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crescentfool · 1 year

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i love ryomina

no but seriously. even when i’m thinking about other things that captivate my interest, i find myself coming back to them and feeling like i fell down three whole flights of staircases every time i do. they are one of my favorite pairs in media and are very special to me.

it’s the way that ryoji and minato’s lives are inevitably intertwined with each other due to the circumstances 10 years ago on the moonlight bridge. without no minato, there is no ryoji. minato as he is today is because of ryoji. they have irreparably affected each other’s lives that you cannot discuss one without bringing up the other one.

ryoji mochizuki, who is death, pharos, thanatos, nyx avatar, the man of many names and identities, is the perfect summation of p3′s messages and themes.

minato arisato, the wildcard and protagonist, who has boundless kindness in his actions despite the unfortunate cards handed to him.

the two of them complement each other and tell a beautiful story from start to finish.

minato’s personas capture this perfectly. he awakens to orpheus, who’s flames burns bright, is snuffed out by thanatos during the encounter against the arcana magician. a visual precursor of the idea that ryoji stole from the life that minato could have had.

it’s the way that over the course of the game as minato interacts with pharos, talking throughout the dark hour, forging a bond that cannot be broken, that allows ryoji to exist. minato humanizes death.

november. the bells toll, calling the appriser. and yet, it’s peaceful... quiet, and full of life. ryoji, who breaks free from death’s chains, refusing his role, is given the chance to live for a month. to make the most of the humanity that minato has given him over those ten years. and what a life he lived. ryoji’s life is a reflection of what minato’s life could have been like in another universe.

it is the way the two of them are reflections of each other. ryoji with his hair down is just like minato. they are both stubbornly committed to choosing to be kind, to love life, yet are chained down by the cards the narrative dealt them with. they finish each other’s sentences, knowing each other intimately in a way no one else does.

how is that, a boy who lived for only one month, profoundly changes the course of the narrative? he is simultaneously relevant and irrelevant. blink, and you miss it, the beautiful life that he led.

ryoji is horrified at the revelations of being the appriser. he who so desperately wished to forget that his existence was meant to bring the end to all life, was unable to escape the inevitability of death. in a non-human way, of course. he becomes remorseful. a shadow of his brief time as a human who was enamored by the small beautiful things that life had to offer.

he is swallowed by grief. grief knowing that his very existence will take away not only minato’s life, but everyone else’s. the very thing that ryoji loved- life, fundamentally went against the role he was born for- to be the harbinger of death. and unable to grapple with this sadness he believes that the best thing for minato to do is to kill him, so that SEES can live in bliss not knowing about their inevitable end.

SEES is left rattled, calling into question what the meaning of life is and what they do when faced against the inevitability of death.

and!!! minato chooses!! for ryoji to live!! even in spite of what ryoji is MEANT to embody, minato still stubbornly chooses to defy death itself! and if that’s not cool i don’t know what is!! minato wants everyone to have the chance to live!!

so he climbs. he ascends tartarus, to meet ryoji, again, who is now the nyx avatar. and i just think there’s something so so beautiful about being able to use messiah, minato’s ultimate persona, against nyx avatar.

messiah, being the fusion of orpheus and thanatos is peak ryomina to me. because ryoji and minato have established an unbreakable bond from having been entwined for 10 years, minato still has a piece of death with him, and by proxy!! ryoji is able to defy and rebel against nyx trying to bring the fall! and i think that’s fucking cool shit if you ask me!

even when all of the arcanas have been gone through, it’s still not enough to stop the fall. and yet. minato knows. in the way that ryoji was sealed in minato 10 years ago by aigis... minato becomes the great seal so that everyone can live. it comes full circle.

march rolls around. he fulfills his promise to SEES on graduation day. minato dies from exhaustion. but goddamn does his sacrifice make me weep- he’s had such, such a tiring journey. he’s been through so many things because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. but at the end of it all, he’s reunited with ryoji in death.

and i think this is why ryomina continues to evoke so much emotions for me, to this day. the relationship that they have embodies so much of persona 3′s messages and themes that it makes me feel like a microwave with nothing running in it.

p3′s message is very hopeful, for me. my favorite takeaway from it is that even if death is inevitable, appreciating the life that we were given and choosing to live as best as we can with kindness (even if we can’t feasibly do everything), is just? really nice? and you see this manifest in both ryoji and minato’s personalities and what they do for the other characters.

ryomina just feels so distinct to me, the flavor that their relationship ties back to my favorite takeaways from this game and im just!! god!! i love you minato arisato! i love you ryoji mochizuki! im so glad that i could meet them! i’m happy that they changed my life! they made me want to appreciate the connections in life even if they were fleeting! they made me!! want to pay attention to the good moments in life and cherish them!

i love ryomina so much!!! i’m so glad that these two could bring so much joy into my life! and i hope that others can have this joy too! 💛💙

