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#They’re all so normal. I’m normal when characters are immortal.
circuscountdowns · 3 months
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Narinder saying that he’d gladly witness the lamb’s fall but shedding a tear as he ends his life to be together with them much later… Augh :(
hehehe. you got it
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howtofightwrite · 6 months
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I'm writing a scene where a cultivater (chinese martial artists who fights ghosts) falls in a forest and I'm trying to figure out how someone who fights on rough terrain would train to fall. I tried looking at martial art/parkour/stunt man tutorials, but I feel like a lot of the basic techniques (rolling, and slapping the ground to distribute weight) wouldn't work well on uneven ground. I also tried looking at hiking advice but they just say to fall on your pack. Any insight?
Chinese cultivators don’t fall, they choose to reacquaint themselves with the ground.
That sounds like a joke, but the best way to understand Chinese cultivators and Chinese fantasy media is to realize that martial arts are the gateway drug to magic. And that will get you into a lot of trouble if you follow that all the way into Martial Arts Give You Superpowers, which is both the outgrowth of the western understanding of Chinese culture and a trope rife with orientalism. Cultivation seems simple on the surface when you’re watching Chinese media, but it’s more than martial arts, it’s more than religion, it’s more than mythology, (though it is all of those too) it’s a genuine transition into metaphysics that reorients how we understand and interact with the world around us. The concepts we see in cultivation come from real martial arts philosophy that you find in Tai Chi, Shaolin, and most other Chinese martial arts. They come from real religions including Daoism, Buddhism, a healthy dose of Confucianism, general mythology and mysticism from a wide range of subcultures, and, to an extent, Animism. If you aren’t doing your reading with the Eight Immortals, Journey to the West, The Legend of the White Snake, and others then you should dig in. I also really suggest watching the live action C-Dramas whether they’re true Wuxia or more Xianxia idol dramas (and in this case the idol dramas are better because the action is slower) so you can acquaint yourself with the stylized martial arts portrayals, a wide variety of choreography, character archetypes essential to motif based storytelling, and the most important aspect of all—wire work.
Understanding and conceptualizing stunt action done on wires is essential when you’re trying to visualize and create action scenes in any East Asian genre. Your first instinct might be to dismiss the stylized movement as unrealistic (it is) but remember that it’s also genre essential. Hong Kong action cinema has a very specific feel to it that’s very different from the way Western cinema structures and films their fight scenes. Even when you’re writing, you’ll want to find ways to imitate it through your visual imagery on the page.
Probably the best way to contextualize cultivators is that they’re wizards who do martial arts. They’ve learned to transcend the limitations in our understanding of reality through knowledge and study to perform superhuman feats. How superhuman? Well, it gets wild. They can be anywhere from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Who Rules the World fly through the trees levels to Shang Tsung’s “I’m going to slam my hell reality into your normal reality because commuting to work is too much of an inconvenience.”
Which is to say, they don’t always fight ghosts. Sometimes they fight other martial artists, sometimes they fight other cultivators, sometimes they fight demons, sometimes they fight gods, and sometimes they fight incredibly overpowered monkeys. They’re often monks living in seclusion on a mountaintop, but not always. Cultivation is more of a state of mind. Anyone can do it if they learn how to absorb spiritual energy from the world around them through meditation and breathing exercises. Gods cultivate. Humans cultivate. Animals cultivate. Remember, the demons and the ghosts cultivate too. Sometimes, your master gets reincarnated as a demon. Sometimes, you do. The amount of wacky spellcasting you can do is dependent on how much energy you’ve cultivated, which is dependent on how old you are and how good at cultivation you are. Using the power means you need to cultivate more energy, the greater the spell or difficult the battle then the more energy is lost.
This is important to the question of: how does a cultivator fall?
Metaphorically? Existentially? Physically?
When we’re talking physically, wire work becomes very important. Think of your cultivator as being on wires. If they have the knowledge and understanding to do it, they can slow their own fall through the air to land harmlessly on the ground or twist over like a cat and launch themselves back off the ground to fly at their opponent in a counter attack. If they have the knowledge and understanding, they can teleport. If they lack the knowledge and understanding or want to trick their opponent, they can hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. If they’re relying on basics, they can also smack the ground to counter and spread out the impact then use the momentum from that fall to roll back onto their feet. They’ll do it no matter what terrain they’re on because it’s a basic technique that’s trained into their foundation to the point it’s a reflexive action. Any force distributed away from, and reducing impact on, important body parts like your spine is better than nothing. It’s better to sacrifice your arm than be paralyzed. At its heart, that’s the point of the technique. If you’re able to walk away with a functioning spine, it’s done its job. Your shoulder hurts? That’s normal. Your arm is sprained or broken? Sucks, but that’s better than the alternative that is paralysis and death. For reference, learning to fall was the first lesson my Wushu instructor ever taught me. It is that basic.
A lot of the time when portraying cultivators in media, the goal is to show them as being beyond the limitations of standard martial artists. How vast the gap is between the cultivator and the average human is dependent on both the setting and the cultivator. So, the average martial artist who possesses superhuman talents but hasn’t dedicated themselves to a life of cultivation and cultivators who are new to the path are going to be on the rung below and more likely to be knocked on their ass. Cultivators in the mid-range are more likely to have crafted or trained in solutions to being knocked on their ass which put them in a less vulnerable position while recovering and empowered/enhanced their martial arts. Cultivators in the top tier are usually straight up masters at spellcasting, if they deign to fight at all. Gravity need not apply. Rember, the time it takes you to hit the ground and roll to your feet is time your opponent has to launch a counter attack or move to a better position. Also, it means you’ve taken your eyes off your opponent. This is bad enough against a normal human opponent. Against another mostly immortal or ancient magic user this risks a terrible outcome.
Cunning and strategy are both as important as skill. Wisdom, knowledge, and hard work outweigh talent and raw potential. You’ll have to decide how esoteric you want to be and what limits you want to set. I really urge you to do this because the danger of power creep is real and especially prominent here. A character’s growth in power is often linked to their growth in character or their arc, as they gain a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them their skill increases. The self-discovery/self-reflection/self-interrogation/intense suffering to reach enlightenment portion is just as important and intrinsic to the martial arts portion of Martial Arts Give You Superpowers. It’s easy to focus on the Superpowers or the Martial Arts parts of the equation and miss the genre necessity of character growth. This growth often happens through heaps of steadily increasing trauma. Or, failing to undergo that by being too powerful and thus unable to progress is the joke like it is in Qi Refining for 3000 Years. (Go to hell, Bai Qiuran, you hilariously overpowered monstrosity.)
The irony is that the trajectory in character growth is the same trajectory the average student experiences when practicing martial arts. The only difference is that the power arc is inflated. This includes overcoming ingrained truths that you believe about yourself, about your own abilities, what you believe yourself to be capable of (both good and bad,) about your biases toward yourself and other people, your biases about reality in general, your understanding of good and evil, the potential upending of right and wrong, and facing the greater complexity found in the world at large. The stripping away of these illusions, coming to terms with uncomfortable realizations in a more complicated world, and the gaining of new understanding and confidence are vital to that growth.
Skill isn’t just represented in the power creep, it’s also found in a character’s sophistication and complexity in their approach to combat and life in general. Their awareness both of themselves and of other people, their ability to read intentions, their predictive abilities, their complexity in initiating their own strategy and tactics while also recognizing and countering the plans of others. It’s their insight into human nature and their cunning. It’s not enough to be powerful. The world is full of powerful people and not so powerful people who have the capacity to be just as dangerous. This isn’t Goku and Freeza slamming into each other while the planet explodes in nine minutes. You also need to be smart. It’s also not about being a better person. It’s about being a self-aware person. A person who is self-actualized. Monkey’s growth is in his awareness of the world around him through his experiences and in approaching problems differently rather than becoming less of a little shit. If you grow up in the West, one of the issues you’re going to face is thinking of these hurdles as materialistic rather than emotional or intellectual.
A lot of Western media misinterprets the concepts of “giving up” as physical sacrifice. One of the popular examples is physically sacrificing the person we love. In order to have enlightenment, we must be separated from them. We can’t physically be with them anymore. Whereas under a Buddhist structure, what we are actually sacrificing is our own ignorance, our own preconceptions, and beliefs that keep the world comfortable. Under this structure, we’re sacrificing our preconceived notions of who our loved one is. The person that we invented when we first met and we must force ourselves to come to terms with who they really are. The outcome of this isn’t necessarily going to be bad, but it’s still painful. The person we think we love could be perfectly wonderful. However, they’re not who we imagined. If we choose to hold onto the illusion we created, to ignore the realization that the illusion is the person that we love, we’ll only end up causing ourselves and our loved one more pain. We must fall in love with them all over again. Coming to terms with that is painful. All pain comes from ignorance. In sacrificing, letting go of, or overcoming our ignorance, we grow.
These are the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual challenges necessary for a cultivator because they allow the cultivator to level up. Yes, level up. Whether this is coming from the influx of gaming culture into media at large or because the concept synergizes with the Buddhist goal of progressing through the Six Realms toward nirvana, leveling up is how a cultivator’s increasing power is often depicted. Of course, once we reach the next level we can’t go back except by falling or failing and are no longer the person we once were. This then gets mixed in with Daoist principles of finding divine understanding by living in harmony with the universe. The more understanding we gain of the world, the more energy we can absorb as a result, but our original goals may be lost or changed in the process. If a character begins their journey on the path of revenge, their newfound contextualization of the situation that caused them immense pain may force them to give that revenge up or find they don’t want revenge anymore.
Failure is also an option and often a common part of the story. These stories usually follow characters through multiple lives and rebirths over hundreds and even thousands of years, especially if they’re also gods. This is the existential fall. The fall to the Dark Side. All our heroes are going to go through it at least once. This is also why a lot of Chinese media ends in tragedy with hope for the next round.
-Michi
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Finished heaven official’s blessing and I really enjoyed writing an analysis on helluva boss I want to make this a regular thing because it’s fun so here’s my thoughts on
Heaven Official’s Blessing
Spoilers (duh)
I think it’s incredibly impressive when someone can make an overarching narrative in which different seemingly disjointed events are significant without A) putting a giant exclamation mark on top saying “REMEMBER THIS IT WILL BE IMPORTANT LATER” and B) Significantly over or under emphasizing the importance of the scene in the moment. Each event stood on its own and I liked that.
There were several janky sentences and word choices but that’s a translation issue, this writer clearly knows what she’s doing.
Characters were a lot of fun and distinct, my favorites were Feng Xin, Pei Ming, Qi Ying, and Ling Wen whenever they were on the page I was like Ah yes, these pages are gonna be enjoyable and I was right, they’re all delightful (cept the brocade immortal stuff, but like I don’t care, Google assistant is fun) Xie Lian and San Lang are delightful, love them, and San Lang is so effed in the head it’s enjoyable to try and imagine what unhinged thing he’ll do next
Tbh there isn’t much plot breakdown I want to do with this series because it knows what it is, it’s a fanfic ass book with good times, trauma, gay fluff, and fights. Need I say more? That’s not a detractor, it’s a strength. Be what you are and own it because a house with a house’s foundation is a great house but slap a building on that house’s foundation and it fails in both regards.
The only aspect I’m going to analyze is the narrative voice the books are written in because holy crap is it super impressive. Xie Lian is a super mature (or ditzy, depending on your point of view) character, he doesn’t dwell on things, doesn’t hold grudges, doesn’t really care that much about people’s histories or even their present, doesn’t focus much on externals and it comes through in the way the book is written. I noticed this when throughout the books San Lang would do fucked up stuff like make it rain blood and kill a pit’s worth of people and Xie Lian kinda didn’t really seem to care and at first it pissed me off, why isn’t the author letting consequences occur because of these peoples’ actions, but then as it held consistently throughout the book and other people kept being super concerned about stuff, like Pei Constantly asking after Shi Qingxuan (I don’t know how to spell their name, it’s so hard to keep track I’m so sorry) or people bringing up Banue, I realized this is just Xie Lian, other people in the book are regular people like me, this one guy is just experiencing things, going “Well, ain’t that something” and then just moving on. Honestly iconic, but also I was halfway through book six when I realized. Especially since whenever they do flashbacks Xie Lian does all normal stuff. He describes settings he’s in, he mentions events that happened a few pages ago, he tells the reader how he feels, it’s after he experiences all his shit he goes through that this all kinda slips away. In “present” scenes he’ll reference things as they come up but like in the flashback after Mu Qing leaves they talk about it a few times and I find that aspect of acknowledgment to be noticeably absent in the “present” scenes. After the black water arc there is a complete lack of discussion about the frankly trauma inducing event that just transpired but sure Cie Lian, you and San Lang have to not hold hands for the billionth time. At first I thought is this author high but then I realized what shes doing is characterizing through prose which is IMPRESSIVE AS HELL. This may be a point I noticed and am now misremembering the entire series just to bolster my take and if that’s the case then I shall sheepishly shrug and say I’m sorry. I’m not rereading 8 books to write a tumblr review. Maybe if I ever start a YouTube channel
I don’t know, I just find it to be an incredible feat of actually good writing when a story is being told through the lens of the main character and you can characterize that character by simply reading the story and seeing how it’s written, not even through dialogue and action. It’s kinda like the Great Gatsby or a Separate Peace, and it’s super cool that a book like this can accomplish the same thing that makes those classics great. There isn’t as much symbolism or analytical potential but those books wouldn’t be nearly as impactful as they were without great execution, which this book pulled off in spades.
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siphoklansan · 1 year
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300 Followers Milestone Celebration🎉
Introducing…
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꧁𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐤𝗼𝐫𝐧𝗺𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐚꧂
อนันต์ อัฏฐกรเมธา
“A young man from a fallen kingdom, his name strikes fear into many hearts.”
Height : 186 cm.
Birthday : October 8th
Age: 18
Homeland : East of Scalding Sands
Best Subject : Astrology
Club: Magical Shift club
Talents: Knowledgeable in astrology and fortune telling, Skilled with archery
Hobby: Crochet, Weaving silk
Likes: Animals, chrysanthemum tea, supernaturals
Dislikes: Misunderstandings
Favorite Food: Street Food
Least Favorite food: pomegranates
꧁𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 & 𝐀𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬꧂
"𝐄𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞" The ability to reverse a person’s (or multiple) movements and objects’ movement/form. The length of how far back he can reverse is unknown, but he usually only goes back to 10 seconds. The longer he reverses, the more stamina it takes.
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐧 : Warriors are adorned with talisman (tattoos) , giving wearers resistance to black magic and blot. And also some resistance to normal physical damage (ex. a normal blade, a bullet)
𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 : Anan is from a blood line directly from The King of Yakshas. He has an enormous amount of mana, making him a very powerful mage both in magical and physical terms.
꧁𝐅𝐮𝐧 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐀𝐛𝗼𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐧꧂
His last name : “Atthakornmetha” means a philosopher with skills as if they posses eight arms. Strange, right?
