#But as I said... BA is very non-serious

[twilight-deviant]

I can't believe this one sardonic line from 1x10 explained Matt's abilities more than 9 episodes of Born Again.

[missimaginx]

CARBONARA | KA12

pairing: kimi antonelli x f!girlfriend!brazilian!reader

plot: where kimi is a bit too much of a perfectionist when it comes to cooking.

warnings: narrated in first person (reader’s pov); female reader; brazilian/non-italian reader; pre-established relationship; Kimi being a little too obsessed with Italian cuisine; possible grammatical errors; english is not my first language :).

a/n: images taken from pinterest. this has been in my drafts for weeks 🙃 i didn't know if i wanted to post it or not, but I'm so happy with kimi’s pole 🥹 so i hope you like it. i got the whole recipe from the internet and yes, it's definitely different from the brazilian one, so i apologize if something is wrong or completely irrelevant 😘 (wc: 1k)

remembering that this is just fiction, all the people portrayed here have their own personalities and their own relationships.

The kitchen clock showed a little past five in the afternoon when Kimi announced, with all the seriousness in the world, that today he was the chef. And not just that—he was going to teach me how to make the real carbonara, “the ceal way,” his words, not mine.

And of course, I said yes. Not just because I loved carbonara too — even though I grew up with the Brazilian version that used heavy cream — but also because watching Kimi being all meticulous in the kitchen was a show in itself.

By that point, the Antonellis’ kitchen was a complete mess. Not a war-zone kind of mess, but a domestic, adorable chaos, where flour, grated cheese, and scattered peppercorns shared space with dirty spoons, a chopping board, and… Kimi. The very spirit of an Italian chef chasing a fifth Michelin star embodied in an eighteen-year-old boy who looked like he was taking this as seriously as he would a race weekend qualifying.

I was leaning against the kitchen counter, wearing a red apron with white polka dots that made me look like a 1950s housewife, watching Kimi move around the kitchen with the same agility and precision he had on a racetrack. But instead of finding the best racing line, squeezing the most out of the car, and managing tire wear, Kimi Antonelli was wearing a blue polka-dotted apron—matching mine, obviously—while choosing ingredients, repeating the recipe to himself every five minutes to make sure he didn’t forget anything, and slicing the bacon with almost comical precision.

“Now you,” he said, handing me the knife. “Same thickness and size.”

“Yes, chef.” I replied, straightening up and mimicking the same tone the contestants on cooking reality shows used.

I lowered the knife onto the slab of bacon, slicing my first cube under Kimi’s watchful gaze.

“That’s crooked,” Kimi murmured automatically, hands behind his back like a MasterChef judge, leaning in to examine my cutting board.

“You’re joking,” I looked at him, mock-offended. “I’m pretty sure I know how to cut bacon,” I muttered, turning back to the board and slicing another piece.

Beside me, Kimi gasped. He actually gasped. Like I had just sliced off one of his fingers or something. I looked at him and saw the most shocked and horrified expression I’d ever seen on his face. Well… maybe not the most. His reaction when I once told him it’s common in Brazil to put ketchup on pizza was still worthy of a horror movie.

Slowly, like he was about to disarm a bomb, Kimi reached out and took the knife from me. Still visibly shaken.

And I didn’t know whether to feel offended or burst out laughing.

“First, let’s start with the basics,” he said, sliding the cutting board closer to him… and further from me. “It’s guanciale, not bacon.” He pointed out, seriously… deadly serious… staring straight into my soul.

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing and just nodded, trying to match his seriousness.

“And second… this is terribilmente crooked,” Kimi said, pointing with the knife at the only two pieces of ba— guanciale I had cut. “It needs to be the perfect size and thickness so it doesn’t burn, but still gets crispy,” he explained, going back to cutting with the same intense focus as before… and officially taking over my task.

“You said I could help,” I muttered, crossing my arms and narrowing my eyes at him.

Kimi finished slicing the guanciale cubes in seconds. Practice really does make perfect. And as much as I hated to admit it, I could tell that two of the pieces were slightly uneven and larger than the rest… but only if you really squinted.

He picked up the board with the cubes and used the knife to slide them into the hot skillet… looking even more like a renowned, skilled and smug chef.

“I also said that if you wanted, you could just stand there… looking all gorgeous and perfect while watching,” Kimi said, flashing me that smile he knew exactly what it did to me. That cute smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle and made me forget everything.

I felt my traitorous cheeks heat up and my heart race. The butterflies in my stomach came to life, and I tried my best not to show any of it.

“But I want to help,” I answered, keeping my expression as serious as I could.

Kimi saw what I was doing… and also saw I was failing miserably, because he just kept smiling and stepped closer, bending slightly to reduce the height difference between us, bringing his face closer to mine and… giving me a quick kiss on the lips, completely catching me off guard.

“You look so cute when you pout…” he murmured, brushing our noses together and smiling again…

God, that smile.

His scent…

Focus, Y/N!

I shook my head quickly, trying to ignore how fast my heart was pounding in my ears and how suddenly weak my knees felt.

“Kimi!” I protested, pushing him away, but he didn’t even flinch. He just laughed and stepped back on his own.

“Alright, alright,” he said, raising his hands in mock surrender with a playful look on his face. “Come on, you can take care of the guanciale.”

Kimi handed me the spoon he was using to stir the guanciale in the pan. I took it and smiled triumphantly, making him laugh. I moved closer to the stove and was instantly hit by the delicious smell of the meat frying perfectly in the skillet.

“Alright,” Kimi murmured, positioning himself behind me. His chest against my back. The warmth of his body against mine. He placed his hand over mine on the spoon, and for a second, the slight jolt from his touch almost made me drop it. “Are you sure you still want to help?” he whispered in my ear, then chuckled softly.

That teasing tone — even laced with that voice — snapped me back to reality.

“I’m sure.”

Kimi chuckled lowly and placed a quick, sweet kiss near the shell of my ear as a truce. I smiled, satisfied, and focused on my task. The meat sizzled in the pan, turning golden, and the smell was almost too good to be true. Kimi guided my hand, showing me how to stir the guanciale properly, and once my amateur technique seemed to finally meet his standards, he stepped back just enough to let me take over — but stayed close enough that I could still feel his warmth… and his eyes on me.

“Now, we can turn off the stove and let the residual heat do the rest,” Kimi said, and I turned the knob, extinguishing the flame. “And now, we move on to the sauce.”

I stayed there, watching every detail he pointed out. He explained how the fat from the guanciale would be used in the sauce, how the residual heat from the pasta would cook the egg yolk and cheese mixture… And then he stopped everything, grabbed a little box from the back of the fridge, and looked at me seriously.

“Special cheese?” I asked, curious, stepping closer.

“Family secret,” he replied proudly.

I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms, intrigued.

“Family secret?”

Kimi nodded, unwrapping a piece of cheese carefully covered in parchment paper.

“Parmigiano is great. Pecorino, perfect. But this one…” He held up the cheese like he was presenting a sacred relic. “It’s a special, artisanal type.”

I stepped closer, fascinated. “And you’re just showing me? Your family’s secret?”

“Of course. You’re going to be part of it.” He said, as if it were obvious.

As if I’d asked something like “is the sky blue?”

As if us was a certainty.

And hearing that made me freeze for a second. My heart stopped. And then, of course, took off like it was racing off the grid.

Kimi blinked, realizing what he’d just said. His face turned as red as a tomato. His hand went up to scratch his neck and almost dropped the cheese.

“I mean… one day… if you want, like, someday, no pressure, you know? Not that I’m—”

I stepped closer, got on my tiptoes, and kissed his cheek, cutting him off.

“Then I better learn this right, don’t you think?” I smiled, making no effort to hide the heart eyes I probably had. “If I’m going to be part of the Antonelli family, I can’t mess up the family recipe.”

Kimi looked at me for a second, surprised by my response… and then smiled. A tender, half-relieved, half-in-love smile. The kind that melts away every doubt in the air.

We finished the recipe together. Kimi guided me as we mixed the yolks with the cheese and pasta water until it became that silky, golden cream. We tossed it with the pasta — al dente, of course — and topped it with the crispy, glistening guanciale. A final sprinkle of the secret cheese, and it was done.

We sat on the back porch with two deep plates and two glasses of red wine he’d discreetly “borrowed” from his dad’s cellar. The golden hour light bathed everything in a warm glow. Kimi still insisted on repeating three more times that this was real carbonara. I just laughed, shook my head, and told him fine — but deep down, I already knew.

This might not have been the carbonara my mom used to make.

But it was definitely my favorite now.

Because of the taste, of course.

And also because of the chef’s smile beside me.

[vemuabhi]

What Sanji is like when Falling in Love

- Ft. Chubby Reader

Hey People! After a long time, I'm here with a Sanji Fic. Please show me your love and support by reblogs.

The part-2 is here people. Please check it out!

What Sanji is like when falling in love

Pairing : Sanji X Fem! Chubby! Reader

Prompts taken from : Bas-writes (4 ; 6 ; 21 ; 30)

Warnings : A bit suggestive but non really. Mostly Fluffy ; Thick Thighs Save lives ; Stretch marks ; Making food for Reader ; Loving Touches

Word count : 1.7K

copyright © vemuabhi

Though Likes are cute and all, Please Reblog me if you like my writings.

Lazy afternoons

The travelling on the sea has been fun because of the crew and their liveliness but there are some days when everything is very quiet like, sometimes Luffy and co. are so serious and trying to fish, sometimes they are all playing some random game which is just not at all understandable. Only Luffy, Ussop and Chopper could understand and play it. No one else can even understand it. Except for Robin who denies she understood to avoid playing. Nami doesn’t care and doesn’t wish to know what they are doing. Now today, the trio fell asleep post lunch leaving the crew to calm down and rest for the time.

Leaving you and Sanji near the Tangerine trees on the back of sunny. Both of you were tired after cleaning up the plates and kitchen. The empty glasses of orange juice were on the table. It was too hot and luckily Sanji got you the juice to cool you down. You both sat on the bench which had the umbrella to protect you from the sun. Sanji had dark circles under his eyes and his eyes kept drooping.

“Do you wanna sleep”, your question made him to turn towards you and smile. He glanced towards his shoes and nodded.

“Yesterday’s night watch is making me like this Y/N”, he said as his tired blue orbs met yours.

“You are tired. Lay down. Ill make sure no one disturbs you for a while”, you said as you took the book which was on your lap and placed it beside you. Sanji’s cheeks reddened as he noticed your action.

“Am I… Supposed to-”

“Yeah, you can. I mean no force ofco-”

“I’ll. I’ll take up the offer”, he said while you took your kerchief and wiped the blood from his nose making the latter gulp.

Sanji slowly placed his legs on the bench and leaned down on your lap. The moment he felt your soft thighs on his cheek, he almost got a nosebleed again but he tried his best to not die. Noticing his nervousness, you ran your fingers in his hair making him flinch at the touch but he soon accepted your touch. Your soothing touch and the soft thighs made him to calm down. The sound of the waves relaxed him to the core. A yawn escaped his mouth. He closed his eyes and within seconds he fell asleep. His soft snores indicated how tired he was after making so much food for the rowdy crew.

After sleeping peacefully for a while, he woke up to the sky turning orange and the soft cushion wasn’t a cushion. Upon careful inspection he noticed that it was your thighs and his eyes widened at how long he had slept on your divine lap till now. He got up and apologised at his behaviour which you chuckled.

“Don’t have to be sorry Sanji. I’m happy that you to sleep till now”, you smiled at him making his heart skip a beat. As he was about to say something, the captain yelled for Sanji asking for food as he noticed the blond was awake now. That made you to giggle.

“They cant live without you”, you said suggesting him to go to feed them which he obliged. Sanji’s new fetish unlocked. Your thighs. Your soft plump thighs.

Needless to say, after that day you found Sanji come to you whenever he was tired and sleepy. He wanted to feel your touch in his golden locks. He wanted his cheeks to be met with the best pillow in the world, your thighs. Of course, he wasn’t vocal about all that but anyone could understand his actions at that point. You certainly allowed the cook to rest on your lap whenever he approached you. Sanji, was not the guy who would show his vulnerable side to women. But he started to slowly show that to you.

Sometimes he would just lay down on your lap and face you while you both talked about nothings. He would talk about the general topics which ranged from the news he had read that day to talking about the songs which he heard recently. Sometimes he made jokes which weren’t that funny but that’s what made them funny. You never not laughed at his jokes. Never knew Sanji was so talkative, usually he would always listen but when someone is listening to him, he opened up more and more. The heart eyes of Sanji never appeared during these times and he stayed calm. His eyes showed… adoration.

Little treats for the little deeds

After you had let him sleep on your lap, he never once missed to give you a special dessert or a special dish in gratitude. His way of showing you thankyou was it. While you guys were at the dinner table, he always… always made sure to slip a little treat near your plate making you smile at him while you nibbled on it.

“Ah! Not fair! Even I want that whatever Y/N is having”, Luffy cooed being yelled by the cook to shut up and eat his share of meat. His blue eyes looked into your direction while you still continued to smile at him. He had to avert his gaze from yours to stop his spreading blush more obvious to the rest of the members.

Sanji, being so precise while he selected ingredients for cooking, he made sure to especially be careful while he worked on yours. Some times when he would just be engrossed in his cooking book to a point where he wouldn’t even notice you coming into the kitchen. You would just sit across from him and continued to read your book. The silence with Sanji was also what you fancied soon enough. His presence was just… that calming.

When he finally had noticed you, he would gasp making your gaze turn towards him. His porcelain skin turned red as he smiled and walked towards you. He sat on the table and talk about the recipe that he was going to prepare.

“Everyone would be so amazed by this, I’m telling you”, he said as he gently took your hand in his and rubbed his thumb gently. “So, I feel like, I’ll be needing… somebodies help to make it”, he then looked at you with a slight pout.

