#but eh creative liberties i guess

[berrydoodleoo]

i am the emissary and i shall never die

#ffxiv #ff14 #elidibus #themis #venat #emet selch #lahabrea #hermes #i think the parallels between themis and venat are really interesting #their physical similarities and everything else #i really liked the new raids and new i had to make something with themis in this room it's honestly just an amazing space #i tried to capture the moments before the sundering #when the convocation resolved to sacrifice the life on the planet and venat stood up against them #the timeline is a bit mushy of course #especially after the flashback scene in ew #but eh creative liberties i guess #i wanted to capture a mix of grief and resolve #and i tried to make it look painterly #it's something i've been experimenting with but this is the first time i pulled it off in a way i like #click to see the full res version! #ffxiv 6.4 spoilers

[mewkwota]

More sketches of the same one guy in even more hairstyles.

Did I mention how much I think Simon Belmont is very lovely? :D

He doesn’t always have good refs so much of these are loose interpretations. The bottom-most ones are the same hairstyle and intended to focus less on the “waves and curls” and more on the “straight but fluffy” (the 2nd page being the better take).

#everything is inconsistent because I'm focusing on his hair don't even tell me #that's just how I brainstorm (a.k.a.: draw mindlessly) #I had to take some creative liberties with how I styled these designs #so good luck guessing where each appearance these came from ( ; v ; ) #doodle-daas #castlevania #simon belmont #(I can't even fathom that top outfit I guess the cloak helps to cover that up eh? ahahahh)

[diagonal-queen]

Maybe Kouyou teaching gn!reader manners in her unique way? 😌

Sakura Kisses

♡ pairing: Kouyou Ozaki x gn!Reader

♡ synopsis: Your girlfriend Kouyou teaches you Port Mafia etiquette after you become a new member under her supervision.

♡ wc: 1.1k

♡ cw: Mentions of mafia business including murder, basically just one long conversation between you and Kouyou, reader is a bit of a silly (self-insert much?? I am so silly)

note: I took a couple creative liberties with this one, so...hopefully it's alright lol. This is one of my OLDEST reqs and I'm only now finishing it, I'm so sorry nonnie I love you so much babe and I fucking love Kouyou too man, she's not my favourite girl (LUCY DEFENDER TILL I DIE) but she's amazing nonetheless. When she appeared in Stormbringer I think I screamed. Anyways, apologies for errors and I hope you enjoy x

"Are you gonna teach me how to differentiate between all those salad forks that princesses use?" You sighed. "I don't wanna do all that. I wanna use ONE fork when I eat."

You really didn't know what to expect when Kouyou had suggested sitting down and giving you an informal lecture on 'mafia etiquette'. As far as you were concerned, those sorts of words were reserved for high-class individuals, and people from before the 20th century. You'd expected your induction into the mafia to involve a lot more active bloodshed; full of action, and littered with corpses of faceless enemies- something like what Chuuya Nakahara had experienced when he first joined, or so you'd heard.

Apparently not. Not when your girlfriend is an executive, anyway.

"No, nothing like that," Kouyou chuckled. "Mafia and monarchy aren't synonyms."

"Well, they're pretty damn fancy though, right? I can only guess by you, at least..."

"You'd be surprised," she replied. "I'm perhaps one of the most...'fancy' individuals in the organisation."

"Is that right?" You raised your eyebrows, curiously. "I dunno...I just assumed organised crime would be organised, like how it is in those old gangster movies."

"Of course, those films aren't based in reality. The Mafia is much more brutal than any screen could display, though I understand you're already aware of it." Kouyou locked eyes with you, her gaze firm. "Yes?"

"...I mean, sure..." you answered, before adjusting in your seat. "Right then. What's the first thing I should know? Like, gimmie the basics."

Kouyou cleared her throat. "There is a rule of transaction here in the Port Mafia. You don't want to be indebted to anyone else here."

"But I'm indebted to you, Kou!" You said. Kouyou chuckled.

"Not me, dear. Nobody else, though. I'm sure if I talk to him I can grant you some mild immunity with Chuuya." She explained. You inhaled, never having met the executive before but having heard stories. He certainly sounded like someone you would want immunity from.

"You and him are close, right?" You asked her.

"Indeed. I did help oversee him when he first joined the mafia, as I'm doing for you now."

"How long ago was that?"

"Seven years ago," Kouyou answered quietly, seemingly remembering the time fondly. "He was rather plucky at that age. He found his rhythm here rather easily, nonetheless."

"Good for him. Bet he was better at it than I am, eh?" You chuckled. Kouyou tilted her head, before bowing her head.

"Don't fret about it, dear. You'll feel more comfortable here in no time, though...you can't be too comfortable. This is the Mafia, after all." She shifted in her seat to better face you. "Now, I'm going to ask you some questions which you'll need to know the answers to in order to...survive here."

"...'survive'?" You slowly repeat the word, as if foreign to your tongue.

"Many lower ranking members, such as assassins and those who run errands for the higher-ups, are rather disposable. Many in my position would have no problem killing you if you were to upset them at all," She explained, her voice calm as if this were completely normal. You hadn't been a part of Kouyou's world for an extremely long time, but you decided to start expecting a lot more death very soon. You knew she was desensitised to it and you were fine with that, but...

"God, that's frightening. I thought you said you could get me some kind of immunity, though."

"I said I'll see what I can do with Chuuya. In all honesty, I believe you two have the capacity to be good friends, so long as you don't anger him."

"Well then, bring on the questions, I guess..." you muttered in reply, before perking up after what you felt to be a brilliant idea popped into your head. "Will you kiss me when I get a question right?"

Kouyou blinked in surprise. "Why, that's..." she partially covered her now-red face with her sleeve. You gave her a smile.

"Please? How else will I motivate myself to do well?" You begged, giving her a slight mock-pout. "Come on, you wanna kiss me, Kouyou. You wanna kiss me sooooo bad, I can tell."

"Fine, fine," she nodded quickly, waving her arm slightly. "I agree to these terms. Are you satisfied?"

"Sure am!" You grinned. "So, go on!"

"Alright..." Kouyou straightened her posture and softly cleared her throat. "If I were to approach you and ask your name, what do you tell me?"

"...my name?" You answered, confused. "You know my name."

"Regardless, you would tell me anyway. When an executive asks a question, they are demanding an answer."

"Right, okay..." You nodded, "Then, my name is Y/F/N."

"If you're asked who you work for, what do you tell them?" She asked. You pursed your lips for a moment.

"...uh, you? Miss Ozaki Kouyou?"

Kouyou shook her head. "You work for the organisation."

"The Port Mafia?"

"Yes. That's your reply. In this line of work you don't answer just to me, you also answer to Ougai."

"Who?"

"The boss of the Port Mafia," she clarified, "the kingpin of the organisation. You must have already seen Mr. Mori with Elise, yes?"

You frowned, confused. "...Elise?"

"The young blonde girl who accompanies him."

"Oh, yeah, her! She's adorable," you said, with a smile. "She's his daughter, right? I mean, I just assumed, but I didn't know if it'd be rude to bring it up at all. They don't look alike, so maybe...adoption? I don't know."

"...no, that's not quite it..." she began, tentatively. "You shouldn't ask about her, though. Don't bring it up in front of them, or anybody for that fact. Perish the thought, now. Simply do not ever think about it."

"...I don't..." you began with a shake of your head, utterly confused. "Okay...sure. Is that another rule?"

"Consider it most crucial," she answered, stone faced. Despite having such a graceful face painted with fine, expensive makeup, her expression was no less unnerving. You could only blink at her.

"...alright. Anything else?"

"'Anything else?'" Kouyou repeated, before releasing an airy giggle. "Certainly- we may be here for some time, my dear."

"Oh, I'll be getting a lot of kisses then," you grinned, and she laughed once more. "Am I right?"

"...you are, yes. In which case..." Kouyou slowly leaned over and brushed her soft red lips against your own. When she drew back, she gave you a small smile. "Well done, my darling."

taglist~ ♡ @gettinshiggywithit, @fyodorhatr, @flower-of-darkness, @bejeweledgirl, @kokoenjiandco, @pinkiipeachiikeen

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd x reader #x reader #x gn reader #bsd x gn reader #bungo stray dogs x reader #bungou stray dogs x reader #kouyou #ozaki kouyou #bsd kouyou #kouyou x reader #bsd koyo #bsd fanfic #bsd fanfiction #bungo stray dogs fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #bsd oneshot

[cicadadust]

I promise I'll get back to drawing canon characters soon. But woo- took me three days to finish. But my boi Kaiba is complete! This is probably the most cluttered ref I've ever made haha.

Potential Rakuyou arc spoilers ahead so be warned:

Originally he was inspired by a post where someone mentioned the artist phenomenon of a canon character basically turning into their OC after awhile.

And it all started with well, I love Kamui. And I love his first official appearance with the bandages obscuring his face - maybe I could work with that. But then I shoved so many of my AU things and other ideas I enjoy into this character that he's mutated so much that he barely has any trace of Kamui left in his character. Definitely not story wise, nor personally, maybe a few elements design wise still along with the fact of being a Yato. Kaiba actually ended up being much more like Kouka story wise than I intended though (*cough* probably because Kaiba was mainly based on my AU of Kamui being the sole Altana mutant on Kouan instead of Kouka *cough*) but eh, I'll live with that.

Despite being a yato and Altana mutant...I may have taken a few creative liberties design wise. But I have my excuses! One thing is, I absolutely love Yato- but wish they had a few more I guess inhuman traits. Like please give them larger canine teeth and reflective pupils please🙏🥺. I thought the reflective pupils for Yato would be really cool, or funny, if Kagura had em too. So I tossed those traits into there. And I know Yato are supposed to be fair skinned- but I had an idea! Since Yato seem to be able to build up a slight tolerance to sunlight, like with Kagura being able to be out in broad daylight, while Housen who hasn't been exposed in a long time immediately started dying. I figured what if during Yato disopra, one of the groups of survivors who had fled Kouan ended up on this sunny desert dwarf planet... probably not by choice. Though there, the survivors perhaps started to build up a higher tolerance to the sunlight. But yet they're still not immune to it. And could have been the downfall of the few generations that had managed to survive for long enough. Kaiba was from this specific clan of Yato that had settled on the dwarf planet. With a slightly higher tolerance to sunlight than the typical Yato, and with the combo of being an altana mutant. Kaiba was free to enjoy the sunlight for much longer before feeling the effects of it, allowing him to gain more of his tanned complexion. Also just shares the same reptile brain as me, with the desire to just lay out in the sun on warm rocks. Though if he's an altana mutant, how come he has a scar? That should just heal right? ... Well, I have absolutely no excuse for that for now! I just wanted to reuse a scar design from one of my older characters because I thought it'd look nice on Kaiba 👉👈.