#lizzy speaks #persona 3 #ryomina #ryoji mochizuki #minato arisato #meta #long post #(literally)#HI SO UM YESTERDAY I COULDN'T FUCKING SLEEP so to cope i was like 'i will talk out loud about anything and everything'#and somehow that turned into me talking about ryomina out loud and something about verbalizing my thoughts made me feel crazy about these-#two again. i mean for the record i continue to love them always very dearly but like my p3 braincells sometimes go into hibernation bc-#ive been on a really huge splatoon kick. but anyway my voice was like cracking at 3am because i was tearing up #i was like 'THE!! IM! SO NORMAL ABT WHAT ORPHEUS AND THANATOS AND MESSIAH SYMBOLIZE' etc etc etc #so i kinda just went to sleep like 'ok well you GOTTA type it out. everyone needs to know about this.'#and um i didnt mean to make 1069 words! sorry! not really! but i love them!!! even if im very quiet these days!#ohhh how lucky i am to have had the chance to experience ryomina they are such a gem. they make me so goddamn emotional #they really mean a lot to me because of well. (gestures at the entire post) but also they came at a really good point of my life and FUCK!!#im so so grateful to them!!! i love them!!!! the themes that their relationship and characters convey just !! IM SO NORMAL ABOUT IT!!!#they've affected me so profoundly and deeply and i wish i could make better art to get this across. but its ok. one day i can. one day #they make me so fucking talkative like actually but um. i had a lot of fun writing this! i dont think ive had like. a proper appreciation-#post for them that articulates why i like them so much (unless you count the essays i write in my art tags) so it was nice to make this.#admittedly theres a lot abt p3 that im rusty on since its been a goodwhile since ive interacted with the source material #and in a way you could say that like. i need to renew my p3 license LMAOOO but god some parts of p3 still have such a huge death grip on me #and what i mean by that is that the big Fucking Events have such!! clarity!! in my mind!! i recall them and i wilt on the spot!!#oh god i cant fucking shut up. the tags are probably 500 words long. enjoy my ramble. i wish every ryomina enjoyer a Good Life <3 #actually no. i hope that EVERYONE on the dash today has something that sparks joy for them the way ryomina does for me.#everyone deserves 2 have something that makes their brain do a little excited dance that makes them blow up and explode. its good for u!#BYE FOR REAL this is why i have to post my thoughts very spread out otherwise yall would have so many WORDS on ur dash pls help i have so #many emotions and i am so tiny i cannot possibly fit all the feelings i have about ryomina and other things inside my tiny little body

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dallonwrites · 1 year

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my autistic ass when i would try to explain to my non-autistic writer friends how my ocs don’t just feel like characters/plot devices/narrative tools, they feel like fully fledged people that just live inside my brain who i just have access to for some reason and the stories i write are merely a snapshot into their fully fledged personhood/lives. and that that these feelings don’t mean i’m unaware of my role/agency/responsibility as the writer who has the final say in these characters and how they are written it just means that my writing process feels very intuitive and i can only describe it as “listening” and “getting to know” these people that just live inside my brain in a way that i don’t feel like i can completely elaborate on. and because of this i would actually consider these characters “real” in their own way because the impact and influence they have had on me as a person beyond just my writing is so real and not having them would feel like i’m missing a part of myself

#DISCLAIMER! when i say autistic i do not mean this is an exclusively autistic experience or that every autistic person will experience this #i mean that its my autism that makes me not just have my characters be my special interest but also feel so intensely about them #and why i have sometimes felt weird talking about my characters with people because i am just experiencing ocs in a different way #to them #also i think one time when i tried to explain this to someone they thought i literally meant that i felt my characters were real #and when i look back on moments like that i am like beloved you need to get yourself some autistic friends #also its 10pm and ive been up since 6am and this was a very emotionally heavy day so im about to post this and log out and we'll see how #tomorrow me feels about that #but anyways the point of this post is i did not realise this was not universal and felt kinda weird about it for a while until i realised #that it is just the autism and i was like wow this is actually very cool of me i think actually #yesterday my bf sent me song links and was like i feel like felix would listen to these #and ive been thinking about this ever since hence the post because that made me so happy bc i was like i feel like you're seeing him as a #real part of me the way i see him as a real part of me

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reestallized · 8 months

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Hits you with the Aguilera identity crisis beam

#i COULD'VE finished this last night if it wasn't “nighty-night beddy-bye” but anyway hAHAH 🤑#pokemon #reestallized drew this #reestal likes to draw #pokemon fanart #pokemon scarlet and violet #rival nemona #champion nemona #RV: Nemona Aguilera #and obviously that one post i made yesterday about it is shoved in the bg yada yada uuh yes anyway let's hope i don't get jumped on by mx n-#-eela ok? actually i don't think they'll be anywhere near so i should be fine lol /j /lh #reestalverse #<- I FORGOT TO PUT THIS TAG AUGHHH

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brothfan1997 · 29 days

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o_O <- me realizing i will still be on tumblr when i have kids

#like its a natural consequence its not a surprise #i just realized i will undoubtedly still be posting.#my gf and i spent like two hours yesterday catching water beetles to put in my bio jar #(which i sealed july of 2022 and havent added anything to since still full of plants and little shrimpies)#but i was like aw. i want to make my kids do this. and was planning in my head summer projects to have kids do bc summer learning is #important but i Hated the workbooks my mom made me do as a kid #so having them design scientific observation projects is a good solution i think. working brain and hands #ANYWAY i was like i should post about this on tumblr.#and then was like wow will the girlies relate to me preemptively planning activities for hypothetical children. i dont know LOL #anyway does anyone want to see videos of my beetles. im naming them all after glee characters #the shrimp are vocal adrenaline

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keungking · 8 months

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me when i join a fandom and suddenly have to watch the new episode on the night of release for the first time in forever to not get it spoiled

#this is about only friends #but what an episode! it's starting to brew it's starting to boil #every character khaotung plays i will love i am predictable like that #anyway #i'm still on my mission to go thru all the accounts from that post i made this week (i have gotten thru.. 4)#so anyway yesterday i opened tumblr just to scroll a bit and BOOM #had to go watch the episode immediately it was simply unsustainable #very exciting! next week i'll make sure to join in on the hype #(acting like it's too late now)#no no but the mega hype #i forgot how fun fandom can be #and not just sit on my lonesome in my apartment and watch shows secretly and think about them in my own little head #keung talks

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happi-tree · 6 months

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midnight (close to you)

Taylor ❤️‍🔥 just now u up

Lincoln grimaces at the 03:27 in bold numbers across the top of his screen before swiping on the message and unlocking his phone to type out a quick reply.

Me Yeah.

Lincoln is no stranger to seeing Taylor up at weird hours, but as he glances at past messages (filled on Taylor’s part with lots of exclamation points and cutesy little emotes), he suddenly feels a bit more awake.

A chat bubble appears below, animated dots appearing and disappearing as he waits.

Taylor ❤️‍🔥 🕯️?

