#I NEED TO KNOW TO KNOW THE PRISM NAME

[rlpersephone3259]

Emily Axford as a nerdy goth elf mage. I am OBSESSED

#critical role #prism #c3e59 #emily axford #I need to know EVERYTHING about her #a raven named Mother? #a sentient book? #Emily you have given me a GIFT

[cameronspecial]

Let Me Spend Christmas With You, Angel

Pairing: Frat!Rafe Cameron x Reader

Warnings:  Mentions of Sex

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 1.0K

Summary: With the Holidays around the corner, Rafe only has one goal this season.

Masterlist

As the semester comes to an end, the Holiday break is fast approaching. Y/N is packing her suitcase for her flight home while Rafe pouts on her bed. “I still don’t get why you don’t want to come to Guadalupe with me and my family,” he grumbles as she packs another knitted sweater. “We weren’t together last Christmas.” The corners of her lips are slightly curved downward and her head swivels on itself. “I know we didn’t get to have Christmas together last year and I really do want to spend the Holidays with you. But I also want a white Christmas. You know, snow, fireplaces, and hot cocoa,” she argues. Rafe gets up from the bed and holds onto her arm, “Come on, Angel. Who needs those things when you can have beaches and sex on the beach? The drink and the act. Please, let me spend Christmas with you, Angel.” It’s rare to see Rafe begging, expect if it means he gets to spend more time with Y/N. “Rafe, that sounds really nice. But what about my family?” she asks, wrapping her arms around his neck. His eyes bore into hers, “They can come too. There are more than enough rooms in our beach house for your family.” He watches as a sparkle starts to form in her eyes, alongside her smile. “Really? I’ll go ask them if they want to go now,” she pulls out her phone and dials her mom’s number. 

———

Rafe’s hand is on the small of her back as he guides her down the stairs of the Camerons’ private jet. Y/N can feel water start to pool out of her pores. “Thank you again for inviting us on vacation with you guys,” he can hear Garth thank Ward ahead of them. Ward shakes his head, “No problem. Last year, Rafe was so sulky without Y/N with him, so I’m glad to do anything for them to be together this year.” Overhearing the men’s conversation, she giggles at the thought of her boyfriend missing her. Rafe frowns at her and brings her to his side. “Don’t laugh at my misfortune,” he laments, kissing her cheek. She throws her hand up in the air, “I’m sorry, but you are just so darn cute.” 

———

Christmas morning is a little bit different for her this year. Y/N and Rafe had found a secluded beach on the island and after they spent Christmas Eve with their families, they snuck away to it for an amazing night together. The grains of sand shift under her weight as she twists in his hold. The towel they are lying on barely does anything to keep the sand away from their skin. Her eyes flutter open to see Rafe’s still breathing shallowly. She kisses his lips and watches as he starts to wake up. “Merry Christmas, Rafe,” she whispers, burying her head in his neck. His lips press a kiss in her hair, “Merry Christmas, Angel. We should probably head back home. I know Wheezie is going to be dying to open the presents.” She agrees with his statement and they both get their bathing suits on to go home. 

“Looks like the love birds have finally pulled themselves out of wherever they were. Come on you two, we were just about to open presents,” Candace beckons Rafe and her daughter as they walk through the front door. The couple makes their way down into the living room, where the Christmas tree is, and settles on the floor. Rafe and Y/N’s hips brush against each other because of how close they are sitting. 

Each family member takes turns opening a gift with the watchful eyes of the other members. The next gift placed in Y/N’s lap is a rectangular prism wrapped in paper with tiny reindeer on them. The card sticking out behind the ribbon has her name written on it in Rafe’s chicken scratch and his name under it. She keeps the card and takes the time to take the tape off of the paper to preserve it. Underneath, she finds a white cardboard box with no identifiers as to what is inside. She gives Rafe a raised eyebrow and he encourages her to open it. Her thumb slots in the gap of the box’s lid, pulling it open. Inside is a mason jar decorated with ribbons and tiny hearts. The label says One Hundred Reasons Why I Love You in cursive writing she has never seen before. There are folded paper slips in the jar. She opens it up and picks one out. The writing is in the same effortful cursive. Reason #47: You never judge me for my mistakes. Instead, you help me grow from them. She is touched that he took the time to work on her gift because she is sure each reason is something just as thoughtful as this one. Tears brim in her eyes as she pulls him into a hug. “Thank you,” she murmurs in his ear.

Next to open a gift is Rafe and it just so happened to be Y/N’s. He removes the tissue paper from the bag, folding it nicely for Y/N to reuse later. He finds a folded article of clothing inside. It is a jean jacket and on the back, there is an embroidered picture. The beautiful work shows Rafe and Y/N kissing. He turns the jacket so he can see the front to find Angel written in a heart on the breast pocket. Y/N has obviously put a lot of effort into the gift and he loves it. He brings her in for a kiss as a thank you. She smiles at the feel of his lips on her skin. This Christmas might not be spent in the snow, but Christmas in the sand is just as good. 

———

Rafe is getting lunch when Jaiden walks into the kitchen. Rafe’s back is facing the doorway so he doesn’t notice the other boy’s appearance. Jaiden stares at Rafe’s back in amazement. “Your jacket is so cool, Dude,” Jaiden compliments, heading to the fridge to get a beer. Rafe turns toward his fellow brother and beams with pride. “Why thank you, my angel made it for me. I’m one lucky guy,” he gushes. “Well, she did a great job,” Jaiden adds before leaving the room. Rafe can’t hide his grin as he finishes lunch and brings it upstairs to his angel. 

Taglist: @winterrrnight @loves0phelia @thelomlisrafecameron @wickedlovely121 @queen-shadow22 @nonbullshit-toleratingkindagirl

#let me angel #rafe cameron #rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron imagine #outer banks #rafe cameron x y/n #rafe cameron x female reader #rafe cameron x you #rafe cameron fanfiction #rafe cameron fic #outer banks x reader #rafe cameron series #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks fic #obx #obx fanfiction #obx fic #obx x reader

[intheholler]

Appalachia & Southeastern USA LGBTQ+ Resource Masterpost

Under the cut, you'll find queer-focused resources sorted by state.

I have a sister post with donation links for those outside of the region who'd like to help us grow.

If you aren't from the region, I encourage you to find the organization that speaks to you the most, put your money where your mouth is and help us be better.

If you are from the region, I sincerely hope this can help you or someone you know in some way.

This list is inexhaustive as Tumblr is only permitting 100 links (which is also what necessitates the sister post and is why you may not see your contribution unfortunately).

Disclaimer: I do not (necessarily) personally endorse these organizations, nor have I vetted them thoroughly. If I have included anything you know to be detrimental or harmful in any way, please DM immediately me so I can rectify it.

General Regional Resources

Appalachian Outreach organizes events and provides access to resources for the queer community all across Appalachia.

STAY (Central Appalachia) is a youth-led activist organization in central Appalachia.

Trans in the South is a directory for gender-affirming healthcare in the south.

Southerners on New Ground (SONG) is a queer liberation group funding projects, protests, and campaigns to build a queer-friendly south.

Southern Trans Youth Emergency Project (STYEP) connects trans youth affected by anti-trans legislation with gender-affirming healthcare providers in the southeast; they offer grants up to $500 to individuals for emergency support.

Trans Health Project helps trans folks understand, access and utilize their medical insurance. They provide grants for gender-affirming surgeries.

Campaign for Southern Equality provides funding, training and resources for/to queer individuals and activists.

Not region specific, but important all the same: Help suspected transgender John and Jane Does regain their identities.

Resources by State

Alabama

AIDS Alabama helps provide housing to vulnerable individual and families, including helping queer youth find housing.

ALTGO’s list of local resources for gender-affirming care, legal services and generally queer-friendly physical/mental healthcare.

The Knights & Orchids Society provides housing, healthcare, and general support to the Black queer community.

Based in Birmingham, Magic City Acceptance Center offers supportive safe spaces and direct support to 52 counties in Alabama.

Medical Advocacy and Outreach in southern Alabama provides HIV+ care, as well as HIV & hepatitis C testing.

Prism United funds free therapy and hosts gatherings for queer individuals along the Gulf Coast.

Shoals Diversity Center is a Florence-based group that offers mental health services, support groups and other resources for the queer community in the Shoals area.

T.A.K.E. Resource Center provides direct support, grants, housing advocacy and other services for trans women of color in Alabama.

Thrive Alabama facilitates access to queer-focused healthcare services in North Alabama.

Georgia

Carollton Rainbow organizes queer-focused social events in West Georgia and provides tools for advocacy in the community.

Emmaus House is a soup kitchen in Savannah also providing laundry and shower facilities.

Emory is an Atlanta-based, queer-focused law firm.

Feminist Women’s Health Center (I know the name isn’t necessarily ideal, sorry) in Atlanta offers trans-inclusive, affordable medical care. They also provide access to abortions.

First City Network in Savannah provides referral services for healthcare, advocacy, education and mutual aid for queer Georgians.

List of housing assistance in the Savannah area

Stonewall Bar Association of Georgia serves the queer community’s legal needs in Georgia.

Kentucky

AIDS Volunteers of Lexington (AVOL) provides housing and assistance to low-income people living with HIV/AIDS.

Arbor Youth Services provides emergency shelter to queer youth in Louisville, up to age 24.

Berea Human Rights Commission offers free investigations into claims of housing or employment discrimination with a focus on queer folks.

Kentucky Health Justice Network provides referrals to gender-affirming providers, as well as financial assistance for trans healthcare and abortions.

Kentucky Youth Law Project provides free representation to queer youth.

Massive Kentuckian LGBTQ resource list provided by Lexington Pride Center, broken down into easy-to-browse categories.

Louisville Youth Group strives to give queer youth the tools and skills they need to grow personally and facilitate positive change in their communities.

Sweet Evening Breeze helps queer young adults in Kentucky between the ages of 18-24 obtain emergency housing.

Trans Kentucky’s list of gender-affirming healthcare providers across the state

Guide on changing your name following gender-affirming surgeries in Kentucky, and a tool to help you do so.

Louisiana

AcadianaCares supports folks living with HIV/AIDS while providing support to houseless and impoverished individuals.

ACLU Louisiana website.

Community resources in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette (much of it only provides addresses and emails, so it’s hard to link individually here).

Directory of trans-focused healthcare providers

List of in-person and online queer support groups. In-person groups are based in Monroe, Lafayette and Baton Rouge.

Mutual aid in Shreveport

Out of the Closet provides clothing for the queer community with multiple locations throughout the state.

OUTnorthla is a queer film-festival hosted by PACE Louisiana.

Queer-forward healthcare in Louisiana.

QUEERPORT is a grassroots org offering a platform for queer creatives.

Tulane Drop-In Clinic provides free medical and social services to runaway and otherwise houseless youth.

Guides for legal name changes in Louisiana.

Mississippi

Capital City Pride hosts pride events, meet-ups and book clubs for the queer community around Jackson.

Gulf Coast Equality hosts drag shows, food drives and other events for the Gulf Coast area.

The Spectrum Center in Hattiesburg offers a community closet, short-term emergency housing, free HIV testing and scheduled support groups/events for the queer community in Hattiesburg.

Violet Valley Bookstore is a queer feminist bookshop owned by a published lesbian author in Water Valley.

Guide for name changes in Mississippi.

North Carolina

Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group (CTHCG) connects trans folks with gender-affirming care.

Down Home NC helps rural working class communities organize to advocate for their rights.

Guilford Green Foundation & LGBTQ Center provides financial support to queer nonprofits and activist groups in NC to fight anti-queer legislation.

Ladies of the T is provides resources and support to trans and gender non-conforming women of color in the Tri-City area. .

North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Attorneys (NCPMB) provides attorney referrals, visibility, and support for the queer community.

Pitt County Aids Service Organization (PICASO) provides HIV prevention and testing services in Eastern NC, as well as support for individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

Asheville-based Tranzmission’s compilation of trans-focused medical, social and legal resources in WNC.

Triad Health Project provides free HIV testing, contraceptives, prevention outreach, daycare and access to their food pantry in Guilford County.

Durham-based Triangle Empowerment Center provides the queer community with emergency housing, access to PrEP, as well as support groups and other events.

South Carolina

Harriet Hancock Center is a community center offering social support for queer individuals in the Midlands area.

Free gender-affirming gear to South Carolinians!!!

Alliance for Full Acceptance (AFFA), a queer-focused social justice group

List of queer-friendly medical providers across the state

Uplift Outreach provides safe spaces for queer youth in Spartanburg.

Charleston Black Pride serves the queer POC community in the low country area.

We are Family Charleston’s community center hosts support groups and provides direct support to the queer community around Charleston. They offer microgrants to trans individuals in the state as well as in-person support groups and aforementioned free stuff for trans folks.

Closet Case is a thrift store by and for queer individuals, operated by We Are family, offering safe and affordable clothes shopping.

T-Time holds support groups for trans individuals, based in Myrtle Beach.

Palmetto Community Care provides confidential HIV testing and support as well as free contraceptives.

South Carolina based community support network for the trans community

Legal assistance in Columbia, SC/Midlands area

Guide on changing your name in South Carolina

List of queer-safe, gender-affirming care providers in Columbia, SC

Tennessee

CHOICES provides low-cost LGBTQ healthcare, among other services, such as abortions.

Emergency housing in Tennessee for those living with AIDS

Launch Pad helps queer youth among others obtain emergency shelter in the Nashville area.

Metamorphosis provides transitional housing and other emergency support for queer youth between 18 - 24.

Mountain Access Brigade provides abortion funding across the state.

My Sistah’s House in Memphis provides emergency housing and support for queer people of color, as well as access to health services for sex workers.

The Seed Theatre in Chattanooga provides free resources such as binders for the trans community and hosts safe, social spaces.

Tennessee HIV Prevention & Care

Trans Empowerment Project provides support to trans and gender-nonconforming folks around Knoxville.

Youth Villages provides emergency housing for youth under 18.

List of trans-focused healthcare providers across the state.

Virginia

Counseling, free hygiene products, temporary housing and more provided by Side by Side VA

Virginia Home for Boys and Girls partners with Pride Place to provide temporary housing for queer young adults (18-25).

Side by Side VA provides temporary housing for queer youth for up to 6 months.

Nationz, based in Henrico, provides free STI/HIV testing, food pantry, PrEP, and notary services for the queer community.

Justice 4 All provides legal aid for low-income Virginians.

Virginia Rural health Association’s list of gender-affirming healthcare providers

General rural healthcare resources in Virginia

West Virginia

Dr. Rainbow connects folks with queer-friendly care in the state.

Fairness West Virginia’s list of gender-affirming care providers.

Harmony House West Virginia provides queer-friendly shelter for houseless people.

Holler Health Justice is a queer- and POC-led mutual aid organization based in WV, though they seem open to serving all Appalachians.

