#I hope that it's ironic but who would commit so much to their character

[shiny-jr]

from DIASOMNIA

- Warning: Yes, this is still a yandere thing. You have been warned. Gender-neutral reader. 

- Characters: Malleus Draconia, Lilia Vanrouge, Silver, Sebek Zigvolt.

- Summary: (Continuation, after this “we just got a letter, wonder where it’s from”) You have barred them from entering the safety of Ramshackle Dorm, but they are determined to make their words reach you. Which is why the letters begin arriving at your doorstep.

- Note: This is just the first part, only with Diasomnia. I’ll post the rest later once its written. For now, I hope you enjoy this part! Oh, and this was inspired by the mention of letters @qierxing​‘s fic inspired by the whole imposter au idea. So yeah. Hopefully I caught all the mistakes in this post because I am not rereading all that again.

Diasomnia   |   Ignihyde

Among the first letters you pick is carefully sealed in a black envelope. You found it peculiar that Grim, who had offered to use his claws to open the envelopes, hadn’t been able to cause the slightest tear as if it were being protected by some magic. But it opened with ease during your first attempt to rip it open.

You didn’t care much for the wax family crest that had sealed it, or the black envelope itself. Maybe it would feel liberating to just set them all ablaze as soon as you finished skimming over the carefully written words.

To my dearest human,

I understand the pain I have caused you.

Ever since that moment I betrayed you, all I have seen in my vision and in my mind is your expression of terror. It tortures me. Your terror spurred by my actions and my very own hands. I am your most beloved and loyalest of companions in this world, and yet, had my retainers behind those doors not intervened, you would have been gone forever. And it would have been all my doing, all my fault.

I write this letter to apologize, but as I write this, I realize that there is no forgiving what has been done. Ever. No matter how I plead or what comes from my lips. But I will say this: there are no amount of words that can truly convey how sorry I am. This will haunt me for the remainder of my centuries of life.

Agonizing thoughts plague my mind and torment me at all hours of the day and night, at every and each moment. Even now, I reflect on everything I had done to harm you. While, the time I believed in those falsehoods was minuscule compared to the days others knew and acted upon it, the fact still stands that I was too easily deceived by mere rumors alone. I was blinded by my rage when I heard that someone dared to impersonate you and had been the probable cause of your vessel’s malfunction, that I did not even take a brief respite to consider the validity of the information that reached my ears.

Believe me, although I realize you have no reason to hold even a shred of faith in a single word I say and for that I would not blame you, but I will atone for the crimes I have committed. In any way possible. Even if it takes my entire lifetime, I will continue forward until I have achieved this goal and you may smile upon me once again. There is a human saying, which if I recall correctly I believe goes something like, forgive but never forget. Well, I would beg for forgiveness, while knowing full well that my misdeeds will never truly be forgotten. The harm I inflicted will leave scars that will never fully fade.

For every scratch my nails left on your delicate flesh, you may drive vines of the sharpest thorns against my own skin until blood pools all around me. For every bruise from my hand that tainted you, I would hand you an iron sword to use as you wish against me until you believe I’ve had enough. If it pleased you, I would even utilize my magic to transform into a figure with wings, which I would then proceed to sever the wings by my own hand and offer them to you on a silver platter.

Any punishment you can think of, I would readily accept.

Although living with the guilt of my mistakes and knowledge of the weight of my actions against you, is by far the most painful torture I’ve ever known.

If I do not receive word from you soon, I fear I may go insane with my own guilt. Yet I know I bring this upon myself. And if I were to go insane, if I was not insane this entire time already, you are all that would be in my thoughts. You are all that would remain in the part of my mind that is intact. You are currently and have been all that I think of, so perhaps my sanity is already long gone.

I would venture into the deepest crevices of hell and back, just to prove my worth to you. Even if I must be punished for the rest of my life, so be it. But I implore you to allow me to redeem myself, let yourself bear witness to the incredible feats I may accomplish in your name. Redemption... The thought of perhaps one day receiving the blessing of your smile and your grace once more in the near or distant future, is the light at the end of the tunnel in this dark period of my existence. I am yours. Whether you still desire me or not, I will forever be yours, and I will brave through trials of fire to demonstrate my eternal devotion to you.

Just know that I will do everything in my power to please you. Whether it be to fulfill the judgement you cast upon me, to demonstrate my worth and determination to achieve redemption, or simply because you command it so, it shall be done. 

For now, I will wait on your response and deliberate over my next course of action. Should you desire anything, anything at all, wether it be something as simple as traveling to the store for a purchase, you have a moment of recluse and desire company, or if you command me to move the island or clear the very heavens, all you must do is speak my name. Then, consider it done. Once my name is upon your lips, I will be there as the last syllable leaves your tongue. 

I will await the moment I am summoned.

Forever yours,

Malleus Draconia

That was... unnerving. Your hand unconsciously drifted up to the slight puncture wounds on your neck. They had long since dried, but you vividly remember feeling the thin trail of crimson being drawn and dripping down like a steady stream. 

You could remember the way Malleus withdrew as soon as he realized the truth, like he had been burned with his hands on you in that fashion. The blood, your blood, staining his sharpened nails. The red was deeper than any nail polish or ink. 

You were nearly sent spiraling, until you felt a tap and the texture of paper against your arm. When you glance down, you see Grim pressing his paws with another crumpled letter onto you. The ink on this letter is red, but the feline’s wide curious eyes are a glowing blue. 

“You okay? What’s so interesting about that wall you’re lookin’ at? You’re kinda just staring off into nothing there.” 

Offering a grateful nod to Grim who frowned worriedly, you accept the already opened envelope while tossing aside the letter from Malleus. “I’m good. Just... thinking.” 

Lifting a hand, you place your palm against his head and scratch the spot behind his ears. Grim lets out a content purr and holds a bag of junk food, which he probably found among the mountain of gifts, and curls up beside you. You continue the slow and soothing scratches as you use your freehand to unravel the letter Grim brought you from the towering stacks. 

This envelope was already cut open. It was a light brown and more square-shaped as thin rope kept it tied together. It had a mash of colorful strings that formed a messy bow to top it off. At least, you assumed it was meant to be a bow, but it looked more like a messy knot that would be impossible to untangle. Good thing it was already partially cut by Grim’s claws earlier. 

As mentioned, the ink was red, an interesting choice. While the handwriting was not as elegant as Malleus’ letter. Some words were written neatly, before falling off the line and blending with other words. Making it a bit difficult to read, but you managed. 

If you’re reading this, 

This means that I am not irredeemable in your eyes. 

Had I been beyond redemption, you would have not even opened this letter. If this was a lost cause, a merry dance, this paper would’ve been tossed into the trash without a second thought. But, my words have reached you. You’re reading this right now, aren’t you? It’s why I decided to write this. I could predict the actions you’d take. You are different from your vessel, but it’s only natural that you would act similarly to the silly little doll you controlled, the same doll that sparked this whole fiasco. 

I truly am so sorry if I frightened you. While I will admit, it was my intention to strike fear into your heart and use you to serve for another dubious purpose, that was when I hadn’t recognized you. Although, I know this doesn’t mean much to you, I figured I should be entirely honest to you. It’s the least I can do. I’m such a fool for being quick to believe the rumors like some sort of senseless child.

All I can do now, is remain true and offer up my loyalty. It’s nothing compared to the mistakes I made, and I’ve made plenty, but I know an apology will never suffice. So, even if you’re still uncertain about redemption, I’ll remain loyal. Among all the beings and creatures I’ve met in my lifetime, you remain an enigma. You’re human, but at the same time, you’re different. There continues to be so much I do not know of you. I wonder, could you hear me whenever I spoke to your plaything? Do you recall the stories I told, of my time as a reckless youth? Foolhardy, wild, that I was. But I was also fiercely loyal. For the Draconias, I razed down all foes like wheat in a field. 

Now that I consider it, perhaps it's best if you hadn’t heard me recount those tales. While I had been eager to share with you my experiences and act out my thrilling adventures, perhaps my story telling was much too graphic. I wouldn’t want the vivid details of bloodshed to be cause for alarm as our most recent encounter was far from pleasant. You have to forgive me, sometimes I get carried away when narrating my accomplishments and exploits. I’ll share more light-hearted memories with you the next time we meet. 

Our first meeting with your true self really went abysmally, didn’t it? I know that things never really go as planned, so I don’t bother planning such things in advance. But, I had pictured it to be a lovely moment. Silver and Sebek would look at you with shining eyes and proclaim their loyalty as they had practiced vows over and over again for such an occasion, I would get to embrace your true form and unlock your secrets, and of course Malleus would be truly content for once as he finally received the company he deserved. 

But, as expected, things didn’t go accordingly. 

Those three youths are miserable, thinking of the proper words to pen, a way to apologize for the suffering they’ve caused. But now, we are the ones suffering because we hurt you. 

They write and write, but tear their letters over and over again as they believe no words they’ve written so far are adequate. Soon they’ll realize that no words will ever be sufficient for an apology. Even if they were to create new words that are unheard of by any dictionary, it would not come close to being enough. That’s why I’ve decided to stick with this single attempt, because I already know that nothing I ever write will measure up to being acceptable. 

There is something about you that always leaves me bemused. Your grace left me feeling dizzy and giddy, like I was experiencing a little crush again, although this was much more intense than any crush. The truth about your vessel controlled by you, had me perplexed as I had never heard of such a thing. And well, the disastrous chase that followed your arrival... you know that part well and could assume how I feel about that from what I’ve told you. At present, all I can do is remain loyal, for what my loyalty is worth to you. Beyond that, despite having an abundance of experiences, there is no such situation that could have prepared me for this moment. 

Genuinely, I am stumped once again. I cannot even envision what can be done with my own two hands, that can be worthy of your attention once again and earn me redemption. But, you can be certain of one thing, and that is: my loyalty is undying. I still have a few years left in these old bones of mine, and I will use the rest of my life to serve you. 

Whether you want me or not. If you still want me, I will be of use to you. Whatever you are in need of, a soldier, a plaything, a companion, or even someone to take out your anger on. I shall be it. If you don’t want me, I will still be there. I will always be there to smile and lift your spirits like you once did for me through your doll. 

I eagerly wait for word from you. 

Until we meet again soon, 

Lilia Vanrouge

None of these letters were comforting in the slightest. In fact, they only placed you further on edge. For a moment, you considered stopping it here after only two and getting rid of the rest. 

Grim by now had settled in your lap, and looked up at you with those watchful blue eyes. Had he been staring at you the entire time? 

“Let me guess, they’re not taking it well?” 

“No, not at all.” You answer with a grimace. If this was how they were like now, you didn’t even want to know how they acted when they found out your vessel stopped working over a week ago. 

“Huh, sucks for them.” The feline stretched out, his claws poking out for a moment before quickly retracting as he plopped back down on his back with his stomach up. Maybe it was his own attempts to fill the silence, or to let you know you weren’t alone, but he eventually groaned. “Hey, read me one. I wanna know what they say.” 

Unable to say no to your companion, you nodded slowly and smiled weakly, “Alright, alright, let’s see what we have here...” 

You plucked out a random letter with neat packaging. However, just because the exterior was pretty, didn’t mean the interior message would be. You learned that already from the last two letters you had read. 

This envelope looked somewhat similar to the last one, square-shaped and tied closed with string. However, instead of the knot of ribbons on it, it held a simpler gift. The brown rope around it was tied in a neat bow, and between the string were lavender stems with a small branch of wild berries. 

Grim immediately indulged in the berries and the flowers, staining his little fangs and whiskers with the sweet sticky juice and purple petals. All the while exclaiming, “Oh, oh! I remember this letter. Some bird came to drop it and it flew away just before I could catch it...” 

A short laugh escaped your lips as you hear him. “So that’s why you were grumbling this morning.” 

Not wanting to be reminded again, he swat his paw at your nose as the feline hissed, “Shh! Just read already!” 

Dear player, 

I truly am deeply remorseful and I offer my sincerest apologies. 

I was to be a knight, that has been something I have strived for ever since I was a child. A knight not just to serve Malleus but to protect others, and eventually I discovered my purpose was to serve you as well. But... all I did was stand idly by and watch the torment. Shortly after meeting your vessel, I had promised to shield you from all danger. I broke that promise. 

I cannot imagine how frightened you must have been. Had just one person stop and thought things through, they may have realized the horrible mistake that was being made. Had I acted as soon as I felt the tug on my heart when I saw you weakened and on the dirt, I may have saved you from anymore pain. 

Those eyes, your eyes, I see them in my sleep. You were scared, and through your gaze you were pleading for help, were you not? I see it every time I close my eyes. You witnessed it yourself, the very moment when I had failed you. You were right there, so close I could have extended a helping hand. But my grief rendered me sightless, all I could think of in that moment is how my heart ached and how I longed to see you again. Even if it was through your vessel. The rumors didn’t quite make any sense to me, as I wondered how could anyone possibly be so cruel as to tear you away from us? 

Father had said that it would all be over soon. That capturing the imposter and bringing them to their knees, would make everything better. But when I saw you on the ground before we learned of your identity, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was alright. Would the player have wanted this? Would they have scorned upon witnessing the scene? Would this undoubtedly end the throbbing pain I felt in my heart? The pain was becoming unbearable, and I was not the only one to feel it. The news made little sense to me. Sebek insisted that it was true, and Father seemed to believe so as well. However, that is no excuse for how I went along as if it were okay. 

You were innocent and helpless, you, the player, not only witnessed the scene but were the victim. I’m so sorry, I should have done something... If it were the only way to gain your forgiveness, I would spend every moment of my waking hours writing letters of apology. To do so I would keep myself awake for as long as humanely possible. If asked, I would use every moment to pen these letters, each different from the last. Although after several attempts in redoing this single letter, I realize that it would be a pointless endeavor. 

After reflecting, the only way to make up for what I have do is be patient. 

Be patient and await for word from you. I cannot force you, I cannot pressure you, I can only pause and prepare myself to do whatever I must in order to earn back your grace. 

Please, do not keep me waiting too long. I know I have no right to ask you this. I’m willing to wait years if needed, but part of me has this fear that I will never regain a spot near your heart until I’m frail and feeble with age. Rest assured, even in old age, I would be willing to be your knight. Even if my bones ached, I would raise my sword and shield. If I couldn’t use my weakened legs, I would call upon a horse to be my steed. And if I were to become magicless, I would use the remainder of my physical strength to serve you. 

If I may be honest with you? I have no idea what to do. Yes, I said I would wait, but what else can I do? What can I do to eventually secure a place beside you, if it were possible? In times of trouble I normally turn to Lilia and Malleus for advice, however, I am a bit unsettled by their approach to this delicate matter. Truthfully, I am anxious, but while they share the sentiment, they are oddly confident that things will turn out alright in the end. I am unsure how they can muster the self-assurance to quell their fears. Maybe they know something that I do not, and have decided not to share this secret for now... 

Nevertheless, for now I’ll eagerly anticipate the day we can reunite just as I have dreamed. I greatly look forward to the second where not only I can see you smile once again and your eyes might finally look at me with content, but also the moment where all those I know might get the opportunity to be in your peaceful grace. 

I’ve dragged this letter on for too long. If you were to take something away from this letter, let it be this: I will carry out your wishes. No matter what you may think of me, whether it be a positive or negative image in your mind, I will continue forward in your name. Even if you think me unfit for the title of knight, then consider me a humble servant instead. Nothing will shake my commitment, and I will do whatever it is you ask. 

This is a pledge that will not be broken. 

Cordially, 

Silver

This letter felt a bit lighter than the others. Still, it was slightly intense in its own way, but it was nowhere near as extreme as the previous two were. And, maybe you had a better opinion on Silver, not because he was gentle with his words but because he was one of the very few who hadn’t threatened you, directly harmed you, or treated you cruelly. 

But! He didn’t get a free pass just because of that. Yes, he may not have directly caused any harm, but he didn’t exactly help you either. 

Grim had taken the letter from you, and inspected the paper in his paws. He held it above his head, scrunching up his nose a bit as he looked it over. “I dunno... he’s okay.” 

At that, you roll your eyes a bit as a smirk crept up from the corner of your mouth. “You’re not just saying that because his letter came with a snack?” 