Me On it.

Or: Taylor has a bad night, and Lincoln tries his best to make it more bearable.

ao3

Swiftli time, lovebirds!!! Here’s my fic for day 5: demons/nightmares. Like days 1 and 3, this is part of the supernatural au @llumimoon, @kaseyskat, and I planned out together. Hope you enjoy!

(Title taken from "Sleep-walking" by Dreamcatcher).

Lincoln Li-Wilson is tossing and turning in a vain attempt at sleep when his phone buzzes.

Blearily, he wipes at his eyes as he focuses on the screen, wincing at the sudden brightness.

Taylor ❤️‍🔥 just now

u up

Lincoln grimaces at the 03:27 in bold numbers across the top of his screen before swiping on the message and unlocking his phone to type out a quick reply.

Yeah.

A chat bubble appears below, animated dots appearing and disappearing as he waits.

Taylor ❤️‍🔥

🕯️?

On it.

Lincoln pushes himself out of bed, making his way over to turn on his fairy lights (a joke gift from Normal, tiny pairs of butterfly wings casting the room in warm-tinted pinpricks of light) and opens one of his dresser drawers, pulling out the components he needs.

Next to go is the area rug, rolled up and pushed to the side to uncover the large pentagram painted into the floor, encircled by runes Lincoln had checked and double-checked, written in Taylor’s steady hand.

He places the red taper candles in the direction of each of the four winds, scatters coarse salt atop the inked circle (a formality at this point, but he can never be too careful). He fumbles with the lighter, trying a few times before remembering to shut off the ceiling fan.

Lincoln makes sure to crack the door open (the increasingly invasive questions from both of his dads had been downright embarrassing the last time they did this and he is not in the mood for a repeat experience). They won’t mind, he knows.

Besides, there are many worse things a teenage boy like Lincoln could be doing than ritually summoning a demon. Half-demon. Whatever.

At each point of the star, he places small offerings: an unopened box of strawberry crunch Pocky; a Garfield plush (which he deeply hopes Taylor will give back to him, since it’s one of his favorites); a room-temperature Ramune; a sparkly sticker; a homemade charm bracelet (no iron or silver, of course, warded for protection and serenity).

In the very center of the pentagram, Lincoln carefully places the Hatsune Miku keychain Taylor had lent him for this exact purpose.

Lincoln pricks his finger and lets a drop of blood fall to the outer edge of the circle, lets the sizzle of it drown out the soft mutterings of the incantation.

Five pinpricks of flame flare higher, brighter, and brilliant ribbons of fire spread outward to conjoin in the center of the circle. Lincoln watches warily as the ball of flame grows and grows, expanding outward and beginning to color with the reddish-magenta hue of his friend’s aura, casting the room in stark maroon shadows.

Before his eyes, the blaze grows brighter, burns hotter, practically pushing at the bounds of its ink-carved confinement, and Lincoln feels the heat lick at his face, warm against his cheeks.

As suddenly as it began, the light is extinguished, revealing the hunched pajama-clad form of Taylor amidst the embers and smoke, the faint cerise glow around him fading until he’s backlit by Lincoln’s fairy lights.

It’s an enchanting sight, normally, one that Lincoln cherishes, but not when Taylor’s glancing down at the painted floorboards with glossed-over eyes, trembling slightly.

“Hey,” Lincoln says, breaking the line of salt with a nudge of his socked foot, crawling forward until their knees touch.

A single, long strand of Taylor’s fringe is still aflame, so Lincoln leans inward and pinches it gently between his thumb and forefinger and extinguishes it with a hiss.

“Taylor,” Lincoln calls, voice hushed in the night but hopefully loud enough to get through to him. He tucks the midnight-dark strand behind the delicate, reddened point of Taylor’s ear.

When he doesn’t respond, doesn’t look up, worry settles further in his stomach, a leaden weight.

His hand cups his best friend’s face, carefully guiding upward until Taylor meets his gaze.

Glazed-over and deeply tired, Taylor stares blinkingly at him for a moment, eyes welling with tears.

“Hey,” Lincoln tries again, “what’s going o-” The air is knocked out of him in a quiet oof as Taylor lunges forward into his chest. He’s uncomfortably warm to the touch in such a way that would burn most people but only leaves Lincoln with a tingling sensation, kind of like sitting by a fireplace for a bit too long. He can feel the fabric of his sleep shirt growing wet where Taylor’s buried his face into his shoulder, and his arms come around to encircle his friend instinctively.

“You’re burning up,” Lincoln frets as he touches the back of his hand to Taylor’s forehead. It feels like stretching his hands out over a bonfire rather than a candle, like usual, and he frowns at the way the heat pushes angrily against his wardings, making his hand glow a barely-perceptible gold. He frowns even deeper when Taylor only wriggles further into his arms, making a sad, distressed sort of sound.

Lincoln notices the way Taylor presses his ear into the left side of his chest, pushing against him like he’s searching out his heartbeat, and something in him twists a little.

This floor can’t be comfortable for him, especially not when he’s shaking and breathing unevenly.

Lincoln looks behind him, opens more of the salt circle with his bare foot, knocks over a crimson candle in the process.

Whatever, he’ll clean it up in the morning.

“Gonna pick you up now, okay?” Lincoln murmurs, ducking his head so he doesn’t have to speak too loud and making sure to keep his voice slow and steady and reassuring.

Taylor nods against him, and Lincoln allows himself a shadow of a smile.

“Good,” he says, and adjusts his hold, sliding one arm under Taylor’s knees and another along his back (beneath his shoulder blades, just in case). Something thin and warm coils itself around his forearm and squeezes, and Lincoln doesn’t need to look to know that Taylor’s wrapped his tail around him for support as his clawed hands scramble for purchase on his upper back. The fabric of Lincoln’s shirt shreds a little, but as always, Taylor’s scratching doesn’t manage to break through the latent magic just atop his skin.

