#So much as he just... hates himself very deeply and seeks to be punished

[smilerri]

many thoughts about epic: the musical...

i am once again in the middle of essay writing but plautus is boring and my friend introduced me to this album so u already know I binged the entire thing

(quick warning for spoilers of homer's odyssey? if that's necessary?? man idk whatever)

first thoughts naturally concerned odysseus. i have hated this man with a burning passion ever since I started studying classics - i think he is irredeemably selfish, a liar masquerading as a 'resourceful hero,' and basically just a twat all around. that being said, i respect that epic is not an exact replica. in fact, i like that about it!

readings of odysseus as a loving husband and father, and a man who cares deeply for his crew and fellow warriors is one i would love to see reflected in the source text (though i admit i have only read two different translations so far, so this is subject to change depending on translators choice!), if only because it would be so so refreshing. and epic does that extremely well! i find epic's odysseus to be far more likeable, insofar as he is fueled not by greed for glory (kleos for the nerds out there) but rather the desire to return to his wife and son. (I personally would argue that, while homer's odysseus is indeed fueled by a desire for homecoming (nostos), it is not for the sake of penelope and telemachus, but rather concern over the security of his status and position within the household (oikos))

i also very much enjoy that the love he holds for his family is not an inherently positive trait. in the aeneid, and often in myth, it is achilles' son, neoptolemus/pyrrhus who kills the son of hector and andromache, astyanax by throwing him from the walls of troy - less common, it is odysseus (which i did not know until i googled it just now oops). homer's odysseus does not reject the gods. he is beloved by some, hated by others - he receives their boons and curses as they come. he revels in the attention of the divine, no matter positive or negative, for it is proof of his kleos. epic's odysseus is so much more... human. he doesn't vie for glory that reaches the skies. if anything, he rues it. in the horse and the infant he supplicates himself to (who i assume is) zeus - which is such a loaded act i am genuinely struggling to think of how to articulate it, but boy am I gonna try my darndest.

the act of supplication and guest-friendship (xenia) is a very key theme within the odyssey, and to a point in the iliad also - essentially, if a traveller were to arrive at your doorstep, you were obliged to let them in and provide food, drink, and lodgings to that traveller, no questions asked. in return (because reciprocity is VERY important in homer especially), the guest would provide entertainment, tales of their travels, etc, and would be respectful of their host. the patron of these travellers was zeus. any violation of these terms, on part of the guest or host, would be met with divine scorn. for odysseus to supplicate himself to zeus is therefore meta as hell, but I would instead bring attention to the echoing lyric "hes bringing you down to your knees." 'he,' assumedly, is astyanax. his father, hector, is dead; as is his grandfather, priam, and all of priam's other sons. at this point, one could assume that it is astyanax who is ruling troy, who is now the host of the city that odysseus, a traveller from another land, has entered and ransacked. zeus' 'prophecy' of astyanax growing old and seeking revenge (reciprocity! homeric greece had a 'revenge culture' - essentially 'an eye for an eye' as well as 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours,' though not always so clear-cut), therefore, would be odysseus' punishment for violating the terms of xenia.

supplication, however, is not limited to guest-friendship alone. for example, in odyssey 22, when odysseus slaughters the suitors occupying his home (is that spoilers?), their priest leodes supplicates himself at odysseus' feet, begging to be spared. odysseus takes his head from his neck in an instant. odysseus' kneeling before astyanax, therefore, is no simple act between a guest and his host - perhaps he is begging the infant for mercy, for forgiveness, or perhaps he is positioning himself for punishment; in killing astyanax, odysseus accepts his own death. perhaps this means his fate (which, in case of homeric epic, refers to the time and manner of one's death), or perhaps it is a part of him that has died. in just a man, odysseus asks "when does a man become a monster?" his killing astyanax prevents the boy from ever becoming a man, and spares him from a life fueled only by revenge and the need to regain his glorious birthright, and it turns him into a monster. just as he says he would, he trades in the world where he is 'just a man' for a world where he is a cruel beast, all for sake of his family.

(quick detour but i really like how odysseus' focus is primarily on penelope rather than telemachus. [insert deadbeat dad joke here], but in reality, he doesn't even know the boy. penelope he chose to marry and fall in love with - it's no question that he loves telemachus, but after ten years, it is only natural that he would miss his beautiful, tricky wife with more fervour than the child he never had the chance to love. it shows he is imperfect, even illogical - the son is the father's entire legacy. just as odysseus is 'son of laertes', so will telemachus be 'son of odysseus', the protector of his immortal heroic legacy. yet it is penelope whom odysseus yearns for.)

(another detour but "i'm just a man" is such a juicy lyric, because the entire message of homer's odyssey is that odysseus is not any man - he is a man that the muses deem worthy to inspire great poets to compose epic poems that persist through thousands of years and a million different voices - a hero. but epic's odysseus is not that hero. he is a man, trying to go home, craving comfort and the warmth of the hearth. these 'flaws' humanise him more than homer's odysseus could ever imagine.)

skipping over to polyphemus, odysseus violates xenia once again by killing polyphemus' sheep, albeit unwittingly. homer makes this violation very obvious - odysseus and crew eat polyphemus' cheese and wine while polyphemus tends to his sheep, knowing that the cave is obviously inhabited, and they even wait for polyphemus to return to ask for more. it is worth noting as well that, at this point, odysseus and crew are still jubilant about their victory, and unlike in epic, these 'detours' are purposeful, specifically so that odysseus can scope out the islands for anything of interest he can snatch and add to his spoils of war, adding to his kleos by means of physical wealth (timē) - which makes odysseus' offer of treasure to appease polyphemus all the more baffling in epic. this odysseus is a leader who prioritises the lives of his men over his own kleos, which makes the final lines - "you shall be the final man to die" // "what?" // "watch out!" - all the more heartbreaking. he wants to protect his men, so that they too may return to their families back on ithaca; the prospect of watching them die before his eyes after he already witnessed so many lose their lives in battle must be so utterly terrifying.

polyphemus is so excellently creepy as well! i loved him in the odyssey - this was where I really started to dislike odysseus, actually. he's a cyclops, obviously inhuman, yet he rears sheep and makes cheese and wine and weaves wicker baskets to keep them in, trying to play at humanity. i really did sympathise with him from the first time I read it. epic's polyphemus is similar, so very calm in his anger yet ruthless all the same, and demonstrates great restraint in comparison to his counterpart in the odyssey, who gets filthy drunk after mashing six men dead and allows odysseus+co. to fashion a stake with which to blind him. much of the violence against polyphemus, as well as the violation of xenia in homer's odyssey is 'excused' by the fact that polyphemus is a 'barbarian', to whom concepts of civilised people do not belong.

(very quick detour but polyphemus' first admonishment of odysseus - "you killed my sheep" up to "take from you like you took from me" - makes such heartbreaking parallels to astyanax's murder and the sack of troy. it almost provides a visualisation of the guilt that odysseus must still be battling. i would have loved to have been in his brain when he heard polyphemus say that.)

the mercy odysseus shows polyphemus is particularly interesting - homer's odysseus leaves him alive and tells him his name purely so that his name will spread and his kleos will grow. but epic's odysseus, despite his conviction to kill in survive and to avenge is fallen comrades in remember them, spares him. in part, this is to assure them an escape, so that the cyclops' giant body does not block their exit - but athena's interruption makes clear that this is not all. she criticises him, remarks "he is still a threat until he's dead." no doubt this calls back to zeus' warnings about astyanax, hence his refusal (or inability?) to commit to slaughter. for a homeric greek hero to allow a foe to live on after his allies had been slaughtered is a grave failure of reciprocity, casting shame on both the hero and their enemy. homer's odysseus escapes this with his reputation intact, since as a result polyphemus curses him to face poseidon's wrath - as I mentioned, for a hero, even negative attention from the gods is a good thing as it proves that their reputation/glory is known all over, even in olympus. but, as we have established, epic's odysseus cares not for kleos. the decision to tell polyphemus his name is entirely impulsive and irrational, grieving his comrades, hence athena's outrage.

the relationship between athena and odysseus is founded entirely on the principles they share, described in warrior of the mind (if anyone can lmk whereabouts this song fits in the timeline I will be so grateful, I'm stupid unfortunately :/). they value wisdom, reason, and rationality over brute strength and bloodlust. epic's athena becomes odysseus' patron goddess with the goal to "make a greater tomorrow" and "change the world" - aspirations that are entirely foreign to any homeric god. gods in homer do not care about the wellbeing of humans unless they are directly related to them, and they certainly don't care about the wellness of humanity as a whole. humans are toys and tools of the gods. the amount that athena cares for odysseus, even in the odyssey, is unusual, demonstrative of how much she cares for him, yet epic makes their comradery more obvious, even going as far as to (tentatively) call them friends. my goodbye frames athena's anger as disappointment at an experiment failed - calling back to warrior of the mind, where she claims to have "designed" him - but odysseus' replies to her makes clear that it is far more personal. perhaps, to her, odysseus acting so irrationally is even a betrayal; odysseus is abandoning the principles of reason they both once held and thus is forsaking all that they once shared and that she, as the goddess of wisdom, stands for.

ive always considered athena to be a very interesting goddess. she is a patron of both war, which in homer is only carried out by men, and weaving, the traditional work of women within the household - her very nature is a contradiction of masculine and feminine. although it is ares who is considered the 'black sheep' of the olympians for his brutality in war, epic's portrayal of athena through odysseus' lens paints her as lonely and ostracised - "since you claim you're so much wiser // why's your life spent all alone? // you're alone." It is clear that odysseus here does not view her as his patron at all, rather as a friend - and to that she takes offence, because she is a goddess, eternal and all-powerful. she does not need friendship or comradery; those are mortal concerns alone. personally, I see epic's athena as incredibly insecure. she cuts odysseus off because she cannot bare that a mortal has been able to read her so clearly, to see all the ugly parts of herself that she keeps hidden to retain the facade of the perfect goddess. she knows the paradox within herself - warrior and woman, immortal and alone - and rues that odysseus was able to see it as well. the cruellest part, the most ironic, is that his being able to figure out the true, imperfect nature of a god shows that he has not abandoned the path of the warrior of the mind. in fact, his wisdom extends beyond mortality into the realm of the divine. but athena is blinded by her anger and insecurity, and she says her goodbyes. she disappears from there, only to appear again to try to warn odysseus of his crew opening the bag of winds given to him by aeolus in keep your friends close, once again demonstrating her care for him, despite her anger.

the amount that odysseus cares for his crew is demonstrated time and again throughout the album, yet in the end, he still slowly loses their trust. aeolus' winds are the first sign. his crew betrays his orders upon the first whisper on the wind that he might be keeping treasure from them. the next sign, in puppeteer, is eurylochus' confession upon arrival to aeaea (circe's island), which odysseus brushes off, much as he brushed off eurylochus' concerns in luck runs out. then, in a matter of moments, 600 men are reduced to forty by the wrath of poseidon - which in itself is a significant change. while odysseus in epic is explicitly blamed for failing to kill polyphemus, homer's odysseus takes no responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of his men. it happens when they arrive at telepylos, which, unbeknownst to them, is home to the laestrygonians, a race of cannibalistic giants. odysseus, apparently sensing something off (who tf does he think he is, spiderman?), allows his entire fleet to enter the bay of telepylos while his ship alone remains outside - and when those ships are attacked and trapped, he alone takes his single ship and escapes, allowing twelve ships of men to be ripped apart and eaten by cannibals. an act which he shows no remorse for.

in my interpretation of homer's odyssey, it is this slowly slipping trust that eventually leads to his men ignoring his warnings and feasting on the cows of helios which leads to the deaths of all his remaining crew, including eurylochus and polites (spoilers? idk). so, once epic: the musical catches up to book 12 of the odyssey you WILL be seeing me again I hope ur excited.

there is definitely more i could say here, especially about the circe saga bcs ohhh my god I love circe and I love this circe especially (a female character with actual motive other than being a victim? homer could never) but unfortunately I'm running out of steam and I do in fact have 3 essays due this month (help) so I will probably return to this later !! hopefully its readable bcs I'm not going back to edit any of this ;)

#joined cort's spotify jam while writing this and got rickrolled #the message here is trust no one #skipped my seminar to do work and did this instead #fuck u plautus and your dumb menaechmi #this took like 4 hrs to write i have issues #epic the musical #epic the ocean saga #epic the circe saga #epic the cyclops saga #epic the troy saga #epic #classics #classical studies #homer's iliad #homer's odyssey #the odyssey #odysseus #penelope #media analysis #literary analysis #longpost #homer

[shadowqnights]

*grabs a can opener*

Spill them worms

oh my gosh i started writing out an essay, accidentally refreshed and deleted it, and now i'm back trying to figure out how to word this.

i'm one of the freaks who actually likes mcd aaron and i love rewriting him. and i'm of the mind that one of the best ways to make aaron and aph more interesting in both universes (and fix a lot of stuff in aph's case) is by having them as werewolves - aph, whether knowingly or unknowingly, entering pdh as a werewolf. aaron being a werewolf in mcd. reversing their roles in each universe.

but the aph thing is a whole OTHER can of worms so specifically in relation to the dog rule in mcd. i'm super passionate about werewolf aaron. this is a crash course for some of my rewrite thoughts. strap in because this one is going to be so long i am so sorry.

in my rewrite aaron is actually not a werewolf at all by technicality since he's cursed by a member of the divine. as opposed to the other wolfkin, there's no way for him to have wolf features in his human form, no ears or tail. he's got a purely human form and a purely wolf form - albeit an unusually massive wolf, but in all other manners resembles a natural animal. he can only be one or the other, nothing inbetween.

his backstory ties very strongly into the ultima origins that you see in mystreet as well. simply put because if i start i'm not going to stop - aaron makes a sacrifice to try and save his dying lily, angers a member of the divine and is transformed into this new form as punishment only to find the efforts in vain nonetheless. cue falcon claw's tragedy.

being a wolf fits aaron to me in a number of ways - firstly that he's literally a lone wolf. he's determined to isolate himself, wander alone and unbothered. he believes that the only way to fulfill his end goal is on his own because his beef is personal. there's no need to get involved in other people's affairs. he has walls up, and while being very gruff and self-serving, has a secret soft side - usually with children. otherwise not much matters to him except vengeance and dying. he's a wandering wolf vigilante of sorts, without even meaning to. he describes himself as a broken human. to me he leans entirely into his cursed form in his grief and becomes very much animal. he barely ever speaks as a human and barely even takes that form unless critically injured/fatigued; he is nothing but a wolf. he tries incredibly hard to see the world as an animal would, but there's a frustrating shred of his human morality that forces him to do the 'right thing' - like saving aph, like saving dante. it's also just a plain interesting approach to his character that makes him more complicated

and because he's this gruff, silent old dog who's convinced he has to die alone, of course the young bright kids are going to flock to him. in this way i love indulging in the dog rule in the way that aaron is the oldest, in some ways the wisest and has lived through a lot of hardships in both human and animal form. and in that animal form he can become the perfect mentor for members of the younger cast who need his guidance. as a wolf aaron is more than anything else a survivor, and other survivors tend to seek him out of instinct. he tries to distance himself, insist that he is a lone wolf *doomed* to live out the rest of his days spiraling in animal hate, in anger, fighting and mauling and earning new scars until the day he can kill zane and then die. but that is very much the human part of him reflecting on the animal part. the animal knows violence. the human justifies it because his suffering has led him there.

aaron's dog rule functions best with others. his relationship with aph works best starting from distrust and disinterest and growing into a friendship/mentorship. because there is a canonical foundation for them to have a bond - because they are/were both lords, both once cared incredibly deeply for their chosen people, both have survived hardships and both of them despise zane. they have a mutual goal and their working together makes sense. if you're that one oomf who likes aarmau then i like to think of them in mcd as having a relationship akin to that of Wolf Children (please watch highly recommend) but as a wolf i feel he would make a great mentor for her too. in a way that only aaron specifically can deliver. i don't explicitly make aph animal, per say, the way that nicole and aaron can shift. but metaphorically there is very much something animal in her. same as dante. the both of them, to me, are younger, they're like cubs trailing at aaron's heels and after some time he takes them in, but aren't physically transformed in any way (though i have AUs where they definitely can).

they have differing relationships to him. aph certainly begins as a naive sunshine character - and as she slowly learns about her world and its history, that sunshine fades a little. she wants so badly to fit in amongst the ordinary people of phoenix drop; she works hard to learn and become one of them. even when (in rewrite + rebirth) she becomes lord out of desperation, merely thinking she's doing these people service by keeping phoenix drop alive, she's trying to be One of them. this animal side of aph to me arrives in the form of her magicks. she finds that not only does her light heal, that it is also quite literally a searing, burning light, something that can hurt. worse, that she feels a sickening rush of power, realising that she has this violent and unpredictable form of self-defense. as this naive pacifist, it offers the bridge to a new chapter of her life that she isn't prepared for; it solidifies that she isn't ordinary, that she woke up for a purpose. and that her allegiances are changing - especially in s2, in the wake of everything falling apart, everything being different and wrong, the people who went into irene's dimension with her are very much the only people who understand. she seeks companionship with aaron because she is ashamed of the feelings inside of her, that she describes as animal because she doesn't know what else to make of it. her magicks feel like an animal separate to her human self because in a way those are irene's magicks, that's irene as a distinct Piece of her, and those things are wilder than the body she was reborn in.

