#signal hill: extras

[polarmoon]

something about child sims accepting pizza delivery is so. fucking funny to me. why is it so much bigger than her

[sandersstudies]

My coworkers and I have a new bit.

There’s a weird building that looks almost like an small airplane hanger in the woods up the hill from our new location. It’s kind of obscured by trees with no obvious way to access it besides scaling a steep hill.

We like to pretend that it is some kind of secretive, spying, generic suspicious and evil location, and whenever we are discussing it, ANYTHING that happens has to be automatically suspicious.

“Did you see that turkey walk up the hill? Suspicious to see a single turkey this time of year. It must be a robot disguised as a turkey to spy on us.”

“Hm. That customer was attractive and extra nice to me. They must know we’re onto them and are trying to trick me into falling in love with one of their spies and telling them everything I know.”

“A plastic bag is trapped in that tree. I bet that’s the secret signal they’re using to communicate with their allies on the road.”

[multifandomfanficss]

Don’t Stop My Heart

Tyler Owens x Reader

Prompt: You and Tyler take a road trip up to Iowa to catch some of the last tornadoes of the season, but he takes the teasing a little too far.

Warnings: Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, mentions of car crashes, swerving, shitty ex boyfriends. No use of Y/N.

A/N: Hello! I didn’t proofread this one as many times as I usually do. I’m coming off a 4 and a half month writers block so I really just wanted to write and post while I was excited to do it. My job has been draining me as of late, so I’m trying to write when I get the impulse. I have so many Tyler ideas and no time to write them. Crossposted on my AO3 adriansglasses.

It was still fairly early, the sun was still rising. Last night you’d planned an impromptu trip up north to Iowa. It was about a 7 hour trip from Oklahoma, so you were on the road before 6. You were hoping to get there around noon. You didn’t love getting up that early, but Tyler promised he’d drive you and you could sleep in the truck. Tornado season was pretty much over aside from an isolated storm or two, but Iowa had been having very unusual storm activity all week. Tyler couldn’t resist hitting a couple more tornadoes in late August when the season was supposed to be pretty much over with.

You stayed awake for a little bit. You wanted to watch as you crossed into Missouri.

“Missouri welcomes you.” Tyler reads out loud.

“Yes! Finally!” You giggle.

“I didn’t realize you were such a big fan of Missouri.” Tyler comments.

“Oh, I’m not.” You pause, looking out your window.

“First you’re hypin’ her up, now you’re gonna disappoint her.” He jokes.

“I’m sorry, I’m sure Missouri’s fine, but I’m more excited about that.” You point to a Hardee’s down the street.

“Really? We’re crossin’ state lines and you’re gonna make me take you to Hardee’s? You can get Carl’s Jr. anytime you want back home. That’s basically the same thing.” He argues.

“Take that back! You’re just saying that because you’re a Texas boy! You’ve never had the luxury of Hardee’s.” You joke.

“If Carl’s Jr. is better, I’m not letting you pick where we eat for the rest of the trip.” Tyler puts on his turn signal and sighs.

“How is that fair? I’ve never eaten at this location. What if it sucks?” You laugh.

“You picked your Hardee’s hill and now you’re gonna die on it. Now keep your trap closed and tell me what’s good on the menu.” Tyler makes a pretend threatening face towards you as he pulls into the drive thru.

“How am I supposed to not talk and at the same time tell you what’s good?” You tease back.

“Hi welcome to Hardee’s, may I take your order?” The drive thru speaker cuts you off. Tyler shushes you and you giggle.

After getting your food you start unwrapping the straws and putting them in both drinks.

“Whatever score we give this we need to give it extra points to account for how good the curly fries would be if they were serving lunch.” You try to bargain, taking a bite.

“No, you can’t just change the rules after we already got our food, that’s cheating. Just because you’re from the north, doesn’t mean you can cheat me.” He argues. He continues driving, leaving behind the paved roads of the small town.

“You’re acting like I’m Canadian!” You giggle.

“Well, Upper Midwest is basically Canada. There’s literally a town in Iowa called Toronto!” He smirks, taking the last bite of his food, continuing to drive through the middle of nowhere Missouri, back onto the gravel roads through the soybean fields.

“Shut up!” You playfully hit his arm. He jokingly swerves and your stomach flips. You gasp air. “Tyler, knock it off.”

“You’re the one who hit me.” He pleas innocent.

“I didn’t hit you that hard.” You defend.

“I thought you were gonna sleep on the drive.” He says, smirking.

“I might later, I’m not tired.” You answer, falling for his bit. He does a big fake yawn.

“Well if you’re not tired, I might take a little nap.” He lightly swerves again.

“Tyler, this isn’t funny!” You plead.

“What? Oh. Do you mind watching the road? We woke up so early and I’m pretty tired.” He jokes before swerving again. He’s taking the joke way too far. Once was one thing, twice was too much. You start hyperventilating.

“Tyler, STOP!” You yell, tears starting to come to your eyes.

“Woah woah woah, sweetheart, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I’ll stop.” He has a concerned look on his face. He knew he had taken it too far.

“It’s not funny.” You cry.

“You’re right, it’s not funny. I would never-a done it if I’d known it would make you feel unsafe. I do it all the time on chases and that don’t seem to bother you. I didn’t realize-“

“That’s different! The roads and the fields when there’s no storms are different! We’re on an actual road! What- what if there were other people?! What if you hit somebody?! What if a sherif saw?!” You say, obviously still panicking. Tyler decides to pull over.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I was way outta line, but we’re in the middle of nowhere. There’s no cars or tractors around. We’re safe.” His voice is soft. “Just breathe, Darlin’. Just you and me.” He takes your hand, rubbing small circles in it. “I feel bad. I wanted a reaction outta you, but not like this. I never want you to feel unsafe with me.”

“I know.” You were still struggling to breathe. Tyler places your hand on his chest to feel the rise and fall of his breathing. He hopes you can sync yours with his own.

“Take it easy, sweetheart. You’re okay. Feel me breathing? We’re both okay.” He places a kiss to your forehead.

“I’m sorry… it’s not you. When I was in high school I had a crazy ex boyfriend who used to swerve in town just to scare me because he knew I was afraid of car crashes. He almost killed us a couple times, I think. I guess no matter how much time’s passed, dumb high school bullshit still affects me into my adult years.”

“Hey, that’s not okay. It’s not dumb bullshit. It’s trauma.” You lean over the console to be closer to him and he wraps his arms around you. “I would never put you in danger like that for the sake of a joke.” You could tell his blood was boiling on the inside, but he was trying to keep himself calm. He didn’t want to upset you more. He knew this was about you feeling better, not him.

“We gotta get going if we wanna try to make it by 1.” You wipe your tears.

“I don’t care how long we’re pulled over. Hell, we can even turn around if you’re not up to anymore. I don’t care about the chase. I care about you.” He moves your hair out of your face. “I can call the rest of the team and tell them to turn around right now or go without us.”

“What happened to Mr. If You Feel It, Chase It?” You joke, trying to lighten the mood. He looks into your eyes. You don’t know if you’ve ever seen him so serious.

“The only feeling that matters is the one I get when I’m with you.“

Tears start creeping up again. These tears aren’t bad, though.

“Tyler, I’m in love with you.” It just slips out, like the easiest confession you’ve ever made in your life. You both knew there was something there, but neither one of you were willing to say it. It had always been heavy flirting, awkward mornings after cuddling in the only bed left at the motel, a drunk kiss or two.

After a moment of staring in silence Tyler kisses you. Everything happened in slow motion, but in truth it was probably just the adrenaline slowing everything down. Tyler wasted no time in kissing you. It was the quickest decision he’s ever made. You don’t know how long the kiss was. Whatever it was, it wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough. You’d swear off oxygen for the rest of your life if it meant this moment never had to end. You’d been pinning after your best friend for so long and finally the moment was here.

“I’m so glad you said something because you’re one of the best navigators I know and I really didn’t wanna risk losing you from the team by telling you I was in love with you.” Tyler laughs.

“Is that the only reason you didn’t tell me?” You ask.

“No, I was scared. Losing you from the team would be a bummer, but I couldn’t lose you from my life. We see a lot of loss in this business. Whenever I thought about it, the thing I couldn’t stand to lose most was you.” He runs his fingers through your hair, moving to cup your cheek.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

It was nice to finally say it. You’d waited a long time to tell him.

“Let’s get back on the road. This time just don’t stop my heart.” You give a small laugh.

“You’re safe with me.”

“I know. You’re not like those other guys, Ty.”

You hold hands and rest on his other arm as he drives. He’s lucky he’s good at driving with one hand because he’s happy to see about 30 minutes later you’ve finally fallen asleep. Today was going to be a long day, but Tyler knew forcing the team to wake up so early was worth it. He may have had to bribe Boone 20 bucks to drive the other car up with Lily, but at least he didn’t have a third wheel sitting in the back seat. Tyler didn’t get a lot of alone time with you. Now he had 7 hours of it. It was worth it.

[angelwings-crossbowstrings]

Chapter 25

Series Masterlist

Warnings: Poorly written smut; Pregnancy symptoms; Pregnancy exams; Mild angst

A/N: I hope others laugh at this as hard as I did while writing it. Even if you don't, it's okay. I was greatly amused and I'm not ashamed.

Another cold night, but at least the house was on a hill and surrounded by trees on most sides; a large structure with a gated driveway. The fire was roaring and everyone was bedding down for the night in the same room since the last few times of sleeping in different rooms or on different levels had proven problematic when quick escape was needed. Carol chose to lay closer to the fireplace so you and Daryl could have the bedroll to yourselves—when you actually chose to go to bed.

“Has anyone seen Daryl or Y/N?” Lori asked after laying an extra blanket on your bedroll.

“She probably had to pee again.” Carl giggled from his sleeping bag. 

“Do you need something, Lori?” Carol sat up, hugging herself from the cool air when her blanket fell a little. Carol knew exactly where the two of you were and she would make sure you were left alone there.

You had gone from touch me not straight into don’t stop touching me. While Daryl felt pride in the fact that you only had eyes for him, he may or may not have been beginning to wonder if you could possibly break his dick. It had been nearly three straight days of a constant desire for him. That day alone, you had begged him to take you straight into the upstairs bathroom of the huge house and stuff you with three fingers, fucking two orgasms from you within moments. The two of you had filed back in with everyone else before your absence was even noticed. 

Everything had barely been brought from the vehicles before you were saying you needed to pee, tapping one finger against the middle of Daryl’s palm as you took his hand. A clear signal. Five minutes later, you were bouncing on his cock (with a little help) while he was sprawled out by a tree.

And now, Daryl was panting harshly, not even bothering to tuck himself away before or after he slid down the wall and landed on his ass. You were still bent over the sink, thighs a sticky mess, his spend leaking from your deliciously abused cunt. Grabbing your panties, leggings, and sweats to drag them up over your hips was almost impossible. Almost. You dared not ask your poor partner. 

You had been insatiable for him, needing his hands on you constantly. You seemed to be in a perpetual state of arousal, and god did he feel good. He had not complained a single time, even when it was clear he was tired or worried about something else. He took care of you first and foremost. And well, he was getting laid, so it wasn’t like he got nothing out of the deal. But as you turned to face him in that very moment, he just looked wrecked. Like if he tried to satisfy your urges one more time, he might literally die. With a fond smile, you stepped toward his outstretched legs and tapped the sole of his boot with the toe of your own. 

“Get up.” The look he gave you from beneath his lashes wasn’t angry. Far from it. It was reluctant and exhausted but he began to lever himself upright without a word, one corner of his mouth drawing upward for a brief moment when he was standing before you, seemingly awaiting your command. God, you had to admit that it was causing some seriously hard to ignore feelings in an area that had many times already been thoroughly fucked. You kept your eyes on his even as his pretty blues followed your hands toward his cock. He made no move to pull away or complain but you could have sworn you saw his entire body melt when you began to gingerly tuck him away. “Thank you for taking such good care of me.” You planted a kiss on his cheek. After everything he’d done for and to you that day, it was the gratitude that made him blush. You couldn’t have stopped the giggle if you tried. “Let’s go get some sleep, okay?”

“Ya good, then?” His hand came to rest on your hip, eyes questioning. 

