#enemies and the conflicts she has to navigate?

[tarninausta]

today I am thinking about girl queen Elwing

#and when I say girl queen I mean girl but also young woman because she is still. SO YOUNG and her people are eldar? ancient? And so are her #enemies and the conflicts she has to navigate? #what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck #elwing #silm #we were always meant to say goodbye #silmarillion #🌟 txt

[facelesswoman666]

The Beast Blade - Feyd Rautha x Fem! Reader

Hello lovelies, I am back and i have brought to you the product of my many nights spent reading Feyd Rautha smut. I thought i would have a go at it myself. This is part one of a 4 part series. So please enjoy xoxo

Synopsis - There are enemies in every territory. At the request of the emperor, the House Harkonnen and Atreides have been asked to discuss the conditions of a peace treaty, that could subside years of futile conflict. Poised at the centre of this conflict are the young heirs of each house. Na-Baron Rautha and the young Duke Paul Atreides. Under the machinations of their guardians, they must navigate their own claims to leadership and the claims of their newfound allies. Although Rautha is developing a taste for the young Duke’s sister, and he will stop at nothing to claim what he covets. Regardless of the outcome of his desires.

18+ MINORS DNI. Sexual contact warnings

This part is short, sorry xo

Part 1 - A dove and a dog

He was Harkonnen, the perversities of his nature knew no human bounds and yet his composure was impeccable. The lone blade, they called him, hushed in opulent halls and whispered around feasting tables too grand for proper representation. Better translated to ‘Beast Blade’ in the native tongue. His character was primal, unfiltered, raw, and those who were favoured enough to appear in his presence frequently, knew of his interests.

A select few suffered them recurrently.

Na-Baron Feyd Rautha was a petulant man. Yet desirable in the traditions of the House Harkonnen. His body an expanse of heavily built muscle tissue and sheer skin, with a hue of spectre white. The rotated assortment of precious things that followed, nipping at his heels and fawning over his body were ever lingering in his presence. Although not today.

Feyd found himself, today, in an unfamiliar setting, an uncomfortable one at that. Traipsing soft footed around the halls of the Arrakeen castle, now under the jurisdiction of House Atreides. Thieving bastards he thought, and imagined his blade studying the soft pale skin of the eldest atreides child. Weak as a crib bound babe was Paul. His rumination’s shifted to the youngest atreides daughter, a girl of 18 and whether it would be pleasant to ruin her in the short time he would spend here.

The ruining of the princess was far from possibility, considering the minute truth that was she despised his bloodline, along with him. The complexities of this sand wrought cavernous abode was not lost on him, seeing as his former years as a youth had been spent causing deviltry about these halls. His hand slid over the walls; it reminded him of the past.

A servant girl began to cross his path, hurriedly skipping on tapping feet to an unknown destination. It was decided.

The Na-Baron expressed his internal sentiments ‘A dove has entered the dog’s pit’ Her chin rotated in his direction and she replied ‘And does the dove not have wings?’ Her overt defiance to a superior amused him ‘The dove has wings and the dog has teeth’ He gave in to her rebuttal. Her smile stretched small against her pretty face ‘The dove is slight’ Feyd studied the girl with intense curiosity.

‘Dogs eat birds’ The words dripped from his poison lips; he did not indulge in their recreation of the folk tale. His boredom grew within him.

She stepped closer, bringing forth the beauty of a youthful face into a light which did not shadow the most adored features. What a strange specimen, he noted, allowing her momentary pauses from his scrutiny. His eyed lowered to the tunic she wore, draped lazily over her skin and the perfect tits that hung on her chest underneath it. She noticed Rautha’s eyes darting from peak to peak across her chest. His tongue subsequently sliding over his bottom lip. He spoke ‘Do all caladan women have such perky tits? Or is it primarily you?’ Rautha smirked

The girl was not accustomed to such a word and she imagined it held its own brutality for this man. Her mother had always referred to them as breasts. The Na-Baron suppressed the urge to reach out, to skim them with his fingers. The pretty little servants on his home-world would have welcomed his hands to their chest but little did he care for those white mounds of flesh. These things were delicate, flush from exertion and begging to be touched. She, taken aback by his statement, breathed a gasp and stumbled back a pace. Was he truly so bold?

The girl stood in puzzlement of the living statue positioned before her. Slithers of yellow light filtering through the windows, washing over him as though a wave of ocean cascading. It illuminated his form for brief bursts of remark “I asked you a question” he repeated simply “And by what means do you expect me to provide an answer” She clipped her tone, speaking candidly. Feyd stilled himself, the initial spouts of rage fighting their way to heat the skin of his arms. He presented his smile, blackened teeth, gums writhing over them like tar and pressed her further “Are all caladan women blessed with perky tits? Or and i repeat, is it primarily you?”

She would not play pawn in this righteous amusement of power and lust. Her mouth kept in a hard line, to the Na-Baron’s annoyance. He reached his fingers to her in an untamed prediction of violence. The thumb and forefinger of this looming figure came to rest on her neck, pressuring the area. His other hand grasping the flesh of her ass in it claws, he craned his neck, and stretched downwards to whisper against the shell of her ear ‘I will take these tits in my mouth until they ache with pleasure and the distortions of lust cloud your feeble mind. There is no one you can run to that will affirm this ever happened. Do you understand?”

The girl nodded slowly, heaving breaths racking her lungs. Hips bucking in a childish display of discomposure, into where his pelvic bone struck against hers.

Duncan idaho rounded the corner, spotting the pair immediately and his eyed betrayed cause for concern. She sensed his presence to her side although Feyd Rautha did not conclude his oppression of her even under the eyes of the Duke Leto’s most trusted adviser. “My lady” The firm query of Idaho concealed layers only known to the girl and her family. Feyd released her at the realisation of the name Idaho gave to her. Lady, he pondered, interesting. The Na-Baron watched keenly as the little creature before him wandered off, tailed by Idaho.

The Na-Baron revelled in the accusing glance Duncan speared him with upon departure.

#dune fanfiction #feyd rautha #feyd rautha x reader #feyd smut #feyd x you #feyd imagine #feyd fanfiction #dune smut

[riaarivic]

HIS - KNJ x F!reader: 1 Into you

💗Pairings idol!NamjoonxReader

💗 Genres idol!AU, Smut, Angst, Romance, Enemies to lovers

💗 Rating 18+ minors DNI

💗 Summary  Four years have passed since the last time you saw Kim Namjoon. But now he was right in front of you, with the same stupid warm smile that made your good judgment (and underwear) disappear without a trace. You haven't seen him for four years. But now here you were working for BTS again. Having to see his insufferably attractive face every day of your life again.

But there's something Namjoon doesn't know. The little girl with almond eyes and dimples in her smile clinging to his ex-girlfriend's hip, not only looked too much like him. But she was… His.

💗  Warnings for the series: Unplanned pregnancy (I KNOW BUT HEAR ME OUT) Unprotected sex, foul language, angst, miscommunications, pinning, SO MUCH PINNING, Hurt/comfort. Will update as the series progress. 💗  Warnings for the chapter: reader has very conflictive emotions about the news of her pregnancy at the begining. This chapter will have some back and forth time skips

💗 A/N: ⚠️ dialogue in BOLD is intended to be in English if not, they are speaking in Korean. ⚠️

Love, Ria

💗 Chapter wordcount 3,4k

💗 Series Index 1 2

His 01: Into you

"And baby even on our worst nights. I'm into you" Into you - Paramore.

💗💗💗MARCH 2022💗💗💗

You have to admit, you've been glued to your computer screen for a solid twenty minutes, utterly motionless.

Hyung-Joon, once your boss and now your business partner, just forwarded an email confirming your company's involvement in BTS's upcoming Permission to Dance on Stage tour. The whole team was buzzing with excitement about the colossal job ahead.

It would be the biggest job in your company.

It really was the opportunity of a lifetime, the pay was enough to take Hana on a Disney cruise vacation.

For a whole year.

Three years in a row.

Heck, you could buy the damn boat.

That's how good it would be.

You should be basking in the joy of this achievement.

Yet, the smallest detail casts a shadow over the happiness—precisely, the leader of the band. The young, talented, millionaire, successful, infuriating asshole Kim Namjoon is your daughter's father.

For the tiniest detail, it must be emphasized that he had no intention of being a part of her life.

Fuck him.

He couldn't even summon the decency to meet your gaze when he sent his mother and manager to deliver an envelope full of money, effectively kicking you and your daughter out of Korea.

The memory of it turned your stomach.

💗💗💗JANUARY 2017💗💗💗

An alien.

That's how all the people saw you when you entered Big Hit as if you came from another planet entirely. An alien who spoke their language perfectly, who had not come as part of a tourist excursion, but to work.

They all regarded you as if you had a second head protruding from your back. The security, while registering your information for your access card; the staff, makeup artists, hair stylists—all whispered things as you walked by.

What the hell were you getting yourself into?

The chance of a lifetime, you reminded yourself. The pay might not be extravagant, but the perks of being part of a K-pop group's staff more than compensated for it.

You were going to travel all over the world, meet new people, eat delicious things and most of all… be as far away geographically as possible from where you came from.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime

After navigating several security checkpoints and maneuvering through what felt like a maze of boxes filled with the group's merchandise, materials, and clothing, you reached the office where they awaited you.

The global press department.

Though the term "department" sounded too grand for the small space—more like a converted broom closet with your boss's desk and yours side by side.

"Oh! Miss… um," you smiled as you saw him struggling with the pronunciation of your full name.

"Call me y/n. You must be Manager Hyung-Joon," the man let out a sigh of relief. Despite his imposing stature, dominating the tiny office, a friendly smile adorned his face.

"Miss y/n, you're just in time. They are about to finish a rehearsal, and we are going to start the first practice interviews for the US tour. Did you bring everything you need?" You nodded, and he motioned for you to follow him.

Probably, nothing you had read about this group could prepare you for what lay ahead. As Manager Hyung-Joon swung open the door, the first thing that struck you was the noise.

That room was pure Chaos.

What you'd expect if you left seven practically teenage men to their own devices. They chatted and laughed, appearing at first glance like a bunch of ordinary kids.

Not like the young men who would become the biggest musical act in history.

"Bangtan, can you please be quiet?" the manager shouted, capturing everyone's attention. "This is y/n; she will be your translator from now on." All seven pairs of eyes turned to you simultaneously, and once again, there it was.

That look that made you feel utterly out of place.

According to what you'd been told, it wasn't common for the company to hire young, let alone single, women to work with BTS. Yet, you excelled at your job, armed with a glowing recommendation letter from one of your college professors.

Fast and precise with translations, you also brought experience as a journalist before accepting this position.

And that you accepted the joke of a salary they offered.

The company deemed you useful enough to overlook the fact that you would be the only woman among these men most of the time.

But your integration into the staff didn't happen before their main manager warned them that any attempt at inappropriate behavior towards you would result in drastic consequences.

Not to mention the uncomfortably awkward conversation you had in the president's office, where terms like contraceptives, confidentiality agreements, and the ominous "If you have any kind of relationship with one of the members, we will sue you for everything you have" echoed.

Though you were sure the suitcase you brought to Korea wouldn't be much help to a music company at the time.

The message was clear:

Mess with one of them.

You're out.

It's not like you were interested in a workplace romance; true, they were all attractive, but you needed this job more than anything else in the world.

At that time, Bangtan was gearing up for their promotions in the United States, and they required someone to assist them in English communication.

So they wouldn't be overly dependent on him.

"Do you even speak Korean?" that was the very first words he spoke to you. He wore an expression somewhere between puzzled and annoyed for a moment before turning to speak to Hyung-Joon as if you weren't there. "Are you sure she's not a stalker?"

"I'm a communications major from Busan National University. I also speak Japanese, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. But my first language is English. I suppose that answers your question," you retorted, meeting his gaze challengingly, and he rolled his eyes as if your response bored him.

At the far end of the room, you heard an amused snort; you recognized him from the dossier—his name was Suga.

"Did that lady just shut up Namjoon-hyung?" the youngest among them stared at you as if you were a unicorn, a mythical creature, the weirdest thing he has ever seen, and the older one nudged him to stop staring.

"Nice to meet you all; my name is y/n. I will be your translator, and I hope you can take care of me." You bowed, and when you straightened, you smiled at everyone. He kept his stare locked at you, irritated and unimpressed by your initial response.

That was the beginning of it all.

💗💗💗DECEMBER 2018💗💗💗

Fool.

A complete fool is how you felt, your heart pounding in your chest as you found yourself on your bathroom floor holding a positive pregnancy test. Four years ago, your heart held a different kind of weight, the weight of a secret growing within you.

Two weeks after he had returned to Seoul.

Exactly two weeks after you had told him to get the fuck out of your life.

No. That's not true.

You know better now. He was already gone before you found the strength to let him go. You just hadn't realized it.

So, here you were sitting on your bathroom floor. The weight of your shared history hanging heavily between you. Looking at the abstract pattern on the tiles feeling like a complete idiot.

Feeling guilty for a child who will grow up without a father.

Because...

You thought you were strong enough to handle it. You believed you could navigate motherhood alone, but...

Should you tell him?

Would it be too selfish to unveil this reality now?

How could you shatter his world, now that his career soared to unprecedented heights?

And the company…

You knew The company would go to great lengths to erase you and this secret from existence if necessary..

Kim Namjoon the leader of BTS.

Korea's pride.

Fathering an unplanned child out of wedlock with a foreigner?

It could dismantle everything he had worked for.

And his group. It will destroy them and he will never forgive you for it.

Besides, did you even have the right to reenter his life?

After what you have said to him? After the wounds you carved upon each other?

You wanted to cry, but the tears remained trapped within your eyes.

Kim Namjoon, the man known as RM, the leader of BTS, was your adversary, your lover, the man who once held your heart, and the one who shattered it into irreparable pieces—

All within a year.

💗💗💗NOVEMBER 2019💗💗💗

This is a terrible idea

It took you too long to work up the courage to tell him that you had had a daughter. But you couldn't tell him by phone call or mail.

You mustered all the courage you had and took a plane from Los Angeles to Korea. You definitely did not imagine how extremely difficult 16 hours on a flight with a one year old baby would be.

You had to bribe Jungkook with buying him 10 cartons of banana milk to get his new number.

Calling him was much harder.

"Hello?" His voice, after a year, stirred emotions you believed buried deep within.

You had no idea what to say.

Hi Namjoon, remember me? I'm y/n, your ex-girlfriend, ex-enemy, ex-translator? Oh, by the way, we have a daughter. I'm in Korea. Sorry for not telling you earlier; I panicked, thinking the company might erase us if they found out. Congratulations on the new album.

Definitely not that.

"Hey, Joonie," you blurted, and somehow felt like worse alternative, "I'm in Korea, and I'd like to talk…"

"Yes," he interrupted, his voice as desperate as yours, "I'm sending a driver for you. Where are you staying?"

Two hours later, a black company van awaited you in front of your hotel. It transported you to a far more luxurious apartment complex than their previous dormitory.

They are doing so well.

That made you proud, they deserved every drop of success they had.

But he wasn't in the apartment.

Waiting for you in the living room was a face you'd only seen once—Namjoon's mother, Mrs. Kim Seolmi. Accompanied by bodyguards and a staff member, her gaze held the same mix of disappointment and anger as the first meeting. Her eyes shifted sourly when they landed on Hana, in your arms.

Hana was the vivid image of her father, every feature, dimples, almond eyes, pouty lips, and even her expressions. Seeing Namjoon in her.

It took Mrs. Kim mere seconds to deduce the baby in your arms was her granddaughter.

"He doesn't want to see you, neither you nor the bastard child you're carrying. Did you think you could pass off just anyone's daughter as my son's?" She pulled an envelope from her bag. You knew it contained money. "Take it and leave. A gold-digger like you, using men for money. How disgusting."

"Madam, I don't need your money. If Namjoon doesn't want to see me, he should tell me himself." You clutched your crying daughter, scared by the woman's shouts.

From a corridor emerged Sejin, BangTan's main manager. He always knew everything about them. And his presence here meant The company was already aware that Namjoon had a daughter.

Shit.

"I'm sorry, Miss y/n, but it's true. He asked us to give this to you," Sejin handed you a sealed letter with your name on it, "and this you must sign. It's the only way to prevent the company from taking legal action against you for involving yourself with a member."

"Ha! As if the half-breed was really my Namjoon's daughter."

Oh you were going to kill that woman.

Before you could unleash your thoughts, Sejin spoke again. "y/n, you know what it means to be in a relationship with an idol, let alone having a daughter out of wedlock. This could destroy him and Bangtan. I'm sure you don't want that." His voice carried pity.

"You don't want to go trough this, and we know you don't want to put your daughter through it." He took a breath and sat in front of you. "The company is willing to compensate you for your silence. It's your only option—"

"I don't want your fucking money, Sejin"

"Miss, if you go against the company, we'll have to fight in court, and you could lose custody of your daughter. I'm sorry, but it's true. He didn't want to come when he found out you were coming with your child."

He didn't want to come

When he found out

That you were coming with a child.

Your child.

That phrase echoed in your mind for years. You could still close your eyes and see Sejin's pitiful face—the same one he wore when informing an employee they could no longer work for them.

Because they spoke a second too long with one of them.

Because they smiled at them a little too much.

Because feelings started to emerge.

All were fired and forced to sign mountains of legal documents preventing them from ever speaking about what transpired.

Some were even offered positions at other agencies.

"You're fortunate Bang PDnim decided to compensate you. But it's your decision," he concluded.

Three hours later, you were repacking to return to Los Angeles, vowing never to set foot in Seoul again.

This should never have happened.

As you wiped away tears, your phone buzzed with several notifications.

Message from unknown number: Doll, it's Yoongi. Jungkook told me you were here and you were staying at a hotel in Myeongdon. Message from unknown number: I'm coming to see you.

Message from Cookie 🍪: Y/n Noona, Yoongi Hyung asked me to give him your number. Thanks for the banana milk, you should stop by the dorm and let's drink soju like old times!!!!

Message from NJ: I am so sorry. I hope you can understand.

The last message made you want to throw up.

The phone started vibrating with an incoming call…..

💗💗💗MARCH 2022💗💗💗

"Are you sure you're okay with this?"

