#I’ll let you know I also hate me for using those tags but I’m experimenting with taking tags seriously. I don’t actually fuck with aestheti

[aeolianblues]

“The masterplan was, there was no masterplan. Except to write good songs. Oh yeah, and to be the biggest band in the world. A modest ambition, but it put Oasis on the road to greatness.”

OASIS - THE MASTERPLAN (1998)

Plus some more pics of Oasis albums we have at our stations, sent to us promotionally by Sony Canada on behalf of Creation Records.

Liner notes below the cut:

The masterplan was, there was no masterplan. Except to write good songs. Oh yeah, and to be the biggest band in the world. A modest ambition, but it put Oasis on the road to greatness. "Me mam always used to say, God loves a tryer," Noel Gallagher says. "And I went, 'Why? Has he got a car?' She went, 'No, a tryer-Not a tyre." So the Gallagher boys did try, and if you want proof of how hard they tried then hear these tracks - B-sides, all of them, made by a band who believe a B-side is no excuse not to care. Outside of Britain it hasn't always been easy to hear Oasis B-sides. But in Britain or anywhere else, they sound majestic played back-to-back.

We open heroically with ACQUIESCE which is one of those all-time "shoulda been an A-side" numbers. (Creation Records certainly thought so, and who could blame them?) The song is about friendship in the widest sense and not, as often speculated, about the Gallagher brothers themselves. Noel sings the chorus because, he claims, Liam couldn't reach the high notes. Or he was in the pub. Whatever, it was written on a slow train to Wales and made possible because Noel likes to travel with his guitar. It's no surprise that Acquiesce is present: via the Internet, Oasis fans were asked to vote on this album's choice of tracks.

But the inclusion of UNDERNEATH THE SKY might have been "influenced" by Noel, who cites this as a favourite song. Its happy-wanderer feel was inspired by a pocket-book of travellers' quotes he came across, and the jollity's enhanced by a four-handed piano part courtesy of him and Bonehead (who tackles the tinkly bits, apparently).

TALK TONIGHT is another self-selecting choice, from Noel's acoustic repertoire. Beautifully tender, its thoughtful air derives from a Texas studio session: Noel was back after his brief flounce from the band on a US tour: "Me and Liam had a disagreement, probably about what shoes he was wearing, so I'd fucked off to Las Vegas." It was an Oasis fan in San Francisco who talked him down off the ledge. The same reflective interlude gave us another song, in HALF THE WORLD AWAY (which is Paul Weller's favourite Oasis track). The pressure was already building, though, when Noel began writing (IT'S GOOD TO BE FREE, at the start of those troubled American dates. He finished it in Las Vegas: "Cocaine psychosis," reckoned producer Owen Morris, detecting a Fear And Loathing vibe in that sinister guitar feedback. Accordion expert Bonehead donates the breezy coda, which lends a misleadingly cheerful touch to what was a deeply fraught Oasis session: "Believe me, it was horribe. it wasn't funny at all." The Morse Code segment, by the way, is meaningless so far as anyone knows.

The oldest song here is GOING NOWHERE, written around 1990 before the band was signed ("It's about what we were going to do when we got a shitload of money off Creation"); it was not recorded until after the Be Here Now album, when there was a hankering for something less massive. Noel and drummer Alan White are the only Oasis members involved, with piano, brass and horn players to bring a vaguely Burt Bacharach atmosphere. Noel only wishes he knew another rhyme for "car" and

"Jaguar." Nearly as vintage in its origins, however, was HEADSHRINKER: recorded for Some Might Say in '95, it was written about three years earlier, during the band's punkier phase. It's also one of Liam's greatest vocals, partly because of the freedom from pressure that doing B-sides can offer. Although a load of drug references were binned from the lyric, a manic edge remains to this tale of an early girlfriend Liam could not shake off. It may start out like The Faces' Stay With Me, but Noel says he was thinking of The Rolling Stones at the time. And ROCKIN' CHAIR dates from Noel's days in Manchester, planning to leave his own girlfriend and dreaming of the good life down in London.

FADE AWAY first surfaced on Cigarettes & Alcohol, and was probably elbowed off Definitely Maybe in favour of Slide Away. Since then the chorus alone has guaranteed its popularity with Oasis fans: "The dreams we have as children fade away...

It's about growing up but not growing old," says Noel, echoing a John Lennon belief that you won't get anything unless you've got the vision to imagine it. It's a classic Buzzcocks trick, this, placing a wistful lyric inside the most glorious rush of punk rock energy. That said, it was a relief for Noel to do a track like THE SWAMP SONG, which required no words at all. Alongside Roll With It, The Swamp Song was a warm-up exercise for the Morning Glory sessions; it was also used to set the sound levels at Glastonbury, which is where Alan White's thunderous drumming was taped. Later on, when Paul Weller turned up for Champagne Supernova, he added The Swamp Song's harmonica and duelling guitars: "Very rock'n'roll," chortles Noel, "but we didn't manage to stand back to back once, which I was very upset about!" Its working title "The Jam" was scrapped, tragically.

Contrary to previous credits, I AM THE WALRUS was not recorded at the Glasgow Cathouse, but at a conference of Sony executives, gathered to hear Creation's new signings. Oasis used to play it at gigs in Liverpool, as an act of bravado aimed at the local bands, even The Beatles never did this one live. Technical note: any "looseness" in Noel's guitar playing here is attributed to half a bottle of Sony-financed gin. Speaking of guitars, the soaring LISTEN UP used to boast a solo much longer than the one you hear in this version; Liam had wanted it shorter, so Noel had disagreed on principle ("If you don't argue with Liam he gets upset"). Four years later, Liam has got his way. The poppy STAY YOUNG, meanwhile, was first ear-marked to be "the Digsy's Dinner" of Be Here Now, until Noel wrote Magic Pie and dumped it. Stay Young wound up on D'You Know What I Mean?, and could have been another A-side if its composer had actually liked the song. But he doesn't. (Audiences, who have more sense than songwriters, all love it.)

But we end with a track that Noel Gallagher is definitely proud of. In fact he regards THE MASTERPLAN as his finest piece of work. Even Liam now wishes he'd sung it himself. The writing came easily, inspired in equal measure by a Japanese hotel corridor and a good, relaxing smoke. "I'm the best lyricist in Oasis, is how I like to say it," Noel shrugs. "But to me this sums up your journey through life. All we know is that we don't know." Is it, we might wonder, sung to Liam? ("Please brother let it be") Again the answer is No.

"We're all brothers and sisters," says Noel. And so we are, and so are Oasis whether named

Gallagher, McGuigan, White or indeed Bonehead. They're brothers and they're tryers, all five. They try for themselves and they try for the rest of us. No wonder God loves them.

[mirchloe]

#psychonautssecretsanta2024

ho ho ho! it's the middle of november! that means, once again, it's time for the secret santa! last year went off without a hitch (if you just ignore how my main was shadowbanned for sending out the giftee assignments, which caused me to finally make a side blog lol), so i'm back once again with this event i've happily hosted since 2016.

hate to beat a dead horse because this is the same shtick as last year and the year prior, but i'll be tremendously busy in december. i will be more hands off and ask that all participants follow the timeline. without further ado, here's the timeline along with the rules!

TIMELINE

the application will be open from 11/15/24 starting at 4:00 P.M. PST and close on 11/25/24 at 11:59 P.M. PST. if you miss the sign up period, please message me immediately because i will begin pairing people up promptly.

between 11/27/24 through 11/29/24, i will send out giftee information to the account/username (twitter or tumblr only) that was provided, so please keep your eye on your dms. if i can’t reach you on tumblr, i’ll send an ask asking you to open your messages to everyone. that way, i can pass along your giftee to you.

as always, 12/15/24 is the check-in day. i will be going around messaging people asking for progress updates. this doesn’t have any specification as people work differently, so if you haven’t started, that’s also fine. it just helps me know where people are in their progress, or if they might need an extension. if you want to reach out first, that helps me mark you down faster!

speaking of extensions, please let me know before 12/22/24 if you will need an extension. life happens, and i know that from experience, so don’t hesitate to reach out. also, if you believe you’ll need to drop out, please let me know before 12/22/24 as well, so that i can find another santa for your giftee. you will still receive your gift!

gifts are due between 12/24/24 through 12/28/24. please tag your giftee, and use the hashtag psychonautssecretsanta2024, so that i can keep track of who posted. (of course, in addition, you can always use the relevant game, character, and pairing tags!) i’m very excited to see what everyone will create!

for those who asked for extensions, and for the santas who took on an extra gift if someone dropped, those gifts are due between 1/4/25 through 1/8/25.

RULES

adult/minor pairings and incestuous pairings are not allowed. requesting them in your application will result in you being removed from the event entirely.

keep your content PG-13/keep the t rating of psychonauts in mind. nsfw material is not allowed in order to be inclusive to everyone. to clarify, please do not request nsfw material that is graphically sexual or violent in nature.

be respectful of your giftee’s wish list, and do not share them. over the years, i have mostly partnered people based on similar interests in characters, pairings, etc., but there will always be different interpretations of aforementioned characters, pairings, etc.

i mentioned it in the above form, but please don’t give me any usernames that are for ao3 or discord to prevent any confusion. this event is also NOT associated with any personal secret santa events on any discord. this is strictly for tumblr (and maybe twitter).

not really a rule, but any received questions about the event will be answered and added to the reply section.

[terribledactyl]

I hate to be #thatbitch who’s joyless in main tags, but I wish fanartists and fic writers put just a *hair* more thought into how they write/draw Viktor’s disability, especially in modern AUs.

To start, let’s try to unpack what in particular seems to be his disability. It’s nonspecified in show, but we can at least look at the areas he seems to be struggling in most. I’ll try not to be too biased towards projecting my own disability onto him and only talk about what’s shown on screen.

Let’s start with the obvious: examining his mobility aids. Through most of the “past” (from childhood to first meeting Jayce) he only uses a cane. I’m going to focus on the ones that seemed to give him the most support, which are his crutch and his brace.

