#either way this was fun - as much as i don't get fashion and stuff i think they're pretty neat forms of self-expression 😊 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gffa · 2 months

Note

I adore your batman stuff very much. I recently read the Wayne Family Adventures, and now I really want to read some more. Do you have recommendations on comic lines to follow?

Hi! I'm glad you're having fun with getting into comics and enjoying the posts around here, it's always nice to have new blood (or returning blood, in my case)! <3 I would give a gentle caution in that Wayne Family Adventures is sort of in a class of its own in a lot of ways, the characterization is much softer and fluffier, while the mainline comics are darker and messier, the characters are definitely not always as nice as they are as in WFA. That's no shade on either of them, just that I want to give a quick warning that if you're stepping from one to the other, the culture shock can sometimes be more than you're expecting. (And also keep in mind that comics are a shifting landscape, there's no one "true" version of many of the landmark moments of characters' lives, you'll see events often retold, you'll see comics that later get retconned, you'll see comics that are in different continuities/set before or after a universe-wide reboot, etc. Don't worry about it, just recognize that you're reading a story to enjoy that story, not as Hard Continuity!) That said, some of the lighter comics that I think would be fun if you're looking to come over from WFA are:

Li'l Gotham is a cute parody series that's super adorable, has some lovely art, and is nice little self-contained stories that are humorous. It's not in mainline continuity and it's even softer than WFA, but it's deeply charming and it's a fun, quick read.

Super Sons (2017) by Peter Tomasi is in mainline continuity and it's focused on Damian Wayne and Jonathan Kent becoming friends, bickering all the while, and getting into hijinks. It tends to lean more humorous and cute, so it's a nice stepping stone up to regular comics.

Robin and Batman (2022) by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen is a good litmus test for whether you might like regular comics--it's a short 3-issue mini-series focused on Dick's early days as Robin and the complicated, thorny relationship he has with Bruce about it. It's one of my favorite, it balances what a terrible gremlin he was with what a little angel he was and the emotional beats are painful in the best way.

Robin: Year One (2000) and Batgirl: Year One (2003) by Scott Beatty/Chuck Dixon and Marcos Martín/Javier Pulido are good places to start for both characters, and hold up okay considering their age. The art is a bit stylized in a way I really like, it lends it a charming old-fashioned vibe while still being pretty to look at, and there's some solid character moments in both.

Nightwing (2016) by various (starts with Tim Seeley, but it's been several authors by now) is one of my go-to recs, I think it's a great jumping on point, has a lot of really nice art, and often tells fun stories, as Dick has some of the best connections to various other characters in the universe.

Nightwing (2016) by Tom Taylor starts with issue #78 and is a great jumping-on point and Taylor's writing is just very light-hearted, action-packed, quippy, and fun. Starting here saves you from having to slog through some of the worse arcs of Dick's series, you get Bruno Redondo's fantastic art, and you can feel the affection for the character, the author and artist love this character and want to make him very cool, as well as they love his relationships with other characters, so you get good Bruce guest appearances, Babs appearances, Damian appearances, Wally appearances, Jon appearances, etc.

Robins: Being Robin by Tim Seeley and Baldemar Rivas was a fun self-contained mini-series that had all the Robins working together and I don't think it should be taken super seriously as a case story, but it had some quality banter, some hilarious moments, and a great look at these chaotic gremlins all shoved into a mini-van together to go solve a case.

Batgirls (2022) by Conrad Michael W./Becky Cloonan and Jorge Corona is focused on Babs, Cass, and Steph as a trio and being adorable together, with some humorous moments, cool art, and fun Batfam moments. It's nice that they get the spotlight and the chance to shine (it's their book, so they get the majority of the cool moments) and it's not super-long and you can jump right in.

Batman: The Knight by Chip Zdarsky and Carmine Di Giandomenico is a "Bruce travels the world to learn the skills he needs to become Batman" and I'm really in love with the way Zdarsky writes a Bruce who is deeply complicated, messy, coming from a place of loving deeply, but also this man has twenty seven different flavors of fucked up trauma going on in that hell brain of his. Zdarsky's current run on the main Batman title has been my jam, but that's a bit of a darker leap than this one, and I think this one is a great way to get to know Bruce Wayne as a character.

Batman: Urban Legends volume 5 has a story called "The Murder Club" that is basically "Thomas and Martha Wayne are time traveled into the future and see what's become of their son, they're not thrilled about it, but come around when they see the people that love him so deeply--primarily Dick, Damian, and Alfred." and was an absolute BANGER for me for feelings, gorgeous art, and some great character moments.

Batman/Superman: World's Finest (2022) by Mark Waid and Dan Mora is an absolute knock-out, it's Bruce and Clark in their early days of their friendship, where Waid is one of the best writers in the industry for how fun his stories are but also how well he knows the characters, Mora's art is often THE portrayal I think of when I think of the characters, and there's a ton of bonus guest appearances from various characters across DC's universe. Also, I am biased, Dick tags along a lot, as he's still Robin at this point in time, and it's a great dynamic between the three of them.

Batman: One Bad Day: Mr. Freeze by Gerry Duggan and Matteo Scalera was easily the standout of the "One Bad Day" stories for me, it's set in the early days of Bruce & Dick as Batman & Robin and it has ADORABLE sunshine gremlin baby Dick Grayson, a genuinely touching story about Mr. Freeze and his wife, and some beautiful art.

Year One: Batman/Scarecrow (2005) by Bruce Jones and Sean Murphy is a fun look at the early days of Scarecrow, but also has absolutely banger baby Dick Grayson content, there's a scene where Bruce literally just grabs him by the scruff of the neck to haul him out of the way of a crowd about to stampede and it's the funniest thing because that 12 year old could destroy your face with his fists but also Bruce can literally pick him up one-handed. There's some great banter in there and it's just a super fun dynamic.

As you make your way through this list, keep the author/artist and year listings in mind, as often times there are multiple series under the same title and some are more relevant to what you're looking for right now than others. Like, there have been three different volumes of "World's Finest", but I want to direct you specifically to the 2022 version because I think that'll work better for you. Similarly, Nightwing 1996 is one of my faves, but I think the 2016 version will work better at drawing you in right now. This is definitely biased in favor of my faves, but I honestly think they work for good jumping on points for someone new to comics and who's coming from WFA and might not want to get into the messier stuff of the mainline comics right away. Hopefully, you'll enjoy these and anyone else who wants to transition from WFA to reading mainline continuity comics, feel free to join us! Yeah, comics fandom can be a bit of a pill sometimes, but genuinely there's a lot of really fun moments to love and the characters are so much more fun when you're reading their stories with all the history and depth behind them!

#lumi.txt #dc #batfam #comics recs

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lizaluvsthis · 2 months

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Hey Liz, how are you doing?

What are your favorite headcanons for Smg34??

(btw I luv your art <3)

I'm Fine. :)

Thank you! I love people's arts too :>

My favorite SMG34 Headcanons are...

SMG4 is very much the oblivious sun pair with three as the tsundere pining moon.

Three does better cooking than smg4 but he teaches for some ways so that he wouldn't always have to rely the cooking for him.

SMG4 shows three some funny memes to where sometimes he may or may not understand the humors of it but still smiles. (He appreciates it)

SMG4 is the big spoon and three is the small spoon

SMG4 is a slight inch taller than SMG3

When three skips a shower a day, Four would overreact and will demand Three to take a bath.

When one of them feels sad, they cuddle up each other and talk out some stuff (comfort leading to laughter)

SMG4 would brush Three's long hair because he loves how wavy it is

Despite Three annoyed with Four's teasing from his hair, he allows him to pat his head.

They both dont like public affection so they do it on their own time in private.

Three does find fashion interesting and organizing stuff properly while Four finds memes funny and has some- sense of humor

SMG4 would tease three and he would fluster up from his words.

There are some times four would flirt as always, there are some other times that Three flirts back making Four blush.

Three lets four do his long hair (either braid, ponytail, half ponytail, or pigtails)

Three is the first to come out as pansexual before SMG4 did.

SMG4 is rarely aware if three really is pansexual

SMG3 figured four was bisexual after 2020

SMG3 has black nails while SMG4 only has plain ones

SMG4 does feel a bit heart touched when he get some times where Three treats Eggdog as his son.

They both listen to mitski or cavetown sometimes

Three likes opera meanwhile Four just likes memes

SMG4 would sometimes stare at Three's lips while he sleeps, SMG3 would always stare at four's eyes

Red resembles love and compassion, so four would sometimes bring Three a red rose or two in special occassions.

They both sometimes forget their anniversary but they still make it up for each other.

In a movie theatre when watching. SMG3 and SMG4 would be paying attention to the screen, next by step- Four starts to gain on his senses and ends up staring at Three for a couple or a few minutes. (He loves how three would express his own emotion because he rarely does it.)

SMG4 likes to blow bubbles while Three sometimes uses cigarettes

Coping mechanisms. Four edits his videos, Three would stream and play games on his twitch chat.

Four would sometimes watch Three's twitch stream while he plays and leaves anonymous replies (a joke or something else to vibe with three making him have fun for a bit)

In some other times when three is near four, he could smell that his hair stinks and may had said that out loud to him to the point he went outrageous and left.

Since four doesn't know how to deal with emotions, he searches stuff from google about hair products that would go alright with three. (He thinks as a good helping hand friend- you get to also care with hygiene)

SMG4 felt really bad for three judging with his low self doubt on himself

But now four finally understands, he wants to change.

SMG4 has Autism (for misunderstanging people's emotions)

SMG3 has Adhd (getting a little bit distracted)

SMG4 stays by his side so that they both don't get separated.

SMG3 keeps four safe by putting him to safety first before he takes care of himself

SMG4 may not have did much for three but he still loves to annoy him with kindness and goofyness

SMG3 is the one to carry four in bridal style (even tho it was supposed to be four)

SMG4 does his daily routine where when he wakes up, brushes his teeth, and use shaving cream.

Tho SMG3 does the opposite. He wakes up to make his own morning coffee and take care of the cafe and his eggdog.

