allow me to show you your finale.

#UNBLOT :    a private, friends based multimuse for characters from disney’s twisted wonderland.    a study in  :     corruption of the heart,  the decay of grief,  revision & rebirth,  a distorted mirror reflection,  & the weighty price of magical power.                not spoiler free.  written with love by dove ( any pronouns ). est. july 31, 2020.

@utsubotm : the first kiss is against his cheek, then another at his brow-- his forehead- his nose-- it continues until floyd stops to rub his face against azul's hair. he can't really curl around him the way he might had he been in his mer form. but both arms squeezing him in a hug will just have to do. / woe, flaz be upon ye

The sudden smothering is unexpected, but not entirely unprecedented. As opposed to his brother's preference of toying with his food before he eats it, Floyd often favors a more direct and hands on approach. Ordinarily Azul takes measures to prevent being either of their choice of prey, but Floyd just so happened to catch him off guard this time around. Yet even with all the measures he takes to be prepared every possibility, there's very little that could have helped him prepare for this.

Floyd's touch is overwhelming, Azul feeling the air leave his lungs like a helpless human dragged into the depths of the ocean. He drowns in Floyd's embrace, momentarily frozen & unable to fight against the sudden flood of something that had simply gone unspoken between them up until this point. Just as he starts to remember to breathe again, another biting kiss sears against his skin.

Floyd's placement of his kisses are not lost on Azul. Cheek, nose, brow, jaw, & so on. Practically every inch of exposed skin is accounted for, all except one. It confirms to Azul everything he already knows. This is not affection shared between loved ones, this is the attempted conquering of a predator upon prey. This is not love. This is possession.

Here they are at an impasse. Azul does not want to be claimed or controlled. And Floyd-- Floyd does not want Azul the way Azul wants to be wanted.

Floyd's grip slackens. At last Azul is able to find his breath again.

Their embrace ends just as abrupt as it started. Floyd is strong but Azul is stronger. So it's easy to pry the other off of him once he uses enough force.

The mer that Floyd is faced with now hardly resembles the suave & silver-tongued Octavinelle housewarden. In his place is a haughty & flustered octopus possesses all the clumsiness & idiocy expected of a teenage boy his age. His sleek hat has fallen from his head, the silver curls under it now disheveled and misshapen. Azul's glasses lay askew as well, threatening to fall off his nose before he hastily pushes them back up.

However, the most notable change to his appearance now is the deep blush painted across his cheeks and ears. A blush that Azul is doing everything in his power to ignore. Floyd may have succeeded in getting under Azul's skin, but he'll die before he relinquishes the power he's fought tooth & nail to possess. He won't let himself be devoured by anything or anyone, no matter how pleasant the sensation might have felt in the moment.

“ Floyd, settle down. ” Azul's voice is crisp, yet lacks its usual command as he steadily recovers from Floyd's ambush. “ There's no need to make such a spectacle in front of everyone. ”

It's only then does he even acknowledge the fact that they're not lone in the space. They may have closed for the night, but there are still a few bus boys cleaning a couple tables away, as well as a certain vice housewarden behind the bar. Even without looking he can feel his heterochromatic gaze on him, practically hear his low laughter.

That's all this is, isn't it? A joke, a game. Floyd only wants to make a mockery of him & undermine his authority. How stupid of him to be affected by childish antic. No matter, he won't lose himself next time. Floyd won't humiliate him like that again.

“ If you'll excuse me, I have to count the revenue made from today's sales. ” Azul smoothes out the creases from his suit, huffing quietly as he desperately tries to maintain his composure. “ Have a good evening, gentlemen. ”

With that he quickly strides in the direction of his office as fast as his puny human legs can carry him, careful not to spare a glance in Floyd's direction as he exits. Azul won't let him get the last laugh, he won't acknowledge the gleeful smile he's certain Floyd is baring him with that deadly maw of his.

so what’s important to understand with salem is that they are acutely aware of the emptiness inside themself. it’s a constant ache. they’re completely unable to experience a full range of emotions & are forced to live a sort of blank slate existence. when contemplating their existence & lack of humanity & human qualities, their stoicism is what they find most fault within themself.

their primary goal in life at this point is to become human & be able to feel in ways they haven’t been able to since their death. because of their feeling of inadequacy regarding their lack of passion & emotion, those who display a lot of it are seen as an unconscious ideal. the more passionate & expressive someone is, the more salem wants to be around them.

salem is also prone to studying the behavior of humans around them, even outside of those they consider ideal. this is due to their desire to blend in as seamlessly as possible. they desperately want to keep the truth about them a secret. so in order to conceal their oddities, they study & mimic the behavior of humans around them. their artificial human behavior isn’t enough to dissuade their belief that they’re defective, but they do deem it important to do so their peers don’t suspect something is wrong with them.

@asea0fmxses // ship bias // accepting

honestly i don't have a lot of ships for rook. the nature of his... everything makes me uncomfortable with almost everything. that being said i do enjoy.

rook/vil

rook/trey

it's hard to subject manic pixie mermaid to people too tbh lol. i am very fond of these ones though.

rielle/graves (oc/c my beloved)

rielle/jade

@utsubotm // ship bias // accepting

azul/floyd

azul/riddle

azul/ruggie

azul/jamil

azul/yuu (especially yuuta from the octavinelle manga)

malleus is actually, really hard for me to ship. i know it's almost default to ship him with yuu but i tend to prefer it platonically? i'm open to exploring that but it'd need to be at a certain angle for me to get on board. and lots of plotting as with any ship! malleus is also someone who can have a lot of potential & chemistry with anyone so i'm open to explore other dynamics too.

malleus/leona

malleus/idia

malleus/salem (literally have rped with myself for this. that's how serious it is)

malleus/childe (hear me out... hear me out...ok)

malleus/rollo (not my favorite ship for either of them but i would just love to explore their relationship in any form. this one also needs to be at the right angle though)

as far as canon characters go, salem really only has the potential to be attracted to three of them. they have a very specific type of eccentric personality that they're drawn to. there's a lot of character meta on salem to be had on why that is, so unfortunately i can't budge on that. however, other eccentric & expressive infodumpers are on the table.

salem/idia

salem/malleus

@paramythas // ship bias // accepting

honestly both jack and deuce are characters i think have really great chemistry with a lot of different people, including with each other. I'm pretty open to most ships with them (so long as it's appropriate) so I'd be down to write other ships besides these. that being said--

JACK

Jack/Epel

Jack/Kalim (This one is a rp born baby. I know it's out of left field lol)

Jack/Yuu (Especially Yuuta from the Octavinelle manga.)

Jack/Vil

Jack/Deuce

DEUCE

Deuce/Ace

Deuce/Barbara (Yes the genshin one, *blowing a kiss to Tulip*)

Deuce/Epel

Deuce/Jack

Deuce/Idia (This one I generally prefer platonically but I love their relationship so much that I'm willing to explore it in multiple forms)

There is no need for curiosity. He knows who's chosen to accompany him this night. It would take a fool to mistake his presence as anyone else.

“ Well, Well -- ” Mirth trickles from his voice, the ghost of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “ I had not anticipated that you would be my escort this evening. How kind of you to join me, little bird. ”

A low laugh accompanies the nickname given, Malleus taking delight in envisioning the sort of expression Wuya might make in response to it. Still, he refrains from turning towards him, eyes off into the distance.

“ If I might be so bold as to request an additional kindness from you, I would ask you to refrain from reporting my location to the others. ” It's a request given from a peer, rather than an order of king. Though Malleus wonders if his late night companion would be able to see the difference.