Hyun-Joon regarded you with the same concerned eyes he had five years ago when you first met. He had transitioned from being your boss to your business partner and, eventually, one of your dearest friends. A few months after your departure from Korea, he called to share the news of starting their own management agency with a friend.

The startup funds came from the envelope Sejin handed you as compensation for never disclosing the identity of your daughter's father.

At least something good came from shattering your heart into a thousand pieces.

Today, you were the CEO of a flourishing company offering diverse services to music companies in Korea—translators, managers, staff, security; you had it all, and your agency ranked as the best in the market.

It was only a matter of time before you appeared on HYBE's radar.

It was only a matter of time before you found yourself back in the same room as him.

"Of course, this is the best contract the agency has had since we started. We are professionals, and your CEO is no exception," you reassured yourself more than Hyun-Joon.

He scrutinized you, trying to believe your conviction. "Well, let's get ready; they are about to come in."

The sight before you differed vastly from the first time you saw them in the modest conference room at what was then Big Hit. Through the glass door leading to your meeting room, the bodyguards entered first, followed by the new individual managers.

You knew much had changed since your last encounter. Initially, it was just you and a handful of staff members.

Now, it felt as if the President of the United States or Beyoncé were about to make an entrance.

Scratch that, the president's secret service probably had fewer people.

The room was nearly full, yet they hadn't arrived.

Jungkook walked in first. The last time you saw him, he still wore his school uniform. Now, he appeared as if he had stepped out of a novel, exuding a bad-boy aura with tattoos and all-black attire.

Behind him, Taehyung, the shy boy with the innocent smile, wore a designer suit, exuding timeless elegance like the protagonist of an old Hollywood film. You couldn't help but smile at the sight of him.

Jimin seemed unchanged yet transformed simultaneously—beautiful, elegant, with a hint of mischief in his eyes. When he saw you, he smiled discreetly, as if holding back many unspoken words.

Following him, J-Hope entered. His off-stage personality always intimidated you, yet he remained the kindest and most focused among them. That hadn't changed.

Yoongi walked in behind him, smiling genuinely upon seeing you. Among all of them, he was the only one you still maintained contact with. Nonetheless, seeing him in person brought a sense of relief.

Jin came in almost last, and you couldn't help but be amused. Despite not having seen him in person for four years, he hadn't aged a day. Serene as ever, he entered with a respectful bow.

A chill ran down your spine.

They entered in the official order.

From youngest to oldest.

And last.

Him.

Kim Namjoon, always entering last, responsible for introducing them all. Front and center, as always. His now-blond hair caught your attention first. Even beneath his clothes, you could see that he had grown. His arms filled his shirt just like his chest and legs.

Your mind instinctively wandered into territory you almost slapped yourself for entertaining.

You looked up, and he was looking at you. Whether he was surprised or not, his face revealed nothing. With almost a decade in the business, Kim Namjoon knew how to conceal his emotions.

Assuming he had any.

He obviously doesn't care to see you. And who were you to him?—just some woman he was fucking four years ago.

Just

The mother of his daughter.

Your ears buzzed, and you were so deeply lost in your thoughts that you didn't notice when he began talking.

"...it's a pleasure for us to work again with you and your agency," that damn voice, it could still stir emotions in you. "Miss Y/LN, it's also nice to see you again."

Oh, is he going to call you by your last name?

"It's Lee now," your voice sounded cooler than you thought it would, perfect.

"Congratulations, in that case," he stiffened his jaw, and you smiled at him. Simultaneously, several people in the room tensed up.

Ah yes, that was another detail Kim Namjoon obviously didn't know about you.

Eric Lee was your other business partner and your best friend. You had married three years ago so that he could obtain a visa and stay in the US with you.

Eric gave his last name to Hana and had practically raised her with you.

And also.

Eric was completely, totally, and utterly gay.

Your marriage was only on paper.

But that was a detail you weren't going to explain to Kim Namjoon.

By the way… where the hell was he?

Namjoon cleared his throat, snapping you out of your thoughts. "In that case, I think we can start—"

"Mommy!" a little voice interrupted, entering the room. With so many people there, you could only see the top of her dark brown hair. "Uncle said to play hide and seek; can I hide with you?"

Almond eyes.

Dimples in the smile.

The same pouty lips.

Kim Namjoon who was almost 10 years in the industry and knew perfectly well how to hide his emotions, but he looked at the little girl in front of him as if he had just seen an alien.

His face showed a thousand questions.

How old was that little girl?

Why did she have the same eyes as him?

Why had she called you mom?

Did you have a daughter?

The whole room tensed up.

Oh shit, I knew this was a bad idea.

But things happened so fast.

For the first time in her life, Kim Namjoon looked at his daughter's face.

And you were looking at the consecuence of what once was a stolen kiss behind a closed door.

And then evolved to so much more.

A snarky remark.

An irritated snort after others spoke.

A heated argument in a press room.

A few stolen kisses behind the staff room door.

A night in a hotel room.

And despite your reluctance to admit it,

Despite everything.

You would always be

His.

💗💗💗💗💗💗

I KNOOOOOWWWW! Another fic and I haven't finished translating/editing/rewriting/posting Hate!. But Yes, I had to, I had a writers block and decided to pull this one out of the vault of prompts.

Pregnancy troupe? while I'm writing a dark mafia romance? I KNOW But hear me out with this one, it is A RIDE.

I REALLY wanted to write a short agnsty BUT filled with heart clenching romance and.. other things clenching smuttines.

Yes, I'll continue updating Hate! but i would love you a bit if you give this baby a chance... literal baby. AND KIM NAMJOON AS A GIRL DAD!!?? IM NOT GOING TO DEPRIVE MYSELF OF THAT

Ps. If you want to be on the tag list drop a comment below!! 👩🏼‍💻✨

As always love you guys,

Ria 💗

#bts fanfic #bts smut #bts suga #bts #bts imagines #bts au #bts rm #bts romance #bts idol #namjoon #run bts #bts fic #bts scenarios

[foreverfangirllove]

Healthy Relationship kdrama recommendations!

1. Hometown Cha Cha Cha

Has a great plot line and wraps everything up in such a satisfying way! The main couple has so much chemistry, whether it be bickering or romance and it portrays the most realistic healthy relationship I've seen in a kdrama!

10/10 enemies to friends to lovers with a balanced attraction to each other and great chemistry

2. King the Land

The main couple is the power couple of healthy relationships and circumvent all the traditional tropes in a way that makes you launch your fist in the air with delight! I could not stop squealing at how cute they were! The chemistry was so good and it's the fluffiest kdrama I've ever seen with pretty much no conflict, making it the best drama to just cuddle up to.

10/10 ultimate comfort drama where the guy is whipped and the girl reciprocates perfectly with great chemistry

3. Touch Your Heart

She is the ultimate sunshine character and is so sweet that you'll fall for her (I was ready to protect her with my life) so imagine how deep the male lead falls for her. It's so adorable with both of them navigating a relationship for essentially the first time and they're really cute! The most trust I've ever seen in a kdrama relationship, it's amazing! There is one hard episode but it only happens because of external factors.

10/10 sunshine/grumpy who softens up and loves her adorably, with a trusting healthy relationship and great chemistry

4. Love to Hate You

Short, sweet and to the point, perfect for binge watching over a weekend since it's 10 episodes. Main couple has a realistic healthy relationship and great communication between them. No skippable parts and you can see how they both grow on each other in a really sweet way.

10/10 bingeworthy drama where the guy falls first and the girl is a feminist icon with a healthy relationship and good chemistry

5. Run On

Slice of life type kdrama that focuses on two couples. The main couple starts out awkwardly but grows to have more chemistry, they're pretty lowkey and subtle about their relationship. Second couple is peak sunshine/grumpy pairing with the guy being the sunshine one. It follows everyone through their lives so you can see the characters grow and change over the course of the drama and the romance is simply a part of the bigger picture. Main couple has a really realistic healthy relationship.

10/10 in general as a kdrama since the characters really grow on you

9/10 in terms of romance since it's not the main point of the drama but does portray a really healthy relationship with pretty good chemistry

---------Other Dramas that are good but don't fall under the umbrella of Healthy Relationship---------

6. Because This Is My First Life

Follows three couples so the relationships range. Not necessarily healthy relationships (they get there in the end) but realistic and probably something relatable for everyone across the three couples. The character growth is satisfying to see by the end and the plot is good.

8/10 in terms of romance since it's spread across three couples so but overall it's pretty cute with pretty good chemistry with all three

7. Business Proposal

Cute kdrama with more comedy than romance points. Main couple is cute with the guy whipped but the girl resists too much for me to really love them as a couple. Second couple is super cute though and I really liked their chemistry!

7/10 in terms of romance for what felt like an unbalanced relationship with the main couple but a good relationship with the second couple

(I'll continue to update this list as I watch more)

#kdrama #hometown cha cha cha #touch your heart #king the land #run on #love to hate you #business proposal #because this is my first life #kdrama recommendations #mine

[jovialmoonprincess]

AU: Journey to Redemption (Part 3)

First Part. / The Winter Ball / Champagne Problems

Coriolanus Snow x Fem!reader 

Summary: Y/N, a young idealist in Panem, dreams of making a difference in a post-war society. As the winner of the prestigious Plinth Prize is about to be announced, a mysterious woman unveils a grim fate for Coriolanus Snow, Y/N's nemesis. Offered a chance to alter destiny, Y/N must navigate her conflicting emotions and intervene in pivotal moments to prevent Snow's descent into darkness. The story unfolds against the backdrop of complex relationships, past connections, and the challenges of a changing world, as Y/N grapples with the responsibility of shaping an unexpected destiny and challenging the very fabric of fate.

Warning(s): None, enemy to lovers, back in time, destiny, Snow being in love, Snow being Snow, possible grammar and spelling mistakes

A/N: First Fic EVER, dont be mean pls. Also Im not a english native speaker, sorry for any spelling errors. Feedback is appreciated! Follow or like (or both) for part 4!

The last dance before the Plinth Award engulfed Y/N in a whirlwind of emotions that transported her to a distant past. She didn't expect to see Coryo at the party, as he had become a dedicated student and rarely attended social events. Nonetheless, she decided to seize the opportunity to approach him before the games, especially after glimpsing Snow's future in the hands of the mysterious woman.

Her gaze found Coryo on the other side of the room, and her heart raced. He looked different from the last time she saw him, unhinged while shooting birds in the forest. Y/N knew that if there was a chance to change the grim fate she foresaw, she would do everything in her power to save the boy. With determination, she headed towards him. Her dress, not as dazzling as four years ago, was a simple one, reflecting her current situation. Y/N no longer wanted to blend in with those people; she wanted to stand out. Her dress lacked sparkle, a simple white dress with loose sleeves. As she approached, she focused intensely on Coryo. "Y/N?" The sweetness of the sound of her name contrasted with the not-so-friendly expression in his eyes. He seemed surprised and perhaps confused by her presence.

"I thought you didn't like social situations," Y/N teased, initiating the typical banter between the two.

"I could say the same about you," Coryo retorted, displaying the familiar banter between them.

"Coryo, I wanted to wish you luck at the Plinth Award. I know how hard you fight for it." Y/N curtsied with her dress, trying to show sincerity. However, suspicion lingered in Coryo's eyes. The past few years had been marked by fights and tense interactions between the two.

It was at this moment that Clemensia Dovecote appeared next to Snow, intertwining her arm with his. An inconvenient presence that added more tension to the encounter.

"What are you doing here? Trying to win a crumb from your future president?"

"Clemensia, I don't remember addressing you," Y/N cut in, trying to maintain composure.

"Do you really think you look good today?" Clemensia mocked, laughing ironically. "You may have money, but wow, you need a stylist." Y/N, experienced in dealing with unpleasant criticisms, laughed, making it clear that such comments did not affect her.

"It seems like you're practicing to be a fashion critic now, Clemensia."

"Clemensia," Coriolanus was trying to prevent what would happen next.

"I'm just surprised that someone like you is trying to stand out. Usually, you're so... invisible," Clemensia continued, her voice dripping with superiority.

Y/N took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "Well, it's good to change things up once in a while. And as for you, Clemensia, what brought you to the ball? Isn't it more fun spending your parents' money on ugly bags?" The provocation hit Clemensia, but she kept her composure. 

"Just enjoying what life in the Capital has to offer. Unlike some around here who seem not to fit into such luxury." Clemensia's words were sharp, and Y/N knew she was just trying to undermine her confidence. However, she wouldn't let it shake her. 

"Ah, I understand. Sometimes it's hard for some people to grasp that there's more to life than just appearances and superficialities."

Clemensia cast a disdainful look at Y/N before shrugging. "Each to their own, right? Good luck trying to get Coriolanus's attention." With that, the girl "accidentally" bumped into a waiter serving someone nearby. Three glasses of champagne landed on the white dress, leaving Y/N with a mix of feelings, from anger to the determination not to be shaken by empty provocations.

The brief interlude with Clemensia was not what Y/N expected for the night; now she was unsettled, wet, and smelling of alcohol.

It was then that Sejanus Plinth approached, interrupting the tense moment. Her plan to approach Snow that night was thwarted, but Sejanus's friendly presence brought unexpected relief.

"Y/N, you look beautiful," Sejanus complimented with a gentle smile and a small handkerchief that would at least help reduce the dress's dampness. She returned the smile, grateful for the friendly gesture.

"Dance with me?" Sejanus invited. Y/N silently agreed, accepting the offer, defeated. The awkward moment with Clemensia and the initial frustration were temporarily forgotten as she engaged in a relaxed dance among friends. 

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"It's impossible for you to be okay after what happened," Sejanus directed a compassionate look. "Who needs fashion designers when you can have an accidental stylist like Clemensia?" Y/N laughed. The echo, however, reverberated in Snow's thoughts, casting shadows over what once seemed like a complication-free night. The ball now became a complex piece of an enigma that only time would unravel.

"I don't want to ruin your outfit; it looks expensive." The girl sighed, trying to keep her distance.

"Yours does too, and Clemensia didn't think twice before trying to destroy it," Sejanus brought her closer during the dance. Y/N smiled; the altruism in the boy was evident. Even with a lot of money, he always tried to be fair and helpful to everyone around him.

While they danced, the shared glances and conspiratorial smiles between Sejanus and Y/N did not go unnoticed. Snow, watching from afar, felt an uncomfortable knot forming in his stomach. The sight of Y/N in Sejanus's arms, laughing freely, triggered a strange and unsettling sensation. In the midst of the dance, Sejanus guided Y/N with graceful skill. The lightness of the moment contrasted with the complexity of emotions unfolding in Snow's mind. He wondered if the smile Y/N shared with Sejanus was different from the one she offered him.

As the music came to an end, Sejanus and Y/N exchanged a thankful glance and bid farewell with a polite gesture. Snow, observing the friendly closeness between the two, felt a twinge of uncertainty and discomfort. 

Y/N returned to the secluded spot, and Sejanus stepped away to greet other guests. Snow, determined to overcome the uncomfortable feeling enveloping him, approached Y/N with a forced attempt at indifference.

"Apparently, you found an excellent dance partner," he commented, his eyes concealing a tension he himself tried to understand. Y/N looked at him, a playful smile playing on her lips.         

"Sejanus is a great friend. You should try dancing with him." Far from calming Snow, the response only heightened his uncertainty. The remainder of the night passed with a tense atmosphere between them, and while Y/N and Sejanus shared moments of friendship, Snow pondered the complexities of his own emotions and what the future held for him and for the girl who, even while dancing with another, remained at the center of his thoughts.

After the dance and greeting everyone, Y/N decided to leave the ballroom. She sat on a bench outside, taking off her tight shoes. She realized it was the same garden as four years ago, where her lips and Snow's touched for the first time.

"Thanks for what you said about the Plinth Award." Once again, Snow startled the girl.

"You're welcome."

"I'm sorry about the dress; it'll probably stain."

"Since when do you know about laundry?" Y/N teased.

"Tigris made me learn the hard way," Snow laughed.

"What Clemensia did wasn't cool; I'm sorry." The boy seemed sincere. A white rose on his chest drew attention in his black suit. "You look beautiful." Y/N was angry with him. Looking at him like this and knowing what would come next was driving her crazy. Coryo seemed lost; maybe there was no salvation for him despite everything.

"I know your trick," she teased, laughing. She knew, above all, that Coryo used his charm to persuade everyone. And he did it very well. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" Snow didn't understand where the girl was going.

"You're impossible to decipher, as if you don't want people to know what you really feel."

"Showing emotions is a sign of weakness." It was one of the things Coryo's father always said, and they repeated it to him as a child. "Feeling is a weakness. I don't allow myself to feel anything other than the feelings that keep me going." His gaze seemed somewhat dark.

Y/N looked at the starry mantle above them.

"Showing emotions makes you human, Coryo," Y/N said. "Humanity means understanding your own feelings. We need to cherish

the good emotions and keep the people who make us feel good close by, you know?" It was as if she wanted the boy to be shaped by her words. She knew it wouldn't be that easy. But it would be a good start.

"Do you have any dreams? Something you would like to make come true?"

"I'm not sure. I wish I could give a better life to the Snows. Clean our name, return to the prestige we had before the destruction of District 13. I also want to give a better future to Tigris and our Grandmother." At this point, the boy was already by her side, leaning on the railing that separated the area they were in from the small artificial stream below. "I also wish I could choose what and how much I eat." Coryo was sincere; Y/N could tell. The poverty of the Snows was not evident, Coryo disguised it well. But Tigris complained to the girl years before about how the Snow family was becoming increasingly impoverished. Whenever Y/N went to her friend's house, she brought something to eat as a silent gesture of sympathy, but she knew that she would make her friend very grateful. She couldn't and didn't want to seem sorry or supporting the friend's family. Because people would notice, and it would generate more problems than solutions. Y/N didn't know her own family's reaction either.

"It's a lot for someone who claims not to feel," Y/N teased, her eyes reflecting a playful challenge.

Coryo's lips curved into an ironic smile. "Maybe I just need the right inspiration."

Y/N laughed, feeling a surprisingly lightness in their conversation. "Inspiration, huh? If you had the chance to shape the future, how would it be?"

