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roseykat · 7 months

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TITLE: Venom Biter

PAIRING: Minho x reader

SUMMARY: The end of a relationship between you and Minho turns as sour as it could ever get. A lovers to enemies trope.

WARNING: minors DNI with this post or my blog. I create NSFW SKZ related content and I know I won't be able to regulate every single interaction with those posts so please do not engage with my work or page whatsoever.

TAGS: breakups, hate sex, post-breakup sex, unprotected sex, swearing, angst, manhandling, push and shove, spitting, choking, oral sex (f!reader receiving), angst, strong hints of degradation, use of degrading names such as 'slut' and 'whore'.

A/N: this was originally meant to be for one of the days I had planned for Kinktober but I was up to my neck in work and I didn't want to post something sort of half-assed so I had to hone down on most of the work for this piece.

MASTERLIST

“Broke up?” Chan’s eyes refuse to blink. “You two broke up!?”

His confused filled stare shoots for the direction of his best friend, Minho, who quietly sits opposite him across the table. He looks slightly withdrawn or…off colour. It can’t have been the gruelling two hour lecture they finished before heading out to lunch. If it were that, Minho would be complaining his head off saying how boring it was or cursing himself for not changing his minor earlier.

He’s just not his usual self. In other social settings, he could talk until the cows came home. But the entire hour that they’ve spent together at lunch, Chan has been doing all the conversing and only receiving vague one-word answers. It wasn’t until he asked what was up with Minho that his friend dished out the news that he and his girlfriend - you, had split up.

“Why?” Chan proceeds, still swimming in shock.

A sigh leaves Minho’s mouth. He truly doesn’t feel like revisiting this subject. When he even thinks about the answer, all he can recall is the firey shouting match you both had the day things crumbled.

“It’s messy,” he replies with a cloudy and ambiguous answer.

“If you talk about it, then it might help you make sense of it all.”

He groans this time, “I really, really don’t want to do that. What’s done is done.”

“Done?” Chan questions, still not letting up on an interrogation. “You were in a relationship with Y/N, for years. You guys talked about a whole future together. That’s not something you just sweep under the rug and forget about.”

If there’s one thing he almost did forget about, it’s that you were friends with him - not just Chan, but the seven others as well. After all, it was Minho who introduced you to those select people whom he calls his brothers. They would’ve found out eventually if Minho refrained from telling them who you were dating all those years ago.

Though naturally, you became very close with them.

“We’ve both chosen to do that so there’s nothing really much left to dispute.”

Chan’s eyebrows furrow, realising he left out a crucial question to the situation, “why did you guys break up in the first place?”

Minho feels like he’s going to run out of sighs, “she doesn’t love me anymore and I don’t love her anymore. That’s literally all there is to it.”

“You’re telling me you both fell out of love - at the same time,” Chan responds, still having a difficult time trying to comprehend his friend's situation.

“Pretty much,” Minho confirms with a nod.

Chan finds that extremely hard to believe from his friend - the very person who would enter a different realm whenever he was in a five centimetre radius of you. His eyes would glaze over as if he were possessed; always fixated on you, he’d smile more than he usually would, and was comfortable in the space around you.

There had to be another reason, surely.

But it had almost been three weeks since Chan dissected the news out of Minho, and it was almost like pulling teeth trying to dive for the details. Each attempt was as fruitless as the next and in the end, Chan just plucked the same answers.

Regardless, it seemed to play out better than expected. Minho saved himself from having to dish out explanations as to why you wouldn’t be around anymore. As a result, telling Chan was the best option and since the others didn’t know, Minho was okay with him telling them so that he didn’t have to.

In saying that, Minho left out very central details of what happened leading up to the breakup. He never mentioned the constant fighting, the lying, the false accusations, the shouting matches, up until the point where you were both swimming in the toxicity the pair of you created.

He also absconded from the fact to Chan that not only did you both separate, but you’ve also both come to view the other differently and not through a good lens. Minho shouted it in your face the other day to which you did the same; “I hate you.” And that was that.

But his friends probably didn’t need to know all of that.

Since that day, you’ve been in the process of trying to find an apartment for yourself which isn’t easy. You want to remain in town and not too far out so that you don’t have a long commute to work, and at the same time, you don't want to break the bank trying to find a nice place to rent in the city. All in all, it was tough, but you were ready to just leave.

Having packed up the majority of your stuff in boxes, all you had to do was wait for landlords to contact you back about possible vacant apartments. Thankfully Minho was lenient in allowing you to stay until you found a place.

You slept in the spare room, mainly keeping to yourself and the boxes of things surrounding the space. Occasionally you would have to lock yourself in there and throw on some noise-cancelling headphones whenever Minho brought around another woman to sleep with.

It was his house, you knew that and now that you have no ties to him and he’s letting you stay, it was never your place to question his actions.

Still, that could never lessen the hurt. It was painful which is why you hated him so much. You don’t know how a person could move on so quickly after so many years of being told how much you’re loved. It was like he never meant it. With that being said, when you eventually managed to find a decent place, you were free from Minho.

All of your items were ready to be moved out, taking a couple of days to actually get them to your new place. In the tiring process, you also had to factor in your work schedule which meant it would take longer to continue moving your stuff. Nonetheless, you had the majority of your boxes out of Minho's house with only a few remaining that you needed to swing by and pick up.

"Something wrong?" he wears a blank look on his face when you arrive on the doorstep to his house.

"Some of my stuff is still here, can I come in to grab it please?" You ask politely. He gives a silent answer in return by opening his door wider for you to walk in before he goes back to whatever it was he was doing.

You make your way into the spare room where the last of your things remain, but there is one odd detail you notice as you approach the items. What was supposed to be taped down lids to the boxes had in fact been opened; not in the state you had originally left it in.

"Minho," you call out, hoping he heard you.

Sure enough, he did. Minho walks into the spare room with a puzzled expression, wondering why he's been summoned, "what?"

“Why are these open?” You ask, lifting one box off of the other to check if the rest were open as well. “Half of my stuff isn’t in here.”

“You were coming back for those?” he replies with a question.

“What the hell else would I be coming back here for?”

“That's what I thought when you got here,” he says. “I thought it was for other things that you left behind, not ones in these boxes."

Your eyes never leave his face, tracking any sudden shifts in his muscles to try to figure out if he’s actually telling the truth or not. Even though you and Minho aren’t together, you're sure he wouldn't do anything malicious out of spite.

“So why is half my stuff missing?”

Minho pinches the bridge of his nose, “I thought you didn’t need any of it and that you left it here on purpose for me to deal with or throw out.”

“So what…” you trail off, expecting his answer. Minho hesitates for a few moments, sitting on the fence about whether he should actually tell you or not. But the least he can do right now is be honest.

“I told the…girl I bought around the other day that if she wanted anything-“

“No you fucking didn’t.”

“-she could have whatever was left in the boxes,” Minho finishes the rest of his sentence which would’ve been better for you not to hear.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“What the fuck is wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you for leaving them behind in the first place!” Minho argues back, trying to defend himself here even though he knows he’s in the wrong. “You were gone for a few days Y/N, I thought you just left!”

“I never left them behind! I told you how long it was going to take my things to move!” You shout at him, tears brimming your eyes. “Now my stuff…”

The hurt genuinely sets in. Minho feels a sharp stab of pain in his chest when he sees how visibly upset you are. He knows that he’s been nothing short of a dickhead within the past month and now he’s gone and made things worse. It’s no point in him now to say that it was an honest mistake.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know, truly.”

You shove him backwards into the dresser, knocking down some of the empty photo frames that were once homes for pictures of you and Minho, “you’re not sorry. You’re the fucking worst.”

Taken aback by your actions, Minho turns behind him to see the frames flat on the surface then looks back at you, “seriously Y/N, I would not have done that out of spite.”

“But it’s the fact that you still did it!” You raise your voice at him and shove him back again. “You didn’t bother calling or texting me about it when you should’ve!”

Minho predicts your next move and catches your arms to stop you from pushing him back impossibly further into the dresser. He shoves you back, the back of your knees hitting the edge of the bed which causes you to land on it behind you.

Before the surprise kicks in, Minho is kneeling on top of you, nearly straddling your lower half as he starts pinning your arms to the side of your head. Yet with a split second of momentum to break free, you struggle but manage to flip the tables and pin Minho on his back.

You mount his hips before your mouth comes down to kiss Minho so aggressively that it takes him a moment to react. With any other woman that he’s slept with so far, he would allow them to be on top. But because it’s you, and supposedly hates your guts, not to mention his untapped pride, it’s not going to happen. So Minho fights back, kissing and biting nearly every part of your upper body in the process until you’re under him.

He sucks large, deep, red hickies into the skin of your neck, in places where everyone would be able to see them. Minho would want people to know that you’re just a whore he uses. Especially for the next guy you sleep with who would go down on you and see the myriad of hickies that Minho would eventually put between your thighs when he rips your pants down.

“Wanna play this fucking game with me,” he rasps before yanking down your off.

Despite being a dickhead Minho will still eat you out for prep. But it’s not soft and teasing when he does go down on you. It’s tongue and finger fucking you until you’re dizzy from how hard you’re about to cum. It gives you the opportunity to pull and tug on his hair until his scalp starts burning, forcing you to be as vocal as you’ve ever been.

His fingers curl up into that sensitive spot while his tongue and mouth work simultaneously. He’s always been good at giving head, but unusually better now that he’s relatively angry. In the back of your mind, you supposed it helped having not slept with anyone for a month, making it easier to reach that peak of delicious, eye-rolling ecstasy.

“Fuck!” you scream out, voice projecting throughout the room as Minho sucks on your clit. “Fuck you…you’re gonna make me cum.”

Those words are something Minho could never get tired of hearing you say. Even in the headspace that he’s in now, he wants nothing more than to hear how good he’s making your body feel. However, he doesn’t need verbal confirmation from you to know that you’re about to cum. When your walls seize and clamp around his fingers, when you’re trembling around his head, Minho knows what that means.

The quick drag of his fingers is only light work for him, pumping at a pace that has you panting to try and keep up with it. As a result, it’s not long before Minho brings you to your sweet release; a toe-curling burst of euphoria that has you silently creaming around his fingers.

He has no patience for you to descend from your orgasm, sucking his fingers clean as he pulls away from your pussy. He gets to unbuckling his belt faster than he can even comprehend that this is still happening.

“H-Hurry,” you whine, trying to quell the hunger for Minho’s cock while you wait.

His eyes squeeze shut, hissing as he coats his length with your slick, “shut the fuck up.”

Despite being in a haze post-orgasm, you manage to sit up quickly to turn and push Minho down by his shoulders. You find yourself straddling his hips once more, reaching down and behind for his cock, aligning it with your hole. Minho allows you to work for it yourself, watching his cock vanish by the second as you sink down.

“Mmm…f-fuck,,” you whine, unable to come to grips with how much you miss him filling you out.

Taking a couple of slow strokes up and down allows you to realise that never in your wildest dreams could you ever imagine hate sex with Minho would be this…rough. Both of you pushing, shoving, and manhandling each other around, speaking to each other with such disregard for the other person's feelings – beyond the point of degradation.

“Come on,” Minho grunts, fingernails embedding themselves into your hips so that the indents remaining become as equally as vibrant as the hickies blooming on your neck.

You look down at him with disgust before your hand lowers to his throat, choking him out by the sides of his neck. That familiar feeling of restriction to Minho forces him to repress his sick enjoyment of it, even more so when you start really riding him.

“Fuck you,” you strain out, trying to assert some degree of control even though you’re battling with oversensitivity from your previous orgasm.

You slam your hips down repeatedly, building up a good pace and rhythm that’s enough for small moans to force their way out of your mouth. With a cock like Minho’s, it’s impossible to keep quiet no matter how much you try. However, as you work for your own orgasm, you don’t want to give him any satisfaction by making him think that he’s the one doing it; yet in reality, he is.

Nonetheless, you continue to use him just as much as he’s using you until the luxury of pleasure accelerates in the pit of your stomach. In saying that, it doesn’t take long for Minho to find that information out as you continue to ride him. The observation is clear-cut;

“Nobody’s fucked you since me haven’t they?” He asks you breathlessly, watching you roll your hips deliciously over his cock. “Know how I can tell? Because you keep fucking clenching around my dick.”

Your eyebrows furrow, struggling to find an answer for him because he is right and that’s not your fault, “s-so what? Want me to stop?”

“Didn’t say that, did I?” He argues back, too proud to say ‘no’. “Just…just keep moving.”

A firm hand of yours catches his taut jaw, and while his mouth is open, you lean down and spit right in it.

You curse right at him, “fuck you.”

His eyes lock with yours and for a moment, Minho is shocked, but not in a bad way. In that moment you despised him so much that he made you do something a normal person would find disgusting. Although it’s not long before a sick smirk spreads across his face, failing to pretend as if he didn’t just enjoy that, swallowing it back.

“Course you’d be into that you fucking whore,” he rasps, his body jolting every time your hips slam down.

“I’m not the whore who’s taking it,” you snipe back at him.

Your comment riles Minho, resulting in him nearly bucking you off his body before flipping you onto your stomach. He yanks both of your hands behind your back as something for him to latch onto when he pushes his cock back into you, and starts fucking hard and fast.

“Yes, yes, yes, fuck…” you whimper, eyes fluttering shut.

The new angle makes his dick slip in just that extra bit deeper, achieving a sensation which you miss all too much. With the amount of relentlessness that Minho puts behind his thrusts is nothing but a fast, brutal, and unforgiving type of fucking. He’s not holding back with you, no matter how much you hate him and he hates you, he will fuck you to tears.

“Such a fucking slut,” he drives forward nastily. “Needy, loud, slut.”

Your choked moans and whimpers are typical responses to hearing him call you that name again. In bed, if you weren’t his lover, you were his slut. Minho wouldn’t care less if the bed broke beneath him trying to fuck you like the whore you always wanted him to treat you as. But it was phenomenal.

Now, that’s only a distant memory clawing to come back.

“Make me cum…make me fucking cum,” you demand, acknowledging how close you are to the cliff of ecstasy.

Minho's breathing picks up from hearing the pure desperation in your voice, and so does his pace. His only release is not but a minute away, respecting that and also his motive to continue rearranging your guts.

Yet the possibility of keeping up any longer draws to a short term. Minho’s hold on your wrists behind your back becomes a solid death grip with no chance of escape until the wet heat from your pussy has his hips jumping out of rhythm.

His head tilts to the sky, the pleasure screaming at him from the base of his cock, “y-yes, fuck I'm cumming.”

At that very instant, Minho’s release rocks him over. His hands let go of yours in lieu of grabbing onto your ass instead. The pain and sting of his fingernails scraping deep into your flash forces strained whimpers and mewls from your throat, helping to push you over the verge of your second orgasm.

“Y-Yes, cumming, oh fuck-” you cry out with a shaky voice, stiffening while your hole seizes rhythmically around Minho’s length.

The pleasure is throat-gripping, making you forget the words to express how good you feel. Except, in the vapour of your orgasmic haze, you still don't want to accept the fact that it's Minho who makes you feel that way.

He pauses for a moment then thrusts hard back into you, making you keep the warm load that you were so undeservingly given, regardless if your walls are spasming and contracting it out. Then just as he was fast to try to get inside you, he's just as fast when he pulls out and flops beside you.

The air in the room becomes breathable again now that your heart rate isn't racing to the heavens, but picks back up quickly when you decide to hop off the bed and get dressed. You couldn't care less if you were sore and unbalanced. The thought of staying in the room with Minho any longer was suffocating.

