#quit witch hunting people because you don't like them.

[thatfreshi]

"He Can't Have You" (Astarion x Reader)

Seems as though Auntie Ethel doesn't go down without a fight, and that fight involves bringing out the worst in people's minds. (Also we get to see where the nickname Aster came from)

tw - mentions of abuse, panic attack

The Sunny Wetlands, later revealed to be a putrid swamp, have proven particularly difficult for Astarion. The last thing any of you expected was to find a Gur hunting him, especially this far from the city. It made your heart skip a beat, hearing the monster hunter utter his name, and you could feel the tension in the vampire. Thankfully, you did away with him quickly. By now, he's told you plenty about his past, at least as much as he could bear to tell. That haunting feeling though, knowing that Cazador was hunting him, it was paralyzing. As you searched for Mayrina, you and Astarion fell behind the rest of the group.

"Are you alright my love? I could tell them we should just set up camp for the night, rest up for dealing with the hag."

"Nonsense. What would I look like, asking everyone to stop for me? The Gur has been dealt with, let's just leave it at that darling."

"I cannot imagine dealing with the hag will be easy though."

"I'll simply run my blade through her like I do everything else. I'll be fine."

It hasn't been long enough with him to truly know if he's lying, but you certainly have a hunch. On the way back to the hag's house, Gale casts detect magic.

"She's definitely in here. We should be prepared."

Sure, she looked like a sad old woman, but those adventurers told you the truth, how she took their sister. When Karlach leads the charge, opening the door, she tries to look shocked.

"Oh dear! It's quite rude to storm into someone's house like that. Where are your manners?"

Without responding, Karlach throws her axe into the hag's shoulder, breaking the illusion, showing the monster for who she is. Covered in grime, like a witch born straight from the mud.

"It looks like I'll just have to teach you all how to be polite!"

Karlach tries to go for a second hit, but the hag teleports. Gale soon tracks her down, casting a ray of frost. Astarion follows her up the stairs while she tries to counterspell Gale. You and Lae'zel try to attack from a distance, missing because of just how quick she can move from place to place. Wyll has focused on assisting Gale, and Shadowheart is keeping track of all your party members, making sure to be there as soon as one of you takes a hit. In the meantime, she casts guidance on Astarion, who is fighting much more intensely than usual. Perhaps killing the Gur wasn't enough, and the anger was still boiling inside.

"Alright little mosquito, you want to be a thorn in my side? Poor decision."

The hag disappears from sight, and Astarion stops in his tracks. At first you think nothing of it. It almost looks like he's searching the room for where your enemy landed. For him though, the hag has cast a strong illusion, preying on his worst fear: being back in Cazador's grasp. The teahouse has transformed into the kennels, cold stone on bare feet, blood spattered across the walls.

Well, well, well. Seems as though the boy never learns! Perhaps, this time, will set you straight.

He hears the voice of Godey taunting him, threatening to pull him apart again.

"No! No, I left- I left, I was free!"

It's at this moment you realize he's not here, not in the mental sense.

"Focus on the hag, I'll try to snap him out of it."

You order the rest of the group, and they nod without a word, searching the teahouse for where she's gone now. You run up the stairs, finding a trembling pale man who has dropped his daggers.

Deep down, you like bein' leashed, don't ya?

The words bounce around in his head, a vision of Cazador appearing. You try to shake him, to mentally connect him back to his body, but it only plays into the illusion more, your actions becoming Cazador's.

"Astarion! Astarion it's just a spell, it's not real. It's not real my love, please."

Soon enough, your group finds the hag again, disrupting her concentration, releasing her grip on the elf. His breathing is terrifyingly fast, and he takes a moment to come out of the vision, grabbing a dagger from the floor and very quickly brandishing it towards you.

"DON'T."

You're trying desperately not to cry, because you know he doesn't need your shared sadness right now.

"Hey, it's okay. It's just me, Tav."

You lightly touch the hand holding the dagger, and he loosens his grip. Your hands move to take the blade from his grasp, setting his weapons to the side.

"I... I was there. I was back there."

"I know. Seems as though Ethel knows more than she should."

Astarion is still trying to root himself back in reality, you blood still racing in his dead veins.

"I can't go back Tav. Please, I can't go back."

"I know. I won't let you end up back there, ever."

He's still weary of physical touch, so you simply rub across his knuckles, trying to ground him in the moment. Your deepest urge is to wrap yourself around him and never let go, keep him in a protective case where no one can ever hurt him again, but that's not real. Being entirely safe isn't real. But damn, do you wish it was, for his sake.

As you're sitting there with him, the group makes their way back.

"We lost her. Have a feeling she went deeper into a cave somewhere."

You eye Karlach, and the two of you come to a silent understanding as you hold onto Astarion's shakey hands.

"We'll go set up camp where we entered the swamp. Take your time."

And with that, the tiefling takes the rest of your companions out of the teahouse, leaving the two of you alone.

"Why?"

You turn to look at him, cocking your head slightly.

"Why what?"

"Why would you say you won't let me end up there again? Cazador isn't some being you can simply keep me from, he's... different."

"I don't care."

"What do you mean you don't care?"

"I just, don't care. I don't care how powerful he is or whatever abilities he has, he can't have you. He just can't."

You finally do tear up now, not sure how else to explain it to the vampire.

"He most definitely cou-"

"No."

You try to blink the tears away, feeling the little callouses on his palm from over the decades.

"I want you to know what it's like to belong to someone in a pure way, not for personal gain, but just because they need you. And now that I have you... I just need you. I need you Astarion, so he can't have you. I'd die before he could take you from me."

He's silent for a moment. All forms of ownership he's known have been terrifying. Whatever could you mean by belonging to someone in a pure way? How can you belong to someone innocently? Your tadpole senses his concern, connecting without much effort at all.

"I don't need anything from you. I don't need you to do anything for me, I just need you Aster."

He smiles a little.

"Aster?"

"Yeah. Sorry, I had just been thinking about it. If you don't like it-"

"No I- I love it. Aster. Like the flower?"

"Yeah."

Somehow, the teahouse is peaceful in this moment. You feel young all over again, like you've never been in love before, like Astarion is the only being you've ever known. He interrupts your thoughts.

"Thank you, for saying all that. Maybe I wouldn't mind belonging to someone without expectations. It sounds, nice."

His voice cracks on the last word.

"Well, Aster, then you can belong to me as long as you'd like."

You swipe a piece of hair behind his ear, looking for a reason to get close to his face. As if the fates knew it to be true, you lock lips, despite the horrific smell outside and the creaking wood of the floorboards, you're somewhere else. Some place where the asters bloom in peace.

#baldur's gate 3 #astarion #baldurs gate astarion #astarion x reader #astarion x tav #angst #comfort #fluff #x reader

[heliads]

because I'm in the mood for Pain could i request a nikolai fanfic with a grisha reader. they were childhood friends, but then one day reader was captured by fjerda and after they find the cure for parem they come back to ravka and don't think they're good enough for nikolai because they were too weak to resist the drug. i hope you're having a lovely day!

'only in my dreams ' - nikolai lantsov

masterlist

There’s an old saying, one that’s been tossed around by generations of practitioners of the Small Science and otkazat’sya alike, one that you’ve heard since you were small and keep hearing as you get older. There’s no good place to be a Grisha. It’s been used as a weapon and an assurance at times, a claim that you don’t belong and a reminder that life doesn’t really get better, so you might as well enjoy who you are wherever you are.

Right now, though, it just feels all too real. When you were a child growing up in the middle of nowhere in the Ravkan countryside, no one trusted a Grisha. When you were brought to Os Alta to train in the Little Palace, the glimmering city didn’t feel like a home either, just a place where you would be brought up to fight in someone else’s wars. You could go anywhere you want, but it would never quite be enough. You find your home in people you trust, but no place will ever want a witch.

And, rotting in a Fjerdan cell, you think it’s especially true now. You pity the Grisha who were born in Fjerda, and wonder how they would have managed to grow up in a country whose own army was dedicated to the cause of hunting them down. It wasn’t all that great to grow up empowered in Ravka, either, but at least there was somewhere for you to go once you were discovered, and that was the Little Palace. In Fjerda, the only place that newly discovered Grisha go is the grave.

That, or the cells, and right now you’re wishing that you were six feet under instead of here right now. Other than wanting them dead, the Fjerdan government seems fascinated by just how Grisha work. They’ve managed to get their hands on jurda parem, and you’re a part of their latest batch of test subjects.

You last received the drug a few days ago, and already the debilitating ache of withdrawal is starting to press against your bones, tearing against your sinews and skin until all you can think of is when you last had it and where you could get some more. The Fjerdan scientists are single-minded in their approach to treating Grisha with parem; exact doses are carefully measured out and only delivered in the precise windows of time that they desire. Once medicated, the captive Grisha will have their hands unchained for slim opportunities to practice their gift, most likely to build or destroy or torture other captives as directed by the Fjerdan guards.

Eventually, the parem will wear off, and then you’ll be back to where you are right now:  curled into a corner of your freezing cell, desperate for warmth or parem or anything more than this heavy, never-ending horror.

You used to be more than this, you know. You used to be a proper Grisha, one who could never imagine themselves as you are now, exhausted and starving and addicted to a drug no one even knew existed until just a short time ago. You had been brought to Os Alta when you were quite young, so for the most part, the Little Palace was the only life you had ever really known.

And what a life it had been; your mind drained by the constant tests of parem, you slip into a dreamy half-sleep, letting the memories cloud your consciousness so you don’t have to think about whatever horrors await you.

Os Alta had been beautiful. Ravka has been a struggling country for quite some time, and will likely go on eking out its days one by one for quite some time, but the royal family spared no expense on its capital city. Even the Little Palace, the smaller and humbler variant of the Grand Palace, was intricate and masterful, a testament to the artistic prowess of the Ravkan people when its creators went long enough without hunger pangs to focus on their craft.

You can almost imagine you’re there if you close your eyes. The sensations come back to you as if in a dream:  the rustle of your kefta as you walk, the smooth edges of the cobblestones where they’d been worn down by hundreds of feet, the sharp voices of your tutors, the thrill in your veins as you used your powers. You can still remember when it had been a joyous thing to use your powers uncorrupted by parem. Now, every tug to the making at the heart of the world feels like a betrayal of your own people, a sick and terrible thing that should not be practiced by any living thing.

You turn your mind away from that harsh reality, opting instead to remember the good days, the golden memories when the worst thing you could imagine was doing badly in one of Botkin’s training sessions. Since you’d been at the Little Palace since you were small, you had plenty of friends across the branches of the Small Science, plus one extra boy whose eyes used to shine like sunlight off of the True Sea. He wasn’t a Grisha though. He was–

He was a prince.

Nikolai Lantsov wasn’t supposed to visit the Little Palace. Truth be told, he wasn’t supposed to leave the Grand Palace at all except when instructed by the king and queen or one of his tutors. However, the young prince didn’t seem to care for rules, and rare was the day when he wasn’t sneaking off to pass days by his own volition. More often than not, his errant path brought Nikolai to you.

The two of you had been friends for years. Never mind the fact that a friendship between a Grisha and a prince would be strictly forbidden, no one ever caught on and the two of you were quite obliged to keep it that way. Nikolai was brilliant in mind and spirit. When you think about the happiest you’d ever been, the days you wished could stretch on forever, it’s the time you spent with Nikolai that was the best of all. Sometimes, you snuck him an extra kefta and the two of you would explore the Little Palace, or you’d run around the countryside surrounding Os Alta. You’d swap stories and little trinkets or gifts, and you’d smile like everything was alright, because when you were with Nikolai, it was.

Then he got older, and you did too. Nikolai stopped being able to visit you as often. You grew through the ranks of the Grisha, and were sent on missions with increasing frequency. Sometimes, you’d be away from Os Alta for months at a time, and only come back to find out that Nikolai had just left on a similar errand. Your paths started diverging, and even though every time you saw him, it was like the days hadn’t passed at all, both of you had growing up to do, and unfortunately, that didn’t involve each other.

You still held out hope that maybe he would become king and find a way to loop you back into his busy days. Just recently, he had returned from his years at school (and, as the rumor has it, at sea), and you had hoped that maybe you’d be able to spend more time together. All you had was one more mission, then you’d be back in Ravka for many months. Surely you could use that time.