Now to get a little more into his story and such. It starts off similarly to Kouka's. As again Kaiba is the last member of his clan surviving alone on his birth planet due to him being a mutant. The forgotten dwarf planet, which I've named Ardoros, is covered in reddish orange sands, stone, and a whole bunch of space junk wich collects on its surface. With so much metal and scrap around, Kaiba developed a skill in metal working. And even managed to find a junked ship one day. This was obviously very exciting as he managed to get it to function- just barely. With many days having spent wandering Ardoros previously, he had already discovered one of its altana crystals. Albeit small, he fashioned it into an earring to serve as a battery in a way before he finally left. But being the absolute hunk of junk it was, Kaiba's ship broke down when he managed to land on another planet. And with no money or anything to fix it, he's began relying on hitchhiking. Traveling all over the universe with the aid of strangers. This got to go on for years, exploring new planets, trying new food etc- he absolutely loved it. But, the crystal he wears is almost depleted along with his own altana energy. He continues to hitchhike, yes. But now determined to find his way back to Ardoros before it's too late. Thing is - he's never been skilled at navigating, always leaving that up to whoever he was traveling with. He has also encountered no one else who's even heard of Adoros, no one else knows it's location either. And currently his latest stop during his attempts to get home, is on earth.

#gintama #oc #fanart #fan character #gintama oc #original character #yato #altana #altana mutant

[loregoddess]

tagged by @fayesdiary, thanks!

Favorite color: green! although I like purples and blues a lot too

Currently watching: A handful of shows via cable, and also, uh....I started watching Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles out of curiosity and have actually been having a lot of fun watching it....

Last Movie/TV Show: Pretty sure the last movie I watched was Friday the 13th (first time seeing it in my life, it was okay but there are better horror movies out there), and the last show I finished was Life On Our Planet over on Netflix (that was fun to watch, even if the writers took a lot of creative liberties).

Spicy/Savory/Sweet: Eh, savory I guess? Although I don't mind sweet if it's not like, super sweet (actually I prefer plain and bitter flavors best). Definitely not spicy though.

Current Obsession: Uhhh, I guess Fire Emblem bc I'm replaying Three Hopes and thinking about all the things that could have been added that weren't (to both Houses and Hopes). Although Octopath has been on my mind a lot lately as well. Eventually I'm gonna sit down and figure out every possible way the timeline can split after Skyward Sword so I can put my timeline theory stuff for BotW/TotK to rest in my head, but...I'm not as focused on LoZ at the moment. I'm also thinking about a few of my personal projects that I never talk about, as I've finally figured out some of the plot for one of my many original story ideas (and now need to actually write it down somewhere so I don't forget) and am currently working on a different story idea as well.

Last Thing I Googled: "name for a person who makes cobblestone roads"

and hmmm, I'll tag @lookerdewitt, and @alynnl but only if you feel up to it!

#tag game #oracle of lore #fun fact I did not find a good answer from my last google search bc ''roadworker'' doesn't sound cool enough for a fantasy story #and ''cobbler'' had like three different definitions so I uh...eventually just settled on ''road cobbler'' #it was for a throwaway line of dialogue that I'm not even sure I'm gonna keep

[ao3feed-xzero]

Do Reploids dream of electric sheep?

by Drakoloach

Hunting Mavericks was easy. Locate the offender, figure out how many there were, plow through their legions of Mechaniliods, defeat the Maverick. Take the chip back to base, hand it off to the right people, eat dinner, play racing games with Zero and Axl for the rest of the night to de-stress, let AXl win, plug in and go to sleep. It's a process X is extremely familiar with. You could even call it routine.

This next mission should be no different.

Except it is. Very.

(or, X and Zero are sent to clear out a hospital taken over by Mavericks. It goes horribly wrong.)

Words: 5580, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types, Rockman - Fandom

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: M/M

Characters: X (Rockman Classic Universe), Zero (Rockman Classic Universe), Axl (Rockman X)

Relationships: X/Zero (Rockman Classic Universe)

Additional Tags: Minor Original Character(s), Original Character Death(s), Irregulars | Mavericks (Rockman Classic Universe), robot gore, Gore, Repliroids | Reploids (Rockman Classic Universe), Alive Zero (Rockman Classic Universe), takes place in X1 timeline? i guess?, Oneshot, the X/Zero can be romantic, Or platonic, Or familial, Whichever Works, they care about each other is the bottom line, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Trauma, creative liberties taken with worldbuilding, Heavy Angst, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sort Of, ok maybe not, eh hes fine, Zombies, canon-convenient Sigma Virus, Hospitals, liberties taken with robot anatomy, might get a part 2, Not Beta Read

from AO3 works tagged 'X/Zero (Rockman Classic Universe)' https://ift.tt/Kz0ycsv

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #fanfiction #fics #fic #xzero #zerox #megaman #mega man #megaman x

[fasa-umich]

₊✧‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✧‧My FASA Experiences as Boba🧋₊✧‧₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✧‧ || Zainab Ahmad, FASA's 2023-2024 Professional Development Chair

Introduction

Hi. My name is Zainab Ahmad (zay-nub eh-med), and I am a fiend for boba. That’s what everyone says, though, right? Yes, but dare I even call myself a connoisseur, I have the credentials to prove it:

I worked at CoCo in my junior and senior years of high school (yes, the one on north campus)

I worked at Sharetea my freshman year of college

I had 200 boba drinks in 2021 (I counted)

I won free boba for a year from Palgong

I have a private story (called bobruh 🧋) where I rate boba every time I get it

I absolutely demolished PASS in the boba drinking competition at Rice Bowl ‘23 (we still lost overall ʕ ´•̥̥̥ ᴥ•̥̥̥`ʔ )

POV: you’re beating PASS @ the boba drinking section of the eating comp @ Rice Bowl ‘23

Thus, you can clearly see I have a(n) mild obsession. Thank God I don’t have diabetes!

Wait, what does any of this have to with FASA? Actually, for my testimonial, I will be comparing my experiences regarding FASA to boba drinks. Let’s get into it.

Taro milk tea ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Respectfully, taro milk tea is the most basic boba drink. It’s by no means bad if taro is your favorite, but it does mean your taste is basic (and that it completely ok ദ്ദിʕ•ᴥ•ʔ ). We all start somewhere on our boba journey, and more often than not it’s with taro (myself included)! How could this possibly intertwine with my FASA origin story?? You guessed it– like so many other FASA members, I went to one FASA event in freshman year and dipped until sophomore year.

Let’s run it back to winter 2021 of my freshman year– technically the first FASA event I went to was mass meeting. But guess what! I attended on Zoom and did not really engage with anything!

So, the first FASA event I truly attended was FAM/lin reveal. I honestly don’t know what compelled me to fill out the form to join a FAM, but I do recall going to Rackham, sitting at a table watching the lin reveals (at this point I did not know what a lineage was so I did not opt to be in one), then the FAM reveals began and I was on the edge of my seat. It was down to me either being placed in H.A.M. or $WAG and truthfully I was hoping for $WAG just because the possibility of the Muslim girl being in H.A.M. would be… interesting (for context, Muslims do not eat pork). Then lo and behold I was placed in $WAG ฅʕ⭑ﻌ⭑ʔฅ I thought it was cute how my new FAM members and I all sat together in a circle & introduced ourselves, and I left that event feeling a little bit closer to FASA.

Taken after my first real FASA event! Idk why I called it a meeting tho!

Then I fell off the face of the Earth in regards to FASA events & didn’t go to anything until the fall mass meeting of my sophomore year (lol but nobody’s laughing)  ₊ ⊹ʕ – ᴥ – ʔ

Thai milk tea ʕづ๑•ᴥ•๑ʔづ♡

By thai milk I specifically mean Ding Tea’s thai milk tea  – my favorite milk tea! But only the version prior to Winter ‘24 (because they changed the recipe this semester ʕ ꆤ ᴥ ꆤʔ). Anyways, as I became more active in FASA as a general member in my sophomore year, I had so much fun! I finally got sorted into a lineage in Fall ‘22 (darago!) & enjoyed debriefing with people that I probably would have never spoken to if it weren’t for FASA.

Darago @ PCN Centennial ୧ʕ•̀ᴥ•́ʔ୨

I never considered myself a dancer (& still don’t tbh) but I learned tinikling for the first time, sucked at it, but eventually danced to Industry Baby at PCN

+ learned to dance like an elegant lady through performing pag-apir at both PCN & Battle

Chins up for pag-apir!

+ danced like a duck by doing itik-itik for Kalayaan.

I wanted to dip my toes into being more integrated with FASA than just being a general member & a performer, so I joined the yearbook committee! I always thought graphic design was fun, & I enjoyed the creative liberties the yearbook gals & I took to make last year’s yearbook <3

I designed the fit check page (right) ᵔᴥᵔ

I enjoyed the FASA community so much that I wanted to contribute to it more as a board member. Thus, I ended up running for both S’Advocacy & PD because I thought my prior experiences/skills aligned well with both roles (fun fact: I was the only applicant who ran for two positions last year). As you can see, I became the 2023 - 2024 Professional Development Chair, & I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

PD lin!

Wintermelon milk tea ⍝ʕ´•ᴥ•`ʔ⍝

I feel like not many people have gotten into wintermelon milk tea, but it’s really good and underrated. I would down it so fast when I worked at Sharetea. So good. But, as we all know, too much of a good thing is no longer a good thing. Woah, this seems like it’s about to go downhill. Let me explain.

Transitioning into when I became a full-fledged boardie & started being one of the people behind the scenes of the ever-loved FASA events, I learned a lot about myself as a leader & about my personal characteristics. A lot of time goes into being a boardie, & being on board made me get my planning skills down to a T– despite me thinking they were already good. I experienced a lot of ups & downs as a boardie, & I utilized my experiences as learning opportunities. I currently am on two other boards (shoutout NOiR & IMSA lol), but I have never seen on organization value community as much as FASA does, & I think that’s something to be treasured.

Board @ senior farewell fresh outta the womb for one of our first events together

As I write this in my final month as your Professional Development chair, I feel ready to pass the baton off to the next. Being a FASA boardie has definitely been a good thing, but I have reached a point where I believe our organization could benefit from someone with a fresh perspective. Time for something new. I have had the great pleasure of being PD chair, & I hope that our members only continue professionally developing!

Hands up, time’s over!

Kita kits,

Zainab Ahmad - ̗̀꒰ঌʕ⁠•⁠ᴥ⁠•⁠ʔ໒꒱ ̖́-

#2023-2024 #fasaprofessionaldevelopment #fasapd

[re-ikrmso]

“WHAT?! GODS DON’T DO ANYTHING! THEY JUST F-CK AROUND ALL DAY!”- c!Ikari 

A doodle of one of the more memorable scenes from the RPD!universe. I personally call it the “remade” arc, and this takes place around season 4-5. Organinzation wasn’t a key component in our story, so...Yay, free creative liberty on how to list things!

Anyways, the guy with the wings is c!Eleven, and ho boy, they are not happy with c!ikari :3  This too is also a concept design for him, but it may stick around like c!ikari. I actually made this before my eariler post of c!ikari’s design heheh. I was thinking of keeping it ambigious  for c!ikari, and maybe for c!eleven but i was thinking that those square parts on thier wrist were actually some kind of metal bracelet (cause i was thinking that it would be boring if there wasn’t something cool) and also, the cape wings! in this, c!eleven’s manifests  and resembles actual wings more closely! But they’re not real wings, just an imitation heheheh (symbolism~)

//Slight spoilers for events below(which doesnt matter i guess)

Anyways, the guy with the wings is c!Eleven, or “Ace”, god of the “universe”.  Needless to say, c!Eleven and c!Ikari’s relation with each other has verrry much rotted away from whatever nuetral position they had with each other. c!Eleven moves on quick, and tries to act as if nothing’s happened, and c!Ikari holds grudges for his treatment of them and multiple other things. And for all the times c!Eleven attempts to act that things are normal, they also have a quick temper and thier use of force for what THEY think is right is VERY. Prevelant in why c!ikari hates him so much. I would honestly like to spoil everything but. eh.

