#I wrote the beginning such a long time ago-l

[fanaticdragonrider]

dont have a title yet

Post-httyd 3: Eretlout before and after marriage.

Eret and Snotlouts relationship is strange, complicated. But they mend it and fix it as they go.

thanks to @julesisblue for being a beta-reader!

“Snotlout husband of Eret” didn’t sound so bad.

Snotlout flipped through the pages.. colors upon colors, and how to achieve those hues from flowers and clay. a variety of wedding ideas Snotlout bunched up in a leather folder he never thought he needed.

Junglehouse blue? Too tacky. Pink? They were both men! Red? Looks like a love inn. He needed the perfect color pallet, he was going to be finally betrothed. 

Eret loves the ocean, doesn’t he? He’ll keep the baby blue for the banner, oh yeah— It’s all coming together.

Gold for Snotlout and blue for Eret, Snotlout laid down on the wooden floor with a soft smile nobody has ever knew, he never thought he would get married. But Eret wants to!

The viking imagined how the smell of the ocean would calm the sailors and how the soft cloth would be placed upon their hands to make Snotlout the coolest most manly viking husband.

Or so he thought.

The wedding was cancelled, or at least Snotlout felt like it was- when in reality it was postponed till next week.

“It was rainin yaks and dragons!” Gobber said to Gothi in the great hall, Waving his wooden hand as if the officiator could change the weather. Gothi was already bored of his constant complaining, can’t an old woman sit in peace? Weddings never go as planned anyways.

Snotlout’s eyes were brighter than usual.

The crackling of fire couldn’t muffle the angry voices in his head, yelling at Thor for the lightning and storms— it couldn’t even muffle his shame.

while his outstretched legs were warmed up by the great halls fire. He felt Eret walk casually from gobbers stressed yapping to Snotlouts quiet rage.

Eret clenched his jaw. A rain-soaked Snotlout on the floor didn’t help.

Snotlout had spent 1 minute thanking thor for not going outside in his wedding attire and another minute sulking in front of the great halls hearth. 

Erets sweet accent snapped Snotlout out of his thoughts as he sat behind him. “Lad.. the wedding will be held soon enough, no?”

Snotlout wanted to be hugged from the back, his eyes became softer. From icy to something with warmth.

If it wasn’t Eret, Snotlout would have bitten his face off as soon as he sat down behind him, instead the shorter viking leaned back into Erets chest silently.

“Its so humiliating—“ A mumble left Snotlout

“No, Lout its not.”

“Thor always had it out for me, i was struck by lightning 14 times! And now this, Eret!” he cried out.

Sometimes life is unfair.

Everyone felt bad for them both.. the rain outside was strong and sudden, they couldn’t even reschedule for a later date in time.

And yet- Eret was hopeful for some sort of relief.. the pain Snotlout endured might become a gift. Despite him deserving it most of the time

…

Despite everything, they still got betrothed.. needless to say a viking and a sailor didn’t know what to do during a honeymoon so they decided to just sail with Erets old crewmates, who surprisingly adored Snotlout.

There were lanterns and sweets to wave them a warm goodbye near the docks, Erets place.

Fishlegs scratched his chin “But why? Honeymoons are for fun!”

despite the tradition being for the blessing of a son in the maidens womb.

Eret shrugged but the shorter viking wasn’t so merciful.

“First of all, FISHFACE! I like honeymoons because i get to have a great time and rub it in your faces.” Snotlout offendedly pointed at fishlegs.

“And just because i wont have a sappy smoochy honeymoon doesn’t make me any less of a viking! So you better be thank-!”

Snotlout was interrupted by his husband.

“You’ve done enough for today.” Erets voice somehow tamed Snotlout. As he was steered towards the ship.

Snotlout let out a soft laugh and waved everyone off as he boarded the ship. It wasn’t a usual occurrence to hear him laugh with so much love, it was usually filled with mockery or it was a victory laugh. But this one was different.

Snotlout was lulled to sleep by the noises of the ship. Crewmates chatting, the oceans tide rising and the ship gently rocking, creaking.. He wondered how babies felt when they were sung lullabies and rocked by their mothers. Was this it? 

He felt warm, his round nose right next to Erets old beige fur coat that smelled like the ocean, it was soft and warm as he snuggled deeper into the bed. Staring at the moon from the round window on the swaying ship. Wondering how many times Eret went to the sea.

Eret has been more busy lately, he felt a little jealous. They got married but he still wanted attention! But the only way he could find peace in knowing he cant choke Eret out for leaving him alone for so long is hugging the sailors old clothes.

Eret kept moving, always looking forward— as if stillness could kill him, he would hear the cracking of whips and dragons.

Snotlout couldn’t seem to figure out why..

He didn’t understand.. Eret knew all of Snotlout, from his body to his head. But Snotlout sometimes wished he could see Erets slavemark for more than a few seconds before the candle is snuffed out, ask him, tell him it reminds him of hookfang.

 He feels guilty, guilty for not knowing his husband more. What if someone knew Eret better than Snotlout did? Would Eret go to them instead?

He loved Eret in a pathetic and desperate, Snotlout-like way.

[idkdudethisisntpermanent]

Blurred Lines

jenna ortega x female reader

summary: You and Jenna, best friends and actresses, are cast as lovers for the first time, tasked with bringing a romantic chemistry to the screen. But as scenes unfold, the lines between acting and reality begin to blur.

word count: 2.1k

a/n: This was actually the first Jenna story I wrote!

————

What are you thinking so hard about? Jenna asks plopping down in the director's chair next to you.

After being best friends for years, you and Jenna have finally gotten the opportunity to work alongside each other on your latest film Lovestruck, a romance film where you two are playing the lead couple.

You. You wanted to say, but you were 8 years too deep in the friendzone to truly say what was on your mind. "Just the next scene," you smile at her tiredly.

Her eyes light up, "I've been looking forward to this scene for so long!  God just look at that view Y/n!  I'm so jealous of Lalya," she sighs, referencing the character she's playing in the film. "Just who wouldn't love to be confessed to here," your co-star finishes looking over at you with sparkles in her eyes.

When your manager gave you the script for this project, you could only laugh at how much the story paralleled your situation with Jenna.  You were playing Quinn, a girl who has been in love with her friend for years, but couldn't do anything about it.  Eventually the mixed signals and watching the one she loves be with others got too much, and Quinn angrily confesses by the lakefront during a sunset; the view Jenna was fawning over just a minute ago.

You could only wish that the aftermath of any potential confession of yours could resemble the one in this film. Layla ends up reciprocating Quinn's feelings and it's a happy ending.

Unfortunately the universe isn't as perfect as an angsty teen romance, and is rather a sick minded individual who gets a kick out of meddling with people's lives. For years you and Jenna have auditioned for the same projects to play friends, enemies, even sister's but why is it that the one project both of you manage to land is this one?

"Y/n/n!"

Startled, you look over at the girl who's been trying to get your attention for all this time while you zoned out. "Y-yeah sorry. You're right. It would be a dream to be confessed to here."

She hums and stands up before placing a hand on your shoulder looking intently into your eyes, "I'll see you on set after the break, hope you bring your A game Y/l/n," she winks with a smile before walking off.

Jenna walks over to Andrew another actor working the film and immediately starts laughing and touching his arm in conversation.  You couldn't help but roll your eyes, but you also couldn't tear your eyes away from the scene that always happened to unfold in front of you.

It hurts you beyond belief watching your best friend interact flirtatiously with other people. Having to hear about rumoured boyfriends and especially having her not deny them. The mixed signals you got from the girl wasn't any help either, like what was that hand on the shoulder just now? The wink?!

You walk away trying your very best to calm yourself down before your big scene. Jenna frowned as she watched you walk away and towards your personal trailer.

————

The director calls everyone to set and has prepared to shoot the big confession scene. The crew helps you and Jenna find your places and fixes up any imperfections in your clothing. As you stand before your co-star you're hit with a strong wave of emotions. The 20 minutes you spent in the trailer wasn't much help, and now as you watch Jenna who is looking at you curiously, you make a realization.

You may never confess to Jenna. How could you? This friendship was the greatest you've ever had and you were aware of the fact that friendships like this one, don't come easy. It would be insanely stupid of you to confess your love and single-handedly lose a gem like Jenna completely. The more you thought about it, the interactions between Andrew, the rumours with Percy, and countless other boys, the more helpless you felt. There was no way she could feel the same.

"You okay?" the gentle voice you've come to love speaks.

You're silent.  She looks at you with her big doe eyes that you've come to love, but at this very moment you hate so much.  The concern in her eyes is pushing you off the edge.  You hated it.  You hated how her caring nature has only gotten you falling tenfolds harder. Why does she have to be good to me, why does she torture me like this you ask yourself.

"Y/n/n."

You look away, refusing to look into her eyes, scared of the emotions you'll find in them, scared of finding out how much more you could fall in love with her in this moment, so you settle on the view of the sunset.

The director begins a 10 second countdown to cue in the start of the scene and you're still looking at the sunset pondering. This may be the only time that you'll ever speak the words of a confession to Jenna. Yes, to her it'll be you performing the script, Quinn speaking these words, but she doesn't have to know that you will mean all the words you speak with every fibre of your being.

A light smile plays on your lips as you think about the performance you're about to give and how it should get you nominated for all the acting awards in existence. The lines of Quinn and Y/n have blurred, and you are playing no character other then yourself.

You won't be acting.

"Action!"

The scene begins and you start marching away from Jenna like the script told you to.

"Wait- Stop!" Jenna says frantically grabbing on to your arm.You roll your eyes, shrugging her off and continue walking.

"Why do you insist on hurting me?" She shouts, following the script.  You stop walking and pause.One beat. Two beat. Just like the script instructed. You turn around, glaring at her with more intensity than the script demands, "Me? Hurt you? That's rich coming from you."

Jenna hesitates, caught off guard by the seriousness in your voice, but quickly recovers, staying in character.

"Yes you asshole! I invite you to the lake house, and all you do is ignore me!"  Groaning into your hands, you speak your next line.  "Layla. You're joking right?"

"No Q, I'm not.  Do you even care about me?  It's my fucking birthday, and you're acting like I'm not even here, sulking in one of your moods and embarrassing me in front of my friends!"

"Then what am I?"

"What?"

You laugh, running your hands through your hair, struggling to keep your emotions in check.

"If those are your little fucking friends, then what am I to you?"

Jenna acted taken aback like she was supposed to, "My friend? My best friend? I don't know that's not the point! Wh-"

You cut her off, "But it is the point!"

You break the script.

You blink hard, letting the tears that were building up before the scene fall down your face.

Jenna had a look in her eyes that you've never seen before it was confusion and something else you couldn't pinpoint. Being the amazing actress that she is, she improvs her next line, so the scene can get back on track.

"Here you go again not wanting to address the real issue," she rolls her eyes.

You decide to stick to the script with tears streaming down your face. "I can't keep doing this anymore Layla," the words carrying the weight of years of hidden feelings. "Watching you with them, pretending I'm fine when I'm not. I can't just be your friend anymore."

Jenna's eyes widen, her character momentarily forgotten as she registers the raw emotion in your voice. "Quinn... what are you saying?"

You take a deep breath, letting it all out, the pain, the frustration, the love. You're about to do it and you hope that just for a second your performance will blur the lines for Jenna. "I'm saying that I'm in love with you, and I have been for a long time. And it kills me every time I see you with someone else, knowing I can't be the one to make you smile like that."

The silence that follows is deafening. You can feel your heart pounding in your chest, waiting for her response, both in character and out of it. The director's voice seems far away as he doesn't call cut, letting the scene play out naturally. For a moment you start to think that Jenna has forgotten her line, she's supposed to say, "For how long?"

But she goes off script.

She takes a step forward so she's only a foot away from you and takes your trembling hands (that you didn't even realize were shaking) in her own, an attempt to calm you down.

Jenna, as Layla, steps closer, her own tears glistening in the fading light. "Why didn't you tell me sooner, Quinn? Why did you let me go on thinking we were just friends?"

Your voice cracks as you respond, "Because I was scared. Scared of losing you, scared of ruining what we have. But I can't keep pretending anymore."

Jenna reaches up, gently cupping your face with her hands, her touch warm and soft. "You idiot," she whispers, her voice trembling. "How could you not know? How could you think for even a second that I didn't feel the same way?"

Her words hit you like a ton of bricks, and for a moment you forget that you're on set, that this is all supposed to be a performance. It feels too real, too raw.

"T-then what about everything I see? All those guys?" You say staying true to the script, but you couldn't hold your tongue and add, "The rumours? The interactions I always see?"

Jenna clearly seems taken aback by your addition to the script, and opens her mouth and closes it, at a loss for words.

You can't help yourself and continue, "Do you have any idea what it's like to watch you with other guys? To see you flirt with everyone else and feel like I'm just...invisible?"

Jenna's heart races as she realizes the depth of your feelings, the lines between the script and reality blurring completely.

Jenna continues, the rest of the scene now being pure improv. With tears in her eyes, "I wasn't trying to hurt you...Q. I wanted you to notice me. To see me the way I see you.

You freeze, your heart pounding in your chest. Jenna's voice is trembling, her gaze locked on yours, and for the first time you realize she's not just playing a role. She's confessing, right here, in front of everyone.

"I've been in love with you for so long," you get out through tears, "But all I've ever seen is you with them... like I don't even exist."

The shorter girl steps closer, dropping the last remnants of her character. Her hands reach up to cup your face, her touch gentle and filled with unspoken emotion.

"I didn't know how to tell you, Quinn. I was scared, so I tried to make you jealous, provoke you into action, hoping you'd finally do something. I-I was hoping you'd see how much I care. How much I...love you.

Your breath catches, your heart pounds in your ears, and you break character completely not caring anymore, in a trembling voice you ask, "You really feel the same way?"

Jenna nods, tears spilling over as she smiles, a mixture of relief and vulnerability in her expression.

"Yes, Q. I've always felt this way. I was just too scared to admit it... but not anymore."

You blink, struggling to process what's happening. This wasn't in the script—none of this was. But it's real, and it's happening now.

You smile through the tears, "Then let's stop pretending, Jenna. No more games... I'm yours if you'll have me.

Jenna lets out a small, tearful laugh, pulling you into a tight embrace. The cameras are still rolling despite your name drop, but none of that matters anymore. She pulls back just enough to look at you, her eyes shining with a love that's no longer hidden.

"I've always been yours. Always."

In that moment, you lean in, pressing your lips to hers in a kiss that's filled with all the years of longing and love you've both kept hidden. When you finally pull away, you're both breathless, tears of happiness mingling with the raw emotion of the scene.

The director calls "Cut," but neither of you moves, still lost in each other's eyes. For a moment, the set is silent, the crew unsure if they've just witnessed the best acting of your careers or something far more real. But you both know the truth—and it's better than any script that could have been written.