“I’m better than good, Daryl. You,on the other hand, are about to fall asleep standing.” The archer didn’t argue. He must have known he was swaying on his feet. Driving and lugging around supplies and taking care of you, he had to be bone-weary. Regardless of your discomfort, the ache already returning in full force, you wanted him to rest. He was trying so hard to take better care of himself at your request—eating full meals, sleeping a little more, wearing more clothing when hunting so he stayed warm—that you didn’t want to be the cause of fucking up all you had worked so hard to instill in him. “Come on, sleep time for you.”

He simply nodded and let himself be led from the room with quite the yawn. It was all eyes on you the moment the two of you stepped foot inside the large den, the warmth of the fire overwhelming any anxiety the stares could have even remotely caused. Arousal was quickly dampened by the lure of impending sleep and warmth. Dary was not taking watch, set to hunt the next morning, so you’d have him to yourself all night. 

He let you under the blankets first, assisting you down until you were situated on your side. When he climbed in after you, he took his usual position and angled himself so that your belly could rest on his stomach and hip while you could curl right into his chest. As wound up as you had been only moments before, your body was now succumbing to the siren call of sleep. You just needed to take care of one more thing. 

“Daryl?”

“Hmm?” Even that simple acknowledgement was somehow slurred. You had really worn him out. 

“Sleep late and then go hunting, okay?” You wondered how hard you’d need to fight him. He gave in on a great many things as the pregnancy progressed and you became more and more uncomfortable, but hunting was his time to recharge. You didn’t want to take that away from him, but you were also afraid of him spiraling back into bad habits.

“Okay.” He breathed, sounding more than half asleep. You blinked against his chest. So, you just needed to fuck him senseless to get him to agree to important things. Noted. 

“Thank you.”

“Mhm.”

“I love you.”

He was already softly snoring, his warm breath disturbing your hair.

When you awoke, the sun’s warmth could not compare to the heat of the flames from the night before, but it was still welcome. It meant you had survived into another day. The fact that you were still firmly pressed against Daryl was an absolute bonus. It was well into the morning and he was still absolutely sound asleep. You weren’t worried that he was sick, even if the others most likely had their concerns. They were all accustomed to greeting him when they stepped outside to start the day or finding him completely absent on a hunt. You knew exactly why he slept late.

You felt him inhale deeply and begin to stir, grumbling something you didn’t understand. Pulling away to stretch, you felt a tug on your skin, drawing your attention to your chest, where your shirt had pulled from your flesh but was still stuck to Daryl’s button-up. “What the fuck?” The mortified look on the archer’s face said that he was thinking the same thing you were. You didn’t remember cum getting on your shirt or his, but you weren’t exactly thinking straight either. “Where’s your bag?”

Daryl jerked his chin toward the area just behind you. The man may have opened up around you and Carol but if anyone else saw this, even if they didn’t choose to laugh or tease—which was unlikely—you feared that Daryl would shut down and pull away from you.  

“And mine?” You asked, biting your lip.

He cleared his throat, the sound stuttering. “S’there too.” His back was to everyone but he’d know who was there. He had a way of identifying people through breath and footfall that was truly impressive. You, on the other hand, had to crane your neck to scope out the area. Carol was putting away some leftovers the best way she could. Lori was sitting with Carl, a math book on the kid’s lap. Glenn was laughing with Maggie in the doorway. Too many people. Daryl would likely run away, never to be seen again.

“Okay, first thing’s first.” You pried the articles of clothing apart, wincing at the nearly imperceptible sound that was likely heard by no one but sounded like a chainsaw to your ears. “I’m gonna go under the blankets so you can reach my bag for a different sweater. May as well grab your shirt while you’re there.”

“Gonna think you’re suckin’ my—”

“Well, you have two choices.” You whispered. “We can get up, grab our clothes to go change, and hope for the best. But we will have to walk past Glenn.” You peered around Daryl’s head to find Glenn and Maggie exactly where they had been, only T-Dog had joined them. “Or we can try and change under these blankets. I’ll giggle and mention Thumper, and they won’t think anything of it.”

“Right.” Dary didn’t seem convinced but kept the blankets high over both of you while he reached across your head, snagging both of your bags by the small strap at the top. He dragged them over and riffled through them, swallowing convulsively while pulling out shirts for each of you. “Got ‘em.”

“Okay, this might be a little tricky, but it’s doable.”

It was indeed tricky, but it was also indeed doable. The blankets were over your heads as you changed, with your originally planned giggles easily shifting into real ones. Thumper had joined the party and seemed to be aiming for their dad’s crotch each time your bodies touched. You could have sworn you heard a huff of a laugh from Daryl a couple of times as well. With a chuckle of hold still, you made sure the buttons of your partner’s shirt were even and patted his chest.

“All jizz free.” You whispered with a nod, feeling his fingers brush your skin while he pulled your pale blue, long sleeved t-shirt down to cover your belly.

“Gross.” 

“You say that like it’s been in your mouth before.” The look on his face had you laughing out loud and Daryl throwing back the blankets before the others could assume anything more was happening. The archer clambered off the bedroll and stretched, then held out a hand to you. You swatted it away. “I’m gonna stay here for a bit. My back hurts.”

“Whatever.” He shrugged. “M’goin’ huntin’. Ya stay close to ev’ryone else, ya hear?”

“I will. I promise.” When you met his eyes, they were full of such softness that you could almost feel it on your skin. He was taking each promise you made to heart and trusting you to keep them. And you would, even if staying inside made your skin crawl sometimes. Hell, being outside made your skin crawl. With the hormones taking over, you were fighting a losing battle, so you might as well choose the side that kept you and Thumper safe.

“Alright then. Be back ‘fore dark.” Daryl grabbed his crossbow from against the nearest wall, brushing a hand over the top of your head before it latched onto the top of his bag to hoist it off the floor, his gaze still meeting yours. “Promise.”

So this was a thing now. Promises between you. It both terrified you and filled your heart to the point of nearly bursting. You gave him a nod whilst fighting back the tears you knew would come the moment he was out of sight. He didn’t need to worry that he’d done something wrong. And he would because Daryl was still learning how to process anything that didn’t hurt. He was definitely still working on his social skills if his bark of what’re ya lookin’ at toward Glenn was anything to go by. Both he and Maggie looked at you with wide eyes but you just waved it off.

“Ignore him. He doesn’t know how to people. You know that.” 

“Well, he sure knows how to Y/N.” Maggie chided, smiling as she sat down next to you. You chuckled nervously, struggling to sit up so you could shove the dirty clothing into your bag.

“Shush. We just get each other and it was a long road to get to this point. Plus, I think he likes Thumper just a little.” The baby was active, already missing Daryl’s presence which would never cease to amaze you. “Who’s doing laundry today? I’d like to help.”

Maggie was already shaking her head before you could finish speaking. “Daddy needs to check you out. You’re almost 36 weeks, Y/N. You could go into labor anytime. Ask him what you can do and what you can’t and then we’ll worry about laundry.” You made a whining noise in the back of your throat and almost plopped back down on the bedroll but thought better of it at the last minute. It took so much effort to sit back up.

“Fine. Can he come now?” You sighed.

Maggie gave you a comforting smile and squeezed your shoulder. “Sure. Let me go get him.”

You nodded with a tight-lipped smile. She was absolutely right. Thumper’s arrival was growing closer and closer by the day; the hour even. And you were scared. What if something went wrong? You’d seen in the movies that the baby could get stuck. The cord could be wrapped around their little neck. Your pelvic structure could prohibit a natural birth and you would need a cesarean section. Were there even supplies for that? What about sedation or local anesthetic? What if Daryl decided then that it was all too much and ran? You couldn’t do any of it without him, you knew that now. 

“Easy, young lady.” Hershel soothed, already having knelt beside you at some point. “You’re white as a sheet and hyperventilating.”

“S–sorry. I’m okay.” You stammered, leaning back on your hands so he would have access to your belly. “Just— I’m scared shitless, Hershel.” As per usual, his steady hands hovered until you nodded your permission for him to roll up your shirt. The moment the cool air hit your skin, there was movement below it, a hand or foot pushing up hard enough that you could actually see it. 

“Well, they’re definitely active.” The old man chuckled. “Let’s see if we can check the heartbeat around all that wiggling.” You laughed but it was real, muffled by the fear welling up in your chest. “Well, the heartbeat is great. I need to do an examination, both external and internal. I will explain everything before proceeding. Would you be alright with that? We can go in the downstairs bedroom with Maggie or Beth if you would be more comfortable.”

Maggie was already leaning in the doorway with Glenn, giving you a nod that she was fine with being present. “Yeah, okay.” You started trying to get up on your own but that proved to be futile. Before you could even ask, Glenn was holding out both hands. “Thank you.” You whispered. This was all so personal and it felt like you shouldn’t be going through any of it alone. “Has—did Daryl leave already?”

“He may still be outside. Rick grabbed him for something. I’ll go check.” The words came out so fast that you barely caught them before Glenn was gone and Maggie was helping you lie down.

“I mean, can this wait if he isn't here? I don’t—” The tears came before you had any means of stopping them. You couldn’t sit back up without assistance so you just pressed the heels of your hands into your eyes and sobbed, chest heaving and body trembling. You wanted Daryl, after trying so hard to prove you could handle things without him. You needed him.

“The hell’d ya do to ‘er?!” 

You had never been so relieved to hear that irritated tone. Gasping for air, you reached blindly for him, his hands wrapping around your forearms to pull you up and against his chest. 

“Nothing, son. We were going to do an exam to check the baby.” You opened your eyes to see Hershel standing several feet back with his hands up, palms out. Maggie wasn’t glaring but she looked serious, ready to defend her father. “It would be invasive and she was frightened. We wouldn’t have done anything without her permission.”

“I just—wanted you—I wanted you here.” You hiccupped, gripping his shirt tighter. There was a jerk of his body and then the sound of the door closing. You were alone with him.

“M’here.” He didn’t move other than to pull you in tighter, the hold would have been uncomfortable any other time but it was exactly what you needed at that moment. “Wanna tell me what happened?”

“He—he needed to do something inside. It wasn’t that—I didn't think he was gonna hurt me and Maggie was here, but it just felt like something you should be here for too. Like a huge event in all this.” You sniffled, wiggling a hand free after a bit of struggle so that you could wipe your face on your sleeve. “I’m sorry, I know you wanted to hunt.”

“Nuh uh. Wanna be here more. The fuck he need to go inside for?” Now he sounded more than irritated, as if Hershel was trying to take advantage of you in some way. 

“There’s gonna be a lot of that, I think. I mean, if everything goes well, the baby’s coming out of my vagina, so I guess he needs to be all up in there to make sure it’s ready or something? Doesn’t it mention this in one of your books?” You pushed against his chest, but he hesitated in letting go. Finally, he dropped his arms but kept a hand on the top of your stomach. Thumper’s movements slowed to flutters.

“Ain’t had much time for readin’, Sunshine.”

You were in the middle of rubbing your eyes when you slid them to the side, your nose scrunching and mouth tilting into a smile. “Sunshine?”

“S’that or ‘pain in my ass’. I ain’t picky.” He huffed, picking at a thread on his tattered button-up. 

“I’ll take Sunshine, thanks. You’re adorable, Daryl Dixon.”

“Ugh, don’t get sappy.” He curled his lip, pulling away when you reached for his face.

“You already took it way past sappy, sir.” When he kept that small distance, you grabbed his collar and tugged him forward to press a kiss to his mouth. He reciprocated without hesitance, a small reassurance you reveled in when it came to your relationship. “Thank you for not running.”

“Ain’t a pussy. Told ya from the get-go that we’d handle it.” His forehead was against yours, the tip of his nose nuzzling your own. “Called ya Sunshine back then too.”

“That, you did.” You recalled the memory fondly. God, he was such an asshole back then. Still was in some ways but he was yours. You distantly wondered if he always had been. “Just needed a little help bringing out the inner romantic.”

“Don’t push it. Don’t got a romantic bone in my body.” 

You hummed, done with teasing him for the moment. “I guess we should let Hershel do what he needs to and get it over with.” You bit your lip, sliding it back and forth between your teeth. “Will you stay?”

“Course.” His knuckles gently grazed your jaw and then he was up and opening the door, jerking his head toward you to invite them back inside. “Don’t make ‘er cry again.” He warned, taking his spot beside you and helping you lie back.

Hershel only smiled. “I’ll try my best, son.” Maggie wasn’t there but came in, carrying a bowl of water and a cloth, before the old man could do anything. “There’s a couple of things I need to examine. First, I’ll do an external examination. I’m going to palpate your abdomen, feel the position of the baby. At this stage in the pregnancy, we want to ensure the baby is turning into a head down position. They should come out head first, not feet. Is it alright for me to continue?”

