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specialagentlokitty · 1 year

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Wednesday x reader - never again

Sitting on the roof of the school, you pulled your knees further into your chest as you stared out into the blackness that surrounded the world.

It was so peaceful, the only sounds being the light breeze through the trees, the way the moonlight bounced of the nearby lake, the stars whinging so brightly above.

Letting out a small breath, you watched as it turned to mist and slowly rose into the sky.

You smiled to yourself.

Standing up, you spread your arms out, closing your eyes as you beamed from ear to ear.

You loved this.

You loved the night.

The darkness.

Everything about it.

But the smile soon fell from your face, because the beauty of the night also hurt.

It brought back memories of a person you wanted nothing more than to just forget, someone who you’d been trying for the past year to get over, to work out of your mind.

And it had nearly worked, up until the point she randomly turned up at Nevermore, burning herself into your brain once again.

And the worst part?

Wednesday Addams didn’t even seem to know who you were.

Jumping down from the roof, you landed on the balcony below and stood there, hands stuffed in your pockets as you buried your face into your hoodie.

“(Y/N)?”

You turned around, smiling at the friendly werewolf who had stepped outside.

“Hey, sorry did I wake you?”

“No, I wasn’t asleep. I was talking to Wednesday, are you okay?” She asked.

You froze a little at the mention of the other girls name, but you slowly nodded your head.

“Yeah, I’m good. Just getting some fresh air is all.” You beamed.

Enid frowned a little, she didn’t believe you, she knew you too well.

Walking over, she leant across the balcony, and you sat down next to her, swinging your legs back and forth a little bit.

“That’s her, isn’t it? The girl you told me who didn’t love you back. It’s Wednesday.”

“How’d you know?”

“The pain on your face when you first met her. Why not talk to her, become friends?” Enid asked.

“She made it clear she didn’t even know I exist.”

“Come on! Surely that’s not true!” Enid huffed, “she’s nice! A bit weird, and shows she cares in weird ways, but she really does care!”

You shrugged a little bit, and titled your head to face the sky once more.

“You don’t know her like I do. I grew up with her Enid, trust me. That girl has no care in the world for other people. She never even noticed me, she doesn’t even remember me.”

“That is because emotions have a habit of ruining things.”

You didn’t bother to turn around, you didn’t have to because Wednesday walked over and stood on the other side of Enid.

“I’ll just…” Enid mumbled.

She could cut the tension with her claws, and she didn’t want to stay around that for any longer.

She simply left the room entirely, wanting to be as far away as she could possibly could get before the tension suffocated her.

Wednesday stood there, and you shuffled to the edge of the balcony.

“I do remember you.”

You glanced at the goth before scoffing.

“Whatever you say Addams.” You spat.

Wednesday watched as you jumped down, landing on the floor below with a gentle thud before you jogged away somewhere.

She wouldn’t admit it, but it felt wrong to just leave the conversation like that.

She felt like she could have said more.

But what more could she have said?

For the next month she would watch you, eyes fixated on you wherever you went, whenever you were close she would watch you intensely.

“Just talk to her.” Enid giggled.

Wednesday tore her gaze away from you, looking at her dorm mate.

“What?”

“Talk to her!”

“Why?”

“Because you clearly want to.” Enid laughed.

“I hardly want to talk to you, why would I want to talk to her?”

Enid began a long spiel about how Wednesday obviously liked you, and how you clearly liked her as well.

Wednesday was sick of the conversation, so she just up and left without another word, deciding to head down to the lake to escape it.

As she was approaching, she realised she wasn’t the only one there.

You were sat there as well, eyes closed, hands resting in your lap as you took slow and deep breaths.

Stopping in her tracks, Wednesday watched you.

She always wondered what you were, you weren’t a werewolf, siren, vampire, or anything like all the other students.

You didn’t fit any of those categories.

Slowly creeping closer, she stopped only a few meters away from you, crouching down.

She could see the soft glow from your eyes, they were fixated on nothing, staring off into the distance.

Clearly you were focused on what was going on around you, and Wednesday couldn’t control what happened next.

“I do remember you. Your name is (Y/N) (L/N), you love nature and animals. You like music and hate spicy foods, you stuck up for my brother whenever he was being weak and I couldn’t be there to get revenge on them.”

Wednesday adjusted, slowly sitting on her knees as she stared at you.

“I know you loved me, and that is a horrible choice really. I’m not good, I’m not someone you should love.”

Wednesday turned her head to make sure no one was around, and when she turned back your (E/C) eyes were fixated on her.

“What…?”

Wednesday quickly stood up, taking a few steps away from you.

“Nothing.”

She went to walk away, but you jumped in front of her.

You stood close, close enough so she could feel the heat radiating from your body against hers.

“Wednesday don’t lie to me. I swear to god if you’re lying to me…”

“I’d rather stick a stake through my own heart.”

“Fine.”

You moved and headed back to the water.

“I’d rather stick a stake through my own heart than admit to anyone that I… perhaps have feelings for you…”

You froze.

“Seeing you ignore me.. it feels weird. I don’t like how it feels, so don’t ignore me.”

You chuckled softly, turning to face her as you raised a hand.

Wednesday felt some water hit her in the side of the face, glaring at you she stormed over and grabbed your wrist.

“Do that again and I’ll bury you alive…”

You smirked a little, leaning forward a little bit.

“You wouldn’t…”

Wednesday leaned forward, her nose brushing against yours.

“Don’t test me…”

She looked down, then she looked back into your eyes before shoving her lips against yours.

It was awkward, and she was tense as you wrapped your arms around her.

When you pulled away she quickly removed herself from your arms.

“Not a word to anyone otherwise I’ll set your room on fire.”

With that, she marched away, but she didn’t get far because she stopped and turned to you, giving you an expecting look.

“Well, hurry up.”

You shuffled your hands into your pockets and walked over to her, the pair of you walking side by side.

You didn’t realise it, but she grabbed the sleeve of your hoodie, only slightly, no one would have even noticed it.

But she did, because you were hers, and she wasn’t letting you get away this time

#Wednesday #Wednesday x reader #wednesday x y/n #Wednesday x you #Wednesday imagine #Wednesday Addams #Wednesday Addams x reader #Wednesday Addams x you #Wednesday Addams imagine

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novlr · 1 month

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Hi, can you write a paragraph about rain? Can you also give tips on describing nature? Thank you.

Rain can evoke a range of emotions and associations, from the childlike joy of splashing in puddles to the melancholy of grey skies mirroring a character’s mood. But while we’ve all experienced stormy weather, capturing its essence on the page can be surprisingly tricky. Here are some tips to help you write about rain in a way that will make a splash with your readers. (You can also adapt this advice to almost any nature description, but we will try to put out a separate post on more general nature advice at a later date.)

How does it look?

Use vivid adjectives to describe how the rain looks at different times of day and in different conditions.

Mention the angle the rain is falling at. Is it falling straight down? Angled? or even sideways?

Describe the size and shape of the raindrops – are they small and needle-like or large and heavy?

Note if the rain is clear or if it’s tinged grey or yellow from pollution.

Does the rain form puddles, streams, or mini-rivers as it flows?

Describe any ripples, splashes, or concentric circles the rain makes when hitting surfaces.

How does it sound?

Use onomatopoeia like “pitter-patter,” “tapping,” “drumming,” “plinking,” or “hissing” to mimic the sound.

Show the surfaces the rain hits and how that changes the noise — a “clattering” on windows, a “thumping” on the roof, a “plopping” in puddles

Describe the overall volume, from a soft “murmuring” or “whispering” to a loud “pounding” or “roaring”.

Note any variations or patterns in the sound, like a steady drone vs. syncopated rhythms.

How does the sound fill a space? Does it echo? Reverberate? Or is it dampened and muffled?

Describe how the noise of the rain interacts with other ambient sounds in the scene.

How does it feel and smell?

Describe the temperature of the rain and how it feels on the skin. Is it cool and refreshing or shockingly cold?

Describe the tactile sensations, like wetness, dripping, soaking, or chilly dampness.

Note how the rain changes the air, making it humid, misty, or heavy and saturated.

Describe the smell of the rain, which can be clean and fresh, dusty, earthy, or laden with ozone.

Describe how it feels to be out in the rain — are characters getting drenched to the bone or finding shelter?

Use metaphors to compare the feeling to other sensations, like tears on the face or a massage.

What mood and atmosphere does it evoke?

Use the rain to set the overall tone and mood you want to evoke, from gloomy and sad to peaceful and cleansing.

Show how the rain affects the setting, like making colours more vivid or obscuring things with mist.

Describe how the lighting changes, with skies darkening or a glistening sheen over everything.

Describe how the rain makes characters feel emotionally as well as physically.

Use the rain as a symbol or metaphor to mirror the characters’ mental states or the themes of the story.

Show how the rain transforms the world, slowing things down or washing things away, and how characters react to that.

Positive story descriptions

Rain can bring a sense of renewal, growth, and life to the world.

There is a cosy feeling of being inside looking out at the rain, safe and warm.

Rain can make everything glisten and gleam in the light, looking fresh and new.

Show the soothing, hypnotic quality of the rhythmic patter of raindrops.

Rain can be invigorating, energising, and joyful.

Rain can symbolise a fresh start, washing away the old to begin a new chapter.

Negative story descriptions

Rain can create a sense of melancholy, isolation, or loneliness

Rain can be an obstacle or hindrance, slowing characters down or forcing them to change plans.

There is a chilling, bone-deep cold that comes from being soaked in the rain.

Describe the bleak, colourless world that seems to exist when the sky is endlessly grey and stormy.

Show how the rain can feel oppressive, like a heavy weight pushing down on everything.

Describe how the rain can make the world feel dreary, soggy, and depressing, sapping energy and vitality.

Helpful vocabulary

Use words like deluge, downpour, torrent, cloudburst, hammering, lashing, pelting, battering, or thrumming to describe heavy, intense rain.

Try terms like drizzle, mist, sprinkle, shower for lighter rain.

Describe rain-soaked things as drenched, saturated, sodden, waterlogged.

Describe how rain dimples or stipples surfaces.

Gutters may babble, gush, trickle or overflow with rain.

Puddles can slosh, ripple, or reflect like mirrors.

Raindrops may bead up, roll, or slide down windows, leaves and other surfaces.

Adjectives like windswept, blustery, driving, relentless, or unceasing can evoke a storm.

The air may feel close, clammy, sticky, or muggy from humidity.

Petrichor is the earthy scent released when rain falls on dry soil.

Slickers, macs, wellies, brollies, and goloshes are rain gear that can add character details.