Holler Health Justice also provides financial/logistic support to West Virginians seeking abortions.

WVFREE connects West Virginians with birth control providers.

Nearby gender-affirming care for trans youth at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Transgender Health Center.

#appalachia #appalachian #anti-fascist south #queer #queer resources #alabama #georgia #kentucky #louisiana #mississippi #north carolina #south carolina #tennessee #virginia #west virginia

[trinimalfoyyy]

Father Malfoy- a D.M. SMUT

Synopsis: Father Malfoy shows you what biblical duties truly mean when he finds out about your engagement

Warnings: 18+ (abusive relationship, praise kink, domination, derogatory names + language, unprotected sex, cheating, restraining, power play?) religious themes

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS INSPIRED BY ANOTHER FIC ON A03 SO INSPIRATION/SIMILARITY COMES FROM THEM <3 (@Cuntoid so give them some love)

A/N: I’m backkk my little devils ;))

“It won’t change anything.”

You stare at the ground, kicking your foot in an anxious manner. Absentmindedly chewing on your fingernails as you try very hard to avoid eye contact with the person in front of you. The words repeatedly stuck in your head made you furrow your eyebrows.

“It could change a lot.”

You hear no response and take it to finally break the long eye contact with the ground to stare into his cold, lifeless, grey orbs. He’s sitting back in his chair, leg crossed onto the other yet they are still spread apart enough to see his body. One hand covers his mouth and he stares back at you hardly even blinking.

“A ring won’t undo your sins, let alone playing pretend as his wife won’t make you any less of a whore.”

The sun peeks through the curtains and lands upon the diamond ring that envelops your finger. His eyes trail down towards the ring, and you can see his jaw tense and his eyes grow in fever. Your eyes follow his to the same destination. The rainbow shadows dance along the room, and a prism of light hits his eyes just right.

"Isn't jealousy a sin, Father?"

He scoffs aloud, breaking your trance from the ring and back into his familiar eyes. "What could I possibly be jealous of? That ring may show onlookers you are claimed, but how are you even claimed? Mentally? Hardly. Spiritually?" He pauses, and the sound of your heart thumps so loud it makes the hairs on your body sit upright. "I know you aren't claimed physically, for what you wear when you visit me states otherwise doesn't it?"

You shift in your seat, not because you are nervous, no, because you know he's right. The skirts and dresses you wear make it more accessible for him. However, recently, the length begs the question of how accessible you want it to be.

He straightens his posture, folds his hands on the desk, and awaits your rebuttal, knowing it is in vain.

"I love him."

" I never said you didn't love him. I'm simply stating your sins and how they contribute to making you a whore."

You suck in a breath and try to rack that brain of a way to respond to him but to no avail. You come up with no words and soon the real anxiety sets in.

He slowly gets up and rounds his desk, stopping next to you before kneeling. Even on one knee, his figure looms over you, powers over you. His long fingers mindless dance upon your arm as his eyes reach deep into yours.

"You sound jealous...incredibly jealous."

"Yet, you come here and seek refugee in my warmth. Find ways to pay for your sins. To worship me. I know what you need, and your soon-to-be husband won't ever know you like I do."

He licks his lips and shows his canines--causing you to grip the chair. His eyes dip down to watch your motions before slowly reaching your eyes again. His hot breath tickles your arms, leaving goosebumps in its wake.

"If you were some unimportant whore from the streets, I'd congratulate you. But I've tasted...felt how your warm flesh sends me an invitation to my own demise."

The hand that laid beside him now creeps upon your thigh, making you spread your legs all without breaking focus. You suck a moan when his slender fingers reach your entrance to rub a delicious movement against your bare core but it never reaches where you wish it would. He’s teasing you, showing you how he owns you through simple games.

"Does his touch affect you so? Does a simple touch from him make you spread your legs? Does it?" You nod a no weakly, and his eyes swirl with pride. Your hand grips the chair even harder, and his teeth come into contact with your plush thighs. Nail indents would be left over from how hard his nails dug into you. Claiming you. Marking you up for him. Only him.

His hot tongue draws circles in the inner of your thighs. Right now, your heart is felt between your legs, and your mouth is watered from the attention you are receiving. You yelp as his teeth nip and bite, leaving hard marks just to go over them with his tongue.

You could feel how wet you were and almost taste it in your mouth. The smell flooded the room as his head neared your aching entrance. Butterflies filled your stomach so that your toes could curl. With little strength, you call out his name.

"F-Father."

His name was so breathy it hardly was heard. It was a mere whisper, yet it tore his actions to a halt as he looked up through his lids.

"Get up."

His voice echoed in your head as his warmth left your cold body. He waited for you to listen to him, and with shaky legs you stood up just like he asked. His nails dig shape as he pulls you around the desk, grabbing the back of your hair to drop you down.

The cold wood made your feverous body shiver as your hands scrambled to find something to hold onto. You swear you could feel the wood vibrate from how fast your heart was thumping. Cold fingers touched your waist and made you shiver from the sensation.

Suddenly you feel thankful to be at the desk and to have something hold your weak body up. "Does he ever take you on furniture or is the bed the only salvation you have encountered?"

"He...He wants to save it till marriage."

A hum followed by a pause. Another pause passes before he answers you.

"He hasn't even taken a bite out of the forbidden fruit? But, instead, he awaits it like a present wrapped in a neat little bow? Does he know I have tasted your nectar or that you aren't as innocent as you claim?"

"He doesn't know, Draco."

A harsh pull of your hair has you choking on air as he pulls your head back to the point of snapping it. His face nears yours as he growls in your ear.

"You will call me by my rightful name!"

His once cool grey eyes have daggers embedded deep within as he stares you down. Tears blur your vision as you try to answer the man but all words become gargled. Instead, you let out a whimper to signal how sorry you were to disrespect him.

His warm tongue darts from behind his canines and he licks a strip up your jugular. His other hand reaches down your dress to twist your now rock-hard nipple. A moan escapes your throat and his iron-clad grip slowly lets go of your hair.

"Apologize for your mistake slut."

"I'm-I'm sorry Father..."

A finger dances along your spine and reaches your dress before he hikes the material high enough to show him what he wants to see. Your fingers grip the desk harder in anticipation of what is to come next.

"No panties underneath? My my what a true common whore you really are!"

A brush against your now-exposed entrance has your eyes rolling to the back of your head. Rubbing through your folds, he groans at the sight of what truly wet with desire you are. A gasp and an arch in the back as his finger enters till his cold ring reaches your hole.

"Fuck...so wet for me aren't you?"

You nod so quick that your brain can't register what he actually said. The feeling was too good--the pumping action builds a band inside of you. Just a little more and it would break.

But the feeling stops suddenly as you clench around nothing. A pout reaches your features but turns back into pleasure at the sound of a belt.

His belt buckle snaps with such a delicious sound you swear you can feel it. A tap is felt on one of your cheeks and you spread your legs farther without a word even being said.

"Good girl...beg me for it."

"Please, Father! Please! Plea-oh!"

A quick slam of his thick cock has your pelvis squashed up against the wood in a painful movement. He sets out a quick pace, one that has you moaning and babbling incoherent words. Sharp quick thrusts soon turn into pleasure as your body shapes around him perfectly.

"Look at how quick your body adjusted for me. Only I can make your body twitch and shake. Let me make you mine. Let me fill you up completely."

His groans intertwine with your moans as his hand finds your neck and squeezes it. This makes you clench around him and you hear a sharp intake of air enter his lips.

His grip falters on your neck but he makes up for it by shoving his fingers deep in your mouth. His fingers fill up your mouth as much as his cock does. Salvia drips down into a puddle on the desk.

The hand on your waist is so tight you know a bruise will develop later. You could care less in fact, with the way his cock brushing your stomach makes you feel drunk. His thrusts become more erratic and that shakes the desk. He chases after his own high and could feel how close you were getting to yours.

He stops his motions and snatches his fingers from your warm mouth. His hands grip your sides and flip you on your back. You scream out as his cock slams back into you. You watch the sweat drip from his forehead as he ruts so hard.

The grip around your neck is back but much greater. You can hardly breathe and spots line your vision.

"Tell me how good it feels."

You babble words and sounds as you can feel the band starting to break. Your eyes roll to the back of your head and your legs shake with intensity.

"Yes, milk my cock! Let me fill that womb and see how fruitful you are in return."

Tears form in the corner of your eyes as his thrusts hit your now sensitive body. His thumb enters your mouth and he moans as you take in it.

Soon his thrusts become sloppy and you know how close he is. His eyebrows furrow together and his head is thrown back as he shoots white thick ropes inside your gummy walls.

His cock twitches as he rides his high, slowing down in the process. He slowly takes out his white-painted member before getting back dressed. He remains his composure and looks as if he didn't commit a sin just now. He looks back at you and then down to see his efforts drip down onto the desk.

He scoops it back up before plugging your hole with his fingers. You look up at him confused.

"We wouldn't want my efforts to just end up on the desk. No, it must stay inside you." He hums in agreement.

"What would your husband think if you were to get pregnant from my seed?" You look at him through half-lidded eyes too tired to even move.

"Would he be mad? Pissed? Surprised even?" Tears prick your eyes as you listen to him talk.

"Don't cry little dove. I have big plans for you. Very big indeed."

NFSW MASTERLIST

@orphixcc @aadoreeleanorr @his-princess01122014 @burnin-passion @superanimenatural @slytherinhoeperiodt @kinkyslytherinstuff @youreso-golden @dracosbaibe @realityblocked @saystime @agalswrittingobsession @bamb0lina-sffv @justfangirlthingies @louweasleymalfoy @erenjaegerswh0r3 @marrymetheonott @worksby-gabriella @willowmores @audrienfortuno

#♡ ˙ * ✧ ━━ not safe for work #draco malfoy #draco fanfiction #draco lucius malfoy #draco x reader #harry potter #draco x you #draco malfoy x y/n #draco malfoy x you #draco x oc #draco x y/n #draco smut

[cozage]

The Daughter's Return Part 3

Chapter 15: House Arrest

Start From Beginning | Next Chapter | Table of Contents | Read on AO3

Characters: female reader x Portgas D. Ace Word Count: 1.3k

You couldn’t look at your father. You knew he was waiting for you to look him in the eye, but you couldn’t. You were afraid you’d be stuck there forever in a stalemate. 

And then he bent down and wrapped his arms around you, and pulled you in for an embrace. 

“I know you’ve been through a lot recently,” his voice was low and comforting. “And I believe you did everything with the best intentions. So raise your head, and let’s talk.”

He pulled away from you and walked back to his office, you and Marco following closely behind him. 

When you entered the room, you found Whitey waiting for you, and she gave you a smile and a small wave. Her eyes held many questions, but she didn’t dare ask them here. 

It was just the four of you in there. You weren’t sure where the other commanders were, but they hadn’t even been on the deck to greet you. That was fine with you, you didn’t need added shame to what you already felt. 

“Let’s start from the beginning,” your father said. 

“We heard reports of Teach heading to Paradise, so we-“

“No,” he interrupted, pointing to your torso. “That beginning.”

You blushed. For a moment you had forgotten about the baby. 

“What do you want to know?” You asked. You weren’t about to give up information voluntarily. 

“How far along are you?” Your father asked. “When did you know? Who else knows?”

“I think a little over four months now,” you said. It was hard to keep track. “I haven’t had an appointment in a while, so-“

“You went to clinics?” Your father’s eyes darted to Marco and then back to you. “Which ones?”

You gave a nervous laugh. “Yes we went to clinics. I was throwing up everything I ate and then some.”

“So there are records,” Marco said softly. 

“I always used a fake name.”

Your father stared at you intensely. “Which clinics? Do you remember the doctors?”

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat. This was starting to feel more like an interrogation than a simple chat. You had expected some heat, but this was starting to get a bit much. 

“Why does it matter?” You asked. 

“Because,” your father said. “Anyone who knows about this is a risk. A big one.”

You scowled. “Shanks said something similar,” you muttered softly, more to yourself than anyone else. 

“Shanks knows?” Your father asked, and you nodded, which sparked a string of curses to fall from his mouth. 

“What the hell have you been up to in the last month?” Marco asked, looking at you with concern. 

“What’s the big deal?” You asked. You were starting to get irritated with everyone’s overreaction with every little thing. 

“That baby will never be safe if people know its heritage,” your father said. 

“Everyone knows I’m a Newgate! And I can’t exactly hide out for six more months and then come back with a newborn I ‘adopted’!”

Marco sighed. “It is Ace’s, ri-?”

“Marco!” You were infuriated he’d even think anything else. “Of course it is!”

“Okay!” Marco held his hand up in apology. “Sorry!”

“This is bad,” your father said, his eyes on your belly. “The timing couldn’t be worse.”

Tears pricked at your eyes. “I didn’t plan this, dad! I didn’t plan any of this!”

“I should’ve never let you leave this ship,” he said, shaking his head. “Now tell me where you visited clinics. We need to erase any proof you were there.”

“What are you going to do?” You asked. “They don’t know-“

“Nobody can ever know!” Your father roared. “You will die if that information ever gets out. The Navy will never stop. Never!”

“What’s the big deal?!” You screamed back. “I’m a Newgate, everybody already knows that!  The Navy will never leave me alone anyway! Just-“

“This isn’t about you!” He yelled back. His haki washed over you in waves, and you knew he was hiding something. 

Normally, his show of force didn’t bother you much. But between the baby and the sea prism, it overwhelmed you, and you fell to your knees. 

“Stop!” You screamed, tucking into a fetal position in pain. “Please stop!”

You didn’t plead often, and your father stiffened at your words. Instantly, the power receded. But you could still feel the effects tingling across your skin. 

“This isn’t about you,” your father said again, shaking his head. His voice was thick with tears.

“Pops.“ Marco interrupted. “I don’t think-“

But your father ignored Marco’s warning and continued. 

“It’s about Ace.”

“Ace?” You asked, lifting your head up slightly. You were still dazed from his haki and weren’t sure you heard him right. 

“I guess he never told you. Can’t blame him though, after I specifically asked him not to.” 

Your fathers words only confused you more. 

“Pops?” You stood up, your knees still wobbling slightly. “What are you talking about?”

“Ace is Gol Roger’s son.”

It took a moment to process what he had said. A part of you wasn’t shocked. You had known that Ace hated his father and never liked to talk about it. And yet he always seemed to understand how you felt, weighed down by living in the shadow of a powerhouse for a father. 

“I see,” you whispered, thinking back to all of the things he had said about his parents. 

Whitebeard raised his eyebrow at you, surprised by your response. 

“You don’t seem surprised,” he said. 

“I’m not.”

Marco looked at you, shocked. “You’re not?”

You shook your head. “He’s always been weird about his birth parents. I knew I needed one little piece to connect it all, and now everything makes sense.”

“So now you understand what kind of risk you’re at if the Navy finds out,” your father said. “You understand why I can’t allow you to partake in this rescue mission.”

