#‘I’m a Prince and High Mage!’

[zuppizup]

Legit so excited for whatever is going on here because he looks so awkward and dorky, I know it’s going to be adorable as all hell.

#dork boy #we love him #be awkward king #look at him #he’s being dumb as all fuck you can tell #love him #‘I’m a Prince and High Mage!’ #sure sweetie… #the dragon prince #tdp #callum #tdp spoilers #tdp s5 spoilers

[maleyanderecafe]

I tried to escape from being a villainous daughter but the earnest good-natured Yandere Highness did not give me the peace I wanted (Manga)

Created by: Hatori Hato

Genre: Isekai/Smut

If you remember me translating some of their other works I will never let you go, so please be preyed on by me ~ The younger man I met in the countryside was a former Yandere boy from hell~ and Please Know That I’m Really Jealous ~A Former Yandere Boy Can Be Brutal To Get Married, I've come back and holy it is so difficult to translate isekai things. The same face is also killing me internally. Nevertheless, here's a good 70 pages of yandere smut stuff.

The story starts out with Mei worried about meeting up with one of the capture targets, before explaining how she was isekaied into this world, an r18 otome fantasy. Her goal is to basically get a harem route, however, she has to compete with two other villianesses, Ann and Julia who are much better at the game then him. Mei has died about four times, as she is often killed by the other villiannesses. While greeting Julia, she is interrupted by Prince Remy (yes, that's his name) who is happy to be with Mei. Mei refuses to dance with Prince Remy as he doesn't want to go to that route, but ends up sleeping with Prince Remy. A couple months pass and she seems to be living happily though she hasn't really met with the other capture targets. Soon after meeting up with Prince Remy, she dies after being beheaded by one of the villianesses, only to reincarnate the fifth time. She decides to live at home secluded from the outside world and happily does for many years until Prince Remy comes to visit. Prince Remy basically traps Mei in a room using a magic seal and has sex with her. He reveals that he remembers his past lives as well, wanting to protect Mei from the world. The next day while Mei is trying to escape, Prince Remy gives her a box that has the hairs of all the capture targets and villianesses. Mei realizes that the reason she's had such a peaceful life was because of Remy and the two have sex. While having sex, Mei realizes that she actually was really afraid of dying in all of her lives and the prince makes her vow to be with him forever. We learn soon after that the Prince basically forced the capture target Mage, Leo to create the spell, the one that locks them into the room and the one that bounds the Prince and Mei for the next lifetime, which ends up sucking up all of the Mage's powers forcing him to retire as a mage. While Prince Remy doesn't kill them thanks to his promise with Mei, he does torture Leo afterwards. The two have sex with each other one last time.

I got to say that this artist's same face is really uh, noticeable in this smut. I know a lot of smut artists (and just artists in general) tend to have problem with same face but man... It's pretty jarring. The plot on this one is more interesting than the two snake ones I will say, even if it is an isekai. The concept of having to fight with two other people in an isekai to get a harem ending is actually a pretty interesting concept, though of course the main character is the "weakest" out of them not wanting to even get the harem ending at one point, just wanting to survive. I will say that the way the plot goes is very confusing- it jumps between time so easily that it's easy to get confused. Especially when she dies in her fourth life, I didn't even realize that she had died until they mentioned it straight after and they don't even show any of the moments of what led to her death or anything. And the fact she just stayed inside for years on end without issue is very strange, especially to this world. We don't even know what technically happened to either of the other villianesses, whether or not they died or were tortured or get jailed. I also don't really know what took her so long to realize that this guy has memories of their past life together since it seemed pretty obvious the first time they met in this smut that they have. I also don't know why it took her so long to, you know, not deal with getting a harem route. She was murdered like 4 different times before she realized she could just be in the house, which has got to be painful considering she got beheaded once and poisoned once, I feel like you should have just stuck with the staying at home kind of thing first. But who knows after all, this is a smut and you shouldn't think about it.

Prince Remy, despite having a pretty dumb name, is a protective yandere which is different then Ren in the previous iterations. It makes sense that after seeing Mei die so many times because she was too kind or not ruthless enough that he would become overprotective, locking her in a room (through magic) and torturing anyone that hurt her. I do like the concept of a yandere that becomes the way they are because they have to protect their love. In this case, it's watching and failing to protect her from being beheaded (and possibly poisoned, though I'm not sure how long or even when Prince Remy retained his memory from), probably drove him to be overprotective and lock her up. I do like this concept of a yandere since it's the darling's actions that lead him to be overprotective.

At some point I'll probably be ready to do the Omegaverse yandere that this author has made but it will take me a bit so just be patient. It's weirdly complicated for a smut plot and honestly is confusing with the way it jumps around and inserts sex scenes in places it doesn't really need to be, but you know, smut is smut so.

#I tried to escape from being a villainous daughter but the earnest good-natured Yandere Highness did not give me the peace I wanted #male yandere #yandere #yandere boy #recommendations #oneshot #manga

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

a thought 🤔💭

Consider this post an offshoot of this one!

A lot of the world lore we receive comes directly from the 22-student main cast of NRC. However, this information they provide us with shouldn’t always be taken at face value 💦 Characters can be unreliable narrators; they won’t be 100% honest with us just because we’re the player.

There are points where they speak with sarcasm (so it negates the words they actually say). This happens a lot with Leona’s lines. Other times, characters intentionally say something to avoid implying something else or to cover up a less savory truth. An example of this may be Azul, who is highly concerned with maintaining his self image. Therefore, not everything he says may be entirely truthful, as the words may be intentionally changed to preserve his self image. We need to more carefully parse through and determine what is true and what is false or insincere of the information they disperse to us. It’s much easier, of course, to get a sense for their intentions by listening to their voiced home screen lines rather than just reading the text snd comparing it to their facial expressions, but voices aren’t always available.

Something else I was thinking about that goes hand-in-hand with this is how different backgrounds bias clouds the information given out or can provide an incomplete sample of the TWST population. For example, if you think about it, NRC only has ~800 students and we only see 22 of them. That’s a very small fraction of the total population of Twisted Wonderland (the whole world)—not to mention that almost 75% of those 22 come from at least upper middle class or at least “special” or privileged families:

Riddle’s parents are both medical mages, with his mother being particularly well-known in their hometown’s community. He had the privilege of studying magic since he was very young (which is notable since education is typically general and does not include magic unless you specifically go to a school for it like NRC).

Cater’s dad is a banker. I’m guessing he has to be pretty high up on the food chain to be traveling all the time (and far enough to separate Cater from his friends every time they do), as a regular low-level banker would stay put at one bank location and devote most of their time there.

Leona is a prince, and so is Malleus. Whether they are crown prince or not doesn’t matter because they still receive great educations and access to great funds either way.

Azul’s mom owns and operates the most famous restaurant in the ENTIRE Coral Sea. His stepdad is also a lawyer.

The Leech twins’ father has important connections and is highly influential in the Coral Sea; they are probably loaded because of this. (Popular fan speculation is the Leech mob family.)

Kalim’s dad is a wealthy trader and he is related to royalty; as the eldest son, Kalim is going to inherit the business. The Asim family’s enormous wealth is mention several times over in the main story, voice lines, vignettes, and events.

Jamil’s family is also said to be well-off.

Vil is an A-list celebrity and his father is as well.

We don’t know the specifics about Rook’s family, but they must be influential and deal in some kind of international business, as Rook mentions they have villas and warp pads (which require special clearance for) all over Twisted Wonderland.

Idia and Ortho’s family legit runs a secret government organization that studies blot. Idia himself is a child prodigy, and is set to become the next director after his father and grandmother.

Lilia is a renown war general and was close friends with his country’s crown princess and her spouse. He lives humbly, but he still has highly influential connections that a regular person wouldn’t.

Silver is Lilia’s adopted son, so by extension, he comes from a privileged background. Even if he technically grew up in a hut in the middle of the woods and didn’t live luxuriously, he still has Lilia’s social connections.

Sebek’s parents are both dentists and do you know how much money dentists make—

Ace, Trey, Jack, and Epel come from normal income families (excluding the portion in book 5 when Epel said his family’s farm has fallen on hard times).

Ruggie comes from extreme poverty while Deuce’s family has had financial issues due to being a single parent household.

And that’s not even to mention that NRC is all-male and mostly 16-18 year olds, thus skewing the perspectives we see in a “male” and “adolescent” direction. This will naturally limit the scope of how they see the world and how they speak about it, even if the characters themselves don’t intend for it to happen. In fact, I wonder if part of the reason the NRC boys aren’t open to accepting help or being open with others when they’re struggling isn’t purely a school-exclusive thing. Maybe it’s because 1) teenagers tend to be largely egocentric/focused on themselves anyway, and 2) society largely discourages men from showing “weakness” and NRC happens to attract particularly prideful students 😭 but the most obvious example of background limiting scope of perception are definitely the super sheltered, super wealthy characters (Malleus, Kalim, etc.).

Just getting our information from them won’t be entirely accurate to how the rest of the population acts or perceives things. We cannot 100% rely on what we know of the TWST boys’ behaviors to assess what everyone or everything else is like.

#twst #twisted wonderland #Octavinelle #Heartslabyul #Savanaclaw #Scarabia #Ignihyde #Diasomnia #Pomefiore #notes from the writing raven #disney twisted wonderland

[perhaps-in-anotherdream]

Hello Anika! I've noticed that another CN otome game "Lovebrush Chronicle" is being localized in English. What are your thoughts on the story, and is there a ML in the game similar to Victor?

I want to hear your thought because I think you have a good eye on judging a story ❤️ Sorry if this ask seems to be out of nowhere!

hello!!! thank you haha~ ಡ⁠ ͜⁠ ಡ yes, the game’s original name is 时空中的绘旅人, also known as For All Time. It’s one of the 4 big CN otoges (the other three: Light and Night, Love and Producer/ MLQC, and Tears of Themis).

idk why they had to change the name smh but then again i can see why too LOL, but if you’re gonna change the character names, change for all of them why change just two?? especially since Emerald’s name is explained precisely so aksjsjs i’m so salty rn lmao

uh about the storyline, i had to try hard to not be lured into yet another game lmao (eyeing L&N akshdhd), so i haven’t actually played the game personally after CBT LOL nor do i keep up with its contents that much, so my knowledge regarding the story and the characters isn’t deep and is limited haha. also, since the premise begins in the AU world + with some other factors, i kinda lost my interest to even begin with LOL.

here’s a brief introduction for you though—

the game’s setting is the AU world ahah, and it also has personal routes. it has battle systems for leveling up your profile / raising cards. i heard it can be pretty grindy, but since i haven’t continued playing it, i can’t comment on that :>

✦ The Heroine:

she is an art student / comic artist in the modern world, but one day she gets sucked into a different AU world while watching her friend’s performance. (she’s so pretty tho u.u)

✦ Ai Yin/ Ayn:

19 years old, goes to the same school as the heroine and a pianist in the modern world. He’s a prince in the AU world, focused on his revenge.

