#I’d list all the creepy stuff but

[caelum-in-the-avatarverse]

Fandom can do a little gatekeeping. As a treat.

So I finally decided to archive-lock my fics on AO3 last night. I’ve been considering it since the AI scrape last year, but the tipping point was this whole lore.fm debacle, coupled with some thoughts I’ve been thinking regarding Fandom These Days in general and Fandom As A Community in particular. So I wanna explain why I waited so long, why I locked my stuff up now, and why I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a-okay with making it harder for people to see my stories.

Lurkers really are great, tho

I’m a chronic lurker, and have been since I started hanging out on the internet as a teen in the 00s. These days it’s just cuz I don’t feel a need to socialize very often, but back then it was because I was shy and knew I was socially awkward. Even if I made an account, I’d spend months lurking on message boards or forums or Livejournals, watching other people interact and getting a feel for that particular community’s culture and etiquette before I finally started interacting myself. And y’know, that approach saved me a lot of embarrassment. Over the course of my lurking on any site, there was always some other person who’d clearly joined up five minutes after learning the place existed, barged in without a care for their behavior, and committed so many social faux pas that all the other users were immediately annoyed with them at best. I learned a lot observing those incidents. Lurk More is Rule 33 of the internet for very good reason.

Lurking isn’t bad or weird or creepy. It’s perfectly normal. I love lurking. It’s hard for me to not lurk - socializing takes a lot of energy out of me, even via text. (Heck it took 12 hours for me to write this post, I wish I was kidding--) Occasionally I’ll manage longer bouts of interaction - a few weeks posting here, almost a year chatting in a discord there - but I’m always gonna end up going radio silent for months at some point. I used to feel bad about it, but I’ve long since made peace with the fact that it’s just the way my brain works. I’m a chronic lurker, and in the long term nothing is going to change that.

The thing with being a chronic lurker is that you have to accept that you are not actually seen as part of the community you are lurking in. That’s not to say that lurkers are unimportant - lurkers actually are important, and they make up a large proportion of any online community - but it’s simple cause and effect. You may think of it as “your community”, but if you’ve never said a word, how is the community supposed to know you exist? If I lurked on someone’s LJ, and then that person suddenly friendslocked their blog, I knew that I had two choices: Either accept that I would never be able to read their posts again, or reach out to them and ask if I could be added to their friends list with the full understanding that I was a rando they might not decide to trust. I usually went with the first option, because my invisibility as a lurker was more important to me than talking to strangers on the internet.

Lurking is like sitting on a park bench, quietly people-watching and eavesdropping on the conversations other people are having around you. You’re in the park, but you’re not actively participating in anything happening there. You can see and hear things that you become very interested in! But if you don’t introduce yourself and become part of the conversation, you won’t be able to keep listening to it when those people walk away. When fandom migrated away from Livejournal, people moved to new platforms alongside their friends, but lurkers were often left behind. No one knew they existed, so they weren’t told where everyone else was going. To be seen as part of a fandom community, you need to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known, etc. etc.

There’s nothing wrong with lurking. There can actually be benefits to lurking, both for the lurkers and the communities they lurk in. It’s just another way to be in a fandom. But if that is how you exist in fandom--and remember, I say this as someone who often does exist that way in fandom--you need to remember that you’re on the outside looking in, and the curtains can always close.

I’ve always been super sympathetic to lurkers, because I am one. I know there’s a lot of people like me who just don’t socialize often. I know there’s plenty of reasons why someone might not make an account on the internet - maybe they’re nervous, maybe they’re young and their parents don’t allow them to, maybe they’re in a bad situation where someone is monitoring their activity, maybe they can only access the internet from public computer terminals. Heck, I’ve never even logged into AO3 on my phone--if I’m away from my computer I just read what’s publicly available. 

I know I have people lurking on my fics. I know my fics probably mean a lot to someone I don’t even know exists. I know this because there are plenty of fics I love whose writers don’t know I exist.

I love my commenters personally; I love my lurkers as an abstract concept. I know they’re there and I wish them well, and if they ever de-lurk I love them all the more.

So up until last year I never considered archive-locking my fic, because I get it. The AI scraping was upsetting, but I still hesitated because I was thinking of lurkers and guests and remembering what it felt like to be 15 and wondering if it’d be worth letting a stranger on the internet know I existed and asking to be added to their friends list just so I could reread a funny post they made once.

But the internet has changed a lot since the 00s, and fandom has changed with it. I’ve read some things and been doing some thinking about fandom-as-community over the last few years, and reading through the lore.fm drama made me decide that it’s time for me to set some boundaries.

I still love my lurkers, and I feel bad about leaving any guest commenters behind, especially if they’re in a situation where they can’t make an account for some reason. But from here on out, even my lurkers are going to have to do the bare minimum to read my fics--make an AO3 account.

Should we gatekeep fandom?

I’ve seen a few people ask this question, usually rhetorically, sometimes as a joke, always with a bit of seriousness. And I think…yeah, maybe we should. Except wait, no, not like that--

A decade ago, when people talked about fandom gatekeeping and why it was bad to do, it intersected with a lot of other things, mainly feminism and classism. The prevalent image of fandom gatekeeping was, like, a man learning that a woman likes Star Wars and haughtily demanding, “Oh, yeah? Well if you’re REALLY a fan, name ten EU novels” to belittle and dismiss her, expecting that a “real fan” would have the money and time to be familiar with the EU, and ignoring the fact that male movie-only fans were still considered fans. The thing being gatekept was the very definition of “being a fan” and people’s right to describe themselves as one.

That’s not what I mean when I say maybe fandom should gatekeep more. Anyone can call themselves a fan if they like something, that’s fine. But when it comes to the ability to enjoy the fanworks produced by the fandom community…that might be something worth gatekeeping.

See, back in the 00s, it was perfectly common for people to just…not go on the internet. Surfing the web was a thing, but it was just, like, a fun pastime. Not everyone did it. It wasn’t until the rise of social media that going online became a thing everyone and their grandmother did every day. Back then, going on the internet was just…a hobby.

So one of the first gates online fandom ever had was the simple fact that the entire world wasn’t here yet.

The entire world is here now. That gate has been demolished.

And it’s a lot easier to find us now. Even scattered across platforms, fandom is so centralized these days. It isn’t a network of dedicated webshrines and forums that you can only find via webrings anymore, it’s right there on all the big social media sites. AO3 didn’t set out to be the main fanfic website, but that’s definitely what it’s become. It’s easy for people to find us--and that includes people who don’t care about the community, and just want “content.”

Transformative fandom doesn’t like it when people see our fanworks as “content”. “Content” is a pretty broad term, but when fandom uses it we’re usually referring to creative works that are churned out by content creators to be consumed by an audience as quickly as possible as often as possible so that the content creator can generate revenue. This not-so-new normal has caused a massive shift in how people who are new to fandom view fanworks--instead of seeing fic or art as something a fellow fan made and shared with you, they see fanworks as products to be consumed.

Transformative fandom has, in general, always been a gift economy. We put time and effort into creating fanworks that we share with our fellow fans for free. We do this so we don’t get sued, but fandom as a whole actually gets a lot out of the gift economy. Offer your community a story, and in return you can get comments, build friendships, or inspire other people to write things that you might want to read. Readers are given the gift of free stories to read and enjoy, and while lurking is fine, they have the choice to engage with the writer and other readers by leaving comments or making reclists to help build the community.

And look, don’t get me wrong. People have never engaged with fanfic as much as fan writers wish they would. There has always been “no one comments anymore” wank. There have always been people who only comment to say “MORE!” or otherwise demand or guilt trip writers into posting the next chapter. But fandom has always agreed that those commenters are rude and annoying, and as those commenters navigate fandom they have the chance to learn proper community etiquette.

However, now it seems that a lot of the people who are consuming fanworks aren’t actually in the community. 

I won’t say “they aren’t real fans” because that’s silly; there’s lots of ways to be a fan. But there seem to be a lot of fans now who have no interest in fandom as a community, or in adhering to community etiquette, or in respecting the gift economy. They consume our fics, but they don’t appreciate fan labor. They want our “content”, but they don’t respect our control over our creations.

And even worse--they see us as a resource. We share our work for free, as a gift, but all they see is an open-source content farm waiting to be tapped into. We shared it for free, so clearly they can do whatever they want with it. Why should we care if they feed our work into AI training datasets, or copy/paste our unfinished stories into ChatGPT to get an ending, or charge people for an unnecessary third-party AO3 app, or sell fanbindings on etsy for a profit without the author’s permission, or turn our stories into poor imitations of podfics to be posted on other platforms without giving us credit or asking our consent, while also using it to lure in people they can datascrape for their Forbes 30 Under 30 company? 

And sure, people have been doing shady things with other people’s fanworks since forever. Art theft and reposting has always been a big problem. Fanfic is harder to flat-out repost, but I’ve heard of unauthorized fic translations getting posted without crediting the original author. Once in…I think the 2010s? I read a post by a woman who had gone to some sort of local bookselling event, only to find that the man selling “his” novel had actually self-published her fanfic. (Wish I could find that one again, I don’t even remember where I read it.)

But aside from that third example, the thing is…as awful as fanart/writing theft is, back in the day, the main thing a thief would gain from it was clout. Clout that should rightfully go to the creators who gifted their work in the first place, yeah, but still. Just clout. People will do a lot of hurtful things for clout, but fandom clout means nothing outside of fandom. Fandom clout is not enough to incentivize the sort of wide-scale pillaging we’re seeing from community outsiders today.

Money, on the other hand… Well, fandom’s just a giant, untapped content farm, isn’t it? Think of how much revenue all that content could generate.

Lurkers are a normal and even beneficial part of any online community. Maybe one day they’ll de-lurk and easily slide into place beside their fellow fans because they already know the etiquette. Maybe they’re active in another community, and they can spread information from the community they lurk in to the community they’re active in. At the very least, they silently observe, and even if they’re not active community members, they understand the community.

Fans who see fanworks as “content” don’t belong in the same category as lurkers. They’re tourists. 

While reading through the initial Reddit thread on the lore.fm situation, I found this comment:

[ID: Reddit User Cabbitowo says: ... So in anime fandoms we have a word called tourist and essentially it means a fan of a few anime and doesn't care about anime tropes and actively criticizes them. This is kind of how fandoms on tiktok feel. They're touring fanfics and fanart and actively criticizes tropes that have been in the fandom since the 60s. They want to be in a fandom but they don't want to engage in fandom 

OP totallymandy responds: Just entered back into Reddit after a long day to see this most recent reply. And as a fellow anime fan this making me laugh so much since it’s true! But it sorta hurts too when the reality sets in. Modern fandom is so entitled and bratty and you’d think it’s the minors only but that’s not even true, my age-mates and older seem to be like that. They want to eat their cake and complain all whilst bringing nothing to the potluck… :/ END ID]

-

“Tourist” is an apt name for this sort of fan. They don’t want to be part of our community, and they don’t have to be in order to come into our spaces and consume our work. Even if they don’t steal our work themselves, they feel so entitled to it that they’re fine with ignoring our wishes and letting other people take it to make AI “podfics” for them to listen to (there are a lot of comments on lore.fm’s shutdown announcement video from people telling them to just ignore the writers and do it anyway). They’ll use AI to generate an ending to an unfinished fic because they don’t care about seeing “the ending this writer would have given to the story they were telling”, they just want “an ending”. For these tourist fans, the ends justify the means, and their end goal is content for them to consume, with no care for the community that created it for them in the first place.

I don’t think this is confined to a specific age group. This isn’t “13-year-olds on Wattpad” or “Zoomers on TikTok” or whatever pointless generation war we’re in now. This is coming from people who are new to fandom, whose main experience with creative works on the internet is this new content culture and who don’t understand fandom as a community. That description can be true of someone from any age group.

It’s so easy to find fandom these days. It is, in fact, too easy. Newcomers face no hurdles or challenges that would encourage them to lurk and observe a bit before engaging, and it’s easy for people who would otherwise move on and leave us alone to start making trouble. From tourist fans to content entrepreneurs to random people who just want to gawk, it’s so easy for people who don’t care about the fandom community to reap all of its fruits. 

So when I say maybe fandom should start gatekeeping a bit, I’m referring to the fact that we barely even have a gate anymore. Everyone is on the internet now; the entire world can find us, and they don’t need to bother learning community etiquette when they do. Before, we were protected by the fact that fandom was considered weird and most people didn’t look at it twice. Now, fandom is pretty mainstream. People who never would’ve bothered with it before are now comfortable strolling in like they own the place. They have no regard for the fandom community, they don’t understand it, and they don’t want to. They want to treat it just like the rest of the content they consume online.

And then they’re surprised when those of us who understand fandom culture get upset. Fanworks have existed far longer than the algorithmic internet’s content. Fanworks existed long before the internet. We’ve lived like this for ages and we like it.

So if someone can’t be bothered to respect fandom as a community, I don’t see why I should give them easy access to my fics.

Think of it like a garden gate

When I interact with commenters on my fic, I have this sense of hospitality.

The comment section is my front porch. The fic is my garden. I created my garden because I really wanted to, and I’m proud of it, and I’m happy to share it with other people. 