The brace seems to be stabilizing his whole leg, with extra support around the knee and ankle, plus two straps at the thigh and one at the calf. Consistent with what we’ve seen in childhood flashbacks as well, where his ankle is held at an angle I recognize most as what mine look like when I roll it.

When he trips in the flashback, it seems to be primarily over his own feet, which emphasizes the weak ankle to me. As a whole, that leg seems to be capable of supporting a bit of weight, but not consistently.

We also see him transition from a cane to a crutch. It’s not a more stylish version of the cane, it’s got a different function. And not just any crutch, but an ergonomic one. I recognize it off my wishlist.

Now branching into personal interpretation and what I’d like to see more of, I think he needed that extra support all along. Using a cane when you need more support than that really sucks, spoken from experience. So why would someone use a cane with no brace when they need a crutch and a brace?

The truth is, there are a lot of reasons. Pride, cost, internalized ableism, any mix of those and more. And I think if you’re going to give him only a cane in your modern AU, I’d like to see some consideration as to why someone who needs more support than that is only using a cane.

Is he having a good day, and he keeps the crutch and brace for emergencies? Would a good brace be too expensive? Can he not afford an ergonomic crutch? Would he benefit from having more chairs in school/work/The Lab(tm)? Would he benefit from being an ambulatory wheelchair user? Could he afford one even if he did? Is he too stubborn to admit he needs more support than he’s getting from a cane? Embarassed? Afraid of what it means for him? If he’s only using a cane, does he have to go out less and that’s what makes him more of a homebody? These are all REALLY interesting things to explore!

This is me not so subtley begging people to explore his disability more, because it affects everything. I’d really love to see more fanart of him with a crutch and not a cane, although he does use canes canonically into adulthood so I can’t say that’s not a founded choice to make. I’d love for fic writers and fanartists who give him a cane to know that’s an intentional choice and how it would change how he interacts with the world, even in small ways.

Learn the different types of braces and what they’re good for! Learn about bandages, tape, compression braces, hinged braces! Learn about forearm crutches, ergonomic crutches, canes, walkers, wheelchairs! Just please be intentional with the choices you make!

[strniohoeee]

Can I request a Matt x childhood friend reader, like I’m talking since diapers. But like everyone knows they like each other I’m talking EVERYONE 😭. But they’re both oblivious asf.

Oblivion

Pairing: Matt Sturniolo X Female Reader

Synopsis: Y/N could not fathom the idea of being in love with Matt. It’s been shoved down her throat by her mother her whole life, and she’s never agreed. But one night she starts to think, and things take a turn🌙

Warnings⚠️: NONEEEEE, hope you enjoy tho🫂

Song for the imagine: Mind Over Matter- Young the Giant

You know you’re on my mind?

And if the world don’t break

I’ll be shakin it

Cause I’m a young man after all

Being an only child makes some people think you have it hard. You know since there’s no one you can really run to other than your parents. However I’d beg to differ.

I have been friends with the triplets and their brother Justin since I was in a diaper. Our moms being friends since high school really made it nice for us. It was an automatic built in friendship.

We had a lot of play dates since I had no siblings and no immediate family my age. I looked at them as my brothers and Justin as an older brother.

Our childhood was so fun, often going up to the Cape with them for the summer since my parents had to work. I never ever felt alone. Occasionally bored when they went on a vacation my parents didn’t let me go on, but still never a dull moment.

Matt and I got the closest since we shared similar interests, but also we felt like the odd ones out. Most times sticking with each other because Nick and Chris had their own group of friends we didn’t really like to hang around with.

My mothers always told me Matt was my soulmate whether it was romantically or platonically. She always said I gravitated towards him the most since we could crawl. I often cringed at this statement because he was like my brother.

I think I gravitated towards him the most because we liked a lot of the same things, and we were more reserved than Nick and Chris. We’d always get the same gifts because well like I said, we liked the same things. After a while our parents only got us one thing we’d both liked so we could share. Like vinyls for our record players, movies, CDs, and even accessories like hats and even rings.

I didn’t think Matt was my soulmate per say, especially not romantically. I mean sure I had a crush on all three of them at one point, but that’s totally normal. I got over it quickly. I even had a crush on Justin, and he’s 7 years older than us. I mean what’s not to like? He was a cool 17 year old with nice clothes, a cool bike and a new phone. To even be in his presence made me nervous. But like I said I got over those crushes quickly.

By the time we got to high school I’d say I never thought of any of them in a romantic way. They were gross teenage boys and I looked at them as stinky brothers. Matt had a lot of trouble attending school, so we didn’t hang out much till we all got home.

I found myself looking for him in the hallways, at lunch and even next to me when the seat was empty. I felt like I started to like him again, but quickly those feelings died down when I had a fair share of experiences with some boys at our school.

Matt really hated the guys I talked to, and I wasn’t sure why. By senior year we had our first argument over a guy I was dating. He told me he’d hurt me and use me, and I was so blind to it that we got into a fight. I didn’t speak to them that whole summer, and to my surprise that guy was a complete asshole like Matt said he was.

I went to a local college while the triplets focused on their YouTube career. After that summer ended I decided to make up with Matt because I really missed my best friend. I swear best friend breakups are worse than breaking up with a significant other.

We were all 18 and living our best lives as the four again. Spending every second of every day together. I tagged along with them while they filmed and did some things around the city.

I had finally gone home after being at their house for 2 weeks straight. Going from campus to their house and back stopping at my house to shower and change, but that was about it.

“Holy shit she’s home” I heard my dad say as I closed the front door

“I know I know the celebrities back home” I said nodding my head

“Where have you been?” My mom asked laughing

“Well to school and then the triplets and then back to school” I said

“I’m about to tell Mary Lou to let you stay there and charge you rent” my dad said

“Ahaha veryyyy funny” I said sitting down across from them

“You and Matt seem to be doing good” my mother said

“Yeah we’re good now” I replied back

“Sooo did you admit your feelings to him yet?” My mom asked

“Feelings?” I said furrowing my brows

“Yeah…you like the kid and he likes you it’s pretty obvious” my dad said laughing

“I don’t like him, and he doesn’t like me we’re just friends” I said crossing my arms over my chest

“Mmm I don’t know about that he seems like a love sick puppy” my mom said

“Yeah whatever” I said laughing

“Even their mom says it. Just confess already you guys are madly in love” she said

“What? Mom don’t be crazy” I said shaking my head

“You better admit to these feelings soon because that boys following you around like a guy under a love spell” my dad said

“You guys are being insane I’m going to bed” I said rubbing my temples

I went to my room and laid in my bed. My hands crossed over my stomach as I fiddled with my thumbs.

In love? No I couldn’t be.

Matt is my best friend, and that’s all.

Well I mean…..he is really handsome, sweet, and funny even though he says he’s boring which he isn’t. He’s super caring, always putting others above him.

He’s always there for me, he loves watching chick flicks with me and reading sad love stories. He loves my poetry that I write, always helping me make it better…..

I mean I couldn’t like him….right?

But then I started thinking

Friends don’t offer you their jacket if you’re cold, they don’t hold your shoes for you when your feet hurt, they don’t pick you up in the middle of the night because you’re sad, they don’t take you on Long Beach walks at night, or take you out to eat and pay EVERYTIME……..they definitely don’t watch romance movies and read sad romance books when you know they hate it. I mean, could he like me back??

No of course not, don't be irrational Y/N….hes just a very very nice friend is all.

My heart started to race and my breathing quickened. I shot up in my bed and looked into the darkness of my room.

Was I in love with Matthew?

The boy who would wipe his nose on me

The boy who would trip me to make his brothers laugh

The boy who would walk by and steal some food from my plate

The boy who would crack a joke and look at me to see if I’d laugh

The boy who waited for me in the rain when I was fighting with my ex

The boy who made me smile

The boy who made me look for him in everything I did

Holy shit…..

I AM IN LOVE??? WHAT THE FUCK???

I began to panic because of course I had boyfriends, but that was because I was bored. I’ve never loved a guy I dated

But for some reason I am in love with Matthew?

Cursing myself out internally because my mom was correct, and so was Mary Lou.

Suddenly my thoughts stopped when I heard something hit my window.

I jumped up from my bed and slowly walked over to my window when small pebbles hit the glass again causing me to flinch.

I looked out the window and to my surprise I saw Matt standing in my lawn??

Was this a cheesy 80s film? Where’s his boombox? And the stupid sunglasses?

I opened my window

“Matt it’s 1AM what are you doing here?” I said in a whisper

“I was bored” he said back

“You were bored? You could’ve texted me” I said raising an eyebrow

“Well yeah…” he said scratching the back of his neck

“Tell me the real reason you’re here” I said giggling

“I also miss you” he said smiling like a dork

“Miss me? Matt you’ve never said you missed me a day in your life” I said leaning on my palms as I look down at him

“Yeah I know, but I don’t know I just have been seeing you for so long that I guess I just really miss your presence” he said laughing a bit

“I’m loving this little Romeo and Juliet moment we’re having” I said laughing

“Oh shut up you know you missed me too” he said trying to throw pebbles up at me

“Mmm I’m not too sure” I said shrugging my shoulders

“And you left your lip gloss in my room” he said digging in his pocket

“That could be one of your girlfriends” I said laughing

“What? No….there's never girls in my room but you” he said pulling the lip gloss out

“Mmm how do I know you’re not lying” I said

“You’re the only girl I know who has used this same exact strawberry lip gloss since we were in 7th grade” he said showing me the gloss

“Alright you win” I said rolling my eyes

“And I never bring girls home” he said again

“I got the point Matthew just say you’re in love with me already” I said laughing playfully

“Not if the feeling isn’t mutual” he blurted out

“What?” I said shocked

“You heard me… Y/N I have been in love with you since we were 10, and if all my gestures haven’t made it possible. Then me standing out here on your lawn embarrassing myself at trying to say I love you better work. If I have to scream it to the world I will” he said swallowing thickly

“I….I” I could not form a sentence

“I’m sorry….this was wrong oh so wrong” he said shaking his head and turning around

I backed away from the window and ran down the steps to my front door.

I swung the door open and walked out and saw Matt walking away back to his car.