“Up we go!” Lincoln says, and Taylor clings to him even tighter as he holds his smaller friend aloft, carrying them both to his twin XL bed and depositing Taylor as gracefully as he can.

Which isn’t very graceful at all, since Taylor refuses to let go of him.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Lincoln soothes - or at least tries to. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise. I just need you to let me go, ‘kay?”

Taylor shakes his head, mumbling something almost inaudible into his chest.

“What was that?” he says, even though he knows he heard the muffled no, not again the first time.

“Can’t,” Taylor says instead, leaving Lincoln leaning awkwardly over the edge of the bed, feeling oddly cold despite the feverish boy in his arms.

“Okay,” Lincoln mutters, shifting his hold a little (because while Taylor is relatively easy to pick up, soccer has, admittedly, not done much for his arm strength). “Can I move my hand so you can hold it, maybe? So I can be next to you?”

Taylor hums in the affirmative, so Lincoln slides a hand from beneath his friend’s back, and Taylor takes it the second it’s offered, clutching it with clawed fingers like a lifeline as Lincoln climbs into the narrow bed beside him.

That doesn’t last long, though, because Taylor is quick to throw an arm across Link’s shoulders and drape his leg across Lincoln’s own in a strange, full body half-hug.

Lincoln hums a little in concern, worry pulling at his brow. Taylor really must not be feeling well with the way that every point of contact between them burns the tiniest bit, despite the layers and layers of enchantments and wards and immunities that have woven themselves into Lincoln’s cells.

Taylor’s head buries just below Link’s jaw, the way Normal tends to do when he’s feeling needy or sad and wants their pack’s scent around him. His horns, still growing by the day, clip against the side of Lincoln’s face harmlessly as he shuffles into him.

Lincoln takes a minute to marvel at the close bond he has with his friends that defies human description. To go from having nobody his own age to talk to, much less be around, to having three people who care about him - despite rocky introductions - who love him enough to call him family, to be pack, to choose him, to come to him for comfort and camaraderie, to want him… it’s a lot.

Sometimes, if Lincoln thinks about it too hard, the way his friends give him affection so freely - the way Normal nearly tackles him to the ground with the force of his hug and calls him by Name when the world gets to be too much, the way Scary leans into him without hesitation, the way Taylor curls into him now without reigning in his infernal traits - he could almost cry.

Taylor’s tail wraps around Lincoln’s waist, steadfast and needy, the spaded tip of it thumping irregularly against Lincoln’s side.

They rest like that for several moments that seem simultaneously like an instant and like they stretch on into eternity, eons passing with each movement of Lincoln’s fingers through Taylor’s sleep-mussed hair.

Since Lincoln can’t really look at Taylor without craning his neck awkwardly, he chooses a spot on the ceiling to stare at, reveling in the feeling of Taylor cuddling up against him and taking obviously deep, slow breaths so that Taylor can match them. The heat at his side slowly abates from almost-singeing to a comforting warmth, and just as slowly, Taylor’s breath evens out from where it fans against his neck.

Lincoln lets the relative silence wash over him, waiting.

“Link?” Taylor asks, voice slightly muffled.

(Taylor’s lips brush against the side of Lincoln’s throat in a way that makes his breath catch, sends his heart fluttering in his chest, but that’s not something he wants to think too hard about right now.)

“Yeah?” he responds quietly, and thankfully his voice doesn’t sound too strangled as he whispers.

“Thanks.” Taylor doesn’t look up, doesn’t let go, but he’s relaxed more fully into Lincoln’s side rather than grasping in a desperate panic.

“Anytime, man.” It’s amazing, the way Taylor’s presence can warm him from the inside out without even trying, without even factoring in his demonic abilities.

Lincoln doesn’t press for answers.

At this point, he doesn’t really need to. It’s become something of a routine for them over the past few months - whenever Taylor is left in an empty house and craves company, whenever Lincoln is feeling a little too cold, whenever sleep eludes them, the summoning circle is there, just to the side of Lincoln’s bed, and suddenly, things are a little less lonely.

Sometimes, Taylor wants to talk. Sometimes, he keeps to himself, and Lincoln tries not to let it worry him too much.

Anxiety meds are great for that, but the haunted look in his friends’ eyes is an unknown that Lincoln can’t protect them from, can only try his best to understand, fumbling and human as he is.

“I, uh. Had a bad dream,” Taylor starts, tucking his head out of Lincoln’s neck to face him.

Ah. Tonight falls in the former category, then.

“Yeah?” Lincoln hears himself say, though he had figured as much.

“Yeah. Really, uh. Really bad.”

Taylor’s voice sounds so small in the mostly-dark quiet of the room.

Lincoln squeezes their hands, still conjoined, a tiny, wordless reassurance.

“You’re safe now,” Lincoln tells him. “My dad’s warded this entire house like crazy.”

Taylor scoffs. “Yeah, like I could forget after the first time you snuck me in.”

“I thought we agreed we would never talk about that again,” Lincoln responds, mock-shuddering.

“You begged me not to bring it up, I promised nothing. Not the same thing.”

Lincoln likes seeing Taylor’s smile again, even if it’s just the barest flash of fang glinting in the soft glow of his distant fairy lights. Even when it fades a few seconds later.

Taylor’s tail squeezes around Lincoln’s middle, and Lincoln brings a hand to rest on his shoulder.

“Hey,” He murmurs. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere, I won’t let anything hurt you.”

Taylor laughs again, but it’s a shaky, mirthless sound, this time.

“I know you wouldn’t,” He says quietly. Then, “You didn’t, in my dream. You, uh, died.”

“Oh,” Lincoln says.

“Didn’t wanna bother you with it, but you were awake, and it’s stupid, but…” Taylor’s voice trails off.

Lincoln exhales, holds his friend closer.

“I wouldn’t wanna lose you, either,” he says, pressing a kiss to the top of his head, just between his horns.