✦ Lu Chen/ Alkaid:

20 years old, a transfer student, the heroine’s senior in a different study (Astronomy), photographer. In the AU world, he’s a mage/ high level priest.

✦ Lu Xia/ Rorschach (re-named as Lars for EN):

27 years old, the heir of a wealthy family, CEO, flirty af. In the AU world, he’s an aggressive and headstrong king.

(if you’re into the “CEO trope”, he could be your pick LOL. but if you’re looking for similarities that actually matter— then aside from just the CEO title and maybe that body lmfao, Victor and him share no other similarities hahaha)

✦ Si Lan/ Clarence:

22 years old, goes to the same school as the heroine and is the student president. He is the head highest priest/ mage in the AU world.

✦ Ye Xuan/ Emerald (re-named as Cael for EN):

An art instructor, took the heroine under his wings, gentle in nature sus lmao. In the AU world, he is the silver knight and leading the revolution.

—

Over all, from what I’ve seen, the story is pretty good, has the intrigue elements for sure. Also plus point, in every AU/ arch you get a common part and then you can choose your love interest to progress for the rest of the story. what it does here is that unlike Lovepro/MLQC + Light and Night main story, where the story itself is very character-driven, you need to shut your brain and consider the MC that specific love interest’s heroine for the allocated segment- or else given the extreme lengths she goes for them/ the said borderline intimacy certainly don’t cut for “just friends” tag LOL. So, if you’re someone who self-inserts (consciously or not) and perhaps is a little uncomfortable with that kind of storytelling, For All Time/ Lovebrush Chronicles is certainly one you can give a try.

For me personally, the writing pattern didn’t seem like my cup of tea + I prefer the storytelling pattern of Lovepro and L&N (singular main story + parallel dates) haha. But hey, we all have different tastes, so be sure to give it a chance if you’re interested. Who knows, you could end up with completely different viewpoints than me! (⁠*⁠´⁠∀⁠｀⁠*⁠)

—

#lovebrush chronicles #for all time #时空中的绘旅人 #Ayn #Emerald #Clarence #Rorschach #Alkaid

[self-spaghettification]

ok so i accidentally deleted the draft but a while back an anon asked me basically saying they had read Gone (are the Days) and wanted other good fanfic recs. and this was my response LMAO

hmm !! this may surprise you but i actually don’t consume that much fanfic. partially because i’m picky, partially bc i tend to consume content slowly or bounce around a lot, etc

i will say a general tip is to sort by bookmarks or kudos to get the good stuff and filter by specific tags as well! like i just read mage pride which is the top bookmarked item in the viravos tag and it was definitely worth the hype!!

if you enjoyed gone are the days,

you’d probably like the Professor Next Door by detectiphoenix (also a professor au but high school teachers!) besides that, here are some viravos fanfic i’ve enjoyed, off the top of my head:

(for context i’m not hyper into smut personally or try to find variety/creativity and i’m biased towards certain things lol but)

VIRAVOS FICS I LOVED <3

Mage Pride by luminiex - This is the top bookmarked fic in the viravos tag, and for good reason! While it is written after S2 and has more sympathetic Aaravos than in canon, it is still very well done in my opinion. I also love whatever it takes by them, it’s great if you don’t like smut too! Aaravos and Viren living together in this plane together lives rent free in my head 😭 I also love their fic where Aaravos gets to meet Viren’s family :)

Recidivism by indefensibleselfindulgence/ @iamalivenow - the viren characterization is everything, it takes place in s2 prison era, and it’s very humorous!

The Sound of His Voice by portmanteau_press - very very cool setup/worldbuilding concept i think

Constellation of the Heart by @yurayuramiharin - This fic is one of my absolute favorites and has inspired some of the art I’ve done as well! As someone who loves vintage & goth subculture & IS a baby bat in college I feel like I resonate with it really well! I love the taking of the worldbuilding of the dragon prince recontextualized in a college setting and the way Aaravos was actually an inspiration for Bowie & caused Viren to question his sexuality!! It’s so deliciously perfect but sadly unfinished, but I would say it’s still definitely worth the read! It doesn’t really end on a cliffhanger either, just one of the best burns ever 😁

Touch of a Star by @detectiphoenix - really unique take on what it’s like to touch Aaravos, I adore it sm and think about it everyday too. Fluffy S5 extrapolation/continuation

To Serve or Slaughter by beastlybrooke - viravos recontextualized as vampires like castlevania my other recent fixation? sign me up. it’s interesting how viren’s prejudice towards elves is recast as a prejudice towards vampires, and aaravos’s fight towards the elves and view towards humans i love it everything

honorary mention ficlets:

the stars they lie by rikku - this is short but i really like the way they incorporate virrow and mindgames, as well as enby aaravos :)

Checkmate by @thrandilf is also short and sweet but i adore it, i think about the alternate versions of the s5 trailer sm and even tried writing my own a few times but they never went that far but yeah i love it and they have other fics that are great too

respect his decision by @vestaldestroyer because aaravos didn’t have to revive viren s4 but he did and ughgghhghh while i don’t think he cares that much cause he might have just been using the revival as a way in with claudia and continuation of all that, there’s always that off chance and he doesn’t even realize how attached he is and love is just that huge when you’re that old and powerful, large enough to move mountains and yeah </3

i’d put my own can you stay by @self-spaghettification but that’d seem a bit unfair lol

—

there’s probably others i’ve yet to read or that are cool but i don’t remember or that have some good parts but are kind of iffy imo but those are the only ones i can think of off the top of my head i’m sorry </3

but i’ve also have been compiling a list of fic ratings on a google doc and uhh its not really sharable in any way, but a while ago I also had a website concept where people could share fic ratings like goodreads but for ao3 with some other site inspo in the mix that i spent a few hours sketching out the concept of but idk if i should share but yeah :)

#q&a #fic recs #there’s also ones i loved for aaravos specifically or aaravos&callum but they don’t necessarily fit here #aaravos #viravos #edit bc i put slash before and definitely did not mean to</3 #viren #the dragon prince #self spaghettification #anonymous #asks #mine

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

Is there a chance you write for Rollo Flamm from twisted wonderland? If ya do can you write yan Rollo where his plan to get rid of magic successes as he forces has his Darling watch?

Glass Cage |Yandere Rollo Flamm

When Rollo spoke to you during the festival you thought it was strange. His disdain for mages that were making everyone smile…you thought nothing of it before this. Now it was glaringly clear what he wanted and it didn’t include your friends’ magic or them in general. You were sure that your outlier status would have given you the advantage; in a chase where only you were able to bypass the crimson flowers. You figured as the unexpected assistant he wouldn’t be prepared for you to come to your friend’s aid. 

You were wrong. 

Leaving your friends to follow the student president who seemed to disappear up the high staircase of the bell tower, you were certain he’d be backed into a corner. 

Only to find it was you who was trapped. Searching the various nooks and crannies, he so casually mentioned that anyone could live in before, you weren’t expecting for him to jump out at you. Expecting you to act on impulse, unable to defend against a similar hankerchief soaked in something sweet. 

You were the one who was not ready. Not ready to awake on the bell tower gagged and tied by your hands and legs against the pillars of the bell tower. With a horrifying view of the town, you were in awe of hours before, consumed by the fiery glow of the flower’s growth. You could hear the distant cries of what must be the people losing their magic but loudest of all was Rollo’s prideful laughing. Standing above you was he, giddy with his plan coming to fruition he turned to stare down at your anger-stricken face; softening to a twisted simper. Bending to your leverl he clutched your face searching the innermost depths of your eyes as he caressed you cheeks.

“Are you saddened (Y/n)? Pure of the disease you still weep for the lost and deprived. How noble but very misguided.”

Letting his eyes turn from you he looked to the water ways urging you to follow his gaze recognizing the green flare birthing a storm in the sky. You breathed heavily as you watched the flowers growth surge upon the magic’s caster. Attempting to turn your head from the sight of your friend being consumed, you were held firm by pale hands. Letting your eyes search for your offender, Rollo looked on with glee. 

“Oh? Are you scared to watch? The prince of the vermin race being reduced to nothing but a flower bed?!” 

Putting his cheek to yours, he trapped your head against the wood as he used his hand to hold your forehead up. Refusing to let you look down or close your eyes as water began to bubble from them. You were forced to watch as the green magic dissipated and a fae sized bundle of crimson lotus flower seemed to spread across the water ways. Finally letting you go you crumpled into yourself unable to fight the hugging warmth of the Noble Belle student president. Who smiled into your head as the flowers continued to burn brightly under the night sky. 

“This is it my sickly dove! The beginning of the end of all magic! I’m glad you could witness this glorious beginning by my side!”

#yandere rollo flamm #yandere twst rollo #yandere rollo flamm x reader #yandere masquerade event #yandere rollo x reader #yandere x reader #lovelyyandereaddictionpoint #yandere twst x reader #yandere twst #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twisted wonderland Rollo

[ms0milk]

𝟔 | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐨𝐛𝐚

ー✧ prince!bakugou x royal guard!reader

"You dread what would have happened if His Highness accompanied you here. You dread what you would have to do to this crowd to keep them from touching him."

cw bkg 🫱🏽‍🫲🏼 unethical rescue tactics, reader is a bit scantily clad (thin nightgown) and someone has big feelings abt it. temporary sense of claustrophobia, descriptions of a very crowded room. i love aizawa i love uraraka i love kirishima i love poor deku i hope you enjoy this protective fluff. 4.1k

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Uraraka Ochako is functioning on four hours of sleep and a few well timed snacks. She’s led morning stretches for the first-shift guards, floated smithing equipment to the forge, freed a bird from the clocktower, and worked Sero’s horrible tape off the back of a fireproof Alderan cloak.