“About your stuff,” he starts, filling the silent void with an exasperated voice. “I’ll try to get it back.”

You zip your jeans up, “don’t bother. I know you did give it away for whatever reason, but for what reason is something I’m betting you’ll take to the grave with you.”

Minho is up and now following suit by putting his clothes on. If now is the time to get one thing off of his chest, it’s now. Since the day you both separated, there has been no proper conversation. Both of you are too stubborn to admit wrongs and fix rights, but in your eyes, it's too far gone. There’s no going back to a good thing that was once more.

"I won't if we can just talk it out," he offers the opportunity to you.

“Minho, the nights that I had to listen to you fuck someone else in the next room right after we just broke up was a clear sign that we did not need to talk it out. All it made me do is realise that you didn't actually love me."

“That’s not true,” he shakes his head as you hear a twinge of desperation in his voice like he's pleading his case. "That's not true at all."

"It is though," you correct him. "You were free to sleep with whoever you wanted to because we had broken up at that point, but not a day after that did you wait."

Minho follows through with his explanation, “I was trying to get you out of my head. Spending too long just thinking about you makes me want to lose it. It didn't mean that I never loved you before."

“So you’re just going to continue being delusional? To fuck your way through trying to forget me?” You question, nearly laughing. "I honestly think you're just being pathetic."

He shrugs, “if it means that I don’t have to feel heartbreak, then yes.”

Part of you gets it. Minho’s found a vice and is using it as a tool to deal with his pain. But you’re in pain too, and you haven’t done anything to upset him ever since you split. Maybe it is as bad for him as he says it is. Maybe he doesn’t truly know how to navigate himself out of this like you’re attempting to.

It’s almost a rebuttal to your statement about whether he truly loved you or not; if he’s using other people to drive the thought of you out of his brain because it’s too painful to deal with, then maybe you were more than just a lover to him.

"I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I cannot stand being around you anymore because of how much it hurts to know that you're not actually with me. I'd rather try to forget your existence in order to not feel that type of heartbreak," Minho explains, his words coming from a place inside him that must've just opened up.

But he continues, "the second we split, I needed every last memory of you out of this house. But I know that this hurts you too and that this past month I’ve hurt you and that’s no justification to say that my reason is because you mean more than my entire life.”

There’s an ache in your chest that you’ve never felt before, a blend of all the emotional pain that could’ve been prevented had the two of you just talked. But that ache is fuelled by the fact that you can hear the waiver in Minho’s voice, and even though his back is still turned to you while he sits on the edge of the bed, you’re sure he’s crying.

A/N: Dare I say that I want to make a part 2 to this where Minho and reader try to rekindle, things are pretty tender but they sort of want to make it work...

#rosiewritesskz #stray kids smut #skz smut #lee know smut #lee know x reader

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vigilskeep · 8 months

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back and even bulkier with another powerpoint! i opted for spreading the information out in a hopefully engaging way over limiting the number of slides. the circle is a BIG, big topic, with such focus over the course of the games, so if i didn't cover anything useful, you want to know anything more specific, or equally if i made a mistake and missed or misinterpreted something, please let me know ily!!

transcript below the cut! my eternal thanks to @bisexualcommandershepard for providing one for the previous powerpoint and in doing so reminding me to get my act together, you have my sword

zevsurana’s guide to the circle of magi

can’t tell your circles from your chantries from your colleges from your conclaves? boy, do i have the powerpoint for you!

hit me with the basics

under the law of the orlesian chantry, every mage is required to join the circle

a mage who does not join the circle, or escapes one, is labelled an apostate, a crime punishable by death or tranquillity

tranquillity is the process by which mages are branded on the forehead, robbing them of their emotions and magic

at the end of their apprenticeship, each mage is taken without warning to their harrowing. they must choose between being sent into the fade for a dangerous test against possession, or tranquillity.

it is illegal to make harrowed mages tranquil, but they are still required to live under the circle’s supervision

depending on which text you believe, there are 14 or 15 circles under orlais’ chantry.

[this slide is accompanied by an image of a map of thedas. there are small markers spread across the map on 12 locations, mostly in orlais and the free marches, but included everywhere except tevinter and seheron.]

these are the known locations!

i didn’t include starkhaven’s, which was destroyed in a fire at the start of da2, or jainen’s, which is mentioned in an online game but as another circle in ferelden makes the dao plot make no sense. i suppose that would have gotten us up to 14 but i’m not doing it. cope

hierarchy of the circle

there are six ranks:

the grand enchanter is the mages’ direct representative to the divine. in our time, this is grand enchanter fiona, who famously stated “fuck the divine”

the first enchanter leads each circle. theoretically, their permission is needed for a mage to leave the tower, for a harrowing, and for a mage to be made tranquil. in practice, their actual power depends hugely on their political skill and their corresponding knight-commander

the senior enchanters are the most experienced mages in a circle, and advise the first enchanter, who will select one of them as their successor

those who have gained the rank of enchanter (also known as junior enchanters) are now expected to mentor apprentices

the simple rank of mage designates those who have passed their harrowing. an inhabitant of the circle fully capable of magic might say “i’m not a mage, just an apprentice”

the apprentices are children and young adults who have not yet completed their harrowing

outside of this hierarchy are the tranquil. they instead belong to the ‘formari’, who perform enchantment and sell enchanted items to produce the circle’s wealth

(it’s really important to me that you know the different ranks usually have different coloured robes to mark them out. i can’t explain that all here because it varies from circle to circle and we don’t have all the data but i think that’s so fun that i have to point it out even though it makes this slide super crowded i hate it i’m sorry)

politics of the circle: what are those first enchanters even doing?

an ideal first enchanter should govern their circle as a quasi-parental figure who can protect their mages while maintaining an uneasy balance and accord with the templars

they are also an administrator managing their circle’s finances

a weak or unskilled first enchanter can spell doom for their circle just as much as one at odds with their knight-commander

the college of magi is a council of all first enchanters

the college regularly meets in cumberland, nevarra, to discuss circle policy and elect the grand enchanter from among them

politics of the circle: what’s this about frat boys?

once a mage achieves the rank of enchanter, they may join a political fraternity

choose your fighter:

the largest fraternity, the aequitarians, are centrists

the loyalists are chantry bootlickers

the libertarians seek greater power and independence for the circle. the resolutionists are an even more radical group that emerged from them

the isolationists wish mages to withdraw from society completely

the lucrosians prioritise the accumulation of wealth and influence

the aequitarians maintained an alliance with the loyalists until the final vote to rebel, when wynne’s son rhys, asked to represent the aequitarians by first enchanter irving, voted with the libertarians

that was a lot of politics.

let’s take a breather because we haven’t even gotten to history yet oh boy

[this slide is accompanied by two pieces of dragon age concept art of white-haired mage women casting spells. one is an older human white woman who may be wynne, dressed in ornate robes and casting purple magic with a casually imperious gesture. the other is the concept art for warden surana, an angry-looking young elven white woman with a palm full of icy magic.]

hot circle mage concept art break. of course you have white hair and [caps lock begins] one thousand points lightning damage-- [caps lock ends]

but where do circles come from, i hear you cry

well, when two semi-circles love each other very much,

the year is 1:20 divine, and our questionable hero is kordillus drakon…

the circles had existed long before this, of course, in a very different form: elite tevinter academic societies

but right now, the south is in chaos. the first inquisition’s reign is coming to a close. the second blight is fifteen years underway with no sign of stopping any time soon, and will rage until 1:95 divine

kordillus drakon, the very first emperor of orlais, has a budding empire and a budding chantry that look like they might die in the cradle… unless he can continue enlisting mages against the darkspawn

we may wish to take a moment to register that kordillus drakon apparently looked like this. Sure.

[this slide is accompanied by concept art of kordillus drakon. he is blond white man in vaguely iron age dress, with an interesting hair cut including bangs, a high half ponytail and a very large moustache. he wears a swamp-green cloak and a black fur pelt over a green and white striped tunic, with a hand-axe slung through his belt, and crossed garters over whatever combination boots and pants he's wearing, which seems to be one singular garment.]

the solution to drakon's problem?

the nevarran accord

“what do video game enjoyers love? fantasy historical treaties? yeah, probably” – bioware, constantly

and they’re right unless you’re a joyless hater

the nevarran accord was agreed between the newly formed chantry and the original inquisition in 1:20 divine

the people of the south feared magic, but they also wanted to be able to use its power against great threats like the darkspawn

in one move, the circle of magi, the seekers of truth, and the templar order were created

some mages considered the circle a refuge in a world full of terror. to others, it was a prison

but this is dragon age, so maker forbid we would only be told one version of events

there is also a codex entry called ‘history of the circle’

it describes the mages of the divine age as chafing under being allowed to do little more than light candles and lamps for the chantry… as if there wasn’t a fucking blight going on

in protest, mages snuffed out the eternal flame in the grand cathedral at val royeaux, and barricaded themselves in the choir loft. divine ambrosia ii attempted to call an exalted march on her own cathedral, but even her templars discouraged her

shouted negotiations were conducted for 21 days before the mages “went cheerily into exile” in a remote fortress, separated from society into the circle for “the first time”

nerd's note:

personally, i would understand this as the circle as an organisation being created with the accord in 1:20 divine, and the mages being relegated to this lesser role after the greatest battles against the darkspawn, with the establishment of circle of magi towers after the protest. there’s no date of events on this codex, but since it mentions templars, it has to have been post-accord.

i would also take this account with a grain of salt in-world, as it was written by sister petrine, a controversial writer to the chantry, but nonetheless a chantry scholar.

this has been a lot of chatter about mages. but there’s an elephant in the room, and it’s looking at us suspiciously…

the circle and the templar order

the circle does supposedly have nominal independence from the chantry…

Knight-Commander Greagoir: I promised you aid, but with the Circle restored, my duty is to watch the mages. They are free to help you, however. Warden: I thought the templars were in charge of the Circle. Knight-Commander Greagoir: The templars guard and advise, but the first enchanter has the last word in what happens in the Circle.

...

Warden: Won’t the Circle of Magi do what the Chantry says? Alistair: Technically the Circle of Magi is independent. We don’t know that the Chantry won’t support us, of course. Morrigan: You truly believe that? Alistair: If we speak to the First Enchanter, he should see that his responsibility to the Grey Wardens supersedes anything the Chantry or even Teyrn Loghain might have to say about it.

… but since when has power ever gone where it’s supposed to?

as world of thedas volume 1 explains, “Although the Circle is supposed to be autonomous, a heavy Templar presence in all Circle towers has effectively made the organisation an arm of the Chantry for ages.”

a first enchanter can quickly lose all the power they allegedly hold

even in the best of times with a skilful, well-intentioned first enchanter, templars reserve the right to send mages to the dungeons, to take away their children, to kill any who leave the circle, etc. as a matter of course

grand clerics reserve the right to grant the right of annulment

generally, the system is maintained by a mutual interest in avoiding open conflict

the templars are the ones in power with the chantry’s full support. if they drive the mages to open conflict, their comfortable routine is uprooted

templars are equipped to hunt down individual mages, even blood mages and abominations

templars are not equipped to be outnumbered or face even numbers. mages are simply far more powerful in a fair fight than they are. lyrium can only do so much

...

mages, meanwhile, operate under the not entirely unfounded belief that the outside world is entirely hostile to them

at least if they remain, they can keep an uneasy balance in which most mages survive, their existence tolerated by the chantry. they can continue studying among their own kind in the only home they know

if they openly rebel, they may throw aside what limited protections and goodwill they have. mages like wynne outright state certainty that if they rebel, “genocide” will follow

furthermore, those mages with more status have more access to privilege. they’re also the ones who have best passed the chantry’s tests. thus, those in a position to lead are least inclined to rebel

you only rebel against the circle because you think less of your children are going to die starting a war than they are in here.

and, uh, on that cheery note… any questions from the class?

#zevsurana academics #dragon age #circle of magi

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rad-roche · 2 months

Text

Pulp Covers And How To Paint Them

With the rise of cheap printing in the early twentieth century, mass-marked paperbacks swept the world, each offering lurid thrills for obscenely low prices. Sex, sadism, and incredible violence for as little as ten cents. An easy purchase to slot in between fifty cigarettes a day and enough bourbon slugs to kill a small garden.

Pulp fiction is where some of the greats of American literature cut their teeth, including the big three, Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald and Dashiell Hammett. The contents of these stories, both the dizzyingly good and astoundingly terrible, have been absorbed and digested and remixed and regurgitated in nearly every permutation imaginable, fuelling pop culture some one hundred years on. This isn't an essay on that. Nobody likes to open a tutorial and be greeted with a wall of text. The history is for another time.

But it is about how to paint it.

Don't let the pre-amble intimidate you, it's not as hard as it sounds. You will need:

Painting software with some image editing capabilities. You don't need all the bells and whistles of Photoshop, but I wouldn't recommend something like MSPaint, at least not to start with. I'm using Clip Studio Paint.

A really beat-up paper texture. The grungier, the better.

A lightly-textured brush. Here are the specific brushes I use, 99% of which is the well-named rough brush. Try and avoid anything with any impasto elements.

Go to your colour-picking tool and use the 'select from layer' option. Doing all the painting on a single layer is going to make your life easier.

A complete willingness to make mistakes and, instead of erasing, painting over them. It generates much more colour variation and interest! Keep your finger off the E key.

Good reference! That painting is a master copy of Mitchel Hooks' art for Day of the Ram. Find a style you really love and want to learn? Have no clue where to begin? Do direct studies!

Let's not worry about whatever is happening in the background. It's probably fine. Let's get started! Pulp magazine art is a lot more varied than you might first think, so don't agonize over having a style that 'fits' or not. I'm also specifically aiming for something you'd see on the cover after printing, not the initial painting they would use for printing. The stuff I'll show here is a pretty narrow band of it, but here are some general commonalities. This is a painting by Tom Lovell.

Let's dig into this.

The colours are very bright and saturated, but the actual values, the relative lightness and darkness of them, are actually grouped very simply! You can check this by filling a layer full of black, putting it on top and setting its mode to colour. If the value of a painting looks good, you actually get a lot of leeway with colour. But here's what I think is the most important thing to keep in mind.

The darks aren't that dark, and the lights aren't all that light! Covers are paintings reproduced on cheap paper. Anything you wouldn't want to happen in the printing process, you lean into. Value wash-outs, lower contrast, colours getting a weird wash to them, really gritty texturing. So let's get painting! Here's my typical setup.

That bottom folder is the painting itself. The screen layer is the grungy paper texture. To get the effect you want, put it down, invert its colour, then set it to screen. That washes out your painting far, far too much, so to compensate, I put a contrast layer up on top. Fiddle around with the settings, but this is where mine ended up sitting.

Note I'm saying this before even starting the painting: you want to do this as early as possible. This is where the 'select from layer' colour picker comes in handy. You can paint without worrying about the screen or contrast layer. Something not looking right? Enable your value check layer and keep painting. When you turn it off, it'll still be in colour. Here's a timelapse so you can see what that looks like.

And when you check the values...

They're pretty simple! This isn't a be all and end all, but I hope it serves as a decent primer. I want thirty dames on my desk by Monday!