After a storm, the world may seem scoured, quenched, drenched, or newly baptised.

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avelera · 1 year

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I do wonder if we get the beginning of Brief Lives in the next Sandman Netflix season, specifically with this moment:

If it's going to be played quite the same way? If they end up skipping straight from Seasons of Mist to Brief Lives (which I think is an excellent idea to be clear) it raises a few possibilities:

(cut for comic spoilers & speculation)

Personally I find this moment a bit weird in general because Dream doesn't even name the woman who supposedly just broke his heart and thus launched the action of this arc. Also the fact we later find out it's Thessaly who in the comic at least (the show can always soften the character as they have others) fucking sucks, for her to kick off Dream's sadness roadtrip of self-destruction feels like such a waste. It also feels weird to imagine babygirl Netflix Tom Sturridge Dream going for someone like Thessaly after his whole arc of trying to be a better person and learning important lessons and also just...being a much softer character who is trying to do better, going for someone like Thessaly (who doesn't even like him by her own admission) and who is also terrible feels like a tragic step backwards in his character development. Not inconceivable, just terribly tragic.

Which has me thinking that one possibility is if they go straight from Seasons of Mist to Brief Lives, this moment above could be about Nada, who does choose to pass on after he frees her, even after expressing that she still loves him. That love is just not enough for her to accept his offer to be his queen and stay (after 10k years of Hell, who can blame her?!).

Point is, this moment instead being part of the long tail of Dream's self-recrimination about Nada choosing to pass on would make a lot of sense and be a much more justifiable kick-off for Dream going on a roadtrip that's an expression of his doubts in his ability to change for the better (and therefore, must he die?). Nada's punishment is so heinous I can easily see the Sturridge Dream being conflicted about his own actions for much longer than he appears to be in the comic, leading to this moment after he set her free.

Thessaly is an immortal, so even if/when she shows up, her having an acrimonious "angry ex girlfriend" reaction to Dream need not be because she was the girlfriend who kicked off the Brief Lives arc, they could have just dated sometime in the past centuries and still have vitriol between them.

And finally, and this is just me being a shameless Dream/Hob shipper, I do kind of wonder how one even justifies Dream ending up with an immortal human like Thessaly when Hob is right there.

Look, in the comic, Hob barely seems to remember Dream exists when he's not there, so there's no feeling of "Why doesn't Dream hook up with Hob instead??" when you first learn about Thessaly. But in the show, you've got the 1789 tension, the missed meeting, the devotion of the New Inn. Dream going for another, shitty immortal brunet when Hob is right there feels a bit like a slap in the face in that context.

And let me be clear, it's not because I'm being shipper garbage that thinks Neil can, should, or would alter the story to appease Dreamling shippers or that Dream dating Thessaly in the show as he does canonically in the comic would be an intentional slap in the face to Dreamling shippers! It is beyond wishful thinking to imagine we'd get more than what the comic offers which is a few beautifully rendered, sentimental moments between them for us to build our fanon ship off of. It's not Neil's responsibility to make it canon so don't be fucking weird about it.

It's more that the show is so queer. The comic is queer too but the show absolutely focuses and centers the narrative on predominantly queer couples and people, more than straight ones. They also softened for example the Corinthian and confirmed he's gay and has some non-destructive relationships with men, he's not just a murderer of gay men. So the narrative is even more queer than the comic.

In the 80s/90s when Sandman came out, the idea of Dream as the lead protagonist being canonically queer I think would have been pretty unlikely. He's very, very het in the comics, with the closest we get to a whisper of him not being strictly het being a mention of Lucifer once being beautiful and some speculation they might have had a relationship.

But the show is so very queer and the energy so charged between Dream and Hob (and the writers acknowledged and encouraged it!) that there is no, in my opinion, natural conclusion that, "Sure, almost everyone else is queer in this, but not Dream, obviously." If anything, it would be jarring to have so many queer characters only to slam the door shut on the possibility that Dream might also be queer.

Which is my roundabout way of saying: I wonder how Thessaly will fit into this at all. I speculate she might be removed entirely from this beat of Brief Lives, in favor of making Dream more remorseful about Nada in a sympathetic way. Furthermore, introducing Thessaly when Hob, another immortal who actually likes Dream is right there the idea that he opts for Thessaly (a woman who doesn't even like him to the point where she plays an active part later in his death) instead after being tortured for 106 years is actually painfully heartbreaking.

So in conclusion: eh? Who knows!

But also: DREAM, Hob is RIGHT THERE! Date HIM, not fucking THESSALY?!

#the sandman #dreamling #thessaly #nada #brief lives #sandman netflix speculation #sandman meta

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basu-shokikita · 3 months

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Dethentines 2024 Day 3

Sickeningly sweet or scintillatingly steamy

Thank God for this prompt because it's essentially all I write with Skwistok! That said, I still struggled with this for whatever reason until I managed to come up with something sweet enough that's almost eye rolling-inducing. So, if you're exasperated at how cute Skwistok are while reading this, it means I succeeded!

Drumrolls, please~

Toki awoke from his nap to find a sleeping Skwisgaar next to him. He smiled and huddled next to him, his eyes on the man. Surrounded by white sheets and the afternoon sun reflecting on his features, Skwisgaar looked like an angel. Gently, Toki brushed his fingertips against the golden, almost invisible lashes. Skwisgaar stirred in his sleep and turned around, leaving Toki facing his luscious mane.

Still smiling, Toki took a whiff off Skwisgaar’s hair. He breathed in, allowing for his scent to enter his lungs, to impregnate them with his fragrance. It was woody and herb-like, a cool tone reminiscent of mist and the sweetness of spring flowers. And also the smell of the shampoo of brand Skwisgaar religiously requested. The expensive men’s cologne and the mint scented body cream as well. So many things at once, just like Skwisgaar. A universe in one man.

He exhaled, overwhelmed.

“Toki?” Skwisgaar asked, slowly waking up. Eyelids heavy, his face showed confusion. “Whats…”

“Oh, sorries!” Toki apologized. “Didn’ts means to wakes you…”

“It ams fines.” Skwisgaar, his eyes closing again as he settled next to Toki, ready to fall asleep again. “Ams fines.” He stretched his arms, a wordless gesture that Toki understood and almost immediately jumped at.

Skwisgaar groaned a little as Toki’s strong arms wrapped around him, though he didn’t actually complain. Encouraged, Toki dipped his head again and began planting kisses on Skwisgaar’s neck. He heard Skwisgaar sigh softly, and it made him smile against his skin. Skwisgaar’s neck had always been a sensitive area for him, which is why he never let the floozies near it. But Toki could, he was allowed.

“Toki…” Skwisgaar eventually called him.

“Hmm?” Toki pulled back to meet his eyes.

Skwisgaar didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. His lips, slightly parted, were already an invitation.

And Toki accepted.

Their lips locked and Toki inhaled as he wrapped his fingers in Skwisgaar’s hair. It didn’t matter how many times he did, Toki was always marveled every time they kissed. How good it felt to kiss Skwisgaar in his bed, with nothing but the warmth of each other’s bodies in between. Nobody else existed, nobody else mattered.

If it was a dream, then he didn’t want to wake up from it. But not even his wildest dreams could begin to picture what it was like to actually hold Skwisgaar, to feel him between his fingers. A cartoon-like fantasy could never hold a candle against the real thing. Too good to be true? No, too good to be fake.

Eventually, Skwisgaar broke it off, a little out of breath but masking it. “Tells me whats you thinkingks.” He said, his expression was severe but his features soft.

Toki chuckled and rolled on his back “Ams thinkingks…you looks beautiful todays.”

“Pfft.” Skwisgaar snorted. “Ams seriouses, Toki.”

“Ams seriouses too!” Toki grinned at Skwisgaar before looking at the ceiling. “I don’t knows, I feels luckies or somethings.”

“Luckies?”

“Ja, luckies dat we ams togethors. Luckies we ams finallies heres. Luckies I gets to be dis happies.” He sighed, joy washing over his face. “Just luckies.” Skwisgaar wasn’t saying anything, so he glanced at him.

Skwisgaar appeared to be frowning, brows furrowed, lips pursed, grimace lines over his nose. He even scrunched his nose.

“Skwisgaar…?”

Suddenly, a flash, and Toki felt his arms pinned to the sides of his head, a heavy weight on him.

“You ams doingks dis on purskpose, aren’ts you?” Skwisgaar, now on top of him, asked almost menacingly.

“Wha-” Toki blinked with confusion. “Does whats?”

Skwisgaar narrowed his eyes, his face darkened. “You ams beings cutes to prosvokes me.”

“What?” Toki chuckled. “No, ams not, Is just-” Skwisgaar abruptly buried his head in Toki’s neck and blew a raspberry on his skin, making a fart-like noise. “Skwisgaar!” He laughed, trying to move away.

To no avail, Skwisgaar had wrapped all his limbs around Toki’s body. “You ams!” He insisted with a muffled voice. “It ams dirties plays!” He blew another raspberry. “Dildos!”

“Stops!” Toki said between laughs, softly shoving an undeterred Skwisgaar. “It ams tickles!”

“Oh, ja?” Skwisgaar pulled his head back and his hands traveled down Toki’s torso to begin tickling his abdomen. “Like dis?”

“Noes!” Toki tried to escape the torture between cackles and shouts. “Gets off!”

“Eugheugheugh.” Skwisgaar laughed throatily. “Begs me.”

“I begs!” Toki raised his arms in defeat. “I begs!” When he realized Skwisgaar wasn’t stopping, he had to use his secret weapon. “I pracstices de guitars right nows!”

Skwisgaar froze at once. “Reallies?” He asked, his hands completely still on Toki’s body.

“Mhm.” Toki released himself from Skwisgaar’s hold and sat up. “I plays right nows.”

An impressed Skwisgaar put his hands away and sat up as well. “Okeys.”

They looked at each other’s eyes for a while. Eventually, Toki added. “Just kiddings.”

“Oh, you littols…!” Skwisgaar exclaimed before lunging at Toki, this time the tickling attack way more aggressive, looking to leave no survivors.

And Toki fought and resisted, the tears from laughter streaming from his eyes as his boyfriend mercilessly assaulted his body.

Maybe luck was an understatement.

