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lancermylove · 15 days

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Dark Side of Dating Him (HC)

Fandom: Obey Me

Pairing: Demons x gn!Reader

Warning: The warnings vary depending on the demon, but nothing too severe.

A/N: This is the dark side, so proceed with caution. If you guys like this HC, I can write one slightly darker and more situational.

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Lucifer

Due to his pride, he may be emotionally distant and will not admit to mistakes easily. This could lead to a lack of a deep emotional connection.

He can be dominating and demanding, and at times, he may come off as if he is dictating the relationship. Lucifer likes and wants things to go his way, so compromising is difficult for him.

The Avatar of Pride is known for perfection, so his expectations are high for himself and for you. This could lead to a lot of mental pressure for you if you don't strive for perfection or are not meticulous.

Lucifer likes to maintain his appearance, dress well, and keep himself well-groomed. He expects the same from his partner, so if you like dressing down or prefer comfortable clothes, it may become an issue.

Due to his intimidating nature, it may be difficult to open up to him. Moreover, he tries to be understanding, but he isn't openly empathetic. So, he may come off as emotionally unavailable. At times, he might also come off as insensitive when you are being emotional, and Lucifer tells you to be mature and learn how to handle your emotions. He means well, but his way of saying it will be too straightforward.

Whether you like it or not, you will end up being roped into helping take care of his brothers. Due to Lucifer's busy schedule, you will most likely end up taking care of everyone by yourself most of the time.

Lucifer is busy, so he won't have much time to spend with you. Sometimes, even if you are married to him, you might feel lonely.

Mammon

Say goodbye to your money because Mammon will 'borrow' it if needed. He might gamble it off and recklessly spend it, and there is also a very slim chance that he will pay it back.

Mammon gets easily jealous and won't like it if you spend too much time around other men, especially if he feels threatened by them. There may also be a bit of possessiveness involved.

Due to his sensitive nature, he might complain to you endlessly and use you as an emotional dump at times. He doesn't mean to, but he can't control himself, especially if Mammon is overloaded or stressed.

He isn't the smartest or sharpest demon, so there will be times when you will have to explain things to him in detail for him to understand. His initial reaction to your emotions may come off as insensitive as he may make casually straightforward statements (that he actually doesn't mean).

His need for greed might put you in dangerous situations; for example, he might carelessly say he will hand you over to his witch friends if he can't pay back their debt. Will he actually hand you over? No, but the witches might hunt you. Debt collectors might also come after you. You will also have to hear, "Mammon took my money. Pay it back, or get him to pay it back."

Mammon sometimes finds it difficult to take things seriously. He gets uncomfortable during serious discussions and tries to avoid them, so sitting down with him and having a long, mature discussion is nearly impossible.

His things belong to him, his brothers' things belong to him, and your things also belong to him. You will definitely find your belongings missing. More often than not, his excuse will be, ' He needed to get out of debt.'

Levi

As the Avatar of Envy, Levi will be jealous of everything. You get lucky, he will be envious. You laugh and have a good time with someone, he will be jealous. You achieve something, and Levi will be happy for you but will be envious. This may lead him to experience mood swings and possibly push you away for a short period every time.

If you are social, Levi will sometimes feel suffocated by your need to constantly spend time with others and go to parties/events. Even if you invite him, he won't come along. In a sense, he expects you to be as introverted as him and spend most of your time with him.

Even if you reassure him that you love him, there will almost always be moments when he experiences an inferiority complex. This leads to emotional withdrawal and might even lead to him projecting his insecurities on you.

Due to his obsession with gaming and anime, he might neglect the relationship for daily runs and episodes or binge-watching. If you join him, great, more time together. But if you want him to do something you like, it will be difficult to convince him.

Most of all, if you tell him any of this, he will not take the criticism well. Levi is very sensitive, and if you point out his flaws, Levi will immediately categorize it as 'you don't understand him.'

Due to his insecurities, he might become clingy or overly dependent on you for many things. One habit you will have to develop is constantly reassuring him that he is good enough for you and that you love him.

Satan

The Avatar of Wrath has wrath issues, so expect sudden and unpredictable outbursts. Though Satan will never want to harm you, if his blind rage activates, he might unintentionally hurt you while breaking things around him.

If you do or say anything that rubs him the wrong way, he will hold grudges. Just ask Lucifer. That grudge will not go away easily, which might strain your relationship. To tie in with this, he doesn't forgive easily.

There will be times when Satan will want to spend time alone with his beloved books. Even if you want to spend time with him, he might say no. Satan values his alone time just as much as he values spending time with you.

If you get into an argument with Satan, things will escalate, and it might incur his wrath. At that point, he will be destructive and even possibly attack you. He doesn't mean to, but blind rage hinders his thoughts.

His directness, mixed with his intelligence, can come off as cold and ruthless. While he can process emotions, Satan thinks more logically, so his mind will react before his heart.

Even if you have nothing against Lucifer, you will always have to side with Satan, even if he is in the wrong. If you, even accidentally, say that Lucifer is right, Satan will get angry. He might take it overly personally and distance himself from you.

Asmo

Asmo's love for himself is a mix between insecurity and narcissism. You will have to feed both of those sides by constantly validating how beautiful he is and flatter him whenever he needs you to, even when he doesn't need it.

He is friendly with everyone. He flirts with everyone, even if he is dating you. It's just part of who he is. But if you get overly close to someone else, Asmo will be jealous.

Being the Avatar of Lust, desire runs high. If you value monogamy, there will be issues. Asmo needs attention constantly, and he will get it from whoever is willing to give it to him.

This need for constant attraction will lead to a need for high physical intimacy. At any given moment, Asmo could need you, and if you are not available or don't want to, he will throw tantrums and go to another person.

Physical beauty is important to him, so he will need a partner who equally maintains their beauty. If you let go of yourself or stop caring, Asmo will no longer be attracted to you. He will break up with you.

He has no boundaries. If you are secretive or value privacy, you will have trouble with Asmo's constant need to share everything on social media without limits. He might actually end up sharing personal things that you won't want him to tell others.

Beel

His constant need to eat could rub off on you, and you could end up eating excessively. There will be times when Beel will also force you to eat, and if you say no, he might get upset, as sharing food is one way of showing his love.

There is a high chance that most of your money might end up being spent after Beel's gluttonous tendencies. At times, you might end up in trouble if you can't pay off his bills. Be prepared to wash a few dishes or so.

Since his family has been through a lot, Beel might be overly protective of you. He is not trying to be dominating, but he doesn't want you to get hurt, so he might just follow you around everywhere or forbid you from going somewhere. His fear of losing someone else is still weighing on his heart.

You will have to give in to Belphie's wishes, no questions asked. If Beel learns that you upset his twin or said something to hurt him, he will be very sad and distance himself from you. Moreover, just to date him, you will need Belphie's approval.

Since Beel doesn't understand many things, there will be times when you have to explain situations to him like you would to a child. This could lead to frustration, especially if you are not feeling emotionally or mentally well.

Belphie

The Avatar of Sloth is lazy, so there will be times when he will not actively participate in the relationship. Sometimes, you might feel like you are talking to a wall and are in a one-sided relationship.

Also, due to his laziness, you will most likely have to take over his responsibilities and be responsible for him. You might have to constantly wake him up and remind him of studying, tests, homework, chores, and so on. This could also lead to Belphie becoming completely dependent on you, asking you to do this and that for him.

You will have to get along with Beel. Even if Beel does something wrong, you will have to take his side for Belphie's sake.

If you have long, emotional conversations with him when you are not doing well, you might just end up realizing he fell asleep halfway through the conversations. His sleep spells come and go as they please.

If you are adventurous and active, you might find it difficult to be around Belphie as he will not want to go anywhere with you or not move much. Most of your dates will be at home, where he is curled up to you and probably asleep.

His laziness might rub off on you, leading you to live a more lethargic lifestyle. This could impact your personal growth and goals.

Diavolo

Unless you are royalty yourself, there will be a huge power imbalance, and this, at times, could cause you to feel overwhelmed or overshadowed.

As a prince, Diavolo has high expectations for himself and for his partner. You will have to follow every rule, behave properly, and dress royally; you are expected to uphold a certain image and take responsibility. If you are not up for this, no matter how much Diavolo loves you, he won't be able to continue the relationship with you.

Much like Diavolo is currently experiencing, you will have to face public scrutiny. The residents of Devildom will constantly subject you to their opinions and judgments. Some will be rude, while others will make fun of you or say you are not worthy - you will have to face all of it for your sake and the prince's sake.

With all the responsibilities and duties, Diavolo will not have much time for you. This could lead to you feeling neglected, but it is out of Diavolo's hands since he has to take care of a realm.

Due to his status and position, there will always be enemies lurking around, which could put you in danger. For this reason, Diavolo will be very strict with you about following rules and regulations, such as not stepping out without a bodyguard.

Your relationship will not have much privacy as everywhere you go, everything you do will become news. Your entire life will be for the public of Devildom to view as they please.

Barbatos

Barbatos is known for having a lot of secrets; moreover, since he works with Diavolo, he is expected to maintain secrecy and discretion. There will be many things you won't know about him and many things he will never tell you. You are not allowed to poke your nose into his secret, or he will be forced to end things with you. In fact, when you start dating him, this will be one of his requirements.

His priority is and always will be Diavolo. Barbatos has sworn unwavering loyalty to the prince, and even if you are married to him, he will always give Diavolo's needs more attention. At extreme levels, in case there is an attack on the castle, Barbatos will be responsible for saving the prince before you. But he will clarify all of this before he agrees to date you.

The butler is a master at playing mind games, so there might be times when he mentally manipulates you without you even realizing it. If you pick up on it, this could lead to trust issues. Moreover, he has the power to alter timelines, so who knows which timeline the two of you are currently in and how many other outcomes came before this one?

Barbatos does not openly display emotions; even his emotions are calculated, and he only reveals what he wants to reveal. You will never understand his motives either. In a sense, you won't ever meet the real Barbatos as he will never show you or anyone else that self.

Due to his duties, he won't be able to reserve much time for you. This could lead to loneliness or even a strain in the relationship. He might even have to miss important dates and events for the sake of his duties.

Barbatos is good at everything, and while he will never make you feel like you are less, it could lead to insecurities. You might find yourself asking, 'Am I good enough for him' more than you expect. If you ask him, he will always say yes, but ultimately, you will have to arrive at the answer yourself.

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mayullla · 3 months

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Title: Obsessive Passion

Character(s): Witch's Apprentice (Unnamed character/original work)

Summary: You didn't know how much jealousy and hatred he had in his heart and you didn't know how desperate his love was too. He was greedy and was even willing to break you so that you would love him back. Tags/Warnings: male!yandere, fem!reader, apprentice!yandere x witch!reader, both are adults, general yandere themes, brainwash/hypno, drugging, manipulation, dubious consent, 3.4k words

You were a famous witch in the kingdom. Many sought you out for your spells and potions, and the things created by your hand were highly coveted. You were a woman who had reached fame for her talents in magic, knowledge, and powers at a young age. Many sought you out, including the royal family. However, instead of seeking more fame and money, you chose to leave the public eye and live a quiet life away from the capital. Only a few trusted friends and acquaintances knew where you were. You still made many potions and helped whenever the situation required it, but for the most part, you wanted to make time for yourself. You wanted to research and create spells and potions of your interest instead of what was requested and demanded.

With you, you took your apprentice, a man who had talents similar to yours, yet not as fully developed. Many said that he would not be able to achieve what you have due to his lack of mana, but you believed that he would be able to do more, even with that weakness. You knew he was smart, smart enough to figure out how to overcome that hurdle.

But maybe you should have been more careful with him.

You didn't know of the crazed love he had for you, a lust mixed in with unchecked jealousy and hunger. He loved you, he was so madly in love with you that sometimes he felt that it was driving him insane.

You were, in a sense, his savior, someone who took him out of a dark hole and showered him with positive love and attention. You were the one who saw his potential even with his lack of magic when others tossed him aside due to his limits.

It was an innocent crush at first, his heart beating faster when you got close to him as you helped him figure out a new spell that he was trying to create. He was deeply touched when he found out that you created a spell to move your mana to him when he started to run out, effectively stopping him from making progress in a lot of his work and studies.

To him, whenever you poured your energy onto him, he could not help but feel a shiver down his spine. His face flushed into a dark shade of red, perverted thoughts in his mind. All you needed was skin-to-skin contact, holding each other's hand, or you should hold his shoulder. But to him, it was more than that, more than a hug, more than a kiss. It was far more intimate than that when he felt your magic coiling with his, mixing together in his body. It was addicting.

It was difficult for him to hold himself, some days when you saw him panting so heavily after it, he had to make an excuse of some sort.

However, he also had too much anger and too much pride. He resented those who looked down on him, their judgmental eyes ranking his worth in their minds. You were the only one who looked at him in a different light.

You always told him to think of the good for the kingdom, that even when they looked down on him, he could show them what he could do and then their thoughts would change. You were always too kind and so positive.

You weren't naive. If you were, you would have long become a mere pawn of someone malicious, working endless hours for something empty, rather than being free to do whatever you want. But he had always been the more sly one.

That was what he loved about you but also hated. He hated how talented you were compared to him. He hated that you were more powerful than him, that he was in a sense below you. Because you were gifted, you had access to all kinds of magic spell books, even those that belonged to the royal library, while he was not even allowed into the room. He hated your magic because you had so much, unlike him.

He hated your pity.

You did know of his anger, anger towards the world and around him, but you never knew the extent of it. While you also believed that he could do more, you didn't realize what he could already do.

It was just headaches at first when you woke up. Headaches that would never go away no matter what you did. No potion or spell would cast away the pain in your head. Some days it was a numb pain that you could still function throughout the day, but with a few momentary breaks here and there. Sometimes you could go through your day like normal with a very light headache. Sometimes you could do nothing but sit in one place the whole day, unable to think because of the painful throbbing that almost felt like your skull was cracking.

Moments like those always made you mentally note to create another seal for your mind so that you could avoid these sorts of headaches in the future. But by then, it would be too late.

Your apprentice had taken care of most things while you had those serious headaches, giving him work that he could do when you weren't able to do them.

But while doing those tasks, he always took time to take care of you too, handing you tea that was supposed to soothe headaches. While it didn't work for the most part, you appreciated his gesture. Maybe if you were a little more aware and less in pain, you would notice something about the tea that he gave you.

Deep in your sleep, you would never notice how your apprentice would loom over you, having a smile on his lips, cheeks flushed as he played with your mind.

Being famous, you had always been careful of hidden threats and placed many seals in your body to protect yourself. One was on your mind, a seal that you had placed to protect you from any mind magic and dark magic. Much to your apprentice's amusement, he found it very cute that you were that cautious when dark or mind magic had become so rare.

It was taboo and illegal to dabble in such magic after all. Many who were found to be able to do so were mostly killed and burned on torture stakes. It had been years since someone could use such magic. Most magic of that sort was inherited after all, yet when they continued to kill most who could, there was no heir for such magic.

But it wasn't like all dark magic was gone.

He could not help but laugh when he thought of it, how you were so overly cautious of such magic yet took in an apprentice who could use dark magic. This was something you did not know, nor did you know much of. This was what he had over you.

