#<- figured i'd actually starting tagging them oops

[nitetrait]

all the time; continually

(night and day)

Before!

w/o reshade

w/ reshade

[beetlesau]

SoulBox

CHAPTER 5, THIS IS IT THE LAST CHAPTER

I'm wrapping this up because I just don't have the steam to make a cohesive story anymore lol. I thought I'd have one more chapter but then I crammed it all into this one, oops.

I'm sorry if you wanted to be tagged still it's just been so long since an update I feel anxious about it.

It's time we meet.

You unwrapped a crisp little note that rattled your Soulbox,

Actually this time. No distractions, nothing getting in the way. I'm starting to feel way in over my head about this lately and I've never felt that way about shit before. You deserve the truth. I don't even know if you'll like me for who I am. It doesn't feel right to not tell you everything. 

You read the note a few times over to yourself. It was so... perplexing. Up until this point, you'd thought he had just been busy, but now you realized he was avoiding you for a reason. The anxiety you felt was enough to call in a personal day at work. You lay on your couch, wads of crinkled papers thrown around the room. You had no idea how to respond. You wanted to meet, but after obsessing over these cryptic words, what did he mean he's not who you think? Who is he? Is he a villain? Is he even in the hero profession at all? 

Why, oh why, did none of those options.... matter, to you?

Your anxiety was centered around why none of this seemed like a big deal to you. But, it was a big deal? And you should be anxious that your soulmate has a deal-breaking secret to tell you, but you aren't. Which is just making you anxious for all the wrong reasons. 

... you felt bad for... not .. feeling bad. 

You were pacing yourself sick when the buzzer to your apartment rang. It startled you enough you nervously approached the speaker by your door. What if it was him? What if he had found you somehow? What if now was the time? What if-- The buzzer rang again, more feverish and unending now. 

"Hello!?" you all but screamed to whoever was ringing your apartment's number. 

"What the hell are you doing? Why the hell aren't you at work dumbass?" a familiar voice growled through to you.

"Oh! Bakugo... I... I'm uh, I'm just not feeling well. I think... I have a cold!"

"... Bullshit. You've never been sick a day in your life, your quirk won't allow it."

How did he... never mind, there were probably plenty of people who could figure that fun fact out about you, not just Midoriya the hero-obsessed wonder.

"Ah, uh, that's not, true. Um, see I think it must be a new strand. Yeah, I can't seem to even use my quirk to get rid of it I'm so sick. *Cough Cough* ah, yeah see? So you'd better just leave, I can't have you coming up and getting si--"

You nearly jumped out of your skin as there was a pounding at your door. You checked the peek hole and saw it was none other than Bakugo, scowling into the lens.

"Son of a. WHO let you in the building!?" you screeched, turning to the mess that was your apartment. You scrambled to pick up loose notes, wadded papers, and an occasional tissue when your thoughts went to the worst possible meaning behind the sudden soul-sent message. 

"Turns out the doorman is a huge fan of Dynamite. What the FUCK are you doing and why have you not opened this door yet, huh?" he grumbled. "I'll break it down, you know I will." You could hear the agitation in his voice.

"NO! ugh, just give me a second would you!? I told the office I was taking a personal day, I didn't know I also had to tell you too!"

You march back to the door and yank it open, "Remind me to look for apartments with better security--what? What are these?" Your eyes caught the tufts of color lowered by his side.

"What the hell do they look like, Smokey, they're flowers." he pushed them to your chest before inviting himself in. 

"I...? Thank you. Why?"

He didn't answer, he just looked at you like you were the crazy one for even asking. 

"Okay. Anyway, I'm sorry, is there something I can help you with? I took the day off for a reason you know?"

"What reason?" he quipped.

"It's just one day, Bakugo. I'm just having a personal crisis I guess. My soulmate wants to try and meet up again."

"So? Isn't that what you wanted?" his face unreadable, he made his way uninvited to your couch. 

"Make yourself at home, I guess?" Shifting into host mode you pulled bottled water from your fridge and offered it up to your new houseguest. "Well yeah, but the way the note was-- wait how do you know where I live?"

"Wow, distracted much? Your dumbass friend from work, Karen or whatever the fuck told Kirishima and I heard so here I am."

"Kirishima asked where I lived. Why? Wait who? Who's Karen? I'm totally lost."

"Jesus, the secretary lady, I don't know her name I thought it was Karen. WHO CARES. You focus on the dumbest shit, I swear."

"It's not dumb, it's completely valid! But, FINE. WHY DID KIRISHIMA, need to get my address from Sahrin, the secretary!?!" you raise your voice to the absolute bafoon sitting in front of you.

"He heard you were sick and wanted to have a card signed by the office and sent over to you, shitty woman!"

"I'M NOT SICK, HOW DID HE EVEN GET THAT IDEA??"

"OBVIOUSLY FROM ME, IDIOT? I JUST KNEW SHE WASN'T GOING TO GIVE ME THE ADDRESS BECAUSE SHE'S AN ASSHOLE!"

"So you're telling me, you got Kiri to think I was sick, planted the idea that I needed a get well card sent over to me, so you hid within earshot while he probably flirted to get my address out of the secretary, "tHe AsSHolE" Sahrin NOT Karen, and then took it upon yourself to come to my apartment and harass me on my day off, right?"

"I didn't fuckin' hide. I could have got it myself if I wanted, I just didn't wanna flirt with some extra." he huffed. 

"Okay, Bakugo. Well?"

"Well what, hag!?"

"... where's my get well soon card!?" You held out your hand, only for it to get harshly swatted away by the blonde. 

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? GET SERIOUS."

"Oh wait, so that's what the flowers were for! Everyone thinks I'm sick?"

Bakugo's face blanked a moment, his mouth moving without speaking before his words finally caught up.

"Sure. Anyway, how is your dumbass soulmate causing you to take a personal day off work?" his face was heavy with stress, even with him trying to hide it you could see.

"Right. I dunno. I know it's so stupid--"

"I didn't say it was stupid. I just want a real answer."

"I'll get there! I just, he wants to meet again and the things he said in his note just... didn't sit right with me." You slouched into the couch trying to collect all your various free-floating thoughts.

"First he tells me he's been busy lately. So we haven't messaged a lot, which is fine. But, he's been ... acting differently whenever we do."

"Different? How?" Bakugo leaned in close, his expression told you this conversation had his full attention. It made you feel... wrong. This was the kind of thing you should tell a close friend, not some coworker you started having a crush on. It felt like cheating. 

A what-- you turned your eyes away from his burning red one. A bit of a slap to the face that something very obvious had only just now been realized by you. 

"I- I-" you stammered, Your thought process seemed to have come to a halt on the outside but on the inside, you couldn't stop the flow of information that was coming from this new discovery. 

You hesitated to meet your soulmate now, after minimal contact these past weeks. Why? Because you had someone else to occupy your thoughts now? Was that fair? Was that even right?

Did you stay home out of fear?

Fear that your soulmate wanted to reject you, no it would seem not.

Fear that you would go to work and see someone that didn't make you feel all that bad about that possibility, maybe.

And then what? Bakugo has a soulmate, and from what little he's told you about them, the way he's told you, they might as well be the Sun compared to you. 

"I'm sorry. I don't know." You glared hard at nothing in particular. "No, that's not true. It's been me. I've been different." You wrung your hands from the anxiety. Your thoughts and feelings were unfolding before you in real time, not exactly in the way you were used to. 

"You?" Bakugo inched closer to your face, something anyone else wouldn't think twice about being that it was a minuscule distance, but at this moment you were hyperaware of every little thing about him. The way his eyes searched your face for more answers. Answers you didn't want to give. 

"Yeah. What if I don't... what if it turns out I don't want him to... I've spent my life, believing in him as my one true Soulmate. I know that the world has so many possibilities for us, that there's never just One option. One outcome. But he was my first. And as a child, I banked so hard on fairytales and true love. I was so stubborn I didn't think about ever moving on just because he wouldn't speak to me. And that obsession with him being the one grew because of all the hard work I put into loving him and making him love me."

"But now you don't feel the same?"

"I love him. I do. Or I know I'm supposed to. I know that I will. Because he's my soulmate. I just thought..... I thought he would be the only one I loved." you confessed. Suddenly overwhelmed you stood. "I think you should leave." Your heart tremored at what you needed to do. There was no way you could keep going down this path, you could see no light at the end of it. Even if your soulmate had something horrid to tell you there was no use leaning on Bakugo for any of it. You wouldn't dream of chasing something forbidden as another person's soulmate

He stood without argument or snark as he normally would and silently headed towards the door. He seemed to understand what you were going through, having gone through the same quite recently himself. 