Since midnight it’s been nothing but Alderans pilling up in the courtyard. Every time staff thought they’d collected the last of them, two more would tumble through the gates– one fell from the fucking sky. Captain Hawks deployed from the garrisons at the sight of a flare and dropped Kirishima on castle grounds, crispy, an hour later.

Uraraka has made her morning rounds four times over and polished her cuisses to thinning. She helped Miss Nemuri battle the Alderan Prince to bed and found furs for singed Kirishima. Even off-duty she’s still in her greaves and chausses because without weight on her legs she’d get so distracted she might simply float away. She couldn’t sleep. Not when there was one person missing all night. Until half an hour ago, everyone from the forest fire was accounted for except for Master Aizawa.

When she enters the throne room ahead of you, he’s standing beside the queen no worse for his usual wear. There are a menacing amount of people squeezed inside and the wall of open windows does nothing to make the crowd less oppressive. Off-shift guards, generals, military personnel, butlers, even the kitchen staff are spriting from one corner of the room to the other to try and provide the unexpected guests with appropriate refreshments. You look pale when Uraraka checks behind her, and you feel cold in her hand.

“Y/n?”

You nod, but don’t quite look at her. You’re busy peering out at the seagulls flying past and stumbling on your nightgown hem, like crossing the threshold of the throne room stripped you of all the coordination you displayed just minutes ago. The hodgepodge of royal advisors have squeezed into this modest room for an emergency meeting, but they’re shouting and squabbling like a group of children loud enough to deafen horses at the edge of town. They’re here because of the flame mage.

Uraraka stops trying to navigate through the crowd and turns to you, “Are you feeling sick?”

“I’m alright.”

Do you realize you’re whispering? Or that you answered too quickly?

She pulls your hand a bit and steps even closer, “Is it like last night– like the poison?”

One voice cannot be heard over another, one face cannot be seen for long before moving behind a chest or shoulder or otherwise being walked in front of. Uraraka realizes it was silly to take you from the hospital directly to the queen, even if you were requested. She should have objected. To be fair to herself, she didn’t anticipate the chaos.

A gentleman trips on the corner of a rug and causes enough of a fuss around the pair of you that you’re being bumped by guests from all angles. You look agitated.

“Do you need a chair?”

“Just tell me what your queen needs from me.”

The sound of your heartbeat shouldn’t be so loud in your ears considering the long hum of hundreds of voices around you. You realize you’re staring at the floor and when you look back up, Uraraka stands just inches away with a grounding hold on your hand. She's warm too, like Kirishima. Too warm, she’s too close to you and her hold is too tight.

There’s a bit of movement in the space beside your head and taking a second to focus, Uraraka spies a shock of green hair bumbling through the throng towards her. She knows this particular friend will not be a huge help in this particular moment but what she doesn’t anticipate is your light footwork the second he breaks through the crowd. Poor Deku. He would have been okay if he hadn’t steadied himself on your shoulder after wrestling free of the crowd.

“Hey Och–!”

With eyes still unfocused and balance still off, you kick a foot between his legs, take solid hold of his hand, and then he’s flying– fully airborne– over the back of your head and onto the marble floor. Uraraka barley pushes a pair of diplomats behind her fast enough to keep his red boot from knocking out any teeth. A hush ripples immediately through the crowd.

“Deku you can’t just grab people!”

The short young man gapes up at you from the spot where you have him pinned to the floor. Freckles and nervous eyes, a slight smile, he whispers, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry,” you whisper back immediately.

“That’s enough!” Another voice, a tired voice, breaks through the mortifying silence and kick-starts the chaos again. You release your hold on the boy who is quick to pick himself up and bow his head, but people are moving, generals or ordering, waitstaff are fussing, all around you again. You don’t have Uraraka’s hand to hold. The boy could be apologizing, his mouth is moving for sure, Uraraka is gone– you’re trying to excuse yourself to a young woman whose foot you’ve tread, but she’s replaced by an old man in blue cloaks, then he’s replaced by a spindly child with a silver horderve tray and it’s becoming terribly difficult to stay afloat.

“Y/n,” The tired voice becomes clear again. You raise your head and Aizawa is standing in front of you, borne from the crowd pushing past. He takes another step forward and it’s so much easier to concentrate on his dark coat in the colorful chaos.

He doesn’t seem to be burned, or maimed, or...ghost-like, and he is not phased by the swarms of expensively dressed men shouldering past the pair of you. You don’t know where the boy or Uraraka went and you haven’t introduced yourself to the queen who must be in here s–

“Y/n.”

“Yes, sir.” You snap back to attention.

Aizawa’s caught your eyes wandering to the windows again and when he says your name it’s low and clear, “May I?” You nod. He pinches the collar of your nightgown with his long fingers and clasps the silver neckline closed with a brooch.

“You’re in the throne room. How do you feel?”

“Well, sir.”

“You were injured last night, do you feel any side effects?”

“I’m–I feel fuzzy.”

Panic subsides with nothing to focus on but the man in front of you. He stands close and works slowly. When your eyes are no longer pounding with your pulse you take a glimpse of his handiwork at your chest and melt a little at the shining dragontooth below your collarbone. White and unburnt, heavy and familiar. Aizawa rests his hand over your chest when he finishes his adjustments and your heartbeat slows considerably under the pressure. No one bumps into you anymore.

“You were very brave last night Y/n, thank you.”

You think you thank him in response but you’re having a difficult time taking your eyes off his hand where that pressure keeps your lungs from overflowing with panic. You close them instead.

“You’re in the throne room, are you meant to be here?”

“Yes sir.”

“You don’t like tight spaces do you?”

“I’m alright, sir.”

“It helps to focus on one thing in a situation like this.” He lifts from your dragontooth and replaces the warmth with two hands on either shoulder. Briefly, he glances over your head to the crowd undulating, not daring to crash into the black guard, before tipping his head back down to you,

“What are your orders? You should be in bed.”

The presence of the crowd beyond their clicking howling and clinking is only in the absence of fresh air to breathe. The overwhelming chaos of the room is subdued now, dull save for seagull cries and Master Aizawa watches on patiently like he knows that he’s the reason for your peace.

How many orders had you received this week? You blink a few times as you remember and become fully aware of the tragedy of your mission; Queen Mitsuki’s letter to Her Majesty Todoroki, one of the only two things you were tasked with protecting, is ash in a forest miles away.

“I– have no orders. I was requested for an audience.”

“Unhand me!”

Aizawa’s hand at your shoulders becomes a grip when new noise vibrates from a far corner of the room. 

“– if you don’t–!”

A horrible tide overcomes the crowd, slowly at first, then the pull of a thousand eyes, heads and legs towards the sound of the commotion. Exactly what you always dread, the sea of people begins to churn and it is never the threat of the crowd that chills you but what a crowd can do to itself.

The voice turns into many which turns into shouting over the single note of chatter. They’re fighting, someone has started a fight in the throne room and you haven’t even managed to catch a glimpse of the queen or her mighty entourage yet so the room must be vast and the crowd must be plenty and there is a much higher chance than you’re comfortable with, of stampede.

The old guard doesn’t have time to be gentle with you when he pulls away, “Can you manage the crowd?”

“Yes sir.”

And you both understand that this is an order, not a question, not a concern.

“Shinsou!” He calls over your head before diving into the thrawl, “Help our Alderan control this traffic.”

As Aizawa disappears into the swell, the relief of Shinsou’s name floods. Every member of your party had been recovered from last night’s fire. You swivel, hoping to catch sight of the young guard coming your way before you begin to help the Takoban staff herd these guests like Aizawa instructed, but instead of Shinsou there are a pair of wide redrimmed eyes standing much too close.

“You’re the Alderan guard?”

Heads turn.

When a great gaggle of creatures come together, it is the sheepdog’s job to gather them. When a dragon takes up residence in a castle it’s mistaken for a jewel rich cave, it is an Alderan’s job to come and relocate them.

“I heard him say it,” the person presses closer, “you’re a member of the Alderan party.”

Sometimes though it is a sheep’s job to wreak as much havoc as possible. The crowd, still generally flowing toward the tussle at the front of the room, has decided that you too are interesting.

“Have you spoken to the queen?” Is the first of many things you hear when a wall of well dressed backs becomes a ring of eager faces.

“Where is your–”

“–does Aldera have–”

As you attempt to find footing suitable for a military member of your standing, a stiff breeze reminds you that you’re not wearing anything more than a cotton nightgown. There’s no sword at your hip, no medals at your chest past Jeanist’s heirloom dragontooth, and only a flimsy ribbon holding back your braid.

“– can you– will this affect the–”

“–was quick!”

“How hot–”

The Takoban King must truly love war for his council to be so large, and for the people in it to be so joyous in their involvement. Flies on corpses.

More and more people break away from the forward flow of the crowd as they realize who you are and not one of them thinks to give you breathing space. You become the room’s second center of gravity. Where the hell is Shinsou?

“I will answer–” you attempt and then spin to apologize to a man you’ve bumped into, “– your questions– I will–”

What is causing this fuss? One bandit in the woods? Alderan company? Are these the manners of Takoba?

Your breath sticks to your throat in the questioning swarm while they push you deeper through them– like you’ve been swallowed by a great snake. You can’t embarrass your country by using force on royal advisors but the constriction of your arms against your side makes it difficult not to raise your voice.

“Where is your party?”

“Who is– charge–”

“You’ve brought danger!”

“Where is your prince?”

Your prince. You dread what would have happened if His Highness and friends accompanied you here. You dread what you would have to do to this crowd to keep them from touching him.

“Excuse me,” you duck as you murmur lukewarm apologies in escape. You must find Shinsou.

A short woman in tails is at your eye-level like this and she begins a barrage of questions about Alderan foreign policy when you error eye contact. One foot in front of the next only introduces you to a new polished nobel and either their disdain or their cross examination. Pushing forward isn’t working. What happened to the vast throne room? Why does it shrink when you move through it?

Your clothes are too tight– your skin is too tight and the hair brushing the back of your neck will surely kill you. You jerk an arm when a brave soul grabs hold of your bicep and force your shoulder stiff in its socket to stop yourself from striking. Their voices melt into itching static, you feel their mosquito bites in the goosebumps of your flesh.

“Where–”

How will you help to manage this crowd when you can’t even walk through it? You don’t want to be alone anymore, this– you, you won’t remember how to get back now.

“You’re a soldier?”