“No! You think me easy to bribe? I think not! It would take a whole bucket full of berries just to get me to even discuss it. Then, I’d turn them down and take the berries anyways!” The feline proclaimed his brilliant plan should that situation ever arise. Maybe the gifts you allowed him to take were starting to get to his head. “But... he could be worse. Silver, as dumb as he was like everyone else, he did hear me out after they separated us.” 

Silver did that? If that were true, it’s possible that he wasn’t as bad as the others who had wronged you.

“That’s... good to know.” You murmur as you pluck up another random envelope from the pile. 

The last envelope you pick up before you planned to take a break was surprisingly plain. It was just that. A plain white envelope, sealed by green wax with what looked like a family crest that depicted a creature with fangs and scales. One of the corners was crinkled, as if it was gripped too tightly there. 

As soon as you slid out the folded letter, you were bombarded by the ink. Whoever had wrote this, seemed like they applied too much force. This caused certain parts of some letters to be too round and heavy with ink that made those bits feel damp and stain your fingers the slightest bit. Like whoever wrote this, placed just as much pressure with their hands on the pen gliding across the page, as much pressure as they felt weighing on their mind. 

Great Player, 

As I pen this, I am on my hands and knees.

I have prepared a multitude of letters which I will send daily, so that now and in the future you will continue to hear my apology and know I truly mean it. One admission of regret is not enough. An apology is only an acknowledgment of an offense, it does not absolve one of their wrongdoings. I know this! So, I, Sebek Zigvolt, will atone by any means necessary! 

To you, the player who I wronged and deserves nothing but happiness and perfection, I give my deepest sincerest profuse apology. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m SORRY. Right now when I look at my hands that I use to write, I’m reminded of the vicious way I grabbed you like some... heathen! These hands sullied your flawless self, and for that alone I will never forgive myself!

Had it not been for the wise words of Master Lilia and the bothersome yet logical reasoning from Silver, I would have been at your door everyday, every hour, begging for a second chance. In the midst of brainstorming, I presented my idea of crawling on hands and knees, from Diasomnia to the Ramshackle Dorm, to deliver the letter myself. Then, I would display whatever cuts or bruises formed on my palms and knees which I would receive from the rocky roads or thorns, that way you may see my devotion was true and no lengths are too great when it comes to you! No matter the pain or burden! The idea seems to appeal to Lord Malleus, but I was told that it comes off as too extreme...

But! I beg to differ!! I only consider it so that you may understand what I feel, so that you might comprehend the things I would do for you, and receive me back in your good graces! Additionally, delivering the letter in this manner would cause me as much or more physical pain than I caused you! It is a shame that things have come to this. I had wished so much for our first proper meeting to be one of joy where you might accept me as your knight! In spite of that, I will not falter in shame! If I were to deliver the following letters in that method I had detailed earlier, I would wear the scars proudly! It would be physical proof of my faithfulness towards you! 

I am sorry, and I will continue to say it. Perhaps, this may be presumptuous of me, but if you consider it, Diasomnia did not torment you nearly as long as any other insolent dorm had! And! We retainers accompanied Lord Malleus every day to check on the wellbeing of your vessel, and watch over it while investigating various possible approaches on how to revive Yuu. We diligently did this until the moment we encountered your true self! 

I swear to you, no one shall harm you from this moment forth! 

From now on, I’ll march forward and see to it that you are never hurt ever again! This is something I know that my fellow dormmates will tirelessly work toward as well. 

Have you realized that we have been guarding you and the serenity of your dorm in the past days? Have you not thought it strange that none have come to needlessly pester you? Yes, that is all thanks to the efforts of those in Diasomnia! Even when you do not realize it, we are insuring your welfare and the tranquility you require to recover! Of course, as much as I desperately want to inform you of the details, I will not. It is best you don’t know. 

Now, I must be honest with you. Originally, I had planned this letter to be much longer and have contents that would have been much different than what you are currently reading. I aimed to be honest in my feelings! But before I could sign off on the original draft, I realized that the others may be in the right. It is possible that our devotion, my devotion, may come off as disquieting if I were completely sincere. I’ve had to restrain myself on many occasions, reminding myself to at least appear collected and controlled. That is not as easy as it sounds! 

How could it be, when the one I must suppress my emotions and actions for, is you? That’s as if asking to repress part of my very soul and heart! I absolutely detest hiding it!! But when I remember this is for you and your own comfort, it becomes bearable. I can only hope that soon, very soon, I might be able to unveil my true sentiments towards you! As intense and extreme as they may be! 

It seems that I’m nearing the word limit that they imposed. Once again, I apologize. I’ll have to contemplate new ways to write ‘sorry.’ I wish I could write a million more words for you! But even a million words wouldn’t be anywhere near a satisfactory amount for me to detail how much I revere you! And it would take more than another million words for me to write a full apology, but even then I wouldn’t be satisfied! No single letter is adequate enough, so be prepared to receive the rest I have written! 

I will make sure they are delivered posthaste! 

Faithfully, 

Sebek Zigvolt 

Great... you’re back to being unnerved again. 

There was something about them all being so weirdly obsessed, but in vary different ways. Malleus and Lilia puzzled you, they had you feeling the most uneasy by far. Maybe it had to do with the fact that they were both not human, they were arcane beings with enigmatic personalities and objectives that were incomprehensible to you. 

Out of the four, Silver was the only one that was fully human like yourself, but even he was a bit of a mystery as he was raised by the fae. It was hard to be wary of him, which was probably because your distrust and fear of him wasn’t as intense as it was towards the others due to his good nature and lack of actions he took during the whole disaster. 

As for Sebek, well, he was unnerving in his own right but it was nowhere near on the level that Malleus and Lilia were on. At the very least he wasn’t a complete mystery to you. It was easy to figure out his intentions, because he either said them or wore them on his sleeve. 

Your mind was spinning as you looked over the four letters, filled with lines upon lines and more lines of pages. In that moment your breath quickened as you noticed the cloudy sky outside. For a brief second, you feared you would see that familiar flash of green lightning, taking you back to that dark day when you nearly died. It’s like you could feel Sebek’s hands tightly gripping the back of your skull that forced you against the earth, you saw Silver’s sorrowful gaze that spoke a thousand words you didn’t yet understand, you heard Lilia’s words hinting to a doomed fate of becoming some lifeless doll, and god, you couldn’t forget him even if you wanted to. Malleus. He was the worst of all. You felt his nails and fingers constricting around your neck and squeezing out all the air, you saw his haunting green eyes with those slit pupils as he glowered at you with such anger and hate, and you heard what you had thought would be the last words you ever heard come from his lips––

“Hey!” 

You were torn out of those dark thoughts by the feline in your lap. A concerned frown tugged at Grim’s lips, but once he saw he had your attention, he mustered a slight grin as he held up what looked like an armful of snacks. At least, as much as he could carry in his small paws. From his grin, you could see his little fangs still covered in the remnants of the berries and flower petals.

“Look, I found your favorite! This is getting boring, so let’s just take a break!”

#twisted wonderland #twst #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twst #twst imposter au #I didn't ask to get isekaied #we just got a letter wonder who it’s from #malleus draconia #yandere malleus draconia #twst malleus #lilia vanrouge #yandere lilia vanrouge #twst lilia #silver #yandere silver #twst silver #sebek zigvolt #yandere sebek zigvolt #twst sebek #diasomnia

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #4796:

Speaking as a queer man who only recently started reading the comic, I feel FAR safer around fans of the Boyfriends Webtoon than I do around the self-proclaimed “defenders of queer men” who hate on it. Mainly because the fans mostly just gush about how cute it is and stuff, whereas the haters say shit like “the boyfriends webtoon makes me want to commit hate crimes uwu” or “I wish I could violently murder all of the characters in this webcomic tee hee”, or “the characters, author and fans of this comic all deserve to be euthanized”, all while insisting they’re doing this to “protect” us from “gross fujoshis” who are “fetishizing” us (often including the author - a gay trans man - in that category; hope I don’t need to explain why that’s fucked up). But here’s the thing: When I, a bisexual man, hear “I hate this comic so much that it makes me want to murder a queer man!”… well, surprise surprise, I don’t feel very protected! I don’t care if you’re doing it “ironically”, it’s not funny, it’s not cute and most of all, it doesn’t convince me that you’re a safe person to be around. For people who claim to want to “protect” guys like me from “evil fetishizers”, these folks really do a great job of sounding like the same people who genuinely want us dead, to the point that half the time I can’t even tell the difference. Comments sections for media relating to the Boyfriends Webtoon are filled with comments like the ones I listed, and I can rarely tell the difference between which ones are self-proclaimed “gay guy protectors” and which ones are just plain vanilla bigots. It’s a real Animal Farm “the pigs and the humans look identical now” situation in my eyes. Simply put: If it’s a choice between fans of the Webtoon who might not understand me but would still evidently make an effort to be kind and haters of the Webtoon who respond to it by claiming they want to commit hate crimes against queer men (regardless of context), I’ll choose the fans of the comic and want the haters to stay as far away from me as possible.

#ask box submission #fandom problem 4796 #webcomic fandom #non fans

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

Kafka with a tsundere reader (I love Kafka SO MUCH…)

Kafka with a tsundere reader

characters: Kafka x gn!reader

warnings: none

a/n: GET YOUR WISHES READY. IT'S HAPPENING. Less than 24 hours until Kafka releases. So I decided now would be a great opportunity to write something for her, as something of an offering to the Gacha gods...

I'm so down bad for this woman. I swear...

I wish everyone pulling for her the best of luck and I’ll see you on the other side!

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Kafka

While the Stellaron Hunters were composed of all different kinds of personalities, the ones Kafka kept around herself the most weren’t the most jovial of creatures. Silverwolf ironically preferred to ignore the tendencies of the animal in her name and rather work alone, while Bladie never was all too talkative in the first place.

And then there was you, someone trying so hard to match the stone-faced attitudes of your co-workers, that it was almost a crime not to try and get you to show your real feelings. A crime Kafka for once in her life didn’t intend to commit.

Kafka’s teasing was a misfortune every Stellaron Hunter working with her at least once had to endure. One you begrudgingly had to admit was fun to watch whenever you weren’t her target, the urge to join in whenever the purple-haired woman broke through Silverwolfs stoic facade forcing you to bundle up all of your self-control on more than one occasion.

Today however, was not your lucky day, as it quickly became clear who today’s victim would be.

“Come on, finish what you just wanted to say”, Kafka urged you to continue with a smile so devilish even Nanook would have felt creeped out. It had been foolish enough of you to let your compliment slip out in the first place, especially when Blade and Silverwolf were in the room, but all hopes of not drawing a giant Target on yourself were lost when you cut yourself off in the middle of your sentence, making the fact that it was a slip up as clear as day.

“There is nothing to finish, I was just talking to myself”, you lied as naturally as you breathed, hoping it would be enough to get Kafka to stop. Only for your hopes to be crushed in front of your very eyes as you saw her face light up in a familiar way, one signaling that giving up was the last thing on her mind right now.

“You’re lying.” While being called out on your obvious lie already was enough to make you lose your composure, her teasing tone sent blood flooding directly into your cheeks, causing them to turn red in almost an instant

With one swift turn of your head towards Blade you silently begged him for help, only for your fellow Stellaron Hunter to face away, putting all of his attention onto his weapon. And while you ought to have felt betrayed by his action, knowing how you did the same whenever it was someone else’s turn made you unable to hold a grudge against him.

Silverwolf however was a different story. As when you glanced towards her, you weren’t just brushed off, but instead were greeted by an amused smile, one radiating enough Schadenfreude to feed an entire planet of sadists. Before you knew it however, your attention was once again drawn to Kafka as you tried your best to find the right words to say.

“...I said the new coat suits you”, you murmured out just loud enough for her to hear you, nevertheless she gave you one more teasing smile, one wider than all of the previous.

“That’s interesting, I could have sworn I’ve heard a ‘B’ somewhere. Something along the lines of ‘You look beau-’”, she continued, dragging the last word out in anticipation of what you would say while forcing you to look her in the eyes.

“You look beautiful today”, you finally whispered in defeat, her ears immediately picking up on your words. For a moment you expected her to pretend she didn’t hear you, forcing you to say it once again, just louder. However, it seemed as if getting you to spit it out was enough for her as she showed you a satisfied grin before letting you finally go. Sparring you the embarrassment of having your fellow crewmates hear what exactly you had said that caused you to get this stand-offish.

Or at least that’s what she let you think for a few seconds.

“Oh you think I look beautiful today? Thank you, you’ve got quite the looks yourself.” The big smile on Kafka’s face was hard to miss, although you were far too embarrassed to look back up at her, your red face glued to your shoes for at least the next hour.

No matter how hard you tried to match your colleagues' blank expressions, there was always one person for whom you were as easy to read as an open book.

#kafka x reader #hsr kafka #kafka x y/n #kafka x you #kafka #kafka honkai star rail #kafka hsr

[popawritter12]

How about Yandere Kuai Liang x female reader, where Kuai Liang is jealous of the reader's relationship with Smoke and kidnaps the reader so he could be with her? Smoke finds out about and rescues the reader.

Yandere! Kuai liang x Female! reader

Author's notes: Sorry if it took too long, I had a creative block. But we're back to our old ways! I hope you like this one-shot (although it has a little surprise at the end <3)

Yandere Character: Kuai Liang

From the videogame/movie/serie/manga/anime: Mortal Kombat 1

Case: Jealousy, kidnapping, intent of rescued and a a poorly narrated fight.

Warning: Nothing.

Finished: Yes

------------------------------------------------------------------------

He was his brother, he had never understood why he felt that way, especially about him, after all he was his best friend, he was the person he trusted the most; even more so than his blood brother.

But that fear always existed in him in the depths of his soul, he knew and knew very well the fact that he was willing to harm others if necessary, especially that feeling emerged much more strongly when Tomas was close to her, when he was so close to his darling.

That's why he had to resort to this; He never knew if this was right or wrong, many nights he wondered if he was really doing the right thing, if he was right to lock her up like this, to keep her away from everyone and especially from that gray-haired man who had caused him so many problems.

In his head, there was the constant struggle of whether he could have done everything differently, but he couldn't help it. Every time he tried to get close to her, there was him. It didn't matter where he was, it didn't matter the time, nor the time, it was as if he knew when to act. And the thought that her dearest brother was acting on her mind to keep her all to himself and keep her away from him, and who knows how many other horrendous things!

She was in danger, but no…, he was his brother, a man who was raised under the same ideals as him, and who was willing to honor his clan with the same intensity as him, who had to give his life for the clan. If necessary, he had to be disciplined, kind, and give his best.

But then, if he had ended up committing such horrendous crimes, what would stop Tomas from doing the same?

And why doesn't he care better about Bi-Han? I mean, he could hurt her for angry issues.

No, Bi-Han doesn't want to be with someone, and he didn't care in the slightest about her existence, much less the infatuation that was in Kuai Liang's heart.

Bi-Han couldn't care less about his (Name)!

But Smoke…, he was that person who had so much hindered her approach to him. The one who was always closer to her, closer to her, and who had her as his damn best friend.

He was always one step ahead of him.

But that wasn't the important thing now! He already had (Name) in his arms, why worry about Tomas?, and it was obvious that he was not interested in knowing what Tomas wanted to do about her disappearance, and although he seemed worried, it was just a fake felling, something fake like a mask he had formed especially for this situation

Even as his stomach turned as he comforted the man who was called his brother, his heart and mind only thought of one thing; the excitement he felt knowing that she finally belonged to him, the thought that he should no longer worry about him because it wouldn't be necessary to harm him, much less kill him.

He was different, he just wanted to be with her and he smiled every time he saw her near him, he never wanted her as a partner, he only wanted her to have her as his best friend; He always smiled and felt safe around her, however that generated a lot of distrust in his brother. It was ironic to know that it was Smoke who had introduced her dear friend to him, introducing her as one of her best friends, a person she had met outside of Liang and Bi-Han and the Lin Kuei home.

That's why he felt too disgusted with the idea of feeling so bad seeing him around her, but his heart had the thought that he was to blame, that he never left her and was too stupid to find the answers for the feelings that his brother had for her.

Yes, it was Tomas fault, it wasn't his for having fallen in love… after all he was human too!

It was his fault for not noticing it and not for having taken caution when seeing how other people around her disappeared.

It was his fault for not realizing how much Liang longed to have her close to him.

It was his fault for refusing to stay away from her when he simply asked if he could keep his distance from her.