#c!eleven #c!ikari #RPD!universe #ocs #art #A post that isn't a reblog. #my art

[danses-with-dogmeat]

Howdy! I got an ask/react for the Fo4 companions! How would a romanced companion react to Sole (preferably female) doing things to make them feel 'stronger' or 'protective' over her? Some random examples: Sole "can't" open something and has to ask for help/Sole conveniently forgets her overcoat when she knows it's going to be cold out, etc. the little things :) (Extra thing: you don't have to but if you could go into a bit more depth for Deacon and Hancock's response that'd be great :D )

Okay, this was so. much. fun. I took a few... creative liberties with the prompt, but I hope it’s still in the realm of what you were looking for! And, of course, thank you so much for the ask! I hope you like it!

Cait: 

     Sole pressed a cold cloth to Cait's cheekbone, and she hissed at the pressure of the contact on her swollen cheek. 

"Shit, sorry, Cait." 

"Eh, I've had worse licks than this."

"I know, but still… this one is definitely my fault." 

"It's hardly yer fault, luv, I'm the one who got meself inte this."

"How? I'm the one who started the fight." Sole protested, pulling her hand back so she could look her companion in the eye. 

"Maybe, but I'm the one who gave you yer drinkin’ problem, and that's what got us inte the fight in the first place." Sole chuckled at that, shaking her head. The two had had this discussion what seemed like a hundred times, both trying to take the blame for the constant slew of bar fights that they found themselves getting into. 

Tonight, it had been four intoxicated men who had decided it was a neat idea to discuss the details of what they’d do to Cait if they could get her drunk enough. While the redhead hadn’t seemed to hear, Sole had briskly made her way over to the group to give her two cents on these ideas of theirs. So, Cait had a point, maybe if Sole hadn’t had quite so much whiskey, she could’ve tried to solve the problem more... verbally. But alas, her confrontation had officially started with her fist landing at the temple of the man nearest to her, effectively knocking him out. And it had ended with Cait hauling Sole to her feet after disposing of the man’s companions. 

Cait picked absent-mindedly at the scabs forming on her knuckles as Sole brought the wet rag up to her face once more, dabbing at the blood next to Cait's lip. 

"God, how is it that you always end up with the injuries? All I got was a bruise to the cheek, and yet, here you are, looking like a human punching bag."

"I can tell ya that. It's cus it's always me rushin' in te save your arse. Why do you always take on more than ye can handle?" Sole snickered, not knowing if Cait found her own words as amusing as she had. 

"Because, I know no matter how many assholes I take on, you'll always be there to save me." Cait made a disgusted sound, rolling her eyes at that, much like Sole thought she would, before letting her emerald gaze meet Sole's eyes. 

"I wish you weren't, but yer damn right." Cait said, and Sole felt a little jump in her chest at the sentiment. Cait wasn’t the most tender person in the wasteland, but somehow, she always seemed to know what to say; to Sole, anyway.

The pair sat silently for a bit as Sole finished cleaning up her defender. Wiping down her bloodied hands, and the remainder of the crusted crimson on her face.

"Are ya done fussin yet? I'm tellin’ you, I'm fine. Can we just go te sleep already?"

"One more spot left." She told her, bringing the rag up to her bruised face once more. Sole's eyes fell to Cait's swollen lips as she drew the cool fabric over them, before leaning in to press her mouth softly to Cait's. Sole pulled away, but stayed close enough for Cait to feel her warm, whiskey-tinged breath fan over her as she whispered, 

"Thank you for saving me tonight. I really was way in over my head." Sole looked down, embarrassed at her admission, as Cait smiled at her. 

"It was my pleasure, luv. As you said, I'll always be there te save yer arse." 

Curie: 

     "You know, you don't have to come to me for something as small as zhis." Curie said as she examined the minor cut on Sole’s arm. “You could patch zhis up yourself easily!” 

“Well…” Sole felt heat rise to her cheeks as she searched for an explanation. She knew that every time she came to Curie for something like this, she was taking up the doctor’s precious time, but she couldn’t help herself. What was she supposed to do when Curie insisted on working all day when they were at a settlement? They usually came to settlements to relax, to help make repairs and look into any problems the settlers might be having, but Curie always insisted on doing check-ups for everyone in their vicinity. Sole loved her selflessness and dedication to her work, but… When were they supposed to spend time together? This is what I get for having a workaholic for a girlfriend.

“You know, infection is a big problem out here. I just thought it would be best to seek the help of a professional.” 

“Oh, of course, of course. How responsible of you.” Sole bit at her lip as Curie laughed at her. Well, she really has caught onto the whole ‘sarcasm’ thing.

 “Fortunately, you do not need to worry about infection in zhis, it iz not deep. But come here, with me.” Curie urged Sole off of the cot she was seated on and brought her to a table at the back of the clinic. 

“Wait here, se vous plait.” With that, Curie disappeared around the corner, and Sole stood around, twiddling her thumbs, as she tried to think of an excuse to get Curie off of work early. 

“I was going to clean my supplies with zhis, but we can do your arm first.” Curie said as she came around the corner, a bucket of soapy water in-hand. 

“Here.” Curie set the bucket onto the table and had Sole hold out her arm as she produced a clean rag from the pocket of her lab coat, and dunked it into the warm water. Sole watched as Curie wrung out the cloth, and brought it to the miniscule wound on her arm. 

It was comical, really, the care that Curie took in cleaning the cut that couldn’t have been more than an inch long, and was almost too thin to see. Another rush of heat made its way to Sole’s cheeks as she realized how ridiculous she must seem to the doctor, but Curie made no complaints as she used the other side of the rag to dry off her arm. 

“Zhere! It should be all better. I can wrap it for you too, if you’d like.” 

“Thanks Curie, you’re a lifesaver. But I don’t think you really need to wrap it.” The synth laughed at her as she threw the rag into a basket and picked up the bucket again. 

“Oh, mon dieu, I don’t know about zhat.” She shook her head, a pink tint coming to her pale cheeks at Sole’s flattery as she turned to go into the back of the clinic again. 

“Wait!” Sole said, reaching out her “good” arm to stop Curie before she could vanish around the corner once more. Curie looked at her, a questioning expression on her face. Sole stood, her hand still wrapped around Curie’s forearm, utterly at a loss of what to say. I just don’t want you to go. It’ll be another four hours until you get off. 

I think you should take a break?

Maybe you should have a half day?

Do you need some help here at the clinic? God, when did I become so damn clingy?

“Hmm.” Curie’s eyes pierced into Sole’s as a knowing look washed over her face. “I zhink I know what it is you want.” Sole just stared ahead, wondering silently if that were true. The doctor set down the bucket yet again, delicately taking a hold of Sole’s “injured” arm once more. Slowly, she brought it upwards, then lowered her head to place her lips gently over the cut. “Iz zhat better?” 

Sole giggled, still embarrassed, but definitely glad she had come to interrupt Curie’s work. I guess I can wait a little longer. Maybe make us a nice dinner for tonight...

“Much. Thanks again, Curie.” 

“Of course! Anytime, mon amour.”

Danse: 

     Sole sat at the kitchen table, draining the last of her coffee as her gaze fell to Danse, where he was seated on the steps outside the front door of her Sanctuary home. He stared ahead blankly, brows knitted together above his lusterless eyes as his hands worked to remove a spot of rust from a piece of power armor he had taken off his suit temporarily. Lately, the ex-paladin had been adept in putting on a show for Sole, making her think that he was okay, even after everything that had changed in his life over the course of a few hours. It had been over a week since he had found out about his true identity, and in that time,  Sole could tell that he had tried to remain strong. For whom, she wasn’t sure. She thought she had made it clear to him that she didn’t care about his “strength” in these times, she just wanted him to get through them, whatever the means. Yet, he only seemed to don this look of despair and hopelessness whenever he thought she wasn’t looking, and if she tried to bring it up, he would always attempt to change the subject, or he would tell her not to worry and simply say that he was still working on “adjusting.” 

She hated when he didn’t talk to her. The seemingly insensitive man was always happy to listen to Sole’s problems and offer what advice he could, often suggesting that she discuss her own issues as a form of therapy. But God forbid she tries to get him to do the same. Sole sighed as she mulled over what to do, and noticed Danse’s head twitch to the side, listening, before his gaze dropped down to focus on his task.

He’s been working on that same spot for almost an hour. If it’s not out yet, I don’t think it ever will be. Sole looked around the room, trying to find something that could possibly serve as a proper distraction for Danse, and her eyes fell to the wooden stereo below the window in the living room. She had left it there because she simply didn’t have the heart to scrap the old thing. Too many good memories surrounded it. Memories of her and Nate, dancing the night away as the records spun on and on playing soft love songs until the sun rose; of her rocking Shaun in her arms as she mosied around the living room, listening to the nursery rhyme vinyls that she had received as gifts at her baby shower... But those memories, they were from another life.

Sole shook her head. This is about him, she thought, not me. I can deal with my shit later. Right now, I need to focus on Danse.

She huffed another sigh, this time a bit louder, and watched as Danse ceased his hand movements and tilted his ear towards her again.

“Is everything alright?” He turned to look at where she sat, and Sole tried to look melancholic.

“It’s just… You know… nevermind, it’s not important.” Just as she assumed he would, Danse stood up and walked inside the house, setting the piece of armor and the rag on the table, and pulled out a chair so he could sit beside her. He looked down at her hands, which rested on top of the table near her empty coffee mug. She could practically see the sweat beading on his forehead as he hesitantly brought one of his large hands to rest over the top of her own. Ever since he found out what he was, he’s been afraid to touch me. So... this is a good sign, at least.

“If something’s wrong, I want to know.” He said as he looked up to meet her gaze, his worried expression matching the concern she was feeling towards him. Sole took a breath to appear as though she was steadying herself.

“It’s just… being in this house. It’s great, I mean, it’s still my home and everything, and I don’t want to go anywhere else, but…” she trailed off, her troubled expression only half-feigned at this point, given the truth behind her words. His eyes never wavered, silently encouraging her to continue.

“Some things are harder to look at than others. And that damn stereo over there just has to be staring straight at me every time I sit down at the table, it’s the hardest one for me to see. It's just, it was a house-warming present from my parents. They gave it to me and Nate after the wedding, and now… well, there are no more records to play on it. They were all ruined, and even if they weren't, I don’t think the thing would work anyway. But every time I see it, it reminds me of the people I’ve lost. My parents… Nate… even Shaun.” Sole didn’t have to fake the tears that came unbidden to her eyes as she recalled the memories of her loved ones, and she knew Danse hadn’t missed a thing when he started rubbing her hand softly with his. They sat there in silence for a moment, as Danse tried to reassure her with his gentle touch.

Then, still remaining silent, Danse stood, reaching his hand forward to brush his thumb over Sole’s cheek, wiping away the tear that had fallen. He then turned towards the living room, but instead of going straight to the stereo, as Sole thought he might, Danse opened the side door that led to the covered driveway. She watched as he doubled back, now approaching the stereo. Sole wasn’t sure what she had expected him to do when she mentioned her problem to him; maybe offer to help her take the thing apart, or try and see if it still worked, or simply give her another perspective on how she should view the piece of 200-year-old furniture. Whatever she expected, it certainly hadn’t been this. 