“Haha, so tell me mister cook, what should be done?”, his smile grew, he pulled your hand and lead you to the counter to prepare the food. Sanji could easily make it on his own. He didn’t require anyone’s help. He could just have you sitting there being pretty while he cooked, but he didn’t want you to leave. And what way to keep you around than to ask your “help” because he “can’t” do it on his own.

Lets just say that cooking never felt this fun before. It felt refreshing to be cooking along side Sanji. He just knew… just knew how to make it right. The little intimacy moments you had shared were what made it so important to you both.

Tender Touches

Sanji had never been in a relationship. Not once his fate aligned with his pursue of love. Now that the stars had listened, he had a chance with you. But he didn’t want to get too cocky.

Then you could expect how thrilled he was when you asked him if he wanted to help you apply sunscreen. He almost crashed while approaching you. You laid down on the lawn chair with your back facing the sun. Sanji almost had a nosebleed when he touched your back. Just as he thought, you were so soft. He thought of your thighs as a reference when he imagined how soft you would be over all.

He applied the sunscreen on your back, while he lingered a bit too long holding the softness of your love handles. He gulped after the task was completed. You held his tie and pulled him closer to you and placed a kiss on his cheek making him to fall to his knees while he still gazed at you. That resulted you to again wipe the blood from his nose.

“You’ll have to get used to that, Sanji kun”, you ruffled his silky hair while he just chuckled. He blinked slowly as his gaze fixed on you. The crew could literally feel butterflies in their stomach when they watched you two. Like how Sanji’s wishes came true. That made him to lean into you to place a kiss on your soft plump cheek. His sudden action made you to chuckle, while he raised on eyebrow, “You sure you can handle it Y/N”. Maybe he could get cocky after all.

Silver marks

Night watch was especially given to one member and Luffy, chopper were exception from it. Sometimes when he was on night watch, there were you, leaning your back on the ship rail while his arms were on wither sides of you. He smelled really good. As if he took a shower just then. There were little to no space between you two. He used to get flustered and shy in the beginning but, as time went on, he was getting more and more confident on initiating kisses.

Tilting your head to right by placing his fingers under your chin, and closing the gap between you two. Your arms wrapped around his neck and pulled him even closer while deepening the kiss. Your fingers gently laced in his golden locks. His hands travelled to your thighs and pulled them up, aligning them on his waist while his slender, but damn strong arms carried you to place you on the bench.

Sanji pulled away from the kiss to look at your body beneath him. His gaze shifted towards your top, which was ridden almost past your stomach. Now for the first time, he almost had a full view of your torso. His fingertips traced along the silver lines on your body. You could see the love and lust glimmer in his blue eyes because of the moon. His white cheeks were turning pink, and his breathing was getting heavy because of the stretch marks on you. New kink unlocked. Stretch marks. Your Silver marks.

copyright © vemuabhi

Reblogs and Comments are always appreciated!!

[throneofrayllum]

Brooklynn as a mom headcanons

(this is long ASF)

She never thought she wanted kids. When she was in her early teens she didn't want to do anything that would prevent her from staying in the spotlight. When she was in her mid to late teens, she just simply had no desire to be a mom. She always felt very protective over children, and loved kids, but just didn't want to be a parent herself. Once she and Kenji got serious, it actually caused quite a few disagreements between them.

When she got with Darius, she was still like 80% sure she didn't want kids, but would sometimes daydream about having babies with Darius and would be really confused. He'd be sitting across from her at the breakfast table with that handsome smile and those gorgeous brown eyes, his hair still messy from the night before and she'd be like "I want to have his babies so ba-" "WAIT TF AM I THINKING?"

Brooklynn starts up a non-governmental, private organization that focuses on humanitarian aid and dabbles in issues relates to dino conservation. But that's not their main thing. It's mainly focused on social issues. She opens a couple shelters with the help of her organization, Darius, and Ronnie. She goes and helps out in the kitchens, cleans, and just sits with the residents. She wants to be there for them. (When she's not busy with other stuff. She's a busy woman.)

At one of the shelters, she meets a girl named Mikayla and her 5 months old baby Tucker. Mikayla's only 15 and had been kicked out by her parent's when she got pregnant. She finds comfort in Brooklynn and they actually become really freakin close. Brooklynn and Darius help Mikayla start her high school career again, and they take care of the baby a couple times a week. Brooklynn is wrapped around both of their fingers. She realizes she actually wants a child. Mikayla and her son brought so much joy into Brooks life, and they aren't even hers.

Darius also melts when he sees Brooklynn doing Mikayla's makeup or rocking Tucker to sleep. He'd never bring it up to her, because he would hate for her to feel pressured or like he expects anything from her. When she tells him she wants kids while they're cuddling in bed one night he literally jumps out of the sheets and is like "REALLY!? FOR REAL?!"

They wait a few years, but when they finally start trying Brooklynn ends up pregnant in no time.

She gets really bad morning sickness the first two months. Darius stops working in the office for awhile so he can take care of his wife.

She didn't tell the camp fam for a few months, but yasammy found out by the fifth week because the girls were out to dinner together and Brooklynn didn't order a drink. When they asked her about it she was like "how the hell did you know?!" and Yaz said "You didn't order a drink. I've never seen you turn down alcohol in your life."

After the morning sickness stops, Brooklynn's the most radiant and happy lil pregnant lady you've ever seen. She flaunts her bump. It's very rare that you see her without a crop top on so her bumps on full display.

She and Darius told the camp fam the gender by sending a picture of Brooklynn on the ultrasound table with a message that said "We've got a little mini Brooklynn in the making"

Brooklynn had to have an emergency c - section. Darius was on the verge of a panic attack when the doctor told them. He had tears running down his face because everyone was rushing around the room and preparing Brooklynn for surgery without answering questions. He didn't get answers until he shouted "IS MY WIFE GOING TO BE OK?!"

Everything ended up being fine. Darius was holding Brooklynn's hand the whole time and didn't take his eyes off of her. He didn't care about anything but his wife. Brooklynn sang to herself to keep herself calm.

When Brooklynn held that baby for the first time she sobbed. Darius was barely able to even see his wife and daughter he was crying so hard.

As soon as she held that little girl, she knew she would never love anyone like she loves her daughter.

Brooklynn took a five month maternity leave, and then started working again. Darius took a year long paternity leave.

She loved the baby stage. She never got over the chubby cheeks and sweet little babbled words and endless cuddles.

She swore she wouldn't co - sleep, but by the third night she and Darius were home from the hospital that little girl was sleeping next to her mama in the king sized bed. Brooklynn cried when Darius told her it was time the baby start sleeping in her crib.

(Brooklynn always let her little girl have sleepovers with mom and dad once a week. She eventually grew out of it, but would still have sleepovers with Brooklynn no matter how old she got)

The kids a #mamas girl. She loves Darius and Brook equally, there's just a special bond between her and her mom.

Brook hated the toddler years. Her daughter is just too much like her and so naturally the toddler stage involved constant screaming and running down the street and throwing food in peoples faces. The amount of times dinostars neighbors woke up to Darius and Brooklynn barely dressed at seven in the morning chasing a three year old down the road is insane.

The kid years (5 - 10) were Brooks third fav. They were amazing, and she loved playing dress up and pirates, but they just couldn't beat her top two favs (baby and teen years)

THE TEEN YEARS ARE BROOKLYNNS FAV. Yes I know teen years are usually everyone's least fav, and people look at Brooklynn like she's crazy when she says this, but it's true. She loves gossip sessions with her daughter, helping her daughter get ready for dates and prom, being the #cool mom to her kids friends, blasting music in the car with her kid, etc.

Brooklynn actually has a really hard time making mom friends. Yaz, Sammy, and Gia are really the only mom friends she has. All the moms at her daughters school give Brooklynn dirty looks and are really horrible to her. They don't think she fits the "mom stereotype". She doesn't wear cardigans and long modest skirts, she wears crop tops and ripped jeans. She's got tattoos and her hair is purple, the moms couldn't possibly associate with her. She doesn't go to PTA meetings because of work, so surely she is an absent mother. And that one time she came to school drop off in sweat pants and a torn t - shirt with no makeup?! It would be social death to invite her to margarita night. Not to mention the "Lindsay, let me tell you. My husband dropped James off at school yesterday, and came home raving about 'that hot mom that drives the truck'. I mean, she might as well not even be married with the way she dresses!" "I bet the kid isn't even her husband's."

It hurts Brooklynn a lot at first, but she's not willing to change for anyone. Why should she? Besides, she's got her husband, her baby, camp fam, and a couple cool single friends who are all her daughters hot single aunts and uncles.

(BTW - there is nothing wrong with choosing to be child free. I just headcanon that Brooklynn went from not wanting children, to eventually changing her mind. Which lowkey I can relate to. I used to not want kids, but now I want to be a mom more than anything, and there's also nothing wrong with that)

[quotidianish]

TF2 x ATLA AU :3

Lore, close ups, and doodles underneath !

Scout, Pauling, and Ludwig are the main three- scout, who’s an (admittedly shitty) airbender but not the avatar, who ran away after his father left. Once spotted by fire nation soldiers, he is presumed to be the avatar- and scout basks in the glory of his false identity. Pauling- a studious, too serious for her own good, non-bender, who’s Medic’s student. She’s of the southern water tribe, treating medic like her paternal figure after the disappearance of her aunt. Medic is (unbeknownst to pauling and scout) a blood bender who was exiled for his practices. He doesn’t seem to care for anyone or anything, also being very jovial and cheery.

All Pauling and Scout know is that Ludwig was exiled from the northern water tribe then fled to the south for an undisclosed reason. Pauling never bothered to pry and the Scout was too intimidated to. Here the avatar cycle has indeed been broken. It’s up to a group of nine ragtag men and one mousy girl to defeat Gray Mann.

And the main three villains are soldier, demo, and sniper who're all fire nation folk. Sort of the team rocket; never truly competent enough to cause real damage, that or their hearts truly aren’t in it.

Soldier's a fire bender who specializes in jet propulsion and was kicked out of the army. He thinks if he steals back the avatar, they'll let him back in. A weapon since childhood, once a bully, always a bully, or so he’s heard.Character arc being the realization the fire nation army isn't worth fighting for. Surprisingly, he is very good with spirits, opposite to his best friend, Tavish, who despises them.

Demo’s just trying to impress his mum and be a good friend to the Soldier. People pleasing tendencies, that's his character arc. He's supposedly a non bender who's mighty good with swords; but underneath his inconspicuous-ish eye patch holds a combustion bending tattoo. Only Jane knows this. Well-versed in calligraphy.

Sniper is a 26 year old yuyan archer who was discharged for failing a mission while he was young. He joined the other two with the same goal as the Soldier. His yuyan archer tattoo still remains. He's a non bender with excellent aim, who grew up on the rural outskirts of the fire nation. His character arc is something about not adhering to expectations and learning who he's fighting for; a combination of the demoman and the soldier’s lessons.

Spy's a crusty airbender constantly sporting a mask to hide his tattoos, and knife. Nobody has a clue where he's from and he takes orders from whoever pays him best. His airbending tricks are so subtle, the public believes him to be a crafty nonbender. Usually said tricks are only invisibility and voice alteration. While not assassinating political figures he traverses the spirit world looking for his wife, a fellow air nomad, avoiding physical aging in brief sprints of time. He returns on a well paid mission to kill the “avatar,” which was presumably the scout. Little does he know, that weird whiteboy is just some lame airbender. Who’s also his son. His bad.

Engineers the metalbender; an art perfected by his ancestors and passed down in whispers to him. I haven't developed him much. He teaches the Scout what he knows while obscuring information on how he got that metal arm. Him and the Pyro have a shared love of blacksmithing. From an explosion, he thinks..

Pyro's a spirit probably. Nobody knows what he is. Where he’s from? Pyro. What’s his gender? Pyro. Guy who sets things on fire. Presumably human judging by his questionable use of what looks to be fire bending. And also the Spy's companion! They met in the spirit world. He and the Soldier form a close bond quite quickly thanks to their good graces with spirits (to Tavish’s immense dismay).

Heavy's an earth bender who continues to win in underground fights. Residing in ba sing se with his three sisters and elderly mother, scout pauling and medic meet him in an earth bender championship. Despite what his appearance suggests, his patience is unmatched, which is his greatest strength. He has near -perfect seismic sense. He and the Medic get on quite well, and after the fire lord has been struck down, form a duo in the ring, earning even more won championships.

[echo-rambles]

love don't know how to rest

words: 2,679 summary: a quick phone call with your boyfriend chan turns into a mini vent session. tags: swearing, established relationship, long distance relationship, minor argument, fluff, making up note: this started off as me clowning on chan's new hair because as much as I love him I was not a fan of it when I initially saw it. somehow it turned into a weird little vent thing about missing someone and wishing they'd take better care of themselves. (title from how to rest by the crane wives)

-o0o-

“Hey baby.” You immediately greet, answering your phone and then propping it up so your hands are free. 

Chan's face takes up the majority of the screen, and you get a close up of his forehead before he also seems to settle his phone somewhere. He hums in acknowledgment. 

You know for a fact he’s not trying to be rude, so you don’t worry too much about his non-greeting. Quickly looking at the time and doing the math, you speak up again. “Good morning. Have you just woken up?” It would be about 8am in Korea right now. 

“Hi- sorry I meant to say hi when you did.” It’s ok, you mumble, moving about the kitchen as you continue to make yourself dinner. Chan had messaged you only a few minutes ago, asking if you were busy and if he could call through. It wasn’t a very complicated dinner, mostly just heating up leftovers on the stove, so of course you told him to call. “I’ve been up since… six? Five maybe.” 

“Chan.” You chastise gently. Sending him a little look from your spot at the stove. He ducks his head, already giving you one of his smiles that spell an apology. 

