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thepringlesofblood · 2 days

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little tidbits of Ragh, Porter, Jace, and Kalina lore from the past two seasons that you probably forgot about

SPOILERS for freshman & sophomore year obvs, as well as up to ep 16 of junior year [which is when I am writing this so if shit changes that's why]

Ragh got the Kalina disease from Porter

Kalina said Lydia Barkrock's name in FHSY - she says "I'm going to go kill Lydia Barkrock"

(source: 2:18:52 of ep 6 of FHSY)

What Ragh saw on prom night freshman year that made him a threat to Kalina: Jace and Arianwen talking to a third, invisible person. Then Porter steps in and does a type of barbarian healing spell that involves blood transfer, infecting Ragh. Then, as Ragh is walking home, Kalina threatens him, as he can see her now. So. BOTH JACE AND PORTER ARE AND HAVE BEEN EXTREMELY SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUALS FROM THE START.

(source: 49:53 of ep 4 of FHSY)

We have never properly addressed the fact that Fig (and Emily Axford) did not start hating Porter completely out of nowhere. The triggering event was the Corn Cuties Incident at the very beginning of freshman year. In the immediate aftermath, after they go get Vice Principal Goldenrod (aka Kalvaxus), he orders Jace and Porter to keep watch over the crime scene. Fig rolled an insight check to see how Porter was reacting to the whole situation (Jace immediately started screaming at the sight of all the corn and blood and bodies). Brennan tells her 'Porter doesn't look all that surprised'. This is the spark of the Porter distrust.

(source: ep 3 of fantasy high, 20:49 for the insight roll, 32:30 for Jace & Porter going through the crime scene while Riz is hiding and observing)

will update with anything we learn, no guarantees on when tho

speculations meta under the cut

now i hear you screaming crying throwing up saying that Porter has actually been kind of cool lately, and I understand. personally i have not forgiven him for not signing gorgug's mcat in the first place, but i can see gorgug has, and thus many of you have. he does have some good things to say about the importance of anger and being able to channel your aggression.

however, I thought Vice Principal Goldenhoard was kind of cool before the finale of season 1, and I thought A Certain Frosting-haired Motherfucker was kind of cool before ep 9 of acoc - Brennan is excellent at making you trust people you should not be trusting. Also, although we know Porter wasn't in on the palimpsest plan [he gets sucked into one], that doesn't mean he wasn't in contact with Kalina at all.

there's one scenario I can think of in which Porter would be innocent, which I consider to be unlikely but possible.

We're post-Prompocalypse.

Jace has to be evil for this to work. imo Jace is demonstrably some level of evil (the talk w Kalina and Arianwen) but just in case you're on the fence. He also has to know that Porter is infected.

Porter is there, and does not know that he is infected.

If he hasn't been collaborating with Kalina, why would he? It's established that the Shadowcat Plague has no symptoms other than "you can see Kalina", and was spread far beyond just Fallinel.

[e.g. in fhsy, they do a livestream of Kalina, and responses are mixed between people who can see her and people who can't (1:11:38 ep 17)] so he could just have it by happenstance.

Alternately, it's possible that Jace infected Porter at some point over the course of the school year. I'm not saying they fucked (I mean they could've but I don't think that's what happened). It's established that spit can do it too - in the nightmare forest, Kalina tries to get Kristen to bite Riz to reinfect him (20:44 ep 17). Sharing a cup, a bottle, a fork, a whistle, anything your mouth goes on could've done it. Or Porter could've done the blood-sharing healing spell to Jace at some point.

Regardless, Kalina tells Jace that Ragh needs to be infected, Jace tells Porter to go heal Ragh, keeping himself uninvolved.

otherwise it is just too coincidental that Ragh is infected exactly when Kalina needs him to be. Either Porter's in on it, or was manipulated by Jace.

and then Fig's dirty 20 insight check to see that he doesn't look surprised would have to just be him going 'yeah it makes sense that arthur aguefort would do something this batshit, just another day at aguefort adventury academy'

#dimension 20 #d20 #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 spoilers #fhjy spoilers #fhjy #fhsy #fhsy spoilers #fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #original post #look i've been on fig's side since day one #and im still on it for the most part #ref

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felicjana050896 · 2 days

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A few words about Charlastor

Today I saw this post:

(Sorry, I can't post the link, Twitter doesn't want to work on my computer today :\ )

I will quote it here because it made me think again:

Currently, the closest person to Charlie is Vaggie, while Alastor invades her space, Vaggie and Alastor are opposed to each other, Vaggie wants to run a hotel for Charlie (her whole life is based on Charlie...), while Alastor has his own reasons (more on which later we don't fully know) and the two are portrayed as opposing forces pulling Charlie, Vaggie in one direction and Alastor in the other. Charlie's relationship with Alastor will deepen in future seasons (which the author wrote about, that Alastor and Charlie are the main characters of HH and what we see after the pilot), thus distancing it from Vaggie, which we see already in the first season (and what I wrote posts about ), that Charlie's relationship with Vaggie will surely deteriorate as it goes on, their quarrel over Vaggie's lie was, in my opinion, just the first glitch in their relationship (although not very well written in my opinion anyway), at some point in the story Charlie will had to choose between Vaggie and Alastor (and Niffty):

And considering the other screenshots, they are either forshadowings only to the fact that in future seasons Charlie will be getting closer to Alastor and away from Vaggie, or they may generally herald Alastor's victory over Vaggie, it depends, they are definitely confirmation that the further the seasons, the more Charlostor's content we will have than Chaggie's, the only question is which one will be the endgame?

Alastor stealing Charlie:

Significant bed scene, Vaggie wakes up without Charlie, alone, and Charlie is later in bed with Alastor on a heart-shaped pillow:

Besides, I read about Zoophobia and old sketches of Alastor and Autumn, and in my opinion Autumn reminds me a bit of Charlie... but in order.... First, let's go to Roo or Eve (if you prefer), well, I saw one Tik Tok and I definitely agree with it:

Charlie actually resembles Eve much more than Lilith, it always surprised me that Charlie has more father-like features both in appearance and character, and has none of Lilith's (especially when it comes to her ahem... physical qualities...), but I thought they just made her a typical "daddy's girl" and that's it... but if Eve is Charlie's mother and not Lilith..., we still had Lucifer's comment that he stole from Adam both wives, both Lilith and Eve, and although he married Lilith, he probably slept with Eve..., then the only question arises: why did Lilith decide to raise a child that was not her own?

Roo (Eve):

Charlie:

Lilith:

Lucifer:

Charlie and Eve (Roo) have exactly the same nose, the same lines under their eyes (Charlie in his demonic form has them) and the body sharp is the same, Lucifer by the way does not have a nose (:D), Lilith has a completely different nose, only Eve's nose matches Charlie's....

Moving on, we know that Alastor made a deal with someone, many people speculate that he made it with Lilith, but there are also people who believe that with Roo and I, although I also considered Lilith at the beginning, it was thrown in our faces this 7-year break (that Lilith has not been in Hell for 7 years and Alastor disappeared for 7 years), seems too obvious..., moreover, we know that Lilith had a contract with Adam (end of episode 8), and Adam did not know Alastor, so how could Alastor have an agreement with Lilith and be with her for these 7 years in heaven, if Adam didn't know him at all..., while Roo..., and this is where the issue of Zoophobia begins, i.e. Viv's first idea, where most of the HH characters came from:

In Zoophobia we had the so-called KayCee, i.e. chaos itself and the main antagonist, interestingly KayCee liked apples (a reference to Eve and her picking an apple from the Garden of Eden, the first sin?):

KayCee had white hair, horns, and the original Alastor was in love with her:

So KayCee is nothing other than the prototype of Eve.

Moving on, the original Alastor was also obsessed with Autumn, the character of Zoophobia, a blonde deer:

Autumn is a very helpful and good-hearted character and: ,,Although outwardly he appears mature and rational, in reality he is extremely insecure, suffering from low self-esteem. Autumn continues to seek recognition and thanks from others for a little help from him, showing that he needs the appreciation of others. Autumn is also very sensitive and short-tempered: in the webcomic, when Rusty teases him about the little antlers, Autumn explodes in anger and violently scolds him."

Doesn't this in some way resemble the description of Charlie..., a girl with a good heart, wanting to help everyone, and also sometimes quick-tempered (when, for example, heaven rejects her or when Susan pisses her off :D )

So we have Eve, who used to be KayCee, and Charlie, who has a lot of Autumn in her, and if it turns out that Charlie is actually Eve's daughter, Charlie will be a combination of KayCee and Autumn, considering her appearance and character traits are taken from both, two characters that the original Alastor was crazy about ;)

And finally, some shots of Charlie and Alastor:

And remember about Niffty and KeeKee, they are very important, after all they are in the HH logo :)

KeeKee, a pet belonging to Charlie and Niffty, Alastor's ,,pet" ;)

Sorry for the long post again, but I just can't keep it short :D

Thank you for reading and have a nice day, evening or night :)

#charlastor #hazbin hotel #radiobelle #alastor #charlie morningstar #charlie x alastor #anti chaggie #niffty #keekee #zoophobia #eve #roo #lilith morningstar

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heuffopla · 1 year

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Comic for @eternalglitch and their terribly yet wonderfully painful fic "Like father like son" Ahah I am in pain :)

#Honestly I had a moment like that last year where I was basically a completely different person due to my phobias and. Stuff #And it felt like I was disappointing my past self and I could feel them staring and yelling at me that I ruined them #DOING A LOT BETTER NOW!!! TEEHEE!! but yeah this is inspired by this!! And obviously the mirror scene with Leo #Although it's not exactly how this scene goes #Like father like son #Lfls #Lfls fanart #Rottmnt #Scars tw #Scar tw #Tmnt #rottmnt leo #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #unpause rottmnt #LOVE THIS FIC!! I NEED LEO TO HEAL OR ELSE I'M GONNA EXPLODE!!!!!! OK BYYEEEEE��💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💚💙💙💚💙💚💙💙💚💙💙💚💙💚💙💚

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bitternanami · 2 months

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something i think is really interesting about dungeon meshi is the cast's respective views on food as the story progresses. the way many adventurers get through the dungeon is to eat when they Must, but mostly rely on healing magic to keep going when they're tired or beaten down. death is something you can buy your way out of, here.

having these lower stakes when it comes to running yourself too hard has made a lot of people in this setting kind of devalue food and what it does for you.

im not all the way through the manga yet, but so far i really like how it goes about debunking that mindset.

long post under the cut, cw explicit discussion of disordered eating. textual depiction of unhealthy methods of dealing with it. please be cautious!

it seems like to most folks, food is either a decadent luxury, like when the governor offers mr tance a feast as a show of power and wealth, (although he is the only one who actually eats in that scene as he talks about his ambitions);

[id: the governor and mr. tance talk politics and hierarchies, while the governor eats from a bowl. mr. tance's meal is not visible behind a speech bubble.

"so you believe the sorceror is an elf?" he asks.

"i can't say with absolute certainty," mr. tance replies, "but the spells are not ones dwarves and humans typically use." /end id]

like the painted-royal feasts laios tries to partake in that never actually nourish him...