[I'll keep on updating as much as possible if theres any other stuff]

#lizaluv #smg4 #smg34 #smg3 #smg4 smg3

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mouschiwrites · 4 months

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Hiiiii! <3 been scrolling through your Ninjago masterlist and I saw there was no HC/drabble/fanfic about a reader who has a culture (or I'm just blind and didn't see it T~T ) anywho, it made me think....I hadn't seen any head cannon of reader x ninja (+ pixal my baby✨) who the reader had a Portuguese culture (and I'm just deprived to see no Portuguese babies in there).

Just the basic stuff like speaking the language, or the food? The habit? I don't know how to explain but it's not something really in research or deep, just the basic stuff.

Here some ideas to help ya if you got no idea ! <3 :

-men usually shake hands with men as a greeting

-we usually smile to anyone and anything in politeness

-We do small talks with anyone, also a sign of politeness

- family events are a somewhat must

-we like to dress nicely (sometimes fancy) to meet family

-PDA is appreciated and somewhat encouraged in public

Etc...

Also, if you feel like you can't write it because it's too complicated, ten thank you for reading! ✨

Of course!!! I really hope this turned out okay ^^ I’ll admit that I didn’t really know too much about this culture beforehand, so please let me know if I’ve gotten anything wrong!! It was fun to do research though, super interesting stuff!!

Ninjago - Ninjas With a Portuguese s/o

Cole

He LOVES hanging out with your family

Ever since he reconciled with his dad, he’s realized just how important family is

So of course he admires your family’s closeness!

Whenever you invite him along to a family function, he’s already putting on his shoes and a nice button-up shirt

He makes sure that you approve of his clothes before you leave

He has an okay sense of fashion, but he just wants to make sure his outfit isn’t inappropriate for the occasion or anything

He’s always super careful to make sure he doesn’t offend your family

Sometimes it’s kind of cute to watch him balk or scramble to correct himself

Even your family finds it amusing

Of course, he’s never actually said something offensive, but he’s still super cautious

He also just tries to have fun and get along with your family!

They adore him ofc, he’s the perfect balance between respectful and friendly

As time goes on, they start to ask where Cole is when you show up to family gatherings alone

You have to explain that sometimes he just can’t make it, especially because of his ninja responsibilities

That’s another reason they love him btw; he has the coolest stories

And he’s a great listener to their stories in return! :)

Jay

He is ALL OVER the PDA thing

He’s a very physically affectionate person, whether he likes to admit it or not

Actually, it was you and your family that helped him realize this

Of course he likes being affectionate with you, but he learns to be affectionate with others too

It started when one of your friends/family members gave him a hug

He was really stiff and awkward at first, but after it was over he realized how warm and fuzzy he felt

From then on he was hooked

He immediately transformed into this super affectionate person

Not just with your family/friends, either; he starts being super affectionate to his family/friends too

The other ninjas tease him about it at first, but he doesn’t care

He’ll hold hands, hug, sit shoulder-to-shoulder, anything that involves touch

He just LOVES being able to show his affection like that!! So much easier than words

(I headcanon that he’s not very good with words when it comes to showing love)

And he loves having the favor returned! (By you or your family/friends)

Makes him feel accepted :)

Congrats, you’ve found a way to finally validate our anxious boy

Honestly he might get a bit carried away with it, so beware

Zane

Zane’s more of an explicit learner than an implicit one when it comes to social culture

(Meaning he can’t really pick up on cues; you’ll have to verbalize things)

So you’ll have to explain your culture to him

But he really loves hearing you talk about it!!

His eyes literally sparkle while you speak

For one, because no one’s ever done him the favor of actually explaining social culture

But also because he can see how important it is to you, and he thinks you’re positively lovely when you’re impassioned

He’ll remember every word, and do his best to practice what you preach

Sometimes it comes off as mechanical or forced (it kind of is), but he gets the hang of it the more he practices

And he’s eager to get practice, which means…

More family time!!

Though it does make him nervous, he likes being around your family so he can practice your teachings and learn more

Your family probably thinks he’s a little odd, but he’s got the right spirit

Being accepted by them would be so validating for him… like all his hard work paid off

AND he’d be close to the people who are important to you!! Double win

Lloyd

He’s another one who really likes being physically affectionate

He’s a huge cuddle bug; this we know

So when he learns that he can hug your friends/family too, not just you, he takes the opportunity

(He still loves you the most, of course, he just likes showing others some love)

It’s mainly the hugs that he likes

Hand holding is a bit uncomfortable when it’s not you, but he won’t reject a hand he’s offered

Cheek kisses are great though :]

He always gets this dorky shy smile whenever someone (especially you) kisses him on the cheek, even if it’s just a greeting/goodbye

It takes everything in him not to giggle like a schoolgirl when he gives one back (for the first little while, anyway)

At first he was a bit awkward giving kisses back, but he warms up to the practice pretty quickly

He used to be just a cuddle bug in private, but by the time you’re done with him he casually practices PDA like it’s nothing

Kai

I’m going to be so honest with you rn. He is going to struggle with the politeness thing

As much as he tries to be cordial and put things gently, if he’s mad that’s all going out the window

If, for whatever reason, you or your friend/family member sets him off, he’s not going to waste his energy on being nice

Cold stares and crossed arms are the least of it; consider yourself lucky if that’s what he does

At the worst…. Be ready to hold this man back

This is pretty rare though, he does try really hard to stay positive

On the topic of trying hard, though, he’s really worried about your family liking him

He knows how important they are to you and he wants to be liked by them

So he’ll always try his hardest to control his temper and follow their polite customs

Unfortunately you will have to be the outfit police when it comes to family gatherings, though

His idea of “nice clothes” is very different from the actual definition

Like, you’re expecting a nice button up and slacks, then he comes out in a tank top and varsity jacket and jeans ripped like he got into a motorcycle crash

He is devastated to learn that, no Kai, those are not appropriate clothes

He’ll still change though, dw

And he’ll be happy about it if/when one of your family members compliments his outfit :)

Nya

Ohhh man….. she LOVES learning about your culture

She wants to know all the details

And she’ll go beyond what you tell her; she’ll do her own research

She’s super eager to test out what she’s learned

She impresses your family first try

Especially because she’s so eager to listen to them

She grows really close with your family, and she secretly starts to consider them an extension of hers

Totally not because she was raised with little to no actual family

She will cry if they start to think the same of her

It might be a little weird for you, with her being so enthusiastic to partake in your customs, but she’ll cut back if you let her know it’s weird

She’s just so excited to learn, especially about something that involves you :(

And she’ll be happy to teach you about her culture in return!

(I headcanon that she’s Chinese :) so if you’re interested she’s glad to share)

Overall she’s just super enthusiastic and supportive regarding your culture!!

She will fight anyone who isn’t

Thank you for this request!! And thanks so much for reading, take care doves <33

(divider by saradika)

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allyheart707 · 2 months

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Aight bet-

1. I'm partial to darker tones, I found that these three are really nice :D

2. K <3

3. Mmmm....... Not sure, I'm a very picky eater so probably a lot? But probably scorpion sucker?

4. Dung beetle. Given their diet, they probably have pretty stinky breath-

5. Vanilla, maybe birthday cake

6. Fruit. They carry the chicken seeds. Nuggies are vegetables :>

7. What are you, the cops?? Stop asking so many questions-

8. An empty one •_•

9. So it depends on the rock. But generally, they either taste like dirt, don't really have a taste, or they taste fairly salty actually. Occasionally they kinda taste like coins/metal. It all depends on the type of rock honestly (and where you found it/what it was in or what was covering it)

10. ... 乁⁠(⁠ ⁠•>•⁠ ⁠)⁠ㄏ

11. Y=2. 2x + Yx = 44. 2x + 2x = 4x. 44/4 = 11. x = 11

12. RotTMNT exists parallel to TMNT 2012 in a fashion that is similar to how the Boiling Isles is parallel to the human realm in ToH. Bc of this, we get leakage from 2012 into Rise, like how human stuff leaks into the BI. This is how we end up with stuff like this ⬇️

14. I eated it nom nom

15. Gasp! I have been bamboozled! :00

How has your day been? :>

I know you sent another ask realizing you did this wrong, but HONESTLY, I think I liked your way better. Everyone should answer all my silly questions instead of asking me them!! Those are very pretty shades of grey, and I love the conspiracy you shared!!

How was my day? Filled with many, many boops. Which on one hand was really fun and gave me SO much dopamine.... on the other hand I avoided tasks I was REALLY supposed to be doing and it has only now just hit me. :(((

#ally asks #ask game #april fools nonsense #ally rambles

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crazylittlejester · 1 month

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ITS MANDARIN WARRIOS AGAIN I KNOW I JUST SENT IN TRANS WARRIORS HEADCANNONS BUT I HAVE MORE (shout out to my cousin for helping come up with this):

anyways

CW for extremely implied (like two or three lines) of trans/homo/queer-phobia

the chain goes to gerudo town and they stop at the kara kara bazaar where wild explains that they need vai outfits since they don't let men in (or if TOTK has happened, he can't let men in with him, even if he has clearance) and the group has varying reactions, from sure whatever (legend, hyrule, twilight, time), HELL YEAH/sure, that sounds kinda fun (sky, wind, four,) and the captain just stares at the outfit for a second an quietly nods. in fact, he's weirdly quiet the whole visit to the female city. Time seems in tune with whatever is going on with captain, and gives a tiny "don't" sort of gesture at one point when twilight tries to talk to the captain.

Legend, who wears skirts all the time, who's worn dresses and cheerleader outfits and you name it, gets worried for a different reason. while most of his hyrule either wasn't there or didn't care, he's run into quite a few people (creatures? beings?) who don't hold the same values, and legend thinks the captain has finally snapped and has secretly been a raging homophobe the whole time. (no, legend does not have trust issues wdym)

legend takes warriors out on a "night patrol" after seeing him pace and fidget and pick at the outfit for the 16th million time. they walk pretty far out, far enough that the lights of the city no longer dim the sparkling night sky. legend stops dead in his tracks and turns to warriors like: "dude if you're really gonna be a hateful piece of dookie then i will make your life miserable again because i will not let you hurt my brothers like that" and warriors, who's dealing with awful dysphoria rn, whos super uncomfortable because people kept staring at his burn scars, who hates the hot sun and the itchy desert and is super overstimulated just breaks down bc he thinks he's been betrayed by another brother.