#rochedotpng #art tutorial #art resources #couldn't find a thing online about this style so here's how i do it #pulp #it's how i did the death shroud one more or less

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dengswei · 4 months

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Hii you're so talented!! i wonder if you could explain how you did this gif effect with the squares? and do you have any tips on colouring because yours is always top notch <3333

heyy thank you so much 🥹 and of course! i've never really done a tutorial before but i'll try my best to explain it in a way that makes sense 😅

so i start off with making my two gifs seperatly and colouring them as i normally would, once i've done that i load both gifs into the same project and once i've done all that i started on the grid part:

now go to view -> add guides and this window should pop up:

(it's was so daunting at first when i saw this i was like ????? and started putting in random numbers and was like oh that's how this works 🤣)

here's the settings i used for my gif which is 540px x 500px in size with 5 squares x 4 squares: (if you want more or less you just have to play around with it)

once you've done that it should look something like this:

now the next part is really up to preference again: add a vector mask onto the gif that's above the other one like this: (ignore the name of my folder that is irrelevant 🤣)

and then i used the rectangle select tool (this is because the rectangle select should lock onto the grid squares making it easier to erase certain sections) + a black brush tool to erase the squares to show the other gif that's underneath (you can reposition both gifs to your liking which is what i did)

before & after:

so my vector mask looks like this afterwards

(you don't have to do the squares so close together like i did it was just how i liked it & because of the scenes i had chosen that mine turned out this way)

now onto the grid lines: i used the line tool with these settings

just like with the rectangle select tool the line tool should lock onto the grid line you want to redraw, do this for every line that you want/have for your grid & once you're done go to view -> clear guides and it should look something like this: (added a version with just a black background so it can be seen a little easier)

(i'm ngl idk why my lines ended up kinda faded and not white 🤣 i think it might be because i used a white fill instead of white stroke but it doesn't really matter to me because i got my ideal outcome anyway 🤣)

bonus step: you can stop here if you'd like but i wanted my lines to match my colouring & my intended typography so i put all my line layers into a folder and set the mode to difference & added a yellow fill layer with a clipping mask, like this:

and it should look like this:

you can also play around with the opacity of the lines too which is what i tried out but i prefered for my set the lines being at 100% opacity but it's really up to you with what you want to play around with

now once you're happy with everything merge those layers together (make sure they have the same amount of frames first before merging them) and either save as it is or add some typography like i did and you should end up with this:

for tips when it comes to colouring it really depends on what you're colouring, if you want to manipulate the colours as much as i do i recommend choosing a colour within the scene so you're not having to change too much, or finding scenes that have colours that can be manipulated more easy (any colour that aren't skin tones, unless you're working with red or yellow like i did here, i chose yellow because one of the outfits in the gif was yellow toned and it looked better with the gifset being yellow than my original colour which was blue), also looking for scenes were the people in it don't move as much also is a big help!

i hope this helps :) feel free to ask more questions if you didn't understand or want some more tips i honestly don't mind!

#replies #mrmalcolmslist #photopeablr #tutorials #photopea tutorials #completeresources #usergif #mine | tutorials #gif tutorial #photopea #resources #gif resources #gifmakerresource #i hope i didn't forget anything aksjdskds #photopea tutorial #tutorial #gif tutorials

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another-lost-mc · 1 year

Note

Hello! I'm a lover of beauty supply stores and I was wondering as to how the brothers would react being dragged to the beauty supply store with MC!

I love your work! Stay safe friend! Xo

Ooooh this was a fun idea to think about! I selected the brothers that inspired me the most, I hope that's okay! 💙

Shopping Together For Beauty Supplies Headcanons | LUCIFER, MAMMON, ASMODEUS and bonus BEELZEBUB 1k words | SFW | Fluff, implied established relationships (x gn!Reader), some suggestive comments

LUCIFER

If he’s going to spoil you keep you company while you shop for cosmetics, he’s going to insist on taking you to a higher-end store that appeals to his appreciation of quality and luxury

The sales associates find him attractive but they’re too intimidated to approach you to see if you need any help, so they sort of stand around and pretend not to stare as he walks with you through the aisles

He acts like makeup and skincare are beneath him, but he can point out human world brands he’s heard Asmodeus talk about, or he might pick up something if he thinks one of his brothers might enjoy it

If you like to shop for fragrance, he’ll let you pick something out for him to try; even if he doesn’t like the scent very much personally, he slips the largest bottle into the basket if you like it on him

He might pause to look at deep black mascara and eyeliner for himself - but this trip is about you, not him

If you don’t wear makeup, or if your usual style is a no-makeup look, he might be curious about what you would look like with a smoky eye or a more bold colour on the plush lips he loves to kiss so much

He doesn’t want to try and make you feel like you need to “do more” to be beautiful in his eyes; he prefers to watch you quietly and see what products interest you and what products you avoid

He wants to remember what you like to buy, so he can buy you more as gifts later, or make sure you have replacements ready when you eventually run out

No matter what you do, you’re always beautiful to him - and he’s going to tell you all the ways he can until you believe him

He distracts you with a kiss at the checkout so he can slip the cashier his credit card when you’re too busy to protest

“Why did you put this tube of mascara in the basket? I told you, I wasn’t looking at – oh, I see. ‘Better Than Sex,’ hmm? We’ll have test that for ourselves, won’t we?”

MAMMON

He’s always up for a shopping trip, especially if he’s not the one paying!

Browsing beauty and cosmetic shops interests him since it helps with his modeling gigs

He doesn’t mind experimenting with his hair or makeup style if it makes him look even better than he usually does

If he’s picking out things for himself, he’s always asking for your opinion - and even if you get a little bashful or blush or mumble that it’s “not bad” on him, he’s grinning and keeping note of all the things that seem to catch your eye

Even if he doesn’t want to admit it, he wants to look his best for you

If you’re shopping for yourself, he’s going to find a way to compliment almost anything you pick out - he doesn’t mind being honest with you like this when it’s just the two of you

But if you show him something that he finds particularly fetching - he might be stunned speechless just long enough for you to notice (and yes, whatever it was that caused that reaction in him, he’s 100% going to insist you add to your basket)

He dyes the tips of his hair yellow sometimes, but if you comment another colour might look good on him too - well, don’t be surprised if he happens to pick up some to try

You’ll help him with the hair dye later, right? It was your idea, after all!

Yes, he knows he can use magic to do that, but why would he pass up the chance of having your hands on him? Your hands in his hair, massaging his scalp - he can hardly wait

If he managed to knick Lucifer’s credit card (or save Goldie), then he’s offering to pay - and you just go ahead and pick up whatever you like, his treat!

If he’s flat broke, he’s giving you puppy eyes with a promise to pay you back later

“Oi! This lipstick says it’s kiss-proof. What colour do ya like? I think we should buy one as an experiment. You know, for science.”

ASMODEUS

Oh, you better not go too close to closing because he’s going to be browsing for a long time

He will walk through all the aisles, open testers to swatch colours on himself (and you, don’t even think he’s not going to spoil you on this little trip)

You’re not there to buy “just one or two things,” don’t kid yourself

There are so many new brands and product releases for Asmo to try and keep caught up on, he’s always pointing out things that are new, products that have changed or maybe ones he noticed aren’t being sold anymore

He’s going to ask you opinion on a lot of things, even the items he buys for himself - especially if they’re things he wants to share with you, like his body care or bath products

Don’t even get him started on the nail polish

You know he’s been saving Devilgram videos of the newest trending nail looks, and he’s going to buy the supplies he needs to test them out - on him and you, of course

He’s buying nail polish to match whatever the trend is, plus some cute seasonal colours, and if any catch your eye, he’s throwing those in the (overflowing, exceedingly heavy) shopping basket(s) you’re carrying

Sometimes he buys things that remind him of you - nail polish the colour of your eyes, blush the same colour as your skin when it’s warm from his bath, lipstick the same colour of your lips after he’s kissed you breathless

He’s happy to buy literally bags' worth of items - but don’t be surprised when he whines about having to help carry them home after

“I hope you don’t have anything planned later! I think we could both use some pampering. Don’t worry if you get sleepy after, there’s room in my bed for both of us.”

BEELZEBUB

He went with you once

He’s not allowed to go shopping with you at the beauty supply store anymore

“Why does so much makeup smell like dessert foods? I thought we walked into a bakery, sorry about that.”

#obey me demon brothers #lucifer x reader #mammon x reader #asmodeus x reader #beelzebub x reader #obey me x reader #omswd x reader #obey me x mc #obey me x you #x reader #obey me humor #obey me suggestive #obey me fanfic #omswd fanfic #obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #gn!reader

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magicalrocketships · 8 months

Note

knock knock who's there it's me 🥺🥺🥺 politely asking for an update on de-aged max?

WHO'S THERE, oh yes, more de-aged Max.

(this link shows the stuff I’ve already posted in chronological order if the tag isn't working. But anyway, this bit follows directly on from this part.)

The package with the new nightlights in arrives after lunch, and Max pads silently around Daniel's apartment after him, watching him set them up. The Jimmy or Sassy cats come too, of course, winding their troublesome selves around Daniel's feet and the trailing wires. They are an accident waiting to happen, so Daniel tries to make Max giggle by doing a silly dance to step around the cats, but Max is quiet today, like Daniel's little shadow, and just hooks his little fingers through Daniel's belt loop.

There's a cat shaped light for the hall outside their bedrooms, and Daniel has to position it on a little stool because there's not a useful surface near the plug. It has a selection of settings, from a changing wave of colours to single colours at various brightnesses. Max carefully touches the cat's head, in between its ears, to get it to change colours, before settling on a soft blue glow. The one for the bathroom is shaped like an otter, and Daniel has to move some of their shit out of the way to find space for it on the counter. There's a new package of Pokemon-themed face cloths and towels and a matching toothbrush that he hasn't sprung on Max yet because he's waiting for bath time, a routine Max still does not approve of and Daniel hasn't figured out how to make fun yet. Max could go back to being big at any moment, but until he wakes up his normal size again, Daniel is committed to ensuring that Max is clean and fed and safe and warm for the duration, even if Max seems to believe that baths are a very bad thing indeed, and bath time in general is exhausting for them both.

Even given that Max does not approve of bath time, and he keeps wetting the bed and Daniel hasn't slept through the night since that brave little knock on his door last week, getting to spend all of this time with Max like this is great. He wouldn't change it for anything. He's sort of dreading the moment it all comes to an end and Max wakes up normal-aged again, if he's honest.

It doesn't make it any better, however, when it all goes wrong when Daniel tries to set up the night light he'd got for Max's bedroom.

"No," Max says, little arms folded, bottom lip jutting out, cheeks red.

"No?" Daniel asks, after he's tried to put the animal themed night light on the drawers by the bed more than once, and Max has pushed it away.

"No," Max says again, stamping his foot.

"Don't you like it?"

"I'm not scared," Max says. "Take it away."

Daniel hadn't been entirely certain if Max was afraid of the dark before he'd ordered the nightlights. It was another weapon in the online parenting websites' arsenal of tools to combat bedwetting, something he thought he might try, but one look at Max's bright, scared eyes as he mutinously maintains he doesn't need it, and Daniel is convinced he's terrified.

Which is— well.

"Okay," Daniel says. "That's okay, Maxy-Max. Can I tell you a secret?"

Max still looks mutinous. He hasn't unfolded his arms, his little bottom lip sticking out. He's frowning. It would be cute if Daniel wasn't secretly so worried.

"I'm scared of the dark," Daniel says in a whisper. "But I didn't want anyone to know, so I never had a light. But if you don't need this one, then maybe I can have it in my room, so I won't be scared any more. Do you think that might be okay?"

Max's expression does something complicated. His eyes have gone very wide. He's looking up at Daniel like he's one of those monkeys with the huge eyes. "You are not scared of the dark, Daniel," he says, after a moment of staring, unblinking, up at Daniel like a very worried little alien.

"I am," Daniel says. He lets that settle for a bit. Max looks worried, but he's also thinking. Daniel's learned to recognise that thinking face.

"But you're a grown up," Max whispers. He twists his fingers into Daniel's t-shirt, just above the waist, like he can keep hold of Daniel if Daniel tried to leave him behind. Daniel's not leaving him anywhere.

"Grown ups can be scared of things," Daniel says, in as gentle a voice as he can manage. "Big Daniels are scared of lots of things." Max looks amazed, and more than a little bit worried, which Daniel does not like. "I told you I was scared of the dark," Daniel says. "I don't like it in the middle of the night when I wake up and it's all dark. I don't like it when you go swimming in the sea and there are fish and they swim up to you. Sharks are scary too." He does a pretend full body shiver, to make Max laugh, but Max isn't laughing. He sits down on Max's bed, and pats the mattress next to him. Max obediently clambers up next to him, tucking himself into Daniel's side. "And can I tell you another secret?"

Max nods uncertainly. His fingers are pulling on Daniel's t-shirt, holding on tight.

"Charmander scares me," Daniel tells him, "because his tail's on fire."

Max's eyes go even wider. He blinks up at Daniel, then buries his face in Daniel's t-shirt, mumbling something that Daniel can't make out.

"What did you say, Maxy-Max?"

"You'll get in trouble," Max whispers, without unhiding himself from Daniel's shirt.

Oh, Daniel thinks, and does not cry. Instead, he wraps an arm around Max's shoulders. "It's okay to be scared of things," he says, without much hope that Max is able to listen and understand. "Nobody gets in trouble here for being scared of things. Everyone is scared of something."

Max shakes his head, face still buried in Daniel's side.

"Do you think you can help me set up my new nightlight in my bedroom?" Daniel says. "That way, tonight I won't have to be scared any more. And I was thinking that we could put the light on in the bathroom, and the one in the hall, and I'll keep my bedroom door open too, and then it'll be light if I wake up in the middle of the night. Is that okay, Max?"

Max tucks his hand into Daniel's, but won't let go of him.

"Do you want to sit here for a bit? We could look at your flag book for a bit, if you'd like. Have a cuddle."

Max shifts a little, face tucked into Daniel's side. "I know about your flags," he says, because they've been reading about Australia, and about Italy.

"You do," Daniel agrees, reaching for the flag book on the drawers by Max's bed. "Do you want to pick a page?"

Max flicks through his book for a while, before coming back to Daniel with the book open to the chapter on South America. If there's ever a point where Daniel is racing again, and there's a geography Grill the Grid, he's going to smash it. Race Max to the winning place. But not yet. Not just yet. Daniel leans down and kisses the top of Max's head.

Max looks up at him with a worried little smile.

"Do you know who my favourite little boy is?" Daniel asks.

Max's brow furrows. He shakes his head.

Daniel leans in and blows a little raspberry into Max's ear so that he giggles and squeezes Daniel's hand. "You, Maxy-Max. You're my favourite."

Max is quiet today. That's okay. His hand's tucked into Daniel's. One of the Jimmy or Sassy cats comes and sits on the other side of him, and Max strokes their little fluffy head. Daniel reads him the flag facts about Brazil, about Argentina, about Uruguay. Later, he can set up the nightlight in his bedroom, on the drawers by the door so it'll light up the hallway. He'll leave all the doors open so that the light will bleed into Max's room, and hopefully it'll help. Hopefully he'll let Daniel buy him his own nightlight. Maybe one day soon he can say that he's scared and not worry about getting into trouble for it.

Until then: this. He's okay.

Thank you to @flawlessassholes for reading this over! And the other lovely people who listen to me go on and on about small Max.

#my fic #de-aged maxiel #baby max #fic that I wrote

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a-killer-obsession · 17 days

Text

Wavelengths [Killer x Reader, Heat x Reader]

🔞 Minors DNI 🔞

A search for a rumored Vegapunk weapon leads the Kid Pirates to an unexpected new crewmate, with a bloodlust that rivals their own and an incredible power.

CW: Please check AO3 for all current warnings, but general warning for smut, slow burn, serious gore, and really dark themes. AFAB reader, she/her pronouns.

Masterlist || AO3 || Chapter 1

Chapter 11 - Trial and Error

You try something new, and Kid makes a big mistake.