[id: laios, fresh out of the living painting feast, surprisedly holding his grumbling stomach /end id]

or, to the working class, it's pretty much exclusively fuel. i'm thinking about the scene where kabru's party, ostensibly intended to be our view into how adventuring Typically goes for most people, is shown preparing to go to the dungeon by like. walking up to someone and ordering 'a weeks' worth of rations.' purely functional.

[id: kabru enters a store, and the merchant says "welcome!"

kabru says "i need a week's worth of rations for six, and two days' worth of water."

"sure thing." the merchant then reaches behind him and grabs a large cube-shaped package, wrapped in nondescript cloth and tied in place. it thumps onto the counter in front of them both. /end id]

when kabru hands mickbell his food for the trip, he complains about how heavy it is on his back. it's a necessary liability.

we also see chilchuck, in an early chapter where there isn't much food to go around, grumbling about how he used to be better at not noticing when he was hungry. he's frustrated that he's more attuned to his bodily needs, now that he's starting to fill them with regularity.

[id: chilchuck, the only one awake, sits in his bedroll and glares at the timekeeping-candle burning down in front of him while he listens to his stomach growl. moving to find his canteen and fill himself with water instead, he thinks to himself, "my stomach has gotten weaker. i used to be able to go two days without food." /end id]

(like im not even gonna lie this is a big mood. the healing process is really really annoying)

even laios, early on, working out the logistics of going back for falin, considers his expenses and ultimately the thing he decides to save money on is their food supply. like, even the guy most invested in eating as an experience kind of just assumes he will Figure It Out. its what hes eating, not how hes eating it that matters to him at that point.

[id: marcille looks down at the ingredients they've gathered, the walking mushroom and the scorpion in an unappetizing heap on the ground, and asks laios "so how exactly do we eat them?"

he responds "let's just cook them, like normal." /end id]

but its here that senshi introduces the idea of food as art and as healing. its exciting and its fascinating for laios, getting to taste the creatures hes been reading about and fighting, but i dont think it would ever really help him feel full if not for this.

[id: three panels of laios tasting the scorpion hotpot, looking stunned, and then excitedly telling senshi "delicious!"

senshi matches his energy, asking "isn't it? isn't it?" /end id]

pictured: guy who had resigned himself to kind of just doing his best rediscovers the joy in something tasting really fucking good

what they did last time isnt going to work. falin is gone, and constantly anesthetizing their pain and healing through their weakness is no longer a realistic option for the party. in order to make it through they must all relearn how to eat well, one by one and as a group over and over again, because its either that or nothing.

one of my favorite depictions of this idea thus far is when marcille is seriously low on health and mana, and both of these problems are mitigated by taking care of herself, and trying to get iron and protein

[id: marcille, looking sickly, wakes to laios saying, "marcille, marcille, can you sit up? we've got something nice for you."

she watches senshi grill pieces of kelpie liver on a low fire, while laios ties a bib around her neck. /end id]

and drinking a bunch of dead water spirits. she gets the idea, she's supposed to get in nutrients and it'll help her feel better, but in aiming for the quick, inefficient fix, namely chugging that shit down like she heard it was good to Stay Hydrated and decided that would be the thing that fixes her,

[id: marcille throws back a cup of boiled undine-water, her face red. laios asks, "do you really need to drink it that fast?"

she gasps out "...the magical energy stored in nature spirits is actually quite hard to absorb. even if you drink a lot, the majority of it is excreted without being absorbed," and takes another drink. "that's why i need to drink as much as i can."

laios says weakly "you'll get water poisoning," but marcille only stops when senshi puts a hand on her shoulder and says,

"it's easier to absorb nutrients if ye digest them with food. that's a fundamental rule of nutrition."

marcille says, "senshi..." contemplative

and he holds out a bowl of tentuclus and a thumbs up. "let's get cooking!" /end id]

she doesn't immediately realize the answer is that she needs more than that. she's been working hard. she needs care, and she needs nourishment.

once she gets that, though, she makes her boiled water into a stew, and she works to make that stew as good as she can, and everyone can have some.

because in dungeon meshi, to feed yourself or allow yourself to be fed is treated as performing a kindness for yourself. food is what propels you, but there is also an art and a joy inherent to the process of making it; in the way you feel when you've had enough to eat.

[id: senshi watches as chilchuck and marcille eat and excitedly hash out plans.

"i've got a good feeling about this! maybe it'll work out!" chilchuck says

marcille responds, "well it's easier to feel optimistic on a full stomach!"

senshi smiles, proud. /end id]

^^^ i want to put this image on my wall

when you're working through disordered eating habits, you really do have to keep learning this shit. (in my experience, learning about cooking is one of the best ways to do so.)

i'll have to see if my thesis holds up as i continue, but i think one of the reasons the portrayal here resonates with me so hard is that ryoko kui puts most of her characters at eye level with me on this. they're all working at it, too. the text and i are both commiserating, and encouraging each other, 'have some more, you'll feel better.'

#its late -_- idk if this fullly gets across what i mean but ive been thinking about this for weeks #dungeon meshi #recovery #cooking tag #disordered eating cw #im on chp 31 atm but im like. squinting and steepling my fingers looking for this theme as i go now

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batrachised · 8 months

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one trend that's been interesting for me to observe in the star wars fandom is that people just cannot handle the idea of Vader's redemption, specifically that he's forgiven. It doesn't help that the sequels pretended as if it had never happened, but I've seen behind the scenes sketches where ghost Anakin is still half Vader, people saying Luke didn't really forgive forgive Vader, people acting as forgiving the unforgivable is out of character for literally anyone, and the list goes on. Although I don't keep up with the Disney shows, I get the impression they play into this too. It's easier to soften the message than to lean into how radical it is.

So, this is me saying (& I know its pointless) that I find star wars interesting only because Luke forgives Vader. To me that's its heart and soul, and that's what distinguishes it from the illionth marvel show et al. To those who say Anakin has committed warcrimes: exactly. To those who say Anakin committed crimes personally against Luke and Leia: exactly. To those who say he spent most of his live sunken in evil: exactly. That's the point. There's a reason George Lucas wrote Luke's dad as a symbol of evil itself, instead of a somewhat morally grey half-villain. The reason why forgiving Vader can seem ridiculous and even laughable is because it is, and that is precisely what makes it so powerful.

#star wars

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solaireverie · 5 months

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f1 | i'd be the man

summary: [ drabbles ] you're the formula one driver and he's your wag. (aka the toto wolff-ification of the fast car boys)

warnings: mentions of racism and sexism

author's note: i had so much fun coming up with non-f1 jobs 😂 i'm convinced that most of the boys would still be obsessed with f1. considering doing this for other drivers, drop some suggestions? 👀

→ CHARLES LECLERC

Charles is a fashion designer who works for one of your sponsors. You find his designs slightly... peculiar and aren't afraid to tell him. Determined to prove you wrong about his vision, Charles volunteers to be your primary point of contact for your partnership with the fashion house.

Your meetings are contentious in the beginning, neither of you understanding the other. You leave each consultation with a throbbing migraine and a barely suppressed urge to throw something at Charles. If only he weren't so damned stubborn. (At the same time, you know that his passion for his craft is half of why you even deign to meet with him.)

A grudging respect forms between you after months of friction and endless banter about what exactly you want your sponsorship to look like. If hard-pressed, you might even call it a friendship.

Charles has been a Formula 1 fan since childhood and is secretly a fan of yours. You find out after you meet him for a design meeting after a rough race and he suddenly goes on a rant about how the driver who took you out was being ridiculous and how you deserved better. You're completely charmed and interrupt him by asking him out on a date.

He's the absolute best boyfriend that you could ever ask for, following you to all the European races and supporting you from Monaco when he can't make it. Charles delights in being able to provide a bit of stability for you in your hectic life. He puts up photos of your race wins in his studio and proudly tells all of his clients about his girlfriend and her achievements.

(You still won't listen to his fashion advice, though.)

→ MAX VERSTAPPEN

Max runs the cat shelter that you adopt your cat from. You notice how cute he is the first time you meet him but you're too shy to make a move — besides, Max cherishes his quiet life and you don't know how open he would be to associating with a public figure like a Formula 1 driver. Still, he's funny and kind and you somehow keep talking.

It starts out innocuously, just pictures and updates about your new cat (because Max cares about all of the cats that he's ever taken care of, even the ones that have been adopted into good homes) and occasional behind-the-scenes updates when you find out that Max likes Formula 1.

Without realizing it, Max becomes one of your closest friends. He catsits for you when you're out of the country for races, picks you up from the airport after international races, and cheerfully beats you at sim racing whenever you have the opportunity to game together.

Max realizes that you're basically dating around a year into your friendship. You sleep at his place, in his bed, more often than not. Sassy likes you more than she likes him. You have his coffee order memorized and he knows your parents. (Your mother adores him and constantly encourages you to make a move.)

He's patient, however, and waits for you to realize your own feelings as well. Dating comes as naturally for you as your friendship did. Although Max doesn't always enjoy the media scrutiny that comes with dating a Formula 1 driver, he takes full advantage of the attention to defend you at any given chance.

In fact, you've been asked multiple times by your team principal to get your boyfriend to calm down before he offends another driver, but you wouldn't change Max for the world.

→ LANDO NORRIS

Lando is a Twitch streamer with a decent following who specializes in gaming, especially e-motorsports. He gets the chance to visit your team's garage when he wins a e-sport tournament. He's an unabashed simp fan and immediately makes a fool of himself when he meets you, but you find it adorable.

(Lando swears up and down to anyone who'll listen that he didn't mean to blush and accidentally propose on the spot.)

You cheekily tell him to take you out on a date first and he surprisingly gets his act together and actually follows through. Lando is incredibly kind and clumsily charming despite his awkward exterior. You can tell that he genuinely likes spending time with you and wants to hear what you have to say.

Lando switches to Youtube and vlogging when your relationship stabilizes so he can spend more time with you. His fans — and yours — love catching glimpses of his elusive Formula 1 driver girlfriend in his videos. It's a running joke among his fans that Lando is your sugar baby, which Lando finds extremely funny and shamelessly accepts.

Eventually, both of you realize that you've found the love of your life and you start thinking about marriage. You propose to each other at the same time, on the vacation that you each planned for the other, while your mutual friends who knew about both sides die of laughter from the sidelines.

Lando insists on taking your name as well and declares that he's now officially your trophy husband.

("Get it? You get trophies from your job, which brought us together, so technically I'm a trophy now too?" "Yes, Lando, I understand double entendres perfectly well." "Ooooh French, fancy!")

→ LEWIS HAMILTON

You meet Lewis in your childhood. He karts at the same track as you and you bond over the shared experience of being "other" from the other drivers. No one ever bets on either of you to be fast, to win, so you bet on each other. Lewis supports you with his entire being, even when he chooses to leave racing to chase other dreams. You dreamed of reaching Formula 1 together but Lewis, in this world, is happy cheering from the paddock.

Everyone around you is convinced that you're dating Lewis, who has become a highly successful model and philanthropist. Who else would would take time out of their insanely busy life to follow you around the world? The closeness between you doesn't help either — Lewis acts like your partner more often than not.

Despite appearances, however, Lewis is just your best friend, and it stays that way until a PR disaster with your respective relationships calls for extensive damage control. The best distraction that your media teams can come up with is that you fake-date each other: what better to appease the masses with than the ever-beloved tale of childhood friends to lovers?

