ICT together. His proficiency scores were better than Anderson’s. He had an invitation to go back to the Villa for N2.”

“Why didn’t he take it?”

“Because of me,” Shepard says, voice breaking. “He gave up spec ops and requested a posting on Arcturus to raise me. I took that from him.”

“Doesn’t sound to me like you took anything. He chose you.”

And your mother didn’t.

“And look how I repaid him.”

Kaidan takes a step closer. Their biotic fields mingle with a hum. “I’m willing to bet he didn’t see it as a debt.”

“I guess I’ll never know, will I?”

And you’ve spent over ten years trying to repay it anyway, haven’t you? To Shepard, everything comes down to what pieces of himself he can carve off for others. How, why, can’t he see himself as anything other than a transaction?

Shepard turns away to head back towards the path, but Kaidan reaches out and grabs for his hand. Later, he’ll think about how seamlessly their fingers lace, like they’ve done it their whole lives instead of for the first time. But now, there’s no time to think. He pulls Shepard to him, hooks his other hand around Shepard’s neck and kisses him.

It’s easy. Effortless. Just like breathing. Not something he has to think about, control, figure out. His lips on Shepard’s just is, soft and warm and full of hope, like some crucial missing part of him has just snapped into place.

When they part, Shepard blinks, an almost curious look in his eyes. Curious, but not surprised, not dismayed, even though Kaidan’s heart is beating so loud Shepard has to hear it. Kaidan doesn’t let go of his hand and still cups the back of his neck, and Shepard doesn’t pull away.

“I wish you could see yourself the way I see you,” Kaidan murmurs.

Shepard searches his face some more, like he’s looking at Kaidan for the first time, before reaching up with the hand not clasped in Kaidan’s to stroke his cheek, curiosity melting into wonder.

“What do you see?” he asks, voice soft.

The answer falls out of his mouth before his brain has time to think about it. “Infinity.”

Shepard’s thumb strokes his jaw, and then nothing else matters because Shepard kisses him back.

#swaps replies #cronusamporaofficial #mememe #meme replies #snippet

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silver-manticore · 2 years

Text

Part 1

The curse had been broken, the spell undone. The ugliest man alive re-emerging as not a man, but Elf. An Elven mage in search of Cirilla as were we, before the Hunt could catch up to her.

My short time in knowing Ciri from her times at the inn, as well as saving my life had made me committed to repaying my debts to the Ashen-haired woman, as well as our brief romantic trist...I had been found by Geralt, whom had familiar silver hair, piercing eyes, and a similar medallion to my dear friend, I practically begged him to allow me to tag along with him. In our first encounter he declined, in our second I inquired if he knew a female witcher with beautiful green eyes... and from then on he was interested in having me go along with him on his quest, after some time on the path with Geralt, he came to be in possession of a strange looking creature only referred to as "Uma".

Upon my first meeting with Uma, I saw him to be a sweet and innocent creature. The journey back to Kaer Mohren was a long and arduous one, thus we took breaks as needed and aided locals, while Geralt handled the monsters with his silver blade, I would assist at a safer distance with the crossbow. It helped that I was a practical medic for the Witcher as well as a decent cook, he seemed less regretful that he was bringing me along for those reasons.

It was fortunate that we both liked to be hygienic as well, I was given the opportunity for frequent baths and warm cots to sleep upon, though often I would be sharing the room with a snoring Witcher and the staring Uma. Often this creature looked at me, sometimes with a dopey smile and other times I saw a glimmer of something else in his gaze, as if he had become a different person altogether. During the nights which I was curled up comfortably on the second bed, which I thankfully slept alone on, I would catch Uma looking at my form laying in bed...I was at first a little creeped out by the behaviour, but I took it as him being unaware that it was rude, I honestly was too weak in the heart to scold him for he had suffered greatly as well as being jeered at while on the path. I would often keep him on my horse Mellon to relieve Geralt's mare Roach from the added weight of two, as my Stallion was well adept to handle much more with his age and muscle double that of the young horse.