“What?” You hissed. “No, I have to! You need all the help you can get. You can’t just keep me locked up!”

“You will not be much help in your current state,” your father said. “Use of strong and targeted Haki will knock you out. You can barely perform devil fruit abilities. You’d be more of a risk than an asset.”

You knew he was right, but the words stung. Your ability had become significantly weaker, especially over the last month. But that didn’t matter. Even weakened, you were still stronger than half the people on the ship. 

“Give me swords. I learned how to wield them in Wano.” Anything to get you on that battlefield. Anything to get you closer to Ace. 

“Absolutely not,” Marco snapped, before your father could even respond. “You’re pregnant. Even if you think it’s not a big deal, it is. We’re not putting you on a battlefield. You need checkups and rest, not sword fights and enemies.”

“Marco! That's not-“

“You may assist with the strategy leading up to it,” your father said. “During the battle, you will stay on the ship and help adjust the strategy as needed. That is all I will allow. Do not ask for more, or I will revoke it all.

“I’m placing you under Marco’s command until further notice. You will do everything Marco tells you to, and you will not complain. When Marco tells you to report for a checkup, you will do so without any nonsense. When he tells you to take medicine, you will not object. When he tells you to stop working, you will follow his orders. Is that understood?”

You could tell by his voice, there was no point in arguing. He had thought this through. And honestly, it felt like a better alternative than being thrown in a cell for a week, not knowing what was happening outside. 

“Yes sir,” you whispered. You blinked away tears, afraid of what the future would hold. 

“Do not let your spirit break yet,” your father said. “We have much to do, and if all goes well, we can pretend that this never happened.” 

But things in the pirate world never went according to plan.

--

Tag list! @taeyoge @teiza @tojislawyer @trafalgardnami @bloopbopsblog @dancingnewcat @dxestyi @flooofity @nyxthedragon01 @deadsnothere @h-rhodes1598  @morgyyyyyyy @trafalgardvivi  @fiestynatureweeb @frogpogjoghurt @beepboopcowboy @ms-portgas @luvyallbabes @appalost @zuchkaa @saybeyonce @stray-npc @kitsunechan707 @theyluvmesblog @heartysworld @aira-needs-sleep  @mothmomjay @ophelias-flowerss @aqualein @sehyojae @fanficwriter5 @forgotten-blues @amberash05 @firefistnoct @depressed-but-make-it-cute

#one piece #one piece imagine #one piece scenario #one piece x reader #one piece x you #portgas ace x you #portgas ace x reader #portgas d ace x reader #ace x y/n #ace x reader #portgas d ace #portgas d. ace #cozage #✧˚ace✧˚

[donutwatches]

MHA 2.24 - Katsuki Bakugo: Origin - part 1

Drumroll please, the match we have all been waiting for is commencing, ba-dum-tish!

Oh honey, no. You should know better than to say the words "avoid combat" to Bakugofckyourself Katsuki.

Let's be real, it would not matter what Deku said, Bakugo would snap at him no matter what. Deku could say "I love PB&J sandwiches." and he would get the exact same reaction.

Oh, Deku has HAD IT. This made me laugh way too hard

Deku: "All I said was, 'I like peanut butter and jelly', why are you yelling?! You would think childhood friends could have a real conversation about our favorite sandwiches, but noooooooo."

Deku's idolization of All Might has always walked the line between inspiring and too much. I love that this episode is bringing up the idea that his hero-worship of All Might is not 100% positive.

All Might, this is not a gift anyone wants. Deku did not put 'broken metal railing sharp enough to make my back a pincushion' on his Christmas list.

OH GOD! All Might you are not supposed to kill the kids!

ALL MIGHT, NO! Bakugo need those organs, holy sh!t. I thought Aizawa was having too much fun fighting the students, but All Might is taking, having a blast beating up these kids, to a higher level.

Bakugo, stop it, you are not allowed to be cute, damnit. It is great that he grew up admiring All Might like Deku, but took away a totally different lesson. He fixated on victory rather than helping people.

Low blow, to call Deku scum while he's down, lol. Deku's ribcage has already been crushed, he doesn't need Bakugo tossing rude names on top of it all.

It's kinda difficult to sound tough when you have a pukey face, but that isn't going to stop Bakugo from trying.

It is wild (and a bit pathetic) that Mr. Obsessed With Winning, will toss his values aside just because Deku is involved. Deku really gets under his skin, huh? I think if Bakugo did not care at all, he would not let Deku bother him so much.

Yeah, Bakugo deserved that punch. But Deku just got puke on his glove, so they both lost really.

Click here for part 2/3

Click here for the masterlist.

Taglist:

@jessiedead, @blackaquokat, @granny-griffin, @champion-prism, @hyperfixations-and-cringe

Request to be added if you want!

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #bnha #mha #anime #izuku midoriya #all might #deku #katsuki bakugo #bakugo #midoryia #yagi toshinori #puke

[lomlhwa]

you're so sweet (j.b)

pairing: highly experienced!jacob x virgin!reader

preview: you've been dating jacob for almost a year. he decides that for your one year, he wants to give you the best first time you could possibly ask for.

warnings/tags: fem reader, slight corruption kink on jacob's part, lots of pet names (baby, my love, pretty girl), taking of reader's virginity, jacob the king of consent, multiple orgasms, oral (f receiving), fingering, unprotected penetration (wrap it before you tap it), implied big dick!jacob, creampie

trigger warnings: n/a

wc: 2.8k

song recs for this fic: reason by kai, bambi by baekhyun, prism by the boyz (heavy on this one), love by dean

a/n: i've never written smut before so i hope this goes okay lmfao.

“soooo” jacob says as he walks into the living room of your shared apartment. he plops down on the couch across from you. “tomorrow’s our one year.”

you gulp. of course you remember that that’s tomorrow. not only is it a big milestone, but it will also be the culmination of everything sexual jacob had been promising you for the past week. just his words had been enough to have your thighs clenching.

when you told him you were a virgin, his eyes just about fell out of his head. his beautiful, irresistible girlfriend was a virgin? he couldn’t believe it. he thought you were lying to him. but when he found out you were serious, he realized that just meant more fun for him.

“yes, it is” you nod, giving him an awkward smile. he scans your face for discomfort or nerves. he definitely finds nerves. he gives you a small, reassuring smile.

“are you sure you still want to sleep with me for our one year anniversary, y/n?” he moves closer to you on the couch, grasping your hand. he gives it a little squeeze as if to say ‘you’re allowed to say no.’

“yes, i’m sure cobie” you give his hand a squeeze back. you trust your boyfriend to give you an unforgettable first time. he had done nothing but make you feel good about yourself since you started dating which made you all the more confident in his abilities to make you feel the same in bed.

“okay, good. i’ve been thinking about it all week” he sighs out of relief. as if you didn’t know he’d been thinking about it. you roll your eyes, removing your hand from his. 

“i have one question that you need to answer right now so i can finalize my plans” he says, giving you his biggest and best-est puppy dog eyes. “what is it?” you give him a weird look. what could he be asking you that required his puppy eyes?

his eyes turn dark and he smirks a little. “baby…” he pauses, mostly just for effect. “condom or no condom?”

your face immediately burns bright red. you fan yourself, turning away from him. like, props to him for being less vulgar about asking but if he had straight up asked you if wanted it raw, you would’ve had this exact reaction. 

“i uh, um. n-no condom?” of course you had to stutter through your words. you hear your boyfriend curse under his breath. it was so breathy and low that you could feel your thighs aching to press together.

“okay, thank you, baby” he gets up and walks away. he leaves you flustered and aching. unfortunately for you, that’s exactly what he wanted. building up the tension and excitement for tomorrow was his plan from the moment he walked in. 

the next night…

jacob had bribed your friend to take you shopping for the day so he could prepare the perfect environment in your apartment. he had even given you his card to spend his money. 

well, your shopping spree had come to end and now here you were. standing outside the door of your apartment. nerves had taken you over when you got in the elevator. it’s not that you didn’t want to sleep with him, you do. but having zero experience compared to your ex-fuckboy boyfriend scared you. 

you debated turning around and putting it off a little longer but the voice in your head told you to just trust him. if anything, him having so much experience might just be better.

you knock on the door as he had instructed you to do this morning. you heard some shuffling and what you assumed, based on his pained groan, was your beloved boyfriend running into something. 

your heart beats loudly in your ears as you hear the lock open and see the knob twist. you’re met with your impossibly beautiful boyfriend greeting you. he’s wearing a white dress shirt that’s slightly wet from what you assume is baby oil based on its glistening sheen. his black dress pants hang low on his hips, his belt having been long discarded. his brown hair is disheveled as clear evidence of his hard work through the day. 

he stands in the door, taking in your nervous frame. your friend had managed to borderline manipulate you into buying and wearing a dress that barely left anything to the imagination. you could feel his eyes undressing you. 

“h-hi” you say, your voice barely above a whisper. “c-can i come i-in?” your arms are aching from all of your bags filled with your many unnecessary purchases from the mall. he moves out of the way, gesturing for you to come inside. 

you place your bags down on the floor, leaning down to take your heels off at the same time. you turn back around to face your boyfriend. the air around you feels impossibly heavy as you look up at him. 

you just stand and stare at each other for a moment before jacob says his first words to you since you got here. “are you ready, baby?” his eyes scan up and down your body for the millionth time.

“yes, i am ready” you nod. at that verbal and physical confirmation, jacob’s self restraints immediately fall away. 

he grabs you by the waist, pulling you flush against him. he ghosts his lips over yours. his tongue licks over your top lip teasingly. he only teases you for a short time before pulling you further into your home. 

“i’m going to cover your eyes and help you walk. there’s one last surprise” he says as his hands obscure your vision completely. he helps you walk carefully towards your bedroom, kicking the door open from behind you. 

you hear the door click shut as he gets you fully into the room. his hands fall away and you open your eyes slowly.

your bedroom is decorated beautifully. fairy lights of different sizes hang on the wall, all on their red light setting. jacob had bought brand new, maroon colored bed sheets for tonight and they are gorgeous. he has towels on the side table just in case. unbeknownst to you, he also has a stash of condoms just in case you change your mind about him going in unprotected. a couple candles rest on your shared dresser. as your nose fills with their aroma, you find out they’re all cherry blossom scented. 

jacob’s hands come up to rest on your hips. his mouth hovers next to your ear, making you shiver. 

“i’m gonna ask once more before we start” he blows lightly on your ear before placing a small kiss on the lobe. “are you ready?”

a chill runs up your spine as he squeezes your waist. are you ready? are you really? you contemplate one last time before giving your final answer. 

"yes."

jacob spins you around and attaches your lips to his for real this time. you’ve kissed him many times before but something about this one felt… different.

 the way his fingers drew small shapes on the small of your back made you feel tingly. 

he slowly backs you up towards your bed until he could safely lay you down. you shuffle your way all the way onto the bed, jacob’s lips chasing yours as he hovers above you. he does nothing but smash your lips together for a few moments.

when he finally pulls away, a string of saliva remains, leaving you connected. he takes in your appearance. your hair messed up from shuffling around, your lips swollen from kissing him so harshly, your dress riding up in the most delicious way. 

“can i take this off?” his fingertips graze the hem of your short dress. huffing out a deep breath, you nod. “yes, you can.” 

he pulls the hem towards your head. you sit up slightly so he can slide it all the way off your body. you mentally thank your manipulative best friend for getting you to buy lingerie to wear under such an already sexy dress.

when jacob’s eyes meet with your lace-y, deep red bralette, he just about drools. his girlfriend had really gone through all this trouble to get all dolled up. for him. 

the tent in his pants grows every second he stares at you. you squirm under his lustful gaze, a silent beg for him to do something. anything. 

“cobie, please” you whine out. he gives you a fake pout in response.

“please what, my love?” he ghosts his fingers down your sides, leaving goosebumps in his wake. “you have to use your words.”

you shift around, trying to move enough to close your legs for some friction. jacob stops you, however. he grabs your legs and pulls you back against him, pressing into your clothed core.

“touch me, please” you whine again, your hips lifting to grind against him. your sudden movement shocks him, a low groan slipping from his lips. the sound goes straight between your legs, making your panties stick to you uncomfortably. 

his hands slide down to the safety shorts you’d worn under your dress. his fingertips dip under the waistband. he looks up at you for permission. you nod, licking your suddenly dry lips. he slides the shorts down and all the way off your body. 

his eyes immediately fall to your panties which match your bralette. he shifts uncomfortably, cursing his choice of pants. he really just wants to rip the rest of your clothes off and take you immediately, but he reminds himself to take it slow. 

your hands come up and fumble with the buttons on his shirt, being too shaky to actually undo any of them. he gently moves your hands away and gives you a questioning look, knowing exactly what you want but wanting you to say it out loud. 

“off, please” he giggles at your cuteness. he undoes all the buttons and slides the shirt off, dropping it onto the floor. you slide your hands over his toned torso, taking in his figure. you were right about the sheen on his shirt being baby oil. his skin has a slippery feeling. you’ve seen him shirtless many times, but this time it’s different.

“my love…” his voice is breathy and sexy, a whisper in your ear. you sigh as he presses kisses onto your neck, just under your ear. “won’t you let me taste you?” 

your back instinctively arches at the thought. he licks a stripe up your neck, kissing back down the trail of saliva he left on your skin. 

“yes, please, taste me” your own voice is unstable and full of lust. “please, cobie” your chest rises and falls faster by the minute. you think you might die if he doesn’t do something to you soon.

he kisses his way down your torso, leaving a few dark love bites in places no one else will see but him. high pitched moans get stuck in your throat the closer he gets to your wetness. 

he pushes your legs open as he settles between them. he places small pecks up and down your inner thighs, teasing just a little more. he kisses your heat over your panties, drawing a sharp gasp out of you. 

he opens his mouth to ask for your permission to take the final barrier off and you glare at him. “yes, jacob, do it, please.” he chuckles a little before dragging your panties off of you painfully slowly.

he drops your final garment onto the floor of your bedroom. you waste no time to close your legs, embarrassment only just now hitting you. jacob drags his fingers up and down your legs, pouting at you. "i can't taste you if you close your legs, baby." 

shakily, you reopen your legs, splaying yourself open for your eager lover. he begins kissing your thighs again before placing a kiss on your folds. you shiver at every touch of his lips on your skin. 

he licks a stripe all the way up, his tongue coming to rest on your swollen clit. he wraps his mouth around it and sucks lightly, knocking the wind right out of you. he wraps his arms around your thighs and pulls you closer to him.

he eats you like you’re his final meal and he’ll never be able to eat something as delicious as you ever again. your legs shake around his head as his tongue ducks in and out of your weeping hole. 

out of nowhere he shoves his index finger into you, slowly moving it in and out. it’s a stark contrast to his desperate sucking on your sensitive nub. you whine, shifting to try and get away as you become more sensitive.

he grants you the gift of another finger, beginning a merciless pace with his hand and mouth. he whines into you, the vibrations sending a shiver through your spine.

your hands tangle in your boyfriend’s soft brown locks and tug slightly. he releases another whine at the sensation. 