Danse squatted down in front of the large wooden beast of a stereo, wrapped his broad arms almost all the way around it, and stood, lifting the whole damn thing up until he was standing completely upright with the stereo held firmly to his chest. Sole’s mouth hung open as she remained seated at the table, seemingly paralyzed by the shock of what she was witnessing, as Danse sauntered awkwardly towards the exit. A thick vein protruded from his neck as he twisted the piece of furniture to fit through the door, and made his way out into the driveway.

Sole heard a groan from outside, accompanied by the sound of something hard hitting concrete. She stood up, prepared to head outside and see what exactly he’d done with her “problem,” but before she reached the doorway, she heard him call from outside,

“You can’t still see it, can you?”

“Um… no. But Danse, is it-- I mean, are you okay? It took like, four people to bring that thing in when we first moved it to the house.” The brawny ex-soldier appeared in the doorway, his chest still heaving from the effort of wrestling the wooden monster outside. He nodded to her,

“I'm fine." He huffed, "You don’t need to go out there. I’ll take it apart later, if you’d like. Or we can store it somewhere for the time being.” She shook her head at him, a little smile touching her lips. Even after everything he’s been through, he's still always looking out for me. Even with something as small and insignificant as this.

“You know,” she said quietly, “you didn’t have to do that.” Danse looked down at his feet, seemingly searching for something to say in response.

“But thank you.” Sole finished, and his eyes came back up to meet hers. For a moment, she saw a spark return to Danse’s amber eyes as the smallest hint of a smile softened his expression, and Sole felt hope. Hope for him overcoming his grief in this time of crisis, and hope for herself in being able to move on from the memories that had kept her chained to her past for so long. Together, she felt like the two of them could overcome anything.

Deacon:

     “Yes. Two please.” Sole said as Takahashi voiced the only question he ever seemed to ask. The robot placed two bowls of scrumptious smelling power noodles in front of her, and she reached for the bag of caps hanging from her belt. As she looked down to count her money, she heard a clatter of bottlecaps hitting the counter beside her.

“Got it covered. Come on, let’s dig in.” Deacon grabbed a bowl in each hand and headed over to a couple of empty seats at the bar.

“I thought you were still trying to stay undercover?" Sole gestured to the Diamond City guard outfit that the spy donned. "Doesn’t it kinda ruin the illusion if you’re seen in public with me?” She said as she followed him over, sealing up her cap purse once again.

“What? You’ve never seen one of these guys at the noodle stand? Cuz I sure have. Just don’t talk to me, and I’ll be good.” Sole shook her head as she took a seat beside him, instantly deciding to ignore his request.

“Hey officer, I’ve got a question.” Sole swirled her chopsticks around the steaming bowl in front of her, before taking a bite.

“Yes, citizen?”

“Hold on--” she said through a mouthful of noodles.

Deacon laughed as he looked at her full mouth,

“Why--” He tried to talk through his bout of chuckling, “Why would you say you’re going to ask me a question and then take a big bite of food? What did you think would happen?”

Deacon thought he heard her tell him to ‘shut up,’ but it was hard to tell, given the noodles that filled her mouth, and the fact that she was nearly choking in her own fit of laughter.

Eventually, she managed to swallow her food successfully, and was finally able to get some words out.

"No, okay, serious question--" Deacon interrupted her with a snap of his fingers,

"Serious answer." Her genuine curiosity forced Sole to ignore him, and continue with her question.

"Tell me, why do you always pay for everything?" She asked.

"Ma'am, I am a law-abiding security officer. I always pay for the products that I intend to consume."

"I said serious, Deacon."

"Hey, shush!" He brought a hand up to Sole's mouth at the mention of his name, "What part of undercover did you not get?" She cocked a brow at his faked panic expression, noting the grin that he was trying to hide, as he lowered his head and turned back to his noodles.

"Like, okay," she continued, expanding on her inquiry, "whenever we go anywhere, you always pay for everything, and it's really odd. I've never met anyone in the wasteland who's done that, everyone's too busy trying to keep themselves alive to worry about paying for others. So, what? Are you, like, rich or something? I mean, c'mon, what's the deal? I have caps on me all the time, you know that, right?"

"Oh?" Sole saw his eyebrows rise above the tops of his sunglasses as he turned to look at her, "you don't think I'm doing this out of the goodness of my cold, black, heart, do you? No, I'm running a tab over here, honey. You owe me, big time." Sole narrowed her eyes at him, her uncertainty keeping her lips sealed.

"You mean, you didn’t know? Look, I don't know what to tell you," Deacon continued, "I thought you knew! Man, I'm glad you found out this way. Now it won't be such a rude awakening when the invoice comes."

Deacon turned back to his noodles, shaking his head at the thought. Sole's gaze bore into him, trying to figure out his level of seriousness. I really wish I was better at this. This is why I believed he was a synth for a month and a half.

"And if I don't have the money… you're not gonna call out a hit on me or anything, are you?"

“Hmm," he brought a hand to his chin, stroking his finger over it animatedly, "surely there must be some way you could pay me back…” He turned to look at her, wiggling his eyebrows as he did so, and she rolled her eyes, looking back to her noodles as she scoffed.

"Hey! What's with the face! I was talking about community service. Y'know, helping the children, and the elderly, all that good stuff. Get your mind out of the gutter, perv. And to think, I was going to have you volunteering at the children's hospital next week."

Sole instantly regretted taking another bite, as she tried desperately to fend off a fit of giggling in an effort to keep from choking again.

"I can't keep up with you Deacon," she said as she swallowed her food. "You're gonna kill me one of these days."

"Eh, don't worry, I can pay for the funeral." Sole raised a hand and shoved him in the shoulder playfully as he grinned at her.

"Okay, really, though. You do know I can pay occasionally, right?"

"Yeah, I know, I'm your partner, remember? I'm pretty much right next to you whenever you get paid.”

"So… then, why do you do it?"

"Do what?" Sole's nostrils flared at his obnoxious question.

"No? Joke didn’t land? Okay. Serious time," he flung his hands in the air as if surrendering, "I read about something… wasn't it, like, customary before the war to pay for stuff for your… friends?" Sole scrunched her eyebrows in thought,

"Friends? Not really. Significant other? Yeah, a little more common." She looked to where Deacon stared down at his noodles.

Is that, is he... blushing?

"But hey, I don't mind if you don't." She finished, tilting her head forward, in an attempt to catch Deacon's eye. She spotted a flushed little grin spread on his face, before he leaned his head back, restoring his cool composure.

"Oopsies, sorry about that, then. But I did warn you, I'm pretty new to this whole friend thing. So… you know, that's on you."

Hancock: 

     The ghoul lounged comfortably on the couch in the Old State House, idly playing with his combat knife as he waited for Sole to finish readying herself for their outing.

“Ahhh!” 

Hancock leapt from his place on the couch at the sound of Sole’s shriek, his combat knife instinctively falling into a position poised for violence.

He ran across the hall, crashing through the door and into the bedroom. Teeth bared and eyes wide, his head lashed from side to side in search of Sole’s assailant. He spotted her, cowering in the corner as she raised a shaky hand to point at the opposite side of the room.

Hancock’s glare followed Sole’s fear-stricken gaze, and he started towards the desk in the corner she had pointed to, but ultimately failed to see what it was causing her distress.

He turned back to her, an eyebrow cocked, as he raised the silent question of what had been the cause of her terror.

“On the desk!” She said, pointing towards it again, this time with greater intensity. Hancock slowly approached the corner of the room, knife still at the ready, as his eyes continued to search for any sign of… well, anything, really. An exasperated smile spread across his lips as his eyes fell to your attacker. A small, brown, spider picked its way through the objects littering the top of the desk, and Hancock had to hold back a laugh. 

“This is what had you all riled up? Oh, sweetheart, he’s just a little spider. C’mon now, he won’t hurt ya.”

“You don't know that.” She said firmly, her round eyes still trained on the desk. It had sounded like a joke, but her expression remained serious.

“Alright, you want me to get rid of him for you?” She nodded her head vigorously, and he chuckled as he turned his attention to the unsuspecting arachnid. He watched as it delicately stepped over a series of writing utensils, and Hancock frowned. Bringing his knife up to the top of the desk, he rested the flat of his blade directly in the spider’s path,

“That’s it, up you go, little guy.” He said quietly, as it stepped onto his steel vessel. Hancock twisted the knife around in his grip as the spider crawled around it, and made his way to the balcony. Once outside, he tipped his knife to the railing, encouraging the spider to crawl off the tip of the blade. Once the spider was safely making its way along the top of the railing, Hancock turned back towards the doorway.

“There,” he said, stepping back inside, “Now he can’t hurt ya, he’s all the way out there.”

“You… you didn’t kill it?” She asked, tentatively standing up.

“Nah, we only hurt the ones who hurt somebody else first, remember?”

“You don’t know that he didn’t hurt anybody.” She mumbled as Hancock sauntered over to her.

“Aw, give him a chance, maybe he can change, y’know? He doesn't really seem like the troublemaking type to me, anyhow.” He brought his hands to your waist, a smug expression playing on his face.

“Oh yeah, just like the way you always tell people you’ve changed?” She said, sliding her hands up his chest to rest them on his shoulders. “Way I see it, you’re still just as bad an influence on me as when I met you.” She said, a playful glint dancing in her eyes.

“Hmm, maybe you’re right, sunshine. Maybe I can't change any more. Maybe it's just my nature to be a bad influence on you.” He said quietly, a wolfish grin spreading across his face as he leaned into her. 

“Huh, maybe so. But bad influence or not," she pulled away from him slightly, to look up into his smoky eyes, "you really did save me back there. And, I know it seems silly... but I am grateful." His eyes softened at her little confession and, though he knew this too was silly, he couldn’t help but feel a swell in his chest at the thought of "saving" her. 

“And I’ll always be here to save you... from any spiders we happen to come across.” He pecked her lips tenderly, their close proximity practically forcing his mouth to hers. He should’ve known better, once he had a taste, he couldn’t get enough of her. 

“Even though,” He continued, as he pressed a kiss to her nose, “I’ve seen you,” then to her right cheek, “take down,” now her left, “deathclaws,” another to her jaw, “single handedly,” and now down to her neck, “I’ll be sure to handle all the unruly arachnids.” He whispered into the crook of her neck, before moving upwards again and pressing one more kiss to her forehead. He watched, grinning like an idiot in love, as a crimson flush crept up her cheeks. He wasn’t sure if it was from the embarrassment she felt regarding her phobia, or from the heat of his lips on her skin, but he decided it didn’t matter. Either way, he found it irresistibly adorable, and with that, he set his sights on her lips once more. 

MacCready: 

     MacCready sat on the floor, legs crossed, as he counted his ammunition cartridges. There were four of the .308, six of the .50, ten of the 10mm, and a few of the .38. There certainly wasn’t as much as he’d hoped there’d be, but he wasn't worried. Sole always seemed to have ammo to spare, and she wasn't stingy with it like he was. It was yet another perk to being with her.

He gathered his full magazines together near the ammo bag resting beside him, so he could begin placing them inside in preparation for their next outing.