WC: ~8k

Taglist: @h0n3y-l3m0n05 @tremendoushorsepatrolgoth

You stared awkwardly at the wide range of brightly coloured vibrators and dildos on display in the store. You had no fucking clue what you were looking at or what you were supposed to pick out. Heat had somewhat temporarily abandoned you to peruse the porn selection, and you looked over your shoulder for him anxiously, wondering if you should just give up and go bug him for help.

“Doing okay darlin’?” an older woman with bright pink hair approached you. She had a nametag, indicating she worked here, but otherwise wore casual looking clothing. The smile on her face was gentle and soothing, you felt immediately more comfortable with her there.

“Yeah um.. I think I need some help,” you admitted, “I'm not really sure what I'm looking for”

“Of course baby,” the woman cooed, “we've got all the features written out under the price tags, do any of them sound interesting? I could show ya how they work on your hand if you'd like”

“I um… I can't read,” you told her anxiously, feeling defeated. A room full of dildos and porn, and this was what made you embarrassed. She didn't seem like the kind of woman who would taunt you about it though.

“Oh that's no problem sweetheart!” The woman said, “I'm happy to help. What sort of things do you like? Clitoral stimulation? Penetration? Nipple play?”

“She's still figuring things out,” Heat told the woman, appearing like a saviour beside you, a handful of porn mags in hand, “she only just got out of a bad situation recently so she's not had much opportunity to learn what she enjoys”

“You the boyfriend?” the woman asked curiously.

“Uh, just a friend helping her figure herself out,” Heat answered with a nervous laugh, “she likes clit stimulation, and she recently discovered she likes receiving oral, so I'm thinking one of those suction toys that simulate it might work good for her, but something for her to explore penetration on her own wouldn't go amiss either. Give your what you'd consider an exploration starter kit, money isn't a issue”

“Very good, I have just the toys!” she picked up a small, purple dildo, tapered at the end and with a very slight bulge to the top. The overall shape was smooth and elegant, wide enough to be pleasurable but slimmer than the average penis, something ideal for a virgin to experiment with. Of course, you had been penetrated before, but there was no need to worry this woman with the horrific details of your past sexual encounters. She held down the button on the end and it started to vibrate, and she held it gently against the back of your hand so you could feel it. Your eyes widened as the woman clicked the button a few more times, making the vibrations more intense, before handing it to you for you to explore the settings on your own. You had the sudden realisation that your vibrating abilities thanks to your devil fruit were maybe far more useful than you'd initially thought, but it wouldn't hurt to have something to replicate the ideal levels. You didn't want to accidentally overdo it and hurt yourself after all.

“This one is what I recommend for newbies,” she explained, “its cable rechargeable, waterproof, easy to clean, and has 15 different settings ranging from gentle vibrations to more intense pulsing. It's ideal for both clitoral stimulation and penetration”

You handed the toy back to the woman who turned it off and returned it to its display holder, before selecting another toy. “Now, in terms of suction toys, you can't beat this model. It has ten power settings, waterproof, cable rechargeable, near silent, and the slim profile makes it ideal for using in tandem with penetrative sex. Paired with a good lubricant it offers orgasms that will truly blow you away with very little effort on your part”

“She'll take both,” Heat answered for you.

“Very good, now I'm assuming she also requires cleaning supplies and lubricants?” The woman asked.

“Yeah, get her whatever you recommend,” Heat said, “and these too, please” he continued, holding out the magazines for the woman.

“Very good, I'll get everything collected and rung up for you at the counter, let me know if you need my help with anything else” the woman smiled, taking the mags from Heat and collecting several boxes from the shelves under the displays, before walking away to collect a few other things. She met you at the counter and began to scan and bag the items. “Your friend must care about you a lot, this is quite the kind gesture” she noted to you as she scanned the last item and slid it into a discreet, unmarked bag.

“She deserves it, after the shit she's been through,” Heat told her. The woman smiled sadly in response, and you got the sense that maybe she had an inclination of what you'd been through. Given you still looked pretty boney even after a few weeks of eating well, it was probably clear that you'd been abused quite badly, you still had the clear physical appearance of someone who had been starved for a long time.

Heat paid for the items with a generous tip and thanked her for her help, leading your excited but nervous self out of the store before you could burn a hole with your eyes into the massive dragon themed dildo you'd been staring at curiously that stood proudly on display behind the counter.

Heat followed you back to your room at the inn after running errands together, still carrying your shopping bag like the gentleman he was. The two of you had already left most of what he'd bought with a couple of henchmen to be taken back to the ship. It was late afternoon now, soon the others would be gathering at a nearby pub that Killer had picked out for dinner. Kid wasn't a fan of fancy restaurants, but pubs had a much more casual atmosphere, more suited to his tastes.

“You gonna try out your new stuff?” Heat smirked as he pulled your things out of the paper bag that hid the adult store items, leaving just his mags inside to bring back to his own room later.

“I was gonna have a shower, actually,” you replied, sliding off your shoes and pulling your toiletries from your duffle bag, “did you want to join me?” you added with a coy smile on your face. There'd been dirty thoughts in your head all day since Heat had explained oral to you, and the trip to the adult store certainly hadn't helped the situation.

Heat squinted at you, trying to decide if you were serious. Sure you'd fooled around plenty, but you'd never been below the belt with him, he'd been holding off till he felt like you were ready. He wanted you to learn how you liked to be pleased before you focused on anyone else. To be fair though, you had slept with Delilah last night, so maybe you were ready to experiment on other people. And if pleasing others was what made you feel good, who was he to deny you? Lord knew he got off making you feel good.

“What's that face for?” You mused, already half undressed and on your way to the door of the attached bathroom, mask discarded and seastone in hand.

“Are you sure you're ready for that?” Heat asked you with genuine concern.

“Yeah, I'm sure,” you smiled, tugging on his hand to pull him to the bathroom, “to be honest I really liked pleasing Delilah last night, I wanna please you too”

“You don't have to do that,” he said softly, while you tugged at the lacing on his corset to loosen it.

“But I want to,” you purred. Your genuine smile made his heart flutter and his dick twitch. Fuck you were hard to say no to.

You finished undressing and turned the shower on, adjusting the temperature before stepping in. You stood under the stream for a moment, letting the warm water wash over you, before giving him an almost tender, inviting glance. He sighed in defeat and finished undressing, sliding in behind you. It was a reasonably sized shower, big enough to fit Heat's large frame beside you, but small enough that you were forced to stand somewhat close. You let out a contented sigh as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling your back against his front and pressing kisses along your collarbone. You twisted in his arms to face him, pulling him down with arms around his neck so you could kiss him, he was so goddamn tall.

The water spilled over you both as you smoothed your tongue against his, and you pressed hard against his front, rubbing your soft abdomen against his growing erection. You could feel the cool metal of the piercings on the underside pressing against your skin. Out of curiosity you pulled away from the kiss, wanting to see better, and he gave you space to look, proud of his size and not at all uncomfortable with your staring.

“You can touch it, if you want,” he told you reassuringly. Your eyes flicked to his quickly before returning to his dick, a hesitant hand coming up and running along the underside, admiring the weight of it, before wrapping your fingers as much as you could around the base and stroking it gently. The skin there was surprisingly smooth, like velvet in your palm, and you ran your hand carefully over the piercings, scared you might hurt him. His hand wrapped around yours as he groaned at the first feeling of your warm touch on him, and he encouraged you to squeeze a little firmer, guiding your hand to stroke up and down near the base the way he liked. He let go as you got the gist of it, your eyes shifting between watching yourself stroke him, and his face as he groaned quietly and supported himself against the wall behind you.

“That's it- hnng- good girl,” Heat groaned, “just like that”

The pleasurable sounds he was making made arousal pool between your legs and you found yourself rubbing your thighs together to get friction. You only had one free hand, since you needed the other for your seastone, and unfortunately for you it was currently in use.

“Heat, can you hold my seastone against me?” You asked, holding it out for him. He nodded and took it from you, careful to make sure it stayed against your skin as he slid the small pebble up your arm, resting it against your shoulder. You held his hand to your shoulder as you started to kneel, his eyes growing wide in surprise.

“Yin, you don't have to do that, just your hand is enough,” he told you.

“But I want to,” you said, squatting in front of him, still pumping him while your other newly freed hand ran over his thigh. Your mouth was centimetres away from his tip now, and you looked up at him with eyes that were dark with lust. “I want to taste you so fucking bad,” you purred, running your nose against the side of his cock. He grunted and gave in immediately to your dirty words.

“Fuck, okay,” he moaned, “just- don't push yourself too far. If you don't like it we can stop, I won't be angry”

You smiled at your victory and gave him an experimental kitten lick against the side you'd been nuzzling, before making more kitten licks all over. Precum started to leak from the tip as he watched you, and you observed it curiously before lapping it up and humming contently. You weren't sure what you were supposed to do, so you just kept swirling your tongue around the head, looking up at him with innocent eyes as he grunted.

“Put it in your mouth baby, suck on it,” he purred, sensing your were in need of some guidance and petting the top of your head, “just watch out for your teeth”

You hesitantly did as you were instructed, sucking him into your mouth maybe a little too harshly. His hips bucked forward and forced himself further in, making you gag a little in surprise. “Fuck, sorry baby,” he pulled away from you, “you just felt so fucking good”

To his surprise, you weren't at all fazed, instead unbelievably turned on by the idea of him being deeper inside you. After all, you'd only ever had his fingers. It felt dirty having him in your mouth, and you suddenly wanted him to fill you. You ran your tongue back over the head of his cock before swallowing him again, concentrating on suppressing the need to gag as you took him as far as you could down your throat, nestling your nose against his pubes and looking up at him with doe eyes. His eyes were wide as you paused with him deep down your throat, your eyes watering a little but determined to keep him inside you as you swallowed around him.

“Fuck, Yin,” he groaned, “fuck”

You let him go, keeping your hand on the base of his dick and stroking more as you caught your breath. “Did I do good? Should I do it again?” You cooed, looking up at him for praise.

“Yes baby, you're being such a good girl for me,” he cooed. It was becoming quite apparent to him that you had a praise kink, even if you didn't realise it so he made sure to play into it. “You're doing so good, make it go in and out of your mouth baby”

You took him back in your mouth and bobbed your head back and forth, rubbing your tongue against the piercings on the underside as you moved. You were determined to please him, practically suckling on him as you moved. He was leaning against the wall holding on for dear life while you went down on him, trying to keep it together enough to keep the seastone pressed to your shoulder. One of your hands returned to his shaft, stroking him at a pace to match your mouth, while the other slid between your legs, where your pussy was spread wide open as you squatted in front of him. You felt so in control and knowing that it was you making him moan was making you unbearably horny, so you fingered yourself furiously. He could hear the lewd sounds of your fingers pumping in and out of you, and it made him lose control, the coil in his stomach ready to spring at any second.

“Fuck, Yin, I'm gonna-” he pulled out with the intention of cumming on the shower floor, so you wouldn't be surprised by it in your mouth, but he'd reacted too late and instead spurted hot white threads of cum over your face, forcing you to close one eye. “Sorry, fuck, sorry Yin”

You wiped the cum off your eye and looked at the sticky substance on your hand, before licking it off curiously. You found yourself liking the salty taste, aroused by the fact that it had come out of him, and that you had made it come out, so you wiped the rest from your face, pushing it into your mouth and licking it off your fingers, humming contently while he looked down at you with astonishment. On top of the praise kink, he was starting to think you had a thing for fluids, especially considering how you'd spoken about your time with Delilah, having gotten the more graphic details over lunch. When there was nothing on your face, you grabbed him again, forcing his over sensitive cock back into your mouth to milk him clean of anything left.

“Hnng- fuck- Yin,” he panted hard as he pressed his head against the cool tile wall, the water from the still running shower trickling down his back. You kissed your way up his chest as you stood, and nipped at his neck, humming contently at how utterly lewd and powerful you felt. You took the seastone from his weak hand and tilted his chin down towards you, forcing him to look at you, overcome with that feeling of power and desire.

“Heat, get on your fucking knees,” you growled.

His cock twitched back to life at your sudden confidence, and he dropped down in front of you immediately, draping your knee over his shoulder and immediately diving between your legs like a man starved. He’d wanted to do this for so long, having only ever tasted you off his fingers, wanting so badly to drink from the source. You pulled his hair tight as you leaned back against the shower wall, forcing his head to stay between your legs while he ate you out with fervour. You were slick with arousal and he moaned into you, holding your hips tight as he slid his thick tongue inside you and pumped you with it. You weren't the only one who enjoyed going down on a hot, wet pussy. He felt so fucking good inside you and you rolled your hips in time, letting him fuck you with his greedy tongue while his thumb worked away at your clit, till you felt your muscles tighten and you came suddenly with a shout on his face. Heat lapped up your release with a groan, both of your eyes closed in bliss as he worked you through the heavy orgasm.

Finally sated you let his hair go, and he carefully slid your leg off his shoulder, standing back up and pulling you close. You hugged each other tight while you came down from your high, and sighed contently at how warm and safe you felt with your naked body pressed against his under the running water. You leaned up on your tip toes and kissed him tenderly, tasting yourself on his lips, and pushing stray hair out of his face as you lowered yourself back into the hug.

“You're so incredible,” Heat mumbled into your shoulder, his face buried in the crook of your neck.

“Thank you, Heat, for letting me try that,” you purred happily, “it was fun,” you giggled.

“Any fucking time,” he laughed, “I don't think I'm gonna even bother to go find a woman tonight anymore, that was too fucking good”

You giggled again, filled with pride, and nuzzled into him, “me neither, I was going to go see Delilah again but, do you think maybe you'd want to stay with me tonight instead, Heat?” you looked up at him with warm, adoring eyes as he stood properly upright, his hands still on the small of your back, “this is nice, just being close to you”

“Yeah, it is,” he agreed, “I'll stay, but we have to go to dinner first. We can hang out after”

“That sounds good,” you mumbled, half asleep between his warm body and the warm water.

“Are we gonna actually wash while we're in here?” Heat laughed.

“Mmm… nah,” you replied, pressing your face in to his chest, “let's just stay like this”

“Okay sweetheart, that's fine by me,” he cooed, running a hand through your pretty purple hair.

The next day passed with not much of note. Heat woke up in your bed after more fooling around, and you helped him with the last of his errands before wandering aimlessly around the town together. There wasn't much to do if you weren't into winter sports, so you just hung out and got high in your inn room, while Heat happily let you explore his body further. You both decided to head back to the bar that night though, meeting up with the other commanders who already had women slung over their laps. Delilah seemed excited to see you again, and happily followed your back to your room once more, this time taking full advantage of your devil fruit, as well as your new toys and newfound confidence. She left as you were waking the next morning, promising to see you later at the bar.

It was evening again, and the men were all taking full advantage of their last night on shore, the bar now filled with Kid Pirates all hoping to get laid one last time before setting sail tomorrow morning. You were one of the last to arrive, having decided to take an afternoon nap which had accidentally gone a little long, and grabbing a quick bite in the restaurant next door to the inn before heading to the brothel where you knew the others would be. Delilah was already in the booth, and you were surprised to see her fawning over Kid. You didn't feel a pang of jealousy though, you knew Delilah was a working woman who had already sacrificed two nights of potential income to sleep with you, and considering how late you were she probably thought you weren't coming at all, so she'd no doubt decided to make some cash with a paying customer instead.

“Yin!” she exclaimed as soon as she saw you, “I thought I wasn't going to have the pleasure of your company tonight!”