#dethentines #dethentines2024 #skwistok #skwisgaar skwigelf #toki wartooth #metalocalypse #my writing #no beta we die like men etc #my specialty: gay ass skwistok

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sol-saga · 8 months

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Landvættir In Norse mythology, landvaettir are guardian spirits or deities of the land. They are tasked with protecting their home, and often the human inhabitants of their land. There are countless landvaettir across every region, and every locality will have their own. Some believe the Landvættir are spirits of the dead, while some believe they are more like deities because they can live in lands that are never populated. It is up to you what you believe. Landvaettir may inhabit a large area like a mountain, forest, river, or lake. They may also inhabit a small, specific area like the corner of a particular field, a rock formation, or even a well. There is no rhyme or reason; landvaettir exist across the land and will ensure the wellbeing of their territory no matter how big or small. Often, landvaettir embody the landscape. They are a personification of nature; the guardian of a mountain may appear as a giant, while the guardian of the forest may appear as an animal. Those who practice paganism or feel a veneration for Norse mythology have a great respect for their local landvaettir, and it is essential to show the land respect to maintain a good relationship with these spirits. Landvaettir are generally benevolent, but humans must treat the land with care and respect; destruction or disrespect may anger the landvaettir. Offerings can be made to ensure successful harvests, healthy livestock, favourable weather, and overall prosperity. In my local area, I feel an affinity for two landvaettir - pictures related! One is the guardian of a lake who comes with a masculine energy in the wintertime. I feel him most strongly during the dark periods, when the mist hangs in the air. I feel that he will steer us from dangerous waters and thin ice. I often see him as a silhouette in the distance on a misty morning. Although his intentions are kind, his energy can feel a little unsettling at times, and when he appears, I sometimes feel the urge to leave very quickly. But I think this is due to the fact that his role is often to protect us from dangerous waters and weather. Sometimes, when there is no danger he is just a peaceful presence. The second is the protector of the woodlands and fields in my village. This guardian comes with a feminine energy and seems most active in the springtime, summer, and early autumn. She feels like a warm presence with a passion for wildlife. I feel that she is there to protect the animals in the forest and ensure we stick to a safe trail. We have some hidden trails that may be dangerous, and I often feel a friendly pull towards a safer path. She often appears as a bird, doe, or simply a light breeze. I love her energy! I would love to hear about other landvaettir in your local area if anyone has any experiences!

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colourstreakgryffin · 8 months

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Hello! So you write for Muichiro, but do you write for his twin, Yuichiro? If yes, I'd like to request. Can you do him with a fem! s/who is ditzy and often says stuff without thinking? and also struggles with simple tasks so she feels useless, but is a whole different person in battle. Can you make them both hashiras? Have a good day!

Oooh! Okay! I have written for Yuichiro before and he has a easy personality to keep track of. He just a cute tsundere and he def exist in the AU of Twin Hashira! Thank you, let’s gooo

Tokito Yuichiro[Adult Hashira]

Yuichiro can barely tolerate his own twin’s foolishness with how annoying Muichiro makes himself as. Having to teach and assist a ditzy and ‘useless’ Hashira like you has his patience running thin. He is very cold and barky… at first

Yuichiro is actually naturally attracted to positive people, like his sweet younger brother. So when you actively try to become his friend, despite him pushing back and even insulting you, he is so confused yet intrigued

Yuichiro pretends to not care and ‘reluctantly’ let you sit with him for lunch but in reality, he is screaming on the inside that you’re giving him so many chances when he just keeps breaking them. What woman wants a man like him? It seems you and he is so flattered by that

Yuichiro grumbles annoyed everytime you do some ditzy. You’re about to fall over a rock you didn’t see? Yuichiro caught you with a scowl. He may dislike how annoying your ditziness has be but he won’t let it injure nor disturb you. That’s much how he likes you

Yuichiro is confused and frowns everytime you just blurt out something that makes no sense or clearly hasn’t been thought out. He does compare you to Muichiro at times with how similar you two act but that doesn’t mean he dislikes you and your wild personality

Yuichiro is beyond fascinated and lovestruck when he sees you battle. He originally thought you had no skill with the katana since you can barely organise a pile of blankets right, but the way you fight. Oh goodness, he is falling deeper in love with your incredible skills and flow

Yuichiro throws meaningless insults at you when he catches you struggling with the most basic task and when you finally break down, proclaiming you feel useless. He steps in to teach you so you can learn better, he can’t stand you suffering in anyway so he’ll do his best to fix it up for you

Yuichiro gets VERY jealous when you bond with his twin, Muichiro. Yeah, he is rarely apart from the other man but he doesn’t want be just the twin of the Mist Hashira who wins you over. He tries to intervene inbetween your friendly chats with Muichiro to pull you away, pretending to be annoyed that you’re ‘flirting with his brother’

Yuichiro is mean but he is just a Tsundere. He loves you, he just doesn’t know how to express it to you properly. He is quite shy with romance and he doesn’t know if he can truly tell you his feelings for you. He has made it out like he tolerates you for business means but…

He tolerates you because he has such a huge crush on you, that even Muichiro can pick it up

“Hey! You. What’s wrong? Hmph… you can’t lock the door again? This is the fourth time, Dokusha. Why isn’t my teachings working or are you just ignoring my help. Ughh… you’re such a baby, here. Give it to me, I’ll show you this AGAIN”

I don’t know the artist name but credit, of the art above, goes to him/her/them!

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frozenlight-gvf · 1 year

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I Hope You're Grateful for It

summary: (dom!josh x fem!reader) interrupting josh's pre-show ritual leads to some angry fuckin... enjoy

word count: 4.3k

warnings: 18+ MINORS DNI— language, degradation/praise, unprotected sex (don't do it folks), teasing, self-pleasure, penetration (f!receiving), overstimulation, semi-public sex if you squint...?

a/n: i was *inspired* by what josh said in their bts post on tiktok… joshua michael has me fighting for my life daily

***

You probably liked watching Josh get ready for shows more than actually watching him perform— if that was even possible. It was just something about the hazy, distant state he falls into; it’s as if he forgets that the people around him even exist until he’s onstage. It’s beyond endearing; it shows how much he cares about his performance and delivering for his fans.

One night, you had accidentally broken his focus to ask what he was always thinking so deeply about before his shows. Your voice had startled him and he blinked rapidly, like he had a bit of trouble returning to this plane of existence. He then sighed, mourning the loss of his own little world. “I’m just… connecting to the universe,” he had mumbled, trying to regain his trance-like state. “Getting out of my head and into the cosmos. Helps me perform better.” Frustrated, his eyebrows were stoic as he stared at his golden, glittering makeup in the reflection of a mirror, as if he were meditating to his own visage. After that night, you never bothered him before shows again: partly because you just loved seeing him be so divinely spiritual, but also, the way he was stone-cold when he answered your innocent question gave you goosebumps. You didn’t want to tempt that feeling again.

Perfectly content to just be in his presence, you loved sitting on whatever furniture happened to be in his dressing room at each venue and watching him roam about the space, popping a vitamin here, fixing a rhinestone there, all while seemingly completely unaware of your presence. And you were usually perfectly content with that— just watching. But not tonight.

Tonight, there was a certain heavy heat in the air. Maybe it was the warm weather, or maybe it was because of the way Josh’s new jumpsuit hugged his tight little body. Whatever it was, you were simply feverish.

Josh was facing the large mirror that covered most of one wall, spraying some sort of mist that smelled almost like champagne into his loose curls, raking them upward. He seemed to fall into the well of his own honey-brown eyes. You would have killed to know what was going on in that brilliant mind of his.

You squeezed your thighs together, hoping to squander that all-too-familiar feeling inside you. You knew how important Josh’s pre-show ritual was to him, and you didn’t want your neediness to ruin that. That one night you'd unknowingly interrupted his process, he forgot the words to parts of Safari Song and Broken Bells, and then he choked on his nightly Fireball shot instead of taking it down smoothly like he always does. You’d never seen him so disappointed in himself, and it had broken your heart. You couldn’t help but blame yourself, so you vowed to treat Josh’s ritual like it was some holy rite from then on.

But tonight, you couldn’t stomp out the fire that was gradually growing hotter beneath your ribcage. The way his chin dipped to see the hair further back on his head, the way he stared up at himself from below his solemn eyebrows. The way you had a perfect view of his ass and the shimmery white satin that clung to it.

There was just no more ignoring the tingling under your skin. You needed to do something about the throbbing between your legs. More like, you needed him to do something about it.

You risked standing up, knowing full well that your sudden action was visible to him in the mirror. It wasn’t until you started hesitantly walking towards him that his eyes flicked over to meet yours.

“What is it, honey?” There was something a little sticky and sour about the way he said your pet name.

His voice stopped you in your tracks about three feet away from him. You scared yourself with what you were doing. You didn’t want to be doing it, but you could no longer deny your urges, which were quickly bordering on primal.

But your thought process hadn’t gotten you this far; you had no idea what to say. “...Nothing. Nothing important.” There was an embarrassing, telling tremor in your voice. You should have just sat back down right after speaking and forgotten the whole thing, but you didn't. You couldn’t have moved in that moment if you tried. His eyes bore into yours; the intensity of his stare was overwhelming as it ricocheted off the silver glass and into you.

An imperceptible lifting of his eyebrows signaled to you that he knew what you were trying to get from him. His lips twitched. “Honey," Josh sighed, "you know I love you, but you also know that my pre-show ritual is vital to my performance." Something in his voice betrayed the words he had spoken and made you think that he was actually eager to see what you’d do next.

You let the silence hang delicately between you like it was as fragile as a teacup as you decided where to take this.

“I know, I just,” you paused to inhale deeply, “can’t stop thinking about how good that jumpsuit looks on you,” you said, pointedly raking your eyes down his back. You felt your heart start to quicken, anxious for his response.

He cocked an eyebrow at you through the mirror. “Oh, yeah?” He considered this for a moment. You held your breath as you watched his icy gaze drift back to his own eyes. “Tell me what you like about it.”

Fuck. Let the game begin, you thought. A wave of relief— and unbridled lust— soaked you to the bone, making you shiver. “Well,” you began, greedily scanning the detail that covered his body, achingly eager to follow orders. “I love this belt.” You reached out to ghost your fingertips over the flat golden cording that sat right over his hips.

He suddenly turned to face you, and you sucked in a breath at the sight of his smooth chest and the golden necklaces that hung against his tanned skin.

“This neckline…” you softly traced the trim of the cutout with a barely-there touch, careful not to graze any part of his skin, hoping he would get desperate to feel your hands on him, letting you in further. But you knew teasing him like this was crossing a line. He was looking down at you with a stern expression, but the corner of his lip quivered, signifying a crack in his steely armor.

Your hand glided over his chest, just hovering over the jewels that decorated the gilded peacock feathers that ornamented both sides of his sternum.