"How are you doing over there, babe?" He asked as he stored the outlying bullets in little bags.

"I think... you know what, nevermind. I'm good." MacCready ceased his action, turning to look at where Sole knelt on the carpet of her Diamond City home. A pile of bullets and empty magazines surrounded her, the stack of seemingly full cartridges was pitifully small compared to his own.

"You, ah, need some help?"

"... No.” 

"Mmhm, okay.” he narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, but she wouldn’t look up at him.

“Well,” he continued, “I'm going to put my full mags in the ammo bag, why don't I grab yours too." The sniper stood up, and made his way over to her, bending down to grab the cartridges that looked full.

"Wait! No, these, um, these ones aren't done yet." MacCready's eyebrows furrowed, but the shadow of a smile began to spread to his lips as he realized what was going on.

"So," he said, kneeling down so he could see her pretty little embarrassed face. "You haven't finished loading any of them?"

“No." She said quietly, refusing to meet his gaze. MacCready lowered his head so that he was looking up at her as her eyes stayed fixed on the floor. A lock of hair was draped over her forehead, obstructing his view. He reached a hand up and gently pushed it behind her ear, leaning in to give her nose a small peck with his lips.

"You want some help?" He said as Sole raised her gaze to meet his, a small blush forming on her cheeks. She didn't say anything, only nodded yes.

"Alright, you know, you could’ve just asked. I might have said ‘no’ the first time, but you know me, I eventually would’ve come around." MacCready said as he set to work with the magazines that had appeared full, but in reality, only housed half of the amount of ammunition that they could fit within them. He snickered in understanding, it really was the second half of bullets that was hard to load.

"Thank you, sweetie. You’re just so much better at it than I am." She said as she watched his practiced fingers make quick work of what probably would've taken her another hour.

"Of course... but, you are paying me for this, right?"

"Ohh, I think we might be able to work something out." She said, a sly grin playing at her lips.

He just chuckled at her words, but she could've sworn his fingers starting moving a whole lot faster at her suggestive phrasing.

Nick: 

“Tell me, why is this now a regular part of my job duties?" Ellie asked as she finished sewing up yet another tear in Nick's trench coat. "You know you're just going to end up with more holes in this coat every time you leave the office, and I don't seem to recall you ever caring about this old thing's appearance before…" she trailed off.

Nick knew that Ellie was fishing for answers. One specific one in particular, but he liked the ambiguity of the situation. It was this little game he and his secretary would play. He would leave clues here and there that pointed to the nature of his and Sole's relationship and wait to see if Ellie would say anything. All while she continued to try and force the truth from him verbally. He wasn't going to lose this round.

"What? A private detective can't keep up appearances for his clients? I think it's just good for business."

"I think it's a load of bologna. You know we gave Sole her own trench coat after she saved you, right? She could just wear her own, rather than steal yours every time you two go out on a case."

"What kinda fun would that be? I don't mind it, it's not like I get cold anyway. And the poor little lady never knows how long we're going to be gone, so I don't think it's her fault when we're out after dark and she wants to wear it."

Ellie rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh as she poked the needle back through the worn, beige fabric once again.

"She's got you so tightly wound around her finger, it's a wonder she doesn't call you 'Jared'."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, it’s something I’ve read about, I guess it was a ring shop, or a jewelry company, or something before the war. I thought it sounded clever. Just humor me, won't you?"

The synth just shook his head, uttering a low chuckle as he watched Ellie tighten the thread, forcing the last hole closed.

"There." She said, tying up the last bit of string left over, before cutting off the excess. "It's done." 

"Perfect, thanks a million, doll. I'll see you soon, I've just gotta head out for a--"

"Date?" She finished the sentence for him suggestively, raising her eyebrows in question.

"A case. We're going to head out on a case, Ellie."

"Uh huh, sure. Well, here," she handed him back the coat, "now she doesn't need to worry about the cold air seeping in through all those holes. Let me know if you want me to insulate the damn thing when winter rolls around."

Valentine smiled, an uncharacteristically goofy smile, at Ellie's words. He was so obvious, why didn't he just come clean already? 

"Will do, I’m sure she’ll enjoy that. Thanks again, Ellie. You're the best."

"And don't you forget it." She said, turning back to the mound of paperwork still on her desk beside her sewing supplies.

“Ah well, I’ll get him to admit to it one of these days.” Ellie mumbled as she began sorting through the files in front of her.

Piper:

     Piper looked up at Scarlet from the table in the corner of the Dugout Inn, 

"Yes, so I think we'll both have a nuka cola to start off. Then I'll do the crispy squirrel bits, and she'll have the Salisbury steak." Piper pointed her finger to Sole, who was busy looking down at the table, before making a last-minute decision, "Aaand you'd better bring some of those snack cakes at the end, too." 

"Hm, as usual." Scarlet chuckled at that as her pen scribbled across the notepad in her hand. 

"But that sounds good, you two. I'll have that out in just a minute." The waitress grabbed their menus, Sole reaching up to hand it to her with a smile on her face before turning to peer at her partner from across the table. She waited for Scarlet to disappear around the corner to the kitchen before speaking.

"You really don't find it annoying?" She asked. 

"What?" Piper loosened the scarf around her neck as she looked questioningly at Sole. 

"I know that I ask you to order for me whenever we go out to eat, or drink, and it's gotta be getting a little old at this point, right?" 

"No, not at all, Blue!" Piper said as she took her hat off and placed it on the table, mussing her hair a bit with one hand. "This reporter actually finds it to be pret-ty endearing. It's like, the one thing you can't do. You’re good at, like, everything else, but this I get to help you with. It's a welcome change." Piper's hands dropped to the top of the table as she began absent-mindedly fiddling with her silverware. But her eyes stayed on the woman across the table as Sole smiled at her, still appearing a little embarrassed. 

"I don't know why I can't do it," Sole tried to explain, "I've just never been able to order for myself, even before the war. Just one of those bizarre anxiety things, I guess."

"Well, like I said, I don’t mind at all. In fact, I think it's cute." 

 Preston:

     Sole approached her Lieutenant, shaking her head at him, and she saw him sigh.

“No, the river just keeps going until it reaches a ravine." She told him, "And it’s too steep to climb down. Any luck on your end?”

“Hmm, not really. It's a little more shallow upstream, but it’s still about ten feet wide.”

“Damn.” She said, “We need to get across.” A settlement had sent a distress call across radio freedom almost an hour ago, if Sole and Preston took any longer, they might be too late.

“I guess we’ll just have to go for it.” She said, her face painting a picture of clear disgust at the thought of wading through the murky water.

“Well, let’s at least head upstream a bit. To the shallow part.”

“Okay.” Sole said begrudgingly, her footsteps unconsciously heavy as she followed her companion to the shallow part. Not shallow enough, I bet.

And she was right. As the pair arrived, Preston turned to Sole to gauge her reaction, noticing the way her nose wrinkled at the sight of the brown, swirling water.

Preston heaved a sigh, and started forward. Before he reached the waterline, he turned to see Sole still standing back, feet seemingly glued to the muddy ground. He couldn’t help but smile sympathetically at her, eyebrows creasing upwards as he watched her eyes look longingly at the far shore.

“Come here.” He said.

“I know, I know. Just start going, I’ll follow.” Preston chuckled at the exasperation in her voice. Instead of repeating his command, he simply walked over to her as her eyes remained locked on the other side of the river, when he reached her, he slowly pressed his hand to the small of her back.

“Hey, what are you--?” Before Sole could finish her question, Preston had scooped her up into his arms, bridal style. She let out a squeak of surprise, and he couldn’t keep himself from grinning.

“Is this okay? He asked, the brim of his hat pressing against Sole’s forehead as he looked at her.

“A warning would’ve been nice.” Preston laughed, shaking his head as he adjusted his grip on her, ensuring she was secure before making his way towards the river.

“Hold onto me.” He said, and Sole wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders.

“Ready?” Sole nodded to him, and Preston took a step forward, frigid water seeping in through his boots as he waded in.

“Wait, are you sure you want to do this?” She said, her eyes trained on the river as it raised up to Preston’s knees.

“I might be wrong, General, but I think I already am.” He said, the amusement in his voice faint as he gritted his teeth against the cold.

She felt his body shutter as he continued forward, the water reaching up almost to his waist, as he held Sole up higher to ensure it wouldn’t reach her. She let out a small sigh of relief as they reached the end of the channel. The water became more shallow, and Preston quickened his pace with each step that brought him closer to their destination.

Once completely out of the water, and past the muddy shoreline, Preston finally set Sole down gently. As her feet touched the ground, Sole kept her arms wound about Preston’s neck.

“Thank you, love.” She said, her voice soft as she addressed him as her partner rather than her Lieutenant.

“It was my pleasure, m’lady.” He said, briefly removing his hat from his head as he did so. Sole smiled at him warmly, but detected the faint chattering of his teeth, and when she looked down, she couldn’t help but notice the goosebumps littering his skin. 

“Oh, Preston…” Sole said as she pressed herself to him, rubbing her hands against his back and arms quickly, in an attempt to warm him with her friction. She felt hot air wash over her neck as he released a shaky breath of relief, leaning into her touch. The pair stood there for a moment, Preston syphoning off Sole’s warmth as she tried to repay him for his earlier act of kindness. Her hands slowed from her vigorous rubbing to a more tender sort of touch, before Preston’s head shot up.

“Shit, Sole, the settlement! We’ve got to move!”

X6-88: 

     This had become a common routine of theirs, and X6 wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about it. Every time they were in Sole’s Diamond City home, she would insist on making dinner for the two of them. That, X6 didn’t mind too much; although, after consuming nothing but food supplements in the Institute for so long, it did take some getting used to. But eating the food wasn’t the issue, it was the making of it that had him perplexed. 

As far as he knew, Sole had been the one to install the shelves in her kitchen; and yet, every time she was in need of a spice of some sort, or a condiment, or one of her dishes, she would ask X6 for assistance, given that the shelves were apparently too high for her to reach. Why Sole continued to store her items on the too-tall shelves, he couldn’t begin to guess. But here she went again, asking him to reach for the box of blamco mac n’ cheese on the top shelf, the highest one, one that he could barely even reach. X6 decided it was time to voice his confusion.

“Ma’am?”

“Yes?” She asked distractedly as she focused on the strength of the flame burning on her stove.

“Why do you use these shelves?”

“What else would I use, silly?” X6 scrunched up his face at that, trying to hold back a verbal scoff at her wording.

“Would you rather I just store everything on the floor?”

“Well, no. That would… hardly be sanitary.” He wasn’t sure if she was joking with him or not. Did she think he was joking with her?

“Why do you ask, X?” She grabbed the box from his hand as he extended it towards her, and began tearing at the top of it with her finger.

“Well, it seems nonsensical to me, for you to continue placing all of your items out of your reach. What happens if I’m not here?” Sole placed a saucepan filled with water over the stove and turned to look at him.

“But you are here.” she said, shrugging, “What? Don’t you like helping me out in the kitchen?”

X6 blinked. What the hell did this have to do with what he liked?

“Well… I don’t dislike it. I’m just having trouble with-- I don’t-- I just... do you want me to fix the shelves so they are the right height for you?”

“No, I like them the way they are.”