“Matthew! Don’t go” I said loudly

He turned around and looked at me stopping in his tracks

“I have been ignoring this feeling for far too long. Everyone around me is telling me how I feel and how you feel about me. I was so scared to open my eyes and realize that you may have been the one for me since forever. I never sat down and thought about it until tonight. When I replayed many interactions in my head. And I couldn’t wrap my head around why I’ve never loved any of my past boyfriends, and that’s because Matthew I’m so madly in love with you” I said breathing heavily

Matt walked over to me and crashed our lips together. I won’t lie, I have kissed plenty of guys before, but I’ve never enjoyed the kisses. I’ve never gotten butterflies or felt my face flush with heat. It had always been matt and it took me so long to realize.

His lips disconnected from mine as his thumb ran over my cheek staring into my eyes.

“I always wondered how many more time I had to watch The Notebook with you before you realized I was so in love” he said laughing

“Oh shut up” I said rolling my eyes and laughing

“God I’m just so in love with you” he said looking at me

I began to blush and looked away

“Will you be my girlfriend?” He suddenly asked me

My eyes snapped to his and my heart began to beat faster

“Yes Matt, yes I will” I said smiling

He smiled at this too and crashed our lips together once more.

That night I snuck Matt into my bedroom, and had a feeling that wouldn’t be the last time I’d do that.

We spent the night watching The Notebook and talking while we cuddled into each other's arms eventually falling asleep.

How could we both be so oblivious this whole time?

The End

I hope you guys enjoyed this one🥹🤞🏽. I’m at 1,410 followers which is MADNESS?? Like what???? I love yall so freaking much🥺🖤🖤

-J💅🏽

[infiniteeight8]

Hi! so I have a question, I'm writing a very dark story (ship I haven't decided yet) but it contains underage and non-con stuff, teacher/student, so is it okay to write and how should I handle writing it?

Yes, it is absolutely okay to write it. 

There may be people who tell you it’s not okay, and those people are wrong. Fiction is the place that healthy, well adjusted people go to explore themes like that! And it doesn’t matter why you want to explore those themes (there are a hundred different reasons). There is no such thing as thought crime. The fiction you write does not in any way determine whether or not you are a good person. Go forth and write your dark fic!

As for how to handle writing it, there are two ways to interpret that question, and I’m not sure which you mean, so I’ll answer both. Easy one first:

How should I handle writing it… as in, How should I construct the story and is there any particular content I should include?

This is the easy one to answer because the answer is, However you want to. However speaks to your muse. However works for the story you want to tell. Is it a dark fic where the folks doing the dark stuff get caught and punished? Go for it! Is it a dark fic where the dark stuff is celebrated or fetishized? Also go for it! Tell the story you want to tell.

How should I handle writing it… as in, How do I handle how people might react to me writing it?

This one is a little harder. There is a possibility that some folks will react poorly. It’s not guaranteed (somehow, despite having written non-con, underage, and underage non-con, I’ve never gotten a hateful message), but there is a strong chance. I personally know folks who’ve gotten really brutal messages, up to and including death threats, because of the kind of fiction they’ve written.

I don’t say this to discourage you, I think you should absolutely write the story that speaks to you. I just want to make sure you have a chance to brace yourself and to consider how you’d like to react if such a message arrives. 

Assuming you plan to post/share, make sure that you tag the fic clearly and accurately. Although AO3’s “Choose Not to Warn” is an option, I really do recommend attaching all the proper warnings and tags to a dark fic even if they’re spoilery. That way, no one can say they went in unprepared and you somehow ambushed them with the content. The tags are there, if they didn’t like the content, it’s their own damn fault!

This bit is a matter of opinion, but personally, I also recommend against adding any kind of explanatory or defensive author’s note. It is absolutely no one’s business why you’re writing these themes, whether that’s just for fun—and dark themes absolutely can be fun to write, just ask any fan of horror movies or serial killer stories—or for catharsis or for any other reason. Putting an explanatory note on there might end up serving more as a hook to hang nasty comments on than a shield against them.

If you do get nasty comments, I am a big fan of liberal use of deleting comments and blocking users. That’s what those functions are there for: to allow you to make your experience better. You do not deserve those comments, just get rid of them. Sometimes folks feel like blocking someone is letting them win. I say, winning is never having to hear from them again and going on to write more fic. 

And finally, rest assured that dark fic has its audience, too. The fans of those stories will find you, and you’ll get some excellent comments.

I hope this ask was helpful! Go forth and write!

[error404empathy]

What is your opinion on the recent showdown between the popular blogs of Lukola?

oh, probably, thanks for asking about that. reason enough to dust off the tag one more time (hopefully for the last time). (it’s been one day. 🤦‍♀️) and yeah, it’s been sitting with me too.

let’s start simple: fandom is supposed to be fun. it’s where you go to enjoy the thing. escape a little. share ideas. make jokes. remember when that was actually the vibe? feels like a lifetime ago.

now? feels like we flipped the ratio. theories, sure, but also callouts, paranoia, blocking wars, and a whole genre of posts dedicated to proving whose disappointment is more righteous. (spoiler: there is no justice. 😬)

people spend hours explaining how strangers both actors and fellow fans are bad. and it’s giving... messy breakup energy. (if you’ve spent less time analyzing your ex than you do decoding luke and nicola’s social media... maybe that’s a sign.)

look, i get it. we care. we’re human behind the screen. but no one ever changed their mind because of a tumblr reblog war. you can’t control what other people believe. you can control your own narrative. your own experience.

that’s literally what good pr does it doesn’t argue. it curates. (and say what you will about luke and nicola, but ignoring the drama? they’ve nailed that. maybe we should take notes.)

if you hate the theories? mute them. tired of the tone? curate your dash. don’t like someone’s vibe? don’t engage.

there’s a difference between calling something out and just escalating the noise. rage can be good. some of the best commentary i’ve seen was sharp, critical, even angry, but crafted. you know those youtube essays breaking down a bad movie or a true crime spiral? they don’t need insults. they just lay it out. there’s an art to that kind of critique.

and fan theories? they’ve always been around. from true crime subreddits to swiftie timelines to 2010s tumblr lore. people like puzzles. they like building narratives. this fandom’s no different. except sometimes the energy turns inward.

but when the goal shifts from “interesting take” to “who looked crazier while insulting someone else”... we’re not doing media analysis anymore. we’re just keeping score.

i’ll say this: conflict that alienates your own audience? never a good sign.

and if we had more content from the actors, i doubt this spiral would’ve happened. so no — i’m not blaming fans. they chose ambiguity. that’s their right. we chose to spiral. that part’s on us.

so maybe, instead of trying to win every argument, and we try something radical: take a breath. remember why we came here. stop performing disappointment for each other. start protecting our own joy.

p.s. i still think most people behind the screen are probably great. 🫶 but no fan theory is worth your peace of mind. don’t forget that.

i can’t speak for everyone, but i came here by accident. just trying to distract myself from some bad days. and when i suddenly feel the urge to fight for justice in the tags? that’s usually my sign to take a break. this time, i chose to stay. chose to focus on what they actually show us and maybe read a bit more about how fan dynamics work. just for my own peace of mind.

because there are still people and posts and weird little jokes that make it worth it. i’ve made friends here. and honestly — we’re not that big of a fandom to waste the limited content we get on public meltdowns. we don’t need more fires. we need boundaries. save the drama for the pr team. they’re better at it anyway. (well. mediocre. but still on payroll.) 🤍💛

that’s the post. a tiny flash of nostalgia, maybe? anyway. back to the lukola mess we go

[indieyuugure]

Hi! Let me start off by saying that I absolutely adore your ROTP series. This is also one of the very few Rottmnt/2012 crossovers in existance that does justice to both verses and doesn't put a biases on any. I love this comic.

Now that aside, I need to get something off my chest. I wouldn't have gone on Anon but experience has taught me that opposing opinions will make the followers of a blog insult and harass you so I tend to err on the side of caution. You see, I Love Love Love TMNT. And I love 2012 series, it's something I relate to so much and grew up with. It's my most favorite version of TMNT.

But the thing is, ever since the Rise movie got released, I've been seeing nothing but slander against the 2012 series and it breaks my heart every time I come across it. It has escalated to an unfair point that I've seen even 2012 fans who love it just as much begin hating aspects of it. I mean, don't get me wrong, it does have its flaws but it's unfair how highlighted those select few flaws are to the point of extremely biased comparisons and blame games and general 2012 slander which half the time doesn't even comply with canon. Moreover, literally every TMNT has its flaws just the same.

And recently, I've been seeing an increase in posts on your blog that have 2012 slander undercurrents or simply blatant frustrations with it. I love the comic but keep seeing this hatred still is just... it hurts ya know. Like really actually hurts.

So if possible, can you plz tag such posts with something I can filter out? (And let us know what that tag will be?) You don't have to but I really really love your art and comics, it's just the 2012 slander again that hurts me and I don't want to see it anymore. I've been seeing it everywhere.

Again, plz don't take this the wrong way, it's just something that's been hurting me and I had to get it off my chest. And find a solution to it that doesn't involve blocking or unfollowing because I genuinely do love this fancomic

Thank you for your feedback!!💕 (seriously feedback is extremely appreciated to me!)

I sorry my posts came off as 2012 slander, I really never meant it like that. I will admit I do critique media pretty aggressively, but I never mean it in a hateful way. TMNT 2012 is one of my absolute favorite shows and I love everything about! It’s the weird quirky stuff about it that while yes, I will criticize, I still love. It wouldn’t be the same without it. Just like the weather, I will complain about it, but I don’t want it to actually change.

I will try to be more conscious of how my posts are perceived, I really never wanted there to be a bias on my blog. I love all of TMNT for all it presents, and I don’t want to ever be slanderous!

Thank you again for your kind nudge! I’m very thankful to have people like you who’ll tell me if I’m making a mistake! I truly do love TMNT 2012. I can’t fix what I’ve said, but now that I know, I can be sure to be more careful to not sound biased going forward.

Again, I’m very sorry it came off that way, I didn’t mean to be so harsh. I never want to harm a series’s reputation, especially one that I love so much!