He stared at the starry sky, pondering her question. "Power is the answer, control over everything. But maybe... maybe a Panem where people don't have to fight for survival, where the Capitol doesn't dictate our lives." Y/N wondered if he was talking about his own survival or about the districts.

Y/N's eyes softened, witnessing a glimpse of vulnerability beneath Coryo's facade. "That sounds like a dream worth pursuing."

"And you? In this ideal Panem, what would be your role?" He asked curiously.

"I would be a storyteller," Y/N replied, laughing. "I would weave narratives of hope, resilience, and... love. I would show the world that compassion can be our greatest strength."

A genuine smile lit up Coryo's face, and for that brief moment, the differences between them dissipated. The distant music from the ballroom served as a backdrop for their conversation, a symphony accompanying the unspoken connection.

"You would do well in that role. Even though I think it would be a waste of potential since you're the SECOND-best student at the Academy," Coryo admitted, with a playful tone.

The white rose on his lapel seemed to capture the moonlight, its petals reflecting the vulnerability in his eyes. The tension that once filled the air now transformed into a shared understanding.

They were very close to each other; Y/N could smell the boy's perfume. She noticed every detail of his face to try to capture that moment in her memory. Her fingers stretched out and reached for the rose on his lapel. She detached it easily.

"Which one of us is going to steal some sweets for us to eat while we talk?"

"Do you have pockets in your dress?" The boy teased, enjoying the moment, as she placed the stolen rose on the strap of her white dress.

"No, exactly because of that, it will have to be you."

Coryo laughed as he nodded. Without saying anything else, he turned his back to the girl and disappeared into the darkness of the corridor.

Alone, Y/N wondered if the boy would come back. She was sure it was a perfect opening for him to return to the ball. She looked at the small fish swimming fast in the artificial stream below the railing. Even they were trapped. Even their freedom was controlled by the Capitol.

"Y/N."

"Coryo."

"Do you still like chocolate?" The boy asked, taking a plastic package with something like a small tart from his pocket.

"They make these especially for stealing, how can that be?" The girl amused herself while opening the small package.

As the night unfolded, the two found themselves immersed in a conversation that transcended the limitations of their tumultuous history. The garden, witness to their first kiss and now witness to their shared dreams, became a sanctuary of possibilities. And in the midst of the starry serenity, a connection, delicate but profound, began to blossom, challenging preconceived notions of their roles in a world on the brink of change. The night continued, filled with moments that defied expectations and revealed the complexity of their feelings. Y/N and Coryo's story was far from over, but in that moment, they chose to enjoy the dance under the stars, building together a new chapter of hope and possibility in a world about to change.

______________________________

Just wanted to drop a quick note to say a massive thank you for all the love, likes, comments, and follows on my story. <3

Taglist: @shari-berri @h-l-vlovesvintage @tea-bobba @daenerysqueenofhearts

Again: REQUESTS and TAGLIST ARE OPEN!!!!!

#coriolanus snow #tbosas #president snow #the hunger games #coriolanus x reader #enemy to lovers #angst #angst with a happy ending #coriolanus x you #coriolanus snow x reader #fem reader #hunger games au #fluff #tigris snow #thg #snow #tom blyth #coriolanus x fem!reader

[yoonavii]

𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐀

Gladiator Prince! Eustass x Reader

Summary: Y/n, a skilled ice warrior from the frigid kingdom of Nosta, and Prince Eustass, a ruthless gladiator prince hailing from the enemy nation, the Modora Empire. Their two nations have a long history of conflict and animosity. However, when a dire situation calls for a political marriage to secure peace, Y/n and Eustass find themselves bound together in a union neither desires. As they navigate the treacherous path of diplomacy, they must confront their own prejudices and the weight of their peoples’ expectations. Through adversity and danger, the icy walls between them slowly begin to melt, and they discover unexpected connections and feelings, transforming their initial enmity into a deep and passionate love of the ages.

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄

In the heart of a snow-covered terrain, one stands amidst towering mountains, a hardy inhabitant uniquely adapted to the harsh winters that intimidate those from distant lands. Encircled by towering walls erected a millennium ago, the kingdom of Nosta has long lived in the shadow of the Modorans, a relentless empire known for their brutal conquests and unyielding warriors. The kingdom’s past has been rewritten by the ceaseless war with the Modora Empire, transforming the once-peaceful Nostians into hardened archers and skilled hunters. Adaptation is the key to survival, and the land’s bountiful resources have turned its people into formidable defenders.

As the first light of dawn breaks over the mountains, you awaken to the rhythmic sound of Lucie’s snores, your loyal polar bear dog nestled at the foot of your bed. The soft glow of dawn spills through frost-laden windows, casting intricate patterns of light and shadow across your chamber’s walls. You stretch beneath the warmth of your fur-lined blankets, feeling the chill in the air that seeps through the thick walls of the stone castle. With a gentle smile, you lean over and ruffle Lucie’s fur, the bond between you and your faithful companion unbreakable. Her eyes flutter open, revealing a mixture of sleepiness and excitement, as if she senses the adventures that await you both.

Leaving the comfort of your bed, you swing your legs over the side and place your feet on the cold stone floor, feeling the shock of its icy touch. You wrap yourself in a thick robe adorned with intricate patterns of frost and snowflakes, a testament to the artistry of Nosta’s craftsmen. As you make your way to the window, you catch your reflection in the frost-kissed glass. Your hair cascades down your shoulders, a stark contrast to the rich blue of your gown, embroidered with delicate silver threads that shimmer like frost in the early morning light. Your eyes, a reflection of the kingdom’s icy hues, carry a determination that belies the challenges you face.

The maids enter your chamber, their footsteps muffled by the plush rugs that line the floor. They offer greetings with a graceful bow, their breath visible in the cold air. “Good morning, Your Highness,” they say in unison, their voices carrying the respect and warmth that has been passed down through generations of Nostians. “Good morning,” you reply with a nod and a soft smile. “Thank you for preparing my bath.”

With a sense of anticipation, you follow the maids to the royal hot springs. The journey takes you through the castle’s corridors, where torches flicker and cast dancing shadows on stone walls adorned with tapestries depicting Nosta’s history. The air is alive with the aroma of pine and wood smoke, a comforting scent that lingers in the halls. Finally, you arrive at the entrance to the hot springs, where steam rises like ethereal tendrils from the inviting water. The surface of the natural pool shimmers with a mosaic of colors, reflecting the sunlight filtering through the opening in the rock above. Your breath catches at the sight, a reminder that even amidst the icy kingdom, moments of warmth and beauty can be found.

The maids bow and take their leave, leaving you in the company of the steam and the echoing sounds of dripping water. Slowly, you shed your robe, allowing it to fall to the ground in a heap of luxurious fabric. With a deep breath, you step into the warm water, a sigh of contentment escaping your lips as the heat seeps into your bones, thawing away the chill of the morning. As you recline in the soothing embrace of the hot springs, surrounded by stone walls that echo with the whispers of centuries, you reflect on the challenges that lie ahead. The council’s rule, your brother’s future, and the unending conflict with the Modorans all weigh heavily on your mind. But for now, in this tranquil haven, you allow yourself a moment of respite, a brief interlude of peace in a world defined by ice and fire.

As you lower yourself into the warm embrace of the royal hot springs, a wave of relaxation washes over you. The steam rises in delicate tendrils, enveloping you in a cocoon of tranquility. The water’s heat seeps into your tired muscles, melting away the residual tension from the challenges you’ve faced.

As your fingers trace patterns through the water’s surface, your gaze drifts over your own reflection. The ripples distort your image, but they can’t conceal the numerous scars that crisscross your skin. Each mark tells a story, a testament to the battles you’ve fought and the obstacles you’ve overcome.

Your fingers brush against a scar on your shoulder, a faint line etched into your skin from a duel that tested your mettle as a young warrior. You remember the intensity of that fight, the mixture of fear and determination that fueled your every move. That scar is a reminder of the raw strength that you possess, a strength that has grown with every challenge you’ve faced since that day.

Your hand moves to a more intricate scar on your forearm, a relic from a training accident that happened when you were just a child. The memory of that incident is bittersweet, a reminder of the innocence you lost as you embraced the warrior’s path. But you’ve come to view that scar not as a mark of vulnerability, but as a badge of honor. It symbolizes the relentless drive that pushed you to hone your skills, to transform yourself from a curious explorer into a formidable protector of Nosta.

As your gaze travels further, you take stock of the various scars that mar your skin – some faded, others still vivid. They are the physical manifestations of your journey, the outward evidence of your growth. Each scar is a chapter in the story of your life, a testament to your resilience and your unwavering commitment to your people.

With a mixture of fondness and pride, you allow your fingers to glide over the scars, tracing the contours of each mark. They are reminders that strength isn’t always about brute force; it’s about enduring, learning, and evolving. The girl who once felt the sting of those wounds has blossomed into the ice princess who now commands respect and admiration.

A sudden shift in the air catches your attention, and you turn your head to see a woman entering the chamber. It’s her – your mentor, a figure of both respect and apprehension. The maids make a futile attempt to halt her progress, their efforts thwarted by her unyielding determination. She strides forward with an air of authority, her presence commanding the room.

As she approaches, her gaze fixes on you, and you feel the weight of her scrutiny. There’s a sense of history between you, a connection forged through years of training and shared experiences. Her voice, gruff and unapologetic, slices through the tranquil atmosphere. “Are you prepared for your coming of age ceremony?” she demands, the question laced with both expectation and challenge.

Meeting her gaze head-on, you don’t flinch under the weight of her scrutiny. You’ve been groomed for this moment, the culmination of your journey towards assuming a greater role in the kingdom. With a calm resolve, you rise from the hot springs, the water cascading off your skin as you step onto the cold stone floor.

“I’ve always been prepared,” you reply, your voice steady and unwavering. “Since the beginning of my youth.” The words carry a deeper meaning, a reflection of the sacrifices and training that have shaped you into the person you are today. Your mentor’s gruff demeanor may test you, but you hold your ground, your determination mirroring the strength that lies beneath the scars that mark your skin.

Your mentor’s expression softens imperceptibly, a glimmer of pride mingling with her stern countenance. She nods in acknowledgement, the unspoken understanding between you a testament to the bond you share. As you move to dress in the robes that await you, you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror – a reflection of the ice princess who has weathered countless challenges, poised to embrace her destiny with unwavering resolve.

————

Meanwhile, in a stark contrast to the icy realm of Nosta, the Modora Empire extended across a vastly different terrain, marked by hot climates and diverse landscapes. Their imposing walls stood as a testament to their expansive dominion, a visual reminder of their conquests that stretched far beyond their own borders. These walls were grander, more formidable than those of Nosta, and they conveyed a message of power and might.

At the entrance gates, towering statues of intimidating warriors greeted all who entered, serving as both a warning and a symbol of the empire’s strength. The capital itself was a spectacle of opulence and grandeur, with the palace radiating an air of tremendous wealth that seemed almost casual. The architecture seamlessly blended elements reminiscent of both the Roman Empire and the Nordic Empire, a fusion that spoke to the eclectic nature of their dominion.

As the day’s sun beat down upon the bustling streets of the capital, the people crowded together, their cheers reverberating through the air. A procession was underway, led by none other than Prince Eustass and the Emperor’s battle-hardened military forces. The return from yet another conquest was marked by the visible evidence of bloodshed – the armor and faces of the men bore the stain of the conflicts they had waged.

Amidst the cheers and adulation, Prince Eustass rode at the forefront of the procession, his demeanor one of confidence and pride. His arms opened wide, he basked in the glory and praise that washed over him like a tidal wave. The cheers of the crowd seemed to fuel his sense of accomplishment, and he reveled in the admiration that surrounded him.

As Prince Eustass’s gaze swept across the sea of faces, he saw loyalty, respect, and perhaps even a touch of fear. The bloodshed that stained his armor was, to him, a testament to his strength and the might of the empire he represented. And so, with a triumphant smile, he acknowledged the crowd, his charisma and aura of authority capturing the attention of all who beheld him.

The jubilant cheers of the crowd filled the air, a chorus of adulation directed at the crown prince who rode at the forefront of the procession. “Long live the crown prince! Soon to be emperor!” The words carried a weight of anticipation, a promise of the empire’s future under his rule. The adoration of his people pleased Eustass, the pride in his chest swelling as he soaked in their approval.

Amidst the celebratory atmosphere, his loyal right-hand man, Killer, guided his horse to walk beside Eustass. The swift movement of the horse allowed them to converse in hushed tones, their words hidden beneath the clamor of the crowd. Killer’s concern was evident as he asked, “How is your arm?” The inquiry, laced with a hint of worry, betrayed the unspoken struggles that came with leading an empire through battles and conflicts.

Eustass cast a sidelong glance at Killer, his gaze meeting the unwavering determination in his friend’s eyes. With a fleeting look back at the cheering crowd, he turned his attention back to Killer, his voice low and measured. “Not now,” he murmured, his tone carrying a note of urgency. “Discuss this when we’re in the palace.” The weight of responsibility and decision-making pressed heavily on Eustass’s shoulders, a burden he was all too familiar with.

As the procession continued its triumphant march through the capital’s streets, Eustass’s mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. The cheers of the crowd were a stark contrast to the quiet concerns that resonated within him. Beneath the façade of glory and power, the prince knew that his choices would shape not only the empire’s destiny, but also his own.

Killer's observant gaze flickered over Eustass's armor, his keen eyes taking in the intricate details and the craftsmanship that adorned it. The armor was a work of art, a testament to the prince's mixed heritage. It bore designs that resonated with both the strength of his Nordic ancestry and the elegance of his Roman lineage, a fusion that reflected his diverse heritage. Turning slightly toward Eustass, Killer's inquiry was softly spoken, "New armor?" His voice held a touch of curiosity, the question a natural extension of the concern he felt for his friend's well-being.

Eustass met Killer's gaze, a knowing smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Not new," he replied, his tone carrying a mixture of pride and reverence. "This armor has been passed down through generations. It once belonged to my great grandfather, a formidable Nordic warrior in his time." He paused, his gaze distant for a moment before refocusing on Killer. "My mother's side of the family carries the Nordic heritage, while my father's side is rooted in Roman traditions. This armor represents both sides of my lineage, a symbol of the strength and values that have been passed down to me."

As he spoke, Eustass's voice held a hint of nostalgia, his thoughts briefly wandering to the tales he had heard of his ancestor's heroic exploits. The weight of history was woven into the very fabric of the armor, connecting him to his family's storied past and the legacy that had shaped his identity. Killer's expression softened as he absorbed Eustass's words, a silent understanding passing between them. The armor wasn't just a set of protective plates; it was a tangible representation of Eustass's heritage and the values he held dear. It was a constant reminder of the complex tapestry of his background.

As the procession continued its triumphant journey, the camaraderie between Eustass and Killer remained unspoken yet palpable. Amidst the celebrations and the weight of their roles, the bond of friendship and the shared history between the two were a source of solace and support. And so, side by side, they rode on, connected by the present and the echoes of the past that shaped their destinies.

As the grand palace gates swung open, revealing the opulent interior that awaited, Eustass guided his horse forward with a sense of mixed emotions. The palace was a testament to the empire's grandeur, yet its halls held the weight of responsibilities he often found burdensome. Waiting for him, just beyond the threshold, was his royal advisor – a figure Eustass often found exasperating, though one he couldn't easily dismiss due to his father's decision.

The royal advisor, his demeanor as posh and condescending as ever, stood with an air of expectancy. Eustass regarded him with a mixture of mild annoyance and resignation. It was a relationship built on necessity, a connection he couldn't easily sever.

Before Eustass could even gather his thoughts, the advisor's voice carried an air of urgency, "Your Highness, you must meet with the council straight away." The words were delivered with a tone that brooked no argument, a reminder of the advisor's influence and the formalities that governed their actions.

Eustass's brows furrowed, his distaste for the council evident in his expression. The council, with their conservative agendas and rigid ideologies, was a constant source of frustration for him. He knew that their decisions often clashed with his own vision for the empire's future. In a voice tinged with both curiosity and irritation, he asked the question that lingered on his mind, "Why must I meet with the council now?"

The advisor's response was notably evasive, his eyes shifting nervously as he avoided direct eye contact. The prince's annoyance deepened, realizing that there was more to this meeting than met the eye. The advisor's silence spoke volumes, even if the details remained elusive. Whatever awaited him in the council chambers, Eustass sensed that it was a matter of utmost importance – one that could alter the course of his life and the fate of the empire he was destined to lead.

As you prepare for your coming of age ceremony, the atmosphere is filled with anticipation and reverence. The great Elders of the kingdom stand by your side, each delicate snowflake-shaped crystal they place on your attire representing a value or quality you embody – courage, kindness, leadership, and more. The crystals form a visual testament to your character, a reflection of the path you’ve walked and the destiny that lies ahead.

With gentle precision, an elder woman steps forward, her hands skilled in the art of cultural markings. Using a paste made from glowworms, she paints intricate designs onto your skin, patterns that will come alive in the darkness, casting an enchanting glow that sets you apart in the night.

Led by the Elders, you move with purpose, guided to the sacred location where your ceremony will unfold. The heart of an icy cave, cradled by a snow-capped mountain, serves as the backdrop for this momentous occasion. The cave’s walls shimmer with an otherworldly beauty, echoing the qualities of strength and grace you embody.

Stepping into the cave, you feel a warmth emanating from your markings, a sensation that guides you forward. The surroundings transform into a tapestry of wonder – a cliff’s edge overlooking a dark, icy lake below. The contrast between the darkness and the radiant crystals mirrors the challenges and aspirations that shape your journey.

As the ceremonial performers start playing their traditional drums, the rhythm fills the air with an enchanting melody. Their music serves as a herald, drawing attention to your arrival. The royal court, dressed in regal attire, and the kingdom’s formidable warriors stand united, a testament to the unity and strength that bind your people.

With a shift in energy, the warriors begin the kingdom’s powerful war chant, a call to arms that pulses with passion and purpose. In their chant, you hear not just a display of their might, but a shared commitment to safeguard and uplift the kingdom. The chant reaches its crescendo, and you stand poised at the edge, your heart filled with gratitude and determination.