“I know. I just- my brain hasn’t been able to shut off. I’m making the most of it until I end up crashing in the middle of the day.” 

“Light schedule?” You ask, already assuming the answer since otherwise he wouldn’t be able to so readily nap mid day. Chan makes a little agreeable noise. “That's good. And hey, if you don’t sleep at some point I can always ask Seungmin to smother you until you pass out. Forced nap time.” 

“That’s so fucked up.” But it gets him to chuckle, and that’s really what matters. “He’d do it too.” 

“Of course he would; I asked. Hey, nice hat by the way.” You lean close to your phone, squinting at the beanie he’s wearing. 

It makes Chan groan and push the beanie over his eyes for a brief second. “I'm trying to hide my hair, since someone hates it.” 

“I never said I hate it!”

“…you said it reminded you of straw.” 

Ok, so maybe you absolutely said something like that when you first saw his hair. It sort of just tumbled out of your mouth. “Because they bleached it all wrong! They killed your hair, Christopher. I was shocked, and distraught.” 

Chan shifts his beanie around, laying his hand flat on his head but never once taking it off. “I thought it would’ve come out better. I’ve been wanting to dye it-”

“I know, baby.” The teasing slips away from your tone, replaced by something more gentle and understanding. “But you gotta let your hair heal first before you fuck with it. Maybe let it grow out and dye it dark the next time you can? And then, once it’s no longer damaged as hell, you can do something fun. Like pink?”

Chan’s nodding along to your words, clearly watching you shut off the stove and shove all of your food into a bowl. He smiles at your suggestion. “One day you’ll get your pink hair dreams.” 

“We can match! It'd be so much fun. I think the world needs Pink Chan more than ever, really.” 

He hums instead of playing into the banter, hand still on his head, and you know that no matter how much you apologize for your initial reaction or how many jokes you make, the thought that he did something you don’t like is going to eat him up. Sighing, you bring the phone close to your face. 

“I think you look gorgeous no matter what, you know that right? I’ll tell you every single day until you believe me. Even with straw hair.” You lower your voice, trying to sound as solemn and as serious as you can. “Even if you were bald.”

“Bald?” His face goes all scrunched as he laughs, tipping his head out of frame and pressing a hand over his eyes. 

“Yeah. Shave it all off. Start from scratch.” You bring the phone and your bowl over to the couch, settling in. “I’m sure there’d be girls who would go crazy for the shaved look.”

“Should I be worried that you’re making sure I look good for other girls?” 

“Hey, listen, this is your job, and part of my job as the world's greatest girlfriend is to make sure you’re marketable to your audience.”

He’s still smiling, all big and soft and it loosens the knot of guilt in your chest. 

After a few minutes of the both of you falling silent, you eating and Chan just watching you, you finally speak up again. “I’m sorry for saying that stuff about your hair. I didn’t mean to sound so… mean.” 

“I know. I appreciate the apology though.”

“I just worry. Which is a shit excuse but- I don’t want them ruining your hair. I need you to take care of yourself, because I’m not there to do it!” 

“I know-”

“You take care of the boys and I take care of you because you refuse to let them do it; that’s always been the deal, but I’m not there so now no one is taking care of you-” 

“Love,” he cuts you off. Voice firm and commanding. “It’s just hair.” It’s your turn to mumble out an I know. “It’ll grow back. It can be fixed. I’m ok.” 

“I just wish I was there.” 

The silence creeps in again, and your food is growing cold. Every day you miss him, and the feeling just continues to grow and grow and you’re so afraid that it’ll get so big that soon you won’t have room for anything else. You need him to be ok, because if he’s not then… you’re not really sure what you’d do. 

“We take care of each other, yeah?” Chan says, making you snap your attention back to your screen. He must have pulled his phone closer to his face, and if this were any other moment you’d take the opportunity to snap a picture of the angle he chose, but since you feel all cold and serious in the pit of your stomach you instead just nod at his words. 

“Yeah-” 

“I don’t want you to ever feel like this is a one way street. It’s not your job to take care of me.” 

“I definitely don’t get paid enough for it to be a job.” The pit isn’t too cold or serious for you to deny yourself mumbling out a little quip. 

“We choose to look out for each other, yeah? I take care of you too. Don’t forget that.” Your little comment makes him smile. Just a tick of his mouth, but his whole face softens and you wish you could touch him right now. 

You want to be in his arms. Face pressed to his neck, where you can feel his pulse against the highest point of your cheek and his hands spread across your back and anchoring you. Long distance sucks ass. 

“I won’t. But sometimes-” You stop yourself, chew at your bottom lip and aggressively spear your food with your fork. “I worry that you’re so busy taking care of everyone else that sometimes you forget about yourself.”

“I’m guessing this has gone way beyond your feelings about my hair.” Chan tries to joke, but there’s still that underlying tone of his. The special one that only he can really get. It works it’s way under your skin. 

For a brief moment you think about leaving it there. Changing the subject. This was meant to be a relaxing phone call during a moment Chan had to breathe. He has a break and he chose to call you and all of a sudden you're just sort of dumping out all of these thoughts onto him over room temperature leftovers. 

But then you remind yourself that this is Chan. He’ll know if you’re trying to bottle something away. He always does. You joke that you know him, that he’s like an open book to you. This isn’t a one way street. He knows you just as well. 

Fuck it. Rip the band-aid off. 

“You look stressed. Overworked. Like you haven’t been sleeping.”

“Oh wow, ok. Straight to the point.” 

“The only reason I know you’ve been eating is because Lino and Bin would probably force feed you before you ever went hungry. You just look exhausted and I know this is your job- I know you signed up for this. But it still breaks my heart sometimes when I can see you starting to strain under the pressure.” 

“I’m- I’m doing fine. It’s hard, yeah, but-”

“It’s worth it.” You finish his sentence, already knowing what he’s going to say because he always says the same thing. “I know. Why do you think it kills me that I can’t fucking be there? Because you work yourself to the bone and there’s no one around that’s willing to pull you away and force you to actually take care of yourself. The boys- I know they try, but they still see you as their leader. As their big brother. The things I do, the way I argue with you? No way they’d be willing to go that far. And I’m not trying to paint myself as this ultra special person but- jesus Chris, you can’t tell me that if, I don’t know; Felix tried to speak to you the way I do, you wouldn’t get upset.” 

Chan doesn’t say anything, but his eyes are big and liquid and he’s listening to every single word out of your mouth. When you say his name, directly ask him a question, he’s blinking. Thinking about it. “No, you’re right.” 

Finally, you place your bowl on the coffee table, feeling like you need to get up and move or else you’ll probably start crying or something equally as embarrassing. God, it’s like all of these pent up emotions have just decided to spill out. Things you didn’t even realize you were upset about until now.

“Your hair honestly means nothing in the grand scheme of things. It’s hair, like you said. But it was something for me to tease you about- something small that I was upset about that I could actually comment on, when really all I’ve wanted to do these last few weeks is scream at you to slow the fuck down. No- I know what you’re going to say and I’m not talking about the company schedules. That’s your job. I’m talking about all of the extra hours I know you’re pulling because nothing feels perfect enough. All of those hours where you’re meant to be relaxing but instead you just work more because you feel like if you stop you’ll stagnate.”

Leaning away from his phone, Chan takes a deep breath. Puffs out his cheeks for a moment before releasing it all and then dragging both hands over his face. The beanie gets dislodged, and you see a shock of pastel yelloworange. It’s not even that bad. It looks cute on him. But it felt like some weird shock to your system when he showed it to you and you could tell he was unhappy with it. 

“What do you want me to say? It seems like you’ve covered all of the bases.” 

“I want-” You huff in frustration. “I don’t want you to say what you think I want to hear, ok? Never. We don’t do that to each other. I just want-” Again, you cut yourself off, not actually sure what you want. Not sure what the entire fucking point of this little rant has been. 

You take your built up tension and you make good use of it. Bringing your bowl to the kitchen and beginning to clean up the dishes while you listen to the way Chan sighs into the silence. There really isn’t anything for him to say. 

You can hear the way he tries to start a sentence at least twice, and you know that he’s frustrated that he can’t fix whatever this is. But there’s nothing to fix because nothing’s broken. You’re just kind of at the end of your rope and you just want your boyfriend close. Shutting off the sink and picking up your phone, you try to give him something close to a reassuring smile.

“Listen, I think I figured out what I want.” He looks at you, jaw working and eyes shining and you want to take his face in your hands and kiss him stupid. But you can’t have that, not right now. So you’ll have to settle with second best. “We take care of each other, yeah, absolutely, but that means you have to take care of yourself when I’m not around to do it. Because I’m thousands of miles away. I know it’s a big ask but can you please do that… for me?” 

“Yeah… yeah, I can do that. I’m sorry I made you worry.” 

“Baby, I don’t need an apology. I just want you to be healthy.” You’re quiet for a beat, watching the way his eyes flick down and away from his phone before skipping back to you. “And also for your hair to look different.” 

“Wow.” It gets him to laugh. It feels like a small victory. 

“I’m nothing if not consistent. And hey, I’m sorry too. For just- whatever that was. It was unfair to unload it all when you’re probably minutes away from being busy again.” 

“Nothing to be sorry for. Like, I do get why you’re sorry but I’ll always choose to listen to your problems. Especially if they include me, that way we can figure out how to fix it.” His soft smile is back, crinkling his eyes and making your lungs weak. 

Humming, you finally finish putting all of the dishes away. “I love you.”

“I love you more.” 

“I love you the most.” 

“I’m pretty sure I loved you before I knew you.” Chan says, smile stretching wider as he tilts his head like an adorable fucking puppy. 

You smile back, and it feels like sugar fills your mouth. “Ooh, that’s a good one.” 

It’s the same little game you always play after any sort of tense conversation. Trying to one up the other and having to concede when they say something that legitimately makes you melt. It’s a reminder that things are hard but you get through it. 

Hoisting yourself up onto the kitchen counter, you sigh. It’s a little dramatic, infusing just enough theatrics to keep the levity of the conversation. “Sometimes it really sucks that we both believe in healthy communication. I wish we were the type of couple to ignore things until the feeling goes away but really it just festers until we can’t take it anymore.”

“I know, right. We’re just too good at being a couple. It’s kind of boring actually.”

“That’s what I’m saying! You should tell me to shut the fuck up more often and I’ll… I don’t know, accuse you of cheating?”

“With who?”

“Lino?”

“Wow. Shut the fuck up!” He manages to say, between his breathless laughter.

“Yeah! See, you’re getting the hang of it already.” 

Things might not be solved, like at all, but you feel a little lighter. You spend the next ten minutes joking with Chan, and things feel like they settle back to normal. You’ll probably have to have this conversation again, with less tension and frustration. But that’s for later. When he doesn’t look so tired and has a block of free time to actually talk about it in depth.

You’re going to see him, soon. You hold on to that knowledge as tightly as you can. You’ll be there, with him, able to touch him and kiss him and tell him that all you want is for him to be happy. Maybe you can have this conversation again, in person. Where you can hold hands and crawl into his lap. Soon.

[zeta-in-de-walls]

Reminiscing on the Dream SMP (part 1)

Hey guys, I was thinking about Dream SMP the other day. That server was a lot of fun in its day even as the content creator Dream turns out to be a terrible person.

It's been a little over a year since Tommy's DSMP ending and I thought I would reminisce on it.

The main question I have for the server is just how its final streams were so bas.

In its day, it was pretty cool and I believe it helped inspire a lot of future SMPs, showing creators how much fans had an appetite for story in a minecraft server (it wasn't the first but it was certainly influential).

One of its main strengths that first attracted me to it was the improv lead stories slowly evolving into loosely scripted streams.

By loosely scripted, I mean they had a concrete plans for the story beats but still left the actual dialogue up to the streamers to come up with which, when it worked, gave you some really natural sounding dialogue that at least somewhat reacted to the world around it.

The actual storylines were nothing too special. But the medium helped uplift them to feel extra unique - you would often get long unhurried streams allowing any important plot points to really breathe and get to see the characters going about their days, often doing things like rebuilding structures or mining even in content heavy streams - which many were not. This all helped the world feel very lived in and surprisingly immersive. Streamers interactions with their viewers through their chats was also an important element. This helped streamers as they had a live audience to judge their content off of and also to bounce off of, which was especially useful when they were streaming alone as it gave them an audience to naturally deliver soliloquys about their characters thoughts or just allowed them to narrate what they were doing at any given moment.

Being a server with many different streamers was also an interesting element. Viewers were not expected to watch all of it and indeed there was tons of content - another amazing about it was the sheer amount of content you got from it, such as multiple multi-hour streams every day - sometimes a different perspective of the same events, sometimes something completely different at the same time. I like to compare the server to comic books in that regard. They all took place in the same server but what stream you watched was what character you wanted to follow. And some fans would keep up with multiple, some only one or maybe two characters. But they were all fans of the server even though gradually they diverged more into their own separate fan groups - especially as different streamers had very different styles of content.

All this is to say that streaming was a cool medium for the Dream SMp and it was both a huge strength and sometimes a weakness. One reason I was such a fan of Tommy's exile arc was essentially how it was able to tell a story of isolation and the development of an abusive dynamic rather uniquely as with streams you got to see the everyday and see the character going about their day-to-day routine while gradually becoming more depressed. It basically used streaming and the minecraft medium to its advantage so well that I appreciate it almost artistically.

There were downsides to streaming as well. Overtime the fans increasingly labelled streams as heavy lore or semi lore or non-canon depending on what the streamer was up to as some days they just streamed building something and didn't want to interact with the server's plot. Sometimes the streamers would do stuff for content and looking at the wider story it was very easy to see these characters as terrible people or struggle with the disconnects. Sometimes jokes would turn into the most serious plots and there was some real whiplash.

But as I said. I don't really believe the story or characters were all that special. But the nature of the Dream SMP elevated it and when it was good, it felt like something special.