"I'm sorry. That I did this. This isn't how I wanted things to go, and I never meant to confuse you. I want you to know that all of this has been very real for me. I'm sorry for not being who I should have been from the start, instead of being an asshole. But I promise you, things can be fixed now." he left quietly, and the air was thick with unspoken words. 

You took your Soulbox and moved to the counter. You couldn't wait or hesitate any longer. There was no reason to stall, no reason to overthink it. You quickly jotted down your reply to your waiting soulmate. 

Then let's meet, Soulmate.

Let's meet at this park outside of this cafe, here.

The letter came shortly after you'd sent yours. It couldn't have been more than thirty minutes after Bakugo had left. It was a park not far from where you'd had lunch with him so many days ago. 

Alright, when?

Now.

Your heart skipped a beat. Now? But you were... well... you weren't busy. But they didn't know that. Maybe you could come up with an excuse... Why were you so nervous? This was what you'd wanted your entire life but the butterflies in your stomach were overwhelming you. 

I know you're free today, don't bother trying to get out of it. 

You read the message that followed, your heart vibrated so hard you were sure it could activate your quirk and leave you. How? How did they know? Oh god. You felt yourself so desperate now. You needed to know. 

I'm on my way. 

Know that I love you. 

You stared at the message, unsure of your feelings. You mindlessly held on to this note as you gathered your purse and locked your apartment door behind you. 

You decided to walk, it wasn't far. You needed time to gather your thoughts and your courage for the meeting. When you arrived, however, you were met with a familiar face unexpectedly. 

"Hey! Kirishima, what are you doing here?" you paused on the idea that he was your soulmate, but it was quickly cast from your mind when he jumped straight to the point. 

"Did you know that Katsuki never had a Soulbox? He still doesn't." he smiled at you like you'd been in the middle of a perfectly normal conversation. 

"What?"

"Yeah, he used to just stuff letters into the front pouch of his backpack in UA." Kirishima's sharp teeth grinned in fondness at his memories. "One day me and some of our friends were curious so we took it when he wasn't looking, and we found a letter form his Soulmate, that was how we found out."

"Oh. That's... funny. Why are you- Why tell me this?"

He ignored you in favor of telling another story. 

"So a few years before you came to UA, you remember on the news that he'd been kidnapped and all that? Then we started staying in dorms on campus. Everyone wanted to know what his room looked like because he wouldn't let us in. Anyway, we told him we wanted to study and we all agreed we should do it in his room. He let us, thinking we were actually going to study. The jokes on him cause we all barely passed our classes either way. But yeah, so Mina saw a keychain hanging on the bed's headrest. It was some AllMight holiday edition I think? I don't remember. But, not the point. So we grilled him and he told us it was the first thing his soulmate ever sent to him, funny right?"

"Funny." Your heart was in your throat now. You could feel tears threatening at the corner of your eyes. You needed to hear more but needed silence all at once. It was so much to take in. There was no reason for him to be telling any of this to you. This strangely similar parallel story that you feel like you lived in some way. 

"And do you know what the first thing he ever sent to his soulmate was?" Kirishima asked you gently.

You instinctually reached for the locket that lay around your neck, realizing you were still holding the note you'd carried with you to the park. 

"What was it?" you whispered so softly you didn't think he'd heard your question. But he didn't need to, it wasn't for him. 

"It was a shitty gum wrapper." a familiar gruff voice spoke behind you. 

You spun so fast on your heels that you'd lost balance enough to fall into this voice. 

"Please." your tears fell freely now. "Please say it's you." you whimpered. 

"I tortured someone for years because I had fallen in love with them. I did everything I could to keep myself from getting close to them because I was scared it would mean I didn't really love my Soulmate." Bakugo steaded you, his grip on you was firm and desperate as if you would try to run away. "Then I found out the truth. That I was pushing away the one person I wanted by my side forever."

"I wanted it to be you." was all you could manage, You held out your hand and the last Soulmate letter rolled in your palm, crinkled and wadded up. He took it from you, fixing it, folding it neatly this time before taking the wrapper from your locket and replacing it. 

"I don't want you to hate me. I pushed you away because I thought you belonged to someone else. That I belonged to someone else. I should have known it was you all along. I could never be with anyone but you." Katsuki wiped the tears from your face, now holding your cheeks in his calloused hands. 

"I wanted it to be you. I'm so happy that it's you, Katsuki."

It was all he'd needed to hear before pressing his lips to yours. 

[vespidazed]

The Vespi TTRPG Problem

So if you know us and have had context to either bring it up or let us go off about it, a lot of our life got shaped by our experiences with tabletop roleplaying games. We know way too damn many of the things, but have played comparatively few in actuality.

This particular flavor of brainworms also has another problem, in that we're overwhelmingly prone to experiencing media and going "Ooh, I'd love to make a game that replicates the feel of this experience with company." This would be fine, if:

It wasn't constantly happening

We ever got one of them finished

We didn't keep running into conceptual/mechanical pitfalls with the damn things

We've also recently started writing again for the first time in FAR too many years. Writing has shown us pretty rapidly that it's something we find far more enjoyable, far less stressful, and ACTUALLY finishable, unlike the billion horrible hyperfixation rakes we keep stepping on in the yard of TTRPG design.

Our overall want is to start tapering off that reflex and start focusing more on writing and VN work. The pipe dream is that we taper towards writing commissions with time, if we can also figure where to host the things.

Until then, we have a reflex to purge. Maybe we'll start doing that with the tag I threw down here, to process whatever nonsense setting/gamefeel we're processing. Maybe it being public will keep us honest, maybe it will help us finish, maybe it'll help us figure out live to actually let some of these things go.

Sorry in advance for any rambling wordwalls to come there, oops

[skypied]

AO3 Wrapped Questions!

3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 16, 20, 27, 28, 29, 30 :)

I'm guessing wrapped implies "works from this year" so I'm only going off those! Buckle uuuuup this is getting looooong like always

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Hmmm, maybe Back Home. Most of my fics this year feel like mindless brain dumps, but this feels more like a complete work.

5. What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

Probably hard feelings? It generally has a lot less hits and kudos than most my other work, probably because of it being angst without a happy ending (YET), but through the months it's gotten a lot of very sweet and heartfelt and/or heartbreaking comments.

Back Home also got a lot more feedback than expected - it was one of those venting fics that I didn't really expect to resonate and/or not be enjoyed by anyone else but me.

6. Favorite title you used

Hmmmmmmmm , I don't really think any of my titles this year stand out :p Maybe Catch of the Day, just bc it's so stupid.

7. If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?

Most my titles from this year weren't song titles actually! Surprising, since I used to exclusively use song lyrics. There's only hard feelings (Lorde) and Can't Help It, I'm Obsessed (Sam Riggs).

(In 2021 we had Orla Gartland, Lizzo, Troye Sivan, Taylor Swift, Halsey and Maria Mena. Taylor and Maria were used twice: so they win. I think Maria would win overall for how many times her lyrics have been direct inspiration.)

10. What work was the quickest to write?

Probably a tie between the first chapter of hard feelings (started at like 10 in the morning when I was supposed to work, lol) - and Home (written while perched on the kitchen counter watching onions caramellize for onion soup). Both were around four hours, maybe one or two more for revisions.

Wait, actually, both chapters of Catch of the Day were mostly written in an hour or two each.

11. What work took you the longest to write?

Depends on whether you count hours spent on it, or stretch of time it took to finish it haha.

I do have wips I started last summer. Most of them are probably never gonna be anything. But I do have a wip that's almost done and I still intend to finish that I began... 14 months ago. oops.

But among published work - the ones that took the longest stretch of time is probably undertow and chapter two of hard feelings. According to docs, I began undertow on Christmas Eve last year (damn, didn't I have anything better to do?), so it tooooook... almost nine months? It's also kind of a mashup between three aimless wips that I eventually figured out went well enough to just patch together. hard feelings part two took seven months.

Most hours spent on it is harder to gauge, but maybe Can't Help It, I'm Obsessed. I remember I spent most my free time on it for maybe two-three weeks. (And then Annie kindly and graciously and perfectly finished it for me, thank god; I'd gotten myself in a real rut with it.)

16. What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

Oh I dunno. Most are generic things like genre, established relationship and aged-up characters. The only one that sticks out is probably Alberto Scorfano has ADHD.

20. Which work of yours have you reread the most?

Prrrroooobably Trust Fall! I think it's just sweet and neat.