“I love these feathers… you look like a king.”

He puffed his chest at the praise, imperceptibly tilting his chin upwards. God, you wanted him.

“These sleeves,” you said, running your hands down the silky, transparent fabric covering his arms.

“You like that?” His voice was a low rumble in his chest.

“Very much,” you breathed, itching to feel the valleys and ridges of his defined muscles unimpeded by the bedazzled cloth.

Seemingly reading your mind, he said, “They’re removable.”

Your eyes shot up to meet his hopefully, pathetically. He knew that his arms were your favorite part of his body, and he was holding it against you. He chuckled at your desperate reaction.

“If you think I’m gonna take apart my outfit so close to showtime, you’re sorely mistaken.” His eyes were dark: with anger or with lust, you weren’t sure. But you didn’t know if you really cared. Or even if it mattered. As long as the aching feeling inside you that was growing unbearable was taken care of.

You whined, squeezing your thighs together again, desperate for relief. A switch inside Josh flipped at the sound, his jaw tightening.

“Ohhh,” he crooned, “too bad you can’t always get what you want.”

He turned away from you to face the mirror again, brushing your hands off his arms like you were a bothersome fly.

“Josh…” You were scared for a moment that he was upset with you, but you knew that if he actually was, he wouldn't be teasing you so mercilessly. So you decided to tease back.

Your hands drifted from the very tops of his shoulders all the way down to the small of his back, then you dragged your palms up the sides of his hips and waist, hooking your arms under his shoulders and resting your hands on his chest-- right over the peacock feathers. You felt him tense up beneath your touch, and you couldn't help the smirk that crossed your lips.

“No, doll, I need to do well at this show tonight. Some people from the label will be watching.” He pressed a few of the rhinestones tracing his cheekbones firmly back into their place. His fingers trembled slightly.

“Please,” you whispered, kissing his shoulder, and then the bare skin at crook of his neck. “I need you.”

He suddenly slammed his palm down on the counter, making you flinch and let go of him. He leaned on his arms, once again locking eyes with you through the mirror. His eyes were roiling and sparking like storm clouds. “As much as I’d love to fuck you right here in this dressing room until you’re screaming my name for everyone backstage to hear, I said no. Now, sit down.”

You gulped, unsure of how to react. You then realized that you were going to have to turn your brattiness up by 100 if you were going to get what you wanted. Huffing, you stamped one of your heeled feet, not unlike a child. Immediately, he whipped around to face you, eyes thundering.

“Are you actually giving me attitude right now?” he barked, in utter disbelief at your bad behavior. “You know better than that.” His voice was full of urgent warning, his nose snarling.

This is it. Now or never. “Maybe you need to teach me some manners.”

The last thing you were expecting Josh to do after hesitating for what felt like hours was let out a dark, slow chuckle, shaking his head. He stalked towards you, slotting his face right over your shoulder, hands firmly by his side, knowing you were burning for his touch. The heat of his body so close to yours almost made your knees buckle. Despite his laughter, his anger wasn't gone; it had hardened into something that made goosebumps shiver on every inch of your skin. You could feel nothing but his hot, steady breath ghosting over the shell of your ear for a few agonizing moments before he spoke, lips barely grazing the cartilage.

“I should fuck that sass right out of you, honey."

You nearly moaned, but you choked it back.

"You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he growled.

You nodded quickly, inhaling sharply. His dominant side never failed to have you weak in the knees.

“Then you better do exactly what I say," he enunciated. "You misbehave once, and you get nothing. You’ll just have to sit in those soaked panties for the whole show, watching all those girls begging for me to take them right then and there.” He laughed again, low and demeaning. “You understand how lucky you are, correct?”

“Yes.” The sound came out nothing more than a breath, scenes of the earth-shattering pleasure to come filling your thoughts. You let your eyes slip shut to enjoy it.

Josh roughly grabbed your jaw and wrenched your face to be mere centimeters from his, your eyes flying open.

“I’m gonna need you to be louder than that, honey,” he purred. He gestured his head towards the dressing room door, in the direction of the stage and the thousands of seats that were being filled as he spoke. “Those girls out there are gonna be screaming for me, and you can't get your sorry little voice above a whisper?" He looked away from you for a moment, running his tongue over his lips. "Why should I fuck you and not them, huh? I bet they’d be good girls for me. They’d do anything I told them.”

You didn’t waste a moment to slip into full, unabashed submission. Your legs were shaking already.

“Thank you, Josh, for choosing me,” you said, with passionate energy in your voice, pressing your hands against his chest and looking up at him desperately. “I know how lucky I am to be in your bed every night, to have you on top of me. To feel you inside me.”

Josh licked his lips again, slower this time, leaving them a deep pink and shiny. “That’s more like it. Now,” he let go of your jaw, leaving pale red finger marks, “sit back down in the couch.”

You scrambled away from him, not able to get seated fast enough. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t make you do right now with just the sound of his rich, lust-rasped voice.

“Take your skirt off. Leave your top and underwear on.”

The backs of your thighs were soon deliciously bared on the soft suede of the couch. The feeling of your intimate skin against the worn fabric made you wonder how many other girls found themselves in this same tantalizing situation with their own rockstar boyfriends. The idea turned you on beyond belief: to be one of many lucky girls.

“Let’s see how bad you really needed this. If you're not dripping right now, we're done here.” Josh remained standing over you, placing one hand on the arm of the couch, reaching his other one down to feel the wetness that had soaking your panties for the past half hour.

You sighed in pleasure, feeling your entire body relax and relishing in the feeling of his strong fingers pressing against your clothed center.

“Oh, wow,” he taunted derisively, clearly pleased at your arousal. Too pleased. His ego almost visibly soared. “I've barely touched you. All this from just looking at me?”

"Yes," you breathed, lifting your hips into his touch. "I've been thinking about this all night." Suddenly, the hand that was on the arm of the couch splayed out on your lower stomach, and Josh used his upper body weight to push your hips roughly back down into the couch, leaning down on you.

“That was a 'yes' or 'no' question. I didn't ask you to elaborate. You don’t speak unless you’re spoken to. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Josh, I understand," you whined, already overly sensitive.

"Yes, what?" he asked darkly, pulled his fingers away from you, eliciting a pitiful whimper. He moved the hand that was on your stomach to the side of your hip, gripping the plush skin hard, the pain tingeing the edges of your vision. He was still pressing you down hard into the couch, making the lower half of your body near immobile.

"Yes, sir."

"Better." He relented his force on your hip just a little bit as a reward. "From now on, unless I ask you a question, the only sounds out of your mouth should be those pretty noises you always make when I touch you like this.” He pressed the pads of his fingers harder into your clothed clit, making you throw your head back in desperation. You needed to feel his fingers on you. In you. You wanted nothing more than to scream at him exactly what you needed to have him do to you, but you only let pathetic moans slip out of you, careful to follow his instructions.

He slowly peeled your panties away from your center, the dark, wet patch on the fabric prominent. Josh smirked sinisterly at the unmistakable evidence of his prowess, and the look he gave you was almost desperate. He could play the unrelenting dominant all he wanted, but he was always going to give you anything you desired, anytime, anywhere-- you both knew that, making this little game exhilarating to play.

You bucked your hips in the air, craving his touch.

"You want my fingers back on your needy little cunt?"

"Please, God, yes!" you shouted a little too loudly, your voice filling the room. You blushed at your outburst, a little embarrassed.

But Josh loved it. "Ohhhh, that's a good girl," he cooed, teasing the tips of his pointer and middle finger at your slick entrance. "So loud for me."

He slipped his two fingers inside of you, pushing free a high-pitched moan from you. Pleasure was sparking through your veins as he curled his fingers to massage that spot deep inside you that only he seemed to be able to find, sending tendrils of euphoria up through your body.

You watched with lust-blown eyes as he kneeled down between your legs, and you couldn't help but notice his growing bulge, proud and pronounced in his skin-tight jumpsuit.

He followed your eyeline, and he smirked. "You want it, angel?"

"Yes, please, sir, I want it." Your words were slightly slurred, overcome with pleasure, his fingers pumping in and out of you, brushing that mouth-watering spot each time.

"I've got about 10 minutes before I have to go onstage. You're gonna have to be a lot more convincing than that if you want me to completely undress just so I can fill you with my cock instead of my fingers."

"God, please, Josh- sir," you pleaded, "I need to feel you inside me. My pussy's all wet and warm for you. So pretty and tight."

Josh groaned low in his chest, knowing he had just fallen past the point of no return. He stood and unzipped his jumpsuit and pulled off the sleeves, letting the top half of the jumpsuit hang around his hips, leaving his torso bare. He pushed the white satin down to his thighs, freeing himself. His cock looked painfully hard, the tip red and throbbing. You smiled to yourself, knowing his arousal was all your doing. Before you knew it, he was buried to the hilt inside of you, his hands grabbing your hips. The mix of pain and pleasure was utterly blinding, causing your jaw to drop and your eyes to blow wide open.

"You better be a good fucking girl for me and not make me regret this. You interrupt my pre-show process-" he paused to hiss as you clenched around him, his eyes rolling back, "-jesus... and you have me take off my pretty outfit because you couldn't take care of yourself. Pathetic little whore," he choked, pulling out of you and slamming back in. You moaned loudly, starting to see stars.

He growled through his teeth, "I hope that you feel fucking grateful for it."

"Thank you, sir," you gasped, feeling the slight drag of your walls gripping his length as he worked in and out of you achingly slow. "I'll be such a good girl for you, promise."

"Take off your shirt. And your bra. Show yourself to me."

The pleasure flooding your brain tried to block the signals it was sending to your arms to move, but you fought your instincts to please the man who was rocking his hips against you steadily. Your bare breasts fell out of your top, and Josh moaned deep and long when he saw that you forwent your usual underwear.

"No bra, huh? Filthy slut," he grimaced, his cock twitching inside of you. "Play with them for me, honey."

You happily obliged, fondling your full breasts, pinching and tugging at your nipples, sending shockwaves through your skin. Your face was contorted in mind-blowing pleasure, your lips parted and letting loose strings of whimpers.

The vulgar sights and sounds of you taking him so well spurred Josh on, working himself up to a threatening pace, pushing you back into the couch repeatedly. "Shit-- you feel so good," he purred. You let yourself get lost in the outrageous sensuality of his face: eyes squeezed shut, brows furrowed, pink lips wet and parted, a blush high on his cheeks. A sweat had begun to form on his proud brow.