[elizacinnamon]

Can you say what are the ships explored since you said they could get you canceled? I think that's why you got done of those asks overreacting, because canceled ships can mean a lot of different things.

For me, personally, I'm okay with Beronica in fics, but I hate something like Beggie. Just to give examples of how some people about other non-BhVa ships.

But I have read Barchie fics in the past that were Betty focused works where she was married with Jughead and Archie was with Veronica, but Barchie was still presented as the love story of the fic, if that makes sense. I suppose this is something like that but with other characters in those roles? As long as it's not something where Betty cheats on Archie or vice versa, I think you'll be okay.

I was joking about being “cancelled” but realize that could’ve come across the wrong way. I’ve always written very close to canon, or stuff supported by canon, and have strong feelings against people who misinterpret the canon ships (ignore BA for example) or take the crackships as what’s the show all about (aka the people who say Riverdale was is all about the core four choosing each other in the end or Beroncia being cosmic soulmates when that was thrown in to please fans and written as shitty bait).

As a writer, I’ve been interested in trying to write a little farther from canon, specifically exploring what the show always seemed fearful to do. For this fic I started drafting, I’m particularly interested in exploring the quad dynamics in a messier way. What if one of the members of the “swinging” couple viewed it as experimenting and nostalgia while the other caught feelings? What were their sexual identifies if dealt with in a serious way? What were their relationships like as adults years into the future if such feelings remained? So on and so on. But I’m truly not sure I’ll publish as it seems people would rather me stick to BA and I’m okay with that feedback.

[rainbow-connexion]

Final thoughts on Yumi's Cells S2 from 2022

Putting my YumBab thoughts here after- part of my closure.

The earthquake was really bad and heartbreaking and infuriating. I understand how Yumi feels, esp since it's one of her non-negotiables. I'm not a Babi apologist, but for some reason, I can't seem to totally crucify drama Babi. He tried to be nice and perfect, but he's human. Things like that happen, even to the best people. It was wrong and he realized it was wrong. And he took steps to correct it- selling his house, moving, then that somewhat rude goodbye to the girl. And he decided to remain committed to Yumi. To me that counts for something. But for Yumi, it was too late. Her trust was already broken. But more than being swayed or having a crush, the deal breaker for me was keeping everything from Yumi. Babi tried to "fix" everything by himself, yet whether he liked it or not, Yumi was involved. But that's me. Of course, it's different for Yumi. Admittedly, their LDR made their situation more difficult. Imagine if Babi had told Yumi about it over one of their Zoom dinners. Yikes! But it has to be done. Or he could have gone to Seoul. If it was serious enough for him to decide to sell his house, then it's serious enough for him to fly to Seoul to tell Yumi. Tell her you had a crush but didn't act on it. Apologize. Tell her you are committed to your relationship. Tell her your plans and maybe ask her if she thinks you're doing the right thing. Easier said than done, I know. Pero kasalanan mo. Pinabayaan mong lumaki yung daeun bulletin board mo eh. Now you gotta face the consequences. I don't know how Yumi would react, but it was best to be honest with her. Ang problem ng YumBab IMO, wala talagang open communication. Even after a year, nahihiya pa rin si Yumi ipakita na kaya nyang magmura.They don't share their real-est and deepest feelings. They don't show their "dark" sides. I read a tweet that said they always try to avoid confrontation. Agree with that. They both wanted to be the perfect bf/gf. Why are they both so scared of a little fight when that's part of a healthy relationship? Laging dinadaan sa kisses and hugs. Doubt was growing in Yumi after that first meeting with daeun. But instead of processing that feeling, she downplayed it. She allowed herself to be pacified by Babi's sweetness. When Yumi left Jeju, Babi said he wished that Yumi trusted him the way he trusted her. Gusto kong sigawan, eh itinago mo kasi eh! At least Yumi was willing to tell him about Woong on their first Christmas together. Babi should have come clean with Yumi. I don't know if that would have changed things, but being honest and upfront would have been better for both of them. Nadala nga ng emotions si Yumi nung nag reconcile sila. Pero yun pa rin ang tanong, pinag-usapan ba nila yung nangyari? Did they try to thresh out their issues? I was all for giving Babi another chance, pero naman, talk about what happened first. Deal with your issues, because they won't solve themselves. Parang they just got back together but didn't really try to work out those uncomfortable matters. They were just second guessing each other. Take the ring, for example. Puro assumptions sila. Tapos magpapakasal sila??!! Hawaii small wedding. Yan na naman si Babi thinking that a passionate kiss and a proposal would make everything alright. The reconciliation was good in the sense that it helped them realize that it wasn't meant to be. No more what ifs. I'm glad they still tried. Pero itong si Babi mukhang forever Yumi pa rin. TOTGA talaga. But this is all very ideal, of course. That doesn't and can't always happen irl. Many times we let emotions get the better of us. And that's not always a bad thing. I think YC showed that. But we continue to find our happiness and strive to live a good life.

I asked a really good guy friend who's not really into k-drama to watch YC2. Anyway, I mention him because we discussed YumBab's 1st breakup bec I wanted a male perspective. We agreed that Babi was wrong, but that they should have discussed the matter first. But he thinks Yumi's decision was too abrupt. When I said it was because of those little things about Babi that she initially dismissed, but eventually could no longer ignore, sabi nya she could have processed her growing anger instead of rationalizing. Yumi could still have given Babi another chance. To let that situation be a learning experience for both of them. When I told him that she was cheated on by an ex ex bf kaya ang taas na ng standards nya, he said we really should hold ourselves to high standards. But Yumi's was unrealistic na. He said ang ganda ng relationship nila and Babi has been a good bf. Yumi fought for herself, but she didn't even try to fight for their love. And their love is bigger and more precious than their mistakes. That was after the first breakup.

When he saw Ep12, he was surprised that Babi lied about the accident. My friend kept saying that what Babi did was wrong.

But all in all, I'm proud of Yumi for not giving up on herself and her dream despite everything she went through. It's so heartwarming to see her grow and mature into a strong woman who still has a healthy amount of self-doubt.

[benefits1986]

Third Wheel, Free Will

Shattered love stories make my hidden heart and soul bleed wildly.

As an empath with a wicked mind and mouth, I still find it curious when some people come and share their stories that revolve around being cheated on and cheating. And by share, I mean too much TMI that is not only cringe, but, ego-crushing and heart-wrenching, too. There'd be times when I know that even my rare super tight empath hugs will never ease their pains, anguish and self-loathing. Ganun kalala.

While XXs are the usual suspects and prospects of being "kabit," I guess hearing XYs bare their souls about this matter is really a different ballgame. 'Di pa rin ako sanay kasi nga, it's a cheater man's world, after all naman talaga e. LOL. Must be because some XY who are part of my smaller inner circle have had serious cases in this department, too. That said, let me try sharing some answers to questions that have been asked to me by so-called victims of love: XX and XY edition. Let me disclose din na I am not part of any third party kahit kailan, kahit saan at kahit sino. It makes me cringe kasi talaga as in. It's not part of my ecosystem mula noon hanggang mamatay ako. Also, simple lang naman ang view ko sa love: 'Pag akin, akin lang pero 'wag clingy. Saktong cling wrap lang. Markahan lang namin isa't isa. Period. 'Yung alam ko at alam niya na kahit we're not home, we're each other's home. As an old soul ako kahit walang bakas ng ganun. LOL. Okay.

Masaya ako 'pag kasama siya. Ngayon ko lang 'to naramdaman pero alam ko namang mali. Mali bang maging masaya? Hindi mali maging masaya. Emotion 'yan pero ang tanong: what comes after 'yung masayang pagsasama n'yo? Paranoia? Mocking yourself? Rationalizing shit? Masaya ka sa idea na limited time kasi, limited offer. Scarcity is sexy pero 'di naman sa ganitong takada, pakiusap.

Alam kong mali pero bakit 'di niya ako pinipili? Still falls under the human nature na 'pag hindi mapasayo, may certain level ng excitement, ng challenge, ng thrill. Nasabi ko na 'to several times irl: 'Di ka talaga pipiliin kahit kailan kasi ang asawa pa rin ang only one sa mata ng Diyos at sa mata ng batas. Gusto mo kasi na piliin ka para magkaroon ka ng self-worth. Sadly, walang ganun. Gumising ka.

Karma ba 'to? I don't think this would fall under karma because all is fair and unfair in love and hate naman. Bad things happen to good people. Good things happen to bad people. People are both good and bad, parang Wicked lang 'yan. Lahat may Elphaba and Glinda. Are people born wicked? No. People are made of good and bad choices. Sarte pasok.

Bakit 'di ako puwedeng sumaya? Happiness is an emotion. Sadness is an emotion. Love is an action. Love is a choice. Doon ka sa pipiliin mo lagi't lagi AT pipiliin ka lagi't lagi. Be with someone who you outgive and i-outgive ka rin. Period. Doon ka sa bubuo ng 100% partners in crime araw-araw. Doon sa 100% na sa'yo at 100% ka ring kanya. Baseline 'yan. Non-negotiable 'yan.

Kaya ko pa bang makahanap ng ganitong vibe? Iba talaga e. It's a solid yes. Ano bang meron sa kabitan kagulo na vibe? Exciting, hindi boring. Challenging kasi ng limited time, limited offer. May chances of getting caught so that means may inclination ka sa something kinda feisty, baseline. Or gusto mo ng thrill. So hanapin mo 'yan. Chase is an XY thing so, gawaan mo ng paraan na ikaw ang hahabol kesa ikaw 'yung hinahabol. For XX naman, reco ko eto irl is gusto mo kasi 'yung "full attention" nasa iyo, so hanap ka naman ng XY na 'di nagpho-phone 'pag kausap ka. NOTE na super important: 'Pag magkasama kayo, nakabackside up ang phone and naka-silent lalo 'pag naguusap kayo ng mga importanteng stuff. Also, 'pag naman nagsagot ng call at work or family matters, 'wag kang mag-maarte kasi 'di naman ikaw lang ang mundo niya.

Naniniwala kasi akong vibe is just a matter of being mutually weird together and apart. 'Di ko sure kung idealistic ba ako o baka dahil ito sa very graphic-fantastic first meet-cute ko nung Prep. Hahahahaha. Parang nadala ko na siya sa flow ko be it an XX or XY get-to-know stage. 'Di 'yan about sa dami ng commonalities or differences niyo. Bonus points na lang kung pareho or similar kayo ng gusto at 'di gusto. Nasa paguusap 'yan na naguugat sa willingness ninyong maging vulnerable. LUH.

Bakit parang gusto ko siyang iligtas sa shit niya? Never been married, never been kissed. CHOZ sa kissed. Hahahahaha. Pero, based on the TMI married couples stories ay married life is not a joke. Rewarding siya rarely kasi nga people marry for fucked up reasons like convenience, not wanting to grow old alone kahit lonely sila sa kasama nila, fame, fortune, having kids because pressured ng social constructs atbp. Ayoko na i-exhaust ang list kasi we don't have time for that.

So, ang sinasabi ko: There's always two people who have faults sa bawat broken marriage vows. Nood ka ng The World of the Married and Marriage Story sa Netflix o sa kung saan mang platform mo gusto para free. I watched both with dad kasi nga bonding namin manood ng Netflix 'pag may time. Sabi ng tatay ko: Iba na talaga generation ngayon. Grabe ang sakitan. Ano 'yan? Nakakasakit ng dibdib, anak. Hahahahahaha.

Bottomline: Iligtas mo muna sarili mo because this shit of yours is a sunken ship. Period. Kung gusto mo talagang iligtas 'yung isa, tigilan mo na siya kasi 'di mo siya "mahal" kung everytime magkasama kayo e, a demerit sa legal husband or wife niya. Hintayin mo na lang mag-divorce or mag-annulment sila. Tapos. 'Di ba, willing to wait ka naman? Patunayan mo ngayon na ngayon na 'yan.

'Di ba ako worthy mahalin? Bakit 'di ako 'yung pinipili at the end of the day or night? Simple lang sagot. Lagot. 'Wag ka mag-expect na mamahalin ka ng kahit sino maliban sa magulang mo at aso mo kung mismong ikaw e hindi mo mahal sarili mo. Iba naman 'yung self-loathing sa allowing yourself in external situations na literal and figurative na sumasawata sa pagkatao mo.

Hindi ka rin pipiliin kasi nakapili na siya. Sorry. Sorry not sorry din.

I've witnessed this super up close. Maayos na XY, established as in. Matayog ang lipad. Pero, nagkaroon ng anak sa iba. Nung natrouble ng malala, umuwi sa pamilya. Bumalik sa asawa at mga anak. 'Yung kabila, never na nakita 'yung "ama" ng kabilang bahay nila up until the day he died. Hindi rin inamin nung XY ever na may iba at may anak siya sa labas hanggang sa hukay. JUSQ. Ang saklap kasi witness ako mismo ng BTS and "in front of the scenes" netong paganaps na 'to. I wept so badly and until now, I'm bearing the pain of this story. 'Di ko tatay 'yan a. Para clear and super clear. :D Kung tatay ko 'yan, 'di ganyan turn of events kasi... hahahahahahaha.

Kaya ko ba 'tong lusutan? Parang wala ng way out. Kahit naman deadend ang kabitan kagulo, isang good choice to turn around and walk away lang 'yan each and every time. 'Di naman 'yan agad-agad. Minsan pa nga, narealize mo na lang nung nagkaroon ka na ng anak na bunga ng maling pag-ibig. LOL. Pipiliin mo lang talaga 'yung sarili mo at gagawaan mo ng paraan na mawala na 'yung pagpili mo sa isang bagay na ikaw din naman ang gumusto at nag-try lumusot. Kaya nga may wedding ring, may marriage bans, and all, e para maiwasan ang ganitong shit. 'Pag may wedding ring, ekis na agad. Kung 'di naman suot, aba, magtaka ka na.