“– and how many–”

“Alderan! Were there weapons or onl–”

A firecracker pop screams in the open air above all of you and you’re gasping when your hearing comes back, long enough to focus on the whistle and crack of a shot in the chamber. One more keeps the static from filling your ears again, and steals the attention of the generals not yet bored by your silence.

“Move,” detonates as a voice off the walls.

Bodies roll past you, through you, to continue their questions without getting crushed by the parting crowds. They can’t yet see the person attached to the voice or the reason for the parting, but you know the owner of the sparks that splash across the blue-green ceiling, and you would follow them forever and a day.

Prince Bakugou, in all his milk golden glory steps through the swarm like a threat.

Generals that swallow you whole don’t approach him and you itch to be closer, but the questions don’t subside just because a new Alderan guest has appeared and in fact they seize on the opportunity to ask you for an introduction.

Your heartbeat is just the ringing of a dented bell, over, and over again and you feel its pulse in your jaw when you open your mouth to speak. No words come out now– now that your arms are trapped at your side and you’ll never be free of this–

“Oi!”

The bell rings louder.

“What–you! Off of her!”

And the person taking their turn to interrogate you is flung forcefully from frame, along with the waitstaff they grab in a panic and take to the ground. And he’s right there, the prince standing directly before you, a vast clearing behind him, growling and billowing smoke. His red eyes aren’t gentle but they pierce your soul with warm homesick.

Having tossed aside the only things between you, other advisors trip over themselves to escape the prince’s course. Some even try to hide behind you. Gold crackles in his palms as he watches you hurriedly catch your breath– why is he here? He’s close enough to touch again and he’s cleared a path to you like the room was empty.

“Highness,” you bow your head and rush to blink the last of the shock from your eyes.

The prince grits his teeth. The veins in his jaw splinter his sculpted cheeks, “You–” he growls. The crowds swell behind him in both size and volume and then flinch when he jerks back around, “– you dare treat an Alderan like your entertainment! Filthy fucking searats–” an explosion from each hand punctuates his rage. 

You flinch. Your eyes flood at the sudden noise and your proximity to it, though something more exhausted than tears, and you realize you may be the one in need of a doctor out of the pair of you.

“C’mere,” the prince locks eyes with an unfortunately close diplomat and snatches their furred collar to many cries and general protest from the fleeing crowd, “You think it’s funny eh? To pull a member of my party from the hospital and ambush her in her bedclothes?” The man sheds a few tears of his own as the prince shakes him. 

On the first day of winter the queen and her son Dance Peruro with their citizens. Paint their faces with pomegranate wine and strip off their furs to the waist, and then open the caste gates to let townsfolk pour in for feasts and holiday songs. You are always terribly anxious on the sidelines with Jeanist while trying to follow the crowd’s skipping and yowling to make sure that the queen is safe. The king watches his family from the sidelines too, but much less anxiously and mostly with hands full of food.

In the dance, wild limbs fly like fist fight and there is always, always shouting. Screaming thanks to the heavens while leaping round a great bonfire to singsong horns and strings. The Dance Peruro is destructive and it’s beautiful to watch two pairs of red eyes full of joy, dance together in the crowd that loves them.

Bakugou looks elated in this scene, red eyes slits and filled with excitement. Gold twinkles in his ears. He finally gets to flex his magic even if it is inside another kingdom’s throne room and practiced on another kingdom’s citizens, but how on Earth you’re going to apologize to the Takoban queen– to master Aizawa– you have no idea.

The prince raises his captive off their feet and hurls them into the crowd hard enough to knock a few sturdy generals to the ground. His arms threaten to tear from the confines of his silky white shirt in his passion. With his back turned you still know exactly the expression he’s making and you’re just relieved that he’s safe. It doesn’t cross your mind to detain him.

“Gimme those pretty coats or I’ll skin them off you.”

Just about everyone within earshot either scrambles backwards or starts to strip their outer layers in confusion. An old man in fine blue robes flees through the clearing at the exact time that the masses start to shuffle and thrum against one another, but Bakugou snatches him by the back of the neck and releases a hellstorm of orange and pink strong enough to eject the man from his capes and clear across the room.

“Classic Takoba hospitality, huh? You parade all your guests around in their underwear?”

With the space created by your prince’s rage, the full glory of the throne room becomes clear. In the empty circle around the pair of you the fine white rugs shine like spotlights. They’re stitched with blue emblems– blue flames– that climb across the floor, from stone to window, elven door to throne. The throne.

Most of the crowd has rushed to the entrance in escape, no doubt trapping Aizawa with their terrible fuss, and so the crystalline space all the way at the back of the room is open. And it is where the queen sits in her sea glass throne. Dozens of silver suited guards surround the base of her throne’s raised platform to protect her from your prince’s squalor, Shinsou and Uraraka among them– the freckled boy too. 

It’s a struggle not to shout for help. Or rush to her side, for the queen’s fragility lights up every protective instinct, every resuscitative urge in your body; surely she is drowning and you are appalled momentarily, that no one feels it important to save her life.

Icy white skin reflects the light of the afternoon sun and her eyes are dark and sallow. They might even be closed but you’re not close enough to see. You should be closer, she needs someone to keep her from tumbling to the floor like a limply sewn doll. Long light hair trickles over her shoulders to the point where her skirts meet her bodice like a shoreline. She is made of lace. Lace instead of flesh and seems too cold and stiff to survive another moment without proximity to a fireplace. Her Majesty sits with her hands in her lap and does not react to the chaos.

Behind you, your prince is a shark in a school of fish. Royal advisors at the back of the line to flee, panic earnestly now and guards at the edge of the room rim the onlookers, unsure of whether they’re permitted– or able– to subdue this royal guest. But the prince doesn’t snatch anymore lords and instead turns to you as candy sweet smoke rises to the ceiling now that no one is as interested in bothering Alderans as they are in finding something else, deep inside the castle, to busy themself with.

He’s still grinning when he swings around, but you’re not fooled, not even by his concern. You anticipate the scowl before his grin falls because you know that hates to look at you.

If your bad habit is eye contact you fear the prince’s may be aversion. 

“Cover yourself,” he grumbles and thrusts the old man’s blue robes into your chest but he doesn’t let go quite fast enough. He holds both you and the stolen clothes there like someone who has something more to say, so you blink up to him. Your white nightgown whips around your calves.

Prince Bakugou was poured from molten gold. He doesn’t look at you but he doesn’t storm away, he doesn’t leave the clearing that he’s made for the two of you and you think he’s trying to say something when his gaze finally flickers from the space above your head to someplace below your dragontooth. 

You can tell he’s holding back something calloused and loud by the way he bites hard at his lip. Instead he growls low in the space between you, “Return to your room at once.” And then barks for Kirishima.

“Coming!” The kind voice replies, echoing somehow in every direction. From your spot in the center of the room you can just barely make out red hair and a raised arm milling through the last fifty or so people trying to squeeze through the silver doors and out into the safety of the castle entryway. The Champion is much more polite than his prince and winds his hulking body gracefully through the throng before finally stumbling into the clearing. The prince doesn’t have any trouble looking at Kirishima.

“Take her back– get back upstairs, the lot of you. I don’t wanna hear a single Alderan peep for the rest of the day.”

This feels hypocritical, but Kirishima just smiles like a bowl of bread dough and takes up the open space by your side when the prince begins marching to the back of the room.

Anticipating your concern the Champion leans down to explain, “He has a formal audience with the queen.” 

It’s too far to see clearly, but the Queen of Takoba hasn’t seemed to move a single inch in the past few minutes. How is Bakugou going to speak with a ghost?

Kirishima gestures to the piles of rumpled clothes at your feet that the prince threatened off of people in the crowd, “And it looks like you have your pick of fine coats, Y/n.” The smile of his voice keeps you from speculating for too long. You know it’s time to go.

The sweet giant takes the cloak from your arms as he guides you back into the depths of the castle, and you note the gentle way he secures it around your shoulders without touching you at all, “Where is Aizawa?” you ask while nodding your thanks.

“Oh he's taking a long drink in the kitchens.”

With the Champion at your side, you give the throne one more glance over your shoulder before stepping through the silver doors, but at this distance you can only distinguish Shinsou and his blue windswept tunic from the crowd of guards and your prince. You raise your hand beside your head in parting and the apprentice slips his own out from where he’s standing formal and so, so far away, with his hands behind his back. You smile.

While you and Kirishima puzzle your way back through the castle, off in the distances beyond great columns and disgruntled chilly diplomats, through the windy, salty, seashell castle, a blue light quivers in the dark.

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#eeheheeehee i love protective violence #and robbery #a hymn to black water #can you tell how sick of editing i was by the end #bakugou x reader #bakugo x reader #bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha fantasy au #mha fantasy au #fantasy bakugou #fantasy bakugo #aizawa shota #shinsou hitoshi #uraraka ochako #kirishima eijirou #oh boy im redesigning my tag system and i am a woman exhausted by all this organization

[jaestrz]

ily -Seo Yul

Seo yul x reader - soft - fluff - a bit of angst???

a/n: this was a a bit of a rush.

Abandonment was something you’ve normalised as a child. Neither your parents ever gave you the love and affection you were supposed to receive. As their attention were on Cho Yeon and Bu Yeon. Maybe all you could remember growing up was about books, books and more books.

When you were a kid, there was only 4 things you’ve admired to achieve. Jipsu, Ryusu, Tansu, Chisu. It took you 6 months to master everything in secret. The shortest period you could achieve.

What could’ve been hidden was you were a creation of your mother’s love affair. Which in results lead to you being kicked out of Jinyowon right after a fight with your mother, Ho gyeong.

You never learnt your own history. All you knew was your father was a mage in Jinyowon. Was. Because later on he died for getting caught wild. You got closer to a songrim mage named Yul. And for longer, a person that could heal the crack in your heart of an inner child, it’s him.

He was the only person you’ve touched without having the feeling of hatred murder in your mind.

Yul knew you better than anyone else could.

Until you got accepted to Songrim and you no longer feel the need to reminisce your old life. You started a new one at Songrim with Yul by your side.

Other mages never saw you in a battle with anyone. It never came to your mind how you became the topic everyone talked about. You got into songrim Jeongjinak because Yul “helped” you out. That was a false statement.

You watch as the golden toad disappear as each day passes by. It was lessen until it was left only one more. “do you think Beom is going to win?” The sound of Yul’s voice caught your attention as you turned to face him.