You nodded quickly. With Daryl there, the anxiety was held at bay. The man formed a physical wall between you and the fear that wanted to suffocate you, whether he knew it or not. He was watching intensely as your shirt was lifted, the veterinarian’s hands moving with a knowledge you were surprised to find he possessed given he had only dealt with animals. He was likely reading just as Daryl had, probably more. 

You winced when it seemed he was squeezing around the baby’s form, though the touch was gentle, feeling Daryl tense beside you. Your hand found his immediately and he settled. 

“Ev’rything good, doc?” The archer’s voice was just shy of a snap. He muttered an apology when you squeezed his fingers.

“It seems the baby has mostly turned to the correct position. Have you felt any increase in pelvic pressure or need to urinate?”

“She’s been pissin’ like a racehorse for weeks.” Daryl huffed, earning an elbow to the ribs.

“No more than usual.” You clarified. Hershel nodded.

“It’s unlikely that the baby has dropped then. I have limited experience with human patients but I have had wives that gave me children. When they dropped, it was described to me as a sudden weight deeper in the pelvis. They could breathe easier and felt hungrier, as there was more room in the upper abdomen. The need to urinate increased even more than it already had throughout the pregnancy.” You were nodding, Daryl was squinting, soaking it all in and filing it away. “Just let me know when you feel those changes, okay?”

“Okay.” You answered quietly, this time feeling Daryl squeezing your fingers.

“This next part will be invasive, and I’m sorry for that. I need to check your cervix, see if it’s softening or dilating.” When Daryl didn’t comment, you were sure those were terms he had read. You vaguely knew what they meant from the movies you had seen. “I can have Maggie remove your—”

“I got it.” Daryl interjected, rubbing his thumb over your knuckles before releasing your hand. You watched him move, biting your lip when he pressed one knee between your feet and reached to grab the waistband of your layers, bringing all three down in motion. You had to think of anything else to keep Hershel from seeing what Daryl had the ability to do to you. Placing your clothes by your feet, the bowman cleared his throat. “Make it quick.”

Hershel smiled and shook his head while washing his hands with the soap and water Maggie had brought but he said nothing about Daryl’s protectiveness. Perhaps he understood how fragile the archer’s ability to handle his emotions truly was, and with that knowledge, he saw no reason to put further strain on the young man.

“I’m going to begin the pelvic exam now. It might be a little uncomfortable.”

“Okay.” You took a deep breath, closing your eyes with a smile when Daryl’s arm wiggled beneath you to wrap around your shoulders. Hershel was right, it truly was uncomfortable. It wasn’t at all like what you had imagined, which to be quite honest, you thought it would be more like being fingered by Daryl. This was in no way pleasurable. First of all, it was Hershel. Secondly, there was pushing down just below the baby while at the same time, moving two fingers. It wasn't just uncomfortable. It was really uncomfortable. At one point, you whimpered ow and had to grab Daryl’s forearm to keep him from lashing out. 

Finally, it was over. Hershel was washing his hands again. “The cervix is softening, which is exactly what we want at this stage according to my reading. You’re not dilated, which is also what we’d like right now. That could begin to change in a few days, and that would be okay. There’s no way of really knowing exactly how far along you are but based on what I know of you, and keeping up with the calendar the best I could, you are right at 36 weeks.” You nodded, smiling softly as Daryl reached forward to push your knee down, urging you to close your legs even while he never looked away from the old man. 

“That’s good, right?” You asked, struggling to sit up until Daryl looped an arm behind you again and easily got you there.

“That’s wonderful. It’s my opinion, which isn’t the best mind you, that you could safely have this baby anytime now.”

You took a deep breath and nodded, watching all the color drain from Daryl’s face beside you. “Daryl?”

“You alright, son?” Hershel’s expression showed concern but his eyes were laughing. He knew the look on Daryl’s face and he knew it well. “It’s okay to be nervous. You’re a first time father. It will be—”

“G’on, old man. M’fine.” 

You chuckled. “Thank you, Hershel. I feel a lot—” Moving to sit up straighter, you looked down when you felt cold against your skin. Two quarter-sized wet patches were clear on your pale blue shirt, just over your nipples. “What the hell?” Even Maggie’s eyebrows were raised. Daryl just looked as puzzled as you did.

“That’s colostrum.” The old vet answered as if you knew what the fuck that meant. “It’s the first thing your breasts produce to feed the baby when it’s born, before the actual milk comes in. This is a good sign that your body is getting ready.”

“Like—soon?” You gulped.

“It doesn’t have an effect on the timeline, one way or another. It just means your body knows what it’s doing. You may want to ask for some breast pads on the next run or just fold some cloth for your bra.”

“Wait—so that wasn’t cum?” It was out of your mouth before you had processed a single word of it. Hershel’s brow furrowed, Maggie doubled over laughing, and poor Daryl was three seconds from jumping out the window. “I’m just—oh god, just leave us to die in here, thanks.” You could still hear Maggie laughing after the door closed but luckily she had nodded in reaction to your pleading look to keep it to herself. When you looked at him, Daryl's elbows were on his knees and his face was in his hands. You could see the red flush traveling all the way to his ears. “It wasn’t jizz. Yay?”

“Just—stop talkin’.”

“I love you.” 

“So ya keep sayin’.”

[paucubarsisimp]

picnics

pairing: lamine yamal x reader

summary: in which you take lamine out for a picnic after a tough match

warnings: none

a/n: part of the princess treatment series with my gorgeous wife, @paus-princesa!!

tagged: @barcapix, @universefcb, @joaosnovia, @nngkay, lmk if you want to be added to the taglist

the whistle blew, signaling the end of the match. lamine, his face flushed with exertion, was walking off the pitch, shoulders slumped in disappointment. his team had fought hard, but today hadn’t been their best performance, and you could see the weight of it on his face.

you had been waiting by the side of the field, a smile forming on your lips as you watched him approach. you knew how much he hated losing, how hard he worked for every game. but tonight, you were determined to change the mood, to remind him that there was more to life than just the game.

“hey, how’s my favorite footballer doing?” you called, your voice light, teasing.

lamine looked up at the sound of your voice, his eyes softening as they found yours. for a moment, he looked weary, but seeing you there, waiting for him, seemed to lift his spirits a little. “i’m alright, just… could’ve been better,” he admitted, running a hand through his damp hair.

you smiled warmly, walking toward him, your fingers gently brushing his. “you were amazing out there,” you said softly, “but i’ve got something that might make you feel better.”

he raised an eyebrow, a small spark of curiosity lighting up his tired eyes. “what’s that?”

“follow me and see,” you said, taking his hand and pulling him along.

you led him to a quiet, secluded spot by a small hill just outside the stadium. it was the perfect spot for a sunset picnic, the view breathtaking as the golden hour painted the sky in shades of pink and orange. a blanket was spread out on the grass, with a basket sitting in the center, surrounded by soft pillows to make it extra comfortable.

lamine stood there for a moment, eyes wide with surprise. “you did all this for me?”

“just for you, cariño,” you said with a smile, sitting down on the blanket and patting the spot next to you. “you deserved something peaceful after such a tough match.”

his heart softened at your thoughtfulness, and slowly, he sank down beside you, the exhaustion from the match still evident in his posture but starting to melt away. “this… this is perfect,” he whispered, his voice low and appreciative.

you opened the basket, revealing his favorite snacks—sandwiches, fruit, some homemade chocolate chip cookies, and a chilled bottle of lemonade. you handed him a drink, and as he took it, you found yourself watching him, feeling your heart flutter at how much he appreciated the gesture.

“this is exactly what i needed,” lamine said, his voice more relaxed now. he took a deep breath, letting the peaceful atmosphere wash over him. “i don’t know how you always know what to do to make me feel better.”

you smiled and nudged him playfully. “i pay attention, amor,” you said softly, your eyes meeting his. “and i know when you need a break.”

as the two of you sat there, enjoying the food and the view, the last traces of daylight disappeared and the stars began to twinkle above. lamine turned to you, a soft smile on his lips. he reached out, gently tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear.

“thank you,” he said, his voice full of sincerity. “for doing this. for making me forget about the match, even if it was just for a little while.”

“you don’t have to thank me,” you said, your voice quiet but full of warmth. “seeing you smile like this is all i need.”

he leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead, the weight of the day now gone as he settled beside you. the world felt quiet and perfect in that moment—just the two of you, the stars above, and the comforting rhythm of each other’s company.

“i don’t think i’ll ever get tired of moments like this,” he murmured, his voice full of contentment.

“neither will i,” you replied, leaning into him, the peace of the sunset picnic making everything feel right again.

the sun had set, and the world had quieted, but the warmth of the evening lingered as you and lamine sat there, savoring the simplicity of being together, away from the pressure of the pitch.

for now, this was all that mattered.

[skippingstonez]

A few months ago, I jokingly told myself that if I ever had 200 people following this account, I would post an old story I wrote a few years ago... I guess that day has come! (Aka Thank you guys so much I love you all so so much!)

A Small Favor

(OoT Link x Reader) Chapter 1 Warnings: Mentions of drowning

Hyrule field was a beautiful place in the summertime. Its green grass rolling along its hills in the warm breeze that rushed by you as you raced down the dirt path towards Lake Hylia. Its large double gates coming into view, barricading your way forward. You can hear Link encourage Epona to go faster, his body leaning a bit more forward in anticipation of the large jump. You cling onto Link’s shoulders a bit tighter, closing your eyes when you feel the drop in your stomach as Epona leaps over the first barrier, her hoofs thudding against the ground before all too soon they are in the air once more. It wasn’t that the jumps scared you, there was a thrill to it that you simply weren’t used to. A thrill that Link seemed determined to get you accustomed to no matter how much you protested. But you trusted him, and almost more importantly in this case, you trusted Epona. Though no amount of trust would likely ever soothe the churning in your gut as you slowed into a more peaceful trott. 

Two sturdy pats on your thigh, Link excitedly announcing your arrival as you reacquaint yourself with the world around you. Water gleamed like diamonds in the afternoon sun, reflecting the clouds in the sky that rolled by as slow as the cool breeze.

Link threw his leg over, dismounting before offering you his hand with a friendly “here”. You take it graciously, his other hand reaching up to hold your waist loosely as you slip off of Epona’s back and onto the grassy ground beneath.

Rattling off a quick thanks, you walk closer to the waters edge while Link unloads a few extra things from the saddle. Kicking shoes off to the side and lifting up the hem of your skirt, the water's cool temperature tickles your toes as they step onto the partially submerged structure that the two of you, and nearly everyone in Hyrule, used as a makeshift dock. Breathing in the fresh air, you stroll up to the dock’s edge, leaning against one of the nearby pillars to look down into the depths of where the water plummets far below. Lost and forgotten items of the Lake's various visitors glittered on the lakebeds floor, signalling to their owners their location only for them to realize the items were too far down for most Hylians to ever be able to retrieve

You yourself had dropped several things by accident throughout the years, only lucky enough to be reunited because of a certain green clad young boy. Giggling as you recall that seemingly insignificant day as a child, watching with awe as the young boy you had just met dived further than anyone you had ever seen before, all to retrieve your favorite toy. Never in your wildest imagination would you have thought that strange boy with the fairy would still be your best friend to this day. 

It was partially why you loved coming here so much, the memories made throughout the years with him warmed your heart and helped remind you that no matter how rough life got, Link would always be there for you. And you were always willing to return the favor, even though your support often came as patching him up after long trips, adventuring, and fighting monsters. Life was never dull with him around that was for sure.

Without warning, sturdy arms wrapped around you, scooping you right off of the ground to be tossed into the air with a startled yelp. Splashing into the cold water, limbs flinging about to get you back above the surface. Air fills your lungs once more, coughing up the water that had rushed inside from your sudden, unplanned immersion.

Link, the Hero of Hyrule, stands where you had just been, bent over at the waist with his hands on his knees, laughing hysterically.

“Link! What the heck!” Between his laughs and trying to breathe, he somehow managed a half assed apology. 

“I'm sorry, I just had to take the opportunity!” 

Paddling back, Link offers you his hand, helping pull you back up out of the water. Looking down at yourself, you were glad you had the sense to wear your swim clothes underneath the regular ones, currently soaked and a bit see-through now.