The Fates didn’t seem keen on that happy of an ending for you, however. Your mission went awry. Fjerdans intercepted your group. You distracted the enemy soldiers long enough for the rest of your party to get away, but you were captured and brought back to Fjerda. You had assumed you’d be killed, but instead, you were sent to their experimental division and given your first dose of parem.

So the angels fall. Now, the idea that you could be remotely close to a prince’s best friend is laughable. If you could see him now, you have no doubt that he would still be the same golden, glorious boy he had always been, now imbued with the confidence of years wearing the crown. By contrast, you are huddled in a cell, your powers harshly amplified by the corrupting influence of jurda parem.

No, Nikolai Lantsov certainly wouldn’t want you now. The only way you can have him still is in your dreams, those beautiful fragments of imagination in which both of you are still young and blameless. He hasn’t fled Os Alta for a false name and a life at sea. You haven’t been captured and forced to undergo cruel tests. Both of you are happy and whole, and nothing bad has ever happened to either of you. What a dream indeed. 

A dream, but dreams are all you have. The dream of being back with Nikolai is a good one. So, too, is the dream that someone will come to take you out of this place. You’ve had this one many times before, and it slips over you like sleep. It would happen quickly, the break-out. The Fjerdan guards would shout in surprise, then be quickly silenced. You’d hear the rattle of fast footsteps, and the door to your cell would fly open. All doors would be open, and all Grisha would live. You’d run far away, to a place that would finally want you again. All would be well.

You’re comfortable with it, not bothering to open your eyes lest you lose track of the dream. Only– maybe the parem is still lingering in your system, because you swear the faux sounds of fighters are louder than they usually are in the dreams. It’s not real, but the shouts do seem real, don’t they?

It’s not real. After all, parem has a way of messing with your mind. Many times during your captivity, you’ve thought you’d seen someone from home only to realize differently during the cloudiness of withdrawal. This is the same as that.

However, when the door to your cell clangs open, you feel the reverberations through your skin and bones, something that never happens when the Fjerdans come to get you. Your eyelids fly open and you scramble back against the wall, watching with terrified eyes as soldiers hurry to you. One’s in Ravkan fatigues, but the other is a Healer in a red kefta.

“You’re not real,” you grit out, teeth pressed together.

She shakes her head sympathetically. “I am, my friend. We’ve broken you out at last. Here, I have the cure.”

She holds out a syringe pre-loaded with some sort of substance. You snap back when you see it, too familiar with Fjerdan tricks of trying to inject you with different medicines. “Don’t you dare get that near me. I know what you do.”

The Healer jerks her chin towards you. “Hold her,” she says to the soldier.

You scream, a high, drawn-out sound, and do your best to fight, but your captivity has left you frail, and he’s able to subdue you after minor effort. The Healer pushes the needle into your veins, and you wait for something terrible to happen, another grievous experiment to begin in your body, but the strangest thing happens:  you feel better.

You stare up at the Healer. Your mind feels clearer than it has in days, and, impossibly, you can feel your strength returning. “What is that?”

“A cure to jurda parem,” the Healer tells you. “Sincerest apologies that it’s taken this long to get to you.”

You’re guided out into the corridor, where you join the former occupants of the surrounding cells. All of you regard your rescuers and each other with the same incredulity and faint excitement. Is this really it? Are you finally out?

The ride back to Ravka should be long, but it feels as if it’s over in the blink of an eye. Several times, the rescue party stops at safe houses along the way, giving all of you opportunities to wash up, get new, warm clothes, and eat and drink to fix the gnaw of hunger that clings to all of you. By the time the gates of Os Alta swing wide to admit you, you’re almost feeling normal again.

Almost.

The torment of your time in the Fjerdan cells will stick with you forever, and the awful memories of what it had been like to be under the influence of jurda parem. However, the Healer’s cure worked well. When you try to use your abilities, they work the same as they had before the awful drug was first administered to you. By all accounts, you’re back to normal, even if your mind doesn’t entirely feel that way.

The driver calls to your group that you’ll be arriving outside the Little Palace shortly. “King Nikolai will be there to greet you,” he announces over his shoulder.

Excited whispers surround this, and you can’t help but listen in intently. “Nikolai Lantsov will be there?” One girl giggles by your side.

Another smiles in encouragement. “They say he’s been observing each coach that brings back rescued Grisha from Fjerda. It’s like he’s looking for someone. Maybe an old friend?”

You feel your stomach chill, the warm delight of rescue starting to cool off again. You have no doubt that you’re the one Nikolai is looking for; he had told you many times that you were his favorite Grisha by far, even when he was briefly engaged to the Sun Summoner for purely political reasons, but you find yourself hoping he doesn’t find you when you get out of your coach.

It’s not that you don’t want to see him, you do– the idea of being with Nikolai again had sustained you through your time in the Fjerdan cells better even than food or drink, but the fact remains that you are no longer as you were in your memories. You are no longer someone that a king would care to see. More so than just your weakened frame, your disorganized mind– you were captured on a mission, and you succumbed to jurda parem. In the back of your mind, a cruel voice whispers, pathetic. Nikolai will be spending his time with the finest diplomats, the noblest princes and princesses. He will not want a Grisha who could not hold out against a drug.

You gather your borrowed cloak about you, pulling the hood down over your face. It’s a size or two too large for you, by virtue of it belonging to someone else, and right now you’re glad for the extra fabric to disguise you. Nikolai is looking for a ghost, and probably out of necessity. He’ll likely be relieved that he won’t have to handle you like a difficult situation.

The coach pulls to a stop. Many rescued Grisha are crammed inside, so you blend into the crowd as you all pour out. Other Grisha from the Fjerdan prison are there already. It’s easy to slip amongst their ranks, keeping your head down. Nikolai is there in front of you as promised. His head is tilted up slightly, his gaze sweeping row after row of visitors. Maybe he isn’t even looking for you at all.

Then, his eyes catch yours briefly. Immediately, you look away, and start backing through the crowds again, trying to lose his gaze. When you feel it’s safe to look again, you breathe out quiet relief when you notice that he’s still scanning the crowd where you had been. Lost him. It’s a victory, but it’s an awful pain nonetheless.

Once everyone has arrived, Nikolai says a few kind words about how he’s glad everyone has returned home and how apologetic he is about the time it took to get you all back. No one seems to hold it against him, though, and how could you? He rescued you in the end, and managed to get you the cure to jurda parem to boot. It’s a fine success if you’ve ever seen one.

Nikolai releases you to the Little Palace to rest. Grisha stream past Nikolai, but he doesn’t stop to talk to any of them, looking again for someone. For you, maybe. You pull the hood down low again. If you move quickly, maybe he’ll miss you. You give him a wide berth, keeping your eyes low. You’ve almost made it to the edge of the courtyard when you feel a hand rest on your arm, carefully pulling you to a stop.

You don’t look up, not at first. You don’t have to look to know who it is. You’ve known Nikolai for years. You would know how he walks, the precise pattern of his boots against the cobblestones. You would know how the breath hitches in his throat when you’re reunited after too long a separation. You would know how his hand feels on you. You’ve dreamed of it a thousand times, but this isn’t a dream anymore, this is real.

“Excuse me, moi tsar,” you whisper. Maybe he doesn’t know it’s you yet. Maybe you can still escape with your dignity intact.

Any hope you had of avoiding recognition vanishes in an instant when Nikolai murmurs, “Y/N,” in such a desperate voice that you feel you could hardly move if you tried.

You stand still. A strong wind could blow you over, maybe. You watch the ground as Nikolai’s boots cross the ground to stand in front of you. His other hand rises to brush your hood back from your face. A gasp is ripped from his lungs as he takes in the sight of you.

“I look that bad, then, do I?” You can’t help but laugh quietly. It’s a bitter sound. You used to sound happier when you laughed with him, you think. A lot has changed.

Nikolai’s hand leaves your hood, drifting to your face. He raises your chin with a soft finger until you’re looking him in the eyes again. “Not to me,” he says, voice hardly louder than a whisper. “I’ve always thought you were beautiful.”

A quiet scoff escapes you. “I have been a prisoner of Fjerda for months, moi tsar. I doubt that was conducive to beauty.”

“You’d be surprised,” he tells you. Then, a bit more insistent, “You don’t need to refer to me with a title, Y/N. You didn’t when we were little.”

“I didn’t know better,” you say. It’s not quite true, and he knows it.

“Don’t say that,” Nikolai pleads. “We were friends, excellent friends. Now we’re older and you’re avoiding me. Why?”

You look away again. “Don’t ask me that,” you say with a laugh. You meant it to be a joke, but it comes out as a plea.

“I will,” he insists. “I have always been stubborn, you know that about me. Stubborn enough to search every single Fjerdan prison my spies could find when you went missing. Stubborn enough to stand here and wait in the cold until I could find you. And certainly stubborn enough to wait here with you until you tell me why I’m no longer good enough for you.”

This, at last, is enough to make your eyes fly to him. “That’s not true,” you insist hotly. “Quite the opposite, in fact. You’re a king and I’m a Grisha. And a Grisha that couldn’t even withstand jurda parem, to be specific. Saints, you win wars and I lost the first one that ever came to me. If there is anyone that has ever been insufficient, it would be me.”

The hand on your arm slips down to your fingers, and Nikolai squeezes once, twice. A heartbeat. A prayer. “You have never been insufficient to me,” he tells you. You make some sound of disagreement and he repeats it, insistent as ever. “No, you listen. You aren’t. Jurda parem is notorious for the pain it causes. You think you lost the war? The fact that you’re still alive in front of me tells me that you won it. Every day since you went missing, I woke up and went to bed terrified that you were dead and I would never know. I need you, sweetheart, and I need you to stop punishing yourself for something that wasn’t your fault.”

You stay quiet for a while, letting the words turn over in your mind, then, impulsively, you ask, “Sweetheart?”

He grins, easy as always. “It fits you. Don’t argue with me, I’ve had plenty of arguments prepared to convince you otherwise.”

You laugh, and this time, it’s real. “I wouldn’t dare, then. I just would have thought that you’d have plenty of princesses who would have won that nickname for real by now.”

Unable to stop yourself, you cast a glance towards his left hand. No ring. When you look back up at Nikolai, he’s beaming. “No queen for me, I’m afraid. I was waiting for mine to return from captivity.”

You roll your eyes. “Still haven’t given up on that, have you? I seem to remember you trying and failing to convince me to marry you since we were six.”

Nikolai grins, slipping your arm inside his so he can guide you back to the Little Palace. “I will never give up. Not until you say yes.”

You laugh again, shaking your head in mock disbelief. It’s been a while since you saw him. It’s been a while since he asked. If he were to do it again, you think you might have a different answer than when you were both so small. 

Nikolai turns to look at you, his eyes shining. He’s always had a gift for knowing what’s on your mind, and judging by the light in his smile, you think he’s predicted your thoughts yet again. He’s got some time before he attempts another proposal. This time, though, he’ll have a better outcome than before.

grishaverse tag list: @rogueanschel, @deadreaderssociety, @cameronsails, @mxltifxnd0m, @story-scribbler, @retvenkos, @mayfieldss, @eclliipsed, @gods-fools-heroes, @bl606dy, @auggie2000, @baju69, @crazyhearttragedy, @aoi-targaryen, @budugu

all tags list: @wordsarelife

#nikolai lantsov #nikolai lantsov imagines #nikolai lantsov x reader #nikolai lantsov oneshot #grishaverse #grishaverse imagines #grishaverse x reader #grishaverse oneshot #shadow and bone #shadow and bone imagines #shadow and bone x reader #shadow and bone oneshot #nikolai #nikolai imagines #nikolai x reader #nikolai oneshot #grishaverse nikolai #grishaverse nikolai imagines #grishaverse nikolai x reader #grishaverse nikolai oneshot

[birdmitosis]

Since a minor theme for today's posts seems to be Voice of the Opportunist thoughts... You know, I actually quite like the guy. He's nowhere near the top of my list of fave Voices -- in fact, he'd probably be in my bottom three -- but I've grown to sincerely love all of them in their own ways.

Paranoid

Cold

Contrarian

Hunted

Hero

Cheated

Skeptic

Broken

Opportunist

Stubborn

Smitten

Like, that's probably my rough order of Voices? But I really love Stubborn and Smitten too at this point, like a lot. And Opportunist... really interests me. I don't feel as bad about him as I think a lot of people do. (Thoughts under the cut!)