“ we don’t know what Uk has on his mind. I don’t think Beom will even step up.” You replied.

But soon before Yul could talk with you, the crown prince guard walked up to him. “the highness wants to see you.”

“Did you do something wrong?” You questioned and Yul had a frown on his face with a slight confusion. But if he did something wrong he would’ve acknowledged it and told you.

So he didn’t do any mistake.

-

“i didn’t want to take you as the last duel because I know how close you and Uk are.” The crown prince said as he look at Yul with determination in his eyes. “But I’m not going to be a villain of course. I just really want someone who’s more confident in beating Jang uk.” He continued.

To see Yul and Uk fight was a rare thing to witness. Especially when they both had been best friends since they were teens. No one could deny, Yul is one of the best mages in Jeongjinak. But he hesitates when it comes to a duel with someone he truly cares about.

Maybe if you were a soul shifter running wild, he wouldn’t have the guts to petrify you.

There was a deep silence filled in the air while the crown prince suddenly eyes you who was standing beside Yul.

“I have a suggestion your highness. Let’s have y/n replace me instead?” Beom suggested and Yul eyes was looking at him with a glare.

The crown prince doesn’t know you well. He saw you here and there but never once he had ever thought about you being in a duel against Uk.

“don’t pull someone else in because you couldn’t-”

“ so that was your name? I believe you are Yul’s lover. Am I right?” The crown prince cut Yul’s conversation and the room fell silence again. His grip on your wrist was tighter than usual.

“yes. Your highness.” Yul replied, backing away.

“I never saw her in a duel before. But I believe she is a mage in Jeongjinak for a reason. Beom idea wasn’t bad.” He said and you could feel Yul panicking. Your hand found his, rubbing the palm of his hand. “I believe I can beat Uk under two conditions your highness.” You told him and he was ready to hear your words.

“If I won then Mu deok is automatically under me. And the jade will also be mine.” You look at him, who was holding the small egg jade in his hand.

You couldn’t risk Mu deok in another person’s responsibility. If this was the least you could do for Mu deok as a return of kindness to what she had done for you, then it’ll be worth the pain you’re going to face.

“I can make your time worthwhile your highness.”

-

“If you get hurt then I won’t forgive myself. You still have time to withdraw love.” Yul said, holding you as if you were made out of porcelain. A part of you were grateful for a man like him to exist in your life. The warmth feeling started to spread in your heart.

You smile at him before your lips touches his, feeling a curve on the corner of his lips. “please don’t get hurt.”

“I won’t.” You replied and you heard the crown prince announced something and you both know it’s time to go.

He haven’t seen you duel in a long time due to a curse you have in your body. Duel cost energy to drain in you. Recovering will take a while.

The moment you stepped up, you notice someone that had caught your eye. People from Jinyowon, Cheonbugwan, Seongrim and the Royal Family.

“Y/n told me she could give me a great time. Everyone will be here since this will be the last duel with Uk.”

You avoided eye contact with Uk. Unsheathing your sword and Uk began to attack you while you were defending. All you could focus was on the sword clinking each time yours and UK’s sword meet. You didn’t know what happened. You attack Uk by slicing a droplet.

But it never came to your mind to use Tansu. You never wanted to hurt him no matter what was the situation. You stood there with a heavy breath while your knuckles turn white from gripping your sword. There was a few gasp and muttering amongs the crowd but Yul only how you were holding yourself from dropping on your knees.

‘this is the first time to see her fight.’

‘Is this why she’s a mage?’

‘Everyone at Jeongjinak and Songrim knows Yul is dating her.’

‘She managed to perform Tansu. That means she’s as skilled as Yul.’

it’s over.

You used your last strength to smile at Jang uk who was struggling to stand back up. “I guess you did improve a lot.” And when you turn around, you were met with Yul ‘s embrace, before he pulled you away from the people to a more private place.

“I shouldn’t have done that.” you whispered to him, burying your face in his chest as he held you close.

there was a sudden guilt in your heart. the guilt feeling that gave you a sense of deja vu. “it was accidental. you haven’t fought in a long time. You can’t control your mind on what you desire in a fight love.” He replied.

your heart was racing. Your breathing was faster than usual. He took her hands, placing it on his chest so you could follow his breathing properly instead of losing your mind. His soft hands cupped your face before kissing you.

“let rumours believe what they want. You’re under my responsibility and I won’t let a single word hurt you. I love you.”

#hwang minhyun #alchemy of souls #seo yul #ao3 #love #fanfic #imagines #aos #minhyun #fluff

[freetobeeyouandme]

Chapter 6: We Take a Portal to School

Chapter 6 of my Byler Isekai AU is now up on Ao3! The party gets to relax a little after almost dying in the last one while also making plans on how to proceed. Plus there is some Mike and the boys bonding and worldbuilding happening, which is why this whole thing comes in at almost 10k. You're welcome.

Tags: M, Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Fantasy AU, Canon Typical Violence, Canon Typical Horror, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn

Summary:

Mike Wheeler hates High School, so when he almost dies and falls through a portal to another world, he’s not going to complain. Especially not when that world does not only have swords and magic but seems to work exactly according to the rules of his favorite tabletop role-playing game. But his euphoria might be short lived because the party of adventurers he falls in with turns out to be the target of an evil god and the fate of the world might rest on their shoulders. So, exactly like his games of D&D. Except the wanna-be Paladin soon realizes that being a hero is much harder in real life than it is in-game. - Or, Mike gets isekai’d into a world where D&D is real.

An excerpt and taglist below the cut:

Excerpt:

They are found, eventually. From where Mike is sitting he can see three doors leading into the building, all made of the same heavy wood. The one that opens grates on the stone floors, the noise so loud in the reverent quiet of the courtyard that Mike jumps.

The others turn towards the noise with equal looks of dread and resignation.

The door admits two men wrapped in white robes and big, colorful fabrics wrapped around them like greek togas. The smaller of the two is elven, a little shorter than Mike himself, with a pudgy, almost dad-like shape, short, thin white hair and pale skin. The other man is an owlin with brown and creme feathers, sort of like a barn owl. He towers over the other man but hangs back as they make their way to the edge of the walkway, curiously watching their bedraggled group, whispering to each other, before they finally step into the courtyard proper.

Mike puts his hand on his sword, not sure he’s ready to fight if it comes to it but also knowing that he’ll have no other choice. The men hold themselves friendly enough and as far as he can see they’re not carrying weapons, but in a world with magic that doesn’t mean much.

One’s weapon had also only been his mind.

The others react calmly to the approach, though. Lucas straightens up a little, clearly torn between holding onto Max and assuming his princely duties as their leader. Hop, Mrs. Byers and Jonathan look from the men to the group around Mike, and Will rises to his feet and approaches them. He meets the smaller man’s eyes and bows.

The man in charge smiles a smile that isn’t really comforting when he sees their Cleric. “Young Master Byers. I didn’t expect to see you here ever again.”

Will keeps his head bowed. “High Mage Owens.”

“Did that goddess of yours forsake you after all?”

Mike is sure the intention is just friendly ribbing, but the man’s tone is just slightly off, and Will gives him no more than a tight smile when he lifts his head.

“I’m afraid not, sir,” he replies. “But we seek shelter all the same. We will leave if you need us to, but-” he trails off, looking around the courtyard at his tired and grieving friends.

Owens follows the gaze with the same look of cold kindness that he’s been wearing since he stepped through the door. His eyes snag on the corpse sprawled out beside their bags. “So it is true that the Circle has fallen. I told Martin not to trust in gods.”

El tenses at the name, looking down at her feet. Mike understands the feeling. He doesn’t like that fact that this man used to be on a first name basis with the Father of Gods.

The man behind Owens leans forward, whispering something in his superior’s ear. Owens purses his lips, then shakes his head.

“Have you brought his body here with you to resurrect him, or-”

“No,” Lucas says, much too loud in his hurry to speak up. Again he looks at Mike in a way that makes him uncomfortable – a feeling not at all helped by the way Lucas still clings to Max. “He should receive a proper burial...we brought him so he wouldn’t fall into One’s clutches, but no...we just- the body just-”

He trails off.

Owens watches him with calculated interest, the barest hint of a shadow passing over his face. Then he turns back to Will with a tight smile. “We will take care of it.” He nods at Max. “Your friend-”

Hop rises to his feet and joins his son. “She’ll be alright, she simply needs rest.”

Owens nods. “You all need rest. And you shall have it. Let it not be said that the Laboratories turned away heroes in their hour of need.” He motions for the man behind him. “Shepard, see that rooms are prepared for our guests. And have the kitchens bring some food up for them.”

The man whispers something else in Owens ear, and Owens nods. Then the owlin hurries away.

“Come,” Owens gestures for them to follow him. “We have far more comfortable places to discuss your predicament than our portal room.”

Unofficial Tag List (aka you interacted with my posts about this fic, please tell me if you want me to not tag you in the future (or want to be added)): @smalltownwheeler @wheelerpilled @wrong-energy @willthelies @foodiewithdahoodie @doggo9 @gardenfairie @beelikesbyler @beverlysclown @yickarus @sourdough-el @hessolivagant @hesquietoday @oldfashionedmorphine @total-serene560 @bylersrise @hawkinsunderground @longtallglasses @generalstorecashier @usnaavi @camel-casing @bylersbear01 @turningsoft @casatoan @maru-chu @xobyers @goldentrunks @itachisnipplesharingan

#kingslayer fic #mike wheeler #will byers #byler #stranger things #byler fanfic

[redrydersrequiem]

The Raven and the vampire

Chapter 1

This is a twilight and marvel mashup, the daughter of loki finds her soulmate in jasper Cullen and the twists and turns it will take them both

Note this is my first fanfic ever please be nice. I’m trying I constantly reread and change/fix these. As of 1/25/24 i've redone this story it is no longer a reader insert. I want to thank everyone who liked the original and hope you like the updated version more, this was my first ever fic and i've slowly grown as a writer so everyone enjoy

It begins like every other day on Asgard, sunny and golden, gilded with light, as the sounds of a baby’s wails break the silence of the healing wing. Loki paces back and forth, waiting to be with his wife and newborn. The doors swing open and an attendant comes forward.

“You may enter your highness, your wife and child are all cleaned up and waiting for you”. Brushing past the attendant, Loki heads straight for the figure sitting up against the backboard of the green silk bed.