“Man I was hoping to not get this wet!” You whine, wringing out some of the water from your blouse. 

“Then why were you still wearing it?” Link teases, tossing his tunic off and throwing it onto the grass. 

No amount of rupees would make you admit the heat you felt in your stomach as he did so. The toned muscles of his chest now exposed that made butterflies flutter in your stomach and your heart skip a few beats. The tan skin marked with an array of scars that you knew the stories behind well enough to quote first hand, some of them patched up from your own hand.

“I was supposed to take it off before getting in the water, fairy boy!” Shoving past playfully, you make your way to where Epona is grazing the grass underneath one of the large trees, your bag laid on the ground beside Link's at the base of its trunk. Grabbing the hem, you slip the wet fabric of your shirt up and over your head, carefully placing it on a low hanging branch to dry before doing the same with your bottoms.

Casting a glance over your shoulder, Link's head quickly snaps away from where he had been staring over in your direction, playing it off as though he had simply been stretching before diving off the dock and into the water. Warmth invades your face, a soft pink hue spreading across your cheeks up to the tops of your ears. More butterflies fluttering in your gut at the memorized look Link had had on his face.

Had he been staring at you? Certainly not right? It's not like you wanted him to be or anything. He was your best friend after all. Oh Hylia, did you have something stuck on you!?

Without making it obvious, you twist around to check that nothing had caught a ride on you while you weren't looking. Sighing in relief when there is nothing of note, you finish up hanging everything up to dry in the afternoon sun. Looking back over to Link who is wading around in the water, waving over at you with a smirk that makes the gears in your head turn. Two could play at this game.

_________________

You never did get your revenge.

Minutes quickly morphed into hours as the two of you swam around, exploring every crevice Lake Hylia had to offer. The sun had set long ago, revealing the stars that twinkle high in the sky behind the few stray clouds as the moon reflected off the rippling water.

The quiet noises of night surrounded you, floating on your back out in the middle of the lake, unwilling to disturb the peaceful moment by speaking up or heading back to shore. Everything is still, and for a moment it's as if time itself had frozen.

It isn't until your head bumps into something hard that you move, head turning to look at Link who is rubbing his own head.

“Oops sorry” His voice is quiet, nervous even as you both right yourselves. Link looks up towards the sky, as if noticing how dark it was for the very first time.“It's getting pretty late. We should probably get going.” 

Humming noncommittally, neither of you make any sort of effort to begin swimming towards the shoreline. His blue eyes find yours, his gaze just as soft and warm as always but with something foreign to you peeking through that captivates you even more. It draws you closer. Close enough that his breath tickles your face, your legs brushing against his as they sway below the water to keep your head afloat. Pulse racing, fingertips brushing over his broad shoulder as a hand, wet and wrinkled from the hours spent in water, cups your cheek. 

Lips, soft and full, connect to yours in a rush of fresh adrenaline. Gently, hesitantly, like they were waiting for a response before fully committing. Reciprocating instantly, you wrap your arms around his neck, shivering as his other arm slips around your waist to pull you flush against his bare chest. Each of your senses is hyper aware of every brush of skin and move of his lips against you. Breath caught in your throat that you would rather choke on than be forced to pull away from him. 

But there's something off. Something you can't quite place that pokes at the back of your mind.

Something inexplicably cold brushes over your ankle, wrapping over it gently like a clawed hand reaching for its prey. You jump in surprise, startling Link who immediately lets go of you.

“Woah what`s wrong?” Link asks, startled as you searched frantically for any sign of what it had been that touched you. But the water revealed nothing, too dark to even see your own feet.

“I uhh…Nothing, I just thought I felt something. Probably just some seaweed or small fish.” 

Mentally slapping yourself for messing up the moment, a part of your brain can't help but wonder. Wonder what could have happened if you hadn't flipped out, if you had touched something in the first place and about how badly you wanted him to kiss you again. But even still, there was another part of you, something deep in your gut that just knew that something was still wrong.

“C'mon,” Link says, disappointment in his voice as he slowly moves in the direction of the small island close by. “Let's head back.”

Nodding in agreement, you follow after him, tired limbs grateful that you wouldn't need to swim all the way back to the dock since the island was much closer and connected by the wobbly wooden bridges.

Link reached the shore of the island first, stepping  out of the water and shaking off the excess water dripping from his long blonde hair.

 “Farore it's colder than I thought” He yells, rubbing his hands over his arms. 

Reaching the shore, you couldn’t take your eyes off of Link. Your lips tingle from the kiss, skin warm against the chilly air from every spot Link had been pressed against you. Blushing when he looks back and catches your eye, both of you looking away sheepishly with bright red cheeks.

“Hey!” Calling out to him in a horrible attempt at breaking the awkward silence. “Can you-“

Right as your foot leaves the water, a dark hand shoots up from beneath, calloused fingers wrapping tightly around the joint that is yanked downward. You crash to the ground with a scream, thrashing against the hold that drags you further and further back into the lake.

Link spins around at the sound of your cry, shouting your name as he dashes towards you.

“Link! Help!” 

He lunges, grabbing your wrist that is reaching out for him with both hands right before the water swallows you whole. The hand, or whatever it is, sensing the new found resistance begins to pull harder, pulling you down till the water level is just below your chin.

“Something got my ankle!” You shout, hands gripped tightly to Link's arm as he fights to keep you above the water in an odd game of tug-a-war. Your other leg kicks with as much strength as you can muster to keep you up while hoping it hits whatever has you captive.

“It’s gonna be okay! I promise just hang on, I got you!”  Link whistles for Epona who comes rushing across the wooden bridges to Link's side, neighing and stomping her hooves frantically. He reaches for her reigns, missing, and desperately gripping back onto your wrist when it nearly slips right out of his grasp, pulling you right back up till the water no longer covers your mouth 

"What the hell is in this lake?!" You sputter, spitting out water that rushes in from opening your mouth.

"Just stay calm" Link tries to reassure you, looking between you and Epona to get her to settle and come a bit closer. "I'm gonna try to grab onto Epona. You need to hold on extra tight alright?" 

You nodded, the water now covering your mouth and inching up your nose. 

“Okay… okay we can do this! Ready? 1..2.." 

Before Link could say ‘three’, another hand shoots out of the water, places itself atop of your head and harshly pushes you down into the water. Link jerks forward, your wrist slipping away as he face plants into the ground.

Water surges around you as you are dragged below, lungs screaming for air that encourages you to thrash and kick for your freedom. Though the more you fight, the quicker your air supply continues to deplete till there is nothing left, the loss of oxygen tiring you out faster than anticipated as arms and legs fall limp, water seeping into your struggling lungs.

The panic hits you first. Followed by the overwhelming urge to simply close your eye and let your body sink.

Familiar arms wrap around you, heart soaring as they pull you to a body that feels different sonehow than it had a few minutes ago. The rush of relief squashed as you realize your body is still being propelled downward, now with a bright pair of red eyes glaring into yours before it all fades into oblivion.

______________

"Ugh," Link groans, peeling himself off the damp ground. His head spinning from the impact as he looks out to the water. 

"Shit! (Y/n)!" Frantically searching for you, he stands up and dives into the lake. 

Beneath the water, where the pearly moonlight cannot penetrate, its pitch black and eerily silent. No sign of you, or anything that could indicate where you might be. Link resurfaces, gasping for breath. He calls out to you, hoping, praying that you would miraculously resurface. He dives down once more, swimming faster, and deeper with still no luck of locating you. Shooting back up for air, your name is shouted repeatedly up into the night sky as he forces himself back onto land.

Link can only sit there, eyes wide open as they continue to scan the vast darkness of the Lake.

You were gone.

It had been so sudden.

One moment he was kissing you, finally kissing after being the kingdom's biggest coward for nearly 7 years, and the next you vanished beneath the waves. Taken by some unseen creature that caught him by surprise.

He should have known better. Link knew the dangers that still lurked deep below this place, the evil that resided there even after his adventure had ended. But you loved it here, and he loved seeing the bright smile on your face everytime he brought you back. It had always been worth the risk until this moment.

Epona nudges his shoulder with her nose as he tries to catch his breath, making sure her rider is alright. He reached up to comfort her, knowing she is likely just as worried as he is for their now missing third.

He has to find you, and fast. Jumping up, he gets onto Epona, riding back as fast as he can to the mainland where he had left his things near the dock. He can still see your clothes, finally dried from his little stunt earlier swaying in the light breeze as he dismounts and rushes over. He digs through his bag, quick to pull out the blue tunic and ironclad boots that had helped him so many moons ago.

He pauses, head slowly turning to the small, out of place pile of sand by your bag that had caught his attention. Fingers brush over it, the dusty flecks of yellow and orange as warm and dry as the gerudo desert. A piece of paper lays beneath, poking out as the sand shifts and falls away. Link snatches it up, unfolding it cautiously.

 “I have a small favor to ask of you, ‘Hero’. A trade for a trade.”

Link crumples the note, tossing it aside with a frustrated huff as he stuffs his belongings back into his bag. Throwing on his clothes and boots he scoops everything up, hurrying over to Epona with a single destination in mind.

Gerudo Desert.

I'm not sure if I will post the rest of this story or not so let me know if you guys are interested!

[feroluce]

So I saw this post yesterday about whether Belobog had had phones before the Astral Express landed, or if the Trailblazers were the ones who brought them and distributed them to Jarilo-VI for the current characters. There were some mixed views and guesses in the comments.

And the answer is actually....both!

If you look at the text messages from a lot of the Belobog characters, most of them will actually allude to not knowing how to use a phone, which isn't something you get on the Xianzhou Luofu, even though they have the jade abaci. Oleg even specifically says that March 7th gave him his.

And there's also this line from Gepard and Serval's companion quest:

He's so cute I love him

Meanwhile Sampo has been running scams with selling supposed ancient relic mobile phones to the rich nobles up topside- tbh I think he could sell ice cubes in Belobog if he really put his mind to it, so he could probably make this work no matter what, knowing him. But a scam like this would not work NEARLY as well unless the general populace didn't know anything about cell phones or how they work.

(It's extra funny when you remember that he's not even a Belobog native, man has probably been hiding a phone from everyone for however long he's been there, and he absolutely knows how they work slzjkskwms)

I'm going to shove him through a meat grinder (affectionate)

While it's possible it would be way harder to get signal out there, we know from the When Business Comes Knocking adventure mission (the fact that THE TRAILBLAZER is the one who tipped off the IPC about Jarilo-VI's revival, and over something so stupid, thus leading to the invasion during the Solwarm Festival in 1.4 fucking KILLS me fjkdlsajfkdlaj) that phones CAN get some kind of signal even as far out as Everwinter Hill. So it makes this line from Serval's online introduction seem like even stronger proof that Belobog had no phones, because there's no way Gepard and Serval wouldn't text each other to at least occasionally check in while he was out in such a dangerous place.

The final nail in the coffin is actually from an IPC worker out near the Pillars of Creation, who says the Astral Express brought phones to Jarilo-VI (they say it's just a rumor, but no yeah I'm sure it's real given everything before this haha) and then admit they've been using the technological gap and lack of knowledge to make money on the side.

So. Belobog didn't have phones when the Express landed. But. But!

They did 700 years ago.

In one of the daily missions, you can encounter this echo in Backwater Pass, who shows you pictures on his phone. He mentions Alisa Rand, the very first Supreme Guardian, and the war against the Antimatter Legion, but he doesn't know what the Fragmentum is. So we know this had to happen only shortly after the Eternal Freeze came about.

And I've seen people complain how ridiculous it is that the surrounding areas of Belobog have so little flora or fauna, and how real snow tundras don't work like that. And it has been a very long time since then, but. I'm not quite sure how much water that holds, because that's not what happened here.

The Eternal Freeze didn't slowly move in. This wasn't some natural process. It just happened.

This was an environmental disaster on a planetwide scale. There was no time to prepare and most of the wildlife couldn't even live long enough to adapt or evolve. All of Jarilo-VI was on the verge of extinction; the Antimatter Legion had them at the precipice, and Alisa Rand had to make a choice. It was a desperate decision under dire straits and it didn't come without cost.

And you can see just how devastating the effects were from that previous conversation- the man regards his own phone as a pre-war relic. His wife died of illness due to the cold. His son was forced to take up a career he didn't want. Everything was put on hold. Everyone who managed to survive had to fully devote themselves to the cause.