Lots of people enjoy looking at my garden. Many walk through without saying anything. Some stop to leave kudos. Some recommend my garden to their friends. And some people take the time to stop by my front porch and let me know what a beautiful garden it is and how much they’ve enjoyed it. 

Any fic writer can tell you that getting comments is an incredible feeling. I always try to answer all my comments. I don’t always manage it, but my fics’ comment sections are the one place that I manage to consistently socialize in fandom. When I respond to a comment, it feels like I’m pouring out a glass of lemonade to share with this lovely commenter on my front porch, a thank you for their thank you. We take a moment to admire my garden together, and then I see them out. The next time they drop by, I recognize them and am happy to pour another glass of lemonade.

My garden has always been open and easy to access. No fences, no walls. You just have to know where to find it. Fandom in general was once protected by its own obscurity, an out-of-the-way town that showed up on maps but was usually ignored.

But now there’s a highway that makes it easy to get to, and we have all these out-of-towner tourists coming in to gawk and steal our lawn ornaments and wonder if they can use the place to make themselves some money.

I don’t care to have those types trampling over my garden and eating all my vegetables and digging up my flowers to repot and sell, so I’ve put up a wall. It has a gate that visitors can get through if they just take the time to open it.

Admittedly, it’s a small obstacle. But when I share my fics, I share them as a gift with my fellow fans, the ones who understand that fandom is a community, even if they’re lurkers. As for tourist fans and entrepreneurs who see fic as content, who have no qualms ignoring the writer’s wishes, who refuse to respect or understand the fandom community…well, they’re not the people I mean to share my fic with, so I have no issues locking them out. If they want access to my stories, they’ll have to do the bare minimum to become a community member and join the AO3 invite queue.

And y’know, I’ve said a lot about fandom and community here, and I just want to say, I hope it’s not intimidating. When I was younger, talk about The Fandom Community made me feel insecure, and I didn’t think I’d ever manage to be active enough in fandom spaces to be counted as A Member Of The Community. But you don’t have to be a social butterfly to participate in fandom. I’ll always and forever be a chronic lurker, I reblog more than I post, I rarely manage to comment on fic, and I go radio silent for months at a time--but I write and post fanfiction. That’s my contribution.

Do you write, draw, vid, gif, or otherwise create? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you leave comments? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you curate reclists? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you maintain a fandom blog or fuckyeah blog? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you provide a space for other fans to convene in? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you regularly send asks (off anon so people know who you are)? Congrats, you're a community member.

Do you have fandom friends who you interact with? Congrats, you're a community member.

There’s lots of ways to be a fan. Just make sure to respect and appreciate your fellow fans and the work they put in for you to enjoy and the gift economy fandom culture that keeps this community going.

[just-wrting]

Can't Take the Hint

Title: Can't Take the Hint

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Reader

Summary: You're having a hard time rejecting guys, thankfully the one you're into helps you out.

Warnings: Creepy guy and smut

Word Count: 2,826

Master List

A/N: This was meant to have more scenes in it, but I've opted to save those ideas for another time. This is also only my third time writing smut so I hope it's not that bad.

“I don’t know Dave. Asking them out seems like a bad idea.”

You hear Hotch’s voice even through the closed door. You want to linger and listen, but there’s a new case. Instead, you knock gently on Rossi’s office door. Within a few seconds, it swings open and Hotch is standing in front of you.

“Garcia said she’s got a case and to come get you guys,” you say. “I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

“No, we were just finishing up. In fact, I’ll walk with you if that’s okay?” Hotch moves toward you, and you back up.

“Sure. Though I hope you don’t mind if I borrow Rossi later. I have some guy trouble that I want his advice on.”

For a split second, he frowns. It’s so quick you think you’re imagining it. You study his face intently, wondering if it was just a trick of the light. There’s no reason that he would be upset about you having guy troubles. He’s just your boss, nothing more.

“Rossi’s advice may not be great, he does have multiple divorces. I could help you.”

“That’s actually why I’d like to talk to him about it. He’s gotten used to rejection.”

You give him a soft smile. He chuckles but doesn’t say anything. You know his offer still stands if you ever need to talk to him. He’s a great boss, and you’re grateful to him for being there for you when you need it.

You do your best to pay attention as Hotch and Garcia present your next case. A couple of bodies turned up in a forest on the west coast, and the local police had no idea how they got there. They all showed various stages of decay, indicating that they had been there for a different amount of time each.

“Well, the ME states the body that had been there the longest was there for about a year. Given that there are six bodies in that area that puts us at a murder every two months,” Emily says while placing her tablet down.

“So either he’s doing something to them that takes about two months, or he’s being extra careful.” Rossi rubs his chin.

Reid leans back in his chair. “Based on the ME’s report of the most recent body, he’s most likely torturing his victims for about a month.”

“Great. Cause that’s what we need to be doing, scouring the missing persons reports for a person that could be joining the body pile,” you groan.

Granted, Garcia is lightning-fast and great at sifting through things like that, but you still think it’ll take forever. This is shaping up to be one of those cases that just takes time. Time that you don’t have to be wasting on dead ends and possibilities.

“Wheels up in thirty,” Hotch says, snapping you out of your thoughts. “Be prepared for long days.”

—

It’s been over an hour and everyone is just lost in thought. Occasionally someone will throw out an idea, but without doing more interviews and crime scene analysis, there isn’t much to discuss. You take the opportunity to slide into a seat across from Rossi.

“Mind if I ask you some stuff? Take your mind off the case for a second?” you ask. “I promise I’ll be quick.”

Rossi gives you a smile. “Sure thing, kid. What else is someone with as much wisdom as I, supposed to do?”

You relax muscles you didn’t realize were tense. “Besides helping others out, I’m not too sure. So there’s this guy, I see him all the time since he goes to the same breakfast place as I do, and he asked me out.”

Rossi nods. “And you aren’t sure if that’s a good choice?”

“Actually, I know it’s a bad choice. Since the day before I’d seen him with another girl. They’re obviously a thing so I told him no. The problem is that now he won’t leave me alone. I don’t know what I did wrong.”

Rossi reaches out to grab your hand. He gives it a gentle squeeze and makes sure to look into your eyes.

“Kid, you didn’t do anything wrong. A man like that is just plain creepy and probably won’t take the hint until you tell him there’s another man you're with. If you need us to, I’m sure Hotch or Morgan will gladly help you play pretend to get him to leave you alone. We’re here to help each other.”

You slowly nod. You really didn’t think you’d actually encounter one of those guys that give off the same energy that serial stalkers have, but you did. Not to mention, it was while you weren't working.

“You’re right. I’ll give it some thought during the case, but for now, that’s what needs our attention. Let’s just hope things go better than they usually do.”

—

Things are not going better than they usually do. Hotch paired you with him and Morgan to go to the crime scene which wouldn’t have been an issue if it wasn’t for the constant drizzle that had started well before you had landed. Nothing says ‘a great day for a walk in the woods’ like rain.

You watch as an officer slips slowly down the hill to reach where the last body was found. The whole area was slick with mud. It’d probably be fun if you were a young boy in your own backyard but as an agent hoping to get an idea of what this dump site looked like in its horrible prime, not so fun.

The rain picks up and you duck under a tree. Hotch joins you while Morgan chuckles.

“I’ll go get the umbrellas from the SUV since you two must be made of sugar. Don’t start without me.”

Shortly after Morgan walks off, another officer approaches you. He sticks his hand out for you to shake.

“You must be Agent Hotchner and Agent (L/N),” he says while giving you a large smile. “Do you need an umbrella? I have one in the car.”

“Oh no thanks. Agent Morgan is returning with the ones he went to get. I can see him now.”

The officer’s smile wavers, but stays firm on his face. “Well, (L/N), I’m Officer Mike Morris. If you need anything, anything at all, let me know right away and I’ll help you.”

With that, the officer leaves. Hotch looks at you with an odd look on his face. You can’t quite place the emotion that’s behind his eyes.

“Here’s the umbrella. You two can share it because I’m not letting (L/N) pull me down into the mud.”

Morgan gets a head start down the hill. You watch him complete the task with ease, and you can’t help but be a bit envious. Sure you can take down grown men, but Morgan makes most physical feats look easy.

“(Y/N)?” Hotch’s voice snaps you out of your thoughts. “You do know that if you need anything, both on the case and off the case, you can talk to me, right?”

His hand rests on your shoulder. You give him a smile and start to head down the slope.

“Of course. You’re my go-to person if I need something, Hotch. I’ll let you know if I need anything.”

—

It’s the next day, and you’re sitting at the table staring down a pile of paper. It’s early in the morning, and you think you’d kill for a cup of coffee right about now. Unfortunately, you got up early and were one of the first in the office. That means that there was no coffee for you to have and you have to wait for some to brew.

A sudden knock on the doorway startles you. You whirl around to find Officer Mike Morris standing in the doorway.

“I see you’re into mornings, just like I am. Figured you would want a cup of coffee.”

He sets down a cup of lukewarm coffee. You watch as the liquid settles and realize that the color is off. It won’t taste the way you like it, but you do your best to take a sip. You’re right. It’s not how you’d like it.

“(Y/N)? You left early today so I brought you coffee and breakfast. I hope that’s okay.”

Hotch walks into the room holding a tray of coffee and a to-go bag. He briefly looks at Officer Morris before looking at you.

“Thanks! What did you get me?”

A soft smile spreads across Hotch’s face. He sets the coffee tray down and pulls one of the cups out. You carefully read the label on the cup. It’s made just the way you like. As you take a sip, you feel the caffeine send tingles to your brain and you start to wake up.

“And breakfast?”

Hotch pulls a muffin out of the bag and hands it to you. You're quite grateful for the snack. Nothing says FBI breakfast like coffee and a pastry.

“Thank Hotch. I got up pretty early so I didn’t have a chance of getting food.”

You bury your face back into the papers, ignoring the men. You can feel the tension in the room though. They seem to be locked in some sort of silent fight, over what you can’t tell. A fight over ruining your train of thought is possible, but you can’t imagine that making you useless was a great idea.

“Well, (L/N), I’ll see you later. Don't be a stranger,” Officer Morris says before leaving.

—

“Oh, I call shotgun!” You say as you open the passenger door.

Hotch slides into the driver's seat. “As long as you don’t touch the radio we’ll be fine.”

Before the two of you can leave the parking lot, there’s a knock on your window. Hotch is quick to lock the doors. You frown when you see it’s Officer Morris. He seems to be everywhere. If it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t fit the preliminary profile, you’d assume he was the unsub.

Rolling down the window, you ask, “ Was there something you needed, Officer Morris?”

“I heard you were headed to see the Willows and I figured I should come with. They’re grumpy and old so they don’t take well to strangers. I actually happen to know them quite well and am off duty now.”

You glance at Hotch, unsure of how you should shut Officer Morris down. Hotch’s mouth is drawn in a thin line and his eyes are cold. You can practically feel the irritation coming off him and you turn your gaze to the clock. Staring at the time seems like a better choice.

“I think (Y/N) and I will be fine. We’re both highly capable agents who’ve dealt with difficult people.”

Morris smiles tightly. “I’m sure (L/N) is an exceptional agent, but I can assure you that these aren’t your ordinary grumpy old people. We got a call once that Mr. Willow tried to shoot the mailman when he got too close.”

You hear the leather squeak as Hotch’s hand tightens on the steering wheel. He’s getting far more than irritated. In fact, you’d venture to say he was getting pissed. It wasn’t hard to tell why. Morris is wasting your time.

“Aaron is a more capable agent than I am!” you blurt out. “So if you don’t mind, we’ll be off. Serial killers don’t wait around for us to find our clues.”

You let Hotch roll up your window and drive off. As soon as you start rolling, you see him relax.

“Man, he just won’t let up. Is there something I’m missing?” you ask.

“If he gives you any more trouble, I’ll take care of it.”

“Is that a promise?”

“Of course.”

—

It finally hits you once Morris grabs your wrist. His grip is tight. You shake your hand a couple of times, but he still holds fast.

“I’ve been hoping that I could get a chance to talk to you alone, (Y/N). I was wondering if you’d like to join me for dinner.”

The whole time you had been here, Morris was hitting on you. You pride yourself on being able to read people, but you admit that your ability to spot romance is a bit lacking. Unfortunately, you have zero interest in going out with Morris. Not only is he being quite rude at the moment, but you had no intention of going long distance. Not to mention your lingering feelings for someone else.

“Well, given that we still haven’t caught the killer, I’ll have to decline. There’s no time to waste.”

His grip tightens even more before he releases you. His eyes are dark and he’s sporting a tight frown.

“Does Agent Hotchner not let you date?”

You stare at him in shock. “Excuse me?”

“Is Agent Hotchner interfering with your personal life? Does he dictate whether or not his team members can date?”

You shake your head. “No, he doesn't. This is a personal choice. I’d rather not go to dinner with you when I have a serial killer to catch.”

Morris says nothing, but you can tell he doesn’t believe you. His animosity toward Hotch confuses you. You don’t bother trying to understand it, however. There isn’t anything about this guy that is making sense.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to go back to my team. If you need anything, feel free to contact one of them.”