It was all his fault!

He didn't want him to be happy with her!

But that's why he was afraid, that's why he thought that he knew this, that his brother knew what he had done, the sin he had committed and all the crimes that were behind him, but it was never like that, and yet that feeling of uncertainty always remained within his heart, even now with her beneath him asking over and over again what he had done why he was hurting her like this.

And now, it all comes down to this.

—Let go of me now, Liang, —the woman threatened, her gaze meeting that of the man in front of her.

—Honey, I can't do that. —he said, worried.

—Why you can't? Your reasons literally make no head or tail.

—It's not that, (Name), I know you won't understand, at least not now. —He mentions, the pads of his fingers playing with each other.

—There is nothing I don't understand! —The woman raised her voice—, you are the one who doesn't understand that this is just so fucking evil.

The man snorted, still feeling that fervor of hope that she would accept this relationship, longing to receive her warmly in her arms and provide him with that comfort that he always wanted to give her.

—Please, (Name), you have to understand, I can't just…

He hears the door open abruptly.

The familiar shadow enters the stage, at the same time that heavy, protesting gasps resonate with his abrupt arrival; Tomas had finally found them, or rather he had found where his dear brother had the woman he considered his best friend and almost his sister from another mother at large.

—So you had hidden her here, right? —The gray-haired man joked, an attempt at mockery going slightly unnoticed in his appearance—don't you think this place is a little… awkward for a woman?

It was a dusty room from a house that the world vaguely knew about, since the Lin Kuei clan had discovered this ruined place a few years ago and had never taken it into account due to the lack of need to resort to acting on it. same house, so Kuai Liang was surprised to notice that his brother had indeed been found earlier than expected.

It was more than obvious that this was not the place where his darling belonged, —and it was never going to be— since it was simply a temporary hiding place until things had calmed down and he could take her somewhere a little safer and away from the crowds; but it seemed his lie had been discovered faster than he could have expected.

On the contrary, the woman was happy, a smile adorned her face when she heard that man's voice, knowing that at least during that time she had the possibility of waiting for him to rescue her, that he could took her to a safe place away from this man who said how much he loved her that he had only kidnapped her for love.

The discussion was increasing in intensity as the tension grew in the air, neither of the two was willing to give in to the other, which led to a fairly obvious conclusion for both the woman and the two men present.

Tomas knew from the beginning that there was a possibility that he would have to fight with the person responsible for the disappearance of the woman he loved so much as a friend, but he did not expect to have to fight with his own brother, and not with Bi-Han, where even though it was more justifiable because of how badly he treated him, no… it was with Liang, his brother, the person who received him kindly with the simple fact that he liked him. That feeling destroyed him mentally, but at that moment he was not there to talk about his feelings.

—I don't want to fight you, Liang —Smoke clarifies, —, but I can't accept that you want to do this to (Name)."

—You don't understand this, even if I explained it to you. —Liang's tone of voice changes, a seriousness in his voice appearing as he shifts his focus to Tomas.

—You're the one who doesn't understand it.

Tomas tries to approach Liang, his arms lowered, a look that only reflected tremendous disappointment, a disappointment that in turn was a wish, a longing for him to repent and accept his mistake, but in his mind, he was determined to do anything to keep his best friend, his- (Name), safe.

—There are other ways to solve this.

—Do those ways include you taking (Name) away from me?

She, confused but with her heart pumping blood with pure fervor and adrenaline, knew that she would only be able to struggle against the rope. So, out of obvious intuition, her hands began to move abruptly. She tried to be silent, and in turn, Tomas heard the sound of the rope moving a little, so he knew that she had to distract Liang.

—Why do all your thoughts orbit around the idea of me taking you away from her? —Tomas tries to stay close to her brother —, I won't take you away from her, I just want to help you.

Liang looked unfriendly, his frown resembling that of her brother Bi-Han, which reminded her somewhat of him.

And the mere thought of Liang ending up on Bi-Han's side made him sick, made him feel like his chest was sinking into her chest just by thinking about it.

—I don't want to hurt you, I know you can take another path, be you again. You could even...—Tomas pauses for a second, his thoughts darkening at the thought of him even wanting to be close to her again—..,you could try dating other people.

And those words, those measly words ignited that anger inside Liang, and hearing the accidentally loud noise of the rope giving a little to his grip ended up overwhelming his mind, finally leading him to remember the reason for the actions. her.

He didn't do it for his own pleasure, or because he loved seeing (Name) suffer.

He loved her, he wanted her, he wanted to be close to her and touch her skin, to be able to receive affection from her and provide protection and a lot, a lot of love to that woman who caused so many things in his nervous system—Or body in general—.

Tomas could barely see the cut on his cheek coming.

He had aimed at his eye, his damn left eye.

Blood gushing from the wound, and he took several steps back.

The chain approached him quickly, and he knew there was no other way.

Oh sweetheart, there could be no other way.

It was more than obvious that the first advance was made by Liang, rushing his body towards Smoke, and even if he tried to avoid attacking him, it was impossible to always escape from him, and when he felt the skin of his arm being burned, he knew that he was willing to treat him as his damned enemy. Maybe it was fate that knew how to play with the mind of the adopted young man, or at least that was what crossed his mind to condemn him to one of his worst nightmares; fighting with the brother he loved most and with whom he had —or he thought he had— an almost unbreakable brotherly relationship. It is then that given the intention of the situation, both of them decide to attack. The sound of clashing weapons accompanied by the brutality of the blows and techniques that were used in this situation managed to generate more uncertainty in the woman who was at the mercy of anyone who wanted to harm her. And her perfectly tied ropes made her wonder how long had been practicing Liang to be able to tie such a good knot.

It is here where she asks herself why, what is the need of that man to have resorted to that? And it wasn't because the idea of love was stupid for her… no, it was because she knew very well how to differentiate between unhealthy obsession and honest love. And this, for her, was living proof that an honest friendly affection was different from one full of obsessions, and mainly, of dark desires to harm, to distance, and mainly, to possess, to possess someone until consuming their life and that they can only think of one thing: loving them and living for them.

However, at the same time that she was fighting against the ropes that hurt and bruised her skin, there was a reality that neither of the two members of the Lin Kuei wanted to know, or rather understand; both of them were equal. Both power and determination to keep (Name) safe, and even in both of them there was a certain pain to fight, but they thought that it was the only way, that there could be no other resolution to this horrendous situation. But even with all the fierceness that was presented in combat, and with the violence behind hitting or intentionally harming the other, Tomas tried to resonate with him, but every time he tried to do so his brother only responded by trying to hit him with serious ferocity, where he The gray-haired man will understand that Liang was not willing to dialogue, and was even less willing to negotiate the freedom of his dear darling.

However, in that mere distraction that Smoke had intentionally caused, a small-sized blade, looking more like the size of the palm of an adult human hand, falls from his pocket, curiously close to the woman.

One of her feet miraculously reached the blade, caressing the sharp area before managing to draw it quickly. It took a few seconds of bearable stretching—although it caused a little pain—in her body.

But a pebble fell on the sole of her head, causing some disagreement. When she raised her head a little, she noticed that the thunderous blows and use of techniques collided against the delicate and sensitive grayish walls that generated a certain smell of dust in the environment; but they were ignored due to the smell of fire burning skin and cloth, and blood spilling on the ground.

—Tell me, Tomas —Liang mentions at one point, before roughly taking her hand, forcing her wrist to twist, but without breaking a bone or tearing a muscle —, you want her too, right?

The gray-haired man gasped in protest, managing to kick out, barely landing the blow due to the speed with which the other moved away from him.

He could have broken his arm, but he didn't. And it wasn't because he had decided to be pious that day.

As soon as the ropes softened their fierce grip and she felt her wrists being released she had little time to think about what was happening, both Smoke and Liang were not in the best state after the fight, and the situation was so violent that she inevitably. She noticed the number of bars and parts that were falling apart due to the fight, announcing in an almost conclusive way that the building was about to collapse if they continued with that fight.

She tried to break the ropes on her feet, but it was difficult because the stones fell more regularly, and while the breaking of the stones could be heard, the pieces became larger and larger, increasing in size with each fall. It wasn't going to take long for the walls to fall.

She already had the option of trying to stop them, trying to save her friend or simply observing the situation. So this is where I turn to the question, what is the

true decision that is correct here. Escape; help Tomas; or try to save both.

Even if she tried to scream, her heart was pounding too hard, and a fear grew with every second she saw the danger she was in.

Anyone would know that this decision would not be easy and the fact that these were two people that she appreciated with all her heart, if it were one more than the other, caused her intention to become increasingly heavier, taking on the weight of conscience that all her heart over and over again without stopping for a second.

It's here where you readers decide which of the 4 endings that I have planned in my mind to act on. Be free to vote for the one you think is the most interesting or best for you!

----

(5 failed tries later i understand that i need to put the mf choose in ANOTHER PUBLICATION so please go right there and vote :3)

#yandere #obsessive love #poppa thoughs #yandere x you #yandere male #poppa things #mortal kombat 1 #mk1 #mk kuai liang #yandere mk #yandere mortal kombat #Yandere Kuai Liang #mk1 x reader #fem reader #tw kidnapping #kuai liang #Yandere x reader #yandere writing #yandere blog

[inconspicious-random-thoughts]

You know what I think would be interesting about Charlie and Alastor's dynamic? It would be in how they influence each other going forward. Alastor is slowly pushing Charlie to becoming a more assertive and inspirational princess as part of his plans to "pull all of the strings" and get out of his deal. Under his tutelage, Charlie will become much more willing to use her abilities in defense of the Hotel and her loved ones, potentially developing something of a ruthless streak as the threats to the Hotel continue to pile up. I also imagine she will start using his philosophy about using smiles to project power and confidence to hide her personal pain and growing trauma (which knowing this show will no doubt be a lot) to the point of becoming self-destructive and somewhat isolated from her inner circle, potentially even Vaggie to avoid weighing them down with her burdens (which would be ironic since it would be similar to how Vaggie hid her past as an Exorcist out of guilt and fear of her girlfriends rejection). Taking a level in badass in exchange for a drawn-out mental break down.

As for Charlie's influence on Alastor, Charlie's compassion is already rubbing off on him enough for the Overlord to risk his life fighting Adam and the Exorcists for them, something that he found so out of character that he had a villainous breakdown over this realization. While resistant to this growth of character at first in the name of preserving his dreaded reputation, Alastor will slowly becoming less withdrawn and more willing to engage with the crew even when doing so doesn't help his goals, even becoming less antagonistic towards Husk and Lucifer who in turn will actually enjoy his company to a degree. He will remain a ruthless bastard committed to his personal goals, and likely won't be redeeming himself anytime soon, but he'll still become a member of the family all the same. Whether this will resolve his existential crisis or drive him even more mad I can't say right now.

Good to hear from you again,

I been meaning to respond quicker but apparently I'm not allowed to sit and think for more then three minutes at a time. :( So my thoughts/ respond may seem disjointed as I was writing small bit at a time.

To be honestly, I haven't really consider Alastor influence on Charlie beside the standard of nudging her in the direction towards his own agenda. You are correct, now that it's pointed to me. He would have a great influence on her beyond the manipulation. TBH his manipulation might not as nefarious as we think (I still think it because of his contractor) but it can be just that he made to guide her to reach her full potential and power. Which would still align with his own goals with breaking his deal of his soul.

We already see Charlie being influence and episode 7 after they made their deal and Alastor told her about the power of a smile. She took that advice. When Vaggie was made aware of the deal, and Alastor suggestion of meeting his friend to gain numbers she agreed with "What was that about smiling?"

Charlie will become much more willing to use her abilities in defense of the Hotel and her loved ones, potentially developing something of a ruthless streak as the threats to the Hotel continue to pile up.

I wonder why she so hesitate to use her powers in the first place. Like, would she even need Alastor if she simply just use it to begin with? To fix her own hotel? There must be a reason for it. Its either, she cant control it as she doesnt practice it, or it effects her morals/personality, or just the general fear of innocents being caught in the crossfire. It could be all three. But her powers probably tie in more to option two as we only see her demonic powers come out when she upset/annoyed/angry.

Maybe why she so chipper is because as child she more likely threw a tantrum or possible from her teenage ansty emo phase lol...I hope because of her emo phase because emo goth Charlie is entertaining...and hurt so many people from it when her powers manifested in anger and lost control. After that, she swore to herself to always be chipper. So in a way she always used a smile as a mask. But after Alastor, she learn that she can do a lot more with a smile. If this is a backstory that happen, I can see her following Alastor guidance much more easily as she start to see that they may be similar in some ways.

Charlie will definitely become more confident with her powers in season two after the battle. We saw her stop Adam punch. We know she blames herself for everything. Sir Pentious death, Alastor being wounded when it comes to light, Dazzle death, Vaggie taking a bit of a beating from Lute to protect Charlie. She is stronger then all of them, but here they are or harmed as they attempt to protect her. She may take this as a lesson to just just suck up any reservation about using her power to prevent more of her friends from getting hurt when she could have easily stopped it before. I wouldn't say she become ruthless, or at least consciously. Alastor ruthless and wants to be. Charlie "ruthless" is she momentarily lost herself, overwhelmed by the influence of her power.

Charlie seeking Alastor mentorship over guidance from her father would be possibly Alstor has a great sense of self control and discipline then Lucifer. Lucifer would also be too gentle that it be too dismantling. Lucifer training is, swim wings, training wheels, or end up doing things for her to save her the trouble, while Alastor would be blunt and throw Charlie in headfirst to learn. You know Alastor the type that throws a kid in to learn to swim or push someone off a cliff to learn to fly. Everyone in the hotel, when giving advice or bring up issues, tip toes around charlie feelings about thing. Alastor doesn't. Alastor doesn't factor feelings into decisions. He does, calculate how people would react because of feelings, but the issues themselves he does factor them in. Which may be another reason why she would seek his advice.

I also imagine she will start using his philosophy about using smiles to project power and confidence to hide her personal pain and growing trauma (which knowing this show will no doubt be a lot) to the point of becoming self-destructive and somewhat isolated from her inner circle, potentially even Vaggie to avoid weighing them down with her burdens (which would be ironic since it would be similar to how Vaggie hid her past as an Exorcist out of guilt and fear of her girlfriends rejection).

There be definitely be something she'll hide from Vaggie, I just don't know what. Lack of ideas currently, I'll go with keeping Alastor injury a secret or he used their deal for something but has to keep quiet. Or Charlie undergoing demonic power training under Alastor guidance-which Vaggie would hate so much. Vaggie is super suspicious and frustrated by this. Vaggie feels like she failing Charlie somehow, but forcing herself to trust and give Charlie her space while trying to support her while keeping her in the dark.

As for Charlie's influence on Alastor, Charlie's compassion is already rubbing off on him enough for the Overlord to risk his life fighting Adam and the Exorcists for them, something that he found so out of character that he had a villainous breakdown over this realization. While resistant to this growth of character at first in the name of preserving his dreaded reputation, Alastor will slowly becoming less withdrawn and more willing to engage with the crew even when doing so doesn't help his goals, even becoming less antagonistic towards Husk and Lucifer who in turn will actually enjoy his company to a degree. He will remain a ruthless bastard committed to his personal goals, and likely won't be redeeming himself anytime soon, but he'll still become a member of the family all the same. Whether this will resolve his existential crisis or drive him even more mad I can't say right now.

I am so looking forward to whatever direction the creator will take Alastor. But I am hoping and looking forward of Alastor growing and eventually accepting the soft spot he has for the hotel and its people.

There's something I been thinking about a lot, it was the night before the battle when we witness Alastor and Niffty share a moment.

That was the real Alastor and his thoughts and feelings. His facade was dropped there. Think about it, With Rosie, we saw him relax and generally be happy. But he still had to put up a front, and a mask. He has to act like the overlord that he is. He had to be confident to ensure everything moves forwards as plan. So, as much as he less acting when he around Rosie, he still has halls and acting in some parts. But why would he need to put up a mask there with Niffty? He not going to confine to Niffty of all his plans and agenda, But he also didn't need to put up as much of an appearance in a near private, quiet moment, alone with Niffty, . What he spoke there was 100% honestly. He admitted he enjoying his time there and and like the idea of continuing it.