Knowing your duty, you stride purposefully toward the edge of the icy lake, resolute in your intent to retrieve your crown. But just as you're about to take that leap into the deep waters, a firm yet gentle hand pulls you away from the edge. It's one of the older ladies from the council, an esteemed member known for her wisdom and respect. Her presence holds authority, and her actions speak volumes about the gravity of the situation.

In a hushed tone, she imparts her message to you – a whispered request to seek out the council once your ceremony concludes. Her words carry an air of importance, a promise of discussions and decisions that will shape the path ahead. With a kind smile, she adds a touch of unexpected advice, urging you to fall off the cliff with your back turned to look cool. It's a moment of levity amidst the solemnity, and you can't help but chuckle softly at her words.

You nod in agreement, acknowledging her request to meet the council and expressing your intent to do so. Stepping back from the cliff's edge, you gather your resolve and take a step forward, allowing yourself to tip over the precipice. In that brief moment, your heart races as the sensation of falling engulfs you.

As you descend into the water, your markings glow brighter, illuminating the dark depths below. Your vision sharpens, and you spot the shimmering crown nestled among the rocks. Without hesitation, you swim downward, your movements fluid and purposeful. The cold water envelops you, and the weight of your purpose drives you forward.

Reaching the bottom of the lake, you grasp the crown in your hands, its intricate details gleaming beneath the water's surface. With determination, you kick off the lake floor, propelling yourself upward. The journey feels both eternal and fleeting, the seconds stretching as your goal inches closer.

Breaking through the water's surface, you emerge victorious, holding the crown aloft for all to see. The cheers that erupt from the onlookers echo through the icy cave, a triumphant symphony that celebrates your accomplishment. The exhilaration of the moment courses through your veins, a reminder of the strength and spirit that define you as the ice princess of Nosta.

——

Returning to Prince Eustass in the Modora Empire, he strides into the council chamber, his boots echoing off the polished marble floor. The grandeur of the room is accentuated by the presence of council members, each distinguished by the wreaths adorning their heads. They sit in solemn attention, their gazes fixed on the prince as he enters. Among them stands the formidable general, his presence a testament to military prowess, and by his side stands his daughter – a woman whose connection with Eustass goes beyond mere politics.

The absence of his father, the ailing emperor, casts a shadow over the room, serving as a reminder of the empire's vulnerability in the face of his health condition. Taking the seat that his father usually occupies at the head of the grand table, Eustass settles in with a hint of impatience already tugging at his demeanor. His fingers drum against the armrest as he cuts through any pretense with a voice laced with annoyance, "What is it? I've just returned and haven't even had a moment to gather my thoughts. Spare me the formalities and get to the point."

The head council member, a figure known for their authority, clears their throat, capturing the attention of the room before responding. Their words carry a weight, the gravity of the moment evident in their tone as they address Eustass, "Very well, your highness. Allow me to be direct. We are forging an alliance with the ice kingdom of Nosta. As a symbol of this alliance, a political marriage is to be arranged between you and their Princess."

The declaration hangs in the air, the room seemingly suspended in the aftermath of the statement. Eustass's mouth opens slightly, his surprise laid bare on his features. A political marriage – a strategic move that transcends enmity and demands personal sacrifice – it's a proposition that upends his expectations. The council's decision to intertwine his fate with the princess of an adversary kingdom confronts Eustass with a complex choice that could reshape his empire's destiny.

In this charged moment, the tension between duty and personal desires is a palpable undercurrent. The choices Eustass faces resonate far beyond his own desires, carrying the weight of the empire's future. As glances flicker between council members, the general, and the woman who holds a place in his heart, a whirlwind of emotions and intricate considerations swirls around him. The atmosphere of the chamber mirrors the intricate path that lies ahead, demanding that Eustass navigate the delicate balance between political strategy, matters of the heart, and the greater welfare of the Empire.

©𝐘𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐈— Any sign/evidence of plagiarism made from outside this name will be dealt with by whatever means necessary. Legal action may occur if non fanfiction works are plagiarized.

#one piece x reader #op x reader #one piece headcanons #op hcs #op headcanons #anime x reader #one piece fluff #one piece x black!reader #op x y/n #op x you #one piece #one piece spoilers #straw hat pirates #one peice #eustass kid #eustass x reader #eustasscaptainkid #kid x reader #eustass kid x reader #killer one piece #trafalgar law #one piece fanfiction #one piece fic #op scenario #op fic #anime gif #anime manga #anime edit #anime art #anime x y/n

[stupidkyupid]

𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃 : 𝗌𝗆𝖺𝗎 𝗌𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 ！

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 : the start of a fresh semester at barden university marks the continuation of a century-old fued or, in other words – the showdown between the treblemakers and the bellas.

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!theboyz x fem!oc

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞 : smau, pitch perfect au, romance, humour, drama, fluff, angst, college au

𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 : ongoing

𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐫 + 𝐚 / 𝐧 : instead of using y/n i decided to give each oc a name and face claim to make it easier to navigate between each story! the foundation of most of the pairings where they’re both involved in accapella has an enemies to lovers and forbidden love aspect to it due to the rule bellas have to not engage in any sort of romance with the treblemakers, however the amount of this that is prevelant will depend on the characters and how much they actually care about the ‘rules’! also, whilst i’ll give more detailed disclaimers at the beginning of each mini series, i’m just going to establish that there will be sex references throughout this, in true pitch perfect fashion. the whole accapella thing is more of a subplot, it’s a big part of the characters and their personalities but this will also heavily focus on college life as well as romance. i’m aiming for each member to have a 20 part story! i’ll also be aging the members down to college ages!

𝐋𝐄𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐘𝐄𝐎𝐍 － 𝖨’𝖫𝖫 𝖬𝖠𝖪𝖤 𝖸𝖮𝖴 𝖢𝖱𝖸 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!leader!sangyeon x bella!leader!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : grumpy x sunshine

the treblemakers and bellas have earned the reputation as the montagues and capulets of the a cappella world for as long as anyone can recall. it's safe to assume that the leaders of each group would be in constant conflict, or at least that's what gyulmi believes is the most reasonable course of action. however, sangyeon couldn't care less about conforming to these social norms and opts for a diplomatic approach towards his arch-nemesis. but can he maintain his composure when gyulmi responds to his kindness with nothing but anger?

𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐎𝐁 𝐁𝐀𝐄 － 𝖫𝖠𝖣𝖨𝖤𝖲 𝖭𝖨𝖦𝖧𝖳 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : tutor!treblemaker!jacob x player!bella!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : opposites attract

all dalny has ever known is romance; however, it has never taken the form of a conventional, long-term, exclusive relationship where the phrase 'i love you' is frequently uttered. in fact, quite the opposite is true. her life revolves around romance, yet she has never experienced love. one might describe dalny as a player, a title she proudly wears, until she started interacting with jacob bae during their tutoring sessions. somewhere along the way, she began to yearn for something more profound than just non-committal kisses from her supposed enemy.

𝐊𝐈𝐌 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐍 － ’𝖳𝖨𝖫 𝖶𝖤 𝖬𝖤𝖤𝖳 𝖠𝖦𝖠𝖨𝖭 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!younghoon x student!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : forbidden love

dasom and younghoon have always been familiar with each other. it isn't surprising, considering dasom had dated his older brother on and off for several long months just a year ago. needless to say, the relationship didn't end well, leading dasom to flee to barden university instead of continuing with the toxic cycle. so, during her fresh new start, the last thing she expected was to encounter younghoon, the younger brother of her haunting ex. however, what surprised her even more was finding comfort within his presence, rather than harboring resentment towards the figure from her past and how she can’t help but attend his performances, unable to stay away, yet troubled by the forbidden nature of their connection.

𝐋𝐄𝐄 𝐇𝐘𝐔𝐍𝐉𝐀𝐄 － 𝖯𝖴𝖲𝖧𝖨𝖭’ 𝖭 𝖯𝖴𝖫𝖫𝖨𝖭’ ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!hyunjae x newbella!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : friends with benefits to lovers

nari and hyunjae have been entangled in their so-called mutually beneficial arrangement for nearly a year now. it's a classic case, really, a 'friends with benefits' situation where the only rule is to avoid catching feelings. nari sees herself as skilled in detaching herself from her emotions, but that facade becomes harder to maintain when her best friend coerces her into joining what she dubs 'the dumb world of a cappella' as a last-minute recruit for the bellas. suddenly, her carefree nights with hyunjae evolve into passionate escapades, and the forbidden nature of their relationship sparks new emotions. what did she expect? she's sleeping with the enemy, and history shows it never ends well.

𝐋𝐄𝐄 𝐉𝐔𝐘𝐄𝐎𝐍 － 𝖫𝖮𝖵𝖤 𝖥𝖮𝖮𝖫𝖨𝖲𝖧 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!juyeon x bella!oc

𝐭𝐫��𝐩𝐞 : exes to lovers

high school sweethearts – it's nice while it lasts, but that's often the case with most things. you cherish something or someone while you have them, but the moment they slip from your grasp, love can quickly turn to hatred. seulki and juyeon could certainly tell you all about this, provided you can endure hours of angry rants and lovesick glances. in short, seulki hates lee juyeon, and juyeon hates sim seulki. they both vowed never to speak again, but that's practically inviting the impossible when their beloved acappella groups seem to constantly be all up in each others faces, something the two of them seem to excel. it didn't take much for another cliche to emerge, where the lines between love and hate start to blur.

𝐊𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍 － 𝖧𝖤𝖫𝖫 𝖨𝖭 𝖧𝖤𝖠𝖵𝖤𝖭 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!kevin x producer!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : brothers best friend

june has always had a keen interest in the world of music, not as the center stage performer, but behind the scenes, making the music that's loved by many. so, when she's offered a position at the campus radio station, she's thrilled to accept. however, there's a catch: Kevin, her older brother Jacob's best friend, also works there. Jacob had specifically cautioned her not to get involved with Kevin due to his familiarity with the clichés. but how can she adhere to her brother's advice when Kevin's presence becomes a constant part of her daily life, making it difficult not to form an attachment to someone she spends hours with every day? now, the second challenge arises: how should she break the news to Jacob about her relationship with his best friend?

𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐈 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐇𝐄𝐄 － 𝖫𝖮𝖵𝖤 𝖥𝖮𝖮𝖫𝖨𝖲𝖧 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!chanhee x bella!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : rivals to lovers

chanhee and seolya have been in constant rivalry for as long as anyone can remember, or in other words, back to the very beginning of their first semester when they both achieved identical scores, earning them the joint first-place position in their class – a title neither of them was willing to accept. from that moment on, they became sworn competitors, turning every aspect of their lives into a contest. if seolya enrolled in an extra class, chanhee would eagerly sign up as well, ensuring he arrived five minutes earlier each day. if chanhee joined an a cappella group, seolya would join an acapella group. the concept towards their supposed hatred is simple really, pure competitiveness, a need to always be first. little do they realize that, in their quest for victory, they'll end up placing each other above all else.

𝐉𝐈 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐌𝐈𝐍 － 𝖲𝖳𝖴𝖯𝖨𝖣 𝖢𝖴𝖯𝖨𝖣 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!changmin x matchmaker!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : best friends to lovers

oreum and changmin have always been inseparable, a bond as old as their earliest memories. it's as if they're joined at the hip; she faithfully attends all his shows, tirelessly crafting new signs, each attempting to be better than the last to show her support, and he's a constant presence, patiently listening to her excited rants about the latest couple she's helped bring together. you see, oreum has a unique talent for matchmaking, but little did she know, her efforts to find a special someone for changmin would unearth her own hidden emotions. as she embarks on the journey to find love for her best friend, her well-intentioned plan takes an unexpected and bittersweet turn when she realizes her own heart is at stake.

𝐉𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐊𝐍𝐘𝐄𝐎𝐍 － 𝖳𝖠𝖫𝖪 𝖳𝖮 𝖬𝖤 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!haknyeon x bella!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : secret admirer

chowha is a rule follower, she'll do anything to abide to what's expected from her and perform in a way that doesn't leave room for criticism. it's needless to say that she took the vow "i promise to never engage in any romantic relationship with a troublemaker, or else my vocal cords will be torn out by wolves" quite seriously. thanks to her unwavering self-discipline, she didn't respond well to romantic advances made by haknyeon, a treblemaker, especially when they were made publicly. however, chohwa soon found herself delighted by the daily letters received from her secret admirer, eagerly awaiting the moment they would reveal their identity. now, what's a goody two shoes like chohwa supposed to do when she realizes she's been breaking the rules for months and has enjoyed every moment of it?

𝐊𝐈𝐌 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐖𝐎𝐎 － 𝖬𝖸 𝖲𝖠𝖳𝖨𝖲𝖥𝖠𝖢𝖳𝖨𝖮𝖭 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!sunwoo x student!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : fake dating

it's quite unfortunate, but following nayoung's breakup with a member of the high notes, she ended up being branded as the "campus' designated acapella groupie," as if that even exists. true to her nature, she decided to counter the groundless rumors created by her spiteful ex, with the assistance of her good friend sunwoo. nayoung was quick to convince to convince him into playing the role of her new boyfriend, although it didn’t take him long to get on board with the idea, much to her disappointment, as she had a whole speech prepared for the occasion. now, all that remains is to witness that smug smile on her ex's face fade away as he witnesses her embracing her newfound title, which seems straightforward enough, were it not for unexpected emotions entering the equation

𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐎𝐇𝐍 － 𝖫𝖨𝖦𝖧𝖳 𝖬𝖤 𝖴𝖯 ！

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 : treblemaker!eric x bella!oc

𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 : he fell first, she fell harder

the bellas and the treblemakers don't mix. sure, feifei has witnessed her fair share of fellow bellas sneak around with treblemakers to the extent that it's now more of a norm than a forbidden union between the two groups. however, feifei remains indifferent. she joined the bellas to sing, not to be part of a cliché romeo and juliet-like love story. so, when eric initiates his pursuit of her, she'll go to great lengths just to make him shut up. eric's advances are relentless, almost bordering on being stalker-like, yet there's a certain sweetness to them, even if she'd never admit it. feifei is stubborn, but can she truly ignore eric's constant declarations of love, even though their interactions are scarce? what can she say? curiosity killed the cat.

comments and reposts are appreciated + my asks are always open!! i’m soso excited to start this omg

𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ! (𝗈𝗋 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝖺𝗌𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝗃𝗈𝗂𝗇!) | 𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 !

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐑 (𝗂𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗈 𝗂𝗇 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾𝗅𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗌 𝗈𝗋𝖽𝖾𝗋）：𝗁𝗒𝗎𝗇𝗃𝖺𝖾 | 𝗃𝗎𝗒𝖾𝗈𝗇 | 𝗌𝖺𝗇𝗀𝗒𝖾𝗈𝗇 | 𝗃𝖺𝖼𝗈𝖻 | 𝗍𝖻𝖺！

#the boyz headcanons #the boyz #the boyz reactions #the boyz angst #the boyz fluff #the boyz smau #kpop smau #smau #pitch perfect #the boyz fanfic #the boyz imagines #the boyz au #the boyz x reader #sangyeon x reader #jacob x reader #younghoon x reader #hyunjae x reader #juyeon x reader #kevin x reader #chanhee x reader #q x reader #ju haknyeon x reader #sunwoo x reader #eric x reader #theboyzxoc

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

In your opinion what elements make a GOOD Enemies to Lovers ship? Between a Hero and the Antagonist but they’re not the main Villain

i'm so glad you asked! this is going to be a long post so prepare yourselves. i think there are a couple elements that make an enemies to lovers trope good:

Not Previously Acquainted:

this isn't necessary but i feel like what made c//a so extremely difficult to navigate was the fact that they were close friends before. especially since catra was just as hostile to adora when they were friends, as she was when they were enemies. this makes us question how healthy their friendship was in the first place (spoiler: not very). so the best way to go about an enemies to lovers relationship is to make them strangers who are on the opposite sides.

the dragon prince does this twice successfully. with both individuals only disliking each other for their community and not personal reasons, it's much easier to build a healthy foundation where they look past their prejudices and start to respect the other person.

Good Pacing:

enemies to lovers can't be just two people fighting all the time and then suddenly getting together. especially in c//a's case, where catra was supposedly in love with adora all this time, and yet showed no remorse in torturing adora. not only does it spread the wrong message of "they're mean to you because they like you", but it also shows how incompetent the writers are.

there needs to be a bridge where the two characters begin to reconcile with each other. writing enemies to lovers should have at least four stages: the animosity, the interaction, the turning point, and the mutual respect/interest.

we start off with two people hating or disliking each other. then we have them interacting a little more, preferably interactions that aren't fighting. maybe they are force to work together or one of them is given the option to save the other. they get to know each other and see things from the other's perspective. the turning point is where one or both of them decide to abandon whatever prejudices they had in the beginning, and respect the other person for who they are. and finally, the relationship starts where both of them show a mutual interest and cares deeply about each other.

c//a stuck with the first stage for four seasons, then tried to rush the entire development in s5. it doesn't work like that, even though catra and adora knew each other before all of this. especially since they knew each other before all of this. catra needed more time to repend for her actions, face consequences and change for the better.

callum's and rayla's relationship is more like glimmadora in the sense that they were not previously acquainted with each other, and neither of them were antagonists. they just came from two different cultures that were pitted against each other. and this is why glimmadora would have worked a lot better than c//a.

Less Direct Attacks:

catra could be a ruthless villain in all other aspects but if she was more hesitant to hurt adora, i believe this ship would have improved greatly. revelling in being sadistic and smiling while watch adora scream in pain doesn't exactly send the message that catra loved her, no matter how much sexual tension there is. cruelty is cruelty. and catra never once stops being cruel towards adora.

Believable Reason:

the two individuals need a strong reason to dislike each other. in most cases, people go with the prejudice route. the two people come from opposing sides and have very biased perspectives of each other, which they slowly have to overcome. there are also cases where there may be a personal reason such as someone related to one of the characters hurt the other.

in c//a's case, it's a lot more complex and thus, a lot more difficult to navigate. i can understand the feelings of betrayal playing a role, but catra has no right to blame everything on adora after the latter gave her multiple chances to join her. at this point, the conflict seems forced.

it's as if catra is living in a distorted reality, where "come with me" means "i hate you and i'm abandoning you". or, for a more simpler explanation, catra doesn't want to be with adora, she wants adora to stay with her and humor her. which, of course, turns the entire relationship toxic, because adora is her own person and should have the freedom to make her own decision.

again, this brings us to how well the dragon prince does this trope. when confronted with the fact that rayla wants to sacrifice herself guarding zubeia, callum gets angry at first.

