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the-panmixxia · 10 months

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Pound of Prevention (and an ounce of cure) Chapter 5

Two figures wandered through narrow alleys, closely following a magical, purple thread as it flickered in and out of existence. Janus huffed in frustration as it completely disappeared, lowering his hands and rubbing them to ease the cramping.

"This isn't working." Janus mumbled, rather grumpy. Remus grinned, quite happy to trot next to the frustrated warlock.

"I still say we should hijack a sound system and blast Paramore until the little emo scuttles out of a crevice!"

Janus simply rolled his eyes, fiddling with the lapels of his peacoat before reengaging his spiritual bonds. A neon green thread lead straight to Remus, an orange thread trailing far east to his brother a few states away. And one, faint purple thread, barely there and leading them dead ahead. A tether to Virgil.

A tether that flickered once more, and disappeared into nothingness.

"Don't fret, Janny! It was going a bit to the left. That's a direction to get waking in, huh?"

The two kept walking, Janus eyeing the sky critically. It was going to rain soon, and in no less than an hour Virgil would be transforming back into a kitten. The guilt threatened to eat him alive at any moment, though it was rather difficult to wallow in past mistakes when a devilish imp was hanging off your arm, singing crude parodies to pop songs under their breath.

"Hmm. Maybe Virgil is in there?" Remus says with a smirk, nodding towards a building across the street. Music could be heard from inside, and neon signs in the window depicting silhouettes of girls in bikinis, it was rather apparent what the place was. "I think we ought to check it out, just in case."

"Something tells me that our socially anxious, asexual friend is not going to be in a bloody strip club!"

Remus simply grinned, shrugging his shoulders. "I dunno, maybe spook will surprise you. I bet Virgie is getting a lap dance right now. Oh, can you imagine?"

Janus scoffed, cuffing the horny imp round the ear. "Give the Gods a break Remus, we find Virgil this week I'll give you a lap dance myself. Let's get moving."

With the vague promise of a lap dance from his favorite, uptight warlock, Remus seemed a lot more motivated to find the third roommate. That's not to say Remus wasn't worried about Virgil, or that he didn't want spook back. It was just that…well, Virgil was a human equivalent of an adult, and technically within spooks right to disappear into the night like a much less intimidating Batman.

The pessimism was pissed out of his bloodstream the second Janus was able to clench his ass and get the magic up and running once more. This time, the thread traveled a few feet ahead before curving upwards to a tall apartment complex. It disappeared before it could hit a particular floor, but unless Virgil was hovering behind the building with a new found flying ability, then spook was almost definitely in that apartment building. Spooks house, most likely. At least that curbed one concern, that Virgil's intense hatred of social interaction lead to a lack of job and housing. Before all this drama Virgil was working at an extremely quiet leather shop, usually spending spooks whole day listening to some variant of a "this generation doesn't know good leather when they see it" rant. Virgil insisted it was better than dealing with customers.

"Oh, fuck yeah. Imma be having that lap dance before sunrise!"

Janus flushed a gentle pink on the left of his face, tugging his gloves with a huff.

"Oh, shut up. We've got at least a hundred apartments to search, and before that we've got to find a way in without looking like criminals."

"Pshh. No building is gonna keep my slippery dick in or out."

"Bitch. BITCH! NU-UH, I'm liking none of this."

"Remy, we've been brainstorming all week. I'm telling you, Patton had zero interest in eating me. I think fae just fosters cats? Like, for fun?"

"Latte didn't need fostering, she had an extremely loving owner!"

"I mean, you never really got her chipped or put any identification on her. Besides those stupid crochet hats you'd wrestle on to her."

Remy let out a primal hiss that would've had any caregiving vampire going feral, though only served to raise Virgil's brow in an unamused manner - spook had heard the whole spectrum of nestling noises from Remy, not much have Virgil pause anymore.

"Sorry, Remy. Those hats were dumb. And I need to get fostered by this big ass werewolf so I can bite a big ass chunk of fur out to act as a pelt."

"And then I'm gonna bust you out by knocking on the door and insisting that's my kitty?"

"Yeah. You should have finished at the library by nine am, come back with your librarian venom and once I've poofed back we should be golden to go through this reversal!"

"This is gonna suck. You're making me deal with two of the biggest bitches ever, like I actually don't know who's worse, the nerdy librarian or the cat-napping dog -"

Virgil huffed, smacking Remy's arm to stop them mid rant. "Are you doing it or not, Remy?"

The two paused, staring at each other, Virgil trying to control spooks anxious breathing and Remy - well, they technically didn't have to breathe, but he sighed and huffed plenty.

"Of course, Vee. We've got each other's back, we're cov-... Uh, a couple of pals. Besties. Roommates for life."

Spook huffed a laugh, it was always amusing how awkward Remy got at any form of affection despite his usual sass and confidence. Still, Virgil probably shouldn't mock it.

"Thank you. Let's get this sorted. I'm gonna turn into a cat anytime now. Drop me on floor twelve and I'll try and be caught by -"

Ah. Cat mode activated, apparently, as Virgil suddenly got very close to Remy's boots. The vampire shuffled back, cooing softly before scooping Virgil up.

"We need to get a proper cat after this, babes. I miss Latte's baby phase, she was such a scruffy little kitten! But not as scruffy as you, babes, don't worry."

That was plain rude. Virgil bit his thumb in retaliation, but diligently plopped into a loaf position on Remy's palm. The other thumb rubbed a gentle circle on the back of spooks ears, mm, nice. That deserves a purr.

"Heh, cute little bitch. If this werewolf does end up eating you, I'm totally having your bedroom. You actually have a view, I'm stuck staring at another building's air con units."

Ah, Remy, the eternal drama queen. The two ride the elevator, doors opening to an empty hallway. Remy steps out just enough to peek round the corner, foot in the doorway to keep it open. The coast was clear, so they leant down to whisper to the kitten.

"Right, this is your stop, yeah? You know which door it is?"

It was quite hard to communicate in this tiny body, so Virgil tilted spooks head all the way back to really emphasize the nodding yes. The vampire smiled, reaching into his bag to grab something before rubbing a greasy substance into Virgil's body. Gross.

"All done, babes. You look extra wet and pathetic. See you later."

With that, Virgil was left in the hallway, Remy's disgusting hair gel settling into spooks fur, stinking of chemicals and shea butter. Yuck. Virgil wandered up the hallway, not needing to count the numbers as Patton's door was the only one not swamp green, but still wondering how to get the werewolf's attention.

"With my luck," Virgil thought "Patton isn't even in faer house tonight. In fact, it would be just my luck if Patton has moved out and I'll never get that stupid pelt."

Maybe crying would help? Did spook have the shamelessness to literally cry for attention for a complete stranger? Considering the alternatives were either staying as a cat for half of spooks life or hitting Janus up to beg for a cure, then maybe so.

" Meow. Me-eeeeooowww!" Virgil cried, trying hard to project spooks tiny voice, pacing around the halls. Hopefully Patton's wolf-like hearing extends to faer human form, but Virgil had never actually talked to a were long enough to know very much at all other than etiquette and social rules for different species, which all children learn.

The elevator hummed as it rose to this floor, opening up to let someone out. Virgil flicked an ear, glancing at the doors to see a pair of crisp, white trainers step out. The bright red laces had shiny beads and Disney-themed charms adorning them. When spook actually looked at the person, the pathetic little mewls died out. It was the same fae that Virgil had, rather creepily, stolen the blood of. As weird of a move as that was, Virgil will gladly take the bad karma that arises from that decision at a later date. After the curse has been reversed, please.

"Oh Padre, look! I think it may be the long-lost soot sprite, returned at last!"

Seemed like this fae was adamant on talking like Prince Charming (the Shrek version, and Virgil did intend that insultingly) and spook was quite sure they'd been talking to a father of some sort. The last thing Virgil needed was to be closely examined by an elder fae. This one seemed oblivious to the curse, and their mild fae-features (freckled, where most elder fae had impossibly unblemished skin. Ears pointing a little, instead of ears tall and pointy enough to pierce the lobe thirty times over) meant that they didn't possess the ability to interact with others curses.

An elder, on the other hand, would sniff spooks true form in an instant. Maybe turn spook into something worse, for funsies. Spook didn't feel like interacting with that scenario, so rather literally turned tail to try and hide behind the dying ficus a few doors down.

That plan also didn't last long, as the assumed 'padre' gasped and made a soft, dog-like whimper.

Wolf like, even.

"Oh, kiddo, there you are." a familiar voice crooned.

The mission had, once again changed, and Virgil piloted the tiny body to turn round and stare the Were down. Patton was reaching out, crouching with a few bags round his arms, clearly uncertain if pursuing the 'animal' would be wise or not.

Fuck that.

Virgil meowed a battle cry before charging the wolf, who 'woof-ed' something pleased, ditching the bags to scoop the tiny body up. Yes, wonderful.

"I see you still have that Patton-ted touch with the baby animals, padre." The fae hummed, Patton laughing softly at the dumb pun.

"Oh, Roman, I'm so happy! We gotta get this kiddo checked up, though. Who knows what's happened in the two weeks they've been missing."

Yes, yes, yes. This was all going according to plan. Virgil purred at the Were, lowering his guard so spook may take the winning bite before skedaddling.

Though, the thought did make Virgil a little guilty. Spook was practically using Patton, playing with the Were's kindness of animals to steal his magical fur-

"Could you heat some water, Roman? I'm gonna weigh the kiddo, take their temperature then try and get some food into the poor thing."

Take their temperature.

Even Virgil knew you couldn't stick a thermometer in a cat's mouth and tell it to stay still.

Fuck this. It seems that bad karma has returned once more.

"That was my spot and you know it, you blood-sucking asshole!"

A fossil-looking ass pensioner shouted at Remy, over the sound of their own car's honking. It wasn't Remy's fault the old dude took so long to make a single maneuver. They honestly hadn't noticed the tiny, two seat smart car was moving. The car had kept perfectly still as Remy whipped round into the free spot, and only then did the man decide to take offense.

If Virgil was here, the wet little emo would insist Remy apologize and find another spot. Sucks for this old dude that Remy really wasn't in the mood. The vampire grabbed their satchel before standing proudly in front of the other car to flip a hearty bird.

"Shut up, you old turd! Go park literally anywhere else and get off my dick!"

The pensioner's face turned a lovely shade of red, fumbling with his door while mumbling angry nonsense.

"Why, you disrespectful, oversized mosquito. I ought to-"

"Excuse me." A new voice chimed in, firm and authoritative. Remy turned their head slightly to see the library vampire - Logan? Yeah he was called Logan. Def. - standing a few paces behind the two, looking rather unimpressed.

"The only designated parking at this facility is the disabled spots marked in blue. You can not own a parking space and so arguing about which spot is yours is moot."

The old guy scowled even more so, trembling in anger and revving the engine of his car, clearly trying to insinuate he'd ram into Remy. They merely grinned.

Logan did not find it as amusing, and in a blink was in front of Remy, one hand firmly on the hood of the car with a warning grumble that Remy had only ever heard his sire make, when he was a fresh enough turn to keep her attention.

"Your options are, in order of my personal preference; you leave now and find an alternative way to spend your night, you find another place to park - of which there are plenty - and come into the library when you are sufficiently calm, or you can continue to be irate and I can call security to remove you from the premises."

After a tense few minutes the old guy drove off with an angry huff, and while Remy fully intended to give a sarcastic salute, a cold hand encircled his wrist.

"It is not necessary to provoke the situation I have already sorted."

Ugh, boring.

"Fine, babes. Thanks for all the jazz, I'm actually here to see you in particular so, like, I'm glad you're here."

Logan dropped Remy's wrist, gesturing the two to return to the library. "Oh? And why might that be? Do you have more text you need to translate?"

"Not tonight, gurl, I'm here to talk vampire - to - vampire about things vampire."

"I… see." Logan said after a little hesitance, readjusting his tie. "Is there a particular reason that 'vampire' things can not be discussed with your sire, or your coven?"

"Uh, I'm asking the questions, babes. So, uh, tell me. This venom that the spell asked for, yeah? It's from a vampire, but I'm a vampire, and there's no venom coming from me. Is it like a period thing, do I only venom once a month? What's the deal with that?"

Logan blinked, first trying to digest the lingo, and then another long blink as he processed the question.

"...No. A vampire's venom is not akin to a menstrual cycle. An adult vampire on a consistent diet is capable of creating venom regularly, though may temporarily stop production while siring as their body prioritizes producing a feeding blood higher in density and nutrients to assist their nestling's growth. I imagine your inability to produce to venom is that you are, essentially, a vampire's developmental equivalent to a young child, and like children, you are not able to yet produce your own 'offspring' in the form of siring"

"First off, rude, I'm not a kid. Second of all, how the heckin heck am I gonna get the venom Virge needs if my dumbass body hasn't started making it?"

"Well donating a small dose is rather simple and noninvasive, surely you could ask your sire or other coven members to help assist your human friend?"

Remy groaned rather loudly, smacking a palm onto the reception desk. "You obtuse fuck, can't you read a room? Sire and coven are out of the bloody question, stop asking me about it."

He felt kinda bad about snapping, when Logan's face fell slightly, a similar look as to when the librarian briefly thought the two were mocking him. Ugh.

"Sorry, sorry. Not sure why I'm being such a bitch tonight."

"It is alright." Logan responded simply, the look leaving his features as he readjusted his glasses. Remy mirrored the action, pushing their sunglasses back up their nose. "You acting like 'a bitch' is most likely a reflection of a nestling's instinct to avoid abduction."

"Abduction?"

"Yes. Well, nowadays there are paper trails for each individual turning, and proper legal protection for the sire but it wasn't always like that. A lot of elder vampires are, so to speak, a little nestling orientated? They'd love nothing more than to sweep a newly-turned from their sire, and claim them as their own. The process of claiming, though, it's long, stressful, painful, and poses risks to the nestling in question. To combat this, nestlings are hard wired to face new vampires outside of the coven with a disagreeable personality and non-compliance, trying to project the sentiment of 'I am too much trouble to steal' "

"Oh. Ew, that sucks. Anyway, it doesn't help me or Virge get this vamp juice. Any ideas?"

Just offer, just offer your nerdy little venom so I can grab a coffee and a muffin before I have to go rescue the emo-

"Wait. I'm under the assumption 'Virge' is the person with the shape-shifting curse. Was that the person you were here with the other week?"

"Not sure I like how weird your eyes are going, babes. But, yeah, the lil goth kid I had with me."

Logan leant forward, half tense and half excited. He did love piecing a mystery together. Part of the reason he loved planning out his Sherlock fanfictions, honestly.

"What animal does Virge unwillingly shift to?"

"...a cat."

"Is it this cat, in particular?"

A phone was slid towards Remy, and after carefully picking it up hew examined the imagine. A young looking man, standing tall and proud, quaffed hair and a charming smile. Honestly, the dude was hot. The charm and sparkly aura meant this was probably a fae. This fae in particular was holding a very disheveled kitten, wrapped up in a fluffy blue towel and glaring straight at the camera. It was Virgil, undoubtedly, and Remy damn near doubled over in laughter. As they tried to recover, they slid the phone back over, nodding in a silent answer to the question.

"Oh, spook looks pissed! I love it." Then a brief thought. "Shit. Spook isn't meant to be with that guy. Wait, how did you figure out Virgil was this cat?"

"When you last came into the library, I recognised Virgil's scent as the unknown human scent that was left in my shared apartment, from when my roommate had found an assumedly stray kitten to cater to. It was a mystery, one that admittedly poked my territorial nature, and I felt rather indignant when you two entered the first time. However, with no solid evidence and the fact that the offense did not repeat - I opted to not bring it up during our first interaction."

Wait. Logan's roommate had scooped Virgil up as a kitten, and then Virgil had obviously left the apartment, leaving a trail of spook's anxious musk?

"Oh, fuck. You're roommates with the werewolf, aren't you?"

"If by the werewolf you are referring to my roommate, Patton, then yes. Fae is a close friend and I consider fae coven."

Remy simply blinked at the older vampire, cheeks puffed in a blatant 'well shit' expression.

"Welp. At least Virgil got kit-napped by the right person."

"What do you mean? Why would your friend need to be in the care of Patton? Barring the fact that, logically speaking, that's the best place to stay if a small and vulnerable feline."

Remy glanced behind Logan, seeing a coffee vending machine pushed right into the corner by a conference room. It was a shitty brand with no additional flavors, but this matter clearly required some caffeine. So he decided to grab a cup while relaying Virgil's grand scheme to get some wolf hair for their magical uno reverse spell. It might have been rude to walk away while conversing, but the two vampires could hear each other perfectly fine while still speaking in a low tone, and Remy was able up successfully curb the instinctual need to hiss, bite this other vampire, and book it right out of there.

After pushing through that urge, Logan proved quite a good chat-buddy, Remy simply forgot about the sample. Or the rescue mission.