The other real moment he had was his break down. Grappling with the idea he nearly died. Even as mortals we know we can die any given moment, yet act invincible despite the facts. Now imagine, being immortal soul and a powerful one with near complete control....Dieing seem so improbable yet...here Alastor, freaking out that that near improbable thing nearly became true. Now on top of that, greatly injured and cane broke in two which will have consequences. All because of...he grew to care and want to protect the hotel (outside of a possible forced to by contract)

Alastor will slowly becoming less withdrawn

I think he will be more withdrawn and reclusive...at first anyways. He will want to hide his wound but also distance himself from developing more feelings for the hotel that nearly gave his life for. He be more cruel and ruthless to make up for growing soft, gain distance from the hotel as well make the radio demon feared again, especially if the video gets leaked. He going to be alone. Not willing or wanting anyone in.

The last 10minutes showed the little factions.

The vees.

Charlie and co/hotel including her father

Emily/Sera/Sir Pentious (Tho I think there be tension between Sera and Emily)

Lute and Lilith

Alastor was alone. (break down) But align himself with the hotel but hes not with the hotel. Its like when a group of adventures pick up someone because they are heading in the same direction. They will provide aid to each other but their missions are different. Alastor going to provide aid to the Hotel but he going to be too seclutive to appear that he needs any himself. Nor will he show or admit it unless he absolutely force too.

The thing is, being alone will end poorly for him. Just like how the battle went. The hotel fought together and more or less, made it out. Alastor fought alone with his pride and ego and he lost. lost badly.

So Alastor will be alone until he backed into a corner and just about to lose badly once more but Charlie and co will come to his aid. Quite possibly when he thought he possible burnt that bridge from something or betrayal that happen a little earlier.

That's when he accepts them that's beyond territorial and contract obligations. They saw him at his weaken and vulnerable and not took advantage of it. Despite everything. He'll finally learn to accept them because they already proven time and time again that they accepted and care for him. His walls will slowly start chipping away. Unfortunately he still hiding things so he can't full embrace the idea...but it a start.

He still going to be the Radio demon, generally being a prick and Alastor hiding behind a mask, but we get to witness Alastor slipping it off occasionally.

What would be fun is the idea of Charlie rubbing of Alastor, is that perhaps Alastor against his instincts and to his surprise....showed compassion. It be to Vox of all people. Shocking them both. Vox ending whatever Vees had plan that surely would not bode well for the hotel because of it. That Vox and Alastor end up having a truce and possible rekindle their old friendship.

Tho, I be laughing if Alastor showed compassion for once because Charlie got in his head, only for it to backfire terribly. Then Alastor grumbling that he was a fool to show mercy.

*Alastor limping away after killing the sinner who took advantage of Alastor showing mercy for once while clutching a gaping hole in chest. "It's important to show compassion she said," Alastor scoffs before poorly imitating Charlies voice. "It doesn't hurt to show some kindness!" Alastor laughs mirthlessly and winces from the sharp pain it caused. "Well, tell that to the gaping hole in my chest!!!!"

But in the case, Charlie did need to train her demonic power, I can see how Charlie end up influencing Alastor while he trying to mentor her. Not just the growing fondness hell have for her as his protege. But they probably end up having topics of discussions that arises as she trains. Alastor obviously mocks her point of views, but her words will sink into mind unconsciously. And those words will whisper at him, showing their disapproval at what depravity he trying to act out. Frustrating him that she getting to him

HE may even not go through the acts, not wanting to disappointed Charlie if she was to find out.

Or surprisingly more, maybe after training, Charlie able to control her powers outside of anger. We only see her demonic powers when shes mad. But Alastor witness, Charlie is noticeably stronger when she fighting for something she loves and care for. Which may leave a door open to a path for Alastor to consider to follow.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel theory #hazbin hotel headcanon #alastor the radio demon #hazbin thoughts #hazbin theory #hazbin charlie #hazbin hotel charlie #charlie morningstar

[crowswithize]

Random DPXover Interactions 5

Characters: Jack Fenton and Klarion

“For the last time, I am NOT your son!” the black-haired boy shouted, trying to squirm from the man’s tight grip. He had been unceremoniously plucked from the ground and dragged for about a mile. The entire time, the man ranted off about ‘ghosts’ and ‘Danny my boy.’

Frankly, Klarion had enough of men kidnapping him. At least this time (Klarion could only assume) he wasn’t being sold into slavery. 

Finally, the father heard him. He stopped in his tracks in a desolate part of the city. He brought Klarion in front of him, staring at his face. Klarion scowled at the attention but it did not dissuade the fool at all.

“When did your hair grow like horns, Dann-o?” the man asked.

Klarion’s scowl deepened. “You should invest in spectacles, mortal.”

Teekl, where have you gone? Klarion questioned, hoping to escape with his familiar. 

I am here, Master Teekl responded. In the corner of Klarion’s eye, he could spot his orange-furred familiar hanging on top of a lamppost. The damned werecat stared down with a, ironically, Cheshire grin. Klarion’s frown only deepened. 

The man in front of him laughed loudly, freeing Klarion from his grasp. Unsurprisingly, Klarion dropped on the cement sidewalk with a thud. His legs clattered against each other as if they were porcelain. He swore he could hear Teekl giggling through the mind link.

“You sound just like Jazzy-pants!” the man boomed. “And the traffic officers. And the government officials. And Maddie. And-”

A hex was ready on Klarion’s tongue but, like a valve, his magic went dry. His head swiveled to glare at Teekl, now sitting right on top of the headlamp. 

Let me take my vengeance Klarion seethed.

The man has done no wrong. Teekl climbed down the post, staying at the base.

Did you not watch him drag me? I pity the boy who he fathered. 

Teekl licked her paw. Perhaps you could help him in a non-destructive way, Master.

That’s no fun, my familiar. 

To this, Teekl walked behind the lamppost, disappearing to the other side. Klarion rolled his eyes at the theatrics. 

“And, most of all, the Coast Guard!” the man ended. He stared down at Klarion as if expecting a standing ovation for the number of crimes he must have committed. 

Klarion does stand up, though he did not clap, and dusted off the dust on his trousers. With one elegant swish of his hand and a few magical words, the man’s eyes glowed a light blue. The man blinked, clearing up the light and really looking at Klarion.

“You don’t look like Danny,” the man said, dumbfounded. Klarion resisted the secondary curse. Teekl, though not visible, stayed an observer of this interaction.

The spell corrected the man’s eyes, in a sense. What it actually did was revert his eyes to an earlier form of development. Klarion hoped the man was born with poor eyesight so that the eyeballs would be marbles in the adult skull. To his disappointment, the man developed his poor vision much later. 

Klarion rested a hand on his hip. “Evidently. I’m sure you must find whoever this Dann-o is-”

“I should’ve known! Danny’s never this pliant when we go ghosthunting!” the man laughed. Klarion, for a moment, admired this mortal son’s ability to resist his father. The man leaned down, with his hands on his knees. Klarion despised the height difference. “Do you still want to go hunting, boyo?” 

Klarion paused, his turn to be shocked. “I- I’m not sure I follow.”

“Well… what did you say your name was again?”

Klarion readjusted his cufflinks. Teekl would’ve called it a nervous habit but he simply wanted to look tidy. “My name is Klarion. I am a witch boy, yet to attend the trials to be a witch man.” He ignored how he never gave his name before this point.

“Well, Kul-air-eon the Witch Boy, I’ve got an ecto-signature for a natural portal and I’m sure a kid your age wouldn’t mind shooting some ectopuses down. Like all those video games you play!” He laughed again, hitting Klarion’s back with a hard slap and jolting him forward. 

Klarion scowled at the contact but made no motion to withdraw from the conversation. He could, if he wanted to, leave without saying a thing. The misunderstanding had cleared and the offer the man made was ridiculous. Klarion was his own person and he could do to the human world as he saw fit.

He caught Teekl’s red eyes, the shadow of her on the man’s back.

“It is Klarion, mortal. Neither am I the witch boy. There are plenty others of my town who are witch boys themselves-”

“I’m Jack! Jack Fenton of Fenton Works!” the man - Jack - once again interrupted. He seemed to do it not for the sake of being rude but because he lacked complete social awareness. Klarion was surprised at how little it annoyed him. “I’ve never met a witch boy before, Klary-on, so I’m pretty sure you’re the Witch Boy!”

The logic was faulty and the pronunciation of his name should not be this difficult. 

Klarion eyed the man. “...What does your hunt entail, Jack Fenton?”

“GHOSTS!” Jack yelled with childlike excitement. Seconds passed as he did nothing more to elaborate.

 Teekl continued to watch him with a sort of expectation. Klarion sighed. Teekl had been haggling him with about attending mortal rituals. Perhaps this ‘ghost hunting’ would give insight into the above-world practices. 

Klarion stuck out his hand. “I will temporarily join you, but do not expect me to stay.”

Looking back, Klarion should have known not to lend his hand. In seconds, Jack led him on a secondary dragging across town. This time, Teekl’s laughter had no barrier stopping it.

#this was fun #dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc #klarion the witch boy #jack fenton #I thought the interaction would be cool #danny phantom #we need more klarion stuff #and different character interactions #phanfic #my writing #ficlet

[albert-tsum]

I just decided to ramble a bit about my sexuality hcs, ships etc about Wesker.

(I never thought I'd make so many text posts)

These are not going to be extremely precise analyses and will be influenced by my personal wishes and hopes. If I've written something that goes absolutely against the canon feel free to inform me.

It may become a bit uncomfortable since I wanna address some serious topics.

And it'll be too long again.

-------------------------------------------

1. General headcanons

Personally I see him on the aroace spectrum and/or as pansexual. He's not easily romantically or sexually interested in someone. I'd even say it happens almost never. He may be able to sleep with people he isn't into (maybe to manipulate them) but rarely does so (I also don't think he slept with Excella like some do, she clearly wanted it but he was able to manipulate her without sex). To be into someone this person needs something that intrigues or excites Wesker e.g. their intelligence, willpower, physical combat skills etc. But I don't think he would care much about the gender of his partner. He probably has more experience with women (e.g. he says in the OG RE1 that "he's not used to escort men") but is also open for men. As far I am aware his VAs Richard Waugh (a) and DC Douglas (b) said that he's not gender specific (a) and probably wouldn't limit himself (b) to one gender.

Either way I see him as queer.

2. My ships

As you see in my reblogs I ship him and William Birkin. He was Weskers only real friend whom he admired and trusted. That's a really big thing for Wesker so I like the hc that there was more than friendship between them and I would love to see them interacting more and learn more about their shared past.

The only other ship I like with Wesker is himxChris Redfield even tho it's kinda problematic. I like the STARS version of them where Chris looked up to Wesker who was fond and proud of him (but probably doesn't want to have feelings like this since he knows he will betray them at one point). I also kinda like the hc that Wesker maybe wanted Chris (and perhaps Jill) to join him if they hadn't make fun of his tyrant. Since I kinda like enemies to lovers and complex relationships like that I also enjoy post RE1 Chrisker. I'd love if it's not sheer hate between them but more like a mix of disappointed expectations, obsession and that they need eachother and the secret wish to have eachother on their side.

I am not the biggest fan of huge age gaps so Chris and Wesker having a difference of 15 years is something I am not too happy about. So early 20s is the lowest age I'd accept (like Jake's mother was).

3. My hopes and wishes

As I said I don't like huge age gaps so I dislike the ships WeskerxRebecca and WeskerxClaire. Rebecca was 18 und Claire 19 when they met Wesker and they are way too young for him. Because of that I really hope that Wesker isn't attracted to Rebecca. That would be a no-go even tho it's fictional and it'd destroy Wesker as a character for me. So I really hope Capcom won't make him someone who absolutely does not care about age to the extent where it's becoming creepy.

(that isn't meant to offend those who like these ships, it's just my personal opinion)

CW: r@pe

I also came across people claiming that he may be a r@pist (for e.g. controlling Jill in RE5). That's another case of yeah he is absolutely evil but that does not mean that he has every evil trait or crime committed. I am pretty sure he didn't do anything sexual to Jill (who had the control device on their chest not because Wesker is a pervert but because the devs wanted more fanservice). I don't think Capcom would make a important character like Wesker (who you can also play as) a r@pist (unlike Irons who was a really hateable side character who was hated even by Wesker)

Thx for reading 😅

#albert wesker #chris redfield #chrisker #resident evil #resident evil wesker #william birkin #willsker #rebecca chambers #claire redfield

[twilightbloom]

Bear with me I just need to yeet my thoughts into the void for a second

I have played HSR's 1.4 story quest a little while ago but having felt really conflicted about it I honestly didn't know what to think and needed some time to gather my thoughts, but... the quest was good, don't get me wrong, but my thoughts on Topaz are quite complicated

Like I've read around and I've seen people either being like "y'all are awful to Topaz this is why Hoyo doesn't do morally ambiguous women!!" or "Topaz is a horrible character and I hate her so much" and my take is that while I do enjoy Topaz's character AS A CONCEPT I just wish HYV would've decided her framing in the story

Like I get the first argument. Morally ambiguous women get either waifu'd like Raiden (and my opinion on her character is in line with most of the community that she was horribly mismanaged for all of her buildup, until the second character quest put a bandaid on her) or not that explored in the story (see Yae). Topaz is in a very awkward middle ground, with the complicating factor that she is a tax collector so she will rub some people in a very wrong way.

Still, my issue is that she jumps between being a cold "I'm just doing my job, no hard feelings" kinda gal and "oh my gosh animals are so cute and I'm so kind uwu" with almost no in between. I would really like to see HYV commit to one of the two in the framing, because while I can kinda see the "outside of work she's a sweetie" angle they were going for but given what kind of work she does, and WHO she is working for, it doesn't really work for me. And it ended up souring her as a character for me.

That's without covering the fact that we KNOW most people in the IPC are assholes after the Aurum Alley event, and Topaz doesn't really help their case. She's "one of the good ones", supposedly, but... Ehhh. I would've preferred she stayed an antagonist and they weren't this wishy-washy while treating her. It's a shame, because I feel like she would've been a really cool antagonist/villain had they not flip flopped around with her personality and tried to absolve her of the IPC's darker sides.

Idk basically I like her design A LOT and wish she was framed better by the narrative, like they either should've stuck to plushy waifu (which would've weakened the story though I feel) or antagonist/villain with OCCASIONAL hints of a softer side underneath.

Basically, 1.4's story was good but ironically enough Topaz was my least favorite part of it. Shame. Hope her story/companion quest makes her character feel more defined so I can decide my stance on her.

#topaz hsr #hsr #honkai star rail #hsr 1.4 #hsr analysis #topaz discourse I guess #honkai star rail topaz

[noir-drabbles]

Drafts 1

Summary: Just an unfinished solo writing thing while playing Iron Valley. Basically it was just me testing out what it is I wanted, trying to create my own setting and characters, but then my brain got bored of it. So, I figured I may as well dump it here.

(I said I was going to start dumping my drafts here and I am going to commit to it. Drafts will be half actual prose writing and rambles on the side because I want people to enjoy the ideas and characters I have in my head. Hope this is fun!)

(Oh yeah, here's the link to the game I was playing. Lot of reading but it's easy to start and understand. Really does test out one's creative muscles.)

Today’s Spring pick for the Luminariae Post is as follows:

When a new branch grows, I always worry for what it may carry. The bark upon the trunk is many years old and yet it still insists on growing new leaves, new buds, and new fruits. A large and wise old tree, and yet it didn’t know age. It didn’t know where it should draw its limits. It simply grew and produced, as it always has, even when the threat of disease was always there.

But I’m not scornful. I’ll simply grab my polished clippers and snap off whatever rot has caught onto the leaves, onto the branches. I’ll eat the fruit it gives me, and carve a flute out of the wood I snipped off.

I’ve been there when you were young, when each new leaf would make me dance in the mud because I keep forgetting not to over water you. When your fruits would spawn out of seemingly nowhere, like your love for the world could not be contained, so you had to give it back as much and as fast as you could.

You’ve long outgrown me. I can’t even climb up to the very top of you as I once used to with my own little sister. You could still support me, but the youth in your new branches are not what they used to be. And yet, you still try and grow just as much fruit as you can, even when it’s no longer anything anyone can eat.

You’re just an old fool. You and I are two of a kind. And that it why you will always be one of my dearest friends.

And every day, I thank you for being who you are.