Taylor’s warmth flares in his hold, just a little bit, and the corners of Lincoln’s lips turn up a fraction. Even despite everything, his best friend is incredibly easy to fluster.

“There were… hunters,” he mumbles, looking down at Lincoln’s orange-and-black striped comforter, grasping for his hands and fidgeting with their loosely-locked fingers to distract Lincoln (and maybe himself, too) from the way his shoulders still tremble. “They were coming for us - Norm, Scary, Hermie. Me.”

Something in Lincoln’s stomach feels like it just twisted, and pressure builds behind his eyes - half-exhaustion, half-sorrow.

“Taylor - hey, Tay, look at me, please?”

Lincoln sees the way that Taylor’s downturned, red-tinged mahogany eyes brim with tears, threatening to spill over onto his cheeks.

Lincoln gently extricates a hand from Taylor’s grasp, brings it to rest under his chin, tilting it upward until they are face to face again and he can peer into his eyes.

Taylor’s eyes have a fire lit behind them, one he’s always noticed in the back of his mind before either of them were aware of his demonic heritage. It’s captivating, the way that they catch in the light, spark to match the bright burn of Taylor’s convictions. Again and again, they’ve drawn Lincoln in like a moth to a flame, crimson-brown-black and enchanting in an entirely different way than anything of the fae.

Lincoln thinks he would jump into the fire and set himself ablaze if it meant that he would never have to see the light behind his eyes shrink to the pinpricks that he sees now.

Hot tears stream down Taylor’s cheeks, silent except for the small hiss the droplets make as they hit the fabric of Lincoln’s bedspread.

Lincoln thumbs the rest away as Taylor leans into the affection, catlike, and the thing in Lincoln’s stomach writhes again.

“Taylor,” he says again, “Look at me.”

Dark eyelashes flutter open, and Taylor looks so, so tired, so haunted.

(Lincoln’s seen that look before on the face of someone else he loves, and he’d give anything to never see it on either of them again.)

“I need you to listen to me.”

Lincoln has… a hard time making eye contact, sometimes, but this is important, so he stares into his friend’s eyes, doesn’t back off or let his gaze slide away.

“You know my family wouldn’t let that happen. That - my dad - it’s his whole thing, you know?”

“Your dad wasn’t there,” Taylor says. “Just you.”

“Then I wouldn’t let that happen. You know I wouldn’t, if it came down to it.”

“I know,” Taylor replies, miserably. “That’s the problem.”

Oh.

“The jackass - in my dream, y’know - the guy that shot you, you know what he said? He said that it was a shame that he had to waste a silver bullet on a pesky human. That it was sad that we’d, like, magicked you into siding with us. Which was so fucked up and I - I couldn’t move, I was so angry. And scared, god, I was terrified, and Norm and Scary were, too, and then it all went black, and-”

“And you woke up?” Lincoln guessed.

“Yeah,” Taylor says. “Nearly melted my phone trying to text you.”

Lincoln frowns, scooches closer to him. Rests a hand on Taylor’s cheek, leans in to press their foreheads together.

Taylor’s horns poke uncomfortably against his skull, but Lincoln ignores it - besides, with all of the immunities he’s built up, the pain barely registers.

“I’m here,” Lincoln says.

“I know,” Taylor responds, and his voice is hoarse.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You - Link, you can’t just say that. I know you’ve got some weird, fucked-up magic shit protecting you, but you’re human, and I’m -”

“Half-human,” Lincoln reminds him, not unkindly. “You didn’t ask for this.”

“Well, you didn’t, either!”

“I know,” Lincoln responds. “We’re both new to this, and there’s horrible people out there that have it out for us, and we just gotta… live with that.”

“It’s not fair,” Taylor groans, resting his face in the crook of Lincoln’s neck again.

“It isn’t,” Lincoln agrees as he begins to card fingers through warm, dark hair. Taylor makes a soft, whispery sort of sound like the crackling of a campfire, resonating from his chest in the demonic equivalent of purring.

“You’re right. I’m human, even if I’m harder to mess with than most,” Lincoln says. “But I chose this, at least a little bit. I chose you, all of you. And I’m not gonna back out. We’re in this together, dude. As long as you’ll have me?”

“You say that like it’s a question. I’ll always want you. I’m a selfish bitch like that.”

“Hey, don’t talk about my best friend like that,” Lincoln teases, and presses another kiss to the top of Taylor’s head for emphasis.

He chuckles. “You keep that up, and people are gonna think we’re more than best friends.”

“Pretty allonormative of you, Taylor,” Lincoln snipes. “Plus, I don’t see anyone else here…”

“Well, then, I guess I can retaliate without an audience,” Taylor responds, and Lincoln can hear the familiar mischief in his voice.

“Retal- ah,” the air leaves Lincoln’s lungs as Taylor presses his lips against the side of his neck, purposefully lets a fang graze against the delicate skin there.

“Mm,” Taylor hums. Lincoln can feel the vibration of it against his throat, and the sound goes straight to his head, warm and sleep-fuzzed and more than a little deliriously dizzy.

“Sorry,” Taylor says, not sounding the least bit apologetic as he pulls away after a moment with a soft popping sound. “You were saying?”

Taylor’s tail sways back and forth behind him, giving him the appearance of a predator ready to pounce.

“Guh,” Lincoln responds intelligibly, trying to get his brain back online. “You’re the worst, sometimes, you know that? Like, I was going somewhere with that, and then - you -”

“I am pretty insufferable, huh,” Taylor says with a close-lipped grin, sounding far too self-satisfied.

“Guess I’ll just have to suffer you, then,” Lincoln replies with a small grin of his own, dragging Taylor down into his arms.

Taylor gives in easily, tail brushing against the side of Lincoln’s leg affectionately.

“Taking one for the team,” Lincoln says. “I’m pretty good at that.”

“Too good,” Taylor says, looking up at him from the circle of his arms. “I don’t need you throwing yourself into the, like, line of fire for me when I’m immune, yeah?”