27. What do you listen to while writing?

That goes in cycles. Sometimes a playlist with classical music mixed in with movie soundtracks. Sometimes just whatever album I'm hooked on at the moment. I have some specific music for specific things, most are one song I'll loop for hours:

Downtown (feat Pri Pach) by BYOR, VINNE, Pri Pach. It's SO good for hyperfixating and writing smut 2am on a weekday. (Been a while since I did that, though.) There’s a reason it was my #1 on Spotify Wrapped last year, and #2 this year.

IDFC (feat. Ravenna Golden) by WHIPPED CREAM, Perto, Ravenna Golden. Same as Downtown. It tingles my brain.

River by Bishop Briggs. Great for emotionally charged and angsty smut.

I've spent HOOOOOURS listening to just 22:12 Until The End of Time from the Haven soundtrack while writing, no specific genre.

I generally listen a lot to Kevin Atwater to get into those Sad Boy Feelings (especially when writing about Alberto being too brainwashed by Christianity to admit his feelings for Luca. God I still love that AU, shame it's never getting finished.)

Lately I've been rewatching TV shows while writing, just to have something moving on the screen and something to listen to.

28. Favorite work you wrote this year?

Hmm hmm hmmmmm, feel like I'm repeating myself here but Back Home and hard feelings. Both feel like is the first complete stories I wrote. Most my stuff is just scenes, this was the first that spanned over a longer time and connected themes together.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Ahhh idk if I have the patience to reread all 50k I published this year, so I'm taking a couple that come to mind:

It’s stupid and predictable and sometimes Luca wonders when they’ll tire of this, when the intensity of the teenage crush will fade into something more mature, as his mother used to sigh when they were chasing each other’s tails around the bay. It’s been years, and he’s starting to suspect this is just what they’re like, perpetually snickering like kids breaking curfew, whispering secrets in a blanket fort and constantly one-upping each other. 

from Morning Routines. The whole fic is stupid, silly fun, but I feel like this passage sums up their relationship in a cute way.

You know him like the back of your hand, but he’s scarily good at slipping under your skin to hide. You convince yourself otherwise, but you can never really tell. Not really. But it’s yet another trust you have to fall into, accept the rush of gravity and hope he catches you. 

Trust Fall, chapter one

He looks at you, breathless and disbelieving. Disbelieving your love for him. When it’s the only thing you truly believe in, when nothing in this chaotic world makes sense without him, when it’s the seam keeping your life stitched together.  

You wish he could reach inside your chest, clench your heart tight and feel that it’s more his than your own. You wish you could put your mouth to his ear like a conch shell, and he’d hear the ceaseless waves that lap in the back of your mind whispering his name. You wish he could feel the magnetic pull from somewhere deep in your guts that makes you unable to stop orbiting him. 

You don’t dare imagine what would happen if he stopped letting you love him. 

Trust fall, chapter two

Both of these from Trust Fall are some of the rare instances that I feel like I’ve written analogies that feel complete and make sense for them and the work itself. 

You stare up like you used to, towards the incomprehensible lights of celestial bodies dancing on the surface, towards the never-ending fantasies of freedom forever pulling you towards the next horizon. Except now there is an anchor wrapped up in your tail, with a low, humming purr filling your body and quieting the restless whisper in the undercurrent of your blood and gentle claws tracing patterns over your ribs, all brazen ferociousness gone for listless limbs and a sleepy murmur whenever you shift.

There’s still a pull, a need to see, try, explore more. But maybe you don’t need to leave everything behind to feel free. 

from undertow. I feel like this is the closest I’ll come to writing something about Luca’s “teenage rebellion” need for freedom that might lead him to neglect friendships/relationships for fear of being smothered again, and becoming comfortable with intimacy and vulnerability and being tied down.

Also this line:

You don’t want him to be in love with you unless it hurts.

This whole thing from ch2 of Back Home:

“Do you still love me?” you ask again, but now your breath is slow and calm because you know the answer. But you have to ask. Just in case. 

You know the answer because he’s ripped your heart out and sown it back together; replaced old, festering scabs with gossamer threads of promises and gently placed it back inside. It’s still a fragile, ugly patchwork, but he’ll keep replacing bits and pieces of old hurt with new hope until it’s whole. You know it because he has scratch marks and bruises down his back and neck colored by your love and rage, because he lets you ruin him to save yourself.

You know it because you believe him more than you believe yourself.

“More than anything,” he says in a firm voice, as if it’s a fact as natural and definite as the sun rising and setting. He picks the smoldering stardust off the floor, breathes life back into the stars and places them back into your eyes. He smothers the flaming rage in your veins and replaces your blood with love. Because he loves you. You love him too. You love him more than anything and it hurts more than anything. But it’s worth it for the blissful, warm silence when he looks at you and you know he’s seen everything inside you and still he wants to. He makes your heart into a home and you let him. No matter how many times you tear it down in all-consuming fits of rage, he puts it back in order and you let him. He wants to make you better and you want to let him.

yayyy I love breaking Alberto and putting him back together again<3

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

Maybe how drastic the shift from only writing smut to never writing smut was? haha. Dgmw, I still write smut, but I just... don't finish it. Idk, it always ends up pushing up against things I'm uncomfortable with, or I write myself into corners. I feel like they're always things that aren't really a big deal, but they turn into massive hurdles in my head. And while writing smut is fun, I eventually end up feeling like I'm just writing the same things over and over. Which, y'know, is still fun and doesn't mean it's not valuable! I guess I just get really self-conscious over baring my ass on the internet.

On a more positive note, I think I've managed to keep a bit more distance to my writing. I do often get stuck with writing, and that frustration used to encompass everything and be... not great for me mentally. I used to obsess a lot more about feedback and get really bummed out about "underperforming" works and compare myself a lot to others. Now it's more like... I just chuck stuff I think is neat up on AO3 and don't think much more of it.

I’ve also experimented a lot more with style than I expected, and I guess found my voice a bit more!

ALSO how much Luca POV I’ve written. I still feel like I don’t understand the guy, but he’s fun to write. Alberto POV tends to become ... dark, lol.

[countrymusiclover]

23 - Baseball Payback

(Picture belongs to respectful owner)

Part 24

Texas Romance

Tags - @tyrionsprincess30 @bvbwestfall

"No brain boy. It means Y/n thinks he's cheating on her." Running a hand through my hair I flopped back on the couch trying to figure out how I could fix this mess.

Curled up on Missy's bedroom I haven't moved from this room for a couple days. Connie agreed to watch little Aurora. Somebody knocked on the door slowly opening it for me to pull the covers down my face seeing Missy. She closed the door carrying a plate full of brisket. Sitting up in the bed I take the food from her so she can sit in front of me. "What can I do to make you happy Y/n?" She asked hugging her legs to her chest as I ate dinner in silence. Georgie and I haven't spoken to each other in days. Even when we have to pass each other in the small house I completely avoided eye contact. "I don't know, Mis....I trust want to slap him in the face." I clutch the fork in my right hand stabbing the meat. "Oh I've got it. I threw an apple straight at Marcus's face. I could do that to my brother." I snorted trying to not choke on my dinner

Eyeing my wedding ring laying on the desk against the window I slump my shoulders. Getting up from the bed sitting the empty plate down digging around for my shoes and jacket. Missy watches my movements clearly seeing that what her brother did and never told me was hurting my heart. Granted we didn't start dating until a Missy was going into her first day of Middle school so I shouldn't be mad that he was interested in another girl. Exiting the room Missy followed after me when I grabbed my truck keys twirling them on my finger. "Get your glove. We're heading to practice early." She grinned rushing back into her room bouncing off the walls almost while carrying her gear for practice. So we drove to the batting cages seeing Connie's ex Dale already there.

"Hey Y/n, what are you doing here. Last I heard you were on mertnity leave with Georgie." He spoke putting his baseball cap back on his head. Missy sat her bag down grabbing her ball and glove. Crossing my arms over my chest I nod my head putting my hair into a ponytail. "Yeah well we're having issues so I thought I'd come throw some balls with Missy." Turning on my heels I grab a orange ballcap putting it on before picking up a ball. Missy sits her ball on the ground standing on the mond eyeing a bat leaning on the fence. "How about you hit your frustration out on my brother?" Taking a step forward I picked up the bat giving her a nod to pitch me a ball. She raised her arm back throwing a ball my direction and when I swing it the ball almost goes over the fence. "Woah maybe I should give you a job as a bater Y/n!" Dale cheers rising from the bench grinning.