X6 felt his eye twitch from beneath his shades. Confusion built up inside him, making the courser feel as though he might explode.

“Ma’am--” His voice faltered as he realized he didn’t know what else to say.

“I know they’re not practical, X. But you can reach them, and I like that about them. Even when I’m here alone, the fact that I can’t make dinner without you makes me smile.” X6 furrowed his eyebrows. That explanation didn’t help at all.

“Don’t you get hungry?”

“I'm not completely helpless, you know, I can usually figure something out.” She attempted to look annoyed at his question, but her grin gave her away. X6 narrowed his eyes at her, still not completely satisfied with the way the conversation had gone. He was still just as confused as he was before.

“Huh.” He said, mulling over all she had said on the subject. “Perhaps... in that case, we should ensure that I am by your side for any missions near Diamond City. That way, I can be sure the future director of the Institute doesn’t go hungry.”

“Well, if you think that’s necessary, who am I to argue?” The left side of X6’s lip tilted upwards in an expression of amusement, and Sole openly smiled at him, laughing a little to herself as she turned her attention back to the boiling water on the stove.

“Can you hand me the pepper mill? Second shelf.”

“I know which shelf. But yes, I can.” He said, turning around to grab it, as Sole continued grinning to herself.

Now I just have to make sure he never looks under my bed. Sole thought. If X6 ever found the step stool she had hidden there, what would happen to her kitchen helper?

#fallout #fallout companions #fallout companions react #fallout companions reactions #fallout companions reacts #fallout 4 #fo4 #fo4 reacts #fo4 react #fo4 companions #fallout 4 companions #fallout 4 companions react #fallout 4 companions reactions #fallout 4 companions reacts #fallout cait #fallout curie #fallout danse #paladin danse #danse #fallout deacon #deacon #deacon fo4 #fallout hancock #john hancock #hancock #nick valentine #fallout nick #fallout nick valentine #maccready #fallout maccready

[isekaithatplease]

Review -the princess wars

Part 1 of this....review (it's more like rambling/reviewing/ranting) ((I will upload a part 2- when I get further into the story)

But Imma give you the official run down of this story before we start:

'After the Princess died, the soul entered a life-betting game! She will be the famous Pea Princess and other princesses in a fairy tale who will pursue the only prince. Only a princess who has successfully married a prince can return to the real world and continue her life and receive a huge bonus! How can she fight powerful princesses to capture the prince's love? ! War of the Princesses!"

interestingly enough- I read this one a while back, dropped it like a hot potato too, I'm in the middle of re-reading it right now, and I can safely say- that save for the fl and the art, can't forget the gorgeous art- I have literally nothing nice to say about this story.

I'm serious.

This will probably be the meanest review I ever type (for now)

Reading 20+ chpts of this series in one go was like going to a pig farm with no shoes on. Yes, I'm actually kinda upset that I had to re-read this story (it's not you, I just kinda hate this story) but I wanted to give it somewhat of a fair review, so to compromise I sort of speed read it.

So let's start with the good:

Well- ok, I might have a few good things to say about this story- mostly with the fl, Juana (I think that's her name).

Smart, resourceful, loyal and pretty funny! Not to mention that she's pretty strong and knows how to handle herself with weapons or maid work.

And the art- holy cow this art-

SHE KNEW WHAT WAS UP- GET A JOB! GET AWAY FROM HER!!!

The concept: Is also kinda interesting too, with the princess having special abilities, and whatnot, and you sorta feel bad for them, as there are actual stakes in the story! I also appreciate that the princesses seemingly follow their original story rather than a modified/watered down retelling, especially with the creative liberties that they take with the pea princess that technically doesn’t break the original story as:

-the original pea princess for all we know might not have ever been a princess to begin with 

and

-her test was kinda rigged because anyone sleeping atop of so many mattresses would definitely complain about something, so I’ll give credit where credit is due- the concept is fairly interesting and inspired. There.

NOW ONTO THE BAD:

Now look, this is isekai, right? And let’s be honest most isekai isn’t perfect, but we can still enjoy it for what it is.

Bad/corny villains? Eh ok, bearable I guess.

Basic/uninspiring side characters? Ok a little tolerable, but not unbearable, if you got a good fl and ml, the story can still be ok. 

Terrible/stupid fl or ml? Ok now you’re just going too far~ and that brings me to this story.

YIKES.

THE ML- PRINCE VINCENT.

Prince VINCENT

 ugh this Ml

Like imagine taking Cardan from The Cruel Prince- and removing his microscopic redeeming qualities and 3-5ft deep character depth (obviously I'm exaggerating/joking here) BUT- if you did, you'd get Vincent. In fact, if I were to just jump down a nearby rabbit hole- this whole story kinda feels like if we were to do an uninspired 'eligible bacherolette' for the prince- Cruel Prince version. Yes.

One thing I hate hate HATE about this story is how society gossips about the princesses acting out of line, yet no one says anything whenever Prince Vincent, who's supposed to be the morally upstanding future emperor looking for a wife- A WIFE- YES ONE, willingly eggs them on against each other, because deep down I think he wants a harem of toys. He gets off on manipulating them and kinda egging them on against each other which is just...weird and kinda gross. He obviously wasn’t held at ALL as a child. Sadly this isn’t even the worst he does

I hate the ml (the way how he mistreats and acts like a terrible person to the fl is just ugghhh- I think he has a thing for humiliating and threatening her (with death or just pretty much anything whenever she doesn’t comply with his demands)- I actually think it’s a kink too. You know he's only getting a pass because he's the prince, the art is pretty and he's hot. Otherwise he'd be dragged and shredded.

I'm serious- mistreating her as having her spend her punishment as working as a maid (even when he had the same suspicions and in the end had no problem humiliating that princess who they were accusing of, in order to humiliate her own country into submissiveness), and then when she (I think) becomes something akin to a knight, his personal knight *unfortunately* he kinda just annoys/harasses her. 

And let's not forget that time when he tried to kill her for her ending up in the library late at night and then forcing her to work for him. Maybe it'd be cute if they were like itsy bitsy kids or something- and this was just left to cold/jilted banter, but nah, I think he's abusing his power against her in an uneven power dynamic relationship. 

He knows he can make these demands and sometimes he blatantly does when she clearly doesn’t want to do something, but he knows she can’t resist because he’s the one with the power here. They’re obviously not equals in this relationship- I mean, it’s kinda clear that he only sees her as an asset to completing his own mission rather than her being an actual person. He doesn’t berate her for almost killing herself in order to fullfil a mission for him, nor does he have any problems with using magic against her when SHE’S VISIBLY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT, and even after he uses it ON HER, he refuses to TELL HER WHAT HE DID TO HER. That’s SUCH A VIOLATION OF CONSENT- IT ACTUALLY MAKES ME ANGRY. ESPECIALLY WHEN WE KNOW HE’D THREATEN HER LIFE IF SHE DID ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY SIMILIAR TO HIM.

 This isn't like some harmful flirting, nah- he's making power moves against her. Publicly mocking her, privately putting her down while just leveraging her for whatever reason, pressuring and threatening her to ride a horse when she’s showing FEAR (which is kinda understandable, I can see why people would be scared of horses) and then stuffing her in an uncomfortable carriage when she’s still too scared to ride a horse.

He really doesn’t deserve her, in fact he doesn’t deserve anything at all, well except for the worst.

Also him painting using this as a test on only someone he can ‘trust’ aka so he could manipulate her into doing it is LAUGHABLY PATHETIC/MANIPULATIVE- given how he saw how said magic almost killed her in the first place, and despite her proving her worth to him MULTIPLE times while putting everything on the line, despite the fact that he treats her like utter GARBAGE. Just say that you want to exploit her for your own means, since it’s worked so far, and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, because that’s all you want to do.

Just to be clear, I have nothing against a 'mean' ml, and in some cases it does make way for great banter/relationships, and character depth- but I think that ultimately fails here- with the stakes being so high and the power mostly being in his favor. The dynamic fells uneven- and it feels like she’s being taken advantage of someone who doesn’t even see her as a person. Heck, I don’t think he sees anyone else as a person- as it’s shown how he can so easily toss away people for his own gain, which sure, is politics, but that doesn’t make him any better suited for her, in fact it shows that he’d probably sell her out too if he could politically one up, or just humiliate her (because that’s his kink- I’m 100% sure of it)

People call him complex, but no, I’m sorry. The most complex thing about him is how the artist blows their back out weekly trying to make him look good. Being a flat out terrible person who takes advantage of others is not complex, it’s poor writing. If he were the villain it would be ok, and understandable even, but he’s not- he’s supposed to be a deuteragonist that we’re ok seeing Juana with when she deserves BETTER. 

You wanna know what actually is complex? Maybe a conflict or some sort of inner dilemma which the prince never has. If it’ll change, I’d like to see so, but I’m like 40+ chapters in, and I have yet to see anything.

 That’s really sad that these are her ‘last thoughts’. 

It also doesn’t help that literally any other male in this story would be a better male lead for the end game. Not even joking, I’d take the gardener or even the prince’s uncle over the prince. (Does anyone know what the gardener's curse is? I haven’t figured it out yet, but if I reach that point Imma upload it in part 2, if any of you know, please feel free to spoil it for me, the less I have to read outside of spoilers- the better).

I would not recommend this series to anyone - AT ALL.

the only way this story can redeem itself is if the females band together and rip his head off.

#manhwa #isekai #princess wars #review #rant #juana #anti-prince vincent

[tttinytrash]

I am so sorry this took so goddang long. Alright, so a long while back a lovely anon wanted some comfort noms, and suggested a dragon. I decided I’d take creative liberty and go for a dragontaur skele, and go for Horror since they requested a spookier boy. With context out of the way, fluff ahoy!

There were monsters in these woods.

The monsters had broken out of their seal that kept them underground a few years back, allowing them to roam amongst the people once more. The monsters had been sealed away long, long ago fearing a war that never came. Because the mages hadn’t allowed it to. Newly freed, the monsters, the few that remained after their centuries long exile under Mt. Ebbott, prowled the more wild lands around the base of the mountain formerly considered cursed. 

This is where you ran. A rustle in the brush had lit up your senses as a wave of adrenaline hit. What was that? Friend, foe, or just a squirrel? You weren’t taking any chances. You made a run for a nearby cave, ducking into its shadowy depths seeking safety.

Suddenly before you, a behemoth of a monster awoke. It’s skeletal upper half slowly rose from the ground, glowing magic making up the dragon body that served as its lower half. The magic was scarred from many previous fights, and a dusky purple-blue that hedged on red at the extremities and along the deeper scars. The dragontaur honed in on your location instantly, locking its singular, blood red eyelight on your frail body before it.

You breathed a shaky sigh of relief, greeting “Morning, Sans.”

The dragon chuffed at you, approaching to you only to immediately flop back to the ground, snuggling you up to his bony chest like a favored teddy bear and letting out a deep, contended sigh of his own. Sans was a monster of few words.

You laughed while being snuggled by the huge monster, “Feeling especially lazy today, I see. Glad to see you too.”

“y’re shaking. what’s up?” He said, finally reopening his eyes again to fix you with a concerned look.

“Eh, heard something on my way here and got a bit spooked.”

He laughed a little, raising and eyebrow at you (or at least the bone where he would have had one).

“Yeah, ironic. I know. Scared of the critters outside instead of the big monster in a cave.”