With that, you turn and walk back to the main room. You want nothing more than to have someone tell him off, but you opt not to mention anything. The team has other things to worry about.

—

Once again, Morris has done his best to ask you out. This time making the mistake of asking in front of Hotch. The tension in the room grows thick, and you feel uncomfortable. You can see Hotch seething.

“I don’t think-“

You’re cut off by Hotch. “You are to leave (Y/N) alone for the rest of this case, Officer Morris.”

His voice is icy. There’s a vein popping in his forehead and his hand is tight on the file. There’s no one else in the room to stop the fight that’s about to break out.

“(Y/N) doesn’t need to date whoever you approve of Hotchner. You’d be stepping out of your boundaries by making that choice.”

Hotch strides over to where you’re standing. He tosses the file onto the desk next to you and grabs your face. Within milliseconds, he’s pulled you into a kiss.

His lips are chapped and you let his tongue enter your mouth you can faintly taste blood. He’s passionate about it. One hand reaches around to the back of your head to keep you in place. There’s more force than necessary, and you feel yourself growing light-headed.

You don’t know how long he’s kissing you for, seconds or minutes, and it doesn’t matter. He’s set a fire inside of you and you find yourself whining when he pulls away. He’s careful to keep you close though.

“If you don’t mind, Officer Morris, (Y/N) and I will be leaving.”

—

Aaron pins one of your legs up against your body with the other wrapping around his waist. Your ankle is behind his head and you feel sweat fall from his brow.

“Why didn’t you tell him off sooner?”

You can’t answer his question with anything but a moan. You arch your back as he continues to pound you. Your body craves him and you feel delirious. The only thing you can think about is the way he’s making you feel.

“I could’ve done more to you in that office, but he doesn’t deserve to see you like that.”

Each thrust of his hips punctuates his statement. You can’t even tell what he’s saying though. The only thing on your mind is him. The way he’s filling you up. The way he feels inside of you. The way that each thrust hits that sweet spot makes you moan.

“A-Aaron!” you cry out.

His lips press harshly against yours. With one final thrust, you come undone. Your fingers grip his bicep tightly as you cum and you feel your legs tremble. You’ve been doing this for hours, and you’ve lost count of how many times that was.

When he pulls away, his face is soft. There’s no more anger or jealousy hidden in his eyes and a smile is slowly spreading across his face.

“You aren’t hurt are you?”

You giggle and shake your head. “Just a little out of practice for this. I’ll be a bit sore later but otherwise fine.”

His next kiss is soft and tender. You relish the fact that you’re spending the night with him.

“Good because when we get back to D.C. I’ll have to show you a different side of this. Perhaps after dinner?”

You let your eyes flutter closed. “I think that sounds like a great idea.”

[suguwuus]

Hii babe!! Omg I’ve been obsessed with your pajama pants book on wattpad for years I can’t believe I found your tumblr, ur my favourite Connor writer.

Anyway I figured I’d send an ask!! Maybe something with a daughter of Aphrodite reader? Could you do protective connor plss, I don’t rly mind the scenario whether it’s creepy guy or like in a battle or whatever.

Thanks so much!! 🩷🩷

HEYYY HII OMG thank u blushes kicks feet!!!

the damsel in distress trope is so outdated and children of aphrodite def have sparkly pink bejeweled weapons so this being set on the battlefield is crossed out of the list. also i dont like the ending but idk ??

edit: im sorry if this didnt meet your expectations of protective connor idk i feel like it's off or boring so feel free to ask for a redo or another one w this situation 😭😭😭😭 not sure if i interpreted ur req right but lmk if i did or if u have anything to say

wc: 1.7k words

contains: erm the general creep u meet while minding ur own business idfk that's literally it

"G'morning, beautiful." Connor smiles down at you as you wake up from your rest. How many hours was that? Three? Four? A few hours as your beauty rest was better than none, so you let that worry go and sucked it up.

"Morning, Connor," you replied, your voice as sweet and smooth as ever. Your resting place today was hidden between two dumpsters behind a convenience store. At first, the idea revolted all three of you on the quest, but the events that followed that night gave you no choice, and the smell would mask your scent from any monsters. Fortunately, you had your perfume balm on you, enchanted to last for days, so smearing the stuff under your noses was a big help to battle the stench of the dumpsters.

You laid a hand on your boyfriend's shoulder. "Feeling better?" After getting into a car crash last night, his body was probably sore. He pulled a muscle in his shoulder, too. His brother Travis was knocked unconscious, so after hauling him through streets, you two had no choice but to seek shelter somewhere hidden. You only found out, when the sun rose, that you were stationed behind a convenience store. Great. Those things were like playgrounds to the sons of Hermes.

Connor stood up and stretched, testing his shoulder. "Yes! Good as new. Man, I wish mortal stores had stuff flavored with something that tastes like ambrosia."

You gazed up at him, pleased with the state he was in now. "Glad to hear," you smiled.

"Wait, they do. I love salt and vinegar chips. Oh, man, I hope Travis finds some."

You wrinkled your nose, but at the mention of food, your stomach growled. Aside from doing your best to nurse the boys back to a decent state last night, you also took first watch. That, and exhausting all your fighting skills, left you hungry.

You rummaged in your bag for a bottle of water to start your day as Connor picked up his. There you found your plastic bag of half-finished ambrosia, a flask of nectar, your first aid kit, your last change of clean clothes, your hair clip that transformed into your celestial bronze crossbow with a beaded charm around the handle, a magic blow-drier for emergencies, and—there it was.

"Travis is inside. Let's go?" Connor held out a hand and helped you up from the ground, and the two of you walked into the convenience store. You caught a glimpse of Travis, but he didn't catch sight of you back. So instead you put your water back into your bag and headed for the bathroom.

There wasn't much work to do. Just a bit of dusting off your pants and a quick wash of your face and hands to feel clean. As always, you looked perfectly put together, roughed up but in a movie star way, thanks to being a daughter of Aphrodite. It was like those scratches and stray hairs framing your face were strategically placed by a personal makeup artist.

Zipping up your jacket in a way that complimented your figure and the rest of your outfit, you nudged the bathroom door closed with your foot on the way out. Neither of the boys were inside anymore. While you scanned the aisles for them, you felt a pair of eyes on you and turned towards the counter to see a toothy man wearing a puffer vest standing in line. "You lost, sweetheart?"

You didn't like how he looked you up and down. How you felt like you were being examined under his stare. You picked it up immediately, and it made your fists tighten. You simply shook your head, then made for the exit.

Travis and Connor were munching away at breakfast sandwiches and bagels. They handed you a sandwich of your choice and a bottle of yogurt drink and you ate it without complaint, the previous occurence quickly disappearing from your mind.

"Thanks," You mumbled, and then peeked into Travis's paper bag. It had even more sandwiches and snacks inside. Quickly, he wrapped them all up and stuffed them in his bag. "Snagged some extras on my way out." He grinned, satisfied with his work.

"Still headed for the next city hall, right?" He asked.

"Mhm." You took a folded up map out of your back pocket and opened it up. "There's a bus stop right there." You nodded in the general direction of the shed, tracing a manicured finger along the map.

You had to be honest, you were only doing that to look cool. Your dyslexia slowed you down in trying to look for your current location.

You followed Travis and Connor to the waiting shed, passing the map to the former. "Let me do that, love," Connor said as you sat down and began to open your yogurt drink. He took his seat beside you and opened your drink for you, passing it back along with a kiss. The gesture made your stomach flutter. No matter how many people would throw themselves at you and try to get your attention, nothing would ever beat the way Connor made you feel with his princess treatment.

However, your mood immediately soured when the guy from inside the convenience store appeared, sitting beside you and doing a little stretch. When he was done, he turned to you and smiled.

"You're a pretty one, you know that?"

The man's voice was gravelly and he sounded like he needed a drink. You kept your eyes on whatever you could stare at on the other side of the street. "Thank you," You replied.

"You here alone?"

"No," You replied, holding back the urge to grit your teeth. You started to tap your designer boots on the concrete, impatiently awaiting the bus.

"Hm. A doll like you shouldn't be here all by yourself."

You didn't reply. Internally, you gagged and made a face and cussed him out for having the audacity.

Connor tensed up beside you; you could feel it. You huffed and checked your nails, bored. Time seemed to go exceptionally slow while you were in this situation.

When you finally forced your head to turn to see why Connor was so pissed, you saw the guy literally ogling you, a smile on his face with dark eyes that seemed to bore into every bit of you they could find.

It was disgusting. You felt disgusting. Your skin crawled.

You crossed your arms over your torso and scowled, trying to seem as unappealing as possible. Desperate times call for desperate measures, or whatever the saying was. You put a hand on Connor's knee to reassure him that you could handle it, and switched on your meanest girl voice.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" You shot the guy your meanest girl glare. It worked, for a second, because the smile melted off his face.

Travis came along, pulling out a pouch where he kept fake ID's and documents in case you needed them. He settled beside Connor, who had draped an arm across your shoulders, and took off his sweater.

The man glanced up at him as he passed by, relentless with his questions. "Is that your boyfriend?"

"No, this is." You moved aside to show Connor. You didn't dare break eye contact with the man, you wanted to show that you weren't afraid.

The man's frown grew deeper. "Well!" He chuckled. "Lucky guy."

Connor cleared his throat beside you. You squeezed his knee, and as curious as you were to see how he looked (because he was hot when he was pissed) you flashed the creep your fakest smile, words laced with poison.

"Your mom never told you not to talk to strangers? It's dangerous, you know." He started to force a laugh, but you cut him off, continuing. "Stop talking, because I don't have any time to waste on you, dickhead."

There was a beat of silence as he processed your words. You cracked a smile and turned back to face the opposite side of the road, satisfied with yourself. But then you heard the rustle of that stupid puffer vest.

"Hey, now, sweetheart, don't be hard. You know, if you're here on vacation, I can tell you a few good places to visit, let me tell you—"

You had just settled your eyes back on your multiple bangles and bracelets when you heard a loud smack from where the man was sitting. Connor stood between you and him and your lips parted in surprise with how quick he was. His hand was raised and the man was clutching his own, face red and showing an expression of pain. You couldn't see Connor's face, since he had his back turned to you, but you could feel how tense the hand that was on your shoulder was.

The bus finally pulled over in front of you. Travis nudged you and Connor took your hand with a stiff one. "C'mon, Y/N, let's go," he said. You eagerly stood up, keeping his hand in yours, but he didn't move. Instead, he waited for the creep to board and when he did so, he looked over his shoulder to steal one last glance at you.

You raised up your middle finger at him, but to your surprise, Connor even gave him a shove further down the aisle as the two of you followed.

Connor and Travis made sure he was seated far, far back in the bus before settling into seats with you. Connor gave you the window seat and the three of you got comfortable, though Connor was still muttering curses under his breath. You sent Travis a thumbs up gesture when he looked at the two of you.

Connor didn't relax even after the bus set off, but he did kick his bag under the seat and take your hand back in his. He planted a kiss on your temple, then your hand. "You alright?"

You nodded. "Nothing I can't handle," You assured him. "Horrible morning, but it's fine."

"Bastard was about to touch you," He muttered, lips moving against the back of your hand. "No one touches my girl if she doesn't like it."

"Mhm." You gave his hand a squeeze back, just as you always do to let him know it's okay.

[baileythebean]

Reasons why you should read… Wings of Fire!!

Random LONG-ASS post but idc because this has been my favorite book series since 3rd grade and I still HEAVILY fixate on it - for anyone interested (after I explain ofc) These books are by Tui T. Sutherland and are available in audiobook, paperback, hardcover, and Kindle I think.

Reasons you might enjoy WoF and features of the books!

-creative character designs

-full plot with little to no holes and if there are any, they’re probably explained in one of the MANY side books available.

-well-written characters that can be powerful without being a “Mary Sue” and having their own personalities

-each book follows a different protagonist, sometimes with the protagonist switching up mid-book

-a prologue and epilogue in each book

-15 main books released so far with more coming!!

-STUNNING cover art

-the main characters are dragons!!

-Written like those fanfics where you read them and you forget you’re reading a fanfic but it’s still not quite written like an ‘official’ book, y’know?

-descriptive writing so you don’t have to imagine stuff in weird vague ways

-LOTS OF LGBTQIA+ rep! Including but not limited to: mlm rep, wlw rep, non-binary/non-conforming rep - and the best part about it? It’s casually brought up! It’s normalized! Not even the villains or shitty parents show an OUNCE of homophobia or transphobia!

-There are humans in these books! And POC rep!

-women in leading/strong roles :3

-different continents!

-different tribes of dragons each sharing similar traits depending on their habitat!! NOT JUST RANDOMIZED DRAGONS EVERYWHERE ALL MIXED TOGETHER WHERE YOU DONT EVEN KNOW WHO CAN DO WHAT!!

-Each book features a map of the continent it’s set on, a description of the dragons of each tribe living on that continent (including looks, powers, diet, affiliation in war depending on the book, and current Queen) and a page for the prophecy the book fixates around (different for each arc)

-Three arcs, each solving a different conflict but STILL IN THE SAME PLOT!!

