#// I like a lot of traveler ships but that one has a special place in my heart

[viatrixtravels-a]

4.1 event spoilers below!!

// I'm on Twitter reading some of the dialogue spoilers for the 4.1 event and I'm so glad we're getting more Traveler x Xiao content.

I remember playing Baizhu's story quest for the first time and the game threw random Xiaolumi content at me making me go:

[alexanderwales]

A fantasy worldbuilding idea on what to do with making humans special:

Humans have comparatively insane endurance. Most other species are like cats, spending only 4-6 hours a day "active", which includes time spent playing, working, eating, and interacting with others. The remaining 18-20 hours are spent sleeping or in light rest. Humans putting in eight hours of work every day seems insane, and it seems even more insane when they realize that there's an additional eight hours of cooking, eating, socialization, and play. Human armies aren't feared because they have powerful warriors, they're feared because they can do a fifteen mile march in a day. Humans don't produce the best goods, but because they work so many more hours in a day, they can produce a lot more.

There are a few consequences of this. For one, most of the fantasy races will tend to stay pretty close to their homes, given that travel takes time. If they do travel, that travel has to be in the form of either swiftly moving places in a limited time (e.g. with horses) or a form of travel that allows them to be in "light rest" mode (e.g. lazing about in a wagon). The elves might have grand ships that allow six different shifts of elven sailors, because that's the only way they can keep up with a human navy, and this would obviously have all kinds of cool downstream implications.

In a city that's not dominated by humans, you might either get a "high intensity" four hour block where all business gets done, or alternately, depending on physiology, you might have elven shopkeepers sleeping on their feet, only stirring when someone comes in with some business, and of course there's a limit on how many customers an elf could handle in a day, and some etiquette about not entering a shop unless it's going to be worth the elf's limited time.

I'm continually picturing my cats, who actually do sleep or rest for about twenty hours out of the day. They have a way of lifting their head to see whether a noise or vibration warrants their attention, then settling back down with a huff when it turned out to be a noisy human. This is, in my mind, very close to being elf behavior already.

But if all fantasy races are going to have limited endurance, then I do think it's important to have it be implemented in different ways depending on the species. Here are some ideas:

Elves are like cats, lazing about, extremely fast and agile in their high-power moments, but mostly yawning and stretching, conserving energy for the times of need.

Dwarves have a more strict and structured four hour stretch, which cannot be broken up. Once they're roused for the day, that's it, they have to make the most of it, and this is one of the reason that they disdain delays, dithering, and other things that don't make productive use of their precious four hours.

Orcs go through a personality shift when they're in "waking mode", and while they never actually sleep, a dormant orc is physically smaller, listless, and difficult to engage in conversation. In a first contact scenario, it might be possible to regard these as two separate species, or to imagine that one "form" is male and the other female.

Gnomes have relatively rapid alternating cycles of sleep and wake, with their four hours of activity stretched across the day in half-hour chunks. Gnomes workmen often fall asleep in the middle of crafting, then lift their heads from their benches and continue on as though they had only been asleep for seconds rather than several hours. (For this reason, gnomes often have fire-stoppers built into their homes and workplaces that will quench their flames if they nod off in the midst of work. It also limits their ability to work with flame in general.)

[btskitten7]

Silent Grace Shorts: "Pillow-Talk"

Ship: Min Yoongi x Fem reader

au/genre: Mafia!au

rating: M

wc: 1.6k

Chapter warnings: Oral (f. receiving.), fingering, LOTS of sex talk, and neediness. MULTIPLE orgasms. Hidden breeding kink

summary: Oh we're getting nasty. This is the smuttiest we've gotten so far. Yoongi only has your pleasure on his mind.

tagss: @shadowyjellyfishfest @baechugff @maunosorioh @shelylamc @princess-sunshyn @scuzmunkie @wanceu @coldcoffee2121 @maunosorioh @massivelyfullenthusiast @bangtan-famiglia-net

After a long day of spending time with Yoongi’s mother, you were ready for a rest. 

You loved spending time with her but she is the literal definition of  ‘shop till you drop.’ 

You walked through the door of your bedroom where Yoongi was just setting down his jacket on the chair to the side. “You’re just getting home too?” You asked, setting the bags close to the closet for you to put away later. 

He turned to you with a warm smile and nodded. 

“Yeah, I had to listen to my father yap his life away. He just has so much to say nowadays.” Yoongi chuckled, loosening his tie before walking over to you and wrapping his arms around you. You lifted your arms around his neck with a sweet smile. 

“Well, maybe he just wants to teach you a few more things before you take over, baby.” You replied, causing him to playfully roll his eyes. 

“Trust me Blossom, there’s nothing else he could tell me.” 

You chuckled before lifting up and kissing his lips. Yoongi hummed before pulling you closer and deepening the kiss. His hand found the apple of your bottom and squeezed it tight as he pecked your lips over and over. 

“Take a shower with me, Blossom.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~

The warm water hit your body as you closed your eyes and let the steam relax you. Yoongi stood behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist. He left sweet kisses along your shoulders and neck. A soft hum left your lips as his hands traveled up and down your navel, slowly as he continued to nip at your neck. 

He turned to grab the shampoo, squeezing a bit into his hands before running his fingers through your hair, massaging your scalp. 

“Where did you and my mom end up?” he asked as he washed your hair. 

“We went to a lot of different places. She showed me the market she used to take you and your brother when you were younger. We ate at a few stalls there.” you replied “It was all very good.” 

Yoongi smiled, “I used to hate going to that place. My mom would make us carry everything she bought before we brought security around. My youngest brother never had to carry anything because he would drop it so, it was always Jihoon and I. It was only worth it if we got food after.” He chuckled. 

“You’ll have to carry my stuff too when we go” You teased. “As long as I get some food, I’ll carry you if I have to” Yoongi snorted making you laugh. 

He continued to wash your hair when you turned face him to rinse the soap from your hair. 

Yoongi studied your body. He looked over every crevasse. He admired you. You were the most beautiful thing in his entire life. He loved how you accepted him, for him. You’ve been incredibly understanding, and he couldn’t ask for more. You wiped the water from your eyes before turning back around.  

Yoongi wrapped his arms around your waist and pushed his hips into your ass and you could feel the heat off him, despite the water being hotter. "You're so beautiful, Blossom." His breath was hot against your ear as he spoke softly to you. A soft moan leaves your lips feeling his length behind you. 

"You're so beautiful too, Yoongi." You turned around and looked into his eyes. He was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen. He was taken aback a bit.

No one has ever told him something like that nor was he looking for it. He was used to being called handsome, of course, but beautiful? He wasn’t used to that.  

Beautiful made him feel special and loved. 

"You're beautiful too, Yoongi." You said again, looking up at him. He smiled and leaned in to kiss you. The water dripped off your bodies as he held onto the back of your neck while his tongue played with yours.

You broke the kiss and looked into his eyes. "I love you, Yoongi." He smiled again as he pushed your hair out of your face before looking down at you with a serious look.

“I love you too, Blossom. More than life itself” He whispered, taking your lips once again. You moaned into his mouth as he nibbled on your bottom lip. He pulled away and looked at you, "I want to make love to you." You whispered to him, looking up at him. “I want you”

He didn’t hesitate. He pushed you against the wall and pulled your legs around his waist. His cock was throbbing as he felt it brush up against your wet core, hardening more with every second that passed by.

"I need you." He whispered as he looked into your eyes. You nodded and smiled at him before kissing his neck softly while grinding against his member with your cunt, moaning softly as his lips attached directly to your breast.

You were driving him up the wall. Feeling your cunt on his member drove him mad. You moaned as he sucked on your nipple. He groaned and lifted his head to look at you before holding you up with one hand while grabbing his member, guiding it across your clit.

You gasped as he pushed into you. He groaned and bit his lip, holding onto your waist tightly while slowly pushing in and out of you.

You moaned and held onto his shoulders as he continued to fuck you. "You feel so good, baby." He whispered into your ear. You whimpered out as he began to pound into you harder and faster.  “You’re doing so well for me Blossom. You’re taking me so well.”

He groaned out as he continued to fuck you. You moan and kiss his neck, "I love how good you feel inside of me." His eyes rolled back into the sockets when you said that. "Fuck!" He groaned out as he began to pound into you faster. You moaned and whimpered, holding onto his shoulders tightly while your pussy clenched around him tighter with every thrust of his cock inside of you. 

Yoongi was close but he wasn’t done. No. 

This was going to last all night. 

He groaned out as he pushed into you harder and faster. You gasped for air, feeling his cock throb inside of your pussy while the water continued to hit both of your bodies. "Fuck! I'm gonna cum, I-I’m going to cum” you whine scratching his back, only turning him on more. “Cum all you want...I’m not done with you” he smirked.

He continued to fuck you but his pace grew slower and deeper, his cock throbbing inside of you. That drove you over the edge "Fuck! I'm cumming!" You cried out as your pussy clenched around him tightly, feeling the waves of pleasure rush through your body. Yoongi’s pace slowed as he fucked his cum back into you. Not letting a single drop slip out. “More?” He looked into your eyes, full of desire. 

“Y-yes. Please..”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

He laid you down on the bed and looked at you. "I'm going to fuck you so good, baby." He whispered as he crawled up your body and kissed your lips softly.

He kissed your neck, down to the top of your breasts. You moaned as he continued kissing his way down towards your pussy and back up again. “P-please don’t tease me Yoongi.” You whined. 

Yoongi smirked with a devious grin as he looked up at you, kissing your core gently before licking it up with the tip of his tongue. Goosebumps coated your skin as he continued to eat you out. 

He licked you up with the tip of his tongue, making your hips buck against him. “Fuck…Yoongi” You cried out, gripping his hair tightly. He looked into your eyes as he continued to swirl his tongue inside of you. Yoongi began to suck on your clit gently while pushing two fingers inside of you slowly but firmly. 

Your pleasure was the only thing on Yoongi’s mind. 

Not the fact that you may be too loud.

Not the fact that all his employees can hear you.

Not the fact that he had an early flight he needed to catch. 

You were the only thing he was worried about. 

He groans and pulls away from your core, watching you make a mess of the bed and his fingers. That didn’t stop him. He continued to pump his fingers in and out of you until he felt you clench around his fingers only making you gasp from the sudden emptiness. 

Before you could even speak he crashed his lips into yours, biting your bottom lip and pulling you on top of him. You straddled his hips and began to grind on his member while you kissed his neck, leaving all types of marks on his pale skin. 

Yoongi didn’t contain his moans even if he wanted to. You push him back with a smile on your face. “My turn” You smirked pushing yourself directly on top of his member, letting a moan leave your lips. 

Yoongi moaned as he held on to your hips while you grinded against him, feeling him stretching your already sensitive core even more, you weren’t going to last long. He lifted his body and held you close to him, moving your hips against him while his moans flew out his mouth. 

“That’s it, pretty girl. That’s it. You’re doing so good for me, Blossom. T-take all of me.” He groaned into your ear. “Cum with me” 

You were at your wit's end. Moans were flying from both of your mouths as you held on to one another. A few moments more and you came first with Yoongi cumming shortly after. 

“I love you, Blossom” Yoongi said panting before laying back trying to catch his breath. You were exhausted but you felt great. You laid on his chest holding him close, half asleep already. 

“I love you too, Yoon.” You said softly before falling asleep. 

Yoongi chuckled softly before kissing your head and falling asleep with you in his arms. 

[jonesywrites]

I feel compelled, so I must.

*Now with images for context

Man I shit you not, I have so much stuff to do like SO MUCH but I also have ADHD and a tendency toward hyperfixation so I am compelled, I tell you.

I'm writing for a whole ass other ship, filming, and editing for my YT channel. But I saw gifs, and I read tweets, and I saw hot takes and then I decided to react to Season 3 Part I for my channel.

I AM OBSESSED.