The fake relationship changes something in your previously stable friendship. Suddenly, you can't stop seeing Lewis in a different light and you find yourself wishing that the romance was real. You're terrified of losing one of the most important people in your life, so you keep quiet about your true feelings for months as things calm down.

Eventually, your manager gives the all-clear to end the ruse and you end up scrambling for a reason to maintain it. By that time, Lewis has caught on to you. He stops by one night with a bottle of wine and your favorite movie. As the credits play, he leans over and kisses you softly — the first time he's kissed you out of the eye of the public.

You're lost for words and he quietly assures you that no matter what happens if you pursue a real relationship, he'll always be your Lewis.

Ten years later, happily married with a couple of championships under your belt, you couldn't be happier that you had chosen to say "hi" to the boy at the karting track.

likes and reblogs are appreciated!

masterlist | taglist: @scenesofobx @vellicora @boiohboii

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vorestarr · 3 months

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i love when Astarion is mean, and i mean like genuinely mean, saying shitty things and lashing out specifically to hurt someone or push them away. i think it really says so much about him and about the specific situations when he feels the need to lash out. i love seeing it with Durge/Tav, but i'm playing a Karlach origin to romance him right now and he's so mean during his first romance scene when he can't even kiss Karlach.

after playing it, i went to look at the parsed dialogue for that scene because i wanted to see if there were any dev notes, and oh boy are there dev notes. walk with me here while i go through them all. (i didn't add alt text to the images below, but i did transcribe the lines i'm referencing in the images below, so all the important information is in the text of the post itself.)

it's the typical Astarion scene, but after his "i've been waiting to taste you" line, he diverges with: "Although your condition means tasting you could be a risky proposition. You're quite the forbidden fruit, aren't you?"

the player (as Karlach) has a few choices in reply at that point, but as long as they pick one that progresses the scene (i.e., not the one where you reject him last minute), he goes down the same dialogue tree. this tree starts with:

Astarion: All denied to us because of what Zariel did to you. [devnote: subtext, thinking about Cazador]

so right off the bat he's upset because Karlach's situation is reminding him of his own with Cazador.

but then his next line is:

Astarion: I - you know, I have no idea what to do with you now. [devnote: Astarion's mask as the flippant libertine is cracking a bit here. He's frustrated but vulnerable here. Because he can't physically seduce or touch Karlach, his usual means of interacting with a person is punctured. He's faced with the reality that he might not know how to handle a situation where he can't bite or seduce his way to the finish line.]

wow. that's a lot in that dev note.

at this point, the player has the option of a few responses, but two options to continue the encounter. the choices to continue it are: "You don't have to 'do' anything. We can just be." or "After the life you've led, I'm not surprised."

if you choose the first option, Astarion is frustrated but less mean. he says:

Astarion: 'Just be' what, exactly? Frustrated? Bored? What do we do, if not... that?

if you choose the second option, he's a little meaner. understandably so, since the player just poked at his painful past:

Astarion: You think you know the life I've led? The experiences I've had? You've no idea the stories I could tell, sweet Karlach. But you - you're just -

then, both the paths converge to the same final statement, which is mean no matter what Karlach has said to this point:

Astarion: Urgh! Why is this so difficult? I'd have already bedded you twice if you were normal.

importantly, there are dev notes for all of his lines here, but the notes are all the same:

devnote: Masking defensiveness with offensiveness. In truth he really does want what Karlach is offering (to just hang out without having sex) but now that it's within grasp he's floundering.

again, at this point the player has two choices to continue the encounter, and one to end it. i'll go down each continue path separately, since they can diverge quite a bit.

path 1

the first choice is to say: "Twice in this short space of time? Doesn't sound very satisfying."

he gets mad. and mean.

Astarion: Karlach! You know what I mean. [devnote: Frustrated] Astarion: Or maybe you don't. Astarion: There may be an inferno in you, Karlach, but at the end of the day you've been frigid for a decade, isn't that right? [devnote: Being mean-spirited in an attempt to drive Karlach away, even though he doesn't actually want to do that.]

the player again has two response options to continue the encounter, and one to end it.

the first choice to continue the encounter is: "You want to try that again? Without being a jackass, maybe?"

in response he says:

Astarion: This is impossible - you're impossible! [devnote: Masking defensiveness with offensiveness. In truth he really does want what Karlach is offering (to just hang out without having sex) but now that it's within grasp he's floundering.]

(at this point, the path diverts to merge with the dialogue tree from the previous branch where Astarion complains about Karlach not being normal. so we'll pause here, and continue down that dialogue tree with the path 2 header below.)

the second choice to continue the encounter after Astarion says that Karlach has been frigid for a decade is to say: "What's really going on here, Astarion? Suddenly you're so vicious."

he replies:

Astarion: Suddenly? Darling, you haven't been paying attention. [devnote: Seething and mean.] Astarion: Listen, it's just - ... I'm sorry, all right? Is that what you want?

again, at this point, he diverts to the same shared dialogue tree as the other response option. that merges with path 2, so we'll continue there:

path 2

to go BACK to the previous branch we went down, where Astarion said he would have bedded Karlach twice already if she was just normal, the other response option for the player is: "I am normal. 'Fucked up' is the height of normalcy."

instead of being mean, Astarion immediately apologizes:

Astarion: Oh no - don't you tar me with your 'normal' brush. My demons keep me extraordinary. [devnote: Karlach has punctured Astarion's bad mood with a joke.]

and then he apologizes, like he does in the other paths, saying he doesn't know what to do without being able to touch her.

Astarion: I - ...I'm sorry, Karlach. It's just, not being able to touch you - having to slow down, it's... I'm just not used to it. [devnote: subtext here is on the slowing down. That IS what he wants. But it's hard for him to see that clearly.]

Astarion: So, can you -... I don't know. Help? Show me what to do? [devnote: First breakthrough. He's asking for help knowing what to do when you can't jump into bed with someone.]

again, at this point, the player has two options to continue the encounter or one to end it.

for the first response to continue, the player can say: "We can just talk. As long as we want. Then we can sleep. Near, but not too near."

Astarion responds to this one pretty positively. he's still a little mean, but it's in his fond teasing way, and not his biting, cruel way:

Astarion: Karlach, champion of the Hells, wants to talk and then fall asleep? [devnote: Incredulous] My dear, you're much more boring than I gave you credit for. [devnote: Teasing] All right, Karlach. Let's try it your way. [devnote: Gently. He's feeling vulnerable, but sees that this might be a chance to feel safe.]

the second response option from the player is: "I don't know either. This is all just as new for me as it is for you."

he doesn't respond quite as well to this one, and goes back to being mean:

Astarion: Well. To quote you: 'Fuck.' Astarion: Why don't we put ourselves out of this misery and just sleep? If I can at least look at you, I won't have wasted my whole evening. [devnote: Peak of Astarion sexy toxicity.]

then, the scene fades to black and it transitions to the morning-after scene with Astarion, where the player first sees his scars.

i also think as a whole, this scene is just so representative of Astarion's early-game state of mind. he's following a comfortable script with all his interactions, but when he's confronted with something new, he flounders.

especially when it comes to sex, which is a touchy subject for him, his first reaction to any vulnerability is to lash out and hurt people. in this scene:

if Karlach brings up his past experiences, he lashes out. ("You think you know the life I've led?")

he blames Karlach for the situation because that's easier than addressing that he doesn't know what to do without his script. ("if you were normal")

if Karlach jokes about him ("Doesn't sound very satisfying") he lashes out even further, calling her frigid and impossible and then even doubling down if she calls him out ("you haven't been paying attention").

but if Karlach jokes about HERSELF ("'Fucked up' is the height of normalcy"), it snaps him out of his toxic bullshit and he's able to take a step back and apologize to her.

then regardless, he's also able to recognize that this is an opportunity to get what he wants without having sex, and recognize that he wants that too.

and then to me, Astarion being mean in that last response choice ("I don't know either") makes perfect sense, given the context of his other lashing out earlier in the conversation. even if the player didn't make those previous choices where he lashed out at them, he can still get mean and toxic on this choice.

crucially, with this choice, he's taken that step of hopeful vulnerability where he recognizes that maybe he does want to just spend time with Karlach without having sex, but he doesn't know how to do it. he asks for help.

if the player says they don't know how to do that either, he immediately puts those defensive walls back up. he doesn't want to flounder around, he wants an answer. he wants to know that it's actually possible to have a positive experience with someone without the script he's always used. the player saying they don't have that answer just pisses him off.

wow okay this post got really long, but i really vibed with the dev notes for this scene, and i think you can see exactly these toxic behaviors from Astarion in other scenes and in romances with other characters as well, but it's just so so clear with the Karlach scene and the dev notes just really highlight that.

#astarion #karlach #hellspawn #fireblood #astarion ancunin #karlach cliffgate #meta

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gentlyweeps-world · 4 months

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A Rivals Heart 1

summary: A crush had turned into hatred, but with the work of Lando, Alex George and Charles, maybe it could be fixed back.

pairing: max verstappen x fem! driver reader

warnings: alcohol consumption, sexual tensions

next part

LIGHTS OUT AND AWAY WE GO

You couldn’t pinpoint exactly when your crush on the Dutchman had turned into hatred.

Maybe it was in karting when he had made fun of you for no reason, or maybe it was in the lower Formula ranks when he would do anything to get on your nerves and invoke a reaction out of you.

But all you knew now, is that you hated him, and he hated you. You would say it didn’t bother you, to be honest you went through worse with being a female driver, but for some reason he bothered you.

“I’m surprised you manage to keep your pace, usually you fuck up” Max said to you, that was the first thing he said to you at Bahrain, throughout the entire race weekend.

You roll your eyes at him, not really caring since you did get P2. “You did great Y/n!” Nando says as he clasps your shoulder, shaking you a bit. “Definitely a well deserved pole!” Nando adds on with a smile, moving past you to sit in his cooldown seat.

You feel your blood slowly boil as Max smiles. You have no idea why you feel so angry at him, he’s just another driver and yet all you want to is shove him down the grid.

“Thank you” you say to Fernando, he was definitely the most polite driver to you.

You sit in your chair, although it was really Fernando’s, no one ever got the cooldown seats right anymore, and drink some water, watching some highlights from the race on the tv in the room.

The highlights come on, you watch silently, no one is really speaking.

A bit of silence as you watch the drivers in their highlights, except for one. Max’s highlights come up and you notice the way he drives.

The way he pushes his car, the way he makes the most of the corners and overtakes and the way he goes full tilt on the straight.

You catch yourself staring at the highlights, analyzing how he drove.

“Taking notes L/n?” Max says, watching you analyze his driving style. “I’m just watching the highlights, no need to feel special princess..” You grumble out, rolling your eyes at him.

Fernando just sits there silently with a grin, watching the scene of you and Maxs bickering play out.

“I never thought I was special.” Max says in a snarky tone. “But whatever makes you feel good…princess” Max adds on with a grin, knowing that nickname will annoy you.

A faint blush raises to your cheeks at hearing him call you princess. You let out an annoyed huff and roll your eyes, “Just shut up..” You mumble out to him, crossing your arms over your chest as you watch Max sit down in his own chair next to you.