– Carmen

Heyo, author Noir here. So, the idea I had for this little segment is that every start of the new season, the Luminariae Post would post a submission that was sent to them by one of the residents in this small town of Arbor Hills. Typically they pick submissions that have something to do with the current season, or just a general connection to nature that can be connected to said season. It's also meant for the regular folk to take a peek into a small part of that resident that wrote the piece. Just fluff writing things.

Oh, and Carmen is a big ol dragon man, the one that basically provides the Reader with a house and a job, a nice bouncing point since the Reader starts off with literally nothing, not even clothes. He's a nice man, good roommate and clearly misses having other people live in his house. There's this big tree that the whole town pays their respects towards because of the sheer size and reach of its roots. In fact, most of the plants and trees you find often end up connecting their roots to that big tree, as it provides nutrients to said plants, leading to them weathering even the toughest of disasters. Rumor has it that Carmen was the one that planted that tree when it was a sapling, but that's just a rumor.

Spring 2

Time: [0/4]

| Forecast: Sunny | Luck: Neutral | Lucky Color: Lemon |

“Did you hear? Apparently our dear local baker has been in need of a new recipe to put as a potential special.”

“Oh? Which one? Is it that sweetie Ivory or that nutty Obsidian?”

“Don’t be mean Martha. But it is nutty Obsidian. Apparently he’s going a little crazy from lack of inspiration and just wants something new to really make his day pop from grays to happy pinks.”

“Hehehe, well in that case, you think he’ll want to try out some of my homemade cookies? Maybe that’ll perk him right up and get his head out of the pizza oven ashes?”

“Bleh, if you want to kill him… But yes, let’s. I’ll be the merciful one and bring him some of my delicious tea.”

“Let’s poison him together, Lily.”

The idea I had here is basically a cutscene being played out every day, where a couple of characters do something or have a conversation that implies a very long request. The town bulletin is still a thing, but those quests will end up being pretty short. The short requests do change often, I'd say once every two days, while the longer requests are more persistent, changing once every five days. Obsidian is basically this mad scientist-like baker that loves to go crazy with the designs and flavors of his baked goods. And, well, he's prone to losing inspiration and just wants something to get that flow going. He's a pretty intense cosmic star dude, the kind of energy that easy to be overwhelmed with. He has a sister named Ivory who helps out in the bakery, but is mostly found working with wood as the local carpenter. She's not gentle, she has that quiet intensity about her, and is just as wacky with her woods craft. She will get the request done, and will probably add some else to it. A weird feature that you probably won't notice until you accidentally activate it. Like a table that can convert itself into a suit of wood armor. You never know with these two.

Oh, and I have no clue who Martha and Lily are. Just that they're best friends who love to gossip, and were once very competitive rivals in school before someone tried to accuse them of cheating so they'd be unable to participate in theater. Yeah, those two were theater kids, and their rivalry, for the most part, was a fun exaggerated thing on their part that got a liiiiittle too real, but they're good now. They're middle-aged and married to their respective spouses.

“You doing alright?”

You snapped out of your reverie by a rumbling voice that’s not quite meant to overpower the general noise, so much as it should rumble underneath one’s feet.

You didn’t look at Carmen. You looked at his horns instead, all scratched up and chipped at in all their ridged and curling glory. It’s hard to look at him in the eyes. They aren’t particularly piercing, they’re just filled with a love for the world around him. A gentle and boundless love that he’s willing to share with you, a fellow roommate but a stranger still.

It’s… a lot. Too much. But it’s fine. He’s good and nice. He makes you all those warm and filling meals, and lets you take up a room in his house. You had nowhere else to go, but he gave you a hand anyway.

So, are you doing alright? He did ask.

You hummed out a yes. Because words would be too much in all this noise. The sensation of your throat rumbling, of moving your lips and making a conscious effort not to stutter. You’re already a little on edge as is.

“Hmm,” he copied your tone, though you didn’t know if that meant he believed you or not, “I know there’s a lot of little noises, but a small outing like this is good. It is something to get used to, that’s for certain.”

It’s… yeah, he’s right. It is a lot. Carmen’s farm isn’t exactly all the quiet either, with all the cows, chickens and bees he has, but there’s a different quality to the noise of people. It’s a… a rhythm, of sorts. The livestock back home are always keeping out a listening ear to the nature around them, so their own noises follow that beat, usually. But people… don’t really care, nor can they truly listen.

The rhythm isn’t bad, in the sense that it’s wrong and that people should pay more attention. It’s just… different. Absorbed in their own little pocket of time. And those pockets just, overlap in your ears.

You’ll probably get used to it, in the same way you got used to Carmen when you first woke up to his face looming right over under the arbor. It was an adjustment. The man’s over seven feet tall with a broad frame to fit, built over the years from heavy farm work. But, you suppose that’s the average height of all dragons. Well, his specific branch of dragon anyway. You don’t know any other dragon.

You nodded and let your eyes wander over the sparse crowd around you, to the area you’re both sitting on a bench in.

The village’s center, built around a pretty fountain that’s filled with little seashells, all in various pastel colors of white, blue and pink. One little kid in white sandals had to lay her belly on the ledge of the fountain just to reach in and drop her shell. Her little transparent wings fluttered with her excitement, dropping flecks of pink dust here and there.

A water spout spat right up her nose and the little fairy girl snorted then gave a big powerful sneeze. She launched herself right into the air. Luckily, before you or Carmen could rush right over, her father was right there to catch her.

Chuckling, her fairy father said, “I got a precious gift from the heavens!”

“No!” She yelled, raising her arms high like claws, “I am your worst nightmare! I eat your dreams and your banana splits!”

He gasped, “A monster! Oh no!”

She kicked her feet and lost a sandal in her giggles.

You jumped when Carmen gave chuckles of his own. The sheer volume of his voice never ceases to surprise you, that his happiness can be something so… loud? Strong? It’s solid. Which is kind of dumb now that you think about it. You’ve seen him lift an entire tree trunk with his arms and shoulder alone. It shouldn’t be shocking at all to find that his laugh has just as much power behind it.

But it is, because he would always bend down just so people could hear him. He didn’t like raising his voice just as much as he hated going into the details of his private life.

And with a flinch, Carmen realized as much. He looked to the side, scratched the back of his neck, and sighed out, “Sorry.”

Did you look bug-eyed? You probably did.

You shook your head at Carmen. He doesn’t need to apologize to you. It’s not his fault that you’re easily startled. Besides, he’s the one going out of his way to get you situated in this place. He didn’t have to do it, but he did anyway.

He nodded to you then hovered a hand right over your shoulder. He stopped, waited, and when you shifted closer, he patted you. The weight and strength of his bones alone almost made your joint creak.

“I’ll be going on ahead. I need to buy some things for the gardening day this week.” Carmen reached into his pocket and took out a few notes that you don’t really need. He pays you plenty for your services, but saying no to him–especially when he wants to spoil or be nice–just leaves a sour taste in your mouth. He stuffed them in your hands. “Go around, explore. Or relax by the community garden if you’d like. I’ll be by Peach’s place for the most part. I won’t go home unless you want to, okay?”

Ah, here it is, the big send off. You can’t really complain since you asked for this kind of time for yourself, but augh… It’s difficult all the same. You’ve been here for the better part of one year and you’ve yet to make a single friend. You haven’t really been trying, to be perfectly honest. Whenever you go out into the village on your moped, you’re strictly in working mode, schedule and time all planned out. Whenever people would try and talk to you during those hours, you get antsy and anxious.

You hate being off schedule. On top of that, if you weren’t working, you were around Carmen all the time. He’s a friendly and well known face. It’s only natural for people to gravitate towards him rather than you, especially when you would rather hide in his shadow than look at anyone.

You weren’t trying to make friends. Everything was just too unfamiliar for you to do that, or even think of it. And nobody pushed you to do that. In a way, you’re grateful for that, that the people here left you alone for the most part. A nice respect of your time and attention. They made attempts to talk to you, certainly, but that was about where the pushiness ended.

And, now, you’re calmer-ish. You can take the time and try.

You can go anywhere and make a friend.

…

Augh, you still can’t talk. Words just really don’t want to come out.

Well, baby steps, baby steps.

Carmen has since left you to yourself, with money in your hands. A nice sizable amount. Can’t buy a microwave with it, but you can grab a while feast of pastries if you wanted to.

…you know what? That sounds like a good idea. Having something to munch on while trying to make a friend would help calm you down some. Besides, a lot of people frequent the bakery. Surely you’ll be able to find someone who wants to befriend you.

That and you’ve heard of the gossip between those two women over there. Apparently the local baker needs some help. You don’t have any ideas, but maybe you’ll come up with something by the time you get there?

The crowd didn’t really get any thinner as you walked down the white stone path. Lots of people were gathered in small packs, but they were polite enough to shift slightly out of your way. You followed the scent of bread and soon enough found yourself inside the cozy atmosphere of a bakery.

Honestly, it seemed more like a home than it did a bakery, which makes sense since it looked like a store/home hybrid from the outside. But, rather than a home that seeks to hide emptiness with store bought furniture the owner vaguely likes, each table, chair and even the frame of the mirrors in this place were clearly handmade.

It was small though, and all the furniture had people either gathering or sitting on it. There wasn’t anywhere you could just pick and sit down for an hour or two while you mindlessly pick at your pastry and watch the people go by.

A healthy routine makes for a good base for potential friendships. At least that’s how Carmen puts it. You’re not sure if it’s true, but you may as well try, right?

You walk to the back of the line and wait. At the front, behind the register was someone that you can only describe as a galactic black hole. The white light that makes up what you think is hair slowly swirls around in a clock-wise motion, collecting light like a vent does smoke as it slowly gathers in some dark center you can’t make out. The white light hair fades into a dark shadow dappled with white little star pinpricks, doing nothing to to take away from the bright eyes that look around this way and that.

This person had no mouth to speak of as he nodded and packaged a new box of pan dulce. It’s interesting to you, watching the way their body never quite stabilized into something truly solid, but it was enough for his clothes to hang on. He didn’t have a uniform, it was just a set of comfy billowing clothes that had little tears and big patches over what was probably holes.

His form stretched up, bending in ways a shadow would as he gave the box to the person waiting in line.

“You wanted a surprise and a surprise is what you’ll get!”

Aaaand this is where I lost my steam, and I had a pretty good pace going too.

Reader is basically this dryad person that was born from the big tree(of which I have yet to name, eh) and as such, has little to no knowledge of many things beyond the general basics. Socializing is obviously not their thing. Many of the towns people just think they're a traveler from afar that suffers from amnesia, but since nobody witnesses the Reader coming out of the tree, it can't really be disputed that they're not a traveler.

There's a biblically accurate angel just, hanging out in Arbor Hills. He's the current master carpenter and boss of Ivory. He spends most of his time sleeping, and in the rare times one manages to make a request to him, you can be sure that whatever furniture he makes will never break, and will even have a little buff to them.

The angel's name is Peach, because someone called him "an absolute peach." With the last name Angel for the sake of simplicity. No matter how you poke and prod at him, you can't get details about his past, you'll just get references about how empty of an existence he was living before coming here. Now he can dream all he likes.

There's a tradition at the start of a new year to share stories you may have or have written. Arbor Hills is all about communal story crafting, so often the whole town will come together to either craft a new fairy tale, or add on to another existing tale. The only rule is that it has to have at least one true event in there, or be based on a true event. So you could have witnessed a bug trip over grass and flip itself over and craft a tale about a malicious weed that seeks to grow and prank all the bugs that nipped at it. That kind of thing. So, one of the Promises is to get ideas and make a story before Spring 1 rolls around. There are usually two groups, one group that's full of people that have written their stories on their own, and the other group that shares their ideas for a group story making session. Perfection is not expected. Just have fun. And if you don't want to make a story, just be a listening ear.

There's also another tradition where, after reaching a certain age, kiddos go to the community garden to pick out a seed they like and plant it somewhere in the town. This tradition does stretch out beyond just for the kids, you can do this as a new adult, or when you reach a huge milestone in your life. Don't worry about having to take incredible care of it, these seeds are magical and are often deeply connected to you. They grow as you grow, and if they get sick, you can be assured that they'll be taken care of by the garden spirits of the forest.

There aren't many dragons to be found. There be different types of dragons, but their lifespan varies quite a bit between them.

Same for the dryad. There's nobody else quite like you, and if there is, they're usually no bigger than the size of your palm. Tiny, squeaky things.

I know I have more things sitting in the brain, but I need to prodded at to really remember. So, if you want to poke at my brain, be my guest!

#noir-drabbles #noir-drabbles exclusive #oc #reader insert #original character #drabble #iron valley #iron valley rpg #arbor hills #noir.ah #solo rpg #solo ttrpg #noir.drafts #drafts

[prettyboykatsuki]

i'd like to hear ur interpretation of hawks if u are open to sharing 🤲🏽 i love hearing you talk abt media and analysis stuff

BELOVED!!! HELLOO AND YES i would love to talk about it though i think i might genuinely ruffle some feathers ajkdkjs but this is just my personal opinion of hawks ! !

one of my main like. gripes with keigos character and how people write hawks is the way they handle his moral reasoning. i think the bnha fandom does this quite a bit where a character who is very obviously meant to be multifaceted is like washed out by one or two actions when those actions aren't derivative of his character.

i find this to be the most egregious in the instance of hawks killing twice. this fight is extremely, extremely complex and i must make it clear that is one of the cruelest actions in the entire series and it is one of hawks worst moments of betrayal and people are allowed to not like him over it

but it doesn't stop me from sympathizing with his character in anyway because this death unlike many before it, starts to change hawks fundamentally (seen in chapter 374)

i think hawks is a character worthy of criticism, but not nearly as much as he is usually subjected to. he's not quite like deku in which he's unable to grasp that hero society needs reform especially because he feels a sense of distaste for the hero commission.

nor is he deluded at any point about the positions of heroes and villains. he is genuine in his effort for reforming, and his compliance with the hero comm. doesn't erase his intent. he prioritizes the public because he is hopeful to the point of denial

his biggest character flaw is more than other things, the sense of detachment he's garnered as a result of his trauma. he's a character who has intellectualized his emotions for nearly his entire life, as proven by his backstory. his sense of victimhood and of being saved is very, very warped because his tactic of survival since childhood has been in some aspect - compartmentalizing his reality. running away. severing his connections much like his parents did.

this is one of the main ways that he and dabi differ. they are quite literally two different responses to intense physical and verbal abuse with dabi being fight and hawks being flight (ironically enough). hawks takes on the role of the good victim, convincing himself it's better to endure everything. he spends his entire childhood like that, and he is only free from that abuse when endeavor comes to save him.

hawks' idolization is another one of those things that people pretty consistently use to derail his character. but i think it's important to recognize that hawks and dabi view endeavor in similar but opposite lights.

their perceptions of him are exacerbated by their circumstances. each of them, respectively, have a relatively extreme / exaggerated view of him. for hawks it was the idea of endeavor and being a savior that allowed to him to survive, and for dabi it was endeavors abuse and the need for vengeance that motivated him to stay alive.

all of that to say - hawks was groomed nearly his entire life to become a hero. he was never given room to process the things he endured, and perhaps the most substantial difference between hawks and dabi is that he is so unbearably isolated from everything. dabi being in the league plays such a huge role in his life but for hawks. he has no friends and his only semblance of self-worth is derived from the idea of Endeavor giving him the time of day and being 'helpful'. he spends nearly his entirely life chasing after the idea of being good and it ruins him in almost every way.

hawks will always be a victim worthy of sympathy to me. his participation in a system that failed him over and over and his hope for that system to change will never allow me to dislike him, even despite the heinous atrocities he's committed against loved ones. he isn't a good person but i don't think he's a bad one either. his obsession with leisure always clues me into the fact that there's probably some part of him that didn't want all this and that sincerely wanted to be good that was absolutely snubbed by the hero commission and it breaks my heart. that's the part of this thats personal and controversial probably.

he feels a lot like a war vet to me. my hope for his arc is that he will realize much in that same vain that this level of corruption needs major reform and that he is able to reflect on that and use his influence in the future for good.

#return to sender #bnha is a story about a corrupt sytem and much like how i feel about real life corruption ; i hold room for effort always #love and empathy are transformative forces in the face of injustice #and i really think hawks is a character worthy of empathy much in the same i think dabi is #fang.meta

[miahasahardname]

>:) give me your opinions

cody

izzy

noah

gwent

nizzy

nocowen

ALRIGHT, LET’S DO THIS!