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yousayiamloved · 5 days

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an introduction of sorts

hello everyone, thank you for visiting my blog~ now, uhhhh, you’re probably wondering who the heck i am :P please note, first of all, that if my interaction with you makes you uncomfortable in any way, feel free to block me (/g). i am not formally educated in any religion or faith. all i have is my own personal research.

i will not disclose my real name at this time, if ever. what i will tell you is that i am in my mid-twenties, i am ridiculously gay and identify as genderqueer 🏳️‍🌈 my pronouns are strictly they/them. i am pro-choice and my beliefs are on the left side of the spectrum.

it is worth noting that i don’t think any religion is more valid than any other. in my personal opinion, the universe is full of love and life. there is a force behind it all, i think, that we humans can’t comprehend. so to make it more palatable for our minds, we give this force different name(s) and different stories. but behind all of it is love. i just want to spread love and acceptance towards all to the best of my abilities.

any people of any faith (or lack thereof) are welcome here. buddhist? you’re welcome here. muslim? you’re welcome here. pagan? you’re welcome here. atheist or agnostic? you’re welcome here. etc. i think you get what im trying to say. if you are here out of love and free from malicious intent, you are welcome here.

if you are LGBTQIA+ (the 'a' stands for asexual and aromantic, people!) you are also welcome too! this includes poc of any gender or sexuality, including trans people. and yes, that includes trans women.

all of this is my personal opinion. i am not here to spread the word or coerce people into any sort of church or way of life. i just want people to feel loved. if i ever say something to offend anyone on accident i am deeply sorry. feel free to call me out so i don't make that mistake again.

what’s your point?

i believe the title of this blog will suffice. i am a deeply spiritual person; always have been and always will be. maybe this blog will be a blip in the universe, never to be seen or remembered, but i wish to spread the love that i feel within my heart. it is worth noting that i suffer from major depression, and sometimes the love isn’t felt. but it always comes back to me. i hope to share some of that love and peace with you.

oh god, you’re not some jesus/christianity freak, are you?

lol, no, not in the slightest. while it is true that much of my faith and practices lie in catholicism (as almost all of my family is catholic) i am not here to preach or be holier than thou. i am not a baptized catholic. i believe in reincarnation, the ability to sense and alter the energy around oneself, and magick. i am deeply interested in animism, too, among other things. i pray the rosary and meditate whenever i can.

are you baptized?

nope! however, my heart is filled with love and kindness, and i just want to help people. i have studied multiple religions over the course of my life (it is a bit of a hyper obsession of mine lol). i have a basic grasp on a few religions. while i haven’t been officially baptized by a church, i was ‘baptized’ by my mother as a child; she sprinkled holy water on my head and said a few words. imo, this is just as valid. it was an event performed by one of the people i love the most in this world and the memory of that is clear in my mind.

uh….. are you, uh……. having delusions of religious grandeur….?

nope! well, i dont think i am. i am not claiming to be a religious figurehead or prophet or anything of that sort. im just a regular person who wants to spread some love in this hellscape we all seem to be living in.

love, my friends, is the answer.

(please give this a like if you've read this far! have a wonderful day!)

#pagan #religion #faith #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia #theology #spiritual journey #spiritual awakening

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jplupine · 10 months

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⛓Feral Possession: Chapter 20⛓

God Damn It

Pairing: Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez x Wynter Hughes [Nonbinary OC] Word Count: ~6.6k WARNINGS: 18+ MDNI, Exophilia, Demon!Grimmjow, Feral Behavior, Size Difference, Begging, Biting/Marking, Cunnilingus, Face Riding, Finger Sucking, Gagging, Praise Kink, Vaginal Sex, Cock Riding, Sub!Switch!Grimmjow Note: Terms such as pussy/cock/dick/etc. get used. If that makes you uncomfortable, you may want to skip this fic.

Summary: Wynter fails in getting revenge, but it's not all in vain.

You can also read it on AO3!

Masterlist | Chapter 20:

"I don't have anything for you this time. We've been focusing on training." I waved my hand while letting Ichigo into the house.

"That's understandable. How is that going?" He questioned while sliding his hands into his pants pockets.

"Still can't dematerialize the sword, but I can better concentrate spiritual energy. I'm also starting to do spells-" Ichigo shot me a look of surprise. "Don't worry, I'm making sure they're within my ability range. It's just been spells to create exorcism circles, so I don't die while trying to draw one."

"Oh, yeah, that's pretty basic. We have to learn those before we can even go into the field."

"I can get why." Crossing my arms, I shifted my weight on my feet. "So, any news for me?"

"From the Soul Society? No. But, uh, where's Pantera?" Ichigo asked while glancing around since he'd noticed the demon wasn't right there and glaring at him.

"Taking a nap."

"Why am I not surprised?" He softly chuckled, and I gave a half-shrug while smiling.

"You have seen weirder. So, ready to get this check over with?"

"Yeah, sure." Ichigo nodded and took his hands from his pockets. He stepped toward me before raising his hands as I lowered mine. His gaze was calculating as he held my face and turned my head from one side to the other.

He then checked my neck after sweeping back my hair and then grabbed my hands to check my nails, palms, and wrists.

"Well, I don't see any signs of corruption, so you're still doing good there. What about Pantera? Any signs of increasing agitation?" Ichigo took a step back while glancing toward the hallway.

"None more than the usual. Still just a moody grouch." I popped off, and Ichigo laughed.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to someone talking so casually about Pantera."

"Yeah, you're probably used to the doom and gloom and destruction talk. Oh, which reminds me." I waved my finger while putting my other hand on my hip. "I was reading about Trepadora. The book said he was the Sexta Espada, but Pantera is now. There's also barely any info on Trepadora. What happened?"

"Well, Trepadora was only the Sexta Espada for a short period of time before Pantera killed him and took his rank. We still don't actually know all the details of it. Though, it is kind of a no-brainer what the motives were. Arrancar are fighting all the time, rising and falling among their own ranks." Ichigo explained.

"Right. But it seems like the current Espada have been the same demons for a long time now. What was different in Trepadora's case?"

"According to our records, what was different was Pantera, not Trepadora. When I say he was only the Sexta Espada for a short time, I mean in comparison to the other Espada. He was the Sexta for a couple of centuries before Pantera came along and took him out. Pantera's been the Sexta ever since, but also hasn't gone higher or lower in the Espada hierarchy. At least, not as far as we know."

"Sorry, I would have asked Pantera directly, but he got pissy as soon as I said Trepadora. Went on a whole rant about how annoying he was-"

"KUROSAKI!" A shout from upstairs cut me off, and Ichigo and I shared matching expressions. "GET THE FUCK OUT ALREADY! YOU REEK!"

"I guess that's my cue to go."

"DAMN RIGHT IT IS!"

"See? I told you he's just a moody grouch." I chuckled. "Won't even get his ass out of bed."

"Um, one more thing before I go." Ichigo shifted on his feet awkwardly. "If you ever need help with more stuff....like training, you know, I'd be glad to help."

"Oh, uh, I'm not sure that's a good idea. I still remember what happened last time I barely bled."

"Again, I'm sorry for that, but that's under control now, I promise. Look, I just want to make sure you stay safe. I know what he's like, and it's partly my fault you're even in this situation."

"What, you failed to kill him and now feel responsible?"

"In a way." Ichigo's face partially scrunched up as he half-shrugged. "Also could call it having a hero complex and not wanting to see an innocent bystander get hurt."

"STOP TRYING TO BE A NOBLE SHIT AND LEAVE ALREADY!" Grimmjow yelled.

"How about you stop eavesdropping?!" I shouted back.

"HOW ABOUT I KILL HIM?!"

"You say while still not even getting out of bed." I mumbled while rolling my eyes and crossing my arms. In the blink of an eye, Grimmjow was standing in front of Ichigo and glaring at the man.

"I wasn't in the mood to look at his ugly face, but I will if it means I get to rip his throat out." Grimmjow lowly growled while baring his fangs.

"I'm already leaving, relax." Ichigo sighed while backing up toward the door. He wasn't even risking turning away from the pissed-off demon.

"You always get your panties in a twist when he's here." I said after the door shut behind Ichigo.

"I have plenty reason to. He's annoying, stinks, keeps invading my territory-"

"Your territory?" I rose my brows at the demon, and he looked down at me with irritation. "This is my house."

"Yes, and you belong to me. Meaning so does this property." Grimmjow put his hands on his hips as his tail swayed.

"Then you can pay the bills."

"Wha- Fuck no."

"Then this is my house, you're just a moocher." He actually looked offended.

"Fuck off."

"Hey, you started it."

"No, you did." Grimmjow took a few steps closer while still looking down at me. "You offered your soul to me. Everything you are, everything you own, is mine. You have no say in the matter, Little Rabbit. I own you." A shit-eating grin grew on his face.

"Grimmjow, sit." The demon snarled as he flopped down onto the floor. "Now, tell me again, who owns who here?" I smirked while looking down at Grimmjow. However, his pissed-off expression twisted into a mischievous smile.

"....You saying you wanna own me, Little Rabbit? You want me to belong to you that badly?"

"You're reading way too much into it." I rolled my eyes while turning away.

"So, is he just your roommate now? It doesn't seem like he's going anywhere anytime soon." Yui chuckled before taking a drink from her coffee.

"Yeah, actually."

"I gotta ask, then. Why do you want to help him out so badly? Surely he's not still struggling over finding his own place."

"Don't get me wrong, he's a shithead, but....he's not that bad once he relaxes." I replied before taking a drink from my coffee. The cafe we were at was cozy and quiet, and the perfect place for me to get a break from home.

"Oh?" Yui quirked up a brow.

"Yes. The bastard has layers." I chuckled. "Honestly," I sighed through my nose. "I think he's just so used to having his walls up and no one bothering to get through to him."

"Wynter, don't tell me you're trying to fix him."

"Oh, no, no. Just helping him out. It's more like showing him not everyone is going to bend over backwards for him."

"Good. I don't want you turning into a doormat."

"You know me. I'd rather butt heads."

"Speaking of butting heads, you ever figure out his deal with Gary?"

"Kind of?" I had a tone while making a face, and Yui gave an expression telling me to explain. "It's like one part he just doesn't like people like Gary, and one part he thinks Gary's too much of a pansy." Yui scoffed.

"A pansy? Why in the world would he think that? He literally went over to your house with a baseball bat before." She waved her hand while talking, and I dropped my gaze to my cup.

"Well," I rubbed my thumb over the rim of my mug. "he figured out there's some stuff Gary isn't willing to say." Keeping it vague, I was trying to allow Gary some privacy. I wasn't sure if he'd told Yui about his feelings or not, so I wasn't going to be the one to out him.

Being in unrequited love was a difficult thing to deal with already without me telling our mutual friends about it.

"You mean being polite?"

"I mean speaking his mind. Kinda past the point of just being polite."

"Oh, so blue boy doesn't like it when people aren't as blunt as him?" Yui chuckled while shaking her head. "He chose some weird shit to get upset about."

"Tell me about it."

"So, how about Ichigo?"

"What?"

"You and him. I know he's been going to see you more. You two hit it off and become friends, or what?" She questioned before taking a drink.

"He's your cousin."

"And?"

"And you're implying there might be more to our relationship."

"So you admit there's a relationship?" Yui raised her brows while smiling.

"Friendship."

"He's a good guy, Wynter."

"Are you trying to set me up with your cousin?"

"Of course not. I'm just saying, if you want to date Ichigo, you have my blessing. That man has been single longer than you have." Yui popped off, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Definitely not gonna happen."

"Well, try not to get so cooped up in your house then. You're still young with time to explore."

"You say while also still being single."

"You're right. I should practice what I preach." We both laughed while continuing to talk over coffee.

"How was your date with your girlfriend?"

"For the last time, she's not my girlfriend."

"Did ya eat her pussy?"

"Grimmjow!" I shot him a look as I was taking my shoes off at the door.

"You were gone so long, I figured you must have done something. No way humans are interesting enough to just do nothing for that long."

"It's called having friends."

"Oh, so she ate your pussy then?" Grimmjow then changed the channel on the TV.

"I think you're projecting your horniness."

"You're right, I am." He then turned to look at me while draping his arm over the back of the couch. "So lemme eat your pussy." I closed my eyes for a second and heavily sighed. "I'm serious, Little Rabbit. I want to have a taste." His tone dropped and he licked his lips in such a sensual manner.

"Yeah, you've made that pretty clear already. Still no."

"Tease."

"How am I the tease?"

"Prime prey prancing around in front of a predator, how could you not be a tease?"

"Make up your mind already. Do you want to kill me or fuck me?" I rolled my eyes while walking towards the hall to go upstairs and change.

"Right now? Fuck. When you piss me off? Kill."

"I wasn't actually asking."

"Will you suck my dick then?" Grimmjow raised his voice as I went up the stairs.

"Why do I get the feeling you're just trying to mess with me?"

"Because I am. It's a win-win for me. Worst case, I get a laugh out of teasing you. Best case, I go balls deep in that sweet pu-"

"Will you stop already?!" I shouted as my ears burned, and Grimmjow only laughed in response. Maybe I should just leave and hang out with Yui again.

Glancing at Grimmjow while I was working, I was debating whether or not I should get revenge. Was it childish of me to want to give him a taste of his own medicine? Maybe. Could it blow up in my face? Possibly.

But it could also mean getting Grimmjow to stop his teasing once he realizes how it's not fun to be on the receiving end of it. However, that meant stooping to his level of crassness.

The demon got up from his spot near a window and stretched out his limbs in a cat-like fashion. Looking back at my laptop screen when he went toward the office door, I chewed the inside of my cheek.

Why was getting even so tempting even when I knew it was so stupid in this situation?

I soon heard rustling in the kitchen, letting me know Grimmjow was getting into the food. Fuck it. I might as well, consequences be damned.

Getting up, I went to the kitchen as well. Giving an exhausted sigh, I grabbed one of the pretzels the demon had poured into a bowl.

"I need a break. You wanna get burgers and watch movies tonight?"

"Sure."

"What are you in the mood for?" I asked while casually leaning on his back like he often did to me and bit into the pretzel.

"Dunno." His tail lazily swayed as he closed the pretzel bag. Now was my last chance to back out of petty revenge, but I wasn't going to.

"Hey, I ever tell you how nice you smell?" I saw Grimmjow's ears perk as he paused.

"You think I smell nice, Little Rabbit? Careful, I might think you're complimenting me."

"I am. I'm curious how you don't smell bad with all the shit you do."

"Because I still clean myself up." He scoffed before turning around and munching on a pretzel. "You must be pretty tired if you're leaning on me, Little Rabbit. You not sleep well?"

"Actually....I slept amazingly." Resting my chin on his chest as I wrapped my arms around his waist, I looked up at Grimmjow. "Cuddling with you is the best I've slept in a long time." His ears perked again as his pupils slightly widened.

"....Did you get a concussion? You're giving me 'fuck me' eyes." His tone was surprisingly calm, but he still hadn't picked up my intentions.

"Why do I need a concussion for it? I think being horny is reason enough." I muttered, and Grimmjow's eyes went wide with shock. "We can call it research." Grabbing the fur collar of his shirt, I pulled him down to my level and let my lips hover just a few centimeters from his. "What do you say?"

"I'd say....nice try. I'm not a fuckin' idiot." Grimmjow got a grin from ear to ear. "I can smell you're not actually horny, Little Rabbit. Gave me some nice things to think about next time I jack off, though." The demon licked my cheek, and I recoiled.

"Damn it!" I hissed while wiping my face off.

"Aww, did you really think you could tease me? While clearly being up to something?" Grimmjow grabbed another pretzel to pop into his mouth.

"Was worth a shot."

"If you want to keep trying, be my guest." He purred while licking his fingers. "I most certainly won't turn down you trying to be sexy."

"Was it really that bad?" I asked while crossing my arms.

"Might work on piss-boy. I know you don't mean it when I can smell you don't. A bit of advice- rub up on me more next time."

"Nice try."

"Worth a shot." Grimmjow smirked. "Still gonna get burgers, though, right?

"I try to get you horny, and you don't get horny. I don't try to get you horny, and you do." I shook my head. "And yes, still gonna get burgers."

"Oh, Little Rabbit, if you're that disappointed, you can try again. But put a little more effort into trying to fuck me, I'm not that easy."

"You've been trying to fuck me for months now, I don't think you're that hard either."

"Fair." There was a second of silence before we both started laughing. I didn't fully understand why, but I was honestly surprised Grimmjow didn't jump at the chance. Was he honestly that serious about wanting me to actually want it?

No. He wanted me to want him.

"So, do you want to go with me when I grab dinner?"

"Hell yeah. Give me something other than this house to look at."

"You know, I don't think I'll ever truly understand you, Grimmjow. You've got so many layers." I casually pat his chest before turning to go back to the office. However, Grimmjow grabbed my wrist to stop me, and I looked back at him.

"You understand me better than anyone else, Little Rabbit. That's enough." Now it was my turn to have a surprised expression from how serious Grimmjow sounded. He maintained eye contact with me while still holding my wrist gently in his hand.

"....I didn't think you'd actually say something like that out loud." He briefly glanced down while slightly tilting his head.

"You were telling the truth about sleeping better with me. I thought you deserved some honesty in return. Don't look too much into it." Grimmjow then let my wrist go before walking away with his pretzels.

Waiting in line at the drive-thru, I could feel the tension in the air. Grimmjow hadn't said a word the entire ride here, and I couldn't tell if it was due to him honestly opening up and not knowing what to do next, or me not knowing. I couldn't help but think back to the things he said to me while high.

"So, uh, anything you want in particular, or the same as last time?" I questioned while driving closer to the speaker box.

"Same as last time."

"Gotcha." Silence then returned after I ordered. Drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, I glanced over at Grimmjow. "You know, I appreciate your honesty."

"Shut up." He muttered while keeping his gaze directed out of the window.

"It's not beneath you to tell the truth, Grimmjow."

"No shit."

"Then what's with the silence and attitude?" I questioned before moving up in the line.

"I was a king." He said barely over a whisper, and I saw his reflection in the window showing how his brows were deeply furrowed, more so than usual. "And you, a fucking human, have both belittled me to nothing and yet understand me the most. How is that not upsetting?"