-> incorporating parts of loverman into this, also why aph becomes so strongly bonded with katelyn. because their magicks call to each other. fire and light. they both burn and they end up relating strongly to each other and being weirdly attracted to each others magick. they are both destructive and animalistic, it's just that katelyn is far more attached to her humanity.

aph finds aaron's silence comforting rather than disarming. everyone else finds him weird and a little bit offputting / alienating. she is rather comforted by it. she's spent so long trying to learn what it means to be human because she was born into a human body without any memories - so much so that being with aaron, who is hardly ever human, brings her a lot of comfort. in a way, she finds the most peace with people who are very grounded and well connected to the earth and nature - with zoey, kiki, cadenza, namely, and then aaron. her friendship group, excluding that of her guards, have certain connections to the earth and have very nurturing personalities. she's drawn to that by nature (thanks irene!).

and aaron specifically, who spends the most time as a wolf. when he's not fighting, he's hunting, travelling, and resting. in a human form, i feel there's not much for him to teach her because she's already been through this period of struggle in her mortal body - she's already learned from people like garroth, donna, brendan, namely in rewrite. she has people who can teach her how to fight and how to be a diplomat. she's had a number of mentors and a strong circle of friendship to guide her. she has so many human companions. but aaron is so much more complicated than that. as a wolf, i feel she would seek him out as a teacher. even on the more metaphorical sense that she feels like a broken human, and the only individual who could possibly understand or at least empathise with her place in the world is him. she wants to run wild with him, wants to be in the thick of the woods, the middle of nowhere, wants to pretend as if she could be cursed, too, as if she could find a form that relieves her of the weight of human fears. perhaps then she could embrace this power inside of her.

dante is different because its dante and he's ALWAYS different in some way. god. where to begin. okay so dante is also metaphorically animal in a way that is specifically only in reference to his relationship with aaron. he is aaron's brother and a cub to him in a way that starts out transactional. back to the loverman elements of rewrite for a second:

-> at this point aaron is almost Always using his wolf form . ignore that he was human when he saved aph because i didn't know what i was doing yet. aaron, as a wolf, still has a Shred of 'justice', hence why he finds himself so regularly saving people. because even as a human he considered the circle of life very sacred, and in keeping with kul'zac's teachings as a hunter he was very much so respectful of wildlife and only killing out of necessity rather than for sport or selfish gain (as in, hunting for food and using the absolute Most of those bodies, not taking more than needed). he was very faithful to his shepherd in that regard (until the period when he was cursed. but that's a whole other post). post-curse there is a very deliberate change when aaron becomes a little bit carried away but through it all, he is very conscious of that circle of life. that cycle. even as this vigilante figure, he's very specific with the fights he picks. he saves lost children in the woods, he mauls shadow knights & and in short he sees fit to punish the people/creatures who harm the weak and defenseless for sport, for selfish gain, because (1) that personal justice that is a part of his former worship/morality he can't shake, and (2) maybe a small part of him hopes that if he lives that way for long enough, kul'zac will restore him OR take pity on him and let him die.

he's secretly very particular. even when he can't admit it, his sense of justice is strong. saving aphmau was dubious because she was unknowingly in fer salem (southern wolf tribe) territory and was injured. but she cried for help and he answered. but specifically when aaron is hanging around phoenix drop, he's tracking a volatile shadow knight that attacks him immediately in wolf form, and that alone is enough for aaron to decide that the shadow knights (or just merely. the dudes with That scent specifically) are bad and kill regularly in mass for sport, therefore need punishment.

he sees dante for the first time and thinks of him as a bird, a prey animal, because he acts like one. he is skittish and tentative and blindly wandering through unfamiliar woods. and aaron goes ok that one isn't to be hunted. so when later he finds a shadow knight cornering the group including dante, who he vaguely recognises, the Right thing to do is to attack the shadow knight. (which happens to be gene, therefore saving the life of dante + his companions. so by extension saving aph again, plus garroth and laurance).

dante and aaron are all about transaction. aaron saves dante's life. so then when dante finds him bleeding out in the woods, he saves HIS life. the debt is repaid, but then the other does something to begin a new debt, and they become trapped in a cycle. dante kind of despises him because at that point he has such horrifically complex feelings on gene. such terrible baggage that he doesn't know if he hates him for attacking gene or loves him for attacking gene. it's weird and fucked up and more than anything he knows that he at the very least owes aaron something, so with that in mind he grits his teeth and helps to heal him. which is a slow, gradual process, because aaron has a LOT of wounds, more than just the ones gene inflicted in the fight. dante doesn't even know that he has a human form at this point - it's merely his sense of kindness to take pity on this animal that tried to (and possibly succeeded, since he has no idea of gene's fate yet) kill his horrible older brother. in aaron's weakness, he can't control the wolf, so he turns human briefly and dante realises that he's getting involved in something way more complicated than he bargained for. story of his life. still, he perseveres - and aaron is a stubborn, lonely idiot, and a wolf does not need human medicine. so dante gives up on trying to convince him to come back to phoenix drop and treks into the woods on the daily to tend to aaron's wounds. which he protests but all in all is wayyy too weak and tired to actually Fight it.

in this way they very gradually earn each other's trust and aaron begrudgingly hangs around. dante saved his life again, so now he owes ANOTHER life debt. and aaron is all about paying back debts. in his youth his love language was acts of service, his very bonding with lily was full of debts and transactions and trading.

so as a wolf he lets dante stick around and protects him. the cycle of debts continues in increasingly obsessive/codependent ways [in ways that i'm reluctant to talk about unless asked because loverman spoilers but in short aaron becomes a brother figure for dante, relieving him of the baggage left by gene.]

in this way i consider dante a cub because he's young and he's CLINGING to aaron in a way that, while still a little bit pathetic, its made better by the fact that aaron reciprocates some amount of care towards him and they take care of each other. he's a good brother. when they get close, they get CLOSE. it takes a while, of course, like a year+ to fully earn each other's trust. he's a cub in the way that he's young, barely 19 and has been treated akin to a sopping wet stray dog abandoned too many times. and in a metaphorical sense his shelter becomes an older, wiser wolf who is somehow far more kind and gentle and less animalistic than his human biological brother. and beneath that gruff exterior there is genuinely care in aaron; his care for dante specifically re-inspires a certain purpose in him and opens him up to a future Beyond zane that doesn't just involve his own death. in that way, by association, dante to me is a dog/wolf of his own, and would even consider himself as such because of his relationship with aaron. he is very attached to the idea of being non-human because of his suffering, in which i think he would relate so incredibly strongly to aaron. maybe he secretly wishes he too was gifted with a curse that allowed him to endure pain in the form of a wolf and spare him of human things like regret and remorse. and he's drawn to the mystery of the shapeshifting characters - he is enamoured with nicole at first because he is the first to pick up on her fox form.

aaron also draws dante down a path of maturity and sets his character development in motion - he becomes a bit more merciless, brutal, unforgiving, able to stand up for himself better because of aaron's influence. as if he grew up as a dog kicked down, abandoned and mistreated and neglected, and as he grows up he is taught that he has teeth, and he is allowed to use them. plus the fact that you can take dog rule dante really literally and explore his entire life through that lens but specifically i also love the idea that this pathetic human boy is so attached to his teacher/brother, so obsessed with the idea of sharing someone's blood that isn't gene's, that he fully leans into it. he is someone's animal brother. his wolf brother. his kin. they protect each other. and when the time comes aaron has also grown and while he's always been far more gentle and protective over children, he is especially fond of dante's child [ dmitri, not nekoette's rewrite self, i'm a dancole believer. ].

and in this way they kind of make a fucked up little family. dante and aph consider each other brother and sister - dante finds a new brother in aaron, who thus takes on the role of mentorship for aph.

and . and that's literally just a starter. a very basic crash course but yeah idk i approach them in different ways dependant on what AU you're asking me about. everything i've talked about here is specifically rewrite thoughts + dog rule but honestly i wouldn't be opposed to making dante a werewolf in kennel au or something. and aph as a werewolf would also be really cute and i'm a big fan since she already is one in my mystreet rewrite . one big wolf found family.

#sorry i feel frazzled this may make no snese to feel free to ask for clarification or more info anywhere #i love answering asks with giant ass essays sorry i love talking about my rewrite. feel free to ask me questions about any character anytim #welcome to beeland! #sorry this took days i was like. on and off writing this whenever i got the rush of brainworms #bee's buzzing #mcd #minecraft diaries #aphmau #dante #aaron lycan #oh yeah im insane im insane #no one is awake rn so im going to reblog again tomorrow i cant be bothered to schedule shit rn

[songbirdblues]

theres much to be said about the woobification of tim drake as a character entirely in fanon, but one thing in particular that tends to irk me is the misinterpretation of this scene.

now, i generally dont have a problem with fanon interprets of events like this!!! in fact, im an avid fanfic reader and i can honestly say i dont mind when comic events get squashed or stretched out of proportion. people want angst and fluff, and hurt and comfort, and i can respect that a lot of dc fans get their info from fanon and dont bother/simply dont want to read comics because they lack those feel-good moments/that emotional depth that fanfics have. thats fine, thats none of my business, and thats perfectly valid!

...but i think it does get to a point where a comic is SO misinterpreted, like this one (or just this series in general, really), that it loses all that makes it good and interesting in the first place.

dick isn't a bad guy here. whether you think what he said was warranted or not, or if you think him saying that he thinks tim should seek help is insensitive or wrong, he's not some evil abusive guy who hates tim (tim literally calls him his brother in the scene???? in a positive context??)

i just see a lot of people think dick is some terrible villain for this event (and for the "firing and replacing tim just so damian can be robin for no reason" thing which is also a misinterpretation of what happened, but thats something else). when in reality dick himself is already struggling to keep his family from falling apart even more than it already has, has been forced to become batman, and has to raise this random, murderous kid that just popped into his life (i love damian but bro was giving dick gray hairs in his twenties in the beginning lol), all while dealing with the loss of his father for the second time in his life. on top of this, to him, his 16 year old brother is off doing god knows what across europe going on a wild goose chase looking for their (presumably) dead father and doesnt know what to do about it.

but despite all that, in tims eyes, dick massively messed up. we know he thinks this by what he says in the comic.

which leads me to my last point; tims own thoughts. this is a bit more of my opinion on tims character rather than objective fact so bear with me. tims internal monologue and emotional journey across red robin are why i think this series is so heavily (sorry to keep using this word) misinterpreted by fanon.

throughout the course of the story, tim is being forced to suffer with a grief that that he doesnt know how to deal with. like dick, this is the second father tim has lost. but the difference between them is that when tim experiences loss he... doesnt really know how to deal with it, like at all. he goes crazy when he loses someone close to him. at least dick can kinda sorta keep it together. after jack died and bruce tried to adopt him, tim literally hired a man to pretend to be his uncle to avoid it. when kon died, he tried to clone him 99 whole times with old luthor tech, (and later when damian died, tim hallucinated hugging him, or at the very least pretended to, which while a lot tamer than these other instances i still think it speaks to how deeply he feels these losses and how badly he handles it). i dont know the specifics of how he acted about other people hes lost like bart, stephanie, and his mom, but tim even says himself that part of the reason why he's doing all this is because of how many people he's lost, so it can be assumed he reacted harshly to their passing, too.

tim also admits, multiple times throughout red robin, that he knows he sounds/acts crazy, he admits that he goes farther than he ever went as robin when dealing with criminals and cases because as red robin he's now "tainted" and agrees with connor in a later issue that "red robin" is his punishment for himself.

so what i mean by all this is that, simply put, tim is an unreliable narrator. of course we as the readers feel angry at dick and cassie, tim himself is angry at them. he feels hurt and betrayed, and it could even be assumed at that point that he feels they abandoned him, and he thinks that they think hes crazy. he isolates himself from everyone, he feels unworthy of everything, and he "knows" hes lost it. "except for everything, im perfectly fine." is a quote he says, and there are plenty more like it in the series.

my point is that in tims eyes for the majority of his character arc as red robin, nearly everyone hes ever loved has either died or abandoned him, but as the audience we know thats not the case. cassie loves him, dick of course loves him, they just both made mistakes and hurt him, but that doesnt make either of them irredeemable or mean that they dont care about tim. tim himself, in that moment, just doesnt believe that, or doesnt even seem to consider that. he sees the bad, and blinded by his own grief and anger, doesnt see the good.

i just think a lot of people miss that, and just write dick off as borderline abusive or purposefully hurtful in red robin fanfics, because comics tend to get telephoned so much in the fandom that thats what people see him as, when it's not the case, which is how we got the "dick threatens to send tim to arkham" thing. (but thats just gonna happen i guess. did you know that in the actual jasons attack on titans tower comic jason wears his robin costume?? yeesh i'll have to stick with fanon on their interpretation of that whole thing. see its not bad all the time)

besides the idea of the whole arkham trope thing, theres still plenty of canon angst to pull from in red robin! you can write about how tim thinks hes losing it, ra's weird infatuation with tim and everything that comes with that, tim being forced to deal with losing robin, tims rocky relationship with tam fox, tims super rocky relationship with damian, any interaction between kon and tim, OH. the fact that at one point tim got kicked out of a tall building and accepted his death (only thinking about how bruce would be proud), only to be saved by dick last minute and then lying about knowing dick would save him (yeah right buddy) ((its issue #12)). theres also the idea of bruce and tim talking after tim finds him (canon bruce hug!!!). and theres more im forgetting for sure. all that to say theres plenty of ideas already there for the taking!!!!! red robin is a great comic filled with plenty of emotional moments.

moral of the story, dick isn't a terrible person, tim needs help but he isn't a little baby incapable of doing anything, and i believe writing them differently in the context of red robin (2009) is a disservice to their characters and their relationships with each other in the actual comic.

...but i mean, im not your dad. write what you want

#dc comics #tim drake #dick grayson #red robin #batman #nightwing #bruce wayne #rant #omg please dont kill me for this #also i did not mean to practically write an essay oops #this isnt directed at any fan work in particular btw #its just something ive noticed

[riddikulushq]

IC INFO:

Character name: Regulus Black Age & Birthday: 20 & October 17th Gender & Pronouns: Cis-Male & He/Him Occupation: Unemployed Blood status: Pureblood Previous house: Slytherin Previous Affiliation: Death Eaters (Traitor), Order of the Phoenix Face claim: Timothee Chalamet Traits: + Intelligent, Cunning, Resilient, Audacious, Candid - Contriving, Inhospitable, Caustic, Sardonic, Capricious

TAKEN BY MJ

CHARACTER SUMMARY:

When Regulus was a child, Sirius was his hero. His big brother was just about the best person that Regulus could think of spending time with. With a mother that would rather lash out in anger than admit one of her sons were worth an ounce of affection and a father would drank too deeply to care what happened to either of them, Siruis was by far the most important person to Regulus. He would wake up and seek Sirius out. He would seek Sirius out in moments of joy, fear, and sadness. 

Through the neglect and abuse, they always had one other. The nights they spent huddled on one of there beds, wounds cleaned by one another, heads ducked under a blankets and secret dreams shared between them were too many to count. 

While growing up in the black home was closer to survival than a childhood, it did teach Regulus some very important lessons. His teenage years, taught him some very harsh truths. 

He never meant to start competing with Sirius. He never wanted to be pitted against his best-friend, his only ally and older bother. One night, when Regulus was six, he can still recall this, he begged his mother to stop comparing them. She shut up him up by casting crucio on him. A quick message to never question what she did. 

In the end, Regulus just caught on faster than Sirius did. He learnt how to play the good son. How to do what expected before he was asked. How to take punishment and repeat rederick. He was good at playing the part too. So good at bowing his head. Letting his mother fuss about his hair getting to long. Letting his father ‘teach’ him to take pain like a man should.

He tried to tell Sirius how to succeed with there parents. How to make it easier on himself but at the end of the day, Sirius left. 

The Summer that Sirius didn’t come home from Hogwarts was by far the worst of Regulus life, minus the last three years. 

He had a desision to make. Run away like Sirius and have his parents peruse them both to the ends of the earth or stay. Continue to take there cruelty but be there perfect boy. Stay and protect Sirius from ever having to deal with them ever again. Regulus stayed. 

Regulus hates, deeply, how much he still loves and cares for his brother. 

So the years went on,` Hogwarts provided brief respite from his parents hovering eye and controlling grip. He made few friends but those he gave the title too were held so tightly it must have been a struggle for some of them to breath. Despite this, Regulus was fickle with his friends. One slight against him, one thought that they may leave him and he would pull away. His trust was breakable. His deepest truth was that those who love you, leave. 

At fourteen, both Dumbledor and Voldemort began to play leading roles in Regulus’s life. His parents where thrilled when he got his dark mark and very quickly began to engrain himself into the Death Eater cause. They knew nothing of Dumbledor’s plans for Regulus. 

Regulus was a bright student, top of his grade in near everything. Dumbledor knew well that this would allow Regulus to climb the ranks of Voldemort's followers and his cold, calculating nature, would allow him to gain toms trust. 

He did just that. 

By seventeen, Regulus had found out not only the location of the first horcux but how to destroy it. He went after the horcux and nearly died retrieving it. He was pulled into the lake by inferi and what Dumbledor saved was not the same regulus. 

Because of quick way the inferi grabbed Regulus and pulled him under the water, his right ear drum burst. Magic could not undo the damage and he is def in that ear. 