Ayun lang naman for today kasi sumasakit na naman puso ko sa mga ganitong usapan. 'Di ako product ng shitty kabitan kagulo pero dad ko way back nung college siya is dalawa girlfriend. 'Yung isa nanay ko. 'Yung isa, highschool shitheart niya. HAHAHAHAHAHA. I've seen how my super duper confident mother dragon went down in shambles at the slightest pakaliwa ng dad ko. Hahahahahaha. Sabi ni dad, pumipili pa raw siya noon. Hayup siya. Pero, kaya niya pinili si mom kasi sa kanya siya naging mas mabuti at buong tao 'di umano. LELS. So, siguro, eto rin 'yung part sa akin na sobrang cringe ako 'pag may mga paganaps na pagpapaselos or may ibang gusto ang mga nakaka-interact ko sa sphere ng love life. Matic alis ka na dito sa harap ko real quick. Naging 99.9% faithful naman tatay ko sa kanilang marriage vows lalo nung nagkasakit mom ko ng malala. Karma. CHOZ. Hahahaha. Joke lang 'yun a. Kidding aside, ayoko lang kasi nakikita mom ko na sobrang hyper vigilant sa dad ko. Isang maling kaliwa o kanan lang 'pag dating sa "girls" tepok talaga dad ko. Sabi nga niya: Takot talaga ako sa nanay mo, 'nak. Me: Awaw. Talaga ba dad? Parang hindi naman kasi 'di pa kayo kasal, pusakal ka na. Sabi naman ni dad: Nak, 'di naman masamang pumili e. Kung baga, tinitignan kung sino ba talaga sa dalawa ang pinaka okay maging nanay ng mga anak ko. Me: Tacca. 'Di lang dalawa kwento ni mommy.

Natawid ko na rin naman itong shit chapter ng parentals ko, so, all goods. Good deals na tayo. And andun na rin ako sa point na gusto ko balikan ni dad 'yung balo niyang highschool shitheart para malaman niya talaga kung tama decision niya mula noon hanggang ngayon. Actually, noon vindictive ako e. Pero ngayon, kung saan siya masaya since officially single naman siya, go lang. Excited din akong malaman ang sagot sa tanong na 'to. Pero sabi ng dad ko: Sabi ng nanay mo, kahit sino basta 'wag lang si... LOL. Aba. Defying death ba si dad or death-defying? Abangan! Buti na lang 'di chixxx 'yung HS shitheart niya. LOL. Mom ko kasi 24-36-24 nung college siya e, so 'yung pa lang, alam na this. Sanaol may ganung vital stats. LELS. Hahahaha. Hiyang-hiya ako e. Parang mga Grade 3 ko yata vital stats 'yan tapos no turning back na from there.

Anway, tapusin ko na 'tong shitpost na 'to because... marami pang labada at try kong matulog ng hindi lampas 1 AM. :) Bukas ulit!

[zukoisgayforsokka]

Autistic Toph Masterpost

It’s a long one folks. The @mightyoctopus and I are both autistic, and the other day we were discussing and concluded that Toph is also autistic. Here’s some canon evidence to prove it.

It has been said before that bending is a metaphor for neurodivergence. An innate, often unconscious extension of the person, connected to emotions.

Toph’s Bending

Toph is the best earthbender in the world, and this didn’t happen by chance. She took to bending incredibly naturally. Here’s how it links to her being autistic.

Special interest - Toph knows everything about earthbending, more than most people as she learned from the badgermoles. She is truly an expert, and it’s her favourite thing to talk about, and the topic she knows the most about.

[ID: Toph at Earth Rumble holding up her Championship Belt, a serious expression on her face. /End ID]

Heightened senses - Many autistic people are more sensitive to sensory inputs than non-autistic people. Toph is incredibly in tune with the world around her, constantly aware of everything through her earthbending. This saves people on multiple occasions: hearing Azula in The Chase, and saving the pregnant lady’s husband in The Serpent’s Pass are two examples

[ID: Image 1: Toph lays on her front on the ground in an earthbent tent, her head tilted as though listening, one palm flat to the floor. Image 2: On the Serpent’s path, the man falls off the cliff. Toph, somewhat far ahead, has instantly turned and bent out a rock ledge to catch him.Momo sits on her shoulder. /End ID]

Stimming - Self-stimulatory behaviour is defined as “the repetition of physical movements, sounds, words, or moving objects”. Toph is almost constantly bending. This is partially due to using it to ‘see’, but through the lense of bending being neurodivergence, we know benders need to bend, and to deprive them of their element makes them depressed (See: Hama, or the LoK).

[ID: Toph in greyscale, white beams traveling along the ground and over her to show the waves of sound and movement she uses to earthbend. /End ID]

It is not uncommon for adults, usually parents or teaches, to try and stop an autistic child from stimming, (very harmful for the kid’s mental health).

Toph’s parents and teacher discouraged her from bending, wanting to keep her only to the basics. It’s no wonder baby Toph ran away, overwhelmed and confused. The freedom she found through earth bending and Earth Rumble is what helped her be comfortable and confident, much like when autistic teens and adults allow themselves the freedom to stim and it benefits their mental health.

[ID: Image 1: Toph sits quietly in a chair at her parents’ house. In focus is her earthbending teacher, talking. Image 2: Baby Toph has her eyes closed and sniffs at the nose of a badgermole. Image 3: Toph at Earth Rumble, she is pointing and laughing. /End ID]

Moving away from bending to other general autistic traits

Shoes - Toph doesn’t like shoes as they restrict her sight. Consider also: it’s very common for ND people to hate the sensory hell that is shoes and socks. Toph is the poster girl for shoe-hating autistic people

[ID: Toph wearing Fire NAtion clothes and her Earth Kingdom head band. She is pushing one foot into a shoe, the bottom of which is straining against its seems as though about to break. /End ID]

Sensory - Toph hates the sensation of shoes and loves the texture of earth to the point of always being dirty

Transcript:

Toph: “You call it dirt, I call it a healthy coating of Earth”:

[ID: Toph in her underclothes having just woken up in Ba Sing Se. Her hair is a large messy mane around her head, and she is speaking. Katara is out of focus in the foreground, looking at Toph. /End ID]

Blunt - Toph is blunt often to the point of insult, and sees no reason to pointlessly soften her words, which is a very common trait of autistic people.

Transcript:

Toph: You blew it. You had a perfect stance, and perfect form. But when it came right down to it, you didn’t have the guts.

[ID: Toph poking Aang in the chest and shouting at him. He looks sad. /End ID]

Theory of Mind - this is understanding someone else’s thought process and perspective, which is harder for most autistic people. In Bitter Work when Toph starts training Aang, she gives him one set of instructions, then gets frustrated when he can’t grasp them. It isn’t until Katara suggests that “He responds well to positive teaching” that Toph tries again, and even then she doesn’t compromise her brash teaching style, just occasionally adding in a small nod of approval

[ID: Image 1: Toph stands looking slightly cross. Katara is next to her, talking brightly and gesturing back towards Aang, who sits on the ground urther behind them. Image 2: Aang high in the air with his feet on 2 different pillars, holding a weight in both hands, he is smiling big and bright. Toph stands on her own pillar, hands behind her back. /End ID]

Masking - This is something autistic people learn to try fit in. When we see Toph around her parents, she is soft and quiet, nothing like her usual self. When a change in routine occurs (the avatar visits), she gets overwhelmed and angry by Aang’s threat and lashes out.

[ID: Image 1: A close-up of Toph at her parents’ house, hair tied back, smiling serenly with an open expression. Image 2: Toph at her parents’ house, hair tied back wearing a fancy dress. She is stood up at the table, leaning forward on her hands and yelling. On the wall behind her and her mother’s face is smeared food from where bowls have flown. /End ID]

Inflexibility - Autistic people love routine, and we struggle when things go differently to how we expected. This is part of why Katara and Toph clash so much. As the lovely @rolandtowen​ made a couple of great (and correct) posts and is working on a masterpost for, Katara is also autistic

They initially clash in The Chase, as Katara has an expectation of how to set up camp (divide tasks among the group), whereas Toph had a different expectation of travelling (carrying her own weight). When faced with a routine different to the usual or expected one, both girls get overwhelmed, frustrated and constantly argue

In The Runaway, they keep fighting. 

[ID:Image 1: It is night, Katara is angry with her hands on her hips. Toph is angry with one fist up and clenched. They are in the middle of an argument. Image 2: Toph and Katara wearing Fire Nation clothes, both stood in mud, hands braced against the other’s hands as they are fighting. /End ID]

Autistic people often have a very strong moral compass, as seen many times throughout the show in Katara. It’s also common for autistic people to reject or ignore social rules they see as pointless, as seen through Toph having no qualms against stealing.

Part of why they fight is a clash of morals, which also links back to Theory of Mind, neither girl fully understanding the other one’s thought process or behaviour reasoning, nor do they take the time to talk.

[ID: Sokka, Toph and Aang in Fire Nation clothes, carrying baskets of supplies and laughing brightl.y /End ID]

Jokes - Despite finding many things funny, Toph doesn’t always pick up on jokes

Transcript:

Toph: Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is

Sokka: So, is he jumping into a volcano? 

Toph: I don’t know. For earthbending the original benders were badgermoles

Here Sokka is trying to set up a joke, and knows Toph has a dark sense of humour. But she doesn’t interpret his statement as a joke, she’s too focused on talking about her special interest: earthbending.

[ID: Toph sits holding a bowl, staring straight ahead. Sokka sits next to her, smiling and looking at Toph. They are lit by a campfire’s light /End ID]

Boundaries - Toph struggles to know other people’s boundaries, and assumes them to be the same as her own. This results in her punching her friends harder than they’re expecting, and throwing around the gaang with earthbending.

[ID: Image 1: An image of a large rock potruding out the ground as though just earthbent. Image 2: Sokka in his sleeping bag flying through the air, screaming. Image 3: Katara with her arms out, angry. Toph in front of her, back to the viewer, one arm to the side. Following this arm’s motion Aang is flying through the air towards Appa, having just been thrown by an earthbent rock. Image 4: Toph and Katara walking away from the viewer, Toph punching Katara’s arm, Katara stumbling slightly from the impact /End ID]

Gender - There is a high comorbidity between autistic and trans and non-binary people. Some think this is because autistic people are more likely to know their gender and not care about societal roles and expectations, thus more likely to transition. We’re also more likely to be gender non-conforming, as we want to be ourselves and be comfortable, rather than bother with gender roles.

Toph is not just happy at being played by a man at the Ember Island Players, she is exstatic. She doesn’t care about hwo society percieves her, and potentially prefers being percieved by others as more masculine. Her relationship with gender is different to what is expected of most cis girls

[ID: Toph holding the box railings at the theatre, beaming excitedly. Katara lounges next to her, looking disappointed. /End ID]

This concludes my masterpost on why Toph is autistic. If you made it this far, thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts or additional points, please let me know.

Have some happy baby Toph as thanks for making it this far

[ID: Baby Toph kneeling on the ground laughing as a badgermole licks the side of her face. /End ID] @atladescribed​

[stars-a-n-d-scars]

He never stopped loving you.

This might turn into something more, depending on how well it does. I do have a second scene planned out, based on the song I Almost Do by Taylor Swift, but I'll only write it if people like this. Enjoy!

---

In the end, it had been Lily. Which, in hindsight probably wasn’t that surprising. That woman was terrifying.

It was a Tuesday evening. Probably. It didn’t really matter, anyway. Every evening was the same. James came home at 5:47 PM on the dot, apparating into the living room with a loud crack. Lily screamed something indignant, usually along the lines of “James FLEAMONT POTTER IF YOU DO THAT ONE MORE TIME-” and came stomping down the stairs (which was becoming increasingly more difficult as the months progressed). James greeted her with a winning smile, and she huffed angrily, despite tilting her head to the side so that her husband could plant a kiss on her cheek and consider himself absolved of any consequences for the disturbance. It was sickening. Once, Sirius would have said as much. He would have made an over-exaggerated gagging noise and made some remark about their “stifling domesticity” and ducked to avoid the inevitable bread roll or other similar projectile. Now, he just sat.

Sat in the same place he had every day for the past seven months, on the same hideous orange couch that had been a house-warming present from Mad-Eye, staring at the same patch of mildew in the corner of the ceiling, watching as it slowly grew larger. Today, it looked like a wombat wearing a toupee.

He sat and he didn’t say anything, because he knew that if opened his mouth to say anything other than “I’m fine”, “How’s the baby?” or “Yes, James, I’m really fine”, he would start crying and never stop. It had taken him months to even be able to say those three sentences. What would happen if he made an attempt to poke fun at the Potters’ love, when it was the very thing he craved?

“You don’t have to be alone, you know”, Lily said that night, over dinner. Sirius made a non-committal grunt of acknowledgment and went back to pushing his mashed potato around on his plate until it vaguely resembled Italy. They’d had this conversation before. Lily would try to set Sirius up with one of her friends, he would say he wasn’t “looking for anything serious”, and the three of them would automatically look to the empty chair beside Sirius in anticipation of a pun that no one else ever made. Needless to say, they were met with silence.

“I know where he is”. Sirius froze. That was new.

“I know where he is, Sirius. And I know that you still love him. And I know that I shouldn’t be telling you this, but for fuck’s sake, it’s been seven months, Sirius!” The Sirius in question was still stuck on ‘I know where he is’.

But he didn’t look up. Instead, he carefully inspected what could have been Matera, realised that he wasn’t getting out of talking this time, and said the words he hadn’t been able to utter since that night seven months ago when he’d wept them into James’ shoulder, screaming inside but unable to do anything but cry and choke out the same phrase over and over again.

“He doesn’t love me anymore”.