"....Ah." I looked back ahead of me to check if I needed to drive up more or not. "Well, I get you feel belittled to nothing, and I understand it must be hard for you to not be able to do the things you could before, but you're not nothing. At least not to me. Despite all your 'antics', you've still saved my life multiple times. You're teaching me to protect myself, even if out of selfish reasons, but still. And, when you want to be, you're a fairly decent guy, for a demon."

Driving forward more, there was only one more car between us and the food window.

"Look, my point is, don't think I look down on you. I don't. And, if it makes you feel better, you can consider my property your very small kingdom. Also don't think I'll worship the ground you walk on, but I'll acknowledge that on some level I technically belong to you. Just don't let it go to your head. So, my King, shall we dine on fine burgers in peace?"

Grimmjow didn't answer, and when I looked at him, I saw his eyes were wide as his face was entirely red.

"Wha- How in the world did that embarrass you?"

"Shut up! I'm not embarrassed, you little shit!" Grimmjow quickly looked away while balling his hands into fists in his lap.

"Don't tell me it was the 'my King' part." I scoffed but saw the redness in his ears deepen. "Holy shit, it was, wasn't it?!"

"Just shut the fuck up and get our food, damn it!"

"I didn't think the title you once had would fluster you so much."

"Will you just get the food already?!" Grimmjow was refusing to look at me now, and I had a huge grin on my face.

"Yes, my King." I watched as his blush spread to the back of his neck as he tightly gripped his jeans in his fists. I had no clue why he was reacting in such a severe way, but I was getting a kick out of it. "Thank you." I nodded to the person at the window after taking the offered bag of food.

Turning back to have Grimmjow hold the bag so I could drive, I momentarily froze now that I saw the growing tent in the demon's pants. The fucker wasn't embarrassed, he was turned on.

I snapped out of it when he snatched the bag from me, and I could feel the heat rising in my own face. Placing both hands firmly on the steering wheel, I silently drove out of the parking lot.

Laying in bed, I was having extreme difficulty going to sleep. Everything from earlier was still racing through my mind, and with Grimmjow on the other side of the bed, it only made it worse. He was even keeping his distance which spoke volumes.

Dagur was softly breathing at the end of the bed, already fast asleep, and I wasn't sure whether or not Grimmjow was, too.

It was so wild to me, though. Me coming on to him had little to no effect, but me simply calling him 'my King' made him flustered and get an erection. Was it a kink? Did I accidentally find one of his kinks, and he didn't want to admit it?

Most of all, why did seeing him blushing and hard turn me on so much? Why did it bother me so much?

Softly sighing through my nose, I rubbed my forehead as if it would help clear my thoughts.

"Hey, are you awake?" I whispered in the off chance he wasn't.

"Trying not to be." There was a pause. "Why?"

"Just asking. I can't sleep."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

"Knock me out, maybe." I popped off, and there was a small scoff in response. Rolling over to face the demon, I saw his back was to me. "Am I weird?"

"Very." He replied without hesitation.

"Okay, fair." I softly laughed.

"Why are you even asking?"

"Just needed a second opinion. I mean, to go through all the shit I have, there's no way I could be normal."

"Why would you even want to be?"

"I don't. I was kind of wondering how things might have gone if I was."

"If you were normal, Little Rabbit," Grimmjow then rolled over to face me as his eyes were glowing in the darkness. "I would have already devoured you."

"I don't doubt it." There was a silent pause as it looked like those blue eyes were studying me. "If I ask you a question and compel you to give an honest answer, would you get mad?"

"Yes."

"Will you give me an honest answer if I don't compel you, then?"

"Probably not."

"Then you're about to get mad."

"Are you fucking serious?" Grimmjow narrowed his eyes at me.

"Yes. I need to know the truth."

"Now I don't think I even want to answer the question."

"Please."

"....Fine. But you owe me if it's a ridiculous question." He grumbled.

"Grimmjow, answer me honestly. Do you trust me?"

"Yes." And as soon as he answered, his face scrunched up like he'd bitten into a lemon. "What the fuck kind of question is that?"

"That's not the actual question, I was just seeing if it'd work."

"What-"

"Tell me the truth, Grimmjow. Do you want more than sex and my soul from me?"

"Yes." His eyes widened a fraction just before he shot out of the bed. "What the fuck are you getting at, Wynter?" Was I hearing things, or was his voice really pitched with unease?

"Just trying to see if I can trust you. You may not like the situation you're in being bound and compelled, but I wanted to be sure if that was the only reason we got along or not." My response seemed to relax him as he stopped shifting on his feet and having defensive posture.

"Oh. Yeah, I would have lied." His tone was more nonchalant now, and he came back to the side of the bed.

"Why'd that make you so jumpy?"

"I'm not the one asking weird questions out of nowhere." He snapped while laying down. Of course, he'd deflect.

I grabbed one of his horns to tilt his head up as soon as he was settled and kissed him. It lasted a good few seconds before I pulled away.

"...What are you doing, Little Rabbit?"

"Kissing you. Do you not want me to?"

"I meant what the Hell are you up to?"

"This time? Nothing. Now answer my question. Do you want me to stop?"

"No." Grimmjow said, and I went back in for another kiss. Fingers tangled into my hair as lips moved in time with mine. The kisses were slow and sensual, and I let go of his horn to gently cup his cheek in my hand.

Licking his bottom lip made him give a low growl before his tongue was sliding into my mouth. His grip in my hair slightly tightened as the heat of the kiss increased. Grimmjow's tongue caressing mine as he was softly purring caused my breath to falter.

"I swear, if this is a fucking trick-" His tone was sharp when he momentarily pulled back.

"It's not, I promise. I wa- Oh, wait, fuck. I can't use that word."

"Want?"

"Yeah."

"Looks like you fucked up." He sounded amused.

"I would like to keep doing this. Ugh, that sounds robotic."

"Beg."

"What?" My brows furrowed.

"Beg for it." Grimmjow licked his lips hungrily. "I won't kiss you until you do it."

"You've gotta be joking."

"Not in the slightest, Little Rabbit."

"Please, kiss me."

"Mm."

"Oh, come on."

"Gotta do better."

"Please, kiss me."

"Ah, not feeling it."

"Please, kiss me, my King." My tone dropped and sounded needy, and the next thing I knew, Grimmjow was on me with his tongue in my mouth. He settled his hips between my thighs while leaning on his elbows as he held my face in his hands. His claws gently raked my skin, and my hands slid up his chest as I could feel the vibrations from his purring.

Grimmjow's long hair fell over his shoulders just as he rocked his hips to grind against me. He was slow and deliberate, and my breath hitched as I could feel him getting hard against me. The demon nipped my bottom lip before licking the spot to soothe it.

"You smell so good~." He purred as his glowing eyes looked down at me. His gaze was hungry and piercing in the dark while his body was so warm against my own. "I could just eat you up." Grimmjow lowered one of his hands to my hip before sliding his fingers under my shirt as he licked my cheek.

His palm went up my side, and the feeling of his claws against my skin caused goosebumps to rise. Grimmjow dropped his head to run his tongue up the center of my now-exposed chest. My heart was hammering in my rib cage, and my face was getting warmer as I looked down at him.

I saw his tail swaying while his hot breath hit my skin before he raised his head to look at me.

"Ride my face."

"What?"

"Ride. My. Fucking. Face."

"....Okay." As soon as I replied, Grimmjow reared back and flung his shirt off. It was then he seemed to remember something and jumped off the bed. The demon scooped Dagur off the bed, then dropped him in the hallway before grabbing the door.

"Give us some privacy, would ya?" He quickly turned after shutting the door and pointed at me. "You, shorts off. Now. Wait, no, lemme do it." Grimmjow pounced on me, clearly excited as his ears were perked and his tail swayed.

"Woah, woah, slow down!" I held out my hand, but he already had my shorts at my knees. I could see how wide his pupils were when he looked at me and froze.

"Why?"

"I'm not telling you to stop. Just....slow down. Okay?"

"Fine." He gave a short sigh as he pulled my bed shorts off the rest of the way. "Your kind are usually telling me to just rip them off, though."

"Don't you fucking dare." I had a warning tone when I saw his claws near my underwear.

"It's not like they're expensive."

"No, but that's not the-" I was cut off by the sounds of fabric ripping from his claws tearing right through the thin material of my underwear. Grimmjow deeply inhaled through his nose and lowly groaned at the back of his throat.

"Fuck, that smell." He grabbed my knees to push my legs apart. "Let me see, Little Rabbit~." The demon purred. I saw him hungrily lick his lips like a beast would its maw as he was looking down.

"Did you have to tear up my underwear?" I questioned.

"Do you have to tear the wrapping paper on a present?" Grimmjow popped off before hooking my legs over his shoulders and flipping onto his back. The quick movement nearly made me dizzy, and I didn't have time to regain my composure before he nipped my thigh.

"Ow! Fangs!" I hissed as I jerked Grimmjow's head up by his horns.

"Just marking what's mine, Little Rabbit. Now, get the fuck up here." He grabbed my ass to push my pelvis over his face so that he could drag his tongue over my slit. My breath shook, and I grabbed the headboard to keep steady.

Grimmjow licked again, his broad tongue teasing before he found my clit. I took in a sharp breath when he flicked his tongue and squeezed my ass in his hands. His lips closed around my clit, and my thighs clenched from him gently sucking.

My soft moan seemed to set him off since he buried his face between my thighs, licking and sucking with fervor. My hips bucked as my nails dug into the headboard. I should have known with how long this demon had been alive and fucking he'd be amazing at this.

All I could do was hang on for dear life as his long tongue dove into my core. He deeply groaned into my pussy and grabbed my hips to pull me down closer to his greedy mouth. I was worried he just might suffocate, but he continued to hold me firmly in place.

Moaning, I found myself grinding against his face while tightly holding onto the headboard. Panting as my face burned, I looked down to see Grimmjow's head between my thighs. He didn't look to have a care in the world while solely focused on what he was doing.

"Fuck, don't you need to breathe?" I panted before moaning again. Rather than actually answer, Grimmjow simply growled in response. However, the low growl made me buck and clench from the vibration. As if to get me to do it again, the demon began to purr like a motor. "Oh, fuck~!"

One of my hands dropped from the headboard to grab one of Grimmjow's horns as my breath shook and my moans were sounding desperate.

I shouldn't have said yes to this. There was just no damn way I could keep this to a one-time thing. The demon was mind-blowing at giving oral with how adept he was at using his tongue and sucking on my clit at perfect intervals.

I just knew his face was going to be a mess when he was finally done- though that didn't seem to be anytime soon. Could I even last long enough for his hunger to be satiated?

As soon as I had that thought, however, my clit was in his mouth again. Grimmjow had me doubling over as I moaned.

"Fuck~! I'm gonna- Oh, God- I'm gonna cum! Fuck, Grimmjow~!" I said it as a warning, he took it as a challenge. He gained more gusto, making my legs shake as my hips were grinding against his mouth. I could hear myself moaning, and it sounded pathetic and needy.

I could hardly believe he'd reduced me to such a state with only his mouth.

Glowing blue eyes locked on me when I finally came, and I was shaking from the sheer impact of my orgasm. Panting and trying to catch my breath, I could feel Grimmjow grinning beneath me. Leaning on my hands that were placed on the pillows above the demon's head, I licked my lips.

"You look ready to collapse, Little Rabbit." Grimmjow sounded proud of himself, but I ended up doing just that. Flopping down on the bed next to him, I brushed my hair away from my face.

"I'mma need a minute." I panted, but as soon as I laid down, Grimmjow was hovering over me while looking like the cat that got the canary. One of his hands was on the bed while the other was wiping his face.

"I thought you weren't religious." Grimmjow stated before licking his hand clean without any ounce of shame.

"Huh?"

"You called out to a god. Unless you meant me." He smirked, and I rolled my eyes.

"Figure of speech."

"I won't mind if you wish to pray to me, Little Rabbit.~" The demon purred.

"I'd make a smart mouth retort if I wasn't so focused on sex." I popped off while sitting up and reaching for Grimmjow's pants. I could see his dick straining beneath the fabric, and his ears perked to attention when my fingers curled behind the hem.

I didn't even hesitate to pull his pants down, and his cock sprung free. Taking a second to actually get a look at it, I was impressed. It was thick and gorgeous just like the rest of him.

Grabbing his hips, I shoved him down on the bed to pull his pants off the rest of the way. Swinging my leg over his lap, I wrapped my hand around his cock, feeling the heat and weight of it in my palm.

"Don't be too hasty now, Little Rabbit."

"Oh, shut up. Or should I cover your mouth again for you to be a good boy for me?" Even though the room was dark, I could still make out the clear surprise on Grimmjow's face as his cock twitched. "Yeah, I thought you'd like being called a good boy." Smirking, I lifted my hips to line him up.

"I'm not a fuckin' dog-"

"I guess I have to then." Sliding a few of my fingers into the demon's mouth got him to stop talking and his ears to turn back. "Grimmjow, grab your horns." I commanded when he went to grab my wrist. His eyes were swirling with emotions as he looked at me, and I finally lowered myself on his cock.

Grimmjow's brows furrowed more as he groaned around my fingers. I softly moaned, feeling the stretch from his cock being bigger than his tongue. Looking down at the demon, I made sure he was also looking at me.

"Bite me and you don't get to cum. Understand?" I could tell he wasn't used to not being in charge, but if he really wanted me to stop, he could very easily make it happen. Yet he wasn't. "Do you understand?" I asked again with a more authoritative tone since he had given no answer.

He slowly nodded with my fingers still on his tongue and his hands around his horns.

"Good boy." My voice nearly purred, and I saw his ears turn back yet again. Leaning down, I kissed along the side of his neck before licking his throat. I could hear soft purring, telling me he was enjoying himself.

I had warned him before that I was no rabbit, it wasn't my fault he hadn't believed me. Grimmjow also looked so cute with his ears turned back and my fingers in his mouth. And him holding his own horns made the muscles in his arms flex in such a delicious way.

Sitting up after kissing his chest, I slowly lifted myself. Grimmjow's gaze went down to watch his own cock disappear inside me. His tongue then glided across my fingers as he grunted.

His ears turned forward while he continued to watch me ride him with blown pupils so wide I could barely see his glowing, blue irises. I picked up the pace and moaned from how it felt to be filled to the brim. Grimmjow was just, oh, so sinfully good- his scent, his touch, his voice, his cock.

He was beautiful, even while sucking on my fingers like a good kitten should. I certainly wouldn't call him that though, I knew it'd cause a retaliation, but the temptation was there. My King, my kitten, not much of a difference when it came to Grimmjow.

High and mighty, yet obeying me. The compulsion had worn off already, it didn't last long with how powerful of a demon he was, but he still kept his hands up and let me keep control. He was doing it because he wanted to.

"You're so much cuter when you're not talking." Grimmjow shot me a look, and I smirked. In an act of defiance, the demon bucked his hips up, driving his cock deeper into me without warning. I had to place my free hand on his stomach for stability as I moaned.

Grimmjow flashed his fangs at me in a devilish grin. He bucked again and again, making me feel as if I was in a rodeo until I lifted my hips high enough that his cock fell out. The demon stopped and softly growled.

"Did you really think there wouldn't be consequences?" Lifting my hand from his stomach, I began to touch myself while straddling his lap. His dick was so close but untouched as punishment, and yet he still didn't move his hands or remove my fingers from his mouth.

His growl got louder as he bared his teeth. Leaning down, I licked his cheek before whispering.

"Say you're sorry, and I'll put it back in." Slipping my fingers from his mouth, a string of drool connected my fingertips to his lips.

"Fuck you." He growled.

"I'll just cum without you then." I muttered before moaning from my fingers rubbing my clit.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. Fuck, I'm sorry."

"Good boy." I purred and removed my hand from my pussy. "Open your mouth." I ordered, and Grimmjow did as he was told. He groaned as soon as my fingers covered in my own slick touched his tongue. "Now, behave, and I'll let you fill me up with your cum." I said before kissing his cheek.

Grimmjow seemed to get so turned on by the thought of it alone that he groaned again and eagerly tilted up his hips. Grabbing his wet cock, I guided him back into my core. I rode him harder this time, enough to make the bed rock and for him to struggle to stay still.

His muscles were twitching as he fought himself from pouncing, and I honestly found it so incredibly sexy. I wouldn't be angry if he decided to just pin me down and fuck me at this point, but the fact that he was still listening to me, following my orders, was such a turn-on. I'd be sure to reward him for it.

#Feral Possession #grimmjow jaegerjaquez #bleach #bleach au #bleach fanfic #nonbinary character #oc x canon #bleach smut #sub!grimmjow #sub grimmjow #sub character #grimmjow smut #demon/exorcist au #lemon #minors dni #Wolf does fanfic

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predalien · 3 years

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Witch?

Answer: Good witch, mostly. I’m an eclectic witch, so I like to dive into all aspects of paganism, though I prefer to not take heavy parts in serious dark magic and curses. “What goes around comes around” is what I live by, baby 💪🧙‍♀️ (no matter how protected I may be).

Yautja x Reader, SFW

Halloween 2021: yautja and their (real) witch S/O

Your yautja’s first reaction to you sharing the knowledge of your craft with them is that of pure star-struck and wanderlust. Humans with magic… what a concept in the eyes of a yautja! Chances are they’ve never heard of anything like it before hand, at least on planet earth.

There are all kinds of witches and practices you’d explain to them, and I can assure your your alien companion will make an effort to at least learn about your practice. How do you use and control magic? Are there others like you? Can you speak to the gods and ancestors?

The look on your yautja’s eyes when they see you perform a spell or do some tarot/oracle readings… Absolute astonishment. Sure, the yautja have their own set of beliefs and mythology, but human witches and beliefs are something they are not very well versed in. So expect a very curious yautja.