Max just laughs it off as he takes a quick sip from his drink. “Oh come on princess, don’t be so annoyed at the name. I think it suits you..”

Max then looks up to you, his eyes meet yours and he smirks, not moving his gaze. “Yeah and I think Christian Horner's bitch suits you..” You say coldly, narrowing your eyes at him.

Max’s lip curls as he raises an eyebrow at you. “That the only insult you have schatz?”

Max leans back in his seat with a cocky grin. You roll your eyes, opting to stay quiet and not feed into Max.

Before you know it you’re standing on the podium balcony, wishing you were deaf because you had to listen to the Dutch anthem play out for Max.

You watch as Max stands proudly, his hand on his heart during the Dutch national anthem. The smile he has irritates you, knowing the smug expression he has on his face.

You can feel your blood boil and your face turning red. You didn’t think it was possible to hate someone this much.

Once the anthem is over, the champagne spray starts. With a grin you pop the kork to your bottle and spray it all over Max and Nando, and down towards your team.

You lean your head back and stick out your tongue, spray some of the champagne into your mouth.

You look into the camera with a smirk, knowing people will eat that up, with a chuckle you turn towards Max and Fernando again, seeing Max look at you with an unreadable expression and blush on his face.

You notice Max’s blush as he looks at you, only for him to cover it by spraying champagne at you.

You grin as the camera focuses on you, knowing damn well they eat up your little feud with Max.

You lean away from Max to avoid getting more sprayed as your gaze meets his. Max smirks at you, his gaze not wavering from yours.

You let out a shriek as Fernando runs over and sprays the champagne over your head, completely drenching you in it.

The champagne rains over you as you shriek at Fernando, the crowd love this moment and laugh at you.

You look over at Max, seeing him grin at you, only for his gaze to meet yours, which makes his grin disappear.

He looks away quickly, a red hue now on his face. You give Max a weird look but let it go for now. With a chuckle you spray the last of your champagne on Fernando.

“I’m going to get you back for that!” You say to him with a smile, laughing and giggling. It feels as if nothing could bring you down right now, being up on that podium balcony, hearing the cheers of fans and your own team.

You knew it was only P2 but it was close enough to making history for you. Max watches as you have the time of your life on the podium, it slightly annoys him how much fun you’re having. “Oh god.” Max mumbles under his breath, not wanting to ruin the moment.

Fernando laughs along with you as he is now soaked in the champagne, you take a look around at the crowd, noticing a bunch of Dutch fans, their attention on you, the driver they dislike most.

You could hear them booing, saying jeers and chanting out insults to you, in return you flipped them off, raising up your P2 trophy.

This moment will be iconic and you’re enjoying every second of it. You make sure all they see is your middle finger raised as you stand on the podium in celebration, you didn’t want these fans to ruin your moment by any means.

The booing from the crowd is annoying but it does annoy Max even more, he didn’t want to admit that he liked your style even more after giving all those fans the finger.

“It does fit you.” Max mumbles under his breath, smirking at you. His gaze locked onto you, waiting for you to acknowledge him.

“What was that?” You ask Max over the mixed cheers from the grandstands.

“Nothing, it probably would’ve gotten on your nerves or something” Max says.

“How thoughtful of you, not wanting to annoy me” you say sarcastically, you know that is exactly what he wanted to do.

Soon podium celebrations are done. You make your way out of the paddock and the track, when you hear someone shouting your name.

“Y/n? Y/n!” Lando shouts out, followed by George and Alex. “Oh hey guys, what’s up?” You ask, stopping and looking to them.

“Do you want to go out? A few of us are going to a nearby club to celebrate..” Lando says, George and Alex nodding to what he said.

“Yeah you should definitely come, you’d get to see Carmen” George adds on, knowing if he tells you his girlfriend will be there, you would automatically go with.

Your eyes light up at the mention of Carmen. “I’d love to!” You say, knowing that you can’t let this opportunity get away from you.

“I’ll just have to stop by my hotel room and get changed” You say, turning away from them to start walking again.

“I’ll meet you guys there!” You add on, waving bye to them as you rush off to your car in the parking lot excited to go out.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

radio 🪩: So of course I started a new series after finishing one!! I’m excited to start this one up. I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately, so I won’t be posting as often, or really working as often.

taking requests: ❌

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sister-lucifer · 2 months

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Alien to Earth

[Unnamed Alien Creature x Gender Neutral Reader]

Genre: Smut

Content/warnings: Disembodied smut scene, porn without plot, implied dub con, the alien is male but no gender is specified for reader, penis in ambiguous hole sex, weird monster dick

Like my writing? I take requests! NSFW or SFW for any fandoms in my bio (request rules + masterlist in pinned post)!

Also, please reblog! it’s free, takes two seconds, and really helps me out

Feedback is encouraged and appreciated:)

Not fully proofread! Let me know if you see any errors!

“I wonder what you’re thinking right now,” it whispers, two of its hands gripping tightly to your thighs, forcing your legs open, a third arm wrapped around you to hold your fragile human body to his chest, and the last with its palm pressing into your lips, keeping you silenced. It’s not moving its hips, not thrusting at all, but its cock slithers slowly in and out of you on its own, expanding and retracting and making sure to hit as deep as it can. It’s easier for the creature that way, to be able to focus on holding you and only that.

“Maybe you’re not even thinking at all,” it muses aloud without a hint of emotion to its voice, “Perhaps you’re too preoccupied. Human minds can only focus on about three things at any given moment, even two is a struggle, but let’s say you are. Perhaps you’re thinking of me, that would be amusing, wondering how the fates aligned for me to find you here at just this time…”

It sucks in a breath, then exhales slowly, the air filtering out of the cavities in its chest, and you can feel it against your back. It’s harder for it to breathe on this planet.

“Or perhaps you’re worried about what I’ll do when I’m done with you,” it continues, and the chuckle that follows is dry and unfeeling, a flat imitation of humor, “Perhaps you think I’m a sort of praying mantis, ready to consume you wholly once I’ve finished. Although, a little human like you wouldn’t exactly be filling…”

It seems to consider your body for a moment, adjusting its hold on you a bit but not relaxing its grip for even a second. Its cock starts to undulate a bit faster, stretching out even more and hitting even deeper. You can nearly feel it in your stomach. You wish you could scream.

Your entire body is spasming with every expansion now, shaking desperately in a futile attempt to cope with the torture this creature is putting it through. You pray every time its cock pulls back that maybe, just maybe it’ll let up this time, but it doesn’t hear you.

“Perhaps you’re scared,” it goes on, its face now nestled in your neck, “Perhaps you’re worried your primitive human form can’t handle a…mm, what do you call it? A cock of my size, though I performed all necessary calculations to ensure you could. Perhaps you’re worried I’ll split you right down the middle…”

For the first time, its voice trembles. It’s cock twitches inside you. Something has excited it.

“…Perhaps you’re wondering if you could even survive such a raw ravishing.”

#alien x reader #gender neutral reader #smut #monster smut #monster fucker #monster x reader #smut drabble #drabble #writing #monster x gender neutral reader

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silkval · 5 months

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♠】 find out what goes on behind the scenes with the darling of your choice!

send an ask with the name of your darling and the question numbers you would like answered, and you will get your request!☆

》 content desc/warnings

absolutely feral blade, like kneeling at ur feet n panting kinda feral, reserved-ish blade, reader does not hesitate to knock down blades ego (and he finds it hot), a little fluffy, but also mentions of corpses lol, …and fucking around said corpses, honestly not a lot of smut just suggestive, both reader and blades anatomy is not specified so go wild

★fujoshis, wlm and minors please fuck off- you will be blocked★

Ⅱ 》 what is the strangest place they've had sex with you?

not exactly a place in particular, but- yknow, in front of a few… not-very-alive looking bodies. what? he couldn't help himself- how could he, when you just looked so damn good after a fight? chest rising and falling with each heavy breath, that sharp gleam in your eyes and a vicious snarl curled at your features… it took less than a beat before he was dropped on his knees in front of you, panting like a dog in heat and practically drooling as much as the surrounding corpses bled… safe to say that was certainly one of the most ‘messy’ lovemaking session you two indulged in.

Ⅲ 》 do they wear lingerie or anything special for you?

honestly, the guy is a little reserved- at least when he first met you. always stayed modest when training; wearing a plain compression shirt when training compared to some of his other colleagues who went shirtless, preferring to change within his own quarters than in the changing barracks, so its safe to say it took him a while to muster up the courage to start wearing more revealing casual wear around you. it started with the occasional silk blouse with a few buttons loose- flustered and nervous about his little attempt of showing off to you yet you'd never guess from his blank stare, aside from the faintest tint of red on his cheeks. but now? oh, he will not hesitate to show off- now, half the damn time you see him he’ll be shirtless; comfortable as ever in your presence, he absolutely bathes in your attention now with no shame.

Ⅳ 》 what is the one kink they have they will never admit they have?

…teasing. oh, does it get to him. since he's always in such a position of power (except with you, of course), he's used to never getting any backtalk or any kind of retaliation- so when he first heard your idle challenge of his skills, sly drawl in question of his abilities or a smug grin with a dare of him to prove himself- he went weak. you had expected a haughty retaliation or at least a roll of his eyes- but certainly not… this. your darling had esssentially just turned into a mess; pupils blown wide, lips holding a slight quiver and silent as ever- before hastily snapping out a jumbled reply as he averted his gaze although it was painfully obvious how affected he was by just a simple tease.

...did not expect that many asks 4 blade but I am so not complaining. he is such a loser and I luv writing for him

also tysm @sh1-n0bu!! i was so surprised to see ur username pop up in my inbox cuz I've looked up to your writings sososo much and oml you are such a sweetheart tysm💙💙

(also trying something out- just posting as usual instead of replying to an ask as the reach on my last post was. shiiit)

#【writings #dom reader #sub character #hsr smut #sub hsr #honkai star rail #hsr x reader #blade x reader #sub blade #blade hsr smut #blade smut #hsr blade

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mysteryshoptls · 14 days

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SSR Vil Schoenheit - Platinum Jacket Vignette

"Happy 100th Anniversary"

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Vil: I had heard the rumors, but this museum truly does have masterpieces from every corner of the world on display here.

Vil: There is an abundance of stunningly beautiful works of art here. This is absolutely worth taking my time to breathe in.

Vil: Oh, this painting… It depicts the scene where the Fairest Queen is sending out her retainer on a mission of great importance.

Vil: I can feel her dignified aura. The way she carries herself so refined enhances her beauty.

???: I agree, this painting gives off this overwhelmingly graceful feeling.

Vil: Never thought I'd ever hear the word "graceful" come from you, Jack… That just goes to show the power of the Fairest Queen.

Jack: Heh, guess so. I can't really see what you meant 'bout how she carries herself all refined, though…

Vil: Oh, really? I myself was immediately drawn to her outstretched fingers…

Vil: Although, that may just be because I take particular care in noticing specific details like that.

Vil: Consider the way you walk, sit, or even how you cast your line of sight… There are many points to consider when looking to exude grace and poise.

Jack: I can get straightening your back when walking, or whatever, but can fingers really be shown beautifully like you say?

Vil: Of course. Perhaps it'll make more sense to you if I explain it using ballet as an example.

Vil: If you spread your fingers, or open your palm, it feels incohesive.