I'm in the middle of editing my reactions to Ep 1-4 and I just HAVE to chime in with these observations I keep having as I go through and re-live each Polin scene while editing. I know some of this has been seen/said before but I'm a newb to this fandom and I just finished listening to all of the audiobooks (save Simon and Daphne's story) so I just gotta! I OBSERVED A LOT and there's a lot here, so . . .

Colin turns to the Featherington house as soon as he arrives home and greets his family.

Because whether he's aware of it or not, he's thinking of one of those Featheringtons, who happens to be standing there as he debuts "the new Colin" to the people he cares about the most -- which includes Pen, they are telegraphing to us in this moment -- (right after testing some of that newfound charm on a gaggle of giggly girls). I don't think he greets her right away because he isn't ready yet but you can see his smile/smirk when he spots her -- like "Yep, Pen, feast your eyes, it's the new me, and NOW I'll bet you'll want to hear about my travels."

Eloise is the first person to spot that he may not really be into this "new Colin".

The show GOES OUT OF ITS WAY to let you know this isn't really Colin, that his heart isn't really into it, from jump. The siblings Bridgerton do a little "we see each other" when he questions her about trying to fit into society after all this time -- they're two sides of the same coin. He's too sensitive and romantic for the rakes of the ton and she's too independent and free-thinking for the boring trappings of the marriage mart, but here they both are. Pretending.

Colin goes out of his way to test his new charm on half the ladies at the Queen's garden party thing BEFORE he approaches Pen to talk for the first time since he got back -- at first glance he's just doing his thing, being the new him, enjoying himself and his new ability to woo the ladies but IT IS THIS AUTHOR'S HUMBLE OPINION THAT HE WAS TESTING HIS CHARM TO ITS LIMITS BEFORE HE WENT OVER TO THE ONE GIRL HE ACTUALLY WANTS TO/TRUELY ENJOYS CONVERSING WITH TO LAY IT ON HER.

Wanna bet me he wasn't thinking about Pen while he was away, wondering why she wasn't answering, plotting to talk to her when he got back, plotting to see if his new charm would work on her because she's Pen and her opinion means a lot to him? He doesn't get why yet but it's there -- the tip of the iceberg, only a strong desire for her attention and approval right now, but I can sooooo see how that started to quickly burn into a much more intense desire for just...her.

I adore how Penelope asks the dressmaker for new dresses in the fashion of "what they are wearing in Paris" after Colin tells her his new wardrobe is what's all the rage in Paris from is travels.

He always counts on her just being Pen in the citrus colors hanging on the wall, a safe place, but then he sees her in that green dress and I truly believe this is the moment he realizes -- nah fam, this isn't just "Pen my friend who doesn't count (as a woman)", this is "wow who is that woman in the striking color with pretty lips and fiery red hair?"

This poor lovesick fellow has no idea why every time he sees her at a ball his heart does a funny thing and he suddenly can't see anyone else and he gets the urge to drink whatever's in his hand/close by.

HEY BABE IT'S BECAUSE YOU LIKE HER. A LOT. She isn't just Pen who doesn't count, she is SPECIAL.

Much has been said about the "Goodnight, Mr. Bridgerton" scene, but I'll just add that you can tell when Colin is being genuine and totally himself vs when he's trying to charm her into relaxing with him/being more like her usual self.

When he says "the colour rather suits you," he's being her good friend who is pleased to see her looking so good but he's also saying that to himself, judging by his tone, like "yeah girl you should wear green more often, this makes you look damn good". And when he says he misses her, he means it, but you can also hear the armor of that New Colin Charm in his tone. It's a vulnerable thing to admit, so he uses a devilish smile and has a wink in his eyes because so far that has worked on every girl here since he got back. Not Pen, though ... he was SHOOK when she rebuffed him and called him cruel.

Yes, he is absolutely panicked that he might lose his one true friend in all of the fickle ton, but also . . . Colin is totally realizing how hot Pen is in the garden scene. Colin is looking into her gorgeous eyes and admitting how she makes him feel and you can see the real-time realization in his eyes/expression. Handshake? He is acting on his impulse to touch her while using his newfound charm to disguise his curiosity.

Colin wants to hang out with her as much as possible because that's how comfortable and appreciated she makes him feel but also it's my opinion that he, at least subconsciously, also wants to keep looking at her, getting closer to her, winning her favor. He's not even thinking about the results of the whole charm lessons thing, he's just thinking about being around Penelope as much as possible because of that realization that she makes existing in a world that is determined to misunderstand him (and has "forced" him to don a mask/facade to survive) bearable.

I agree with those who pointed out that he is taken aback by Pen's awkward flirting session with the fan because normally when they're alone talking all he sees/experiences is her wit, intelligence, keen ability to read between the lines of their society, etc.

Also, you can see he doesn't even care what the other blokes think of her, he thinks she's friggin adorable -- he can't keep the smile off his face even as he's sympathizing with her for going down faster than the Titanic-which-doesn't-exist-yet-duh-but-analogy-with-me-here.

Every moment of the private lesson scene, from him instantly abandoning the card game with his siblings to the way he planned out the whole thing and thought about where everyone would be and what window of time they'd have to "practice" shows THAT HE WAS IN FACT VERY EAGERLY AWAITING HER VISIT for their lesson. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one who suggested the game in the garden to get everyone out of the house in anticipation of Pen’s arrival.

It is this author's humble opinion that Colin really, really wanted to pretend to flirt with Penelope to satisfy his nagging, subconscious (yet fluttering to the surface) curiosity and I AM WILLING TO BET MY TWIN SISTER'S WHOLE 2024 SALARY that (especially after her compliment shook him to his core) they wouldn't have made it much longer without him kissing her if they hadn't been interrupted and she had't read his journal.

He wanted alone time, he wanted intimacy, he wanted to flirt -- they would have charmed each other right into each other's pants if those lessons were allowed to continue, mark my words.

Colin's body was at least several weeks ahead of him. The body doesn't lie. Touching her skin in the garden. Leaning into her whenever they speak (with the convenient excuse of their height difference), pressing his palm into her lower back to escort her to the drawing room, sitting and letting her hold his hand for an unnecessarily long pause before forcing himself to stop staring at her and end the impropriety (escape the intensity of the moment to breathe and process, more like).

Jealous Colin(tm) with his intense eyes and hard jawline is everything and hot af, end of observation.

I love Dream Pen for Colin. The way he dressed her. The way his mind envisions her being breathless for him.

The way he pictures himself just holding her close and indulging in hot, sultry kisses until she's practically melting in his arms. THIS IS WHAT HE DREAMS ABOUT, WHAT HE TRULY WANTS. This boy is a Romantic with a capital ROMANTIC and I JUST LOVE how his dream about Pen reflects that so clearly. We've seen him struggling to pay attention or care in brothels but he displays more sexual intensity, passion, and lust in this romantic wet dream about simply confessing his feelings than any other time he's seen on screen with a woman he's supposed to find attractive.

The "Sweet Treats" scene, as I believe I've seen others pointing out, is --yes, sweet-- at a glance. But also HOT AF. He's pining, he's nervous, he's jealous, she's so sweet and lovely confessing her excitement and hopes for the match with Deblin. But it's also hot b/c I meeeean....The pink everywhere (pink walls, get it), her lips and his reaction to her glancing her tongue across them, his fingers flexing out of nerves but also the subconscious urge to touch, maybe even caress, is all in his stiff, hovering body language. Like, if he could shove those treats off one of those tables, throw her against it and ravage her "sweet treat" right then there in that pink little tent, homeboy totally would have if society/propriety/scandal/watching eyes weren't a concern.

SIDENOTE: I think Deblin was definitely attracted to Pen, it wasn't SOLELY a practical match for him.

He says she can make men wither within seconds of their first meeting and he definitely looks at her in a way that says he's charmed, intrigued, impressed, etc. So I think even they married, eventually he would start to miss her while away, then ache for her, then he would come home to her and he would fall. Gradually maybe, but I do believe Pen was right to hope love could grow between them. However, I'm so so sooo glad neither of them settled.

WHAT CAN BE SAID ABOUT THE CARRIAGE SCENE THAT HASN'T ALREADY BEEN SAID??? It's one of the hottest love scenes I've ever seen, and it's not because everybody is naked or because there's kink or anything crazy. It's because (for me) the actors TRULY CARE ABOUT THE DETAILS. Almost every frame has something you can freeze and stare at in awe, they DID THAT. Colin finally FEELING IT, with the one person who can truly see him and inspire those deep feelings he's been yearning for was HOT AF. Pen basically being at his mercy but also realizing her power over him and embracing it by letting him ruin her because it's COLIN (she wouldn't let anyone else do that, IMO, not even Deblin). MY FAVORITE PART:

At the end, when they exhale and slump into each other/the carriage seat in sync. She looks like she's never felt anything like this in her life (cuz she ain't) and he looks like he's finally HOME. And I'm not talking about his family's estate -- I specifically mean right there in Penelope's bosom, between her legs, her breath, her eyes, her moans for him, like he looks relieved and satisfied AND THEN HE'S LIKE "SO I'M NEVER LETTING THIS GO. DONE DEAL, YOU'RE MY PENELOPE, NOW."

Ugh. I loooove this couple! I HAD TO GET THIS OUT OF MY BODY. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Gonna add stills for the moments I mention once Tumblr stops being a bitch.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

this is a slight detour from your usual subject matter but i'm very curious about your experience renting a high-quality camera lens? how did you go about doing that and have you been pleased with how it worked out? (the changing of hands i mean, it's clear you're happy with the lens!)

i didn't know this was a Thing before and now i'm wondering if i might be able to try that myself!

Oh yeah, it's absolutely the best thing if you can't afford fancy lenses / want to try out new gear / just need something for a special occasion.

There are places you can rent online that will ship you gear, and depending on where you live you can often also rent from local camera stores. I've done both!

Right now my main practice is renting lenses from LensRentals, which is an online company that ships out of Tennessee. They've got pretty reasonable rental prices, and they don't charge a deposit - but you do sign a thing saying if you damage or lose it, they can charge you. You can also pay for insurance on the rentals against damage or loss which would mitigate a lot of that cost if something went wrong. I've heard a range of opinions about them, but I've pretty much always had a good experience with them and gotten stuff on time that worked correctly, and their customer service has been really responsive for me when we had some snafus with shipping stuff back lately. One thing they do that I really like is their system is set up with an option to ship directly to FedEx stores for you to pick up, which means I don't have to worry about a package containing pricey gear getting stolen or rained on.

LensRentals also is willing to let you buy their rental gear, which is what I'm hoping to do before I send the really nice huge telephoto lens I've been using back tomorrow. They'll take some of the price of your rental off the purchase cost - it isn't a ton, but it generally covers sales tax and maybe a little more. I like it as a way to purchase used gear because I can see the condition before I commit, and I've had it in my hands and gotten to use it a bunch. That's how I bought my first real digital camera like a decade ago, and where I got my current camera and starter lenses.

If you've got a local rental store, I absolutely encourage going through them! I've done that when traveling - there have been some times I wanted a specific piece of gear to test on a habitat - and it's worked out really well. Plus, supporting local businesses is always the right choice. They'll often all operate a little differently, but it's nice to know people IRL who can help you decide what gear to use or just nerd out with you. Sometimes local places will ask for some type of deposit to make sure you bring the gear back, and TBH if that's within your budget it's perfectly reasonable.

Unfortunately, the local rental place in my area charges a deposit to your credit card for the entire worth your rental until you bring it home, and my credit limit isn't high enough that I can float a hold for that (e.g. upwards of four thousand dollars for the two lenses I'm using lately) and still be able to, y'know, use my card, so I go with online rentals. It drives me up a wall! I'd really like to support local businesses and minimize shipping costs / carbon emissions.

If you think you'd like to rent some gear to try out, I recommend it! Just make sure you know what's compatible with your camera, you've got a safe way to transport and store the rental when you're not using it, and that you know the terms up front. It's been such a fun way to play around and see what I like and what works well for me.