He drown, and did die but Dumbledor arrived in time to bring him back. He was dead for three minutes. In that time, Regulus had some minor brain damage that affects his right arm. When he was recovering in the hospital after all this, his arm would shake violently when lifted or used to hold anything. These days it is a lighter tremble. He still struggles to life his arm over his head or hold anything more than ten pounds in weight. 

He is still struggling with Hydrophobia.

Regulus has been dead for the last year. At least to the public. He has been recovering in secret with Dumbledor. The only other person who knows he’s alive is Severus Snape. The two very much needed his help to get Regulus back on his feet medically speaking. 

Coming out of hiding, Regulus is unsure of what greats him in the land of leaving. 

#regulus black #taken #death eater #order #taken order #taken death eater #played by mj

[astronnova]

explain your wukong headcanons yes

the council has decided my fate

i'm gonna focus more on my headcanons for how i think wukong sees relationships? since i'm (assuming) these are related to my last post where i allude to them

so, wukong in my brain has two main modes? it usually depends on how i'm thinking of him. he's this strange mix of bisexual and aromantic

he's aro in the sense that he doesn't recognize or really care about romantic gestures or anything of the sort. in his mind nothing is ever romantic. he still has very deep bonds but nothing is genuinely romantic to him. he doesn't know what that is and is fine with it

he is a pleasure seeker though. or at least, he was before the journey. all he cared about was having the best time in the present, and if that included doing explicit stuff with people? he was down. as long as it brought him some sort of pleasure, he'd do it happily.

in the current lmk time, he doesn't do much pleasure seeking. i like to think it's a by product of the journey, since he's learned to control himself (and deny himself things that make him happy which is. *cough*. yeah. anyway). he does a lot of self punishing, which includes denying himself good, healthy relationships. he isolates

when it comes to mk, he's grown attached and he's started having a deep bond. he probably feels guilty about his attachment (because his mindset is that "if i am close to someone, i will hurt them"), but he's close. it's still a partially surface level bond because mk doesn't understand wukong, not yet, but he does love him. over the series wukong becomes less of mk's idol and more of his new friend. (it's like an extrovert adopting an introvert)

industrial can of worms time, macaque! swk & mac deeply understand eachother, but it's questionable if they love eachother. they have a strange middle ground of caring about eachother but also hating eachother's guts.

their understanding of eachother is because of a past deep connection. was it romantic? i have no clue. i just think that they did everything together. wukong constantly had new ideas to keep himself entertained, and macaque, who was so enthralled by wukong, constantly went along with anything and everything just so he could be near wukong. of course that bonds fucked up when both betray the other's trust. (macaque attacking wukong's loved ones to get a rise out of him and wukong leaving macaque behind)

is there a word to describe this? who knows! i sure don't. i just think he's neat

#🐒 critical watches the kid monkie show #critical . txt #✉ mailbox #thanks for asking! i love talking about the characters in this show but i always feel awkward just writing about headcanons unprompted lol

[pxint-it-blxck]

Paint It Black

Regulus Arcturus Black Age & Birthday: 20, October 17th Gender & Pronouns: Male - He/Him/His Sexuality: Homosexual Occupation: Currently Unoccupied Blood status: Pureblood Previous house: Slytherin Previous Affiliation: Previously Death Eater, Previously The Order Face claim: Timothee Chalamet Contriving, Inhospitable, Caustic, Sardonic, Capricious Intelligent, Cunning, Resilient, Audacious, Candid.

TW: Child Abuse, Death, Drowning

CHARACTER SUMMARY:

When Regulus was a child, Sirius was his hero. His big brother was just about the best person that Regulus could think of spending time with. With a mother who would rather lash out in anger than admit one of her sons was worth an ounce of affection and a father would drink too deeply to care what happened to either of them, Siruis was by far the most important person to Regulus. He would wake up and seek Sirius out. He would seek Sirius out in moments of joy, fear, and sadness. 

Through the neglect and abuse, they always had one other. The nights they spent huddled on one of their beds, wounds cleaned by one another, heads ducked under a blanket and secret dreams shared between them were too many to count. 

While growing up in the black home was closer to survival than a childhood, it did teach Regulus some very important lessons. His teenage years, taught him some very harsh truths. 

He never meant to start competing with Sirius. He never wanted to be pitted against his best friend, his only ally and older brother. One night, when Regulus was six, he could still recall this, he begged his mother to stop comparing them. She shut him up by casting crucio on him. A quick message to never question what she did. 

In the end, Regulus just caught on faster than Sirius did. He learned how to play the good son. How to do what was expected before he was asked. How to take punishment and repeat rederic. He was good at playing the part too. So good at bowing his head. Letting his mother fuss about his hair getting too long. Letting his father ‘teach’ him to take pain like a man should.

He tried to tell Sirius how to succeed with their parents. How to make it easier on himself but at the end of the day, Sirius left. 

The Summer that Sirius didn’t come home from Hogwarts was by far the worst of Regulus' life, minus the last three years. 

He had a decision to make. Run away like Sirius and have his parents pursue them both to the ends of the earth or stay. Continue to take their cruelty but be their perfect boy. Stay and protect Sirius from ever having to deal with them ever again. Regulus stayed. 

Regulus hates, deeply, how much he still loves and cares for his brother. 

So the years went on,` Hogwarts provided a brief respite from his parent's hovering eye and controlling grip. He made few friends but those he gave the title to were held so tightly it must have been a struggle for some of them to breathe. Despite this, Regulus was fickle with his friends. One slight against him, one thought that they may leave him and he would pull away. His trust was breakable. His deepest truth was that those who love you, leave. 

At fourteen, both Dumbledor and Voldemort began to play leading roles in Regulus’s life. His parents were thrilled when he got his dark mark and very quickly began to engrain himself into the Death Eater cause. They knew nothing of Dumbledor’s plans for Regulus. 

Regulus was a bright student, top of his grade in nearly everything. Dumbledor knew well that this would allow Regulus to climb the ranks of Voldemort's followers and his cold, calculating nature, would allow him to gain Tom's trust. 

He did just that. 

By seventeen, Regulus had found out not only the location of the first horcux but how to destroy it. He went after the horcux and nearly died retrieving it. He was pulled into the lake by inferi and what Dumbledor saved was not the same regulus. 

Because of the quick way the inferi grabbed Regulus and pulled him under the water, his right ear drum burst. Magic could not undo the damage and he is def in that ear. 

He drowned and did die but Dumbledor arrived in time to bring him back. He was dead for three minutes. At that time, Regulus had some minor brain damage that affected his right arm. When he was recovering in the hospital after all this, his arm would shake violently when lifted or used to hold anything. These days it is a lighter tremble. He still struggles to lift his arm over his head or hold anything more than ten pounds in weight. 

Regulus has been dead for the last year. At least to the public. He has been recovering in secret with Dumbledor. The only other person who knows he’s alive is Severus Snape. The two very much needed his help to get Regulus back on his feet medically speaking. 

Coming out of hiding, Regulus is unsure of what greats him in the land of leaving.

#regulus #history

[panvani]

VnC spoilers this is sort of meaningless rambling but oh whatever

There’s also the thing of how Vanitas hurts people, and he hurts people in a way that’s terrible and spiteful and malicious and he knows he’s hurting them, but there’s a very consistent framing of the hurt he inflicts upon other people being something he perceives as ultimately for a greater cause. (Which is extremely something Mochizuki has written before, lol.) Even his instances of seemingly random cruelty are motivated by some degree of attraction or fondness, on the basis that he believes any affection towards himself is repulsive. The reason Noé was able to get close to him was because he deliberately frames his actions of clear concern and genuine liking for Vanitas as something he does spitefully, or out of pathological fascination rather than... Noé is nice, he thinks Vanitas is interesting, and on least on some level he considers Vanitas a friend.

Vanitas finds the idea of someone making sacrifices for him to be repulsive as well. Codependency is attractive to him- he revels in the idea of being Jeanne’s executioner and is all too happy to frame their relationship around her impending insanity and death. He certainly takes at least some degree of pleasure in extracting things from others, or else why bother? But Noé himself acknowledges that Vanitas considers any amount of hurt by others for his own sake- even if the relative hurt to others would be less than Vanitas’ had they not acted- to be something despicable.

Which is what’s currently driving me up the wall about the latest chapter, because it means whatever Vanitas wants to hurt Noé over, it’s not something Vanitas believes he personally would benefit from.

#Vanitas and Vincent are Very Different Guys but also this post is kind of what is going on w both of them lol #Hence the comparisons... #Important distinction tho is that Vanitas is far more impulsive and far less principled #His willingness to sacrifice himself is less a matter of conscious value placement on his own life #And more a lack of concern #As he outright openly characterizes it #He simply doesn't care if he lives or dies or if bad things happen to him #And subsequently doesn't actually really care about the potential harm and benefit of his actions in a conscious sense #So much as he just... hates himself very deeply and seeks to be punished #Which kind of yeah there are different kind of twists u apply w antags vs protags #Anyway #logxx #logam

[mittensmorgul]

On one hand, I think the line "I'd rather have you, cursed or not" is very romantic and amazing, and I can totally understand why it's one of the biggest destiel quotes.

But on the other hand, that quote is prefaced by dean saying "you know what, bottom of the ninth, and you're the only guy left on the bench." Which makes it seem like Dean is basically saying "even though you're not very good, you're the only option we have left" which doesn't feel nice at all.

I really want to love that quote. And by itself it's lovely. But with the context, I'm not sure how it's supposed to be sweet? What am I missing?

Hi there! and honestly I appreciate this question, because you are looking at more of the context of this line and trying to understand it that way, and there's just so much bad faith interpretation happening out of context in the world these days that it's refreshing to see folks try to dig deeper! Really!

But if context is what you seek, then you're still only looking at a convenient snippet of the conversation and larger context of the scene. To understand the fullness of the significance of this line, you have to understand all of s7 really.

Dean spent the better part of the season coming to terms with the loss of Cas, only to finally get him back and then "lose" him again in one go just a few episodes ago. And then when he began to recover-- sort of, to the extent that Cas wakes up and is walking and talking for himself again by this point in the series, despite clearly being not-quite-right and burying his own responsibility for their current situation under this mountain of denial and avoidance that manifests as what the fandom commonly shorthands to "crazy!Cas" even if I personally don't see him as "crazy" here but deeply, deeply in denial and horror with himself-- when Dean thinks maybe he might have a chance of getting his friend back, what he's left with is so incredibly frustrating to him.

I mean, look at Dean's own life. He's never been able to truly lay down this burden of "fixing everything." And he's TRYING to be understanding with Cas, but he's honestly out in territory that he can't even wrap his head around. Think back to the whole "your PLAYING Sorry" scene two episodes before, where he's trying to shake Cas back into recognizing the reality of their situation and just being that person Dean had known before... between Dean feeling the urgency of their situation and Cas deliberately and repeatedly glossing over his own part in it, he sort of reached the end of his rope. He is trying so hard, though.

By this point in 7.23, he's come to an acceptance of Cas as he is now, though. Cas won't fight, Dean knows that. But he also knows how Cas CAN help, without fighting. Cas can bring him back to where his car has been hidden all season, and Dean WILLINGLY allows Cas to teleport him there. Which, in itself, is something of a miracle, you know? Dean HATES teleporting :'D

He's trying to meet Cas on his level, but again, Dean is also feeling the burden of now having to fix everything on his own. He's accepted that this will probably be his Last Stand against evil in the world, you know? He believes there's a very good chance that this is a suicide mission, and that this could be the last chance he has to even talk to Cas at all.

So bearing all that in mind, let's look at their whole conversation, not just the two lines you referred to, and I'm gonna break it down line by line:

CASTIEL: If we attack Dick and fail, then you and Sam die heroically, correct?

[oh my, a shred of hope for Dean-- is Cas including himself in this mission now, after insisting for days that he will not fight? But Dean won't push it, he's just gonna be honest and let Cas make his point in his own time]

DEAN: I don't know. I guess.

CASTIEL: And at best, I die trying to fix my own stupid mistake. Or... I don't die – I'm brought back again. I see now. It's a punishment resurrection. It's worse every time.

[yes, it looks like Cas is actually considering what his own role in this fight could be, but oh fuck, is this really how he views himself? his own ongoing role? this sounds borderline suicidal and awful, but do we really have time to unpack that massive suitcase right now? that's a rabbit hole dean can't afford to go down, no matter how much he might want to understand and help Cas come to terms with this, it's so far above his pay grade it hurts his head to wonder about, so he's gonna attempt a deflection]

DEAN: I'm sorry. Uh, we're talking about God crap, right?

[oh good, at least this got Cas to change the subject back to himself, back to territory Dean can understand, because Dean feels exactly this same way about himself... this is something Dean can address via the same coping mechanism he's used for himself his whole life, because this is does understand 100%]

CASTIEL: I'm not good luck, Dean.

DEAN: Yeah, but you know what? Bottom of the ninth, and you're the only guy left on the bench... Sorry, but I'd rather have you, cursed or not. And anyway, nut up, all right? We're all cursed. I seem like good luck to you? [CASTIEL stares at DEAN.] What?

[but lolololol of course Dean's own coping mechanisms for feeling insufficient to any task yet forced to pick up all those cosmic burdens his entire life involve baseball metaphor pep talks... tell me this isn't EXACTLY how Dean has felt about himself every single time he's had to confront the responsibility the cosmos has laid on him-- from having to raise Sam to being resurrected from Hell and forced into being Heaven's champion to "play his role" in the apocalypse... he has literally told Cas before that he wasn't the guy they needed, that it was all too big and he couldn't do it... and yet... he didn't really have a choice. He just had to nut up and do it. It's all he COULD do, you know? So this is what he has to offer Cas in this moment of mutual understanding-- his own sense of personal helplessness in the face of cosmic chaos, and the only coping strategy he has for himself, which sadly happens to be self-deprecation, acknowledgement of his own uselessness and powerlessness in this situation, and choosing to do the stupid thing anyway.

And after delivering that bit of The Worst Pep Talk to Cas, he acknowledges that he was also speaking about HIMSELF with the "i seem like good luck to you?" line, which is actually what finally makes Cas blink. Cas finally understands, Dean's NOT just prodding him to be useful, HE'S PRODDING HIMSELF to be useful, just as much. Dean ALSO feels terrified, guilty, and useless! THEY HAVE BONDED!]

CASTIEL: Well, I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but I detect a note of forgiveness.

[YES. Cas understands! This is Dean's attempt at forgiveness! Despite the terrible Dean-mangled words, Cas sees right through him and knows, and understands]

DEAN: Yeah, well, I'm probably gonna die tomorrow, so...

[and because this is still Dean, of course he deflects, but he's also sincere here... he really does finally forgive Cas for everything he'd been holding against him since the end of s6. They have reached an understanding, at least, and have chosen to give themselves a clean slate-- as Dean once promised Bobby and Sam they would always do for each other, again back in s6 at the funeral they held for Rufus... they would never carry a grudge to their death. All would be forgiven. And despite Cas not having been part of that conversation at the time, he understands anyway. These words sound dismissive, but there's deep Character Stuff about Dean backing them up as earnest, and Cas accepts them on that level]

CASTIEL: Well, I'll go with you. And I'll do my best.

DEAN smiles slightly and nods.

DEAN: Thanks.

This is so few words to convey SO MUCH about their relationship, about what they will be willing to set aside for one another, just because they understand, forgive, and accept each other where they are, and continue to do their best just because the other one asks and needs them. Even when they're both convinced they're doomed to fail, that won't stop them from at least TRYING to do what's right, the only thing they really can do.

So with the full context of that scene, does that clear things up?

#spn 7.23 #destiel #i love context!

[nastybuckybarnes]

Of Kings and Beasts  -  Seven

Pairing: King!Bucky X Princess!Reader X King!Steve

Summary: Born a bastard of the King of Orlen, you’re thrust to the West to marry the Kings. However, the greeting you get is anything but warm, and your life with the King is far from enjoyable. He knows it isn’t your fault his husband is gone, but that fact alone won’t prevent him from taking it out on you.

Warnings: Angst, Injuries, Violence, Language (Maybe)

Word Count: 3.7K

A/n: hello friends! Enjoy this plz. also idk what’s wrong but I’m having a hard time remembering things and my brain is just super mush. I think I’m like, malnourished and exhausted but I really don’t know. Goodnight though, I love you all!

THIS SERIES CONTAINS SMUT AND DARK THEMES THAT MAY BE TRIGGERING TO SOME AUDIENCES!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Series Masterlist

~*~

“How many times must I explain this? I hardly remember anything. I could barely see his face through the snow. I know not his name nor his rank, all I know is that he was wearing the armour of a Knight.” You’re getting frustrated now as you explain for what feels like the thousandth time what happened before you ventured out into the snow.

James and Steve exchange glances.

“I did not send for her. And I know you would not trust her safety in the hands of anyone who has not fought alongside you in battle. I believe-” James stops speaking abruptly, shaking his head. He’s not sure who is trying to sabotage his marriage, and he doesn’t want them to know that he knows.

“What?” You ask softly, stepping towards him. He takes a step back and you frown. You’d thought that after the night you had spent with the man that he would be more open to having you, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“Nat!” The redhead is in Steve’s office as soon as he says her name.

“I want you or Sam with (Y/n) at all times. You may only leave her side if you are directly dismissed by one of the three of us. Do you understand?” She nods, guilt heavy in her gut at the fact that you could’ve died because of her carelessness.