Uma was an innocent creature in my eyes, thus I felt no shame in bathing the poor thing, though he seemed a little sad when being helped, I realized why this was as Geralt told me it was someone under a terrible curse - of course he only told me this after I had bathed alongside the being, thinking he was merely a child-like monster. I nearly shrieked down the tavern in embarrassment of showing every inch of my naked body to another human, not knowing any better.

It took weeks to get to Kaer Mohren and I had taken a liking to Uma, despite knowing that he was a cursed man. He listened to me better than he obeyed Geralt, and I couldn't help my bleeding heart for caring about him after I heard how Uma had been treated at the Bloody Baron's place, so, I took to holding his hand to make sure he wouldn't run off and get hurt again - it was a practice that I had become so used to, like I was to the presence of both Uma and Geralt on our journey.

(Present)

I was saddened to see Uma get carried away by the Witchers, I felt like a worried mother when his large eyes looked and me, blinked, then smiled before being led to the laboratory to have his spell broken by Yennifer of Vengerberg, Geralt, and the old witcher master, Vesemir. I practically begged Geralt to allow me to be present in the grand hall. He knew better than anyone how attached I had become to the creature and simply grumbled;

" (y/n), it's not going to be a pretty sight...don't interfere. No matter how much Uma seems to be in pain. He could die if anything goes wrong, especially from someone trying to help, understand?"

I nodded and promised that I would leave it all in Geralt's hands now.

Fortunately there were things I could help out with, such as helping to mop the floors clean with the boys after they scrubbed it down.

Yennifer: I shall also need wiping down.

Eskle glanced between myself and Geralt, he looked uneasy with the cloth in between his large callused hands, gently I pulled the cloth from his fingers as he protested to Yen.

E: "Maybe Geralt oughta- oh thanks (y/n)"

Y: "I shan't bite either of you two, and I would rather not reek of vomit anymore."

I hummed in agreement and helped the Sorceress by gently wiping off the sludge against her lovely black coat, after this I elected myself to stand with Geralt and Yen, dabbing a sweet scented cloth to Yennifer's forehead as she perspired from keeping the spell active for hours. The scented cloth and the perfume pouch attached to my hip masked the smell of Uma's vomit, with the smell of wild strawberries and Roses.

Geralt: Well, it doesn't smell horrible anymore, but I think the scent is putting Yen to sleep.

Yen: I'm just...resting my eyes Geralt.

Geralt bemusedly gave me a look of "sure" before he snarkily replied "That's called Sleeping."

She only sighed and glanced between my now smiling face and Geralt's slightly amused, mostly concerned expression.

"Well, do either of you have a method of keeping me awake, perhaps telling me a story, Geralt, (y/n)?"

We two thought for a moment before I glanced at Yennifer again.

"Would you like to hear the story of how I met Ciri?"

Geralt: We've already heard that one though?

(Y/N): Yes yes, the factual version that told you where she was heading, but not the full story with all the unnecessary details you hadn't the time to hear.

Yen: Well, then tell us now

I regaled to them the tale of Johann, what's his name, and his satchel of coins I was sure were a bundle of rocks. With fists flying askew and during my time of danger being rescued by the Ashen-haired woman we all sought to save now.

Geralt: "Well- now that's a story. A really interesting one too"

He chuckled a bit thinking of the tavern the way I had so vividly described it in my tale.

Yen: One question though, what were you doing in that tavern in the first place (y/n)?

I paused for a moment before sighing softly,

"Well...I was to meet someone in that tavern, but they never showed up - my former financial backer who just up and vanished one day. Thanks to Ciri I didn't go empty handed at least, I got five new Gwent decks that day."

Geralt seemed to be mulling over his question before asking "Know what happened to the guy?"

I simply shrugged "maybe he got in with the wrong crowd in Novigrad? He was worth a lot of money, so it's fair to assume he had a lot of enemies."

Yen: You two chit-chatting is putting me to sleep again-

Geralt: "Then how about another story, ever heard about the time I took Ciri ice skating?"