[heartsaturn]

“i feel so high school , every time i look at you” - lh43

luke hughes x fem!reader

summary: reader decides to surprise luke by singing a song that she wrote about him at her concert in michigan

warnings: suggestive comment (?? not really but kind of), intended lowercase, takes place during the offseason, not proofread cus i don’f have the time for that

a/n: so i cut some parts of the song that repeated out because i didn’t want to make the fic too long, this probably sucks so i’m sorry about that

———————————————————————-

“good evening detroit!” you exclaim into your microphone after the opening act of your concert. things were moving smoothly and everything was set in place for you to surprise your boyfriend. the deafening cheers of the crowd are chanted right back at you and they are the only thing you are able to focus on.

“are we having a good night so far?” you ask. again, the crowd responds positively by screaming back in reply. despite being on tour for a few shows now, you will never be able to get over the amazing aura of every crowd. every single night feels like a fever dream and you are so happy to be living in it. this is truly the life that you have been dreaming of.

“so, we are at the point in the show where i usually play acoustic songs with my guitar, however, i have a little something special planned for you all tonight,” you announce to the crowd as the thunder of their voices does not stop, but increases.

meanwhile, luke is confused. you usually like to run things by him or tell him about changes that you want to make in your shows and music. he isn’t offended by the change. still, he is wondering if he might have done something wrong. luke’s puzzled expression must be obvious because jack and quinn seem to have caught on to the fact that luke has no idea what is happening. luke’s brothers decided to tag along when luke mentioned that he would be going to your concert tonight. they know you quite well now and went because they wanted to support you. mostly to poke fun at their younger brother though. quinn catches on to what is happening first. he notices luke’s uncertain expression and puts the pieces together that you are either mad at him or surprising him. quinn assumes and hopes that it is the latter.

“as a lot of you probably know, my lovely boyfriend went to college in michigan,” you start to explain. luke then starts to realize what is happening and immediately feels excitement course through his veins. he has never had someone make such an amazing gesture of love for him before, so the feeling is new and very welcome.

“and i wanted to display my love for luke. so, this is my new song called so high school which is out right now,” you say abruptly, making everyone in the stadium go completely insane. the lights shine bright at your face as you begin to sing.

i feel so high school every time i look at you

it is one of you and luke’s rarely shared days off. usually, when these days occur, you guys plan a date or do something special with each other. this time you just decided to relax and be in each other’s company. you and luke have yet to get out of bed, despite waking up thirty minutes ago.

‘i love you,” luke says softly before gently kissing your forehead.

“i love you too, luke,” you reply, a warm smile peeking through on your tired face, “this feels so natural. us, i mean. i know it may sound cheesy, but i feel so stupidly in love with you. it’s like puppy love,” you say with a small laugh at your own cheesiness.

“that is definitely cheesy, but cute. and i feel the same way by the way,” luke says in reply, joining your soft laughter. moments like these are short-lived but they are some of your favorite moments with luke. the purity and authenticity of the words being shared just feels perfect.

and i wanna find you in a crowd just to hide from you

“please stop staring at my brother and just go up to him,” jack says, taking you out of your trance. you had been looking at luke for an embarrassingly long time apparently. if it was long enough for jack to notice, it was too long.

“mind your business,” you mutter, becoming slightly embarrassed at the fact that you had been caught staring at your boyfriend by his brother.

“i don’t understand why you’re not just going up to him. you’re literally dating him,” jack says.

“i’m admiring from afar,” you reply. your words make jack visibly cringe and then walk away. he says something about going to get a drink, but it was clearly an excuse to get away from your lovesick stares at his brother.

suddenly, you and luke make eye contact. luke sees you and a smile smile spreads across his face. and then a smile on your own face. neither of you go up to the other though, choosing to just stand and stare instead. the small interaction ends because luke is pulled into another conversation in a matter of seconds. one thing shown is that your love for this boy is undeniable.

and in a blink of a crinkling eye

i'm sinking, our fingers entwined

cheeks pink in the twinkling lights

tell me 'bout the first time you saw me

i'll drink what you think, and I'm high

from smoking your jokes all damn night

the brink of a wrinkle in time

bittersweet sixteen suddenly

date nights are always amazing. especially when you are dating your favorite person. you and luke decided to have a date night. neither of you wanted to plan anything too fancy so you both agreed on stargazing. it’s a cliche date but it never fails to be romantic.

“you know, i’ve loved you since the moment i saw you,” luke chimes up randomly.

“oh really?” you say with a small chuckle.

“yeah, i thought you were the prettiest person i’d ever seen since the moment i laid my eyes on you. i still think that to this day,” luke says. he is getting sleepy and the grogginess in his voice proves that. luke isn’t usually so romantic. sure, he has always been romantic with his gestures, which prove that he loves you and will do romantic things for you. he just doesn’t usually say things so romantic. luke is a man of many words, he likes to talk. but it’s rare that uses his words to properly convey the emotions that he is feeling, simply because he is a slightly awkward person.

so, luke’s words pleasantly surprise you.

“you really think that?” you ask softly, your heart practically melting at the sweetness of your boyfriend in the pale moonlight.

“of course i do,” luke replies, as if his words were the most nonchalant thing ever.

this is when you found out that luke liked you for way longer than you thought he did.

i'm watching american pie with you on a saturday night

your friends are around, so be quiet

i'm trying to stifle my sighs

'cause I feel so high school every time I look at you

but look at you

a lot of the time, the new jersey devils don’t have enough time to hang out as a group. there is a party every once in a while, but other than that, hangouts are pretty seldom.

somehow, a lot of the team was available one night and the wags were able to organize a movie and game night with the players and their partners. it wasn’t anything big but it was what was able to be done.

luke isn’t very fond of his current situation. he loves his teammates and he loves spending time with them. he just loves his girlfriend more. all he wanted was some alone time with his girlfriend, especially because you both have very busy schedules. but luke is now stuck on the couch of one of his teammates’ living rooms next to his girlfriend, forced to be quiet while watching a movie that he can't remember the name of.

“do you know what’s happening? i haven’t really been paying attention,” luke whispers to you after he decides that he’s had enough of pretending to be invested in the movie.

“me neither,” you say, letting out a small laugh that sounds more like a huff.

“i’m bored,” luke speaks once more.

“don’t you want to spend time with your teammates?”

“this is barely spending time with them. no one is even interacting,”

“at least we’re all together,”

“i want to be together with my girlfriend,” luke whispers in a whiny tone. at that, he notices the death glares from some people around him who are actually watching the movie and decides to shut his mouth. you can’t help but giggle at the slightly flustered look on luke’s face after he realizes that people could here him.

you two ended up disrupting the movie night, but at least it was more enjoyable that way. well, for you and luke it was.

are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me?

it's just a game, but really

i'm bettin' on all three for us two

get my car door, isn't that sweet?

then pull me to the back seat

no one's ever had me, not like you

“you know the game marry, kiss, or kill?” you ask luke randomly while laying on his chest.

“yeah..?” luke answers, confused by the randomness of your question.

“would you marry, kiss, or kill me?” you ask. the question seems silly but the look on your face tells luke that you are being one hundred percent serious.

“all three,” luke answers simply.

“you’d kill me?”

“sometimes i want to, but i was hoping it would be in the way of you dying from my love,” luke teases.

you let out a soft laugh at luke’s answer. after a few moments of just being in his arms, you eventually drift away into a calm slumber. luke stares at you for a few minutes. it wasn’t meant to be creepy in any way. luke just genuinely could not take his eyes off of you.

truth, dare, spin bottles

you know how to ball, I know aristotle

brand new, full throttle

touch me while your bros play grand theft auto

it's true, swear, scout's honor

you knew what you wanted and, boy, you got her

brand new, full throttle

you already know, babe

“you guys are such hockey bros,” you snort. you are sitting with luke and all of his friends. they are playing video games and arguing about stupid things. this is a frequent thing for them but you don’t usually hang around for it. you wanted to spend time with luke today though and you had nothing better to do. hearing them argue is entertaining anyway.

“yeah, you guys complain about your classes and then it’s stupid things like the history of hockey or something,” ethan’s girlfriend agrees.

“i swear all they know is hockey sometimes,” you say, continuing to tease the boys.

“you guys do know that we’re right here, right?” luke scoffs jokingly.

“that’s the whole point,” you say with a smug grin on your face. luke rolls his eyes playfully at your sass. the conversation dies down not too much later and the boys go back to playing their video game. luke’s hand finds it’s way to your thigh and kneads at the soft skin. you find the action slightly amusing but you let him have his fun. that is, until someone else notices.

“stop groping your girlfriend in front of us, dude!”

i feel so high school, every time that i look at you

as the song ends, the crowd’s whoops and hollers only grow stronger than they were before. you cannot see luke at all but you can only imagine his reaction.

whatever you imagined luke’s reaction to be, his actual one is much better. he is starstruck, not sure if he should say something to his brothers about the song or if he should just stand there admiring you and the fact that you wrote a song about him.

“dude, she wrote a song about you,” quinn says after a short time of quietness from all three of the brothers.

“i have no clue how she sees anything in you though,” jack adds.

“me neither,” luke murmurs.

———————————————————————-

word count: 2020

[marcelloshdz]

couples quiz

summary: you and marcello are the featured guests on the upcoming episode of the GQ "couples quiz." requested by anonymous. marcello x female!singer reader. this ended up being quite long, but i hope you enjoy! <3

“and there we go! you look stunning.” your makeup artist said to you.

“thanks to you.” you smiled at them. you were on set with GQ, getting ready to film a video with them. they’d invited you and marcello you partake in one of their “couples quiz” videos, and the two of you jumped at the opportunity.

you were led to the set, taking your seat as you waited for marcello to join you. he smiled at you has he walked over to you, pressing a kiss to your cheek before taking his seat across from you.

“you guys ready?” the producer asked, and you both nodded. 

“so ready.” you said with a smile, as some members from the crew handed you your question cards.

they counted down, and began rolling, you and marcello putting on your best faces and beginning the video.

“hey there, i’m y/n l/n,”

“and i’m marcello hernández,”

“and this is the GQ couples quiz.” you said in unison.

“alright, who wants to start?” you asked. 

“ladies first.” marcello said with a smile.

“well then, alright.” you settled the question cards in your hands, reading him the first one. “okay, this is a simple one to get us started. what is my favorite nickname for you?” you asked. 

“you call me cello a lot. or cellito, if you’re feeling flirtier than normal. but you’re also very heavy on the babe or baby. sometimes honey, which i personally love.”

“hmm, good to know.” you laughed before moving on to the next question. “oh, this is a good one. what was the first song i ever played for you?”

“i don’t want to give too much away, because as far as i know, it’s unreleased, yeah?” he asked, and you nodded.

“it is.” 

“but, i can say that you wrote it shortly after we made it official. so, almost four years ago. and, it’s about me.” he said, with a smirk to the camera.

“that is correct. at this point, i’m not sure i wanna release it, and instead just keep it between the two of us.” you said to the camera. you then moved on to the next question. “what is my favorite date we’ve been on?” 

“ooh, i know this one real well, because you tell this story all the time to people we meet.” he laughed, and you blushed. “it was when we were first dating, we were both in LA for work, and had coinciding days off. i took you to griffith park, we had a picnic, and we made friendship bracelets for each other with our initials on them. then, after lunch, we drove up mulholland, parked at one of the overlooks, and laid on the hood of our car while we watched the sunset over the city. it was very romantic. that was the night i asked you to be my girlfriend.” 

“i never told you this, but i’m sure i was already falling in love with you at that point. it was only like, a month or so after we started hanging out and talking, but i was already locked in.” 

“honestly, so was i.” marcello said, echoing your sentiment with a smile.

“next question; what is my favorite sketch of yours?” 

“you always tell me you have multiple favorites, and they change like, every month.” he laughed before answering.

“that is true, but i do have one all time favorite. one that i, without question, would top tier marcello sketches. and we’re not talking update features, because i love all of those. just live sketches.” you explained.

“okay, that helps me a bit. i’m gonna go with either fusion scientist, or the age of discovery.” he said.

“it is fusion scientist, but i’m only gonna give you half a point because you hesitated.”

“aw man.” he laughed. 

“although, i do also love the age of discovery. there’s something about fusion scientist  that just always gets me. i had genuine tears in my eyes the first time i watched it, and am still bitter it was cut for time.”  you clarified.

“that one was really fun to perform. it was so ridiculous and goofy, but i loved it.” he explained. 

“and thats why i love it too.” you said. “alright, next question. oh, this is a good one; what is my favorite gift you’ve given me?” you finished the question, and watched his eyes flit to your hands, landing on your ring finger on your left hand. he reached out to you, and you placed your hand in his, smiling as he pressed a kiss to the ring.

“this right here.” he said as you held your hand out to the camera for a close up. “i got you that ring on our first anniversary. it’s our birthstones in a heart shaped setting.” 

“not only is it my favorite gift you’ve given me, but i think it’s my favorite gift i’ve ever gotten, ever.” you said. you finished out your questions, tallying up marcello’s score. “alright, we are sitting at a nice round 20 points.” you said to the camera. 

“well, good for me.” he said with a laugh. “alright, my turn. first up, what sports did i play growing up?” he asked you.

“soccer was your main sport, and you played it throughout high school and college. but you also played baseball, and dabbled in golf, and sometimes fishing?”

“wow. yes to all of those. um, i don’t think i want to play this game anymore.” he laughed. 

“hey, we’re only one question in. don’t get too discouraged.”

“next question; who has been my favorite host to work with so far on snl?”

“either pedro or benito.” you answered, and he nodded. “those were really big episodes for you, and i know you had a good time getting to write and work on pretty good sketches during those episodes.” 

“those were both really good, and i enjoyed them both a lot. but, if i had to pick, i would pick benito over pedro.”

“oh, tea.” you gasped through a laugh.

“only because of the age of discovery sketch. that sketch being entirely in spanish, and all the love we got on it, it made me really proud. pedro was also part of that episode, so that still counts.” he explained. “what is my favorite food?” he asked.

“anything cuban or dominican. you’re very easy to please.” you answered immediately. “c’mon give me a challenge.”

“yeah i should’ve skipped that one.” he laughed. “next one. oh, here’s a good one. what was i wearing on our first date?”

“you were wearing a dark blue cardigan, over a white t-shirt, with blue jeans, and white sneakers.” you answered. “i had a picture of us from that night as my phone wallpaper for a long time, it’s practically burned into my brain at this point.” you said. “do you remember what i was wearing?” you asked him

“you were wearing a black, like, lacy top, with a white skirt and black platform loafers.” 

“actually,”

“what?!” he said loudly, feigning offense.

“no, i’m just kidding. that was right.” you laughed.

“i was about to be so mad.” he laughed. “alright, next one; where was our first kiss?” he asked.

“our first kiss was on the beach in miami. you were home, visiting family and some friends. you asked if i wanted to come see you, and of course, being as down bad as i already was, i immediately jumped on a plane with zero hesitation. we had just finished lunch, and we were hanging out on the beach near where you grew up. we were sitting there in silence, listening to the waves crash on the shore, when we turned to each other, and we kissed. i remember it being really awkward, and us almost missing?”

“i do remember that as well.” he laughed. “but look at us now, so it must not have been too terrible.”