I think what gets me about Opportunist is that, while he can come across very badly for sure, I think there are two main things he wants that drive all of his (very bad) ideas: He very badly wants to be liked, but that's secondary to the fact that he wants to survive. He's just geared strongly towards survival in a way that's more... social than physical. He wants to side with the people he thinks are the most powerful without actually upsetting anyone, until he gets to a point where he feels like we have enough power to be able to wield it. And as one of the Voices, he is actually very "we"-focused -- he talks about looking out for number one, yes, but you're all kind of a collective "number one" and he maybe makes that most clear in The Wraith chapter, where he never wavers from vocally trying to make the situation better for himself and Hero and Paranoid. He never threatens any of the other Voices either -- and not even, iirc, the Narrator, though he does turn his back on the Narrator when it becomes clear he's something of a paper tiger -- just the Princess, in situations where she has proven how dangerous she is, and not even always then. (Again, in The Wraith, he's not even pleased to have overpowered her if you decide to toss her into a bottomless pit.) He does want to be liked, too, that much is clear and seems to be completely sincere. He likes traveling (or at least the idea of it) because he thinks it makes him "relatable." He totally unnecessarily tries to smooth everything over with you and the other Voices in a way that doesn't always, to me, feel like him just being mealy-mouthed in a self-serving way; the example of this that stands out to me is in The Moment of Clarity, when Stubborn and Contrarian are tired of Skeptic's philosophizing and he jumps in to reassure, "They're good questions. Great questions, even. But they don't have any answers," and there's something oddly... gentle/reassuring about the delivery. The way you get him usually shows how he's geared to your (collective) survival and why he doesn't trust the Princess: In the first chapter, if you don't take the blade but then use it to kill her, that's your only chance to get him. But you get him in one of two ways: Go back upstairs for the blade after talking to her, in which case the Protagonist has probably legitimately decided that things aren't adding up and she's actually secretly more dangerous than she's letting on (and because she is "a creature of perception" she then reveals that to be true!), or trying to kill her after the Narrator possesses you, in which case there's that clear "hierarchy" of "the Narrator is too powerful if he can just choose to control us" (and also makes his trying to appease the Narrator in the later chapters make sense). And he is like the Witch, and honestly, in some ways I think it's understandable that he's resistant to changing even when she does. She is the one who changes based on our perception, and if I'm at all right that the Voices are the pieces that break off of us because we can't change like that but they represent her perception of us, well. The Protagonist and the Witch can choose to change and break the cycle in a way the Opportunist has a harder time with. But he is much like her: "This dangerous person killed me last time, we need to maneuver this situation in a way where we can kill her without her killing us again." And a big problem with him is that he is 100% wired into that survival instinct even when it's not necessary! He wants to betray the Thorn even after she hands us the blade back! But he also just came from a chapter in which we handed her the blade trustingly and she immediately stabbed us, which doesn't excuse it but does I think explain why when he talks about slaying her right then and there he says something along the lines of "we have power right now and we may never get this chance again" -- he's still expecting this to go very badly for us.

The other ways you get him in the various Chapter IIIs also back this up, I think: In The Razor, you try to "appeal to her better nature" after she's already killed you twice (and maybe a lot more!), which is again just him trying to survive long enough to turn the tables on a threat. To get him in The Wild, the Beast first has to eat you alive, but then you stab her to death instead of letting her escape or just killing yourself, taking advantage of being close to vulnerable organs to take her down with you. (And I will say, while I adore Contrarian, I find him much more obnoxious to have in The Wild chapter.) To get him in The Wraith, you have to take the blade in The Nightmare chapter but agree to free her, then slay her either at the door when the Narrator locks it on you (again, the Narrator showing he's more powerful than he should be) or after Paranoid straight-up says "if I absolutely had to choose I slightly prefer that we kill her" -- and then, oddly, he does spend the entire Wraith chapter trying to soothe her and get her to forgive and hire/protect not just himself but the Protagonist, Hero, and Paranoid (and is actually like "this was a bad decision, there's going to be no way to smooth this over" if you do choose to toss yourself into the void with her). And in The Moment of Clarity, he is oddly gentle with the other Voices for the most part and also advises just letting her out because it'll all be okay for them if they do. All of this is just to say that, like... Yeah, he can be mealy-mouthed and backstabbing and obnoxious. But I also don't think he's a backstabber for fun. He wants to be either at the top when it comes to "who's the most powerful," or at the right hand of whoever is at the top, but at the same time I think that stems from him just wanting to feel safe -- and what's safer than no one else having power over you? Especially when that power's been used to steal your autonomy or kill you so, so many times? In some ways he's low-key like Hunted and Paranoid: "What will keep us alive?" and "I don't trust anyone but us (unless I feel like I have to)" are kind of an undercurrent to everything he says and does. ...That also means that if he got his own body I think he'd be in an interesting position. He might have some issues at first with being more "look out for number one now means me and not us," or at least having some instinctive feelings in that direction -- but at the same time he might feel more at ease having complete control over his own body, since the Protagonist losing that control seemed to low-key freak him out more than once in the Construct and his smooth-talking might have had a lot to do with how he felt his words were the only power he had since he wasn't in control of the body. So there's a chance he'd struggle with staying quite as group-oriented at first, but there's also a chance that he might be able to relax at least a bit.

#slay the princess #slay the princess spoilers #voice of the opportunist #headcanons #this counts as that right? #i do really like this guy #there's a reason i think he'd work especially well with hunted #and i'm kind of sad for him that he seems to really want to be liked but none of the other voices seem to like him particularly much

[teecupangel]

I had this unhinged crossover idea, Desmond getting yeeted into left 4 dead. Consider this like a really, really late Halloween thing.

I hadn't thought too much on how things would play out for Desmond but all I know is he fucking hates it, he's thought he hated being the main target for Abstergo? Oh he's gonna hate the undead despite feeling a bit of sympathy for them.

I mean, the green flu appeared to have started slowly before things spiraled out of control continuing to evolve and further spread, and the next thing people knew, their loved ones were dropping like flies only to rise once more and begin just attacking out of nowhere. Heartbreaking to him but now his fight for survival just got worse, there's no innocents anymore, and survivors who were once kind and generous are now willing to kill other survivors just to stay safe and get supplies.

He did find some of the saferoom wall writing hilarious though, if he found a marker he totally adds his two cents in.

Absolutely hates the special infected, avoiding witches? He can manage that unless some idiot startles her, first encounter he had was not fun- he swore his heart stopped for a second hearing the witch screech. And don't get him started on the hunters, they boggle his mind and make him internally rage. Of all special infected, he's 100,000% certain if he drops and all he'd end up a hunter, and that thought terrifies him above all else.

Like, could you imagine that? Hunter!Desmond would be a freaking menace, and unlike other hunters who aren't all that silent due to his training and bleeding effects, his stealth goes above and beyond what the typical hunter is capable of. Nightmare fuel for sure.

Well, this is obviously a very late Halloween thing because I just answered this today XD

I have fond memories of L4D as it was the game me and my friends would play between classes if we were quite bored. I even play Back 4 Blood with my friend a few months back just to get back to that L4D feel (and also because it was one of the few games we both had that we could play together hahahaha).

Out of all the infected, I prefer being the Hunter so there’s definitely some bias when I say that I agree with you that Desmond would definitely be the worst kind of Hunter.

Made for stealth and speed, compounded by his unique genetics that makes him the closest Isu among the humans if we don’t count the Sages.

He wouldn’t just be a Hunter, he’d be a mutated Hunter.

One might even call him the Apex Hunter.

His vision would stay in a heightened state of Eagle Vision, unaffected by flashbangs or any kind of tools that might impede his visions or other senses.

The heightened state of Eagle Vision meant that not even walls can hide his preys and he has… ‘favorites’, one might say.

The Apex Hunter would prioritize hunting and turning specific humans.

Humans that would turn into Hunters as well, joining him with some kind of strange pack-like intuition.

To the humans, it would seem random and they won’t realize it but the Apex Hunter…

He turns those that glowed bright to him.

Those with higher Isu genes that the rest.

And it is those nightmares that plague Desmond’s sleep.

It makes him fear being infected.

Not that it was easy for him to be infected.

He wore a mask to cover his face and lessen the chance of being hit by blood or any kind of body fluids from those he takes down. He goes to the nearest museum and ransacks their historical weapon and armor displays, going for the chainmail and leather armor instead of a full metal armor. It was as light as he could get it while offering the necessary protections as he sometimes has no choice but to get into close combat with them.

He goes for weapons his Bleeds are familiar with, a hunting bow for stealth kills that wouldn’t alert the hordes, a sword with the nearest weight to what he was familiar with, a hunting dagger that he uses more as a utility tool than anything else and an emergency pistol he got from an undead police officer he took down.

He kept his identity a secret. There was no need to tell everyone he was Desmond Miles, not when he’s not sure yet if Abstergo had already been wiped out or if they’re not behind the scenes, protected by the best security money can buy.

He woke up alone, in a room that had enough clues for him to figure out that he was about to be dissected (or vivisected since he wasn’t dead yet).

No clues on where the Assassins were.

If there were even Assassins left.

All he knew was that he woke up and the world had turned into a post zombie apocalypse.

So he continues to travel, focusing on the rooftops to traverse and only making contact with other survivors when it was necessary (or if his kindness gets the better of him).

He does not give a name.

But his existence is whispered regardless.

The White Hood.

A man clad in a white hoodie with a blank mask that covers his entire face.

You know when you see him because…

His white clothes do not have a speck of blood at all.

#i feel like desmond would be trying to find his team #hoping they’re still alive #but not holding his breath at all #if they were dead #he was hoping he could find his apple with their remains #at the very least #it’s morbid yes #but he has seen enough death and the shambling of the undead #to have hope #but to prepare for the worst #assassin's creed #desmond miles #ask and answer #teecup writes/has a plot #fic idea: assassin's creed

[hmshermitcraft]

GIGS are a great ghost hunting team, even if they mess around too much and have too many close calls. People know when they have a tough ghost or spirit or whatever to deal with, they call the four of them. And Impulse and Skizz are glad that they asked Scar and Grian to come help them out.

But little do they know that Grian and Scar are ghosts themselves. Which is why they always manage to "escape" before a ghost could harm or kill them. They both agreed before joining Skizz and Impulse that they would protect the two of them from anything really dangerous and take the biggest risks.

Impulse and Skizz are together, and they know that Scar and Grian are together too, especially with how close they are and how they constantly egg each other on. After one harrowing ghost hunt, they all stay over at Impulse's place and wake up in a big cuddle pile. They all agree that they want to start dating as a quad, making jokes about being the best ghost hunting team and the best group of four boyfriends.

Grian and Scar know they are going to have to tell the other two the truth and how they manage to appear human and corporeal (they made a deal with a witch which is a whole other story), but they aren't sure how to go about it. But after Scar called his and Grian's home their "haunt". he thinks it's going to have to be very soon.

Grian nearly fell straight through the floor when Scar said that - as if that wouldn't be an even worse giveaway! He's been feeling that a lot lately, Skizz is far too good at flustering him.

It's a miracle they've not given themselves away already. They just need to figure out a way to tell them, because their boyfriends deserve the truth. And they deserve to find out out from Grian and Scar.

If only they had the chance.

It was stupid, like so many things they do. But this time it was stupid whilst Impulse was still in the house. Scar didn't need to see Grian's panicked look to feel the strength of the spirit currently prowling the house. The shattered mirror felt like it reverberated through both of them.

Scar launches himself through the locked front door before Skizz or Grian have the chance to react. He can hear Grian yelling, but the bone-chilling presence is too close to Impulse's warmth. Far too close.

He makes it upstairs, heavy footsteps silent. The stairs don't even creak beneath his weight. Impulse looks at him in surprise, tucked in the corner between a wardrobe and the wall. But the confused murmur of Scar's name is all it takes for the ghost to turn, sharp blade dragging along the floor and towards Impulse.

Scar leaps forward, shoving the ghost away. The blade slices through him as Impulse screams. It hurts, but Scar will 'live'. He grabs Impulse, shoving him towards the door before the ghost can recover. Grian is already in the front doorway.

"Scar," Grian says, firmly. Scar ignores him, focused on getting Impulse safely into the van. "Scar you are missing a chunk of your torso."

Scar looks down and, sure enough, where most of his chest should be is open space, the borders of which spread like ink through paper.

It's not the way they wanted to tell their boyfriends, but Scar doesn't regret it.