###

I bit my lip in anxiety and fear, watching Uma endure this painful ritual, even leaping to my feet during the last part wherein Uma screamed out in pain, to which Geralt let out a bark at me to "not come any closer!" Reluctantly causing me to sit and watch this torturous ordeal...until it finally happened, Uma began to glow and in place of the Uma I came to love, was a Elven man I did not know. With Ashen-Blonde hair and deep, penetrating gaze, ones that gave me a slight shiver to lock eyes with.

His voice was deep and melodic, as he was weakened and laying on the wooden table. Without another thought I took out my sheepskin canteen and rushed over as soon as the Elf finished speaking, putting it to his pink and lush lips.

"Drink" I said in almost a hoarse whisper to the man, his clouded gaze looking up at me for a few moments, before his hand came up, laid upon my own on the bottle - and he gulped it down with haste, the ritual dehydrating and exhausting him. He soon fell back unconscious and Yennifer who looked thoroughly exhausted was still stabilizing the incantations over him.

Y: "If only you were a Witch's apprentice (y/n), I could relieve my ever aching arms."

"Oh- I'm sorry Yennifer..."

Y: "Well, I can test your affinity to magic later. If you're still up to it, I'd appreciate you sticking around as my assistant while I try to fix the damage the trials have done to him."

She nodded gently towards the man Geralt said "was no friend of his", the Elven Sage Avallac'h.

Geralt glanced over to where I was and then to Yennifer.

"I could use her on path Yen, I'm supposed to be gathering allies, she has a knack for getting people to do what she wants..."

I looked between Yen and Geralt as they each had the expression of "she's going with me", which of course put me in a tough spot.

Vesemir spoke up to save me from their bantering with simply "Enough both of you, whatever decision she makes is her own. Whether she goes on the path with Wolf, or stays here with us, it's her choice to make, not yours."

I felt like a deer in the middle of the road, darting to and fro to escape two predators both on either ends of the path, one a white wolf, the other a black bear. I simply inhaled and stated my answer, weighing the options of staying and caring for Avallac'h or going to save Ciri with Geralt.

"I know I came here to save Ciri, but I feel like I'd only get in your way Geralt. I'll give you letters though, to my allies that owe me favours, they'll join you with my written words alone. I'll help prepare the welcome party from here."

I really did want to go, but I knew I wasn't strong enough to take on the wild hunt, not yet at least and…inside, I felt a twinge of fear, a dark voice in the back of my mind whispering:

'what if Ciri doesn't want to see us, she's busy trying to run for her life…remembering us is but an afterthought.'

Geralt nodded slowly, getting used to the idea, but he did look a little sad about it. Maybe he too had gotten used to having company while travelling afar, but he also knew that taking a young girl with him while the wild hunt grew ever closer - may prove difficult. Protecting both Ciri and the lass could be fatal, thus Geralt resigned to the choice made by his one time travelling companion.

Yen: Well, that settles it. Come my assistant, help me to get Avallac'h to drink more fluids as you did before. Then you can go ahead and write to your heart's content so Geralt can go on his way.

Geralt: When you're ready, I'll be waiting near the main entrance.

I nodded to both Geralt and Yennifer, then taking up another canteen of water, carefully went over to the Elven man, he was what was called an Aen Saevherne, what the Aen Elle called Mages. I knew this only from the stories my mother spoke of, regarding the Elves, she was of course the most knowledgeable person I knew concerning that topic. Gently I brushed his soft locks away from his face, causing his baby blue eyes to flutter open.

Softly I spoke to him. "Hello again, if you'd be so kind as to drink some more water, I'd appreciate it." There I held the lip of the bottle close to his, though this time around his eyes narrowed slightly, perhaps uneasy with my warm and friendly exterior - perhaps he did not remember me...the others did say he sustained brain trauma, though they were unsure how bad the damage truly was.

To ease Avallac'h's distrust, I took a swig out of the canteen, gulping down one mouthful of fresh mountain water before looking back down at him.

"See? Not harmful Avallac'h. Will you trust me on this?"

He hoarsely whispered something to which I came closer, placing my ear very close to his lips to hear him utter "fine..."