“it was a first kiss, so you kinda expect it to be awkward. but it was good in the long run.” you said, and marcello nodded, smiling at you. before continuing through the next couple of questions.

“alright, i think this is my last one.”

“and, not to brag, but i am only one point behind you.” you said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“well, then this will count for two points.” he said, clearing his throat. “which one of us made the first move?”

“you did.”

“wow, that was fast.”

“you did! we were at an snl after party, after dua lipa’s episode. which, i was invited to by her, by the way.” you said, matter-of-factly. “we were both at the bar, waiting for our drinks, and made small talk. we hung out for a bit, and by the end of the night, you were already asking for my number. barely two days later, you were asking me to go out.” 

“and you accepted without hesitation.” 

“well, yes, but this isn’t about me.” you teased, and marcello rolled his eyes at you.

“well, that was my last question. our final scores are 21 to 20, y/n only getting extra points because i played multiple sports growing up.” 

“and for that, i thank you.” you laughed.

you filmed the outro for the video, saying good bye and thanking the future audience for watching. there was a loud “CUT!” from behind the camera, and the producers and crew were thanking you and marcello for such a fun episode.

“thanks for having us! this was a lot of fun.” marcello said, and you nodded in agreement. the two of you headed out to your car, making your way to a nearby restaurant for lunch. you got your food, and sat down at a table, replaying the events of the afternoon. 

“we should do more things like that. i know we pride ourselves on having quite a private relationship, but it was a lot of fun.” marcello said to you.

“it was! but i feel like youre just suggesting that so you can redeem yourself and let the people know that you know me better than i know you.” you said to him. 

“no, why would you ever think that?” he asked sarcastically. you just laughed and shook your head. the two of you finished your lunch, enjoying your meal and being with each other. truthfully, marcello knew you better than you knew yourself, and vice versa. and that made you happier than you could ever put into words.

[hwadess]

the way you bend, the way you break (c.bg)

so i did a poll for this a couple of days ago, and it had about 90% of you guys say that you guys wanted me to post this sub!beomgyu fic!!! sooooo… here it is. i am so embarrassed to post this but ill be fine omg, here’s yall food!

MDNI OR YOU WILL BE BLOCKED.

smut warnings: sub!beomgyu x dom!femreader, pet name usage (good boy, puppy), reader gets called mommy, masturbation (m), handjob, piv, sex flashbacks, borderline mindbreak on beomgyu’s end i can’t lie, dacryphilia/crying during sex, beomie so needy fr, nothing more i think.

word count: 1,197 i think. pretty sure

song i wrote this to:

smut is under the cut!

beomgyu just couldn’t seem to help himself. his brain was working overtime. god… the thought of you—naked, sitting above him looking down at his shivering frame—floods his mind. the blankets discarded to the sides of his bed does nothing to help his body stop feeling as if it’s on fire, his skin hot to the touch all over. his breathing becomes much heavier, nearly beginning to pant as he feels cock twitching in his pajama pants, slowly getting more hard and heavy the more he thinks about you.

you, oh my god.

an absolutely sinful memory plays back in his hazy mind of the last time you had your pretty hand wrapped gently around his swollen cock, letting him fuck up into your fist in such a desperate way that it was almost pathetic. “my my…. so needy my puppy….” he can hear you say so clearly, although it’s just his thoughts tormenting him.

he sighs heavily and whines. fuck, he’s so hard. it hurts. poor baby is so deep in thought that he can nearly feel it, closing his eyes, reliving it.

his vision was so fuzzy but he still managed to make out you looking so sinfully up at him, eyes half-lidded from the sight that is unfolding in front of you, tears pooling at the bottom of his glassy, empty, blown-out eyes. he was meer seconds from the tears building up so much that they down his pink blushed cheeks. you hum in approval when he realizes you noticed he was tearing up, earning a twitch from his poor cock.

“cry, puppy…”

sniffles and pants seep into the atmosphere of the empty hotel room, he can’t take this. his cock was throbbing. his shaky hands that were gripping at the hoodie he was wearing now started to make their way down to free his cock from the confines of his pants. he hisses at the contact, “p-please do something…”

he wraps his long fingers around his length, slightly squeezing it, imagining your fingers were the ones around his cock instead. he subconsciously squeezes a bit tighter, but he doesn’t think about how it’s because it feels a little bit more like how you grab his cock. god he remembers it too well. beomgyu begins moving his fist up and down his length at a slow and steady pace, cock jumping at his own ministrations. trapping his swollen bottom lip between his teeth, making it match the blush spreading across his cheeks.

he’s so overwhelmed, his mind wandering helplessly.

he’s now dizzy, flashing back to when you had him against the sofa. so gone, aching cock pressed up against your clothed cunt, your hips desperately grinding down to spread your wetness over his cock that was begging to be buried in you. “please l-let me put my cock in you p-please…“ beomgyu barely gets out. you laugh, he’s cute. his cock throbbing under your clit just felt too good. “so so so fucking good- aaaah-aah… like that…”

beomgyu begins to pump his leaking cock faster, his eyes rolling back. his hand subconsciously going up and down the whole length as the beads of his precum dribble down into the small space between his hand and his pulsating cock to make the glide a lot easier. “f-fuck…”

he can feel his balls tightening as he remembers more from that same memory, and what it was like when you finally let him shove his cock into your warm, wet cunt after teasing him for so long. losing yourself in the way he gasped out your name weakly, but oh so prettily for you. your soaked velvety walls dragging against your baby’s cock so nicely. beomgyu let’s out a pained whimper at that thought, eyes rolling back and mouth falling open at the memory, spit glistening his bitten lips.

beomgyu can so clearly recall how you immediately started moaning when he was able to let you use his cock, hips noisily slamming down onto his. your hands grabbing at his arms as you try and grip onto his triceps, nails digging into his flesh, leaving deep imprints, making him hiss. using his hand he moves it up your chest to mindlessly grab onto your breasts.

you were getting increasingly wetter each time you lowered all the way onto him as your juices pooled down his cock, dripping onto the sofa at this point. you were “s-so f-fucking wet…” and you could hear it. loud. and the sound only turned him into a braindead puppy, spurring him on to letting you use him as hard as you needed to cum. “feels so g-good..” you growl out, you’re staring down at him in awe like he’s the prettiest boy in this world and he’s going to fucking lose it.

“f-fuck mommy… th-that spot feels so good.” beomgyu moans out just like he did with you. his fist matching that same hard and fast pace you were taking him at in that memory. but, fuck, it will never be as good as your tight cunt creaming all over your puppy’s cock when he hits that exact same gummy spot he’s imagining slamming his cock into right now.

fuuuuck…. he can feel his orgasm coming. fast. hard. s-so hard. his brain is becoming mush. he starts to become a lot more desperate, whimpering so loud that anyone can hear, and throwing his head back as he lets his hips fuck into his fist, now decorated with his precum. he wishes it was your soaked pussy dripping down him instead.

he feels the euphoria of his orgasm get closer, hes pathetically gasping for breath, his large palms gripping the sheets that are now mangled around him, trying to ground himself as much as possible. “aaah fuck… ’m so… close m-mommy….” his head pressing backwards into the pillows, his hair messily spread over his eyes, as your hips fuck back down onto his cock to use his swollen, leaking, dark red cock— but it’s his fist, he remembers.

beomgyu’s eyes screw shut and his eyebrows knit together as he remembers the feeling of his mommy cumming on his cock, clenching so tightly. the way your legs close and quiver around his also trembling body. the way you become even tighter, cunt suffocating his overstimulated cock, milking out all of your pretty puppy’s cum into your cunt.

“g-god.” he shakily exhales again as he cums, hard. tears finally breaking free down his flushed cheeks and his cum shooting out wildly as he points his cock upwards to let it land on his hoodie, one of his favorite oversized ones that you let him borrow when he goes away, the last of the cum that he works out of his sensitive cock puddles around his shaft and down his hand.

“so messy puppy….“ you hum, collecting the cum leaking out of you on your index and middle fingers and bring it to beomgyu’s mouth to clean it off. “good boy….”

beomgyu shudders. he has to sit there for a second trying to control his uneven breathing.

fuck, he can’t wait to see you soon.

[ssajemilyprentiss]

In the air

Pairing: Emily Prentiss x reader 

Warnings: Smut, angsty-ish, reader is a bit cold/lacks emotion, Emily is a bit out of character lol (just this once), mentions of death (you know the regular cm stuff), sexual tension (or more like an attempt at it lol), curse words, eating out, vaginal fingering, nipple/breast play, dirty talk, use of pet names, degradation, praise. Let me know if i forgot something - Also MINORS DNI

Summary: When you get brought in for questioning at the FBI and they have Emily interrogate you - the tension between you is instant.

Wordcount: 2k

A/N: Um hello I guess, I’m back lol. It has been a hot minute since I both wrote and posted on here, and tbh I am a lil scared doing this again. Even tho I love posting and writing I have been so uninspired and unmotivated for so so long for some reason. But I will try to post more, can’t make any promises tho lol. 

The beginning of this has been sitting in my drafts for god knows how long and I wanted to do something with it so here I am doing it lmao

Also a reminder if it has been forgotten, english is not my first language - and I would deeply appreciate your thoughts and opinions on this, thanks besties <3

This was requested by the lovely Jas @rafetopia​​​ (you requested this such a long time ago so you have probably forgotten it, and i can’t find your ask either, sorry about that lmao) who wrote the following: “so what if you wrote a blurb or one shot with emily (or jj tbh i don’t really care i love them both) and there are some murders and the reader is the suspect and there’s a hot interrogation session (i’m a sucker for it) but the ending is up to you like if she’s innocent or not (only if you want to lol) i didn’t want to make it too specific so you still have freedom 😅”

I decided to go with Emily for this one, hope that’s fine Jas (also hope it's fine i added the smut lmao) thank you for this request and i hope this turns out the way you wanted to <3

☽ My masterlist here

☽ Want to request something from me? Take a look here

You let out a deep sigh, crossing your legs for what felt like the hundredth time. The dark, pale interrogation room at the FBI headquarters was freezing cold and you feel yourself getting goosebumps from the chilly atmosphere. How long had you been sitting here? An hour? Two? Who knew? No one had told you anything yet, and none of the agents who showed up and arrested you had come in. Just as you’re about to uncross your legs the door opens and a grey-haired goddess of an FBI agent steps inside the room, her commanding presence immediately taking over the room. She takes a seat across from you, not saying anything. She stares deadpanned at you but all you can think about her eyes - dark brown, almost black, and you feel how you could get lost staring into them. The next thing you see is her nose, straight and pointy - one of her defining features for sure. Your eyes move on to her lips, they are full with a hint of red - red is definitely her color. You keep staring at her lips, biting your own lower lip as you do. You sit in silence for you don’t know how long, until she breaks the silence by clearing her throat. Your eyes shoot up from her lips into her eyes once again, and you see a sly smile forming on her mouth before she starts talking:

“My name is Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss, I’m a profiler with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit” she takes a breath before continuing “do you know why you’re here Ms. Y/L/N?”

“Actually I don’t” you reply, your lips forming a small smirk “but please agent, do enlighten me”

“You are here on suspicion of murder” 

“Murder?” you retort, raising an eyebrow

“Correct, murder” she replies, tossing pictures on the table - but you keep staring into her eyes. 

“Look at the pictures” she demands

You do, and see yourself in all of them - together with different women. You look up at the agent again with a blank expression. 

“Do you recognize the women in the pictures?” she asks

“Well yes I do” you reply

You point to one of them “That’s me right there” 

“‘I mean the other women” she retorts annoyed

“Oh, silly me” you chuckle “well yes I recognize them too”

“Go on” she says

“Well, as you can see I’ve met them all” 

“Doing what?”

“Do you really wanna know that, Agent Prentiss?” 

“Go on” she encourages you “What about her?” she asks, holding up one of the photos

You look at the photo for a while, it’s of you and one of the girls you had met - what was her name? Mia? Sophia?

“She was a pleasure”

“How come all the women you have met turned up dead just a few days after meeting you?” she asks, her tone accusatory 

“Don’t know” you reply, shrugging your shoulders

“This isn’t a game Y/N, people are dead” she says, venom lacing her tone

“Don’t you think I know that?” you scoff “well I didn’t kill them”

“Where were you on these dates and times?” she asks, sliding a piece of paper with them written down towards you

“Well I can tell you that on all these dates I was very busy” 

“With what?” she asks

You bite your lip again before answering “Well I was with my very good friend Izzie”

She sighs “And you were doing?”

You lean back in your chair, keeping your eyes fixed on hers as you do “You know the usual - shopping, drinking coffee, eating”

“Eating what?” she asks

You chuckle lightly “We were eating a lot of things, if you know what I mean” you say as you raise an eyebrow at her. You see how she takes a second, thinking about what you’re saying, but if your answer startles her - she doesn’t give it away. 

“To be fair Y/N” Emily sighs “I’m getting kinda tired of this” 

“Likewise” you reply, crossing your arms

Emily leans across the table, staring into your eyes. Her hands firmly gripping the table, and you imagine them gripping your body instead. You are woken from your fantasy by her hot breath right next to your ear. You feel the hairs on your arms raising and how wetness starts pooling between your legs.

“So why won’t you just tell me the truth, like a good girl” she whispers, nipping lightly at your ear

You take a sharp breath, exhaling shakily and not daring to move a muscle. 

“Tell me Y/N” she whispers again “do you want to be my good girl?”

You nod, not trusting yourself to speak. She chuckles lightly and tuts

“None of that now, I want to hear you say it” she whispers

You whimper lightly and swallow, just as you’re about to open your mouth the door opens and you and Emily get away from each other, she sits down in her chair composing herself. You sit back in your chair, feeling out of breath. You lock eyes with a tall grumpy agent who stares deadpanned at you. 

“You’re free to go Ms. Y/L/N” he says

“What?” you ask, shocked

“You’re free to go” he repeats “your alibi checks out”

You get up from the chair and as you’re about to leave the room you stop right by Emily’s ear and whisper:

“That was fun, we should do it again sometime” 

You don’t give her time to reply, swiftly exiting the room. On the way out you feel all the other agents staring at you as you walk past them, but all you can do is smirk - thinking back at the moment you just had with Emily - and how you need to get rid of the wetness between your legs the first thing you do when you get home. 

/

The sun was shining outside the BAU, and you close your eyes taking a deep breath. You felt your phone vibrating in your pocket, picking it up you see your uber is on its way. You close your eyes and exhale once more, but before you know it someone is behind you and pushes you against the wall of the building, their hand on your throat. You feel your air supply being cut off and open your eyes in panic, and there in front of you is the grey-haired goddess of an FBI agent once more. She releases the pressure against your throat a little, but keeps her hand steady. You gasp for air as she leans towards you. 

“Listen here you little slut” she says “I don’t think you’re as innocent as you make it look, but to be honest right now I don’t give a fuck”

You don’t answer, focusing on your breathing

“But what I’m more interested in right now is to keep our little party going” she says, backing away “If you want to?”