(sorry if anything doesn’t make sense or if things are worded poorly)

cody -

cody is SUCH a fun character. he’s a clever guy, he puts others before himself, he’s silly, and he can be really funny! i loved him in island, i loved him in world tour, and if he ever shows up anywhere again, i’ll probably love him there too. he’s also my classic silly-guy-who-i-love-to-put-in-angsty-situations character (every hyperfixation i’ve ever had, there’s always one. except for the alphabet. there is no angst silly guy in the alphabet.). he’s also probably one of my favourite guys to ship (alongside geoff who doesn’t have a single bad ship). he’s so pathetic with romance. a guy is nice to him for one second and he melts. what a pathetic wet cat of a man. (for the amount of content i make of him, you’d think he’s one of my favourite characters, but surprisingly he isn’t!!)

izzy -

THERE IS SOMETHING INCREDIBLY WRONG WITH THIS WOMAN. i love it when characters are completely unhinged because of the comedic potential. izzy is a joy to watch (and make content of!!), she’s just a crazy girl who has committed several crimes against humanity. she’s also really funny in dramarama! i see a little bit of my past self in her. only a little bit though. i wasn’t that crazy (i think…). she’s got great dynamics with a lot of my favourite characters, her dynamic with eva and noah being my favourite. anyways i love this violent woman. i’d let her stab me, probably. just as a treat.

noah -

one of the funniest characters of the series, hands down. every joke with him is SPOT ON, this man is loaded with some fantastic quips and sarcastic remarks. one of the best parts of world tour, 100%. usually i have a lot more to say about him but right now i’m struggling to think of anything so i’m just going to say we need more transfem noah content in this world.

gwent -

the POTENTIAL this ship had! of the canon ships, this one is probably one of the best. they were great in season one, i love how they got along, how they interacted, and how their relationship changed overtime. unfortunately, action had to derail their relationship, which really sucked because they were so good together! they had great chemistry, and they were two of the saner characters of the series (not saying much, but hey). i will never be able to get over the fact they replaced this wholesome couple with gwuncan. :(

nizzy -

i’m assuming this is noah and izzy?? their dynamic has potential to be good, noah would be like the straight man to izzy (ironic), but i definetly prefer them as friends. not much else to say.

nocowen -

a ship containing three of my favourite characters AND is related to my favourite ship?! sign me up! i’m not the biggest fan of noco, but the nowen and cowen parts are something i could definetly enjoy. they’re dynamic would be really interest — cody and owen are mostly positive people filled with energy, and noah is a pessimist who just wants to lay on the ground and wait for the world to end. also, i love the fact that because noah is super smart, most of his ships are of him and some guy who will die if you don’t pay enough attention to what they’re doing!!

i hope these answers are good enough for you! again, i’m sorry if anything is worded weird.

#honestly i expected some of these to be much longer but! they’re not! #thanks for the ask :> #td noah #td izzy #td cody #td owen #td gwen #td trent #nizzy #nocowen #gwent #total drama #td #mia has a stupid thought #ask answered!

[shiny-jr]

damnation (peek I?)

Warning: Yes, this is a yandere thing. Gender-neutral reader.

Characters: Ace Trappola, Trey Clover, Cater Diamond, Riddle Rosehearts.

Summary: When you commit a crime, you receive a punishment. This is especially true in your society. No matter the crime, your punishment is the same: banishment. But to where you will be sent in exile and how miserable will it be? No one knows, because no one has ever returned.

Note: So, as mentioned in previous posts, this is only a snippet of what is to come in a project I’m working on. I just wanted to do something for my followers since we have surpassed the milestone that is 4,000 hearts, which is huge. So thank you! Unfortunately, I don’t really have time for a special like I’ve done before where I accept requests since I’ve been so busy with irl stuff and the current twst quiz project. So here’s a small bit of what you can hopefully expect. Remember, I may or may not change things, so what you see now may not be the same later in the final result. That being said, I’m sorry I couldn’t provide much else besides peeks at three of the seven results. I still have a LOT more to write. Like, a ton. But I hope you all look forward of what is to come. Added: Deleted the Scarabia and Pomefiore part to create their own sneak-peeks later.

I . . . II . . . III . . . IV . . . V . . . VI . . . VII

First there will be questions you must answer. Questions that I will not reveal in this sneak-peek, but based on the answers you give to those questions, you will receive a result with a story. This post is a peek at some of those stories/results. Important things to keep in mind that you learn from the questions: 

The mc is deemed a criminal in their society.

All criminals in this society are banished, no matter how insignificant or significant the crime may be. 

This particular society makes a show of banishment, to make others fear this fate. Which mc recalls seeing trials on tv about past criminals. 

All criminals are never seen or heard from again. No one knows for certain what happens to them, but most assume death. 

Although the most popular fantastical theory is that criminals become henchmen for infamous evil-doers, and receive punishment there that may range from anywhere like a violent painful death to spending eternity in some tiny horrid prison. 

THE RED QUEEN

Robes. You were wearing robes of the finest quality that weighed heavily on your shoulders. This surface you laid on felt... nice. Soft, nothing like the hard bench of the prison cell. As you sat up and recalled your current dire situation, you felt a sense of dread loom overhead like a thick blanket of gray clouds. Immediately, fearfully, you scanned your surroundings. Everything was painted red, there was so much red velvet. The floors were polished checkered black and white and the furniture, if not completely red, was crafted of finely carved wood. It was fancy here. Safe, for now. Wherever this place was.

There was something hefty on your head, only noticing its weight settling on your skull as you moved to stand up from the crimson red sheets on the king-sized mattress. As you removed the item from your head, you were perplexed to see a small golden crown and a heart-shaped staff beside the spot you had laid on. Wait just a moment... red everywhere? A fancy setting? A crown and a heart-shaped staff? Rapidly you dashed over to the mirror just beside the bed, gasping at your appearance.

You were dressed just like royalty. And not just any royalty, like a king. A king of red with a heart-shaped staff... Just like the meek king that was married to the ruthless Queen of Hearts from the fairytales. So it was true, criminals were often sent to dangerous tales where they would perish. And you... you were a criminal and you were here, but... you were the king. How did the story go again?

The Red Queen, or Queen of Hearts, ruled over Wonderland with an iron fist. She would behead anyone who got in her way, and her reign terrorized the residents of the realm. That is, until Alice fell down a hole and arrived in Wonderland. She would eventually free this land from the oppressive rein of the queen. As for the king... what happened to him again? He didn't really appear in the story. You wracked your memory for an answer, when the horrid realization came to you. The Red Queen had been so terribly jealous and suspected that her husband was cheating, that she had him beaded! His head left to rot as it floated in a river of blood, surrounded by the heads of other victims, and the king's lifeless skull still with the crown. He had died before Alice even arrived in Wonderland!

You clutched your neck, grimacing at the thought of your own detached head, crown still attached, doomed to sail in a moat of blood. It made you sick to your stomach just thinking about it. There had to be a way to prevent your death, or at least stall for time, but how? The king couldn't just up and run away! People would take notice immediately, someone would inform the queen, and you'd be a goner for sure! But then what? You couldn't kill her either, could you...? It certainly was an idea. You would be doing a favor for the rest of Wonderland too...

THUMP!

Abruptly the doors flew open, nearly causing you to shriek. But you managed to hold your tongue as you quickly placed your crown back on and clutched your staff. When your eyes focused on the door, you were surprised and almost relieved to see the figure of a short young man that had slammed the doors open. He was... rather adorable, actually. It caused you to tilt your head, endeared by his appearance.

The young man had hair that shamed the red roses, and wide gray eyes. As soon as his eyes landed on you, however, his face grew flush and his expression twisted into one of rage. Immediately he slammed the doors shut behind him, stomping up to you, his heels violently clicking against the tiled floors. When the short young man was in your face, another horrible realization dawned on you. With that crown on his head and his wondrous red garbs, this could only be the queen. Or at least, someone meant to be the red queen.

“You knave! Where have you been lurking?!”

“I…” You were at a loss for words. What were you supposed to say? What was the king even doing before you got here? Most importantly, how would you avoid the queen’s wrath?

At your lack of a response, he only seemed to grow more frustrated as he threw wild accusations, “You–– You’ve been sneaking about, seducing the men of my court, haven’t you?! I shall have your head––!”

“Wha–– N-No, I haven’t!” You blurted out. The king was originally beheaded because the queen was jealous and thought she would lose him to others. So if you could assure him that your heart belonged to him, well… survival just might be possible. Although acting wasn’t necessarily your strong point, you could only try for the sake of living another day. Nervously you smiled, throwing aside your staff as you lifted your hands to gently hold his fist he had been angrily waving near your face. Thank god he didn’t have a knife or anything of the sort, or you feared he may have tried to stab you out of raging envy. “How could I ever dare to throw my loyalty to you away…? You are amazing…! I apologize sincerely if I haven’t been able to express my love for you properly. S-Sometimes it feels like you’re really too much for my heart to handle, you in all your… glory…!” Oh god, this was going terribly. All you could do to give the messy act a bow to top it off, was lean your head down and hesitantly kiss the back of his hand.

Miraculously, that seemed to work. Almost. The queen’s face was no longer as flushed, but he gazed down at you as you lingered at his hand. Suspicion was still evident in his eyes. “How do I know?”

“H-Huh…?”

“How do I know you aren’t lying? How do I know you won’t leave me as well? How do I know that you still love me? Prove it to me.” Those gray eyes of his watched you carefully, seemingly unhappy with your lack of a response. After about five seconds of no answer, his face scrunched up and he bellowed, “Guards!! Gua–– mmph!”

Not knowing what else to do, you kissed him. He wanted a sign of devotion, right? Oh god, this was it. Your death was here and now. You had no other way to shut him up. If you covered his mouth with your hands, you were a goner. If you attacked him, you were a goner. If you tried to continue reasoning, you were still a goner! You can’t believe that this was how you died, having to kiss a stranger as your last desperate attempt to live. Well, he wanted a sign. You were ready for him to push you off and armored guards come running in to drag you to the guillotine, when the most unexpected thing happened. He froze, he didn’t fight back or scream bloody murder.

When you slowly pulled away, you were stunned. His face was flush again, but for an entirely different reason other than anger. There was a dazed look on his face, and it almost looked as if he wanted to do it again judging by how he gazed longingly at your lips. It was then you understood that your reckless decision making might’ve just saved your neck.

The red ruler frowned, but you were unsure if it was because he was unsatisfied with something or if it were for another reason entirely. This time, when he opened his mouth, he spoke softly, as if still dazed. “You scoundrel… How dare you play with my heart like this? I should still take your head for that.” You gulped, but he continued. “But… I truly didn’t want to get rid of you. So I’m glad we can avoid that now. I expect to see you well away from the noblemen.”

“Y-Yes… Your Majesty.”

At your obedient response, he smiled and patted your head. “Good.” Taking one step closer, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss against your cheek. He lingered there for a few moments, before taking one step back.

The action left you flustered, embarrassed, because not only had you kissed a stranger but they had kissed you in return. And not only that, this crimson ruler believed you were his partner, the king! Under normal circumstances, you would’ve considered yourself lucky to land in such a position since the king has so much power and wealth. But in this type of situation, you can only shudder to think of what may come next and what would’ve become of you. Because these were no ordinary circumstances, and this was no normal kind ruler.

“Come along now. I don’t want you alone, do you understand?”

“Yes… Your Majesty.”

He beckoned you towards the very doors he entered from, and when he opened them, you were met with another character. It was a tall man with glasses and short messy dark green hair. Immediately he bowed to the queen, but when his eyes landed on you, he looked as if he saw a ghost.

“Change of plans, Trey. We will not be beheading my dear today. Nor tomorrow, I think. They’ve become quite affectionate, so my doubts have been dismissed.”

“O-Of course, Your Majesty…” The glass-wearing man, Trey, glanced over at you with disbelief, but he looked a bit relieved, it’s as if he wanted to say something. But he opted to hold his tongue and instead shifted his gaze forward as he walked beside the red-haired royal. “There is still that soldier imprisoned that displeased you.”

“Ah yes, the one that claimed to see those messy blonde locks but failed to capture our lost wanderer. Bring him to me in the throne room.” Just then he glanced at you as you walked a bit behind him, “My dear, you must be there with me. This should be quite the spectacle. I will see you in a moment.”

“A-As you say, Your Majesty…” You replied stiffly.

He frowned and stopped in his tracks before grabbing your collar and bringing your face closer to his. What you half expected was a sharp knife against your throat, something that would kill you, but there was no such thing. There was only his sharp gaze and disappointed tone. “You’re supposed to respond with: my dear. Not Your Majesty, not Rosehearts, but perhaps I’ll allow Riddle for now. Do you understand, dearest?”

So his name was Riddle. Judging by Riddle’s tone, he wasn’t angry, but rather irked that all the sweetness from earlier was now gone. Proceeding, you chose your words carefully as you attempted to smile as convincingly as possible, “Y-Yes, of course, anything you say, Riddle, my darling.”

At your words his cheeks became a pink hue before he let go of you and cleared his throat, quickly turning away and proceeding forward towards the end of the hall where he had whatever duties to fulfill. So you were left with Trey, his subordinate. The calm tall man’s shoulders sagged once the royal left, all the tension seemingly evaporating from his body. When he gave you a somewhat soft smile, your worries ceased for the moment as well. “I’m glad you’re still intact. I was certain you were a goner.” He was… nice? “You need to be more careful. I don’t know what you did to change Riddle’s mind, but he was ready to behead you himself. You know how he keeps that huge battle ax under his bed. He mentioned something about using that, and I thought he was going to use it to chop your head clean off.”

Oh god. That little guy was going to do that? That stupid kiss really did save your skin. “Heh, I’m still a little shaken…” Wait, you were supposed to be acting like the king! What did the king even act like? How were you supposed to know? He never even lived long enough to make it into the story! “I, um, am very appreciative towards your concern… Trey.”  

Trey appeared a bit surprised but he then smiled once more at you. “We’ll talk more later. Right now, we have a situation on our hands.”

What kind of situation? You didn’t even have time to ask when Trey led you down the checkered hall to an opening behind velvet red curtains which were the entrance directly to the large elegant throne room. There, you saw another stranger talking animatedly to the less-than-pleased-looking Rosehearts. This stranger had orange hair that brushed against his lower neck, and he had much more enthusiasm than those you had encountered thus far.

“Dear, there you are.” Instantly Riddle visibly brightened up as he gestured to the soft smaller heart-shaped throne beside his much larger grand seat. “Come, sit, we’re currently discussing the important matters at hand. Such as the dilemma with our prisoner. Cater, continue.”

When this Cater, fellow’s, green eyes trailed over to you, they became filled with surprise as he fumbled over his words, “Huh–– O-Oh! Right!” Forcing his gaze back on the red-haired royal, he began explaining, “There’s nothing really new to talk about, Your Majesty! I mean, seriously, this rookie was just the unlucky one that happened to see that blondie Ellis. According to him when I went to question him, he just said that he saw the guy in blue and when he went to confront him, Ellis escaped with some purple beastman!”

“Purple beastman…?” For a mere moment he appeared perplexed, when quickly the dots began to connect in his mind as he gasped, “Chen’ya! Why, the nerve of that––!”

When you saw his face begin to heat up again and a look of anger crossed his face, you slowly placed your hand over his arm that rested on the armrest of the throne. Then, he froze, everyone else, Trey, Cater, the few servants, the many armored guards in the room, they all were wide-eyed at what you had done. You had touched the queen when they were about to enter a fit of rage! You messed up–– Shit––

Riddle released a slow breath before placing his other hand atop your own. You felt such a massive flood of relief knowing you made the right move when he appeared much calmer as he nodded his head toward you, “Thank you, my dear. We shall discuss a proper punishment for that wretched feline later. For now…” Instantly his voice did a one-eighty as he turned his head toward the two imposing doors and shouted, “Bring him!!”

Nervously you looked over at Trey who stood tall and upright by Riddle’s side, and he remained oddly focused on the door. And that orange-haired guy, Cater, where did he go…?

“Hey…!”

Your eyes flittered over to you right where Cater was bent over a bit to whisper in your ear, while everyone else was distracted by the prisoner being escorted inside.