The booth was full, so you decided to just slide on to Heat's currently empty lap, who graciously wrapped his arms around your waist and indicated to a passing waitress to bring another drink.

“Yeah sorry, nap ran long,” you yawned, “did I miss anything?”

“Delilah was just telling me about your fun little vibrating trick,” Kid laughed, “sounds like the two of you had fun last night. Our sweet Delilah missed you the other night, but I took real good care of her for you”

You were unphased by Kid's attempt at teasing, thinking that you would at least have some inclination to be jealous or petty about Kid stealing ‘your’ woman. Unfortunately for him, you couldn't care less, especially not when you'd spent that time with Heat instead, so it's not like you were missing out. Kid scowled at the lack of reaction, more interested in the drink the waitress had just dropped off for you, and picked up his own drink with a heavy frown.

“I didn't know you and the blue haired one were an item,” Delilah noted, observing the casual way you sat on Heat's lap, “kind of him to let you play with me”

“Well, they do say sharing is caring,” you winked at Kid who almost choked on his drink, “Heat and I are just friends though”

“Friends with significant benefits,” Wire laughed.

“They're very good benefits,” you smirked. Heat started to go pink behind you and cleared his throat.

Delilah gave Kid a knowing look before sliding closer to you, pulling your thigh so it rested on her lap instead of Heat's. It left your legs spread wide open under the table as Delilah's hand ran up your inner thigh teasingly. “Maybe you'd like to join our little party with the captain then?”

You froze and Heat could feel your muscles tensing, you were definitely uncomfortable at the suggestion. “Yin doesn't fuck around with the captain,” Killer interrupted before Heat could come to your defense. He felt sorry for you, looking just as scared as you had when Kid had pinned you to the table, and he had no doubt you were remembering that exact moment.

‘Oh? How come?” Delilah purred, still determined to sway you into a threesome.

“None of your business,” Killer snapped. You gave him a look that, even with most of your face obscured by your mask, still read as a silent thank you. His protectiveness was unexpected, but welcomed.

Delilah let the topic go, sensing there was something she was missing here, and slid back over to Kid. “Well, maybe I'll just come say hello later,” she added, “after your captain is done with me”

“If you can walk by the time I'm done with you,” Kid smirked. Killer groaned at the cocky remark and rolled his eyes under the mask.

You felt strange, suddenly feeling like a burden, and slipped off Heat's lap to stand. Once again you were being dropped for someone who would do more, it made you feel insecure and insignificant. “I think maybe I'll head to bed actually,” you said. There was a hint of sadness in your voice that the other commanders didn't miss, “I think maybe that nap wasn't quite enough, I'll see you guys tomorrow. It was nice meeting you, Delilah”

You walked away without another word, not really entirely sure in yourself why you were leaving. You just knew you felt like you didn't really belong here anymore, despite Killer's kind defence of you, and maybe you'd feel more comfortable spending the night alone for once.

It was late when a knock came on your door. You groaned and dragged yourself out of bed. You hadn't really been asleep anyway, just laying in bed, thinking. You were surprised to find a very drunk Delilah leaning against the frame when you opened the door. She was half naked, her hair in disarray, the smell of sex and alcohol strong on her. She pushed her way into the room, closing the door behind her. You didn't try to stop her, welcoming the distraction.

It wasn't long before you were both falling asleep, naked and spent, after several rounds of messy fucking and some special use of your devil fruit. Or at least, that's how it looked at a glance. As soon as she heard the soft sounds of your snoring, Delilah gave up her masquerade and slipped out of the bed, hastily throwing on her clothes and grabbing your mask from the side table before leaving. She stopped at the door, throwing you one last guilty look, before quietly sliding out and heading back to Kid's room.

Not getting a rise out of you earlier had pissed him off, and a pissed off Kid, combined with alcohol, was never a good mix. He'd had a curiosity about your mask since you came on board, but Killer had always berated him for even thinking about touching it. But Killer wasn't here right now, and Kid was pissed off, so he'd paid Delilah handsomely to get the mask for him. She felt awful about it, but a berri was a berri - she had bills to pay, and she’d probably never see you again anyway. He probably could have gotten it himself, but Killer would have drowned him if he'd found out he'd gone to your room and scared you. At least this way you got a few orgasms out of the arrangement, he praised himself for being so kind.

Nothing seemed amiss when you woke up, stretching and yawning, wiping the sleep from your eyes. You flopped back down, not quite ready yet to open your eyes. With a groan you reached your hand over to the side table, dropping your seastone in favour of your mask. It clattered against the wooden floor as you missed the unfamiliar table, so used to the size and position of your table back on the ship. No worries, you'd just pick it up in a minute. You kept your eyes closed as you reached for your mask, it was easier to avoid being overwhelmed that way. It was a bad habit, really, letting go of the seastone before grabbing the mask, but if you did it this way you only needed one hand, and you were lazy. You found the surface with your hand, patting around blindly for it, and finding the surface empty. Maybe you knocked it down in your sleep? Not a problem, it was made of a metal shell, so you'd be able to make it out on the floor if you opened your eyes.

You could see far too much when you opened them, the wooden walls and furniture of the room becoming basically invisible as you saw right through them, save for the occasional pipe or wire or nail. You could see people in the other rooms, all Kid Pirates and a handful of working women, since the rest of the inn's residents had fled when the crew checked in. It was hard to tell who was who, just warm bodies scattered in a void of space, broken up by the occasional metal from a door handle, or weapon, or the small personal safes that each room featured. Most of them seemed to be doing something akin to packing, some of them still horizontal, sleeping you assumed. A few were a few interacting with other bodies, no doubt getting in last minute romps before they set off.

You shook your head and tried to focus, you knew from experience that you only had a few minutes before you became overwhelmed, it was important you found your mask before then. You set your sights on where the floor of your room should have been, and scowled when you found no sign of your mask. You looked around where you estimated the boundaries of your room to be, finding only your dagger and sword, and the metal inner workings of the toys Heat had bought you the other day. Your shoulders twitched as the buzzing noise around you started to creep in, becoming louder as you grew disoriented and your focus began to falter. Your last hope was the seastone, you would be able to see it if you looked, since it nullified your ability. Seastone created something of a void in your vision whenever you looked at it without your mask, not so much a physical object, more just a complete lack of anything.

You underestimated where the edge of the bed was and fell, landing face first on the hard floor. You raised yourself up on your hands, beginning to lose your hold on reality. You could see the seastone, but it seemed like it was under the bed. You felt for the edge of the bedframe and tried your best to reach under, but the bed was too low and your arm was too short, flapping around uselessly under the bed as your shoulder drove painfully into the bedframe. Panic was setting in as you felt yourself starting to slip away, so you turned desperately to where you had seen your katana, hoping you could slide it under the bed to free the stone.

You were crawling towards it on your hands and knees, twitching, when it finally became all too much. You curled into a ball and whimpered, you couldn't even make out your own voice over the deafening sound of everything, so you had no idea if you'd be able to yell for help. Would it be loud enough for anyone to hear? Would you even be saying anything coherent? You couldn't tell, and your heart rate was spiking as you began to hyperventilate, the twitching becoming more frequent as you became hyper aware of every molecule of air vibrating around you.

You pushed yourself up onto your knees and desperately looked around, too far gone to know what you were looking for or what you needed. That was when you spotted it. Your mask.

Or at least, what looked like parts of your mask. And in front of it, the unmistakable metal-armed body of Eustass Kid. An inhuman growl escaped you as you realised that he had your mask, and he was disassembling it. A bloodlust sparked in you, those feral instincts that had long since laid dormant taking over as your mind singled in on one goal - kill Kid. Kill Kid, kill Kid, KILL KID.

You rushed towards him, smashing into and bouncing off a wall you hadn't seen, or had forgotten existed, and you roared at it like it had personally offended you. You pressed your hand to it, vibrating the wood till the molecules broke apart and it scattered into dust, leaving a hole in the wall for you to pass through. You continued this way on a direct route to Kid - charging forward, crashing into a wall, destroying it, continuing. You passed through a room and a body approached you. You didn't recognise them, seeing only their blood and their organs and their bones, and went on the attack, in defence against someone you had no way of knowing was harmless. In your fury you liquified their insides, not even bothering to watch their lifeless body fall as you continued on your war path. It had been one of the henchmen, and the woman he had been with screamed, running panicked for her life. You did not hear it.

The body you were zeroing in on perked its head in the direction of the scream, about to stand, when you came barreling through the wall. Your eyes were lifeless and empty and you were breathing like a rabid animal, twitching like you were covered in fire ants as you approached Kid. He stood to defend himself, immediately realising he’d fucked up, and you charged, jumping at him and sinking your teeth deep into his neck till you tasted blood. You could have killed him quickly the same way you had the henchman, but you wanted to make his pain last longer, you didn't want to make it a quick kill. You wanted to feel him bleed out, feel his hot blood pooling while he cried out, hear and see his heart take its last weak pump. You coated your body in armament haki, making yourself a bullet proof leech as he fruitlessly punched and clawed at you, falling to the ground in his struggle.

Killer had been finishing the last of his packing when he heard the scream. Shrill, terrified, the sound of a woman who thought their life was in genuine danger. He could only assume a henchman had gone too far, and tutted as he left his room, preparing to scold whoever had made the poor woman scream. He caught the tail end of her as she raced down the hall, mostly naked, disappearing down a stairwell. Retracing to the open door she had come from, he cleared his throat in preparation for yelling, but stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed the hole in the wall. It was a perfect circle, a large pile of wood dust sitting under it, like someone had painstakingly sanded away at the wall layer by layer. He stepped through the hole and immediately regretted not bringing his weapons when he found the body of a henchman, lifeless on the floor, a pink goo and dark blood dripping from every orifice. His open eyelids revealed empty holes where his eyes should have been, a pool of liquid dripping from them instead. He almost gagged under the mask, it was a gruesome sight even for him.

He was about to investigate closer when Kid began to shout nearby, and his head snapped in the direction of the yelling to find two more perfect holes, Kid falling to the ground in a struggle on the other side of them. Killer ran, ready to destroy whoever or whatever had dared to attack his captain, weapons be damned he'd use his bare fists if he had to.

He panicked when what he found was you, your unmistakable purple hair swinging back and forth as Kid tried to roll to get you off him, revealing your teeth deep in his neck as he moved. He was smacking you with his metal arm, and you were entirely unphased, covered in the metal shimmer of strong armament haki. A quick glance around the room to look for a weapon or something he could use to subdue you and he spotted your mask, dismantled on the desk of the large room. He growled under his own mask in anger as he put two and two together.

He leaned over the two of you and grabbed your face, sticking his fingers in the corners of your mouth to force your teeth out of Kid's bleeding neck, like you were a wild dog. You made a feral sound that made a shiver run down his spine as he attempted to pry open your jaw, but with more force than he would like he was able to loosen your bite enough to pull you away. Moving on pure instinct he ripped off his mask, jamming it on your head to muzzle you before pressing you to the floor, using his entire weight to pin you down. You roared and fought back, but after a few moments you began to settle, your armament haki dissipating and the feral growls turning to small sad whimpers as you calmed.

“Kid what the fuck did you do,” Killer growled, turning his uncovered face to look at Kid, who was trying his best to stop the bleeding on his neck with a discarded shirt. The unbridled rage was clear on Killer's face, his piercing blue eyes told Kid he was ready to kill him. A sight he hadn't seen since they were kids, it shook him to his core. “I told you, I fucking told you NOT TO FUCKING TOUCH HER MASK”

“BUT SHE PISSED ME OFF!” Kid snapped back, “I just wanted to have a look! She had her seastone! It was fine!”

“Evidently Kid, it was not fucking fine. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Killer snapped, “put it back together, NOW. I'm fucking serious Kid, I will fucking kill you myself if she doesn't do it first, there is nothing stopping her right now from liquifying both of us at any second”

“Fuck, okay, okay, I'm doing it,” Kid grumbled, immediately putting his devil fruit in to action to manipulate the mask pieces while he continued to hold the shirt to his neck. “Why is she calm now? Shouldn't she still be rabid?”

“She told me my mask is a blind spot for her, so I thought it might dull her senses,” he explained, “she gets like that because she's overwhelmed, so I was hoping blocking most shit out would help.”

You'd stopped fighting him entirely, and he wondered if it was okay to let you go now. He lifted himself off you slowly and you stayed where you were, but reached for him blindly. He figured you were probably terrified, so he stayed sitting cross legged on the floor next to you, and pulled you into his lap protectively, letting you burrow into him and use him as an anchor. The mask made it tricky, and you whimpered as you bumped awkwardly into his chest, but you managed to wrap yourself around him anyway, sitting in his lap facing him, with your legs and arms wrapped firmly around him while you made sad little sniffles. He did his best to comfort you, keeping you held tight against him and stroking your back. It was weird seeing you in his mask, he'd never let anyone wear it, but it'd been the first thing he'd thought of to sedate you. He didn't like however that there was currently a massive hole in the wall behind them where anyone could walk in at any time and see his unmasked face.

Kid stood over the two of you and cleared his throat, interrupting Killer who was apparently lost in his thoughts, idly rocking you back and forth. Kid was holding your mask out for him to take. “You good, Kil?”

“Yeah it's just.. weird to see someone in my mask..” he replied, taking your own mask from him. He sighed and removed his mask from you, quickly putting it back over his own head before putting yours on you. The second you felt the familiar pressure sliding on you grabbed it like a lifering, pulling it in to place and quickly switching it on.

When you finally opened your eyes you yelped, seeing Killer's mask so close to you, then looking down and realising you were in his lap. Not just in his lap, but effectively straddling him, your legs wrapped tight around his waist. You scrambled backwards out of it, backing up against the side of Kid's bed. “SORRY, SORRY!” you squeaked out as a visible blush spread down your face and neck.

“It's fine,” Killer assured you, hiding his own blush as he realised just how close you'd been, feeling the distinct absence of your weight and warmth. “Are you okay?”

You looked between Killer and Kid, who had a trail of blood down his chest as he held pressure on his neck, then you looked around and realised this was most definitely not your room.

“What- what happened?” You whispered, “did I- did I go feral?”

“You tried to take a fucking chunk out of me,” Kid growled. Killer shot him a dangerous look. It didn't matter that he had a mask back on, Kid knew the look well anyway. He quickly shut his mouth.

“Kid took your mask,” Killer explained, “and he's really fucking sorry, aren't you Kid?”

“I just wanted a look…” Kid replied like a scorned child.

“Kid,” Killer snapped.

“OKAY, FUCK, I'm sorry Yin, I didn't know you would actually go feral,” he mumbled, “what happened to your seastone?”

You scowled at him, doing your best to not just snap and kill him right then and there out of principle, “it fell on the floor when I was switching to my mask, which would usually be fine, if someone hadn't fucking taken it”

“I said I'm sorry okay!” He yelled.

“I don't fucking care what you say, you're fucking lucky I don't kill you right fucking now,” you spat, standing up and rushing at him, an accusatory finger poking him in the chest, “what the fuck is wrong with you Kid? Killer warned you what would happen, are you fucking stupid? I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!”

Killer was standing behind you now, resting a calming hand on your shoulder, pulling you gently away from Kid, “That's enough, one life lost is enough for today”

You snapped your head towards Killer, “one life lost? Did I fucking kill someone? Oh my god tell me it wasn't Heat please”

“Heat is fine, I assume,” Killer assured you, “it was just a henchman. No big deal”

You let out a heavy sigh and looked at Kid with an apologetic expression, “Sorry, Captain”

“This ones on me,” Kid sighed. You took a few steps closer and gave him a hesitant look before delicately pulling his hand that held the shirt away from his neck to inspect it.