“The dream wasn’t real, you know.”

“Could be, someday,” Taylor muses, and though the tear tracks have evaporated from his face, there’s still a twist of uncharacteristic melancholy in his expression.

Lincoln hums. “Well, in the meantime, maybe we can protect each other? And the others. That sound okay?” he asks. “Because I’m not gonna stop having your back anytime soon.”

“Same here,” Taylor says. “You’re ours, and anyone who comes at us can take you away over my dead body.”

“Possessive,” Link notes, pointedly ignoring the way his heart jolts. “And kinda morbid.” “Eh, it’s a demon thing, I think,” Taylor shrugs.

“Dork.”

“I dunno, I think it’s kinda hot.”

“Taylor, you’re part demon. Being hot is your thing.”

“Oh, so I’m attractive to you, huh? What are you gonna do, kiss me about it?” There’s a single fang poking out of Taylor’s smile, and Lincoln fails not to think about the way it felt brushing over his pulse.

“Maybe. If we both go to sleep after this.”

Taylor blinks lazily at him. “Sleep sounds nice,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Think you could keep the nightmares away?” His eyes, as tired as they are, are so deep and dark and beautiful.

“I’ve got a few charms for that,” Lincoln answers, pointing around the room at bundles of herbs and twine and rune-inscribed parchment that Marco had strung up along corners of the ceiling.

“Link, I was trying to be flirty.”

“Oh,” Lincoln says. Then, “So if I kiss you, you’ll go to sleep?”

“Mm, that can be arranged,” Taylor agrees, his tail snaking around to tap against Lincoln’s nose affectionately before wrapping around his waist.

“Good,” Lincoln breathes, and he leans in to meet Taylor halfway.

In the end, Lincoln loses count of how many lazy kisses they exchange in the faint glow of the fairy lights before they succumb to slumber, but when he wakes, Taylor is still in his arms, a faint smile on his face in his sleep.

Lincoln can feel his face mirror the expression as he wipes a bit of Taylor’s drool away with the back of his hand. He leans down and ghosts his lips over Taylor’s temple, tucks a stray lock of hair behind his ear, filled with an uncomfortable-yet-comforting warmth wherever their bodies overlap.

Lincoln basks in it as he closes his eyes again, resting against the pillows, and knows that whatever dangers lurk ahead, they’ll face them together.

#ah. swiftli my beloveds <333 feels good to post them again!!!#ideally. i would've posted day 2/4's fic yesterday for More Context purposes but alas 😔 the eepy got me and we have a schedule to keep #i don't think it's toooooooo hard to read between the lines for this one? v light to nonexistent detective work here methinks #but i'll let y'all be the judge of that!#anyway. the li-wilsons have made me particularly unwell in this au and i will be abnormal about them FOREVER #anyway uh. boys cuddling and kissing perhaps queerplatonically. what then 😳😳😳#tbh you can read this anyway you like! just know that neither of them are completely allo in my head (happy belated ace week)#and also. there's a couple little nods to link having autism here and there <3 bc i am an autistic link truther #and an autistic taylor truther too btw it's just not as obvious here #okokok now for actual tags #dndads #fic #swiftli #dndads halloween week 2023 #happi scribbles #bat and wolf #happi rambles

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dancing-with-stars · 2 months

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guys. guys !!!!

#vanu is rambling #ok idk this is gonna b a happy post but i think there are lots of people who love me in this world. or at least enjoy my presence.#like i always always always ALWAYS doubt if my friends or family like me and in my head they all secretly hate me #but like for these past couple months things have been different.#i don’t feel so left out (like i usually do in groups) or alone.#like my friends genuinely want me there like they always ask me to go places with them. and i almost always say no because im so busy or #i just cant but they still ask me everytime. yesterday the whole group was calling and playing a game and i got a bunch of texts like hey #where are you u shud join the call it’s rly fun ! but i just couldn’t bring myself to talk to anyone at that moment.#today they were rly happy when i joined the call and idk it made me feel like. oh. maybe my friends do like me #and also i have two moods: i’m either super talkative or i go into my little shell and don’t say anything/add to a convo. and like during #those moments they’ll be like hey u ok? or they’ll just listen to me talk about ceramics and how fun it is or how much i hate eating pears #and like. we laugh so much together. like i have so much fun with all of them i love every single one of them omg #and scary thing is we might not even be friends after we start college. but yk what? that’s okay i don’t wanna think about that.#because like who cares? i’m not gonna let my fears ab the future ruin my friendships. i’ll always love them anyways. and we’ll always call.#i’m glad i met them. they’re all such beautiful and funny and amazing strong willed-people. they are my friends.#it’s just so crazy to me that they willingly want to spend time w me and are sad when i can’t. and they’re so understanding at the same time #they don’t get mad about it. and like they have mad eng last year in high school so much more enjoyable.#someone told me that this is ur last year do things so when you look back you don’t regret anything- so you can be proud of what you did #and my friends helped me with that. and like i still feel lonely the majority of the class because despite this there’s like a permanent #stain of sadness right there at the bottom of my heart. but they make the hard days more manageable.#like i’ve been on call with these people until ungodly hours at night just laughing and i go to sleep feeling a bit lighter.#they introduced me to the tech side of theater which i never thought i’d get into but here i am. they teach me silly facts and words in asl.#they taught me dances- knowing full well i SUCK at it- because we all had fun with it. theyve taught me it’s OKAY to be vulnerable in #friendships and that sometimes being open/yourself is quite literally the best thing you can do for your own soul and others. they’re cool #people really. really cool people

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safyresky · 11 months

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Hello, it me.

I'm bothering you yet again so that I can hear you talk about your amazing characters >:)

This time specifically The Season Sisters! Spring is in FULL SWING where I'm at and I just wanna know more about them tbh. I'm craving fun facts about each of them, anything you can tell me I will gladly consume like the finest meal. Please and thank you.

Well THIS is gonna be fun!