Shamans and spiritual leaders, I headcanon, are a thing on Yautja Prime. I think your yautja might be interested in taking you to meet their spiritual leaders. Have you ever seen Avatar? Yeah, I imagine something like that.

They might be interested in seeing if you yourself can connect with their gods and ancestors. If you can speak to and ask for guidance from spiritual beings on planet earth, perhaps you can do the same on prime planet?

Now, religion and craft are similar but aren’t exactly the same, so seeing a human (of all creatures) with the ability to guess future actions (intuition) and the world working under your fingertips would almost terrify some yautja…. Can you, uh, bless them with good hunts and battles? Sure, Cetanu is already a thing, but double the power means double the win and honor.

Incense, candles, and smudge sticks… my oh my! What a concoction of smells and… uses? Dragons blood incense… you mean, you humans have giant fire breathing lizards here on earth? And their blood is used for your craft? You’d have to explain to them that no, there are no dragons on earth, lol. No, yautja, we do not use their blood for our craft.

Good luck getting them to keep their hands to themselves. Practically impossible when there’s so many shiny things and aromas and books of craft. Can I eat this? Why does it smell so strong, ‘ooman? Damn aliens just can’t keep their hands to themselves, and hopefully they won’t touch your altar…

Your yautja might first meet your familiar thinking it was a snack for them or something like that. No, you cannot eat my cat, you’d have to explain to them. Queue the hissing fights between your earth cat and your alien cat.

#november 2021 #old work

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 05 (second part)

(Masterpost) (Continued from Episode 05 first part, over here)

Breaking News: Zewu-Jun Continues to be Handsome

Just. Look at that man.

Water Ghost Field Trip

Lans Xichen and Wangji are going ghost hunting and the Yunmeng boys want in. For a simple "can we come?" conversation, a whole lot happens here. Lan Wangji uses his mouth to say he definitely does not want these boys to come while using the rest of his face to secretly beg his brother to invite them.

Corporate recruiter Wei Wuxian advocates for Wen Qing, talking up her skills, and then does the same for Wen Ning. He pays careful attention to what everyone is good at, and advocates specifically based on their abilities. While Wen Ning makes heart eyes at him.

That’s my future dark master

Wei Wuxian also promises to protect Wen Ning, which he ultimately does for the rest of his first life. Wen Qing gives both Jiang boys a genuine sweet smile, and dismantles another anti-WWX ward or two, while still being very protective of her brother's secret.

Lan Xichen says yes to everybody. Lan Xichen is that indulgent elder sibling who's just a bit too old to play with you after school, but will take you to the park when he isn't too busy with varsity and debate club. [OP mentally hugs her third older brother]

Back at the Inn

Fastidious local boy dislikes dust; plans to build house on corpse pile

They get to town and Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian check into a room together. LAN XICHEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Each of these boys came to this town with his own brother, but they are rooming together, how did this even happen?

(more after the cut)

Does this mean Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng are rooming together? and if so are they going to have a hot but ultimately meaningless one-night stand while each pines for the person they truly desire?

Wen Qing is rooming with her own brother, and the other hot girl cultivators stayed back in Gusu. Wen Qing never catches a break.

The innkeeper tells the Hardy Boys cultivators that there’s a shark ghosts in the lake and they’re going to have to close the beaches in the middle of July, oh dear.

Lan Wangji takes a lingering look at one of the beds and then goes to sit at the desk. Wei Wuxian tries to chat with him, fails, and goes and lies down on the bed. They’re not quite getting along yet but they’re moving in that direction, like when you bring a shelter cat home and introduce it to your established cat. Wei Wuxian is obviously the stray tabby in this metaphor, while Lan Wangji is one of those stuck-up Blue Russians.

Physically they are setting the template for many of their future domestic interactions, in which in which Lan Wangji meditates or plays guqin at his desk while Wei Wuxian lays in bed recovering from his latest physical or spiritual injury.

Walk from Dock to Dock

Instead of taking a boat from the dock directly outside the inn, the cultivators walk through a bunch of random countryside. How does anyone around here sell their fish, if the lake isn’t next to the town?

Wei Wuxian chats with Lan Xichen, laying out his case for why all the recent weirdness is connected. Lan Wangji, who has been shut out of his brother’s thinking on all of this, listens super carefully. Lan Xichen straight up lies and says “nuh-uh” and then walks faster to get away, so Wei Wuxian tries grilling Lan Wangji instead.

At this point WWX reveals that he, terrifyingly, shares Lan Xichen’s ability to tell what Lan Wangji is thinking by looking at his face.

Lan Wangji distracts him by pouring out his wine. This isn't LWJ being puritanical; he's escaping from the conversation by using the power of pettiness.

This works perfectly, getting Wei Wuxian to completely drop the subject and allowing Lan Wangji to make a run for it.

Note: Lan Wangji may have just now made up the “No Liquor on Night Hunts” rule, because Wei Wuxian asks him “why don’t I know that?” and if anyone knows Lan Clan rules at this point, it’s Wei Wuxian.

R-A-G-G M-O-P-P Rag Mop

They take a bunch of boats and all stand in the middles of the boats while they use magic, presumably, to move the boats and also to keep from falling the fuck over because you're not supposed to stand up in a boat, assholes.

Cue JAWS music.

Wei Wuxian cleverly spots a rag mop on Lan Wangji’s boat. I would like to know where the Department of Dubious Effects sources their goddamn nerve, because we are in Classic Doctor Who territory with these mop monsters.

Wei Wuxian is out here being impressive, and Lan Wangji is doing his good goddamnest to not be impressed, and to be a sulky bitch while he's at it. He rejects Wei Wuxian’s explanation for why he splashed water on his boat, and rejects this friendly shoulder bump, telling Wei Wuxian to stay away from him.

Look at how Wei Wuxian reacts to that. He is dangerously close to being done with Lan Wangji’s bullshit.

He is opening the fight playbook here. He takes a big ol’ step over the boundary that Lan Wangji just set, which means the first phase has begun.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the not-at-all suggestive framing and prop placement in that shot.

Lan Xichen is amused at these two extremely deadly extremely horny youngsters getting ready to kill and/or make out with each other.

Suibian

Before this can turn into a fight, the water mops start attacking and Wei Wuxian gets to show off his sword skills.

Wei Wuxian’s crazy high level of cultivation always makes Lan Wangji weak in the knees, which is part of why it’s so distressing for LWJ when WWX gives up the sword during the Sunshot campaign. Cultivation is the heart of their romance, and while Dark Wei Ying is also a high-level cultivator, Lan Wangji isn’t ready to share his narrow path until much later.

Lan Wangji is impressed enough to ask Wei Wuxian about his sword, and is rewarded with the most Wei Wuxian answer ever, as he explains why he named his sword “Whatever.”

The important relationship being shown in this moment is not Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, but Wei Wuxian and Suibian. You can see how he loves it and it's like he's talking about his pet.

And it loves him back, as we later learn. This comfortable symbiosis is part of what he gives up when he sacrifices his core.

Jiang Cheng gets injured by a seaweed mop and Dr. Wen hops over to help him and look at his leg, leaving Wen Ning alone in his boat. This doesn't actually cause a problem for Wen Ning because he's a very strong cultivator.

Later, as the Ghost General, he's more formidable than any other fierce corpse out there, and he is harder for Xue Yang to control than Song Lan is. Which means he’s right now he’s probably one of the more powerful cultivators of his generation in spite of his youth and his wandering-soul problem.

Dance of the Water Ghosts

Now things start to get dicey. Wen Ning notices the color of the water is wrong and Lan Wangji correctly deduces what the water ghosts are doing. Then Wei Wuxian correctly identifies the water demon. As a corporate teambuilding exercise this is going very well, but as a night hunt it is maybe a little more dangerous than expected.

Lan Wangji says everyone needs to ride their swords and all of the actors fling their arms out in a T and pretend they’re not just standing there in front of the camera. It’s so fucking ridiculous I can’t even.

However, it’s even worse when they show them standing on the swords. It’s SO MUCH WORSE when they show them standing on the swords.

Back to Corporate Strengths Finder 2.0: Su She has no strengths, just weaknesses. Instead of riding his sword he wants to take one last swipe at a rag mop. He sends his sword into the water and it loses its bluetooth connection and he can't get it to come back out.

The entire group of Lan clan disciples hop up into the air on their swords and not one of them tries to help Su She, which is hilarious.

Sweet baby Wen Ning, however, being a good lad, does go help him, and gets possessed, oops.

Wei Wuxian grabs Wen Ning and flinches when he sees his white eyes, but hangs on to him.

When Lan Wangji sees that Wei Wuxian is in danger he makes this face and goes and grabs him and Su She.

A hilarious midair conversation ensues, along with some relationship negotiation. Wangji is touch starved and aims to keep it that way. At least in public.

Lan Xichen fires up the battle flute and seals the water demon and oh my god how is he so elegant and beautiful?

What’s Wrong With The Baby

Wei Wuxian back at the Inn is checking on Wen Ning in a genuinely concerned way, having basically signed on as a co-elder sibling at this point, sensing that Wen Ning is broken. Wei Wuxian is friendly with everybody but he's particularly protective of anyone who's hurt.

Wen Qing shows up and tells him quite directly to get the fuck out, but he surprises her by understanding what's up with Wen Ning and making it clear that he's on her side as far as care for Wen Ning goes, while he still knows that she's up to something.

Giving Gifts to Girls, Yunmeng Brothers Style

Wei Wuxian: I deduced that your beloved brother has no personal firewall and can be possessed easily in spite of his high cultivation level, so I used my expertise to make a special talisman that can protect him from invasion by hostile entities. Here, even if you and I are sorta enemies I want him to have this. Also I’m going to throw in a casual acknowledgement of your professional expertise.

Jiang Cheng: I bought you a comb

Squeeze This

Wei Wuxian tosses an approximately testicle-sized loquat fruit to Lan Wangji and Lan Wangji catches it without looking, and an ENORMOUS romantic music cue swells up.

Then he rejects it and throws it back. He doesn't, of course, just avoid catching it in the first place because that wouldn’t be elegant and pointed enough. In a later episode, when they begin travelling together, Wei Wuxian will announce his presence in this same way, throwing a loquat fruit at to Lan Wangji, who will catch it and keep it.

Wei Wuxian tosses the rejected loquat over to Jiang Cheng, who catches it, not realizing he is going to be Wei Wuxian’s second choice man in every instance from this point onward.

Outtro

Soundtrack

Jaws music obvs

WuJi aka Wanxian which is playing constantly when they are in the library, presumably this is the sound in LWJ’s head

Lookin’ Out My Back Door by CCR

Nothing, from A Chorus Line

Rag Mop by the Ames Brothers (warning before you google it: this will give you a permanent earworm)

Writing prompt: Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng explore Gusu while WWX is stuck in the library

Restless Rewatch Episode 06 is here!

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #the untamed memes #wangxian #chen qing ling #the untamed spoilers #the untamed stills #restless rewatch #canary3d-original #restless rewatch the untamed #wei wuxian #wen qing #lan xichen #lan wangji #my gifs #cql not mzds but mzds is good too

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yuminsung · 4 years

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NCT 2020: SYNERGY (my wishes for an album)

I was positive we were getting an NCT 2020 comeback at the start of the year, however now I have realised I am a clown. So, instead, I have spent longer than I should’ve creating an album filled with stuff that I would like to see.

I want to preface this with the fact that I have no qualifications in anything related to music / album design / production or anything like that, this is just based on my opinions as a fan of music and NCT.

I’m gonna split this into 4 sections to kinda separate my thoughts, and so it’s easier to navigate.

1. TITLE

NCT 2018s album is titled EMPATHY, the definition of this being “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another”. I think SM chose this to reflect how NCT 2018 was an amalgamation of 127, DREAM, and U. I wanted to try and keep this theme for NCT 2020, though expand on it due to the addition of WAYV.

SYNERGY is defined as “the combined power of a group when they are working together, that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately”. To be honest, I think the word ‘synergy’ perfectly sums up NCT’s concept of sub-units, so it would be a good choice for NCT 2020s album’s title due to its meaning as well as its similarity to ‘empathy’ sound-wise.

2. ALBUM COVER

The album cover for EMPATHY was very bright, like all the colours of the rainbow, but still very minimalistic and kinda futuristic? The NCT vibe. I think their second album would suit a slightly more mature design, and as I have no talent in design, I’m going to use existing album covers to give an idea of what i think would work well.

If SM was to go down the route of a similar album cover, I think the best example is the 1975′s newest album:

It still has the text elements that were prominent on EMPATHY’s cover, while being more minimalistic in colour (aside from the yellow side panel which would theoretically be bright neobong green).

If they were to go along a different route to EMPATHY, I think this album cover by Paris Jones could work well for NCT 2020:

If the background surface was black, a polaroid of all 21 members could be a simple but effective album cover.

In terms of promotional photos, this scene from the WAYV ‘Regular’ MV is my first thought:

Photos taken on a set like this, with all the members dotted about the room and maybe the album title + members’ names repeated across the screens could work well to give off the futuristic NCT vibe.

3. TITLE TRACK / CONCEPT

I can’t create a whole album’s worth of songs, so for the next two sections all the songs mentioned are going to be from existing artists. I’m not trying in anyway to suggest that “NCT would do it better” or that NCT should release the exact songs mentioned - I’m just using these songs to represent the styles I would like to see NCT explore.

Title Track: GETTING CLOSER - SEVENTEEN

I think SVT are a really good example of having a lot of members that all have the opportunity to shine. Getting Closer is that bitch, like the line distribution is spot-on and the choreography is one of my all-time favourites.

Black on Black was mainly instrumental to highlight the performance ability of NCT 2018. Getting Closer is reminiscent of BoB in its powerful nature, but would be able to show NCT 2018′s growth into NCT 2020, with further vocal / rap capabilities showcased alongside the previously established performance talent.

The concepts of BoB and Getting Closer are already similar, so this wouldn’t be anything out of NCT’s / SM’s comfort zone, and would also work towards establishing a dark & powerful ‘brand’ for when all sub-units perform together as one.

Special Stage: UH-OH - (G)-IDLE

I would like to see NCT 2020 do something a little bit different than ‘powerful’ for the special stage. Uh-Oh has a really chilled kinda west-coast vibe that I think NCT are yet to fully explore in any sub-unit but could absolutely pull off. It would be a stage where they could genuinely have fun performing all together.

I imagine the stage being done in a way similar to Growl by EXO in that certain groups of members come onto the stage for different verses, then all come on together for the final chorus.

The styling for Uh-Oh is kinda summer streetwear. The best equivalent I’ve found for a boy group in this style is ATEEZ Wave era.

This shows kinda how I think the styling for this stage should be, in particular Jongho, Yunho, and Mingi. Just think lots of colour, street brands, and denim.

Getting Closer and Uh-Oh are the only songs on the album where I’ve put all 21 members on the same track.

4. TRACKLIST

I have no talent when it comes to album design / composition or anything like that, but I tried to create a sort of theme / flow between the songs I picked for the album. NCT songs I’d liken the overall theme to are ‘Love Song’ from Neo Zone, ‘Love Again’ from Reload, and ‘YESTODAY’ from Empathy.

I’ve used an intro, interlude, and outro to show progression of NCT 2020 through the album, with these 3 songs getting more upbeat one by one. Though extremely cringey, I guess I was trying to emulate them growing happier through being together as a group.

Aside from the two tracks mentioned above that feature all members, the rest of the songs are split into sub-units, whether it be pre-existing unofficial units within NCT or a selection of members I think suit the style of a certain song. I have not included any official NCT sub-units on this album, as that was done in EMPATHY. I’d like this to be one big NCT U album, where we get the members in combinations we’d otherwise never get to hear performing together.

The Tracklist:

INTRO: The Unknown Guest (DEAN)

Members: Xiaojun

Xiaojun is a beyond amazing singer (he is my joint favourite vocalist in NCT). This song has an old feel, it’s almost haunting, and I really think Xiaojun’s voice would suit such a song perfectly. Xiaojun performing an intro of this style alone would open the album well and give him the time to shine he deserves !

Track 1: Getting Closer (SVT)

Members: All

(Explained above)

Track 2: CHILLI (SVT)

Members: Rap Line (Taeyong, Johnny*, WinWin*, Lucas, Mark, Hendery, Jaemin, YangYang, Jeno, Jisung*)

I might have completely forgotten some songs but I don’t think NCT have ever released a rap-heavy song of this style. I would love to see them do a rap song with this sort of relaxed vibe - it would show off diversity in their rapping abilities and would be a fun concept to see.

*I know Johnny, WinWin, and Jisung are in both the vocal and rap lines, but I’ve chosen to include them on the rap line track rather than the vocal line track as I think they suit the vibe of this track better than the vocal track. Plus, it would give the three of them more lines (god knows they need them) if they were on this track rather than with the vocal line :)

Track 3: Uh Oh (G-IDLE)

Members: All

(Explained above)

Track 4: The Truth Untold (BTS)

Members: Vocal Line (Taeil, Yuta, Doyoung, Kun, Ten, Jaehyun, Jungwoo, Xiaojun, Renjun, Haechan, Chenle)

Although NCT has released ballads before, I would love to hear members from different subunits singing together. Like, imagine Renjun, Xiaojun, and Jungwoo on the SAME track - the power. Taeil and Chenle harmonising? Iconic.

Track 5: Spotlight (1the9)

Members: Foreign Swaggers / English-Speaking Line (Johnny, Ten, Jaehyun, Hendery, Xiaojun, Mark, YangYang)

I know Xiaojun, Hendery, and YangYang aren’t technically in the Foreign Swaggers, but I feel like spiritually they are. I wanna see 6 of them causing havoc while Jaehyun spectates (https://youtu.be/acsjfk4cz1U). A song with a playful vibe, not necessarily in English, would suit these members well.