-creepy mind-control stuff!

-well-written villains

-lines that have made me CACKLE out loud multiple times

-TONS OF SIDE BOOKS WITH EXTRA LORE/INFO IN THEM!!

-and so much more! Read them for yourself to find out!!

ALL THE BOOKS IN ORDER PLUS THE NAME, SPECIES AND A PICTURE OF THE PROTAGONIST IN PARENTHESES:

THE DRAGONETS OF DESTINY ARC: 1) The Dragonet Prophecy (Clay of the Mudwings)

2) The Lost Heir (Tsunami of the Seawings)

3) The Hidden Kingdom (Glory of the Rainwings)

4) The Dark Secret (Starflight of the Nightwings)

5) The Brightest Night (Sunny of the Sandwings/Nightwings)

THE JADE MOUNTAIN ARC: 6) Moon Rising (Moonwatcher of the Nightwings)

7) Winter Turning (Winter of the Icewings)

8) Escaping Peril (Peril ((the one in front)) of the Skywings)

9) Talons of Power (Turtle ((the green one)) of the Seawings)

10) Darkness of Dragons (Qibli of the Sandwings) (MY FAV CHARACTER YIPPEE)

THE PANTALA ARC: 11) The Lost Continent (Blue of the Silkwings)

12) The Hive Queen (Cricket of the Hivewings)

13) The Poison Jungle (Sundew of the Leafwings) (MY FAV BOOK YIPPEE)

THE RETURN ARC (not sure if that’s actually what it’s called but oh well): 14) The Dangerous Gift (Snowfall ((the one on the right)) of the Icewings)

15) The Flames of Hope (Luna ((the obvious-looking one)) of the Silkwings)

THERE ARE ALSO GRAPHIC NOVELS UP TO BOOK 7 SO FAR AND SIDE BOOKS LISTED HERE: Legends: Darkstalker

Legends: Dragon Slayer

A Guide to the Dragon World

The Winglets Quartet

There might be more but there are also a coloring book plus an activity/storymaking book and as far as I know the fandom is pretty non-toxic and full of artists and cosplayers!! So have funnnn :33

ALSO SEND ME ASKS IF THERES ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANNA KNOW ABT IT, I’D BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO ANSWER THEM (sorry if Tumblr fucks up the image quality)

-IRL Bailey

@toniothegammafish @thesilliestofallqueers @rebootgrimm @ask-sora-aguilar @schnozzlebozzle

@bioexorcismss @piigeonss @weirdassartist @clown-prince-of-gay @lilacquintet 

@wakatoshi-main @metal-mage @vv4loe 

[hxhhasmysoul]

Have you seen this? https://www.tumblr.com/gojosbf/748604451516006400/hey-guys-what-the-fuck-is-this-who-is-voting?source=share

[That is satosugu blog (sorry).]

Just want to say : thanks so much @hxhhasmysoul. You open a new door to me, in shipping Sukuna/Itadori, and it's in the top 5 fav ships above.....As a multishipper, I never consider SukuIta until I found this blog of yours (especially your SukuIta fics recs).

I've read all SukuIta fics from your fics recs list, do you mind if I ask another fics recs? Also, thanks a lot for the Killua/Gon fics recs, really love them.....🤩

Don’t apologise for linking a SatoSugu blog, you don’t have to warn me  XD Thank you for the ask, I will be really mean, so just a fair warning.

Also it’d be pretty obvious that they are a SatoSugu blog even if you hadn’t warned me. What gives them away is that they can’t read, reading comprehension is just rare among the fans of that ship.  

They ask who voted in a ranking made based on the amount of published works on Pixiv XD

It’s even funnier no one in the notes noticed that. 

But these comments are fascinating to me.

So like 3 Gojou x Getou is reasonable but 4 Getou x Gojou is not, so it’s unreasonable for Getou to top? Is that it? 

Same with 7 and 8, it’s even funnier because the preference as to who tops is usually reverse in the western fandom XD

I’m not sure why Yuuta x Toge is not reasonable.. I mean they are the same age, right? 

Well Gojou x Utahime they disapprove on the forced straightness grounds, I mean even if they ship stsg, Getou’s dead, and Gojou could be bi… but whatever icky woman is icky.  

I mean I disapprove of shipping Gojou in general, because I think all Gojou ships are either misogyny or queerphobia, because he’s too awful to force onto other people… The dumb fascist is the only one that can be punished thusly, they are equally awful as people ;)

I guess the ships between Megumi and Toge, or Gojou and Nanami or Ijichi are pedo ships, because Toge is a year older than Megs and Gojou is at least a year older than either of them. Or is Gojou x Ijichi just simple abuse? I’d call it that. Oh, and I checked Nanami x Ijichi and that’s just clearly pedo stuff, Nanami is one year older. (Honestly this ship could be really nice, Ijichi could use a guy who can stand up for himself and actually is thoughtful)

What more can I say… Generally there being just two Sukuna ships is disappointing, people have poor aesthetic taste. No Kenny ship is also sad, especially seeing how popular Toge is and well that guy gets barely any development in the story, he’s kinda boring to me. 

As to Yuuji’s ships. GoYuu falls under Gojou shouldn’t be shipped, period. The ships with Megumi I get. Nanami and Chousou make sense too, even if they’re not my jam. But the ship with Getou… every time I see it, it makes me lose faith in humanity a little. 

___

I’m glad you got into SukuIta. More fics:

Smail just has a lot of stuff and I love most of it.

This is specifically what Smail wrote for me.

Creepy and hot trapped in spaceship smut.

Sweet and sexy Escort AU by Yuujispinkhair.

Monsterfucker Coffee Shop AU smut.

Hot Hockey Player Groupie AU smut.

Sukuna reincarnates as a cat, serves him right.

Art and short fics some very smutty.

This is one of my top 3 fics ever it was supposed to be crack but the author failed and now it's a very long fic with amazing relationship dynamics.

And another gem by the same author where Sukuna gets domesticated.

[nuclearplutonium]

INITIATING WELCOME SIMULATION…

Dividers

Ello! I’m Charlie (#1 Chief fan, #1/2 Taco fan, and #2 Ann fan) buuut I like to be called Orion, Charlizard, Lizavich, or Charlin!

any pronouns (preferably he/him)

Cracklin, Chief, Mr. R, Sketchpad, Airy, Gerbo, Thomas Flyswatter, Exclamation Mark, Doorstopper, Clock, Fridge DJ, WWF Tile, Printer, Season17, Lightbulb, Taco, Bot, Cabby, Fan, Yoshka, Yulka, Zara, Cheppy, Socka, Charmy, Edgar, Fossil, Mushroom, Wagyu, Minty, Razor, and Orange Herald are all of my favorite characters/kins :3

I am Gay, Transgender, Agender, and Demisexual ^u^

Alterhuman therian and fictionkin, my theriotypes are black wolf, snow husky, and a T-Rex <33

I’m an American-Czechoslovakian artist and a little bit of a violinist (I mainly speak English but I also speak a bit of Russian)

I am a MINOR!!! I am ok if adults (NOT THE FUCKING SEX BOTS) interact with my blog or me in general just don’t be creepy or kinky about it please.. (read dni list for specifics)

My blog is not meant for younger audiences, therefore I am telling you all that this is a 13+ BLOG. mainly because I’ll post art with mildly suggestive themes in it or reblog something weird.. whatever it may be, I just want to protect the little itty bitty babies that happen to stumble upon this beautiful yet horrifying tumblr blog .-.

currently locked in @thesillygoober7’s basement

old acc is @charlibugg

Here’s most of the stuff I like ! Purple = ION💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

Blue = VERY VEEERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VEEERRYRYYY HYPERFIXATED

Green = LOVE ITTT

Orange = Cool cool I like it

Red = Eh… I mean it’s fine.. II/III, I.O.N/И.О.Н, TNM, TPOT, EEE/THREEEE, BURNER, 5SOS, ONE, CFMOT/ИНМТ, Objectified, TDOS, LoTS, Animatic Battle, Bugbo, Dreamophrenia, Sprunki, Max Design Pro, Warrior Cats, Smiling Friends, ATHF, Gravity Falls, Villainous, DHMIS, Electric Dreams (1984), Ride the Cyclone, TPC/Pink Corruption, Regretevator, Homestuck

besides fandoms I hyperfixate on time to time… I also LOVE nuclear reactors, epic guitar solos in music, whatever the hell plutonium jazz is, and I just genuinely love learning ANYTHING about nuclear physics and energy :3 (oh and lollipops, I love lollipops)

Some games I really like (not Roblox games) are In Stars and Time, Fallout 4/Fallout: New Vegas (IM SORRY FALLOUT 76 IS SO BORING AND BUGGY AAAAA), Omori, Sims 2-4, Tomodachi Life, Miitopia, Cardpocalypse, Wobbledogs, Pikuniku, Ooblets, Splatoon 2-3, Dragon Quest: Builders 1-2, Minecraft, Wandersong, JSAB, and AC:NH :3

and most of the bands/artists I listen to (current hyperfix band will be written in bold) are MSI, sElf, WW/WWATT, The Scary Jokes, Sodikken, MOTHH, Lemon Demon, Tally Hall, Bondage Fairies, STOMACH BOOK, Ken Ashcorp, LiteralHat, YFM, Limp Bizkit, Insane Clown Posse, Gorillaz, System Of A Down, Foo Fighters, Dream Puzzles, That Handsome Devil, Sacri, They Might Be Giants, Oingo Boingo, Weird Al, Jhariah, Lenin Was A Zombie, and Drive45!

I have Autism, ADHD, and Depression.. so sorry if I don’t talk/respond to asks or dms quick enough or I don’t answer them properly… I’m a very shy person. So please text me first if you want to dm me, if you’re a mutual I’d love to talk to you! ^_^

ask box will close down sometimes, it is not a mistake usually, I just don’t feel like taking asks :3

DNI - uhhhh this (carrd not mine) ..also I will check your account once you follow me usually to see if you aren’t a weirdo, I block who I choose to block

Places I inhabit:

Instagram

YouTube

Spotify

TikTok (currently trying to fix some link issues)

Wattpad

Pinterest

(Created: 1/15/24)

(Last updated: 9/20/24)

I reblog WAYY too much posts so if you’re willing to find my art search #bugs goof art

#Charlizard’s rabble ransoms - for random posts that are just filler or me going on a whole rant (will also be tagged for long posts too sometimes)

Q&A stuff under cut because I can lol:

Q: Where did the name Charlin come from?

A: I was being stupid and decided to combine Cracklin and my name (Charlie) together and ended up with Charlin

Q: What programs do you use for your art?

A: IbisPaint X (no premium *cri*) on my iPhone, or my iPad either one, and my finger! (it’s painful lol)

Q: Do you do anything else besides art?

A: Yep! I do gardening, cooking (if I have to), (sometimes) animations, writing, edits, gaming, reading, attempt to make music, and science stuff :)

Q: Do you take art commissions?

A: Nope, sorry ;-; I don’t have a way for people to give me money at the moment, maybe wait a few million years. I do happen to take art requests/art trades! So if you want any of those just ask me in the ask box ^_^

Q: Will you ever show us a face reveal?

A: Ahhhh, no, not really. Only thing close to seeing how I really look irl would be those Picrew challenges where you make yourself, but besides that, nope!

Q: Do you happen to have any other blogs?

A: Yes, actually, I happen to run the @cracklinzz kin blog! (It’s so empty I’m on the verge of deleting it)

Q: Who/What are your art inspirations?

A: Well.. mostly I just combine a bunch of people’s styles together and seem to just find my own style from there, but here’s a bunch that inspire some of my art pieces!:

Heloise&RS, Bok Bok Choy (or Sillystrung on tumblr), starrysharks, tvarina (I think that’s how you spell it), and dotcomgrrl! (And many many more)

Q: What’s Objectivated Orbit, why do you keep talking about it?

A: Okay yay I get to talk about this! Objectivated Orbit is my very own object comic that is in the works right now. (be warned, Charlin’s going to write an entire paragraph about this subject WAHHHHH)

It’s about all of these teens (in their 14s, 15s, 16s, or 17s) who get kidnapped and taken to this otherworldly planet and forced to play these dumb games in order to win an nonexistent prize. It’s heavily inspired by ONE, ION, and maybe TADC.

Currently the project is being worked on…. Very… very… slowly.

But we hope to release it at some point near the end of this year or in 2025-2026! (I am so sorry for how long you gotta wait, I am waiting for a lot of info from my co-workers on this project so I can properly storyboard and illustrate it)

‼️We currently aren’t taking online job applications, sorry about that. :(‼️

[copperbadge]

Current Events Reading Reccs

I had a couple of people asking me about my “current events” reading in general (news aggregators, podcasts, etc) so I figured I’d just list them off here. 

I don’t read any tumblrs that are specifically focused on current events, I just kinda get news from various people I’ve followed, but I’ve found in general it helps to find people for whom the news is a hobby, not a consuming habit. I have communists and anarchists and prison abolitionists on my dash, but they aren’t people who have made that their identity, which removes the “You are insufferable” factor. So I guess find fandom weirdos with strong political views and follow ‘em. 