Sans could feel how apprehensive his little human still was and decided to take their mind off the fright. So, he did the easiest thing to get them to laugh and decided to lightly brush his fingers up their side, earning a surprised squeak and giggles as they were tickled. He quickly doubled down on the game, and allowed them to fight off his invading hands even though he could so easily overpower them if he wanted to. But that wasn’t the goal, so he allowed them to bat phalanges away. 

After a bit, he caged them in his fingers instead to give them a chance to breathe. They adapted quickly, realizing the new goal was to escape. They squirmed free of the cage and bolted deeper into his den, which made him (somewhat begrudgingly) get up and give chase. He caught them again, flopping onto his back and setting them on his belly so as to make it more difficult to get away a second time. They had a few valiant efforts, but never got the same running start again. 

All this work did get his appetite going, so his belly underneath them started growling a little.

“Hah, getting peckish, are we?” The human asked breathlessly, making a dive away from his fingers only to be caught by his opposite hand. 

“you think so? why don’t you check?” he asked, pressing them into his soft underbelly. It gurgled at them cooperatively, and they tried to push themselves up and off the surface while giggling like a madperson.

Well, it seemed lie the logical next step, so he dangled the human over his open, upturned mouth.

The human kicked in the air fruitlessly, “Really? Sans, cmon I’m gonna get asked why I smell like mulberries again!”

Huh, is that what his magic smelled like to them? Interesting. Well, guess they were gonna smell like mulberries.

He dropped them in, their small size and momentum barely requiring a swallow to send them quickly gliding down into his chest. He felt when they spilled into his belly, and purred as he rubbed at where their weight rested.

“hope you like mulberries.” He chuckled.

They were pressing around in a mock attempt to escape, which felt odd but not unpleasant. “Oh you glutton, you’re lucky I like you. Now lemme out!”

“hmm... you want out?”

“Yeah, this is cheating!”

“mkay, i’ll get you out of my first stomach.”

“Wait why are you being so specifi- yipe!”

He squeezed, pushing them down farther into his body to rest in his second stomach, where his dragon body was. There was a moment of confusion, as they’d never been this deep within him before, but they rebounded quickly.

“So not what I meant and you know it, you purposefully obtuse shyster!”

“creative name calling, but now you’re grounded to tummy jail.”

“Uuuuuuuuuugh, fiiiiiiine.....”

He knew they didn’t actually mind, as this game had been played similarly multiple times before. They settled comfortably, and he decided he may as well follow their lead. Who was he to say no to more naps?

#undertail vore #extreme cuddling #safe vore #soft vore

[jetravenex]

Height struggles in Crossovers

Coming Together has 5 fandoms involved.

And as I’m coming to realize, not all height charts are created equal.

And some heights are weird.

For instance like the first palace ruler of Persona 5 you have the tall jerk, Kamoshida who is like 7 feet tall. (For all my friends not in P5 fandom but read coming together anyways here’s an image for reference to how monstrous this man is)

HE IS SO FREAKING TALL!

But then like you look at the official heights for other characters, and like Shido.

SHIDO. Is only 5′ 11″ I was like ‘what?’

And here’s why it’s a big deal.

See, KITT, the Knight Rider. In car form, KITT’s about 4′ 1″ tall. (Although I have seen notes that the hero car was actually dropped 1.5 inch from a stock Trans Am so KITT might actually be closer to just 4′)

Makes sense cause, car. He’s meant to be longer than he is tall. 

But then his face claim, Tom Ellis is 6′ 3″ (And I mean the hoff is like 6′ 4″ so at least my face claim isn’t taller than Michael)

But that gives Human!KITT 4 inches on Shido.

But I was like ‘eh, I guess japanese people trend towards shorter. And with Kamoshida he needed to be scary and tall and imposing, all he had was his physique.’

Though I’m left waffling on if I want KITT to have at least 4 inches on the thieves. With Yusuke coming in at 5′ 11″ KITT is once again 4 inches taller. (Also Yusuke is the same height as Shido that is crazy).

And plus even though the absolutely gorgeous Tom Ellis is amazing. I did wind up getting some character art for Human!KITT in the metaverse (am I just making a point to show it off everywhere? Yes, yes I am)

Look at it! Look at this which I commissioned Intothefrisson to make for me! It’s glorious. (go check her out on her twitter here, tell her she’s awesome)

But anyways I’m getting off track.

So besides the fact that KITT I’m waffling on where his height will be (whether he’ll have Tom Ellis’s height or I’ll adjust to drop him down an inch or two)

Persona 5 is good in that I have heights for pretty much everyone.

Which is great! Gives me a good starting point.

RWBY also has heights for Ruby and other characters that likely will show up. But especially for Ruby because she’s going to be one of the main characters.

But uh... 

Miraculous’s height chart is WHACK my friends. 

Like yeah I went ‘okay Shido isn’t as tall and imposing as expected.’

But I don’t think Miraculous even tried to be grounded in reality.

Marinette is according to the height chart they have... is supposedly 1.35 meters. OR 4′4″ 

And like WHAT?! Futaba the shortest of the phantom thieves. A tiny shut in is 4′ 11″!

Ruby Rose who is also pretty short is 5′ 2″ (though she goes up to 5′ 4″ in the timeskips but I like her shorter so she’ll prolly be 5′2″ For me forever)

But regardless Marinette for some reason is SUPER short.

And not just her, the height chart has her and her classmates also crazy short.

Adrien at 4′9″?!

And then somehow Gabriel Agreste is standing past 7′ taller than most NBA basketball players (heck and in Coming Together, taller than Kamoshida at 7′, and Michael Knight at 6′4″?!)

So needless to say... for Miraculous I’m going to have to take a few creative liberties to correct this madness XP

Someone on reddit apparently did the math using the eiffel tower compared to Marinette, Adrien and Gabriel in order to get close to more realistic heights. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/miraculousladybug/comments/f3ninu/ok_soooooo_how_canon_are_these_heights_so_you_are/

Puting Marinette at 5′2″ (still a little shorter than I’d like for Marinette in Coming Together, but also no longer completely unrealistic as she’s close in age to Ruby and Futaba). 

Adrien is roughly 5′3″ (still a little short), and Gabriel is more realistically at 5′6″ 

So those are a little MORE workable but now Gabriel is WAY too short. 

So needless to say, there will be some liberties taken XP

And then I don’t know where to start with Sunset Shimmer’s height, EQG hasn’t even made like an official height list so that’s going to be absolutely something I make up.

Prolly stick her around Ann or Makoto’s height at 5′5″ Maybe a little taller with heels to start her off more intimidating.

But yes, I just wanted to talk about this madness as I tried to work out everyone’s heights XP

#Height charts #trying to figure out everyone's height #it's not writing but I'm just trying to envision it in my head #P5 is probably going to be what everyone's heights are built around #Marinette and Sunset's heights being nudged up to fall somewhere in the middle of the thieves #with Human!KITT definitely over 6' but maybe not 6'3" #Still undecided #Coming Together #Coming Together so our lives will change #Persona 5 #P5 #Knight Rider #KR #Persona 5 royal #P5R #Miraculous Ladybug #ml #MLP: EQG #MLP: FIM #MLP #RWBY

[kandyrezi]

The only real issue I have with VGPerson's wording is the amount of creative liberties they took, resulting in Etihw's character being twisted? It leads into further confusion now as well, in terms of what their character is like, because we have an unclear picture of what they were like originally. I don't hold it against VGPerson, they did an amazing job in general, it's just that the mistakes that were made are frustrating (though again, no shade towards them, they did great.) The pronouns thing is definitely more of a minor thing, but it just occurred to me as a more interesting thing to note! I haven't heard of the no traumatising event thing in the past, nor from any of the research I've done about it, so I'd have to look into that more? If that is the case though, that does seem all kinds of weird, since Etihw very clearly has?? At a guess, I'd imagine the sheltered stuff was probably directly relating to NSFW stuff, given that it's a picture with Fumus and Siralos, and given some of the other art pieces involving Satanick in the devil comics. I hope it's that, at least, or just an unclear translation. I do very much understand and empathise with the frustrations though, and I do share them. I wish that we could have clearer explainations on this stuff, or less wait time, but I suppose that's just how things be? DSP does love her mysteries unfortunately, but it would be nice to have clearer communication about if a character's personality shift is plot related, or just her changing her mind. Regarding the SatanIvlis stuff, I do very much agree with the memey thing, though honestly that's also me just being kinda tired of seeing them in general-- It would be nice to see them get development with people outside of just each other though, or see more of what the other important figures in their lives were up to? It's frustrating to only see about the two of them, and not about the other important figures like Lil, or Rieta, or Poemi, or anyone else from their worlds... (Still holding out for a ladies night comic where Lil, Rieta, and Sin all meet up) Also, I didn't know about the Sal/Samekichi thing, that's really interesting!! Ear Theory is relating to exactly that though - pointed ears indicate some form of magical apptitude, but not of a holy source, where as rounded ears indicate no magic, or holy magic! Witches and Demons all p much exclusively have pointy ears, where as most animals have rounded ears, as do all of the angels! The fact that Sal and Kichi's ears switched also gives us a timeframe for when this was first put into effect, and lends more credance to it, so thank you!!

that's fair, and I symphatise with the frustration of mistranslating either crucial characterization or plot points or both. I don't have too much to add to your message, because honestly I agree with pretty much all of what you wrote.

I've always adored "slightly pervy mom friend Eti" though so I guess I did technically get a reality-check slap to the face that it's not even their real personality lmao... but still... it's real in my hearto? eh

I enjoy the (intended) mysteries to some extend because it's allowed me to get creative and fill in the blanks with my own (some reasonable, others rather outrageous) headcanons and theories, so I've certainly had a lot of fun with them. I guess that's evident with how much I've been talking and posting about them.

I too honestly miss the other demons of Flame World though!! ;__; Rieta, Poemi, Emalf and even... *looks at smudged writing on hand* ....Vendome (who's a little shit)

all I have to say about "the ear theory" is this:

I also enjoy how we're having a conversation on both here and on discord at the same time.

#also...... ggt!etihw is clearly a perv so wth is up with the inconsistencies #replies

[nompunhere]

I feel like making a post, and I’ve been having a lot of h/ollow k/night vore thoughts, so I thought I’d share some headcanons. All of the below thoughts are for safe soft nonsexual vore, because that’s the kind I like.

The Knight would be a prey for most of the scenarios I’ve thought of (because smol and they don’t have a mouth anyway), but maybe they could play the role of pred by absorbing someone like how they put items in their inventory. I figure that’d run the risk of giving the prey void poisoning though, haha

M/ato and S/heo could make for good protective preds, especially M/ato. Tol, stronk, and caring, what more could you want? As for O/ro, eh, maybe. Probably reluctantly, if at all.

Q/uirrel! I hc him as a switch tbh. He could be a very good protective pred, since he’s skilled with a nail and willing to help out. plus he does have somewhat of a tum already,, Though I also like to think of him as a prey, because picture it: little pill bug all curled up in a tum for a nap, where it’s dark and damp, as those sorts of bug prefer.