INTERLUDE: Dayfly (DEAN)

Members: Taeil, Taeyong, Kun, Doyoung, Jungwoo

I don’t have any reasoning for why I’ve chosen these specific members for this song other than the fact I think the style suits them well. I think the 5 of them together on an interlude with a relaxed feel would just be a really calming break in the album.

Track 6: Vibe (1Team)

Members: Taeyong, Yuta, Jungwoo, Jeno, Jaemin, Haechan, Jisung

This is quite a broad range of members in terms of age but I don’t think that matters as each of their styles would suit a song like this. A relaxed style and structure similar to the one this song has would allow each of them to shine, as it’s nearly an equal split of rappers to vocalists.

Track 7: Retro Future (Triple H)

Members: Johnny, Ten

Baby Don’t Stop 2.0. I can just imagine these two singing a song like this and having so much fun. A JohnTen duet track is giving the gays (read @incorrectnct ) not only what they want, but what they deserve.

Track 8: Base Line (J-HOPE)

Members: 99 Line (Lucas, Mark, Hendery, Xiaojun)

The 99 line is 3/4 rappers so a song that is rap-heavy in style would best showcase their ability. We’ve heard Mark and Lucas together during EMPATHY era, and Lucas with Hendery and Xiaojun in WAYV, so I have no doubts the 4 would work together. Plus, rapper Xiaojun could be something that we don’t yet have but definitely need.

Track 9: Focus on Me (JUS2)

Members: 97 Line (Jaehyun, WinWin)

These two are made for a sexy concept like the style of this song, and their voices complement each-others’ so well. I always felt Jaehyun was one of the members of 127 WinWin was most comfortable around, so their existing chemistry would make a track together even better.

Track 10: Second Life (SVT)

Members: China Line (Kun, WinWin, Lucas, Hendery, Xiaojun, Renjun, YangYang, Chenle)

They have the range.

Track 11: New Rules (TXT)

Members: 00 Line (Haechan, Renjun, YangYang, Jaemin, Jeno)

A song with a fun feel to it like this is the only way to go for the 00 line. They are almost an even split of rappers and vocalists, so a song like this would allow each member to shine. I know any song with these 5 together would make me smile while listening to it.

OUTRO: Blue Side (J-HOPE)*

Members: Yuta

Imagine if SM gave Yuta his own solo track,, just kidding,,, unless? But for real, Yuta has managed to prove how talented an artist he is despite SM only giving him 2 lines and 8 seconds of screen time each comeback, so imagine how amazing a whole song by him would be.

*Song will be in Japanese.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I tried to split the members evenly between tracks, which I know is unrealistic but is what we want to see (SM please let Mark, Taeyong, and Haechan rest). I’m not sure if we’ll ever get another full group album, I’ve heard some people saying it will be NCT 2021 for 21 members, like the 18 members for NCT 2018. Regardless, making this made me feel happy thinking about the possible interactions and the songs that could come from it.

If you’ve made it this far thank you for sticking with my jumbled thought process. Please message me if you have any thoughts about anything in this post or just about NCT ot21 in general :)

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svynakee · 4 years

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mulan (2020) and chi, a mystical misrepresentation

Disney’s research on chi (气) suggests that early on they fang qi (放弃). Mulan live action makes me want to fang pi (放屁). Long explanation on my gripes with this cultural 'representation’ which ends up backfiring into making Chinese culture look bad, plus why including the ~exotic Asian mysticism~ of qi ruins Mulan (2020).

*Translations of the words below cut

Part 1: Crouching Representation, Hidden Insult

Firstly, the accepted pinyin is qi, so I have no idea why they’re using chi. I’m no expert on Chinese medicine or spirituality, but I did grow up watching wuxia and having a mother who insisted I change my diet to balance the heat/cold/dry. The concept of qi is not a mystical one to me. I associate it with action movies and aunties who believe in alternative medicine – superstitious, but in that familiar, domestic way. Part of my tradition. Part of my culture. Part of my life.

Qi is not a magical outside force. Qi is your own personal energy. In stories, while you can seal other people’s qi or damage it, it’s not like some life force in nature where you can tap into a flower’s qi to gain plant powers. Mastery of qi is akin to an Olympic athlete who hones their body and self-control to peak physical performance. While their abilities may seem superhuman, they are not divine or innately magical.

In a wuxia setting, people can train until they get enhanced reflexes, strength, senses, motor skills and possibly healing abilities. These are all ‘normal’ human abilities that have simply been pushed to unrealistic levels. Even walking/running on water, running up vertical slopes and ‘flying’ can be explained as being really fast or…jumping really, really far. Outrageous? Yes. But importantly, not magical. This is why a wuxia hero can still be freaked out by the supernatural. In a wuxia setting, using qi is normal and anyone can become the strongest qi user. Some use it for fighting, others to be doctors (enhanced senses + acupressure), or solve crime (there’s quite a few wuxia detective stories out there).

In xianxia, there are more fantasy elements. Those who hone qi are usually cultivators, who do so with the end goal of becoming immortal. This is not a unique trait; the setting often has several (sometimes even hundreds) of flying, super strong, immortal people who have some degree of fame. There can even be establishments that teach cultivation. Or multiple sects full of cultivators who have honed their skills in qi. Entire armies of people who can cast spells and telepathically control their sword. One could argue that immortality is just the mundane ability to remain healthy pushed to the extreme, but xianxia is where monsters and demons and gods roam about.

There are further differences between the genre, but I only want to point out their similarities concerning the concept of qi.

Everyone is born with qi. Nobody is born with the skills to utilise their qi. Qi must be honed through training, usually in a balanced manner (both physical strength and mental acuity, along with some spiritual growth). Even heroes who have parents with strong qi start off weak, because if you can’t use you qi then you’re just a normal person, because everyone has qi. Being born with unusually long legs and large lung capacity might make you a good sprinter, but you won’t go to the Olympics without training, even if both your parents are gold medallists. It takes self-discipline, a good coach and a mastery of your body to reach that potential.

This is one of my gripes against Disney’s idea of ‘chi’ in Mulan. The other one is-

Qi is not gender restricted. In fact, feminine qi is associated with yin, the black part of the yinyang symbol. Not a new concept. There have been female martial artists and heroes in Chinese works for a long time. I hate how Disney is taking a gender-neutral concept, one which already has a degree of progressiveness in Chinese culture and deciding that “chi is not for women” just to push their girl power moral. For a long time, wuxia has had women warriors. Women MASTERS. Yeah, not every kung fu master is an old man with a long white beard. There are female-only sects. There are badass female warriors who participate in hand-to-hand combat and rack up kills. They’re not regulated to being healers and archers and that one ‘Amazon warrior princess’ using a whip. Growing up, I saw more strong, heroic female warriors in Chinese media than Western when I watched action films.

This is my main problem with Disney’s horrendous cultural appropriation. Instead of properly representing the culture, instead of doing research, instead of just NOT GOING FOR EXOTIC ASIAN MYSTICISM, they actually make Chinese culture look worse than it is. To. Support. Feminism.

Part 2: The Chi-asy Way Out

In addition to butchering the core concept of the thing they’re appropriating, Mulan (2020)’s baffling inclusion of qi, whoops, chi makes the story worse overall. Mulan being born with strong chi makes her a master warrior from childhood. However, society doesn’t like it when women have chi, so she is shunned and her parents worry for her. As a soldier, though, chi powers make her an asset to the army, so she becomes respected. In the end she is a hero.

Oh, and remember when Disney said removing Mushu was because they wanted a more accurate adaptation of the original poem?

MULAN WAS A NORMAL PERSON AND NEVER FOUGHT ANY BIRD WITCHES.

The problem is that this means nothing Mulan accomplishes is due to her own actions. How is this an uplifting feminist story? This is the message: “If you’re a girl who fails to conform, you will be ostracized. Don’t worry though – so long as you’re born super special and strong, make the right heroic choices and use your strength for good, you will find acceptance!”

WHO. IS. THIS. EMPOWERING.

Isn’t this just another ‘not like other girls’ story? Mulan likes something that only boys are allowed to do, so men don’t like her, until she proves she’s better than them at that thing, so they accept her? That’s not feminism! Women don’t need to prove anything to be allowed to pursue their passions or feel proud of their identity. And they don’t need to be the best at something to be allowed to do it!

In Mulan (1998), she lacks the raw physical strength of the men. This actually makes sense – she’s the daughter of a wealthy family (hence the marriage arrangement, the nice estate) – so she’s weaker. This weakness leads to her getting bullied. Mulan realises she can’t succeed if she tries to match them in brute strength. She then uses her brains to succeed. There’s a brief training montage where she becomes stronger which admittedly doesn’t explain why she suddenly gets swole, but it’s reasonable that she was always capable to being as strong as the men and merely lacked their background of physical labour (even Po, as monks are expected to maintain their temple).

In Mulan (2020), she just stops hiding her superpowers. After a personal pep talk from her commander, which she gets…because he knew her war veteran father.

Ah yes, magic and nepotism, the inspiration that little girls need! Feminism!

It gets worse. Mulan’s chi not only allows her to excel in the army, but it leads to the main villainess/anti-villain to fixate on her. Xian is a witch, a woman who used chi but fell to darkness. Her goal is to make a world where, uh, women born with strong chi aren’t oppressed. She immediately recognises Mulan as a woman with chi and inexplicably gives her chi tips while in battle. She then repeatedly leads Mulan to each plot point, culminating in her sacrificing herself to save Mulan because she sees Mulan as the kind of person she wanted to be, but couldn’t due to oppression.

Chi is the reason why Mulan is a hero. Chi is how Mulan arrived on time to save the Emperor. Chi is why she is respected. Chi makes her special. Chi makes her a hero.

The addition of chi takes away so much of Mulan’s character growth, her struggles and subsequently her triumphs. Did she join the army for her father’s sake, or because she knew her only chance to succeed was on the battlefield, where chi is a powerful weapon? Is the emperor offering her a position on his staff out of respect for her abilities, or fear that shunning her will turn her into another Xian (who almost singlehandedly gave Bori Khan victory and ALSO was responsible for foiling his plans because her abuse led to her betrayal)? Even the love interest doesn’t befriend Mulan until she shows off her chi and beats him in combat.

Chi gave Mulan everything. And with this poor addition of ‘chi’, Disney took everything from Mulan.

气 - qi, ‘air’ 放弃 - give up 放屁 - fart

#mulan #mulan 2020 #mulan film 2020 #mulan live action #disney #fuck off the west already thinks china is backwards and needs enlightenment #mulan rant

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pornosophical · 3 years

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did I ever talk about the plot of that Bleach fic I wrote like a solid third of before my will to live passed once more out of reach?

because it felt good. I know I said some stuff about the puns for abilities which I was inordinately pleased with, but I don’t think I said anything about plot

the premise is: Toshiro drops all his ice crystals when the arrancar invade Karakura town and he’s forced into his mature bankai form—and then gets stuck there when Orihime heals him

the end result is Toshiro can’t exert spiritual pressure while in his matured form and has to move in the Kuroakis. Cue big reveals and Isshin’s theatrics and Ichigo having a perpetual bisexual crisis. after that Toshiro has some school adventures, an encounter with Don Kanonji which I thought was fucking hilarious, and possibly slapped in the movies for good measure, although the only major plot adjustments would need to be made for Diamonddust as opposed to Memory. Kusaka is too ripe not to at least reference otherwise

anyway, Toshiro eventually gets kidnapped and subs for Orihime’s role as damsel in distress. while he’s there he gets thrown head first into Espada politics. there’s a few scenes with him and Ulquiorra that I really enjoyed but the specifics of their philosophical argument kept straying out of character. a moment with an ice sculpture that reminds Ulquiorra of that negative space in that tree he likes

the rescue crew would come on through and I’m still on the fence about whether Hinamori would come along. I think I settled on yes because it balanced out into pairs with her there? either way, they burst in and gradually get the picture that Aizen used the hogyoku on Toshiro and now he’s the Cero Espada (Yammy is suitably pissed about this)

cue big fight. Ichigo holds the front line and the group does a takedown with... I think I had Ishida using some Quincy technique to carry a spell and then the arrow would stab Ichigo and kickstart his Quincy heritage, but I’d have to go read my notes

uh... yeah then they go back. oh, right, since Ulquiorra is in Karakura town, he has to fight someone, probably Isshin. anyway, that all happens and then Ichigo rolls back up with his posse and Aizen tells Ulquiorra he needs to clean up the mess

Ulquiorra gets tRiGgEREd by Ichigo saying something doesn’t matter. then he drops Segunda Etapa and Barraigan just froths at the fucking mouth

shit shit shit. I forgot. while they're in Hueco Mundo, after Toshiro chews everyone out for rescuing him and Ichigo stalks off in a huff, they’re get a moment alone together and Toshiro looks up at the sky and says ‘the moon is beautiful tonight’ and Ichigo gets hit with Feels™

uh yeah. Aizen fight. Ichigo bankai breaks... wait that doesn’t work. shit I forget. BUT that aside, after Aizen then it’s dating time and field trips to Soul Society while Las Noches gets a makeover from Halibel with her court of advisors: Starrk, Nelliel, and Ulquiorra. Grimmjow and Luppi are alive too and they hate each other which is so much fun

god. I hadn’t even fucked with TYBW or Fear Your Own World much, but I know I wrote some stuff. like that scene where Ichigo learns that Sasakibe has an original signed Shakespeare folio from a visit he made to Reverse London

well, this was longer than I thought

#ichihitsu #hitsuichi #dead projects

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rotationalsymmetry · 3 years

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General gripes about DS9 and gender (some spoilers) (content notes: some references to sexual abuse/trauma, and specifically spiritual abuse/sexual misconduct in religious leaders, also death/murder):

I swear to fuck these people do not know how to write female characters without shoehorning them into romance plotlines. (Or weird fucked up stuff, like when that Cardassian serial murderer kidnaps Kira.) Especially noticeable with Ziyal -- when Kira takes her to DS9, the writers apparently can't think of a single thing to do with a young woman other than ship her with a much older Cardassian. Then, she's starting to get her own life and make a name for her as an artist, and they fucking refridgerator her. The fuck. (And: the focus is on how her death affects Dukat, that fucker. Which, obviously sure it's going to affect him...but it's also going to affect Kira, who sees Ziyal as like a younger version of herself and was trying to protect her. And then Ziyal dies. That should have some sort of effect on Kira! And did no one else on the station make any sort of connection with her when she was there?) This is arguably not primarily a gender thing, but it is partly a gender thing: the show keeps demanding Kira find sympathy for her oppressors, over and over again. (This is a gripe fest: of course there's a lot of things about Kira's character that are done really well.) She keeps getting thrown in situations that show (some) Cardassians in more nuanced lights and that more or less force her into relationships with them, while meanwhile her old resistance cell friends all get killed off, her parents are dead, if she has any other family we don't hear about it, and she's basically left with no Bajoran friends even, as far as we know. She gets Bajoran lovers who... OK, about that. First, Vedek Bareil. Now, Bajorans are shown to have a pretty relaxed attitude towards their clergy (eg Kira is frequently rude to Winn even after she becomes Kai with apparently no consequences) -- but still. Vedek is roughly equivalent to, what, cardinal? He's high up in the heirarchy. And, he's put himself in a role of spiritual authority relative to Kira: she gets access to one of the Orbs through him. They've got a power imbalance and one that's connected to Kira's ability to do her religion. I don't care what the social norms are on Bajor that is 100% sexual misconduct on Bareil's part. If something went wrong in their relationship, it could fuck up Kira's connection to her faith. And in the show it's presented as no big deal.

(Star Trek seems to be aware of this when it comes to ship's captains! For all that Kirk notoriously fucks everyone, he never voluntarily (/outside of the mirror universe, outside of odd transporter malfunctions that split him into two parts, etc) came on to a crew member. But it's no less important for religious authorities.) (Also: this has nothing to do with celebacy. I'm fine with Bajoran religious figures being allowed to have sex and being allowed to have sex outside of marriage. But: a religious leader having a sexual relationship with someone who they're in a pastoral relationship to is wrong, and while Bareil isn't exactly Kira's pastor I think there is some level of, he's providing spiritual guidance to her. That means she's off limits to him, or should be. In the same way that bosses shouldn't fuck their direct reports, college professors shouldn't fuck their students, therapists definitely shouldn't fuck their patients, etc. Regardless of how they handle their sex life outside of those restrictions. And regardless of whether there's love involved or not -- romantic love absolutely does not make it better.) And then there's Shakaar, the former leader of her resistance cell. That she joined as a teenager. It's...yeah, it's been many years, yeah she's not directly under him any more, and yeah goodness knows a band of resistance fighters is probably not going to have a clearly written up sexual harassment policy so it's not necessarily unrealistic...it's not as blatantly "oh god no" as Bareil, but it's got some...is anyone thinking of potential abuse of power issues here? Anyone?