You raise an eyebrow at her, but can tell from the look on her face that she is serious. You chuckle, looking down at your feet with a sly smile - you look up again, meeting her brown eyes and reply:

“I’d never thought you’d ask”

/ 

She pulls you inside her apartment, dragging you towards her bedroom. She pushes you against the wall once again and presses her lips against yours. You moan into her mouth as your hands caress her body, reaching her breasts. 

“Let me take your shirt off” you pant into her mouth

She pulls away and you pull her shirt over her head, and then do the same with yours. You take off her bra while she does the same with yours. She trails her kisses along your neck, and you throw your head back, giving her full access. She stops by your pulse point, sucking hard on it. You close your eyes and moan as she does, your hands finding her breasts. You start rubbing one of her nipples between your fingers, causing her to moan against your neck. She keeps trailing kisses further down on your body and reaches your breasts. She takes one of your nipples in her mouth, circling her tongue against it. 

“Holy fuck” you breathe out “keep doing that”

She chuckles lightly against your nipple before pinching it lightly with her teeth, making you yelp. 

“Lay down on the bed” she says

You obey, laying down on your back

“You’re so wet for me, aren’t you?” she asks, smirking

You lick your lips and nod, staring up at her. 

She lowers herself, trailing kisses along your stomach down towards your pussy. You feel your clit pulsing and wetness dripping between your legs. 

“Spread those legs for me” she says, and you obey instantly “let me see that pretty pussy of yours” 

She starts kissing your inner thighs slowly, just brushing over your clit lightly when she switches from one leg to the other. 

“Please” you pant, putting your hands in her hair directing her towards your clit “Please stop teasing and fuck me”

“As you wish princess” she says and start sucking forcefully on your clit, making you moan hard of the instant pleasure she gives you

“Such a good girl” she says against your clit, and you thrust your hips forward, looking for more. She chuckles softly and starts licking up and down your slit, and she easily slips two fingers into you - thrusting them slowly. 

“Harder please” you pant “I’m gonna cum”

She picks up her pace, her thrusts becoming more determined, and your eyes starts fluttering from the overwhelming pleasure that is approaching you

“Cum for me” she husks and circle your clit once more, your orgasm washing over you like a wave of pleasure 

“Fuck” you breathe out as she starts lapping up your juices

She kiss you and you taste yourself on her tongue, and then you flip her over - with her underneath you this time

“My turn” you coo and lick your lips, pinning her wrists above her head as you caress one of her nipples with your tongue

"So perfect" you murmur "Perfect tits. Perfect ass. Perfect everything" 

You work your way down her body, kissing her 

“Please” she breathes heavily “I need you”

“Where do you need me?” you ask, kneading her breasts once more 

“Inside” she whimpers “your fingers inside”

You lick a line along her slit, tasting her wetness 

“My my” you chuckle “do I make you this wet?” 

“Yes” she groans “please just fuck me”

You slide two fingers inside of her, thrusting them slowly as you lower yourself towards her clit and take it in your mouth. She moans deeply and arches her back, and you start picking up your pace. 

“Please” she breathes “need more”

You add another finger smoothly, and let her adjust a little before you start thrusting again, and you curl your fingers at her g-spot and start circling your tongue on her clit again - feeling her walls clenching against your fingers

“Yes” she cries out “just like that, I’m cumming” 

You pick up the pace, flicking her clit harder and thrust your finger faster. 

You feel her orgasm taking over, and she cries out from pleasure. You keep thrusting, helping her ride out her orgasm. When she has calmed down you slip out your fingers and take them in your mouth, cleaning her juices from them - and you moan once again from her taste. 

The two of you crash down on the bed next to each other, panting heavily. 

“That was good” she whispers

“So fucking good” you reply and she chuckles at you, turning her head towards you

You stare into Emily’s dark brown eyes once again, the first thing you had noticed about her when she walked into that interrogation room what felt like an eternity ago. Whatever lies behind those beautiful brown eyes is one mystery you would spend your entire life solving. 

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

Taglist: @rafetopia / @ssa-sapphic  / @sweetmidnights / @alexbllake / @emilyprsntiss / @sleep-deprived-athlete / @jemilyssecretlover /  @star-stuff-in-the-cosmos / @cmslvtt / @phatcrackdad / @rookie-prentiss (this taglist is sooo old, so i'm sorry in advance if you don't want to be tagged, just let me know and i'll delete you <3)

[holylulusworld]

Designed by pain (1)

Summary: Broken hearts are hard to put back together. 8 years ago, Dean lost something he didn’t even know he had in the first place. Will he get a second chance?

Pairing: former AU!Dean Winchester x fem!Reader; Arthur Ketch x fem!Reader

Warnings: angst, language, implied break-up, time jumps, strong reader, Dean being a douche (implied), unplanned pregnancy

A/N: This was an alternative idea for the first chapter of my Bucky story: Monster-in-law masterlist. I decided to use it for a story with Dean.

Designed by pain masterlist

Designed by pain (Prologue)

One night of passion, a life-long responsibility. The words you wrote echo in your mind. It’s only a few days since you left Dean and the house, but you are already falling apart. 

You spent the better part of the drive back to your shared home being scared of the future. 

Having a baby so soon into your relationship wasn’t in your plans. Neither was it to raise the child alone. Even though you know, there is no way you’ll not love the life growing inside your body.

“Fuck, what do I do now?” You slam the door shut behind you and immediately sink to your knees. You choke out a sob and hide your face in the palms of your hands. 

Six days and Dean didn’t even try to call you, nor did he come home. 

He’s over you already, and Lisa will take your place. Maybe it never was your place. You were only a placeholder until she came back into the picture.

You grit your teeth and huff. “Fuck you, Dean Winchester.” Something breaks inside of you, and you don’t know if it’s a bad thing. 

The part of you loving Dean unconditionally already starts to fade, and the bitch in the back of your mind taking over whenever you got hurt wins the upper hand.

You straighten your back and look at the woman in the mirror staring back at you. You smirk and put your hands on your hips. “I guess this means we are going to leave and start all over again. Don’t worry little bean,” you lovingly run your hand over your belly, “we are going to fucking rock this…”

One last step and your new life can begin. This is it, the point of no return. Your life with Dean is over, and you are not even sorry anymore.

You gave him time and space to realize what he was about to lose. In the end, you and his baby weren’t important enough to him to even try to talk things out.

Even if he didn’t want to be in a relationship with you any longer, he could’ve at least tried to be a father to his child.

Now you will be a father and mother to the bean growing in your belly. You’re strong and won’t back down, or cry over spilled milk.

If you look back at this moment in a few years, you will clap your hands and cheer for yourself. You’re stronger than Dean or anyone else gave you credit for. Everyone believed you’re only the cheerful and soft girl who loves to bake cookies and dreams of marrying the man you love.

A week ago, you were this person. 

Today you are someone else. An Amazon, who will take her life in her hands and move on from a man who never loved her…

The takeoff is both exciting and terrifying. You are flying to another country, to live on another continent. Your old life will be in the past, and you can only think about the future from now on. 

Holding your old plushie in your hands, squeezing it tightly you take deep breaths. “In and out,” you tell yourself to calm your nerves. Flying always makes you nervous. This didn’t change.

“How do you like first class, Miss Y/L/N,” your new boss asks. He paid for a first-class ticket so you could talk about your new position and the house he rented for you.

“Thank you for inviting me,” you give him a quick smile. Arthur Ketch is a very polite and charming man, but you cannot appreciate him at the moment. 

“I have to thank you for accepting our job offer,” he says and dips his head to watch you nervously run your hand over your belly. “How far are you?”

“Oh—” heat creeps into your cheeks. You should’ve told him that you were pregnant before accepting his company’s offer. “I…I should’ve told you.”

“Most of our employees are mothers and fathers, Y/N. We are a family-friendly company with family-friendly work conditions. And the boss likes you, and your reputation.” He smirks now and leans closer to look at your belly.

“Do you think he’ll like that I didn’t tell them about my pregnancy? I didn’t do it on purpose. I got to know about my pregnancy only a few days ago, and I didn’t intend to accept the job offer at that time.”

“You know that I’m the boss, right?” Ketch grins. 

“You are the boss now?” Your eyes round. “Since when?”

He shrugs. “I was the one behind the job offer. Robert Singer talked highly about you when we last met. From that moment on, I wanted you to work for us. If I told you back then that I was the CEO of the BMOL you would’ve never accepted our offer.”

“So, you tricked me,” you chuckle. “Lately all men seem to lie to me.” You sigh deeply. “Sorry, that was inappropriate. I didn’t want to…” You sniff. “Sorry.”

“You accepted my job offer because of a bad break-up I assume,” he pats your hand. “It’s alright, Y/N. London is the perfect place to start over. I will show you the town, and help you settle in. If you need help, I’ll be there. We care for our employees.”

“Is that a British thing?” You quirk a brow.

“It’s an Arthur Ketch thing,” he replies. “If you ask me, he’s a fool for letting you go. Sorry. Now I was the one saying inappropriate things, Y/N. You can punch me if you want to.”

“No, you’re right,” you hastily reply. “I gave him a choice, but he just gave up on us after meeting his ex-girlfriend again. The job offer was tempting, but I couldn’t imagine leaving the man I love. He made things so much easier for me. I got a new job and a new life. Maybe I should thank him for being the douche he is.”

“You deserve better,” Ketch softly says. “I know that we barely know each other, but believe me, he’s not worth a single tear. A gentleman should never make a woman cry or hurt her. Especially the one carrying his child.”

You give Ketch a sad smile. You’re embarrassed how easily he saw right through you. It wasn’t your intention to talk about your pregnancy and broken heart with your new boss.

“Y/N don’t worry. Everything we talked about today won’t leave this airplane,” he pats your hand. “If you need a friend, I’ll be there…”

Part 2

[natti-ice]

Steve Harrington NSFW Alphabet

Warnings: 18+ mdni, all NSFW Headcanons under the cut

Author’s note: this is a reupload, I wrote this a while ago!

Reblogs and comments are greatly appreciated<3

A = Aftercare (what they're like after sex)

Clingy.  He needs to hold you or be held after sex, he's never opposed to be little spoon.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner's)

Steve likes your back, he loves tracing every curve. He adores your shape.

What he likes about himself is his neck, it’s kind of odd but he likes the look of it.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

He loves when you cum on his face, face sitting is one of his favorite positions. He gets really giddy when he makes you cum, it’s very rewarding to him.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He’s a panty thief. No further explanation.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they're doing?)

He’s had a handful of sexual partners but he still learning. He loves when you tell him the things you like and the things he can do better to make you enjoy yourself more.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

He has a few favorites, he like face sitting but he really loves you on top. He likes to hold your waist while you bounce on his dick.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

The first few times you have sex he’s pretty serious, once you get more comfortable with each other his playful side comes out more.

H = Hair (how well-groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

He keeps it trimmed down there, not to the point were it’s bald but enough for some friction. He has a nicely groomed happy trail

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Steve is a romantic, he whispers sweet nothings in you ear. Anything to make you smile

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

He’s not a very avid masturbator, he mostly only masturbates after watching a raunchy movie. Or whenever he’s trying to fall asleep and he thinks about the nights you’ve spent together.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

He has a slight mommy kink. He loves being taken care of, being praised, he even slips a ‘mommy’ in there here and there.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Any and every where. He’ll fuck you in the car, in the park (when it’s empty of course), honestly anywhere you’re comfortable.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Steve could have sex any time of the day, he always ready. Teasing really works him up, you could tease him about anything and he wants to fuck you right there.

N = No (something they wouldn't do, turn offs)

Nothing would really turn him off necessarily, as long as he’s with you anything goes.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

A master with the tongue. Without fail, he will make you cum while eating you out every time. He prefers to give, making you feel good makes him feel good. Plus he loves the way you taste.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

This depends on his mood, if he’s had a bad day he can be pretty rough but if he’s happy he takes his time. The longer the better.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

There are a few quickies throughout the day especially in the beginning of the relationship. It doesn’t matter where you’re at, if you’re horny he’ll find a way.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Steve was hesitant at first to try new things, mainly because he was afraid he would be bad at it. He starts slow, introducing small kinks into the bedroom like spanking ease him into exploring.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

He lasts pretty long, especially when he takes his time. He’s quite physically fit so he can go for a while, sex can last up to an hour with him. Orgasm after orgasm.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

He’s down to use sex toys on you, dildos, vibrators, etc. Maybe with a bit of alcohol, he’d let you use a toy on him.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Steve the tease. He lives to make you giggle and squirm under his touch. He teases just enough to make you beg.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Steve’s more vocal during foreplay, dirty talk, telling you all the things he’s going to do to you. During the deed he’s a moaner, he’s not loud but he’ll moan in your ear sending tingles down your spine.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

He was so nervous during your first time, he stuttered a lot and so focused on doing a good job. He started to relax when he saw you were really enjoying yourself.

X = X-ray (let's see what's going on under those clothes)

Well endowed. His dick is quite big, not scary big but you know it’ll definitely leave you satisfied.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Like I said, any time any where. There a part of him that’s always horny but he can control it pretty well.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterward)

He’s pretty tuckered out after sex, he puts in a lot of energy while fucking. He falls a sleep pretty quickly and he sleeps very happy.

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[pankowcrumbs]

Could you write a nb/female reader x will poulter.

They are a composer and make music for Films and Video games, they are together and visit a big Event where the reader Wins.

If its possible could you write it a bit longer, mabey will does an Interview where he Talks about his Partner and some more fluff, that would be amazing ^^.

MasterList

Will Poulter Masterlist

Pronouns - They/Them

I always thought I’d be a mess if something like this ever happened. Like, full-on shaky hands, queasy stomach, probably crying into my shirt sleeve and squeaking out incoherent thank-yous. But somehow, as I stand backstage at the Grand Palais in Paris, seconds away from finding out if I’ve just won an award that used to feel like a wild, unreachable dream, I’m surprisingly calm.

Maybe it’s the music they’re playing the soft piano hum I wrote last year for Aurora, a coming-of-age game set on a floating island. I know every note like it’s my own heartbeat. Or maybe it’s the fact that Will’s in the front row, arms crossed, chin tilted slightly as he watches the stage like it’s holding his whole world.

Or maybe it's because his hand was in mine just moments ago, squeezing gently before I walked off to line up.

“Whatever happens,” he said, eyes soft, “you’re already everything to me.”

God, he’s annoyingly perfect.

I focus on the shimmering lights above the stage, the quiet hush that’s fallen over the crowd, and the host’s voice as she begins listing the nominees for Best Original Composition in a Narrative Medium. There are six of us. All brilliant. All worthy. And I’ve made peace with just being here really, I have.

“And the winner is…” a pause, long and dramatic “Y/N L/N, for Aurora!”

It hits me like a slow wave first shock, then heat, then roaring applause.

And then I’m walking, legs somehow still functioning, up the steps and into the spotlight.

The award is heavier than I imagined. It gleams under the stage lights like a small star. I blink at the crowd and breathe in, trying to ignore how dry my mouth feels.

“Wow,” I start, voice slightly shaky. “Alright, so… this is completely mental.”

A gentle laugh ripples through the audience. I smile.