[la-imp]

AVATAR RECOM HEADCANONS - INTRO

Recoms!Deja Blu Unit - Science"Puke"! Reader

This is my first headcanon series and I am incredibly nervous because there are so many good ones out there already. I have read quite a few amazing headcanon series by various blogs who practically carry the whole Avatar Fanfic scene, which I am really grateful for! I know these sorts of scenarios have been done a lot by now, but I wanted to get one out and put my own spin on it. I hope to write more and update this series as well as take in requests, one-shots, etc, expanding on the characters as much as I can. I hope you enjoy! Avatar has consumed my life, lol...

Disclaimer: I do not own AVATAR, nor do I own its creative properties and original characters. I do, however, own the 'reader' character as well as other created figures that do not appear in the Avatar films, video games, or comic books. Characters involved: Miles Quaritch, Lyle Wainfleet, Alexander Ja, Mansk, Zdindarsk aka Z-Dog, Zhang, Lopez, Fike, Warren, Walker, Prager, Brown - mentions of Jake Sully

Plot Summary: The story takes place during the events of TWOW, right before the great reef battle. I won't spoil any crucial plot details (for those who haven't watched the movie yet), so I'll end it there. The reader is a militant medic with a biochemistry background, now assigned special care to ensure Project Phoenix's success. As their body chemistry is quite different and unique from that of humans, they require some help getting used to their new vessel. This is where you come in... and boy... you were not prepared for this. A bunch of Na'vi Human hybrids at the peak of their prime, fuelled by hormonal rage, primal instincts, and a knack for vengeance, they sure as hell turned your daily life topsy turvy. To them, you were nothing more than another science puke here to bore them out of their minds,  even though you had some military training as well. It is up to you to show them otherwise. To earn a place in their ranks.

Will (y/n) be able to handle this task or eventually fold like the others?

Warning(s): Cursing - Mild bullying - Negging - Foul language - Playful flirting

Content: SFW (Minors DNI) The reader is human and female. I plan to write specific headcanons for each individual character, but this was just a very long and detailed starter in order to get the ball rolling. Also this is not proof-read, so take this with a grain of salt. Happy reading! (also English is not my first language, so please bear with me) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hailing from a gentle background of academics and artists, you've decided to take a completely different route from what your family had destined for you. Going against their wishes and dissapointing a few members here and there was a price you were willing to pay in order to fulfill a lifelong dream. The prize of independence. Or perhaps you were tired of people telling you what you could and couldn't do. The idea of an adventure, exploring new worlds and galaxies, far far away from home was far more attractive than spending your years trying to fix a dying planet. But you also had a knack for helping and aiding those in need. Being a healer with a vast background of medicine and herbs only came natural to you. And as you graduated top of your class, you sought a new challenge. So you joined the space force. Military training was hard but you managed adquedately.  And as you finally becamea full-fledged medic, you signed a contract with the RDA to be shipped off to Pandora.

Save to say, the six years of light-year travel did take a toll on your body. It was often emphasized that dreams do not occur during cryo sleep. Yet, your case was the opposite. Over and over you saw visions of a lush, prehistoric forest that almost looked magical and foreign. Due to overpopulation and pollution, nature seized to exist altogether back on earth, so thinking of what this mythical Pandora may look like, sparked a fire in the pits of your stomach. You began to wonder if these dreams held any meaning to them... or if it was just your brain chemistry running haywire during the cryogenic sleep. The closer you got, the giddier you grew - excited and electrified at the idea of setting foot on one of the most precious planet known to man. Perhaps in the entire universe.

After your space shuttle finally docked at the RDA's space station, you were quickly briefed on your assignment by the announcers, guiding you to the nearest secretary. The secretary looked over her glasses and tossed you an illegible glare before sighing with a shake of her head, handing you your paperwork. "May God have mercy on you," she mumbled before calling for the next candidate. You took the papers hesitantly, brows furrowing in confusion before your eyes cast down on  on these said documents. Your eyes widened as your heart nearly sank. You were assigned to assist military Avatar personnel? You looked back up at the lady who was now grinning at you, a glint playing in her gaze. "Fresh meat for the grinder. It's a bit crass they decided to assign a small girl such as yourself to help these beasts," You slowly nodded, an awkward semi-smile forming on your lips, "I guess I like a challenge," you said, tone matching her sarcastic one. You have studied them for three years now, after all. You were prepared.

A few labcoats accompanied by a good portion of cleanroom suits were helping you find your way before passing you your exopack mask. It was the first time you'd ever seen one of those from up close. The concept of not being able to breathe the atmosphere was somewhat daunting. But it was something you had to get used to if you wanted to survive Pandora's 'Adapt or Die' rules. Wasting no time, you quickly strapped them on and secured the clasps, allowing the small piece of machinery to flood your nostrils with fresh oxygen. Impressed, you found it was much clearer and cleaner than that of Earth's... sadly enough.  You then remembered the comment from the secretary earlier on, echoing in your mind over and over again until it festered in the back of your subconscious. Anxiety began to take a hold of you, shaking your confidence ever so slightly.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, you then issued a curt nod to your superiors who lastly gave you a clipboard, detailing all of your duties and rank among the Recom unit members. "Ready, greenhorn?" Dr. Vasquez piped up, drawing you from your trance. You blinked at him with a wide-eyed deer-caught-in-headlights look, lips parting, "Y-yeah." he chuckled in response to your nervousness before slapping a hand on your shoulder in confidence. "Don' worry, they may look very scary at first glance, but you will soon realize they are professionals just like us, alright?" You nodded, swallowing the lump down your throat before clamping the board beneath your armpit. "Alright then kiddo, let's rock'n'roll," he said with a smirk before punching in a security code to unlock the doors to the decompressors.

The air was filtered to fit the atmosphere of the recoms. Which was in turn, extremely toxic to humans. Unconscious in twenty seconds - dead in four minutes. The prospect didn't sound like very glamorous death. As the door opened, a hiss emitted from the pressure, giving way to the bright light of the sun peaking through the glass windows. Vasquez marched forward before beckoning you to join him. Upon entering, the energy of the room immediately shifted. It was almost palpable to the touch.

A good part of your confidence was chipped away once you laid your eyes on your future teammates. Breath nearly caught in your throat. To say they were tall was a big understatement. They were huge - as a matter of fact - larger than life! Nothing could've prepared you for this. Most of them stood at around ten feet and nearly scraped the ceilings if they hadn't been adjusted to meet their physiology. You continued to saunter forward, one tentative step at a time, eyes still glued to their physiques without so blinking an eye. Their bodies were even more strange, striking you with awe. Slender, graceful, svelte, yet powerful. The complexion was a deep cyan or darker powder blue, decorated in interesting patterns and luminescent dots, all accompanied by a long prehensile tail that idly swung from side to side, giving them a more animalistic edge. They were all broad-shouldered, even the women, as you scanned the room with all the blue-skinned individuals lurking about, their poise signifying a certain strength and fortitude that of a warrior. They could easily toss a person across the room and break every single bone in their body with one blow if they wished.

Eyes were striking like molten gold peering from the shadows, intensely following your every move. Their previous chatter immediately died down as their eyes glued to you and the other scientists. Vasquez took his position next to someone who seemed much more commanding and authoritive compared to the rest. He stood slightly taller and wore a khaki tanktop, exhibiting a set of toned, muscular arms placated on his hips. You caught a glimpse of his tattoo on his left arm. A black eagle. A remnant of his previous life? Or something to distinguish himself from the others, perhaps?

The way he walked with a certain swagger, taking a stance next to Vasquez, sharp yellow eyes peering into the hall, had you nearly choke on your own saliva. He was an intimidating man,  "As you all know, we are sent here to accomplish a mission that we couldn't last time. To hunt down and terminate the leader of the Na'vi insurgency, Jake Sully.  And in order to ensure our success, we have been assigned our personal medical officers who specialize in Na'vi physiology. They make sure none of us step out of line and patch us up during missions. Treat 'em with respect, ya hear? They are as much our responsbilities as we are theirs," his tone was a low, commanding drawl, hinting at his possible origin back from Earth. He also sounded a tad older than his bio stats suggested.

"Wait, we're going to have these science pukes tag along?" Someone groaned in the background.

Doctor Vasquez nudged you with his elbow before whispering something into your ear. So he was the colonel. Colonel Miles Quaritch. The leader of the first recombinant unit Deja Blu, the first Avatar squad produced by Project Phoenix. Vasquez then nodded and brought you and another male medical officer. Thankfully you weren't alone. And as you peeked into the crowd, practically feeling their eyes rake over your forms in a very scrutinizing manner, you wished there were more human scientists to accompany you. "Listen up Recoms," Vasquez announced, matching Quaritch's energy. Which you had noticed, was now glancing at you over his shoulder with a lazed stare. You quickly turned away, hating that all of their attention was on you now. Just great. "Those are your new medical officers," he gestured to both you and your counterpart, earning him a few whispers and hushed conversations between the Na'vi hybrids. The heavily tattooed individual grunted loudly, expressing a clear distaste at the fact.

You watched as the one with the camo cap began to chuckle before leaning over to the tattooed female with the mohawk, gossiping something into her ear. Your eyes narrowed at her, hoping to God they weren't talking shit about you. The male medic next to you semed quite nervous himself, almost glistening with a faint sheen of sweat whenever the light hit his complexion. Oh man... what a great start. "This here is Mr. Ryan," Vasquez said confidently and clamped a hand on his shoulder before pulling you to his side with a toothy grin, "And this is Miss (y/n). They're going to do a quick checkup on your vitals before we make land on Pandora. Their status reports will affect your mission. If you have any further questions regarding any of that, feel free to ask them. Good luck and have fun," he said before departing, giving you a two-finger salute before vanishing out the door.

For a moment, you wished he hadn't abandoned you so soon, but as you stood there, again with the hundred yard stare, you instantly began pulling out your clipboard, training your eyes on the papers rather than the giant soldiers around you. Quaritch cleared his throat before stepping forward, closing in on your proximity. The heat practically rolled off of him. Almost radioactive in a sense. "Right. Welcome to the crew," he said as a deep rumble of chuckles resonated within the hall. You flicked your attention back on them, seeing as their expressions turned from scrutiny to amusement. The one with the hat flicked his chin toward Ryan, "So you get to touch us all around?" Ryan nodded cautiously, "Yes, in a sense. We need to do some physical checkups to make sure your bodies haven't mutated or caught any diseases on the way here and-"

"So you're gonna be cupping my big blue balls, too?" he said, making an obscene gesture as the team burst out in synchronized laughter. Mr Ryan pursed his lips in frustration. You felt his pain, it was nearly palpable.

You were so not ready for this... "Shut your horny mouth, Ja!" one of the female recoms hollered, smacking him on the back of his head.

Judging by the 'joke', you came to the conclusion that they were full-blooded jarheads. You sighed before ticking something off your clipboard. "And what about her? Is she good with her small hands?" At this your eyebrows twitched before you began searching for the miscreant of this statement. Seeing as the one with the bandana had crooked a finger at you. "Man, she does look cute tho... tiny lil thing. What's good, mama?" their banter continued, slapping and fist bumping each other, having the time of their lives. What a fucking farce - you thought to yourself begrudgingly. The behavior reminded you of teenagers experiencing the surge of hormones for the first time. You couldn't believe Vasquez had vouched for their professionalism. Perhaps he was in on the joke as well. "Shut your pie holes. They're here to help, not entertain you, you fucking lowlifes. Treat'em with respect or I'll have your ass handed back to the infirmary, you get me?!" Quaritch's voice boomed, immediately silencing the lively chatter among his subordinates.