Legend is very surprised bc he was expecting to fistfight a bigot not consoling his brother who has planted himself down against a rock and his melting down in front of his eyes. warriors awkwardly explains whats really going on, and legend feels supers guilty and embarrassed for thinking so poorly of his brother. blah blah feels, cheesy stuff, they talk, then they start making there way back to the inn, after a promise from legend to keep quiet. to make it up to him, the next day legend decides to go drinking with wars since time and twi are needed for something else (up to reader what that thing is) yada yada hurt/comfort, the end

(Bonus: warriors helps legend pick out skirts and dresses because he has a much better eye for fashion -though legend would never admit it- and knows how the sizing works and what pieces go where, and they bond over the lack of pockets)

-mandarin warriors

THE LITTLE “:)” AT THE END OF THAT WAS DIABOLICAL.

im absolutely obsessed with this, i need to write a fic about wars being trans because trans wars is something that is so incredibly real to me

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu warriors #lu wars #jes talks #jes ask

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everlastlady · 8 months

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How would Striker react if fem s/o is bisexual as he catches them looking at dirty magazines or looking at a female passing by? This is an antihero Striker au.

Thank you for submitting a request! I hope that you enjoy this story as someone who is bisexual, I had fun writing this story so I hope that any fellow bisexual enjoys this story.

I Love You Either Way.

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✰- Author's Note: Hello! My little imps, demonic sinners, and powerful overlords. Welcome back to another story of fem reader who is bisexual with Striker. Since I have trouble writing due to adhd and especially a little bit of writers block. I tried a fun experiment today while writing this. I love to play Stardew Valley on my phone so while I was writing the story from my laptop I decided that. Every time I finish a day in Stardew Valley or for every fish I catch or tree I chop, I write a sentence on my laptop and it really helped and was fun, so if you wanna try something to reward yourself to write while having fun I recommend doing something while you write but remember don't force yourself to write if you can't. Also remember to eat a meal or snack, drink water, take your medicine, and that you are loved. If you enjoy this story then please like, comment, reblog, or even blaze if you can. Remember to support your local writers. ♡♡♡

✰- Word Count: 1332

✰- Story Contains: Anti Hero Striker, Bisexual Fem Reader, Sexual Magazines, Fluffy Stuff, Supportive Striker, & Guess Striker's Friend.

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Ever since you were at a young age, you knew that you were bisexual but you never really told anyone, why? Well because you thought it wasn’t really important unless someone asked. And no one in your life really asked so no one knew that you were bisexual especially your boyfriend Striker. You met Striker when the hybrid imp passed out in front of your house. It seemed like he had escaped from a sort of horrible accident because had horrible burn marks on his back and looked beat up. So you helped him up into your home and patched him up. When he had awoken he would freak out but you eventually calmed him down despite him calling you names and threatening you but he ended up seeing that you meant no harm and had patched him up better than those shady doctors he goes to or himself. When Striker had left he returned the next day and bought you roses that were pink, purple, and blue. You accepted the flowers and thanked him. After that you and Striker began to hangout more and more with each other. The two of you would have all sorts of fun from camping, teaching Striker how to actually patch himself up, and he taught you how to use a gun. The two slowly fell in love with each other and eventually started to date each other. Striker loved you to pieces and reminded you everyday how much he loved you and that he wouldn’t want you to change anything about yourself. But you never really told Striker that you were bisexual and you weren’t sure how to tell him, or how he would react; so you decided to keep your sexuality to yourself until you felt like telling him would be the right time. Now Striker he already knew that you like women and men. Even though you two don’t live together yet. Whenever Striker was over and you would be out shopping or in the kitchen Striker being a nosey bastard would mess around in your room either with your computer seeing what games you have, going through your closet seeing what outfits you have and trying to get his shirts back, or he would just see what books you own.

He eventually came across a magazine but not just your normal type of magazine like a cooking, fashion, or gossip one. No this was a dirty magazine filled with pictures of different types of nude demon women. Striker sat down on the floor and flipped through as he was wondering why you had this. And then it hit him. The other day he asked if he was a woman would you sleep with him of course you said yes quickly without thinking; then he remembered how you would glance at other female demons whenever you two walked down the street at first he thought those glances were you just admiring those womens clothes or he thought you were just seeing if they were looking at him. “ Hey, Striker, I’m back from shopping. “ As you stepped into the room, Striker looked at you while holding the magazine and you stared at him then the magazine then back at Striker, as you felt your heart about to pop out. “ You wanna tell me something darlin? “ Striker asked and closed the magazine; he stood up and walked over to you and handed you the magazine. You sighed and set your bags down. “ I’m bisexual…. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you, I thought if I did that you would be disgusted and leave me. I didn’t know what your reaction would be, I just know that I was nervous to tell you, I still love you. “ You looked at Striker who said nothing and only walked to you with a serious expression; you closed your eyes preparing for the worst but all you felt was a small flick on your forehead but it still hurt. “ Ow! “ You rub your forehead and open your eyes as Striker glared and had his hands on his hips. “ Ow, is right, darlin’, I don’t care that you are bisexual, I still love you no matter what. Your sexuality doesn't stop me from loving you, it doesn't change anything between us. You are still my dumpling. “ Striker pulled you close into a hug. “ Does anyone else know you are bisexual? “ He asked while rubbing small circles on your back.

“ No, I haven’t told anyone since I discovered I was bisexual. “ You sighed feeling relief that Striker didn’t leave or yell at you for coming out. You actually feel proud knowing that you told him and happy that he didn’t see you any different and still saw you as you. “ Well if you tell anyone and they try saying anything nasty to ya or try hurting you pumpkin, just come tell me and I’ll make sure they don’t wake up to see another day. “ Striker planted a kiss on your lips. “ Also you need to find a better hiding place for those magazines because just having them in an open box on your closet floor isn't smart. “ Striker smirk. You playfully roll your eyes. “ Strike, who else is gonna snoop through my room besides your cute nosey ass. “ You deliver a flick to Striker’s floor head as he felt a dramatic pain sound and fell back on the bed holding you. “ That hurt darlin~ “ Striker nuzzled his face into the crook of your neck. The next day comes and you are sitting on the couch watching a horror movie. Striker had come home from hunting down his target but he had a small box in his hand and sat down on the couch tossing the box into your lap. You raised an eyebrow at Striker who’s yellow eyes stayed on whatever horror movie you were watching. You opened the box and smiled seeing that Striker had got you bisexual rings but there were two. “ I’m bisexual darlin. “ Striker stretched and yawned.

“ Why didn’t you tell me yesterday? “ You asked and slipped one of the rings on your fingers. “ I wanted you to have your moment, I also thought it wasn’t really important to tell you so I thought since you came out yesterday, that I might as well come out while doing some cheesy ass gestures. A friend of mine; she recommended that I do it and even helped pick the rings. “ Striker slipped the other ring on his finger. “ Now we have matching rings, anyway give me the remote your taste in horror movies is shit. “ Striker said. You chuckled and handed Striker the remote who put on a zombie movie and rested his head in your lap as you ran your fingers through his white hair; who would have known that Striker was bisexual. That night you were brushing your teeth as Striker sat on the bed cleaning his weapons polishing his guns and knives. He kept a couple of weapons at your house either for training you or protecting you or yourself if anyone broke in and tried to rob or hurt you. “ Hey darlin’, I was thinking about finally moving in with ya, if you're okay with taking that next step in our relationship. “ Striker heard you jet out of the bathroom still having white foam around your mouth from brushing your teeth. “ I would love that! “ You wiped your mouth and walked over to him, sitting down in his lap. “ You moving in would be nice and I get to help you take care of our son Bombproof. “ You grinned, ever since you met Bombproof you declared that the horse is your son and Bombproof did love you. Striker chuckled and kissed you. “ Then I’ll make sure to get all my shit over here. “I love you darlin. “ Striker gave you another kiss. The two of you stayed there in the bed kissing each other and couldn't wait to see how living together would be like.

#helluva boss #hazbin hotel #helluva striker #striker helluva boss #striker x reader #striker #helluva striker x reader #striker x you #striker x female reader #bisexual striker #helluva x reader #everlast asks 🍵#everlast answers☕#everlasting writes🪻

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geralts-yenn · 1 year

Text

Believe in Me - Chapter 3

chapter warnings: mention of biting & vampire stuff, mention of sex, prostitution

word count: 2,9k

A/N: I had a lot of fun thinking about the club and I hope you like the first glance you can get at it in this chapter.

You can find pictures that inspired me for this one here. I think I have another 50 in my Pinterest board, I really love the club 😍

Please let me know what you think - reblogs and comments are always the way to make me happy! Tumblr only works if you reblog. Help me keeping this story alive 😘

Series Masterlist

Maria helped Aurora to get some of her stuff out of her dad's house while he was at work. It wasn't that much anyway. Mostly the stuff she needed for her classes, some clothes and books.

Aurora gladly noticed that the healing abilities of her body didn't let her down this time either. She was able to carry the boxes into Maria's car without her ribs hurting too much. Another few days with painkillers and she was as good as new.

They carried Aurora's belongings into Tara's house. Aurora tried her best to stuff anything away into the corner of the room, so she won't annoy Tara more than was necessary.

When they had put down the last boxes, Maria started rummaging through Aurora's clothes.

"Nothing in here will work for the club. I can lend you something from my wardrobe - or we could go shopping. The first outfit is on me, sweetie!"

Aurora wasn't comfortable taking so much help from Maria, but her friend insisted, not taking no for an answer.

"We don't even know if they need new donors. Maybe you should call Charlie first before we go shopping for nothing." Aurora was still very nervous at the thought of becoming a blood donor for vampires. Though, it wasn't an uncomfortable nervousness. In fact, it was really exciting. The possibility of meeting Melot again popped up in her head every time she thought about it.

Maria shook her head. "He probably won't be up before sunset. But I am very confident that he won't say no to the eye candy that you are. Just let us go get you a nice dress, girl!"

A few hours later, the two women were back at Maria's apartment. They sat on the couch with some Chinese takeaway and after finishing their meal, Maria finally called her boss.

"Hey Charlie, it's Maria!... Listen, can I bring someone with me tonight? She's a friend of mine, really gorgeous, and she might need some extra money."