That axe would've been through Impulse if he didn't and as much as he and Grian love being ghosts, they don't want their boyfriends to join them quite so soon.

#hermitshipping #trafficshipping #ask #grian tag #skizz tag #impulse tag #scar tag #scarian #skizzpulse #poly gigs #mod 🎀 #weekly theme: ghosts

[1moremilgram-enjoyer]

Fuuta T1 Cover - Mozaik Role

This song's a bit more odd than some others, but I think it fits Fuuta quite well! Let's see what the connection is, though obviously this is all just my opinion and my view.

CW Online harassment, harmful relationships, sex

Mozaik Role can be read in a few different ways, but the interpretation I'm going with is that it speaks of a romantic relationship between two people which is beginning to break down, as they don't feel satisfied with it. The main reason why is that they feel the connection doesn't go beyond sexual attraction, it's superficial.

Lack of sympathy and superficial sex seem to perfectly describe the unbreakable bond between you and me Saying things like, "Either way, I still love you..." (lol) [...]

In the end, I got tired of you Since I don't know if it's love or lust, what should I call this relationship I'm about to end?

(Translation)

(Note: Purely sexual relationships can still be meaningful and aren't inherently inferior to romantic relationships. But sexual attraction isn't enough to hold up a healthy romantic relationship, the same way romantic attraction isn't enough to hold up a healthy sexual relationship)

Staying together and pretending to be in love only hurts them.

Certain words pierced through you I described the fluid flowing from your wound as "love" [...]

Wouldn't it be better to say you used to love me? We're intertwined, so nobody can touch us Isn't this fate, too? It's just a certain world of love that disappears [...]

Can we say we used to love each other? We were hanging on and struggling Wouldn't it be better if you just killed me, since I hate you?

In fact, in the video, Gumi regains her colors when the other person disappears.

That's the idea. I believe the 'mosaic' in the title refers to a scattered and broken up relationship.

So what's the connection to Fuuta? Well, I believe he's essentially talking to his old 'friends' here. The idea is that their connection is completely superficial, though the 'sex' would refer to as he puts it:

(T1) Q1: What is a friend?

F: Folks you can get hyped over the same thing with.

Basically, their relationship doesn't go further than 'those guys I talk to online to cancel people together and hang out to have fun'. It's all superficial, held together by the shared enjoyment of playing videogames and going on online witch hunts-

(Oh my God that's why Killcheroy is represented by a witch it's because it's a witch hunt-)

Not only that, but they're all bad influences on each other, which is obvious given what their 'friendship' led to. That's why it'd be best if they leave each other behind, if they said they used to 'love' each other. Not to mention that Fuuta's friends do abandon him after Killcheroy dies.

So yeah, a completely superficial relationship. Again, other readings exist, but in my opinion this is the one that best fits Fuuta.

Well that was pretty short. Hope it made sense! Take care!

#milgram #fuuta kajiyama #mozaik role cover #honestly this cover goes hard #fuuta sing a boring song challenge level IMPOSSIBLE #bangers only when *looks up va* arthur lounsbery's on the mic #anyways

[thehollowwriter]

The Official Bio of Morrigan Clearcove

Basic Info:

Name: Morrigan Clearcove

Homeland: The Coral Sea

Species: Cookie cutter shark mer

Birthday: 12th October

Age: 43 (technically, he would be in his 60s...)

Height/length: 158cm

Dominant hand: Right

Unique magic: [REDACTED]

Family:

Husband: Silas Clearcove

Unnamed grandfather (in-law)

Unnamed mother

Unnamed father

Unnamed siblings

Unnamed cousins

Son: Finn Cl- what are you talking about? He and Silas haven't given names yet! There's six on the way, and he's so excited to meet them! He's got a list of names miles long...

Preferences:

Hobbies: Singing, hunting with Silas, learning new spells

Likes: Music, Silas, food, fighting, his students

Dislikes: People that annoy him, his parents low-key (don't tell them he said that), strict rules, "idiots"

Favourite food: Tuna seaweed wraps

Least favourite food: Mussels

Appearance:

Morrigan is notably attractive to most who come across him. He has long, curly, hip length dark green hair, dark green skin, and turquoise eyes. He has long black claws, and his teeth are not as scary as Silas', they just look like the tweels': sharp, except they're smaller, and he has more of them. He has an abundance of freckles and a youthful, clean-shaven face. The only reason he has no scars is because his injuries from fights were always well treated.

In his human form, his hair, eyes, and teeth are the same, but his skin is very tanned. He hasn't been in human form since his NRC days, though

Personality:

Morrigan is short-tempered and abrasive, an act first think later type guy. He's fully capable of being pleasant, which he is to most people, but that falls away real fast when he gets irritated. He can be quite aggressive and wild but has good control over himself as an adult and lets those pent up feelings out through hunting and fighting with Silas.

He can be a bastard when he wants to be and likes to mess around with people, sending them a smug grin when they glare at him.

He has a constant desire to prove himself and be the best that is very difficult for him to break out of.

That aside, he is genuinely quite kind when he wants to be, as well as passionate and protective. He's a jokester, and thinks puns are the funniest thing in the world (Sea Witch save his NRC roommate), along with morbid humour.

Some Fun Facts/Extra Info

•Morrigan comes from a middle class family (that is under constant threat of getting the same treatment Silas' family did, but that's a story for another time) in the city of Atlanta

•Morrigan went to NRC and was in Savanaclaw (rumours say he was dorm leader but was stripped of his position after trying to bite someone's throat out in a very public fight)

•Morrigan is very passionate about teaching and cares deeply for his students

•He taught Cosme before he (Cosme) went to NRC

•He's an adrenaline junkie

•He's an incredibly powerful mage with a knack for mastering spells quickly (he just looks for spells to master-)

•He is an unfortunate victim of both gifted kid and golden child syndrome

Tagging: @distant-velleity @krenenbaker @boopshoops @the-banana-0verlord @cynthinesia

@theleechyskrunkly @elenauaurs @whspermy-name @officialdaydreamer00 @ramshacklerumble

@quartztwst @br3adtoasty @skrimpyskimpy @the-trinket-witch @ghostiidasponk the demons won, he's got a bio now

#morrigan clearcove #twisted wonderland #twst oc

[windvexer]

Hi, have you ever heard of this entity?

https://www.scarystudies.com/midnight-man-game/

Would a witch be able to summon it outside of this context and what kind of entity is this? Also, using your own name and dropping blood onto paper what does actually entail?

Easy link to URL

Midnight Man is an urban legend. I suppose that if such an entity does exist, it could be classified as a pop cultural spirit, or perhaps an egrigore.

There is no way for us to know if it is possible to summon Midnight Man outside of this elaborate summoning ritual, until we do the necessary research. When lore dictates that a certain ritual is the correct one to use to summon an entity, it's hubris to assume we can conjure the same spirit using our own, unrelated summoning rituals.

And until you let Midnight Man try to murder you until 3:33 am, then how would you know you conjured the same spookypasta spirit if you used another format? Just because you summon a spooky spirit who promises to kill you doesn't mean you've summoned the actual Midnight Man, if such a creature does actually exist.

Also, you don't even get anything for surviving the ordeal with Midnight Man. You just don't die. This seems like a terrible deal. There are lots of urban legend summoning stories. Have you considered Three Kings, or perhaps the Man in the Fields? Either of those urban legends at least suggests that if you don't die or go permanently insane you'll get wishes, or something.

I mean, even if we're approaching this from a pop-culture witchcraft context, Midnight Man explicitly doesn't like or help people at all, unlike Man in the Fields. So it's hard for me to see this going anywhere even if you want to take the urban legend and transplant him into your personal magical practice.

I'm not sure I understand your question about using your own name. The instructions you linked seem quite clear:

1. Write down your name on a piece of paper. First, middle, and last name. Then put a drop of your blood on the same paper. Let the blood soak in to the paper. 2. Then turn off the lights. All of them. Go to the wooden door and put the piece of paper with your name in front of it. Then light the candle and put it in on top of the piece of paper.

I do sometimes use my blood in rituals. To obtain blood for this purpose, I use sterile diabetic lancets which can be purchased at any pharmacy.

Also, if your aim is to summon a demon who's only goal is to eviscerate you, please let me recommend a more fire-safe option for the setup: Use a candle with a low profile, like a tea light, and place both the paper and the candle in a large, fire-safe cooking pot.

Being hunted by a suspected demon seems like a great setup to kick a real candle and actually burn down your apartment, and doubtless the insurance company would not attempt to subrogate against the Midnight Man.

Best of luck working with creepypasta spirits!

#answered

[ofpineapplesanddawns]

For your Halloween prompts: Good Omens and black cats! Can be at or not, dealers choice 🐈‍⬛

This is a South Downs fic!

On with the fic!

--

Aziraphale peeked out of his downstairs reading nook when he heard what sounded like hissing. "Crowley?" He stepped out and went into the living room, where he found the demon, staring out the window, mouth twitching, eyes wide.

"What in the world are you doing?" He asked and Crowley glanced at him, then looking back at the window.

"There are cats in our yard."

Aziraphale slowly blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Cats, angel. Our yard is full of cats. Specifically black cats."

Moving towards the window, Aziraphale saw that, yes, the yard had black cats scattered about, doing all sorts of... cat things. Sleeping, roaming, cleaning each other, cleaning themselves, cleaning... areas. And one was perched right in Crowley's flower box in front of the window, loafing and quite pleased with themself.

"Oh dear, did you plant cat nip again?" Aziraphale asked.

"No, we learned our lesson on that." Crowley said, then snarled at the cat in the flower box, who just flopped over and did a big stretch. It was adorable.

"Then why is our yard full of cats? Black cats, to be specific?"

"Because it's... Halloween." Crowley grumbled.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Pushing himself away from the window, Crowley turned to Aziraphale, crossing his arms. "Black cats are part of the whole... aesthetic and tradition of the holiday, but also... uhhh... look, don't go spreadin' this around but..."

He shifted on his feet. "Do you remember the whole witch hunt thing back in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and stuff? And I think a bit before then? Actually, add the fourteenth century in there too."

"Yes?"

"Well, remember how people used to use cats as scapegoats, especially black cats?"

Aziraphale looked out the window, where two more cats had made their way into the flower box. "Oh. OH!" He turned and smiled at Crowley, who groaned, looking away.

"Don't."

"You protected them, didn't you?"

"Nnnnnn..."

The angel was grinning at this. "I knew it! I knew that there was a reason black cats are still around today!"

"They asked me to help them! I wasn't going to let a bunch of dumb humans kill them just because they never washed their hands!"

"Then why do they come to our yard?"

Crowley sighed loudly and looked back at the window. "Cause Halloween is spooky time for snakes and cats and for some reason the black cat community decided it's the perfect time to come find me and hang out. Used to be all the cats in Mayfair trying to break into my flat, now the locals found me."

"Wonderful! New friends forever thankful for what you did for their families! I should get them treats, I'm sure we've got some canned fish for them!" Aziraphale hummed, heading for the kitchen.

"No, don't spoil them! They'll never leave!" Crowley called out as Aziraphale walked into the kitchen, though he did catch his husband said 'you're lucky he's a big softy and likes nasty canned fish!'

--

Did you know that those little spots of random white hairs on black cats are called God's thumbprints and were meant to be a sign to spare the black cat back in the ol' witch hunting days?

In my mind, it's actually Crowley's doing. Seems like something they'd do. They did save all those goats, after all.

#good omens #ineffable husbands #ineffable spouses #crowley #anthony j crowley #aziraphale #john's drabbles

[fategoflatass]

My Fall 2023 Watchlist & Opinions

Welcome to the comeback of my reviews that no one expected! But hey, I think this would be a nice practice for me to develop my writing skills and my critical thinking (?).

Take in consideration this post will be long because #unemployed, so everything will be under the cut.

Ready or not (I sure am not), here I go!

Atarashii Joushi wa Dotennen

Comedy, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆¾

After an atrocious experience with an abusive boss, Momose decides to switch workplaces. Used to such a toxic environment, he never expected his new superior to be so goofy!

The most wholesome show you'll find this season, and one of the most I've seen in general!

The work environment is pretty much paradise, each and every character being the living representation of the sweetest and most tender cotton candy you'll be able to find.

While the comedy mostly relies on Shirosaki's sillyness, it never gets old. Alongside the laughs, you'll find yourself aww-ing to many, many scenes.