I just nodded and pressed the bottle to his lips, his hand touching over mine like before, yet with a small grip to his hold, and he drank his fill, simply moving his head to indicate where he was finished with it.

With the Help of Lambert and Eskel, the weak Elven sage was transported to one of the rooms within Kaer Morhen for further treatment and recuperation while the work on the Witcher fortress continued. My duties had also increased, but not by much. I had volunteered to cook and assist Yennifer with treatment of Avallac'h, which came as a relief to the Three remaining Witchers, though I had not known of it at the time until they expressed it when Yennifer let me go to the mess hall to eat and rest.

"Thanks (y/n)"

I was surprised for just a moment as I looked up to see Eskel, taking a seat across from me.

"For what my dear Eskel?"

At the term 'my dear' I had the utmost pleasure of seeing the Witcher look flustered, almost a shy look on his well-worn features and rugged face.

"Ah…well…I -"

"He's trying to say thanks from freeing us from being Madam Sorceress' personal slaves."

Chimed in an enthusiastic Lambert, who walked in with a few bottles of ale into the main hall. Eskel huffed a sigh and sat down finally and I could only smile between the two dark-haired men.

"Is that so? Well, you're quite welcome Eskel."

I mused at his little smile and the way Lambert was eyeing us, as I took a bite from my sandwich filled with delicious wild mushrooms, sweet peppers, and some slices of cheese melted down into a delectable substance between the toasted bread.

"Though- I don't see why it's so horrible working for Yennifer. She's definitely…strict, but she does have manners- at times."

Lambert: "Just wait till she gets the idea she's going easy on you, she'll have you hunting forktails and getting her potion ingredients next."

#sage and strawberries #witcher 3 fanfic #witcher fanfiction #chapter 1 #eskel #lambert #geralt #yennifer #witcher 3 spoilers #avallac'h #reader #ciri #reader x ciri #Avallac'h x reader #Eskle x reader

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banchuuya · 1 year

Note

oh you want Ango thoughts? I'll give you Ango thoughts. hope you're okay with pain and suffering though because ohoghhgh, this man is filled with SO much pain and suffering

so basically. Ango is a fundamentally tragic character, and the tragedies mainly lie within his perceived self-contradictions. he hates everything he does the most. he hates all-nighters but forces himself to pull them anyway. he hates working overtime but does it anyway. he hates working in general actually but he can't let himself stop working because it would give room for the human parts of him to start living again and he can't have that. he deeply cares about human lives but is forced, again and again, to be in a position where he has to treat them objectively and impersonally. he never wanted to befriend Dazai and Oda, but he did, and he got attached, and then he lost them both in one fell swoop. he blames himself even though he was in a position where he couldn't do anything else. he had no choice. he tried his best to save Oda but his job demanded too much of him and he has so little left to give (he's given all he had already). deep down inside he wants to save lives and he'll give himself up a hundred times over for that cause. he wants to believe that it's all worth it but it's so hard. he wants to bury himself in the past because he can't see a future for himself. he doesn't think he even deserves a future after all he's done. he wishes Dazai had shot him. he wishes Chuuya had strangled him. he thinks it's what he deserves. he's willing to throw his life away to repay his debts. he doesn't know what he's working toward, so he throws himself into his work to avoid thinking about that. if he never clocks out, he never has to clock in, and if he never clocks out, he never has to spend time with himself and the ghosts hovering within his shadow. if never clocks out, the gears in the darker recesses of his mind won't have a chance to start turning. if he never stops reading memories, if he never stops burying himself in mementos of times long past, if he never lets his ability shut off, if he never stops standing behind the camera and clicking the shutter on the narrative, he won't have to think about the gaping void of his future and the murky gray of his present and the unpleasant reality of being. he sees himself as an instrument more than a person, as a means to an end. orders don't make him who he is but he would do anything he's told to do if he believes it's right. he's trying desperately to hold onto a sepia-toned past to avoid the full spectrum of reality. he's stuck in a loop of endless self-hatred. every single one of his transgressions flash through his mind as an unending film reel, and the discarded footage winds its way through the wrinkles of his brain like creeping vines, like a spreading infection, like rivulets of decay. he blames himself for each and every snapshot of sin. he's merely a tool with little control over his actions, and he realizes that, but the one thing he can control is the camera's perspective. the guilt is stifling him. he doesn't know where he'd be without it. he believes his life is worth less than other people's. he hates himself. he's constantly punishing himself. he knows his conceptions of himself are contradictory, but he can't imagine a different way of living. he doesn't want to imagine a different way of living. he wants to drown in his work but is finding that he's learning how to breathe underwater. he wants to control the narrative but can only control the way it's framed. he wants to think it's enough. it isn't. it'll never be enough. it's already too much. it's both. it's neither