“c-cobie i’m gonna-” he looks up at you with a knowing look. he keeps his exact ministrations going, watching as you come undone for him. you cum with a loud cry of jacob’s name, your grip on his hair falling away.

he pulls away from you, moving up to make eye contact with you. he admires your fucked-out expression. the after orgasm effects still wash over you by the second. 

“are you ready for the next part, pretty girl?” he brushes your hair out of your face gently. you lean into his hand and nod. “yes, please, jacob” your words are breathy and desperate.

he wastes no time in stripping from the remainder of his clothes, it all being discarded on your plush carpet. “no condom?” he asks, stroking himself in preparation. he didn’t allow you to look down in fear of intimidating you out of wanting to let him fuck you. 

“n-no condom” you repeat. he’s gripping your chin to keep your eyes locked with his. you’re really trembling now, but it’s anxious nerves now.

he momentarily looks down to line himself up. his tip brushes your hole and a low moan escapes his throat. he looks back into your eyes and slowly pushes into you, bottoming out between your shaky legs.

“j-jacob fuck” you pull him down to wrap your arms around his shoulders and dig your nails into his shoulder blades. you don’t press down too hard, though. just enough to ground yourself.

for a few moments, you remain like this. fully connected. his chest pressed against yours, skin meeting with each breath you each take. his hands rest on your hips, his light grip feels so loving.

“please move” you whisper, breaking the silence just a little. he rises from your grip on his back. he angles himself better before drawing all the way out to the tip before slamming back into you. you gasp, your breathing immediately picking up.

he sets a steady pace, his tip prodding at the gummy spot inside of you repeatedly. you reach out to hold his face in both your hands, his sweat dripping onto your fingers. your thumbs caress his cheeks, admiring how his face contorts with his movements. you look at him with so much love he could cry. 

he leans down to kiss your neck, licking droplets of your own sweat off of you. “fuck, baby. you’re so good for me” his voice booms in your head, his words bouncing around. “letting me take your virginity? fuck, baby i’m so happy right now” he rests his face in the crook of your neck for a moment before coming back up. 

your back arches deliciously, his pounding reaching into at a different angle. you clench around him suddenly, almost sending him over the edge. however, he manages to keep himself together. his goal is to get you to finish first.

he reaches down and rubs your clit, high pitched moans escaping your mouth. you reach down to hold his wrist, the knot in your stomach threatening to snap at any moment. 

“gonna cum, please give me cum” you whine, clenching again. he nods his head vigorously. “cum for me baby and i’ll give you what you want” at his words, you fall apart, twitching and squirming as he chases his own high.

his hips still, spilling his seed into you, painting your walls white. he pants, brushing his hair out of his eyes. your mouth hangs open as you come down from your second orgasm of the night.

he slowly pulls out of you. he marvels at the sight of his cum spilling out of you. he gets up and grabs a towel to wipe you off. he puts his boxers and a shirt on before passing you your own underwear and one of his shirts to wear. 

he helps you get under the blankets and holds you close to him. he strokes your hair, yawning. “so, how was it?” he asks, wrapping his arm around your waist to bring you closer.

“amazing, cobie. beyond my expectations” you kiss his pouted lips softly, smiling at him. he gives you a bright, toothy smile back. 

“happy anniversary, baby.”

© lomlhwa 2023

#lomlhwa #the boyz #tbz #jacob bae #jacob smut #the boyz smut #tbz smut #jacob bae smut

[littlemonday]

The Emperor, The Ending, and that IGN Article

Note: This analysis was originally written and posted on the Larian forums for Baldur's Gate 3. You can find the original forum post here. This analysis includes a number of outside links to other posts I made on the Larian forums as well as the IGN article I'm referencing through out. If you choose to read the original forum post, I have a number of responses through out the thread. You'll recognize which responses are mine because I use the same name on the forums as I do here - LittleMonday.

This analysis first looks at the ending choices in the game, then transitions into a character analysis of The Emperor. Approximately 3,800 words. Lots of spoilers.

Let me first start out by saying that I love this game. It would be entirely unfair to say that this game is anything less than a triumph. The level of skill that goes into a collaborative process such as the making of a video game with a rich story, compelling characters, complex morality, beautiful animation, and an immersive environment is something that should not be hand-waved away. I’ve enjoyed hundreds of hours playing this game. Having said all of that, here’s (yet another) post of “we need to talk about the ending.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the recent-ish IGN interview with game director Swen Vincke and lead writers Adam Smith and Chrystal Ding, you can find it here. I’ll be focusing on their section of the interview concerning The Emperor and the end game choices.

LOTS AND LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD.

Let’s talk about the critical decision of siding with Orpheus or The Emperor.

I know a lot of people have pointed out that The Emperor joining the Netherbrain in the end if you side with Orpheus makes no sense, and I think it both does and doesn’t. He has always wanted freedom, and it’s almost certain that the moment he leaves the astral prism without Orpheus’ protection, he’ll be enthralled whether he’s willing or not. The explanation given in the article by Swen and Adam, as well as The Emperor in game, as “survival” feels like a 180 when his ultimate goal has been freedom. Why they chose not to focus on the fact that it’s game over for him as far as his autonomy under this circumstance is puzzling. Which brings me to my next point.

One of my biggest problems with the ending is how contrived the choices are. Along with The Emperor’s 180 mentioned above, Swen and Adam (Chrystal doesn’t say much) seem to have rigidly held on to this plot contrivance of choosing to become a monster, and in doing so, forces a binary ending whether it works within the narrative and gameplay or not.

Swen - “One of the basic questions of the game was whether you would become a monster if it would save the world. So that’s where you get that in that moment. And then the interesting bit was, well, if you’re not going to do it, are you going to ask someone else to do it, or [are] you just going to say, ‘F*ck everybody?’ That’s essentially what that moment was.”

Adam - “There was no way to save the city, save the world without giving up your own identity.”

The thing about a binary choice is that it only works if there truly are no other options available, however, the player has a lot more power and leverage in this situation than the game is willing to let them have. The Emperor wants his freedom and will be enthralled voluntarily or otherwise if he leaves the astral prism and cedes power to Orpheus. It’s also worth mentioning that when you help him defeat the Honour Guard, there’s an option to ask him about assimilating Orpheus, to which he answers that it may not work. So, assimilating is a big risk, and should it fail, he’s back to being a thrall.

Then there’s Orpheus. He cannot leave the astral prism without the players freeing him with the Orphic Hammer and cannot take on the Netherbrain unless he or someone else turns into an illithid. The player has leverage against The Emperor to persuade and/or intimidate him to join with Orpheus, and they also have leverage against Orpheus for the same thing. The whole speech Orpheus gives about how the player should have let his Honour Guard kill them and they would have taken on the Elder Brain before it evolved and became a Netherbrain is either a lie or delusion. You don’t even need to metagame to know this, yet the player has zero dialogue available to call Orpheus on this claim. He and his Honour Guard have been imprisoned in the astral prism for millennia with no means of escape, and no way of impacting the outside world. They weren’t going to stop anything, and yet, through the dialogue choices, the game treats this as though it were a given and that The Emperor held all the cards and kept this from you. He didn’t. He truly is the reason you’re alive to face the Netherbrain. Given the gravity of being on the cusp of The Grand Design, calling Orpheus on the impotence of him and his Honour Guard, and also potentially being under threat of having his brain consumed if he does not cooperate, there is plenty to leverage against Orpheus to get him to at least temporarily ally with the player and The Emperor. If you’ve struck a deal with Voss, you have even more leverage.

Beyond the other options that I believe should be available, I don’t think becoming a monster or “f*ck everybody” comes through in the ending at all. It seems like they expect players to side with Orpheus when there are plenty of role play reasons to side with The Emperor, and then no one has to become a monster, and you still save the city. The Githyanki aren’t even doomed under this ending just like they’re not doomed if Orpheus transforms and dies in the end so he doesn’t live as a mind flayer. If anything, the theme of freedom, autonomy, and alliances, I thought, came through more strongly, both with defeating the Netherbrain and with the companion quests. Under this theme, an option to persuade/intimidate Orpheus and The Emperor to work together actually makes more sense because they have to put aside their hatred for one another to accomplish the same goal of defeating the Netherbrain and obtaining their freedom. The intention seems to have been for the player to make a significant personal sacrifice to save the world, but I just don’t think that it was executed particularly well.

I think this is a good time to say that authorial intent should never be the end of one’s analysis of a text. If an author/director/writer/artist/creator tells you what their intention was, it doesn’t mean the text supports that. We don’t always execute something we create the way we intended to.

And that brings me to the next thing I want to discuss.

Let’s talk about The Emperor as a character.

I want to start out by saying that The Emperor is my favorite character. I enjoy a compelling and nuanced monster that subverts our expectations, and I think The Emperor provides a lot of that while also not living up to his full potential. I’ve already written a post on this forum regarding why I think we need to have a fully fleshed-out romance for The Emperor that you can read here. I’ll be focusing on his writing for this. I wrote at length about what I enjoy about the character in another thread on this forum, that you can find here, but I’ll include a quote:

“What’s unique about The Emperor is how he subverts our expectations. Yes, he’s manipulative, but he never mind controls you. He’s this supposedly asexual creature, yet he’s sexually interested in the player character and is heavily coded as a romantic male lead. He’s also supposed to be this heartless and soulless creature, but expresses care for the player character, and if you romance him, he’s sweet, vulnerable, and sincere. He’s supposed to be part of this hive mind, yet he wants his freedom and actively encourages the player character to form alliances to defeat the Netherbrain. He needs to feed off the brains of others, but avoids the innocent. He may want the player character to change into an illithid, but he leaves that choice entirely to you. He’s alien, yet very human and desires allies and companionship.”

I was under the impression from this interview that Swen largely sees The Emperor as a plot device, while the writers saw him as a character, even if he has a specific purpose in the narrative. There’s even a very awkward part of the interview in which Adam refers to The Emperor as “he,” quickly corrects himself to refer to him as “they,” only for Swen to insist that The Emperor is an “it,” even saying that “we often had this fight” when referring to his pronouns. I personally think that’s a bit revealing, though you may disagree.

For additional context, Swen, Adam, and Chrystal all agree that The Emperor is manipulative and self-serving, but that he never lies to you. Swen will later reiterate this very point when talking about Raphael:

Swen - “Raphael… a lot of what he says you can’t trust, but he is honest. And at one point, if you push him on it, he says, ‘All you are to The Emperor is a pack animal that’s carrying him to where he needs to be.’”

There’s another awkward exchange in which Adam speaks to The Emperor being terrified of going back to the Elder Brain. Swen then remarks:

Swen - “he’s not really terrified he doesn’t have that level of emotion.”

Adam - “Well, yeah, but I think that there’s a level of horror in being… Going back to what he escaped from.”

Now with all of that context laid out, I think his manipulative nature is pretty uncontroversial in the game’s text. He is self-serving - he doesn’t really hide that from you - he speaks in partial truths, and you are a means to an end. At least at first. And, this is where I think he becomes a more complex character whether Swen realizes it or not.

As a side note on how he manipulates the player: there’s this strange bit of dialogue with The Emperor in which you can call him on the fact that he’s hidden information from you throughout your entire alliance, and he responds by acknowledging that, saying that he purposefully lead you to believe that the githyanki Honour Guard were evil beings. I don’t recall this at all. He tells you that they would have killed you because to them you are already illithid, which is all true. It’s a strange bit of dialogue in the end that doesn’t follow what’s been established in the game.

That aside, I’ve heard many people hand-wave away all of his behavior as insincere and solely for the purpose of manipulating the player, however, I think that’s, at best, a shallow reading of the text. He may be manipulating the player character, but that’s hardly the only thing going on, where a character like Raphael is truly only manipulating the player character. In the interview, Swen, Chrystal, and Adam all say that he doesn’t lie, however, I think a more precise way of saying that based on what we see in the game, is that he doesn’t fabricate lies. He doesn’t make up a lie out of whole cloth, but rather omits information that he doesn’t think is relevant, or that doesn’t serve his purpose. Perhaps the most infamous example of this is his relationship with Belynne. As long as you remain on good terms with The Emperor, he frames their relationship as two allies working towards a common goal in The Knights of The Shield. However, if you become hostile, provoke, and dehumanize him, he reveals that Belynne was his unwilling thrall.

I’m hardly the first to point out that this cutscene is a bit suspicious. The timing of such a reveal and The Emperor framing it as “why hide” or “will this make you feel better” is an obvious threat to someone who seems likely to betray you the moment they can. The cutscene also has The Emperor casually revealing his identity to someone other than Belynne, much to this unnamed person’s horror. That is already out of line with how he conducts himself. After her death, we can have this interesting conversation with The Emperor in which he further discusses his relationship with her. With hindsight, it’s obvious that when he says their relationship “was not love” it was “deeper,” and that it was “unique,” he is referring to when she was his thrall. But, he also reveals in some dialogue options that she understood his needs, his desire for freedom, and that she didn’t trust a mind flayer at first, suggesting that she wasn’t initially his thrall. He even describes himself as being “haunted” by memories of her. We don’t know exactly what memories are haunting him, but we do know that the dialogue option with the thrall cutscene, he says to the pc “aren’t you glad I finessed my methods?” Even when he calls you his puppet, at no point in the game will he enthrall you or your party members.

It’s worth mentioning that it is well within DnD lore that mind flayers grow attached to their thralls and mourn their passing, but we later find documents in the game, one from a physician, that when The Emperor came to visit Belynne as her condition progressed, that it eased her “body and mind.” We also find a document suggesting that he was impersonating her through magic as one eye witness account described a floating blue figure, but that it turned out to just be Belynne smiling. I bring all this up because what I believe we’re seeing here is an incomplete portrait of their relationship. I think it suggests that they were once genuine allies before he enthralled her, and that he’s mourning more than just her passing, but also the deterioration of their relationship. I think this also helps to explain why he never enthralls the pc, even if it would mean preventing them from taking some very dangerous paths that jeopardize their mission. The Emperor is an unreliable narrator who speaks in partial truths, so I don’t believe that either version of their relationship you get from him is the whole truth, but is not entirely false either. This game very often takes a more-than-meets-the-eye approach to characters and storylines, so this is well within what we have come to expect from this game. She may have been a means to an end on some level, but she was hardly only a means to an end.