The Hunter is the one that inspired the hunter/gatherer pred post, if that tells you anything. I’m sure he’s capable of getting his own food fine, but maybe the Infection’s giving him a bit too much trouble, idk. also I came up with the scenario before I knew what the rest of his body looked like, don’t @ me lol

Midwife could be good for some unwilling vore. She does say she’s hungry in-game, so maybe the hunter/gather scenario could apply here too, I guess. Since she apparently recognizes the knight as a sapient being, I imagine she’d let them out after a while, or decide that they’re not worth the stomachache if they put up a fuss.

Bug biology is weird, but since a lot of characters are made humanoid anyway, I figure their internal organs could also be at least somewhat more human-like. Perhaps they could still have the nerve cord in the front, multiple hearts, and full-body respiratory system, plus some of the weirdness of certain bugs’ digestive systems (like spiders, have you seen a diagram of a spider’s digestive tract? it’s wild) but since they’re upright, I’d personally take some creative liberties with the shape of their stomachs and such. Since they seemingly talk like how humans do, their mouths are probably at least a bit more human-like than bug-like. I wouldn’t go giving them a full set of human teeth though, that’d be a bit disturbing, heh.

Oh, yeah, and since I prefer g/t vore over same-size, I have come up with a scenario for making the Knight even smoller. I might share it if anyone expresses interest. It doesn’t even have to be vore-related, it can just be some good ol’ g/t.

That’s all I have for now, thanks for reading! Feel free to send me some asks about these, or if you want to hear my headcanons for any other characters. I’ll open anon asks soon. ----- DNI NSFW or weightgain blogs, TERFs, proshippers, blogs that post exclusively hard and/or fatal vore, ace exclusionists, etc.

#soft vore #safe vore #extreme cuddling #vore headcanons #protective vore #unwilling vore #g/t vore

[ikuzeminna]

Why I love Gundam Wing and hate Frozen Teardrop

With Frozen Teardrop being the first new thing released in the Gundam Wing universe in ages, I feel I should make my stance on it clear, seeing as I’ve read (and by now thankfully forgotten) a large chunk of it.

So, what do I like about Gundam Wing? I can say without lying, almost everything. I like the story, the characters, the themes, the designs and the music. I like its humor, its subtlety, the fact that everyone plays a role and that there's no definite bad guy (nor good one for that matter). I like its dynamics and how you can view it any way you want, e.g. the Gundam pilots being heroes or plain murderers. And I like that you can and even must dig to understand things. The whole composition really works for me.

And what's best is that this entire composition makes Gundam Wing more; it makes it unique. I grew up with classics like Dragonball and Sailor Moon, the forefathers of the 'Idiot Hero' archetype for both males and females. Even to this day you see series featuring these types of main characters. Classic scenario of a naive yet pure kid growing up to become the savior of the world. We've all seen that.

It's why Gundam Wing is so special to me. It has a completely atypical setup and there's absolutely no stereotype I can apply to any character, no matter what TV Tropes may say. Heero is hardly your typical hero, is he? Heck, Heero is hardly a typical anything. What's more, Gundam Wing doesn't follow the 'growing stronger' plotline that, for example, the original MS Gundam or Seed series used. No, Gundam Wing starts out with fully trained soldiers who can kick your butt from episode 1 and will kill you without qualms if the situation requires it. (That's not to say that the characters don't grow, it's the physical growth and capabilities I'm talking about.) What's truly surprising about that is the age of the characters. This is another important point. Gundam Wing and realism. Many times I hear that GW is realistic. I'm sorry but no. Teens fighting against armies isn't realistic. Teens leading said armies isn't either. Neither is bending steel bars, nor surviving jumping off cliffs or blowing up your suit, nor successfully back-flipping from a motorbike onto a clothesline, nor becoming the Queen of the World as a teen, nor stealing a MS carrier plus suit at the age of ten, nor walking around with bazookas at the age of ten nor what have you. It's safe to say that Gundam Wing lacks any sense of realism. But it does not lack logic.

Realism never was Gundam Wing's aim to begin with. The way I see it, it's not just the plot or circumstances that prove this, but also the "inhumanity" of the characters. Would a real person with a similar background as Heero, Duo or Trowa really exhibit such selflessness or noble-mindedness as them and risk his life for strangers by fighting a war that could end in their death? I don't think so. Would anyone as sheltered as Relena give up her lifestyle, have the guts to go against the world's armed rulers with just words and put her life on the line for the sake of others? Hard to believe.

And that's it. One of the things that contributes to Gundam Wing's uniquity and is therefore a, if not the, defining trait of the series, is that it doesn't tell the story about angst-riddled terrorists and princesses, but a tale of heroes. The characters are ridiculously noble, strong, selfless, courageous, determined, make the impossible possible and still retain a certain purity, despite having gone through hell and back. It's what makes them so awesome. It's what makes the series so awesome. Duo isn't badass because he fights in the war. He's badass because he fights "so that no one else will have to" and when you see what he went through, you can only say "wow". Lady Une killed Relena's father and when Relena is given the opportunity to take revenge, she declines, saying there's been enough bloodshed. That's role model material there. Something that is sorely lacking in a lot of shows nowadays. And something that a lot of people seem to miss the point of (I'm referring to those that call the pilots wussies for not killing in EW).

All of this is the reason I hate Frozen Teardrop with a passion. Forget the nonsensical, recycled plot or the billion clones of everyone or the terrible mobile suit names like Snow White or Merciless Fairies. Forget Treize getting French’d by his mom or the Zero System being a digital cat or Relena’s grandfather being a disgusting ephebophile. That stuff is messed up and random and dumb and I have no idea what was wrong with the author at the time to write this.

It’s also that he completely destroys the essence of the original series, making every single characters whine about some drama and the never ending “woe is me” monologue I had to wade through every chapter.

Let’s take Duo, for example. He woke up one morning and decided to become an irresponsible, gold-digging bastard. To get Hilde’s money, he agreed to her terms to cut his braid off and get a “proper” name, just to buy himself a motorbike with their joined assets. Then he inherited a church plus orphanage, which Hilde got stuck with, too, being his wife, and when she asked him how to fund the orphanage, Sumizawa wants me to believe that Duo freaking Maxwell was just “Eh, whatever, leave them to it. I’m out” before taking off? Excuse me, what???

I’ve had discussions with people about this and there were statements that maybe more people just need to learn how actual manic depressives and people with PTSD act in relation to Duo's development in Frozen Teardrop. I've noticed a tendency for people to want to apply realism to Gundam Wing, especially in fanfics, but as I said before, Gundam Wing and realism don't have anything to do with each other. So why should I apply it?

What I expect from anything featuring Gundam Wing's characters is the same "heroic" behavior that was displayed in the series. Sure, the pilots each had a mental burden to carry but it wasn't what defined them. For example, Trowa's insecurity about not having a name or yearning for a home never became the main focus unlike his endless selflessness. And Heero's bitterness about the colonies' betrayal was well hidden under his joining the Treize faction to be able to keep retaliating against OZ. A noble deed to fight on but was it really necessary for him to go for the missions with the lowest chance of survival?

As I said, Gundam Wing is unique because it is atypical. That encompasses pretty much everything; you have bloody murderers in the role of the 'heroes', noble, honorable 'bad guys' who value life and the ever flashy Gundams that can't even begin to compare to non-flashy Relena's influence and importance to the plot. So why on earth should I go along with Duo and Wufei bickering like kids, like characters from five million other series do? I want my uniquity. I'm not saying that it isn't a possible outcome for Duo and Wufei to become bitter and bicker and argue and not be able to stand each other when they become adults. But considering those two could get along splendidly, it's a letdown. Duo and Wufei are very much alike; they both lost people important to them twice, they both fight partly out of revenge and their loss has had the biggest impact on shaping them into what they are in the series, unlike the other pilots. Heck, they both wear their respective culture's colors for mourning. Despite that, their personalities (or ways of dealing) are exact opposites. It's enough to make for a more interesting relationship dynamic between them than what was done in Frozen Teardrop and a lot of Gundam Wing fanfics.

Heero's regression is the same. He was frozen because J said something to the extent of "a guy like him would be needed in the future". How J is even alive is another point of unnecessary addition. But what would a guy like Heero be needed for? Killing, apparently.

Way to ignore the ending of Endless Waltz.

I guess it's partly my wish for Heero and everyone else to live a well-deserved 'happily ever after' which makes me have such a knee jerk reaction to all the drama. That and the fact that there was nowhere near as much drama in Gundam Wing. Nor sap, nor stereotyping, nor "realism". >_>

This grated on my nerves, which was why I dropped Frozen Teardrop like a hot potato and haven’t bothered since. This novel does not only fail on a general level with all the random, messed up crap and terrible pacing, it also fails to satisfy the Gundam Wing fan in me because Sumizawa, the very head writer of the show, also ignored major character traits on top of everything else. Why would Catherine, who stated that she hates war and did everything she could to keep Trowa from fighting, train his clone to become a soldier? Why would Duo become that deadbeat I described above?

Being the sole writer of Frozen Teardrop meant he could take as many creative liberties as he wanted. But in the end, he took too many, which in turn resulted in so many inconsistencies with the series that Frozen Teardrop now takes place in an alternate universe, in which not the series but the manga Glory of Losers takes place. Which is the sole reason I’m not bothered by Frozen Teardrop’s existence anymore.

There were some good passages in the novel, it wasn’t all bad. The battles with the new characters were exciting at times, I’ll be honest, but even those couldn’t be called genuinely good because of the carbon copies deal. There is always some blemish. Like Heero’s proposal to Relena. I’ve seen fans of the pairing rejoice at the scene. Alas, I’m not one of them because frankly, the characters in the novel hardly resemble the original ones. So I don’t care.

As the head writer of the show I had expected him to treat the source material with more care and not run it over with retcons and meaningless additions. Best example being everything surrounding Odin. The world could've definitely done without him being Heero's father. Or freaking Trant being related to him.

But again, alternate universe so who cares.

#gundam wing #frozen teardrop #rant #meta #I don't like it #at all

[gyllenhaalstories]

Hi! Once you get this you have to say five things you like about yourself, publicly, then send this to ten of your favourite followers! SPREAD POSITIVITY 💌😘❤️🙏🏻

lauren ilysm 🥺🥺🥺🥺 okay five things uhm, well, uhhhhhhhh, eh?????? THATS SO HARD 😭

my collection of stuffed animals i love that i have at least 100 pairs of eyes staring at me during the night it adds a little bit of spice

i’m pretty self aware? and that’s a good thing i guess (idk so many people told me i have self awareness and consciousness of my choices and actions like… i overthink 24/7 what do they expect 🤔)

my peter pan syndrome ✨ being an adult sucks but do you know what doesn’t suck? desperately clinging to glorified memories of your childhood in the hope of never growing up and reliving these simpler times

is it anxiety is it because i’m a people pleaser or is it just me? idk but i like to think i have a lot of compassion and empathy and there is a cruel lack of both in the world so yeah I’m built ✨ different ✨

numerous times i’ve lost inspiration and creativity but numerous times i’ve tried to fight to get it back despite being in a field of study that kills all forms of creative liberties, despite anxiety telling me it’s a waste of time, despite everything and i’m still here, fantasizing about characters and giving them headcanons and writing my own lil smutty stories on here like my life depends on it and that’s kind of nice. what would it be called, resiliency? perseverance? despair?

thank you for this darling!!!!!!!! 💖💖💖💖

#a-little-counter-esperanto