YESSSSSSSSSS I love this so much thank you thank you 😮‍💨😭

this is so beautifully written you couldn't have said it any better

#hi ech #asks #ango hcs #yes yes yes i agree w this smmmm

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shadowsshowdown · 7 months

Text

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Shadow’s Showdown 64

The Secret Room.

Detroit. Connor's flat.

When Laura opened her eyes, she saw Connor sleeping next to her. Her first instinct was to wake him up but after a moment's thought, she withdrew her hand. Surely he would flood her with apologies and explanations as to why he was here and not on the sofa. Besides, after everything that had happened recently, he should get as much rest as possible. She owed him that, although the debt owed by her had become too great to ever repay.

Slowly she disentangled herself from under the duvet, sat on the edge of the bed and slipped her bare feet into her slippers. After leaning her hand on the nightstand and standing up, she glanced at Dale to check if he was still asleep, then hobbled to the bathroom, soon after, to the kitchen.

"You should be in bed, not here," maybe a quarter of an hour had passed when she heard a still slightly sleepy voice behind her. "I can't lie in bed forever. I wanted to make breakfast," she replied, closing the fridge door. "Besides, we're going to Rupert's today anyway so I should remind myself how to walk."

Connor let the air out loudly through his nose and went to the bathroom. When he returned, Laura was just moving an omelette from the pan onto a plate.

"I don't know if you like omelette but…" "Why are you still scared of me?" he asked, pushing back his chair.

Laura blinked. Standing for a long moment, with the pan in her hand, she wondered why he asked that question and what to answer.

"For a long time I lived in confinement, and Damien caused me terrible fear and punished me severely when I did something against his will. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to forget." "I'm not Damien but Connor or if you prefer, Dale. So you don't have to be afraid of me. Besides, I like omelettes, although I liked the Lemon-Lime Cherry Pie best."

The woman smiled slightly, though the memory itself was very painful.

"That night I was afraid not only for Joe but also for you," she said, sitting down opposite him. "About me?" he asked surprised, holding up a fork with a piece of omelette impaled on it. "Yes," she said, slowly nodding her head. "We didn't talk for very long then, but you fell into my memory. I had hoped we would meet again, however, the fire changed everything." "Apparently destiny listened to your request even more than you expected." "I'm very happy about that, very happy indeed," she replied looking into his eyes. If he hadn't admitted he was an aug she probably never would have guessed. Joe's cybernetic eyes, apart from being violet, were immediately distinguishable from real ones. She had always associated them with a camera lens. Connor's eyes looked ordinary; she couldn't see anything unnatural in them. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he muttered, sipping tea from a dark grey mug. "Your eyes are…ordinary," she replied. "Ordinary?" he asked, wrinkling his brow. “What should they be like then?” "The cyber ones are instantly recognisable." Dale sighed. "We'll talk about it some other time. We should be leaving soon."

Laura was troubled by his behaviour. He suddenly started avoiding the subject even though it didn't touch on the overly personal areas of his life. At least that's how it seemed to her. The woman stood up and took the plates. She wanted to put everything in the dishwasher, but Connor told her to leave the cleaning for later so she obediently left the kitchen with him. Dale’s behaviour seemed odd according to his usual meticulousness.