Looking over at the colonel, you saw his hardened, chiseled features directed toward you with an unreadable expression. His pointed ears were tucked back against his head as he issued you a small nod. You repaid him with the same respect and inclined your head in acknowledgment before moving on to your first patient. "Brown?" you said, louder than originally intended before you flicked your gaze around the room, searching for any response. "Steven Brown?" you repeated with a bit more clarity. The mohawk lady merely snorted with arms folded, watching you as you searched for your first victim. Suddenly a blue hand lifted, alerting you of your designated recom, seeing that he looked a little less grim and intimidating. Although equally large, he seemed a bit more approachable, in your eyes at least. With that being said, it wasn't exactly a joyride pushing and squeezing yourself through, as some of them actively made an effort of staying rooted to the spot, entertained at your slight struggle. You could have sworn hearing someone wolf whistle at you but you pushed those thoughts aside when you reached your destination.

He was slightly shorter than the rest, not that you could tell right away as he was seated on one of the benches slightly hunched over, his posture overly lax. Much like the others, he sported that classical short military haircut and fade. "Alright doc, whaddya got for me?" he drawled with a certain bite. You decided not to overanalyze everything, as you were already extremely nervous. You meanwhile scribbled down all of the data before setting the clipboard down, looking him in the eye. He remained there, sitting there in silence, monitoring you with a peculiar glint playing in his topaz irises. "Alright, Mr. Brown, could you please stretch out your right arm? I need to take some samples and check your haemogram if that is alright with you," you explained as you flashed him a polite smile while the convos in the background resumed.

Brown simply nodded and muttered a small 'sure thing' before complying with your wishes. Once he extended his appendage, you got a chance to examine it closely - realizing just how large and sinewy his arm was. The texture was interesting too, differing not much from human skin, save for the lack of arm hair. "Finding a vein shouldn't be a problem," you jest before pulling out a small device for blood sampling. It was not a syringe, but a highly advanced gadget that locked down on the skin cell before drawing a bit of blood. "Alright, just let me disinfect this real quick..." you continued before wiping the spot with a small disinfectant wipe, clearing it from any bacteria. The feeling of his skin was curious, smooth yet somehow rougher to the touch compared to human flesh. Pandora's rough climates had evolved them to become perfect survivors as even their skin was harder to penetrate.  Brown tilted his head to the side, ears swiveling curiously when you placed the blood-letting machinery against the crook of his arm. A small pinch broke through his flesh, extracting only a few tiny droplets. "There we go, that's about it-" Before you could continue, however, you caught Brown sending you a mischievous wink. "Didn't hurt at all, doc."

"Got what ya need, Miss (y/n) or... did I get that right?" you felt blood rush to your cheeks, heating your face altogether. They were trying to rile you up on purpose now... "(Y/N) right, but just call me by my first name. No need for being formal," hoping it would somewhat diffuse the awkward tension between you and the recoms. However, things did not go as planned when Brown's brows lifted for a short moment before his ears rotated in your direction, more attentive than before. "Well good to know, (y/n), looking forward to working with ya," your breathing became heavy to his deliberate teasing as he allowed himself to lean forward. You nearly jumped at his sudden intrusion "So (y/n), what does my blood test say?" just then the analysis was completed, giving you a clear stats report on his bloodwork.

"So far so good... bloodwork looks normal. Cholesterol is in the green and.... well..." His face faltered a bit, "What?" "be sure to consume fewer sugary drinks or sweets but other than that, you're fine. Wouldn't want you to be the first adipose soldier on Pandora," his features continued to crack "You calling me fat, doc?" he said before warming up to a smirk. You leaned away from him to avoid his sudden boldness. "Nah, just reminding you to be on your best behavior if you want to keep up with the rest, alright?" Brown scoffed with a shake of his head as you took your clipboard with you, writing down all of the info as well as checking a few boxes. "I'll get back to you later, just need to do the same with.... uh.. Wainfleet?" you asked, squinting your eyes to spot someone a bit taller and a tad bit more athletic looking. He lacked hair, like some of the others as he wiggled his fingers at you flirtatiously, a crooked smile plastered on his lips. "The one and only," you grunted in affirmation, feeling some of the dread returning before you headed over.

A sudden ticklish sensation and force tugged at the crook of your knee, having you to stumble and nearly fall flat on your face. Walker clicked her tongue with a roll of her eyes, "Come on Kevin, leave the poor girl alone already!" Quaritch's nostrils flared when he caught Brown fucking with you. A move of his tail that hooked around your leg in order to trip you. "You better secure that shit, Brown before I clip that thing off, capiche?" He growled, causing Brown to stiffen immediately. Eventually, he lowered his head and ears ".... yes sir... sorry,"

You managed to calm your thundering heart as you eyeballed Brown with a mix of irritation and embarrassment. What an asshole. Is that how it was going to be all the time? Good lord... how much you began to regret signing up for this particular unit. "Mr. Wainfleet?" you said softly, approaching the man cautiously as he eyed you up and down with that same grin on his face.

"Call me Lyle, sweetums. Only my mother calls me Mr. Wainfleet. So.... here to check the goods? Or maybe even get a feel?" Lyle chuckled before flexing his built physique, making you watch his biceps bulge and swell. The action made your throat dry out like the Sahara desert. Just what in the world have you gotten yourself into...

[erithel]

I'm surprised you don't include Klance moments in that "fav moments" ask. 😆

Okay, first of all, thanks so much for your blog. Because of you, I start shipping Klance (and I love them). So....

- When did you start shipping Klance (what moment that made you ship them)?

- Can I ask your top favorite fics that you've written (feel free how much that you want to list)? Why they're special to you? Is there a specific inspiration when you wrote them?

- What are your top 5 fav Klance fics ever?

Sorry if you already answered the above questions before (newbie Klance shipper here, just starting last year).

That's fair lol

I'd say I picked my favorite moments based on ones that were truly satisfying, and while I thoroughly enjoyed many klance moments, since they never really paid off, they always left me a bit unsatisfied, so that's why I left them off the list.

To answer your questions:

I think I started shipping klance through stumbling across fanart before even watching the show. There was so much out there when I found it, and it all looked really interesting, and I realized "I want to know more about these two." So I kiiiindof went into the show with a super low-key ship. But if I could pinpoint it, it was probably the "I cradled you in my arms" line that made me go "oh I'm gonna be looking forward to all of their interactions from now on to see where this goes."

I had to check my ao3 to see if I'd even written 5 fics (I have). #1: "Broken Things" This one is special to me for the same reason I was inspired to write it: It was a very tough subject that I was so tired of seeing handled poorly in media. It became even more special when I started receiving comments from people who let me know they had been through similar things and they felt I handled the subject well. #2: "Gone" (a comic, but it still counts) I'm still counting this one even though the experience of posting it turned out to be one that almost made me want to quit before completing the comic. This was also a subject that I had seen handled very poorly, and I wrote it at a time when I had a new understanding of grief, and what it can do to a person. It was very important to me that Lance's side of things was taken seriously, and understood, and unfortunately it really wasn't. But that's kindof why I want to write stories in the first place - to get those thoughts out into the world so they might exist in someone's subconscious, even if they are not fully realized at the time. #3: "Stand Here on the Edge With Me" I started writing this because Chasing Stars was becoming too dark for me to write. I usually stick with angst and love it, but I was writing a really angsty scene where Keith was pining super hard while having their conversation on the lion at sunset and I just thought "wait a minute. What if he's totally fine for once?" and then this fic just kindof materialized. It also has one of my favorite last lines I've written, so that's something to look forward to. ;) #4: "Chasing Stars and Memories" I've always liked stories about traveling to different worlds, and the idea of Klance meeting themselves was always a fun idea to think about. But then I realized that I had never read a fic where only one of them was gender-swapped, and that made it so much more interesting for me, because the angst options just exploded with that one little change. This one's special to me because again, it deals with heavy themes and large emotions and I just adore writing those, and I hope I do them justice and convey the gravity of them. #5: "What If You're Someone I Just Want Around?" I'd always wanted to write a 5-and-1 fic, and I actually wrote this entire one around the third part ("Scared"). It was still pretty early on that I wrote that and I felt like I basically nailed Keith's and Lance's "voices" in that one based on their actual canon selves, so that was a nice little accomplishment at the time!

Basically, my inspiration comes from a lot of emotions, and also because there are specific subjects we see in movies/TV/books that I feel could be handled way better.

I've probably answered the top 5 fics before tbh. I don't know if I have a top 5, but here are 5 I love:

There Nestled Against His Pulse

You're Always Welcome Here

New

In This Moment, You Mean Everything

Terminal Velocity

(Some of these contain NSFW content btw)

There are, of course, many other fics I love, and as always I will recommend anything written by Iybms, Wittyy_Name, or Autumn_Ignited. Sadly, I haven't had the chance to read anything super recently, as I've been trying to read more published books (for pitching reasons), and have been a little disappointed so far unfortunately.

[thedarkzyxabyss]

Here’s a set of characters I created a few years ago for a small kingdom I made!

It’s a coastal kingdom which is famous for its large colosseum!

King Carrion

He/They

Seventh in line for the throne, Carrion was a mistreated, sickly prince (so much so that his family literally named him something that means carcass 💀). Looked down upon constantly, this guy wasn’t really guaranteed any future of any kind.

When a pandemic swept through his kingdom, however, he found himself as the only survivor due to living in a separate place (due to being ostracized) which saved his life. Now finding himself as the ruler of his small nation, he tries his best to keep his kingdom afloat despite being very unqualified for the task…

His face (along with parts of his body) is disfigured from abuse and mistreatment. He hides it behind a mask/prosthetic.

He’s incredibly shy and self-deprecating, but he is trying his best for his people.

Tries to keep up airs of a “competent and mysterious” ruler, but he’s really having a panic attack on the inside lol

Collected his guards with the help of Nexus. Honestly is like one of those dads that gets bullied by his kids

Nexus (guy with large star blast on his face)

He/Him

A skeleton of unknown origin. He applied to be a knight at an early age and worked his way up to be King Carrion’s personal guard. A extremely skilled and capable knight despite his origins and disability.

His right arm is actually missing! He doesn’t talk about how he lost it often.

A super chill guy, almost like nothing bugs him at all.

He doesn’t tend to have any presence whenever in a room full of people, and kind of doesn’t speak much unless spoken to.

Married his war buddy for tax benefits

Genuinely cares for Carrion despite everything the king has been through. Very loyal to him.

Neutral towards the other guards, but likes to mess with Soup a little lmao

Soup

He/They

A descendant of a sub species of skeletons that originate in one of the most unloveable, hostile places on the continent. Built to survive and adapt, these people were referred to as “the warrior tribes”, known for their immense strength, keen instincts, and violent behavior.

Works as one of King Carrion’s Guard, has a special role as a “Royal Executioner”

Part-Time works at the colosseum as a gladiator (although he dresses closer to a show pony 💀)

Currently in a situationship /lh

Annoyed with Nexus but he’s his superior sooooooo

Trains Caviar but also just likes fighting them lol

Steals Muffin’s food 60% of the time

Caviar

She/They/It

A young sea beast that has the capability to shape shift into a massive leviathan, known for causing typhoons and sinking countless of ships.

Works as one of King Carrion’s guard, usually works as a speedy alternative to sea travel.

Was mistaken as a merfolk by an underground business and was taken from her mother. She later bonded with a few other kidnapped children at their facility located in the middle of the ocean. She ended up single-handedly destroying half of the compound, and escaping with most of the other children to the nearest kingdom (which happened to be Carrion’s kingdom).

Loves to swim around and eat lots of fish, as well as caviar (lmao)

Likes to bug Muffin for snacks

Play fights with Soup lots

Muffin

He/They/It

A living suit of armor. Well, more technically, he’s a spirit that inhabits a suit of armor (kind of similar to/inspired by Mad Dummy in Undertale)

Works as one of King Carrion’s guard, less so actually doing his job and more so being a glorified cook.