“My darling, how are you? How do you feel? Do you need anything? Are you hung/…’..

“/Loki, calm down. I'm perfectly fine. A little tired but it was all worth it to finally meet our daughter.”

“it’s a girl”

“Yes ,my son , she is a beautiful baby princess and here she is ready to meet her parents .”

Walking to the new parents with a bundle of green and gold cloth in her hands, Frigga handed the new princess to her mother. The baby was a light blue theraise markings prominent on her body, tuffs of deep black hair crowned her head Asher scarlet eyes opened to take in her parents. Lady Sigyn didn't even pause at the baby’s coloring, long since having broken Loki of thinking himself a monster due to his heritage

“She is half Jotun like we expected but her body should adjust to the environment soon just as her father did” queen Frigga states noticing her son had yet to say anything. Loki just stared at his daughter's small form resting in his beloved's arms, slowly offering his finger to the babygirl. Skin turning blue as the bay gripped it in her small hands

“She’s beautiful”,

“Yes, she is! oh Loki look,”

The new parents watched as scarlet eyes gave way to white with beautiful amethyst irises, skin turning a beautiful pale like her fathers with a dashing of freckles like her mother

“She looks just like you, my prince, beautiful dark hair and all.”

“She looks. Like the both of us, a perfect blend. My little Raven, Elara frigga Lokidottir Princess of Asgard.”

800 years have passed and the young princess has grown into a young woman of grace and beauty. A mage like her father and grandmother before her, and warrior in her own right. I mean, how could she not? With private training form an actual Valkyrie, and the literal goddess of war and god of thunder (god of sparkles lol) as her aunt and uncle. In all her time though, she has grown up around love,seeing it in her parents' faces as they look at one another. In her baby brother's eyes as they babble up at her, Her grandparents and uncle and so many others, that she was ready to find it herself.

“Mother, father, I've done it.” Elara omimites as she bursts into her parents sitting room. Sigyn was sitting on the floor with the twins as they had tummy time while Loki was next to her legs crossed at the ankle reading a book to the two of them.

`What is that my little raven?”

“ Father, I've completed the spell to find my soulmate.”

“Soulmate? Spell? Darling what are you talking about, you're still so young you shouldn’t have to be so worried about that.”

“Mother you and father were only 200 years older than me when you both finally married and much younger than that the first time you met and started cavorting with each other. Besides, I'm ready. I want to have what all of you have, especially before I'm used as a pawn to help diplomatic affairs, I want to find my other half.”

“My little raven, we would never allow the allfather or anyone else to use you as a pawn. Besides i second your thoughts”.

“Loki why am i not surprised you are some howenvloved with our daughter trying to leave

“Dear, it will all be fine trust me I would do nothing that would harm our little raven” he kisses his wife soothing her while gesturing to elara to carry on with her proclamation ,

“go ahead love tell us what you’ve discovered”

“ Mother?” Sigyn pinches her mouth looking between her mischievous husband and equally energetic eldest

“Fine, I will go along with you and your fathers plans but i wish to be there when the spell is cast and part of the travel discussions”

“Absolutely mother, I can do the spell now, i just need the maps of the realms”

Loki summons all the maps he's collected over the years including a globe of earth and sets them up for his daughter, when a thought finally occurs to him.

“Odin forbid this adventure, send you to Midgard.”

“Loki we will be supportive of whoever it ends up being and wherever it ends up taking her. Besides, if you didn’t want her to go away, you shouldn’t have helped her make the spell to begin with.”

“Your words cut deep my love. I simply hoped for her future match to be here in Asgard.”

“Of course you did, dear. Now sweetie, let's proceed with this event.”

The maps of the realms litter the giant green carpet. In front of you, setting the small golden bowl of which to concoct the spell in the middle of th wide green rugs.”

“So I modified a spell to find a lost item and a spell to show your hearts desire, combining the two with a very complicated magic circle I should be able to find my soulmate”,

“Very impressive little raven”

“Thank you father ok lets start. The purple magic flows from your fingers towards the bowl containing the two simple spells ingredients while your power spreads out forming the magic circle. As soon as it's complete a bright pulsing light shoots up. Dancing around Elara several times before shooting over to the maps.

“It's working!” Sigyn happily. Awes watching her daughter work.

Pulsing around the realms maps the light simply hoovers before shooting for the Midgardian globe encasing it insistently

“Oh joy of course my daughters soulmate is a Midgardian”

“Honestly, I think it serves you right Loki”, Sigyn states picking at her husband and his distaste for midgardians “but you don’t even know who or what this midgarden is. Who knows, they could be gifted like our dear Wanda”

“Yes my darling” Loki says as he collapses on the nearest couch.

“Well go on my little raven, let's see where in Midgard you will be visiting”

Walking over to the globe, Elara peers over to what small words have now been illuminated.

“It’s a place called….. Forks, Washington.”

#twilight fanfiction #jasper hale x y/n #twilight masterlist #the twilight saga #twilight x reader #last twlight the series #twilight x y/n #twilight #jasper cullen x you #jasper hale x you #jasper cullen #jasper hale x reader #lokis daughter #Loki x sigyn #uncle Thor

[blues824]

The Remarried Empress cast where male reader is Zuko from ATLA? He's a Prince born from a prominent Fire Mage who runs away to escape the tyrannical reign and ends up becoming a guard for the Empress. One day, during a party where many from different countries come, someone from his 'country/nation' recognizes him and begs him to come back and help the powerful elemental mage 'the Avatar' learn fire magic to save their kingdom from his father.

He's made good friends here and is happy by Navier's side (maybe he even loves her) so he doesn't want to leave; I assume Sovieshu would try to kick him out of the Eastern Empire to get him away from the Empress while Navier would want him to help stop his country from tearing itself.

Preface: You were the Prince and heir to the throne of the Southern Kingdom, but you had escaped so you wouldn’t be subject to your father’s tyrannical behavior. There was a merchant ship, and you made your escape to the Eastern Empire. Because of your fire-bending capabilities, you rose through the ranks of the Empire’s military. and therefore won your way into nobility.

Sovieshu

Bro’s mad that you’re closer to his wife than he is. You were handsome, mysterious, and foreign. Plus, the scar on your face showed that you were strong enough to endure such a burn. But, that gave you no excuse to go escort the Empress and get a closer relationship with her.

When the New Year’s Party happened, there was already a crap-ton of drama stirring up. Then, someone from your kingdom recognized you. Sovieshu realized that he could use this to his advantage. Since you crossed borders illegally, he could exile you.

And that’s what he did. Sure, you had to go back anyway, but if you were exiled then you couldn’t come back. It may be a hassle for the Emperor to find someone to take over your position, but anything is better than a foreigner trying to get with Navier (just wait for Heinrey, bro).

Rashta

You were a handsome, mysterious young man who was a strong soldier and an even stronger general. If she hadn’t scored Sovieshu, she might have tried to go for you. She did try to befriend you since you both were in similar positions (starting at nothing and building yourselves up to be something), but you were dedicated to Her Imperial Majesty.

But, you did not start at nothing. One of your former subjects had recognized you at the New Year’s Party, and you had been revealed to be the Prince of the Southern Kingdom. Rashta was definitely shocked, considering she tried to befriend a literal Prince.

Even though the young mistress was angry that you chose Navier over her, she really wished that His Imperial Majesty would reconsider your exilement. To be fair, you had to leave anyway to train the ‘Avatar’ to overthrow your father and install you as the King, but still.

Navier

You would think that she would be attracted to you because you were a foreign man (as per Sovieshu’s thoughts), but she only saw you as a dear friend. Even though you loved her so much, you let it go. If I’m being real, the heartbreak added to your charm because now you were a saddened bachelor of high ranking.

Then, the New Year’s Ball happened and an ambassador of the Southern Kingdom attended and recognized you. This is how Navier found out you were from another kingdom, and that you were a warrior as well as a Prince. This night was turning out to be a real headache.

When she heard your sentence from her husband, she agreed that it would be for the best if you had left before then. She was the one to see you off, bidding you farewell and good luck in overthrowing your father for the title of King. Maybe she would see you again as a reigning monarch. She hopes to see that day.

Heinrey

He could tell that you were in love with Navier, and every single time he heard that you and her were either going for a walk or just discussing plans to increase security, he got insanely jealous. However, when the Empress made it clear that she’s friend-zoning you, you tell the Crowned Prince of the Western Kingdom that you were backing off and were keeping it professional.

During the ball, you both actually got to know each other more personally. But, your former subject had to go and ruin shit by recognizing you. Heinrey would have never guessed that you were the Prince of the Southern Kingdom. He also never would have guessed that the Emperor’s next course of action was to exile you.

Heinrey would have offered his kingdom as a refuge, but you patted him on the shoulder as you explained that your subject was right: you needed to overthrow the tyrant on the throne back home. You wished him good luck in his journey with Her Imperial Majesty, and made your way to pack your things.

#remarried empress #the remarried empress x reader #the remarried empress #remarried empress x reader #sovieshu vict x reader #sovieshu vict #emperor sovieshu #sovieshu x reader #sovieshu #rashta x reader #rashta #navier trovi x reader #empress navier #navier trovi #navier x reader #navier #heinrey x reader #heinrey

[raayllum]

Something that’s important to me is that, effectively, Rayla is a nobody. 

While Callum is the only character not necessarily tied to the Plot by birth - it’s more accident, happenstance, and reaffirms him feeling out of place / being ‘ordinary’ in comparison to Ez (crown prince) and Rayla (a prodigy) who both inherit very specific parental baggage (be king; be an assassin or dragonguard) - Callum soon finds something that arguably makes him the most unique/special because of the broader implications of it. If he can connect to a primal source, then other humans can too, and that makes the ramifications of his existence massively important (arguably the most important in some ways). Then as of S4, he does hold position at court (high mage) and is also crown prince on top of that.

Meanwhile, Ezran is subversive for getting the classical prince to king ascension arc as a Black-Asian kid, and growing into a role that’s both passed down to him and one he fully chooses and finds worthwhile, if also overwhelming because of his youth. Ezran, unlike Callum, was also the known son and original target, so his life and death hinging on the concept of what true Justice is is also super loaded. 