Your seal, while effective if magic was used suddenly to get in your mind, was weak if it was something gradual, slowly chipped away. You would never notice it, not when your headaches started to worsen and worsen the more he chipped your little seal.

It felt like your mind was ripping apart, yet you could not wake up, a sleep potion that paralyzed you, keeping you in deep slumber no matter what he did to you. The torturous pain would be nothing but a nightmare the moment you wake up. He could not help but pity you a little, yet also find a certain thrill to it. A certain satisfaction that he could make you like this.

That he held power over you.

Your body reacted greatly to the broken seal, stiffening as sounds left your mouth, no matter how much he tried to minimize the pain. When it was forcibly broken, there was bound to be some backlash. Yet just as quickly, the sleep potions dragged you back to sleep, unable to react to the shattered seal, unable to see him right above you.

He could not help but laugh, holding it back as he covered his mouth with his hands. His lovely teacher, the teacher who trusted him so much, now at his mercy. He would finally watch you fall from your little stage right under his arms, weak and nothing like the powerful witch you were.

It was a complicated seal that he created just for you, drawn with magic above your head. It was made just for you, like the spell that you had created for him. It would replace the seal that he had broken, and you would be none the wiser. Even if you checked the seal, you would see and feel that same seal that he had broken still there.

One by one, he would change your thoughts, amusing himself in your confusion as he continued to slowly change your mind to his liking, doing things for his pleasure, yet none the wiser.

It took a while, but when you woke up, the headache you had for weeks was suddenly gone.

It was surprising when you realized that you didn't feel like someone was hitting you constantly with a hard, dull hammer every time you even blinked. You were suspicious of the change, but you also felt nothing more than relief. Even when you checked the seals that you placed in your body, nothing was strange.

Yet you just could not help but feel that something was off. That something was not right, but you just could not place a finger on it. You checked the potions and cabinets in the house to see if you misplaced something or if something was stolen, but it wasn't the case. Your apprentice took care of most of the cleaning and potion making while you were resting in bed. Anyone who visited your apprentice had given them the requested items and potions without any problem, but something just felt off.

"Is something the matter?"

You were startled by his voice, jumping a little as if you were caught doing something you shouldn't do. Turning to him, you could not help but frown. "It is nothing, I am just a little confused right now. I can't help but feel like I am missing something."

You honestly replied to your apprentice, wondering and maybe hoping that he had the answer why you were like this. "I am not sure," he answered, having a worried look on his face, wondering if he had made a mistake while you were resting. "Did I make a mistake of some sort?"

Looking at his thinking face, probably trying to calculate expenses or thinking where stuff in where, you shook your head, raising your hand to stop him. "No, it is fine. Thank you for taking care of everything." Seeing that soft smile on his lips, you decided to give your worries a rest.

Yet it always lingered in the back of your mind. As days passed, you started to pay more attention to your apprentice. When you were in the middle of your own research, your mind sometimes thought of him unconsciously, wondering what he was doing and where he was. If he was in the room, you became overly conscious of him. Your eyes could not help but look at him some days, falling into a daze until you snapped out of it with him calling you with a worried look on his face.

It wasn't like you ignored him in the past; you tried to teach him when you were not caught up with your own research. In fact, you were able to give more time to him after you moved to the village, having more time to do whatever you wished. You invested more time into helping him train and learn.

However, this was different.

Your mind just could not think straight sometimes, finding it hard to concentrate when your mind kept thinking of him. He was your apprentice, and while not really far in age, sometimes you thought of him more as an assistant. He was mature and helped you a lot too back then when you had so much work to do. Even now, when he followed you to the countryside, he continued to help you when you needed it. He was reliable.

It wasn't on purpose when you unconsciously started to look over him more often, seeing and checking what he was doing. You took even more time away from your own research to help him learn more about magic and his own research. A quick learner, you always thought, when he picked up a lot of the things you taught him. He was faster… way faster than you when you studied magic around his level.

As more days passed, you started to think that he was better than you, clearly way more talented than you. More often than before, you would compliment him. You complimented him a lot before too, yet you started to do it more and more often. And every compliment seemed to remind you that he was far better than you, that he was better than you.

But it never changed the fact that, unlike you, his magic reserves were smaller than yours. You frowned at the predicament. You were still researching how to help your apprentice's problem, yet you still didn't find a way to fix it. One's own limits were decided the day they were born, and not much could change to make it larger or smaller. The only way you could help your apprentice was to give him your own.

A light touch on his hand or arms, you concentrated on moving your own magic to him. Yet even that took a long time.

Pushing all your other research away, you started trying to find a way to make the transfer quicker and more clean, as there were moments when magic would just leak out and largely go to waste. You were fine with it, to be fair, born with large reserves that it was difficult to use them all in one day anyway, yet you just could not forget your apprentice's face, the jealousy in his eyes when he looked at you.

"Good job. You are doing so well." Compliments continued to leave your lips. Yet as soon as it did, darkness coiled in your stomach as you patted his head. He… he was better than you… Far, far better than you.

You looked down at his sitting form, a smile on his lips, your hand still on his hair as you zoned out deep in thought. "You should really stop patting my head," he told you in a cheery voice, "I am not like some elementary kid who should be rewarded with head pats." You thought for a moment. Looking at him, you could not help but think that it was true, he was far too old for such a thing, but just that you had a habit of doing so.

As soon as you thought that, you tried to take your hand away from his hair, unconsciously wondering if you offended your apprentice or not, yet your hand was stopped by a larger hand. "Ah, I didn't mean it like that!" he said, looking almost surprised when his teacher suddenly started to avoid him. "It is fine to touch my hair, you know… I don't mind," he told you a flush on his face, looking else ever as he tried to hide his cheeks with one hand, "I always know that you like touching my hair, don't you? What I mean to say is that you can touch it whenever... but I am not a kid."

Yes… nothing was wrong… Nothing was wrong at all.

From there, it spiraled again. You were able to function in your daily life, but there were just moments when your memories blanked, and you barely remembered anything. At one point, you thought it was the tea that you were drinking, the one that your apprentice would always make for you.

You were suspicious of the liquid inside your cup, pausing as you stared at it with narrowed eyes. "Is something the matter, teacher?" You looked up at your apprentice, who was looking at you in wonder, an eyebrow raised as he tilted his head. "Do you not like the tea? I made it as you have always liked."

"It is nothing," you said, moving the tea closer to your lips. The smell hit your nose, the same fragrance that you were always familiar with. For a moment, you hesitated, but when you were watched by your student, you chose to take a drink of the tea…

"It is adorable how cautious my teacher is." Your eyes were glazed over as you blankly stared at the floor. Your fingers that were holding the teacup lost their strength, letting the glass fall to the floor and shatter. "Clumsy. Clumsy~" Your apprentice had a mocking tone as he looked at your sitting form. There was no recognition in your eyes, whatever sliver of it was quickly dragged back into the haze. "What would you do without me?"

Moving in front of you, he spelled the glass teacup to rise from the floor and mend itself. When it was placed onto the table, it looked as if it was never broken from the start.

Looking at you, he moved his hands to gently grab your face, forcing you to look at him. "But then again, I always loved my teacher. So much so that it drives me insane sometimes." Your unfocused eyes stared back at him, making him feel chills that he was the one who caused this. That he was the one who made you like this.

He could not help but burst out laughing.

My precious teacher… my precious, precious teacher!" He kept on chanting, in the middle of a quiet forest where there was nothing to hide. His eyes were red with lust and lovesickness.

"My cautious little teacher, slowly you will fall into my arms, and when I finally have you all to myself, I will chain you to me so that you will never be able to leave me. I will make you think of me just as much as I think of you." One by one, he told you all the things he would do to you when you finally could not think for yourself. When your mind breaks and shatters, he will never mend it; instead, he will accept it into his heart.

Then he will create a piece with it that is submissive to him, that yearns for him, that begs for him. One that places him in a high stage that demands others' attention, yet he will give none to them when his eyes are on you, just as he had forced yours to his. You will tell others that he is your heir and that you will be fully retiring.

He will be the one to take care of you, he will take all your magic from your body, greedily taking everything, leaving you unable to even sit up from the bed. He will take care of your body, telling you how well you have done, letting you rest as he fulfills orders for potions and creates spells without limit, looking for you again and again when he runs out.

He will make you sign a contract to become forever his, he will make you sign your name into something that will relinquish everything that belongs to you and give it to him. He will make you give up your talents, your knowledge, your wisdom. He will take everything and gobble it up, as you scream in pain and anguish he will comfort you in his arms and hushed loving words.

You will be his and nobody will be the wiser. Nobody will notice how broken you become as you can do nothing but follow his orders, when you will tell others that he has now inherited your shop and that you will instead become something of a sort of helper. Nobody will know that it is hard for you to make simple potions as he teaches you how to make an easy potion, when you barely even have enough magic to use for yourself as he continues to steal from you.

He will make you clingy, he will make you feel useless and desperate just as he had felt as he looked at you in the past.

You made him insane, and he will show you what it was like as you drowned in his love.

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loudstan · 1 year

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Too Young

(Sequel to Presenting)

Summary: You thought avoiding Jisung after what happened during his first rut would make the problem go away (SPOILER ALERT: it didn't.)

Pairing: Werewolf! Jisung x Witch! Female reader

Warnings: smut, some angst, reader is slightly older and ridiculously stubborn, me simping for best friend! Jaehyun

That was probably the fifth time Jisung tried to call you today. And you still didn’t have the guts to pick up, glaring at your phone on the desk until the call was lost and the screen went off. You sighed in relief, but it didn’t last long; a soft buzz and a notification popping up catching your attention.

Jaehyun: Heey…

Not a minute later another message came.

Jaehyun: What r u doin this weekend?

You opened the message absentmindedly and replied.

‘I’m busy’

Jaehyun: oh ok

Jaehyun: no big deal

You should have finished the conversation there instead of asking…

‘why what’s up?

Jaehyun: nah its okay if youre busy

And now you felt like shit. Jaehyun had been an amazing friend to you for years and you had just lied to him because you were too embarrassed to face him and the rest of his pack after what had happened with Jisung.

‘No, Jae´

‘What do you need?’

´Tell me´

You bit your lip and waited but his answer never came, and being a huge overthinker, you found yourself dialing his number. He picked up after a few seconds.

“Hello?” You hadn’t heard his voice in a while. It caught you by surprise.

“H-hey!” you croaked, your own voice hoarse due to the lack of use. When was the last time you had actually talked out loud?

“Hey, you!” you could hear his smile even if you couldn’t see it, and it was contagious. “How have you been? It’s been a while…”

“I’m good,” you lied. “Just busy…and you?”

“I’m alright…” he said but he didn’t sound too great. There was a hint of tiredness in his voice, and maybe worry? You knew each other so well you just knew he wasn’t okay.

“Jae… what’s going on?” you asked.

“I don’t know. You tell me,” he breathed out. “What’s going on?”

“...What do you mean?” you murmured, but you had an idea of where this was going.

“Well, you stopped showing up for movie nights like a month ago,” he started what felt like would be a long list of complaints. “Then Jisung disappeared for a couple of days, which he apparently spent with you, and when he came back he was a fully presented alpha-”

“Fuck…,” you sighed, because this was going exactly where you thought it would.

“And he looked so happy,” Jaehyun continued. You heard a can being opened and him gulping down a couple of sips of whatever liquid was inside that can. “Calm and collected, like he had suddenly figured out his entire life. He even smirked at me like he was mocking me, so I assumed… I thought that you two- you know…”

“I’m sorry, Jae…,” you finally said.

“Why?” he asked after a few seconds waiting for you to continue. “Why are you sorry?”

“I shouldn’t-fuck,” you sighed, frustrated. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

You heard Jaehyun take a few more sips of his drink on the other side of the line.

“...So, you two-?”

“Yeah,” you admitted. “We spent his first rut together. I’m sorry.”

“Again, why are you sorry?!” he raised his voice only slightly, and then as if he could see you flinching, he lowered his tone again in a calming manner. “What’s there to be sorry for?”

When you didn’t reply for what could have been an entire minute, he spoke again. “Let me see you. We can talk properly then.”

“Jae-”

“Y/N, please?” he pleaded. “I haven’t seen you in so long- I miss my best friend…”

“I miss you too…” you said.

“Then let’s hang out. Just the two of us, if you don’t feel comfortable meeting the others yet.” he offered.

You smiled. That seemed reasonable.

“We can do that,” you accepted. “You wanna come over?”

“Mmm… I’ll tell you what,” he countered cheekily. “Since you always complain about me making a mess and not helping you clean up when I show up, let’s get an airbnb for the weekend.”

“Jae.”

“Y/N.”

“That’s such a waste of money,” you deadpanned. “Just come over and help me clean. It won’t kill you to pick up a broom once in a while.”

“Can’t hear you, I’m booking an apartment,” he declared.

“Jaehyun!”

“Booked!”

You gasped and then groaned. “What the fuck, Jaehyun?”

“Stop whining and have a movie weekend with me. You owe me for leaving me abandoned in this cruel house full of men,” he reproached. “I’m bored, and I miss you, so I’ll see you at 8PM.”

And he hung up just like that. Leaving you wide eyed and with less than an hour to get ready and go to the address he sent you. Quickly, you took a shower, without even bothering to dry your hair and wore the most comfortable pair of shorts and hoodie you found, grabbing some extra clothes and putting them in your backpack before getting going. The airbnb wasn’t too far from your place, and you mentally thanked Jaehyun for being considerate, but all gratitude was gone when he opened the place and greeted you impolitely.

“You look like shit,” typical Jaehyun.

“Fuck off,” you said, walking past him to get in the cozy apartment he had unnecessarily rented. You probably did look like shit, to be fair; dark circles under your eyes, your skin looking dull and your wet hair sticking to your forehead and neck, you probably weren’t looking your best. But he didn’t have to say it like that.

You had barely stepped into the living room when you felt Jaehyun’s arms wrapping around you from behind, catching you off guard.

“I’m so sorry,” he said before you had the chance to ask why the sudden hug.

“It’s fine, I’m not mad. I know I look like shi-”

“No, not because of that,” he interrupted you and you heard him sigh behind you. “I was the one who told you Jisung had imprinted on you.”

“Jae, what-” you tried to turn around but he hugged you tighter, so you stayed still. You knew how awkward he was when it came to apologizing, so he probably wanted to avoid eye contact until he was done speaking.

“Because of what I said you felt pressured into spending his rut with him,” he continued, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s my fault that things got awkward-”

“Jaehyun, no,” you stopped before he could spill any more nonsense and grabbed his hands firmly but gently, motioning for him to let go of you before you turned around. “This is not your fault.”

“You’re my best friend,” he said, lowering his eyes in guilt. “And I misread the signs. I thought you had feelings for him-”

“You were right,” you admitted, gently lifting his face. “I feel something for Jisung.”

Jaehyun blinked a few times, then his brows furrowed as he tried to process what you had just said.“Then why are you avoiding him?!”

“It’s…,” you sighed and turned away, walking towards the kitchen. “It’s a lot to take in…”

“...Go on,” he encouraged you as he helped you reach some plates from the upper cabinet and placed them on the counter.

You sighed. “Why don’t we eat first?”