Also I want to state at the top that part of why I’m on top of shit that I get through Tumblr is that I have a policy of never reblogging or reacting to anything until I have 1. read the article being linked and 2. done my own research. This has saved me a vast deal of embarrassment, because sometimes I’ll save something outrageous to research and before I can even research it, it’s been rebutted. I cannot stress how important the process of reading and research is -- you can’t get your news from headlines and particularly not clickbait you see on Tumblr. 

As far as I know there’s no single tumblr clearinghouse for good high-level current events reporting and analysis (the analysis I think is a vital part) but if folks have resources they use, drop ‘em in the comments or reblogs.  

Anyway, some mailing lists I belong to are:

Quartz Daily Brief: finance and tech, mainly. Back when they were for-pay I paid for them, this newsletter was that entertaining. I believe they’ve now gone fee-free but they sometimes link to paywalls. I get it as an email newsletter, that’s just a link to the web version. 

Breakfast with ARTNews: Obviously a bit niche but I really like keeping up with the art world and they cover art crime too. The link is to the all-newsletters signup page, I only belong to Breakfast. 

The Futurist: This is the most insufferable nonsense masquerading as news ever. The ads are indistinguishable from the content. But it does help me keep a finger hard on the pulse of what irritating tech bros are into. Watch scams unfold in real time! 

I also follow a number of local interests -- community centers and neighborhood organizations primarily -- in Chicago, so those are always good to hunt up. Most major cities have a “citycast” podcast (just search “citycast [your city]” in your podcatcher) that is also good for local news.  

Some websites:

Longreads: Since longform.org went under, the best place to find the current longform pieces that everyone’s talking about.  

Brand Eating: Extremely niche, but I really love reading about “brand” food trends. It covers new food releases and sales and such in the areas of packaged food (potato chips, candy, etc), fast food, and casual dining. It’s also great as a resource for cheap eats. 

I stopped reading Bon Appetit recently (they ran this appallingly sympathetic story about a dickhead hiring manager) but like, honestly, if you want to track food trends, the BA email newsletter is kinda the way to go. If you’d like good food news in podcast form, I recommend The Sporkful (it’s in the podcast list). 

I used to read the Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and Fortune Magazine (which mostly scraped the not-awful stuff from Forbes) but I’ve cut it down to just the Trib; I don’t really need Fortune to keep me current and the NYT has morphed into a creepy proto-fash nightmare. The Trib has pretty good national/international coverage so if you don’t have a decent local paper it’s not bad, but I don’t know how much access you get as a nonpaying reader (I subscribe). 

Podcasts:

Quartz has a podcast, Quartz Obsession, which is off-and-on in terms of when episodes come out but very interesting when they do. 

Planet Money is a once-weekly podcast about economics, and has a daily show called “The Indicator” which is daily “small bites” current events coverage. 

The Late Show and the Daily Show both have an “ears edition” podcast that’s just the show audio; I’ve stopped listening for the most part but if you want good cultural commentary, that’s the place to go. 

The Journal by the Wall Street Journal is a weekly podcast focusing on one or two news stories, generally pretty relevant. 

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me is a panel show but it’s a fun way to get bite-sized news you can look up later in more detail if you want. And it’s taped in Chicago! If you listen you can hear me in the audience laughing. :D (I’m going to another taping in a few weeks!) 

Behind The Bastards is actually a history podcast but if you’re listening current he does a bit of current-events commentary, and also I just really like it as a podcast.

Stuff You Should Know is a trivia podcast but they occasionally do current-events stuff.

The Sporkful is pretty good about current food news, although I run hot and cold on it.

I used to listen to a really good “professional” medical podcast, but it went full paywall when it started to offer certain forms of professional credit, so I found The House Of Pod as a very good free replacement. It’s not really for non-doctors, but as a non-doctor I still find it accessible and informative. (For medical history and curiosity, I do highly recommend Bedside Rounds, but I wouldn’t call it a current events cast.) 

So that’s how I get my news -- it’s not what I would call fully comprehensive but it’s reasonably informative! 

[notmanagingmymischief]

𝒩.𝐵. || 𝒶 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝑔𝑜.

WOW, USER NOTMANAGINGMYMISCHIEF ACTUALLY STILL POSTS ORIGINAL WRITING??? :000000

shocker, i know

~~

word count: 1,964

warnings: death/dying, mentions of incestual tendencies on Norman’s part, survivor’s guilt, ambiguous ending?

~~

tag list:

@takemercyonme @when-i-miss-you @damagnificentcookie @straight2hades @marvelgeek09 @herashifts @crime-ninja @onebigsimp @emiliaisdead @sapphic-stress @nonbinary-cryptid-baby @merci-bitch @feartheclipse @mxbeezkneez @fxoehy @ahoy-gays @sythaerin @consciouschunkofmoss

if you’d like to be added to my tag list, send me an ask or comment, or fill in this form! <33

~~

enjoy xx

~~

I had been in love with Norma Bates for as long as I could remember. From the moment I laid eyes on her, probably. It took almost two long years for me to finally confess to her, and three for us to completely and totally settle down with each other. It was on what was supposed to be a calm, easy day—one where neither of us had work to do, and we could just exist with each other—where something finally went wrong.

Well, that isnt entirely true; the past couple of days we’d been having this weird tension between each other. Norma had been busy with the Motel, Norman was being a pain in my ass, and my estranged family had decided to reach out again after years. All of the stress culminated today, though. When we had nothing to distract ourselves with, and somehow it ended up in an argument. One of our worst we’d ever had, in fact. I mentioned something about my parents getting on my ass, which led to the conversation of Norman. This was already a rather sensitive topic for everyone, and I’d been too stressed to filter myself. A stray comment I made had Norma all up in arms, and so here we are; in a screaming match in our shared bedroom.

“You can’t say that! I know you don’t get along, but Norman is my son, whether you like it or not!” Norma exclaims, throwing her hands up exasperatedly. I scoff and cross my arms. “Yeah, thats the problem, Norma. He’s your son.” I give her a Look, “He acts like he’s your boyfriend. Have you seriously never even been slightly freaked out by that?” I make perfectly valid points; Norman has always been weirdly attached to his mother, in a very creepy way. But Norma was unwilling to acknowledge that. We bicker back and forth some more, poisonous words thrown back and forth between us. “At least he didn’t abandon me!”

That. That was the final straw right there. Norma knew exactly how to get to me. I confided with her about my family issues and there she was, using them against me. I reel back with a hiss. “You—what?” I spit, glaring at her. But Norma doesn’t even take it back; I sense we’re both too upset to really consider each other's feelings. I shake my head. “No, thats too much. I can’t—you know that isnt what I did!” Norma mirrors my action, shaking her head and giving me an exhausted look. “Isn’t it?” she asks, and I have to clench my fists to stop from hitting something. We stare each other down for a moment, neither of us willing to speak. And then she does.

“That’s it. I’m done. We, this,” she gestures vaguely between the two of us, “is done.”

It hits me like a bag of bricks. I’m not stupid, or dense. “Are you breaking up with me right now, Norma..?” I ask, tears stinging in my eyes. “I didn’t want to say it but yes, I think that’s what has to happen. I just—I’m done.” I keep staring at her in shock, trembling violently. I can’t speak, can barely even breathe, and Norma wont even look at me. Finally, I choke back a little sob, and with a cracked little voice, I go “Fine. Fine, then. G-Goodbye, Norma Bates,” before turning on my heel and doing my best not to run from our room, from our house, from our life. It doesnt take me more than twenty minutes to grab some essentials, only what I’ll need for a couple days before I can come pick my stuff up, and throw it and myself into my car. Not once does Norma show her face, and I’m almost grateful for it. I only spare one glance up at that old house on the hill before pulling out of the lot and onto the freeway. I don’t know where I’ll go, I don’t know what I’ll do—I just need to get away.

I drive down the highway, vision dangerously blurry from tears, for what could be minutes or hours. I have the radio up as loud as it’ll go, I’m clenching my fists around the steering wheel to the point of my knuckles aching. But nothing matters, because everything just hurts. Everything hurts so much.

It hurts so much that I don’t notice myself shaking so badly my driving has become erratic. It hurts so much that I don’t see myself accidentally veer to the left with a particularly body-wracking sob. But it doesnt hurt enough to stop me from seeing the headlights blinding me. And all I have time to do is let out a choked gasp and shrill shriek before—darkness.

~~

Norma had been a wreck. Since she watched you from what used to be your bedroom’s window, watched you drive away and not look back, since she realized what she had done. She fell onto your—no, her bed—and put her head in her hands. She didnt cry, she couldn’t. But she did just sit there in silence, running through everything that had happened in the past hour in her head. When she did finally get up, her stare vacant and eyes dull, she went about the rest of her day without any of her usual fervor. Dinner with Norman was filled only by him, telling her about whatever taxidermy he’d done that day. And when she went to bed, Norma finally let herself cry. When she went to bed without you, and realized how cold her bed was. When she realized that the sheets hung too loosely over her shoulders because your body wasn't behind her to elevate them with your own. She didn’t sleep that night.

The next morning, Norma Bates is roused from her exhausted silence by her phone ringing. Not by her alarm, it was much too early for that. No, this was a call. With a sleepy groan, the blonde turns to grapple for it, answering the thing without reading the caller ID with an unimpressed “What?”

“Is this….Norma Bates?”

Norma didnt recognize the voice on the other end. “Uh…yes, this is she. Why..?” she mumbled, rolling onto her back. “This is Pine Bay Medical Center. We have Y/N L/N here with us…you were her emergency contact.” This immediately snaps Norma’s exhaustion out of her and she sits up in bed quickly. “What? You—what happened? Y/n? Is she alright?” “Ma’am, please breathe. Are you sitting down?” Norma’s breathing is already rapidly increasing, and she nods before realizing they cant see her and quietly choking out a “Ye-Yes, I am.”

“Mrs Bates, I regret to inform you that Miss L/N passed away this morning at…15:23 PM.”

The world goes silent. It falls out from under Norma and leaves her reeling; she nearly drops her phone from her hands as she just…stares. Stares at her wall in silence. The woman on the end of the line must be speaking to her, but all Norma can hear is a persistent buzzing behind the ringing in her ears as those words bounce around her head. After too long, the woman finally croaks out “Can I see her?” The moment she’s given the okay, she hangs up and snaps into action. She throws on the closet dress she can find, and doesnt even bother checking on Norman as she practically throws herself out the door and down the stairs.

Norma makes it to the hospital in record time, thankfully not stumbling across Alex to give her a speeding ticket, and the car is barely in park before she’s out the door and sprinting into the ER. Her voice shakes something fierce as she begs the receptionist to let her see you; as though begging them to bring you back. It takes too long for them to understand her but when they do, they give her a knowing look. “She’s..already at the mortuary, second floor.” Norma doesn’t bother thanking them before she’s gone, up the stairs and frantically searching for the room.

It doesn’t really sink in, she thinks, until she gets through to the workers and is finally led to the wall. When the small door is opened and a metal slab is slowly pulled out. And when she stares down at you. Down at her girl; peaceful but cold to the touch. It doesn't sink in that you’re gone until she rests a trembling hand on your cheek and can’t feel the warmth of your skin, when you don’t automatically lean into her touch. It isn’t until that moment that the world, reality, finally comes crashing back in and down onto her shoulders. The reality where you’re….not here.

Without being able to stop it, a shrill sob falls from Norma’s lips, and just like that she collapses against the wall. The mortuarists don’t intervene—they’ve seen this happen too many times—and let her grieve. They let her sob and plead and press her fingers to every cut and scratch on your pallid complexion, until she’s finally guided slowly and carefully from the room, still crying and repeating your name desperately. She’s sent into an empty room to be by herself, but she can’t even make it to the chair before she’s on her knees on the ground, sobbing all over again. Face in her hands, nearly screaming with the agony filling her entire body and soul. Gone, gone, gone, gone. You’re gone. Nothing Norma can say or do can take back what happened, and now you’re gone.

You’ll never wake her up with breakfast in bed again. You’ll never laugh at her stupid jokes. You’ll never hug her from behind and press your face into her hair as you grumble about the workweek’s stress. She’ll never kiss you again. She’ll never stay awake talking until past midnight about anything and everything again. She’ll never even…see you again.

Norma doesnt know how long she stays like that; eventually someone must have shown up because now she’s sitting in an uncomfortable chair and being asked too many questions, being talked at too much, and everything’s too loud. And Norman is there. He appeared a few hours back, but didn’t dare try to speak to his mother. She was too deep in her grief to even recognize his presence yet, and when she answers questions they’re brief and mumbled. The clearest thing that passes by her hearing is a doctor saying “Your wife was very strong in the OR. She fought hard, and it’s a real shame she didn’t make it.”

Her wife? When had she been put into the role of your wife? It was only once she was given your phone that she realized her contact was titled “wifey <333”, her name only written in the subtext inside the contact info. This brought on a new wave of tears. More unidentified time passes, until Norma is finally left alone with Norman in silence.

“I’m done.”