Anan is inspired by a character from a literature called Ramakien (รามเกียรต์). It is a Thai version of Ramayana (just in case this rings a bell to anyone). The character Anan is inspired by is….*drumroll please!* Thotsakan! Bro is the antagonist of the story and has TWENTY ARMS AND TEN FACES…WHAT-
Thotsakan has the ability to remove his heart. He stores it in a box far away from him, so he’s technically immortal. But if he’s near the box, the heart returns to him so he’s not immortal anymore. I initially planned this to be Anan’s Unique Magic, but man, it’s too op like😭 Bro can rival Malleus and I don’t want to make a very OP character. Weaknesses are good!
Adding on to the previous paragraph, the information about Thotsakan’s ability will have something to do with his backstory…stay tuned >:-)
My best friend helped me design Anan. She’s amazing at art and very creative too!
My sister also helped me with some headcanons for him AND his unique magic!<3
I have a lot to work on with Anan, at first, his personality is similar to Malleus. It was difficult to put my finger on something unique for him.
Screaming crying throwing up on whether or not I should create a new dorm for my OCs or shove them into one of the seven dorms. Thing is I already designed a unique dorm uniform for them </3 so for now, Anan will be wearing an orange vest. I’ll edit this post later if I changed my mind!
꧁𝐀𝐛𝗼𝐮𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐧꧂
Anan really likes animals, especially small and cute ones like rabbits and hamsters. But animals occasionally run away from him. They’re scared of my boi :(
Anan is the type of friend to always look out for you. When you bend down near a table, his hand will cover the edge of the table so you don’t get hurt. Bro always saves a seat for you during lunch time. Bro remembers your birthday too.
He…has an RBF. He’s very friendly, but he just looks intimidating/angry all the time.
He’s also the type to carry a small pouch around with essential items inside. Your lips are chapped? Say no more, he got chu. Need some mints? Here you go, m’lord/lady. Your nails are dirty? Here’s a nail clipper-
Anan is not afraid to show affection. He will show you that he cares, public or private. He’s always there if you need something, and not in a suffocating way either. Despite his intimidating aura (and looks) if you manage (somehow) to relax and let your guard down, he doesn’t seem so intimidating anymore. And it’s quite relaxing.
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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 300+ FOLLOWERS💗 I’m so happy I get to share my art on tumblr, in a wonderful community and have people enjoying my silly little art! I’d love to interact with everybody so don’t be shy to ask some questions or barge into my askbox! Thank you again~
Lmk if you have any questions or headcanons about Anan, I’d love to hear them🫶
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semisgroupie · 1 year
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part two: the hole that replaced my heart
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vampire!choso x fem. reader
wc: 10.8k
warnings: main character death, blood (blood consumption), age gap, monsterfucking, creampie, unprotected sex, a slap, this part is heavily angsty but has some smut, minor character deaths (none are named), biting, reincarnation au, mentions of god and other religious elements (angels)
note: all flashbacks/events in the past are italicized
series masterlist | previous | next
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It had been three weeks since Kento last came for the interview.
During this time Choso did what he normally did, read and reminisce on the past. That’s the pain with immortality, the longer you live the more memories you carry with you. No matter if they’re good or bad, you just have to carry the burden and that’s what Choso hated most.
When you have motivation to survive and live on, then everything is worth it but when the motivation has depleted then you’re stuck in a loop of repetitive actions. Day in and day out, each breath that fills your lungs meant nothing if there was no motivation.
Today Choso just sat in his room for a little while longer after he woke up. His empty eyes flit over to the painting by his bed and a small smile found its way to his lips. “Beautiful.” The word was barely spoken above a whisper and he leaned in closer, brushing his finger against the frame then pulled back. “Absolutely beautiful.”
He brushed some of his hair out of his face and stood, deciding not to change his clothes since he wasn’t planning on leaving the penthouse. The neckline of his shirt plunged a bit, showing his chiseled collarbones and his pajama pants hung loosely on his hips. He slipped his feet into his slippers and trudged his way into the kitchen. He opened his fridge and took out a bag of blood, setting it down on the counter while he grabbed a bowl to put it in. Just as he had poured the contents of the bag inside, there was a knock on his door.
He set the bowl to the side and made his way to the door, he opened it and to his surprise, Kento stood at the other end of the doorway. “Hey old friend, sorry I came unannounced but I figured you weren’t doing much today.” Choso pulled the blonde male into a hug and patted his back before letting him go so he could walk inside.
“It’s good to see you Kento, what have you been up to these past few weeks?” He shut the door behind the blonde and made his way into the kitchen to grab his bowl and a spoon. Kento shrugged his jacket off and set it down, “I recently moved, my wife and I are planning to start a family. Maybe have our own white picket fence dream.” The blonde chuckled and glanced over at Choso. “Oh I’m sorry, did I interrupt? I could come back later.”
Choso shook his head and made his way over to Kento, “don’t worry about it, I’ll be quick and then we can start with the session for today. But go on, tell me more about the Mrs. and how wonderful your married life is.” Kento nodded and started talking about it all, Choso listened intently, nodding along and adding little comments here and there while he ate. While he spoke, Kento took note of Choso’s expression, while it wasn’t something that was being unconsciously done, Choso had a small frown on his face and any light that was just in his eyes had dimmed. It made him want to stop talking but he knew if he did then Choso would just push him to continue, trying to reassure him that everything was fine when it really wasn’t. So, he just continued but in the back of his mind he felt like he was rubbing his happiness in Choso’s face, he didn’t like it one bit.
Choso ate and then once he finished he put the bowl and the spoon he used into the dishwasher then made his way back to Kento. “Let’s move back to the living room, we’ll get comfy then we can start the session.” Kento nodded and made his way to the living room, Choso following behind. “I’m really happy for you Kento, make sure to bring the little ones around once you and your wife have them. I’ll make sure to stock up on toys kids like.” He smiled softly as he thought about it, kids, a joy in life he never got to experience. That opportunity was ripped from his hands a long time ago but maybe there was something hopeful written in the cards of fate, maybe he would get the chance one day.
The men sat down in the same seats they sat in a few weeks prior, Kento took everything out that he needed and glanced over at Choso. “Are you ready?” The dark haired male nodded and brushed some hair from his face. Kento brought the recorder to his lips and pressed record, “The date is October 19th, 2002 and I am here again with Choso Kamo. You can start whenever you’re ready.” He placed the recorder in the middle of the table and Choso started.
“So the last thing I discussed was my first meeting with Y/N.” He crossed one leg over the other to get more comfortable and continued, “so I was anxious the whole day. I could barely focus on my work because I kept thinking about her, thinking about what her response would be to waking up and seeing my note. If she was upset and never wanted to see me, I would have understood. I mean, what kind of guy would I be to take her virginity and then ditch her in the middle of the night? It’s not like she knew or could’ve known that I can’t go out in the middle of the day without being burnt to a crisp. But for the first time in a long time I prayed, I prayed that she would meet me at the fountain, I prayed that I would get to see her beautiful face again. Even if it was for just a second, I would have been the happiest man alive. I just wanted to see her and be with her, not just sexually, I just wanted to be in her presence.”
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You read the note’s contents again then sat down on the bed. What should you do? You wanted to see him again but what if he wasn’t there? What if he just wrote that note to just make you believe he wasn’t some kind of asshole? As the questions of doubt swarmed your mind they couldn’t overpower the voice that was screaming at you to go, screaming at you to meet him tonight. So, you made the decision to meet him at that time.
You dressed yourself, deciding not to put on the corset since it would be too annoying to tie it yourself then made your way out of the bedroom. Just as you made it down the first flight of steps you heard a shocked gasp that made you whip your head around to the direction of it. “You naughty girl! I never would have thought that I would meet Miss ‘I’m never looking for a man’ after a wild night like this, half dressed, slightly limping, had a fun night?” You rolled your eyes as Satoru made his way over to you, Suguru following behind lightly chuckling.
“That’s none of your business Satoru, now let’s go downstairs and maybe if I feel like it, I’ll tell you.” Satoru took your hand and started pulling you down the steps, “come on, don’t take so long! I want to hear all the dirty details.” Once you three were on the ground floor, you told them everything and showed them the note, they looked at it then looked at you.
“You need to go, if he made you feel like that then you can’t let him go. You need to give him a chance and he’ll explain why he left.” Suguru spoke as he handed you the note and Satoru nodded. “I was planning on going but what if he’s not there? What if he just wrote the note to give me a false sense of hope?”
Satoru shook his head and placed his hands on your shoulders, slightly shaking you, “just go. Because if you don’t I know you’ll regret it for as long as you live. If he’s not there then we’ll trash his shop or just pay him a little visit.” You nodded and gave him a small smile, you clutched the note tighter and prayed a silent prayer, praying that Choso wasn’t messing with you, praying that Choso would be there at the fountain when the time came.
The next hours went by quickly, too fast for your liking. Your heart pounded in your chest so quickly and it only got worse as you made your way closer to the fountain. You wore one of your more casual dresses but that was only decided after going through your entire wardrobe twice. You knew you were a little early so you took a seat near the fountain, watching everyone as they walked past. You leaned over to an older man sitting nearby and asked him for the time and once he spoke the answer your heart sank.
Choso was late.
Ten minutes past eight, you sighed and looked down at your hands on your lap to try to hold back tears. You shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up, you shouldn’t have listened to that voice inside, you should’ve just stood home.
“Y/N!”
Your head shot up as you heard your name being called and relief washed over your body when you saw who called it out. Choso ran over to you with flowers in his hand, his hair was slightly disheveled from running and you stood up and walked over to meet him. “I’m so sorry I’m late, the florist was closed by the time I got there and it took a lot of begging to get him to open up his shop.” He handed you the flowers and you held them close to your chest, a smile growing on your lips. “Thank you, it’s beautiful.”
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“I wish I could say how relieved I was to see her there waiting for me. I thought she would’ve left after seeing that it was past the time I told her. But at that moment I would’ve ran to the nearest church and thanked god until my face turned blue.”
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You held the bouquet in one hand while he held your other hand, “I was thinking that we should go get dinner. I owe you a proper date after last night.” You nodded and held onto his hand tighter as you followed him to a local restaurant. You two sat in front of each other and Choso didn’t let go of your hand for a moment, “was work busy today?” Small talk ensued and it wasn’t awkward at all, something that you both were thankful for. Choso kept his eyes on you the entire meal, watching as you ate with a soft smile on his face. You wanted to question why he didn’t get anything for himself but decided not to.
After the meal he took you out for a walk around town, just letting you steer the conversation as you passed different buildings. “I understand if I’m stepping any lines by asking this, but why did you leave last night?” A small sense of panic filled his senses but quickly faded once he met your eyes, they were filled with interest and sincerity and it pained him to know that he had to lie to you for now.
“I had to open up the shop early for a shipment of new fabrics and I had some leftover work I needed to finish. For some reason it filled my head and disrupted my sleep so I had to leave. I didn’t want to leave but if I didn’t finish that work then I would have had to deal with a lecture from my most uptight customer. I am so sorry for leaving you last night, so sorry.” He looked down at you as your eyes scanned his, trying to see if there was anything he was hiding. You took his hand in one of yours and gently squeezed it as a smile grew on your face. Another wave of relief washed over him, he couldn’t imagine conjuring another lie for you, he was already surrounded by a web of them like a fly caught on the sticky netting.
He held your hand in his as you two walked with no particular destination to go. He could walk to the next country and continue on if you were by his side. You gave him a sense of comfort and a sense of humanity, he didn’t want to let that or you go. You two made your way to a local park, “there’s a pond here that I love to visit. I like to just sit by and watch the water ripple as the wind pushes it.” You looked into the open greenery as you spoke, your eyes lighting up due to a combination of the moonlight hitting you and thinking about going to the pond, showing him a more personal side of you. “Sounds perfect, lead the way, beautiful.” Heat rose to your cheeks at the name and you walked with him to the pond, the moonlight reflected on the body of water perfectly as you moved to sit with him on a bench nearby.
He still held your hand in his and he moved closer to you so your knees touched as you sat, “I’ve always loved coming here since I was a little girl. A friend of mine taught me how to skip rocks here and there’s many more memories I’ve been able to make here. It’s also been a place of protection and it’s pulled me away from any restless nights. Just being able to sit by the water and just think about everything is something that I’ll always cherish about this pond.” Another smile graced your lips as you spoke and Choso felt himself melt just by looking at you, he was honored to hear you speak about the importance of this pond, he didn’t deserve to share this moment with you, he didn’t even feel like he deserved to be with you. You looked at the water while he just stared at you then you turned your attention away to meet his eyes. “Is everything okay?” Your eyebrows furrowed slightly as you asked the question but quickly relaxed once he nodded.
“Mhm, I’m fine. You just look so beautiful, I couldn’t help but stare.” The genuine tone of his voice flustered you completely and you pressed your face to his arm. “You can’t keep saying things like that,” you whined, your words slightly muffled by the fabric of his shirt. He chuckled at your reaction and moved his free hand to hook two fingers under your chin and lifted your head up, “why can’t I? I’ve always thought it was important to tell the truth so I’m just voicing my truth.” You looked at him with big eyes, the moonlight reflected off the side of his face as he looked at you, highlighting his chiseled features, making him even more handsome than he already was. He moved his thumb to run against your bottom lip then leaned in until his lips met yours. It mirrored the first kiss you two shared the night before, soft and passionate all at once.
He caressed your cheek with the thumb that ran across your bottom lip just mere seconds ago then pulled back to break the kiss. “I wanted to do that all night.” You smiled and leaned in to peck his lips softly, “I did too, why didn’t you do it sooner?”
He chuckled and kissed you again before mumbling against your lips, “was just waiting for the perfect moment.” He held your face in his hands as your lips molded against his, it was perfect, you were perfect. It was your turn to break the kiss and you rested your forehead against his. “I want to keep seeing you, Choso. I enjoy how I am with you, even in such a small time.” His heart jumped in his chest at your words, your honesty and he moved back a bit so he could catch your gaze.
“I want the same. I haven’t felt like this before and I want to keep this feeling. So every night we’ll meet at the same spot as tonight and enjoy each other’s company.” He smiled softly and you wanted to question him. Why did he only want to see you at night? But you answered your own question by remembering that he owned his own business, maybe night is the only time he’s free. But deep down you wondered if there was someone else in the picture, someone else in his life, that made him want to see you late. You didn’t want to be the other woman in his life, you wanted to be the only woman. You were so wrapped up in your thoughts you didn’t notice that he caught on, probably reading every single question, doubt, and thought in your head. “Hey,” he gripped your chin gently and made you look at him, “what’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
Heat rose to your cheeks as you met his eyes and you shook your head, “sorry, something popped into my head and I got a little distracted.” It wasn’t a complete lie, just a general umbrella of the truth. He nodded and leaned down to kiss you softly then pulled back slightly. “It’s getting late, I’ll take you back home.” You nodded and pressed your lips against his once more before pulling back completely.
Maybe one day you’ll get the courage to voice your thoughts, just not today.