Belobog lost entire eras of knowledge, because they were all scrambling for survival. Whatever kind of mobile phones they had before the war and the Eternal Freeze, they were lost in the ensuing chaos, until the Astral Express landed and brought new technology for the first time in 700 long years.

So- the answer is both!

[gladsforthelads]

oh my gosh hi! Im new here! ヾ(＾-＾)ノ (ㆁᴗㆁ✿) I see you have finally opened up your asks and I am so excited! I don't know if you do this kind of stuff but; How do you think the GLaDS(?) [glads(?)] would react if like, a girl came up to their man and was all 'oh he's mine' and shows a ring? And how do you think the lads would react? Love what you're doing! Keep it up! Ima come back soon! XOXO

OMG HIIIIII~

I thought I had my Asks open the moment I started this blog and realized over the weekend that I had not. 😅 I LOVE to do stuff like this and am very open to do prompts/HCs for my girls~

You're my first ask for this blog, yay!

Now, how i think the girls would react? I'll go most confident to least, and these will be little snippet stories, so enjoy!

Cordelia & Rafayel

It was a random Thursday afternoon, Rafayel had blown up her phone with messages requesting his bodyguard to go shopping at his favorite art supply store. They had only been there a few minutes, Rafayel was being extra meticulous in picking out his brushes, muttering to himself about the good and bad quality of the brushes when she showed up. Her flowery perfume was overwhelming as she suddenly waltzed up to them, flashing a gaudy ring in her face, demanding she get away from her fiancé because ‘He’s mine!”.

There was admittedly, a fiery pang of jealousy that burned through her first, but Cordelia kept a calm smile on her face. This wasn’t the first time some obsessed adoring fan of the great artist Rafayel had tried a stunt like this, and Cordelia knew it wouldn’t be the last so long as he lived in the limelight. She could feel Rafayel’s dirty look and flaring temper, but Cordelia calmly stepped between them, pulled out her Hunter’s badge, and flashed her authority to the fan.

“I’m afraid neither your name nor face is on my list of Mr. Rafayel’s associates that is safe to be left alone in his company.” She kept her tone cool and professional and saw the attitude shift in the girl’s face. “I will politely ask you to leave now before I have you arrested for impersonation, misdemeanor, and stalking.”

The girl sputtered and paled, and with a quivering lip turned on her heel and fled the store. The few shoppers inside stared at them briefly before returning to their shopping. It was a small easy victory, that thankfully ended without making a large scene, however Rafayel would have to look for a new store to shop in; again. The burning jealousy was slow to smother itself out as she kept her back to Rafayel, but his smooth gentle fingers grazed the palm of her hand before locking between the spaces of her fingers.

“Good job Miss Bodyguard,” with a playful tone he lifted her hand and kissed her ring finger. “Don’t worry, you’re the only one that’s allowed to call me yours, Cutie. Should we go back to the studio to prove that I’m all yours~?”

His reassurance was enough to soothe the jealous fire, but it sparked a different one that couldn’t be put out in public.

===

Elara & Sylus

They’d just finished biking and were at the usual biker stop atop the hill overlooking the N109 zone. Sylus had left his helmet on and was resting on the seat of his bike while Elara had taken her helmet off to catch some fresh air before they went back to the base when one of the biker girls from across the way was maddogging her. Normally she just ignored her, signal to Sylus it was time to go, and they’d leave, but as if sensing her plan, the biker girl was marching over them with a determined look in her eye. Elara just wanted to groan. This was her last night off before having a mission for the next two weeks and she didn’t to end it getting into a pointless fight.

“I like your bike,” the biker jutted her chin at her ride as she stood in front of the bikes in a poor attempt to keep them from riding off.

“Thanks,” Elara said warily, “I do too.”

“I like your boyfriend better.”

Elara stood stunned trying register what the girl had said. She neither confirmed nor denied the complicated status of their relationship, but the audacity for this girl to walk over and state such a thing was appalling. She obviously didn’t know the helmet man tilting his head in amusement was the big bad boss of Onychinus, or she would’ve reevaluated whatever method she was doing to get a one-night stand. For a brief moment she thought Sylus had put her up to this, or maybe Luke and Keiren, but the girl was far too serious for this to be a joke.

“Oh, yeah?” Elara could only raise a brow at her as she realized where this was going. Sylus’s shoulders moved up and down, as if he was fighting back laughter as he watched the little showdown before him.

“Yeah,” she looked Sylus’s tall muscular frame with an undeniable hunger that twisted something dark within Elara. “I think he’s going to be mine.”

For the fastest second all Elara could see red as a strange hungry desire to stake her claim called from within her, however she couldn’t make that claim. Her relationship with Sylus was too complex to have a simple title as boyfriend and girlfriend – betwixt work associates when the occasion arose, bed partners on the nights of full moons, riding buddies – and she herself didn’t have a title or word for what they were exactly, but the King’s Ring was on a chain around her neck.

“If you think you can handle him, he’s all yours.” She shrugged and slid her helmet back on her head. “But I doubt you could handle any of his deals.”

She flipped the visor and revved the engine and sped around the girl without looking back. A dark chuckle rumbled on the intercom of her helmet.

“You’d just leave me with another woman, Sweetie?” The mirth in his voice was enough to make her roll her eyes. “I’m hurt.”

“As if. If you’d even had a modicum of interest in her you’d make your move first,” she huffed confidently. She felt a pull to her right as he sped beside her on his bike. “Besides, I have the King’s Ring, that means you’re mine.”

“Yes,” she caught a red glint under his visor and felt a stronger pull, “yes it does, kitten.”

===

Melora & Caleb

It was their day off, they were checking out the model plane store in Skyhaven, trying to see if the store carried any of the older models they’d lost in the explosion when a familiar pretty face appeared. Tall, blonde, blue eyes, skinny, and just overall beautiful even for her Y2K fashion, Brittany hadn’t changed much since high school, only getting more endowed as she matured and not look at all out of place while carrying a small model kit in her basket.

“That’s a good kit, but how old is your nephew?” Caleb asked easily, polite and kind as usual.

“He’s turning ten this weekend.”

“Has he done any models like this before?” He cocked a worried brow at her.

Brittany shook her head, really putting in the effort to make her body move enticingly, “From what my brother’s told me it’s a new hobby.”

Either not seeing or choosing to ignore Brittany’s advances, Caleb put his hand to his chin and tilted his head thoughtfully. “Let me see if I can find and easier kit for him them. Wait here.”

And just like that he was off to be the super helpful guy he always was, completely leaving Melora and Brittany to glare at one another. Brittany’s entire demeanor shifted, her nose scrunched, and the sweetness in her voice turned into sour condescension, “OMG, are you stilllllllll clinging to him you little pest? How old are you?”

“How old are you?” Melora scoffed as she looked her up and down and gestured to all of her. “Don’t you know that Y2K was last century? It’s aging you. Badly, or is looking older what you’re going for?”

“Puh-lease, everyone knows Caleb likes a full set.” She put her hands on her hips and puffed up her chest proudly, succeeding in making Melora feel just a tiny bit inadequate. “By the end of this visit, he is mine.”

Hand on her phone, the matching Jolly Apple charm swinging, she held it up proudly. “I doubt he’s going anywhere with you when he and I are already a pair.”

Brittany looked at the phone charm, hardly looking impressed and scoffed. Melora’s hands clenched into fists at her side just as Caleb back, his apple dog tag necklace swinging around his neck. His amethyst eyes were bright with excitement, his voice passionate about sharing a hobby with the younger generation, “Hey, so I found this one, I know it says 8+ on the box but it has less parts and might be a little easier for some of his first models to put together – ”

He looked up, eyes locked onto Melora immediately, brows creasing with worry. She tore her gaze away, not wanting to make a scene and shoved her phone in her pocket. She turned to the side and looked at some of the other models Caleb was previously looking at.

“Pips – ?”

“OMG, this is perfect!” Brittany cut in, taking the model kit from him, “Thank you so much.”

“Y – Yeah, no problem.” He said distractedly and smiled politely but was looking around her at Melora. “Glad I could help.”

“Do you think I could get your number?” Brittany spoke in a rush, pulling her phone out, already unlocking it to get his information. “In case my nephew wants different models, I could always use your recommendation.”

Melora’s ears burned, and she couldn’t look away from the plane model in front of her, blood pounding in her ears, stomach twisting into knots.

“Um, yeah, sure.” Caleb had to tear his eyes away from Melora and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Brittany’s eyes locked in on the Sunny Apple charm and her mouth snapped shut.

“Aw, that’s cute,” she poked the charm and Caleb frowned, the friendliness in his face dying. “Where’d you get that?”

His nostrils flared and his voice took a hard edge. “My girlfriend got it for me.”

Melora’s head snapped back, her heart soaring, and Brittany’s mouth puckered into a pout as Caleb stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

“You know what, I think if your nephew needs any advice about which model to get next, he should come into the store and ask the owner.” Caleb’s smile grew polite as he pointed to the gentleman behind the counter before walking past Brittany. He turned his attention back to Melora and she met his smile with another one of his own. “Come on pipsqueak, let’s go lunch.”

With a skip in her step and a hum in her heart she felt like she was flying.

===

Lyla & Zayne

It was a lovely Sunday afternoon, they’d spent the day at the farmer’s market together getting ingredients for the evening’s meal, sampling baked goods from sellers, and were settled into a nice, cozy café. Zayne went to get their drinks while she got the table. She’d stowed their bags against the wall and had just taken a seat when she looked up and a woman stared her down.

“I’m sorry, was this table taken?” Lyla immediately reached for her bags and started to gather her things, but the woman across the table held up her hand, pausing her movements.

“No, you can have the table.” She responded primly, her eyes trailing up and down Lyla’s frame in a way that made her skin crawl. “I just came here to tell you that you need to stop.”

Not understanding, her brows pinched, and she tilted her head to the side. “I beg your pardon?”

“I said you need to stop what you’re doing.” She reiterated, her tone like a match ready to light a flame.

“Stop what, exactly?”

The woman smacked both hands on the table and leaned forward, as if barely holding herself back from launching herself across the table. “You need to stop trying to worm your way into his heart!”

Jumping back and really wishing she’d just changed tables, Lyla blurted, “Who?”

“Zayne.”

“Zayne?” She blinked twice, turned to the counter where he was waiting to receive their drinks. She turned back and the woman had returned to her seat, but her feathers were very ruffled. “I’m sorry, but who are you?”

“His fiancé!” She snapped and held her hand out where she waggled a very cheap looking ring on her finger.

Lyla tried not to laugh. Zayne might have a monkey for a brother, but he didn’t have a fiancé. Even if he did, his salary could afford a much better ring. To her credit, she was dressed in a similar fashion to Zayne, almost as if she’d raided his closet, but Lyla could easily tell something was off about this woman.

“Well that’s news to me,” Lyla said carefully, not wanting to draw anymore attention to them than the stranger already had. “However, I assure you that we were just shopping.”

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to, witch!” She hissed and pointed a finger at her. “You’re trying to take him away from his purpose again?”

“Ma’am I don’t know what it is you think you’re doing,” Lyla tried to diffuse things, but the woman across from her looked ready to escalate them, “but I assure you Zayne is my –”

“My, my, what’s this?” Zayne cut in, setting a to-go cup down on the table and drawing the woman’s attention to himself. “Hello, Cynthia, how are you doing?”

“Much better now that you’re here.” She purred and cast Lyla a nasty look.

“Have you been taking your medication like you’re supposed to?” He asked with a thoughtful hum and the woman pouted.

“It tastes terrible.” She crossed her arms and looked away.

“I know, but its good for you and your mental clarity.” Zayne said pointedly and pulled out his phone. “Does your husband know where you are?”

Lyla blinked in surprise but pursed her lips to remain quiet.

“That man isn’t my husband; you are Dr. Zayne!”

“Hmmm, I’m sure Joshua would argue that.”

“Cynthia! There you are!”

A man, assumedly her husband Joshua, comes with her medicine and after much convincing from Doctor Zayne, Cynthia reluctantly took her medicine. Joshua apologized profusely but Zayne waved it off, forgiving them with a kind smile.

“I know she’s still recovering from her concussion,” he carefully tucked his hand into his pocket and waited for them to leave before taking his seat.

He looked utterly exhausted, and Lyla couldn’t help but let a small laugh bubble out of her. “Trying to live a telenovela, Dr. Zayne?”