Also, the series is conscious of the way people takes it (no, this is not a BL) and dedicates some scenes to it by giving different double meaning scenarios (they're all wholesome, no need to worry about that). Just a heads up, in case you're not into this kind of thing.

Want to know more? There's a canonical bisexual character in it! And here I was thinking that we didn't exist for Japan.

Totally recommend for those gloomy days, or even when you just need to shut off your brain.

Dr. STONE: NEW WORLD Part 2

Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi // ☆☆☆☆

No summary due to spoilers.

I don't think there's much I can say about this one? I mean, unless I want to spoil someone, and I'm not a spoiler kind of person so...

For those curious about my experience, I'm enjoying myself very much! I decided to give it a try since my best friend loves it, and I liked it so much I quickly got up to date with it.

Now, do I understand every single thing they talk about? Hell nah, do you know how many times I failed chemistry and physics?!

But besides that, this show is a pretty wild and fun ride. And not only the previous parts, but also this one! Again, don't feel like making spoilers but the quality hasn't lacked not even a little bit. The characters are still as charismatic and funny as they've always been, and the plot keeps getting more and more interesting as it progresses.

Only thing I can say without explicitly spoiling anything: one of these days, Gen will end up messing with the wrong people. Can't tell you what tells me that, but he's messy enough for me to be unable to think otherwise.

Hametsu no Oukoku

Action, Drama, Fantasy // ☆☆

Once benerated due to their wisdom, witches are now being hunted down by humans who accuse them of impeding the progress of civilization. Adonis, a human raised by a witch, swears revenge against those who took his mentor from him.

CW: instances of extreme violence, forced non-sexual public partial nudity

Yes, I watched this one. Yes, it's an edgy one. No, it's not fun.

As someone who's always down to anything that has to do with fantasy, magic and supernatural beings, as well as being able to enjoy the trashiest things in life, I had some hope in the plot. Not in the way that it might be actually good, but in the way that it could be so bad I could get some laughs out of it. Sadly, this series takes itself quite seriously.

Which wouldn't be a problem if it weren't because it isn't even that good. The characters are plain, the episodes feel longer than they should, and there are times where you can see it go all over the top.

A pet peeve I have is when certain abilities/powers have ridiculous names, and this show does that to a tee by giving them some of the dumbest/edgiest (not exclusionary) names I've seen in a while.

"Do they even have to do with what each witch's magic is supposed to be?" I ask to the void in utter confusion.

"Absolutely not, but doesn't it sound rad?!" an easily impressed twelve-year-old exclaims from the grades.

Anyway, wouldn't recommend this show to anyone unless you're looking for an edgy power fantasy where characters die in gruesome ways not even five minutes after being introduced, magic type and all.

Also, can someone explain to me what does it mean to have "Natural Law" magic?

Hikikomari Kyuuketsuki no Monmon

Action, Comedy, Fantasy // ☆☆¼

After three years of becoming a total shut-in, Komari wakes up to find out she's the newest Commander in the Mulnite Imperial Army! Although she's descendant of a pretty powerful vampire family, she's rather inept when it comes to magic, even finding blood disgusting. Will her, alonside her maid, be able to make her path to success, or is failure awaiting for her around the corner?

Damn, this one took its sweet time to take off, only to crash and burn because the method was so cliché and overused.

The first three to four episodes are boring and not interesting at all, characters are bland as a wet piece of cardboard and the comedy excels at falling flat.

(Mild spoilers ahead, because I couldn't care less about this one)

And now you mean to tell me your seemlingly powerless main character is actually OP, only that under hypnosis? I didn't need to be a hound to be able to smell that crap from miles away, now did I?

But let's leave that aside to talk about Vil, A.K.A Male Gaze 101. I understand why she's attached to the protagonist, don't get me wrong, but did she need to sexually harass the protagonist or...? Also, how could I forget about the time where she almost forced Komari to pee herself in front of her!

Bro, if I were to know this was an omorashi hentai wannabe I wouldn't have given it a chance.

Anyways, if you're into any of the things I've mentioned previously, then enjoy yourself. This anime's definitely not for me.

Kamierabi

Action, Drama, Psychological, Supernatural // ☆½

A group of high schoolers see themselves forced to fight each other to death for the coveted title of God. Who will emerge victorious and claim their godly throne?

You have no right to ask that in the summary when you spoil the results in the first minutes of the first episode.

Let's be honest, if anyone is talking about this series is because Yoko Taro's name served as free promo. But did you know he's credited, not for the story, but for the concept of it? Big yikes, huh?

If you are a three-episode-rule kind of person, I assure you won't be needing that for this anime. One episode is enough torture, trust me.

The first minute is there to make sure you understand this story is different, is mature. There are no friendships, no love interests, only tons of suffering and betrayals. You know, what people back in 2011 probably went for when Mirai Nikki first aired.

Characters are not only boring as hell, but their designs are nothing to die for, heavely based on their assigned colors because you'll be forgetting their names the minute after they get introduced.

Fun fact: If you pay enough attention, you'll be able to see their phone cases' designs. Not only they look ugly, but they also spoil their so secretive abilities!

Speaking of character design, did you know the one in charge of it didn't even bother to create background character's templates? They all look like gray extraterrestrial things trying to pass as human beings, their never changing facial expressions being the cherry on top. This might be one edgy way of showing they don't matter to the main story, but it just feels super lazy. Also, this... artistic choice is just another spoiler, since everyone who has some sort of relevance has an established design. But oh well.

Fun fact: Every single one of these NPCs are gray, expect for a couple of them in episode six who are red and blue. One of them is the bad guy, can you guess who?

In summary, this show is utter trash. Wouldn't recommend unless you're as messed up as I am and like to watch crappy productions.

Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri

Drama, Mystery // ☆☆☆¾

When police office Totomaru is assigned to a serial killer case, he turns to Kamonohashi Ron for help—a once considered genius who, after a fatal mistake, got himself expelled from the top detective training academy and was forbidden to become one.

This is your classic detective show with the more normal character having to learn how to deal with the more eccentric one who's always really good at deducing. And I love it.

Yeah, it might be a copycat of other series with the same dynamics (like many other mystery anime), but they're all still dear to my heart. I just love them, man!

Every case they've introduced until now have been interesting and fun. It's been entertainting trying to think by myself what happened, who might be the culprit, how did they do it and why. As always, it's especially cool when you get close enough or, even better, when you were in the right. Serotonin kicks like those are always appreciated.

The dynamic between the protagonists is also really fun, Ron's shenanigans never getting old. Totomaru might not be having the time of his life, but I sure am!

If you're a fan of these kind of shows, then I totally recommend! If you're tired of the same scheme over and over again, maybe not so much. Would be nice if you'd give it a try, though!

Kanojo mo Kanojo Season 2

Comedy, Ecchi, Romance, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆¼

After their hot springs trip, Naoya continues his relationships with both Saki and Nagisa. Alongside Milika and Shino, they embark on a summer vacation full of romance with a fireworks festival, camping, and Okinawa. Chaos ensured.

There are not many series that touch upon polyamory which saddens me to a fault. The closest to this concept would be harem series, but a polyamorous relationship should never be a competition to see which whom does your "shared partner" choose to spend the rest of their life with.

While KanoKano isn't the best representation of this type of relationships (Saki often feeling like she's competing against Nagisa), it's not a bad series? Or, at least, not that bad. Rather decent, actually.

It's not boring, although it isn't the most entertaining series either. If I had to decide between KanoKano and any other series that touches upon polyamory (even if they do it with the tip of a stick, miles apart of the concept), I would probably go for Hamefura's canonical (albeit not in the way I would like it to be) Katarina fan club.

I just feel something's... wrong, you know. I get Naoya loves them both and that, in theory, both of them understand that, but I can't help feeling uncomfortable when Saki mentions this supposed competition the girls have (and the way they treat polyamory as "two timing" when that would imply it wasn't consensual?).

Besides that, it's a decent series to watch whenever you're bored. Not a masterpiece, but is not like it's trying to be one.

UPDATE: Rating has been lowered to ☆ as of 11/10/23. Visit the reblog section for more.

Kimi no Koto ga Dai Dai Dai Dai Daisuki na 100-nin no Kanojo

Comedy, Romance // ☆☆☆☆

Rentarou has been rejected a total of 100 times throught his entire life. Is when he visits a shrine and prays for better luck when he meets the God of Love. He reveals to Rentarou that he'll get to date 100 women in the foreseeable future. The catch is, once he meets them they must happily love each other. Otherwise, they'll die. What will be of Rentarou and his 100 girlfriends during high school?

He has arrived. The man, the legend. The harem protagonist of all harem protagonists.

Rentarou Aijou has arrived, and he's here to make you and your wife part of his loveable and excessively numerous family.

As I mentioned when talking about KanoKano, I've been looking for series that touch upon polyamory. And if you're like me, then you've just hit the jackpot!

While I'm conscious 100Kano is a parody of harem series and was never meant to be taken seriously, the way none of these girls are competing for the protagonist's exclusive love is refreshing. They're actually a pretty big family, always supportive of each other and down to give each other a hand or two (or twenty, if needed). They'll do anything they can to make their boyfriend the happiest man alive, and so will he with them.

There're no favoritisms whatsoever. Such concept as "the first one to arrive gets to win" does not exist in his agenda. In Rentarou (and every single one of his girlfriends)'s mind, everyone wins because everyone is his favorite.

An excellent series to watch by yourself or with your pals in case you're looking for something silly and easy to digest.

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto

Drama, Mystery // ☆☆☆☆¼

CW: infant death, classism, self-harm, kidnapping

Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. When rumours about imperial heirs falling ill surfaces, she puts her knowledge in medicinal herbs and poison to good use and finds a cure. It's then when she catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. The series follows Maomao as she solves numerous mysteries.

I can't explain just how excited I was for this one. As I said before, I love mysteries, but I also really like historical series. So when you mix both genres, you get characters who try to solve various cases with only the means they had yesterday.

Besides the art being drop dead gorgeous (alongside every single lady who makes an appearance in the story), the story is engaging and so much fun. The episodes are already a bit shorter than usual (albeit not for much, it's just me being petty), but the way everything develops makes it feel like they last no more than five minutes.

And Maomao—God Maomao! She's one of the best female main characters I've seen as of recently. She's not lacking personality—she actually has way too much, and I love that. She's so clever and capable at what she does, I bet it'd be so much fun to just stare at her as she picks different herbs or just stays still for hours, trapped in her thoughts.

I'm a sucker for good relationship dynamics and the one between Maomao and Jinshi is just *chef's kiss* exquisit. The way he's constantly trying to seduce her and she just stares at him in apathy or disgust (bonus for when she brushes off the places where he'd placed his hand on) are golden. I also love how what started as teasing and doubt about the other's true intentions morphs into genuine interest and maybe, just maybe, a tiny itty crush.

A pretty strong contestant for anime of the year, in my opinion.

Megumi no Daigo: Kyuukoku no Orange

Action, Drama // ☆☆☆½

The series follows three young firefighters who share the same goal—becoming members of the special rescue corps known as "Orange". We'll follow them from their early training days to the day they face the crisis that'll push Japan at the brink of collapsing.

I don't know about you, but I've never seen a series focused on firefighters. Yes, I know about Promare and Fire Force, but those aren't "real" firefighters, if you know what I mean.

Where's their daily life at the station, their training—just everything that comes with being one of them? I don't want flashy fight scenes against angsty twinks, I want to see people getting rescued from collapsed buildings and cats getting saved from trees.

Along with interesting characters and tense situations, all these making it difficult for you to not empatize with, Megumi no Daigo is here to bring us a peek on how the real deal is—with both the good, the bad and the ugly.

This anime is confirmed to be the prequel to a movie released in the 90's, so there's even more content in case you're interested!

Migi to Dali

Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆

Twin brothers Migi and Dali pretend to be the Sonoyama's adoptive son, Hitori, in order to find out the truth behind their mother's death.

CW: (prepare your bingo cards) *inhales* forced non-sexual infantilization, forced partial nudity, forced non-sexual pet play, bullying, implied murder, classism, forced eating, non-sexual groping, surveillance, invasion of privacy, kidnapping and imprisonment. ~95% of these happen to a minor, so yeah.

While the main focus of the first two episodes was the comedy (it's still present in the rest of the series, just not as much), I didn't find it especially hilarious? It does give off Sakamoto vibes at times, but it never makes me laugh as much as the author's previous work did.