Charlie's voice was deep and had a hint of sinfulness to it. "Sure, my love. We can always use some new flavors. I will be there to show her the club, and we can talk about the conditions then, too."

Not long after that telephone call, the two women started to get ready for the club. Maria started some music and began to put on her makeup. Aurora got her new dress and shoes out of the shopping bags.

She had opted for a simple red velvet dress with spaghetti straps and black platform heels. As she slipped it on, Maria's mouth fell open.

"Damn, Aurora, I knew you'd look great, but this is so hot, girl, look at you! Those vampires better be prepared to get some delicious treat tonight!" Aurora just giggled shyly at her friend's words. Getting compliments like these wasn't something she was used to.

The tension Aurora felt in her stomach peaked the moment their Uber arrived at the nightclub. It had been quite a while since she had been out clubbing. And this was a vampire's club, nothing like the ones she had seen before, Aurora guessed, and rightly so. The music was the same, the set-up was the same, but yet the atmosphere was entirely different, already now.

It was early in the evening, so there weren't any guests there yet. Just some people moving around the tables and booths, likely working in the club.

It was quite dark, dimmed candelabras hanging from the high ceiling and some candles on the tables. The walls, covered in damask wallpaper, gave the whole room a red glow. The bar was old-fashioned, dark wood, brass and red leather stools in front of it. The booths consisted of dark wooden tables with red leather sofas. There were even a few four-poster beds in the corners, looking very comfy with bedding of dark red velvet.

Maria took Aurora's hand and walked her through the large room to an area separated by red ropes. As the two women came to stop at the barrier, a man got up from a plush velvet sofa. He moved way too fast to be human. Aurora flinched when he was suddenly standing right in front of her.

He was tall, his hair cropped short, a hint of stubble on his chiseled jaw. He would have been attractive as a human. But, as he was a vampire, he could only be described as breathtakingly beautiful. His eyes had the same red glow as she had seen in Melot's. And the fangs that appeared when he parted his lips for a charming smile left her trembling in a mix of anxiousness and anticipation.

"Welcome to The Scarlet Coven! I am Charles Brandon, assistant of Mister Walker. You can call me Charlie, dear." Charles held out his hand, and to Aurora's surprise, when she put hers in it, he raised them to his lips, pressing a soft kiss on her knuckles.

"Aurora Russo." Her voice was a mere whisper, but despite the music already blazing through the speakers, Charlie seemed to understand perfectly.

"So, Miss Russo, if you want to follow me to my office, we can talk about the terms of your employment."

Aurora turned to look at Maria, and her friend gave her an affirming nod.

Charlie could hardly hold back a chuckle when he recognized the girl who wanted to become a new donor. What a coincidence! He considered his options to react and chose to go with a little surprise. He could never resist the opportunity to tease his cousin. And this was an absolute brilliant opportunity for that.

Even if Charlie didn't know what exactly was the relationship between the girl and Melot, he definitely knew Melot was acting very suspiciously around her. And if Melot had known of Aurora's plan to work in the club, he would have brought her himself instead of Maria. So Melot must be clueless. Charlie was pleased to get to see more of Melot making a fool of himself, so this whole situation was just a sweet gift to lighten Charlie's mood tonight.

Aurora was following Charles along a corridor, the music now muted. Charles opened a door and guided Aurora to enter.

"Make yourself comfortable, please! I'll be with you in a minute. Just have to make a quick phone call."

Aurora entered the room that was the complete opposite to the rest of the nightclub. It was light, the walls painted in plain white. The desk and the chairs standing in front of it were modern, white lacquer, glass and chrome. The only thing that looked kind of old-fashioned was the large armchair behind the desk that was padded with light gray leather. Even the pictures on the walls were bright, colorful and modern.

Aurora took a seat on one of the chairs and they were surprisingly comfortable. Nervousness took the better part of her again and she started to pick on the skin of her nail beds. It was, in fact, just a moment later that Charles entered the room to join her again. "Sorry once more, now I am all yours!" He gave her another of his charming smiles and started to talk about what Aurora had to expect if she took his job offer.

Maria had already explained most of it to Aurora, so it was more of a formality, and soon after, Charlie and Aurora had sorted out most of the subjects to discuss.

"One last question, if you don't mind..." Charles raised his right eyebrow. "Have you ever shared your blood with a vampire before?" Aurora had feared this question. Of course, she hadn't. And she wasn't sure if this was a disadvantage. What if she didn't react as expected when someone bit her? What if she panicked? Charles and Walker were businessmen after all, and they surely didn't want to risk their money with girls that hurt their reputation.

"No, I haven't" she said shyly. But instead of concerned, Charles seemed very pleased to hear this. A content smile spread over his face. He nodded and took Aurora’s hand. He turned it and carefully brushed with his thumb over her wrist.

“That leaves you different possibilities. There are some vampires that are willing to pay an extra fee for being the first, you know. This means you could make some good money effortlessly. But a lot of humans are more comfortable if the first vampire they are offering their blood is someone they know and trust. So if you know someone that you would like to offer this gift, that would be no problem either. Just think about it and let me know.”

Aurora had no time to think about this. There was a knock at the door that interrupted their conversation.

Charles raised his eyebrow once more. “One moment!” he addressed the person on the other side. Then he turned back to Aurora. “Any more questions? Else, I’ll give you my number and you can call me and tell me your decision. Of course, you are invited to spend the night in the club if it pleases you. You can make up your mind if this is something you can see yourself in.”

Charles got up and held out his hand to Aurora and walked her to the door.

As he opened it, Aurora looked into a familiar face. “Melot!” she uttered, surprised. Considering the look on Melot’s face, he was even more puzzled to see Aurora in the office of his cousin.

“Aurora, what are you doing here?” His eyes darted back and forth between Aurora and Charles. In the end, he decided to keep his eyes locked with Charlie, a deep frown on his forehead.

Charlie enjoyed the encounter to his fullest, he was proud to see he had timed everything just perfect.

“Ah, Melot, there you are. Thank you for coming. I wanted to introduce you to our newest candidate for becoming a donor. But as it seems, you two are already familiar with each other. Would you mind taking Aurora to the club to show her everything?”

Of course, Melot knew that Charles was playing games, as he had seen Melot and Aurora together. But that didn’t make it any less fun for Charles, apparently.

Melot looked at his cousin, dumbfounded. “This is why you called me?”

Charles smiled his most devious smile and nodded.

"August decided that you should take the role of a mediator between vampires and humans, right? I'd say, this falls into that category.“

Charles knew exactly as well as Melot that this was not what August wanted Melot to do. But Melot didn't complain about spending time with Aurora. To be honest, it was the thing he wanted to do the most ever since he had met her a night earlier.

He took her hand and guided her back to the club, choosing a small booth in the back of the large room for them to sit down. The music was louder now, and Melot had to bow his head down to Aurora, so she could understand him. He didn't have the same problem. Hearing was one of the senses that were highly increased, once you were turned into a vampire.

"How did you get the idea of becoming a donor?" he asked.

Aurora felt goosebumps creeping up her arms as Melot's face was so near to hers.

She scanned the room and after she had finally spotted Maria sitting at the bar, she nodded towards her.

"My friend Maria told me about it. After what happened yesterday, I need a job that earns me enough to be able to pay for a small apartment." Thinking about the night before, Aurora's eyes sank to her hands that were folded in her lap. She didn't want to bother Melot with her problems.

But Melot didn’t mind. “So, you won’t go back to whoever hurt you? That’s good!” He took Aurora’s hand in his and rubbed little circles over her palm. “You are safe with us. There will always be someone looking out for you, even if you don’t notice. Just make sure that you won’t be kissing someone after they fed on you. Or get their blood into your mouth in any other way.”

Aurora realized, she should have shown more interest in vampires and their way of living before she rushed into this situation.

“Is this how you get turned?” She thought she had read about it, but couldn’t remember exactly how it was done.

Melot nodded. “When you both exchange your blood, you will transform into a vampire, yes. Some assholes try to turn people without their consent, just for fun. They will try to kiss you after they bit themselves in the tongue, or they will attempt to add droplets of their blood into your drink. But this is an assault, and we’re taking things like this serious. There is a lot of security everywhere in the club. It’s my job to keep you safe.”

The idea of Melot protecting her made Aurora feel giddy, she felt butterflies in her stomach. And all these feelings kept her from even thinking about what Melot had just told her. She didn’t worry at all about her safety. As long as Melot was with her, everything that happened to her had to be fine.

She realized Melot was still rubbing her hand and she just couldn’t be more happy about it. Whatever it was that the two of them shared, it felt really good.

Slowly the club was getting more crowded. Guests were coming in, filling the booths and the seats at the bar, some already taking their place on the dance floor. It was spectacular to watch. Aurora could tell apart vampires and human donors without any doubt. The vampires were moving entirely different from their human guests. And watching them was almost hypnotic. The way they were dancing, or just walking or standing, was filled with so much grace and elegance.

So it was not just Melot that fascinated her. They all had this aura that was pulling Aurora into their spell. Yet, with Melot everything felt just a hundred times stronger.

Aurora could hardly suppress the urge to kiss him, to feel him as close as possible. When he asked her to dance with him, Aurora wasn’t even able to give him an answer. She just got up and let him lead her to the dance floor.

By now the place was crowded and it wasn’t possible to keep a distance, even if Aurora wanted to. Her body was brushing over Melot’s with every beat of the fast-paced song and her heart was racing in her chest just as fast.

Two songs later, Aurora knew that vampires must have a lot more stamina than humans. Her breathing had become erratic and pearls of sweat ran down her spine. Yet Melot looked as if he hadn’t moved at all.

“I think I need a break!” she shouted up to Melot, not knowing that he would have easily heard her if she had just whispered.

Smiling, Melot guided her back to the small couch. “So how do you feel? Do you really want to do this?”

Aurora’s gaze wandered through the club. By now everywhere she could see vampires who were feeding from donors. Some almost hiding in secluded corners, some openly biting into wrists or necks at the bar or on the dance floor. And some in very suggestive positions where you couldn’t decide if they were feeding, fucking or maybe both.

The last ones made Aurora feel a knot in her stomach. Melot followed her eyes and guessed just right about her feelings.