“I’m not hungry,” he argued, but he didn’t sound convincing. He was always hungry, so you just raised a brow and stared at him until he gave in. “Fine, I’m a little bit hungry, but we still have to talk after we eat.Should we order something?”

“What are you in the mood for?” you giggled.

“Uh… pizza? Chicken?” he asked, seemingly deep in thought. “Both?”

You laughed out loud and nodded. “Both it is,” you agreed. “No need to order, though.”

“Wha-?” he looked away from his phone where he was already opening the delivery app and his attention was directed towards a dim light surrounding your hands. In a matter of seconds, the plates in front of you were filled with a variety of delicious-looking food that had Jaehyun stuttering incredulously. “No way! When d-did you…? Wow! I thought you could only materialize liquids!”

“I’ve been practicing,” you said coyly.

Jaehyun immediately grabbed a slice of pizza and shoved it into his mouth,closing his eyes and moaning dramatically. “Marry me, Y/N, I swear-” his offering got interrupted when he choked on the food he was so excited to eat, coughing while you patted his back,

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jaehyun!” you nagged him playfully as he finally calmed down. “You still have to meet your mate, so stop asking random people to marry you.”

“I don’t just ask random people!” he defended himself, before eating another piece of pizza like he wasn’t choking seconds ago. He just didn’t learn. Zero survival instinct. “I asked you! I trust you! You literally made food appear like Jesus-”

“Jesus multiplied food, he didn’t just materialize it,” you were laughing hysterically now.

“You’re even better than Jesus then!” he continued, glad he was making you laugh after so long without seeing each other.

“I’m not gonna marry you, Jaehyun,” you finally said when you were able to control your laugh. “I’m Jisung’s-,” you gasped and quickly covered your mouth when you processed what you had just said.

Jaehyun smiled knowingly. “I can see that,” he said pointing at the mark that your hoodie failed to hide. “Seems like it’s official.”

You blushed and let out a frustrated sigh. “I really fucked up.”

“I still don’t get it, Y/N. You two like each other-more than just like, actually- so why are you acting like this?” he asked you softly.

“I feel-...I feel like I t-took advantage of him, Jaehyun,” you said, staring at the food that was getting cold. “It was his first rut. He couldn’t control himself.”

Jaehyun snorted and you glared at him, wanting to know what was so funny.

“Look, Y/N… with or without rut, I’m sure he loved fucking you- Hold on! Put that down! Hear me out!” he yelped when you grabbed an empty plate and aimed at him threateningly, your expression unamused at his crude choice of words. “Y/N, he’s wanted you since I first introduced you to the others years ago. I know it. All of us know it.”

“How can you be so sure?” you asked slowly, putting the plate down.

“Well, I-... I have seen things.” he said.

“What type of things?

“Remember that shirt you left behind the first time you stayed at my place for the night? The pink one with a small heart on it? I was gonna wash it and give it back to you.”

“I liked that shirt…” you mumbled, slowly picturing the mental image of the forgotten shirt. “But you said you couldn’t find it, that it wasn’t at your place.”

“I lied,” he admitted. Normally he would avoid eye contact in situations like these, but now he was staring right into your eyes, like he wanted- needed- you to listen to him carefully, to understand, to take his words seriously. “Jisung has it.”

You opened your mouth, but no words came out.

“After you left, I asked the pack if they had seen the shirt and I described it in detail, but everyone said they hadn’t seen it. Jisung’s face was red as a tomato, staring at the floor and squirming in his seat..I didn’t think much of it at first, but when I found the shirt under his pillow weeks later…” Jaehyun let out a soft chuckle and shook his head at what he thought was a funny memory. “I knew if he didn’t find it where he left it, he would panic at the thought of someone discovering his secret. I didn’t want to embarrass him so I left the shirt right there and didn’t say anything.”

“Maybe Chenle put my shirt there as a joke,” you argued, but deep down you knew Jisung himself had willingly kept your shirt.

“That’s not all I’ve seen. I see how he looks at you; his pupils dilate while following your every fucking move like he’s on drugs. I’ve seen him smelling your hair when you aren’t paying attention, licking his lips while looking at yours-”

“Jaehyun-”

“I’ve heard things too,” he bit his lips and raised his eyebrows suggestively, hoping you would get it, but you just stared back at him blankly. “I’ve heard him moaning your name late at night more times than I can count.”

“Oh my god, Jaehyun! Shut up!” you hissed, scandalized.

“It’s not like I want to hear, Y/N,” he hissed back, imitating your tone. “Werewolves just happen to have incredibly good hearing. If I heard it, then trust me, the entire pack heard it. He wants you like crazy, Y/N. The rut just gave him the courage to act on it.”

You felt yourself blushing and your heart beating faster at the newfound information. Part of you was happy to know that it hadn’t just been his rut, but that didn’t solve everything.

“He’s too young. It’s just wrong,” you argued exhaustedly.

“...Seriously? That’s what made you run away from the poor guy?” Jaehyun asked incredulously. “His age?”

“He’s not ready to make a lifetime decision like that-”

“No, Y/N. Stop babying him,” Jaehyun wasn’t going to accept that as an argument. “Yeah, he’s a bit younger than you, but so what?! He is an adult! And he presented as an alpha-”

“He just presented-”

“What difference does it make? Whether he presented yesterday, last month, or last year doesn’t change who he is. He is a man, Y/N and he knows what he wants.”

You gulped and cleared your throat awkwardly. Jaehyun normally wasn’t this stubborn; he always let you have it your way and win every argument, but he wasn’t backing down now. You didn’t want to continue this conversation anymore.

“Jaehyun, I came here to see you. I don’t want to fight,” your voice shook slightly as you spoke. “Can we just watch a movie together?”

Jaehyun didn’t want to fight either. And he especially didn’t want to make you cry, he just wanted the best for you and Jisung, but he could tell the conversation wasn’t going anywhere. He would have to find another way to help you.

“Let’s watch Barbie,” he proposed, hoping to make you laugh again. You rolled your eyes and suppressed a smile, which was enough for him. You spent the evening joking, laughing and watching movies, complaining about the characters and the plot holes while cuddling like in the old times. You felt comfortable in your friend’s arms and soon started falling asleep while he caressed your hair. Jaehyun was whispering something, but you were too tired to pay attention.

“Forgive me,” you thought you heard him say before you surrendered to sleep.

When you woke up a couple of hours later, Jaehyun wasn’t next to you; his side of the bed was cold and the TV screen displayed that Netflix message asking if you wanted to continue watching. Everything was in silence.

“Jaehyun?” you called out sleepily.

“He is not here,” that voice did not belong to Jaehyun. You jumped slightly and looked around trying to find the source of that voice, your eyes slowly adapting to the darkness around you.

“J-jisung?!” you breathed out when you finally spotted him sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, his features barely distinguishable under the little rays of moonlight that managed to enter the room.

He just stared back at you tiredly. Like you, he looked like he hadn’t slept well in a while.

“W-where is Jaehyun?How did y-you get in?” you asked nervously.

Jisung’s gaze darkened, his fingertips digged harshly into his knees and he clenched his jaw before reaching for his phone in his pocket and unlocking it. After scrolling down a couple of times, he stood up and walked around the bed, making you squirm cautiously at his behavior. He stopped next to you and showed you the screen of his phone, the light hurting your eyes slightly.

There it was: a message from Jaehyun with the exact address you were in and the code he needed to open the door, followed by the words ‘she is here.’

“W-what…?” you mumbled dumbly, reaching for your own phone and finding a message for you too.

Jaehyun: sorry Y/N but u 2 need to talk

You scoffed incredulously. “Fucking traitor.”

You slammed your phone on the nightstand and sighed, your eyes meeting Jisung’s once again. His unreadable expression made you incredibly nervous.

“W-when did you get here?” You were the first to break the silence.

“An hour ago… or maybe two,” Jisung replied, dark eyes still boring into yours.

“Oh,” you shifted awkwardly on the bed. That meant he had been watching you sleep the entire time. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I didn’t want to scare you,” he mumbled, his fingertips playing with the hem of his hoodie. “I’m not dumb. I know you’re avoiding me. I just wanted to look at you a bit longer and then leave before you woke up,” his voice got smaller as he reached the end of that sentence.

The way he was showing himself in such a vulnerable and hesitant state made all the negative feelings you had been feeling the last couple of weeks come back stronger than ever; guilt, shame, anxiety and fear. Jaehyun was right; you had to at least have the decency to talk to Jisung and solve this issue once and for all.

“Jisung,” you called out, making him flinch slightly. “There’s something I have to tell you-”

“Could you take a shower first?” he suddenly blurted out, like he had been holding it in for a while. “You reek of him,” he quickly explained when you gave him a perplexed look.

Your first instinct was to argue back; to tell him that he had to get over it and that this conversation was more important than his wolf being possessive. But after a moment of thinking, you decided to fulfill his request. You had already done enough damage, and you were about to hurt him even more, so the least you could do was make it a bit more comfortable for him.

“Sure,” you said as you got up from the bed and made your way to the bathroom, grabbing some clothes from your backpack as you walked past him. “See you in a bit.”

He let out a soft ‘ok’ before you closed the bathroom door and leaned against it, your legs shaking slightly. You had forgotten how alluring his voice was, how pretty his eyes were and how soft his lips looked. As you felt hot water run down your skin for the second time that day, part of you wanted to just beg for his forgiveness and kiss him until your lips were swollen, but then again, that little voice in your head told you you shouldn’t and that you had to end things with him. Or at least that was what you intended when you exited the bathroom and joined him in the living room.

“Put this on,” he offered you the hoodie he was wearing earlier as soon as he saw you. Suddenly a cold shiver ran down your spine and you finally noticed that Jisung had opened all the windows- probably in an attempt to get rid of Jaehyun’s scent.

“I’ll just go get my own hoodie,” you replied, but he quickly shook his head.

“No. This one,” he insisted, practically shoving the hoodie into your arms. “Please,” he added when he sensed your hesitation. You sighed, and put it on, again telling yourself it was the least you could do for him.

“Listen, Ji-” you started saying, but as soon as you finished putting the large hoodie on Jisung’s arms were around your waist, bringing you incredibly close to him as he rested his head on your shoulder, nuzzling into the crook of your neck affectionately. An unintentional pang of pleasure clouded your mind when he rubbed the mark on your neck slightly and you couldn’t help the way your body relaxed, baring your neck for him. Jisung hummed appreciatively and gave your neck a long lick that made you whimper before you remembered what you were going to say. “J-jisung-”

“Hmm?” he acknowledged with a kiss on your neck before he got back to scenting you..

“I’m-” you bit your lip and gathered the courage you needed before speaking again. “I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you.”

He tightened the hold his arms had around you, fingers digging into your flesh. “It’s okay,” he assured you quickly through shaky breaths. “We’re okay.”

“It’s not okay,” you sighed and tried to put some distance between the two of you, but he didn’t budge. “I- I should have done this sooner-”

“I said we’re fine,” he repeated, this time his voice was firm. “We’re together now.”

“But we´re not- we shouldn’t b-be…fuck,” you groaned and took a deep breath. “What happened between us- it was a mistake.”

There. You said it.

The hug you were captive in loosened up and Jisung lifted his head, taking a hesitant step away from you. His brows furrowed in a puzzled expression that soon turned into one of anguish, his glossy eyes telling you that was the last thing he wanted to hear right now. You felt like absolute trash.

“...Why do you say that?” he asked, his voice cracking.

You did your best to ignore the way your chest throbbed at the sight. “It w-was your first rut and I-”

“Fuck,” Jisung turned around and threw his head back, walking a few steps away before he hunkered down on the floor like he was in physicall pain. “FUUUCK!”

You didn’t dare to move nor say anything else. It was the first time you had heard him raise his voice and it reminded you of the severity of the situation you were in. You had fucked up badly.

“Of course!” he said as he slowly stood up, facing you again, his face pure of torment. Heartbroken. “Of course you would never want to do all that with me,” he laughed bitterly.

You clenched your eyes, his words hurting more than you anticipated. “Jisung, I-”

“You just felt sorry for the late presenter who was humping your pillow like a loser,” he spat angrily.

“That’s not true-”

“And here I was thinking I had a chance with you,” he continued rambling,panting heavily. “That you may actually like me back-”

“I do!” you bursted out, finally catching his attention. “I do like you,” you admitted as tears rolled down your face. “I like you s-so much,” you ended your confession with a sob and covered your face with your hands. “I’m so sorry.”

For a whole minute the only noise that could be heard in the living room were your mournful sobs and Jisung’s heavy breathing.

“...You lost me there,” Jisung finally broke the silence. “I don’t get it,” he walked towards you cautiously as you wiped your tears desperately. “If you and I feel the same, then why-... why are you saying it was a mistake?”

“B-because you-,” you tried to compose yourself and speak properly, but your body and heart simply weren’t in the mood to listen to your brain. “You’re too young and-”

“What?!” Jisung asked like you had just said he was a vampire. You tried to hide your face again but he grabbed both your wrists and pulled them to your sides, his eyes looking for yours. “I’m too what?!” he repeated.

“Too young…” you barely whispered, looking away.

“Too young for what?” he spoke through gritted teeth. “To date? To make my fucking choices? To fuck?!” he continued, slowly cornering you against the wall. “Too young for you, noona?”

You inhaled sharply when your back bumped into the wall and he pinned your hands on each side of your head. “J-jisung, we s-shouldn’t-”

“Why?”

“I just don’t w-wanna take a-advantage of yo-” before you could finish that sentence Jisung was kissing you firmly, soft lips moving against yours. Your heartbeat accelerated when he nibbled on your bottom lip softly, as if asking for permission and letting out a frustrated groan when you didn’t let him in. You turned your head to the side and spoke again. “Jisung I can’t-”

“Shut up,” Jisung growled, letting go of your hands to grab your jaw and forcefully make you face him, his other hand sneaking around your waist. “Just shut up. I don’t wanna hear any more nonsense,” he warned you and crashed his lips into yours again, nibbling and licking insistently for you to part your lips. When you refused to give in again, his hand went from your jaw to the back of your head, grabbing your hair and tugging enough to catch you by surprise, using the soft gasp he elicited from you as an opportunity to finally deepen the kiss. He moaned into the kiss and massaged your scalp gently as an apology, and you felt your eyes roll to the back of your skull, finally daring to kiss him back, all will to fight slowly evaporating from your body. When he broke away from the kiss, you caught yourself feeling utterly disappointed.

“Are you done being impossible?” he asked, pecking your lips softly. “Done making things unnecessarily difficult?” the next kiss lasted a bit longer, his hands finding their way to your hips. “Where did you even get that ridiculous idea, hm?” he pressed his hips into yours, immediately reminding you of his size. “You think I’m some innocent kid, is that it?” he challenged, rutting against you firmly. The effect was immediate: you felt yourself melt into a puddle at the touch you had been craving for weeks, letting out a soft moan, much to Jisung’s delight. “Yeah? You missed me?” he chuckled against your lips, pressing himself against you harder and making you whine desperately. “Then you should have picked up your phone, no? Texted me back? Opened the door when I showed up?” He kissed his way from your jaw to your neck, sucking harshly. “All because you felt guilty? Guilty for what? For making my biggest fantasy come true?” he growled against your neck, making you tremble.