Smiling back at my boss I did a few more frustrating hits and did actually manage to get two homeruns. An hour later we switched where I was on the mond and she was practicing pitching from home base. The wind blows the loose hair from my ponytail in my face so I blew it away catching her first ball. "Nice job Missy." She smiled when I pulled my arm back throwing mine a little harder where she slide back getting some dust on her pants. Covering my mouth with my hand that didn't have the glove on it I gasped suddenly. "Oops sorry Mis. I'll try and not knock you on your butt." She dusts off her white pants still smiling getting ready to toss another ball my direction. "Don't do that. None of the boys can even throw that good. Go again." She cheers where I raised my hand catching the ball she'd thrown perfectly again. The metal gate to enter the batting cage opened and I clutched the ball in my hand seeing Georgie and Veronica walking our direction.

"What's he doing here with her. I'll get rid of her give me the ball." Missy asked holding out an open hand seeing that I am starting to cry. Dale walked up behind us about to go talk to my husband and Veronica. "I'll go get rid of them, girls." I raised my hand pressing it against his chest stopping him until I clutched my right hand around the ball. Georgie is talking to Veronica and she glanced over direction with a smile. Moving my right arm back I gripped the baseball over my shoulder without thinking I launched the ball straight towards my husband. Veronica screamed before Georgie tackled her to the dirt. The baseball gets stuck in the fence above their heads. Missy glanced at me as I stiffened my back straight frozen at what I just did. "Now that's what I call revenge with a baseball." Dale broke the intense silence before I turned and ran towards the truck feeling tears starting to come out.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[lastoneout]

HIII you're the local laventon expert so i figured i'd ask you but is it ever specified whether laventon/the survey corps are creating the WORLD'S first-ever pokedex, or just hisui's? i somehow made it through the entire game without really thinking about it too hard oops

Well, that's kinda tricky??

Cuz like IIRC back in the first games Red/Blue/Green(and in the anime) Professor Oak made it clear the pokedex was his invention and that his goal was to use it to get a complete record of all the pokemon in Kanto, and then as they introduced new gens the Professors still gave out the Pokedexs, but each of them had their own specialization that you were helping with either by working to fill up that region's pokedex, or in addition to it. Like Rowan is studying evolution, Elm is doing eggs/pokemon breeding, Birch...I don't remember what Birch specializes in he mostly just gets chased around, Kukui is doing moves ect.

So like Oak's pokedex was "The First One" technically, and was billed that way, which does make Legends Acreus a little fuzzy cuz if it's set in the 1860's that's like, uh....like 130 years BEFORE Oak started his research.

So far my rationalization has been Laventon was the first guy to try to create a proper "pokedex" in terms of thoroughly cataloging and studying every pokemon in a specific region. But biology is an ever-evolving field and you know we don't all go read "on the origin of the species" if we want to learn about tortoises so I assume people built on Laventon's research and his pokedex a bunch until Oak found a way to make a digital pokedex, something that could be widely used by the average person and didn't require the same kind of rigorous "go stare at a ponyta using ember 600 times and then come back" type stuff to fill out, at which point Red and Blue and Ash(and eventually ever kid with a pokedex) were half research assistants, half beta testers.

'Cuz like, in the fourth movie you meet young Oak who doesn't have a Pokedex...so if we take that AND PLA into account it's possible that there were Pokedexes that existed Post-Laventon/Pre-Oak, but it wasn't something the average person has access to until Oak figured his digital Pokedex out.

I guess...maybe it's like Laventon made an encyclopedia, Oak made wikipedia???

Though that's just my assumption? There could be some random bit in some comic or side game or anime special that goes into more detail that I missed out on, and tbh at the end of the day, it's just "oops all retcons" anyway as any series THIS expansive is gonna end up retconning a bunch of stuff. You can def find your own way of linking everything together and rationalizing the gaps in canon cuz that's what fandom is for and is def what I'm doing.

Tho I'll tag this in case any other pokemon nerds know more since yeah, this is just my take on it.

EDIT: It has occurred to me that I didn't actually answer your question, no I don't think the game specifies? But I think they did act like Laventon's ideas were very new which leads me to believe his pokedex was probably one of, it not the first.

[azikarue]

@too-raph tagged me on my main, but I figured I'd post this here with the rest of my writing updates. Thanks for the tag! (Also my WIP folder is so unorganized compared to yours wtf)

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have wips. I have deemed that this isn’t just for writing either. Sketch titles? Comics? Dnd campaigns? If you have an unfinished project, it counts!!

I have waaaay more notes and outlines for future stories than actual WIPs. I just don't write fast enough to start too much at once - I'd literally never finish and end up annoying myself. That being said, here's a little list of my (all Beyblade) WIPs that have the most shape to them:

27) Fruits

early days

How to get Rick to fall in love with you by annoying him - a Study by Mariah

I need Taro and Mariam interacting

Sad Salima

Smooch

sometimes Tyson is sweet

un something-i-d-freaking-k

Unexpected

Unpleasant

Unprecedented

Untimely Phone Call

I also have one file that is a catch-all for random scenes I write that may or may not wiggle their way into a fic someday lol I don't think that counts as a WIP.

If any writers/artists/etc. see this and want to try it, consider yourself tagged! ♥ I don't really have a dozen tumblr friends oops!

[anondudeao3]

Fic Recs!

Since I'm on hiatus, I've finally had time to do some reading, and I thought I'd give some fic recommendations, since I won't be posting for quite a while. These are my absolute favourites!

(I'm splitting this into two posts — one for JayDick and one for JayTim — because now that I'm finished with the first half it's quite long)

JayDick

A Love Triangle With The Same Person

By: Chrystie, kate882

Word Count: 10,031

Summary: Dick might have a bit of a thing for Jason, one of Red Hood's criminal underlings. But he's also already a little in love with Red Hood.

→ Identity porn! Who doesn't love identity porn? Very cute and sweet.

Everything I Know

By: epistemology

Word Count: 12,360

Summary: Red Hood is a little bit in love with his partner, Nightwing, who has a huge crush on Jason Todd, the hot bookstore owner, who is actually the Red Hood, who is too busy being in love to notice Dick Grayson, who's actually Nightwing.

Jason and Dick fall in love with the wrong versions of each other, and things become complicated fast.

→ More identity porn, but this one is a lot more sort of missed connections, plus it has bookshop owner Jay who was never taken in by Bruce! It really has you begging SOMETHING to happen to somehow make them see that THEY ARE EACH OTHER, THEY ARE THE ONES THEY LIKE. AHHHH IT'S THE SAME PERSON. And when it finally does happen, it's so sweet and satisfying. (I recommend checking out their other fics too! Lots of sweetness.)

Lie To Me, Darling

By: Chrystie, kate882

Word Count: 19,214

Summary: Officer Dick Grayson is undercover in the infamous Red Hood's gang trying to track down the man behind the helmet. With his former partner killed for being found out, there's a new guy in the gang to take his place. Jason doesn't seem like the average new gang recruit, and Dick may be getting more than he bargained for trying to get close to him.

→ Okay, ngl I JUST now noticed that this one is by the same people as the first one, and I specifically didn't want to put multiple fics by the same people (just say I recommend checking out their other stuff, but not rec separately), but it's too late now and I don't have a 7th JayDick fic to recc that isn't also an author repeat, and I don't want it to be uneven.

But ANYWAY. This one will fuck you up, I can't lie. Unhappy ending, but if you can brave that, ohhh it's so good. It's so damn sweet whilst the good times last, even though you know it's only temporary and it's all going to go to hell at some point... man. It hurts. But it hurts so good. It's beautiful, and I personally think it's worth the pain.

Two Birds on a Wire

By: empires, pentapus

Word Count: 20,565

Summary: Dick asks Jason for help on a case. Jason should have never agreed.

→ It's probably laughable that I'm reccing this, since pentapus is one of the authors and their art is like huge in the JayDick fandom, and the fic has more than 22.5k views, which seems to be quite a lot as far as JayDick fics go. But in the event that you haven't read it yet... This is actually the very first JayDick fic I EVER read, it introduced me to the ship, and I just reread it and it's still just as amazing, what a winner to start out with!

The dynamic between Jay and Dick, the way Dick gets so into his undercover role, Jay's emotional turmoil, the action — it's all just absolute chef's kiss! It's so hard to write action well, and these two made this fic so engaging!