Rayla: All of this happened because my parents ran away, so I have to stay and defend the Dragon Queen.

Callum: But you can't face an entire army by yourself, you'll...

Rayla: Die? Probably. But if I die, I'll just be paying the price they should've paid a long time ago. Just... remember me, okay? Goodbye, Callum.

Callum: Really? So, that's it? Just... goodbye. You're going to stay here and die out of pride?

Rayla: It's not pride, Callum! It's more than that. It goes deeper.

Callum: Oh? Do you have a nicer word for it? Honor? Redemption? It's just pride!

but after a bit of reflection and finding out the truth about rayla's parents, he gives her the freedom to choose.

Callum: They didn't run. They fought. To the end. They saved the egg! We're here and Zym is alive all because of them.

Rayla: What does this mean? What should I do?

Callum: I don't know. But it's your choice. No one else's.

Rayla: We should decide together.

callum obviously still doesn't want rayla to die, but he understands that it's her choice to make. and at this point, rayla is calm enough to rethink her choices and make a wise decision. this is how it should have been done. this is how you write a healthy relationship.

the third act conflict in s5 of spop could have been done like this, instead of catra making it all about herself and whining about adora choosing shadow weaver over her. yes, she went back to adora in the end but it was still with selfish intentions. it was less "i don't want adora to die" and more "i don't want adora to leave me".

spop is just one simple misunderstanding stretched out. if catra had taken some time to think about her situation and what would be best for both her and adora, none of this would have happened. but instead, she holds a grudge on adora for something she wasn't responsible for.

A Good Redemption:

any villain/antagonist that are going to be redeemed needs this, but especially if they are to be paired with one of the heroes. you can't just have the villain do one (1) good deed, mutter a short apology, and call it a day. you also can't make all the other characters immediately forgive said villain because you can't be arsed to write a realistic redemption.

in my opinion, there are 4 stages that encompasses a good redemption arc:

realization: the stage where the character is hit with the realization that they have been a horrible person. either someone calls them out on their bs or maybe they befriend someone who inspires them to change. whatever it is, this is the turning point.

reflection: the character reflects on their past and their behaviour. guilt and conscience must be shown here, through words or actions. the character figures out the best way to fix all the damage they've caused.

growth: a sincere apology is necessary. this means that the character apologizes without a. justifying their actions b. shifting the blame to someone else or c. playing the victim. it doesn't have to be a long apology, it just has to be sincere and heartfelt. not to mention, the character must of course put in work to actually follow up on their apology. an apology alone doesn't mean anything.

acceptance: this refers to the reaction of the other characters. acceptance does not necessarily mean forgiveness. it just means that they respect the villain for redeeming themselves or that they even consider the villain as a friend, even if they haven't forgiven them.

i'm sure you're all sick of hearing about how wonderful zuko's redemption arc was, so here are some honorable mentions on how to pull off a good redemption arc:

peridot: probably the only good redemption arc in steven universe. the only person who is at least a little compassionate towards her is steven, the rest of the crystal gems don't forgive her until she unlearns her prejudice and proves herself to be a valuable friend. her redemption arc takes several episodes and doesn't hinge on a romantic relationship.

grace monroe: each season of infinity train only had 10 episodes, yet they successfully redeemed a character within one season. what was that excuse about spop being cut short and not having enough time for development? grace starts off a lot like catra - manipulative, selfish and leading a destructive cult. but over the course of the series, she begins to question her choices and morality, and is on the right path by the finale. she doesn't even get forgiven by the person she hurt, she simply has to accept that and move on.

soren: not the best redemption arc, but it's good enough. soren rarely posed a real threat to the protagonists, since he wasn't a powerful mage like his sister, but he starts off as a lot more apathetic than claudia. over the course of the series, he realizes how horrible his father is and joins the protagonists. he is admittedly forgiven a little sooner than the other characters mentioned here but then again, he was just the villain's sidekick.

alice "daisy" tonner: (art by @starapture ) not a cartoon character but god, TMA did this redemption arc SO WELL. daisy was a horrible person. she is a cop who frequently engaged in police brutality and allegedly murdered many people. after getting disconnected from her entity, she goes through an identity crisis and extreme guilt. she couldn't really undo any of her previous actions, all she could do is stop and try to be a better person. and she does that. by the end of it, she basically sacrifices herself and though the main character had befriended daisy after her redemption, he still admits that he does not forgive her for trying to murder him. this series understood the assignment, forgiveness is not a necessary part of redemption. forgiveness is a choice; regardless of whether people will forgive you, you should be working on yourself.

none of these are EXACTLY like catra and adora. but they are good examples to take inspiration from. if i were to rewrite catra's and adora's relationship, there are a few things i would change:

they would not be adoptive sisters, but simply childhood friends. or preferably, they were just cadets who kind of knew each other, but didn't really have a deeper connection.

catra doesn't join adora because either she is scared to leave the horde, or she still believes that the horde is doing the right thing (instead of knowingly supporting them like she did in canon).

catra doesn't take as much pleasure in torturing adora. she only fights adora when necessary and tries to hold back a little.

after the portal thing, instead of spiralling further into the evil path, catra starts to redeem herself.

adora and the others don't forgive catra immediately. they don't coddle her and accept her as their bestie. like zuko and many other characters who were redeemed well, catra needs to prove herself to them before she could be forgiven or accepted.

#op i know you wanted me to mention the whole “friends on opposing sides” thing but i couldn't really find a good example of that #anne and sasha are the only ones i know and sasha's redemption wasn't very good either imo #spop critical #spop #spop salt #spop criticism #spop discourse #she ra #anti catradora #anti catra #anti c//a #antic//a #anticatra #anticatradora

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

On The Hunt: Readjust

Summary- 5.7k Alpha Steve x Little One. You trying to navigate being in Wakanda with Steve and Bucky is making you have conflicting feelings. You find out what Bucky has been trying to deal with, with Steve's help and the full moon invites the wolves to run again.

Warnings- feelings, all the feelings. A glimpse of Bucky's PTSD.

A/N- Thank you all so much for reading, commenting, and sharing. All of you need to take credit for this series staying alive. Special shoutout to @readwithfrannybarnes, you always listen to my ideas and add your own that just enhance this series. Thank you for letting me pour my heart out to you about how much I love Alpha Steve, even when everyone else is so mad at him. As always, comments and reblogs are so appreciated.💙🐺

Chapter Four / Masterlist

It was late when you heard the roar and scuffle outside of your bedroom. Someone crashed against the door, hard. Your Little Wolf sprang up, bristling fur in your mind while you rolled out of bed, slipping on your night-tee and sleep shorts. 

If you had thought about it, you would have grabbed anything else seeing how it was one of Steve’s old tee’s you stole when you first moved in with him.

It sounded like there was another thrashing bang outside of your room again and a very clear roar from a panther warning others of the threat. 

<Careful, they are just outside our door.> The Little Wolf let your senses drift and sure enough, you sensed the Alpha on the other side of the door of the room. The air was sharp with the scent of fear and anger as you eased the door open to find mayhem on the other side. 

Steve was standing wide-legged in the hallway, the large White Wolf facing him with snarls while behind Steve people were gathering, the palace guards had weapons out, aimed at both the Alpha’s having a stand off. 

You could hear Steve rumbling deeply from his chest, the Alpha telling his pack mate to back off. You knew Bucky had it in him to ignore Steve as his alpha if he chose to, Bucky’s wolf being just as strong if not stronger than Steve’s, making him far more unpredictable than other wolves

“Steve?” You questioned from your doorway, trying to make sense of what was happening. 

His eyes never lifted from the White Wolf’s, a slight tremor going up his spine that made the beast look like he was about to attack him. “Get back in your room Y/N, Bucky is stuck in a nightmare.” 

It dawned on you that Bucky must be reliving his horror story and had no idea where he was, all the panther’s, right now they were his enemy. You pushed out of the room, sliding up beside Steve to guard him from the horde of panthers ready to defend their homes. “Go, now. The White Wolf’s Alpha will take care of him.” 

One person hissed in distrust at the three of them, her eyes narrowing on you. “You bring this broken beast here and don’t even contain him from prowling our halls?” 

You felt Steve at your side stiffen in anger, doing his best to keep his friend safe as well as the Panthers. Your Little Wolf bristled, not taking kindly to one of her pack mates being disregarded and merely labeled a broken beast after everything he has been through. You felt yourself draw up sharply, knowing Steve was protecting you from behind, you stalked towards the panthers. “And right now you are not fucking helping by stressing him out and antagonizing him to attack. Go back to your rooms, NOW.” Your teeth bared at them, a growl ripping through you and making the horde flinch in surprise that such a noise rose from you while still human. A clear sign that you were prepared to fight if they pushed. 

The panther who remarked first huffed in aggravation before she slipped towards her rooms, hissing in her words. “The King will be sure to hear about the dogs he is letting in here.” 

“You be sure to do that pussy cat, make sure I’m out in the field tracking your people who have been kidnapped when you do.” You snapped as she slammed the door in your face, your glare turning to the others who were quickly dispersing till it was only the palace guard’s left. 

You took a quick glance to see that Steve and Bucky were fine, the White Wolf cowering on the ground and Steve had lowered to, kneeling near him while talking so soft you couldn’t make out what he was saying. “He is not a threat, right?” You heard one of the panthers ask. 

“No, he suffers night terrors and needs help.” You finally relaxed again, feeling your Little Wolf start to calm down now that the energy wasn’t brimming with hostility. “Not to be attacked, especially when he is stuck in a nightmare.” 

“You must understand Wolf, we must protect from all threats. Even those that are unintentional.” One of the guards said softly, her eyes drifting over your shoulder to Steve tentatively running his hand over the White Wolf’s head, his head dipping low near him. You could only imagine what Steve was saying to Bucky, but you saw the wolf start to relax, and fade back from the nightmare he was stuck in. 

“I know, I was unaware of this.” You said with a slight respectful bow of your head to them. “I promise we will do better and there is no danger to any of you.” 

It seemed to be enough to reassure them, as they mirrored your bow and withdrew. You let out a long breath of relief, then turned to see Steve walking Bucky back to his room. The White Wolf wobbled unsteady for a moment, before slipping inside and the door shutting behind him. 

You saw Steve tiredly fall back against the door and slide down till he was sitting in front of it, all that Alpha energy he wielded before was fading away. You knew that level of energy could drain him, but to see him this tired worried you. “Alpha…” You moved to kneel next to him. 

“Sorry, I’m okay.” Steve let his head tip back against the wall, seeing your worried expression. You suspected he had been doing this a long time from the looks of it. “Giving Bucky Alpha commands… it’s difficult with him being an Alpha too. It’s been the only thing I could find to get through to him when he is triggered like that, otherwise, he is set on Hydra still controlling him and we are all his enemies.” 

You slipped back to lean against the wall too, next to Steve. The closest you have been since he left. “Which makes us all his enemy and he feels he has to protect himself.” 

Steve gave a low grunt in agreement. You pulled your oversized night shirt over your knees fiddling with the stretched fabric. Steve narrowed his eyes at the shirt for a second, recalling it’s familiarity, but remained silent. “How long has this been happening?” 

“Since he came back. Most of the time he can’t even find the White Wolf in his mind.” 

“So he is showing up when unconscious?” Steve gave a nod confirming your thoughts. You have heard of cases where the person loses their shifter due to trauma. The only time you were close to experiencing it was when Pierce injected you with the Wakanda heart herb, putting your Little Wolf into a coma. 

“I don’t know how to help him Little One.” Steve admitted softly, his words tinged with a sadness that you couldn’t help but lean into him, your warm body pressing against his side so that he wasn’t alone. Your Little Wolf chirped happily and sensing her happiness made you dip your head to hide your smile. 

“Maybe he needs to ask for help Steve. Right now we will remind him that he isn’t alone in this.” 

You felt Steve relax a bit against you and all went quiet between you two. You hadn’t even realized you nodded off. 

But Steve did as soon as your head fell to his shoulder in your sleep. In your sleep, there wasn't the fight or flight tension you carried around him, the urge to show him that you wanted nothing to do with him. In your sleep, curled up in his shirt, you were without the need to preserve yourself from him. 

His Alpha settled down, content to have you so close again. For the first time in age’s, Steve felt himself fall asleep easily without any dreams haunting him, you didn’t need to come to him in a dream, not when he could feel you curled up next to him. His sleep was finally restful. 

It didn’t last though, sometime after Steve had fallen asleep with you next to him out front of Bucky’s door, you slipped away. Leaving Steve sleeping with just your memory while guarding Bucky. 

“You are distracted.” Shuri pointed out while she stepped back, sweat was dripping down the side of your face while you panted, the hot muggy air making you feel like you were sucking it through a straw. “I would say it’s impairing your performance but we all know how easily I can kick your ass.” 

You glared at your friend, still weaving on your feet and lashing out with a sharp punch towards her, which she blocked with a slight stumble, making your Little Wolf feel satisfied that perhaps they reminded the princess they were still a force to reckon with. You kept up the pressure, a variety of punches and kicks passed between the two of you that was more like a dance then a fight. “So sorry your highness, I didn’t know I wasn’t meeting your expectations.” 

Shuri flashed a feral grin, her next move a surprising sweep of her leg, hooking her foot around the back of your thigh and sending you sailing through the air and soon you were looking up at the clear blue Wakanda skyline and your body was thrumming in shock at the impact. “It’s okay Y/N, I will learn to deal with it somehow.” Her hand shot out, clasping yours and helping you up to a stand. “Now spill, is it because the big surly Alphas are here?” 

You snort as you brush yourself off, arching up into a stretch. “Surly? They would love to know that’s what you thought of them.” 

“Okay, that dark one they call the White Wolf looks a bit surly.” Shuri grinned, glancing at you while she moved into a pose, stretching her body out and holding herself steady, working on her balance. “Your Alpha…” 

“Ex Alpha.” You pointed out, the sting of your words making the Little Wolf withdraw a bit. 

Please… don’t disappear today. You silently pleaded, not wanting to feel the emptiness in your mind. You felt her waiver, but with grace she settled back into your conscious for now. 

“Ex Dumbass,” Shuri muttered and you couldn’t help but break into an amused smile at her words. “How are you doing… with him here?” She finally ventured to ask. You took one last deep breath, letting your aching muscles scream one last time till you let your body relax out of the pose you had taken, getting ready to move into the next one. Her question was complicated, now that the initial shock of seeing him has worn off, you felt all sorts of ways. 

Part of you was angry and raging he dared come into your space, especially since you went as far away from your life with him as you could. You wanted to drive him away from this bit of happiness you’ve found here and was scared that some part of him would try to take you back home where he deemed you safe and protected. 

Then part of you crooned affectionately, wanting to be close to him, to hide away from the world and bask in one another like the two of you used to do. There was something incredible about being with Steve that you couldn’t fully put into words, but it was as if the world and it’s problems melted away. Although that was so untrue, ever since the day you met Steve, your lives had just been one hardship after another. 

Your face tipped up to the blinding sun, letting the light sting your eyes and you could blame that for the few shed tears you had. A warm brush of the Little Wolf was a subtle reminder that she was still with you while it got a bit overwhelming thinking about it all. 

“I’m working on it, it’s hard understandably. This is the first time I’ve seen him.” You admitted as you swiped at your face, putting on a show of blinking as if the sun had blinded you. Shuri had the grace not to say anything about it. “I’m ready to strangle your brother for suggesting we work together.” 

“He is a dumbass of epic proportions too.” Shuri rolled her eyes while she too changed her position, taking up a stance that looked elegant while balancing on the balls of her feet, you weren’t even ready to hold still like that. 

You instead fell to a sit, stretching your legs out and relaxing while watching her finish out her exercises. “We have to track Ulysses together. I mean Buck will be with us, but… what if I can’t do it?” You hated how weak you sounded just then, finally voicing some of those fears plaguing you. “Before we were basically thrown into fight after fight over and over. That last one, it might have broken both of us? I just don’t know if I can work with Steve like that again after everything that’s happened.” 

“Then you tell my brother that you can’t.” Shuri finally sunk down next to you, sweat dripping off her now too and she grabbed water to drink, passing you the bottle when she finished. “And he will have to honor your truth.” 

“I’m actually shocked Steve agreed to it. After everything, he walked away to supposedly keep me safe. Now tracking together?” 

Shuri gave a shrug, unable to really come up with a reasonable explanation. “Maybe he is unable to stay away as much as he has it in his head that he needs too.” 

You didn’t know if you liked that explanation or if that made this all worst. 

After training with Shuri, you head back towards your rooms to change and check in with T’Challa on when and where you, Steve, and Bucky would be getting started on trailing after Ulysses. You were confident that Shuri’s drone was still firmly attached to Ulysses’ location, but it was a matter of time before the man caught on that he was being followed. 

You wanted to be there well before that happened. 

Reaching your wing, you slowed your walk, your Little Wolf alert when bypassing Steve’s door. It was firmly closed, your palm running on the rich wood panel as you leaned into it for a moment. You could just pop the door open, go inside. Once you would have, because this would have been your space too. 

On the other side you heard nothing. No movement or anything. You hoped he was asleep. After last night when you both stayed up half the night, he looked exhausted. In a way you have never seen Steve before. His features were taunt with stress, having a weariness that said he hadn’t been sleeping properly. It worried you, once he fell asleep, you stayed with him, watching over both the Alpha’s till morning started to arrive. Steve never even stirred awake. 

<He misses us.> The Little Wolf ached for the contact once more, the closeness of her Alpha. You did too but you weren’t going to act on it. 

Maybe he does Little Wolf, but what can be done to change any of it now? We are just starting to be okay. Straightening yourself, you pulled away, heading back to your room. But another door was ajar and you glanced at Bucky sitting on the edge of the massive bed. Here you paused again, knocking on the door. His gaze lifted in surprise as you eased into his room. 

“Y/N.” Bucky growled out softly in greeting. “It’s been a while.” 