“Have Clint bring the stable boy here. I want him to give me details. I need to know who the traitor is and why they want my wife dead,” Steve says after a moment, his eyes hard at the thought of someone wanting to bring you harm.

“I’ll go,” James pipes in, avoiding your eyes as he walks to the door, closing it tightly behind himself.

Your shoulders slump and you shake your head sadly. “I had thought that after our night... we may be starting to rebuild our relationship. However, it seems as though he does not wish for that to happen.” Steve sighs, walking around his desk to wrap his arms around your frame.

“He is sad and afraid. He has not been himself for a long while, but he will come back.” Your bottom lip quivers and you curse yourself for being so emotional.

“I do not wish to be the cause of his unhappiness. At times I wonder if it would be better if I stayed away. If I allowed the two of you to continue as if I were not here at all.” Steve turns you around and lifts your chin, forcing you to look up at him.

“You are very important to both of us. If he truly wanted you out of the picture he would not have gone out to find you. You matter far too much to the both of us. He will come around again, he just needs some time.”

A knock on the door pulls your attention from him and you sniffle, wiping a stray tear off of your cheek.

“Come in.”

The door gets pushed open and a red-faced young man scurries in, his eyes focused on the ground as he bows.

“Y-you called for me, Your Majesties?” Your heart warms at the obvious nervousness.

“What is your name?” You ask, cutting Steve off. He raises his eyebrows at you and you simply smile, taking a step away from him and towards the boy.

“P-Peter, Your Majesty. A-and I did not mean for any harm to come to you. I was led to believe that the man was indeed a knight of the king and that the business transpiring was none that should involve me. I ask that you are lenient in your punishment, for I truly enjoy my position and I am so grateful that you have given me the opportunity to work here. I-” You raise your hand, silencing his rambling and looking every bit like the queen you are.

Steve watches from behind you, never having seen you truly take control of the title you have.

“You will not be punished for following the orders of someone who seemed to be an honest man. No harm came from it. We simply would like to know if you have any recollection of his name or his rank. Or perhaps a description of his appearance.” The boy stares at you in shock before looking to the King. Steve simply nods and the boy inhales deeply.

“I did not gather his name nor his rank, Your Majesty. But he seemed tall. Not as tall as the King, Mind you, but still taller than most knights. And his build was slimmer, which I found surprising. I should’ve questioned it and I will spend my days regretting that I did not because our Kingdom could have lost its queen due to my carelessness and-”

“Peter, please stay focused,” Steve says. The boy swallows hard and nods, clearing his throat before speaking again.

“He had... dark hair and dark eyes... bared no resemblance to any knight I’ve ever seen before. He lacked the composure of a knight as well. It almost seemed as if he were trying to mimic the actions of one.” You turn to Steve, brows raised at this new information.

“Thank you, Peter. That will be all.” The boy bows again then hurries out of the room.

“So someone was able to pose as a knight? But who? And why? I hardly have a purpose in the kingdom. Why did I become a target?” Steve shakes his head, wishing he had the answers of which you seek.

“I know not. But I will be bringing this up when James and I meet with the council next. Any threat against our wife is a direct threat against our kingdom, and justice needs to be served.” The mention of your other husband has your heart aching.

“Do... do you think he would talk to me were I to find him?” You ask. Steve purses his lips. James seemed so comfortable with you the other night. He hates the thought, but maybe it’s his presence that is making James so distant.

“There is no harm in trying. Have Natalia accompany you.” You nod, gathering your skirts and hurrying out of the room, the redhead hot on your heels.

“I offer you my sincerest apologies, your majesty. I should have been there.” You shake your head at her, smiling softly.

“Do not apologize, Natalia. No one was harmed.” you pause just as you’re about to walk past the glass doors leading to the gardens, a glint of silver catching your eye.

“You may wait here. I fear having any more of an audience will only have a negative effect,” you whisper, pushing the door open and venturing into the snow.

Natalia stands just outside the door, watching with her hand on the hilt of her sword as you walk down the path towards the brooding king.

“James?” You call, waiting until he looks at you.

“You should not be here,” he murmurs, his eyes closing tightly and his hands clenching into fists. He huffs out heavy breaths through his nose, the air forming a misty cloud that dissipates slowly.

“James, please. I cannot stand the distance you put between us. I am begging you to let me in.” He grinds his teeth together, his face contorting in what looks like pain before suddenly going stoic.

He’s quiet for a long moment, long enough for you to slowly approach him, fingers prickling in the cold winter air.

“James?” You ask softly, hoping he’s ready to open up to you again.

His eyes snap open and in a flash of silver, he’s got his metal hand wrapped around your throat, fingers flexing and nearly crushing your windpipe.

Your eyes widen and you instinctively grab at the metal appendage.

His face is devoid of emotion as he lifts you nearly clean off the ground, the tips of your toes hardly brushing the ground. Your lungs burn and tears of pain and discomfort well up in your eyes.

There’s a whooshing sound and then he grunts, toppling to the left and dropping you to the ground.

You collapse in a heap, hands grabbing at your throat protectively as you draw in huge lungfuls of air between painful coughs.

The sound of metal clanging against metal has your eyes shooting upwards just in time to see two swords connect above you, one belonging to the king and the other belonging to Natalia.

“Your Majesty, get back!” She shouts, her eyes on you for a brief moment.

You scramble through the snow, trying to get to the palace and call for help.

James overpowers the redhead with practiced ease, and then his murderous gaze is focused on you again.

Fear freezes you in place and you stare up at him with wide eyes while Natalia is screaming for him to stop, for someone to come to your aid.

His sword comes down right as a powerful hand jerks you to the side.

The blow that was meant to kill you draws a red line across your cheek, blood spilling out and trailing down your chin.

The hot liquid splatters against the frozen snow, melting a hole and staining the white.

For a moment you’re reminded of your place in the world. A stain against purity. A mistake.

You’re wrenched back to reality by hands yanking you backwards, away from where the two Kings fight each other, Steve with desperation and James with determination.

“Come, Majesty.” Nat helps you inside but you don’t move past the doors, heart hammering in your chest as guards rush out to help the blond king.

“Your Majesty, you’re injured. We must-” you shake your head at her, eyes far too focused on the fight.

James manages to knock Steve’s sword away but is quickly distracted by the other men, giving the blond an opportunity to deliver a nasty blow to the back of his head.

The brunet collapses in the snow, groaning and grabbing his head.

You watch with nothing but terror and tears in your eyes as he slowly pushes himself to his knees, familiar blue eyes looking around in confusion.

They land on you, blood on your cheek and fear in your eyes and he nearly throws up as he realizes what he’s done.

“James?” He shakes his head at Steve, stumbling to his feet and hurrying into the Palace.

“James!” He runs straight past you and down the hallway, disappearing after a few moments.

Steve stands in the snow, blue eyes narrowed and pink lips parted. He pants, trying to gather his thoughts while the cold air bites his cheeks and the tip of his nose.

Steve is at your side in a flash, his hand cupping your cheek and angling your head to allow himself to inspect your wound.

“Just a scratch,” he murmurs, brows drawn together as he glances to where his husband was.

Your eyes, however, are drawn to a movement in the garden.

A familiar pair of muddy brown eyes stand out against the snow and you inhale sharply.

“Steve, it’s him.” He follows your gaze to the garden,

“Guards!” He shouts, grabbing his sword and hurrying out into the snow.

“Please, your majesty. I need to tend to your wound.” You finally allow Natalia to drag you away, but not before hearing Steve mention something about the dungeon to one of the guards with him.

~*~

You toss and turn all throughout the night, missing the warmth of your husband and beyond afraid at the events of the day.

Not only were you attacked, but you also potentially caught the man who wants you dead.

The worst part? Steve has given you zero information. No matter how much you asked, he refused to say a single thing about James or the stranger in the garden.

So that is how you have ended up here, pacing through the dark palace halls in search of your blond husband.

As you’re leaving his empty office you hear a whisper of your name, followed by a soft laugh.

You frown and follow the sound, the voice beckoning you closer and yet getting further away every time you approach.

The voice leads you through the halls for what feels like hours until you find yourself in front of a wooden door that nearly blends in with the walls around it.

Steadying yourself with a deep breath, you push the door open. It creaks loudly and you instinctively look around to make sure that no one heard.

Once deeming the coast to be clear, you slowly walk through the doorway and nearly fall.

It’s a spiral staircase going downwards.

Your heart beats loudly in your ears as you take the steps one at a time, getting reminded of all the times you snuck around the Palace back home.

Through the darkness, there’s a yellow glow that you identify as candlelight.

You dare not step into the light, so instead, you stay tucked safely around the corner, ears straining to hear... anything.

You make out two voices, one of them far more familiar than the other.

“I am going to ask you one last time: who is it that is plotting against me?” Steve demands.

The other man sounds weak, his breath coming in ragged pants.

You risk a glance around the corner, eyes finding the two in the dimly lit room. Th man on the ground is bloody and bruised and you can hardly recognize him until he speaks.

“You’d best be careful who you allow into your circle, your Majesty. I serve my Kingdom, but not all who are close to you are true to their word. Is it not suspicious that so many terrible events have occurred so soon after the Queen was brought here?” Steve's hand comes down hard against the man’s face and you hold back a gasp.

“If you do not cooperate and answer truthfully, I will rip your teeth out one by one and force them down your throat.”

The man spits blood onto the ground then chuckles weakly.

His bloodied face is too much for you, and you turn on your heel and run up the stairs as silently as you can, hands trembling with fear and disgust as you realize that both kings are brutal in their own sick ways.

“You know I speak the truth. The change in your husband has only occurred since your wife has been here. Has Orlen always been a friend to us? Or have they been trying to get into our Kingdom to take what they wish?”

Steve is silent for just a moment too long, long enough for the man to know he struck a nerve.

“If you wish to kill me, do so. But remember my warning. And do not be surprised when she turns on you, too.”

~*~

He doesn’t return to his chambers for nearly an hour after that, and as much as you try, you cannot fall asleep after what you witnessed.

Sure, you expected there to be consequences, but you never imagined that Steve would torture the man with his own hands.

When he finally returns to you, he climbs into bed without noticing your stiff figure.

His arm comes around your waist as it usually would, and you try your hardest not to flinch away from him.

A single glance down shows you his split knuckles and you have to bite your lip to stop from making a noise of fear.

He falls asleep quickly behind you, and you’re horrified at how comfortable he is with being so brutal to another human being.

~*~

The King paces in his office, the question of the prisoner echoing in his mind.

He had not even considered the possibility of you being responsible for the change in his husband’s demeanour, but it only started since you came to the palace.

A weight settles in the pit of his stomach and he takes a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down.

He needs to speak to you immediately.

Just as he pulls the door to his study open, you raise your hand to knock.

“Oh!” You gasp, grabbing your chest and taking a sharp breath.

“You startled me. I was just coming to find you. H-have you any news of James?” Your eyes stray down to his split knuckles and Steve takes notice of the tension in your shoulders.

“He’s locked himself in the east wing. He refuses to speak to anyone but doctor banner,” he says, voice stiff and mechanical.

You nod slowly, stepping into the room when he steps aside and motions you to come in.

It’s silent for a long moment, the pressure nearly making your eardrums burst.

You want him to say something, anything. Explain what happened last night or what’s going on today. You’re far too terrified to ask him, however. After witnessing what you did... you do not want to anger him.

That seems to be a futile wish, however.

“Is he alright?” You try, hoping that this is a safe topic.

Steve doesn’t reply. No, instead he paces slowly around the room.

“Do you take me for a fool?” He asks, eyes finding you for the first time.

“What are you talking about?” You’re genuinely curious, trying to think of what you could’ve done to make him ask you this.

“I will ask you again, and this time you will answer. Do you take me for a fool?” He’s walking to you now, steps purposeful and intimidating, a walk that he has practiced and perfected.

You back up a step, fear coursing through your veins. “N-no, of course not. What is this about, Steve?”

“You will address me properly.” You’ve never seen this side of him before. Except for last night.

“I-I don’t think I am understanding... Your Majesty.” You’re not sure if you are more disappointed or sad, but you drop your eyes to the floor.

“Rumours have been spoken, words whispered of a traitor among us. Someone who wishes for the kingdom to fall. Someone close to myself.”

You furrow your brows, taken aback by the accusation.

“And you think me capable of that?” You demand.

He shrugs but his eyes are anything but calm. There’s a fiery storm in his blue eyes, accusation and rage simmering just beneath the surface.

“I hardly know you. It would be foolish of me to think you are anything more than a spy sent by Orlen.” Your heart hurts and you need to take a few deep breaths before you speak.

“I have been nothing but loyal to you, your husband, and your kingdom. Who might I even have to conspire with? I have not been allowed near the people, and I fear my own ladies because their loyalties lie with you.”

Your words ring with truths that even you didn’t consider until now. Steve opens his mouth to speak but you do not allow him a turn.

“I have not breathed a word of the brutalities I have experienced at the hand of your beloved. I have not even dreamed of leaving the castle walls for fear of what consequences would await such thoughts. From the moment I arrived, I have been treated like dirt and yet you stand here with the audacity to question my loyalties!”

He’s taken aback for a moment. He wants to trust you, he really does, but he just can't. Not after what the man said last night. It makes too much sense that you would do this.

“You speak of rumours... as if you do not have your own to worry about. Your brutality is spoken of throughout the continent. Clearly, the rumours hold true, for your brutality extends far beyond the lines of the battlefield. The kings show no mercy, not even to their wife in the privacy of their bed chambers.”

He grabs your forearms tightly, face full of fury.

“You will watch your tongue, woman!” You huff out a breath and shake your head, face contorting in pain as his grip tightens.

“You are so quick to accuse me when you were nowhere to be found in a time that I needed you.” His brows raise nearly to his hairline.

“Are you implying that I had a hand in that?” He demands, a vein in his forehead throbbing as he only gets more furious.

“I imply nothing, your majesty. I am simply taking note of the fact that you were conveniently away during a time when I was in peril.”

His hand comes up before he can register what’s happening, and then you’re tumbling to the floor, the crisp sound of a slap ringing in his ears.

Your hands tremble and your cheek burns. You stay rooted in place, eyes squeezed shut in fear as he towers over you.

He stands before you, chest heaving and eyes wide with horror at himself.

“Your actions only further prove my point,” you whisper, blinking your eyes open to suppress your tears.

“And do yours not prove mine?” He counters, glaring at you as you rub your aching wrists. Seeing you cower beneath him, so small and so fragile, his anger starts to melt away.

“I would like to remind you, Your Majesty, that I do not benefit from being here. I have only traded one prison for another, and I am not sure how much longer I will endure such treatment.”

He opens his mouth to speak, one hand extending to help you to your feet. His eyes find a line of red on your cheek and he glances down at his hand, the mark on your cheek matching his wedding band.

Now you have matching scratches on either side of your face.

“Do not touch me,” you hiss, glaring up at him with wet eyes.

He’s crouching down when there’s a knock on the door. Sam pushes it open without waiting for an invitation but the look on his face is enough for Steve not to snap at him.

“There’s been an attempt on Doctor Banner’s life.”

#king au #king!bucky #king!steve rogers x reader #king!bucky x Princess!reader X king!steve #king!Steve X reader #king!steve x reader #dark!au #dark!bucky x reader #dark!bucky barnes x reader #darkfic #Steve X reader dark fic #bucky x reader dark au #steve x reader dark fic #Bucky Barnes x reader dark au #bucky x reader dark fic #Steve rogers x reader dark fic

[allmightluver]

So, what is your take on the EM relationship? Who was the one to fall first and confess? Please support your speculations/opinions with canonical evident, if you'd like 😏 (BECAUSE YOU'RE SO DAMN GOOD AT IT ❤️) Thank you for your time 🙏

Oh goodness

You really want me to go all out huh Kunshi 😏

Well, I’ll try to summarize this as best I can ***(This may have some spoilers so be warned)**

The relationship between All Might and Eraserhead has been quite the journey. You can say, frenemies to “hey you’re not so bad”. They’ve known of each other for years, before the present timeline. Here in Vigilante’s, Eraserhead tells Tsukauchi that the situation they’re in is so dire, they need the Number 1. Aizawa acknowledges how powerful All Might is, despite disapproving of how handles media and fame.

But they didn’t really know each other until All Might started at UA. 

Aizawa believed Yagi to be reckless, irresponsible, and foolish in taking a job he has no training for. Not to mention the obvious favoritism. Yagi believed Aizawa to be too harsh and cold hearted on the children. Though as the two got to know each other, and went through traumatic events together (USJ and Kamino), they started to warm up more to each other, actually taking the time to get to know one another. 

All Might rushes to an injured Aizawa’s side, and the sight of how broken, bloodied and damaged his co-worker is visibly upsets him. The way Toshinori’s voice softens as he apologizes to Aizawa, unclear if it’s out loud or in his mind. Toshinori probably feels terrible whenever anyone’s been injured, but he seems particularly held up over Aizawa, most likely because he himself couldn’t be there when it happened. He was of being a hero all morning, and wasted all his time in his muscle form, so he wasn’t there with them like he should have been. Which meant Aizawa and (Thirteen) had to fight to protect the students, even if they were clearly unmatched. They were both badly injured in the process, all because Toshinori wasn’t there.