As much as I WANT to start with Summer, I'll start with Spring since you're right! Spring IS in full swing! Everything is BLOOMING and my nose is so runny every morning on the way to work I hate it :)

And of course, obligatory read more bc this. got out of hand. OF COURSE.

Spring

Tries way too hard. WAY too hard. While her other sisters came to being outside of Mother Nature's Garden, Spring formed there!

Because of that, she had a front seat to all of Gaia and Tara's business leading up to the Call, and even though NEITHER of them EVER said anything like "EVERYTHING IS UP TO YOU" or "YOU MUST BE THE BEST AT EVERYTHING YOU DO" or "YOU'LL TAKE OVER FOR US ONE DAY SO MAKE SURE YOU'RE WORTHY OF IT", she fully believes sentiments like this and will go above and beyond to please Mother Nature and the other seasons

Despite all of them telling her to chill out for 5 seconds and Mother Nature never putting more weight on her shoulders than any of the other seasons.

She doesn't think she's good enough ): And doesn't think she should be the season to take over if Mother Nature ever retires ):

What she doesn't know is that all three sisters were ADAMANT that Tara pick her over them bc they felt she was best suited! Her sisters love her very much! Even Winter!

Spring gets a lot of shit from humans about allergies during her season, so she totally sympathizes with Winter's plight of runny nose complaints (unless it's March/April or August/September. then they're beefing. No room for compassion when ur FIGHTING TO THE DEATH FOR UR DAMN SEASON TO TAKE OVER FOR IT'S DESIGNATED TIME SLOT)

Is very intense, especially when it's someone she really loves (see: the invasion of PLANTS in Frost Manor)

She just cares a LOT and of course, goes way over the top to show it, disgruntling Winter and Summer a lot!

She and Summer bond over florals! Summer can also do a bit of floral work (some things bloom in summer, not spring, after all) and she and Spring have fun times hanging out making flowers and petals and such!

She is the smallest season at about 5"0-5"3 (152-161cm)

Hair is constantly shedding flower petals :\

She's very good at embroidery!

Her love language is DEFFS gifts (see: Winter's plant filled house, yet again)

We know she BEEFS with Winter when they switch seasons, but what about the season after her? Well, she and Summer do NOT beef as much, but Spring is always perplexed at how sudden Summer weather tends to creep in

"It's May, and it's 27 degrees," Spring says, low key annoyed.

"I know about as much as you do, sis," Summer says with a shrug, just as perplexed but not terribly upset about the heat

Summer

LOVES the heat lol, the hotter the better

Is very upset about climate change for all the obvious reasons AND bc it's giving heat a bad name and, as previously stated, she likes the heat

Is the tallest Season Sister, at about 6"0 ish, 6"1 ish

Is BUFF! Is NOT a gym buff tho, lol, she just does a LOT of sports. every sport. Loves sports. Plays all the sports. She is a VERY ACTIVE SEASON, always somewhere doing something, helping out somewhere, even on vacations she's pretty active!

Vacations every year with Winter! Usually in May! On occasion in October :)

Wishes she could have all of September but is fine with sharing it with Autumn, really, she swears (does not care as much for February. Thinks September is a Neat Month)

She swears, as an aside. Likes the F-Word a normal amount

Is everyone's favourite Aunt! She's just really laid back and chill and the most extroverted out of all 4 siblings!

Was the first of the seasons Mother Nature and Spring found post-Call! Spring did not need to be found bc Gaia and Tara knew she was floating around for the longest time lol

Summer found Winter post-call :)

MN really wanted to go check on the Princes bc she had NO IDEA if The Call took the King and Queen as well, but she needed to find the Seasons first, so Summer went let's divide and conquer, I'll go North, you go not North and North ended up being on the money

Summer is very good at compromise but rather leave it to Autumn who is very good at being level-headed. Not that Summer isn't level headed; she's just a little sassy and very blunt and is not afraid to speak her mind. And sometimes. Does not think before she speaks.

Or thinks and goes "fuck it, imma say this thing! if this person can't deal with it then that's their problem!"

Is TECHNICALLY, in body, the oldest season. When MN "adopted" (found) them, Summer was teen-sized. Spring and Autumn were kid-size. Winter was toddler-size.

Summer absolutely ADORES all her niblets, yes, even the (formerly) evil one, and is always happy to teach the what she knows! Blaise has got it, but Summer LOVES teaching and he knows and appreciates the help (both he and Winter do tbh)

Would always happily take the kids from Winter to give her and Blaise a break. She has the BEST sleepovers

More often than not, Spring and Autumn partake in these sleepovers too. Summer's FUN and has a great way of making you feel at ease and okay and carefree and not worried!

When Fiera goes to her upon turning 2000 to ask her to give her the full summer sprite curriculum she almost cries she's so happy

Taught Blaise the full Summer sprite curriculum since his parents didn't actually go that far and she thought it was a DAMN SHAME the only other summer sprite she knew of didn't know ALL the things!

(Blaise doesn't do the sunlight thing though as he doesn't want to cross into her domain :)

She can also make it rain! And THUNDER. She's great at thunder and lightning, makes Mother Nature proud lol

Has a green thumb for fruit trees and fruiting plants! Makes GREAT wine (has a personal preference for reds)

Is my favourite of the Season Sisters (don't tell Winter I said that)

Autumn!

She is very level headed, laid back but in the opposite way from Summer (Summer is extrovert laid back; Autumn is introvert laid back)

Except for one time of year: HALLOWEEN

October comes and she is on some next level of energy, my god. Scares the shit out of Summer by creeping up on her a LOT, usually with decor or costumes or weird shit in general

Summer takes it with a grain of salt lmao

Outside of Halloween, Autumn does have a bad habit of sneaking up on most people. Not on purpose, of course! It just happens!

She always kinda creeps into Summer like this meme:

Apples are her favourite fruit (all of them)

Makes a great cider!

She's got the veggie green thumb, but her pumpkins are AMAZING.