“Hardly.” He huffed with a shake of his head and finally sipped his own coffee. “She has to come into the hospital every few weeks for examination and confuses her realities with her TV dramas sometimes.”

“Glad to know you don’t have a secret fiance, at least.” Lyla teased, cupping her coffee in her hands and peering up at him. “I would hate to be the homewrecker.”

“Never.” He snorted with a small teasing smile. “Tell me, I’m curious, just what had you planned on telling her before I interrupted?”

Lyla’s face bloomed with heat, and she shook her head, refusing to say anything. Zayne chuckled at her and ate a pastry while she tried to still her beating heart.

===

Selene & Xavier

They had just returned from a mission when Xavier suddenly went on ahead to run and catch up with their coworker Sharon; again. For almost three weeks now he had been meeting up with her regularly and disappearing afterwards. Selene did her best not to feel slighted as she’d only seen them together at work, but rumors were going around the office that the two of them were dating. Given Xavier’s crazy sleep schedule, she found that very hard to believe that he was actually dating her, but he also refused to give her a straight answer when she asked what he was doing with her. Xavier didn’t strike her as the type to partner up with someone he wasn’t seeing, nor did he seem like one to cheat as they’d been on a handful of dates now.

She didn’t even bother following after him and went straight to the office to type up their report from today’s mission. It was easy, it was a very small Wanderer attack that  Xavier managed to finish up quickly and then they helped a few fruit seller stalls gather their fruit after it was all knocked into the road. The report was simple enough to type up, she clocked out, then went to the locker rooms to change and go home for the day.

She’d just finished changing out of her uniform when Sharon came waltzing out of one of the stalls, also finishing up for the day. Selene bobbed her head in acknowledgment but wanted nothing more than to ignore her and go straight home.

“Good work out there today.” Sharon said snidely, “Thank you for bringing my Xavier back to me.”

“Xavier’s not a pet.” Selene frowned and faced her. “He’s more than capable of handling himself, even without my help.”

“Even so, I’d be utterly distraught if something happened to my fiancé.”

Selene sputtered, her eyes going straight to the ring on her fourth finger of her left hand and felt something break inside of her then prickle angrily outwards. Selene puffed up, her hand gripping the strap of her bag tightly.  

“You shouldn’t tell lies like that.” She said sternly, “Xavier wouldn’t like that.”

“Oh please, everyone in the office is talking about us.”

“Those are rumors, that doesn’t make it true.” She argued weakly. “Besides, he’s my partner.”

“You’re his work partner,” Sharon tossed her hair over her shoulder cockily, “that means nothing in terms of romance.”

Selene wanted to argue that they were more than just work partners, they had meals together, that they played games together, got plushies together, had even been to each other’s apartments but the argument faded away with her confidence. Her eyes burned with unshed tears and not wanting to linger here for a second longer she left the locker room to go home. She just wanted to go home and mope in peace, but as she left, she spotted Xavier and Sharon talking.

A spoke of jealousy spurned through her, but she refused to sink to Sharon’s level and would be the bigger person. Keeping her head held high she walked past them without saying a word, but she felt Xavier’s gaze burning a hole through the back of her head. Hastening her steps she made it to the next landing when her hand was snatched back, and she whipped around to see Xavier.

“Hey, are you okay?” Worry and confusion furrowed his brow as he peered into her face. “I thought we were leaving together today.”

Selene stole a glance over his shoulder and saw Sharon pouting with her arms crossed and sending glares in her direction.

“Why don’t you go with your fiancé?”

He blinked twice, tilted his head and glanced behind him. “What are you talking about?”

“You haven’t heard the rumors?”

“Rumors?” He shook his head in confusion, “What rumors?”

Selene snatched her wrist back and quickly attached it to her bag strap to keep from shoving him away. “You and Sharon have been dating for months now, and you’re apparently engaged.”

Xavier’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open, pure shock on his face. “How could I be dating her, let alone be engaged to her, when I spend all my time with you?”

“You’re pretty fast, you could make time.” She shrugged and avoided his gaze. “You certainly have been spending plenty of time with her for the last three weeks.”

He opened his mouth to argue, then quickly shut it, puffing a soft breath.

“It’s not like that.”

“Well, I don’t know what is going on between you two since you refuse to give me a straight answer.” She snapped hotly, aiming a glare at him. “I’ve asked you twice about it and all you said was that you were doing some additional work with her.”

“I was.” He answered rather exasperatedly. “She’s studying the protocores and mineral waste from Wanderers to see if she could recycle it into wearable jewelry. She asked me to bring her bigger and more solid pieces for her to study and play around with.”

That sounded very plausible, and given all the protocores he picked up and tossed around after battles, it wasn’t too far-fetched. . .

The fight slowly left her, but she still needed some sort of confirmation from him to sooth her jealousy and her ego.

“So, you’re not two timing?”

“No.” He said vehemently, shaking his head to drive the whole point. He stood close enough that the toes of their shoes kissed and reached for her pinky finger. “I’m dating you, and only you. I promise”

Her angry jealous weeds uprooted themselves out of her heart to let a budding flower grow in her heart.

“Okay.” She relented with a sigh. “I believe you, but you really need to do something about those rumors . . .”

“I will.” He promised with a nod of his head. “I’ll get Tara on it first thing tomorrow.”

“Good.”  She smiled, feeling much better now. “Now you may walk home with me.”

He puffed a small laugh and smiled as he matched his step with hers. “Gladly, partner”

[cleolinda]

Weekend links, May 4, 2025

My posts

I am still struggling with the fifth Silent Hill 2 commentary; the video I recorded last week (4/30) also isn't usable. Like, maybe I'll post it on Patreon as an extra at some point, but it is not the level of excellence we strive for here at Cleolinda Industries. Within hours of that, April's parting shot was to knock me down with another head cold, BUT, now that I have escaped its grip (April's, not the cold's. I'm still sick), I may have solved my OBS problems. I DON'T KNOW. WE LIVE IN HOPE. 

Meanwhile, Ian's off in fuckin' Brookhaven Hospital. IT'S. FINE. (I'm in the chat, we figure out some good stuff about the lore, it's a good time.) Also, at the top of his stream, he had sound engineer Andy Sudol on to talk about the differences between the 2001 and 2024 soundtracks. 

Signal boost while we're talking about games: I'm doing really well on light combat in SH2, except for when my neuropathy acts up and my fingers just decide they don't want to participate anymore (it's a good bet this has happened if I start screaming "JAMES WHAT ARE YOU DOING??"), so these mods and resources for disabled gamers caught my eye.  

Reblogs of interest

@mamoru looking out for us on the food safety front

Y'all, I don't know what's going on with Pinterest, but don't breathe too hard right now. An update from Reddit: More news outlets are reporting the sudden mass ban wave these last two weeks

My personal question: how does it actually BENEFIT companies to make their product unusable, though? I understand the answer, and yet, as a person who can think more than five seconds ahead into the future, I completely do not understand the answer.  

This question was also partly inspired by Polygon getting sold/gutted, in the sense of this Reddit reply.

Oh, I wasn't even thinking of Duolingo asserting itself as an "AI-first" company even as people complain that the quality of the app has plunged, so fuck them too I guess

PSA about some scam call techniques

I had to tell my therapist that I was facetiously done with life and everything in it, so I get this post

Good (and cute) news: "you can sponsor your own big beautiful TB- or landmine-detecting rat through APOPO HeroRATS"; "First-of-its-kind lab breeds bumblebee babies to save species from extinction"

Zines: I Am Not Your Asian American Doll

Speaking of Silent Hill 2: "this is how tag searches feel"

"askjeeves how to smuggle 30 naked prisoners (assorted genders) out of vampire mansion time sensitive."

"no, you’re thinking of fusion and fission. Bisexuals result in two nuclei that are identical to the original nucleus. Pansexuals result in four nuclei with half the number of chromosomes of the original cell"

"oh to be the black blob of a cat in vanessa stockard's paintings"

In tough times, there is one thing thou must always remember

All of these are horses

"Goblin learns they have a racist sword": some fantasy ideas

Flip the Frog gets restored

I'm particularly amused by these Vanillary reviews because I have it as a solid perfume and it's fine. 

I agree with all of these expletive/accent pairings.

A feline boo ghost to go with last week's ghost dog photoshoot

"The tribes of Tumblr appeared to worship Apollo as their primary patron deity, most often under the epithet Apollo Spairahemon ('Apollo the Ball-Thrower')"

Video

Wet beast Wednesday: "MOVE IDIOT"

Blumineck has a new approach to the three-arrow trick shot

"i know this is a predator. like a hardened killing machine. tempered by hundreds of years of evolutionary prowess to fine tune him into a living weapon. but"

Finsync

Good guy who talks like a bad guy

I honestly was not prepared for anything in this anecdote about buying a printer

The sacred texts

The iconic "girl… what were YOU doing at the devils sacrament 👀"

Personal tags of the week

I will be adding to "with mama" as often as possible. (You know what? I also need to add to dragons.)

[lullabytaeyong]

Do you have any little Ateez, I would love some little mingi slipping during an interview or somewhere public so Yunho keeps him distracted till it's over?

Little Mingi Short 💝

Mingi was having a bit of a tough day. He was tired, socially drained, and home sick. He spent the whole night tossing and turning in an unfamiliar hotel room, far away from his own bed that had pink sheets and felt like a cloud. Sitting in a noisy and busy restaurant was not making his day any easier. He sat at a long table that fit all the members, four of them on each side. On one side of him was Yunho and on the other was Yeosang. Everyone was in a chipper mood, chatting and laughing together while they waited for their food. Everyone except Mingi.

His spaced out demeanor didn’t go unnoticed by Yunho or Seonghwa, who was across from them. Mingi hardly said a word and they had been there for half an hour. Deep in his subconscious, he was starting to tilt and slip down a grassy hill. He was disoriented, feeling vulnerable and exposed in the public environment, as he lost touch with his adult headspace. Yunho held his knee that bounced frantically under the table, trying to calm down whatever storm was going on inside.

Mingi blinked away tears, hanging his head. All the sounds of people dining, talking, laughing and the music playing turned into one big mess of noise that felt like static in his ears. He couldn’t focus on Seonghwa asking him if he was okay, or Yunho ducking his head down to speak to him softly. Mingi chewed his lips and hid his hot face in his hands.

“Hey, honey, come with me. Let’s go to the bathroom.” Yunho said, rubbing Mingi back and starting to get up. Mingi managed to stand up and wiped his eyes, avoiding the others faces and grabbing Yunho’s hand, so he could lead him to safety.

“It’s not too far.” Yunho said as they walked, weaving through tables and chairs.

Once they were in the bathroom, which was made for one person to use at a time. Mingi gasped and burst fully into tears. Yunho, who was expecting it, hushed him gently and took him into his arms. He nuzzled his hair and told him that he understood, and that everything was okay.

“S’too loud!” Mingi sobbed into his shoulder.

“It is pretty loud out there, it’s okay. We can take a break in here for a few minutes.” Yunho comforted gently. Mingi sniveled and hiccuped a few times, gradually calming himself down thanks to the tight embrace Yunho kept him in. The pressure on his sides worked like magic.

“It’s easier to hear the music in here. I think it’s Taylor Swift.” Yunho thought aloud.

“I don’t know…” Mingi replied under his breath.

“Do you know what you want to eat?”

“No…I don’t want to order.”

“I can do that for you, hun. Chicken?” Yunho chuckled. Mingi nodded. Getting something in his stomach would make him feel a little better.

Once his tears were fully dried they made their way back to the table where they got some curious looks from the other members. Yunho waved them off, a signal that he’d talk to them about it later. He paid extra special attention to Mingi, ordering for him and holding his hand. When he got antsy or started staring off into space, he grabbed him back to earth with a little game.

“Mingi-ah, I spy with my little eye something…” Yunho’s eyes darted around, “Red!”

Mingi looked at him briefly, then intently to their immediate surroundings. There were a few red things he spotted. A label on a menu, a bottle of ketchup…

“Hm!” Mingi hummed hopefully, pointing to Jongho’s hoodie.

“You got it! Your turn.”

“I spy…uhm…somethingggg that’s a rectangle.”

Yunho smiled and tried to pretend he didn’t see Minho’s eyes land on his napkin right before speaking. They quietly went back and forth with their game until the food got there. Each round got sillier until they were giggling away together in their own world.