And then you have Rayla, who inherits the same parental baggage as Ezran... but eventually tosses it away, rather than acclimate it. She is, from her very first scene, defined as a failed/bad assassin. She’s a dragonguard, and then leaves that behind too. Her parents were ultimately servants of the draconic royal family, not rulers themselves, and they died in that line of service (as far as she knew, anyway). Her village has disowned her. If she died, only a small handful of people would care, and even less would know; that’s a far cry from the kingdom wide funeral processions we know the boys would holster, and Ezran’s council and their remaining friends and family who care deeply about both of them.

And I think it’s this lack of connection that it makes it so easy for Rayla to risk herself. “I’m not an assassin, or a hero,” she says in Bloodmoon Huntress. “I’m no one. I couldn’t even stop my own parents from leaving.” (Which is a nice parallel to Callum’s “I’m no one” from 1x03 before being called a mage, and a reflective parallel of how Rayla may feel in S4 onwards as she figures out who she’s going to be now.) And again, just... the person who feels like no one, the person who’s sure that they matter less, mattering more in the end to their loved ones than anyone is just... so sweet to me. She deserves it

#brotp: we're in this together #once again thinking about how rayla is the only hero living in exile #everyone else gets to go home except for her and claudia and aaravos and aah. AAH #raylangst #mine #text post

[spacehero-23]

ok here are my thoughts on the dragon prince season 4 episode 1:

So Claudia knew/talked to aaravos for 2 years?? oh no…

i LOVE the new intro

not the step mage

high mage callum! my baby…look at my baby using magic and being a good boy

sorvus??? i know what you are

also the animation when they were walking felt a bit off, like unfinished/unpolished? no?

ok. not just when they’re walking. it gives me r.w.b.y vibes…pls no

huh, the jokes really don’t land, like not a single one…

well maybe the “eating 3 people a day joke” i liked that one

zym is coming!!!!

“when i found your body…” Claudia, my sweetheart. GET AWAY FROM HER YOU MANIPULATIVE FUCK!

wow. the viren and claudia scenes are hitting so hard. (low-key they’re the only good scenes in the episode so far..)

not amaya beating up the dancers…girl

umm anyone else saw that callum was standing like vieren used to?? when he was talking to soren?

also, protective big brother callum. we love to see it

but that scene just showed how frustrated he fust feel, rayla left and he has no idea where she is, he still has to worry about claudia, and now his baby brother is king and in constant danger.

“for now”....oh, oh no.

I don’t like how obsessive Calum is getting with magic…

Callum defenestrating himself, see now that was funny.

“happy birthday big brother” 🥺

Viren looks so done…let this man die. i think he’d prefer it at this point

terry!

“trees to meet you” does that mean callum wasn’t talking out of his ass? OR that it was so funny that the earthblood elfs decided to use it as a joke but it caught on? 

“because of rayla”... I can’t do this anymore

“I don't even know if she’s alive” see this last scene is what i love about the dragon prince! please let the season be like that!

again, the comedy is eh, but sorvus in the background are really giving “boyfriends” 

this episode feels so disjointed, like, I like the claudia and vieren stuff, A LOT. but then we have “Callum's secret birthday party” and it feels like I’m watching two different shows.

I feel like this is why they released this episode a week before, so that people could watch this reintroduction to the world and the new status quo and then on the 3rd, jump straight into the actual plot. 

I’m sure this episode was fun for the people who didn’t read the extra content and had no idea rayla left, and why she left, and ep.1 had this air of mystery to it (it was destroyed by the bad jokes, but whatever)

and again the animation, it was weird. bc some scenes looked really pretty and exactly like the old style. but some…well, early rwby would be an insult, but it was off-putting. 

#the dragon prince #tdp #the dragon prince netflix #the dragon prince season 4 #tdp netflix #tdp season 4 #tdp season 4 episode 1 #tdp callum #tdp soren #tdp ezran #tdp corvus #tdp rayla #rayllum #callum season 4 #tdp claudia #tdp viren #aaravos

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

Happy birthday, Rayla!! I couldn’t let the day go by without writing something, since we’re all very worried about her, so have a one-shot about some other people who are just as worried. 

Ethari puts more effort into the cake than he has into any of his meals for more than a year. He crushes the berries to nothing but juice and stirs the batter until it’s completely smooth, bakes it to perfection and frosts it flawlessly. It might be the most perfect confection he’s ever made.

He sets the table just as carefully: three plates, three forks, three glasses, all shining and straight at their places. And the whole time, his mind is detached from his body. He doesn’t think about what he’s doing; just knows that he has to. It’s only when he sits down, when he feels the true, crushing weight of the empty chairs, that he begins to question himself.

How did he think this would turn out? What comfort did he think he would get from setting his table for a shadow and a ghost? Did he think he would eat Rayla’s cake himself, piece by piece, until there was nothing left for her but crumbs? Did he think decorating the room and making her favorite dessert would make her come home?

He shoves the cake away and puts his face in his hands, fighting the tears that bite at the corners of his eyes. He was so hopeful when the Silvergrove received word of the battle of the Storm Spire, when they realized Rayla’s role in reuniting the dragon prince with the queen and undid her banishment. It didn’t change the hungry, all-consuming emptiness he felt every day without Runaan— but he thought, at least, it would help to have another voice in the house.

But Rayla never came home, and two weeks before her sixteenth birthday, he received word that she’d dropped off the face of the continent entirely. And now, more than a year with no word, no—

Ethari freezes.

A knock. So faint he could almost believe he imagined it. 

No word, he thinks again, but the words feel like a lie now, and he waits, breathless— 

There. He hears it. Someone is rapping at his door.

Rayla—

His chair clatters to the ground as he shoves it back, sprinting out of the dining room and through his workshop, throwing open the doors to reveal— 

Not Rayla.

But he’s so startled that for a moment he forgets to be disappointed.

The boy looks different than he remembers. His once-flat brown hair sits in ruffled spikes across his head, which no longer holds the twigs he used to imitate horns. He wears the fine fabric of a noble, no leaves stuffed into his coat. Ethari knows who he is now, and for the life of him, he can’t fathom why the boy is on his doorstep.

“Hi,” the boy says with a small wave. “I’m Callum…”

The High Mage, Ethari thinks, the prince of Katolis, the brother of King Ezran—

“…Rayla’s boyfriend.”

The words freeze Ethari in place, and he thinks over his brief interaction with the boy more than a year ago. How close he stood by Rayla as they looked into the heartbloom pond. How she leaned against him as they road away. It makes sense, he thinks. Rayla always forged her own path. How could she fall for anyone less than a human prince?

Callum runs his fingers through his hair, clearly nervous. “May I come in?” He asks.

Ethari nods, still too shocked to offer anything more than basic courtesy. “Of course.” He steps aside so that Callum can enter the workspace and, without thinking, leads him into the dining room. Only when he glances back at the prince does he realize how it must look; three empty places at a house occupied by one and a single, uneaten cake.

“I’m assuming you know it’s her birthday,” he says.

Callum nods. “We actually did the same thing last year at the castle,” he says. “My brother had our baker made a cake, and Ezran and I bought gifts, just in case.”

Ethari relaxes. Between the anecdote and the pain in Callum’s eyes when he tells it, he can see how much he loves Rayla, how much he misses her. It’s a relief to be with someone else who still feels her absence so keenly.

“I suppose that sort of gesture makes more sense in a castle,” he says. “I’m not entirely sure what I was planning to do after I made the cake, I just knew I needed to.”

“Moonberry, right? Her favorite.”

“That’s right.” Ethari gives him a small smile. “Would you like some?”

Callum nods, settling into a chair, and Ethari cuts them both a slice. He expects the cake to be cloying on his tongue, but it slides down easily. It’s the act of sharing it with someone else, he figures. It turns it from the futile gesture of a grieving man to a celebration of a missing daughter. It makes it feel like it has a point.

Callum’s eyes widen as he takes a bite. “This is amazing. Do you want to come back to the castle with me? You could easily make royal chef.”

Ethari chuckles, appreciating the clear effort he’s making. “Thank you, but no. Humans eat too much bread for my taste. No challenge at all to make.”

“Rayla would agree with you there.”

They’re both silent for a moment, the clicking of their forks against their plates the only sound in the room, before Ethari sorts out his thoughts enough to speak again.

“Why aren’t you at the palace?”

Callum sighs heavily, gazing at his plate. “It was just… too hard. My brother understands, but everyone else… they keep talking about how I need to move on. I knew if I was there when today came, they would all try to distract me, and I didn’t want that. I wanted to be somewhere I could feel close to her.”

Ethari nods. “I wish I had more to offer you. But I haven’t heard anything from her.”

“I didn’t expect you to,” Callum replies, his expression dim. “Ezran has contacts in every part of the continent looking for her. If she resurfaced, we would have heard. I just… I just wish I could know she was at least okay.” His voice breaks on the last word as he hammers his fist into the table. 

Ethari draws a breath. “Maybe I do have something to offer.”

Callum’s eyes fly to him, surprise replacing his devastation.

Ethari pushes back his empty plate and stands. “Come with me.”

He leads Callum down the side of the house to where the pond stands, serene and beautiful as ever. As soon as Callum catches sight of it, he breaks into a run. Clearly Rayla told him the significance of the pool.

“All this time— I never thought to check—“ Callum braces himself on the rim and leans over. “Rayla’s flower,” he whispers.

Ethari comes to stand beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “She’s still alive.”

The boy doubles over, almost falling into the pond in his relief. He takes huge gulps of breath, as if he’s just finished a marathon, and several moments pass before he can speak.

“Thank you.” He says, and when he turns to Ethari he can see that his eyes are wet. “Thank you so much.” “Thank you.” Ethari spreads his arms to indicate the pool. “Thanks to you and Rayla, I haven’t had to enchant a single bloom since she left.”

He respected Runaan’s work, but it didn’t mean he didn’t resent every time Runaan left home, all the hours he spent watching and waiting beside the pool with his heart in his throat. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t resent the cycle of war that bred Runaan’s work in the first place— that took Runaan from him, and took Callum’s guardian from him. The cycle that Callum is breaking before his eyes because of his clear devotion to an elven girl. 

“I’m glad.” Callum lets out the words in a breath, and when he draws another one, it’s short and determined. “I will find her,” he promises. “I’ll never stop searching.”

Ethari squeezes his shoulder. “I believe that. When you find her, tell her I haven’t stopped waiting for her.”

“I will.”