“It has Buck.” You eased onto the bed next to him, feeling immediately at ease in the large Alpha’s presence. Although you hadn’t been able to spend as much time with Bucky since joining the pack, their was still that connection that you both shared, a sense of family because you both called the same people family. This man had been to hell and back for you, you would do anything to keep him safe. You relaxed, your body leaning into his affectionately while he returned the gesture. 

Even wolves living on the edge of being considered loners craved connection. “I’m sorry Y/N, to you and your wolf.” Bucky finally said softly after several moments of the two of you just sharing each others space. 

“For what Buck?” Your head lifted off his shoulder to look at him. He looked lost, sad, his face cast down to look at his clenching hands. 

“Come on Y/N, all of it. None of us would be here if I never got collared. You and Steve would be bonded, probably starting a family and  at home with the rest of the pack.” 

You nudged at Bucky, reaching to take his left hand in yours, the cold brace of metal protecting his weaker limb making you flex your hand to squeeze his own, make him feel that connection between the two of you. “Bucky, you have done so much for all of us, since the day I arrived. You were the one who I first met, remember? You protected me from Pierce’s trackers taking me back, you went with Nat into the compound to find the truth about Pierce and then endured Brock and Hydra.” You sensed him tensing next to you. “For all of that, everything you did for us, for me, when you didn’t even know me, how could I ever thank you for giving me all that?” 

“I didn’t have to know you, I know the minute Steve met you that you were important to him.” Bucky admitted. “I wish I could change things for you both. You can’t lie to me and tell me it isn’t my fault, if I wasn’t collared, you and Steve never would have been forced in that position. We both can sense how hard this is for you, having us here.” 

Your Little Wolf whined as you growled at Bucky. “Stop it right there Buck, look at me.” You snapped and he did with a look of surprise at your tone. “None of this is your fault, I will never think that it is. We all got dealt a shitty hand, you especially. The thing between Steve and I, that is completely on us to deal with. Steve made a choice for the both of us without letting me have any say in it. You can’t fix a stubborn Alpha.” You gave him a knowing look, clearly pointing out he was being similar in his own way. He rolled his eyes at you, but they softened a bit. “So if you think I'm mad at you, don’t. I’m not. I’m here telling you thank you Buck, for basically saving me over and over again.” You squeezed his hand. “For thinking I was worth saving.” 

“You are giving me too much credit.” He snorted and you shook your head. 

“Not nearly giving you enough.” You relaxed once more against him. “Are you okay after last night?” 

Bucky sighed, withdrawing into himself for a moment before talking once more. “I wish it would stop. The wolf, he stays away for the most part, until it gets bad again. He takes over, I think to protect us, even though there isn’t anything threatening us.” 

You listened, knowing what little Steve had mentioned the night before. “You and the White Wolf… nothing between you two?” You remembered that hollow feeling when your Little Wolf was dormant thanks to Pierce, it was devastating to have lost that connection. Bucky turned his stormy blue eyes to you, giving a slight confirming nod. 

“He has withdrawn to a place I can’t follow and I don’t know how to fix us. Everything Hydra had us do Y/N… it’s all still with us. So many unforgivable things that I can’t ever take back. Sometimes it’s like I’m back there, doing my commands, unable to resist or fight against the horrors they wanted from me.” He gave a shuddering breath. “I know Steve keeps an eye on me, watching and waiting for when I will finally break. He shouldn’t have too though.” 

“Trust me, he wants to be there for you Bucky. You are his brother, would you not do the same for him?” You point out. “He would be lost without you.” 

“He always was a damn punk, even when he was a runt.” Bucky gave a slight half chuckle, making your Little Wolf huff in laughter in your mind. 

“My Little Wolf agrees with you.” You wink at him. “Maybe their is a reason you came here Buck.” You shrug a bit. “This place, heals. So far Wakanda has saved me twice from what has happened to me, has given me a place to recover. Perhaps if you open yourself up here, it will do the same for you.” 

“Maybe.” Bucky sounded doubtful but when he caught you staring at him intently, he gave a more reassuring look to you. “I will try, okay?”

“Okay.” 

You were about to leave, making a move to walk away when Bucky stopped you. “You and Steve ever going to be okay Y/N?” 

You felt that twinge of pain, the one that never went away whenever you had to think of what once was and what it is now with you and Steve. “I wish, but Bucky I have no idea if we can figure it out. He needs something from me that I don’t know if I can ever give him again.”

“He loves you, that never changed Y/N. It’s why he is so scared about what happened. He never told me outright, he won’t really talk about it, but it still scares him, what he did.” 

You smiled sadly at this. “All I can say is that right now, Steve and I can’t go back to what we were. There is no going back, all we can do is move forward now. I got to go shower and change to meet up with T’Challa. See you soon.” You took this moment to leave, feeling like you were running away from Bucky’s unanswerable question. 

Steve stepped out into the full moons glow, the light in this one had a yellowish tint, casting the night in a ethereal shimmer. It made the dew on the jungle leaves almost glitter, the droplets about to cascade to the forest floor have a life all their own. The chirps and buzz bouncing off everything was the jungles own life song. 

This place is beautiful in its own wild way. Occasionally the buzz of the jungle was replaced with the roar of a panther, a rumbling low cry sounding almost eerie in the deep forest darkness.

<But it’s not home.> The Alpha grumbled as he shook out his heavy fur, preparing for the shift. They both ached for the pack’s runs, where they were all united to run in the bask of the full moon. It was a recharge of the soul for the wolves. Steve ached to be able to do his run with you, instead of alone. Bucky still hadn’t been able to make the shift willingly, that was a whole other ache for Steve, wishing he could make his brother at peace with himself once more. 

Nothing compares to home. Come on Alpha, does this forest daunt you? Steve teased the Alpha while he embraced for the shift, feeling the Alpha’s energy rise to the challenge. 

<Of course not, but I respect that this isn’t my forest. The Panthers rule here, not the Wolves.> The Alpha growled while Steve felt his body start to shift. It was always uncomfortable, the way his bones shifted and stretched to accommodate his new form. But it was always swift, years of falling into the shift instead of fighting it, when the wolf emerged, a whole new world was given to him. 

The Alpha lifted his muzzle to inhale deeply, letting the wild night give him a sense of direction. The choices proved endless, heavily scented jungle with a floral twinge that played in shadows and light, creating obstacles for him to maneuver, or the wide-open grasslands. Home to the large beasts of Wakanda and freedom to open into a full run, turning everything into a blur while he streaked across. 

Both ways made him yearn, ready to stretch his body to it’s limit, forget everything else going on. 

The choice was made for him when a howl filtered from far away, making his ears perk swiftly. It was a familiar howl, soft and lilting, it spoke of home for him, which is all the Alpha truly wanted. Home was you, his Little Wolf dancing alongside him. 

His head threw back, calling back to you. Pausing to search again among the buzz of the jungle, which grew incessant and made him growl in agitation to the way it muffled noises. But you called him again. Far away, but he could find you, he could always find his mate. 

The beast pushed into the dense jungle, paws skimming the ground barely touching as speed gave way to sensible maneuvering. But the wolf was adapt to tackling obstacles in his way, twisting around the trees with his ears roving back and forth to locate her, listen for her howl again. 

He scented the Little Wolf quickly, your comforting scent of honeysuckle and unfurling ferns making him inhale deeply, so close. A quick twist around an oversized tree crashed him into you. You tumbled into him with a yip, twining around him till you were loped over his back, whining happily and biting at his ears, your tongue lashing over his face. You pushed off, leaving the Alpha staring up at you, taking in his strong mate, the time in Wakanda thinning your fur out from how thick it used to be, but still sleek and healthy looking. Your bushy tail wagged once tentatively, while you lowered down, belly to the ground, slinking close to him once more. Whines came from you as well as nips and licks to his muzzle. 

For the wolves, the reunion was welcomed. The Alpha pounced at you, returning those playful bites and rumbles of content rolling through him as he started grooming you. It wasn’t long till you broke away, playfully bowing to him with your tail arched over your back, wagging confidently. The Alpha accepted, letting you lead him away from the small jungle clearing the two of you had been reuniting in. 

Above in the tree’s canopy, a pair of yellow eyes turned away from the wolves. The black panther pushed up to a stand and gave an arching yawn, sharp white canines flashing brilliantly before the large cat leaped with grace into the higher branches, maneuvering his way in another direction to give the wolves privacy. 

The Little Wolf's happiness was radiant as she raced alongside her Alpha. The large grey wolf was soon panting in the muggy heat, his pink tongue lolling out the side of his mouth, but he never slowed down. The moon barely filtered down through the canopy, but their senses kept them moving fairly confident till the wolves reached the edge, the grassy land beyond allowing them to stream apart and circle back towards each other, brushing against each other as both slowed down to an easy lope, taking in the views of the plains wildlife. It was much like the last time they shared this run in Wakanda. 

When they finally returned back the city, the streets brimming with nightlife as the wolves weaved through crowds of people. The panthers paid them no mind while they bound back into the palace. More careful on the cool marble floors as the wolves descended into your room. Once inside the two of wolves retreated to the outdoor balcony where they curled around each other, spending the last of the night grooming one another. When sleep arrived, both the wolves tucked their muzzles against one another, the sensation of being together feeling like finally their world was right again. 

You sensed the cool morning air first. Not on your naked body, but on your face. You twisted, expecting a hard marble floor where you know Little One had settled the night before. Flashes of the Alpha fill your memories as he affectionately entwined with your Little Wolf. Even now you could smell him on you, having scented each other on your return from your run, the wolves reaffirming a bond that was unfortunately temporary. Any beast was to catch Steve’s scent, they would smell you all over him. 

Fucking great. You cursed yourself for giving in to those impulses to call for your mate. Your hands shot up to cover your face with a groan. Your Little Wolf was content though in your mind, you couldn’t help the little smile you gave. It was good to feel her happy again. Finally opening your eyes, you pushed to a sit, not really surprised to find you were in your bed. 

But no Steve, there was no sign of your ex-mate in the room any longer. He must have put you to bed once the two of you shifted back in your sleep. What you were surprised about was how you didn’t feel him move you. 

Or how good you slept with him next to you again.  

You felt the twinge of arousal racing through you, making your eyes close and a deep breathe to inhale through your nose and out of your mouth. You were so close, on the verge of going in your heat. Making a grab for your phone, you opened the calendar to scan the days. 

Already dreading what it was going to do to you now that Steve was around you. Falling back inside of yourself, you sensed the Little Wolf sleeping, curled up much like she was with her Alpha earlier, knowing she finally felt happy again, something you hadn't sensed from her in a long time.

Pushing up out of bed, you were about to go retreat to the shower when you saw it. Sitting on the nightstand was a small stacked pile of smooth river stones. Something that any other time would make you smile at the little treasure. A gift from Steve, he must have been collecting them since he arrived. Your throat choked up at the significance of him leaving them like this for you, memories flooding your mind. 

“Little One.” You heard him croon to you in that tone you didn’t ever want to resist. You sleepily twisted to your back, blinking up at him with a sleepy grin while reaching up to touch him, your hand cupping his bristled cheek. You always craved touching and connecting with your Alpha. In the bond love and affection curled warmly, enveloping you comfortably. Steve leaned over you, his lips pressing to yours till you arched for more of his touch, your arms sliding around him to hug him till he settled in next to you, stretching out against you. “I found you something.” He whispered against your lips, making you grin in excitement. 

You were never given gifts, always being told that you never earned them since you were always fighting against being bonded whenever presented to a buyer. On the sales floor, you had to earn everything. You were one of the ones who never had much as you fought against Pierce constantly. “For what Steve?” You asked slightly confused as Steve plucked a feather off his nightstand, the brown feather caught the early morning light, showing off the many shades of color dappled through it. He ran the tip against your nose lightly in a playful manner before letting you take it to admire. You twisted it in the light to admire how beautiful it really was. Something so simple made you feel such joy. 

“Because I saw it and thought you would like it Little One.” Steve rumbled, nudging his nose against your neck till you tilted your head, letting him kiss and nibble on his bonding mark left on you. “Add it to your treasures.”  

“What do I have to do for this?” You asked him while setting aside your newest treasure, trying to think of where you wanted to put it, your mind already imagining different places around the cabin. Steve gave a soft huff at your words, pulling up to look down at you. His large hand gently grasped your chin to make you look back at him. 

“Nothing, you don’t have to earn affection Little One. You deserve it without having to do something in return.” He studied you before skimming his lips over your forehead. You preened at the gentleness, your hands skimming up his chest and pushing lightly till he fell back and you seated yourself on him. 

“And if I want to?” You asked him, your fingers dancing over his abs, making him twitch under you. 

“If you want to, then I will happily accept. But you never owe me anything in return Little One.” Steve lightly grasped your hips to touch you, the bond was heated spirals of so many sensations. But all of them were built of wanting to be as close as possible, you never had such dedication before. The Alpha’s trying to make you submit to them always lied about their affection, making promises of taking you away if you would be theirs. Whenever you hesitated, anger flashed and then you found out the truth of what they wanted. 

This was why you fought against Pierce so much, none of those other Alpha’s could make you feel safe, but Steve did so effortlessly. 

Sadness flooded you at the sight of the pebbles, making your Little Wolf whine as she woke, your sudden change in mood making her worried. How dare he think he can just leave me this… you snarled, now anger masking your sadness. 

The Little Wolf whined, sinking down further in your mind as you snatched the stones and let them fly across the room, loud echoing clinks bouncing out of sight. You marched into the bathroom to shower, the ache in your chest already growing while anticipating how it was going to be seeing Steve after last night's run.

#on the hunt #the pack #alpha steve and little one #alpha steve x little one #alpha steve x reader #alpha steve rogers #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #chris evans characters #amber writes #sweater writes

[nightmare13]

Yang Jungwon

Back to: enha navigation

One shots

Lost cause

Synopsis: since your brief friendship with your crush, yang jungwon, ended in radio silence, you’ve been determined to keep him at arm’s length. jungwon, convinced that you’ve grown to hate him during your months of disconnection, is equally as determined to win you back.

Genre: high school au, friends(?) to lovers, slow burn warnings. cursing, one mention of piss

Word count: 8.5k

Stars on your ceiling

Synopsis: you’ve heard countless stories of how your parents met, and of the vivid dreams that brought the two of them together. still, once you begin to have soulmate dreams of your own, it’s hard to enjoy getting to know your supposed other half when your best friend occupies your thoughts instead (and when your soulmate doesn’t remember these shared dreams ever happening).

Genre: soulmate au but not really, best friends to lovers, mutual pining, fluff + angst

Word count: 21.7k

$3 Coffee

Synopsis: Yang Jungwon works evening shifts in a late-night convenience store. You attend evening college classes. How did you end up being so awkward that you made the store workers feel as if they were bothering you, and then end up walking out with a $3 coffee you didn’t even want?

Genre: Fluff, Short story, Strangers to crushes.

Word count: ~3k

Series

Ongoing

X - part one;

Synopsis: what do you get when you have a stupid asshole of a bestfriend (who’s completely head over heels for you, should he add) and a fucked up ego that refuses to admit any form of defeat? you guessed it: the summoning of a jealous ex-boyfriend who dumped you two years ago, and is hell-bent on winning you back.

Genre: angst, fluff, slow burn, exes au, college au

Word count: 28.5k+

Social Media AUs

Completed

Diamond league

Synopsis: in which lee heeseung creates a minecraft server for his friends and all sorts of chaos ensues, including the budding romance between you and yang jungwon

Genre: social media au (smau), crack, fluff, slice of life, horror/mystery (for pt. 2), gamer au, youtuber/twitch streamer au, (one-sided) enemies to lovers

All clear!

Synopsis: for as long as you’ve been on jyp university’s badminton team, your team’s main rivals have been hybe university. the rivalry goes way back, and as the team captain, you’re well aware of your team’s disdain towards the hybe team - but it just so happens that you’re secretly dating hybe’s team captain, yang jungwon. and since tournament season is coming up soon, the rivalry between hybe and jyp is stronger than ever, and you and jungwon both know that if the secret got out, conflicts would arise. you’ve heard of enemies pretending to be lovers, but have you heard of lovers pretending to be enemies?

Genre: smau, fluff, crack, angst but only a teeny bit i Think, secret relationship

A project and a guitar

Synopsis: jungwon is just a boy who plays guitar for fun and that can't stop himself from looking at you in class, he never thought of talking to you even if he had the biggest crush in the whole world, but what happens when a project forces him to make a move on you?

Genre: smau + written chapters, highschool!au, fluff, slight angst, strangers to lovers, kinda slow burn, love triangle (?) but not really.

The language of flowers

Synopsis: jungwon’s just every bit in love with the student council president who keeps visiting his flowershop OR in which you find solace in a flowershop, and its owner’s grandson finds solace in you.

Genre: strangers to lovers, fluff

Unexpected partners

Synopsis: Jeon YN has had a crush on Yang Jungwon since Freshman year. To Jungwon, she is the perfect VP. That is until YN announces that she isn’t going to be running for StuCo in senior year.

Genre: SMAU. Friends to Lovers. Highschool au. Angst. Fluff. Comedy.

Admiring you!

Synopsis: You’ve never had good luck with dating. You just couldn’t seem to make it work. You were led to believe that was how things would always be. You had no idea but, Jungwon, one of your classmates has been crushing on you for a long time. But because you are you, you never paid attention to him in class. After seeing him staring at you for a time, you finally identify him as a barista at the aroma café. Will anything ever change for you? Will you be able to establish a committed relationship at last?

Genre: high school au, smau, fluff, lots of crack, strangers (?) to lovers, classmates to lovers

Silent treatment!

Synopsis: yn and jungwon, the middle school best friends everyone thought would get into a relationship when they entered highschool. well, they were definitely wrong. after entering highschool, jungwon finds new friends and slowly starts to ignore yn. as much time went on, they became strangers once again, until yn decided to leave. jungwon never noticed that she left, that was until he went for family dinner at yn’s parents house. regret, pain, guilt, is all the boy could feel when her parents mentioned that one of her best friends decided to ignore her, like they were strangers again. as the years of highschool goes past, jungwon becomes closed off, only talking to his friends, wishing he still had her. but what if yn returns for the last year of highschool? will jungwon make an effort to become friends again? or will she be the one ignoring him this time?