You lost control of all of your senses when Josh reached down with one hand to rub hard circles over your wet clit, cursing loudly. "Fuck, Josh!" You grabbed at his thick arms, pressing your nails into the skin, leaving marks. You were close.

Josh clasped a strong hand over your mouth, making you squeak with surprise. He leaned in close to hiss into your ear, "What did I say about not speaking unless you're spoken to?" He did not stop or slow any of his movements, making it unthinkably hard for you to string words together.

"I'm sorry, sir, I- fuck, fuck- wasn't supposed to do that. Please don't stop."

He slapped one of your tits, hard. You yelped, the pain exponentially increasing your pleasure. He grabbed the rounded-- now slightly red-- flesh of your breast, squeezing tightly.

"You get one more chance, doll. Follow the rules or I leave your sorry little cunt dripping all over this couch."

"Yes, sir!" you cried out, the sound turning into an obscene moan.

"You're so close, aren't you?" he crooned. His thrusts were bordering on sloppy, his hips hitching, as if his dick couldn't handle the pleasure your pussy was giving it. "Gonna cum all over my cock?"

"God, FUCK-- yes!"

"Let me hear how grateful you are for it."

Just barely, the faint sound of a thousand screaming girls made it's way through the dressing room door. The lights in the arena had just gone dark. You didn't have much longer to reach your high, and you wouldn't put it past him to follow through with his threat of leaving you here, pathetically leaking with the absence of him.

"I need your cock so bad, sir, more than anything. Thank you. I'm gonna cum so pretty for you." The words eeked out of you between gasps and sobs, unable to bring yourself to full voice. The feeling of Josh's dick stretching you so well and his fingers working your swollen, throbbing clit had you teetering over the edge.

"Come on then, pretty girl, give it to me." His sweat-damp curls were sticking to his forehead, lust-blown eyes drilling into your fucked-out gaze.

Your entire body was trembling, but you couldn't send yourself over. Josh's movements were now bordering on painful, but you'd have rather dropped dead than have him stop.

"I- I can't!" you sobbed, tears filling your eyes and spilling over your lashes. Josh felt too. damn. good.

Josh wrapped his fingers around your throat tightly, pressing into your pulse points. He bared his teeth as he growled in your face, so close that his facial hair tickled your skin. "Honey, we don't have much time. If you don't cum for me right now, I'll have to bring you out on the stage and make you finish on my cock in front of everybody."

You screamed as your orgasm ripped through you like lightning, fire burning through your skin. You thought for a moment that your body would tear itself apart. Your head was spinning; you hardly heard Josh's loud moans and grunts as he finished deep inside you, his cock jumping and quivering inside your rapidly clenching walls. You both rode each other through your highs, pitifully whimpering together. Mascara was streaming down your face, your mind completely empty.

You sat there panting as Josh pulled out of you. He rested his forehead on yours, his hot breath washing over your face. He cupped a hand on your jaw. "Fuck, baby, you make me feel so, so good."

Loud pounding at the door startled both of you. An urgent voice shouted through the wood, "Josh, what the hell are you doing?! The curtain is gonna drop any second now."

Guilt and fear took the place of euphoria in your veins. "Oh, shit, baby, I'm sorry, let me help you get dressed," you breathed, fighting your shaking muscles to stand.

"No, honey, you have nothing to be sorry for. Stay right there." He kissed you on the forehead and rushed into the on-suite bathroom, quickly running a washcloth under some warm water. The pounding at the door didn't cease, the door jiggling against the deadbolt.

He gently ran the washcloth between your legs, the feeling of it causing a new blossom of pleasure in your stomach.

He pulled his jumpsuit back on, cursing as he fiddled with the zipper. You swatted his hands away and zipped it up for him, standing to press a kiss to his lips.

"Go, my little rockstar. Knock 'em dead."

He gave you a fucked-out little smile, squeezed your bare waist, and ran towards the door, but he stopped in his tracks with his hand on the doorknob.

"Shit, I forgot my sleeves!"

"Fuck the sleeves, Josh," you laughed. "Go."

He shook his head with a grin.

"God, you're trouble, honey."

***

It took you a good few minutes to recover enough to put your clothes back on and be able to stand without wobbling. Once you didn't look like a baby doe on ice, you took your place at the side of the stage just as the band finished the first song. Despite fibers of pleasure still lingering in your body, you were flooded with nerves, remembering the fact that you had disrupted his pre-show ritual so entirely. Scenes from the last time you had done that flashed through your mind: the way he shook his head disappointedly at himself when he forgot lyrics, the disconnected way that he sang, the bright-red blush that covered his face when he choked on the cinnamon-y liquid that poured down his throat. You found yourself casting your eyes downward, not wanting to watch your boyfriend crash and burn because of you as the cue for the second song began.

But, Josh did whatever the opposite of crashing and burning was. His voice sounded better than you had ever heard it; his crystal-clear tones and his powerful cries reverberated through the space, completely enchanting you and every other soul in the audience like he was a siren. You couldn't pull your eyes away from him; it was like the Universe had imbued him with his own magnetic field, and everyone in his vicinity couldn't do anything but surrender and let themselves be pulled in. With your gaze so intently locked on him, you couldn't help but notice little signs of your rendezvous all over him-- sweat glistened on his neck and chest, his lips were red and swollen, his curls were frizzy and untamed, and he was missing a few rhinestones on his cheeks. You laughed to yourself, knowing the fans were going to spin themselves into a tizzy seeing him so obviously fucked-out. A swell of pride burst within you; you knew that Josh's empty threat to toss you to the curb and fuck one of the girls in the audience would never come true. You were the only one that he wanted; you were his. And he was yours.

***

The show ended with a not-so-metaphorical bang as jets of fire shot into the air, washing the arena with the same heavy heat you had felt earlier that night. Josh wailed a farewell into the mic after they hit their final button, and he trotted offstage towards you, exploding with swagger and immense satisfaction. In his bejeweled sunnies and fluffy feather boa, he looked like a star.

"Oh my, God, you did so great, baby!" you squealed as you threw your arms around him and peppered his face with kisses. Charged with energy, Josh picked you up and spun you around as you giggled against his face.

"All because of you," he panted, slightly out of breath as he set you down, wrapping his arms around your waist.

"Me?" you said incredulously. "No, that was all you. I was so nervous because I ruined your whole process, and I know how important that is to your performance, and I was so scared that I had fucked everything up for you-"

Josh stopped your rambling with a kiss that started sincere but grew heated quite quickly. He licked into your mouth, tangling his tongue with yours. You stayed like that for a while with complete disregard for the roadies that had to weave around you to start breaking down the stage. You two breathed hot and heavy into each other's mouths.

"Fuck all that," he said, as he tilted your chin up and pressed a small kiss to your lips.

You were taken aback at his brash words. "W-what do you mean?"

He laughed. "Baby, I just performed like that without all the spiritual bullshit," he said, gesturing to the stage behind him. You couldn't help the pleasure that shot to your head from his semi-conceited remark. His confidence was beyond sexy to you. He paused, squeezing your hips, making your breath catch in your throat. Josh nuzzled his face against your cheek, his facial hair tickling your skin. He whispered sensually into your ear, "Honey, you're my new pre-show ritual."

#gvf fanfiction #josh gvf #gvf fic #gvf smut #greta van fleet #greta van smut #josh kiszka

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innerchorus · 21 days

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Arslan Senki Chapter 127

The long-awaited encounter with Zahhak is here! I'm tagging my posts for new manga chapters with 'arslan senki spoilers' but here is your reminder to look away (and probably avoid my blog until you've read the chapter) if you don't want to find out what happens.

Turns out I was right about a few things and my suspicions about something else seem likely to be correct, too.

The chapter opens with the legend of Zahhak and his defeat by Kaykhusraw as the Parsians know it. The title page features Kaykhusraw's open sarcophagus with his wrapped body and Rukhnabad inside, inside the tomb. This is clearly from an earlier time (presumably his burial?), well before Hilmes ventured down there, and given the chapter title it feels... ominous. (And it's right to feel that way, as you'll see when you get to the end of the chapter.)

The legend is conveyed in the typical stylised carving/illustration style that Arakawa has used for mythological history before.

Look what appears as a decorative border to one of the panels!

It might just be a nod to the existence of these creatures in the novels, but I really hope that their presence here makes it more likely we might actually encounter them before the end of the manga... DARK TEMPLE PLUS CREATURES, ARAKAWA PLEASE

Very much has the feel of something that has been mythologised, the details probably don't match up exactly with how it really went down, but the main points are there...

...and 300 years later, the Snake King appears to have returned

Farangis's raishal reacting like this is a nice touch and shows just how extreme the presence of evil is here. (Also I didn't know it could do that so I'm filing this detail away very happily.)

Those snake heads are really very freaky, the fact that they are so humanoid yet totally animalistic and driven by instict and hunger for human brains. Top notch horror!

Daryun's warrior instinct comes to the fore and overrides his shock!

The Zot do their best but one gets chomped pretty quickly, sadly. I'll go ahead and say it now, the Zot being the only casualties in this encounter was exactly as I called it, but Arakawa does her best to ensure their deaths don't feel trivial, as we later learn the names of those who fell, and even though we never got to know them it's clear that they meant something to their comrades.

Some very exciting combat scenes follow and Team Arslan enter the fray and get to grips with their frightening new enemy! Some key details about Zahhak rapidly become apparent: his blood is corrosive, and his wounds can heal.

The key is to keep moving! Alfarid realises this; one of the Zot tries to encourage her to flee, but is struggling with his terrified mount, but thanks to Elam and Alfarid loosing arrows at one of the snake heads he is spared.

Don Ricardo is in abject terror, but his behaviour later this chapter was a surprise for me, in a good way!

Estelle saving Don Ricardo just in time, and putting her life on the line to stand before him even though she's trembling in fear! 👌👌👌

She's so brave!

She doesn't know that the snakes have spotted/sensed Rukhbanad... but Don Ricardo does! Let's hope he will now give that 'junk sword' the respect it deserves. Anyway this is the part where he surprised me, as he breaks out of his terrified state to call out to everyone to rally to him and gather round the sword! Remember when I said 'quick, everyone group hug Don Ricardo'?

Of course, he's speaking in Lusitanian, but Estelle translates in an instant... and Gieve quickly grasps why!

"Is it truly Zahhak...?" This is the line that makes me think I might be on the mark when I say that Zahhak, although freed from Mount Damavand, may not have returned to full consciousness yet. I think those head jars may have something to do with a final ritual to bring about his true return.