Norman looks up at his mother with a confused look. “What did you say, mother?” She slowly raises her head from her hands; “‘I’m done.’ That’s the last thing I said to her,” she breathes, eyes glistening with more tears that prepare to join the ones already streaming down her cheeks. “The last thing she thought she knew was that I hated her,” Norma chokes, sobbing again and letting her head fall back into the wall. She doesn’t even register the dull sting, too consumed by guilt and shame and grief.

What flowers will they have at your funeral? Did you ever write a will? Who would they tell? Would she let your family know?

But worst of all—how would she live with herself knowing that this was all her fault?

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

OC confession

Thanks @illarian-rambling here, @mysticstarlightduck here,

Rules: post a scene where someone confesses something - anything!

Tagging @urnumber1star @theelfauthor @katwritesshit @sarahlizziewrites @writeintrees

+ ANYONE ELSE

TSP intro

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites

@nebula--nix @literarynecromancy @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet

Context: Ash and Lexi have been feuding a bit since Ash befriended a girl Lexi associates traumatic memories with. Here's Ash laying out all that's been bothering her recently. It's long, so under the cut.

From The Secret Portal Part One (Lexi POV)

Ash took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “You were right.” “About?” “Shelby.” I froze—shocked for a second. I wanted to say something snotty, like oh, you just make friends with someone, and dump them whenever you get bored of them? But instead, I could only say, “What?” “Okay, what happened to you in first grade might’ve happened to me last Friday?” I blinked. “Huh?” “I was at Shelby’s, it was going great, but then it got weird.” “Weird how?” “Weird… I dunno, just weird, and I kinda got the creeps, and I bolted.” “Bolted?” “Yeah, I ran outta the house.” “That bad?” “Yeah, that’s why I’m guessing you repressed it.” I looked down at the floor, allowing my unbraided hair to fall over my face as I pondered. I didn’t remember first grade, and I barely remembered Shelby. Maybe that creepy thing did happen to me, and that’s why I hated Shelby. “In case you’re wondering, she’s uninvited.” “What?” I looked back up. “To my birthday party,” Ash confirmed. “But… you’re not.” “I’m not?” “You’ve been my friend forever. I want you there.” The corner of my mouth twitched. “Thanks.” “And, uh, there’s something else.” “Yeah?” “I need to get something off my chest.” She leaned against the wall. “What?” Ash sighed. “My mom and Frank had a falling out.” “They did?” I asked, having met her jerk stepdad before. “Yeah,” said Ash. “I dunno what happened, but it happened, and I was sent into a daze.” She swallowed. “They’re getting a divorce.” I didn’t respond. But she continued. “I’ve been living with Dad and Mary. And my mom. And Hannah and Mikey, too. Obviously. And Frank’s probably gonna get some custody of Mikey.” I’d been to her dad and stepmom’s house. It was relatively small, but it had three bedrooms. And now, six people were living there. Three adults, nonetheless. “I’m sorry to hear all of that,” I said softly. “But I think it will work out. Your mom and Mary get along. And Frank was rude, so maybe it’s good he’s out of at least most of your life.” “I guess so.” Ash closed her eyes, sighing. “Thanks. I missed your optimism.” I couldn’t help but smile softly. “I’ve been feeling… I dunno, weird lately. And I just needed to escape, I guess.” “That’s why you went to Shelby?” “I dunno what was happening with Shelby,” said Ash. “Maybe all the stuff happening made me listen to her more. But… she felt genuine. Like she actually cared about me and what I wanted.” “What about me?” I asked, more harshly than I intended. Ash flinched, I cringed. “I’m sorry, go on.” “She reached out to me,” Ash continued. “I dunno how she figured out something was going on at home, but she did. And… because she kept talking to me and made me forget about all the drama at home…” she shrugged. “You didn’t know what was going on, and I didn’t feel like talking about it then. Shelby just… coaxed it outta me somehow. And then you got mad, and because I’d become so open with Shelby, she made me madder at you—” “About that,” I said, “I was a jerk. Even if that creepy thing did happen to me, I don’t remember it. I shouldn’t’ve been so against it.” “But you were right.” “The problem is that I was right! I acted like a selfish jerk… and I was right. I should feel better, right? I won, but it doesn’t feel like a win.” I sighed roughly. “Maybe we were both wrong.” “So,” said Ash after an awkward moment of silence, “we’re friends again.” I looked her in her eyes. I smirked a bit. “Friends. Not again. Always.” Ash scoffed, rolling those bright green eyes. “Don’t be such a sap, Lex.” I laughed as we walked back into the locker room.

[sexisdisgusting]

I have some anecdotes!!!🤓👆

I worked at a weed themed sandwich shop (deeply unserious stuff) for less than a year & my male coworkers literally radicalized me.

1) a TIM who now works for a place that rhymes with Cockheed Cartin & flirted with every woman he worked with & tried to start dating rumors ab himself & others (including me😀)

2) a creepy bartender who wore hentai shirts to work, lied abt his age on tinder, & followed me around taunting me when he saw me on tinder

3) an israeli guy who said the n word hard r, wore Harry Potter pants that he made himself, was on probation for mysterious reasons, & went by an anime characters name

4) a SoundCloud rapper eboy who had a water bottle covered in hentai stickers. Like full pussy & titties. He also did coke off a steering wheel w two of my coworkers in the car

5) the definition of Stupid Meathead Marine. He lacked any & all critical thinking skills, laughed at me when I’d get frustrated to make me more mad, & once spilled mop water/left it there so I slipped & fucked up my knee & he said “you just can’t do anything huh?” (When I brought it up to a manager he was like oh he’s just dumb don’t take it personal)

6) white republican guy whose favorite artists were g eazy & machine gun kelly

I just had to get that list off my chest bro LOL

idek what to say you have me speechless ive never felt such stench emanate from text like i did when reading this list

idk what to say have this creature ^

[god-complex-12]

Cigarettes

——

Pairing: [Joker] Jack Naiper x reader

Pronouns: he/him

Fandom: DC

Quote: “Call me Joker.”

Description: Y/n gets a new housemate.

Disclaimer: Boring story, the story and Joker is just completely based on Chaz frome When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. The chapter is called The House. Great book. Recommend, but this story is almost exactly like that.Joker comes off creepy. It doesn’t really clarify if y/n really likes Joker. Joker is referred to as Jack. And cigarettes.

Master list

——

An old building, it was. An old building, but y/n found it homey. An old building, filled with crazy people, and cluttered with antiques. It was more of just a big house. Y/n has lived there for awhile, it wasn’t the best place, but he couldn’t complain. He usually kept to himself, not talking with anyone that much.

He did know the drama. For instance, he knew that a student was moving out to go to college. He also knew someone was moving in. A guy named Jack, and y/n so happened to see him in the hall. No, he wasn’t moving in, he was just renting the room. He wasn’t to stay permanently, at least, that’s what y/n thought.

“You wanna help?” He asked.

Y/n didn’t talk much to him, he kinda just examined the man. He was slender, and handsome. He looked perfect, so y/n started to try and focus on his flaws. He has freakishly pale skin. His yellow teeth. But if you asked y/n, he found those things more appealing.

“You looking for something?” Jack asked, he had a cheeky smile.

Y/n didn’t respond. He just went on talking about something else. Jack wasn’t the nicest. He was pretty rude.

“Anyways, I don’t have to chit-chat.” And then he walked away.

He liked to do that. Leave the conversation early, like he wasn’t the one to start it. It was kind of annoying, but y/n couldn’t do anything about it.

Before Jack, everything was quiet. Now, the day consists of old 90’s rock music. It’s not that bad, it’s good music, but all day? It was annoying. Sometimes, Jack would come to see y/n. Knocking on his door asking for a cigarette. Y/n would cave in, handing him one, and Jack would stand there and smoke it. Y/n had to stand at his doorway and watch. Jack would complain about y/n’s room. Y/n didn’t think anything was wrong with his room. It’s clean. It’s neat. But Jack didn’t think so.

The longer Jack lived there, the more things y/n started to notice. Jack lost his job, supposedly because he was too good for it. Y/n doesn’t really know if he got another one.

Jack began to knock on y/n’s door more often. He had no care in the world for the time. He’d always have so many stories or some stupid conversation to say. Y/n tiredly listen.

Jack wasn’t the most stable person, and they came more apparent when he’d angrily throw stuff out his window, or break something and spread all of the pieces around staring at it. Sometimes you’d see him with a beat up face, he’ll say he got in a fight and won, other’s say he got jumped.

A lot of times when y/n would open the door, Jack would drag y/n out of the wrong, by aggressively grabbing his arms. Jack would control each of his limbs as a puppet. That was when it clicked something was seriously wrong with this guy. Y/n didn’t notice as fast as he’d like, maybe he thought someone so good and clean looking could be so lost.

Jack would even go as far as shoving notes under y/n’s door. They were creepy and unsettling. “I can die and be born again on the same day.” or “You’re my favorite, I’d keep you.” The writing was if it was written from blood. The dark red ink (If it was ink) was off putting. Y/n heard he didn’t to someone else in the house too, but it wasn’t as bad. That was when the landlord told him to leave. Jack had no choice but to agree.

Someone had come by to get his stuff and had said he was put into a mental institution. Said that he was schizophrenic. y/n wasn’t shocked, in fact he felt a little sympathetic, and even went to see him one time. “I knew you loved me. That’s why you were my favorite.” He’d say.

“Yeah, yeah. Keep it to yourself, Jack.” Y/n grumbled.

“Call me Joker.” He said and it seemed more of a threat than a request.

——

[juniperhillpatient]

Chaos Theory sounds so good!! I hadn’t heard of it until now. I’ll definitely be adding it to my list. I love a good found family series! I’ve only watched 2/3 (?) of the newer Jurassic World movies. I still need to watch the Original Jurassic Park movies. Which one is your favourite?

Fair warning you have triggered a topic I’m very autistic about there’s a TLDR bolded & surrounded by TLDR disclaimers at the end of this post lol —

I love all Jurassic Park content even the objectively kinda bad stuff aghhh it’s such a special franchise to me <3

My favorite of the movies is the original like. It’s just a classic. A great adaptation of the book’s themes. (& the book is good but im aware not everybody had the patience for that & that’s ok don’t worry the movie is great in its own right too, I actually saw it before I read the book & loved it so much I read the book which is kinda the reverse of the usual order of events for me lol).

It’s just. A brilliant thriller that all other movies attempting to put audiences on edge should take notes from. One of the most amazing stunning pieces of cinema with practical effects that will ever be made. If you like the Jurassic World movies I feel like the Jurassic Park sequels are skippable but the original at least is mandatory viewing. Then again I think the original Jurassic Park is mandatory viewing for all movie fans.

Then there’s the Jurassic park sequels which…. are great & all because hiii dinos I mean I like them but also if I’m being so honest they blend together in my head there’s nothing particularly stand out about them I’m so sorry. I like them for what they are which is fun Dino movies.

I clown on Chris Pratt & he does deserve it BUT the start of the Jurassic World trilogy WAS what was needed to revitalize the franchise whether a lot of og fans want to admit it or not. It’ll never be the brilliant original & it’s not trying to be & that’s ok it shouldn’t! It’s fun cgi & bigger louder scarier monsters & here’s a hot take - the trilogy eventually does some pretty interesting stuff as far as exploring what a post Jurassic Park technological innovations world would look like & the discussion on cloning & biological warfare is actually pretty surprisingly clever for an action movie starring Chris Pratt.

NOW.

Chaos Theory is great & I’m glad I got you excited about the idea but unfortunately it will probably mean nothing to you if you don’t watch Camp Cretaceous first & I KNOW I know that’s an annoying thing to say. I know that’s overwhelming. I’d be over it already if someone told me I have to watch another show first to get into this show they mentioned but I’m sorry it’s a follow up series that will make no sense without Camp Cretaceous & Camp Cretaceous is also really really good.

I will say this. I struggle with attention span & Camp Cretaceous & Chaos Theory are both shows I found impossible to turn off because the characters are engaging & the action & pacing are just so enticing it’s like a delicious drug for my adhd brain.

If you love a good found family you will LOVE Camp Cretaceous. It’s a show that keeps me, a seasoned horror fan, stressed & tense & gripping the edge of my seat but it also has some of the most compelling characters & dynamics I’ve seen in a show. What makes it a quality boost for the franchise in comparison to the fun but ultimately shallow in terms of characterization Jurassic World movies is that it does what the original does in even more intensity given the series format - it makes you CARE. These aren’t just vaguely likable action heroes (like Chris Pratt & the hot ginger & their adoptive creepy clone daughter I can’t be bothered with their names rn) these are kids whose insecurities & trauma & relationships you relate to & care deeply about!!!

Anyway. TLDR: if you like the Jurassic World movies I highly recommend you at least check out the original movie if nothing else. Camp Cretaceous as a show actually stands on its own if I’m being honest & if you love found family it’s kinda a must see it does it so well & you WILL want more & Chaos Theory Is a rare brilliant flllow up (so far as of season 1) to a show that actually had a decently satisfying ending overall. It does a really good job going just a little darker than the original while feeling true to the characters & themes. I mean the Jurassic World movies are helpful for context since they’re all part of the same cinematic universe but it’s not hard to pick up context clues. You should watch these shows regardless if you watch anything else in the franchise if you like exciting shows & found family. TLDR over.