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“I felt so fucking giddy once I dropped her off. I was excited for what was to come and what the future would hold for us. It was exciting and nerve wracking all at once.” A smile made its way onto his face as he spoke and it made Kento smile softly. “Everything was going beautifully, we met every single night and I felt some form of relief since I didn’t have to explain myself to her. But I knew something was up, there was something lingering in the back of her mind during our peaceful moments of silence. There were questions unanswered and questions that I knew she was too scared to ask. Then around three months into dating she finally asked them.”
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You two walked hand in hand by the pond he took you on your first date. You loved being with him but you wanted to walk out with him in the daylight, you wanted to show your relationship off like all the other couples. This felt like you two were hiding something and you didn’t like it. Choso noticed that there was something up but he didn’t want to force you to bring anything up unless you wanted to, so he decided to wait.
“Choso, can I ask you something?” You stopped in your tracks and looked up at him, his hair was pulled back loosely so strands of his hair framed his perfectly sculpted face. “Of course you can, darling. What’s on your mind?”
“Why do we always have to meet at night? I love spending time with you but I don’t want to be someone’s secret. I can’t be someone’s secret.” You sighed as he chuckled and scratched the back of his neck, expecting him to tell you he had a wife and kids. Expecting him to break your heart.
“I knew you were going to ask me this but no planning could ever help me figure out how to respond so I’ll just tell you the truth.” You waited with bated breaths for his response. “I can’t go out during the day because the sun would kill me. It would burn my skin like I was put in an incinerator. I can only go out after the sun sets because the darkness protects me. I’m a vampire, my love.” Your eyes widened at his words and you moved back from him. Nothing in his eyes showed you that he was deceiving you but maybe he was that good at lying.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You’re going to look me in the eye and tell me that bullshit?” You were beyond furious, how could he say that and expect you to believe him? “I would rather you just say that I was your mistress. Just forget about me, forget I exist, forget about everything that has to do with me.” You turned your back to him and made your first step to walk away from him until he tried to stop you by grabbing your wrist.
You tried to hold yourself back from slapping him, you really did try but the second he made contact with you, you couldn’t hold yourself back anymore. You turned to him and your open hand collided with his cheek. The next moments were a blur and the next thing you knew you were pinned against a tree.
That was when you saw it, his eyes were practically glowing red as he stared you down. “What more do I need to do to show you? What possible desire would I have to lie to you?” Your eyes moved down to look at his mouth as he spoke, you saw his sharpened canines, sharper than the finest blade. Your chest rose and fell, all feelings of anger and frustration were swapped with curiosity and fear. He shut his eyes and dropped his head to try to collect himself, trying to calm down before doing something he would regret.
It was like your throat was closing in on itself, no words could escape you in the moment but your mind ran with questions. He lifted his head and everything was back to normal, “I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t want you to ever see me like this.” He let go of you and took a step back. “I’ll leave you be, I know there’s no way you’d want to be associated with a monster like me. I’ve done so many things in my life that’s deplorable, I’ve ruined so many people's lives and I don’t want to do that to you. You’re so sweet, so beautiful, so pure, I can’t taint you. I couldn’t live with myself if I did.”
His voice broke a bit as he spoke and you slowly reached out to him, holding onto the sleeve of his shirt. “No.” It was all you could choke out. You gripped the sleeve of his shirt tightly and pulled yourself to him, burying your face in his chest while you shook your head and repeated that word. Letting it get swallowed into the fabric. He wrapped his arms around you and held you until you lifted your head up. “You won’t taint me, I won’t let you leave and you’re not a monster. I don’t know what you did but I know you must’ve done it to survive. I can’t let you leave, you’ve made me so happy and made me feel so loved. I don’t want to lose this feeling and I don’t want to lose you. Please don’t go.”
He moved one hand to cup your cheek and wiped a stray tear that escaped from the corner of your eye. He leaned in and kissed you softly, “I won’t leave. I promise.” He muttered against your lips before kissing you again, deepening the kiss before pulling back. He slid his thumb along your kiss swollen bottom lip and smiled. “I think we should take this somewhere else, I don’t want anyone to get a glimpse of you. Call me selfish but I want you all to myself.”
You nodded and pressed a kiss to his thumb, “take me to yours.” He nodded and did just that. Once you two were confined in the space of his home he kissed you deeply while his hands pulled at your clothes, almost ripping them off before undressing himself. He held you close to him and gripped and groped at your body. “Jump, I’m taking you to my bedroom.” You wrapped your arms around his neck and held onto him tightly as you jumped up, wrapping your legs around his waist. He gripped your ass tightly, massaging the flesh while you kissed and sucked on his neck, your fingers moved up the nape of his neck and pulled at the tie holding his hair back so the raven locks could fall freely.
He walked up the stairs quickly and kicked the door to his bedroom open so he could lay you on the bed. The plush fabric of his blanket swarmed you before he leaned down to kiss you again, his lips molded against yours hungrily. His cock throbbed as he gripped it, guiding it to your wet entrance. He broke the kiss and looked into your eyes, “I’m sorry my love but we need to skip the foreplay for now. I need you badly, I need to feel you again.” He pushed inside you and dropped his forehead against yours. Your back arched off the bed and your hands gripped his shoulders.
You couldn’t stop thinking about the first night you were intimate with him since it happened. On the nights after your dates with him, when you were in the lonely confines of your bedroom you would touch yourself to the thought of him and that night. Wondering if he would do the same to you if you had the chance to experience a moment like that again. Now that you finally have him here with you like this, you couldn’t wait to see what he had in store for you.
Your back arched to press your chest to his while he bottomed out inside you, he felt even better than what you dreamt of since that night. His cock twitched inside you and one of his hands fisted the sheets by your head while the other gripped your waist as he started thrusting. His hips slapped against yours with each heavy thrust. It was completely different from how he was when he was first intimate with you, any sense of fragility he had with you was completely out the window and replaced with animalistic need.
“Missed feeling you like this, you feel so fucking perfect for me. Just taking me perfectly, fuck.” He groaned and fisted the sheets in his hand tighter while his grip on your waist was bruising. All you could do was whimper and moan his name, the pleasure was completely overwhelming you. His eyes scanned your face, watching how it scrunched up then his eyes trailed down to your neck, he could practically hear the blood rush through your veins. If only he could have a taste of the saccharine nectar, but he had to control himself, especially in a moment of passion like this, he didn’t want to push anything too far. Your hands moved up to hook around the back of his neck to bring him even closer to you, he put more of his body weight on you and moved his other hand from your waist to the other side of your head.
“Kiss me, I want to feel you everywhere.” Your tone was drenched in lust and he couldn’t deny you. He captured your lips in his again, kissing you hungrily and sloppily, sucking on your tongue and pulling on your bottom lip between his teeth as he trailed his kisses down. Kissing along the side of your mouth and jaw until he could reach your neck. His hips snapped against yours harder and faster, maybe if he made you cum he wouldn’t be tempted to bite down on the soft skin of your neck. You tangled your fingers in his hair, tugging on the dark strands as he pounded into you. He licked up the length of your neck and he couldn’t help but bare his teeth, dragging the sharp points of them along your pulse point, which made you shiver underneath him.
You didn’t know what took over you in that moment, whether it was the drag and pull of his cock in your warm, wet walls or if it was something you wanted but didn’t realize until now. “ Bite me please.” Your voice was barely above a whisper and he wouldn’t have been able to hear you but thanks to how close you two were to each other, he could hear your plea clearly. He pulled back from your neck and looked at you with wide eyes and stopped moving his hips, earning a whine from you and a buck from your hips. “I can’t, I don't want to do something stupid and hurt you. I let myself lose control now by even letting my teeth drag against you but I can’t bite you.”
You lifted your hands to cup his face and shook your head. “Please. I know you won’t hurt me, I know you wouldn’t take it too far. I just want to feel it, I want to feel everything you can offer me, I need it so badly.” He looked into your eyes and he felt more conflicted than ever, you wanted it and deep down he wanted it even more than you, but then whatever shred of his conscience was left was screaming at him to rethink everything. “Please Choso, I want to be more connected to you. I’m all yours, mark me as such.” You let go of his face and held onto his arms as you tilted your head to the side, presenting yourself to him.
He let out a shaky breath and started moving his hips again, quickly finding the brutal pace he set earlier while dipping his head down. He kissed and sucked along your pulse point, still thinking about what he should do. He wanted to give you what you wanted but there was always a chance that he might end up hurting you. He groaned as his hips slammed into yours, his kisses and sucks grew hungrier as he kept thrusting. He had to hold himself back, he couldn’t succumb to his carnal desires…but he just couldn’t hold back any longer.
His fangs grazed against your skin once more before he sank them into you. Your back arched and tears pricked your eyes from the mix of pleasure and pain and your body reacted beautifully to him. “Cumming! Oh fuck.” Your body shook under him and his hips somehow started moving even faster. The mix of the saccharine that fell on his tongue and the way your walls clenched around and massaged his cock, he was cumming in no time. He rested his hips against yours as he filled you with his cum and somehow came back to his senses so he could pull away from your neck. He licked over the bite marks to clean off any blood that dripped and looked down at you.
You had a blissed out smile on his face, you looked like a masterpiece underneath him, so flawless. He leaned down and kissed you softly, you tasted the iron on your lips and pulled back slightly. “Sorry, I’m just not used to the iron taste.” He chuckled and leaned in to press a kiss to the corner of your lips, slowly pulling out of you as he did so. You whimpered as he pulled out completely then relaxed against his bed, feeling completely exhausted from the strength of your orgasm and the blood you lost. He left to go grab some tissues to clean you off and get you a glass of water but when he came back you were sound asleep. He chuckled and cleaned away any leaking cum and then set the glass of water down on the nightstand, just in case you woke up thirsty.
When he finally laid down next to you, he pulled you close to him and kissed the top of your head. He felt like the weight of the whole universe was lifted off his shoulders, especially since he could be honest with you. He hated that he had to keep the secret from you but now he could leave everything bare with you and know that you would accept him entirely.
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“It felt amazing to get everything off my chest and to have her accept me for who I was. We continued going on dates and our relationship progressed. After the five month period of us dating, I told her I loved her and she reciprocated my feelings. I can’t describe how I felt around her, there wouldn’t be enough words to do so but she was my everything. The sun to my cloudy day, the stars to brighten my night sky, the budding sprout that livened my dead garden, the air that I breathe.” He let out a small sigh and rested his head back against the couch he was seated on, thinking about all the time he had with you. A smile broke out on his face and he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them up again. “I think it was a few weeks short of our two year anniversary when I asked her to marry me. I was so nervous. But she said yes and a month afterwards our wedding came. The Astors offered to let us use their backyard as a wedding venue and they gave us all access to one of their properties for our honeymoon.”
Kento adjusted his position and leaned in, “so, did the Astors know about you being a vampire?” Choso chuckled in response and shook his head, “oh no, at that time the only people that knew were Y/N, Satoru and Suguru. We just convinced them that a wedding at night would be more romantic and they believed us.”
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You stood in front of the mirror and adjusted the veil on your head, making sure it draped over your shoulders perfectly. Mrs. Astor walked next to you and placed a gentle hand on your shoulder while your mother draped your grandmother’s necklace around your neck. “You look beautiful, sweetheart. Choso is so lucky to be the one to marry you and I’m so happy for you. I didn’t think you would be the type to get married but it makes me happy to see you so in love.” You smiled at her and placed a hand over your grandmother’s necklace.
“I was still hoping that you would marry Satoru but Choso is a nice guy, mysterious looking but he hasn’t given me a reason to not like him.” You turned to face your mother and hugged her tightly, she returned the loving embrace and squeezed you tightly. “Your father would have been so proud to see you like this, seeing his precious angel all dolled up for her wedding day.” You pulled back to look at her and wiped a few tears that escaped her eyes. “I wish he was here mom but I’m glad that I have you, thank you for accepting Choso even though he wasn’t your first choice for a son-in-law. But enough crying, we still have a wedding to get through.”
Choso was more nervous than he had ever been in his life and nothing Satoru or Suguru did to try to calm him down worked. “What if she changes her mind? What if she doesn’t want to marry me? What if I rushed everything?” He paced around the room while Satoru and Suguru tried to think of something to say, then there was a knock on the door and it opened to reveal Mr. Astor.
“Choso, what’s the matter? I can hear your footsteps from outside.” The older gentleman joked but sighed as he recognized all the telltale signs. “Come sit down with me, son.” He sat down on the bench in the room and patted the empty space, Choso looked at it for a moment before moving to sit down. “I’ll tell you this, you’re probably more nervous than she is. I was the same way when I got married to Charlotte, I felt like my heart was going to beat right out of my chest and all the doubts swarmed in. I thought about all my fuck ups when we first started dating. Even on our first date, I spilled my wine all over her beautiful dress, she had just bought it and within moments of us getting our drinks I dumped the entirety of the glass on her. But I can tell you this, when you see your soon-to-be bride walking down the aisle, every doubt leaves your mind. The only thing that you can think of is how beautiful she looks, like God sent down one of his angels for you. That’s what matters, not those pesky thoughts.” He placed his hand on Choso’s shoulder and stood, “now, fix your mop that you call hair and head outside, the sun just set and your bride is almost ready.” With that Mr. Astor left the room and Choso felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Like that was what he needed to hear.
Within the hour the ceremony started and Choso stood next to the priest waiting for you. The door that led to the backyard opened and there you were with Satoru, he insisted on walking you down the aisle and wouldn’t take no for an answer. When Choso met your eyes he felt his heart stop, “James was right” he thought to himself as you started walking to him. The dress hugged your figure beautifully, a cinched waist and the high neckline made you look like a goddess. As you walked down some of the guests poured some flower petals on the train of your dress and offered whispered compliments of your beauty.
Tears threatened to brim Choso’s eyes but he quickly blinked and wiped them away, he couldn’t explain to the guests why his tears were crimson instead of translucent. Then, you stood there in front of him, you handed your bouquet to Satoru and took Choso’s hands in yours. “You look stunning, my love.” “And you look even more handsome than the first time I saw you.”
The priest began the ceremony and before you knew it, it was time for your vows. Choso spoke first, “my darling angel, I did not think I could love someone as much as I love you. You’re the reason why my heart beats every second and why air fills my lungs with each breath I take. I was in a dark place, I had lost all those who I had loved and I thought I would roam the earth in solitude but then you appeared and my life was introduced to light once again. Your smile rivals the sun, your skin is better than the softest silk, your eyes hold novels in them and your heart is bigger than any other. Your heart is a heart that is intertwined with mine for all of eternity. If I ask for one thing, all I ask is if one of us meets our timely demise without the other, I ask that we find each other again and live out our love over and over until the earth stops turning.”
You released one of his hands to wipe the tears that spilled from your eyes before speaking, “I had never believed in love until I met you. I had never been interested in relationships and devoting my time to another until that night we met. From that moment on you have shown me the beauty of love, a beauty that I have never been able to understand. You appeared in my life as a mysterious stranger of the night and now you are to be my husband, my soulmate. I have yearned for you all my life, I have loved you before knowing you, I dedicate myself to you. You have never failed to put a smile on my face and you always sweep me off my feet. Choso, I am yours forever as you are mine. Our souls are entangled and they will never part. I love you, for now, forever and always.”