There was one episode where Jake and Nog were double-dating and it goes badly due to Ferengi, uh, gender roles not meshing well with Federation egalatarianism. And, then the rest of the episode is all about how they're going to repair their friendship. And I was thinking: we didn't see either female character either before or after, and why is a sexism issue being shown from the lens of "how can I, a nice guy, stay friends with my male friend who has sexism issues" and not "how am I, a young woman, going to deal with this affront to my basic personhood" or "how am I, a young woman, going to repair my friendship now that I talked my friend into a double date so I could date the guy I liked but his friend turned out to be garbage?" Like...out of all the potential relationships there, why is Jake's friendship with a guy with sexism issues (who's made it clear he's not going to change, at least as far as dating goes) the one presented as being in most need of preservation? I know, it's because Jake and Nog are more central characters and their friendship has been significant in the show for seasons now. But...that just brings up more questions. Like why does this show have a significant bro friendship between two teenage boys, but there's no friendship between two women (or between a woman and a man for that matter) that's given as much weight? There's some bonding between Kira and Dax, but it doesn't have the same presence and significance as Jake and Nog or, say, Miles and Julian. (I'm having first name/last name inconsistencies here. Ah well.) Keiko has no on-camera friendships. Kira has no on-camera friendships that have Jake & Nog or Julian & Miles weight. Dax maybe does with her Klingon buddies from Curzon's lifetime. (Benjamin Sisko also doesn't.) Ziyal could have, but doesn't. Molly could have, but doesn't. Miles doesn't seem to have any (on-camera or otherwise acknowledged) parent friends (like...there's one couple mentioned who can babysit Molly at times? That's it? We never even see them?), which is weird because fuck knows parenthood can make it hard to have any friends who aren't parents. Odo's got his weird frenemy thing with Quark. Garak has his standing lunch with Julian (if you read that as platonic, which ... yeah, there's not a lot of arguments for seeing it as platonic beyond "they're both men.") I am, don't get me wrong, extremely for showing male friendships. Very much for it. It's just...I want friendships that aren't between two guys also. And I want them to be shown as significant and meaningful and worth overcoming obstacles for. Friendships between women, friendships between people of the same race or culture (or alien species, since we are talking Star Trek here), friendships between men and women that aren't just a precursor to romance. And...parenting that isn't just...I want to see Keiko have problems with parenting that she overcomes with help from other people. I want to explore the emotional ramifications of Kira being a surrogate mom to Kirayoshi or being a semi adopted mom to Ziyal and then having her die. I want Kira to talk about how her own upbringing in times of famine and war and occupation affects her sense of her ability to potentially be a parent. I want a female character to calmly talk about her decision to not become a mother and have that decision be treated with the utmost respect. I want the sort of struggles that male characters have with parenting on the show, like Worf's difficulty connecting with his son or Benjamin's conflict over watching his son grow up and get less interested in spending time with his dad, be shown for female characters as well. And the joys, like when Benjamin remembers holding Jake as an infant, like when they reunite after Jake gets caught in a war zone. Rather than parenting be this thing that mom characters apparently do on autopilot without any internal conflict or feeling out of their depth or particular moments of joy and amazement. There's so many plot lines and moments and bits and pieces that could be amazing moments that give

mother characters balance and nuance and characterization, but they only ever get shown for fathers. (And this is not just Star Trek either...look at all the kids movies that are about father/son or father/daughter bonding, and somehow the moms...just aren't there. It's so good when there are single father storylines, just...where are all the mom storylines that could be like that?) And why do teenage boys get focus and their own stories (especially with Jake in DS9, but also TNG has Wesley Crusher and Alexander, and TOS had one story centering on a teenage boy) but girls either aren't there at all or don't get to have stories that are about them? Ziyal's stories aren't about her, she doesn't get to form her own friendships and only barely gets to develop an interest of her own before her life is taken away from her. Molly doesn't get stories that are about her. (And yeah, Molly's a lot younger than Jake, but those are still choices: DS9 could have been set when Molly was a teenager, or the show could have introduced a different teenage girl as a significant character, or Jake could have been a girl rather than a boy, or Benjamin could have had two children...)

#incidentally I have no complaints about how winn is written as a female anatagonist #she's a shitty person and an excellent villain #I have pretty tangled thoughts and feelings on dax #she's had a few really great episodes and it seems like her characterization is starting to make more sense since her relationship with wor #moogie is odd but satisfying as an older woman who lives life on her own terms under a highly patriarchal culture #ds9 #feminism #gender and media #women in media

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spockandawe · 4 years

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The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish

Okay, legit book pitch time, because I’m doing a terrible job of coherently typing out the premise every time I try to tell a person about this book, and I cannot stop telling people about this book. Bottom line up front: The Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish started off a little rough (a combination of everything happens so much in the story itself, and, I think, the translator finding their footing), but I’ve been having such a good time that I am deep, deep in the mtl pit, because I can’t stop reading it.

The premise! This is a transmigration novel, where our hero Li Yu (his name literally translates to ‘carp’, for the record) enters the universe of a novel he just finished. He does not enter the body of a character from the novel, he enters as... a fish. A tiny little ingredient-for-fish-soup tier fish. Before he’s totally figured out what is going on, there’s an attempt to turn him into soup, and even when he flails his way out of the person’s hands, he’s.... stolen by a cat. And then, at the very last moment, he’s saved, and placed into a bowl of water to recover. This is the part of the book where So Much Is Happening and I was genuinely stressed by fish suffering.

But once he’s safe in a bowl, he finally gets to really talk to a System, and gets given some actual instructions. Surprise, sucker! You’re in a book! And he’s tasked with changing the path of that book’s protagonist, who goes from being the fifth imperial prince to eventually being the emperor. He’s like ‘oh my god, are you serious, i’m literally a fucking fish’ and the System is like *shrug* and says that well, he can either do the mission or he can die? So he’s like ‘OKAY, COOL, LET’S CHANGE THIS PRINCE’S LIFE.’ He’s also told that if he completes enough tasks, he’ll regain the ability to become human again, which is where I was like okay, this book is maybe not going to be quite so ridiculously batshit as the summary implied. The initial mission doesn’t say anything about romance, but I was still reading it like ohohohohoho, romance!

And the original book! At first, the fifth imperial prince, Jing-wang, was nominally out of the running to take the throne, because he was born with natural mutism and the emperor was told that this might be passed down to his children. He was his mother’s only surviving child, and she died soon after his birth, so he grew up very... isolated and disconnected, which makes sense given his temperament, even before all the other factors come into play. He’s a very cold, distant man, and in the book, eventually won out over his brothers to become the emperor. A cruel, rigid tyrant of an emperor. But! He did have a husband who he loved a lot. Unfortunately, that husband was planted by his brother and sure didn’t love him. The text calls him a black lotus, and describes that relationship as ‘sadomasochistic’, which I’m not sure is quite the right word, but it sure seems... melancholy, and the relationship seems to make Li Yu sad when he thinks about it.

Now, Li Yu is very worried about how the hecc he’s going to impact this imperial prince’s life in any meaningful way, but from the very start, the people around Jing-wang see him going soft for his new pet fish. His father especially is very moved to see his son finally attached to something that way. And I want to say that even the very early bits are... unexpectedly sweet?? Jing-wang doesn’t angst about not being able to speak, which I’d been worried about (I do hear that the mutism gets fixed eventually, which i’m not wild about, but i don’t feel like he’ll ever be a super verbal person tbh), but it’s really cute seeing him figuring out to interact with a pet where not being able to speak shouldn’t even really be a factor. And especially early on, Li Yu makes an effort to be as cute as possible, and way he pets and plays with his fish is the cutest, CUTEST thing.

(li yu is given an escalating series of unbelievably lavish aquariums, but even one of his earliest ones, jing-wang notices he’s interested in a pearl and just quietly fills the aquarium with priceless gemstones for his fish to play with)

There’s something that’s very hard to articulate about this, but in an early scene, Jing-wang brings the fish with him to a stressful meeting and gets angry, and starts holding the fish in a self-soothing way, and Li Yu is like AGH, TOO TIGHT and wriggles out, but before Jing-wang can even get properly upset at being rejected by his fish, Li Yu circles back around and starts winding through his fingers. Even before romance is a factor, the physical contact and comfort were absolutely precious.

When I’d started reading this, my initial mindset was basically ‘okay, so i can see Jing-wang getting attached to his fish, but love? seriously???’, but honestly, the story handled it in a REALLY nice way. There are around 160 chapters total, and by the mid-twenties, Li Yu gains the ability to occasionally/briefly transform into a human, and by the mid-thirties, Li Yu and Jing-wang have had an extended interaction where they’re both human-shaped. And Li Yu acquires other special powers with time, including interdimensional storage space and Super Jumping Powers, and he is seriously, seriously, the most sketchy-ass fish you’ve ever seen, and Jing-wang is a smart cookie.

At first, it’s little things like ‘okay, while Jing-wang is out, I’mmmm going to explore this room!’ And he does the fish equivalent of holding his breath and hops around for a while before returning to his tank like a good little fish, but Jing-wang comes back and there’s water all over the floor and he’s like ‘..............’ So what does he do? He starts leaving teacups of water all over the floor so that his fish can stop and take a breather without worrying about getting back to his tank. And when his fish seems interested in the work he’s doing at his desk, he sets up a teacup next to where he works so that his fish can watch what he’s doing. And initially, he’s kind of like ‘this is normal fish behavior, probably’, but. Li Yu is so focking sketchy. And it really, really doesn’t take long for Jing-wang to start connecting the dots between the strange young man who periodically materializes in/near his quarters and steals his clothes and his fish.

But this story is so funny. When Jing-wang starts getting suspicious, what he eventually concludes is that oh, this is like that fairy tale about the white snake spirit who seduced a human man to steal his spiritual essence. Or the fairy tale about the fox spirit who seduced a human man to steal his essence. Okay. Awright. And he spends considerable time waiting very impatiently, wondering why isn’t my fish seducing me yet??? He even sets things up so that while Li Yu is on his desk watching him work, he starts pointedly reading erotica about the snake spirit and fox spirit, and I can tell that he’s embarrassing himself, while meanwhile, Li Yu is a modern human trying to read ancient Chinese writing, and he’s like ‘haha, lmao, he reads way faster than me, I have no idea what’s happening.’

(later on, when they’ve managed to do a little bit of communication and work things out, Jing-wang proudly tells someone (writes for someone) that the food he’s eating was made for him by his boyfriend. and when the person is like ‘ah, okay. uh. what... is a boyfriend?’ and Jing-wang is like ‘I’ve got no goddamn idea.’)

Also, you may note. That one of the tags on this story is mpreg. And that was honestly why I dove into it, I was like ‘haha, there’s no way a story like this could sell me on a plot point like THAT, go ahead, try, I double dog dare you’. Well. Last night I reached that plot point. Y’all....... it.... worked. It was still silly, but the character himself was like ‘oh my god, you can’t be serious.’ It was silly and cute. At a slightly earlier point, the emperor sends Jing-wang to take a military force and go fight bandits, so Jing-wang was planning to leave Li Yu safely at home, and Li Yu wasn’t happy and non-seriously said, ‘no, your highness, you can��t leave me behind, I’m... CARRYING YOUR CHILD.’ And he didn’t mean it, but Jing-wang wanted to believe it at first, and was really happy, and was :( when Li Yu clarified that no, physically, he’s... not capable of doing that.

Smash cut to not long later, when the System gives Li Yu his next task in the main mission line and it’s.......... babies. Li Yu tries to plead with the System that no, oh my god, I am not physically equipped for this, but also at this point? The System has straight-up modified his fish body several times. He doubled all his attributes once, not realizing this included size, and got stuck in his aquarium cave. And later on, he upgraded from minnow(?) to koi and promptly... got stuck in his aquarium cave. So they’ve already coaxed me along through believing body modifications. And then the actual fish pregnancy process was very understated and low-key, and then once the fish babies hatched, after nine months, they got the ability to turn into human babies. The story even plays around with the idea of fish babies being capable of much more independence than human babies, and the babies being Displeased with the situation. Guys, they sold me on the mpreg. How did they do that?????

And something I genuinely hadn’t expected is that the relationship takes negotiation and growth. The earliest courting scenes are very... high-handed. Which I was into! I can dig a romance novel like that, where the love interest pins the protagonist to a wall and kisses him so good he sweeps him off his feet. But Li Yu gets to be upset, and push Jing-wang away, and be angry when Jing-wang tries to wiggle around the boundaries he’s trying to establish. He gets to tell Jing-wang he feels disrespected and taken advantage of, and Jing-wang learns to back off. And when he decides that he does want to give this thing a try, he lays out a couple base rules for Jing-wang, and Jing-wang takes it so seriously that he legit hangs them on his bedroom wall.

And everyone who loves Jing-wang is so happy for him. They’re so happy for every positive development in his life. They’re happy when Jing-wang starts caring for his pet fish, and they’re even happier when he falls in love with an actual human. The main barrier to formalizing their relationship isn’t that Li Yu is a man, it’s that Jing-wang needs heirs, and well, that gets worked out. Even the emperor casually mentions that he used to have a male concubine back in the day.

You guys, I’ve been genuinely Moved by this silly novel about a fictional prince falling in love with his pet fish.

I’m not done yet, I’m almost exactly halfway through, and I’ve got no idea what’s coming next. I assume it will be political maneuvering, because Li Yu’s System told him that it’s guaranteed that Jing-wang will eventually become emperor, but the rest is up to him, and there are still a few other princes floating around who opposed him in the original book. And that black lotus husband from the original book is still around too. But Jing-wang has other allies who would have died in the original novel by now, who Li Yu managed to help save. And I’m so invested! I want to know what happens! Li Yu is periodically unlocking Jing-wang backstory reveals as rewards for completing missions, and some of these things give him a better understanding of Jing-wang in the present, but some open up brand new mysteries about Jing-wang’s past. I have to go do my actual job now, and I’m really unhappy about that, because I want! To read more!!! I’m reading the mtl right now, and if you’ve tried mtl, you know the prose can be barely comprehensible at times (i spent like ten chapters thinking jing-wang had two cousins when he has... one....) but still!!! I’m so, so invested, and I can’t stop recommending this book to everyone who has the misfortune to exist in the same space as me :’)

#the disabled tyrant's pet palm fish #long post/#cnovel rec

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damejanai · 4 years

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Dameraji

2020.09.16

S:Probably, when this episode goes on air, it won't be the case anymore but

K: Uh huh

S: But recently, I've had quite many spiritual experiences recently

K: Oh i was scared right there

S: ?

K: I thought you were quitting or something

S: No no no no, why would i do something like that?

K: That scared me, thought you were going to say, 'when this goes on air, i won't be here anymore'

S: Hhahahaha that blew up

K: I was so shocked

S: That's funny, but you know, I often say I see feathers, right? I still see them now and then, but recently, I'm not kidding, crickets keep coming to me. When i'm watching TV at night... well I'm not watching TV but

K: What are you talking about?

S: You know like, my TV is like...that...

K: You are just watching the screen

S: Ah yesyes, that's scary! It's like I'm a psychopath or something!

K: So Soma san you were just watching screen when..

S: When I watch movies at night, there would be the tapping sound on my window, there would be nothing, and after a while i would hear it again.

K: Uh huh

S: And when i open the window, the crickets would be like, 'Let me in!'

K: That's so dramatic

S: I think there is a huge tree near my window, and so there would be tons of them there growing.

K: Ahhh, they would fall nicely at a 45 degree angle

S: And it's easy for them to come in but not go out. I realised that recently, they are not really coming anymore. I was wondering why, and it has been hot recently, so I've not been going into the veranda much. When I went out, I realised that the tree, wasnt there

K: Ehhhhh!??

S: It was totally trimmed, I guess there were tons of complaints coming from other residents about crickets coming into their houses too

K: Would they trim it because of complaints?!

S: It has a very clean haircut now.

K: I don't know if I should probe into it this much but is that tree within the estate?

S: Yes yes , it is, so it comes under their management. And actually I dont miss them at all and, i feel lucky in fact

K: And also it's nothing spiritual at all, just that the bugs are gone

S: Ahahahahaa

----

~About year end times and visiting their parents'~

S: It's hard for me to move around, like my hometown is in Yamanashi

K: Actually my parents home was in tokyo but they have moved to kanagawa actually, so they're like telling me, not to come back

S: Ahahahaa

K: And they got a cat, when I'm allergic to cats. And also since they're in Kanagawa, they might have some resistance to come to Tokyo. So, I can't go back!

S: Are you in contact with them?

K: Ahhh well yes

S: So that was when they told you that, they were getting a cat and stuff, and therefore

K: Telling me not to come back

S: I don't think that's what they think wwww

It's a tough time huh

K: Yes it's a tough family situation

S: Ahahahaaa what's that

K: Why are they going further away though...

S: I actually talked on the phone for 2 hours with my parents, after a long time, they seemed really happy i think. After that I think i heard from my sister that my parents told her about how i called them

K: Ahh

S: I'm usually the kind that doesnt contact people. So i guess this situation sort of makes us try to keep in contact. So not all's bad

K: I see, when i go back home, I'm like doing a radio show alone for 2 hours

S: Ahahahaaha

K: When i go home, I talk non stop, for like 1 hour and we laugh and laugh and then I'll be, 'Okay, I'm off'

S: Ahahahaa you're providing them one slot of entertainment

K: I'd be like, 'wasn't it fun?' , 'bye bye'

S: Does your style of talking take after any of your family members?

K: Nope

S: Ah

K: Totally no one. I'm the only one who talks this much

S: Ah, so they're rather quiet, all of them

K: My dad would talk when he's excited but is usually the listener. I don't really understand what my mum says at all

S: wwwww what does that mean?

K: Maybe we're similar?

S: Ahahahhaa

K: My younger sister doesn't ever come out of her room

S: Stop that

K: My elder brother keeps bullying others

S: wwwwww ok but

K: Maybe it's a hybrid, I'm all of those things at times

S: Well but you're nice on the inside

K: Yes I am! So is my family! Hahahaha

S: Haahahha

Q. There are not many events nowadays but it seems like there are many recordings and filmings these days?

K: No?