As far as that strange comment from Swen that The Emperor “does not have that level of emotion,” we actually feel his fear regarding the Elder Brain as it’s breaking free from the crown’s control. If the pc romances him, we literally feel that he cares for the pc, and in some interactions of this scene he’ll tell the pc that he enjoys their mind, and refers to their relationship as a bond of love. Before the final battle, one of the NPCs invokes Balduran’s name right before battle, and if you’ve allied with The Emperor, you feel his amusement that they have no idea who he once was. There’s even that scene with the Guardian at the beginning of Act 2 in which a successful insight check reveals that he is hiding the depth of his pain. I know there’s that note that The Emperor left for Ansur about no longer feeling his feelings, but he clearly does feel. He even describes the grief he feels over Belynne as “not entirely unwelcome.” The Emperor is an arrogant and prideful character, and he doesn’t seem to be entirely self aware as to his own humanity because he sees himself, as a mind flayer, to be superior.

For most endings, The Emperor will just depart after defeating the Netherbrain, much like the other companions who also go their separate ways. So, I don’t think this is necessarily an indication that the pc was merely a means to an end. However, (big spoilers here) there are two endings in which he does reveal his feelings for the pc. In a solo ending in which the pc doesn’t transform, he’ll tell them “you have become… important to me. And should our paths cross again, I will be glad to see you.” There’s also an ending where, if the pc transforms into an illithid, he will ask to stay together to rebuild the Knights of the Shield. There’s an option to tell him to think bigger, at which point he’ll say to them “Have I ever told you how much I enjoy you? Lead the way…”

I also want to note that right before the above mentioned exchange with The Emperor, the Narrator has a line that in being a mind flayer, all your companions become tools or food, but then contrasts that with:

“Perhaps you are unique among illithid-kind. Perhaps you will retain enough of who you are to resist your nature. A rogue mind flayer. Like The Emperor.”

This is a pretty straightforward acknowledgement that The Emperor does have the capacity for relationships beyond mere tools for his use.

All this is to say that there seems to be some genuine relationship building with The Emperor, which makes it, in some ways, more strange that he’s so quick to abandon the player and join the Netherbrain should you choose to free Orpheus. Many players have noted that trust is one way with The Emperor, and if that’s the angle Swen and the writers were going with him, then why have The Emperor demonstrate trust in the pc’s leadership? Yes, there are moments in the game in which he admonishes the pc, disagrees with them, attempts to persuade them away from a decision, hell even probes their mind if they lie to him about the meeting with Raphael, but he’s actually very reasonable when it comes to the pc’s autonomy and decision making. If you save the Grove, he’ll even compliment you on your leadership. He’s so hands off in so many ways, but when he does interject about certain quests like the Crèche, Ansur, or The House of Hope, those are extraordinarily dangerous quests that risk everything. They risk you, him, and anyone left behind to be subjected to the Grand Design, but he never stops you. He actually does demonstrate a lot of trust in the pc even if they’re not the most reliable at times.

I said earlier that I think the intended ending was to have the player join with Orpheus, then the pc, or one of the companions turns into an illithid. This requires a sacrifice and sets up this dramatic encounter with The Emperor in which he rides in on a red dragon and summons your dream guardians to fight you. This could have been a powerful moment, however, I think it largely falls flat when you have this forced binary decision with a character, who may be unlikable, but is actually pretty reasonable throughout. If you’ve romanced The Emperor, or are at least on friendly terms, this binary ignores the prior relationship development of the pc being more than a means to an end by not at least allowing for some kind of exchange and option for striking an alliance.

But, let’s just say you have romanced The Emperor, but the twist is that you are merely a means to an end. Well, that’s not clearly laid out either. There’s no moment to confront him, and the only acknowledgment of an intimate relationship comes when he castigates the pc and reminds them that they didn’t “reject” him, but “enjoyed” him. (If anything, that implies you used him). He just leaves and that's that. Along with everything I laid out earlier, it’s not so much a twist, as it’s incomplete writing. This isn’t even the only example of incomplete writing. Remember how your companions were able to witness your night with The Emperor but no one said anything the next morning? The so-called fix was to have The Emperor wipe their memories without any regard for the implications. The pc doesn’t have a dialogue option regarding such an action, and the only vague textual clue that this is something he does is that he may have done some memory manipulation with Belynne’s doctor. However, the doctor can still recall a lot of details of The Emperor’s visits, she just has trouble recalling his appearance. He either doesn’t or can’t completely erase her memory of his visits, even though she finds him suspicious and erasing her memory entirely might be safer for him to do. Other than that, it’s just the one line he speaks that was thrown into the game a couple of patches in. Even then the companions still don’t react to the “enjoyed me” line, or the “fornicated with a mind flayer” line if you side with Orpheus. We love hearing our companions react, so why not have that in there? It would certainly be more entertaining at the very least.

Whether these inconsistencies come down to creative differences between Swen and the two lead writers is speculation. No one was in the writing room with any of them, but this interview was, nonetheless, enlightening in some respects. I do hope that at some point The Emperor can be a fully realized character, and one that’s in line with the depth he is given in the game. And I would hope that would go along with additional ending choices that better reflect the narrative that comes before that crucial decision. A binary choice like the one we currently have doesn’t work for many playthroughs, even if it may work for some. I would like to see that someday reflected in our final choices.

Lastly, while I’ve laid out a fair amount of criticism in this post, my intention was not to cynically nitpick every inconsistency. I even deleted some things I originally planned on including here, because I realized that not all plot contrivances actually weaken the story. I want to repeat that I still love this game, and when I say it’s a triumph, I do sincerely mean that. I know all too often fans may request changes to the game or characters as a sort of wish fulfillment, but those changes would ultimately end up undermining the narrative or themes. I’ve tried my best to avoid that here, and I hope I have.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #the emperor #the emperor bg3 #media criticism #media analysis #spoilers #baldurs gate 3

[tenebraevesper]

Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic Prime, Character Analysis - Part 3)

Welcome back to Part 3 of my character analysis, now focusing not only on Shadow, but also on Sonic! This part will be only covering the second half of Episode 09: Avoid the Void, as there is a lot to talk about. I had also realized that I probably could've just breezed through the episode, but instead, I had the urge to put these two hedgehogs under a microscope because they are so fascinating to talk about.

Let's dive in!

After realizing just how bad the consequences of his actions were and how Ghost Hill came to be, Sonic wonders how he should fix things. Shadow just sighs and tells Sonic to follow him, leading him back to the cave where the Paradox Prism was.

The first thing to note here is Sonic's body language as they arrive at the cave. At first, he seems to be ready to confront whatever is awaiting him, only for his expression to fall and he seems to be a bit lost in his thoughts, clearly reluctant to enter the cave. He understands what he had done and he is not ready to confront his past actions... at least, not until Shadow calls his name.

''Sonic!''

Shadow doesn't sound angry in this scene. It is more as if he's just trying to draw Sonic's attention to get him to move. I'm certain that Sonic would've stood in front of the cave for ages before even going inside, probably trying to come up with some excuse not to have to do this.

We see Sonic being quite unsure of this, holding his arm in comfort as he approaches the cave slowly, with Shadow patiently waiting for him. He clearly doesn't want to be here, especially since he doesn't know what to expect.

As Sonic walks into the cave, we also see Shadow briefly glancing at Sonic's shoes, which are reacting to the remaining Shard of the Paradox Prism, which is just more foreshadowing for what is about to happen.

Shadow then turns his gaze back to Sonic, who stares in grief at the lone Paradox Prism Shard within the cave, joining him a moment later. I think there is something quite telling about this scene. Shadow actually gives Sonic a moment to process everything, leaving him to contemplate in silence. There are no comments, no fighting, nothing... just silence. I do have a bit more to say about this moment, but I will leave those thoughts for a scene in Episode 17: Grim Tidings.

''I would do anything to be back...'' ''Home.'' *pauses* ''There is a chance.''

After Sonic has a flashback to the moment he shattered the Paradox Prism, he wishes for nothing more but to be back... home, as Shadow finishes for him. I do love that Shadow is the one who says ''Home'' here, showing not only that he understands Sonic's grief, but again, he acknowledges Green Hill as his own home as well. He then slightly lowers his gaze, having a contemplative look, before telling Sonic that there is a chance.

One thing I love about Shadow here is how he actually gives Sonic hope that there is a way to fix things. He doesn't just confront him with the harsh reality, but is also very patient with him, giving him time to process things, before explaining that there is indeed a way to fix things.

The two then dash to the Ghost Paradox Prism, with Shadow explaining how every Shattespace contains a Shard, creating a distorted version of their reality, meaning that the Shard in Ghost Hill is the real one.

''Exactly.'' *Sonic slowly reaches for the Shard* ''Don't!'' ''I wasn't going to touch it! I was just pointing at it to tell you not to touch it!''

Honestly, this little exchange had me chuckling. Once again, Shadow knows Sonic too well, just closing his eyes and moving on, not even caring about Sonic's lame excuse.

Instead, he reveals his plan to Sonic, pointing out how the Ghost Paradox Prism shows them how the other Shards need to be placed and that bringing them together would fix their reality, with Sonic interrupting him, agreeing that this plan would work.

Note Shadow's expression here as Sonic starts speaking. He is frowning and gritting his teeth. I may have had said that Shadow was probably on the fence on whether to let Sonic help him, but I think that in this moment, especially when Sonic starts talking about Nine, he has made the decision to find the Shards on his own.

''No!'' ''No?'' ''No!'' ''Why 'No'? I just said he's like super smart.'' ''He can't be trusted.'' ''What are you talking about? Of course he can! He's just like Tails! He's just a little... angsty, that's all.'' ''No, he's not Tails. He's Nine, and they're not your real friends!'' ''Dude, he's real! This is his reality! And you know what else is real? Nine's tech on my kicks and punching sticks. So back up off Nine!'' *growls*

Honestly, there is a lot to say about this dialogue. First of all, while Sonic defending Nine is very admirable, Shadow isn't wrong in saying that Nine is not Tails, nor that he is real. From a logical standpoint, Nine really is not Tails, but his own person. He is Nine, and he was created as a Shatterspace Variation of Tails' personality, the part of him that seeks emotional validation. Shadow understands that, but Sonic does have a point that Nine is indeed real, although Nine would be real in the sense that his existence is tied to the New Yoke Shatterverse.

Also, note how Shadow doesn't continue the argument, just growling in frustration when he sees that Sonic has his mind set on Nine being just like his Tails. The conversation then continues.

*sighs* ''Okay, look, what matters now is that I get the Shards. I'll bring them back here, and then we-'' ''That's not the plan.'' ''Dude, not the plan? I'm totally confused. I thought a moment ago you said-'' ''Sonic, you literally broke our world. Why would I trust you to do anything?'' ''Okay, I can see how you might think that-'' *gets knocked back by Shadow, hitting a wall* ''Ugh.'' ''Your turn is over. I'm taking the tech and I'm going after the Shards myself.'' ''No way Shadow! I know what you're capable of and that's not gonna happen! Nine and all the rest of them are real! So the only way you're taking my tech is over my dead-'' *gets attacked by Shadow into a wall, groans in pain* ''You could've at let me finish what I was going to say!''

Now, there is a lot to unpack here, especially when it comes to Shadow. He now believes that Sonic cannot be trusted with gathering the Shards, making it his personal mission to do it himself. I don't think his lack of trust in Sonic's abilities is just because of Sonic shattering the Paradox Prism, but also because of Sonic's trust in Nine, a person Shadow is clearly paranoid about.

Sonic protests, and his words ''I know what you're capable of'' hold a lot of weight when you know Shadow's backstory. Sonic is not just saying that he knows that Shadow would beat up anyone who stands in his way, but pointing reminding both himself and the audience that, if Shadow is motivated enough, he's capable of destroying the world.

He then gets interrupted by Shadow, who doesn't even talk back. This is another aspect of Shadow's character, as once he is done with all the explanations, he is all business and once he is focused on a mission, he has no time for small talk. If Sonic wants to stop him, he will have to fight.

What follows next is one of the best fights of Sonic Prime, and you can't change my mind about that. I will highlight some moments of the fight, because you can actually see that there is some strategy behind it.

''That's one! Three to go.'' *puts tech on his hand* ''Want it back? Come and get it!''

When Shadow gets punched by Sonic, he actually manages to bite the tech off his hand, which is actually genius. Not only that, but he actually is the one to start goading Sonic into fighting him. During their last fight, Shadow was mostly silent, trying to stop Sonic, but now? Now he's going all out.

As a matter of fact, you can actually see him smile several times during the fight as he baits Sonic into attacking him and dodges his moves. It is very brief, but it shows another side of Shadow - he enjoys fighting Sonic, and from what we have seen earlier in the show, Sonic also enjoys fighting Shadow.

There is a reason why Sonic has called him his biggest rival, several reasons in fact. Shadow is the only one who can keep up with Sonic, both in speed and fighting skills, and both enjoy fighting each other (whether the fate of the world is at stake or not). In short, he and Sonic aren't that different, and I will explain that in a moment, but let's just enjoy these two beating each other up.

If you know Shadow, you will know that this pose is a reference.

Drowning selfie!

Anyways, to recap what happened until now, Sonic chases Shadow to the beach, where Shadow manages to get two more pieces of his tech, before throwing him into the water (Sonic's weakness, as he cannot swim) and then grabbing the fourth piece of the tech. As Shadow swims away, Sonic manages to grab the tech on Shadow's shoes, something Shadow doesn't notice.

He is about to walk away, when Sonic shows off the tech he snagged away, much to Shadow's shock. *chuckles* Dude, you're really underestimating your rival!

Honestly, I just love how expressive Shadow gets during the fight. He is always seen with a scowl, but now we see a wider range of expressions and emotions from him, and it is glorious.

The fight continues, and we even get a scene of Shadow using Sonic as a surfing board (Sonic Riders reference?), and it is just fun following these two in their high-speed chase. Shadow eventually manages to get back the tech pieces from Sonic, putting the last one on with quite a lot of flair (I wish I could post the screenshots of that, but again, Tumblr has a limit of how many images you can put in one post).

*breathes heavily* ''One left... Come at me, bro!'' ''Nah, I'm good.'' *shows off stolen tech* ''Huh?! No!'' ''So long, Sonic! See you back home.''

I absolutely love this scene! Shadow doesn't just leave, but stays for a moment to rub it into Sonic's face that he won. It is so hilarious, but also so in character! Shadow can have fun when he wants to, although this usually involves Sonic in some form *hears the Sonadow fans screaming in glee* *stares at the rest of the audience* What, I am right, aren't I? Did you see him act like this around anyone else (in Sonic Prime, I'm not talking about the games)?

This is then followed by a chase between Sonic and Shadow, with Sonic having a hard time to control the Paradox Prism energy without the tech, and Shadow...

Look at that grin! Shadow is a smug bastard and he knows it! We also love him for that!

With Shadow escaping Ghost Hill, Sonic is left behind... until he has a moment where he remembers what Shadow told him previously about his Prism Energy and being able to create portals - proof that Sonic actually did listen to Shadow! Elated, Sonic uses it to escape into The Void, where he tackles Shadow and their fight continues, with both of them having to avoid the crystals falling around.

''Come at me, bro.''