Callum turns to set off down the path, the straight arrow of his back and the set of his shoulders so different from the uncertainty that plagued him when he walked through Ethari’s door. It’s the same steely determination that lived in Rayla, and in Runaan, even if it inhabits a gentler vessel.

“Callum,” Ethari calls, and the boy stops.

“Come by next year. Wherever Rayla is, you’ll have a place here.”

Callum hesitates, and Ethari wonders if he’s finally overstepped— if he’s finally crossed the silent line Runaan drew between them all that time ago. But when Callum turns, he’s smiling, the first genuine smile Ethari has seen from him, and Ethari realizes he shouldn’t have been surprised. Callum crossed that line for Rayla, after all. Of course this boy, so much wiser than his predecessors, so much more hopeful, would cross it for her family too.

“Thank you,” he says. “I will.” He turns and begins his descent into the village, and Ethari leans against the pool. The ache will come again, he knows— but for this moment, he basks in the sweet relief of the smallest ember of hope. 

#the dragon prince #the dragon prince spoilers #tdp spoilers #tdp callum #tdp rayla #tdp ethari #tdp runaan #rayllum #ruthari #tdp #ray rambles #ray writes

[hungry-tum-stuff]

Unfamiliar Territory

CW: Emotional angst, recovering from serious injuries, mentions of unwilling captivity, mentions of previous starvation, hunger, stomach growling, famine, mentions of food insecurity, economic inequality.

“We should stop here.”

Bix glanced up, an eyebrow raised at Tahir’s suggestion.

“Here.” He said questioningly. “In the middle of the woods on the road outta the city?”

“Where else do you propose we stop to rest? Obviously we’ll not be camping in the middle of the road either, we’ll go off the path a ways.” Tahir insisted, beginning to lead the other off the trail. Bix sighed and hobbled along after him.

“I propose we keep going.” The harpy mocked. “There ain’t no reason to stop yet, especially since the guard could be followin’ us.” He argued as Tahir glanced back at his compatriot to observe him. His lame leg, his thin frame only supported by a makeshift cane, his wings still stiff and missing patches of white feathers.

“You need rest. I hardly believe you should even be walking right now, and if the circumstances didn’t call for such then I’d see to it that you wouldn’t be.” He scouted out the surrounding forest, looking for a place they could settle that would be a safe distance away from the road. “I’ve also got a feeling that you wouldn’t ask to stop unless I brought it up.”

Bix scoffed. “Shove it. Just say your poor princely legs were getting tired.”

“We have been walking all day. I could certainly do with some rest.” Bix huffed in response. He hated when someone else was right, but even if he wanted to argue further he honestly didn’t think his body could hold out the way he wanted it to. He was only working with one leg, and even though he wouldn’t admit it, just walking was taking quite a bit out of him.

“Fine. Here is good.” He insisted suddenly, plopping down on the forest floor and crossing his arms. Tahir stopped short and nodded, sitting down with him. There was a stretch of awkward silence shared in the darkness, but it wasn’t long before it was broken by a low rumbling. Tahir flushed, grateful for the darkness hiding his embarrassment as he slid a hand over his stomach. Bix snorted.

“Not used to going hungry, huh, your highness?” He mocked.

Tahir shook his head. “I am, actually. People of the Undercommons believe that rulers have no right to their resources, especially not in times of hardship. So if the people are starving, then so are their rulers.” He explained. Bix’s smugness was all but wiped off his face.

“Oh… So uh, things have been tough down there, huh?” Answering for him, Tahir’s stomach gave another deep, empty growl. He stiffened and clenched his hand over it a bit tighter.

“I was at that meeting to negotiate a trade agreement on behalf of my father. It was the first diplomatic excursion he entrusted to me… And then I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Silverstein but I- I couldn’t have imagined that she was conducting her studies so inhumanely…” He looked over at Bix with a hint of pity, and Bix fully avoided his gaze.

“So I’m guessing there wasn’t a trade agreement considerin’ you stole me from their Grand Mage.” Tahir shook his head, and Bix finally mustered the courage to glare at him.

“You didn’t have to help me, y’know. I never asked you to. Because now you’re in deep shit with The Kingdom of Light.”

“And the Undercommons.” Tahir added. “This could very well be seen as an act of aggression and cause an international dispute.”

“Jeez, Tahir! If saving me means you start a goddamn war then you should’ve left me behind!” He snapped, but Tahir shook his head again.

“I refuse to have diplomatic relations with a kingdom that can condone such cruelty.” Tahir spat, standing up and beginning to gather twigs. His stomach was still rumbling, but he seemed intent on taking his mind off of it. “They can scarcely provide for their own people regardless. I’ve walked their streets, there are people starving in them. I would be a thief to their people, taking food from them to feed my own.”

This time Bix’s stomach grumbled, and he groaned and flopped back onto the ground. His hands came to rest on his concave middle. “Yeah well, I actually was a thief before all this, so I’ve got you beat. And quit talkin’ about food and feedin’ people. I’m starving too…”

Tahir looked over at the exhausted harpy with a frown as he set his bundle of kindling on the ground. He snapped his fingers, producing a small flame and setting it ablaze. The hungry flame quickly grew and illuminated the drow’s dark silvery skin, his smooth black horns reflecting some of the dancing light. As he sat down beside Bix again, his eyes drifted curiously down to the smaller man’s tummy.

“Is it true that harpies have faster metabolisms than landlocked folk?”

Bix glared at Tahir again. “Ain’t you the number-one fanboy of Silverstein’s research? You tell me.”

“Not anymore I’m not…” Tahir said, somewhat ashamedly. “I’m simply curious as to what it’s like from your perspective. I’d rather learn from you than from her.” He explained with a small smile. Bix sighed and looked up at the treeline, watching the leaves intently.

“Yeah, if you wanna use the fancy science term then we do. We gotta stay light so we can fly, so we’ve got small stomachs but we still digest stuff real quick so we’re never really too full to fly.” Bix explained, wincing as his stomach growled desperately. “If you ask me, I think I got screwed. I always feel hungry…”

“I can imagine.” Tahir said sympathetically, a hand still resting on his own belly. “Silverstein’s research did mention an optimal meal plan for maintaining weight, though. Six meals a day, spread out evenly.” Bix barked a laugh at that.

“Is that what she spent all that fuckin’ time studyin’ me for? I coulda told her that.” He didn’t try to hide the spite in his tone that he surely felt towards the doctor. “But eatin’ like that takes time and money that I don’t got, so I’ll have to pass.” Tahir looked him over again with those worried green eyes.

“I’m not short on coin, just so you’re aware.” Bix sat bolt upright, still glaring at the prince as his feathers ruffled in agitation.

“I’m not a fuckin’ charity case.”

“I never said you were, I just want to-“

“You want to what? Help the poor little harpy? Pamper me and make me like your little pet?” Tahir was taken aback by the sudden accusation. However, he supposed he couldn’t blame the other if he didn’t want to extend his trust just yet. They’d barely known each other for two days.

He just couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to Bix while he was with Dr. Silverstein to make him think that way.

“I do want to help you, but not in the way you think I want to. I want to help you recover, and find your siblings. That’s all.” Bix stared at him, searching his expression for any hint of deceit. When he found none, he still narrowed his eyes skeptically.

“Why?”

“Why not? It’s the right thing to do, isn’t it?”

Bix’s feathers slowly smoothed back out, but he still scoffed and flopped back down onto his back.

“Lame answer.”

Tahir smiled slightly and set a few more sticks in the fire before carefully lying down beside Bix.

“I told you the truth, I don’t know what more you want from me.”

Bix’s stomach rumbled, and he rubbed it irritatedly.

“Some food would be swell, actually.” He said with a pout.

“Well, if we ever get desperate we could always eat wings.” Tahir joked, looking over at the harpy. Bix gasped and smacked the other’s arm.

“Not fuckin’ funny!” He snapped, though he was smiling just a bit. Tahir chuckled and rubbed where he’d been hit.

They still had a lot to learn about each other, but for a moment, the road ahead didn’t look so bad.

#this turned into more lore and angst than kink #whoops #new characters though! #I wanted to make sure y’all got a good idea of who they were #(I also promise I’ll stuff Bix next time he deserves it) #sfw hunger kink #hunger kink #tummy kink #stomach growling #original characters #whump

[theredhairedmonkey]

Thank you for your amazing takes! I’ll never understand how people think Viren and Callum are exactly alike and that Callum is doomed to go down the same path. I’ve always seen it as Callum obviously having to face challenges and temptation, but inevitably overcoming it.

Aww thanks! I appreciate it! I try to make well reasoned takes and don’t always succeed, but I’m glad you like them!

For Callum and Viren…yea. People are mistaking “parallels” for “similarities” and motifs/symbolism for foreshadowing. S1-3 do a really good job of showing that Callum and Viren are very different people; even as early as 1x02 we get a juxtaposition of Viren hesitating to switch places with Harrow (and later going back on this but ultimately rejecting it due to feeling insufficient ky recognized for his bravery) versus Callum switching places with Ezran by pretending to be the Crown Prince, willing to die even though his bravery will never be known.

From the very get-go these were dramatically different characters even though they undergo similar trials and tribulations, and as a result they make very different choices that take them to very different outcomes. Viren falls, Callum rises.

Now, people think there are haunting similarities between Viren and Callum because…he’s the high mage? He wears a similar uniform to Viren (similar to Sarai’s as well but nobody cares as this paints him in a positive light)? Or because he confronts Soren in 4x01 in an echo to Viren, despite the episode itself drawing parallels between Callum and Amaya instead.

Speaking of which, despite Callum supposedly being so “similar” to Viren, nobody in-universe actually points this out. However, someone does point out how similar he and Amaya are. He and Amaya then also face a similar dilemma involving a loved one in 5x08, which they approach in very similar ways (I.e. headfirst guns blazing). So the show can’t be any more obvious on this point, the person who Callum is most like is not Viren, it’s Amaya.

So, why do some people think Callum and Viren are alike? Not entirely sure. Confirmation bias, maybe? Reductive reasoning that mage characters have to be similar to other mage characters? Sloppy reasoning that foils have to be super-similar? Reflexive desire to root for Callum’s failure now that he had surpassed expectations related to his physical prowess and general competence?

I really have no idea, but what I do know that, while Callum may have a dark side (as all complex characters do), that won’t be the side that wins out.

#tdp #the dragon prince #callum #viren #Amaya #Soren