You are truly appreciated!💕

I know this won’t fix the things I’ve said, but I’ll say 3 of my top favorite things about 2012:

I love the way they depicted characters! They do an amazing job using indirect characterization that makes the characters feel so real. The characters don’t have to tell you things about themselves, you learn about them from the way the interact with each other, the way they solve problems, the things they like and dislike, and even what they’re doing in the background! It really feels like you’re there getting to know these fun people and go on adventures with them! Truly amazing!

I love the way the turtles look! Seriously I think they look so cool, and at the same time cute. They’re visual designs inspired me so much in my art and I will watch hours on end of them because they’re just so freaking cool!

I love the way their stories are told! The episodes are so well paced that it never feels boring to watch an episode! Believe it or not, I have never once wondered how many minutes are left on an episode. It’s so good at sucking you in and addicting you, that while I was watching it for the first time, I was straight up binging it and would be forced to put it down by my parents. Several times I would stop to eat something and have that weird “wait, who am I? What is my life?” Thing you get from a really good story. The stories and arc pacing are so good that Indie TMNT, my original series is using massive inspiration from 2012.

Once again, I am truly sorry for coming off as slanderous. Thank you for being so brave and telling me what many people were probably thinking. I want to do better. Thank you! :]

[inexplicablymine]

@welcometololaland you have DONE IT AGAIN. bows down.

Rules: List your WIPs below (if you only write one fic at a time, feel free to include future WIPs/ideas!) then answer the following questions. Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs (or more).

I am humbly here to present my ABSOLUTELY insane WIP list for the Firstprince fandom and tell you a little more about them!

(Also to those who asked about WIP’s in my inbox those answers are coming ~ if anyone has any more questions or wants more ask box is open! I’ll be answering all of those tomorrow instead of (or with) Seven Sentence Sunday!)

Thank you to @welcometololaland for ANOTHER amazing weekend game truly a blast. To @kiwiana-writes @daisymae-12 @orchidscript @happiness-of-the-pursuit @gay-flyboys @rockyroadkylers and @anincompletelist for the tags I LOVED reading all of your words and answers.

If you have prepared yourself, then forge on ;)

1. WIP List

- The Firstprince Files

- The Ties That Bond Us

- Super Six and the Siren’s Call

- Looking for Orion

- Balls to the Wall

- Fifteen Hours Till Forever

- Watermelon Sugar

- Mr. Party Hardy (Mr. Bodypillow AU)

- Mr. Move It Move It (Mr Bodypillow AU)

- Mr. Massage (Mr. Bodypillow AU)

- S.M.U.T.

- No Laughing Matter

- Sweater Weather

- Ground(s) Up

- Delilah

- Minty Fresh

- Beast I’m an Animal

- Mind Over Matter

- [Switchback]

- [World Cup AU]

- [Orchestra AU]

- [Yoga AU]

- [Rugby Video AU]

- [Star Trek AU]

- [Oxford Slut Era AU]

- [Model/mistaken identity AU]

- [Pomodoro Method AU]

And probably more but that’s enough for now lmao

2. Which of your WIP’s is currently the longest?

Definitely Super Six and the Sirens Call. Currently at 48K but over the next two months I think a few of my other multichaps will also match it for length.

3. Which WIP do you expect will end up the longest

The Firstprince Files. The outline for it is 37 chapters long and the first two chapters that are written are clocking in at about 13K right now.

4. Which WIP is your favorite to write/the most enjoyable to write? Why?

Going to go for broke here ~ my co-writes (Super Six and the Sirens Call w/ @read-and-write- and @happiness-of-the-pursuit, [Switchback] w/ @celaestis1, Watermelon Sugar w/ @heybuddy-drabbles, and S.M.U.T. with @affectionatelyrs) have been a BLAST. The words flow, I'm obsessed with the stories, getting to read others words and then add your own and make good soup will always be fun.

Outside of my cowrites? … hmmmm honestly I am obsessed with mystery and plotting out The Firstprince Files was truly a delight, but I enjoy writing all of my fics otherwise I wouldn’t write them.

5. Which WIP do you find the most intimidating to write? Why?

The Ties That Bond Us. It’s a Bond/Q actor AU and there are already SO MANY great ones (and ones being written), and there is an extensive amount of epistolary writing that comes from different authors of articles and media works that need to have a distinct voice in order for the work to really work. I don’t know if I even have a distinct writing voice let alone if I can wear the masks of a bunch of other voices in a convincing way.

6. Which WIP do you experience the most self-doubt about. Why?

Whichever one is currently being written/focused on/about to be posted? It’s not a one size fits all answer, but at the moment I’m writing this it’s my Halloween Huh fic. It’s done and posted- ready to be revealed. I made myself go read it out loud one last time to hear it back (newsflash I hate doing this but I still do it because it helps) and that just made me doubt everything hahaha.

7. Which of your WIP’s will you seek out a beta/sensitivity reader for? Why?

All of them. I always have a beta, I am incapable of posting a non beta’d work I have too much anxiety about it. The Firstprince Files deals with some much heavier themes so I will likely want a sensitivity reader there for those, and Super Six and the Sirens Call has quite a bit of Spanish in it that we have beta’s checking on.

8. Have any of your WIP’s been struck by the curse of writers block?

Yes this is why I have so many … (joking). Yes and no. I will just power through to write a bad section to have words on the page and then come back to fix them later which helps. I have a focused few WIP's that I work on at a time (small rotation inside the big rotation). The rest of these have an outline and a doc and at least a little bit written, but will not receive heavy work on them until I go through what’s first on my internal fic calendar.

What is in the current small rotation? SSASC, Looking for Orion, Watermelon Sugar, [Switchback}, Minty Fresh, my Mr. BodyPillow follow ups, and The Ties That Bond Us is my Nano project this November.

9. Which WIP has your favorite OC? Tell us about them?

At this moment Watermelon Sugar which is a co-write threesome for Threesgiving with @heybuddy-drabbles. Our third member of the threesome is AMAZING and we love them so much and we are very very excited for them to come into everyone else’s world as well.

10. Which WIP is the sexiest?

This is a toss up between [Switchback], [World Cup AU], Watermelon Sugar, and [Pomodoro Method]. We will see when they are finished what I think really takes the cake there.

11. Which WIP is the angstiest?

I mean chapter two of Looking for Orion, but The Firstprince Files has quite a bit of angst. I don’t really write a lot of heavy angst or I haven’t yet we will see if the reception to LFO changes the tide there.

12. Which WIP has the best characterization (in your humble opinion)?

Looking for Orion at the moment, but I’m really hoping that Mind Over Matter takes that one when I have more written on it.

13. Which WIP has the best scene setting (in your humble opinion)?

Oh my, Super Six and the Sirens Call has quest locations that change in a rotation. Truly I can't tell you more but it is SO FUN truly so fun. The Ties That Bond Us also just is jet-setting movie stars in Bond movie locations, stunt training, doing interviews in wild places, and campaigns in larger than life locations. So that is ridiculously fun to write and I hope it is just as fun to read.

14. Which WIP have you worked the hardest on?

Super Six and the Sirens Call. This work has a promo schedule there is art being made, there are docs linked within docs. When I say this became a big brained thing it’s a big brained thing.

15. Which WIP do you have the highest expectations for? Why?

I try not to ever have expectations, it’s better that way I find ~ but based on reaction and excitement (my irl bookclub today made me promise to send them a link) I would say Super Six and the Sirens Call. Outside of that I just hope that if one person likes it then it is doing it’s job which is to create joy. (but internally we all have those fics that we hope do a little better than others for one reason or another. My Mr. Bodypillow follow ups I hope people enjoy, my two longer Multichapter works I am deeply attached to, and Looking for Orion I am currently a bit obessed with and I hope others get obsessed with it too.)

16. Do you dream about any of your WIP’s?

NO I DONT DREAM BUT @happiness-of-the-pursuit LITERALLY DREAMED ABOUT ONE OF MINE THIS WEEK SO I'M COUNTING IT.

17. Do any of your WIP’s have any particular complexities that your other fics don’t?

[Orchestra AU] is meant to be read at pace with the classical pieces that are titled in the top of the chapter which is fun and funky but is going to make pacing HARD. Because people read at different times. + that posting schedule is supposed to mimic the NYC philharmonic concert series performance schedule.

The Firstprince Files has a lot of real world implications for the characters as it is a suspense mystery novel that requires so much research on realistically how things might work or play out.

The Ties That Bond Us is going to have SO Much coding in it for the media chapters and I am now thinking I’m going to do art for it which rip me I guess (hahaha).

[Switchback] has a lot of POV changes which requires a delicate hand to know when to stop and start a perspective

Mind over Matter and No Laughing Matter are meant to be laugh out loud funny and I’m going to need help with both of them for that … truly

A lot of the one shots I struggle with because I want to give the story enough depth while still not expanding them into multichapter works, which is something I struggle with.

18. Which WIP is the funniest or has the most humor?

Reiterating above, Mind over Matter and No Laughing Matter for sure.

19. Do any of your WIPs contain outside POVs or a deep dive on a character other than the main ship? How are you finding that process?

Super Six and the Siren’s Call DOES and it’s SO FUN. Truly it has been a BLAST To get into the heads of these other characters, and flesh out how they see the main ship as well.

The Ties That Bond Us, every other chapter is an outside POV from the media perspective which as I mentioned earlier creates a lot of work for voice and structure.

20. Tell us one thing we don’t know about one or more of your WIPs.

Hmmm some super fast fun ones

- 14 of the WIP’s on this list are MultiChap works

- 4 of them are co-authored works

- The Firstprince Files has been outlined since February of this year and The Ties That Bond Us has been outlined since March. (They are my oldest outlined works but they are also long works).

- 6 of these works are my FirstPrinceWeek works that I will still publish. I got sick and had an “AO3 author note” standard few weeks which put me behind. I do have one FPW fic published so far.

- Balls to the Wall started after a conversation about how criminal it is that Starbucks doesn’t sell the "Off menu but actually on menu now because it is in the app" Medicine Ball Tea in take home form so you can make it yourself when you are sick.

- All of these are for Firstprince but I now have an IRL who told me TODAY that she wants me to write Tarlos so I better get started on finishing all of these.

