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cleolinda · 6 months

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The Scariest Movie I Ever Saw in a Theater: The Ring

I'll tell you up front that the story I'm going to tell you is about "The Ring (2002)," in the sense that it is about The Ring in the year 2002.

See, I don't know what The Scariest Movie Ever is. A quick google says that the consensus is The Exorcist (I haven't seen it, because I never felt like scheduling a day to freak myself the entire fuck out). But horror is specific, and not just to a person, but to a time and place, even. When I saw The Shining as a teenager in a well-lit living room with other people, I didn't even really flinch, but I bet it would play very differently to me now. I don’t think The Ring is at the top of anyone’s list, but twenty years ago, I had a personal interest in it—at the time, I was running a dinky little Geocities site devoted to movie news. Links curated and compiled from all the other, bigger sites I followed—basically, it was the linkspam format I have used on multiple platforms, including here on Sundays. And so, as someone who followed theatrical releases pretty closely for two or three years, I saw the trailer for The Ring, and I immediately knew it was going to be huge.

To locate you in time, this was just after three self-satirizing Scream movies and the Overcomplicated Serial Killer films of the '90s. The Ring was something completely different: chill aqua-blue color grading a good 5-6 years before Twilight; a mournful Hans Zimmer score; no jokes, no quips; and a slow, inexorable sense of doom. Grief, even, given that the movie begins with the death of the main character's niece. What immediately struck me about the first trailer was 1) the melancholy of it, and 2) how much it doesn't explain. Onscreen, you get the title cards,

THERE IS A VIDEOTAPE IF YOU WATCH IT SEVEN DAYS LATER YOU DIE

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Concise! Understandable! A woman (Naomi Watts) is freaking out upon discovering that her young son has just watched it! Admirable job setting up the premise and the stakes of this entire movie in thirty seconds flat, without even any dialogue. That's all you need to know, and thus, the remaining minute of the trailer can do whatever it wants, and what it wants to do is be fucking weird. Echoing voices, TV static, a closeup of a horse's eye, ladders, a girl with dark hair, people reacting to things we don't see, drippy doorknobs, rain. Characters don't give us the whole plot in convenient soundbites of dialogue (like they do in a later trailer); we just hear lines, overlapping, murmured out of context—

did you see it in your head? she talks to you... leading you somewhere... showing you the horses... you saw it. did you see it in your head? she shows me things. Everyone suffers.

That you saw it has lived in my head ever since, and not once have I charged it rent. But the "best" part is Naomi Watts screaming at the end, because you don't hear her voice; you only hear this heartless telephonic beeeeeeep. It's 2002 and I'm watching this trailer, thinking, I have no idea what the fuck I just saw. This is going to be huge.

And it was, to the tune of $249 million on a $48M budget.

At risk of recapping what you might already know, Ringu, aka Ring, is a media franchise that spiraled out from a trio of Koji Suzuki novels into Hideo Nakata's film Ringu (1998), a landmark of Japanese horror, plus several other movies, some TV series, many comics, and even a couple of video games. The overarching story is about a murdered girl/vengeful ghost named Sadako Yamamura whose rage and pain have created a cursed video tape, you watch it and you die unless you pass the tape around like a virus, seven daaaaays, etc.

The "ring" in question is the rim of a well. Keep that well in mind.

The movie I saw is the U.S. remake, which itself had two sequels. (The iconic Sadako is now named Samara Morgan. Keep her in mind, too.) Director Gore Verbinski moved from The Ring to Pirates of the the Caribbean (!), and so Hideo Nakata himself would direct The Ring Two. I... honestly have only seen the first one. And I was right, it was huge, and it kicked off the American J-Horror Remake genre, for better or worse. But what gets forgotten about The Ring is its marketing campaign, which I followed pretty closely for my doofy little news site.

It was inspired.

The story of The Ring is partly the story of the sea change in the media landscape—how we watch movies. And the story of its marketing is a picture of the very last years before social media changed the wilderness of the internet into something that feels so big, like a billion people could see anything we say, and yet so small—only a tame handful of places to say it, owned by three or four companies, and corraled by algorithms.

Back around 1997-1998 or so, I worked at a video store (Movie Gallery, where the hits were there then, guaranteed) for about a year and a half. By the time I left, we had started adding DVDs to the VHS tapes on the shelves, but we hadn't replaced the entire stock. Video stores might have transitioned fully to DVD by 2002, I'm not sure, but people still commonly had both VCRs and DVD players in their homes. And I remember that The Ring was sold in both formats when it eventually hit home video. Which is to say—you know the analog horror genre today? Marble Hornets, Local 58, The Mandela Catalogue?

Analog horror is commonly characterized by low-fidelity graphics, cryptic messages, and visual styles reminiscent of late 20th-century television and analog recordings. This is done to match the setting, as analog horror works are typically set between the 1960s and 1990s. The name "analog horror" comes from the genre's aesthetic incorporation of elements related to analog electronics, such as analog television and VHS, the latter being an analog method of recording video.

Okay, but this is just what home media was like, and 2002 was at the very tail end of that—boxy black VHS tapes that degraded with time and reuse were just how we lived. At the same time, I'd been using CDs for music since about 1991, and all our software installs came on CD-ROM discs; a "mixtape" by that time had shifted to mean a rewriteable CD rather than a cassette tape. In college, I—well, I'll plead the Fifth as to whether I downloaded mp3s via Napster, but I was also taping Mystery Science Theater 3000 on VHS over the weekends. It was Every Format Everywhere, All At Once, and we kept half a dozen kinds of players around for them. Here in 2023, we stream and download everything invisibly, unless we choose to engage in format nostalgia. (I've already run into the problem of Apple Music deleting songs I really liked, due to this or that licensing issue, because I was really only renting them.) The year The Ring hit theaters was the edge of a last shimmering gasp of physical media where iTunes had only come into being the year before, and iridescent discs were still mostly what we used, but cassettes, both video and audio, were still viable. And so, people did not think it was terribly weird when they started finding unlabeled VHS tapes on their windshields.

Movieweb, quoting TikTok user astro_nina:

"Their marketing strategy was essentially 'let's get this tape viewed by as many people as possible without these people being aware of what this is, sort of raising intrigue," she says. One way they achieved this was by airing the tape, which allegedly marks its viewers for death within seven days, as a commercial with no context. The video would air between late-night programming "with no words, no mention of a movie, for like a month...so people would run into it and it would just go on to the next thing, and people would be like, 'what the f--k is this?'"

I remember seeing the Cursed Video as an unexplained ad at least twice, by the way. That TikTok also indicates that DreamWorks straight-up sent copies of the tape to Hot Topic stores, as well as planting them under actual movie theater seats. While running my movie site, I heard at least one story of someone finding a tape on the sink counter of a restroom at a club. Did the marketing department actually plant tapes in bathrooms—or did a freaked-out recipient leave it there, hoping to dodge the "curse"?

(I haven't embedded the Cursed Video here, by the way—but I could have. If you'd like to see the American take on it, you can watch both the full version and the shorter variant that appeared in the movie itself. A text description of what the fuck you're even looking at is here [content note for both: blood, insects, animal death, body horror, and suicide by falling]. The original version from the Japanese film is shorter, and it's eerie rather than gruesome.)

BUT WAIT, THERE WAS MORE: DreamWorks had something of an alternate-reality campaign going with a handful of in-character websites. This was only a year after Warner Bros. ran the groundbreaking "The Beast" ARG for A.I.: Artificial Intelligence: "Ultimately, fifty websites with a total of about one thousand pages were created for the [A.I.] game." (I lurked in the Cloudmakers Yahoo group.) Marketing for The Ring did not go anywhere that in depth, nor did it need to; it was both a smaller film and a smaller story. I saw at least two “personal” websites (seemingly amateur and a little tacky, like my own), but the one I particularly remember was about someone who owned/trained horses? I'm not sure if it was meant to be the actual Anna Morgan character—Samara's mother—or maybe someone who had noticed that the Morgans' horses were disturbed? I'm not even sure anyone even remembers this but me. Reddit users dug up a few other archived websites, but they're about Sadako, the curse and/or videotape; they aren't as subtle or character-oriented as the site I remember. (Honestly, I wonder if weird shit like "What Scares Me" or "SEVEN DAYS TO LIVE" were made by fans rather than a marketing department, but who knows.)

[The “About” page from Seven Days to Live on the Internet Archive.]

[The entirety of An Open Letter on the Internet Archive. “UPDATE” is a now-blank pop-up. I would bet $5 that it was originally a pop-up of the cursed video.]

I need to point out here that Facebook did not exist in 2002. It would not exist for another two years, and Twitter wouldn't exist until 2006. Even MySpace was not a thing until the next year. I didn't start my Livejournal until October of 2003. What we had, for the most part, were independent forums and blogs. We also had Creepy Internet Fiction like "The Dionaea House" and "Ted the Caver"; their use of the blog format, of people out there seemingly living their lives until something fucked up went down, gave the stories the shape of reality. And it helped that these blogs had comment sections, sure—sometimes more story unfolded there—but for the most part, an author could "abandon" a blog, and you'd just find the story there via word of mouth. Like the Ring blogs I remember, it wouldn't seem strange if no one replied to you, whereas today, you'd have to hire a writer to sit on Twitter, or Reddit, or even Tumblr, and interact with people in character. Could you do something like The Ring's mysterious, weird-ass blogs today? Would anyone even notice?

So: It's 2002, my head is full of Alternate Reality and eerie images and you saw it, and I'm hype as hell to go out and see The Ring. I'm perfectly happy to go see movies by myself, so I went in the early afternoon (best time to get a good seat). The movie ended up being a sleeper hit, and the first weekend, the public was still sleeping on it, so there were only 7-8 other people in that theater, grouped in maybe two clusters. I was off in my own little pool of darkness in the upper right quadrant. Functionally, once the lights went down, I was alone.

Despite some middling reviews at the time, The Ring is something of a horror classic nowadays. If you want a scary movie this Spooky Season, check out The Ring. Or don't, because it nearly killed me.

We're at the last, I don't know, third of the movie? And Our Heroine has tracked down the origin of the Cursed Videotape to some creepy mountain motel or whatever. SPOILER, it turns out that it was built over the Cursed Well (everything in this movie is cursed) that Our Villain was thrown into—that's why Sadako/Samara is a vengeful wet murder ghost crawling out of TVs now. While investigating this decrepit hotel room, intrepid journalist Rachel and her, who is it, her ex-husband? her kid's dad, idk, discover the well under the creaky old floorboards. And then, wouldn't you know it,

NAOMI WATTS FALLS INTO THE WELL

NAOMI WATTS FALLS INTO THE FUCKING WELL

THAT'S WHERE SAMARA'S BODY IS

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[The rather slapstick moment when Rachel falls into the well. Does not include what actually happens next.]

I go absolutely rigid in my seat. Naomi Watts is splashing around this dark-ass death swamp of a well and I know, with as much certainty as I have ever known anything in my life, that Samara is about to pop up in all her pasty, waterlogged glory. All the sad creepy dread, all the desperation to figure out what the fuck all that shit on the tape was and stop Samara from killing Rachel's son, all the horrible contorted victim faces, all the alternate reality I’ve been soaking in, it has all come to this. I have to leave the theater. I cannot be having with this. I have to be gone from this place. My legs do not work. I cannot feel them. I am frozen. I want nothing more in this life or any other to get up and leave this cavernous pitch-black room, and I cannot. I start praying for death. I want you to understand that I am not trying to be flippant or humorous. This is genuinely what went through my head. I was too scared to even think, "You know, you could just pray to pass out or for motion to return to your limbs or something." No, I sat there in The Ring thinking, Please for the love of all mercy just let me cease being.

You know that scene in Mulholland Drive (also starring Naomi Watts)? Winkie's diner and the EXCRUCIATING tension? It was a little like that, except I wasn't watching it, I was experiencing it, and Samara was my dirt monster out behind the diner.

Except that the jump scare didn't actually happen. I mean, yes, Rachel finds Samara's body down there, but—I don't remember exactly, please don't make me go watch it again to tell you what actually happens. It's played more sympathetically on Rachel's part, as I recall, and she and her ex get Samara's body out so that she (Samara) can have a proper burial.

And then it turns out that this is not the end of the movie. It turns out that Rachel has Fucked Up.

I think I was relatively okay through the rest of it, although the climax is Samara emerging from a TV in her full glitching swampy glory to scare [SPOILER] to death. I don't recall praying for death twice. There's a point when you're so exhausted from fear chemicals that you're like, yeah, this might as well happen. Bring it, Soggy. I did have a hard time prying myself out of that seat afterwards, though, and my mom says that when I got home, I had the classic thousand-yard stare. How was the movie?

"It was great," I said, and I meant it.

I've seen things that were objectively scarier (I watched much of The Haunting of Hill House from behind a pillow, to be honest), and it's not like I've never experienced fear in real life. But I respect when a movie that can make me feel so intensely, and there's something weirdly precious about the way horror is a safe roller coaster, as it's often been said. So I love telling the story about The Time The Ring Nearly Killed Me—a movie that actually made my body stop working—and I love thinking of how embedded in a specific time and place that movie was for me. The last gasp of VHS when the Cursed Videotape still seemed plausible; the way the internet was still wild and weird and free; where I was in my life, keeping up so avidly with all the movie news, and finding myself in such a little pool of darkness early one afternoon. It's the scariest movie I saw in a theater; that's the alchemy of circumstance.

#the ring #ringu #horror #first look on patreon #movies #long post #spooky season #halloween everyday #long post is long #gifs

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scaredpigeons · 10 days

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Aqua Regia — experimentation is for the bold.

Read Aqua Regia // masterlist

Neuvillette x Fem!reader x Wriothesley (heavy heavy wriothesley x neuvillette)

Word count: 8.6k

After being married for a few years, your husband asks if you’d be willing to… experiment a little within your intimate life. Your best friend wriothesley is happy to help.

WARNING: SMUT, NSFW 18+ MDNI

CW: m/m/f threesome, m/f and m/m sex. Wriothesley fucks you and your husband. possessiveness(neuvi), danger kink(wrio), growling, slamming into walls, making out, vaginal fingering, anal fingering(male rec), vaginal sex, anal sex(male rec), Neuvillettes inhuman tongue, mentions of Neuvillettes dragon dicks, biting, minor mentions of blood at the end, clitoral stimulation, teasing.

Authors note: okay, okay. Listen. Listen. I had to, okay? Look— it doesn’t have to be AR canon if you’re not into it. It’s not imperative to the plot. It was just so eaaaaasssyyyyyyyyyy. No, Wriothesley isn’t joining the marriage, it’s not becoming a thing, but I am a firm believer that people can fuck their besties if they wanna and it can be chill. Fuck your besties!!! Especially if they look like wriothesley!!! Let your boy best friend fuck your husband!!! Especially if your husband looks like Neuvillette!!

“Have you ever had sex with a man?”

Wriothesley spit his tea across the entirety of his desk, soaking the morning paper crossword puzzle he was half paying attention to.