Then after the fight, Toshinori cuts his friend, Tsukauchi, off and asks how Aizawa, wait, Eraserhead, is doing. Oh and Thirteen too. He was relieved to find he they were alright.

When Kamino hit we see how intently Aizawa watches the news, watches All Might, watches Toshinori. He was clearly concerned, and in seeing AFO summon his many quirks in order to eliminate All Might once and for all, Aizawa’s concern only grows. And for good reason.

As an after effect, the students needed to move into dorms. Aizawa and Toshinori are paired together to speak to 1A’s students. It’s in the car that Aizawa, awkwardly, offers to buy Toshinori a drink. To which Toshinori politely declines, as he can’t drink. (*face palm*) 

However, after dealing with Bakugo’s...different family, Toshinori nudges Aizawa with an elbow his injured arm no less, and whispers that he now owes Aizawa a drink. 

Dunno about you, but I’d have to be pretty comfortable with someone before I’m close enough to nudge them and whisper secrets. And Toshinori is always seeking to know Aizawa better, be closer, impress him.

They even go out on a date to get a drink together.  Toshinori’s inner dialogue is the most interesting, from “I’m going to be even better friends with Aizawa-kun...!” to “All Might, you just gotta push past the walls of Aizawa-kun’s heart!” ...uh huh. To which Mic and Midnight totally crash their “Secret Dinner Outing” and invite themselves to stay, much to Toshinori’s (”Or on second thought...probably not then.”) and Aizawa’s despair (”Go home!” x3). Get outta here, you’re ruining our date!  And after Toshinori takes his leave, Aizawa chases him down outside to say....? “Thank you very much. I’m drunk right now so I probably wouldn’t say this if I wasn’t. But because you fought at Kamino and took down AFO for us, I’ll do my part and look after the students as much as I can. That’s why I want to thank you for everything.” To which after a silence, Toshinori responds with, “Aizawa-kun, let’s watch over the students from here on out together.” ...to which Aizawa mentions he won’t remember any of this and to never bring it up ever again.  (*repeat face palm*)

This only proves they’re becoming much, much, closer. They’ve gone beyond plus ultra frenemies and onto true friends. They take each other’s words and thoughts into account in a serious manner, like how Yagi managed to convince Aizawa to let him go to Bakugo and Midoriya when they snuck out, as well as going easy on punishment for them.

Aizawa’s also shown growing concern for Toshinori after his retirement. Firstly from seeing Toshinori out and about so soon after Kamino while he was still recovering from his injuries. And on the occasion a falling rock nearly connects to Toshinori’s head, you can see how quickly Aizawa reacts. The way you can almost see a flashback of his childhood friend’s unfortunate death running through his head as he tries to save Toshinori from the same fate. Once Midoriya saves Toshinori, Aizawa still reaches out to him, like he’s worried the man may get hurt, break, as he tells him that it’s not safe in this environment, and that Toshinori should leave, go where it’s safe.

When Aizawa couldn’t attend Bakugo and Todoroki’s extra classes, he asks Toshinori to go in his place, and even makes Present Mic go along as a body guard. He’s clearly concerned for the former hero’s safety and well-being. Toshinori now often fills in for Aizawa if he can’t make it to his own class.

When Midoriya’s new quirk is discovered, Aizawa takes Toshinori’s anxiety about the situation seriously, and they immediately go to put a stop to the training battle. 

But once Midoriya’s quirk settles down, Aizawa decides to let this play out, and calms Toshinori, saying he’ll put a stop to it if the situation happens again.

He later describes Toshinori as a genius, naturally talented, when explaining to Shinsou how he doesn’t expect the kid to be on the same level with the others in the hero course right off the bat. Aizawa has extreme respect for Toshinori.

The biggest moment between the two is late on a snowy night, when Toshinori sits outside in the cold, alone, contemplating...well, his life honestly. Aizawa find’s him, “there you are,” apparently looking for the taller man. Toshinori at first automatically deflects any questions about himself, and asks about the children. He then offers to help Aizawa with training Eri, in which the underground hero gladly accepts (something that Aizawa would not have done in the past, as he hated even speaking to the older man before). But Aizawa can see through the façade, and asks what’s wrong. Aizawa is one of, if not the only, person Toshinori confides in so deeply.  Horkioshi confirmed recently that of everyone (adults, I assume), pro heroes included, Toshinori is the closest to Aizawa. Toshinori decides he can trust Aizawa with his mental weights. He’s decided to live, but feels useless staying alive, powerless, unable to help anyone, or at least how the children need him to. 

Aizawa’s initially unnerved at the fact that Toshinori decided to live, as if the contemplation of otherwise was there. But he listens quietly, intently, to what Toshinori says. Finally, he tries to reason with the older man that being a workaholic, and never having time to rest, isn’t good either, points out that after holding up the country for decades, suddenly not having it has left an addiction. Toshinori doesn’t know what to do if he’s not running himself ragged. But also tells him that he is helping the students--by being alive, and by being here for them. There are a lot of people (Aizawa included?) that gain strength, just by Toshinori being there, alive. And he asks him to please keep on living and acting like his normal self. Toshinori’s overcome with emotion at his words.

For a relationship between the two, I’m sure they both would have had feelings for quite some time before ever admitting to it. Knowing their personalities, Aizawa would feel his feelings were illogical and deceptive. Toshinori is just a tad older than him, has met probably thousands more people than Aizawa ever will, and he was the number one hero. Falling for a guy like that just seemed too predictable and annoying. But Aizawa soon learns the differences between All Might and Toshinori, and while the latter still rubs him the wrong way at times, the tall, willowy man has managed to capture his heart. He feels compelled to care for the other, make sure he’s taking proper care of himself. And yet he tells himself it’s too invasive of the other man’s privacy; none of his business. When Mic and Midnight drag him to the bar and question him why his mood was off, he’d give no answer save for a shrug, and down another beer.

Toshinori would have feelings rather early, but most likely not realize they were more than just finally getting the grouchy Aizawa-kun to tolerate him. As weeks go by, he would catch his heart racing at Aizawa’s presence, blushing when the scruffy man would make tea for him after a coughing fit, and way too elated when Aizawa accepted the invitation for a drink together, alone. One night it would hit him just exactly how he feels for the younger man, and his heart would clench. Surely Aizawa couldn’t feel the same way, especially for a man as old, sickly, and awkward as himself. Even if it were possible, his own death is due to come within the next year, and he couldn’t do that to Aizawa-kun. He’d spend several nights fighting and eventually failing to quietly let his tears fall into the pillow below him as he tries to sleep, alone.

The two would cautiously work together, stepping around their own feelings to keep things normal between them. All the while Aizawa’s brain would fight against his heart, and Toshinori’s chest would tighten until a bloody cough was produced.

Finally, finally, after Mic and Midnight pry it out of Aizawa like a game of Operation, they force him to ask Toshinori out. It takes a week, but Aizawa finally finds the right moment to ask the former hero out for a drink and bar food. Glamorous as always, especially for a first date. But Toshinori gladly accepts, and spends the rest of the day convincing himself it’s just a friendly supper, between friends, not a date.

That night the two have a lovely evening of greasy bar food (which Toshinori politely only orders a small plate of fries, as there’s nothing blander on the menu) and beer (Toshinori also drinks a plain water). Aizawa apologizes for not taking Toshinori’s diet into account when picking where they met, and says he’ll let Toshinori pick the restaurant next time. Toshinori freezes at his wording. Aizawa’s quick to try and resolve, but Toshinori stops him. Asks him what exactly this is. A friendly dinner? Or something more? Aizawa buries into his scarf, and answers with a question in return; what do you want it to be? It’s then Toshinori sets his glass down, takes a moment to breathe, before spilling that he’d hoped it was a date. He’s bright red as he explains how he believes he’s developed...feelings over the months working together. That he wanted to go out again, but that he hadn’t wanted to force his feelings on Aizawa. Who would want someone like him?

These two have so much chemistry. They’ve been through so much together already: disagreements, near deaths, critical injuries, awkward moments of a budding friendship, talking each other off the ledge. In all the ships of the series, EraserMight has one of the most obvious connections and chemistries.

#lover talks #ask me #head canons #EraserMight #sorry this took me so long :( #Thanks for putting up with me <3 #all might #toshinori Yagi #Eraserhead #Aizawa shouta #relationships #mha #bnha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

[undead-merman]

this is the yan monster luci and satan requester, not a poly relationship, but just like a mutual agreement that they don't want any low life demon going near their s/o

Okay I’ve got Lucifer as a Manticore and Satan as a Sphinx. I love writing these, its a shame I can’t write these faster.

🦁Manticore Lucifer🦁 🦁Sphinx Satan🦁 as Yanderes GN- Reader SFW

Lucifer

Appearance

As a manticore his appearance is fearsome and even his presence is enough to make most others turn tail and run. His mouth is full of too big teeth, some of the long canines poking past his stern frown.

He has small hands that are more paw-like, with razor sharp claws at the end of them. He has paw pads on the tips of each of his fingers, and 3 small pads on his palms. Unlike normal paws, he does have a thumb and surprising dexterity with them.

Along his forehead and temple he has small black horns, they’re perfectly symmetrical which is unusual for a chaotic creature like himself. On top of his head, past his horns are two lion ears that twitch and turn to even the softest noises.

On the back of his neck, down his spine, are small quills tipped with a viscous venom. He is able to flatten them against his body to make them flat for his clothes many of his kind have spots open in their clothing for their spines to poke out, but Lucifer does not have have that in his clothing, He only has a spot open for his large, slightly torn bat like wings.

His tail is long and ends with a red tipped scorpion stinger, quills randomly set along it. It normally hangs low and curls up to avoid knocking things over.

His true form is like that or a normal manticore but with piercing yet silky and shiny black fur and bright glowing blood red eyes.

The Undefeatable Beast

Manticores have a reputation of being mighty beasts unable to be slain by any man, but there are rumors of some being slain. Lucifer, one of the oldest and most powerful has never been bested. Every opponent he’s ever faced has perished and only the surviving onlookers have been able to tell the tale.

His viciousness is renown all over the devildom; while he acts like a gentleman whose temper is always under wraps, he’s quiet vengeful and easy to anger. He doesn’t like to show it, he lets it simmer until he can get his revenge.

His appetite is ravenous and loves to have barely cooked meat served elegantly. He doesn’t like it raw as it feels barbaric and he enjoys the finery of life, but if he needs to he doesn’t mind eating anyone until not even the blood is left.

He does have a vulnerable side however, as since he’s that of lion and Scorpion he needs to sunbathe in order to be in top condition if he doesn’t he’s sluggish, but more brutal. Since there's no sun in the devildom he uses a light to warm himself as he lays on his sides. He looks surprisingly peaceful when warming up.

Spending Time with You

The one thing he can’t defeat, is you. He has such a soft spot for you that he is willing to do anything you ask. Giving him your big doe eyed look makes his monstrous face scrunch up and flush at you. He really can’t say no to you.

His favorite thing in the world is to lay down with you in the warm light, looking up at you as the light engulfs you and all he can see is your smiling face. He loves it when you go to run your finger through his hair or pet him. His wings shiver when you do that and his spines do as well before tightly flatting against his skin allowing you to touch him without getting poked at all,

He is fiercely protective over you. He snaps at anyone who touches you and stands behind you as someone talks to you, his icy glare focused intensely on the person you're talking with.

He loves to take you to enjoy elegant food, sights and sounds. His favorite place to take you is the opera, he loves to listen to the soft gentle melodies as he takes your hand into his.

His Dark Tendencies

Lucifer does not like others interacting with you. Should you defend another person from him too much he’ll start to get insecure. He’ll think you're forgetting about him and falling in love with someone else, and he hates that. He’ll take you even if you struggle and lock you up and keep you to himself until he feels you’ve forgotten about the other. Of course his opponent would be dealt with swiftly, and painfully.

He loves seeing you locked up, it makes the dark monster instincts churr in delight. Completely at his whims, of course he’d never hurt you too much. Should you make him angry or god forbid you try to escape, he’ll punish you by applying constant pain without actually hurting you. Painfully clamping your skin more and more until you go mad and beg him to stop. But if you made him truly angry you’ll be lashed and whipped until he feels better making you count each one out loud.

After Punishments he’s overly sweet, he’ll kiss every bruise and cut, and look at it so tenderly as he whispers about how good you are for him and how much he loves you. But he’ll graze his razor sharp teeth over your sensitive bruises just to remind you to never do it again.

Misc Stuff

When he’s extremely relaxed around you, he will let out a purr though, it’s a deep inhumane noise so deep that it shakes your chest if you’re near. He gets embarrassed if you mention it to him.

He greets those he’s close to by pressing his forehead against theirs. He does this with you, cupping your cheeks and smiling as he does it; with his Brothers and Diavolo it’s a simple tap, but with others he only nods his head. If he doesn’t like someone he simply just stares at them without blinking, glaring into them with fury.

He wants you to smell like him all the time but he gets a bit flustered about doing it. He’ll scent you by rubbing his palms, wrist and cheeks on you while you sleep or aren’t paying attention while cuddling. He feels like a tomcat when he does it but he can’t help it.

Satan

Appearance

His body is more centaur like, with the lower body of a giant winged lion. His fur is a lustrous blonde and gold color and his lower abdomen is large and bulky with thick skin and muscle.

His wings spread wide and are tipped in shimmering gold that shines in any light. The wings which are just under his humanoid hip have a blonde and gold fur, thick and volumes. While most of his mane is centered on his hips, it does have a trail of it going up his spine and shoulder blades.

Two lion ears sit on his scalp of much longer hair then normal, tied loose with a lime green ribbon. His ears constantly moving back and forth betraying his hidden emotions. They flick at nearby noise, or something that interests him, and lay flat when angry or embarrassed.

A Guardian Creature

Sphinx are mostly known for their stories of guarding treasures and tombs. A protective species and loyal to a fault. Satan is just like others of his kind, He focuses his attention to his collection of books and scrolls. Very solemnly does he allow anyone to come near his collection let alone trusts them to borrow from it.

He’ll never admit to it, but he has a lot of the same habits that Lucifer does. He enjoys lazing under a bright warm light, and your gentle strokes on him. He even purrs just like Lucifer too.

He seeks out riddles he cannot solve, he’s said to befriend those who tell him a riddle he can’t solve. He craves to expand his knowledge and find truly intelligent and wise creatures.

Spending Time with You

You had thrown him through a loop when you were given the quest to find a riddle he couldn’t solve and gave him a cheesy dad joke. Never has someone even attempted anything like that. It fascinated him and he quickly became obsessed with you.

He enjoys seeing your point of view on all kinds of topics. He’ll bring you a gift and ask for a discussion on it. He loves hearing your voice talk about the gift he got you and your thoughts on the history behind it. It stimulates such a deep part of his brain that he’s become addicted to it and he nearly brings you one everyday.

He also enjoys stupid fun. Stuff that he doesn’t have to think about too much, he finds it deeply relaxing, though he dares not let anyone but you see it.

If you ask he’ll let you pet his soft feline pads, he’ll get all flustered and squirmy with you rubbing and massaging them. They’re so soft and pink, but while you're doing that he gets to feel your hands in his paws and to him they’re the softest thing he’s ever felt.

His Dark Tendencies

Satan is so deeply infatuated with you, he simply wants to be around you constantly, never letting you out of his grasp. He, of course, loves to bring you small, cute gifts so he can see your face heat up and you look so happy, but a dark sadistic side of him loves to see you scared. The tears dripping down your face and your eyes shoot open with terror behind it. He’ll always be there to comfort you right after but a sick part of him loves to see you like that.

If you ever tried to hide from him or try to run, he would quickly catch you with a dead, unloving, and dark face. He’d carry you back, tie you up and humiliate you, force you to eat out of a cat bowl, and spank you till your rear is black and blue. He always grins from ear to ear when he sees you limping after.

He loves chaining you up and listening to you read to him. He likes playing with the chain as you read and he always complements how it looks on you.

Misc Stuff

Ashamedly he is much like a cat at heart. He finds himself a lot of time chasing bugs and chattering at birds in class. He’s so embarrassed by it that he threatens anyone who brings it up, if not clawing them in half on the spot.

He sits like a cat does, his lower body having its paws tucked in on themselves as he reads. He often falls asleep like this too, his humanoid body frozen while the bottom one is all curled up in a tight ball.

Unlike Lucifer’s more refined palette Satan can eat whatever it is put in front of him, fresh or dressed, it does matter at all, but he doesn’t eat a lot for someone his size.

Dealing with Interferences Together

Dealing with each other was nearly unbearable, but having another one in on the fear competition was unacceptable to both of them. With the two of them they could control the scenarios you were in, keep you at least near them. But having an unknown contestant was dangerous. What if They tried to touch you? Kiss you? So what they’ve done to keep you around them, the carnage they’ve left behind to scare you away from them.

Whenever someone threatened that, they agreed to quickly and quietly deal with this before you even noticed They were gone. Stalking them and finding the perfect time to strike, when together it was deathly quiet, none of them talked and the tension was so thick you’d need a chainsaw to cut through it. They would get into fights fairly often due to them bragging about the time spent with you.

They hate working together, but they do work terribly well together as well. They get everything done quickly and without a trace. Their go-to is to kidnap the offender and bring them to a private room and take any frustration they got while working together and take it out on them. Those who go into that room never come back out. After everything is taken care of they’re right back to fighting with each other for you.