“Jisung-,” you gulped when he grabbed your shorts and panties and pulled them down unceremoniously. “S-slow down. Let’s think-”

“Don’t wanna,” he simply said as he finished undressing your lower parts. “I’ve had plenty of time to think. I’ve been thinking about this for years, noona,” he pulled his sweatpants down along with his boxers only enough for his hardened cock to be released, bobbing and hitting his covered lower abdomen. “The more I think of it, the harder I get.”

You could feel yourself drooling at the sight of Jisung slowly jacking off in front of you as he observed you with hooded eyes.

“You want it?” he teased you, his hand circling the tip of his cock and squeezing slightly, hissing. You could only nod dumbly. “But you think it’s wrong, huh?” he quirked his eyebrows and you nodded again. He rolled his eyes and pressed his body close to yours again. “Because I’m too young?” he cooed. Again, you nodded, like it was the only thing you knew how to do. He hummed, not stopping the constant movement of his hand on his dick, while his other hand made its way between your legs, sliding two fingers along your pussy and spreading your wetness to your clit. “Then why are you this wet? Aren’t I too young to make you this wet, noona?”

You closed your eyes, embarrassed. “J-jisung, please…” you begged, without being sure of what you were begging for. He slowly inserted both fingers into your entrance, both your jaw and his falling open; yours due to the stretch and his for the anticipation of being surrounded by you. He moved his fingers carefully inside of you, searching for that one spot he had found last time-

“AH! J-jisung oh g-god!”

Found it. He smirked and stole another kiss from you before quickly massaging that spot in a ´come here´ motion, along with stroking his cock lazily.

“Jisung f-fuck, fuck oh-!” you didn’t know what to hold onto, and ended up pulling at his shirt with trembling hands. Sensing how close you were, he put his own pleasure aside, releasing his own member and using that hand to draw smooth circles on your clit. “JISUNG-” you gasped and threw your head back, surrendering to the intense orgasm Jisung had built up for you. You didn’t know if it was because of the mating mark, but only Jisung could make you feel like this. You worked on controlling your breathing as Jisung retracted his fingers from you gently, and opened your eyes right in time to see him bring his soaked fingers to his mouth, licking them wantonly and moaning in delight. For a second his eyes gleamed a reddish tone that made your blood run cold.

“Don’t worry,” he said as if he knew what you were thinking. “It’s too soon for me to have another rut. Especially when my last one left me so…,” he licked his lips. “...Satisfied.”

“O-oh,” you replied, trying your best to form a coherent sound, but your legs chose that moment to give up on you and your body started sliding down the wall. Luckily, Jisung was fast enough to reach for you and hold you firmly against him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice showing a hint of nervousness as he tried to look for an answer in your unfocussed eyes.

“Feel weird-” you managed to answer, letting him lift your weak body and guide your legs around his waist, pressing you against the wall once again. When his hot cock rubbed against your sensitive pussy your entire body trembled and you moaned into his chest.

“Noona,” he cupped your face with his palm, holding your weight with one arm like it was nothing. “Weird how? What do you feel?”

You shook your head weakly. You didn’t know how to explain the way your body responded to Jisung, making your limbs weak, your chest warm, and every nerve tingling with pleasure, something in the back of your head telling you to submit to him. Jisung bit his lip before he decided to look for your neck, giving it experimental nuzzles and licks like a puppy trying to comfort its owner. You moaned out loud and bared your neck for him, giving him as much access as he wanted.

“A-alpha,” you moaned, shaking in his arms. Jisung’s eyes lighted up with a hint of red again, and stared at you expectantly. “Make it b-better, alpha-,” you sobbed desperately.

Something in Jisung snapped right in that moment, inhaling sharply and kissing you fiercely, his hips rutting against you roughly and creating a friction that had you gasping into the kiss.

“It’s okay, noona,” he assured you while his hand slid between your bodies to line himself up against your entrance, pressing only slightly in an attempt to make you open up for him without forcing it, although it felt like torture for you. “Alpha will take care of you,” he declared before the head slid in, making both of you moan loudly. “Feels good, yeah? Feel how good alpha fills you up?” he panted when he managed to bury himself completely inside of you.

“S-so good,” you stuttered brainlessly, letting him bounce you on his cock and against the wall.

“Still think this is wrong?” he asked in between kisses. “Still think I’m too young?”

He slowed down his thrust to a stop when you didn’t reply, distancing his upper body from you enough to see your embarrassed face. “You do?!” he asked incredulously. You looked away and he scoffed. “Am I not enough of a man for you? Even after I marked your pretty neck as mine? Even when you can barely take my cock?” he thrusted into you sharply as to emphasize his question. “Get rid of that stupid thought, now,” he ordered you, his eyes showing a red hue again.

“I-I’m trying-,” you hiccupped with difficulty as he fucked you intently. “It’s n-not that e-easy-”

“Let me help you,” he hissed and just like that you suddenly didn’t feel the wall against your back anymore. You shrieked and hugged Jisung more tightly out of fear of falling on the floor now that you didn’t have the wall as support. Jisung walked a few steps back, with you clinging onto him like a koala, before he grabbed your waist with both hands. “Let me show you how much of a man I can be.”

Before you could complain about the possibility of you being too heavy for this, or him losing balance, or all the ways this could end up badly, he silenced you by lifting you up and slamming you down back into his cock with ease, reaching deep enough to make you choke on your saliva.

“Could someone who is too young do this?” He snickered and kissed your neck before he started moving you up and down his cock with ease, as the muscles in his forearms tightened and his veins popped up attractively. You didn’t even know strength could turn you on like this, but when Jisung used you like you were nothing but a fleshlight you felt another orgasm approaching you fast. “Tell me, noona,” he hissed. “Am I n-not a man to you?” he fought the need to roll his eyes back in pleasure to see your wrecked face.

“Al- alpha,” you tried to reply as you felt your orgasm so close you could barely speak. “Y-you a-...you’re a m-man fuck, alpha, alph-AH!” you sobbed as your vision went blank and your walls clamped around him, making him moan and tremble, hugging you tightly against his chest, where you could feel his heart beating through the material of his shirt.

“Say it again,” he demanded, his hard cock still inside of you contrasting the romantic nature of the way he was hugging you.

“Y-you’re a man,” you admitted, feeling weak after the mindblowing orgasm.

“Say you’re mine,” he spoke again.

“I’m…,” you sighed as he kissed your mark softly. “I’m yours, alpha.”

“Now tell everyone,” he ordered, catching you off guard. Who was he talking about? Did he mean telling the other members of his pack? Telling your friends? Introducing him to your parents? As you were trying to understand what he meant, he started walking towards the balcony, walking past the window and standing there in the cold night, where all the neighbors could see you. “Now.”

“J-jisung, what are you doing?” you slapped his chest weakly until he put you down. You were glad his hoodie covered you past your thighs and he was fully dressed- except for his cock on full display- and tried to hurry him back inside before someone saw you both, but Jisung quickly grabbed your hips and turned you around against the balcony railing, pressing his body against you. “Jisung, n-not here!”

“I want the world to see,” he murmured like he was in a trance. “I want them to hear how good you are for alpha,” he purred, lifting the back of your hoodie just enough for his cock to rub against your ass.

He was crazy. There was no way you were going to do that. Or so you thought, but the moment he slid himself back into you with a shameless moan, all caution was forgotten, and you could only think about how good he was stretching you and how sweet he sounded moaning against your ear.

“Noona,” he moaned into your neck, his hips speeding up to a constant rhythm. “Say it again,” he pleaded, his hands feeling you up like a madman, wanting to memorize every curve. “Say you’re mine.”

“I’m y-yours,” you whimpered, your fist tightening around the railing and enjoying the way his cock twitched inside of you at the words. “I’m yours, Jisung, p-please I’m- oh! Oh god, Ji I’m yours, I’m yours I-” you moaned when he cursed and his hips stuttered.

“I love you, n-noona,” he sobbed, digging his fingers into your hips to keep you in place to take his unruly thrusts. “I love you, I love y-you so much so, so much ah! Ah, fuck, ah!” he panted heavily as the base of his cock started inflating into what soon would be a huge knot. “D-don’t try to run away from me a-again, noona,” he pleaded? Warned? “I won’t let you. You’re n-not going anywhere-fuck! This pretty pussy’s all mine,” definitely a warning. “I’ll fuck you so good, noona, hhm? Breed you every day, keep you so f-full you w-won’t have any more stupid ideas in that pretty head of yours, y-yeah?”

You moaned so loud you knew someone out there had surely heard. But you couldn’t care anymore; the only thing in your mind were Jisung’s filthy promises and the stretch of the knot he insistently tried to push into you were making you delirious. “Y…yeah- oh fuh- ugh fuck yes, a-alpha!” your slurred words were barely understandable, too cock drunk to express yourself properly. “Fuck me s-soh aaah! so g-good- wanna… want you inside of me all d-day.”

That’s what did it for Jisung. He rammed into you harshly, his knot finally inside of you as his cock jerked, continuous gushing of cum making you feel full enough for a small bump to form in your belly.

“You’re squeezing me s-so good, noona.” Jisung panted deliriously while licking your neck. “Taking all my cum, yeah? Milk me up some more, hmm?” he asked, one of his hands finding your clit and rubbing it quickly as you moaned and squirmed against him. “Yeess, noona, just like t-that, come on, cum for me, cum for alpha-” he demanded, relishing in the way your walls contracted round him.

“A-alpha!” you whimpered when your third orgasm of the night hit you, shaking uncontrollably as Jisung released another spurt of cum inside of you. “love y-you, alpha…” you croaked out weakly. Jisung purred a chant of ‘love you too, love you so much, noona,’ as he gave the mating mark one last kiss and slid out of you when his knot shrunk enough to allow it, cum immediately sliding out and down your thighs as Jisung carried you back inside the apartment.

Jisung laid you down on the sofa and disappeared into the bathroom, coming back right after with a wet towel that he used to carefully clean you up, gently apologizing whenever you would flinch in oversensitivity.

“You came a lot…,” you commented absentmindedly.

“Oh that’s probably because- uh, I haven’t come since the last time I saw you,” he confessed, shrugging.

“What?” you yelped. “That was like three weeks ago! Why didn’t you uh–... you know,” you ended vaguely by making a crude gesture with your hand that had him laughing out loud.

“I tried,” he explained when his laugh calmed down. “I would start jerking off, but my hand didn’t feel as good as yours, and it wasn’t as soft and warm as…,” he eyed you up hungrily. “...As all of you. So I would get frustrated and give up.”

“That sounds like torture,” you say.

“It was,” he admitted. “But I feel much better now.”

You hummed and then you both fell into a comfortable silence.

“Are we-” Jisung bit his lip nervously, going back to his reserved persona like he hadn’t just fucked you out in the open. “Are we okay now?”

“Yeah,” you replied tiredly. “More than okay.”

“...Will you give us a chance, then?” he asked hopefully.

"Will I get my shirt back if I do?" you asked cheekily. "The pink one, with a heart on it," you added when Jisung gave you a puzzled look. Then you saw his eyes widen and his face blush a record shade of red.

"Who told you?!"

"Jaehyun."

Jisung groaned dramatically. "Look, noona. I'm not a creep. It just smelled so good-Fuck! That's what a creep would say-" he tried to defend himself desperately.

"Jisung," you called for him, giving him a tender kiss. "What do you need the shirt for if you can have me anytime you want."

His eye color matched the blush on his face at your words as he licked his lip tentatively. "Anytime I want?"

You nodded and kissed him again, feeling him smile into the kiss.

Then a thought crossed your mind and you broke to kiss, gasping in realization.

“We’re gonna get a noise complaint. Or a complaint for public indecency. We’ll get banned from using airbnb.”

“Under whose name is the reservation?” Jisung asked

“Jaehyun’s.”

“Then I honestly don't care,” he said nonchalantly as he leaned in to kiss you again.

#nct smut #nct imagines #nct scenarios #nct drabbles #nct dream smut #park jisung x reader #park jisung smut #jisung smut

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susansontag · 2 years

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a core theme a surprising amount of people miss in kiki’s delivery service is the ambivalence between tradition and modernity. kiki is a folkloric character, a witch who is entrenched in not only the magic of a past mythical time but who is deeply embedded in customs and traditions. she leaves home at the pre-ordained time for her people, dressed in traditional garb, with the illusion that she will find a neat spot in a new town and bring charm and magic to the locals.

but she is entirely out-of-step with basically everything around her as soon as she arrives: she can’t navigate the traffic with her (handed-down) broom, almost causing a car accident; she envies her fashionable peers dressed in the latest fashions and feels self-conscious; everyone is perplexed, rather than enchanted, to see her. they seem vaguely to have heard of witches but quickly go back about their busy day walking down the busy modern streets. almost a total contrast to kiki’s rural, traditional town (the rural being paired with traditionalism and custom vs the urban city being the site of modernity and emerging technology etc, very classic choice). she gets a place to stay based entirely off the kindness of a stranger; no one feels they owe her anything simply due to her being a witch and this leaving the nest to offer her services elsewhere being what she’s meant to do.

no wonder kiki wonders where she will find her place in this new world that is not at all what she’d expected. people always point out how kiki’s delivery service offers us a portrait of depression, especially in the context of losing passion for something one loves, especially after it’s made one’s job. but this angle of tradition vs modernity feels important to miss, because it’s undoubtedly one of the fundamental factors behind kiki’s eventual dissatisfaction: what does she, with her magic and traditions, have to offer this new, emerging technological world?

no one has made a place for her here. she dresses differently, is unaccustomed to how those her age behave, and her most fundamental and magical gift -- flight -- is no longer an extraordinary practice reserved for those of myths and legend; hasn’t she seen the fantastic new airship! she is invited to take a ride on it at one point and declines.

if I remember correctly this is one of the last events that takes place before her fall into depression, a portion of the film characterised by kiki losing her ability to fly (and thus her magic). if even this doesn’t amount to much in this new reality, what does she have to offer? what makes her unique and worthy? the answer to this question is down to interpretation I suppose, though I’m guessing kiki realises she just has herself to offer. her customers like her, they return to ask her for favours and work because she is personable and good at what she does. she can’t offer them something fantastical and extraordinary anymore, but hopefully she herself is enough. and I think those feelings are also very potent for anyone who has struggled with feelings of lack of self-worth and purpose in their lives, just as much as getting tired of something you used to love. what about when the world gets tired of you? what do you do then, when life moves on without you?

#I suppose it's also a relevant theme when we consider post-war japan #but that's a v culturally specific reading that I can only just grasp the edges of #kiki's delivery service #studio ghibli #moth.txt #1k #2k #3k #4k

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canisalbus · 11 months

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a few quick questions on Machete, what breed is he? I love the angles of his snout and the proportions remind me of a borzoi though I don't think he is one. Also, does he have a set age for when he's a cardinal? I picture him to be around mid-30s or so. Wonderful art! love your stuff and find you an inspiration :)

He's a fictional breed called Podenco Siciliano, which is closely related to modern day Ibizan Hound (pictured below) and other Mediterranean rabbit-hunting podencos. I usually just default to calling him a sighthound since he's somewhat of a provincial mongrel and not meant to be purebred anyway.

As for the age, mid-30s sounds about right. I think the current timeline goes something like this:

0 - Born to a lower-middle class family in Sicily, father is a tradesman, has three older brothers. Generally considered a runt, is weak and sick all the time, parents suspicious of his unusual colors.