“Fuck,” you whispered, standing on your tippy toes to be able to see properly, “the bleeding looks like its stopped but you should probably see Mohawk about this, I went pretty deep. Sorry Kid. I've always did tend to go for the jugular when I'm feral, doesn't help that its one of the only things I can see”

“Don't worry about it,” he mumbled, “lesson learned, I won't touch your precious mask again”

You sighed again and took a few steps back, apologising again before turning to leave. That's when you spotted the series of perfectly circular holes that led directly to your room and pinched the bridge of your nose. “Well, that's new,” you sighed, walking through the holes back to your room, stopping to glance at the dead henchman on your way. You didn't even know his name, so you exhaled in relief, no love lost.

Killer gave Kid one more warning glance before following you back through the holes to check on you, not fully convinced that you were fine.

“You okay?” He asked as he stood in the eave of the last hole, watching you hurriedly pack your things. He couldn't help but notice the new toys as you shoved them unceremoniously into your duffle bag, but he tried his best to shake the dirty thoughts they brought up.

“I'm fucking peachy, Kil,” you muttered, before taking your katana and using it to retrieve your seastone from under the bed. “Stupid fucking rock,” you mumbled as you threw it in your duffle bag. You zipped the bag shut and paused, looking at it sadly as you stood beside the dresser it sat on. “I nearly killed him, I tasted his fucking blood, Kil. I can still taste it.” You shook your head with a frown and opened your duffle again, retrieving your toothbrush and toothpaste and making a beeline for the bathroom. You left the door open, so as not to be rude to Killer.

“Its not on you, this is his fuck up,” Killer told you. You turned back to him as you brushed your teeth and softened, seeing his mask and suddenly realising what he'd done for you.

“Your mask…” you said softly, lowering your brush.

“You said it blocks shit, I thought it might help,” he said nonchalantly, scratching the back of his neck.

“It was good thinking,” you told him, spitting your mouth full of toothpaste and rinsing your mouth and brush. You returned the brush and paste to your duffle, staring at the bag with a small blush, “It smells like you in there. It reminded me of the blanket you put over me during the storm. You have a calming scent”

His breath stuttered as you stood properly and looked directly at him, and there was a pregnant silence as you stared at each other. Your eyes couldn't meet because of the masks, but he felt like you were looking right into his soul. His heart skipped as you closed the distance between you and gently took one of his hands in your own.

“Thank you Kil,” you said softly, finally breaking the silence. Your voice was sweet and sincere, “that must have been hard for you to do, I won't forget what you did for me”

“It's nothing,” he mumbled, glad for the mask that was hiding his bright red cheeks, “I did it to protect Kid”

“Yeah, I know,” you sighed, staring forlorn at his hand as you ran your thumb over the scarred back of it, “but thank you anyway”

“Right,” he cleared his throat, pulling his hand away, “I need to finish packing…”

“Yeah, of course,” you replied, taking a few awkward steps back, “I'll uh.. I'll see you on the ship?”

“Yeah, sure,” he mumbled and quickly fled back to his own room.

[NEXT CHAPTER]

#one piece fanfiction #one piece smut #killer one piece #killer x reader #massacre soldier killer #heat one piece #heat x reader #kid pirates

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adobe-outdesign · 1 month

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could you review some of the neopets as animals outfits, like the fennec kacheek, red panda vandagyre, and cockatiel pteri? (those are examples, choose whichever you like!) thank you <3

(Note: I included a random selection of outfits in this post, but feel free to send in asks if anyone wants to see a specific outfit I didn't cover.)

I'll be honest, I'm personally not super big on the "outfit that resembles a real-world animal" trend. First, I play Neopets for the cool fantasy creatures; even the most true-to-life Neopets species have some pretty fantastical colors. I feel like making pets just look exactly like actual animals kind of defeats the purpose of them being Neopets. I get why people would like it and I'm not saying it's bad; it's just not my thing.

Also, the other reason I'm not always big on these outfits is that a lot of Neopets have colours that already resemble real animal patterns. Not only do the outfits blur the colour/customization line quite a bit, but usually I like the colour ones much more, as they keep the actual design of the Neopets in place and just change the patterns and colors, rather than covering up the fun fantasy elements. This also helps them avoid the uncanny valley effect, which I talk about more below.

Also I might be over thinking this but who is making these outfits. None of these animals seem to exist in-universe as far as we're aware. what are the shopkeepers basing these off of. the colours at least have a magic as an excuse

Examples that I think are okay:

Feathery Pteri Outfit: This one's nice! I like the layered patterning on the wings and the high-contrast colors. Most, though, I like that this sticks fairly close to the actual pet, mostly just changing up the tail shape. This almost could've been a paintbrush colour, but then again what colour is up in the air.

(Side note: the eye clipping over the beak is a rendering issue? I think?)

Bouncing Zafara: This one definitely strays farther from the actual pet than the Pteri, but it's a fitting animal choice and it doesn't fall into the uncanny valley, which is all I care about. The body is still somewhat recognizable as a Zafara in terms of shape, and the Miamouse as the joey is super cute.

Freshwater Lenny: Kind of the same case as the Zafara; not super one-to-one with the actual pet, but it's still recognizable as a Lenny and isn't too uncanny. The legs are a particularly nice touch, actually changing the pose to look more heron-like (though they are also the part that strays dangerously into being too detailed).

Please don't:

Adorable Kacheek: Sorry to the fans of this one, but this outfit just resides deep within the uncanny valley to me—like it's a mascot suit instead of just a normal pet. The artstyle is way off from Neopets, looking much more Subeta-ish (except Subeta's art usually isn't so off putting). It's not a bad artstyle, mind you, it's just not very Neopets-ish. I also feel like a fennec fox was also a bad pick for this one, as it's basically unrecognizable as a Kacheek at all.

Feathered Eyrie: Speaking of the uncanny valley, this is another pet that lands squarely there due to having entirely too much detail in the shading and weirdly realistic fur textures. It also just doesn't look very good aesthetically—the beak doesn't fit the face, and the wings are an absolute trainwreck (not only is the perspective wrong, but the left wing is coming from the middle of its back!). On the plus side, you'd be hard pressed to not recognize this as an Eyrie, and it's a fantasy creature instead of a regular animal, so I guess that's something?

Furry Meerca: Hmm... no. This one also suffers from an overly-detailed artstyle and way too much realism, which is especially jarring when placed on top of the Meerca's heavily stylized body shape, resulting in a perfectly round animal with hyper-realistic animal eyes. It's also particularly bothersome because we already had a chipmunk Meerca design in the form of the striped Meerca colour, which is just this but less soul-haunting:

Which is what I meant at the beginning when I was talking about colours vs outfits. The colour is a Meerca that looks like a chipmunk; the outfit is a chipmunk that looks like a Meerca. Big difference.

#neopets #neotag #pteri #zafara #lenny #neopet reviews #long post

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gatheredfates · 2 months

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ALAICE DEVERAUX

Nicknames: Not applicable. Age: Twenty-one. Nameday: Twenty-Seventh Sun of the First Astral Moon (apparently I gave her my birthday, so that might change!) Race: Duskwight Elezen. Gender: Cis female. Orientation: Straight? Profession: Lady of the House of Deveraux and Dubois, last remaining survivor after the Dragonsong War; apprentice baker and occasional confidant to Firelight Trading Company.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS

Hair: A light blue, leaning more into teal. She tends to style it in loose curls around her shoulders. Eyes: She is heterochromatic! One eye is teal, the other is a steel grey. Skin: Pale with a silvery undertone; it tends to reflect whatever light hits it, rather than possessing it's own distinct colour. Tattoos/Scars: None of any note.

FAMILY

Parents: Lord and Lady Deveraux, dead by Alaice's sixteenth year. It is said that Lord Deveraux attempted to defend his wife from the dragons before he was engulfed in flames. No remains of her mother have been found. Siblings: Not applicable. Grandparents: Not applicable, more unfortunate souls lost to the war. In-Laws and Others: Alaice has a child from her first marriage, a daughter called Alyna. Her husband, Draeir Dubois, died under mysterious circumstances in the months preceding the Ishgardian/Dragon peace treaty, bringing no end of speculation from gentry and smallfolk alike. Some suspect his desire to expand his house beyond Foundation's spires drew ire from the High Houses and he was made an example of. Others suspect a more... intimate cause. Without a murder weapon or obvious intent, none can deduce a proper suspect.

She is particularly close to @riftdancing's Siyoh Mari who, whilst not understanding a lick of Ishgardian gossip, will happily entertain the confusion over a cup of tea as Alaice dramatizes. This leagues better than Elandervier who told her she'd 'rather chew on a voidsent's ass' and leaves at the very mention of anything to do with the city. She has an extremely complicated relationship with the other Elezen due to their mutual upbringings, trauma and reconciliation.

When Firelight is conducting business in Ishgard, she can be seen at its patriarch's side helping him navigate the intricacies of the city. Pets: Unless you count the many birds that have taken residence in her gardens, not applicable.

SKILLS

Abilities: Alaice is ice-aspected to a dangerous degree, and it's an element she has always tried to keep under wraps for fear of heresy and expulsion from the Holy See. As a result, the magic is unpredictable and emerges as a by-product of extreme situations/emotions. Only a select few people know she possesses such an ability. Hobbies: Like all ladies of her standing, Alaice was given a proper education including tutelage in deportment; music, song and dance; needlework and painting — among other gentle pursuits. She has a particular affinity for bird watching and, in the advent of her husband's death, has sunk herself readily into her little business as a baker.

TRAITS

Most positive trait: Alaice possesses a remarkable capacity for trust despite her confinement and husband's abuse. Worst negative trait: Her naïvety. As a woman constricted by the societal expectations of Ishgardian women, Alaice knows scarce little about the world around her — or even Ishgard proper. It is something she is working constantly to undo.

LIKES

Colours: Blue, white, silver, gold and shades of brown. However, given Ishgard's proclivity to the cold, any colour that can break through the sheen of snow is a welcomed addition in her eyes. Smells: Anything floral and/or citrus. These are not necessarily smells she will wear, but remind her of a time before the Calamity when the climate of Ishgard was better suited. She's also partial to vanilla, almond and loves the smell of rain. Textures: Knitted wool and smooth glass (or ice, though she tries not to think too much about it), the gentle prick of pine and the grooves in wood and stone. Drinks: Champagne, white wine and mead. She's also discovering some enjoyment of red wine, stay tuned if she gets more extreme!

OTHER DETAILS

Smokes: Rarely. She smoked recreationally after her parents died, a sort of 'dare' from the other ladies in her company, and took it up in secret as a way to release anxiety in the early days of her marriage — away from the prying eyes of her husband. Alaice quit after becoming pregnant with Alyna and hasn't taken it back up due to associating it with those negative experiences. Drinks: Semi-regularly. Much like smoking, she quit entirely when she got pregnant and tends to only partake as a social nicety. She can acknowledge where she was falling into unhealthy patterns when she was married and tries not to go back to those places. Drugs: Not applicable. Mount Issuance: Not applicable. Alaice was fed on the indoctrination by her husband that is not a lady's place to traverse, but that men should come to her. If she is needed for Firelight Business she will be escorted by their couriers, but she has no vehicle of her own. Been Arrested: No. Being a suspect was traumatic enough. Why would she kill her lord husband?

Tagged by: @eriyu — at least for this one! I'm going to try and do one character per tag. Tagging: @thefreelanceangel, @hythlodaes, @piyopikamika, @sealrock, @thevikingwoman & @yloiseconeillants! If you'd like a chance of being tagged, you can like my permanent interaction call here!

#｡･ﾟﾟ･ — sea speaks #｡･ﾟﾟ･ — 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 : alaice #｡･ﾟﾟ･ — sea answers things #｡･ﾟﾟ･ — character answers / memes #look how cute she looks in the screenshot my little BABY #i have so many more to do from the tags #so #i'll be here all day SDFKJGHSDF

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elbiotipo · 27 days

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Question: he would the hair in cat ears work for catgirls? do they get the same hair covering the ears as the rest of the head or would it be shorter for the ears only? if a catgirl has long curly hair, is the hair covering the ears also long and curly?

I would have to research that, but given I have a research subject next to me (my cat) cats do seem to have shorter hair in their ears by default, which makes sense because ears are well, ears, and they need to be mobile and clear of obstructions.

You can see here that this cat (not mine, he went away as I was writing this) has medium-length fur but the hairs covering the ears are rather short. It makes sense it would be the same for catgirls.

Now, does this mean that cat-people hair would be the same as their fur? Do notice that cat fur has a very different length and texture from human hair in that human hair doesn't have that layered thing that makes most mammal fur, individual hairs are also much longer. Furthermore, humans are WEIRD, just plain WEIRD in our hair distribution. No other mammals are like us, there are certainly hairless mammals, for sure, but the human distribution of hair is very much unlike other primates, with our hairy heads, stomach/pubic areas, beard and armpits, while those are usually bald in other primates. There is still considerable debate on the evolution of hairlesness in humans, from endothermic regulation (better sweating) to sexual selection (which might explain the persistance of, well, hair and body hair instead of complete hairlessness). What's interesting is that genes for a full fur (hair, I guess) coat in humans are still there, just disabled into vellus hairs which are a lot less prominent. If you want more on the subject, I warn you, it's a deep dive, but you can start in Wikipedia.

BACK TO CATS THOUGH, something that people often forget is that whiskers are indeed another kind of fur, but not only that, they are active sensory organs that take a big part of brains in many mammals. One we also lack. Humans are strange. But while cats can live without whiskers, it's still something very important to them. So I think that is something we forget about felines and feline characters.

It would also be a real interesting thing if cat-people had different hair, as in the thing in top of our heads (which seems to have evolved to protect our stupid big brains from the sun) similar to cat fur. Perhaps a catgirl would look pretty much human, but from touching the hair, seeing her eyes, perhaps even whiskers, you would see different stuff (assuming a fantasy or such setting). Given our genetics, it's not exactly implausible to have people whose fur just sticks to their hair and tail. It's just, well, I really need to make a post on this sort of stuff one day.

For a VERY fun deep dive into cat coat and eye genetics, I found this site full of deep explanations and charts about cat genetics. Including HYPOTHETICAL cat coats:

Honestly, don't miss it if you're doing cat-like characters. This is way more fun that just sticking ears and a tail and be done with it. Put the cat in catgirls again, that's what I say.

#worldbuilding #nekomimi #catgirls #cats #again I would like to thank Argentina's public university system for allowing me to get a degree so I can talk about catgirl genetics

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alexiswritingstuff · 1 year

Text

Not so scary after all. 1/2

Pairing: Gustavo Fring x gn! reader.

Other Appearances: Jesse Pinkman, Walter White.

Request: I was wondering if you could write a short story/oneshot where the reader (gender neutral) works in the lab with Jesse and Walter, and Gus has an obvious soft spot for them. Being lenient with them when they make a mistake, being more gentle with reader, etc.

I know it is very OOC of Gus but imagining him going all soft 😩🙏

Warnings: none, but be aware of possible spelling mistakes and such.

A/n: To the person that requested this, I hope it is what you wanted! I have a tendency to just wing fics sometimes, not realising that I might be going in the complete opposite direction of what someone wanted me to go in.

But I hope you enjoy nonetheless!

Taglist- @sukunamybeloved - @viviennemuerte

More Gustavo fics.

The lab, that engulfed anyone within, had gone quiet as the machines were finally able to cool from their heated activities.

It had been hours. The process of creating the product that had people begging from every direction had been complete. Put in the cooling fridge to set in their usual trays.