[fridgemissionmaster]

Leviathan x Reader: March Prompt/Day 7 Cherry Blossom

Prompt list/available prompt requests here, making a fic everyday of march

🎵

Flinching he clamped a hand over his mouth desperate to not make a peep as he saw those sheets shift. Carefully stepping over his brothers he made his way across the room. Then, finally by your side he took your shoulder and rocked it. It took a minuet but soon he was greeted by your drowsy face. He placed a pointer finger before his mouth signaling to keep quiet before glancing to his brothers, all of which were thankfully still asleep, scattered across the hotel room floor. He passed you one of your shirts before going off to get his own clothes to get dressed.

No extras just the necessities for going out before the pair of you snuck away into the hall. “What are we doing?” There were sleepy tears in the corners of your eyes making them sparkle. Though you spoke just above a whisper your curiosity, and giddiness were evident.

“I…” He picked at the inside of his jacket pocket, trying to release some of that irritation and focus on you. “I wanted to do what we planned before my brothers hijacked our trip.”

You sighed, your head dropping a little. “Good.” Then you looked to him so relieved. “I was worried I wasn’t going to get to spend any time with just you.” You looked to the door for a moment though. “They will come looking for us in not too long though.”

Levi couldn’t help glaring at the door. “But, hey-” Even now your touch sent his heart a flight, he could never get used to it. Not in a bad way it just… always felt so nice, even you placing your hand into his free one. “-that just means we’ll have to plan another trip for next year.” No, not next year, he couldn’t wait any longer!

“Y-yeah…”

“Levi, you okay?”

“AH, Yes, yes, I’m just still a little tired.” He hated the nervous laughter that escaped him.

And so off you went. Originally the pair of you were going to stay in one of the more rural towns to your surprise but once his brothers caught wind of your plan and forced themselves in of course you ended up in Tokyo, so this train ride was a much longer one to get to your intended destination, even having get off and take another train at certain spots. You ended up dozing off again on occasion which wasn’t the worst, Levi simply played his handheld, occasionally you drifting away from sleep enough to comment something.

“oh… Rune Tomes?”

“uh-huh.”

He almost froze as you snuggled up into him. B-but it was his shoulder, it was fine!

“hmm…… it always makes me happy seeing that game. it’s the first co-op game we beat together… and…” You yawned, your warm breath tickling his hands. “farming, romance, lifesim and adventure rpg, good generas… have you beat the king for the blue feather of happiness?”

…

…

…

“Y-yes.”

“who are you going… going to giv…”

And you were asleep again.

He lead his character back up that hill to the king’s arena, a simple hill with a couple scattered Sakura trees scattered across it. The more that were kept from getting hurt in battle, the better the reward you got. And of course he got the best one, the blue feather of happiness. This was a completed file, there was not much else to do other than keep farming and doing the festivals that he already won all of in previous in-game years, but this was the only physical game be brought on this trip and it was the only game he was going to play.

He looked out to the unfamiliar starry sky, those little lights already beginning to dim and fade. Thankfully finally the next stop would be your final one.

“Ah, finally!” You stretched, lifting your hands high above your head. “So, guess we’ll wander around? I know the park is the best place to view the Sakura trees but there should be other ones around town, and I think it’d be cool to see the place while it’s still quiet and empty before everyone come out for viewing parties and such.

“Actually, there’s a different place I want to go. It’s a short walk outside of town.”

“Oh?”

“I-it’s not far! We can look at the town after!” Don’t be disappointed, don’t be disappointed, don’t be disappointed don’t be dissa-

“Sure, lead the way.”

Oh thank goodness he was just about to drop dead on the spot. He took a deep breath, shoving his hands into his pockets, lightly trembling. “Then let’s g-AH!”

You linked your arm with his, pulling him close. “You seem a bit cold.” His heart could not take this. After this trip he needed to just not leave his room for a couple hundred years to recover.

As more and more of those little twinkling lights began to fade, he picked up in pace. It wasn’t far, the pair of you simply had to follow a dirt path that was near the edge of town.

And soon you came upon a hill, with a few Sakura trees scattered across it. “I… Levi, aren’t these in the same positions as the…”

“Yeah, the lead director had the king’s boss area be based off of his favorite hill back home.”

“Oh wow.” You let go, beginning to make your way for one of the trees. The whole reason you wanted to come here and what he told you, you were coming here for.

The sun was beginning to raise, he needed to catch up. He needed to get going. He needed to stop shaking, he needed to swallow the lump in his throat he needed to stop clutching the little box in his pocket or else he’d break the damn thing and he couldn’t present that to you could he, or could he a ring was the right choice right? that’s what humans do, not just in-NO no, he already checked it, this, is FINE, everything OKAY! He was NOT going to panic and ruin everything NOW! HE COULDN’T BE SECONDGUESSING HIMSELF RIGHT NOW! OF ALL TIMES!

He was not going to let his brothers ruin this, and he wasn’t going to let himself ruin this either!

One foot after the other he managed to trudge himself along. The wind was picking up, sending a few of those cherry blossoms flying, some landing on you or by your feet, even some seeming to keep drifting in the air about you.

Enough! He couldn’t stop fiddling with the damn box! Slipping it’s contents out and clutching onto it, finally he was beside you.

He hated it, the heat on his cheeks unbearable, they were probably so red. He had his back turned to the raising sun, that way the sight of you didn’t leave him blind and he’d have to be squinting this whole time. That may have been a mistake, the first few beams of sunlight landing on you was a breath taking sight.

“M-MC?”

“Yeah- Levi, are you okay!?”

“Y-yeah, NO I, I, I-I!” Stealing one of your hands he clasped both of his around it, pressing that blue feather-looking ring into your palm. “I have something to say! I know I’m not the smartest, or strongest, or the best guy out there, but I know one thing for certain and it’s that I would work the hardest to make you the happiest you ever could be! I don’t want to be away from you, if you’d have me I’d follow you anywhere, to follow you when you have to leave the Devildom and go back home. I want to always be your player two and- And- I-I, I’m

WOULDYOUMARRYME!

[polarmoon]

hello simblr i once again bring an out of context screenshot to show off How Pretty My Sim Is . thank you and goodnight

[silvrash-797]

Febuwhump 2025 - A Protective Heart and a Sharp Blade

Prev

Read on ao3

Chapter 2: Magic Exhaustion

Wild sat on a log, watching Time and Warriors fret over Wind's disappearance, and rolled his eyes. The Sailor was a hero multiple times over, he could handle himself!

Besides, Twilight as Wolfie never failed to bring a wayward member of the Chain back. Nothing to worry about.

He startled as his slate crackled to life.

“WILD!!” Wind's voice sobbed – at least, it probably was Wind? They weren’t in his Hyrule so nobody else would have the right frequency to contact him, but something sounded…wrong…with his voice. It bubbled like he was speaking underwater, rough and grating like he’d eaten a durian without peeling it.

Wild pulled the slate from his hip. Oh, he does not look good. Wind's entire face was puffy and swollen, and Wild watched tears and snot stream from his eyes and nose. “Wind? What’s wrong? Where are you?”

Wind choked on half a dozen bone-rattling sneezes before he could answer. “I don’t know where I am,” he wheezed, tears flowing and sounding so, so lost. “But it’s Wolfie! I…He-” Another sneeze attack left him gasping thinly for air, and Wild distantly noticed the rest of the Chain drawing closer. “Wolfie's dying!” Wind wailed.

Icy chills flooded down Wild's spine. Twilight. “Hold on Sailor! We’ll find you!”

“Hurry!” Wind pleaded, dropping the connection in the middle of another sneezing fit.

A split second of horrified silence prevailed before the Chain exploded into chatter.

“Did he say Wolfie's dying?”

“What was wrong with him? He sounded awful.”

“How're we supposed to find them?!”

Wild ignored them all, opening his album and flicking desperately through the pages, looking for one picture in particular.

There! Back when they’d first discovered that he and Wind could communicate through the stone and slate, Wild had taken a picture of the gossip stone to eventually show Flora and Purah.

Please work.

His slate chimed. Target with Sensor?

Yes! Wild pressed Confirm, and the slate jingled. Brushing past Legend and Hyrule, he walked a slow circle around the camp, eyes trained on the sensor pinging in the corner of his slate. When he felt he had a stronger signal, he walked a few more steps in that direction to confirm.

Looking up, his path led north, through some loosely spaced trees and along the creekbed. Hang on guys, we’re coming.

He materialized the Master Cycle Zero and fed it a giant ancient core and a couple of extra star fragments before holstering the slate. He was about to hop on and ride off alone when a strong hand grasped his shoulder. Looking over, he saw Hyrule, hazel eyes ablaze with determination.

“I’m coming with you,” he said. “They’re going to need me.”

Wild nodded, pausing just long enough to help Hyrule settle behind him. With a spray of dirt, they raced towards their brothers' aid.

On they traveled, following the steadily increasing chime of his slate. As they approached the top of a hill, Wild caught glimpses of a battle in the tracks, fur, and blood spattered around. Heart in his mouth, he skidded to a stop when they reached the crest.

In the valley below, he saw two bodies laid out in the pink-stained snow. “No, no, no…”he muttered in horror, spinning out a bit in his haste to get to his brothers.

Wild threw himself off the Master Cycle before it had come to a complete stop, Hyrule hard on his heels. He crashed to his knees in the space between the boy and the wolf, heart pounding as he took in the scene.

Wind lay just beyond arm's reach of Twilight, wheezing thinly, his lips, cheeks, eyes, and throat red and severely swollen. His sword lay close to hand, but he appeared to be otherwise uninjured.

Wolfie was covered with gore, so much so that it took Wild a moment to see the deep gash stretching from shoulder to rib cage that wept blood into the frozen ground. A weak whine left his muzzle as half-lidded eyes caught his gaze. His breath came shallow and irregular.

Wild looked up and met Hyrule's eyes, suddenly intensely grateful he wasn’t alone. “What do you need me to do?” he whispered.

Hyrule closed his eyes, breathed deep, held it, then let it out in a sigh. The world seemed to still around them like they’d tapped into bullet time. When his eyes opened, stubborn resolve filled them. “Carefully move Wind away, lay him on his back, and keep him warm. Tip his head back a bit to help open his airway.

“We can’t do much else to help him until we get rid of whatever is causing that reaction.” He ghosted a hand across Wind's forehead and frowned; a pink glow lit up his hand for a moment before sinking into Wind's skin.

“There,” he said, “that should be enough to help him wake up. See if you can get him to tell you what he’s allergic to.”

Wild nodded. It broke his heart to turn away from Twilight, but he trusted Hyrule. Carefully, he reached over and gathered Wind into his arms, moving far enough away to be clear of the disturbed ground, but staying close enough to lend a hand if Hyrule needed it.

Shifting Wind slightly, Wild materialized his cloak and spread it on the snowy ground to offer some protection. Ever so gently, he laid Wind out as Hyrule had instructed, pulling out his Snowquill tunic and warm doublet to place over his little brother.

Wind's eyelids fluttered and opened a crack, lost in the puffiness of his face. “Wil'?” he slurred, “’S tha' you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Don’t speak – save your strength.”

Wind ignored him, drawing in a wet, ragged breath. “Don' tell Twi,” he moaned.

“Shh,” Wild soothed. “Use sign, please. Don’t tell Twi what?”

Wind was still so long Wild thought he’d fallen unconscious again. Finally, he sniffled and raised shaky hands to sign, “I hurt Wolfie.”

Shock blasted through Wild's body. What!?

Wind continued, unaware of Wild's horror. Slowly, he told of the Wolfos attack, his fur allergy, hearing pawsteps and attacking, and the wind guiding his hand.

All the while Wild heard Hyrule muttering to Wolfie behind him, and when he glanced back, pink healing light encircled the pair.

Finally, Wind’s hands stopped and fell limp to his chest. The surrounding area seemed to hold its breath at the weight of the confession. When his fist moved again, it beat a continuous circular path around his heart. Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry.

Wild gently placed his hand over Wind's. “Twilight will understand, I’m sure,” he said softly. “It was an accident, just Wolfie being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

Looking over his shoulder, he watched the pink light fade from around Hyrule and Wolfie. Hyrule swayed in place for a moment before collapsing into Wolfie's side in a dead faint.

Sighing, he turned back to Wind. I’ll be back soon, Sailor,” he said. “Hyrule's exhausted his magic again.” He received a thumbs up in response.