- [Rugby Video AU] and Ground(s) Up are both based on TikTok’s that I saw and immediately went "ahhhh yes that’s firstprince."

- All of my Mr. BodyPillow follow up’s will have “Mr.” In the name, and the title of the collection is Mr. Ace Alex, though there is a bit of a push for me to rename it the snerdle collection.

- My ask box is open if you want to ask about any of my WIP's :)

And now I will be tagging my entire moot list because I have too many WIP’s (jk but … prepare for the wall of tags) there is no pressure here but this has been a DELIGHT to read through everyone’s and I want to read about a million more!

@affectionatelyrs @historicallysam @rmd-writes @treluna4 @cheesecurdsgravyandfries @cha-melodius @arand0mdutchgirl @adreamareads @vonpeepsisback @clottedcreamfudge @cityofdownwardspirals @14carrotghoul @cricketnationrise @myheartalivewrites @xthelastknownsurvivorx @mudbloodpotter05 @everwitch-magiks @leaves-of-laurelin @celeritas2997 @athousandrooms @smc-27 @three-drink-amy @sprigsofviolets @heartitinthesilence @sherryvalli @weighty-ghosts @heybuddy-drabbles @read-and-write- @raysletters @thesleepyskipper @kill8a @babiemonk @suseagull04

[psychopomp-recital]

hi I just wanted to ask: what drew you to death magic specifically? and, if your comfortable, how do you deal with grief (both yours and others) by being a death witch? (plz don't feel obligated to answer if it's too invasive /gen)

Oh not too invasive at all! Thank you for being so polite, this response is very long I’m sorry you asked a rather deep question 🩵 CONTENT WARNING IN TAGS

What drew me onto this path?

TLDR; I have always been surrounded death and it has been an ever present part of my life. I hated the idea that when someone died they were gone forever that’s it. Because regardless if you believe in spirits, I hope we can all agree that we’re all collections of the ancestors who make up our bodies & the ancestors who make up our personalities, we are who we are because of those passed on. And I can all but hope that someday someone will remember me and my stories the same way I remember these folks.

I want to be a good ancestor someday.

THE LONG ANSWER

I was raised in the Southern United States. The culture of this area is that surrounded in death. Everywhere you go there is haunted places and cemeteries. There’s also a strong sense of family there, this feeling that everyone is woven and interconnected.

I was raised Mormon and by a folk magical family who taught me the importance of ancestor work. I understood that these folks are part of me, by blood or otherwise they have made me who I am.

I was raised holding hands with my ancestors chronic illness. I looked it in the face everyday. Haunted by the idea that someday my body would rot away the same way I saw theirs rot, reminded everyday that illness could rip my mother from me without warning.

I eventually realized I could continue to ignore death, pray I have time on this earth to do what I want to do and run from it. Or I could embrace its role in my life and welcome it like an old friend.

I found comfort in the idea that I could help those who have passed on. The families who never got to say goodbye now had an opportunity to at least send the message. I could do my part to calm the fear these folks feel when they slip further into deaths grasp. I found a purpose for the pain I was experiencing.

If I could learn all I can while I’m alive, perhaps when I die I’ll be able to leave behind my knowledge and someone can keep this practice going. In that way, they keep me alive too.

I heard you die twice, once when they bury you in the grave And the second time is the last time that somebody mentions your name.

How do I handle the grief of others and the personal grief I experience?

I think I actually made a post on this! I’ll link it below!

But honestly it just comes down to boundaries, and being kind to yourself. It’s okay to cry and be upset and miss those lost to us. It’s okay to mourn for the dead you work with. YOU ARE STILL HUMAN. Don’t loose sight of that.

Also if you check out #MyPsychopompJournal you’ll see some entries on grief and my raw experiences with it. The one below in particular is a pretty good example;

Let me know if you are interested in a more in depth post about how I handle grief personally because I don’t want to ramble more than I already have!

ASK MY ANYTHING ASKS ARE OPEN!

[perfectlyvalid49]

Entering your asks because I have seen your post about Jewish trauma and replies all over my dash (and only doing it on anon because of how stilted and awkward I always am with strangers that I admire). Your patience and earnest attempts to educate and inform those too stubborn, arrogant, and convinced of their absolute moral correctness is astonishing, and I am sorry the world's once more in such a state of hate that you had to make that post in the first place, let alone deal with a mess of antisemitic BS in the notes. (I am sorry we goyim on the left are failing the Jewish community as badly as we are. We never seem to learn, no matter how patiently you hold our hands through the explanations.)

You seem to be all kinds of awesome.

First, thank you!

Second, I’m sorry for being all over your dash. It was a long post to begin with and it only got longer as everybody yelled at the anti-Semite. It was all over my dash too, and *I* was beginning to find it annoying.

It feels weird to be admired, as I think my most notable qualities are “good at remembering rules to TTRPGs,” “incredibly stubborn,” and “does not know when to shut up.” If you feel more comfortable on anon, that’s fine, but if you ever want to put your name on things, know that most of my friends (myself included) are in the “neurospicy and have less than awesome social skills” group, so awkward isn’t going to bother me any.

The patience comes from having two elementary aged kids. If I can deal with a toddler, I can deal with an adult acting like a toddler. Also, I used to be a receptionist at a pediatrics office – so I actually have a lot of experience customer servicing adults acting like toddlers, to be honest.

As for a willingness to educate, I genuinely believe that hatred in all its forms comes from ignorance. It’s much easier to hate a faceless entity than a real person, and it’s easier to hate a group that you have no experience with than to hate a member of that group that you’re having a conversation with, especially when they’re being reasonable. I’ve been a LOT of people’s first Jew, and I don’t mind being the person to show that Jews are just normal people. Even if the person I’m in conversation with isn’t getting it, my hope is that someone on the sidelines – either their followers or mine, will.

There are two Jewish concepts at play here. The first is “tikkun olam,” or “repairing the world.” The idea is that the world is not perfect, and it is our duty to make it better. I feel like educating people, and hopefully reducing hate is a way of doing that. The other is a quote from the Talmud - “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.” I don’t have to teach everyone, but when presented with the opportunity to teach someone, I have to at least try. The way I see it, doing this is part of how I practice Judaism.

As for the goyim on the left, a lot of them have let me down. But every once in a while I get an ask or a message like this from someone who seems to understand. Or I’ll point out someone’s antisemitism, and they’ll actually listen to the criticism and try to do better. It gives me hope. Since I made that post, I’ve received kind messages from a handful of people privately, plus there’s been some love in the tags on reblogs. Between that and getting all that off my chest in the first place, I honestly feel better now than I did a week ago. Thanks to everyone who helped with that, including you, Anon.

[rosewood-multifandom-writer]

A Sick Fox (Established Relationship):

Summary: Kassandra gets badly sick with the worst headache of her life. Luckily for her, Ed is in her corner.

Author’s Notes: Fun fact, I wrote this many, many months ago when I was sick with COVID. The stuff that is happening with Kassandra, happened with me (ESPECIALLY the headaches). This was my way of coping with it and I was sad, annoyed and miserable and HATED taking bitter medicine. I’m okay now, don’t worry 😉! The only content warning are descriptions of Kassandra being sick, but that’s about it. Otherwise, enjoy, and if it just so happens you’re also sick while reading this, get better soon, take it easy on yourself, drink plenty of water and orange juice, eat some good chicken noodle soup and rest. 🫶🏽

As usual, let me know if I missed a few tags.

“Ugh….” Kassandra groaned as she put a hand on her lower back, favoring it.

She was also walking sluggishly.

“What the hell did you do to yourself, Kass?” Ed asked, concerned.

Kass plopped on the couch. “Everything aches.”

Ed put a hand on Kassandra’s forehead and cursed, “Crap, you’re burning up.”

“Huh…?” Kassandra moved her head up a little and whimpered in pain, holding her head.

Ed used his powers to quickly get the thermometer and placed it in her ear and then the other one.

“How high is it?” Kassandra said, grabbing an ice pack for her forehead after Ed hovered that over to her.

“105.” Ed said, before cursing. “When did you start feeling this way?”

“Since… I think this morning. I thought it was an annoying headache so I just took ibuprofen. Then it became my legs, then it went to my back…” Kassandra paused, before having a nasty coughing fit. “Yeah… I’m sick.”

“Hold on.” Ed said, picking her up.

Kassandra gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. “Ed, wait! What if you also get sick?”

“Can’t get sick. Remember those experiments Shadaloo did on me?” Ed asked.

“Tch. Ironic how that’s the ONLY good thing they’ve done.” Kass tried laughing but said, “Ow. It hurts to laugh…”

Ed gently placed Kass on her bed.

“I’ll be right back.” Ed said as he went to get orange juice for Kass.

“Ugh…” Kassandra grumbled.

…

It has been a rough couple of days. Although Kass’s body aches ceased, however, her headache got worse and she was still coughing and had a stuffy nose, no matter how much she blew her nose into a Kleenex.

“I feel and look so gross.” Kass said her voice sad and scratchy. “And my head really hurts…”

“You actually do not look that bad for a sick person.” Ed reassured. “Well… you look better than most sick people.”

Kassandra half-laughed and half-coughed into a new tissue.

“Hopefully compliments like yours cure me.” Kassandra joked.

“Yeah, well, keep dreaming because now you need medicine.” Ed said.

Kassandra frowned but just nodded and told him to give it to her so she could get it over with.

She gulped the terribly bitter liquid down.

Kassandra cringed and stuck her tongue out.

“I need to eat something to get my mind off the taste of that gross medicine.” Kassandra said as she drank some water in an attempt to dilute the even worse aftertaste off her tongue.

“I could make you something.” Ed suggested, but Kassandra smiled in amusement.

“Are you sure, because last time you attempted to cook an egg…it was a burnt mess.” Kassandra recalled. “Plus, Falke told me that you nearly burnt down her place trying to make her soup when she was sick.”

“I mean… does it still count as cooking if it’s canned?” Ed asked as he showed Kassandra a can of chicken noodle soup.