They separated in the hallway. The man walked right down the long corridor, on the way taking his car keys from a crystal bowl standing on a low cabinet against the wall on the left. He slipped them into his right jacket pocket. Dale looked in the mirror, noting with displeasure that an unruly strand of hair was falling across his forehead. He took a comb from the same jacket pocket and tried to tame the strand of hair. He didn't notice the keys, which were now lying on the carpet completely as if they didn't want to be found. Laura stood for a moment looking at his being thorough with a mixture of admiration and horror, then marched off to the bedroom.

"I'm going to the garage to get the car," he announced from the hallway when he decided the strand would not obey him for anything in the world. "Be ready," he added as he finished tying his black leather boots, put on a graphite jacket and then a Beanie cap. "Connor, wait…" Laura moved from the bedroom to the hallway wanting to stop him but the piercing pain slowed her down just enough for the man to close the door behind him. All she heard was a quiet squeal as he validated the code.

She sighed resignedly and trotted down the narrow corridor towards the bedroom, passing the bathroom, and kitchen on her left and the living room on her right. She wanted to look for something to wear, but her attention was momentarily caught by the ajar door to the room at the end of the hall. The distance of a few steps suddenly stretched into something incredibly distant. The forbidden door tempted even more than usual today. Her knowledge of this secret room boiled down to the fact that Connor usually slept there on the sofa although she insisted he would rest better in bed. He never mentioned it, but she had a feeling it was the only place she couldn't walk into. She called it his cave where he hid when he needed solitude. After a short peek backwards at the front door, she slowly moved towards her destination. As she placed her hand on the cool doorknob, she felt her heart beating faster and faster with fear and emotion.

The room was not large, being in the shape of a horizontally arranged L letter. Judging by the furniture, it was an office. To the right of the entrance was a desk made of dark wood, probably beech, with an armchair by it, upholstered in dark grey fabric. Two bookshelves stood against the wall. Laura looked to the left at the sofa and the perfectly stacked bedding on it. Against the opposite wall stood a low, long cupboard. Lying on it were several books about hacking, and next to them stood a crystal vase. Laura picked it up smiling to herself. We had a similar one at home, she thought. She was about to drop it when a white panel on the wall began to lift revealing a large screen, which after a moment turned on showing the login screen.

"Welcome Agent Cooper. Please enter your password."

She stood staring at the blue writing on the screen and the blinking cursor, still holding the damn vase in her hand. For a moment she was tempted to try and guess the password but Connor would surely find out. If he was so protective of the room, she suspected he made sure about the security of all communication devices. One question was vivid in her mind; Who could he talk to? The only person who came to mind was Damien. Laura shook her head, wanting to get rid of that thought. It was most likely that Dale was talking to Pritchard about company matters, and sending important information required the highest possible level of security. Especially now after the attack. Having put the vase back in its place, she looked at the laptop left on the desk but did not dare even touch it. Leaving the room she heard the click of the lock as the panel covered the screen. She had time to return to the bedroom and open the top drawer of the dresser when she heard Connor's voice from the corridor.

"I'm a butterfingers. I lost my car keys. They must have fallen out of my pocket," he announced as he looked around for his loss.

Laura felt her whole body paralysed with nervousness. She had barely avoided making a huge mistake. Through carelessness and excessive curiosity, she could have been caught rummaging through his private space.

"Still not ready?" he muttered, seeing her searching through her clothes. "Sorry! Wounds don't make things any easier," she replied taking out navy blue jeans and a woollen beige jumper. "Idiot of me," he sighed. "I should help you." "No need," she protested. I’ve got everything under control. If I'm careful I can do it painless." She lied, of course. While getting dressed, his help would be most useful. Although Connor had probably seen many incompletely dressed girls in his life, she couldn't get over her embarrassment and the thought didn't help her at all. "I won't insist, but you've known me long enough to know that I'd take care of your comfort and certainly not stare like some horny simpleton. Besides, if memory serves me right I've seen you without a blouse before." "Go now or we'll be late," she urged him. The man laughed, nodded and left. After a quarter of an hour or so, Laura managed to finish the uneven struggle with her clothes and her hair, which refused to obey her will. Connor returned when she tried to tie her shoelaces so, despite her protests, he helped her.