Vil: However, if I carefully angle my fingers like this…

Jack: …! Woah, seeing it in person makes a huge difference. Even your arm looks longer.

Vil: Right?

Vil: This doesn't only pertain to ballet, you know. Every form of movement can be carried in some way to make it look beautiful.

Vil: A model's walk is one. On top of that…

Vil: I also take care in my everyday movements, such as how I hold my drinks, or operate my phone.

Jack: Eh, all that, too!?

Vil: Naturally. I would never forego any chance at training my beautiful movements with proper posture at the same time.

Jack: Okay, I can get behind that reason.

Jack: It's like how if you want to be able to move using the proper form, you gotta work on your core muscles.

Vil: That's exactly it. Train your core muscles, watch videos on proper, elegant movements, and verify them in the mirror...

Vil: By purposefully ingraining it into your body, eventually you'll be able to carry yourself beautifully without even trying.

Jack: The way you put in all that effort into being beautiful is just like an athlete. You really got that stoic discipline, huh, Vil-senpai.

Vil: Heh, I'll take that as a compliment.

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Vil: This work of art is supposed to depict the scene where the love between the compassionate princess and the impoverished young man is finally acknowledged by the sultan…

Vil: But it feels like such a harmonious moment. I had fully expected there to be more tension in the air.

Jack: Yeah. The story goes that the princess rebelled against her father, the sultan, and slipped out of the royal palace, right?

Vil: Indeed. As the country's princess, I'm sure she was constantly surrounded by guards…

Vil: There may have been times she had grown weary of constantly being surrounded by other people.

Vil: As someone who has been surrounded by the press outside my home before, I can empathize with that feeling of wanting to be left alone.

Jack: Does that mean you've also sneaked from your home out of the prying eyes of the press before, Vil-senpai?

Vil: Not at all. I would leisurely spend my time at home.

Vil: Around the time I was 10, I even built a secret base I could play in.

Jack: A secret base? Inside your house?

Vil: Exactly. I couldn't possibly deny the fact that some senseless people could try to sneak their way onto my property, now, could I?

Vil: That's why I made a safe little room specifically for me inside my home.

Vil: I gave it no windows, built each wall with stone, and stacked it full of shelves… I also made sure there was proper lighting.

Jack: A secret base, huh… Guess even you were a child once.

Jack: But even if there's light, I feel like a room with no windows'd be pretty depressing…

Vil: Actually, it's quite the opposite. That was the best environment possible for me to rest my skin from the sun's rays.

Jack: Rest your skin?

Vil: You are aware that ultra-violet rays can damage your skin, yes? That's why sunscreen is a must even at home.

Vil: However, sunscreen itself can be taxing to your skin.

Vil: That's why I appreciated having the peace of mind that no UV rays could reach me.

Vil: I could also comfortably practice my yoga that I've been doing daily ever since I was a child actor.

Vil: I could even read my scripts and practice my roles as time flew by.

Vil: That room where I didn't have to worry about onlookers or harmful rays was the safest place that younger me could have ever had.

Jack: Yeah, I remember kids'd get all in your face when you were out walking, just 'cause you were "Vil Schoenheit."

Vil: …I will say this, however, a majority of the people coming up to me wanted handshakes and autographs.

Jack: Ah, yeah, right. But still, that's still a pretty heavy thing to go through.

Vil: Well, obviously. It would be a grand mistake to mistake me for just any of the spudlings you see rolling around.

Jack: Heh, that's true. Do you still spend time in that room you made whenever you go back home on break?

Vil: Not at all. We would move often due to my father's work, so we live somewhere completely different now.

Vil: But, hm… It may be a fine idea to create a room that I can relax in again.

Vil: It could also end up being a great workshop to craft potions and skincare products, as well.

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Jack: This painting is depicting the Sea Witch providing consultation for a troubled mer.

Vil: What a wonderful smile. The lighting from below works to bring out her enchanting allure even more.

Vil: And from what it seems, there truly are people who would ask for counsel anywhere and everywhere. I'm sure the Sea Witch had had her fill.

Jack: From the sound of it, seems like you've had to give out counsel yourself, is that right, Vil-senpai?

Vil: I can't say I've intended to give out any counsel. There are just those who would ask me of their own volition.

Vil: I've gotten incessant requests for advice from numerous fans in the comments section of my Magicam account.

Jack: Can't believe people would just ask someone they don't know for help like that. There's a lot of pushy folk out there.

Jack: So then, what kind of things do they ask?

Vil: A majority of the questions tend to ask how they can become just as beautiful as I am…

Vil: But there are others who will ask how they can quickly become an influencer like me, or ask about other such useless life hacks.

Jack: They'd seriously ask those things…? Don't tell me you're actually givin' them the time of day and responding thoroughly, are you?

Vil: Of course not. My time is precious. I don't even have a second to spare for someone who doesn't know how to look things up on their own and would rather rely on someone else.

Jack: Yeah, that's the way to do it. Really no use for anyone to be asking this and that from someone they don't even know.

Vil: Seriously. There was a time where I received dozens of questions asking, "How can I get clear skin?"

Vil: Methods to improve skin health can depend on age, skin quality, diet… among other possible contributing factors.

Vil: For those people who don't even understand those concepts, do you think I would grant them my ear and provide them my knowledge from the fundamentals?

Vil: In order to achieve beautiful skin, I've endured my own research even to this day. There is no way for someone who shirks effort to achieve beauty.

Jack: I bet your studies into all that are super intense. I'm curious what kind of stuff you worked on.

Vil: When I first started, I would purchase different kinds of skincare products off-the-shelf, then test and document the quality of my skin after application.

Vil: I would also keep record of any changes in my skin based on the foods I ate, or the surrounding environment.

Vil: After that, I started to get a more in-detail look at each ingredient, while also researching different combinations of products that could be compatible with each other...

Vil: More recently, I've been attempting to apply my knowledge of potionology to concoct skincare products that would go perfectly with my skin.

Jack: Y'know, I've also tried a bunch of different proteins and training regimens, and even recorded how it affected my body…

Jack: But I didn't know you were basically doing the same kind of thing. Just proves you can't skimp out on that extra effort.

Vil: Indeed. And my diligent research will always continue on. That's because…

Vil: I can absolutely become even more beautiful than I am now.

Jack: I can just feel your ambition! I gotta make sure I keep working hard, just like you do.

Jack: …Oh, look at the time. I'm sorry I took up so much of your time. I'll be heading to the next exhibit, so excuse me.

Vil: Of course. See you later, Jack. Well, I suppose I should go off and look for more Fairest Queen paintings myself.

Vil: That painting… It depicts the pretty little princess of legend. I see she's picking flowers in the forest… How carefree can she be?

Vil: Even though someone of ill-intent could take note of the empty surroundings and make their approach…

Requested by @zexal-club.

#twisted wonderland #twst #vil schoenheit #jack howl #twst vil #twst jack #twst translation #twst birthday

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gojoath · 6 days

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ಣ ˖ ࣪࿐ྂ ARE YOU STILL WATCHING? OKKOTSU YŪTA

your boyfriend, yūta, doesn’t ever like sharing what’s his. apparently that statement goes for your fictional crushes too.

summary. fem reader. yandere yūta. obsession. manipulation. stalking. yandere themes. aged up characters. jealousy -> over fictional characters. fem oral receiving. yuta gets jealous over your fictional crushes. possessiveness. toxic relationships. wc, 3.2k.

note. another repost (did not realise how much i wrote for this)

yuuta loves your nights spent together. the ones where it’s just the both of you— as it should be, wrapped in each others embrace, pressed into his side for movie marathons and new episodes of your favourite tv show just moments after they’ve aired.

it’s like nights of proof, evidence that he’s all you’ll ever need because he’s never seen you laugh or smile like you do when you’re with him. he hopes you’ll eventually be able to see that this is the happiest you’ll ever be, the type of joy of being with him. wrapped in his love.

it’s a night quite like this one, yuuta gives you a sweet smile as he pushes through the living room door— greeted with your soft figure on the sofa, already flicking through the netflix homescreen and the sofa dips under his weight when he sits beside you.

hes watching you so intently, his still gaze cutting through your features and the feeling urges you to turn to meet him just as you decide on your entertainment for the night with a giddy smile.

“hi, yuu-“ you grin as your boyfriend yuuta presses into you, laughing into the kiss he smears against your lips and he thinks you feel so warm under his touch. his hands are cold against your skin but you don’t run or shy away from it when he squeezes at your waist, your lips moving seamlessly against his until he’s letting his eyes peer towards the tv softly to see what you’ve chosen.

only then does he pull away from you, with a soft frown on his pretty features but his hands still hold you before he’s turning to sigh.

“but baby, i thought it was our night.” the show on the tv isn’t yuuta’s usual choice for your nights alone. he much preferred the romcons or chick-flicks that you normally chose — the ones that gave him the opportunities to inch closer, to squeeze into you during confession scenes or steal a kiss alongside your on-screen idols.

“but yuuta, please— they just released a movie, you know how much i love the series.” you’re looking up at him with a slight glow to your gaze, deliberately tracing your hands across his shoulders — pushing them through his hair like a silent little plea. “and you know who is in it.” you continue, but your words make your boyfriend stiffen this time — something harsher to his gaze because he knows exactly who you mean when you’re biting on your lower lip to hide your smile. his smile, the one that’s reserved for him. it’s supposed to be his.

you know who, being your favourite character from your favourite show. you’ve never openly admitted him to be your on-screen crush but yuuta knows better than anyone that he definitely is. he can always see the way you fidget whenever he’s on screen, doing something heroic and oh so insufferable— he doesn’t see the appeal. he doesn’t know why you do either when you have him by your side. he’s been made deliberately handsome, to play into naive, sweet girls like you’s fantasies but you don’t need someone like that. isn’t he already enough for you?

maybe it’s the thought of being saved by a hero but your boyfriend could do that for you too. he could be your hero — it wouldn’t be hard to draw you into an alleyway with a cursed spirit or maybe two, he’d jump at the opportunity to save you — to reveal himself in all of his glory.

although yuuta promised he would never let anything bad happen to you, it would all be part of his carefully curated plan to have you pliant and scared. you’d never be in any real danger — just enough to be begging for your true hero. you’d cry for him, right? not for anything else?

but despite all of that and because he loves you, he can never say no to you. not when you’re blinking up at him deliberately sweet and starry eyed, tracing shapes into his sensitive skin until the tips of his ears are red and his answer is pushed between the next press of your lips against his. “o-okay, we can watch it.” because he wants, needs to make you happy.

“really? you’re the best!” the smile and praise yuuta’s answer earns from you is so warming and he’s convinced himself it’s because of him, and not because hes letting you watch the movie for your favourite character instead. it’s because you love him, that’s it.

so he lets you kick your feet cutely as you get yourself comfortable beside him, letting him pull you tight into his side like hes staking a claim against the pixels on the tv — like some territorial show of a wild animal claiming it’s mate as his dull gaze focuses on the tv infront of you.

but it doesn’t take long before he’s irritable and fidgeting. two minutes into the opening credits and his eyes are on you because he can almost feel the way you’re beaming at the screen— catching the first glimpse of you know whoand already yuuta wants to kill him. what would it take for him to prove he wasn’t all that you imagine him to be?

would you want to watch your boyfriend tear him apart in the name of love?

but instead of that, he finds another means of bringing you back to him. he lets the cool trace of his fingertips press beneath your shirt as you shudder into him. your eyes are still on the screen but your body leans closer, like an instinct of sorts that feels like it burns him.

another breath and yuuta leans down into you, pressing his lips beneath your ear then across your jawline and he can feel the way your body seems to rise in temperature with every kiss. you’re not pushing him away yet but you’re not looking at him either, so he continues — tracing messy, twisted hearts into your skin between suckled kisses, until his lips are leaving sensitive little marks down your neck and you’re panting against him softly.