“I’m sorry, what?” He sputtered, wiping the leftover tea from his mouth and gaping at you with his blue eyes wide.

You simply shrugged, pretending like his reaction wasn’t the most hilarious thing you’ve seen in months. Though, you were expecting him to react something like that.

He was your best friend, but you’d never really talked about either of your sex lives before, mostly because you didn’t have a sex life before Neuvillette, and you always felt too awkward to talk about these things with Wriothesley.

The past couple years with Neuvillette had really whittled down your self consciousness on the subject though, and your more recent conversations with your husband had left you quite curious.

“Just a question, you don't have to answer if you’re not comfortable talking about it though.” You said, nonchalantly sipping your tea, trying to hide the grin threatening its way into your cheeks.

“No, no.” He said, rolling his neck as if the shock of the moment had put a crick in it. “You just caught me off guard, that’s all. You just… don’t ever talk about this kinda stuff.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be comfortable discussing it with me, that's all.” You said, setting your tea down. “That and— up until Neuvillette, I didn’t really have any experience to speak of.”

He rolled his eyes. Wriothesley often joked about how gross you and your husband were. Flirting when no one was paying attention, stolen glances across the room, poorly concealed marks on your bodies— he called you shameless, teasing you but never prying.

“Well I mean, some people may find it a bit awkward, talking about the sex life of their two best friends… who happened to be married to one another…” he said.

”Do you?” You said, tone light and teasing, almost as if challenging him. “Find it awkward?”

“Not really,” he grinned. “Actually I’ve been dying to know what he’s got going on, y’know… with the whole dragon thing.” Wriothesley made a lewd gesture towards his crotch as he spoke, making you laugh.

“Ah ah, I asked first, your questions can come later.” You teased.

He chuckled, rolling his eyes again. “Fine, fine. The answer is yes, I’ve done almost everything under the sun with as many different kinds of people as there are out there.”

“Your Grace!” You said in a mock fluster. “How scandalous! What would the people say if they knew the Duke of Meropide was such a common whore!”

”Hey!” He laughed, taking your teasing just as intended. “Just because I’m not interested in a long term relationship doesn’t mean I need to be abstinent! Let a man enjoy the simple pleasures in life, you prude.”

You snorted, covering your mouth a bit as you tried not to laugh harder, Wriothesley’s wide grin and accusatory index finger pointing at you wasn't helping.

“What’s your, uh— preference in role when it comes to that type of sex?” You asked once you’d calmed down a bit.

He snorted again, making your laughter bubble back up and threaten to burst out once more.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “it's just so funny to try and see you talk about this shit.”

“Answer me!” You giggled, trying to brush him off. “I’m trying my best, here!”

He cleared his throat, attempting to take the conversation a little more seriously. “I’ve done both, and I favor neither one nor the other. It all depends on the partner, really.”

Not that you’d ever really entertained the thought of what Wriothesley looked and acted like in bed, but you could very easily picture him in a more dominant role, taking charge and leading the experience with a well practiced hand.

But picturing him in a more submissive role? Being the receiver, his broad shoulders pressed into luxurious blankets, large hands reaching up to grasp at long, silky white hair as he—

Oh. You were getting ahead of yourself.

You took the time to clear your own throat and calm your heated cheeks, trying to keep a proper posture.

“What is your opinion on people having casual sex with close friends?” You said, trying to keep your tone level and casual, as to not expose your nerves and ruin the entire conversation. If things took a sour turn, you could easily play it off as morbid curiosity.

He seemed to answer without really thinking. “I mean, I personally don’t see a problem with it, as long as everyone is consenting and, you know… chill.”

You rolled your eyes at his ridiculous and frequent use of cryo puns. You swear he did it just to get a rise out of you sometimes.

But he suddenly paused, most likely connecting some dots, as you figured he would.

“If I didn’t know any better, I might think this illustrious personal assistant was propositioning me on behalf of the Iudex, which would never happen,” his eyes thinned, turning a bit dark, but you could see the remnants of a grin threatening their way onto his face once more. “Would it?”

“Quite preposterous in theory, for sure.” You bit the inside of your cheek, refusing to meet his eyes and instead taking a delicate sip of your tea, proper and poise. “Though in practice it might not be so improbable.”

Wriothesley’s eyes glimmered as he leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers together and watching you avoid his gaze.

He made a noise of affirmation before clicking his tongue against his teeth. “Yes, yes. Well, even so, I would find it hard to believe, considering everyone in Fontaine is aware of how devoted the honorable Iudex is to his most beloved wife.”

“Yes, well.” You sat your teacup down, eyeing the rows of books he kept while willing the heat from your cheeks. “One does not live life without developing… curiosities. And perhaps his beloved wife is curious too? It’s not so obscene to imagine.”

Wriothesley tilted his head, and out of the corner of your eyes you caught him licking his lips.

“Obscene isn’t the word I’d use when imagining it, that’s for sure.”

———————

“Are you sure about this?” He asks.

“You know you can say the word at any time and this doesn’t have to continue,” You add.

“Exactly.” Wriothesley agreed. “I’m here to do what you want, there’s no expectations. I won’t be upset or offended, literally anything that happens tonight will not affect our relationship whatsoever.”

Your heart thudded against your ribcage as you watched Neuvillette look between the two of you.

Sitting down in the living room with Wriothesley and your husband was a common occurrence, many nights of cards and drinks and laughs were shared here. But tonight was very different, the air seemed electro-charged and the fire crackling in its stone fireplace was only adding more distracting noise to the sound of your heart beat thrumming through your eardrums. Could Neuvillette hear it so loudly too?

Neuvillettes eyes still danced between the two of you, and his brow raised slightly as if in disbelief.

“You are both aware that I was the one who initially proposed this idea, correct?” He asked, slow and steady as if to make sure the words really resonated. “It would be rather foolish of me to ask something like this of the two of you, only to change my mind at the last second. Unless… you both are having second thoughts on the matter?”

Both you and Wriothesley tried to express your refusal of such an accusation at the same time, making the two of you chuckle at each other with your eagerness.

“It’s not us, it’s just…” Wriothesley paused, making a circling gesture with his spread hands, as if he was trying to gather the thoughts he couldn’t quite conjure.

“My love, you have a tendency to be a bit…” you started, looking for the right phrase to not offend him too terribly much.

“Sometimes you can come across a little…” Wriothesley looked at you, cringing a bit as he hoped you would finish as if to soften the blow.

You sighed, deciding to just come right out and say it.

”Possessive.” You said. “You can be quite possessive.”

Neuvillette only nodded, seemingly unaffected.

“It is true that I can be rather possessive of my wife, as is in a dragon's nature to protect their mate, to guard their treasures carefully.” He looked to you. “Though I don’t see how that would be a problem in this situation?”

”My darling, you growled at that tea seller from Liyue when he tried to offer me a discount.” You said, crossing your arms over your chest.

“I did not enjoy the way his eyes were roaming all over your body, as if you were some kind of confectionary treat to drool over.”

“You’ve almost broken my hand just for touching her arm.” Wriothesley deadpans.

“Unrelated.” Neuvillette huffs. “I was experiencing a fluctuation in elemental energy when the full power of the hydro sovereign was returned to its rightful owner. Any irresponsible choices I might have made during that time can be written off as flukes, one time mistakes, nothing more.”

“Any irresponsible choices like, for example, courting your personal assistant without the knowledge that she was aware that was what you were doing?” Wriothesley stood from his chair, rounding the little end table that held your books to stand behind the armchair you were perched on, facing Neuvillette on the couch.

You could see the tips of your husbands ears glow red in the firelight, and you suppressed the urge to giggle when he clicked his tongue against his teeth.

“Nonsense.” He looked at you, and his eyes softened. “The decision to court you may not have been a very well thought out one, but it was a decision I will stand by for the rest of my existence.”

You flushed. He always found a way to make your heart flutter. You were so in love with this man— dragon— you were in love with your husband, and it seemed his devotion to you was an endless pool as well.

“Well, if it's unrelated, you should have no problem with me touching her again now, hmm?” Wriothesley said behind you, and you froze a bit in shock. You didn’t think he would start this so soon, but better to get going naturally, yes? Surely if you tried to talk about it forever, it would never happen.

His large, still wrapped up hands slid down your arms, fingertips dragging along your exposed skin until he was bent over the back of the chair, nuzzling into the side of your neck. His index fingers smoothed over the insides of your wrists as he breathed in your scent, a soothing gesture surely— but it only served to rile you up even more.

You looked up at Neuvillette and involuntarily whimpered at how strained he looked. His eyes were dark, menacing. His gloved hands were gripping the edge of the couch, straining the fabric as if it was seconds away from tearing and exposing the cushion. He looked like he was about to pounce, a murderous glare trained on where Wriothesley was touching you, breathing you in.

“You smell so sweet tonight, is that a new perfume?” Wriothesley whispered, making sure his breath ghosted over your ear, causing you to shiver.

“Yes,” you squeaked, still watching Neuvillette watch you.

“Just for me?” You caught him flashing that cheeky grin in your peripherals. “You shouldn’t have.”

His hands smoothed up and down your forearms, his lips barely ghosting along your throat, the tease of it all making you breathless.

“You seem far too comfortable doing such things with your best friend, Your Grace.” Neuvillettes' tone was dark, his voice was steady and smooth like usual, but there was an underlying madness creeping around the edges of his words that set your skin on fire. “Should I be concerned?”

Wriothesley pressed his smile against the sensitive skin beneath your ear, not quite a kiss but it ripped a growl from Neuvillette’s chest all the same.

“It’s fun to play pretend sometimes, isn’t it?” The Duke whispered your name softly in your ear, and you could see his eyes dip up to finally look at Neuvillette. “We can play pretend for a little while… can’t we, doll?”

You met Neuvillettes gaze. He was livid, yes. But there was a flush on his cheekbones that wasn’t there before— a heaviness to his breath that didn’t seem to come from his anger. You nodded to Wriothesley.

“I haven’t even touched you properly yet and he looks like he’s about to burst.” Wriothesley chuckled, low and breathy in your ear, but loud enough that you were sure your husband could hear. “Tell your puppy to heel, hmm? I’m just trying to get the fun started.”

Your thighs clenched together, heat pooling to your core in droves as you watched Neuvillette, all while receiving Wriothesley’s gentle and teasing ministrations.

“Neuvillette—“ you gasped as Wriothesley moved his hands to your thighs, blowing cool air in your ear. “Are you… still okay?”

Wriothesley’s warm palms gripped onto the plush of your thighs, making your legs spread almost on their own, a natural response to the kind of feelings stirring inside you, but it still made you squirm knowing it wasn’t your husband who brought such a response from you.

Neuvillette still hadn’t responded, but you figured he would voice his concerns if he truly had any. He looked as though he was fighting against all instincts, but from a quick peek to the crotch of his pants—you could tell he was just as excited as you were.

Your hips bucked up and arms tensed as Wriothesley kissed you gently on the junction between your neck and shoulder, your thinly strapped top giving him easy access to plenty of skin.

“So responsive…” Wriothesley groaned. “Aren’t you just a little treat for me.”

You bit your bottom lip as his kiss turned wet, his tongue dragging across your skin with each press of his lips.

Your eyes fluttered shut and you whined when he nibbled on your jawline, making your hands grip the arms of the chair even tighter as his hands continued their leisurely strokes on the tops of your thighs, fingertips only slightly teasing the fabric covering the inner flesh here and there.

“Such pretty little noises too,” Wriothesley said, bringing his fingertips further into the flesh of your inner thighs on the next stroke of his hands, watching the way Neuvillette lurched at the sound of your whimpers. “Does she make such pretty noises for you too, Iudex?”

Neuvillettes voice was chipped at the edges, wavering and dark, anger and lust and all other conflicting emotions swirling in the syllables as he growled out into the firelight flickering along the dark walls.

“My touch commands sounds more beautiful than you will ever pull from her, I can assure you that.”

“That sounds like a challenge to me, Monsieur.” Wriothesley was pushing it, he really was. You were honestly shocked at how well Neuvillette was handling himself thus far, but there had to be a breaking point.

The Duke of Meropide looked your Husband dead in the eyes (you only knew he did because you watched as Neuvillette met his gaze, his pupils thinning into tiny slivers,) and dragged his fingertips up your thighs, bringing his left and to press his middle and ring fingers deeply along the seam of your pants— the seam directly covering your aching core.

Your cunt throbbed at the attention and you cried out, a little startled but mostly just overwhelmed at such a heavy and sensual touch after all the light teasing.

As quickly as the touch was there it was ripped away, your body jolting back in shock as Neuvillette was suddenly upright, bolting across the few feet between the chair and couch to push Wriothesley away from you, making the Duke stumble backwards a few steps.

If he pressed him back where he stood, his back would surely collide with the bookshelves behind him, and somewhere in his instinct driven lizard brain he must have realized that, so he grabbed Wriothesley by the lapels on his vest and hauled him against the wall perpendicular to the shelves, which happened to line up quite nicely with your field of view as you turned around in the chair.

You sat on your knees and gripped the edge of the chair back as you watched them. Their profiles illuminated by the stone fireplace, the breaths in their chests heaving as they looked at each other.

Wriothesley was no small man, but he seemed so tiny as Neuvillette loomed over him, his eyes blazing down and piercing into the Duke.

“Your impudence knows no bounds, does it, little boy?” Neuvillette growled.

Oh.

Oh, did that ever do something for you.

Wriothesley cheekily grinned under his murderous glare, looking up at him without a care in the world— like one of the most powerful beings in Teyvat wasn’t pressing him up against a wall, looking like he wanted to tear him limb from limb.

Or maybe that's exactly why he looked so happy. Wriothesley used to be a bit of an adrenaline junky, didn’t he? Nothing crazy, just jumping into the water from high cliffs, picking fights with bullies much bigger than him, that sort of thing. You figured that spark must’ve died down since his sentencing to the Fortress, but it looks like it was still alive and well, glimmering up at your husband.

“Oh,” Wriothesley breathed, shifting his knee up in between Neuvillettes thighs. “I know plenty of ways to disrespect the honorable Iudex, if he’d like me to show him.”

Neuvillette let loose a sound halfway between a growl and a moan as Wriothesley pressed his thigh into Neuvillette a little harder, grinding against what was surely an aching erection.

“Or would he rather disrespect me?” Wriothesley’s breath was heaving in his chest as he pulled Neuvillettes hands from his lapel to his throat, steadying his grip there as he moved closer, pressing further. You watched as his gaze flickered from Neuvillettes eyes to his lips, before that sinful tongue came out and absentmindedly swiped across his own bottom lip.

And that was all it took.

Neuvillette crashed into him in a flurry of teeth and tongues as he devoured Wriothesley, pinning him further against the wall with his slender hands cupping around his throat.