You both put your wedding bands on each other's fingers and the priest said his closing words. “May God bless this marriage, you may kiss your wife.” Choso pulled you close and pressed one hand to your back before dipping you down and kissing you passionately, pouring his overflowing love onto your lips. You held onto his suit jacket tightly until he lifted you upright and broke the kiss. Every guest cheered for you both as you walked down the aisle hand in hand.
Everything went by quickly, the night was filled with laughter, tears, dancing, kisses but most importantly, love. Then you two were being ushered out by the Astors to a horse drawn carriage, “you’ll be taken to your honeymoon residence now, enjoy your night and congratulations.”
The ride to the cottage was fairly quick and once the carriage stopped, Choso got out then scooped you into his arms so he could walk through the door. Once you two crossed the threshold, he kicked the door shut and made his way up the wooden stairs to the master bedroom. “You look magnificent my love, you were glowing.” He made his way up the stairs quickly and set you on the bed. He quickly got rid of his clothes then captured your lips in his. The kiss was hungry and filled with a mix of love and lust. His hands moved along your body to try to find the buttons of your dress but when he started struggling with the first two he opted for the easier solution, tearing the dress off of you.
You gasped against his lips and broke the kiss when you heard the fabric tear. “Choso! What if we want to pass this dress down to our children?” He slid the dress off your shoulders and started peppering kisses along all the open skin he could get his lips on. “I’ll fix it, I’m the best tailor in town anyways.” His hands moved swiftly to undress you until you were both completely naked in front of each other. It was a sight that you both have seen hundreds of times but now it was different, now you two were a married couple and now it was more than just lust between you two. It was pure love. Something so pure it rivaled a virgin’s purity.
He gently pushed you back against the bed and leaned in to kiss you, this time he was much softer with his movements, he took his time to savor you and feel you. Your hands wrapped around the back of his neck to keep him close to you, pulling him so close that you could feel his heartbeat mold with yours once his chest was pressed to yours. He used one arm to hold himself up and his hand moved down to grip his cock, pumping it in his hand as he guided it to your awaiting entrance. He broke the kiss and looked down at you, “do you want me to prep you, my love?”
You shook your head and pulled the elastic that held his hair back, “no, I want you. I want all of you inside me.” He pressed his forehead against yours and slowly pushed himself inside you. It felt like the night he took your virginity, the first night he met you and the night you gave yourself to him. Your back arched slightly and your eyes fluttered shut as a moan left your lips. It was a sight he could never get tired of for as long as he lived.
“I love you.” He groaned out the words as he bottomed out inside you and moved his other arm to rest by your head. He gave you a moment to adjust and started thrusting, slow and deep thrusts as his cock worked through your plush walls. “I love you so much, my husband.” Your words came out through breathy moans and your nails dug into his toned arms, digging at the flesh but only leaving red marks in its wake.
His hips slowly picked up speed, it was still nothing like how he would normally fuck you. There was no animalistic nature, no brutal snapping of his hips against yours, no headboard banging against the wall so hard you would think it would break. He was slow, meticulous, and thorough with each thrust. It was as if he was reciting his vows and pouring his heart to you once more each time his hips met yours. He captured your lips in his again and moved his left hand down to rub your clit.
You two shared moans and groans against each other's lips and nothing needed to be said. What else could there be when your bodies were speaking for you?
While his movements were slower than normal, the buildup to your orgasm was just the same. Your toes curled and your back arched as you felt the coil tighten in your stomach. Each thrust tightened it more and more until it just snapped. You broke the kiss and moaned his name in the most beautiful sound he had ever heard, it was as if angels were singing in his ears. To him, you were the angel singing in his ear. He thrusted a few more times before filling you to the brim with cum, he let out a guttural groan of your name and dropped his head in the crook of your neck. He placed gentle kisses on the skin until his lips felt the all too familiar marks from his fangs. He licked over them and lifted his head to look up at you.
Your eyes were already half shut, you were fighting sleep like you always tried to do and it made him chuckle. He pressed a kiss to the tip of your nose then kissed your lips softly. “Get some rest my love, we have the rest of eternity to relive moments like these. Just close your eyes and dream peaceful dreams of our future together.” You let out a small whine, trying to say something back but fatigue took over. He watched your eyes close and listened to the gentle hum of your even breaths. He slowly pulled out of you and laid next to you. He covered you both with a blanket and watched as you slept, his eyes traced over your features until they were etched into his mind.
If he could put all of his emotions into writing he would write best selling novels on everything he loves about you, if he was a musician, he would write symphonies about the little things that make you, you.
This chance that he had felt like he was finally going to have his happily ever after.
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“Now, every love story has an ending and the hope is that the ending would be a happy one but not this love story. Kento, would you follow me? Take your recorder too.” Choso stood from where he was sitting and waited for Kento to follow as he made his way to his bedroom. On the wall facing the bed was a large painting of a woman, most likely in her late 20s, a soft smile was on her face and Kento followed Choso closer to it.
As he moved closer the gears turned in his head and his eyes widened as he made the realization. “Y/N.” His mouth moved before he could properly gather his thoughts and Choso turned to face him, nodding. “This is Y/N. This was finished three months before that dreaded day, done by a young man that recently moved to the town we lived in. He did it for free so in return I promised him free alterations for life. She was so happy when she saw it, she said that it didn’t even look like her but she was so wrong. While the boy was talented he could never capture her beauty, no one could.”
Choso stood silent for a moment while he brought his hand up to the painting, his fingers lightly grazing the glass of the frame that protected the painting. Kento’s eyes trailed back and forth from the painting to Choso and back until they focused on Choso. His eyes widened a bit as he saw the tears that spilled from the raven haired male, the tears of blood that spilled so freely. Kento had never seen Choso show this much emotion, Choso was always quick to wipe at his tears but not now.
Kento slowly approached him and rubbed his back. “It’s okay, please take your time. I can’t imagine how difficult this is for you to recollect all this, all the pain.” Choso nodded and took a deep breath before wiping the tears away. “It’s just that I haven’t spoken about that day with anyone, I’ve tried to bury it but whenever I see her face, everything just comes to the surface and drowns me. I miss her, I miss her so much.”
Kento set the recorder down and hugged Choso, squeezed him tightly and stood there with him. “Let it out, you need to let it all out.” Choso hugged him back, more tears streamed down his face and a red stain grew on Kento’s shirt. After a few moments of silence Choso broke the hug. “Thank you, I’m ready to speak about her now.” Choso looked at your picture and sighed. “It was just after her 33rd birthday, the year was 1909 and I was at my shop when I received the call. Y/N was out running some late errands with Satoru and she was supposed to meet me at the shop.”
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He held the two fabrics up to Suguru and held them to the pants he had against his work table. “The left matches these pants more right?”
Suguru sighed and looked at Choso with a raised eyebrow. “And why are you asking me?” Choso chuckled and set the fabrics down, “well you’re in my shop and you’re not asking for alterations so I’m making you do some work. You know, for taking up space.” Suguru narrowed his eyes but jumped when the phone rang. “Can you be a dear and answer the phone? You’re not much help with color matching.”
Suguru sucked his teeth and answered the phone, his eyes widening at the frantic voice on the other end. “Satoru, calm down! I can’t understand you when you’re frantic, calm down!” Choso’s eyes widened and looked over at Suguru. As he stood there waiting his heart sunk to his stomach, the anticipation was all too much. “What’s going on?”
Suguru hung up the phone and his face looked like it was drained of its blood. “It’s Y/N, she’s dead.” Choso ran over to him and gripped his shirt in his fists tightly, his eyes changed to a glowing burgundy. “Stop joking around and tell me the fucking truth. My wife isn’t dead.” Suguru placed his hands over Choso’s and took in a shaky breath. “She’s dead. She was in the store with Satoru and she just collapsed. When they were on the way to the hospital she had no pulse. She’s gone. We need to go to the hospital now.”
Choso let go of the now crying male and quickly left his shop.
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“I kept on telling myself that it couldn’t be true. She was healthy, she had recently gone to the doctor and she was in perfect health. But when I saw her body covered with a white sheet, that’s when reality hit me.”
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Choso sank to his knees when he saw your lifeless body on the table. He gripped your hand and squeezed it, all warmth was gone. “Baby, please. I need you. What happened to the life we were going to live? What about the children we were supposed to have? What about living for the rest of eternity together? Baby please. Please get up, please let this be a sick joke. I won’t be mad I promise. Just please let me hear your voice once more, let me hear your laughter, let me see your smile. Please.”
Tears streamed down his face and he banged his fist on the ground as he turned his head up to the ceiling. “I was good! I’ve done nothing wrong! Why did you have to take her from me? Why punish me now when I was truly happy? I’ve atoned for my sins, I’ve prayed for forgiveness and this is how I get repaid? What the fuck kind of sick judgement is that? What more do I need to do? You’ve given me this curse, now I have to live alone? Why take her when you could’ve taken me? She’s done nothing to you. She’s your most perfect creation and now you take her back? Fuck you! Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!” He spent the rest of his time sobbing until Satoru came in, his face stained with tears.
“I’m so sorry, I should’ve never invited her with me. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened.” Choso lifted his head, “you apologizing means nothing, it won’t bring her back. Just leave.” His tone was sharp and cold, Satoru just nodded and left.
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“Later on I had learned that her death wasn’t preventable. It just happened and there was nothing I could’ve done about it. Maybe it was a good thing that I wasn’t there when she died but I wish I could’ve been there in her final moments. I wish that I could’ve been the last face she saw but maybe I wasn’t meant to see it. I still dream of Yuuji during his final moments, so maybe this was God’s way of looking out for me. I mean, who wants to see their soulmate die in front of them? But it’s the selfish side of me that wishes I was there.” He took a deep breath and sighed, Kento drew closer and rubbed his back in some form of consolation.
“Within the following weeks we held a funeral for her. What hurt the most was seeing her mother so upset, I have never seen someone cry so much in my life. The Astors paid for a beautiful tombstone and her mother visited her grave every single day until she met her own demise. I patched things up with Satoru and Suguru and I was with them until they died. Then I was alone again.” He sighed and looked up at the painting. “But I changed. Even before Y/N I had never thought about killing for sport but when she was ripped from my life I killed innocent people just for the hell of it. It wasn’t just people who deserved it, it was people who had so much to live for and I took that away from them. I don’t want pity for what I’m saying, I’ve prayed for forgiveness and I have changed for the better. I mean, you see I only drink from blood bags, it’s donated blood so I’m not hurting anyone to ease my pain. About 10 years ago I saw Y/N in a dream. This is something I’ve kept to myself and not even mentioned to you during our personal conversations.”
Choso tapped his fingers against the frame of the painting and walked out of the room, Kento following close behind. “She looked divine. She was glowing and she had such a beautiful smile on her face but she also looked pained. I know it must have been because she was aware of all the damage I caused after her death and also because I was alone again. But when she approached me all she did was hold me in her arms, I babbled and blubbered like a newborn baby. I apologized to her and told her how much I miss her and she just held me. Then when it was time for her to go and time for me to wake up she just told me one thing, she told me, ‘look for me, I will be in your life again and we will fulfill our promise of being together for eternity.’ Then I woke up, tear stains were on my face and pillow and I’ve held onto that message ever since. I have no clue what she could’ve meant but God, I hope I’ll be able to find that answer soon.”
Choso turned to Kento and nodded, signaling that he was done for today’s interview. Kento stopped the recording and sat down on the couch and Choso followed. “Thank you for sharing that with me. I really do appreciate it. I know she’s watching over you and I know that you two will find each other again. I just hope that it happens soon.” Choso nodded at his words and offered a small smile, “I hope so too but now let’s change to something a little happier. So how many children are you two planning to have?”
Kento chuckled and combed his fingers through his hair, “well I personally just want one but she wants at least two so I’ll have to adjust to that number. But once we do have children, I want you to be their godfather, I want you to be involved in their lives.” Choso sucked in a breath and sat silent for a moment, trying to gather the right words. “I know you don’t want to face more loss in your life but I want someone to be there for you. You have isolated yourself in this cold, cold place. I know you don’t even go out for anything anymore but you need to live. If not for yourself, then for Y/N. How could you find her again if you’re cooped up in here?”
Choso narrowed his eyes at the blonde and tensed at his words. “I know, it’s just hard. I’ve tried to will myself but I just can’t. I don’t want to make myself vulnerable again, I know she’s out there somewhere but what if she’s not ready for me just yet. What if she’s with another? I can’t live knowing she’s loving someone else that isn’t me.” His voice cracked a bit and he shook his head. Kento moved a bit closer and gripped his shoulder, “you don’t know that, you don’t know. Stop living with hypotheticals. Live with the truth and the truth is in the outside world. Go out there. You know, I actually saw a new nightclub opened up a few blocks from here. Go out and experience life in the modern world. And who knows? She might be there waiting for you. And if you don’t go, I’ll drag you there myself. Your inhuman strength is no match for my determination.”
Choso laughed at the poor joke and shrugged. “Fine, I’ll go but don’t expect me to go to this place every night. I think I’ll go insane if I do.”
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After a few hours of conversation Kento left and Choso got himself ready to go out. He looked at himself in the mirror as he styled his hair one last time then walked over to the painting. “Please be out there tonight, I feel ridiculous doing this. But for you, I’ll do anything.” He pressed two fingers against his lips then pressed them against the frame of the painting before leaving. His nerves shouted at him as he walked down to the club, he saw the long line forming when he approached the block and let out a deep sigh, “of course the line is long, lucky me.” He glanced at the people already on the line as he moved to the back and there was no sign that you would be there. And as the time passed on the line, he started losing hope.
There would be no chance in hell that he could find you again the first night he started searching for you, it was an unrealistic dream but there was still a glimmer of hope. Maybe he would be lucky for one more time in his miserable life. Maybe, just maybe.
After what felt like forever, he finally made his way inside. He smelled the booze, sweat, cheap perfumes and colognes, just everything. It was a nice club, had two floors and the top was presumably for VIPs and celebrities and the bottom was for the common folk who wanted a wild night. The bass of the music thrummed in his ears and he started thinking about heading back home. This wasn’t his scene and he didn’t want to be there longer than he had to but he had to see if you were around. Just some form of you. He made his way through the sweaty bodies all packed together like sardines so he could go to the bar. Maybe if he had a few drinks in him, this environment would be just slightly tolerable.
After about an hour and about five whiskeys, the situation was seemingly getting worse. His body needed more alcohol and the alcohol already in his system was just making him irritable. He stood at one end of the bar, far away from the drunken club-goers that stumbled and were on the brink of toppling over. His eyes scanned around to see if there was a trace of you and just when he was about to give up, he saw you.