So, it's now a stalemate. Zahhak cannot attack them, but they can't attack it either. But there's an ominous shape in the mist (and you can take one look at it and just KNOW it's going to be fucked up and even take a pretty good guess at how)

Before Team Arslan can get a good look at it, Zahhak withdraws, whether due to the arrows they fired at it it because of some other unknown reason isn't clear... Team Arslan leave without even being able to spare time to bury the bodies of the fallen, which clearly weighs on them, but night is drawing closer and they can't remain safely.

(I wonder whether they will still continue to Mount Damavand? Perhaps Arslan will appeal to Kaykhusraw's spirit to seek his approval to wield the sword? Or maybe priorities will have understandably changed and they'll change directions. Personally I think we'll at least get a scene that indicates Arslan has the right to wield Rukhnabad!)

Anyway Zahhak's also in a hurry to get somewhere and although Team Arslan didn't manage to glimpse the true horror, we do!

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

Well, now we know what happened to Kaykhusraw's mummified body? I did think that Team Zahhak would use him as a vessel for the Snake King, thinking this might occur in Ecbatana, but nope, that looks to be the case already.

The torso ending in a cluster of snakes, ugh.

I wonder whether Kaykhusraw's spirit is aware of what has happened to his body now that it has been possessed like this?

I wonder whether the intention is for Zahhak to retain this form? Because at the end of the chapter you see the host body's brittle-looking arm disintegrate where one of Team Arslan's arrows struck it, and it looks different to Zahhak's snakes pushing arrows from their bodies and regenerating. So maybe this takeover of Kaykhusraw is a temporary thing, and Team Zahhak are planning to transfer Zahhak to a new body once he reaches Ecbatana? And that new body... who better than another descendant of the Parsian royal line? 👀

I feel like with any luck I might get my wish for Hilmes to come face to face with Zahhak and in a moment of horror realise exactly what the sorcerers have been using him for and what he's helped to bring about...

(I want Team Zahhak to be planning for Hilmes to be a host for Zahhak but I don't want for it to actually happen! I'd love it if Team Arslan managed to step in just in time... augh my brain is racing into visions of Hilmes captured for a head jar ritual below Ecbatana)

Oh and Zahhak really is heading towards Ecbatana as I thought, so it looks extremely likely that all final showdowns are going to take place there. I feel like this direction was actually hinted at when the corpse of Kaykhusraw was slithering towards the setting sun. It's a panel I really like, as it both indicates the sun (which represents the Shah) setting on the royal line and Pars alike, and as the sun sets in the west and Ecbatana is west of Mount Damavand, you can tentatively extrapolate where the Snake King is heading.

So now Team Arslan have seen the Snake King. One day soon, they will have to defeat him for good. And given that everyone survived this time, can we hope for the same to happen again when they next meet in battle?

#arslan senki #the heroic legend of arslan #arslan senki spoilers #zahhak #team zahhak #arslan #daryun #estelle #don ricardo #kaykhusraw

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someowlhouseaccount · 2 years

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Evolution of everyone's magic: Amity edition

(ok, I was going to do multiple characters, like Gus, but this one took LONG ENOUGH so I doubt that now :D )

[S1E03] Top of her class for creating abominations: hers looks very solid, can move and talk, but has been pre-created from a cauldron containing all of the ingredients, so it can't exist on its own

Can also summon one from thin air, but it's VERY loose and fragile: can be instantly killed and turned to goo again by a single Luz punch

[S1E05] Can summon a proper solid one now, but it's small

[S1E12] Can create fire without having to use a training wand (she used it to melt the bindings off her siblings and Eda)

[S1E13] Can make large abominations, that stay alive for presumably a long time (long enough to carry her books or do a performance involving holding her up)

[S1E16] Can make a VERY large abomination

[S1E17] Can make huge abomination limbs rise from the ground. Used it to hold off a giant axe blade

[S2E02] Can take hold of other people's abominations, stopping them from moving. Can explode their limbs and make them boil from the heat of her magic. Can also make other people's abominations move how she wants them to.

[S2E09] In Eclipse Lake, we see she's moved on from just creating and controlling abominations. This is signified by her tiny servant abomination at the start of the episode: so far she had been making bigger and bigger abominations, but this one goes backwards in that progression, because she doesn't need them as much as she used to. They're not essential to her anymore, but they still serve her.

She uses the fire spell from episode 12, as a potential weapon this time

She uses a liquidy form of abomination goo in this episode, which is strong enough to capture and bind someone despite being so watery

Can absorb blasts with this same type of goo

Can use it as a shield (she does this multiple times in the fight with Hunter)

Can form a spike-studded glove around her hand

Summons a liquidy abomination with the help of her staff...

...Which morphs into a ball to contain her opponent

Uses abomination goo as a slide - it's very thin but can support her weight

Uses it as a sword, from her hand

[S2E11] Makes a skateboard with turnable wheels even though it's made entirely of goo

Uses fire magic again: a much larger amount than last time (this combines with Luz's ice to make a mist, helping them to run away)

Uses the glove again (combined with Luz's ice glyphs), which can shoot off her hand multiple times like large bullets

[S2E14] Can combine her abomination with someone else's to make an absolutely massive abomination. Also, this abomination's limbs extend and look quite liquidy - I think this is her same magic we saw from Eclipse Lake, but combined with an abomination this time

[S2E20] Can boil off someone else's abomination goo that was binding her

Can create a huge flood of goo (which she used to make Kikimora lose her balance)

[S2E21] Her shield isn't just a shield shape anymore, it's also a hand. This seems to imply that she would be able to use the same goo formation as both a shield and a fist at the same time

So, Amity's magic started off being limited to creating abominations. She learnt how to make them more solid and larger. After Grom, she could summon just abomination limbs when that's all she needed. In Escaping Expulsion, we saw her control an abomination other than her own for the first time. In Eclipse Lake, she had begun using a much more liquidy form of her magic in various ways, in both offence and defence. She has learnt how to make her magic stronger by combining it with Luz's and Alador's. I think the biggest thing we've seen her do on her own is creating the flood in Clouds on the Horizon. The latest episode shows her using her shield from Eclipse Lake slightly differently as it is now hand-shaped, so that could be a hint to how she will use her magic next.

#toh #the owl house #toh season 2 #toh amity #toh abomination #toh magic #toh analysis

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colemckenzies · 11 months

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Groundhog Day Musical, West End 2023

after six years i finally saw my favourite musical of all time in person 🥰🥰 so here is my write up of the staging, lyric changes, general commentary etc.

it's worth noting that i imagine the staging is more similar to its original west end run than the broadway version, but i didn't see it back then and couldn't find any footage so I'll just be comparing to the broadway ver. it will also all be based off of the One west end performance i saw and One broadway performance that was filmed cus yk live theatre and all that. i'm also only one person so this def won't be comprehensive. if there's anything you particularly want to know that i haven't mentioned please ask!!

for major overarching changes, there was no turntable which significantly affected the staging, especially for songs like night will come. it's also a much smaller space and much more condensed cast than on broadway.

anyway without further ado lets go woodchuck chuckers 😎 in chronological order

the opening video is completely changed. rather than showing phil interacting w his producer, it just shows his forecast segment in full. he explains more about what groundhog day is as a holiday and that this is his fourth year attending. also includes the line 'we can't all have good weather because we're not all good people'. banner along the bottom read 'up next music: white wine in the snow' as a little tim minchin ref :)

only one person sang the 'i was born on a punxutawney dawn' opening section of there will be sun, pretty sure it was buster. lot of solos for the rest of the song as well but not specific townspeople i think

everyone came out of the mist as in broadway version, but everyone was dressed in the top hat costume. they stood a line across the stage and took a group selfie w a selfie stick

phil turns off the radio after 'that's right woodchuck chuckers, it's groundhog day' so there's none of the subsequent lyrics/banter. i'm also 90% sure the radio recording was from the soundtrack

FIRST LYRIC CHANGE. there's an extra line in day one that goes 'their dumb superstitions and vacuous chat, their total unawareness of the fact their trapped, perhaps you don't miss it if you don't know you lack it, I'm sure there was a pack of xanax in this jacket' (EDIT - thank you for the correction @jackhkeynes )

^not a huge fan of this change tbh but only bc the original rhythm is one of my favourite parts of the song.

there's no hallway in the b&b, the kitchen set is the back end of the bedroom set. this means jonathan is downstairs the kitchen rather than meeting phil in the hallway, so the scene ends up as him, phil, and mrs lancaster. the tourist couple do not come in (or exist), mrs lancaster says the popsicle line.

there's a couple of extra new jokes in the dialogue. lmk if you want to know specifics lol

since mrs lancaster comes straight into this scene they skip the 'think i'll lose it all together' little bit of music

all the dancers are part of the marching band and they all join for the selfie with phil

phil getting hit in the head by the groundhog guy is because the hot dog guy (here played by one of the newsies i saw LOL) yells 'GO PHIL!!!' every time so the groundhog turns around to wave

buster uses an alt melody for his announcement - 'prognostication' goes down rather than up for the last note

they get punxsy phil out on the 'this brown log' line, so they skip the 'the finest specimen you will find' section

nancy sings the 'kinda both but not quite either' line over buster, which i actually really like because she does it in this really peppy cheerleader :DDD way that adds to her being a Prop. she even has pompoms.

wilbur in this version is sooooo good he's a lot more physical and really leans into his megaphone

when phil comes back from the blizzard rita seems a lot more genuinely concerned about him than just laughing

she accidentally orders her drink with a 'tryst' before 'kiss' and finally 'twist'

NEW LYRICS in day two - since there's no radio chatter in this version, after 'how many days is this holiday?' phil sings '[something] clearly failed to mention the owner showing signs of early onset dementia, one groundhog day is surely more than enough, even hicks must get sick of this stuff'

rest of the song continues as normal, again rita seems more concerned about phil, shouts 'maybe i can help!' when he leaves the diner

she then sings her diary section quite differently, like alt melody AND alt rhythm, she seems flustered

actually she also has a lot more variation between days than a lot of the townspeople, like she's more responsive to phil acting differently

LYRIC CHANGE in stuck - 'rhino foreskin' is now 'monkey foreskin'. lyric changes that push me dangerously close to googling 'do rhinos have foreskin' (EDIT - tim apparently said this was because white rhinos went extinct so it made him sad - thank u anon!)

the enema takes place behind a screen, a bit like the silhouette technique used for the shower in hope

at the end of stuck when everyone lists their thing again (karma/toxins/etc), phil says no!! after each one until alcohol and then he goes 'oh thank god'

nothing hugely notable to say for nobody cares, just that it skipped over some of the dialogue at the beginning just to make the scene tighter. i will say that ralph and gus are Exceptional in this version

the staging is mostly the same, except jack and wilbur get their own little cars to follow the truck in :)

in philandering, phil tells nancy he's a war correspondant rather than working for the nyt

again the dialogue throughout the song is a lot more streamlined

the little pillow fight section is replaced by a party in phil's room where you just see everyone going in and out of the door that's set up like when he slept w nancy. he gets his big fur coat from a coke dealer.

in one day, rita doesn't comment on phil's choice of drink, so there's nothing about 'frou frou lady drinks', she just orders right after him and the day restarts

not a new thing but. i forgot about the soixante neuf line and it made me choke

rita and phil sit on a bench to the side of the stage after the snowball fight, not on the floor

joelle's voice is extremely pretty in this ver:) I think the harmony may be slightly different?