You gaped as Neuvillette managed to slip a knee between Wriothesley’s legs now, and you nearly moaned he ground his hips against the duke, the tents in their pants pressing against each other's hips. Every few strokes they would bump into each other until Neuvillette must have decided that he preferred when they did, because he shifted until they were pressing against each other's cocks with every grind of their hips, making Wriothesley whimper out a pitiful sound that had you feeling your heartbeat pounding between your legs.

The Duke managed to pull his arms up and over Neuvillettes shoulders, wrapping his hands around the back of your husbands neck, pulling him closer as they devoured one another.

Their breaths were heavy, the grinding of their hips making you squeeze your thighs together as you watched them. You had half a mind to think that maybe you were a bit perverted for enjoying this so much, but the other half was too enraptured by the sight in front of you and the wetness pooling in your underthings to worry too much about it.

“You kiss—“ Wriothesley breathed between kisses, “—like it's a conquest.”

Neuvillette growled, pressing himself closer, squeezing the sides of Wriothesley’s throat in warning. “Only when I have a partner so desperate to be conquered.”

Neuvillette moved his hands in favor of sucking and nibbling along the exposed skin of Wriothesley’s jawline and throat, nibbling between the black wrappings and making the Duke’s knees shudder while he moaned.

His eyes caught yours where you sat and a grin pushed its way onto his heated face.

“Look at your little wife, Monsieur.”

Neuvillette turned his head, and his pupils dilated in the firelight as he caught you so shamelessly staring, face flushed and thighs surely squeezing together.

“Bedroom.” He said, voice leveling out but having no less of its ever commanding tone.

“Bedroom.” You squeaked, nodding as you nearly fell off the chair.

—————————

“I never imagined that Madame Neuvillette would be so shameless…” Wriothesley breathed in your ear as you squirmed in his lap, head lolling back onto your husband's shoulder as the Iudex sucked along your throat from where he sat behind you.

Your clothes were long tossed off, and you pulled at Wriothesley’s tie and hand wrappings, desperate to expose more of his skin. Wriothesley chuckled and moved to take it all off, his coat and vest long since discarded into the darkened corners of your bedroom.

Satisfied with Wriothesley following your needy directions, you reached over your own shoulders to pull at your husband's shirt, wanting to feel his bare skin pressing against your own.

“My love…” you whined. “More, more— I wanna feel you.”

Neuvillette brought his fingertips to your mouth, and you whined as you pinched the tip of his glove in between your teeth, holding on as he slipped his hand from the offending fabric. He brought his other hand up to do the same, and you watched as Wriothesley’s pupils blew wide at the movement.

Your tongue lolled out of your mouth as you dropped the gloves in your lap, looking at Wriothesley with a face that was surely more lewd than he’d ever seen on you before.

Finally, his upper body was bare, and your hands roamed the wide expanse of his scarred skin.

“Kiss me?” You asked, looking at him through your lashes.

“What kinda question is that?” Wriothesley grinned as he leaned up to capture your lips. He tasted like tea, and a vague hint of your husband's lips from their earlier tryst downstairs.

You moaned as the duke's hands caressed your waist and cupped your breasts, his hips rocking up into you as your tongues danced together, messy and uncoordinated but so enjoyable.

Wriothesley pulled back and his eyes flickered behind you before a pained expression washed over his face.

“Damn it. Fuck. That’s so fuckin’ unfair.” The duke whined.

You looked back to see your husband shirtless, finally. You knew exactly what Wriothesley was whining about too.

Neuvillette was always beautiful, but all his finery and fabrics hid just how stunning he actually was.

His pale skin was flawless, glowing in the moonlight streaming in your bedroom window. His shoulders were broad, arms sculpted and showcasing the odd blue veins here and there. His abdominals were strong and lean, his trim waist dipped into his hips with a perfect v cut that drew your eyes directly towards the light speckling of hair that trailed below his navel. He had the body of a strong swimmer, he had the body of a being so beautiful not even the gods could compare.

He was stunning, he never failed to take your breath away even after years of the privilege of seeing him this way.

“I know exactly what you mean,” you pouted as you looked at him over your shoulder.

Neuvillettes long silky hair fell over his shoulder as he leaned in to crowd you against Wriothesley, his bare hands tipped in the faintest pale blue— the element he commanded pulsing through him too powerful to stay hidden away— running along Wriothesley’s sides to paw greedily at his chest, his arms caging you in and forcing you deeper into the dukes lap.

“You both act as if your forms do not beget a reaction so feral and obscene that it makes ones insides shudder in anticipation.” Neuvillette growled, his fingers trailing through the dark hairs coating Wriothesley’s chest.

Wriothesley groaned as you reached down to join your husband's perusal of his chest. Neuvillette was right about one thing at least— as beautiful as your dragon sovereign was, Wriothesley was a different sort of attractive altogether.

Wriothesley was thick. All broad shoulders and corded muscle, large arms that looked like they could pick you up and toss you across a room without issue. His waist didn’t cut in as narrow as Neuvillettes, his abdominals less defined, but you could still see the strength in him tense as you ran your hands across his body. Scarred, marked by his past tribulations and coated in a speckling of hair that just screamed that rugged sort of sexy that made your mouth water.

“Fuck,” the duke said, tossing his head back as Neuvillette ran his nails from chest to navel. “Is he always so quick with the flowery dirty talk?”

You smiled, squirming down on his lap, surely making a mess of the front of his pants. “You act like it didn’t make your cock jump.”

You bit your lip and moaned as Wriothesley grinned and bucked his hips up against your cunt as punishment.

Neuvillette leaned closer, his head dipping above your shoulder to mouth at Wriothesley’s jawline as you were squeezed between them, helpless and turned on with the Duke's erection pressing at your core and your husbands twitching against your ass.

“Your insistence on tormenting my wife will not go unchecked, Your Grace.” Neuvillette whispered as his hands pawed at the Duke's chest once more.

You could hear Wriothesley’s breath hitch as you squirmed further into his lap, and you felt your husband grab and squeeze at him while dragging nibbling kisses along his throat and jawline.

“You’re so fucking good, Neuvillette, shit—“ Wriothesley moaned, stumbling over his words a bit. “Damnit— I want to fuck you so badly.”

Everything seemed to still for a moment. Neuvillette leaned back, letting you look at Wriothesley’s flushed face and heaving chest. His cock was straining against his pants beneath you, you could feel it twitching as he looked up at both of you.

“Do you really?” Neuvillette asked.

“Wha— what?” Wriothesley breathed.

“Do you want to fuck him?” You said, sounding equally as breathless.

Wriothesley seemed confused for a moment, before his eyes darted between the two of you, his face still tinged pink.

“With the way things were going… I figured he’d be the one to— but if you—“

“Do you want to fuck Neuvillette, Wriothesley?” You asked, lowering your tone into something more sultry as you looked at him through heavy lashes.

“Fuck—“ he groaned, his eyes rolling back a bit. “Fuck yes. Yes— you have no idea.”

You both slid off of him, and Neuvillette grabbed at his thighs to pull his legs to the edge of the bed. You sat beside the Duke, watching intently as your husband lowered himself to the ground between Wriothesleys knees.

Wriothesley sat up, looking at the Iudex on his knees in front of him, and his face suddenly turned a whole new shade of red.

“You don’t have to— I mean, I said I was—“

“I want to try. Let me try it?” Neuvillettes' tone was a lot softer now that Wriothesleys hands weren’t actively on you, and you knew that would be the case.

Wriothesley propped himself up with his hands behind him. “Fuck, yes. Yes— okay.”

You leaned over to help Neuvillette undo Wriothesley pants, wanting an up close look at the way his face would change when he saw Wriothesley’s cock. And he did not disappoint you.

His eyes widened and pupils dilated as Wriothesley’s cock burst from its confines, the weight of it making it droop a bit to the side instead of smacking against his stomach. You felt your own mouth water at the sight of it. He was long and obscenely thick, you think he was perhaps even thicker than your husband, and you could see the way Neuvillettes gaze took it in, watching the gears turn in his mind as he realized he was going to try and fit this thing inside him.

A taste of your own medicine, much? You wanted to snicker.

Neuvillettes eyes dipped over to you, a look of hesitation flickering across his features. You smiled down at him, reaching a hand to card your fingers through his hair.

“Take it slowly, darling. You know what feels good, just let yourself have fun with it, okay?” You said.

He looked to Wriothesley, who just silently nodded in agreement, hands fisting the blankets and staring in almost disbelief at Neuvillette between his legs.

Finally, finally, Neuvillette leaned in and let his hot and wet tongue lick up Wriothesley’s shaft before releasing its inhuman length out to curl lewdly around the head of it, lapping up the pre-come dripping from the tip.

Wriothesley shuddered, his eyes widening even more as a desperate sound of shock was ripped from his throat, and he pulled away, scurrying himself back up the bed.

“OH!— okay okay OHkay—“ he yelped as he scrambled back. “If we keep doing that shit I’ll be done in five seconds flat. What the fuck?”

You giggled, looking at Neuvillettes' disappointed pout as Wriothesley panted beside you.

“Yeah, I had about the same reaction the first time too— though I let him keep going.”

Wriothesley sighed. “Yeah well— I said I was going to fuck him.”

The Duke shuffled out of his pants fully, tossing them on the floor. His thick thighs flexing as he kneeled on the bed.

“Sorry, sorry. We can try that again another time.” He took a deep breath, grounding himself. “If it pleases the honorable Iudex, I’d have him lie on the bed and make himself comfortable.”

Neuvillette eyed the cock still hanging hard between Wriothesley’s thighs, but listened without complaint, laying himself down on the pillows.

“Good.” Wriothesley said, the flush in his cheeks slowly dying down to something more reasonable.

He crawled closer, kneeling in between Neuvillettes spread legs, eyeing him for signs of discomfort as he slowly reached for the buttons of his pants. Neuvillette simply relaxed his face, lifting up his hips when Wriothesley pulled at the waistband to tug them off his body.

To Wriothesley, it probably looked like Neuvillette was in calm indifference, just going with the motions, but underneath, you could see your husband brimming with nerves and anticipation, his eyes blazing with need. Your husband was just incredibly used to schooling his own emotions into a mask, he was doing so now to hide his nervousness.

As his pants and undergarments were finally pulled from him, his cock twitched, long and hard and leaking as he laid there, and you simply couldn’t help yourself. You leaned down and took the head of it into your mouth, giving him a few firm sucks just to loosen the tension in his spine.

He moaned, his hand coming to your shoulder as he squirmed. You pulled away, smirking at the flush now coating his face.

Wriothesley whistled as he took in Neuvillettes completely naked form, running his hand along a smooth milky thigh, thumbing gently where it meets his hip.

Neuvillette squirmed, his hand reaching for yours. You grasped it gently, smiling up at Wriothesley. “He’s fine, just getting all quiet because he’s nervous.” You explained when wriothesley looked to you in concern.

“Nervous?” Wriothesley chuckled. “After all that? He’s nervous now?”

“Se—“ Neuvillette stuttered. “Nervousness during sexual exploration is normal, however sharing new experiences with someone that one has no sexual experience with prior can be cause for some anxiety. I am… I am fine— eager, even.”

Wriothesley smirked affectionately, rubbing Neuvillettes thighs. “Well that's good. Is it alright if I touch you now?”

”You may.” Neuvillette breathed.

You continued to hold his hand as you sat down by his hips, eyeing the way Wriothesley squeezed his inner thighs appreciatively.

His large calloused hands spread up and cupped around Neuvillettes pelvis, his thumbs gently running along his balls, watching gleefully as the Iudex twitched under his teasing touch.

A hand finally came up to grasp his cock, starting a slow pace of languid strokes, making you both eye the precome beading at his tip as Neuvillette bit his lip and watched.

“You know, I was expecting something a little more… dragon-like down here.” Wriothesley teased, eyeing Neuvillettes cock before tracing his gaze appreciatively all over his naked body. “You’re fucking ridiculously big, and so damn flawless it’s certainly a little inhuman… but not what I was expecting.”

Neuvillette watched as Wriothesley’s hand picked up the pace, only to slow right down once more, his calloused fingers squeezing here and there as his other hand still teased the junction between his pelvis and thigh.

“This is my… least alarming form.” Neuvillette breathed, and you watched as his brow twitched. he was certainly holding back. “I thought it appropriate to keep the experience as close to… normal as possible.”

“His other form is so pretty,” you pouted, twirling your index finger around Neuvillettes pert nipple, the pink flesh pebbling from all the attention. “But he wont let me play with them… he says I’ll just end up hurting myself.”

“Them?” Wriothesley’s hand paused as he looked at you with a raised brow.

You gave him a cheeky grin, raising up two fingers as you glanced down at Neuvillettes cock. Wriothesley audibly swallowed as you gestured a measurement well over a foot with your hands and mouthed the word big with some finality in your expression.

“Your mortal body is not equipped to deal with such—“ Neuvillette was cut off by his own choked groan as Wriothesley bent down to lap at the head of his cock, blue eyes still staring up at your husband with such intensity.

“You’re telling me you have two cocks?” Wriothesley teased between strokes of his hand and tongue, watching as Neuvillette writhed on the bed. “And you’ve been holding out on our girl here?”

Neuvillette’s head snapped up, glaring at Wriothesley between his spread legs.

“Mine.” His voice was a rasping growl, eyes aflame. “Not yours.”

You watched Wriothesley shudder, his grin ever present as he simply continued the strokes and little licks around your husband's leaking cock.

“Oh fuck, that’ll never not be hot.” He murmured almost to himself as Neuvillette settled back down at your soothing touch running along his chest.

“He’s just teasing you, my love.” You whispered to him, nibbling along his pointed ear. “Everyone knows I belong to you.”

“You have to let me see them,” Wriothesley chuckled as he sat back up, pinching along Neuvillettes thighs. The sight of your husband spread wide and flushed was enough to send pulses of searing heat between your legs, and you simply couldn’t take it anymore.

Neuvillette cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact with The Duke as you settled to lay down on the bed beside him, rolling on to your side to face him. You nuzzled into your husbands neck, kissing and nibbling at his skin as if it would soothe the ache in your core.

“Perhaps another time.” Neuvillette didn't sound very thrilled, in fact he sounded rather embarrassed. You remember how long it took to convince him to let you see his more dragonian features.

Wriothesley smiled at the premise of another time, another instance of this happening between the three of you. It seemed that he certainly wasn’t going to object.

“Lubricant?” The Duke asked.

“Top drawer, right side.” You mumbled from your mission of scattering purpling marks along your husband's collar bones.

You felt Wriothesley shift as you wrapped your arms around Neuvillettes neck, bringing your lips to his for a fervent kiss. He consumed you, his inhuman tongue twirling with yours and dipping deeper than usual, teasing your gag reflex and pushing little tears to form at the corners of your eyes.

Wriothesley was back, spreading the lubricant along his fingers. “I’ll start slow, okay?”

“I am not made of glass, your Grace.” Neuvillette scoffed slightly as he paused your kiss.

“Have you done this before?” He looked between the two of you.