You were at the other end of the bar, trying to catch the bartender's attention while she was flirting with someone else. His heart felt like it was about to leap out of his chest and his body started moving before his mind could process anything. He had to confirm what he saw, he had to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. He maneuvered his way through the drunken people, almost shoving a few out of the way to get closer to you. Then he was there, standing next to you. His throat was dry but he had to get something out.
“Y/N.” Your name tumbled from his lips and somehow you were able to hear it through the loud music and all surrounding noise. You turned to face him and you lifted your head to meet his gaze. “Hi”, you froze for a moment before continuing, “do we know each other from somewhere?” Your question was asked so gently and there Choso stood frozen.
Everything was the same from all those centuries ago. Like the same angel was sent back down to earth to grace his eyes once more. Your eyes crinkled when you smiled just as they did all that time ago, your voice was the same, only slightly raspier since you have spent the past few minutes yelling for the bartender’s attention, everything was the same. Choso couldn’t believe his eyes, how could he have been so lucky to see you reborn again?
You asked the question again, assuming that he didn’t hear you but again you only received silence as a response. This stranger just stood in front of you, completely frozen but you couldn’t seem to tear yourself away from him. Like there was this magnet that kept you captivated by him. A sense of familiarity washed over you but there was also confusion since you couldn’t trace back to where you knew him from. But if you two didn’t know each other, how could he possibly know your name?
Then he finally gained his train of thought, “sorry, I have to go.” Choso moved through the crowd and you followed behind him, like there was some tether tied to the both of you. You had to follow him or else the invisible tie would snap. Tears gathered in Choso’s eyes as he made his way through to the exit and once he was outside it was like he had gotten even faster. You ran after him as best as you could then stood on the corner when you lost sight of him.
One of your friends who witnessed the whole thing go down approached you and gently gripped your shoulder, “hey, did you know that guy?” You turned to face her and furrowed your eyebrows as you thought about it, you didn’t necessarily know him but you felt like you had. He knew you but you knew relatively nothing about him but you felt like you knew everything about him. Your friend gently shook you to grab your attention, “did you?”
“I think I did.”
Choso looked around to see if you were still following him and once he noticed you weren’t he leaned against the abandoned building and sank down to his knees. Crimson tears streamed down his face and one of his hands clutched the fabric of his shirt near his heart while he muttered to himself.
“I found her, I found you.”
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taglist: @blueparadis @ajaxkinnie @cherribxio @gloomiigloom @aki-and-saltfish
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theriu · 5 months
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River Reads Midnight Sun
Well met, traveler! This is the starting post for my experiment, wherein I, who have never read the Twilight books or seen the movies, read Midnight Sun (basically Twilight from Edward's perspective) and commentate for (hopefully) your entertainment! I decided it would be easiest to do this a chapter at a time, and my commentary will essentially be a summary of each chapter so people equally unfamiliar with the story can follow along. You can follow or block this experiment with the tag #river reads midnight sun.
I think that should do it! Let's get started with:
Chapter 1: First Sight
In which Edward finds high schoolers very Boring and Inane, and also nearly goes bonkers over a potential snack.
First things first: Can we talk about how gross pomegranates look? Is the cover art SUPPOSED to resemble an optical illusion between a halved pomegranate and a bleeding heart? Either way, EW.
Right, on to business!
Edward is bored, you guys. He is SO BORED. High school is so boring. Purgatory is mentioned, as well as “tedium” and “monotonous.” He really wants us to know how bored he is, even though the word “boredom” is not used until the sixth paragraph. But trust me, he’s very bored. One begins to wonder why the immortal 100+-year-old vampire is choosing to hang out daily in such a boring place, but I’m sure it will be explained.
Now we learn about his mindreading powers! This is also very boring because most of the minds he has to read are petty high school minds. By the way, the inane sheeple chatter in the school mindscape today is all about the new girl! I wonder who she could be! Ed sure doesn’t care! He can see every angle of her face via peoples’ thoughts, and he is NOT impressed. Half the “sheep-like males” are crushing on her. Edward’s disdain for them is palpable, almost as if it's not totally normal and fine for human teenagers to find new things like a new student exciting. We may be witnessing a smidge of superiority complex, which is shocking, no doubt.
Mind-reading as a way to introduce other relevant characters is handy, I will grant the author that! Of course, Ed tries not to mindread his fellow vampires out of courtesy, but he KNOWS what they are probably thinking, and boy is he ready to tell us!
Rosalie: Is either actually super hot or super thinks she is, and apparently this debate encompasses her every waking moment. She only compares herself to VAMPIRES, of course, because humans could never be comparably hot. Related to a stagnant pool. Wow, Ed.
Emmett: Hyper competitive guy who has no new thoughts because he says EVERYTHING he thinks. Compared to a glass-clear lake. I suppose that means Ed maybe thinks he has depth? Maybe? We'll err on the side of optimism.
Jasper: Suffering. That’s literally the entire description.
Alice (who can see the future) introduces herself by beaming thoughts at Ed asking how Jasper is doing. Jasper is not doing well. Apparently he is so ready to eat people that he has forgotten how to Human and is sitting in a corpse-like rigor, because it seems when you become a vampire you lose quirks like restless leg syndrome and blinking? This feels full of potential hilarity to me, but I fear such hilarity will not be realized in this Very Serious Book.
Anyway, back to Jasper, who is SUFFERING. Alice asks if there is any danger. Edward signals no. Half a page later, his exposition about Jasper's problem adds, “Jasper was very dangerous right now." Okay, so which is it?! PICK A LANE, ED
(On a genuine note, I already like Alice; she counters Jasper’s fantasies about eating a girl by telling him her name and a few personal facts in a way that shows Alice makes an effort to know her classmates as more than just The Humans. Yay empathy!)
Btw, Ed’s internal monologue indicates they’re hanging out at this school to build their strength and endurance by being around humans and not eating them, and to that I say REALLY??? You chose high school for that?! The one where you’re SUPER BORED?? GO HANG OUT AT A COFFEE SHOP OR SOMETHING
Ope, plot progression! Bella has entered the chat lunchroom. Literally everyone is thinking about Bella, including Jessica, no doubt the requisite catty high school rival who crushed on Edward previously. She has many disgruntled thoughts about Bella, Bella noticing the Cullens, everyone noticing Bella, etc. Ed, who has been doing a great job keeping us up to date on the general thought processes of the student body, takes this moment to assure us once again how much he finds all of this chatter inane AND petty AND trivial, and he’s definitely going to try harder to block them out (again).
Wait, oh my word, was that a line of HUMOROUS BANTER between the Cullens just now?! I have renewed hope for this Very Serious Book!
So Edward is the vampires' mental scout who checks for people suspecting he and his family are inhumanly weird (as opposed to acceptably weird), and naturally he does a brain scan on Bella. Oooo but he’s not hearing anything! And now they have locked eyes! Her eyes are very odd, because of the DEPTH of them! Already, Bella is very Frail and immune to mindreading and somehow has “deeper” eyes than I guess any other human Edward has met in his 100+ years? Ed, I think you need to make eye contact more.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled torrent of inane high schooler thoughts! Amazingly, they are all still focused on Bella and being attracted to or jealous of her, because of course real high schoolers are all Inane and Tedious. (The one exception is Angela, who is busy thinking about homework. I like her, she seems normal.) Jessica is being catty again, and what’s this?! Ed suddenly has this STRANGE URGE to SHIELD Bella from this nasty girl! How very odd and unusual! Especially from a guy who very clearly finds all human teenagers Inane/Petty/Trivial! Bella must be special, except she is also “very unexceptional." Also, Ed is highly frustrated that he can’t read this girl’s mind, despite him constantly reading her like a book and her having “deceptively communicative” eyes.
Rosalie breaks Ed out of his frustration-driven contradictory spiral, and they all go to class, Ed casually mentioning his two medical degrees in an internal dig at his biology teacher (again, why are you hanging out at high school???) Naturally, Bella shows up and the only seat available is the one next to Edward, because Plot everyone is subliminally terrified of him. Ed has a moment of panic wondering if not hearing one girl’s thoughts means he has a vampire disease and is gonna lose all his mindreading, and then he has another moment of empathy for Bella having to sit next to the Scary Vampire.
Then she walks in front of an air duct, and Edward is suddenly overcome with INTENSE BLOODLUST THE LIKES OF WHICH HE HAS NEVER EXPERIENCED BEFORE!!! He wants to eat her SO BAD, you guys! He spends roughly EIGHT PAGES brooding on how badly he wants to eat her, noticing how delicious she smells, crushing the underside of a desk with his intense self-control grip (but having the presence of mind to “destroy the evidence” by rounding out the finger-shaped hole he just made), analyzing the logistics of eliminating a roomful of witnesses and whether to do so before or after eating her, seeing his monstrous reflection in her eyeballs, angsting over how bad he will feel when he murders a bunch of people, plotting ways of murdering her that WON’T result in collateral damage, questioning Bella’s sanity for daring to SHAKE HER HAIR IN HIS VICINITY, angsting about how disappointed his wonderful adoptive dad Carlisle will be (aww, that’s actually sweet), stubbornly deciding “she can’t make me,” hating Bella with the fury of a thousand suns for daring to smell so delicious, and shutting off his breathing so he has at least some self-control, which does sound uncomfortable but I applaud the effort.
Then class finally ends (for him and for us), and he goes and hides in his car. Which, honestly, relatable.
The car timeout helps restore his sanity, and he determines he does in fact not need to kill her and that hating her guts for smelling like an eight-course dinner probably isn’t fair! He just needs to avoid her as much as possible. Bless your heart for your optimism, Male Lead of a Paranormal Romance Novel.
The solution he comes up with is to charm the poor secretary (who keeps having to remind herself mentally that he’s too young for her, which, augh) into switching him to a different sixth-period course. Bella chooses this opportune moment to walk in, which he doesn’t notice until her DELICIOUS SMELL is blown over him (I question why someone with such advanced senses can only notice powerful smells when he is downwind of them). Edward’s Amazing Vampire Vision kicks in, allowing him to once again see his Monstrous Face in the reflection of her eyes, despite her being over against the wall. He briefly contemplates double homicide, then . . . uh . . . gives up on changing classes so he can walk away. This doesn’t feel like a long-term solution, Ed, but Kudos for the self-control.
The chapter wraps up with him jumping into his car (it’s the end of the day, so the others are waiting for him) and breaking the speed limit out of the parking lot. Alice uses Future Sight (it’s super effective!) to see that Ed is either going to book it out of Forks (the town) or go and murder Bella in her house. I once again have reason to like Alice, who orders him not to do it, adding that it would metaphorically kill Bella’s dad. He drops them off and races away again, not yet sure if he’s going to tell Dad Carlisle that he’s leaving or going to go eat the delicious new girl. And Scene!
Well, that wasn’t as painful as I feared, so huzzah! I kind of appreciate the internal look at his thoughts and how his mindreading lets us see other characters even when they can’t talk. Got a bit long at times, especially with how Inane and Petty and Trivial high schoolers are to Edward! LOTS OF DETAIL about how badly he wanted to eat Bella and possibly murder all bystanders, which I guess does go to show how bad the bloodlust is, because dang! (But why do none of the others have this reaction to her yet? Maybe they just don’t have classes with her. You must be this close to the Bella to ride the maniac vampire train!)
And with that, I have earned a much-deserved break before delving into CHAPTER TWO: OPEN BOOK! I’m sure Edward will totally succeed in his plan to skedaddle out of Forks and never see Bella again! Stay positive, Ed! =Dd
Chapter 2->
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Good Morning council it’s been a while
@xerith-42 @gonedreaminggg @cinnamontoastcroonch
I wanted to talk more specifically about what happens to certain SK characters after Shad’s eventual death, as well as the difference between premature and full shadow knights. i never really got around to this so i figured now is as good a time as any.
Ok first and foremost, full SKs:
I know some of you had liked the idea of full SKs dropping dead once and for all after Shad’s death, and at first I did too. But then I got to thinking. Technically speaking, they’d already earned their immortality. Yes the rest of their SK abilities were lost, but I like to think they remain immortal, a final gift of sorts from Shad due to their loyalty. Only issues? Well first off, they’re immortal, not invisible. They can still die, they just don’t age. Second, unlike PMSKs, they don’t have half a soul. They have no soul. They’re essentially walking husks of their former selves. They’re basically zombies, wandering the earth aimlessly, with one goal. Finishing their task. For most, like Gene, their task is fulfilling Shad’s wishes. Ie, killing Aphmau and her gang. So, if you were to approach them they’d be extremely aggressive, even if you had nothing to do with Aphmau. These guys would eventually need to be rounded up, they’re too dangerous to be left alone.
As for the few full SKs that weren’t loyal to Shad, (Vincent, Zenix, and Sasha) they’d also be husks, but they’d be non violent (Zenix… for the most part). I’m sure the Phoenix Alliance would probably try to find a cure for them, though I’m sure that’s unlikely.
Then we have the 2 PMSKs that actually died and were resurrected, Vylad and my oc Eseryt (i’m counting her bc she’s canon is my rewrite). Now the only reason they aren’t walking husks is because they never gained their immortality and thus still have the other half of their souls. Only thing is, half a soul has a tough time piloting a body alone. And so, they remain motionless and cold. Not dead, but comatose. Though they’re minds are very aware, moving a million miles a minute, panicking probably. They can very faintly hear and feel the things around them, but it’s muffled and far away. Eventually Eseryt is awoken by being given Kul’Zak’s relic (i’m sorry it’s not vylad 😬), the reason this works is because A) Eseryt is Kul’Zak’s incarnation and B) that relic contained a fragment of Zak’s soul, which was then bestowed upon Es. She’s awake, but less of herself, though not much less of a person, she now has more soul than most SKs.
Now Vylad is different. In order to wake him they needed to travel to the Yggdrasil Forest and convince the elder and council to left them have a sapling. This was very hard to do. The only real reason they eventually gave in was because these people had just vanquished the one thing that was a threat to all of them. Anyway, a ritual is preformed and Vylad awakens, also less of himself. He goes on to live a semi normal life, but one night while in a bout of sleeplessness, he unknowingly admits to Garroth that he wishes they wouldn’t have wasted the sapling on him and that he wished they would’ve just killed him. This absolutely shatters Garroth.
And on that cheery note! Laurance!
Now Laury is different. Not only was he premature, but he also never actually died. He was just transformed. Meaning, his body never needed to be resurrected. In the beginning he falls unconscious just like the others, but eventually he wakes up on his own. Though it is a slow process, taking weeks maybe even months for him to get back on his feet. When he first wakes he doesn’t know what’s happening. He’s feverish and scared and barely conscious. Eventually the fever leaves him and he’s left feeling like less of himself. More numb than usual. And he has to come to terms with the fact that he can hardly see or walk, that he’ll never guard again, and that his closest friends the past couple of years are both on their deathbeds and no one knows how to save them (he wakes up quite a bit before vylad and es). His only solis is that he’s finally with Aph and Garroth again, and he can finally meet his daughter.
I’m sorry that was a lot but I had to finally get it all out
thoughts? prayers perhaps?