It is repeated in monotone, but I do love that Shadow actually mocks Sonic with his own words. He is more than willing to continue this fight. However, it is cut short when they get to the New Yoke gateway and spot the Chaos Council flying into Boscage Maze with their fleet of ships. Shadow follows them, but unlike Sonic, he still cannot get through the gateways.

Man, that looks painful, and what follows is even worse, because Shadow is sent flying into the black hole below, much to Sonic's horror.

Sonic is horrified, not just because Shadow is about to die, but he also probably has a flashback to what happened in Sonic Adventure 2, when Shadow was left flying towards Earth and Sonic was unable to save him. However, this time, Sonic won't repeat the same mistake.

This time, he manages to save him (and the Sonadow fans go wild!).

''You're not dead. You're welcome! On the bright side, I'll get to hold this over you foreeeever. Oh, and I'll take my tech back.''

Now, it's Sonic's turn to be a smug bastard. Do you now understand why these two aren't too different from each other?

Shadow replies how he doesn't understand, as he thought that the tech would allow him to go through gateways... and then he realizes that it's not the tech - it's Sonic.

''The only way to fix the reality you shattered is if we... work... together.'' ''Together!'' *groans* ''Wow! Coming from you that's, well, not like you at all. Man, you must really hate having to admit that you need me.'' ''You need me!'' ''Sure, I'm big enough to admit that. But, not as much as you need me.''

Honestly, their banter is just as hilarious as it's cute. Shadow genuinely looks like he's in emotional pain when he says that he has to work together with Sonic, and Sonic is not just surprised, but also is very happy to hear that from Shadow. Shadow then points out that Sonic needs him, with Sonic getting the last word in in their banter as he leaps to get to Boscage Maze.

Sonic's grin and Shadow's little nod here say more than a thousand words. To me, it seemed that Sonic was actually seeking a bit of validation from Shadow, something to make it clear that Shadow trusts him now and that they will work closely together from now on, with Shadow nodding in agreement. It is such a small, yet powerful moment, showing us that Shadow has finally come around to rely on Sonic's help. Sure, he had to be knocked out to realize that, but what would Shadow be without his stubborness.

Sonic is now set, having Shadow as a powerful ally and watching over him.

This was an amazing showcasing of Sonic and Shadow's relationship, and my conclusion by the end of it is this:

Sonic and Shadow complement each other.

*hears cries of joy* Calm down Sonadow shippers, I'm done yet with this statement.

If you know the process of creation of Shadow's character, you have probably heard that Shadow was supposed to be a darker reflection of Sonic (his previous name was Terios, which means ''reflection of''). These two are two sides of the same coin, with Sonic representing the more carefree and freedom-seeking side, while Shadow is the more grim and focused side. Both want to protect the world, but often clash due to their differing methods.

However, while they don't work often together, when they do, they work really well together.

You have seen in this very episode that Sonic, even though he had a plan, he was very unfocused and has a hard time listening to people. So, when does he get focused? It is when Shadow knocks some sense into him, confronting him with the harsh reality of their situation, but also giving him some hope that they can fix their reality. Even in previous episodes, we saw that Sonic's friends, be it the Green Hill crew or the Shatterverse Variants, had a hard time to get him to listen, but with Shadow, it's different. He knows how to treat Sonic and what to tell him and it's beautiful to see.

Both Sonic and Shadow were right in their conversation. They need each other, because alone, they won't be able to save the Shatterverse and Ghost Hill. However, they are just in the middle stage of their developing relationship and it'll be an uphill battle for them to finally work together properly.

It is also one of the many reasons people love the Sonadow ship so much. No matter their differences, they are very much alike and it just takes them to open up a little to acknowledge that.

Also, the moment I saw this episode, I made a Sonadow AMV, with the song being Vandalize by One OK Rock, aka the song from Sonic Frontiers (click on the link provided to watch it). Seriously, you can't tell me that that isn't a Sonadow song. Enjoy!

Anyways, I'll see you in Part 4, which will (hopefully) cover the other seven episodes of Part 2 of the Sonic Prime (I refuse to call 8 episodes a Season no matter what Netflix says).

#Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic Prime, Character Analysis - Part 2)

#Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic Prime, Character Analysis - Part 4)

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

#Ten's Thoughts #sonic prime #shadow the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #sonadow #sonadow prime

[hydropyro]

30 Minute Rant Incoming:

In this post I transcribe my 30 minute rant that I sent originally to @firlionemoontav (with parts of my freaking out cut out of it). Thoughts? Information? Your own of the wall ideas? Please share them.

"We know that [Raphael's] brother, Magadon, was able to withstand the energy put out by the Mythallars which are quasi-sentient magic orb things that are connected directly to the Weave. It's very likely that the Netherstones are pieces of Mythallar. I can't confirm that -- but I'm willing to bet that this is the case.

"We know that Magadon Kest, a cambion son of Mephistopheles, was able to connect himself to the Mythallars and control them to some extent. He was being forced to build an army for Shar a long time ago, ~118 Years before the events of Baldur's Gate 3. And then again ~8 Years before Baldur's Gate 3 when he connected himself to a Mythallar and dropped one of the new Netherese cities onto the prince that was trying to rebuild the Netherese empire under Shar's name. He connected to the Mythallar and disconnected the magic for a little bit so that the city would fall on top of the prince.

"We know that cambions, at least, or cambion sons of Mephistopheles, can definitely wield Mythallaric power, meaning that in order to do that Raphael would probably still need to be a cambion, meaning that he would still need his mortal soul.

"But, there was another person that [Raphael] brought to the House of Hope at the same time, or in the same year, as he did Blackcloak -- who is the one that is known for being incredibly good with life magic. For example:

"There's a spell called 'Clone' where if you die, your soul moves into the Clone, and then you continue living. Usually you have One Clone at a time -- when you die, you move into the Clone.

"At one point Blackcloak had something like 40 Clones. And then, during the Second Sundering (something to do with Cyric and Mystra. It has nothing to do with Raphael, so I haven't looked into it any further. I am solely Raphael focused), when magic failed, he was unable to resurrect. All of his Clones 'woke up' and just went about there way -- so there are some 40 versions of Blackcloak alive.

"Not only is Blackcloak able to make several active Clones of himself, but those Clones don't have to be copies of himself. He can make Clones that are different Races and Sexes entirely. He is that good with magic. He is mortal, and he is like 4,000 years old just because he is that good with magic.

"Anyway, that's not who I was talking about. I was talking about the other lady who came into the House of Hope. I haven't looked into her as much. Sylvira Savikas. She's part of the 'Descent into Avernus' campaign.

"She is an artificer, I believe, and her specialty is puzzle boxes and different universes. (I think the puzzle boxes may be able to hold universes in them). Kind of like the Astral Prism. The one that Raphael made the hammer specifically for. How would he have known about the Hammer? Why would he have brought her in if he didn't need to know about the Astral Prism?

"Now, perhaps he also needed to know about someplace to keep his mortal soul (as he would have had to rid himself a long time ago in order to ascend) but I imagine that was a long time ago.

"Because when we consider: Yes, he's Mephistopheles's son. Mephistopheles has many children, very few of them are important. Antilia is important, but she's not even openly accepted as being his child. Magadon wasn't important. He went on and lived his life as a tavern owner on the Material Plane so he wasn't important. There's no reason why being 'Mephistopheles' son' would make Raphael particularly important to anyone.

"So, when we take that into account, the fact that Raphael was able to make a contract with Yurgir, an Orthon (which is essentially third in the hierarchy system of Baator). Yurgir is a powerful, powerful devil, and he is afraid of Raphael? He is beholden to a contract with Raphael? He is afraid that by breaking his contract with Raphael and killing him his reputation will be tarnished? Eh -- it's unlikely Raphael made the deal as a cambion. He's probably been very powerful fora very long time.

"How does the Crown come into it? Well, we have to consider that he contracted Yurgir to get rid of the Dark Justiciar Army growing under Reithwyn at the behest of Ketheric Thorm's Mason, The Infernal Mason, who built Moonrise Towers. And he did. He fulfilled that contract, sent Yurgir and Yurgir's army of merrigons, destroyed all Dark Justiciars except one.

"One remained. One that Raphael hid as an army of rats. Now, why would he do that? I don't think he did it because he has a beef with Yurgir. I don't think he cares about Yurgir at all. Now, he knows Yurgir is going to be pissed because he did that, but that's not why he did it.

"He did it because he knew that he was going to need Ketheric Thorm in the future. In order to have Ketheric Thorm in the future, Ketheric would have to be immortal. In order to ensure that Ketheric remained immortal he had to ensure that no one could get in to Shar's Guantlet. What is the best way to ensure that no one could into Shar's Gauntlet to find and free the Nightsong -- which is feeding Ketheric Thorm's immortality?

"Stick an Orthon there. Nothing's gonna get past a fuckin' Orthon. Right? It had nothing to do with Yurgir. Yurgir is the body guard for his asset's asset.

"So yes, he knew about Nightsong and he put Yurgir there on purpose so that he would have unfettered access to Nightsong. If he decided that he needed to get to Nightsong to either kill her or free her he had a Dark Justiciar ready and waiting to be re-stuck-back-together into a man to go and do whatever he wanted him to do.

"But, as long as he didn't want anyone to go in there, he had an Orthon who was contractually bound to destroy anything that went in.

"Onto the next part. So we have Ketheric. We see how he fits in with Ketheric Thorm. We know how he fits in with Gortash. But -- if he wants us to kill him, obviously the Crown is not his main goal. If we do kill him as he is subliminally pushing us to do, he can't have the Crown, at least not immediately. He may get the Crown afterward, but there's always a chance that someone else is gong to get it. (Like Gale, you fool). Mephistopheles is going to want the Crown back.

"But, consider that he waited for just the right time -- for his brother's friends to also raid Mephistopheles's vault. I wonder if (obviously not when the book was written, the book was written in the 90s) they've retconned the lore if Raphael had something to do with Drasek Riven finding Vasson Cale when he did and going to raid Mephistopheles's vault to free Eravis Cale when he did.

"Because Mephistopheles is not only dealing with the Crown having been stolen. At this exact same time, the events of Baldur's Gate 3 is going on, Magadon Kest's friends broke into Mephistar to steal Eravis Cale who was trapped there in order to get back the divinity of a god. Mask, the God of Thieves. So Mephistopheles lost this fount of divinity that he had around the same time that Gortash broke in and took the Crown.

"Mephistopheles cannot wield the Crown. Gods cannot wield the Crown. No one except cambions for some reason can wield the Crown. So, what is he going to go after? Would Mephistopheles put in the energy to find the Crown, or is he going to go after the divinity that was also stolen from him? I imagine he would go after the divinity -- a god's power that he can actually use.

"Now, if Raphael doesn't actually want the Crown (I mean, the Crown would be nice to have if he could get it -- I'm sure he could get the Crown, off himself, be resurrected, or whatever happens) The Crown is a distraction, is what I'm saying. The Crown is not the most important part of this plan and I cannot for the life of me figure out what is.

"The Crown doesn't make sense, because if Gale gets the Crown Raphael is like 'Ah, I was mad, but now I'm just fine with it'? No, he never cared about the Crown. He actually is fine with Gale having the Crown, because Gale having the Crown creates mortals with ambition -- ambition is what destroyed Netheril because Karsus was ambitious. Gale being the God of Ambition is going to create more Karsuses. And, what does Raphael deal in? He doesn't deal in heroics -- he deals in Ambition. He gives people their ambitions.

"Gale being the God of Ambition is the perfect situation for somebody like Raphael. So he doesn't give a flying fuck about the Crown.

"But I can't figure out how he benefits from dying. He must benefit. It has to be some mechanic that I'm not aware of and don't know the proper terms to research. I don't know what I'm looking for, so I don't know where to look."

There

#baldur’s gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #raphael #simpathyforthedevil #raphael bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #theorycrafting #theory #rant #i'm losing my mind #bg3 brainrot

[infizero]

i talked about this in the tags of another post but yknow what it deserves its own - can we talk about the parallels between nine and eggman??? i'm dying to talk about the parallels between nine and eggman.

i am personally obsessed with the dynamic between tails and eggman and how they parallel each other in a lot of ways. i've recently been thinking about other possible similarities they could have, and then prime literally just came and proved my point.

it was this line that made me start realizing this:

SONIC: "Is this what you want, to spend the rest of your life alone with robots for friends?" NINE: "At least I can trust them."

i don't think i need to explain how Eggman that is.

tails and eggman obviously share the surface level traits of being extremely smart and gifted with technology. we know almost nothing about eggman's past, but it's likely he was very smart for his age the same way tails is.

but something that i've been thinking about ever since frontiers came out is a possible similarity between why these two are so drawn to technology. frontiers gave us arguably one of the biggest insights into eggman's character in the form of egg memo 17:

"I never really knew my cousin, Maria. Everyone spoke of her like she was very special. All that love for someone who was gone when I was! Right! There! But I have to wonder. Back then, was she anything like Sage is now?"

the implication that eggman felt ignored by his family/the people around him and that they paid more attention to his dead cousin than him has haunted me ever since the game dropped... the fact that so much of eggman's schemes have to do with having control, remaking the world the way he wants it to be, and always heavily center around his enormous ego, plastering his name and likeness everywhere........

...well, that need for control and personal recognition definitely has been recontextualized by this moment, to say the least.

recently i was thinking about this again and wondered if perhaps the reason eggman has such an affinity for machines and robots, and a dislike for living things, could stem from negative experiences with other people. and that perhaps the case could be the same for tails. "people treat me badly" -> "i don't like people" -> "machines are better"

the difference is that tails met sonic and gained friends fairly early on, while eggman assumedly didn't (whether by choice or not)

and now in prime, we have nine, a tails who never had friends. and what do you know! he's become an antagonist who is screwing over people and putting entire other worlds at risk in order to reshape the world into how he wishes it to be, and making robots to keep himself company. sound familiar?

a tails without friends results in essentially... eggman. so maybe there's little more to my ideas about eggman's villainous origins than just speculation.

NINE: "With the Paradox Prism, I'll be able to turn this world into a paradise... my paradise!"

[A picture of Eggmanland from Sonic Unleashed.]

#sonic prime #sth #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #nine the fox #dr eggman #sonic prime spoilers #analysis

[thel0llip0p]

A World Without Sonic

a sonadow prime ficlet, you can guess what it's about.

**disclaimer: i'm not a writer and I did not proofread it lol. this was the idea for my next comic but i got lazy to draw it so i wrote it out instead for now.

tags? sonadow , character death/mourning, platonic shadamy, mention of: tails, knuckles, rouge, big, eggman

____________________

Shadow finds himself in the last spot he was in right before the prism shattering, his arms held out and empty where the blue hedgehog once was, feeling disoriented for only a split second.

The cave!