“No, I didn't want to hurt him, I’ve never done anything like this.” You said, looking up at Wriothesley before your eyes were pulled right back to the lewd sight of Neuvillette running his tongue along his bottom lip.

“Exactly. I know what I’m doing. Let me do it.”

You and your husband nodded, seemingly more interested in sucking on each other's tongues than Wriothesley’s scolding. That is, until Neuvillette paused, his eyes widening.

“There, there's one. How is it?”

A rough breath pushed from Neuvillettes nose, as he shifted, and you watched the muscles in Wriothesley’s arm flex as he pumped the digit in and out of your husband, slowly and with a careful gaze.

“It is… different.” Neuvillette finally said, letting you nibble on his bottom lip.

“Good. Please say something if you feel any pain or discomfort.” Wriothesley’s eyes were sparkling as his eyes flipped between watching the two of you and watching his finger sink in and out of Neuvillettes hole. “Think you can take another?”

“Yes.”

Wriothesley’s fingers were thick, you knew that. Watching Neuvillettes face change color as Wriothesley pressed a second finger inside made you writhe beside him.

A small noise left Neuvillette as Wriothesley started his slow pumps once more, and your eyes nearly rolled to the back of your head. You rolled to your back, immediately spreading your legs and running fingers along your clit, still watching your husband try to hang on to his composure.

You whined as Neuvillette gripped the blankets beneath him, his breaths becoming heavier as his face grew more red. Wriothesley was picking up the pace, slowing every now and then with a focused expression, as if he was looking for something.

The Duke watched you as he kept going, smirking down at your shameless display.

”Awe, you both just have such greedy little holes, don’t you?” His hand wrapped around your ankle, pulling you down the bed closer to him. A surprised squeak left your lips, and you watched with wide eyes as Wriothesley reached his free hand over to pet at your leaking cunt, fingertips slipping through and pressing so wonderfully.

He pressed the tip of one finger into your hole, before pulling back out and squeezing two inside you, slow and hot and so good. You keened at the stretch, your achey walls screaming at the sensation of finally being stimulated.

“There you go, ‘that what you needed, pretty girl?” he asked.

You nodded obediently, spreading your legs further as he pumped his fingers in and out of your hole, your back arching as you moaned and cried for him.

You turned to look at your husband, who was surely fuming at another man touching you so blatantly, but you were only met with a flushed and panting mess.

It seemed in your distraction, Wriothesley had added another finger, and Neuvillette was reacting sensationally to the pleasure. His voice was still held back, but you saw his eyes glazed over with lust, his little fanged teeth biting into his bottom lip.

Before you could get too distracted, Wriothesley crooked his fingers inside you, making you sob out and arch your back as he prodded at your g-spot.

To your surprise, Neuvillette cried out at the same time as you, a loud whine being ripped from his throat.

“Found it,” Wriothesley grinned.

The dam had finally cracked, though only a trickle of Neuvillettes true expressions were leaking through. He softly groaned, his eyes rolling back as his horns glowed, his hands nearly tearing holes in the sheets.

“Yeah?” You breathed, still spinning from Wriothesley’s fingers stroking inside you. “Does it feel good, my love? Are you enjoying yourself?”

“Your Grace,” Neuvillette panted, tilting his head up to meet Wriothesley’s heavy gaze. “I… I need—“

“What do you need, Your Honor?” Wriothesleys hands pumped in sync now, heavy strokes of his fingers stimulating you both. His smirk was smug, his eyelids heavy and cool eyes blazing.

You could feel your core tightening, the pleasure mounting inside you.

“Wrio…” You keened.

“Fuck, who knew that you’d both be such sluts? You’re both just begging for cock, aren’t you?”

He leaned down, pressing a messy kiss to Neuvillettes lips, and you watched Wriothesley nibble on his bottom lip before pulling away from your husband completely, slipping his hands from the both of you.

“Let me get you riled up before I fuck you, hmm? You’re so hot when you’re being possessive.”

Neuvillette looked confused for a moment but the realization dawned across his face as Wriothesley moved to gather your thighs in his hands, pushing your knees back until they rested on either side of your head.

“Just need a little taste of it, sweetheart.” Wriothesley murmured, running his ridiculously thick cock along your folds.

You squirmed, hands balling into tight fists in anticipation. Looking at Neuvillette, you watched as his eyes grew dark once more, and he looked as if he was going to rip Wriothesley away from you at any moment.

“The more fuss you put up, the longer I’ll fuck her— which means the more you’ll have to wait.” Wriothesley teased the head of his cock against your hole, and your back arched as if to encourage him.

Neuvillette settled back, though a deep predatory noise rumbled from his chest, and you could feel Wriothesley’s cock twitch against you.

“Fuck, I’ll never get over that.” The Duke nearly whined.

“Please,” you whimpered, your words starting to slur from the fog clouding your mind. “I wan’ it”

”Yeah? Think you can handle it?” Wriothesley added more pressure, wetting the tip of his already weeping cock, teasing you further. “You only took two fingers, you think that's enough to take this?”

”Please, please,” you bucked your hips, whining again when he pulled back. “I can take it, I can take it, I swear.”

Wriothesley chuckled, low and deep and so seductive. “If you say so…”

After a moment that felt like it dragged on for hours, Wriothesley finally pressed into you, and your eyes blew wide, your mouth hanging open in a silent scream.

He was thick. You were so insistent on taking him, you didn’t think about the consequences of not being adequately prepared. In a perfect world, you’d have likely taken three or even four of the Duke's lovely fingers and perhaps a couple orgasms to loosen yourself up before taking this claymore of a cock.

But oh, were you a glutton for punishment.

It stretched you so completely, not unlike the way it felt the first time your husband entered you this way, though he always seemed to prepare you more than necessary to ensure your comfort and pleasure.

“Think I can wring one out of you before I fuck your husband?” Wriothesley grinned as he bottomed out, watching your face as you tried to process how ridiculously full you felt. It was like he was in your throat, carving out a new space in your insides just for him to fit into perfectly.

Then he started moving.

Your cunt instantly fluttered around him, the position he had you pressed into forced the fat head of his cock to press against your g spot with insane precision, and the Duke slowly worked his thrusts into a rough slapping of your hips, until he was fucking you at cruel and brutal pace.

“Oh, oh!” You cried out, unable to do anything but take it, staring at the ceiling as your walls fluttered around him, squeezing and clenching as your orgasm built.

You could hear your husband's low growls, but you could also hear a secondary wet noise, prompting you to glance over in your haze of pleasure.

You keened out as you saw Neuvillette stroking himself in time with Wriothesley’s thrusts, his eyes dark and menacing but the twitch of his cock was unmistakable.

“Yeah, that's it sweetheart,” Wriothesley groaned. “Give it to me.”

And you did.

It shattered through you, the build up so quick and harsh that the tipping point had you crying out, writhing around in his hold as you came with such force it made you squeal.

“Good,” Wriothesley whispered, gently pumping his cock into you, prolonging your pleasure. “Good girl.”

You felt a cool hand reach for your thigh, your husband's possessive growling reaching closer to your ears, before Wriothesley’s hands pushed him away, his cock slipping from you rather quickly as he pinned Neuvillette to the bed beside you.

“Nuh-uh,” he chided. “Good boys wait their turn, monsieur.”

“I‘ll tear your hands from your body if you do not use them properly in the next five seconds, Wriothesley.”

“Ooh, violent.” Wriothesley smiled, pinning both of Neuvillettes hands within one of his own, bringing the free one down to run a thumb along your husband's bottom lip. “But I believe that would be a most heinous crime, Monsieur. And though I don't think you’d last a week down in the fortress, I’d make sure your time there was very, very comfortable.”

Wriothesley pressed his hips against Neuvillette, rubbing their cocks together in a lewd squelch that made you whimper and flush, realizing that it was your own arousal coating Wriothesley and making the slide of their lengths so wet and smooth.

“Let me fuck you,” Wriothesley breathed as he stared into Neuvillettes heated eyes. “Fuck, I need it.”

Neuvillette keened, his cock twitching and drooling where Wriothesley pressed against him. Though his brow was still furrowed, his hands still thrashing in the Duke's grip, he nodded, murmuring something that sounded like a breathy “please”.

Wriothesley wasted no time reaching down to thrust three fingers back into Neuvillettes hole before pulling out and lining his cock up, still dripping in your juices.

“It’ll be a lot at first, just try to relax for me.” He murmured against Neuvillettes ear, his muscular forearm tensing where it held him up.

You watched as he pressed forward, as your husband's mouth fell open, his eyes widening as he gazed up at The Duke, his hands clutching the sheets beneath him.

Your mind was in a haze, watching as Wriothesley started his slow and sensuous pace, the line of his hips driving into Neuvillette in a way that made your insides shudder.

His voice was a symphony of broken little sounds, smaller and more vulnerable than you were used to hearing, but his flushed face and bite-swollen lips looked so enticing.

“Is that good?” Wriothesley whispered as he leaned over him, pushing your husband's thighs wider, further back. “You like it?”

Neuvillette released a weak whimper, and you could see the wetness pooling behind his ethereal eyes. Even so, he gave a delicate little nod.

“You’re squeezing me so tight, beautiful.” Wriothesley groaned, his pace quickening. “Fuck, between the two of you, I’m not going to last long.”

You realized you were absently swirling your fingertips along your puffy clit, the pleasure in you from watching them too much for you to handle— you needed release.

Wriothesley’s eyes flickered between the two of you, watching you both, and you could see the muscles in his abdomen tighten.

“Gods—“ Wriothesley made the mistake of moaning out that dreaded word.

Neuvillettes legs snapped around his waist, his clawed hands gasping at his shoulders, at his back as he pulled Wriothesley closer and growled.

“No.” He rasped, fire burning in his gaze as his claws pulled at Wriothesley’s shoulder blades, making the duke shudder and cry out. “No gods. Only me.”

Your fingers stuttered as your thighs shook, your high approaching much sooner than you realized, your sensitive folds dripping and aching for it.

“Oh, fuck—“ Wriothesley groaned, leaning down to breathe into the crook of Neuvillettes neck as his hips stuttered too. “Neuvillette—“

Neuvillette did something you’ve only seen him do a few times, on occasions of high intensity and emotional wreckage during your intimate moments. It was a primal and animalistic act, a response brought on through his instincts and inner feelings, typically hidden by his proper decorum and high intellect.

He opened his mouth wide and latched his teeth possessively into the meat of Wriothesley’s trapezius muscle, deep and firm.

Wriothesley nearly screamed, his hands white knuckling the sheets as he came, gasping and pumping into your husband with a shocked and embarrassed expression, the blush on his face so extreme it trailed down to his shoulders.

Neuvillette groaned, and you watched his cock jump and spray deep splatters of white across his chest and abdomen, even up onto Wriothesley— all while still latched onto him, teeth baring down possessively into the flesh. Small rivulets of blood began pooling where his tongue wasn’t laving it up, and you shuddered and came at the sight of it all.

Your body arched, mind going blank as it hit you.

When your sight returned, all you could hear were three sets of panting breaths, three pounding hearts in the moonlight pooling in the room.

Your heart stuttered out a little bout of jealousy at the sight of Wriothesley petting your husbands silky hair as he soothed him away from his aching shoulder, watching the droplets of blood pool in the wetness left behind from his mouth.

But as Neuvillette relaxed back into the pillows, wriothesley looked up at you with a cheeky grin, wriggling his eyebrows at you, and suddenly the stillness of the room was broken by your unfiltered giggles.

Wriothesley joined you, his chuckling making Neuvillette look at you both in utter confusion. The Duke of Meropide raised his hand, and you limply sat up to meet it, clapping your hand against it in a high five both childish and out of place for the aftermath of such a heated exchange.

“That was… crazy.” Wriothesley said, pulling himself from Neuvillette and sitting back on the bed.

Your giggles calmed, and you snuggled up against your still gaping husband, who continued to look between the two of you with a flushed face and furrowed brow.

“Yeah, I was not expecting it to be like that.” You said as you ran your hands along Neuvillettes chest, soothing him.

You were expecting a bit more awkward tension— but then again, Wriothesley was your best friend. Everything felt easy with him, and even in the aftermath, you couldn’t help but feel light and happy, not an ounce of shame or awkwardness to speak of.

“This exchange…” Neuvillette looked between the two of you, wincing as he tried to sit up less than gracefully. “…is it a positive one? I understand that laughing has more than one meaning, I trust that this means you both enjoyed yourselves?”

You and Wriothesley looked at him, and then each other before you both burst out in another fit of giggles.

“Mmn.” Neuvillette hummed, his face now relaxed and serene. “I take it you’re staying to do our laundry, Your Grace?”

Wriothesley’s laughter sobered up in an instant. “Uh, what?”

“Well, considering that you’ve yet to clean up the mess you left between my legs, which I can feel attempting to drip onto my silk bed sheets, I assume you’re planning on washing them after you’re done relaxing?”

Neuvillette wasn't one for unnecessary messes, always rushing to clean you up after your trysts. He wasn't opposed to a mess or two, but would very promptly strip the bed afterwards to avoid staining his very expensive and very old silks.

Now it was your turn to giggle alone as Wriothesley’s eyes widened at the space between your husbands open thighs, tumbling off the bed in his haste with a grumbled “oh, shit!” As he raced to find a cloth.

“Thank you for indulging me, my love.” Neuvillette whispered against your temple as he pressed a kiss there, holding you closer.

“Do you have any more ideas?” You smirked, and he smiled finally, scrunching his nose playfully at you.

——————————————

Authors note: not my finest work, i kinda lost interest halfway through if you can’t tell. I still wanted to finish it and actually have something to post for y’all while i crawl my way out of this creative block, so visiting the old wips is a must. Anyways, let me know what you think, comments and reblogs are most important!! Love you all so much. —Rae🖤

#neuvillette smut #wriothesley smut #neuvillette x female reader #neuvillette x reader #wriothesely x reader #wriothesley x fem reader #wriothesley x neuvillette #wriolette #wriolette smut #wriolette x reader #wriolette x reader smut #ARu #that stands for aqua regia universe lol

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leggerefiore · 6 months

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We’ve seen how Pokémon characters react to being sick but how would Maxie + various other Pokémon characters of ur choosing react to you being sick?

cw: reader sick with a cold

characters: Maxie, Archie, Lysandre, N, Guzma

☀️Maxie🌋

🪨 The minute you begin to show signs of being ill, Maxie is banishing you to bed. Unlike with himself, he does not want to risk your pathogen spreading throughout his team and worries about your health. Unfortunately, he becomes a bit nervous to be around you due to a small bit of germaphobia. The redhead does get over it when you keep asking for him, however. This leads to him quarantining himself away with you to prevent further spreading it around. He also finds himself fretting over it being something worse than it actually is.

🪨 He sends out grunts to buy whatever you may possibly need to get over your bout of illness. Medicines, tissues, a humidifier, a dehumidifier, a heating pad – anything. Maxie is certain to make sure you have everything that could possibly aid you in getting over your sickness. He will help away any sweat from fevers and make sure that everything is clean around you both, too. Disinfectant is used gratuitously. Of course, excluding excessive physical contact. He loves you, yes, but he does not feel like joining you in bed-rest.