Sirius expected Lily to sigh. He expected her to yell, or to give him the cold shoulder, or maybe even to kick him out. What he didn’t expect was for Lily to laugh.

It wasn’t Lily’s laugh, though. Lily’s laugh was pealing, like a bell. Lily’s laugh travelled on the wind as she raced past the Great Lake, fleeing James and his threats of tickles. Lily’s laugh curled around your heart and made you feel safe, at home. Lily’s laugh made sure you knew it was laughing with you, not at you. This laugh was not that. This laugh was cold, bitter, and achingly familiar. It was a laugh of spite, of irony. A laugh of “of fucking course this is happening, because everything just wasn’t enough”. It was the only laugh any of them had really been able to utter since... well. Since.

“You don’t actually fucking believe that, do you?”

“Lily...” James started, but immediately backed off, not wanting to be the subject of Lily’s newfound, and frankly, terrifying anger.

“Yes Lily, I do believe it. Because he told me. Himself” Sirius replied calmly, still not looking up from his mash (which was now looking less like Italy and more like a carrot).

“Did he? Did he really, Sirius? Because I think you’ve had seven months to think about what Remus said to you that night-” both James and Sirius visibly flinched at the name, but Lily continued “- and I always knew you were an idiot, but I never thought you were so dumb as to not realise why he left you! Look at me Sirius. Look at me and tell me what he said to you. God knows its all you think about. Tell me, word for word, what Remus said to you that night and then if you still think he doesn’t love you, I’ll leave you alone for good”.

Finally, finally, Sirius looked up. He looked across the table, into those piercing green eyes that could always get anything out of him. And he told the truth.

“He said that it wasn’t working anymore. He said that too much had changed and... and he said that I wasn’t worth it, Lils. If that’s not an un-declaration of love, then I don’t know what is” Sirius went to stand, but was stopped by an iron-firm grip on his wrist.

“Sirius Orion Black, how fucking THICK CAN YOU BE?!” Sirius was so taken aback that he fell right back into his seat. Lily never yelled. And yet, here she was. And she wasn’t done, either.

“If anything, that was him saying that he DOES love you! He saw what it was doing to you, him having to leave for missions in the middle of the night, and he knew it wasn’t worth it! He knew that having you, getting to be in a relationship with you, getting to LOVE you, wasn’t worth your unhappiness. And before you tell me that’s stupid, because you’re even more unhappy now than you were then, THINK ABOUT WHO WE’RE TALKING ABOUT. This is REMUS. Stupid, amazing, self-sacrificing Remus. Remus who always thinks that the best way to solve a problem is to remove himself entirely. Don’t you see, Sirius, he was trying to PROTECT YOU! Because he LOVES YOU. And I’m willing to bet the little bastard giving me cravings and nausea every morning that he hasn’t stopped loving you.”

Sirius sat in silence. He sat and he took it all in. He sat there for what could have been hours, but was probably only a few minutes, and thought about what Lily had said. Then, silently, he rose to his feet. He walked over to the door of the apartment and grabbed his jacket off the hook. He sat down on the window seat, remembering how he used to find Remus there early in the morning looking out over the city, back when Sirius and James had lived there together, and tied his shoelaces. Then, he stood up, walked to the door, opened it, and turned around.

“Lily?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to need that address.”

[lilkermit14]

Lavender & Mint

Fem!reader x Pero Tovar 

Synposis: In the conventional village of Cullfield lived an unconventional woman who served as an apothecary for the townsfolk. Stubborn and set in her ways, the woman of three tens remains unmarried and childless and plans to continue as such for the rest of her life, much to the horror and confusion of the village. But this unconventional woman has some surprises in store for her when an unconventional man named Pero Tovar rides into town, an event that will change both her and his plans forever—and may flip Cullfield upside down too.

Notes: Idk why I kept mentioning poop complications this chapter but I’m sorry and enjoy. It’s been a while but the CHAPTER is here. Please reblog!!!!

General Warnings: minor injuries, slow-burn, eventual smut, blood, childbirth

For this chapter: Non-sexual references to poop, mention pregnancy, murder, implicit brief reference to infanticide or child abandonment, pre-marital pregnancy and it’s complications in the 1400s, religious “morals”. 

Chapter 5: Garlic 

Last chapter // Next chapter

“When was the last time you passed bowels, Mister Ashdown?” you inquire, pressing on the old man’s stomach knowing you have found the root cause of his stomach issues. He blinks for a moment thinking as he lays on your observation table, before telling you, “quite some time I’m afraid.”

“I see,” you move your hands away putting your hands on your hips, “well, it seems that you just have a case of constipation––burdensome but not something hard to fix or that will have you laying on your deathbed.”

“You sure?” he asks, almost confused, moving to rise up from the table by himself only for you to come to his assistance. You clarify yourself, “Yes, you have many signs that point to it. It can be caused by a lack of competitive foods in your diet and is more likely with old age.”

“I’m not that old,” He interjects, but you compete, “Yes, but you're old enough for a blockage sir––you’ll be glad to know you’ll live to be truly old as long the burden is treated.”

He huffs now in a sitting position with legs dangling from the table, “so what do you have so i’ll shit.”

You huff at his language, “standard garlic will help move the process along, and I’m suggesting you make sure to eat more greens and berries to clear your system.”

You always assumed that you were let free to discuss any matters with your patients when they were the only ones in the shop, as no one else resided in your residence besides you. But that arrangement had changed and you were not the only one that resided in your home, “If my cock and bowels stop working just have someone put me out of my misery.”

You turn rigid and scandalized to see the face of Pero Tovar standing in your back entrance of the shop—entered unbeknownst to you through quiet steps and a lack of clear view. Mister Ashdown has no qualms defending himself, “I’m only five tens and if my cock doesn’t work how is my wife pregnant?”

You want to scream having to hear this conversation and did certainly not want to be reminded of the conversations you were subjected to by Farrah Ashdown. When the woman at four tens and five found out she was pregnant she spared no expense in telling you how it happened. You opted to rush him along before you could get his account of what he does with his wife, “okay sir here’s your supply get going now.”

“Enjoy the shit,” you hear Pero say and before mister ashdown can respond he is out your door. You turn to Pero fury and rage evident on your face as you are prepared to let the flames of hell loose on him. All he has is a stupid look on his face as he lets out the word, “what?”

“You bastard,” you begin pointing your finger at him moving towards him with menace in your voice towards a man that stands unbothered, “you do not talk to ANY of my clients in such manner especially in my shop.”

“Why is that hermosa? I would be rude to that man outside of your business, what makes your apothecary different?” He queries again with that name, only increasing your anger and distaste for him at the moment. With clenched teeth, you answer him, “I don’t care what you say to Mister Ashdown in town, but my shop is a place of respect––a place where anyone can come for health problems even if they are embarrassing. I want people to know they won’t be judged here because if they feel like they will be, they will come when it’s too late and I can’t do anything for them.”

Pero raises his brow at you, but lets you continue your rant uninterrupted, “When my mother was still alive, a young woman at ten and six came to us complaining of diarrhea, something she was embarrassed to talk about because it was gross and she did not want suitors to find out. Turns out she had sickness from a miasma––we took one look down the town well and discovered a deer had fallen in and died overnight.”

“That was lucky,” he comments, still invested in your story despite the vile nature of talking about excretion. You continue, “Yes, and we may not have caught it so soon if she didn’t come to us. The sickness is fast acting, in hours many more villagers could have been sick, but it was only her––and she lived.”

“Lived?” you smile at his question feeling pride at the healing powers your mom had and hope you live up to, “Yes, the sickness causes dehydration quickly but if you keep the person well hydrated and area clean to prevent reinfection––they will live. This summer she gave birth to her third child at my aid.”

“So their trust is important to you?” you give him a simple nod, glad he is understanding what you were asking of him. You turn to clean up the materials you had brought out to examine Mister Ashdown, not realizing that Pero was not done with questions, “Like how that woman came to you the other day crying in distress?”

You freeze––you had really thought the interest in Mariam had ended when William had first asked you about her the day after asking if she was okay. You nodded and told him it was just feminine needs and didn’t serve much interest in men, something that usually turned men away from asking questions. Well not Pero Tovar I guess, “Why was she crying?”

“It’s a complicated matt––”

“Things of safety are something I have to worry about you know,” He interjects, and you turn your head looking at him to see something serious cross his face, “I have to keep everyone in this village safe––you in particular hermosa––and I want to know if theres something you need to tell me.”

“Part of gaining trust is not telling personal information,” you counter, pulling together to formulate a lie, “It’s nothing of safety she was upset about something––she’s a friend of sorts to me.”

You can tell he doesn’t buy it––he can probably pull the full story together even though you doubt he’s heard a single thing about Mariam’s husband beating her––but he accepts, slouching and learning against a table in thought, “William and I may go for a short hunt––there's not much action in this town I’m afraid and we could use some fresh game.”

You nod, “If you catch any pigeon, I know how to handle it so it's not gamey.”

He huffs, “We're not very good hunters I’m afraid, so you’ll probably only get that or rabbit.”

–––––––––––––––––––

Pero Tovar had useful traits to him––like getting you pigeons––but he was mostly an annoyance. His mere presence always had you on edge, as you waited for something, something from him. It was usually something he said but if not it was his scent or stench rather of pine and something that was him. It was also his sloppy manner, the way he seemed raised with no table manners as he ate all your meals. He spoiled Mite, petting him and feeding him table scraps much to your despair. He was also too loud, his boots filling up the cottage and shop with noise, something that never usually happened.

You lent some time today to make more bread for the household, settling at your dining table and working the necessary ingredients for dough together. Mite lays in the corner, not doing his job as per usual and watching you with some sort of interest in the mannerisms of bread making, but he was likely just hoping for more food in the future. Kneading dough you begin to imagine the dough is Pero kneading your frustration into it. You press and it is his stupid broad shoulders that take up too much space. You pull, it’s the curls on the nape of his neck that are too unruly and untidy. You slam it down, it’s that stupid smile that appears on his face when you have entertained him. God you hate Pero Tovar.

“You may want to stop before you overwork the dough sweetheart,” You stop and see Mildred Becker staring at you with an amused look on her face. You huff Jesus, what does she want, “Sorry for my state, I didn’t hear you enter.”

“Don’t worry I understand too well––I always work out my anger into the dough,” you chuckle a little thinking about how a woman with too many children works out anger the same way as you––you definitely hate Pero Tovar, “I just stopped by because I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”

You perk up, “Is Cateline suffering from baby blues again.”

“No, No thank the lord––we’ve been watching over her better this time,” Mildred rounds off, and you remember despite the grievances she gives you, she is a good mother to her children. She was the first to notice that something was wrong with her daughter after the birth and came to you to talk about it. From there Cateline was able to recover and enjoy motherhood, “Something with your house guest Pero Tovar has come to my attention.”

“What did he do,” You ask, prepared to beat Pero Tovar with your broom, but Mildred settles you, “nothing he did, just something someone is doing around him.”

You raise your brow at her beckoning her to continue, “You know Stanislava Rolfe?”

“Of course,” you affirm, surprised she is asking you such a question when you have treated everyone in Cullfield five times over. Mildred continues, “Yes well, She has begun to work at the Inn as a barmaid––she did well with charming Balthasar I guess.”

You were wondering why a poor farmer's daughter’s career path interested you, but you didn’t interject, “I happened to take a quick ale there with my husband, when I noticed something with her and Pero Tovar. You see she appeared extra flirtatious with him––and although barmaids usually are flirty with men in hopes for extra coin, it was more intentional.”

You frown, how could such a beautiful young girl be interested in such a disgusting brute, “Why is she interested in him?”

“Who knows? Many of the girls around Cullfield were excited to see unfamiliar battle-hardened men I supposed,” She ponders for a moment, “all we do know is that she is likely interested in him.”

“I don’t think he is interested in taking a wife,” You contest, brushing aside that Pero would have feelings for the young girl of two tens. Mildred just gives you a hardened stare, “He doesn’t have to be interested in matrimony to want something from her.”

Oh

“Was he showing interest back?” you dig trying to figure out the full extent of what you are formulating must be a whirlwind romance. Mildred hums, “no I suppose not, but sometimes men take persistent interest as a way to have a good time.”

You bite your lip remembering that Pero did not fornicate with prostitutes but barmaids, and feel a ball of ache and pain in your stomach at the thought. Mildred instates, “I came to you about this because I want you to try to stop it.”

“Stop it?”

“Yes, make it clear he is to not have such guests,” Mildred explains, and you can tell by her tone and expression you are in for some sort of story, “You know well enough that things go arigh when an unmarried woman gets pregnant, right.”

“Of course,” you remember the chaos that erupted in families when one of their daughters ended up pregnant, and the hasty weddings that came from it. But Mildred had a different story, “although most of the time it gets swept under the rug with a quick marriage and everyone just chooses to ignore it––horrid things can happen when there's not one.”

Mildred sits down at the nearby table, in clear thought of something dark and you go to sit down at a nearby chair, “When I was about ten and eight, and old enough to understand these things, a girl was taken advantage of by a soldier in our village. She was ten and six, and him far older so he should have had the wisdom not to mess with her. What mattered was after it happened, he left with his troop and was never seen in my home village again. She got pregnant, and tried to hide it at first––her mom was dead and she had no older sisters or aunts to go to, so she was afraid to go to her father. When it became too obvious, hate inspired awful things in the leaders of the village, and by the time she gave birth it accumulated.”

Mildred takes a moment to pause, emotions brewing inside her and you feel yourself frozen in place, “she tried to talk to them, pleading, saying he pressured her––persuaded her, but they all pointed and said witch and condemned her son too. She was burn’t at the stake, and her son––well he was never seen again.”

A pause fills the air as you sit in shock, digesting what Mildred has told you, “I’m sorry you had to witness that.”