S: wwwww well in general for voice actors, probably all the recordings that were halted have resumed maybe

K: By recording, what kind of recording do you mean?

S: wwwww what do you mean by what kind?

K: Well there's after recording

S: Ah ah ah, Ok then count it in

K: Ah, okat then Yes, it has increased

S: Ahahahaa

K: Yes, it's great. I don't really have recording for like songs

S: I think ive gotten more reading jobs nowadays, and I've always said i liked reading, but i had one where i had to read out everything myself, it was, really difficult

K: I guess you have to create and ups and downs right, that's tough right

S: And i think, it's not too good if you create too many ups and downs

K: Ahhh, it's difficult to decide when to hold back

S: Yesyesyes. And usually i would read books for leisure and books for work differently.

K: I see

S: And recently I end up thinking a lot when reading, like how should I make it more interesting

K: Ahhh that doesn't sound fun

S: Totally

K: When I have fun doing YouTube, versus when I use some editing methods because I feel it's good for my videos

S: And it goes on for hours, well it happens for radio as well, like 3-4 hours, to be immersed in one story for rhat long, we don't have it that much

K: Uh huh

S: Like... i want to improve my concentrating ability

K: Ahhh that...

S: Well....Kaito kun are there any types of jobs that you have more now

K: Not really... anything... it has been the same

S: So it has really gotten back to normal

K: Yes. I think I've had more free talk sort of gigs now

S: wwwwww

K: So, what do they see me as?

S: Well but you know you are able to do freetalk for 2 hours at your parent's house

K: No no no but well the freetalk at do at my parent's house goes like, 'this and this happened at work, haha, my partner for radio is this sort of person, he's really irritating

S: Wait wait, stop stop, can i rewind?

K: Ok ok ok, so like what i say at my parent's house goes like, 'my partner for radio is really irritating' something like that

S: wwwwwww

K: Hahahaha, just a little

S: You simplified it huh, from just now

K: I don't even remember what i said

S: But Kaito kun is someone who can just talk about something interesting when the time needs to be dragged a little

K: Really?

S: Isn't that so?

K: Freetalk is like... if there's nothing interesting that happened in your daily life, there's nothing to talk about so

S: Yes, that's true

K: So, i only say what comes to mind at that point

S: Yeah yeah

K: So, sometimes i read comments like, 'Kaito kun said this and this some time ago but now he's saying this and this'

S: Uh huh

K: But what i say is different at different times. So, recently I felt the need to accumulate things to talk about

S: Yes, that's also what you thought of due to this increase in free talk related gigs

K: Yes yes

S: And so you're actually

K: I wanted to note down stuff so, use my secret twitter account that I use for ego searching

S: Wait wait, why, why? Just use a notebook or something

K: Well but, I feel like tweeting them

S: Ahahahhaaa I don't get it! Your ego searching account

K: It has 0 followers, is unlocked, and has no interaction with anyone

S: I see I see

K: And I would tweet photos of my animal crossing game for my own keepsake

S: Ahahahaha huh? That's kinda scary

K: So I'm using it in place of a notebook now. My recent note was 'Human nails degenerate too fast, don't they?' They break all the time and it's painful and bloody', and I don't even remember what that was about

S: Oh my god

K: Scary right?

S: Totally scary, Posting animal crossing photos and leading to this is also scary. What's that about human nails?!

K: The fact that it's scary... already becomes a topic

S: I see I see, you noting down things and don't remember anything about it

K: And the fact that the first tweet was something really scary

S: Ahahahhaahaa

K: Hahahaa

S: But it's an account you would like to keep lowkey

K: If it gets circulated due to a bug or something that would be real bad

S: Please be careful!

~ Dame raji photo studio ~

Topic: Please express your favourite 4 word idiom with your body as much as you can

[DOWNLOAD]

Please download from this link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Yp5Xdwi4_z03jPajH9BEbL7R02brXk8P?usp=sharing

#dame janai radio #dameraji #saito soma #ishikawa kaito

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guqin-and-flute · 4 years

Note

Hi Guq~ from the askbox, I'm intrigued about the 3zun+Jingyi fic, could we see a BEFORE THE BEGINNING — three sentences (or more) about something that happened before the plot of my current project ?

(Oh my god, Guq made me smile really big, I love that) Yessss, perfect, I had started something but this made me finish it!

This is the night that Lan Xichen met A-Fu (Jingyi), after Wangji was punished after the Battle at the Nightless City. [CW: contains blood and mentions of death]

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4]

[Ao3 Link]

There is a small child crying somewhere nearby.

It shouldn’t be as distracting as it is. Wangji is stretched out on his belly, his back shredded and bleeding through the bandages at an alarming rate. There is the mystery child they had discovered unconscious on his bed when they bore Wangji back after his punishment--he is now curled up next to Wangji under the covers, pale and feverish.

Exhaustion lays flatly over Xichen with no poetry--so many dead; his uncle on the verge of qi deviation over Wangji’s behavior, over their massive losses in the combined slaughters of Qiongqi Way and the Nightless City, and over Wei Wuxian, who is dead--who had killed himself and torn apart the fragile pieces of his brother, so tenderly fastened to him.

Xichen had been so afraid...so afraid that Wangji was going to follow him. Over the cliff or under the lashes. He is afraid now. Shakingly so.

His eyes burn under the combined power of sheer sleeplessness, withheld grief, and the fact that he had fought for his life not 24 hours ago. Right now, they must be red rimmed, the lids sticking and heavy. He is no stranger to horrible circumstances. He is no stranger to distraction in the midst of trying to remain calm and focused.

And yet the wailing of that nearby child is like a hook in his ribs and he cannot keep from turning toward it like some strange sea plant caught in a current, yearning toward the sun far above the murk. When he lays a hand on both of their foreheads, he finds Wangji and this child’s energy low and distant--they will not wake for hours but they are stable. Levering himself up to his feet, every muscle in his legs either shaking water or aches, he follows the sound.

It crescendos to a shrieking, hysterical pitch as he opens the door to one of the newer common houses they had constructed after the fires. He finds a handful of Juniors in a panic, wrangling upwards of a dozen children in various stages of distress. It is late, nearly midnight, far past standard Lan bedtimes and it shows on every temper-twisted face in the room. When the Juniors spot him, they freeze, then dip into frantic bows that some of the older children clumsily imitate as the murmur of, “Zewu-jun,” ripples through them underneath the wails. The screaming child is young, perhaps a year and a half old, red in the face and squirming so hard the girl holding him is having a hard time keeping her grip.

“We’re so sorry if we disturbed you, zongzhu,” she half-shouts over the din, desperately joggling the boy around in her arms, swaying on the spot. “We’re trying to get them to quiet down.”

“Are their parents….”

When he stops, unable to find the words he hopes for--or dreads--in the weary, dire mush that had become his mind, one of the boys hesitantly answers, “They all left for the Nightless City with you, Zewu-jun. Some have checked in and said they will collect them later. There must...I suppose there must have been a lot of injuries. No one has told us what’s going to happen.”

They’re scared. Lost.

Everything in disarray. Such a mess. He apologizes, praises their resilience, assures them someone will be by to arrange for more suitable accommodations. They bow and insist it was their duty and try not to look relieved.

The wailing child has reached the stage of hysterics where every ounce of his strength is going into each scream, petering out into the ominous silence of reached lung capacity, then a heaving gasp, and it starts all over again. The poor girl holding him is close to tears herself.

Wangji had never cried loudly that he could remember. He would sit stock still, red faced and silent and shaking. When he was very young, he would let Xichen sidle up next to him and loop an arm around his shoulders, let him turn him into his chest until the front of his robes were covered in tears and snot, but he never let anything but gulps of air escape him.

It had been so many years since Wangji had let Xichen hold him.

Xichen turns out his hands. “Here.”

“Zongzhu, I--” she half protests until the boy twists so mightily, a thrashing hand punches her straight in the throat. He is still a very young toddler, but toddlers possess the unique ability to channel their entire being into one single emotion and his is lung-crumpling upset. Rage. Fear. Hunger. Exhaustion. Desperation.

The child is no happier in Xichen’s arms, but his hold is sure, tucking the boy to his chest as he strokes the black fluff of sweat dampened hair. The screams are growing hoarse and rattle through Xichen’s chest. “Who are his parents?” He finds himself swaying slowly on the spot, still running his fingers through the child’s hair as he wails into Xichen’s shoulder, fists balled in his robes.

“Only his mother, zongzhu--Lan, uh, Lan Liu.”

Of all things from the past few days, this catches a squeezing in his throat as he nods. The memory of a crumpled form in the blood-churned muck, a shoe print between shoulder blades. A red tide across white. Too far, too slow. Alone. He lay his hand on the boy’s back, let his cries buzz through his palm.

“His name?”

The girl, massaging her throat answers, “Lan Fu, Zewu-jun.”

“Someone is coming,” he assures the Juniors, reassures them all with a stretched smile. Relief at the idea of respite from the noise and responsibility is clear on every face. “Soon, you can rest. You have all done...so well.”

They bow and murmur him out again. He finds some Seniors, some Elders, some parents and directs them. They are too polite to grimace at the rule-breaking noise of the child in his arms.

He walks with Lan Fu. His wails are rough, pitifully thin things, now. His hot, wet face is tucked into Xichen’s throat and the collar of his robe is sopping, but he walks and rubs his back and hums. Sometimes it’s nonsense, sometimes it’s songs of calming, and sometimes it’s the lullabies his mother had sung whenever he would nap in the Jingshi, soft and sweet. Screams to hiccups to whimpers to sniffles to silence. He is not asleep because Xichen can feel the cold brush of his eyelashes against his pulse. Every once in a while, he’ll heave a deep, shaky sigh.

“There, now. There we are.” It’s senseless crooning, but it seems to do him good. Perhaps it does both of them good, for he can’t seem to stop. “Deep breaths. That’s good, little one. You’re alright.”

Perhaps it’s a lie and perhaps it’s not what needs to be said, but just now, Xichen finds that he needs to believe it. “You’re alright,” he says again as he opens the door to the Jingshi.

It smells of metal, thick and cloying. There is blood on the bedclothes. Wangji is still and pale, but breathing, labored and shallow. He shifts Lan Fu to one arm, squeezing him when his fists tighten like little claws in the cloth. “You’re alright. I’m not leaving. I have you,” he whispers.

He carefully lifts the mystery boy away from the slowly creeping red devouring the fabric, settling beside the bed to tuck him into his lap, nestled next to Lan Fu. They both radiate heat against the chill of the night like tragic little furnaces. He holds them as best he can as he lays his free hand on Wangji’s arm, letting the cool slip of spiritual energy flow into him. His eyes burn. His body aches. He finds himself rocking again, his cheek on Lan Fu’s head, his hand petting the hair of Wangji’s unconscious boy. “You’re alright,” he can’t seem to stop saying. “You’re going to be alright.”

#Lxc #my stuff #text #BOY this was angstier than I anticipated #Poor Xichen #THANK YOU FOR THE AAASK!!#Ask #lan-er-ge-ge #3zuns raise jingyi au #my fic

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ryttu3k · 3 years

Text

Doing those ship meme questions only it's the new OT3 (Beckett/Sascha/Ilias) because they're my main source of serotonin these days. Occasional appearances from Anatole and Lucita, too.

Not doing all, but there are A Lot.

1. Who's the one who's reckless and always getting into trouble while the other gotta pull em out

Beckett and Sascha actually do have a lot of braincells between them but none of them are in use for 'can sense danger'. Ilias has gained some minor common sense since his 'hey, I'm going to ask our Antediluvian for power to help face its favourite childe oh whoops I am possessed' thing and is usually the one sighing fondly and saving their asses.

2. Who's the one to send the other "I love my gf/bf" memes

Ilias. 100% Ilias. He would go out in public in a shirt saying 'I <3 Sascha' and calling them ‘my flower’ while Sascha is just pleased they can't blush any more.

3. Who's the one who listens to a music genre the other doesn't like and how does the other react

God their music tastes are all over the place. Sascha is over a thousand years old and has seen and heard A Lot. They consider the Romantic period 'modern music'. Beckett is similar albeit with about 350 years of it. Ilias got hurled from 1233 to 2004 and after a period of ??? went, "Oh, Romanian music!" and it was. Dragostea Din Tei. Like can you imagine one moment it’s 1233 and the next moment you are listening to Dragostea Din Tei. Also thanks to the language drift they only caught about a quarter of the words so it was this whole thing where he almost, almost was understanding it but the rest was just, “...what.” And that’s how Ilias discovered modern music.

Anyway yeah they’ve pretty much decided that their collective music tastes are so disparate no one is allowed to comment on them.

4. Which one spoils the other more and do they ever get competitive to show the other more love

Honestly, they all kind of spoil each other, albeit in different ways. Like Ilias will just randomly pop a handmade flower crown on Sascha’s head. Beckett will occasionally find an extremely rare book on his desk and know Sascha found it for him. Beckett always tells Sascha first when he’s found something cool so they can be the first to investigate it. And they absolutely get competitive, yeah.

5. How many years did it take to get married or was it just not for them

Sascha and Ilias have a mutual blood bond, which is more or less the equivalent of thus. Beckett has a mutual bond with Anatole, but he and Sascha have a level-2 bond.

7. Are their friends/family supportive

Honestly, uh, Sascha and Ilias don’t really have anyone else. Beckett’s companions tend to range from, “They’re terrifying but I trust your judgment :D” (Anatole) to “hahahahahaha if Vykos harms one hair on Beckett’s head I’ll end them” (Lucita) to “WHY” (Aristotle, Okulos, most others tbh).

8. How does one comfort the other when the other is in distress/having a panic attack/crying

Sascha is the one most prone to panic attacks because trauma is a bitch and basically just... Beckett and Ilias both respond by with hugging/gentle restraint (if they’re okay with touch) or by giving them space and doing things like running a hot bath when they’re touch-averse.

9. Which one dissociates

Honestly Sascha spent most of 1234 to 2006 lowkey dissociating, which is fair when there’s literally another essence fused to yours. Post-Dracon, they still get the occasional dissociative episode, but it’s much easier to bring them back to themself.

10. Which one stares at the other's booty like “damn” and how does the other react when catching them

All three tbh. Beckett stares at Sascha, Sascha either gets a bit self-conscious or a bit ;) , depending on mood. Sascha stares at both Beckett and Ilias and gets a bit embarrassed when caught (Beckett will laugh it off, Ilias will basically be ;D). Ilias stares at both and is completely shameless about it because he may no longer be on the Path of Pleasure but he’s absolutely not going to feel ashamed for admiring his gorgeous lovers.

11. When they live together what kinda place do they live in? What does their home look like?

Beckett and Sascha travel too much for one place, honestly, and Ilias accompanies them a lot. They do have a few houses scattered throughout the world, though, including one in the Carpathians (nowhere near Brasov, tyvm). Not really as big as the monastery, it’s mostly like... big library, a few comfortable places to sleep or rest, Ilias likes having a garden these days and grows a lot of flowers.

12. What do their dates look like

Museum heists.

13. How does each act when getting drunk

Ilias gets even more handsy. Actually he can get to be a bit of a pain, but he does listen immediately if one of them tells him to tone it down. Beckett gets very enthusiastic and fired-up and a bit more feral and he’s gonna go find Enoch right now and prove Caine wasn’t real once and for all. Sascha, uh, tends to get a bit emotional and also very talkative, but can literally like. Talk their way into minor breakdowns. Basically less barriers.

14. Which one rolls over in the morning evening to wake up the other one just to kiss them

All three :3

15. Have they saved each other's lives before

Yup!

Ficverse-wise, Sascha did also save Ilias from becoming a bogatyr to the Eldest, although that was also Sascha and Beckett both saving themselves by being emotionally honest. Yeah XD

16. Does one have an interest the other think is weird but wants to listen to it regardless

Ilias’ spirituality conflicts a bit with Beckett’s... atheism, I guess? Like he’s definitely not sure he believes in the spirits that Ilias regularly works with as a Koldun, but he’s willing to keep a relatively open mind. (He’s a bit less open-minded in Sascha’s belief in - and support of - Caine, given that he’s literally based his career around the metaphor theory!)

17. Which one uses cropped hentai as reaction images

Sascha.

They have troll tendencies, okay.

18. Does one of them kinkshame the other

There is absolutely no kinkshaming here. Listen Ilias was a Priest of Jarilo. Sascha was once on the Path of Pleasure too. Beckett seduced Dracula for information then forgot to ask his question. They’re all very open about everything.

There may be teasing about the odd hobby or interest but it’s pretty lighthearted.

19. Is one of them self conscious about their body? If so how does the other comfort them

Beckett occasionally has Moments over his hands and worries about hurting Sascha or something. They basically respond by being like “are you kidding the claws are hot as hell”. On occasion, Beckett will get one of them to Vicissitude them down if he wants to use his hands more, although they’ll regrow and be achey for a night or two afterwards.

20. Say they were cuddling on the bed while listening to record player playing the background. Which song is playing?

Honestly I want to say Third Eye by Florence + the Machine just for fic reasons. When I was writing Mantle I saw it very much as Beckett towards Sascha, but it fits with Ilias towards them as well.

I have no idea how they would have discovered F+tM but anyway.

23. What kinda joyrides do they go on? Relaxing ones or wild ones?

It. I imagine it usually involves police chases. When it doesn’t Beckett will occasionally go wolf so he can stick his head out the car window like :P

Shh don’t tell anyone.

25. Do people ever get annoyed of their pda

God probably. One of the main exceptions is Anatole, who’ll basically go, “Oh! Are we cuddling?” and flop on top of Beckett.

27. Which one’s the red, which one’s the blue

They’re all red. Fear. Ilias is probably closest to blue.