🪨 You watch him scramble out of your shared quarters at some lucid point of going in and out of consciousness and wonder what he is doing before passing back out. Yet, the slumber is short as the smell of something hot singes your nose. Maxie has returned with a soup, made by him. He may not be the best cook, but he carefully made a favourite quick meal of it to help boost you up. Its spice is nothing to scoff at, and somehow clears your sinuses from its sheer heat. You can only stare at him in wonder while downing water. Maxie seems very smug about this all.

🪨 Once again, cuddling is not happening. He cannot stand the idea of getting sick and being unable to focus on his work. Not to mention how certain he felt that Courtney sneaked into his quarters the last time he was sick and snapped a picture of him. Though, towards the end of the illness when he knows it's nowhere near as contagious as it was during the earlier stages, he may give in. He crawls under the covers at your side and wraps an arm around your shoulders. Your head ends up pressed to his chest as he tries to figure out how much longer you should be like this. At some point, you fall asleep, and he does not have the heart to push you away in the end.

🌧Archie🌊

💧 He honestly probably doesn't catch the earliest signs that you are getting sick. Archie just does not get sick often enough to understand what is happening. Though, after it becomes complete apparent you are ill, he makes sure you can be comfortable in bed. It most likely was something going around in Lilycove that his grunts accidentally brought in with him. The Aqua Leader ends up stuck at your bedside, too. Poor guy cannot handle his Luvdisc being in such a situation. (Shelly sprays him down with disinfectant when he leaves his quarters, knowing full well be didn't clean himself nor use any germ killer. She alone prevents the spread of the illness.)

💧 If you just vaguely mention wanting something while sick, he rushes out himself to get it. Local pirate man spied at a pharmacy buying up an inordinate amount of cold medicine. Probably got questioned by someone, but somehow got off. He also grabs whatever else you may have requested. Endless tissues, air humidifier (though it is probably unneeded in the seaside cave you live in), snacks, gifts – He runs into the Lilycove Department Store and nearly loses his mind. Archie just wants to help you get better as soon as possible.

💧 Somewhere in the madness of it all, grunts spy him in the hideout's kitchen. They can only wonder what he is making, but the smell of seafood clearly wafts through the air. You get pulled from a light slumber to a bowl of some kind of fish stew. Archie holds it out with big eyes. Needless to say, it was eaten by you. Even if Archie had to spoon it to you in a few moments of weakness. Truthfully, his cooking was not that bad. Just a tad heavy to consume while sick. You did somehow feel better after eating it, too.

💧 Honestly, when it comes to affection, he is all over his partner no matter what. Even if you are sick, he wants to be stuck to your side. You do not even have to ask for him to cuddle because his arms already tight around you and have you pulled into his chest. Your comfort is more than met. Archie even barely goes for kisses, despite the obvious risks. Your emotional needs are just as met as your physical needs. It made you wonder if that was why you became better so quickly. And, somehow, Archie managed not to get sick, either. His immune system appears to be something to be feared.

🔥Lysandre🍷

☕️ The tall man feels stricken when you begin to develop the tell-tale signs of a cold. Especially as you try to continue going throughout life as you usually do. Lysandre quickly works to change that. Right before your cold gets worse, you find yourself forced into bed by your very distressed boyfriend. He scolds you for neglecting your own health. His heart aches at the thought of you suffering for no reason. Needless to say, when a near seven-foot man tells you to rest, you probably end up resting. Your shared home is kept clean by his efforts and that of a housekeeper, thankfully.

☕️ He already buys you everything you could possibly want, adoring to shower his darling in gifts. But, now, he is doing it in a frenzy. Special orders for medicines he believes will truly aid in shortening your illness and help alleviate your more painful symptoms. Tissues are always in supply near you and anything from a humidifier to some weird home remedy he does not quite understand but nonetheless gets for you. He only wishes to bring you comfort and happiness in your unfortunate state.

☕️ It comes as no surprise that he makes sure all the food you eat (in general) is extremely healthy and filling. He only has the best made for you by a restaurant he finds to by one of the best in Kalos. Of course, there is a time you find yourself eating an unfamiliar soup after waking up quite late from a near all-day slumber. Its flavour is pleasant and there is clearly a lot of skill put into making the dish, but it was obviously not made by the usual person who apparently had been making your food. You only learn it was a personal recipe that Lysandre had made after getting over your sickness. Supposedly, it was something that Sycamore had made for him at some point during their long friendship.

☕️ Lysandre is a rare hesitant about affection while you are ill. The last thing he needs in his busy schedule is to be forced to rest. Team Flare would almost certainly fall about without his leadership, and his duties as the president of his labs would stack up to a distracting degree. Yet, still, when you look at him with pleading eyes in such a condition, he feels weak to his own love for you. He gives in, allows you cling to him. Perhaps a bit of physical comfort would give your immune system the boost it needed to get through all this. You both end up drowsing off, cuddled up together.

🌿N👑

🟢 He is not sure how to react when your cold becomes too obvious to ignore. Panic consumes as he thinks about statistics of deaths related to illness, before he recalls what his sisters used to do for him when he was younger. Suddenly, your green boyfriend is dragging you back to bed and demanding you rest. N is so very worried. He has never had to handle another person being sick, so having his lover be the first one is making him fret too much. Hilda finds herself in a hard place when N calls to ask what to do and has to give him a run-down. He was a very quick learner, thankfully.

🟢 He finds himself unsure what to get for your symptoms, so he probably nearly grabs one of everything for cold medicine in the hopes it makes you get better fast. This, too, means he ends up buying some strange homeopathic things, but honestly, it is the thought that counts. And, he did actually manage to grab a few helpful things in his whirlwind shopping trip. N was also careful to stock up on tissues and the like. He just wants to help you get better so desperately and seems to be trying literally everything to help you.

🟢 This includes cooking. While he is not too familiar with the skill, he quickly finds aid in both his pokemon and human friends. Hilda makes sure he follows the recipe as best as he can, while the pokemon bring him the best ingredients out from the wild (besides what he had to buy). The dish is carefully made before being brought to you as you wake up from an extended nap. The soul is very herbal and probably skews a bit too bitter, but the love N put into making it is obvious. (You did feel strangely more energetic after finishing it, too.) He is happy that you enjoyed his desperate attempt to cook for you.

🟢 Poor green boy is stuck to you like glue while you are in such a state. The fear of getting sick does not even occur to him, all he simply wants to do is make you feel better. His affection is always so gently and warm with a hint of desperation. You probably feel completely at ease with the near always present touch of your adoring boyfriend. Thankfully, his immune system is hardened from his youth spent partially in the forest, so he does not get sick too easily. Though, he trusts if he falls ill that you would care for him all the same as, he did for you.

💀Guzma🕶

□ The minute you begin to show signs of sickness, Guzma honestly begins to worry. He does not express it aloud, of course. His reputation must be upheld, but you do notice him pushing you to rest. Whenever he gets up, he is extra careful to keep quiet and scolds any grunts making noise outside his room. Big bad Guzma just wants his partner to rest and get over whatever was coming over them quickly. Eventually, though, he does actually demand you rest. Your steps were a bit too wobbly for him to want you wandering around in the endless rain of the dilapidated Po town.

□ Poor guy rushes into a pharmacy in a near frenzy trying to find things he swore worked the last time he came down with something. The clerk can only watch this delinquent scrutinises an antihistamine like he actually understood how the active ingredients worked. Eventually, he settles on two he trusts before buying them, heading back to you. He also grabbed a few boxes of tissues, but they go so fast he finds himself out buying more a day later. Guzma also grabs anything else he thinks might help. Like tea. His mom always told him to drink tea when he was sick, so it has to work. (He has no idea what he is doing, but he is trying his best.)

□ At some point, he realises there is no food in Po town that is good for someone who is sick, so he has to grab ingredients while he is out buying more tissues. It feels like a never-ending cycle of madness. Then, when it came down to actual cooking, he tried his best to make something edible. That failed, however, and he instead returned to the tried and true canned soup. Hopefully, chicken noodles would cure your ailments. You happily eat the soup, and thank him for going out of his way for you. He can only give a laugh.

□ He does hesitate a bit when you first get sick with affection. Guzma actually despises feeling ill due to the weakness associated with it. But, when you tug on his jacket when he is about to leave, he finds himself relenting a bit. Fine, yeah, he will cuddle his sick partner. If he gets sick, then thankfully he already has medicine to take and a stash of canned soup. It also feels nice to comfort you as you nuzzle into his chest. You probably hate being in your condition in a place like this. He just combs his fingers through your hair and gives you a light scalp massage. At some point, you both fall asleep.

#pokemon x reader #maxie x reader #guzma x reader #archie x reader #n x reader #lysandre x reader #pokemon/reader #pokemon archie x reader #pokemon maxie x reader #pokemon lysandre x reader #pokemon n x reader #pokemon guzma x reader #archie/reader #maxie/reader #lysandre/reader #n/reader #guzma/reader

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hamliet · 2 months

Note

thoughts on how oshi no ko has portrayed what happened to hikaru (thus far) and any ideas for what his motives/role in the story is?

Honestly? I think it's doing a pretty good job of portraying it. TW for discussions of childhood sexual abuse below.

When it's first introduced to us that Hikaru was raped by the adult actress, Aqua doesn't have much reaction. On an intellectual level, he gets it, but on an emotional level in terms of what this means for Hikaru, for his development and for his pain, he doesn't get it at all. It's only when we get to Akane's expressed horror ("that's sick!") that we get an actual reaction.

The previous chapter was honestly acting and a flashback as it actually happened, and I appreciated that they showed it as violent.

That's something so often missing from stories of older women who rape younger boys (see Mary Kay Letourneau). It's not a love story. He's not lucky. It's violence.

Like, I spoke about this with a friend after the chapter, but the wiki literally says he was "implied to have been raped." Implied? He was ELEVEN.

I don't think the wiki writers are intentionally being obtuse or dismissive, but there is a subconscious way in which a lot of the world, across cultures, reacts to female predators of young boys in a way that is incongruent with how we react to men who prey on young girls. And to be fair, the latter is a far more prevalent issue but still.

So anyways, I was grateful the final panel of the flashback showed Hikaru being dragged, violently, away from a girl his own age whom he likes by an older woman who won't even introduce his son as his son. Anything Hikaru has, he cannot have.

I've written about Hikaru before, but yeah, he's a scary serial killer at this point who is likely going to target Ruby and/or Kana. He's a final antagonist, obviously, and his past abuses don't excuse him. He's somewhat modeled after Lucifer, and not the Hazbin Hotel version.

But I don't think Aqua's final challenge is stopping Hikaru.

Aqua playing Hikaru in these scenes is challenging him to do what playing Ai has provoked Ruby to do: to empathize and further understand their parents. But, the problem is that Aqua can relate to Hikaru's anger and hatred already.

Again, as I wrote previously, Aqua already is very much like Hikaru (albeit at a far earlier stage): trying to reenact and kill the perceived causes of his trauma and not able to see that he's not going to be happy with such an ending because you can't kill your way to peace.

What Aqua actually needs to do is to come to understand Ai. Ruby, imo, is the one who will come to understand Hikaru, and probably forgive him (not excuse, but this is very likely where it's going).

Ai seemed to, after all. She reached out to Hikaru's proxy (the stalker) and definitely recognized the white roses and knew who had sent him.

Yet she still reached out to her stalker as a human being and empathized with him after he had stabbed her.

If it had been Hikaru standing there himself, she would have done the same.

And lest we think this is solely an example of her toxic wanting-to-please-people trait taking control, this was also the moment--the only moment in Ai's life--where she was finally able to express herself without a lie. It can be both an indictment of the entertainment industry prioritizing pleasing others over your own life and pain and Ai's moment of triumph even amidst tragedy.

Hence again why Aqua's challenge is to understand his mother, not to kill his father as justice for her. He needs to recognize her love for him as her son. She wanted him to live. She wanted him to love. She didn't want him to obsess over her in death.

Ruby, on the other hand, needs to understand Hikaru... and Aqua. Thus far, while she's had the best growth of everyone in this entire series, she is still idolizing Sensei and Aqua thereby.

She needs to see him as a person just as Aqua needs to see Ai as a person. Seeing Hikaru's anger and pain and seeing Aqua's go hand in hand for Ruby (again, not a coincidence Aqua is playing young Hikaru in the movie).

As for where Hikaru goes from there, I don't know. He might end his own life like the stalker proxy did, but I think the fact that that's already happened makes it less likely. He might find new life even if like, in prison, or he might die sacrificing himself for his kids. It's too early to make those exact predictions... but I think Ruby understanding him and empathizing is key.

#ask hamliet #oshi no ko #onk meta #oshi no ko meta #hoshino ai #kamiki hikaru #hoshino ruby #hoshino aqua #oshi no ko theory #onk theory #tw

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goldenharmony · 5 months

Text

Ruby and Akane: Parallels

In chapter 77, Ruby reveals her dark secret to Akane, similar to how Aqua revealed his dark secret in chapter 52. In both situations, Akane enables their obsessions, thinking that she is doing them a favor when she shouldn't be encouraging them.

In Ruby's case, Akane is unaware that Gorou would be nearing his 50s if he was still alive, which makes me wonder how she would've reacted if she knew the truth.

In my opinion, she would've still encouraged Ruby. Akane's already cool with murdering for Aqua's sake so I don't think ethics is a high priority for her.

Unhealthy Obsessions ≠ Genuine Love

The way Ruby feels about Gorou is how Akane feels about Aqua, being obsessed to an unhealthy and obsessive degree to the person they think they might be in love with. Their unhealthy feelings are targeted towards the same soul but different incarnations. Akane's yandere tendencies flare up whenever the situation involves Aqua.

And while Ruby also wanted revenge for Ai's murder, the main trigger for her to fall into darkness was seeing Gorou's corpse.

Gorou/Aqua - Providing the Will to Live

When describing Gorou, Ruby focuses on how he gave her the will to live, saving her from having self-destructive/suicidal thoughts during her lowest moments.

This is further supported by how Ruby was having suicidal thoughts in chapters 115 & 121 but the realization that Gorou = Aqua had saved her.

How does Akane understand? Because she went through the same experience in LoveNow. When she was at her limit and about to kill herself, Aqua saved her and worked with the other LoveNow members to save her image.

Thanks to Aqua, she got the strength to return to LoveNow and move forward. That moment had a significant impact on her, similar to how Ruby describes Gorou's impact on her.

Returning to Original Location

Ruby and Akane return to the places where their relationships began, reaffirming their feelings. Its a callback but could be seen as them trying to hold onto those relationships when they should just let go.

Delusional Era

Both Akane and Ruby go through a period where they think they will get what they want. Aqua and Akane started dating but Aqua only loves Kana. Akane knows this but she's convinced that as Aqua continuous to lie to himself about loving her, those lies will become the truth - which they never did.