A gentle giant, would rather not want to fight and instead resolve things peacefully

Loves baking

Gets bullied by Soup a lot lol

Dotes on Caviar

( also minor liatris jumpscare in the last image grgrgrrrhgghghgrrghgh i love my boy but i wanna gatekeep him but i wanna share him oughhhhh)

[tvckerwash]

thoughts on wash's fighting style and his position in pfl because I can (utc because it's really long lol):

wash is very unique among the freelancers for a variety of reasons, one is that he doesn't specialize in one specific area of anything, he's a jack of all trades who is able to fill in for other freelancers if necessary. for example in s9 when york was supposed to be unavailable for lock picking/infiltration duty, carolina immediately went to wash (and we are ignoring that york is not shown to be good at lock picking!) if she trusted wash to fill in for their specialist in one area, I feel it's not a stretch to imagine that he can do so in other areas as well.

need a snipper but north and wyoming aren't available? wash can cover. need someone to get into the enemies' computer systems in place of ct, south, or york? wash can cover. need someone for stealth or reconnaissance in place of florida? wash can cover. etc etc.

wash's combat style reflects that jack of all trades, master of none thing very well too, as the way that he fights is very grounded and pragmatic when compared to the rest of the freelancers. a lot of people like to portray wash as less skilled than the other freelancers, but in truth I believe that wash being able to keep up and compete with the other freelancers despite his lack of dramatic flare is a show of just how competent and skilled of a soldier he is. wash is so good at doing what he does that he doesn't need all that extra bullshit to get the job done. sure, he might not look as Cool and SexyTM as the others while doing it, but completing the mission and surviving to live another day takes precedence over all else.

another way of looking at it is that wash fights in the same way that the odst's do, that is to say that he fights like a human who cannot plow his way through the battlefield in the same way the spartans can. wash's style of fighting is one that employs careful planning and targeted hit and run tactics—this is most obvious in recovery one and s6 whenever he's fighting against the meta.

I also feel it's important to note that wash is not a cqc fighter, he can handle himself if he gets into a cqc situations but his primary weapon is the battle rifle—which is a mid/long range weapon. if I'm being honest wash's way of fighting makes waaaaaaaaay more sense if you look at him not as someone who is trained to primarily fight against other humans, but as someone who is trained to fight against 8ft 2 ton aliens with plasma weapons that can slice through the hulls of UNSC battle cruisers (ships designed to travel through space!!!) like a hot knife cuts through butter and have the technology to raze entire planets to the ground in a matter of minutes.

I also personally believe that wash has the most military experience out of all the freelancers right behind florida, wyoming, and maine (who I hc as a spartan iii). we know that wash did his basic training in the leonis minoris system (a canonical halo system) and that system had two of the three planets glassed by the covenant in 2537, and wash directly references these events in the washed hands interview in the fan guide and the way he says it implies that he likely completed his basic training that same year. now I have some grievances with the timeline given in the book when it comes to the events depicted in the freelancer saga because it's just kinda weird, but everything prior to that bit is actually fine (though I hate the way that they decide to number the timeline lmao).

now in halo canon the human/covenant war ended in 2552, and according to the timeline in the rvb fan guide that was 1 year after alpha was sent to blood gulch. project freelancer is first cleared for funding 7 years BBG (before blood gulch), and recruits the 50 freelancers 5 years BBG. doing some math we can determine that pfl was cleared for funding in the year 2544, and the freelancers are recruited for pfl in 2546. so assuming wash finished his basic training in 2537 that would mean that he was in the military for 9 years before he joined pfl, and while wash is addressed as a corporal (e-4) in the washed hands interview he was most likely demoted to that after he was court martialed, and he was possibly going to be dishonorably discharged from the military because of his disorderly conduct.

using the current standards used by the us marine corps when it comes to rank progression, wash was most likely a sergeant (e-5) who was very close to being promoted to a staff sergeant (e-6). wash as a sergeant would've essentially been the assistant manager/co-leader of the platoon he was in while his staff sergeant was the manager/leader, and that would explain why he was able to even get into an argument with his CO in the first place. I believe wash held a similar position in pfl, as it's kind of implied that he did some management stuff in pfl (talking with internals/upper brass, him feeling comfortable with openly questioning carolina about whether york should be allowed on the sarcophagus heist, and of course he shows the ability to direct and somewhat lead south in recovery one, and him leading church, caboose, and the reds in s6, and him taking charge of the meta in s8).

even if wash wasn't a sergeant as a corporal he would've been in a position to be the leader of a fire team, so basically wash isn't some rookie who had no clue wtf he was doing as many in the fandom like to characterize him; he is an experienced and battle hardened soldier by the time he joins pfl no matter how you look at it.

to put all of that into context, carolina is born 29 years BBG, which would be 2522. so during pfl she's in the 24-28 range and she wouldn't have joined the military until 2540. I actually personally head canon that wash is the same age as carolina, but that he illegally enlisted at 15 because of a crappy home life, but ignoring my head canon and assuming that he joined the military at 18 instead, he would've been born in 2519.

[elvenbeard]

Maybe the biggest gift is the friends we made along the way 🎂

Happy Birthday, V!

Was staying up way too late and getting way too emotional over these fictional gonks last night, but yes... I've wanted to do a bigger scene like this for so long, and what better occasion than male V's canon birthday today!

These aren't all my favourites from the game (the sofa wouldn't be big enough for it xD), but the people Vince would like to invite over for the occasion for sure, let it be a year or two down the line when they all actually are in the same area at the right time and come together like this (and uuuhhh... obvious problems with one certain ex-bodyguard set aside and solved because I said so!). It would really be a special thing to have everyone there that's been with him during one of the worst times of his life. Thanks to them (amongst many others) he even gets the chance to celebrate another birthday.

Some more ramblings about some of the interactions I'm picturing here and why I placed everyone the way I did under the cut xD And some more pics to come in a separate post later :3

Front and center obviously Vince and Kerry and Judy, my faves, my loves <3 I think this would probably be one of only a handful of times Kerry ever meets Judy in person. He only ever hears her over the holo and knows her from what V told him, because she left Night City before they got a chance to meet prior to the game's endings. I think they would go along so well though, and besides Kerry, Judy is the person Vince feels closest to out of the group pictured here, and he'd be so excited to know Kerry and her get along as well.

Then Judy and Panam... I lowkey ship it so hard, and I mean, they would make one power couple, but at the very least I think they'd become good friends, maybe Judy even travels with the Aldecaldos for a while or joins them, like in the Star ending when she's romanced.

I put River in the back and center cause he's the biggest of the bunch and I think he'd love being there, watching over everyone in a way (and keeping an eye on Takemura, cause he doesn't trust him xD). I'd like to think him and Viktor get talking about boxing, workouts, maybe make plans for a friendly sparring match. Maybe they've even met before on some occasion, only just realizing it now. Viktor is btw out of the whole bunch the person Vince has know the longest, almost as long as he knew Jackie in my background story for him.

Goro keeps himself in the back because he definitely is the odd one out of the bunch (probably didn't wanna come in the first place), but maybe he's starting to realize this moment that a life without Arasaka is not the end of the world after all. That there's always room for new beginnings, no matter how unlikely it seems (but he's still gonna give V shit, and V is gonna give him shit, obviously XD they're bickering like an old couple probably, much to Judy's and Panam's amusement who previously were rather wary of Goro).

Then a pair I only really got thinking about when I set this up were Misty and Kerry because... It does kinda make sense, and I think they'd get along really well? Like, Vince and Misty have known each other for a few years, and he likes her a lot, but he's not as close to her as he was to Jackie for example. She was definitely a positive guidance throughout the whole mess in 2077, and he really appreciates her for always seeing the good in everything. And I think Kerry would be a bit confused about her in the beginning, but since he also has spiritual leanings I think they'd find a lot of common ground. I also think Misty would just treat him as Vince's partner, some guy, not be all in awe about him being famous - aware of it, but ignoring it, because it does not matter in the grand scheme of things how rich and famous you are but whether or not you're a decent human being.

And Nibbles is there because she lives there, obviously, this is her penthouse, her sofa xD Needs to make sure everyone behaves!

I had been thinking about including Rogue in the scene, but then I also thought... she probably wouldn't come xD Be like "nah kid, thanks, but you do you", and she's not that close with Vince on a personal level. Same goes for Claire, I love her so much, and while I think she and Vince get along very well, they're not as close (or maybe she just didn't have time).

I was pondering also if I wanted to include Jackie and Johnny in some way, because they can't be there physically for known reasons (and even though Vince wouldn't have invited Johnny just to annoy him, Johny would have come anyway to annoy him back, so there's that XD). Decided against it in the end because the ideas I had would have meant more editing than what I was ready to do just now, but I have some more ideas with Vince and Jackie and Johnny that work better in a different setting anyway.

if you've read this far, here's a piece of birthday cake 🍰

[mysterymanjoseph]

Undercover Misadventures: mysterymanjoseph and a-den-of-demons

Ever since the creation of the 'Galactic Empire' by one time Senator Palapatine, Joseph's home world has been on edge. His people were an independent sort, barely really having anything to do with the Republic when it existed. Now, it seems that a dictator was in charge, and those always wish to control more. So, his homeward began building up their military, knowing in time, Imperial Forces would make their way to them. Joseph had been 'drafted' by the intelligence branch of the home world's military, his past service putting him at the top of the list for some 'special' mission, that being, planting automated sensor pods on isolated planets between the core worlds and the outer rim regions where his people live. Using the cover of a 'independent prospector', gives him reasonable cause to be going to those isolated planets, hoping to 'strike it rich'. So far, all was running smoothy, until at one of the small outposts where he would resupply, and get any instructions through the secure communications network that was set up, he was met by an actual courier, undercover of course. Joseph was handed and actual, physical paper file folder in a sealed paper envelope. Most would think this was a stupid way to send information, but, a lot of times, 'dumb, outdated tech', defeats modern sophisticated types. Taking the file back to his own ship, securing the hatch, Joseph opens the envelope and reads the file. It seems that an Imperial officer, someone high up in communications, is disillusioned with the new government, and has deserted. Joseph has been tasked to find this person, and bring them to the home world for debriefing. Joseph thinks, "I am in no way trained for this sort of thing, coming in hot on a drop ship with a platoon of troops is what I'm familiar with doing, not this sort of 'sneak in and out', operation." "The intelligence people back home must be beyond desperate, and squeezed for time to send this my way." The file details the deserter is likely on the next planet Joseph was going to anyway, and what settlement they were thought to be hiding out in. He thinks, "Well, won't be suspicious for me to go there, already have an approved travel plan from the locals to go there." "How exactly I'm supposed to 'bump into', this officer, and convince them to come with me, that was not in the mission packet, guess I'll have to improvise." Joseph stashes the file in a safe place on his ship, resumes the resupply, then sets about readying his small vessel for takeoff.

@a-den-of-demons

[pristine-rose]

as my gift to make up for my year of absence here is a little rosalyne and lisa <3.

bc who would want these 2 as their wives <33

starts here :

oh…

when you left mondstadt to adventure the other nations you had not realised doing so would break a certain librarian’s heart. you hadn’t even the curtesy to say goodbye.? her cutie. her cutie, didn’t have the archon damned manners to leave her? oh well punishment will soon follow. you should know that by now~

and she knew just who to contact.

as you travelled through inazuma you wanted to see the monuments and special places to people of those nations. arriving at tenshukaku not moments later when you were met with the traveller and asked to tag along. oh archons were you in for a surprise when you walked in and rosalyne was there.

she smirked at you before challenging the traveller to a duel. lets just say you rushed her out of there as soon as things got shaky, but you were doomed as soon as you left because rosalyne takes you with her on her ship. you had no clue where you were going but trusted her.

you are sorely mistaken.

you arrived back in mondstadt, lisa waiting in the library. as soon as you were in eyesight of lisa she walked over to you and grabbed your shirt. “cutie…. why did you leave mommy?” she whined before smashing her lips against yours as rosalyne came up behind you and started to play with your bra undoing it and fondling with your chest. yours was small compared to lisa and rosa’s.

as lisa kissed your lips she used her vision to stimulate you. very quickly you became a moaning mess, whining for your mommies. then lisa stopped along with rosa. rosa spoke in a tone you could all to well tell she was unimpressed. “lisa sweetheart i think our baby here wants release. did she think she was getting a treat?“, lisa giggled “ofcourse not cara mia—“ “mommy please…!!!” you whined.