28. Are either of them mentally ill, if so how do they help one another cope

Sascha has both PTSD (from Symeon and Michael, and from the Eldest) and C-PTSD (from being bound to the Dracon for literal centuries). Also depression and anxiety, which are... pretty common with those. See question 8 for some of the coping methods, the rest is just... taking each day as it comes. Like they’ve lived a very long time, but they only got free of the Dracon in 2006, so it’s still a very new thing.

Ilias has some trauma from some of the things he’s had to do to survive since waking up with the Thirst of Ages, and gets into guilt spirals on occasion. He mostly focuses on Path of Nocturnal Redemption methods to work through it; he’s kind of adverse to anyone seeing him vulnerable like that. He knows Sascha has done some awful shit, but they weren’t themself at the time so Ilias feels it doesn’t count, and Beckett is like, Humanity 6? He just doesn’t get it, so Ilias keeps it to himself.

Beckett has an odd, acquired one - his experiences in Jerusalem left him with the ability (if it could be called an ability!) to occasionally hear the Cobweb (the Malkavian Madness Network). While his connection isn’t nearly as strong as an actual Malkavian’s, he does get odd flashes of Insight; less helpfully, it can occasionally get, uh, loud in his head. This tends to ramp up a bit with proximity to Malkavians, so when he’s around Anatole, Anatole will help him filter the voices and thoughts out by teaching him meditation techniques. (Given that Anatole - correctly - feels responsible for Beckett being afflicted thus, he wants to make sure it doesn’t hit his lover too badly.)

29. Does one have a spot on them where they would melt when the other kisses them there

Give Beckett head scritchies and he’ll turn into a puddle :3

34. Are they a reckless couple or safe

*loud, prolonged laughter*

37. Do they get into fights often? If so what do they fight over and how do they make up?

Sascha and Ilias are usually... very chill; if they argue, it’s over the other’s safety, like Ilias wanting to do something reckless and Sascha being very much ‘please do not’. Sascha and Beckett argue a bit more, although thankfully they have now stopped trying to literally kill each other XD When they do, it’s usually ideological, related to Gehenna, Caine, et cetera. Sascha is still very much a part of the Sabbat, and Beckett is, well, basically an atheist.

40. Who would fight in honor for the other if someone would insult them

All three tbh. Here’s a fun bit from the novel:

Still really dig this bit from BJD, too!

No misgendering on Beckett’s watch!

42. How would one react if the other was to die

Uh.

Poorly.

Like most of Sascha’s sanity slippage was due to the Dracon’s essence being fused to their own and just how the Eldest... did that, but a good part of it was absolutely due to Ilias’ death.

43. Who dies first

...canonically, Ilias XD;;

It’s okay he gets better.

#vampire the masquerade #feral nerd #mx meat crimes #tzinnamon roll #caymanshipping #heartflowershipping #ivoryringshipping

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wolfgrowlwrites · 3 years

Text

Tribe of Rushing Water Analysis

Since people were curious both on my thoughts about the Tribe of Rushing Water in Canon and how I’ve rewritten them in my fic Ties that Bind, here’s the massive post on it. If you read this entire thing, thank you.

---

Alright so I’m not much of an internet funnyman but I was an English Major and someone with a hyperfixation on the Warrior Cats series so it’s time to analyze the Tribe! The following post will include Spoilers for Watership Down (yeah the rabbit book, I’ll come back to this) and I will speak openly about the Warriors Series as a whole with the assumption that the people reading have already read the books in question. The goal of this is to discuss the Tribe’s narrative placement in the story, and what I’m doing with them in my rewrite.

Now Warriors was originally just going to be one book, and then six, and then first three books of the second arc. The weird effects this has on the narrative and tone is best explored elsewhere, but I bring this up because Midnight, Moonrise and Dawn were meant to be a trilogy ending the series. And this trilogy was based on nothing other than Watership Down, all of which is important to consider when we talk about the Tribe. The Tribe was meant to only appear briefly, which means there was no need for fleshing them out, and they are the Warriors parallel of Cowslip’s Warren.

For those of us who haven’t read Watership Down, it is a story about a bunch of rabbits who have a prediction of the destruction of their home and set out on a quest to find a new one. (Sounds familiar right?) One of the dangers they run into along the way is what originally appears to be a friendly warren run by a rabbit named Cowslip. The rabbits immediately find themselves on edge, as while this warren is exceptionally friendly there is the underlying evidence that something is wrong. When they ask questions the natives to the burrow deflect and dance around answering, and while their customs seem similar, they’re different enough to be unsettling. Behold, I’ve described the Tribe in Moonrise. And like the Tribe, the fact that Cowslip’s Warren is hiding is that there’s something extremely dangerous hunting them. Cowslip’s warren is being maintained by humans who are actively snaring the rabbits, and the Tribe has Sharptooth who is also hunting them. In fact, the snares almost kill one of the traveling rabbits, while Feathertail does end up dying to Sharptooth.

(Thank god I’m doing this on Tumblr not Twitter, god this thread would be unbearable.)

(For those who have read Watership Down, Brook is probably supposed to be Strawberry.)

So narratively, the Tribe are there to be a hinderance to the traveling cats who seem friendly and similar to them but have a danger to them that will put the traveling cats at risk. That is the role they’re meant to play, and as the series was meant to end after Dawn, the Erins didn’t need to flesh the Tribe out really beyond that.

But then money and the publishers spoke and the series continued and we returned to the Tribe except uh… huh. Honestly I kinda don’t want to get into this because it’s the same thing every time. The Tribe, who when we first meet them are described as huge and able to fight eagles, and are well adapted for life on the mountains, have encountered some problem and only the Clan cats can save them. Rinse and repeat. And as someone who has attempted to figure out the Tribe’s Allegiances, if you thought they were bad about remembering details for the Clans oh boy. For specific citations of the Tribe needs the Clans help, oh no, please see Moonrise, Outcast, Sign of the Moon, and Tawnypelt’s Clan. Sign of the Moon in particular because a Clan cat straight up choses the Tribe’s new leader. Can you imagine how the Clans would react if a Tribe cat tried that?

But it’s okay right because of the whole time-travel thing which means that Jayfeather actually founded the Tribe and named the first Stoneteller. I could write an entire essay on how much I hate this plot point, but that’s not the point here. The more important part is that some how the Tribe went from names like Stone Song, Half Moon, Lion’s Roar, Clear Sky, Gray Wing, etc. to names like Brook where Small Fish swim. I, as a white guy, don’t want to touch the racism there, I’m pretty sure other people have explained it better than I can, but the short version is that a group named the Tribe with names like Jagged Rock where Heron Nest comes off like a stereotype for Native Americans, at least from my white American experience. So, uh, solid yikes on that one, especially when those aren’t even the names they use (because of course not they’re a fucking mouthful) which gets to the world building point I’m gonna touch on instead.

The Ancients become the Tribe but somehow the names grow so long that they all have to go by nicknames that… almost resemble what Ancient names were to begin with? I understand this is because the Tribe’s naming convention got established before the time loop thing, but honestly, there is no reason they should’ve been named like that and in fact more reasons why they shouldn’t have. Between the racism and then from a writing perspective, what is the point, of having names like that if they’re never used? Like narratively it makes no sense from the start, and the Time Travel plot only makes that more obvious.

All that said, I actually super adore the Tribe! I wish they’d been handled differently in a lot of places but they had so much potential to be cool that got lost along the way. So thus, we come to my rewrite. If you’re just here for Tribe Analysis you’re free to go, but if you’re here for how I’m rewriting the Tribe than settle in.

---

In my rewrite the Tribe has Ancient names from the get go, because it makes more sense and allows for the Tribe to serve its original narrative function, that is, a place similar to what the Clan Cats are used enough to be comfortable, but different enough to be unsettling. The Tribe has ancestors not unlike StarClan but I have the Tribe’s worship working very differently. Stone Tellers are raised from birth to serve as a guiding force for the Tribe because they are the ones that can speak to the ancestors, and every full moon, when the Cave of Pointed Stones glows, they lead their tribe to speak with their ancestors, in something not unlike a gathering, but it is meant to be a form of remembrance, as they are sharing news with their ancestors instead.

The Tribe has very extreme views of their ancestors, refusing to take the Tribe of Endless Hunting’s name in vain. It is also believed that a Tribe cat that has passed cannot move on to the Tribe of Endless Hunting until a final task has been completed. This task is something the cat would’ve wanted to do while alive, but didn’t get to, so now one of their family, or a close friend, does it in their place. (To a reasonable extent, for example telling someone that the cat who died was in love with them, not settling down with them to raise a family because that’s what the dead cat wanted to do.) Those who have not moved on linger as ghosts. They don’t have stars in their pelts, and they don’t have the ability to see the future to warn their Tribemates the way StarClan or the Tribe of Endless Hunting do. They are capable of speaking to those who can see them, usually Stone Teller, but otherwise they tend to simply watch and wait for someone to help them move on.

The Tribe believes that the future is chosen by the Tribe of Endless Hunting, to challenge their omens is the most heretical thing a cat can do. The current Stone Teller decides a cat’s future when they are born, Cave-guard, Prey-Hunter, or rarely, the next Stone Teller. Those kits are taken by the current Stone Teller once they’re old enough to be weaned and raised in the Cave of Pointed Stones. Their name is chosen by the current Stone Teller and stripped from them when they become the next Stone Teller. Stone Teller is meant to be the ancestor’s conduit to the living and an impartial leader to the Tribe. However, not every leader can live up to those expectations, and should the Tribe begin to doubt the current Stone Teller’s capability to guide them, they can make a new cat leader. This cat would do the job of leading the Tribe, while Stone Teller continues to serve as the medicinal and spiritual leader. This rarely happens, and when it does it is rarely so clean cut, as no one particularly enjoys admitting they’ve made a mistake and need to be replaced as leader.

The Stone Teller is assisted in leading the Tribe by the head of the Cave-Guards and the head of the Prey-Hunters, these are seen as the cats that are best at that job and capable of quick decision making and good judgement calls. They often work together to organize hunting patrols and discuss issues in the territory, often presenting Stone Teller with their solutions alongside problems.

Honestly the Tribe won’t be playing a very large role in my rewrite as a whole, but since they have an entire arc dedicated to them, I wanted to make sure I had them well fleshed out. There’s a few details I’ve left out because this is long enough, but if you’re curious about anything I’ve said either about the Tribe or my rewrite, hit me up.

#Warrior Cats #tribe of rushing water #I'm not sorry but this is a lot tm

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weirdponytail · 4 years

Text

MIC!Arya and the Infamous Tarnag Temple Argument in IC Canon (AKA Modern Inheritance’s Take on Trauma, Religion, and Arya F***ing Apologizing)

Everyone gives Canon!Arya shit for the scene in the books where she gives Gannel shit in his own temple for having religion. I agree that it’s a bad moment for her character. I also feel it comes out of left field for Arya’s character up to that point but I’ll get smacked from here to the core mantle boundary for that by some of the fandom. I digress. This is very much not about my feelings on the canon version.

Let’s move on to how it might go for my Modern Inheritance!Arya and my version of events.

A lot of what I write about in MIC is trauma related. Arya’s one of the easiest characters for me to write for in that regard for obvious reasons, and because I’ve shaped my mental picture of her over the years so she’s the one I have the most practice with. Please note that usually when I go to bat for Arya I tend to get my MIC version of her muddled in with canon, so I apologize for any sharp words, brow beating, etc. Anyway...what was I talking about? OH RIGHT, TRAUMA AND THAT WHOLE TARNAG THING.

So just to further stress, this is Modern Inheritance/MIC right now.

Arya’s coming off from a hell of a time. You don’t exactly process deaths of loved ones very well while being tortured, and while she’s juggling all that plus two near death experiences that occurred probably within a week of each other, Eragon nearly dying and his back spasms, the guy that tortured her and killed her best friend and her mate is dead but she didn’t get to have a swing at him, mentally preparing to face her queen/mother, the ‘a whole clan now wants to murder Saphira and Eragon’ situation, civil unrest in the city they’re in, just Brom being Brom, physical stresses from the whole *waves hands at previous paragraph*, she’s suddenly reminded that hey...the dwarves and humans have something that elves don’t.

What’s that? Religion. And what usually comes with a religion?

The concept of an afterlife. The general idea that when someone dies they have not really left. The comfort that if you pray, meditate, visit a grave, do something special to you/your faith then you can make a connection to your lost loved ones and friends. The promise that even though they’ve left this world, they’re still looking out for you. And one day you’ll see them again. The separation is only brief.

And damn. Right then, that hurts for Arya. It’s like being kicked while you’re down.

TMI and on but off topic: My mother died when I was 12. She had a progressive neural disease which pretty much destroyed her mentally and physically over the course of a year or so. During that year, there were a bunch of ‘spiritual’ people coming over. Not mainstream religion types, but still.

I hated them with a passion. I hated them, the stuff they said about any type of afterlife or spirituality, prayer, the idea that the dead were not all gone, I fucking HATED that bumper sticker that says ‘if anything can go well, it will’ because ho BOY did that say something for the shit I was seeing and going through at the time.

I had been agnostic bordering on atheist before but this was the nail in it for me. After mom finally died I was a real sourpuss/snarky little shit whenever religion came up. I insulted every religion any time it came up. I shut down anything having to do with my mom ‘watching over me’ or ‘being with me/us in spirit.’

It took me years to understand it. I was angry because I couldn’t bring myself to believe that after all the shit I saw, the pain my dad went through, that I went through, and the whole year of watching a bright, loving, intelligent woman that was my whole world turn to a fully paralyzed drooling mess with mood swings and no voice besides a pained moan...that there was any sort of god or spiritual energy or other bullshit out there. Because then why would it happen? And why to her? People say that ‘well if there is a god then why does war/famine/assault/torture/disease/etc. happen?’ but when it happens to you, and you were already teetering on the edge of ‘does it or does it not, maybe there is something out there…’ it’s like being smacked in the face with a shovel.

I’ve got nothing against religion now, as long as it isn’t toxic or manipulative, etc. But I can see where Arya would be coming from.

Because deep down, Arya sees what the dwarves have. This comfort in thinking that the dead aren’t all gone, and that all it takes is reaching out to them to share thoughts and feelings, and that you’ll see them again.

And she wants that too. She wants it so badly. She envies their ability to think that way, to simply have faith in what they cannot see. She wants to talk to Fäolin and Glenwing (who is still alive in MIC but at this point she doesn’t know that) again, she wants to tell them that she misses them and that Eragon and Saphira exist and their deaths weren’t for nothing and tell them all the things unsaid...but no matter how much she wants to, she can’t get past everything thats happened in the past 6+ months and her own cultural beliefs.

It hurts. She can’t think of anything else to say past the hurt and so she lashes out like I did. She doesn’t understand why really, but knows that religion and afterlives and all of it just make her...angry. Because what else could that cold rock in her chest be?

In MIC, Arya is not as stubborn when it comes to atheism or other cultures. Before the ambush, she frequently asked questions about the dwarvish religion, not exactly realizing that her questions could be considered more of ‘you dare question the faith’ than ‘so wait what if this happens? Do you still get to go to the afterlife? But what about when you feel a mind die? Where does it go?’ innocent type questions that come from curiosity. She still has the feeling that the money donated to religions could go to better places, but also realizes that sometimes the religions actually send said donations TO those places/the needy, and that structures/art/etc that were built long ago do kinda need upkeep. So instead of being a dick about it, when the dwarves at the temple bluntly tell her ‘would you shut up and leave already we don’t want to answer your questions’ she adds a cheeky ‘sure I’ll go as long as you donate to the Varden’s current fundraiser’ and goes on her way when they agree to donate.

But Arya still blatantly crosses a line by confronting Gannel rather sharply about her newfound feelings on religion while Eragon is there. She’s been following them as Eragon’s bodyguard (why the HELL did canon!Arya leave Eragon alone, even in a temple full of warrior monks, wheN A WHOLE CLAN WAS TRYING TO KILL HIM?!) and she doesn’t even realize that she’s said anything until Eragon looks back at her like ‘ooooh nooooooOO ARYA WHAT THE HELL?! WAS THAT?!’ and she sees that the back of Gannel’s head is turning purple with rage.

Eragon manages to extricate himself from it all and meet up with Saphira, and after a rather...heated...uh…”discussion,” Gannel finally flames that while Arya’s questions before pushed the limit, this was beyond unacceptable and asks what the fuck is wrong with her. Arya just storms out.

Arya comes back to the temple later that night, asks for Gannel, and pretty much kneels down and puts her forehead on the floor in front of him (MIC elves do this only when they realize they REALLY fucked up and use this stance as an open way of saying that they fucked up, apologize, and will accept the consequences) with a sincere apology for her earlier conduct. Honestly, her ear is still red from where Brom had twisted it when he caught wind of what she had done, but she’s not apologizing just because of that.

She wants to learn how to pray.

Not to a god or spirit, but how to talk to the ones she’s lost. The idea of religion giving a false sense of hope still hurts and angers her...but she’s realized that maybe there’s a reason why it can bring comfort.

Gannel awkwardly explains that a way to get started is to simply speak aloud, as if talking to someone that isn’t there. When he realizes Arya isn’t pulling his leg or going to go off on him again, he decides to give her the ‘how to talk to dead people’ primer course over some mead and does his best to keep the more hard religion stuff out of it. As a priest/monk, he’s used to consoling people who have lost family and loved ones. He can pick up the signs easily enough...when the person isn’t ready to punch a hole in his fancy history wall.

As she leaves, Arya apologizes again.

And prods Gannel to donate to the Varden’s current fundraiser.

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