The mystery is still there, thought, and that's what keeps me coming back. The suspense surronding the twins' mother's passing is engaging, you genuinely want to find out what happened there and how the place where they've moved and its habitants are involved in the case.

Now, as I mentioned before this anime is disturbing and thus can be highly triggering for some. So please beware before giving it a chance.

Overtake!

Drama, Sports // ☆☆☆¾

Kouya is a professional photographer who, due to past circumstances, gave up his passion for taking pictures of people. But his fate changes the day he meets Komaki Motors, a family-run shop that regularly competes in F4 along with their only racer, Haruka.

CW: implied death (car accident)

Sports anime of the season, let's go! This time, about car racing. Never watched an anime like this one before, although I know Initial D is out there. I just haven't watched it... yet.

To be honest, I didn't expect to connect with the characters to this level. I got hooked to the story from day one and has been like that ever since.

The story is fun, the races will have you at the edge of your seat while cheering for your favorite team.

Because yes, I think the rival team can also be cheered on! Maybe their main face might not be the bestest guy, but Toshiki does deserve everything in this world and so much more.

And when it comes to the drama, it never comes out as over the top. Every single reason for them thinking, responding or acting the way they do makes total sense given their past ciscumstances.

Speaking of the characters, everyone here has enough personality to be separated from the rest: Haruka's overachieving and at times harsh demeanor makes a good contrast with Koutaro's more calm and playful behavior. And while Satsuki's charismatic, conceited and women-loving persona might be a pain for many, Toshiki serves as a good companion with his serious and ambitions being. And I could mention the adults, but I think you catch my vibe.

I so recommend this one!

Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu Season 2

Fantasy, Romance, Slice of Life // ☆☆☆½

We follow Sei, an office worker in her twenties who was suddenly summoned to another world as a "Saint". Taking advantage of her natural love of plants, she started working at a medicinal plant research institute. We also get to meet Albert Hawke, with whom she's more than friends but less than lovers.

Season two arrived and I have yet to rewatch the first one, although I think it might be a little too late for that.

Don't go into it expecting a wonderful series because it is not (or, at least, it isn't for me). It's a pretty neat feel good series, but definitely nothing out of the ordinary. Just nice people living their lives.

Sei and Albert's relationship is as wholesome as always, I appreciate them taking their time and not rushing into making things official. It feels, I don't know... adult.

There's literally not much I can say about this one other than I would recommend for those who are looking for a nice and relaxing shoujo.

Shangri-La Frontier

Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi // ☆☆☆¾

Rakuro is a "crap-game hunter"—a strong aficionado to clearing buggy and just straight up bad titles that aren't even compatible with the now more frequently used VR technology. The game he's chosen to tackle next is the widely aclaimed "Shangri-La Frontier" that counts with thirty million players and counting. Little did he know this decision would change his fate alongside with many other players he meets along the way!

I can barely count the times I had this much fun while watching a series, and I can count even less the occasions where a gaming-inspired anime made me feel this great!

I've found myself dumbfounded so many times at just how detailed Shangri-La Frontier is. It's obvious there was research behind it, the author's a straight up legend for dedicating so much time and passion to something others would've easily disregarded as another basic, boring ass medieval-inspired MMORPG.

The level of character customization (you can even modify their origins like ‼), the many monsters you find along the way, and tons of easter eggs that players have yet to find in their entirety! It's my first time saying this when it comes to gaming-centered anime, but holy hell I wished this game existed IRL!

And honestly, I identify with Rakuro a bit too much when it comes to enjoying crap. In his case, are bad games. In mine, bad anime. I would love to have a chat with him and share our experiences and disgraces that come with this harsh hobby.

SHY

Action, Drama // ☆☆☆½

When we needed them the most, they appeared! As we were on the brink of World War Three, individuals with superpowers appeared all around the planet with the only mission to mantain peace. They would eventually become symbols of their nations, their presence being enough to lower the crime rates. Teru, most known as Shy, is Japan's heroine. When a mysterious and menacing association called Amalareiks surfaces, Shy must join forces with her fellow superheroes to stop their plans, all while dealing with her shyness and, overall, her teenage life.

CW: violence, death, self hatred, intrusive thoughts

Would it be cool to call it the more mature version of Boku no Hero Academia?

I had the manga for this series on my pending list for a while and when I saw an anime adaptation was coming out, not gonna lie, I got quite excited.

Now, I have to admit it's not one of my favorite series this season. It might be the pacing that sometimes gives me the feeling the episodes are, although just a little bit, longer than they actually are.

I love the concept and how it's executed, I really like the characters and the setting in which they're established. The drama they all have feels realistic and you can easily empathise with them. In my case, Teru's constant conflict with herself hit a little bit too close to home.

I would recommend it to those who're looking for a more mature series while also wanting to watch shounen-esque scenarios.

Sousou no Frieren

Adventure, Drama, Fantasy // ☆☆☆☆½

The adventure's over. The Demon King has successfully been defeated and thus Frieren and her fellow adventurers make their way back home. Now a highly regarded mage, she goes back to her slow-paced life only to realize years later, while attending Himmel's funeral, how short human's life expectancy is when compared with her own near inmortality. Frieren then makes the decision to begin a new adventure in the search of new absurd spells and friends alongside whom she expects to understand what life means to them and just how impactful can be what she perceives as nothing more than an instant.

CW: death, grief, mild violence

Oh Lord, this one's painful. I've no idea how they managed to do it, but they got me attached to the hero's party so quickly and so deeply this crap had already scarred me on episode one.

This story's gorgeous, I don't think I have to explain myself on that. Besides the more than stunning art, animation and music that acompannies us during the entirety of Frieren's self-discovery adventure, the slow pace and quiet moments are quite the delight.

The characters we meet along the way are also fantastic, written with such love, thought and care behind you'll fall for them in no time.

I truly don't want to talk much about it since I think this is an experience that one must live for themselves, but trust me when I tell you this is something you'll never forget.

SPY×FAMILY Season 2

Action, Comedy, Slice of Life, Supernatural // ☆☆☆☆

The same as season one, only that now the family's heading on a cruise ship expedition!

I don't think there's much I can say about this one? The second season's been giving the same vibes I got from the first one, so a wholesome, found family-centered comedic slice of life about three persons who don't know each other at all and do their best so that situation never changes.

Anya keeps on being the chaotic menace she has been from day one, Yor is still one of the best mothers ever alongside a woman I would never dare look for a fight against, and Loid keeps on repeating his more than iconic mantra as he unsuspectingly falls asleep while dreaming about certain woman surrounded by a zillion flowers.

But, you know, anything for the mission.

When it comes to the upcoming arc, I'm excited for seeing Yor at work! Been dying to get anything like this, and I'm so glad my prayers have been heard.

Undead Unluck

Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Supernatural // ☆☆☆¾

All Fuuko wants is a passionate romance like the one in her favorite shoujo manga. Sadly, her Unluck ability deems this dream impossible. But that anguish will have to wait because Andy, someone with the Undead ability, takes her as his test subject to see if, thanks to her misfortune, he can finally rest in peace. It seems peace has never been an option, though, because certain secret organization has begun chasing after them.

CW: not-quite-concenting groping

If I took my sweet time to start watching this series was mainly because, for some hell of a reason, it gave me big Mashle vibes. Don't ask, I just thought the comedy would be similar. And since my humble opinion on Harry Potter 2.0 is that it has its humour stuck up its ass, you might understand I gave an olympic jump over Undead Unluck.

But then I decided to give it a chance and man, Mashle would never!

Not the funniest series I've watched, but I appreciate the multiple laughs it gave me.

Now, what I do not appreciate are the various groping scenes. If Fuuko were to consent all of those, then cool. Who am I to judge whatever two consenting adults (Fuuko's 20+, right?) do with their lives and bodies? The thing is, not every groping is consented by her, especially at the beggining. So yeah, beware of that.

Putting that aside, the characters are pretty cool and so much fun to see fighting or just interacting with each other. The ability system the series has is rather interesting, would love to learn more about it.

Watashi no Oshi wa Akuyaku Reijou

Comedy, Fantasy, Romance // ☆☆☆½

We've heard this story before: girl reincarnates into her favorite otome game and, since she knows her way down every route, she gets to win over her favorite bachelor. Only that, this time, it might not be as predictable. After all, who knows what's truly inside Rae Taylor's mind? Claire François for sure doesn't, especially now that she's going after her—the game's villainess!

CW: discussions of homophobia, classism, rae can be creepy at times

In the words of @arataka-reigen, “This anime is like if Maria from Hamefura was the one who got isekai'd and then fell in love with OG Katarina”. Couldn't say it better, pal.

While this series is not one of my favorites this season, the characters not going right down my alley and the pacing not being the best, I truly appreciate the cafeteria scene. I've never seen such a discussion over diverse sexualities adn homophobia in an anime before, and I can only clap to that.

And not only that, but it seems like it's going down a rather... interesting path. I mean, the whole classism that's present during the series, the "commoner" students' complains, the game's title being "Revolution"... I smell something nice.

Yuzuki-san Chi no Yon Kyoudai

Comedy, Drama, Slice of life // ☆☆☆¾

From the day the Yuzuki brothers lost both their parents, Hayato never stopped taking care of his little siblings, making sure all their needs are met and nothing's lacking. They share tears, laughter, and a specially unbreakeable bond.

I've no idea what might be the reason, but all these stories about family (whether related by blood or not being quite irrelevant) alongside the others where they include and/or center around pets are my weakness.

The four brothers feel like actual humans beings, their dramatic and joyful moments in life will definitely take you for a ride althought, admitely, it might not be the most intense one.

Hayato would do literally anything for his family and, honestly, same. Both Mikoto, Minato, and Gakuto are downright adorable and would love to pinch every single one of those cheeks like there's no tomorrow.

If a cutsie family-center slice of life it's what you're looking for, look no further. But if what you want is a drama in general, then I would recommend Frieren first.

If you reached the end, thank you so much for reading! I literally stayed up til 2 AM to finish writing this (and I didn't even include the titles I dropped), so yeah. Highly appreciate!

#sousou no frieren #undead unluck #100kano #kusuriya no hitorigoto #dr stone #spy x family #kanojo mo kanojo #shangri la frontier #watashi no oshi wa akuyaku reijou #shy anime #migi to dali #overtake anime #kamierabi #yuzuki san chi no yon kyoudai #megumi no daigo #hametsu no oukoku #atarashii joushi wa do tennen #hikikomari kyuuketsuki no monmon #kamonohashi ron no kindan suiri #long post #fall 2023

[morningstargirl666]

Hey! I absolutely love your stories, and right now I'm super excited to see how TBBW will continue ☺️. I'm really curious how you came up/what inspired you to write everything about the werewolf lore and Klaus' dad being alive and quite amazing if I say so myself 🥰.

Thanks so much! And oh boy, is this a question. So, what did inspire me to write the werewolf lore and Klaus' father into the story?

Well.

That comes down to the very fundamental reason why anyone chooses to write fanfiction. I watched TVD up to s5, then I watched TO up to s3 and you know what I said to myself?

That's fucking stupid.

And then I re-wrote canon my own way out of a mix of rage and spite. Here's how:

First off - the werewolves in the tvd universe are so under-developed and shallow characterisations it wants to make me SCREAM. Like, at least for vampires, we have sire bonds and the intimacy of blood sharing, the implications that powerful vampires controlling big cities, little coffee shops with UV protected windows, the differences between daywalkers and nightwalkers - an idea of an actual SOCIETY out there. For werewolves? There's none of that. The ability to turn into a wolf on a full moon is perceived as a 'curse' by vampires and witches alike, their bite kills vampires and they've been hunted to almost extinction, and that's it. That's all we're given. There's some development in TO to do with packs and how they work, but again, very shallow writing. And again, TO, so it was centred around Hayley's werewolf journey not fucking, oh, I don't know maybe KLAUS MIKAELSON WHO IS PART WEREWOLF, THE ORIGINAL HYBRID???? So yeah. Not sure it even counts at this point.

[deeply inhales]

Sorry, it all makes me very angry thinking about it, as you can certainly tell. See, all that I can probably forgive because it is called The Vampire Diaries and not The Werewolf Diaries - makes sense they didn't spend as much time fleshing out werewolf culture and customs, the details of the species. But then. THEN they had to go bringing Klaus' biological father back from the dead - a man he never knew but probably longed to have known after his death, that little boy inside who always wanted a real father not an abusive shitbag - and then. They. Fucking. Killed him off.