#obey me #obey me lucifer #obey me satan #obey me monster headcanons #lucifer x reader #satan x reader #yandere lucifer #yandere satan

[oyavaski]

🎀Oyavaski's BakuDeku Fic Masterlist🎀

Under the cut are some of my all time favorite BakuDeku fics I've ever come across on A03. They range in ratings from Teen to Mature to Explicit. The majority will be Explicit because I prefer more adult themes over toothrotting fluff (mostly for the miscommunication and drama that spurs from intimate romances lol) So be sure to pay attention to ratings before considering clicking the links 😏👌

Not Rated:

Burn, Pine, Perish by Kindaopps

"Three things dawned on Izuku, as he stared at the slick flower petals scattered over the black words of his book: he has fallen in love with his husband, his husband did not love him back, and he is going to die." <- Izuku is a fae cursed from birth, never to fall in love lest his love go unrequited. Hanahaki Disease trope done very well.

Teen Rating:

Solar by Kindaopps

"Here he is, a God, wanting a mortal." <- Sun God Katsuki falls madly in love with a human man named Izuku Midoriya. One of my newest favorites

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I Still Do by RaeRyn

"He's losing him to pieces, but Izuku still tries to make them count. In which a battle leaves Katsuki with Amnesia, and Izuku finds himself picking up the pieces." <- perfect summary description. Heart breaking dialogue exchanges and concept. One of my treasured fics.

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Many Sunflowers Later by Jeka

"Scholar Midoriya Izuku comes back to the person he left behind after his journey through the kingdom, the mighty dragon clan leader Bakugou Katsuki." <- A super precious and unique take on the Fantasy AU. It's a short one, but I guarantee it'll warm your soul like homemade stew on a frigid winter morning.

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The Way You Used To Do by Edema_Ruh

"During a battle, Midoriya gets hit by a villain whose quirk detaches his soul from his body. Stuck in a ghost-like state, the boy enters a race against time in order to save himself from permanently dying. Much to his luck - or lack of it -, the only person who can see and talk to him in this state is no one other than Kacchan. Alternatively: Deku and Kacchan are Soul Bound." <- quite possibly the most popular and well written/nearly perfect canon characterization BakuDeku fic currently out there. Very worth the read, and enough insanely detailed chapters to keep you reading for a week or more lol.

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Mature Rating:

The Night We Met by Majjale

" "You a poet?" "Only for you." Two sincere wishes and the ramifications of them."<- part one of the Dead Poets series. A simple summary for a Deeply Painful fic that will Hurt You until it doesn't. I've reread this, and it's epilogue fic, over a dozen times now. It's seriously so beautifully written.

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Take Me Back by Majjale

"A soft epilogue." <- epilogue to The Night We Met, and part two of Dead Poets. A fitting end for our heros after the events in the first part of Dead Poets. Made me cry like a babybackbitch.

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Imperial Retrograde by Mynameis152

"Raised on a continent at the brink of war, Katsuki and Izuku's sides were chosen the day they were born. But now, as Katsuki's birth right is stripped of him and handed to a foreign prisoner, as Izuku's stolen from his home in the dead of night to fight for an enemy nation because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, the two are forced to find common ground with each other, and end a war heading towards total annihilation."<- A wonderful Fantasy AU fic set in a universe/kingdom where harboring a dragon is punishable by death. And our poor Izuku just so happened to accidentally hatch a dragon he didn't intend to find!

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I Feel You by Soulstring

" "I don't always take questionable substances from strangers but when I do I end up getting a second hand boner from my childhood friend's feelings" - Midoriya Izuku, most likely."<- Izuku meets a girl with an empathy quirk that manifests in the form of a goo that she bottles and offers it to him as a gift for rescuing her from a kidnapper. Izuku becomes addicted to the goo because of the intense feelings it gives him, and Katsuki has a few issues with that.

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Explicit Rating:

On The Run by Justaperson1718

"(Based in an AU where All Might loses to All For One) Follow Izuku and Katsuki as they fight together for their very survival and mature through their experiences with each other, on the run together from the League of Villains with no one to depend on but each other. The two will have to work out their differences if they want to continue to live and escape the villains."<- summary explains it pretty well. Haven't read this in quite a while so I don't have much to elaborate on.

Fire In The Mountains/Fire In The Blood by EllaBesmirched(El_Bell)

" “I’ll do it.”

Enji finally turned around and fixed Shouto with an expression so scathing, Shouto had to fight to keep his chin raised. “You’ll marry the Barbarian King.”

Shouto blinked. “Yes.” " <- A polycule masterpiece. I've reread this series no-less than 12 times by now. Incredibly detailed, insanely well written and fleshed out characters. Polygamous relationships and multiple pairings throughout. Main pairs are TodoBaku/TodoBakuDeku/BakuDenkiMinaKiriTodoDeku. It's honestly fantastic, I highly recommend it.

Kacchan by KyuukaKoinu

"Sometimes it’s about winning an argument. Other times it’s about acknowledging your feelings. And in rare cases, it’s about trying to make sense about your ex-childhood friend making out with you in your mother’s kitchen when he swears that he hates your guts. But most of the time, it’s about growing up and understanding what makes the difference between a boy and a man. Both Katsuki and Izuku are finding this out, and they are figuring it out in the hardest way."<- OK so, I can totally look past the almost word-for-word plagiarism of the summary for Boys by CaseyV (the greatest SoRiku fanfic ever fucking made, thank you) because this story was really fucking good. And the character development and progression throughout the plot is fluid and doesn't feel forced at any point. Katsuki coming to accept his sexuality and love for Izuku, Izuku being bullied by his peers for his obvious affection for Footballplayer!Katsuki, and all the drama that lies throughout between two boys learning to accept their feelings and an older man Izuku seeks comfort in from his issues with Katsuki.

Vicious by feelslikefire

"Midoriya and Bakugou wind up in the very last position either of them thought they'd be in: Hero Partners. It's not fun, but they learn to cope. Their first big assignment together takes them undercover to infiltrate a cult, but the situation turns out far more sinister than they first thought. (Or: Midoriya and Bakugou pretend to be Fake Married, join a cult, start having sex, and learn not to suck as partners, not necessarily in that order.)"<- where do I even BEGIN??? This fic has. It. All. Fake marriages, Fake relationships, an insane scary ass cult, hardcore bondage sex, friends with benefits, an insanely well thought out plot that will keep you hooked. Seriously worth the read. I've reread it multiple times and I'll probably reread it again soon once my glasses are repaired lol.

Play The Field by Lalazee

"Baseball and feelings, feelings and baseball. Turns out, Bakugou and Deku are both good and bad at the same things. They try to work on it"<- in which Izuku and Katsuki were aiming to go pro in Baseball, until Izuku's good arm is mangled in a serious accident that creates a crevasse between himself and his relationship with Katsuki. Been a while since I've read this one, but anything by Lalazee is worth the read!!

Blood Moon by Lalazee

"The Thank-Fuck-We-Aren’t-Dead Sex had started then, and had never really stopped. Then came the feelings and the fights. The ego, the pride, the jealousy. And then there was Us (The one-shot smut fic that turned into an entire world for you.)"<- the very first BakuDeku fic I ever read, and an AMAZING way to start. The horny dial is sex to MAXIMUM. (OK so I made an error here, but I think "horny dial is SEX to MAXIMUM is better kept than fixed so fuck it LOOOL)

So there we have it!!! I spent a good hour or so jotting all this down. So I hope ya'll see a few you haven't read yet and give them a shot!

Please like/reblog if you find anything you end up liking so others can take a look themselves 🥰

#bakudeku #fic reccomendations #fic rec #my hero academia #fanfiction #boku no hero academia #bakugou katsuki #izuku midoriya #ao3 #archive of our own #editing days after the fact because i realized i misspelled epilogue like 3 times because my phone is telling me its wrong when its not? lol

[rnelodyy]

C!Dream, the status quo, and why conflict is okay sometimes.

In this fandom, there is a lot of talk about conflict, who causes it, who avoids it, who is to blame for it, et cetera. An argument often heard from c!Dream apologists to justify his abysmal treatment of L’Manburg in general and c!Tommy in specific is “He was just trying to stop people causing conflict! He was protecting the server by stopping these conflict-causing maniacs!”

And it’s not hard to see where they get this idea from, because c!Dream repeats this sentiment a lot, from his “happy family” speech, to the speech during the final disc war about how c!Tommy causes constant conflict, to the fact that he always portrays himself as a reasonable authority figure trying to calm down these feral creatures always fighting with one another (and we’ll get to that idea…).

My reasoning for explaining how c!Dream’s worldview is deeply flawed may be a bit controversial, so I decided to write this essay to explore the following idea:

Sometimes, conflict is good actually.

(all /dsmp /rp, names refer to characters, not content creators)

Conflict, in itself, is morally neutral. It’s the context surrounding the conflict that allows us to ascribe morality to it. This fact makes this topic a LOT harder to discuss, because morality is subjective. What I’m writing here is all my own opinion, you may agree or disagree on some points, I just ask that you read it through and please don’t start shit over this.

Anyway, the context. It’s dependent on a number of factors.

Justification. Why was the conflict started?

Intent. What is the desired outcome for either party?

Proportionality. If the conflict is started out of revenge or punishment, is it proportionate to the wrong committed?

Power Dynamic. Is the person on the receiving end more, less, or equally as powerful as the person starting the conflict?

For example, let’s compare the L’Manburg War for Independence with the intervention during the Final Disc War.

Justification:

Dream declared war on L’Manburg because he saw them as traitors, and the land they occupied as rightfully his. Therefore, them making a country of their own where his rules didn’t apply was a violation of the status quo he wanted to uphold.

Punz and the others intervened because they didn’t want Dream to kill Tommy and/or Tubbo, and were tired of his constant meddling in their affairs.

Intent:

Dream’s intent was to attack L’Manburg until they surrendered, no matter how much hurt he’d cause or how many lives he’d take.

Punz and the other’s intent was to stop Dream from killing Tommy and Tubbo, and stop whatever plan he had to keep the server under control.

Proportionality:

L’Manburg declared independence in response to brutal violence as retribution for clumsy attempts at crime, on land nobody except Wilbur was using, were explicitly pacifistic and invited Dream to make an embassy in their land to discuss trade. Dream responded by declaring war, destroying their land, luring them into a trap and killing them, and continuing to beat them down until they surrendered.

Punz and the others intervened after Dream dragged two teenagers out into the wilderness to fight him, with little chance of them ever returning. This was after months of Dream’s meddling in conflicts he had nothing to do with, trying to control people’s actions, ripping Tommy away from his home and abusing him in secret and, in the end, destroying the place most synonymous with freedom from his rule. They intervened by getting Tommy and Tubbo to safety, letting Tommy (the kid who arguably suffered the most at Dream’s hands) take his items and beat him to death twice, then locking him up in prison.

Power Dynamic:

L’Manburg was significantly less powerful than Dream and his goons, with less skilled fighters and heavily inferior gear. They held their position fairly okay at the start, but after the Final Control Room, they were basically defenseless against Dream’s assault.

Dream had always had unprecedented power on the server. He’s leveled entire countries, crowns and dethrones kings when he feels like it, overruled the decision of a court of law, and in the end, had Tommy and Tubbo completely at his mercy before the intervention. Even beating Dream was seen as such an insurmountable task that it took fourteen people (excluding Clingyduo) to take him down.

The thing about conflict, even violent conflict, is that it’s not always negative. If your sister is being abused by her boyfriend and refuses to report it out of fear, you’re gonna be hard-pressed to find someone unable to sympathize with you if you go over to his house and break his nose.

What is a defining feature of conflict, is that it disrupts the status quo.

That’s not to say that some characters are always disruptors and others always preservers of the status quo. For example, during the Disc War, Tommy is the one trying to preserve and Dream the one trying to disrupt (the status quo being: Tommy owns the discs), and during the L’Manburg War for Independence, Tommy and Wilbur are disrupting while Dream is preserving (the status quo being: Dream has absolute power and the entire server needs to follow his rules).

It’s ALSO not to say that this disruption is always bad, because sometimes, the status quo fucking sucks, and throwing it on its head is the right thing to do. Overthrowing Schlatt is seen by everyone on the SMP and pretty much every fan as morally correct, as while Schlatt being president was the status quo, it meant he was ruling as a dictator, exiling his political opponents, imprisoning and heavily taxing dissenters, being verbally and physically abusive to his cabinet members, and forcing a guest at his festival to execute a sixteen year-old boy for spying for the political opponent he exiled.

Conflict being a genuinely good force of societal change isn’t usually brought up in the fandom though, at least not consciously. A lot of people, both on the server and IRL, see conflict only as a source of hurt and pain, and try to prevent or avoid it as much as possible.

And here’s where Dream differs from someone like Ranboo. Because while both Dream and Ranboo operate on the assumption that all conflict is bad all the time, Ranboo shows this by becoming conflict-avoidant to the extreme, to the point where he refuses to pick sides in pretty much any conflict, no matter how obviously good or evil one side is. Meanwhile, Dream shows this by becoming controlling to the extreme. Mitigating conflict isn’t enough, he needs to control everything to prevent all conflict ever.

In Ranboo’s case, this is less due to ideology and more due to personality. Ranboo is a deeply anxious person, and hates being in the middle of fights. He’s also… not very self-critical? He has issues with self-worth, but he very rarely takes a look in the mirror to inspect what it actually is he believes and says, making him very gullible and convinced of his own righteousness. But while that’s a VERY interesting character trait, Ranboo’s conflict-avoidance doesn’t make him a very good character to examine in the context of conflict and what it means.

So let’s look at Dream. Because, despite claiming to want to stop conflict, Dream CONSTANTLY starts conflicts or escalates existing ones. The L’Manburg War for Independence could’ve been entirely avoided if Dream hadn’t lashed out so heavily at a nation of pacifists who made their own area to avoid violence from authorities. As I explored in my George Vod Analysis, the griefing of George’s house would’ve been a lighthearted dispute between two people if Dream hadn’t taken over the entire thing and turned it into one of the biggest diplomatic crises in the server’s history. Mexican L’Manburg hadn’t even existed for an hour before Dream came by to kill its residents and destroy its land.

So why is Dream so focused on stopping conflict, despite constantly starting it himself? Why is THAT his hill to die on?

Simple. Dream wants to prevent disruptions to the status quo. That status quo being “Dream is the one in power and everyone has to listen to him.”

But you can’t say that out loud. If you say “everyone needs to listen to me otherwise it’s not fair”, you sound like a whiny five year-old at best, and a tyrant at worst. So, instead of saying that, Dream says “I just want to prevent conflict, keep the server peaceful.”

Remember what I said about one party being the disruptor and another being the preserver? Well, Dream’s status in the early days of the server is almost always preserver of the status quo. The only times he’s the disruptor is if disrupting that status quo serves to strengthen the status quo of him being in power. For example: Stealing Tommy’s discs is a disruption of the “Tommy’s discs are his and his alone” status quo, but strengthens the “Dream is the most powerful dude on the server” status quo, because the discs give him power over Tommy.

By fighting L’Manburg, he was trying to preserve the status quo, because having a government on the server meant he no longer had absolute power. Hell, REALLY early on, he decided to kill George and burn all his stuff because George had full diamond while everyone else was still running around in iron armor.

However, after L’Manburg’s independence, Dream’s focus shifted. Instead of preserving the status quo, he’d disrupt it in order to return to the status quo as HE wanted it, with no nations, and himself at the top.

But again, that wouldn’t look good. Making yourself the undisputed ruler of the entire server is not good for optics, so instead, Dream hides behind the excuse that he’s just trying to stop conflict, or seeking retribution for slights against his nation.

By this point, Tommy, the only person who CONSTANTLY refuses to bow to his demands, becomes his scapegoat. Tommy is loud, enjoys chaos and getting on people’s nerves, and causes, admittedly, a LOT of conflict. Lighthearted, non-serious conflict with very little actual consequences, but conflict nonetheless. It’s not hard for him to start smearing Tommy’s name, painting him as this feral child at fault for every conflict ever, mostly because a lot of people already believed something like that to be true.

The idea that Tommy is uniquely destructive or chaotic is complete bullshit. Tommy is definitely on the more chaotic side, but he’s not that much more chaotic or destructive than your average server member, he’s just really loud and annoying about it, which makes the things he DOES do stick out more. But Dream, especially during the Exile Conflict, continuously pushed the idea that Tommy is the only one creating conflict on the server, that Tommy is responsible for all conflict ever, and that without Tommy, everyone would be at peace.

And at some point… Dream started believing this himself.

His speech during the Final Disc War illustrates this perfectly. He tells Tommy that ever since he joined, there’s been nothing but war and terrorism and conflict, and that those originated from the attachments Tommy brought to the server. That, by cutting off his own attachments, exploiting everyone else’s, and getting rid of Tommy, he could restore the old status quo, before L’Manburg, before Tommy, when everything was peaceful and no conflict existed. Except, Tommy is too fun to fuck with, so instead of killing him, Dream was going to lock Tommy up in Pandora’s Vault, probably for the rest of his life, to continue breaking him.

This is a prime example of Dream falling for his own bullshit.

First of all, Tommy didn’t cause all those wars, he was actually on the receiving end of most of them. A vast majority of the wars and terrorism Tommy got caught up in were actually started by Dream, or Dream was actively helping the guy who started it.