Genre: ex friends to lovers, reader ignores jungwon in first bunch of chapters, reader is closed off, fluff, angst, reader is stubborn asf

Ongoing

Project: stay single

Synopsis: when being the youngest and only girl of the park household, strict parents and overprotective brother and cousins are a given. therefore, park y/n sworn off dating until she enters college (not that she had much of a choice). but when the awkward but terribly cute yang jungwon is placed in her lab group, she finds herself wanting to break the number one rule in her family—no dating till college. or maybe they could be just friends, right?

Genre: smau, high school au, strangers to friends to lovers, mutual pining (?), instant attraction, forbidden love but not really, fluff, (attempted) crack, slow burn cause they’re two socially awkward kids

Falling4u

Synopsis: Lee Hyerim is a firm believer that the male dominated world of pro-gaming should not be limited to strictly males. What happens when XXGZ’s manager hears of Hyerims extreme gaming skills and scouts her to join their team, thus being the first female pro-gamer? Once XXGZ’s members hear about Hyerim joining their team they were appalled, there’s no way they’re going to replace their former member Lee Heeseung, with a girl- no matter how good she is. Not to mention that once XXGZ’s leader Yang Jungwon meets hyerim he starts falling for her- which is prohibited and one of 5 of their only rules.

Genre: e-sports romance, tsundere jungwon, ???slow burn???, mutual pining, simp jungwon

Mystery Player

Synopsis: life is unfair, that’s what yn tells herself everytime her extremely bad wifi throws her out of the server in the middle of a game. but when she gets disconnected, once again, while playing with the best game-buddy she has ever had, yn is ready to flip the universe off. enraged about the loss of her unknown game-buddy, yn throws her frustration out on twitter in a long thread, recalling every little moment that happened during the four hours of playing with her “soulmate” (yn’s words). unfortunately, the long thread suddenly finds it’s way onto her public twitter and not her private. what a shame that she only realizes it once the notifications start flooding in.

Genre: smau, fluff, crack, meet-online, online friends to lovers!au, gaming!au

My Prefect Crush!

Synopsis: After one whole year of crushing over your house's prefect, the universe seems to have listened to your prayers since the headmistress decided to choose you as the new prefect. A perfect opportunity to get closer to your crush, right? What you didn't expect was finding out that, maybe, the prefect Yang Jungwon wasn't just as perfect as you thought he was.

Genre: modern hogwarts au! // smau!

More recommendations to be added

#enhypen #kpop #enha fics #fic recommendation #fic rec #fanfic rec #jungwon #yang jungwon #jungwon x reader #enha #enha x reader #smau

[ink-flavored]

Introducing the Antagonists

BTS Series: ⬅ Table of Contents - Reworking the Plot ➡ Also available on Neocities! P&J Taglist (Check out my Google form to get added): @elegant-paper-collection @auroblaze@zeenimf @vacantgodling @foxys-fantasy-tales Banner art by @auroblaze

With the leads out of the way, it’s high time we talk about the shiny new antagonists for Pride & Justice. And yes, that’s antagonists with an “s” because there are two of them! Since the fanfiction version of the story only had the two main characters in it, both of these antagonists are completely created by me. I also don’t have design references for them yet, so feel free to imagine them in your head.

The reason I have two antagonists when I could very easily just have one is based on a few things. For one, I thought it would be fun to have representatives from both Heaven and Hell, like Pride and Justice themselves, and create a neat mirror effect in the narrative. For another, there are multiple conflicts in the story—the conflict of Pride and Justice getting back to Heaven to complete the contract Pride made with that soul in Purgatory, and the conflict between Pride and Justice as they try to navigate their new lives and eventual romance. The dual-antagonists serve both conflicts, one for the over-arching plot that runs through the story, and another for the personal dynamic of their relationship, creating another wedge that they have to climb over to be together. I also wanted to take the opportunity to say that, while Heaven and Christianity deserve critiquing, just because Heaven is bad doesn’t mean that Hell is good. They’re both fundamentally flawed, for different reasons.

With all that said, let’s introduce the new players!

Honesty

I’ve always been really fascinated with the idea of a villain who believes what they’re doing is righteous and good. The kind of antagonist that is doing objectively horrible things from every perspective but their own, who can’t or won’t understand that the things they’re doing “for the greater good” aren’t doing any good at all. That’s the kind of person that Honesty is.

Honesty is, like Justice, an angel that embodies the virtue of her namesake. She is physically incapable of telling a lie, and follows the word of God to a tee. After all, God’s word is the truth of the world. She knows her place—it is to serve Heaven and fight against Hell at any cost. Every angel in Heaven knows their place too, and deviating from it is a non-issue. If you aren’t serving God, specifically if you aren’t carrying out His word to the letter, you aren’t doing your duty as an angel. You deserve retribution and punishment for it. You deserve to be sent to Hell for it. After all, that is God’s word. You can’t refute that because she can never lie.

In her own mind, all she’s doing is keeping things the way they should be. Angels are taught, created for, and trusted to serve God’s will for the good of His children and the world at large. Pride is a speck to her, a lost cause she won’t even bother sympathizing with. He’s already lost. What really makes her mad, what sends her on the crusade that leads to the entire story, is Justice defending him. He’s breaking the laws he promised to serve, defying God for a demon, of all things. She places herself at the head of the mission to bring Justice back under the banner of Heaven, send Pride to his death like he deserves, or bring them both down.

From our perspective, she clearly sucks. Pride dying would have other far-reaching consequences beyond killing a single demon. Killing the innocent person he just happens to be carrying along with him is bad, actually, and Justice pointing that out shouldn’t immediately send him to the same fate. That doesn’t matter to her. They’ve both made themselves enemies of God by defying His word, and now they are her enemies too. And she’s right. They aren’t following the rules. Pride for obvious reasons—he doesn’t care about God’s rules—but Justice really has no excuse here. He’s an angel advocating for keeping a demon alive. No matter the reason, the ends should justify the means for him. But they don’t. He is wrong, and Honesty is going to show him what happens to angels who are wrong.

The point of Honesty being legitimate in her grievance is not to make a point about how being anti-authority and breaking the rules is always awesome (although it is), it’s to show that those rules she’s enforcing—even if she is telling the truth—are flawed. The law is unjust, and following an unjust law makes you unjust, and Justice won’t sit idly by and accept it like he’s supposed to. The problem with that is that he’s lower on the hierarchy than God. Literally everyone is. To Honesty, the law being unjust doesn’t matter. Things in life being unfair doesn’t matter. Innocent people dying—like killing a soul along with the demon ferrying it—happens sometimes in the name of the greater good. Tough shit. God said so, and it’s not your place to have an opinion about the word of God. Do as you’re told.

If you haven’t picked up on it already, Honesty is going to be the main vehicle for which I drive my criticism of American Evangelical Christianity. Evangelicalism, if you’re unfamiliar, (and I’ll be paraphrasing) is the sect of Christianity that reads the Bible literally, as if it is without fault, and is the perfect way to practice your faith—it’s called “biblical literalism.” One of their core tenants is to proselytize everywhere, to everyone, to save their souls for the second-coming, which they also fervently believe will happen. They genuinely, honestly believe they are spreading the good word—the word “evangelical” comes from the Greek word for "good news"—and saving lives. Which is also why, if you’ve noticed, that they preach to anyone regardless of interest or religion, treat any rejection of Christianity as a personal attack, and why they have worked to criminalize abortion, deny the theory of evolution, lambast same-sex marriage, and in general push traditional (read: conservative) thinking when it comes to authority and social practices. Obviously, this is a generalization of a very large sect of a very large religion, but if you’ve been paying even a little bit of attention to American politics over the years, this specific type of Evangelical Christian is going to sound familiar. It’s what I aim to critique in Pride & Justice, and I have no problems stating that Honesty will embody this way of thinking.

Now, I bet some of you are wondering why I made Honesty a woman (specifically a white woman, but I don’t have a design to show you). Surely if my goal is to critique the traditionalist views of the Evangelical Christians, surely a man in a position of authority would be more accurate? While I can see that perspective, I’d argue that God is that man in a position of authority here. Honesty is—like a lot of Evangelicals in real life—simply the “innocent” white woman who uses her relative position of power to crack down on anyone she sees as deviant. People often ignore the ways women perpetuate systems of oppression like patriarchy, because women are oppressed within that system. But a lot of the reason that patriarchy persists is by women passing down patriarchal standards in their homes to their families, in classrooms, and in public places. If you want to go deeper, it’s well documented that white women will use their relative status to perpetuate racism, homophobia, and transphobia. Historically, white women have perpetuated anti-Black racism by falsely accusing Black men and boys of rape to get them arrested, beaten, or killed. For a modern example, look no further than the rise of TERFs (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists), a group that is overwhelmingly made up of white Christian women with traditionalist values fighting against their own self-interests, all in the name of perpetuating transphobia. Honesty represents a real demographic that often gets ignored in the fight against inequality.

I’m not sure I’ll portray Honesty as openly bigoted in the story (she’s not a human, angels don’t really have concepts like gender or race), but she is definitely not a fan of Pride or Justice, and finds the idea that they would ever be in a relationship as at best laughable, and at worst a manipulation. It’s against God, after all, for an angel and a demon to collaborate, much less be in love, so therefore if it’s real it must be destroyed, and if it’s false it must be revealed that it was always a fiction—and therefore destroyed. She is going to try a lot of things to try and get Justice to “see the light" once again, turn him against Pride, and follow-through with her promise to smite him like she intended to before they escaped. All of them will fail, though it will not be without a fight.

Beyond the political stuff, I’m excited to weaponize her inability to tell a lie. It’s really going to add a new flavor to the kind of story I’m able to tell with her, and I think it adds a very cool depth. How do you argue against someone who can never tell a lie? How do you show them they’re wrong, even when they’re technically right, and retroactively make their previous statements untrue? What is the truth, how do you measure it? Is the truth an innate state present in the universe because it’s always been there, or is it a matter of personal perspective?

So, that’s Honesty. Get excited to love to hate her!

Lust

[content warning for emotional abuse, mentioned sexual assault]

Our representative of Hell was genuinely a hard one for me. When I had the idea to create a second antagonist, I knew I wanted whoever it was to be a personal antagonist for Pride. He’s the one with the most emotional baggage that he needs to overcome to let himself be in a relationship with Justice, and the demon crawling out of Hell would obviously only be familiar with him, and couldn’t really have a vendetta against both of them (at least, not at first). Making it Lucifer would be a little much—why would the ruler of Hell care about one demon? I puzzled over the remaining six of the seven sins, debating which one Pride was most likely to have a personal history with, good or bad. Ultimately, I landed on Lust as the one that made the most sense, which made things harder if I’m being honest.

Personally, I despise that lust is even a part of the deadly sins at all. I think that the idea of lust—a real and valid human emotion—being something that eternally damns you is ridiculous and complete bullshit. It necessarily demonizes sex and sexuality as sinful, which has paved the way for a lot more dangerous bullshit, and shunts an entire category of human expression and connection into the Bad Person Slot. Further, I absolutely despise how lust is often portrayed in media—the one, single sexy woman in a conga line of generic looking men in business suits, and of course the one fatphobic caricature for gluttony. I knew if I was going to make Lust-the-character a significant part of my story, I was going to need to do some serious work in portraying it to make it palatable to even myself.

The first thing I did was completely erase the concept of chastity as a virtue. I’ve replaced it with the virtue of passion, something I think better reflects lust on the whole, and I didn’t have any plans to include a chastity angel in the story anyway. Next, I am going to include a plain-text, inescapable, definitive defense of sex and sexuality using the existence of an angel of passion in the story. I already planned to do a subtle exposition dump of Heaven and Hell when Justice is feeling homesick, and that would be the perfect time to bring up something like him being friends with Passion. Probably because Pride was implying that Heaven is all stuffy and no fun. Either way, full and rigorous defense of sex is going to happen, just so everyone is clear about what kind of story this is. And finally, redefining what Lust-the-character actually represents.

Lust is sex doll. The form it chose, and how it presents itself in the story, is as a life-size sex doll, with the addition of smoking horns and a tail like Pride. It does not move its mouth to talk, speaking through telepathy. It can barely move on its own, sitting limp or lying flat, moving in only the barest twitches. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, Lust uses it/its pronouns. It is quite literally a sex object, something that is purpose built for a single-minded, selfish pleasure. It doesn’t matter if Lust enjoys it or not. That’s not the point. The point is that there is this thing that is here for you, and you can do whatever you want.

That’s the kind of lust considered abhorrent and sinful in this story. The kind where you don’t care about, nor even stop to consider, what your partner(s) think. If your sex is not negotiated between all parties, if it isn’t enthusiastically consensual, if you can’t be bothered to take your partner(s) feelings, wants, desires, and pleasure into account, you’re sinning. At best, this makes you a bad sexual partner, using people as sex toys for the sole purpose of getting you off. At worst, you are a rapist.

There are other things people lust for—lust for power is an obvious one. You want to lord over others, to wield your selfishness maliciously, disregarding if and how you hurt others. Generally, though, my version of lust is not about wanting to have sex and then going directly to Hell. In fact, the idea of thoughts = sin is something I’m also getting rid of in this story, but I’ll get into it another time. My version of lust is about being consumed by single-minded desires, including sex, that push you to treat others as disposable. Lust is an object because that’s how people committing this sin view others—tools to be used, abused, and thrown away when they have what they want.

Speaking of “wanting,” what does Lust want with Pride? What is that personal history I hinted at so many paragraphs ago? Well, you may be shocked to find that it isn’t a very nice one.

Like I mentioned in his post, Pride uses his arrogance as a shield to hide the fact that he desperately needs and wants people to like him. As a byproduct of his turbulent past (being rejected by Heaven, burning alive in a river of fire, etc.), he craves the validation of others to tell him that he’s very good and special and the bestest demon guy ever. He’s insecure, put shortly, and will take anything he can get when it comes to attention and/or affection. Enter Lust, who happened upon Pride at the right time, and basically thought, “Oh boy! A body I can exploit!”

There were no real feelings on either side, so what they had wasn’t necessarily a “relationship,” but they were involved, and it was abusive. Lust picked up on the fact that Pride needed validation and decided to make sure he wouldn’t ever be able to get it from anyone else. It berated him for being clingy, insisted no one else would bother putting up with him, and generally fed into the insecurity he tries to hide by confirming it as true. Agreeing that he’s unworthy of the affection he craves so much of, and actually he’s pathetic for wanting so much of it. Ego damaged, Pride would lash out and disappear for a while, but the creeping sense of loneliness from his insecurity would always return. Convinced that Lust was the only way he would ever get attention, he returned to it again and again.

Breaking him down made Lust feel powerful—it had complete control over Pride. No matter how many times he said this was the last time, it knew he would eventually come crawling back. Whereas Pride needs affection to function, Lust needs a power trip.

Eventually, though, Pride stops showing up. This is upsetting for a while, but then rumors start flying around Hell that Pride busted out of Heaven with an angel. And now they’re… living on Earth together? Lust is outraged by this news, in no small part because if Pride never comes back to Hell, it loses a source of its own security. It might lose its hold over him altogether, and that absolutely will not stand. Throughout the story, Lust shows up to try and convince Pride to give up. That whatever he has with Justice won’t last, that Justice will eventually get bored and/or sick of him, that an angel of all things could never possibly tolerate him, much less love him. Some of the other deadly sins show up too, though less persistently, and with a lot less to lose.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m toying with the idea of Lust enlisting other demons to find Pride for it, and harass him into coming back to Hell. I didn’t have a reason for any of the other deadly sins show up, but this would give them a purpose: annoying Pride—on Lust’s behalf, probably for some sort of bribe—to make sure he doesn’t think he’s all that just because he shacked up with an angel.

Lust’s role in the story is to serve as a representation of Pride’s insecurity, and the abusive relationship he has with himself sometimes. Pride routinely denies himself the ability to be vulnerable based on his ego and believes he won’t be worthy of love if he is vulnerable. Defeating Lust is a metaphor for him overcoming not just his past abuse, but his feelings of insecurity.

In a weird way, I am excited to write Lust. It’s going to be a creepy-horror-movie-haunted-doll type of character, which is a way I don’t think people expect a “lust” character to act, so I’m interested in seeing everyone’s reactions.

Also, an important note! Lust is not going to be the only it/its pronoun user in the story, I am not unaware of how that looks. I’m still creating all the side characters, but since Justice makes a lot of friends on Earth, I am fully planning on populating the most-seen characters with at least one other it/its user.

Anyway! Those are the antagonists of the story! What do you think? I’d love any and all thoughts!

Thanks as always for your support!

— Annika

#original writing #original fiction #original character #original characters #spilled ink #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writeblr community #annika talks #P&J #Pride & Justice #P&J: Worldbuilding #Honesty #Lust

[itsclydebitches]

It occurs to me that all the fun of an Alice in Wonderland story kind of gets sucked out when your characters can just beat up everyone there instead of being forced to engage with the nonsensical and unfair rules of the setting. Where's the fun in tricking the Queen of Hearts and playing a bizarre game of hedgehog croquet? Just knock her block off.

I might have argued that RWBY backed itself into an inevitable corner by being a combat show - you have to forsake the bizarre rules and trickery of the Ever After for choreographed fights because that's just what RWBY is and what the viewer expects - IF we hadn't been introduced to the Jabberwock first thing. Plus, you know, Neo is there. We have the perfect setup for classic battles via old enemies/fantasy beasts and new, fun, interesting conflicts that require the girls to navigate a situation with skills other than brute strength... but no. I mean, maybe we'll get something moving forward, but the Prince's game isn't very reassuring in that regard.

You know what I was thinking about throughout that part of the episode? The Magicians. Specifically the scene where Quintin plays Push. Basically, he's a magic user playing a game of War, but in this version the whole point is to cheat. The player who's better at putting the right card in their own hand, the wrong card in their opponent's, or generally just fucking with the deck is the winner; a game of skill, power, and creativity. For all the show's many other problems (oh boy did it crash and burn lol) I love that scene and it kept popping into my head as the Prince yelled about humans cheating while, of course, cheating himself. That cheating could have been interesting, especially with a supposed strategist leading the charge, but as you say, instead we just get another beat 'em up fight. (You know, how Yang also wanted to solve her arm problem.)