“yuuta, the movie.” is all you finally manage but he doesn’t care, couldn’t care because you’re his and he needs to prove it, as silly and twisted as it may seem. he needs to, and you let him.

“sorry, i— i just need you. i cant help it.” theres a strain to yuuta’s voice as he answers you but he feels you shudder when he’s pushing himself onto the floor between your thighs— leaning up to continue his onslaught of kisses before he’s trailing lower gradually, painfully slow until you’re finally looking at him.

he can still hear the effects of the movie in the background but your attention is on him and he feels something burn in his heart at that. that you chose him over everyone else, he knew you’d never abandon or betray him. you really dolove him like you say.

yuuta’s teeth nip at your collarbones before he’s tugging at your shorts to pull them down then your thighs after, letting you lie back more on the sofa as he presses himself beneath them. he pushes them apart to spread you almost too quickly with his next breath as his eyes break from yours only to take you in.

you’re left in only your shirt and panties, so exposed and pretty as they cling to the warmth of your intimate skin and it makes the coiling pleasure in yuuta’s gut tighten delightfully as he admires you.

“yuuta,” your lips part to moan and it makes him shudder before he’s covering it with a sweet smile and his hands are on you.

it happens so fast when you feel yuuta push your panties to the side messily and the first swipe of his finger between your folds is purposeful, but rushed. it’s like he’s desperate to feel you beneath him, warm and wet as he drags the rough pad of his finger beneath the hood of your clit to roll the sensitive bud. you twitch, cutely, grabbing onto the fabric of the sofa cushions beneath you as the press of his touch makes you whimper softly.

“you sound pretty.“ he hums before he’s deliberately pressing down onto your puffy clit harder, hungrily, like he’s trying to force more of those sweet sounds out of you, only for him, as he spreads you even wider. he keeps up the same pace and pressure until you’re wet enough for him to push two fingers inside, almost whining when he’s not met with much resistance.

yuuta’s fingers are long, long enough for you to hiss at the stretch but your walls still squeeze and mould around them so effortlessly as you take him in. it makes something blissful flutter in his tummy when your head rolls back at the pleasure. so he shifts one of your thighs over his shoulder as he keeps you spread, ready and accessible for him while he gazes up at you from under long lashes and leans into press his first soft kiss between your folds.

but what your boyfriend doesn’t expect to see with his next blink is your eyes on the tv, even if only for a moment— it’s a moment you’re not even looking at him despite the way he’s pushing his fingers into your cunt. he wonders if you’re imagining your tv crush to be the one between your thighs right now, pressing into the spots inside of you that make your walls squeeze and quiver. he hates this, he hates him. do you always think about him instead of your boyfriend?

“baby?” you hum like you’re aknowledging the call but your eyes are still on the screen over his shoulder despite the way your ever loving boyfriend is between your thighs. his tongue is on your clit, tracing it in messy circles and all you can give him in return is a soft pant — why arent you looking at him when he’s treating you so well? why are your eyes still on someone else instead.

“baby.” he calls again but it’s accompanied by a deliberately deep press of his fingers into your walls as he pushes himself up, pulling his mouth away from you and deliberately kneeling infront of the tv until you’re forced to meet his dark gaze. but the depth of frost it seems to hold almost makes you shudder beneath it. it’s lacking it’s usual dull glow despite the way his fingers still press hot between your folds.

“do you want me to stop?” yuuta hums, voice soft despite the way he’s looking at you, holding your gaze like he’s asking you to beg for your life instead of the simple, easily answered question that rings true.

“n-no,”

“then why won’t you look at me?” he’s not unaware of the way the drop in his tone makes you squeeze around his fingers, the obedience earns you another languid press of the digits into you — so deep you can feel the cold touch of the promise ring on his ring finger. the one you wear too. you remember the promise you both made, don’t you? “i thought you liked this.”

“i do, yuu.. please, it’s so good.” your voice takes a higher pitch than normal as yuuta pulls his fingers back out of you, almost teasing you with the reminder he could pull away entirely as you give him a teary eyed blink.

“but you’re not looking at me. you’re watching him,” his gaze deepens, lidded and sleepy when he leans closer to you — ghosting his lips against yours until you’re pressing back into the cushions and your lungs squeeze on your next breath. if it wasn’t for the way your pussy was trying so desperately to pull him back in, he’d think you were scared.

“no, no it just distracted me. i love it,” your toes curl from where they’re resting in the air but your answer pleases yuuta enough to draw himself back again before he’s back between your thighs. his gaze remains though, watching you so intently — you wouldn’t look away again, would you? another saccharine press of his fingers into your walls and he scissors them, making you moan before he’s asking his next question.

“what else? what else do you love?” his warm breath rolls over your slick folds, his dark eyes wavering from yours slightly to shine on where his digits sink into you.

“i love you, yuu— just please, keep going,” the love confession is enough for him, for now and your gaze stays true on his own as his head lowers and his tongue curls against your clit before he’s dragging it back up.

yuuta feels sticky at the words still and he groans, angling his fingers inside of you up with twisted purpose, like he’s showing off how well he can work you — play with your body infront of the screen like he’s making your favourite actor watch. “then watch me.” he brushes them against the spongy spot inside of you, his request murmured between your folds until your hands are in his hair to pull him deeper. “please,”

it’s languid, filthy the way he pumps his fingers in and out of your wet heat, complimenting it with kitten licks because he knows exactly how to pull the pleasure out of you, the pleasure he owns. the sound effects from the movie are doing little to cover up the lewd squelching sounds accompanied with his slurps and smacks as his eyes lift to touch yours again.

“he can’t touch you like this, baby” yuuta continues to sink his fingers into you as he speaks, swirling tantalising circles into your clit with his tongue while his fingers drag more slick out, making a sloppy mess between your thighs as he laps it back up. it’s a little cruel the way he doesn’t give into your fantasies but why should he when you’re his, so he buries his face into you with a loud swallow—every noise so much messier and wetter than the last, your hands grab and curl in the dark mess of hair and he hums as he urges you to answer. “it’s only me, remember?”

“y-yes, only you.” you reply like you’re hypnotised, in some sort of hormone-drunken trance but oh he loves you like this. it’s like your pretty little head can’t even thinkabout anything else that isn’t your hopelessly devoted boyfriend with every flick of his tongue and twist of his wrist.

“what are you thinking about, hm?” it’s fucked up the way he wishes he could look into your mind, to tear you apart for your thoughts and secrets — to strip your bare and peer into your soul.

“w-what?” your hips stutter, shake beneath him but yuuta finds it too easy to hold you there — pressing more of his weight onto you as he presses your ass into the cushions, and he takes a deep inhale of your pussy with his next lewd suckle on your clit. he could get high on your scent, on your taste and your being.

“do you think about me?” but still, he continues because he needs to hear you say it. to tell him it’s only him you think about when you’re on the brink of orgasm, when it warms and licks at the base of your spine — when you’re so sickwith pleasure and want is it him that’s on your mind? tell him it’s him.

put him at ease after all hes done for you. after how he loves you.

“mhm,” you stutter as yuuta licks into your pussy with a hunger that’s so uniquely him, and you almost choke on a babbled cry of his name as you tremble. you feel him flatten his tongue against your sensitive bud before he’s sucking it gently between his lips and pulling away with an exaggerated pop that has butterflies pooling in your stomach. he’s trained you so well, mindlessly coaxing you into feeding into his obsession because you know it’ll earn you a sweet reward.

“do you want me to save you?” your pussy throbs around his digits and he breathes a warm sigh across your skin, your eyes clenching tight as your thighs quiver against the width of his shoulders and your head drops back as his dark gaze cuts up into you. you feel him drag his tongue in slow, thorough swirls over your clit as your hips rock side to side. “p-please, baby. tell me,”

“y-yes, ‘m gonna cum— save me,” you tell him and your mind feels like it filled with cotton— thick with pleasure but yuuta smile’s against your folds as he works you with practiced precision. he’s watching your hips twist under his touch and feeding on your reactions, devouring you entirely with every lav of his tongue as he breathes into you.

it only takes a few more twists over your puffy clit, accompanied by the deep graze of his fingertips against the sensitive spots inside of you until you’re cumming, so hard and good it almost makes you see white completely as your toes curl and ache. your thighs squeeze around his cheeks and it’s eager the way he buries himself even deeper into you, slurping greedily at the cream his fingers urge to push out of you and he moans at the feeling of you making a mess of his mouth and cheeks.

every whimpered whine against your folds makes you feel even better — prolonging your blissful state and yuuta fucking loves it, so he doesn’t stop until he’s full. not until you’re stuttering out his name and pushing at his head with the overstimulation that makes you burn with every drawn out flick of his tongue. his fingers ease away from the tight, saccharine squeeze of your walls.

you’re adorable as you come down from your high, all dazed and drowsy and your boyfriend admires you as he lets his cheek rest on your still quivering thigh, gazing up at you despite how heavy his cock feels against his sweats right now. your hands are in his hair still but they’ve stopped pulling at his roots, instead you’re busying yourself with brushing the dark hair back from his features as he gives you an adoring blink.

you smile, albeit a little sleepy but it warms yuuta completely at how much love he swears it holds, “yuuta, now we have to restart the movie,” you’re pouting now but you’re pretty, so pretty it earns you a kind smile from your boyfriend despite your want to still watch that same movie he just did his best to pull you away from.

“but, baby, i don’t feel like watching anymore.” his words are soft, accompanied by his fingertips trailing up the inside of your thigh to squeeze and you’re still so sensitive the touch makes you shudder. his next touch is a little higher, just short of your folds as he tests the waters and despite the lingering remnants of your orgasm— you don’t push him away, even when his finger is swiping through the sensitive petals of your pussy once more.

he really didn’t have anything to worry about, did he? you really do love him. the realisation makes him smile again before he’s twisting gently to bite at the inside of thigh— suckling at the skin to leave a mark until you jolt at the sting.

“i found something else to do that’s better for both of us. it’s our night, right? so come, give me all of you.”

#cw yandere #jujutsu kaisen smut #jujutsu kaisen x reader #okkotsu yuta smut #okkotsu yuta x reader #okkotsu yuuta smut #okkotsu yuuta x reader #jujutsu kaisen x you #jjk smut #jjk x reader #okkotsu yuta x you #yuuta smut #jjk x you #yuuta x reader #okkotsu yuuta x you #yuuta x you

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ineffable-endearments · 7 months

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I've gotta credit this post by @azfellandco because it almost certainly contributed to my thoughts here.

Since Before the Beginning, Aziraphale has wanted to be acknowledged, to be noticed. It doesn't seem to come naturally to him to demand attention. He doesn't seem to want power or influence for its own sake. But he really, really wants to be held dear.