“You are not expected to offer any sexual acts. Some do this to earn more money, but someone as beautiful as you will be making more than enough money just by offering your wrist.” He was smiling reassuringly at her. A sight she couldn’t get enough of.

“I think I want to do this!” She really needed the money. And if this job meant to see Melot on a regular basis, what more could she ask for?

Aurora bit her lip, not sure how to go on. She had made up her mind how to get over that “feeding virgin” problem, but now that it needed to be addressed she was getting shy.

“Melot, don’t you need to feed tonight, too?” His movements were far too fast for her to notice, but his eyes jumped from her face to her jugular and then, over her lips, back to her eyes.

“I can bear to have to fast for a day,” he answered her quickly before he could think about the other possibility that made him feel way too excited.

But Aurora finally found her courage and proposed to him what both of them secretly had in their mind.

“I have never been bitten before. Charles told me that I could get some extra money for that. But actually, I think I would feel safer if someone did this that I trust in. I have to admit that I am a little scared.”

She paused and brushed her fingers through his dark locks. Though the music and all the people in the club were still as deafeningly loud as before, somehow for a second it felt like everything was completely silent around them.

“Melot, would you be my first, please?”

Part 4

#believe in me #vampire au #vampire!charles #vampire!melot #my writing

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nanjokei · 9 months

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same anon here, incredibly interested in the history from someone who lived through it

ok!

here's my own rundown on why the vocaloid bubble burst in the mid 2010s!

almost irreversibly! (don't worry— this story has a happy ending)

if anyone is wondering, yes, you can reblog this! i only say this because this took a lot of work to write so if anyone feels compelled, yes, stroke my ego a bit, i allow such a thing. now, i might get snippy here and there, but i'm not serious at all. my sense of humor is pretty tsukkomi-ish and it shows up in how i describe things. <-disclaimer for if this post breaks containment because i know fandom types don't like my sense of humor if they're not given the context that i LOVE what i'm talking about and rib on it out of utmost adoration

as a disclaimer, i do lightly look things up to check on stuff timeline wise and its validity, but this is from my own point of view and memory and a personal retelling, so if you have a different take on it then i'm sure our viewpoints can co-exist. also, i speak about utaite from the point of view of someone who respects their existence but does not participate. so if a few facts are off... i am speaking only from the aspect of what relates to what i'm talking about. also if there are any typos i stopped being thorough with my checking and editing like 4k words in since i am not being paid to write this, it is just for fun. anyways~

so where we wanna start here is before the big bubble era. i think most people would agree that it was in full swing around mid 2012, but i'll set the date at september 23, 2011. the posting of the song kagerou daze (by the way, as a testament to how much of a boomer i am, despite being an kagepro fan from the start i find myself still using the "kagerou days" romanization by accident every time). by the way, senbonzakura, one of the biggest vocaloid songs ever for the longest time, was posted only a few days earlier. just to paint a picture. but that's not the only thing... i think what we want to look at especially is the end of the vocaloid2 era and what was going on during and before. the final vocaloid2 product, vy2, was released on april 25th, 2011. in this timeline, there are a few angles i wanna focus on. the state of the culture, its spread, utaite and producers. by the way, if i had to date when i met vocaloid, it was around 2008. right before gakupo came out, maybe.

around this time, the culture of vocaloid-ke (vocaloid family) type secondary works were falling out of fashion. 2010 and before, i feel that vocaloid had a strong image of nico nico douga especially— not that it didn't during the bubble era. but i mean the people participating. when miku came out, people viewed her as a novelty while still thinking to themselves they had stumbled across something special. there was no subculture like that before, and the closest counterpart to this was idolmaster. now, many know this is the origin of the -P suffix came from. it's a tossed around factoid now but people should know that it was certainly a phenomena back then. and a LOT of early miku adopters (like 80% were either already in the doujin music scene, the DTM (desktop music) scene, trained musicians or even some industry pros. and a lot of these people were nerdy and geeky and loved anime and games and manga so of course their first point of reference for building vocaloid's identity was idolmaster. touhou, idolmaster's next door neighbor, also had a lot of influence given many of the music people in its scene dabbled in vocaloid early on. so naturally the fans that were attracted to vocaloid were also nerds. at first there were only cryptonloids, but gakupo quickly followed (and continuing in the trend of heavy nnd association— kentaro miura (RIP), a big fan of nnd and especially idolmaster— designed and drew his art 100% pro bono out of love for the site and its culture). luka came out... i think gumi was the first shift. gumi just felt, different. i personally owe it to her being modeled after ranka lee, the iconic role of her voice provider, megumi nakajima— ranka lee was the underdog character in her source macross frontier's love triangle. so i feel like that image somewhat imprinted itself on gumi. gumi was not popular at first at all. her release came and went with not much fanfare. ironically the aspect of rivalry would come back under stuff like the miku vs gumi debate. this is probably the first real demonstration of "it doesn't matter how good the voice is, it matters who uses it and how that propagates the voice".

and so i arrive at the producers of the time, maybe late 2008 early to mid 2009, the newcomers. the ones that weren't necessarily otaku through and through, but more on the "teenagers who like vocaloid and/or don't have a singer to sing for them, and want to make music". i will be specific and say it is people like wowaka (RIP), deco*27 and hachi/kenshi yonezu specifically. wowaka for example had a very fresh take— his pvs deemphasized the vocaloid, but it also inspired many fan pvs because of it. i will not go into how it became ironic that he quit due to the attribution to the voice. but his moody lyrics captured a lot of hearts and his style carried a youth to it. hachi did a lot of his own artsy pvs. deco*27 was very unpolished and amateur but his music was VERY of the times. the synths, the guitar, very youthful. aside from wowaka, whose comeup immediately led to him getting signed quickly (and the guy himself just walked and i don't blame him) i think what made these guys (deco and hachi) stand out from the rest in the end is one thing: they picked up gumi. and this set them apart from the old and dusted otaku who didn't pick gumi up, or those who picked her up thinking of her only as ranka lee. mozaik role (still deco's most viewed song on nnd btw, with no sign of stopping. and he is clearly PISSED about it). matryoshka. all that kibs of noise. by the way, matryoshka's stint in the vocaloid rankings went unchallenged until it was finally killed by senbonzakura. that's a good two years of dominance!! a lot of the breakout stars or people who got more popular during 2010 used gumi, i'm talking your 40mPs, your sasakure.UKs, your buzzGs. incidentally, a lot of these people got signed... most for their vocaloid stuff. 40mP, sasakure, deco, kous and others were signed under label split-offs like U/M/A/A. wowaka and hachi... were signed for themselves. specifically, wowaka and his band hitorie, and hachi as himself kenshi yonezu.

but producers were not the only ones being signed. utaite, who had been a thing before even vocaloid was a thing, found themselves growing rapidly due to them increasingly participating in the culture as both fans and beneficiaries. personally, i split off utaites eras as "before piko and akiakane" and "after piko and akiakane". the before era included people who either started very early on when vocaloid became a thing on nnd, or started before it (participating in chorus medleys or posting utattemita videos of anison for example, like gero). it was all amateur and everyone was doing it for fun... but the record companies doth lurk around the vocaloid scene at this rate. akiakane and piko i pick specifically because they were the first utaite who were very publically signed. piko was signed under sony's ki/oon records! akiakane had two or three big albums under the subsidary of VAP, toy's factory (if you wanna have fun take a look at the list of talent they rep). piko is especially important— as he had a vocaloid made of him. this marked first big interest of corporations and large record companies to actually enter the vocaloid space— in the most direct way possible. btw, the reason piko the vocaloid is dead is because piko the person is no longer signed under sony. it's not outright confirmed, but piko the guy stopped tweeting about utatane piko the second he transferred labels. he is stuck in a weird catch 22 he probably will never be free of, though yamaha is doing some insane moves lately, i wonder if they'd ever try to buy the character out and revive him as a stunt. (they are doing many funny stunts lately. but a subject for another time.)

finally, my last point in this preamble is the interest in telling stories through vocaloid had only continued to grow. i think the two biggest early examples were the prisoner series by shujinP and the ever so infamous evillious chronicles by mothy. their explosive popularity is wholeheartedly owed to rin and len— ok this is a tangent but this is the genius of the rin and len package, that to this day was never replicated, they come together as you know and since they are male and female with no set setting, they are an easy buy and you can make a story because you can do two points of view across several songs... like literally. its paperplane vs prisoner. daughter of evil vs servant of evil. and their fans were and continue to be super passionate. it's great, we would be missing a huge chunk of what makes vocaloid subculture what it is without them. of course, shujinP's series (plural because they had several) is less known these days but it was probably the first series to get plays and novels and all that. quickly followed by EC. later came series like sasakure's doomsday series, stuck in a limbo between old and new era (most of the songs released in the old era but the novelization and such came out during the new), and a few "outsider" series like numtack05/putinP's series (the reasons this never got popular is because it was absurdist and shitpost-y and involved too much political imagery, not only that but also because putinP used a lot of copyright samples (most famously ronald mcdonald and sazae-san clips)— the freely distributed album vers omit these samples entirely and i can confirm the songs are worse for it)

so to give a summary of the above section

the tastes of fans were maturing

there was a shift in how vocaloid was perceived

the growing influence of utaite

the growing interest of big corpos in the scene

the growing interest in storytelling using vocaloid as a medium

anyway, here comes the real deal. and... it's gonna be a mess. just like the era itself was. i hope you're ready, at least.

even the very first echo of vocaloid3 felt kinda corpo-y. it wasn't, but.. looking back. it kind of felt like it. the first time we ever found out about v3 was through a leak of seeU's demo— but it was a work in progress leak, so it had the voice of her provider dahee kim singing along. people had no idea so they assumed this was the capability of the software. it was exciting! kpop was just starting to get popular, and we were getting a new vocaloid software, with korean capability!!!

anyway. we're not talking about the can of worms that was seeU.

not just because of dahee kim. but because it's not related beyond this. also the fact that korean fans were heavily and horribly mistreated by the majority japanese fandom for obvious reasons. i do not have the depths to speak on that stuff, but it says a lot that the software's first big swing ended up like that.