“I’m so happy that you’ve alive…! Don’t go dying on me so quickly, ‘kay? You wouldn’t leave me all alone here, would you?”

“Uh… no, of course not.” Huh. This Cater guy seemed pretty close to the king, or now you actually.

When you averted your eyes to the front, you listened to the clacking of armor as you watched more soldiers bring forward one of their own. Yet unlike all the others masked by metal, this soldier in shackles didn’t have a helmet. His messy red hair stuck out every which way, which made you wonder how on earth he even managed to fit that mess of hair under a helmet at all. His eyes were glued to the floor, and he wore a stiff frown as his shackles rattled with every step he took until he was right before the steps leading up to the red royal. When he refused to kneel, he was pushed down to his knees as Riddle eyed him with disdain.

Riddle wasted no time, because as soon as this prisoner was on his knees, he began his tirade of questions. “Ace Trappola, was it? We know you saw Ellis. Do you know where he is?”

The soldier’s head lolled forward a bit, his warm-colored eyes stopping on you for a moment as you gazed back at him. In a way, this Ace reminded you of… well, you. In shackles, forced to kneel, in front of a higher authority that was obviously not particularly fond of you, and likely with a sentence that could only mean your doom ahead of you. In a way, you did feel for him after hearing the basis of why he was arrested.

All was silent, only his shackles could be heard again as he slowly shrugged and snapped back, “I’d like to know that too! I mean, I’m sure wherever he is, he’s free as a bird. Meanwhile, me? Locked up for trying to do my job––!”

“Failing to do your only job.” Riddle corrected with a scoff. “I will ask you one more time. Where. Is. Ellis?”

Ace, still annoyed, continued. He must’ve been either stupid or brave for continuing. Although it might’ve been both as he mocked him. “Didn’t you hear me the first time? I. Don’t. Know.”

Under your hand you felt Riddle’s fingers dig into the armrest, his knuckles growing white as he raised his voice an octave, “What if I take off your head? Will you know then?”

“If you took my head, you wouldn’t get any answers after that.” He retorted with a slight eye roll.

Underneath your hand you could feel Roseheart’s anger growing the tighter he dug his nails into the chair. When you saw his face, you and everyone else could tell that he was fit to burst, no doubt ready to seal this soldier’s doom. Instantly you shot up from your throne, wanting to help save this prisoner. However, you very quickly began to regret it when all eyes darted over to your form, and you now became the center of attention. You couldn’t just sit back down, so with no other choice, you awkwardly cleared your throat and proceeded nervously, “My dearest, earlier when in our chambers I had an… um… epiphany! A vision! Y-Yes, I had a vision…! Ellis will slay your–– our, pet dragon jabberwocky.”

Instantly Riddle’s eyes widened. “He killed our jabberwocky?!”

“No…! No, at least not yet!”

Technically you weren’t lying. The story goes that the Red Queen had a powerful dragon, the jabberwocky, which was the main reason why she could keep such a grip on the kingdom with no rebellion ever coming close to dethroning her. At least, that is until Alice comes along and slays the jabberwocky. If you could somehow get rid of Alice, or Ellis in this case, and stay in Riddle Roseheart’s good graces, you would have it made! It was practically certain that the court back home thought you would’ve been beheaded already and your head would float in that river of blood for eternity. Yet here you were, alive, and if things went smoothly, you could live out your life in splendor here. Yes, you’d have to deal with the red royal, but if you could just stay in his good graces at all times, you would have a wonderfully lavish life! At this point you were just speeding things up, Ellis’ intentions of slaying the jabberwocky probably weren’t supposed to be revealed until much later. But, it would make a perfect excuse now.

As all eyes remained on you, you recounted your fake tale, “It all makes sense now…! In… In my vision I saw… A red-haired knight, um, clashing swords with a blonde man in blue and white!” Well, that part was a lie. There never was a red-haired knight in the stories. But this was an opportunity to potentially save Ace as well, and give him a chance to redeem himself in Riddle’s eyes. When you turned to face Ace, he was gazing at you with furrowed eyebrows, but you proceeded anyway as you gave your attention to Riddle now. “Riddle, I think–– I mean, I b-believe that knight is this one here in front of us.”

“Him?” The royal exclaimed in disbelief, looking at the soldier with something akin to disgust. To which the said soldier stuck out his tongue before a stern glare from Trey and Cater made Ace close his mouth. Riddle blinked, quiet for a moment before gazing up at you, his expression softening as he flipped over his hand so it held yours. “Is that what you were doing in our chambers alone? You were studying texts and had a vision, to save me?”

“Y…Yes…?”

His big gray eyes became fixated on you, as his voice became soft when he replied, “I’ve misjudged you, my dear… I believed you were being unfaithful, but you were working hard for me. How wrong I was.” The way he looked at you could only be described as adoringly.

It made you nervous, but you could only awkwardly smile in return. In order to ensure your own life of comfort here, you had to be sure to ruin the plot of the story. This meant that Ellis, the protagonist, could not win no matter what. Although it pained you to do such a thing, knowing that the outcome would most likely mean death by beheading him and his allies, you were more afraid of death than you were of the hero. For this, you would have to make sure the antagonist, Riddle Rosehearts in the role of the Red Queen, obtained a happy ending instead of a bad ending where he himself would be banished after being defeated by Ellis.

Clearing your throat, you hesitantly listed off the sequence of events in the way you recalled them playing out, “In my vision I saw… a blonde boy in blue, a purple feline beastmen, and a hatter, among other allies. Ellis will… will attempt to infiltrate the palace, and gain your favor under a disguise, and steal the ancient sword that can slay our Jabberwocky.” As all eyes and ears remained on you, you hesitated once again, mentally apologizing for what you were about to do. Maybe in the end, you might be able to plead with your supposed spouse to spare them. But deep down, you knew it was unlikely for the ruthless tyrant to even consider the idea. “Your Majesty, my darling, i-if I may make a suggestion…?”

Riddle nodded as he listened attentively, “Go on.”

Thankfully you had moved your hands away from his, and had them folded in your lap so he couldn’t feel the way your fingers trembled with anxiety. “I would like to suggest we allow this knight before us to carry the sword, sheathed and hidden at all times. Let this be his redemption–– um, please, if you allow it, your Majesty.” Said knight gazed up in surprise. “It would be best to keep sir Ace in our sights. So might I ask that he and another capable knight become my guards?” Guards. Smart move, especially if things get hairy later. “I-I’d also like to suggest an increase in your personal escorts too… my dear. So… so you’ll be safe. And, no one else besides those in this room, will know of what we spoke of today––”

“That way, Ellis will come here all on his own, and if he searches for the sword it will not be there.” Riddle finished, to which you nodded. He caught on quickly. “That’s brilliant!” You nearly breathed a sigh of relief as the red royal turned to glance at his two subordinates, Trey and Cater, only to gesture to the former prisoner and demand of them, “Unbind him, Trey. How can he wield a sword if his hands are bound?”

Trey slowly stepped forward as Ace was allowed to stand, and he unlocked the shackles around the knight. Ace continued to peer up at you, suddenly flashing a grateful smile. To which you only caught a glimpse of before being distracted by the redhead on the throne.

“Cater!” Cater stood upright immediately and awaited orders from the royal. “Find a suitable knight to escort my partner! I expect only the strongest and most obedient of knights! Am I understood?”

“You got it, Your Majesty! I already have a few in mind.”

“Wonderful. I will be interviewing them myself, as well as hand-picking my own escorts.” Riddle stood from his throne, tossing out more commands and orders to be followed by his remaining subordinate and the guards that had escorted the former prisoner. “You lot, I want an increase on the perimeter and another search crew to hunt down that wretched boy Ellis! Trey, go and fetch the sword. As for you, Ace Trappola,” Turning to face the knight, he warned, “You have one more chance. Should you fail a second time, there will be no do-overs. Your head will roll and your family shall pay the price for your mistakes.”

For a mere moment, disbelief and anger flashed on Ace’s face. Just as he opened his mouth, you spoke up, “T-Thank you, Your Majesty…! You really are so… merciful.” Better to be a pawn in this game than to be dead.

Riddle turned his attention to you before smiling, such a true and proud smile as he declared, “I have you to thank for this, for saving my kingdom and protecting me. Once we have Ellis and his companions captured, we will have a morning execution for him, with front row seats to the show." As his eyes drifted back to the onlookers, he commanded, "All of you shall speak nothing of what transpired in this room.”

A chorus of Yes, Your Majesty echoed in the chamber. The royal nodded, content for now, sending you one last smile before turning on his heels and walking off to elsewhere with Cater in tow. Leaving you alone with Trey and Ace as all other attendants and soldiers exited the throne room to go fulfill their duties.

Just for a moment, you wanted to talk to Ace alone. There was something about Trey, something about the way he watched you so calmly but there was something in those yellow eyes behind those glasses. Something that made it seem like he knew your secret, like he knew you were not really the king. You weren’t sure if it was your paranoia getting to you and your mind was just playing tricks on you, but you wanted to distance yourself as far away from him as possible. As the former prisoner made his way towards you, you cleared your throat and spoke quietly, but loud enough for Trey to hear. “Can–– M-May I have a word with you, sir Ace…? In private.”

“Sure, I’m free now.” He half joked, giving a bit of a grin which didn’t do much to ease your worries.

Trey stood beside the empty throne, watching as you glanced over at him and made a gesture for him to carry on with the assigned duty of retrieving the legendary sword, as dictated by His Majesty. To which he did, after he carefully observed the way you scurried behind velvet curtains with the knight not too far behind.

When you were finally out of sight with Ace, you noticed his raised eyebrow. Noticing this and the way he tapped his foot, you hesitated, unsure where you were even going with this or what you should do now. “You… You look like you have something to say.”

“Why’d you save me?” He demanded, all that cheerfulness from before gone now as things took a serious turn. Looking you up and down, he crossed his arms and continued, “You could’ve had your cute little hubby chop off my head like all the others before me. So, say it. That’s the reason you wanted to talk alone, isn’t it?”

He got you. Were you that obvious? You’d definitely have to work on being more discreet… Looking around twice to make sure no one was listening in, you huddled with him in a corner by the stained glass windows as you whispered hurriedly, in a panic, “O-Okay, whew, you’re gonna think I’m crazy, but… I’m not really the king, or queen, or whatever role I’m supposed to play here! Well, I guess I am now? Uhhh… h-here! It’s like this: I was put on trial in my homeworld, and as punishment I was banished. When I woke up, I was in Roseheart’s bed and he started talking to me like I was an unfaithful partner! I didn’t understand it, until I realized that it was all exactly like a story I read as a child. My punishment was to become the king that dies by being beheaded by his own wife! I… I got out of that somehow, and now, well…”

Ace was looking at you as if you were crazy, as if you had grown an extra head or something. His arms were crossed and he continued to stare at you. Should you have done that? Could you trust him? Well, he did owe you his life. If things really came down to it, you could have him arrested again and beheaded. Play the victim, call guards, and make up some lie that he attacked you, but you really really didn’t want it to go like that… Finally, after a few seconds, he shook his head and gave a weak chuckle, as if he couldn’t even believe it. “Hold on, let me get this straight: You’re not royalty, but you’re a criminal from another world? Did you hit your head or something?”

You knew it. He wouldn’t believe you after all.

“I mean, they keep saying this Ellis loser came from another world too… So… Maybe your story doesn’t sound too crazy after all.” His scarlet eyes focused on the floor, as if considering something. “You really weren’t lying about knowing the future. And I thought you had gone mad or something! So I’m a hero in the story?”

You could only scratch your arm nervously, a bit regretful for having to crush his sudden burst of excitement. “Ahaha… not exactly? I made that part up…”

Disappointed at the revelation that he wasn’t some badass hero wielding a legendary sword, he scoffed, “Seriously? So why save me then?”

“Look…” You took a deep breath, hiding your fidgeting fingers in your palm as best as you could. “We were both supposed to die. At least my character was mentioned in the story, but you? Y-You weren’t even mentioned at all…! You were just a nameless faceless soldier, someone not even worth mentioning––”

Offended, he snapped back, “Faceless? Rude much!”

You quickly shushed him, internally freaking out at the prospect that you may have been overheard. But when nothing else and no one else stirred, you frowned and muttered, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, I’m just really nervous… I guess what I’m trying to get at here is… why don’t we both help each other survive?”

“What?” Shaking his head in disbelief. First this person called him someone not even worth mentioning then they ask for his help? Seriously, what was with them?

“T-Think about it…! I’m the second most powerful person in the entire kingdom…! I know what will happen! Kinda…”

“Well, I do want to live just as badly as you do…” It appeared he was still on the fence. Leaning his weight against the wall, he demanded, “But what do you mean you kinda know what will happen? I thought you, for sure, know.”

“Um…” Twiddling your fingers, you hesitantly explained the dilemma, “I did mention we were both supposed to die… And while that part isn’t a lie and the whole you being the destined one to stop Ellis was a lie, the other thing I didn’t lie about was Ellis gathering with his allies to infiltrate the palace and acquire the sword to kill the Jabberwocky. That will actually happen. S-So, since I told everyone that––”

“Let me guess, you told it early?”

Freezing, you gazed up at him and murmured, “H-How did you…?”

He shrugged, “I would’ve done the same thing if I were in your position. That means a higher chance of survival, right? Assuming that the blonde is the good guy and our king Rosehearts is the bad guy of the story. And considering all that, now you have no idea how the story will be affected, right?”

“R-Right…” Wait, now it just looked like you were useless! Immediately interjecting, you added, “But I can still make predictions based on what I know, like how things were originally supposed to play out…!”

“And you are still technically a royal…” Ace placed a finger to his chin, probably thinking about possible outcomes, upsides, and downsides if he agreed to work together. Finally, when his gaze flittered back to you and you stood upright, he questioned, “What if things don’t go how we–– you plan?”

You actually considered this briefly. If everything came crumbling down and all plans failed, there was but one last option to avoid any punishment. “Find Ellis and the White Queen… or is it the White King? I-It doesn’t matter…! The point is, the White Royal is very kind and merciful. If I go to them and explain that I am not really the Red King’s consort, then they’ll spare me…! If you come too and bring the sword to slay the Jabberwocky, that will assure them of our good intentions!”

“Isn’t that just running away? I don’t want to do that. And come on, the Whites? Are you for real? I thought us Reds were bad, but those pristine prissy little killjoys are no fun.”

For a second you wanted to strangle him. What kind of idiot would risk certain death by staying here if everything goes south, instead of fleeing to a good place that would grant you sanctuary? “It’s exactly running away, that’s the point…! The point is to stay alive!”

The redhead tilted his head to the side, his disappointed and serious behavior disappearing as he grinned. “What if I became king?”

Now it was your turn to look at him as if he were the insane one. Was this knight actually the mad hatter that had been driven insane by mercury poisoning?

“I do owe you one for saving my neck back there. And I won’t lie, I’ve dreamed about being king one day. And you, you’re actually way more ruthless than you seem at first. I thought you were a scared little wimp that always cowers behind their little hubby husband.” He mocked. Ouch. He thought you were a wimp…? “But turns out, I was so wrong about you. Sounds like you’re willing to do whatever it takes to live another day. Even turn on your own husband!”

He was whisper yelling, and it was starting to make you anxious that someone would overhear. So you whisper yelled back at a lower volume, “S-Stop that…! You know the truth, he’s not really my husband…”

That smirk made you think that he was going to respond in a louder voice, but thankfully he wasn’t that stupid. Just stupid enough to plan to overthrow the bloody Red King and talk about it in his own palace. But maybe you were stupid too, for talking about such delicate matters in the palace halls. Ace took your hands and performed a mock bow. “No running away, you got it? I’ll take that tiny red punk’s crown and become king, then I’ll keep you as a royal beside me, it’s the least I can do after what you did. We’ll both not only survive, but thrive. What do you say, Your Majesty~?”

#yandere #ace trappola #trey clover #cater diamond #riddle rosehearts #twisted wonderland #yandere twst #twst #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #twst writing #work in progress #damnation twst au

[galaxytittus]

List 5 facts about a favorite sim of yours, and send this to simblrs whose sims you adore ✨️

Alright y'all it's Remi's character development timeee!!! I'm gonna do both the OC questionnaire and the 5 facts for him. Thanks so much 4 including me in all these tag games @midnightsquartz! And everyone else who does even if I forget to do them 😅 I love y'all!!