All Soulmates Final, No Refunds

By: empires, salvadore

Word Count: 38,900

Summary: Mystic Waters Grande Hotel sells itself as a luxury soulmate retreat with all manner of couple’s activities. The cost is high, and all is not as it appears on the hotel’s grounds. Dick and Jason go undercover as newlywed soulmates to find out what’s behind the rash of missing persons. And dig up old feelings in the process.

→ (Since empires was collaborating with two different people of the different fics, I don't count that as a repeat).

Well firstly, this is a rare Batman!Dick JayDick! And secondly, yes, one of the ubiquitous soulmate AUs. But with some very interesting twists! Also, like TBOAW above, the action in this is amazing, and absolutely had me on the edge of my seat. Similarly, their undercover personas were lots of fun, and it was very fun to see them push each other further and further with them.

Secrets of the Sea

By: ParzivalHallows

Word Count: 42,711

Summary: Being a merperson was dangerous enough, but being a merperson captured by pirates? That's got to be one of the worst fates for a merman. Merman Dick Grayson is captured by a slave ship, where he meets Jason Todd, who's a slave on that ship. Together, the two plan an escape. However, they need to put aside their odds first, which is very difficult for the two stubborn men.

→ I have to give you fair warning first, this one is incomplete and hasn't been updated since 2017, so I don't think it's ever going to be finished (but it can't hurt to leave a nice comment!) BUT WAIT, DON'T SCROLL YET, hear me out. It's really good, okay. You do need to mind the warning tags because there is major character death (not Jay or Dick though, and since it's not complete I'm kind of choosing to believe that they're not really dead and later in the story it actually turns out that they managed to survive).

There are a lot of grim things in this story, it's really about survival, but the worldbuilding is fucking phenomenal, and the author drew me right in. The descriptions and the action and emotion, the unexpected magic that they have to figure out? It's all so cool and well done.

Steady On Forward

By: JayseHasNoGrace

Word Count: 96,287

Summary: Dick Grayson's life has never been easy, but he'd like to think it's been going better lately. He's been operating mainly out of Gotham again for almost a year, and has been in a steady relationship for just over. He knows where he stands with crime-fighting, and the family is all on pretty good terms, considering.

Things are really going pretty well.

Unfortunately, the balance doesn't last long, and old horrors from Dick's past end up dredged up alongside new ones.

This is a story about love and family, but equally so about trauma and healing from it. Please heed the warnings in the preface.

→ Alright, the final JayDick rec, the longest, and the darkest. But wait, again, don't scroll! It's also by far the most hopeful AND FLUFFY. Now, the author is NOT fucking around about heeding those warnings, there's a shitload of them and it's really heavy, hard shit. Do not get me wrong, this fic is going to HURT you. But by the end, it's going to have felt so cathartic, and you're going so feel soft and hopeful and whole. I don't know how they did it, but it's SUCH an emotional rollercoaster. Another commenter on AO3 (mach5plus1) said it better than I could:

I gave this fic my whole heart, it took it, smiled and said “awwww, I’ll take care of it!“

Then started putting pressure on it and I told it “ouch, that hurts”

The fic kept smiling and put more pressure until a piece broke off (last chapter)

and then another (this chapter)

The fic keeps doing it until my heart is shattered into pieces and it’s standing over each shard with a frown saying “oops” (the upcoming chapters)

Then, after finding each piece again and picking them up, the fic will slowly push each piece back into place.

By the end it’ll give my heart back a little different, but somehow better than it was when I gave it away.

It will crush your heart, but it will lovingly patch it back together by the end, I promise. If you can read it without getting triggered, I thought everything was well handled, and it's so worth it. (I recommend checking out their other JayDick fic too, they only have one, but it's a fluffy romcom, so if you need a break after this one, that's there!)

[equalseleventhirds]

hi hello i'm algie! i keep making projects for myself so i figured i'd make a pinned post:

i run a discord server for amateur/aspiring podcasters; info & invite link over here, you're welcome to join! (i may also be willing to assist with actual podcast production for free, if i've got enough spare time; send me a message i'm friendly!)

sometimes i write stuff. both fanfic and original work can be found in this tag.

on occasion i'll start talking about ttrpgs. sometimes i contemplate designing them. oh oops i did actually design a game and you can play it if you want.

i have an ongoing thing where i listen to the first episode of various podcasts (and go back and listen to interesting ones in full later). here's a list of ones i liked! (i listen to many more podcasts than that but those are the ones from the first episode marathon.)

i will also ramble about my personal opinions on the medium of podcasting sometimes? i guess?? i am. passionate.

also i do meta and stuff or whatever but who cares about that (apparently a lot of people but i haven't got a tag for it. i am generally pretty inconsistent on tagging content? sorry.)

and if you donate to my ko-fi and send me a message with a writing request, i'll write something for you! rules for this over here, bcos i do have like, guidelines or w/e.

[mozukumi]

HEYYYY IT'S ME AGAIN!!! i remembered that 3/4 of the lone wolves + itaru don't have years of emotional repression in this au... which means sakuya has years of emotional repression then 🧍 (is a sakuya oshi) BUT IT'LL BE SO INTERESTING IF HE'S THE ONE STRUGGLING TO OPEN UP BECAUSE OF ADULTING™️ AND BEING ALONE IN THE WORLD FOR SO LONG...

OOOOH I ALSO THINK IT'S A NEAT DETAIL IF LIKE, THEY HAVE THE ACTUAL SONGS IN THE AU NOW BECAUSE OF MASUMI... and both tsuzuru and masumi do not know How to Take Care of Themselves because of their one-track mind when composing/writing

and yukio coming back to not three overprotective dads hovering over izumi (sakuya, masumi, azami), but also an entire yakuza group, a nation (zahra), and a whole bunch of teenagers guarding izumi

yuki and azami also making izumi try a lot of different coordinates and fits is so heartwarming to me, but i think it'll be silly if she refuses to let go of her "weird jacket" no matter what (because it's a gift from yukio) OH AND IZUMI HAVING AN ENTIRE GROUP OF ADMIRERS IN SCHOOL BECAUSE OF HOW COOL SHE IS... kinda like kaoru from bandori because she can play any gender, so everyone is head over heels for her

also i can imagine citron being an actual exchange student because he had to have a cover, so he's now tasutsumuita's senpai in college!

- 🌸

🌸 ANON OH MY BELOVED.... been looking forward to this maneuver (<<< answering an ask) for a few days.

for context on the mAnkAi swAp AU , you can check out this tag - and it's under the cut this time bc i got a little rambley!

YAYAYA. Like. Obviously all of our scrunky lone wolves are still having Issues, but it's not as many years of repression as in canon. Also this literally just made me realize how fucked up and evil it is that they gave Sakuya a backstory that was equivalent enough to get a link skill with a man whose entire family has been dead for like over half of his life, and two former super spy kids. like HE'S FACKING 17!!

but ABSOLUTELY. your analysis is spot on. He's gotten used to doing the cheerful facade of like, a totally normal adult, and honestly I don't even know if he fully understands how ingrained it's becomed in him. He knows his life hasn't been ideal, but really, it's not that bad - he's fine, really! Really! (he is not)

WAIT OMG THAT'D BE SO CUTE. and tbh it's explain why so many masumi songs slap so hard. he's like i'm gonna sprinkle in some extra flair in this wonderland a go go as a treat.

and YA YA EXACTLY. did u know that for the longest time i tricked myself into believing that like, a major story development was that masumi started to assist tsuzuru in writing plays during like, harugumi 7th. i was CONVINCED this was an actual plot point and i got so hurt when i realized it wasn't. anyway, tsuzuru masumi friendship has always been important to me. i think in this au it's partially like... masumi getting to be an older figure for tsuzuru, and tsuzuru finally getting to be the immature one. for so long, he's been forced to be the perfect older brother and responsible student etc etc. so i think getting to hang out with oldsumi and being allowed to be immature is freeing. but also this immaturity is partially them both enabling their bad creative habits OOPS

HELP THIS IMAGE IS SO TRUE BUT ALSO SO FUNNY. i'm just imagining like. All of them surroudnign Izumi while yukio is out there. i'd also add tenma to the list of new dad just dropped, as erm. A part of Izumi's arc in this AU is that she has to come to terms with the fact that her dad cared more about theater then he did about her. And Tenma also had to realize his parents cared more about acting then him.

ALSO HELP THAT'S ADORABLE. i love the idea of izumi refusing to abandon her weird girl jacket but the idea of it being from yukio is so bittersweet. i think izumi is truly convinced that it is the Fit Of All Time and yuki is just weeping.