but i wanted to illustrate the mood of the fans going into this era. it was full of hopes and dreams. now, i don't want any wannabe know-it-alls wagging their fingers at me and checking the wikia going "b-but cullen, mew also came out!! at the same time!!" the seeU leak came out first. i remember there were fights over whether or not that demo was real. it was a cultural shift like no other. who the fuck cares about mew? literally her only legacy is one really amazing ezfg song. i will not debate anyone on this btw. i try to be objective but i'm allowed to inject a bit of my own opinion here too. you know who were also full of hopes and dreams? the companies. not your internetcos and your ahsofts, no, i'm talking publicly traded shits and record companies. look... i'm coming off harsh. i actually don't hold that much animosity, but you're gonna see why this was the first huge misstep of the era.

nice picture, right? this was the kind of optimism we started off this era on. but, i'll break down the picture for you in a way that helps illustrate a point somewhat:

your girlies from V2 like gumi (who was this era's it girl), lily, galaco (even if her shitty V2 version is contest only)

your earnest newcomers mew (look, even yamaha girlies count), cul, aoki lapis, seeU (one could argue.), IA (one could argue...)

tone rion of dear stage (who represented dempagumi inc., the group her voice provider came from, though this was a myth for years until it was proven... also it was clear they wanted to make the rest of dempagumi into vocaloids but rion flopped at the time. there was even a picture of her friends floating around. astoundingly embarrassing confidence. one billion dead vocaloids.)

akikoloid-chan of lawsons (yes, the convenience store! she is a vocaloidification of their mascot and i would argue the poster child of the modern brand private vocaloid. she was retired in uh.. 2019 i wanna say? though she was dormant for a long time anyway)

ring suzune, the aborted failure of minna no vocalo keikaku (everyone's vocalo-project)... this one involves a lot of otona no jijou AKA adult circumstances (japanese corpo's favorite excuse. you will now notice this phrase every time you hear it oooo). just unfortunate all around

yuzuki yukari of vocalomakets, i put her in a separate category because she really is a girlie of her own. a vocal born from producers being dissatisfied that their wants weren't being answered and no company was taking them up, they just went "fuck it" and produced yukari on their own. a huge outlier in this era of vanity projects and companies using the scene for their own crap.

not pictured, but i have to mention her due to her complicated position in this era, but mayu of exit tunes. exit tunes is a record label that heavily supported vocaloid and utaite during this era, signing both producers and utaite, and making compilation cds of popular vocaloid hits. and probably saw to it that due to their dominance in the area of compilation cds (and they still dominate, even if their releases are sparse these days their cds still top oricon without effort), them sneaking mayu into the tracklists would work... my thoughts on this? my position has softened a lot over the years. and i've always thought "they gave up right before she organically caught on, they should have kept pushing. so what a shame".

now you may notice i bolded a few of these and made special mention of the companies behind them. you probably already figured it out, but this era had heavy investment from parties who had only to gain from a rapidly growing niche subculture. see, unlike the other two of nnd's big three idolmaster and touhou, who are IPs where you need some kind of cooperation to officially get in on, vocaloid... is incredibly free, so laissez faire in comparison. you buy a 9,000 dollar dev kit and get to work making your mascot. it was... so easy. so free. so sweet. but real life is not so easy, or free, or sweet. you actually had to be accepted by the fans, and like i said before... the voice does not matter. what matters is who uses it, and how that propagate the voice. this is true time and time again. it is the ultimate "how many times do i have to teach you this lesson, old man?!" of the scene from a commercial standpoint. no matter how many years pass. ergo, one billion dead vocaloids. corpo vocaloids were releasing and they flopped immediately. earnest products from newcomers were dropping and struggling, though def doing better than the corpo ones (like lapis, lapis did ok). existing "in crowd" companies were vomiting out new vocals and not even promoting them. it was a disgusting era of excess and death and bile and plague and war and and and. it's astounding that it is hard carried by the art that came out of it. because if you only look at the commercial side of things, it is fucking disgusting.

now, onto the fan aspect. remember when i said this era truly kicked off when kagerou daze came out? yup. here it comes. so, anyone lived through this era remembers the cambrian explosion of original projects that did not make use of vocaloid mascots— arguably the final death knell of vocaloid-ke secondary works being the mainstream.

now, i'm planting my flag in the ground here very firmly— i do not ride the bandwagon of the people who erroneously attribute the near death of the scene to kagepro. it's just not true. personally i have a very complicated (bordering on near sort of but not quite negative, depending on how nostalgic i feel that day) relationship with the series, but to blame it is incredibly narrowminded and ignorant of the actual reasons the bubble burst, and not to mention unfair. if you find it annoying, fine. but just say you don't like the series and move on. and really, for better or for worse, mekakucity days and mekakucity records are unironically god tier vocaloid albums that will be remembered for years to come. i just have to say this because i see a lot of people blame jin for very flimsy reasons... SHUT UP!!! anyway.

i think one of the issues with the whole project culture that flourished during this era was simply the fact that since they were multimedia projects (whether by accident like kagepro or intentionally from the get), fans were coming from all angles, and even those who got into it through vocaloid eventually became super mega invested in them as separate IPs. which is... unfortunately an issue. so when these properties eventually spun off into manga, light novels, covers with real seiyuu, merch and ultimately some even netting anime projects... once those projects either abruptly ended (lol, lmao, this will come back later) or reached their natural conclusion, inevitably a lot of those fans either leave with it or found themselves burned out on vocaloid itself, or perhaps even think they've outgrown it.

next, utaite. now i mentioned a bit earlier about how the first batch of utaite were amateurs who didn't expect anything out of it and did it just cause, and how exit tunes signed a lot of them in this era. now, comes the time i speak about utaite "after piko and akiakane". i believe due to a generational gap and subconsciously perhaps due to the signing of a few utaite from the old guard at this point, the nu utaite of the 2010s had a sort of individuality to them... this isn't an insult, and a large part of their popularity actually came from them always collaborating and a lot of them ending up befriending each other. again, i'm an outsider, but i understand this much. but this era for utaite was the beginning of the idea that an utaite can become a superstar. in the end, very few of them did become superstars.

a lot of them naturally returned to a normal level of popularity after the bubble. there aren't a lot of your AtRs or your amatsukis and such. the smart ones became vtubers before being a vtuber was cool. to give an example: un:c and hashiyan who are arguably oldheads more than nu era became anjo and kosaka of monsterz mate. this isn't a doxx btw, this is publically available information, and un:c often credits himself as a mixer under projects he does as anjo. also, a certain duo of female utaite whose names i will not mention went on to form the super popular vtuber duo himehima. there are other early adopters like kano and god knows who else that i don't feel like mentioning. anyway, if your utaite did it after 2018 and under their own identity it is a desperate plea for attention. sorry but it's just the objective truth. tangent over... did you think i wasn't gonna shoehorn vtubers into this somehow?! anyway.

even sutopuri who got mega popular, only really formed after the vocaloid bubble burst, perhaps even as a result of it. utaite had a positive effect on the vocaloid scene and still do. but at the time, i think it was at its strongest. utaite NEEDED vocaloid, and vocaloid benefitted greatly from their continued patronage and love for it. i for one will not be caught slandering utaite and their relationship with vocaloid even if i will always prefer the vocaloid versions. the issue here comes from the fact that way too many were signed without much star factor (i'm not disparaging them, i'm just saying they did not hold their audience across the mediums), and even at that their fans splintered off into many tribes and many weren't really into vocaloid in the first place and were more into the livestreams and twitter banter. that's just how things shook out. you even have your reols and such, as reol was the face but in a sense her, gigaP and okiku were a set and gigaP left the scene to focus on commercial work with those two. too many of them got signed and splintered off into their own little fandoms before THOSE fandoms kind of died out. so this is another part where fans disappear and lose interest. you're starting to see the pattern here, right?

there's so much stuff i thought i would touch on, like how gumi was the undisputed it girl of the scene at this time, and how kagepro rose IA to prominence (all because jin wanted to buy gumi but didn't find her in the store) and how IA's people 1st place locked certain producers in their basement (like jin, yasuhiro, ishifuro etc) and... now this is a conspiracy on my part but prevented them from working on anything else, so that drew more talent away from the scene... but i realized it's tangential and belongs to other parts in this conversation. i want to reiterate here though before we go on to the biggest elephant in the room of all which would be the point of no return... there is more to the vocaloid bubble era of 2012-2015 than projects, than corpo and record company bullshit, than utaite fans. and there is more to the era before that than the top brass producers i mentioned earlier. i really... really lament how so much of early vocaloid reuploads are gone from youtube. there's a whole world just gone. so, anyway, are you ready?

the final block in this weird jenga of a story.

the producer, suzumu, and his unfortunate associates.

i will cut to the chase because it's easier to explain who was involved once i say what happened. to put it shortly... suzumu "stole" his songs. this is weird and vague and i always hated the way people used polite euphemisms to explain it because it made the situation way more confusing than it had to be— he used his producer friends as ghostwriters to compose songs for him, basically. and was very not nice about it according to one of the people involved. now i will probably adopt a somewhat sympathetic angle that people who have previously heard of this case may have not encountered before. not because i feel bad for that fuck, but because it seems like at least one of the people impacted has forgiven him, and others have moved on in less obvious ways. he's also professionally making music in the industry now. as much as i want to keep up the act of disliking him, i don't care anymore. i still dislike what he did immensely because it impacts producers i love to this day. but the man came forth about it himself and those involved forgave him. it's been almost a decade now... man!

suzumu, before getting into posting songs (who knows how many were actually his and which were ghostwritten), was a prolific lyric writer who worked with some of the trendiest vocaloid producers around. i'll cross gigaP out, since he was not involved in the incident, but almost every single person involved in this had worked with him in a lyric or story writing capacity (for 150P and komine specifically). here are the involved parties as i recall, bolded are people who he "stole" from

mafumafu, the person who spoke the most about it post suzumu's confession and the most vocal, and likely the person who was used as a ghostwriter the most (i don't recall if he actually alludes to this or not but people commonly think this). mafumafu had a series of vocaloid songs that told a story, but stopped using vocaloid after the incident for a while and songs that were going to get pvs from his first vocaloid album were not posted. he contributed a song called machigai sagashi for the vocaloid flavored moba #compass in 2015, but it seems like that song was probably in the works since before the incident for reasons i will highlight in a moment. suzumu wrote the lyrics for only one of the songs. iirc, mafumafu's song berserk is about suzumu. don't remember if this is confirmed or not. btw, the album of those songs, meikyou shisui, is really underrated and you should check it out. im not a mafu guy but that album is great

kemu, the person who is arguably closest to suzumu and the one who most publicly supported suzumu (albeit wordlessly) in later years by working with him professionally. when i mention someone forgiving suzumu, i mean him. suzumu wrote the lyrics for most of his kemu voxx songs, a famous multimedia project kemu was on the helm of along with hatsuko as the main illustrator. since kemu no longer had a lyricist, the project stalled for years until he posted a song suddenly in 2017 (with self written lyrics). it seems like the series is continuing still, but with a different direction