OC Questionnaire

Name: Remi Fernandez

Nickname: Very rarely he'll get called "Rem," but he doesn't really have a nickname. Maple will occasionally jokingly call him Ramirez as his "full government name." Vlad has some more uhhh... unsavory nicknames for him 😳😳

Gender: Male

Star sign: Gemini

Height: 6.3 ft (192cm)

Orientation: Bisexual (though he will die on the hill of being straight, 'twas just a phase dude!!)

Nationality/Ethnicity: American, White/Hispanic

Favorite Fruit: Mangoes :P

Favorite Season: Winter

Favorite Flower: Blood red chrysanthemums, so emo :,(

Favorite Scent: Diesel fuel (he freaky like that)

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate: He's a black coffee connoisseur (he FREEAKY like that)

Average Hours of Sleep: About 6 if he's lucky, he works 24/7 and spends as much of his free time on his computer as Maple will tolerate.

Dogs or Cats: Used to be dogs but Maple converted him lmao

Dream Trip: Anywhere in the south, probably Florida. If it weren't so far away from family, him and Maple would move there in a heartbeat.

Number of Blankets: Three or four. Top sheet, comforter and a quilt on top, a weighted blanket too if ya nasty.

Random Fact: He played in his high school JV and varsity baseball teams as short stop and catcher occasionally. He and Pepper would meet at JV tryouts in their sophomore year (but Pepper wouldn't end up making the team with him pfff).

Random Facts

He has been working as a mechanic at his family's tire shop from high school till now. In his free time, he is taking classes online for an IT certification, hoping to get some IT office job like Vladdie and be home more for the new baby.

He is a big music and movie nerd. He eats up stereotypical dude movies like Pulp Fiction and The Wolf of Wall Street, probably because he likes to live vicariously through the main characters' debauchery.

He has deep seated commitment issues that stem from his parents' infidelity toward each other that he vehemently refuses to go to any sort of therapy for. Maple tries her best to iron it out with ultimatums (and uhh a baby) but he's still hesitant to marry her.

He hates the fact that he needs glasses, but also refuses to get contacts because they need to be fitted to his astigmatisms and he's too lazy for that.

He has been vaping and smoking for about a decade, trying to quit every January like clockwork. He just recently started getting into ZYNs because "babee there's not even any smoke with these!! perfect for baby!"

#not tagging anyone bc i don't remember who i've tagged n i LAZYY #oc lore #ask #midnightsquartz #remi

[blackwoolncrown]

that's a really interesting take on dating (not sarcasm), would you mind expanding on it? no worries if not ✌

Okay sorry I actually just expanded on it in the original post but for the sake of archiving….

Dating is not historically the norm. MASSIVELY generalizing, there are two main ways people to about seeking a *partnership* (not the same thing as seeking a sex partner which is and has always been easier)

One tends to happen before marriage age in cultures where it’s allowed and it’s more like “hooking up”. Aside from pregnancy and STIs the long term stakes are otherwise low and long term commitment isn’t the goal. Rather it’s something that tends to happen w young people as they use sexual interactions as a way to gain social status (think abt social hierarchies and currency tied to who gets to make out the most)

The other is marriage, whether poly or mono; this is a practice that tends to apply to older individuals with higher long term stakes. In this realm, premarital sex is frowned upon (I’m actually pro premarital sex for really important reasons but I’m against non-committal sec) and overall it is expected that a period of courtship ensue during which the quality of the potential partners is assessed.

Now I am not saying there can’t be issues w more traditional cultures irt this.

But what I am saying is that after assimilation and various cultural genocides, these practices have largely been eroded.

Additionally the “free love” push of the 60s and 70s which freed people from purist conservative sexuality then bred an attitude of “sexual liberation” that saw the maintenance of any barriers to sex as conservative, old fashioned and restrictive.

And I think that’s kind of a mindfuck bc for any hood it did, it fundamentally lowered the bar for mens access to sex, and now it’s like 6 feet under.

For better or worse, the average man organizes a lot of his life around whether he can get laid and how much. When it costs nothing- whether in money or more importantly effort and quality of character- for him to get it, he’s absolutely not going to put in more than he needs to.

I think it’s also noteworthy that the foundation for tbis ways laid in WWI bc during the draft, the amount of available bachelors dropped, but it was still a time during which women really needed to get wed to get anywhere in life, so women began to compete for men, which is WILDLY out of pattern for how things used to be. Around this time they were willing to “prove” themselves as available bedmates and homemakers to a degree they wouldn’t before, in the hopes of a ring. So you started to see girls “going steady” w men which is basically providing all the benefits of a wife without him having actually committed to anything at all. And our modern dating pattern was born.

Meanwhile, “dating” has evolved from “multi partner mini courting” to “seeing someone for sex and hoping they care about you after” and it’s honestly fucked up.

Like all things considered letting a man smash in your house or his when you hardly know him is fucking insane. And ppl will do this repeatedly w someone who they don’t have previous intimacy w then get hurt when that person fails to prioritize them emotionally.

Plus a lot of dudes think that since sex is easy to get- it’s like fucking door dash for many, just go on an app and make an arrangement- that they are getting the “meat” of a relationship without having to deal w tje extras.

But ironically the benefits of a committed relationship have way more to do with emotional and psychological growth and safety than sex, which is really more of the culmination of the two.

So ppl are just having these really shallow relationships w each other, putting the cart before the horse and then being upset when they’re not getting anywhere.

Meanwhile the dominance of dating apps is the biggest opp I’ve ever seen. Yeah siren describe exactly what you’re looking for so someone can fake it or unintentionally internalize it and then you can be upset and feel manipulated when once the per formative stage is over they are “different”.

Additionally relationships aren’t like….this cute thing you “just do” bc everyone else is doing it. A partner isn’t like a life accessory. It’s actually a decision to face and mutually work through your most intimate issues. And it’s like almost no one these days knows that. So they don’t stick anything out or gain the tools to manage a relationship before actually seeking one. Then they become serial daters just triggering each other en masse then hopping on social media to complain abt how hard dating is. Like..then stop?

For those who are solely seeking sex, I don’t care. I’m not in tje business of judging. But a lot of ppl are seeking a relationship. And doing so through dating is, in my autistic opinion, clearly illogical.

Also recent study shows actually 68% of marriages started as friendships. Not from dating.

Dating is a lie and the idea that it’s THE way to find a partner is false.

[eff-plays]

Kind of late to the party, but I just skimmed through some of the discussion about Astarion's racism and narrative issues with the gnomes and Gur. Personally, I think it's an area that really should have been explored more post Cazzador. I have a post half-written about it that I can't find the right words for 😭.

But essentially, Astarion's reactions to both those groups of people are easily some of his worst traits. In game atleast. I don't find it fair to hold his data mined EA backstory against him as it was never mentioned or canon even then. What he does and says in-game about them is bad enough and should be explored more.

The thing about both of these groups though is it blends his trauma with his straight from the tap shittiness. For all that he clearly shows he is racist towards gnomes (cool gag bit Larian??) There are also narrative reasons for him to be reacting badly to them given where he is in his character arc. Doesn't excuse it. But he does have flawed perceptions of power and victimhood that he clings to up until the last second when fighting Cazzador. He is not ready to grow on any of these fronts when first encountering the Gur and gnomes.

But Spawn Astarion would have been the perfect avenue for showing his growth and clarifying things to the audience. Taking Spawn Astarion to the Iron Throne and having him very clearly tell Tav they have to rescue them? Maybe with some uncomfortable coughing and whispering it under his breath cause he doesn't want to come off like he cares THAT much. It wouldn't need to come off like he's a Wyll-esque hero. Just a begrudging, "Well, I've kind of committed to this whole getting better thing. God's this is annoying. Why is it so much work?" Kind of similar to when he puts forward rescuing the kid from the hag. Maybe getting really triggered or angry over the kind of tools the Bannites are employing to keep the gnomes in line?

Same thing with taking him back to the Gur camp after Cazzador. There being more discussion. Maybe him being appreciative of the work they do because he hopes that no more Cazzador's take root in BG and Gur are a good force against such things. The bad blood isnt buried, but there's a respect between them. Maybe a bit of repentance in his vibe. But he's still bitchy and exasperated all the while.

I think that having Spawn Astarion have more unique dialogue about these groups would have tied up his narrative with them better- but also would have opened the lid on his character growth more.

Flipside is, if he had more reactions and they WEREN'T positive- it would show that despite the growth he's gone through, Astarion is independently a really shitty guy. It doesn't have to be because of his feelings about power- somtimes he's being racist just because that's who he is. Which I think would let the audience make more informed opinions about him.

Anywayssss

Yeah just saw the discussion and it got my brain going over this again. Sorry this is so long.

I do agree that holding EA stuff that was written out against him is unfair, heck I think Player!Astarion and Companion!Astarion are barely even the same guy.

And yeah, I think him having so little reactivity makes sense from an economic standpoint, but it does muddle his character and stifle his character growth (or lack thereof) a lot. Like I haven't played all of Act 3 (I deleted my first playthrough before I could finish it because I missed a lot of stuff I wanted to include, and then when my second playthrough got to Act 3, the patch came out and the game broke), but I do remember seeing a video of all of the companions reacting to the PC sleeping with Mizora? And he's totally chill with it and jokes about it?

Which always felt really weird to me. I feel like if you do this before his endings, wouldn't he be insecure? Like how he is if you try to bring in Halsin or have a foursome with the drow twins? If it's the Spawn ending, wouldn't he be upset? That you didn't tell him? That you hurt Wyll and Karlach? And wouldn't Ascended Astarion get catty and/or pissed that you fucked someone without him/his permission?

Idk what Larian was going for with his reaction to that at all tbh, like ... "Well he's the horny evil one so obviously he'll be okay with it for shits and giggles" is the vibe I got.

Sorry, that was kind of irrelevant to what you were saying, but it did feel like a microcosm of the issue. I'm hoping once they start putting in more story content (I heard Theo Solomon was recording more stuff for Wyll so fingers crossed!!) that the other characters need, they will also go back and shuffle around some logic for how the characters react depending on the outcomes of their storylines, esp Astarion because of how vastly different he can turn out.

Cuz there are bits of that, like apparently he reacts differently to Lae'zel killing [spoiler character] depending on his ending? And is a lot more merciful or cruel? Would be good to see more of that.

#bg3 #astarion #bg3 spoilers #long post

[lyril]

i think a lot of people who talk about gristol's lack of a "redemption" miss a very important tie between gristol and the themes of the game -- both those who think he doesn't have the capacity to change, and those few who actually feel like it is an injustice that he wasn't given one. take a read through this post by babycharmander to get a head start on what i mean.

gristol is not irredeemable, in the narrative, solely because of actions. in a series like psychonauts, i think if that were so, it would actually feel out of place. what has gristol done as a character that is worse than oleander, or loboto, or ford cruller? aside from regular psychonauts shenanigans like causing trouble by infiltrating the psychonuats, taking truman's brain, and putting everyone in danger, i would say none of you feel like that's actually "irredeemable" behavior compared to others, no? and so we might turn to his personality -- but, unfortunately, being a shitty person is not "irredeemable" behavior either. psychonauts has dealt with plenty of troublesome people like this. where you start to get somewhere is examining his goals -- gristol has nationalist and facist ideas floating around in his head, but they still are not realized. they are dangerous, yes, but there is a still difference between a child being fed propaganda and a false narrative of those ideas his entire life, now as an adult who still has not had a realization about the entire reality of it, and his adult father that has committed actual crimes resulting in many deaths, as well as other atrocities as the gzar of a country all while teaching his son this is what he should aim to emulate. as such, much of gristol's character is only "what if"s -- "when" he'll be gzar of grulovia. there's a lot he'll say he do, but gristol has not done those things. he might have the potential to, in... well, in his hypothetical world where he even can back to grulovia. but, it has not happened, and will not happen. and that's vital. his mindset is very important to this discussion, especially when it mirrors real world troubles, but what kind of message would it send if you were to say "there is no stopping these harmful seeds of ideas from sprouting, we can only suppress and punish these people". obviously that isn't true! dicussion of paralells to real life harmful ideology is relevant, but i would also say that for gristol as a character, it is much less about all that, and more about himself, in his childish and selfish fantasies of getting everything he wants, and essentially dipping his foot in those things along the way to getting there.

the entire point of that post i linked, that is almost exclusively why gristol is not redeemed at the end of the story. gristol is selfish, and a dangerous individual. but most of all, at this point in time, he does not allow himself to grow and change, and there is only the smallest bit of hope that he's starting to take a step. this specifically contrasts against the other characters in the series who have decided to turn over a new leaf when helped by raz.

gristol is absolutely portrayed as less sympathetic than many characters, because there is truth to it. he's still rich, even now. despite his entire mind being a pity party for himself, you, the player, and raz, see through it. the problems he does have are extremely rich people's problems for the most part, but honestly, where it leaves him makes me pity him quite a bit. regardless of whether or not other things in his past could be considered traumatic (nearly being attacked by soldiers, having to flee his home as a child -- and i would say they are in his eyes, considering that panic attack room), like every other psychonauts character, his past still has an iron grip on his present and future and shapes every single little detail about his character. for the most part, you are absolutely supposed to look at this and go "are you kidding? this is his tragic backstory?!" and it is completely fair to do so. but, to say he went through nothing is not true. because, to gristol, all of that was the end of the world, and that's all it needs to be as a character motivation.

despite everything he's done, gristol is far from a monster. as babycharmander discusses, another theme touched upon is this idea that anyone has the capacity to do harm, which leads into the familiar discussion of "good" vs "evil" people. dehumanizing people who are less than agreeablse, have done otherwise harmful things, and even are abusers, only adds to the inability to self reflect. the struggles of this character at his core are human. they are something i'm sure if you thought about it, you could understand. he was a child who never grew up. things change. he wants his perfect, childhood life back, one where he had no responsibilities, where he could have anything he ever wanted. to go back to when everything was perfect, and nothing was wrong. the epitome of peter pan syndrome. he wants attention and adoration, and things he genuinely had been led to believe that he's entitled to. and who doesn't? it manifests in him being incredibly out of touch and dangerously ambitious, but at it's core, it stems from very common, and very human emotions. gristol is still a child at heart. he's mostly preoccupied with fantasies of being waited on hand and foot, his ponies, and his cotton candy maker and caviar, rather than anything actually ruling a country would entail. he doesn't know anything about nor actually cares for his country and its citizens, only the idealized, rose tinted memories he had of the place, nor what his father has actually done, still believing he took his family and fled because he was a coward, and not because his actions were literally causing the destruction of grulovia and had they had to get out before they were the ones killed. after being isolated from his peers (and likely not actually having any, as royalty) for the first decade of his life, likely detached from his family as well, then once again shut up for years alone in a luxury hotel, it's clear that gristol has a very limited perspective of anyone else's life. gristol does not have a grasp on how to actually interact with people without a royal touch, form relationships, or practice empathy outside of a persona he puts on. i don't think this guy knows how to be a person.

i absolutely love the phrasing of "but there’s one person in this game we could not help" in that post. it's not about redemption, or being capable of it, or whether or not he even deserves it. but, that raz couldn't help him. a big thing about psychonauts 2 is helping people, not fixing them. i don't think gristol is irredeemable as a person. but i do think he's irredeemable for the purpose of this story and what its trying to tell, and rightfully so. because, most of all, raz doesn't have to deal with this. and neither do you, in our reflections of people like this in real life. raz has played his role here. if gristol is not willing to work towards change at this point in time, raz is not going to knock around in his brain until he does. it will not help, especially with how in deep he is. this doesn't mean as a character he is fully incapable of ever coming to terms with his reality. but it means, in the eyes of the narrative, it is not a story that will be told. he is going to have to have a big hand in that himself. and i think that's a very interesting thing to talk about and a great conclusion for what the game discusses. 

#talk #video games #psychonauts #my gristol essay #not because i DON'T think he's a selfish prick (HE IS) but because i love his character very much #all of this is so obvious to me at this point but it seems it might not be to some people? idk #anyway. even if you hate him you know i'm right. #i think a lot of peoppe who aren't as invested in his character as i am tend to approach this with not a lot of nuance #but i think there's so much here and in every single thing he says #i wish they put him back in the mailroom #i think i might be out shopping when this posts so i am very scared and embarrassed to return to this so be niceys to me #long post