“I’ve always been the person behind the scenes. Tinkering with synthesisers at 3am. Crying over lost stems. Swearing at audio glitches. I never thought I’d be here much less holding one of these.”

I pause, trying to steady the emotions pushing against my chest.

“I want to thank the dev team behind Aurora your vision brought this world to life, and I’m honoured to have scored its heartbeat. To the players who wrote to me, saying the soundtrack helped them through hard times… I’ve read every word. Thank you.”

I spot Will in the crowd. His eyes are glassy. He's grinning like I just won an Olympic medal.

“And lastly,” I say, voice softening, “to Will my partner, my anchor, the person who always believed in me. You’ve heard every version of every track, including the ones with ten oboes for no reason.”

A few chuckles.

“You held me through every doubt and danced with me through every win. This is for you, too.”

Applause.

I take a breath, lift the award slightly, and say, “Here’s to the dreamers, the queers, the creators may our noise always find a place in this world.”

Later, there’s press, camera flashes, a chaotic blur of smiling faces and fizzing champagne. But all I care about is Will’s hand on my back as we escape into a quieter lounge area.

“You,” he says, spinning me gently to face him, “were… everything. I cried. Fully. Ugly cried.”

I grin, brushing my knuckle down his jaw. “You’re so dramatic.”

“And you my love just won a massive international award for writing music that made me, and apparently thousands of gamers, sob uncontrollably.”

I pretend to ponder. “Alright, fair.”

He leans down to kiss me soft and sweet and grounding.

“Y/N L/N, award-winning composer,” he whispers against my lips. “Has a nice ring to it.”

The next morning, we’re in a hotel room overlooking the Seine, still in pyjamas. I’m lounging with the trophy in my lap like it’s a pet cat, while Will flips through channels looking for coverage of the event.

He pauses on a segment of an entertainment show. They’re playing clips from the ceremony. I cringe at the sound of my own voice.

“Do I really sound like that?”

Will grins. “Adorable and brilliant? Yes.”

The host transitions to a clip of Will on the red carpet. I sit up straighter, curious.

“Earlier in the evening, we caught up with Will Poulter and asked him about his partner, Y/N L/N, and their stunning nomination here’s what he had to say.”

The screen shifts to Will under the event lights, smiling, the collar of his suit jacket slightly askew.

“Oh god,” he mutters next to me. “I don’t even remember what I said.”

Onscreen, he’s calm. Earnest. His brow is furrowed in that way it gets when he’s trying not to sound like a lovesick poet. Spoiler: he always fails.

“I’m just… really proud of them,” he says, voice steady. “Y/N’s one of the most talented people I’ve ever known, and they work so hard like, ridiculously hard. They don’t chase the spotlight, but their music deserves it.”

He pauses, thoughtful.

“And honestly? Watching them do what they love it’s inspiring. It makes me want to be better. They make the world sound more beautiful. I’m lucky I get to hear it first.”

The host asks him if he thinks they’ll win.

Will smiles softly. “They already have. In every way that counts.”

The clip ends. I look over at him.

“You sap.”

He shrugs. “Can’t help it. I love you.”

I lean over and kiss his temple. “Good. Because I’m not letting go of this ridiculous, supportive, emotional wreck I married.”

“I’m technically the boyfriend, not the husband yet,” he says, mock-offended.

“Oh right. Sorry. My emotionally wrecked boyfriend, who has cried at all of my soundtracks.”

“Including the scary one!”

“That was ambient horror! It wasn’t supposed to make you cry.”

He sniffs dramatically. “Well, it did.”

We dissolve into laughter, tangled in blankets and accolades, the city glowing outside the window.

That evening, I post a short video to Instagram: a slow pan of the award, a loop of the main theme from Aurora, and a caption that reads:

For the kids who composed music in their bedrooms with headphones too big for their heads. We made it.

Will comments within seconds.

@/willpoulter: And you did it with grace, guts, and the softest heart. So proud I might explode.

The comment gets more likes than the actual post.

A few weeks later, we’re home in London. Life slowly returns to its usual rhythm though now, my inbox is a bit fuller, and there are a few more eyes on my work. But I still drink the same tea in the morning, still get stuck on a single chord progression for hours, still hum ideas into my voice notes app at ungodly hours.

One night, I find Will sitting in the lounge, headphones on, eyes closed, my latest demo playing from his phone. I watch him for a moment how he leans into the sound, how his brow furrows slightly in concentration, how his lips twitch up at the gentler parts.

I sit beside him. “You like it?”

He opens his eyes, pulls the headphones off, and nods. “It’s stunning. You’ve done it again.”

“You say that every time.”

“Because it’s true every time.”

He pulls me close, my head on his shoulder, our limbs comfortably tangled. We sit like that for a while, the quiet hum of the city outside, the warmth of our home around us.

“I’ve been thinking,” he says softly.

“Dangerous.”

He pinches my side. “Shut up. No, seriously I want to help fund a scholarship. For young composers. People who maybe don’t see themselves in the industry yet. I thought we could start it together. In your name.”

My throat tightens. “Will…”

He looks down at me, earnest and warm and overflowing with that impossible, unshakeable love.

“You’ve inspired so many people already. Let’s help even more hear their own music.”

I don’t say anything right away. I just kiss him. Slow and deep and full of every thank you I can’t quite form.

Because this? This is what winning really looks like.

Not the trophies.

Not the flashing lights.

But coming home to someone who sees the music in you even in the silence.

[eljackinton]

What's Been Going On with the Pathfinder Comics.

Ten years ago I wrote an Obscure Comic of the Month Special Edition about the first three volumes of Dynamite's Pathfinder comic, penned by Jim Zub and illustrated by a rotating selection of artists. I had nothing but glowing praise for the comic, pegging it as maybe the ideal iteration of a party-basted fantasy series.

In the intervening years Jim Zub has moved on to become a mainstay writer for the Dungeons and Dragons comics, Dynamite found itself courting controversy by allegedly supporting creators with less than progressive political viewpoints, Pathfinder saw the release of its second edition, and the Pathfinder setting itself has gone on to have featured in not one but two smash hit isometric RPG video games.

The comic, meanwhile, has continued to be published on and over the course of these years, seeing a couple stops and starts, crossovers and semi-reboots. All this leads us to ask, with Jim Zub's departure, has the comic managed to maintain the quality of its storytelling and the magnetism of its characters?

Well... not really, but let's take a look at each story arc volume by volume and break down what worked, what didn't and where it might go in the future.

Origins (2015)

When we last saw our protagonists they were becoming firmly established as members of the Pathfinder society, Seoni was finding renewed confidence as the group's leader, Ezren was finally fulfilling his ambitions as an adventurer, and Merisiel and Kyra had started a burgeoning romance. What then, was the story to do to further these characters and greater develop their arcs?

To look backwards, of course.

When you slap the name "Origins," on something you generally tend to know what you're in for. It's usually a prequel of some kind, showing how the characters started and foreshadow critical story beats that will become important later.

The framing device for this series involves our six heroes being asked to recount tails of their heroism to a superior at the Pathfinder society, which ultimately leads them to recalling a time before they banded together, and, as the story progresses, discover that all the stories link together in some way and involve stopping an ultimate threat in the final issue.

Curiously, despite the name, the stories told are frequently not origin stories in the strictest sense, and most involve the characters themselves being firmly established as adventurers to begin with. Instead, the stories serve to introduce a new selection of characters to the audience, in order to weave them in and out of future stories as the comic demands.

This is an element that had also been part of the Pathfinder comics from the start. Pathfinder as a tabletop RPG has always marketed itself heavily around it's "Iconics." Pre-made characters through which new players could jump right into the action. Seoni, Ezren and the gang were all created for the game long before the comic ever debuted, and as the story unfolded, other Iconics would cameo here and there, with info in the back of the book for curious readers interested in checking out the game.

During Zub's tenure these cameos were executed pretty seamlessly, weaved naturally into the story, even when it was pretty clear they were also serving as advertisements for the game. Come Origins, however, the format has never looked so blatant. Each issue involves one of our characters recalling a tale from before the party's formation and, like clockwork, cross paths with a new, previously unknown character that is shown to be a big deal.

It's not that great of a deal-breaker, but the noticeable difference from how Zub's tenure dealt with the cameos is just one of the giveaways that the writing team taking over feel like an obvious step down. Origins has three different writers, Eric Mona, James L. Sutter, F. Wesley Schneider, who I am given to understand are writing staff from the tabletop game side of the franchise. While they are no doubt served well with an extensive knowledge of Pathfinder lore, they are noticeably not writers with the same kind of experience Zub had.

That's not to say that Origins is bad, but its stories are, at best, serviceable. The action is exciting, the jokes are funny and the mysteries are fun to uncover, and the artwork is as fantastic as ever (even if it still has the problem of Pathfinder's over-design addiction,) but it is lacking the kind of spark Zub brought to the previous three volumes. Going from City of Secrets to Origins makes you feel like all the chemistry has been sucked out of the characters. Their dialogue feels more stiff and wooden at times. Especially Ezren, who just feels a lot less fun in this series.

Origins was decent enough to avoid killing my interest in Pathfinder stone dead, but it was clear from the outset that the loss of Zub as the main writer was a serious problem that the comics were going to struggle with, and as the series continued into its fifth volume, it's not a problem they were quick to resolve.

Continues after the cut:

Hollow Mountain (2016)

Eric Mona, James L. Sutter and F. Wesley Schneider continue their tenure as writers on the Pathfinder comics and thus the problems that held back Origins continue to persist. Valeros, Seoni and the gang all feel like shadows of their former selves. The romantic chemistry that is really required to sell us on Merisiel and Kyra's relationship is direly missing. The characterisation continues, sadly, to feel somewhat hollow. Pun intended.

Its good thing, then, that Hollow Mountain manages to make up for these shortfalls by just having a solid, banger premise. Hollow Mountain is an ancient fortress built by the Runelords, filled with arcane knowledge, deadly traps, and an ancient artefact that our heroes must locate while clashing with another, less scrupulous band of adventurers.

Its a classic set up for a tabletop adventure, and that is exactly what the story proceeds to do. While the new writing team may have struggled with characterisation, you can really see their background writing for the tabletop RPG come to the fore here. Hollow Mountain becomes probably the most "tabletop campaign," feeling story arc in the series, and that is very much to its benefit. The comic really takes advantage of its six issue length, pulling out a plethora of deadly monsters and devious obstacles.

Additionally, our obligatory "Iconic cameos," this time round are presented as a rival band of adventures that our heroes have to contend with, and as such it feels much less egregious than how it was dealt with in Origins. Characters like Damiel the alchemist would go on to resurface during later story arcs and their reappearances feel much more natural as recurring characters.

All things considered, Hollow Mountain works as a bold, blockbuster experience. Lacking in depth, maybe, but chock to the gills with great action and nail biting thrills. Ending on a cliffhanger, it leads us right into the next main story arc.

Runescars (2018)

The next story arc pulls our heroes into the case of a mysterious killer, which eventually sprawls out into a wider conflict. Sutter and Schneider continue writing duties without any presence of Eric Mona this time around, and I'm happy to say their character writing has improved overall. While still not feeling as smooth as it was in the Zub penned stories, the characters start to feel more like their old selves than the somewhat cardboard versions we had to deal with in the last two arcs.

Runescars is a story that starts to delve more specifically into the world-building of the Pathfinder setting, something that the previous stories used more as set dressing. Here we're given more specifics into global politics and start getting introduced to nations like Korvosa and it's militant Death Knights. It's a welcome change and helps the story feel as though it has its own identity in comparison to Hollow Mountain which, despite being the stronger story, did feel as though it was just dipping into the fantasy kitchen sink.

Runescars also introduces us to Detective Quinn, who would quickly become a recurring character. Quinn is sardonic and charismatic and brings a welcome new perspective to the cast of characters. He's also another example of using the unwritten "Iconic cameo," mandate to good effect. Due to this beginning as a murder mystery, his presence feels like a natural extension of the story and not just an advertisement for another character sheet.

Runescars is somewhat chaotic and meanders at times, but it has some strong twists and character work, like Valeros burgeoning friendship with the stern swords-woman Tanin. There's also plenty of action and excitement to keep the ball rolling, and as the story continues on, it further hints towards future stories that began to be seeded back in Hollow Mountain.

With Sutter and Schneider's writing feeling much stronger, Runescars ends its run on what feels like a positive note, with the comic getting back on track towards something with a stronger foundation after the shaky few years of trying to find its feet after Zub's departure.

Worldscape (2017)

While it started its publication before Runescars, Worldscape chronologically takes place after it, which is why I'm slotting it in here. Marketed as a big crossover event, Worldscape sees the Pathfinder cast cross paths with the plethora of pulp heroes that Dynamite comics had the licence for, from John Carter of Mars, to Tarzan to Red Sonja. All written by Eric Mona which explains his absence on Runescars.

Worldscape is a typical crossover affair. The characters are all pulled into a mysterious dimension where they are free to battle, team up and double-cross each other without any greater consequences to the fictional worlds from which they originate. It's mostly an excuse for a big old team up and to have a bunch of characters be smashed together like action figures.

All in all, the story is fine, serviceable fair, but it does feel like a squandered opportunity. I often find the real appeal of crossovers is to see how the different characters react when coming into contact with different perspectives and philosophies. For example, probably the best scene in the first Batman/Judge Dredd crossover is when Dredd has Batman in a cell and is interrogating him, which is far more interesting than any of the scenes where they team up for an action sequence.

Worldscape, by contrast, mostly just has the characters team up and fight the bad guys. There some distrust and double-crossing along the way, but for the most part we see little of how these characters relate to each other when outside of combat. Which is a shame, especially when you have characters like Red Sonja who could serve as an excellent foil for the more upstanding members of the Pathfinder team.

All things considered, Worldscape could get away with being considered superfluous, if not for the fact that the comic has a subplot concerning Merisiel's backstory that eventually gets elaborated upon further in the main series. While not unwelcome, I did find it's inclusion as a somewhat baffling choice given the otherwise throwaway nature of the crossover itself.

Worldscape's storyline was fully wrapped up in six issues, but it would later see further issues published that feature other Iconics from the Pathfinder world and elaborate what they got up to and who they crossed paths with within the Worldscape. Much like the main series, they are enjoyable but mostly disposable.

Spiral of Bones (2018)

With the conclusion of Runescars and the concurrently running Worldscape, the tenure of Mona, Sutter and Schneider's writing on the series was at an end. I don't know it it was always intended to be a temporary arrangement or if a decision was made from the top, but the next arc, Spiral of Bones, would see Crystal Frasier take over as lead writer. While Frasier was recruited from the Pathfinder writing team, she also had a background in webcomics, and would later go on to work in comic writing full time.

It is no surprise to say then, that with Frasier taking the lead, the quality of the writing shoots back up immediately. Spiral of Bones gets off to a roaring start as a typical questing romp, before swerving into far more interesting and high concept ideas.

Perhaps the story's greatest strength is the decision to focus specifically on Valeros as the point of view character. While far from being one-note, Valeros had previously very much been played as a secondary character. There for some comic relief and action sequences, but he mostly stepped aside to let the other, more nuanced characters get the limelight.