Also like I haven’t even talked about what the shows are about lmao — Camp Cretaceous: A group of teen campers at Dino camp get abandoned after Dino’s in the theme park get free. Horrors & bonding over horrific trauma ensue also lots of horrifying reveals & mysteries & conspiracies regarding the evils of humanity that fit in with the themes of the franchise about greed & exploitation & lots of fun animated Dino’s & brilliant use of what I think of as the Batman Animated Series rule. (If you haven’t heard me talk about this to sum up - BtaS is brilliant of course. It was tv y7 but it’s famously a bit dark. That’s because it took the ratings rules as a challenge in creativity! Scarecrow can’t be a serial killer? Ok. Instead he has poisonous gas that makes you see your worst nightmares!) It’s Tv y7 & that means no fun but ultimately forgettable Dino’s chowing down gory style onscreen. Instead you get much more creative & terrifying shots of things about to happen or characters in terrifying situations. There’s a scene with a woman trapped on a boat with two hungry Dino’s closing in that comes to mind.

100/10 highly recommend as a show. Chaos Theory picks up years after (spoiler) the (surviving?) campers are rescued & now they’re all young adults & it’s a lot darker & one of them was investigating a conspiracy & now she’s dead (or IS she?!). It also uses the Batman the Animated Series rule in some GENIUS ways like a particularly haunting shot of a boy staring at his fathers face as a raptor taps his claw against the fathers forehead & a return shot of the boys face. I could go on & on about why this show is pure genius.

Anyway stan Camp Cretaceous & Chaos Theory for slowburn nuanced sapphic representation a racially diverse main cast complex found family a cast compelling characters each so enticing it’s hard for me to pick one favorite excellent mysteries & exciting tense well done action & thriller moments. I cannot recommend these shows highly enough. Camp Cretaceous has a bit of a slow start the first few episodes if im being honest when they’re just like. At Dino camp. But TRUST me when it picks up it stays picked up & it does not slow down.

Anyway I did a tldr then kept going because talking to me about anything related to this franchise is like hitting a button that gets me talking & then I just don’t stop thank you so much for the ask I’m done for now 🫶🫶

[superstarzolar]

A list of questions about ur kids (thanks u for feeding my hyperfixation)

Do the Missing Kids have any siblings? If so, how is their relationship like?

Did their personality noticeable change after their death? (and also who's the most creepy)

Have you thought of an Actor AU?

#1: Susie has an older sister named Tiffany, and they were pretty close. They usually had petty fights over things like dolls and cosmetics but nothing serious!!

Andrew has a little brother named Anthony [as in. he’s a baby/toddler]. Andrew loved him so much, and after Andrew dies their parents raise Anthony in the shadow of Andrew [they give him all of Andrew’s stuff and recount stories of what Andrew used to be like]

#2: Of course they all become depressed, but Jeremy, who has much more awareness over their situation because he was alive long enough to witness somebody else dying/what Spring Bonnie was doing, is a lot more angry and vengeful at first. Everybody is kind of “scary” because they are ghosts, but I’d say that Cassidy is a lot more terrifying to see because they’re a seemingly headless shadow that lurks in the corner and stares at people.

#3: I have !!! I’ve never actually made an actor au offshoot of athazagora because i like the context of it all actually happening a lot more , but it’s fun to imagine that they’re all just playing around [assuming that “actor au” means that they’re all performing the events of the timeline, not actually experiencing them]

[man-moth-hook-hand]

Welcome to My Nighmare Ch. 2

Chapter 2 rewrite! I'm not dead! Just super busy lately.

2.7K

Master list

Chapter Two: Freaks

A man lay on his back on the porch. His head was partially disfigured by a large potted plant. Christ. Maybe this was my omen. 

“Dad?” Lucy made her way out of the old car towards her father. She didn’t seem as concerned as her two sons. “Dad?” She asked again. 

“If he’s dead, does that mean we get to go home?” Same snarked. I couldn’t understand how he was joking about his possibly dead grandfather. Lucy didn’t like it either as she gave him a disapproving look. 

The man shot up off the ground as if it was nothing. “Playin’ dead! And doing a damn good job of it, too.” Lucy and her father laughed off the encounter. 

“Why don’t you guys start unpacking some things, OK?” Lucy gestured to the old Toyota.

“So, you’re living with us now?” Michael pulled a box out of the flooring and handed it to me. It was heavy. 

“I guess so. I’m sorry if I’m bothering you, I don’t plan to stay long–” I tried to explain but Micahel cut me off. 

“That’s ok, mom would do this stuff sometimes when we lived in Arizona. How long do you plan on staying?”

“Maybe a few months, it depends on what place will hire me and how hard it’ll be to get a car. I’m ok with sleeping on the floor at this point.” Michael and I headed out way into the log cabin style home. I enjoyed the windchimes and nicknacks that Lucy’s father decorated with. 

“It’ll be nice having someone else for Sam to bug.” Michael threw a large wicker sun hat on Sam. Sam flung his arm in Michael’s direction, barely missing his ribs. 

The house was nice. It had a large living room, a staircase to the right, a kitchen, sunroom, and something behind two large oak sliding doors. Everything was very. . . man-ish. Men always had the tendency to fill their house with the bare necessities, occasionally adding a spark here and there. Old man Emerson’s spark seemed to be dead animals. There was taxidermy and paintings of all kinds of animals in the house. It was kind of creepy. 

Michael and Sam bounced their way down the stairs almost knocking their mother over in the process. She called for them to stop running but they ignored her, stopping only in their tracks when they opened the mysterious sliding doors. I made my way over to see why the boys seemed so off. 

“Talk about the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Sam eyeballed everything in the small room. A red light showed over the taxidermy, creating a disgusting feeling in my stomach. I wasn't completely disturbed at the taxidermy room. I almost liked it. 

The boy’s grandfather appeared behind us. “Stay out of places you don’t belong!” He closed the double sliding doors. 

“Hey,” Lucy gestured for me to come towards her. “I’ll show you where you can stay. It's not much, but. . . “ She trailed off. Lucy led me up the stairs to the main hallway, taking a small detour to a tiny cut out. Two stairs trailed up to the almost equally small platform and a closed door. 

“I’m sure I’ll like it.” I reassured her. I thanked her and opened the door to my new room. It was more like an attic that got turned into a room, but I was content nonetheless. It had a twin sized bed, nightstand with lamp, dresser, and a trunk. It almost looked like an Army barrack, especially with the green bedding. If my arms were an extra foot long I’d be able to touch the walls. There were two framed windows, one one the opposite side of the door, and one to the right. Horses caught my eye.

I took my clothes out of my backpack, thankfully I had found a laundromat to wash them, and stuck them in the first drawer of the dresser. I placed my backpack and sunglasses on top. My new book went into the dresser. I noticed the amount of dust, I was going to have to ask Lucy about some cleaning supplies. 

After I had gotten some cleaning supplies, I went to work disinfecting the dust from the previous resident. Maybe it was Lucy, although this was a very masculine room. Mr. Emerson broke me out of my thought as he knocked on my door. I put down my cleaner and wipes to open the door for him. 

“Hey, hey,” he pulled something out from behind him. “I got something for ya, as a little house warming gift.” It was a taxidermied owl. It screeched in a fierce position. 

“Thank you.” I plucked it from his hands. “I’ll place it on the dresser.”

“Alright. If you need anything you just let me know.”

What an odd man, I thought. 

/|\^._.^/|\

Later that evening, Lucy invited me to the boardwalk. I clamored into the car with Sam and Michael, and Nanook came for some reason. I guess Sam just took him everywhere. It was pretty looking at the city coming into view. I had forgotten how pretty the night was. Once it hit sundown I had been sleeping and getting up when the sun woke me, but now I could enjoy it. 

The boardwalk was interesting. It was salty and intoxicating to say the least. It had a different feel to it. The light, the music, the people. . . everything felt so alive. It wasn’t like how it was during the day when kids rounded every corner and disgruntled parents gave you dirty looks. No, at night was when the real freaks came out. Goth kids, weird surfer guys, bikers, and way too many drunk people flooded every nook and cranny. It was like an infection that was consuming the boardwalk. It was intoxicating. 

I need a job. I needed one fast. Would anyone even be hiring? I searched the boardwalk desperately asking different shops to hire me. The surf shop, tattoo shop, burger place, and other various businesses stated that “they weren’t hiring,” which was utter bullshit. 

HELP DESPERATELY WANTED, WILL HIRE FELONS. 

Now that caught my eye. What puzzled me was the shop. It was a small jewelry store, not some bar or tattoo shop that I was expecting. I opened the door to be greeted by a young girl. 

“Hi! How can I help you?” She had silky long black hair and what some would consider too much blush. She placed her tan, freckled arms on the glass counter. 

“Uh, I actually need a job. I saw the help wanted sign outside, is there anyone I can talk to?”

“Yeah, let me go get Brenda, call her Ms. Chengey.” The teenager went to who I guessed was the shop owner. 

A woman who looked like a blonde Joan Craford weaved her way out of the bead curtain. She had dark purple eyeshadow and equally dark and purple lips. “I’m Ms. Brenda Cheney, I own this shop. Jennifer told me you want to work for me?” 

“Yes, ma’am Ms. Cheney,” I shook her bedazzled wrinkly hand. “When can I start?” It was a little bold, but I really needed this job. Plus, Ms. Cheney looked like a woman who liked boldness. 

“Well,” she smiled. “If you can, I'd like to see you here tomorrow. We just had someone quit.” Ms. Cheney smacked her gum. 

“Yes ma’am, what time?”

“9 o’clock, that's an hour before we open. Jennifer,” she put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Would you be willing to train her?”       

“Sure, what’s your name?” Jennifer asked. “And you can call me Jenny.”

“(Y/n). Nice to meet you Jenny.” I said. “So just be back here tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I can’t really train you until tomorrow since the busiest times are now. I’ll see you then!” She smiled with her delicate freckled face. 

I thanked her and decided to get something cheap to eat. I don’t really remember when that was. Frank’s Dogs greeted me with their very neon sign and very, very, drunk people. One guy’s hair looked like a cross between a rat's nest and its tail. 

“Can I just have a hotdog with ketchup and mustard?” I asked the 40-year-old man who looked like he wanted to kill me . . . or himself. 

“A dollar sixty-two” he held out his meaty hand. I gave him two bucks and let him keep the change. It wasn’t a great hot dog, but it was food. 

A group gathered not too far away, encircling someone on stage. Concerts seemed like a fun way to meet new people, but the pickpocketing and guys with too grabby hands always deterred me. Well, maybe this one time wouldn’t hurt. 

An oily man thrusted on stage ahead of me. He trusted his saxophone in the air wildly. It wasn't my favorite type of performance but he made it work. Everyone was jumping and thrashing their hair. Whoops and hollers encircled me and for the first time since leaving home I felt like I truly belonged. 

My eyes caught Sam and Michael not too far away, Micael was staring at something. It’s like he was entranced, I saw Sam try and shake him. I glanced to where he was looking and saw a thin, beautiful woman. She had delicate and sharp features, surrounded with a long dark curly maine. I see why he was transfixed, she was beautiful. 

“Hey,” a man next to me called. 

“Hi,” I said. 

“You like concerts?” He asked. He was a little bit taller than me with freckles and almost black silky hair. He was handsome, he reminded me of Jennifer. 

“Not really, but I’ve never really been to one, so I thought I’d try it out.” I said. I hoped he wasn’t trying to pickpocket me. 

“You want to keep watching or maybe we could go somewhere?” 

I glanced back over to where Sam and Michael were, but found that they’d left. SO was that girl. “Sure!” 

I found out that Adam was his name. He was a sporty, well-rounded, all-american boy. Mage the textbook definition of an average man and that was Adam. Albeit a little boring, his looks made up for it. 

He gestured over to a girl with long black hair, “That’s my sister.” He called out to her. ONce she turned around I realized it was Jenny from the jewelry store. 

She waved at me. I waved back. “I didn’t know Jenny was your sister.” 

“You know her?”

“Well, I met her today. I talked to the owner about getting a job.”

“Oh,” he nodded his head. “Cool, maybe we can see each other more often.” 

“Oh yeah?” I smiled back. “I’d like that.” It would be nice to make new friends. 

“Finally, I’ve been waiting forever!” Jenny softly hit her brother. 

“Sorry, I met one of your friends.” Adam hit her back. 

“Hey! I was gonna meet up with some friends. Sorry you met Adam.” She said. 

“No he’s fine!” I said. 

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Hey, I’m gonna meet some friends after Adam coughs up the money he owes me. Want to join?” 

“Sure.” I liked the idea of having a few friends beside maybe Michael. He was nice, but I wasn’t sure how comfortable he was with me living with them. 

After Adam gave Jenny about what I thought was 30 bucks, we headed towards the Ferris wheel. Two girls, one looked like Meg Ryan and the other looked like super blonde Tiffany Darwish. The super blonde chick probably used a little too much Sun In. 

“Jenny!” The less blonde one searched for her. “Who's your friend?”