“absolutely not my precious, you left without even telling mommy where you were going. you’ve been a bad girl. and bad girls are punished not rewarded”

lisa and rosalyne giggled as they shared a mischievous look with one another. they had a plan and it would end up with a certain bad girl not walking tomorrow morning.

anon note: soooo….. i hope you liked it? i haven’t written in quite a bit so i’m a bit rusty! might do a part 2 for you. <3

— 🪷 anon

omg wait i totally wrote a lisa one shot similar to the first part [ sry for plug ( ‘—_—) ] hehehe

ROSALYNE… OH ROSALYNE — I HAVEN’T THOUGHT ABOUT THAT WOMAN IN A WHILEEEE. HOLD ON.

// not-sfw utc ~

ohhhh lisa and signora would be such a great duo for a threesome. lisa works well with anyone, honestly—i even once wrote her in a threesome with yae miko.

but in this case, it’s much more of a power struggle between the two women sandwiching you. lisa can’t quite use her dainty little charms to win, be it’s not like she’ll give into signora’s centuries of trained dominance, either. so if you find yourself in the middle, here, trust there’s be a lot of rivalry and overtopping.

the thing is, however, while others would take this as an opportunity to go even harder, they both go even gentler. but do not mistake my words; they are good at what they do. lisa knows her fingers work magic—she knows that the slower she goes, and more force she applies has you writing in place. and signora knows very well the skill of her hips and her tongue. she knows how to get you squirming without any roughness.

it’s because they’re style is elegance until you break. but do not be fooled—they’ll try to get each other to break, too. get ready for sore hips, and a show <3

HEHEHE 🪷 NONNIE GIVING ME A TREAT THE MOMENT THEY COME BACK 🥺💗

[foggycrusadepenguin]

Okay have you ever done something so self indulgent you think you actually need to explain it.

Well i did, i did a whole Au because of some honestly delusional type thoughts.

BUT if you actually read you may see where I'm coming from.

Sincerely if you take away the randomness of it you may find a incredible Au idea, a really wacky au with time travel, dimension hopping and forced found family left and right. Sounds awesome doesn't it.

Yet in every place there has to be a start and well this is kind of me rambling and being a conspire about how my favorite childhood movies prepared me to ship corabug but I also explain the Au so if you're ready let's go.

So let's say I tell you I have a character he has blue hair, large red nose, has a complex about his appearance and has streak of good bad luck.

Who am I talking about?

Buggy you say?

This guy?

Yeah?

No, actually no I am talking about this baby here.

They both have blue hair (Well plastic? For Doraemon but you get it)

They both have large red noses (Doraemon jus has a big head for his nose)

They both have a complex about there apereance, Buggy with his nose, Doraemon with being mistaken for a raccoon (He is robot cat! The best one to!)

And well about there luck they both kind of live out of coincidences even if Doraemon tends to have a better luck.

So you are going to say okay you have a taste for favorite characters, whats the problem?

And I will say have patience my little grasshopper for I still have not finished.

Doraemon has a girlfriend, or well his first love, Noramyako.

Now she looks like this now.

And well there's not really anything similar to Corazon right? This was about Doraemon having codded me to like Corabug and apart from the pink they don't really look similar do they?

Well i never saw this Noramyako, I saw the one from the special the begining of Doraemon.

And she looked like this.

And well now she is pink and tall (I love this design, she is a dancer and she looks so pretty when she spins, Doraemon also only gets up to her waist which honestly Corabug right there)

it's way more coincidences than my brain needed (Apart i think it's funny she is gracious and he is clumsy has they come, opposites but similar, and both cuties that could probably kill you! What else do you need?! Nothing that's what.)

I could also mention Doraemon was blonde at the start? And Buggy is posible going to be blond (I'm not up to date with the manga but i did see some people mentioning it and drawing it)

That being said, Doraemon has one of the wackiest type worlds to exist (I'm basing myself in the movies has I have never seen the series)

There is time travel (Doraemon is from the future, apart that they always jump in time)

Dimension hopping (No that much but the amount of time they end in random ass no way is this earth type things is pretty high)

A wacky timeline that constantly jumps around (They have broken there timeline a lot of times but nothing ever happens so ┐⁠(⁠￣⁠ヘ⁠￣⁠)⁠┌)

And a lot of convenient artifacts from the future with so many cool uses.

There also a time mafia, a time police and ect.

So if I said there is a way to put the usual madness of one piece in to Doraemon it's because I can.

But how?

Drum rolls please.

Time pirates!

So to transverse time they use a type of machine that flies through space. Why not make it a ship, can you imagine robbing all types of items from all types of places and time periods? Wouldn't that be awesome!

All while traveling with flying ship? (Like the treasure planet movies ones)

Yes It would and you are right.

Apart from that having a lot of liberties timeline wise because there is the time travel gimmick.

Things happening in order but In such different time periods is magical.

There's a spot for everything, marines? Time police.

The world government, some high rankings future people or even the sky people ( Yes they exist)

Like the incident of flevance could very well be the world government abusing a community which they knew was going to diaper anyway but could give them rare materials.

And this is how we get into the au idea I was saying.

So Law survives flevance like always but thanks of the intervention of the time police in the extermination of the people he finds out about the time travel and even travels with them when they are leaving.

In the future he gets recruited by a robot in the shape of a tall cat that has serious narcissism problem Doflamingo who manages a small time mafia know has the family and who only wants to create chaos.

Doflamingo gets all type of people that shouldn't be alive, that shouldn't exist, robots humans, others, he recruits everyone he can get his claws on.

They are all from different time periods, different tragedies, different species, all of them hurt by the injustice of the world.

Law is still dying and there is no know cure, people believe the people of flevance had a thing like the black plague and because they all died no one bothered to find out more about it and those who did try and investigate where quickly dismissed by the world government.

He doesn't have time and he has a lot of anger, he wants people to hurt like he has.

At the same time there's Corazón a robot cat that works for the time police and is undercover in the mafia, believing it is his duty to end Doflamingo has one of the only two existent Donquixote robots after there creator was brutally murdered.

They both are brothers, the only two models done by the scientist Donquixote, they are more resistant, more intelligent and unique.

When he sees Law at first he wants to drive him away, no child should be left under the care of the family.

Yet he also kind of sees his 'mother' who died thanks to a unknown illness one he wants able to find a cure for he wants to help and when he find out Law is a D well he makes a decision.

The D are time anomalies, people believe anyone with a D is destined to change the very seems of time which is why they are considered dangerous and Doflamingo fears them.

So he steal a time machine and kidnaps Law, he will save him no matter the cost.

The comes Buggy another cat robot, but this one is a mass produced one, a pirated version actually who manages a small group of rebellious pirate robots who also double function has a small four person? Robot circus.

Buggy is a malfunctioning robot, he can separate in to parts and his synthetic hair grows a lot to the point he can't really cut it because it grows back to being long.

Nobody really knows why of his malfunction has it happened years ago, they do know it has something to do with some red hair though.

Anyway he ends up accidentally roped on to Corazon and Law small crew when they rob his smaller ship one he had been using while his crew went and did something flashy elsewhere.

He can't leave not with the time police so close on there trail and well he may be a little to easy to have a change of mind when treasure is mentioned.

So he stays and while he had promised himself to not get close to humans again they weren't worth the pain, they weren't worth the bitterness or the hollow feeling they left when they where no longer there.

He does become invested in helping Law, they don't have a good relationship in anyway but he kind of wants to help.

Though he does end up becoming closer to Corazon, they both get each other even when they have small fights and difference in morals, they understand each other.

Which is why he uses his crew to look out for any cure or saving possibilities.

Things get interesting when they find out about a devil fruit they may use, one that could mean salvation for Law.

It's going to be hard has devil fruits are special confections that seem to be timeless, they have been from the start and no one in the future know who did them or even if some did them but there effects are unstoppable.

Things get vague after that they get the fruit thanks to Corazon but they don't know his ending if he was killed or not and Buggy ends up separated from Law thanks to a problem with the ship in there scape.

Funnily enough Buggy ends meeting a face he hasn't seen in decades, a face that's not quite how he remembers, a face far to young he meets Ace.

Ace the son of his captain.

We could also talk about the weird kid with a familiar straw hat that Buggy absolutely despises or the weird kid that obviously is not a time traveler who didn't do his homework about what period of time he is soupose to be in.

Or the fact he is trapped with them thanks to the fact his own time device is broken and doesn't work.

The fact he doesn't know if Corazon is alive or if Law managed to scape, if his crew is alright or what does it mean that the straw hat child even has the hat.

There also the fact the kids shouldn't be in the time they are in but who is counting anyway?

Now having finished have some extra art I did <⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠>

[ghelgheli]

17! but also using the opportunity of the ask game to get to know more about the effortless worldbuilding in sff :)

from the end-of-year book ask

17: Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

I think Three Body Problem is the only one meeting this condition this year so I'll have no trouble staying on topic :> but I'm gonna specifically talk about "hard" SF as I conceive of it—I haven't read any analysis so this may just be a jumble of improvised thoughts.

SF, being "speculative" fiction, of course has to take on the problem of speculating and of presenting things that don't (and perhaps cannot) happen. On average this is accomplished thru a healthy combination of scientific grounding and good-natured handwaving: I drop a few sentences about "quantum entanglement" and you go along with my ansible, or you tell me about "positronic circuits" and I agree that you can make a brain with them. This is the compact that makes SF work because you fundamentally cannot expect speculation without, well, ceding ground on reality.

But at least a subset of SF readers are of the kind to really want to grok how it is that this or that scientific feature of the world works or may come about. Every contraption and novel technology is like a puzzle to be riddled out. This is the place where speculation becomes sincere mechanical prediction, and it's why I love hard SF.

This subset of readers can be matched to a subgenre of writers who commit fully to filling in as many blanks in their technological, biological, etc. speculation as possible. The rows of astronomical data can't be left vague—tell me what frequency of light we're dealing with here—xenobiology isn't taken for granted—what is the neurology of your aliens??—and so on. The dots are connected, the rest of the owl is drawn for real, the image is made crisp. Like fireworks for the reader's brain.

When this kind of worldbuilding is executed well imo it looks effortless. Looks, not is, because behind every explanation of near-c travel is hours of research into at least special relativity and time dilation, along with calculations by-hand. Behind every account of an exoplanet's atmosphere is probably a few papers perused on the subject and several articles on scientific american. Peter Watts, in the note at the end of Blindsight, includes a fucking bibliography of a hundred or so references as well as thank-yous to many an academic he split handles of liquor with. And this is only the visible fragment of what has to be a library of knowledge accumulated both passively and actively to make a speculated world feel as concretely plausible as possible.

None of this is necessary for good SF. The aforementioned compact means any author can opt out of this commitment at any time. But it's what it takes to make tightly-written hard SF, where your conceptual hands are kept diligently at your side, waving an idea through maybe once every five chapters when you have no other choice.

So anyway, Three Body Problem is a tour de force in doing this and doing it cleanly. It uses a storytelling device a lot of hard SF employs to make it work: rather than stuffing dense exposition into narration (at which point, just read the source papers) it deploys a cast of characters who more than anything else, really know their shit. We get exposition trickle-fed through experts who are trying, along with us, to make sense of their novel environments and unfamiliar technologies using their knowledge of the present limits of human understanding. This is what Watts does in Blindsight too, by the way: a claustrophobic ship crewed by technical specialists makes first contact, so everyone has something encyclopedic to say about everything and it's only natural.

What astounded me about Cixin Liu's writing is that he made it work just when I least thought he would be able to. I was sure I was being shown things completely inexplicable and necessarily supernatural until he went and explained them in plain terms; better yet, he explained them in ways that made so much sense in retrospect that I was kicking myself for not seeing the answer. This has exactly the flavour of a good puzzle.

The trade-off hard SF makes is that you are often limited in the metaphorical/thematic work you can do through your speculation. I think the contrast between "calendrical science" in Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire series and Asimov's "psychohistory" illustrates this well.