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corvivale · 14 days
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HELLO OH MY GOD I ! completely forgot to set up asks here I’m . so sorryHEBDBAH
BUT YES !! I DO !! SO. SO MANY HEADCANONS. I’ll list a few of my favorites!!!!! :3
• cecil is the type of guy to Not get sick a lot— and I like to think it’s because of his weird immortality curse . like, he would get sick normally as a child, but after all of the horrors he went through, he just .. never really gets sick. once every blue moon however he gets a tiny little cold and he’s the biggest baby about it ever .just absolutely inconsolable. and carlos indulges him and encourages it every time by taking care of him btw
• cecil is AUDHD . thisisnt even a headcanon at this point this is just factual . I actually……. Have an entire paper about this in the works …… it is currently 16 pages long. let me know if any of you would be interested ..
• often whenever cecil is with carlos, he’ll keep his two main eyes focused on whatever he’s looking at in the moment, but he always has at least one of his extra eyes fondly locked on carlos at all times
• when cecilos first brought esteban home, cecil was an absolute WRECK. he was so filled with anxiety that he spent many sleepless nights just straight up sitting by his crib for hours staring at him to make sure he didn’t spontaneously combust or something. he was very overly protective and obsessively read every single baby book he could get his hands on cover to cover Multiple times. carlos got concerned about this and called abby about it and she told him that he was exactly the same way with janice when she was born, and he just needs to let cecil have his little freak out for now so he gets it all out of his system. eventually, cecil ends up so exhausted he conks out for several hours on the couch and then he’s just normal after that (mostly. he’s still an anxious freak at times and we love him for it)
• cecil was avg. weight during the very early years of wtnv, just like how he was described in the beginning, but I like to think he embodies the ‘character gains weight to signify they’re more fulfilled with life/happier now’ trope. depressed insecure isolated little weirdo in an apartment complex with 0 cooking skills —> more confident little weirdo with a loving husband who cooks for him and reminds him to take care of himself when he forgets/doesn’t feel like it . something something now that he’s with carlos he’s actually aging and changing and growing now .. something something he rediscovered his humanity with carlos… etc….
• part of cecil’s love language is Definitely jjst . sharing sweet little drowsy moments with carlos. those quaint, ‘domestic bliss’ mornings he wakes up to— seeing carlos lay beside him with his hair all frizzy from sleep, brewing a warm cup of coffee in the morning while carlos makes breakfast, cuddling and sleeping in on lazy days .. you get the gist. I like to think he loves little cat nap moments as well- just curling up on the couch, intertwined with one another, the only sound in the room being their respective breathing and heartbeats. it helps cecil relieve a lot of pent up tension
• cecil sleep-hosts sometimes. like carlos will wake up to cecil very drowsily mumbling the details of last week’s community calendar or some shit, completely knocked out. he’s perfect
• since cecil can’t cook very well he definitely is just like an annoying cat every time carlos cooks/bakes. like, carlos will be making something, and cecil will either be standing very close behind him looking over his shoulder, or he’ll be sitting up on the counter beside him licking the spoon or something
• ^ on that note I feel like a lot of their dynamic is jsut. ‘carlos doing something productive while cecil either watches or just sits with him enjoying his company.’ like their afternoons consist of carlos sitting on the couch reading a book while mindlessly playing with cecil’s hair, cecil’s head draped against his lap, and both of them are completely silent. they just like being together! carlos’ love language is more tied into his work and getting things done/achieving some sort of practical goal, while cecil just enjoys being along for the ride
• cecil emotes vaguely like a cat. his tail perks up/gets all puffy when he’s startled, his pupils cartoonishly dilate depending on his mood, his tail flicks at the tip sometimes when he’s just stationary/bored/focused and lashes when he’s agitated, etc.
• cecil is AFAB, and has had top surgery! I draw him with top surgery scars, and I don’t know I just think it weirdly makes sense ? anyway . he’s genderqueer and he has a very lax relationship with gender in which he doesn’t really understand why people make such a big deal out of it, and however people address him is typically fine with him!
• since cecil is very artistic and he often expresses his creative writing skills on the radio, I like to think he writes carlos little meaningful poems and prose here and there<3
• due to his ADHD cecil is often forgetful and has to be (lightly) assisted with tasks sometimes. he’s the type of guy to leave untouched, completely full cups of liquid all over the place, having forgotten he made them (me too girl). carlos makes him very specific and written down grocery lists and gives him gentle reminders about things when he needs to, and cecil is very thankful for his patience. any time cecil messes up on something, he gets really upset and self-critical about it, but carlos is always there to reassure him it’s alright and it’s no big deal and they’ll figure something out
• ^ cecil takes stimulant medication and an antidepressant! just like me fr
• cecil is somewhat strict about routine and can grow pretty distressed when plans spontaneously change. I feel like carlos and cecil are on opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to this, so like. he and carlos will have a plan to do something but last minute carlos is like “hey what if we did [] instead for [insert more practical reason]” and cecil is like “uh no what no what. That is not the plan!!”
• ^ another thing like this is .carlos will try and be helpful and like organize cecil’s space for him without telling him about it in advance but when cecil sees his space organized he’s like really freaked out about it because yeah it was messy but it was methodical. he knew where everything was but now he doesn’t and oh god ohhh no change bad
all of this is just shameless projection. btw .let me know if you all would want more of these ..? I have.too many
ALSO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK!! THIS WAS A VERY FUN POST TO MAKE:) @www-pinkhearse
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thebindingofpillo · 1 year
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Lilith
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Some of you are about to get real mad at me.
While Lilith is traditionally considered Adam’s first wife, that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, her status as mother of all demons is also false because Lilith is not a demon at all, she’s a monster. Or at least she was, before making a deal with Satan, we will explain everything in due time. I wanted to make a separate post about the differences between demons and monsters, but there’s not much to say about them, so I’ll condense everything here.
Monster = mortal, weaker than demons (but still stronger than a human though), their magic is more specialised and requires physical things like blood ad flesh (usually human blood and flesh) to work. Unlike demons, who are naturally evil, monsters can be more morally grey, and while there’s a lot of them who eat and kill humans for whatever reason, friendly monsters do exist.They are born, not created, and are native to Earth. Monsters were incredibly common on Earth in the ancient times, but were progressively driven out of their habitats by humans, which brought most of them to extinction. Nowadays monsters are very few, tend to stick to their own communities or blend into human society and fly under the radar. This is what Lilith does, she’s a preschool teacher and lives a quiet life with her Incubus. Demon = immortal, have access to more magical powers (and brimstone!) and are born in hell, which is on a different plane of existence. They can still visit Earth, but it takes time and energy. And also they’re all evil. Sorry.
Lilith is a Hebrew word, that might derive from the Akkadian Lilitu, which might derive from the Sumerian Ki-sikil-lil-la-ke (or just lil). All of these words describe a type of female monster that lives at night and preys on men (If you’re a nerd like me, here’s the handy video that started this whole thing lmao). The noun (yes, noun) “lilith” is used exactly once in the Bible (Isaiah 34:14) and is translated as “lamia” in the Greek version of Symmachus (dated around 200 c.e.) and the Latin Vulgata, which is another type of female monster that feeds on children and kills men after seducing them. Everything fits. King James’ bible translates lilith as “screeching owl” so I decided to co-opt that for her design, and give her some feathers.
And now for the actual lore, the preamble is done I swear.
Note: I’m gonna use “lamia” when talking about the creature, and “Lilith” when talking about the character What are lamias (in my AU) Lamias are a type of female monster whose powers revolve around illusions and transformation. Their normal state is usually of half-bird women with pronounced snake features (like Lilith in her normal form), but they can turn into full snake ladies if they need to (usually to protect their territory, or fight off other lamias). Doing so requires a lot of energy, and is a difficult form to maintain, even for the oldest, most powerful ones. Lamias can also turn into beautiful women to better attract men, their main source of food. They are also known to feed on human children, who are usually kidnapped from their homes and eaten whole. Lamias can feed on women and cattle too, but this is quite uncommon and usually only done in dire situations, like after a war. They are all females. Male lamias do not exist. This is another reason why they need men: they cannot reproduce by themselves.
Lamias usually live in family groups, composed by a matriarch and her (often many) daughters and her granddaughters. Once the matriarch dies, the eldest daughter takes her place, and so on and so forth. These groups can get quite large! So much so that sometimes, the oldest daughters might leave their mother to create their own pack somewhere else (usually due to lack of food and resources).While lamias prefer forest terrain and hotter climates, any place with a lot of hiding spots and a decent dry season is enough for them. It’s not uncommon to find them chilling amongst abandoned buildings, or in the mountains, in caves etc. they’re very adaptable, and while their wings might seem small, they’re still able to travel long distances to find a perfect place for them. Note: their wings are usually only accessible in full snake form.
Lamia culture is usually passed down orally from mother to daughter. They worship the Earth as the First Mother, from which every creature came, and to which every creature will return after death. Their rituals usually revolve around fertility, love, abundance of preys etc. I still don’t know if they believe in the afterlife, but they probably believe that once dead, they return to the womb of the First Mother, where they can rest in eternal bliss and be loved forever. With deforestation, poaching and human being less afraid of monsters in general, lamia population has greatly decreased, and with them being mortal, there could be a very concrete possibility that Lilith is the last lamia alive.
Lilith time for real this time Lilith is a sweetheart. A big softie and a hopeless romantic, perfectly content in her quiet life of preschool teacher. She likes cheesy romcoms, long walks and hot chocolate, but it wasn’t always that way for her. Born a little after the birth of the Roman Empire (around… 40/45 AD, she’s the youngest of the immortals), Lilith used to live in a secluded forest with her mother and sisters (and her daughters too, even if she didn’t have that many yet), occasionally luring men in, eating human flesh and generally having a good time. Think… Libia. Around there. I don’t know. Somewhere with both trees and Roman occupation, I’m not gonna pour more hours into this character PLEASE I’m doing all of this for free. Anyway, life was good for her and her family, until one day Cain passed through that forest, looking for a new place to live after he was exiled for the umpteenth time. Lilith immediately noticed the man and tried to entice him, but Cain (who had at least a couple of millennia more of experience) was not having it. He just wanted to leave the forest behind and find a new home, he didn’t have time to entertain a lamia, so he booked it out of there as soon as he could. Unfortunately, Lilith took that as a challenge and started chasing after him, hoping to tire him out enough to pounce him and put an end to his existence. The chase lasted two whole weeks by the way, but at that point Lilith was too stubborn to let it go. Cain was smart enough to always stop in densely populated areas as to lose his scent and get some extra protection (lamias and monster in general were already close to extinction at the time, and usually steered clear of human cities) but even with the best precautions, Lilith managed to corner him and finally get to him, but she was also exhausted after two weeks of constant chase, and could only knock him down and give him a couple of nasty bites. Cain still has the scars to this day. Sadly, Lilith was not aware of the other, worse part of Cain’s curse, so when she hurt him, her destiny took a turn for the worst. The man managed to wiggle free of her grasp, and while Lilith would have gladly chased after him some more, she realised she had been away from home for way too long, so turned back, only to find her beloved forest and family gone forever. In the weeks she was away, a Roman troop had levelled the forest, cutting down all the trees, killing her mother and sisters and selling her youngest daughters into slavery. She was desperate, and vowed to take revenge on the whole humankind, and that’s when things got even worse! Hearing her cries and pleads for revenge, Satan himself, king of hell, decided to pay her a visit. He offered her eternal life, a chance at taking back what was hers, and in return she would become his, in body and soul, and help him grow his army even further (which is a very fancy way of saying Lilith would become his wife, give him children, and he could also do whatever he wanted to her). Now, Lilith would have never accepted such a rotten deal, but she was incredibly desperate and in a very vulnerable position, and Satan knew that. He played her and used her trauma as an excuse to grow closer to her, promising her he would help her take revenge on the people who wronged her, and would even help her save some of her family, if there was anything to be saved.
Anyway, Lilith accepted the deal, and thus became immortal. Her new home was in Hell, ruling at Satan’s side… only he didn’t really want her ruling anything at all. He was a terrible husband, let me tell you. Once he secured the deal, Lilith was just another unfortunate soul to exploit, so he relegated her somewhere in Hell, and only came to visit once in a while, to check in on her and maybe send her on some errands. Pretty soon, Lilith became restless, and started pushing for her husband to hold up his end of the deal, only Satan wasn’t really planning to. In a fit of rage, he gouged out her eyes, and left her helpless and without sight. Luckily Lilith was immortal now, and losing her eyes didn’t kill her. She could even put them back in again, if Satan let her, but he usually kept her eyes hidden on him all the time, in a little satchel around his neck, only letting her have her sight back if he needed Lilith to run some errands for him. Satan kept her blind to control her better. After enough time, Lilith decided that a life of servitude to a man she didn’t even love wasn’t cutting it, so she walked out of Hell. She was strong, she could handle being blind, and even managed to snatch one of Satan’s little minions on the way out, her trusted Incubus. It was a meagre victory, but at least now she was free, and the Incubus useful enough. Sadly, there wasn’t much she could do about her revenge now. The Roman Empire had fallen while she was in hell, and the men who killed her family were already long dead and forgotten. She managed to meet Cain again after a while, in a different place, as different people, and the two actually became friends. This friendship would only grow stronger over the centuries, Lilith being one of the very few people Cain could be fully open, and while Cain could be considered the source of Lilith’s misery, she was quite understanding of the nature of his curse, and while it took some time, she came to understand that it wasn’t his fault.
Where is Lilith now. As said before, Lilith is now enjoying a quiet life. She works as a preschool teacher (children have always been her passion). She lives in the same city as the majority of the rest of the cast (her and Maggy are coworkers too!) and maintains a close friendship with Cain. Her magic has greatly diminished over the millennia because she firmly refuses to consume human flesh. She doesn’t really see the point in it anymore, since her whole family is gone and monsters are incredibly few. What little of her magic remains, she uses to keep a human form during the day, so she can work and run errands without much trouble. She could theoretically return to her full powers (and even transform fully into a lamia) with some generous blood donations, but it’s not really something she has any desire to do. Over the years she’s ha many relationships, some even quite serious, but tried her best not to have children. She doesn’t know if her immortality would be transferred to her daughters and doesn’t want to run the risk of seeing her children die. Incubus is still with her after all these years, and while she can’t exactly take him out like a normal pet, he can still follow her everywhere by hiding in her poofy hair. He loves it.
Other stuff that I couldn’t fit anywhere else
Lilith is not her real name! That’s just another name for her species, like calling someone “human”. Her real name is unpronounceable by a human mouth, and with lamias being basically extinct, she’s made her peace with the fact nobody will ever call her that again. While “Lilith” is not an ideal name (she prefers going by “Lily”) it’s still okay.
Can sustain herself with human food too! Just prefers her meat extra rare. This is how she maintains that little magic she needs to turn human.
Incubus is sentient, but to a lesser degree. He’s like a very intelligent animal (his ref is coming eventually I didn’t have time for it UGH)
I hope you enjoy her! I did not proofread anything of this, just take it.