Wasting no time, the black hedgehog dashes away making his way up to his destination. His heart racing wondering if Sonic made it alive and intact. A pit in his stomach grew on his way over, fearing the outcome. Like Schrödinger's cat, unfortunately there was only one way to find out, whether he liked it or not.

He makes his grand appearance at the mouth of the cave, and without thinking calls out

"Sonic!"

"Shadow??"

His heart dropped. At the scene, Eggman and Sonic's friends all staring blankly at him, both parties equally confused. But sonic was nowhere in sight.

This left him no choice.

"Chaos Control!"

and he disappeared just like that, along with the Paradox Prism.

___

Warping to a secluded location unbeknownst to anyone except himself, he sheltered the prism.

I guess this will have to do for now.

Against his will, he supposed he'd have to be the guardian of this thing for now, not unlike a certain echidna and the master emerald but he knew he couldn't entrust the prism with anyone else other than himself.

Now that the prism was taken care of for now, he could finally think about the burden on his mind.

Sonic...

Did he really not make it ?

He refused to believe that the bundle of blue joy was no longer in existence. He couldn't leave things at that, this warranted further investigation.

He needed answers now.

And he first person that came to mind was...

____

"I really... don't know who you are talking about?" Tails pondered with a hand to his chin. "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Shadow?"

"The name Sonic doesn't ring a bell? Really? Your blue hedgehog best friend? Try to remember."

"I feel like, it's supposed to be familiar but I don't really know. Nothing comes to mind. Sor-"

"Never mind, then."

Shadow walked away.

"Umm.. okay?" Tails shrugged him off, thought left a little dumbfounded.

On to the next one..

_____

"Hey redhead, where's your blue friend Sonic?"

"What did you call me?!" Knuckles didn't take so kindly to the nicknames and much less being interrupted during his midday nap.

"Where's Sonic?"

"Don't know 'im"

He sighed defeatedly and took his leave.

______

Tails didn't know. Knuckles didn't know.

Big and Rouge didn't know either.

Of course Sonic isn't going to be anywhere. He's not here. It's like he never existed. And even knowing this was venture was fruitless, he felt the need to ask everyone anyway, as if he was holding out hope for something.

How stupid. This behaviour wasn't like him.

And there was only one last person left, the only person who could possibly understand even a tiny bit how he felt.

____

"Oh Shadow nice to see you around. You don't normally stroll around so casually, did you need something?" Amy, oh so very cheerful as always.

"Have you seen Sonic?" Shadow was straight to the point.

"Sonic? Ummm.." she gave it some thought. She felt like she was supposed to know who that was and although she didn't, it did make her heart flutter a bit. "Is he your friend?"

"No, he's not my friend, just someone I'm looking for."

"Oh... well I noticed you've been asking and searching around endlessly. He must be someone important to you."

"...Yeah, I guess so." He melancholically looked off into the distance.

The two of them were sitting on a hill with a nice view of the green hill landscape.

"If you don't mind, can you tell me more about Sonic? Who was he? What happened?"

"He... was a hero, your friend.. everyone's friend.." he trailed off.

"..And I couldn't save him."

Tears began to well as he began to recall his last memories of their adventure together. A surge of pain growing in his chest and his suppressed feelings beginning to surface.

Amy turned to Shadow, concern on her face. He was normally never vulnerable with anyone but in this moment, for some reason he felt like he could confide in Amy with this. Even if he couldn't delve into detail.

"He sacrificed himself to save the universe, and now he doesn't exist and no one remembers him... except me." He did his best to hold back his emotions.

She listened to him with sympathy in her eyes.

"A world without Sonic, is not the same world at all. I can't imagine a world without him, and here I am. Here's not here anymore." Brushing away the tears, he turned away to hide his face from her.

Amy wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug.

"It's okay Shadow. I'm sure it's not your fault.

Knowing you, you probably did everything you could to try to save him. And surely Sonic is thankful for your effort."

He wanted to believe her but his emotions only welled further.

"It wasn't enough... I wasn't enough, and now he's gone. Forever."

She stroked his back, trying to comfort best as she could.

"As long as you remember him in your heart, he exists and lives on in your heart."

At this point , Shadow was basically crying into her shoulders, and although it was extremely embarrassing he couldn't help himself. The tears flowed like rivers, mourning the loss of the only hedgehog he saw as his equal, rival, possibly friend?

How could he live on like this ? First Maria, now Sonic.

His feelings of remorse, hopelessness and sorrow overwhelming him.

When would it end?

Amy's embrace brought him comfort, but oh how he wished he was in Sonic's instead.

He felt his sense of self drifting away until everything became black.

"Shadow?"

"Shadow ?"

Amy's voice tried to reach him but her voice sounding increasingly faint.

____

"Shadow ?"

A familiar voice...

"Hey you okay?"

"Nngh"

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw emerald green eyes looking down at him and a blur of blue and sunshine.

"S-sonic?" A sudden wave of relief came over him.

He sat up. "You're okay?"

"Of course I am?

He realized he had been sleeping on Sonic's lap? And oh, there was remnants of tears on his face?

"What was that about? Bad dream got ya?" Sonic teased as he layed back against a palm tree, hands behind his head.

Shadow sighed. "Guess you could say that," rubbing the back of his neck.

"I dreamt... you didn't make it back to Green Hill and everyone had forgotten about you. It's like you never existed."

"Oh you missed me so much you started crying in your sleep? Aww-"

Shadow grabbed his face with his hand, squishing his cheeks "Shut it, you." And kissed him.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

And the two resumed their peaceful afternoon by the beachside.

#sonadow #sonic prime #sonadow prime #fanfic #fanfiction #sonadow fanfiction #platonic shadamy #dropping this here and forgetting abt it bye #u kno its bad when an artist writes fanfic

[azrielgreen]

can we get a pov of what was going through eddie's mind, when steve arched his brow and said "there's a good boy" 😩🙈

#prism

Steve swallows.

Eddie watches the motion, the slick contraction. He wonders what that feels like, to be inside Steve Harrington for purposes of consumption. He thinks about that sometimes. If they were alone and trapped, what circumstances could ever combine to convince Steve to eat Eddie to survive? Silly shit, he should focus. There are people everywhere and he can't let anything slip. Not with the Chief in the room.

‘So good,' Steve says. 'Try it?’

Eddie opens his mouth and takes what Steve gives. Cake is overly sugary, it's sickly sweet and not what Eddie would usually like but he knows his boy adores cake so he affects bliss. ‘Oh my fucking god. OK, if you won’t dive in, I will!’ he declares, pulling Steve in to dance.

Steve likes that, he responds so well to silly. ‘How about we let others have a slice before you Scrooge McDuck yourself into it?’

Eddie drops his voice low, silky and soft. 'Yes, Mommy. Whatever you say.'

To know Steve Harrington... to really, truly know him is an experience unlike any other an watching the ripple effect of those words going through Steve is unparalleled. Exquisite and achingly sexy, Eddie wants to rope his wrists and make him come until it fucking hurts and Steve can only say his name, voice cracked and broken.

But to know Steve also means understanding that this beautiful, mercurial boy often surprises people, even himself.

Which is exactly what he does next when he leans in, nose to Eddie's own and whispers, ‘There’s a good boy.’

And Eddie's world is eclipsed by the slow blink his body pulls without permission, it goes dark and velvety where he's weak for it, weak for this game, for this creature only he could ever love the way he needs.

Only he could ever see and know.

Somewhere deep inside, in the knotted pitch black of locked doors and trees grown too close together... something snaps like a twig in the woods. Something small and inconsequential, but it breaks all the same. Eddie's control is not a singular thing, but rather comprised of thousands of experiences, strings and strings and sticks and snakes.

Something breaks.

A prelude.

Just a small one.

He smiles wide, closes his eyes and swallows much more than the last remnants of cake. He swallows and refuses himself the kiss they both want, he swallows the urge to fuck this boy through the floor, all the way down until they're in the molten beauty of the centre.

Eddie wants to play.

He wants.

It can wait.

But not for long.

#prism fic

[bonefall]

Clanmew Masterpost

Clanmew is a constructed language made for Warrior Cats that I, @bonefall, run with my buddy @troutfur! I make the vocab and he does the grammar. I hope that this post will become a good, central place to keep links to everything we've done so far.

CURRENT VERSION: 1.0 LAST UPDATE: 6/3/2023

Clanmew is an OSV-order language, made with the sounds cats make in mind. "Base Clanmew" is built around the Clan Culture updates of the Better Bones AU, which means it is made with the ecology of southwestern Northern England in mind and only contains words for plants and animals found there. It also has phrases for cooking and crafting.

(specific regions modeled: Lancashire, Chester, Manchester, Merseyside, Clwydd is modeled for river biomes specifically)

You are free to use it for your own projects! We encourage you to consider how this language would evolve in your Clan's history, and add or remove words to make a dialect that reflects the culture's feelings and needs.

THE BASICS:

Everything you need to know for basic structure is in CLANMEW 101. Start here.

We have a constantly updating LEXICON of all the words we have made so far.

Have you made a dialect? Let me know and I can link you here so others can see what you're doing with it!

Below the cut:

In-universe information; How Clanmew evolved linguistically

"Expansion Pack" posts where I discuss etymology

Pronunciation stuff (until I make that IPA chart I keep promising)

Working translations; Names, parables, OC submissions

Dialect submissions (These are manned by other people!)

Historical Trivia

The linguistic evolution of Clanmew from Old Tribemew and Parkmew

Animals are named for the sounds they make.

How pronouns for objects change based on how the speaker feels about it.

More, using human examples

there is a secret post about cursing but you have to find that on your own ;)

Through Time Travel Shenanigans, Hollyleaf's name evolves into the word "Scourge"

The Clanmew Play-by-Play of that

The word for Everything

How hard is it for speakers of the other in-universe languages to pick up Clanmew?

On nicknames!

Squirrelpaw and Crowfoot discover corn

The names of the three ideologies... also thistles.

The Invalid Five

Expansion Packs

Colors

Directions, way-finding

Spirituality terms

Rocks

Beetles

Follow up: some plant parts

Patch (pattern) vs Patch (plants)

Den, camp, territory, construction

The two violets

Shapes of flowers

Volume

Generic terms

Rollypollies and centipedes

Insults

Rain... because this is England

The Clan Clock; time terms

The four seasons

Clerics and Common Herbs

Roses

Water movement

BIRDS AND BATS

Finches

Texture

Dogs

Mint

Parts of fur

Forest terms

Foxes, parts of a forest

Cuckoo bird

DEER

Shade and understorey

Cedar

Waterside words

Pronunciation Stuff

Closest thing to an IPA chart I currently have

My process for coming up with words based on vibes

I was asked for more behind-the-scenes stuff so here you go?

How I hold my mouth when I speak

Trout Tips

How would Clan cats pronounce the Slavic TS, or the word pizza?

On the Double yy

Working translations

BB!Scourge's new warrior name, Iceheart, in Clanmew... and Nightheart!

Light, moon, wind, BB!Raggedstar's pre-honor title name

OC SUBMISSION: Flameshell, Fogwhisper, Willowsong

OC SUBMISSION: Lichennose, Mudthistle, Longpounce

OC SUBMISSION: Fallensky

PACK PACK KILL KILL

"I love you"

Baby talk

"What have I done?"

"Fool Tale"

How to Clanmew-ify a strange word

Dishonor Title for "Mudpuddle"

OC SUBMISSION: Riverrunner, multiple-word names, walking words

OC SUBMISSION: Firefang, Rabbitdash, Peachfeather, plus a bunch of words for weasel-like animals

Ivypool

The use of tense in names

PROPHECY SUBMISSION: "Dust and flame will combine to destroy home"

Skywatcher

OC SUBMISSION: The Caldwell Family

Foxheart

Runningnose

PROPHECY SUBMISSION: Six will come of every rank

OC SUBMISSION: Witherstrike

"I like this" and also parasitic worms

Prism, rainbow-color

OC SUBMISSION: Piebald Creature

Gayheart

Sneeze and Knockout

OC SUBMISSION: Penny-fitzgerald

OC SUBMISSION: Voidwhisper, Chalkwhistle

OC SUBMISSION: Poppyflare, Spikemane, Blizzardfang

OC SUBMISSION: Burning Hawk-fur

Mistyfoot

BRAMBLESTAR BUTCHERS THE BLOSSOMKIT NAMES

Dialect Submissions

Pfurr Clanmew (@troutfur)

#Clanmew #Clan culture #clanmew masterpost

[birdsareblooming]

Alright Sonic Prime speculation time:

Speculation about the coming things to happen in the show, the nature of the Paradox Prism and how it and the Shatterverses work, and specifically speculation about Nine (he’s at the end) [Full credit to @whencartoonsruletheworld​ who helped with these ideas and got all these prime screenshots]

I want to start with the nature of the Paradox Prism, or what we can gather. I seems to mess with the universe in order to make a world catered to it's user. Weather it shattering is how it usually or is supposed to work we have no idea. We know this not only because of it's effects, but because that seems to be why Eggman was after it in the first place.

After the shatter though, as other people have gathered, the dimensions are then catered to specific characters, being Eggman and Sonic's four focused on friends. (We'll get more into that)

These dimensions seem to be pocket ones, possibly because the Paradox Prism was shattered, it can only use 1/5th of the universe, if less. Each world is very self-contained with no idea of a bigger world outside of the one we see through Sonic. The Eggmen don't talk about any other place other then New Yolk, saying the Paradox Prism could power a city, but not an entire world takeover.

The Shards also seem to have a strange effect on those who are in their own created world. For Eggman it's hard to tell because as far as we can see nothing about him has really changed, however it's gotten more and more evident with Amy (specifically Thorn) and Knuckles (Specifically Dread).

Thorn became obsessed with the tree the Shard was under, then abusing the power of the Shard once she got it. It was only when she was completely separated from it that any reasoning came back to her. Dread was shown in the past to have lost a lot because of an obsession with getting that Shard, but once the possibility of getting it returned, he forgot about his crew again and went after the Shard, going much more visibly insane when getting it.

Real quick I'll cover the Shatterverses we've seen.

Firstly being New Yolk, clearly Eggman's world, he's the one in full control and in charge, its an ideal world of perfect order, metal, and everything's about him. The flaw that exists in this world is that a resistance still thrives. I believe all of these worlds have little flaws in their catered world, either because it's only a piece, or because that's how the Paradox Prism generally works. Genie rules.

The Green world is Amy's, she has the most power and everything centers around her. Not only does she specifically mention loving nature in Sonic Prime;

But this isn't new to Amy. In the game Sonic Shuffle, there are multiple dream worlds in each section of dreams, Emerald Coast (dreams of peace), Fire Bird (dreams of flight and freedom) Nature Zone (dreams of closeness to nature), and Riot Train (Thrill of Adventure). Each world specifically appeals to one of the characters, and the Nature Zone is Amy's.