About a minute ago, you had pulled one of them out, ready to do your job of breaking the crystal into the usual sizes that they sold at... Though now, you and Jesse were stood side by side in front of the tray you had selected and put on a free surface.

Two pairs of eyes stared down at it, trying to solve the sudden nagging feeling that something wasn’t quite right. But it was one of those things where the longer you paid attention to it, the less your brain actually focused.

Jesse sniffed, breaking the silence from the intense thinking, “Is it just me, or, uh. Does that look wrong?”

“Yeah,” you answered slowly, mind too consumed to use your full voice, “But I can’t tell what.”

It began again. The two of you looked over every inch of that tray once and then twice, and then one more time, before there was an equal sigh. Jesse had even rubbed his face in an attempt to soothe himself. “I don’t get it, man.”

Was it the colour?

The consistency?

The feel?

Surely, with the time you had spent just looking at it, you should’ve been given at least a form of answer.

So why wasn’t there one?

“Okay, look.” you huffed out, squeezing your eyes quickly in attempt to rid them of the tiredness that clung. “How about we go back, go through it step by step and see if there is something we missed, huh?”

Jesse defeatedly waved his arms with a groan. “Come on.” You ushered, and after giving him a pat on the shoulder, he complied. Picking up the clipboard with notes along the way.

In all honesty, it took a good chunk of time to check certain stations off of the list.

The process was so consistent that whenever you made batches it was a done and dusted kind of situation. So, when you were stood there in front of the grand machines, wracking through your brain for specific information on how you did it.

It wasn’t very easy.

Eventually, however, the two of you had landed at Station 5. The settling tank. Jesse cleared his throat as he raised the clipboard once again, trying to focus his tired eyes on the small words that appeared in front of him. “All right,”

“There’s not really much for this one, but, uh... I guess, as long as it was set at 75 there shouldn’t be a problem.”

You were about to hum in response. Your feet had readied to continue onto the next pieces of machinery to just get this over and done with, and admit defeat as the answer still hadn’t been found. The last part of the process was only a few steps away...

But your body had frozen, the number Jesse had said ringing in your ears like an alarm.

Your eyes flicked to the temperature dial on the tank, even though by now it had gone back to zero, “What?” Jesse’s body turned in your direction, gaze still on the checklist, “The temperature.” he repeated simply. “It was set to 75, right?”

Oh, shit.

When there was no response, Pinkman’s eyes finally left the writing to find yours. And then his head slowly raised, the realisation ready to kick in. “Right?” The look on his face urged a cringed smile to take over your lips.

“I thought you said 85.” you confessed through your gritted teeth and Jesse’s eyebrows furrowed immediately. He looked back down at the list, “Why the hell would I say 85 if it says 75 right here?”

“Dude-- I don’t know. I don’t exactly have control over your brain, do I?!” you practically hissed, arms crossing over your chest in shame while Jesse shook his head in disbelief. “Well, apparently you don’t either, I mean...”

“85, man. You-- That would’ve turned it into some kind of-- of sludge. Right? So... What, every single tray is like that then?”

Words didn’t even have to be said to give him the answer.

“Yo, come on man!” His shoulders slacked, a louder sigh than before beckoning through his lips as he walked off for a second, hands moving up to sit his hips. “They-- They’ll never let us do it without Mr. White again.”

Your eyes followed the man as he started to pace back and forth in front of you, “Jesse, every person in this building has made a mistake at least once in their life.” You paused, gulping, “... Though, I doubt not being able to cook will be the least of our worries.”

That didn’t seem to help Jesse’s nerves as he let out yet another groan, his increasingly warms hands now raising to reach at his face once again. “Look, we just... We’re just going to have to make another batch.” Your attempt at calming Jesse down ending with him shaking his head.

Suddenly, he looked up. His eyes found yours, even while his feet continue to move, and he pointed a finger at you, “You’re telling Gus.”

“What-- Me?! Why me?!”

“Because... He doesn’t shout-- He doesn’t get mad at you.” Jesse insisted, lightly shrugging his shoulders in a way that had your eyebrows raising, “He doesn’t shout at you either.”

“Yeah, but--”

“Is there a problem?”

The sound had cut through the air in a matter of seconds that it felt like you had jumped out of your skin, though all you did was turn away from Jesse. The posture of two bodies straightening out at an impressively fast speed.

There he was. The man himself just stood on the catwalk, hands atop the cool railing as he looked down at his employees that might as well have been a pair of ants.

Uh oh.

Gustavo waited there for about a second and then he was off, making his way down the stairs despite the equal internal pleas that he would either stay there or go back through the doors.

But now, the sound of his footsteps were bouncing off of every wall in room.

You and Jesse had practically turned into ice by the time he got to ground level, and the two of you sent each other worriedly looks before turning back when Gus had stopped himself not that far away.

“Well?” he questioned, his entire body going eerily still, almost ridged, like it usually did. You cleared your throat, “Yeah, uh... There’s a complication with the batch.”

Gustavo’s eyes had locked onto yours. His head was slightly tilted, his jaw clenched, which together was such a thing that it had sent a chill down your spine. “Go on.”

You gulped, your gaze moving from his to send a quick glance over to Jesse before you forced yourself into at least a sense of composure, though your body was still tense. “I-- It’s my fault... Sir.”

“I got the temperature for the settling tank wrong, and... we only just realised.” The more the words spilled from your lips, the dryer your throat had become.

“Telling you that I didn’t mean to do it doesn’t exactly solve the problem, so I--”

“You’re saying that the whole batch is like this. Correct?” Mr. Fring clarified, raising a singular eyebrow, and you nodded slowly, “Yes.” Your hands felt like they were about to start shaking from the anticipation of awaiting his reaction. “Sir, I swear, I didn’t mean it, I don’t-- I don’t even know how I misheard a number.”

Gustavo’s head rose steadily. But then his eyes moved from yours over to the man stood to your side, “How fast can you make another one?” he questioned, instead of issuing a punishment like you had thought, and now you and your lab partner shared yet another look.

“What?”

“How long.” Mr. Fring repeated simply, though his voice was a little lower than before. More firm. “Uh... It depends.” Jesse stated. However, when Gustavo had raised a brow again, he continued. “Like... 6-8 hours. Tops.”

In that moment, a faint breath sucked into Mr. Frings lungs. He straightened up, nodding only once before his lips had parted. “Go.”

“What-- But what about that batch?” you questioned, gesturing towards the failed product still sat on the counter. But he didn’t turn. His eyes hadn’t even moved. Or blinked.

“I’ll handle it.” was all he said. And only now had he began to move, his walk even more ridged this time from what could mostly be assumed to be due to anger.

A factor that your brain had apparently decided to ignore when a sudden panic had raised within you.

Your feet had began moving before you had processed the consequences. “Wait, Gus.” you called, trying your best to follow his movements before he got to the stairs.

And then within a matter of seconds, he was faced in your direction by the next time you had blinked. Something that almost had you stumbling over yourself when you attempted to stop your feet.

Gustavo wore a mild frown. It was one that had gradually set deeper into the lines of his face since he had entered the lab. Though when his gaze had focused on your own, it had disappeared like it wasn’t even there in the first place.

You cleared your throat when your eyes actually processed the fact that they had already been met with his.

“Mr. Fring.” You corrected yourself after a moment, missing the look of disagreement that twitched through Gustavo’s expression upon hearing the name coming out of your mouth.

“Please don’t tell Walter.”

You could fully hear your heartbeat by now. The blood was purely pumping through your veins as if it was about to give you an adrenaline rush, especially when Gustavo’s eyebrows had subtly furrowed. “Why not?”

You turned to look back at Jesse, who could only just meet your eyes, before you faced the other man once again, a deep breath filling your lungs even if it didn’t help to soothe. “He already has a lot on his plate, and I...”

“I don’t want to make it worse just because of a stupid mistake-- My stupid mistake.”

The words settled in the tense air for a good few seconds. It was a waiting game. The prize of which being whatever reaction the man in front of you held, even if it wasn’t going to be a good one.

The two of you stared at each other for a moment. Gustavo’s gaze hadn’t changed once throughout the conversation, and now the silence. It was strong; bold, unmoving, calm. All the while you had felt like some kind of cowering animal stood in front of a predator.

“Like I said, Y/n.” he spoke suddenly, indicating that the decision on how he was going to react had been chosen. It was a great relief when he had finally let himself bink.

“I will take care of it.”

And with that, his back was turned towards you, the footsteps that had once echoed through the lab doing so all over again as he made his way up the spiral stairs without another word.

The past few hours had sort of blurred together as you and Jesse had absorbed yourselves in the process of making the new batch.

A few of Gus’s employees, that you have seen passing by before, had been in and out while you remade the product. They took the trays out one by one, throwing out all of the useless contents, and then returning them to the cooling fridge.

By now the usual concoction was in the middle of being filtered through the last set of machines, a procedure that always seemed to take a long time to complete.

So, there you were, using up the spare time to sit at one of the tables as you looked down at the new checklist you had written out yourself. And now almost finished.

Finally, there was comfortable peace and quiet.

Or so you thought.

The door to the lab had slammed open so quickly, the sound fierce when the hinges had allowed it to move as far is it could go. Yet again, you had almost jumped out of your skin. A “Jesus!” already being exclaimed from Jesse, though you couldn’t see him.

You stood up from your seat, watching a breathless Walter White practically stumble along the catwalk until he was leant heavily against the banister. “How-- Is everything okay? Is anything damaged? Nothing’s damaged, right?”

“What?” you questioned, narrowed eyes searching over him from afar. But then he just huffed, pulling himself along the walkway with the railing so that he could get to the set of spiral stairs.

“Mr. White?”

Right as you had moved round the machinery, your gaze landed on Jesse who was now being grabbed by Walter, getting shaken like there had been some big disaster.

“Yo, what the hell, man-- What are you doing?!” Jesse yelled, close to falling on his ass when he finally got out of the grip on him. Walter threw his arms out like the answer should’ve been obvious. “Gus.” he stated as if it would spark something.

But you and Jesse only furrowed your eyebrows, your arms crossing over your chest once again as you took the spot beside him.

“He told me about the-- the-- contamination. I told you that one person has to stay in the lab or things like this... They will happen!”

It clicked.

Gustavo had acted upon your wishes. He had fabricated a whole story to take place of a mistake that you had made.

He lied for you.

When Walter stressfully rubbed at his face, covering his eyes in a way that almost snapped his glasses with a groan like sound, you took the chance to look over to Jesse to see if he had gotten the memo himself.

The expression on his face told you that he in fact did.

“God... We’re gonna have to make a new batch. Now.” Mr. White pointed out, his initial concern slowly forming into what appeared to be annoyance.

Jesse shook his head, “Hey, relax man we already started. It, uh...” He paused, turning to look at the machine thats rumble was slowly beginning to ease. “Actually, you know what? It should be done soon.”

But his words did nothing. Walter had started mumbling to himself about the setbacks, throwing around numbers, and words that you couldn’t define no matter how hard you tried.

So when he started walking away, neither you or Jesse moved to interrupt him.

“I told you.”

Your attention shifted once again, and soon you found a certain Pinkman looking at you with a weirdly smug expression as he mirrored your stance.

“What?”

“Gus likes you.”

Every muscle in your body tensed so fast. Your head turned to the side, avoiding your partners gaze with a scoff, that sounded a little too fake, “Wha-- No he doesn’t.”

Jesse was purely grinning if he hadn’t been already, “Yeah, man, he totally does.” Each word felt like it’s own individual tease through his slowed voice, “All that lying for you and shit... I don’t know, Y/n. I would say that he’s definitely hooked--”

“Shut up, man.” you hissed, uncrossing your arms just so that you could lightly shove him in annoyance, but all he did was chuckle once he managed to stabilise himself.

And though he didn’t add anything else to his point, he wiggled his eyebrows at you, turning to go back to his work station before there was even a chance to scold him again.

So, instead you just rolled your eyes, a heavy sigh pushing its way through your lips once you had taken in the fact that you were now stood by yourself. Walter was... somewhere, and Jesse had gone back to whatever he was doing before.

It was finally quiet again.

Your shoulders mildly slacked, the exhaustion from hours of work officially seeping into your system in a way that made you want to put your head in your hands, though you still had your gloves on.

You were about to make your way back to your clipboard, resume the remained of your task... But before you could take even a full step, there was a sound that caught your ears. Your legs stalled.

It was two taps. One right after the other against what sounded like metal.

You turned your head to the side, letting your eyes scan over the area Jesse had just moved to in an attempt to see if he had made the sound, or had even heard it himself.

But it was neither.

Your eyebrows were furrowed by now as you tried to peer round the side of a tank, attempting to locate where it was exactly that Walter had wondered off to. Though it didn’t really seem like the sound had came from that direction anyway.

There it was again. Two taps, slightly louder this time even if they were still faint.

You turned on your heel, your mind giving you one last option as to what the mysterious tapping could be.

And then you saw it.

Or should you say him.

Gustavo Fring. The man you had thought was furious with you. Who had then complied to your plead and lied for you, was stood near the door to the lab like he had just walked in. But his stance said otherwise.

His eyes were already on yours, despite the fact that you could barely see them through his glasses. His hand was laid atop the banister in a way that encouraged your attention to fall to it. Your lips parted even if no words were meant to follow.

The source of the tapping.

The two of you sort of stared at each other for a moment. Caught up in each others gazes like Gustavo had apparently wanted, except he didn’t think it would actually hold.

You tried to smile, a sign of respect, though you could practically feel how awkward it had come out. So instead, you nodded your head, an inaudible thank you falling from your lips.

The next movement from Gustavo was sudden.

He had nodded too, his head not even half way back to where it usually sat, before he had turned on his heel, soundlessly pulling the lab door open so that he could officially take his leave.

It was something that you initially had no reaction to.

I mean, his face had appeared in the stoic way it did most of the time. Not even a twitch could alter the movement of his eyebrows, change the look in his eyes, or adjust the way his jaw set.

But the more you thought about what he did before his movements, the more that there was this nagging feeling that you had missed something. Something that your mind was so close to catching onto.

So you let yourself think. You replayed the scene over and over again, focusing on a different aspect of it each time, like a different facial feature or part of his body.

You thought over the way his feet moved, the way his arms went back to his side after he let go of the railing, the speed that his head had turned at... And then you got it.

The image of his face right before he had turned towards the doorway, right before he had chosen to leave, was there. The thing you were missing was now clear as day in front of your eyes.

The corner of his lips had started to curl. He had turned away in an attempt to conceal it.

He was trying not to smile back.

next part.

#gustavo fring #gus fring #gustavo fring x reader #gustavo fring x gn reader #gus fring x reader #gus #breaking bad #breaking bad x reader #gender neutral reader #jesse pinkman #walter white

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vincentbriggs · 8 months

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SIR! I have a question that you can disregard if you like. I am capable of going to the fabric store and figuring my own nonsense out, I just want a pre-emptive second opinion.

The backstory: I teach various after school enrichment classes and we have a class on October 31st for which all of my students are excited. One of my students has said I should come in dressed as a vampire. I want to do it. For him, and also cause he's right. I am incredibly goth and it would only be proper. Sadly, none of my current shirts are sufficiently vampy for this. I wish to make one of the rectangle shirts you've so kindly demonstrated, perhaps with incredibly stupid oversized sleeves. But I haven't sewn in some time, due to work and a recent move.

The question: What is the ideal fabric type, in your opinion, for rectangle shirt with maximum stupid Vampire sleeves?

If you want the REALLY stupidly huge sleeves like my red one has, then definitely something very lightweight! Linen is best for 18th century shirts, but I have made some with cotton too.

