#whoever gets emotionally invested first y'know

[softquietsteadylove]

Thena and Gil playfully arguing…in business style!

Tyrant King,

If you would find it suitable, I have had a meeting cancellation this afternoon.

Gil's brows raised as he read the email on his phone. It was nothing if not succinct--classic Ice Queen. She didn't even sign it. But he was surprised she had even attempted to invite him over today. She had stated she was busy all week. No time for them to 'meet'.

No time for them to fuck like wild animals in her office between meetings.

Why so formal, Ice? If you want me to come over, just say so ;)

Her response was prompt, which proved to him that she was anxiously awaiting his response, much to his delight. She could play coy as much as she liked, but she wasn't very good at that game. In all fairness, nor was he.

I have a tight schedule today, Tyrant. I am offering my time, not begging you for your company. You may disregard my previous email if you are otherwise engaged.

Ice cold, his Princess was. But Gil grinned, happily responding, still in email rather than texting. She had yet to give him her personal number, but he was honestly just glad she wasn't having Kingo filter his messages to her, either.

As per my previous email, I would be happy to meet if your schedule sees fit, Ice.

Two could play at this game. Even as he was looking over his schedule and moving things around for himself. He really needed a Kingo for himself, and her older chief of staff Karun also seemed really on top of things. He had once joked that he would try to poach them from her, and the look he got made him know why people were so afraid of someone as beautiful and delicate as she was.

I have a meeting slot available from 4 onward.

So, it was a lie that she had a tight schedule. If she was offering her 4 o'clock then that was her last meeting for the day, most likely. Unless she was planning to make wild love for a tight 45 minutes and then have meetings until 6.

The whole hour?

If you think our business will take that long, I can offer you the full hour. I advise you decide preemptively if you require the full allotment.

Oh, she thought he didn't want the full time? She was making a joke about him not lasting long, sure. But he was having too much fun flirting with her to let it get to him. He gleefully typed out his response, already swiping his other hand through his hair.

Please be advised, Ice Queen, I believe I have several positions to propose during our meeting. I do hope you are prepared for such intentions during only one hour.

He would give anything to see her face right now. He liked it when she got kind of flustered, even when she was annoyed with him. Call him childish, he liked having her attention. He was entirely the the old story of a boy not knowing how to tell a girl how much he liked her, so instead he did little things to get under her skin.

She was facetiming him.

He picked it up with a wicked grin on his face, "to what do I owe the honour, Ice?"

"I would prefer not to have a paper trail for this proposal, as you put it," she glared at him. She knew he was having fun with their little entendres. "Are you coming or not?"

"Don't I always, with you?"

"Insipid juvenile," she practically hissed at him. She leaned back in her chair, ever poised and elegant. "If you don't want the time slot, I'll schedule someone else."

Gil frowned. "Are we still talking about us, Princess?"

She raised her brows at him--the minx. "I was talking about meetings."

He growled faintly under his breath. Such an impossible woman he had chosen. "I'll be there. Who would you even have offered it to?"

She shrugged, now playing coy for her own enjoyment. "I heard the Prince Eternal is floating around the city. I'm sure if I contacted his beastly little assistant, he'd come running."

Gil puffed through his nose, feeling like a bull getting a red cape waved at him. "Now you're just trying to piss me off."

Thena's eyes dashed down to her lap. She was playing a game of chicken with him, and the Ice Queen didn't take unnecessary risks. "My time is valuable, Tyrant. And others are willing to pay even more than you."

That may have been true, but no one would give her more.

He tugged at his shirt, calling her bluff, "you hate that guy."

She made a face; there was no lying about that. "Perhaps, but it's always at least a few million whenever he pays me a visit."

Gil rolled his eyes. He didn't have to be part of the rich boys who were all insignificant admirers of hers. He wasn't some kid with a crush, he was the Tyrant King.

"Thena," he began, and immediately she was set on edge. Even though they had made love several times now (not that she called it that). He leaned forward, making sure his shoulders looked nice and wide in the shot. He lowered his voice, giving her his best, most smouldering look. "I want to see you."

Desired effect: achieved. She blinked, looking just the littlest bit flustered, maybe even blushing a little. Her eyes drifted away again, but she was smiling a little, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. The diamond stud on her ear cuff sparkled at him. It made him want to pull it off with his teeth.

"Fine," she attempted to maintain her cold facade, but he could see a little more Thena under it. She drew her lace tighter around her. "I'll tell Karun to expect you."

And with that, she was done talking about it. She hung up, but Gil didn't feel hung up on. He smiled, slipping his phone into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He stood, fluffing his hair again and grabbing his essentials to tell his security that he was leaving the office.

He had an important date to make.

#Ice Queen/Tyrant King AU #the early days #this feels like something they would do #Gil is like hey babe you up? #Thena: to whom it may concern physical relations are on the table #they're also very coy about it #whoever gets emotionally invested first y'know #just kidding it's Gil #he called it making love the first time they ever had sex #and he has been ever since #he gets to her office like hello Ice Queen #Thena: take your fucking clothes off #they take two whole hours of fucking #different positions as Gil said #her office is a MESS #she tells Kingo she needs detailing done tonight #he doesn't say anything #doesn't even look up from his computer #Thena: shut up!!! #also Kingo: shall I have your boyfriend escorted home? #Thena: no he can walk

[ckret2]

Given how awful Bill's romantic relationships are, how long do they generally last?