Instead, Frasier decides to dig deep into the character's background and see what makes him tick, all through the framing device of Valeros being put on trail in the afterlife for the fate of his immortal soul. The story makes great use of taking a character that lacks little ambition beyond seeking excitement for the day and a flagon of ale at the end of it, and unfurls a character being crushed under the weight of self esteem and peer pressure.

Not only does this serve as an interesting character piece, but it also allows the story to get more wild and cosmic. We get to dig more into the cosmology of the Pathfinder universe, see how the godly entities lay claim over their subjects and how powerful magic users seek to subvert them, all through a nice, straightforward courtroom adventure with angelic lawyers and demonic judges. On top of it all, Tom Garcia's art brings a wonderful, over the top cartoonishness to the events, which keeps readers invested but the tone staying breezy.

This story arc's obligatory "Iconic cameo," is the flamboyant orc Imrijka, an old flame of Valeros' and a perfect foil for his more vulgar personality. Also returning is a cameo from Tannin, exploring further the chemistry between the two characters. Both flow naturally into the story and neither feel, as some previous cameos have, like simple adverts for pre-made characters.

The whole story wraps up nicely, with one of those great 'beat the evil wizard at his own game' style swicheroos. All things considered, Spiral of Bones turns out to be a rollicking good time, a fine return to form for the series, and a really effective moment in the limelight for a previously underutilised character. With such a bold and exciting execution, it left me with great hope that the comic still had the best ahead of it.

Wake the Dead (2024)

However, like any good arcane pact, there was a price to pay for the increase in quality. Pathfinder wouldn't see another series start for many years, with the next arc, Wake the Dead, not getting a collected edition until 2024, the entire Covid pandemic unfolding in the interim. Naturally, this meant Crystal Frasier had moved on to bigger and better projects, which is a shame, since I'd liked to have seen what she'd have done with the series given the chance to write more storys. Still, she is succeeded by a respectfully blooded comic book writer in Fred Van Lente, and right from the get go we can tell the series is in safe hands.

Wake the Dead serves as somewhat of a soft reboot for the series, which is frankly a fairly understandable direction to take it. The series felt for a while like it had a hard time figuring out what to do with Seoni and co, to the point it was going through the motions, so putting together a brand new team with a brand new set of foibles to get over is fertile ground to get things going again.

Our adventure team this time is made mostly of familiar faces, though you'd be forgiven for forgetting them from their previous "Iconic cameos." Quinn the private eye returns as de-facto leader, as magnetic and sardonic as ever, and is a great choice for our new lead. He's joined by Seelah the deathly serious paladin, Sajan the fiery monk and Lem, the cowardly but cunning bard. Serving as a touchstone back to our former protagonists, the dwarf Harsk returns, and rounding things off as a semi-antagonist and wild card is Nyctessa the necromancer.

They're all bold and strong personalties and work well within the expertly crafted story, which involves the group having to team up to track down a defector from the land of the dead, each for their own often irreconcilable purposes. Along the way they are forced to clash with the various other factions also on the trail of the defector and are often forced to think fast, and creatively, to deal with the threats they come across deep in enemy territory.

When the story works well, it works great, frequently drawing upon its tabletop roots by having the characters have to leaf through their items or abilities to find an outside-the-box solution to the more ridiculously outrageous scrapes they find themselves in. However, holding the series back a little is Eman Casallos' art, which, far from being bad, does happen to look a little stiff in comparison to the fast flowing work of Tom Garcia. I do wonder, however if this is due to being mismatched with colourist Jorge Sutil. Both have done great work on other projects but together their characters can hit the uncanny valley at times. This becomes less and less of a problem as the story goes on, however, so it's possible the two just took some time to acclimatise.

The story ends on a high note though, with Nyctessa coming out on top after all her machinations and leaving her as one of the funnest and most interesting characters so far. After such a bold new opening for the series, I'm left hungry for more of the new band of adventurers and can't wait to see where we go with them next.

But we don't quite go there just yet, because after Wake the Dead's conclusion we get one more story with the classic group, together again. Ezren, Senoi, etc, minus Harsk, have finally made it to the Grand Convocation of Pathfinders. Respect, recognition and majesty at last, only to see them caught up in an escapade with the bumbling but heroic goblin Fumbus.

The story is a fine return to form and a really makes our original characters feel like themselves again after so many years of struggling to distinguish themselves. Likewise, Tom Garcia is back for another round of bold, fluid artwork to lend a sense of mischief to the proceedings. The story is quick, and mostly disposable, but if Pathfinder indeed intends to storm ahead with its new cast of characters it serves as a perfect swansong for our original cast, and a great reminder of why I fell in love with the series in the first place.

Conclusion, and... the future?

So there you have it. After a few rocky roads, it really feels like the Pathfinder comic has found its feet again. If it sounds like I've been too harsh on Mona, Sutter and Schneider's tenure, I haven't meant to be. They did, after all, have the unenviable job of taking over from Jim Zub, who would go on to be one of the hottest writers in fantasy adventure comics, and they did, in the end, manage to keep the comic going, something that IDW failed at with its own first attempt at Dungeons and Dragons comics back in the early 2010s.

All things considered, there's more good than bad within this (so far) eight volume run of comics, and while it buckles at the edges, and maybe doesn't quite live up the expectations set by those first three volumes, there is still great fun to be had, and, as both Spiral of Bones and Wake the Dead prove, fertile ground for more bold and interesting stories.

The question is, then, what does the future hold? At time of writing there has been no announcement by Dynamite of any upcoming Pathfinder projects in the works. This is unsurprising since the previous series was a limited run rather than an ongoing, and Dynamite are famously inconsistent when it comes to promoting their own series. Still, I hope this doesn't mean that the comics are going on hiatus for another number of years again. Wake the Dead was a shot in the arm for the series and feels like it is raring to go from where it left off.

Fundamentally, it depends on the readership. Pathfinder is, famously, a niche spin-off from an niche franchise. It's never going to be in a position where it is flying off store shelves. But I like it, and frankly, Dynamite comics, you should keep making them just for me.

With the last volume feeling like a resurrection of sorts, and with story threads still left to be addressed, it'd be a shame to see the comic bow out now. Only time will tell, but it would be great if I could do a write up, in another ten years time, going over another six volumes. If not, well, like Valeros, you can't say the comic didn't go out swinging.

Jack Harvey 2025. Images Used Under Fair Use.

[aceroyalcrown]

Would you be willing to do a part 2 of liar?

Liar Part 2 (Marinette x Reader)

Fair warning I wrote this.. four years ago?! and just didn’t publish it on here.. im sorry better late than never? Didn’t read through it again though so there’s bound to be some errors 😔

A/N:⚠️Warning!!: Violence,Deaths and Abuse, Torture( I think) read at your own discretion⚠️

d/h=dominant hand

V/N=villain name

F/N=father name

L/N=last name

This is 2120 words long ;-; lol

You slowly stand up and dry your tears replacing them with an emotionless expression. It's something you learned to do living with your father. Unaware of a butterfly flying away from you, you walk in the direction of your home with your hands in your pockets, eyes unreadable.

Once you arrive home you open the door to be greeted by silence which never means anything good. You don't bother announcing your arrival and walk up the stairs at your right.

"Y/N?" You turn your head to see one of your father's maids.

"Hm?"

"Your father is waiting for you in his office." They leave and you head for his office.

Knocking three times on the door you wait for his response.

"Come in." You slowly open one of the dark wooden doors and walk in.

He is sitting at his desk lazily holding a glass of alcohol in his right hand. His tie loose around his neck. You close the door and stand infront of it.

"Do you know how ungrateful you've been?!" His loud stoic voice did not cause you to waver as you hold his stare.

He stood up and finished the remaining alcohol in the glass.

"I'm very dissapointed in you angel," He reaches for a new bottle of alcohol at the foot of his desk and opens it, "but worry not I will teach you to not be a disgrace to the family name." He pours himself another glass and picks it up placing the bottle on his desk.

He walks towards you.

"Now what do you say." He caresses your cheek as he looks into your eyes.

"Thank you, Father."

"Hm" He backs off and walks back to his desk. "Get ready we start tomorrow, oh and don't worry about school you won't be going anymore."

"What! B-" He throws the bottle at you hitting the door causing pieces of glass to fly everywhere. Some managing to cut your face and some of the liquid got on you.

"Are you questioning me?" He glares at you as you realize you had lost control of your emotions and talked back.

"N-no!" He walks back to you causing you to take a few steps back before your against the door.

"Are you saying I'm wrong?" He moves one of his hands to your neck slowly squeezing. Knowing denying anything or leaving will only make things worse you duck your head.

"I'm sorry father." He smiled and lets go patting your shoulders. You stay unmoving despite having the opportunity to leave knowing better than to do that.

"You may leave." He waves you off sitting back down not sparing you a glance.

You quickly exit and head for your room. Once there you lock the door and throw your backpack onto the floor. You look towards the pair of scissors sitting on your desk and grab them. Holding them in your (d/h) hand you get onto your bed and grab the nearest pillow.

You begin stabbing it relentlessly, breathing heavily. You don't know how long it had been before you stopped and mindlessly threw the scissors which landed somewhere on the floor. You pushed your face into the pillow and screamed letting your emotions out leaving you feeling tired.

You laid there before deciding to eat something for dinner. You eyed an instant noodles cup on your desk and decided to prepare that. Once you could it eat you sat on your bed thinking about what Marinette had said.

Lila huh, why would she believe her over me? And what did Mari mean by Lila saw me making out with Luka. It's been days since I last him. This is all his fault had he not taken me with him to the UK and then forbid me from telling anyone she would still be with me.. I wish mom was here.

Slurppp

You look down at the cup you were eating from.

Oh its empty

You open your phone and see that Ladybug and Chat Noir had saved Paris once again. You sigh and decide to sleep throwing your trash into a small bin.

At night the only dreams you had were nightmares, you know what's going to happen any moment now. He always gets you when your asleep for his "lessons". Sometimes you wish you can kill him, but such an act is unlawful.

As weird as it was school brought you comfort in a way. You never had to worry about keeping your emotions in check and maintaining an emotionless mask. Everyone in your class brought you a sense of safety, even Chloe, because they were better than him.

Click

Someone had unlocked the door. You stay unmoving feigning being asleep as two maids tie your hands behind your back. They grab you by your arms and drag you out the room.

Your father was waiting outside and he signals them to follow. You reach a trophy case and he pulls one of them causing a dark hallway to be revealed next to it. One of the maids releases their hold on you and lights a lantern handing it to your father. Her hold on you returns.

You all silently walk down the hallway before reaching a door that your father opens letting the three of you inside before following.

He motions to a metal pole in the middle of the room. The maids push you towards it and kick your knees forcing you to kneel. They quickly untie your hands before trying them again this time with the pole in between your body and your tied hands.

Your father nods at one of them and they take out a small box from one of their pockets, handing it to him. Both maids stand behind you with their hands behind their backs.

You watch as your father opens the box and puts on the ring that was inside it. A small animal like creature appears next to him seeming to be afraid of him.

Your father grabs the small creature as it's eyes look lifeless.

"Let Revan here be an example of how well my lessons work." You look at him your face expressing your confusion.

"I understand you might have questions about him, but all you need to know is that he is a kwami, a creature that gives power to people who have this ring right here," He shows his finger with the ring from the box.

Upon closer inspection you see the silhouette of a penguin in the center of the ring.

"After my lessons he now follows my wishes," He lets go of Revan, "after I teach you my lessons, if you meet my expectations and I deem that you are no longer a disgrace to the family name I will give you this ring."  He walks towards you with a sinister smile on his face.

You try setting your hands free to no avail.

.

.

.

.

You don't know how long these "lessons" have been going on for, but you knew three things. One you were tired, two you feel burning hatred towards your father, and three you want to get revenge for what he has put you through.

Yesterday your father had tell you that he had a surprise for you. You hear footsteps from a distance. Your father appears in the room with the same box from before.

"You've done well, my angel." He cuts the ropes on your hands and you rub the marks it left.

"Now kneel, angel." You comply and get down on one knee looking down. He crouches down and lifts your chin up forcing you to meet his gaze and notice his smile.

His eyes seem to have a glow to them as he looks into yours slowly grabbing your (d/h) hand helping you stand back up.

He takes out the ring and slowly puts it on your finger.

"Now say, Revan time to hunt." You do what he says and your clothes transform into something that resembles a penguin. You notice that you have a mask covering your mouth with the design of a frown and a red tear drop.

"Very well, I'll be back." When he leaves you detransform and learn everything you can about the powers this miraculous, as your father called it, holds from Revan.

He monotonously informs you that you are able to copy the powers of other miraculous with drawbacks of course and are able to summon swords. You try to summon swords as you wait for your father's return.

He comes back to see you leaning against the wall.

"Are you ready for my wishes?" Taking your silence as a 'yes' he shows you images of a cat ring and a pair of ladybug earrings.

"You are to take Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous, they are said to hold great power and with them I'll be the one in charge of everyone. Aren't I perfect?" 

You don't utter a word.

"You brat! Don't you know how to answer a question?! Or maybe I need bring that friend of yours for motivation," You glance at him from the corner of your eye as you raised your (d/h) hand, "what was her name again, Marinette? I wonder how her face will look like when she's horrified. To- gh"

He looks behind him to see you had stabbed him with a summoned sword.  He stumbles forward as you pull the sword out. He falls onto the floor the noise not as loud as you had imagined.

"I won't let you lay a finger on her." You glare down at him as you step on his back.

You watch as his eyes become lifeless with a grin on your face. You decide to leave his body for the maids to find and go out for the first time in a long time.

.

.

.

Many days have passed and you tag along in the shadows to the fights against akumas this time is no different as you see Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting against an akuma and decide to stay and watch them.

You notice the akumatized villain going for an attack as Ladybug called upon her lucky charm. You run summoning two swords into your hands and block the attack before striking them causing them to jump back.

Looking back you see Ladybug has her lucky charm and decide to hide in the shadows leaving them to fight.

When they deevilize the butterfly you start to head to side of the roof to jump off.

"Pound it." Ladybug catchesyou leaving from the corner of her eye.

"Hey, wait!" You stop, but don't turn to face them.

"What's your name little birdie?" You spare them a glance.

"(V/N)" Ladybug's eyes widened as she looks you up and down.

"That outfit, you're the one who killed (F/N) (L/N), the famous digital designer who worked with Gabriel Agreste." She sternly says as Chat Noir caught on.

"Little birdie, was it you?" You dryly laugh.

"Yeah, it was. And it felt so good too."

They get into a fighting stance as their miraculous beep causing them to grimace.

"Oh? Looks like your out of time," You smile at them tilting your head, "what are you gonna do now little heroes?"

Your own miraculous beeps.

"Well isn't this a pendicament, right bugaboo?" Chat Noir got his claws ready and you furrowed your eyebrows at his pun.

"It's time to be serious kitty, they've caused real damage." Chat Noir nodded. They begin attacking and match their strikes with your own.