Yoon Ha Lee has mathematical training, and calendrical science is a speculative field consisting of theorems, conjectures, proofs, etc. in the language of mathematics that stand in for cultural hegemony and power projection. This makes for a great operationalization of soft power: space is filled and distorted by the quantifiable effects of whatever regime is dominant there (the "calendar" here being synecdoche for culture writ large). But obviously he can't fill in the blanks of how a calendar causes spacetime distortions that specifically make one side's weapons more effective, or provide certain formations with shielding effects. This is, I guess, semi-hard (lol) SF—you can see how it's supposed to work, but it's clear that it just won't. What you get in return is pretty politically interesting storytelling.

Psychohistory is the converse: a deterministic-enough lovechild of economics and sociology explained in the Foundation series as using all the familiar methods of linear algebra and differential equations together with unfamiliar innovations of just how to quantify human behaviour in order to make reliable predictions. There are entire chapters dedicated to explaining the conceptual nuance that went into developing psychohistory ("the hand on thigh principle" from prelude to foundation is just about how the theory resolves divergence by reducing insignificant terms to zero) and an entire book to exploring one of its limitations. It's fascinating to read. But you also get little narrative depth out of it, because hard SF, even when done well, is not guaranteed to make a story thematically interesting or politically compelling. This is the Three Body Problem problem too: its political commitments are threadbare and unserious because that's just not what it's about. I couldn't recommend it on those terms, but that's not what I like so much about it. I will say the conceptualization goes a little off the rails in the final chapters, but I think most SF authors were in some kind of string theory inspired fugue state at the time.

What I would love to see (and I'm sure exists) is hard SF that also has interesting politics. Unfortunately that's an intersection of two already-narrow intersections.

ty for ask✨🐐

[fence-time]

OKAY! EXPLOSION TIME

@wireman-au - you already know this one, but i think they updated since last time

Lifeline AU - by @/slash-magpie (sorry mags, unsure if you're ok with being pinged)! Good fic based off of a video game that i enjoy greatly. Changed my life nodders. llau!imp n skizz are very important to me they're so fucked up,, every mental illness ever about this au. Main characters... well, I don't wanna give too many spoilers, but let's stick with the first three: Impulse, Tango, Pearl! also joehills and zedaphplays are amazing human beings (COUGHS LOUDLY AT JOE IN LB) and i love them

Chasing the Horizon Line - by @nine-of-diamonds and @1watermelontea! Mers :3 they're fun and i also greatly enjoy imp n skizz here though it's less centered around them and more around gem... (first book, at least. also i inspired melon to add a Thing about skizz in this fic so im proud of that fact)

wanna break all the clocks and mirrors - very cute, pretty quick one-shot about imp n skizz and limited life!

The Haunts That Bind Us - *squints* im like. 90% sure rusty courage made this. it's good. phasmo :3 lots of angst and trauma and impulsesv

Birdsongs - OHHHHHHHH MY GOD THIS FIC. THIS. FIC. ranchers slowburn but subtle enough you can ignore it if you're not into shipping, people are correctly written for once, LATE 90'S-EARLY 2000'S MUSIC FESTIVAL AU. it's amazing. scott gets into a bar fight. jimmy steals something. first chapter is tango tek waking up from drunk music playing. skizz is amazing i love him. very very vague spoilers: weed + enjoys movies = pondering arson

i believe that we will see a better day - this fic has a special place in my heart for Reasons that i will not elaborate on as i do not want to have any personal information leaked don't think about it too hard <3 good fic

Natural Satellite - You probably aren't in this fandom but the fic is good i trust you can learn by context clues!! i love gay people!! this fandom is very good at visceral descriptions of love and also just visceral descriptions in general

Traveling Thieves - LOOOOOONG series but soso good! will not elaborate

And finally, if i may suggest some of my own headcanon/rarepair propaganda:

(how does it feel?) to be an expert in a dying field - i wrote this for mcyt aro week! grayro skizz, my beloved rarepair snowangel, title from my favorite band... yea :3 quite proud of it!!

...sorry if you've read any of these already

OH MY GOODNESS I’M SORRY MATE. ITS BEEN TOO LONG AUEEHHH OOPS? tho thank you so so much :O!!!

[donutsupremacy]

Withered Roses

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Summary

"Oh, how you'd secretly swoon over your own boss. It's hard to serve drinks to your customers when Diluc is always nearby during your shifts, unfortunately for you— It only took one look at Diluc smiling ever so slightly at Jean with a faint rosy hue to his cheeks, and that sent a flurry of pain inside of you... Physical pain."

Warnings/Spoilers

Written during 4.0

Au!Hanahaki disease

GN!Reader

Reader isn't traveller

Reader has a Hydro vision

Mild jealousy (Reader's side)

A hint of Jeanluc (Jean/Diluc)

Mentions of alcohol

Mentions of Dottore

Mentions of surgery

Reader dies

Angst

I SAY WE NO COMFORT AND 0% FLUFF TODAY

A/N: I have both an important exam in just a few weeks AND my finals about 2 months after that. So i'll have to hold off on writing oneshots/updating the SMAU. That means I can't participate in Kinktober— BUT I wrote a special Oneshot/Imagine type of thing for it, it'll be scheduled on Oct 1st!

No offense to the Jeanluc shippers I wholeheartedly find this ship okay I just don't feel like using Kaeya or Donna Jean seems like a better choice

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Your heartbreak begins here

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"Here is your order, sir." You hummed, placing a glass of wine in front of them.

The man slurred, already drunk after a few drinks with damp stains seen on the surface of his clothes, he certainly has a low tolerance. He thanked you regardless, before grabbing his glass and downing half of it in a single gulp.

You only nodded in acknowledgement as you cleaned the table, placing the empty wine glasses on your tray before walking away, leaving the drunken man alone.

The tavern was surprisingly calm tonight, unlike most nights where you'd hear a multitude of glasses clinking against eachother, followed by loud chattering and hearty laughter over glasses of alcohol. And that's why you loved working at Angel's Share, even if it can be a handful sometimes.

And the best part?; You always had your shift with Master Diluc.

"2 Apple Ciders for the couple upstairs." The red haired male hummed as you approached, his normally cold red eyes gazing up into yours, and you could catch a hint of softness in them. "The gentleman certainly ordered quite a lot..."

You chuckled at how annoyed he sounded upon seeing several empty glasses on the tray you held, sliding it towards Diluc with a sympathetic, yet, amused expression.

"It beats having that young bard over and repeatedly asking you for a discount, no? Though, I must admit— the tavern gets too quiet and calm without him, almost too quiet." You joked with a cough, taking the tray of freshly made apple cider.

"It's a shame that I have to agree with you... But so as long as you're here— I wouldn't mind spending time with you on a more placid night in the tavern." A rare sight to see your normally reclusive and stoic boss with a small smile, let alone chuckling softly.

You can't resist smiling at the sound of his laughter and his smile, your cheeks tinted a rosy hue at his words— only to look away with a quiet and awkward cough, flustered as you subtly fanned your warm face.

"Y-Yes... I-I enjoy your company when it's quiet here..." You laughed nervously as you didn't know how to respond, rubbing the back of your neck as you turned around, walking towards the stairs while balancing the tray in hand.

Diluc's bright red eyes stalked you as you made your way up the stairs, the corner of his lips tugging down at your reaction that he wasn't expecting— Was that flirt a little too far? Did he start off too strong?

On the second floor, you greeted the couple as you served their drinks, receiving a polite thanks from them. You gave them a quick bow and walked towards a nearby table, the customers had left, leaving their empty wine glass behind.

While you began cleaning the table, you hear the sound of the tavern's door creak open— and her voice.

"Master Diluc, I'm sorry to have interrupted you... I understand that you have your own duties to attend to, but was Lisa here this morning?"

You immediately peeked over the railing, spotting the familiar acting grandmaster speaking to your boss, standing under the light that made her natural beauty glow as bright as the sun.

You suppressed a sigh, but let out another quiet cough, pretending to be busy by cleaning the table as you could faintly hear their conversation from above.

"Yes, Charles mentioned that she had stopped by for a quick glass of wine... You seem troubled, is there a situation regarding the Knights of Favonious?" Diluc asked, you could hear that familiar sarcastic tone dripping from his words whenever he talked about the Knights of Favonious.

"As you have suspected, yes there is and I need to find Lisa for her assistance. You don't happen to know where she is at the moment do you? I can't seem to find her anywhere." Jean asked, brushing aside his tone as she sounded desperate.

You stole a peek, the first thing you saw was a sigh from Diluc before giving her a soft look. You blocked out their voice as you tried to suppress another cough, it was gradually getting louder now that Jean was here.

"I don't have any information regarding Lisa's location, but if you'd like... I can spare some time and join you to search for her." Diluc offered, the corner of his lips quirking upwards ever so slightly— almost a little amused.

Jean, looked around the near empty tavern, before leaning in towards him, her lips close to his ears as she whispered something to him with a calm smile.

Whatever she said was not calm at all, as you witnessed a faint red hue appearing on Diluc's cheeks as his eyes widened in surprise.

Cough!

"Hm?... Oh, good evening, [Last Name]." Jean greeted with a smile as her gentle grey-blue eyes gazed into yours, a calm smile plastered on her face. "I figured it's your shift tonight since Diluc is on duty as well— working hard as usual?"

'So gentle... so strong... so pretty...' That was the first thing you thought of when you first saw Jean, and that opinion stayed the same for many years; A kind, gentle and hardworking soul.

"Ah... h-hey... Yeah, but not exactly... it's rather calm tonight." You awkwardly waved, giving her a lopsided grin as your eyes dart between the blonde and the redhead. Your lungs felt constricted whenever you saw the two together, whether it was for official business or a simple chat.

You knew the two had some sort of history together— but you didn't want to prod your boss over something so trivial and personal.

Cough!

Your lungs. It's feeling a little constricted again. There's something soft and small sliding up your throat.

Cough! Cough!

You turned away, choking out coughs and grunts as you hunched over slightly, the familiar silky petal that travelled up your throat, brushing ever so slightly against the walls.

"[Name]...? [N-Name], are you alright!?" Diluc asked, he leaned over the counter and gazed up at you, visible worry in his normally cold and stoic red eyes. You stole a glance at him and Jean, noticing their worried looks as you cupped your mouth, waving a hand dismissively at them while you turned away and coughed as hard as you could.

The petal falls. Soaked in drops of your own blood and saliva.

The sight alone makes you want to throw up, the blood seeping into the crevices of your palm.

You looked around, having attracted a little too much attention from your customers as well. You couldn't just throw it away, someone would see the petal and freak out!

You decided to stuff it into your pocket for the time being, discreetly wiping away the drops of blood on your lips and hiding your now blood stained hands into your pocket, hoping no one had noticed.

"I-I apologise for the interruption, everyone." You spoke calmly, turning to face the customers as you bowed apologetically. "Please, there's no need to pay attention to me— carry on."

You hummed as you placed the last cup on the tray, balancing it as you walked towards the stairs, hearing faint whispers from your confused customers.

"[Name], I can hear from your voice alone that you aren't fine. That wasn't a simple cough, you seem to be sick..." Jean spoke softly, placing a hand on your shoulder as she gazed at you with concern.

You glanced at Diluc as he walks around the counter, holding a small cup of what seems to be warm tea. "I've noticed your coughing has become a little more frequent than yesterday... I was preparing this cup of tea for you a few minutes ago, please take a rest."

"Thank you, Diluc..." You let out a shaky and quiet sigh, having to wipe away the blood off your hands in your pocket before placing the tray down. You took the cup of tea, the warmth of the porcelain glass against the skin of your palms, gently blowing it and taking a sip—

COUGH!

You feel the warm liquid spilling out of your lips, forcing what you felt was another petal back down inside your throat. The tea stained your clothes, quickly setting the cup down as you hunched over, coughing out the petal that brushed against the walls of your throat.