This world was centered around saving it from those pillars that are draining the forest of their life. So clearly this world appealing to Amy is nothing new. As people have also talked about, characters seem to be lacking their main character trait in their own world, and in this Amy, despite being the main character, looses her compassion, not only too her previous friends, but even the nature she wants to protect. As mentioned before once she's separated from the Shard she's able to see the harm she's done. Then the pirate world, being Knuckles'. Again he's the one in charge and the world appeals to him, world travel while also getting relaxation.

Once again, Knuckles' Sonic Shuffle appeal world is very similar, his being Emerald Coast (dreams of peace), which needs to be saved from being covered in Ice.

The thing Knuckles is missing here is his honor, seemingly only obsessed with his name being known, and abandoned his crew multiple times, and only takes them back because they'll help him get the Shard. In this world's past he'd lost his mind trying to get it, and it's shown happening again here, only using his crew and Sonic to get to it, and loosing all control once he gets it.

Unlike The Green though, Knuckles' isn't resolved. He didn't get his honor back and still has the Shard in his mad possession. Since we have a good amount of episodes left, I wouldn't be surprised if we return to the pirate world to resolve it, and possibly to free Rusty who’s still there.

And now moving forward, it shattered into 5 pieces, so I believe we have two worlds left, around Rouge and Tails.

We haven't seen anything of what Rouge's world could be. Her world could range from an underground gem cavern to film noir to heist movie to spy x family. However something that's been shown in every world is her cunning, drive and planning. She takes charge and "Gets things done."

So it's possible she'll be lacking that character trait which she needs to gain back.

Unlike Rouges', we've already seen Tails' world.

Found by Nine,”The Grim”, it's a complete blank slate. As Nine talks about, he can build it up from the ground up, and create that perfect world that he wants to see.

And although this can't be connected to Shuffle, Nine isn't the only Tails to have this inclination or idea.

This was a speech from Tails at the very very end of Sonic Battle, said after loosing a dear friend. As you can see, this is all about creating a perfect, peaceful world.

Tails' ideal is creating it, building a peaceful world for everyone to enjoy. (I believe this is why it's completely blank with no one in it, it's truly a blank slate, which is why Nine is able to use it.) However, Tails, or Nine, like the others, are lacking their main component. You would think it would be his smarts or cunning, but Nine clearly still has that. What Tails is lacking his his friends.

It's HEAVILY focused on how close Sonic and Tails are, Eggman being able to bait him into pushing him off the cliff, and later able to make him do things for their lab. Nine is heavily focused on as a character and shows Sonic's distraught in not being remembered by him. But the other Tails' we see not only are with other people, but warm up to Sonic incredibly fast.

Even if they don't have Sonic, they still have other friends to rely on. Meanwhile Nine is completely and utterly alone, not only completely pushed out by the world but he's alone by his own choice. He's lacking his love for his friends and the world around him.

Tails reminisces about the idea of a perfect world, but Nine only seems interested in building it for him and Sonic, however is willing to go without Sonic if needed. It's vague, but I don't think Nine ever considered going back for the other rebels to bring them to this world, it would truly just be him and Sonic, and maybe not even Sonic.

With that line being specified "I don't need an army-" I think the world we'll see Nine build will be very interesting, and I do think we'll see him build it. It's shown time works differently between the worlds, and if weeks pass, weeks is enough for Nine to create something he wants, especially if he has a Shard on his side.

We might even already be seeing the madness that overtook Thorn and Dread.

Nine also does seem to be planning something we don't know yet. Not only does he know what he's talking about when talking to the Chaos Council (Very specifically keeping Sonic alive, possibly messing with their communication, etc.) But when being beamed into the Eggmens base... he smiled.

This wasn't a background detail and is very shown. I think Nine has a plan, and with how focused he was on this world he could build, I believe it centers around and benefits this world of his.

#sonic prime #theory #sonic prime spoilers #sonic spoilers

[cozage]

The Daughter's Return: Part 3

Chapter 4: Doctor's Visit

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Characters: female reader x Portgas D. Ace Word Count: 2.2k

As soon as the doors to the clinic were open, Ace was dragging you inside. He even wore a shirt without you having to remind you. He was that desperate to get you in.

You couldn’t blame him. Neither of you had gotten much sleep. When you finally managed to doze off, you were haunted by horrific dreams. It was almost better to be awake and sleep deprived. But when you were awake, you were also nauseous. Both states of being were about equally as miserable. 

Ace hadn’t slept well either. You knew he was anxious to be on an island. He wanted to be out at sea, chasing down Teach. And you couldn’t blame him. Justice had to be dealt and you were keeping him tied down, waiting for the clinic to open their doors. 

The doctor took you quickly, though they made Ace wait in the lobby. It made you nervous to be separated from him, but it would be easier to talk about your actual concerns this way. 

You gave a false name and age to the worker, not wanting your records to be found by anyone. Then they took your weight and blood pressure, which they noted was a bit high. That would be reason for concern, if you weren’t in the process of tracking down your uncle’s killer.  

“My name is Ali,” the young nurse said. “What brings you in today.?”

“Quite frankly,” you tried to swallow the lump in your throat. “I think I’m pregnant.”

“Oh!” Ali said, her eyes widening in shock.

“The guy out in the lobby doesn’t know yet. I just wanted to get a test to be certain before I told him.”

“Of course.” Ali nodded and began writing some information down on her sheet. “I’ll order some labs for you, and take some blood. Should I bring him back or leave him out there?”

You sighed in relief. This girl really was a godsend. She knew exactly what you needed. 

“Can you bring him back?” you asked. “That would be great.”

She went and gathered Ace, who you referred to as Axel in front of the staff, and then began to prepare for a blood sample. As she tried to take your blood, you realized you had forgotten to give her very important information. 

“Oh!” You pulled away from the incoming needle, startling the nurse. “I’m sorry, I just forgot to tell you- I have a devil fruit power. Logia type.”

“Oh dear,” Ali said, quickly pulling away her needle. “I totally forgot to ask you that question as a part of the screening. Here-” she handed you a bracelet that had green stone and an adjustable leather cord. “If you’ll just put that on, we can get started.”

When you put it on, you hardly felt different. You felt a little more solid than you usually did, but that was about it.

“What is this?” you asked, examining the bracelet around your wrist. 

“Sea prism,” the nurse said. You felt Ace stiffen beside you. Sea prism usually meant bad things for pirates, but you trusted this woman.

 “It’s an extremely weakened version of it, so it just negates your abilities without physically weakening you. You’ll need it if-” she paused, her eyes flitting over to Ace. “Well, we can talk about the uses for it later.”

She easily stuck the needle in and drew out a few vials of blood, and then sent them off to the lab. “We’ll have results in about ten to twenty minutes. Just hang tight, okay?”

You gave her a tense smile. “Thanks.”

Ace looked pale and sick. You couldn’t blame him. Usually when people were this kind, it was a trap. Every bone in your body was telling you to flee. But you couldn’t run away this time. You had to wait for the results. 

“Are you going to die?” Ace whispered. “I know I said you could go first, but I didn’t mean this soon.”

“I’m not going to die, Ace,” you said. “Let’s just wait for the results, okay?”

You didn’t have to wait long, thankfully. Ali had worked some kind of laboratory magic, and came back in less than ten minutes. 

When the door opened, Ace’s hand interlaced in yours and he held onto it tightly, as if you were his only anchor for survival. 

Ali gave you a big grin as she shut the door, looking at the two of you with pure joy on her face. “I believe some congratulations are in order!”

“Congratulations?” Ace asked, confusion written all over his face. 

You wanted to puke. You were right. And now Ace was about to find out. 

“All of the bloodwork came back normal,” Ali confirmed. “Except for the pregnancy test. That came back positive.”

You gripped Ace’s hand tighter than you thought possible, but Ace was still processing her words. 

“Pregnancy test?” He looked at you, his eyes wide with fear. “You’re pregnant?”

“It looks like she’s about done with her first trimester!” Ali squeaked, her excitement palpable in the room. You wished you could feel the same. 

“Ali-” you cleared your throat, trying to maintain your composure. “Can we have a minute?”

“Oh!” Ali’s face flushed with pink. “Of course. Let me give you some privacy to talk about this, and then we can go over everything you need to know.”

Ace was still staring at you, unbelieving and unaccepting. You flinched slightly as the door shut, waiting for Ace to say something. Anything. 

“How long?” Ace demanded. “How long have you known?”

“Last night,” you admitted. “The no-moon made me realize.”

“We were so careful!”

You sighed. “The onsen.”

Ace’s eyes got wide. “Fuck,” he hissed. “I forgot about that.”

“I swear I didn’t know before last night,” you promised. 

“I believe you,” Ace said. “You were too stubborn about that no-moon.”

You gave a nervous laugh that quickly died, leaving the room wrapped in an eerie silence. 

“What do we do?” you whispered, tears filling your eyes. Now that it was real, it all felt so scary. 

“What do you mean? We’re having a baby!” Ace laughed, a toothy smile emerging from his previously concerned face. “I thought you were dying, but this is great news in comparison!”

“But-” you paused to wipe away your tears. “You said you didn’t want kids.”

He put a hand atop your stomach, staring down at where your child was growing. “I changed my mind.”

“You changed your mind?”

“Yep.” He gave another soft smile, staring at your stomach with complete love and infatuation. “We’re gonna be better parents than even Pops. Think we can do that?”

You laughed, choking out a sob as well. “I thought you said pirates-”

He cut your words off with his lips; a kiss that was long and deep, and all of your doubt was instantly replaced with love. 

He finally pulled away from your lips, pressing his forehead against yours. “We’ll figure it out, okay?”

You gave him a tearful smile and nodded in agreement. “Okay,” you whispered. 

“I really thought you were going to die,” Ace whispered. “This is nothing compared to that.”

Ace couldn’t stop staring at your belly, that goofy grin still widespread across his face. He was still staring when Ali knocked on the door a few minutes later, and came back in. 

“How are we feeling?” she asked, her eyes glancing between you and Ace. 

“Great!” Ace was cheerful and enthusiastic as he spoke to Ali, but he kept his hand protectively over you. 

“Awesome!” Ali said, turning back to you. “There’s a lot of information we need to go over, but the most important is that bracelet. It’s yours now. Keep it on unless you need to use your devil fruit powers.”

“Wait, what? Why?” you asked, looking at the sea prism bracelet. 

“Logia users are at the highest risk of a failed pregnancy. Your body goes through extreme changes and isn’t even always solid sometimes. You may be able to handle those changes like it’s nothing, but a baby can’t.

“We recommend you keep your ability usage down to around 15 minutes over an hour span between months two through four. I’m guessing your body has been having some weird reactions over the past few weeks? The pregnancy would be the reason for it. Keeping that bracelet on should help negate those adverse effects, as well as clear up any major nausea and major sickness you’ve been having.”

“Wow,” you whispered. “I had no idea. That makes so much sense.”

“Between months five and nine,” Ali continued on, handing Ace a pamphlet. “We recommend no ability usage at all unless absolutely imperative circumstances. It’s very dangerous to the baby for the mother to use powers during that time. That bracelet will be your absolute best friend over the next few months. I hope you like green!”

You gave a light laugh as you continued to stare at the bracelet, but you could feel dread bubbling up inside you. If you couldn’t use your powers, you weren’t sure how much help you would be at any time over the next few months, for Ace or for your family. 

“I’m sure you’re worried about losing the bracelet,” Ali said, misunderstanding your unease. “We’ll give you a bag with two more in it, just in case one breaks or gets lost. And you can always come back to this clinic or any clinic on the Grand Line, most of them have a form of this in stock.”

“What about the baby?” Ace asked. “You said months two through four she should only be using her devil fruit powers 15 minutes an hour, but we’re on month three. Is there anything to be worried about?”

“We’ll do a routine checkup,” Ali said, turning to look at you. “But months two through four are more for the mother's sake. Preparing you to not be reliant on your powers as well as keeping the sickness at bay.”

You gave a nod, but your hand reached out to find Ace’s again. This was too much information. There was no way you would remember it all. He gripped your hand reassuringly, giving you an encouraging squeeze every now and then as Ali rambled through more specific deatils. 

She went over hundreds of other pieces of information, each thing coming with its own pamphlet or handout. Where to get checkups, how to get proper nutrition, things to look out for and things that were completely normal. It was overwhelming, and by the end of it, your head was spinning. 

The two of you walked out of the clinic, hands full of vitamins, appointment schedules, and the results of a healthy baby. It felt like an eternity ago that Thatch had died, and you wanted to cry remembering he was gone. How had you already forgotten so quickly?

As you and Ace walked back to the boat, you passed a board full of bounty posters. 

“Hey!” Ace called you back to the board. “Our bounties went up.”

You scowled. “We didn’t even do anything!”

He gave you a wicked grin. “They probably assumed the masterminds were involved in the embargo Thatch did the other week.”

His face fell at the mention of his fellow commander. It was clear that he had forgotten too. You walked back to the board, trying not to think about it too hard. Now was not the time for sadness. It was time for revenge. 

“What are they now?” You scanned the board, looking for your bounty poster. Both you and Ace had gotten updated photos after the Marine Ball incident, and it took a second to find them. 

“You’re at 550 million!?” you whispered, thoroughly impressed. Six months ago he hadn’t even been at a million, and now he was over halfway to a billion. 

“And you’re 790 million,” Ace smirked, nudging you playfully. “Look at you go.”

You rolled your eyes. “The Navy only sees Newgate.”

Ace pulled down your poster and shoved it in his pocket, and he stared at the board again, his mouth hanging wide open. 

“What?” you asked, looking where your poster had been. 

A straw hat. Not just any straw hat. Uncle Red’s old straw hat. The one he had promised to you years and years ago. 

“Hey!” you shouted. “I know that hat!”

“You know that hat?” Ace yelled back, his enthusiasm growing. “I know that kid! That’s Luffy!”

“Luffy?!” You looked back at the poster. Monkey D. Luffy. Ace’s little brother. 

You looked at him. “You’re telling me that your little brother stole my hat? Your family just keeps stealing all the stuff that was promised to me!”

He laughed at your joke, and you found yourself laughing along too. It had been a long time since you had thought about your promised position in a bitter way, and an even longer time since you had thought about that hat. 

“We should go see him,” Ace offered wistfully. “I was browsing the papers while you were with the nurse. Sounds like Teach was heading back to Paradise to form a crew.”

“Man, it’s been forever since I’ve been to Paradise.” You pulled down Luffy’s bounty poster, examining it as you walked. “You know Luffy already has a higher bounty than you did a few months ago, right?”

Ace groaned and shook his head. “The Navy is different with rookies now than they used to be. They don’t underestimate them anymore.”

“Or maybe he’s just stronger,” you said, sending him a cheesy grin as he rolled his eyes. 

“Come on.” He snatched Luffy’s poster out of your hand, but gingerly folded it up and placed it in his pocket. “We’ve got a pirate to find.”

--

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