And that is not what Heaven is about. Aziraphale doesn't even have to be particularly targeted in Heaven to have been crushed by it; it is standard for Heaven to treat its angels as nobodies. It's a deliberate tactic.

Considering all this, Crowley's attentions must be like a drug to Aziraphale. Someone who's NEVER had his feelings considered, being comforted and told all his instincts are OK or even correct? Someone who's just another worker bee, getting special favors from someone who's supposed to be the enemy? Someone who always seems to be the last to know any of Heaven's plans, becoming a trusted confidante?

And yet, all of this goes against the very purpose he was Created for, against Goodness itself. No wonder Aziraphale is terrified of his own desire.

If we think of the ox ribs scene as a representation of the things Crowley is offering - what Aziraphale wants from him and what Crowley wants to give - we can see a little of this fear in action. Notice how Aziraphale is seated so he's facing away from Crowley.

He turns around to chat with Crowley about Sides and loneliness, but when Crowley makes the point that his side and God's side are mutually exclusive, Aziraphale turns away again, tearing into the ox rib angrily. He's enjoying himself a lot and will determinedly continue to do so, but he can't square the fact that there is no room for questioning with God. He literally can't face what it means to question. There's the loneliness, there's the guilt, and there's also the danger of getting sent to Hell, in A Companion to Owls, or whatever other punishment Heaven can mete out, in general.

So it is, again, no wonder, when Aziraphale finally starts to give in to his desire for Crowley himself, that he goes all-in without looking at exactly what that has to mean - talking about "our car" and "our bookshop" and eventually gearing up to take Crowley back to Heaven with him.

Once again, he can't face the fact that questioning is a part of Crowley and there is no place for questioning in Heaven, and therefore, Crowley cannot be reinstated as an angel and remain the same person.

I think the ox ribs scene, and the later comment from Crowley about having the constitution of an ox, frame it this way: Aziraphale is ravenous for everything about Crowley, but their existence together is fragile, and in his terror of loss, the angel almost spiritually devours his demon. Not on purpose, no, not even with awareness that's what he'd be doing, but because all the alternatives are intolerable.

And that's why, although he doesn't realize it yet, he actually did need Crowley to say "no" to Heaven.

#good omens #good omens 2 spoilers #go s2 spoilers #go s2 #aziraphale #aziracrow #crowley #This is an angst post BUT it is also an Aziraphale love post

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sunderwight · 4 months

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Thinking about a situation where SQQ gets a look at Luo Binghe's package (post-Abyss but pre-Maigu Ridge, or in an AU where Maigu Ridge doesn't happen) through like, the outline of his pants or whatever (maybe Binghe took a wardrobe tip from Jareth of Labyrinth), and then got to thinking about how huge Luo Binghe's meat is, like in an actually non-sexual way this time just his brain gets onto a tangent about a bunch of scenes from PIDW where the descriptions varied wildly, and then he starts wondering about exactly what size it is, because to go by the novel's descriptions it's either bigger than average but not insane or there's another arm stuffed into that codpiece somehow. Surely it's closer to the former than the latter? SQQ doesn't have any other evidence that physical limitations in this world are that different from his own world, but then again, would it come up in any of his conversations if women in this world have sufficiently cavernous vaginas for damn near every virgin Bingge met to accommodate a dick that big? Does it at least make childbirth easier? He hasn't exactly polled anyone on it, so it could be the case. But what about the back door, so to speak? There were a few sex scenes that went in that direction, forbidden tunnel of love type stuff and it was all incredibly bad and cheesy, but of course, SQQ actually has a "back door" too and surely he would notice if it was possible to stick his own arm up it. Although it's also not as if he's tried, and as a peak lord with a fantasy metabolism he doesn't actually have to take a shit either, his body processes everything extremely efficiently and it's been years since... well anyway it's not like he's had occasion to investigate it much, now that he's thinking about it. Maybe he can? Not that this is relevant information to anything though and given the inconsistencies the probable limitations of the numerous people PIDW Binghe had sex with, his package, though prodigious, is probably not actually that big of a weapon. How could he even comfortably keep it contained otherwise...? Etc etc etc.

Meanwhile the entire time he's having this internal spiel, he's just... staring. At Luo Binghe's dick. Really blatantly. It doesn't even occur to him that he's doing something incriminating about his interests or possible attraction precisely because he's not, for once, getting flustered about it (much) but is in fact genuinely vexed by the mystery. This is not so much a case of imagining Luo Binghe's dick as wondering about fantasy physiology. So he's lost track of where his gaze has wandered.

The longer it goes on for though the more flustered Luo Binghe gets though. Like, should he say something? Is this a prelude to Shizun making a move? Is there... something wrong with it? Why is he staring so intently? Is Shizun aware that he has just been looking straight at Luo Binghe's dick for almost ten minutes now...? He should definitely say something, right? Maybe this is his chance! Or maybe he should wait and see what Shizun does next? Should he try a line? Something suave? Ask if he wants to see it! Shizun can absolutely see Binghe's dick if he wants to! No wait, but what if Shizun is planning on making a move and he ruins it by being impatient? He should wait and see where this is going.

...How long is it going to take, though...?

Luo Binghe's brain frazzles between trying to decide if he should make a move or prepare to be receptive towards one, or maybe check and make sure his dick hasn't turned into tentacle or something without him noticing, while Shen Qingqiu slooowly (very slowly) begins to realize that yes, he has been staring at Luo Binghe's dick while lost in thought for such a long time that now it's weird. It's definitely weird. He should look away now, at once, except now if he stops staring at Binghe's dick it's going to end whatever stalemate this is and he's probably going to have to explain why he was ogling it in the first place, and he definitely cannot explain anything, so he just keeps staring while furiously trying to think of a non-gay explanation for why he's now glaring intensely at Luo Binghe's crotch.

...He can't think of anything. Oh god. This is a disaster. Luo Binghe is going to kill him for being a perve!

(Good luck, Binghe.)

#svsss #bingqiu #scum villain's self saving system #long post #I imagine this goes on for so long that they actually get interrupted before either one of them breaks the tension #sqq: oh thank god hopefully binghe will just forget about this whole thing haha it never happened it definitely never happened #lbh: is definitely not going to forget about this #is in fact going to fixate on it forever now thanks #is already trying to figure out how to ask what sqq thinks of his dick #is going to keep wearing the david bowie pants until it happens again for sure #sqq being conscious of what happened is now NOT looking in that direction at all ever again nope #the farce continues

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thetriumphantpanda · 25 days

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Letting Off Steam

One Day I'll Fly Away - Chapter Two

Chapter Summary | A call from home makes you wish that all of this would go away, but until it does, you make it your mission to annoy Joel Miller as much as you can.

Word Count | 3.5k

Pairing | Joel Miller x Princess F!Reader

Chapter Warnings | Mentions of alcohol, the British Royal Family, extreme wealth, food and eating, as well as mentions of body image issues and implied infidelity. Joel is grumpy as always, Miss Scandal is pushing his buttons. The sheep gang up on Joel. Joel is a typical man and can't help but take one (1) look at the princess' backside. Reader has very little description apart from her clothing. No outbreak-AU, no use of Y/N.

Authors Note | Thank you for being so patient in waiting for this. I'm still SO excited by these two and their story and things will be hotting up soon, I promise! If you liked this then please consider commenting, reblogging and screaming along with me in my ask box!

Please note that I no longer use tag lists - please follow @thetriumphantpandanotifs for writing updates.

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist | Kofi | Series Playlist

A bowl sits on the edge of the desk, full of peaches, sitting in the sliver of sunlight that filters through the window, warming the fuzzy skin. You reach down, pluck the fruit from the top of the bowl and rub your thumbs over the skin, warm and soft. Bringing it to your mouth, you drag your teeth through the softness of the flesh, savouring the sweetness as it floods your mouth, but even warmed in the sun like they are, this peach still doesn’t taste like the one you ate at the farm, plucked only moments ago from the tree, sun warmed and sweet.

You’ve barely finished the fruit when the phone at the side of the bed rings. It makes you close your eyes, pinch the bridge of your nose, and you think about ignoring it - there are very few people who know where you are, the Palace for one, on their insistence considering it was their security detail keeping an eye on you, your parents for another, but you doubt it’s them considering the shame you’ve apparently brought to their door. Tossing the stone in the bin, you walk the few steps to the phone and pick it up, but you don’t say anything, a trick you’d since learnt since the first headlines hit - remain silent, listen for a small click and wait to see who talks first.

“Texas looks like fun.”

There’s a wave of comfort that falls over your shoulders at the voice coming through the receiver. You check the watch on your wrist, calculating the time difference between Austin and London, shaking your head a little.

“Are you awake early, or up late?”

“You know me,” The voice chuckles a little, “Never one to turn down a party, and George was hosting at Claridge’s.”

“How many people took your photo?” You ask, sitting down on the bed.

“Oh honey, I’m going to splashed across every single newspaper come morning,” He laughs, “Throngs of them at the door and I’m sure someone has already sold the pictures of me drinking champagne from the bottle, stood on the table with some random woman holding onto my arm.”

You let your fingers tangle in the spiral cord, you know exactly what he’s doing, trying his best to make a scene wherever he goes in the hopes it drags the attention off you for just a moment. God, he’d always been the best friend you’d ever had. Sam. The only man who you think has ever cared for you.

“How is Texas?” You hear him ask, tone a little more clipped now.

“It’s…” You start with a sigh, “Fine.”

“I see they managed to catch you at dinner the other night,” You can hear some clattering in the background and the sound of liquid pouring, his nightcap no doubt, “Have they swarmed you?”

“I don’t think so,” You offer, “Not that I’ve noticed anyway, although now one paper knows I’m here it’s only a matter of time.”

“Any local talent?”

“Shut your mouth,” You laugh, “I’m here to escape the drama, not cause more of it.”

“So there is local talent!” He barks down the phone, “Go on, spill!”

Your mind flits to yesterday. To Joel Miller. The way he’d looked at you with contempt, clearly completely uncaring about etiquette, completely uncaring about you in general, and you understood. Small town, used to the small town dynamics day-in, day-out, about to be uprooted when the worlds media found out you were here. It only seemed to spur you on, much like everything in your life had. When your husband had turned his cheek to you and flashed his sparkly eyes at the girl sat to his left, that was a challenge you weren’t about you lose, and look where that got you. A scarlet letter, the words whore and slut banded around like they meant nothing. There was something in the way Joel Miller, with his rough and dirty hands, had looked at you like you were nothing but another customer that set you on fire in the worst way.

“It’s nothing,” You insist to Sam down the phone, “I think we exchanged less that four sentences with each other and I’m sure he already hates me for upsetting the small-town equilibrium.”

“It all starts somewhere.”

There’s a moment of silence, where the two of you just sit and listen to each other breathe. It’s a comfort, to know there’s at least one person on the other side of that ocean that still cares for you in some way, it’s just a shame he got caught up in the storm of shit along with you, but if it had to be someone, you’re glad it was him.

“I miss you.” You speak first.

“I miss you too, princess,” You can hear the smile in his voice, “It’ll all blow over eventually,” He soothes, “And then you can come back and George can host at The Savoy in celebration.”