LYRIC CHANGE. in arguably the most bizarre lyric change, jonathan is no longer addicted to fried chicken takeaway, but rather camembert. which you may notice does not rhyme with 'day'. the full line is: 'one day, i swear, i'll kick my addiction to camembert. my doctor said one day my heart will stop beatin', if i don't ease off this cheese eatin'.' (EDIT - changed due to this track being played by a black actor, though the one i saw was white - thank you anon!)

the diner waitress doesn't exist in this cut down cast, so it's debbie who can't sing. fred is very supportive :)

something cool they do in lieu of the turntable is for Larry's repeated 'ok phil we're on in 5...' they have multiple larrys, similar to the body doubling in hope, who keep running up to phil and fading away

ACT TWO

the act opens slightly differently - since nancy is kind of part of the marching band in this ver (tho not in full uniform), it opens with a quick section of who is that! who is that? emerging from his burrow -. nancy sings her 'kinda both but not quite either' line, and then drops one of her pompoms on 'until we hear it from old punxsutawney -' and then as she goes to pick it up that music stops and playing nancy begins

LOVE that it cuts off just before 'phil' bc it has the same effect as even choosing to open w playing nancy anyway. she was an incredible nancy as well she's not got many credits yet but oh my god? this was so striking and moving irl and it's already one of my favourite choices of the show

there's a lot more use of Red Lighting when phil kills phil. rip.

staging for hope is almost exactly the same, but minus turntable, so it doesn't have the part where lots of Not Phils are dying simultaneously, just the three main deaths

the scene where phil exposits about everyone in the diner goes jeff -> debbie -> freddie. there's a great exchange that goes 'you're welcome jeff.' / 'do you two know each other?' / 'no???' / 'that's jeff.'

also phil doesn't insist debbie wants a diamond (since she ends up w a doorknob anyway), he just goes CLOSE THE DEAL FREDDIE!!!

since this version establishes this is phil's fourth year covering ghd and debbie and fred met on ghd four years ago, there's a pretty good reason why they're such big fans of him :)

not a difference but the 'i'll never have a birthday' line always hits so hard

if i had my time again is THE single most different song between versions. the musical arrangement is quite different to my ear, different harmonies, and there's alt melodies and rhythms as well as some extra lyrics

as i have already seen noted on tumblr, 'and one dude when i was bored' has been upgraded to SOME dudes. also rita goes 'sure..!' she's like ok u bi bitch. also they're still on the benches at this point but she's jumped onto his.

even when they are on the move there's none of the stuff w the townspeople hounding phil for photos/autographs, they're just hanging out

the section where phil 'shows Rita his hometown' has actually been moved to near the end of the show, so they just get on the tilt-a-whirl immediately. also they share a car rather than having separate ones.

the staging for this part was so beautiful it actually made me cry lol. w strings of lights coming down

LYRIC CHANGE - 'i daily eat a dozen donuts' is now 'i eat a dozen donuts every day'

FURTHERMORE, the second 'why' is actually directed at rita's 'i would learn piano', and she replies by singing 'why?? I'd just give everything a try' and then their 'these revolving rides' section is a completely different tune going into a brand new ending where she's lying on his bed and he has a balloon, with:

NEW LYRICS - rita: 'go to all the parties that i missed, kiss all the boys i was too afraid to kiss (why am i not surprised you have a list?), try to have more days that end like.. this :)'

the next couple of scenes play out as in the bway ver

the order of vignettes leading up to and in night will come are switched - phil brings jenson the thermos of soup on the second day and takes him to the hospital on the third day as the song begins, with the scene w the nurse taking place after the first verse

obviously the staging is quite different without the turntable, ned wanders about between verses and then stands still/sits to sing

ned has a lot more of an 'annoying' exaggerated nasally voice in this ver

in his post-song broadcast, phil pronounces 'phi' like 'fee' instead of 'fie'

in philanthropy, phil saves jonathan from choking rather than the tourist, which does end up feeling a bit random since he also gives mrs lancaster a new coffee pot in this song iirc so along with the sheriff and debbie it's established he's solving the problems from 'one day', and jonathan is clearly Not choking on camembert lmao

the singer at the party at the end is debbie!!!

during seeing you, when phil takes rita up to the observation deck, she calls it 'romantic' sarcastically after the toilets/garbage/etc, and then That's when he points out the duck pond, school etc, and she says it's like he's showing her his hometown

MORNING OF FEBRUARY 3RD EVEN MORE DEVASTATING FROM THIRD ROW OF STALLS.

ending is the broadway one, watching the sunrise :) except it's just phil and rita and no one else

so yeah IT FUCKED andy karl I would die for you. as i say lmk if you have any other questions and i will do my best :)

#groundhog day musical #ghd musical #groundhog day 2023 #groundhog day west end #andy karl #groundhog Day

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random-sparks-98 · 10 months

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Sunlit Gotham Universe Notes

Batfam Notes:

- Due to moving around the batfam timeline a bit, Jason is the only one who has died who has been fully buried and then revived (Steph’s heart stopped for about three minutes when Black Mask captured her, and Damian has not been killed.)

- Damian came to Gotham earlier than canon, and is currently 10 years old and in 4th grade at Gotham Academy

- Jon Kent is also going to be the same age as Damian in this AU

- Jason Todd is going be announced as Legally Alive before the beginning of the story (Yes, he is still Red Hood, but he doesn’t kill anymore (most of the time))

- Bruce will NOT be going missing in time

- This means that Tim never drops out of high school, gets emancipated, and becomes CEO of a company at the age of 17. It also means that Dick will not have been Batman

- Selina and Bruce are dating - he’s gonna probably propose soon, but big life events keep happening (like adopting new children every few months) so he hasn’t yet. He claims he’s waiting for a time when everything is calm. His children call bullshit and say he’s just scared she’ll say no

- Selina totally knows that he already has the ring and is honestly just teasing him and stressing him out more by making comments and jokes every so often

How does Wonder Woman not know about the demigods?

- When the Greek Amazons went to live on Themyscira they became cut off from the rest of the mortal world. This means that they weren’t aware of Camp moving around to follow Olympus

- Diana was born WAY before the First Great Prophecy, and technically isn’t a true demigod because she was sculpted from clay - therefore not really part mortal

- By the time Diana had left the island, demigods had gone underground and general society forgot that they existed. Both camps are kept secret so that the demigods are safe, so Diana hasn’t heard about them and assumes that the demigods are just no more

- Due to the Mist, Off World League Missions, Rescue Ops, and the fact that she lived in Paris for a while, Diana hasn’t been around during any of the major battles - or her focus was elsewhere

- Donna Troy might show up at some point, and the same logic about leaving Themyscira works for her too. We’re going with the Magical Duplicate origin story for her, so again, doesn’t quite count as mortal enough for the prophecy

- Cassie Sandsmark originally used magical artifacts to help Diana fight crime and was later ret-conned into being either a daughter of Zeus or a granddaughter of Zeus. The ret-con is going to be brought up in the story and we can all thank the Flashes for messing up the timeline. But basically she doesn’t become a proper descendant of Zeus until after the Titan War and therefore the prophecy doesn’t apply to her either

Children of Apollo have the following abilities According to the Riordan Wiki:

- They can curse others to only speak in rhyming couplets that can take days or even weeks to wear off (depending on strength and number of people in the spell)

- They are expert archers, inherited from their father. However, the children of Apollo who are healers tend to be less skilled with this (as seen with Will Solace)

- They also excel at anything involving throwing or shooting stuff, like shooting hoops or shooting firearms or other missile weapons

- They are skilled in physical contests and games

- They excel in the arts

- They are skilled musicians

- Vitakinesis: As the children of Apollo, they are natural healers. They can heal people by singing a hymn to their father (in Ancient Greek).

- Audiokinesis: As the children of Apollo, they have the ability to control sound waves and music

- It is extremely rare that a child of Apollo can possess complete photokinesis, as only Apollo himself and the Titan of Light, Hyperion, and the Titan of the Sun, Helios, have been known to use the ability

- From what can be gleaned from The Demigod Diaries, it can be presumed that some, or even all of Apollo's children possess a limited form of precognition

- Thanks to a curse, all the children of Apollo have a terrible fear of snakes

In this AU, souls have auras that are unique to each soul. Demigod children with parent’s who deal with light (ex: Apollo or Iris) can see the auras if they focus really hard. Children of Apollo will often use it as a way to check how well a patient is healing as the brighter the aura the healthier the person.

#sunlitgotham #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson oc #batfam #batfamily #fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 writer #ao3 author #archive of our own

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pikespendragon67 · 19 days

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And Now, an Ode to Priam Fire Emblem: The Decade or So Long Blorbo

As I type this, the Nintendo 3DS and WiiU eShop have legally shut down their Internet servers. Pokemon can still be transferred via the Poke Transporter & Pokemon Bank, and content that was downloaded before can still be redownloaded, but now it is legally impossible to not only buy games, but to also download their free content that was distributed online. For some games, this might not have been utilized or was just a small bonus that didn’t mean much. For Fire Emblem Awakening, it meant access to new maps & somewhat new characters.

4 of the free online characters were within Awakening’s main story & acted as “what if” scenarios. What if Emmeryn survived her character defining fall that ended a decade-or-so-long war? What if Yen’fay was the Chon’sin royal sibling that survived instead of Say’ri? What would Gangrel do if he lived after Chrom defeated him? What would Walhart do? What would Aversa do if it turned out that she was brainwashed by a cult, realized this, and decided to fight against this? Some were better executed than others, in my opinion, but some of these characters also had exclusive skills, such as Aversa wielding dark magic outside of a Dark Mage/Sorcerer class or Walhart being immune to armor & beast killing weapons, or were just more manpower for your army.