150P, who worked with suzumu heavily for his shuuen no shiori (bookmark of demise) project, a project that was conceived from the start to be a story. this part makes me really mad, guys!! i'll try to keep calm about it. 150P wrote over 50 songs (idk if this is an actual number but he wrote a lot. at least 40.) for the series, with suzumu writing the story and lyrics. the character designs were done by saine (who dodged a bullet all things considered.) and the art was done by komine. 150P was already doing crazy things before shuuenpro, his most popular song is still his insane 12-len classical metal chorus song lost destination. now shuuenpro caught on slower than its peers and was an underdog. i LOVE shuuenpro to this day. you know what? right when it was finally getting its first W, when the album that had seiyuu covers at come out on oricon in third place, suzumu dropped his confession. what a slap to the fucking face!! the manga of the series hastily wrapped up after that. 150P and komine disappeared and no longer did stuff ever. 150P recently appeared for a mafumafu anniversary thing so i'm glad he's still alive. but, komine...

komine, the only non-producer, an artist with the worst luck. she was slowly rising to prominence doing pv art for a lot of popular producers, and was the main artist of shuuenpro most prominently. during the initial release of the first few shuuenpro songs, she was accused of tracing, and the art of the pv of sarumane isutori game had to be done by someone else. komine stopped using social media at that point, but continued to make art for the project quietly and quite prolifically. so she was already on some kind of fraught standing even though the tracing allegations were disproven. fast forward to the suzumu blowup, komine packed up her bags and disappeared forever. if she had become disillusioned, i do not blame her. her final public contribution was the design of jeanne d'arc from #compass, the character who was paired with the mafumafu song. all subsequent artworks of jeanne were done by different artists. i suspect the reason the vocaloid version of machigai sagashi did not have a proper pv was due to komine quitting. i can only imagine what that pv looked like! if you're wondering why i mention a pv, it's cuz compass fans got mad at mafu for having a fancy pv for his self cover but not for the original. but otona no jijou, you know? and where is that energy for eve who still hasn't released a pv for mistletoe publicly and only put it on his kuso app and with 0 compass association? who let that wishy washy fuck do an anniversary song? ...im not gonna go on a compass tangent. anyway.

so... why does this matter?

it matters because people became disillusioned due to this drama. it matters because suzumu took out some very popular and prolific people from the scene during what one could argue was a transitional phase. the fans of all those people, including suzumu's... gone. if you weren't there, you may not understand the cult of personality suzumu had. he had his name on everything and was friends with all the right people. when i heard about this incident... i just closed my eyes and sighed lol. it hurt and it hit when the scene was at its weakest. and was the final blow, almost. and it impacted the way people saw and talked about vocaloid for years. miku became "owakon" for a time. people thought kizuna ai was gonna replace her as a cultural touchstone (lol, lmao, it is proven time and time again that the big three cannot die). kenshi yonezu, in all his detached glory, came down from his jeweled encrusted throne to compose a song for miku's 10th birthday that he smugly thought was the death knell of nico nico douga.... which even at the time of its release was contested by even people who were on the same miku anniversary project and, whether you wanna acknowledge it or not, is still mocked to this day by several producers. magical mirai's theme this year even does it. there is no respect for sand planet or anything kenshi yonezu stood for in that song. what an asshole move no matter how you see it. argue with the wall if you don't agree, i don't want to hear it. the scene survived because there were producers and artists and fans who still loved it. not because of some sardonic fuckoff song by a guy so detached he'd write a funeral march for a birthday.

these days, i feel like the community is incredibly conscious of what happened. there are wanton community led events that encourage not only the creation of songs, covers, art and secondary creations but also the discovery of new producers— the biggest of which being vocaloid collection, which happens three times a year and has many categories, but most importantly the top ranking (producers active for 3+ years) and the rookie ranking. i once read a japanese article that said proseka brought new fans hungry for something beyond the music presented in the game, and vocacolle and other community led events and song posting festivals supplied the works. the average age of the new vocaloid producer is— and this is my own estimate based on how many heart attacks i've been given the past 3 or 4 years— 17~19 years old. they say things like "i know of kagepro but i wasn't there"!! should i get my cane out!! who's driving me to the retirement home?!

even companies involved in the product end are more savvy these days.... (holding my tongue about a certain company of a popular synth software and its ceo because i have nothing nice to say). i think they realized that you can't clap with one hand and that appealing to the end user and fans is a necessity. honestly, i can only be excited for what comes next. we're never going back to that dark age, i can say this with utmost confidence. do i miss the past of the times before the bubble, back when vocaloid was a smidge more geeky? sure. but we can only really move forward, so why not enjoy it

#ask #anonymous #it came up to over 5k after all #idk how i clocked that.#im so scared to post this but i cant even read words anymore so if it still has typos then so be it

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ghostflowerdreams · 8 months

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The Lost Boys are a bunch of hoarders. I can see each of them having a massive collection of things from over the years and from their victims.

If they see something they like, they will take it. For example, if their latest victim has a nice leather jacket that looks like it'll fit them, well, it's theirs now because it never hurts to have a spare -- or twenty more. It's the same thing with jewelry and any cash in wallets.

That's not to say they'll keep everything. What they don't want will most likely be pawned off. Some things they like and actively collect, while other things they will get because of necessity, like candles. Vampires have better eyesight in the night than normal humans, but that doesn't mean they can see in total darkness. This is most likely why they had all those candles lit in the cave.

The cash taken from their victims isn't only used for food, but towards candles, batteries, gasoline, and other things that aren't easily found on their victims or on the boardwalk.

Most of the time they steal shit. They don't even need to use their hypnosis-compel ability or illusions to get want they want. Though I can definitely see them doing things the old fashion way just for the fun of the challenge it brings. Other times they avoid stealing if it'll be something that draws too much attention after a while. After all, the more often something goes missing, the easier it is for unwanted eyes (like vampire hunters) to catch on and make the connection.

Would they even need to worry about being caught on camera or video? One of the points in the film was that vampires don't have reflection in mirrors. We saw this with Michael's reflection being transparent because he was only half-turned, but what if that wasn't the norm anymore (as it could've just been an old mirror)?

Vampires traditionally couldn't be captured in mirrors because they were made with silver, and thus old timey cameras which used silver nitrate plates also couldn't capture the vampire's image. However, modern mirrors are made with aluminum and advances in technology has made it so film/(digital) cameras can do a lot, even capture vampires just fine, well, that's the theory anyway.

I suppose it'll be up to the fans and writers to decide if the boys can be capture or not. Will they be invisible no matter what? Or did that vampirism aspect only apply in the past (because silver was used and is typically a weakness for most monsters), but they can now be caught on cameras? If so, will they look like normal people? Will their eyes give off a weird reflective glare like most animals do in photographs? Or will their imagine be super blurry no matter what anyone does to try to "enhance" it, while everything else in the photo (or video) stays super clear and normal?

I digress. The point is that I can totally see them having piles of stuff scatter around their hotel-cave.

Each one will have a pile of clothes. I wouldn't be surprise if some of it is out of style too. They either forgot about it or still keep it around to help feed the fire because why else do they have those drum barrels around?

They also got a lot of books, vinyl records and cassette tapes. I imagine on slower days or late at night when everything is closed they find ways to entertain themselves, be it by reading, listening to music or the radio. If not, they probably have a collection of various games too like darts, playing cards, monopoly, charades, chess, etc.

As for what does each one personally collect?

Hmm, I guess Marko with the state of his jacket he probably collects patches and pins. Maybe even owns a few sewing thread sets with other art and craft supplies.

In the cave there were some seashell mobile or wind chimes hanging around. I think Dwayne is the one to make it (or one of the boys got it from the souvenir shop, knowing it'd be something he'd like). He might like collecting seashells. I can also see him collecting some books, animal bones, antique keys, sea glass, ammonites, pretty or interesting looking rocks, etc.

Paul is probably the one to expand the collection of music and games. Batteries too, though I wouldn't be surprise if all the boys add onto it and make sure their stockpile of batteries never runs too low. Maybe movies and concert ticket stubs? I don't see him paying for it, though, so he probably snatches them from others. He might even collect or make his own guitar picks too.

As for David...I don't actually know. Probably books, oh, maybe cool looking zippo lighters? He does smoke, so that would make sense. Oh, what if he has a collection of pocket and folding knives? It certainly wouldn't be hard to come by. I imagine there's been plenty of times of people thinking they can take him on with just a knife (this of course is before he reveals he's a vampire). He would probably find it amusing and be like 'oh, how nice' if it's something he doesn't have already. He'll be picky about it, though. No shitty quality knives unless it's aesthetically pleasing.

Other possibilities are watches, badges, matchbooks, dice, shot glasses or keychains from states/countries they've been to (though this might be more of a Marko and Paul thing) and coins.

#the lost boys #the lost boys 1987 #the lost boys (1987)#tlb 1987 #thoughts #david the lost boys #marko the lost boys #dwayne the lost boys #paul the lost boys #writing the lost boys fanfiction #the lost boys headcanon

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schattbatsu · 2 years

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Ok I had this in my mind since I reblogged this kink at pride and how we don't talk about it so much in Brazil stuff, and It actually does make a lot of sense.

So basically, the problem with kink at pride on usamerica, Canadá and other such countries is the culture. By what I have noticed, the culture over on these countries is extremely... How can I say it? Old fashioned? Y'all have this aversion for PDA, somehow croppeds and shorts are considered "whoreish" and stuff like that, while in Brazil, those are nothing more than the norm.