OMG SHE DEFINITELY DOES. i mean. look at the a3 fandom. everybody in the a3 fandom is an izumi admirer. it follows that in this au, the school would also recognize her genius

also OOOH now there's an idea!! my original thoughts were to keep citron as still um. faking his college thign and just going "i'm doing online classes dw about it <3" but this is smth that i do see a lot of potential in... i'd like for him to get his education i think he'd enjoy it.

[branwyn-says]

i just want to tell you that while i haven't read new sherlock fic in literal years and have no interest going back to that fandom or browsing the ao3 tag ever again, compatible damage is so important to me that i reread it regularly and if i ever got an e-mail notification saying you updated it, i'd drop everything immediately and check it out. this isn't meant to be a shitty please update ask though, i just want to say that i have a lot of feelings about that au and i appreciate your writing!!

You’re wonderful. I feel the same way about Sherlock fandom but sometimes I wish I could get back into that headspace just so I could finish The Silences, Here is how that story was going to go, if anyone cares: --The premise of the story was that it would mash up the basic plot of the Arthur Conan Doyle story The Abbey Grange (Holmes decides to let a naval officer off the hook for killing his friend’s abusive husband) and the Holmes backstory from The Adventure of the Gloria Scott (Holmes’ bff at college was a guy named Victor Trevor whose dog bit him on the ankle). --The same early 20th Sherlock Holmes pro fic (the Baring Gould book) that gave us William Sherlock Scott Holmes as his full name speculates that Mrs Hudson came into Holmes’s life via the Australian criminal named Hudson who blackmailed Victor Trevor’s father. --In my fic, “The Silences”, Victor Trevor and Mrs. Hudson have a close bond, because she was around his family when Victor was a kid and when her husband died it was good for both of them. He was abusive and Victor saw the ugliness and pain of all of that first hand. 

--Years later, after going into Ambiguous Spy Work following a naval career, Victor finds out that an old friend, Mary Foster, is now trying to escape an abusive marriage. He tries to help Mary get out, but when her husband finds out, Victor kills him, and the case is unsolvable by the police because Victor is MI6 and just that good. --...Yeah I am just now realizing that the plot of this story is basically John Reese’s back story from Person of Interest which explains a whole lot now I think about it. --Anyway, in the period between “I have to get Mary to safety” and “oops never mind, the abusive jackass is dead”, Victor writes to Mrs Hudson: “Do you happen to know if Sherlock is still alive because I would like to discuss A Situation with him.” Mrs Hudson gives Sherlock that letter, prompting Sherlock to reach out to Victor. --Victor has already committed the murder he wanted Sherlock’s help to avoid having to commit, so...he acts real cagey. But he’s a spy so, that tracks, and Sherlock is not that suspicious at first. --But Lestrade has been tasked to solve the murder of Sir Eustace Brackenstall because blah blah important dude unsolvable case, so he attempts to get Sherlock and Joanna in on it. Joanna is down. Sherlock is, “No, my one purpose in life is to tend to Joanna’s medical needs until she is fully recovered.” Joanna: Getting you out of the flat is a medical need that I have. On account of, you are suffocating me. Sherlock: That’s just the opiates I drugged you with talking. --This story was always meant to be the culmination of the <a href=“https://archiveofourown.org/series/13134”>Compatible Damage series</a> theme of “Joanna Watson has expert knowledge of how trauma and domestic violence cause people to behave in irrational ways that baffle Sherlock’s deductive logic” --Because Joanna is recovering from the serious injuries sustained in <a href=“https://archiveofourown.org/works/294574”>Let Sense Be Dumb</a>, she spends a lot of time chatting with Mrs. Hudson while Sherlock is investigating for Lestrade and getting reacquainted with Victor. Mrs. Hudson talks a little about her awful marriage (this was all plotted out long before there was any Mrs. Hudson back story in BBC canon) and thus, Joanna is very In That Headspace where she’s having trouble with the concept that healthy relationships can exist, especially heterosexual ones. (I am not sure if I ever made it clear but Sherlock and Joanna are both biromantic and slightly ace spectrum in my stories.) --Things are very tentative between Sherlock and Joanna. They’re both aware that they want intimacy with each other, of some kind, that they love each other, to the extent they understand what that means, but how the hell do they proceed? Joanna’s in bad shape, Sherlock is constantly anxious and overprotective and slightly smothering in his nursing duties, and is also terrible at nursing. Joanna is just tired of Other People and sometimes, Sherlock Specifically. --Mrs Hudson offers to cook a big dinner so they can have a small party and invite Victor and his new fiancee Mary over! This will end well. Actually, it goes great, and Victor is over the moon to meet Joanna and they bond over Sherlock’s baby pictures so to speak, and then Sherlock takes Victor aside for...idk, something, and Joanna and Mrs. Hudson and Mary all have an after dinner tipple and a chat... --...and by the time Victor and Mary are getting into a cab, Joanna knows for A Damn Fact that Mary’s previous relationship was abusive, and that Victor was trying way too hard to charm everyone. She doesn’t say anything to Sherlock because...it’s a friend! A Sherlock friend! She isn’t going to fuck that up! Please get Sherlock out of the flat, Victor, Joanna needs some space! But boy that was some suspicious body language and protective behavior she saw. --Lestrade is coming over a bunch, because he and Joanna are bros, and Sherlock is Unavailable For Detective Work Because Joanna is Hurt, so Lestrade gets Joanna to help him think shit over. So that’s how Joanna finds out that Mary Foster was Lady Brackenstall, until recently. 

--From the outside, there is no evidence of abuse in the Brackenstall’s marriage. Lestrade isn’t even looking at the wife as a suspect or a motive. The “gang of thieves in the area” thing from ACD canon is still his best lead.  --In the ACD story, Holmes stages a mock trial where he exonerates the naval officer, acting as judge, with Watson as the jury. He’s cleared and sent on his way to marry Mary and start a new life. Watson is not thrilled that Holmes is “taking the law into his own hands”, but as Holmes says, furiously, “I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies.”  --In this story, that decision is going to fall on Joanna. She is the only one who has figured out, or can figure out, that a) the murdered dude was beating his wife and that b) his wife had a close friend who was dangerous as hell and would do anything to keep her safe. Unless she makes that link for Lestrade, the case will just go unsolved. --And the thing is, she doesn’t even feel completely certain that Victor did the killing. The timing of the murder is off, for one. He would have had to show up at the Abbey Grange house and shoot Sir Eustace more less within an hour of getting back to England. It’s a really narrow time window, and it only creates a bare sliver of possibility, and she really wants to ignore it. --Except, then she and Sherlock have a moment. Joanna tells him that Mary’s husband was abusive, without drawing the connection to Lestrade’s murder investigation. Sherlock doesn’t put the pieces together until the next time he’s with Victor and Mary together. He thinks about what Joanna told him, and he sees how tender and protective Victor is toward Mary. It gives Sherlock a nasty turn, because 1) That is how he looks at Joanna, so does that mean that he and Joanna are supposed to be a couple like Victor and Mary are? and 2) He knows how he feels about the various people who have hurt Joanna, which is to say he wants very much to Kill Them All, and if Joanna got married to another person, and that person trapped her in the house and hurt her on a regular basis, then Sherlock would... well Sherlock would do what Victor undoubtedly did, and kill the fucker. --The resolution, as far as I had it planned out, was that Joanna confronts Mary (instead of Holmes confronting Captain Croker, as in the ACD story), Mary admits it, Joanna feels satisfied that the actual killing really was unavoidable self defense. She feels bad keeping it from Lestrade, but Mary and Victor are planning to leave the country and not return. So Joanna lets them go. --And then she tells Sherlock what happened, and what she did, and is prepared for it to be a Thing, except then Sherlock admits he made the same deduction at practically the same moment, and explains how he came to the conclusion, and they agree that after Victor gives them an all clear, they’ll give Lestrade enough information to close the case.

--And then Sherlock and Joanna awkwardly face down their big big emotions and it’s painful and weird but they smooch, and are a couple, and that is the end of the series.

[obsessivestar]

Steamy Love (A Tom Hiddleston x Reader) Part 2: ~Leading Lady~

Chapter Summary: You wake up the next morning and head to your meeting, having a talk with your friend on the way, soon finding out just who your Male co star is going to be.

My Wattpad: @/ HiddlesStar

Word Count: 1'646

Tags: @theoneanna @midnightdragonzero

Once morning hit, you were wide awake. Hell, you were awake before the sun was out. Usually you prefer to sleep in a little later, but you wanted today to be perfect, or at least very close to perfect.

You were dressed and all dolled up just before 8am, thinking about the man that had come to your door yesterday for towels. Tom. You still couldn't figure out who he was.