I mean, if you plot them out on a graph, obviously the largest number of relationships are gonna be pretty short and then the longer the relationship is the fewer he's had; but that's not necessarily because of how bad they are, but because of math. Over the course of a century he could have one 100-year relationship or a hundred 1-year relationships, y'know?* It's easier to rack up more short relationships than long ones.

(*he doesn't typically date that frequently, but just for the sake of example.)

He's actually had a fair number of long relationships—centuries or millennia—and if he's actually seriously dating someone (rather than just casually hooking up), he prefers for the relationship to last as long as possible.

And that's where the trouble starts: he prefers for the relationship to last as long as possible.

"Given how awful his relationships are—" makes it sound like they'll be short because of how awful they are. The awfulness is what makes them last.

In normal relationships with normal people, if things aren't working out, they just break up. People who are used to toxic relationships? They might not break up when they should. Three months in they might reach the point they SHOULD break up, but then stay off-and-on and emotionally unavailable for a fresh relationship for the next fifteen years, getting in horrific screaming matches every 4-5 months in the process. People who are seeking toxic relationships, for the control? Might not let their partner get out for years or decades.

And that's just humans. Now multiply all that on a much grander timescale.

Let's not sugarcoat things. Bill's manipulative, abusive, possessive, invasive, violent, vengeful, dishonest, and controlling just in his professional business relationships. How do you think he gets around people he's even MORE emotionally invested in?

Do you think he's never gotten into a fight with a lover and used his power to terrify them into backing off and agreeing with whatever he says? Or convinced them that he's the only one who cares about them and they're helpless without him? Or either manipulated them into burning all their bridges, or burned their bridges for them, so they have no choice but to stick with Bill in the Nightmare Realm because they have no way to physically get away from him and his loyal minions? Or found out a partner was planning to leave, turned them into a statue, locked them in a luxuriously-decorated prison cell, and unfroze them every few days to try to wheedle, persuade, and plead with them to reconsider and give him another chance? Or tormented one who escaped with nightmares until they were so exhausted and worn down they came back just to get him to stop?

Combine all that with the fact that whoever he dates in the first place is probably someone who's willing to overlook a whole lot of red flags, or else they wouldn't be with Bill Cipher, dream demon, king of the Nightmare Realm—and so it'll take them even longer until they realize they ought to run.

Bill will stay in a rotten relationship that hasn't made him happy for centuries, just because he's still attached to his partner—maybe because he loves them, or because he remembers how he used to love them and thinks he can get that back, or because he wants to love them, or maybe just out of jealous possessiveness... and if he wants to stay in a relationship, oftentimes there's not much his partner can do about it.

So, his relationships often last hundreds or thousands of years. This is a warning.

... But, he can keep behaving in a relationship for longer than a human lives. A lot of humans couldn't maintain a stable relationship for a century, what's it say that sometimes Bill can, how's that reflect on his competence as a partner? Hard to say. He just lives on a different timeframe from humans.

#anonymous #ask #bill goldilocks cipher

[yunoteru4ever]

@thesafaribaggirl-returns Hey, thanks for following/reading!

(I hope you don't mind me transplanting this Ask over to the aforementioned Future Diary blog, but since I'm about to get heavy on my Sakae Esuno geekery, I figured it was most appropriate here.)

SO: I haven't read the manga / watched the anime for Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun yet for... pretty dumb reasons, honestly, although I should at least mention that Dusk Maiden — both its anime AND the entire run of its manga — predate the existence of even the first chapter of Hanako-Kun's manga. So if anything, that description should be reversed and Hanako-kun is the one that's Dusk Maiden for a different audience. (I infer from your Ask that it's probably mostly aimed at girls? Although I don't know enough about it to be sure of that.) Regardless of which one came first, though, I think it's safe to say that Hanako-kun is much better known and more popular by now. It's been in my "try-this-some-time" list for years now.

But I've not yet touched Hanako-kun largely because I'm just SO emotionally invested in Sakae Esuno's Hanako and the Terror of Allegory manga that I'm lowkey bitter that this other manga starring the same bathroom-dwelling ghost of legend (and featuring their name right in the title) is way more popular and occupies far more space within pop culture's collective unconscious. ........ Even though, yeah, that's inherently dumb and epically silly of me.

Y'all likely know where these mangas stand among Western weebs. If Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun rates (in the West) around "fairly popular/well-known among seasonal anime/manga devotees" then Hanako and the Terror of Allegory lands at something like "obscure to all Western anime/manga fans to a degree that is hard to quantify." Which I obviously consider to be a goddamn shame.

Ultimately, it's not like I've ever prevented myself from consuming MANY wildly varied interpretations of Sherlock Holmes or Wonder Woman or whoever, y'know? The only difference is really that, as a Westerner, the legend of Hanako doesn't show up on my radar as much as.... idk,King Arthur or whatever common legends we have here.

Besides, the gender identities of these two Hanakos are exact opposites! That ALONE is gonna make them EXTREMELY distinct from one another.

So I hereby vow to give Hanako-kun its fair shake pretty soon.

#sakae esuno #esuno sakae #hanako and the terrory of allegory #dusk maiden of amnesia #toilet-bound hanako-kun #asks #Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun #Hanako to Gūwa no Terā #Tasogare Otome × Amunejia