“That works. I also heard that if you made it spicy, it’ll clear up someone’s sinuses.” Kassandra lied.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll make it spicy enough for your tongue to burn off. Masochist.” Ed said.

“Well, don’t you know me so well?” Kassandra laughed softly as she relaxed in her bed.

Kassandra did not expect much from Ed in this relationship, she only expected him to treat her right, take care of her whenever she was down, listen to her, talk with her, and never judge her.

She got exactly that, and this realization of happiness made her more motivated to get better quicker.

…

“How are you feeling, Kass?” Ed asked, sitting on the bed of Kassandra who is gingerly sitting up with the blanket wrapped around her like a burrito.

“Cute,” Ed thought.

“Body aches are gone, surprisingly. Headaches, somehow got worse.” Kassandra said, looking grumpy and miserable as she placed a hand on her head.

“How bad is it?” Ed asked, getting up to get extra strength ibuprofen for her.

“I’ve been kicked in the head before, so it feels like someone kicked me in the head, a lot, despite me being cooped up in my room.” Kassandra said before groaning and lying back down. “So annoying…”

Ed frowned at Kassandra’s state, he hated seeing her get injured and in this case, be sick.

It’s a bit hypocritical of him to think this, considering he injured himself pretty badly at one point and making her upset when he was acting careless.

“Here, take this. I also got you some ice cold water.” Ed said as he gave her the pill and the glass of water.

“Thanks, Eddy.” Kassandra said before taking the pill and gulping down the water.

Ed also gave her an ice pack just in case it gets worse and left the bottle of the pain killers on her nightstand.

Kassandra gave a sweet smile to Ed after he set all of that down.

“You good?” Ed asked.

“I am now that you’re here.” Kassandra gratefully said before she herself also blushed because of how much she fell in love with Ed all over again. “Thank you for being there for me.”

“No problem.” Ed said before he gently patted Kass’s shoulder and she gave him a kiss on his cheek.

As soon as Kass felt better and she kicked the headache’s ass, she was able to do stuff like normal, minus the fighting, which made her frown at first, but she understood where Ed was coming from, considering he was in her shoes before, but with injuries.

She’s never felt so lucky in her life.

[cassiecrashout]

hey y’all. its ya boi. cassie

So what’s this about? Well, let me tell you in ~500 words below

————————————————

so basically this is my fully anonymous rant sideblog. i’m still working on a healthy outlet irl so i will be talking about my problems here :P

my goal with this blog is to become a better person. i plan to be fully honest, open minded, and forgiving. all of my opinions are subject to change and i welcome constructive criticism :)

also please keep in mind i am human and, therefore, learning new things every day so if you don’t agree with me i’d love to talk BUT this next part is very important: i will not tolerate hatred of any kind. not towards me or anyone else. i will shut that down (politely). part of my moral code is love above all else and i will do my best to enforce that consistently!!!

now since this blog is designed to be messy, this next part is also very very important: if anything i say is hateful or offensive in any way at all (which, since i am still learning, will likely happen) PLEASE call me out (politely). i want to become a better person and i believe kindness is a human right. i am not perfect and i never will be but i know i can make progress if more people i talk to hold me accountable. I also want to get out of my comfort zone and encourage you to do the same (but it’s completely normal to not want to and there is nothing wrong with avoiding some of my posts, especially because they might seem like too much)

some warnings: i experience suicidal thoughts. this will likely come up. i’m also depressed and have anxiety. i will be talking about controversial topics (esp politics) because those make me mad. i will do my best to tag everything appropriately (as i do this i’ll update my pinned with info on such tags at the bottom) so that i don’t make anyone uncomfortable.

not a warning but important: i don’t want to lose y’all here so i’m gonna be upfront. i am a Christian. I know that a lot of people who believe in my God are not kind. I know that a lot of them hurt people. I do not agree with them. Some of the stuff i talk about will be about my faith and my morals (which go hand in hand for me) and touch on these kinds of people because they make me mad. I want to encourage you, whatever or whoever you believe, to question me. Not because one of us is wrong, but because I want to learn about you and you might want to learn about me. Of course, you have no obligation and are under no pressure to even look at these posts (which will be tagged accordingly) so please do not feel bad for not engaging with it.

also here’s some stuff abt me

- i’m american

- i’m a middle child

- i like theatre and rhetoric (they go together like pb&j)

- i’m a straight cis girl

i’m hyped to meet y’all and to learn stuff!!!

————————————————

my tags :P

crashing out: all of my original posts

vent post: posts where i rant/vent

family matters: posts about my family

getting political: posts about politics

megaphone: reblogged for boosting

stuff to live by: reblogged for advice

hahaha i do that: reblogged for relatability

and another thing: reblogged for response

whoa look at this: reblogged for fun!

[rexxxplode]

&& rexxxplode. INDE. SEL. PRIV. rp blog for rex sloan from the prime series INVINCIBLE revived by alcohol affilated with: nctmyfather

rules && about under the read more!

TIP YOUR LOCAL BARTENDER

RULE ONE. first off. i go by alcohol here, i have been for a while now and it’s just stuck over the year or two using it. i’m 34 years old, my pronouns are she/her and i live in the CMT timezone. i have a fulltime job and i never have a set schedule so i might not be on as much as i’d want to so please be patient with me! this blog is for fun so if you start pestering me about a reply it’ll get less and less fun and more about timelines and it’ll stress me out. any and all hate will be deleted and blocked as well. i suffer from depression and anxiety so this place is the one place i can enjoy and escape the world and i don’t want that ruined.

RULE TWO. this blog is independent(not affiliated with any group) selective(will be picky on who i follow/follow back), private (i only rp with people who are mutuals with me). so please be aware of that when following me. this is also a multishipping blog, meaning that i'll gladly ship with your character, but there always must be chemistry !

RULE THREE. there will be no god modding on this blog. that means what my character does is controlled by me and me alone, unless you ask me about a fight sequence where my character gets hurt, don’t make it so your character hits mine, instead go something like “they aim to hit–” that way i can decide if the hit actually makes contact or not, making it more fun to rp with you!

RULE FOUR. everything that might be trigger inducing will be tagged as “___ warning” and if you want something else tagged just let me know and i’ll tag it for you!

RULE FIVE.  this blog is not safe for personal blogs to follow. unless your personal blog has an rp blog attached to it i will block you, so be sure to let me know that you have an rp blog if that’s the case!

RULE SIX. i do rp with OCs and i really enjoy it! however i will need a bit of an about to go by so i know how my character will react to yours or how to even go about making you starters!

RULE SEVEN.  the only thing that i wish to be triggered is bdsm/rape/noncon/torture as well as visuals on needles and if you could tag those as “hdl” that would be fantastic!

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you have a wonderful day! Hope to rp with you soon!

ABOUT REX

age: 19 occupation: guardian of the globe  gender: male sexuality: pansexual powers: ability to turn anything he touches into bombs, including his own body

being sold to the gda when he was a child and experimented on to become who he is, rex has never had a real childhood. he’s only known the life of fighting to stay alive and keep the people of earth safe from threats on the daily. though when introduced in the show he’s shown to be a rather cocky individual, he has grown from his time on the guardians of the globe, starting to show that he can mature into someone worthy of the title. learning from his mistakes in the past and becoming stronger along with his colleges.

this iteration of rex won’t be canon compliant. he didn’t die that night fighting against the other mark, instead of him blowing up his own skeleton he touched the other mark and caused him to explode instead. though he still was caught up in the blast and taken to the gda and was in intensive care for a month recovering, he survives.

[dutyforged-archive]

Guidelines

The Basics 

This is an independent, private roleplay for Link of Breath of the Wild, Age of Calamity, and Tears of the Kingdom Crossovers are highly encouraged.I’m Jess, she/her. 30+ years old. All icons used on this blog were screencapped and edited by me so please don’t use them. This blog runs predominantly on smaller threads and plotted interactions. If you’re interested in plotting and chatting ooc, please reach out via inbox or IM. 

If you’re new to roleplaying or a non-roleplayer and not sure of how to interact with this account, please refer to my rpc etiquette posts. for everyone else, I assume you know how to conduct yourself. 

I am a mature, literate, mutuals only, selective, & moderately active roleplayer. I work full-time from home, which allows me to roleplay off and on throughout the day but I keep the bulk of my activity to my days off. I reply to all threads via a queue. During the week I frequently do live, back and forth of whatever I’m feeling ‘into’ at the time.

I enjoy chatting ooc and building connections with mutuals, but for online safety, I keep personal details limited. I’m here to roleplay and create a positive, fun environment. If our interactions aren’t bringing you good vibes, feel free to block me, and we’ll part ways without any hard feelings. Let’s keep it light and enjoyable!

I am dedicated to fostering a hate-free environment. I want to emphasize that I will not share, discuss, or even acknowledge any anonymous submissions that convey negativity. If you feel the need to voice something hurtful anonymously, I believe it’s best left unsaid. While it may seem harsh, I won’t publicly address the issue of anonymous hate directed at others. I believe that bringing it into the open only exacerbates the problem. My support will always be offered in private.

I prefer to avoid political discussions on this blog, and I’d appreciate it if you could tag those posts so I can filter them out. We live in a world that’s overwhelmed with political discourse, and for my mental well-being, I need a space that allows me to decompress and escape from daily stressors. I kindly ask that you tag any political content with terms like “tw: politics,” “tw: current events,” “politics for cw,” “current events cw,” and “politics cw,” so I can maintain a quiet, stress-free environment here.

For more details on my preferences please read under the cut.

My Portrayal

My portrayal of Link is influenced by Breath of the Wild, Age of Calamity, Tears of the Kingdom, the book Creating a Champion and other lore.

Crossovers

I absolutely adore crossovers! If you have a plot idea, please share it with me or tag me in a starter. I’m open to placing Link in various points in the canon timeline, even if your character’s world is outside of Hyrule. However, I should mention that horror, occult, anime, video game, and vampire genres don’t really capture my interest—except for a few exceptions like Kingdom Hearts, Skyrim, and Assassin’s Creed. For the other genres, I evaluate them on a case-by-case basis.