“Hey girls, and she’s (Y/N). She works with me at Brenda’s shop. You guys care if she joins?” 

“I don’t, but I gotta leave. Mom set my curfew early tonight.” Blonde Tiffany Darwish moned. “See ya!”

“By Sara!” they shouted in unison. 

“I'm Carrie by the way.” The other girl stuck out her hand. 

“Nice to meet you,” I said. “I’m not bothering you guys, right?”

“No of course not,” Jenny patted my shoulder. “Let’s go on the Ferris wheel.” 

“But there’s too many of us.” Carrie pointed out. 

A hand clapped my shoulder. “I could be your ride, sugar.” 

“I could be your rider.” The shaggy guy from earlier said, “I’m Paul, sugar.”

I turned around to see some guy that looked like a less made up version of Dee Snider. I didn’t like the way he spoke to me. Those types of men always lead to trouble. 

“I’m not sugar.” 

“Sorry man, just trying to be friendly-”

“A little too friendly.” I scolded him. 

“Listen, I still want to ride with you. I’m sorry for being too upfront. If you get to know me better you might like me.” He threw his hands up in surrender.

I looked at Jenny and Carrie, they were absolutely smitten with him. Maybe he was trying to be nice. I don’t think either of these girls would be so flustered over a creep. Or I hoped not. 

Paul, I figured out his name was, turned out to not be a total creep. “-and if you look over there, way way in the distance, is a bridge that I jump off of from time to time.” He put his arms over the back of the seat, partially putting his arm around me. Paul had been pointing and laughing at almost every location telling me about his adventures. He didn’t seem like a bad guy. I hoped that he wasn't. 

We had reached the top. “So,” he looked at me, “you like hanging out with some cool cats like me?”

“Sure, this has been nice. Thank you for dialing it back a bit.”

“No probs man, I can do anything I set my mind to.”

“Like fly?” I joked. 

“Yeah.” Paul continued to stare at the boardwalk. He seemed serious. Very serious. It made me wonder. 

“You’re funny Paul.”

“That’s what draws the babes.”

I continued to stare out at the boardwalk eyeing people for fun. A man with white hair caught my attention. He was . . . staring intensely at me. It made me nervous. 

“Hey, Paul.” He looked at me. “I’ve had a nice time but I do have to get home. It was nice meeting you.”

“Oh.” He said. The ride jerked to a stop. “See ya.” 

“Bye.” I rushed off the ride

“Who was that guy?” Jennifer asked.

“I’m sorry Jenny, I’ll explain later. I have to go.” I rushed off. 

“Wait. Are you ok?’ She shouted after me. 

I needed to find Lucy. I needed to go home. Where would she be? I went back where she dropped my off. Maybe somehow she was waiting for me. Maybe she decided she had enough at left me for good. SHe probably realized I was taking up too much space, plus I was some stranger. What if I was a serial killer? 

I spotted a short red pixie cut in the distance. God, I hope it’s her. Once I got close I realized it was. 

“Oh, (Y/N). Are you alright, you look flustered. Did something happen?” She held my face. 

“No, no, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t leave without me.” I joked. 

“Honey, we wouldn’t leave without you.” She said in a serious tone. 

“I believe you, I’ve just been trying to find you.” 

“Ok. Sam, Nanook, and I are going back to the house. I don’t know where Michael’s gone off too.”

“Probably to follow some girl.” Sam scoffed. Lucy gave him a stern look. 

The car ride back was filled with anxiety. Sam and Lucy seemed content and spoke about small unimportant things. I kept thinking back to the white haired guy. What a freak. 

I made my way up to my room when Lucy stopped me. “Here’s some pajamas. They’re a little old, but I think they’ll fit.”

“Any pajamas are good pajamas. You have no idea how much help you are.”

“Oh, honey. I remember what it was like to be by myself for a while. It’s alright.” Her smile comforted me. 

I said goodnight and closed the door to my bed room. The windsor piqued my interest. It was open, the curtain blew slightly. I didn’t remember leaving them open, perhaps an intruder? Of course not, nothing was disturbed and my room is almost three stories up. 

White. 

I stared out into the California wilderness for a moment. It couldn't be. There was no way. He couldn’t have followed me home. THere was no way he knew where I lived. We would’ve seen headlights or heard him behind us if he followed. I shut the window and drew the curtains quickly. I don’t remember how long it took for me to go to sleep that night.

[angelsmist]

UNEXPECTED CIRCUMSTANCES 2 - HBCU!SHURI X READER

prompt: a leak in your residence hall calls for unexpected pairings…

contains: shuri x fem!reader, cursing

disclaimers - this is not my idea!! all credits to @vargskelegore for hbcu shuri. it is an amazing idea. however, the storyline is mine. also, i would prefer if only black people read this story, simply because it is a reader insert specifically for us. thank you <3

also, this is a continuous storyline although it’ll consist of one-shots. it will have the same characters and plot overall. you can see all the parts so far on my master list!

this is the last part of the roommate dorms storyline but the hbcu storyline with the same characters and background will still go on! also i’d like to add my requests are open and feel free to drop something in there!

this is not proofread because a sister is TIREDDDD and stressed out…just comment if there are errors or some weird bs i forgot to take out 😭

“Jesus. I didn’t know the campus even had dorms this big,” You spoke in awe, entering Shuri’s dorm.

It looked something like you thought it would. Most of it was decorated like a bedroom that would be in a palace, but with a touch of African-American culture. You couldn’t help but smile when you saw a few pictures of music artists that you had introduced to Shuri hung up in her room.

A breathy chuckle came from Shuri’s lips as she dropped her keys onto the table next to the door. She laughed again when she heard you gasp after your eyes locked with the view Shuri got every night from her balcony. You could see the beautifully lit up city of Atlanta through the glass.

Once your brain had fully processed the room, you looked to Shuri who had moved up to be alongside you. You quirked an eyebrow. “What happened to being treated like a normal student?”

She tilted her head at you with a small grin playing at her lips. “I cannot decline every perk.”

“Fair.”

Shuri walked past you, going towards her dresser and picking out clothes. Once she did so, she turned to you. “You can unpack your stuff while I shower. I can take the couch.”

She had already began to walk towards the restroom, but you quickly grabbed her bicep to stop her. “Uh, no. I’m not about to make you sleep on the couch in your own dorm. I’m fine on the couch.”

“And I’m not going to make my guest sleep on the couch,” She quipped, her tone less playful than earlier.

“Shuri, it’s fine. I’m serious,” You reassured her. “I love couches. I usually fall asleep on them, anyways. You’d be doing me a favor.”

“(Name), you-”

“I don’t care,” You interrupted her before she could even form a proper sentence. “You take the bed, and if you try to take the couch, I’ll sleep on the floor to make you feel worse.”

You removed your hand from Shuri’s bicep after speaking, waiting to see what she’d say.

Shuri pointed a finger at you, narrowing her eyes and grinning in defeat. “Oh, you’re good. You are good.”

You shrugged innocently. “I know.”

Once Shuri had entered the bathroom and locked it, you took the chance to look around the room. Not in a creepy way, but you were a bit curious to see what things she had used to set up her room.

There were a few things in Shuri’s room that were no doubt put there to remind her of her home in Wakanda. You recognized a few of these things to be vibranium which slightly caught you off guard because of the fact that she had them out in the open like that.

On one of the sides of her bed, she had a few records laid messily on it. A lot of it was music that you had recommended to her or music she had listened to when you two would share airpods in class.

After looking around a bit, you began to set up your blanket and pillow on the oddly big couch. Once you had finished that, you pulled out a random pair of shorts and a baggy shirt from your bag.

Shuri came out of the bathroom barely two minutes later, and to say that you were left speechless would’ve been an understatement.

She wore a black tank top with blue and green plaid pajama pants that drove you crazy. The wet curls that covered the top of her face was just the icing on her cake.

You couldn’t tell if Shuri knew that you had been staring at her for a while when her gaze finally locked with yours. You had a small feeling that she felt your eyes burning into her body judging by the smug grin she held on her face.

You were first to break the silence. “I’m…I’m gonna go shower now.”

You could honestly get used to this.

She had the type of bathroom the average college student would dream of. Although it was connected, presumably with the dorm next to hers, it was still very spacious and made you feel more refreshed than you’ve felt in a while.

Needless to say, it was definitely a step-up from the bathroom you used in your hall.

When you exited the bathroom and entered the bedroom, you were a bit surprised to see Shuri awake. You had been in there for a while.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

“Yeah, I wanted to wait on you,” Shuri informed, leaning onto her headboard.

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting, then,” You apologized as you made your way over to the couch to put your towel next to your suitcase. “Long dance practices usually call for longer showers.”

“It’s fine,” Shuri reassured her, waving a dismissive hand. “I’ve been listening to music.”

You paused for a second, letting the music flow through your ears. “Tiwa Savage?”

“You know your Afro-beats,” She observed, a proud beam on her face.

“Well, duh,” You mirrored her expression. It quickly faded when you looked over at the couch and realized everything you had used to set up a bed was gone. You knew it was Shuri’s doing, seeing as she was the only other person in the room. When you looked back over to you, the beam on her face soon became one of innocence with a hint of guilt under it.

“Shuri…”

“Oops,” She shrugged her shoulders. “I must have misplaced your stuff while tidying my room. “Guess you have no choice but to take the bed.”

You held up a finger at Shuri, doing the same thing she had done before she went to shower. “Oh, you’re good.”

She picked up on your reference. “I know.”

On the opposite side of the bed, your bonnet was laid out on the nightstand. You looked to your side to meet Shuri’s eyes. “You sure this is okay?”

Of course,” She confirmed. “As long as you don’t move too much in your sleep.”

You moved your head side to side in response, lifting up the blankets on her bed to get underneath them. “Oh, I would never. I don’t play about that.”

You slipped into the bed with ease, knowing that it hadn’t entirely sunk in that you’d be sharing a bed with the princess of Wakanda.

It didn’t help that she looked incredibly attractive at the moment. At least, more than usual.

You flipped off the lamp on your side and grabbed your bonnet, putting it on as you got comfortable. You wanted the night to last longer, considering the fact that your dorm would likely become safe to use again in less than a week, but you were exhausted, and you were sore.

Not to mention, your Tylenol was something that you left in your dorm so you were definitely eager to rest and put the pain on pause.

You had decided to sleep on the side that wasn’t facing Shuri, not because you didn’t wanna see her, but because you were sure you’d start staring like a creep.

It did catch you off guard when you felt a hand drawing circles on your back. It startled you at first, but soon became a soothing touch that you melted into.

Shuri brought her voice to a whisper. “Goodnight, (name).”

“Goodnight,” You muttered, nearly half-asleep. “And Shuri?”

“Hmm?”

“Will I ever be getting my blanket back?”

You could hear her laugh sleepily. “Yeah. You will.”

[nomstellations]

Please Read!

Howdy! I’m Kon, and this is my nonsexual vore sideblog! Here I’ll be posting various vore fics/drabbles, scenarios, and whatever else comes to mind! This is a nonsexual blog, I don’t personally view/use vore as a sexual fetish, it's more of a comfort thing and coping mechanism. Most of the content here is soft/safe (unless I tag it as open-ended, then it’s up to your interpretation). 

Most of my content focuses on humans/humanoids, object heads, robots, etc. Essentially anything human-shaped! You won’t find any furry content here, as I’m not one. Same thing goes for feral content, it makes me uncomfortable. I have a marked preference for male preds but I like just about most things, and this blog dabbles in all kinds of different scenarios! I enjoy stuffing as well, so it’ll be featured on this blog sometimes (though it’ll always be tagged). I've been dabbling in painless digestion w reformation, if I EVER post about that it will be appropriately tagged as well.

Though I view vore through a nonsexual lens, I don't want minors to interact with me. Vore is still adult content and fetishized by many regardless of my personal intent, and growing up in the tumblr vore community has taught me plenty of lessons about adult and child interactions. Minors should be exploring their interest in vore, sexual or nonsexual, with their peers away from adults that may have bad intentions and can easily manipulate them, so consider this blog 18+ and please stay away for our safety!

I’d also like it if IRL fetish blogs, proship folks, and general bigots didn’t interact with me. You’re getting blocked on sight if you break my dni or disrespect my boundaries by leaving creepy comments on my work. I don't deal in any of the more "nsfw" types of vore, I'm a sex repulsed asexual person who isn't here for porn. NSFW blogs you're chill w me, but if you're going to interact with me please don't try to flirt with me through vore or leave sexual comments on my work.

Otherwise, you’re welcome to come chat and talk to me about stuff! Most of the things I write are with my ocs that I love dearly, and i enjoy getting the chance to talk about them! I also take vore writing requests, and you can find my guidelines here!

Please give this a like if you read this!

List of fandoms I’m in under the cut:

- Poke.mon

- Mega.man (Classic and Battle Network)

- Lobo/tomy Corp, Lib.rary of Rui.na, and Lim.bus Comp.any

- LOZ

- Spla.toon

- SMB as a whole

- Star.bound

- OFF

- N.S.R

- Under.tale

- H.S.R

- Bomb Rush Cy.berfunk

- Dung/eon Mes/hi