3 - Gets left at a monastery and raised by monks as a foundling. Nervous and meek kid, but the monks think he's endearing and do their best to support him. Is taught to read and write, which is a massive advantage at that day and age, and learns rudimentary Latin through exposure.

9 - Apprenticed to a Neapolitan priest, moves to southern part of mainland Italy (or Kingdom of Naples as it was called, it was ruled by Spain actually). Does chores and runs errands in exchange for education and experience.

15 - The priest gets elevated to a bishop and decides to sponsor Machete's further studies at an acclaimed university in Venice (in Northern Italy). There he studies theology, medicine, arts, law, philosophy and gets fluent in Latin and adequate in Greek. Befriends Vasco but their relationship is short-lived.

21 - Ordained a priest. Leads a parish somewhere in Papal States (Central Italy). Is generally well liked but doubts his career choice from time to time.

26 - Becomes a part of the Papal Court in Vatican, mostly because of the recommendations of his former mentor and professors, good reputation, excellent track record and sheer luck. Still a priest but assists bishops, cardinals and the pope himself directly. Moves to Rome. Becomes pope's unofficial confidant due to his obedient and hardworking nature and because of his lack of prestigious family connections that would render him a threat. Slowly starts to gain wealth.

30 - Created a cardinal (which is the second highest position in the church after the pope, and it's at the sole discretion of the pope who becomes one). Is also a bishop as a technicality. Handles administrative jobs, tons of paperwork, at some point he's in charge of a lot of the political correspondence and diplomatic missions. Still the old pope's trusted advisor but disliked by the majority of the cardinals, who see him as an outsider, sycophant and a potential disruptor of the status quo.

34 - Meets Vasco again. Vasco has become a succesful politician in Florence, he's married with three children.

38 - The pope dies and Machete's status falters. He starts to work with the Roman inquisition more. Oversees trials, torture, excommunications and executions of heretics, witches and most of all, protestants (since we're reaching Counter Reformation times and the Vatican is Very Worried about the spread of Luther's ideas). Isn't having a good time at all but keeps up the appearances. Gets infamous. The beginning of the true villain era.

40 - Grows increasingly more disillusioned with life and his ideals, as well as the corruption of the Curia. Burned out, paranoid and desperate. Uses scare tactics, extortion and legal trickery to expose and undermine his enemies, but gains them faster than he can keep up. Employs spies, thugs and assassins. Feared and loathed.

43 - Gets assassinated and dies in disgrace.

#answered #jaydenchapstick #sorry this turned out sorta long #and kinda bummer too #all of this is subject to change if I end up thinking of something better #not set in stone just the current grand picture #the ages are approximate #the history of Italy and the workings of the catholic church are both such clusterfucks holy moly gosh darn #I've done research but don't rely on my word that this is all accurate and feasible in the end it's fantasy rules #whenever you see him wearing any red it's a sign he's at the cardinal phase these positions are color coded like that #Machete

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halfagone · 7 months

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Is Good Parents Maddie and Jack Fenton even possible?

Specifically, would they be able to change their mindset after over twenty years of bigotry and scientific curiosity?

If they saw their human son turn into Phantom, would they still think of him as their kid? Would they love him, accept him and support him?

I, personally, can't see the canon reveals as anything but a kid friendly compromise of giving the viewers the satisfaction of a reveal and keeping the status quo of the light-hearted show going.

But with everything the Fenton parents did, said, and invented... is it possible for them to turn their backs on their research and start from scratch? To admit that they were wrong after decades of being called quacks, crazy and idiots?

The only thing they were right about was the existence of ghosts, but now they endangered the whole world by building their portal that half-killed their son and traumatised millions of people.

So. Is it possible to write a Good Parents Jack and Maddie fic that doesn't shy away from all the awful things they did and how would you go about it?

Thank you for your time!

The short answer: Technically? Yes. Realistically? Probably not.

The long answer: Everyone is capable of change but not everyone will. For all intents and purposes, they are capable of growing as people and learning to recognize their mistakes and biases and leaving those behind... It just likely wouldn't be a simple flick of a switch. At the same time there is reason to believe that the Fentons wouldn't change their minds.

You said it yourself, over twenty years they've acted like this and so logically you would begin to assume that's just how they've always been and always will be. That shows this goes far beyond their parenting style and skills, and has everything to do with who they are as people.

(Buckle up, this one's a long post.)

We don't actually know all that much about the Fenton parents in canon. We don't see any grandparents or relatives other than Aunt Alicia. Although we have headcanons as a fandom that Jack and Maddie have ghost-related trauma, or it's a family tradition from the Fenton side with Jack Fentonightingale, to explain why they've always been like this, that is still no canon confirmation. (Fentonightingale was a witch hunter, not a ghost hunter after all.)

As far as we are aware, for one reason or another, one day Jack and Maddie started to believe ghosts were real and not just real but malicious. I may not be a scientist by career but even I can tell you they've failed in their duties as scientists the moment they chose their hypotheses over the evidence. That is literally something they teach you in high school science class; you ask a question and then research for evidence supporting that question. (Otherwise known as the "if... then" statement.)

Sometimes that means your first assumption was incorrect, but the evidence cannot be changed. So to me, the Fenton parents aren't ghost scientists, they're ghost hunters and those implications have connotations all of their own. And those connotations reflect poorly on them. And this isn't even to mention their general lack of workplace safety.

When we look at their friendships- they have no friends. They had Vlad in college, but they fucked up that relationship and don't even seem too broken up about it. They hadn't spoken to each other in twenty years until the reunion, and they obviously knew he'd made something of himself; Jazz recognized his name from Billionaire of the Year I think the magazine was supposed to be or something.

When Jack explains what happened to Vlad in "Bitter Reunions", he literally mentions how he thinks Vlad has forgiven him now. So obviously he acknowledges that what happened between them was due an apology.

Do you know something that's noticeably absent? A single apology from either Jack or Maddie. Yes, Jack might be more at fault in his accident, but Maddie ignored him for twenty years too. Vlad can talk whatever crap he'd like about Jack, but Maddie is just as culpable in his 'abandonment' as her husband is. We have proof from "Masters of All Time" that Maddie isn't afraid to go behind her husband's back and do what she wants. If she truly cared about him, she would have made an effort and she never did.

But of course, now we have to talk about them as parents. That's where things get... a lot more complicated.

In "Maternal Instincts" at one point Maddie is shown carrying Danny piggy-back style. It's never explained, it's not played off as a joke. Danny isn't injured and neither is he faking an injury. It's literally just something Maddie did, probably with the idea that she's taking care of and protecting him. And Danny isn't embarrassed by it at all, even when he's been shown to be ashamed of some of his parents' other antics.

In "Girls Night Out", Jack takes Danny fishing as a father-son bonding activity. And I mean that literally, he got the idea from a book called 'Father/Son Relationships For Stupids!'. That might imply that he's a bad parent but that also goes to prove that he's aware of his shortcomings as a father and is genuinely trying to do more for his son. Not everyone comes to parenthood naturally, so for Jack to actively search for advice- even if it comes from a book- says that he wants to do this parent thing.

But in my opinion, the episode that best reveals how the Fentons function as a family is "The Fenton Menace" (and no, that's not just because my blog description references it lol). In that episode, we see Jazz's failings as a supportive sister almost from the very start; in her opening narration, she talks about how she knows his secret and yet when he insists through and through that he sees a ghost, she still thinks she knows better/otherwise. We also get a touching moment where Maddie talks about spending quality time with the people you love (which is a line almost word for word from the show, by the way).

However, there are two things that stand out the most from this episode. This is the episode where we get the line: "Whether it's air, land, or sea I won't stop until we capture a ghost and tear it apart. Molecule by molecule." In response to this, Danny gets visibly upset. It is probably one of the most damning pieces of evidence in the entire series that his parents' behavior genuinely bothered him. He makes jokes about them shooting or experimenting on him, but humor can and often is used as a coping mechanism. After that quote? Danny didn't try to hide his reaction until later on when Jazz asked him. And even then he dismisses it with a quip.

The second thing from this episode also so happens to feed into my main point for this entire argument: This is the episode where Jack and Maddie attempt to 'spin the crazy' out of Danny. That kind of behavior is something you'd find in places like Arkham Asylum, which is notorious for their inhumane treatment of its patients. Decidedly not something you expect to see from supposedly loving parents. That absolutely constitutes as cruel and unusual punishment and yet it's not even meant to be a punishment.

They sincerely think that they're trying to help him by doing this. And that's the heart of the issue, in my opinion. Jack and Maddie don't think about other people. They don't think about their feelings or their safety or their privacy. They are so caught up in the idea that they are doing good that they never stop to think that they're part of the problem. Or the entire problem altogether.

The only time that we get some decent self-reflection is during Reality Trip, when Danny's identity is revealed by Freakshow and the Fenton parents and Jazz are taken as hostages. While they're stuck and trapped, they question why Danny had never told them his identity before, which is when Jazz comments about the poor way they used to treat his ghostly side. It's only then that it clicks for them that oh yeah we did that. That's what it took for them to recognize that their actions have consequences and even with good intentions, you are capable of hurting the people you love.

And I think that's one of the best ways to go about it. You need to give them the time and opportunity for that self-reflection and reclamation. Jack and Maddie are- naturally- a shoot first and ask later (if ever) type of people. One way or another, there needs to be a way for them to pull back and sit and look around for once.

There are many ways to address this too and make way for the possibility of Good Parents Jack and Maddie. One of the fics that immediately comes to mind for me is @akela-nakamura's Not Everything Is As It Seems. In this one we focus on Jack's perspective, and this fic made me So Unwell with its quiet gravitas, I can never recommend it enough. But if you want something from Maddie's perspective, then you can read @peachdoxie's incredible Trust Your Instincts fic. It is 36 chapters, already completed, and it's this beautiful journey through Maddie's Outsider POV.

As for me personally, I explored the subject in Chapter 51 of my fic lex luthor's ascent from supervillainy to fatherhood, Interlude III: Dynasty. We actually get two different reactions from the Fenton parents, one that is more from a 'Good Parent' and one from a 'Bad Parent'.

I think the most important part is to never shy away from talking about and exploring all the horrible things they did and have done. It's difficult to discuss, but the subject is complicated and to address it as anything less than complicated wouldn't be fair to those moments where the Fentons genuinely did want to be there for their children.

Does it make any of their behavior right? No. Does it prove that they can change? Yes. Will they? ...That will have to be left up to each individual writer.

If you found yourself in a similar family situation, of course you're gonna want your family or your parents to grow or choose you. Because you love them, and you want to keep them in your life. But at some point you have to think about yourself and your own safety and health. That doesn't mean you give up on them, but you protect yourself from the fallout in case they don't change.

Every person is capable of it, but not every person is willing to. The Fenton parents are no different in that regard.

#halfagone replies #bad parents jack and maddie #danny phantom #character analysis #i guess???#character study #that's more like it

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gritsandbrits · 8 months

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Hazbinverse Salt: Stella

Okay I finally gathered my thoughts about why, as a swan aficionado, I dislike Stella's design so much. I'm also going to point out what I would change.

Too much going on while bland at the same time:

On first glance it looks good enough but the more I think abou the more I start to scream internally

So many feathers, face is cluttered, isn't very regal, even her arms (why not make the gloved full length?)

Dress is TERRIBAD

Honestly the design tries so hard it ends up boring

Except for feathers and color palette her design doesn't reflect her basis very well

HER NECK IS TOO SHORT

Either make the dress solid with less feathers and keep the "hair"

Or you could keep the feather dress and make her hair shorter in length

Alternatively turn the hair into a bridal train to symbolize her purpose

Also if her (assumedly full-blood) brother is a peacock wouldn't it make more sense for her to be a peahen?

Eh I'd make her a mixed species; and also include peafowl feathers as part of the dress or an accessory

Long hair + big ass lashes + crown = cluttered face

Again I would shorten the hair length or style it differently

SHORTEN THOSE EYELASHES

Somebody pointed out that her lashes are so long they literally blend into to the background

Change the eyes back to pilot's blue to match Andre & pop out from all the pink&purple

Silhouette isn't very regal

For someone groomed to be royalty she doesn't look like it

HER NECK IS TOO SHORT WHERE'S THAT GRACEFUL S SHAPE SWANS ARE KNOWN FOR

Amp up the design to be Victorian/Edwardian inspired: that's when circuses really blew up in popularity; fits the circus theme of Hazbin

Some historical refs I found

See one of them even has feathers!

Instead of a gradient top make it a solid color and the top layer of skirt the same color; end with a gradient or keep it solid

Change the bottom layer to a lighter purple or pink

Lack of dark colors makes her evil less conspicuous

Probably stripes or a star pattern her name means star after all

Keep the short sleeves

The more evil Stella grows the darker her palette becomes; maybe more plums and maroons with hot pink

Cluttered Face AND hair = mess

See above

Again I'd keep the head hairless and change the eyes to short lashes and blue orbs

If Goetia shouldn't she have celestial motifs?

Have a star shaped crown or jewellery

Make her palette sunset themed

Since Stella means star have her wear solar themed clothing at times

at least SOME heat based power to contrast her brother's ice; since she is demonic royalty I guess she should have some magical power

Having a bit of power shows that she is more of a threat than given credit for; justifies why she's an equal match for Stolas

IT FITS HER PERSONALITY

Adds a sense of tragedy: her power never recognized for their potential due to outdated ideals of hell

Which in turn legitimizes Charlie's crusade; changing Hell for the better would prevent future situations like Stella

Tragically, Stella succumbs to her flaws instead of growing out of them; tragic, complex villain instead of a cartoon caricature for wittle ol' woobie owl to overcome

Aaaand that's about it. I might draw my dream look for Stella. I think as someone who's supposed to be a villain she should've had a way better design. The Pretty Pink Princess turns out to be a total witch. Cool concept, uncool execution.

#stella salt #stella goetia #helluva boss critical #hb critical #helluva boss redesign #helluva boss salt

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xoxoavenger · 9 months

Text

Out Of The Woods

pairing: Derek Hale x Fem!Reader

summary: When you started crying, baby, I did too But when the sun came up, I was looking at you

word count: 2536

warnings: car crash, hospital visit, major character injury

1989 masterlist main masterlist

"So," Y/N's laying on Derek's couch, which is so much better than the one he had in the loft he had before he had moved away. "How long are you staying?" She had just helped him unpack his new house, and he was laying on the other side of the couch, their legs intertwined in the middle. She pretended that this was normal, but everyone already knew that Derek and Y/N had never been normal.

"For good." He had moved back because Cora didn't need him anymore and practically forced him back to Beacon Hills when more people kept leaving. Except the one girl that didn't know what was good for her; she's the reason Cora was so adamant and the reason Derek even agreed.

"At least this is better than your loft." That very girl tells him, bringing up her drink to her lips and smiling.

"Yeah," He gives a dry chuckle, and she just sighs.

"You didn't bring any pictures." She whispers looking around the small townhouse. He had brought few decorations, but the lack of pictures made it feel like a hotel room.

"I don't really have any." He tells her, taking a drink of his beer.