Well, you knew who he was, but you still weren't sure where you had seen him before. He was so familiar, yet at the same time so different.

You decided to head down to the little breakfast diner. You didnt really have anything else to do, and you already spent the first 2 hours of being awake to perfect your makeup. Now would be the best time to eat.

As you made your way down, you actually saw Tom again. He was ordering a coffee to go from the front counter, wearing a nice grey tux with a black tie to match. He must've been going somewhere important. As he turned to leave, you two locked eyes from across the diner. He gave you a kind smile and a little wave as he headed out and you made sure to wave back with a smile. You were flattered that he recognized you.

You saw a couple girls sitting at the diner watching Tom leave, giggling to themselves. Did they know him, too? Or were they just admiring his suit?

Hey, you didn't blame em'. He was one nice lookin' Brit.

You got a coffee as well, along with some pancakes, sitting down at a table to eat. You weren't sure why Tom got a coffee. It was terrible. You almost spit it out when you took a sip.

Now you knew why people would get their coffee from Starbucks.

Still, you ate your pancakes no problem, drinking from the water that was at the table instead. Shortly after finishing your meal, you made sure to pay for it before getting up, going back up into your room to get your bag and any paperwork you needed. You checked yourself in the mirror one last time, giving a confident huff before heading out to get to that meeting.

Ha.

You just realized both you and Tom are going to meetings.

Aren't you a bunch of responsible adults?

You decided that it would probably be cheaper to take the bus, considering one of the stops were right in front of the building you were headed to. Plus, it wasn't too bad out today.

You walked to the bus stop just a couple minutes before it would show up. You got a phone call as you sat down on the little bench, reading the Caller I.D. It was your best friend! Of course you had to answer it.

"Hey, (BF/N)!" You chirped.

"Bout time I heard your voice!" They chuckled a bit. "You were supposed to call me when you got to your hotel!"

"Ah shit, sorry. I got a little distracted.." You admitted. "This cute brit showed up at my door and asked for a towel."

"Cute brit? So, like, a regular brit." Your friend replied, making you chuckle a bit.

"Essentially.." You smiled. "I could've sworn I've seen him somewhere, though. He looked so familiar."

"Did you get his name?" Your friend asked.

"Yeah, Tom. I saw him again today." You replied.

"Heyy, I can name a couple cute guys named Tom.." Your friend chuckled.

"Some girls were getting all giggly while he was ordering a coffee today.." You admitted

"You think he's famous?"

"Probably." You smirked.

"Wait, hold on.." Your friend's voice picked up a bit. "You said his name was Tom?"

"Yeah."

"Did you get his last name?"

"No. Didn't have time to ask."

"What did he look like?" They ask.

You certainly didn't take long to remember, though it took you a second to reply since the bus had finally showed up. You paid the fare before sitting closer to the front, since the back was kinda full.

"Tall, short brown hair--" You finally spoke after sitting down.

"Baby blue eyes?" Your friend interrupted. They started to sound excited.

"Yeah, I guess?" You replied with a slight chuckle.

"And you're for sure he's English?"

"Yeah, he had an accent.."

"Was his voice deep?"

"Yeah, I.." You gave another chuckle, Morris confused. "Why are you asking all of these questions? Who is he?" You finally asked them.

"Dude! I think you gave Tom Hiddleston a towel last night!" Your friend finally chirped.

That name did sound familiar, but you still weren't sure why you should feel as excited as your friend was.

"Tom who?" You winced

"Oh my god--Loki? Hello?? The actor who plays Loki!"

Your heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"What!?" Your voice raised suddenly in shock, realizing how loud you had become as a couple people glanced over at you suddenly before looking away again.

Oops.

"Yeah! Now do you know him?" Your friend asked.

"Y-Yeah, oh my God, I think it is him.." You muttered to quiet down a bit. You almost wanted to scream. How the hell did you not notice this before? I guess Tom doesn't really look like Loki, now that you thought about it.

That's not a bad thing, of course. They're both incredibly handsome.

"Should I tell him that I know him next time I see him?"

"Do you know where he is in the hotel?"

"Yeah, he's like right across from me."

"Oh my God, (Y/N), it's a match made in heaven!.."

"Stoooppp.." You let out a little laugh.

"Oh come on! You're across from each other, you're both actors.."

"I'm BARELY an actress, (BF/N)."

"But you're going to be, and then you'll fall in love and become Ms. Loki Laufeyson.."

"Okay, first of all, this isn't a fanfic.." You blushed with a chuckle. "Second of all, if and that's a BIG honkin' IF, we were to somehow pair up, I wouldn't call myself that. I'd date him for him, not for Loki.."

"Well, you're already a better candidate than most of the fangirls.." Your friend replied, making you smirk.

You noticed your stop was almost coming up, a bit of a nervous pit in your stomach.

"Hey, I'm just almost to the meeting, so I gotta go.."

"Alright! Text me when you can!"

"Yep, see ya!"

You ended the call just as you pressed the little stop button to signal the driver to halt at your stop, putting your phone in your pocket and getting up, exiting the bus once it came to a stop.

You kept your bag close to you, letting out a deep breath as you entered the building.

You knew where to go, thanks to the little signs.

You walked up the last bit of stairs, hearing all of the chatter the closer you got to the room. You walked down a long hall before finally finding the right room.

Once you opened the door, you immediately locked eyes with...

Tom!

Tom?

"(Y/N)?" His British voice called out to you somewhat, giving a kind yet confused smile as he walked up to you. Your heart almost stopped for a second before you picked yourself back up.

"Hi! Wh-What are you doing here?" You asked him, holding your bag at your side.

"I-I'm here for the, uh, the movie I'm working in.." He admitted. "I'm an actor. I play Ethan, the Male lead.." He replied, holding the script in his hand. "Me and the rest of the team have just been waiting for whoever's playing my co-star. Mary's her name..."

Oh God.

Oh God.

You're Mary.

Well, you're--you're gonna be Mary.

You're the female lead.

"I'm Mary." You admitted, pointing at yourself. "W-Well, that's--that's my role. I'm the female lead."

He was pleasantly surprised, a faint little blush on his cheeks.

"You're going to be my leading lady?" He asked, his tone sounding warm. There's that British charm. "I guess I am.." You replied with a warm smile.

"Alright! Tom, (Y/N), glad to see you two know each other!" The director called to you, gesturing you both to go sit at the long table.

Oddly enough, Tom sat right beside you. It was probably so you two could go through the script together, but it was still a little flattering. He smelled nice, too.

As you were paying attention to the Director talking, you could see and slightly feel Tom lean a little closer to you, his deeper tone softening in a little whisper.

"Is it alright if I buy you lunch, later?.." He asked you.

Your cheeks flared up slightly, glancing back at him for a moment. "L-Lunch?" You repeated.

"Well, I do still owe you one after last night.." He gave a charming little smile, licking his lips slightly. "Don't I?"

"A-Alright.." You gave a little smile, looking back at the director as he spoke. Then it hit you.

You're gonna go have lunch with Tom Hiddleston later.

[elisalromagnoli]

Thank you! @tea-understands for tagging me!!

rules: tag 5 people you want to get to know better

Relationship Status: well damn. Let's start in the deep end why don't we. In love.

Favorite Colour: purple 😊

Lipstick or Chapstick: I. Am. Addicted. To lipstick. Oops. 💋

Last Song I Listened To: Omnia Sol. I sang it for my last choir concert in highschool and I've been reminiscing to music that actually suite my vocal range (high soprano). Can't sing much outside of traditional choral music, it doesn't suit my voice very well and it's uncomfortable.

Last Movie I Watched: Free Solo. This one was probably the best of the feature length doc oscar noms for execution but RBG is still my fave for story.

Top Three Bands: oh gosh this is hard. Twenty One Pilots (haven't listened to them much in a while but still definitely up there), Oh Wonder (kind of a duo - doesn't that count?🧐), AJR.

If i'd been asked this three years ago 🙈😂

Book I’m Currently Reading: Becoming - Michelle Obama

Top Three Shows: NCIS, Downton Abbey, Westworld - I guess, idk, i have a list of favorite movies but not shows

Three Characters: Shuri (black panther), Miles Morales (spiderman into the spiderverse), Mary Jackson (hidden figures), Gibbs (NCIS) 😉🤫

Tagged:

@the-dark-academic @fan-art-ic @immawritethat @incandescent-creativity @writerofwriting

[playeroneplayertwo]

I like the pictures for these two posts, but neither HORRIFIED nor WINGSPAN will appear on this two-part list. I would, however, fully endorse Horrified as an excellent gateway--and superior (!!) alternative to Pandemic.