She also believed that the 2 of them had an equal relationship, and that she was saving Aqua - both immediately proven false in the subsequent chapter.

For Ruby, she thinks that now that she has reunited with Gorou, they will get married, not realizing that:

A) Gorou never promised marriage. He said he'd think about it which was letting Sarina down easy because she was a dying child at the time.

b) She no longer sees Aqua as just himself, but is projecting Gorou onto him considering she keeps emphasizing "Sensei" unlike Aqua with Sarina-Ruby.

c) Ruby in a stable and healthy mindset thinks incest is gross lol

Plus Ruby's sus manga panels being over-the-top hammers down the point that she is being really delusional right now.

Conclusion

In the end, the 2 girls are really similar to where I'm sure that Akane would've still encouraged Ruby to pursue Gorou even after knowing he was way too old for her because she can relate to Ruby's feelings, believing that he couldn't be bad for Ruby if she believes he is a good person.

Meanwhile Kana's reaction if Ruby confided in her instead:

And if Mem-Cho tried to argue about the age gap, Ruby would probably say that its basically the same as Mem-Cho hanging out with the rest of them - killing Mem-Cho in an instant:

#oshi no ko #ruby hoshino #akane kurokawa #aqua hoshino #gorou amemiya #onk #analysis #my analysis #onk spoilers #lily reads onk

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greatwyrmgold · 1 month

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I find it interesting that this is where Aqua drew the line. He put up with Ruby's BS until here. He's inhumanly tolerant with Ruby being...Ruby, which makes it all the more remarkable when he objects to Ruby being Sarina.

I'm not the first to note that the twins reacted very differently to being reincarnated. Ruby thinks of Sarina the same way she thinks of baby-Ruby: As herself, the person she was almost twenty years ago. But Aqua sees Dr. Goro as a different person whose memories he happens to know.

So far, this difference in perspective hasn't lead to any conflict, or even conversation; the twins barely talked about their past lives. Even when Ruby started getting clingy with "Dr. Goro," she didn't say or do anything that might distinguish between how she feels about Aqua and how she feels about the doctor. Why would she? They're the same person! And Aqua just hasn't effectively communicated with his sister.

He's communicated more with her in chapter 143, but mostly about his present-tense, personal insecurities.

It's good for Aqua to open up to someone—anyone—about this kind of thought; his sister is a pretty good choice for this kind of confession. I'm glad Aqua is getting less emotionally constipated.

But that monologue obscures the "I'm not Dr. Goro any more." It leaves room for Ruby to interpret it as "I'm depressed, so I can't act like I did when I was a doctor". It leaves room for Ruby to assume that if Aqua gets un-depressed, Dr. Goro can fulfill his very serious promise to marry Sarina when she grew up.

And that seems to be what happened! Ruby's response monologue addresses the narrow concerns of "I feel guilty about how many people I've hurt" by talking about how he's made her life better, about how he's her idol, about how she loves him, and by the way we're kissing now.

We don't see Aqua's response; the chapter cuts to the film set, the scene where Hikaru and Ai (played by Aqua and Ruby) smooch. We don't see Aqua's response, but the way we don't see it suggests that he continued to not effectively communicate with Ruby.

Which is frustrating; he came so close to actually clearing the air, having an important conversation with Ruby about their relationship and past lives and everything. So close, yet so far away.

#oshi no ko #manga panels #aqua hoshino #ruby hoshino #characterization #random thoughts

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jadedwolf18-blog · 1 year

Text

Mini Phantom Invasion

<<Chapters One - Six | << Chapters Seven - Twelve

^^^^^

*****

These chapters were inspired by this post by @blackfoxsposts

*****

Here’s two chapters! The first is a recap of the two years we skipped over and the second is Danny interact with some of the BatFam

🤍🖤💚💙💚🖤🤍

Chapter 13

Danny sighed as they stared out into the dark purple foliage of the forrest. They and Elle had been exploring the far reaches of the Zone for the last week, bonding and spending time together before things got busy again.

They would be returning tomorrow, to Phantoms Keep, as their eighteenth birthday was the day after. It was also the day of their coronation and the day they would officially claim Elle as their daughter. It was crazy to think that it had already been two years since they’d fled their old dimension.

*****

Danny and Dan had become the protectors of Japan, as a whole, during those two years. They had even trained with Katana every now and then, that had been an interesting meeting that lead to Dan working part-time with the justice league.

Danny themself preferred to remain in Japan and had only met the main members of the JL once, during their initial introduction. They and Dan had set up their head quarters in the village they had first started out in. It had now bloomed from a simple farming village into a small town that rivalled Amity Park in size. Though its main focus was still farming and the production of grains and fruit.

The area that housed the hot spring, their cave and both the big shrine and the smaller shrine had been left undisturbed and was still surrounded by forest, as it was declared the Holy Hunting Grounds and home to Japan’s protector spirits.

The small town had expanded in the opposite direction and its’ architecture and atmosphere kept to a historic aesthetic, their were no modern glass structure or tall buildings. Not that the interiors were devoid of modern facilities but, if one were to visit, it would seem as if you had stepped into the past. The Shrine stood as the tallest building and had been expanded to resemble a historic Shiro or castle. Their new symbol displayed proudly on its Tori Gate and above its entrance.

Danny and Dan had come up with a new symbol in their first month of actively protecting the town and before they started to include the whole of Japan as their haunts territory. It was now a circle with a white, up right triangle in the centre and a stylised version of the Kanji 幻 (maboroshi), meaning Phantom/vision/illusion/dream/phantasm. The Kanji and circle that adorned Dan’s suit were red to match the bracelet on his wrist, while Danny’s circle was red and the Kanji was Ecto-green.

Even Elle’s wore the new symbol, both the circle and Kanji were a slightly paler green. It had become their family insignia, similar to the Bats and Birds of Gotham. They still went by Phantom when operating outside of Japan but were now mainly known as Maboroshi to the people of Japan.

Over the last two years Danny had gone back to their old dimension a few times, at first it was to check in with Jazz, Sam and Tucker but they had started to grow distant the more he refused to return. Jazz understood, encouraged it even but Sam and Tucker didn’t understand, Sam viewed it as abandoning their duty and Tucker thought they were just over reacting, that they could just live somewhere else and things would be fine. It had all come to an end the last time the had seen them. The other reason they had returned, with Dan, was to look for clues about their mother.

They had spoken more with Pandora and the ghost they had learned was their aunt, she went by Rina, she had told them that their mother was the Mother of Merfolk in her home dimension and was known as Aqua Rigina, a goddess to those who live in the see. She had passed her title to her daughter, their older sister, before fading from her dimension to travel and explore with her new found freedom.

She had found a home in a new dimension, amongst a different pantheon and it was while traveling the dimensions, connected to the greek pantheon, that she came to care for a human. She new she would not be able to stay but she had hoped to be able to visit often. She never got the chance to tell him once she found out she was pregnant and well… they knew the rest.

They and Dan had made no progress on finding out who their father was nor what dimension he was in. They only knew that the dimension was connected to the Greek pantheon but that was hardly helpful when there were so many. Short of entering their DNA into every universes data base, which they did not want to do, they could only hope they bumped into someone who knew. Danny knew there was a chance that their father would want nothing to do with them but they still hoped, that small part of them that had never grown up, craved to be accepted by their family.

On the brighter side, they had met with their older sister and her husband, though they brought sad news about her mother. She had accepted and welcomed both of them. They had spent some time with them, getting to know them and the other Mermaids of The Seven Seas, they even learned about their mer powers. It had been fun to meet their sister, brother-in-law and niece.

*****

Danny had only just fallen asleep when they heard twig snap, they opened their eyes and slowly sat up, coiling their tail tighter around Elle, who had shifted to her creature form in her sleep. They kept their focus in the direction the sound had come from, pupils blown wide to peer into the unnatural darkness of the Ghost Zone forest.

Chapter 14

Danny continued to watch and listen, even as they slowly roused Elle from her sleep, making a low growling purr and and a short series of quiet clicks, warning her of the potential threat and to stay in her creature form. She was quick to go on alert, ears twitching, trying to find what had put them on edge.

They listened to the near silent footsteps, there were two, one significantly heavier than the other. As the two figures drew closer and they could just make out their forms, Danny released a long, low warning hiss. The figures paused, for a moment, at the edge of the forest, just out of sight. Danny stopped their hiss and watched, waited, for their response.

Minutes ticked by before the larger figure moved, slowly, forward and into the small clearing. The beginnings of a hiss was cut short when Danny recognised who was currently standing before them. Bruised and battered, cracks in their armour and an unconscious blue bird slung over their back. The smaller figure stepped forward soon after, revealing the hard to miss combination of red, yellow and red.

“Batman?” Danny was shocked and confused as to why Batman and two of his birds would be in the Infinite Realms, let alone how they had gotten in and so far from any of the main haunts. “Do you need help?”

The smaller bird shifted into a defensive stance but Batman placed a calming hand on his shoulder. “Phantom. Do you know where we are?”

Straight to business it is then, they thought wryly as the corner of their lips twitched in amusement, they motioned them forward and ignited the campfire. They watched as the three drew closer, Batman gently lay Nightwing on the ground and checked him over before taking a seat across from them, on the other side of the fire. Robin was hesitant but soon followed Batman’s lead and took his own seat.

Danny relaxed, leaning back, using their tail as a back rest. They pulled Elle onto their lap and held her close, letting out a calming purr as they silently let her know who the new comers were and that they weren’t a threat… to them anyway.

“You are currently in the Infinite Realms or the Ghost Zone to pit it frankly. It’s where those who died violent deaths, have unfinished business, a strong attachment to the living ream or were created by the culmination of a belief go when the die. You, though, are not dead.” Danny looked them over, they were definitely in rough shape but they were alive.

“So how, may I ask, did you end up here?” Danny started running their claws through Elles hair as they waited for a response. They knew Batman was weighing his options, they hadn’t worked together often, Dan was the one who had the most interaction with the JL.

“We were fighting against the League of assassins, you’ve had run ins with them before according to Maboroshi. Nightwing was knocked unconscious, Robin went to catch him before he fell into the Lazarus Pit but their line was cu by an assassin. I went after them, instead of being submerged in Pit water, we were transported here.”

“Hmm, how long have you been here? Maboroshi hasn’t made contact, so he must not have been informed of your disappearance yet. You are lucky I had been close by, I don’t normally venture out this far.” Elle chirped and repositioned herself, seeing as they were safe, she was quick to go back to sleep.

“Hnn.” Batman looked into the fire, no doubt processing the fact that they were in the land of the dead.

“Who is that?” Robin asked, demanded.

“Robin!” Batman was quick to give his version of admonishment.

“What, it is a perfectly valid point of questioning, they are an unknown.” Batman sighed as he turned back to Phantom.

“To answer your question, Robin, this is my daughter. We are on a bonding trip, though we will be returning home tomorrow.” He watched as Batman physically perked up at the mention of a child, Danny found it amusing that such a large and intimidating figure had such a soft spot for children. “Back to the reason you are here and how long has it been, since you entered the Realms?”

“It has only been a few hours but Nightwing needs medical attention, as does Robin.” Batman ignored Robins pointed gaze.

“And you, I assume, by the looks of your suit. Rest for now and do what you can to field dress your wounds. I’ve got extra food you can eat, its human safe. Once you’re rested and fed, I’ll bring you to the Far Frozen to get a proper medical check. I’ll also send out a message to Maboroshi, get him to let the other Bats and Birds you’re ok.” Danny slowly set Elle into the cradle of their tail, as the reached for their travel pack that contained their food. They had snacks and junk food mostly but they also had pre-made meals they could heat on a fire. Setting up the rack to hold the fire safe containers, they made sure the food wouldn’t fall before turning their attention to their accidental guests. “Once you’re cleared by Frostbite, I’ll bring you to Phantoms Keep and get you through a portal home.”

“Thank you, Phantom.” Batman turned his attention to tending to Nightwing as Robin continued to stare at them.

“How do you know we can trust them?” Batman sighed and answered before Danny could say anything.

“Phantom is a protector spirit, Robin, it is in their nature to protect those they deem as theirs and help those that need it. It is more complex than that but that is the gist of it.” Robin huffed but seamed to be satisfied, for now, with the answer.

*****

The clearing had been silent as the Gotham vigilantes ate, Batman continued to check on Nightwing, though you wouldn’t know it by just looking at his expression, Danny could feel the worry, guilt and pain, coming off the big bad bat, as they fussed over Nightwing and Robin. Much to the young boys annoyance but Danny could tell he felt comfort in knowing that Batman cared for him, along with his own worry for Nightwing.

Once the two vigilantes had finished their meals and everything had been packed away, Danny carefully picked up Elle and their travel pack. They floated up and shifted their tail to legs, before putting out the fire and upping their own natural glow to provide light for Batman and Robin. Batman picked up Nightwing, resettling them on his back and waited for Robin to join him before following after Phantom.

🤍🖤💚💙💚🖤🤍

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marlynnofmany · 11 months

Text

Double Duty

It’s a rare day when I have to squint at the sight of a house, but this one was shiny. A giant ball woven out of the brightest metal wires I’d seen in a while, all gold and copper in complex patterns. It made my head hurt to look at. Probably imitation metals, because surely that would be impractical and expensive to use actual gold. But what did I know? Not my species.

I squinted as I walked up with the package, wondering if that was rude of me. My little human eyes probably always looked like I was squinting though, compared to the big bug eyes of the Mesmer who lived there.

And the one walking beside me. Zhee was nodding quietly to himself while he took in the sight, with his vibrant purple praying-mantis exoskeleton looking right at home. If I hadn’t known that one of his people lived here, somehow I feel like I would have guessed. It was flashy in the extreme.

And so was the walkway, a glittering stripe of vivid red that curved through a garden full of alien flowers that probably didn’t bite. I didn’t like the looks of the local butterfly analogues, though; they had stingers I could see from here. I was glad they were keeping their distance.

Zhee reached the door first — a solid slab of bronze with an inlaid galaxy of gemstones, naturally — and he found the doorbell while I ducked under another butterfly. The chime was a brief melody from an instrument I couldn’t identify. It sounded like a violin invented by people whose earliest music was made by rubbing their legs together.

The door pulled inward and slid to the side, showcasing the homeowner who must have been waiting right there for us. Up close, the side of the house had window space visible between the weave, ideal for peeking out but not being seen until you were ready for your close-up.

“Good greetings!” announced the Mesmer woman who towered over both of us, a spectacle of metallic rose-gold coloring. Surely that couldn’t be natural. I’d never seen a Mesmer yet with metal tones; this had to be like full-body nail polish. But I sure as heck wasn’t about to say a peep about it now. I’d ask Zhee later.

“Greetings,” Zhee returned, urging me forward. “Your package.”

I handed it over, wondering if I’d get to see how the thing opened. It was one of the plastic puzzle box dealies that had been a popular way to ship valuables lately. There was one button on top and no visible seams.