"That's so depressing." She rolls her eyes, sitting up. He frowns, which is just his usual face, honestly. What confuses her is when he stands, walking around. She stands as well, about to ask what he's looking for when he picks something up and walks back to her, holding it up with a small smile.

It's a camera.

"What are you doing?" She asks, heart filling with an unnamed emotion as he held the polaroid camera out, facing them.

"Decorating." He tells her, then closes his eyes and smiles. She's caught off guard when the flash goes off, and she instantly groans as she imagines how awful it's gonna look.

"Take another one!" She grabs his bicep and pulls, but he just shakes his head and holds the developing picture above his head so she can't grab it.

"I like this one." He tells her simply, but she just shakes her head as she reaches for it.

"You can't even see it!" She cries, reaching again but to no avail.

"Neither can you!" He tells her with a laugh, one that makes her momentarily forget what she had been fighting about. When she lets go of him, he brings the photo down. It's light contrast, barely developed, but when she looks at it, she actually thinks it's cute. She doesn't look completely insane like she had previously thought. Instead, she's halfway smiling as her turning blurs her body a little bit, creating an effect she likes.

"That's actually really nice." She tells him, and he just smiles.

"If only I had a frame." He tells her, moving to prop it on an end table near the hallway.

"I can't believe this is what it takes for everyone to get back together." Y/N mutters as she follows Derek through the trees behind his house. He doesn't say anything in return, which is fine because she's now breathing heavy from running for so long and so fast.

"Hold on," He stops running so quickly that when she tries to slow down she slides in the dirt. She pops up slowly and quietly, waiting for him to tell her what was going on. "They're in front of us." He whispers, looking up. This is a new threat they're fighting, some kind of vampire and witch pack that confuses the shit out of Stiles, even if he refuses to admit it.

"Where do we go?" Y/N asks, the racing of her heart now due to her being terrified. It's beating so fast and so violently it hurts, and she almost throws up until Derek grabs her hand.

"We can't outrun them." Even with Derek's super human abilities, the only way he'd be able to make it out himself would be if he chose his other form, which would leave Y/N behind. She can't run nearly as fast, or for as long.

"We should split up." She tells him. The look she gets as he snaps his head toward her makes her feel sick once more.

"Absolutely not." He grabs her wrist and pulls her along, dodging trees and branches. "We need a car."

She trips a couple times, and Derek catches her all but once. The last time she trips, they're close to a road, but the roots are still thick. As she goes down, her hand slips from Derek's grasp. A low branch cuts her neck, deeper than a scratch but not deep enough to bee too much of a problem. The problem comes when she falls and is unable to catch herself, her free hand twisting underneath her as the hand that Derek had been grabbing falls after her face hits the ground.

She's jarred for a second, her head feeling fuzzy. It comes to a point a couple seconds later when the world comes back into focus and the pain centers on her temple, right where she hit the hard root.

"Shit," Derek is freaking out now, because as if their natural scent and crashing through the woods wasn't enough, the fresh blood that's been spilled from not only the scratch but also now her head is sure to send a beacon of their location.

He pulls her up, having to drag her along as she had the wind knocked out of her. He feels bad, but he knows they're barely surviving by the skin of their teeth. He wishes he could call someone to help, but they had left in such a rush that neither of them grabbed their phones before everyone had split off in pairs.

He makes it to the street, then skirts around the trees to make it back to his house. Half the cars that had been on the street were gone, and he can't help but be thankful that he had left the Camaro in Beacon Hills and brought it back to his house. It'd go much faster than his SUV. Luckily, by the time they make it over, Y/N can run and the pack is still in the woods.

"Camaro." He tells her. They sprint ahead.

"Oh my God." Y/N's sneaking through Derek's stuff under the guise of unpacking, and while he knows what she's doing he's decided to let it happen because he doesn't have that much anyway.

"What'd you find?" He turns and asks her, and then he sees what she's holding up.

"Who'd you get this for?" She whispers, heart breaking only slightly. It seems Derek may have come back to Beacon Hills for a woman.

The necklace she has in her hand is beautiful, one that must've been picked for someone special and well as cost a fortune. She loves it, and she can't bear to look at it because it's just so beautiful and thoughtful.

"Uh," Derek isn't quite sure what to say. He had been planning on giving it to her eventually, but not this soon. He wasn't quite sure how to give it to her yet. "You."

"What?" She looks up at him, eyes wide and a smile playing on her lips. "But this, this," She isn't sure what to say, so Derek moves around her to take it, putting it around her neck.

"Do you like it?" He's nervous in a way he's never been before, but the look on her face and beating of her heart tells him everything he needs to know.

A couple minutes later they're out in the living room, deciding what to watch, when she jumps up.

"Why do we have to watch something?" She asks, smiling.

"What are we supposed to do instead?" Derek questions, looking at her quizzically.

"Dancing." She smirks, taking her phone out and playing some random song. He lets her pull him up but stays frowning.

"There's no room to dance." He tells her, and she just sighs. She drops his hand and pushes the coffee table to the side. "Still not enough."

"How much room do you need?" She laughs loudly, and he joins in softly. The song is still playing, so he grabs her hand and brings her close.

They come together slowly, both his arms going around her back. She puts on hand on his shoulder and the other over his heart, which makes his heart race. He moves one hand to cover her's, and she lets her head rest on his chest.

The two comfortably sway, both completely enthralled in the moment with soaring hearts and heads in the clouds.

"The door won't open!" She whisper-yells, terrified of the pack that has to be closing in. She pulls hard, barely noticing the tears running down her cheeks.

"Hold on," Derek is patting his pockets, but they both know that what he's looking for isn't there.

The keys are in the house.

They race to the front door, Derek breaking the handle in favor of getting in quickly. He grabs the keys from the bowl by the front door, thanking God that he's kept a neat house, and the two run out without bothering to shut the door; the knob doesn't work anyway.

When she gets back to the Camaro, the doors are already unlocked. She throws herself inside, barely locking the doors when she sees the red eyes from the woods.

"Oh God," She mutters, frozen in shock. "Derek, drive!" She shouts, shaking. Derek starts the Camaro and backs out of the driveway, scraping the bottom of the car without a care. The sharp gasp she gives when the creature begins to run from the trees startles Derek, but he doesn't show it.

"How many are there?" He asks, looking behind them for a moment as he accelerates down the street. It's late, too late for anyone to be out. When the pack had invaded in the first place, they had been getting ready to sleep anyway, their friends staying the night. The McCall pack had planned a small reunion, everyone coming back for a long weekend, and of course the monster pack had decided that night to attack.

"At least two," She mutters as she looks out to see more and more monsters coming at them from the shadows in the woods. "Oh my God, there's more." She can't even breathe now, and Derek looks back at the road for a split second to make sure he won't hit anything before swiveling his head once more.

"It's fine." He mutters, stepping on the gas. It's why he insisted on the Camaro, for a quick getaway. He keeps his eyes on the road as he accelerates quickly, and she keeps her eyes on the quickly gaining vampires. Just as Derek twists to see how close they are, Y/N turns to see the problem.

"Derek!" She screams, clutching the door.

When she wakes, she feels ill. She goes to grab her water bottle, but when she doesn't feel her bedside table she opens her eyes.

This is not her room.

Her head begins to pound, focused in a line that goes from her forehead down her face, even her lip is burning. She brings a hand up, realizing she can only see out of one eye, and touches bandages where the pain is concentrated.

"Hey," Scott mutters, and she turns to see him. He's on her bad side, which she realizes is due to the fact that it's bandaged over.

"What," She whispers, not able to talk later.

"There was an accident."

"Derek!" She screams, clutching the door. She's pressed back against her seat, not watching as Derek swivels to see the couple of vampires in the road, his eyes widening.

"Shit!" He yells, pressing the brake as hard as he possibly can. For a moment, everything stops, and she feels almost like she's flying.

She becomes acutely aware of the fact that she's not wearing a seatbelt.

"What happened?" She asks, struggling to sit up. In her struggle, she realizes that her arm is in a cast. Scott helps her, and she groans a bit. She's sore everywhere, although no where is near as bad as her face is.

"The Multus Pack attacked two nights ago." Her eyebrows raise at 'two nights,' however she realizes that moving the right side of her face is the worst idea in the history of mankind, so she refrains from wincing. "We all split up, and you ended up with Derek in the Camaro."

"Where is he?" She had thought that if she was ever in this situation, Derek might be the one to be waiting for her. Clearly she was wrong.

"He's been too afraid to come to the hospital." Scott mutters, clearly upset over this. "We already cleaned the glass from his cuts, and he's fine. We tried telling him that you'd want to see him, but he won't listen."

She's silent as gravity fails her, sending her through the windshield before she can put her arm up to stop it. Her arm ends up underneath her body as she skids across the hood. She then falls to the ground, luckily not on her head. Although it seems her head has already taken the brunt of the damage, having broken the windshield and caused a piece of glass to slice open a gnarly cut across the front of her face.

When she's on the ground, all she can think is that this can't be real. She doesn't feel much pain, just a lot of throbbing. Warm liquid is coating her face rapidly, contrasting to the cool of the rest of her body.

"Y/N!"

"I'd like to go back to sleep." She's lying, but she turns anyway, away from Scott.

"Sure, yeah. I'll leave." He sounds slightly sad, but she can't bring herself to care.

Derek wasn't here. He clearly doesn't care.

She wakes up as the sun rises, which is fine. She barely slept the prior night anyway, and she still has at least a day left in this hellhole. She had been given twenty stitches down her face, matching the gnarly bruise on her temple and the scab on her neck from the branch. She had scrapes and bruises all around her body, and she couldn't stand to look at herself.

She hears a shuffling to her right and jumps, turning to see Derek.

They stare at each other in silence, both with wide eyes and ruffled hair. Neither speaks, or even tries to speak, just breathing together.

"Derek," She whispers, and the tears start. Not just hers, also his. She reaches over despite the pain and grabs ahold of him, pulling him up and hugging him close.

"I'm so sorry." He tells her, afraid of holding on too tight. She is not as scared, holding him so tight that her hands are gripping his shirt.

"It's not your fault." She tells him, but it's clear he doesn't believe her. He is shaking with tears and emotion, and she's not much better.

"I have to go." He tells her, and as much as it pains her, she lets him.

Because the next day, when the sun rises and she turns in bed, Derek is there.

tags: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @one-sweet-gubler @mcueveryday

#derek hale x reader #derek hale imagine #derek hale #teen wolf imagine

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mdhwrites · 3 months

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Did TOH Need More Time For Its Ambitions?

No. Because Amphibia exists. Why can I say that so confidently? Because Sasha and Amity show a VERY clear comparison in how the storytelling in each show is handled and how that shows that even with a similar amount of appearances, TOH is just lacking in actually doing anything with its concepts.

(Quick interjection: Consider this effectively a part 2/rehash on why Anne's arc in S1 is so much better than Amity's arc period, which is a blog I did a LONG time ago that analyzed critical portions of character arcs in general. This one though uses the more obvious pairing and also the two with much closer screen time and narrative importance... though with TOH that term is entirely fucked.)

Both characters are enemies to allies. Both have complicated relationships with the main character and are motivated by that relationship to change themselves for the better. Both have positions in the world and priorities that explicitly makes them opposed to the main character not only ideologically but sociologically. And, above all else:

Sasha's redemption arc, from her first appearance to Turning Point when she explicitly turns full good, is 9 segments. Ten/Eleven if you count Reunion/True Colors as two.

Amity's redemption can range anywhere from seven A plots to nine/ten depending on if A: you count Hooty's Moving Hassle, which I don't, and B: if you count the end of her redemption arc at Winging it Like Witches (when she rebukes her old friends), Escaping Expulsion (when she rebukes her parents) or Looking Glass Ruins, the first episode where she is 100% an ally. Or hell, you could actually for FIVE episodes and say it's Understanding Willow as she apologizes for the past and promises to stop bullying at least Willow at that point, which was her first antagonistic act before.

And mind you... Understanding Willow is in S1. LONG before the shortening took effect. Even the latest one of these puts it at before the shortening. So I think these are fair comparisons of just how the two's arcs were handled with the amount of time spent on them. Which raises the question: What did we get in that time?

Well... We got an actual arc with Sasha while Amity just changes randomly. That's not even really a joke. I'll try to bounce between the two to really highlight the difference, especially in storytelling.

In her first appearance, we get pretty much all possible suspicions about Sasha based on Anne confirmed. She is manipulative, self serving, self aggrandizing and tells people what they want to hear to get them to do what she wants. She is your friend so she can control you. However, she isn't all bad. She could have just ran during the Heron attack but instead helps save the day though it's very possible that she recognized she was better off staying as an equal of Grime's than running off on her own. The Toads are opposed to the Frogs in Amphibia's society though, creating an inherent conflict between Sasha and Anne due to the social dynamics of the world they are in.

Meanwhile, Amity in her first appearance actually makes a strong case for herself. She looks down on those magically challenged, which Luz is, is a bully while Luz is an outcast who has struggled with friends and has a drive to succeed conventionally while Luz uses more unconventional methods. The opposing elements are actually lined up really well between the two but we don't get a lot of Amity's actual personality. She just comes off as an entertaining, almost neurotic bitch. We get more of her personality in her second episode where she is a little more in control of her emotions, shows a potential softer side, and also sets up another sociological conflict in that Luz inherently is on the side of the wild witches due to her mentor and her magic style while Amity is full on the coven train, even to the point to wanting to one day potentially lead the Emperor's Coven. Though, importantly... The only thing that's challenged about Amity's worldview in this episode is the idea that someone she thinks is weak could actually be strong, something that theoretically could have been said to have been covered by the end of Teenage Abomination when Willow proves herself with the seed. Hell, it's also reinforced in an episode I don't usually count for this but is kind of important: Hooty's Moving Hassle. So that's one problem addressed but only tangentially and it's by no means the biggest issue between Amity and Luz. Amity is still a bully after all.

Meanwhile, Reunion goes for the core, both sociologically and personally. The Toads want Hop Pop dead and Sasha doesn't care. Not only that but Sasha assumes that if she tells Anne not to care, Anne won't because in her eyes, Anne serves her. She is the one in charge after all and she won't take no for an answer. Period. We're even shown this explicitly in the flashbacks. The problem is... Anne has gone through an entire character arc to make it so she can stand up to Sasha and challenges pretty much all of Sasha's beliefs. Her need for control, her callousness towards others and her warped view of reality where she is the hero and all else are best off listening to her. Sasha even gives in for a moment in an act of genuine selflessness by letting go of Anne's hand so her and the Plantars can live. It does a lot of work but... It might be considered rushed if that were the end of her primary antagonism.

You know where this is going. In her third major appearance, forth appearance overall... Amity is a neutral entity and a friend by the end of Lost in Language. Honestly, if you wanted to argue that the majority of Amity's arc, especially friends to allies, was three episodes, you'd be actually making a very compelling point. This episode after all is the one where she effectively stops being a bully. She just is now the overly dedicated smart girl. She is explicitly not the antagonist though but instead the victim and the one we're primarily supposed to sympathize with. Then, thanks to Azura, she befriends Luz by the end of the episode. They are already allies and... There isn't much reason for it besides one time teaming up. Sure, Luz has challenged Amity's perceptions but even she calls out in this episode that each time they meet up, Amity gets in trouble or/amd embarrassed. Luz has actually done extremely little to deserve this because all Luz has actually done with Amity before this episode is a declaration of combat and then their last talk in Covention which was just about maybe rethinking if someone could or couldn't do something, not about Amity's morality. Also, Luz is important to consider here. These sorts of arcs involve the MC in a pretty crucial way because they're the one the antagonist wants to become allies with and so the MC needs to accept them. Amity hasn't done fuck all at this point to deserve Luz's attention because she's a bully and is cruel to her mostly besides her final act in Covention. It is literally NARRATIVE TROPES that make Luz forgive Amity and want to befriend. Literally. Nothing about Amity's actions or actual character, Luz just wants to live out her fanfic.