Mildred huffs, “I’m sorry too, I made sure to get a husband that would get me out of that village and landed a good one on the way––I had seen what that village did to women and children for the sake of moral value and did not intend to stay so my daughters could see too. Adultery is a two person crime that only one party, the feminine one, receives punishment for.”

“So that's why Pero and Stanislava are of such concern to you?” You assume, and Mildred nods, “Although I think Cullfield is of better standing, I don’t desire to find out what they would do if such a case erupted. The girl may be doing this because she intends to capture a man with a better job, but mercenaries rest for a few women and not those of ten and eight.”

“I can understand her intentions I suppose,” you contemplate, believing that she doesn’t hold much true interest in him, but for a better life. Mildred hums, “so is there a chance you can talk to Pero about it?”

“I already established that he is to not bring guests into my home, and I doubt they would find a secluded enough place otherwise,” you reassure, standing up, “I can even remind him today if you would like.”

“That would be good,” Mildred agrees, joining you in standing and allowing you to guide her to the door, “be on the lookout too if you see her come preying––even though he lacks true interest.”

“I will,” you say, and somewhere in your heart you feel prepared to beat Stanislava Rolfe with your broom instead of Pero.

________________

Gardening was no easy task but it was the most necessary task the runner of an apothecary and a household had. Today your tending to crops was more focused on your food supply rather than collecting the necessary ingredients to keep your shop running. You're pleased to see that the last of your harvest grew well, and know that your winter stock will last even with your house guest. You had already pulled out all the carrots, and beets, and had shucked the vines wounding your house of beans and brussel sprouts. You were now left to work at the tough vines of the gourds and squash, planning on leaving the single pumpkin for Pero to handle––who should be on his way home from helping Balthasar with something at his inn.

Standing up with the final gourd in hand––you see something that fills you with immediate displeasure and sickens you to your core. Pero is walking up to your house pursued by Stanislava. You don’t quite know why you feel this angry at him; maybe it’s because you gave him explicit reminders on conduct or maybe––something else. Seeing the near, and well hearing Stanislava, you attempt to think fast to try to get her to leave. Greeting them both in an unnatural kind manner, “Pero, Stanislava, greetings.”

Pero gives you an immediate strange look while his shadow is oblivious and greets you back, “I was just telling Pero this wonderful stor––”

“Oh I must ask how is your rash healing up,” You feel like clapping your hands over your lips the moment the words fly out of your mouth. Stanislava stops in her tracks staring at you blankly, “what?”

“The one I gave you the ointment for––on your groin,” Oh my God what were you doing.

Stanislava turns bright red, “Good thank you––I––I have things to tend to at home, good evening you two.”

Stanislava hurries off, and an amused smile erupts on Pero’s face, “thank you for finally scaring that crow off––she’s been yapping my ear off with nonsense for weeks––I guess you're my scarecrow.”

“Excuse me?” scarecrow, you were going to kill this man. He smiles, a genuine smile, “Yes you scared off my crow––like a scarecrow would. Plus you're covered in leaves right now.”

“Do not call me that”

“Fine mi espantapájaros”

“I swear I’ll smother you in your sleep”

“Is that a true promise for you? Like how you promised not to tell customers private information yet just shouted about the crow’s crotch rash,” at that your body works on it’s own, taking the gourd in your hand and flinging it at Pero’s chest. It was a magnificent shot, and caused the vegetable to break and splatter it’s internal organs onto Pero’s chest and neck. Pero steps back from the impact and looks down on the goop he’s now covered in, “Now, no good espantapájaros does that.”

You press your palm to your face, “Just cut the pumpkin for me and bring it inside, you could use a good bath anyway, your stench is disgusting.”

“I do not smell,” he retorts, and you ignore him, bringing inside your harvest. You really do hate Pero Tovar.

----------------------

Apothecary’s feelings––hate or nah yall?

Garlic is use to treat a lot of ailments in Arab traditional medicine, including  heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, toothache, infections, and––as seen in this fic––constipation. Listen, I know the constipation part is true because I ate a pesto made with raw garlic and LORD did I shit. Anything else, not quite sure but hey worth a shot if you are desperate. 

It is also seen as an immune booster for colds and coughs––in fact if you are congested from a cold putting a clove of garlic in each nostril can clear that shit OUT.  

Garlic is also believed to help asthma symptoms. IDK if it actually is true but that’d be iconic because my mom loves garlic and she has asthma. 

Garlic is my favorite seasoning. I put it in my soup. I put it in my eggs. I put it in my ramen. I put it in my burgers. I put it in my cooch––

taglist:

@poenariuniverse @harleyamidala @yespolkadotkitty @storiesofthefandomlovers @babybelou @legally-a-bastard @computeringturtle @clydesducktape @sixties-loser @buckysalefty @april-14-blog @prettylittlegoldfish @softpedropascal @maybege

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

April 2021 Part 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Second Chance Ep 1 - living up to its name since it looks to be a series of redemption arcs. Launched with a college confession and a broken friendship, then a flash back to them as seniors in high school. Pairings include friends to lovers, nerd/jock, and maybe cafe boss/employee. There’s a lot going on, but it’s still... quiet and sweet. The script is pretty pat but it’s still WAY more watchable than Cupid Coach or Brothers and most of the acting is solid. Ep 1 tropes included: he’s in engineering, wound tending, fast & bicurious. This could turn into what I wanted My Gear & Your Gown to be. Fingers crossed. 

Love Poison 2 Ep 1 & 2 turns out I did watch and report on season 1 (8 eps), season 2 seems equally unmemorable. Thai countryside setting, strong dialect, incomprehensible plot, camp side characters, and ghastly singing. 

Y-Destiny Ep 1 (eng subs?) - opened with the sports romance enemies to lovers (they aren’t going in the teaser order). When the couple got over fighting, the flirting was v cute, but the flipping SPONGE BATH trope had to rear its ugly head. Still, this series is shaping up to be less coy and more frank than most BL, better than expected. It feels, I don’t know, gay-er or something?  *** Sources were correct that each couple is getting (at least) 2 eps, and MDL has been updated to say this is a 15 episode series (not 7). 

Cupid Coach 12 fin - The new Nite was great and should have been a main all along. It felt like we got a tiny nugget of what could have been in about 10 minutes worth of this last ep. It was way too slow with terrible editing and a criminally bad script, but at least it ended happy. Mostly, like Friend Forever, I’m just disappointed that these two actors were done dirty by the series. Bad Cupid Coach, no screen caps for you. 

Lovely Writer Ep 6 - breaking news, there’s a het couple I like: toppy bi femme + soft boi = such a good pairing! I know, but this NEVER happens. Meanwhile, Sib’s secret is out, Gene is a bit of a drama queen, and the plot thickens. We half way through.  

Brothers Ep 9 - Kaow had a serious moment of advice giving that was truly lovely. Lots of family dama made this a superior episode to... well... any of the others in this series. Which isn’t saying much. 

1000 Stars Ep 10 fin - at the start this series didn’t grab me the way GMMTV’s last BL, Tonhon Chonlatee, did. But boy did it end 1000x better. Might have given us 2021′s best forehead kiss. I enjoyed the ultra romantic cliff-top reunion kiss, and I LOVED the stinger flirting scene. That was an absolute gift we had no right to expect. This drama is a poster child for finishing on a high note (always focus on that dessert course). Final thoughts? This was FAR more a classic romance than it was BL. There were some BL tropes used but not many and most of them originated in the romance genre not yaoi. A picture perfect ending bumped 1000 Stars much higher up my best-of list than expected. Not sure how often I’ll rewatch it as a whole, but this last episode? I’m probably rewatching it right now. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Dear Uranus (Taiwan GL) Ep 3 fin - I guess that’s it? Okaaaaay  

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 3 (AKA Ep 5-6) - we got actual legit gay culture not just BL (always appreciated) from XingSi. I’m starting to find LiCheng’s “show them we fucking” hijinks hilarious rather than annoying (not sure why, maybe I just love a rubber chicken, or maybe it was the STUFFED CORN WITH THE TASSEL that did it). 

-- H4 Moment of RANT --

Tropes included beach trip, there’s only one bed, cook for him, baby is a floppy drunk, carry baby to bed, and.... drunk non-con. Whoopdedoo. Here we go again. Did TharnType teach us NOTHING? (Apparently it taught us if the chemistry is good enough, I have no morals at all.) At least H4 seems to be taking us out of cheese into serious when it comes to assault. Or is it? 

I take back what I said last week about XingSi & YongJie being codependency + salvation trope, that only works if YongJie is the uke. He’s NOT. So we got us an obsessive predatory villain with a possible redemption arc. That’s more common in crime dramas, mafia romance, and epic fantasy than BL. It’s real hard to redeem a sexual predator in a reality-grounded universe like contemporary romance (See Kla in LBC1&2). 

Next week is gonna be a test of the whole damn franchise. Imma remind both me a you that this was ep 3 of 10 so we got a ways to go yet... but ooof, what have we wrought, BL? (I ended up doing a whole post about the stepbrother trope because of this sub plot.) Taiwan is killing me.

-- RANT ended --

Word of Honor (China) Ep 19-21 - over half way point so we got ALL the back story (in a classic 4 act story structure midway reveal). Now we know who WKX really is and his lineage. We also got some cute hugs and hand holds. Moving along at a nice clip despite being 36 eps total. Still gayest thing to come out of we-not-gay China since Advance Bravely. 

Most Peaceful Place (Vietnam) Ep 2 - takes them a while to get eng subs together and ep 2 didn’t drop until late. So I’m putting this in a Thurs time slot going forward. Miscommunication already cleared up and a 2nd couple has been introduced. The pacing on these Vietnamese BLs is always a bit... off. But it’s still better than most of its ilk, enjoyable. I’m thinking it’s a 6 ep arc. 

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 5 - after the initial drama DRAMA of ep 2, the current external crisis at work is much quieter, giving this whole season a top heavy feel. Taken along side the first season, I think it’s fitting nicely into a 4 act structure, but that might be my bias. I hope I’m not wrong, we’ll find out next week. Shi De puttering about being domestic with Shu Yi on his back was the best execution of the piggyback trope EVER. Meanwhile, our little D/s side couple of codependency, salvation trope + mental illness is becoming weirdly appealing. I don’t know. H4 done mess with my head. 

Stand Alones 

Absolute BL AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko  (Japan) Ep 1-4 mini series. Found subs under A Man Who Defies The World of BL. IT’S HILARIOUS. It’s Japan making fun of us, but also itself for having started this whole BL nonsense - from yaoi roots to present day. It’s parody goddamn gold. Utterly cheeky unto the very last line. We are not worthy. 

Apparently the most powerful tropes of all time are: baby is a floppy drunk and the piggyback fo nobility. Oh and chocolate. {Full review here.} 

Honestly, this show may have been made with only @heretherebedork and I in mind. I don’t know if you’d even understand half of it if you don’t have a history with the manga source genre and an obsessive interest in underlying narrative devices. I haven’t seen much chatter in the blog’o’sphere on this one because, in the end, it’s not a romance at all, it’s social commentary. 

The ending line was a masterclass in lampooning a genre. I’m going to rewatch the whole thing just to catch all the digs I missed first time around. It is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. 

Thank you Japan. I forgive you all your hair-styling sins of the last decade. 

Breaking News 

Spring Line Up:

Scholar Ryu’s Wedding Ceremony AKA Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korean historical BL) April 15th 

Close Friend the series (Thai trailer) April 22. 

2gether the movie (Thai trailer) April 22 to Thai theaters.

Nitiman (Thai) May 7 on One31.

I Told Sunset About You 2 (Thai) May 27 on LineTV

Ossan’s Love (Hong Kong) June to Viu 

Gossip 

Bad Buddies released its first promo op via Arm Share, which means GMMTV is at least *thinking* about filming it. 

Fun behind the scenes gossip sesh with eng subs for Tell the World I Love You (that Perth Bas movie we are maybe getting someday but will likely be sad). 

New Thai BL Bite Me (adapted from novel Grab a Bite) dropped a teaser. It stars Mark Siwat (Kla in LBC) as uke character Ake, a delivery boy with special foodie powers, and chef Eua (seme played by Zung Kidakorn) who discovers him. It’s from the same author as Manner of Death so we might even get some actual plot. Since it’s an established BL actor who I happen LOVE, a known author, and a plot about FOOD, I could not me more excited for this one. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed a day later than actual air date for accessibility reasons. Some are dropping multiples at a time but just started so I’m not sure on numbering. 

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

[revengeisalwaysanoption]

And last, but not least, the guest I attended this con for… Rocco :D !!

He is so lovely, and he listens to every word you say as if you were telling him about the secrets of the universe, which tends to make me a bit anxious about having a conversation with him because I fear that I’m going to say something stupid.

I had a M&G with him and I was at his panel, so I got the chance to talk to him and listen to him a bit more than with the other guests:

- His favourite parts of conventions are M&G, because it’s the perfect chance to have a chat with people about his work. He doesn’t really like panels, because both him and the people asking the questions often feel awkward.

- As he said many times before, Skam Italia changed his life. It still is – especially in the pre-Netflix era – the project that showed him that you don’t need a massive budget to do an amazing work.

It was the biggest project he had taken part of ‘till then, and it meant a lot to him on a personal level. He still feels to blessed to have played Niccolò and so glad that some people could see themselves in him, something that he started to realise only at Fandom Vibes in April 2019 when he finally got the chance to -meet fans who told him how important his character had been for him.

- Both in the Gazelle video and in “Non mi uccidere” it’s not him driving, and he told us about how it works: he was actually sitting in the passenger seat with a fake steering wheel and there was another man crouching down in the driver’s seat who was the actually driving.

- Both him and Alice (who played the main character on “Non mi uccidere”) were full of bruises at the end of fight scenes, but he really liked the physicality of playing in a horror/fantasy movie.