Plotting, Replies & Activity

 If you’ve come to me to brainstorm and collaborate, I expect you to have some ideas in mind so we can work together effectively. If I find myself doing all the heavy lifting, I’ll have to decline further interaction for now. Please feel free to reach out when you have a clearer vision of what you’re looking for. Of course, if I’ve approached you, I should be the one bringing ideas to the table.

Roleplay is a cherished hobby for me, and I want to keep it lighthearted and fun. I manage this blog with smaller threads and planned interactions, aiming to reply about once a week via a queue. While I don’t expect everyone to match my pace, a bit of consistency helps keep our stories flowing. I also like to make sure I have just the right amount on my plate to fully enjoy the experience. If a thread hasn’t been active for 30 days, I’ll consider it archived and I’ll remove it from my tracker. But if you return later and I’m still invested in that storyline we can pick it back up, if I’ve moved on from it, I’m always happy to discuss new plot ideas that might inspire us both.

Life gets busy, and I completely understand needing a break. If you’re stepping away for a bit, just give me a heads-up—it reassures me and helps me plan. I genuinely care about your well-being and want you to feel comfortable pausing if you need to.

While I don’t expect my partners to be at my beck and call, I love ooc discussions about our threads. I like to gush about our muses and hear that you’re enjoying the interactions as much as I am. This doesn’t need to happen every day, but I genuinely want to hear from you. We don’t need to become best friends or share personal details; I just need to know you’re as invested in this as I am. Building a strong bond between our characters is important to me, and I can’t achieve that alone.

Asks & Memes

My ask box is open to everyone, which is a great opportunity for me to engage with blogs I may have missed or didn’t know about. However, I kindly ask that you refrain from reblogging our asks and turning them into threads, as this creates an obligation for me to manage more threads than I can handle. I genuinely enjoy plotting, and some of my best moments and relationships have sprung from spontaneous asks with exciting plot developments. If that happens and you’re interested in turning it into a thread, please reach out and ask me first! I also love being tagged in shippy content, so I encourage my mutuals to share those feelings with me. To make it easier, I track the tag: dutyforged.

Following & Unfollowing

This is a side blog that follows from wintersovereign. I like to keep my dashboard aligned with my character’s interests, and I take the time to check out every blog that follows me for potential interactions. I just cannot be mutuals with every person who follows me. If I don’t follow you back, please don’t take it personally; it’s not a reflection of you as a person or a writer. You’re welcome to keep following and sending anons if you’d like! I also post starters that anyone can respond to, so feel free to engage.

If we’re mutuals and you ever feel the need to end our connection, I’d appreciate a soft block. I really value open and honest communication, and I’m always open to addressing any concerns or misunderstandings directly. However, I understand that not everyone feels comfortable discussing these matters, and that’s okay. If you feel it’s best to part ways, I just ask that you make it a clean break, as I prefer not to have lingering connections on my dash. Thank you for understanding. 

Duplicates

I prefer to limit interactions with duplicate characters to just a few, as repetitive plots can become tedious and lead to boredom, especially considering my ADHD. However, I’m open to engaging with a well-crafted duplicate character if we can brainstorm an interesting plot together. This guideline, however, does not apply to characters from canon.

My Link is the only Link on this blog, he will not accept that you know another Link in another universe (unless you’re an AOC character and we’ve plotted it because that is canon). When we interact, I will treat your character as the version of he/she/they that is canon to Link. For example, any Zelda he meets will be his princess.

I’ve made a commitment to fostering a supportive community within the rpc and I appreciate and support my fellow Link muns. It’s vital to recognize the line between finding inspiration in each other and imitation, especially when it comes to our unique portrayals of characters like Link. Each writer brings their own voice and creativity to the table, and we must honor that diversity. By promoting kindness and collaboration, we can create an environment where everyone feels valued and respected.

Shipping

I love the romance genre, and while I write extensively within it, my primary focus isn’t on shipping characters. Instead, I’m drawn to character development and exploring relationships—whether they be friendships, familial bonds, or rivalries. When I consider a potential ship, the chemistry between characters is what truly motivates me.

I’m open to shipping a variety of pairings on this blog, as long as there’s genuine chemistry involved; however, I have strong reservations about incest, and pedophilia is an obvious hard no.

As for Link, I envision him as heterosexual (demisexual). Regarding NSFW content, I’m over 18, as is my character, but I’ve decided to step away from writing explicit material. I prefer to let scenes fade to black after foreplay.

Addendums 

Things pop up every now and then that I hadn’t thought to or just haven’t added to this page yet, I post those here.

[vortexpolarity]

guidelines.

01.     a highly selective indie doctor who blog for the doctor. I have been writing the doctor since 2012. the tracked tag for this blog is #VORTEXPOLARITY. discord is available upon request. this blog is a multifandom, multiverse, crossover, oc & duplicate friendly account.

02.     I will tag each post as the version of the doctor that is being used for an easy tagging system. I am semi-iconless and I may use small gifs from time to time as well. I will likely some bolds or italics when need be and small text, that’s as much as I do as far as formatting goes. I am willing to use regular text as well if that is easier for my writing partners.

03.     drama, hate, callouts and blog policing is NOT TOLERATED here. let’s keep rp as a fun and creative experience. keep the drama to the characters.

04.     if you are interacting with my starter calls, please leave a comment with the version of the doctor that you want the starter to be for. that makes it easier for me to make the starters. if you do not actually intend to reply to my starters, please don’t have me make you one. and if you need me to change something about it, don’t hesitate to ask. the same goes for ask memes as well, please specify the muse that you would like the ask to be answered with.

05.     there are only a few things I may not follow you back for and they are as followed: not tagging posts, not having an age range on your blog anywhere and linking a form of payment somewhere. please note that I do read rules when I follow someone, that being said, I will no be sending in passwords.

06.     while I do not require you to follow or interact with my other blogs, if I find that you have blocked them, I will likely end up softblocking or hardblocking you as I find this a form of breaking mutuals.

07.     FADE TO BLACK IS PREFERRED. foreplay leading up to smut is okay. though there won’t be much of smut here. with the exception of a few muns that I am friends and comfortable writing with, why I prefer writing with those over 21. tags to block will be: spicy cw.

08.     If something is triggering to you & you would like it to be tagged, please don’t be afraid to politely ask me to tag it. For tagged triggers I will use #TRIGGER CW. I currently do not have any triggers to be tagged.please note that the views of my character are not my own personal views. OOC=/=IC.

09.     REBLOG FROM THE SOURCE. Please do not reblog a meme from me, especially if you have no intentions of sending me a meme in return. I understand if you can not find the original link, so an exception can be made in this case here. also please do not reblog memes from me if we are not mutuals.

10.     Please do not assume a character to be a relation to any of my characters unless it’s been discussed. If your character is an oc sibling / child / etc., my character will not know them unless we’ve discussed this. that being said, canon relations are most definitely allowed.

CREDITS.     all graphics were made by me. and unless said otherwise, I’ll credit the maker in the post, but currently everything was made by myself. graphics psd by SUPERSOURCES.

MUN.     BELLE. 30+. EST. SHE/HER. I’ve been rping since 2006, so I know my way around the rpc. I’m a crossover, oc & duplicate friendly account. I love exploring all things fantasy and slice of life alike. feel free to send me a meme or a starter to get things going. discord is available upon request. 21+ only. MINORS DO NOT FOLLOW.

[marvelstarker-mha98]

The Runaway Distance Life Of A Little Stark Chapter 14: Here's to the good times

Pairing: Tony Stark & daughter!Reader, Nick Fury & reader, parker family & reader, Ben parker & reader Summary: Reader’s birthday warning: Panic attack, memories Co author with: callikc Tag:  @venomsvl  @geeksareunique​ Previous ​​

Four months had passed.

It was May 30th now, a day you'd never really found much joy in. The day that you were born.

It just reminded you that you never got to meet your mother, that your birth was the reason she died. And you never really got a decent celebration. Sure, you had the money and the mansion to organize a party, but you never had the friends. And, of course, your dad was always too busy to be there.

Birthdays just weren't fun in the Stark household.

As you entered your lab, you let out a heavy sigh and put down an untouched cup of coffee, thinking about what you could possibly do to occupy yourself for the day. Most of your projects were complete and you didn't feel like starting from scratch just yet.

You did have a little side project that was almost finished. It was your own little experiment called Test Eco in which you made your own environment in a glass box from samples of earth's minerals. It needed a test or two so you grabbed one of the many notebooks littered around and approached the box.

"FRIDAY?" You called.

"Yes, miss?" The AI greeted.

"How are we doing on Test Eco?"

"My data suggests the potential for a copper deposit, dropping at fifteen. I also found coltan, cobalt, and silicon."

"Huh..." You peered at the box, impressed by what you could accomplish sometimes. "All of those can be used and processed?"

"In a virtual environment such as this, I'm afraid not. But if presented with real Earth conditions, possibly. However, the most important are the iron and bauxite deposits I detected."

"Construction materials?" You questioned, intrigued.

"Aluminum, and everything needed to repair existing equipment as it ages."

"And the soil?"

"Light on nitrates."

"Nothing I can't compensate for. What about the water sample?"

"There is some salinisation and minimal microbial concentrations."

"Easily eliminated with purification and filtration processes."

"Cleaner than here."

You nodded and smiled, noting down everything. "Thanks, FRIDAY."

"My pleasure, miss."

You once again praised yourself for creating something as amazing as that and were about to do some more tests when you heard a knock on the door of your lab. You turned and saw Fury.

"What did I do now?" You mumbled.

Putting on a smile, you set everything down and went over to let him in.

"Campbell." He greeted in the usual business-like tone.

You nodded once. "Hey, Director."

"You're in early."

"I got bored."

"Hmm."

You stood there, a little awkward. "So can I help with anything, or...?"

Fury entered the lab and closed the door so you'd have more privacy. He looked around, seemingly impressed by some of the things you had created, and then turned to you.

"It's your day off." He stated.

You raised a brow. "Since when do you complain about extra hours?"

"I don't. But today is a 'special occasion'."

"Is it?"

"Happy birthday."

You almost laughed at how strange it sounded coming from someone like him, especially since it seemed so painful for him to say the words, but you kept a neutral expression.