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localplaguenurse · 5 months
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Oh right are y’all ready to see what the noggin had brewing during my finals?
Hint: it’s depraved, I’m pretty sure Wifey is just a my whump character now
So I was thinking about what kind of experiments dottore would do if he ever got his hands on Wifey.
I’m gonna spare you from the worst of it because I want to look at least a little bit sane
Well first he would take it as an opportunity for him to test if wifey’s body can sustain and control the geo gnosis since they have part of Morax’s power, after pantalone wants his mora.
My theory is that they can but not in the way dottore wants it, its incredibly unstable and even if he somehow placed restrictions on the gnosis to only produce mora I doubt Wifey would have the capabilities to do something like that since there are so many details in a single mora coin and not to mention they would have to produce millions of it (because with the abundance of mora, it’s value as a single coin is quite low)
And not the mention the physical effects of having a gnosis ripped out of you and then placed back in on a daily basis, it would leave them so weak and then have to repeat all over again?
Also extorting the fact that Wifey cannot physically die before Morax, I think they would only give them just enough food to survive
And that’s only normal Wifey, can you imagine abyss Wifey?
Dottore has been wanting to get childe on his surgical table for years, and since Wifey and childe have similar abilities after coming out of the abyss…. Well dottore Is going to have a field day with that
So many things he can learn about the abyss just by subjecting Wifey to experiments and discovering the secrets to the foul legacy form.
Also I wouldn’t put it past him if or when Wifey starts to become numb to it and they stop reacting, dottore would start telling them how he hunted and killed theyre children
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Y’all so I wrote 90% of the answer this morning, went to check a notification and the app crashed. I started refusing my answer right now, literally set my phone down to plug my laptop in, and it crashed again. Tumblr does not want me to answer this. 
Anyways, to clarify: Wifey is the “won’t die unless directly killed” flavour of immortal. You CAN kill them, you’re just gonna have to try a little harder because the adeptal healing keeps them from succumbing to more extreme injuries. That said, I don’t imagine it allows them to, say, regrow limbs, and if the injury is bad enough it WILL leave scars and other possible damage. 
The only reason Wifey can actually handle the gnosis inside them is because they’re married to the previous owner. It’s not that it like recognizes Wifey as Rex Lapis’ wife, it’s that the healing Wifey inherited from Morax keeps them from at the very least keeling over. I also like to imagine that because it’s specifically Morax’s adeptus energy, the gnosis sort of recognizes that. It’s kinda like vaccine logic, I guess.
That said, I imagine the main BIG reason the mora doesn’t form right is not JUST because Wifey’s technically mortal, it’s that they don’t even use Geo. The Geo Gnosis belonged to the Geo Archon, a god literally MADE of geo, and now Dottore’s sticking it in a mortal* dendro vision wielder. I’m not saying stick it in a geo user, or stick the dendro gnosis in Wifey, but like... probably should’ve anticipated it wouldn’t work.
As for Abyss Wifey, god that poor thing. They hate that part of them because it reminds them of such a horrifying and traumatic time of their life. The only “good” that came of it was their Foul Legacy, because it means they can’t get hurt anymore, no one would dare to go near them. 
Not only would being abducted and experimented on because of your monster form suck on its own, but Dottore has the strength to rival the gods. Wifey won’t stand a chance, and you know what that means, right? It means that even their ugliest and most vicious side, the one born from their trauma, will not save them. It means that anything in theory can happen to them, and whatever is going to happen will be so much worse than the Abyss. 
When Wifey goes catatonic, they might not even react to Dottore saying he’s killed their children, because they know that couldn’t happen. Their children wouldn’t let that happen. Morax wouldn’t let that happen. Surely it… it’s not true. It’s not true. As the days go by with no signs of help, they’ll start to believe it more and more and have a full breakdown. They’d do nothing but cry or stare into nothingness until help arrived or...
Abyss Wifey, on the other hand, will immediately go to tear out his fucking throat. They have to be sedated most days because they activate Foul Legacy every chance they get to try and kill him. Even if help arrives, they’re not leaving until they’ve put Prime’s head on a pike. 
I should tell you to stop whumping Wifey, if only because it gives me ideas myself. Also, beta will gut us.
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aroaceleovaldez · 1 year
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okay I said i’d talk about my praetor ocs so here they are. my guys. If you follow Deadangelos you’ve probably seen a lot of them already but get ready for the in-depth version because they’re probably my favorite OCs i’ve made purely for the askblog and they’re very fun to me.
Behold: Dee Keystone (child of Janus) and Cadeyrn “Cade” Avitus (legacy [grandson] of Summanus), the praetors before Jason and Reyna!
(Explanations under the cut cause this got long)
They were made with two main shticks in mind: A.) Reverse-engineering Jason and Reyna to figure out what their predecessors might have been like based on their own personalities, with the idea that they might have tried to model themselves based off of mentor figures, and B.) A personal headcanon of mine that the Romans tended to favor promoting demigods who could potentially fit the Great Prophecy description but with a much wider concept of what “a half-blood of the eldest gods” could potentially mean. At least until the Titan War ended. When the war ended they just presumed Jason was the prophecy kid and they were a year off about his age and all was good.
I brainstormed a bunch of praetor designs for this and ended up picking these two (and one of the other scrapped designs became Athanasius “Mac” Macbeth, one of the centurions of the 5th cohort before Jason and Reyna) cause I felt they worked best and also i just liked their designs. They’re a bit older than I imagine most praetors would be just cause I personally figured it’d make the most sense for the Romans during the Titan War to be drawing in reserve forces from retired legionaries, and so those in the legion who would normally retire just kind of stayed until the war ended. Ergo, these two being possibly the oldest praetors Camp Jupiter has ever had. (Their ages/years in the legion is specifically them in TLO, since that’s the time they’re mostly showing up on the blog.)
Cade is very specifically meant to mirror Jason and Thalia a ton (ergo Comparison Thalia) - Summanus is the Roman god of nocturnal storms and sometimes considered just a sort of variation of Jupiter. My thought with him is that his family lives in New Rome and they fostered Jason when he arrived (because who better to raise a baby who can short-circuit camp’s entire power grid with a sneeze than a legacy family who all also have lightning powers and have raised electrocuting toddlers before?). Plus, Cade just so happens to be extremely similar to Thalia, so baby Jason latched onto him pretty immediately and Cade ended up his big-brother figure. Also yes, I did make extended families for basically all the roman ocs I’m making for this event; Cade has an aunt and two cousins. Cade’s appearance is also purposefully reverse-engineered from Thalia and Jason - his hair is supposed to look a lot like Jason’s except Jason always has a cowlick sticking up (and later gets an undercut, which is why Dee has a half-shaved head cause xe’s reverse-engineered too) with the idea that it’s symbolic of Jason trying to live up to Cade’s legacy but he can never quite be the same, because It’s My Askblog And I Can Flesh Out The Underdeveloped Characters’ Backstories If I Want To. (Jason getting an undercut later and how that relates to Dee is Dee as a child of Janus represents decision and paths and I will get into more detail later on the blog about how Dee specifically represents to Jason what decisions he makes about what path he wants in life and him getting an undercut during HoO/between series is kind of a symbol of him moving away from the original path laid out for him at Camp Jupiter and forging his own path instead. This OC breakdown is actually just Jason character analysis/headcanons in disguise.) Cade also has some face scars to mirror Jason’s scar on his lip. His SPQR symbol is just a lightning bolt over a moon for “nocturnal storms.” Cade also happens to be the same age Thalia would be if she hadn’t been turned into a tree and then became immortal. This also means him and Dee are the same age as Luke. That’s probably symbolism, idk.   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  
If Cade is primarily Jason’s mentor figure, Dee is primarily Reyna’s. This is extra fun cause Cade is kind of the more serious between the two of them whereas Dee leans a bit more towards Jason’s brand of not-quite-golden-retriever energy, so they kind of swapped there. The “9yr” thing is how long both of them have been in the legion specifically - for Dee, that also includes moving into Camp Jupiter in general, but for Cade it’s just the legion cause he was born there. Yes, this is more parallels to Reyna and Jason (Jason being raised in CJ versus Reyna joining later). Also again, Dee’s hair is meant to somewhat parallel Jason’s undercut he gets later. I really put way too much detail into these guys. It’s fun though.
Some more fun little things!:
Dee has a girlfriend who’s a rogue. and also a daughter of Arke. aka a Greek demigod. That part is extremely complicated so I won’t get into it right now but the short version is: Comedy of Errors (Arke is the twin of Iris, whose Roman name is... Arcus. They’re both goddesses of rainbows. Everyone is confused.) They met during the war and it’s very cute (except for The Horrors but we can ignore that for right now).
The 5th cohort centurion guy i mentioned earlier, Mac, is a legacy of Dis Pater and also dating Cade.
As a legacy of Dis Pater, I like to imagine Mac is the one who gave Jason the coin weapon he originally had.
There’s a whole background New Rome political drama that bleeds into the plotline involving the praetors, Mac, and Mac’s cousin (a guy named Brennus Brinley, a legacy of Bacchus and former augur/Octavian’s mentor). It’s all very complicated and way too detailed for something that will basically never get addressed on the blog but it’s very fun to me.
Currently on the blog I’m doing a flashback event of Jason’s backstory/time at Camp Jupiter and we’re in the portion explaining the Roman side of the Titan War and Dee just basically got told to fake their death cause they found out Brennus is working for the Titan Army so. That’s a whole thing. Why is Brennus working for the Titan Army (something that will definitely never get the chance to be explained on the blog)? See aforementioned political drama. Yeah his family is just trying to get power. So he threatened the life of a praetor during battle which is a horrible idea really but whatever. It’s fiiiine. anyways Cade is sad about that now and I should be working on the next set of panels to explain the rest of what happens with that whole mess.
The interesting part though is I very lightly got to touch upon what Dee’s powers are as a child of Janus and it’s basically just xe can see potential outcomes of a scenario or different paths that are most likely to arise as the result of a decision:
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Like here’s xem having xyr life threatened and deciding what to do about it. And xe saw one option had like, waaaay more death, so they picked the other one.
(Also if you’re wondering “Wait, is Dee wearing a CHB necklace?” again, see: Xe’s dating a greek demigod in the Titan Army. It’s complicated. Short version though, said greek demigod was formerly a camper and gave her beads to Dee. Dee still doesn’t know about CHB though. Xe just thinks xyr girlfriend is from New York.)
Cade’s powers I don’t get to go into as much detail about in the plotline I have but generally - he just has lightning powers. They’re a bit more muted than Jason’s though they get stronger at night, obviously. But also because he’s a legacy he’s not as electric-proof so he can’t really do a ton without getting injured himself. He’s more electric-proof than most people though, which is why he’s able to mentor Jason without getting absolutely fried. Also his mom is a cloud nymph which doesn’t really have any impact on him powers-wise and also isn’t super relevant but I think it’s fun and also if he ever grew out his hair/beard it’d totally get wispy like clouds or fog. Again that’ll never come up on the blog but it’s fun to me.
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Lookit him. Cloud hair. What a guy.
Anyways that’s all I can think of for right now but feel free to ask about these guys or tbh any of the ocs from Deadangelos because I am always happy to ramble about background characters that I put way too much thought into that will definitely never be addressed.
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thetoaddaddy · 1 month
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A funny little thing about fandom and fandom spaces. Especially if you are new to these spaces:
I got a friend who is fairly new to fandom spaces. She sends me screenshots sometimes of people in her fandom like being dramatic about shit and I’m not really phased by it cuz I’ve been in fandom spaces since I was like 12.
I gotta school her and tell her all these fandom lores. Like the fact Lord of the Rings had a gay fanfiction cult that scammed people out of money with promising amazing meet ups and were lack lustre, including flying out jed brophy and having his partner having to sob confess to him that she didn’t have enough money to fly them back home and they met Sean Astin several times for charity events and even got him to make the proposal between the cult leader and his main victim/“partner”.
Or that one time in the Hamilton fandom with that one white chick who pretended to be a woman of colour who had aids via sex trafficking but was in fact a white girl with a normal middle class upbringing. All to validate her fanfic about the aids crisis in the 80s with an age gap ship. Which she had no reason to do, like girl made a problem about nothing. And used this marginalized voice she crafted to scam money from people with sickbaiting. But the story then got watered down to the girl who exposed her did so cuz of a rival Hamilton mermaid cannibal crack ship… and then the call out poster then doxxed the scammer after promising not to. Honestly, what a damn mess that was.
The mass shipping wars between harry/ginny traditionalists vs the unhinged proshippers on the other side who shipped anything and everything(which is whatever i’m more proship at the end of the day its just fictional characters and they’re tagged properly, if you interact with it that’s on you). They fr had turf wars and an exchange of harassment(not to mention mrs scribe and her socks). Hello Draco’s Leather Pants I see you. Or the Snape Wives who astral projected sex with Snape via their husbands.
That bible self insert fanfiction writer who went to hell and back to try and claim they wrote my immortal. But he was bad at covering his trail, claimed this multiple times, tried to (shocker) get money and fame from this.
The sonic fandom in its god damn hayday was on a whole different level of insane. The ocs the edits the tracing. In general most spaces were toxic.
Clown meat fandom.
Or when Naruto fans harassed and sent death threats relentlessly to kishi for not making their ships canon at the end of the Naruto manga. We’ve seen things. We have lived through scammers, freaks, and extremists. There always will be in fandom.
I think whining about people who take their favourite character too seriously is not really looking at the full picture of what raving fans will do. Especially in young fandoms. Fanatic people have and always will act the fuck up. They’re the loudest of their fandom usually. But they don’t define their community as a whole. Just let them be. Nothing you can say will change them. They gotta go through the ravenous phases of fandom themselves. Then they become fandom elders like I… Like most of us are. We like what we like. We get friends from it. We make new headcanons and expand upon the blanks the canon materials left out. The ravenous do this too but they tend to have a sort of tunnel vision.
Regardless I don’t think antagonizing them is the right call. Fandom will always fandom. I think it’s just the natural life cycle of the fandom space. We’re all cringe. Ain’t none of us better than anyone else.
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ghostjunksickness · 4 months
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The Medium Character Analysis at long last!
Oh man this one was slippery one.
The Medium is a shape shifter both physically and narratively, and is very difficult to pin down as a character.
Luckily, we can catch glimpses of what’s going under the surface through a few of the characters, mainly Aiden, Nowe, Ghost/Jan and briefly Erich.
Starting with Aiden, I don’t think it’s an accident the cyclops is our first “medium” for the Medium. Ghost definitely screwed Aiden up in his attempt to help him, but I have a very specific theory of what was driving him so crazy. Rereading that chapter, I strongly believe Aiden was already living an analogous life style to that of the Medium. All he cared about was eating, and Aiden’s inner monologue / possibly the Medium themself chastised him for squandering his second chance. I think Ghost, in attempting to break the deal, accidentally put a bit of the Medium into Aiden. My evidence for which is the following:
The presentation and transition of the word bubbles.
The physical mutation going on i.e. extra pupils and the blood grappling hook.