- He is watching S3 of “Baby”

- One show that it’s not very well known (at least here in Italy) that he would recommend is “The Act”

- He spoilt all of “Squid Game” to the few who hadn’t watched it. He saw it in Korean, with English subtitles. He thinks with dubbing you lose too much. So, I told him that while I agree that you lose a big part of the actors’ performances, in terms of information you lose just as much with subtitles as you do with dubbing (I wrote my BA thesis on dubbing vs. subtitling). His favourite storyline was the one involving the two girls. The only scene he didn’t like was one near the end, where he felt the tone was a bit jarring (comical in a serious moment).

- Working with an American director for Hotel Portofino made him realise that the Italian film industry doesn’t leave much freedom to actors to give their own spin to the characters, whereas he had long talks about the character he played for this project.

- He likes writing scripts, but it doesn’t come easy to him and he’s very critical of his work so nothing he has written since Shirley&Baby has been deemed worthy to be shot.

- During the pandemic he wrote some more music, but he is waiting until he has at least four-five pieces before sharing them with the world

- He couldn’t share a single detail about S5, and said that the part of his job he dislikes the most is when he has interviews in which the journalists try to get some spoilers out of him, because he has trouble remembering what he can (and sometimes MUST) say and what he can’t.

- I can tell you that he hadn’t dyed his hair so, if they have started shooting, there haven’t been any scenes with Nico yet.

- So, we asked him what was his favourite scene in S4 and he said the hide-and-seek scene… Especially because Bessegato sent him the song before the script, and it gave him goosebumps. He felt like it was really fitting for Nico

- He thinks that Niccolò is studying either Psychology or Philosophy at University. History of Art could also be an option.

- If he could have more extra scenes for Niccolò, he’d love to see the relationship with his parents.

- Since I wrote and HDM!AU, I asked him if he had seen The Golden Compass (of course he did, since it stars his beloved Eva Green) and what he thought would be his daemon and Nico’s. He said a feline for him and a giraffe (of course) for Nico, though he found my idea of Nico having a daemon that never settled on a form fascinating too.

- I asked him what if he thinks that Nico gets angry as well, because we have seen mainly Marti being the one with a bad temper and he answered that no… After everything he had to face in his life, to get where he is, and having such a wonderful love story, he is a very chill guy that would never explode. Rocco himself, on the other hand… He does his best to mind his own business and not to step on anyone’s toes, so when provoked he gets really furious!

- As @doblondoro requested, I asked him if the conversation between Nico and Marti in the café was something that was written in the script or something him and Federico came up while shooting… And he confirmed it was the latter. He said something along the lines of “Yeah, yeah, we were improvising so we said a lot of bullshit, about the foggiano and there was also a ‘Bambi’ thrown in there…”

- His two favourite cities in Italy are: Rome (for its beauty) and Milan (for its efficiency). He can’t stand Milan’s weather though (It’s even worse than in Paris, he said). He regrets that Italy doesn’t really have any massive work of arts (in any field) during the 19th century (his favourite). Then, he ended up talking about how dirty Rome has become lately and his only wish from the new mayor is that he will find a way to clean it.

- Rant about how underpaid teachers are in Italy (thanks!)

- He is studying French but find it difficult for the pronunciation and the grammar.

- Apparently, he gets tipsy after a Mojito, but tends not to throw up when he’s drunk and he thinks that it sucks (and then they ended up talking about acid reflux X°D)

- He can’t stay up all night anymore, because then during the whole day he’d be zombie-like, staring into the void asking existential questions (I know, it happens to me too, you’re like “Who am I? Why am I here? Is there a purpose to anything in this life?”)

- He has a lot of food intolerances

- He seemed surprised by my face-blindness, as I failed to recognise a girl that lived for nearly 10 months together with me in Mestre (it was 8/9 years ago, but still…)

The dinner was very noisy and I had trouble hearing whoever sat at the table, despite them being just one seat away from me, so I can’t even remember if I actually asked him something apart from telling him that I started thinking about what questions I should ask him (and gathering some from others who couldn’t come) at the M&G on Friday… (and he went ‘awww’).

I think that’s all.

By the way, it has been two years and a half since I last met him and I forgot how tiny he is. It’s not even a matter of height, because he’s taller than me, but he is just so slender...

[wanderinginksplot]

If you're still taking requests, can I request either Echo or Tech with hurtReader + fluff? 👀

(your writing is amazing and it melts my heart sndnfjdjdb)

Hi, friend! Thank you for the compliment - you're so sweet! I went a little lighter on the fluff than I meant to, but this is what I ended up with. Thanks for the request! Enjoy!

Tech + Injured Reader + (Minor) Fluff

*WARNING: Slight mention of gore. Nothing graphic, but a head's up.*

Watching the Havoc Marauder touch down was a ritual you followed every time the Bad Batch went anywhere without you on board. Tech liked to believe he was an excellent pilot, but you were of the opinion that flying took more than encyclopedic knowledge of a ship’s internal systems. It took instinct, a feel for the ship’s personality, and a good bit of luck to fly in a war zone.

Tech disagreed vehemently, but you had been assigned to them for a reason. Even if he had found your belief in luck - okay, slight obsession with luck - to be ridiculous, Tech admitted that you were an excellent pilot. It hadn’t been enough for you to accompany them on their mission, but it was something.

The real problem was that the members of the Bad Batch were insanely protective of anything or anyone they saw as ‘theirs’. Privately, you thought it was because they hadn’t had any personal belongings on Kamino. And they definitely hadn't had friends outside of their group. Unfortunately for you, you were also considered ‘theirs’ now and the Batch could be… restrictive when they felt you could be in danger. And since you were assigned to help them fight a literal war, you were always in danger and they were always protective. Especially Tech. You had been dating in secret for a few weeks now - too short a time for anything serious, but Tech let you take absolutely zero chances.

“Sir, we need to get you inside,” one of the troopers on deck told you, his light touch to your arm pulling your attention away from scanning the star-littered space above the hangar bay. The trooper's regulation armor looked oddly plain to you, even with the medic's symbol and the touches of gray that told you he was a member of the Wolfpack.

“I’m sorry, what was your name again?” you asked, partially to stall and partially because your luck senses were tingling.

“That isn’t important right-”

“Please?” you asked again. It was another quirk of luck. If a trooper touched you, you needed to know their name or they ended up dying. Statistically, you knew that probably wasn’t true, but who really wanted to mess around with fate if they didn’t have to?

The trooper blew out a sigh that crackled his annoyance through the speakers of his helmet. “Curl, sir. We really should be-”

“I’m sorry, Curl,” you apologized, interrupting the poor medic again. “I got separated from my team and I need to see that they’re back okay before I can leave. Does that make sense?”

“What team isn’t back yet?” Curl asked, seeming concerned. “I thought Commander Wolffe said that everyone had checked back in?”

“I’m with the Ba- with Clone Force 99,” you told him, changing your explanation to use the group’s official name at the last minute. Professionalism never hurt anyone.

“You’re with the Bad Batch?” Curl asked, sounding impressed despite himself. Without waiting for an answer, he gave a curt nod and lifted his wrist toward the speakers of his helmet. “Sergeant Sinker, Medic Curl.”

“Sinker here,” a voice answered immediately.

“Do we have an ETA on Clone Force Nine-Nine?”

“Hold.”

“Copy.” Curl glanced at you and you nodded to show that you were following the conversation.

“Curl, bridge says they’re inbound, expected to hit the hangar in about a minute.”

“Copy,” Curl said again. “Thanks, Sarge.”

“I’d stand clear,” Sergeant Sinker warned. “The good pilot isn’t on.”

“Are you the good pilot?” Curl asked you. You swore you could hear a smile in his voice.

You smiled back and nodded. “That would be me.”

“Understood, I’ve got the good pilot with me,” Curl replied over his comlink. “We’re gonna spectate, make sure they don’t scratch the paint job.”

“There’s no reason to worry,” Sinker said consolingly. “The GAR stopped springing for paint two months ago. There’ll be none left on that ship.”

Curl laughed aloud at that, shaking his head.

“Cut the chatter,” a harsh voice reprimanded. “This is an official channel. Save your jokes for the clubs on the Triple Zero, Sergeant.”

“Yes sir, Commander,” Sinker agreed chipperly.

The Solidarity’s deck shuddered as the hyperdrive activated, ready to take off as soon as the Havoc Marauder landed, and you stumbled with the movement. Curl caught you - his grip uncomfortable given the harsh plastoid planes of his armor - and shook his head.

“We really need to get you inside, sir,” Curl said again, sounding reluctant but concerned. “You have an appointment in the medbay with me, and I’ll be very offended if you’re late.”

You were about to point out that he would be late, too, when the Marauder zoomed up and around the Solidarity, clearly following a path to land.

“Wait, they’re right there,” you protested. “Give ‘em ten seconds to land and a bit longer for me to gloat, then I’ll gladly go to the medbay.” Curl hesitated and you pressed your advantage. “I’ll be a model patient, Curl. No arguments, no debates, no complaining.”

“I never believe anyone when they say that,” Curl said dryly, “but I guess you’ll survive without treatment for a little while longer.”

“Thanks, Curl!” your enthusiasm was a little… off… but you blamed it on the pain you were finally beginning to feel.

Tech was flying, you knew that beyond a doubt. Not only was he the only person allowed to fly, but the landing performed by the small cruiser was proof that the wickedly intelligent trooper was behind the controls.

As soon as they had landed, Wrecker burst out of the side door. “Ha! Told ya we would make it back in one piece.”

“More luck than skill, that,” Crosshair countered sourly, slouching from the door as well with Hunter behind him.

“As I said multiple times, everything was under control,” Tech disagreed. He caught sight of you and started in your direction, eyes taking in the way Curl’s gloved hand was still gripping your bicep.

“There, you saw ‘em,” Curl muttered to you. “We really need to go now.”

“I beg your pardon, but where exactly are you trying to go?” Tech asked sharply, glancing between the two of you.

“Medbay,” Curl replied, slipping into the vocal brevity of a career soldier. “Your pilot was injured, but wouldn’t accept treatment until you had touched down.”

“Luck, you know,” you told Tech, who was already scanning your form with his goggled gaze. You smirked at him and shrugged off Curl, who seemed ready to tow you to the medbay himself. “Also, statistical likelihood be karked! I stayed in the ‘safest possible place’ like you told me and I’m the only one who ended up injured! You should listen to me from now on.”

“What?!”

“Injured?”

"How? Where?"

The rest of the Bad Batch had surrounded you and Curl in a moment, all asking different variations of the same question. Hunter’s voice cut through them all. “Trooper, why is she not in the medbay?”

Curl held up his hands as if despairing of the entire situation. “Sorry, Sergeant. Your pilot refused to leave until we saw your ship land. It would be a big help to me if you would just issue an order to report to the medbay so I can start treating the injuries.”

For all that he liked to take a laid-back approach to non-combat leadership, Hunter took the safety of his team seriously and you knew he was about to do as Curl had suggested.

“It’s not even that bad an injury,” you argued before Hunter could speak. “I just got hit with some debris."

You tugged up the rough, canvas-like material of the uniform pants you wore while you weren’t actively flying and showed them your lower leg. You were busy looking at the faces of the Batch rather than the injury, but you knew something was wrong when Tech swore. Tech never swore.

With a frown, you glanced down at your leg. Your mind refused to make too much sense of things, but you saw smears of crimson and a pale flash of something before the dizziness returned worse than ever.

Fortunately, Curl caught you before you could actually fall and Wrecker scooped you up a moment later. He was already muttering soothing nonsense as he lifted you, and it was almost enough to keep you from noticing the pain. “All right, here we are. Everything is fine. Just don’t puke on me.”

“Medbay,” Hunter ordered severely. “Now .”

“Yes, sir,” you agreed, your voice more weak than you liked.

“Finally,” Curl muttered.

“Tech, go with them,” you heard Hunter say from a rapidly growing distance.

There was a sound of jogging steps, but when you tried to look for Tech’s familiar face, the Solidarity leapt into hyperspace and you felt like you might actually pass out.

“What will treatment consist of?” Tech asked. He was trying to mask his worry by being professional, but you could hear a hint of it in his voice.

“Some stitches, probably an antibiotic shot since the debris was metallic, and a check of the nerves in the area of injury,” Curl answered easily. The lack of concern from the medic was comforting in a strange sort of way.

The silence hung for a few moments, interrupted only by the sound of everyone’s footsteps. Eventually, Tech admitted, “I should have been able to calculate the risks more closely. This never should have happened.”

“Aw, how were you supposed to know?” Wrecker asked loudly.

“That’s right,” Curl agreed. “This is war. Unexpected variables are the norm and there are no safe spots. My only advice is to take all of your people with you. After all, your pilot accepted the assignment to be part of your team. Trying to keep people out of the action never works. Take the lesson, learn from it, and make adjustments in the future. You don’t need to do anything more than that.”

“He’s right,” you agreed, the sentiment muffled against Wrecker’s broad chestplate. “Let me do my job and trust that I’ll do everything I can to keep us all out of danger.”

You blindly stuck your hand out behind Wrecker’s back, searching until you connected with Tech’s familiar fingers. His grip was hesitant but steady, and you gave his hand a squeeze of reassurance.

“It’s probably true,” Curl said, apparently backing you up. “Pain is like a truth serum. And with that gash… it’s probably the truth. Even if you did lie about being a perfect patient.”

You chuckled at that, despite the discomfort from your injury, and relaxed a bit as you felt Tech press a kiss to the back of your hand.

---

A/N - This chapter could realistically be called 'Ink will do anything to avoid using the y/n designation'. For those who are unfamiliar, Curl is my OC medic for the Wolfpack and you can read more featuring him in Just for Kix on my masterlist. As always, I'm still taking requests! Thanks again, Anon, for this idea and I'm sorry again about skimping on the fluff! If you want me to rewrite or expand on it, please feel free to let me know.