NOTE: Part 1 can be found here--and apologies this took a lifetime to complete.

Harbour (2015) WTF is this OOP?; Complexity 2.09/5; BGG; Mechanisms: Worker Placement, Set Collection, Variable Player Powers

I already said that, for many, worker placement is the evergreen mechanic, so I figured I'd turn two entries on this list over to it. Where Coal Baron was a slight subversion of the genre, Harbour is not. This is the prototypical game in that you place a worker, do an action, and block a space. In Harbour, believe it or not, you're working in a... harbor. You, as a small gremlin-looking fellow visiting buildings to take actions, selling goods (cows, stone, wood, fish) in order to parlay those sales into purchasing new buildings in the harbor, thereby giving you new action spaces to do new cool stuff.

Harbour is a great entry into the inherently meaner side of worker placement because you only have one worker, so it's not quite as overwhelming as games where you start with a heap o' workers, but you can most certainly block action spaces. Not only that, but the market of the game is a simple system of fluctuating prices that are affected each time a player sells something. For a small box game, Harbour includes the idea of supply/demand, so things that aren't being sold to market are worth more, while things being sold constantly tank in value. Buildings have varied and interesting special abilities, and there are a lot of buildings that will come out into play during any given game, as well as a huge host of special abilities that players will start with, making the game play slightly asymmetrical.

With its worker placement, fluctuating market prices, buying/selling, and special abilities, Harbour is an excellent small box introduction to a plethora of Euro mechanics, and the fact that all of these interesting aspects are encapsulated in such a cleap, small box is remarkable. I will say, however, that of the six games on this list, Harbour is the game I'm least likely to play because I've grown past it as a gamer. I've seen this jokingly referred to as Tiny Epic Le Havre, which feels very on the nose. That being said, it does a remarkable job of introducing a handful of popular Euro mechanics, so if this game piques your interests, it has plenty of bigger, meatier siblings out there.

For a game that I haven't touched in a long while, Harbour is probably one of the best single small box game introductions to Euro mechanics I've played.

For those meat and potato worker placement fans (light to heavy): Lords of Waterdeep, Viticulture: Essential Edition, The Gallerist

If you enjoyed the market-based buying/selling/producing bits: Clans of Caledonia

Valley of the Kings (2014) Try it and get the deluxe edition; Complexity 2.19/5; BGG; Mechanisms: Card Drafting, Deck Building, Hand Management, Set Collection

It was inevitable that I include deck building on here. For me, deck building is like the junk food of mechanics. When I first encountered deck building, it was all I wanted to do. There is something driving and compulsive about it. You have the feeling that all you have are options, with infinite combos laid out at your feet. I wanted to try every theme and variation possible. For a little bit, the hobby seemed to be exploding with deck builders of all stripes, with variations popping up everywhere.

Things have cooled now, and it seems deck building has found a more comfortable passenger seat behind (or partnered alongside) other mechanics in mid+ weight Euros, and I think that pairing it with additional mechanics in bigger games actually brings the mechanic to life. Deck building is the idea that all players will start with a small deck of very basic and underpowered cards--generally consisting of cards of different currencies, like attack and some kind of purchasing currency--that you'll use to either buy or defeat other cards, adding them to your deck and thereby increasing the strength of purchasing or fighting, as well as the abilities available to you.

It's a simple idea, but boy is it like Pringles when you first play it. We have a lot of deck builders, and a bunch more that we've since parted ways with. The problem is that many feel a bit themeless and similar, begging the question: If you've played one deck builder, have you played them all?

I would argue no. That being said, if you've played one, you've played... most. Dominion, Marvel: Legendary, Star Realms, Aeon's End, Hero Realms, Nightfall, Paperback, Eminent Domain, Core Worlds, Ascension, Marvel Dicemasters (not deck but dice pool builder), Shadowrun: Crossfire/Dragonfire, and Thunderstone all feel pretty sorta similar. Granted, they each bring a little teeny bit of something different, but if you didn't like one of these, you probably won't like most/any of them.

Valley of the kings subverts a lot of the classic expectations of a deck builder. First of all, the market is spatially interesting. Not just a flat row of cards that randomly come out, these cards form a pyramid, and you're only able to purchase cards on the bottom row. For the first time, maybe it would behoove you not to buy a decent card on the bottom, because once you do, the card above it will "fall" down and become available to the next player. But maybe you should do it anyway, because there are plenty of cards that let you slightly manipulate the arrangement of the pyramid, anyway. More interesting than the pyramid, however, is the end game scoring. Most cards are not worth flat rate points, but rather points based on how many you were able to squirrel away. And by "squirrel away," I mean you'll literally need to start removing them from your deck, one at a time, and adding them to your "tomb" (errr, thematically-named scoring pile) in order to score. Great cards in your deck or hand at the end of the game are worth nothin'. Timing is everything. If you realize that the other player is burying way more cards than you and accelerating the speed of the game, you really need to get on your horse and get those cards into your tomb, otherwise you're going to be out a lot of points. But by removing the cards from your deck, you will become less powerful. So... when do you do it?

Tough choices are the queen in great games, and for a tiny box that is not expensive, this game packs a lot of difficult, interesting decisions.

For excellent straight-up deck builders to get you shufflin' everyday: Legendary Encounters: Alien and Arctic Scavengers

If you want a little bit of deck building in your slightly heavier Euros: Great Western Trail (most Alexander Pfister, really), Orléans (not deck, but pool building), Time of Crisis, Newton, Concordia, Founders of Gloomhaven, Undaunted: Normandy/North Africa

Welcome To... $20ish depending on the day; Complexity 1.82/5; BGG; Mechanisms: Roll & Write, Bingo, Pattern Building

Roll and write games are like the little subgenre that could. So small, so simple, and so popular. For the past few years, roll and writes have fought for a place at the table, and at this point, I think they've done it. Heck, they even have entries that are skewing heavier in weight (Welcome to Dino World). That being said, lightness permeates most roll and writes, and that's not a bad thing. Light doesn't necessarily translate to SLIGHT.

Roll and writes are games where players begin with the same, or very similar, starting sheets of paper, at which point some randomizing thingy like dice (see: roll and write) or cards are used to present variable restrictions or requirements that players must work on accomplishing. As you draw or write or fill-in boxes on your little paper, your sheet will begin to look quite different from everyone else's. At the end of the game, you'll calculate scores and the highest wins. Yay.

Roll and writes have a great tactile nature, which for some reason is easier to teach than more abstract ideas you'd find in an equally light game. Being able to draw routes or write down numbers or shade specific areas feels oddly familiar, which makes roll and write games very family friendly. They also generally have a small footprint, small box, and low price tag, without sacrificing replayability. We have a few roll and writes, and I can say that they all seem to have high replayability--if roll and writes are your thing. I've read plenty from people who don't seem to like roll and writes, but the myriad options that clever designers have managed to get into these tiny games are remarkable. In Railroad Ink, you will roll dice that show sections of track, and slowly you will draw tracks on tiny dry erase boards, working to score specific features before your turns run out. In the aforementioned Welcome to Dino World, you'll be building dinosaur pens, powering electric fences, building features for your park, and trying to prevent the dinos from busting out and devouring people your score.

But what about Welcome To...? This game is a small, card-driven roll and write where you flip three double-sided cards so you'll be showing a trio of pairs baring number on one side and a feature on the back of another card, forcing you to choose one and add it to your map of a minute subdivision. Your working to meet end game objectives for points, as well as build specific features, like parks, to make sure you have the best neighborhood around.

Welcome To... brings the simple gameplay and high replayability along with a charming theme and low price tag. I could always play Welcome To..., and it does everything without falling into a roll and write pitfall of being too vaguely mathy or themeless. We've played with family who have not moved beyond Scrabble, and they loved it. And we've played it more than our fair share at the end of the night with a cool adult beverage in hand.

Roll more and write more, too: The Cartographers, Railroad Ink, Silver & Gold, On Tour, Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write

I want something a smidge heavier than that Welcome To... game: Welcome to New Las Vegas!

If you just want a taste of this because it sounds a little juvenile: Get the app for Ganz Schon Clever, which technically may be my most played game ever considering how you just want to get a higher score. You can do better. No, you can do better! Play again! No, now!

***

SORRY this took so long to complete. The problem with taking a long time to write about some games is that now a handful are hard to get. Go figure. Check your local store, older games have plenty of life.