And that brings up the fact that Anne does keep giving Sasha chances but they have an established history and that push and pull of trust is a large part of this. It's the main driving factor for why Sasha will change at all and why the lengths she goes both for manipulation and redemption are important. It's also important to show WHY Anne might have wanted someone like Sasha around. Toad Catcher is not crucial for Sasha's arc, Barrel's Warhammer also shows how much Anne's rebuke of her and choosing the Plantars over her fucks with her mentally, but it does let you see why people follow her. The motivation she can bring them because Sasha does see the best in people... But mostly because people's bests are also the most useful for her. It also doubles down on her good quality that she rarely gives up on someone she chooses to ally with. All while still making it clear that if given the chance, she'll try to get back at Anne because accepting Anne was right is too antithetical to how she sees the world.

And then for both, we get episodes that mostly just explore the characters. A sort of holding pattern for both arcs with Barrel's Warhammer, Third Temple, The Sleepover and The Battle of the Bands for Sasha while we have Adventure in the Elements, Understanding Willow and Grom for Amity. This is also where you can extend this to include Winging it Like Witches and/or Escaping Expulsion depending on where you count Amity's arc as fully ending. For both characters though, the status quote they're primarily in doesn't change a lot. Amity is a tentative ally who has to get dragged into things and is generally a good person but not hanging out with everyone else casually yet. Meanwhile, Sasha is barely controlling her growing rage and insecurity about losing her power over Anne, exacerbated by Marcy coming into the mix and, from Sasha's perspective, siding with Anne. Though, there is a critical difference.

One is actually exploring the character, their motivations and their mindset. In all the episodes I listed for Amity, Amity gets small steps but they're NOTHING we don't already know. She's a generally good person who has a compulsion to succeed until suddenly in Escaping Expulsion that she's let her grades slip. There's nothing about what drives her towards success, no exploration on if these changes are difficult on her, both of which are actually in Battle of the Bands to some extent for Sasha. We don't see how this stuff is affecting her besides her growing crush and if that's getting her to act out. That takes until fucking Looking Glass Ruins to actually manifest while Barrel's Warhammer shows how much the idea of changing is fucking with Sasha's head but also why her behavior is toxic. How her best traits can also be her worst. Amity's traits are barely even being examined. She's just slowly becoming more and more obsessed with Luz and bleeding personality for it by becoming a very generically good person.

THEN we get Sasha's big relapse. Her denial of her arc. The attempt to wrestle back control because she saw an oppurtunity to be on top and took it. This is book 2's ending for Zuko. A moment of weakness where the character's vices means they at least have to question their character arc. If that's what they want or if they want to continue being who they always were. True Colors is this for Sasha, even to the point where she is willing to throw out parts of her past if she can't find a way to keep them. It is that same weakness that makes her plans fail though because once she can try to justify her actions and bring Anne back to her, she can't fight Anne properly and loses for a second time. Again, that push and pull of trust and control.

And Amity doesn't have this. The closest there is to it is Escaping Expulsion... Where she doesn't do shit. Calling that an Amity episode is FRUSTRATING for me because she is barely in it. Not only that, but she doesn't decide to do villainy. Instead, it's that she is a teenager with a controlling mother. But don't worry, despite only showing up for like four minutes of the episode, Amity can just tell her mom to piss off and that's that. It isn't motivated by a push or pull, Amity doesn't want to go back at all and she actively is miserable the entire episode despite having explicitly chosen to be a bully for YEARS before this. After all, her parents only told her she couldn't be friends with Willow. They never told Amity to bully her for years and become queen bitch of the school over all. That was Amity's choice.

And then finally resolution. When the character themselves accepts the change and stops shifting morality. This is actually why I consider Turning Point the end of Sasha'a arc. Commander Anne is follow through but it's just reinforcing the version of Sasha that takes form in this moment. The Sasha, who reading how much her betrayal hurt Anne but how much trust she had for the mean girl, who has to face all she's lost in her pursuit of power, takes the mantle of guardian seriously. It is not a moment of weakness like in Reunion that makes her put other lives over hers but instead a moment self actualization and determination. A moment of strength and one she'll stick to for the most part. She is no longer manipulative, she is a commander, even if she doesn't have the title yet. This is especially satisfying because... Well, we've seen EVERYTHING that motivates this moment. Not just Anne's stuff but Grime's loyalty to her and how much that means to her. Percy and Braddock abandoning her and her trying to use the calculus of war to be okay with that. We can see MOUNTAINS of evidence for why she would choose this over her old self. Over one more time to try to conquer Amphibia like Grime suggests.

I... Genuinely can't really say when this happens for Amity. This actually has way less to do with how many times she rejects her past self and more to do with... Why does she? Why does she ever change in fact? What are her motivations? Because even in Escaping Expulsion, Luz's conversation with Amity isn't "You need to stand up to your parents because you shouldn't let others dictate your life." It's instead, "You should stand up to your parents so I can go back to witch school." And this happens CONSTANTLY. Remember: You can argue her villain role ends on her third major appearance and Luz NEVER talks morality with her. Never has Amity actually learn something.

It actually comes down to an inherent storytelling choice with TOH as a whole: Very few episodes are about anyone other than Luz and Luz actually really sucks at helping people during their episodes. Gus actually has some of the best episodes dedicated to a side character as they're actually addressing a core element of the character... And in his first one, Luz is a bystander. She does fucking NOTHING except maybe give Gus a pep talk. She is mcguffin than anything. With Amity though? Covention is mostly about Luz learning about the coven system. Lost in Language is about Luz and the twins and her want to befriend Amity, not the why she wants to befriend Amity. Adventure in the Elements: About Luz having a Winter Adventure where Amity is a perfectly good person. Understanding Willow is actually one of the better ones because at least for that one, Amity makes her final choice because she's nostalgic for an old friend. Grom has her only stand up though when Luz in trouble. Winging it Like Witches? It's just Luz being in danger that motivates her. Escaping Expulsion? Luz being in danger. Looking Glass? Luz needs her.

This is why Amity feels like she changes just for a pretty girl. Luz actually does NOTHING to ever try and change Amity. To ever actually interact with Amity's arc. Reaching Out will be the pinnacle of this where Amity has suddenly written off the entire coven system, one of the only things besides Luz we've been told she cares about... And Luz has never once talked to her about the coven system or Belos. Because Luz has barely actually talked to her about her besides to call her cool and pretty. It is remarkable how little Luz actually interacts properly with Amity and how few real conversations they have, especially about their differences and feelings about each other. Each time Sasha and Anne are in the same room, you know their philosophies and relationship is going to come up in some way. It's too omnipresent for both to ignore. Meanwhile... There's a lot of episodes where Lumity exchange cute jokes and that's it, despite the main plot focusing on those two characters for that episode. And remember: TOH's A plots explicitly have more time to include those sorts of slower conversations. Oh, and, you know, one of these pairs are just friends while the other GETS INTO A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP.

And the pinnacle of all of this: Amphibia does this amazing character arc while also making it plot relevant and REALLY important to its themes. Sasha is a primary antagonist for two seasons technically. She genuinely challenges both the message of change being good from a meta perspective but also challenges Anne's own character arc from a narrative perspective. Her degradation of care is contrasted by how Amphibia makes Anne care so much about others that it makes it harder and harder for her to write off Sasha despite what Sasha did. Then, Sasha changing her perspective and treatment of others, while keeping the core of herself true, is what helps keep Wartwood alive while Anne is gone while also demonstrating the power of change but also that you don't have to change literally EVERYTHING about you.

Meanwhile, it was a fucking meme in the TOH community that if Amity was on screen, nothing could happen and that stayed almost true for literally half the series. Not only that but Amity's complete change for Luz doesn't really feel coherent with the themes of self acceptance and not changing for others. It tries because the show posits that Amity just needed a better environment to go back to being the good person she always was but A: that's never explored because challenging her environment is not actually a part of what motivates her changes, just B: Luz is the whole reason for her change and she changes effectively into Azura, Luz's favorite character. That doesn't feel like becoming her own person and instead changing literally every aspect of yourself for your partner which... Yikes. To put it mildly.

You can cut EVERYTHING to do with Amity out of the show and you lose literally nothing except representation. You cut Sasha out of Amphibia though? You do not have the same story. Period. You have to rewrite a good bit because despite her lack of appearances, she is important. A lot of elements of Amphibia are important like that.

And Amphibia did it with smart storytelling that actually explored its own elements, not because it had three full seasons. Not when Sasha takes up so much less time of her show than Amity does.

This is all because Amphibia actually was interested in telling a character arc instead of just kind of weakly being able to claim it had a character arc. You can even extend that to almost literally any element that TOH and Amphibia both did. And not because of time, simply because one is written a hell of a lot better and was more interested in actually telling its story rather than making a bunch of statements that Twitter could freak out about.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house #amphibia #sasha waybright #Sasha #amity blight #Character Arcs

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theywontletmebeprincipal · 4 months

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anyway here’s my cornley polytechnic drama society into the woods fancast because I think it’s the perfect sort of show for them to fuck up 👍

jonathan plays the baker, alongside sandra as the baker’s wife. I imagine this is shortly enough after peter pan that they’re still very bitter at one another. said bitterness absolutely shows onstage, but it fits the characters perfectly and the audience ends up thinking that they’ve just finally gotten good at acting. jonathan brings a homemade “medieval feast” to celebrate opening night and it poisons the entire cast

annie plays the witch. this was the only casting decision that was unanimously regarded as good until chris let it slip that he’d ultimately done it because she was “the loudest singer.” robert took great offense at this and, despite having no interest in the part before, began campaigning to play the witch instead. it did not work. annie’s witch costume has two layers to make the quickchange at the end of act 1 easier, but the top layer keeps falling off before the reveal is supposed to happen. her magic staff is supposed to emit a smoke effect but it keeps malfunctioning, and at a certain point she just gives up and tapes lit cigarettes (stolen from trevor) to it. this goes about as well as you’d think

dennis plays the narrator. everyone had assumed it’d be an easy role for him since he could just read all of his lines off his book prop, but this is proven wrong near instantly when he starts genuinely reading the book instead. when dennis actually does start reading from the script, it becomes immediately clear that he somehow has the director’s copy and the entirety of the rehearsal notes are read out loud, including several deeply personal things that chris has written in his script for convenience

dennis also plays the mysterious man, but he keeps forgetting which way he’s supposed to be related to the baker. over the course of the show he goes from father, to son, to brother, to father again, to distant cousin, to grandmother

chris plays cinderella’s prince, alongside robert as rapunzel’s prince. they spend the entire show trying to out-act one another, and it goes without saying that this ends up a complete disaster. robert makes any moment into an unplanned duet to try and prove that he could have succeeded in seducing the baker’s wife. chris shows up at rapunzel’s tower and attempts to choke robert out with her wig. they get in an opt-up battle at the end of agony (reprise) that ends with robert singing a note so high it shatters a stage light

in accordance with typical into the woods casting, chris also plays the wolf. he orders a very expensive “wolf suit” online from someone he thinks is a bespoke costume artist. it doesn’t arrive until opening day, and it becomes immediately clear that what chris has actually bought is a full on fursuit. it’s very hard to see in and he keeps running into the fake trees

robert is double cast as milky white. there is no practical reason for this whatsoever, as milky white could’ve just as easily been a puppet or some kind of cutout on wheels, and it’s very obvious the whole thing is just a power move on chris’ part. during the scene where milky white is meant to “eat” the props, vanessa misunderstands and literally feeds them to him. he chips a tooth on cinderella’s shoe

due to a lack of numbers, vanessa is playing both cinderella and rapunzel. her costume is split down the middle, and due to this she can only face in one direction as each part. this means that half of the time she’s facing away from whoever she’s talking to, and that she frequently has to walk/run backwards without turning her head at all. whenever cinderella and rapunzel talk to each other she faces straight forward. the break-off mechanism in rapunzel’s side of the wig doesn’t work (sandra ends up stealing a single, barely visible hair), so she’s also constantly tripping on her hair

max, being in a new relationship with sandra, desperately wanted to play alongside her as the baker so that they could kiss onstage. unfortunately for him, he is playing jack instead. although this is maybe the single most-fitting role he’s ever been cast in and he’s genuinely giving a great performance, the opportunity is ruined by his having to do every scene accompanied by robert’s milky white

lucy was supposed to play little red, but was pulled from the production the day before opening by her parents, who have banned her from performing with “robert’s troupe” after what happened in peter pan

consequently, little red is now being played by trevor, who is wearing a costume far, far too small for him. trevor manages to get away with reading his lines off papers pinned to the inside of his cloak, but he doesn’t know any of the songs, so sandra has to sing them offstage for him while he lipsyncs

all of the ensemble characters are played by a celebrity “guest” frantically switching between various comically large hats. chris tried to get francis back for this part but after some careful deliberation he determined that it would genuinely be easier to kidnap a famous person than to get francis to come back after the disaster that was peter pan. the tension is only worsened when, via a botched music cue, it’s revealed that francis is now an active member of trevor’s metal band

the giant was supposed to have been played by trevor via voiceover from the sound booth, but now that he’s onstage playing little red the part is left to approximately four members of the run crew who are desperately trying and failing to say the lines in unison. lucy breaks into the theatre sometime during the baker’s wife search sequence and takes over the giant’s part the next time she’s on, much to trevor’s dismay

the worst fuck-up award goes to annie, for accidentally knocking the supports out from under dennis’ narrator platform during last midnight and triggering a chain reaction in which every fake tree onstage topples each other one by one like some terrible, life-threatening game of dominos. honorable mention goes to chris for spending $6000 of max’s inheritance on a custom costume without actually seeing it at any point during the process

the worst injury award goes to max, for getting his circulation cut off and almost losing a hand after his arm got stuck inside the golden hen puppet midway through act 2. honorable mention goes once again to chris, who got stabbed with a bunch of glass shards when robert broke that stage light

#listen. my thesis here is like. they wouldn’t attempt a Huge Musical bc they KNOW somebody would die #but they wouldn’t attempt anything so small n intimate that it’s 100% reliant on acting either #bc well. there’s only like two of them who can act n who those two are seems to change daily #itw is the perfect size n has the perfect amount of whimsy for cornley to do #I honestly think if they weren’t cursed(?) they’d be able to have a great go of it #sanders bullshit #the play that goes wrong #musical theatre #into the woods #cornley polytechnic drama society #oh fuck me now I have to tag all of them huh #chris bean (director)#robert grove #sandra wilkinson #max bennett #dennis tyde #annie twilloil #jonathan harris #vanessa willcock-wynn-carroway #lucy grove #trevor watson #francis beaumont #I like to have chris come in second place even in losing I think it’s so funny #there’s canon basis for that too. the play with the most mistakes:least run time ratio is the only one that *robert* directed

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itsagrimm · 1 year

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König is a bit nerdy

He might be an active, intimidating, focused and somewhat private man during missions but that basically goes out of the window as soon as he returns home.