Second, Tommy didn’t bring the concept of attachment to the server. He gets very attached to things, true, but attachment is a very basic part of the human condition. Even Dream, the guy openly shunning all attachment, isn't immune to it, in the end, he’s attached to the server as a whole, and Tommy, who he gave almost biblical importance in his narrative. Like Tommy said, if you have no attachment to things, why does anything matter at all?

Third, getting rid of Tommy and controlling the entire server with their attachments… that wouldn’t have restored the status quo, because the status quo exactly as Dream envisioned it never existed. He’s not chasing a past that was ruined by Tommy, he’s chasing an idealized fairytale version of the past where everyone was friends and frolicked around in the fields and there was never any conflict, before Tommy came along and ruined everything. Before Tommy joined, there was a SHIT ton of conflict, from minor disputes over theft, to the above-mentioned incident where Dream destroyed George’s stuff, to the lemon tree conflicts that wound up being taken to court!

Except, even this idea of Dream wanting to restore an idealized, made-up past is only partially true. What Dream is looking to return to and uphold is a world where he was the only authority and nobody questioned him. The status quo he wants to return to, no matter how much he denies it, is the one where everyone was at his mercy and he could do whatever he wanted without impunity. However, because he’s convinced himself that conflict is the issue, not disobedience, even if his plan succeeded, he’d have to keep the entire server in a chokehold to get them to follow his ideal plan.

Because conflict is inevitable. Anywhere where there’s two or more people sharing a space, you’re going to run into conflict at some point. People will have disagreements, they will fight, they will have miscommunications, they will have a bad day or accident and antagonize someone else.

Resolving these issues through conflict, whether it’s verbal, physical or legal, will result in a healthier community in the long run, because people’s pent-up frustrations will get an outlet, and people will try to hash out compromises or accommodations based on the reactions they get. It’s not always the ideal solution, but it’s better than just sitting everyone down, telling them to play nice, and smacking them over the back of the head as soon as they start complaining.

But conflict threatens the status quo. And as Dream involves himself in more and more conflict, they increasingly start threatening HIS status quo. So in order to maintain his status quo, conflict needs to be stomped out as soon as it crops up, no matter how minor it is.

So, now to paint a timeline through this lens.

Dream started off as the ultimate power on the server, able to do whatever he wanted without consequence. Tommy joined and threatened that status quo, but he was just one guy, so keeping him away and occupied wasn’t too hard. It was fun, even.

Then L’Manburg came, and posed the first substantial threat to Dream’s rule. Dream tried crushing this rebellion before it had a chance to take root, but in the end, Tommy traded his discs (the things Dream was using to control him) for L’Manburg’s independence. The status quo changed, L’Manburg was here to stay.

However, L’Manburg still posed a threat to Dream’s rule, so manipulating events to destroy it became Dream’s next priority. He supported Schlatt during the election in the hope he’d destabilize the nation, then sided with Pogtopia in secret to help overthrow the government, then helped Wilbur with the TNT to blow L’Manburg sky high, then betrayed Pogtopia for Schlatt’s side for the revival book. When Pogtopia won, Dream was egging Techno on through whispers to try to get him to go ape shit, so with Techno’s withers and Wilbur’s TNT, L’Manburg was gone, and the old status quo had been restored.

Except it hadn’t been. L’Manburg was rebuilt, with Tubbo at the helm this time, and a new status quo was put in place, with L’Manburg still there and still a threat. However, with Wilbur’s death, Tommy was left almost completely unprotected, and Dream took his chance to get Tommy thrown out of the country, hoping to get his biggest threat out of the way, as well as being able to sink his claws into the L’Manburg Cabinet.

Dream isolated Tommy in exile and tried to break him to the point where he wouldn’t put up any resistance. During this time, he also commissioned the prison, which he claimed to only be for the most dangerous members of the server, but is a pretty transparent attempt to enforce his rule by making a place where he can stick anyone who disobeys him. The server is slipping more and more out of his control, with more factions popping up and more people outright defying him, so like any dictator, he takes harsher and harsher measures to stay on top.

Tommy escapes exile, and while Dream is keeping tabs on him, he can’t directly control him anymore. So, to prevent Tommy from returning to L’Manburg and stopping his plans at disrupting the status quo, he blows up the community house, frames Tommy for it, and goes to Tubbo to demand Tommy’s disc, the only reason destroying L’Manburg was disadvantageous for him. Tommy jumps in to defend himself and takes L’Manburg’s side, but in the end, Dream takes both the discs, then destroys L’Manburg with Techno.

By this point, the status quo Dream wanted to craft is almost complete. L’Manburg is gone, there are no other major factions threatening his rule, and he’s pretty much set a precedent for what happens to dissenters. All he needs to do now is get rid of Tommy.

Except he can’t kill him. Over time, Dream has become obsessed with Tommy, to the point where he’s started seeing Tommy as the lynchpin of the server that everyone else gravitates around. Tommy is almost a living MacGuffin: he brings chaos and attachment which gives him power, but in the right hands, that power can be harnessed to create order.

(This is absolute nonsense of course, Tommy is just A Guy, his presence itself doesn’t create chaos, and controlling him doesn’t mean controlling the entire server because a lot of people just plain don’t give a shit.)

So instead of killing him, Dream tries to put him in prison. He even outright says that he wants to finish what he started in exile, this time with even tighter control and no possibility for escape.

He goes to kill Tubbo for multiple reasons: Tubbo is no longer useful to him, Tubbo can be used as leverage to keep Tommy compliant in prison (the possibility to revive someone’s best friend is a pretty valuable bargaining chip), and Tubbo would absolutely raise hell if Dream threw his best friend in jail for no reason.

If Dream had gotten his way, he’d be able to blackmail everyone on the server into compliance. Tommy, his scapegoat, would’ve been in prison, so now without a scapegoat, he could’ve probably gone one of two ways.

He could’ve created a new scapegoat to blame all new conflict on. Quackity would’ve been a good candidate, he’s VEHEMENTLY anti-Dream, and would’ve had no qualms about starting shit with him. Whether it was with El Rapids or with Las Nevadas, Quackity would’ve been the biggest anti-Dream voice in Tommy’s absence. So c!Dream would keep Quackity around, blaming him for everything that goes wrong… Until Quackity would get too uppity and either gets murdered or put in jail with Tommy, and the cycle repeats until either people rise up, or everyone who isn’t completely subservient is in prison.

Or, he could’ve cracked down EVEN HARDER on conflict. Anyone creating a new nation gets stomped into the dirt, anyone fighting over resources gets murdered, anyone squabbling over griefed property gets thrown in prison for weeks at a time, all the while their property and pets that they care about more than anything else get dangled in front of their noses. Anyone who’s ever read any more than five pages about the dynamics of dictatorships can see that this kind of repression is basically ASKING for revolution, especially since Dream has shunned all friendships at this point and his only ally is only there because Dream pays him.

(this is all speculation, we don’t know what would’ve actually happened, dont yell at me)

The status quo Dream is trying to return to never existed, and the one he creates in the process isn’t sustainable. Stopping every conflict ever is completely unsustainable and detrimental to the larger community, which Dream knows, because he uses conflict CONSTANTLY to get his way, while still presenting himself as a peacekeeper. What he’s really against is disruptions of the status quo, because the status quo allows him to do whatever he wants and control the server as much as he wants.

Conflict isn’t inherently bad. Some conflicts are harmless, some are necessary disruptions of the status quo. Conflict itself is morally neutral, and trying to prevent all conflict ever leads into some… iffy territory. Remember when Ranboo yelled at the L’Manburgians for participating in conflict the day before Doomsday?

Anyway. Please examine situations with more nuance than “conflict bad”, it’ll make for much better analysis. Trust me. /nm

#dream smp #dsmp analysis #dsmp meta #dreamwastaken #c!dream #idk if this made any sense at all #i feel like i just slapped a buncha stuff in a google doc and completely bullshitted a conclusion from it #but anyway #just something to think abt i guess

[officerjennie]

I’ve been meaning to write about some platonic pet play for a while, but have officially been encouraged enough by @kalikatze to do so. So! Have some modern aro/ace!Geralt and Jaskier pet play, in the form of a headcanon bulleted list because I really don’t have the time or energy to add yet another fic idea to my WIPs.

(Jaskier is called ‘Julian’ for the first bit of this)

CW: purely platonic pet play, Jaskier being a pet, consent discussion, brief mentions of sex (with other people), mentions of past sexual pet play (with other people)

Geralt and Julian have known each other and been friends for years, and really are closer to each other than they are to anyone else. It’s kinda just natural for them to move in together rather than seek out another roommate, since they know each other’s boundaries rather well and trust each other.

There had been some worries over moving in together, of course. Some people work best as friends at a distance, but as luck turns out they work extremely well in the same apartment! They know how to communicate with each other, their schedules match well, and overall their routines feel natural together.

Though Geralt had mentioned it to Julian several years ago, and it had come up a few times since, he still cleared it up at the start that he wasn’t interested in them becoming anything other than friends - he trusted Julian to respect that as well. And of course Julian did. Julian even promised to keep his own sexual exploits out of the apartment to help Geralt feel the most comfortable.

Cuddling had been a part of their friendship off and on for a while, on nights where they’d stay up late at each other’s places and order food and watch a movie. It had really never been much more than leaning on each other, sharing a blanket, or sometimes having an arm around the other, but it had always been something that Geralt had found so peaceful. To be allowed to be close with someone and not have anything expected of him.

Now that they lived together and could spend a lot more leisure time together, the cuddles happened more often. Sometimes they would just sit on the sofa, Julian hugging Geralt’s waist with his eyes closed, Geralt watching TV or reading a book while he loosely held his friend.

It first came up when Julian was having a particular rough day.

He came over to be held like most days, worming his way under Geralt’s arm and smooshing his face against him. But unlike most days, he didn’t relax from it.

Julian fidgeted, and sighed. And frowned in that particular way that Geralt knew he wasn’t just being dramatic - something had gotten his friend rather Down and Geralt hated to see it.

But as much as Geralt had always been good at picking out Julian’s moods, he’d never been much good at Knowing how to solve them himself. So he simply asked, “What do you need, Juls?”

It took a little while for Julian to be honest, his nerves getting the better of him, but eventually he asked Geralt to play with his hair. So Geralt did. And after a little while of scratching his head and running his fingers through his hair, Julian relaxed against him. 

Though it wasn’t really a habit to discuss every single little change between them (when Julian had started to wash Geralt’s towels for him they hadn’t discussed it, like they hadn’t discussed when Geralt started to make sure Julian always had his favorite tea stocked), this felt different enough that Geralt, though bad at words as he was, wanted them to talk about it.

It wasn’t a conversation that happened overnight. As a matter of fact, for a long while, this was the only change that happened. When Julian had a particularly hard day he’d come back home and worm his way into his spot, and ask for his hair to be played with. And they were both happy with this.

But Jaskier had a lot of friends with a lot of different experiences, and eventually he came across pet play, and it got him thinking.

Geralt wasn’t the first person he brought it up with. He was actually the fourth or fifth, but the first ones...didn’t offer him what he Needed from it. And after some mixed results he decided to bring it to the person he trusted the most in his life.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous about it. He wrung his shirt in his hands as he sat on the sofa and waited for Geralt to come home, wondering how on earth he was going to properly explain what he wanted/needed, wondering if Geralt would be okay with it, wondering if his dearest and closest friend would judge him for even bringing it up

Of course he’d understand if Geralt didn’t want that. He’d understand and accept it, and ask if they could stay just as they were with their cuddles and occasional head and hair pets. But it didn’t mean that he didn’t very very much hope that Geralt would be okay with pet play, even if just a small amount.

And there was, of course, the fear that Geralt might think it was a sexual thing. Actually Julian had tried the sexual part with someone and just...did not care for it. He wanted to be cared for in a platonic way, he didn’t want to be any sort of sexual pet for someone.

When Geralt got home and sat down next to Julian, he at least listened to his friend. Didn’t interrupt him once, didn’t seem to be judging him, and listened while relaxing back against the sofa as if the conversation didn’t bother him.

“I’d like to try that.”

The words were a flood of relief to Julian, and he nodded eagerly when Geralt said they’d have to discuss it more along the way.

At the start, it was little more than what they’d already been doing, just with tweaks here and there. Geralt would sit on the sofa and Julian would hug him or lay in his lap, having his shoulders rubbed or hair played with. It was relaxing for the both of them, to be so close and it mean nothing else.

The more they relaxed into it, the more they were willing to try.

Julian one day mentioned he’d like to have a collar - one with a cute bell on it, and maybe even a bow. Geralt snorted and said it sounded very much like Julian, to want to be flashy and be heard, but he agreed that he liked the idea.

When they got the collar, the idea of a tag came up, but Julian paused when it came to putting his own name on the tag.

“I’d...like to have a different name.”

And so Geralt and Julian sat down, and they both decided on the name “Jaskier”

Jaskier was a cat, though he liked to be called kitten. He liked to have his head rubbed in just the right way, liked to lay on his person. Liked to lay in the sun on some cushions he pulled over to the best patch of it in the house, and be allowed to relax and not worry about anything.

That was one of the big Needs Julian had out of their play, he realized and explained to Geralt one day. He needed to feel cared for and like he didn’t have to worry about small things. That he could simply nap and let someone else tell him when it was time for food, that he didn’t have to worry about talking or explaining himself, that he could be cared for and patted off to brush his teeth and go to bed when it was time.

Geralt, for his part, needed to be close to someone. To be allowed to hold them and give them affection, to feel someone close to his body without fear of them wanting something from him. It worked out well that his kitten loved to be held and squished between him and the back of the sofa.

When Julian had a rough day, it was his one and only job to let Geralt know that he wanted to be Jaskier. It was up to him to bring Geralt his collar, and if Geralt was in the mood. And it was up to Geralt to put the collar on him all snug and secure, but not too tight, to always check and make sure Jaskier would be able to breathe and not feel strangled by it.

They found some things really worked for them, and some things didn’t.

Julian did not care for being on all fours. He felt like it made him small in a very uncomfortable way, and it took him too long to follow after Geralt and to do things. It wasn’t a warm and safe thing to him, so they decided that was not how Jaskier moved around the house.

Geralt was not comfortable with the thought of punishing his kitten for anything. Though Julian was indifferent about it on most minor things, it made Geralt feel cruel - he had always been soft on his own actual cats so he did not want to punish his kitten either. So they decided that there would be little correcting of behaviors beyond Geralt telling Jaskier if he was doing something that might be hurting him (sitting on a painful part of his leg, etc.). The correcting was always done with a kind voice, and though Jaskier might pout he always listened.

One thing they found they both loved was encouragement and spoiling. Jaskier got gentle pets and cooed at for the smallest of things. If he brushed his teeth, he got to be held extra tight and told he’d done so well, and that’s when Julian finally felt like this was it

This is what he’d been after.

“You’ve done well, kitten.”

“Good job.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“Did you finish your food? Ah, good.”

“I’m glad this wasn’t too much - did you want to be held longer?”

“If you sit still I’ll brush your hair in a minute, kitten. Why don’t you bring me your brush in the meantime?”

“You’ve been so good today. Just lay here for me, I’ll take care of dinner and be right back.”

Julian’s mind was always so busy, so full of endless buzzing. Things he needed to get done, people he needed to contact, all of the chaos at his work, the homework that was due that weekend, the songs he wanted to write, the songs he should have written - and so so so much more.

But Jaskier - Jaskier was allowed to be quiet. Allowed to be content and in the moment, to not be asked for anything he couldn’t do. To stay still and quiet and be told he’d done so well even when he’d only done the bare minimum. To be cared for and given physical affection without the expectation of anything else.

And Geralt was allowed to care for someone so deeply, to give them affection and hold them close and love them, without the expectation of romance or sexual attraction blooming between them.

#me: I don't have time to write a whole story #also me: -writes all of this- #....didn't expect it to be this long - story of my life xD #geralt & jaskier #geralt #jaskier #the witcher #aro & ace character #this was originally an idea between jaskier and an oc #but I thought it fit geralt pretty well #geraskier #- platonic but it be about Them yo

[semper-legens]

39. Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

Owned: Yes Page count: 472 My summary: After winning the Hunger Games, Katniss thought she and Peeta were out. But Panem is in a state of unrest, and there are uprisings beginning against the Capitol - uprisings which want Katniss as a figurehead. After a threat from the President himself, Katniss realises she has to tread carefully. One wrong move, and everyone she loves could pay the price... My rating: 4.5/5

I think this is my favourite of the three Hunger Games books. It’s a lot more politically interesting than the first book, showing the other victors and their struggles against the Capitol and the start of rebellions across the Districts, while still keeping to that Hunger Games structure which the final book largely abandons. It gave me a much better look into the Capitol and how they tick than the first book, and raised the stakes so much, keeping the tension high throughout and ending with a perfectly-pitched punch straight to the throat. It’s a masterclass in how to write a book in this genre, really, and I absolutely loved it.

The thing that interested me about Katniss in this book is how she’s really more of a follower than a leader. We see this in the last book, where she takes her cues from Haymitch around how to act in the arena and follows Peeta’s lead with the love story. Here, Katniss spends almost the whole book not knowing what is really going on, that some of the other tributes are planning to escape the arena and lead a rebellion against the Capitol, but it’s revealed in such a way that an astute reader can pick up that something’s going on behind the scenes. And yet, she’s not a powerless pawn. She rebels against the Capitol, knowing the consequences, because she is angry at the way she and her people have been treated. One of the more interesting things is that she tries to play the Capitol’s game at first, trying to convince the Districts that her love story with Peeta was real and she was just a young woman deeply in love. What ruins it? Going to Rue’s district. She wants to repay the kindness shown her by Thresh and Rue, she wants someone to pay for what happened to Rue. And that ends up dooming her - but sparking the flame of rebellion through the Districts.