Which I'm admittedly ambivalent about because we dodged three potential battles in the first two episodes (vines, Jabberwock, guards) and I was absolutely going, "When is RWBY going to give us some combat?" but it's one of those details that make me wonder why we're in the Ever After in the first place. If the show wanted Ruby to grapple with her depression while engaging in straightforward battle sequences, rather than grappling with her depression via the twisty, metaphorical rules of an alternate reality... she could have just done that in Vacuo. Thus far, three episodes in out of ten, all the Ever After has provided is a weather cue for when Ruby is feeling really sad. Otherwise every important character moment is easily removed from our setting. Some opportunistic Vacuo thief could have stolen Yang's arm. Ruby could have found something that reminds her of Penny among the Atlas civilians (which probably would have made more sense). Hell, people can even ask probing, thematically relevant questions like, 'Who are you?' given that they're unwelcome refugees. I'm slightly interested in the trio remaining small for a time, but beyond that everything we've gotten - Ruby is separated from her weapon, Neo's semblance evolves, Yang and Blake are still flirting, etc. - is not a result of the setting, it just happens to be happening in that setting, which begs the question of why we're taking this Ever After detour in the first place.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Playing for Keeps Book Review 🦇

❓ #QOTD Soccer or baseball? ❓ 🦇 A baseball pitcher and umpire definitely aren't supposed to fall for each other, right? Especially not when star pitcher June and officiate-to-be Ivy are trying to go pro. Sometimes, life throws you a curveball, though. When Ivy is assigned as an umpire for June's elite club baseball team, they instantly clash on the field, only to find they have something in common: grief. Soon, they become enemies to friends to far more, despite the rules that prohibit them from dating each other. Will romance get in the way of them following their dreams?

💜 On the surface, Playing for Keeps seems like a fun, sweet young adult sapphic romance. The initial set-up gives us sharp, bittersweet enemies to lovers potential between a pitch and an umpire. Seems cute and fluffy, right? No one is that one-dimensional, though. Both Ivy and June are struggling with the loss of a loved one, balancing that on top of unrealistic expectations from their parents and the pressures they put on themselves to succeed. Add in the pressure you get from sports alone and it's enough to make anyone crumble. Ivy and June find happiness in each other, through stolen moments as they date in secret, wary that the conflict of interest between them will tear them apart. There's a potential for them to heal through one another, alongside one another, while learning how to navigate the external forces of loss while growing up.

💜 I loved that both Ivy and June were pursuing career paths that don't often make space for women. I would have liked to see more focus on that, though. It was sweet to see how the male players on the baseball team were quick to support June, but I expected to see more kickback (either from her team or other teams) to show (not tell us) how she struggled and still persevered.

💙 Unfortunately, the story is so rushed, so many scenes time-jumped, emotions mentioned but not illustrated, that you don't FEEL anything while reading this story. With the topic of grief, whether a character is processing it or trying to avoid it, readers should have an easy time sympathizing with the characters. Instead, the grief feels like a plot point, a reason for potential enemies to connect and eventually become more.

💙 Even with little jumps, the story lagged. Dugan has a tendency to pair selfless characters with less reasonable counterparts, which we certainly see between Ivy and June. Given that, it's difficult to root for both girls. Yes, they're both grieving, and yes, they both deserve happiness, but their actions are exhausting and (yes, I know it's YA) juvenile at times. Though the two girls had so much in common, the miscommunication trope constantly tugged them in opposite directions.

🦇 Recommended for fans of Some Girls Do, Home Field Advantage, and Cool for the Summer.

✨ The Vibes ✨ ⚾ Enemies to Lovers ⚾ Young Adult Romance ⚾ Sapphic Romance ⚾ Forbidden Love ⚾ Lesbian & Bi FMCs ⚾ Sports Romance ⚾ Grief ⚾ Pressure From Parents ⚾ Miscommunication

💬 Quotes ❝ Expecting it means I can prepare for it, plan for it, and figure out a way to keep my cool in its face. What I didn’t expect, though, was for there to be an extremely attractive girl throwing balls at about seventy-five billion miles per hour, striking out dumb boys left and right, like some kind of varsity, all-star Black Widow. ❞ ❝ There’s a lot of pressure on girls to conform, to become nice women, to do what’s expected. Smile more, whiten your teeth, lose the weight, don’t be too loud or too funny or too much. Make yourself less so the boys can feel like more. Don’t wear spaghetti straps or you might tempt them. Hold yourself accountable for the both of you, so they don’t have to. ❞

#queer books #ya books #young adult books #enemies to lovers #sapphic romance #sapphic books #lesbian romance #bisexuality #bi books #sports romance #batty about books #battyaboutbooks #book reviews #book review #queer book review #books and coffee #book: playing for keeps #author: jennifer dugan

[deadmomjokes]

How do you navigate raising a precocious child? Asking as someone who wants to be a parent

The short answer is: Carefully

The long answer is pretty long, and only my personal experience, but here goes:

1. Patience cultivated out of a sympathy which is born from perspective. What I mean by that is that you have to understand both the psychology and physical development of children, and constantly remind yourself what is and isn't appropriate to expect from them.

Especially in the case of intellectually precocious children, you have to remember that they are still little kids. Their emotions and ability to control them are only so developed, even if their vocabulary and intellect are ahead of their peers. My daughter is 3. She has the intellect of a 6 or 7 year old according to the professionals in her life, but her body is three years old. She has emotional outbursts and mood swings. Her brain physically isn't ready for the theory of mind. That's just how she is. She might know all about macrophages and the formation of exoplanets, but she also still cries when she's scared, and screams when she can't think of words to express her frustration. She's a lot of big thoughts in a tiny body, and that conflict results in a lot of outbursts, meltdowns, and stress. That is to be expected. That is normal. It's my job to understand that, and handle myself accordingly.

I've got 26 years on this kid, and I'm living in a body that isn't changing on a daily basis. I have the stability, and she doesn't. It's on me to keep my cool, because there are a lot of times that she literally can't. It can be very, very frustrating when I know what needs to happen, but she is doing the exact opposite. But the thing is, she's just doing the best she knows how. I get to teach her how to do 'better'. I can't do that if I'm looking at her as my enemy, or having a me-vs-her mentality. We're on the same side-- me and her vs whatever problem is causing her to shriek like a banshee at the moment. (Kids scream as a last resort, and until their list of first-resorts grows sufficiently, that last resort kicks in very frequently. I'm sorry in advance, they just scream sometimes. Invest in some noise reducing headphones or earplugs, it helps A LOT.)

The point of all that is this: I have to remind myself frequently that she's doing her best, and I have the perspective to handle this whereas she doesn't. I have to consciously put myself in her position and think about what it's like for her instead of focusing on how it's affecting me. That's how I get the patience to deal with the tantrums, meltdowns, and bothersome behaviors. I consciously remind myself that she's only been on this planet for 3 years, her body is dumping all kinds of hormones into her brain, which has the capacity to understand a lot more than she has ability to process. That's a painful, stressful, unwieldy combination, and she literally doesn't know any better than what she's doing. She will always try her best; if she's doing something undesirable, it's because she doesn't have the ability, knowledge, capacity, or self-control to deal with it in a better way yet. I have to teach her that, and I have to do it as much by example as by explanation.

2. Humility. A lot of humility. We're people. We mess up. We don't always know the right way to do things. I have to be honest about that with myself, and with my daughter. I have no reservations about apologizing to her when I don't handle something the right way.

I feel like a lot of us go into parenting with the mentality of wanting to be the person we needed when we were younger. And that's great! It's a perfect place to start. But you have to realize that your child is NOT you, and sometimes what you needed at their age or in their situation is not what they would need.

My child, for having come up in the pandemic, is a social butterfly. She's a people person. She's the opposite of a homebody. She LOVES going out and seeing people and doing things and being anywhere but home, and when she is home she wants friends around to play with. I was and am the opposite. Where I needed people to NOT push me into social interactions before I was ready, and to give me time to myself and teach me how to respect my introverted tendencies, that's not what my daughter needs. What she needs is for me to help her know when she's getting overstimulated and needs to take a break. She needs me to help her find things to do with other kids. She needs me to demonstrate appropriate kindness and interpersonal behaviors so she learns how to interact with other people in a way that is respectful, and ends with everybody having fun. That's different than what I needed, and that's okay. I have to be able to accept that my child is not me, and that de-centering can be hard. You do a lot of it consciously at first. It just takes a willingness to admit that not everything is about you-- not your child's behavior, not your child's challenges, not their needs, not their preferences, successes or failures.

3. Professional support. You may have seen me talking about my daughter's therapist. That's because at a grand ol' 3 years of age, she is in therapy! For anxiety! Because it turns out that taking in the world on the level of a 7 year old while only having the faculties of a 3 year old can generate a lot of stress that your body and brain are unequipped to deal with.

As her doctor and therapist both have said, smart kids stress more.

And in my daughter's case, there's a massive genetic predisposition for clinical anxiety problems and other mental illnesses. So as soon as my daughter told me that when she lays down at night, the nervous gets in her brain and she can't sleep, I knew right away this was something that needed early intervention. I am not a professional when it comes to anxiety management. I am still working on it, myself. So I knew we all needed help to get a good handle on this before it made her life miserable like what happened to me and my husband.

Kids think differently, and they process things differently than adults. Having a professional on your side to help you learn about how your child works is invaluable. And they can help you find the methods, skills, and interventions that work best for your child as an individual.

You as a parent need professional support, too. You need someone in your corner helping you out, even if it's just a yearly check-in with a therapist to learn some new meditation and mindfulness techniques. For me, it's dealing with my own anxiety and depression so I can be in the best state of mind and body to help my daughter learn how to regulate herself, which I was never really taught. So I'm having to learn that, too, on top of teaching her.

Professional support can also come in the form of social and educational programs-- in most cases, finding the right preschool. Just as an intelligent dog will become destructive if not properly stimulated, so too will an intelligent child get wild, stir-crazy, and emotionally explosive if their intellectual needs aren't being met. If you're about that homeschooling life, power to you. For me, I knew my daughter, a pandemic baby/toddler, needed the socialization with other kids, and needed a professional educator.

I was very picky about her preschool, opting for one that focused on holistic and values-based education instead of pure academics. They go over real-life skills, they make time for physical activity, they teach and practice mind-body awareness techniques (deep breathing, meditation, biofeedback, etc) on a level the kids can understand and use, and each week they have a different value and affirmation that all their lessons center around. They also do academics like letter recognition and sounds (pre-reading skills), numbers and counting, science, and so on, but everything loops back around to mental and emotional wellness. I knew that would be super important for her, and didn't want her in a high-stakes, high-pressure, competitive environment.

Sometimes being that picky is not possible depending on where you live. But if there's a way to get your kid engaged in something that flexes their thinking-muscles, and helps them learn to interact with others, that's going to be super important. Otherwise, take them new places when you can, even if it's just to the mall, and talk about what you see and experience there. Check out your local library (some even have educational resources parents can borrow, including developmentally encouraging toys!). Look for local museums and public/community educational programs. And find a local playgroup for that social interaction. Speaking of which....

4. Don't neglect their social development. Being "the smart kid" can make you Weird. I know, I was that kid. I was WEIRD, y'all. I needed to learn how to be a child my age, because my best friend was my also-advanced older sister, followed closely by my mother. Smart kids tend to hang out with older children or adults, and it's hard for them to relate to their age group. They need practice before they hit real school.

Weird isn't bad, but it can sometimes hide a lack of social and emotional health. Humans are a social species. We need social interaction to feel and function our best. It's how our brains are wired. Teaching children how to deal with other people is a big honkin deal, because it sets up how they interact with people for the rest of their lives. They need to learn to take turns, to share, to be aware of how their actions affect others, how to ask, how to say no, how to set boundaries, how to work together, so on and so forth. They can get good practice with you, but they need more than just you.

5. Tactful, appropriate honesty. The biggest challenge of a precocious child, after the emotional regulation issues, is balancing their intellect with their capacity to handle it. As I mentioned earlier, smart kids stress more. They notice too much sometimes. So you have to explain enough to satisfy their curiosity--which is CONSTANT and almost always surprising in its complexity-- but not so much that you give them new things to worry about.

For instance, when my daughter started fussing about her car seat and asked why she had to sit in it instead of sitting in the big seats like us, we explained that everybody wears a seatbelt to be safe. But she is too small for the big-seat seatbelts to fit her in the right way, like they do for mom and dad. So until she’s big enough for it to fit her the right way, she has to use a special seat that fits her just right.

We did NOT jump to “We need to be safe in case of a crash, and that’s why you need a special seat.” But we explained the reasoning thoroughly at a non-stress-inducing level.

Answer the question they ask, but ONLY the question they ask. If they ask follow-ups, great! If not, leave it where their curiosity took a break. It’s overwhelming being so small and noticing So Much. Kids love to learn, but their brains need time to log all the info, and concepts that are too big can lead to stress just from the gears turning, so to speak. But at the same time, don’t underestimate their capacity to understand, and to be totally cool with things we have been conditioned to stress out about or fear. My daughter has no issues watching surgery videos, because it’s not something she’s been taught to be grossed out by. She’s also very aware that meat comes from animals that are dead, and used to be alive. Her only issue with that was trying to figure out which animals become meat and which don’t because to her, it was totally arbitrary. (No, baby, we do not eat butterfly meat.)

It all sounds daunting when I put it like this, all over-written and wordy. But honestly, it’s all about following your child’s lead, which is what parenting is in general anyway.

#parenting #children #ask #long post

[armoredisopod]

New Event PV

New Operators

Puzzle, 5* Welfare Agent Vanguard

I know all your movements like the back of my hand.

Harmonie, 5* Mystic Caster

Ah, thank you very much, it is an honor to receive your approval.

Reed the Flame Shadow, 6* Incantation Medic

No matter how many times, you choose to fight like this...

Reed alter is confirmed to be the first non-limited 6* alter and will be added to the standard headhunting pool when her debut banner ends

Operator Skins Update

Total of 6 new skins, 4 new additions for the Icefield Messenger brand and 2 new additions for the Made by 0011 brand

Icefield Messenger

Goldenglow's 喜夜待者 (Merry Night Attendant)

Pudding's 火树灵 (Fire Tree Spirit) - Free Login Event skin

Greyy the Lightningbearer's 演出后的王子 (Prince After The Performance)

Erato's 未讲迷的故事 (Untold Stories)

Made by 0011

Kroos the Keen Glint's Along The Corridor

Blacknight's Fragrance From The Branches - Event Reward skin

Kroos alter's skin will be up for sale during Invitation to Wine Retrospect

Blacknight's new skin will be a reward from Trials for Navigator #2

Announced a rerun for the series 2 of the Cambrian brand skins, up for sale during the same time as the new Icefield Messenger skins

Operator Modules Update

Harmonie being part of the Mystic Caster branch immediately gets a module, the base module effect gives her the ability to hold an additional charge

Besieger Sniper and Musha Guard branches gets 1 module type each

Mizuki and Archetto gets their second modules

Mizuki's second module has a new unknown module base effect

Archetto's second module base effect: Deals 110% damage to aerial units

Events and Stories

What the Firelight Casts

The ghosts of the past will emerge from the shadows and traces of violent conflict will be found all over the Tara region.

The Draco that has been running for a long time returns to the wilderness alone, to face the destruction wrought by Dublinn and to find herself.

Sooner or later, those who follow the same clues will inevitably meet, and the "Shadow" must confess to everyone who she really is.

Invitation to Wine Retrospect, scheduled after What The Firelight Casts

Trials for Navigator #2, scheduled after ITW Retrospect

Operator Archives update for Bibeak, Archetto, Heavyrain, Corroserum, Harmonie, Saileach, Mousse and May

Record Restore update for Mansfield Break

Misc Stuff

CN voices for Reed the Flame Shadow, Harmonie, Puzzle and 11 other operators

Annihilation 17 - Testing Ground Garage, annihilation mission with Dorothy's Vision enemies

Stationary Security Service new season, Far West Security Service - Acahualla Jungle & Area Under Construction For Dossoles

#arknights #video #arknights CN news

[whetstonefires]

calling preferred pronouns a “stupid social protocol” is,,,, a take for sure

Yeah and honestly I think it's a very valid one for an autistic 16 year old who has exclusively had the concept explained by people inexplicably shouting at her about what an evil person she is because.

She asked someone how a mutual acquaintance was doing these days by the name and pronouns they used four months ago, when she last heard about them.

Rules are just. They're just rules. We make them up. We have to tell each other about them and navigate and negotiate and evolve them. There's gonna be access conflicts. People don't know your set of rules as a natural upwelling of inner virtue, that's not how culture or goodness or anything works. Queerness should not be about conformity.

Social constructs aren't. They aren't all that important.

You have to realize this if you want to liberate people to actually fuck freely with gender. You have to stop criminalizing and taxonomizing and demanding universal obedience to your particular principles. I am sick to death of shit like getting told by trans women that drag is transphobic and should be shamed.

If we enforce Virtuous Conduct by abusing people, we do not get an overall improvement in wellbeing. We get a lot of people keeping their heads down and obeying the New Rules with the same bitter helplessness they obeyed the first set of Arbitrary Gender Pronouncements they were raised into, and a bunch of unnecessary enemies.

Don't do that shit.

#ask #hoc est meum #Anonymous #bunch of fucking rainbow puritans #so eager for a taste of blood #yeah it's Pride in 2005 #and your first thought when someone at pride asks 'hey how is your friend who used to go to school with my sister doing these days?' #and gets their name wrong #is that they did that on purpose?? and need to be Crushed? #yeah you're indistinguishable from any other bully with incomprehensible Laws About How To Be Normal #i do not respect you #i've also met several people who play stupid power games with the evolving social protocols around gendering people correctly #which after this & several other Stupid experiences combined with a lifetime of the arbitrary social punishments of autism was nightmarish #but they were just being mildly obnoxious in a way that set off trauma i did not need to have #except some people think #they're some kind of gender paladins #i'm serious do not do this you are harming the community so badly #fuck off #kill the cop inside your head