I absolutely hate the "brazilians até horny" stereotype, but they were born for a reason. Ig as a culture that IS born of a tropical setting, warm weather and beautiful beaches, libertine and bohemian way of life and principally, where most kids grew up with half naked wasted people making out during carnival in the middle of the streets (and sincerely we did not care as we were busy having fun), made the whole "But kink, they will be half naked and wearing dog masks!!" Regular carnival day, except gayer. So what?

Specially me, who grew up going from bloco to bloco from 7p.m to 5 a.m with my mom, I guarantee u a couple dudes wearing leather and a bunch of lesbians wearing collars is not really the end of the world (Someone pissed on my hair more than once, for god's sake!)

Now, about the kids: Don't take kids to places you don't want them to be. It's very simple. Not hard at ALL. During carnival some blocos were EXTREMELY sexual and adult-oriented, me and mom would skip those or she would either leave me at home or leave me in the kid area.

The part that most infuriates me is the "We can't let them associate beign gay only with sex and sexual stuff". Believe me, I know where that comes from, I'm Brazilian, I'm Bisexual, I K N O W, but trying to erase such a big part of our culture as queer people, trying to ignore people in our community that don't care about false moralism, and ignore people who are just living and having fun, just to fit into the "good gay" category isn't a cute look, honey. It's actually fucking ugly for you, stop.

They are putting us against ourselves, and for what? So we get killed less than the filthy queers? So we all our lived sad, on the closet and begging for a quarter of the rights they were born with? No thank u, yes kink at pride. Yes to everything at pride.

#schattbatsu #rant #kink at pride #queer discourse

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obey-me-disaster · 2 years

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~Proposing to~

Mammon x gn!MC

A/N: This is part 2 of the serries where MC is the one to propose to the characters. Please enjoy ^-^

This will either end as a night to remember or a complete disaster. Mammon convinced you to go with him to a 'really special place'. You thought this was your chance to finally propose but now you were not so sure.

The special place he told you about just so happened to be an underground casino. The place looked absolutely dazzling despite being an illegal casino, with demons and witches dressed like they came straight out of a fashion magazine. Both of you were dressed also in some of your best clothes, but you still got a bad feeling at the back of your mind.

Depending on your timing, the proposal could be ruined, and as much as you would want to propose on another day, the thought of proposing to him as he wins just seemed so much more tempting than just some old fashioned proposal.

"Heyyy, earth to MC, are ya still there?" Mammon was weaving his hand in front of your face to bring you back from whatever thoughts you were having. "Now that you're back, you can finally enjoy the show I am about to put on. Ya don't wanna miss the Great Mammon making all the demons around here go broke!"

"Just make sure you don't end up losing all of your money after winning." You said as a matter of fact.

Mammon knew the ins and outs of gambling, he knew how to get money out of demons, he wansn't the avatar of greed for nothing but he also got a tendency to get cocky and make risky bets that would lead to losing all the money he won until that point. In order for your plan to work you have to stop him before he would lose all his money, but let him win enough bets to get him in a good mood.

"Mammon, what do you say we start with a round of black jack?" You suggested, trying to make him start with easier stuff.

Flashing you a big grin, he took your hand and went straight to the table where people were placing their bets for black jack. Squizing your hand one last time, Mammon took his seat and turned all of his attention to the game. If you didn't had to focus on the game you swore you could just watch him play all night. You didn't know what made him so attractive in the moment. Maybe it was his confidence and the way he handled himself, or his calculating look transforming into one of satisfaction as he won yet another bet or maybe it was the greed of the demons around making Mammon seem all the more powerfull.

You guess, in a way, you lost yourself a bit in the greed too. There was something about Mammon that made you not pay attention to anything other than him. Placing bets, eating and drinking demons in the VIP area, fooling around, you were having so much fun you nearly forgot why you were there in the first place.

It wasn't until Mammon's voice brought you back to earth for a second time that night. "What do ya say we go to the slot machines? I'm feeling really lucky right now after winning so many time." Oh no...His eyes had a golden shine to them, and the tone of his voice made you uneasy.

You had to act fast, both for your plan and for the sake of Mammon's wallet. But what could cause the avatar of greed to forget about a gamble without making you seem suspicious or ruining the mood? He nearly got to the slot machine when an idea suddenly strucked you.

"Say, Mammon, what if we make a bet that would just be ours, that no other demon could have?" Hearing about having something that others don't, something just between the two of you, he couldn't help but forget about whatever he was doing, after all, you were more of a priority than any gamble in the three realms. "That's my human!" Putting an arm around your waist he leaned closer to you, so whatever you would say, it would be heard only by him. He was so close you could feel his breath down your neck, sending shivers down your spine. Was he always this smooth when he was on a winning streak?

Before you could lose yourself again you started to speak, even if you didn't have a proper plan yet. "We need to go to a more private first, how about the balcony?"

The avatar of greed seemed deep in thought for a few seconds before flashing you a big smile. "Ya just know how to make me have a good time, lead the way then, treasure!"

Both of you started to make your way towards the balcony, in what seemed to be a comofortable silence between the two of you. While from the outside everything seemed perfectly fine, your mind was racing to find any idea. What kind of bet could you even make on a balcony? How fast can you reach the ground? That wouldn't do.

You looked around, trying to find any clue in order to make a plan, when you spotted a demon flipping a coin. That's when you finally got a proper idea in your head, just in time as you reached the balcony. "Now that we're here, what's that bet ya were talking about?"

Reaching into your pocket you took out a coin. "Really, flipping a coin is your big idea of a bet-" You cut him off before he could say anything more.

"It's the prize that makes it worth it. If it lands on tail, you have to say yes to whatever I ask next, if it lands on head...well I guess you can decide what you want to do as a prize." Hearing the last part seemed to make him receptive to the bet.

Without waiting anymore you flipped the coin into the air. It seemed really fitting in a way, to propose to the avatar of greed using a bet, but that made you just as anxious. It could easily land on head and destroy any chance of proposing tonight.

The coin landing on the back of your hand made your heart beat so fast you swore Mammon could hear it from where he was standing.

"Tail, huh? Seems like ya won this bet." You won? You won! Now you just have to propose...shit you have to propose. You got so into making sure you win the bet you didn't have time to feel nervous about it, that was until now at least.

"MC, are you ok? Are you that surprised you won?" Mammon furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to figure out what seemed to bother. Gentle hands caressed your face in an attempt to calm you down, making you melt into his touch. He seemed more like the Mammon you're used to in your day to day life than the avatar of greed.

"Can you close your eyes? I need a minute to prepare for what I am about to show you." It seemed like his attempt to calm you down worked. You felt more ready to finally propose to him than 5 minutes ago at least.

"Ya mean for the thing you made the whole bet for?" You didn't get to answear before he closed his eyes. "Just tell me when to open them."

Seeing as he closed his eyes you finally got down on one knee and took the ring out. After everything that happened tonight you didn't think you would get to finally propose to him. The risk you took with the bet really was worth it.

Before you could stay and think if Mammon's influence started to rob off on you by any chance, you took one more look at the ring. It was a beautifuk golden ring encrusted with three diamonds in the center, and two rows of smaller diamonds, one above and one below, the main three. You chose this so it would go with his usual outfits without looking out of place but still stand out from his other rings in a pleasent way.

"You can open your eyes now." Mammon could hear a slight change in your tone, it seemed softer. He wanted to ask what the deal with the change in tone was but stopped when he saw you.

"Mammon, there are many treasures out there but you are the only one I want so, would you make me the honor of marrying me? I guess, in a way, you have to say yes because of our earlier bet."

Mammon rapidly blinked away his tears, trying to look as composed as he could, not that he would admit to crying anyway. "Stupid human, I'm supposed to be the one to call you my treasure, not you."

Taking your hand, he helped you stand up. "So I can take that as a yes?" Putting the ring on his finger, Mammon pulled you in for a passionate kiss, letting his actions speak for him, you could feel his soft lips against yours and his arms wrapping around your waist. By the time you finally pulled away, you were already out of breath, your foreheads resting against each other. "Of course I wanna marry you, dummy. What kind of question is that? I'm your first man after all!"

"I don't think you realize how happy that makes me feel. Especially after the whole bet thing. If you would have said no then it would have been even more awkward." It was really stupid to think he would say no, but the possibility was always there in the end. "How many time do I have to tell ya that saying no is out of question?!" Mammon took your face into his hands and squished your cheeks while making you look at him. "Listen here cause I'm about to say it only once. I wanna marry you and only you ok? Ya belong to me and I guess, I belong to you too." He said the last part, shyly looking away for a second before making eye contact with you again. "So I don't wanna hear any nonsense about me saying no, got it?!"

"Got it!" He finally let go of your cheeks. "Now that there are no more doubts on either part we got to celebrate! Let's get out of here and go straight to an expensive restaurant, my treat this once!" He turned to leave, but you grabbed his hand. "I was the one that proposed to you, I should be the one to take you out for dinner."

"Huh?! I offered already to pay for dinner, I was the first one to do it so I win!" Mammon took out his wallet and shoved it in your face. "Especially that I wanna treat ya to a meal with all the money that I've won today!" He tried to shoot you the best puppy look he had, and you nearly gave in when you got an idea. "Should we flip the coin again? If it lands in head I pay, tails you pay, how does that sound?"

Mammon took a coin out and flipped it. Just as he was about to catch you blurted out. "I guess this counts as out first argument as a married couple." Hearing that, Mammon drops the coin and it somehow bounces off the balcony.

Now it was only you and a really flustered Mammon. "Don't say stuff like that! We ain't even married yet! I even dropped the coin.." You two looked at each other for a little bit more before bursting out laughing, this was probably the dumbest argument you had in a while between the two of you.

"How about we just leave this place first, then we can decide who pays later? How does that sound?" Mammon leaned towards you to give you one final kiss on your lips. "I think that sounds like a good enough of a plan for now"

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me x mc #obey me x reader #obey me mammon #obey me mammon x mc #obey me mammon x reader #obey me imagines #fun fact black jack is one of my favourite card games #god I hope I got his personality right #I wrote nearly the whole thing on paper and then I had to write it on my phone #it was hell never again

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