I used a semi-sheer cotton for the red one, and since the sleeves were cut a metre wide I think the bulk in the wristband gathers would have been too much if I'd used anything much heavier. (I'm pretty sure it was cotton voile, but since it was a thrift store find there was no label.)

For my regular everyday shirts of low-to-average puffiness, my favourite fabric is the summer breeze linen from Pure Linen Envy.

Their Featherlight linen is a bit lighter and also good for shirts, though the light colours can be very slightly see through. I think I might be able to get away with metre wide sleeve in it, though the wristbands would be quite bulky. Definitely a great option for very big puffy shirts.

(I don't know where you live, but the shop is in Ontario and the pricing is very reasonable. If you're in the U.S. then Burnley & Trowbridge has a nice selection of linens, which I would buy if duty & shipping prices were not a thing. Though from your message it sounds like you're going to look in person at a fabric store, so I hope they have something nice!)

For comparison, this is the summer breeze:

And this is the featherlight:

#ask #shirts

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journey-to-the-attic · 1 month

Text

3rd anni req 15: levi / games (i.e. amogus)

ao3 link (i recommend looking at the end note of this one after you're done reading!! there is some supplementary stuff :^)

note: okay i did intend on fnaf for this prompt, but when it came to it i couldn't figure out how to write a proper thing - so amongus it was. thus the request list i published is a little inaccurate- hope you don't mind, vari! (requested by @valenrien

∎ ∎ ∎ ∎ ∎

“Ready?” Levi asks as soon as I slip into his room. “I’m all set up.”

“Ready,” I confirm, heaving myself over the edge of the bathtub and landing smoothly on a mound of cushions. “Are they online yet?”

“Raphael’s here,” Levi says, running his orange crewmate in circles around a completely stationary grey one. “Hang on, I’m gonna teach him how to put a hat on.”

“You do that…” I tip myself upside down, hanging my legs over the edge of the tub, then pull out my D.D.D. and ask, “Did Thirteen say she’d be free?”

“Should be. Hey, there’s Simeon.” Clicking, then a rustle as Levi turns to glance at me. “You’re gonna drop that on your face.”

“It’ll be fine,” I dismiss as the game boots up. Mammon’s out, so I decide to nick his colour for the game. “Thirteen in. Aw, look!”

Raphael’s little grey crewmate is wearing a halo. Simeon is still standing completely still in the middle of the waiting room. I’m not entirely sure if he remembers how to control the game.

“Solomon’s in,” says Levi over his shoulder, tapping the table restlessly. “Luke should— there he is. That leaves Diavolo, Barbatos…”

“...that’s everyone,” I conclude a few minutes later as Mephistopheles warps in. “Has Simeon moved yet?”

“Uhh, he walked a bit.” Levi types something at lightning speed.

[ Leviachan: simeon r u good ]

[ Salmon: We’re handling it ]

[ Mephistoph: The colour selection here is atrocious ]

[ Leviachan: just pick one n we can start ]

[ SSSime: 1 ]

[ SSSime: Pleas ]

[ Salmon: Could we get another five minutes? ]

[ Leviachan: fine ]

“I still don’t know what the plan is,” I say, setting my phone down as we wait for Simeon to get his bearings.

“Do we need one?” Levi asks, fiddling with a speaker. “We just need to point at Solomon.”

“Yeah, but if he is the impostor…”

“Eh, then we can wait ‘til the next game. Do you want your playlist on?”

“Oh, sure.” A bassline starts up. “...but we have to have a strategy, right? Otherwise everyone’ll know we’re trying to pull one over on them.”

“Eh… got any ideas?”

I hum. “Well, we need to keep track of him, otherwise we'll give it away if we accuse him when he has an alibi. So it won’t matter too much if one of us dies - we can track him better if one of us is a ghost. It’ll be a problem if we both die, but we might look suspicious if we just stick together the whole time - especially if someone figures out we’re trying to point to him. If we’re lucky, we put the idea in their heads, and they’ll start thinking everything he does is suspicious. We have to play the long game, though, or else they’ll vote him out in the first round and it won’t be any fun.”

“...you’ve been reading with Satan too much,” Levi concludes, but shoots me a grin. “Nice thinking, Counting on you, mastermind.”

Simeon’s little crewmate has started running excited circles around a motionless Barbatos. Diavolo is still cycling through hats, but everyone else seems ready. I give Levi a thumbs up, and he hits start.

“...huh.”

Levi glances over as the game loads in. “You okay?”

“Fine, yeah. Let’s split up first…”

I get a little worried about Simeon - he remains completely immobile at the main table for a good minute after the game begins, but soon enough he’s on his merry way. I head down to electrical, where Barbatos is evidently already having trouble with that spinning button-match task. I stop by the wires on the wall; I can tell when he finally completes it, because his little crewmate actually seems to jump when he notices me in there with him.

He comes a little closer. I step away from the panel and run a quick circle around him. He doesn’t move for a moment, but then does the same thing, and is soon on his way off to the next task, passing Mephistopheles as he leaves. I soon follow.

The action starts soon after that. I’m standing by one of the data download nodes when the buzzer goes off. Body reported!

[ Leviachan: where ]

[ 13: Electrical ]

[ Diavolo: Haha!! This game is delightful!! ]

[ Barbatos: If you could concentrate. ]

[ Barbatos: I was there earlier. I believe I passed the deceased on my way out. ]

[ Barbatos: I believe IK is innocent. We were alone in there for a while, but we both left unscathed. ]

[ detectiveik: barbatos is safe ]

[ Salmon: Barbatos, it’s just a game. You don’t need to type like you’re writing a telegram from the warfront ]

[ Leviachan: didn’t i see u go into electrical? ]

[ Salmon: Did you?? I haven’t been yet ]

[ Leviachan: pretty sure i did. 13 did u see him leave ]

[ 13: Don't think so ]

[ SSSime: How DO i VOt ]

[ Luke: We’re voting already? ]

[ Raph: Too soon to make any conclusions. Let’s play it safe ]

“Sowing the seeds,” Levi says triumphantly. “Hang on - what if he has medbay? If anyone sees…”

“I don’t think he even knows you can use it like that. He’s just gone into admin, anyway.” I run down and turn right, passing Luke.

A little while later, alarm goes off. Levi tuts. “Comms is down.”

“Oh, what? I’m up by O2. Hang on, I think Simeon’s stuck.”

“Solomon’s still in admin. There’s no one else in there…”

Body reported!

[ Barbatos: What a shame, Young Master. ]

[ Raph: Found him by the communications thing.

[ Raph: Whoever killed him left already. ]

[ Leviachan: any1 got an alibi ]

[ detectiveik: i’ve been watching simeon run in circles so i think he’s alright ]

[ Barbatos: And IK and I have both testified to each other’s innocence. ]

[ 13: Luke’s been with me on the left ]

[ Luke: Yes ]

[ 13: We were both on our way to fix the sabotage ]

[ detectiveik: solomon? ]

[ Salmon: I can’t get the damned card swipe to work ]

[ Leviachan: cmon its really not that hard ]

[ Leviachan: isn’t there a vent in admin ]

[ detectiveik: does it go anywhere close to comms? ]

[ Leviachan: idk i don’t remember ]

[ Salmon: I couldn’t vent! I was stuck doing the cards! ]

[ 13: Yeah right. Does anyone know where you were for that whole round? ]

[ Salmon: Yes?? Admin, obviously ]

[ Luke: It’s not like we were watching you in there the whole time though ]

[ Salmon: Well I haven’t left ]

[ SSSime: WHAtre we doing ]

[ detectiveik: i think it’s still a bit early to vote ]

[ Salmon: Yes good call ]

[ Raph: Hmm. ]

“...I think we’re getting there,” Levi says as we both leave the cafeteria together. “Who do you reckon it actually is, then? It looks like Thirteen and Luke are both clear… unless one of them just moved really fast. Or Diavolo was dead before comms even went down.”

“Could’ve been… maybe one of us should be tracking vitals. D’you wanna check security?”

“Sure. Oh, I’ve gotta do the fuel task down below first. Don’t wanna slack off.”

We pass Simeon on his way into the reactor. I think I see someone already on the cameras, but I don't get a long enough look at them to tell who it is.

There isn't peace for very long. Levi’s only just finished filling the fuel when another alarm goes off.

“Reactor’s down,” I say aloud, even though neither of us really need the confirmation - we're both already on our way there. “D’you wanna take the bottom one? I’ve got— oh. Hang on.”

Body reported!

[ Luke: SIMEON!!!! ]

[ Raph: That was fast ]

[ Luke: Raphael! Simeon’s dead!! ]

[ Raph: Ah, what a shame ]

[ detectiveik: top of reactor ]

[ detectiveik: might’ve been killed before sabotage but there's a vent right next to him as well ]

[ 13: Impostor pulled the same trick again? Really not slick ]

[ detectiveik: i think i saw someone in security just before as well ]

[ Barbatos: That's nearby. But that also could have been anyone. ]

[ Salmon: Well, I’ve been in admin, so it wasn't me ]

[ Leviachan: dude are you still on the card swipe ]

[ Luke: Maybe you should do a different task first? ]

[ Salmon: Nonono. I’ve got it. I can feel it. Next time it will work ]

[ detectiveik: are we going to avenge simeon or not ]

[ Barbatos: We still lack conclusive evidence, It might be wise to hold off on vengeance for now. ]

[ 13: Sure, if you stop using all those stupid big words ]

[ Barbatos: We shouldn't vote just yet. We don't have enough reason to. ]

[ 13: Now was that so hard ]

[ Raph: Makes sense to me. ]

Levi and I split up again this time. I stop to watch Raphael blast some asteroids - Barbatos runs past on his way to the cafeteria and briefly detours to run a loop around me. (Out in the real world, idling as he waits for some data to upload, Levi reaches into one of his drawers and tosses me a pack of gummy candy.)

Raphael finishes his task and goes straight down to shields. I toss one of the peach-flavoured ones into my mouth, then say, “Well, I don’t think Simeon's it."

“Duh. Hey, Solomon’s in admin again. Ooh, now he’s leaving… I’m gonna tail hi— argh! Oh, that’s just Barbatos.”

“Did Solomon get the card swipe?” I come back up from navigation and head to the cafeteria through weapons. “Did the task bar go up at all?”

“No idea. I turned it off in the lobby.”

“Now we’re never gonna know if the ghosts are slacking off.”

He snorts. “Well, we know Simeon definitely is.”

“Hey, not on purpose. And maybe he’ll be better at it now. It’s easier to get around when you can go through the walls.”

“Sure, sure. I reckon I’ll check admin now, actually— uh oh!”

Body reported!

[ Leviachan: admin ]

[ 13: Hmmmm… Solomon’s haunt. ]

[ Salmon: No!! I left admin ages ago! ]

[ Salmon: Barbatos saw me ]

[ Raph: Barbatos is dead ]

[ 13: Sure, he saw you. When you KILLED him ]

[ Luke: So it’s Solomon? ]

[ Salmon: Wait no ]

[ detectiveik: do we have proof of that ]

[ Leviachan: well whos been in admin this whole time? ]

[ Leviachan: isn’t it super convenient that barbatos dies as soon as solomon leaves ]

[ Luke: When you put it like that… ]

[ Salmon: Isn’t that just proof that I was keeping admin safe with my sorcerly presence (·•᷄∩•᷅ ) ]

[ detectiveik: please don’t ever use that again ]

[ 13: I’m voting you out right now ]

[ Raph: Hold on. We don’t have any hard evidence ]

[ Raph: All we know is that Solomon is the most probable suspect, but we can’t confirm that right now ]

[ Salmon: IT’S NOT ME ]

[ Salmon: I’ve been perfectly well behaved and trying to do my tasks ]

[ Luke: You’ve been doing ONE task and four of us are already dead!! ]

[ Leviachan: every1 who isn’t dead weight sound off. what tasks do we have left ]

[ Raph: I’m finished. ]

[ detectiveik: me too ]

[ Luke: I’ve still got to finish the test tube one ]

[ Leviachan: and ofc solomon still has like 10000 things left ]

[ Leviachan: if u even HAVE tasks.. sus ]

[ Salmon: I haven’t done anything wrong! ]

[ 13: We’ll see about that ]

“...tie,” Levi concludes as the voting ends. “Wait, who voted for Thirteen??”

“Solomon, probably.” I watch his little crewmate run straight up into the top corner of the cafeteria, probably to sulk. “...aww. Poor guy."

Everyone else has already left. I decide to do the same and head left to the medbay.

“Don’t go spilling the beans ‘cause you feel bad,” Levi says warily. “At least wait until we get him out, alright?”

“Why are you mad at him, anyway?”

“I’m not mad,” He objects. “Just betrayed. He knew I wanted that pack! He doesn’t even collect those cards! And— and what’s the deal, dangling it over me for a pact? How shallow does he think I am, huh?!”

“It’s like a best friend bracelet from him,” I say, running a brief loop around electrical and then heading out towards storage. “He does it to everyone in the Newspaper Club, too.”

“Well, it’s not funny. I’m not in the market for making any new pacts, anyway. Or new best friends... do they usually come in two-in-one deals?”

“He’d have way too many best friends to keep up with if they did.”

“Guess you’re right. I’m just lucky, then.”

Body discovered!

[ Raph: I found Thirteen in that big room with the boxes ]

[ Raph: Oh. Luke’s dead, too? ]

(“This is it!” Levi whispers loudly.)

[ detectiveik: a double murder? unprecedented ]

[ Leviachan: uhh we really should vote someone out. there’s only four of us now ]

[ Salmon: Not unless you’re sure! Because if you get it wrong, it’s a guaranteed win for the impostor ]

[ Leviachan: good thing we’re gonna get u out first then ]

[ Salmon: What???? ]

[ Salmon: It’s not me! ]

[ Leviachan: who do YOU think it is then huh ]

[Salmon: I don't know! I was in the cafeteria the whole time ]

[ Leviachan: well then even if u weren’t killing, u were skiving ]

[ detectiveik: solomon i don’t think any of us have seen you this whole round ]

[ Salmon: But I really haven’t done anything. Won’t anyone believe me? ]

[ Leviachan: u’ve been sus from the beginning ]

[ Leviachan: just accept it, we caught you ]

[ detectiveik: sorry solomon ]

[ Salmon: What did I do?!!? ]

[ Salmon: Someone??? Anyone??? ]

[ Salmon: Raphael….. please say something ]

[ Raph: I think you killed them, yes. ]

[ Raph: I have to admit that you acted the fool quite convincingly though ]

[ Salmon: Am I alone in this world ]

[ Salmon: I feel like I'm going crazy ]

[Raph: No hard feelings, Solomon. Justice is justice.]

[...]

[Salmon was ejected.]

The game, of course, doesn’t end. The map fades back into view, leaving the three of us standing alone at the centre table.

“Nice one!” Levi crows, and we send each other an air-high-five from across the room. “So it was Raphael? Didn’t think he had it in him. Guess there’s no winning for us now.”

“Nope…”

“He’s not chasing us,” He notes, running around the centre table, then stopping by me. “Or sabotaging anything. What’s he planning? He’s basically got it in the bag now.”

"Hmm."

"He's not even moving. Weird..."

“Very weird,” I agree, then hit kill.

Levi’s yelp rings through the whole house.

#the formatting on this is kinda wonky in tumblr so please do read it on ao3 instead if it's tricky to navigate!#3rd anni event #obey me leviathan #jtta ik #idk if i should tag the others #obey me solomon #obey me raphael #i'll just leave it at them since they're the most prominent #writing

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