Even with that thought, I was surprised when she grabbed it with her pincher arms, kicked a side table into view with one leg, then set it down and tapped out a rhythm on the button. The box split open to dramatically reveal the custom stained-glass lamp that we’d delivered in perfect condition, thankyouverymuch.

“Exquisite,” she said, holding it up to let the light shine through all the aquas and teals. “Just what the blue room needs.” She looked at us. “I have one of each color, you know.”

Zhee nodded like that was normal and admirable. “Excellent.” He held out the electronic payment pad without being so gauche as to mention it out loud, and the customer chattered away about her house as she set down the lamp and paid.

“…The yellow room was the biggest hassle, of course, but I’m most pleased with the rainbow room. I have art, rare plants and a few select exotic animals in there. Those have been a different type of challenge, especially the new one.”

That caught my attention. As I was wondering how best to ask what kind of animals she kept, Zhee beat me to it.

“Animals, you say?” He gestured theatrically toward me. “Robin is an expert in animal care, if you need a consult.”

I turned my head to stare at him with my best what-did-you-just-volunteer-me-for expression, which he could certainly see, given those eyes’ range of vision. He didn’t react.

“I would appreciate a look, now that you mention it,” the large alien said. “My prize oil-slick tentacle has stopped eating, and has begun shaking in a strange way when I get near.”

Zhee immediately haggled for a consultation fee while I wracked my brain for any knowledge of this alien whatsit. I was going to have words with Zhee afterward.

But apparently I was going to look at this thing first. The customer agreed to the price, payable afterward, and led us both into the house. It was just as multicolored as expected. Like each room had been given to a different child to design, with the instructions to use as many expensive jewel tones as possible.

The rainbow room was actually a relief, surprisingly enough. There were darker accents to make the furniture and murals stand out. And the various terrariums were clear glass. I looked between feathers and shells and flowers for anything that could be described as a tentacle.

“It’s over here,” she said, leading me toward a glass case under a spotlight. “I haven’t had it very long, but it was eating before, and I just don’t know why. The medi-scanner says it’s not ill. Perhaps I need a new scanner. What do you think?”

Feeling like the spotlight was aimed directly at me, I stepped up for a look at the thing curled up in the corner. It was, as expected, iridescent like an oil slick. But those scales were familiar.

I moved around it to get a look at the head, then smiled and stood up straight. “That’s a sunbeam snake! My favorite kind!”

“Okay, but what’s wrong with it?” the alien woman asked. “When I give it food, it hisses at me and shudders!” She waggled a pincher arm in imitation.

“It’s trying to scare you away,” I said. “They shake their tails like rattlesnakes do, though they don’t have rattles or venom.”

“Well, I don’t know about all that,” she said with a huff. “Why is it doing that? I’ve been more than kind to it!”

“I’m afraid you’ve given it nowhere to hide,” I explained gently, spreading my hands at the tank with a black floor and only a small water dish in the center. Little blobs of meat littered the area. Images of plants had been painted into the corners, but that did less than nothing to help a burrowing animal. “This type of snake needs several inches of plant life or loose soil to dig into. For one this size, I’d say at least this deep.” I held my hands six inches apart.

“It digs?” the customer asked. “They didn’t tell me that!”

“It spends most of its time hidden,” I said. “Or at least, it’s meant to. This one is extremely stressed by being out in the open like this.”

I was a little worried how she’d take the news, given that this was her prize specimen with all the lights aimed to showcase its rainbow scales. But to her credit, she listened while I suggested framing a good photo of the snake outside the tank, then only watching it during mealtime. Any visiting friends could be told how exotic and special the animal was, and how lucky they would be to even catch a glimpse of it.

“Yes,” she said, clearly thinking. “Yes, I can work with that. I’ll arrange for the adjustments to the enclosure. You said this much ground cover?” She held her pincher arms apart.

“Right, at least that much,” I agreed. “Ideally you’ll also want to bury a few things for enrichment, like rocks and bark and sections of tubing, and have a couple of those on the surface for it to hide under when it comes up for food.”

We ended up going into a different room where she could take notes, which did more to put me at ease about the snake’s future care. I waved at it as I left, wishing it well. I’d always liked sunbeams. Good thing I remembered the specifics of their care needs.

“You’ll also want a bigger water dish, so it can slither through it,” I said. “And the tank should be both warm and very humid…”

The customer took lots of notes while Zhee alternated between standing there looking smug and casting an appraising eye at the room’s gaudy features. This was the purple room, and he blended right in.

Finally we’d covered all the important points. Zhee tactfully brought out the payment pad again, then we strolled back to the front door.

“I will recommend your service to all of my friends,” the customer said as she closed up the lamp case. “Quality parcel delivery, with bonus animal care! That is hard to beat.”

“My pleasure,” I said honestly.

Zhee thanked her as well, and we exited into the garden. Zhee was still looking smug as the door closed behind us. “I am very glad I spoke up.”

I shook my head with a rueful smile. “I’m glad it was an animal I’m actually familiar with, not some independently crawling tentacle.”

“Those do exist, you know.”

I let out a deep sigh. “Of course they do. Guess I’d better do some research in case she does tell all her friends.”

Zhee strode forward with pride. “It will be good business! Captain Sunlight will be pleased.”

“It’ll be interesting, that’s for sure.” I thought of the crewmates who had tentacles of their own. “Mur will probably think it’s funny.”

“Oh, he’ll think it’s terrifying. The mobile tentacles are from his planet; they’re a venomous parasite.”