As Wild approached the place where Hyrule and Wolfie lay, he saw Twilight's ears twitch. The huge canine head rose and watched him warmly.

Wild sunk to his knees and hugged his friend, mentor, and companion. “Oh, Twi,” he whispered burying his face in the coarse fur, “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Twilight huffed a warm breath across his back and shoulders and began to pull away. Gently, he nosed Hyrule from his flank and transformed back to his Hylian form.

“Kid don’t know when to quit,” he said fondly, smoothing Hyrule's hair away from his face. “Coulda had magic left for the Sailor if he didn’t try so hard to make me perfect.” He turned back to Wild. “How is he? Wind, I mean.”

“Upset, understandably. Breathing a bit easier now that I’ve got him away from most of the fur.”

Twilight smacked his forehead. “I shoulda guessed he had a fur allergy! No wonder he always stayed far away from Wolfie, and my pelt.”

And so saying, he took off his pelt and placed it over Hyrule. “Let him sleep. Let's go get the Sailor cleaned up an' feelin' better.”

“Wait!” Wild grabbed his arm. “How do you want to explain your presence here?”

Twilight smirked. “I was sent to find you two. What else is new?”

[foreficfandom]

Alastor Headcanons: His Body, Anatomy, and Sexuality

His Hellish, cervine body has a light, single-coated coat. He would get molts if Hell had photoperiodism, so if you want an Al that gets floof during the fall and winter, then thank the longer nights and cooler air. 

By square inch, deer have more hair follicles than humans, but not Alastor. So even though he’s got visible down on every exposed bit of skin, it’s not particularly dense, making it ineffective at thermoregulating - it doesn’t block enough sun, doesn’t regulate the heat, and doesn’t parse cool air. He’s lucky that he’s a Louisiana-summer-swamp homebody, otherwise Hell’s heat would suck. 

If Al ever took a modern health check whilst alive, he’d learn he’s prone to hypotension and high cholesterol. Casual cocaine consumption also messed up his gastrointestinal system, putting him at a high risk of ulcers and hernias. Luckily, he never got one of those ‘cause the surgeries available at the time for ulcers had a whopping 33% mortality rate. He did have repeated potty problems, though, and it was public knowledge that cocaine was the cause. Didn’t stop him.

Heck, I’m not sure if I headcanon Hellaverse bodies as having the same properties of their living counterparts. If they do, then Al’s high meat consumption + cocaine use = nasty shits. He’d be constantly dehydrated, with a horrible acid reflux. And that’s not even taking into account if he drinks alcohol, coffee, or smokes tobacco. 

When mortal, Alastor’s body hair was curly, and there was a single very sparse stripe of minimal hair down his sternum that really only betrayed how svelte his figure was, if anything. By adulthood, he had long since accepted that he’d never be the image of masculine fevor. 

And yes, the dick has also changed upon death. It didn’t outright turn into an actual deer’s dick, but it now rests inside a pouchy sheath to protect its coat-less flesh. He actually likes that development. Extra coverings. Nature’s own athletic cup. 

His asexuality + his age (early forties) means that he has trouble getting it up. If he’s ever getting down and dirty, half the time it’s ¾ mast at most, and it won’t stay hard for long. A lot of his cums are dry, limp ones, and only if he makes the effort at all. 

Sinner bodies change based off of what they like about themselves, what they don’t like about themselves, and are largely intended to be ironic caricatures. Alastor’s very aware of the whole ‘deer symbolism’ thing he’s got going on. As the years went on, he also noticed that his chest expands in direct relation to his antlers, and so does his scrotum. Yeah, you heard me. 

Basically, I headcanon that Hell sometimes takes a Silent Hill-esque tulpar approach to a sinner’s body. A buck’s rack is symbolic of masculinity, and so is violence. The more bloodthirsty Alastor feels, the more his body morphs its superficial masculine traits. Popular fanon has Al’s father been abusive whilst his mother a supportive and loving figure. In Alastor’s world, violence is masculine. 

And by the way, did you know that deer antlers are actually a controlled form of cancer? It begins as cartilage supplied by blood vessels and living tissue, then turns into bone and dies, sitting there as dead weight until the skull decides to sever it. Alastor’s antlers aren’t bone, they’re carbon - the hardest element in mammal bodies, lightly conductive to electricity, and a great transceiver for radio signals. His talons are the same. Sharpened carbon/iron is very deadly. 

Alastor’s radio powers have a hard limit on their bandwidth - he can only use the lowest and widest wavelengths. So no atomic powers for him. He can’t even microwave his enemies. Radio waves can transmit very far and deep, but have the lowest effect on atoms. AKA, they’re perfect for relaying sounds and images without irradiating a country. 

Now, radio waves need a transceiver to broadcast. Alastor’s entire body is one big transceiver, with his antlers acting as antenna, his body bulk encoding the frequency modulation, and his feet electricity conductors that receive energy from the ground. If none of his body is connected to a power source (like, he’s floating in the air or something), he can still do radio shit, but only AM waves, like real-life radios before electricity. 

Now, all that frequency translation takes its toll on the body. Constantly passing low-vibration waves throughout his organs mean a weak heart, varicose veins, brittle bones, lung inflammation, and more. All that, combined with his low BMI and poor diet means he is a sickly man. Tuck into the bedsheets like a dying Victorian child sort of sickly. A doctor from his lifetime would be prescribing him a diet of milk toast and citric acid tablets. 

You know he’s letting huge walls down if he so much as coughs whilst in your presence. In public, he’d never be seen rubbing at his aching chest or slouching from his cramping intestines. He’s got an Image to put on, after all. 

Don’t coddle his various aches and pains. He knows perfectly well why his body is fucked up, and he doesn’t intend to do anything about it. To him, his wack deer form is riddled with battle scars, proof of his power and hard work. 

[trainsinanime]

One thing I don't think we discuss enough when it comes to urbanity and transport discussions is this:

The Netherlands is a very good place for driving cars.

When you hear people talk about the Netherlands and its urbanity and transport infrastructure, people tend to talk about bikes and Not Just Bikes, about the way cars were banned from many places or got fewer lanes and so on. And I have seen at least some people say "okay but then how do disabled people get anywhere" or similar things. Fears that car-based freedom is gone, and that this harms vulnerable people.

Obviously I've also seen lots of replies to that, about different options that do exist e.g. for disabled people. But crucially, for better or worse worse, the Netherlands aren't actually bad for car drivers.

Like, sure, there are some details that are weird. The speed limits seem comically low by German standards, and their enforcement is incredibly strict. But then, it's a small country, who cares whether you arrive five minutes earlier in Amsterdam? The complex double-lane spiral roundabouts, now those are terrifying, but efficient if you know how to use them.

(By the way, what is the dutch rule for use of turn signals in roundabouts? I try to follow the guidance of the cars with the yellow license plates, but they're all over the place. Personally I follow the German rules, indicate only when leaving the roundabout at the next exit, which seems to be what like a third of dutch people are doing as well.)

Yes, it's true that you can't just drive through a 17th century city centre at full speed and park wherever you want. This is actually true for basically all of Europe, though. The streets of inner e.g. Utrecht for the most part don't have significantly fewer cars parked in them than similarly narrow streets would in Germany.

But other than that, it's generous infrastructure, all in exceptionally good state. The motorways are wide and exceptionally well maintained, and the one hill in the country (A76, between the intersection with the A79 and the German border) has lights and an extra lane to overtake slow trucks.

You're probably familiar with before/after pictures of dutch cities, which show e.g. the 1970s, full of wide roads and cars, and how it is today, with parks, bike lanes and few cars, and the change is truly impressive. But for the most part, these cars didn't go away. They're now on bypasses or internal highways just outside the city centre. In a few cases (Maastricht is a good example), they're literally still there, just underground in new giant expensive tunnels.

There are arguably cases where the car infrastructure is a bit ridiculous and overbuilt. The city of Heerlen has a motorway that passes by it (A 76) and then a second local motorway a couple hundred meters north-east that runs parallel to the first one (N 281).

Dutch urban design encourages using bikes and public transit for local trips. But notably, it still allows car use for most of these trips as well, and when it comes to longer trips, it absolutely assumes that cars are the default and main way to do them. It probably does so too much, in my opinion, there are plenty of rail lines that could do with better service and plenty of trams that should be built rather urgently.

I am not saying all this because I think it's great that the Netherlands are great for drivers. I am rather ambivalent about it, leaning towards "is this really necessary", especially when it comes to their complicated roundabouts. I just want to make sure people have the right expectations. If you don't like cars, well, sorry, the Netherlands still has a lot of them. If you are dependent on your car (or if you just think you are), the Netherlands actually does have you covered, for better and worse. There are definitely places where car use is de-emphasised, but it is not as car hostile as internet urbanism content keeps implying.

[iamnotshazam]

i saw the LotR films before ever reading the books and i love both. i turn now more to the books than the movies for enjoyment.

but i also feel like the three movies just. fucken. cracked it out of the park with some important things and i had NO idea how good i had it as a little nerd delving into the extended edition dvd extras. if i were a fan in the gritty-obsessed 90's hearing rumors of these movies, i would have expected at best stuff like: B-list acting that occasionally broke through with honest emotions. some skilled costuming and weaponry popping up in important scenes but mostly just knock-off viking opera aesthetic. homebrew DND imagery that made it painfully obvious by contrast which scenes they actually spent money on the set design and dressing.

and WETA and New Line and everyone on this!!! they did NOT accept lower standards cause it was fantasy! everyone else would have. This was genre filmmaking, this would have been perceived at the time as more like How the Grinch Stole Christmas than a Cecil B Demille-level epic movie. And the costuming department, composer, propsmaster and set designer all said "NO" and put their whole pussies behind it!

Jesus Christ the quality in those movies! Ian McKellan has undershirts like Gandalf the White might have! Bernard Hill has realistic quilted padding underlayers all made in the style a Rohirrim tailor and armorer would have made! Minas Tirith has a rat catcher because someone took a doodle and decided that would make sense in the lived reality of a massive city! Movie makers do not usually do this. It is NEVER about what isnt seen or necessary for the shot. You are judged professionally not by if you can cut corners in order to help production and still seem good, but by HOW MUCH.

I cannot blame anyone who worked on the Amazon series in the hands-on creative roles because the results are what they have been trained to do. Blame executives. Blame executives! Of course chainmail is going to be, i dunno, plastic or sewn into the edges of costumes if you dont have the money or time for real chain mail! And because it cannot be overstated how unusual the LotR trilogy filmmaking process must have been. It's like being given an average lower middle class family grocery budget and told to make a fancy Christmas dinner for 20 all by yourself with no help versus having a trained staff, a blank check, and Martha Stewart on retainer. That's not an exaggeration. That's the rhetorical gulf that someone (Valar BLESS them) in the bureaucracy had to wade across to convince execs to buy into the details. The Lord of the Rings movies are WEIRD.

And it shows. Bookfans bitch about the story changes, the balrog wings, the characterization differences. (Denethor was a reasonable person and even outsider Pippin could see he was very admirable to the people of Gondor, which made it sooooo much creepier when he suddenly snapped but i digress) but NEVER about the music. the filming locations. the set designs. the costumes. the props. the things that i really think count the most to help invest people in a different world!

No one ever complains about taking out the scene where Rohan is summoned to Gondor's aid with the Red Arrow, because yeah they could have made it work, they made the importance of other props like Andúril and, oh yeah, the One Ring very clear, but they had a better idea.

The beacons.

The beacons were not in the book.

Not in the same way, really, because while incredible to think about the narrative style was close third person, and you cannot follow beacons to rhapsodize about them when you're a tired hobbit getting saddle sore crossing national borders with a grumpy old wizard. Pippin sees the Beacons of Gondor at a distance when he's falling asleep and Gandalf tells him they're a mustering signal within Gondor. Which makes sense, really, they require some upkeep and would be awkward for two nations to negotiate how to handle - nevermind. That's it. That's all the beacons are in the text.

Someone adapting the script saw a moment that was ho-hum in the book but realized ! 💡⚡️That would look really great on camera! And it is now routinely listed as one of the most important cinematic moments of anything, ever.

There are so many things I still want to ask Peter Jackson, "Why???" but the original trilogy movies overall? Work. They work and they do more than work, they helped elevate an entire artform that I don't honestly know that much about and oh god i usually dont ramble about them like this im embarassed is this already acknowledged in tumblr tolkien circles? or are we just split into different little fandoms in order to keep the peace?