Here, the anti-Capitol sentiment is stronger, because the reader knows exactly what it is they do. We have characters like Finnick or Johanna showing us that other tributes rebelled and were punished and hate the Capitol, and we have the characterised people of other districts showing that rebellion has started. Katniss spends the whole book certain she is going to die, so to a certain degree she doesn’t care about what happens to her, but at the same time the Capitol can still hurt her family and Gale. She’s caught between a rock and a hard place, scared and traumatised and desperately trying to hold onto what she knows, but everything has changed. She gets a grim reminder that the pretence with Peeta wasn’t just for the arena - this is her life now, she will have to marry him if she wants to stay alive, because that is what the Capitol expects. She will be in the public eye forever, her actions are no longer her own.

The Capitol are more overtly evil. We see first-hand more of their violence, as they flood District Twelve with soldiers authorised to enact corporal or capital punishment on those who transgress, as they beat Cinna in front of Katniss and drag him away to be killed for defying them, as President Snow comes to threaten Katniss in person for not behaving as he wishes her to. And all of these things are things that happen in reality, you will note - perhaps more exaggerated here, but honestly not that much. This series seeks to throw a spotlight on how we treat violence by those in power, and I think it is very successful at that.

Next up, I finish the series, as Katniss becomes the Mockingjay.

#Catching Fire #The Hunger Games #Suzanne Collins #bookblr #book blog #4.5

[i-growl-growl-growl]

Yandere Nct reaction to s/n being very energetic and liking to play, and dance around the house?

———————————————————————

I included Shotaro and Sungchan despite them not having yandere profiles yet, so I tried to give brief reasonings behind their behavior that I felt fit them the best, from what I know about them. 

Nothing for them is solid yet.

~Ahreum Rhea

———————————————————————-

Taeyoung: Deep down inside he loves your innocence and playfulness, but he’d have to get used to it, which would make him seem cold and irritated. He might soften on the inside, but it would take a long time before you actually saw it, so cherish it when you do. Most of the time he’d be glaring at you and being rough. 

“Glares You know I only play rough, kitten, I’ll destroy you. You can barely handle my light punishments and yet you want to play around with me? How brave. I don’t mind you dancing for me but, if you break anything, I’ll bend you over my knee and spank you- nothing in this house is cheap. I’m glad you can manage to keep this up despite your situation, though, but how much longer do you think you’ll last? Sighs You make me want to destroy you..”

Yuta: He loves it a little too much. Your energy instantly cheers him up and makes him forget his troubles but he’s still sick, though, so he’d also want to destroy you- it’s like has cute aggression or something. One moment you two are dancing around together and having fun, and the next, he’s biting, spanking, and degrading you.

“Ah, my little cherry blossom. This is why I made you my bitch. You’re so cute I just can’t help myself! You make me wanna do bad things to you- put you on your knees, whip you, tie you up, ngh! It’s been too long since I’ve last marked you so I’m down to play, but can you handle it, little bitch? Let’s have another dance, but this time, in my dungeon Grabs you by the neck. I’m gonna wreck you and I won’t stop until you’re weak.”

Mark: Cat and mouse/ Tom & Jerry “I’m gonna die,”type of thing. He loves the predator nature of playing around with you, but he gets so damn rough and he’s scary as hell. It’s hard to tell if he’s just playing with you of if he’s seriously going to try and hurt you. With Mark, it honestly depends on his mood. Try not to get him too excited and trigger that predator side or he’ll quickly get aggressive. 

“I was enjoying watching you dance, why’d you stop? To play?…Yeah, sure, come here. Let’s play. Oh, you’re gonna run now, huh? Don’t think you’ll be able to hide from me. I’ll always find you y/n, and, when I do, I’ll make sure you won’t be able to walk right for a week. This’ll actually be fun smirks as he stalks through the house. Come out, come out, where ever you are…”

Johnny: Either right there with you or shaking his head at your innocent antics. Most of the time, though, he’s right there with you, laughing, dancing, being silly and playful, but, on occasion, he’d switch from being funny and adorable to dominating and demanding, really quick. Remember, he’s a bit sadistic, so he’ll definitely love ruining you in the best ways as he sees this side of you as teasing at times.

“Hahaha! You look so cute! Wait, do it again- do that face again. HAHAHA! topples over in laughter. Oh man, I really needed that. Hmm, there’s something else I’m in need of now. Suddenly get a bit serious, pulling you closer Come here, little one, sit on my lap, it’s my turn to play. You’ve had your fun, now I’ll have mine bites his lip as his gaze pierces deeply into yours.”

Jaehyun: 70% 0 tolerance. 30% Finding it amusing and going along with you or turning it into  baby girl x daddy time. No in-between. 

“Aish, you’re like a child at times. There’s really no point in having children if you’re going to act like one. What are you, 5? I know I call you babygirl sometimes but-.. oh, I see. You want Daddy to play with you, huh? Well, you sure got my attention, honey. However, you’ve been a bad girl recently, so why should I reward your bad behavior, hm? If anything, I’ll give you a light punishment really quick. Bends you over Count to 5.” 

Doyoung: He isn’t always up for your shenanigans, but he does enjoy seeing you dance and be happy around the house. He’ll never get upset with you about being happy, so long as it doesn’t result in you getting hurt, which would earn you a punishment and restriction from a few privileges - almost like getting grounded. 

“How did you hurt yourself, y/n? I was only away for two minutes! You were dancing and then you slipped? You need to be more careful, y/n! You can’t do things that’ll get you hurt. No more dancing for a week, no more music, and no more walking around barefoot. I’ll buy you some foodies with grip. Maybe next week I’ll let you dance again. Stick to singing for now, gosh, I’ll even teach you myself.”

Jungwoo: You know this ball of yandere floof will be right there with you acting silly. So much so that he’ll most definitely get himself hurt and, if you wanna score major brownie points, you’ll bandage him up and give him cuddles to make him feel better, uwu. Make him hot cocoa and stroke his hair, you’ll have yourself a soft and happy yandere boi.

“Ouch! Shit, that hurt! That was stupid. Oh, no it’s nothing, I’m fine, really. Gets pampered anyway Mmm..huh? Y-yeah, it’s all better now blushes as your eyes meet. Cuddles next? Grins ah, thank you. I really enjoy these moments with you. I’ve always dreamt of this- not getting hurt, but this- being here with you like- ah, nevermind.”

Haechan: This boi initiated all of the crazy (literally and figuratively) crap that goes down. He’s arguably the most playful yandere in all of NCT. You’ll never win, and he’ll never LET you win either. Playing or not, he’ll always show you who’s boss.

“Smirks Try to get up. Ah, come on y/n, you’re not even trying hard enough. I’m not even holding you that hard! Hahaha, you look so helpless right now! HAHAHA. Hey, let’s play hide and seek. You go hide and I’ll seek. If I catch you, sweetie, I won’t go easy on you- my reward will be having you bent over this couch. If you win- well, you won’t, now go hide. 

        Ding Dong, I’m coming in.

Hurry up and run,

Let’s play tag and have fun.

Ding Dong I’ve come in.

        Hurry up and hide,

       Let’s play hide and seek and have fun.

ready or not, here I come!!” 

Taeil: He’s a quiet and calm yandere, so he’ll just watch you have fun but will whole heartedly enjoy every moment of it. Just don’t get hurt or he’ll become more controlling like Doyoung. He’s also an old soul that needs to conserve his energy but, shockingly, has a lot.

“Wow, you’ve got ton of energy. That’s the benefit of being so young pout. Ah, don’t worry. You’re so cute, y/n. Having fun? You must be thirsty after all that dancing and playing, huh? Let’s take a nap afterwards cuzz you look sleepy. Drink your water and then we’ll go have a nap, ok? Also, try to be more careful. I know you haven’t hurt yourself yet, but I worry sometimes. Can’t have you getting yourself hurt.” 

Ten: Sometimes he’ll engage with you in laughing, dancing, singing, whatever else you’ve come up with but, sometimes, he’ll get tired out and want some peace and quiet. 

“Goodness, you remind me of Yangyang from time to time- I hate it and love it sometimes. Of course, I love it because it’s you, but damn, chill out for a bit, y/n. Rest for a while and then we’ll play my way. Playfully squeezes your butt It’ll be my turn to tire you out and have you begging for a break. Rest well, cuzz you’ll need it.”

Jeno: Will go along with it and manage to outlast you. You’d be pooped out and he’d still try to play with you, but it’ll get darker and darker until you become worried. He’s got a thing for having you pushed past your limits, being exhausted and at his mercy. Even so, you can tell he’s holding back something. He always is. 

“Oh, you’re tired already? It’s only been two hours, though. Let’s play some more, I’m actually enjoying this. I said let’s keep playing, y/n. Actually, lay there, I’ll take it from here. You can be my little rag doll. Throws you onto the couch not so gently Ah, y/n-ah, you’re so cute like that. Laughs Ok, ok, I’ll stop for now, but only because you’ve been so good lately. I wouldn’t want to hurt you too badly, now would I?” 

Jisung: He can go hours and hours since he’s so young and he doesn’t mind getting rough with you either when you decided to get playful with him. You’ll definitely have your hands full with this one. Although he’s more so on the cool calm and collected side, he’ll have bursts of energy that’ll leave you surprised. He’s still learning his strength, though, so he might become a little too rough with you.

“Aish, babe, you’re really playful all of a sudden huh? Wanna play? throws you over his shoulder and jumps onto the couch with you We’ll play my way then. Tickles you until you’re crying of laughter and begging him to stop. HAHA, ok, ok, that’s enough for now. I’m hungry, let’s eat. Oh- you’ve got a bruise forming- I didn’t think I was being that rough..lets get you some ice and then eat, alright? 

Jaemin: He’d go from 100 to 0 and back so fast. One minute he’s being just as energetic, even chaotic, and the next, he’s just chillin as you jump around the house like a crazy jellybean. He’d watch you the entire time, though, taking pictures and recording you for when he can’t be at home. 

“Don’t stop, babe. You look amazing, keep going. Yaaaaaass, perfect! Pose for me! moves from position to position trying to capture you from every angle. Ahh, so lovely. Let’s take some together and have a dance battle afterward! I’ll show you some moves I learned the other day; I know you’ll look amazing doing them!

Renjun: Doesn’t mind at all. He’ll go along with whatever it is that you do but will definitely shut it down once he’s gotten tired and wants to do something else. Best to just go along with his wishes and see what else you’ll end up doing. Most of the time it’s something like video games or watching a movie/youtube/anime/etc. while eating delicious food. 

“Alright, I’m hungry. Let’s watch something and order in. What would you like to eat? Cool, I’ll have sushi, it’s been a while since I’ve had it. No, you can’t order the food. Don’t think I’ve forgotten the little stunt you pulled. I don’t care how long ago that was, you’re not talking to anyone else. Deal with it, y/n, or you’ll spend the night in the closet.”

Chenle: Being the type of yandere to not typically have lots of energy means he’s less likely to partake in your games. He’s mostly a serious yandere and he becomes more and more so as time goes on. Though, this doesn’t mean that he’ll shut you down every single time because he understands that this is your thing. When it becomes too much, he’ll just ignore you until you get bored.

“Hm, you’ve calmed down now, huh? It’s about time. I was starting to think that I’d have to drag you over here and hold you down for a while. You’d probably try to make me chase you, though, and I’m honestly not in the mood for all that. Wanna play video games? That’s something we’d both enjoy doing and it isn’t so chaotic.”

Lucas: He’d love the wrestle around with you and you always end up pinned in the most suggestive positions ever. If you’re feisty and don’t give in easily, this’ll be all the more fun for this yandere. He’s sadistic, so he’ll hurt you on purpose just to hear your beautiful whimpers and pleas. So, long as you’re playing in this aspect, he’d never hurt you too bad that’ll cause long lasting pain, but you’ll definitely end up with bruises and marks all over your body. 

“Haha, you really think you can get out of this, y/n? I’ve got you in a lock that’d allow me to pop your shoulder right out of its socket if I really wanted to. Be thankful that you’ve been a good girl recently or else this would hurt even more. Flips and pins your arms above your head, gripping your wrist too tight This is fun, we should really do this more often. Bites you then the timer for the microwave goes off Oh, the hot pockets are ready yanks you up like a rag doll.”

Hendery: He watches you and enjoys the view from where he’s sat. He’ll join you sometimes but, other times, he’ll just kick back and relax while watching you entertain yourself. He doesn’t always enjoy inflicting pain upon you, sometimes he’s perfectly content with watching you do your own thing, so long as it doesn’t go against any of his many rules. 

“Mmm, I’ll probably join you in a bit. Right now, I’m enjoying this amazing view  ; ). Mental note, add this song to the playlist since you love it so much. Oh? You’d like to play? Hmm, let’s see, you’ve been a good girl for two weeks now. I suppose it couldn’t hurt to play around with you. But, if I don’t like it, we stop when I say so, got it? Good. Since you’re being so good, you get to pick the game this time.”

Xiaojun: He’s also not for games but he does understand that you have to have moments like this to prevent yourself from slipping into insanity. Seeing you like this reminds him of how you were before he took you, when you were full of life and happiness. It’ll frustrate him if he isn’t a part of it somehow, though, so make sure to include him if you want to continue your fun. Also doesn’t like inflicting pain 24/7, especially not to you. 

“Why don’t you come over here and dance with me? Sure, I know how to dance. I know how to sing as well. Maybe if I’m pleased enough by the end of this, I’ll sing a song for you. For now, let’s dance- follow my lead, alright? Y/n-ah, you’re actually doing great. Play? What kind of play? ..Ah, what am I going to do with you…?”

Winwin: He’ll laugh and smile at your playfulness and energetic personality. This is one of the many things that led to him falling in love with you and he’d be over the moon if you two had playful tickle wars, so long as you’re the one being tickled- he doesn’t like it too much but won’t complain too much cuzz, well, you’re willingly and happily touching him. He feels so lucky!

“Y/n-ah, no, not there! AH! HAHA! Squirms Nooo! You’re just getting revenge, aren’t you?! Well, how about this! Pins your arms above your head and attacks your arm pits, neck, and sides until you’re begging him to stop. Ah, see? I always win adorable smile. Oh, this is your favorite song, show me what you’ve got!” 

Yangyang: Ok, playing around with this yandere will get crazy. He’s wild and savage with a lot of energy himself, so he’d have no mercy when it comes to games, no matter what it is- which he always wins, might I add. He’ll out-dance you easily and poke fun at you for not doing it right, but he’d love to teach you everything he knows. 

“You look silly doing it that way, hahaha! Ok, look, it’s like this, see? Easy. Well, I’ve had more practice, but we’ll work on getting you up to speed. You’ll never be as good as me, though, but you’ll still look amazing. You catch him off guard with “tag you’re it,”. He just catches you with one hand and pulls you back to him Too slow, y/n, that’s how I was able to catch you the very first time. Let’s try that again, but this time, I’ll give you a five second head start.”

Kun: He’d watch you with amusement as you dance around the house. He wouldn’t join you, but he’ll let you do your thing since he considers this a better alternative to you being locked up and unable to move freely. Just don’t break anything in the house or you will be locked up for it. As far as being playful, he’ll be annoyed at first but then quickly melt at the pleasant attention he’s getting from you of your own free will and he’ll reciprocate it if he’s in the mood. If not, stop.

“You like the playlist I made for you? I comprised it of all your favorite songs. Now, I don’t mind you dancing around or anything, but keep in mind that, if you break anything, you’ll be punished for it after you’re done cleaning it up. I can’t play right now, I’m busy making dinner. Maybe after we eat, we can, but we’ll see. Until then, stay out of the kitchen- I’m almost done. 

Shotaro: He would be shy about engaging with you in dancing around the house and playing. He’d play along with you, though, but don’t be surprised if he then instead fixates on you and watches you the whole time, practically drooling. He’s a young baby yandere.

“Y/n-ah, you’re so pretty! Y-you want me to dance with you? He begins dancing but stops as soon as you start, getting distracted uhh…huh? Oh! Sure, we can play..depending on what you want to play, though. Nothing that include you going outside, just remember that. No, we can’t make a tik-tok together just yet, but we can practice for when I do decide to let you in on one.” 

Sungchan: He’ll pretend to be cool and unaffected by your behavior but, deep down inside, he’d want nothing more than to pull you close to him and dance against you/with you. Being playful wouldn’t help either. He’d desperately want to get all cutesy and cuddly with you, but he’d settle on playing more adult games to prove himself in a way. He’s also a young baby yandere and he doesn’t want you underestimating him, thinking that he needs your love and affection. Give him time.

“Heh, look at you. Having fun, sweets? That’s good. Continues to watch you until you distract him by poking him and acting cute What? Feel like being playful now? I’ve got a better idea, get undressed and then dance for me. Maybe then I’d feel like playing around with you. I wasn’t asking, pipsqueak. Get to it before I get bored. You’ve obviously got the energy in you, my little bunny. If you do good enough, we’ll play video games.” 

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