You laugh at that, reminisce about all the parties you used to go to together, the harmless trouble you’d find yourself in more often than not, “Go to bed.” You insist.

“Yes, ma’am,” And you can perfectly picture the salute he’s just done on the other end of the phone, “Go and find your local talent.”

He’s hung up before you can argue with him, so you set the receiver back down on the handset, sit on the bed for a while, chin. resting on your palm, before you decide what to do. You lean your head out of the door and find Rob sitting in a chair at the end of the hall, when he notices you, he perks up a little.

“Can you drive me back to the farm from yesterday?”

Joel doesn’t really know why he does it, sat over his morning coffee, black and bitter, but there’s an itch in his fingers, so he pulls out his phone, slips on his glasses and opens up the Google app. He can hear Ellie laughing at him as he types with one finger, slowly typing her name into the search bar. He gets halfway through her first name when a slew of suggested searches pop up - the first one is her name followed by the word scandal. The next replaces scandal with affair. The further down he looks, the more pathetic the searches get, replacing the last word he reads with things like weight, depression and even nudes.

He sighs, shakes his head and just finishes writing her name before he hits the enter button. At the top of the Google page of results there’s a few images - one of her at her wedding, linked arm in arm with her ex-husband, smiles on both their faces. There’s one of her shaking the hand of some foreign dignitary, smiling as she does, and then another, grainy, clearly taken at night, as she sits at a restaurant with a man that isn’t her husband.

Joel knows the story, it was splashed across enough of his morning papers for him not to miss it. An affair with another man, caught red-handed talking to him on the phone about things Joel would rather not remember reading. There’s a part of him that feels sorry for her, that someone had managed to tap her phone and listen to her for long enough to catch her in the act, but he thinks more that it serves her right for being unfaithful. There isn’t a smile dazzling enough or a tip big enough from her that would make him think otherwise.

As much as he hates to admit it, he spends far too much of his morning reading about you on his phone. There’s an article he finds that tracks your ‘rise and fall’ as the British tabloid put it. There are dates, followed by photos and a little blurb for each moment in your life - from meeting the Prince at university, the whirlwind romance, the engagement, the wedding, the gossip about when you would start popping out children, right down to the photo they took of you running onto the plane to escape - grey English skies, some man holding an umbrella over your head to keep you dry as you turned your face from the cameras. He thinks it a little tragic really.

When he finally drags his attention back to the watch on his wrist, he sighs. The sheep are going to have his guts for making them wait for their food, and he can’t pick the peaches off the tree fast enough to stop the vast majority on them falling off and rotting on the ground. He downs the last of his cold coffee now, puts the mug in the sink and turns to head to his truck when he hears the telltale sound of the gravel on his drive crunching under wheels.

Joel takes a few steps towards the window and sees the same car as yesterday. You can’t possibly have run out of peaches already and there's no way his fruit would have rotted either, so he can feel his eyebrows furrow at what on earth you could want now.

By the time he makes his way to the porch, you’re already out of the car, taking small steps back and forth as you’re waiting for him. That makes his blood boil, that even though he doesn’t know you and certainly aren’t obligated for him to drop everything for you, you still expect it, and it makes his blood boil even more that he sequesters to it, walks out onto the porch like an obedient dog.

“Can I help you, ma’am?”

You flash that smile from yesterday at him again, one he’s pretty sure has managed to get you exactly what you wanted every single day of your life. It’s not that different to the smile Sarah used to give - sometimes still does, even now she’s grown.

“Well, I was just wondering if you’d show me around?” You ask, “Visiting farms was never my role back home but I’m fascinated to see how things work.”

Joel takes a look at you, a long look up and down and he worries for a second that it looks like he’s checking you out, but he’s just fascinated by how your brain works, that you’ve turned up to his dusty ranch in the middle of Texas in long white slacks, sandals and a white vest - he lets a snort leaves his nose and he shakes his head slight, “Ain’t exactly dressed for ranching, Princess.”

He watches as you shrug, letting your fingers grip at the hem of your vest, holding it up slightly so he can see a slip of skin underneath, “This old thing?” You say, “I don’t mind if it gets dirty.”

“It ain’t your shirt I'm worried about,” He points to your shoes, “You’ll break your neck walking around in those.”

Joel watches intently as you look down at your feet - perfectly pedicured toes peeking out from the hem of your trousers, “You don’t have anything I can borrow?” You ask softly, then, “I’m going out of my mind cooped up in that hotel room.”

For a second, he considers saying no. He doesn’t want you here, not really, you’re just going to become an even bigger pain in the ass if he lets you hang around, and he has no interest in getting caught up in whatever it is you’ve got going on, but the softness in your voice makes him crumble a little. He knows that if he were resigned to four walls he’d be going crazy too.

So he rolls his eyes, and disappears into the house, roots around on the shoe rack until he finds Ellie’s beat up boots, it’s the best he’s got, knowing by the look of her that they’re probably going to be a little tight. He doesn’t know why he does it, but he runs upstairs and grabs a pair of his thinnest socks - he certainly doesn’t want to be responsible for giving the princess blisters.

“Put these on,” He’s gruff with it as he hands them over, “Probably a bit small bit it’s all I got.”

He watches intently as you slip your sandals off slowly and hand them over to the man who gets out of the car and follows you everywhere. You struggle to get the boots on but eventually they end up on your feet. He can’t help that his eyes wander to your backside when you stand up, Texas dust settled on the creased of your trousers.

“If you’re comin’ with me you gotta do exactly what I say, when I say it, understood?”

You bring two fingers up to your temple and salute him, “Yes, sir.”

Joel's ranch is huge, is the first thing you realise. There’s an expansive orchard full of his famous peach trees that he drives you up to first. He’s silent, brooding in the drivers seat, scowl across his face. You can’t help but bring your hand up, settling your pointer finger into your mouth and biting down to stop your laughter from bubbling up and over.

He pulls the truck up at one edge of the orchard and steps out so you follow behind him. You meet him at the back of the truck as he reaches over and picks up a stack of wooden crates - the same ones you’ve taken back with you the last few times, overflowing with fruit. He hands the stack to you, which you take.

“You’re gonna earn your keep if you’re gonna annoy me.”

You chuckle, “Sure thing,” You say, following behind him as he walks towards the first tree, “I’m not work shy, you know.” You call after him, running slightly behind him to catch up.

“Course not,” He grumbles, “Years of shakin’ hands is great work experience for this.”

You roll your eyes, setting the stack of crates on the ground, deciding it’s probably best to let him say what he wants - it’s nothing you haven’t heard before anyway.

“This is easy,” He starts, gripping one of the lower branches of the tree, pulling it down so it’s in your eyeline, “Grip the fruit in your palm and twist it until it comes off.”

You do as he says, letting the bottom of the fruit sit in your palm, delicate fingers gripping at the sides, and you twist gently, feeling the branch tighten and the a snap when the fruit comes free in your palm.

“Just like that,” Joel muses, “Now just put it in the crate and move onto the next.”

You continue like that for a while, Joel pulling the branches down so you can pluck the fruit off and into the crate, until the first tree is bare as far as you can reach and you have a crate full of peaches.

“How do you get the fruit from the top?” You ask, raking a hand over your forehead to try and get rid of the sweat that’s gathering there.

He doesn’t reply, he merely steps closer to you, puts one of his palms against your stomach and pushes you gently back out of the way, then he turns around, puts both hands on the trunk of the tree and gives it a shake. You laugh as some of the fruit from the top tumbles down and hits the ground.

“If it ain’t falling then it ain’t ready.” Joel murmurs, starting to bend over to pick up the fruit from the ground to put it into another crate.

Joel leaves you to it from there, moving onto his own tree so you can divide and conquer, but somewhere around the third crate that you fill, your interest wanes. You can hear soft bleating coming from near the barn that you can see in the distance, so you walk that way, leaving Joel and the peaches behind for what sounds like something much more interesting.

When Joel stands up from his filled crate and looks around, you’re nowhere to be found. Panic sinks in. You’d insisted that whoever was looking after you didn’t have to come with, that Joel looked more than capable of looking after you for a few hours, and now he had no fucking clue where you were. That would make a mighty fine headline in any newspaper.

He rushes back to the truck, hand resting on his forehead to shade his eyes from the sun when he spots you - a white silhouette stood in a mass of his sheep. God fucking damn it, he thinks, abandoning the crates of fruit to get into his truck to drive over to you.

“What the hell’a you doin?” He calls out of the window when he pulls up near to you.

You turn around, one hand resting on the head of one of his sheep who seems to be enjoying the attention, “I just wanted to know what the noise was,” You shrug, “I’ve never touched a sheep before.”

“Will you-” He sighs, slinging open the truck door, “Get away from them, they’re dirty.”

You look down at the sheep that’s leant against your lower leg, tipping its head so you scratch it again, “Did you hear what he just said about you?” You ask the animal, who he swears looks right at him and bleats, “Exactly, he’s not very nice is he?”

He spots another sheep heading straight for you just a little too late to catch it before it’s reaching up with it’s teeth to take hold of the hem of your shirt. It tugs a little, not enough to do any damage, but enough to make you lose your balance a little. Joel steps forward, his muscle memory kicking in from all the times Sarah and Ellie had been in this exact predicament, his arm wrapping around your waist to keep you steady, whilst his other hand waves to make the sheep move away.

When he’s sure you’re not at risk of toppling into the dusty ground, he looks down at you, slightly tilted in the way he caught you so you’re looking up at him, wide-eyed, one of your arms fisting at the flannel to keep yourself steady. He coughs, clears his throat and lets you go like you’d just burned him.

“They’re unpredictable,” He chastises, “You’ll get hurt if you wander off like that.”

“Sorry.” Is all you say, but he feels like it’s genuine, “Why sheep?” You ask to his back as he walks away.

“They’re quiet, and they do what they’re told.”

There’s a brown stain on your pristine white shirt now, to match the dust that had settled across your backside from earlier, and he can’t help but smile to himself as he turns back towards the truck, pristine little princess getting herself all dirty on his ranch. He shakes his head, banishing any thought that isn’t his distaste for the way you’re going to continue uprooting everything with your presence, motioning his head for you to get into the other side.

The rest of the afternoon goes off without a hitch, you help him with the feeding and finish picking the rest of the peaches. He lets you eat one of the fruit on the way back to his house, listening as you slurp at the juices.

“Well, thank you for that,” You say as you get down from the truck, “It’s so interesting to see how things work.”

“You’re welcome,” He grumbles, not sure he can say the same, “Hey, wait!” He calls as you start walking away.

He picks up a crate of peaches from the truck, walks it over to you and plops it into your open arms, wordlessly walking back to pick up another.

“Is this my payment?” You ask, with a smirk on your face.

“No,” He says simply, “It’s you finishing a job, that first crate is for Nancy at the hotel, don’t steal any, you hear me?” You nod in understanding, “And this is for the grocery store in town.”

“So I’m a delivery girl now, am I?”

“Too right Princess,” He’s got a smile on his face now, but it’s not unkind, “You wanted to see how things work, you’ve gotta do it all.”

You roll your eyes and shake your head, but there’s a laugh at the end of it too as he walks you back to the car. Rob steps out, clearly questioning you with his expression.

“Looks like we’ve got a delivery to make, gentlemen.”

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