Is the most introverted out of all four siblings

She is also very wise; very inquisitive. She's like a quiet learner, and often will shock people with what she knows

And shocks people as well, sometimes she gets a little static-y

Can ALSO make it rain! Her rainstorms are weirdly calming sometimes?

Can ALSO do a bit of Frost! Winter had fun teaching her that :P

Would have silent competitions with Jack with frosty designs on grass, windows, etc. (he won more often than not, after all, it's his SPECIALTY and he does most of the Frost, Autumn only does a little bit :)

Her range of powers also includes the ability to make things decay. It was a hard one to get the hang of when she first formed, but she got the hang of it easy enough!

I'm not saying that she could touch someone and kill them dead, but I'm not...not saying that 😶

She's very good at puzzles!

Has too many books to read ):

Lives in cozy sweater dresses

Has offered to help Spring not shed petals everywhere (since she had the same problem with Autumn leaves), but Spring declined bc she actually likes raining petals and low key does it on purpose (the aesthetic!)

She's plump and is about average height (5"6-5"9, I'd say)

Loves farming! Her crops are BOUNTIFUL which checks out as one of the sprites responsible for her creation was known as Harvest :)

She, Spring, and Summer worked together closely to get farmlands/crops/food production to boom after the monarchy was disbanded, post Civil War

Like Spring, she is a planner! Instead of vacationing with her opposite season, the two of them get together weekly in the off season for hot chocolate and tea and such, and planning sessions for their next bout of season-ing!

Autumn works closely with the animals, anthropomorphic magibeans, and forest dwelling magibeans on the daily

May have a fling of sorts with a Faun 🤔

Likes astronomy a normal amount

Winter

Ha. Bet y'all thought I wouldn't go off about Winter Fucking Frost, eh?

Since she has the MOST content so far out of all her sisters?

gUESS THE FUCK AGAIN

Winter is the baby of the family so you can see why all three seasons were so. Hover-y after the Day of Darkness

She's also always been the most motherly out of all of them, weirdly enough! You'd think, you know, given being the embodiment of the coldest, most barren, HARDEST season, she'd be very cold herself, right? WRONG. Winter's always been very motherly.

Winter falling in love and getting married kind of shocked all of the Seasons AND Mother Nature? None of them had thought about any of the seasons "settling down" so this was a very brief moment of "oh, wait, that's a thing?" followed by "oh of COURSE that's a thing!"

After Winter got married and moved out, the other Seasons found/made their own places!

MN was sad to have the Garden empty but also, kinda enjoyed having the place to herself again, and found she quite liked when the kids or her son in law or her grandkids would pop in suddenly for visits!

Winter is the most chaotic out of her siblings. She mellowed with age, but it is still there. Brewing. She will do chaotic things if the need arises, and Blaise deffs does NOT discourage her unless it is not a workday

Summer joins in on the chaos. Spring activates it unintentionally and gets mad about it. Autumn diffuses the chaos.

Winter was lanky as a kid but filled out when she was older; is weirdly lanky and curvy at the same time. It is perplexing. Second shortest season clocking in at about 5"4.

Weirdly enough, she seems to have a penchant for growing evergreen trees. This confuses her quite a bit given that winter isn't really known for being a tree growing season, and yet!

She loves the sunrooms in her house because plants can bloom in it! One of the traits you pick up when your Mother is Mother Nature: appreciation for flowers and plants!!!

Her vibe check is always accurate. If someone is iffy, she knows

Knits!

And some fun facts about all the seasons:

Spring lives in a little cottage in a lovely meadow exploding with wildflowers on the edge of Quartz Forest, in the Western Province

Summer has a cliff side, beach side villa way up the hills in the Southern Province

Autumn has a nice chalet in the Eastern Province, surrounded by apple orchards and pumpkin patches and sunflowers and cornstalks and just on the edge of the Scar, aka, the Forsaken Forest, which got it's name bc Mother Gaia scorched the earth, cursing the land to never grow.

Autumn low key guards it

Spring, Summer, and Autumn's power domains overlap quite a bit; Autumn and Winter's overlap a tad as well.

They all kind of overlap given that seasons do overlap on occasion and they could all, in theory, become Mother Nature

When Blaise asked Winter to marry him, the other seasons worked together to make a beautiful ceremony THAT NIGHT since Blinter was so excited they committed crime just to get married right then and there

Spring planned a big wedding bash for them later in the year. Blinter was very relieved when they had to leave it ASAP bc baby #1 was upset about not being at the party and decided he was gonna come then and there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Spring immediately attempted to plan a baby shower, despite Winter saying NO, and had to be tackled down and talked down by Summer and Autumn (in that order)

ANYWAY I hope these were some fun fun facts! If ever you want any deets or me to elaborate please don't hesitate to ask! (This goes for EVERYONE :D). I think the Season Sisters are some of my most underdeveloped characters, and asks like this really help me think about them and what they like, what they do, how they interact, etc :)

And of COURSE, as ALWAYS, ty for the ask Andie!!! I love and appreciate every one and will wallpaper a room with them if given a chance to do so 😍

#ask box shenanigans #alpharra #dani answers #fr girl every time ur in my ask box im like ah yes. my day is about to get immeasurably better >:)#crystal springs #the season sisters #season sisters #ocs #It's so funny bc I have all these thoughts about the season sisters but nothing totally concrete! they a bit under developed fr #i saw a good post yesterday about characters being made for their arcs #and i feel as tho the seasons have arcs but they haven't played out yet #Winter's i think has #and Spring's will in shadows #and I think the other three seasons will develop more as this arc happens!#anyway i got this just before lunch so all of lunch hour i was like BUZZING thinking about this ask #and u bet ur ass work has been slow bc this has CONSUMED ME lol #work laptop almost shut down midway thru this ask like with the beach day one #THANKFULLY IT DIDN'T THEN I IMMEDIATELY PUT IT IN DRAFTS #PHEW

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