Not only that but KLAUS killed him off.

Add the fact Klaroline was meant to be endgame, ENDGAME I SAY, thus, I was fuelled by such fury and spite I had to rewrite the entirety of tvd's s3-s4 because that, my friends, was the last straw and I could not live in a world where something SO stupid was left unchallenged.

So. It all began with Lycaon, really.

In TO, Ansel is the name of Klaus' father. However, I always thought it would be more interesting if his father looked more like Klaus (Ansel's actor, Lloyd Owen, doesn't look much different from Mikael, brown hair, chiselled chin, etc), for various reasons, mainly being it would be amazing to explore Klaus growing up thinking he looked like the sister that died before he was born, not knowing what his true father looked like and having no other reference since he didn't share Mikael's features. It's like, another layer of detail to him coming to terms with being a bastard. So, if I did bring in Klaus' father in with the name Ansel, readers would be forever associating the character with that physical appearance, which I didn't want. Knowing that, I decided to completely rewrite the entire character from scratch.

'Lycaon' is actually of greek origin - I did look at norse names, but none of them spoke to me, not like this one did. Lycaon just rolls of the tongue so beautifully, and it means 'king of wolves', which was rather fitting I thought. Makes Klaus a little lost prince almost, a reference to a favourite klaroline fic of mine, which expands beautifully on the werewolf lore: The Lost Prince and The Eternal Queen. The people of Scandinavia were travellers and conquerers too, famous for their navy, and with the Greek's influence in Europe, I didn't think it was too outlandish for a greek name to pop up. Like it's improbable, but lets suspend our disbelief a little on that front.

I can't quite remember what inspired Lycaon as a whole (it's been like, 3 years lol). I know I wrote that first chapter of The Little Wolf more as a way to get an idea out of my head. It wasn't about the klaroline then or any of tbbw's plot - even the rest of the little wolf's plot - which I came up with much later. It was just that scene, little Niklaus running through the woods and finding a wolf within them that felt oddly like home.

(And somehow, that one scene bloomed into what's probably going to become a 800k megafic, but isn't that how it always is, with writing?)

Going onto the deeper details of the werewolf lore... that's a mash up of everything I love about werewolves, honestly. There's inspiration drawn from other shows, of course, like Teen Wolf for example and even Twilight much to my shame (those books/movies are questionable okay but the werewolves looked BADASS) as well as just general myth and legend. There was some things I knew I didn't want to do, like make the wolf mates fated by destiny, something i've seen a lot in kc fics. That removes the romance for me, so in tbbw a wolf mate isn't a soulmate by supernatural force... they're a soulmate of choice. A mate is the wolf's first love, and the man's last - both sides have to fall in love, as one (which I think is much more poetic, no?). Which is why you have examples of Lycaon falling in love with Esther, while his wolf didn't - she wasn't his mate. I've also decided I'm going to take out the beta/omega werewolf dynamics in the edit I'm doing at the minute - originally I tried combining the fantasy werewolf pack dynamics (alpha, beta, omega) with real life wolf dynamics (wolf packs are actually families, an alpha pair being the parents of the other wolves). This is because the found family trope has me at the throat and the idea of werewolf packs being more like families? It's just such a romantic idea and I love it. So I'm changing that.

I'm always changing the lore, really. Always adding new things in. Currently, I'm rewriting the little wolf and adding some new scenes in, expanding on an idea I've had for a while and implimented elsewhere - that lycanthropy isn't a curse. It's like a....defence mechanism. It's not triggered because you killed someone - that's just a coincidence that can happen, vampire propaganda (cough, cough - Milkael's propaganda) that has spiralled out of proportion. Werewolves believe it too, because most packs and bloodlines have been decimated so catastrophically, many traditions and inherent knowledge has been lost. It's more like a trauma response? So if someone with the werewolf gene goes through something that ignites the fight or flight instinct, the wolf wakes and choosing fight. Because of course - this is werewolves we're talking about. It's more born of the idea that werewolves evolved (which I think is 100% more badass, like imagine prehistoric dire wolf werewolves people COME ON) rather than were a result of spell from some witch forgotten long ago.

But back centuries ago, before Mikael's blood feud, before the purge of werewolves, werewolf packs had this ritual? A rite of passage almost, a coming of age, that does the same thing - wakes the wolf. It's just been lost through the generations of death, destruction and fear. Or that's my headcanon of it, and you'll get a glimpse of the ritual in the little wolf, something that's happening in the background of a scene to expand on the lore.

There's so MUCH more to say about the werewolf lore. Maybe I'll reblog this and share more at a later time but this is long as it is. The werewolf lore is definitely a lot. Ah, the sacrifices I make for world building.

#klaroline #klaus x caroline #fanfiction #klaroline fanfiction #the big bad wolf #tbbw #morningstar writes #caroline forbes #klaus mikaelson #anon ask #ask me for a directors cut and i will provide #i ranted a little there anon I apologise #the world of tbbw is just a LOT lets just leave it at that

[alfiely-art]

Okay so I think this is how my voting is going to go next Trial? Unless huge stuff is revealed/happens

Haruka - Innocent

Haruka's expressed that he regrets what he did and feels horrible about it- he knows what he did was bad, and he wants to be better. He just needs the proper environment to heal.

Yuno - Innocent

She did nothing wrong. Like unless they suddenly decide she did infanticide instead of abortion, there's absolutely no question about it that she doesn't deserve to be in Milgram?? Sorry Yuno I don't see you as a innocent girl who can't do anything wrong, you just. Did not do anything wrong here.

Fuuta - Innocent

Now that he's realized that, yeah, doxxing people and witch hunting them is wrong and hurts people, I don't think he'd do it again. I mean, in trial 1 I think he was already sorta horrified by what happened, but trying not to claim responsibility- because that's a horrid thing to think about. "My actions killed someone." That's scary. But he's accepted it, and I think he's going to work on himself and be better.

Muu - Innocent

I know she was an asshole and bullied others. However, I'm a firm believer that NOBODY deserves to be bullied. I think everybody in the situation just majory sucked ass. And she's clearly horrified by what she did, she's just putting on different personas to cope with it. Get this girl some therapy.

Shido - Guilty

So, from my understanding, Shido convinced families that their loved ones were beyond saving, and then he killed them and harvested their organs? Very shitty to me. Once the trials are over I really don't think this guy will remain innocent. I know he was very suicidal in the beginning, but it read more to me that he was upset what he was doing didn't work out- that his wife is dead anyways. Idk.

Mahiru - Guilty

100% Guilty. I really can't understand Mahiru Inno Voters- Mahiru is an incredibly selfish and self-centered person, and it killed her lover. In trial 1 she's just singing about her needs in a relationship, about how she knows how to love better than her partner did. In trial 2 there is quite literally a line that goes "my emotions are out of control? I don't care!" Mahiru WILL hurt others and refuse to change herself over and over again. She doesn't even seem remorseful about her dead boyfriend. Like. She lowkey flirts with Es upon meeting them. Mahiru is just looking for someone else to hurt. She doesn't seem to understand that it isn't wrong to want to love and to be loved, but what's wrong is ignoring your partners needs for your own and making every part of the relationship about you. Also, I think she may have forced herself on him based on that scene where she does grabby hands and pounces, making the feathers scatter everywhere (like its what broke her boyfriend).

Kazui - Innocent

Kazui tried, he tried so hard to love his wife the "correct" way. Whether he's gay or alloaro, Kazui DID care about his wife and didn't want to hurt her. He couldn't keep lying to her and himself anymore. But the truth killed her, and Kazui feels so fricken?? Awful over it??? They were work friends before they got together, he clearly liked her. Just not romantically. He's struggling between whether lying eternally is the better choice, or if being truthful to himself and everyone else is the better choice. The truth killed his wife, but the lies were slowly killing him. Idk man, I've been in the same situation (nobody died though) and it's so hard to tell the truth about your identity.

Amane - Guilty(?)

Purge March is gonna help me decide, I think. I don't think Amane should've been voted guilty last trial- it, uh, clearly didn't have the affect we wanted it to have. But also, she's so far gone in her cult's beliefs that... I don't think either vote will shake that. I love Amane, she's a wonderful character, but Milgram won't help her. She would need YEARS of therapy and a safe, stable environment, and patient people, to help her heal. A Guilty vote won't help her. An Innocent vote won't help her. So Purge March is just gonna help me decide what to vote- because I highly doubt we can get EVERYONE in the community to refrain from voting. I'm leaning towards Guilty, though.

Mikoto - Guilty(?)

Okay this depends on who actually committed the crime. I believe that Mikoto himself did it, and his alters are trying to protect him and take the blame for the crime. In that case, my boy is guilty (sorry Mikoto). But if Milgram goes the "killer alter" route, then he's innocent. You can't really control what your alters do, yk? I might vote him innocent depending on the circumstances of his crime, too- it all depends. I'm hoping Double sheds more light on what's going on with my guy. (Btw he's my favorite character I'm so pumped to see what happens)

Kotoko - Guilty

I'm gonna be transparent here, i dont know Kotoko's character very well. So keep that in mind. Anyways. Her first trial song was very cool and its great she stopped a predator. I am not disagreeing with that. I do recognize that she probably felt forced to take on this vigilante role- that the law failed her and many others. However... we don't know who exactly she sees as "guilty". Obviously, she sees the prisoners voted "guilty" as guilty, but what about outside of Milgram? Does she just punish those breaking the law? Those she personally disagrees with? I think it's dangerous for her to do that. I think she's Guilty currently, but I'll have to see how her song goes- it may give me more insight on her thoughts and ideals.

#if you disagree #cool beans #id love to discuss #but would not love to be called slurs #share your opinions respectfully #its not hard #i will respect your opinion #i may disagree but thats okay #milgram #milgram voting #haruka sakurai #yuno aisaka #fuuta kajiyama #muu kusunoki #shidou kirisaki #kazui mukuhara #amane momose #mikoto kayano #kotoko yuzuriha

[thebearthatreads]

Writeblr Intro

Hi, so I've been a part of tumblr for quite some time but I've only really begun to be active again in the last month or so. I figured given my long absence perhaps it was time to introduce myself and open up to connecting with other writers here.

So who am I?

My name is Sasha Hanton (She/Her), I'm the author of It's All Magic To Me which was originally released in May 2022. For a long time, I struggled with openly describing myself as a person of colour, coming from a mixed-race background it's always been a bit strange figuring out how to define myself. However I now feel more confident in how I describe and define myself.

I'm Australian but I have Eurasian heritage, meaning my family come from a combination of Asian and European backgrounds. I know some people don't like the term Eurasian, and that's perfectly fine you don't have to label yourself with something you don't identify with but for me, I'm proud to call myself Eurasian. My family have identified as Eurasian for more than three generations now, and we've always been proud of our mixed ancestry (feel free to ask me more about this if you're interested).

Coming from a mixed background I like to bring that mix into my writing, injecting influences from a variety of cultures and mythologies. Whilst I'm a cis, heterosexual, neurotypical woman I try my best to be an ally and am always happy to bring more diversity into my writing and to read more diverse stories (if you know any good books by diverse authors please send me your recommendations I'm always happy to build up my tbr).

My writing

Currently, I'm in the limbo of waiting for feedback on projects and I generally try to stick to having one WIP on the go at a time (as otherwise I'm prone to overwhelm) . Predominately I write urban fantasy, generally with new adult-aged characters but written to be middle-grade and up friendly. Here's a quick breakdown of my works:

It's All Magic To Me - This is my novel, originally published under contract in 2022 but now out of contract and out of print but I will be re-releasing it in May 2025. It follows Willow, a university student, who discovers she has magical powers and goes on to be taught how to use them by Sphynx, a cat. Urban Fantasy inspired by the likes of Buffy, Charmed, Sailor Moon, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Themes involve family, responsibilities, and friendship. Venatores de Mythos Trilogy - My major WIP at the moment, I've written drafts for all three books but am waiting on feedback for book 1 before continuing editing. Urban Fantasy, follows three different characters who are all recruited by a mysterious agency that hunts and tracks down mythological creatures and artifacts. Globetrotting features a mixture of languages (Arabic, French, and Spanish with the main composition being in English). The main characters are from varying cultural backgrounds, each wildly different from the other with their own reasons for agreeing to join the agency. Percy Jackson kind of vibes. Chimera - Currently in the process of writing the first draft. Inspired by a short story I wrote for a recent competition following a mixed race, mixed species, witch and her family who are being hunted for parts. Dark Urban fantasy based in Australia, will feature lots of mythological influences. Adult because there's body horror, probably going to be some explicit sex scenes (not sure yet), and just generally dealing with heavier/darker themes. The Short Story Press Collection - A collection of short stories, currently available as an e-book on Amazon or in print (the print edition is newer and contains more stories than the e-book). Stories cover a range of genres from sci-fi, fantasy, gothic horror and more. Customerpocalypse - My first novel, currently available as an e-book on Amazon. Post-apocalyptic fantasy, written during a time when I was struggling with my mental health and it shows. If you've ever wondered why in post-apocalyptic video games there are NPCs who work in what's basically customer service then this might be for you.