"Thanks, but I think I'll work it off." You said.

"Campbell, you've worked with more dedication and the assiduous nature of half my agents in the time you've been here. SHIELD won't collapse if you take a day off."

"Famous last words."

"Take it as an order."

You crossed your arms. "You're ordering me to take a day off and celebrate?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"I hate you."

"I'm sure you do."

Knowing you couldn't win, you rolled your eyes and shrugged. "Fine. I'll take a day."

"Good." He reached into his jacket and withdrew what looked like a card. "Go crazy."

You smirked, amused. "If this ain't favoritism I don't know what is. How much?"

"Limitless."

"Holy shit." With a grin, you accepted the gift. "You're a softie really, aren't you? Director Furry."

He did not look amused.

"Agent Hill has left you a car outside. It's all yours."

Actually feeling like today could be better than you anticipated, you smiled. "Tell her I said thanks. I'll be back in tomorrow."

He nodded once more. "As expected. Have fun, Campbell."

"Oh, I will."

With a smile and your new gift tucked away safely, the two of you parted ways and you checked everything in the lab before leaving yourself. A few agents and scientists you were friendly with said hi and you waved back.

The car outside was much more impressive than you anticipated. A 2006 Dodge Challenger. Agent Hill certainly knew your tastes.

There was another agent waiting with the keys and he tossed you them when you approached, not saying a word. Most agents didn't anyway, it was normal to be ignored. In fact, you were certain 'grumpy' and 'mute' were part of the pass criteria.

But, God, did that car feel fantastic as you drove.

The roar of the engine, the smooth touch of the wheel, and the leather seats... It was like heaven.

-

After celebrating your birthday with a not so cheap meal and a Starbucks, you decided it was time to head home.

It was only the afternoon and you didn't expect many people to be out on the streets. However, as you parked the new car beside the sidewalk, you noticed a commotion at the end of the road. You didn't bother driving over since there were too many people but you did walk to investigate.

The people were apparently shouting and cheering for something, huddled around two people you couldn't see from your current position.

But then the crowd parted slightly and you felt like your heart dropped in your chest.

It was your dad.

Clint Barton was there as well and the two seemed to be making fun of each other and being general idiots as the adoring public reached out with things to be signed. You could barely breathe.

It was your dad.

He was so close. After all this time...

When you saw him talking to people, you accidently called out. It didn't mean much since the overlapping voices drowned your own and no one noticed you.

You wanted nothing more than to reach out, to let him know you were okay and you were there, but you couldn't. You couldn't without bringing attention to yourself. The threat, now years old, still hung like a shadow and you forced yourself to walk away with tears in your eyes.

It felt like the ghost of Obadiah was strangling you.

Then you just ran.

You ran as far as you could, straight to your apartment. Once there, you slammed the bathroom door and simply broke down as everything overwhelmed you.

You wouldn't get to see him ever again.

Suddenly it didn't seem to matter if he ignored you or you were rude to him, you just wanted a dad again. With no mother or siblings, he was all you had. And you wouldn't ever get the chance to tell him you loved him despite all the estrangement between you.

You fell to the floor and pulled your knees close to your chest as you sobbed. Breathing felt like trying to swallow sandpaper and even if air did make it through it was foreign and unnatural, causing your breakdown to become more severe and messy.

"Ellen?" There was a knock at the door and you looked up, everything blurred and fuzzy.

You left the front door open in your rush but the voice was Ben's so you knew you were safe. You wanted to say something but nothing would leave your mouth. You only lost more air by trying to speak.

"(Y/n)?" He asked more quietly.

You had a hand over your chest as you panicked and fumbled for the bathroom door. There was a click as you unlocked it but then fell back again.

Ben was immediately at your side, his hands on your arms as you fought to breathe. "(Y/n)? Hey, you okay?"

Your body shook and you cried and cried. He didn't want to scare you further and carefully pulled you in for a hug, whispering words of assurance.

 Thanks to him your breathing started to get back to normal, your heart no longer as loud. You could finally catch air instead of nothingness. You curled up into the smallest ball you could muster and clutched Ben's arm as he held you, the tears still streaming down your face.

"You're okay, (Y/n)." He said, keeping you close and comforted.

"I nearly talked to him." You spoke up with a broken voice. "My dad."

"Tony?"

You nodded. "He was - He was right there. I-I couldn't - It was-"

"Hey, it's okay. You're okay."

You tried to focus and explain it all, and were thankful he just waited patiently for you to process. After you settled, you moved to your living room and sat down.

"I just can't believe he's really a superhero." You whispered.

"It's a big job." Ben agreed. "I saw him when those things invaded the city. He saved my guys and me. He's a good man."

"A lot of power." You sighed. "All those people he needs to help... With great power comes great responsibility."

Ben studied you carefully and by now he'd known you long enough to realize it wasn't just the superhero status and tough past that made you miss Tony. It was simply just a daughter missing her father.

"He hasn't forgotten, you know." He said.

You looked up, bottom lip still trembling from the earlier panic attack. "What?"

"Tony. He loves you."

"I don't... I don't know."

"(Y/n), he does. A parent never stops loving a child. I'll love Peter until the day I die and even beyond that. Your old man is the same."

You closed your eyes and shook your head. "It's been too long."

"Not for him. Trust me."

You wanted to argue, to insist he was wrong, but you just didn't have the energy. What started off as a decent birthday for once had quickly turned sour. You needed to sleep.

"I'm gonna take five." You decided.

Ben nodded. "Alright. I'm next door if you need me, kid."

"Thanks."

He smiled sadly and wrapped his arms around you one more time. You melted into the hug and took the moment to breathe, wishing you could stay like that forever.

"Happy birthday." He then said, placing a kiss on the top of your head.

-

You woke up about an hour later to a light weight on your middle. You weren't too sure on what it was until a little boy's giggle followed.

"Peter Benjamin Parker, what are you doing?" You grumbled, eyes still closed.

"Morning, Ellen." You heard his cheery tone greet back. "I want to show you something."

"Go away, I'm dead."

"No, you're just lazy."

"Peter!" A new voice scolded.

You opened your eyes at that, realizing two more people accompanied him. "May? Ben?"

You were surprised.

May held a birthday cake lit with candles, and Ben held a bag that looked filled to the brim with all kinds of snacks and candy. Peter was standing next to the bed with half of his body on top of yours and an adorable child-like grin on his face.

"What's the occasion?" You joked.

Peter rolled his eyes and poked your cheek. "Don't play dumb. It's song time."

"No, thanks. I like my windows in one piece."

He stuck out his tongue. "Shut up and listen."

"Peter." May scolded again while Ben simply laughed.

"Sorry." He mumbled, standing straight.

Then, on the count of three, Ben initiated the singing.

"Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to Ellen... Happy birthday to you!" The three of them sang.

During the song, Peter sent a not-so-subtle wink when your alias was named which made you laugh.

"Thank you." You then said with a smile. "Really."

"Aren't you, like, ancient now?" Peter teased.

You playfully glared, then looked at his aunt and uncle. "Are you sure you two raised him?"

They laughed and May shrugged. "I think it's your influence, Ellen."

You faked a gasp. "I am insulted!"

"And I'm hungry." Peter complained, taking your hand and dragging you out of bed. "Come on!"

And for the rest of the afternoon the four of you had a mini party.

You had pizza and cake and watched some random TV in the background. The Parkers had even gotten you a gift. It was a homemade lava lamp in your favorite color. It was a simple gift, but it meant the world.

For the first time, your birthday was genuine fun. Save for the incident earlier on, you felt truly appreciated and loved. You couldn't help but remember celebrating all your other birthdays alone since you never got along with your dad.

Even after Parkers left - May for work and Peter to study - you had a smile on your face. However, thinking back on your life also made you also think forwards, and you realized there was something you needed to take care of.

The warehouse in Upstate.

You hadn't visited in a while since it was mostly just storage for you now. It was collecting a ton of dust but it still felt like home, bearing in mind it was for a few months when you were homeless.

The inside was tall and looming, shrouded in darkness. Even asking FRIDAY to illuminate the place didn't do much. Still, it wasn't too difficult to navigate.

"Hey, FRIDAY?" You called softly.

"Yes, miss?" She replied.

You looked at the clear space ahead of you and took a breath. "Show me Protocol Waterlight."

"Are you sure, miss?"

"Nope, but go ahead."

Even FRIDAY hesitated, but finally did bring up the image.

It seemed so innocent at first, just a calming lake with a distant sunset. It was in the form of a hologram, meaning the water rippled and glistened in the dusk light. However, that sunset was simply the promise of a future sunrise, a light to eventually emerge from the coming darkness.

Time went on, and little waterlights began to appear, floating on the surface of the lake. Their candles made the water appear like a night sky filtered with stars, beacons so far away and yet seemingly so close. It resembled a tribute almost.

As you watched, the orange glare reflected in your eyes, you focused on each individual lantern, remembering little bits of your past and the stories you created as you grew up.

One of your very first memories was sneaking into your dad's workshop and watching him take apart one of his cars. You took mental notes and tried to do the same with another car the next week but he had only gotten annoyed.

You remembered one of your birthdays in which Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey tried to celebrate with you. They had made you a beautiful cake and bought you so many amazing presents but the first thing you asked was where your dad was. You could see the looks of uncertainty on their faces even now.

You remembered high school, with so many people wanting to be your friend solely because of your last name. They would ask what it was like to be rich and live in a mansion with such a famous father but when you had no amazing stories to tell they simply started to act as if you didn't exist anymore.

You remembered running away. That fear and coldness, the thought of leaving everything behind, it haunted you even now. That shadow might never lift, and you didn't know how much longer you could live with it.

You remembered everything as you watched the waterlights. From childhood to the present, things were as clear as day.

And when you thought of your dad...

Instead of feeling rage and hate and malice, you smiled tearfully. Thinking of him was the easy part, you did it every day. But missing him? That hurt like hell. Even in the darkest days, when you felt inadequate and unworthy, you found yourself remembering who you were. You remembered whose daughter you were.

You were (Y/n) Stark, and it was about time you came to terms with that.