As the fight continues you taunt them as you evade their attacks annoying them. Ladybug glares at you as you just sent Chat Noir flying.

You scoff at her.

"Oh you don't like that? Or do you just not like me?!" She looked baffled.

"How can I hate you if I don't even know you?!" She knocks you down, "Let me get to know you! We can work this out."

"That bastard had it coming! I'll do it again if I had the chance." Your quite mad about what she wants. After all, she doesn't know you and you don't know her, why should she care?

As she walked towards you, you took steps back before getting to the edge of the roof. Looking down you take a deep breath. You glare at Ladybug as you spread your arms and fall back with a grin on your face.

You close your eyes as you hear the last beep of your miraculous.

Sleep consumes you as you hear someone cry out your name.

The only regret you have was not seeing Marinette one last time.

[joffyworld]

hi wife. here's a genuine question :)

what's your writing process? how do you get from idea to finished work? for poems, proper stories, etc.

Oooo an actual question! Time to ramble :3

Edit before posting: Holy shit this is long lmaoooo my bad gang. For a guy with not a lot to say I sure do love saying stuff sometimes 😭

Hmmm see I don't really have like, a solid process, because I'm a fucking rabid idiot so I just kinda throw shit at a wall and hope it sticks.

Most of the stuff I post tbh is only like the third or so draft, I don't do a lot of editing really. I prefer to just kinda write from the head or heart and then let it be what it is, rather than letting myself spiral into a perfectionist mayhem. There are poems I've spent like, a month on, but most of the poems are done in like 20 minutes to an hour when I'm feeling *super* inspired.

I usually opt to select the type of poem first, and then jot down whatever rhyme scheme I'll need to do that type of poem. So, for an acrostic (A poem where the beginning of each line creates a message), I'll jot down something like this (with the brackets denoting rhyme scheme):

H (A)

E (A)

L (B)

L (C)

O (B)

And then write from there to fit the scheme. The absolute worst one was Poryadok Becomes Xaoc for my COTL AU, because that was double acrostic (both the first and last letters of a line create separate messages) and still had a rhyme scheme, so I had to plan it something like:

G I (A)

A S (B)

Y C (A)

S O (B)

E O (A)

X L (B)

So then it becomes an absolute fucking nightmare because I had to find not only words beginning or ending with a certain letter, but also make them rhyme. That one tore my head open and I've sworn to never do double acrostic or mesostic ever again, because it sucked ass anyway and wasn't a very enjoyable read.

I also like to go off of the theme for each poem, so I'll usually have a vague idea of what I want to make tone-wise before I've even sat down to write. I like to categorise my work in anthologies, so if they were all printed they'd form a cohesive-ly toned collection rather than just random gargled bits. This is more the case for my personal stuff I haven't shared with most people because I don't want it as a "Joffy" poem but rather I want it to be mine, under my irl name, but I have a reflections anthology looking back on my life, a history anthology focusing on historical events I really like, etc etc. I think it helps me keep it more focused, but I also like just putting things into neat little boxes for my own sanity, so they don't get muddled or have crossover.

You also asked about longer pieces, but tbh it's been a while since I've written anything super long that wasn't Fishy Want Glug Glug xD. It's not that I'm incapable, tbh I think I can do it fairly well, but I just don't find it as enjoyable and I really struggle to focus. The last major large project I wrote was in high school, it was a gothic fiction post-apocalyptic novel about a dude fighting monsters or some shit in my family's hometown of Sligo over in Ireland (a place I've still never been lmao). It was super long, like 50 chapters, and I'm 99% certain it's gone forever now since all the files it was stored in are so old they've probably been deleted.

Also I just find poetry more fun for everyone, and it's a more creative art form. I haven't been doing poetry long, hell I'd never written any at all until I started doing it here about 7 months ago roughly? But I'd studied it a ton at school and college and whatever, so it wasn't a foreign concept. I'm fairly proud of where I am rn, but I wouldn't say any of it is "good" poetry yet, just a decent attempt from a complete novice hobbyist.

So yeah! I think that's it? Sometimes I'll have to Google a rhyme for a word if I'm suuuuper stuck but tbh I'm usually fairly good with vocab and it's not an issue. Also most of the poems are written laying belly-down on my bed in my phone's notes app, although until recently all my poems were saved straight to the Tumblr drafts and written there lmao.

Thanks for the ask, hope this was slightly entertaining!

[yoshyushi]

20241223 Another Man Magazine cover feature: Yu Shi - As I enter the Sea I became the Sea

Just like 6 years ago,

Yu Shi wrote a character biography for Ji Fa,

Now he has finally come to realize,

What needs to be continuously written is a story of himself.

This would be different from his past narratives,

He dares to dream, has the bravery to realize them,

Change from what was unfathomable into "nothing is unfathomable"

This is the final day of this shoot, the final outfit and look. The staff were making adjustments on the set for the final time. While waiting, Yu Shi walked aimlessly to the second level and chanced upon a light green guitar placed in a corner. He picked it up, found a chair and sat himself down, strumming to the song by Coldplay "Viva la Vida", starting with

I used to rule the world

Seas would rise when l gave the word

Now in the morning l sleep alone

Sweep the streets l used to own

Time moves yet it amalgamates. On some levels, it's detached from the moment. Yu Shi is wrapped up in music, momentarily he's able to put his mind off things.

"Music isn't something that was forced into my life, it's always been part of my life." No matter where he went, as long as the circumstances allowed for it, Yu Shi would always carry a guitar. As he closes off all other senses, Yu Shi's sense of hearing is amplified, place all his thoughts upon the strings, step into another world. "Coincidentally, it has become a respite for my lifestyle, a relief for my current circumstances through my hobby."

Many a time in the past, Yu Shi was like this too. After he had ended work, he would stay alone in his room, playing the guitar. Sometimes he sings, sometimes he doesn't. At just 28, he often thinks about the people and things of the past. "As you live in the moment of time, you often feel it moves slowly. As you recall a moment from a year, five years, ten years or twenty years ago, you'd feel that time is like the sand in the hourglass, when it finishes, it finishes.

Fleeting time, yet every moment remains vivid

3 months after the premiere of 《Creation of the Gods: Kingdom of Storms》 Yu Shi found a recording from his old phone. It was his character biography he had made for his character, starting from when Ji Fa was born, to fill in the milestones of Ji Fa's life before the moment where the film begun. He had once thought the recording was lost, but "luckily" it was still intact, his own voice of a 22 year old rang before his ears.

Another 3 months passed, an interview on Yu Shi positioned the movie's ending scene of Ji Fa riding on a horse across the wheat fields as an important metaphor, Yu Shi "started on the path charging towards becoming an actor." It adhered and added a portion of destiny to the character biography that Yu Shi had written "at that time, the silly me had never thought that my life would truly begin to transform." The scene had turned into a story for keepsake, Yu Shi reminded himself repeatedly "it was the first scene to be filmed for 《Creation of the Gods》 since the kick-off of filming, his first scene in 《CotG》 and the first scene as an actor.

The uniqueness of this moment was in how Yu Shi and Ji Fa, actor and character, reality and fiction had amalgamated into a single entity. Since then, Yu Shi repeatedly recalls the moment of being one with his character, which has since become the moment he chases after in his acting. "To the extent that before the cameras rolled, when I was on standby, I would emote with the character. Regardless if it was using my own feelings as a proxy of the character's feelings, or if it were me truly entering the character in my creation, that moment, I was living with and as the character -I'm at a loss for words, it's hard to say who I actually was."

It has been a year and a half since the premiere of the first 《CotG》 film, 5 years since he wrapped up its filming, 7 years since he first stepped into the "CotG boot camp". All the dates and time, every milestone are all etched into Yu Shi's mind. As he recalls, it was like watching his past from a distance. "I clearly know he has since left me far behind. Time is fleeting yet everything is so vivid. I'm not exaggerating that during our dubbing of the first and second movies, I remembered everything about how we had made adjustments for each scene and all of our preparation." At night, Yu Shi would look at photos taken back then, the journals, voice recordings and videos, and watch them.

As he reminiscences, Yu Shi feels the "monstrosity of time" at the same time. "Memories are like movies." The images of a movie cannot tell the full story nor an entire character's life, from the time where Ji Fa escaped back to Xiqi (TN: Ji Fa's hometown) from Zhaoge (TN: where he had served the tyrant King Yinshou) he had gone through a number of years and had suffered in life, but it was only expressed in captions on the silver screen. "It weaved a story through short fragments of scenes, just like how as I recall things from the last 20 years, they are similarly frame after frame.

It was almost 2 years from his entry into the production until filming wrapped up. During the days in production he would think "When can we finish filming?" And now, the premiere of the sequel of 《CotG》 had been a year and half since it's first movie. "While waiting for the first movie to premiere, my feelings were complicated, swinging between anticipation and disappointment again and again." Yu Shi assesses these 2 experiences of awaiting. "'Disappointment' or 'fear' are due to not knowing what's ahead. I was afraid my efforts as an actor would not be seen by others, I wasn't even sure if I could become a true actor. The unknown made me fear. When the first movie received pretty good box office, I knew the sequel would definitely premiere, so even if the wait could be long, I felt assurance." All he had to do was to "simply wait," to wait for Ji Fa's return on the horse back to meet the audience.

And so, this poetic metaphor continued to grow. Yu Shi wrote a "monologue" of his character beyond what was in the script. "I imagined a scene where Xiqi was under siege and I encouraged the people to fight together. The speech went something like, I, Ji Fa is pro-peace, but if others trample our lands and hurt our people, I must let the enemy know we're not sitting ducks, we must fight." Many years later, Yu Shi is still able to recite his "monologue" fluently with his head held high. There's a part of Ji Fa that seemed to remain and exist within his flesh and blood.

It's not right to lose yourself completely

Sometimes, it's not necessary to wait too long.

The movie 《Operation Leviathan 蛟龙行动》 that wrapped up last June is also about to premiere. 《Operation Leviathan 蛟龙行动》 is the sequel to 《Operation Red Sea 红海行动》, Yu Shi plays Han Xiao, a commando in Team Leviathan. "There's few dialogue in action films, maybe just a liner— infiltrate, open the door, enemy in sight, open fire— but during filming the process is really long." Yu Shi did not wait for the "torture" from the "director from hell" Dante Lam and went beyond to overdeliver. "That's not torture, I enjoyed the process. Such genre definitely isn't something that has easy demands. Since I've chosen such work to do this, I shouldn't "brag" about how difficult the process was. If you describe all the difficulties you went through yet end up being a flop, it would sound like excuses. It's not to show others how difficult it was, but to show others how well I've done."

There was a scene involving an explosion, 50 "explosives" were placed within 10 meters of him. Yu Shi had to carry some one on his back to escape from the explosion. "It'll be a lie to say I wasn't afraid." Director Dante Lam never told him there was only one shot at it, but Yu Shi knew it would be difficult and resource intensive to restore the scene after such a huge explosion scene. "It's definitely stressful to be given just one take for it, from the follow focus cameras until the placement of the explosives, every staff on set were tensed and there was just a single string tying all of it together. I needed to trust in the explosives technician fully, and trust in everyone who was on set."

Yu Shi told himself, there wouldn't be any problem, just take a deep breath. He knew as soon as he heard a shout from the other end "3, 2, 1 action," every distracting thought would vanish. "Even if I were to jump from the 5th floor, all I needed to do was to run straight on at all costs and leap at the end of it," he knows he's an actor and he must nail the scene. "3, 2, 1, like a spell- cameras rolling, just do it already!"

"Cut" became the moment where the spell was broken. Yu Shi returned to rational self, he monitors his own performance. "I'm not watching to see if I looked good from the angles taken. I should say, in that moment, I had my own standards." More than one senior had encouraged him "You must learn to control yourself. This is performing, not your life. You could allow your performance to come close to your life, but you must know restraint. Acting often requires the actor to repeat themselves again and again. If you're totally emotional thinking this take was pretty good, but the cameras weren't able to capture it but you're already trembling in tears, how would you complete your second take? This is a complicated process, it's not enough to lose yourself in the role- no, it's not right to lose yourself in it."

Yu Shi increasingly believes that artistic creation is a very subjective matter. "If you are a singer, you're akin to an actor while you're singing, and the lyricist and composer are like the playwright and director. When arranging the music, it's akin to being an editor." He has included in his future plans to "becoming a director". "I've once said I wanted to be an actor, and they all said, stop bragging. I said I wanted to release an album, to hold my own concert, they all said, stop bragging. But as long as you want to, each of these things would come to realize bit by bit, including me mentioning that I would want to become Best Actor, I do believe I can achieve it one day. I said I want to be a director, no matter the means, I would definitely be able to do it."

"This isn't ambitiousness, it's a dream." Presently, there's too little of such lively, passionate declaration. Yu Shi is easily fired up, it's an invigorating personality that he's born with. There are many who are shy in expressing their aspiration and determination. "Perhaps they feel insecure, but I definitely have full confidence in every matter that I speak of. I will not speak of the things I'm not confident of. It's a different matter if dreams can come true, but you've must have a dream to begin with."

As I enter the Sea, I become the Sea

There were definitely those who doubted, but these doubtful voices were more of disbelief in chance, and dismissive about putting in efforts, disillusioned from the setbacks in their paths towards success. "I've always been using a unfathomable way of doing the things I do now," Yu Shi does not avoid any kind of voices. "Like how I've come so far, many people think I've taken a shortcut. (TN: underhanded means) Those who know me know that it's impossible- I took the longest time to film a movie, to film a difficult movie, to film shows brings the least renumeration of all other projects. At the same time every project I took on were the ones that was impossible to "plant" someone in.

To face such voices, it is understandably human to feel hurt, but at the same time Yu Shi gets some sort of "kick" out of it "It proves that I've done something very impressive. Everyone thinks it's unbelievable. I would have never in their imagination be able to achieve this- I'm not even trained in acting. But I want to tell them this, this is the power of determination and persistence. If you do not give up and give it all into this one thing, you can do it too."

What kind of person does he want to be exactly- an actor, a composer-singer, or a director? "Those who like you will raise you up with no bounds, while those who dislike you will step on you with without boundaries. Everyone has their own interpretation of an identity, there's voices everywhere and everything there is to be said is said and done. "No one is at fault, there are those who like your looks, those who admire your acting, those who think you sing well, those that think your opinions are interesting... but I want everyone to know, I love acting. In fact, the struggles, frustrations, suffering and misunderstanding of people is due to the lack of determination of the self." He believes without storms one wouldn't learn how to sail. It is only through terrible and great waves and the return to peace would one know how to navigate through it. "To consider these questions in the midst of great tribulations are more meaningful to me."

When he was young, Yu Shi liked watching movies by Bruce Lee, he liked how Bruce Lee fought while outnumbered and liked to imitate his moves. "It's a very superficial appreciation." As he grew up, Yu Shi's admiration of Bruce Lee came from his interviews, his philosophy, his thinking. Yu Shi doesn't miss a word as he recites a quote from Bruce Lee back in 1971.

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water.

Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup

you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.

you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.