Please shoot me an ask if you'd like to know more about any of my writing projects or about me. I'm hoping to share more on my WIPs here and to engage more, so please feel free to tag me in tag games!

You'll also see plenty of shares from fandoms I'm part of here, I have no intention of segmenting my Tumblr into two separate accounts so my apologies if you get spammed with Fairy Tail posts or DnD stuff (or anything else).

If you'd like to follow me on other social media or want to find my books here's a link you can follow for all of that: https://bit.ly/m/SashaHanton-Links

#writeblr #writer #writers on tumblr #my writing #about me

[moonmeg]

so I have one question what if Phillip managed go back to the human realm and inform entire global of human realm about the boiling isles and importantly let's consider the fact that Philip is literally raised on a puritan society who hate all witches who also considered them the main reason the human world is sinful I think that Philip also take this belief very seriously and more importantly this is just what if a headcanon in my respective so also don't take this what if scenario very seriously it's just a fun concept for me

I think spreading something like that from a small town to the entire globe in the 16th century might prove itself difficult. Firstly because news just traveled slower in general but also because not every part of the world participated in witch hunts. The witch hunts had their roots in European Christianity that spread to the 13 colonies through colonialism and settlers from the British Isle mainly with some other European countries sprinkled in there but the percentage there was pretty small as the Netherlands and France couldn't hold their colonies on the east coast of todays US for very long.

Assuming news traveled fast and assuming the people of Gravesfield took Philip seriously (which is something I personally already doubt) and assuming that the other 12 colonies took it seriously what a guy from a small town in Connecticut said and then assuming European countries took it seriously too that's maybe most he'd get. The colonies on the east coast under rule of the English crown and Europe and some more colonies from the French or the Spanish also in the Americas and a few in Africa. European colonialism (and imperialism) had it's peak in the 18th and 19th century, it was there in the 16th too but not to the extent as we have it in mind now when we talk of colonialism. It was still at its starting point there.

So, in my opinion, it's doubtful he'd get the entire globe to believe it. A good amount of it if all odds fall in his favor but as I already listed, he must be very lucky to get that to happen. It's not impossible but quite unlikely.

I think if he just got Gravesfield to believe him somehow, that may aswell suffice to get closer to his goal. However they would achieve that I don't know. The options are a) Philip's "normal" plan with gradually gaining the witches' and demons' trust to then bring their demise or b) just straight up proceed with killing people. Take your pick I guess.

It's an interesting, almost dystopian, what-if but difficult to answer depending on whether or not you want it be "historically accurate" or not. And quite honestly, I'm not a lover of dystopia stories. Surely interesting in concept and they always have some nice socially critical undertone but just not something I personally would write or explore more.

Even when taking my most angsty AU (TDAAC-worst-case), it's not a dystopia - it's more a tragedy that maybe turns good? Who knows

So yeah, that's my thoughts :)

#moonmeg ask

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 44: Five Will Ride Forth

Well we're reaching the end of the second book folks, so that's exciting! Soon my posts will only be unreasonably spoiling thirteen Wheel of Time books instead of fourteen - not that I don't spoil book one mind you, just that it's hardly fair to complain about spoilers for that in a post on book two. Is this sufficient warning not to keep reading for such folks or must I go on?

We get the Aes Sedai flame in this chapter because of Bornhald's delusions and Verin's machinations, though ironically the latter are much more about grabbing fate in the saidin-style I discussed a few chapters back.

Perrin decided it was not lack of interest in strangers on the villagers’ part; they were carefully avoiding looking at him and the others. These people had learned not to show curiosity about strangers, even strangers who were obviously not Seanchan. Strangers might be dangerous these days on Toman Head.

Not only that, but under the Seanchan regime, knowing about strangers can be dangerous. Much better to be able to say to the secret police that people came and went but you don't know anything about them than to risk conversations where you might learn just enough to seem like a person of interest.

“Who knows why they do anything?” Mat muttered. “Seanchan don’t seem to need a reason for killing people. None I can figure out, anyway.”

Mat will figure it out going forward and really I don't think he'll much like having the knowledge.

Perrin kept an even closer watch than the other two; he had his own reasons for not wanting to meet Whitecloaks. The axe in my hands. Light, what I wouldn’t give to change that.

And yet Perrin doesn't actually mean it yet. He could toss the axe away at any time after all, to at least change potential future atrocities and also the real one that'll happen in book ten. But he keeps it, knowing what he's capable of it with it, and it's not good that he does.

“They aren’t following,” he said. “How can you be sure?” Mat demanded. “I am!” he snapped, then more softly, “I just am.”

Since Mat has no context for understanding how Perrin might be able to know this without the obvious wrong guess, I wonder if he's worried that he's going to start channeling at any moment himself. They are all three of them connected after all.

Put the prisoners in the inn with as much food and water as they can carry, then nail all the doors and shutters closed. Make them think I am leaving some men to stand guard, yes?

The Whitecloaks might not have any a'dam of their own, but they still love committing what atrocities they can. Balefire the whole fucking peninsula and let the Wheel sort it out I say.

No wait that's an atrocity too. Dammit.

He was still not sure which of the two arrow-riddled women he had stared at afterwards had been the Aes Sedai.

Nice and subtle foreshadowing here.

Be sure he understands that we can no longer count on the Tar Valon witches being content with manipulating events from the shadows. If they fight openly for the Seanchan, we will surely face them elsewhere.

And here we see how damaging an irrational hatred is. For all the flaws of the White Tower, the women of Tar Valon will not engage in any battles for quite a long time. If Bornhald had been able to understand that the Seanchan had their own channelers and that they weren't aligned with the Tower, his warning might have been quite different. Hell, his whole approach might have changed.

“Whoever it was, he is not accounted for, no? And he may carry word of us to the Seanchan.” “A Darkfriend would surely do so, my Lord Captain.”

Wrong again! The Whitecloaks very impressively manage to live in a world with black, white, and occasional gray morality and still manage to oversimply the fuck out of it. They could have done so much more for the west if they'd been capable of critical thought.

Far above their heads, a huge, winged shape circled, unnoticed.

Thinking two dimensionally against a three dimensional enemy.

“Heron Wading in the Rushes,” Ingtar said. He sat with his back against a tree, sliding a sharpening stone along his sword and watching Rand. “You should not be bothering with that one. It leaves you completely open.”

Ingtar betrays his own character flaws here. Besides showing that he has no thought for sword forms except for how they can help him inflict violence upon others, he shows he doesn't understand the worth of self-sacrifice to get victory. It was this very short term thinking that led to his fall to the Shadow after all, and this is why he had to die to redeem himself.

“It’s only for balance, Ingtar.” Rand wavered on one foot, and had to put the other down to keep from falling.

Meanwhile Rand foreshadows his own issues metaphorically pretty well. He tries to spend all of his time in a sword form over the course of the story and it's only when he gets back to standing upright that he can succeed.

“With ta’veren, what happens is what was meant to happen. It may be the Pattern demanded these extra days. The Pattern puts everything in its place precisely, and when we try to alter it, especially if ta’veren are involved, the weaving changes to put us back into the Pattern as we were meant to be.”

Verin will be dealing with this one the hard way later!

“To help Mat find the dagger,” he said sharply, “and Ingtar find the Horn.” And Fain, he added to himself. I have to find Fain if it isn’t already too late.

Two outta three ain't bad, Rand.

“Five ride forth,” she murmured.

It's a good thing no one pays attention to Verin or they might get a lot more nervous.

No, Loial, you must stay behind, too. There are no Ogier on Toman Head. You would attract as many eyes as all the rest put together.

Thank goodness Verin is here to do the thinking for them. They probably would have ridden, all twenty of them, if she hadn't been.

Rand peered at the sketched wheel as Ingtar went on with his instructions. It was a broken wheel, now, with only four spokes. For some reason that made him shiver.

The Seanchan would probably say it was a bad omen to tally your soldiers before combat and then to partially destroy the tally too and the Pattern is about to demonstrate why that is.

Next time: Nynaeve and Rand become masters of terrible weapons.

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #perrin aybara #hurin #mat cauthon #geofram bornhald #jaret byar #rand al'thor #loial #uno nomesta #verin mathwin #ingtar shinowa

[dramiodantes]

cw: post-war, morally grey characters

"You lied to me".

Behind the bars, Draco kept that stupid smirk on his lips without contradicting her. After years, the truth was almost there, waiting to be finally caught.

"Why?".

"Betrayal is a wound that never heals, Granger". Gods, hearing his voice for what seemed ages made her heart jump out of her ribcage. "You should leave and go on with your life. Goodbye".

He stood up from the chair, heading to the door, but Hermione couldn't just drop everything and come back to a life built on lies. "Wait. Tell me why".

"You needed someone to blame. I was there", he responded, without turning.

"You let me believe it was your fault for ten years, Draco. What the fuck!", she yelled at him. "Now I know the truth only because I never stop trying to get you out of this awful place!".

With a quick movement that Hermione didn't even have time to register, Draco grabbed the bars. "I deserve to be here, don't delude yourself. Blood soaks my soul, and the memories of the lives I took still haunt me".

She swallowed, taking a step forward and placing her hands on his. Her expectations were low, but Draco didn't refuse her gesture, he didn't dare to move.

"Tell me. I need the truth".

"Voldemort wanted them dead and sent Antonin and me to complete the task. He almost killed me that day, because he suspected I fed the Order with intel. When I was able to move again, your parents were already dead". Hermione started to cry for what she had lost: a family, a chance to be happy, a man who loved her. "However, the Order needed you. So they gave you a good reason to keep going".

Find the killer, and win the war for them.

"They—", Hermione sobbed, incapable of saying anything else.

"Shush, love, it's fine. You got your revenge: you killed Antonin in the last battle, and you did your best to defeat Voldemort", he reassured her. There were glimpses of emotions in his voice, she didn't remember the last time it hadn't sounded only flat and cold. "Three years and I will be free".

"They've sent you here because of me, because of an execution you never did, Draco! It's not fine, it's fucking unbelievable", Hermione gasped, trying to stay in control of her rambling emotions, failing resoundingly. It was impossible. "They betrayed me".

"They tried to keep you alive".

"You were innocent!".

Draco chuckled darkly. "Maybe I didn't kill your parents, but definitely I killed too many people to stay out of Azkaban. And you know it".

It was true, but it didn't seem fair anyway. "We deserved to be together".

"When they will release me, you have the chance to decide our destiny".

Hermione's eyes widened in shock. "You—you still want me? I'm the only reason you're in Azkaban".

This time Draco intertwined their fingers together, savoring the sensation, taking time to adjust to the human contact after years of deprivation.

"I hate them", she pouted.

Draco stayed silent, deciding to not respond. Instead, he focused on them. "You're the only reason I'm still alive, Granger. Three years and then we will have everything we hoped for over the war".

Three years? They had already wasted too much time. A smirk colored her face. "We are going to leave this horrible place right here, right now. I have a plan, a good one".

"They will hunt us forever".

"Tell them to try: I'll give them a taste of my magic. They always praise me for that, no? I'm ready to do everything in my power for you", she said, clearly proud of herself and her skills. Then she showed him a ring.

Draco sighed. "Is that what I think?".

Yeah, a portkey, the one that led to Malfoy's safe house in the Pacific Ocean. "Your mother's tea is quite good. She's a remarkable witch".

Draco smirked, now aware of the extension of her plan. "Yeah, women like you two are full of resources".

"Are you ready?".

"Always for you".

#dramione #draco malfoy #draco x hermione #harry potter #drabble #hermione granger #draco/hermione #hp #hp ships #hp fanfic #minific