The knowledge of what Vahn’s tattoos are and finding them irritating (more on that later.
And, ya know. The sudden urge to eat people.
Which if this is true, tells us a little more about what being the Medium is like. We already knew they liked eating people. But whereas before I thought they were doing out of spite towards their mom the Crane Women (permanently taking away the mortals she loves so much), dude might not even have a choice in the matter. The Medium also probably lives a very solitary life much like Aiden. Their only long lasting companions are the Crane Woman, with whom they have mommy issues, and Huko, with whom they have everything-else issues. While that sort of isolation shouldn’t (and doesn’t appear to) be bad for a normal Immortal, the Medium isn’t an Immortal. They’re an immortal Mortal.
(Thanks mom)
And Mortals kind of need a certain level of physical and psychological maintenance to be functional or happy. Which I somewhat doubt the Crane Woman thought of let alone provided.
While it’s been moved around, there’s a brief interaction between the Medium as Hadar and Erich that tells us a lot about the Mediums mental state. Both of them are creations with some sort of obvious tell that they are something else. The Medium seems to project their own upset feelings onto Erich, but when Erich tries to reach out, the Medium freaks a bit. The Medium has had untold eons to learn how to read people and play the stage as needed. The Medium loves to act as wacky over the top characters but doesn’t seem to know how to be a person.
Which brings me to the big part: The Mediums relationship with Nowe!
When I made my first theory on the comic, I thought Nowe got the Mediums character nailed from the get-go. A cosmic loan shark, a trickster that’s three steps ahead and already knows what you’ll do next. And then I reread the comic with a fine toothed comb and formed a new theory:
Nowe and the Medium have one thing in common and it’s that they both suck at their jobs.
To be fair to the Medium, I haven’t really been given any examples of what normal successful deal is supposed to look like.
We’ve got:
Aiden, who’s deal was broken by the Ghost.
Trigger, who made a deal to fix a problem I’m pretty sure the Medium honest to god caused by accident.
And Nowe, whose first deal had to be nullified because while the Medium is powerful, they sure as shit aren’t omnipotent in their current state.
Which following up on that last point, we haven’t seen much of what a normal deal entails but I can’t imagine the Medium getting dressed up in a maid outfit and baking Trigger muffins. A significant part of this analysis was just working out why the Medium is so kind and supportive to Nowe. The deals been struck, they technically don’t need to do more than what they’ve already promised. If Nowe can’t deliver then that’s on him and the Medium gets a snack. Except, this time the Medium wants the agreed upon outcome of the deal. With Aiden, what the Medium wanted was to eat him, but they need to go through a whole song and dance first to get there. Being paid back as much as they give is normally a net zero gain for the Medium. They want to eat people so they want people to fail their deals.
The deal with Nowe is different because this is probably one of the few, if not first times the Medium has ever wanted something from somebody. The Medium is asking for help in the only way they know how (or maybe even can). I don’t imagine this is a familiar predicament for them so the Medium is being extremely kind to Nowe because technically, Nowe is doing something incredibly kind for the Medium. And the Medium gets a Snack.
Lastly there’s Ghost/Jan, whose in the iris of this mess.
If I had to guess on how the Medium actually lost their heart, they probably gave it to Jan thinking it would “release them from their mortal bindings” before later realizing “oh shit I actually need that”.
My reasoning here is that every flashback we see of the Medium depicts them in bandage like bindings, placed there by Hoku. Ghost is perpetually wrapped in bandages himself (just realized we never got pronouns for them, was/were maybe?) and is presumably the test subject aka sacrifice used to make contact with the Medium. Jan took the Medium’s heart and bindings but also took a good chunk of their power to.
When Dr. Yaromir said Vahns brands were the key, I think he was right but for the wrong reasons. It was Hilo’s powers that locked the Medium, it’d likely be the same power to unlock the bindings now on Jan.
TLDR: the Medium is a hungry theater kid with mother issues and struggles with introspection
This was a blast to read, thank you so much for all your thoughts!! Being the Medium is a strange predicament for something as you said, an immortal mortal. There’s pain points in being in the middle of these omnipotent beings that cannot possibly understand the agony that comes with having a human heart and when it suddenly disappears. When that particularly desperate mortal comes along with just enough power and drive to do just about anything… You don’t let him go!
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deardragonbook · 2 years
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Writing immortals and age differences within relationships
When I was a teen, there were far too many books featuring characters that were hundreds of year old and dating teens. 
It still happens. But we’ve come to a point where many people agree this isn’t great. There’s a huge debate when it comes to age differences in media, but teenagers are generally too young to be dating immortals. 
A lot of these stories justify the age difference with the immortal having the body of a teen. Now, if they have the mind of a teen I can kind of see it, however then there’s the problem of, why even bother having them be hundreds of years old if that’s not going to play a role at all in their character? 
Personally I avoid them, kind of. 
Here’s the thing, in my own books there is a variety of species with very different life expectancy-s, some are immortal, others live for hundreds of years, some have the normal average human lifespan. 
So how do relationships work? Scratch that, how do healthy relationships work? 
Because we are allowed to write problematic relationships as long as we don’t fantasize them. 
Well, I use the life-long method of, it depends. 
Because a five year age different is not the same when talking 15 to 20 and 30 to 35. The same goes for immortality, a two hundred year age gap is completely unacceptable for an eighteen-year-old and two-hundred-and-eighteen-year-old. 
But what about a forty-year-old and two-hundred- and-forty-year-old? I allow it. Because the thing is, yes, this a complicated and layered relationship, but these are two consenting and understanding adults. It’s important there be communication about the different experiences and this relationships won’t be simple, but there’s no abuse happening here. 
A forty-year-old is capable of understanding what they’re getting into. 
The immortal character is also capable of understand their human partner won’t be around forever. 
For there me, there isn’t a number of years that makes an age gap acceptable or not. For me the youngest characters needs to be fully developed mentally, and there needs to be healthy communication. 
That isn’t to say I don’t have characters who are seven-hundred years old and refuse to date anybody under the age of five-hundred, but in their case it’s not a matter of morality, it’s about preferences. 
This character has experienced a life very different to that of a human or any other short life span species, and explaining that type of life can be difficult, hard work. They prefer to date people who share similar experiences. 
I have a variety of characters with a variety of relationship preferences and their own personal rules. But this is how I handle age-gaps.
I hope you found this interesting and I would love to hear if you have a different opinion! 
If you want to check out my books, free to read stories or other social medias you can check out my author website. I also have a discord for my book series where I’m open to talk about writing, publishing and books in general so if you’d like to reach out me join my discord!
My third book will be going into beta reading soon so if that something you’re interesting in, stay tuned! 
Have fun writing!
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grimfutureau · 11 months
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Grim Future AU: a breakdown
because they are all so horribly sad.
Just kidding, sort of. ANYWAY here is a long-awaited rundown of our Grim Future au! You can find the completed fic, titled Terrible Things here :)
Just as a precursor, for this universe we have combined bits of the manga into the anime, the latter of which we are much more familiar with. 
The AU starts roughly 10 years after the events of Soul Eater. During these ten years, Liz and Patty, and Maka had passed away in two separate accidents. Sometime in between, Black Star and Tsubaki vanished from Death City, and have not been seen since. Nobody knows why they left or if they are coming back. That left just Kid and Soul in the city, picking up the shards of their life into some shabby semblance of normal. The immortal and the Death Scythe. And Maia, who is the last bit of Maka Soul has left.
As I said, Kid and Soul have managed to build a new sense of normal that works, despite everything. They’re still hurting but at least they can pretend everything’s okay, and focus on making sure Maia is happy. Everything is great until a pair of someones decide to finally come home.
For anyone who wants a deeper look at what goes on in the story instead of/before reading the fic, I’m going to keep on explaining. So, vague spoilers under the cut.
The main plot kicks off when Tsubaki drags convinces Black Star to go back to Death City, seeking their old friends’ help to hunt down a rogue, unusually powerful witch covertly wreaking havoc on the countryside. 
The story follows a couple of plots:
Kid, Black Star, Tsubaki, and Soul are all trying to locate and confront the witch, but are repeatedly struck down because, as I said, she is abnormally powerful. She also seems to have a bit of a history with Black Star.
Maia, recently enrolled in the DWMA is getting more and more restless, wanting to follow in Maka’s footsteps to be the best meister in the academy. But there are things about herself that she needs to be careful with. Her story focuses on a balance between her ambition and wellbeing, fighting for her sense of self.
Meanwhile, Black Star and Tsubaki are grappling with the consequences of their past.
While Kid tries to figure out what happened to Black Star, Black Star is trying to get Kid to confront his past and his emotions, since Kid has spent more than 10 years shutting out his humanity, and, with it, the people he loves. There is lasting tension from the last time they fought spoke to each other.
Soul is, above all else, trying to keep Maia safe. Between the witch’s cryptic plans, Black Star’s mentorship, and Maia’s raging ambition, AND the temperamental teenager Wes suddenly dumped on him, he’s got his work cut out for him.
Amelia (the aforementioned temperamental teenager) has mostly just been thrown into the whirlwind of drama in Gallows Manor, but she grows a lot as she befriends Maia and accepts her heritage, finding a family along the way.
I think that’s everything. The point of this blog is to expand on the ideas presented in the fic. We are constantly adding to this AU and have so many ideas and little details that surpass the boundaries of the fic: what happened before Terrible Things? What about after? Where the hell is Crona? What exactly is Azrael? What can Amelia and Maia really do? Plus a growing cast of characters that didn’t make the fic. It’s all just for fun, plus this blog helps us document ideas (as if we don’t have a nearly 200 page doc of stuff).
Feel free to ask questions!
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bidisastersanji · 5 months
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Hey!! Happy weekend, sorry if this might come across as a really strange headcanon dump but I was inspired by ur DeathGod!Sanji drabble and I really really loved it. I liked the wider connotations it had on the one piece canon; fantastical religions and expansive world building are really important to me, I started drafting what I believed the different Blues’ beliefs about the afterlife and Death as an entity were and more specifically, the Strawhats views on death in alignment with my own little headcanons for each Blue were, whilst still trying to cram as much of Sanji's character into each one.
They’ve kind of been sitting in my drive for the last few days (and in all honesty i’m not even finished) but i'd really like to share them with you, your au's are always so interesting and acc inspires me to create smthn for the first in months 💀
What I've written so far;
• Luffy - He has no strong beliefs about Death or what may come after, this lack of care isn’t born out of ignorance or delusions of immortality: It’s just simply a fact to Luffy. One day he’ll be here, the next he won’t. He doesn’t know what comes after but thats okay because nobody else does. What’s the point in worrying about a far off death when the present is at his feet, and the One Piece on the horizon? It’s not like he and his crew will be forgotten. He’ll be the Pirate King! And they’re his crew! His swordsman and his navigator, his sniper and his doctor (etc.)! It’s not like they won’t be remembered. And he’s right, they won’t be forgotten, not by any means. It’s a simplistic but deeply wise view on death and memory, and it’s not like the fear of the unknown has ever stopped Luffy before. If pushed; he’s likely to just repeat the stories Makino and Shanks (and Shank’s crew) told him as he was growing up; of reincarnation and Death’s love of lovers, but that doesn’t mean he actually follows those same beliefs. There’s a part of Luffy that already knows deep within in him what comes next. And he’ll welcome Death like an old friend - long forgotten (maybe never even met), but always missed.
Zoro • He doesn’t believe in a personified Death entity, or any divine entity at all; even when confronted multiple times with Sanji doing obviously Not Normal stuff he is just in complete denial and absolutely determined to come up with a logical answer for any and all supernatural bullshit he’s confronted with. Sanji shapeshifts so the rest of the crew don’t recognise him or his intervention? Makeup. And wigs. Sanji is completely ignored by the majority of the crew even if stood right in front of them screaming? (Excluding Brook who can fully see and interact with, and Chopper who can partially perceive him) He’s just super good at not being noticed. Observation haki innit. He keeps randomly appearing in places no human should be able to reach without teleportation? He’s skywalking and is just super good at power walking to places.
Nami • Her beliefs have changed throughout her life. As a child she believed in the Red Line beliefs that Bellemere (as a marine) also followed, however, once her mother died she searched for other stories and ideas as the belief that there's really nothing after death; no afterlife and no reincarnation, scared her too much. Nami was desperate to have any remaining essence of her mother, and the fear that there really is nothing left of Bellemere but memories burdened her for a very long time. As she grew, she was (whether subconsciously or not) influenced by the Fishmen ideas and beliefs of returning to the Sea-Of-Which-All-Hails, the primordial waters that are said to be the original home of the Fishmen and Merpeople deep within the core of the Earth. This is a glorious afterlife, that . Nami knew Bellemere, as a human woman, likely wouldn’t have entered, but the stories of honoured ancestors and friends finding eternal joy and freedom in a kingdom of oceanic splendour - these stories comforted her at some of her lowest points in Arlong Park, but she still has very mixed feelings about it. After the destruction of Arlong Park and the freeing of the Conomi islands (and especially after Robin joins the crew) she passively looks into other afterlife and underworld beliefs, upon which her interest is discovered and Robin tells her of an island on the Grand Line that believes if you love someone enough; the Sky, an eternal watcher, will carve their soul into the stars to make sure they’re never forgotten. This is what Nami believes now, that her mother is carved into polaris, so that she can always set course with her mother watching over her.
Usopp • Usopp is majorly scared of death and does all the regular maritime superstitions as well as the traditional ones said to ward off ill luck. He’s had his superstitions since Syrup Village but has gathered more and more as the journey progresses, but as he travels more he stops relying on them so fervently; he still believes they work and he still practises them, but the desperation has disappeared as his confidence in himself grows - they’re now more just habits. He believes in the standard East Blue ideas about reincarnation and a primordial entity of Death divided up into a thousand shards, that there are hundreds of millions of Reapers. However, the (specifically) Syrup Village belief was that there is a singular Reaper for every soul born that watches and matures alongside the human to whom it is destined to reap (similar to the IRL ideas of a guardian angel), rather than a group of Reapers that are born and die and are reborn without any specific link to those they reap. Usopp at the start of his journey believes that he’s running from Death; that he runs on and on and on in a race he knows he’s doomed for failure. Usopp believed that Death was on his heels at every turn of their journey, and that as the stakes got higher and higher, the distance between himself and his Reaper was growing ever closer. Usopp believed death was a snake snapping at his heels, and that it was pure luck; his lies spoken into truths; and his ‘facade’ of bravery (as well as Luffy and the SH’s ofc) keeping him in the race and out of Death’s maw. He has yet to consider that Death is not an opponent he needs to run from, but a partner in the relay. As Usopp’s journey progresses and he grows in confidence and surety he comes to realise that Death does not mean loss, it just means to pass on the baton.
Hi!! Thank you for sharing- there’s no greater compliment than knowing that you inspired someone else to make stuff!!!
Love the ideas- if you’re comfortable maybe you should post them so that others can also bounce on it and reply and tell you what their thoughts are!!
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