So soft... yet, so uncomfortably painful.

"[N-Name]!" Diluc immediately patted your back, not too harshly but not gentle either. You only coughed more as a result, quickly swatting his arm away as you began panicking.

"[Name], a-are you choking!?" The blonde asked, trying to place a hand over your shoulder to check for any signs of choking. You immediately jerked away, the petal was abnormally bigger, you could feel it slowly sliding up your throat.

No. This wasn't a petal. It was bigger— it was starting to clog your airways.

Out of desperation, you ran towards the door. "S-Sorry!" You managed to choke out, using your shoulder to tackle it open and flee into the night, ignoring Diluc's voice calling out for your name, the sound of his boots clicking against the stone pavements close behind you.

You could see Diluc running after you from the corner of your eyes, forcing you to use your Hydro vision to escape, briefly dissolving your body into water as you slid away once you turned the corner. Diluc turns the corner as well, but paused upon seeing you disappear.

He skids into a stop, his expression held visible worry and confusion. You managed to escape, slinking away from him and to a nearby corner. The streets of Mondstadt City were empty, barely anyone in sight, save for the guards currently on patrol.

You reverted your body back to normal— it was a huge mistake. You collapsed to your knees, hunched over as you used up your strength to cough out the blood soaked flower, falling onto the concrete pavement beneath you, your fluids dripping from the petals.

A yellow hyacinth.

You weren't some floral expert, maybe you could ask about it to the young girl that runs the flower booth near the front gates of Mondstadt City...

After running so much, using up your Hydro vision and turning yourself into a body of literal water, the fatigue washed over you like a giant wave. You remained on your knees, dug into the concrete pavement that scratched and left marks on the skin of your knees.

You clutched your stomach with one hand as the other held the flower, your breathing shallow and your heart barely beating. It was hard to breathe.

"What the— H-Hey! Are you alright!?"

You flinched, immediately getting up onto your legs, but soon collapsing once more from the lack of strength. "Woah there! You shouldn't move so much if you don't have the energy or strength to do so!" You hear footsteps running to your side, a hand on your shoulder and the other on the elbow of your arm. "...I-Is that?..."

"...Yes..." You sighed quietly, turning your head to look at who was next to you.

Your eyes widened, immediately pulling your arm and shoulder back from the Fatui. "Wh-What are you doing!?" You hissed— Though, you don't have any serious business against the Fatui, Diluc has certainly influenced you quite well.

The man was taken aback by your sudden hostility, he quickly shook his hands and raised up his arms in defense. "I'm not dangerous, I swear!" He stammered out, backing away as your Hydro vision starts to glow. Only to be cut off by your coughing fit.

You fell to your knees again, digging into the concrete pavement, leaving a minor scratch wound. You clutched your stomach with one arm and the other cupping your mouth, hunching over as you felt the incoming flower slowly sliding up your throat with every cough. Yet, the more you breathed, it slinks down ever so slightly, causing you to cough more in an attempt to get it out.

The Fatui, unsure what to really do but noticing your suffering, quickly went to your side and landed a hit on your back. It wasn't painful thankfully, it surprisingly helped as the impact caused the flower to thrust up higher into your throat.

Eventually, you managed to throw up another fully bloom flower, covered in more blood than the last one.

You were weak. Numb even. You struggled to even support yourself as you laid on the ground and on the side of your body, coughing in a hoarse tone, your throat dry and burning.

The Fatui slowly picks up the flower, examining it underneath his mask while you remained breathing heavily on the ground. The blood dribbles down his glove and into the ground in front of you, your eyes trailing up his figure to see what he was doing with a blurry vision.

"A hopeless romantic, I see?" The man chuckled quietly with an amused grin, the mask he wore hiding the devilish glint in his eyes. You wiped the blood off your lips as you tried to pick yourself back up, scowling at his words.

"Don't give me that face. I can tell you're suffering." The fatui sighs, kneeling to your level as he held the bloodstained flower up. "I take it your love interest has yet to discover your feelings towards them? You have some spirit in you if you can keep on fighting until this stage— most would've just either tried to get their partners to reciprocate their feelings or get surgery immediately."

The metallic stench of your blood invaded your nostils, causing you to groan in disgust, shoving his hand away. "I-I don't... need your advice... if that's what you're... trying to do!" You hissed, rubbing your throat as you wheezed in between your words. You were feeling a little light-headed from the blood loss.

"I'm only suggesting it; If you can't bear the pain of your love interest turning you down— You can just get surgery, that way... you won't have to experience in the first place!" The Fatui hums, extending his free hand out to you. "You'll only suffer more until the last stage. You still have so much to live for in your life, do you want to throw it all away because of your feelings for someone, who you don't even know if they returned?"

You immediately slapped his hand away, finally getting up onto your legs, wobbling as you leaned onto the wall for support. "I didn't know the Fatui were an expert at gaslighting." You spat out, slowly sliding yourself across the wall, dragging your weak legs as you walked away.

"You'll simply judge a single man's words just by the organisation's reputation?" He snorted, watching your pathetic attempts at leaving. "So, you'd rather continue on to suffer and eventually die because you're too afraid of hearing the rejection? You'd allow the one person you desire the most— watch you die?"

You turned your head to glare at the man and stopped moving, irritated by his persistence. But at the same time... you're afraid to admit that he had a point.

"...I see i've struck a nerve." The Fatui snickered, walking over to you and looping an arm around your shoulder, ignoring the disgusted stare at his hand now on your shoulder. "You either confess now, or you can get surgery to remove the disease. Another way is; you can die."

How blunt. Yet, it's the truth.

You weren't confident about your boss' feelings for you. Sure, he may smile at you from time to time, but you're not the only one he smiles at. He's a stoic man who rarely shows interest in others or displays any sort of affection. He rarely even shows his actual feelings.

The more you thought about Diluc, the more your heart began to ache, questioning if he found you as more than just a co-worker. More than an employee. If he just found you as... just a friend.

If you weren't so head over heels for him, being his friend would've been enough. But no, you would freeze to death on Dragonspine just for him, if he could just say those 3 words of affection towards you. You'd do anything for him.

"...Have you heard of a doctor in Snezhnaya?"

"Who?"

You rose a brow at the Fatui, who can't help but snort at the way you immediately answered without even trying to think about who it was. "A famous doctor in Snezhnaya. He's a generous notorious for treating thousands of diseases, in fact— he's done quite a lot of surgeries regarding this particular one."

The Fatui then extended his hand out to you, the mask continuing to disguise the deceptive glint in his eyes, only showing you a kind smile. "You could continue to perish over time... Or you can trust this one lone Fatui, travel to Snezhnaya with him and get treated by the doctor..."

"I promise, I won't do anything to you. I don't even have a Vision I can use to fight back against you." He added, patting his clothes while holding his arms up in defense. If he were to even throw a punch at you, you could easily retaliate and use your Hydro Vision to counterattack.

However, with your current condition, you're not sure if you can even walk without having to rely on someone for support.

As you feel the air tense, your throat slowly restricting with your own feelings, you had no choice but to look at him in the eyes. Holding your throat, you can barely utter out another word.

He chuckles, already understanding your decision as you took his hand. His grin widens

"Very well... let's go see 'The Doctor'."

[Timeskip]

Diluc was frantic. Panicking even.

It's been weeks since you last disappeared without a trace. He's been searching every corner in Teyvat for you, neglecting his duties, the vague letter you wrote barely calmed his nerves. It almost felt like you didn't write it yourself, it looked rushed, as if you were escaping from someone while writing it.

Or, at least that's what he assumes... He recognised how different your handwriting was on the 2nd day you went missing.

You told him everything. Your feelings, your disease and your decision to get rid of it permanently, along with your love for him. He didn't want that. He wanted to find you, to hold you in his arms, bury his face into the back of your neck as he begs you to confess your feelings to him right at his face. To hear those 3 words of love he had been craving to hear everyday.

So he had been having some of his other employees take over both of your shifts, spending most of his time looking everywhere for you, even travelling to Liyue and Sumeru just to look for you. He even went as far as to begging Jean to send out some knights in search of you. Of course, she obliged— knowing just how much the both of you meant to eachother.

Not a single strand of your hair was found.

There he was in his office, running his hand into his red hair, disheveled and frantic about your sudden disappearance, standing next to a bookshelf that had a small pile of letters from you. Despite receiving your letters once per day, you never hinted your location once, only reassuring him that you were fine. All he could do was pray to the archons above that you were fine.

"Master Diluc?... Someone has sent a package for you. However, the package does not show the sender's information." Adeline's words startled him, he cleared his throat, fixing his attire as best as he could before speaking in his usual stoic tone.

"Thank you, Adeline... just leave it on my table." He murmured, keeping his eyes glued to the most recent letter you sent. Like most of the letters you sent, it was short and had little to no description of where you were.

The maid lets out a quiet sigh, placing the small box down on his table wordlessly, bowing before exiting the room.

"...I'm sorry, Master Diluc." Was the last thing she whispered, before closing the door, knwoing he would need privacy after taking a look at what would be in the box.

The Pyro vision wielder opened his mouth to question her words, but refrained as he could hear her sympathetic tone. He grits his teeth, seeing the tape on the package's sealing cut into a neat line. She had likely saw what was inside.

He stares at the packaging, there were no stamps or notes... It was anonymous. Of course, he was obviously weary and hesitant, it could be a trap for him. Or some sort of prank.

Yet, the thought of the package possibly coming from you made him a bundle of nerves.

Desperate to at least know you're still safe and sound, he hesitantly walks over to it, opening it slowly.

"...!?—"

His red eyes widened, muscles tensing as his blood ran cold. He nearly tore the packaging apart, almost hunching over and throwing up his breakfast, the amount of overwhelming emotions were already tearing him apart, chunk by chunk.

Fear, anxiety, pain; That was what he saw all at once upon seeing a bloody yellow hyacinth... and a masterless vision inside.

The more he stares at the dried blood stains on the flower's petal and the box's interior, along with the familiar design of the vision— underneath both of it was a neatly folded paper, stained in dried blood as well.

Heavy and ragged breathing filled the room, endless thoughts of you flooded his mind. He picks up the vision first— cold. That's how the vision felt. A cold, empty husk.

The flower, it was dried slightly, close to wilting. The petals were losing their colour and curled slightly.

He places the glower down next to the box as he slowly reaches for the note underneath, brushing his gloved fingers against it before picking it up with hesitation.

Dear Diluc,

By the time you have received this letter, I have likely finished my surgery and have begun my recovery. I apologise for my lengthy absence, I didn't mean to leave my duties abruptly... But I had to act quickly, I didn't want to risk our friendship either. I know i'm nothing but an employee to you... but I hold you in high regards; as a good friend to me. I wish we could be something more.

But I see that this is the best solution for the both of us; I didn't want to trouble you or leave you the guilt for not reciprocating my feelings. I know there is someone out there that deserves to be your significant other. Not me. I would like us to remain friends at the very least.

May the wind reunite us once more.

He felt his heart swell at your letter, regret washing over him like a large wave that held him back for not reaching out to you sooner. For being a coward. His fingers clutched the paper, eyes rereading every single word you had written. All the love you wanted to shower him with, all the love he wanted from you.

And then— he sees it.

P.s. Thank you for the new test subject, Ragnvindr.

It was like a stab through the heart, recognising that handwriting. He recognised it. And he felt like shredding the letter into pieces.

His legs gave out, collapsing into his knees as he drops the paper underneath him, not only stained with dried blood that was likely for you. But now joined by his tears of pain and despair.

He chokes out his cries, clutching his chest as he stares at the letter underneath him, his tears continuing to fall thoughts and whispered filled his head, sending him into a spiralling madness as he lets out a frustrated scream.

With you gone, the only way the two of you could once again reunite; Were his tears soaking into the sheet of paper, mixed into the dried bloodstains that belonged to you. Your death was his regret, and his pain was yours.

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Yellow Hyacinth

-Only has one meaning; Jealousy.