There was one final Spotpass map, though, that acted as a nice free challenge mode (if you didn’t plan on buying the DLC for Apotheosis, of course) : 50 whole units against 26 of your own. At the epicenter of it is Priam, the character I’d like to honor with this memoir.

Priam is a character not found in the main story of Awakening, and is a dweller of the Isle of Giants in the Outrealms (aka bonus content land oooooh). He’s the leader of a very large army (again, 50 units) consisting of people from every nation within the continents of Ylisse & Valm. He’s supposedly related to a radiant hero of legend, though it’s never officially confirmed. He likes to train, eat meat, and fight strong opponents to better himself regardless of their origins. Overall a relatively simple character to understand.

For many players, they tend to forget he exists or do their best to pretend he doesn’t exist in the first place. Either they didn’t play his map, his character traits didn’t stick with others as strongly as others, or the big meat and potatoes hot button issue: his relation to Ike. Ike is the protagonist of the Tellius saga, or the games consisting of both Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. He does not have a canonical ending where he marries, and within the games, he doesn’t show romantic interest in any female characters. He does, however, have paired endings with characters such as Ranulf (who goes on a journey) and Soren (who accompanied Ike on his own journey, never to be seen or heard from again). And with sources stating Priam is a direct descendant of Ike, rather than an off-shoot through Mist (Ike’s younger sister) and Boyd, many got upset. “How could Ike have a kid? He’s not interested in women. He likes Soren.” is something I see regularly while scouring through Priam’s tag on Tumblr or through comments on Youtube. And I’m not here to argue against that. I do, however, think I have an idea why Priam was chosen to be Ike’s descendant of all the previous lords: Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Brawl, at the time, was the latest Smash Bros. game when Awakening was in development. Smash Bros. is usually how Nintendo fans branch out from just playing Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, or Kirby and get introduced to series they might not have even heard of, such as Fire Emblem. In fact, it was due to Marth & Roy’s appearance in the previous Smash Bros. game, Melee, that the West got their first taste of Fire Emblem games. However, in Brawl, Roy was removed from the roster and was replaced with Ike. This makes sense, as Path of Radiance was the latest console Fire Emblem game when Brawl was released. (I also wonder if it has to do with the west never receiving Roy’s game, but that’s just speculating on my end). Gotta promote your games somehow. Though from what I understand, the Tellius games did not sell as well as Intelligent Systems had hoped. Additionally, with the following games being remakes of Marth’s original adventures now on the DS, those also did not sell well. Heck, the west never officially got the remake for Mystery of the Emblem.

This could just be fan speculation ruminating throughout the decades, but it seems to be common belief that due to poor sales, Fire Emblem was almost a goner franchise that probably would’ve remained dormant for decades or even had no games developed for it. As such, Intelligent Systems wanted to broaden the market by appealing to newcomers. Some that may have heard about Fire Emblem through Smash Bros., but never gave it a shot due to the permadeath system that the games were infamous for, or just no real interest beforehand. Awakening exploded in popularity, garnering new fans like crazy. And with Chrom, Lissa, Emmeryn, Lucina, and Owain being descendants of the recognizable Marth (especially as Lucian disguising herself as Marth and even being briefly confused for Marth by Tiki), it would make sense to have a supposed descendant of the recognizable Ike as well. …Although one could speculate that Walhart is a descendant of Alm & Celica, which makes sense given how Rudolf looks… And for more reference’s sake, they threw in a bunch of past Fire Emblem throwbacks in weapons & lore that made writing a worldbuilding-centric fic a fucking nightmare.

So, with all of that, what are my thoughts on Priam being related to Ike?

…Eh?

My whole explanation beforehand was me retelling how I got into Awakening in the first place sprinkled in with hearsay I’ve read online, but as I grow older & more bitter at the world, Priam could be related to a shoe for all I care. (Although if Roy DID stick in Brawl, it would be cool to see how his descendant would be, especially if we’re going the route of Eliwood/Ninian having Roy, who then marries Lillina). What I like about Priam is traits somewhat shown in Ike, sure, but it’s also just the missing potential that keeps me coming back to him.

SO, time to get into how I started to like him. I remember when I first played Awakening, I asked a friend if I should pick between Stahl or Lon’qu to marry (as I was aware of the auto-marriage to Chrom mechanic and wanted to avoid that). The friend said Stahl was a better pick, as he was a kind lad that loved to eat & had messy hair like yours truly. Then, when the Spotpass maps were released, I immediately made a new save file so that I could marry Priam. Why? …Because he had a bandana and I liked his English voice acting (for the few grunts & battle quotes that were present). The Awakening Hero armor design is eh, but I liked how his was customized to be, well, radiant. The 3D model was shinier than those of Flavia’s or other playable reclassed Heroes, and I really just liked how he paired a tattered cape with his armor.

I also remember level grinding for an entire summer just so I could finally take on his map efficiently. Granted, I played Normal/Casual, but when I replayed the map a 3rd time for another save file, my units were barely able to beat him. It was worth it, in my opinion.

What really made me start up that second save file were his supports with Female Robin. Priam is an unfortunate case of “Avatar-sexual”, meaning he only has supports with Robin & Morgan if he’s his dad (although in the Hot Springs DLC, he does have a nice chat with Yen’fay & tries his damnest to fight Walhart). We only learn small things about him, such as his love for training & how he utilizes breathing techniques that would fit right into Jojo or Demon Slayer. He also gets flustered when someone does something nice for him unexpectedly, such as Female Robin doing his laundry as thanks for training with her. He doesn’t really care about expenses, as he bought a really fucking expensive ring when he proposed to Female Robin and says “I don’t give a damn what you do” when you sell items in his inventory. He’s devoted to the point of letting the world burn before seeing Female Robin get hurt (thankfully not to a yandere-like level). …And you learn he fought a bear when he was 12 if you support with Male Robin. He’s what got me to liking characters that had muscle (yes even though Basilio and Vaike were right there).

Combat wise, he was a good non-armor defensive unit (especially with wielding Ragnell to give him +5 defense), but what I find neat is that he learns weapon breaker skills even in classes he can’t become, like Gryphon Rider having Lancebreaker. He has both Sol and Luna, but not Aether like. This might be so Aether stays exclusive to Chrom, Lucina, and a potential daughter/granddaughter, but I speculated this could be Priam either holding himself back from using Aether’s potential or him still trying to figure it out.

Along with this, if you were a budding mythology/history nerd like I was, you realize he was named after not one, but two! TWO! Important figures in the Trojan War: King Priam and his son, Paris (In Japanese, Priam is named Paris, so yes, go ahead and make the French jokes. His English voice actor already plays the Frenchiest Fry Virion himself). In fact, this was one of the many things that sparked my interest in mythology/history.

And finally, this was around the time I was starting to get interested in voice acting trivia. This meant I wanted to act as a human IMDB page and go “whoa, did you know such and such shared a voice with so and so?! Isn’t that neat?!” At the time, I didn’t know Jamieson Price also voiced Virion, but I DID know he voiced Iskandar from Fate/Zero and Chad from Bleach. Those were 2 of my favorite characters so I was sold. And then for Japanese, Daisuke Ono voices him. Jotaro Kujo from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and Shizuo Heiwajima from Durarara!! Of all things! WOW!

All of this is really fucking cool shit, and it’s such a damn waste that Intelligent Systems doesn’t do anything else with him!

To fill in my disappointment, I’ve definitely created a version of Priam in my head that’s drastically different from canon. I’ve incorporated elements from what I’ve continued to read in his supports, inspiration coming from moments & traits from other series that I’ve watched/played that I thought would be cool, and overall just positive things to keep me going when I was going through a rough spot. Canonically, he’s probably like what people expect Goku from Dragon Ball Z to be. In my mind, he’s like a battle-hardened tactician brawler that gets very excited about swords (to the point where he takes up blacksmithing to craft his own), loves to speak about life in a philosophical lens, and experiences a quiet yet extremely unsettling quiet anger when someone he cares about gets hurt. I also headcanon he uses his headband to cover scars from his bout with fighting a bear when he was 12. OH! And he gets to have twin girls: Cassandra and Helena.

…So yeah, completely different from canon. But with only 3 Cipher cards and 1 appearance in Heroes as I type this to go by, I feel like it’s okay to speculate about what could have been. He could have been in Awakening’s main story as an opponent to Walhart during the second arc, or he could have been a recurring superboss in future Fire Emblem games that somehow always ends up in different dimensions. He could have been a hint for an upcoming Fire Emblem game that explored Tellius 1,000 years in the future much like how Awakening explored Archanaea & Valentia 1,000 years after Marth, Alm, and Celica ruled. (And apparently 2,000 years after Seliph ruled Jugdral? Again, consistent worldbuilding in this series is a nightmare if you try to connect all the games). Heck, I thought that was going to be what Fates was when I saw the cutscene of King Sumeragi shielding baby Corrin from arrows.

Part of the reason why I’m so attached to Priam is spite from this lack of potential, and the fans mostly ignoring him for their own reasons. Like! We could have had so much more with this guy! And that kept me motivated during dark times in my life. I won’t go into specifics, as it’s quite personal & possibly triggering, but I’ll just say I felt very upset, very angry, and very alone at a certain point in my life. But I kept myself going for the unrealistic but still plausible goal of getting to see Priam get his own game. It might sound dumb, but it kept me wanting to move forward in life. And it’s because of that that I’m here today, and I’ve met other Priam fans online that have their own ways of showing that they like him. They have different reasons than me, and that’s awesome! Priam fans, in spite of their small numbers, exist! When I first joined Tumblr, I unofficially joined a “Radiant Waifu Society” where 3 other people were also Priam fans. I don’t talk to them as much as I did back then, but I do see one of the members post art from time to time & another one makes Fire Emblem Heroes content on Youtube now! I’ve also met one of my best online friends through a shared interest in Priam. She introduced me to many new friends I’ve made over the years, and I still talk with a few of them on a daily basis in friend group servers on Discord. I love sharing cursed voice acting trivia with her and the many other friends whenever I get the chance to, especially seeing their initial reactions when I tell them Priam is also voiced by Jelly Jiggler of Bobobo fame.

All in all, I’d say Priam, in spite of his controversies in fandom spaces, was a great positive in my life that I can’t help but be thankful for. Intelligent Systems probably didn’t expect someone to care for this one-off character so much, but anything’s possible these days.

Thank you for being such a positive force in my life, Priam Fire Emblem. With your map no longer being legal to download, here’s hoping you get your own game someday.

#long post #pikes writes #fire emblem awakening #priam #many will call this cringe to which i say fair

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