Now water can flow or it can crash.

Be water, my friend.

"Be Water, my friend," Yu Shi repeated this phrase, just like how he had repeated it multiple times before. "This can be applied to anything in the world, it's a perspective of your life. Lao Tzu once said "Great virtue is like water." water is soft yet it contains great powers to cause damage." But what was most important was the second half of the saying. Water benefits many but claims no credit.

"5 years ago I was like a kid who had yet to grow up. I was a brick, one who would break and crack if I tried too hard. A brick is unable to blend with many things and matters. As I entered society and started working, facing all sorts of issues and people, there are good ones, bad ones... I'm slowly changing myself. In the past I would think 'why should I put myself in a sorry position', 'why should I bow down', but if you think you're water, then you've reached another level - there's no compromise, only entering different vessels. When poured into a tea pot you become the shape of a tea pot. When poured into a cup, you're the shape of a cup- As I enter the sea, I become the sea."

There's always something that's more important. Yu Shi's passion goes far beyond acting, but "writing" a new story. "I've used these couple of years to consolidate my path. No matter if it would be 5 or 10 years later, or if I become a director, or I'm making music, I hope one day, like an old friend, I would be able to tell everyone 'there's nothing unfathomable about it, what's unfathomable about it?"

[just-your-average-author]

The L Word (Logan)

Gilmore Girls

Hurt/Comfort/Light Angst

What Rory might have been feeling after she and Logan broke up at her graduation because we got exactly no closure/sadness from her about the love of her life she lowkey wanted to marry. Also, I'm aware that the job offer wasn't until after she left her apartment but I already wrote the thing so it's not super accurate but whatever I (haha I mean Rory haha) am heartbroken okay?

Rory stood in the middle of her now almost empty apartment, surrounded by half-packed boxes, and tried to keep her thoughts from spiraling. Try as she might, her mind always tended to wander back to memories she’d rather forget. She scanned the room, her eyes flicking from one pile of belongings to another, trying to decide what to keep, what to discard, and what to pack for the bus. The thought of starting fresh should have felt liberating, but instead, it was suffocating.

Her hands moved automatically, sorting through the remnants of her life, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She had been determined not to think about him, but the effort was draining. 

Her mind instead went to Dean, her first-ever breakup that felt like eons ago. She remembered the cold dread in her chest as he accused her of being selfish and ungrateful. The words had cut deep then, and even now, they stung like fresh wounds. She winced, not just at the memory, but also as she sliced her thumb on the edge of the packing tape. The sharp pain grounded her, pulling her back to the present, but it couldn’t chase away the tightness in her throat. Dean had told her he loved her, and in return, she said nothing. She frowned, remembering that was arguably the kindest she’d ended things with him. The second time, she all but cheated on him and pushed him away, eventually drifting toward Jess. 

The thought of Jess brought a bittersweet smile to her face. Theirs had been a turbulent relationship, marked by passion and miscommunication, yet there were moments she cherished like the night they went to see The Distillers in concert. Rory picked up a CD from the box she was packing, her fingers brushing over the cover, wiping off the dust. She could still hear the music, feel the energy of the crowd, and see Jess’s grin as he joked about them joining the mosh pit. But the smile faded as quickly as it had come. That memory was also tainted—by the angry voicemail she’d left him, the harsh words she couldn’t take back.

Her stomach churned as she thought of how much she missed Jess at that moment. She longed for his advice, for his steady presence, but she had driven him away, too. Sure, he may have left first, but she knew she left last. They ended things so bitterly before; she had broken his heart. She had a pattern, it seemed—a pattern of ruining things, of pushing people away until there was nothing left but regret.

With a heavy sigh, Rory moved the box of CDs to the couch and tried to shake off the weight of her thoughts. She needed to stop this downward spiral. She had a new life ahead of her, a promising career as a journalist, with the potential to travel the country—maybe even the world—with Senator Barack Obama’s campaign. She should have been excited, but the excitement was clouded by doubt and self-recrimination. It didn't matter. He didn't matter. Nothing mattered. She didn't matter. 

“Stop, knock it off,” she muttered to herself, her voice cracking as she forced the words out. “Stop, stop, stop.” But the tears that had been threatening to fall all day finally broke free, sliding down her cheeks. She swiped at them angrily, determined to keep it together. Today was supposed to be a good day, a day of new beginnings. She needed it to be that, but the weight of her feelings kept pulling her back. She was going to have a good day no matter what. Matter. That word sounded funny now. 

The word “matter” echoed in her mind. Chilton taught her a lot about matter. Matter, the substance of the universe, made up everything—light, heat, cold, trees, plants, animals, people. Her mom. Herself. And him.

No.

She wouldn’t let herself think about him. Not now. Not ever again. She grabbed the packing tape and sealed up the box, being extra careful not to cut herself this time. Her eyes fell on her phone, and she saw a text from her mom: Be there as fast as I can invisibly drive through Hartford in hopes of avoiding my mother.

Rory smiled at the message, feeling a flicker of warmth in her chest. Her mom’s quirky sense of humor was a small comfort. At least she wouldn’t have to go through this alone. With her mom here, it would be easier to keep the dark thoughts at bay; easier to focus on the practicalities of moving on.

She turned to her suitcase, unzipping it to add the last few items she would need for her new job. She mentally checked off each article of clothing as she packed it, but her mind was elsewhere, drifting back to the door where her gaze landed on the bag.

The sight of it stopped her in her tracks. To think, this bag once brought her such joy. Now all it brought was pain and misery. She struggled to hold back the tears that were already threatening to spill over. Her throat burned. She hated it now; it almost mocked her with its bright cheerful color and welcoming demeanor.

She couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it—it was worth too much. Should she sell it? Give it to Emily? Maybe her mom? She almost laughed at the thought, had she not been so depressed. Her mom would probably rather burn it than use it.

Rory picked up the bag, her fingers tracing the smooth leather, and the floodgates opened. The tears she had been holding back came rushing out, and she crumpled to the floor, sobbing harder than she had in years. She had been so close to real happiness, to love, to a future she had once dreamed of. But she had ruined it. Just like she had ruined everything else. She could have had a husband, a house, a family. She could have had 

Logan.

She curled up on the floor, hugging the bag to her chest as if it could somehow fill the void inside her. The pain was overwhelming, and for a moment, she wished she could just disappear, fade away into nothingness. How could she love again? She had loved so many times, and every time, it had ended in heartbreak. But with Logan, it had been different. It had been real. And she had thrown it all away.

The memory of him proposing, of her saying no, replayed in her mind, torturing her. He had offered her everything—a life together, a home, an avocado tree. But she had said no. Why had she said no? The question echoed in her mind, unanswered, and she knew that it would haunt her forever. The thought that she had lost him, that she would never get the chance to make things right, was unbearable.

As she lay on the floor, the reality of her situation hit her like a tidal wave. It was never going to be okay again. She would always carry this pain, this regret, with her. And no matter how much she tried to move on, she would never be able to forget him. Hell, not just forget him, but even be able to stop thinking about him for even a minute.

Rory remained on the floor for what felt like hours, her sobs gradually quieting to soft, uneven breaths. The weight of everything—the past, the regrets, the uncertainty of the future—pressed down on her.

She sat up slowly, her fingers still clutching the pink bag. She had made mistakes, yes, and those mistakes had cost her dearly. But she was still here, still alive, still moving forward, even if it was with a broken heart.

Rory took a deep breath and forced herself to stand. She walked over to the mirror on the wall, studying her reflection. Her eyes were red and swollen, her face blotchy from crying, but there was a strength there too—a resilience that had carried her through so much already. She wasn’t the same girl who had first fallen in love with Dean, or the one who had emotionally drifted to Jess, or even the one who had said no to Logan’s proposal. She had grown, learned, and yes, she had lost. But she was still standing.

She turned back to the suitcase, zipped it up, and then glanced at the pink bag one last time. She couldn’t keep it, not if she wanted to heal. But instead of selling it or giving it away, she decided to put it in the box she had just packed. She would store it away, out of sight, until she was ready to face it again—until the memories no longer hurt so much.

As she placed the bag in the box, she heard a knock at the door. Her heart skipped a beat, but quickly she reminded herself it wasn’t him. But it was her mom. The one person who had always been there for her, through every heartbreak, every mistake, every triumph.

Rory wiped her face, forcing a small smile as she walked to the door. She opened it to find her mom standing there, a warm, understanding smile on her face. Without a word, her mom stepped forward and pulled her into a tight hug, and Rory let herself sink into the embrace, feeling the comfort and love that only her mom could provide.

As they pulled back, her mom gave her a knowing look. “Ready to go?”

Rory nodded, though her heart was still heavy. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

They began to gather the remaining boxes, working together in comfortable silence.

She closed the door behind her, letting out a deep breath as she did. She knew she had to let go. She had no choice - life would happen whether she did or not. And in that bittersweet moment, she allowed herself to believe that maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay again someday. Not today, or tomorrow, or even this month. But someday.

[snicketstrange]

Untie My Silence Knot - Chapter 1

Synopsis:A strange plan emerges when Beatrice Baudelaire faces marital problems. Years later, Beatrice Baudelaire stumbles upon a mystery that demands investigation.

Chapter 1 - L, you are very stupid.

The letter that came was something that should never have arrived. That letter marked the beginning of the end of my marriage.

B didn't tell me right away. He hid it inside one of his books. I don't know why he was always so discreet. But then when K was in his office, K found the books. K must have found it strange that he hadn't seen those poetry books in the library before. When B realized, he was alarmed—too alarmed for my taste. Poor K would never realize the importance of those books alone. There was something else there. And I went to check. That's when I found it. I found his letter. The letter L had written and arrived three days ago. That night, B and I finally broke our silence in the bedroom.

So, did you find the letter? - He asked. I may be a good actress, but B was a great detective.

What letter? - I tried to hide it.

Don't try to deceive me B. How long have you known that L is alive?

Is L alive? - I was using denial, a technique we had learned.

You always knew, didn't you? Don't try to deceive me. Not anymore! If you don't tell me the truth, I will reveal everything to the children. Everything about VFD.

You would not do that! - I said alarmed. - Do you want them to live like us? After everything we've done to protect them from this burning world!

"If L comes here, there won't be any way to protect them anyway… I need to know the truth. How long have you known he's alive?

I found out when I found the letter.

Liar! L wrote "Mr. and Mrs. Baudelaire. Unfortunately, I will need to visit you in person for urgent business. I will be disguised as a taxi driver. I added a cigarette to the disguise in order to avoid arousing suspicion. Please burn this letter. Sometimes fire is necessary so that the world can be quiet again. " He believed that I also knew he was alive. That's because he must have written it for both of us before, but you destroyed the letter before I read it.

This is not true! - I said looking up.

You're a great actress, B. You pretend to lie when you're telling the truth, and you pretend to tell the truth when you're lying. So what I said is really wrong. You did not destroy the letter. You should never have destroyed any of his letters. You must have hidden it somewhere.

This time he had caught me.I was left breathless. I went to the wardrobe and got a blanket. I went to the bed and grabbed a pillow.

I don't think I can continue in a relationship where my husband doesn't trust me.

Where are you going?

I'm going to sleep somewhere else.

I closed the door slowly while looking at him. He was analyzing me, trying to determine if my threat was real. He was wondering how much I loved him or not. Or how much I still loved L. I knew this day would come … The day when the curtain would fall, and the biggest role play of my life would come to an end. I knew that one day I would finally be able to untie My Silence Knot.

I don't know if he came looking for me at the mansion that night. If he did, he must have realized that I couldn't have left the house through the main doors by conventional means, since all of them were still locked, and all the keys were still inside. He might have deduced that I had a secret copy of the key. If so, he wasn't entirely wrong. I did have a secret key, which I planned to use the next night. But that night, I didn't use it. Instead, I walked through a dark underground tunnel.

[truly-hopeless]

Honest Question About A Fic

So not too long ago, while at work, I was thinking about a story of mine that I haven't updated in almost two years. The story is titled "I Move the Stars For No One," which is a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin with L/Light Yagami as the main ship that I started writing after reading other LawLight fairy tale rewrites, namely eleonoraw's Merman and Totoroto's Snow Moon. It was my first story published to AO3 near the beginning of the pandemic and was my first LawLight fic. It currently sits unfinished at seven chapters (there was an eighth, a scrapped prologue, but I moved it to "The Dead Darling Graveyard" since it had little to do with the story) and was last updated December 2021. While I like parts of the current version (such integrating other fairy tales into the story since I'm a sucker for that kind of thing), I feel dissatisfied with the story for several reasons:

It's taking too long to get to the main conflict of the story (Beyond disrupting Light and L's arrangement and the two needing to find a way to stop that from happening) even without the long hiatuses and that smaller conflicts (L hiding he's a goblin from Light, Light feeling conflicted about what to do now that he's not going to be executed, and Misa's jealousy) are getting resolved too easily.

The story barely resembles Rumplestiltskin at all. Sure, it was always going to be a different story from the original fairy tale since the protagonists' identities and circumstances that make them desperate enough to ask a magical stranger for help and who they fall in love with are not the same (while the miller's daughter can definitely do better than the greedy king demanding she spin straw into gold on pain of death, never in a million years is she going to consider the man who demands she hand over her baby [presumably to eat it] in exchange for his help marriage material unless there is serious tweaking done to his character), it still feels off.

The main characters feel out of character. Light and L became too familiar too fast (even for a ship fic) and there's no real tension after L's deception is revealed and Light forgives him (too easily, I feel). And while I don't necessarily want to vilify Misa to add conflict (especially since I just complained about how awful the king in the original fairy tale was), she should be a little more unwilling to share Light with L (even if she is the one that gets to marry him) and push back more.

I just hate the title. It was taken from lyrics of a song from Labyrinth, but outside of L being the King of Goblins in this story and the memory-wiping peaches there's nothing in common with Labyrinth either; it could have been, if I wasn't afraid of adding more conflict and making L more dark grey when it comes to morality, but that wasn't what I wrote.

So I'm thinking about rewriting the story, to make it more in line with both the original fairy tale and in the spirit of LawLight. But that comes with it's own problems:

If you've been following me for any amount of time, you'll know that I'm not the most consistent when it comes to updating my stories; it could be anywhere between a week to four months to a whole year before I update something due to a combination of burnout, stress when I think about how I'm almost thirty and nothing in my life is coming together, and being distracted by other story ideas. Speaking of...

I have too much shit going on as is when it comes to writing. I was tagged for that WIP ask game a few weeks ago, where I had to list out all the stuff I've been working on. The list has 31 drafts and I found out today that I still forgot to list a couple (not going back to change it now) and then there are ideas that play out in my head during work or when I'm trying to sleep that I haven't brought myself to write down because I am trying to keep the new WIPs to a minimum.

I have yet to finish a long story (I have the same problem as the protagonist from Dave Made a Maze: I start all these projects, but never finish them) and will feel slightly guilty for abandoning yet another one, even if it's for the sake of a rewrite instead of abandoning it altogether and trying to forget they exist like the stories on my FFN account.

So what should I do?