Big into board games. It's his main friend circle and they meet up every time he gets back for a night of pizza and a new addition of Carcassonne, Munchkin or CATAN. König would love to play more Pen & Paper style of games as well but since he is in town so irregularly they never really do it.

Listens to audiobooks when traveling because it's easier than to pack all those tons of Sci-Fi and Fantasy books he is into. Currently re-'reads' Eragon because of the nostalgia.

Oh, he likes dragons (obviously).

Owns a closet full of costumes for Mittelalter Märkte / Renaissance Fairs. Also owns a traditional tent and everything else needed for a good LARP. Is 1000000% down for a couples costume.

König has the traditional not-leaving-the-house-for-a-day-when-coming-back-moment to play his favourite game (a certain AAA shooter). Due to the lack of practice and unfamiliarity with the map he isn't the best at it, which his teammates who know him irl tease him mercilessly about. Also, he prefers the sniper position and puts hours into decorating his avatar.

Used to be an avid reddit user. But got annoyed by some incels and left.

Likes going on bookstore dates with his S/O. Also really enjoys some quiet time with them just doing parallel play while being close.

Extremely specific about his keyboard preferences and cap designs. Generally enjoys researching how to improve his set up.

Treasures his old DS and was extremely happy about it turning on and working fine when he found it in an old box at his parents house.

Definitely has done the naruto run during a workout at home.

Can give a 45 minutes impro presentation about something Star Wars related. Will never grow tired of mocking Star Wars, it's a complicated relationship.

Always travels back home to Austria via Germany because the books are cheaper there and he stocks up especially on Mangas and Comics instead of paying an obscene amount for the shipping.

Has played Pathologic.

Has finished Pathologic.

Will not shut up about Pathologic. Yes, his S/O is very used to getting infodumped.

Currently learns polish to read the Witcher books in the original.

Owns and unironically uses themed kitchen utensils from his most beloved franchises. During Christmas time he brings out an absurd amount of cookie cutters for Plätzchen in fantasy themes like swords and witches. And in summer he serves up ice cubes in Death Star shapes. Has a very frilly apron because it reminds him of cliche anime stuff and he thinks him wearing it is funny. (he is right, it looks ridiculous and barely covers his chest.)

Can and will become extremely serious and intimidating again should someone say something sexist or racist or generally mean in his vicinity. He is here to enjoy himself with some nerdy shit with the people he cares about and not here to witness a hate crime or aggressions. He knows too much about that already from work and will become A TREAT if necessary. Don't try that shit around him otherwise you will be faced with spitting-fire-soldier-König and not goofy-nerd-at-home-König.

Likes cute shaped foods and always gets himself or his S/O to try out or as a gift.

Should he ever have kids they will have the most down to play games dad. They will grow up in a house filled with playful things and toys. And reading fairy tales with doing-all-the-voices-König becomes a nightly routine.

#könig headcanons #könig #könig x reader #könig cod #könig mw2 #könig call of duty #dad könig

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fenricken · 6 months

Text

You Keep Slipping From My Grasp 2/7

AO3

Ship: Spirit Halloween

He felt arms wrap around his chest, pulling him up and out of the water. He gasped as his head breached the surface, and he came face to face with a young woman.

“Sir! what is that creature you came on!?” the woman asked him. He turned to where she was pointing, and saw a tentacled creature rearing back to attack them. He grabbed a sword that had been lying on the ground, and charged forward, ready to defend.

————

“Daaaad,” Dani groaned, hanging off Danny’s arm as he flew towards Clockwork’s lair. “Can I pleeease go with you to see Batman? I’m an expert on him!”

“First of all, you’re an expert in Robins and the best way to annoy them, and that’s not the same as being an expert in Batman. Secondly, you and Jazz have been quizzing me nonstop about the guy, I think I’m prepared!”

Dani pouts, “I just think he’s super cool. Besides! I know you’re a coward and you’d never actually talk to the guy without someone pushing you.”

Danny stops to turn to face Dani.

“Sweetie, I know you have a lot of experience hopping between dimensions and multiverses, but this situation is a bit different. Clockwork’s said he specifically sent me because I’m more resistant to the ill-effects of dimension-manipulation magic as an Ancient of Doors,” he takes a breath, making sure Dani’s full focus is on him.

“I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

Dani is still pouting, so Danny reaches out to take her face in his hands.

“I promise when this is settled you can drag me to meet Batman or annoy one of the Robins– whatever you want.”

Slowly, Dani turned wide, watery eyes to Danny. He was only able to keep looking into her puppy eyes for a short while before throwing his hands up in exasperation.

“Ugh! Fine! I’ll ask Clockwork if you can at least watch, but I don’t know how much you’ll actually be able to see due to whatever’s blocking him.”

“Yes! Good enough!” Dani whoops, before speeding ahead towards Clockwork’s Lair.

Danny chuckled before following after.

————

Mordecai had been set to investigate what witch lived in Gotham nailing bats to Church doors. But his eyes were not as clouded as his brothers’, for he knew witches were less common than they liked to believe.

For example, this bat was nailed to the door with a knitting needle Goodwife Tyler had been using just yesterday. Mordecai knew too that Matthew Tyler would often beat his wife and had gone missing not long ago.

Of course, when he brought this to the attention of his fellow witch-hunters and peace-keepers, Brother Malleus had just insisted that Goodwife Tyler must be a witch and sent her to be dunked in the river until she confessed or drowned. Until Mordecai stopped him, that was.

Frustrated with the events of the day, Mordecai set out for the woods to meet with Annie. Many suspected her of being a witch, but she was the only one whose company he found solace in.

They talked of many things together–the accusations of her being a witch, their mutual distaste of Malleus, and Mordecai’s struggle to remember anything before waking up in Annie’s cabin almost 2 weeks ago.

Annie told him too of losing her parents, and being shunned to the woods. Of feeling a bit lost in the twists and turns of life. Mordecai had said then, “We have something in common Annie… both of us lost in our way.”

————

Danny leaned against a tree, watching Batman and Annie embrace. While he had watched Batman walk around Gotham, using investigative techniques to uncover the lack of witches, he had been mostly impressed that Batman had stayed so committed to his morals even without his memories.

Danny was entranced watching Batman insist on finding a different path forward beyond just declaring anything odd as witchcraft. It was exactly the kind of behavior Danny sought to promote as Ancient of Doors.

But the conversation he overheard between Batman and Annie was like a bucket of ice water over him. The reminder that Batman was separated from everything he knew, and everything that made him Batman. While he knew he could not actually do anything in this situation, and that even trying would probably lead to something worse, Danny yearned to help the hero he had grown so fond of, both from his own observations and the stories from Dani and other ghosts.

————

“The dragon’s been sighted in the woods! All witch-hunters fall in!”

Mordecai climbs on his horse, preparing to follow. He may not believe in this dragon, but clearly something is going on. The witch-hunters head into the woods, in the direction opposite Annie’s cabin.

But when they arrive, there’s no dragon—only the bones of seven men.

Mordecai hops off his horse to examine the bodies.

“Do you say now that witches and dragons don’t exist, Brother Mordecai?” Malleus asks.

“No, these men were dead before their flesh was eaten. See there— Matthew Tyler, his head caved in with what was probably a kitchen ladle.”

“Enough! You blame a ladle for this? When there’s a witness?” Malleus turns to face a villager that had come with them, “Tell Brother Mordecai what you saw.”

“It was a great beast, with seven heads and ten horns, just as the scripture tells. Each head was feeding on a different man…but when the bats came out to hunt, it fled.”

As the man spoke, Mordecai felt a sense of familiarity. In his mind, the image of a maw surrounded by thrashing tentacles arose.

Malleus continued, oblivious to Mordecai’s mental turmoil. “I will protect this town, as is my duty to god! They say an eclipse of the sun will come tomorrow, and by then, we will be ready!”

“An eclipse? There was something about an eclipse…” Mordecai muttered.

Malleus kept talking, but Mordecai was no longer listening.

With nothing to hunt, the witch-hunters left back to Gotham. Mordecai left to find Annie, to warn her of what was coming.

“You’re not safe here Annie. Malleus is a fanatic, and he doesn’t care about logic. I fear it’s only a matter of time before he sets his eyes on you. There’s something else too… something in these woods. The creature that attacked me, that night you found me. I remembered a bit more when I saw the traces of its destruction. It wasn’t the Church that sent me here, Annie. And I remember a dead man was with us… wearing these clothes. You took them from him and gave them to me, didn’t you? These are Mordecai’s clothes!” He grabbed on to her arm to keep her from fleeing. She didn’t answer for a moment, but he held her gaze.

“I saw you rise from the water myself. You came when I called. That’s all I know.”

“Called? Where did I come from? I need you to take me there, Annie!”

“Fine. It’s private, hidden. It belonged to the Miagani who were here before us. It means bat-people.” She stood to lead him to the cave where she met him, “I’ll tell you more when we get there, but we’ll have to travel through the night.”

“Always bats…” He mutters.

————

“I thought Danny said you couldn’t actually see much of what was happening? This is actually pretty clear.” Dani asked from her suspended upside-down position in front of the gear that followed Danny and Batman.

Clockwork turned to her, a small but smug smile on his face. “Well, it’s not totally clear…”

Dani narrowed her eyes at him. “You have some ulterior motive here don’t you, gramps…”

Clockwork turned back to the screens. “Well, I doubt it’s dissimilar to your motivations in encouraging your father to try talking to Batman. He could do with some… companionship.”

Dani looked horrified for a brief moment, thought for a bit, before an evil smile spread across her face. “While I feel like I should be grossed out that you’re trying to set dad up with someone, I think it’d be hilarious to show up at the Robins’ house as their new stepsister.”

“Then, we’re in accord, young Dani?”

“Oh yeah, I’m excited to see where this is going, gramps.”

Clockwork turned to another gear, and pressed his staff to it, showing a different image. “If you’re interested, I might have a mission you can undertake that would make this more… ‘fun’ for you.”

“I’m in!”

————

The cave was dark, illuminated poorly by the torch Annie carried. And yet, he couldn’t help but note there was something about these caves that felt like…home.

“It was you, wasn’t it? You weren’t out gathering herbs as you told me. It was you who summoned the dragon that killed the real Mordecai, wasn’t it?” he asked, watching Annie.

“I only wanted to chase him away. They sent him to hunt me! All those witch hunters playing at saints, but they don’t shy away from destroying the land and slaughtering animals and other people. The Miagani who were here before us had the right of it, so yes, when Mordecai was sent to hunt me, I prayed to their gods and asked for someone to save me. And then, you came, riding on the back of that thing they call the dragon. If you want to say I’m guilty of being a witch because I worship gods that are not theirs, then I’ll confess to you. My gods are not their god or their devil.”

Mordecai heard something in the quiet after she finished speaking.

“Annie, we have to get out of this place right now. There’s something down there-”

On cue, the tentacled creature rose from the water to attack.

“Run Annie, run!” he yelled, pulling out his swords to fend off the tentacles. He managed to cut one off before he was pushed back by two more. He stumbled, and reoriented himself, preparing to charge back in, but was distracted by quick footsteps approaching. Fearing Annie had returned, he turned to tell her to run again, but stopped short at the sight of a white-haired man in dark leather armor running toward the monster with his sword drawn.

“Look out!”, the other man shouted. Mordecai turned and ducked under an incoming tentacle. He heard a slashing sound as the white-haired man fended off more tentacles heading towards them. The two quickly fell into a rhythm as they fought the dragon, green tentacles and water falling around them as they danced and wove together.

Finally, Mordecai saw an opening at the creature’s mouth. He launched himself forward, sword aimed ahead.

His head breached the water, and he could only splutter and scrabble to keep his head above the water. He made his way to the beach ahead.

“Can’t forget this time… Man of Bats…”

————

Batman was gone now, and so was the tentacled monster. The residual energy from Batman’s jump felt the same as before.

Danny stepped out of the cave, noting that the eclipse had occurred, and the sun was now peeking out again.

He opened a portal, stepping back into Clockwork’s lair, sighing heavily. He set his sword down, and stretched out his shoulders.

“So…” he started, staring at Clockwork’s back, nervous.

“I’m not mad, Danny. I think you did the right thing.” Clockwork turned to face Danny, smiling slightly. “Come here, and give me your sword.”

Danny came to stand next to Clockwork in front of a lab he must’ve set up while Danny was gone. Danny put his sword on the table. Clockwork got to work taking a sample of the monster’s blood that was still on it.

“I asked your parents to come, as I thought we may be able to make use of their expertise in figuring out what is causing Batman to travel through time. While we’re waiting, we might as well check to see how the monster might be related to what’s happening. I assumed you didn’t read the energy of the monster for yourself.”

“No, I’m sorry Clockwork. Everything happened so quickly, and I just-”

Clockwork put his hand on Danny’s shoulder to cut him off. “I think you handled everything just fine, Danny. It was a stressful situation, and you jumped in to protect Batman, which was good. In any case, we still have the blood from the creature, so we can still just examine that. You made the right choices in the situation, Danny. I don’t want you getting stuck thinking that you could’ve been better when you did what was needed. Now, we just need to focus on next steps.”

“Thanks, Clockwork.” Danny said, smiling slightly. He held out his hand for the blood sample, which Clockwork gave him.

“Now, focus, and see if it’s similar to the energy you detected off Batman before.”

Danny did as Clockwork directed. The energy from the blood felt faint, but Danny was still able to feel it. “It feels the same,” he told Clockwork.

Clockwork nodded, taking the vial and setting it down on the table. “Let’s leave this for your parents to study when they get here.”

“CLOCKY! GRANDPA! I’M BAAAACK!” they heard shouting from below, before Dani, in her human form, popped her head through the floor, her tongue sticking out.

“OH! Dad’s here! Great! Pops and Nana are on their way up too.” Dani finished pulling her body through the floor before running to squeeze between Clockwork and Danny.

They heard the clomping of Jack Fenton climbing the stairs, and a moment later they saw Maddie’s red hair.

“Dann-o! Clockwork called us to say you found something new and mysterious! Tell us everything!”

Clockwork chuckled. “How about we sit down for some tea and hot chocolate first. I see Mrs. Fenton brought fudge, and I should be able to find some cookies I got from an old friend.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Danny said, smiling.

A/N:

I'm not exactly trying to shy away from "darker" themes, but yeah if I'm not in the mood, I'm definitely going to keep away from things I think are over a certain line.

On that note:

Deliberately didn’t include what happens to Annie in the end, because I felt like it would change the overall tone of this story considering how serious that matter is. Similarly, tried to cut out most of the bible talk, but honestly considering where my biases lie and also just embodying Annie when writing her great rant, I gave up cutting all of it out. I'm hoping it's not too bad.

Spoiler-ish of what happens to Annie if you are planning on reading Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne:

It's not good, but definitely not as terrible as I fear I'm making it out to be. Think 'typical violence against witches'

#dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc crossover #spirit halloween ship #batman comic rewrite basically

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