“Of course they are. Remind me to bring gloves on our next delivery, just in case.”

~~~

The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. More to come!

#my writing #the Token Human #humans are weird #haso #hfy #eiad #someone was wondering why this hadn't happened yet #or something like it #and my thought was 'hm. good point! I should get on that then'#so I did #I like this new character I've just made up #and her home decor choices #also she has a pet that I've long been fond of #which I'm hiding down here in the tags for spoiler reasons #snakes #sunbeam snakes #they're so cool #look 'em up #the photos are great

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minecraftrelatedrandomness · 7 months

Text

WHAT DO YOU MEAN ERET GOT KICKED OUT OF THE HERONS FOR TAKING A BOUNTY ON OWEN

#pirates smp spoilers #aqua live reacts #eret #pirates smp #my post

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all-of-her-light · 3 months

Text

Aqua, Guilt, and Gorou

Let's set the stage. It's Chapter 50, in the middle of rehearsal for Tokyo Blade, and Aqua is trying to learn emotional acting from Kana. She tells him that in order to portray a moment of joy from his character, he should remember times when he himself was happy.

And so Aqua begins collecting his happy memories. (Perhaps meaningfully, all of the ones we see him recalling are from the past few in-universe months.) It's enough to put a smile on his face, and even make him blush a little as he looks back at Kana. But then –

An apparition of Gorou in Aqua's mind berates him for enjoying himself when he couldn't save Ai, and Aqua begins to have a panic attack. As the next chapter opens, Aqua leaves the rehearsal session to go rest, but Ai's death and the Gorou apparition haunt his dreams:

This is the first time we directly see Aqua struggling with guilt over Ai's death. Of course, Chapters 11 and 12 show that he's strongly motivated to prevent Ai's tragedy from repeating with Ruby, and in Chapter 26 we get a hint that he feels some kind of responsibility for Ai's death:

Guilt and self-blame are conspicuously absent from Aqua's extensive monologuing about Ai's death in Chapter 10, though. I think the in-universe explanation for that would have to be something like "the idea that Ai's death was in any sense his fault is too painful for him to even consider so soon after it happened" – and maybe that was Akasaka's intent, or maybe Aqua feeling guilty just wasn't part of his plans yet. Either way, though, as of Chapter 50, Aqua's guilt is very much present and here to stay.

Notably, Chapters 50 and 51 are also the first time that the manga plays with the idea of a Hoshino twin's past life as a separate entity from their current self. (For instance, Aqua has always referred to Gorou in first person in his inner monologue, and likewise with Ruby and Sarina.) I think it's clear that Aqua is not literally being haunted by Gorou's ghost here – for one thing, Crow Girl strongly implies in Chapter 75 that Aqua's soul is Gorou's soul – but the split does make sense symbolically and psychologically for Aqua. After all, Gorou was an adult who took on the responsibility of caring for Ai and helping her achieve the family life that she wanted...

...and when that life was ripped away from her before his eyes, it's understandable that he'd feel like he ultimately failed her. But Aqua Hoshino, who was only three years old when Ai died, is someone who obviously has no business feeling guilt like that, and indeed no one holds him at all responsible for Ai's death. So Aqua's guilt manifests in his mind as Gorou, his past life standing in the way of him properly living his current one.

After Chapter 51, we next see the Gorou apparition in Chapter 55, just before Tokyo Blade's opening performance. Aqua prepares for the show by staring at a picture of Ai on his phone and recalling her death, reaching the verge of a panic attack – and summoning the apparition.

Here, Aqua reciprocates the apparition's practice of referring to him and it as separate entities. (Which makes this the first and only time as of Chapter 136 that Aqua internally refers to Gorou as a separate entity, if it counts.) Even so, though, the guilt that the apparition embodies is intermingled with the emotions that Aqua consciously experiences:

And why is Aqua practicing calling his own trauma to mind like this? So he can use it for emotional acting, of course. (Pretty messed up.) We see the fruits of this in Chapters 64 and 65, when Aqua's character has to react to the apparent death of the one for whose sake he fought, and Aqua himself is in about as much turmoil. But this encounter with the Gorou apparition – the final one of the arc – goes a bit differently from the others.

This time, Aqua refuses to separate the apparition from himself, instead recognizing it as a manifestation of his very own past trauma. Correspondingly, the apparition's form as Gorou – an identity that Aqua has left behind – dissipates to reveal Aqua as he was in the immediate aftermath of Ai's death. Aqua still maintains some conscious distance from those feelings, represented by his current self existing separately in the scene and handling the narration – which makes sense, since he's trying to control the feelings for acting purposes. But they're nonetheless his feelings, and he takes advantage of that to fuel his acting.

Also notable are the apparition's own words here, which frame Aqua's revenge as an obligation that he has no right to be happy before fulfilling – presumably because of his failure to save Ai. Aqua's revenge quest, it seems, is motivated in large part by his guilt; making himself miserable living only for revenge is an attempt at penance, and all of the blood and suffering that he intends to extract from Ai's murderer is an attempt to repay Ai for everything he let her lose.

And then Chapter 68 happens. One of Aqua's DNA tests has revealed that he and Taiki Himekawa share the same father. Taiki's father is Seijuurou Uehara, who is dead. Which means Aqua's father is dead, and avenging Ai is no longer possible. Right?

That's certainly what Aqua chooses to believe. Because if avenging Ai is no longer possible, then it's no longer obligatory, and Aqua doesn't have to make himself miserable anymore. He's finally free to do the things that make him happy without being crippled by guilt about how he should be obsessing over revenge instead.

Also, since Aqua is no longer bound to penance for Gorou's failure to protect Ai, thoughts of Gorou's life don't demand nearly as much space in his mind now. There's really only one loose end from his past life left to tie up:

Of course, the corpse that Aqua wants to find is Gorou's. He stops looking for it once Akane points out that the "pet's corpse" is probably either buried or scattered – but when she stumbles on it later anyway, he's very grateful to her:

By the way, it seems like Aqua means it when he says he always wanted Gorou's corpse to be found. This monologue of his echoes one in Chapter 7 of all places:

And as it happens, on the very next page, we see Aqua ask Ruby about her past life – a conversation which swiftly ends as follows:

In general, it seems like Gorou wasn't a very happy or fulfilled person, so it's not surprising that even aside from carried-over guilt, Aqua is motivated to forget about his past life in favor of his new one as a young person full of potential. I'm inclined to see his desire for Gorou's corpse to be found as at least partially a desire to symbolically say goodbye to Gorou; to see Gorou confirmed to the world as dead and laid properly to rest.

Speaking of carried-over guilt, Chapter 75 reveals that Gorou was at least implicitly made to feel guilty by his maternal grandparents over his mother's death from giving birth to him. And then in Chapter 78, when Aqua is talking to Akane, he blames himself for her having seen Gorou's corpse even though she ended up finding it by chance. He even claims that he tried to manipulate her into finding it for him when Chapter 75 pretty clearly shows him giving up on it being found. Akane comments a couple times in Chapter 78 that this behavior is typical for him:

So it seems like the Takachiho arc is intentionally establishing "feels guilty and responsible for things that aren't really his fault" as a general character trait of Gorou/Aqua, stemming originally from how Gorou's grandparents made him feel about his mother's death. (Chapter 122 takes this trait significantly further by portraying Gorou/Aqua as so guilty about being unable to save Sarina that, despite suspecting Ruby was Sarina, he spent his whole life as Aqua in denial of it. Please forgive me if I smell a retcon.)

Let's continue with the story now. Aqua spends about a year in-universe believing that Ai's killer is dead – but then in Chapter 95, Ichigo points out to him that Seijuurou Uehara died before Ai moved to the apartment where she was killed, and the DNA test doesn't eliminate the possibility that Uehara isn't Taiki's biological father. Aqua begins spiraling, and we see the Gorou apparition confront him for the first time since Chapter 65. Alongside it is a separate apparition taking the form of young Aqua; it seems to embody sadistic hatred for Ai's killer while Gorou embodies Aqua's guilt.

I think the logic behind the two distinct apparitions is this: the reason why these feelings manifest as apparitions separate from Aqua in the first place is that they're egodystonic feelings that he doesn't want to feel, and as of late he's been trying to avoid feeling both his guilt over Ai's death (Gorou) and his hatred for her killer (young Aqua) for the sake of leading a normal happy life.

Aqua now consciously believes that he cannot pursue revenge and be happy at the same time, but he struggles with which one to choose. He comes to Akane for advice in Chapter 97, probably hoping that she'll tell him to forget about revenge – but instead, she tries to deal with the culprit herself behind his back. He catches her, though, and reveals that he's made his decision:

And when he says he's going to hell, he may not be exaggerating. His renewed pursuit of revenge is much more directly self-destructive than before; he deliberately pushes away Akane and later Ruby as well, consciously intending to die or at least ruin his life in the course of revenge, and not wanting his loved ones to suffer when it happens.

(For what it's worth, this is not the first time we see Aqua consider dying. There's also an instance in Chapter 10, though that one is framed more as Aqua just feeling completely lost in life without Ai.)

Aqua's renewed revenge is also somewhat more consciously sadistic than before, I think; despite knowing the culprit's identity, he puts off killing him for the sole purpose of executing a plan to make him suffer as much as possible (see Chapters 99 and 108). Granted, that plan was one he came up with when he was little (Chapter 108), and wanting the culprit to suffer was always part of his conscious motivation (Chapter 13), but just as often he'd state his goal as simply killing him (e.g. Chapters 10 and 52). Black-starred Aqua, however, displays a level of intent to make the culprit suffer while alive that was previously only the territory of the apparitions from his mind's dark corners.

Speaking of the apparitions, all of black-starred Aqua's talk about going to hell and making Ai's killer suffer and "I've thrown away the naive thought about being happy" (Chapter 108) seems like it should be right up their alley, but after Chapter 95 (and as of Chapter 136), they're nowhere to be seen. I think this is because Aqua's guilt and hatred essentially won the battle for his ego that occurred in Chapters 95-98; they now manifest directly in his thoughts and behavior instead of as apparitions. Black-starred Aqua consciously believes that both he and the culprit deserve nothing but suffering for their roles in Ai's death. It's Aqua's desire to move forward that's marginalized in his mind now.

Perhaps relevantly, in the panel after Ruby bids Aqua farewell in Chapter 106, Aqua himself appears as a black silhouette – just like the Gorou apparition in several places in the Tokyo Blade arc. And then in Chapter 122, when Aqua has discovered Ruby's past identity and is trying to convince her to stop worrying about revenge, this exchange happens:

It's possible that Aqua here is mentally "being Gorou" or speaking as him only as a reaction to this specific situation – but given everything else we've talked about here, I can't help but suspect that this reflects a stable feature of black-starred Aqua's self-concept. Black-starred Aqua thinks of himself as Gorou, the man who failed Ai. "Aqua Hoshino" is just a mask that he's been wearing – once to hide from his responsibility, and now to fulfill it through his revenge plan. He doesn't deserve to sincerely call himself by the name that tempts him with a chance at a happy life.

@aihoshiino points out that Aqua has been acting somewhat awkward around Ruby since the mutual past-life reveal (e.g. in their talk in Chapter 132), and theorizes that part of the reason for this is that Ruby is now seeing Aqua as Gorou, but Aqua doesn't want to be Gorou. Given what I've been theorizing here, though, I think Aqua's discomfort is more precisely because Ruby is seeing him as Gorou and loving him for it. From Ruby's perspective, Gorou is wonderful and it's wonderful that she's been reunited with him. But from Aqua's perspective, Gorou let Ai die. Gorou is a failure. Gorou doesn't deserve Ruby's love. (He doesn't want her love in a romantic sense anyway, I think, but he feels he doesn't deserve any kind of love from her.) And he feels especially bad because he's letting her love him regardless for the sake of the movie revenge plan, which eventually involves his destruction. He's using her for a purpose that she'd never agree to and that will leave her heartbroken if it succeeds – even if he believes that what she loves is a lie.

#oshi no ko #aohl talks onk #aqua hoshino #gorou amamiya #onk spoilers #long post #ptsd cw #death by childbirth cw #suicidal ideation cw

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skania · 10 months

Text

Aqua, Akane and their relationship during his "Freedom" period

I know a lot of people dismiss Aqua's words to Akane in Chapter 97 because he wasn't shown being all smiles during their time together, but I think those people forget that Aqua has a very complex, very difficult, very painful rapport with happiness.

He has lived his entire life, be it as Goro or as Aqua, feeling guilty. Goro quite literally felt guilty for existing: he couldn't forgive himself for living at the expense of his mother. This guilt is accompanied by a feeling of powerlessness: he beats himself up because he couldn't do more for Sarina, and as Aqua he blames himself because he couldn't save Ai.

He assigns no worth to his own life. He has panic attacks when he lets himself enjoy things. Even something as innocent as Ruby reminding him of Sarina makes him think that he is unforgivable because he doesn't deserve salvation.

After living this way for so long, it's only natural that he still struggles with allowing himself to be happy during his "Freedom" period.

To make matters worse, this newfound freedom was born from Aqua running away from the truth and from all his issues. Ichigo said so himself, there is no way Aqua didn't notice the loophole. Himekawa literally tells him what age he was when his dad died, some simple math would've automatically let Aqua realize that the timeline didn't add-up.

But Aqua didn't want to realize it. He blinded himself to the truth because Himekawa gave him the escape he has been desperately yearning for since (at least) the TB arc.

Since Aqua didn't actually solve any of his issues and traumas, it's to be expected that they keep weighting down on him throughout that year. After all, healing takes time.

We see this weight very clearly in his dynamic with Kana, since his Ai-related trauma is the biggest factor in him completely avoiding her.

We naturally also see it in his dynamic with Akane.

Three examples come to mind:

Akane tells him that she enjoys being with him. We know for a fact that Aqua is reluctant to part ways with Akane, which means he enjoys being with her too. But he isn't used to letting himself enjoy things. So, how does Aqua react?

His guilt flares up and he focuses on how undeserving he is of her, even trying to convince her (and himself) that their relationship is nothing but a lie.

Something very similar happens here:

Akane tells Aqua that she wants to see him, and Aqua looks torn before admitting that he wants to see her too. It'd be easy to interpret his expression as Aqua feeling guilty because he is about to lie to Akane, specially since this page is followed by a page of Kana crying over him. But I believe it's the opposite.

We see him that very chapter asking Akane about her schedule so they can see each other. This alone shows that Aqua does want to see Akane, and the fact that Akane later says that Aqua has been doing his best not to lie to her confirms Aqua is being truthful when he tells her that he wants to see her soon, too.

So, why does he make that sad face?

I believe it's his guilt flaring up again. Knowing him, I bet that thoughts like these ran through his mind:

Does someone like me really deserve to live a normal relationship like this? Would Akane want to see me if she knew that I'm the reincarnation of Goro Amamiya? It it okay for me to want to see Akane even though I know Kana is hurting because I've been avoiding her?

Still, it's important to notice that we can see the positive effect that time has had on Aqua. During that first example, Aqua tried to put up a wall between him and Akane by claiming that their relationship wasn't real; during the second, he hesitates but ultimately admits that he returns the feeling and wants to see her too.

This trend of Aqua becoming more open with time continues in the last example, which comes precisely from Chapter 97:

Akane confirms that she is glad that she is dating him, that he makes her happy, and Aqua looks utterly caught off-guard, as if the thought of being able to make Akane happy was shocking to him.

His most telling reaction happens right after, though:

Aqua's lips tremble. He looks near tears. Why?

Because to him, who felt like he was underserving of salvation, being with Akane has felt remarkably close to it.

I feel that this moment right here contextualizes all the examples I mentioned before: Akane does make him happy and he doesn't know what to do about it half the time, because he isn't sure if he deserves that happiness at all. But Akane makes him feel like he just might.

And the truth is that he doesn't want to give up on it—on her, because to him his relationship with Akane has become synonym to the happiness that has been eluding him all along.

So I personally can't dismiss his words to her during Chapter 97, because to me they are actually meant to reveal the way Aqua has been feeling all along.

#oshi no ko manga #aqua hoshino #akane kurokawa #aquakane #aquaka #my aquakane meta #yesssss now that this is out of the way I can finally focus on chapters 97 and 98

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ethereallyrigid · 2 years

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♒️Aquarius Placements and Being Copied♒️

First of all I want to start off by saying thank you to all of the Aquarius placements who have liked my previous posts, commented, reblogged, and messaged me! Your inquiries have helped ME to expand my thoughts on this topic and so I’m back with another post!

Here I’ll be discussing the effects and extent to which each Aquarius placement is copied and mimicked. I’ll also being throwing in some side note inquiries!

Disclaimer: Any placement can be copied and copy but HOW they are copied varies.

Disclaimer #2: All placements I refer to are developed and matured energy of the placements unless stated otherwise and I emphasize that because some people think being quirky and saying “I’m weird” and “People are just against me because they don’t understand me” qualifies as being unique like no honey you need to get over yourself and develop your energy and be your own person aside from other peoples opinions. Stop getting validation from people calling you weird and playing victim for being the outsider instead of finding out who you truly are, it feeds your ego, not your soul. I say this because people try to justify not maturing properly because they think they’re just being themselves and refuse to change for the better and use these posts and astrology for validating their underdeveloped energy which isn’t healthy for anyone! My posts are to help people develop their energy and for people with developed energy and discernment to understand they’re not alone and it’s okay to be who you are and go through what you go through. Sorry that was long but I feel it needed to be said.

Warning: One swear word in Aqua Venus section lol (it was out of love)

Mentions: None. I wanted to dedicate this to Aquarius placements and not get distracted or discredit them by mentioning other placements. (Oh lord, I don’t wanna feed any egos but we’re risking it 😂)

So without further ado, Let’s get into it! 💃🕺

☀️Aquarius Sun ☀️ : The sun rules our expression. I’ve been around enough Aquarius suns to see how people treat them and react to them and I can confidently say yeah they can be copied but more so people will single them out and put them down for their differences and then secretly copy them. It’s almost as if people are guilty or even tortured by the mere thought that someone so odd and different could be inspiring or cool. This comes from a lack of understanding the native yet being so curious about them and how they are so confident to be themselves (when developed) no matter what, that sparks others to mimic them. And of course this can be done by copying the natives expressions and interests. Whatever sparks these natives passion people try to mimic. Think manic pixie dream girl, she’s free, she’s herself and yet she never gets the guy but look at the way the guy reacts to her and observe the way other girls treat her. The guy loves her free nature but is threatened by it because HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND. The girls are confused as to how she can live with herself being SO DIFFERENT, they put her down and yet they want to be like her because the guy likes her so they’ll mimic her to seem interesting because guess what, SHE’S PRETTY DAMN INTERESTING! Also I believe this is one of the main placements that pick me girls copy 🫤

🌙Aquarius Moons🌙: Ironically this placement is the most potent for getting copied. Although the moon symbolizes all that is HIDDEN, people have the audacity to be blatant about their copying. I believe this is because they think the native is oblivious to such copying, that’s where the moon energy comes in; how the copycat perceives the native perceiving their copying 😅 So most of us are aware of the tales of Marylin Monroe and Princess Diana. It’s safe to say their FEMININITY (the moon) was the subject of copying. Edit: (Aquarius is a masculine sign my bad) anyways, everything these women did automatically tied into their femininity and it was revolutionary ( Aquarius=innovative) in their own ways. By existing in their true authentic selves they had a huge impact on how woman were viewed as a whole (Aquarius collective). And no one could hate them for this because they were just operating in their femininity! Although few UNDERSTOOD them, all saw the praise they garnered for being such enigmas for their time and their respective environments. So other women wanted to BE them! Cause again we’re not just talking about how we express ourselves (sun) or how we love(Venus) we’re talking about OUR CORE BEING! The moon! So if you looked up to these women, you either carried the same energy or you wanted to BE them.

🎙Aquarius Mercury🎙: Ah the planet of communication 😌 I already feel the logical straightforward energy of it lol So we’re changing the tone and getting straight to the point unlike Aqua mercuries 😂 I love you all okay? Obviously people copy your words, the way you speak, your body language, how you come off when having a conversation. Aqua mercuries are REALLY GOOD at story telling and people love that about you all, I love that about you all! 🥰 People will LIE to one up you! They will LITERALLY take what you have said and say it word for word to someone else and not mention that you said it first 🙄

Sidenote: Underdeveloped Aquarius mercuries do the same to other people

Anyways, you all will say someone ✨enlightening✨ to someone and they will turn around and say it to someone else, no credit to you. Sometimes they have the AUDACITY to repeat it to other people RIGHT INFRONT OF YOU! Y’all deserve more credit 😔 BUT DEVELOP YOUR ENERGY AND MAKE SURE YOU DON’T SO THIS TO OTHER PEOPLE MKAY!? 😡 Love you all and your stories, keep it up and please learn discernment in regards to who you share information with people are snakes out here okay bye bye

(Whenever I’m talking about Mercury placements I use a bunch of emojis lol)

💙Aquarius Venus💙: Hi Aqua Venuses how are you all doing? 😊 So, I love you guys I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone else says mkay? great. Venus rules creativity, art, music, fashion, you see where I’m going? Of course you do, you all are so intelligent for no reason. People copy Aqua venuses art styles, mimic their singing, some copy their fashion although they’re fashion sense can be interesting 😂 but the thing about copying an Aqua Venus is YOU COULD NEVER DO BETTER! Give it up because they can pull off the wackiest stuff and everyone will be like “yeah, that seems about right” to be honest their fashion isn’t in your face but it’s different and unique to THEM so when others try to copy, it just DOES NOT LOOK RIGHT! I feel like this placement despite popular belief gets the most envy but don’t tell anyone 🤫 we’re exposing everyone here cause I’m done with people putting down developed Aquarius placements and then copying them 😂 anyways can we talk about how charming you guys are? People wish they could get close to others the way you do, they will copy your flirt style lol because you all like to be friends before lovers and others don’t understand that you don’t go straight in and that’s how you get in, in the first place 😳 wow 🤩 If you create music people will copy your sound and maybe even plagiarize your lyrics 🫤 If you design fashion people will copy your designs maybe even hack into your files to do so or be snakes, get close to you and do it so be careful who you trust with your art before you release it!

🔥Aquarius Mars🔥: People copy how you do things and take action and how you handle conflict. I’m literally picturing an altercation and you handle it diplomatically, right? Because air sign and all and someone has witnessed this then next time there is an altercation let’s say same group of people and this particular person is there too. They will try to jump in and save the day just as you did the previous time acting like they were always the de-escalator 🙄 like if you don’t sit down and be quiet like you were all other 59 TIMES I HAD TO DE-ESCALATE THE SITUATION! Lmao 😂 Anyways for Aqua mars the most innovative way (whatever that means to you) will be the first way that pops up in your mind when taking action (as I have previously stated in another aqua placement post). So people will try to mimic the way you take action not knowing or understanding that only you can do it that way THAT’S WHY YOU DO IT. Because you’re only doing what feels right for YOU so what works for you will not work for others but they’ll still try 😒😂

💅🏽Aquarius Ascendant💅🏽: People copy, the way you walk, the way you talk lol I had to. Anyways people copy how you appear and present yourself. They mimic your outward persona. But many can’t keep up because the influence of Uranus on your ascendant keeps you ever so changing and Saturn influence protects your individuality. People will see an outfit you wear and try to copy it, only to find out it doesn’t look the same on them as it does you, wow. shocker! 🙄 People will mimic how you are initially perceived they will try to be perceived as such also, so if you are perceived as shy and soft spoken people will try to mimic it. If you come off as extroverted and the life of the party people will try to be perceived as such as well, not knowing this is just your default. And they may not do it in-front of you, they may study you then go somewhere else to try and play the part.

✨Bonus✨: If you have any of these placements in your sidereal chart then these are the underlying energies of your tropical placements so first you’ll look at your tropical placement, gauge the energy of that then ADD the energy of your sidereal placements as a second layer or secondary theme of your tropical placement! Also look if your sidereal chart makes conjunctions to your tropical chart this can definitely have an effect! (A theory I’m developing).

📝Note: I didn’t include outer planets, I’ll do a separate post on their influence so look out for that 😊

Remember to keep growing and developing your energy whilst always staying true to yourself! 💪

Anyways, I love you all and I hope you have a great day! 💕💕

🔮Tips are always welcomed and much appreciated🔮

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