"You'd better put your cap on. It's cold outside," he suggested.

They didn't have time to argue now, so she listened to his advice and took a blue Bobble hat. Soon they found themselves in a street full of passers-by marching back and forth, muffled in winter coats and jackets. "Where did you park?" she asked, looking around and trying to guess which car belonged to Connor. "Here," he replied, pointing ahead. "An Aston Martin DB5? No kidding," she muttered, wrapping her hands together on her chest. "A car like that costs a fortune." "The price was a bargain. I advise you to leave your thoughts for later."

Dale opened the door for her and helped with get in the silver car.

"By the way, from where do you have such a good knowledge of cars?" he asked while fastening his seatbelt. "About this particular one yes. Joe and I have watched all the James Bond films a dozen times each." "Well, yes, that explains everything," he replied, correcting the cab mirror and starting the engine.

The car slowly moved, flashing its right indicator. Connor turned on the radio to somehow kill the silence. He didn't want to forcefully start a conversation, that was never good.

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In life, in love, this time I can't afford to lose For one, for all, I'll do what I have to do You can't understand, it's all part of the plan Broken pieces of the night Sing like hollow lullabies You and I, always in disguises

Laura listened, gazing at the changing world beyond the glass, which was slowly being covered in a milky white layer of vapour.

Lover, hunter, friend and enemy You will always be every one of these

She knew these words by heart. They were engraved in her mind in capital letters. Damien, with his scheming, had led her to hate Joe. He had then become her worst enemy, a nightmare and a hunter wanting her to become his trophy. To this day, she still couldn't forgive herself for how she had treated him. She had hoped they would talk, scratch and heal old wounds, that something would end and something would begin. Unfortunately, she couldn't foresee Joe would die. The car stopped at the traffic lights. The indicator ticking quietly and rhythmically expressed the driver's desire to turn left. The time she spent thinking passed so quickly that she didn't notice when Connor parked outside Rupert's house. It was a good thing that when she gave him the address he knew immediately where it was otherwise, knowing her orientation in the area, they would have been wandering around Detroit until the evening. As usual, they hadn't time to press the doorbell and already Demelza had opened the door, inviting them inside with a broad smile.

"You look awful," she said, looking at the woman. "You've gotten terribly thin, but after my dinner and dessert you'll gain strength." "You really don't need to," she protested. "We're not staying for…" "Nonsense!" she interrupted her. "And don't you worry about the vase," she turned to Connor. "What vas…" he wanted to ask, but a bumped object interrupted him mid-sentence. "Exactly with this," Demelza muttered wrinkling her eyebrows. "Unbelievable," she said to herself as she saw Dale deftly catch the vase before it shattered on the floor. "Rupert is waiting in the study," she turned to Laura. "I'll take care of your friend."

Dale felt fear overpower him as if Demelza possessed supernatural abilities. He had the feeling that she was reading him like an open book and none of his secrets were safe anymore. The feeling grew when Laura disappeared behind the study door and he was invited into the living room.

"Make yourself at home," the hostess said kindly. Connor found it really hard to believe she could have been a witch from children's stories. He had an equally hard time deciding to soil the carpet with his dirty shoes. He wanted to take them off, but Demelza firmly protested, thus subjecting him to the torture. The green carpet was decorated with a grid embroidered with gold thread, and its cleanliness was something almost sacred to Connor. However, when he crossed the threshold of the living room, all his fears disappeared. He felt as if he had stepped into another dimension. He walked past the antique oak table straight to the piano standing against the wall.

"Rupert liked to play it but it has been standing forgotten for a long time. It probably needs to be tuned to bring it back to its former glory," you could hear the sadness and longing in Demelza's voice for something that was long gone. "I can give it a try," he offered while looking at the instrument. "I know a thing or two about it."

"You're very welcome. Even if you damaged it nothing bad would happen," she assured him. "Now if you'll excuse me for a moment, I have to take care of dinner. If you need anything I'll be in the kitchen. It's right over there almost in front of this room." "Thank you, that's very kind of you," he said. "Spare yourself the courtesy. You are among friends." the woman waved her hand carelessly, bestowing a motherly smile on him. "And do not, under any circumstances, enter the study. Rupert dislikes it very much." "I'm not going to disturb them unless I'm needed for something," he replied.

Oppressed with remorse, triggered by an analysis of the tone of his statement, he wanted to apologise to Demelza, but the woman had already gone. Dale closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them his gaze wandered to the left towards a bookcase filled with books. He slowly walked over to it and, reaching for one of the books full of disappointment, found that it was written in a language he didn't understand at all.

"I think it's Gaelic," he muttered to himself putting the book back in its place.

Connor went back to the piano and looked at it more closely. It was probably made of hornbeam and had no ornamentation, so he judged it had more sentimental value. He carefully lifted the keyboard cover and extracted a few sounds from the instrument. To his amazement, they were exceptionally pure, perhaps not so pure as to convey the nobility of classical music, but for killing time while waiting for Laura to return, they were enough. Having sat down on a low stool upholstered in cherry leather, which creaked quietly when he moved in search of a comfortable position for his body, he began to recall a melody from memory. His fingers themselves pointed the way, which he followed without hesitation.

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Search for your love...

You have always been shining so brightly Your smiling face is just like a tiny star I have been treasuring it (Eternal starlight) On that day I could not come and protect you I just held my tears of regret inside I am still feeling the pain (I won't forget you, sweetheart)

Laura did not know how she should behave. Immediately after closing the study door, she was overwhelmed with doubts that coming here had been a mistake. Rupert sat behind his desk pretending to be busy filling out paperwork, but not even the slightest twitch escaped his attention. He could read everything from the woman's body language. The restless looking around, the nervous intertwining of fingers and the readiness to run away. He didn't want to guess how much must have happened in her life since they last met. He just wondered if she would shake off the burden.

"Don't just stand there, you're my guest," he muttered, putting the pages aside. "We know each other well enough that you should feel comfortable here. You could go to the other part of the study, sit down, or search the bookshelf while waiting for me to finish." "First of all, I should say hello," she replied quietly. "Paying attention to such trifles is not in my nature." The Scot corrected his glasses, stood up and, with a hand gesture, encouraged Laura to come on in.

As they both took their places in the armchairs, Rupert lit a pipe. He didn't ask questions, instead, he let her decide what she wanted to say and when. They could even sit in silence. Besides, phrases like "How are you?" or "Is everything going well?" he regarded as forcing a conversation.

"You must have heard about the attack?" she asked, to which the man merely nodded. "And about Adam too...?" "They were talking about it everywhere. There's a funeral ceremony the day after tomorrow but I don't think I need to mention it."

Laura's green eyes were large and full of tears, looking at Rupert, who seemed immune to her sadness. He realised she didn't know about the funeral, which surprised him immensely given her relationship with the Security Chief.

"Detroit has long been full of lunatics, but the attack on Sarif Industries was too much. In addition, not long after, a woman tried to lay violent hands on herself by jumping from a skyscraper. Apparently, someone saved her, they wrote something about a flying Superman but it sounded too unbelievable."

The woman twitched upon hearing that her actions had been noticed. Surely she wasn't the only would-be suicide, why did they have to take an interest in this one? What if Damien already knew? Her heart began to pound like a herd of galloping horses. Her breath tore like a guitar string tugged too hard, and pain spilled through her body reminding her of unhealed wounds.

"Damien...Damien knows...He knows...He..."

All chapters can be found: [AO3], [dA], [Wattpad]and [Tumblr]

#Deus Ex #DXHR #Deus Ex Human Revolution #Adam Jensen #Shadowfanfic #crunchy-shadow #Shadow's Showdown #Nifriel #I never asked for this #Fanfiction #Evie Dormer OC #Joe Mando OC #Cyberpunk #Writers on tumblr #Youtube

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